ECHOESScottsbluff High School | April 28, 2011 | Volume 94 | Issue 9the

From playing for the school show choir and musical to free-style jam sessions

with friends, musical talent junior

Junior Pace Michele

Check out Michele’s journey inside | pg. 14

Pace Michele

guitaris rarely seen without his

2 | NEWS

HOMEROOMTHE FACULTY ON

Students and faculty were recently surveyed on Homeroom. The following are the results from

the faculty survey which included 48 responses.

Q: Do you feel that credit should be attached to Homeroom?

YES - 85% NO - 15%Q: What do you think would be an

approrpiate punishment for skipping Homeroom?

Saturday study hall...................11Lunch detention.........................10Homeroom w/a principal..........9Clean up the campus..................7Summer make-up time...............6No participation in activities......4Assistant janitorial staff...............4Can’t walk at graduation............4

Q: Would you support adding study days to the homeroom weekly structure?

Second study day per week......22Increasing incrementally based upon time of year.................................12Keep only 1 study day...............8Students already study when needed..............................2Every day should be available..2

Q: Does the pass system (students must get permission from teachers before-

hand to leave homeroom) for homeroom study days work well?

YES - 63% NO - 37%

Q: If you answered no, what suggestions do you have for improving the study day

pass system?

Follow procedure- consistency......4Email back from class teacher.......4Pass from homeroom teacher........1Send without pass...........................1Is time consuming............................1Treat like a class...............................1

Everyone’s has had one of those classes where they feel like they don’t know what’s going on.

They start to panic and look towards there closet friend and ask the question’ “Do you know what’s going on?”

The response is almost always a shrug of the shoul-ders or a shake of the head no matter what it is it seems like your entire class is being thrown in the deep end when the assignment for the day is given out.

This is the type of thing trying to be avoided with the installation of the new posi-tion of Content Area Special-ists.

With three capable middle school teachers taking up the new positions it looks as though there will be a bright outcome to the next year.

With the major areas of math, science and language all being covered by one teacher of each subject.

These areas will be covered by three separate teachers, one for each of the core areas, language will be headed by Sheryl Harvey, sci-ence by Marilyn Klein-Fisher, and mathematics by Shana

Dick.What these new positions

are responsible for helping teachers as well as reviewing assessments of both high-achieving learners and stu-dents with disabilities. These teachers will also be respon-sible for creating curriculum strategies.

There has been much discussion on what should go into the language curriculum for next year and some ideas that have been discussed are the addition of a literacy block.

All the teachers helping to make next year’s curricu-lum agree that the key to the school day is a daily literacy block that will be implement-ed in every grade, school and classroom.

But the changes don’t end there as they would like to also change the grading rubrics for papers across the board so that each grade levels rubric much resembles all the others.

Also they will also try to decide at which grade level students will be able to step up and change gears from writing “regurgitated re-ports” to full blown research papers.

With many changes being made they will also have help for teachers by introducing

research proven to help stu-dents become better writers, thinkers, and learners.

Such as: clear coverage of the writing process, key writ-ing forms covered in detail, integrated six traits instruc-tion in every unit, mechanics usage and grammar skills, clear and logical sequence of instruction, comprehensive proofreader’s guide.

Teachers will also re-ceive their own research pack that will have skill books, overhead transparencies and an interactive writing skills CD.

The Content Area Special-ists are expected to be a big help.

“I am excited about the potential of these teacher leaders. Simply put, it is tre-mendously hard to be a great teacher,” Superintendent Rick Myles said.

The hope is that these new curriculum directors will give that push to make every teacher in the district great.

“We owe it to them (teach-ers) to invest in their success by supporting them with experts they know and trust and can depend upon. That’s what I believe these three individuals can bring,” Myles said.

story bySCOUT WILSON | news editor

story byRYAN MEISTER | news writer

Wild, eccentric, and flying through the air comes the furry feline that represents Scottsbluff High School with its positive and flowing en-ergy to pump up the crowd.

It’s a sad thing to think that this tradition has been absent from the school for 10 years. The school board has approved the student senate takeover of the school mascot.

Student senate is now going to be in charge of the mascot for school events. The original Bearcat costume, which is the first one used by the school will be the costume

A change in curriculum directors

TheStudent senate takes charge of the mascot

and plans to bring back the traditionthat the mascot will wear.

Student senate may pur-chase another costume next year, but physical education instructor Linda Meininger says they have had a hard time finding a “Bearcat” costume.

Tryouts for the mascot position were announced last week on the morning an-nouncements. Two students will be selected to represent the school as the mascot in al-ternating events, to give those students the opportunity to rest every other event.

Those planning to try should have a creative mind to entertain the crowd and be able to enjoy themselves

while performing for people.The selected students for

mascot will subject to the same requirements for any other extracurricular activity, which would include eligibil-ity.

The revival of the Bearcat mascot is to promote students getting into activities as well as serve as the ambassador for the school at events such as speech meets to gradua-tion.

In addition to bringing the mascot back, will be the naming of the new mascot and could make an influential icon for students to attend events.

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In a school like Scottsbluff High School, with just over 800 students roaming the halls every day, there are innumerable faces passing one another in the halls; some are famil-iar, some not, but all have a different story, live a different life and face dif-ferent problems.

There is no way one person can know all those stories. Some students simply don’t want others to know their story because, if exposed, the truth could turn their life upside down.

Those students are walking the hallways of SHS illegally.

“There is a very small percentage of students that are illegal who are attending the school. Some who don’t even know they are,” senior counselor Julie Newman said.

How do these students end up go-ing to an American high school when there is such scrutiny in the country right now involving illegals?

“The school only requires a student birth certificate and a current address for registration,” Newman said.

The school focuses on establishing who a student lives with and whether their address is within the district.

If not, whether they are coming from another state or another country then the student needs a physical. The school is not required to have a student’s social security number.

As a result, public schools are not required to know the legal status of a student in order to admit them to the

NEWS | 3

Walking the halls with a secretSome students hide their legal status to stay in

school, keep their lives from turning upside downschool.

Students are protected by Section 1 of the 14 Amendment which says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or en-force any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdic-tion the equal protec-tion of the laws.”

The court case Plyler vs. Doe (1982) established that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment applies “to anyone, citizen or stranger” resid-ing within a state’s boundaries.

Therefore, someone of illegal status cannot be denied entry to a public education institution.

“We are not a law enforcement agency, we are a school. This is a free public education within our district and community, we are morally ob-ligated to help kids to be educated,” Newman said.

Why does the school not ask if students are legal or illegal?

“What it all comes down to is pri-vacy. In education, we afford a bit of privacy. The philosophy of the school is to provide a free public education and we need to embrace it,” Newman said.

With public education aside, many illegal students face greater difficul-ties when it comes to graduation time and planning to go to college.

Though many of these students do decide to go to college, with the lack of a legal status the obstacles they

face can inhibit any financial aid or scholarship opportunities available to students.

These students are not entitled to federal grant money and most of the cost of education is their responsibil-ity.

Not only do they face financial obstacles but the simple issue of trans-portation becomes an obstacle as these students cannot get a driver’s license and therefore cannot drive legally.

Along with the lack of a social security number is the lack of job op-portunities to which students need to

pay for their further education.When it comes to getting citizen-

ship, some do and some don’t.Newman says many go through a

family process to obtain citizenship.Since some members of a fam-

ily may be legal residents, they can sponsor the parents of an illegal child, whose parents are illegal. After the parents become citizens they in turn sponsor the child to help the child gain citizenship.

Others start in their country of ori-gin and start the application process, but applying comes with the difficul-ties of hiring attorneys and the costs involved.

“The families of these students are like anybody else; they want the best for their kids and want them to get an education. They want to work and are here to work,” Newman said. “It isn’t the kids who come here, their parents bring them and they get caught in a bad situation that they necessarily don’t want to be in.”

In some cases, children have been abandoned here, which creates a whole new dilemma for kids living here illegally.

Newman said she feels badly for kids who are caught in this situation and the obstacles they face.

“When you can put a face to this type of predicament, it can be very difficult to be judgmental about some-one’s legal status,” Newman said. “Contrary to popular belief, these people don’t have access to the social services that people think they do.”

Legally or not, for now, it seems, kids like the ones Newman describes are here to stay.

story bySCOUT WILSON | news editor

When you can put a face to this type of predicament, it can be very difficult to be judgemental about some-

one’s legal status.-counselor Julie Newman

4 | NEWS

BRIEFLYs pe aking

Hollywood Nights was a smash this year as many students showed up looking as glamorous as any Hollywood celebrity at the Hampton Inn convention room.

As students entered they were bombarded by the camera flashes

The culmination of a school year of full of deadlines, designs, headlines and stories came to fruition for students in Journalism Depart-ment on Friday, April 15, when the Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) released the names of the state journalism qualifiers along with the team champions and runners-up.

Fifteen SHS students qualified for the state journalism contest scheduled for Monday, May 9, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The five yearbook qualifiers included seniors Danni Becker, Charity Burkey, Taylor Counter, and Maddy Parsley and junior Abby Benson.

Ten newspaper staff members also qualified. They included seniors Gabrielle Carlin, Victoria Bravo, Kelsey Empfield, Ethan Hughes, Russell Morgan, Karin Shedd, along with juniors Maddie Holscher, Michael Miller and Casey Sigrist.

Based upon these students’ placement in the preliminary competition Scottsbluff was named the Class A2 state runner-up behind champion Omaha Marian.

The staffs will receive the runner-up trophy at the awards ceremony in Lincoln following the on-the-spot competitions.

“It would have been exciting to win the state championship but we are certainly thrilled with

of the paparazzi as they strolled down the coveted red carpet.

The atmosphere was tense prior to the announcement of the Prom Royalty.

Prom king and queen were Ethan Hughes and Mariza

Pacheco, respectively. First attendants were Rolando

Sabala and Jessica Schluter while second attendents were Tyler Webber and Meghan Pritchard. Only juniors and seniors voted for the royalty.

