Volume 51Issue VIMay 17, 20116001 Cassia St. Boise, ID 83709borahsenator.com

The Borah

Senator

“Grades. Girls. Sleep: Pick Two” Page 14

See what went into the making of the yearbook

Page 12

The Idaho outdoors beckon, check out recreation ideas

Page 16

Find out why students gave up cell phones for a month

Page 9

Letters to the Editor2 The Borah Senator May 17, 2011

Editor in Chief: Megan MizutaAssociate Editor: Kristin Bracewell Tech Support: Jessica PowellPrint Photo Editor: Katie Helm Assistant: Ali ClapierStaff Photographers: Kristin Bracewell, Ali Clapier, Korey Combs,

Katie Helm, Jamie Jones, Megan Mizuta, Ashley RiceText Editors: Megan Harrigfeld, Megan Mizuta, Samantha NelsonAdvertising Manager: Kristin Bracewell Assistant: Brittni HanrahanPage Editors Front Cover: Megan Mizuta Letters to the Editor: Ali Clapier Artist Bio: Ali Clapier News: Megan Mizuta, Matt Bray Opinion: Samantha Nelson Life: Jamie Jones, Ari Anchustegui Spread: Megan Harrigfeld A&E: Justin Kirkham, Haylie Pelton Q&A: Kristin Bracewell People: Samantha Whittaker Sports: Brandie Cichy, Sage Unsworth JV Sports: Savannah Harrelson Photo Essay: Megan Mizuta Fun & Games: Adam ThompsonIllustrators: Lisa Garrard, Chris LawsonStaff Writers: Matthew Bergman, Matt Bray, Mechelle Conner,

Lisa Garrard, Brittni Hanrahan, Logan NyeWeb Editor: Grace GibneyWeb Photo Editor: Ashley RiceVideographers: Nic Schweitzer, Zack ThomasIntern Writers: Mitch Bergman, Jacob Horton, Roxanne Lewers,

Nikki Martin, Ryan PersonetteAdviser: Michelle Harmon

Senator Staff

National Scholastic Press Association

Editor’s noteAs the year draws to a close, most

of my fellow seniors await graduation with eagerness, if not impatience. We cite 12 year’s worth of early morn-ings, countless hours of homework, and hundreds of tests as reason to cel-ebrate our departure.

But no matter how glad we may be to leave high school behind us, we will inevitably carry Borah with us wher-ever we go. The Borah community has played an integral role in shap-ing us, whether by the friendships we forged here, the things we learned, or the people who taught us.

It is hard to imagine that Borah will go on without us, given all the time we have spent here.

I have difficulty imagining leaving

the Senator, which has been a signifi-cant part of my time at Borah. I know well the time and effort poured into this publication by the Senator staff, and our adviser, Michelle Harmon, and I can only hope that you have en-joyed reading the Senator as much as we have enjoyed creating it for you.

However, I leave the Senator in good hands. I have every confidence that upcoming senior Kristin Bracewell, your 2012 Editor in Chief, will prove an apt guide for the newspaper print and web editions as they continue to grow and improve.

And so, my fellow Borah Lions, I wish you the best, wherever your en-deavours may take you.

Dear Readers,

Sincerely,Megan MizutaEditor in Chief

"Is Borah High School Really in the Top 5% of American High Schools?"

Many people may recall in the past years an announcement that declared Borah High School in the top 5% of High Schools, and it was commended that the academic standards we set here made it so.

Is that really the case? Directly, no it is not. In fact, that statistic is based solely on how many AP tests are regis-tered to be taken at that school. It does

not take into consideration the grades of those AP tests, or even if the stu-dent walked in the classroom to take the exam. It just counts the number of AP exams students have signed up for. That is fact.

So, is Borah High really as great and commendable academically as Newsweek makes us seem? That's up to the students, not a subjective statis-tic.

-- Zack Buker, seniorLetter received May 10, 2011

Newsweek award gives false prideDear Editor:

Artist BioThe Borah Senator May 17, 2011 3

Surrealist dives into the abstract world

Check out one of Katherine Breithaupt’s short stories at borahsenator.com

under Categories in the Creative Fiction section.

things, but not necessarily to make a statement. “I’m not doing art to evoke something,” she said. “I’m doing it be-cause something evokes me.”

Her longest creation, titled “Alice and Wonderland,” took nearly a year

to perfect.“I started it in June of last year, and finished it in April.” She added that a friend recommended the title, because “it looked like Alice fall-ing into the hole.”

Compton said, “She’s a prolific

By Savannah Harrelson

With pencil and coffee mug in hand, Katharine Breithaupt dives deep into her mind to create works of art that not even she understands.

“I usually don’t know what my pieces are until after I’m finished with them,” she said. “I let my art do the talking.”

Breithaupt has been creating art ever since she was young. She said that her parents would give her pads of paper and crayons to keep her busy.

As the years went on, however, her medium became mostly pencil and paint, as she grew to despise colored pencils and crayons, and refuses to use them.

Currently, Breithaupt is in AP 2D Design, taught by Jennifer Compton, and has two class periods blocked out for art. She has also received a $10,000 scholarship to the Minneapolis Col-lege of Art and Design, which she said she is excited to attend and added that it will be nice to be surrounded by stu-dents like her who enjoy art.

Her purpose in doing art is to say

More of Katherine Breithaupt’s work

Photo by Ashley Rice Senior Katherine Breithaupt concentrates on penciling in her newest creation.

artist. She is totally motivated to pro-duce art.”

Compton added that her attention to detail and the storytelling process is amazing.

Breithaupt’s time spent between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. is in the basement of her house working on her pieces rather than sleeping. “Sometimes I become obsessed with something I’m working on, and forget to eat, forget to sleep.”

Breithaupt also plays the violin in the Borah Symphonic orchestra, but says that she has lost desire in the vio-lin, and is beginning to focus mostly on art.

Breithaupt says that she is her next project, adding that she is trying to work on her confidence, “I don’t know who I am yet.” She said that hopefully going to college will help her branch out and become better at her verbal skills.

She said that her grandpa, who also was a painter and violinist, gave her wisdom and inspiration: “He told me never to be satisfied with my art, or else I will never be able to grow.”

borahsenator.com for extra

coverage, games, and more.

News4 The Borah Senator May 17, 2011

Education association petitions new lawsBy Megan Harrigfeld

Adversaries of the three education reform bills passed this legislation session will be pushing until June 4 to put these bills on a referendum, a move toward reversing the freshly passed laws.

“Teachers and parents are really frustrated that this came out of nowhere,” said Boise Education Association President Andrew Rath. “The commu-nity never had a chance to vote on it, and this gives people a chance to say what they think.”

Under Idaho law, any bill passed in the last 90 days may be petitioned and put on the ballot in the next election.

At the Idaho Education Association’s (IEA) annual meeting April 15, state delegates met and agreed the recent passage of education reform bills mandated action. Members backed the idea and are gathering signatures on petitions to put a referen-dum on the 2012 ballot.

The IEA is attempting to collect 60,000 signa-tures by June, which is 13,000 more than is required to put the referendum on the ballot. However, Rath

By Matt Bray

This year, many students will mourn the death of the Robert C. Byrd scholarship.

When asked why the scholarship’s federal funding was terminated, Ca-reer Counselor Kathi Lecertua said, “I don’t know, but it’s probably just another budget-cut casualty.”

Lecertua said that many Borah students took advantage of the op-portunity in past years to apply for the scholarship, which granted $1,500 a year for four years.

Lecertua also stated that the esti-mated 60 students who applied for

this scholarship will no longer receive any financial aid from it.

According to TRiO adviser Jim Wright, the Robert C. Byrd scholar-ship was the main scholarship that granted money to students who chose to attend school out of state.

Wright mentioned that the Prom-ise B scholarship was also in danger of being eliminated.

The Promise B scholarship guar-antees $400 a year for two years to stu-dents who have a 3.0 GPA or higher, and who plan on attending an Idaho college.

According to Wright, the money for the Promise B scholarship was re-cently approved, and it will continue to exist for the time being.

