Press206 W. Second Street, Cortez, CO 81321

Panther November 2011Volume 12: Issue 3

What Lies Within...

Staff Spotlight

Page 2

Video Games

Fashion Trends

Page 6-7 Page 10The voice of Montezuma-Cortez High School

Sometimes people fall on hard times, and they look to homeless shelters for a temporary home. Many homeless shelters also have soup kitchens in them to provide food for people while they try to get back on their feet. Home-less shleters and their acompany-ing soup kitchens do their best to ensure that every-one has the op-portunity to cele-brate holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Although some might think that it might be difficult for the homeless to celebrate a holiday like Thanksgiv-ing, which is all about being grate-ful for everything that we have, most homeless shelters celebrate Thanks-giving just like everyone else. “This year at the homeless shelter we have got turkey legs, and some local farm-ers have donated some food,” said Sarah Wakefield from The Bridge Emergency Shelter, which is one of the bigger homeless shelters in Cor-tez. Besides sheltering people without

a place to go, they also give food to people in need so they can feed them-selves and their families. The Bridge also does its best to make every holi-day enjoyable for its patrons.“Each year we decorate the homeless shel-

ter for thanksgiving and other holidays to make it feel more like home for the people there,” stated Wakefield. Because the Bridge and other homeless shelters are non-profit organi-

zations, they rely heavily on dona-tions and volunteer support. When people volunteer there, they want to help people who have nothing in their lives. “There are about two vol-unteers at the homeless Shelter and right now I have about 65 volunteers on my list”, said Sarah Wakefield. For the people who volunteer they should be thanked for all they do for the people who have nothing in their lives. If you would like to donate to the Bridge, or if you would like to volunteer, please visit www.thebri-dgeshelter.org for more information.

Thanksgiving at the homeless shelterMatthew Warren, Staff Reporter

Bonjour! Hola! The French and Spanish Club at Montezuma-Cortez High School is one of the many after school activities that M-CHS offers. Not only can students take Spanish or French to earn foreign language credits, two of which are required for the hon-ors diploma and for admission into many col-leges, but they can also join the club for some additional cultural enrichment. Students join this club not only because they want to have experience with other languages, but because they like the activities that they do. The club partakes in many activities, includ-ing trying different Spanish and French foods, participating in traditional celebrations, and studying the cultural heritage of Spanish- and French-speaking countries. The members of this program visit local Mexican, Spanish, and French restaurants to sample the different types of food. Around twenty students are in-volved in this club. Ms. Copeland and Ms. Judy are the sponsors for this program. Ms. Copeland stated,

“This club allows us to delve deeper into the culture of the languages that we teach. Between Ms. Judy and me, we are able to share cultural knowledge of

the two languages, Spanish and French. It adds a cultural dimension to our classroom experience.” Some activities this year at M-CHS for the French and Spanish club are the independent film festival at the library, critiquing the Mexican restaurants in Cortez, visiting the French restaurant in Durango, National French Week, and Mardi Gras, Dia de los Muertos and Cinco de Mayo celebrations. Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” in French; it falls on the day before “Ash Wednesday,” which is the day that begins Lent in the Christian faith. Dia de los Muer-tos translates as “Day of the dead.” On this day, people in Mexico and in some parts of the United States don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The French and Spanish club is a great program designed for M-CHS students to gain knowledge about and have more experience with different cul-tures and languages. The students involved also understand the meaning behind each celebration, as well as the original reason behind them.

Finding foreign cultures in CortezAubrey Lopez, Staff Reporter

Girls’ basketball has started, and the players are pumped up for practice. The girls have just fin-ished tryouts and are ready to start the season. Some girls are pumped for the season that can’t even play. “Basketball is my sport, but I can’t play this year because my knee. I am here just because I love basketball,” said Brandi Largo. “I have played since I was six, and I am just ready to see how good we do. I like the aggres-sion and that you can take out your stress on the court, but when you leave the court you have to be a normal person.” Basketball is a sport that requires consistency. “You have to have a lot of effort and be committed and willing to push yourself, it is going to be hard but worth it,” said Coach Judy. “The team is smaller than last year and we need to be building the pro-gram. I have expectations of im-provement and hard working. The players work harder to stay eligible if they are playing sports, but most

of the people here we don’t have to worry about. You should watch for the seniors on the team.” Seniors this year include Sydney Bayles and Baylee Lindsley. The players are excited about this year’s season. They mostly agreed that they have a good group of girls

that will work hard and have a lot of dedication. “I am excited because we have a no dra-ma team, and I feel that we will go re-ally far this year,” said Randy Elliott, who has played basketball since second grade. On of the teams big- gest goals is to

make playoffs this year. The team will begins on Mon-day the 14th at 6:00 p.m. and will practice every day from 6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m. The first varsity game will be at the Shiprock Tourna-ment, which takes place on Decem-ber 1st through the 3rd. Students can come out to support the girls' varsity basketball team at their first home game, which will be played against Bayfield on December 13th at 7:30 p.m.

