volume 85 issue 1

THRIVE � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �6-7New Assistant Principal � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 8Freshmen Elections � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 9New Counselor � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 10Nurse Hours Shortened � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 11Garcia Aqui � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 12New Bio Teacher � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 13Summer Sinkholes/Construction � � � � � � � � � � � 14Bon Boniere Speaks Out � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 14Wi-Fi � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 15Teacher Band � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 16Exchange Students � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 17National Merit Scholars � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 18Homecoming � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 19Feature Athletes � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �20-22Sports Schedules � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 23Senioritis � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 24Academic Awards � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 25Hazing � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 26Career and College � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 27Pretty Lights � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 28Silent Film � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 29Pump Up Music � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 30My Story: Steve Sheets � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 31

Box BriefsHomecoming Week - October 1-5End of Term 1 - October 5SAT - October 6 @ Eureka HighTHRIVE Day - October 15ArMack Silent Film - October 18-20

Lumina AdamsGeena Damian

Errol FunkSteve Sheets

The Pepperbox would like to thank Western Web, based in Samoa, for printing our paper at-cost� Western Web supports student journalism throughout Humboldt County and has made publications like the Pepperbox possible for decades� We appreciate their dedica-tion to keeping print media alive!

Editorial Staff

Want to advertise or buy a mail sub-scription to the Pepperbox? Email Business Manager Hawken Ritter at ahs�pepperbox@gmail�com�

Make sure to us on facebook at www�facebook�com/AHSPepper-box

In The Box

Reporters

Hawken Ritter - Business ManagerBen McCreath - Media Editor

Sam Freed - Media EditorGrace Lovell - Art DirectorTami Conrad - Photo Editor

Aiyana Allen-Caldwell - Chief Photographer

Gabe Schneider - Graphic DesignerShea Lignitz - Copy EditorDay Robins - Online Editor

Kaitlin TuckerSam Winter

Emily HoovenJamie Maher

Dayna NaishJulia Sloan

Jonathan Dedekan

AdvisorDanielle Lehman

Elaine Cunha - Editor-in-ChiefForrest Lewis - Editor-in-Chief

Molly Salamunovich - Managing EditorAnna Nordquist - News Editor

Gillen Martin - Junior News EditorPiper Bazard - Junior News Editor

Sage Fanucchi-Funes - Feature EditorLauren McCoy - Sports EditorCalvin Ryan - Opinion Editor

Dakota Goodman - A&E Editor

For this issue’s cover, Editor-in-Chief Forrest Lewis snapped pictures of each member of the Arcata High School Teacher Band (JuJu and the Plague), in front of a chroma key green screen. Media Editors Ben Mc-Creath and Sam Freed then made five individual cut-outs and superim-posed them onto a pho-toshopped picture of Abbey Road. For a more detailed profile of the legendary Teacher Band, see page 21.

From the Archives: 2012 Hall of Famers

Editors’ BoxThe Pepperbox is back! And quicker than

ever! Only five weeks into the school year, we have created a lengthy 32-page

newspaper (partly due to an overwhelming surplus of advertisements brought in by our new Business Manager, Hawken Ritter) in a redesigned layout. Thanks to Graphic Designer Gabe Schneider and graduated Art Director Colin Swenson, the Pepperbox now features new folios, new bylines, new pull quotes, new intro pages, and dozens of other excit-ing changes. So turn the page and explore our first issue and keep your eyes out for eight (yes eight!) more this year.

Editors-in-ChiefForrest Lewis & Elaine Cunha

Behind the Cover

‘81-’82 Wrestling Team:

Class of ‘62: Tom Thomson (left) Joe Sarboe (right)

Beneath and right: Originally published March 12, 1982

Beneath: Originally published May 12, 1961

Right: Originally published October 27, 1961

Grace Lovell/PEPPERBOX

Quotable�“Now I know a lot of unhappy wealthy people. I

know a lot of unhappy poor people. I know a lot of happy wealthy people, and I know a lot of happy

poor people. I know a lot of people.”

“I just hate admitting that I’m not a perfect human being.”

Advanced Placement Economics teacher Dave Filippini during a lecture on “Wealth does not bring about happiness�”

Junior Skyler Wrigley in response to a “get to know you” type ac-tivity done in AP English class in the first week of school

“Mrs. Zamboni, I’m con-fused� Is one an odd or an

even number?”Sophomore Jesse Bareilles asking a clarifying question during Tiger Pal training in the Multi Purpose Room�

538Number of THRIVE pretests administered by English teacher Sue Buscher during the first

week of school

23Number of days 16th

Street was closed for con-struction this fall, forc-ing traffic onto adjacent

streets

12 37Number of stu-dents in 5th pe-riod AP English 4, the smallest

core class avail-able this year at

AHS

Number of students in 6th period German

1, the largest core class avail-able this year at

AHS

Seniors Rachael Perry (left) and Grace Lovell (right) pro-mote composting at the North Country Fair on Saturday, September 15, on the Arcata Plaza.

Framable�

Parents gather on the quad before back-to-school night to purchase yearbooks, tiger cards, and other school mer-chandise.

Day Robins/PEPPERBOX

Forrest Lewis/PEPPERBOX

Aiyana Allen/PEPPERBOX

Students gather around Ken Klima as he performs a card trick and rouses support for his newly formed Magic Club on campus.

THRIVE: Towards Higher Results through Incen-tives for Value-added Education – or so it was

written. Like so many other acro-nyms of its kind, the real, demys-tified meaning of THRIVE is lost amid an awkward combination of words. Today, THRIVE is known as “Together Honoring Rigorous Instruction for Valued Education,” although that may change before the grant ends in June of 2015.

