BY KRZYS CHWALA & SHREYA THAKKAREditors-in-Chief

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

connecting to heritage

Movies and high school stereotypes

dedication unrelated to playing time

VOLUME 55, ISSUE 1

Page 8-9 Page 13 Page 14

Junior Emilia Wojcik stays connected to her Polish roots by Polish folk dancing at her church.

Students discuss whether movies impacted their view of high school.

For athletes, playing time isn’t everything when it comes to being on a team.

801 WEST KENSINGTON ROAD, MOUNT PROSPECT, ILLINOIS 60056 THE VOICE OF PROSPECT HIGH SCHOOL SINCE 1959

taekwondo guruSenior Marisa Romanelli defies stereotypes and earns her black belt in taekwondo.

Page 7

PROSPECTORTH

E F O L L O W U S O N :

@ P R O S P E C T O R N O W

*Name changed for confidentiality

Assistant Principal for Student Services Luke Pavone was out in the

city with one of his friends from an old job. They went out to lunch while they were getting pedicures Pavone found out the Supreme Court has legalized gay marriage across the U.S.

“It was awesome,” Pavone said. “It was a great feeling, and every-one was just so happy. We met up with a bunch of friends and just

celebrated because [gay marriage being legalized in the U.S.] is his-toric. It’s huge.”

On June 26, gay marriage was legalized across the U.S. in a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling, with Jus-tice Anthony Kennedy writing the majority vote. While same sex mar-riage was already legal in 37 states, including Illinois, gay couples in the remaining 13 states had civil unions instead.

“It’s pretty awesome now that [same sex marriage] is legal across the U.S.,” Pavone said. “It’s pretty powerful. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime.”

Pavone and his husband had a civil union on May 11, 2013. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Illi-nois by law in Nov. 2013 and went into act on June 13, 2014. Pavone and his husband got their mar-riage license a couple days after it became legal.

”I guess what I realized was the magnitude of [marriage],” Pavone said. “You have a lot more legal rights when you’re an actual married couple opposed to a civil union.”

These rights include right to your estate, tax benefits and mak-ing medical decisions for one’s

spouse when he or she can’t. Junior Riley De Luca’s biolog-

ical mom is lesbian, and she had a civil union in August of 2011.

De Luca’s moms then got their marriage license in 2013 when gay marriage was legalized.

According to De Luca, his moms thought being legally married was special. However, they’ve always said their marriage is just like any-one else’s, so it didn’t make a huge difference aside from the benefits of being legally married.

De Luca explained his moms kept their civil union ceremony small and invited only close family

and friends.“I liked how we didn’t make it

such a big deal because we can love whoever we want,” De Luca said. “We don’t have to make it a huge event because it shouldn’t be. Who cares who you’re with?”

Pavone, on the other hand, had a bigger celebration, and after their civil union in 2013, Pavone posted his wedding video online.

“We just posted it because we were happy about it. It was great, and it was a great memento of our day,” Pavone said. “Every time we

BY GRACE BERRYAssociate Editor-in-Chief

Calendar changes proposed for 2017-18 school year

Possible school calendar changes for the 2017-18 school year were discussed at a joint district Board of Education meeting with feeder elementary school dis-tricts and Harper College on Sept. 15. It is the first time that the district has seriously considered the topic, and according to Board of Education President Alva Kreutzer, this was just the first discussion of many to come.

“I’ve sat 21 years on the Board of Education, and now it’s time to start a conversation,” Kreutzer said. “Start a conversation with us and then bring it out to the outer community so we can get everyone’s thoughts. What’s possible? What’s impossible?”

Kreutzer would like the board to come to a deci-sion within a year and a half.

“It’s still up in the air,” Kreutzer said. “It will have an end date, but we don’t have it right now.”

Potential calendars include the current calendar with finals after winter break, a calendar in which school starts and ends earlier, allowing finals to occur before break, and a variety of year-round calendar options (see “Year-round calendar options” on page three).

The district is also considering different start and end times of the school day. According to a statement published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) last year, school start times should be 8:30 a.m.

or later in order to combat teen sleep deprivation. With everything on the table, there is a lot that goes

into the decision making.Although a calendar with final exams before break

is students’ popular choice (see “Student Standpoints” for Prospect students’ initial opinions), this would eliminate the possibility of some winter concerts and activities because the week of finals and the week be-fore must be set aside so students can study, according to district superintendent David Schuler.

When it comes to start and end times, Schuler doesn’t believe that starting later will ensure students would get more sleep, but he thinks it’s a conversation that needs to be had: one that will also consider avail-able daylight for spring athletics.

“President Kreutzer has a lot of power, and even she can’t change when the sun sets,” Schuler said. “So what do you do if you start later? … But, on the other side of that, do you let athletics define your academic schedule?”

Regardless, all district schools will not have the same start times because of transportation schedul-ing. According to Kreutzer, the district saves about $500,000 in transportation costs by staggering start times.

When weighing the various options, Schuler wants to be sure to include the community in the decision process.

photo illustration by Cassidy Selep

Student Standpointson school calendar

According to a survey of 176 students, adopting a school year calendar with finals before winter break is the over-whelming majority. In response, Board of Education Pres-ident Alva Kreutzer said “Wow. That’s something to think about absolutely. I would think it would take the pressure

67% finals before winter break

10% year-round calendar27% current

calendar

off of students knowing they can relax over winter break.”

Love is Love

See HISTORIC, page 3

See CHANGE, page 2

2 News September 25, 2015 ProspectorNow.com

State still uncertain about SAT, ACTBY RILEY LANGEFELD

Executive News Editor

For the past 12 years, the state of Il-linois has been in a contract with the ACT to give the exam to every

high school junior at the state’s expense, but the contract only ran through the end of the 2014-2015 school year.

State legislators have not yet signed a contract with any testing company, leaving students and educators unsure of how to pre-pare for testing this spring. The major choic-es available to lawmakers are the ACT and the SAT.

If the ACT is chosen, state-sponsored testing will continue as it has for the past twelve years. If the state chooses the College Board’s SAT, then some changes will come to Illinois high schools.

The SAT would be administered in place of previous years’ ACT, which was usually given in March. There is still uncertainty about what test sophomores will be taking at this time, as they were previously given the Institutional ACT (IACT).

But the possibility of the SAT coming to Prospect brings up some questions about the new conditions. The SAT has just been completely redesigned for the new year, and this year’s juniors will be the first students to take the new test.

The content of the test has been reformat-ted and edited to be more like the ACT. For example, the SAT previously had a section

dedicated to vocabulary words that were considered by many students, such as senior Billy Doherty, to be irrelevant. The new test has removed that section and redesigned the reading section, adding more visuals and giving students more ev-idence-based questions.

Additionally, the test no longer carries a penalty for wrong answers. In past years, students would be docked a quarter of a point for any incorrect answers, which led to many students leaving blank spaces when they were unsure.

“I think this is better than any test material I’ve seen so far,” ju-nior Ethan Rodriguez said. “It’s a lot easier to understand, it’s really straightforward. I like that.”

To accompany the changes to the test, the College Board partnered with Khan Acade-my, a non-for-profit website that offers ed-ucational videos on a wide range of topics. The organization has created new SAT and PSAT test prep content that is available to all users at no cost. Prospect’s PSAT prep class has incorporated the use of Khan Academy’s

materials in its curriculum.“I’m actually pretty excited about the

changes to it because it makes the test a lot more relevant,” Associate Principal Scott McDermott said.

Even if the SAT is chosen by the state, Prospect will re-main a national site for ACT testing.

“There are multiple ways for kids to choose to go to college. We wouldn’t aban-don either of those ways,” McDermott said. “The SAT isn’t the state-sponsored test, but we still offer it here. We would continue to do the

same thing with ACT.”Regardless of what test is chosen by the

state board of education, Illinois school dis-tricts may confront another potential prob-lem. Facing a major budget hole after paying for other mandatory tests such as last year’s PARCC, the state may not foot the bill for the chosen college entrance exam. This scenario would leave local districts forced to pay out of pocket for the exams, which could mean tens of thousands of dollars taken from dis-trict funds.

Despite these obstacles, McDermott says that the district remains open to the possi-bility.

“The SAT is a very popular test [nation-wide],” McDermott said. “If they made this change, it certainly would not put our kids at a disadvantage in any way.”

(continued from front page) “The goal is to have a purposeful, strategic, transparent conversa-tion that moves as fast as the con-versation should,” Schuler said.

To aid in the process, the board is forming councils of staff, student representatives from each school and Teacher-Parent Council (TPC) presidents. They also plan on send-ing out surveys and arranging lis-tening sessions where community members can voice their opinions, similar to the sessions held last year regarding extra construction money. The district decided to build a pool at Prospect because of those sessions.

It’s also a priority to consider how changes to the District 214 cal-endar would affect feeder districts

and Harper College. Feeder elementary school dis-

tricts typically set their calendars in accordance to the high school districts, mostly because families often have children both in high school and middle or elementary school. According to Kreutzer, the board values coordination with feeder districts.

However, feeder districts don’t always follow the high school districts’ example. District 211 changed its calendar for the next school year to have finals before winter break, but District 54, one of their feeder districts with 20 schools, did not sign off on the same calendar. According to Kreu-tzer, District 211’s outcome will be taken into consideration next year,

as the board values coordination with feeder districts.

As for Harper College and oth-er summer camps, if the district goes with a year-round calendar, students’ summer opportunities may be limited. If a calendar with an earlier end date is chosen, many summer programs would have to be rescheduled.

However Schuler is optimistic for a change, as the current calen-dar doesn’t match modern needs.

“It’s time for us to explore some-thing other than a calendar based on agrarian needs — having the kids off in the summer to farm. That’s not a priority for us,” Schul-er said.

While Schuler’s previous school district in Wisconsin where students had “bring-your-tractor-to-school days” and needed the summer off to farm, he wants to adopt a calendar that would be ac-

ademically beneficial as possible.“We’re not going to rush to get

something done. We’re not going to force anything through,” Schuler said. “I’m a 12-month employee, so

it doesn’t matter to me. Whatever is going to be in the best interest of students and families is what I think we need to look at.”

TESTING PATIENCE: Juniors sit in Prospect’s PSAT prep class (see textbook on left). The state board of education hasn’t made a decision on whether to fund the SAT or the ACT for high school juniors. (Photos by Riley Langefeld)

Goodbye, Vocab!

The newly revised SAT has removed the vocabulary section, known by students for its long, difficult words. Here are a few examples from previous SATs.

