Oswego High School’s Student Voice

NothiNg New

No Courses Added in 2007-08

See “TechnicaliTieS” page 2

Volume 10 Number 5

Page 18

Lacrosse vs Dance

March 2007

Also Inside .... . .Clublicity. . .Naked Walls

. . .Sports

Ashley Scaccia (center) and Mike Hibbert (right) sell a cookie to Christy Kinney as a part of the Economics class bake sale at Open House recently.

Kangah is Athlete of the

Month

Point of Entry Changed

Photo By aBBy MartiN

Page 19Page 12

BuccaneerBulletinBulletins

SAT Deadline Nears

Students Pay the Price For School Absences

By Abby MartinChief Photographer

By Chrissy KingManaging Editor

Racist Drawing Found at OHS

In our “advanced society” onewould like tobelieve that racismandprejudiceareathingofthepast.Unfor-tunately,thisisnotthecase.Likewise,manypeoplehave themisconceptionthatracismisonlyprevalentintheDeepSouthamongthe“rednecks”andintheurbanareaswhere rappersarealwaysusing racial slurs in their lyrics. Butrecently, racism has shown itself notonly in theDeepSouthandorSouthCentralL.A.,butrighthereinOswego.

RecentlyMr.RobertBurt,asocialstudies teacheratOHSfoundahand-drawnpictureofanAfrican-Americanpersonbeinglynchedonthewalloftheschool.Burtstated,“Ifoundthedraw-ingonthewallandItookitdownandbrought it to (principal) Mr. Myles.”

Thisactmaybethoughtofbysomeasmerelyarudeactorprank,butonthecontrary.Itisaveryseriousverybigotedhatecrime.Ahatecrimeisacrimemoti-vatedbyprejudiceagainstasocialgroup.Executive Principal Mr. Peter Mylesalsocommented,“Thecaseispending,the student has been removed fromschoolasIrecommendedandthereisaSuperintendent’sHearingscheduled.”

HatecrimesareoftenportrayedonTVaslargescalefeloniessuchasburn-ing crossesor someonebeingbeatenbecauseoftheirsex,race,religion,orcreed.However,usingracialslursanddrawinginappropriatesymbolsalsoarehatecrimes.Burtcommented,“Ithinkthepersonwhodrew itwas someonewho doesn’t know anything aboutCivil Rights inAmerica and didn’trealizewhat aheinoushate symbol anoosearoundablackperson’sneckis.”

This is not the only incident ofprejudice that has occurred in re-cent memory at OHS. Mrs. Janice

RecentlyseveralCaliforniaschooldistricts passed a policy which billsparentsforeverydaytheirkidisoutofschooldue to avacation.Thedistrictsays thatwhen students miss school,they lose state aid, so in a way todiscourage parents from taking theirkids out of school, the districts arenow billing parents $36.13 per day.

These bills are actually just arequest, but some parents find these “requests”offensivebecause inCali-fornia $66 billion dollars is alreadydevotedtopublicschools.Someparentshowever,arepayingthebillsinanat-tempt toease theirguiltyconsciencesfrom taking their kids out of school.

Could this happen in Oswego?TomDunn fromTheStateEducationDepartment stated that thiswouldbea stretch. Though NewYork Stateaid isprovidedaccording todaily at-tendance, the districts do not havethepower to charge formisseddays.

--The Associated Press

ThedeadlinefortheMayandJuneSATsarefastapproaching.TheregistrationdeadlinefortheMaySATisdueApril3 andregistrationfortheJuneSATisApril27.StudentscanregisterfortheSATsonlineatwww.collegeboard.com.

--The College Board

See “haTe crime” page 2

OswegoHighSchoolwillnotof-feranynewcoursesnextyearduetoatechnicalityinsubmittingthenecessaryinformation to the district offices in a timelyfashion.

AccordingtoMrs.CathyChamber-lain, theAssistantSuperintendent forCurriculumandInstruction,therewasadeadlineforOHStosubmittherequiredinformationforthenewclassestotheeducationcenter. “Wehaveaprocessfornewcourses,scheduling,andenroll-ment,”Chamberlain said. “Wedidn’treceivetheinformationontheparticulardate,”sheadded.

AccordingtoExecutivePrincipalMr.PeterMyles,thedeadlinewasn’ttheonlyissuethatposedaproblem.Classesthatdealwithgraduationrequirements,such as the social studies, foreign

language,andmathcourses,requireacloser look andneed toget approvalbythestate,notjusttheteacher,schoollevelanddistrictleveladministration.

“Ittakesatleastagoodyeartogetthe okay from the state, and it abso-lutelycannotbedonelastminute,”saidMyles.

There are other obstacles too. “Iworryaboutalotofthings,”continuedMyles.“Withnewcoursescomesnewteachersoracuttingofsomethingelse.Italsocomesdowntowhetherornotthebudgetcansupportit.”

Earlier in the year, there wereseveralclassesintherunningtobeof-feredatOHSnextyear.Theyincludedsocialstudies,math,foreignlanguage,and technology electives. Each classofferedsomethingdifferenttobroadenand enhance the curriculum for the

Local Essay ContestTheOswegoCountyBarAssocia-

tionissponsoringanessaycontestwiththe theme“LibertyUnderLaw: Em-poweringYouth,AssuringDemocracy.”EntriesmustbepostmarkedbyApril20.Therearetwocategories,ninthandtenthgrades,andeleventhandtwelfthgrades.Prizes will be awarded. For moreinfo, see Mrs. Eve Phillips, EnglishDepartmentTeamLeaderinroom103.

News

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

Hate Crime Results in School Suspension2

Continued from page 1

Technicalities Kill Proposed New CoursesContinued from page 1enthusiasm from both students and staff .

One of the new courses was “Build Your Own Computer.” Mr. Warren Shaw and the Technology De-partment created the class to provide some business-like electives that are now lacking from the curriculum.

“The course consisted of taking computers apart, building them from parts, and installation of software,” said Shaw, photography teacher and technology department team leader. “It is basically what a person would be looking to do if they were in computer building and repair.”

Another proposed new course was a math elec-tive called “History of Mathematics.” According to Mrs. Mary Beth Fierro, “It is a half-year elective for average or above average students who already passed at least the B1 regents.” The objective of the class was also to offer a more upper-level math elec-tive. The idea was initiated by Mr. Kurt DeAngelo and was to be taught by him and Mr. Robert Vayner.

A foreign language class was expected to be considered as well. “Everyday Spanish” was a basic conversational course intended for students that have not been successful in Spanish I,” said Ms. Karin Button, Spanish teacher and foreign language team leader. “You need to take and pass at least one year of foreign language to graduate,” she added.

Finally, the business class was a recent idea of Mr. Ben Richardson, social studies teacher, in attempt to fill in the gap created by the absence of a business pro-gram in the district. “The class was designed to cover

both economics and government curricula for seniors through a corporate business format,” Richardson said. “The ultimate goal was to run a school store and it would fulfill requirements in a nontraditional course setting, involving a lot of hands-on activity.

“It’s a tangible thing,” he continued. “Those practical lessons are much easier to manipulate and create teachable moments and it will eluci-date things that are too hard to explain in words.”

According to Myles, the course was not ap-proved by the state education department to re-place economics and participation in government.

The process is slow. According to Myles, the information on new courses first comes from the high school and must get approval by the state. Then, it must be submitted to the district officers by a certain date. From there it goes to the superintendent of schools who will then propose it to the Board of Education.

The process for the previously-mentioned courses was halted at the district level this year. “Our intent is for the classes to continue going though the process next year at the appropriate time,” said Chamberlain.

The fact that the classes are not on the agenda for next year has frustrated some the teachers in-volved. “It’s disappointing,” said Shaw. “Next years students lose the opportunity for many experiences. Hopefully it will be approved for the following year.”

“The Spanish teachers and I turned in the proposal and description of the new course on time,” said Button. “What happened af-

ter that and with the others, we do not know.”M y l e s c o m m e n t e d t h a t t h e r e w a s

no evidence that the SED would actually ac-cept this as a requirement for graduation.

“I have had to submit information about new classes in the past,” said Fierro. “The deadline was unclear this year, but in past years it has been Janu-ary 31, and the information was given to the admin-istration here at the high school well before that.”

Also, according to Ms. Susan Piasecki, House 2 principal, “In all my work in the past, we’ve never had this problem. Nobody ever gave a specific date this year. Whoever was in charge of it at this point did not specify when things were due,” she concluded.

Due to the difficulty this year, Myles is plan-ning on doing everything in his power to ensure this does not happen again. “I’m going to set up a calendar for next year with Assistant Su-perintendent Chamberlain. The deadline will be July 1 so we will have plenty of time,” he said.

He also mentioned the importance of build-ing the business program. “The business pro-gram for upcoming years is a top priority and could account for an entire series of electives.”

When it comes down to it, the classes will not be offered in 2007-08 due to administrative mis-communication. “Maybe it was my fault; I should have hounded the teachers like I have in the past to submit the information,” Myles said. “The whole system is not good or bad, it’s just the way it is.”

ice Caroccio an English teacher stated, “I once had a student who was homo-sexual and he wasn’t afraid to show it and let people know, so one day right outside on the corner he was beaten to a bloody pulp. It was horrible and it made me sick to my stomach.”

However, is suspension the an-swer? Is it harsh enough? True, it gets a point across to the person being sus-pended that what they did was inappropriate, but will a five-day suspension do anything to change their misconceptions about people of a different race, sex, creed, or religion? Probably not. According to Caroccio “The economic strata of Oswego is that of the have nots, the will nots, and the don’t knows, so people may not know any better. I think that we need to put money and credibility back into family time. Therefore, there will be some strength in the family

and values can be taught,” she stated.Even with stronger family values it

may be hard for some people to distin-guish appropriate behavior from inap-propriate behavior because of modern-day media. Well known “music artists” and comedians like Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy who use racial slurs in

their lyrics and in their comedy are highly popular. Some people believe that words like the “n-word” used be-tween two African American people is okay because they’re of the same race and they use it as a term of affec-tion but when used by a Caucasian, is taboo. Sophie Rosenbaum a junior at

OHS commented, “I was on a summer trip with some friends, and most of us are Jewish. While we were walking my friend saw a quarter glued to the ground and he said “that’s a Jew trap”. I laughed because I thought it was funny, but after, I realized that if someone else who wasn’t Jewish had said that,

I would have been really angry.” The debate rages about whether or not some terms, phrases, or references are ac-ceptable within a group. There are also people that believe that no one should use such words ever because they are so derogatory. Waruguru Gichane, also a junior at OHS, stated, “I think that rap-

pers and others that use racial slurs is wrong because I think that they’re try-ing to make it okay but instead they’re really just empowering the words. Then it makes it seem to other people that the words are okay, and they’re not.”

There is no easy way to answer the question of whether it is okay for

some people to use racial slurs and not for others. There is no quick fix to wipe out hatred. As much as people would like to deny it, hate and prejudice are a part of our past and our present. In order to stop hate in schools hate has to be stopped outside of schools as well. Myles commented, “We are a microcosm of society and as long as the problem of

racism and hate continues in society there will be some issues here as well. We’d like to think that in the year 2007 everyone would know that this type of behavior is inappropriate. People are entitled to their own opinions how-ever, what they do with their opinions is something completely different.”

“We are a microcosm of society and as long as the problem of racism and hate continues in society there will be some issues here as well”

Mr. Peter MylesExecutive Principal

Columns

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

3

Smokers Move Inside from ‘The Corner’I’m

sure you have all heard of the infamous “Smoker’s Corner.” Located

at the corner of Liberty and Mohawk streets, kids gather there to gossip about who wants to fight who, who’s cheating on their boyfriend, who got kicked out of their house, or to just smoke the pain of a rough school day away. Occasionally you will see a police officer parked nearby just in case it’s not cigarettes the kids are passing back and forth. It seems that our harsh winter has forced smokers indoors, as smoking in school bathrooms is now all the rage.

Hooray for our students (wait, you actually have to go to class to be a student) who find it necessary to meet up with their buddies, hide in a stall, and drag on a ciggy in the bathroom. Cool man! Let’s stain our teeth yellow and get cancer! Answer this:

can you honestly not make it a whole school day without a cigarette, or do you just smoke them to kill off five minutes of the class you are skipping? Though your nicotine dependant body may need a cigarette, it’s an inconvenience to those who just want to use the bathroom and not smell your smoke in the bathroom.

According to Spanish teacher Mr. Tim Bishop “I don’t condone students leaving school during

the day. However, which is more considerate to the health of others…smoking outside or smoking in our already ventilationally-challenged, windowless, small bathrooms?”

If you’re going to have a cigarette drag your low

life self outside and do it. Senior Andy Himes stated, “I think the point

of smoking cigarettes is to show us who the stupid people are in our school.

Not only is smoking in school bathrooms disgusting, it is against the law. If a student here at OHS gets caught smoking in the bathroom, it’s an automatic two-day suspension. OHS security officer Anthony Allison stated, “Asking me how I

feel about smoking in school bathrooms is like asking me how I feel about speeding; it’s against the law.”