Federal funding cuts affect availability of college scholarship for graduates

New AVID class next year will focus on students’ leadership strengths, qualities

By Adam Thompson

Fifteen juniors have started the new Boise State University concur-rent Leadership 101 class, according to AVID instructor Amy Everson.

This class, which counts for BSU credit, functions much as the current AVID classes do.

In this dual enrollment environ-ment, students learn what it means to be a leader. Students participate in community, school, and local service projects.

Katie Snider, junior, described the class as “teaching how to apply skills to everyday situations.”

Leadership 101 utilizes numerous media to teach students valuable skills.

said the IEA feels they need these extra signatures for assurance. On each petition that a person col-lects, there are 20 spaces for signatures. Although, said Rath, only about 13 of those will be valid—due to address errors, or non-registered voters signing the petitions.

Sixty thousand signatures is not an easy feat, es-pecially when it appears that many teachers are not fully participating in the petition drive. At a lunch meeting at Borah about the petitions May 2, 16 fac-ulty members attended.

“If every teacher in Boise got 10 signatures, we would be done,” government teacher Ron Freeman stated. “There will only be 10 teachers at Borah that even try to get signatures to me that is kind of sad.”

Rath reported that the energy is much higher at junior highs and elementary schools.

With not even half the expected signatures gath-ered at this time, the IEA has it’s work cut out for it.

“I really believe that if we don’t get the signa-tures, it will be worse than if we never tried,” said Freeman. “Luna will just use that as a platform for the next round of nonsense.”

Rath agreed, saying that if the signatures are not collected, it cements the government’s mind-

set that the IEA doesn’t even understand their own members.

According to both Rath and Freeman, the peti-tions are not only a democratic action, but also a scare tactic. Freeman said, “I want him to know that there is going to be a fight if he runs for election in Idaho again.”

In the effort to collect signatures, some are do-ing anything they can to collect even a few. Attend-ing open-houses at junior highs and high schools, the Saturday Market, track meets and more, where people are eager to sign the petitions.

“Overwhelmingly, the people that are going out are having excellent experiences,” said BEA mem-ber and transition counselor Josh Ritchie. “People are flocking to us.”

Ritchie said he is also experiencing support from people who are not in favor of the bills, asserting that the referendum isn’t to repeal the bills per se, but rather to give voice to Supt. Tom Luna’s “silent majority.”

“If the people vote that they want these bills, we as educators will respect that,” said Ritchie. “But in our heart of hearts, we’re trying to do what is right for kids, and we don’t believe these laws are right.”

From reflections, group discussions, movie analysis, research, and a text-book, students learn stratergies they need to become effective leaders and role models in the real world. Snider also said that activities would be used to train students to identify their lead-ership strengths.

Erika Vaudrin, junior, said the class helps students “understand how to be leaders, and how to better understand ourselves and others.” The AVID pro-gram covers a lot of the same content, but the Leadership 101 class takes students more in depth. The Lead-ership 101 class will work along with the AVID program. All juniors in this year’s AVID class are in the ‘Leader-ship 101’ class next year.

If 47,000 signatures collected by June 4, referendum will be on November ballot

NewsThe Borah Senator May 17, 2011 5

Levy proposed to soften budget cutsBy Megan Mizuta

The Boise School District (BSD) says it’s facing a budget shortfall, and it’s asking voters to raise their property taxes to come up with the money.

On May 5 the BSD and the Friends of Boise Schools held an informational meeting regarding a supplemental levy that would shore up funding.

The $15 to $17 million from the levy would come from an increase in property tax. The tax would be $9.41 a month for every $100,000 worth of property, according to information distributed at the meeting.

The levy will be up for referendum Aug. 30.Held in the Borah Auditorium, the meeting

drew a small audience, with some 60 people in at-tendance. Ron Freeman, government teacher, esti-mated that 90 percent of the people in attendance were BSD employees.

Mike Lanza, co-chair of Friends of Boise School District, said he “honestly expected and hoped for more,” but added that many questions may have already been answered by previously distributed in-formation.

Word will get around,” he said, given that there are parent organizations and individuals setting up their “own networks.”

The meeting began with Sue Lovelace, co-chair of Friends of Boise School District, who set the stage for the levy by naming the losses to the BSD budget this year: less property tax revenue, state funding cuts from the legislature, and the cost of recently passed education reforms.

Lovelace’s message was followed by a presenta-tion by Superintendent of Schools for the BSD Don

Fitting in: Borah clears space for Lang. AcademyBy Brittni Hanrahan

Borah High School will be welcoming the Boi-se Language Academy next year, and Samantha Mora’s English 102 class has been working with the Academy students to help them transition.

“English 102 students shadowed students and their classes at the Academy for a day, and, in re-turn, Academy students followed the English 102 students’ classes at Borah to help them become fa-miliar with what is like at Borah for a whole day,” commented Spanish and English 102 teacher Sa-mantha Mora.

A mentoring program with the Boise Language

Academy students by English 102 classes has also been working with Jill Ragan’s reading class there. English 10, junior history classes, and staff are read-ing Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate to expand global understanding and gain an idea of what a refugee student might experience.

Borah wants to make the Boise Language Acad-emy move a smooth transition and a learning ex-perience for students and staff, according to Eng-lish Language Learner instructor and sophomore English teacher Stefan deVries. Twenty teachers prepared for the Academy next year by attending a conference about refugees.

“The Boise Language Academy students come to America for a chance at the good life, but they

must understand how it works socially and po-litically,” said deVries. “I think to keep the Boise Language Academy in a separate location was a barrier for the students.”

“To make room for incoming students next year, the book room will be used as a classroom, and some classrooms will be utilized during teach-er planning periods,” said Principal Bonita Ham-mer. The goal is to use all of the space Borah has to fit the new population.

One thing that students can do to the transition better for the Boise Language Academy is smiling, being welcoming and friendly to the new faces that will be joining us at Borah next year, according to deVries.

BSD Superintendent Don Coberly and trustee Janet Orn-dorff present information regarding the Aug. 30 levy.

Coberly and Trustee Janet Orndorff. The pair highlighted programs like AVID, Pro-

fessional Technical classes, AP offerings, and ELL programs that would be negatively impacted by the failure of the levy. The two also discussed the progress of the BSD in terms of graduation rates, college entrance rates, and college retention rates, relative to state and national averages.

Chief among the reasons named for passing the levy include maintaining class sizes at their current level, which both Coberly and Orndorff empha-sized, saying that an increase in class sizes would have negative effects across the board.

The average number of students per class at Borah is currently 25.3, which will increase to 29.4 should the levy fail, according to data presented.

The audience was also shown numerous graphs regarding enrollment in the BSD, as well as revenue.

Revenue for the BSD peaked in 2008, at $201 million; the predicted revenue for the 2012-2013 year is $165 million, or $181 million should the levy pass. The levy is not intended to raise rev-enue “back to the high point of the budget,” said Coberly.

According to information distributed by the BSD, the budget has not been “as low as $165 mil-lion since 2000-2001.”

When asked about common misconceptions re-garding the levy, Lanza named the question of why the BSD can’t operate with a budget at 2001 levels if it has a comparable level of enrollment, and not-ed differing levels of inflation as explanation.

The meeting also included a message from co-chair of Friends of Boise School District, Maria Greeley, who spoke of administrator’s and teachers’ efforts to “shield our children from budget cuts.”

The meeting then opened for a Q&A session, in which the audience could submit questions on note cards, or use open microphones.

But the information won’t stop with the May 5 meeting, Another is planned for May 12, and there is an online effort to inform as well.

A student facebook group providing information about the levy is also in the works, according to Joe Lovelace, a sophomore at Boise High School. The page will be primarily for the levy, he said, but “after that, it will be a free for all” forum.

Lovelace, whose mother is Sue Lovelace, de-scribed the group as a “kids page” counterpart to the general information available.

Friends of Boise School District also plans to launch the website yesforboiseschools.org, which Lanza expects to publish live next week.

