eeeagle eye

THE ELECTIONIn-depth coverage of the biggest event to hit the country this decade.Page 11

HOLIDAY SALEJewelry II students prepare to exhibit their work.Page 19

Mountain Vista High School • 10585 Mountain Vista Ridge, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126 • November 30, 2012 • Vol. 12 Issue 2

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( )NOVEMBER

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eeBEGIN

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MINUTES MINUTES HOUR DAY

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22 23Critique

TAYLOr KrASONGABI CAPOCELLI

JOANIE LYONS

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EMILIE LOVELIBBY GALLIGAN

withALEC HEWLETT

KENzIE HABErKOrN

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How seniorTanner Humanngot to wherehe is today

SPORTSPOMS

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Staff EditorialELECTION

Understanding the Electoral College

Election Day: Before, During, After

page

Hit the slopes!A-Basin, Copper,

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on theWEB

Scan the QR code with your smartphone for instant

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Speech & Debate Success

ParkingUpdate

Cover photo of junior Brian Froechtenigt by Anna Theis

Eagle Eye6

Freshman Tanner Perez admires a praying mantis while hanging out with his friends at lunch. “I was sitting in the grass eating lunch with my friends and I saw it and I was like, ‘Sweet! a praying mantis!’ and it was right next to me so I picked it up,” Perez said.

Junior Anna Rodriguez paints a watercolor during AP Fine Art class. “I like art because you can basically use your imagination and do whatever you like and whatever is on your mind,” Rodriguez said.

Photo by Mark MaggsPhoto by Mark Maggs

ee

Eagle EyeOpinion 7Word6Eagle Eye

As growing numbers of students become interested in hacky sacking, administration and security do not

hacky sack if students are seen playing within the building rather than outside. Within Flog, the hacky sack is rallied between two or more people and on the third or more touch, it is kicked at one of the players. A player receives a letter if he is not able to save the hacky sack with his foot. If the player hits the sack with his foot before the sack hits the ground, he does not receive a letter. Once a player spells out “flog,” he is put against the wall and the other players make an attempt to throw and hit the losing player. “Flog is fun definitely and I always enjoy the game. It’s nice to have friendly competition at school,” said senior Caleb Caveresi, a participant of many hack circles. “I think (security) should allow us to hacky sack. It may not seem like it, but it’s an acquired skill and took a while for most of us to get the hang of it,” he said. “It brings us all closer together. We have a good time and we all get to know

Another common-ly banned item is hats. For all the types of clothing and styles within Mountain Vista High School that have the potential to be banned, security is par-ticularly strict on students wearing hats in the school building.The security team has said the reason behind the hat ban originally evolved because of the correlation to gang colors, and wearing hats inside is a sign of disrespect. The most recent reason is because wearing hats makes it harder to use the cameras to identify stu-dents.

ALEC HEWLETT

Over the past few years at Mountain Vista High School, hacky sacking has become a popular activity to do within

the school despite the risk of injury or ban of the sport, but not everyone is particularly happy about the increased attraction. Hacky sacking groups, or “hack circles,” are normally started near the lower 400s, and they simply start out with two or three people, but quickly grow from anywhere from eight to 16 people. Inside of the hack circles, many different types of the activity can be played, whether it is just a simple kick-around game where everyone gets a chance to show off their individual tricks or a game of flog. “I don’t really think the school secu-rity likes how there are consequences to flog,” said junior Brendan Wells, a partici-pant of many hack circles. Oftentimes security will take or threaten to take the

each other. It’s a relief from stressful parts of school.” Players say the game is important to them and often is an escape from the stress that comes with high school. It stimulates the player’s body with move-ment and mind with skill and social collaboration. “The hack circles can vary from kids across the board. It’s an acquired skill,” security guard George Gardner said. As the temperature drops with win-ter season, players continue to defy the ban for the comfort of indoors. Gardner said security is his job and the circles take up space creating pos-sible obstacles in state of emergency. “Flog can be a potential safety haz-ard or just a harassment to non-players in general,” he said. “Kids are asked to take it outside and ten minutes later I come back and there they are. That’s a sign of disrespect,” he said, “but otherwise we have nothing else against the game.”

Juniors Drew Freeman and Brandon Willis and seniors Conner Mc-Casland, David Angiolini and Eric Fuentes started a hack circle outside the 400s dur-ing an off-period to pass time.

BAN THE SACK?

BanTheHat?

Scan this for Jade Rannette’s experience and views of hacky sacking and other students’ views of a poor decision of two fellow hacky sackers that may lead to the ban.

ee

WES EDWArDS

Yes, the holidays are approaching. The air-waves and storefront

windows are beginnging to be fill up with amazing offers on the latest and greatest gadgets, clothes and any other object a price tag can be put on. Little kids are dragging their parents around the mall, around the nearest su-perstore shouting, “Mommy I want this, get me that!” And, inevitably, in the suburban paradise of High-lands Ranch, the toys will be bought and the newest elec-tronics will be under the tree come Christmas morning. That is what the holi-day season, and Christmas especially, has come to. It is the time of the year where businesses maximize corpo-rate profits, selling cheaply manufactured products to the captive and affluent audience. Gone are the days when a simple, family gathering was sufficient festivities to mark the holiday season. Yes, presents are a tradition, but grossly over spending and consuming relatively useless knick knacks is absurd. According to the American Research Group, spending, despite the harsh economy, is projected to reach nearly $700 per adult. All of this money is to be spent on gifts and presents this holiday season.