Pacheco, Hughes named prom royalty

This year the Scottsbluff FFA suc-cessfully qualified for the State FFA Convention in eleven team events and three individual events taking a total of thirty-seven students. The State FFA Convention is held in Lincoln, NE every year at the Cornhusker Hotel and at UNL’s East Campus. Their eight teams placed in the top half of their events.

The Senior Livestock Judging team of Kenny Willman, Kyra Baldwin, Alyssa Shuey and Ashley Pike placed first out of sixty-seven teams receiving a purple ribbon and Gold medals. The team qualified to represent Nebraska at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN in October.

The Floriculture team of Charity Burkey, Destiny Belford, Taylor Strong and Chrissy Peters placed third out of thirty-eight teams, receiving a blue ribbon.

The Ag Sales team of Paige Steinle, Skye Martin, Maggie Hopp and Alexa Fulk placed seventh out of thirty-five teams, receiving a blue ribbon.

The Welding team of Kyle Mein-inger, Hunter Bollman, and Chris Hart-suiker placed sixth out of sixty-seven teams, receiving a purple ribbon.

The Meats Evaluation team of Eliza-beth Huffman, Hayley Clark, Tevyn Baldwin and Trent Land placed eighth out of sixty-nine teams, receiving a blue ribbon.

The Nursery and Landscape team of Sheila Cloud, Danni Becker, Charity Burkey and Destiny Belford placed fourteenth out of thirty-eight teams, receiving a white ribbon.

The Junior Livestock Judging team of Taylor Russell, Colton Flower, Katie Willman and Emily Garl placed twenty-fifth out of seventy-three teams, receiving a red ribbon.

The Junior Parliamentary Procedure team of Tevyn Baldwin, Katey Myers, Akacia Kraus, Chrissy Peters, Alexis Aragon, Taylor Russell and Danielle Pilquist received a Silver medal.

The Senior Parliamentary Proce-dure team of Kyra Baldwin, Kenny Willman, Charity Burkey, Ashley Pike, Destiny Belford and Alexa Fulk received a Silver medal.

The Ag Demonstration team of Morgan Yost and Brayden Auer re-ceived a Gold medal.

In Co-op Speaking Charity Burkey received a Gold medal and in Junior Public Speaking Curtis Welsh received a Silver medal.

This is a record number of members the Scottsbluff FFA Chapter has ever taken to State Convention.

Earlier this year two Range Judging teams qualified to go to state range judging. Austin Groskopf, Ashley Pike, Kyra Baldwin, and Hayley Clark were members of the senior team. Tevyn Baldwin, Zack Perlinger, and Katey Meyers were on the junior team.

The Ag Mechanics team consisting of Kenny Willman, Kyle Meininger, Ben Fulk, and Chris Hartsuiker quali-fied for the state contest which will be held in June.

State FFA Qualifiers

the runner-up spot,” Adviser Terry Pitkin said.

The Journalism Depart-ment also learned last week that senior Karin Shedd has been named the Nebraska Student Journalist of the Year.

Shedd is believed to be the first winner of the state award in the history of the school. Pitkin will announce the award at the state contest on May 9.

By winning the award, Shedd’s portfolio was entered in the Journalism Education Association’s National Jour-nalist of the Year competition.

“I was basically floored that I won because I didn’t decide to go in to journalism as a major (one of the requirements for the award) until about two weeks before the application for the award was due and I was competing against people who had been working in journalism for years,” Shedd said. “And then Mr. Pitkin and I didn’t even start putting a portfolio together until literally the day before we had to send it in.”

After a feverish 48 hours of compiling Shedd’s former stories, designs, and columns and extracting four letters of recommendations from various staff members, the portfolio was sent in on time.

“Karin is an exceptional student journalist. The fact that she won t isn’t surprising, but it is very satisfying because the competition is so fierce,” Pitkin said.

story bySCOUT WILSON | news editor

Journalism Dept. earns Class A2 state runner-up spot;senior Karin Shedd named NE Journalist of the Year

Senior Karin Shedd

ANIME

story byMEGHAN PRITCHARD | feature editor

A different kind of cartoon from Japan is more than just a show to freshman Eric Dorn

Top 5 TV series

Top 5 movies Top 5 songs

1. Death Note2. Naruto3. Bleach4. Code Geass5. Full Metal Alchemist

1. 5 Centimeters Per Second2. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children3. The Girl Who Lept Through Time4. Grave of the Fireflies5. My Neighbor Tortoro

1. 5 Centimeters Per Second1. Happy New Nyaa2. Shinryaku no Susume3. NO,Thank You!4. Utauyo!!5. My Soul,Your Beats!

FEATURE | 5

Remember getting up bright and early on Saturday morning when no one was awake yet, setting in to a comfy in a chair with your blanket, and turning on the TV?

Not to watch Jersey Shore or the Springer Show, but cartoons.

Kids watched Bugs Bunny, The Roadrunner and the Coyote, Tom and Jerry, Rugrats, along with countless other favorites.

It’s the thing when a kid is little. For freshman Eric Dorn, that hasn’t changed.

No, he’s not into Nick-elodeon anymore, but he has found a new kind of cartoon to love: anime.

“Anime is cartoons with a certain art style that are produced in Japan. Comparing an anime with an American cartoon, the char-acters are much more realistic and also have personalities that people can relate to,” Dorn said.

We would best connect anime as Avatar or Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network, but Dorn sees it as more than just watching TV.

“I got bored one day and got on

Youtube. I was watching a walk-through of a game and they made an anime reference. I looked it up and have been watching anime since,” Dorn said.

Dorn is an otaku, or simply, an an-ime fan. To become an otaku doesn’t take much, only a commitment like Dorn’s is required.

“You must watch countless anime, even watch the new stuff coming out of Japan right away, to be an otaku,” Dorn said.

American cartoons are character-

ized basically by the show or series, and anime isn’t much different.

“Anime, just like books and mov-ies, is broken up into genres and themes,” Dorn said. “I’m a personal fan of the Drama and Horror type

genres, but I am not limited to these certain groups.”

Unlike other kids, Dorn spends most of his time watching anime series.

“It’s impossible to tell you every single one I watch. Unlike American cartoons, most anime series only last one or two seasons,” Dorn said.

The major difference between a cartoon and anime is that cartoons are simple drawings showing the features of its subjects in an exaggerated way.

Anime is a Japanese movie and

television animation, often having a science fiction theme and sometimes including violent or explicitly sexual material.

Breaking it down, cartoons are for kids, anime is for adults.

But not only are the shows popular among otakus, but the music as well.

“Anime music isn’t that much different from what other people listen to. The only difference is that it’s made in Japan, therefore duped J-Pop,” Dorn said. “My personal fa-vorite is none other than the one and only Yoko Kanno.”

Like most cartoon and comic book fans, there are also conventions for anime fans. Many of the conventions mix anime, video games, movies, and many more animation series.

“Personally, I would go to all the anime conventions, but I don’t have the money,” Dorn said.

Dorn doesn’t just enjoy watching and listening to anime, he also plans on a career through it.

He hopes to become a voice actor for anime dubs and attending the University of Toronto or the Toronto Academy of

Acting.Dorn suggest that everyone get

involved into the anime world.“Anyone can get into anime. There

is always a certain show that will please your interests,” Dorn said.

April 22nd- NO SCHOOL EASTER BREAK

25th- NO SCHOOL EASTER BREAK

BGO JV&VAR SHS Inv.- 9am

GSO/BSO JV&VAR @Gering- 3:30pm

26th-GTR/BTR Best in the West- 4:30pm

29th-GTR/BTR Western Conf.@Scottsbluff- 9am

GTN @McCook- 2pm

National DECA Conf. @Orlando, FL

30th-BGO JV&VAR Western Conf.@Sidney- 9am

May 2nd- GSO/BSO Districts @Lexington- TBA

3rd- National Teachers Day

GTN VAR @ N. Platte Dual- 12pm

6th- BGO BNAC @Scottsbluff-10am

GTR/BTR GNAC @Columbus-2pm

7th- SAT Testing

GTN GNAC @N. Platte-10am

8th- Mothers Day

10th- SHS Vocal Spring Concert- 7pm

Last Day for Seniors

11th-GSO Sate Finals-TBA

Adventure to SuccessDon’t Miss New Student Registration! • Register for classes • Meet with an advisor • Take your eCompass test (if required)

Visit wncc.edu or call 308.635.6104 to select one of the following

dates to register for classes at the Scottsbluff Campus. Tuesday, April 26 12 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 29 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 30 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, May 2 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 1 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, June 30 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Once you have registered for a date, an admissions

counselor will contact you to schedule a specific time.

800.348.4435 • wncc.edu

Every 10th student gets a

free lunchStudent Specials

Available

2201 Broadway Scottsbluff

632-3644

All School Year Long

Cat Calendar

The CAT CALENDAR is brought to you by the SCOTTSBLUFF BOOSTER CLUB

12th- GTR/BTR Districts

GTN Districts

13th- BSO State

15th- SHS Graduation

16th- SHS Show Choir Audtions

19th- GTN State @Lincoln-TBA

20th- GTR/BTR State @ Omaha- TBA

24th- BGO State- TBA

25th- Last Day For Students

FEATURE | 7

story byASHLEIGH SMITH| feature writer

against thenormSenior Taylor Ziegler &

junior Briana Vallejo changed their appearance to step inside

someone else’s shoes

““A lot of people here in

school that are pregnant are looked down upon,

and I wanted to see what that felt like.

-Briana Vallejo, 11

It’s 12:15 pm and the shrill sound of the tardy bell resonates throughout the hallways. It’s time for Miss Elger’s fifth period Sociology class and students begin to swarm into the classroom - some are pregnant, some are covered in tat-toos, some are gangsters, some are all dolled up, and some lack shoes.

