The Student Newspaper of Mars High School

PLANET PRESS TH

E

April 2018 Volume 89 Issue 8

The Mars High School chapter of the FBLA found success at the State Leadership Conference on April 8-11. First year advisor and Accounting teacher, Mr. Myler, guided the team. “FBLA is a lot of fun and we have a great group of students here so that made things a lot easier to take on while in my first year at Mars,” said Mr. Myler In order to compete at the State Conference, stu-dents had to pass an ob-jective test and place in first or second in their re-gion. Seven students quali-fied from Mars to attend. “FBLA events are a great opportunity to not only test your knowledge against other students in the state, but to also find areas of interest that you may want to learn more about or go into for a future career,” said Mr. Myler. The Hershey Lodge and Convention Center, as well as the Hershey Hotel, played host to the event. The first two days, the teams took their first round tests. Seniors, Luke

Diel and Chase Reck competed in the Global Business category, jun-iors Alexis Bonifate and Anastasia Bonifate, as well as senior Ashley Parham competed in Marketing,

junior Matthew Olsen competed in the Accounting II competition and freshman Andrew Riska competed

in Introduction to Financial Math. To qualify for state awards, the teams had to place in the top 10 of their events. Upon doing so, some of the events required for the final-

ists to give a performance to rank the remaining teams. The top four competitors for each event qualify

FBLA students place at state business competition

By Alexis Bonifate

to compete at the National Confer-ence. The Marketing team learned that they had qualified for the perfor-mance round of competition a few

hours after taking their objective test. Next, the Marketing Team gave a presentation to judges that made them role play a scenario. Competitors were sequestered into a conference room for four hours, while each team was indi-vidually called to prep for the event. The Awards Ceremony closed out the conference. As each event was called, the names of the final qualifiers flashed up on the screen and were asked to come on stage. During this, Mat-thew Olsen qualified for a state award and ended up taking sev-enth place in his event. For Mar-keting, it was announced that the team took second place in the state and qualified for national competition. Mars’ qualifiers now look for-ward to attending the National Leadership Conference in Balti-more, Md. on June 26-July 2

2018.

FBLA Competitors at the State Conference L to R: Matthew Olsen, Andrew Riska, Luke Diel, Chase Reck, Ashley Parham, Anastasia Bonifate,

Alexis Bonifate Photo by Mr. Myler

Wallop’s Island field trip allows for hands-on fun for students By Alexis Bonifate

Trip Participants before going into the Salt Marsh

Mars Students visit the beaches of Chincoteague and Assateague

Islands in Virginia

Trip Participants after going into the Salt Marsh

Below: Junior Veronica Shaffer, senior Elias Manjerovic, and sophomore Emi-ly Hayward are all smiles after going

into the Salt Marsh

Left: Juniors, Sam Jocuns, Alexis Bonifate, Miranda Williams, and Teressa Wesley con-

duct experiments to test salt water

Photos courtesy of Miranda Williams, Amelia Haley, and Alexis Bonifate

Inside this Issue

PAGE 1 –FBLA/WALLOP’S ISLAND PAGE 3 –TRACK/STUDENT COUNCIL

Planet Press Volume 89 Issue 8 Features 2

“Senioritis has gotten the best of me,” said Jack Ford. “I’ve given up, I’m already accepted into college,” adds Bret Rinaman. With their college commitments settled, seniors like Ford, Rinaman, and Richie Kaminski see no reason to waste any more effort on their final high school assignments. They have fallen victim to senioritis. What exactly is senioritis anyways? “Senioritis is the fact that you get out of school early, and take a four-hour nap as soon as you get home,” said Kaminski. “Not wanting to do homework. Not wanting to do anything in school, just sit there and play on your com-puter,” adds Ford. For Rinaman, senioritis can best be described as “Blowing off clas-ses; I think I’ve skipped a couple classes honestly and not cared,” she added. Having no motivation or care in the world, Rinaman, Kaminski, and Ford are all ready to leave Mars High and move to their next life milestone: college. Rinaman plans to attend Lockhaven University, Kaminski Xaiver University, and Ford has committed to The University of Day-ton. “Last year I used to come to school every day, I’d never miss a day of school. This year I think I have 30 absences,” said Rinaman. Kimisnki and Ford have also taken to notice that their nap times have increased, while they’re homework has decreased. “They’re indirectly proportional,” said Kaminski. Regarding grades, the three agreed with two simple words: “It’s over.” As much as we all wish this school year was over, there are still six long weeks left, and I can think of more than two words to describe my frustrations about that.

Prom Trends By Sophia Monteleone Senioritis

overpowers the class of 2018 By Lindsay Scott

FLORAL Floral has been a popular print for a long time, but this year the trend is to have larger flower like roses all over the gown with either a matching bodice or a corresponding color bodice. Floral gowns are rarely tight, but often form fitting at the top with a full skirt so the pattern can be on full display.