This $700, which many people do not actually have, opting instead to put it on a credit card, is going to be spent exclusively on the newest toys, the most advanced iPhones and the shiniest jewelry. All for what? To show love? The last time I checked, you can’t buy true admiration or respect, especially with something as frivolous as a gift card. Now there is nothing wrong with purchasing gifts to want someone to feel cared for and valued. How-ever, the price tag of your gift should not be a direct indication of how much they mean to you. By all means, find a gift that holds a special value, one that be quantified with more than a dollar value, and gift it because you want to share what it represents, not the plastic trinket itself. However, this only poses a more challenging obstacle. If you are going to give a gift to try to show your apprecia-tion, why are you doing so at the time of the year when that is the status quo, when it is practically mandatory to do so? A gift of adoration holds much more value and merit when it is a spontaneous act that comes from the actual desire to show gratitude rather than to fit into the typical holiday mold. No one wants to admit it but there are times when the only reason for acting kindly to someone else is because it would be an act of social suicide not to. This holiday season, give a gift because you truly want to, not just because it is what is expected because an act of false intention, is more fake than no attempt at all. Also, if you are on the receiving end of a gift and start to feel upset that you didn’t get what you wanted, perhaps you only got the 16GB iPhone instead of the 32GB, remember that it’s the thought that counts, not the box under the tree.

One of the most common chal-lenges that the teenage commu-nity faces is improving individual

self-confidence. The common scenario starts on a social networking site. Person A will post something about how they are not pretty, Person B will say that Person A is beautiful, and Person A will say he/she is not, and that Person B is. Moments like these plague a teens life, but they are pointless in the end. This is obviously a polite thing to do, but from a psychological standpoint, this isn’t the best way to improve teenage self confi-dence. To clarify, this isn’t a bad thing, but trying to solve someone’s per-sonal issues with a one word response doesn’t solve any-thing. This response is essentially a quick way for someone to seem like a good person, without ac-tually dissecting into the person’s prob-lems. In many ways, these responses re-mind me of the response to Amanda Todd’s suicide and the subject of bully-ing. Amanda was a Canadian teen who killed herself due to bullying. Members of social networking sites became infatuated with her, with her Facebook memorial page reaching more than 1 million “Likes.” After Todd became a martyr, every-one talked about how she was wonder-ful and how bad bullying was without actually doing anything about it. No laws were passed, no changes were made and nothing is any different. All that happened was people ap-pearing to be ethical and deep, without having to do anything ethical and deep. There isn’t anything wrong with trying to be nice, but the current way teens try to make each other feel better doesn’t work. The main reason teens are not im-proving in regards to their confidence is because the issues are not analyzed enough. If someone browses Facebook or

Twitter, then it will become blatantly ob-vious there is a format to how teens try and make each other feel better. Almost every picture of a teenage girl on Facebook seems to have the little interchange from above somewhere in the comments section. Simply stating that someone is not the thing they de-test doesn’t truly help them. Why don’t counselors simply say, “Don’t be negative” or “You’re beautiful” then end their meetings? It’s because the human mind is more complex and intricate than that. Simply saying, “Don’t be sad” doesn’t solve anything. Despite what most people would like to think, if you are going through a very hard emotional time, most people are not going to know what you are going through. While this is understandable, pre-tending that you know how someone

with depression is feeling and claim-ing all they need to do is stop being sad isn’t going to do them any good. If anything, it just seems offensive. If you’re going to help at all, have in-depth talks with the people close to you instead of tell-ing people who you barely know some-thing that is only

temporary gratification. Whether their problem with self im-age or anger management, talk to the people close to you to try and help them. Analyzing is a bit tricky at times, but it is the best solution. If analyzing wasn’t the most effective claim, then what would be the point of having a counselor take hour-long ses-sions with their patients in order to try and analyze someone’s personal prob-lems? In order to analyze effectively, it is necessary to explain how you feel hon-estly. Person A needs to say every detail of how they honestly feel emotionally and state what the core of her issue is, not just the only thing she is willing to share over Facebook. Person B has specific responsibilities as well. Person B needs to not only be able to listen, but also provide feedback that is honest. This feedback needs to be genuine and something that could actu-ally help deal with a bad situation. All it takes is time and critical think-ing, but after that, all of problems of a teens life can be solved and all of the tri-als and tribulations can be overcome. ee

STUFF THATTICKSME OFF

Improving teen self-confidence: It’s not workingFrANCESCO VIOLA III

Amanda Todd

Buying holiday gifts? Some knick knacks are just not for sale

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Policy

Letters to the EditorsEagle Eye welcomes and encourages letters to the editors. This is a chance to express your viewpoint on important issues. Letters should be limited to 250 words. Letters will be edited for splace and legal considerations, but not for inaccuracies, grammar or spelling. Letters must contain information pertinent to the students of MVHS. The staff retains the right to not publish any letter not meet-ing these requirements. Unsigned letters will not be published. Please submit typed letters in person to Room U328 or via mail or e-mail. Contact Eagle Eye, Mountain Vista High School, 10585 Mountain Vista Ridge, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126, Phone: 303-387-1500. Adviser email: mark.newton@dcsdk12.org. Publication email: EagleEyeNews@dcsdk12.org

Single copies are free. Where available, additional copies of this paper are available for purchase for 50 cents each. Contact Eagle Eye for more information. Taking more than one copy of this paper is prohibited (C.R.S. 18-4-419). Violators, subject to prosecution and penalty under C.R.S. 13-21-123, will be prosecuted.

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Eagle Eye, a legally recognized public forum for student expres-sion, is published six to nine times a year by the Journalism class for students at Mountain Vista High School. Expression made by students in the exercise of freedom of speech or freedom of press is not an expression of Douglas County school board policy. The views expressed in Eagle Eye do not necessarily represent the views of the entire staff, adviser, MVHS administration or the Douglas County School District administration. Board policy regarding stu-dent publications (JICEA and JI/JIA) are available in the journalism/publications room (U328) or in the principal’s office.

