September 28, 2007 - Volume XVIII - Issue 1 - Dexter High School - 2200 N. Parker Road - Dexter, Mi 48130

SquallTHE

Without any information about what classes they were signed up for, where to go on the first day of school or even what hours they had classes, students across the high school were upset with the way the 2007-2008 school year started off.

But administrators did the best they could, ac-cording to Principal Kit Moran. “Student packets were sent out to students approximently the third week of August,” Moran said. “Not much was in-cluded about the first day of school in terms of what was happening or where to be. We were fo-cused on a lot of other things like scheduling. All that was said about the first day of school in the packet was that it was a half day.”

Not knowing what was going on during the first day of school was bothersome, especially for some

freshman students who had never experienced the high school environment, especially considering class schedules did not come out until the first day, Sept. 4.

According to Moran, when it comes to sched-ules, Power School takes in all the students re-quests, then spits out a rough schedule.

What it spits out is not always what works, so counselors and administrators have to go through all of the rough schedules and make them work.

“Getting everybody in classes that will fit in their schedule is just the half of it this year,” Moran said. “This year the teachers’ contract states that there cannot be any overloads (more students than the set amount in a class) this year. So, after we revise the schedule that Power School spit out, we have to go back through all of them again to make sure that there are no overloads in any classes.”

Continued on page 2. See scheduling.

Scheduling problems frustrating

photo by Maria Brundage

Setting an example: New Dean of Students Ken Koenig intro-duces himself to an incoming freshman. Koenig helped clarify schedules for freshmen during the first day of school during the school wide as-sembly.

Scott Cromptonmanaging editor

With new agreements made in the teachers' contract, scheduling becomes a big chore for admins, counselors

photo by Maria Brundage

Looking forward to a new school year: Students from the new freshmen class file into the gym bleachers ready to learn about the high school and hear from Principal Kit Moran and the National Honors Society. NHS organized the event on the first day.

ros•trum \ n , pl rostrums or ros•tra \ The Latin word rostrum, whose primary meaning is “beak”, was derived from the verb rodere, “to gnaw”. Eventually rostrum came to be used to refer to the prow or beak of ship. 338 B. C.

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A dad in Iraq:Senior Carly Dalton deals with having a parent overseas

Page 5

New curriculum requires art:Freshman required to take art as part of the new state mandates

Page 7

Bond notes

• The proposed bond is approximately $62 million

• The areas it will help are: DCS infrastructure, security, traffic and pedestrian safety, technology, athletic facilities, land acquisition, music and performance, transportation and the senior center

• Money from the bond will not go to textbooks or classroom materials

2 The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

news

Bond helps areas in needDexter Community Schools will ask

voters to approve a proposed bond, a re-quest for money from the tax payers, of approximately $62 million in February. According to the DCS 2008 Bond Pro-posal Factsheet, the bond will target 10 areas which need improvements.

The target areas include improve-ments to DCS infrastructure and energy efficiency, security, traffic and pedestrian safety, technology, athletic fields and fa-cilities, Wylie Pool, land acquisition for further growth, music and performance, transportation and the senior center.

However these target areas will not in-clude new textbooks or other classroom materials, because it is illegal for the dis-trict to ask voters to fund such items, ac-cording to Principal William Moran.

A bill passed in 1993 by the Michigan Legislature put specific restrictions on what items a bond such as the 2008 bond can fund, Moran said.

Technology, building and building im-provements are legally able to be funded by a bond, but not computer software, or items needed in the classroom because the state expects the district to be able to fund itself in those areas, according to Moran.

“I would encourage a yes vote so that as much money as possible can be redi-rected for use in the classroom,” Super-intendent Evelyn Shirk said. “If we get a positive vote on the bond, then money that would generally be spent on the pur-chase of buses and technology, for exam-ple, can be taken from the bond and not from the general fund.”

The main concern for Shirk is the de-terioration of Dexter schools which she says will slowly start to happen if the dis-trict is not consistent with the school’s necessary upkeep.

And Moran agrees, “I think it is neces-sary to continue the level of education we currently deliver. Is (the bond) essential? No. But necessary for the upkeep (of the schools) to avoid deterioration in the fu-

ture,” he said. Although many people

are concerned with the growing population of stu-dents and DHS’ capacity to hold incoming students.

“Based on what we see right now we think (the size of the current freshman class) is a bubble that will go through,” Moran said.

At each school’s open house the district invited parents to go on a tour around the district where they would have a repre-sentative from each school to show interested commu-nity members bond target areas at each schools.

On Sept.. 17 Moran gave community members on the bond tour a look at specific areas of DHS that the bond will potentially fund.

Broken tile at the main entrance, a new set of interior and ex-terior doors around the gymnasium for better security, expansion and new floors needed for the weight room floor, a new configuration to the locker rooms and a pool entrance, and two new science rooms to be made in place of a double wide classroom on the first floor are all areas of potential funding from the bond which was highlighted on the tour.

The proposed bond would also result in $0 tax levy increase. However, the cur-rent debt levy would extend for an addi-tional 7-10 years.

“Bond money has to be expended for the purpose for which it was voted by the taxpayers,” Shirk said.

She continued, “So while the projects are being accomplished, the bond funds will be used. Timelines are based on project construction schedules. We have to expend most of it within three years.”

Heather Sillernews editor

Scheduling (from pg. 1): Administrators already working on next year

Since overloads cannot happen this year, there are more students than available teachers.

That is why Moran said there were many classes on schedules without a teacher’s name next to it.

“After we found out where the overloads were we started the process of staffing those positions,” Mo-ran said.

And having no overloads at the high school was

an important part of the negotiating process accord-ing to Dexter Education Association President Joe Romeo.

“The teacher’s union and the Dexter school board came to an agreement to come as close as we could to no overloads,” Romeo said.

“After we found out where the overloads were we started the process of staffing those positions,” Mo-ran said.

Since counselors do not have to work in the sum-mer, these problems had to be dealt with, mostly in August.

“I came in just about every Tuesday and Thurs-day,” counselor Gerry Holmes said. “I was concerned about the kids, especially the freshman, because I wanted their transition to go as smooth as possible.”

“We are getting used to our sophomore year as ad-

ministrators,” Moran said. “We have already started planning for next year, so it goes over much smooth-er.”

“The teacher’s Union and the Dexter School Board came to an agreement to come as close as we could to no overloads,” Dexter Education Association Presi-dent Joe Romeo said.

In order to make class sizes manageable new staff was needed to fill positions where, normally, a class

would just have an excess amount of students.“After we found out where the overloads were we

started the process of staffing those positions,” Mo-ran said.

Since counselors do not work in the summer, these problems had to be dealt with, mostly in August.

“I came in just about every Tuesday and Thurs-day,” counselor Gerry Holmes said. “I was concerned

about the kids, especially the freshman, because I wanted their transition to go as smooth as possible.”

Not only do the freshmen need to get used to the new year, but the administrators, along with all the other staff and students, do too.

“We are getting used to our sophomore year as ad-ministrators,” Moran said. “We have already started planning for next year, so it goes over much smooth-er.”

YESNO

BOND ISSUE

YESX

What went wrong?

• Water fountains still unusable as of 9/21

• Student schedules not available until first day of school

• Two teachers still not hired by the first day of classes

• Picture day scheduled prior to first day of classes while some students were unavailable

“I was concerned about the kids, especially the freshman, because I wanted their transition to go as smooth as possible.” - Gerry Holmes, counselor

XNO

BOND ISSUE

Freshmen Lauren Scott thought she would definitely get lost on her first day of high school until she met her senior mentor, Kimme Melinsky. “She was re-ally funny,” Scott said about her new senior friend. “She showed us around and calmed us down about going to high school.”

Scott and Melinsky were paired up through a program known as Kick-Off Mentoring, designed to have seniors help make the fresh-men class’ transition into high school a little easier.

Life science teacher Shirley Bitters is in charge of running Kick-Off at DHS. “This program isn’t really a new idea. Several of us teachers have had the idea for a while,” Bitters said. “Last year at a freshmen transition meeting the idea presented itself and a team of us decided to go with it.”

There are about 60 senior mentors this year, and each one is assigned five or six freshmen to mentor. Other high schools in the area have similar programs. “Sa-line and Brighton are the closest (to Dexter’s program) that I know of,” Bitters said.

Melinsky was excited when she heard about the program. “Mrs.. Bitters told me about starting a mentoring program, and she gave me some applications to fill out and give to other juniors,” she said.

Melinsky and her fellow se-nior mentors began the program this fall when they organized and ran freshmen orientation. “While talking to other mentors,” Me-linsky said, “we realized that if we had a mentor, our transition into high school would have been easier.”

Scott agreed with Melinsky on this point. “Without our men-tors, the first day would have been very different,” Scott said. “I wouldn’t have known where I was going at all.”

Most freshmen’s biggest fear about going to high school is get-ting lost. Scott said having her mentor really calmed her nerves for the first day of school. “She showed us that high school re-ally isn’t as hard or scary as it sounds.”

