Granger high school

Tri-Color TimesAn open forum for student opinion and expression TRICOLORTIMES.COM February 2012 LIV-5

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School spirit may lead to personal success

By Curtis HughesWINTER isn’t the same without the snow. It is the symbol of the season. Utah is known for the greatest snow on earth, but only if there is snow to have. It is reported that we have only a quarter of the snow fall compared to last year, and only half of all the precipitation throughout the season. James Holland (10) said he isn’t worried. “I’m not sad there is no snow, I’m thrilled!” Holland said. “I am hoping for a quick transition to summer.” Winter is not Holland’s favor-ite season. He occasionally has to walk to school, and it is easier without the snow. Holland said he will miss go-ing sledding with the snow, but he isn’t too distraught. “I hate snow!” Kylee Cutler (11) said. “I don’t mind the cold weather, but I don’t like the cold and wet rain or snow.” Cutler is not missing the snow, she is hoping that summer comes fast and we can get into the better

A winter without snow

Jordan Hernandez (12) waves his arms and shouts to get the crowd going. Basketball fans show lots of spirit. Regular seasson games are free with student I.D.

Opinion by Calvin Rankin GRANGER sucks. How does this make you feel? For many, it doesn’t feel very good. “It makes me feel like crap. It makes me an-gry,” Acea Spencer (12) said. For most, this is the initial re-action of Granger students when they hear these things. What about when people say Granger is “ghetto?” “Granger’s not ghetto, it’s a good school,” Michael Simonsen (12) said. So the question is, “Does Grang-er have school spirit?” Many students have pondered this question. “Yes, we do,” Na-than Saxton (12) said. This is how most students feel.

Many students feel that “We should have more school spirit,” Simonsen said. Why do we need school spirit? What does it matter? School spir-it is the glue that holds a student body together. School spirit encourages stu-dents to work harder to get better grades. Students wouldn’t ever want to do anything to “shame their school” if they had school spirit. Many Granger students do have school spirit and lots of it. Though, many students have no school spirit or close to it. “Many people attend our sport-ing events.” Spencer said.

What can we do to increase more school spirit? Perhaps if there was more Granger attire available for purchase. “I wish we had more Granger gear.” Spencer said, any Lancers agree. Though some feel this way, oth-ers don’t. Our schools baseball team does not “slack off” when it comes to Granger attire. They make sure that Granger gear is readily avail-able to those that attend their games. If we are going to have a school that has a good reputation, we need to increase our level of school spirit. If you see anyone

that is struggling in class or with their grades, help them. Don’t let them struggle. Let’s show love for our school by not vandalizing, or spitting your gum on the floor. As “daunting” as it sounds, let’s respect our teachers, administra-tors, and all other Granger High staff. They care about this school just as much as you do. We need to increase test scores and our school’s G.P.A. With good test scores comes pride in yourself. With pride in yourself comes pride in your school. School spirit is an essential part of school. People that have school spirit show that they care

for something. People that have school spirit tend to care more about grades and their education. Our nation needs school spirit because it needs people that care. These are the people that make our country strong. These are the scholars that pio-neer research. We need these peo-ple to become the next generation of working class Americans and it all comes from showing that you care. School spirit is essential to stu-dent, school, and success. We need to do everything in our power to encourage school spirit. Let,s make Granger the best high school in the state!

Opinion by Miranda LopezGOSSIP is a ‘fun’ thing that ev-erybody does. Whether some-one’s talking about something fun that happened in class, or just flat out talking mack on a friend. Ei-ther way, everybody gossips. No matter who they are. It’s common nature; it is going to happen. However, even if anyone does gossip, do they ever stop to think about what they’re gossiping about? Or wonder who or what might be affected when they open their mouth? Probably not. I think that gossiping is a form of bullying. Whether anyone else likes to think so or not, it is. What a lot of people don’t realize is who they’re going to be hurting in the end. Some girls may do this on purpose to ‘strike out’ at some other chick they may not like. Whatever the reason, it’s still not right. Gossip tends to start rumors which usually lead to a reputation that may or may not be true. A lot