Girls shooting hoopsDominic Brendle, Staff Reporter

0 2Panther Press LifestyLes

November 2011

Everyone has seen Elsie Walck around the halls, but who really knows what Mrs. Walck does? From elemen-tary school problems like friends being mad at each other, to high school dra-ma such as rumor spreading and kids trying to commit suicide, Mrs. Walck has seen it all. Elsie Walck grew up on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. She went to t h r e e colleges: Yavapai C o m -m u n i t y College, Coconi-no Com-m u n i t y College, and the C o l -lege of Eastern Utah. She majored in Business Ad-ministration and Accounting; she is also a certified Professional Medical Coder. Mrs. Walck has been with the school district for about ten years. She first started as a counseling secretary at Mesa Elementary. After three years, she transferred to M-CHS and has been in the counseling office ever since. Mrs. Walck decided she wanted to be a counseling secretary because she loves working with the younger crowd. “Everyday activity is always different, as every day is a new day," said Mrs. Walck. To do what Elsie Walck does, one has to know the ins and outs of the organi-

zation and have some serious computer skills. She makes sure that the office maintains a steady and organized flow. Mrs. Walck gets to do everything from assisting students, counselors, and the registrar, to scheduling appointments, updating students’ information, assign-ing Powerschool usernames and pass-words to parents and students, and an-swering and directing phone calls. She also works with the local community

college, Southwest Colorado Community College, on concurrent enrollment for M-CHS students. Mrs. Walck sets up College Fair and helps to organize the annual Academic Awards Night. In ad-dition, she sends out report cards, compiles the honor roll and sends it to the Cortez Journal, and supervises student aides.

Elsie Walck is very family oriented. On the days when she isn’t working, she is spending time with her kids and family. They like to race quads and dirt bikes and watch supercross and football. Mrs. Walck also likes to herd sheep and spend time with her mother and father. When she isn’t with her family, she volunteers her time where it’s needed. Without Elsie Walck, M-CHS wouldn’t run nearly as smoothly as it does. Who else would be patient enough to put up with the flow of the office life like Mrs. Walck, our coun-seling secretary, can?

S t a f f S p o t l i g h tAlexis BrandenburgStaff Reporter

Photo taken by Thomas McDonell

Smoking when your body is fully de-veloped seriously hurts you, but what about underage smoking? Smoking is a primary cause of disability, dis-ease, and preventable death. Plenty of students smoke, and some others use smokeless tobacco products. Smok-ing is a widespread problem at our school. As one M-CHS freshman said, “Almost all of my friends smoke ciga-rettes.” According to Medline Plus, almost twenty five percent of U.S high school students are smokers, and another eight percent use smokeless tobacco such as snuff and dip. An estimated thirty per-cent of young smokers will die prema-turely from tobacco related conditions. Despite all of these dangerous statis-tics, many people still struggle with kicking the habit. “I would like to quit smoking, but it is a habit and hard to stop,” said another anonymous fresh-man. Smoke from tobacco is harmful to every organ in the body. One M-CHS sophomore who wished not to be iden-tified said “Sometimes when I smoke a cigarette I feel like I am going to pass out, and my chest starts to hurt re-

ally bad.” Smoking has been linked to developing leukemia, pneumonia, heart disease, and reproductive prob-lems. Some younger kids start smoking be-cause they have the desire to feel older. Sometimes it is because of peer pres-sure. “I started smoking because my

Smoking takes its toll on Cortez studentsAnthony HodgeStaff Reporter

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friends kept asking me if I wanted a drag of their cigarette,” said a senior. Younger kids might start smoking be-cause they feel like it would help them to “fit in.” Despite all of the social stigma that smokers face, there are people who are still willing to help. Those who wish

to quit can call the Colorado QuitLine at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669) for assistance. Other students at M-CHS can also be great sources of support. Anyone can let peers know about the harmful effects of smoking. Smoking can ruin someone’s life, but it doesn’t have to.

This is the Caption

Which NFL teams are most popular with the students of M-CHS?

03Panther Press News

In most high schools across Amer-ica, there is some kind of physical education curriculum to go with the core academics required to get through high school. This is because being active can benefit students in many ways, including in academ-ics and social skills. Participating in activities or even physical edu-cation classes can be very benefi-cial to many aspects of a student’s high school career. This is why it is required to have at least one credit of physical education to graduate. M-CHS covers most of the bas-es when it comes to ed-ucating stu-dents about the numer-ous ways one can achieve physical fitness. The school offers all the typical physical education classes, along with a few straight-forward weightlifting programs for athletes, amateurs, or bodybuild-ers. The school also offers a team sports class and a bike and hike class taught by Ms. Keller, which allows students to leave campus on mountain bikes. Many students en-joy this class because its one of the atypical P.E. classes that still gets the job done while also offering the opportunity to explore more than a gymnasium and a practice field. The students show more enthusiasm with these types of classes than or-dinary classes, where participation is sometimes an issue with students who question the importance of physical education. Regular exercise also gets the brain ready to learn. At the University of Illinois, Dr. Charles Hillman's re-search shows that after a 30-minute stint on the treadmill, students actu-ally perform up to ten percent better

