March 2014 THE PACKTHE PACKTHE PACKTHE PACK Editor: Emily Lewis Co-Editor: Kody Stokes

Points of Interest

• Bradley Tutors!

• Notes from

Administrators!

• Student’s Comics!

• Gaming and movie

reviews!

• Perfect Attendance!

• Spring Birthdays!

Is a diploma really

a big deal?

1

The Gaming Zone\

2

What should I do

for college

7

Administrator’s

Notes

8-9

How to catch a

liar!

9

Get to know the

Bradley tutors

10-

11

Student Comics 12

Inside this issue:

Why is a high school diploma such a big deal? To start off it looks great on a job application, as well as a college application. Chances are higher for you to get a better job if you have a high school diploma rather than a GED. Why? Because to the work force, if you have your high school diploma you are better educated. If you have earned your high school diploma you will feel better about yourself to know you made it all the way through high school. High school diplomas look absolutely great on job applications and college applications. Some colleges view GEDs as if it were a high school diploma. (theamericanacademy.com) There are also colleges who don’t look at

them as a high school equivalent. A high school diploma gives you security to get into col-leges. Knowing you have security should make you feel better about your future and that you can get into high education then someone who

dropped out. A high school recipient earns about $27,915 a year compared to someone who

dropped out, who earns about $18,734. That’s about a $9,181 difference a year. (howtoedu.org) So, if you want to make more money, getting your high school diploma is the way to go. If you continue to work from the age 18 to 65, you will make $431,507 more than someone who dropped out of high school. A high school diploma helps the

society as a whole. A di-ploma helps the econo-mies and local taxpayers. The reason that happens is because they make more money than a drop-out to have disposable income to spend on more things. Someone who gets their high school diplo-mas are less likely to have government assistance,

which helps the taxpayers that pay money to the government. High school diplomas are a big-ger deal than a lot of teenagers think it is. It impacts our whole future, our jobs, and education. So, next time you are thinking about dropping out just remember high school is just 4 years and the diploma will feel amazing in your hands when you achieve it. It’s definitely worth the 4

years.

Article by Emily LewisArticle by Emily LewisArticle by Emily LewisArticle by Emily Lewis

Is a diploma really Is a diploma really Is a diploma really Is a diploma really a big deal?a big deal?a big deal?a big deal?

Spring Break Spring Break Spring Break Spring Break April 14thApril 14thApril 14thApril 14th–––– 18th18th18th18th

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Review of Review of Review of Review of “Oblivion”“Oblivion”“Oblivion”“Oblivion”

I truly enjoyed the game Oblivion. The game has many different storylines pertaining to what factions the player chooses to join. It has hun-dreds of hours of gameplay. I’ve been playing it for weeks at a time. It fea-tures battling many different creatures while progressively getting stronger. You can pick how your character is, examples being a mage, warrior, or bowman. The game is unique to role playing games because it allows you to choose seven skills you wish to spe-cialize in, for instance, you can be a magician and warrior, or specialize in all combat skills and be an all around killer, there are several skills to choose from and you get to pick the ones you like. The game came out in 2006 it doesn’t really compare to more modern games but for its time it has good graphics. The game has a more realistic look to it than some modern games. The lighting in the game is good, you can see in dark caves with-out having to use torches or spells to see, I like this because I just want to charge into a cave, kill everything, take the loot and move onto the next place that’s ripe for the plundering. Thunder-bolt said, “Cyrodiil looks absolutely stunning. Everything is bright and wonderful in the sun-shine” (metacritic.com). I also enjoy how you can, by advancing in the skills of athletics and acrobatics, you can move faster and jump higher than any enemy you encounter. When a player maximizes

their skill level, which is at one hundred, your weapon of choice becomes a tool of destruction. I prefer magic and unarmed combat. I can deal more damage with my fists than a medium leveled sword. Magic also deals insane amounts of damage in a short amount of time, easily disposing of any enemy that confronts you. However one should also focus on skills that affect your attributes. The rea-son for this is because when you level up you get to increase your attributes, which are like strength, intelligence, willpower, speed, agility and a few more. The higher the skill increases the more your attributes increase. This al-lows for an easy maximization of attrib-utes at an early level. I also like how the game re-quires you to think about what you do. If you go around and kill everyone in a town they won’t like you anywhere and

there are other negative consequences. If you be-come a hero then every-one will love you and be happy to see you. Joining the assassins guild, called The Dark Brotherhood, causes you to venture into towns and kill people, if you get arrested and sent to jail the consequence would be losing progress

in skills. You have to plan out your as-sassinations and evil-doings so that you don’t suffer the consequences. The guilds have a positive or negative impact on how people feel about you which is measured in fame or infamy. Each guild has its own story, there are also several quests you can do for people around town. Immediately it starts you off on the main story quest, which will lead you to fight the Daedra of Oblivion. If the only reason you want to play the game is for the significant stories you will still have many hours of enjoyable gameplay.