On paper, THRIVE is a $4.65 mil-lion grant awarded to the Northern Humboldt Union High School Dis-trict (NHUHSD) with the purpose of increasing “teacher/principal effectiveness and student achieve-ment through a differentiated com-pensation system,” according to the Center for Educator Compensa-tion Reform (CECR). The money comes from a “Teacher Incentive Fund” (TIF), which strives to create a system where teachers and admin-istrators are rewarded for success-fully performing their jobs. Simply put, teachers receive more money if their students’ test scores increase.

In reality, the exact purpose of the grant remains unclear to stu-dents, teachers, and administra-tors alike. A noticeable division

between the identified purpose of THRIVE as the grant was written and how NHUHSD is using it seems to be surfacing on campus.

“This is a federal grant and they’ve been pushing these incentives for years. We took advantage of it,” said Cindy Condit, AHS science teacher and THRIVE Leadership Team member. The money cur-rently keeps six and a half teaching positions in the district. But beyond jobs, it is questionable whether teachers’ effectiveness will improve by offering incentives based on test scores. Will teachers really teach better when offered more money?

“We all know [performance-based compensation] doesn’t work,” Condit said. “Research shows it doesn’t work.”

“I think going into it we recog-nized that that’s how the grant got funded, but I don’t think anybody’s using that as motivation,” THRIVE coordinator Bob Wallace said.

So what’s the reality of a program with stated goals that differ from its actual goals?

StudentsFor starters, the majority of

students don’t know much about THRIVE beyond taking multiple-choice tests and days off. For most freshmen, their first high school experience was taking several tests full of questions they didn’t know the answers to.

“I thought it was a waste of time because for the pre-assessments we

didn’t know anything – that’s why we’re enrolled in the class,” fresh-man Delaney Goodman said.

Moreover, confusion surrounds who is supposed to benefit and who really benefits. “I don’t think it’s really for the students as much as it is for the teachers,” junior Alex Yeoman said.

And yet: “The students are sup-posed to be the priority,” fresh-men Tech Essentials teacher Kelly Helms stated.

“The idea is that it’s the stu-dents who benefit,” Condit agreed. “As we get better at this and we start reaping the benefits, the stu-dents will.” But is five years really enough time for the THRIVE pro-cess to be mastered and the benefits to trickle down to the students?

In general, the students don’t seem to understand the goals or the overarching purpose of THRIVE and most can’t see a difference in the classroom. So far, senior Kiran Suryadevara, who was a sophomore when the district first received the grant, hasn’t “seen the effects much other than receiving more THRIVE assessments in class.”

Sophomore Sonia Copple added, “In terms of learning, it doesn’t do anything.”

Teachers and ClassroomsTHRIVE attempts to “increase

student achievement” by recog-nizing and rewarding “successful” teachers. It identifies these teachers by using statistics to show student improvement: one part STAR test scores, one part observation, and one part pre- and post-test scores. The local tests are supposed to mea-sure exactly how much a student has learned from the beginning of the year to the end. In order to com-pare the results, the system treats all subjects, teachers, and students the same.

For instance, THRIVE asks teachers to create pre-tests based on the standards of their subject. But the standards of a math class, whose curriculum is cumulative and changes throughout the year, are clearly different from electives like the Media Arts Workshop, where they spend most of the year designing the school yearbook.

Furthermore, THRIVE gives teachers of knowledge-based sub-jects a clear advantage over teach-ers of skills-based subjects in show-ing improvement. An English student, who is tested on skills they have acquired from several years of instruction, might already know half the answers on a pre-test, but the chances that the same student knows any answers to a German pre-test are pretty slim. On paper, the foreign language teacher looks like they have taught the student “more” based on these tests, but in reality, the difference in scores is re-ally the difference in subjects.

“It’s really an unfair system to be-gin with,” AP Statistics teacher Kay Wozniak said. “There’s literally no way to actually make this equitable. There are too many variables.”

Like all standardized tests, cheat-ing and apathy from both teachers and students get in the way of true results.

“[Teachers] always give us the pre-tests and encourage us to do re-

NEWS6 | September 28, 2012 Pepperbox

THRIVEThree years into the federally funded grant: Is it working?

Anna NordquistNews Editor

Elaine CunhaEditor-in-Chief

&I think going into it we

recognized that that’s how the grant got funded, but I don’t think anybody’s us-

ing that as motivation.-THRIVE coordinator Bob Wallace

ally badly on them,” Copple said.“Some people just randomly

bubble [the answer sheets] in,” freshman Canyon Robins stated. He continued, “I don’t like not get-ting the tests back. It makes you feel like it’s not important.”

Mixed Early ResultsWhile some STAR test scores in-

creased, Arcata High’s overall API score dropped.

Some blame the drop on the sev-en “staff development days” last year and five that are scheduled this year where students don’t attend school and essentially lose a week or more of instruction.

Others attribute this to a loss of teacher prep time.

“I have to spend my time entering in data versus building my curricu-lum to build student achievement,” Helms said.

And others, like AHS English teacher and THRIVE mentor JoAnn Moore, feel the benefits of THRIVE are limited for teachers who aren’t “actively [engaging] in the pro-cess.” Some teachers are having difficulty embracing THRIVE and the data collection process.

