THE TIMESOAKWOOD

October 14, 2010Volume: 25 Issue: 2

WHAT’SINSIDE

Homecoming spirit rocks OHS(Photo by Michaela Eickhoff)

NHS set to host Pink

Day

Soccer sets school

record for wins

Martin plays way into EIU

starting lineup

Willaman coaches in

his spare time

2 NEWS

OCTOBER 14, 2010OT

By Logan CronkDid you know every 69 seconds a woman dies from breast

cancer? Everyone at OHS should be able to answer “yes” to this

question after National Honor Society’s Pink Day today.NHS Pink day is being held today to try making teenagers

more aware of breast cancer. Students at OHS will be able to wear a hat if they pay $1.

All of the funds that are raised will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to support breast cancer and help to find the cure.

“This is a really great cause, and I think it is important that everyone learns more about breast cancer and how they can help,” said president of NHS, Michaela Eickhoff.

NHS will also be teaming up with the OHS volleyball team to host a breast cancer awareness game. Every player playing tonight will be wearing pink and hitting a pink ball.

Along with the Comets, every team in the Vermilion Val-

ley Conference will be having a breast cancer awareness night. Everyone attending the games will be asked to give a donation at the door which will also go towards the Komen foundation.

“The Susan J. Koman foundation is a great cause,” said volleyball coach Ms. Lynn Anderson. “I just wish more people were aware about breast cancer.”

The Susan G. Komen Foundation kicked off Breast Cancer Awareness Month on October 1. The goal of this month will be trying to form a hashtag.

What is a “hashtag?” Hashtags allow you to quickly iden-tify special topics, and help spread information while organiz-ing and making it searchable within social media.

For the foundation this year, 69 is a big number. Not only is it the number of seconds until another woman with breast cancer dies, but they also hope to mobilize millions to take 69 seconds to fight breast cancer and break the Guinness World Record for most widespread social network message in 24 hours.

Here’s the facts:

NHS and volleyball team up to fight against breast cancer

• 1in8ofallwomenwillgetbreastcancerinherlifetime.

• Therewere207,090newbreastcancercasesforwomenin2009,andonly1,970formen.

• Justunder7%ofallbreastcancercasesoccurinwomenun-der40yearsold.

By Brad MillerThe Oakwood Drama

Department will be pre-senting Harvey by Mary Chase this November.

The play revolves around an imaginary six foot four and one half inch rabbit and his best friend Elwood. This play is sure to leave the crowd laughing with its hilarious antics.

As usual OHS stu-dents will be working to pull this play together and that is no small task with three different scenes requiring them to build three different sets. The play this year is such a large production that the location had to be moved to Oakwood Grade School because of space issues.

“Our set is just too big to fit into the cafeteria,” said Drama advisor Miss Ferdinand. “It’s re-ally exciting to move into a new space.”

The OHS students taking a major role in this year’s production are senior Trent Parker (Elwood), Kassie Jenkins (Veta), and Amie Baumeister (Myrtle Mae).

“I’m really excited to see Trent running around like a crazy

Drama prepares to present HarveyMusic department has been busy

Trent Parker and Dalton Billings rehearse for the upcoming presentation of Harvey. The play will (Photo by Michaela Eickhoff)

man,” said Baumeister “This year’s play can be very funny if we all do a good job of acting it out.“

The actors are also very enthu-siastic about the change in venue for this year’s play.

“With all of the extra room we will have at the grade school, we will really be able to run around and make this play a lot of fun for everybody,” said Baumeister.

The OHS Drama Department has strived over the past few years to supply Oakwood playgoers with

the best possible experience and really hopes that this year’s pro-duction will be just as enjoyable as past plays.

“I’m can’t wait to see our ac-tors pull this off,” said Ferdinand. “Hopefully we can get a large crowd out to come watch.”

If you are interested in attend-ing, the play will be Nov. 12-14 at 7:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday. The tickets will be $5 for students and $7 for adults.

By Katherine ZitelloUnder the direction of their new instructor, Ms. Brittany Dye, the

OHS Band and Chorus have been very busy lately.The Illinois Music Educators Association held auditions for All

State and All District Band and Chorus in Bloomington on October 11. Three OHS students tried out. Junior Danielle Rodriguez tried out in the category of voice soprano one, sophomore Brandon Wittig for both jazz and concert band, and sophomore Zach Wilt for jazz band.

“I made it my freshman year, and it was a life-changing experience,” said Rodriguez. “It’s the reason I decided that I wanted to be a conductor.”

Music teachers from all across the state nominate the students who they feel should audition. If they make it through, they will be placed into either the All-State or All-District level. Only juniors and seniors can be accepted into All-State, but any high school grade level can par-ticipate in All-District, which consists of the best music students in only east central Illinois.

Students in the All-District level will get a chance to perform at the District Festival on Nov. 20.

The OHS Choir also sang at OGS on October 5. The choir per-formed a spiritual song called Peace Like a River as well as Don’t Stop Believin’, to which they added choreography. This act was inspired by the TV show Glee.

The OJHS and OGS bands also played.On September 26 and 27 three students: Rodriguez, Wittig, and

senior Chelsey Krage went to Millikin University. They had the chance to see Millikin’s choir perform, attend voice lessons, and finally to sing in a choir with the other participants.

”I’ve never has the experience to sing in such a large choir before,” said Wittig.

Dye, who came from teaching in a large district in Texas to the small town of Oakwood, says she enjoys being a part of a tighter knit community and being involved in a small group.

She focuses on making sure that her students find their work in music fun.

“If they’re enjoying themselves,” said Dye, “the music takes care of itself.”

3 NEWS

OCTOBER 14, 2010 OT

By Heidi GreenWhether your hobby is helping others, shooting archery, or reading books, OHS has a

club for you.A few students are starting off their fall season by jumping into a good book, as recom-

mended by the OHS book club. The book club meets once a month to discuss what they read and share opinions. Anyone

is welcome to attribute ideas when choosing the book to read, and everyone is asked to vote. This year the club attained 13 members.They agreed upon the book Aftershock by Kelly Easton as the September book, and got very

good reviews from the students. The book is about a boy who witnesses his parents’ murder. Many said that they could relate to his emotions.