He’s got the whole world in his hands

Photo by US News/MCT Campus

Nov. 7, 2012. The world was buzzing. There was talk of impeachment, revolt and even leaving the country. The months leading up to this year’s election were even more bipartisan than ever. Both parties were isolated, so much that they attacked each other with vicious advertisements and com-mercials that bashed the other side. The media has trained us well. Even though the fight is over, Americans are still carry-ing on with their catty attitudes toward the other side. The election is over. The results are in. Let’s move on. We know that you’re gonna hate us for saying this, but we don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, or none of the above. We don’t care what your view on gay marriage or abortion is or what kind of economic plan you support. We don’t care what religion you are or what your occupation is. We don’t care if you’re wealthy or homeless. We don’t care if you’re male or female. We don’t care if you’re 18 or 66. The election is over. The president has been decided. Now, stop fighting and support him. We come from a neutral stance on the matter. We don’t really have any ties toward either party. We may not be a political science majors or a practicing politicians. But, there’s one thing that we do know about politics. It’s about people. It’s about who we are as a coun-try. Who we are as people. Who we are together.

It seems like Americans would rather separate themselves into a party than support the future of our country as a whole. Don’t get too consumed in what side you’re on that you forget about “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” WE are the people. WE have a say. But we also have an allegiance to a country that allows us to speak our opinion; it is falling more and more into the cracks as we forget to care about the inside. Like an apple, our country looks shiny and polished on the outside, with our fancy political systems and huge campaign rallies, but on the inside we are slowly rotting, brown and mushy, as the American people forget that our country is all that we have, so we must take care of it, promoting equality, posi-tivity and support. The last four years, no matter what your opinion on them, are now just that: the LAST four years. They now live in the past. Another four are coming. And we have no idea what they will bring. But, if we don’t choose to support the man who is in charge of our country, they could end up nonexistent. He is the president now. Put aside your griev-ances, hatred or bias. The results are in. What’s done is done. Let’s move forward. And stop the fighting. If we can’t give him our allegiance, we must at least give him our attention. He’s got the whole world in his hands. America too.

Obama speaks Nov. 11 at the White House for Veteran’s Day.

recognizing the importance of presidential support

eeOpen Forum ContentSome material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service and Creative Com-mons licensing. ©2012 Eagle Eye/Mountain Vista High School. All rights reserved.

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2012 ELECTION

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Mountain Vista senior Nicki Desimone tells us about how she made her choice in this year’s election.

The Eagle Eye talks with Highlands Ranch citizens at local polling places about their voting decisions.

The results of an election to make history hits Mountain Vista High School.

2012 CT IE LEON

BeforeThis year was a special year for some seniors. It’s not

because they are almost finished with high school but because they had the opportunity to vote. One senior who was old enough to vote was Nicki DeSimone.

While she didn’t get caught up in the hype of voting on Election Day by mailing in her vote a week before, that doesn’t mean that her vote was any less important.

“I think it’s important for seniors to vote because then your word is publicly heard. I even think it’s important that juniors and sophomores think about who they want for president and what they want in a president,” DeSimone said.

Not only is it important for people to go and vote, but to be informed on the issues and their take on the issues.

“One of the most important issues for me was financial aid for students because I’m going to college next year,” DeSim-one said. “Another issue was women’s rights. I believe that Planned Parenthood shouldn’t be taken away. I don’t think the government should control whether a woman decides if she can have an abortion or not.”

But are all students as informed as DeSimone?“I think they’re informed but it’s hard being in a very

conservative area to have different ideas. You want to stay with what your parents political views because that’s how you were raised. I think you need to branch out and see what you really believe,” said DeSimone. “You can’t not be informed and then say you’re going to move to Canada because you don’t like the outcome.”

In the end, she said, it’s important just to have an opinion. “I’m extremely happy that people get to voice their opin-

ions.,” DeSimone said. “I think that is a basic human right that you can believe in what you want, think what you want and support who you want.”

Since many kids turn 18 while in high school, they start to pay more attention to politics and get involved with elections. So, should the voting age be lowered?

According to government teacher Doreen Smith, the voting age should stay where it is.

“I don’t think that the voting age should be lowered because you have to have some legal mark as far as what is considered an adult in our society. There still has to be that distinction between a kid and an adult” Smith said. “It’s definitely an artificial mark of what an adult is but you have to have that legal distinction.”

When the election is going on, the candidates aren’t neces-sarily focused on students any ways.

“The reason that we see a lower voting turnout among young people is that they don’t see candidates that they can identify,” Smith said. “Candidates don’t speak to their issues. Sixteen year olds don’t have the same investment in the is-sues of the country as college students or 45 year olds.”

Even though Smith says the voting age needs to stay the same, she doesn’t think students who are able to vote are not prepared.

“I think that they have a good understanding on what’s going on and many times better because they take a govern-ment class (in high school),” she said. “They have the ability to talk about the issues and candidates.”

How do they then compare to the rest of the voters?“I would say for the most part that the seniors at Moutain

Vista are as educated on the process and issues as most adult voters.”

The ElectoralCollege Explained

When the nation was being shaped by the Founding Fathers a conflict arose on how to elect the president to office. This conflict was around whether or not citizens were informed enough to effectively pick their president. The answer was “no” at the time: It was 1776, a period where

secondary education didn’t even exist.This gave way to a compromise in the Constitution for both Congress and the

people, which allowed for the Electoral College.More than two centuries later, it is 2012, and the Electoral College still lasts, but

both the people and American society have substantially evolved. Yet, once again the question arises: Is this way the most efficient representational system to elect our president?

In the opinion of senior Speech and Debate captain, Jake Laughlin, the Electoral College doesn’t accurately reflect the popular vote.

One defect of the current system is the fact that a president can win the election without retaining the popular vote. This means that the election is strictly deter-mined by the amount of electoral votes each candidate possesses, rather than the percentage of voters they gain.

Another problem presented is the “winner take all” within each state. This affirms that if a president wins the majority of votes (50.1 percent) in a specific state, then the candidate wins all of the electoral votes from that state. This leaves the issue that some individuals’ votes count more in some areas than somewhere else.

