Eagan IndependentVolume 7, Issue 7 Eagan High School | 4185 Braddock Trail | Eagan, MN 55123 April 10, 2012

ENCORE! Escape into song

Eagan High School students are deep into rehearsals for the upcoming ENCORE performances. Every year a new theme is chosen for the ENCORE show, and this year the theme is “Escape.” Instead of living the usual modern life of busy schedules, short deadlines, and too many text messages, “Escape” is a time when audience members can get away from their hectic lives with favorite songs, the comfort of home, relation-ships, or the outdoors and nature.Encore features dancers, a chorus, and the Jazz I ensem-ble. The cast will be perform-ing pieces by artists varying from Frank Sinatra to Adele to Lady Gaga, giving the show plenty of entertainment. Full company numbers such as the opening, “Ease on Down The Road,” feature the entire chorus while smaller ensem-bles and solos will give the audience a range of different performances. Along with the chorus, dancers and the jazz

By Anushka MankunathNews Writer

Just Desserts By Jenna FischerNews Writer

Just Desserts is an event full of singing and food presented by the EHS vocal ensembles of caché, VOX, and B-Natural and hosted by other members of the EHS choirs. It was held the eve-ning of March 21 in the EHS auditorium for its seventh year. Along with performanc-es by the vocal ensembles of VOX, caché, and B-Natural, Just Desserts also has smaller numbers, featuring members of those groups. In between sets of performances, audi-ence members are treated to three rounds of desserts. This year’s evening of Just Desserts featured a range of numbers, mostly in the pop genre. VOX began with the show with a rendition of “Here Comes the Sun.” caché followed with a spirited version of “How Can I Keep from Singing.” Throughout the performance smaller ensembles were featured including the duet of Aubrey Goettsch and Lauren Standal singing “Falling Slowly” and the quartet of Alissa Anker, Alexa Golemo, Sarah Konold,

band will have individualized features as well. There are three categories that were available for audition-ing for ENCORE: singing, dancing, and solos. “Dur-ing auditions, we look for whether they’re interesting to watch, engaging, and able to have some movement while singing,” says vocal director Mr. Schafer. Like any other year, auditions were difficult for the directors consider-ing the broad talent at Eagan High School. “I always feel bad when I find out someone with great talent isn’t able to

make it because of their tight schedules and hectic days,” says Mr. Schafer. The ones that did make the show were enthused to see their names on the cast list. “I didn’t believe it at first be-cause they spelled my name wrong, but then everyone started congratulating me so I started to believe a little. I went home on Facebook and looked at my name to make sure I was in, and I was. It was the best birthday present ever!” says freshman Maddie Sell. There are six performances of

ENCORE: April 27 and 28 at 7:30 P.M, April 29 at 4:00 P.M, and May 3, 4, and 5 at 7:30 P.M. All seats are reserved, and tickets go on sale 11:00 a.m. in the box office in Spirit Hall on Wednesday, April 18. They will be sold each school day until 4:00 p.m. until they are sold out. The senior citizen preview is Wednesday, April 25 at 3:30 p.m. All of the performers in ENCORE continue to practice rigorously to provide the au-dience the perfect “escape.”

and Marta Peter-son singing Sara Bareilles’s “King of Anything,” which was spe-cially arranged for four parts. This year, the ensembles opened their final dress rehearsal to the public, which was titled “Just Songs.” Stu-dents were able to view Just Desserts, minus the desserts, for a smaller entry fee on March 19.Mr. Schafer said that this year, the students really took charge of the show. “I think this year the students were more responsible for the performance,” he explained. “We’re not backstage with them. We’re not chewing them out on stage by every-thing just kind of clicked along and it wasn’t a big lull

so the kids really took a lot of responsibility for making sure their show moved forward and that they were ready

to go when it

was time. There are usually twelve to fourteen mem-bers in each group with the exception of B-Natural, which features six students. caché is an ensemble of junior and senior girls and is directed by Mr. Cox. VOX, which is Latin for “voice,” is an ensemble of upperclassmen boys and is directed by Mr. Schafer. “It also rhymes with Mr. Cox’s name!” Mr. Schafer said jok-ingly. B-Natural, also directed by Mr. Schafer, is a smaller ensemble that is a mixture of both groups. Students auditioned in the fall to join caché or VOX. “An important talent

is to be able to harmonize; there are many times when there will be no one else sing-ing the same part as you,”

Mr. Schafer explained. “We recorded them singing a song then replayed it and had them harmonize with themselves.” The event was set up on the stage, and on each table was a headshot of one of the students. Family and friends of the student were seated at the designated tables. The photos were taken by the photographer Mark Eliason who is contracted with Eagan to take photos of athletic and fine arts events. The ten dollars that guests had to pay for Just Desserts was used to cover the cost of each student’s headshot as well the desserts. There were three courses of dessert:

Deadly Car AccidentBy Kameron WilsonNews Wrier

cheese cake, chocolate brown-ies, and cream puffs and strawberries and were served by EHS choir members. “It’s almost like a cabaret,” explaines Nora Sell, a senior who is in caché and B-Natural. “It’s good enter-tainment and a good way to showcase our talent.” “They did really well, but I’m glad it’s over because it was so much work.” Mr. Schafer said. “There is no conductor, we just watch them perform. These kids are really independent.” Along with the directors, the performers take pride in their work. “If you like music, you should definitely come next year,” Nora said. “It’s really a great experience!”