The book chosen for October is The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. November’s book will most likely be a mystery.

“We’re trying to get books that appeal to all interests,” said advisor Mrs. Donna Miner.The club is very accommodating to students’ schedules and wishes for members to read

the book when they find the time, even if that means finishing late.Students are welcome to join anytime and discuss the book with Miner. The club is also

providing refreshments at these meetings, which Miner hopes will encourage many more to join.Many students have also taken up the adventurous pastime of archery shooting.This club is run by Mr. Bob Sermak. This year it contains around 10 to 15 members, which

is just a few more than usual.Many enjoy the simple hobby of shooting, while others have found a deeper purpose.“I shoot at the target and try to increase my accuracy so that I can get better for deer sea-

son,” said sophomore Marty Herbolsheimer.Don’t have your own bow? That’s no problem. Sermak has two bows, which are available

to shoot when the archery club meets.The archery club meets in Sermak’s room after school on Wednesdays before heading out

to the grassy field on the West side of the building to shoot. Not interested in reading or shooting? Check out the PIPS (Pitch-In-Posse) club. The club

has officially started their year and is already coming up with many new ideas.This year the club has around 15 members, who are planning some activities that support

the community.Some of their plans for the coming year include selling candy canes, making holiday cards,

and visiting the Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center and Colonial Manor in Danville.While visiting places such as the V.A. and Colonial Manor, the PIPS club might make

things for these less fortunate people, or even just choose to hang out, keep them company, and simply have good conversation.

“My goal is just to get the kids volunteering, helping their community, and helping their school,” said PIPS advisor Ms. Kelly Ferdinand.

The PIPS club will be electing their officers on October 18.

By Paige FrerichsSeven OHS FFA members, along with over

50,000 other FFA members and guests from across the United States, will flood Indianapolis to attend the National FFA Convention.

Advisor Mrs. Darcy Nekolny and members Darren Cundiff, Kyle Van Duyn, Brodie Lee, Ryan Bott, Lauryn Elliott, Katey Kirkpatrick, and Hai-ley Tellier will attend the annual FFA Convention October 20 through 23.

Along with FFA Chapters from all 50 states, there will be members from FFJ (Japan), and the Puerto Rican FFA, which will give everybody the chance to meet those from outside the country, and see how things are done there.

Many different events are held throughout the three days that the members and guests will partici-pate in. There will be sessions with motivational speakers, ag industry leaders, and national award winners. There will be multiple chances to learn more about the ag industry.

The chapters will go to a career show, educa-

By Erinn BrimburyThe student of the month committee is making sure the new teachers under-

stand the qualifications on what it takes to be nominated as student of the month.The older requirements were basically the same, but when teachers were

looking at them in the past they could not find specifics; they thought it needed to be spelled out more clearly.

To be selected, a student must be well-rounded in several areas besides school, improving or maintaining their grades, showing a growth in maturity, showing leadership qualities, and showing some type of improvement in their school life.

Mrs. Lori Learnard felt that the change in rules was needed to explain the qualifications to the new teachers around OHS.

“I think it will be helpful for new teachers who don’t know what this is,” said Learnard. “It will help them to understand it better and tell what point-blank qualities we are looking for.”

The Student of the Month was started as a way to honor students for their positive achievements at OHS. In essence, the student has qualities (that special ‘something’), that sets him/her apart from his/her peers in a positive way.

The student does not necessarily have to be a senior. Since the committee did not have a chance to vote for the month of September

and October, they will vote at the next teacher meeting and will be choosing two students for the award. Usually only one student will be picked.

“[Student of the month] recognizes students and encourages them to try their hardest in school,” said junior Terry Escobedo.

tional and career workshops, and have the chance to go on a variety of different tours throughout Indiana.

“I’m really excited about the group that’s going and meeting a lot of new people,” said sophomore Hailey Tellier.

While not being part of the FFA sessions, the group will do other fun and entertaining things such as attending a concert and going bowling with other FFA chapters. There is a concert every year that takes place during the convention, and this year is Lady Antebellum.

“We are going constantly,” said Nekolny. “We’re usually busy from 7 am until 11 that evening.”

The group goes to a lot of events and attends many other FFA programs throughout the year, but this one really has them excited and looking forward to the fun and great experience.

“It’s by far the best FFA trip,” said Nekolny, “you see and do so much, and I’ve never had a kid not want to go back.”

FFA to attend national conventionSeven look forward to Indy trip

Clubs, groups looking for members to kick off new year

Members of the Book Club, Archery Club, and PIPs pose for the camera. These are three groups that are looking for new members for the school year. (Photos by Erinn Brimbury and Kendra Ford)

Qualifications stated for Student of the Month

4 SPORTS

OCTOBER 14, 2010OT

By Ashley WahlfeldtThis year’s Comettes team worked hard over the summer preparing for the coming

school year. Their summer consisted of practicing twice a week and going to dance class once a week. They also went to camp at Illinois State University.

“There has been a big improvement from this summer, in terms of technique and memo-rization,” said Coach Sarah Heller.

This year the football squad consists of seniors Jade Haynes and Dani Stimac, juniors Candice Glines and Shelby McArty, sophomores Lauren Elliott and Hannah Bray, and fresh-man Lacey Clark.

“This summer we really worked hard, and it has all paid off,” said Haynes. Every time there is a home football game they make up a new routine. Each routine takes

about a week to a month to make up, depending on the counts and how long the mixes are, which Heller makes up. The Comettes never have just one song; they are all mixed by Heller.

“We take stuff we learned at camp and stuff the girls would like to do and put those things together,” said Heller.

Every year the Comettes have a fundraiser in December. They have a clinic for the kids K-8, where they teach the kids a routine and then have them perform that routine during the half time with the Comettes. Half of the money they earn goes towards the little girls for snacks and T-shirts. The other half goes towards the Comettes for uniforms and other necessities that are needed.