Smoker’s corner isn’t that safe either. Since there is a bus stop there, the corner

is school property as well. Yet we have our share of rebels here at the high school who think they are above the law and their craving for a cigarette is stronger than the risk of being suspended from school.

Answer this: can you honestly not make it a whole school day without a cigarette, or do you just smoke them to kill off five minutes of the class you are skipping?

Clublicity

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

4

Clublicity was compiled by Katie DiVita, Morgan McNamera, Waruguru Gichane, Pat Dougherty, Kailyn Gray, and Chelsea Waters. Anyone wanting to post a clublicity announcement should contact Sophie Rosenbaum at: srosenba@oswego.org

Juniors Busy with Variety Show & Prom2007 Junior Variety Show

Accepted Acts

Jessica DeLapp and Nina Ramos - singing

DeLapp Sisters - singingJeff Blum - comedy

Christina Burnswick - singingThe Crew - dancing

Abby Martin and Chelsea Wahrendorf - singing

Abby Martin and Dustin Pecora - guitar/singing

Dustin Pecora, Dan Crisafulli, and Brian Graves - guitar/singing

Liz Schultz and group - popJV Cheer - dance

Tiffany Yanez - singingGraphic by Katie DiVita

Senior ClassRecently, the senior class had a lot of prepara-

tion to do for the 100 Days to graduation celebra-tion. The celebration was on Thursday, March 22. Seniors dressed up for the celebration and the senior class picture took place in Leighton Gym on that day. Other activities that took place during 100 Days were a catered breakfast, a final diploma check, cap and gown measurements, hypnotist for entertainment, and voting for the senior superlatives.

Also, they are beginning to plan the Senior Dinner Dance which will take place during regents week in June. Please contact an advisor or class officer to assist.

If you have any pictures you would like to see in the senior slide-show on Senior Night, please send them to James Bates or Colin Lea.

Junior ClassThe Junior Variety Show will take place on

April 20 and 21 at 7:00 p.m. in the Faust The-atre and admission will be $5 per person. Audi-tions were held on February 21 and a number of talented individuals now make up the 2007 Ju-nior Variety Show Accepted Acts (see graphic).

The Junior Prom is scheduled for Saturday, May 12 in the Hewitt Union Ballroom from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Tickets will tentatively be sold on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from April 16 to May 2. Students can pick them up in the morning from 6:45 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. and after school from 2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. in Room 240. Tickets will only be sold to juniors and seniors, although freshman and sopho-mores may come as guests of upperclassmen. Prom guests from other schools require prior approval and forms will be available in the house offices. Tickets cost $24.00 each and a portion of the money will be donated to the Post-Prom Party. If anyone has any questions, they should contact Junior Class advisers Mrs. Jennifer Dempsey and Mrs. Heidi Sweeney.

All students are also reminded that the Prom Project has been brought back this year. Anyone who is interested in taking advantage of the organization can pick up their dresses, dress shirts, jewelry, or other Prom-related items at Mary Jean’s at 122 West Second Street, P & C Grocery Store, or Paul’s Big M.

National Honor SocietyNational Honor Society competed in the first an-

nual NHS volleyball tournament at a benefit sponsored by Mexico High School. The team competed against Sandy Creek and Mexico High School to raise money for a scholarship presented at Mexico High school for a student who died from cancer. The team included Kathryn Lazarski, Kevin Kearns, Theresa Emond, Ali Finn, Shelby Persons, Morgan McNamara, Andy Lloyd, Abby Dixon, Greg Lyons, Katelyn Bateman, Ryan King, Ian MacDonald, Chris Sova and Zach Fayette.

At the end of March or early April, NHS will be par-taking in the St. Jude’s trivia challenge. The money will go towards St. Judes Children’s hospital. Over the past seven years, NHS has donated over $12,000 to St. Judes.

Foreign ExchangeThe Foreign Student Club has done a lot of plan-

ning in the past month. The club, advised by Ms. Janet Bernreuther, began compiling phone numbers and contact information of the club’s foreign students so as to allow members of the club to continue to communicate after the foreign students return to their respective home countries. Planning contin-ued for another club outing, with sledding and ice skating being popular ideas. Members of the club hope to continue to participate in similar activities throughout the remainder of the year. Anyone in-terested in information on the Foreign Student Club can contact Ms. Bernreuther in the Media Center.

DramaDrama Club recently put on the show Wonder of the

World by David Lindsay-Abaire at the Harms Festival in Syracuse. They preformed in front of a panel of judges, and high school students from around Central New York.

Wonder of the World is a play that appeals to both fans of comedy and suspense. The main character, Cass, embarks on a journey of self discovery after she discovers a life altering secret about her husband on her honeymoon. The show takes place in Niagara Falls and features a variety of interesting characters. Cass meets a suicidal alcoholic, a lonely tour boat captain and a quarrelling pair of private detectives.

Every four years, athletes from around the world compete in the Olympic games; giving their all for a lifetime of glory. However, some Olympic victories go unnoticed, and the heroes are forgotten. Mr. Thomas Caraccioli and Mr. Gerard Caraccioli, OHS class of ’85, were adamant about not letting this happen to one of their Olympic heroes. So the identical twin brothers published the book Striking Silver in honor of the 1972 American Olympic team that brought a silver medal home to the United States

and home to Oswego around the neck of Pete Sears.The Caraccioli brothers come from humble be-

ginnings. The identical twins are the last of seven children. They share a deep connection that spans across many arenas. In their adolescence, Tom and Jerry played on several sports teams together. They played on Oswego High School’s varsity soccer, and baseball teams, but their hearts were always in hockey.

Although identical in appearance, Tom and Jerry are not identical in character. Tom was one of Oswego High School’s top student-athletes. His love for sports and journalism earned him the title of Sports Editor for The Buccaneer Bulletin. His flair for writing was not limited to sports. Mrs. Eve Phillips, Tom’s tenth grade English teacher, said “Tom was contentious and dedicated. He was an eager learner, and full of curiosity.”

After high school, Tom attended SUNY Oswego where he majored in Communications. He was very active during his collegiate years. Through his major he earned an internship with the Boston Red Sox. His involvement with hockey did not end immediately after high school. He played on the college hockey team with Jerry for a year and was also as a coach in the Oswego Minor Hockey Association.

After college Tom moved to Boston where he held a position as a sports publicist for the Boston Red Sox for eleven years. Seeking advancement, he began working for the USA Network. He covered sporting events such as the Master’s Golf Tourna-ment, and the US Open. During the four years that he held a position at the USA network, he covered many sporting events alongside his twin. He describes their interactions as “friendly competition.” When at an event together, they would help each other.

Tom’s next position was with NBC Sports. He worked there for two years, but was just not satis-

fied. He decided to start his own public relations company. Lion’s Roar is the name of Tom’s public relations firm. They cover golf tournaments, and yield a clien-tele in New York and Phila-delphia. Tom also teaches his clients how to conduct themselves in front of the media. His expertise in public relations has led him to a position as an adjunct professor at Drexel University where he teaches cours-es in publicity and promotions.

Jerry was also a scholar-athlete during his years at OHS. He shared the Brennan Student Athlete Scholarship with his brother Tom. After he gradu-ated, he attended SUNY Oswego, where he majored in Communications. Jerry did not graduate from SUNY

Oswego; instead he transferred to California State Uni-versity in Fullerton. That is where he made is his break into sports public relations through an internship with the California Angels and with the Oakland Athletics.

As a young man Jerry always dreamed of a job where “He didn’t need an alarm clock to wake up.” In his search for this position, he made several stops. He worked as the director of media relations for Major League Base-ball in Sydney Australia for two years. Soon after he moved to Connecti-cut where he worked in a sports marketing f i r m. He wasn’t en-tirely satis-fied, so he moved on to a position at CBS Sports in Manhattan, NY. He has worked there for the past ten years. Jerry has covered a variety of sports events including several Superbowls, the ’98 Winter Olympics, NCAA basketball tournaments, the US Open and PGA championships. He also teaches a sports marketing class at NYU. His advice to any-

one seeking a similar career is to, “Find what you love and go about trying to get paid for it.” Jerry has finally found the job that he always dreamed about.

Striking Silver had been in the making for as long as Tom and Jerry can remember. Mr. Peter Sears was

Tom and Jerry’s hockey coach during high school. He served as their greatest

inspiration during their youth. During their visits

with Sears t h e y noticed

his si l-ver medal

f rom the 1972 Olym-

pic Games. Tom and Jerry

were in awe of his achievement

and knew that the story had to

be told. Jerry said, “We weren’t writ-

ing it to make a mil-lion dollars. It was a

passion project for us.” They began by inter-

viewing the twenty men who were on the team. The split up the book and each worked on a section. When they finally put the book together it seemed to fit together perfectly. Tom noted, “We have similar writing styles, it wasn’t very difficult.” The book took about a year and half to write, and was published in January of 2006.

Tom commented, “It has gone beyond our wildest dreams.” It’s currently in its second printing and the brothers say the publishers seem quite pleased with the sales. It sold out at “river’s end bookstore,” and made it on to the shelves of bookstores in Boston, New York, Lake Placid and Philadelphia. Mrs. Phillips, who is reading the book penned by her former stu-dents said, “It’s [the book] interesting and engaging.”

The twins have gotten a great feeling of fulfillment from writing this book. They have developed a close relationship with the ’72 Olympic team. “They brought us into their world and made us a part of their team,” Tom stated. Tom and Jerry did not write the

book to become famous, they wrote it so that the team would not be forgotten. They plan on writing similar books about unheralded Olympic athletes.

T h e C a r a c c i o l i b r o t h e r s a r e s i m i -lar to Olympic athletes; they are proof of what hard work and determination can accomplish.

Alumni

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

5

Brothers Pay Tribute to OlympiansBy Waruguru GichaneAlumni Editor

Photo Courtesy of toM and Jerry CaraCCioli

Tom (left) and Jerry Caraccioli (right) promote their book on the 1972 silver medal hockey team, Striking Silver. Their book was released in January 2006 and has enjoyed big sales.

“We weren’t writing it to make a million dollars. It was a passion project for us.”

Jerry Caraccioli

Columns

March 2007

6

Are Your Parents Pressuring You to Succeed?

Buccaneer Bulletin

Inourdayandagethepressuretosucceed is at an all-timehigh.Manykidsarepressuredeverydaytodothebest in everything they do, not onlybythemselves,butbytheirparentsaswell.Manyparentspushtheirchildrento the limits tomake their lives suc-cessful.Somekidsdowellundersuchpressure,butsomedonot.Thequestionis, how much pressure is too much? Notmanypeoplewoulddisagreethatparentsplayan important role intheirchildren’sachievement.Somepeo-ple,however,wouldarguethatparentsofsomestudentsplayaharmfulrole,bypressuringtheirchildrentotryandreachunrealisticgoalstosatisfytheirparents’dreams.Thoughinsomecasesparentswithacademicallytalentedchildrenhavepositivecontributionstotheirchildren’ssuccess, it can also create pressureandperformanceanxiety in children. ResearchersattheJohnsHopkinsUniversity,Center ofTalentedYouth(CTY), examined parents’ thoughtsabouttheimportanceofhighachieve-mentandtheachievementofgoalswiththeirchildren.Theybasedtheirstudyonabout800familiesofacademically-talentedstudents.Manyoftheparentsstudiedwerehighlyinvolvedwiththeirchildren’s education which was reflected byagreementthatitwasimportantfor

theirchildrentoexcelinschool(92%).Whenparentsbelievethathighachieve-mentisimportant,theyaremorelikelyto get involved with their children’seducation.Amajorityofparentsalsobelievedthatitwasextremelyimportantfortheirchildtoattendatop-level college/univer-sity (73%).Manypeoplewouldthinkthatthekidsoftheseparentswouldfeelpressuredbytheirparents’expectations,butonly39percentofstudentsagreedthattheyfeel“alotofpres-surefromtheirparentstoalwaysbeanexceptionalstudent.”Researchersbe-lievedthatthispercentagewas so low because somanyof thestudentsfeltthattheirparents’expecta-tionscouldeasilybemet. AccordingtoParents’ConceptionsofAcadem-ic Success: Internal andExternal Standards byAblard,parents’behaviorsandmessages to their children aboutachievement could filter down to stimu-latefeelingsofpressure.Whenagroupofparentswere asked towritedowntheir definitions of academic success, 56 percent of all parents definitions includ-edexternalstandardslikeperformance

beyondones’peers,beingsociallyrec-ognizedbygettingintotop-levelcolleg-esandlaterongettinghigh-payingjobs. This could have its advantages

becauseitencouragesstudentstodem-onstrate high performance in schoolbygettinggoodgrades,which couldleadtoentranceintotopnotchcollegesandeventuallyleadingtoasuccessfulcareer.However,excessivefocuscouldpressurechildren,sendingthemessage

thatacademicsuccessisimportant,notforpersonalreasons,buttopleaseoth-ers.“Myparentsdopressureme toacertaindegree.Theyalwaysencourage

me todomybest, buttheydon’ttellmetobethebestoranythinglikethat,”saidKatieDiVita,whoiscurrentlyrankednumberoneintheclassof’08.“Ithinkacertainamountofparentalpres-sureisgoodbecauseitkeepskidsfocused,butparents should makesure theirkidsarestillbeing able to enjoythemselves,” she said.Thesestudieshelpusunderstand the rolethat parents play inchildren’s academicachievements.Mostpar-entswithacademically-talentedstudentsdonotseemtoplayaharmfulrole in their children’slives,but thatdoesnotmean that kids do not

feelpressured.Abalanceofpressureisneededtomakesuretheirchildisper-formingtohis/herabilitybutnotenoughtomake the child feel overwhelmed.Such a balance, especially when ac-companied with support and guid-ance,isunlikelytostimulatepressure.