Photo by Megan Mizuta

Opinion6 The Borah Senator May 17, 2011

Senator Staff Opinion

J

J K L J KOsama bin Laden

is apprehended and killed by US troops.

Prince Williammarries

Kate Middleton.

Violent storms killhundreds in the Southern US.

Lady Gaga takes a nasty fall

onstage.

Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are

revealed as new Batman cast members.

LKGOOD BADINDIFFERENT

News of bin Laden assassination spread via Facebook status updates

Staff Editorial

When word broke about the as-sassination of Osama bin Laden, newscasters predicted the event would become another “where were you…” moment.

They thought bin Laden’s death would be the type of event that would make people recall where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with when they heard that the United States finally killed Public En-emy No. 1.

We first saw the news in a Face-book post.

Ten years ago, we as six-, seven-, and eight-year-olds encountered our first real “where were you moment” with 9/11.

We watched footage of burning buildings on television, and shared our reactions in person. Given our ages at the time, it is doubtful that we realized—or even guessed at—the im-plications of those attacks.

And now, as we read Facebook posts like “I want to go to the White House and cheer that Bin Ladden [sic] is dead!” and “So proud of the USA! We got bin laden!!!!!!! [sic],” it seems we have still not grasped the full importance of our second “where were you moment.”

Yes, bin Laden was Public Enemy No. 1 and the U.S. pursued him for

10 years, which constitutes more than half our life spans. Yes, bin Laden helped orchestrate horrific acts of terrorism, and was “a perpetrator of mass murder,” as the President of the United States put it.

And, yes, a group of Navy SEALs risked their lives to carry out their mis-sion to kill bin Laden.

Celebratory responses to bin Lad-en’s killing have been called cathar-tic; his death has been interpreted as a chance to restore patriotism, an opportunity to rally a discontented America around.

Perhaps his death provides a mea-sure of closure for those directly affect-ed by Al Qaeda’s terrorism. Perhaps the U.S. has dismantled an important symbol of terrorism, or perhaps bin Laden’s death is nothing more than a symbolic victory.

But wherever you stand on the as-sassination, hailing bin Laden’s death with the fervor displayed on Facebook seems a gross oversimplification of the complex events that formulated his end.

And while we don’t presume to dictate what your response to Osama bin Laden’s death should be, we hope the next time our generation experi-ences a “where were you moment,” your response will exercise the matu-rity of thought we presume you are capable of.

OpinionThe Borah Senator May 17, 2011 7

By Justin Kirkham

In a society where technology reigns supreme, it is common for high school teachers to modernize the classroom with new programs and websites.

Unfortunately, some instructors heap technology onto their students to a point where learning is obstructed instead of enriched. PowerPoint and Turnitin are only helpful to a degree, and more often than not, teachers are shoving technology past this point.

With this rush for technology, administrators in the Boise School District have introduced SchoolFu-sion, a website for assignments and information. Some instructors have completely replaced handouts in class with electronic files on their teacher web pages. This causes a dilemma for students. “I can’t take the information with me, and I don’t always have ac-cess to the Internet,” explained junior Andrea Batten. While the website is useful for some students who lose their papers or want to find extra informa-tion, it simply poses a roadblock for those seeking rubrics or classwork that is not handed out in class. These stu-dents would much rather receive their materials in class instead of having to go to the website to print them off.

In addition to SchoolFusion, more and more teachers are making use of Turnitin.com for electronic essay submission and grading. “Turnitin encourages students to procrastinate,” explained junior Patty Bowen, who also stated that she occasionally puts off English papers until just a few hours before deadline.

“It freaks me out,” exclaimed Bat-ten. “If I have a family thing, I can’t get things in on time. It’s horribly in-convenient.” Teachers have also de-voted some of their instruction time to days in the computer lab, where students are encouraged to study

Technology use in the classroom has limits

terms and information from various websites. “It just makes learning more complicated,” said Bowen. “Keep it simple – more handouts.”

“In the lab, there are more distrac-tions,” explained Batten. “I pay more attention in the classroom.” With the Internet technology available for classroom purposes, PowerPoint and Prezi are being used more often for notes and projects.

For teacher lectures, slide shows are useful springboards for discussion.

For student projects, however, many students use filler material to get a good grade simply by shoveling as much information as possible into a Powerpoint without ingesting the in-formation.

With technology-based projects, junior Chance Murray gravitates to “cramming information instead of learning.” Samantha Mora, a Span-ish and English teacher at Borah, also sees some of the effects of poor tech-nology use, especially when students copy facts from various websites di-rectly into their PowerPoint presenta-tions.

“Our jobs as teachers is to show students how to go beyond this,” said Mora. “Technology is just like any other teaching strategy--it is only as good as the teacher behind it.”

Ultimately, technology should be used to assist or enrich learning, whether it be a supplement to in-class discussions or an embellishment for handouts or other teaching tools. It should not, however, be used to re-place teaching or obstruct learning in any way, as it has been doing with the advances of multiple presentation programs and annoying websites.

If this is what’s happening with technology-based learning within the traditional brick and mortar class-rooms, what is to become of future online classes required in the virtual ones?

Photo by Ali Clapier

Seniors Kristina Jasper, right, and Sami Call work on laptops in English teacher Saman-tha Mora’s classroom.

High school: not the best years of your lifeBy Sam Nelson

Parents are extremely biased. When they sit their offspring on the couch and lecture at them about high school and its forever being ”the best days of their lives,” they are basing their statements on their own, prob-ably faded, high school experience, rather than the modern one.

“High school is supposed to be fun, but it’s not,” said junior Ash-ley Corbett. “We’re swamped with homework, and all the free time we have we just want to sleep.” Sure, high school may be the peak of life for a select few, but these few are also the ones who prioritize social life and brush aside schoolwork.

Homework takes up the major-ity of the responsible student’s high school career, and it’s a trying time attempting to finish it all. Every class can feel like a separate school day in itself, with homework loading up to your armpits as you wave goodbye to any chance of a social life.

Drama and English teacher Gerald Hensley thinks otherwise.

“What’s wrong with being a kid?” he asked. “I loved it. I was having fun, doing plays. It was before I had to work.” This may have been true for him in his Borah days, but times have changed, and circumstances are much worse. “Teachers need to real-ize that their class isn’t the only class you have,” said Corbett.

The work, combined sometimes with the responsibility of a job, can keep students from getting enough sleep or relaxing at all, a desire that, although sometimes seeming like the result of laziness, is important to teens and their health.

The world has so much to offer, and high school is only three years of a person’s life. The attitude that high school is the greatest experience of your life only supports the idea that those three years are a time for constant fun. Very few students put school as a priority.

“Senior year is really bad,” senior Travis Leach admits. “High school isn’t your whole life. It’s just three years with no time to do what you want.”

Life 8 The Borah Senator May 17, 2011

Old, young bikes are fun for everyone

While driving in a car, it’s common to pass someone peddling their bike along the side of the road. It’s also common to have that same person pass you at the next red light. A bicycle is a fast, cheap, environmentally savvy, healthy and, most im-portantly, a fun way to travel.

Most cities have special paths and lanes to provide bicyclists with safe traffic free routes. In places like Boise

that are still relatively small, using these bicycle paths is usually a faster alternative to get somewhere than taking a car. “I like being able to avoid traffic signals,” said senior Quinn Moore. “There’s no idle, down time on a bike.”

With the economies cur-rent recession, people are looking to save money. The steadily rising gas prices may raise concern to fami-lies struggling to make ends meet. However this problem can be helped with the devel-oped habit of bicycling. Sav-ing money may be bike rid-ings biggest up-side for some people.

“Not only does it save money on gas,” stated junior Gabby Baker, “It’s a natural stress reliever. When you get off you feel more satisfied with yourself and more ac-complished.”

If a person can’t afford a bicycle, there is an organiza-tion that will provide one for them. “The Boise Bicycle Project encourages people to

Since its founding in 2003, Boise Bike Week (BBW) has been orga-nizing an engaging week focused solely on pedaled transportation.