There are two coaches for the Comettes, Heller and Mrs. Paige Watson. Heller is in charge of fundraising, mixing music, and uniforms, while Watson is in charge of choreography.

This year the OHS Comettes have two squads; a basketball squad and a football squad. The basketball squad includes everyone from the football squad minus Haynes, and entering is senior Taylor West.

The Comettes dance at the Homecoming football game. The Comettes perform a new routine for every home game. (Photo by Erinn Brimbury)

Comettes work hard over summer to prepare for routinesRyan Strange (32) carries the ball while receiving a block from Casey Fletcher (1) in the defeat of

Bismarck-Henning. The Comets got off to their best start in 27 years. (Photo by Erinn Brimbury)

OAP already qualfied for IHSA playoffs after great startBy Zack Girton

In just their first six games the OAP football team has clenched a playoff spot.

The Comets started the season hot, winning their first six games and outscoring their opponents, 241-77.

The Comets’ offense has been sparked by a three-headed monster se-niors Joseph Garrett, Arlen Kerst, and junior Ryan Strange.

OAP started their Vermilion Valley Conference schedule with two road victories, a 56-6 win over Schlarman and a 35-25 win over the Hoopeston Area Cornjerkers.

The Comets returned home for the Homecoming game against the Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman Buffaloes, winning that game by a score of 46-19. The victory made the Comets 5-0 and playoff eligible for the second straight season.

“Our conference schedule sets up well,” said junior Cameron Lee. “It gives us tests before we get to our real tough games to end the season.”

The Comets started a string of tough games with a convincing win over the Bismarck-Henning Blue Dev-ils 32-8. Strange had 195 rushing yards along with three rushing touchdowns and a 49-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.

“The key for us was Ryan’s fumble return,” said senior Casey Fletcher. “It wasn’t that they gave up playing hard but it seemed that they lost their confi-dence and it boosted our confidence.”

OAP has also found an air attack resting on the right arm of quarterback Garrett. Garrett has thrown for five touchdowns to three different receivers through six games.

Junior Tyler Knight is leading the team in receiving touchdowns with three. Seniors John Garrett and Fletcher have each added one touchdown.

Another key for the Comets has been an overpowering offensive line. They returned three starters from last year’s line seniors Brad Miller, Jimmy Rutledge, and Lee.

They also returned tight end John Garrett. The two new starters are juniors Cody Deck and Brandon Sparks. Re-ceivers Fletcher and Knight have also been key in the running game.

The 6-0 Comets are in good posi-tion to win their first ever VVC cham-pionship. With two games left in the regular season, the Comets are looking to avenge two late-season losses from last season.

The Comets will be traveling to play the Milford Bearcats tomorrow night, and will finish with the Salt Fork Storm at home for Senior Night.

5 SPORTS

OCTOBER 14, 2010 OT

By Angelina RitterThe OHS Cross Country team

consists of 13 boys and seven girls. The four seniors this year are Travis Denius, Zack Partin, Erinn Brim-bury, and Cassidy Deck.

“Mr. Lee is pushing us a lot harder this year,” said Deck, “which is good because the girls have the chance to win (the Vermilion) County and (Vermilion Valley) con-ference (titles).”

The farthest they have run in a race was 3.2 miles. In practices they run about three to five miles every night.

The girls’ team has struggled throughout the year with many shin injuries. This was the first time in a long time they didn’t have a full girls team at the Spartan Classic because of absences due to injuries.

By Morgan ThilmonyWith the Vermilion County and Regional tournaments in the near

future, the OHS volleyball team hopes to put an end to their rough patch and go out on top.

The Vermilion County tournament will begin on Sat., Oct. 16 and run through Mon., Oct. 18. Coach Lynn Anderson said she would like to still be playing in the tournament when Monday comes around.

The Comets won their second game this season against Armstrong-Potomac, which should move them up a seed in the County tournament.

“I’m hoping we keep our heads up and don’t get down about the little mistakes we make,” said sophomore Kaylee Morman.

An injury moved previous varsity setter, Ashley Wahlfeldt, to the sidelines. Since then, Morman has stepped up to the plate for the Comets. Because she has had no varsity experience in the past, she has to work extra hard to fill in the big shoes left by Wahlfeldt.

“I was scared at first,” said Morman. “I didn’t know what to expect because jumping from JV to starting varsity was a big change.”

The regional games will begin Oct. 27 at Paris High School.“I would like to at least win the first Regional game,” said Ander-

son. “They’ve got to want it and execute to the best of their abilities.”

“The boys’ team is not very con-sistent,” said Coach Tim Lee, “but if they push themselves they can also have the chance to win County and

Conference.” The number one girl is junior

Ciara Pierce. She is doing well and working hard even though her times have not been as fast as last year.

The number one boy this year is junior Brandon Divan.

“It’s a great honor and it’s great to see all of my hard efforts paying off,” said Divan.

Lee gives awards like candy to runners who beat their best times of the year.

They also had a spaghetti din-ner for the team, after completing a scavenger hunt around Oakwood. They were broken up into teams, and ran to each clue until they reached the last clue that led them to the spaghetti dinner.

Lee says this is a way to make cross country fun.

Teams looking to peak at RegionalsCross country

Junior Brandon Divan rounds a corner in a race at Rossville. (Photo by Erinn Brimbury)

Hoping to finish strong in two tourneys

By Casey FletcherThe Comets are coming in hot

to the Schlarman Regional after a record-breaking year. The Comets are the number-two seed behind the number-one seeded St. Thomas More Sabers.

The OHS record for most wins for soccer in a season was 11 before this year’s Comets shattered the record.

With a good chance of win-ning a Regional Championship this could be their first Regional title in the existence of the soc-ce r p ro-gram.

“ W e came into the season this year with high expec-tations,” said senior Logan Cronk, “although we could not fulfill our goal to win (the Vermilion Valley) Conference we still plan on giving Regionals our best shot.”

With a record of 5-2 in the VVC, the Comets could have won the Conference with a win against Hoopeston Area/Bismarck-Henning. Instead they lost, 1-0.