By Morgan McNamaraReporter

Photo By www.Mvschools.org

Parental pressure to succeed sometimes has the opposite affect on kids. This child’s drawing shows some of the feelings young students encounter when over-pressured.

Features

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

7

Experts Discourage Hometown Roommates

College can be one of the most exciting times young adults will experience in their lifetimes. It’s an experience laden with new challenges, fresh opportu-nities, and an overwhelming sense of empowerment. However, there is one element of these crossroads which can make or break the college experience – roommates. It is well known that dormitory life has a pivotal role in how college students remember their first few years away from home. Roommates can define the mood of an entire semester; whether it’s re-membered fondly or looked back upon as a nightmare.

One way many college students avoid a poten-tially-upsetting roommate experience is by room-ing with a best friend from high school. But is this preemptive strike really the wisest decision? Many college directors and counselors don’t think so. They believe that college students living with their friends from their hometowns takes away from the full college experience. Chuck Weeks, Director of Residence Life and Housing at SUNY Oswego said, “It’s part of the residential learning experience to room with someone different from you ethnically, geographically, or in any other way.” He explained that it’s important for college students to stray from their “comfort-zone” and immerse themselves in new ideas and cultures. College and university con-sultant Susan Fee said, “Only hanging out with a friend from high school can hold both students back.”

Weeks also believes that students can benefit in numerous ways from getting to know a room-mate. He said, “Rooming with someone new gives you an opportunity to learn new skills which you’ll use for the rest of your life.” By learning to adjust to a roommate, students are able to enhance their problem solving and compromising skills. These will be useful in the years to come, since students will unfortunately not be able to choose their professors, bosses, or co-workers in the future.

Still, many students believe the benefits of living with a friend outweigh the valuable experience of liv-ing with someone new. For one, friends living with one another in college already know they are compat-ible and have similar interests. Oswego High School alumnus Josh Flett, a student at Castleton State Col-lege who is living with a friend from his hometown said, “Neither of us wanted to get stuck with someone who we didn’t like and we figured if we roomed to-gether, then we wouldn’t take that chance.” He knew adjusting to college was going to be a challenge, and decided that having a roommate from his hometown would ensure at least one comfortable aspect of his college experience. Oswego alumnus Ryan Grulich, a student at SUNY Oswego who is living with an old friend said, “I think it’s easier to live with a friend than a complete stranger because you never know who you will be paired with. It’s possible you could have to live with someone you just can’t stand. That’s one of the risks you take by rooming with a stranger.”

Friends obviously get along and are able to work out problems better, since they have been doing it for years. For many students, the obvious college roommate choice is a best friend they already know everything about. Carly Scranton, a student at SUNY Fredonia who is living with a high school friend said, “We definitely understand each other better. We’re more in tune with how the other works, so we wanted to room together.” Grulich also agrees and stated, “There is a sense of trust and understanding with a friend.” This allows the roommates to avoid misun-derstandings simply because they are from different cultures and backgrounds.

But who is to say there won’t be just as many con-flicts with a friend than with a stranger? Fee said, “Rooming together in college can eas-ily ruin a friendship. Living together is way different than hanging out a lot.” Being so close to someone can bring out new, sometimes undesir-able traits. Even traits some-one once loved about their friend before rooming with them may become annoyanc-es when they are magnified and present 24/7. Scranton said, “My roommate and I definitely know how to push each other’s buttons… sometimes it’s almost like we know each other too well, and we can annoy each other.”

Fee believes the combi-nation of demanding college courses, social pressures, and homesickness can cause friends to turn on one anoth-er, something they wouldn’t do with a stranger. Often students’ stress-induced, less charming sides, which used to be saved solely for their families, are exposed to their friends. This can change friends’ perceptions of one another and leave painful scars in previously healthy long-term relationships.

According to Weeks, only about 200 of the 1200 fresh-man at SUNY Oswego choose to live with someone from their hometown, and about half of them switch room-mates by the spring semester.

There are obvious pros and cons of living with a

friend and a stranger in college. It can be reassuring for students to room with someone who understands and accepts them, rather than start from scratch with someone they’ve never met. On the other hand, room-ing with a different person gives them the chance to experience something totally new and possibly make another great friend. Students should keep in mind that college is all about growing as people, adapting to new situations, and finding their place in the world. Whether they choose to live with an old friend or start a new friendship, it’s only one of many major decisions that will shape their college experience.

By Katie DiVitaEntertainment Editor

Features

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

8

Winter Break Cancellation a Tough Decision

Disappointing Turnout for Senior Trip to Florida

After an entire week of snow days,

in which the Oswego City School District used up all of its emergency closing days, Superintendent David Fischer along with other school of-ficials, had to make the decision of which vacation days should be taken away to replace future excess snow days. The decision ended up be-ing unanimous, in which the winter break (February 19-23) was cancelled instead of the April spring break.

“I certainly didn’t want to can-cel the break,” commented Fischer. “However, after five straight days of extreme snow conditions, in which we made national news…after discuss-ing it with various school officials, we decided it would be best to take days away from the February break.”

President of the Oswego school board, Mr. Dave White, who was also a large factor in the decision, believed that taking vacation days away from students was inevitable. Both White and Fischer believed that the thing which convinced them to cancel winter break was an “overwhelming majority,” on which break to cancel.

When asked what made up the “overwhelming majority,” Fischer ad-mitted he didn’t hear from any parents or students. “I consulted with union leadership and the school board before making the decision,” Fischer stated.

“It seems that the more sacred break is spring break in terms of family vaca-

tions and other scheduled events,” said Assistant Superintendent William Crist.

However, many found fault in the timing of the school district cancel-ing the break three days beforehand.

“I thought it was r idiculous for them (the school officials) to cancel break at the last minute like that,” said junior Emily Oleyourryk.

“Among those people who made the last minute decision to cancel the break, how many of them have been teachers in a classroom within the past five years…with almost no adequate time to plan my lessons and little chance to get a substitute knowl-edgeable in my area, my choices were definitely limited,” said one teacher at OHS who asked to remain anonymous.

The decision which, Fischer said “definitely could have had better tim-ing,” was justified by most school officials because of the note on the staff calendar. The note reads “...in the event that all six (6) emergency days are used prior to the February break, additional days will be taken as follows: February 20, 21, 22, 23.” White stressed that he hopes that next year this same note will be

implemented in the district calendar along with the staff calendar to help avoid as much confusion as possible.

Fischer also pointed out that he made sure that if someone had pre-existing plans they could still go on their vaca-tion, by taking such actions as legalizing absences for vacations over the week.

Mr. Mark Mirabito, and Mr. Al-

len Hallet, both teachers at OHS, supported the decision made by the Superintendent and the school board. They both felt that if the days were to be taken off sooner in the year it would be a lot more beneficial.

The main problem many had with the cancellation being only three days before the break was that it forced some people who had pre-ex-isting plans to make a tough choice of choosing whether to cancel a vacation (which could be costly due to airline tickets etc.), or miss school for the week. In the case of a student, that would mean possibly falling behind, or for a teacher, it would mean hav-ing a week of class with a substitute.

One teacher was particularly trou-bled by the decision because canceling his vacation would have cost nearly

five-hundred dollars, and going away would take away from his personal days. “…I, like other faculty members, decided to continue with my travel plans and furthermore “pay” by us-ing up four personal days (each worth money upon retirement). Knowing well that the week would be laden with stress and negativity, it was worth ev-ery penny of the hundred of extra dol-lars to take the relaxing time away from Oswego…I felt sorry for my colleagues and students not able to get away…”

Crist said that because the deci-sion was discussed with the teachers union, it was justified that the teachers would have to use personal days if they wished to still attend their vacation.

Over the week, attendance lev-els were significantly lower than the average. Fischer pointed out that at-tendance was excellent over the week in elementary schools, which had around 84 percent attendance (about 10 percent less then average), but only 73 percent of students in the high school attended classes. Although, on February 19, 621 out of 1700 students missed school. Also, normally this time of year approximately 35 employees will be out on any given day, yet over the break, an average of 74 missed.

In total, four days were restored to replace emergency snow days. Fischer said that if those four days are not used, they will be given back by having no school on May 25th, April 16th, May 29th, and April 25th.

Kevin KearnsEditor-in-chief

With the maximum capacity of a Boeing 747s airplane, being two hundred and thirty four pas-sengers, you would have expected that most of the plane carrying the Oswego High School seniors on its trip to Florida would’ve been filled with stu-dents. But only 62 seniors out of 331 had chosen to fly to Orlando, Florida, on March 3, 2007 for the Senior Class Trip. “I think that’s pretty pathetic, it must send some kind of message that people weren’t interested. The rest of us should’ve got to miss school too,” stated senior Alicia Canale.

You would have expected the reason for so few par-ticipants would have been the price of the trip, which was $795 though this could all have been raised with the fundraising that was offered. But many seniors seemed to have other excuses for not attending the

trip. Alicia Canale, who did not go on the trip, stated that she would rather not have missed any classes and didn’t want to be “chaperoned like a sixth grader.”

Annoying chaperones was far from the truth. Most of the time spent in the parks, only once or twice were the chaper-ones seen, and it was only pass-ing by. “The chaperones just told us when to be back and that we could roam free (wher-ever in the park) that we would like. They also had an understanding curfew which was 11:00. Overall, they were very lenient and I didn’t at all feel like I was being watched,” Geoffrey Loughery stated.

Other reasons for seniors not going were because some had already been to Disney World or had been on vacation already this year. Money wasn’t on the top of the list for reasons not to come, although Steph-anie Osetek felt that if she had planned on attending

the trip, she would have been “discouraged” a little, since it was, “quite a large amount.”

“ I t h o u g h t i t was great; there was neve r a du l l mo -ment and everyone

got along very well,” stated Eric McCrobie. Overall the outcome of the trip seemed flawless.

Each student who went to Florida had only positive things to say about their experience and returned to good ol’ Oswego with pictures and memories to last a lifetime.

Lindsay MarshReporter

Sixty-two members of the Class of ‘07 enjoyed five days of fun in the sun in Florida on the Senior Class Trip including a group photo at Epcot (above).

“It seems that the more sacred break is spring break in terms of family vacations and other scheduled events,”

Assistant Superintendent William Christ

“I thought it was great; there was never a dull moment and everyone got along very well” Senior Eric McCrobie

Eversincelatelastsummer,thestudent-paintedmurals on the first and second floors have beengraduallydisappearingfromthewallsofOHS,from study halls, to the C-hallway; howeverthereisanexplanationandanewideaonthehorizon for showcasing new school artwork. ThosewhoattendedOHSlastyear(andbefore)shouldhavenoticedthatwhenyoucameback to school thewalls in thenurse/athleticdepartment hallway had become dull, blank,andthesimilartotherestoftheschool.“Thisisbecausetheartworkthathadbeendisplayedfor years, was deteriorating and had becomegrimy, discolored, and out-dated,” stated Mr.Peter Myles, Executive Principal. Becauseof this, he had most of the murals paintedover by the custodial staff for a fresh start.Mylescameupwiththeideatocreateanartgalleryallaroundtheschoolthatcanberotatedthroughtheyears.Thegallerywillnotbeinonespecific location; like the murals it will be in variousareasaroundtheschool.Therotationofeachpiecewillvarybyhowlongtheartistwantstoleaveitup,buttherewillbealimitoftwoyears.“Itwilltakeawhilebeforewecangetenoughartworktodisplaypiecesallovertheschool,butwithenoughtimeandtalentedartistswe’llhaveartwork

upsoon,”saidMrs.MelissaMartin.Thiswillhope-fullyhelpraisemoralearoundtheschoolandwillberememberedandappreciatedbyvisitorsandstudentsalike.Shewillbedecidingonwhichpiecestoputup

aroundtheschoolandwillbeginaskingthestudentsinherclassesandotherartclassesiftheywouldliketocontributetheirartworktotheschoolgalleryaftertheSalmonRiverShow,inApril.Theideabehind

this is that we will be able to view new artworkwithoutitbeingoutdated,anddismal.Theartworkwillbeframedandifpossiblehaveprotectiveglassinfrontofittosecureitssafetyfromvandalswho

mightwanttodam-agea certainpieceof art. For thosewho would like tocreateaworkofartfor the school, theusualrulesofgoodtasteandschoolap-propriateness ap-ply to the artwork.Regrettably,theschoolbudgetmightnot have enoughfundstoprovidethenecessary materi-als (frames, glass,etc.) to display theartwork effective-ly. The Art Clubor local businessesmight be able to

helpraisefundsforthenecessarysupplies.Never-theless therewillbebeautifulartworkbackuponthewallsbeforeyouknowitforeveryonetoenjoy.