while problem solving. In the world of education ten percent can go a long way. For example it can change a failing grade to a passing one, or a GPA ruiner to a boost towards that 4.0. However, this doesn’t just mean the typical gym class with a man wearing a whistle acting like a drill sergeant over push ups. Students who exercise using complicated movements requiring coordination such as dancing, games that utilize quick thinking and communication,

or a full scale of muscle and aero-bic exercises can also get their heart rates up, stimulating their brains to perform better in classrooms and become more engaged in an active learning environment. Other activi-ties can increase creativity and build better teamwork skills. It is a strong benefit in this society today to be able to work efficiently with others, because most businesses require employees to be able to work in concert with one another to accom-plish tasks. Developing these skills in high school is a great way to get a jump start on career training. Physical education does not only benefit academically but also is a major way to fight obesity at a young age. Being active on a regu-lar basis is a good step to avoiding this problem that much of America deals with on a large scale. Staying active in school and life in general can affect students in a transforma-tive way, as it encourages them to score higher on tests, stay awake in

Exercise and educationScott Sanders, Staff Reporter

“Genius borrows nobly”- Ralph Waldo Emerson. If that state-ment had not been accredited to Emerson, then it would have been plagiarism because Emerson’s thoughts would be passed off as an original idea for this story. The definition of plagiarism is “the practice of taking someone else’s work and passing it off as one’s own." However, before the 18th century authors and artists were encouraged to copy the mas-ters as closely as possible to avoid unnecessary inventions. It was not until the Romantic age, an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that began during the second half of the 18th century and promoted such ideas as hu-manism and self-ownership, that the modern idea of plagiarism came about. The word plagia-rism comes from the Latin word plagiarius which literally means “kidnapper”. Plagiarism is one of the easi-est crimes to pull off, especially with today’s technology. A stu-dent could type into Google what an assigned es-say needs to be about and find a complete student essay, ready to be cop-ied and pasted, and with those few simple clicks, his entire essay is done. But is it worth it? In the workforce pla-giarism can be categorized as copyright infringement and un-fair competition. If prosecuted, the offender may have to cover the loss of profit the original au-thor suffered. In more severe cases, that person could either be suspended from his or her job or even lose the job completely. This could taint a career, making

it difficult to get another position in that field. Colleges, where the student pays for the education, will often expel students who are caught plagiarizing. In high school, students may receive a zero on the assignment and dis-ciplinary action that is required by school policy could be taken. When Damiond Smith, an M-CHS sophomore, was caught pla-giarizing he said, "The teacher gave me a zero on the assignment and I had to talk to Mr. Robinson. He spoke with my parents and I have to have either in school sus-pension or in school detention." But where is the line between plagiarism and research? There is no doubt that this is not a black and white issue. When someone has to research a topic, it can be difficult to decide whether or not what is being put into the writ-ten piece is regurgitated infor-mation or a new piece of work. A good rule of thumb is that if all the information has come from the same source and little more information was added then the

source should be cited. How-ever, if informa-tion has been collected from a number of dif-ferent areas and new thoughts and ideas have been formed on the basis of that research, then it is not neces-sary to cite the source unless it is a direct quote.

Plagiarism is wrong both mor-ally and legally. The next time that you think of plagiarizing, ask yourself, would I want some-one to kidnap my thoughts and opinions? Consider it carefully; the consequences for such an in-tellectual crime can be very seri-ous indeed.

Lacey Lukas, Managing Editor

Junior Jeroen Begay pumps some during Weightlifting in an attempt to get fit and gain muscle mass.

In high school, students may re-ceive a zero on the assignment

and disciplinary action that is re-quired by school policy could be

taken.

The art of plagiarism: Is it theft or

flattery?

News04 Panther Pressnovember 2011

Career Pathways Levi Downing, Staff Reporter The month of November is the aware-

ness month for diabetes. Diabetes is a non-communicable disease that many people have around the world. Diabetes is when the body has a high level of glucose, or sugar, which it cannot break down. Insulin is a natu-ral hormone that is made by the beta cells found in the pancreas to control the glucose levels in the body. Type one diabetes an autoimmune disease, where a person’s body destroyed the beta cells that produce insulin to con-trol blood-sugar levels. Type two dia-betes is where the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin or the body suf-fers from insulin resistance. Type two diabetes is more common than type one diabetes and occurs later in life, unlike type one diabetes which begins at birth. People with type one diabe-tes can’t make insulin, so they have to take shots to keep their glucose levels under control. Type one diabetes can be fatal if someone who has it doesn’t take shots of insulin regularly. Type one diabetes is not preventable, unlike type two diabetes. People with diabe-tes should keep also stay active to keep the glucose levels down. People that are diagnosed with diabetes should be in the hospital until the glucose levels are under control for the patient. There are many symptoms of type one and type two diabetes. The symp-toms of type one diabetes can manifest