In conclusion, Oblivion is a great game, even though it is eight years old. The game is still a viable option for those who want to try role playing games but are worried about becoming bored. Oblivion is a fantas-tic investment and anyone who calls themselves a gamer should have at least played it. Gamesradar said, “The fourth Elder Scrolls entry is utterly brilliant and should not be missed by any adventure-spirited gamer” (metacritic.com).

Article by Article by Article by Article by Austin GentryAustin GentryAustin GentryAustin Gentry

Review of Review of Review of Review of “Dungeons and “Dungeons and “Dungeons and “Dungeons and

Dragons: Dragons: Dragons: Dragons: Neverwinter”Neverwinter”Neverwinter”Neverwinter”

The MMORPG of Dungeons and

Dragons: Neverwinter as swept up my heart from the moment of playing it. The game has great mechanics and plot to go around with it for a fun filled time of merriment and adven-ture. When I first heard about Dun-

geons and Dragons: Neverwinter from a friend my heart sank, since I was a child Dungeons and Dragons has been my favorite pencil and paper game since my uncle introduced me to it as a young dwarf. Then when I saw Dun-

geons and Dragons Online I saw a game that was unfulfilling those other MMOs have put in my heart. I was crushed to see that a childhood mem-ory that I loved so much was turned into a boring game of running around

Page 3

and spamming the 1 button all day. So I went back to World of Warcraft and other games.

So as you can tell I was re-luctant to venture down a path that might turn out the same as the last. So I installed the game and logged in but to my surprise when I made my dwarf and went on to the tutorial it turned out the same as Dungeons

and Dragons Online, I thought to myself that it was doomed to be bad since they recycled the old begin-ning of the tutorial starting off stranded on a beach but I was deter-mined to go on.

I first looked at the interface and found it to be quite pleasing no massive amounts of bars to spam buttons only five buttons where ac-tually usable at a time, then I saw that your main attacks or “At Will” attacks where usable on your mouse. I squealed a bit inside. As I ventured on the tutorial fighting the hordes of undead I then found out I could dodge attacks my heart leaped for joy as I found out that this was simi-lar to the same mechanics of the combat system of Tera. I loved it because they improved from the number bar as specialty attacks and used Q, E, and R to do more ad-vanced attacks with cool downs and 1 and 2 for more or less an ultimate attack that causes massive amounts of damage. Even today after playing for more than 2 weeks I still get ex-cited about when I build up enough action points to do my rain of steel attack on my dwarf great weapons fighter. The game developers have also touched my childhood heart of using the action point symbol as a d20. (20 sided dice)

While I have yet to do any dungeon groups or pvp maps I have figured out that Neverwinter excels in single player instances much like the game Guild Wars 2 the single player instances are story driven but what makes these more interesting is that there are not just mobs and bosses but traps and secrets to find. I go to bed at night dreaming of what

my next adventures in these instances will be exhilarated for another chance of glory against the final boss at the end of each one.

Unlike most MMOs, Never-

winter has one thing that makes it stand out from the crowd a player has a chance to make their own quest story with a feature called the “Foundry”. This is a type of sandbox where you make the mobs, dialogue, and scenery for your adventure to share with the entire game. Players are allowed to rate your instance you made and the top ones are featured in the home menu.

The gaming clan XGN says, “Neverwinter is a disappointing MMO. There isn’t a lot of freedom for players to roam and it doesn’t re-imagine itself in the open world genre. For a free-to-play game it offers too little.” While it may not have an open world it is still has a lot of freedom. There is much more customization than in games like World of Warcraft with the way your character looks. Even though it does not have an open world people still have a reason to go back to past areas to collect rewards for better gear. (metacritic.com)

The website Everyeye.it talks about, “The new MMO transposition of the famous paper role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons is a success, and one of the best examples of free-to-play titles currently available.” I do believe it to be a success with so many people playing it you can’t help to see the beauty in its design and its game play. Though there are better examples this one is near the top. (metacritic.com)

Overall from what I have ex-perienced this game has a lot to offer and can go really far if the developers keep adding content for players to in-teract with and for them to experiment with in the “Foundry.” For my score I give Dungeons and Dragons Never-winter 89 out of 100.

Article by Joseph ZilkowskiArticle by Joseph ZilkowskiArticle by Joseph ZilkowskiArticle by Joseph Zilkowski

Review of Review of Review of Review of “Assassin’s Creed: “Assassin’s Creed: “Assassin’s Creed: “Assassin’s Creed:

Black Flag”Black Flag”Black Flag”Black Flag” The year is 1715. Pirates rule the

waters of the Caribbean and have estab-lished a lawless Republic. Among these outlaws is a lethal young captain named Edward Kenway. His notorious exploits earn the respect of legends like Black-beard, but draw him into an ancient war that may destroy everything the pirates have built for themselves. Sounds pretty cool right? “The most recent installment of the six game series has brought millions of fans to the Ubisoft franchise. Playing as the daring pirate Edward Kenway, the player must unravel a conspiracy between high-ranking Templars to manipulate the British, Spanish and French empires into locating the Sage – later identified as Bar-tholomew Roberts who is the only man that can tell the location of the observa-tory.”(Wikipedia.com) The biggest change by far is the new open-world sailing. The boating from AC III is back in roughly the form you may remember, but now sailing the open waters has been expanded to act as your primary method of getting from place to place. The major cities of Havana, Nassau, and Kingston are joined by a large smattering of smaller isles, ports, and de-serted specks of land. Even in the open waters, numerous activities will present themselves, including simple ship-to-ship combat and plunder, underwater diving missions, and enemy fort capturing. The game is basically a pirate version of Grand Theft Auto. You, as Edward Kenway, can sail the seas in your fully customizable vessel, complete with steel tipped battering rams and cannons on every side. But you might want to be careful; most of the water is covered with patrolling enemy boats, many of which will decimate your crew until you learn how to fight back. But let’s not jump to the end just yet. The way the game flows is more revolutionary then any of the games previous. “In addition to util-izing an upgraded

CONT TO PAGE 4

Page 4

The most interesting man in the

world, Bradley Tomblin, shared his in-sight on which gaming device and video game he prefers above the multi-tude that exist. He and I might not share the same views on the best available game but his opinion is valued highly. However, we do seem to agree on the preferred gaming device.

He prefers to game on the Xbox 360. He enjoys this console more than playing on the computer, Play-Station, and even the Atari. He is con-vinced that the Xbox is the superior gaming device since that’s all he has. He does admit that other consoles have good aspects that the Xbox does not. For instance, I am aware that the Play-

Station can play Blu-ray disks and all games on the computer are potentially free. However, I prefer the Xbox be-cause I grew up with it and I'm a little biased.

He is says that Call of Duty is his favorite game series because he enjoys the merciless killing of his ene-mies. He is entitled to his opinion however I wholeheartedly disagree because I believe that the best game series that ever existed is Halo. The game Halo is way beyond its time.

He stated that “it’s a killing game” meaning first person shooter (FPS). When asked if he enjoyed FPS games he said, “Yes I do, I really do, I really love Xbox stuff.” He tends to favor FPS games over other types of games. One reason he enjoys the game is because of the replay value, he said it can be played for many hours at a time and constantly.

Brad explained that while you only get to play as a single character you are allowed to customize your weapon of choice. In certain Call of

Duty games you are able to customize how your character looks. Halo has a greater variety of character customiza-tion and is overall the superior game. These games have both multiplayer and single-player. Brad prefers multi-player because “you get to play with other people.” He does sometimes play single-player, which can be played on a few different difficulty settings. Brad told me that the easiest difficulty can be played with “no troubles at all, a ten year old could do it,” however the hardest is so difficult Brad doesn’t even attempt it! Brad was impressed with the graphics, which get progres-sively better with each game.

While gaming causes a lot of tension between gamers, especially over consoles, game discussion is of-ten a lot of fun. Brad’s opinion was greatly valued and debate worthy. We all can agree, however, that gaming is a great source of fun.

next-gen Anvil En-gine, which also powers the game for the new Xbox One and PS4 features higher-resolution textures and as-sets.”(Geforce.com) This game is dif-ferent in many ways, as the previous ones weren’t focused around pirates. And yes, this game includes all the sword fighting, ship wrecking, plank walking, rum chuggin’, and scallywag-gin’ a pirate could want. In my opinion, the game was 100% successful. It fea-tured a campaign that kept me home each night playing to find out more. The map is currently the biggest out there, topping GTA V by at least 2 times. However, there were some disap-pointments. The only thing that was difficult was when running the right stick on the controller didn’t have the same action as it did in the previous games, making the running a lot more difficult when atop of objects. Besides that, I think that Assassins Creed Black Flag is one of the greatest games out there. “Taking its setting into the pi-rate-filled waters of the early 18th cen-tury Caribbean, Black Flag crafts a sur-prisingly and wonderfully vibrant world to explore, both at sea and by land. And while its story isn't all that much more interesting than anything in the last few entries in this series, Assassin's Creed IV has so much to do, and so much of it is genuinely entertaining, that you'll be far too busy to care about its periodic missteps.” (Giantbomb.com) But for most of the game you’ll be on land, par-taking in the usual activities that AC offers. These include story-based assas-sination missions, but also completing contracts, fight off random enemies, chase down couriers, purchase your own business, hunt animals, climb as much as you want, and a whole new system of collectables includes sea chanties, which will be synced with your crew to add to their playlist of pi-rate songs they sing while you’re sail-ing. That was hard to say. “Crashing your boat into a rogue wave and watch-ing the water sweep over the deck of your boat, seeing ships in the distance explode after you deliver a well-placed

cannon shot, and simply taking in the gorgeous vistas as you perch atop the many synch points spread throughout the game, are just a few of the many visual highlights I can recall. The ani-mation quality is top-notch too.” Drew Scanlon said, writing for Giant-bomb.com. But with every well put-together video game, it has its down-falls. “Occasionally you'll see the kinds of weird quirks inherent to this series, like downed enemies glitching out due to wonky ragdoll physics, or the occa-sional character lifting a weapon that appears not to have actually loaded in their hands. But where the most detail and work has clearly gone--namely into Edward, his cohorts, and their various combat animations--the game looks terrific. It all runs great too, with only minimal frame rate dips in rare in-stances.” In conclusion, I would adhere to my statement that Assassins Creed Black Flag is the best of its series, of-fering a whole brand new type of game-play.