“Looking at the way the Confer-

ence games played out,” said Coach Eric Fenton, “if we would have won one of the two games, we could have had a Conference title.”

Fenton said that this team has let a good opportunity slip through their hands.

“It’s unfortunate with as good as a team we have,” said Fenton, “to come short of a Conference title.”

The Comets finished second in the VVC which is the highest they have ever finished.

T h e team had a h u g e win on se-nior night a g a i n s t S c h l a r -m a n which was the second

time they have beat them this year. The game was decided in a shootout with a game-wining stop by senior goalie Austin Buckley.

Since the soccer program start-ed in 2003 the Comets have only defeated Schlarman one other time before defeating them twice this year.

“The soccer program here has totally changed since I got here my sophomore year,” said senior Ke-

Senior Conner Youhas throws in the ball in a recent game at Oakwood Grade School. The team has recorded the most wins in the program’s history this year. (Photo by Breanna Hargrove)

Soccer team records most wins in program’s history

“It’s unfortunate with as good as a team we have, to come short of a Conference title.” -- Coach Eric Fenton

Sophomore Synan Nicholson fights for control of the ball with a Hoopeston Area player. Nicholson kicked game-winning goals in two straight game this year. (Photo by Breanna Hargrove)

gan Decker. “Oakwood was always considered one of the weaker soccer teams in the conference, but this year we have showed that we are a dominant force in this conference.”

The main forces of this year’s soccer team have been the play of its eight seniors. Decker as of press date has 11 goals along with Logan Cronk with nine. Zach Carnahan has also been instrumental to the offense.

The defense has been led by Conner Youhas as stopper, Adam Cundiff as wing, Garrett Barr as sweeper, and Austin Buckley as the goalkeeper.

By Anthony WilderHow about a trip to the University of Harvard, or trekking

a span of three states in a short period of time? This traveling now seems pretty normal for former OHS

student Amy Martin, who is attending Eastern Illinois University. As of recently, she has been traveling all over the states with the volleyball team. Martin enrolled this fall at EIU and is enjoying every minute of it.

“It’s always been a school I’ve been interested in,” said Martin. “Also, many of my friends attend now, and it’s so close to home. I felt it was a good decision.”

Martin is majoring in elementary education at EIU, which is known for having one of the best education programs in Illinois.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” said Martin. “This also can give me an opportunity to coach in the future.”

Martin was involved in many sports at OHS such as basketball, track and field, and volleyball. This fall, when she enrolled, Martin was given a chance to walk on to the EIU volleyball team, and that was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

Being a walk-on in university athletics means you weren’t g i v e n a s c h o l a r -ship in that sport, but you proved y o u r s e l f enough to get a ros-ter spot on the team. Martin was able to showcase her athletic ability and secured her a spot for this

6 PEOPLE

OCTOBER 14, 2010OT

By Karissa NelsonThis year OHS has two members

of student council on the Kickapoo District Association of Student Councils (KDASC).

“I’m very excited we have two officers on the KDASC,” said Student Council Advisor Deb Clow. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to host the Spring Convention.”

Senior Michaela Eickhoff is this year’s Vice President and junior Joey Miller is this year’s Convention Secre-tary of the KDASC.

At the Spring Convention Eickhoff ran and won the election for her office while Miller was appointed to his a little later by Clow.

“I know the leadership skills he possesses,” said Clow. “Being Con-

ALUMNISPOTLIGHT

Eickhoff, Miller take leadership positions for District StuCo

Junior Joey Miller makes a speech at last year’s Student Council District Convention. He is the webmaster on this year’s executive board. (Photo courtesy of http://sites.google.com/site/kickapoostuco)

season.“There are only so many scholarships given per year,” said

Martin. “I’m going to work and play hard to get that scholar-ship.”

Injuries have plagued the EIU volleyball team this year, and with that, Martin was able to start in two games this season, including the first game of the season.

“It was definitely an honor starting,” said Martin. “It was exciting and felt good.”

Martin started on varsity four straight years for OHS and in the span achieved many goals. Martin was named player of the year by the Commercial-News in 2009, and female athlete of the year by the News-Gazette in spring of this year.

Martin’s day consists of school, then she goes to volleyball practice every day from 2 to 4 p.m. On Mon-

days and Wednesdays, Martin has weight-training sessions that last right after practice until 5:30 p.m. In Martin’s eyes, all that practice and weight training pays big dividends in

not just her performance, but her team’s performance as well.“Volleyball is so much faster in college than in high school,”

said Martin. “You have to learn new techniques to improve your game.”

This was just one of the many new transitions that Martin has had to make from high school to college.

Martin was always one of the tallest on her many sports teams in high school, at 5’11”. Now at EIU some of the girls range from 6’0” to 6’3.”

“I feel like I fit in now with the girls,” said Martin jokingly about her height.

Being on a collegiate sports team means lots of traveling, and that is just what Martin has done. Martin has traveled to Bos-ton for a match against Harvard earlier this year. Pennsylvania and Michigan were also states that she visited due to matches.

“I enjoyed the trip to Boston the most so far because we’re able to stay for five days,” said Martin. “We went to downtown Boston, and we were able to venture around the Harvard campus,

which was beautiful.” Where does she fit the academics in though with all the

traveling? Martin has study tables which she uses. The study table is

simply a spot where you sit and study for four hours at a time. They need this because sometimes it can prove overwhelming to get prepared for a game halfway across the country and still get prepared for a big test.

When Martin is not studying for a test or practicing for a game, she hangs out with her team.

“We’re definitely like a family,” said Martin. “We hang out, eat dinner, and go to football games together.”

Martin gave some words of advice for anyone who wants to do what she’s doing right now.

“Don’t waste away high school,” said Martin. “Stay focused on nothing but school, but have fun with it too.”

You can catch Martin playing at Lantz Arena (EIU gym-nasium) on October 26 against Ohio Valley Conference foe the University of Tennessee at Martin, and then again on November 2 against Southeast Missouri State University.