Becomingoflegalageapparentlydoesn’thappenfastenoughforsomepeople.Fordecades,thosewhocannotwaittoblowtheircandlesoutforthe21sttime,resorttotheuseof false identification cards to gain privilegereservedforthosewhoactuallyqualify.

FakeID’s.Theyarethetemptingcarrotsonthestrings,theforbiddenfruit,andkidsjustcan’tkeeptheirpawsoffthem.Also,theyarerelativelyeasytoobtain.Justtype“FakeID”intoGoogleandwithinseconds,dozensofwebsitesappearbeforeyoureyes.

Realistically,justhowcleveristhis?Let’sslapapictureofsomeonewiththesamecolorhairasyouontoacardfullofBSinformationandseewhoisdumbenoughtofallforit.Thesadthingis,Iwasn’tbeingsarcastic.Peoplesayit’sthateasy.Thepersonwhochecksitdoesn’thavetimetostopandstudytheIDaswellasthefaceofthepersonwhohandeditto

them,letalonethinkrationallywhentheyhavealonglineattheirliquorstore.Theymerelychecktomakesurethatannoying“UNDER21”redlabelisnotcampingoutnexttothepicture.

“It’ssoeasy,”saidsomeonewhochosetoremainanonymous,“Iftheyeven ask for it in the first place, it takesalloffoursecondsandyou’reoutthedoorwithasixpack.”

Whatexactlyhappenswhenyoudogetcaught?Firstofall,it’sa

completeembarrassment.Imaginethose“Uh-Oh”feelingsmultipliedbyaboutamillionandhavingeveryonelaughatyou,withtheexceptionofyourparents,ofcourse.

AccordingtotheDepartment

ofAlcoholicBeverageControl’swebsite,theminimumpenaltyforgetting caught with fake identification is$250andupto32communityservicehours.Youthinkthat’sharsh?Themaximum(andwhenIsaymaximumImeantheusual)is

$1,000,sixmonthsincountyjail,andayear-longsuspensionofyourlicense.Thatstuffdoesn’tevenincludethemisdemeanorforthebuying,drinking,orpossessionofillegalsubstancesasaminor,whichcomehand-in-handwithit!

Aside from the fines and punishments,theuseofafakeIDcouldactuallybeverydangerous.Forexample,ifanythinghappenstoyouwhilecarryingyourfalseidentity,therewillbeextremeconfusionastowhoyouactuallyare!Althoughnotfunny,Icouldimaginethepoliceknockingonsomeone’sdoorandinformingthemthattheyhadlosttheirsonordaughter,whentheyknowtheyareactuallyasleepintheirbeds. I don’t think that would fly for anAprilFool’sjokeeither.

Faceit,fakeID’sareanexcusetotravelthroughtheteenageyearsatthespeedoflight.Imean,whateverhappenedtojustbeingakid…Ohyeah,that’sexactlywhatwearedoing!Whatistheworldcomingto?

Features 9

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

Artwork Removed from OHS HallwaysBy Samuel-Graeme AustinAdRepresentative

Use of Fake ID Cards Results in Stiff PenaltiesBy Abby MartinChiefPhotographer

Photo IllustratIon by Fred Maxon

Once adorned with student paintings (right), the C-Wing hallway now has a fresh, but barren look without the artwork.

Photo IllustratIon by saMuel-GraeMe austIn

Editorial

cartoon by Morgan goodwin

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

10

Editor-in-ChiefKevin Kearns

Managing EditorsAshley Johnston, Chrissy King

Entertainment EditorKatie DiVita

Alumni EditorM.Waruguru Gichane

Layout EditorMallory Kelly

Clublicity EditorSophie Rosenbaum

Desktop PublishersSarah DehmWeb Team

Pat Dougherty, Greg Lyons, Lindsay Marsh, Lindsay Usherwood

Sports EditorZach GrulichSportswriters

Kailyn Gray, Kathryn LazarskiArt DirectorFred Maxon

Art StaffAmanda BinghamMorgan Goodwin

Chief PhotographerAbby Martin

PhotographersAlyscia Clohecy Alyssa Holland

Ad RepresentativesSamuel Graeme Austin

ReportersMorgan McNamara,

Sophie Rosenbaum, Lauren Dimarco, Genevieve Hall, Chelsea Waters

AdvisersBill Reeser

Mike McCrobie

Oswego High School’s Student Voice

The Buccaneer Bulletin, a member of the Empire State School Press Association, and The Quill and Scroll, is published periodically by the students of the Oswego High School, 2 Buccaneer Blvd.; Oswego, New York 13126; (315) 341-2200.

It is intended as a vehicle to inform, educate, and entertain the student body.

Printing services are provided by The Palladium-Times. Opinions expressed are those of the students and do not necessarily reflect those of the administration or the advisers.

Buccaneer Bulletin

.....to the continued leaky ceiling which, despite renovations last summer, has persisted. It causes wet hallways and slippery stairs which, at times, can be dangerous and annoying. .....to study hall teachers who write passes for students to go to the media center/writing center without any permission from the people in control of their respective areas. It has become such a big problem Mrs. Bernreuther has been forced to ask all teachers to call her before sending any students to the media center. Let’s communicate!

.....to Fred Maxon and Katie Divita, who both placed first and fourth, from a field of over 1,000 entries, in the Newspaper in Education Week writing contest for the Post-Standard. Once again our students are being recognized outside of our own community. .....to the Advantage After-School program at the YMCA/Armory. It provides students who normally wouldn’t have the chance, an opportunity to exercise and keep themselves physically fit without spending money on expensive memberships to gyms. .....to Mr. Ben Richardson’s economics classes which created a bake sale project, which won the Leavey Award for Free Market Education for 2006. It takes a committed educator, enthusiastic students, and hard work to achieve such an award. .....to the school district for asking student input on the decision for the reconfiguration of the school district. Many times in the past, student input would have been very beneficial, but no one bothered to take the time to survey the students. Hopefully the information our students provided will be used in determining what to do with the reconfiguration.

Drawing BoardDrawing Board

Due to complaints by angry parents about the violent nature of buccaneers, Oswego High School will be chang-ing its mascot name to the penguins. The Oswego Penguins will make their debut in the 2008-2009 school year.

The Oswego City School District has been discussing this issue heat-edly for the past several months. Mrs. Dinah Soares, a parent of an OHS student and supporter of the mascot change, said, “Parents just don’t want their kids sporting a mascot who pro-motes violence, pillaging and robbery.”

Why the penguin? About three weeks ago in the midst of our lake-effect storm, an Arctic penguin was found in the backyard of a home owned by Minetto resident, Mr. Jim Nasium. Reportedly the penguin was in the back of van coming from Rosamond Gifford Park Zoo. The van broke down in Minetto, and all the animals were unloaded and kept in Minetto elementary school while the van was being repaired. When the animals were left unattended, one of the Arc-tic penguins escaped from the gym

and entered Nasium’s backyard. He said, “I was in complete shock when I

saw it. I knew Upstate New York was cold, but I definitely wasn’t expecting

to see a penguin in my backyard.” Nasium immediately called Animal Control and they sent, Mr. Brock Lee, a representative from the Com-mittee for Rehabilitation of Arctic Penguins. They picked up the penguin and brought him back to the zoo.

There wasn’t any publicity about this story to ensure the safety of the penguin. Arctic penguins are on the en-dangered species list, and publicizing this occurrence would have not only angered animal activist groups across the state, but put the penguin in danger of possible poachers. The penguin was returned safely to the zoo and is in top condition. Lee stated, “He’s doing fine now. He suffered a few scrapes from the escape, but he’s fully recovered.”

When the district caught wind of this story, they decided to make the final leap and change the mascot to the penguin. It was the best choice because the district would not have to buy all new uniforms and could keep blue and white as the school colors. “It will be hard to make the switch to the Oswego Penguins,” Soares stated, “but it’s time that we got rid of the buccaneer and all the negative things it stands for.”

Oswego is known for the absurd amount of snow that we get in the winter. On average, the city gets around 136 inches of snow per winter. With this amount of snow coming every year, we often get many snow days. These snow days severely hinder stu-dents’ education and they also mess up the total number of days students attend school. Therefore, a proposal has been made to the Board of Education that would push the first day of school ahead from the usual Wednesday after Labor Day in September to August 17.

This proposal was made recently and, so far, has met with a lot of positive feedback from members of the board and teachers alike. Many schools around the US have started school in August and have shown great success. Starting school earlier would have many positive effects. One of these outcomes would leave room for more snow days. This would be good because as ev-eryone can see from all our snow days recently, closings can wreak hav-oc as they did on the musical, Les Mis-erables and the winter sports calendar.

Starting school earlier might also lead to longer breaks if we were to end up having a mild winter and not need-ing many snow days. Starting early might also allow for teachers to take a slower pace with the material they need to teach. This would help students who have trouble picking up material quick-ly. This would also allow for students

to become better prepared for state-mandated tests like the regents exams. If you look at all the positive things that would come from starting school in August, it is hard to argue against it.

Regardless of all the good that could come from starting school earlier, it is obvious that students would be opposed

to it. This is understandable, because after homework, extra curricular ac-tivities, family time, jobs, and friends, students can become overwhelmed. After a while they do need a break.

Also, many times people take vacations. What would happen if you were on vacation when school was scheduled to start? Another reason to oppose starting school earlier is because of all the work that the guid-

ance counselors have to do would have to be done earlier. That would leave little time for them to spend with their families and just relax themselves.

After looking at both sides of the issue, it’s true that there are many pros and cons. The proposal will be brought up to the board and will wait their ap-

proval. The ad-ministration of the high school will be noti-fied on April 1 and then from there, a letter

will be sent home to parents notifying them of the change in schedule. If there are any questions or concerns, students are invited to attend a board meeting. If students are interested in attending the board meeting it could be helpful in making a well rounded decision, because after all, if the board can take away a short week-long break, what’s to stop them from taking away a whole three weeks off of summer vacation?

Features

April 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

A

Early Start Will Solve Snow Day Dilemma

School to Adopt Kinder, Gentler Mascot

By Chrissy KingManaging Editor

By Waruguru GichaneAlumni Editor

GrAphic by GreG Lyons

Many schools around the US have started school in August and have shown great success.

Oswego High School considers a plan to start school on August 17th in hopes of creating extra days in the calendar for snow days.

An artist has created a preliminary image of the new helmets for the OHS football team, complete with the new Penguin logo.

The 2003 box office hit movie School of Rock earned $3,026,851 in the first six weeks, and even more profits were earned later when it came out on video and DVD. The success of the movie has lead Para-mount Pic-t u res and d i r e c t o r R i c h a r d Li n k la t e r to plan a se-quel to the movie, and that sequel is big news f o r o n e OHS senior.

Part of the sequel’s plot is to show flash-b a c k s o f main char-acter Dew-ey Fin n’s (Jack Black) life as a stu-dent in high school. The f lashback shows how Dewey fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll. During a recent trip to Lab-rador Mountain in Truxton, NY, a Paramount Pictures unit production manager named Sam Hoffmann no-ticed a snowboarder that looked just like Jack Black. It was Oswego’s very own senior, Will Folgherait.

Hoffmann was not actually looking to find a person for the part because the funding for the movie

has not been finalized but once he saw Folgherait he knew right away it was a perfect match. He imme-diately told Folgherait about his plans and gave him his cell phone number in order to call him within the next week for a screen test. “I knew I looked like the actor Jack Black; people I know have been telling

me that for years, so I called him two days later after I talked to my parents.”

Folgherait plans on flying to Cali-fornia as soon as the school year is over. The shooting of his scenes will take about a m o n t h , and if inter-ested, Fol-g h e r a i t ca n s t ick around for the shoot-ing of the rest of the m ov ie t o get the full experience of produc-ing a Holly-wood film. “I know we have a real-ly great TV p r o g r a m here in the high school,

but for some reason I have never taken it. It’s exciting that my first ex-perience will be in a real Hollywood production.”

Folghera it or ig i-nally planned to go to

a SUNY college in the fall but this opportunity has changed his mind. “If I don’t end up liking acting, I’ll move back and decide what I am going to do for college,” Folgherait said.

The money involved for his appearance has not yet been negotiated but he will definitely re-ceive a paycheck for his work as soon as he joins the actor’s union (The Screen Actors’ Guild).

So, in the summer of ‘08, look for our Os-wego High School graduate Will Folgherait in School of Rock II as a young Jack Black!

Entertainment

Buccaneer Bulletin

B

One of Our Own Goes to Hollywood in School of Rock 2

April 2007

By Lindsay UsherwoodWeb Team

Friday during seventh period, the school secre-tary came over the loud speaker, “May I have your attention please, we are now in a code lock down.”

Now, seventh period being journalism with no one knowing the difference between the various drills, we just closed the door shut off the lights and continued with our work, making jokes about another freshman fight assuming that the drill was just another practice.