TRAINS Trains add a regal flair to some plain dresses, or even the most bedazzled dress. Trains have been appearing on dresses of all price ranges, from Sherri Hill to the bargain website PromGirl. They make any dress seem luxuri-ous, which is what every girl wants to feel like on prom night.

OFF THE SHOULDER Off the shoulder shirts and dresses have been popular since the summer-time because of the flattering cut. It is very easy to find an off the shoulder cut that will flatter you, which is why it has become a prom dress staple. Off the shoulder also looks very classy, be-cause it is more revealing than a long sleeved dress, but less high mainte-nance then a sleeveless gown.

Are you one of the few people who don’t have a prom dress? Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of dresses left in stores. Here’s a guide to the trendiest prom styles this season.

SATIN Satin is a luxurious fabric that is actually pretty affordable. Satin has been a sleepwear staple for years, however the thicker, richer shine satin has been making its way into the fashion game for almost two years now. Satin gowns often feature a lot of ruffled layering that add to the luxurious effect, and are often in bright jewel tones with minimal sequins and gems.

PromGirl Long Off the shoulder satin prom dress

Sherri Hill #51792 Sherri Hill #52046

Plum mermaid open back dress

MOVIE REVIEW: Love, Simon

By Madison Ceasar

Becky Albertalli’s book, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, was adapted into a heart-warming movie titled Love, Simon. I decided I would go see it for myself the day it came out. After reading Albertalli’s book, I was extremely excited to get to see this movie. I had a really strong at-tachment to the novel, and I honestly couldn’t be hap-pier that a movie was coming out. It’s very hard to come across a movie that meets the high stand-ards a book has set, so I was curious if Love, Simon would hit the expectations. After settling into the movie theater with a few of my friends, the atmos-phere of the room was very special. It was very open and I felt as if I could be my au-thentic self. Everyone around me felt almost identical. While talking to some people at the movie theater, student and movie goer, Mathew Cosco, said that the atmosphere felt “very safe and ac-cepting.” As a rom-com movie, Love, Simon was not a bit cheesy. In fact, it felt very real. The story line follows a teenager named Simon, who realiz-

es he is gay, but is terrified to come out. He has a good circle of friends; however, he doesn’t know how they will react. Simon begins to share anonymous emails to a user named “Blue,” who also happens to be gay. Slowly, they begin to fall in love. However, this is not like every other love story, it is surprisingly

different. Simon deals with issues that people of the LGBTQIA+ com-munity face every day. His personal life comes to a crisis after the an-tagonist discovers his secret. In my opinion, a movie like Love, Simon was needed a long time ago. After hundreds of films show-ing heteronormativity, it was re-freshing to see new content. I think

that this movie is very important for people of every sexual orientation to see. This movie was heartwarming and touching and shows that eve-ryone should be treated the same regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. I think that for someone strug-

gling with their identity, this movie could really offer some helpful advice. For someone struggling with homophobic people, this movie could potentially save their life. I know that for

me, it showed not everyone is unaccepting.

Sometimes, it feels like everyone is against you, and it is scary to have people who won’t like you due to who you love; however, this movie proved that there are so many supporting people out there. All in all, I am looking forward to watching Love, Simon again. It was a beautifully directed movie that had a special impact on my life.

A scene in Love, Simon where Simon is hanging out with his friends Abby and Leah. Photo courtesy of google.com

Seniors, Jack Ford, Richie Kaminski, and Brett Rinaman attempt to over-come Senioritis. Photo by Lindsay Scott

Reporters: Alexis Bonifate, Maddie

Ceasar, Michael Crowley, Mia Gonzalez-Reese, Melissa Heintzinger, Julia McCarty,

Ian Schauble, Lindsey Scott, and Ryan Skur-ka

Editor In-Chief: Melissa Heintzinger

The Planet Press is a student-to-student newspaper

published on a monthly basis.

All editorials are strictly the opinions of their

authors and in no way reflect the position of this

newspaper.

Adviser: Mrs. Hock

Student council represents Mars

at board meeting By Ian Schauble THE PLANET PRESS 2017-18

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Sports Planet Press Volume 89 Issue 8

Tennis team shows resilience despite tough competition By Julia McCarty

The Mars boy’s tennis team faced tough weather and competition this spring. “The boys fought through some nasty weather and a tough section, but found a way to win some matches and have some fun in the mean-time,” said Mr. Varlotta, one of the coaches. Despite obsta-cles, the tennis team, made up primarily of seniors, have managed to be pos-itive. “It was an uphill battle but we had a lot of fun fighting it,” said sopho-more and first doubles player Mi-chael Crowley.

The team is made up of seniors Zach Greene, Graham Strano, Deepayan Patra, Nathan Walker, John Knotts, Dan Feathers, Duncan Price, and Jacob Ryan; juniors Nick

Ryan, Nico Bru-no and Jack Kepreos; and sopho-more Michael Crowley. The freshmen include Paul Walker, Trent Irwin, Ryan Pasko, Pat Clark, Ian

Buttermore, Nathan Skomo, and Anthony Bruno. The season will ended with a match at Beaver Area High School on April 26.

