04•15•10they used to be our classmates 12-13soundtrack: “Where’d you go” Fort Minor

Pennsylvania pageants Alexis Jahnke never thought so much would come out of her family’s reloca-tion to Pennsylvania a year and half ago. The move for her step dad’s job took her from “the mountainous laid back environ-ment of Colorado to the old and country atmosphere of Pennsylvania.” Not only did her environment change, but Pennsylvania provided her with opportunities that are now launching her entertainment career. Jahnke moved in the middle of the year, and the transition was difficult. “It wasn’t a hard transition people wise,” she said. “I just hated Pennsylvania itself. It’s so different from everything I loved so much in Colorado.” Jahnke attended Central Bucks East High school, which is over fifty years old. The people at her new school were really different in personality from the people in Colorado. “In Colorado for the most part everyone is friendly and relaxed,” Jahnke said. “You would never find that on the East Coast.” Jahnke described her new home as an eye opener to the different parts of this country. “I just couldn’t believe how different it was, especially my school,” said Jahnke. “We live in what is considered the nicest part of Pennsylvania but everything is so old, so it was quite shocking to me.” As Jahnke got settled in and comfort-able in her new environment she began to explore the possibility of competing in a pageant. Jahnke’s mother competed in pageants and was a model when she was younger, which is one of the major reasons Jahnke decided to compete for Miss Penn-sylvania Teen USA. “It sounded like a great opportunity to me,” said Jahnke. “It’s never something I had thought of doing, but my mom con-vinced me to do it and I thought it would be really fun.” Jahnke entered the competition with no intention of winning because it was her first pageant ever. “All the other girls had thousand dollar dresses and I just found a dress for ninety-nine dollars because I really did not care

that much about pageants at that point,” said Jahnke. Jahnke didn’t prepare for a pageant the way most Pennsylvania veterans do. “When I got there, most of the other girls had already known each other because they had been competing in pageants to-gether for years,” she said. “I even had a girl come up to me and tell me I had no chance because she already was going to win.” Jahnke went in with intentions of mak-ing top fifteen, and was shocked when she won the pageant. Her life started to change from there. “I was so excited for Alexis when I heard she won Miss Pennsylvania Teen

USA,” said Lizzy Vandyke ‘10, a close friend of Jahnke. “It was so hard to see my best friend move away but I was so proud of her.” Jahnke started dedi-cating so much time to her title, so she was no longer focused on everything she

hated about her new home. “I started making appearances every week, doing fashion shows, modeling for designers and even stores,” said Jahnke. “I was always flying to Pittsburgh for meet-ings and it was causing me to miss a lot of school.” Jahnke was so busy with this new career that she left Central Bucks East High and started home- schooling. “Home-schooling allowed me to expe-rience so much more and get the most out of my title,” she said. “I got to meet so many celebrities. It was amazing.” During her year as Miss Pennsylvania Teen USA, Jahnke realized her love of the spotlight and red carpet events. She is now looking into perusing a career in acting. She recently booked a role in a Pennsylva-nia based horror movie called “Mr. Hush.” “I am so excited to finally start an acting career,” said Jahnke. “I am moving to California in July to start going on audi-tions and to get an agent. I am so excited for what’s to come and even though I absolutely hated Pennsylvania, it opened up a lot of doors for me and what I want to do the rest of my life.”