Martin continues her volleyball career as an EIU Panther

OHS g r a d u a t e

Amy Martin is currently playing volleyball for the EIU Panthers. Her team photo is shown at right, with Martin as second from left on the top row. (Photo courtesy of

www.eiupanthers.com)

vention Secretary will give him the opportunity to put those skills to work.”

This is Eickhoff’s second year be-ing on the KDASC board. Last year she was the historian. This is Miller’s first year being on the KDASC board.

“I ran for Vice President because I wanted to be more involved,” said Eickhoff. “I thought I could make a newsletter using the experience I had from journalism class.”

Eickhoff has been a part of stu-dent council for six years now while Miller follows closely behind with five years.

“I like getting to know people from other schools,” said Eickhoff. “It makes us better leaders and helps us better our own student councils.”

Eickhoff’s main duty as the Vice

President is a newsletter. She has to create and distribute it to all member schools when deemed necessary by the Executive Board.

Her other duties involve presiding at all meetings when the president is ab-sent. She performs any duties assigned by the Executive Board, and those stated in by-laws. She answers all correspon-dence promptly.

Miller’s main duty as the Conven-tion Secretary is to plan the district’s convention. He has to pick the date and reserve the location for it. He is also in charge of registration, selection of the guest speaker, publicity, and all the con-vention materials that will be needed.

“It’s awesome,” said Miller. “I’m learning a lot of new leadership skills and making many new friends.”

SPOTLIGHT7 PEOP

LE

STUDENT

OCTOBER 14, 2010 OT

By Cameron LeeThis month’s Staff Spotlight is on OAP

football’s defensive coordinator, Jeff Willa-man.

What makes Willaman interesting is that he is much more than just another football coach. He’s a husband, a father, a grandfather, and, not to mention, a State champion.

He has been married to his wife Cindy for 26 years. They have a 25-year-old daughter named Jennifer. They also have a two-year-old grandson named Jake.

When he’s not with his family or on the field, he is working as the Operations Man-ager at Advanced Filtration Systems Inc. in Champaign. This company manufactures diesel engine filters.

Willaman has a great passion for the game of football. This passion started at a young age. He attended Schlarman High School where he was a guard and middle linebacker on the State championship football team in 1980. Now he uses his great passion for the game to coach defense to the OAP football team.

“Life long lessons are learned on the foot-ball field,” said Willaman. “I really appreciate the lessons I learned from my coaches, and now I want to teach my players those same lessons.”

Another thing that makes Willaman so interesting is that he has success running a very bizarre defense. He uses a mix of dif-

ferent defenses like a 4-4, a 5-3, and a 6-2. It takes a gutsy coordinator to use these kinds of defenses. So far he’s had success as the Comets have allowed the second fewest points of any team in the Vermilion Valley Conference.

“Coach Willaman is very knowledge-able,” said senior captain Arlen Kerst. “He teaches the game very well, and he is very experienced.”

This much coaching experience didn’t just happen overnight. He spent 10 years as a coach prior to coming to OHS. He coached nine seasons at Schlarman, where he was both an offensive and defensive coordinator. He also spent a season coaching at Centennial High School.

“He is incredibly hard working,” said OAP head football coach Gary Denhart. “We work well together, and he brings a certain calmness that is important to the team. He is incredibly intelligent about the game of foot-ball. I think we have a lot of success because we both work very well together. Our two dif-ferent approaches towards coaching football is a unique part of our football team.”

Name: Conner Matthew Hadden MortonFact (“story”): He recently built benches in Kickapoo State Park in memory of Ryan Katcher for his Eagle Scout project.How did you spend your summer vacation: ASP, Icthus, and sleeping What’s your favorite memory at OHS so far: Winning the Homecoming pep assemblyHobbies: Fishing, golfing, and youth groupDream Job: BiologistFavorite Food: Deep fried TwinkiesIf you could be any animal what animal would you be: Octopus What’s your worst fear: I’m not afraid of anything. I’m Conner Morton Last movie you watched: GhostbustersWhat did the bird say to the worm: Birds don’t talk and worms don’t have ears, so it doesn’t matter.Who has influenced you the most in your life: Josh Hunsberger

Favorite Teacher: Mrs. Learnard What’s one thing that you miss about being a little kid: Naptime What are a couple of things on your bucket list: Getting my pilot’s license, and going deep sea fishing What is your obsession?: Hawaiian shirtsFavorite Band: SkilletWhat do you like to do in your spare time: Sip on sweet teaDescribe yourself in one word: RandomFavorite TV show: The Daily Show with Jon StewartFavorite Celeb: Sean ConneryWho is your hero: Kegan DeckerIf you were famous what would you be famous for: Being the sexiest man aliveWho would you like to give a shout out to: All the single ladies

Morton gives back to community to earn Eagle Scout

Willaman uses past football experiences to help Comets

Coach Jeff Willaman offers words of advice to junior Shane Foley. Willaman is the defensive coordinator for the OAP Comets. (Photo by Erinn Brimbury)

SPOTLIGHT

STAFF

By Breanna Hargrove

8 BUZZ

OCTOBER 14, 2010OT

HOMECOMING2010

By Kendra FordAs you all may know, Homecoming is one of the, if not the

most exciting times of the year. It’s a week of celebration, full of competitions between classes, dress-up days, float building, a dance, and of course, the football game. And this year, our abundance of school spirit was recognized and even put out on the media for everyone to see.

The eventful week started off Saturday with The Kickoff Extravaganza, which is a wiffle ball tournament where classes compete against one another.

“I thought the overall turnout was very good,” said Lo-ganCronk, who was in charge of the competition. “We all went out there and had a great time.”

After the wiffle ball tournament was over, one of OHS’ best traditions started -- float building. Students were able to show up at their float sites at 2 p.m. and begin working on the week long project. This year’s float theme was Superheroes. Students are only allowed to work on their float during designated times.

With Superheroes being the theme, each class had to come up with a superhero and turn in their ideas before another class took it. The freshman class took Spiderman. So the class of 2011 had to settle with the Flaming Torch from Fantastic Four. The juniors picked the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the sophomores chose the Hulk.