of the times other people will say, “I hate him because he’s a player” or “Oh, I hate her because she’s a slut” without getting to know the person. First of all, what gives anyone the right to say something about someone that they don’t know? They’ve got no right. This gossip trend seems to hap-pen more often in high school than anywhere else. I say this because this is what it was like at my other school before I moved to West Valley, and started school here at Granger at the beginning of the semester. There were people who were absolutely terrified to go to school because they would get tormented over and over again. I always swore that I would never stoop down to their level. Not only did this happen at my old school, but I’ve seen the worst out of people here as well. There will be people walking around alone as if they were in search of a friend. There are also those famous girls who think, “oh

I’m better than you.” I personally think those girls need to get over themselves. Wouldn’t you think that this is a form of bullying? It happens everywhere we go. If you’re at work, school, or maybe even the mall when you’re pass-ing by. I’m not saying gossip should be protested against anyone’s will. I’m trying to say that when people gossip they should watch what words that come out of their mouths. It’s hurting the people around you that don’t need to be treated like that at all. High school is supposed to be the best days of our lives, not the most miserable. Every student should be able to walk through the doors of Granger High confident, with smiles on their face. If there are students who can’t do that, there’s a problem that needs to be fixed. My point is, that if gossip was limited, every student would have a much hap-pier high school life.

Gossip is another form of bullyingweather. “If water weren’t an is-sue, I wouldn’t be worried about a quick change, but I am a little worried,” she said Meteorologists have said we have nothing to worry about. Our state received enough precipita-tion last year that we have noth-ing to worry about, unless this happens again next winter. Utah is a state with unpredict-able weather. It is very possible to have a late series of snow storms in the season, but we could go un-til October without seeing snow. Taylor Swedin (12) says he misses the snow. “If there was snow, I would be sledding, and ice skating, and all those things!” Both Blanca Zuniga (12) and Aubrey Jensen (12) agree that the snow is just a wet, cold both-er. “I wish it snowed a lot in the mountains, but not down here. Then we only have it when we want it,” Jensen said. Sounds like winter needs to give up and let summer take its place. It’s what we all want.

Gossip isn’t always true. Don’t believe everything you hear

February 2012, page 2 VOL. LIV Issue 5

By Jessie Cisneros USE CAUTION when crossing UTA TRAX rails. If you cross anywhere other than a designated area, there will be consequences. Even if it appears safe to cross on a non-designated area, it may not be. TRAX trains move quick-ly and many people have lost their lives already for not using desig-nated crossing areas and disobey-ing signs. If you do, however, cross un-harmed, you may receive a $100 civil citation. All citations must be addressed within 30 days of receiving the ticket. A civil citation from TRAX will not go on your criminal record, but failure to take care of the ci-tation will result in trespass from TRAX and UTA affiliates. There are multiple ways to take care of a citation, especially for first offences. One example is at-tending a 30-minute safety class at UTA headquarters and a $25 fee. Another way is to complete 20 hours of community service on a project defined by UTA authori-ties. You can contest the ticket and appear at court, but if convicted it will appear on your criminal re-cord. If you receive a citation through UTA and are under the age of 18, they have to inform a legal guard-ian that you are receiving the ticket.