Code lock down, by the way, is the drill where we have to shut the door, turn the lights off, close the blinds, and hide under desks or in the corner. This one is commonly confused with code lock out, newly named the “stay in place drill.” This drill entails ex-actly what the title reveals, the door is to be closed, classes are to continue, but no one is to be in the hall

way. Obviously there is no confusion with fire drills, as we have practicing them since we were in kinder-garten, but has there ever actually been a fire? Stu-dents don’t really take the drills seriously anymore, except for the single fire drill last year where there was a convenient fire drill while a girl’s gym class was swimming. They had to climb out of the cold pool, wrap themselves in towels, and without shoes, enter the frigid January weather shivering while many teachers were bundled in jackets and gloves.

Now the district has decided that there is one risk that the students of OHS still are not protected from. If you have walked trough the hallways of OHS and looked up at the collapsing ceilings or run into the garbage cans placed in the middle of the hallways to catch the water dripping from the roof, you might have noticed the danger that this has caused. If ever there is a ceiling tile that falls while school is in ses-

sion Mrs. Sharkey is advised to send a message over the loud speaker holding all students and teachers in their current class, informing those in hallways to exit as soon as possible, and advising all students, faculty, and staff to find the nearest source hat, hood, or um-brella in case the entire ceiling crumbles all together. The janitors are then informed of the danger and are sent wearing “Hz-mat” suits to clean the mess.

Once the mess is cleaned and the janitors have made sure that the ceiling is secure and at no risk to fall again in the near future, faculty and students are then allowed to leave the protective shelter and move on with their school day. This will be called the Chicken Little Drill. It shouldn’t be confused with Lock out, Lock down, Lock up, Stay in place, etc. It’s easy to remember because the sky is falling!

Lockdown/Lockout Terminology ModifiedBy Ashley JohnstonManaging Editor

Photo courtesy of JAck BlAck ProductionsWill Folgherait, in make-up, auditioning for new Jack Black movie School of Rock II

Everyone can relate to feelings of being nervous, yet excited at the same time. That is how I feel as I start off my first day at Oswego High School. I’m all dressed up in my favorite color- blue- and I’m looking like a shiny new penny.

I start my day in a dark room, I don’t really know where I am, but soon a teacher comes to get me and brings me to class. I sit in class for about twenty minutes but soon I’m wandering though the halls with a student that I’ve just met. We walk around for about fifteen minutes and then finally drag ourselves back to class. This is how my day goes for the next couple of periods. I can’t help but feeling the new people I’ve been meeting and I should be in class instead of wandering the halls going from lockers to the bathroom then

back to the lockers, and of course, stopping to talk to people in the halls along the way. However, after a long day, the ninth period bell finally rings and I can get some rest.

The next day I arrive at school and am completely exhausted. I feel like I’ve been bent, folded, spindled, mutilated, and pulled in a thousand different directions since yesterday. My day continues similar to the previous day had and so on for the rest of the week. However, on Friday, something new happens. During ninth period I am wandering the halls again with a new friend, but I’m starting to get the feeling that he is a little shady.

The bell rings for the end of the day, but my new friend and I never return to our class. Suddenly, I’m being whisked away from the school and I don’t know where I’m going. I’m very afraid that I will never see anything that I know ever again. I end up at my new friend’s house. I’m sitting on his desk while he talks to his friends on instant messenger and I wait for him while he eats his

dinner. I sit there for the rest of the night and now I’m really starting to get nervous.

Monday morning has come and my friend leaves for school, but leaves me behind. I watch the clock and try to make myself believe that he just forgot and will be back to get me very soon. This never happens and I have to accept that I’m not going to get to go back to school. I wonder if anyone will notice that I’m gone and if so they will miss me. Just as I’m pondering this, the teacher that found me in the dark room the first day of school is wondering about my whereabouts. He asks his class, has anyone seen my lavatory pass?

Claptrap

April 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

C

A Day in the Life of an Oswego HS Icon

By Lauren DimarcoReporter

Superintendent David Fischer and Princi-pal Peter Myles will address the school board to

have all OHS students start wearing uniforms. Freshmen Kathy Roe stated, “It’s not fair to

have to start wearing uniforms now; we came to OHS thinking the rules would be more relaxed, but

they seem ridiculous com-pared to the middle school.”

If the board passes, the new dress code the girls’ uniform will consist of black dress shoes, knee socks, kilts (like skirts)- similar to the junior var-sity lacrosse team and a white but-ton-up blouse. Also, a buc-caneer blue blazer will be optional to those who want to wear it. The boys’ uni-form will consist of black or tan dress pants and a white polo shirt. Sport jackets would also be an approved accessory for the boys.

Sophomore, Jason Ned reported to The Buc Bulle-tin, “The money and hassle

of having a new dress code is unnecessary, and I feel our parents need to talk some sense into the board of educa-tion and let them worry about more important things.”

This idea came about because the administration feels too many students, especially girls, are abusing the dress code and more serious restrictions will solve the problem. The mini skirts and low cut T-shirts of today will be no more should be bill pass. The boys’ apparel problems stem with drug, alcohol and gang

references. A l -

though the decision is not f i na l , they have thought of a punishment for students

who fail to comply with the dress code. Students who fail to follow to proper attire will get an in school suspension. Uniforms are normally policy in more conservative schools or Catholic schools. This has brought a lot of controversy. Even students who aren’t abusing the dress code feel as if the new measure punishes them too. Clothing is a good way to express yourself if it’s in an appropriate way. The hope is that this new rule may make students look beyond the clothes, so they won’t be judged by brand names and the latest trends, but by who they are.

Uniforms Would Eliminate Discipline Problems

The hope is that students won’t be judged by brand names and the latest trends, but by who they are.

photo illustrAtion by AlysiA CloheCy, The Boy’s Lav pass didn’t enjoy his swirly.

Pending the passing of a new bill set to be de-cided on in April, all high school athletes in New York State may have to wear protective headgear during competition starting next school year.

The bill, originally proposed by Gene Farley, a track and field coach from Schenectady, NY, states that due to the risk of injury inherent in all forms of physical competition, protective measures must be taken to ensure the safety of all athletes, regard-less of which sport they play. Farley was inspired to push for a change in safety regulations when, during one of his team’s track meets, a hurdler he coached suffered a concussion when he tripped over a hurdle. After getting a new rule which requires all athletes to wear helmets passed in his own school district, Farley set his sights on a state-wide policy.

Despite the proposal’s controversial origins, it has been met with a surprising amount of accep-tance. Many school districts around the state have adopted the new rule early, before the bill has even been decided on, already requiring all their athletes to wear helmets this sports season. The new rule comes as a bit of a shock to most athletes who are not accustomed to wearing helmets. These districts saw an early adoption as a way to get problems related to this shock out of the way as early as possible.

Oswego High School, though not an early vol-untary enforcer of this new rule, is set to abide by it beginning in the fall. The decision to not join a group of appealing school districts was made at a recent school board meeting. Bradford Dates,

Athletic Director of the Oswego School District

said. “Beginning with the fall sports season, all OHS athletes will be required, under a revised code of conduct, to wear a hel-met for protection during all athletic competition.”

The sports teams who seem most unwilling to par-ticipate are in the fall season.

Cross Country coach Mr. Dan Greene figures that the Buc runners will be slowed by 5-10 sec-onds per mile. “I like the safety of running with a helmet,” said Greene, who fell frequently when he was a runner in the 1970s “but we will not be setting any new school records.”

Va r s i t y sw i m me r Abby Martin also has a problem with the new rule. “I’m glad I’m graduat-ing,” Martin said, “be-cause I’d hate to do the butterfly with a helmet on.”

Gymnast Shannon Donovan expressed concern. “I hope they give us chin straps for our new helmets, otherwise they will fall off during our routines.”

Surprisingly, one team is eagerly looking for-ward to receiving helmets to wear during the next sports season: the cheerleaders. “I can’t wait to ‘bling

out’ our helmets,” said Kailyn Gray, a sophomore cheerleader “plus we don’t have to worry so much about someone falling and dying during our cheers.”

Regardless of anyone’s opinion of the ‘helmet rule,’ it will be a fact of life this coming school year. Student athletes are encouraged to just accept the change and concentrate on the success of their teams.

Entertainment

April 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

Heads Up as Sports Helmet Law Takes EffectD

By Pat DoughertyWeb Team

People gamble and partake in con-tests everyday. Many come out defeat-ed and few come out victorious. In the January issue of Seventeen magazine there was a chance in a lifetime contest to have the Black Eyed Peas perform at your very own prom. Millions of teens throughout the country partici-pated hoping that their prom would be glammed out with their favorite music group. There was only one winner for the contest out of millions of applica-tions. Our very own Michelle Miller won the prom experience of a lifetime!

Freshman Michelle Miller took a chance on a contest in Seventeen magazine and came out victorious. “I never actually thought I was going to win, I don’t even know why I sent the form in, I guess I must’ve been really bored,” said Michelle. After

two months, she had forgotten about the contest entirely, until she got the letter in the mail. “I couldn’t believe my eyes, the letter told me I had won the Black Eyed Peas performance and I get to spend the day with them and get the prom treatment from their stylists!” Because Michelle is only a freshman, she would normally not be allowed at prom without a date of an upperclassman, but since she won this contest, she is allowed to attend.

Prom will go as normal start-ing at 8 pm with songs from the DJ and at 10 the Black Eyed Peas performance will begin. “Thanks to Seventeen magazine and Mi-chelle Miller our prom of ’07 will be unforgettable,” stated junior class adviser Mrs. Heidi Sweeney.

OHS Student Wins ‘Prom of a Lifetime’ Performance

Oswego runner Mike Archise was way ahead of the game in 1984 when he used a helmet as a member of the track team under the guidance of Coach Dan Greene and Erwin Dewey.

photo Courtesy of frontrowking.Com

piCture Coutesy of someone speCiAl

By Morgan McNamaraReporter

Editorial 11

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

Who Needs an Attendance Policy? In Our View . . .

Does the fact that OHS has no set attendance policy affect your decision to attend class?

Class of 2009

Ryan Burger

Molly Wise“No. Everyone should go to class no matter what.”

Class of 2010

Mike Smith

“It doesn’t effect me be-cause I practice good education.”

Class of 2007

Matt Tynan

“Yes. I’m glad we don’t have one.”

Class of 2008

“Yes. It makes kids think that they don’t have to go to class to pass.”

Sometimes, the best rules are no rules.

At OHS, we have no attendance policy. This means OHS believes that students can miss more than a set number of days and still pass. We agree with the idea of not having an attendance policy.

Several years ago, our school had a rule which stated if you missed more than ten percent of a class you couldn’t pass, unless you had extenuating circumstances. Eventually this rule was taken out of place, and replaced with, well, nothing. We agree with this decision for several reasons. When someone first hears about the fact that there is no attendance policy, their first reaction will most likely be that the troublemakers would skip school, because there would be no incentive to go. That idea isn’t true, because if someone skips school, because there is no attendance policy, there are still repercussions like in-school suspension etc. The reason not having an attendance policy is such a good idea, is because if a top-of-the-class

student comes down with a serious illness and misses a month of school, why should they be put into a situation where it is up to a school officials discretion whether or not they should pass? With

some hard work and extra help from the teacher, the student could get caught up and regain his spot in class rank. So, why would

you make a student like him stay back when he could move on with the rest of their class?

Without an attendance policy students have the chance to succeed even if things which are beyond their control occur. Having no attendance policy does not encourage kids to skip school, so that should never be an issue when any school makes the decision on whether or not to have a policy. We believe it is crazy for a school to have a strict attendance policy, with a set number of legal and illegal absences. Sometimes, the best rules are no rules.

Peek-a-Boo

photo by abby Martin

A fire hydrant, less than thirty feet from the north entrance to Oswego High School near the social studies department, was finally seen on March 14 thanks to a late-winter thaw, which means it was dangerously buried since February’s storms. It’s a good thing we didn’t have a fire.

The recent change in “point of en-try” for students and visitors to Oswego High School from Utica Street to Buc-caneer Boulevard has led to mixed reac-tions among the Oswego community.

The adjusted point of entry at the OHS has students and teachers wonder-ing “Why?” Michael Burger, a senior at OHS who participates in the “short day” program stated, “For the past four years I’ve been in this school, they’ve had the main entrance at Utica Street. Changing it now seems ridiculous.”

Mr. Peter Myles, Executive Prin-cipal of Oswego High School, saw the change as “logical.” He pointed out the many factors that caused the expedient alteration. The Utica Street entrance is a busy, crowded, unpleasing-to-the-eye area. The cold temperatures in the win-ter months caused the decision about the change to be made more quickly. “It’s more inviting to our visitors” said Myles about the new Buccaneer Boulevard entrance. The entrance is much more spacious. The parking has become more convenient to the OHS visitors. Myles stated that “the whole process is just eas-ier” and visitors no longer have to “hunt for parking spots” to visit our school.

Due to escalation of violence in schools, security has been in-creased. Ten years ago, it would not matter what entrance people went in. But with the heightened security, the school needs to abide by state laws.

In the March 9 issue of the Palladium-Times, Jerry “Sarge” Stepien, a bus driver for Oswe-go City School District, wrote, “If the governing body of the Oswego City School District, which includes scientists, math-ematicians and profes-sors, has seen fit to de-clare that two objects can occupy the same space at the same time, namely civilian cars and school busses in the loading zone at the high school, who am I, a college grad, re-tired NCO and now bus driver, to question their collective wisdom. If you have to ask what’s wrong with America, you need only look as far as your own back yard.” The point of entry switch

has made it difficult for busses at the end of the day because parents are parking their vehicles where the busses are supposed to be loading.