All the classes worked hard during the week to finish the float, but unfortunately there can only be one winner. The win-ner for this year’s float was the freshman class.

During the Homecoming week there are different dress-up days that many students participated in this year.

On Monday, the school was full of nerds, dressed in everything from suspenders, glasses, high waters, pigtails and much more. Tuesday was fake an injury day, minus the gore.

We all took a trip back in time on Wednesday for blast from the past day. Thursday was class color day, freshman wore green, sophomores wore orange, juniors wore blue, and seniors dominated the school with red. And last but not least, Friday was purple spirit day.

Overall, the seniors had the highest percentage of students participate in the dress up days.

Thursday is the day of Cometfest, where students participate in a series of games and compete against each other to see which class will earn the brag-ging rights of the school.

Every year the games and activities at Comet-fest vary. This year there was an obstacle course, a frozen T-shirt contest, tug-of-war competition, pack the car, and a newer game to this event known as ninja. Each class had students that signed up to participate in each event. The winners of the 2010 Cometfest were the juniors, only beating the seniors by two points.

Friday is one the most exciting and eventful days during the week of Homecoming. To get pumped up for the game, the entire school assembles in the gym for the

loudest pep assembly of the year. Each class has their own sort of noise maker to try and win the award for the loudest class. This year the award was given to the juniors.

The football players were all announced and the cheer-leaders and Comettes did a dance. Also announced were the 2010 Homecoming queen and king, which were Michaela Eickhoff and Anthony Wilder.

After the pep assembly is the traditional Home-coming parade down Oakwood Avenue. This year

the parade was led by Mrs. Norma Anderson who was chosen by the student council to be the grand marshal. Following Anderson were

all four classes’ floats and many of Oakwood’s organizations and extra-curricular activity groups.

Starting at 7 p.m. under the Friday night lights, is what Homecoming is all about --

the football game. This year the Comets were scheduled to play George-

town-Ridge Farm, and with an undefeated season, they

knew that they had to come out and

play hard t o k e e p the w in -

ning streak going and win their Homecoming game. The Comets did just that, winning their

Homecoming game and with a final score of 49-19.The last event on the agenda for the week of Homecoming

is the Homecoming dance. Students entered the dance on the red carpet, for the theme of Hollywood. Students stopped danc-ing and sat in the bleachers around 9 p.m. to see the coronation.

9 BUZZ

Monster

What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?

Poll

By Danielle Rodriguez

43%

Review

Senior

5

Teacher

By Griffin DeYoung

What is your dream Halloween

costume?

Junior

Sophomore

Freshman

“Spiderman, so things will stick to

me.”

-Mr. Jesse Johnson

-John Kasprzak

“T.K. in his pretty little football

uniform”-Terry Escobedo

“The smoke mon-ster from Lost.”

-Marty Herbolsheimer

“Coach Wright.”

-Lexi Cortapassi

INTHEHALL

“Do I look like a kid who plays outside?”

-- Andy Venis

Overheard

OCTOBER 14, 2010 OT

By Ryan Stone“You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a

few enemies.” This tagline works perfectly for a movie like The Social

Network because of all the dramatic irony the movie holds. Who would’ve thought that a movie dealing with Facebook could be so dra-matic and so good that it’s Oscar worthy?

The star of the film is Jesse Eisenberg (Ad-ventureland, Zombieland) who plays Mark Zucker-berg, the creator of Face-book.

F o r a n y o n e w h o thought that he was a clone of Michael Cera, his act-ing in this film will surely prove you wrong. Eisen-berg lights up the movie every time he’s on screen. I’m sure the way Zuck-erberg is portrayed isn’t entirely true, but Eisenberg makes the character his own and brings out an ex-cellent performance.

The two main supporting actors are Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake. Garfield plays Facebook co-creator Eduardo Saverin, and he is suing Zuckerberg for not giving him credit for the co-creation. Saverin goes through a lot of trouble in the film, and Garfield does a fantastic job at capturing all the different emotions he has toward his “friend” Zuckerberg.

Timberlake on the other hand gives one of the best per-formances of the whole movie, which is strange because he isn’t known for his acting abilities. He plays Sean Parker, the creator of Napster and his goal is to help Zuckerberg get the idea of Facebook off the ground and into the mainstream world. You almost forget you’re watching Timberlake because he immerses himself into the role so well.

All of the performances were spot on, but what worried me most was how the directing and writing were going to play out. Once I found out David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) was in the director’s chair, I knew the movie was in good hands because he’s done so many

notable films in cinema. Well, you can add The

Social Network to that list, too. Fincher knows exactly how to reach out to his actors so each and every one of them can perform at the top of their game. You can tell the incredible amount of work Fincher put into this movie because not once does it show any signs of falling apart.

What truly makes The Social Network worth watching is its amazing script. The film is written by Aaron Sorkin, who has a unique way of writ-ing dialogue. It’s hard to explain, but pay close at-tention because the dia-logue seems to fly at you constantly. The idea of this

may sound annoying, but it’s one of the best things about the movie. Sorkin deserves to be awarded for his work; it’ll be a mistake if he doesn’t.

Overall the movie has some amazing performances, beau-tiful cinematography, and outstanding writing and direction which makes it nearly flawless. I’ll be shocked if there aren’t any nominations for this movie at the Academy Awards when February arrives.

I definitely recommend seeing this, but remember that it’s not necessarily about what Facebook is, but the emotional struggles that went into creating the popular site. The Social Network is a must-see movie and it’s one of this year’s best films.

Actors Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg play the parts of Sean Parker and Mark Zuckerberg in the new movie The Social Network. The movie is currently in theaters. (Photo courtesy of www.yahoo.com)

The Social Network is worth your time

19%14%

24%Ghost

Other

Witch

“To look exactly like

Mr.Hayworth.”

10 OPINION

OCTOBER 14, 2010OT

THE

Oakwood High School5870 U.S. Route. 150

Fithian, IL 61844Members of the staff are enrolled in the Journalism class. The

paper is published by The Oakwood Times staff.Subscriptions are $12 per year and may be purchased by

contacting the staff at OHS, 217-354-2358.The Oakwood Times encourages signed letters, comments, art,

or columns from its readers. The Oakwood Times reserves the right to edit all submissions for length and clarity. No submissions will be printed that are considered libelous, in poor taste, or are intended solely as a personal attack. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the entire staff or the district employees.