But Elger isn’t surprised. This is exactly what she was hoping for. You may have noticed around the middle of April many of your peers show-

ing up to school a tad different than usual - or, to put it bluntly, just plain weird. The reason? Obviously they were voluntarily breaking away from the over-

rated norms of society to shepherd their own dreams, going against the expected standards, not caring what others thought.

The real reason? These abnormal students were participating in a project for Elger’s Sociology class. The project entailed doing something deviant, against the norm of society, and then writing about the reactions received.

Most classes wouldn’t require such an unusual assign-ment, but that’s part of what sociology class is about.

“It’s really the study of society; how we interact in groups, how we interact with media. We talk a lot about social norms - what it is to be ‘normal’ in soci-ety. We talk about social institutions like schools, prisons, religion. It’s mainly about how society interacts with people,” Elger said.

To prepare for the project, which Elger learned while minoring in sociology in college, she had to ask for permission from administration, and the students had to receive permission from parents.

Once ideas were brainstormed and okay-ed (many too-outrageous ideas were actually denied, such as drawing fake cuts on the body, wearing distracting wigs, dressing as a strip-per, and smoking cigarettes), it was up to the students to put into action.

Four of the participating students were ju-niors Cierra Herrmann Ali Chain, Briana Vallejo, and senior Taylor Ziegler.

Herrmann decided to cover all visible parts of her body with fake tattoos. It took almost three hours to put about 400 tattoos

on her arms. Herrmann was going for a rebellious

look which is completely opposite from her usually innocent appearance.

“My mom had to help me put all of the tattoos on and they didn’t come off for days afterwards,” Hermann said.

Chain took an even more un-usual route and chose to dress as a porcelain doll for the day.

“It sounded like everyone would do the same thing. I wanted to do something completely different than anyone else, so I wore an outfit that I thought would best portray a doll: heels, a pearl necklace, long spiral curled hair, lines on my face, bright cheeks, huge eyes and eyelashes,” Chain depicted.

Both Ziegler and Vallejo faked a pregnancy by putting items under their shirts. Ziegler

actually Papier-mâchéd a friend’s six month pregnant belly to use as a mold underneath her own shirt. Vallejo used a small pillow.

“I chose to be pregnant so I could know what it was like. A lot of people here in school that are pregnant are looked down upon, and I wanted to see what that felt like,” Vallejo said.

Although all four students decided to go all out with the projects rather than use small abnormalities, they were ner-vous when the day arrived.

“I was really scared. I didn’t want people to judge me or think badly of me. I didn’t want to school and be looked at all day,” Vallejo said.

However, unwanted bad glances and glares were exactly what the girls received, from adults and students alike.

“I got really dirty looks. People talked about me and people that I didn’t even know flat out laughed in my face,” Chain admits. “I went to the cafeteria during first period and the lunch ladies couldn't stop staring and when I left even they were talking about me.”

Ziegler experienced judgment when she bought musi-cal tickets after school in the commons.

“I was in line buying tickets and the parents wouldn’t stop staring at me. They all thought it was real, and gave me looks of disap-pointment,” Ziegler said. “I kept on wanting to tell people it was fake, but I couldn’t.”

Hermann, who was forced to wear the tattoos outside of school, received negative response from people in the community, and even had mothers guard-ing their children from her.

Despite all the embarrassment and torture, a lesson was learned. “It’s a good experience to draw attention to yourself, it’s humbling,” Ziegler

said.Chain learned a much different lesson.“You obviously can’t be different at SHS, or even small towns, because ev-

eryone hates it,” Chain joked.Vallejo now empathizes with people who are actually in her simulated situ-

ation.“I didn’t appreciate the looks that I got. I knew people were talking and I

didn’t like it. I know people that are teen moms and it must be hard to deal with that,” Vallejo said.

Elger’s intention was to teach students about humans and their differences.The project was meant to help students realize what it’s like to be different

and to empathize with those who are considered not ‘normal.’“I think this project helps teens become more appreciative of others, in real-

izing that it’s very hard to be deviant in high school,” Elger said. “You want to fit in, you don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself. But there are different people in the world and we need to learn to appreciate them, because if we were all the same life would be so boring.”

With no parental or administrative concerns to date, Elger plans to do the project again next year.

Students should be on the lookout because this isn’t the last time you’ll see sociology-freaks roaming the halls - but next time, maybe be a little more understanding.

Going

8 | FEATURE

Teachers at Scottsbluff High School don’t ordinarily have near death expe-riences here at school. That is unless you’re drafting teacher Ed Hagerman.

Those experiences didn’t happen in the classroom however, they hap-pened during his 30 years of teaching Drivers Education throughout the valley.

Hagerman graduated from Upton High School in 1971, and then went to Chadron State College where he obtained his Bachelor’s degree of Industrial Arts in 1975.

He taught at a school in Wyoming for four years, and then earned his master’s degree in 1980. He began teaching at Scottsbluff High School in 1981.

In the past Hagerman taught graphic arts, silk screening and rubber stamp making, printing and wood-working.

“We used to have a print shop and we printed everything including all the forms for the school district. It was really a headache,” Hagerman said.

Hagerman was also the wrestling coach when the school won the Class A state title in 1989. It was the last time the school won a state title in wrestling.

It was in his 30 years of teaching Drivers Ed, that Hagerman had sev-

eral scary experi-ences.

“Most of the problems are mainly miscommunication. One time I told a driver to change into the left lane, and she said, ‘Left?’ then I said, ‘Yes, right.’ She jumped into the right lane and about ran the car off the road,” Hagerman said.

Hagerman learned quickly it’s re-ally important how one says things to the drivers.

Only two car accidents happened during his 30 years, one was the stu-dent driver’s fault, and the other was another driver’s fault.

The first summer Hagerman taught drivers Ed, he taught in Bridgeport, Alliance, Kimball, Sidney, and Scottsbluff.

That summer alone he totaled 24,000 miles of driving. Since that summer, he has averaged about 15,000 miles a year. In 30 years of teaching Drivers Ed, that adds up to almost 450,000 miles.

Being a Drivers Ed instructor isn’t a walk in the park. It requires taking many first aid classes, health classes, three different Drivers Ed classes, and instructors have to be re-trained periodically.

“To be a Drivers Ed instructor you have to be very patient. It only hurts things when you get impatient or get excited and start yelling at the driver. You also have to make sure you let the students know ahead of time what you want them to do and don’t surprise them,” Hagerman said.

Hagerman said he uses similar

teaching tactics for his regular classes.“One of the things I have done

over the years that works best is to just work with each kid and don’t expect the same results from all of them,” Hagerman said.

After 36 years of teaching, Hager-man is hoping to retire at the end of the next school year.

Most of that decision is based on Hagerman being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 around Christmas time.

Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the brain that leads to shaking/trem-ors, difficulty with walking, move-ment, and coordination.

It is one of the most common ner-vous system disorders in people over 50 years of age.

Hagerman first noticed the symp-toms when he had a twitch between his fore finger and thumb.

“I would see my hand twitch and think, ‘what is that?’ My writ-ing started to get worse, my posture slouched a little bit, and I thought that I should probably get things checked out,” Hagerman said.

Hagerman was surprised at the diagnosis.

“At first it was kind of scary, but once I looked into it I saw there are people that live clear to 80 years old or more with Parkinson’s. They are re-ally getting a handle on it with drugs and treatment,” Hagerman said.

Hagerman has experienced many changes since his diagnosis with Parkinson’s.

People with Parkinson’s tend to start one job, and then start another job but won’t actually finish their first activity before they start the next.

Hagerman has to tell himself to fin-ish what he is doing sometimes.

His typing skills have deteriorated, his posture has worsened, and his speech is a little slurred.

“One notable thing that is different

is I’m slower at doing things. I used to be able to walk pretty fast. A good comparison would be that I was al-most as fast as Mrs. Newman walking down the halls,” Hagerman said.

Parkinson’s has also made teach-ing a little more difficult for Hager-man. Sometimes his students don’t understand what he is saying if he isn’t speaking very clearly.

Hagerman also can’t project his voice as well as he used to. It’s defi-nitely a change since he used to be able to yell when he was a wrestling coach.

There are many drugs on the ho-rizon for Parkinson’s, and some that scientists think will eventually be able to put some people in remission.

Right now, Hagerman is taking four different medications for his Parkinson’s, and he goes to physical and speech therapy.

Exercise and getting enough sleep is also important to keep Parkinson’s under control.

“If I don’t get a good nights rest my speech is more slurred, and when I am stressed, I get so shaky that I can’t even write,” Hagerman said.

Hagerman stopped teaching Driv-ers Ed because of Parkinson’s, but still teaches an online Drivers Ed class at the college.

Having to give up teaching Drivers Ed was a loss for Hagerman, but he is looking forward to his teaching retirement.

“When I retire I will be able to have a slower pace. It will be nice to just slow down,” he said.

Even though Hagerman has had to give up some things in his life due to Parkinson’s disease, he knows that it isn’t the worst thing that could have happened.

story byRACHEL CLEMENS | feature writer

30yearsDrafting teacher Ed

Hagerman has done it all

and450,000miles

OPINION | 9

editor-in-chief | KARIN SHEDD

theECHOES

news editor | SCOUT WILSON

news writer | RYAN MEISTER

feature editor | MEGHAN PRITCHARD

feature writer | RACHEL CLEMENS

feature writer | ASHLEIGH SMITH

center section editor | GABRIELLE CARLIN

center section writer | ETHAN HUGHES

entertainment editor | RUSSELL MORGAN

entertainment writer | VICTORIA BRAVO

sports editor | KELSEY EMPFIELD

sports writer | MADDIE HOLSCHER

sports writer | MICHAEL MILLER

adviser | TERRY PITKIN

The Echoes is a tri-weekly publication printed by the Business Farmer. The Echoes is a member of the Nebraska High School Press Association and the International Order of the Quill and Scroll.

The Echoes encourages read-ers to write letters to the editor in response to a story, but does reserve the right to publish said letter.

The Echoes also encourages all readers to submit their ideas for story coverage, feedback on stories, and any other input.