They will take information such as; height, weight, age, date of birth, etc. and will have you sign the citation. Signing the citation is not admittance of guilt, but agree-ing to call UTA within 30 days. You will receive a rough copy of the ticket with all the information listed on the back. “We have to be more careful next time,” Shawn Johnson (10) said. “You never know when cops will be on the train.” Be sure to always pay before taking the TRAX or you will receive anoth-er ticket for unauthorized use of public transportation. Always read the posted signs and watch where you walk. Stay behind the yellow line. UTA has a zero tolerance poli-cy when it comes to running the rails. There have been too many

deaths and accidents due to im-proper safety measures taken by passengers. UTA police frequently check all the stations and trains to ensure proper safety measures are taken. Public safety is very important to UTA and the rules are enforced so heavily to prevent injury and fatality. “When I called UTA about my citation, they hadn’t even pro-cessed the ticket,” Jessica Griego (11) said. “It’s been a week.” UTA has a slow response system and it takes them awhile to process the ticket information. If you receive a citation, be sure to give them ample time to get your ticket processed, while allowing enough time to ensure you take care of it within the giv-en time.

Crosswith care--TRAX trains are deadly

Safety first -- don’t get a UTA citationby crossing TRAX tracks illegally

By Judith RupayMANY students have been in-volved with the Senior Citizen Dinner. For the last eight years the dinner was held in Granger with the work of students volunteering to set up the decorations, serving meals, cleaning and making all the senior citizens feel welcome. Along with the West Valley Police and Fire Departments, Granger was able to hold the din-ner every year. Unfortunately this year was a different story. The police and fire departments didn’t have enough funds, and it was canceled for the first time. Everyone was devasted by the news. Some students who were determined not to break tradition made the dinner possible. This is one of the biggest com-munity service projects with over 100 students helping. Two students who were involved are Tania Perez (12) and Armin Fitozovic (12). Many of the clubs were a great help as well. “Armin and I wanted to bring the senior citizen banquet back and we decided to talk to Det. Randall, from there we learned we needed a lot of money so we

went to get help from the clubs,” Perez said. They did the talent show that was hosted by Maria Burgos and Carmen Flores and it was a suc-cessful outcome. “Our other helper besides the clubs is Carol Castaneda,” Fito-zovic said. The feeling you get when help-ing out is unexplainable. “I feel glad to be able to be part of something big and I hope to see it happen. Working with many students is great,” Perez said They hope to have the dinner on March 17. There is $4000 left to raise before the dinner is possible. “I been volunteering for two years and during that time I’ve met and socialized with the elderly and had a great time. Last year I met two people who are from Guer-rero and started dancing wit them so it was a lot of fun,” Perez said. They are glad everyone is very encouraging as well as with the help of the teachers, too. There next big event is Holly-wood Connection on February 25 at 5:00 pm. Come and support the Senior Citizen Banquet.

Senior dinner party

By Abby CartmellHUMOR, thrills, mystery, magic, a deadly red right hand, and a talking skeleton with a huge ego. Derek Landy delivers a fast paced novel series of epic proportions! Skulduggery Pleasant is a nine novel series that is sure to leave you begging on your hands and knees for more. No word has come out yet on the last two books, but some information is bound to show up sooner or later. Hopefully soon, because the fans are going crazy. The publisher, Harper Collins, also released the unabridged au-diobooks, read by Rupert Degas. A movie is being carefully talked about for 2013, as well, but the author is ‘too caught up…to even consider a movie right now.’ Skulduggery Pleasant is your average detective; stylish suits, a sweet ride, control over the ele-ments and has a twelve year old partner. Okay, maybe he’s not the average detective. Skulduggery Pleasant is a skeleton- no joke- and his partner is twelve-year-old Valkyrie Cain.

Together, the two battle paper men, evil dark Gods, zombies, vampires and nas-ty sorcerers. But they have back up…sometimes. Tanith Low, Valkyrie’s ghost of an uncle Gordon, Fletcher Renn, Ghastly Be-spoke, Mr. Bliss and China Sorrows have their backs. The last one is really sus-picious, however. No of-fense, China, but it’s weird that everyone seems to fall in love with you. Skulduggery and Valkyire have one mission; save the world from the tyranni-cal evil gods, the Face-less Ones. They must also defeat those who serve the Faceless Ones; Baron