Photo by Rachel Larson

Photo by Haley Davis

Two Eagan residents were killed on the night of Satur-day, March 17 in a head-on collision in Eagan after one of the cars crossed the center line according to police Sgt. Jennifer Willis. The Eagan Police Department stated that the two vehicles col-lided near the intersection of Diffley Road and Lexington Way at about 6 PM. Sgt. Wills says that Ashim Ahmed Jr., age 18 and Kelly Kristiansen, age 42 were both driving alone and died at the scene. The Minnesota State Patrol is reconstructing the scene and is not yet known if alcohol was involved or if the drivers were speeding. Sgt. Wills said that it is going to take a while to find out the exact details of the accident.Mr. Poehler, a teacher of AP European History and Devel-opmental Psychology at Ea-gan High School had Ashim Ahmed in his AP European History class a few years ago. “Ashim was such a great student. He was very friendly, was more on the quiet side. He engaged in class activities and enjoyed learning new things,” says Mr. Poehler. Mr. Poehler also said the death of a student had a great impact on him. “The whole thing was a tragedy all around. I was sick when I heard about. It’s hard having a former student whose life tragically ended by being cut short.”

caché performs at Just Desserts

EdITorIAlEagan Independent | Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Staff

Editors in Chief Molly MartinezCameron VanDyke

NewsAlanna Thelen - EditorJenna FischerLaura HarfordAnushka MankunathMandy NoetheOlivia WeinbergerKameron Wilson

FeaturesGrace Ablan - EditorAnnika GrasslAbby JohnsonNicole MaeserLaurel ScottShelley Sibley

SportsKenzie Markland - EditorBailey HennenGrace HintonAnthony Metcalfe

Photography Michelle Metcalfe - EditorHannah BergomHaley DavisJohanna IversonRachel LarsonSanya Pasricha

AdviserSara Stensaas

The Eagan Independent is a monthly publication produced by Eagan High School students from all grade levels in a cocurricular setting.

We are committed to provid-ing a limited open forum within the community of Eagan High School - one in which opinions, discussion and input are always wel-comed and encouraged.

Comments, questions, thoughts and ideas may be addressed to:

Eagan Independent4185 Braddock TrailEagan, MN 55123

or e-mailed to:eaganindependent@gmail.com

Letters to the editor must be signed by the author and be 500 words or less. Letters to the editor submitted that are more than 500 words may be edited by the staff. Letters may also require editing if they contain false or libelous statements.

Editorial policies and content decisions are made by the editorial board. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the writer and/or the Eagan In-dependent staff and are not necesssarily the opinons of the adviser, administration, students, faculty or Indepen-dent School District 196.

Editorial Policy

How to please your teacher: a different perspective

Teach: “to impart knowl-edge of or skill in; to give instruction in.” Dictionary.com’s definition of teaching does not even come close to describing all that teachers do. While it is their duty to educate, they also serve as mentors, discipline rebel-lious students, meticulously plan lessons, and constantly deal with tiny stressors. It is undeniable that students have pet peeves about teachers, but trust me – teachers have their own pet peeves about stu-dents as well. This past year, partici-pating in Developmental Psychology has given me a taste of what it is like to be a teacher. Bottom line: it is challenging. As members of the program, my classmates and I act as mentors, and we teach drug education and life skills to a group of ten sixth graders once a week. Not to say that this is easy; at the end of the thirty-minute class, I feel exhausted. It’s like a war zone of children fighting for my attention, endlessly ask-ing questions, and constantly distracting each other. I can’t even imagine teaching seven class periods a day with over thirty students in each class. Managing my own class-room each week has given me a new perspective when

I walk into my high school classes. I have a new ap-preciation for all the little things teachers are forced to deal with on a daily basis, and my personal resolution is to avoid certain behaviors that bother me when I am in teacher mode. We are all guilty of having contributed to teachers’ stress at one time or another, but here are a few tips for students who want to make their teachers very happy.

1. Eliminate side conversa-tions. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to talk over students who feel the need to hold a conversation in the middle of a lesson. Although I know it is not their intention, their chatting distracts everybody else in the class, including the teacher. I know that when my sixth graders whisper to each other from across the circle when I am trying to share valuable information with them, it makes me feel as though they don’t respect me.

2. Arrive on time. Strolling in late to class sends the message that a student doesn’t care. We all know that we are given adequate time to get from one class to another, so there is no reason to be late. For me, when even one student walks in late, I feel like I have to re-start the whole lesson so that

everyone is on the same page. One person’s lack of punctu-ality can take away from the entire group’s learning time.

3. Listen up! Try not to ask questions that have already been answered. This is a stu-dent’s way of admitting to a teacher that he or she has not been paying attention. During my lessons, I probably repeat each piece of information ten times – one time for each stu-dent. Teachers do not have the energy or the time in one class period to individually cater to each student, so please listen up the first time information or directions are given. 4. Be understanding. Don’t assume teachers know abso-lutely everything there possi-bly is to know about a sub-ject. They are educators, not all-knowing oracles. They are obviously extremely knowl-edgeable about their area of expertise, but it is unreason-able for students to become upset or frustrated when a teacher doesn’t know the answer to a difficult question. Besides, if the teacher doesn’t know something, the student probably doesn’t need to know it either in order to pass the course.

5. Stay focused. We all know very well that as soon as the weather gets nice, students’ attention spans diminish

quickly. Being locked up in school is the last thing on our minds, and we constantly pester our teachers about the unlikely possibility of having class outside, or perhaps just not having a lesson at all on some days. It is time for us to put ourselves in teachers’ shoes. They probably would rather be out enjoying the nice weather as well, but they are required to cover certain material in their course. Also, bringing an entire classroom of students outside comes with liability and is easier said than done. It is frustrat-ing to try to get an important message across to my sixth graders when they are so squirrelly and unfocused, so please bear with the teach-ers and try to put on a happy face during time spent in the classroom.

Teaching is a difficult job; it requires patience, motivation, and a lot of energy. If there is one thing I have learned throughout high school, it is that the best teachers are extremely passionate about what they do. They want to help their students, watch them grow, and celebrate their success. Teacher Appre-ciation Week is coming up in the first week of May, so let’s recognize what a great job our Eagan teachers do and show them some respect.