The EchoesScottsbluff High School313 East 27th St.Scottsbluff, NE 69361Letters with obscene, slander-

ous, libelous, or false information will not be fun. The letter must also be signed to be run. Content may be edited due to grammati-cal or content needs. A signed copy must be presented to the Scottsbluff High School journal-ism department, room 130. Also, please check out Echoes Face-book.com group and MySpace page online!

staff

ad manager | CASEY SIGRIST

With the 2011 graduation cer-emony edging ever closer, we here at The Echoes would like to offer a hearty congratulations to the administration for changing the policy regarding students speaking at the commence-ment ceremony.

Traditionally, the school has al-lowed each and every class valedicto-rian and salutatorian to address their fellow graduates in a brief speech given at some point during the commencement ceremony.

However, it does not matter how succinct each individual’s speech is.

Every year, this factor is over-ridden by the number of speeches given: the school averages roughly five to ten valedictorians and salutatorians total for each graduat-ing class, which adds up to quite a bit of time listening to them discuss, recollect, and muse over the last four years of their lives.

Unfortunately, a pristine grade point average (GPA) does not imply prowess in the field of public speak-ing, which condemns everyone in at-tendance at any given commencement ceremony to the harrowing abuse of listening to those few inevitable speeches that are either awkward, cliché-ridden, or just plain bad.

The new policy, enacted starting with the class of 2011, on the other

hand, offers the opportunity to speak at the commencement to every mem-ber of the graduating class.

Seniors with any GPA may prepare a speech and audition in front of a se-lect group of student senate members, teachers, parents, and administrators to win the privilege of taking over the podium for a few minutes at the com-mencement ceremony.

With all due respect to the students

who slave away for four years to keep their grades perfect, recognition in the form of being announced and wearing special sashes and/or medals should suffice.

We are of the firm belief that peo-ple in attendance at the 2011 gradu-ation and every ceremony hereafter would rather listen to two or three raucously entertaining speeches given by the school’s finest public speakers than what has been the traditional alternative.

Kudos are in order to those re-

sponsible for this change. No longer will audiences at Bearcat Stadium be subjected to the boring rants of over-achieving valedictorians who could put drying paint to sleep with their mundane talk of goal-setting and dream-reaching.

How about some light, refresh-ing reflections on the past four years packaged and presented by students with proven ability in public speak-ing?

It just makes sense – would the school ever send the starting quarter-back on the football team to a math competition unless said quarterback was indeed the best math student?

Probably not, so why not put our best foot forward at graduation in the form of a showcase for the school’s titans in public speaking?

This move in no way diminishes the accomplishments of the valedicto-rians and salutatorians. Maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA for four years is no small task, and they should and will still be recognized for having done so.

However, only allowing them to speak does ignore the talents of other members of the graduating class.

The skills of SHS students are not confined to inside the classroom walls, and those who are brave and savvy enough to entertain a crowd of hundreds with words should have the opportunity to do so.

The views expressed in this editorial were supported 15-0 by

The Echoes staff

A tip of 197 red and white mortar board caps to the changing of the policy of students speaking at graduation

Graduation,SIMPLIFIED

Heard in the Hall - the voices of Scottsbluff High School

“Yeah, I was a pretty terri-ble prom date last year.”

“Oh, I’m sure you weren’t. Was she?”

- conversation in a senior homeroom

“So...is France the capital of Italy?”

- two geographically-challenged junior girls

“I thought that was Paris...”

“Uhh...yeah, pretty bad.”

“HA HA HA HA HA HA!!”

10 | CENTER SECTION CENTER SECTION | 11

hey say no parent should ever have to bury their child – the pain is relentless and the burden too much to bear.

________________

It was Thursday, January 15, 2004. There was a hint of excitement in the air as the students of Gering High flooded out of the school doors. A much needed three-day weekend was awaiting them. Jessi, a junior, had already made plans to stay the night at a friend’s house. She would have to ask her mom first, but she knew she could talk her into it.

“Jessi was such a beautiful girl. She was funny and loving, she had a great personal-ity, and she made the best jokes. I think she was wonderful, but I’m her mom. It’s hard to think of just one thing I miss the most about her. I might have to say her awesome smile – my Jessi’s smile,” Debbie Kramer, Jessi’s mom said.

“Why do you need to spend the night with your friends?” Debbie nagged her. Jessi explained how they didn’t have school the next day and it was only one night after all. Reluctantly, Debbie gave in, but told Jessi she was making her favorite meal for dinner and she and her friend should at least stay and eat.

“My last real conversation with Jessi was right before they took her to surgery. She

told me that she loved me

in her raspy, sleepy voice. I told her that her boyfriend, her aunt and I would be waiting for her when she got out. I’d rather remember her happy though,” Debbie said.

________________

Mike* stumbled out of his brother’s house. It had been a good night full of booze and laughter. He probably shouldn’t be driving; he drank way too much…but as the key slid into the ignition and the car roared to life, he zoomed off without a care in the world.

A loud, harsh noise suddenly ripped the drunken bliss form him as he swiped a parked car. Panic and paranoia took over as he looked around for the cops. He wouldn’t see them just yet, but he knew they were coming for him. As he turned onto the Beltline Highway his foot pressed harder and harder on the gas – he couldn’t seem to go fast enough.

Once Jessi was done eating she ran to her room and got her clothes together. As she and her friend were about to leave, she turned and told her mom she loved her and then closed the door behind her. Jessi threw her belongings into her friend’s car and hopped in. They turned the radio on and giggled with excitement about the night ahead as the im-age of Jessi’s house got smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror.

“I remember being told that the drunk driver got to where he was on the wrong side of the road and the car in front of Jessi saw him coming and moved out of the way. Of course, Jessi’s friend didn’t. . . she didn’t even have a chance to move and they hit head on,” Debbie said.

________________

Around 8:30 pm the phone rang. Jessi was always really good about calling her mom to update her on what she was doing and where she was going. Debbie picked up the receiver and was shocked to hear the friend’s mom on the other end explaining there had been an accident and she needed to go to the hospital right away. Debbie hung up the phone and tried to remember, did she say something about a head on collision?

“I told my husband and daughter Court-ney that Jessi had been in a little car accident and I was going to the hospital. I told them to

stay home because I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal. Maybe she had a broken arm and would have all of her friends sign the cast.

She ended up having a broken arm, hand and wrist, broken leg, and a torn aorta. Her spleen also needed to be removed and the doctors were concerned about damage to her liver,” Debbie said.

Debbie got dressed as fast as she could and got into her car. She raced to the Beltline Highway knowing it was the fastest route to the hospital, but as she approached the highway she noticed it was closed.

“I kept thinking to myself, ‘Why is the road closed?’ I had to go all the way around through the city of Gering instead of on the highway to get to the hospital and I couldn’t put together in my mind that the road was closed because that’s how bad the wreck was. I just couldn’t get it and it really frustrated me,” Debbie said.

When Debbie got to the hospital she was met by the EMT workers who handed her Jessi’s bracelets and personal belongings. She was ushered into a waiting room where she sat by herself thinking about how upset Jessi would be if she had a broken arm or leg.

It hadn’t yet hit Debbie how severe the accident had been, not until a nurse came to tell her they were flying Jessi to Denver for heart surgery. Debbie immediately called Jessi’s family. Without thinking she left for Denver with Jessi’s boyfriend and aunt.

“When we got to the hospital in Denver it was all a blur. I remember seeing Jessi just be-fore she went to surgery, but it never crossed my mind that she wouldn’t be coming out,” Debbie said.

________________

Debbie, her sister, and her daughter’s boyfriend waited restlessly to hear news of Jessi’s condition. As the minutes turned into hours, a nurse finally came in. Jessi’s boyfriend went over to talk to her while Debbie stayed seated. She heard the words, “I’m sorry. We did everything we could.”

“When I heard that I grabbed Jessi’s boy-friend and jerked him. I think I screamed like a maniac. It was all like a movie – a terrible movie that I was stuck in. There were about

in drunk-driving crashes-one every 50 minutes...

In 2009, 10,839 diedpeople

It could happen to you20 other people in the waiting room and I’m sure all of them knew I had just lost my daughter. Then all these people came to ask me these ridiculous questions about funeral homes and I wasn’t ready to answer them. Then an hour has gone by and I’m sitting in a car driving home without my Jessi. I was so mad because they had made me go home without my Jessie,” Debbie said.

________________

Jessi Kramer died on Jan. 16, 2004.Seven years later the pain of losing Jessi is

as real to Debbie now as it was then.“I think just last year I got to where I

didn’t cry at least once a day. Even now I’ll be thinking about something and how I’m going to tell Jessi about it, and then all of a sudden bam, it hits me. The pain never goes away,” Debbie said.

The man driving the car that crashed into Jessi and her friend was sentenced to 17 years in jail.

Under the current conditions of his convic-tion, he could be paroled in two years.

“When I think about him walking the streets I feel numb. It just isn’t fair. This com-plete stranger took my daughter away from me and he’s where he should be. I feel no sympathy for him because he’s forced me to live life without Jessi,” Debbie said.

Not surprisingly, Debbie Kramer has some strong feelings about people who choose to drink and drive, including teenagers.

“I’ve lost a child. I mean can you imagine your child getting killed or hurt or something because someone chose to drive after they had been drinking?” Debbie said.

Debbie is not naïve enough to think teen-agers won’t make the choice to drink, despite the fact that it’s illegal. She does not, however, want that person to make a second wrong choice and drive.

“You’re old enough to drive a car, you’re going to go off to college, you’re going to live on your own, you’re old enough to have a job, you get a paycheck and you put it in the bank - you’re old enough to do all these things. Aren’t you old enough to find a way to get home? Can’t you do that for somebody? Can you do it for me, for somebody like Jessi?” Debbie said

story byGabrielle Carlin | center section editor

T

Debbie Kramer’s daughter, Jessi, pictured above, was killed in 2004 by a drunk driver on the South Beltline Highway. Courtesy photo

It’s a typical Saturday night for Steve*, a senior. The music is loud, the drinks are flowing and all his friends are there.