as extreme fatigue, frequent need to urinate, continual thirst despite taking liquids, severe hunger urges, and un-explained weight loss. The symptoms of type one diabetes may be feeling thirsty, having to urinate more than usual, feeling hungrier, losing weight without trying to, feeling tired, feel-ing cranky and blurry vision. “When I got diagnosed with diabetes I could not stand up,” stated Bo Lard. “It has been 11 years since I got diabetes.” The reason why November is Dia-betes Awareness Month is because Halloween is over and many children have eaten candy in large quantities. The rate of people who get diabetes is climbing steadily higher and higher each year. Nearly 21 million children and adults are living with diabetes and another 54 million are at risk for get-ting diabetes, according to fitsugar.com. “People with diabetes cannot eat anything that is not a diet such as candy and soda,” said Bo. One in three people in the world will get diabetes in their lifetime. The rea-son why is because people do not eat properly or healthy. It is important for everyone to know the risk factors for diabetes so that they and keep them-selves and those around them healthy. People should also understand the is-sues that come with diabetes. Even though people don’t think it is impor-tant for them, it could come in handy in the future.

November: not just for Thanksgiving

Mathhew Warren, Staff Reporter

Career Pathways takes place every day between the first block and the second block of the school day. On Mondays and Thursdays, students are allowed to travel to classrooms besides their own assigned class to get extra help from teachers. When students do not need to use this opportunity, they remain in their classes and use the thirty-nine mintue period to catch up on homework or study for their class-es. Tuesdays are designated for career instruction by Career Pathways teach-ers using a curriculum provided by College in Colorado (www.collegein-colorado.org). On Wednesdays Mr. Ed Rice, Director of Career and Technical Education for M-CHS, provides an as-sortment of guest speakers who pres-ent information about different careers. Despite all of these opportunities, students can sometimes feel underh-welmed with the lack of variety in the lessons. As sophomore Keegan Ralstin said put it, “Career Pathways is good, but sometimes it’s just boring.” Career Pathways is a way for stu-dents to learn about different profes-sions and to plan for after high school. However, due to lack of student inter-est in the current material being pro-vided for classes, M-CHS will also add academic enrichment classes to

Career Pathways in the third quarter. The academic enrichment classes are the newest addition to Career Path-ways, and they are the school's attempt to expand offered classes to differ-ent subjects that the school can’t offer with the current schedule. Academic enrichment classes are opportunities for students to learn about things they would never normally encounter in a classroom. Some enrichment classes that exemplify this kind of out-of-the-ordinary learning could be an introduc-tion to knitting, or a course in basket-ball analysis. The staff at M-CHS are excited for this opportunity to expand their students' horizons. Mr. Rice said, “This last year has been our biggest advance and our biggest positive step, and I think this enrichment is going to help a lot with that too.” Career Pathways has been helping students ever since Mr. Rice first start-ed it. CP has been both a study hall and a make-up day for students, as well as giving them insight into their futures. Next quarter it will also help students to learn about things they thought would never even be mentioned in a public school. With a little luck, en-richment classes will be a huge hit with both students and teachers.

reveals enrichments

05Panther Press OpiniOn

November 2011

Panther

Press

Panther Press 2011-2012 Staff & InformationEditor in Chief

Mack CarterAssistant Publisher

Christina StevensManaging Editor

Lacy LukasBusiness Managers

Wyatt YatesThomas McDonellPhotographer

Thomas McDonell

Staff RepoRteRS

Alexis BrandenburgDominic BrendleSara (Craig) ChristianAnthony HodgeAubrey LopezTyler McKinneyScott SandersLevi Downing

Matthew WarrenBraxton WhitemanTanner WrightShihonna VigilMahalia WattsReshaun BadbackReiana Jones Charles Warren

Want to adveRtiSe With the pantheR pReSS?

Call ouR BuSineSS ManageRS at (970) 565 - 3722 ext. 148

pRefeRaBly BetWeen 10aM and 11:30aM Monday thRough thuRSday

ContaCt uS at: MontezuMa-CoRtez high SChool

attn: pantheR pReSS (deB MCviCkeR) 206 W. 7th St., CoRtez, Co 81321

the M-ChS pantheR pReSS iS an open foRuM WhiCh opeRateS undeR Re-1 diStRiCt poliCy. the Re-1 SChool diStRiCt, BoaRd, and Staff aRe not ReSponSiBle foR the

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The Panther Press invites your letters, comments, and questions. Letters will be edited on the basis of content and