• engender • acquiesce• abasement • conflagration• harangue • dalliance• labyrinthine • fastidious• lachrymose • prosaic• plaudit • pragmatism• abstemious • treacly• ephemeral • sedulous• epicure • vacillated

I think [the new SAT] is

better than any test

material I’ve seen so

far. It’s a lot easier to

understand. It’s really

straightforward. I like

that.

Ethan Rodriguez, junior

CALENDAR: Potential changes create discussion

DAY BY DAY: Board members meet to discuss possibly cal-endar changes for the 2017-2018 school year. Changes could include the placement of first semester finals before spring break. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Delgado)

Check out my Soundcloud

soundcloud.com/hamzah-zulqadar

Year-Round Calendar OptionsAccording to District Superintendent David Schuler, the

Board of Education is considering is a year-round calendar.“The concept of year-round schools has been around for

decades probably,” Kreutzer said. “It’s not a new concept, al-though it would definitely be a new concept for district 214.”

Here are some year-round calendar ideas that will be consid-ered:• Three of four weeks off around the Fourth of July and only four days of school each week for the rest of the year• Having nine weeks of school and then two weeks off in a cycle

ProspectorNow.com 3NewsSeptember 25, 2015

CONTINUED from front page

see it, we cry.”The Huffington Post and other news

sites found the video and posted it with a short story on their websites. It was viewed by over 300,000 people in about 50 different countries, and Pavone hopes that video, while a special memento from his and his husband’s day, helps people understand his marriage is just like anyone else’s.

“If we just affected one person’s opinion [through the video] about what marriage re-ally is — it’s not about being gay or straight; it’s just about being able to love the person you want to love and just having that equali-ty — then I think it’s awesome,” Pavone said. “I think social media has definitely helped out.”

Junior Derek Jones* is gay and agrees that social media can make a positive im-pact, but he also thinks sometimes people spread negativity revolving topics like gay marriage by arguing online.

“[Social media] has helped, but there has also been a lot of bashing and Twitter fights,” Jones said. “But I definitely think the exposure over social media will help the acceptance of it.”

De Luca found out that gay marriage was legalized across the U.S. from checking social media. He was really excited about the news and thought it was awesome how quickly the story spread.

“It’s so cool how it’s getting so much coverage because [it’s] so important [that] people can [legally] love whoever they want now,” De Luca said.

Although gay marriage is legal, there are people who still don’t agree with it. In a Public Religion Research Institute poll, 54 percent of respondents said they support gay

marriage.Pavone also explained that the Supreme

Court’s 5-4 vote is a tell-tale sign that there is still more work to do in fighting for rights and not discriminating against gays. He believes same sex marriage being legalized across the U.S. has given the issue forward

momentum and thinks it’s moving in the right direction.

“I’m glad [same sex marriage being legal-ized] is kind of [not an] issue anymore, and we can move on to a little more important things,” Pavone said.

Jones agrees and thinks there is still

progress that needs to be made in accepting gays. He dislikes how some people act artifi-cal around him because he’s gay.

“Being gay in a high school community, there are people who are going to just be awkward about it and pretend to be OK with it,” Jones said.

Jones thinks the next step in further sup-porting gays is treating them like everyone else.

“I hate the term gay marriage because it’s just marriage. Just because it is a same sex couple getting married, it’s not different,” Jones said. “I just think the terms that we use are so stupid. I think it should just be marriage. It’s just two people legally binding their relationship.”

De Luca agrees and hopes in the future our society can get to a point where people don’t have to explain being gay.

“You shouldn’t have to talk about [being gay] or explain it,” De Luca said. “It just is.”

BY AMBER ALERTA

News Editor

New art class combines with tech

The wait, at least for Assistant Prin-cipal Jovan Lazarevic, is over. After six years of waiting for fund-

ing, equipment and support, Lazarevic’s wish for a graphic arts program to come to Prospect has come true.

This year, a graphic arts design class, taught by Andre Poisson, was added to the Career and Technical Education curricu-lum.

Because Stevenson High School decid-ed to stop their graphic arts program, the plan to bring the program was implemented three years earlier than expected after Pros-pect received large amounts of equipment from Stevenson.

According to Poisson, while some equip-ment was given to other schools in the dis-trict who already had graphic arts programs such as Hersey and Buffalo Grove, Prospect was given most of the core pieces of tech-nology such as the screen press, so the class would be able to do large scale projects like printing designs on T-shirts.

“We were able to hit [the ground] full-run-ning this year,” Poisson said. “We just total-ly lucked out. Our program wasn’t going to be this large to begin with, but now students are going to be able to do everything all the other schools can do.”

Lazarevic is looking forward to see-ing what students can create with the new equipment. Students have already created street signs and cartoon characters using Adobe Illustrator.

“I think students will be able to really gain something out of [this class],” Laza-revic said. “Even students who aren’t [very] artistic in their nature can now see, ‘I don’t have to do it on a canvas. I can do it this way, or I can still do it on a canvas with screen-printing.’”

While there is only an introductory class in the graphic arts program, Lazarevic and Poisson are excited to see it grow. With over 90 students signed up for Graphic Arts De-sign, they see a promising future for the new graphic arts department.

“I’m really into art,” senior Mercedes Walter said. “My mom works with Photo-

shop, and so I thought it would be cool to learn.”

After students take the class, students will have the opportunity to take Advanced Graphic Arts De-sign, a dual-credit course with Harp-er College. With this class, students will take classes at Prospect, but re-ceive college credit at Harper.

“Once students see the value of the class and see how they can use this class in many different aspects of their lives, I think students will flock to it.” Lazarevic said.

HISTORIC: Gay marriage legal, discrimination lingers

FAMILY PHOTO: Junior Riley De Luca smiles for a photo with his moms. De Luca ex-plained he hopes in the future people don’t have to explain being gay. “You shouldn’t have to talk about [being gay] or explain it,” De Luca said. “It just is.”

CREATIVITY: These are graphics made by students in graphic arts design. They were created using Adobe Illustrator, a program for creating vector images. Graphics by top (Mer-cedes Walter), middle (Mitch-ell Tapia), bottom (Danielle McCarthy)

Why do you like the new graphic design class?

“It’s a lot of fun [because] we get to use the technology to be creative”

Teddy Eckhardt, senior

“It’s really fun and you get to use your creativity with a bunch of different programs.”

Annabelle Norton, sophomore

“I hate the term gay marriage because it’s just marriage. Just because it is a same sex couple getting married, it’s not different,” Jones said. “I just think the terms that we use are so stupid. I think it should just be marriage. It’s just two people legally binding their relationship.”

Derek Jones,anonymous junior

“It’s really awesome that we get to use computers. [because] art is usually considered something you do on pen and paper.”

Luke Finder, junior

4 News September 25, 2015 ProspectorNow.com

While sophomore Anna Cooper was in lifestyle fitness, she was given

a heart rate monitor as part of a new fitness program at Prospect established through a partnership with Polar, a company that makes fitness tracking equipment.

Prospect purchased a new heart rate monitor for every student en-rolled in a gym class. The bands were $13 each and will be put into use as teachers become more famil-iar with the technology.

Physical education teacher Car-rie Black believes most classes will use them every day because they are easy to use.

Once the heart rate monitors are attached, teachers can see stu-dents’ data on their iPads and TV screens.

The heart rate monitors have two pieces: the sensor and the band. Students will store the bands in their gym lockers and will be re-sponsible for them.

However, the sensor that goes in them will be kept with teachers. The band goes under a student’s shirt and snaps closed. There are a few size options that are adjust-able.

When students get to class, they snap a sensor, provided by their teacher, into the band, and it re-cords the data.

According to Assistant Princi-pal Jovan Lazarevic, teachers will control when and how they use the monitors.

Teachers were given the mon-itors last school year after three years of considering the decision.

Hersey High School has used heart rate monitors since 2014, and they have grown in popularity with personal trainers and local gyms like Orangetheory.

Prospect first got the idea to use heart rate monitors as a solution to physical education teachers trying to figure out a way to grade objec-

tively instead of subjectively.Teachers learned about the

bands last year while they went through a training seminar taught by Polar.

Throughout last year, teachers held meetings to plan how they would incorporate the bands into the classroom.

“I think it will motivate some students and actually give them cognitive learning in our [gym] classes,” Black said. “They’ll ac-

tually learn how their body reacts, and how they can make themselves better to get [a] better heart rate.”

According to physical educa-tion teacher Aaron Marnstein, this is important to students because they will compare their heart rate from the beginning of the year to the end to see their improvement.

Senior Johnny Rodriguez does not think they will change how he works in gym.

“I feel like they are just a waste

of time and money for the school,” Rodriguez said. “They’re wasting money on people who don’t actual-ly exercise.”

According to Marnstein, these heart rate monitors will take gym class from a group activity to a per-sonal activity.

Students will have access to re-al-time data gathered from their workout on a web-based program. The data will show how many cal-ories they burned and how many

minutes they were in their target heart rate zone.

According to Black, it is im-portant to know how long students workout in their target heart rate zone because it helps individualize students’ workouts. For example, students can work at their own pace by getting their heart rate up to their target zone, and then back down to their resting rate before repeating the process.

At Prospect, the bands will be collected at the end of the year to go through a process of cleaning be-fore being used the following year.

Heart rate monitors aren’t the only technology being used in classes.

According to Marnstein, phys-ical education teachers have used iPads and cellphones in class over the past few years. They are trying to use more technology in class because it gives students feedback and enhances their learning.

“It is really difficult to use technology because of the price,” Marnstein said. “These individual pieces are expensive, so if we don’t have them, it’s kind of hard to get them.”

Marnstein thinks media is help-ful in classes. For example, he has used Youtube to show concepts that he is teaching in class.

Marnstein has used a motion analysis app with his students. He would have one student film the other doing an exercise, so they could go back and watch it for mo-tion patterns.

“I think it integrates everything that’s going on in the rest of the building and as well as in society,” Lazarevic said. “Today people are walking around with Fitbits, and they’re learning how to count their steps, and what that means for cal-ories and things like that, so I think again, physical education has its objectives they need to teach, but I think they also need to be a part of education in the whole and teach you how to use those things.”

Heart rate monitors beat into P.E. BY JORDAN DUSHANENews Editor

RACING THE CLOCK: Freshman Aryana Horton wears a heart rate monitor underneath her shirt

while using a bike in the fitness center. This year Prospect bought a heart rate monitor for each student enrolled in a physical education class. “I think it [the heart rate monitors] motivate some students and actually give them cognitive learning in our [gym] classes,” physical education teacher Carrie Black said. “They’ll actually learn how their body reacts, and how they can make themselves better to get [a] better heart rate.” (photo by Cassidy Selep)

5 W. Campbell St.

Arlington Hts., IL 60005

Mon. - Thurs.: 11 a.m. — 9 p.m.