Suddenly, just as the party seemed to be at its peak, there is a loud knock at the door and the music stops and kids begin to scatter.

The next thing Steve knows, police are storming the house, blinding kids with flash-lights and asking for ID’s.

This scenario has probably played out a million different times in a million different cities throughout the United States. Accord-ing to underage drinking statistics courtesy of centurycouncil.org, More than 10 million youths, ages 12 to 20, in this country report they have consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.

“It was crazy. I got threatened to be tazed. There were around 20 people there, 15 got away and four were cited for MIP (minor in possession of alcohol). There was over 50 empty beer cans and numerous empty liquor bottles,” Steve said.

Steve ended up receiving an M.I.P. As for his friends Colleen*, a junior, and Carly*, a senior, the night transpired differently.

“As I started to leave the party, I saw a cop interrogating someone else from the party, so

I ran to my car and the next hour consisted of me hiding in the driver’s seat of my car,” Colleen said.

“I heard one of my friends run down stairs and yell ‘Cops are heeeeaaaa!!!’ Since we knew how this particular individual is, we thought he was kidding. It turns out they actually were, so I ran into a back storage room and hid there for about two hours,” Carly said.

With all the negative side effects, drinking may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

“I do not believe consuming alcohol is a right of passage, not even looking at it as a moral issue, strictly a health issue, it concerns me a great deal,” high school counselor Julia Newman said.

Although Steve was the only one of the three busted, the other two might have had more traumatic experiences.

“That was the longest hour of my life. I watched over a dozen police, numerous sheriffs, and a couple state troopers walk by close enough to touch. Even worse, my phone died before I got to my car and I didn’t want to turn my car on, so I had no idea what time it was,” Colleen said.

“The worst part was that this storage room that I was in was connected to the living room where the cops were talking to everyone who

had gotten caught so I could hear the cops talking and searching the house. At one point they came into the room I was in and barely missed me,” Carly said.

Each one of their minds was racing with thoughts and questions.

“I knew I was getting an M.I.P. That’s all I was thinking about,” Steve said.

“My mind was racing. I was thinking about how my parents would murder me if I got caught and how cold I was. I kept asking myself questions: should I drive away? Did the police see me? What time is it?” Colleen said.

“Since I could hear everything going on, I could hear the police talk and I thought, ‘are they going to come in here and find me?” Carly said.

Although Steve got caught, he was glad others got away. He admits he doesn’t know how some of his friends were able to escape the police.

“It’s safe to say God was looking out for us that night. It could have been so much worse,” Steve said.

Julia Newman agrees that it could have been much worse. As a counselor, Newman has seen her fair share of students who choose to party and knows the consequences of teen drinking.

“Drinking is far from a risk free activity. I strongly believe it’s a gateway drug. Drinking is like playing Russian roulette. The only way to be 100% safe, is to not engage,” Newman said.

After that night, Colleen has taken another perspective on partying and says she always tries to stay smart and encourages other kids to as well.

“Know what you’re getting yourself into. One night can determine your future, whether it’s an M.I.P. or a fatal car accident. Don’t take anything lightly, don’t be stupid and be responsible for yourself. I think the most important thing is if you do choose to party on a regular basis, learn self-control and know your limits for your sake and others,” Colleen said.

The best way to stay safe is to not engage. Period. It’s not worth the risks.

“Kids are put in bad situations because of alcohol. Kids will take risks they normally wouldn’t if they were sober, whether it’s un-protected sex, drinking and driving, alcohol driven fighting. I have known so many kids killed by drunk drivers, becoming paralyzed by drinking and driving and suicide. I could tell story after story. Don’t put yourself in bad situations. The only way to be completely safe is to not drink,” Newman said.

bUSTeD! When parties with minors go from bad...to worse

story byeThan hUGheS | center section writer

A choice made not to drink from a ‘party observer’Once again it’s the weekend and

there’s nothing to do. In a small town where there are few at-

tractions for young people, teenagers are left to find their own means of entertain-ment.

Those not stuck in alternate reality can easily conclude that kids party on the weekends. Those who refuse to accept this fact are just plain ignorant.

I’m completely aware of it, and I used to be a part of it as much as I could.

Nowadays, I realize how stupid it was and that scene is just not my “bag of snacks” anymore.

I’m the furthest thing from a party ani-mal, but the concept doesn’t bother me. I have close friends who do it, I just choose not to anymore.

They don’t judge me for it, I don’t judge them. I understand there is a huge risk in partying and it’s not the most responsible thing in the world, but we’re kids- we’re young and dumb.

Sometimes we learn the hard way. Maybe I’m lucky that I found no interest in it and stopped.

The following is a current narrative of my experience at a random weekend party.

I walk into the party with a ‘partner in

crime’ and find a place to “post up”. That means I find a comfy place to hang out.

My involvement in the night’s activi-ties is limited: I have lively conversations with folks throughout the night, and the conversations, as you can probably imagine, get more interesting as the night progresses.

There are a myriad of games going on around me and if I feel up to it, I’ll par-ticipate in the ones that can be completed without the consumption of alcohol.

The music is playing, people are laughing- it’s not all a bad scene.

After a time things get a little sketchy. I hear aggressive yelling coming from

the entrance and I check it out.I stroll over to find two guys face-to-

face and awkwardly close. One is telling the other to “stay off his

girl” and the other doesn’t seem to know what he’s talking about. From his state of mind, my guess would be that he’s being honest.

You can guess what happens next. Punches were thrown and more people just looking for action jump in.

I calmly stand there and voice my opinion that “what you are doing is completely pointless”, and I walk back to my post to observe the people actually

enjoying themselves.As the music, laughing, and games

continue, the ramifications of the fight show up: the police.

The music stops, eyes go wide, and time stands still. I admit I was even slightly afraid despite the fact I had nothing in my hand or bloodstream that would put me in a legal predicament.

The men in uniform inform us of a noise complaint and sternly ask everyone to exit the house. We all stroll out the door in single-file.

I give a kind smile and nod, “Offi-cers,” as I walk out the door into the cold winter night.

I stand on the curb as the officers speak with the owner of the home, then return to their car and drive away.

Standing in the middle of a winter night in a tee shirt isn’t the smartest idea, so I was awaiting the opportunity to get warm again.

With the police long gone, people file back into the house.

The music starts back up, the games resume, and the mood livens back up.

I finally decide to call it a night and I help get others get home safely who are also ready to leave- quite an eventful night, to say the least.

My last party was probably about six months ago.

I’m not a frequent party goer, but it doesn’t bother me.

I’ll admit I’m occasionally bored on the weekends, but I’m content with no activity on some weekends.

My overall opinion of partying is that there are better methods of entertain-ment.

I’m not an advocate of partying and I understand the consequences. My decision not to participate is a personal choice, and I have to respect the personal choices of everyone else.

Occasionally it is fun to be in a so-cial gathering with my peers. If there’s alcohol there, I won’t drink it, but I’ll still enjoy myself there.

I’ll have a good time with my friends and keep them safe if duty calls as the night winds down.

I guess if I had a title, it’d be “party observer”. I used to party, and I just didn’t like the substance part of it, as well as the risk of being in serious trouble. I’m there rarely, and if I am it’s for the social aspect.

*The author of this story choose not to use his name.

12 | OPINION

guest commentary by MADDY PARSLEY

I may not have the talents that my siblings, friends possess, but I’ll be OK

personal commentary by GABRIELLE CARLIN

TALENTLESS:As simple as it sounds, it’s really not easy being ourselves when you’re a teenager

PERSPECTIVE:

Yesterday, I did an experiment.I counted the number of times I

asked ridiculous questions, said things I didn’t believe just to have something to talk about, or used cookie-cutter responses when I didn’t know what else to say—or, worse, thought that the reply I wanted to give would probably sound awkward.

The final tally: 32 times.That would be 32 times I was a bad

representation of my true self.32 opportunities to get to know

other people better that I more or less completely wasted.

32 less-than-perfect conversations.All in one day.Now, granted, I was being hard on

myself. And maybe that number came out a little skewed just due to the fact that I was keeping track of dumb things I say (which is pretty weird in itself…).

But here’s my main point: I don’t usually act in a way that comes naturally to me...at all. Even when I’m actively trying to.

And I don’t think I’m the only one.Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to

preach Seventh Heaven nonsense at you (or whatever show it is that shoots out awkward moral advice these days), but…

Be yourself.I know, it’s clichéd advice that

doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you really try to apply it; I mean, if I weren’t being myself, then whose self would I otherwise be?

But, all cheesy impractical advice aside, here’s what the phrase “be yourself” actually means—to me, anyway:

First: do or say the first thing that comes to your mind in any given situ-ation (unless it’s illegal).

Second: don’t worry about it after-wards.

It’s really as simple as that.Of course, this is easier said than

done. I know I’m definitely living in

the heart of the problem—the fact that I counted the number of times I messed up, even if it was done in the service of writing this column, just goes to show that I clearly can’t detach my view of myself from the one I’m so afraid others have of me.

And I think that’s something that all of us struggle with. It’s incredibly hard, especially while living within the judgmental walls of high school.

It’s scary. There’s always the fear of not being accepted, or, worse, being actively disliked for the person you’re becoming.

But what’s ironic is that all we want as teenagers is to be taken seriously. But how could we be, when we pres-ent so little of our true personalities to the world to be judged, for better or worse?

Well, the answer is…we can’t.And that’s why we have to look at

the larger picture here. True, that guy in your Algebra II

class might think you’re a little on the odd side if it first occurs to you to say the test was “dicey” rather than simply “hard.” But he’ll also think of you as more of a real person.

Well, at any rate, I know that some-thing in the way I look at myself has got to change.

Specifically, I just need to stop thinking about it all so much. It’s a gigantic waste of time.

So ordinarily, at this point, I would read back through everything I just wrote and make sure I didn’t say anything that might look weird to somebody.