Article by Article by Article by Article by Sam ThomasSam ThomasSam ThomasSam Thomas

CONT FROM PAGE 3

Article by Article by Article by Article by Austin GentryAustin GentryAustin GentryAustin Gentry

Brad The KillerBrad The KillerBrad The KillerBrad The Killer

Page 5

Green; the Sixth Level System

"HumanBond. The Relativistic vMEME

• Explore the inner beings of self and

others

• Promote a sense of community and

unity

• Share society's resources among all

• Liberate humans from greed and

dogma

• Reach decisions through consensus

• Refresh spirituality and bring har-

mony"

By asking participants from dif-ferent eras of American culture I could get a good understanding of how value systems have changed. The first person I interviewed was the oldest and gave me the most detailed answers. My guess was because the further back you go the more important value systems were mainly because of relig-ion. When asked “what were some of your values?” the first par-ticipant said “Universal values basically like the ten commandments”. She also stated that looking for the best in people and also treating others how you want to be treated (golden rule) were important values to her as well. Her religion was also said to be a huge influence in her perspective on life, she also stated that society puts a huge influence on peoples values, things like advertising and popu-lar media influence people without them being “aware” of it. Also when asked about discrimination, she felt that she per-sonally wasn’t a victim of the act but also stated that she tries not to discriminate at all. When compared to what the youngest participant said, it seems like the exact opposite of the older genera-

tions. Religion which was a huge thing back in the day is seeing a lot of de-cline in importance; this was even said by the oldest participant. Discrimina-tion was said to be largely noticed as well witch surprised me, since today’s society is supposed to be “equal”. When looking at the younger genera-tions you can see a very individualistic list of values that aren’t based off of religion, it seems like people either rebel or set their own rules to live by. But what caused such a change in the values people inherit? By asking the generation in between I felt that I could get a good picture of what hap-pened. The person I interviewed seemed to hold onto such religious values as the older generations, but also felt that society was a heavy influ-ence on her and other people’s values. When asked about how big of a role religion plays in society she also felt that there is a decline in people attach-ing to religion. She said she felt dis-crimination a lot as a child because of race, and says now that discrimination is still alive and well in today’s soci-ety, just not as up front and in your face. After analyzing all of these results I am actually in fear. It sort of seems like the oldest generation was sort of heading toward the next level of value systems but failed. The genera-tion afterward seemed to be on sort of a slow decline and the current genera-tion is at a split. Most people’s values stem largely from the influences put on by advertising and corporations. The only religion people bow down to in the end is the all mighty dollar, no de-nying that. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the people that actually want to fix things and go to the next level, but in society they are frowned upon or laughed at. The world is crum-bling and the only way to fix it is to ascend to the next level of values.

ValuesValuesValuesValues Since the dawn of man, value systems have been present in every individual and society. In the book Spiral Dynamics written by Don Beck and Chris Cowan talks about value systems evolving along as humans adapt to differ-ent challenges in the world. For ex-ample in the book the first level of value systems is based off of instinc-tual drive or genetics. This level of value systems was very primitive and was used by very early humans. The Level modern humans on is Orange, in this stage the book states that our value system is as follows.

“Orange; the Fifth Level System

"Strive Drive. The Strategic vMEME

• Strive for autonomy and inde-

pendence

• Seek out "the good life" and ma-

terial abundance

• Progress through searching out

the best solutions

• Enhance living for many through

science and technology

• Play to win and enjoy competi-

tion

• Learning through tried-and-true

experience”

By interviewing people who lived in the past and also people growing up now, I can see how this orange level value system is changing and leading to or straying away from the Green value system that goes as follows…

Article by Article by Article by Article by Josh DesirJosh DesirJosh DesirJosh Desir

again. Other reasons come to play when they have to get rid of a useful vehicle without a thought and how they when they get cornered they happen to run out of ammo suddenly when barely encoun-tering zombies. So after seeing how the zombies act and how much of a threat they’re not the only issue is the human’s wrong decisions (nihonreview.com).

Happy Birthday Happy Birthday Happy Birthday Happy Birthday March Babies!March Babies!March Babies!March Babies! 7th7th7th7th–––– Gabby CusackGabby CusackGabby CusackGabby Cusack 7th7th7th7th–––– Mark HellerMark HellerMark HellerMark Heller 10th10th10th10th–––– Josh DesirJosh DesirJosh DesirJosh Desir

10th10th10th10th–––– Blake SvymberskyBlake SvymberskyBlake SvymberskyBlake Svymbersky 12th12th12th12th–––– David DomnickDavid DomnickDavid DomnickDavid Domnick 17th17th17th17th–––– Molly DeLormeMolly DeLormeMolly DeLormeMolly DeLorme 21st21st21st21st–––– Breyon NixonBreyon NixonBreyon NixonBreyon Nixon 22nd22nd22nd22nd–––– Austin GentryAustin GentryAustin GentryAustin Gentry 25th25th25th25th–––– Cody GillesCody GillesCody GillesCody Gilles