Many students who have “senior short day” are upset about the change. A longer walk from their parking spots starts their mornings off on the wrong foot. Mr. Phil Meany, a technology teacher at OHS said, “I feel bad for the kids who are five minutes late. The scenario runs like this: Kid gets dropped off late at Utica Street. In her hurry to get to work, mom does not wait for her son/daughter to get safely in the doors and drives away. Student realizesthe Utica Street doors are locked. At that point the student is stuck. In the zero de-gree weather, the student has to walk all around the building. Then, he/she gets to his/her first period class late and gets a pop quiz. No matter how bright the student is, he/she is probably not going to do as well as he/she would have had his/her day not started in the way it had.”

Hall monitors view the adjusted point of entry with a more negative spin. After talking with Mrs. Pat Seinoski, Mrs. Pat Crisafulli, Ms. Jackie Lundy, and Ms. Mary Jean Terpening., they all

agreed that their new posts were worse. Seinoki explained, “It’s warmer down here (Buc Blvd. side), but I’d rather be cold and interact with the kids than be down here. It’s so isolated.” Along with the decrease in interaction with students, the monitors went on to say that their walkie-talkies do not work and the congestion is the same as it was on Utica St. by the end of the day. “Basically they’ve lost a hall monitor. If there was an on-going fight occur-ring when lunch gets out, we have no idea,” said Seinoski. Because of their new location, they cannot see the signs of a fight (the large crowd of people, loud discussions between students showing aggressiveness, etc.) that they usually saw. Terpening stated, “It’s about getting used to the change and adapting, although personally, I did like it better over at Utica Street.”

The point of entry revision was one of the smaller projects to take on and easier to remedy than other projects in the works (i.e. the ventilation system). Eventually, new students will not re-member that the Utica Street entrance existed and will assume that it has always been at Buccaneer Boulevard.

News

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

12

By Sophie RosenbaumClublicity Editor

Photo IllustratIon by soPhIe rosenbauMFour students try to gain access to the building from the Utica Street entrance, but are told to “go around” by hall monitor Mary Jean Terpening.

Point of Entry Moved to Buc Boulevard

Entertainment

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

Caution: Guitar Hero May Lead to Addiction13

By Katie DiVitaEntertainment Editor

There probably isn’t a guy or girl out there who hasn’t, at one time, picked up a tennis racket, broom handle, or any other object that could double as a guitar and strummed their favorite guitar solo. However, the pulsating rhythm and melody of the guitar have been difficult to duplicate…until now. So put down the household objects and sports equip-ment, because Guitar Hero for PlayStation 2 is the newest way to “rock out” to your favorite songs.

Music video games have a tendency to oc-cupy rainy days and be the center of entertain-ment at parties. But few games have actually struck that “chord” inside of us and made us feel like true musicians the way Guitar Hero does.

The main eccentricity of Guitar Hero is the Gibson SG-based guitar peripheral controller, which looks and feels as close to an actual guitar as a gam-ing device can get. It features five fret buttons, all of different colors corresponding to notes on the televi-sion screen, a strummer (instead of strings), and a whammy. The game can be played with a regular PS2 controller, but it isn’t nearly as interesting without the guitar. It is surprisingly comfortable to wear, not only because of its light weight, but because it’s reasonably close to the size of an actual guitar. The controller doesn’t feel awkward in position as it might if it re-sembled a children’s toy, so experienced guitar play-ers and the musically-challenged alike feel at ease.

Exceptional graphics and a realistic concert experience on the television screen accompany the distinguished method of play. It’s easy to enjoy the

atmosphere of the performance since the notes are presented toward the bottom of the screen and don’t dominate the players’ entire view. Crowds cheer on the band (assuming they’re playing well) and realistic fret-noises occur when notes are missed as they would in an actual concert. An abundance of di-verse guitars and performers, male and female, are also at the player’s disposal. Once they choose their band name and members, their career begins and they’re guided through the four difficulty modes. Bands begin as they would in real life by playing in casual clubs and gradually pro-gressing to star-dom and sold-out arenas pending their musical talent.

Guitar Hero’s song selection features veterans such as David Bowie, Queen, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and range from slow ballads to adrena-line-fueled anthems. Players can buy new songs, characters, and guitars with their “gig” money, so the game doesn’t get boring or repetitive as many rhythmic-based games. While the songs seem to be heavy on older rock, some newer songs such as

Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” are also spot-lighted. Only those who are severely anti-guitar in their musical tastes will not enjoy playing the songs.

By far, the best part of Guitar Hero is that it incorporates many of the techniques and motions that a guitarist would perform on a real instru-

ment. Guitar Hero players must use a whammy, play chords, use hammer-ons and pull-offs, and strum up and down. This makes the transi-tion from a real guitar to the Guitar Hero controller seem minor, aside from moving from strings to buttons. Had the creators of Guitar Hero not incorporated these con-ventional techniques, it would have been a crippling device for experienced guitarists.

Just when the rhythm game genre was starting to get stale, along comes Guitar Hero to re-invigorate our senses.

While it won’t help anyone become a better guitar player, it’s very entertaining and puts a fun spin on the instrument. Even if you’ve never played the guitar and don’t have a musical bone in your body, you can look like you do after a few rounds of this game. So get out there and give it a try. You might find you re-ally get into the game and enjoy bringing out your in-ner rock star. Just be sure not to “kick the amp” (a.k.a. your coffee table) after the last chord of the song!

Local Bookstore to Host Best-Selling Teen Authors

Everything you need to be a rock star is contained in the SONY PlayStation 2 game, Guitar Hero.

www.iMages.google.coM

Twisted by Laurie Halse AndersonTwisted is Laure Halse Anderson’s first novel directed towards teenage boys.

Her other novels (Speak, Prom, Catalyst) were more geared towards young women, yet it reached the interest of males as well.

Tyler Miller, an average high school senior, has always been known for; well actually he is at the bottom of the popularity list, and is known for absolutely noth-ing. He comes from an average household, leads an average life, and lives with the average dysfunctional family. He hopes that committing the “Foul Deed” of put-ting graffiti on the school will improve his social status. It doesn’t. Not only does his plan not work out the way he thought it would, but he spells some of the words incorrectly. Yet, he earns the “bad boy” reputation it does him some good when it comes to girls. Tyler’s secret crush, Bethany Milbury, the most popular, beautiful, every-boy’s-dream-girl, happens to be into bad boys and now she’s into TYLER!

Things between Bethany and Tyler go wrong at a huge party in which Beth-any is intoxicated. Tyler “wants to take things slow” and Bethany takes that as a rejection. She tries to make Tyler jealous throughout the night by throwing herself on numerous boys. It winds up getting her some indecent pictures floating around the internet. Of course, Tyler is the main suspect in the case and it is only after the

police make his life a living hell, that they realize he is innocent. Tyler’s life spirals downhill from there. Will he be able to win Bethany back and get his life on track? Or will he just pick up just where he started at the beginning of the school year?

If you liked any of Anderson’s previous books, you’ll love Twisted. Although it’s directed towards young adult males, it’s just as interesting for females.The Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga

Fanboy, a smart, comic-loving, sophomore in high school hates his life. He has one friend, Cal, who ditches him all the time for his popular jock friends. He lives with his pregnant mother and “step fascist” (step father) who Fanboy hates.

Fanboy has been keeping a secret from everyone and it’s his only ticket to getting him out of his town and far away from the people in it. He has been working on his very own graphic novel and per-fecting it for Fanboy’s idol, Bendis, who also writes graphic novels.

Kyra, a recovering Goth who is both witty and a comic lover, notices Fanboy. Fanboy. Kyra A.K.A. Goth Girl, connects with Fanboy so much, that Fanboy finds himself telling her about his “secret.” As quickly as their relationship starts, it ends. Similar to many high school relationships, a stupid little fight destroyed it. But Goth Girl still wants Fanboy to meet Bendis and she wants his graphic novel to be perfect. What will Bendis think? Will Goth Girl and Fanboy become friends again?

T h is i s a f u n , page - t u r n i ng novel . Ba r r y Lyga’s “ voice” has a tone that just makes the reader want to keep read ing.

The “river’s end bookstore” is extremely happy to have an opportunity like this. Bill Reilly, the owner of the “river’s end” stated, “We’re very excited to have not one but TWO great authors who write books geared towards a teenage audience.

By Sophia RosenbaumClublicity Editor

Editor’s Note: The “river’s end bookstore” will be hosting two events in the month of April. On April 1, Barry Lyga will be in to discuss his new novel, The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl. On April 28, Laurie Halse Anderson will be at the store to discuss her new novel, Twisted. Below are reviews of these latest two novels.

Feature

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

Students Opt to Attend Cyber High Schools14

Every morning when the alarm clock goes off, most teenagers roll out of bed reluctantly and hope for a school cancellation. They often relish the fact that they must attend school early in the morning. However, a grow-ing percentage of American teenagers are opting to attend school online instead of going to traditional high schools.

The online high school phenomenon is in its formative years. Online high schools are popping up everywhere promising accelerated graduation. Ads in teen maga-zines are heralding graduation in as little as four months. The problem with these online institutions is the fact that not all of them are accredited. Mr. Jerry Oberst an admissions counselor at SUNY Oswego claims that the issues with these institu-tions is authenticity. To gain admission to a college with an online diploma, he said, “It must be registered by the state.” Researching the school thoroughly is necessary. Most reliable online high schools have a list of the colleges and universities which accept their diplomas.

Students who attend traditional high schools get the impression that people attending cyber schools are lazy and just don’t want to get up in the morning. What they don’t know is that there is a host of reasons why these stu-dents do not attend regular high schools.

Health issues are one of the prominent reasons why attending a cyber school is an attractive option for some. Students with physical disabilities and medical problems benefit from the relaxed, in-home setting. Social phobia is one of the medical issues that keep teens out of traditional high schools. The government organization Teen Health says, “Social phobia is shyness to the extreme, and this shyness is accompanied by anxiety that causes people to avoid do-ing things they might like to do or to avoid situations that might result in having to be with, or to talk with or in front of oth-ers.” Teens with this disease are unable to concentrate in school because they have an intense fear that the rest of the class is judging their every move. Teens attending traditional high schools with this phobia are often ridden with anxiety, and their grades suffer substantially, leav-ing online schooling as their only option.

Providing income for a family is an-other reason why student may opt to take classes online. The death or sickness of a

parent may force a child into the workforce. The flexible hours allow the student to fin-ish high school and supply his/her family with a steady flow of money. Young actors are also attending cyber schools. Their tight schedules do not allow them to go to traditional schools. Many lament the fact that they were not able to have a normal adolescence.

Ashley Monk, a student attending IQ Academies, stated, “I had to help out with my elderly grandmother.” With both parents w o r k i n g , often teens are left with car ing for sick or el-derly fam-i l y m e m -bers. Ash-ley misses t r a d i t ion -al schooling, but feels a duty to-w a r d s h e r g r a n d m o t h e r .

Religion is a factor that plays into the decision of going to an on-line high school. Mary Hunt claims that religion was what prompted her to attend high school online. She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said, “I had heard students using words I did not like and doing things I found inappropriate.” Although such language and conduct is forbidden in high schools, there is not always an administrator to make sure that these things are not occurring.

Students who attend cyber schools log in and out of the school databases at their own leisure. They are given assignments from teachers and are responsible for handing them in on time. The schools are just as challeng-ing and they offer a variety of subjects that are not found in traditional schools. Online high school students are given a transcript of the courses and are treated like any other high school student. A sys-tem of correspondence through email is created between the student and teacher. If he/she has any troubles, the teacher is at their finger tips. However internet com-munication may not be enough for every student. Gregory Lyons, a student at OHS took several courses online, stated, “If I didn’t see teachers face to face I don’t think I’d learn as much. He claimed that although internet communication with the teacher was easy, talking to a

teacher face to face is a lot more helpful.There are several benefits that come

along with online high schools. Flex-ibility is one of the major ones. There are no more alarm clocks. You can also work at your own pace, speeding up or slowing down at your own will. This is a great help to those who have a hard time keeping up at a quickened pace. They now can spend more time on the courses they are struggling with. Lyons stated, “The classes are much smaller

and easy to work with. It really helped a lot.” Students who earn online diplomas often finish high school faster than those who attend traditional high schools.

Another perk is the lack of social pressure. There are no more bullies to get in the way of learning. Many students have a hard time learning with too many distractions. Pressures to do drugs and consume alcohol are also a lot slimmer. The student is allowed to develop their own identity, not the ones of their peers.

Online high schools have negative aspects as well. Students will miss out on memorable events such as prom, walking across the stage on graduation and homecoming festivities. Mrs. Carol Naron, a physics teacher at OHS, stated, “Just for the average Joe, this system is inappropriate because of the lack of social interaction, which I think is a big part of high school.” Many cyber students find it hard to interact with their peers. Monk stated, “I really don’t go anywhere else so I don’t know a whole lot of people.” They have to find other ways to meet their age mates such as in church groups, community sports teams, dance classes and service groups like Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and 4H.