This year, BBW runs from May 15-21 and, with gas prices on the rise, it might prove a popular event. Organized by the Treasure Valley Cycling Alliance, BBW highlights the benefits of cycling and offers a variety of events.

Maintenance and safe riding classes inform riders how to utilize Boise’s bike friendly community. Boise Bicycle Project, Boise Weekly, and the City of Boise are a few of the local event sponsors. The week draws large crowds of bike riders. A signed waiver is required to participate in events. The BBW philosophy is, “Get on your bikes and ride.”

come down and get a bike if they can’t afford one,” said senior Anne Selvage.

“I love getting to en-joy the fresh air,” said Moore, “and becom-ing one with nature.” Being on a bike puts one closer to the natu-ral world, even if the path being peddled is a road. It’s easy to quietly stumble upon unex-pecting wildlife; it also gives the opportunity to take in a deep breath.

“I encourage people to get out and ride a bike this spring,” said Baker.

Cycling can burn as many calories as jogging, and cre-ates less impact on a person’s joints. “I love when my legs get all toned from riding my bike,” said avid bicyclist junior Claire Rich-ardson.

T h e r e a r e n ’ t m a n y

forms of transportation with as many up-sides. Riding a bike will prove to be countless hours of enjoyment.

With the help of an at-tachable light, night rides during the summer can pro-vide fun without the heat of the sun. “Bike rides with

large groups of people on summer nights

are best!” said Baker.

As the warm weather arrives, Borah’s bicycle rack grows clustered with rides.

By Sage Unsworth

Infographic by Jamie Jones

Festival celebrates other transportation

Photo by Jamie Jones

A native language that Julius Caesar and Dante spoke is connecting two school age populations to this day.

In the Latin 2 classes, video confer-encing between Borah’s high school class and a first grade class at Pierce Park Elementary School is facilitated via Flip video cameras.

“Latin has provided a contact

LifeThe Borah Senator May 17, 2011 9

Left: Evidence of cellular devices confis-cated as an extra credit assignment.

Right: English teacher Stefan deVries, sus-pected of teaching life-changing habits.

Latin class buddies up

with Pierce Park first graders

By Ari Anchustegui

It would seem a villain has been lurking about the hallways of Borah.The most logical suspect? English teacher Stefan deVries.

Not only is this Borah teacher guilty of filling the minds of sopho-mores with literature and prestigious vocabulary, but sources have revealed that he has stooped to persuading in-nocent students into donating their electronic devices in order to limit the use of cell phones in the lives of his students.

“It’s become a real serious addic-tion,” pleaded the corporate. “My first year of teaching, we had a month without television. During that we had parents sign up and participate active-ly with it,” said deVries.

“However, nowadays going with-out TV wouldn’t make a difference because we have everything mo-bile,” he added.

Even so, nobody seems to know for certain how he managed such an astonishing task of trick-ery.

“It was without a whole lot of g u i d e l i n e s , besides the basic month without cell phone use prior to a write up,” says deVries “I did this because students are so creative that sometimes without

point for these very young students and their high school counterparts, and helped pique the interest of both sets of students in the language itself,” said Balen.

Latin Teacher Alison Balen said she feels this is a good way to keep things fresh.

Other than visual communication, they have also cultivated pen-pal re-lationships. Contact between the pen and video pals occurs every couple of weeks.

Teacher found guilty: exemplary tactics

Photos by Jamie Jones

“I had a student literally in tears when her device was taken.” -- Stefan deVries,

English teacher

too much specific direction they produce a better, or more unique product.”

Six students voluntarily said goodbye to their phones for a month’s period.

After the sepa-ration, they were required to write an essay about how their lack of cellu-lar use affected their lives. If they went through with it, they would obtain 100 extra credit points, no less.

When being interrogated about his assignment, deVries’s reasoning was, “My objective is to see if I can get students to self realize how intricately linked their lives have become to a piece of technology; and how they’ve convinced their brains that they can-not live without it,” he said.

“I had a student literally in tears when her device was taken. She didn’t think she could get through her next class, or life without it.”

Sophomore Lexi Graybill, a victim who survived without cellular com-munication for an entire month, said, “I realized I wasted less time texting,

and (devoted) much more time on my chores and homework.“

Another partici-pant said she had her first genuine conversa-tion with her mom that wasn’t via text messag-ing.

Investigators dis-covered a manila enve-lope full of cell phones, locked in his desk; where he kept the devices.

Although this may not be a crime suited for trial amidst a jury, it’s clear that deVries has done an unimagina-ble task in the ways of modern society.

Despite the virtual crime of steal-ing technology from students, he has been proven not guilty in the eyes of his victims; he will not be asked to serve any punishment for his curricu-lar crime.

In fact, this task has been praised, and looked upon as a moral teaching

deed, done for the welfare of his stu-dents.

With such success, deVries added, “It’s something I’ve decided to do formally next year. It will be a longer project with weekly journals.”

Last year’s Latin class also had buddies, where the first grade Latin-ees hosted a toga party for their high school buddies at Pierce Park, at which the juniors and seniors helped their buddies make “Roman” coin jewelry and military armbands.

Until the end of the year, these Latin buddies will continue their language relationship, and are plan-ning to have their younger coun-terparts plan the toga party for the Latin 2 class.

By Megan Harrigfeld

8 Volume 48 Issue I NOVEMBER 12,

10 The Borah Senator Volume 51 Issue VI May 17, 2011 11Time To Leave The Lion’s Den

Along with Christensen, senior English teacher Chuck McHenry explained that the end of the year is exciting for him, and he tries to make every assign-ment new, interesting and fun.

“I love the end of the year! I get really pumped up!” McHenry expressed. “I do think that the end of the year tends to just drag on though.”

But for McHenry, he said he feels as if his kids are in a candy store full of “brilliant, new assignment ideas.”

“I just think to myself, ‘My kids can do this, my kids can do that, and they can do this and that and this,’” he excitingly added. “There’s too many assign-ments to choose from!”

Although, on a different side of the spectrum, sits calculus teacher Vic Hofstetter. He explained that one cannot exactly change a math lesson plan.

“I’m excited for the end of the year,” he said, “but it takes more energy to motivate the students and AP classes. I want them to do well and I know they’re looking forward to summer, but it is difficult to get them to study just as hard.”

As the summer months begin to be in sight of most students and AP testing ends, both Hofstetter and McHenry agreed that it’s difficult to reel the stu-dents back into focus; they tend to forget about school and direct their focus more towards the upcoming summer.

By Jamie Jones

The time has arrived once again. With spring weather flourishing, AP testing wrapping up and se-nioritis at its peak, the end of the school year has af-fected more than just the students.

As the school year winds down, teachers generally feel the pressure to prevent seniortitis from taking the best of classrooms and to motivate themselves, along with the students, to take that final leap into summer.

“I don’t really get teacheritis that bad because I teach summer school,” said Economics and Debate teacher Kylie Christensen. “But I do realize that the students, and sometimes myself, need a little bit more stimulation.”

This is Christensen’s first year teaching in her own classroom. She explains that at the end of the fourth quarter, her lesson plans change; she changes them in an attempt to keep students’ momentum going.

“Let’s face it, the end of the year is boring,” she said. “My lessons are all about not making it monoto-nous for the end of the year.”

Christensen explained that she tries to fill her school days with interactive activities to keep students motivated and having fun.

“Overall, this year (teaching) has been a great one. I’m excited to end the year and I’m excited to end the year on a positive note,” Christensen added.

Photo by Katie HelmSenior English teacher Pam Atkins retains focus despite only three days left of her senior classes of the school year.

Teachers push for end of year

By Logan Nye

A violent plague has stricken the halls of Borah that is more contagious and detrimental than any bubonic plague imaginable.

So debilitating in fact, this writer is hardly ca-pable of conveying a story.

Senioritis is a serious condition that affects mil-lions of students worldwide every spring.

As seniors approach their final week of high school, the Lucky Dog assembly, year book sign-ing, and spring state tournaments effectively distract them from imminent final exams.