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very funny in the film, the way they are portrayed and the way one of them says “Winston” had me laughing a lot. One critic named Roger Ebert gave the movie a good review saying it was a “bewildering complex caper film”. Witch I think is completely true the actors did a great job at portraying the East end of London. (Metacritic.com) Another critic, who honestly sounds like a hater stated the exact opposite saying that the actors weren’t believable at all and that they sounded like they were forcing out every word. I completely disagree; like I said the actors did an amazing job at portray-ing the east end. (Metacritic.com) Overall I would suggest watching this movie. It’s a great movie if you’re into crime thrillers with a little comedy; it’s also a look at Jason Statham’s early career. Watch Reservoir Dogs then watch this film and I’m sure you will have a good night. 10/10 from me. I love this film.

I think High School of the

Dead is a great anime. It has zombies and anime put together, which takes place in a high school. The director of the anime was Tetsoru Akari, pro-duced by Mitsutoshi Ogura and writ-ten by Yosuke Kuroda. The anime aired July 5, 2010–September 20, 2010 in Japan. High School of the Dead is anime that has an average teenage boy (as all leads) named Takashi Komoru is at his high school where a zombie out-break happens and he has to fight through a horde of zombies with his class mates to find out how it hap-pened (themanime.org). The author did well with the plot but it only had 12 episodes in the first season which were only 24 min-utes long. The acting was good, it didn’t sound cheesy like those Sy-Fy films and actually went into it and acted like it was real. Even though the anime started off with action on the first episode the anime still described the characters and told their stories on the way. The anime had two antago-nists, one was the zombies and the main one was a deranged teacher and the students he took control of. The reason why was when they were get-ting to the bus to get away from the school a student got grabbed and he grabbed onto the teacher for help but when the others weren’t looking he stomped the students head into the ground killing him. Further into the anime he tried to get the main charac-ters killed and tried taking control of the group in the beginning. The only things that did not give them five smiley’s was how out of nowhere after finding a safe place they had to face the zombie horde to find another safe house just to leave it

High School of High School of High School of High School of the Great?the Great?the Great?the Great?

Article by Article by Article by Article by Terron BowlingTerron BowlingTerron BowlingTerron Bowling

The movie Lock Stock and Two

Smoking Barrels is an instant classic in my opinion. It’s a 1999 cockney thug movie written and directed by Guy Ritchie. The movie stars some pretty good actors for the time such as Jason Statham or Vinnie Jones. The plot of the movie is a very funny but well-written one. The main character, eddy, is a card shark, a very good one, and aims to make him and his buddies rich by buying in to a £100,000 card game ran by the local sex shop owner and big time crime king pin. After doing so he ends up being ripped off and bullied into barrowing £400,000 more to keep the game going. He then loses all the money, and is forced to pay back the kingpin in a week or suffer dire consequences. The movie has a sad, rainy-type of feel to it, which is good since it takes place in London’s east end. The movie also covers all characters lives at the same time since they all tie together at the end. Also the way Guy Ritchie shot the film is awesome, in one scene on of the main characters who is a chef puts lettuce into a stew that is being cooked, in the next scene the camera comes out of the stew. Also I find the pot dealers very

Article by Article by Article by Article by Josh DesirJosh DesirJosh DesirJosh Desir

Lock Stock and Lock Stock and Lock Stock and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Two Smoking Two Smoking Two Smoking

BarrelsBarrelsBarrelsBarrels

Movies and show reviews

I have interviewed a few fel-low students, a couple juniors and a senior. I wanted to get a bit of a vari-ety of class to see what difference in preparation there is. There is a lot of information I asked about but, my most important question to figure out is, do you know how and where to search for financial aid? There is a lot of question and concern dealing with what people can do for money to get into college. Another question I’m concerned with is, are you familiar with the admission requirements of the college you’re thinking about? Many people are going to either have very high expectations of getting into col-lege, or they’re going to have very low expectations of what they will need to get into college. My last concern was in; do you know what you need to ap-ply to colleges? If teenagers know what we need to get into colleges, we might be more motivated to get into college. I first interviewed Blake Svymbersky, a junior, didn’t have much thought on furthering education. He mentioned that his father was a bartender and he might get into that, or he might get into military. Now, Blake has an interesting way to look for fi-nancial aid. He suggested using his parents to help him get the financial aid he needs and then pay them back if it’s a large sum of money. He men-tioned to me that he isn’t even close to applying for colleges. Part of that rea-son is preparation, he isn’t ready to get started on the process, but also because he has no idea what he would need to get into college. Breyon Nixon was the second person interviewed, a little more inter-ested in furthering education. He is interested in going from community college to a university, such as ICC to Bradley. Being very interested in mu-sic, a requirement for a college that he

have lived inside of Peoria county. Let’s say that you only attended for a few grades, you still have 50% of your atten-dance at ICC paid for. If you went through all 13 grades (K-12) in Peoria county, you get 100% of your attendance at ICC paid for. If a free ride to college

doesn’t motivate you I don’t know what would. Many people have many different plans after high school. There are over 100 colleges and univer-sities in Illinois alone. You have a lot of options for advancing your edu-cation and getting some-

where in life and with your career. There are so many options that you have to make your career choice dreams come true, especially if you push hard now to have the laid-back success that you worked for, for over 16 years. Be sure to look up the admission requirements of whatever college you want to?attend so you have a goal while you’re still in high school.