Caley Pavillard

Fala Portugues? The team captain South America is one of the most popular vacation spots in the world, but for Jessica Rush ‘10, her move to Brazil was no party on the beach. In July of 2008, Rush’s family moved after her dad was offered a director’s job for Merck Vaccines, a company that helps the government create vaccines and medicine that can be distributed to people all around Latin America. “To say the least, things are completely different here in Brazil as compared to the States,” said Rush. “My family thought that it would be a great experience to learn a new language, be exposed to a new culture and learn about the world by being exposed to the difficulties associated with developing countries.” Rush currently lives in San Paulo, a big city that is much different than Highlands Ranch. While she had a hard time adjusting to the new atmosphere at first, now it just seems commonplace. “Dealing with all the joys of a city like traffic, pollution, and crazy drivers was overwhelming at first,” said Rush, “but then you get used to it.” One of the hardest parts of the transition from Colora-do to Brazil was learning Portuguese, the national language of Brazil. “It was really hard to first master the Portuguese language because people speak really fast and the accent is difficult,” said Rush. “But most people are supportive and it’s fun to speak [Portuguese] now that I understand it bet-ter.” Even with all the challenges and frustrations that came with adapting to a brand new lifestyle, Rush believes it has opened her eyes to the world around her. “Something that has really changed me and made me want to make a difference in the world is the poverty that I have been exposed to,” said Rush. “I didn’t fully under-stand how blessed I was until I came here and saw how little people have and the poor living conditions, crime, violence, and unsanitary situations they have to deal with on a daily basis.” Because of this poverty and low standard of living, Rush has discovered a new passion that she plans on pursuing: photography. “At first I just wanted to capture the way people live here with my camera,” said Rush. “But it turned into a project to show the challenges created by poverty and how big the gap of separation is between the rich and the poor.” Rush will graduate from Escola Graduada and plans on attending BYU after high school. She wants to follow her passion and study photography. After college, she aspires to become a photojournalist and travel the world, document-ing the lives of people in developing countries.

Skyler Draper

For almost all of his life his favorite sport was soccer, playing on countless teams for many years. Now, he’s the captain of his school’s rugby team and a football all star.In Dec. 2007, Zack Harper, a former RC student, and his family moved to Rochester, New York. “My dad was in between jobs,” said Harper, “and he decided to take one in our hometown in upstate New York. “I moved back to where all my family is, and I still had friends in town which is nice. “I definitely miss the people in Colorado, and I really miss the mountains. The oddest thing I miss is the weather; this winter we had three straight weeks with out a single minute of sunshine.” After moving, Harper’s passion for soccer transformed into dedication to two new sports: rugby and football. “I’ve switched sports completely. I played two years of Varsity Football (after moving to New York) and am cur-rently captain on the rugby team,” said Harper. Harper plans to head off to college this fall, to the Uni-versity of Wisconsin, to “become a Badger.” Harper’s peaceful transition from Colorado to New York brought about a new life for Harper, who became dedicated to two new sports. Hopefully, the transition he will make this fall from New York to Wisconsin will bring about even more fortune. Connor Dozois

Small change, big difference For some people, a life changing event includes travel-ing across the world. For Brooks Coltrane his life changing event was traveling ten miles away, transferring to Castle View High School. “It’s so clique oriented at Rock Canyon, and so I started to become clique oriented. I started to fall into bad habits,” said Coltrane, “like lying and decieving, and making other people happy before I made myself happy.” This new behavior caused Coltrane to have a rough time and lose his best friend, Sam Classen ‘10. “He used me, and I got sick of it really quick,” said Clas-sen. “I think a lot of it was that once we hit high school I began to see the real Brooks.” “I started trying to live up to everyone else,” said Col-trane. “My bad experience was created by me, not by the school.” Since the switch Coltrane has gotten a job at DazBog, discovered a love of sciences in Castle View’s academy formatted program, and even had the opportunity to meet Dr. James Watson, the famous scientist who discovered the double helix shape of DNA. Next for him will be graduat-ing and studying neuroscience at either Boston University or Grand Canyon University. “I am nothing like I was,” said Coltrane. “I treat people differently now, especially myself and my family. Now I am just myself, not trying to be someone else.”

Emma Kate Fittes

The class of 2010 started their freshman year with 336 students; they are weeks from graduating with 368 students. Many students have come and gone, and here are some of the stories of the students who left.Where are they now?Taking the highway

Perhaps you didn’t notice Kelli Pando, but she probably noticed you.

She’s a keen observer, quiet and focused, and it’s only when she opens her mouth that it is suddenly clear how well-spoken she really is.

Pando has not had it easy. Never.Behind the soft blue facade of her

Highlands Ranch home lies a lot of pain and misunderstanding. But Pando has managed to deal with it all one day at a time and made the best of it.