Victim of senioritis, Kristina Jasper, said the characteristic manifestations have affected her. “I have no motivation to do anything, at all, ever.”

Symptoms of senioritis include a lack of direc-tion, disregard for anything academic, and the in-ability to come to school a majority of the time.

Senior Kevin Shepard said, “Time is altered by senioritis; I check the clock and it seems like an hour went by but it’s only been seven minutes.”

Senior Danielle Byrd jokingly disagreed with Shepard saying, “I check the clock and it feels like two hours, but it’s only been three minutes.”

Clinical studies have made progress for a cure, however no definite remedy has emerged. The most seemingly effective medicine for this condition is the graduation countdown.

Shepard exclaimed the number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds -- well, okay, the number of days -- with no hesitation.

Although the senior class is urging to leave, Byrd admits to feeling slight nostalgia already. “At this moment we are counting down minute to minute, but at the same time when I look back at myself as a sophomore, time flew by. I’ll always miss the memo-ries I had here at Borah High.”

Warm spring sunshine, laziness, and promises of fresh starts beyond high school have all been linked as causes of the epidemic, but, ultimately, the class of 2011 has endured 13 years of formal education.

Despite the body counts and negative antsy ef-fects of senioritis, senior Brett McCutchen points out how, “It can be bittersweet. It drags out classes, but helps us to embrace time with friends.”

T-minus senioritis Upper classmen struggle to

finish the year strong

Commentary

10 The Borah Senator Volume 51 Issue VI May 17, 2011 11Time To Leave The Lion’s DenGrad programs last display of senior artBy Megan Harrigfeld

The senior class of every year tries to live on in glory for years to come in the form of senior gifts, and ports championships. However, there is another way for artists to live on in Borah memories. Every year, art students compete to have their work displayed on the graduation program.

“It’s cool because people keep them forever,” said Kat Davis, this year’s winner. Davis displayed her lion talent with a scratch place piece, which overwhelm-ingly was the favorite during the vote.

About 10 submissions were entered this year, which was less than previous year’s since the drawing class assignment was extra credit. “[The contest] was more ‘have fun with it’,” said Davis. “She didn’t want to overwhelm people.”

Counselor Josh Ritchie, Vice Principal Kelly Fos-sesco, Social Worker Becca Woodland, Principal Bo-nita Hammer and Special Education teacher Maggie Loughead were this year’s judges.

It was important, said art teacher Jen Compton, to have a judge with an “art background,” Ritchie fulfill-ing that position.

Past winners include Alena Cenis, class of 2010 and Taylor Ross, class of 2009. This year’s program will be the first to feature a scratch art piece.

This scratch place art, created by senior Kat Davis, is very different than program art from years past.

Photo by Katie HelmDisplayed here are some of the past graduation programs, going all the way back to the class of 1996. Student art has only been featured for the past few years.

Photo by Kristin BracewellSenior Kat Davis took less than a week to create her piece.

A&E12 The Borah Senator May 17, 2011

Yearbook fate in hands of 10 studentsBy Megan Mizuta

As May 19 approaches, 10 students prepare to distribute a year’s worth of work. They are the 2011 yearbook staff, who craft the 224 page yearbook. The book has actually been finished since early March, when the staff sent in the final set of pages, but will not reach the hands of students until distribution day.

Work on the yearbook started last year; some students—including Senior Editor and Photo Editor Taylor Grindell and Junior Editor and Lay-out Editor Cayla Butler—joined the yearbook staff in the second semester so as to begin work on this year’s book.

According to Grindell, the staff starts by choosing an overall theme and font styles. By start-ing on the yearbook last year, the staff concentrated on “pictures, captions, and copy,” said Butler.

When the year begins, so does the work of gathering information, interviewing, writing, and taking pictures. Grindell said, “We have to be at nearly every event.”

Photographers attend events “whenever they

can,” photographer Dmitriy Yaroshchuk, senior, likewise said.

The photos and copy are placed into layouts, to which staffers are assigned. Most of the layouts are modified templates provided by Balfour-Taylor Yearbooks, the yearbook printer. “We very rarely create a template from scratch,” said Grindell.

The yearbook is sent in about 50-page sections to Balfour-Taylor, who sends back “blown up pages” and digital copies of the pages, according to Butler.

From there, the staff “double and triple check everything,” said Butler.

While the yearbook staff sends sets of pages eight times over the course of the year, Grindell said there are “so many deadlines, it’s hard to count.”

Of the numerous deadlines, Yaroshchuk said “towards the end, it gets very stressful.”

Negative feedback regarding the 2010 yearbook has played into the production of this year’s book.

Borah needs a “classy yearbook,” said Grindell, one that “shows the effort that goes into it.” Grin-dell said there would be some uncaught mistakes, and Butler likewise said, “Yes, there will probably be mistakes, but hopefully not as many as last year.”

Photo by Ali Clapier

New to the yearbook staff this year, KateLynne Matthews, sophomore, works on laying out pages.

Hundreds of students perform in 93rd annual Boise Music WeekBy Samantha Whittaker

The first week of May marked the 2011 Boise Music Week in which Borah students actively participated.

Boise Music Week is an annual occurrence featuring many musical events throughout the city, such as Music in the Park, a district-wide perfor-mance of “Bye Bye Birdie” and a school night concert.

Borah students took part in two events: the school night gala concert including numerous choirs and bands from the Boise School District and a performance of “Bye, Bye Birdie.”

The gala concert was held May 6 at Capital and included students from six musical programs. Each program was asked to perform two pieces, unless one was 10 minutes in length, as well as a tribute to the Armed Forces. All groups sang as a whole.

In the past, the gala oncert has been held at the

Taco Bell Arena and, according to choir teacher Heather Prinzing, was held at the beginning of the week as a “kick off.” This year, however, was held as a “closing event.”

Prinzing stated her goal was to “have fun and show the public that music is still a strong, viable part of a child’s education and everyone’s life.”

All Borah choirs rehearsed in class before the two official rehearsals with all of the high school choirs involved in the performance at Capital.

Six Borah students and one Borah teacher par-ticipated in the performance of “Bye, Bye Birdie.”

“I was kind of excited because there weren’t that many guys,” said senior Mikah Chapman, who has the part of a teen chorus member in the production.

Another senior, Cristina Warner, said she was involved because of her experience last year. Warner has the part of Heather, a chorus member.

Both Chapman and Warner were expected to learn a song and monologue for auditions.

A&EThe Borah Senator May 17, 2011 13

Writer’s Corner:Bradley Burgess

Lively creepers detonate in Notch’s Minecraft beta

Manga fanatics celebrate Japanese literatureBy Haylie Pelton

Borah’s library hosts many events throughout the year. Manga fanatics and multiple Japanese Club members came together to attend the annual manga appreciation during a recent lunch and cel-ebrated with cake, anime, and the release of new manga to the Borah library.

Manga, not to be confused with anime, are Japanese books read from right to left while anime deals with actual animation, librarian Jennifer Boyd stressed.

By Justin Kirkham

With two novels complete and filled with “dead-pan hu-mor,” junior Bradley Burgess is eager to continue his science-fiction series. He en-countered the story-line for his books in a dream. Like other great ideas, Burgess had to “get it out and

Photo by Ali ClapierJunior Bradley Burgess is in the midst of compos-ing the third book in his science-fiction series.

By Justin Kirkham

Fabricated from lengthy strands of codes and programming dating back to May 10, 2009, Mine-craft is one of the most popular sandbox games in the making. Its creator, Markus Persson, commonly referred to as Notch, has been periodically updating Minecraft in its beta version.

As stated on the Minecraft homepage, Notch created the program to introduce a game that was simple in its structure and dynamic in its poten-tial.

In this popular adventure, players must gather blocks of various properties and build almost any-thing from them. Gamers can use axes to gather wood blocks from trees and rip saplings from leaves, while mining through stone with pickaxes and un-covering mineral deposits for ore.