By Kenzie Markland Sports Editor

Now that spring break has come to the end, a barren stretch of full five day weeks linger ahead of us. Most seniors start the “senior slide” after spring break and when it hits, it hits hard. Eight long, five day weeks are looming ahead. There is not an easy way to fight the senior slide, but focus is key. Now is the time many seniors just stop caring about high school for many reasons. The main two reasons for seniors to start sliding is the stress. From the beginning of July the decisions begin. Finding the perfect school that meets all the criteria such as location, tuition, type of ed-ucation, all the way down to the cafeteria food can become overwhelming. After accep-tance the scholarships and constant deadlines fuel anxi-ety even more. Starting a new school without the familiarity of knowing anybody or just a small handful of your peers is a main source of stress. The idea of figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life is daunting. The second main reason

for the slide is the lack of motivation. Once all of the difficult decisions have been made, many people feel they have secured a future for themselves. You do not need to care right? Wrong. There are horror stories of students that have been told after the final transcript has been sent that they are not welcome anymore. If colleges did not draw their offer of acceptance then they might withdraw financial aid to lower sums of money to a complete withdrawal of money. Many students believe that after working hard for three years and being accepted into col-lege they do not need to try anymore. This is where many students begin their decent on the senior slide. The solution to getting out of this slump is hard work. According to Kristen Hatfield associate director at the University of St. Thomas, working hard in the senior year means that the student will be more successful in college. Despite popular belief, the second half of your senior year counts equally, if not more, than the first half of senior year. A good way of using senior year is to practice

for college. Getting in touch with a future roommate and building a strong relationship can help. By building that re-lationship, the student can fo-cus on what is important such as maintaining grades and throughout high school and feeling comfortable in col-lege. Even though the people that you get in touch with are probably not going to be your best friends the idea that you know somebody can speed up the countdown and reduces the stress that can be caused from not knowing anyone. Senior sliding is something that is expected but can be prevented. Working hard and helping out in the community can help keep the lack of mo-tivation at bay while reducing stress for the college bound student.

for college. As stated by Con-necticut College’s admission, senior year students should establish and develop good study habits to prepare for the more rigorous college cur-riculum. At times high school may seem hard, especially with the tough standards held by the Eagan faculty, but the reality is that college will be much harder. By continually working hard, the transition from high school to college is much easier than it would if the student did not complete their high school education as strongly as they began it. Another way of fight-ing senioritist, is to become involved in co-curricular activities. Co-curricular activities are a great way to contribute to, and establish yourself, in a community. The best co-curricular activities are ones that a student can be involved with throughout all of high school while contrib-uting to the diversity of the activity members that benefits both yourself and your peers. Besides that, it is the next step towards adulthood and preparation for a job. Lastly, another way of nearly missing the senior slump is to begin planning

Take the Stairs Not the Slide

Photo taken from http://4.bp.blogspot.com

By Cameron VanDykeEditor in Chief

Eagan Independent | Tuesday, April 10, 2012 3

Equestrian ClubBy Olivia WeinbergerNews Writer

The Equestrian Club is start-ing up their season once again. Coached by Caroline Jackson, the fifteen to twenty-member team is currently holding the title for first in the state of Minnesota after a suc-cessful season last year. The Equestrian Club is comprised of members from Eagan as well as other local schools including Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eastview, and the Lakeville high schools. In this club, students ride horses as well as compete in individ-ual riding competitions. Gretchen Draper, a freshman at Eagan, describes the club more in depth. “You ride in all of your shows and add up the points you earn. At the end of the year, you send them in and you get awards at the end-of-year banquet.” To be eligible to participate in the Equestrian Club, students only need access to a horse to train on, but it is not required to compete. In order to be considered a varsity rider, members must have four qualifying shows and need to “show” in six classes. This

Weird WeatherBy Laura HarfordNews Writer

Minnesota and the rest of the country have been experienc-ing atypical weather condi-tions during the recent winter and beginning of spring. Discovery News states that some examples of this warm weather around the nation in-clude Bellingham, Washington with a high of 60 degrees in the first week of the year, while the mercury soared to a balmy 44 in Fargo, 61 in New York City, 72 in parts of Colorado, and 79 in Tucson, Arizona. In the Twin Cities, 80 degrees was reached on March 17, which was the earliest occurrence of 80 de-grees on record. Recently, the temperatures have continued to skyrocket and have broken many records. There are many explana-tions as to why this weather has occurred. One possibility for the warmer-than-normal temperatures is lack of pre-cipitation. The Science Chan-nel: Extreme Weather Quiz states that La Nina conditions have pushed warm water to-ward Australia in the western Pacific, leaving ocean waters

means that riders must have participated in four shows that are accepted by the team, which usually means shows in which the winners cannot be awarded money. Though it is a team sport, members of the club do not practice together as a team. “It would be too hard to meet all the horses together in one spot,” says freshman Madi Sogge. “You practice separately but have team meetings about twice a month.” The team meetings are to catch up on the mem-bers’ progress. In addition to riding, they also participate in volunteer work such as mak-ing blankets and collecting cans, and sometimes do other fun social activities as a team like swimming or tubing. The main part of the club comes with competitions, which are also an individual activity. “You get up at five in the morning because you have to drive to the show and usually they’re far away,” says Sogge. “You then have to warm-up and your first show could be anywhere from 7 a.m. into the late afternoon.” The higher-level competitors often compete later in the day. There are seven dif-

ferent classes, or types of riding that most of the members of the Equestrian Club participate in: Hunt seat, Hunter/Jump-er, Dressage, Western/English Pleasure, Games, Eventing, and Saddle Seat. A sophomore in this club, Maggie Jackson, explains dressage riding. “Dressage is a mixture of gymnastics and dance on horseback. You do

cer-tain patterns in a course. As you move up

in levels, the moves you perform get

more difficult.” Gretchen Draper explains Hunter/Jumper rid-ing. “Hunter is when you are judged on how well the horse moves and how flawless it looks when they go over the jump. Jumper is against the clock. You are timed and you get faults if you knock a rail