But this time I won’t.And maybe that wouldn’t be a

bad idea for any of us—not only to be ourselves, but also to not be concerned about all the things we’ve said and done in the past.

At any rate, it’s worth a try. And if I mess up 32 more times? Well, I guess I’ll just learn to stop

keeping track.

Everybody is good at something.My little sister Rachel is extremely

artistic and creative.My older sister Victoria can bring

the house down with her soulful voice.

My older brother Chance has amazing artistic abili-ties and plays multiple instru-ments.

And then there’s me. I’m the middle child and I have zero talent.

It’s not just my siblings either, I surround myself with a group of friends that excel at everything they do and have numerous talents. It’s completely demoralizing.

You might be thinking there has to be something you’re good at or that sets you apart, but there’s nothing. I’ve actually sat down and tried to think of a talent, but I can’t think of anything because there is nothing.

Even my own mother thinks I lack talent

Earlier this spring my mother and I were driving home one day talking about my brother and sisters when I realized that I’m a pathetic and talent-less excuse for a human being.

When I shared this thought with my mom she tried to encourage me saying, “Of course you have talents Gabrielle!”

So I asked her to name one…just one little talent.

That’s when she stuttered over her words and started naming things that practically anyone can do.

“Well, umm let’s see. Hmm, you’re really good at…oh! You’re a good driver and you have good people skills.”

Thanks a lot for the ego boost Mom.

When young, kids participate in various activities and develop their talents over time.

A kid playing backyard baseball might discover he has the fastest pitch on the block,

or the little girl going to dance for the first time might find she moves with amazing grace.

Unfortunately for me, I never had a moment like that. I was always extremely average at the things I at-tempted as a child.

My mother put me in dance and I was average.

She pushed me to play sports and I was average.

Voice lessons, instrumental prac-tices – average, average!

It really is upsetting, and it’s not like I haven’t tried to be good at some-thing. I think it might be impossible for me to have a talent.

Since I can’t detect any talents at this point in my life, maybe that just means I’m going to be a late bloomer.

I might go off to college and find I have some crazy hidden talent…but even if I don’t, I think I’ll be okay.

Who says you have to be super athletic, or artistic, or musically gifted to be a person of substance?

For now I’m content with who I am-even if that means I’m the most average person on earth.

You might be thinking there has to be some-

thing you’re good at or that sets you apart, but

there’s nothing.

let me write. It has to second-guess itself on a constant basis.

Am I utilizing appropriately intel-ligent vocabulary? Will my point be clear enough to the reader? Is referencing Homer and Colbert in the same sentence literary heresy?

With questions like these ceaseless-ly cluttering my brain space in their devious attempt to derail my train of thought, it’s a miracle I ever get any work done at all.

I suppose my rampant perfection-ism is to blame.

As much as I like to think of myself as really cool, calm, and collected 24/7, I obsess over having every min-ute detail of every little thing in every aspect of my life flawless.

I spend hours slaving over my laptop while writing essays so I never have to go back through and edit them. When I practice the piano, I compulsively play the same few mea-sures over and over again to eradicate one tiny blip in rhythm. I routinely wear little to no makeup because if I make one minuscule mistake I have to start over completely.

In retrospect, I probably could have saved a lot of time, energy, and effort had I just relaxed and been satisfied with that one awkward-sounding sentence in an otherwise exemplary essay or with those few wrong notes in that 19-page sonata or just dealt with having that one tiny mascara smudge that most likely no one would have noticed or cared about anyway.

Perhaps sometimes good things can happen if I just loosen up and ac-cept my human imperfection.

Like, hey - I just finished this col-umn in half an hour!

OPINION | 13

I am over-thinking this column.Here my fingers sit, resting on the

smooth buttons of a laptop keyboard, on the precipice of potential journalis-tic greatness and…

Nothing.Zero. Zilch. Nada.No fantastic ideas for ground-

breaking or earth-shattering columns. No recent, funny personal anecdotes to mock. No deep, fiery, hippe-esque, ‘stick-it-to-the-man,’ pro-vegan, anti-establishment, anti-television, anti-technology, or anti-government sentiment to vent.

This phenomenon happens every time I attempt to buckle down and write my editorials/stories/columns/etc. for this paper.

I always expect poignant and coherent ideas to flow easily from my fingertips with all the classy meta-phors, powerful imagery, and humor-ous wit of Homer’s The Odyssey or Stephen Colbert’s I Am America (And So Can You!)

Sadly, they never do.I usually sit staring at a blank

Word document (or Pages document, if I’m working on my far-superior-to-any-other-computer Apple laptop) for at least 45 minutes, then check my Facebook or email, then turn on the TV to see if any of the irreverent and useless blather on Jersey Shore or E! can inspire me to greatness, then back to Facebook…you get the idea. It plain just takes me forever and a day to write anything.

Case in point: it took me a solid five minutes to formulate, finalize, and execute the above sentence about Homer and Colbert.

Five minutes to string together just 51 words, 22 of which consist of three letters or less.

My mind just won’t shut up and

personal commentary by KARIN SHEDD

An obsessive perfectionist’s reflection on imperfection

RELAXATION:A soon-to-be high school graduate recalls the best and worst of times of the last four years

personal commentary by MEGHAN PRITCHARD

THE HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE

High school.These four years are known to

be the quickest of your life. One day you’re a little freshman cowering in dark corners and spending excessive amounts of time avoiding embarrass-ment, then before you know it you’re walking across a podium on the south side of the football field, wearing a red or white robe, and moving the tassel on your mortar-board cap to the other side.

It’s also known as some of the best days of your life. Friends, dances, activities, and memories all shoved into four short years.

So what’s the truth?High school is not all fun. It’s the

time when adults start expecting you to all of a sudden know everything. Responsibility is shoved on you and choices are forced in your direction that will affect your entire life.

These treacherous hallway jungles will determine who you become. There’s no way of escaping that real-ity.

I’m a senior, someone who has walked these halls all four, tired years. I know how this place works. I’m basically a wise guru of SHS. But how does someone like me, who is leaving this area completely, boil down my high school experience?

One word: EXHAUSTING.For seven hours in the day hun-

dreds of hormonal teenagers are placed together to compete in every area of their lives. Sure, expect that to go perfectly well.

But there’s hope! As your personal experienced senior I will give you advice with no charge!

Wow! That’s a low price!I could give you tips on the park-

ing lots, what foods to stay away from, or what each teacher loves or

does. But I want to give you fresh-man, sophomores, and juniors the best wisdom I wish I would have realized sooner.

Do the right thing. High school can easily become a place of kids trying to please others by their choices, but I’ve learned that’s worthless. Trying to gain the acceptance of others is mean-ingless without your own approval.

It’s your life. Do what is right for you even if it’s not the most popular thing at the moment. The choices you make will affect you forever, not the others around you, so doing what’s best for yourself seems perfectly logi-cal. In the long run you’ll be glad you did.

Complete with fights, break-ups, and drama, high school is danger-ous. Don’t get involved in all that. I can look back on my last four years and be proud of what I’ve done. I remember the accomplishments and great friends I’ve made. I don’t think anyone wants to look back and realize they could have done better.

For the seniors: We are done. We have accomplished America’s dream of being educated. Now the world is at our hands. We have the power to change the world and make a dif-ference. We have the choice of either being a blessing or a sore spot in someone’s day.

Enjoy life and live it to its full po-tential. Nothing is more precious than the few days you have to live because we don’t exactly get to redo it.

For me, high school was very chal-lenging, but I’ve become someone I’m proud to be. I feel more prepared for the future than ever and I’m excited to live my life.

But enough about me.It’s your high school experience. What will you make of it?

Junior Pace Michele turns his white Mazda into the Scottsbluff High School entrance.

He splashes through a puddle and crawls over the speed bump.

The precious cargo in his trunk is reason enough not to go rampaging over the bumps like the majority of his fel-low classmates.

In the back of his car is his bass guitar- which he hauls to and from school every single day. It’s the bass guitar he plays in jazz band, Music Tech class and any other time he can spare a minute for a jam session.

But the bass is much more than just a hobby to Michele - it’s his passion.

And if Michele had his way, it may well define his future.

“I may go to school to study music because that definitely helps you get out there,” Michele said. “But whether I do or not I want to be in a band when I get out of high school.”

Michele wouldn’t necessarily use the term “rock star” – that particular phrase conjures up images of the jokes seen on MTV who are all drugged out and whose music sounds like a collection of noises that annoy and confuse many.

A lot of kids in their young and rebellious stage wish to become rock stars. They dream of the huge crowds, the paparazzi, the after-parties- this is not the dream Michele has.

“I’ve always thought I could do pretty well with my music by keeping it small,” Michele said. “Maybe touring in a few states here and there…I’m not into all the fame and glamour.”

Michele definitely is not about the spotlight. He doesn’t sing, he doesn’t write lyrics- the kid just plays.

Michele began playing when he was around six when his uncle was going to get rid of an old guitar. The roots of his talent began on the six-string, but he soon dropped to four.

A few years after inheriting the guitar, he picked up a bass and has been hooked ever since.

Reluctant to boast about his talents, Michele keeps to himself as well as his music, but he will not deny the goals

14 | ENTERTAINMENT

One small town, one boy, and one guitar:

story by

Russell MoRgan | entertainment editor

he has.“I’m about the music,” Michele said. “This is what I want

to do.”As far as his musical idols go, Michele claims he has

none.“I hate it when people ask me who my favorite artist is,

because I don’t have one,” he said.Michele draws inspiration and enjoyment from many dif-

ferent genres of music – jazz, blues, fusion, funk, indie, indie pop, and some rock, to name a few.

As a junior in high school, Michele already has a tentative plan laid out for his future and his music.

After graduation, he plans on networking to find other people who play well and assemble a band that will play well-known covers to start, then break into original song-writing. He isn’t sure yet about sealing a record deal, but he would love to tour the country doing live shows.