Pando’s parents are divorced, and she has tense relationships with both.

“My mom’s been physically disabled for six years due to a horse accident,” said Pando. “Before that she had mostly been doing secretarial work and never made as much money as she would have liked, even with child support from my dad.”

Pando finds the most comfort from her two brothers. She thinks her older brother, Justin, who is in Afghanistan, is probably one of the smartest people she has ever met, and her younger brother, Miles, is a musical prodigy.

“Right now [my younger brother is] having a pretty rough time,” Pando said. “It’s hard to be there for him because he doesn’t want to have anything to do with his family which I can definitely under-stand.”

Pando’s time at Rock Canyon was marred by inconsistency. She started out as a member of the class of ‘09, but frequent absences, and an increasing lack of time and motivation caused her to put school on the back burner. After withdrawing in the middle of what was supposed to be her ju-nior year, Pando was led down an odyssey of alternative schools, stress, breakdowns, and a trip to a mental hospital.

“I don’t think I really needed to go to the hospital. I needed to work things out with my family,” Pando said. “Ultimately I feel the alternative schools didn’t give me the chance to succeed and challenge myself academically.”

She was able to reenter Rock Canyon as a member of the class of 2010 at the begin-ning of the ‘09-’10 school year.

“I was really stressed out over gradu-ation. I was enjoying my classes until just before the semester ended [and] some complicated situations here with my family [arose],” Pando said.

Pando was even more stressed when she learned that a full semester of credit seemed to be missing from her records. It meant that she might have to stay in school

for another year. But an upcoming trip to visit a friend in Virginia suddenly sprung up an entirely new idea.

Pando began to picture herself starting over. Her friend promised her a new life in Virginia, the possibilities of furthering her education, getting a job, and moving on.

Virginia held a lot of promise. But the next three months would prove to be stranger then she could ever imagine.

“The promise was great- everything I wanted,” Pando said. “I knew the risks of going to Virginia and I didn’t mind... I prepared myself as much as possible for anything. Things were really bad here.”

Pando began working at her friend’s mother’s store on the weekends, and was soon enrolled in the local school. She was helping her friend’s family in any way she could, and things seemed to be looking up.

“I spent about $1000 living there in un-der three months. 800 was mine, the other 200 was in the food stamps I applied for because one of the conditions was provid-ing for myself,” said Pando.

She soon realized her friend wasn’t helping her get her life straight, because he was trying to get his own life straight as well. Two months later she had made little progress, wasn’t getting paid or going to school, and then she found out that her friend’s mother wasn’t paying the rent.

“And that’s when I really decided to wake up,” Pando said.

Tired of the false promises and the threats of being completely and totally out of options, Pando made the choice to move back to Colorado. She is now trying to get her GED or diploma at Eagle Academy, save money, and move on.

“I regret coming to the realization that my friend was full of crap. He was going to take me to a homeless shelter after I’d missed my flight. The only reason that didn’t happen was because his mom offered to let me stay with them as long as I was able to accomplish my goals,” Pando said.

Pando’s situtation has not gotten any better recently.

“I’m confused, pretty resentful, and I probably feel almost as lonely and terri-fied of people as ever,” said Pando. “I’m exhausted. And I accept this [her feelings].”

At this point, she understands that the person she has to rely on the most to make her life better is herself.

“You know how they say ‘it’s my way or the highway,’” Kelli said. “I’ll take the highway- at least it’s a road.”

Daniel Wheeler

CO, to Chi, and back Behind the camera For Kate Harris a big surprise her freshman year was the complete opposite of what most people would want to hear their first year of high school. “My dad surprised my siblings and I with the fact that we were moving to Chicago because he was offered his dream job there,” said Harris. “It was a definitely a big surprise and our house had already sold, so we lived at my grandma’s house until the school year was over.” Harris and her family moved to the suburbs just outside Chicago the summer before her sophomore year. She had to leave all her childhood friends and the only home she had ever known behind. “The transition was really hard at first just because I had never moved,” said Harris. “Eventually it grew on me, but it took time to make new friends.” Harris explains how each city has different qualities that she loves, and she likes the new things Chicago had to offer. She comes back to Colorado every couple of months and her friends come to Chicago on breaks. She is coming back to Colorado and attending CSU for college. “Even though it was hard to move away from all my friends, I got over it and it helped me grow up,” said Harris. “I am really excited to come back and go to CSU; Even though I live in Chicago, I feel like Colorado is still home.”