Multiple creatures also spawn in the Minecraft world and produce sought-after materials. Sheep of multiple colors, for example, appear on grass, where players can hit them to remove blocks of wool. But glitches sometimes occur. Animals may meander halfway in the ground or appear as elusive “ghost cows” that flicker in and out of the game.

With these blocks and items, players create vast structures or complex creations. By simply placing blocks or items in their surroundings, users build tall cobblestone walls or extensive wooden fences. In addition to creating actual structures, players com-bine sticks, pieces of ore, wheat, sugar, and other items to create tools for gathering blocks or food.

At night, a mob of monsters emerges, includ-ing spiders, zombies, skeletons, and the infamous

share it with the world.” His books outline the plight of an “ordinary

office drone” who is abducted by aliens. Eventu-ally, she befriends her captors.

“I ran with it and created a fantasy,” explained Burgess, who hopes to eventually get his writing out and into the world where it could become a movie. “I was going to write a script, but it is much cooler to write a first person novel.” Bur-gess’ fondness for first person can be attributed to his favorite writer, Gena Showalter.

Junior Rhonda Long said, “He includes little things that make you think. Stuff you wouldn’t normally think about.”

Burgess especially enjoys creating characters that are “ordinary people in extraordinary cir-cumstances.” The narrator of his story employs sharp wit and is “very realistic and talks how a person would actually talk.”

Read the first chapter of Burgess’ first novel, Stellar, on the Creative Fiction page at borahsena-tor.com.

Boyd said that the previous librarian started the tradition and believes the annual celebration has been going on for almost 10 years.

Students who show a deep appreciation for manga attended the event, which includes most members of Japanese Club, as well as a few others, senior Markaila Wayne said.

Junior Indea Bennett said that her favorite part of the event was “seeing everybody there.”

For the event, senior Jessica Powell made cup-cakes. She arranged them so that they appeared as the symbol for manga in kanji.

There was also anime playing in the background,

explained Wayne. On a related note, Wayne mentioned that An-

ime Oasis will take place in downtown Boise at the Grove May 26-29.

This is a “huge convention” where manga, an-ime and comic book lovers gather and can “feel ac-cepted” and meet people with the same interests. Bennett said that she is “pretty excited” for this year’s convention.

Wayne also mentioned that those who attended the manga appreciation lunch will most likely be at-tending this four-day event at the end of the month as well.

Screenshot by Justin KirkhamTwo unlucky travelers in Minecraft come across a dun-geon filled to the brim with aggravated zombies.creepers. These mobs are hostile, and relentlessly attack the player with punches, arrows, and, in the creeper’s case, aggravating explosions. When killed, the monsters drop feathers, bones, string, gunpow-der, or arrows.

The only way to avoid these monsters is to hide in a well-lit house or sleep in a bed. Sometimes, beds do not work properly, and a zombie spawns on the player’s resting body. This does not promote a healthy sleeping lifestyle, so players must risk a ran-dom spawning if they are to escape the night.

Using torches to illuminate a dark area can also be confusing, as the gamer is never really sure if his home is completely lit. It may be that a spider spawns on his darkened ceiling, ready to attack him when he is most vulnerable.

In all, Minecraft has so many options and tan-gents that it is ultimately enjoyable. With so much to do, it appeals to almost every group of gamers with its creation-based gameplay.

Q&A 14 The Borah Senator May 17, 2011

“Congrats, you’ve made it this far. I bet times were rough in some grades but you kept going. Maybe you thought it was easy... But let me tell you something: If you are one of those people that

just skate through the years, you’re happy with D’s...You say ‘Hey, I’ve made it this far without working, I can do this

’til I graduate.’ Take it from me, it doesn’t work like that. I was fine with minimal work, pushing 12 absences a semester...

I thought ‘hey, it’ll work out.’ I have just been informed that I have been kicked out of night school government and

that I will not be graduating. I don’t know why I am so surprised. I was so fine

with D’s that last semest in English...I passed by the skin of my teeth and now if I can’t talk my way back into class I will have

to break the news to my mom, my siblings, my friends, my recruiter-everybody is going to know that I am a failure. I said it, I failed. But take it from someone who knows that

you get out of school what you put into it and if you put nothing into it you get kicked out of it. So take this advice,

just work in school, stop falling asleep, go to bed earlier, get off the Xbox and sleep. At least try in class and you will pass.

It’s that simple. Give some effort and you will graduate. Don’t do what I did.”

~ Tony Mobberley

“Grades. Girls. Sleep: Pick Two.” ~ Gavin Cluff

What advice would you give to underclassmen about high school?“G

radu

ate.

”~

Etha

n G

eer

“Don’t sweat the small stuff.”

~ Sonny Hobdey

“Cherish your tim

e here.”~ Alec Briggs

“Support your school sports teams no matter what. They need it more than you realize.”~ Trevor Hopkins

“Don’t spend all your time studying. There is more to high school than just academics.”~ Ben O’Harra

“Don’t weigh yourself down so much with school and work. High school will be the best years of your life, enjoy the time you have as a kid in high school before you leave and become an adult. Thank your parents because right now, they’re the people on earth

willing to put down hundreds of dollars for you to enjoy your high school career. A majority of you who are reading this have your parents paying for your phone, your car, your insurance, everything that any high schooler needs to enjoy high school.

Always make everyday of high school an unforgettable day. Hang out with your friends as much as you can before you graduate because when you do graduate, eveyone is going their own direction in life. So have fun and get good grades.”

~ Harry Nguyen

“ENJOY IT! Don’t let yourself get caught

up in the petty drama. Reach out and make friends

with everyone you can. Be involved, participate in all the opportunities Borah gives you. Do your work. Ask too many questions.

Be too nice. Laugh too much.”

~ Jeannie Bixby

“It’s not all cookies and cream, though it does have

its perks. But with all seriousness, there are times to be a hard worker, and times when you don’t. If you can

determine those times on your own, your three years will be

smooth sailing.”~ Josh Morrison

“Work hard, and have fun.”~ Tim Rohr

“Just be yourself.” ~ Kristina Jasper

“Keep looking forward and always remember who

you are no matter what.” ~ Hayden Hill

“Don’t let simple moments slip by.” ~ Emily Russell Smith

“Don’t let yourself get caught up in the stress and drama

that high school brings. Focus on your future

and work hard on the things that will take you to the next

chapter in your life. Strive to succeed and concentrate on getting

yourself to the next level.” ~ Tyler Ashton

“People aren’t always who they seem, so you

must keep an open mind; friends may become

enemies and enemies may become friends; just don’t

ever get caught up in it. Remember what’s important to you.”

~ Joe Hayes

More answers at borahsenator.com.

PeopleThe Borah Senator May 17, 2011 15

Mayor’s Award recognizes students

“At first I thought they had it wrong,” exclaimed senior Marie Gerard when she heard her name an-nounced at the state FCCLA competition. “They had to direct me onto the stage. I was dizzy and shocked and then I started crying.”

Two Family Career and Community Leaders of America members won state competitions and qualified for nationals in Anaheim, Calif. July 8-15, which will cost an estimated $1,200.

Senior Aldijana Karadza and Gerard both placed at the top of their contest categories at the state tournament. Gerard competed in the job in-terview category while Karadza competed in the early childhood one.

By Grace Gibney

At the 18th annual Mayor’s Awards, seniors Jer-emy Jones and Jessie Nelson were recognized for their strive for accomplishments, both in academics and their community.

“To me, this award means that I’m going some-where,” said Jones. “I must be doing something

right.”Recipients took center stage April 31 in Boise’s City Hall Chambers. Along with receiving a plaque in their honor, the senior honorees shook hands with the mayors of Boise, Meridian, Garden City, Kuna, and Star.

“The Mayor’s Awards were exciting,” said Jones. “It is a great experience and you get to meet a lot of new people.”

In the job interview category, each participant is required to complete a portfolio with a resume in it and special skills such as typing speed or use of of-fice technology like copiers. Then they go in front of a panel of judges for an interview.

For the early childhood category, each partici-pant in a given amount of time creates his/her own portfolio as well as a lesson plan for children.