The senior mentors will have connection meetings throughout the year with their freshmen, and they will also be involving them in social activities. “At the meet-ings we will be talking with the freshmen, and we will make sure they are staying on top of their homework, and that they are happy with how things are go-ing,” Melinsky said.

“All we have done so far was run the freshmen orientation,” Bitters said, adding she hopes to continue this program, “I think it has potential to really help in-coming students.”

Bitters thinks the program is going well, but she would like to change a few things for next year.

She said, “We would start the application process earlier for this years juniors to be men-tors and add regularly scheduled mentoring time during the school day. That would be my hope.”

One topic of discussion among the fervent first- day-of-school chatter was the building’s drinking fountains, which have been unavailable to staff and stu-dents since the start of the academic year due to elevated copper levels in the water.

The beginning of the “penny water” story originates in the month before students were released for summer va-cation.

“We became aware last spring that down in the boys locker room there was green staining,” Principal Kit Moran said. Knowing that green staining gen-erally indicates the presence of copper, Moran said admin-istrators decided to have the water test-ed by HealthAIR, a company which of-fers environmental health, consulting and safety services.

These tests re-vealed the pres-ence of copper, but Moran said admin-istrators did not believe this was a major problem, be-cause it seemed like a quick and simple solution such as running a water-purifying machine for a little while would solve the situation.

However, after the water sat all sum-mer, HealthAIR tested it again. This time, they noticed that the copper levels in some fountains were as high as 3.4 mg/L, which is more than twice the lim-it of 1.3 mg/L set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to Moran, if anyone in-

gested large quantities of this water, it would cause health problems includ-ing gastrointestinal issues. A chemical machine, which worked by releasing a chemical to purify the water, was in-stalled to fix the excessive copper at the end of the summer, but after it ran for a long time, it became apparent that the problem was still there.

Moran said administrators then turned to the school’s two water soften-ers, thinking that there may have been a bacterial problem in them. However, after replacing the resin (which softens

the water) in both softeners, copper lev-els in the water were still high. This re-sulted in a meeting on Friday, Sept.. 6, held to discuss possible solutions.

The 21 people in attendance included members of the administration and rep-resentatives from both of the companies (healthAIR and HOH) involved in the testing.

“It was good to hear the different opinions,” Assistant Superintendent Mary Marshall said, “so we could have direction while we work to solve the problem.” Finally, this group decided the water would undergo another test-ing in the early morning of Sunday, Sept. 16.

Moran said he hopes these tests will reveal if the problem lies in the foun-tains themselves. A second meeting to discuss the test results was scheduled for Sept. 20 or 21. Though students are probably wondering when this problem will be fixed, “the timeline for fixing the problem will depend on Sunday’s test results,” Moran said.

HealthAIR’s Scott Staber also hopes for a quick solution but says it could take as long as a few weeks to solve com-pletely.

“Through sampling and through var-ious experts we all hope to find the rea-son for elevated copper in the pipes and then quickly take the necessary steps to fix the situation,” Staber said. “Unfor-tunately we do not know how long this process will take, but we are all hope-ful it will be resolved in the next several weeks.”

Meanwhile, students are making due with water coolers in the hallway in place of drinking fountains, but some find the new situation to be a bit incon-venient, like sophomore Lauren Dreffs.

“I want the water fountains back,” Dreffs said. “It’s inconvenient because there aren’t enough water coolers.”

Many students share this opinion, but others believe that the situation is being handled pretty well.

Sophomore Rachelle Alcini said, “I don’t think there’s anything else they could do to make it better.”

The water coolers, as well as other as-pects of the drinking water problem, are fairly expensive, according to Moran, and he said administrators are trying their best to sort it out.

Until then, students are working around it, like Alcini, who said “I just have to remember to bring a water bot-tle now.”

Pioneer forfeits first two games

news

BRIEFS

The varsity football team lost their home opener to Pioneer 36-14. One week later, the Michigan High School Athletic Association called to officially give Dexter credit for a win. Pioneer was forced to forfeit their first two games after a player’s former athletic director discovered that an ineligible player had played in both games. The player forced a fumble on a kick return in the game against Dexter. “It’s unfortunate those things happen,” Dexter foot-ball coach Tom Barbieri said. Pio-neer declined to release the name of the player.

House introduces Michigan student journalism rights bill

Wastenaw County goes wireless

An organization named 20/20 Communications has a goal to pro-vide all of Washtenaw County with free low-speed wireless Internet access. Their hope is to “estab-lish a wireless broadband network without a burden on taxpayers.” They’re also selling subscriptions for Internet at a higher speed. They hope to finish March, 2008. Re-cently however, questions have been raised about whether or not the goal can be reached. There has been trouble getting the Internet to the rural parts of the county. Few-er subscriptions than expected has also been an issue. Another source of money that 20/20 was relying on was a grant from the state govern-ment, but they weren’t able to get as much money as they had hoped for.

Car accidents occur in parking lot

Several car accidents occurred dur-ing the first few days of school in the parking lot. Junior Jack Coy and senior Jordan Evans’ cars hit while they were both backing out of park-ing spots at the same time. Each suf-fered minor damage to the paint on their cars. In addition, junior Mark Anderson bumped into a parked car while exiting a parking space. And senior Rachel Ariyavatkul backed into the car of freshman soccer coach, Mike Lewandowski, causing damage to the door of Lewandows-ki’s car. Ariyavatkul’s rear bumper was detached but since has been put back on. She said she is still wait-ing to hear back from Lewandowski about the damages.

A new bill protecting student jour-nalists’ rights in Michigan has made its way into the House. The bill was introduced by Andy Coulouris on Sept.. 15, 2007. If passed, the bill would prevent administrators from censoring student publications ex-cept under limited circumstances. Those circumstances include: ob-scenity, defamation, advertisement of illegal products for minors and disruption of the school day. Previ-ous bills have been introduced in the Senate.

3The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

news

Drinking water causes potential health problems

Emily Van Dusenstaff writer

Freshmen get mentors

Alexis Sobczakstaff writer

• The building’s drinking fountains have been unavailable to staff and students.

• HeathAIR tests revealed the pres-ence of copper in the school’s water.

• Students are making due with water coolers in the hallways in place of drinking fountains.

•Experts hope to find the reason for elevated copper in the pipes to fix the situation.

Water Update

Senior mentors help ease transition into high school Copper found in system causes inconvenience for students

Water, water everywhere: As a result of elevated copper level in the school’s drinking water, administrators placed portable hydration machines such as this one in the hall for student to drink from.

4 The SquallFriday, September 28, 2008

feature

A man of many faces

Ken Koenig routinely rolls into the teacher parking lot every morning at 6:45 a.m. to read e-mail, make phone calls and prepare for the rapidly ap-proaching school day. That’s typical for him. But what’s not typical is that this year, not only is Koenig teaching classes, he has also assumed the new-ly created title: Dean of Students.

“Mr. Moran approached me last spring and pitched the idea to me,” Koenig said. “Then the second week of August, he asked me if I would take the job over teaching full-time.”

Koenig did take the job, and now has new responsibilities. “I do ev-erything (assistant principals) Mrs. Glynn and Mrs. Sharrar did in the past years, except I’m in the building all week long,” Koenig said, referring to past assistant principals being at Mill Creek for half the day. “I know the students and faculty, and how things work here.”

The idea of him taking an adminis-trative-type position is nothing new. Koenig was offered the position of as-sistant principal four years ago, which he turned down.

“The status of that job offered (to

me) before was interim,” Koenig said. “And in order for me to accept that job I would have had to resign

from my teaching position, and I was not comfortable doing that.”

In his new position, Koenig still teaches the first two hours, then makes the transition to Dean, which is contractu-ally a teach-ing posi-tion, not an administra-tive one.

“First I teach my two hours of Individu-al and Team S p o r t s , ” K o e n i g said. “Then I have third hour prep. I do a quick c h a n g e of clothes (shorts and hoodie to shirt and tie), put my attendance in the computer and get a quick bite and slide on down to the cafeteria where I start my day as an administrator.”

Part of Koenig’s job includes caf-eteria monitor along with parapro-fessionals Connie Agostini and Dee Braden. “My big thing in the lunch room is to just make sure the students are acting like reasonable human be-ings. Eat your lunch, talk to friends, take a break from the classroom,

clean up after yourselves and then move on to your next hour.”

Another responsibility for Koenig is disciplining stu-dents. He said the most dif-ficult part of this is trying to comprehend some of the ob-viously bad choices some of the students make.

“If I can lay their options out to them, and they still think the way they went is the best way, it is really hard for me to agree with them,” he said.

Koenig also said he thought it was necessary for

him to take the job. He said, “The consistency of having an assis-tant to the principal that stays in the same building all week long is a huge benefit, not only to the people on staff, but also to the students.”

Small but sincere: Dexter serves as third school in three years

Jake LaRosastaff writer

Learning to adapt in a new school can be a struggle for any new student. But junior Kiersten Lorensen hasn’t had to just adapt to one new school. She has attended three different schools in three different states.