Many advocate a significant change to the system, wanting a complete direct popular vote. Yet as many have proclaimed, perhaps the Electoral College only needs minor changes within district and county systems.

“If we had an Electoral College based off individual counties, like in Nebraska or Maine, more demographics would be successfully reflected”, Laughlin said.

This might be the most probable system in the future if the Electoral College gets reformed, as it is already in use in some states. One thing that many can agree on though is that the “best way” to elect our president still remains a question mark.

AJ STOWELL

WHITNEY MErrILL

ROMNEY

OBAMA332

206electoral votes

electoral votes

popular votes

popular votes

62,611,250

59,134,475Graphic by Riley McCloskey

12

7

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Is the Electoral College outdated?

Map of the United States with the number

of electoral votes per state.RED states gave their votes to Romney.BLUE states gave their votes to Obama.

Should we change or abolish theELECTORAL COLLEgE?

senior

senior

teacher

“““

The Electoral College was estab-lished by the Founding Fathers because they didn’t want the people to have direct control over who was elected. I think now that we are more informed about what the government is doing we should get rid of it. What the majority of the United States wants is what we should get.”

I wouldn’t eliminate the Electoral College. I like it. It’s true though that everybody’s vote doesn’t count the same. That’s what I don’t like, how in the end the election really just de-pends on the votes of seven or eight states and the rest has already been predicted.”

I don’t think we should (abolish the Electoral College) because when the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they wanted the office of the president to be the govern-ment’s choice. They wanted to keep it out of the hands of the people.”

DOREEN SMITH

NICKI DESIMONE

government teacher

senior, first-time voter

SETH PARKER

ELLEN WOON

ED COLLINS

Price

PresidencyMoney ran rampant in the 2012 campaigns, perhaps as much as

was spent by outside groups in October alone.

of that was raised in the last weekend of the election.

was raised by Super PACs (political action committees).

Obama faced at least

Of Obama’s campaign money

came from donations of $200 or less.

Of checks to Romney’s

campaign were for the maximum contribution of

$2,500.

in negative advertising from Super PACs and other outside spenders, more than double

what the groups supporting him spent on the airwaves.

• Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps

• co-founder and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, Ellen Miller

• Nicholas Confessore and Jess Bidgood,The New York Times

• Nicholas Confessore and Jo McGinty,The New York Times

$6 billion$500 million

$650 million

$386 million

55% 45%

$37 million

of

the

the

THE SUNLIGHT FOUNDATIONis a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses the power of the Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency, and provides new tools and resources for media and citizens, alike.

www.sunlightfoundation.com

2012 CT IE LEON

AJ STOWELL

It was 7 a.m. on a Tuesday morning in Highlands Ranch. Yet not just the normal weekday for this suburb. This was Election Day. Many had already sent in their mail-in ballots ahead

of Nov. 6, however, a substantial amount of people stood outside the polling places of their polling place to cast a ballot that would ultimately decide their president and, more importantly, the direction of the nation. Throughout the day, citizens across the nation voted within their designated polling times at their leisure. They voted at a variety of different places throughout the country, each presenting a very different experience for the individual voter. The overwhelming majority, specifically in the Denver suburban area, felt that it was “quick” and “easy.” This wasn’t the case for a blonde middle-aged woman from the region. “Not good, they lost me in the system so I had to do a mail-in ballot,” she said. Just like her, many others had an “unpleasant” voting experience, especially within the state of Florida. Many places within the state recorded long lines that created a multiple-hour process to cast just a single ballot. Yet, the problems that occurred during the election actually began many months before due to the the lack of preparedness and knowledge from voters. The ability to vote is a civil liberty and is one that is much

overlooked. This can be seen through the Pew Research Center poll regarding knowledge on the campaign during September. The poll found that less than half of both parties couldn’t answer fundamental questions on the GOP candi-date Mitt Romney. The attribution of this startling fact can be traced to the infinite political ads, spreading misinformation bashing the other candidate without factual merit. On both sides, candi-dates skewed facts and voters lost sight of the real facts about each side. Fast forward two months to Election Day, where people are voting for much more than the president — essentially on the future of the nation as a whole for the next four years and possibly more. Political yard signs and bumper stickers lined the land-scape around the polling places in a last ditch effort to sway a still undecided voter. Nevertheless people continued to struggle with questions on the election and their opinions, or it at least appeared so. Out of the 20 questioned at multiple polling places, 13 stumbled on their reasoning for a choice made not even ten minutes earlier. Those who stumbled and who eventually answered gave very vague responses. One woman said, ”It was a hearty decision.” Another woman said, ”Life experiences.” Yet another voter said, “We just need change.” No further explanations to these answers were given.

By The NumbersEligible Voters:

219 MillionActual Voters:

126 MillionAbsent Voters:

93 MillionActually Voted:

57.5%Margin of Victory:

3.5MillionSource: Center for the Study of the American Electorate

Photo by Amani Brown

Voters flocked to polling stations to cast their votes, yet many could not explain their voting choices

DuringVoters cast ballots on Election Day

The supporters in the crowd in Chicago, Illinois danced, sang and cheered as the Obama family entered the stage on Nov. 6 as they anticipated a speech from their

reelected President Barack Obama. He thanked his crowd and said, “We are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people...despite all our differ-ences, most of us share certain hopes for America’s future.” The president shared his hopes for his next four years and said “We want to pass on a country that’s safe and respected and admired around the world.” His message was directed towards Americans of all races, ages, genders, classes, and sexualities. Obama stressed his message of moving our country forward. “Our economy is recovering. A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over.” Obama said. “We’ve got more work to do.” He expressed his hopes for the things we can do together as a nation to become better. “I’ve never been more hopeful about our future,” Obama said. “Together with your help and God’s grace we will continue our journey forward

and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on Earth.” After months of debates, rallies and political ads, former Gov. Mitt Romney had to give the most difficult speech he had ever given on Nov. 6. Even though he lost, his speech talked about his values and how he wanted to change America. “I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direc-tion,” Romney said, “but the nation chose another leader; and so Ann and I join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation.” Though he will not be leading the country, he said he still has hope and confidence America will move in a new and better direction. “This is a time of great challenges for America, and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation,” Romney said. He thanked Paul Ryan, his wife, his family, and everyone who was a part of his campaign, and expressed his faith in all of America. “I believe in America,” said Romney. “I believe in the people of America.”