“It’s a process we’re working through,” AHS Principal Dave Na-varre stated, and improvements are being made. Teachers received ScanCams this year that save time grading tests and entering data into computers. The introduction of plastic cover sheets and erasable markers saves paper so students can reuse the same answer document every time they take a test. Also new this year: the Collegial Obser-vation aspect of THRIVE, which allows teachers to observe the ef-fective teaching methods of their colleagues, was opened up to all teachers and not just the THRIVE mentors.

Some hope exists for THRIVE.

Some teachers find the testing and data collection useful in the class-room: “I have more information about my students much earlier than I ever have,” Moore said. “That helps me to be able to think about what kind of goal I want to have for a specific student, when I’m think-ing about how I want their learning to improve.”

“I looked at my assessments, I go ‘I didn’t teach these things’ and I came back and revisited them,” Condit said. Condit attributes the three percent improvement on her students’ STAR test scores from last year’s biology class to information gathered from THRIVE’s required formative assessments.

Others see the system as fatally flawed. Six Rivers science teacher Shannon Morago recently dropped out of the incentive part of THRIVE because she philosophically oppos-es “using standardized student test scores to evaluate teachers.” De-spite opting not to receive an incen-tive bonus, Morago is still required to participate in the data collection aspect of the grant.

“If they’re trying to increase student achievement, I don’t think it’s done through testing,” Morago said. “I think that student achieve-ment is improved through focusing on learning and improving learning, not on improving testing.”

AHS English teacher Susan Buscher added, “There’s this sense of THRIVE turning a human being into a number; turning them into data. Teaching, for me, is not data.”

For Arcata High, the jury’s still out.

So, Arcata High, are we better off now than we were three years ago? We’re interested in what you have to say. Write a letter to the editor and email it to [email protected].

Supporting ArcataCommunityYouth for over 20 years.

Sterling Silver Jewelry

933 I Street Arcata, CA 95521

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NEWSSeptember 28, 2012 | 7Pepperbox

AHS welcomes new assistant principal: Jim MongeLauren McCoy

Sports Editor

If you find yourself in the main office of Arcata High, awaiting a meeting with Jim Monge, the Assistant Princi-

pal, fret not upon discovering his door is labeled Assistant Principal Roger Macdonald. You are in the right place, a safe place, in the of-fice of Jim Monge. Tapping on the door and peeking my head in I thought to myself, “He looks pretty busy, maybe I should come back another time.” So after explaining my intent to interview him, I asked if another time would be better. In-stead of being turned right out the door with an appointment for next week for 15 minutes as I expect-ed, Monge graciously suggested, “Does right now work for you? I’m a pretty good multi-tasker.”

How good of a multi tasker he really is I didn't find out, because throughout the brief conversation I had with him, he gave me his full attention. I could tell he was really listening to what I was asking and wanted to help me in any way he could.

The manner in which Monge came to be the Assistant Princi-pal is an interesting one in itself. Last spring, Arcata High began the search for a new second in com-mand. “There were a lot of really great candidates that came out for the position, and originally we had decided on Roger Macdonald,” Principal Dave Navarre comment-ed. As of last summer, however, the position of Principal at Mckin-leyville High opened up and Mac-donald found himself there. And we found ourselves in need of a As-sistant Principal yet again.

Reviewing the interviews from just before summer, Monge stood out as a strong possibility, and with the months allotted for students to frolic along the riverbanks coming to an end, AHS was in need of a VP. “In the first round of deci-sions Monge had been a standout candidate, and it was no surprise that we came back to him for the position again,” Navarre stated. “Mr. Monge is very qualified for the position; I’m very happy with our decision on the matter and glad to see everything working out and such a good guy in there by my side,” boomed Navarre with a grin on his face. Despite the short notice (Monge only had been on campus two days before introduc-ing himself to some 200 freshmen and their parents at freshmen ori-entation) he jumped at the oppor-tunity to come aboard as a Tiger himself.

Jim Monge began his career in education as a teacher of business at McKinleyville High about 18 years ago. From the doorstep of our rival, he entered into the halls of our idol, Humboldt State Uni-versity, as a teacher of computers and education, for more than eight years. Then, from up in the red-wood forest, Monge made his way to the pasture filled-bottoms as

principal of St. Mary’s Elementa-ry School, the alma mater of some students here at Arcata High. As-sistant Principal Monge thinks that the biggest difference between St. Mary’s and AHS are “The ages, the size of the school, and the size of the students.” Here at Arcata High, Monge’s duties are mainly relating to student behavior, dis-cipline, testing, special education, and anything else that comes his way.

What Monge hopes to accom-plish here at Arcata High is to

Jim Monge gestures to the innacurate labeling of his office. It is un-kown if the administration is in the process of ordering a new sign.

Tami Conrad/PEPPERBOX

“That’s important for me, for students to know I will listen to what they have to say,”

-Arcata High Assistant Principal

communicate with students and work with them through their high school years. Those two tasks have one major similarity. What is nec-essary to make them both happen is listening, which is something I have personally found him to be very apt at. “I’m here working with the stu-dents, and I want to hear their side of their stories. That’s important to me, for students to know that I will listen to what they have to say and see what we can do about their situations together,” commented Monge.


Aiyana Allen-Caldwell/PEPPERBOX


An “awesome” start for freshmenGrace Lovell

Art Director

“We’re an awe-some class!” sang fresh-man class

secretary Lizzy Fernandes, “I want to make this an awesome year… with three more awesome years!”