Lorensen attended Starsmill High School near Atlanta for a year. Then she went to Northwest High School near Dallas for another year. This year she attends Dexter High School.

“In comparison to other high schools I’ve been to, Dexter is the smallest,” she said. “People here realize I’m new, but in other schools I’ve been to, they don’t really notice that. Starsmill High School is bigger than Dexter and is mixed a lot culture and racial wise, and so is Northwest High School, but that’s three times bigger than DHS.”

While Lorensen said she likes Dex-ter so far, she still doesn’t like the number of times she’s moved.

“We’re constantly on the move because of my dad’s job,” she said. Lorensen’s fa-ther is a Director of Science Engineer at a Conway Freight.

“When I hear the news we’re going to be moving again, I’m not too happy about it and sometimes un-sure,” she said. But she said she does still keep in contact with her friends from other schools she’s attended through talking to them on the phone and texting them.

Out of all the schools Lorensen has attended she said she likes Northwest the best.

“I’m originally from Texas,” she said. “I lived in Houston for six years, and

in Georgia the swim-ming is really com-petitive. It’s mainly Olympic swimmers there,” she said.

Lorensen who’s on Dexter’s varsity swim team said she has been swimming for 12 years. “Swim-ming is what really keeps me going,” she said. “It’s easier transferring schools

because of swimming because I know I will meet new people that way.” She also said she has bonded with many girls on the DHS swim team including junior Alexis Sobczak and senior Kim-mey Melinsky.

“I’ve automatically learned to adapt,” she said. “I have been moving

all of my life since I was two months. Without swimming I don’t know what I would do.”

However, at Starsmils and North-star High School, Lorensen said the courses are a lot different than the ones at Dexter High School. “The teachers teach things a lot differently so it’s hard sometimes to learn it,” she said. “The class sizes are a lot bigger, and we have block schedule which is 4 classes a day.”

As for college, Lorensen said she would like to go back to Texas for swim-ming. “But then again, I also want stay home near my family and everyone,” she said.

But for now Lorensen said she sim-ply wants to stay put in Dexter and fin-ish off her junior and senior years of high school. “Hopefully I stay here,” she said. “I like it a lot, and I’ve never lived in a place as small as this one be-fore.”

factinabox

A little more Koenig• Koenig has three children.

• He coaches youth football as well as varsity football and t-ball.

• He was voted assitant football coach of the year last year.

“ I’ve automatically learned to adapt. I

have been moving all my life since I was two

months.”

- Kiersten Lorensen, senior

Sarah Akbarifardstaff writer

New student adjusts to third school by joining swim team and bonding with teammates

Lorenson: Attended three high schools in three years.

photos by Jeff Leonard and Chas Sloan

From the gym to the football field, Koening gets it done

For some students, the Ann Arbor Pfizer plant shutdown was just another story in the business pages.

\But for senior Rachel Ariyavatkul, the event hit a little closer to home.

“My family ended up moving to Dexter because of Pfizer,” Ariyavatkul said. “They had another plant in Kalamazoo that shutdown in about 2003. Now this last year when the Ann Arbor plant shut down, he got transferred to Connecticut.”

Ariyavatkul’s last move was when she was 7-years-old, but due to job complications her family was faced with selling their old home and possibly moving out of state.

“When I first heard about it, I was like, ‘No way,’”

Ariyavatkul said. “But then I found out that I didn’t have to move, that I would stay with my mom in Dexter, and my dad would go to Connecticut for work.”

Although Ariyavatkul was able to stay in Dexter to finish out the school year, she said that selling their old house was inevitable.

“We knew we would have to sell it,” she said. “It actually wasn’t that huge of a switch surprisingly. It’s at a point now where it’s not even a big deal to think about my old house like it once was.”

Despite her quick adjustment to her new home, however, Ariyavatkul said that life without her father around the house is difficult.

“It sucks,” she said. “He knows a lot about

t h i n g s a r o u n d t h e h o u s e , and it’s w e i r d n o t h a v i n g h i m here, but my mom t a l k s to him e v e r y day and

I talk to him a little bit every day, so I guess it could be worse.”

The worst part about leaving her old house

was leaving a room that Ariyavatkul herself designed called the “red room”.

“My dad said he wanted to take my old room, and he told me that since I didn’t have a place to hang out that I could design it and use it,” she said. “I love designing things so it was great to showcase that on a bigger scale. Leaving that room was definitely the biggest bummer of leaving the house.”

Through all the hardships her family faces ahead, Ariyavatkul remains optimistic for the future.

“I don’t know how I feel about it,” she said. “Part of me wants to dislike (Pfizer), but they provide for our family. My Dad’s never actually been laid off. I mean, I’m living in an apartment on an air mattress,” she said with a laugh,” but it’s not all bad.”

In the summertime they rent Har-leys and take road trips, spending days cruising the streets. But during the year senior Carly Dalton only knows her father through pictures, e-mails and phone calls.

“For as long as I can remember, my dad has been away,” Dalton said of her dad’s job working for Kellogg, Brown and Root, a military contracting busi-ness. “He was in Hungary for six years, Bosnia for two and in Baghdad for almost two years. He’s stationed in Kuwait now, but he sometimes has to travel to Iraq and Dubai.”

Dalton said she relies on her moth-er’s support to deal with her dad’s ab-sence. “My mom is really strong,” she said. “I know it can get really hard for her to not be around him. I really ap-preciate it, and I feel that she is a re-ally strong woman. I know I wasn’t an easy one to raise,” she laughed.

Dalton’s mother, Karen Dalton, also said she feels his absence has made her two daughters stronger. “We are all very independent,” she said. “I’ve had to do everything by myself. We have friends around here but no family close by.”

She also said her husband still plays a huge role in raising Carly. “He really did have a lot of impact on her,” she said. It’s been hard, but we sat down and said, ‘You know, we can do this.’”

Despite her family’s strength at home, Dalton said that she still at times feels scared for her dad. “When he was in Iraq, I remember him com-ing home and being afraid of in ground sprinklers because there are land mines over there,” she said. “It never really hit me at the time, but it scared me because I realized that he wasn’t perfectly safe (in Iraq) like I let myself

think.” Still, Dalton said her father’s ab-

sence has given her a great sense of appreciation for life. “I think it’s given me a greater appreciation for my fam-ily,” she said. “When he’s home, I ap-preciate it, and I don’t go out as much with my friends. You have to really ap-preciate the family you have.”

Dalton’s mother also said that they enjoy quality family time when her husband is home. “When he’s home everything stops and we’re home with dad,” she said. “We try to make it strictly family time.”

But Dalton’s father, Danny Dalton, said that it is still hard for him to be away. “Being away from my family is the most difficult part of my overseas work,” he said in an e-mail. “My job keeps me busy sometimes working 17 or 18 hours a day seven days a week. Without being this busy, I don’t think I would be able to remain away so long.”

Dalton’s father also said looking forward to breaks with his family is what keeps him going. “I don’t partic-ularly like the phrases ‘quality time,’ but in the case of working overseas you do have more of it,” he said. “When I come home or we plan a family trip to another country, I am with my family 24 hours a day during my entire two or three week break. Every day at home or in a foreign country with my family is something special. This, of course, takes an exceptional family to deal with this work situation, and I am very lucky in that regards.”

Dalton agrees with her father. “I have a lot of respect for anyone to go over there for our country,” she said. “If someone was put in the same situa-tion as me, I’d tell them to cherish the time at home and not take it for grant-ed.”

Dalton’s father also said he feels

incredibly lucky to live in the United States. “Being in war-torn countries and seeing first-hand the atrocities people have endured leaves you very grateful that your family is lucky enough to live in the United States,” he said. “Many times in the early days in a country, food, water, heat, electric-ity, or in the case of the Middle East air conditioning, just a sense of secu-rity are some of the things we too often take for granted.”

He also said his close knit fam-ily makes the situation easier. “Your work must be satisfying,” he said. “I am very fortunate in that I find my work very rewarding in support of the military. The U.S. military and their families make huge sacrifices, and it is an honor to work with a company that makes the soldiers live a little easier while they are deployed.”

However, Dalton’s father said that he does miss out on simple everyday pleasures. “In each country you miss something different, being in the Mid-dle East green grass, green trees, any-thing green, but I would say things like the basic freedom to go outside each day,” he said. “Many times you are living behind a security wall and you have no freedom to venture outside the perimeters.”

Still, Dalton and her parents are un-sure of when he is coming home. “It’s kind of been a toss up,” Dalton said. “My mom and dad are going to move to Houston when I graduate. He may stay over there for a couple more years before that, but we’re not sure yet.”

Until then, Dalton appreciates sim-ply talking to her dad.

“A couple weeks ago I got a text from my dad,” she said. “He told us to go outside and feel the green grass. It’s hard for him sometimes because he feels like he’s missing out on me grow-ing up.”