attends has to have a music program. He has aspirations to become a man-ager of a business, and eventually an owner of a business. When asked if he is going to need help getting a fi-nancial plan for college, he re-sponded, “Definitely.” At the mo-ment, the only aid that he is aware of and likely to use is “Peoria Promise.” When asked about the admission re-quirements he thinks that the re-quirement for ICC is a 3.0 GPA. In reality, ICC is an open admissions college. There are no admission re-quirements. You simply have to maintain a 2.0 GPA throughout the year. There are a couple other aca-demic requirements to continue your time at ICC, all of which can be found on the www.icc.edu website.

My final interviewee was Molly DeLorme. She has a lot of steadiness and a lot of ideas for her education after high school. She plans on being either a pediatrician or a cosmetologist. Her idea of a good school will have some sort of medical program. She also would like to go from a smaller school to a bigger school. She doesn’t feel she needs financial help because her parents have secured her plan with a college fund started when she was younger. The college she is thinking about is ICC to ITT Tech. Although she’s nowhere near ready to apply for col-leges. She has a lot of ideas and I bet she is going to go far with her further education.

A very good program for those who have been in Peoria schools for those who have graduated from a Peoria public school, and also want to go to ICC. The financial aid is only available to those who apply to ICC and that’s the extent of your help. The longer you have paid Peo-ria City taxes the more financial aid you receive. This is a very, very popular choice for teenagers who

What should I What should I What should I What should I do for college?do for college?do for college?do for college?

Don’t forget to check out this video about

the school

http://youtu.be/ViGqRaujQes

Page 7

Article by Kody StokesArticle by Kody StokesArticle by Kody StokesArticle by Kody Stokes

Greetings from Ms. Bonnie’s Greetings from Ms. Bonnie’s Greetings from Ms. Bonnie’s Greetings from Ms. Bonnie’s

officeofficeofficeoffice Happy St. Patrick’s day, Happy Spring, Happy Daylight Sav-ings Time! It will be so nice to see warmer weather, more sunshine, and more light. So get ready to give it all you’ve got for P.R.H.S.– school

spirit; in other words – BE HERE EVERYDAY – PEFECT ATTENDANCE EVERYONE, EVE-RYDAY! SHOOT FOR IT!!! Can

you do it?? I think you can. One week of perfect attendance will get you a free breakfast donut or maybe even a home-made delight, on

Note From Mr. BixbyNote From Mr. BixbyNote From Mr. BixbyNote From Mr. Bixby

It is often stated that good things happen to good people. In this case, I am referring to the good things that have happened for the benefit of our students and faculty. First, Mr. Czarnik and Mrs. Gianessi now have Smartboards installed in their classrooms. This was made pos-sible by a generous monetary donation by the Rotary Club of Peoria North, a service organization that has adopted the Peoria Regional Learning Center. Secondly, as a result of another generous monetary grant that came from the district Rotary office, we were able to purchase twenty new arm chair desks along with a rack for storing the desks. We have yet to break them out. We have been entertaining some creative ways to use these desks if the winter ever sub-sides. Thirdly, Peoria Notre Dame high school has come through again. Last year they donated the twenty desks that are currently being used in Mrs. Gianessi’s and Mr. Czarnik’s room. Re-cently, they phoned to say that they had ten more desks for us. Fourthly, a group of highly re-spected Peoria and county professionals have joined to establish a committee to raise funds for the benefit of our students and faculty. This group is experienced in raising money. When they are in support of a program, people of means listen to what they have to say. Hopefully, they will achieve the level of success that will allow us to financially strengthen our foundation. Then we may be able to achieve some of our dreams. Finally, during the end of the semester one, two visitors of East Indian heritage paid to me a visit. They said that the United States had been very good to them and they wanted to give

Notes From

Administrators: something back. They suggested that they would be interested in funding a tutorial program for our students. As a result of their offer I embarked on a journey to identify Bradley students that would match up well with our stu-dents. Consequently, we now have ten tutors from Bradley that are available to give academic support and encourage-ment to the PRHS students. So far the students, the faculty and the tutors are experiencing a great deal of positive interactions. All of this does much to give our school positive exposure. Ex-posure that will assist us in breaking down the barrier of being the best kept secret in Peoria County. Students, keep up the good work, your efforts are not going unno-

ticed.