The music industry is a make or break path. Many often see it as the sold out shows, the Gram-my’s- basically making it all the way.

In recent years, it has become much easier to get noticed via YouTube, TV shows, MySpace, and hundreds of other sources yet to surface.

Unfortunately, the ease of getting noticed has stained the talent pool in the music industry. Concepts like “auto tune” have taken the industry away from raw talent.

“Some people have done the YouTube thing. I have a friend who did it, but it’s like they’re trying to catch the coattails of the pop stars,” Michele said. “If you want to be famous and have billboards it will work, but it’s not going to last long. No one stays on top for very long like that.”

Artists like Michele and the guys he plays with are re-freshing in such an artificial industry given their ability to just play and not dress up their acts.

Michele’s goal is not the Grammy’s, it’s not the shows in front of millions- it’s just to play, and to be happy doing it. The art of music is not a tool to obtain riches for him - the music itself is the riches.

the beginnings ofmusical greatness

“I’m about the music. This is what I want to do.”

-junior Pace Michele

ENTERTAINMENT | 15

“Here’s...Johnny!”

February 25, 2011. Senior Nick Roussel knew this was a day that would either make him or break him.

He walked into his audition for the Johnny Carson School of The-atre and Film on the University of Nebraska – Lincoln campus, mouth dry, stomach in knots, and his heart beating fast in his chest. Despite the distress he was feeling, he knew he was ready.

He looked to his left, his fellow classmate, performer, and friend, Sam Harvey, stood next to him.

When it was time for them to audition, Harvey had forgotten his portfolio back in the lobby, which meant Roussel, was up first.

“I wanted to do my best, show them what I was made of and how extraordinary I can be. If they see that, they’re going to recognize my talent, and they’re going to want it,” Roussel said.

Harvey felt similarly about his audition but was eased by the fact that he shared his audition time with Roussel.

Both Scottsbluff seniors knew they wanted one thing for sure in their future: theatre.

As a result of their efforts, dedica-tion and love for the arts as well as music, they were both accepted to the school as two of the 20 that are admitted each year.

“Only twenty a year are accepted so the fact that two of us got in, that is a big attribute to Rada, Ronne, and Kreutzer. So a big thanks to them,” Harvey said.

Roussel has always had theatre in mind for what he wanted to pursue.

“I wanted to go somewhere where they solely concentrate on acting and theatre, but I also wanted a place that offered other kinds of schooling be-cause I’d really like a business degree out of college,” Roussel said.

Harvey had other things in mind, but ended up settling on pursuing theatre.

“Some of my plans for football didn’t work out so, for a while I thought, ‘what am I going to do now?’ That’s when I looked into my per-forming arts options and I’m a Husker boy; I bleed Husker red so I thought Lincoln would be a good place to try,” Harvey said.

Roussel was ecstatic when he had received news he was accepted.

“They told me it would come in two weeks to a month, so at the two week mark I was antsy. I was waiting for my food at the Wonderful House and I got an email saying “Dear Nick, Congratulations you’ve been ac-cepted”, and I thought, ‘this can’t be real,’” Roussel said.

Harvey was also pleased with the news he received about his audition.

“I was super excited for myself, and Nick as well. The first person I told was my mother; I told her to come read the email and she told my dad to come read it, it was a chain reaction of good news,” Harvey said.

There were different steps that the two had to follow as a part of the auditon.

“I had to do two contrasting acting pieces and they asked me if I would sing for them. I didn’t have anything

prepared so they had me sing happy birthday… awkwardly,” Roussel said.

Harvey, however, had it all planned out.

“I did the Laramie Project as Father Roger Schmidt, like I did in the one act last year and my humorous piece was called ‘Cowboys and Idiots’. I also sang ‘It’s Now or Never’ from All Shook Up,” Harvey said.

Although Roussel is set on his de-cision for Johnny Carson, Harvey ad-mits that he is 99.99% set on another school that he auditioned for AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy).

“I first found out about AMDA when I got a letter in the mail they had an audition coming up and kind of blew it off because I didn’t know if it was legitimate. My mom had talked to a family friend whose daughter went to AMDA and praised it highly so I got excited and decided to try it,” Harvey said.

After he decided that he was going to audition in Kansas City, everything fell into place.

“It happened to be the same week-end as State DECA. I left DECA early to audition which was so exciting and nerve wracking,” Harvey said.

His AMDA audition was similar to the one he had for the Johnny Carson School. He performed the Laramie Project monologue again and sang ‘Fortune Favors the Brave’ from Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida.

AMDA is an international school and 5 – 10% of people that apply are accepted each year and very rarely do they offer scholarships. They not only accepted Harvey, but offered him

money to go there as well. “I had talked to my admissions

counselor on the phone about the pro-visional results that they mentioned to my mom earlier. He couldn’t find them right away so I was on hold for like 20 minutes and after he told me he couldn’t find it and we were about to hang up he said, ‘Sam I found the results,’” Harvey said.

The results Harvey received were promising.

“He said my essays gave the judges insight into who I am, he went through my audition sheet, told me what my scores were, told me I ranked intermediate/advanced which would put me in good classes, that my scores were high enough and that I was going to be accepted to AMDA. At this point my eyes started water-ing,” Harvey said.

Harvey stayed on the phone to be informed that due to the high scores from his audition he was going to be offered money.

“It was crazy, it felt unreal. It still feels kind of like a dream to me,” Harvey said.

Roussel and Harvey’s talent and dedication has set them up to do great things.

“I’m doing what I love, and having fun while doing it,” Roussel said.

Harvey, like the rest of the class of 2011 has a choice to make but as of now is set on AMDA.

“Life is for taking risks. I know that at AMDA I’m going to be a poor college student, along in New York, and scared but very happy. I’ll choose being happy over anything,” Harvey said.

Scottsbluff High School students admitted to University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Johnny Carson School of

Theatre and Filmstory byvictoria bravo | entertainment writer

SPORTS | 17

story byMICHAEL MILLER | sports writer

MARCH vs. Run

Senior Bonn Alvarado marches during a football game last fall. Alvarado has just joined the distance team track order to gain preparation for the National Guard. Photo by Gordon Rock

On your mark...

Senior Bonn Alvarado takes on something he has never done before: distance

running & the National Guard

Students are accustomed to seeing senior Bonn Alvarado in Bearcat Stadium. Whether it be playing his tuba in the marching and pep band or cheering on the Cats, he’s there.

However, not many are accus-tomed to seeing Alvarado out of the stands and on the track.

This spring, Alvarado has joined the track team and is run-ning long distance, changing his role from supporter to competitor.

That’s right, this year Alvarado is running long distance under Coach Barker’s tutelage, looking to improve upon his form and become better fit for his military endeavors.

For several years now, he’s con-templated joining the military and has decided to become part of the ranks of the Nebraska National Guard.

“My main reason for joining the military is I feel it’s my duty as an American citizen and my family has a history in the ser-vice,” Alvarado said.

He’s well aware of the risks that come with enlisting.

“Enlisting comes with the certainty of getting deployed and deployment comes with the uncertainty of what will happen, but I figure everything will run its course,” Alvarado said.

As with many young Ameri-cans enlisting, his family has mixed feelings of him joining the military.

“My mom’s side is extremely, extremely proud of me, but my dad’s side has been fighting me this entire time,” Alvarado said.

“My dad’s always been kind of protective over me and my brother and they were all pretty close-knit and nobody besides my cousin has been in the military since my great-grandfather served in North Korea. They all remem-ber him as the go-to guy. I don’t think they want anyone to jump in to that again,” Alvarado said of his dad’s doubts.

“They’re (his mom’s side) ec-static because, for one, they didn’t think I was going to do anything with my life. Through elementary and middle school I really didn’t care about anything besides video games and food so now it makes them see, ‘hey, he’s actually go-ing to do something with him-

self’,” Alvarado said of his proud mother.

Though many thoughts cross his mind about the military, the track season itself presents some challenges to Bonn.

“The challenges I’ve faced have mostly been mental; just main-taining a good diet and keeping hydrated,” Alvarado said.

That not mentioning Bonn was born with minor cerebral palsy, so he has scar tissue on the left side of his brain. As a result, the right side of his body is slightly behind his left side developmentally.

Because of this, Alvarado’s right leg is anywhere from a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch shorter than his left.

All of this Bonn has overcome thus far in his quest to enlist in the National Guard.

Coach Barker has also been very pleased with Bonn’s accom-plishments.

“Bonn made a decision to do track and field and he is doing a great job. We are extremely proud of what he has accomplished so far,” Barker said.

Not only does he run for the team, he also is the designated videographer at the track meets.

“Bonn does double duty for the team. He runs during the week with the distance crew and is our designated videographer at track meet. After weeks of practice, Bonn has made the decision to compete in his very first track and field meet—he ran the 1600 at the Alliance Invite!” Barker said of Alvarado.

Though Bonn’s role is usually off the field, expect to see him playing a role in this year’s track season as a Bearcat.

10 weeks of rigorous workouts and drills•212 tests to pass the final week •-Including a two mile run and rigorous physical fitness testDevelopment of character•Development of teamwork and leadership•

Basic Training in the national GuardWhat it takes to become a soldier:

Get set...Go!

18 | SPORTS

story byMADDIE HOLSCHER | sports writer

The seven-foot space inside the shot put ring may not seem like much to most people, but for senior Jennifer Maag, it’s the most private place in the world.

A world no one else can enter; not her parents, not her six siblings, and none of the expectations surrounding her as the oldest child.

It’s the one place she can go where she doesn’t have to think of anything and can clear her mind.

In a family of five brothers and one sister, Maag struggles to find alone time.

She crawls out of the warmth of her bed at 6 a.m. daily and heads out to tackle her morning chores.

She joins her siblings in feeding the animals, cleaning up the house, doing the dishes, and taking out the trash.

She then proceeds to get ready in the morning to drive to town for

another day of school.In class her mind is filled with

college applications and scholarships, catching up on sleep, and counting down the days until graduation.