5The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

feature

Student deals with father's absence

Pfizer closing hits home for studentRyan Aliapouliostrends editor

Studying abroad: Because of her father’s job, Dalton has had the opportunity to travel overseas, such as Italy. “I’ve been to Europe I think five times,” she said. “I’ve learned about so many cultures. It’s been a big part of my life.”

Katie Johnsonfeatures editor

Dalton stays strong while her father is stationed in the Middle East

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June: Pfizer employees begin leaving the Ann Arbor site in two-week waves. The waves vary in size from 11 to 160.

August: Pfizer announces to its 2100 employees that it will completely shut down its Ann Arbor facilities. It also offers some workers positions at alternate locations.

January: Pfizer announc-es to its 2100 employees that it will completely shut down its Ann Arbor facilities. It also offers some workers positions at alternate locations.

March: The University of Michigan announces that it will spend about 3 million to keep Pfizer researchers working in Ann Arbor.

Pfizer’s Chain Reaction

Infographics by Maria Brundage Source: www.mlive.com

Photos courtesy Karen Dalton

Acres in Pfizer’s Ann Arbor campus.

2100

300

780

6000

1000

177

Estimated employees on site by the end of this year.

Estimated employees at Pfizer’s Ann Arbor site in January.

Employees have accepted positions at other Pfizer locations.

Michigan workers will lose their jobs over the next three years.

Pfizer

School-age children leaving Michigan as a result of Pfizer’s move.

Acres in Pfizer’s Ann Arbor campus.

“ It’s at a point now where it’s not even a big deal to think

about my old house like it once was.”

- Rachel Ariyavatkul, senior

6 The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

health

In fifth grade, she became a vegan. At 12-years-old she stopped eating. At 13 she weighed 79 pounds. “I was mostly using (vegan) ethics as a cover (for not eating),” senior Carolyn* said in an e-mail interview. “I guess that was my first documented attempt to lose weight. I just cut back and cut back.” Now, Carolyn is fully recovered from her eating disor-der, anorexia nervosa, and is back to her healthy weight.

According to Judith Banker, founder and Executive Director of the Center for Eating Disorders in Ann Arbor, approximately 5-10 percent of women and 1 percent of men suffer from eating disorders. “It is very common for people to develop eating disorders in their early teens and around the age 18,” Banker said in an e-mail in-terview.

“Life transitions triggered by physiological change like puber-ty, relationship problems, fam-ily problems, moving, divorce or death of a loved one can affect the appetite and self-confidence. These can lead to behaviors and a tendency to try and seek control over life and self-image by losing weight.”

Carolyn agrees and thinks pre-vious life struggles contributed to her disorder. “I had disordered thoughts long before I developed a full-blown disorder,” she said. “I was diagnosed with depression before developing the eating dis-order, so I imagine that put me in a compromised mind set.”

Although there is no specific incident she thinks encouraged her disorder, Carolyn recognizes

how many societal influences there are on teens. “I like to think they didn’t impact me, but these images are ingrained in our soci-ety,” she said. “We don’t always recognize the extent to which they drive us and dictate the ways we view ourselves.”

Because the causes of eating disorders can be both genetic and cultural, Banker said it is impor-tant for teens to build self-esteem. “Learning the tricks and secrets behind mass m a r k e t i n g and advertis-ing and the pop culture emphasis on looks and im-age can help you see behind the messages on television and in the me-dia,” she said.

“When one has an eating disorder, the way you think about yourself and the way you see your body can become very distorted,” she said. “The starved mind does not see the world or the self clear-ly.”

For Carolyn, the idea of a dis-torted image is what scared her the most. “The hardest thing was the idea that my perceptions might be skewed, because, of course, every-one said that - ‘Oh, you’re not fat, you just can’t see yourself prop-erly,’ - and that scared me,” she said.

And Carolyn believes that all teens, healthy or not, fear how oth-ers perceive them. “We wonder if the world as we experience it is the world as others experience it. And if not, which one is the capi-tal “R,” Reality?” she said. “The

idea that my body image wasn’t true to Reality put into question my entire world view, and that’s a hard concept to deal with.”

Physically, Carolyn said her biggest struggle was the toll an-orexia took on her body. “I had been fairly active until that point,” she said. “So I wasn’t used to feeling so weak and faint all the time.”

Before her disorder got too se-rious, however, Carolyn’s friends

and family got involved. “ A l t h o u g h at the time, I hated the way my par-ents stepped in, it was very much for the best,” she said. “They got me into treat-ment before I had done too much per-

manent damage to my body, and that’s something I don’t take for granted.”

As part of her treatment, Caro-lyn saw several therapists and tried assorted medications. She also spent time in the University of Michigan Psychiatric Unit for inpatient treatment. “I became very passive after that,” she said. “I didn’t put much effort into my therapy because none of it seemed to be helping. So I spent a couple years in an unhealthy, but not life-threatening, state.”

In the end, however, it was not her own efforts or the therapy she believes “fixed” her. It was a close friend who challenged her to write a novel in a month. “Part way through, I took my men-tal focus away from the project

long enough to take stock of my-self, and I realized I was healthy - mentally and physically,” she said. “My hair wasn’t falling out like it once had, and I’d put on enough weight to get me to the goal my doctor had assigned me years ago. I had started eating more normally without really no-ticing, and even when I did notice, it didn’t bother me.”

Now, no longer bothered by her weight or eating habits, Carolyn is only bothered by her past. “I wish I had never developed an eating disorder,” she said. “It embarrass-es me now, and I like to distance my current self from that younger, sicker girl. But at the same time, I learned a lot from it, especially in recovery because I went through many of the standard treatments with little success, and now that I’m fully recovered, I can examine what actually worked and why ev-erything else didn’t.”

Eventually, Carolyn said she intends to write a book on the subject, including her personal struggles with the flaws in medi-cal treatment.

“I feel like a lot of the assump-tions we make about the treatment of eating disorders are inaccurate and often counterproductive,” she said.

“In my experience, most eat-ing disorder patients recognize or can come to recognize the flawed logic that fuels their obsession, but recognizing it doesn’t make it go away. You need to find some-thing outside that obsession, something from the real world that you can grab onto,” she said. “We shouldn’t focus on stopping the disorder. We should focus on starting life.”

*Name changed for privacy

Senior cross country runner Vince D’Onofrio pushed through his eight mile run at practice, the sharp pain surging up his shins and knees, worsen-ing with every step. The temptation to stop certain-ly lingered in his mind; however, like many student-athletes, D’Onofrio continued to practice despite his injury and his body telling him to stop.

“It’s my senior year, and I really want to do well in cross country,” D’Onofrio said. “So I do the practices even when the pain is excruciating.” And this thought is common for many high school ath-letes who deal with pressure from coaches, parents, teammates and themselves to participate in sports when they are injured.

For D’Onofrio, the pressure, he said, comes mainly from within himself.

“It probably makes my shin splints worse when I run, but it is just too hard to sit out and watch every-one else succeed. I make myself do it,” he said.

And when athletes ignore injuries, the conse-quences can be severe. For senior and varsity bas-ketball player Kelsey Johnson, this was the case. “ I hurt my knee in one of my games last year,” John-son said. “I went to the doctor, and she said it was nothing serious and that I could play the next week.” That was not good advice.

Johnson admits her knee still felt shaky when she decided to play again, but she didn’t want to sit out. “I didn’t think it was serious enough for me to sit out because the doctor said I was fine,” she said. “I should have listened to my body more.”

Unfortunately for Johnson, the next game she played in, she injured herself much worse. “I still thought that my injury was not serious,” she said. “But when I went to get an MRI, I found out I tore three ligaments in my knee which put me out for the rest of the season.” Johnson added she regrets not waiting longer to compete after she injured her knee the first time.

Varsity cross country coach Jamie Dudash said for his athletes it is a personal decision whether or not to participate while injured. “I ask most kids to be very frank and honest with their bodies,” he said. “I’m not in their shoes.”

Dudash also said there are times when it is OK for a student-athlete to push through the pain. “A dull pain is just wear and tear or fatigue,” he said. “If it’s a sharp pain, however, you should definitely stop. I never want to win at the expense of a young person’s body.”

Varsity basketball coach Randy Swoverland agrees, saying athletes should play if they can. “I pressure players to play as long as they have been cleared by a trainer or doctor and can’t further hurt it,” he said. “The decision is not really up to the athlete. It’s up to the trainers and doctors.”

Physical therapist Teresa Herrlinger has some tips for athletes to prevent injuries in the first place. “Athletes need to warm up before training and play-ing with light stretching,” Herrlinger said. “They also need to train in their sport to build strength and flexibility.”

As for preventing athletes form re-injuring them-selves, Herrlinger said, “They need to make sure they do the rehabilitation exercises and are cleared by a physician before returning to full contact.”

Herrlinger added that a big part of preventing re-injuring yourself is finding out what caused the injury in the first place. She said, “When you know the cause, you can easily learn how to prevent it.”