or are outside of the time limit.” Last year’s team of Annaliese Favorite, Grace Hinton, Erin Klukas, Allie Kuppenbender, Audrey Meyer, Drew Gocke, Maggie Jackson, Gretchen Draper, and Madi Sogge received first place in the state. However, as the riders do not go to competitions as a team, there is no state tourna-ment. The title of first in state is awarded to the team that collects the most points from individual riders throughout the season. While last season was successful, the team members have been preparing for the upcoming season with great intensity. “After school I go to the barn and ride for forty-five minutes, six to seven days a week,” says Jackson. Draper explains an exercise that she does to prepare. “My instructor takes away the stirrups to increase leg muscles. It’s hard because everyone runs into each other. It’s fun though because you do really hard courses over jumps.” Sogge, Draper, and Jackson, agree that their favorite part of Equestrian Club is that it is a recognized sport and you get to meet other kids in the school who have a similar passion.

off the American west coast about five degrees colder than usual. As a result, moisture levels are currently low in the atmosphere from Cali-fornia to Washington State. La Nina also pushes the jet stream northward, so that it is stationed near the border be-tween Canada and the United States, bringing unusually warm weather to Minnesota and other northern states. Many students have opin-ions on the strange weather. Some are enjoying the warm winter and spring while oth-ers dislike the conditions and would have liked a more typi-cal snowy winter. Sophomore Kacie Hynnek is a fan of the early spring. “I love it!” she says. “I hate when it’s really cold and hav-

ing to wear layers when I’m outside, so I love that we get a longer spring. Spring is my favorite because the tempera-ture is perfect!” On the other hand, sopho-more Kayla Knipping prefers a more Minnesota-normal winter. “I wish we would’ve had more snow because I wasn’t able to ski a lot.” Sophomore Abby Koller would have wanted a winter and spring somewhere in the middle. “I like it warm like this starting in March, but up until then I would have liked it colder with more snow – especially over December and January,” says Koller. The weather is predicted to continue to stay warm throughout the rest of the spring and into the summer.

School HeatBy Mandy NoetheNews Writer

The heat in the school has not gone unnoticed for most students at EHS, thanks to the early warm-up this spring. This past March was the warmest March ever for the Twin Cities. In addition, temperatures peaked at 80 degrees on March 17, which was the earliest that that temperature has been reached in the Twin Cities on record. Furthermore, the Twin Cities experienced the most 70-de-gree days for any March.The early heat outside has contributed to increased temperatures inside the school. The cause of the increased heat is related to the cooling tower on top of the school. “We have not yet filled the cooling tower with water, which cools both EHS and DHMS. We cannot fill the tower until the heating season ends for sure, because the boilers have water in the pipes. If it gets cold again, our pipes could freeze if we start air conditioning,” shares Dr. Reikowski. Though the cooling tower is not being put into use yet, there are still efforts to keep the school at a comfortable temperature. “All we could do was pull in outside air overnight and during the day through the fans in the sys-tem. We did this each morn-

ing at 4 a.m., hoping we could get some cool air into the school,” Reikowski continues. Over spring break the cool-ing tower received a repair visit, so the air conditioning is ready to be turned on the next time a heat wave rolls in. With the high temperatures outside and inside, it has been getting harder for students to concentrate in school, and easier for them to become distracted. Reikowski stated, “I think the heat in the school has affected the students negatively. Attention span diminishes and people get ir-ritable. Personally, I am really hoping for a more gradual warm-up.” Many students agree with Dr. Reikowski about some negative impacts of the warm school. “The heat up in the school really bothers me because having gym inside gets too hot, and then going into places like the band room after is terrible because the band room doesn’t get any air circulation,” says freshman Olivia Robinson. Hopefully with a more grad-ual warm-up in the future, the school will be cooled and more comfortable.

Equestrian Club member, junior Annaliese Favorite practices with her horse

Submitted photo

Photo courtesy of twincitiesdailyphoto.com

FEATurESEagan Independent | Tuesday April 10, 2012

WORD IN THE HALLS:What did you do

over spring break?By Grace AblanFeatures Editor

Nathan Braun (11)

“I went to Spain. We went to a whole bunch of art museums in Ma-

drid. I also had a family stay and played soccer with my host family. It

was great.”

Kiara Marrero (10)

“I went to softball prac-tice and had a sleepover

with a friend. I also spent time with my brother. I had a great time. I love spending time with my

brother.”

Kelsey Sterrenberg (12)

“I went to France. We went to the South and spent time in Aix. We also had a family stay. We went to Nice and

Monacco. It was super fun!”

Kate Andrus (11)

“My family went to Hawaii. We went on a helicopter ride around Maui. And in Oahu we

drove to a lot of beaches that were really pretty. I

had so much fun!”

Perception vs. Reality

By Annika GrasslFeatures Writer

The idea of perception con-trasted with reality can be a completely different realm of thinking and emotional being. Perception can sometimes be confused with stereotypes, as is the case of the shooting of Treyvon Martin on Febru-ary 26th of this year, which is popularly believed to have been caused by a stereotype. At the time of his death, Martin was wearing a hoodie, something that most teenag-ers can’t seem to go a week without wearing. However,

the simple article of clothing mixed with the fact that Mar-tin was an African-American teenager walking alone in the dark at 10 o’clock at night was likely to have played a key role in his shooting. Sometimes perception and stereotypes can be completely different, which we saw in the Lake Academy shoot-ing in Western Ohio. No one knew that TJ Lane, a young man who everyone thought was simply a quiet kid with a tough home life, could turn on his classmates and commit such a terrible act that ended up killing one and leaving four others wounded. Accord-ing to people who knew Lane well he was a quiet kid, an honors student, who no one ever expected could commit an act this tragic.