Fri. - Sat.: 11 a.m. — 10 p.m.

Sun.: 11 a.m. — 7 p.m.

Come to dine-in or take-out:

• Homemade Italian Recipes

• Fresh Burgers

• Italian Beef

• Pizza

WE DELIVER!

ProspectorNow.com 5OpinionSeptember 25, 2015

*Name changed for oonfidenti-ality

At the end of last school year, about five juniors earned a D or an F in

80’s precalculus and needed to take summer school.

Since the district doesn’t offer a precalculus summer school course, students were given two options: either take a course through an online program called Brigham Young University (BYU) for $144 or take a course at Harper College. The students’ grades are then re-placed on their transcript, although it is indicated that the course was retaken.

Most of the students decided to take the BYU course, consisting of seven lessons, each with an open-note, 25-question multiple choice quiz called a “speedback” assign-ment. The speedback assignments make up 56 percent of a student’s fi-nal grade, and the other 44 percent

comes from a school-proctored, closed-book final exam taken at the end of the course.

However, the BYU course fails to reach the cali-ber of a Prospect class. The open-note speedback a s s i g n m e n t s have no time lim-it, and students can pause the quiz and work on it later. Because of the class’s flex-ible nature, stu-dents can easily enter questions onto mathway.com, easycalcula-tion.com, or the countless other solution websites that spit out an-swers instantly.

But the most unethical aspect of the online course is the option to re-take speedback assignments, with the exact same questions, for $10.

Ultimately, students can fabricate 56 percent of their grade with ease.

According to Math Science Divi-sion Head Keith Bellof, he was pre-

viously unaware about the option to pay to retake speedback assign-ments.

We, the Pros-pector, understand second chances are vital in creating a healthy learning environment, but the BYU course is counterproduc-tive. The ease of grade manipula-

tion crosses lines of morality and does not foster learn-ing; the course should have been replaced years ago. Admittedly, fewer than ten kids take the course each year, but it’s not just about those few kids, it’s about what Pros-pect students represent. Prospect’s

standards are high and should be kept high across the board.

The most apparent breach of those standards is the ability to pay for, ultimately, a higher grade.

“I paid $20 to change two of my [speedback assignment] grades,” senior Zoe Lee* said. “From an eth-ical standpoint, it shouldn’t be like this, but due to the circumstances, I had to do what I had to do.”

Lee’s D in 80’s precalculus has been changed to an A because of the BYU class, and it has even helped boost her GPA.

Because of the loopholes, the BYU course does not encourage genuine learning. According to Bellof, the district is exploring multiple second-chance learning opportunities and may find a re-placement for the BYU course.

For over the past decade, the district has irresponsibly offered a course that they didn’t look at closely enough, and it’s time for that to stop.

There is no deny-ing my adoration for things that are old and eclectic. I fre-quently sport high top Chuck-Taylor’s and wear my thick glasses with pride. My passion for the Rolling Stones is probably unhealthy. I have a growing re-

cord collection, and it would be a sin to say the ‘67 Chevy Impala isn’t hotter than the 2015.

However, change is unavoidable. It is go-ing to happen, and it is often not a bad thing. Change offers a chance to improve and de-velop things for the better. However, it is a fallacy to believe that change is always su-perior. Things that are “old” and unchanged are considered classic. It is something of a timeless quality. Things that are classic are unique; they have personality and a story.

Prospect seems to have a lack of appreci-ation for such things and instead has a ten-dency to evoke change without considering student opinion. The recent physical chang-es to the school are not only bland in their “modern” stylings, but the lack of vi-brancy takes away from the previous “lived in, learned in” atmosphere.

What exemplifies this perfectly is the recent re-moval of the pictures that lined the P.E. halls, as well as the actual hallways. This tore down something that gave Prospect interesting character and personality. The pictures that lined the walls were like the Ray-Ban glasses on a once clas-sic looking hallway. The classic appeal was instead replaced by, you guessed it, white paint.

Associate Principal, Greg Minter contends to the fact that the decision to remove the pictures was solely administrative.

Replacing the photos that no longer line the walls will be two, 55-inch touch-screens that display these photos. One screen will be placed outside the theatre, and the other in the field-house foyer. Though this modern twist holds some benefits (and holds more images), the photos being digitalized takes away from a unique, traditional aesthetic.

Athletes strived to earn a place on “the

wall”; it was an added incentive to work hard all season long. Parents, teachers and siblings were on the walls. It was something that symbolized the promise of what lies be-yond the now plain walls of Prospect.

This loss of tradition can be attested to by long-time Italian teacher, Lyn Scolaro, who has taught at Prospect for 24 years. Scolaro agrees that it was indeed a rather disappoint-ing decision to remove the pictures.

With with plans of color, and decor, as well as the ad-monition of an interior de-sign consultant remain in-authentic without the use of student-wide input. Planned out decor, and falsification of youth creativity lacks meaning.

Though Minter prompts students to rest assured, the plain walls are only tempo-rary. There is promise of Prospect returning to its former high-school appear-ance. According to Minter, with plans of redecorating, there shall thankfully come the use of student input.

Although temporary, the drab brick walls with their Edward Cullen-pale

shade of white come across as unappealing and prison-like, but if I recall correctly “Orange is the New Black” even portrayed it as permissible for the prisoners to decorate on special occasions. However, due to the newly refurbished, fresh paint-ed walls; hanging posters and decor in the commons may not be permitted for clubs like Student Council, JAMM, or for hanging birthday posters. What’s left to look at are plain walls, and dingy lockers.

Dingy can also describe the unfinished

hallway near the boys’ locker room. Though this is still technically a “temporary” change, it is something that students will have to get used to as it correlates to con-struction of the pool. Frankly, the hall re-sembles the alleyway where Bruce Wayne’s parents got shot. The perpetual stale odor only compliments the pre-existing lingering smells coming from the locker room, but I suppose it is a sacrifice that must be made for the beloved, costly pool.

This stale hall reflects the effects that restraints on student-based creativity hold. Students have been ill-informed as to what the changes are truly going to encompass. There has been a significant lack of inqui-ry towards the student body regarding changes, nor was there any warning per-taining the removal of the pictures that once lined the halls. It is undeniable that change is inevitable, however it is insensi-tive to presume that students don’t want to be informed on changes to a place that they spend a majority of their time.

There was no student input regarding the removal of the pictures in the halls, and though they are being replaced by some-thing “modern” and “advanced” it has taken away a unique appeal that gave the school character and spunk. It was a clas-sic look, and it was decided best to instead paint it white. The Rolling Stones would be ashamed.

For the time being the white walls of the white castle are something that must be tol-erated. The changes that have been done are irreversible, but just because the old is gone does not mean that we cannot appreciate the appeal it once had.

The halls of pictures are like The Beatles; the white paint is One Direction. Though what was old and classic is superior, we must learn to accept the unavoidable change that time has brought along.

Making it modern versus keeping it classic

BY BRIDGETTE JASINSKI

Exec-Opinion Editor

Online course skips standardsSt

aff

Edi

tori

al

Editors-in-Chief

Krzys ChwalaShreya Thakkar

Copy Editors

Diana LeaneMike Stanford

Associate Editors-in-Chief

Grace BerryMarci Kiszkiel

Online Editor-in-Chief

Caroline Binley

Online Managing Editors

Lauren MillerMolly Mueller

Online Sports Editor

Ryan Molini

Online A&E Editor

Anna Indelli

Broadcast Editors

Alyssa DuetschErin Schultz

News Editors

Riley LangefeldAmber Alerta

Jordan DushaneJack Gabriel

Opinion Editors

Bridgette JasinskiJames Estrella III

Features Editors

Flynn GeraghtyJess Darcy

Caley Griebenow

In-Depth Editors

Jack RyanKelsey Philippe

Entertainment Editors

Isabelle RogersCassidy Delahunty

Garrett Strother

Sports Editors

Devin PrasadBen DojutrekJack Ankony

Visuals Editor

Cassidy Selep

Adviser

Jason Block

Mission Statement

The primary purpose of the Prospect High School Prospector is to report news as well as explain its meaning and significance to our readers and the community. We, the Prospector, hope to inform, entertain and provide a school forum for the unrestricted exchange of ideas and opinions. The Prospector is published by students in Journalistic Writing courses. Some material is courtesy of MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service.

Advertising

For ad rates, call (847) 718-5376 (ask for Krzys Chwala or Shreya Thakkar), fax (847) 718-5306 e-mail or write the Prospector, 801 West Kensington Rd., Mount Prospect, IL 60056, prospectornow@gmail.com.

Letters to the Editor

Drop off letters to the Prospector in the box in the library, in Rm. 216 or email letters to prospectornow@gmail.com. All letters must be signed. Limit letters to 400 words. The Prospector reserves the right to edit letters for style and length.

staff

Recent physical changes

have taken away a once

traditional aesthetic, and

left behind white walls

WHITE CASTLE, WHITE WALLS: Recent changes, including the removal of the ath-

letic achievement pictures in the P.E. hallway, have been replaced by white paint. These

changes eradicated a once had classic appeal. (cartoon by Veronica Holloway)

122For

Voting results of the Pros-pector staff in regards to

this editorial.

Against

Top 5 plain wall

coverage ideas

1. Gather all the AP Art stu-dents and have them go at it.

2. Blue senior handprints with signatures.

3. Fish Tanks

4. Have each club create a banner & hang them down the hall

5. Paint them blue, or any color that isn’t blindingly white.

6 Opinion September 25, 2015 ProspectorNow.com

I recall little-me back in fifth grade when I was just understand-ing swears. Hearing one was about as common as seeing someone use a white crayon, which was never. No one re-ally swore. If one was mentioned, the reac-tion others showed was as if someone just confessed to murder.

Skipping ahead to seventh grade, hear-ing swears became a regular occurrence. It could occasionally get a turn of the head, but not frequent-ly. Even when watching movies, a swear would only make your eyes widen just a little bit.

According to the United States Movie Rating Association, one swear results in a PG-13 rating. Two swears is all it takes for a movie to earn an R rating.

If the U.S. Movie Rating Associ-ation viewed the day of a student, it would be rated R. Walking through the the hallways, hearing swears is quite abundant. Swearing is as common as saying the word “like” for some people. Swears have lost their impact on society.

With swears becoming common vocab for people, the use of them makes them sound vulgar and un-educated. The use of curse words

show bad manners for our genera-tion and is disrespectful for those around the swearer.