Passion pressures athletes to play while injured

Eating disorder overcome through reflectionMichelle Chirby

copy editor

Celia Kuzonhealth and arts editor

“You need to find

something outside that obsession, some-

thing from the real world that you can

grab onto.”

- Carolyn* senior

Concussion: Injury to the brain due to impact against the skull, often involving loss of con-sciousness. Other symptoms include mental confusion, ringing in the ears, dizziness or headache and possible memory loss.

Fractured clavicle: The clavicle runs from the shoulder to breast bone. Ath-letes usually fracture it by falling onto an outstretched arm or shoulder, especially on a hard surface. It usually fractures in the middle and is very painful.

Inflammation of biceps tendon: The tendon of the bicep inserts into the elbow and can become inflamed if over-used. This is likely to affect weight lifters who do biceps curls and people who do a lot of writing.

Sprained Finger: Occurs when the finger is bent in a way that damages the ligaments that keep the bones together. It is common in ball games like basket-ball and football.

Shin Splints: This is the general name for pain at the front of the lower leg. The most common cause is inflammation of the sheath surrounding the bone.

Sprained Ankle: The most common ankle sprain is the inversion sprain, which is caused by the ankle turning sharply inwards. This damages the liga-ments on the outside of the ankle.

Infographic by Maria Brundage

Source: www.sportsinjuryclinic.net

Eating Disorder 101• Eating disorders include anorexia ner-vosa (chronic self-starvation), bulimia nervosa (chronic binge eating and purg-ing) and EDNOS (eating disorder not oth-erwise specified, including compulsive eating and combinations of both anorexia and bulimia)

• EDNOS is the most common form of eating disorder, followed by bulimia, then anorexia

• The main warning signs of an eating disorder include: - over concern about weight, shape, food intake and exercise- binge eating- purging- chronic dieting- drastic weight loss, gain or fluctuation- self-critical remarks about appearance - strange eating behaviors or patterns - secretive eating or food hoarding

• If you recognize someone with an eating disorder, confront them but be prepared for denial or hostility. If serious, contact an adult immediately.

Source: Judith Banker, Executive Director of the Center for Eating Disorders

Starting with the class of 2011, the requirements for graduation will change. A new state mandate called the Michigan Merit Cur-riculum will require students take four years of math and English, three years of social studies and science, a year of gym/health and a year of art.

Because of these changes, freshman will have to take more classes.

“Is it going to make school harder? Teaching harder? A little bit of both,” Assistant Principal Tim Authier said. “It’s going to be a radical change on the way we do business.”

Of these new requirements, the full required year of art is perhaps the most different. Dexter has never had an art requirement, however the new curriculum leaves a variety of options that count towards an art credit. These include playing a musical instrument in band or orchestra class, participating in the school choir, taking a photojournalism class, taking drama or any of the graphic arts classes.

“This should help us obtain the three R’s: rigor, relevance and relationships,” Authier said. “The new requirements will help challenge the students, help them grow in learning. We want them to understand what they are learning is useful in more than one way. We want the parent/teacher/student relationships to be encouraging and successful.”

In addition starting in September of 2008, the school year will

no longer be split into two semesters but three trimesters. Under a trimester system, according to counselor Gerry Holmes, trimes-ters will help students take the required classes and still have time for electives. “We will no longer have six classes a day,” she said. “We are dropping sixth hour and making each class approximately

12 minutes longer.” Under a trimester system,

each year there will be time for three more classes. Teachers hope that this will leave room for students to pick their own elec-tives. “The new requirements will not make that much of a dif-ference,” Holmes said. “Seventy percent of students already take three years of science and social studies and four years of math. It’s the other 30 percent that it will be hard on.”

While it may be hard for the 30 percent of kids, school offi cials say they are doing their best to fi gure out ways to make it easier on them. “We are accommodating students by allowing math-related courses count for math cred-its,” Holmes said. “Classes such as building trades, CAD/CAM, computer programming, accounting and business will hopefully allow students to make choices about what classes they want to take.

Not only are the class requirements changing, but the test-ing ones are as well. According to curriculum consultant Sara Danksy, the state now requires all juniors to take the Michigan Merit Exam.

This exam, which includes the ACT among other tests, is a graduation requirement, and a requirement to be eligible for the Michigan Promise scholarship of $4,000.

“This $4,000 scholarship is not based on scores from the test.” Dansky said. “But (Gov. Jennifer) Granholm has made it so that as long as you took the test, and maintained a GPA of 2.5 or higher in your fi rst two years of college, you get the $4,000.”

To reward the students who scored well on the test, the state will award an early installment of the scholarship to students who got 1s and 2s on the MME and a qualifying ACT score. “During both freshman and sophomore year, $1,000 will be awarded to the student,” Dansky said. “After they fi nish their second year of college, the remaining $2,000 will be given to them.

“While in the past, students had to pay for the ACT, the Michi-gan Merit Exam is free, but the catch is that you must take it on the days that the school offers it,” Dansky said. “Once you get your test scores back, you have one chance to retake the test: in your senior year in the fall or senior year with the juniors in the spring.”

For her part, Holmes believes that while these changes maybe harder on everyone, they are ultimately positive. She said, “It’s a lot of work for next year, but it’s exciting, and it’s good for the kids.”

7The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

art

MME requires visual, performing arts credit

VanDusen uses music training to expand her horizons

At the age of six, senior Katie VanDusen began playing the violin when a friend of her mom’s suggested how much she would enjoy practicing and playing.

“When you’re young and asked to do a sport or extra activ-ity, you don’t really know what you’re getting yourself into, but you do it anyway,” VanDusen said.

Although she said she was stoic about playing the violin at fi rst, VanDusen said her love for classical music and the violin hit hard in about seventh grade, when the music curriculum at Dexter got a little more serious.

Ten years later, VanDusen still plays the violin and is con-sidering majoring in music in college. Northwestern is one of her top choices, because she says it has a strong music pro-gram and good academics as well.

VanDusen is a strong believer that the teacher or instruc-tor a young musician like herself has, and the tools she will receive, are the most important factors to her success in music and success in general.

While she believes that a good teacher is a key role to suc-cess, it is also important to VanDusen to experience other mu-

sic in different cultures. The summer before her sophomore year, she traveled to

Europe for fi ve weeks to play in southern France and Germany. “Even though we were playing all the time,” she said, “seeing (Europe) and its culture was a great learning experience.”

Two summers ago, VanDusen received a full-ride scholar-ship (only one student per state gets this scholarship) to Inter-lochen, a camp for performing arts in northern Michigan.

This past summer, she went to Meadow Mount, an arts camp in upstate New York for seven weeks, where she was asked to practice her violin for fi ve hours per day.

Well-known cellist Yo Yo Ma was also a student at Meadow Mount years ago.

Van Dusen has also gotten to meet well-known violinists, including her favorite, Hilary Hahn, whom she got to chat with.

All of this talent and chatting with famous musicians has not always come easy though.

“What any athlete (or musician) will tell you,” she said, “is that there are always setbacks. Although I hate this analogy, it’s like a math problem. When you are given the tools (to suc-ceed), you must identify the problem and respond to that prob-lem appropriately. You’ve got to learn from your mistakes.”

She’s got talent: Senior Katie VanDusen practices her violin in the orchestra room. Van Dusen bean playing violin when she was 6.

photo by Jeff Leonard

Morgan Quiststaff writer

each year there will be time for three more classes. Teachers hope that this will leave room for students to pick their own elec-tives. “The new requirements will not make that much of a dif-ference,” Holmes said. “Seventy percent of students already take three years of science and social studies and four years of math. It’s the other 30 percent that it will be hard on.”

“ The new requirements will

help challenge students, help them

grow in learning.”- Tim Authier

assistant principal

Art by Nora Green

Ally Sutterstaff writer

Over the summer womens golf coach Fred Ligrow was put in a tough situation. Because of a U.S. Supreme Court Ruling many sports, including womens golf, was moved from a spring sport to a fall sport. So teaching new skills to incoming freshmen and current golfers was not an easy task for Ligrow.

“Time was the biggest issue,” Ligrow said. “With only a six week window, (the womens golf team) did not have as much time as they would have if we played in the spring. At the same time, each team in the state is in the same situation.”

The team was not allowed to have orga-nized practices until Aug. 9, so the time to actually prepare as a team was slim since their season started on Aug. 20.

Sophomore Jojo Parin was one golfer who was on the bubble for making the varsity team.

“(The change) didn’t give me a lot of time to prepare,” Pa-rin, who worked to try and make the team over the summer, said, “I only had the summer to get ready. Other teams proba-bly felt rushed too, especially with new freshmen coming in.” Parin did make the junior varsity team but said the change of seasons still left her stressed.

And the womens golf team was not the only team that changed from spring to fall. The mens tennis team was also put in the same situation.

“(The change) was dumb,” senior tennis player Kyle De-bruycker said, “We didn’t have the winter to train indoors. It

was a lot hotter to train over the summer, and it is a lot hotter in the fall.”

Even with the changes the tennis team is optimistic about their season.