Paige Hesen

Die hard for dixieland Moving from a group of lifelong friends in a place he was familiar with and loved was one of the hardest things that he had to overcome, but for Daniel Adler moving to Dutchtown High School was definitely the right decision. “Life is so much different here in South Louisiana and it took a lot of time to get used to it,” said Adler. “The way the roads are set up, the mixture of people, the food, and the overall culture makes this place way different than Colorado.” When Adler moved he decided to start changing his life one step at a time. He started working out and after about seven months lost 60 pounds. “I quit the drugs and alcohol, met some good friends, and started to appreciate my family,” said Adler. He currently works at the Baton Rouge Country Club and takes college classes outside of high school. His high school just started the 17th lacrosse team in Louisiana, and Adler recently received a full ride scholarship to Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi to play lacrosse. Adler feels that he is not near the same person he used to be. Moving had a tremendous impact on his life and he knows it was the right decision. “I have turned my life around and could not be hap-pier,” said Adler. “I have learned to love the people I’m around and to cherish the great moments I have had.”

Evan Almon

While her former classmates finish their final weeks of school, Dani Light is starting on her path to the film industry. Light graduated early, after the fall 2009 semester, and is currently attending Biola University in Los Angeles, Cali. Light graduated early be-cause of her serious concerns with staying in the high school atmosphere. “I made the terrible deci-sion of hanging out with the wrong people my Junior year,” said Light. When those friends got in trouble, they blamed Light and ostracized her. She was constantly stressed out. “When we went to the doctor, we discovered my Corti-sol (stress hormone) levels were over 20 times the norm.”For the sake of her health, and with support from her fam-ily, she decided to graduate early. She had to meet the graduation requirements with one less semester, and while her classmates enjoyed their Junior spring semester and summer into the Senior year, she worked away at college applications. During the process, Light decided on what career to pursue. Having taken film-related classes at Rock Canyon, she decided to continue on this path. “[Teachers Jim] McClurg and [Mike] Hall were my favorite teachers, and some of the biggest influences on my decision,” said Light. “She wanted to be here, and in my classes you get what you put into it. I just try to guide students to achieve what they want,” said McClurg. With this career in mind, Light chose Biola University in hopes of entering the film school her second semester.“I knew that if I wanted to make it in the film industry, I needed to be close to where it all happens,” said Light.This meant a life in Los Angeles. Her experience writing scripts and producing videos in DC8 and RCTV have helped prepare her for a major in Film Media Arts with Emphasis in Media Management. “She understands how hard it is to organize the film-making process. Especially after leaving Rock Canyon, it is a more serious, more focused type of production,” said McClurg. “Dani works well with others.” “The highlight of my college experience so far was when I got to help on set for a ‘Lil Mama’ music video.” However, Biola hasn’t been everything she expected. Light is considering transferring, because Biola requires a Minor in Bible Studies. “I was scared about being very young in college, but I wouldn’t trade my decision for the world!” said Light.

Michael Dempsey

“”

Even though I absolutely hated Pennsylvania, it opened up a lot of doors for me.

Dani’s facts•DaniismajoringinFilmMediaArtswithanemphasisinMediaManagement.•Favoritemovie:“GardenState”•Favoritedirector:JoeWright•Shewasacceptedtoallfourcollegessheappliedto.CompiledbyMichaelDempsey

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AlexisJahnkeZachHarperDaniLightKellyPando KateHarris,thirdfromleft

DanielAdler,fourthfromtheleft

Other 2006-07 freshmen who will not be graduating from RCHS