Vengeous, Billy Ray Sanguine, the vampire Dusk and a group of rather incompetent zombies. Will Skulduggery and Valkyire win? Read the books and find out. “I thought it was hilarious!” said Brianna Clyde (12). “I love the characters, especially Skuldug-gery; he’s the best! If anybody hasn’t read these books, they’re missing out.” Sounds compelling, no? Well, if you’re not convinced yet, then you should know that Skuldug-gery’s car is a Bentley. Okay, sorry, Skulduggery! It’s a 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental, one of only 208 ever made, a car that houses a six-cylinder, 4.5-liter engine and is retrofitted with power locks, climate control, satellite naviga-tion and a bunch of other stuff. Of course, you would’ve been happy with just, “It’s a Bentley.” Skel-etons are apparently touchy when it comes to their cars. And for those who don’t know cars, that is a nice car! Keep reading Lancers!

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

Mr. Bengaly loves his cataract-free eyes.

By Viri AguileraONE OF our English teachers, Mr. Bengaly, has just had cataract surgery. A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye that worsens over time, and ultimately causes vision loss. Cataracts are very common and can take place in either one eye or both. It cannot spread from one eye to the other. In order for you to see clear-ly, light must pass through your lens into your retina. When you have cataracts the clouding of the lenses does not allow light to pass through to the retina.Your vision becomes blurred and this usually occurs to older people. The solu-tion to getting your cataracts re-moved is getting surgery. This can occur because a lens is made up mostly of water, and when we age some of the protein and water clump up together and start to cloud up a small area of the eye. Researchers also think that

diabetes and smoking can cause cataracts. Wearing sunglasses and hats can help protect eyes from ultraviolet sunlight, and may help delay cataracts. Mr. Bengaly didn’t really no-tice any change in his vision at first, but gradually over time it got worse. “I failed to understand any warning sign which was not good,” Mr. Bengaly said. One day he was in class grad-ing papers when suddenly he felt something in his right eye. “I thought it just might have been my glasses that were dirty, but it wasn’t,” Bengaly said. When he got home that night he was telling his wife about what had happened. As he was talking to her he could only make out the shape of her body and couldn’t really see any details on her face. When he told his wife that he couldn’t see her she got emotion-al and started crying. He thought that something was just in his eye and went to sleep thinking when

he woke up in the morning it would be gone. To his surprise when he woke up his vision was actually worse than the day before. He went to the doctor to see what was wrong with him, and they sent him up to the Moran Eye Center. While he was at the doctor’s of-fice, they put drops in his eye so it would dilate and allow them to see clearly what he had in his eye. It took 3 hours for his eye to dilate completely. When the doctors told him he had a cataract, they said they needed to do surgery on him so he could see clearly. As he went in for his surgery the nurses pre-pared him by numbing his eye so he couldn’t feel when they were cutting into his eye lens. They removed his cataract and put a new lens in his eye, which was around 20 minutes. When he woke up the doctors just kept him there for about 15 minutes to observe his eyes. Af-terwards they let him go home to recover. Bengaly was surprised with the results of the surgery. “My vision has improved 100%,” Bengaly said. He is very thankful for the doctors that did his surgery. “Having the surgery made me realize how important vision is to enjoy all the wonder-ful things in life,” Bengaly said. “Whenever I get a chance, I will donate to money to any founda-tion that is for vision, because vi-sion is an essential part of life that everyone should enjoy.”assistedlicingct.com

Mr. Bengaly’s Cataract Surgery

February 2012, page 3VOL. LIV Issue 5

Tri-Color Times Staff

Granger High 3690 South 3600 West West Valley, UT 84119 385 646-5320

The Tri-Color Times serves as a student forum for student opinion and student expression. The views expressed herein reflect neither the opin-ions of Adviser John Carlisle and Granger High School, nor those of Granite School District. The Tri-Color Times invites and publishes letters to its editorial board; all letters will be edited for taste, length and legality.