With swears being used more, less and less of a reaction occurs. People simply do not care about hearing cuss words.

The American culture has be-come tolerant of swears. For exam-

ple, right now one of the top songs is “The Hills” by WEEKND. It is placed at num-ber five on billboard.com’s top 100s chart. This song drops 15 f-bombs.

Only 0.7 percent of everyday lan-guage is a swear as stated on psycho-

logicalscience.org. That’s hardly anything, Phhsss. Thinking about it though, that is almost the same number of times pronouns are said. We address people as much as we swear. Sometimes both at the same time!

The American race is known as a mean one. I wonder if it is par-tially due to our vocab. Our entire use of swears is just plain rude!

This raises a question: how come people swear?

“It just feels more natural,” senior Peter Hong said. “Like if something is a piece of s***, … it feels like it is a piece of s***.”

According to a study by slate.com, swears are caused by emo-tions. When angry, swears tend to pop out 85 percent of the time.

Swears are not the only words needed to express feelings. Shoot and darn are alternatives, but these are less common.

Even though alternatives are less common, they can still help get points across. Spongebob never swore, yet he still expressed him-self when things went bad. He said. “Barnacles,” or “Tartar sauce.” Yes, it is a kid’s show, so he would

not swear in front of children, and neither should you.

Also, people do not swear to their bosses or elders. It is seen as a lack of respect. Friends should be given the same respect as high-er-ups and not have to hear a bar-rage of filthy words.

Instead of using curses, we can use other words. People do not sound “cool” saying swears. They

sound stupid. It is seen as a lack of education and is unneeded.

Swears are going to fall out. It is just something that will happen. One thing that could be changed is the frequency of said swear. As a culture and as people, we can ma-ture and pass the point of using vulgar language when communi-cating with peers.

Gosh darn it!Swearing shows

a lack of manners

in today’s teens

Whether you’re a freshman or a senior, you’re likely aware that a perfect track record is

required for the honored privilege of giv-ing away your life savings to the school of your dreams. To those who have managed to keep their flaws hidden from the blessing and curse that is so-cial media, good luck at college! To those who found themselves tagged in party photos, it must be hard seeing everyone in their college T-shirts.

With social media in its prime, it makes sense that col-leges would be looking at student accounts for quick background checks. It also makes sense that colleges would reject possible students due to less than favor-able posts found on said accounts.

According to the New York Times, A 2013 questionnaire revealed that 31 percent of 381 college admissions officers said they’d visited applying students’ Facebook or other social media accounts to learn more about them. More concerning is that 30 percent

of said admission officers found things that had a negative effect on the applicant.

Because, as we all know, you should most definitely be held accountable for the mistakes you made as a teenager for the rest of your life. It might have been nice to

put down Yale on a future job resumé, but that huge argument on Facebook from 4 years ago is coming back to haunt you. Should have known better; you were 14 after all.

It’s no secret that teenagers aren’t usually allowed to be, well, teenagers, and social media has made it far easier for colleges to dig up teens’ dark pasts.

However, teenagers shouldn’t have to live in fear of an admis-sions officer stumbling onto a

less than flattering post.Rather than judging teens based on

whether they were well-rounded adults from the second they entered high school, it makes more sense to observe how someone has grown throughout those crucial four years. Be that through interviews or essays, getting to know someone through social me-dia does not paint a complete picture.

It’s understandable that colleges want the best and brightest, but even the great-est students stumble every now and then. It doesn’t mean they’re bad people or that their accomplishments are any less impressive; it just means they’re human.

Let’s be real. Teenagers are going to make tons of dumb mistakes. Nobody is perfect. We shouldn’t undermine the importance of self growth; some people have it all figured out from the start, and others need time to figure out what is important to them.

Likewise, just because one student didn’t have their mishaps shared with others doesn’t mean they’re any better than some-one who did.

We should deal with our consequenc-es for our actions, but when colleges look at your social media account, they’re doing it in order to get to know you better. A wild guess says that you aren’t exactly the same per-son at 14 as you are when you begin ap-plying to colleges.

HOLY COW: With swears becoming part of common speech, people are less inclined to see

them as rude mannerisms and people accept it as the norm. (Cartoon by Veronica Holloway)

Small mistakes, big problems

BY MARCI KISZKIEL

Associate

Editor-in-Chief

BY JAMES ESTRELLA III

Opinion Editor

Your Albums

Sweet 16 !!! <3Night on the town ;) Freshman year at Harvard!

Graphic by Marci Kiszkiel

\

Getting to know

all about you

According to usnews.com, a 2011 survey revealed that 24 percent of 359 colleges use Facebook and other social

media sites in order to check out applicants. 12 percent of

respondents to the Kaplan Test Prep survey said things they’d

found on applicants’ social media accounts, such as vul-

gar language or illegal activities (including drinking) in pho-tos, had negative impacts on

said applicants.

ProspectorNow.com 7FeaturesSeptember 25, 2015

Through hard work, Romanelli beats the odds, excels in taekwondo

Scholar shows both brains and brawn

Go

als of the WeekCheck out

ProspectorNow.com

for our new weekly

regular feature called

“Goals of the Week.” Here’s

a sampling of what you

have missed so far: Senior Dylan CessnaWeek of Sept. 2

Goal:For his band to get some work done in the recording studio.

Junior Brendan McGovernWeek of Sept. 9

Goal:To cram for the PSAT coming up and to fit in practice time for Mixed Company. Nothing offsets studying like dancing!

KICKIN’ IT: Senior Marisa Romanelli shows off some of her taekwon-do moves. Romanelli

considers earning her black belt in the sport to be one of her biggest accomplishments.

“Becoming a black belt was like growing up,” Romanelli said. “It was the first moment in my life when I stopped feel-ing like a kid.” (photos

by Cassidy Selep)

If people were to de-scribe Marisa Ro-manelli, they would

probably say “smart” or “scholarly.” But, what they

may not think to say is “black belt”.

A partici-pant in Science

Olympiad, KLC Tu-toring, Women in

STEM and Orchestra, Romanelli is a familiar face around Pros-

pect. But even with all of her accolades, Romanelli would consider her most o u t s t a n d i n g a c h i e v e m e n t receiving her

black belt in tae-kwondo because

it did not come easy to her.

The fact that Ro-manelli is in taekwon-

do may surprise some peo-ple, and it actually surprises Romanelli herself.

“I don’t [even think] I expected to do taekwondo,” Romanelli said. “It just sort of happened.”

The summer of 2008, was uneventful for Romanelli. Her father then suggested she take a taekwondo class since her older half-brother, Patrick, had enjoyed it. So Romanelli, bored out of mind, took him up on the offer.

Her first class was a confusing blur. She had no idea what was going on. However, this did not stop her from trying.

“[I wanted to] keep improving myself [and]

get better at something,” Romanelli said. “I’m not naturally good at taekwondo, and I had to work to do well at it, and that commit-ment, that need to put in the work, keeps me coming back.”

Starting with simple blocks and forms, Romanel-li kept moving forward in the sport. A year after she started, her younger sister, Angie, saw how much fun her sister was having and joined her in the Dojang.

“It’s nice having her there, but sometimes I feel like she’s better than me,” Romanelli said. “But I still out-rank her, and [I] will never [let her] forget that!”

A few years after starting the class, the then 14-year-old Romanelli prepared herself to earn her black belt. Romanelli had a long list of tasks to perform. She had

to show off every form and self defense technique she’d ever learned in

addition to some basic fight moves. She also had to per-

form a demonstration in front of her class and

fight two black belts at once, which Romanelli says is “terrifying and immensely difficult.”

After completing all of these tasks, Romanel-li’s black belt was put on by

her teacher, Grand Master

Wood. Her fellow black belts lined up

and she shook each of their hands. In that one moment, Ro-

manelli truly felt like a black belt. “It felt like I was one of them,” Romanelli said.

“I belonged with these people who I’d respected for so long. [Becom-ing a black belt] was like growing up. It was the first moment in my life where I stopped feeling like a kid.”

Romanelli’s mother, Amy, was equally proud of her daughter for achieving this feat.

“Getting her black belt was a real challenge for her, but she just kept working and working and working,” Amy said. “It was really neat to see her finally get it.”

Even though it was difficult, Marisa is grateful that her father of-fered her the chance to take taekwondo all those years ago.

“I used to be this shy, wimpy person, [but] now I feel more con-fident after learning taekwondo, after trying something out of my comfort zone,” Marisa said. “Normally you try things you’re good at, and you stick with them because you’re good at them. I had to work at [this] and it’s made me more determined and, yeah, even a little bit stronger.”

BY FLYNN GERAGHTY

Executive Features Editor

“I used to be this shy, wimpy

person, [but] now I feel more

confident after learning

taekwondo, after trying

something out of my comfort zone.

... I had to work at [this] and it’s

made me more determined and,

yeah, even a little bit stronger.”

Marisa Romanelli, senior

8 In-Depth September 25, 2015

Senior Ali Jehn may seem like she doesn’t have much experience with diversity at first sight, but once you get to know her and hear about the places she’s been and lived, you’ll realize that her diversity stems from the the cultures she has experienced from traveling across the world.

Q: Favorite place you’ve ever been?A: “I’m sort of biased because I lived in New Zealand, but I loved New

Zealand. They have the ocean. They have mountains. It was just absolute-ly beautiful. The weather is temperate, [and whether it’s the] rainy season or dry season, the temperatures stays the same.”

Q: Favorite specific location in New Zealand?A: “I used to live in Auckland, and there’s this beach called Muriwai

Beach. When I was little we used to go there every Sunday to watch the sunset, sit on the beach [and] eat fish and chips. I went back last Thanks-giving break and did that again [for]the first time in 8 years. It was really beautiful, you don’t realize how much you should’ve appreciated some-thing until you get to go back and see how much you really had.”

Q: What’s the biggest cultural difference you’ve noticed between loca-tions?

A: “It’s not a completely different culture because most of the world is so westernized. [What] I’ve learned from traveling is: everywhere isn’t really, that major of a difference. From New Zealand to America, [it] is a completely different atmosphere because the people everywhere you go are a bit different. However, the way people make eye contact for having conversation or the greetings in each country [are different]. In Europe the greetings are very touchy, and same in New Zealand. There’s a strong community feeling there. You could say hi to anyone, but you don’t really do that here. That’s one of my favorite things about Italy, everyone is treat-ed like family, and I definitely really miss that experience.”

Q: Do you like that feeling of finally coming back home?A: “I’d like to keep traveling. I always tell everyone airports are my

home. I recognize them as much as I do my house, especially O’Hare [be-cause] I’ve been in and out of there for 10 years. I could easily get off one plane and get back on another one.”