And they are off to an awesome start so far: Arcata Student Body Advisor Wendy Zamboni is ex-tremely impressed. With eleven candidates who ran for office this year — far more than ever seen in a freshman class election — and nearly all of the freshmen voting — 200 of 235 freshmen — the class of 2016 is breaking records left and right. Not to mention the tie for freshmen president: an event that has never occurred at Arcata High School before. The newly elected co-presidents, Neel Rao and Tristan Pigg, are perfectly content with sharing the title. “I wanted to be the highest ranking,” joked Rao “but it

will be nice to not be the only boy on student council.”

With Pigg and Rao as presidents, Daisy Nutter as vice president, Fer-nandes as secretary, and Delaney Goodman as treasurer, the fresh-man class of 2016 is a force to be reckoned with. Goodman has as-pirations to build an “awesome” homecoming float, Rao wants to make the dances more fun, Nutter hopes to make Arcata High greener, and Fernandes and Pigg are going to make this “the best year ever.”

All five officers are proud of their fellow candidates. “Everyone who ran did an awesome job,” Fer-nandes said with a grin. The number of freshmen who voted impressed all of the officers as well. The new officers aim to keep the fresh-men class very busy and involved throughout the 2012-2013 school year. “It’s going to be good,” Pigg said. “We all have good ideas.” And only five weeks into school, the student body looks forward to seeing the ideas put to work.

I want to make this an awesome year...with three more awesome years!

- Lizzy Fernandes

Aiyana Allen-Caldwell/PEPPERBOXFreshmen class officers from left to right: Neel Rao, Tristan Pigg, Daisy Nut-ter, Delaney Goodman, and Lizzy Fernandes strike an “awesome” pose.

Counselor Harmon returns to AHSGeena Damian

Reporter

Sunny pictures of the South Pacific, tropical beaches, and beautiful waves next to flags from west-coast

colleges and a bright smile is what awaits any student who goes to vis-it the new counselor.

After a four-year break from the Arcata High campus, Casey Har-mon has decided to come back to be our A-G counselor. While the loss of Harmon as a counselor will not be celebrated at McKinleyville, where she has worked for the past four years, she will nonetheless be warmly welcomed here, where she can provide our student body with the skills and services we have long been waiting for.

Harmon, originally from San Clemente, moved up to Humboldt

for college and met her husband while double majoring in anthropol-ogy and botany. Soon after this, she

realized her true passion in helping teens and kids. Although she taught

Casey Harmon, the new counselor, always greets her students with a smile.

Tami ConradPEPPERBOX

seventh and eighth grade for some time, along with adult education, Harmon knew that she wanted a more personal experience with kids. This desire led us to having a great new counselor. Getting per-sonal experience with kids has been no problem for her lately though - as of six months ago, Harmon has been a proud mother of two: Ellie, her smiley new baby, and Greyson, her two-and-a-half year old “wild-man.”

Harmon is an enthusiastic and encouraging person, which shows strongly in her role as a counselor and makes students feel welcome and prepared as they come and go from her office.

“She always tried to meet the students’ wants and still have them take the necessary classes to gradu-ate. But the best thing about her is she was always happy and she was great to be around,” said Coleton

“Mrs. Harmon is very influential and as a student of hers, I feel like I will suc-ceed greatly in high school, and move on to bigger and better

things.”-Kasey Cather

Golden-Tudor, a senior at McKin-leyville High. Even at Arcata High, where she has been for such a short amount of time, she is still mak-ing an impression. “Mrs. Harmon is very influential and as a student of hers, I feel like I will succeed greatly in high school, and move on to bigger and better things,” senior Kasey Cather stated confidently.

While leaving any long-term po-sition can be hard, the transition for Harmon has been virtually flawless. She has had no difficulties to com-plain about and only nice things to say about our faculty. She has also been enjoying the change in scenery, saying in her “politically correct” answer, “the cultures are different, different towns and com-munities too,” - knowing the old-as-time rivalry between Arcata and McKinleyville would be revved up if she said how much more she re-ally loves Arcata.



Nurse Watson’s hours shortenedAiyana Allen

Chief Photographer

a “credentialed school nurse work-ing at Arcata High.”

She expressed the importance of school nurses and how their jobs are being cut all over the United States due to budget constraints.

Nurse Watson firmly believes that the entire school benefits from the support of a full-time nurse. However, she enjoys her extra free time and remains en-thusatic. “I’m going to encour-age kids to take responsibility in their own health this year, eat good food, get enough sleep, stay strong, and stay healthy,” Watson said.

“I’m going to encour-age kids to take re-sponsibility in their own good health this year, eat good food, get enough sleep, stay strong, and stay-healthy.”

-Arcata High School NurseNorma Watson


With shortened nurse hours, students will be turned away by locked doors when try-ing to visit the nurse’s office.

Nurse Norma Watson’s hours have been short-ened this school year. Due to the lack of fund-

ing, Watson will arrive every morn-ing at 10 a.m. and will no longer be on campus on Fridays. According to Principal Dave Navarre, the school district grant that funded her hours unfortunately lapsed and the dis-trict could no longer afford to pay for a full time nurse on each site. At both the Arcata High School and McKinleyville High School nurses’ hours have been shortened to half-time.

Dave Navarre said, “[Nurse Wat-son] will be very missed.” The staff and many students who need her help for various medical conditions are concerned. However, when the nurse is gone, resources such as Band-Aids, cough drops, and per-sonal items will still be available to students in the office.

“Nurse hours being shortened makes it busier [in the office], and students have to decide themselves if they feel better to go back to class or call their parents,” secretary Mi-chelle Camilli said. If a student has an emergency or is feeling sick, the administration is available to assist the students and the secretaries can phone parents.