Journalists JournalistsViridiana AguileraSalvador Armenta

Briana BauerShanice Boyd

Maria CamarilloAbigail CartmellGloria CastanedaJessie CisnerosTristan CookRosy DonosoKaren Garcia

Alejandro GarzaMaria Gonzales

Cindy GoveaKevin Guzman

Selina HaroCurtis HughesAdis JasarevicAlan Lopez

Miranda LopezMonica Ortega

Leslie PlascenciaCalvin RankinJudith Rupay

Yasmin SalgadoRita Soto

Anayeli TorresBrenda ValdezErick VargasMaria Zuniga

EditorAida Uzierbegovic

Online EditorBrittany Edwards

Copy EditorAlejandro Garza

Photo EditorBrooke Rigby

Managing EditorTaylor BaileyLogo ArtistJose Olmedo

By Celeste Anguiano“OH NO! My house has been toilet-papered!” These are some words students might be using when their crazy friends pull a prank on them. Whether people do it for revenge, or just for sim-ple fun, these pranks can really create a huge effect in a student’s life. “When I was in junior high, I would leave the class and leave my books on my desk, and then when I would come back, they would be gone. I knew it was my friends, I’d tell them you guys are my friends, it’s annoying,” Trevor Higginson (12) said. Two words, “Not cool… although I’ve gone toilet-papering in my cous-in’s neighborhood,”

“I’ve only done one prank,” Margret Tonga (11) said. “It was so long ago, I forgot.” If she was to pull a prank, she’d “invite lots of students to help me trash a teacher’s classroom. Shh!” Students like Derik Dapp (10), have never really pranked any-one. “It will cause students to feel embarrassed, but if I were to do a prank, I’d probably turn off the power for a minute.” Others like Christopher Ca-hoon (12), have done too many to count. After all, most people find pranks very amusing. “I think light pranks can be fun, if you take them too far though, it could cause problems. My favor-ite was when I put shaving cream on someone while they slept.”

Pranked or prankerPranks students have done

“There was toilet-paper in my front yard one time, I cleaned it up, and the next morning it was there…again!” Hannah Binga-man (12) said. “I never found out who they were.” While some students think pranking each other is annoying, some might be having the time of their life doing it. “I made a kid cry once, but I was too busy laughing.” Sepa Langi (12) said. Cool or not cool, pranks can sometimes affect your relation-ships with not only family, but with some best buddies too. “I think they’re fun…unless someone was to do it to me!” said Langi. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt-either mentally or physically. If people tend to be short tem-pered, it’s most likely they would get not only mad, but really mad. “I’ve been pranked on, like really bad,” Rosio Chacon (10) said. “They egged my car,” Keleni Valele (10) said. “I felt mad, but at the same time it was pretty hi-larious.” It can be funny at times, but when it flares up, it can take control of any the situation. “I’m going to do the biggest prank for my senior year,” Langi said. “You guys will find out later on, but for now…it’s a secret.”Christopher Cahoon (12) being silly with the reporter.

The ins and outs of PTC’s

Hand holding is another way to show off a relationship.

Will you be CRUSHED or notWhat if Cupid doesn’t strike Granger High School?

By Karen GarciaREMEMBER Valentine’s Day in elementary school? You bought Valentine cards and candy for every person in your class, not just your crush or boy-friend/girlfriend. No kid was left out, all the kids were included even if you didn’t like them. And everyone received Valentines in elementary, it was all a big loving group. In high school, if you don’t have a s w e e t h e a r t , your Valen-tine’s Day is going to suck. In elemen-tary everyone was eagerly an t i c ipa t ing the Valentines party. They even decorated little mailboxes, and everyone would deliver little cards with candy. Kayla Steinman (10) remem-bers those boxes. “In elementary we always had a competition to see who made the cutest box,” Steinman said. “Gosh, when you were in elementary, you wouldn’t have to worry about anything be-cause you were for sure receiving something. Now you have to have a date or it’s going to be lame.” Maybe that’s why so many people hate this holiday now be-cause sometimes there is nothing to look forward to anymore. Liseth Arevalo (12) said that she misses the elementary Valen-tine’s Day because most people here treat this holiday just like any other day, and the only reason they do this is because they are all

grumpy because they didn’t re-ceive anything. “I miss those Valentine boxes we made in elementary because everyone received something and no one was left out. That’s why people liked it back then and ev-eryone hates it now because they don’t receive anything anymore,” Arevalo said.