While a stereotype is a broad statement about a group, a perception is a more individu-alized idea about one person or small group of people. Both perception and reality can differ greatly from the actual reality of a situation, Mohammed Merah the Tou-louse used the same weapon which is now being linked to the fatal shooting of French soldiers the previous week. People like to perceive the “ideal” image of their life and the lives of people around them. These same people may start believing this “false reality” to be the actually reality, and not a perception at all, but rather as what really is happening. For example: what do you think of when you see all of the kids hanging out at the bottom of the stairs at the east entrance? Whatever this may be is your perception, while the reality of the situa-tion (most often) is that kids are simply hanging out with friends while waiting to get a ride home from a parent or bum one off of a friend.

Congressman Bobby Rush wears a hoodie while speaking on the chamber floor in support of Trayvon Martin to make a point that a person wearing a sweatshirt is not always a threat.

Taken from www.thedailybeast.com

Dressing for the Season

By Abby JohnsonFeatures Writer

Twice a year my sister comes home from college for the weekend. She doesn’t come home because she miss-es me or Eagan…she comes home to trade out her clothes. Most people grab a few key pieces to bring back to school with them. Nope, not my sister. She leaves every last remnant of her winter ward-robe and stuffs her suitcases with every single spring dress or pair of shorts she owns. So you have my sister, who lives for the return of J.Crew’s spring/summer collection. And then there’s me…still wearing tights and cardigans in April. Let me be clear, I absolutely detest this season. Never mind the bugs flying everywhere or the lovely return of spring allergies—it’s the fashion styles that I don’t like. Everywhere you look people are being told to swap out their colder weather ap-

parel for their spring/summer clothes. Magazines no longer offer suggestions for where to find the best pair of oxfords or boots but rather the cheapest places to buy flip flops. Why is it that at the turn of every season we’re encouraged to start wearing what’s “season appropriate”? I understand that it’s important to dress for the weather but should that really mean that you have to unleash a completely different wardrobe? In my opinion, I think that we should wear what-ever type of clothes that we

want. Who cares if you’re wearing a sweater or jeans during spring? If you like it, then that’s all that matters. Especially considering that our weather is so unpredict-able it’s absolutely accept-able to throw on a pair of jeans or a pair of tights every once in awhile. No season should dictate what you can and cannot wear. As long as you’re not wearing Ugg boots in the middle of summer or a mini skirt sans tights in the winter…wear whatever you want.

http://fairharborradio.com/

Happy 18th

Birthday Cameron!

-The 6 am Crew

Eagan Independent | Tuesday, April 10, 2012 5Depression

By Annika GrasslFeatures Writer

Fifty-eight million people suffer from the seri-ous, yet treatable, mental illness known as depression. Although this number alone is substantial, the number of people who are negatively af-fected by depression through relationships with those who are suffering is even greater. Depression cannot be characterized in one specific way because of the many different forms and levels of severity that an individual can experience. Some com-mon symptoms of depression include feelings of sadness and emptiness, hopelessness, and worthlessness. Other behavioral symptoms include feeling disconnected from peers and friends when in social situations, as well as abnormal eating habits. Sudden poor aca-demic achievement can also be a sign of someone suffering from depression. Some of the major academic deterrents caused by depression include delayed mental reasoning, sleeping problems, and dif-ficulty staying focused and attentive in class and with homework. Ms. Lehmann, one of the five Eagan High School counselors, believes, “We, the American psychological and counseling community, have heard about medication side effects and causes. A lot is

now known about what medi-cations can do.” She added, “I really think that cognitive behavioral therapy (work-ing one-on-one with a psy-chotherapist in a number of personal counseling sessions in order become aware of in-accurate or negative thinking which helps you to learn how to deal with them in a better, more positive, way) can be successful because kids can think about their issues and learn how to cope or behave differently.” Mrs. Lehmann also stated that it is important for stu-dents to know that if they are struggling with anything, the counselors at EHS are avail-able anytime for students to talk to. The Eagan High School counseling department would like to clarify its role. “We may talk to a student and talk to them about what they are experiencing, and if we see any signs [of depres-sion] we will contact home and suggest that they be brought into a professional psychologist to be officially

Courageous Conversations at Eagan High

SchoolBy Laurel ScottFeatures Writer

Several weeks ago, PAWS classes participated in Courageous Conversations, a three-day-long discussion of the issues of racism and discrimination that students may have encountered while at school. “We have an eq-uity team here at Eagan

diagnosed,” explained Ms. Lehmann. She further remarked, “We are a support system and a good structure for student support and depending on a student’s outside treatment plan is a good starting point for us to know how to help individual students.” As far as advice on how to cope with depression, the counselors are in agree-ment that it is important for friends to seek adult help, and not to feel like they should take on the issues by themselves. Students should let a trusted adult help the troubled student deal with potential depression. “It is our job to help kids with what they are dealing with,” Ms. Lehmann concluded. “We want them to feel comfortable getting support from us because support and seeking us out is important.”

High School,” explained Dr. Reikowski. “It’s a team of teachers and counselors and principals that…work on a variety of approaches to how we can make a more equitable school. [Courageous Con-versations] was just one of a number of things that they’ve done.” She continued to say that the equity team did Cou-rageous Conversations activi-ties with the teachers first in order to get their feedback, and then decided to take the conversations to the students as well. “We always look