All around the world with AliBY KELSEY PHILIPPE

IN-DEPTH EDITOR

BY JACK RYAN

EXECTUVIE IN-DEPTH EDITOR

Junior Emilia Wojciak wore her traditional red, white and black Polish dress, while she rode a bus to the city. She was heading to a church event that has been engraved in her life ever since she could dance.

Wojciak walked into the church of Basilica St. Hyacinth in Chicago on Christmas Eve, with traditional dress on, and dance shoes ready so she can perform in front of elderly people at her church.

As the years have passed for Wojciak, she has realized that she needs to embrace her Polish heritage.

“I feel like Poland is my home, and [that] it is important to continue the culture has [for] hundreds of years been a part of my family,” Wojciak said.

When Wojciak was growing up, she did not realize she needs to appreciate where she came from. As she has grown up, Wojciak realizes that she needs to keep her Polish heritage alive and appreciate what makes her special.

Whenever Poland would come up in her AP World History class, Wojciak would be the first one to raise her hand and share her knowledge about Po-land.

Not only is Wojciak proud to be Polish, she wants others to be proud of their culture and ethnicity. She wants other people to be who they are and show that they are proud to be their heritage.

Wojciak encountered a Polish student last year in her AP World class who was insulting Polish people and their culture by saying that the only good thing Poland offers to the world is their alcohol.

When Wojciak heard this, she went up to the student and confronted him about why he was saying those things. She told that student and her class that Poland has so many other goods things to offer besides alcohol.

“I’m really patriotic [about being Polish,] so when someone was criticizing or making fun of [Poland,] I get really defensive [about it],” Wojciak said.

Wojciak hopes to pass on her Polish pride along to her younger siblings and eventually to her children, so they understand the importance of being Polish. According to her the importance of being Polish is for her to show people who she is, and what she is all about.

She plans to do that by talking to her younger siblings and her children about where their ancestors came from and what Polish culture is all about as her parents taught her.

“Whenever I fly to Poland, I really try make sure to take care [my heri-tage because] this is who I am, and this is my culture,” Wojciak said. “I have younger siblings now, and I try really hard to enforce on them that this is your culture, and to speak Polish, learn Polish and to be Polish.”

Polish princess prevails

Born: Baltimore, MarylandLived: Arlington, Virginia Kumeu, New Zealand (2 years) Melbourne, Australia (3 years) Greenhithe, New Zealand (2 years) Arlington Heights, Illinois (10 years)

Diversity, more than the color of your skin

Although 77.2 percent of students at Prospect are white, Prospect is culturally and ethnically diverse, contrary to common belief. Diversity encompasses more

than just skin color. Diversity is what makes people unique. Where someone has lived, who they have met, what langauge they speak, their ethnictiy and so

much more contribute to diversity. These stories are just four of 2,245.

9In-DepthSeptember25, 2015

Born: Schaumburg, IllinoisMoved: 3rd grade- Stafford, Virginia 5th grade- Hoffman Estates 7th grade- Stafford, Virginia Senior Year- Mt. Prospect

“9/11 is happening again, 9/11 is happening again!” These are the words sophomore Ashna Alex recalls hearing from her classmates as she would run around playing tag with her friends in second and third grade.

Her classmates at the time said these comments to her due to them seeing her as Middle Eastern instead of Indian.

She had no idea how much those words would affect her later. Since Alex moved from Saudi Arabia to the United States in first grade, she didn’t understand why the comments were offensive.

Now in high school, she understands the significance of those words, and she sees those students as bullies. Alex is not angry at them, though, since she knows they probably did not fully understand the topic as well.

Although she no longer hears these comments, she still faces judg-ment for being Indian, but she believes comments like those shouldn’t bring her down.

“I am very proud of showing I’m an Indian, and I won’t try to hide [it],” Alex said.

One way that Alex shows her pride is not caring when people stare at her when her Indian accent comes out. Another source of pride is the dances she does to connect back to her culture.

In sixth grade Alex stopped practicing Bharata Natyam, which is a classical Indian dance, due the restrictions it had on how she moved. Instead she learned synthetic dance, which allowed her to move more freely and express who she is.

“I am very proud to show my dance routines to my friends. I show them my dance and what I wear,” Alex said. “I never shy away from telling people that I am Indian.”

It bothers Alex when people don’t see past stereotypes or when peo-ple make false assumptions about international cultures.

“It annoys me to the max [when people think] that all Indians are taxi drivers and have an accent,” Alex said.

Dancing to the truthBY JACK RYAN

EXECTUVIE IN-DEPTH EDITOR

Senior Mackenzie Bach was interviewed for the diversity spread due to him moving around a lot as a child and experiencing new people in new towns. Bach is diverse not in the matter that he has a different skin color, but he has lived and grown up in multiple cultures. In each place he has lived, Bach has learned from his surroundings and brings this experience to the halls of Prospect.

Q: What is the biggest difference between Virginia and here, and which do you like better?

A: “Virginia has a ton of back roads, [and] there’s also a lot more land back there. I would have to say I like it better here because of family, and the city, Chicago, is pretty great as well. The sports teams are pretty good around here, and I like the same teams as you guys do here. The fans are great here, and I’m a big sports guy. I love it [downtown]; walking around and taking it all in is very cool experience.”

Q: What’s the hardest part of moving?A: “The packing and eventually having to get settled back in again. It’s

a process -- having to pack up all your stuff and not having it with you. At some points, you’re living out of a suitcase with the essentials.”

Q: Is it odd switching back from one area to another?A: “It is odd, but I’ve lived in both places, and when I moved back to

Virginia, we moved back into the same house by coincidence. It’s like I’ve only lived in two places. It seems like I’ve only really ever moved twice. I’ve been in this area a portion of my life, and I’ve lived in Virginia in the exact house for a portion. It’s like half and half; it’s not bad.”

Q: What was it like moving here your senior year?A: “I’ve been told it’s very cliché, moving here and being the new kid

your senior year when you’re supposed to already know everything. So far I’ve enjoyed it, but I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve gotten to meet so many new people, and everyone has been so welcoming here at Prospect. But for now, to be honest, I’m just going along for the ride.”

Q: What’s your advice to someone who moves frequently?A: “I would suggest to stay open minded but to stick with what you

know. It’s best to get involved early to meet new people. If you do sports, you should stick to [them]. [Teams] the easiest way to get to know new people, and actually settle into a new place.”

Diversity, more than the color of your skinBY KELSEY PHILIPPE

IN-DEPTH EDITOR

Moving with Mackenzie

Although 77.2 percent of students at Prospect are white, Prospect is culturally and ethnically diverse, contrary to common belief. Diversity encompasses more

than just skin color. Diversity is what makes people unique. Where someone has lived, who they have met, what langauge they speak, their ethnictiy and so

much more contribute to diversity. These stories are just four of 2,245.

YouBetter?

KnowsWho

The Subject

Junior Delaney Halloran

The Best Friend

Junior Sarah Ellstrand

The Boyfriend

Junior Tim Krause

Shoe Size?

7.5

Favorite food?

Mashed Potatoes

Favorite Movie?

Moulin Rouge

Favorite clothing

store?

Nordstrom

Personal Best in Golf?

85

8.5 Sushi Moulin Rouge

Nordstrom 85

7 ChocolateGrand

Budapest Hotel

Abercrombie

P

P PP

WINNER

x

10 Features September 25, 2015 ProspectorNow.com

85

Two years ago, junior Sammy Gon-

zalez’s older sister Jessica had big

news. Gonzalez assumed it was an

engagement since her sister had been with

her boyfriend for many years. Instead,

her sister handed Gon-

zalez an

ultrasound.

“I was extremely happy for her because

she has been with [Alina’s dad] since soph-

omore year of high school,” Gonzalez said.

“He’s like a brother to me.”

Gonzalez was 14 when Jessica gave birth

to her niece Alina. Since her birth, Gonzalez

has felt the need to step up and become a

role model.

According to psychologist Erin Cur-

ry, being an aunt or an uncle at a young

age can be daunting because it forces

more responsibility and uncertainty

while they try to navigate how to fill

an important role in a child’s life.

“For kids who are still trying to fig-

ure out who they are and where they

belong, that’s hard enough, but now

throwing in this extra role of hav-

ing a part in raising a child can be

overwhelming,” Curry said. “I think

most kids would want to step up to

the plate and be a good role model,

especially when they’re with [their

niece or nephew].”

Gonzalez does her best to

strengthen her relationship with

her niece who lives in Chicago

by visiting her several times a

month. They go to baseball games,

the zoo and pumpkin patches. By

doing this, she hopes to become

someone for her niece to look

up to.

B e i n g

present for a

big milestone

in her niece’s

life was special

for Gonzalez.

She was there

when her niece

learned to walk.

Alina would tod-

dle between furni-

ture, and Gonzalez

would stand her

back up if she fell.

Since Gonzalez

is so close with her

niece, she misses Ali-

na quite easily.

Gonzalez last saw

her niece a couple

weeks ago after a con-

cert, and now, she feels

as if she’s having ‘with-

drawal’ from her niece.

While Gonzalez sees her niece often, soph-

omore Ryan Howe sees his nephew, Jay, only

a couple times a year since Howe’s sister and

Jay live in Minnesota. However, he still feels

responsible for setting a good example for

his nephew.

“[Being an uncle] makes me feel like I

should be more mature,” said Howe.

When Howe sees his nephew, they often

go to dinner or a park, and then Howe will of-

ten read his nephew a book before

he goes to sleep. Howe says he has

never felt any pressure from his

family to be close to his nephew;

he does it by choice.

“I think it just comes natural-

ly,” Howe said. “I have to become

a figure in his life.”

Just as becoming an aunt

or uncle has brought change to

Howe’s and Gonzalez’s lives, it

also brought change to the way the

function of the family.

“We definitely became closer

as a family,” Gonzalez said. “Now

that my sister has a baby, we do

so much more together. [Alina]

brought us close together.”

Howe also respects and admires his sister

more as she has matured as a mother.

Now that Jay and Alina are both two

years old, Howe and Gonzalez feel fortunate

to see a child grow up before their very eyes.

“I feel so lucky to be a part of her life,”

Gonzalez said. “My older sisters got to

watch me grow up, and for me to be able to

see Alina grow up and go through life is so

special.”