“Each contestant has a cold prompt given to them and must make a 30-minute lesson plan with only the resources in a box provided,” said FCCLA adviser Shanon Holt. “Aldijana was the only one who got gold in her category.”

“Before I went into the competition I was doubt-ful,” Karadza stated. “I was surprised when they called my name and was glad I won.”

Two FCCLA students qualify for July nationals in Anaheim

Photos by Katie HelmSeniors Jeremy Jones and Jessie Nelson were two of 76 high school and junior high students honored April 31.

Starting at 7 p.m. and lasting over two hours, 76 recipients from junior and senior high schools were recognized for their achievements.

When selecting a nominee, school officials said they look for students who show strength of charac-ter by overcoming hardships and obstacles, demon-strating compassion and serving their communities.

“It means a lot to me to win this award,” said Nelson. “I’m grateful that my counselors and teach-ers have recognized me and my time here at Bo-rah.”

Jones is a two-time recipient of the Mayor’s Award.

He also received the award for the first time in 2008 when he was a freshman attending West Jr. High.

“As far as I know, I am the only person who’s received it [Mayor’s Award] twice,” said Jones. “I knew the teachers at West liked me a lot, but I never thought that I would win the award a second time. I was definitely surprised when I found out that I had won again.”

Nelson said her first reaction when she found out was how many “other noteworthy candidates” at Borah could have been chosen.

Although no scholarship funds are given, recipi-ents of the award are proud to be recognized.

“When I found out that I had won the Mayor’s Award, I did not know much about it,” said Nelson. “I had never really heard of it, but I was excited and honored to win it. It meant a lot to me.”

By Brandie Cichy

Photo by Ashley Rice Seniors Marie Gerard and Aldijana Karadza bask in the light of their recent success at the state FCCLA compe-tition, where both qualified for national ranking.

Sports 16 The Borah Senator May 17, 2011

Get outdoors this summer Cheerleaders rally for new positions

The Borah cheer squad rallied on May 6 to determine who will hold next year’s positions on the varsity and junior varsity teams.

Mandatory clinics were held May 3-5, where the judges observed the cheerleaders’ teamwork. Open gym practices were available every Tuesday and Thursday since April 12. The official tryouts were May 6.

A panel of three judges, all cer-tified cheer instructors with no af-filiation to Borah, decided the new members on the squad.

The contestants are evaluated on a two-part scale. First is an aca-demic assessment based on the con-testants’ grades and teacher recom-mendations. The second part is a skills assessment that includes tum-bling, a dance, cheers, and stunting.

Danielle Schallhorn, senior, is one of the clinic instructors that attends practices and helps candi-dates refine their talents. “It is very fulfilling to help all the sweet and innocent cheerleaders who don’t know what they are getting them-selves into,” she said.

Sophomore Jordan Drexler, tried out for the team for her sec-ond year. She said, “There is a lot of young talent. The girls in junior high are really good.”

Sophomore Chloe Ball said, “The freshman trying out are very very good, and there are a lot of them.”

Ball was a flier on last year’s competition team, and tried out again for this year’s team. She not-ed the larger number of girls trying out this year, “There’s 30 new girls who did not do competition or side-line cheer last year.”

“I’m not as scared this year,” Drexler added. “I kind of feel like I know what I’m doing.” Last year’s competition cheer squad won the Idaho state competition in the 5A co-ed division.

By Sage Unsworth

Boise is at the top of the list for people who love outdoor activities. The wilderness is literally a stroll or short bike ride away.

“We have an awesome state; peo-ple really take it for granted,” said art teacher and avid outdoorsman Pat Rose. “Everything is right out our back door.”

The weather is getting nicer and the grass greener, and more summer activities are becoming available. Whether it’s a relaxing walk through one of Boise’s 20-plus parks, an exhil-arating peddle along the Boise River on the Green Belt, or even more am-bitious activities like rafting the Boise

river, or rock climbing along the Rock Island Trail, there is always something to do outside for very little money or free.

These are just things that can be done in the city of Boise. The State of Idaho offers as many or more outdoor activities as any state in the nation; it has more protected wilderness land than all states but Alaska.

The Frank Church Wilderness is the largest wilderness area in the na-tion and lies solely in the state’s bor-ders; it is full within backpacking and hiking trails.

The Salmon River system, the longest river system in a single state consists of some of the top whitewa-ter rafting in the world. People from all corners of the globe come to vaca-tion there.

Traveling to the Frank Church isn’t necessary to find world-class whitewater rafting. A 30-minute drive north on Idaho’s Highway 55 leads to the Payette River where rafters can be seen every sunny day and most rainy ones from June to September.

Owning a boat, or hiring expen-sive guides isn’t the only way to get on the water. There are programs and organizations such as Wild Science

Explorers and Western White Water Association, as well as local shops that help locals and tourists experience the river for next to nothing.

Although known around the world for its whitewater, Idaho’s rivers are also world renowned for another out-door sport, fly fishing.

The main section of the Boise River that runs through the heart of the city is a great trout fishery. The north and south fork of the Boise are both a short drive away, and much less crowded than the usually occupied main.

Rivers aren’t the only place to fish near Boise; there are numerous ponds, reservoirs and lakes stocked by the Idaho Fish and Game.

If water sports aren’t your thing, the foothills wilderness are full of trails and paths where the only equipment needed to enjoy the fresh air and get a glimpse of Idaho’s wildlife is a decent pair of shoes. Maps for these trails are sold at most government build-ings and all the proceeds go back into maintaining the state trails.

The outdoors are at peoples’ dis-posal, and one may be doing an in-justice to him or herself by not taking advantage of Idaho’s backyard.

Right: Borah students load their rafts and pre-pare to continue their trip down the Lower Salmon River.

Below: Whitewater rafts are tied to the shore near a campsite along the Lower Salmon River.

Photos courtesy of Art Teacher Pat Rose

By Savannah Harrelson

SportsThe Borah Senator May 17, 2011 17

Wrestler creates a name for himself

Varsity players positive about new volleyball head coach

Team ties for third at tourney

By Samantha Whittaker

Wrestling runs in the family for senior Tay-lor West who began wrestling because of his dad at age five. Now West aspires to win the national tour-nament in college and later become an Ultimate Fighting Champion.

His freshman year, West won third place in the state tournament, continuing on for sec-ond place in state his sophomore year and finishing with first place his junior and senior year.

This year West’s record stands at 46-0, improv-ing his overall record of 163-19 which has earned him a partial scholarship to attend Boise State Uni-versity. The scholarship which covers 48 percent of Taylor’s education, includes money for books and fees.

In addition, West was ranked as the tenth wres-

Borah’s new volleyball coach, Buster Pettis, is set-ting the ball high for next year’s players.

Although new to Bo-rah’s coaching staff, he’s well rounded in coaching. Pettis has worked with various ju-nior high schools, clubs, and his favorite: high schools.

“I’ve wanted to get back into coaching high school teams for a while now,” said Pettis. “It’s nice to get onto this level--it’s advanced--and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Junior, Jade Gray said, “He has high expectations for us. He’s a good choice and you can tell he has a wide volleyball background.”

Pettis is from San Diego where he played volleyball outside in the warm ocean breeze of the beaches, but said he still enjoys Borah’s air-conditioned gym.

He has been instructing open gym after-school ses-sions where players practice skill for tryouts.

Junior Hannah Schleis stated, “I think he’s going to teach us alot, and I’m really excited for the season.”

Pettis said that from what he’s seen, the team is look-ing great “There’s a lot of depth, along with different people and underclassmen. It’s been encouraging to see everyone get out there and show their stuff.”

McMurdie agreed. “We beat a strong team from Ferris High School.”

Hellmann also seemed to have a great performance. “I beat a girl in the semifinals who was from Vallivue and I kind of think she was a bet-ter player than me, but I just stayed consistent.”

Though they all agreed that the tournament was fun, they ran into some problems.

McMurdie said, “You offi-ciate yourself,” so it is easy for a person to cheat the game.