“We made regionals last year and came in second, so I guess our goal this year is to make states again,” Debruycker

said.As for the freshmen on the mens tennis

team, Kyle Debruycker said most of them haven’t played before.

“It didn’t help the freshmen that we didn’t have the winter to train indoors. We do have one freshman on the varsity team though.”

On the other hand, Athletic Director John Robinson said scheduling the new sports went by very smooth and as planned.

“This had been coming for about five years, so once it became official we knew how we were going to handle it,” Robinson

said . “Tennis and golf were the easiest because they do not share facilities and the sequence of events was the same.” Although Robinson scheduled these new seasons, he didn’t agree with the change that occurred.

“I think the female athletes in Michigan had a good situ-ation the way the seasons were in the first place,” Robinson said. “There have been some issues getting officials for volley-ball in the fall because they work college games in the fall.”

As for the womens golf and mens tennis team, members of both teams say they look to have successful seasons.

As Debruycker said, “We’re about .500 right now, but we can be better. Our goal is to make states.”

8 The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

sports

VICTORY TOYOTA

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- (734) 254-0672

Season change leaves little break for athletes

Kurt Millerstaff writer

It is Sept. 17, and I’m pretty sure that three weeks ago, no one in the world imagined Michigan football being in the position that they are in.

From being ranked fi fth in the nation to God-only-knows what ranking they will be at the end of the season, Michigan hasn’t won a football game since Bo Schembechler died a day before last year’s Ohio State game.

I don’t know if the death of the Michigan legend permanently handicapped the program because he was the symbol of it for so long, or if Lloyd Car hasn’t been reaching his players. But every Big House fan knows the team is fi lled with talented players who could, and should, be winning championships. But Michigan has yet to live up to championship form, playing the polar opposite and sucking it up bad.

The 34-32 loss to Division 1-AA Appalachian State was the fi rst time a ranked Division 1-A team has lost to a team in 1-AA. This rattled the maize and blue pretty bad, as well as the 100,000 fans in Ann Arbor. The loss looks a lot worse on paper than it was on tele-vision In fact, I’d put 50 bucks on Appalachian State against most Division 1-A teams.

Just a week later the unthinkable happened again, though, as Michigan got stomped at home once more. The Ducks owned the Wolverines 39-7 in football, but doesn’t the food chain work the other way around? Michigan should have won that game by a mar-gin that big, not Oregon. Lloyd Carr needs to move on, let Michigan football be less conservative and win more games.

I’m not a big Michigan fan myself, and I get a lot of s--- for it from everyone around because we’re so close to the U of M. Teams around the country and their fans hate the Michigan faithful for their hostility and belligerence.

Many people know that Michigan fans are supposed to be some of the best fans in college football, but after each of the two losses, I think that is very easy to argue. The blowout on the fi eld had many inebriated souls red-faced and unhappy with the team and the sea-son.

It was annoying when people were booing the team they would have killed an Ohio State fan for just three weeks earlier. Show some loyalty and help the team that you wear on your chest and hat.

Mike Hart stepped up as a leader on the fi eld against Notre Dame and at the press conference the week beforehand. Someone on the team needed to do it. I think it was a good move to call his teammates out on playing terrible football, and it lit some kind of fi re because Michigan defi nitely had their way with the fi ghting Irish last Saturday.

The 38-0 win was surely needed, otherwise I could name a cou-ple of people on the Michigan sideline who might have lost their lives from mob rule. Although the win was a dominant one, I am still interested to see how we play against Penn State this week. It’s hard to get fanatical about last week’s win when Notre Dame hasn’t scored an offensive touchdown all season.

There are many more games to be fought by Michigan this sea-son. As long as we beat State in a couple of weeks, Michigan’s sea-son has no chance of being a complete bust. We all know that State is only good at sports you throw ping pong balls in.

Searching for loyalty

The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

The SquallThe Squall

Season change leaves

team, Kyle Debruycker said most of them haven’t played before.

didn’t have the winter to train indoors. We do have one freshman on the varsity team though.”

Robinson said scheduling the new sports went by very smooth and as planned.

years, so once it became official we knew how we were going to handle it,” Robinson

“ (The change) was dumb. We didn’t

have the winter to train indoors.”

- Kyle Debruycker,senior

photos by Jeff Leonardphoto illustration by Val Argiero

Beatin’ Beavers Since 2006

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A change of seasons: Senior Kyle Debruycker is one of many students affected by the change of sports seasons. Debruyckers sport, mens tennis, moved from a spring sport to a fall sport as a result of a Supreme Court ruling against the Michigan High School Athletic Association

Charlie PettitSports Editor

Michigan football by the numbers

126 fi rst team All-Americans

18-20 in bowl games

456-164-18 in Big 10 games

57-40-6 versus Ohio State

862-283-36 versus Division 1-A teams

0-1 versus Division 1-AA teamsSource: bentley.umich.edu

The defending state champion soccer team had their regularly planned game on Aug. 30, but the football team had an unusual schedule that week, resulting in a home game versus Pioneer on the same day. So which team did senior Adam Umstead choose to play for?

Well, both. You see, Umstead deviates from the normal path taken by stu-dent athletes.

He’s a two-sport athlete, but both sports happen to take place during the same season.

After earning a victory on the soccer field that day, Umstead was then escorted to Al Ritt Field on a Gator and suited up to kick for the football team. This sounds like a tiring day, but all Umstead said was, “It wasn’t too bad.“

So what would inspire someone to take on

much a hectic daily schedule of school an sports? “I’ve just always wanted to try football,” Umstead, a soccer player since the age of five, said.

According to his coaches, Umstead has a great work ethic, something needed to pull of such

a challenge. “He does a great job,” football coach Tom Barbieri said. “Some-thing like this isn’t easy so he communicates well and works hard.”

His leadership skills also come into play with both his sports. “Adam leads in a quiet sort of way,” soccer coach Scott Forrester said. “When-ever we’re doing sprints or drills he always gives it his all.”

And while some coaches might be concerned about their players playing two sports, Forrester and Barbieri aren’t worried. “It hasn’t got in the way so far, and it’s always good to give opportuni-ties like this to athletes,” Forrester said.

Barbieri added, “It’s really great. We talked about playing football last year during track sea-son, and this year we settled things out.”

With the majority of his time devoted to sports, Umstead must manage time for schoolwork as well.

And when it comes to school, Umstead accom-plishes something many students have trouble with, he finishes his homework. “I just do it,” Um-stead said, “usually before I go to practice.”

And for now, Umstead finds more enjoyment playing football. “Football is new to me so it’s more fun right now,” he said.

According to Umstead, there is a different feeling when he plays on each field. “It’s exciting during football games because there’s a lot more people watching you.”

Senior Phil Huddleston, a soccer teammate, said, “I think it’s fine. As long as he doesn’t get in-jured and enjoys both sports, I don’t have a prob-lem with it.”

So while it may seem hectic, Umstead said he loves playing both sports. “It’s been tough but ex-citing,” he said. “I really love playing both sports, so it’s been fun.”

9The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

sports

“ It’s been tough but exciting. I really love playing both sports.”

- Adam Umstead, senior

The first home football game of the season started out like any other football game. The familiar sounds of the band filled the stadium along with the cheers from the student section going.

However, it wasn’t the football game itself that made this game unlike any other, it was the performances from both the dance team and the cheerleaders that made this game one to remember.

It was the first football game where both the dance team and the cheerleaders cheered on the sidelines. And this lead to a conflict between the two teams.

Although this was the first game that the dancers cheered on the sidelines, they had been wanting to do it since last season, according to senior Ashley Clark, one of the varsity dance captains.

However, all of this was confusing to senior Chelsea Reardon, the varsity cheer captain, who said it’s always been cheerleaders on the sidelines and the dancers at half time.

“It’s hard to know what were supposed to do,” Chelsea said. “It’s always kind of been what we do, and then the dance team does the half-time show.”

The varsity cheer coach, Doreen Reardon, and the varsity dance

coach, Joanna Shipley, said they didn’t want to comment except to say that each team is trying to find a compromise that will benefit both.

Clark though said part of the problem is the dance team would like a bigger role at the football games.

“It’s just like, (the cheerleaders) get to cheer the whole game,” Clark said. “And we only get to do a half-time show.”

Athletic Director John Robinson said he is confident the problem can be solved if the coaches sit down and talk about the situa-tion.

“It’s just a matter of communicating, the coaches and myself. And with that, we will do what we can to resolve this issue,” Rob-inson said.

Chelsea agrees and said that this commu-nication has already begun.

“We’ve talked to the dance team about them doing like a pre-game show and then the half-time show,” Chelsea said. “And then we could just do the sidelines.”

And despite their current conflict, members of both teams say they don’t want to start an inter-school rivalry.

Chelsea said, “I hope that the drama will end and that this whole thing won’t be a problem.”

Umstead participates in multiple sports

Dancers and cheerleaders search for resolution

“ It’s just like (the cheerleaders) get

to cheer the whole game.”