Nurse Watson noted that, “school nurses enhance student attendance.” When she isn’t here there won’t be anyone to take students’ tempera-tures, and she has estimated that approximately 900 or more students

visit the nurse’s office and these stu-dents will no longer be taken care of. Students who have unhealthy lifestyles or often find themselves sick will have less attention to their medical needs. Last year, Nurse Watson had about 2,425 visits from students of all grades. Her shortened hours make her very busy when she is working. She hopes to create a sign-up sheet, so students can sign up and are able to check in with her.

Nurse Watson is a credentialed school nurse and has worked at Ar-cata High for 26 years. When she re-tires she wants to make sure there is

Tami ConradPhoto Editor

Oftentimes teachers have great opportunities to expand their horizons. For example, last year,

Arcata High Spanish teacher Jenni-fer Garcia spent a year in a teaching program in Spain at a school in the town Alcala de Henares. The town is the birthplace of one of Spain’s most important authors, Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote El Ingenioso Hidalgo de Don Quijote de la Man-cha. Garcia lived on the street where Cervantes was supposedly born.

Up to this day, this town is known to be a literary and academ-ic center. The University of Alcala was founded in 1499, and it attracts students from all over the country and all around the world. Alcala de Henares was the place Columbus met Ferdinand and Isabel to request funding to find the New World.

Some of the aspects Garcia says she will miss most about Spain are the food, the teachers she met, the people she worked with, and the architecture. “I was in constant amazement walking down my street that these buildings are so old!” Garcia exclaimed.

“People were not better or worse; just different,” Garcia said. The community in the United States is more involved with extracurricular

Garcia aqui: back from Spainactivities such as sports, art, and music, as well as being involved with school. At the same time, Spain was less stressful because teachers “didn’t have to take work home after school hours, and there was always something to do,” she explained. “People in Spain are re-ally nice and the culture is amazing. It was a great opportunity to learn about Spain, but I'm happy to be back.”

Students are also happy that she is back.

“She has a great personality and her classes are super fun,” Julia Sloan, a sophomore in Spanish 2, said.

Her students appreciate the cre-ativity that she brings to the class-room.

“Garcia had a very unique teach-ing style,” said Casey Aveggio, a ju-nior who had Garcia two years ago.

“We missed her. She is so ener-getic and a great teacher,” Spanish

instructor Kelly Fernandez said.This year, Garcia is teaching all

of the Spanish 2 classes at AHS and one Spanish 1 class. She is also teaching for the panthers at McKin-leyville High during first period. “I like my students a lot this year, I feel like I don’t have to sell ‘Why take Spanish?’” Garcia said. “It was great to meet the parents, there was a good turnout at back to school night.”

“We missed her. She is so en-ergetic and a great teacher.”

-Arcata High Spanish teacherKelly Fernandes

Tami Conrad/PEPPERBOXGarcia brings her experiences in Spain into her everyday classroom instruction.



New bio teacher: Jason Simms Gillen Martin

Junior News Editor

Whenever any Ar-cata High School student thinks of biology, they prob-

ably think of Mrs. Condit. She has taught Biology 1 CP for 26 years at Arcata High, but this year she is sharing her classroom with another teacher. His name: Jason Simms. His job: teaching the 5th period Bio class this year.

Fellow teachers and faculty are equally impressed by Mr. Simms. Principal Navarre said, “I like that guy; he has good energy.” So far, Condit has really enjoyed working with him. His students seem to like him too. One of his students, fresh-man Ellen Keil, says “I like him; he’s cool. He’s easy to talk to. It’s one of my favorite classes.”

When Arcata High started look-ing for a new biology teacher, Na-varre says, “We interviewed three people, all good candidates, and he was our number one pick.” A lot of why Mr. Simms seemed like such an obvious choice for Arcata High’s newest teaching position was, as Navarre said, “You can tell he just really likes to be here.”

It comes as no surprise that Na-varre picked up on Simms’s happi-ness in teaching, because not only does Simms teach high school to pay the bills, but he is passionate about what he does. When asked why he picked teaching biology out of all professions, he said, “…Biol-ogy seemed to be a way to stay in-volved in the subject I studied while making a difference in the world, teaching kids about sustainability and our environment, which I am passionate about,” Simms said.

Not only does he like teaching, Simms has also proved in the eyes of his students that he is an excellent teacher. Most students so far like his class for his wit. As one of his students, sophomore Jordan Pretto, said, “He is very funny.”

Most students find Simms’s fel-low bio teacher Cindy Condit to be funny, and many students are won-dering if Simms will be able to ri-val her exceptional humor. Simms said, “She is quite the comedian, but

we have different senses of humor. People might laugh at me more, and with Condit more.”

Although he enjoys Arcata High, Simms does have jobs in several other places. In his time outside of biology, he teaches independent study, substitutes at Pacific Union, and coordinates Pacific Union’s school garden.

Simms has already made an im-pression on past students, sopho-more Indigo Davis said, “I think he’s an amazing person with a won-derful heart.”

Students in Simms’s class have a lot to look forward to this year. Simms says, “I am looking forward to building an awesome and fun yet serious and rigorous class.”

“Biology seemed to be a way to stay involved in the subject I studied while making a differ-ence in the world...”

-Arcata High Biology TeacherJason Simms


New biology teacher Jason Simms getting up close and personal with his first new friend at Arcata High.

News flash! Arcata High School has finally en-tered the 21st century. As summer rolls into

autumn, students are returning to school to notice new modern con-veniences like phones and paved streets.