Taken from mental-illness-symptoms.com

Beyond Dialogue: Nonverbal Messages

Image courtesy of blog.pgi.com

By Nicole MaeserFeatures Writer

A message can be conveyed in two ways: verbally or nonverbally. Besides verbal communica-tion, nonverbal messages also play a role in communication. By observing someone talk, a person can gain an idea of his or her feelings and val-ues through gestures, facial expressions, and posture. Awareness of nonverbal mes-sages will guide one well into his or her adult years, wheth-er it’s at a job interview or simply talking with a friend. Overall, being a successful communicator involves being both verbally and nonverbally savvy; both types of messages can leave major impressions. Susan Heathfield, educated in Human Resourc-es, wrote the article, “Listen with Your Eyes.” She consid-ered nonverbal messages to be “the single most powerful form of communication.” Before talking to someone, it is significant to analyze his or her nonverbal messages. Even the person’s appearance can make an impact. For example,

a man who is dressed in an ironed dress shirt with a straight black tie and match-ing black dress pants would convey a different message than someone dressed in sweat pants and a dirty t-shirt. Heathfield refers to everyone as “open books.” Often, true feelings are revealed through slight ges-tures. For moments where one wants to keep true feelings hidden, it may be im-portant to learn how nonverbal cues can reveal inner thoughts and feelings. While immersed in conversation it is more ac-ceptable to appear polite and kind even if one lacks sleep

or is uninterested. Through consistent eye contact and not fidgeting hands, one can make a positive impression. Nonverbal messages can

sometimes leave impres-sions sometimes even more powerful than speaking. In the book Blink: The

Power of Thinking without Thinking, author Malcolm Gladwell stated that “snap judgments are...enormously quick...rely on the thinnest

slices of experience... [and] are also unconscious.” We make judgments about people

very quickly, and often before engaging in conversation, which is why it is important to be mindful of nonverbal messages. While verbal commu-nication is important, nonver-bal communication is equally as powerful. Learning the pros and cons of nonverbal messages can be helpful for one to express his or her own ideas as well as to understand others.

at policies that we have at school, and whether they’re fair and unbiased,” she said.Dr. Reikowski explained that the goal of Courageous Con-versations was not to try and enact a massive change in the ways that people behaved, but simply to “have kids talk to each other.” She added, “I don’t know that we fixed anything, but I do think that it opened the lines of conversa-tion.” However, whether or not this activity will have positive effects in the long run remains controversial. Dr. Reikowski mentioned that she received visits from several students who believed

that discussions about issues of discrimination would not help things improve. “They were pretty irate,” she said. “They said, ‘now it’s going to get worse, not better.’ ” Nevertheless, Dr. Reikowski says that the goal now is to have teachers and kids continue the conversa-tions that were begun in class, even if they are not in an organized activity. “Hope-fully when students make a comment that’s based on a stereotype,” she said, “it will get addressed. I think people will be able to talk about it a little more freely.”

Eagan Independent | Tuesday, April 10, 20126TWENTY QUESTIONS

FEATURING: Apoorva Reddy

By Abby Johnson Features Writer

1. Who’s your favorite band? Maroon 5.

2. What are you most afraid of? Horror movie advertisements.

3. What’s your favorite quote/saying? “I’m H20 intolerant.” “I’m obnoxious.”

4. If you were to skip school, but not get into trouble for it, where would you go? To be honest, I’ve never really thought about it. Probably the moon.

5. Post-high school plans? I’m going to study Neuroscience at the University of Minneso-ta-Twin Cities.

6. What’s your dream vacation? Going to Egypt.

7. Where do you see yourself in ten years? Working as a neuroscientist in San Francisco.

8. What’s your favorite store to shop at? Target.

9. What do you miss most about your childhood?Not having homework.

10. What has been your most memorable birthday? When I turned seven I went to the zoo—everyone was run-ning around because a monkey was loose. I wasn’t scared. I just wanted to see it.

11.If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would you choose and why? Madie Gore. Because she has a Segway.

12.What was your favorite show when you were young-er? Arthur, by far.

13.What are your summer plans? Grad party hopping and visiting my cousins in New York.

14. Favorite pastime? Watching Hindi movies on Netflix. 15. Who is one of the most important people in your life and why? My sister. She knows how to make me laugh.

16. What annoys you the most? People calling Native Americans “Indians.” Stupid Columbus. Just kidding. But not really.

17. If you were to start high school all over again what would you do differently? Not procrastinate.

18. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life what would you choose and why? I always crave hoagies from Davanni’s. Even when I’m full.

19. What’s your favorite family tradition? My family doesn’t have any family traditions. That’s too main-stream.

20. Farthest place you’ve traveled?India!

Dinner & A Movie

The HungerGamesBy Shelley Sibley

Features Writer When survival is the only thing that matters to twenty-four tributes fight-ing for their lives, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark understand their survival means the inevitable death of the other. The Hunger Games is an entertaining and exciting movie, and one does not have to be a fan of the book in or-der to enjoy the movie. With plenty of action, romance, and clever wit, the quality of The Hunger Games surpasses that of the often compared Twi-light movies in many ways. The starring cast, comprised of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, is equally as impressive in this stellar movie. The movie takes place in a nation called Panem which is located in a post-apocalyptic North America. The country is divided into a wealthy Capitol and twelve poorer districts. To com-memorate the unknown apocalyptic event of the past, every year the Capitol holds a competition called The Hun-ger Games. Two “tributes,” a male and female between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are randomly chosen from each district in a drawing to compete. The Hunger Games consists of the twenty-four tributes fighting to the death to be crowned victor and survive the Games. Katniss Everdeen is a girl on fire - quite literally at one point in the film. From Panem’s District Twelve, a mining town in the ruins of the Appalachians, she volun-teers to take the place of her sister, Prim (Willow Shields), when her name is called as tribute. Peeta is the male tribute chosen from District Twelve, who also happens to have been in love with Kat-niss since before the games. Throughout the

movie, Jennifer Lawrence demonstrates skillful acting; she portrays exactly the right emotions. It is easy to con-nect with her character and understand the pain she is experiencing. Woody Harrelson is the last person one would expect to play Haymitch, the District Twelve tributes’ drunken mentor, but I ap-plaud the casting director; Harrelson captured the char-acter perfectly. Also, Elizabeth Banks’s role as Effie Trinket, the annoying escort of the District Twelve tributes, did a fantastic job of making her character likable - despite her unlikable nature. The acting was spot-on and the interest-ing casting choices compli-mented each other surpris-ingly well. The only thing that I did not enjoy about The Hunger Games was the cam-era work. It was sometimes a little too shaky for the viewer to clearly see what was going on. Still, the set was perfect and the costume styles were designed to perfection. The Capitol characters’ costumes were colorful and vibrant so that one could clearly distin-guish the social and economi-cal differences between the Districts and the luxury life at the Capitol, as well as what each group valued. The film showed how the people of the Capitol did not think twice about the violence in the Hunger Games, while the people of the Districts were greatly concerned about their children potentially being sac-rificed in a televised, ancient-Olympics-like event. Overall, this was an amazing movie that I would highly recommend to all. I give The Hunger Games five out of five stars.