Random Thoughts Random Thoughts Random Thoughts Random Thoughts By Mr. StueveBy Mr. StueveBy Mr. StueveBy Mr. Stueve

I am so proud of the students and staff for their efforts on the Aviary Project! One of my goals for our school when we first opened two years ago was to create a learning environ-ment that took advantage of this beauti-ful 2,000 acre park to which we have access. This project is just the begin-ning of more project-based opportuni-ties that I hope we develop in the fu-ture. On Sunday - May 4, 2014 from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. we are going to spon-sor a Peoria County Teacher Apprecia-tion Event here at the park. There will be live entertainment, a raffle for an I-Pad Air, a silent auction, food, and other attractions including a recognition ceremony for teachers in the County who are retiring this year. The purpose

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of the event is twofold. One, we want to say thanks to the men and women who have worked as teachers and administrators for many years in an attempt to help children. The second purpose is to raise money for our school so that we can continue to op-erate for many years to come. Please mark this day on your calendar and plan on attending to show your grati-tude and support. Over the next several months we are going to begin the process of changing our official name from Peo-ria Regional High School to Peoria Regional Learning Center. We are doing this for a number of reasons. The PRLC label will distinguish us in name from all of the other high schools in Peoria County. We are really a learning community as our approach is somewhat different from traditional high schools. Finally, we hope to expand opportunities in the future to a wider range of learners

beyond just students in grades 9 – 12.

HHHHow to catch a liar!ow to catch a liar!ow to catch a liar!ow to catch a liar! There is always going to be someone that lies about something. There are little white lies that ‘don’t hurt any-one’; there are also big lies that cause a lot of trouble in the long run. People have to keep up with their lies, creating more and more lies; it’s just a giant lump of disgusting mess after awhile. There can be a lot of pain in a relationship, a break of trust in a friendly relationship. There a lot of negative consequences, especially when most people end up collapsing and telling the truth anyway. Instead of let-ting this go on, why not recognize when someone is lying right away? Well maybe not right away, but at least quick enough to stop that mess from happen-ing. Here’s a couple tips to catch a liar. They only offer a bare bones story. Most liars decide that if they put to many details into a story it will be harder to keep their facts straight in the long run. On top of that they also think if it’s too elaborate, the listener will think that they’re making the story up. If they offer little small de-tails it could also be a giveaway. For ex-ample, if they mention what they were drinking, or what they were eating, you might have another red flag that set off (nbcnews.com). “Where were you last night?” My mom asked, “Where was I?” I re-sponded. Answer-ing a question with a question is usu-ally another key giveaway. Using this stall most peo-ple can think of a story to make up to respond to the question asked. Another point to this, is liars tend to start speaking slowly, then start speeding up their speech. The rea-son for that is they got the story straight in their head. They might hesitate, start and stop frequently, or speak in frag-ments. Also, people who lie tend to not use contractions. They will repeat things like “I did NOT” instead of “I didn’t”

and so on (businessinsider.com). Liar, liar, pants on fire. Peo-ple who lie fidget inwards towards themselves, like fidgeting with their clothes, hands, hair, biting their lip. It’s all red flags showing that they are nervous or trying to stick with their story. Another red flag is when they press their lips together and look away, that’s a big red flag. It means that they have to think really hard about the answer. The last interest-ing way to catch a liar is to ask them to tell it from the ending to the begin-ning. In gen-eral a truthful person will have a bit of an easier time with this, but it’s still a bit difficult. Either way, a liar tends to remember events in chronological order, so telling it backwards would require a lot more effort (lifehacker.com). Remember, all of these are just red flags on how to catch a liar, none of it is a surefire way to catch one. Do not accuse anyone of lying just because they had a red flag, some truthful people may just get nervous. Never ask “Why?” because it will put people on the defensive. You will never figure out what you would want to know if you do. If you think someone is lying, just go over these few points, I’m sure you will find your answer.

Article by Kody StokesArticle by Kody StokesArticle by Kody StokesArticle by Kody Stokes

Note from Mrs. Pointer Note from Mrs. Pointer Note from Mrs. Pointer Note from Mrs. Pointer Did you know that each month students who had perfect attendance for the previous month have their names put into a drawing for $20.00? Yes, $20.00! In addition, there is a weekly reward for all stu-dents who have had perfect attendance for the month. This month they have enjoyed a weekly pizza party. Each month the weekly reward changes a little, but the goal is to encourage each student to attend school every day. When students enroll at PRHS they sign an agreement to be in atten-dance 90% of the time. Attendance has been a challenge this winter, espe-cially with the weather and the amount of flu or students have experi-enced. Please continue to reinforce good attendance habits with your child. Attendance is so important to the success of a student at PRHS. Excessive absences results in missing instruction, and in turn leads to incomplete work and a poor or fail-ing grade. Again, we want each stu-dent to experience success, so your encouragement would be appreciated.

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the following Monday or Tuesday, courtesy of Ms. Bonnie and Ms. Pointer. Our school finances run al-most solely on money we receive from students’ good attendance. When at-tendance is bad, when students leave school early or come late, our total income goes down, which makes it difficult to run the school or even plan for future years here. Please, if you don’t feel well in the morning, come to school anyway and try to make it. Most of the time that is how people deal with minor discomforts and ill-nesses in the real world of work.

Get to know the tutors Ms. Hancock’s second hour got the chance to know the new tutors. Ms. Hancock’s second hour got the chance to know the new tutors. Ms. Hancock’s second hour got the chance to know the new tutors. Ms. Hancock’s second hour got the chance to know the new tutors.