First, students noticed – as they navigated the maze of detours on their way to school – that 16th street is in the process of being re-surfaced. Amid the chaos of heavy machinery and the noise of work-ers trying to keep people from walking through the construction site, a new, smooth street is slowly starting to take shape.

Students will also notice some of the new technology, such as new phones, clocks, and projectors that were installed in the classrooms over the summer, along with var-

Piper BazardJunior News Editor

Gillen Martin/PEPPERBOXA student bravely ventures into the deep recesses of the sinkhole.

ied reactions from teachers. “There are some major issues that need to be worked out,” science teacher Cindy Condit said in reaction to the new phone systems. She is, how-ever, hopeful about problems be-ing fixed, “Maybe I will like them eventually…they are very high tech.”

Along with construction projects started over the summer, some oth-er projects took place as well. Ge-ologists had reason to suspect that a fault line was running underneath the school, which would cause some issues with the upcoming multi-purpose room renovation. To find out for sure, a $70,000 fault trench was dug in the grass next to the multi-purpose room, and it was confirmed that there was, in fact, no fault line.

But other problems arose. When the fault trench was filled in, the settling dirt created a sinkhole – a patch of dirt that is slowly sink-

ing into the ground and gaining in size. But does this pose a threat to student safety? “It’s not too severe,” Principal Navarre said, “more of a problem for our mowers than any-thing else.” Maintenance crews will be returning to campus to fill in the sinkhole, and afterwards, it won’t be

a problem. So, as you start a new year, take

advantage of the new technology, enjoy driving on the newly paved street, admire the clocks that tell accurate time, and – at least for the time being – try to stay out of the sinkholes.

Speaks OutAHSabout the closing of Bon Boniere

I’m fine with it cuz at least they still have the elevator.

- senior Steve Sheets

Literally, tears were streaming down my face.

- junior Jade Cervantes

Most depressing mo-ment of my life. I’ll re-member it ‘till I die.

- senior Casey DeHaven

Who cares, we got Arcata Scoop

- junior Kylen Maple

Hella sucks

- sophomore Matthew Mayer

Construction, sinkholes, and phones, oh my!NEWS

14 | September 28, 2012 Pepperbox


New campus-wide at AHSBen McCreath

Media Editor

Sam FreedMedia Editor

New this year, Arcata High has a school-wide Wi-Fi network for students and staff

to use. After a last bit of tweaking, Wi-Fi became available last week and is currently in a working state. The district is now testing the sys-tem before making any more ma-jor changes. The technology team seems optimistic about the future of the system.

The district installed the new wireless Internet infrastructure at McKinleyville and Arcata High schools during the first few weeks of August. One of the school’s com-puter specialists, Keith Mack, noted that the purpose was to provide full campus broadband access that would be a “high-quality, industry standard,” instead of the old spot coverage. The project consisted of installing many small Wi-Fi sta-tions in rooms all over campus, giv-ing a wide area of coverage with a high capacity. The additional Wi-Fi routers are high-powered, indus-trial models from the company Ru-kus, guaranteeing that the system will be fast and reliable. Additional

hotspots have also been installed, larger than the ones in rooms and should provide Internet to your portable devices no matter where they are, be it the gym, the cafeteria, or even the parking lot! The system is dynamic and can be reconfig-ured at a moment’s notice to make the system work better for the us-ers. “There are areas that are under-served... [but] we can adjust cover-age accordingly,” Mack said.

Users can log in to the network in two ways: from a school computer, most notably from one of the new laptop labs purchased with Measure Q funds, or from a personal de-vice. If attempting to access from a school’s computer, the login will be similar to how one would login on the school desktop computers, like the ones in the library. If using a personal device, users will be redi-rected to log in under their school account. However, the school’s In-ternet filters still apply to Wi-Fi, so pornography affiliated websites and many others will still be banned.

Make sure to take into consid-erations the wise tech tip of Keith: “[people] expect things to be perfect [with technology], it’s not going to happen.” So, if it doesn’t work right away, be patient and either try to figure it out or ask someone knowl-edgeable about computers. The sys-tem is still in a sort of beta testing and is getting all of its kinks worked

&

“[people] expect things to be perfect [with technology]; it’s not going to happen.”

-Computer TechnicianKeith Mack

out. Fortunately, the system seems close to being functional. Wi-Fi is a much anticipated addition to the AHS campus with the potential to improve the experiences of students as well as teachers.

It is expected that for the next few years, the school will have mostly reliable wireless network access, but it is the school we are talking about here. How reliable can it really be?

Sam Freed & Ben McCreath/PEPPERBOX

“I tried to eat last period but I ended up just grading papers,”Six Rivers English Teacher

Mark Hearst says as he shovels spa-ghetti into his mouth with a plastic fork from a clear Tupperware con-tainer. The other band members laugh in a sort of sympathetic “I feel ya” way as they shift desks around the crowded music room, attempting to create a big enough open space. But the laugh quick-ly fades away as they realize that they only have forty brief minutes to complete what they are there to do. “We should play Funkytown,” Hearst chimes in. “It has a cool baseline.” The idea gets shot down quickly: “Doesn’t it only have a few words in it?” says Julie Angles as she taps the microphone lightly to test its sound level.

It is lunchtime on Tuesday, September 25, and the legendary Teacher Band, better known by the stage name JuJu and the Plague, is assembling for the first time since Spring Week to begin practicing for their upcoming performance at lunch on Thursday of Homecoming Week. Six Rivers English teacher Mark Hearst bends over and pulls a long base guitar out of a black case that appears almost to be as tall as him - which is saying something considering Hearst’s six foot plus frame. He majestically slings it over his shoulder and walks toward Principal Dave Navarre and science teacher Earl Peters who are making small talk while tuning their dusty guitars that appear to have been sitting in their cases since April. Meanwhile, Josh Kieselhorst takes

COVER from the JuJu and the Plague

Forrest LewisEditor-in-Chief

a break from prepping for this 5th period class and pulls a set of drum sticks out of his desk drawer.