-Ashley Clark,senior

Alex Everardstaff writer

Kaitlyn Shepardstaff writer

Playing the fields: Umstead looks to the field during the Bedford game.

Kickin’ it: Senior Adam Umstead works at soccer practice. Umstead said he likes to play an active role during practice so he is ready ongame day.

Photo by Valentino Argiero

Photo by Leah Gibson

Cheering on the team: Senior cheer captain Chelsea Reardon performs during a football game. The cheer and dance teams have been in conflict about who gets to perform at halftime of the games.

Photo by Jeff Leonard

Teams dispute who gets to perform on track during home football games, both say they hope for fair compromise

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1010 The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

columns

From: Your local army recruiterTo: Dexter High School seniorsRe: Your future

Congratulations, you are one year away from graduation, and your future is just over the horizon. What better

place to start than Iraq or Afghanistan? You’re sure to get a great tan. It’s sunny 365 days a year.

There has never been a better time to join our country’s armed forces. Due to 3,776 deaths since Desert Storm II started, you’re sure to get right in on the action. No waiting in line. After nine short weeks of basic training, you’ll be on the first plane to Baghdad or Kabul.

Are you sick of dreary Michigan weather? Baghdad’s average high temperature is 86 degrees, including average highs of more than 100 degrees June through September.

If that’s not hot enough for you, don’t forget the rise in body heat due to wearing 45 to 65 pounds of equipment everywhere you go. And that doesn’t even include body armor, which we recommend. Got to protect the biscuits, not to mention all of your vital organs.

Don’t forget about the enlistment bonus. On average you’ll receive about $8,000 just for signing up and some people receive bonuses of up to $40,000. That money will really come in handy when you need to hire people to help you with everyday tasks after you’ve stepped on an improvised explosive device.

If the heat, quick action and great bonus don’t entice you, the job security sure will. Without any idea of when the United States will end their occupation of Iraq, you’re sure to be there for who knows how long.

Not to mention Senator Charles Rangel (D- N.Y.) has proposed a bill to reinstitute the military draft to provide soldiers for possible military actions in Iran and North Korea. With all the new members, it’ll be a great way to make new friends.

Do you like lying on couches and talking to people about your feelings and deepest thoughts? One in 10 soldiers moves to a hospital due to psychological issues, so you’ll have a whole staff of psychologists ready and waiting to listen to you.

If you have any more questions, feel free to visit me at my air-conditioned office in Suburbia, USA, free of gunfire, land mines and mental strife.

However, please do not contact me prior to Jan. 20, 2009 as I will still be occupying my current job and will not yet have assumed my post as head recruiter. If you must contact me please do so by letter at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washinton, D.C.

You are an average teenage guy. It’s a Saturday night. Your friend calls you to see if you want to hang out.

They ask what you’re doing and you hesitate. “Nothing.” You say that, but in reality you are in the middle of Soap Net-work’s weekend marathon. You are not alone.

Nobody readily admits to having guilty pleasures, but ev-eryone has at least one. These can be music, movies, televi-sion shows, web sites or undergarments. But my question is, why should we feel guilty?

If I like to rock out to the acoustic version of Jessica Simpson’s album, I shouldn’t have to hide it from my friends. Maybe her voice makes me melt as soon as I hear it, and may-be I like that feeling.

I should be able to feel completely com-fortable reading Harry Potter at the lunch table. Who doesn’t wish they were a wiz-ard? Nobody was as sad as me to see the series end, although it was a spectacular ending, and I cannot wait until the rest of the movies are released.

That is a whole other topic though, and the point is, I should be able to proudly read the books without getting laughed at by mere muggles.

Being the president of the unofficial Rosie O’Donnell fan club is an accom-plishment to be proud of. I don’t think my friends would agree, but I don’t need their approval to know that Rosie is an idol for all Americans.

So what if I love all of the Olsen twins’ movies? They are great actors, and they make amazing films. I want to be able to watch them with other people, not just with the cardboard cutout of the twins that I have in my bedroom. And don’t judge that either.

Maybe I do have every season of “Laguna Beach” on DVD, and maybe I do watch them all twice a week. But maybe I don’t, and why should it matter?

So I propose a movement. Everyone reveal your guilty

pleasure. Don’t bottle it up anymore; I certainly can’t. There are a few things you may want to keep to yourself, though.

For instance, if you like to wear women’s’ underwear, and you are not, in fact, a woman, you might want to keep that on

the “DL”. If you like to smell a certain girl’s hair

when she is not looking, you should prob-ably hold up on revealing that. It just works out better for both parties.

Perhaps you enjoy an occasional booger snack. You should probably not do this a whole lot in public. You should also stop for your own health.

If you randomly drive by the house of a person who you like just to see if they are home, just tell the person you like them and stop being creepy.

Most importantly, if your particular guilty pleasure has to do with any harmful or potentially il-legal actions, such as stalking, stealing, underage “partners” and so forth, I would recommend breaking the habit. At this point you will have crossed that very definite line between guilty pleasures and pleasures punishable by law.

What I’m really suggesting is to not feel so guilty about these little pleasures. Take your time. Don’t try to reveal everything at once.

Will you get laughed at, humiliated or shunned? Perhaps. But at least you can go home and finish your soap opera mar-athon.

If I offend any members of PETA, The NAACP or The Whoopi Goldberg fan

club, which I believe is inevitable, I apolo-gize. Kind of.

In recent months you would have had to be under a rock to not hear about At-lanta Falcons quarterback and winner of Hunter Lyons annual “You Gave Up Over $100 Million Because You’re a Dumbass” award, Michael Vick, being accused of and eventually admitting to conspiracy of dog fighting. Vick is on trial for whether or not he killed dogs.

I would like to point out that I am an avid dog lover and have two of my own. Dog fighting is illegal, and anyone who is involved in it should be prosecuted. Though Vick is a true moron, others have attempted to trump him by saying some of the most absurd things one could think of in the past few weeks. I have made a small list of people who have tried and have come oh-so close to trumping Vick.

First, everyone’s favorite dread locked, not-very-funny celebrity Whoopi Gold-berg. This Bob Marley look-a-like made her debut on my favorite ABC morning show “The View” and proceeded to do the unthinkable, justify someone killing

a dog. She went on to say something to the ex-

tent of, this is how he was raised, and it’s not uncommon for someone in his envi-ronment to do this. Goldberg should be a defense attorney. I could just see her get-ting every client of hers a not guilty call, pleading, “That’s how they were raised.”

KKK members are raised to hate blacks, Jews and homosexuals, but that’s OK ac-cording to Goldberg because that’s how they were “raised.” Come on Whoopi, go back to making unfunny comedies and hosting telethons with Gilbert Gott-fried.

Then there’s no one’s favorite over-rated, bald point guard, Stephon Marbury. Though I respect Marbury for his effort to make basketball shoes more affordable for parents, his recent comments make me question if he actu-ally came up with that marketing strat-egy.

Marbury compared dog fighting to shooting deer and hunting other animals and also said dogfighting was a sport, just an underground one. That’s great and a wonderful thing to say if he plans to go from the 68 fans he currently has to one.

The one problem with Marbury’s the-ory is that whole thing about dog fight-ing being illegal. Yeah, it might be un-derground, but so is drug smuggling and

transgender prostitution, neither of which I think the American people are big fans of. Choose your words wisely, Stephon.

Number three on my list that you’re hoping will end soon is, surprisingly, PETA. Yeah, I said it.

I believe what PETA does for animals is great. I’m a firm believer in animal rights, but I just have to believe people have to have something better to do for five days than stand outside a courthouse holding a homemade sign. I mean, if you have that much time, get a job. And if you

have a job and are skip-ping work for this, save those vacation days for something else PETA-re-lated, something where you actually engage in an activity rather than take up parking spots downtown.

And now for the man of the hour, standing at at a staggering 6’0” tall 215 lbs out of Virginia Tech, future starting quaterback of the Rich-

mond Virginia Correctional Facilty foot-ball team, Michael Vick. This guy went from terrorizing defenses on Sundays to having to pick up garbage on the freeway every Sunday morning.

But don’t worry, Mr. Vick. Those same fundamentals you’ve been taught your whole life playing football will help youin prison. Coaches, I’m sure, have always told you to hold on to the ball. And simi-lar in prison. But this time it’s the soap you should hang on to.

David PisanoOpinions Editor

Austin ShapiroEditor-In-Chief

when she is not looking, you should prob-ably hold up on revealing that. It just works out better for both parties.

booger snack. You should probably not do this a whole lot in public. You should also stop for your own health.

a person who you like just to see if they are home, just tell the person you like them and stop being creepy.

“ If I like to rock out to the acoustic

version of Jessica Simpson’s album,

I shouldn’t have to hide it from my

friends.”

ping work for this, save those vacation days for something else PETA-re-lated, something where you actually engage in an activity rather than take up parking spots downtown.

of the hoat a staggering 6’215 lbs out of Virginia Tech, future starting quaterback of the Rich-

“ Though Vick is a true moron, others

have attempted to trump him by

saying some of the most absurd things

in the past few weeks.