Weather also caused com-plications. “Oh the wind was so bad,” Umberger said. “It snowed in the morning.”

Hellmann added, “It was delayed two hours!”

Players said this tourna-ment is so enjoyable because it is such a big tournament and teams from all over are in it, teams Borah had never played.

“The Capital Classic is the biggest one in Idaho,” McMurdie said. “It’s not the same people you see every time,” added Umberger.

The three agree that they felt fully prepared before their matches.

McMurdie said, “At tennis practice, you work together.” He interjected that a dedicat-ed player has to practice more than just with the team. “To get yourself a lot better you have to also practice outside of the team practice.

Varsity tennis players participated in the Capital Classic April 29-30.

Sophmore Julia Umberger placed second in the #1 girls single category. Senior Nate McMurdie and his tennis partner, senior, Trent Hell-mann, finished second in the #2 boys double category. And, sophomore Carlie Hell-mann finished second in the #3 girls single category.

As an overall team, Borah tied for third.

“I actually beat somebody I’ve never beat before and it was really good for my confi-dence,” said Umberger.

tler nationally by Amateur Wrestling News and Wrestler Insiders Newsmagazine (WIN-magazine.com).

West’s practice schedule last summer consisted of twice daily practice sessions six days a week, To “break out of ritual,” West’s workouts included ac-tivities such as running swimming and playing soc-cer.

Before receiving his scholarship, West spoke with coaches at Boise State and made a verbal agreement to wrestle for them at the district tournament followed by a signing April 13.

When he received his scholarship, West said it was “one of the best feelings I have ever had.”

West went on to say that he has always wanted to attend Boise State. In addition, West’s brother-in-law attended Boise State.

West has not decided what he will major in. “I don’t know what I want to do yet and I don’t want to make a decision I will regret,” he said.

“I have always wanted to move from being my dad’s son

to having my own name.”-- Taylor West, senior

West’s father, Bill West, said that his son’s goals are “lofty” but he has no doubt in his ability to reach them. “Everything he has achieved he has certainly worked for,” added his father.

If West could have done anything differently, he would have begun working harder at a young-er age in an effort to make himself more accom-plished. “I have always wanted to move from being my dad’s son to having my own name, ” he said.

Photo by Ali ClapierSenior Taylor West finishes his high school career 163-19.

By Kristin Bracewell

JV Sports 18 The Borah Senator May 17, 2011

Former professional golfer Gary Player, who is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf, once said, “You must work very hard to become a natural golfer.”

Golf is more than dressing up fashionably to impress others; it’s a sport that requires hours upon hours of practice to be successful.

Filled with a panel of inexperi-enced and new players, the boys JV team has struggled to succeed and, as a result, hasn’t won a single match this year.

Head coach and social studies teacher, Ron Freeman said, “JV has gotten beat up this year. They have struggled.”

Many JV players are fairly new to the concepts of golf and their inex-

Amateur athletes not quite up to par

Sophomores Kadeem Torgeson (left) and Davis Bitton run the 4 x 200 relay in the Wes Lowe track meet at Meridian High School April 21.

Photo by Katie Helm

perience has shown on the course. Freeman added, “We have a lot

of new players and this is a new ex-perience for many of them.”

Freeman explained that the play-ers are shooting a little bit too high in their matches, which he hopes they will cut down as they improve.

Higher scores are expected as many of the players are newly em-bracing the game.

The team’s last regular season match was April 28 at Warm Springs Golf Course. The team finished the season with districts May 11.

Freeman added, “I expect us to finish in the top half of the teams competing in districts.”

Sophomore Jacob McMullen said, “We didn’t play up to our po-tential in districts but overall it was a good season.”

By Tyler Albretsen

JV tennis recently finished its sea-son with a tournament May 7, in which the girls finished third overall and boys finished in fifth place.

The team posted a strong year, and many of the players have a posi-tive outlook on their performance this season.

Andrew Stoddard, senior, said that the season was “all right,” but he’d had better. Stoddard said he felt like the team carried each other, but could get competitive at times.

He started playing tennis in his freshman year, and expressed his thoughts before the tournament in five short words. “We might do pretty well.”

Megan Winston, senior, said, “Only one or two games were re-scheduled, and the weather mostly cooperated.”

Her best memory, she said, was the Saturday tournament, and her worst, as she stated, was losing only one game.

“The team gets along really well,” Winston said. “We have few disagree-ments, and there’s a general sense of unity.”

The only weakness she spotted was that the team was prone to “goof off ” during practices.

Winston proudly stated that she had only one loss this season, against Eagle, out of approximately 10 matches played.

Winston was unable to play her ju-nior year, but was on the varsity team sophomore year, in addition to three years in junior high.

Winston stated that personally, she did very well at the tournament.

She couldn’t say how the team did as a whole, due to the matches being scheduled in a variety of locations.

Season serves strong victories, tough losses

Freshman Jackson Lauer (above) tied for first place in third singles in the JV district ten-nis match held May 7. Borah finished third in girls and fifth in boys.

Photo by Korey Combs

By Adam Thompson

Photo EssayThe Borah Senator May 17, 2011 19

Another type of NHSSpanish National Honor Society inducts 11

Above left: Following the induction ceremony students partook in a fiesta in different culture-related foods.

Above right: Vice President Erica Albert-son, and Treasurer Travis Peter, juniors, read the necessary materials for the induction ceremony.

Spanish National Honor Society held an induction ceremony May 10 during lunch in the library. SNHS in-ducted 11 new members for next year. Three seniors are graduating, leav-ing 25 active members slated for next year. The requirements for SNHS include a 3.0 GPA, enrollment in a third year Spanish class, and a good record of attendance. Also required is 20 hours of community service; some of the projects include organiz-ing Christmas gift baskets for families in need and putting together the an-nual International Dinner. This year marks the second year SNHS has had a club at Borah.

Current and new members participate in an induction ceremony of new SNHS members. Eight of 11 new members were sworn in during the May 10 ceremony, and recited their oath in Spanish.

Junior Lucas Morse signs his name and contact information onto the SNHS roster after being inducted as a new member.

Photos and text by Katie Helm

Fun & Games 20 The Borah Senator May 17, 2011

Ahhh... summer time. We as high school students look back on these days fondly remembering all the good times we had: all those hot af-ternoons watching the entire trilogy of the Lord of the Rings, spraying people with hoses, and generally letting our minds turn to mush. Most everything about summer is enjoyable.For the couple of things that aren’t, I have made up some ingenious solutions.

Bored? Creative Solutions to Summer Problems

Corn on the CobStuck in your Gob

There’s almost nothing bet-ter than corn on the cob (ex-cept for maybe lemonade..and watermelon and cotton candy and ice cream), but the problem with corn on the cob is how the corn skin always gets stuck in your teeth. You could floss but that still means that you had to deal with the horrible mental

and physical torture of having those small yellow jerks messing around in your teeth gaps. My solution: Butter. Yes, I know that you probably already put but-ter on your corn but I’m not talking about that wimpy little slice of butter that you rub your food on, I’m talking an entire stick! Everytime you take a bite of corn, take a bite of butter. This will lubricate your teeth well enough to pre-vent anything from sticking between your teeth and provide you with enough heart cloggingly good calories to not sleep for several days or even to get off the couch and find the remote in times of need, such as when “Teen Mom” stops and “Jersey Shore” starts.

By Lisa Garrard

Ice Cream Man

Seems to me like every time I hear the ice cream man and I have money, he never ac-tually appears. You can spend hours trying to find the source of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” “All Around the Mul-berry Bush,” or “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” just for one of those novelty popsicles in

the shape of Spongebob with bubble gum eyes. A majority of the time that elusive ice cream man is never found or he passes when you have no money. My solution: Neighborhood watch. Get the entire neighborhood invovled. Set up phone trees. At the head of every street, place a sentry with a fully charged cell phones. As you see them pass your house, pass on the word. If you are orga-nized enough then that ice cream man should be easier to find than flies before you pick up the fly swatter.

Surrender the Goods

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