Editors-in-Chief: Michaela Eickhoff, Kendra FordManaging Editors: Logan Cronk, Paige FrerichsSports Director: Anthony Wilder Opinion Director: Seth McBride Business Manager: Danielle Rodriguez Assistant Business Manager: Karissa NelsonPhoto Editor: Erinn BrimburyAssistant Photo Editor: Morgan ThilmonyCopy Editors: Heidi Green, Katherine ZitelloBackpage Directors: Cameron Lee, Brad MillerReporters: Griffin DeYoung, Haleigh Durbin, Casey Fletcher, Zack Girton, Breanna Hargrove, Austin Haskins, Mace Mackiewicz, Angelina Ritter, Ryan Stone, and Ashley Wahlfeldt

Volume 25Issue 2

October 14, 2010

TIMESOAKWOOD

Editorial

According to M.E.By Michaela Eickhoff

Breast Cancer Awareness isn’t just wearing pinkAs you all know, October is Breast Cancer

Awareness Month, and we will be seeing an abundance of pink on television, in commer-cials, and at sporting events. But other than wearing pink, what does this really mean? I think that most people who have never been directly affected by the disease just see it as a time to wear a pretty color, and before last year, I was one of them.

A year ago yesterday my family got the biggest news that we have ever received. My mom was diagnosed with breast can-cer, and it left my entire family wondering what was going to happen next. The hard part was that it took a lot of time and tests to finally figure out a game plan and what was actually happening.

Breast cancer and cancer in general is the most difficult thing a person and their family can go through. When your mom has numer-ous surgeries and six months of chemotherapy treatments ahead of her, it is not always easy to see the finish line. It felt like a never-ending roller coaster to me, and I cannot imagine what it was like for my mom.

My mom’s fight against breast cancer had many lows, but she was great at seeing the positive side. To her, every treatment was just another to mark off the list until she was done.

The Mills Breast Cancer Institute in Urbana was amazing throughout the entire process. They go above and beyond to help their patients and make them as comfortable as they can be. I have been there a few times now, and they make it feel as little like a hospital as possible with lots of windows and open areas. The people there are incredible,

and they deserve all the credit in the world. The great thing is that my mom had her

final chemo treatment on June 1. She has received a clean bill of health, and now only has to be checked every three months. She is taking every precaution and will be taking a pill, which is a low dosage of chemo, for the

next five years. A huge help

during the pro-cess was a co-worker of my mom who had breast cancer. She was there to give advice and sup-port wherever my family couldn’t. She sent cards and suggested books to help en-courage her. My mom is now do-ing the same for a friend who was

recently diagnosed. I think this is her way to give back, and every woman going through breast cancer needs this kind of mentor.

Last year, I could not wait until Breast Cancer Awareness Month was over. I hated being constantly reminded of it. My mom got to the point where she didn’t even want to watch TV until October was over.

This year, it is a much different story. My mom has purchased shirts for her and my dad to wear to tonight’s volleyball pink game. I think that she now has a sense of pride for what she has been through.

So what does breast cancer awareness mean? It means honoring the women who have and are going through it, raising money

for research to find a cure, and reminding all women to get mammograms.

I am not one to normally pay attention to or get involved in politics, but a law that passed last year is completely insane to me.

The law says that women don’t need to start getting mammograms until they are 50 and will only need them every other year. The sad part is that it is now up to insurance com-panies whether they will cover mammograms for women who are under 50.

My mom went in for mammograms every year, and she was 48 years old when she was diagnosed. If this law was passed earlier and my mom had not went in for her annual mam-mogram, the cancer would have had two more years to progress, and the outcome could have been devastating.

Even if the majority of breast cancer cases do not show up until women are in their 50s, I believe that it is better to be safe than sorry.

The fact is that we now have ways to beat breast cancer if it is caught early enough. It is not right for the government to restrict how cautious people can be about their health.

The thing that I hope that everyone gets from reading this is that Breast Cancer Aware-ness Month means much more than seeing

your favor-ite football team wear-ing pink. I also hope that every-one t r ies to get in-volved and

help out with the cause not only today, but the rest of the month, too.

When you wear pink to the volleyball game tonight, think about the people who have fought this battle and what YOU can do to help in the fight against breast cancer.

Breast cancer and cancer in general is the most diffi-cult thing a person and their family can go through.

We, the staff of The Oak-wood Times, would like to thank the participants of Homecoming week.

We would especially like to thank the Student Council for putting all of the activities together. It is advisor Ms. Deb Clow’s last year running the student council, so make sure to give her an extra thank you when you see her in the halls.

The Kick-off Extravaganza started the week off. Everyone who participated in the tour-nament did a nice job.

There were great floats in the parade. Freshmen won the float building competition. The parade also included the Homecoming court. Congratu-lations to all the members of this year’s court.

The dress up days also went very well with over half the school participating on every day. The dress up days all lead to Friday which was purple spirit day, with the school being covered in purple.

The Homecoming game against the Buffaloes was fan-tastic. Congratulations to all the football players. We hope you continue with this great season. Also, thank you to all the cheerleaders and fans who keep the boys going.

OHS was featured on WCIA news as a spotlight school. The TV crew was as-tounded by our spirit.

Thank you again to all the students, teachers, administra-tors, and community members who helped make this year’s Homecoming great.

OHS shows great spirit

Thank you for your support and enthusiasm during Homecoming 2010. I knew all of the hard work was worth it at the end of the obstacle course during Cometfest. I was thinking to myself, why did I let them talk me into pulling Kleenex out of a box? How was I going to get the field picked up and begin the next competition? As I turned after picking up Kleenex, I saw OHS students, not StuCo members, but the OHS student body in mass, picking up blowing Kleenex. The field was cleaned and ready for the next contest. You, OHS students, are the reason I love to come to work every day.