AFTERTHE ELECTIONFUN FACTS

OBAMA vS. ROMNEY A comparison of both President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech and Mitt romney’s Concession speech on election night. AMANI BrOWN

*Obama won the election with 332 electoral votes, compared to Romney’s 206.

*Obama won key swing states such as Ohio and Colorado.

*55 percent of unmarried women voted for Obama.

*It took Florida three days to count its votes.

*Obama’s re-eclection is the first time the United States has re-elected three two-term presidents in a row. The last consecutive streak was 200 years ago with Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe.

*Both candidates broke tradition and did some campaigning on Election Day. Obama had interviews with Tv stations and Romney visited Ohio and Pennsylvania.

*In Kenya, a set of twins were recently named Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Eagle EyeFEATURE 17

A Life-Changing OpportunityJunior Bailey Parker makes UNICEF Club an important part of her life

ach day, over 20,000 children around the world live in pov-erty and die from completely preventable causes. And while many may look at this statistic

and feel terrible for them without tak-ing action, it is these 20,000 children that motivates junior Bailey Parker to make a difference. Last year, teachers Robyn Mott and Cassi Meyers started a branch of the UNICEF club at Mountain Vista and Park-er jumped at the opportunity to join. “I think I’ve always wanted to be involved in it and the when the club was created, the opportunity presented itself and it was a great way to get involved,” Parker said. The children around the world aren’t the only ones affected by this organization.“The difference you can make through the small things really changes your perspective on every-thing,” Parker said. Her newfound per-spective has influenced her immediate and future plans. With college less than two years away, Parker is one of the few students in her class who knows what she wants

to have a career in. “I want to definitely work with UNICEF in college and possi-bly enter medical missions that UNICEF might provide the opportunity to do,” Parker said. Though she may not want to work directly with UNICEF, she plans to always have the organization be a part of her life. Parker is currently looking at working in international affairs and those around her agree she has an aptitude for this. “I can absolutley see her using the knowledge that she gets through UNICEF in her future career” said Cassi Meyers. Parker’s passion for the club and what it stands for has not gone un-noticed. Her fellow club members elected her vice president this year and know she will put her whole heart into it. “It doesn’t matter what we are doing, when she feels passionate about some-thing she goes all the way.” said Cassi Meyers. For Parker, UNICEF is much more than just an activity she puts on a col-lege transcript. It has become her a part of her lifestyle and has created a new opportunities for her future.

To our

UNICEFclub

KAITLIN zENONI

EWHErE THE MONEY GOES

Especially Somalia...

...and Afghanistan

Photo by Kaitlin Zenoni

From Your

Pocket

To UNICEF

To Africa and the Middle

East

To help out kids in need

Junior Bailey Parker stands to nominate herself for vice presi-dent of the club at the first meeting. She went on to win the position after a vote by fellow members.

Photo courtesy of UNICEF Headquarters

Mini pumpkin pies: a new take on a classic holiday dessert

KENzIE HABErKOrN

t’s finally Thanksgiving which means that it’s that time of year when we get to eat delicious food, spend more time with family, watch football and celebrate with traditions.

Even though most of us celebrate this holiday, every family has some of their own unique tradi-tions that make this time of year extra special. Sophomore Gracie Haasbeek’s favorite tradition is spending the night before Thanksgiving with all her siblings, “like a big slumber party.” She has an older brother and two older sisters who don’t live with her so holiday sleepovers are a good chance to catch up with each other. “We’ve done this ever since I can remember and it’s one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving!” Haasbeek said. Scooter Lopez, sophomore, celebrates Thanks-giving with all her friends as well as her family with

I“These little bites were very easy to make, they just took a while to put together. All the time was worth it though when they turned out to be delicious. I don’t think you could eat just one!”Q Kenzie Haberkorn

IngredientsQ 2 refrigerated, ready-to roll pie crustsQ 8 oz. cream cheese, room tempera-tureQ 1/2 cup sugarQ 1 cup canned pumpkinQ 3 eggsQ 1 teaspoon vanillaQ 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spiceQ Pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter

ProcedureQ Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Q Use cookie cutter to cut 12 pumpkin shapes from each pie crust. You will need to roll the dough thinner than it comes out of the box.Q Press dough shapes into a 24 cup mini muffin tray. (Make 12 at a time, alternating cups to make sure pie crusts don’t overlap each other.)Q Apply egg whites from one egg to the top edges of each pie.Q Mix cream cheese, sugar, canned pumpkin, remaining 2 eggs, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice together until thoroughly combined.Q Spoon mixture into each pumpkin-shaped pie crust.Q Bake for 12-15 minutes.Q Remove pies to cool and repeat with second pie crust. Place the muffin tray in the freezer to cool it quickly for re-use.Q Makes 24 pies. Keep refrigerated.Q Note: The cutter I used was 3 3/4 inches wide, but if you don’t have one, don’t worry. Just use a round cutter around that size or slightly smaller to cut circle shapes out of the dough. Then make stems with the scraps. Press each stem over the edge and down the side of the dough before filling.

an annual “Poker and Pie” party. “We have every-body come over for poker and pie,” Lopez said. “We have all my sister’s and my friends come over and everyone stays until one in the morning and we just throw a big poker tournament with all sorts of pies.” They also start a football pool and make bets on what teams will win the Thanksgiving games. Collin Newlon, also a sophomore, goes skiing every year with his family at either Winter Park, Copper Mountain or Steamboat Springs, and has Thanksgiving dinner with his family and friends. With the holiday season just beginning, Thanksgiving is an important time to be grateful for everything we have. “Thanksgiving is always a really happy time of year for me, where my whole family comes together no matter what” Haasbeek said.