Maybe if people still sent Valen-tine cards to everyone, they would get into the spirit because they at least have something to give. Savannah Anderson (11) said that her last Valentine was really bad because she didn’t receive anything from her boyfriend. Her boyfriend called her over to his house, “I had done my hair, I got so dolled up because I thought he would have cooked dinner for me or something but it was just an-other day for him, he didn’t even say happy Valentine’s day,” An-derson said. This year she believes it won’t be the same because her boyfriend treats her as if it’s Valentine’s Day every day but she is still excited. “Boys shouldn’t have to wait un-til Valentine’s Day to show girls

that they care about them,” said Anderson. Everyone does the same thing -- buys some big teddy bear, some chocolates, and balloons. They hope that their crush or sweet-heart likes it. And what happens when they don’t? Ian Nelson (10) says he hated his 8th grade Valentine’s Day

because he had saved up a lot of money to buy his crush a huge teddy bear, but then she didn’t accept his gift. Nelson then ended up giving the teddy bear to his friend so he would give it to his girlfriend. “I usually like Valentine’s Day,

thet’re always good for me but 8th grade wasn’t my year,” Nel-son said. So it might be easier to focus on your friends or family more this year so you don’t have to go on hating this holiday. Mr. Kamaal said he enjoys Valentine’s day be-cause he shows his appreciation of his loved ones. He says that he sends flowers to his mom on this day. “People shouldn’t feel bad if they weren’t able to get a valen-tine but they should just see how they can better themselves and if you did everything you could then you just have to be patient,” Mr. Kamaal said. You know your Valentine’s day is going to suck if you are single. You even get the urge to send yourself some ‘Secret Valentine’s

gift’ the school is selling so they deliver it to one of your classes and people will think that you re-ceived something from a ‘secret Valentine.’ Mary Valdez (11) didn’t have to do that because she enjoyed celebrating Valentine’s day with her dad. “I was so bummed out just sit-ting in my room on Valentine’s day until I decided to go to the store and get a teddy bear for my dad,” Valdez said. She decided to do that because she didn’t receive anything but then she decided to give, instead of receiving and she decided on giving it to the man she loves her dad. Sometimes even if your bal-loons or teddy bear are ugly and your chocolates are nasty, other kids see you and wish they could have at least received something. That’s why kids are going around saying they absolutely hate Val-entine’s day and that it’s the worst holiday ever. Erick Quinonez (12) said that he misses Valentine’s day be-cause he would get candy and cards from people he didn’t even like even though he would have to give them something back. “I hope this year is different, because now I have a date,” Qui-nonez said. In high school no one really sends those tiny cards anymore, but maybe it would be better to send lots of little cards instead of buying one expensive present for one person instead -- no one would left out. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Valentine’s day symbolizes love, and there can be more than one type of love there’s love you have for a crush, a friend, parents and siblings. Go buy some cards from the store and bring back the elemen-tary tradition of giving lots of cards and slip them into lockers -- it will make their day a lot better.