Deb ClowThank you,

Dear OHS,Letter to the Editor

11

OCTOBER 14, 2010

OPINION

Seth SaysBy Seth McBride

OT

October is 31 days of fun and mischief

Quit listening to the extremes

A big thing in the media recently seems to be the selling of fear to scare people into believing something, or going to extremes. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC all use fear to sell their point of view.

I think people should stop watching these biased news channels and start looking for unbiased sources of news and form their own opinions. A lot of people who watch these channels end up shaping their opinions based on them, and some of the more extreme things can be dangerous.

The far right media spreads fear by targeting things that a lot of their audience might not know a lot about. Fox News, for months, had several people on their shows who were opposing the Muslim community center in New York, and a few people went as far as associating all Muslims with what happened on 9/11.

People who watch Fox News to get their news and sometimes blindly follow it might believe that all Muslims are extremists. To misinform so many people is dangerous, especially when it is the most watched news channel.

The far left is making everyone else afraid of the far right and painting all of them as being similar if not the same to Fox News. In more extreme cases, the entire right has been painted as racists and “Islamophobes” for the action of what a minority is doing.

The truth is that most people are moderate. They think rationally and not just based on parties or the alignments of people. They base their opinions of people based on their beliefs and how they act. Contrary to what Fox News might tell you, the left is not trying to introduce socialism, and contrary to something CNN it might tell you, the right isn’t just a bunch of gun-toting crazy people.

Another problem is news channels that bring in reli-gion to try to push their point home, especially when so many of them can be hypocritical and go against what they are trying to promote.

Using something outside of politics to push your boundary of fear-mongering further is despicable to me, but it’s all over the media and seems to be everywhere in poli-tics. We should keep political matters political, and keep the religious matters in church or in personal conversations.

If people want to complain about something, they should be accountable for their own flaws too. There have been people who have bashed others for something that they themselves have done, or attacked another party for something their own party has frequently done.

The truth is we need to tone it down; politics has turned into a constant fight of extremes. The people in the middle aren’t being heard very much, so the extremes of both sides are who is heard the most. This makes it seems like those are the norms when they really aren’t.

As Jon Stewart said when he unveiled his restoring sanity rally, “Tone it down ... for America.”

Cartoon

October is finally here. My favorite month of the year. The August and September heat begin to fade into the cool breeze that makes going outside bearable.

It is also one of the most fun 31 days of the year. There are so many things that you can do to occupy this single month, and I want to tell you a few of my plans.

One of the things I plan on doing since I am too old to go trick-or-treating (so says the law of our lovely state) is to gather with a couple of friends and go around scaring kids who are not accompanied by parents. One thing you need to make sure of before doing this is that the people you are scaring know you in some way. This will help avoid a phone call from the police, or worse, that beet-red face of your father as you are being asked “What were you thinking.”

Other than this fair warning, dress up in the scariest outfit possible, and don’t be afraid to add a little gore to spice things up a bit.

Another thing that has become more popular is making your rounds around the area to any haunted house advertised. Personally, I love going through them just to criticize the people associated with them and giving them tips on how to make their character, or the house in general, better.

I remember one time in particular, I was go-ing through a haunted corn maze with my parents, and every now and again we would hear rustling against the corn stalks. I began laughing at a dummy hanging from a rope because it was clearly one of those cheap plastic replicas of a skeleton. This was not scary whatsoever.

I kept hearing the noises around me while walking on the trail and out of the stalks jumped a man in a werewolf costume. I was startled at first by the surprise, but what made it really fake was the fact that he just stood there.

This is where the criticism starts. “What? No howl? Not even a growl?” I said with a hard look on my face. He immedi-ately took offense to this and walked away. This brought tears to both mine and my father’s eyes, from laughing of course.

Another activity you hardly hear of anymore, unless it is an act from a boyfriend trying to get his girl to jump in his lap,

is a horror movie marathon. I have already planned to do this sometime throughout the month. I figure since my childhood years are almost up, why not bask in the fun of Halloween. I have never before put on a horror movie marathon, but indeed this year I will attempt my first. Some of the movies I have lined up already are Amityville Horror: Possession, The Amityville Horror (the remake), and the classic Freddy/Jason films. I think I can pull this off, if I can time it right.

One year, I decided to throw a Halloween party, but I couldn’t just have a simple bonfire with fake spider webs on the porch. I wanted my party to have a little pizzazz. I began thinking of what else I could do, and then it dawned on me -- woods surround my house; why not make a haunted trail?

My father acted as the architect while I had the elaborate scheme. We had to plan this carefully to make sure the actors looked and sounded convincing. We also needed another activity to make the party last the planned three hours.

The day finally arrived, and my dad had prepared a rhyme to each scary feature that presented itself throughout the trail. There were all sorts of creatures: vampires, werewolves, a bloody executioner, and Leatherface.

After the trail had run its course, we played “Pumpkin Toss.” Pumpkin toss is a game that requires a mesh shirt, two bungee cables, and medium sized pumpkins. What you do is thread the cables through the shirt, wrap it between two nearby

trees, and create a giant slingshot to shoot mini pump-kins across your yard. The night was a blast.

You see there are many other things you can do for Halloween other than trying to pass yourself off as a ten year old just to get candy. These are just a few, others may include corn mazes and “T.P.ing” houses, but it is a personal preference.

My only advice is don’t let this month pass by without doing something completely idiotic or fun because what is the point of the month of mischief, if you do not.

I figure since my childhood years are almost up, why not bask in the fun of Halloween.

Mace in the FaceBy Mace Mackiewicz

AT RANDOM(at the Homecoming Parade)

I pity da fool!

Last 7 OHS Homecoming Float Themes2010 -- Superheroes

2009 -- Fast food restaurants2008 -- Cleaning products

2007 -- 80s music2006 -- Movies

2005 -- Reality TV2004 -- Elvis Presley songs

A member of the class of 2027 (Athena Wright, in stroller) checks out the floats for future

design ideas.

Why are we on

fire trucks? What happens if

there’s a fire?

Don’t I look good?