Students share their favorite family Thanksgiving traditions

Photos by Kenzie Haberkorn

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Eagle EyeFEATURE 19

TheCritique

Mountain vista GymnasticsQQQQQ

The gymnastics team had an outstanding season. With the combined schools of Mountain Vista, Thunder Ridge, Rock Canyon and Highlands Ranch, the girls finished twelfth in the state. I was very impressed with how well Madison Vail, Madeleine Pontius and Sophia Ludlam performed throughout the whole year. Their best placing of the year was third at their varsity league meet. They pushed through their pain of rips the size of quarters on their hands that were bleeding down their wrists, the pain of their ankles and backs from landing tumbling passes and the mental pain of falling. I would say gymnastics is one of the most physically, mentally and emotionally challenging sports out there and these girls are incredible to accept the challenge.

Freshman/Sophomore PlayQQQ

The weekend of Nov. 17 the freshmen and sopho-more performed a fantastic and amazing play called SPAR. This play was different than all other plays. In SPAR, the author comes into the play and teaches the characters how to act in the play. This exciting and intriguing play was one you should have seen. The drama department is so good with adding makeup to the characters to make them look their part in the play and they are amazing at moving the sets so quickly. I am impressed with all the freshmen and sophomores that were in SPAR. I would not have the guts to do what they do.

Freddy’sQQ

Freddy’s is a fast food restaurant that mainly sells burgers, fries and frozen custard. Most people I know love to eat there, but I have to disagree. I do not like Freddy’s at all. Their burgers are too

greasy for my taste and I think their fries have way too much seasoning on them, which makes them taste like you are just eating the bottle of seasoning. The one thing I can eat at Freddy’s is their sundaes. I love the different toppings you can get to put on your sundae. Some of those toppings include marshmallow, coffee syrup, rainbow sprinkles and more. If you haven’t been to Freddy’s, I don’t think you are missing out on anything.

Taylor Swift’s “Red”QQQQ

Taylor Swift’s new album “Red” came out October 22. I think this is her best album

she has made because it is very upbeat. Her new singles on the album include “Red”, “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Getting Back Together”. My favorite song on “Red” would have to be “22”. I find that song very upbeat and relat-able. I am not a huge country fan, but I really like this new album. I think Swift has a lot of talent and she will stay one of my favorite artists for a long time. “Pitch Perfect”

QQQQ

“Pitch Perfect” is a comedy movie that has received many good reviews from students at Mountain Vista. Pitch Perfect is about a girl named Becca who arrived at her new college and she finds herself in a group of weird girls, sweet girls and mean girls whose only thing in com-mon is that they all sing together. Beca takes this singing group out of their comfort zone and gets the group to start singing mash-ups as they fight their way to the top of college a cappella. This movie was great and if you haven’t seen it yet, you need to.

reporter Taylor Krason reviews some of

the latest school events and pop culture topics.

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Props & FlopsPrOPS to the end of political advertisements.

PrOPS to Abby Gordon for being the first person at Mountain Vista to make all-state jazz choir.

PrOPS to girls volleyball for qualifying for state.

FLOPS to radio stations playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving.

FLOPS to school bathrooms for being disgusting.

FLOPS to only having a few regular week schedules this semester.

Hallway Talk“Is it legal to marry food yet in Colorado?”

“I have an Asian F!”

“I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for those stupid kids.”

2

t a high school, arts classes can be a shelter of creativity for students, away from the right-or-wrong nature of

mathematics, history, and science. To Jewelry II teacher and former business owner Amy Kahn, that does not mean that art has to exist in seclusion from other disciplines or shelter students from the demands of a career. Over the second half of the first se-mester, students in Kahn’s two Jewelry II practiced business and marketing principles. On Nov. 30, the students will have a final product fom new knowl-edge: their Holiday Sale, which runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the main lobby of Mountain Vista. The sale is primarily led and orga-nized by the Jewelry II students, who are responsible for marketing the sale and creating the pieces that they sell. “We’re just trying to figure [out our] profit and how each individual would work that out,” ju-nior Irania Carrazco said. All profits from the sale will go to the American Red Cross to sup-port its response to Hurricane Sandy. Working on both the business and artistic sides of the project are senior Amir Qadri and Carrazco, who are respectively making flyers to advertise and a glass pendant to sell. “They’re learning marketing. They’re learning about how artists sell their pieces. They’re learning how to price their pieces [based on] how much their materials cost, which is very important,” Kahn said. Kahn said the project will teach stu-dents accounting skills and an apprecia-tion of what they buy, for future careers and everyday life. “It’s a little business, social studies, economics and math, of course,” Kahn said. “They have to figure out how much overhead is, how much the mate-rials cost and how much [their] time is worth.” On Nov. 9 and 12, marketing teacher Sheri Bryant and Kahn taught one of each others’ classes. Bryant taught Jew-elry II students about marketing, and Kahn talked about owning her jewelry business. The practicality of selling each student’s work is the cornerstone of the project. “Right now I’m making glass pen-dants. I would like doing metalwork, but that consumes more time,” Carrazco

said. “The glass piece is little but it’s actually more productive than metal-working.” The project was designed to allow creative individuals to benefit from business sense. “It provides more of a business background,” junior Kylie Firmin said. “If I ever did [run a business] on the side, I must have have some sort of under-standing of the business side of art.” Several students said the project forced them to look at art and careers differently. Carrazco originally felt uncertain and challenged by the tasks of pricing and coordinating a business venture. “I guess it makes me more com-fortable outside of my little bubble of drawing and painting so I can actually experience something new,” Carrazco said. Firmin praised the Holiday Sale