Hunter LyonsU-Page Editor

It feels good to be guilty

We Want You

Vick brings out the worst

War Facts and Figures• Total war costs are estimated at about $455 billion as of 9/24/07

• 27,936 soldiers have been wounded

• 3,798 deaths have been reported since the start of the war

• Only 148 soldiers died in the fi rst Gulf War

• On average about 2.5 soldiers die each day

Source: www.nationalprioities.org

11The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

editorial

Earlier start not so bad Early start detrimentalFor a lot of kids getting up

for school is the worst part of their day.

For them the earlier they get up the worse it is. With class this year starting five minutes earlier, getting up for school will become that much harder.

Besides the obvious effect of having to

wake five min-

utes

earlier, starting school five minutes sooner may have an effect on student perfor-mance in school.

Research in the 1990ʼs showed that teenagers are biologically prone to going to sleep late at night and waking up later in the morn-ing, which contradicts how most public high schools are scheduled now.

Studies have shown that teenage kids are better off waking up early and going to bed later.

Even though five minutes may not make much of a difference it all adds up.

Three years ago Dex-ter High School started at 7:50 and now it starts at 7:35.

According to the Na-tional Sleep Foundation 60 percent of teens under

18 complain of being tired and 15 percent of teens say

they sleep in class. A study done by Dr. Kayla

Wahlstrom at the Univer-sity of Minnesota on the MInneapolis school district

showed the effect pushing back school hours when they moved back their school start times from 7:15 to 8:40.

Grades as well as atten-dance went up at the school as a result.

According to the study problems such as depres-sion, tardiness, poor grades and obesity can be linked to sleep deprivation.

Teen sleep problems were brought to light in congress in 2003 when Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced a congressional resolution to encourage public schools to start no earlier than 8:30 by granting $25,000 to each school.

For teens, getting up ear-lier for school can be detri-mental to their grades and health.

If anything high schools should be pushing their start times later.

Anytime school starts earlier its a step in the wrong direction.

By Joe Sayre

There it is. The sound of the demon alarm clock that wakes you up every morning.For all you demon-pos-sessed alarm clock own-ers, there was bad news starting Sept. 4. That demon will be going off a little sooner this school year because school starts five min-utes earlier. Before you blame DHS administrators for this change, Principal Kit Moran wants to as-sure students that the change was not his idea. “(The start time) was a decision that was made by the transporta-tion department,” Moran said. “They basically said we need to have you out five minutes early, and because the Trans-portation Department has control over a few

thousand kids a day, we had to say OK.” Those of you who drive to school will be affected the least. If you ride the bus, the start time may affect you, in terms of bus times, but those effects will be minimal. This change could be a good thing. It teaches you how to manage your time wisely if it is cut into, and it teaches you how to get where you need to go and do what you need to do in a reasonable time. According to Moran, most of the benefits have to do with ath-letes. “If you play sports, you get five more minutes of practice, so thatʼs a little bit of a benefit,” he said. There is also benefit for students who have to get to work after school.

If you donʼt mind it, that part of your day will potentially not af-fect you. Next time you hear that demon alarm clock go off, remember, itʼs not so bad. There are lots of benefits, especially for athletes and those who have jobs.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

Austin ShapiroMANAGING EDITOR:

Scott Crompton

EDITORS

DESIGN: Candice Wiesner

FEATURES: Katie Johnson

ENTERTAINMENT: Ryan AliapoliousNEWS: Heather SillerOPINIONS: David PisanoPHOTO: Jeff LeonardSPORTS: Charlie PettitCOPY: Maria Brundage & Michelle Chirby

MANAGERS

ADVERTISMENT: Lisa Richie & Caitlin Henderson

STAFF WRITERS

Ryan Aliapoulios, David Bays, Kyle Boren, Kevin Butler, Shantal Daratony, Alex Everard, Leah Gibson, Matthew Kaas, Pat Ledwidge, Ian McCarthy, Kurt Miller, Brent Muse, Mor-gan Quist, Joe Sayre, Olivia Scheffler, Kaitlyn Shepard, Alexis Sobczak, Karly Stanislovaitis, Allison Sutter, Kevin Yarows

ADVISER: Rod Satterthwaite

POLICY:

The Squall is distributed monthly to 1,083 students and is estimated to reach 4,332 people with each issue. The Squall is printed by Morning Star Publishing in Mt. Pleasant, MI, and produced by the first and second hour newspaper class.

TALK BACK:

The Squall is an open forum for student ex-pression. It accepts letters to the editor from any and all concerned parties. The Squall reserves the right to screen and/or edit any and all letters for inappropriate content and length. All letters must be signed. Requests to remain anonymous will be considered by the editorial board.

SquallTHE

Disordered start hurts students Crowded classes, half-empty sched-ules and widespread confusion followed the new school year with zeal. Many students arrived at the high school with-out their schedules or any idea of what would happen on their first day. Compounding the confusion, new teachers are still being hired and new “classrooms” have been created from such rooms as the teacher lounge. To further the disorganization, the schoolʼs water supply still isnʼt drinkable. We would have liked to see admin-istrators take more time to organize the start of the school year including the mailing out of schedules to students before the year began. In previous years all students re-ceived a package in the mail containing information about classes, locker codes, dates for schedule changes and general

topics of the upcoming year. How-ever, no such package was delivered in August, and counselors spent more than two weeks rescheduling- a direct result of this poor preparation. The administration did have a quite a bit on their plates over the summer including the hefty task of making room for many new students (approximately 80). In addition, their original efforts to fix the water system did not improve the situation. The copper continued to leak from the pipes into the water making it unfit to drink. Another difficulty arose from the transition between the old and new cur-riculums now required for all the in-coming freshmen and the teachers who needed to be hired to follow it. How-ever, nearly all of these setbacks could have been foreseen (except for maybe

the water system). Dexterʼs population has been steadily increasing leading to more new students every year. Even more this year should not have been surprising. The new curriculum was passed over a year ago and schedules were started before the summer even began. We think administrators should have used their time more efficiently during the last school year to prepare for the current one. Packets should have been mailed out containing important information to students near the end of the summer va-cation to inform them of any problems that they might face; better communica-tion to the students about the various setbacks would have been appreciated as well. Hindsight may be 20/20 but foresight shouldnʼt need a prescription.

the allSQUALL

call:

PRO/CONKarly Stanislovaitisstaff writer

cartoon by Nora Green

12 The SquallFriday, September 28, 2007

photostory

Homecoming

Float Building Parade

Court Dance

Right: Drum major and senior Andrew Monson stands at attention. “Our performance was solid, we’ve been getting some good vibes this year," he said.

Below: Fotball player and senior Adam Umstead had two kick returns in the game, one to the Tecumseh 30 yard line and the other for a TD.

Senior Michelle Chirby leades the varsity dance team during pregame ceremonies. Chirby said the dance team practices three times per week and generally works on two dances at a time.

Right: Seniors Brad Williams and Bekah Wil-liamson stand together after being announced as king and queen.

Below: The court lines up at the pep assembly as they are announced to the student body.

A group of seniors gather for a quick picture at the dance.

Seniors Chris Marsh with Shantal Daratony celebrate with friends.

Senior Kaitlin Herring enjoys a slow dance with boyfriend and 2007 graduate Ben Neubauer.

Right: Senior Emily Everard works on pomping the senior fl oat. The senior’s “Scrubs” fl oat took second place in the parade.

Below: Sophomore Gabe Altomare paints the sophomore sign. Altomore said, “We had just enough dedicated people to get the fl oat done.”

Junior class adviser Ryan.

Baese and English teacher Zach

Lindke cut wood for the junior

fl oat. “I was living the dream,” said

Lindke of helping with fl oat building.

Left: The marching band par-ticipates in the homecoming parade. The parade looped through all of the schools and through town before ending back at DHS.

Below: The senior court rides on their second place “Scrubs” fl oat. The court included King Brad Wiliams and Queen Bekah Williamson. “Hanging out on the fl oat with everyone was the best time,” Williamson said.

Students line the sidewalk after school to watch the parade go by.

The kickoff of spirit week was Sept. 16 and ending with the dance on Sept. 22.

During homecoming week, students worked on fl oats for the parade, and showed up to sup-port their Dreadnaughts as they took on Tecum-seh in football.

Many students said they love getting involved during homecoming week, “Its really exciting for students. You have the football game, the dance. It’s just all fun,” sophomore Alex Dobbs said.

The theme for the fl oats this year was TV Shows.

The seniors went with “Scrubs,” the juniors had “Legends of the Hidden Temple,” sopho-mores got “Survivor,” and the freshman went with “Pokemon.”

Football players played the homecoming game at Al Ritt Field in front of a lively crowd of stu-dents and parents. The end result was a 38-21 loss.

The week ended with a commons area packed with students at the Homecoming Dance.

photo illustration by Jeff Leonard

all photos by Jeff Leonard