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T h e d o w n s i d e o f t e c h n o l o g yLacey Lukas,Managing Editor Technology has changed so much in such a short period of time. I can still remember the first cell phone that my parents had; it was large and bulky without any apps, touchscreen capability, or even texting. Since that time, only about nine years ago, phones have become our computers, cam-eras, and even our main avenue of communication. They have also made it easier than ever to gather information. If a question comes up, one can type it into Google and within the blink of an eye, a million different websites appear, all of them ready and willing to surrender heaps of information. Today’s generation is constantly

being bombarded and over-stimu-lated. I know that when I sit down to do my homework, I have music playin, I’ve pulled up about three extra websites, I’m texting on my cellphone, and I have my regular text book out. If it were not for all of these other things going on, I truly would not be able to focus on the task at hand. This tends to be the case for most teenagers. It is difficult for students to pay at-tention anymore to lectures in a regular class setting because we are so used to having other things happening around us. Technology can be a great tool, but more often than not, people abuse it. We are no longer asked

to form our own thoughts; we simply type and click and regurgi-tate the information that magically comes onto our screens. It seems that technology, while putting a gold mine amount of information within easy reach, has taken away our ability to think beyond what is in front of us. In the long run, this will hinder us because we won’t have the skills needed later on in life to be successful. Life is all about balance. I think this generation will have to find a delicate balance between using technology and overusing tech-nology to the point that we fail to form our own thoughts and opin-ions. If the advancement of soci-

ety is our goal, we must be able to create and realize the ideas and concepts necessary to proceed past our current condition.

As the winter solstice approach-es and the days grow shorter, a change comes over the attitudes of the students here at M-CHS. More and more you can see the tired look of those who have just had their entire sleep cycle thrown for a loop by the recent time change and who have been fight-ing a losing battle to stay awake long enough to complete the pro-digious amounts of work that they were capable of conquering with ease a mere two weeks ago. With the double loss of time from day-light savings and from the change of seasons, students are hard-pressed to keep up with the ever-increasing workload assigned to them by their teachers as the end of the semester draws near. This phenomenon, coupled with the re-cent lack of sun and abundance of cold, has thrown our school into some serious winter doldrums. Although the number of hours in a day still remains the same, it is the psychological effect of hav-ing less daylight in which to do homework or participate in ac-tivities that has put such a damper on our school spirit. When stu-dents get out of school, they have about two to three hours of natural light before their bodies begin to tell them that it is time to sleep. Students who participate in after-school activities or who have to work after school feel this even

more, as many of them only get to see the sun during lunch or during a physical education class, if they are lucky. Even those little bits of sunshine can be taken away, though. There have been several days in the past weeks when the sun has been cruelly hidden by a thick, brooding layer of clouds that have conspired to keep the spirits of downtrodden students in the muck and the mire produced by the rain and snow dumped by said clouds. The cooling weather has affect-ed students in another way: daily dress. Gone are the shorts and tank tops of August and Septem-ber. These are the days of jeans and flannel, of layered hoodies and pea coats. This trend towards more and heavier clothing has had a twofold effect on the stu-dent population. First, the clothes themselves weigh students down. It’s much harder to run around and be active and happy with sev-eral extra pounds of cotton weigh-ing you down. The constriction of longer sleeves and pants has also restricted movement, and there-fore freedom and joy. The second effect of cold weather clothing is that is worn much more conserva-tively. When the temperature be-gins to drop, exposed skin can be vulnerable to frostbite, or worse. However, if students hide their bodies from one another, then the passion of young love is sti-fled and much of the fun of high school is stamped out with it.

It is obvious that both the lack of sunshine and the dearth of warmth are serious problems for a school that wants to promote enthusiasm for learning among its pupils. Something must be done. How-ever, this is a problem not easily solved. What can one do to change the sun’s course, or to warm the air and destroy the clouds? The answer is, of course, nothing. Therefore we must work with the weather in order to achieve a more perfect school system. While it is conceivable that the school year could simply be rear-ranged to allow students to learn in the summer months and rest duiring those of the winter, the agrarian economy of our area re-quires that many students help their families with the running of famrs during our current summer break. Because it would be highly insensitive of the school to rob families of their children when they are needed most, Montezu-ma-Cortez High School, during the wintry and barren months of December, January, and February, must relocate to South America. Due to the 23.44 degree tilt of the earth’s axis, when we are ex-periencing the horrors of winter here in the southwestern corner of Colorado, South America is en-joying the wonders of summer. It makes perfect sense for the school to take up temporary residence somewhere on our continent’s southern counterpart. Students will get the full fortifying effects

Mack Carter, Editor and Chief

Where is my sunshine?:The effect of changing seasons on the hearts and minds of students

of summer and the accompanying warmth, giving them the enthusi-asm and energy needed to success-fully complete school work and to enjoy activities outside of school too. If students’ families follow them down to South America, all of the farmers in our community will be able to take advantage of a second growing season, dou-bling profits and giving the city’s economy a huge boost. The only problem we might encounter would be that our mascot will be-come passé in the friendly south-ern climes. Our noble panther will no longer be exotic or patri-otic, which are the two infallible methods for choosing an impos-ing and spirited mascot. It may be necessary for our sports teams to become the Fighting Condors (na-tional animal of Chile), the Black Labradors (almost unheard of in most of South America), or the Paso Finos (Colombian national horse breed). Despite that one mi-nor detail, the transition to South America should go smoothly for a school such as ours, and the ef-fects of the move will be obvious in our CSAP scores and gradua-tion rate. There is no doubt that the extra sun and sand will be a huge factor in pulling our school out of its winter doldrums and into a new era of motivation and student en-thusiasm.