Accreditation is another problem. If the institution is not researched, one could find that they worked tirelessly for a diploma that has no value. Adding this to the fact private online high schools come with a steep price tag. There are a number of free public online high schools, but many students take the pri-vate route to ensure quality. With prices ranging from free to several thousand dollars, authenticity is a top priority.

Online high schools are a new and important innovation. Their popularity is growing rapidly. One can only wonder if the future of edu-cation will have everyone learning from home at an online high school.

Students who attend traditional high schools get the impression that people attending cyber schools are lazy and just don’t want to get up in the morning.

By Waruguru GichaneAlumni Editor

AlthoughweallcriticizetheOswegoHighSchoolonadailybasis,there’snodoubtwehavesomeofthemosttalentedstudentsaround.Wewalkaroundthehallseachday,andaren’tevenawarethatwearesharingthemwithsomeofthesmart-est,mostuniqueandtalentedkidsofourarea,yetwedon’tevenknowit.A lotofyouwouldneverguess,butifyougetpasthisjokesandcarefreein-schoolattitude,outsidethesewalls,OHSseniorNickDelaneyisoneoftheworld’syoungestmulti-talentedartists.At the age of ten, Delaney begangraphicdesignasahobby.“Itstartedoff as something I did for fun, untilI realized a lot of people liked myworkandIwoulddoitforfree.ThenI realized I could make money withit,andstartedchargingclients,”Del-aneysaid.HebeganusingPaintshopProtodoartwork,but shortly afterupgraded toAdo-be Photoshop, themost well-knownprogramforartiststoday.Inthesum-merof2005,whenDelaneywassixteenyearsold,hegottheopportunitytointernattheHappycorpGlobalDesignAgencyinNewYorkCityunderDougJaeger(dougjager.com)whohasbeenfeaturedonCNN,FortuneMagazine,andintheNewYorkTimes.Whileinterning,theself-madeteenartisthadhisownapartmentintheupperwestsideofManhattan.Hehadthechancetoworkhand-in-handwithclientsandhelporganizetheSemi-

PermanentConference,whichisaconferenceheldfortheworld’sleadingdesigners.Beingtheyoungestdesigner there, he was asked to speak briefly about hisinvolvementintheindustryatsuchayoungage.Undoubtedly, interning at The Happycorp gotDelaney’sfeetwet.Designersfromaroundtheglobe

knewhimbyname,andhisworkwaspublished. He was featured onthecoveraswellasinfeaturesofComputerArtsMagazine,Photo-shop Creative Magazine, Semi-PermanentandThePost-Standard.Sincethen,hehashadclientssuchasMTV,HSBCbanking,Foxnet-works,VaporandBPMmagazines,Nike, Nokia, and County LineChoppers.Asifthisisn’tenough,Delaneywonthe2006ScholasticGoldKeyaward,wasa2007runnerup,andwonupcomingdesignerof2006inComputerArtsMagazine.Typically,peoplewouldn’texpect

a teen to getawards likethis,especial-ly when theywere raisedin a city likeOswego. Criticscan be especially

harsh on small town prodigies. At first they got to him,buthequicklylearnedtousethecriticismtohisadvantage.Headmitted,“OriginallyItookitasiftheywereouttogetme,butatthispointIrealizetheywerejusttryingtohelp.NowIcanjustturnitintosomethingpositivethatwillimprovethequalityofmywork.”However throughout thegoodcom-mentsandbad,hisfamilyhasalwaysbeen

supportive,Delaneyassured.Thebiggest challenge, he says, hasbeenkeepingupwiththeindustryandhowfastitmovesandchanges.Afterhighschool,DelaneyplanstoattendtheArtInstituteofNewEngland, in Boston Massachu-setts,wherehe recently receiveda scholarship. “I don’t reallythink college will do any goodfor me knowledge wise, but innetworkingandunderstandingtheindustry, college will definitelyhelpmeout.”Hehopes toworkwith Jens Karlsson, the creativedirector of www.bigspaceship.com, later in life. “He’s a greattalent with incredible potentialtobecomeoneofthebestinthisfield.” Karlsson stated in a docu-mentaboutDelaney.KarlssonhasdesignedformoviessuchasThe

DaVinci Code, and Casino Royale. Karlsson hasalso contributed to Dodgeball, Wimbledon andCharlieandtheChocolateFactory,tonameafew. When asked where he sees himself in 20years,Delaneyreplied,“IhopetobeworkinginmyowndesignagencywhereIwillhavethreediffer-ent locationssetup.They’llbe inNewYorkCity,

LosAngeles and London.” For right now though,Delaneysayshewill stay focusedon thecomple-tionofVandal,aglobalnetworkhe’sfoundedwithotherdesigners.(Thisissimilartoadesignagency,butmorefreelanced.)He’llalsocontinuetosoakuptheluxuriesofbeingasenior,andlookforwardtograduatingalongsidetherestofhisclassthisJune.To s e e m o r e o f D e l a n e y ’s w o r k , v i s -i t h i s webs i t e , a t h t tp : / /www.ndey.o rg .

Features

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

15

Senior Making a Name in the Graphics World By Mallory KellyLayout Editor

Dior was the client for this 2006 Delaney design.

A Nick Delaney original creation for MTV UK. Courtesy of www.Mtv.Co.uk

Courtesy of www.dior.CoM

Nick Delaney

“I hope to be working in my own design agency where I will have three different locations set up. They’ll be in New York City, Los Angeles and London.”

A Nick Delaney original graphic. Courtesy of niCk delaney

With a population of about eight million people, New York City’s diversity gives it an equally diverse music scene. With artists in all walks of life, this music scene ensures that New York has a style of music for everyone. Two artists, Gregory and the Hawk, and The Age of Rockets add to the wealth of musical talent that is included in that population of eight million.

Gregory and The Hawk is the stage name of solo artist Meredith Godreau, an upstate New York-raised acoustic artist who was born into a musical family. Her mother used to sing a lot when she was little, and many of the games she and her brother played when they were younger revolved around songs. She played violin and viola throughout high school, but says that she tried “practically everything.”

With a guitar as her instrument of choice, she has self-released an EP, titled Boats and Birds, and plans to release a new album in the spring. She fondly remembers her first gig. She was fourteen. Godreau and her friend, Erica, went to a local coffee shop for an open mic night under the band name Virgo. “There were two people there and they recorded the set on this handheld thing.” She explained, “I still have the tape and we didn’t even play a whole song, we just giggled.”

When questioned about her creative process, she explained that it’s best when it happens all at once. “I try to put myself in the situation and then objectify and simplify it until it’s just the setting and the feelings.”

As advice for musicians, she says that if it seems like work, “Do something else till you want to you want to make music again.” She also recommends that to be recognized, it is helpful to start a MySpace profile. She really likes MySpace because “You can find all the music you want and tell your friends about it if you want.” As a last piece of advice, she tells aspiring musicians to, “Play as much as possible…just like anywhere.”

And as for the name, Gregory

and the Hawk, Godreau says that Gregory is her brother’s name and the hawk, well, she just “pulled out of the air.”

A good friend of Godreau, Andrew Futral, fronts the indie-electronica-rock band The Age of Rockets with Bess Rogers and Saul Simon MacWilliams joining later on. Futral was born in the 1980s to parents he describes as “Buddhist hippies” in New York City, but moved to the suburbs when he was thirteen. As a high school student, he studied drums, but then picked up guitar as he started listening to more music. When he realized he was going to be a musician, he says “It wasn’t a big moment of excitement or discovery, it was more like a quiet little click into place, like, ‘Oh so this is what the rest of my life is going to revolve around? Ok.’” He stated that it wasn’t until college that he really understood song writing.

Billy Corgan and Morrissey are his major influences. “Both of them write really sad songs, but tend to have something else in them to help balance it. With Moz, it’s usually humor and with Corgan, it’s usually a sense of optimism,” he explained. Radiohead, Sigur Ros, and classical music such as Debussy, Satie, Stravinsky and Bach also have influenced his work. “It’s really great to see a band like Sigur Ros use that vibe and those textures to create music that feels very current.”

Futral is very happy about the success of his first full-length album, The Drive Home. “People message me on MySpace all day long and I respond to just about everyone. I know you can’t really tell much from someone’s MySpace page, but it’s nice to get notes that say things like ‘Hey I was having a bad day today and then I heard your song on the radio and it put me in a good mood.’”

Rogers and Macwilliams were not a part of the band when this album was being made; they joined after the fact.

For his next album, his synth, a Korg MS2000B, will take a break and a full orchestra will take its place. “With an orchestra, the specific notes and arrangements are much more important than just the sound of the specific instrument. Also, it’s much more fun to write parts for solo cello and harp than to program them in a synth. I am trying very hard to make it a happy album… or at least more happy than the last one. Also it is going to be a musical palindrome

which is just as crazy as it sounds.” He describes it as the best and worst decision he has ever made.

When he goes about writing music, he starts with the texture of the song first.“I go into the song knowing where on the album it is going to be placed and what the general vibe needs to be.” Giving himself limitations makes it easier for him, he

says. “Then, the goal is not ‘write a song’ but it’s more like ‘Ok you need a chorus that can work quietly and then loud so you can have two variations and a verse part that works in this key and blah, blah, blah.’” As for lyrics, he spends days of what the song is going to be about first, and reads books with a similar tone. “I have been reading a lot of Italo Calvino who is nothing short of amazing. Everyone should read ‘If on a winter’s night a traveler’ Also a lot of Sylvia Plath. Her collected works is essential, I think, for anyone interested in writing lyrics.”

On his list of goals is to find a nice independent record label to help promote the band overseas and around North America, in addition to looking for new management for them. “I don’t want to be all that big, but it would be nice to not have to worry about money as much as I do.”

He came up with his name

during a time in his life when he was wearing black v-necks and black Buddy Holly-style glasses, and so he wanted a slight 1950’s ring to it. “The Age of Rockets” is taken from one of his favorite Smashing Pumpkin songs “The Age of Innocence.” His philosophy behind band names is that “band names should kind of roll off the tongue and not be such a force by itself.”

Futral has very good advice for musicians-to-be. “Study the crap out of the music you love. Delve really deep into it. Study the syllable count between verses and the melodies. How does the song unfold lyrically? How do they unfold in terms of instrumentation? I see a lot of kids with solo projects out there and they always forget that songs can move and can have direction. It’s usually a guitar strumming the same few chords and the songs are boring, not because they are bad songs, but because after thirty seconds nothing much changes and there is nothing there to keep the listeners listening. Also, and this may sound like a joke, but study a lot of pop music. Lots of Avril [Lavigne], Kelly Clarkson, Justin Timberlake, all that stuff. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like it, but those are very well-crafted songs and there are lessons to be learned inside of them. You don’t have to make music like them, but those are songs written by the some of biggest writing teams in music.” In addition to that, he says that reading a lot is key to making music. From poetry to astrophysics books, he says to read non stop. As a last piece of advice which doesn’t necessarily have to apply to music, “It is very dangerous to decide something sucks without fully understanding it.”

If you would like to check out Gregory and the Hawk or The Age of Rockets, you can go to www.gregoryandthehawk.com and www.theageofrockets.com, respectively. Also, each has a MySpace, so you can check them out there too. By going to their websites, you can find out more about buying their CDs (if they suit your taste).

While New York may be a city of eight million, these musical artists certainly stand out.

Entertainment

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

16

New York City Hosts a Wealth of Music Talent

Headline goes here

By Fred MaxonArt Director

Photo Courtesy of Jenny o.

The Indie-electronica-rock band, The Age of Rockets.

Entertainment

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

17

Should Mp3 Players be Allowed in School?Distraction. That’s all that

an Mp3 player is to students. We come to high school to learn not to listen to music. If you want to listen to music you should sign up for one of the many music classes offered here at OHS.

Some students claim they cannot work without their beloved tunes but honestly getting inspiration from Fergie “making the boys go crazy” or Justin “Bringing Sexy Back” but these songs won’t get you an A on that English essay you’re writing. Although Beyoncè is “irreplaceable,” I don’t think she can teach you trigonometry.

If you are someone that has been blessed with the gift of multitasking, then I’m sure you can complete your schoolwork while listening to your

favorite songs on your iPod, but at a cost to your fellow classmates. There are some disrespectful people who hum along with what they are listening to. They may not realize they are doing it, but still annoying. If you don’t listen to music you can’t hum, problem solved.

Then there are the future American Idol contestants who attempt to inanimate Kelly Clarkson belting out a few high notes while being judged by your peers, who I’m sure are thinking you are the equivalent to William Hung, the infamous “She Bangs” Idol contestant. Lastly, you have those who don’t sing or hum, they play their music so loud that even if you are on the other side of the classroom you can still hear it. Their devices are not

personal music players, it’s like they are carrying a “boom box” around. Though you may think that there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able

to listen to your iPod during a study hall, let me remind you that there are on rare occasions the students who use those study halls to study, which can’t possibly be done sitting next to a Whitney Houston wannabe hitting that high note. Sorry, but with-out Mp3 players at school, there is no problem. It’s only a few hours without your beloved iPod; I’m sure you can handle it.