Track throwers thriving

Mars track claims section title By Lindsay Scott

The Mars Boys’ Track and Field team is thriving this season, and with only one playoff game left, the team has already claimed the title of section champs. The last time the team won the title of section champions was in 2015. For competitors like Junior Cap-tain Hunter Boyd, this season has been all that he could hope for. “I’m really involved in football as well, and [being section champs] has always been out of our reach. So to do it in track is really, really, cool. I love to see the flags with our year [in the school gym],” said Boyd. “To be a part of the team and say we’re section champs is really cool,” Boyd added. Boyd has set per-sonal records multi-ple times this sea-son. “Hands down shot put was Hampton this year, I threw 42 feet six and a half inches,” said Boyd. Boyd’s best throw in the event, dis-cus, was at Kiski where he threw one hundred and ten feet six inches. His best throw in javelin was also at Kiski where he threw one hundred twenty-one feet, and 11 inches. In the last meet against Armstrong, the boy’s throwing team earned 24 of the 27 points avail-able in the field events shotput, discus, and javelin. At Armstrong, Boyd took first in shotput and discus, and placed sec-ond in javelin. The throwing team’s contribution to the team has in-creased tremendously as the sea-son has progressed. Against Kiski, the team took all three places in javelin, of which Boyd placed second in the event. Boyd also took first place in shotput and discus.

At Knoch, Boyd earned 11 points by placing second in shotput and dis-cus, and first in javelin. Not only has the throwing team vastly contributed to the track and field team, but have also grown clos-er due to the success. Boyd credits his success to his “teammates all the way,” adding that “it’s completely different throwing out there when no one’s cheering you on, but there’s a big difference whenever you have your team there,” said Boyd. The success of the boys’ throwing team has not only been pleasing to the coaches, but the throwing team’s captain as well. The throwing team works hard eve-ry practice to place at every meet,

whether it’s drilling, lifting, or throwing in the field, the boys give it their all. “I demand the absolute best from them. I don’t like seeing them screw around at practice. I like everyone to give one hun-dred percent when we throw,” said Boyd, “demanding the best that they can give I think is appli-cable to any real life situa-tion, you al-ways want to put your best foot forward,” he added.

The team’s final regular season meet was at home against Highlands, April 17. From there the best athletes of the Track and Field team will continue on to invites. Two meets will be held at the Mars Athletic Complex, and the final invite will be at Pine Richland, and from there WPIAL’s. To all track athletes good luck, and to the throwers especially, throw on.

By Ryan Skurka

The Pittsburgh Pirates over a span of two years seem to be col-lapsing. Many fans were disappointed at management for the team when they got rid of assets, Andrew McCutchen and Garret Cole. Man-agement’s downfall is noted by some key facts that go into play. First, attendance at Pirates games has plummeted over the years. Last season was the worst it has been. For the second year in a row, overall attendance has dropped. In 2016, there were 2,249,201 fans, which fell to 1,919,447 last year. Currently, attendance is 60,103 fans, according to BaseballRefer-ence.com. Secondly, the [baseball] club has slashed payroll this winter, and ac-

cording to GM Neal Huntington, “another wave of unpopular deci-sions” lay ahead. This year, the Pirates are looking to turn that around and are being successful in doing so. The Pirates have started the season with a four-game winning streak and are leading the National League (NL) Central Division with a record of 17-11. The Chicago Cubs are behind them with a record of 15-10 putting them a half game behind Pitts-burgh. Even though the Pirates attend-ance is weak, there is still time to put fans in the stands. The Pirates hope to make a push for the playoffs and keep this winning streak up.

Student Council Members met with the school board earlier this month for their quarterly meeting. Anna Schauble and How-ard Huang repre-sented the Stu-dent Council. The two stu-dents detailed Student Council’s fundrais-ing effort for Ani-mal Friends

Mars Boys’ tennis team, including coaches Mr. Knauff and Mr. Varlotta. Photo by tennis

Junior, Hunter Boyd steps into the ring, prepping to throw using spin technique. Photo by Hunter Boyd

Shelter. The Council then prepped care packages for animals, which includ-

ed food and toys. Students prepared 150 care packages and 450 toys for rabbits, dogs, and cats. For the oc-casion, STUC-CO held a convention in the high school gym to present the donations to Animal Friends. “We were so excited about the turnout,”

Alyssa Machi and Anna Schauble present charity bags to Animal Friends. Photo by Anna Schauble

Schauble commented. At the event, students were wel-comed to bring their own pets to help them celebrate. Some students were invited to Animal friends for a tour of the facil-ity. The donated toys will go to the sheltered animals. Anna Schauble, who spearhead-ed the event, was proud of STUC-CO’s efforts. “This is exactly what Student Council is for, helping people out,” Schauble stated.