06Panther Press Feature

november 2011

Miss Wojciechowski and junior Taylor Martinez exhibit the wild side of the sweater.

Freshman Rylee Kaiser shows how patches aren’t necessary.

Freshman Kenzie Branson has Ugg boots on. Sophomore Krista Wynes and freshman Nicole Demby stop to compare outfits.

Sophomores Imari Black and Keegan Ralstin pose back to back, adding some attitude of their own to

their already trendy clothing.

Fashion trends at Montezuma-Cortez High School vary greatly from student to student. Some students dress very similarly, while others’ outfits are as unique as their personalities. Fashion has come a long way

Junior JB Bordeman enjoys the epitome of comfort and relaxation, the sweatshirt.

DIVE RG I N G FASH ION TRENDS IN M-CHSAubrey Lopez, Staff ReporterThomas McDonell, Photographer

Seniors Rudy Gonzales and Ellen Koppenhafer reveal laid-back, comfortable shoes

07Panther Press Feature

Junior Tallon Ralstin proudly displays his color matching skills.

Sophomore Noah Vega Sophomore Ford Wegner demonstrates that graphic tees never goes out of style.

Junior Jacob Valdez realxes in a pair of classic blue jeans and a track jacket.

Junior Rachel Rime combines the classic long sleeve plaid shirt with another classic, the skirt.

Junior Thomas McDonell rocks the retro look with 50s glasses and a faux leather jacket.

in the past years, but some things remain the same. Take a look at some of the new styles to arrive at the high school, as well as some of the classics.

Junior JB Bordeman enjoys the epitome of comfort and relaxation, the sweatshirt.

D IVERG I N G FASHIO N TRENDS I N M-C H S

Junior Keith Hawkins shows off his stylish vest.

08Panther Press OpiniOn

November 2011

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food and who makes it?Tanner Wright, Staff Reporter

Keegan Ralstin, Sophomore: “Pump-kin pie; my grandma makes it.”

Dominique Wilkins, Senior: “Turkey; my grandma makes it.”

Shayne McCaw, Freshman: “Stuffing; my mom makes it.”

Linda Brewer, Teacher: “Herb stuffing; Mrs. Cubbison makes it.”

When it comes to hats, most people agree that they can be a stylish acces-sory when worn appropriately. But any-one who has come to Montezuma-Cortez High School knows that there is a spe-cific rule against wearing hats inside of the school. Although this rule has been in effect for a long time, many people are curious about eh origins of the rule and the reason that it is till enforced. Princi-pal Shepherd has stated on this subject that he admires hats as much as the next person, but there are safety issues and protocols that must be enforced. One of these safety issues is that people can use hats and other headwear to avoid be-ing identified when they are seen on the school’s security cameras. If no one is al-lowed to wear hats, it is much more dif-ficult for vandals, bullies, and other such wrongdoers to conceal their faces around cameras and thereby avoid being caught and punished for their crimes. Studies from Self Help Daily say wear-ing a hat can help a person focus on work, which can be a great benefit in the class-room and can help the teachers in their instruction of students. People can some-times get off task when they are barred from wearing hats because they might be going through a lot in their personal lives, and they might feel that wearing a hat helps them cope with stress by hiding the emotion in their eyes or by relaxing them. Some students may have the same problems, but others like to wear hats to protect themselves or hide embarass-

ing features. Chris Mor-gan likes to wear hats b e c a u s e it “keeps people from seeing my baldness .” Brandon Lan-sing wears a hat to protect his sensitive eyes from the sun and other harmful things. The practi-cal uses of hats are many and varied. Despite all of the helpful things that hats can do for people, the safety of the entire schoolo must be considered. Mr. Shepherd thinks it’s true that students wear hats to show off their personal-ity at school, but his duty to protect the students, faculty, and campus of M-CHS comes before self-expression. “I always think about everyone’s safety first, and then anything else,” said Shepherd. The actual rule about wearing hats can be found in the M-CHS Student Handbook. It states that students who wear hats in the school may have their hats taken away by faculty or may be sent to the office for refusing to follow school policy. People may have legitimate reasons for wearing hats, but because of the danger posed by those who misuse hats in order to hide themselves, it would be better for every-one if people just followed the school’s rule.

T h e h a t e x i l eBraxton Whiteman, Staff Reporter

Sheldon Johnson proudly displays how a hat is worn at M-CHS.