Taken from www.hungergamesmovie.org

Taken from www.ops.org

ZestBy Annika Grassl

Features Writer

Zest, located off of County Road 3 and Diffley, has a relaxed and laid-back at-mosphere. It is a great place to get together with friends and enjoy some delicious food. The fairly new restau-rant has only been open since December of 2011, but the staff is already well accus-tomed to running a successful business. The first characteris-tics that I noticed about Zest were that the noise level was rather high and the lighting was dark. However, despite the starkness, the atmosphere was very lively, and many other parts of the restaurant were extremely pleasing to the eye. For example, beauti-ful landscaping surrounds the building, creating an appeal-ing decoration that separates the customers and the parking lot. Also, the still-life photo-graphs displayed throughout the restaurant provide a nice contrast to the dark wood of the walls. Customers will also soon be able to enjoy the beautiful weather with their meal in mid-April or early May when Zest will be open-ing an open-air patio. Zest’s menu offers a wide variety of appetizers, soups and salads, meat en-trees, pastas, sandwiches, and burgers. Among the plethora of options, Zest takes the greatest pride in the flatbread pizza – specifically the House-Made Sausage Flatbread. The restaurant’s signature menu items are indicated on the menu with a “Z” symbol, and include choices such as the Apple Bruschetta, the Zesty Goddess Salad, Pork Tender-loin, and the Mediterranean Burger. Although they serve burgers, they offer plenty of other healthy options such as salads or fish and many of their entrees can be ordered with special request such as grilled instead of fried fish, or fruit as a side with your burger. Menu prices are fairly reasonable for the average bar and grill fare. Meals cost any-where from fifteen to twenty dollars. For those looking to enjoy great food at a reason-able price, I highly recom-mend Zest.

Taken from farm8.staticflickr.com

SporTSEagan Independent | Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Get ready, get set, go!

The team has ex-tremely high potential, but Anderson explained that work ethic and practice will still be very important. He

By Grace HintonSports Writer

Before long, the boys’ track team will be up and running. With the first meet taking place on Thursday at Apple Valley, the boys have been working hard to ensure a strong start to the season. Captain Adam Peters explained, “Starting out, we’re doing a lot of hard workouts to build a base. We have a few guys that are injured right now, so get-ting them healthy is the big concern.” Peters shared that he is most looking forward to “competing at the big meets and True Team sections.” The team appears to have good prospects this season. Peters stated, “Jumps are probably our high point.” Captain senior Matt Anderson commented that the team has “some great potential in relays”. He also said that Peters “should make it to Top Ten in state” and that “[Peters] will beat the school record” in high jump.

as well as the enthusiasm for the upcoming season. He stated that he looks forward to playing with the team “one last time.”

The first game between Eagan and Burnsville last year resulted in Eagan’s defeat, with a final score of 11-5. However, the following game between the two was much closer with a 10-9 score - un-fortunately another Burnsville victory. After last year’s regu-lar season, Eagan was seeded fourth in the South Suburban Conference.

By Grace Hinton Sports Writer

With the end of winter sports and the recent warm

weather sweeping Eagan into an early spring, varsity baseball is preparing for a success-ful season. Captain David Stevens summarized his main goal for the season in two words: “Beat Burnsville!” He later explained that the team expects Burnsville to be the toughest competition this year. Senior Captain Eric Pe-terson shared this sentiment

Hitting it HomeReturning to power

claimed, “In True Team and sections we have to step up to the plate like we did a few years ago.”

Photo by Johanna Iverson

Senior power house Simone Haugen takes aim in practice.

Photo by Hannah Bergom

By Kenzie MarklandSports Editor

The girls’ golf team is looking forward to getting on the green early this year thanks in part to the early spring. Last year’s team was successful, placing first at the Purple Hawk Invitational for the fourth year in a row. They also won the St. Peter Invita-tional for the second year in a row and placed second at the Lake Conference Tournament. At the end of the season, the girls finished third in the re-gion and second in the south suburban conference. After last year’s success, the team is expecting five returning players includ-ing Junior Mallory Drent-tel. Mallory has been on the team since she was eligible in middle school. “The big-gest success [of last season] was getting a hole-in-one at Heritage Links [golf course],” Drenttel said. The girls are currently making goals to improve from last year. “We want to shoot consistently in the low ’80’s and always try out best!” Drenttel said. These goals are attainable due to the fact that the returning girls have experience in winning and working hard together as well as experience at state. The team has proven their ability to perform under stress. The girls’ first match is Wednesday, April 18 at the Jefferson Invitational.

Girls’ golf tees off April 18th

By Kenzie MarklandSports Editor

After years of being called the Wild Irish, the girl’s lacrosse team is now becoming the WIldcats Girl’s Lacrosse team. Last year the team finished with a record of 9-7. Their season ended in the section final against Bloomington Jefferson. Not only that, the Wild Irish who was number seven seed upset the number two seed, Lakev-ille North in the quarterfi-nals. After that the girls won against Apple Valley who was number three seed. From last year’s combined team, Eagan has eight return-ing players with three incred-ibly strong captains. Simone Haugen, Lisa Crow, and Tay-lor Budge have been on the team since they were eligible. Simone Haugen has signed with the prestigious George Washington University. Last year she lead the state in goals with 67 goals. Since Eagan now has their

own team they have their hopes set high. “We want to beat Rosemount and Eastview because they put together really strong teams.” Taylor Budge said. Not only that, the girls planned on contin-ued their luck to advance as far as they did last year. The girls are also looking forward too a season on their own. “I am mostly looking forward to a strong improv-ing team lead by Simone, Lisa, and myself [Taylor]” Taylor said. The girls first game as a new team is on April 11th against East Ridge.