By Adis JasarevicPARENT-teacher conferences are right around the corner and students both seem nervous and confident about them. For most Granger students, the thought of even attending PTC’s is crazy, but the few that do attend are happy to hear good news their teachers have to give. “I am confident” MJ Singh (10) said. He has never missed a PTC and does not even try to hide it from his parents, either telling them himself, or his parents re-ceiving the dreadful phone call, he plans on attending parent-teacher conferences throughout the rest of his high school career. “Minorities affect the amount of people who go,” Singh said. Be-ing that he is from India, he says that he is expected to go and keep his grades up no matter what, do to his background. Other students try to do whatev-er they can to get their grades up last minute. “I just turn stuff in,” Lupe Perez (12) said. Students like these know they have to go to parent-teacher conferences, but sometimes their grades aren’t as high as the standards of their par-ents. Sometimes “sucking up” and asking for a little extra credit right before PTC’s might help you out with that one grade you don’t like, even though most teachers hate when students nag them about extra credit. Finally we have the students who don’t show up at all. They don’t inform their parents about parent-teacher conferences com-ing up, because they are either worried about their grades and they don’t want their parents to find out or they just really don’t care about PTC’s and school. “I don’t even go,” KC Williams (10) said. Just like most of Grang-er High School students Williams does not attend PTC’s. There is no single reason why most students aren’t showing up, everyone has their own reasons. Granger High School needs to do something to get more students to attend.

February 2012, page 4 VOL. LIV Issue 5

Booty calls can disconnect friendshipsBy Selina HaroHIGH SCHOOL is a time when teens feel a need to have some ex-citement in their lives. Relation-ships are not for everyone, and some people just aren’t ready for relationships. So they decide to have ‘friends with benefits.’ This is when you have all the physical benefits of a relationship, without the emotions and actually being in a relationship. Eddie Lopez (10) does not like having a girlfriend. “Keep your options open; don’t just go after one person,” Lopez said.

“You can’t say I love you if it’s not official, I love you has a big meaning and half the people who say it don’t really mean it, so why say something you don’t mean? I do my own thing I don’t rely on anyone. We’re young, let’s have fun!” Lopez said. What Lopez said is true. ‘I love you’ has a big meaning, and a lot of people do say it without even knowing what it really feels like. Some people say it just to make their partner feel good. Others really actually feel it, or at least think they do. You might

have a high school sweetheart, but you don’t really plan on get-ting married anytime soon. Jesus Felix (12) disagrees with Lopez. He thinks the compatibil-ity between two people and the amount of love they have for each other defines a relationship. “Sometimes that’s when ‘friends with benefits’ can kick in.” “I think if you want to mess around like that, you shouldn’t really do it with your friends. However if you have a friend you really like you should take them out on a date or something,” Felix

said. Everyone has his or her own opinion about being friends with benefits. Some people start off being friends with benefits and lead into a relationship, while most would rather not take it to the next step. Niki Winters (12) disagrees with both Felix and Lopez. She says this is not a good idea, be-cause someone ends up getting hurt. “You can’t control your heart, you will eventually grow feelings and it’s not supposed to be that

By Kevin GuzmanGRADUATION is one of the big-gest yet hardest accomplishments for teenagers this century. Getting a high school diploma can be the difference between living pay-check to paycheck. Many teens don’t really see the importance of graduating high school. The difference that one document can make for your life, simply by stating that you were able to complete the challenges of high school. Seniors in high school this year are going to be entering the true life adulthood. There are two paths after high school, the gradu-ate, and the non-graduate. “Yes, graduating is very impor-tant to get because you need to get a diploma to get a good job,” Jonathan Horteales (12) said. “Right now I’m kind of nervous because I don’t know if I’m going to graduate.” For most of us, we want our senior year to be the best year. It isn’t as easy as it sounds though. Most students slack of their soph-omore and junior year. Although not every student, there are actually some that stay on track since the beginning of high school. “I’m feeling pretty good about it because I’m on track for gradua-tion.” Ernesto Jimenez (11) said. “I’m going to continue my educa-tion and I’m going to the Univer-sity Of Utah.” A plan that many students lack. Most of us don’t see what a huge