BY CALEY GRIEBENOW

Features Editor

Young aunts, uncles embrace responsibilities

FAMILY MATTERS: Junior Sammy Gonzalez sits with her niece Alina before last year’s homecoming dance. Gonzalez makes an effort to spend a couple days a month with her niece to build a stong relationship with her. (Lower left ) Gonzalez celebrates her 16th birthday with her niece. (Lower right) Gonzalez, her mother and Alina enjoy a day at a Sox baseball game over the summer. (photo courtsey of Sammy Gonzalez)

MotivationSummer is fading, but

your motivaton doesn’t

have to. How will you

make this year great?

Freshman advice10 freshmen get uncommon

high school questions

answered by teachers and

seniors alike.

Cubs triviaThis is where a short

description of the topic

and story will go. Be

concise and to the point.

Good vs veganWatch meat-lover James

Estrella face vegan Isabelle

Rogers in a monthly cook-

off.

Head to ProspectorNow.Com for breaking news, videos, contests and more!

ProspectorNow.com 11FeaturesSeptember 25, 2015

Senior Andrew Brooks stood amongst

four of his peers at the First United

Methodist Church as they waited

to be officially declared an Eagle Scout, Boy

Scouts of America’s highest rank. He sat as

he listened to Assistant Scout Master Erik

Sealand speak about his journey.

“This is the voice of the Eagle, the Eagle

whose heights you have struggled hard to

reach,” Sealand said. “We remember

well when you first came to the

base of the cliff and how you

looked up with ambition

and determination.”

From here Sealand

talked about each step

in Brooks’ trek that

started as a mere Scout

and ended at the pinna-

cle of Scouting.

Sealand concluded

the speech by recogniz-

ing the perseverance and

leadership skills Brooks de-

veloped en route to becoming

an Eagle Scout. Shortly thereafter,

Brooks was presented with his Eagle Scout

badge.

In receiving this badge, Brooks joined an

exclusive club (see “From the White House

to the moon”). According to scouting.org,

while almost one million people national-

ly start the journey as Boy Scouts during

middle school, only four percent manage to

fulfill the necessary requirements and reach

the rank of Eagle.

For Brooks, becoming an Eagle Scout

was one of his goals from the time he started

Scouting. However, he was originally moti-

vated to become an Eagle Scout because he

liked birds, and “eagles are the best birds.”

As the years went on, his motivation

changed, and he instead admired the lead-

ership capabilities that Eagle Scouts pos-

sess. Gradually, Brooks transformed into

the leader he wanted to be as he advanced

through the ranks. Brooks believes the most

crucial step in this process was the Eagle

Scout Service Project.

Brooks’ project was creating an outside

eating area and garden behind the

gyms at South Middle School.

Brooks started his project

by submitting his propos-

al to District 25, and the

district directed him to

South principal Jake

Chung who was soon

replaced by Piper Bos-

ton.

Brooks then worked

with South for eight

months in 2014 to coordi-

nate his project. He created

landscape designs, secured

discounted tools and plants

from Pesche’s Garden Center and

recruited friends and family in preparation

for the early August work date.

When the day came to implement his

plans, Brooks and 35 volunteers worked

from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in what he considers a

difficult but rewarding experience.

According to Boston, the picnic area is

utilized daily during lunch hours. Lunch

room monitors hold a drawing to decide

which students eat outside.

Boston enjoys working with Eagle Scouts

like Brooks because

their projects offer

ways to enrich the

school in ways the

budget usually would

not allow.

“We always feel

like [Eagle Scout Ser-

vice Projects are] a

gift,” Boston said.

In addition to be-

ing a way to give back

to the community,

becoming an Eagle

Scouts pays off as

Scouts become

older and en-

ter the work-

force, accord-

ing to Eagle

Scout and adult

Scout Leader Tom

Schwingbeck.

He has

firsthand ex-

perience in

the benefits

of being an

Eagle Scout. As

someone who

used to hire

people to work

at RNM and

Associates, a

steel company,

Schwingbeck was impressed by applicants

who had spent time in Boy Scouts.

“[Scouts] are young men who have

tackled goals, [and]

they’ve been very

hardworking [and]

persistent,” Schwing-

beck said. “They go af-

ter a goal and accom-

plish it. That’s a good

trait. I always look for

that when I’m trying

to hire somebody.”

From these hires,

Schwingbeck has

seen the virtues

of Boy Scouts

allow employ-

ees thrive

years removed

from their Scout-

ing days.

“There was a

very hard goal

to attain, and

these [men]

stuck with it,”

S c h w i n g b e c k

said. “If they’re

willing to work

that hard and

have that kind

of commitment

at an early age,

then they’re go-

ing to do it when

they get into the work

world, too.”

Hard work, leadership

define top Boy ScoutsBY MIKE STANFORD

Copy Editor

Eagle Scouts fly to great heights

BEAT STREETTo y , C o l l e c t i b l e a n d C a n d y S t o r e

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Open Tues. - Sat.:11 a.m. — 5:30 p.m.Stop by for a large selection

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HELPING HANDS: Senior Andrew Brooks poses with volunteers while working on his Eagle Scout Service Project at South Middle School (before and after above). Brooks spent eight months gathering volunteers to create an outdoor eating area and garden for his alma mater en route to becoming an Eagle Scout. (photos courtesy of Andrew Brooks)

After

Before

From the White House to

the moon

Since the first person became an Eagle Scout in 1912, countless

American leaders have fulfilled the requirements to achieve Boy

Scouts’ highest rank, including:

Former President Gerald Ford

Marriott InternationalPresident

J.W. Marriott, Jr.

Director Stephen Spielberg

Astronaut Neil Armstrong

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Walmart founder Sam Walton

S

en

ior Andrew Brooks

12 Entertainment September 25, 2015 ProspectorNow.com

New choir teacher takes over Company

Sitting down on her bed, just as she returned home from work and expecting

to leave for another shift in an hour, senior Laura Gonyon got a call from a fellow Company mem-ber telling her to check her email.

The message sitting in her in-box was from then-choir teacher and Company director Robert Shellard.

The email was sent three weeks before school started, and it stated that Shel-lard would not be returning to Pros-pect for the 2015-16 school year due to receiving the full-time choral posi-tion at Barrington High School.

“There are not many choral positions in this area opening up anytime soon,” choir teacher Jen-nifer Troiano said. “It was just so exciting because that meant [Shel-lard] would be in my life for a long time. But then I was like, ‘Oh no! That means your are not coming back to Prospect.’ I always knew he was going to find another job because he is amazing. That being

said, it happened a little sooner than I thought.”

Because Shellard leaving was unforeseen, some of the Company girls, did not know what to do.

“It was so unexpected and so sudden,” Gonyon said. “[Shellard] had only been working here for two years. I thought there was no

way he could be serious.”

The district i m m e d i a t e l y started looking for somebody to fill Shellard’s po-sition.

Kevin Bur-row was hired earlier this se-mester and will be teaching freshman choir and directing Company. The Company girls

set a time to meet up the same day they received the email, not letting a minute go to waste.

While they lacked a director for the time being, the girls had bond-ing activities and learned the cho-reography instead of the music.

Voice teachers and previous Prospect students worked with Company to keep them busy.

In the meantime, through emails between English and Fine Arts Division Head Adam Levin-

son and Shellard, they decided that Shellard will continue to give Com-pany input on their performances and work with Burrow on his vi-sions for the show.

“Usually this late in the game you cannot find somebody [for the job],” Troiano said. “Especially somebody who would be able to handle show choir because it is ex-tremely stressful, and it is not just a job. It’s a life. You’re constant-ly thinking about the show and you’re constantly building it. You don’t stop thinking about it.”

Along with Burrow’s job at Prospect, he has a full time job as a church music minister in Glen Ellen.

Though Burrow has never di-rected Show Choir, he has expe-rience with girls’ musical groups from previous jobs in Wisconsin and at New Trier High School.

“[The best thing about Pros-pect] is the enthusiasm the stu-dents have,” Burrow said. “I don’t know who is more excited to be here: me or them.”

Just as Burrow is excited to be a part of the choir department, Troiano and the Company mem-bers are very excited to work with “such an experienced musician [and look forward to the] positivity he sheds.”

“He is an organist, a pianist,” Troiano said, “and he is a dream come true.”

BY ISABELLE ROGERS

Executive Entertainment Editor

When it came time to say good-bye to the theater at the end of last year, director Jeremy Morton took a lot of pictures. However, it wasn’t all sad goodbyes.

“We spent the entire last month and a half putting [the theater away],” Morton said. “So at the same time, it was very easy for me to say, ‘I’m ready to move on.’ At the same time I have some really great mem-ories in that space … and that emo-tionally was difficult, but physically I was ready to move on into a new space, a space that would hope-fully allow us to do a little bit more.”

According to Morton, the ren-ovations to the theater will allow them to do a lot more.

On top of being under acoustical improvement so the audience can hear the shows better, the theater has a slew of new gadgets and fea-tures (see THEATER ADDITIONS) for actors and the crew to utilize.

The transition to the new space will include everything from lights to costumes to props around the

theater as they deal with the way the construction.

In addition, the crew will have to get used to utilities such as all of the new LED lights.

Junior Katie Haseley has some mixed feelings about the new space.

“[The new changes] will take some getting used to,” Haseley said. “But hopefully plays and mu-sicals will run smoother with the new renovations in place.”

M e a n -while, senior Robbie Bald-ino, who has acted in the m u s i c a l s , isn’t as con-cerned about the renova-tions.

“I don’t think [the renovation] really has to

do with [the performances],” Bald-ino said, “I think it has to do with the how the audience gets to watch it and experience it, and I do think it will improve the audience’s ex-perience.”

However, Prospect audiences will not be able to experience the renovations until “Prospect’s Got Talent” takes the stage after the fall play.

The fall play, “The Dream of the Burning Boy,” will be held

the weekend of September 24th.

Due to the change in date, the renova-tions, including the new acoustics, will not be ready, and, therefore, the performances will take place in the community room.

According to Morton, the change in date was to accommo-date marching band students who still wanted to be involved with the

show.In addition to the changes to

the fall lineup there will also be a spring play.

The spring play will be an abbre-viated retelling of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” called, “R and J,” and is geared toward freshman audiences who, starting this year, read it as part of their curriculum.

“Now that [Romeo and Juliet] is back, I wanted to provide this theatrical interpretation for all the freshman,” Morton said. “It’s one of those wacky, really funny, en-

gaging experiences because we do it in the round and we in-volve the audience very much.”

There will be mostly daytime per-formances for fresh-man English class-es, although there will be one evening performance also.

Morton says the winter play and spring musical will be largely unaffected by the changes, which will allow people to be involved with as many productions as they want.

However, he says the biggest impacts on the shows are the or-chestra pit for the musical and the audience comfort level for every show.