Junior Colin Olstad pitches against Apple ValleySubmitted Photo

Five Eagan players are returning to play another varsity season, and both Ste-vens and Peterson explained that the team will have strong pitching and hitting. Peterson shared, “Our pitching staff is pretty deep and we have a full lineup of good hit-ters.” He doesn’t foresee any major obstacles for the team to overcome except possible communication issues toward the beginning of the season. Peterson stated, “Hopefully we won’t get caught up in confusion.”

Eagan Independent | Tuesday, April 10, 20128An experienced team

By Anthony MetcalfeSports Writer

This year’s boy’s golf team looks to improve greatly after last season’s 6th place finish in the South Suburban Conference. 5 of the return-ing players lettered last year. Also, 9 returning are seniors, the largest amount from any grade. Senior Drew Bauer ex-pects his team to “Go to state as the team,” and said he is looking to “raise the bar” from last years’ performance. Some golfers who are expect-ed to better the team include Bauer, the Kuchera brothers, and Ryan Punch. They are all seniors, and make up four of the five lettered players of last season that are returning for another year. In reference to whether the team improved over the relatively short winter offsea-son, Coach Johnson replied, “Yes, I think the boys have improved since last year. We’ve got five back, and all will have good years. Drew Bauer played in state, and Kuchera was the MVP.” This year’s weather certainly didn’t hurt tryout conditions; with some of the highest temperatures we’ve seen in a while before spring. The competition will tough this year, with practice time skyrocketing since golf cours-es are experiencing warm weather, but Eagan should get a good jump on the season.

Ready to serve up a state championshipBy Kenzie MarklandSports Editor

The boys’ tennis team finished strong last year after placing second overall in the South Suburban Conference, as well as placing second in the Wildcat Tournament and winning the Andover Tourna-ment. They ended the season with a winning record of 14-5. Along with the Varsity team’s success, the junior varsity team came out undefeated. The boys’ team only lost two seniors from last year, and this year’s eight seniors have plenty of experience under their belt. Brady Rad-ermacher is returning as the number one singles player with sixteen varsity wins last year. Additionally, Ben Ekstein is returning with four-teen varsity wins last year, as well as Brandon Vuong with seventeen wins and Saurabh Mishra with thirteen. Captain Brandon Vuong said, “Last year was very successful for everyone, and it was fun.” The seniors are sure to bring success for Eagan this year, but the underclassmen are looking bright as well. Last year, Zach Ekstein ad-vanced onto state as a fresh-man, and is ranked highly in the United States Tennis Asso-ciation (USTA) players along with Brady Radermacher and junior Drew Nichols. This year the team has

New team, same goal

By Kenzie MarklandSports Editor

After a success-ful 2011 season, the girls’ softball team is preparing for another good run this year. Last year, the girls ended with an impres-sive record of 11-9. Even though the team lost seven skilled seniors, the girls are looking to still have a great season and further improve their record this year. This year’s team has five returning play-ers that will lead the team and continue all the hard work that they put into last year’s season. Senior Ciara Rivera said, “We have an all senior out-field and I’m playing a new position.” Having switched from pitcher to

center field. Hoping to follow Sara Moulton, Kelly Wood, and Bree Blanchette are this years juniors Blair Blanchette,

Kendra Callister, and Madi-son Haus forming another lethal triple threat. Last year the girls made it to sections but they lost in the second round. Now, they are already plan-ning ahead as far as what they want to improve on to end with a higher finish. Rivera believes that the team can “switch hitting and win sec-tions.” Another major goal for the girls is to play Jefferson to their full potential because they are a challenging team to play. The girls’ first game was yesterday at home against the Burnsville Blaze.

Junior Abby Kilgore warms up her arm in practice.

Photo by Rachel Larson

Photo by Haley DavisSenior Brandon Vuong prepares to serve in practice while sopho-more Zack Ekstein sets up.

Athlete of the month:Kendra Callister

By Grace HintonSports Writer

Year in School: JuniorPosition: 3rd Base

What has been your favorite thing about playing softball? “Definitely the girls. I’ve met so many great people and made so many friendships. They’re always there for me too. We’re a family.”

What have been your biggest personal achievements?“Being on Varsity as a starter since freshman year.”

Who has affected you the most? “Coaches and teammates. All my coaches have made me better and my teammates have kept me going all the time.”

What has been a setback for you?“There’s not any specific set-back, but for all my obstacles they’ve just made me the player I am today.”

high hopes for an encourag-ing season. Coach Nichols said, “We hope to place first in the South Suburban Con-

ference and advance to state.” The first match for the boy’s tennis team was yes-terday against Minneapolis South.

By Kenzie MarklandSports Editor

The girls’ golf team is looking forward to get-ting on the green early this year thanks in part to the early spring. Last year’s team placed first at the Purple Hawk Invitational for the fourth year in a row. Addi-tionally, they won the St. Peter Invitational for the second year in a row and placed sec-ond at the Lake Conference Tournament. At the end of the season, the girls finished third in the region and second in the south suburban confer-ence. After last year’s success, the team is expecting five returning players includ-ing Junior Mallory Drent-tel. Mallory has been on the team since she was eligible in middle school. “The big-gest success [of last season] was getting a hole-in-one at Heritage Links [golf course],” Drenttel said.

The girls are currently making goals to improve from last year. “We want to shoot consistently in the low ’80’s and always try out best!” Drenttel said. These goals are attainable due to the fact that the returning girls have experience in winning and working hard together as well as experience at state. The team has proven their ability to perform under stress. The girls’ first match is Wednesday, April 18 at the Jefferson Invitational.

Teeing off