09Panther Press news

At the age of 18, U.S. citizens gain the right to vote, and for a lot of peo-ple this starts in high school. For most students in our school, there are a lot more important things going on than voting or being politically active in the community. However, this could be be-cause they are not well informed when something new is going on around them in the political world. The stu-dents of our school that are informed stated that they gathered their own in-formation largely through web-based news sources. “I just get on my phone and check out CNN for all the news,” said one student. For our parents and grandparents, the entertainment indus-try was not as large as it is today, where it has exponentially increased, occupy-ing a far larger portion of a high school student's attention than the next man to be elected to congress. According to the Federal Electoral Commission, only 56.8% of elegible voters voted in the 2008 general elec-tion, while the remaining percentage of the citizens in the U.S. were not count-ed as voters. The country is supposed to be run by the people for the people; this being said, the country can't be perfect, but a few votes can always make a difference. That’s an idea that caring students at M-CHS share. If only 56.8 percent of U.S citizens voted in 2008, how many new voters are expected to be at the polls in the

next election? “I don’t really know what is going on with the president, so there’s no point," one high school student stated, paraphrasing the same feeling about our government and the lack of information shared by much of the student body at M-CHS. Other stu-dents felt that their opinions would not make a difference on whether or not the person they liked or believed could best fill the position would win the election. The main reoccurring issue is that the teen soon-to-be voters were lacking the information needed to gather their own opinions. Some students did not feel that a vote would not make a difference in a government that they believe is not completely honest with its citizens. One student stated “Politicians are not the ones making the choices it is a cor-porate based economy that controls the money." Obviously, there are several teens that are not sure about our gov-ernment and how they feel about it, but the ones that understand what is going on are sure to vote. About half of the surveyed soon-to-be voters planned on voting or being politically active in the community fol-lowing their high school career. In to-day’s world it is much easier to find out what your favorite star is doing than what our president is doing, so with less informed voters the overall per-centage will not be increasing by much any time soon.

Do students care about politics?

Scott Sanders, Staff Reporter

Students need a significant amount of feedback in order to learn new things. The learning process is greatly sped up by teacher feedback because it gives students encouragement and lets them know what they need to work on. Feed-back after tests and assignments doesn’t just help out students, but also teachers by letting them know what they need to spend more time on in class. However, many students at M-CHS feel that they do not receive enough feedback, or even the right kind of feedback, from their teachers on their performance in class. According to ASCD.org (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Devel-opment), one good example of beneficial feedback would be a teacher returning a test or assignment the next day after it is completed. This is very helpful because the student would immediately be able to see what he did wrong instead of wait-ing around for so long that he forgets the concept that he misunderstood entirely. The teachers also could give written re-sponses to students’ mistakes because having teacher comments written down would allow them to study. A senior was asked if he would like his teachers to provide more feedback and he replied, “Yes, it helps me know what I need to learn and understand it better.” However, some types of feedback can be harmful to students by nature of their harshness or poor timing. One example of this would be returning a test or as-signment two weeks after it was com-pleted and graded. This is unhelpful

because by that time most classes have already moved on to new concepts, leav-ing students trying to recall and relearn things that they never entirely grasped in the first place. Next, teachers ignore er-rors causing the student to believe they are acceptable. An interviewed sopho-more said “I would like feedback on my incorrect answers because I feel like my teachers aren’t taking the time to grade my work.” If teachers just speak to the students without writing anything down, this would be another example of bad feedback. Students have busy lives, and they might not be able to remember ver-bal corrections from teachers of four dif-ferent classes without some kind of per-manant reminder. Sometimes feedback from teachers can be too vague or gener-al to be used. The feedback should relate to the students errors and not the correct answers. “If teachers gave me feedback it would help me learn what I actually did wrong instead of just commenting on my correct answers,” said one M-CHS freshman. Four out of five students agree that more than half of their teachers don’t provide enough helpful feedback. “All teachers should give feedback, but most don’t,” said Alex Miller. No mat-ter how vague or general the feedback is, some will always help. If students feel that they need extra feedback, they can approach their teachers during Career Pathways on travel days, at lunch, or af-ter schools. Most teachers are willing to help students who are motivated enough to seek out extra help.

H e l p f u l f e e d b a c kAnthony Hodge, Staff Reporter

10Panther Press A&E

November 2011

With modern controllers and wi-descreen televisions that make for easy immersion, video games can give people a temporary break from reality. They transport people into different worlds where they can be a solider fighting on a battlefield or a driver racing down the street in a tricked out car. But there is more to video games than just the sheer ex-citement. Some say that video games damage society by being too violent, while others advocate the benefits from hand eye cordnation and an in-creased resistance to distractions. According to wanttoknowit.com, some benefits of playing video games include increased resistance to distraction, which means people won’t get distracted as easily, and improvement to peripheral vision. An-other good attribute that comes with some video games is get-ting a mod-est physical workout. Only a few game consoles provide this: the Nintendo Wii, Sony’s Playstation 3, and the Xbox Kinect. They use revo-lutionary motion sensing technology

to allow players to manipu-late games with their bodies. Video games also increase the attention span of some people by giving them some-thing interesting to focus on for hours and hours. However, there are cons that some people don’t like about video games. People can become ex-tremely addicted to video games. Not only that, but people can become de-sensitized towards violence. This at-tribute that comes with video games pertains most to our society today, because there have been reports of criminals copying violent video game crimes, especially those featured on

the contro-versial Grand Theft Auto series. Video games can also burn holes in people’s wal-lets. In 2010, c o n s u m e r s spent $25.1 billion on video games, hardware, and a c c e s s o r i e s , according to t h e e s a . c o m .