While Morton is excited for what the changes to the space and the year will bring, not everything is quite ready yet.

“We’re not done,” Morton said. “[Our props and gear are] heavy and big, and until things are en-tirely finished, we can’t unpack. We’re still in our boxes. Once we get out of our boxes, I’m very excit-ed about using the space. Watching all the pieces come together has been a very challenging [experi-ence], but it will be a very reward-ing [one].”

Renovations to theater program present challenges

PIANO MAN: Choir teacher Kevin Burrow shows his skills on the

piano in the choir room. He uses his experience to play warm ups

and choral pieces for students. (photo by Cassidy Selep)

BREAK A LEG (AND A WALLET): The theater program will

go over several changes this year, including the new seats. “ When

you walk in, you know that something has changed, and it’s very

exciting, watching all the pieces coming together. (photo by Cassidy

Selep)

“[The best thing about Prospect] is the enthusiasm the students have. I don’t know who is more excited to be here: me or them.”

Kevin Burrow, choir teacher

Watching all the pieces come together has been a very challenging [experience], but it will be a very rewarding [one].”

Jeremy Morton, Fine Arts

coordinator

BY GARRETT STROTHEREntertainment Editor

Theater additions

The following additons were made to the theater this past summer:

- Movable orchestra pit

- Seats

- Acoustics

- Sound booth

- Air conditioning - Sound board

- Speakers

- LED lights

ProspectorNow.com 13EntertainmentSeptember 25, 2015

When junior Chelsea Maldona-do was in seventh grade, her friends asked her to join cheer-

leading with them. For Maldonado, saying yes was not a hard decision. She had seen the movie “Bring it On” and wanted to have fun like the cheerleaders in the movies.

Now having been on varsity cheerlead-ing for three years, Maldonado knows that not everyone sees cheerleaders in such a positive light.

“It’s definitely a very unwelcoming vibe [that cheerleaders] get from movies,” Mal-donado said. “There’s a lot of negativity and people who don’t support us. Even though we don’t kick a ball around or score any goals or touchdowns, we’re still athletes. ... There’s a lot that goes on at practices that [isn’t] dis-played on the mat or in performances. ... All the sweat, all the injuries, all the dedication and work we put [in]. Everyone just thinks it’s the glitter and the makeup and the tight uniforms.”

Stereotypes such as the ones Maldonado

experiences are largely based off the arche-types originating in movies such as “The Breakfast Club” and “Ferris Bueler’s Day Off.”

Stereotypes such as “jock” or “nerd”, found their beginnings in movies.

While cheerleaders are very heavily ste-reotyped, they aren’t the only aspect of high school that suffers from false assumptions based on movies.

Freshman Andrew Backus and junior Josh Damasky thought bullying would be more rampant once they entered high school, an assumption which they credit to movies.

Damasky thought he would be shoved into a locker.

However, when Backus got to high school, he was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t see any bullying. He thinks that the attitude high schoolers have for each other might contribute to the lack of bullying.

“Everyone looks out for each other in high school,” Backus said.

Senior Luke Wrede, a member of the var-sity football team, says that as a freshman, he was afraid of the players on the football team because they all seemed so big and in-timidating.

“There’s not just one kind of football player,” Wrede said. “We’re all just people.”

Wrede wasn’t alone in how he perceived different groups and activities.

Unlike Wrede, Damasky said that movies had no effect on him when it came to choos-ing what activities he wanted to participate in.

However, Damasky still thinks that mov-ies have a negative impact on what fresh-men expect, as they provide them with un-true stereotypes that can skew how they feel about high school.

Despite what preconceived ideas peo-ple might have about a group, Maldonado thinks that people doing what they love to do is the most important thing.

“We [cheer] for ourselves,” Maldonado said. “We don’t really do it for all the people who don’t really respect us. Proving every-one wrong and having that good feeling for yourself, that’s the best feeling.”

Teen movie stereotypes prove false regarding students, activities

BETWEEN A LOCKER AND A HARD PLACE: (Top) Sophomore There-sa Schafer demonstrates a common fear among freshmen. Many freshmen are afraid of being bullied due to stereotypes from movies about high school. “It’s definitely a very unwelcoming vibe we get from movies,” junior Chelsea Maldonado said. (Bottom) Cheerleaders pose in a demonstration of a common stereotype that cheerleaders are intimidating and aggressive. Although these rumors can be harmful, cheerleader Chelsea Maldonado says that comments saying cheerleaders are not athletes have the most negative effect. (photos by Cassidy Selep)

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“There’s a lot that goes on at

practices that [isn’t] displayed on

the mat or in performances. We

condition. We run. We lift. We

tumble. We spend all our time

doing all this work. All the sweat,

all the injuries, all the dedication

we put [in]. Everyone just thinks

it’s the glitter and the makeup

and the tight uniforms.”

Chelsea Maldonado, junior

Bop to the top

Top 10 highest grossing movies

about high school

1. 21 Jump Street: $138,447,667

2. Superbad: $121,463,226

3. Porky’s: $111,289,673

4. American Pie: $102,561,004

5. Mean Girls:

$86,058,055

6. Ferris Bueller’s Day

Off: $70,136,369

7. Bring it On:

$68,379,000

8. Risky Buisne-

ss: $63,541,777

9.She’s All That:

$63,366,989

10. Easy A:

$58,401,464

BY CASSIDY DELAHUNTY

Entertainment Editor

‘You see us as you want to see us’

14 Sports September 25, 2015 ProspectorNow.com

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Going into the baseball season his junior year, current senior Luke Wrede aspired to make varsity.

When he made JV instead, he coped with his disappointment and continued to work hard.

Heading into his senior year, he made the varsity summer team, but he found himself on the bench more than he had hoped. As a three-sport athlete who focuses on football, Wrede doesn’t have time to play baseball outside of the spring season, which, in turn, gives him less opportunity to improve and keeps him on the bench.

Though making varsity took longer than he planned and he doesn’t play much, he remains attached to the team through the many friendships that formed through base-ball and his love for the sport.

Wrede is among many students in situa-tions like these. Athletes who grew up play-ing a sport yet don’t receive significant play-ing time face the choice between abandoning the sport or staying on as a team player. Many players, such as Wrede, continue with their teams because of the community envi-ronment.

Senior varsity soccer player Mitchell Tapia has played soccer for nine years, but he only plays off the bench.

“I don’t get very much playing time, [but] I still am tied to the team just for practices,” Tapia said. “I think right now it’s a matter of just enjoying the game.”

Girls’ varsity soccer head coach Tom Froats understands players’ frustrations with insufficient playing time, and placing players on various level teams requires a lot of thought.

“I recognize we want to win the game, but I also recognize the hard work and com-mitment players put into the team and into the program,” Froats said. “I try and expand the number of players that get in more than

some other coaches.”Due to this mindset, Froats puts as many

players on the varsity team that he can. Ac-cording to Froats, committed players should experience the varsity level.

Once the players are placed into their teams, Froats is faced with another coaching dilemma: whether to give playing time to the player with raw talent but lacking a work ethic or to the less-skilled but more industri-ous player.

“A more talented player might not get the time just based alone on their talent,” Froats said. “If they’re the last person to come to practice, they’re the first person to leave and they don’t work hard during practice, then it gets very difficult from a teammate’s per-spective.”

Tapia has seen this situation on his team from the hardworking player’s perspective.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Tapia said. “I do wish that I got more playing time, but at the same time I also understand that it’s ulti-mately the coach’s decision, and I’m always going to be a little biased towards myself.”

Froats’ main goal as a coach is to create a challenging environment, and in order to do this he has to do what is best for the team.

“Sometimes the team focus versus an individual focus, for the individual it may not fall in their favor, but that’s not why I’m making the decision,” Froats said. “[The de-cision isn’t] for one; I’m making the decision for all.”

Tapia knew he wanted to stick with the soccer team despite not playing the ideal amount, but in different scenarios he be-lieves that may not make sense.

“If you feel like you’re really not pro-gressing anywhere, and there’s no chance of being able to make it to where you want, then obviously there’s other activities you can do,” Tapia said. “But I think as long as you keep your mindset positive and keep playing for yourself and for your teammates, it’s nice to have a sport to drive you.”

Players remain loyal on sidelinesBY DIANA LEANE

Copy Editor

BENCHED: A player watches from the sidelines as her teammate spikes the ball. Many players play less than they desire, but they continue to dedicate time to their teams for the team environment. (photo by Cassidy Selep)

ProspectorNow.com 15SportsSeptember 25, 2015

As junior Nick Tenuta stepped onto the eighth tee box, he was looking

to continue his so far successful round, keeping himself around par. Working against the hot and humid weather, Tenuta was searching for a way to add energy to his round.

After his first shot on the par 4, Tenuta was within striking dis-tance of the hole. As Tenuta ap-proached the ball, he tried to put it close to the hole. The 55 yard wedge shot flew through the air looking like it might veer to the right, ac-cording to Te-nuta, but after the ball took its first bounce, it looked true to the hole and fell in.

“It was a great confi-dence builder and something good to build off of,” Tenuta said.

A c c o r d i n g to Tenuta, this shot at Rolling Green Country Club on Aug. 17. was one of his favorite moments in his golf career. Even though the round was cancelled later due to rain, Tenuta said it did not change his attitude towards the shot.

“It was still a great shot even though it never counted,” Tenuta

said.After taking first place at this

meet, the Knights have continued their season with a record of 8-2 in the MSL as of Sept. 17. According to head coach Tom Martindale, the team is looking forward to the MSL conference tournament Sept. 29. He believes that in this match, the high level of competition creates an opportunity to be successful.

A meet special to Martindale was when varsity and JV combined to win the Elk Grove invite, some-thing not common in high school

golf. According to Martindale, the format for the event was one JV player paired with a varsity player for all of the schools. This is a new event run by Elk Grove. The schools involved all felt good that a younger player would be paired with a varsity player.

One thing that differs from last year’s team is hav-ing their home course back. The Mount Prospect Golf Course went under renova-tions that made the course un-

playable all of last year, and left the Knights with no home course. Changes to all 18 greens were made, which included changing the size and shape of them as well as giving them more slope. Holes 10, 11, 12 and 13 all have a complete-

ly new design, and 10 was changed to a par 3.

According to Tenuta, the wid-er fairways are easier to hit, and junior Robert Garmoe thinks the greens have become a bit more challenging because of the in-creased slope.

“It’s really nice having a clos-er place to go,” Garmoe said. “The greens provide a bit more of a chal-lenge, but I like the challenge.”