The band argues for a moment on what songs they should per-form during Homecoming Week. “We definitely need to do a Beatles song,” Angles comments. They settle on Twist and Shout. Angles takes out a lyrics sheet and hands the guitar chords to Peters who takes only a quick glance before setting them down on a nearby ta-ble.

“A one, a two, a one, two three” Navarre sings out and Keiselhorst begins laying down a beat on the ten piece drum set. The three guitarists take in the melody for a second and then begin strumming. Angles in-stantly starts belting out the lyrics and moments later the group begins to sound like a professional band. Three minutes later, the song is over, and the band receives a stand-ing ovation from the two bystand-ers who happened to be walking by and stopped to watch. “I think that went great” Navarre laughs.

Before there were five, there were two. Lead singer Julie Angles and guitarist Earl Peters used

to kick it back in the 90s and jam out some beats in the basement. When Mr. Navarre began his ten-ure at Arcata High last fall, he had only heard the legends of the magic created by Angles and Peters. In early October, he heard about the air band competition to be held on the Tuesday of Homecoming Week at lunch and began to formulate his ideal crew. He approached Angles and Peters and proposed the idea of forming an air band. Unfortunately, his instructions were not clear as he intended. When the band (with newly added members Josh Keisel-horst and Mark Hearst) met for the first time later that week, Navarre showed up with a different agenda. “I think he was quite shocked when we got to the music room,” recalled Angles, “I don’t think he thought he was going to be actually playing it [the guitar] - and then he saw Pe-ters plugging stuff in and me grab-

bing a mic. We don’t do lipsync, Mr. Navarre.”’

Two weeks later the band stood, waiting to take the stage in front of an eager audience of nearly 100 students. MC Ken Klima quickly approached the band: “What’s your name” he asked.

“JuJu,” Angles responded, refer-encing her long lasting nickname, “JuJu and the…”

An awkward paused lasted only a brief moment before Hearst, look-ing at Peter’s Black Death Europe-an Tour shirt, blasted “Plague! JuJu and the Plague!” The name stuck.

Now, a full year later, the band, especially lead singer Julie Angles who was recently selected as the 2012 Homecoming Grand Mar-shall, has further increased in popu-larity. Still, Angles cannot help but be nervous for the upcoming per-formance. Luckily, Peters is confi-dent that there is no need to worry: “And of course there’s Angles; nervous, nervous, nervous, and she goes up there and blows everybody away.”

From left to right: Earl Peters, Julie Angles, Josh Keiselhorst, Mark Hearst, and Dave Navarre, all mem-bers of the Teacher Band, aka JuJu and the Plague, get a quick jam session in during lunch break.


“We don’t do lip sync, Mr. Navarre.”-Julie Angles

Grace LovellArt Director

Mickzo Ngowroongrueng- Thailand

“I like the food, but I’m getting too fat.”

Nur Fahlevi Kriswiandika - Indonesia

“I want to make friends with everyone.”

Scott Lengel- Germany

“This is my first mohawk.”

Vanessa Ziegart- Germany

“The people. They are really nice here.”

Phillip Palsson - Iceland“I’m just saying, Iceland has only 300,000 people and we’ve won

Miss America three times.”

Manon - France“French fries and French toast are

not French. It’s a shame for my country.”

Josephine Brunsgaard - Denmark“I got on the cheerleader

squad!”

Luca Vass - Hungary“Nobody knows anything about

Hungary…”

Alba Sanchez - Spain“We’re excited to have a good

experience. We want to have fun here!”

Aviaja Rasmussen - Denmark“[Arcata] is a hippie city. But in a good

way!”

Claudia Spinelli - Italy“I packed my luggage with all bi-kinis and shorts. I had to redo it.”

Fa Sillapajarn - Thailand“All day it’s like hot and cold and hot and cold and hot and

cold.”

New faces around AHSM eet the foreigners. That girl with the funny accent who sits in the back of your history class. That boy with unusual clothes

you pass everyday on the way to third period. You've seen them everywhere around campus and they've come from everywhere around the world. They're at AHS to learn about our culture, and we have so much to learn from them. They are funny, they are nice, they have lots to say, and all they want to be is your friend. Now, here's your invitation to meet the exchange students.

Two AHS students named National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists

Seniors Shea Lignitz and Ki-ran Suryadevara have been selected as semi-finalists in the National Merit Scholar-

ship competition. Both qualified by taking the PSAT and scoring in the top one percent of the participat-ing 1.5 million seniors that took the PSAT last year. Suryadevara and Lignitz will be competing against 8,300 students for 32 million dol-lars in scholarship money for col-lege.

The students now have to get a letter of recommendation from their counselors, fill out an online ap-plication and write an essay. This spring, they will find out whether or not they are finalists.

“It was a shock... I felt honored,” Lignitz said. She continued to talk about how rewarding it was and how her work ethic has paid off. Lignitz felt a bit embarrassed with all of the attention and described the honor is “a little overwhelming.”

Suryadevara also felt very hon-ored. “I didn’t expect to be [a semi-finalist],” she said. Suryadevara cannot wait and is really excited for the whole process. But what she is most excited about is the honor they are bringing to the school. “I’m proud we get to represent Arcata High,” Suryadevara concluded.