Video games can also give false ex-pectations of real life situations, be-cause real life cannot be perfectly simulated with the work of video

TJ McKinney and Charles WarrenStaff Reporters

Video games: helpful or harmful?

games. Despite all of the controversy over video games, they are still very popu-lar with teenagers and children alike. Many students in M-CHS play video games for fun or relaxation. Most students at M-CHS who play video games prefer games that are action-oriented and allow for a lot of excite-ment. Jeser Flores, a junior, plays Modern Warfare 3, his favorite game, “about one hour, three times a week.” Modern Warfare 3 is a “first-person shooter” that puts the player in the place of various special forces offi-cers in a fictional war between Rus-sia and the United States. Other stu-dents enjoy games like Fable 2 and Assassin’s Creed, which is “the best video game,” according to freshman Al Emerick. Playing video games is a good way to pass the time and socialize with friends. However, those who decide to engage in such a pastime should be wary of the ill effects it can have while also doing their best to take ad-vantage of the benefits video games can offer.

“Video games are a way of life, but I wish students would spend more time

on homework than video games.”

“ It depends on the level kids use video games. If they waste valuable time, it hurts student success.”

“If you’re playing video games instead of doing your homework, then it’s going to hurt you! But everything in moderation! Except drugs- don’t do

drugs.”

Mr. Harriman

Mr. Robinson

Miss Carriger

11Panther Press Reviews

Thomas McDonell, Business Manager/PhotographerMusic Reviews

As time goes on, Rise Records's band ros-ter just keeps getting stronger. With a variety of hardcore, metalcore, pop punk, and alterna-tive bands they have put themselves at the top of the record label indus-try. Landing the band Transit just puts them even farther ahead of the competition. Tran-sit’s debut album “Lis-ten & Forgive” does not disappoint and suc-ceeds in bringing a sort of indie feel to the pop punk genre. “Listen & Forgive” isn’t musical-ly crazy and probably won’t get you super pumped, but if you’re into catchy, chill music this album is definitely for you. “Listen & Forgive” is an excellent blend of punk and indie as far as music goes, and it really utilizes catchy melodies and great sing along choruses to draw the listener in. It also has passion just pouring from the lyrics which makes it really hard to stop listening to. Transit’s “Listen & For-give” isn’t going to blow the roof off the music industry but it is a solid release that could spark interest in a lot of people.

Tracks To Download: Long Lost Friends & Over Your Head

Transit:Listen & Forgive

Close Your Eyes:Empty Hands and Heavy Hearts

As long as there’s a mu-sic scene there will be an underground music scene as well and right now the growing scene is main-ly made up of hardcore bands. One band that’s really growing is Close Your Eyes and they re-cently released their sec-ond full length album “Empty Hands and Heavy Hearts” and it absolutely does not disappoint. Com-bining punk elements with a very traditional hardcore feel with some ambient parts, this album is pretty easy to listen to and has a good flow all the

way through. The vocals in “Empty Hands and Heavy Hearts” has really progressed from their first album “We Will Overcome” vocalist Shane Raymond did an awesome job of mixing singing and screaming and both sound great. This album also features guest vo-cals from Jonathan Vigil (The Ghost Inside) on the song Wolves that add a whole different layer to the album. Close Your Eyes really nailed “Empty Hands and Heavy Hearts” and should continue their growth in the hardcore music scene.

Tracks To Download: Wolves & Erie

12Panther Press News

OcOtOber 2011

U p c o m i n g E v e n t s

Come SupportM-CHSPanther Activities

Thursday, November 17All Day “Aristocats” movie with popcorn at lunchAll Day McVicker & Mason OutAll Day Ryan and Car-riger out to ACTE Nation-al Conf. in St. Louis, MOAll Day State FFA Of-ficers Visit all Ag classes7:00 AM – 7:30 AM M-CHS Native American Heritage Week - Full Na-tive American Dress Attire Day!11:36 AM – 12:06 PM FCCLA Meeting in room 31011:36 AM – 12:20 PM Knowledge Bowl practice in room 110At 12:00 PM Student

of the Week Nominations Due to the Activities Of-fice7PM Choir Recital in the Auditorium3:40 PM – 4:30 PM Free tutoring in room #116 everyday afterschool

Friday, Nov 18All Day Ryan and Carri-ger out to ACTE National Conf. in St. Louis, MOSaturday, November 19All Day Ryan and Carri-ger out to ACTE National Conf. in St. Louis, MOAll Day Skidmore’s Theatre Open HouseAll Day Spirit Team Re-gionals in Grand Junction

Sunday, November 20All Day Ryan and Carri-ger out to ACTE National Conf. in St. Louis, MO

Monday, November 21All Day NO SCHOOL (Staff Furlough Days/ Thanksgiving Break)

Tuesday, November 22All Day NO SCHOOL (Staff Furlough Days/ Thanksgiving Break)

Wednesday, November 23All Day NO SCHOOL Thanksgiving Break

Thursday, November 24All Day NO SCHOOL Thanksgiving BreakAll Day Thanksgiving Day

Monday, November 28th – School back in Session – Regular School Day