deal graduating high school is. Many even brag about how much they don’t attend class, or turn in work. “I think it all depends on the per-son if they miss school, it would only mean they don’t care about their graduation or education and only want to slack off and get away with it,” Lorena Espinoza (10) said. The influence of friends is a re-ally big part of any teenagers’ life. It is most of the time the reason on how our decisions are made. Believe it or not, but friends are a big percentage of the decisions we make in life. At times, we let them control a little too much. “Because they would rather hang out with friends, some-times they don’t get the full sup-port they need from their family so they just don’t care, maybe they think that since their parents didn’t go to college or graduate they shouldn’t,“ Espinoza said. Could parents be a part of the reason why students tend to miss class, or not try and do well in school? Many teenagers find it hard to cope with life, school, parents, friends etc. We all have our problems that we each need to deal with to try and live through. Maybe just the thought that our life truly begins when we exit high school. Whether we graduate or not, this is where all the childish games end. There will be no more retakes, no more second chances. This is the gateway to adulthood.

The importance of high school

By Brenda ValdezWHEN senior students are eigh-teen, they think about college, parties, work, or post-graduation plans. The last thing they think of is politics. The year 2012 has come and it is time for the presidential election. The big question is if seniors will choose to vote or not. Most eighteen year olds have no knowledge of the candidates and do not really care to vote, or think that it matters. It is very important to be in-formed and get up and vote. If those who did not care actually voted, the polls would go sky-rocketing. There are about 44 million 18-29 year olds in the United States, according to Completecampaigns.com. That is approximately 3.6 mil-lion 18 year olds, which would be a huge boost in voting polls. Only half of those 44 million young adults actually vote, which could easily change the outcome of who actually becomes president. Since seniors will be eighteen and legal just in time for the elec-tion, it is more important for them to know about what is going on. There are some juniors who turn eighteen before November, so they will have the chance to vote too. If a senior were asked who Mitt Romney or Rick Perry was, they would have a blank face. It is not only the seniors who are not informed but also juniors and pretty much all teenagers. “Not really, no I don’t.” Carla Ramirez (12) said, when asked

if she knew who the candidates were. Pretty much the same reaction applied to most people. That does not mean that all se-niors are not informed. Those who are more informed are most likely the ones interested in politics. “Yes, I’m interested; the candi-dates are Ron Paul, John Hunts-man, and Barack Obama.” Tania Perez (12) said. “Also Mitt Rom-ney, Michelle Bachmann, and I think his name is Newt Ging-rich.” Even though many are not in-terested, they still agree that vot-ing is important and it should be taken seriously. “I think it is important to vote, everyone should choose who’s in charge.” Ramirez said. Perez’s opinion about voting was mutual. “Yes, it is definitely important to vote, it is our country’s leader,” Perez said. It would seem that seniors would not care who would end up as president. It is not entirely

true at all, but actually most of the people really do care. “Yeah I do, as long as it is some-one who is trustworthy and know what they are doing,” Paloma Davis (12) said. Ramirez some-what agreed to Davis’s statement. “In a way, yes, but in a way, no. I don’t care,” said Ramirez. Perez on the other hand was in total agreement. “Yes it is definitely,” Perez said. So the main question is will they be voting and who will they be voting for? “I want to but I should probably familiarize myself with the candidates,” Ramirez said. Davis was not exactly sure who she will be voting for but she will definitely be voting when the time comes. “I’ll vote for Huntsman if he ends up as the main opponent, GOP, if not then maybe Obama,” Perez said. Seniors are most likely voting in this year’s election, but the results will have to wait until November 6, 2012, Election Day.

Seniors questioning their voting statusWill seniors vote in 2012 election?

way because that’s why you’re friends with benefits,” Winters said. Although you might be attract-ed to each other, it doesn’t mean you see each other the same. As time goes by, you realize maybe they are not boyfriend/girlfriend material. The feelings you have towards each other should be mu-tual. What happens when they leave you for someone else. You can’t expect them to stay with you for-ever because they were never re-ally yours to begin with.

tricolortimes.com

Students debate the merits of various presidential candidats.