We asked them 4 questions. We asked them 4 questions. We asked them 4 questions. We asked them 4 questions.

1.1.1.1. What college and program (major) did you come from? What was your MajorWhat college and program (major) did you come from? What was your MajorWhat college and program (major) did you come from? What was your MajorWhat college and program (major) did you come from? What was your Major 2.2.2.2. What inspired you to pursue your subject major?What inspired you to pursue your subject major?What inspired you to pursue your subject major?What inspired you to pursue your subject major? 3.3.3.3. What are you doing after college as a career?What are you doing after college as a career?What are you doing after college as a career?What are you doing after college as a career?

4.4.4.4. Do you enjoy helping other people learn? / Why are you interested in tutoring?Do you enjoy helping other people learn? / Why are you interested in tutoring?Do you enjoy helping other people learn? / Why are you interested in tutoring?Do you enjoy helping other people learn? / Why are you interested in tutoring?

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1) Bradley University, Nursing 2) I want to help people 3) Working in a hospital 4) Yes, anything to do to give back 5) Don't take education for granted

1) Bradley University, English Ed. Major / Teacher 2) Enjoys reading, writing, poetry, and helping others 3) Plan on being a high school teacher 4) Tutoring is a rewarding job 5) Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do something

1) Bradley University, Business 2) Business is a broad subject, not to sure 3) Sales or management/economics 4) Yes it is a good way to build quali-ties, keeps me busy, easy to learn when teaching 5) Working hard, will eventually get you to your goals, work and will get where you want to get

1) Bradley University, Indiana, Major - English/Journalism 2) I love reading, and writing, and grow-ing up 3) Teaching, pursuing another Masters or PHD 4) Yes 5) Do what makes you happy, and work hard at it

1) Bradley, majoring in advertising 2) I get to be creative & communicate with clients and businesses 3) Account manager at advertising agency 4) It is fun to help people learn the mate-rial 5) Always put 100% in because it pays off in the end

1) Civil engineering 2) Skill set led me down that path 3) Road design pavement design 4) Yes, to impact high schoolers 5) Don’t sell yourself short, pursue your dream no matter what

Chaise Nache

Danielle Salvator

Pat Daly

Kaitlin Olson

Rishika Murthy

Ryan Lewis

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1) Bradley, secondary education, Eng-lish concentration, math certificate 2) I always wanted to be a teacher, in Junior High one of my teachers said she went to Bradley so that inspired me to go there 3) I hope to become a high school teacher 4) Basically tutoring is what I will be doing for the rest of my life 5) Always get it done on time, it’s much easier instead of having to make it up

1) Bradley University, special education and elementary school 2) Kids, I played teacher as a kid, to inspire them 3) 3rd or 2nd grade teacher 4) Yes, help people, it’s fun 5) Stay optimistic, makes you look bet-ter on the world, more hopeful. Treat others how you want to be treated, makes a happier life

1) Bradley, industrial engineering 2) Challenge, overcoming hard things 3) California, working for a company called Tesla Motors as an engineer 4) Yes, the school, and I like a challenge 5) "Don't undervalue education. It may seem lame, but being more educated is a good feeling, be proud in being smart"

Perfect Attendance

For January-February

JanuaryJanuaryJanuaryJanuary • Josh HowaldJosh HowaldJosh HowaldJosh Howald

• Ethan MasenEthan MasenEthan MasenEthan Masen

• Landon PiasseLandon PiasseLandon PiasseLandon Piasse

• Blake SvymberskyBlake SvymberskyBlake SvymberskyBlake Svymbersky

• Joseph ZilkowskiJoseph ZilkowskiJoseph ZilkowskiJoseph Zilkowski

February February February February • Samantha MathenySamantha MathenySamantha MathenySamantha Matheny

• Callie PerrymanCallie PerrymanCallie PerrymanCallie Perryman

• Blake SvymberskyBlake SvymberskyBlake SvymberskyBlake Svymbersky

• Joseph ZilowskiJoseph ZilowskiJoseph ZilowskiJoseph Zilowski

Jenny MacGregor

Kevin Wollscheild

Jenna Gordon

Mollie O’Brien

1) I go to Bradley University, and am graduating in December 2014. I am a double education major, in both ele-mentary and special ed. I have a sci-ence concentration and middle school endorsement as well 2) I really enjoy helping people learn new things, and being in a school envi-ronment. The "aha" moment in a class-room is something I strive for every day 3) When I graduate I will be applying for a traveling consultant job with my sorority, and then after finding a teach-ing job and a place to live 4) Yes, I love helping people learn. I enjoy tutoring because it helps me keep my brain sharp and benefits others 5) "Make sure you balance your social life and academic life. I did not have good grades when I first came to col-lege because I was busy making new friends and joining clubs and such. That GPA has hurt me ever since, and I now know what to value first"

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Students Comics Students Comics Students Comics Students Comics “Home made ice cream” By Emily Lewis

“Great Expectations "By Terron Bowling

“A Flowers Life” By Emily Lewis