project for its finan-cial and practical components. “I think it’s incredibly helpful for the artist side, even though most of these people are doing it, not just [for] easy A’s,

but for visual arts or a creative outlet. It helps us understand that everything intertwines; that you can’t just have art without having the business aspect of it,” Firmin said. That introduction of different principles surprised some students and brought out their different talents. “It’s a new experience because I never really thought about the market-ing business being applied to this,” Carrazco said. “I’m in a very artistic group of friends, so I actually see them succeed-ing if they understand the business side more, and I actually want to be [in] the business side because it makes more sense to me,” Firmin said. Not all students considered the proj-ect entirely new. Junior Maggie Mitchell already had business aspirations and found the project helpful. “When I get older I want to go into the marketing type of business stuff and advertising. I think it would be fun to take a class on jewelry and marketing [beyond the one Holiday Sale],” Mitchell said. Whether students find the concept of organizing a sale unique and new, or a reflection of old interests, every one of Kahn’s Jewelry II students participated in this small business venture.

A

Photos by Joanie Lyons

students createsmall business

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Q Nov. 30,11 a.m. to 7 p.m.Q In main upper lobbyQ Prices from $10 to $50

“It makes me more comfortable outside of my little bubble of drawing and painting, so I can actually experience something new.”Irania Carrazco, junior

Gymnastics photo by Devon Miner; Play photo by Taylor Krason

Jewelry II students prepare for holiday sale

artDYLAN INGrAM

ee

Tanner Humann:

Overcoming Drug Addictions

and Finding HimselfThrough Recovery

After a long road of drug-using history, Humann continues on and hopes to

influence others through his story.

JOANIE LYONS

Tanner Humann gave up every-thing.“I pawned every single item of value I owned to get drugs.

I pawned laptops, ipods, computers, phones, tools... I even pawned my mom’s wedding ring, which is one of the things I regret the most.” Tanner was under investigation for selling and possessing drugs theft. “(The police) went through all of the pawn shops around Denver and found most of the things I pawned and there was a ring that was unaccounted for,” Tanner said. “She knew that it was missing and when the police called my mom and asked her about the descrip-tion of her ring was and her description matched it. She wasn’t mad at me but it opened her eyes to see what I would do to get drugs.” It’s hard to picture someone doing harmful things to themselves and their family. It’s even harder to picture some-one starting to do drugs at the age of 10. For Tanner, this was his daily life, but he is now eight months clean of drugs, as of Nov. 6, for the first time since he was 10. At 10, Tanner switched elementary

schools. “At the time, I didn’t have many friends,” Tanner said. “I saw all of the ‘cool’ kids were the skater kids, so I started hanging out with them. They smoked weed at this point. Everybody was smoking so I thought I’d try it.” Tanner had struggled with anxiety and depression from a young age and for him, drugs were used as a relief. But smoking weed was only the beginning. “At 13 and 14, I started using Xanax and ecstasy,” Tanner said. “I got a little into painkillers and around then I tried to sell, started to do a lot of ecstasy and then I started to do coke. When 15 came around, I tried heroin. I started to shoot up coke. At 16, I started selling tar and coke and is also when I did meth.” As he started to get into drugs, he felt like everything he was doing was a part of normal teens behavior. “It’s just what I grew up seeing; raves and drug movies and the whole culture that’s as-sociated with it,” Tanner said. “It seemed normal to me to go down to really bad parts of the city and buy drugs from Honduran immigrants that sold for the cartels. I just felt so cool. I felt like I had something over everyone else that had no idea what was going on in the

Humann then chose to do something positive to represent the huge change he had gone through. With tattoos on both of his forearms, a T in old English, and the Japanese sign for tranquility on the right and an old English H and the Japanese sign for devotion on the left, he is able

to show the person he has become through his struggles. “With my life’s anxiety and depression and all of the stuff I’ve had to go through, tranquility is what I need in my life,” Humann said. “I want positivity. I am now devoted to myself, my family and my friends-the people that

truly matter to me.”

Eagle EyeFEATURE 21

whole drug society. I took pride in the fact that I knew where to get drugs and I knew how to get money from selling them, how to tell if it’s good, or if its a rip; I made money fast and just kept it going.” When Tanner began to deal drugs, he quickly realized the consequences of the business firsthand. “Drugs are very expensive and very hard to get,” Tanner said. “To (drug dealers), it’s worth shooting a kid you don’t know to get $100 of heroin. There was this guy that I owed money to and he told me that he knew where I lived, he knew where my family was and he would come after me if I didn’t pay him back. It’s very, very dangerous and there is absolutely no regard for life. (Drug dealers) don’t care about anything else but drugs and money.” As Tanner started to use more, he also realized that everything he did, was just about drugs and the money. “I did unbelievable things to get drugs and (drugs) turned into my everything,” Humann said. “Drugs takes the place of your relationships with others- I was truly alone and shut out from the heroin and paranoid from the coke that I let no one in.” ee