Martindale explains that hav-ing the course back is a big bonus because there is more practice and range space. The old short driving range is gone, and a new 350 yard range is in place. The new putting green is much larger than small green the course previously had.

“It’s always so welcoming there, so it’s really nice to have that feeling back,” Martindale said.

A change presented to the Knights was finding new leader-ship amongst their young team. With nine juniors and five seniors, Martindale says the leadership is different than in years past, traditionally having older teams. Co-captains Garmoe and Tenuta have provided the team with what Martindale describes as great en-ergy and good work ethic.

Garmoe explains that the team is less experienced compared to last year, but the team set a goal to improve their games day-by-day. Between the third and fourth weeks of the season, Martindale noticed great improvement from the team by scoring better in meets and overall skills improving.

Team improvement was shown by reaching an accomplishment they had been striving for all sea-son long. At Poplar Creek, they shot a 151 as a team through nine holes for the first time. This is the team’s best score of the season so far.

Building off of this score, Gar-moe hopes to make it back to the state playoffs. Last year as a soph-omore, Garmoe shot a 171 in two rounds placing 101st out of 110, but he hopes to improve on his score this year.

“I know it will be hard to make it back, but I am willing to put in all the hard work,” Garmoe said.

Garmoe competed in many Illinois Junior Golf Association (IJGA) golf tournaments over the summer to gain good tournament experience and practice for his goal, the state playoff.

Tenuta also participated in tournaments such as Palatine Hills, The Den at Fox Creek, Black Stone, The Illinois Junior and more. According to Martindale, tournaments and working on their individual games were some of the ways the team improved over the offseason.

“Trying to get better every day and pursuing excellence usual-ly leads you into good things be-yond,” Martindale said. “If you’re doing that, good things will proba-bly happen.”

BY JACK ANKONY

Sports Editor

New course welcomes boys’ golf

BY BEN DOJUTREK

Sports Editor

GOING GREEN: Senior Jon Branch crouches over the ball as he reads the green at Mount Prospect Golf Course. At Poplar Creek, the team shot a 151 as a team, their best score so far. The boys’ golf team is 8-2 in the MSL. To see the renevations to the Mt. Prospect Golf Course, use the Aurasma app (photo by Lauren Miller)

The silence is striking on the Mt. Pros-pect golf course. Players who are playing take their time golfing, talking or looking around their surroundings. If one looks around the course, they can see the varsity girls’ golf team working hard to make this season another successful one.

“We’re definitely motivated this year [to] get our scores lower,” junior Sabrina Ac-cardi said.

This season has been one of learning, as this is one of Prospect’s youngest teams. The main roster has two seniors on it. While it’s a young team, head coach Jim Hamman is not concerned.

“What we do is a process; it takes a lot of work to improve,” Hamman said. “The girls just have to trust their coaches and the process.”

The process includes long practices to learn the course, improve their skills and learn how to be a good teammate.

Few sports can be called a dynasty, yet girls’ golf can be considered one of them. Like any good dynasty, they had important wins in the past.

These wins included having two state championships, one second place finish and a fourth and fifth place finish.

These important wins all came in the span of five years. A streak that can put pres-sure on players.

“Trying to keep that repu-tation that girls’ golf has had is hard, but we’re trying to keep it,’” Accardi said.

While having a team this young is no problem, having a new course can be. Last year the Mt. Prospect Golf Course was unavailable as it underwent construction.

While some holes are the same, others have become hillier and some have lost a stroke for par.

“These changes might seem small, how-ever in golf they can make things a lot hard-er. that it’s nice to have our home course back,” Accardi said. “It’s different now, but that’s what makes the course challenging and fun to be back.”

This year girls’ golf has had some trou-bles to start the season. For example, the team lost to Barrington for the first time in

seven years. “We did our best, but we all knew we

could’ve done better,” Accardi said. “We could’ve done more. I know that I could’ve hit better, [and] we could’ve hit more shots.”

After losing to Barrington, the team won two of their last three games and placed second in the Buffalo Grove invitational.

Although the season started rough, the girls are working to do better.

Accardi has helped re-gain that reputation by consistently being one of Prospect’s leading scorers, always coming close to the

lowest. Accardi has had a score of 43, 40 and 85 in her last three rounds.

Coach Hamman has noticed how good his team is of picking themselves up to come back stronger next time while maintaining a cool attitude.

“It’s not how they want to be competi-tive and keep Prospect successful,” Haaman said. “They are always positive and treat each other like queens.”

Girls’ golf bounces back from early adversity

TAYLORMADE: Junior Sabrina Accardi swings at the newly renovated Mount Pros-pect Golf Course. Although the golf team has struggled early on, Accardi believes that they just have to get better. “We’re definetly motivated to get our scores lower,” Accardi said. The Knights are 6-4 in conference. (photo by Cassidy Selep)

“What we do is a process; it takes a lot of work to improve,”

-Coach Jim Hamman

Changes made to

Mount Prospect

Golf Course

• The size, shape,

amount of slope, and

hole placement was

changed on each green.

• The course’s par was

changed from 71 to 70.

• A new 350 yard driv-

ing range is in place, as

well as larger putting

greens.

• A few hundred trees

were removed to create

space.

Girls’ Golf Scores

Invites

Conant Invite: 4th place, 346

Prospect Invite: 4th place, 340

Rockford Invite: 5th place, 345

Meets

At Hersey: 2nd place, 179

At Barrington: 2nd place 179

strokes

At Wheeling: 1st place, 167

strokes

It is said that lighting does not strike the same place twice, but for the Cooney fami-

ly this nearly happened. In the first game of the soccer season, Chris Cooney had four goals, with his first 14 seconds in. The fourth goal of the game tied Cooney with six other people includ-ing his older broth-er Bill on the single game record.

Just a few years ago, Bill had a chance to break the record, but Bill’s fifth goal opportu-nity hit the crossbar and missed the goal.

When Chris’ op-portunity for his fifth goal came, his shot also hit the post.

“Hitting the post was like a mini heart attack because I was like, ‘No, not again,’” Chris said.

However, Chris got a chance that his brother never did.

The ball bounced back to him, and he buried it to set the record. And to secure the record, according to Chris, he buried a sixth in the second half.

Though it could have been a chance for Chris to bask in the glory, he turned the praise to his teammates for getting him the ball and playing a good overall game in their first win of the season. The team’s current record sits at 3-5.

“I think it’s more about getting wins than getting records,” Chris said.

Chris is one of 14 seniors on the team, which could be a problem when it comes to leadership; however, Chris feels the leader-ship role is divided well among the team. Each player is stepping up and is able to find an area of the game in which they can excel and lead.

For Chris, that role comes as a goal-scor-er. Senior Nick Jozefowski agrees, and feels his role on the team is to help first year var-sity players in their transition to the varsity level. Aside from helping players transition,

the leaders are also helping their coach do the same.

In his first year as head coach, Elkins re-alized that good leaders are important to his transition into the position.

He felt coming in to the season that the six returning varsity players knew how to compete and were able to become leaders.

According to Jozefowski, Elkins gave the older players a lot of freedom in controlling the team and each game. Elkins knew com-ing in that the older players have what it takes to compete.

“Coming in there were kids I knew were already committed, and I could trust to lead this group,” Elkins said.

Although this is Elkins’ first year coach-

ing the varsi-ty boys’ team,

he coached JV1 last year and continues to be

the girls’ head coach at Niles North. He was also a soccer player

at Glenbrook South and then Northwestern University.

According to Elkins, his main goal is to commit players to the program both in and out of season.

He would like to see them buy into the team concept while also seeing them play “simple, strong and smart.” He allows the team to “control [their] own destiny,” ac-cording to Jozefowski.

In order to achieve this, Cooney has seen Elkins use straightforward drills that are based directly on gameplay, which allows each player to experience things that actual-ly occur during games.

One drill they do is have forwards pres-sure defensemen in the defensive zone. This

drill allows the defensemen to practice mov-ing the ball up the field.

It also helps the forwards practice steal-ing the ball from the other team’s defense near the goal.

He then works through that to help the players find out what they can improve upon.

Elkins also likes to see players be full of energy and defend and attack the whole length of the field.

“[The players] have the talent, and they have the character to be successful,” Elkins said. “If they can apply themselves a little bit more, we can take the next step and be a lit-tle bit more successful.”

With the right application, Chris sees this as being a year where special things could happen. Many players have played with each other before, so there is a lot of chemistry on the team. Chris is confident that this team is capable of anything, even a state title.

“We want to go as far as we can in the tournament,” Jozefowski said. “We want to be unified as a team [and] be on the same page. We want to progress instead of regress every single game from now on.”

SPORTS FOOTBALL

Missed a home football game? Watch each

game online and hear students’ commen-

tary on the game as well as exclusive inter-

views with players and coaches.

CROSS COUNTRYSenior Matt Cozine and

junior Brooke Wilson (right)

were able to set course records

in the first dual meet of the year

on Sept. 10 against Hersey.

ProspectorNow.com ProspectorNow.com

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

Athlete: Bobby Jarosz

Year: Senior

Sport: Football

Position: Running Back

Q.

A .

What has the season been like so far?

The season right now is mostly just our run game because we have a good [offensive] line, and we’re just going to power through. Most of my season has been pretty successful so far, but I think we just need to finish our drives more so we can become a way better team.

Q.

A .

Q.

A .

Q.

A .

What has football at Prospect taught you?

So much. Respect, Pride, how to deal with adversity, how to be a part of something bigger than just yourself, leadership, teamwork. Honestly so many things. It’s changed me into a better person. I can’t describe how it’s changed my life.

Are there any other players that you model your game after?Walter Payton, Marshawn Lynch, Adrian Peterson until he hit his child. That’s who I look up to. I like the way they run.

What are your personal and team goals for the rest of the season?Individually I want to be all state for a running back, and team-wise I want to change the program to become what Prospect football used to be, which is always a playoff contender and hopefully move on from there.

Soccer succeeds under leadership, coachBY DEVIN PRASAD

Executive Sports Editor

Soccer thrives despite few re-

turning players (listed below)

Sr. Defensemen Patrick Walsh (right)

Sr. Goalie Nick Jozefowski

Sr. Forward Chris Cooney

Sr. Midfielder Eryk Soltys

Sr. Forward Ross LaCamera

Sr. Midfielder Celso Soto

Jr. Defensemen Grant Whitebloom

CHASING SUCCESS: Senior forward Ross LaCamera rac-es after the ball in a game against Downers Grove North on

Aug. 27. LaCamera is one of 14 leaders on the team who has helped not only the younger players but also the

new coach. (photo by Cassidy Selep)