You’re sitting in study hall, you

have no work left to do, and you’re bored out of your mind. Instead of talking, which you know will get you in trouble in your heavily-emphasized silent study hall, you throw the head phones of your iPod into you ears and attempt

to pass the rest of the period. Soon five minutes has passed, but suddenly you’re getting yelled at and having your iPod confiscated.

Why? Because according to school rules Mp3 players aren’t allowed…even in the cafeteria and study halls. Despite the fact of these tiny music devices make no noise and are no disruption to people who are doing work, they are not allowed. School officials have various reasons for having put a ban on Mp3 players, for example they may have banned these tiny objects because less time will be spent on music rather then schoolwork, and sometimes noise can be heard from the head phones if the music is turned on loud enough.

There is a simple solution for the music which is played too loudly; tell students that if their music device gets too loud, then their Mp3 player will be taken away. As for a solution from the music stopping the student from doing homework, there is no simple answer. Yet, most students would listen to their iPod when they have no homework, not while they are concentrating on major assignments.

You can walk into any study hall, at any time of the day and there will be students sitting there bored. If you watch long enough, they will eventually get into trouble because of their boredom. Many students don’t have enough homework at the time in which their study hall is, and they are supposed to keep themselves busy. When they don’t keep themselves busy, most students end up getting into trouble because they will start talking with their classmates. If students were allowed to listen to their music, it would most likely keep silent study halls silent.

Another reason that Mp3 players should be allowed is for athletic purposes. Not only would it keep study halls quieter, but it would allow athletes to begin getting themselves ready if they have a game later in they day. Since almost all of the athletes here at OHS listen to some type of pre-game music to get them “pumped up,” why not let them start achieving their game mind set in study hall?

It truly is pointless to ban such harmless things in study halls and in the cafeteria. If a student wants to listen to music, there is no reason that he or she shouldn’t be allowed to when it causes no distraction to anyone else. It is undoubtedly a rule which is in need of change.

Photo by Abby MArtin

Is there a hot topic here at Oswego High School that you would like to see debated in this Point/Counterpoint forum? If so, e-mail Editor-in-Chief Kevin Kearns at kkearns@oswego.org and we’ll consider it.

Anyone who follows sports has seen a time in which a coach took a cellar-dwelling team and turned it into a national powerhouse. This happens all the time in movies, most notably Hoosiers and Coach Carter. But this also happens in real life, for example George Karl’s turnaround with the Denver Nuggets in ‘05. The Nuggets were in eleventh place in the Western Conference with a pitiful record of 17-25 – which put Denver six games out of the playoffs. Karl ended up leading the Nuggets to a 32-8 (.800) record and a seventh seed in the postseason.

Time and time again miracles like Karl’s Nuggets occur, so the notion that a coach is as important as any player is well justified. Unfortunately, any coaching miracles at OHS have an obstacle that complicates everything. According to the rule at our school, a teacher has the preferred right to any coaching job, over anyone outside the school district. Personally, I think this rule is acceptable, however the fact that once a coach outside the school district takes an Oswego

coaching job, that job can also be taken away at the end of every season, by a teacher. I believe part of the rule is unacceptable.

The overall goal for any school varsity team is to ultimately win and be respected by their opponents. Many times, someone who is not a teacher may be more qualified and simply a better coach than a teacher. Yet, it is justifiable that when there are coaching vacancies that teachers have first dibs. But why, if someone outside the district claims the job, should any teacher be able to take it away? The necessary action by our school, should be to “grandfather” in coaches unless they are not fulfilling expectations.

There are plenty of times that the better coaches will be found outside the school district. For example, let’s say that the recent football coaching vacancy had been filled by a non-teacher instead of by Mr. David Gryzca. If this teacher had brought about an undefeated season in 2005, which included a run at the state title, how would everyone feel if for the next season a teacher took away that coaches job? This situation may be a little extreme, but it could happen.

Equally extreme would be, what if Jim Boehiem

applied at OHS to coach basketball if an opening occurred. Would a teacher be given the job over Boehiem just because he’s a teacher? The answer is yes.

A perfect real life example of this is the varsity swim coach Mr. Rick Klien. Klien took over a struggling swim program seven years ago at OHS. Soon he turned that around and went as far as an undefeated league championship in 2004, during which, Klien’s team ended Liverpool’s unbelievable 56 meet wining streak. Unfortunately, despite all of

his success, there is almost no job security because any teacher could take the team over if they wanted to, even if that teacher

didn’t know the butterfly from the doggie paddle.Putting in a “grandfather” rule admittedly

wouldn’t solve everything, but it would stop any coach from taking a successful program, away from someone who had built it up. Rarely if ever will a new coach take over a successful program and keep it on the same level as his predecessor. Allowing teachers to fill a vacancy is going far enough; a rule which stops teachers from just deciding to coach and taking away a good coach’s job, is almost necessary.

Some people may say that one sport is better than the other or that one is harder than another, but in all honesty, they have never tried the other sport. This was the situa-tion between Mr. Chuck Rowlee, a technology teacher at OHS and girls’ lacrosse coach, and me, a dancer. Passing, checking, and running are all exercises associated with playing lacrosse. These things are very different from exercises associated with dance such as pliets, arabesques, and jetes. All of these exercises are difficult to master. However, a month ago accord-ing to Rowlee, the exercises performed in lacrosse were way harder than those performed in dance because dance “is not a real sport.” Obviously, I had to dis-agree and in order to show Mr. Rowlee that dance is not only a sport but an art I thought it was about time the he give it a try. In return, I would try lacrosse. So, in keeping my end of the bargain, I went to open gym at the middle school with all the girls who play on the girls’

lacrosse team at OHS. At open gym, the girls run drills to work on skills that they will use in their games (this is similar

to how dancers take ballet classes to work on their technique so they can use it in their dances.) At first I was a little rusty at catching and throwing,

but after a while I got the hang of it. I was nowhere near as good as the other girls who could run, catch, cradle, and

pass all within the matter of about five seconds (it probably took me at least a minute to do all of that). After open gym I realized how much of a strenuous

sport lacrosse really is. I now have a new respect for lacrosse players because it really is a tough sport. However, Row-lee did comment that I did well and I could try out for the team if I wanted to. Rowlee kept his end of the bargain as well and accompanied me to dance class. Although he was a little late, he still was a good sport and gave the class his all. We started off in the center of the floor with a warm up that consisted of jumping jacks, stretching, and run-ning in place. We then went across the floor learning step ball changes, a jazz square, and grand jetes all of which Rowlee did very well. As a dancer, I have to admit; Rowlee wasn’t all that bad; he honestly did really well with the class and picked up the choreogra-phy quickly. After class, Rowlee com-mented, “My muscles are all sore now, I never knew dance was so demanding.” So in the end, I believe that Mr. Rowlee and I both have a better un-derstanding of each other’s interests and the sports that we play. Both are difficult, but also both are re-warding and (most importantly) fun.

Sports

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

Returning Coaches Should Keep their Jobs

Coach Rowlee and Dancer King Mix It Up18

By Chrissy KingManaging Editor

Always a good sport, Mr. Chuck Rowlee (center) takes a dance lesson at Lisa’s Centre of Dance Artistry.

Photo By aBBy Martin

The overall goal for any school varsity team is to ultimately win and be respected by their opponants.

In its 154-year history, Oswego High School has had thousands of athletes. Some of whom have even gone on to play for Division one college pro-grams and a rare few have even managed to make it to the professional ranks. So, when veteran Track and Field coach Mr. Erwin Dewey, who is very familiar with Oswego’s past, classified Charles Kangah as “the fastest person to ever run for OHS,” one knows that Kangah truly is a rare talent.

This year, Kangah attended sectionals for three events during the indoor track season. His events included the 55 meter dash, the 300 meter dash and the 4 X 400 relay. At the sectionals, he placed second, first, and fourth, respectively in those events. Although Kangah did well at sectionals, he was still disappointed with his outcome. “I went in thinking I was going to do better than that,” he stated. “I’m not upset, I just wish that I did better.”

Although Kangah only ran in three events at the sectionals, he wishes he would have been able to par-ticipate in the 200 meter dash, which happens to be his favorite event. “I like it because it’s not too long, but not too short…I can have a bad start, but I still have time to make up for it before the race is over.” Kangah’s best time in the event is 22 seconds, even though he thinks, “I could have gotten that time down.”

For the past four years, Kangah has been run-

ning strong for Os-wego High School. This year all, of his hard work paid off by being recognized by the Section III com-mittee. Kangah was named a First Team All-League runner for Track and Field, mean-ing that he basically makes fast people look not so fast. Along with the Section III honors, he also placed third in the State and fourth in the federation meet.

Although Kangah is unsure where he is going to attend col-lege or what he wants to major in, he said that he will “def i-nitely be running.” “I’ve loved running since I started…It’s a great stress reliever and I’m not sure what I’d do if I wasn’t running.”

Kangah will be missed by the Track and Field team, since they are losing their MVP for next year’s season.

“I’m going to miss everyone here,” stated Kangah. “I ran with a great group of guys and it won’t be the same without them...The only thing that they have to remem-ber is, ‘You haven’t got a future if you live in the past.’”

Sports

March 2007Buccaneer Bulletin

19

Kangah Called ‘The Fastest Buc Runner Ever’By Kathryn Lazarski Sportswriter

Photo Courtesy www.tullyrunners.CoMCharles Kangah has represented OHS in teack & field throughout his high school career, with tremendous success against the best runners in NY.

Oswego High School’s Student Voice

Score:

Winter Wreaks Havoc with Sports

Volume 10 Number 5 March 2007

The softball field wasn’t ready for real practice on March 12, so the team played “Shovelball.”photo by alyssa hollaNd

Kailyn GraySportswriter

Buccaneer SportsBuccaneer Flashback

20 Years Ago(1987)

For the first time, Oswego High School fielded a varsity boys’ lacrosse team after the success of the “trial” junior varsity team the previous year. Due to the JV re-cord of 14-7-1, the former All-American Mr. Dave Gillmeister was appointed as the head coach of the new team. Although the lacrosse program had not yet won the support of the majority of the community, the boys’ team still made progress in their first year as a legitimate spring sport.

10 Years Ago(1997)

Oswego High School student Todd Caroccio was given an all-expenses paid trip to the ESPY Awards in New York City. Caroccio wrote and submitted an essay about an athlete who inspired him and he ended up winning tickets for the sports world’s equivalent to the Oscars. While in NYC, Caroccio was able to meet Gregory Hines, George Steinbrenner, and Tyra Banks. Caroccio was the only student who submitted such an essay from OHS, and he was proud to say that he received no assistance on his award-winning piece.

5 Years Ago(2002)

The OHS softball facilities underwent major renovations for the 2002 season. The varsity field received new block dugouts with permanent benches and security gates as well. Oswego Youth Softball program and Lady Buccaneer program representa-tives met to plan the joint venture. Busi-nesses throughout the city helped to create the new “Home of the Lady Bucs,” and also made arrangements to equip the JV field with the new dugouts later as well.

Oswego was hit hard by snow this year, everyone knows that. We’ve dealt with the hordes of news sta-tions in town trying to get the latest scoop, the loss of our winter break, and of course, talk of where to put all the snow. To the athletes who participate in a spring sport here at OHS, it could be even more of a headache. The record snowfall could have an ad-verse affect on the high school’s spring sports teams.

Despite the fact that most of our athletic fields are still buried by snow, some athletes and coaches are optimistic that the start of this spring season is no different than past years. “Our early prac-tices were in the gym,” says sophomore JV softball player Carley Carson, “they won’t postpone them.” Baseball coach Mr. John Finch also seems uncon-cerned about the snow affecting his season. “Every year we start off indoors anyways…it seems like this year we’re going to be inside a little longer.”

Regardless of the ext ra t ime spent in-doors practicing, Finch says that tryouts were not postponed, and no practices were cancelled. “We’ll always practice; we’ll just have to adjust to being indoors instead of outdoors,” he said.

Even with the confidence of some, others are concerned whether or not they’ll be able to

start playing on schedule. “There’s a possibil-ity that if it doesn’t melt, we’re not going to be able to play outside. We’ll have to play in the gym,” said freshman lacrosse player Maia Czarnecki. Softball coach Mr. Mike McCrobie has seen all kinds of weather in his years at OHS, but is more concerned this season. “The grounds crew did a great job with the mild weather in November and December. In fact, our field was playable in Decem-ber. My worry is that the snow that was removed from parking lots was placed in mounds on or near our fields. When those piles melt, it will cause prob-lems for the varsity and JV softball fields,” he said.

With some teams stuck indoors for the first few weeks of practice, a schedule has been made up of when and where to put everyone. “There’s a whole practice schedule with everyone slated where they’re supposed to be and when,” said Athletic Director Mr. Brad Dates. This seems to be nothing new for Oswego High School’s spring sports teams.

Not only is the snow going to have some affect on the spring season, but it also interfered with the end of the winter sports season. According to Dates, some winter teams’ games were postponed several times, and some games were completely cancelled due to snow days.

Hopefully for our spring coaches and athletes, it won’t be too long before we can say “let the games begin!”

Mother Nature 1Spring Sports 0