When the bell sounds at 3:20 she heads to the locker room filled with girls and prepares for track practice.

As she steps into the ring, all goes silent.

She takes a deep breath and fo-cuses on one thing.

Throwing the 8.8 lb. shot as far as she can.

Maag is turning heads this track season as she broke the Buffalo Bill meet record with a toss of 42’8” on Sat., April 2. She now has her eye on a couple of other records.

“My goal this season is to break at least one of the (shot put or discus) records,” Maag said.

Currently, the school record for shot put is 44’ 5 ½” set by Leeza Hen-ry in 2008. The discus record is150’ 8” set by Jennifer Kamtz in 1992.

Maag has marks this season that are close to both of those records.

“Jenn put in a solid winter,” head

Finding that

ONEFINAL SHOT

Senior Jennifer Maag prepares to throw the shot put during practice. Maag set the meet record at the Buffalo Bill Invite earlier this season. Photo by Terry Pitkin

girl’s coach Tanya Vaughn said. “She trained, threw, and put in the prep work to be ready for her senior season.”

Maag spent the offseason lifting every day, completing swimming workouts and throwing two to three times a week.

“Coach (Osborn) pushes me to per-form well. Leeza Henry also comes to practices so it is fun to compete with her,” Maag said.

Maag feels the pressure to excel. “There’s some pressure surround-

ing me as far as being like Leeza. People expect me to beat the record and be better than her,” Maag said.

But pressure isn’t only coming from the track world. Maag feels pres-sure from her parents and family as well. She also has high expectations herself.

“As the oldest, I feel like I have to set the standard for the rest of my sib-lings because I know they watch what I do and look up to me,” Maag said.

“I feel like being a part of a big family has shaped me as a person, es-pecially with mostly brothers, I have

learned to toughen up,” Maag said. “Through helping around the house and participating in 4H activities I have developed a good work ethic and responsibility that has stayed with me my whole life.”

Although there may be difficulties that come with growing up in a large family, there are also many benefits.

“There are definitely days when we don’t get along and it can get annoying not having much privacy, but it’s nice always having someone to talk to and knowing that we have each other’s backs,” Maag said.

As she gets home at night from track practice Maag is welcomed by a houseful of voices. She experiences countless interruptions from her siblings while she tries to complete homework due the next morning.

At the sound of her mother’s voice, the family gathers around the table to eat dinner together.

While an outsider might find the 16 hands passing food and reaching for the salt and pepper shakers over-whelming, Maag couldn’t imagine it any other way.

Edging the school record in shot put and discus, senior Jennifer Maag finds serenity in the throwing ringquiet place

story byKELSEY EMPFIELD | sports editor

THEBIG SHOT

Junior Kyle Wallace poses with his turkey he shot last spring. The turkey had a 10.5 in. beard. Courtesy photo.

Junior Kyle Wallace glanced to his left as he scanned the horizon. Scratch-scratch-scratch. His dad mimicked the hen turkey as he worked his turkey call.

After being on the stakeout all day, Wallace had nearly given up hope. He was tired of being in a tiny Double-Bull blind all day with his family – his mom, his dad, and his three brothers.

He was crowded and exhaust-ed from the useless anticipation. Then, all of a sudden he heard what he had been waiting for all day…gobble-gobble-gobble.

Eight feet away stood a Tom turkey. The brilliant shades of purple and blue stood out against the setting sun and his heart be-gan beating rapidly. Wallace knew it was time.

He drew his shotgun up to his shoulder and aimed for the turkey’s neck. He took one last big breath and pulled the trigger.

The shot gun shell split the air and the bee bees penetrated the

turkey, killing it immediately. The Tom had an eight and a half inch beard and it was one of Wallace’s biggest kill.

“That was when I was eleven years old and it was my first tur-key kill,” Wallace said.

Since then, Wallace has become an avid hunter and outdoorsman.

“I hunt and fish for the thrill and the challenge of trying to outsmart the animal. I like being outdoors too,” Wallace said.

Wallace hunts many types of animals including turkey, geese, deer, pheasants, and doves.

“My favorite thing to hunt is turkey. They’re hard to find but I love the challenge,” Wallace said.

With archery season for turkey starting March 25, Wallace has set out to start getting into the sport of archery, not only shotgun hunt-ing.

There are different types of bows for archery hunting. Two types include compound bows and long bows.

Compound bows have a sight and are more high tech so the arrow cuts through the air faster and more accurately.

Long bows are the equivalent to what Robin Hood used. They don’t have sights and aren’t as accurate, so they pose more of a

challenge.“I made my first

long bow this year. I’ve shot an old compound bow before, but I was inspired by Tred Barta and Fred Bear (famous archery hunters). Tred Barta always hunted with a long bow,” Wal-lace said.

In order to build a long bow, one has to shape it so that it can taper out, make the handle, and tiller it (re-moving material from a bow limb).

“The hardest and most important step is tillering the bow. The first one I made, I took

too much wood off so it didn’t work very well,” Wallace said. “The second one I made is a lot better, but I don’t have a string for it yet.”

Wallace admits he hasn’t killed anything with a bow yet aside from rabbits, but aims to get a turkey with one.

Because archery hunting poses such a challenge, the archery sea-son for turkeys runs from March 25 – May 31. Whereas, shotgun season is shorter and lasts from April 16 – May 31.

In order to turkey hunt, one must complete a hunter’s educa-

tion course, purchase a big game permit, and purchase a habitat stamp.

Wallace learned to enjoy hunt-ing from his dad, and now they have competitions.

“My goal is always to get a turkey before my dad does,” Wal-lace said.

Wallace is not the only student who enjoys hunting. Junior Hunt-er McCormick has been hunting since he was ten years old.

“Hunting is fun and gets you away from everything else and it’s never the same experience,” Mc-Cormick said. “My dad got me in-terested in hunting and since then, we’ve gone every single year.”

Both Wallace and McCormick primarily use the ‘spot and stalk’ strategy to hunt, which means they call for the turkeys, and once they hear the Tom gobble, they move toward it. But sometimes they call them in and wait in a blind, like Wallace used when he shot his first turkey.

Alongside turkey hunting, Wal-lace and McCormick also partici-pate in other hunting seasons.

“My biggest kill was probably a double banded goose around the neck and the leg,” McCormick said. “But my favorite season to hunt is ducks. They’re such a challenge and they’re harder to hit than geese.”

“My goal when I hunt is to just make it fun,” McCormick said.

Spring hunting season calls all hunters in the area

Steps to Shoot a Long Bow• Stance. Keep feet placed comfortably and do the same stance every single time. Do not grip the bow too hard.• Draw. Grasp the bow string with three fingers. Then draw back until the anchor point. Draw the anchor point at the same place every single time. •Aim. •Release string. Smooth and consistently to insure good arrow flight.

SPORTS | 19

Turkey Call

20 | SPORTS

story byKELSEY EMPFIELD| sports editor

Quiet, introspective, and a student of the game he loves...

Krzyzanowski takes aim at individual GOLD

Senior Erik Krzyzanowski closed his eyes in humiliation.

The strong breeze that blew across the Meadowlark Hills Golf Course in Kearney shook his usu-ally confident demeanor.

He thought to himself, “I can’t believe I just missed a two foot par putt.”

Normally, he would’ve just shook it off and went with the breeze, but with stress devouring him, this was not a putt that could just get “shaken off.”

This was the 2010 state tour-nament and after placing second two years in a row, his ob-vious goal was to win the gold medal.

Unfortunately, the putt he missed in the 18th hole haunted him the rest of the tournament.

Day two of the tournament went just as poorly as day one.

Although the team won the state tournament, Krzyzanowski’s dream of a gold medal ended up in the hands of his freshman team-mate, Andrew Holloway.

Individually, Krzyzanowski ended the tournament in third place.

“Golf is weird because the way you end dictates how you will play the next day. The bad memo-ries stay in your head,” Krzyz-anowski said.

There is still a competitive dy-namic between Krzyzanowski and Holloway.

“I don’t resent him. He’s mak-ing me play harder and better. I care about the team, but I don’t care about the publicity – that doesn’t matter to me,” Krzyz-anowski said.

His relationship with Hol-loway is that of

a competitor because they challenge each other.

“That’s how we are. We go back and forth like that. He seemed sort of lucky that day, but we won [as a team], and that’s how it goes. He wants to be number one on the team, but he’s still trying to get there,” Krzyzanowski said.

To this day, in regard to state last year, Krzyzanows-ki still has regrets.

“I wish I could’ve changed the way I played and the decisions I made

[in that game] and how I was thinking during that hole,” Krzyzanowski said.

Despite his showing at state last year, Krzyz-anowski signed with Gonzaga Uni-versity in Spokane, WA to continue his golfing career and

major in mechanical engi-neering.

“Signing with Gonzaga has positively affected my golfing game because I’m more relaxed. I’m still work-ing as hard as I normally do, but there’s no pressure,” Krzyzanowski said.

He said he is excited about going to Gonzaga because it’s something new.

“The competition is go-ing to be a lot harder, but I’ll have the same goals as I have here,” Krzyzanowski said.

Krzyzanowski certainly has been a hard worker, practicing every day during season and off season.

“I practice so much because this is what I do, and there’s nothing better to do,” Krzyzanowski said.

When asked about team chem-istry this year, he said they are all friends, and no one is an enemy with anyone else.

“A new coach has made us

Will this finally be Erik’s

worK-Ingon hISShorT gAME

Senior Erik Krzyzanowksi at-tempts a putt in practice. He has been improving his short game since his showing at state last year. Photo by Anna Teghtmeyer

year?

more relaxed. We joke around in practice which has made practice more fun,” Krzyzanowski said.

Despite some hardships throughout his high school career, Krzyzanowski still wants to end it with a long anticipated individual state championship.

“ “Golf is weird because

the way you end dictates how you will play the next day. The bad memories stay in

your head.-Erik Krzyzanowski, 12