After looking at himself, disappoint-ed and mad at who he was, Humann decided to make a change by going into rehab for the third time. “At the time I was using, but the big difference in going to rehab this time is I really wanted to get better,” Tanner said. “I remember looking in the mirror not recognizing myself, not even my soul. Even though I was weak I did not want to do drugs again.” And since March 6, he has not. Though he might have stopped, there are still visible signs of the addictions he has overcome. “My hands are kind of purple in the knuckles. My track marks are going away but my hands are always cold,” Tanner said. “I’m always shivering, it’s really hard for me to stay warm, especially when it’s cold outside. Just from shooting so long, I’ve had col-lapsed veins that are starting to come back, but there are a lot of veins that I hit a lot that don’t have any blood flow at all. I’ve lost my hearing, I had a stroke and I slur my words because of it, I’ve had seizures, one of my pupils is bigger than the other-The list just goes on and on.” From all of his experiences, Tanner found his calling after overcoming ad-

dictions- wanting to become an addic-tions counselor. “Addiction counselors that have been through this are a huge asset to anyone that is going through recovery,” Tanner said. “They know what it’s like.” His tattoos represent who he has become through his journey (see picture above). “With my life’s anxiety and depression and all of the stuff I’ve had to go through, tranquility is what I need in my life,” Humann said. “I want positivity. I am now devoted to myself, my family and my friends-the people that truly matter to me.” His journey to find himself has been a hard one. “(Because of ) up and com-ing and society of heroin users that is growing,” He is now starting to see the people he grew up with, who he went to elementary school, getting into hard-core drug using. But even though his past lingers through his old friends, he is sure of where he is going, and wanted to influence others through telling his story in our magazine. “I am so grateful I never got hurt from what I was doing. But now, it’s just not who I am anymore. I understand that everyone wants to escape, but I do not want to do drugs ever again.”

Photo courtesy of Kenzie Juarez

paced style of basketball led them to the final eight in state last year. Dylan Harris, senior and fan of basketball said, “Everyone is more into the games, because it’s so fast paced.” The team will return seven varsity players from a year ago that averaged 61 percent of the points we scored ,the list includes seniors Mitch Carter, Elijah Valdez, Damani Respass, Chandler Wiscombe, Amir Qadri, Bashar Sawaged and junior Jake Pemberton. Mountain Vista has beaten their rival ThunderRidge two out of the past three years. The Golden Eagles have one of the best home-court advantages in the state, with a record of 17-4. “You can go nuts. There is a certain feel about basketball games, it’s all close and in-side,” Donnie Miller, senior and fan of basketball said, “You can go crazy as fans.” Another senior fan, Tyler Greene, said, “the atmosphere and the crowd going to the game; it really gets the athletes pumped up too.” The players need Vista Nation to continue to show

support this year. The squad has a challenging schedule as well, with a league that boasts five of the top eight teams in last year’s state tournament.Coach Wood put it this way, “If you can beat the teams in our league, then you’re going to be as good as anyone in the state.” Either Chaparral and Regis have won state the last four years both are from our league. Vista basketball made it farther than ever before last year at the state competition. The season starts against Green Mountain at Dec. 6 this year. While Mountain Vista’s basketball team has pressure this season to succeed, once they hit the court the pressure is on the other team. Run and Gun.

The Road to victory is Paved with Spirit

very year, Mountain Vista’s Varsity basketball team has seen improve-ment. This year, the team wants that trend to continue. “When we started for the first couple

years, we were right around .500. The last two years we have won 20 and 18 games. Two years ago we made it to the final 16 and last year we made it to the final eight. So,since I have been here we have definitely gotten better every year,” Bob Wood, head coach at Mountain Vista for four seasons, said. Dedication was the word Coach Wood used to describe the turnaround. The team uses something else to their advantage, speed and quickness. The Golden Eagles have an exciting brand of basketball. Their up-tempo “run and gun” style offense led them to an average of 70 points a game last season. “We play really fast, probably faster than anyone in the state,” Wood said. That fast-

Reloading, Not Rebuilding

Mountain Vista basketball trains to keep a winning record alive

E

Keeping Up With Mountain Vista Basketball

2009-20109 wins15 losses*lost in first round of state

2010-201120 wins5 losses*most wins in a season*final 16 in state

2011-201218 wins9 losses*final 8 in state*farthest Mountain Vista has ever been

2012-2013 ScheduleDec. 6 @ Green Mountain, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 13-15 @ Harrison, all dayDec. 18 @ Vista, 7 p.m.

Dec. 20 @ Liberty, 7 p.m.

Eagle EyeSPORTS 23

Photo by Gabi Capocelli

any people know the Mountain Vista cheerleaders and poms as the ones who cheer at the football and basketball teams, but this

time of year is when cheering at games slows down and competitions kick into gear. Five days a week, the varsity cheer team gets together to practice their routine. They work on tumbling and stunting to be the best they can be at their next competition. The poms team practices four to five days a week to make sure their dance is ready for

Mountain Vista cheerleading and poms squads begin competition seasons with winning streaks

LIBBY GALLIGAN

SCOTT GrIMM

Photos by Libby Galligan

Photos by Libby Galligan

M

ee

competition. “My favorite part about high school cheerleading is being able to support all of the teams,” junior cheerleader Claire Coffman said. “At competitions it’s a little more stressful, because you’re trying to make your team proud,” junior pom Meredith Schley said. “At competitions it’s the best feeling coming off the floor and knowing you all did your best,” sophomore pom Gracie Haasbeek said. “Sitting there holding hands with your team is really nerve-racking, but exciting at

the same time,” Coffman said about the awards ceremonies after competitions. “Sometimes you know what place you’re expected to get, sometimes you have no idea”. When it comes to being a team, junior Kate Wester said, “I like how close we all are”. “I don’t have any older sisters, so they’re like big sisters to me,” Brynn Reitter, a freshman who has competed with varsity before, said. “We’re one big family” freshman Mary Galligan said.

Eagle Eye 24 ADVERTISEMENTS

leftOUT

don’t be

buy a yearbook$67.50 until Dec. 20, 2012 $77.50 Jan. 7-31, 2013$87.50 Feb. 1-April 30, 2013* $97.50 after May 1, 2013*

Bring your payment to the MVHS bookkeeper across from the library.Or, add on DCSD Web Store on MountainVistaOnline.org.

*Jan. 31, 2013 is the last day to guarantee delivery of a yearbook. Beginning Feb. 1, 2013,all students purchasinga yearbook will be placed on an official wait list (payment will be rufunded if books are not availalble in May.)

2013 AERIE