Both Lignitz and Suryadevara have had schedules full of AP and Honor courses in their high school careers, but it has not been just book work for the students; they also like to have fun! Lignitz is a member of

Emily HoovenReporter

Sage Fanucchi-Funes/PEPPERBOXNational merit scholarship semi-finalists, Shea Lignitz and Kiran Suryadevara, pose together. AAI and Suryadevara is a member of the ArMack Orchestra and track

and cross-country teams. Their hard work and dedication has paid off.

FEATURE18 | September 28, 2012 Pepperbox

FEATURESeptember 28, 2012 | 19Pepperbox

The true meaning of homecomingDakota Goodman

A&E Editor

Homecoming in high school is a meaningless football game, a pathet-ic excuse that freshmen

and sophomores use to try to sub-stitute prom - at least, according to Urban Dictionary. More commonly, homecoming is known as a return-ing home to an annual celebration for alumni at a college or univer-sity. (For AHS, is homecoming a football game or competition?)

A couple of years ago, AHS lost its varsity football team, sparking a heated debate about whether or not there was going to be a homecom-ing week. We ended up having a homecoming week, a JV football game, and several soccer games to celebrate the coming together of students, teachers, staff, and com-munity members. Football was not the shining star at that homecom-ing, but the spirit remained intact.

After the revitalization of our football program, senior football player Andrew Dehart said home-coming is a time for “the whole school to get together for an activ-ity week, a party.” To the upper-classmen at Arcata High, a football game is not the sole purpose of homecoming. However, it seems that the event is “one of the most important football games to play in front of the home crowd,” ac-cording to freshman Dante Atkins-Salazar, starting JV quarterback. Is homecoming dependent on sports or does its significance go beyond athletics?

Mr. Navarre thinks that home-coming is a “coming home” and a “coming back” to be honored and recognized by your school and to see the “people you love” from high

school. Homecoming is “showing off to the community” the talents of Arcata High whether it is alumni, football players, the amazing floats each class and club puts together, or just our return to school.

The homecoming tradition did not start until the early twentieth century. The first celebration was in 1910 with three universities: Baylor, Illinois and Missouri. The traditional homecoming had rallies, parades, speeches and dances with football as the main event. Home-coming meant that there was an excuse to excessively show your school pride and be involved with one’s school not just through aca-demics. In the 1920’s, homecoming became an American tradition as it slowly spread to colleges and then high schools across the country.

Random Homecoming FactsMost of the students go to the

football game to support their school and see their classmates play. During half time, the queen is crowned and there is an announce-ment of which class won the parade contest. The tradition of having a homecoming queen started in the 1930’s when the nominee would be judged by the float she rode on in-stead of the nominee’s positive atti-tude and contribution to the school (popularity status). The idea of hav-ing a king was not introduced into American culture until later on. Ar-cata High announces the king at the homecoming dance after the game. At some high schools, the dance is formal and the students use corsag-es and garters. The traditional cor-sage has a mum in it, also known as a chrysanthemum. The idea of ex-changing decorated flowers came from the southwestern USA where chrysanthemums were the tradi-

tional fall homecoming flower.

Homecoming at AHSEvery Wednesday of homecom-

ing week, AHS has the bonfire. The bonfire is surrounded by booths that encourage kids to join the fun ac-tivities around campus. The bonfire is a tradition that started at Baylor University to “safeguard the Baylor campus against raids from cross-town rival Texas Christian Univer-sity.” Now we have the bonfire to bring people together, show off our clubs, and eat delicious snacks. The time is spent with the hope that the upperclassmen are not trying to find out where the floats are hidden so they can spy on the freshmen’s mas-terpiece. Homecoming is like team building for the whole school, and its unstated purpose is to help build spirit and honor students as well as alumni. Although the class com-petition initiates intraclass rivalry, the overall events of homecoming bring the student body together to celebrate their school pride.

Honor and respect are important aspects of homecoming. Every year a Grand Marshall is nominated be-cause they are “something special to the school,” Principal Dave Na-varre said. The teacher appointed to be Grand Marshall “shows people who the popular teacher is on cam-pus so the students know who to go talk to,” Sydney Johnson explained. For the past three years the Grand Marshalls have been Cindy Con-dit, Earl Peters, and Doug Johnson. The meaning of homecoming may have become muddled throughout the years. “I want the spirit cup to come back.” It’s an old traditional way for athletics, academics, atten-dance and other special qualities to be recognized “like the Harry Pot-ter house cups,” Cindy Condit remi-

nisced. The spirit cup was a way to inform the members of Arcata High School how important it is to work as a team and show pride in your school. Even though we have lost the spirit cup we have not lost the spirit in homecoming. It brings the student body together and kicks the new school year off to a great start.

Opposition to HomecomingIn some people’s opinion home-

coming is a waste of time, energy, and resources. “I feel like we lose a week of teaching because of shorter days and extra distractions. The ex-tra distractions are the assemblies and the short day on Friday,” Greg Hildebrand said. Some of the stu-dent body agrees with Hildebrand. However, it is arguable that without homecoming the students would get burnt out. “It is a change from the monotony of every day,” Anna Peters said. The event is a week for fun that gives kids a break while keeping up with academics and in-volving school spirit.

Freshman Makinzi Nichols paints an orange and black homecoming sign during Leadership class.


SPORTS20 | September 28, 2012 PepperboxFootball: Ryan Ennes

Sam WinterReporter

“He puts his work in,” was the simplest answer from senior offensive and defensive tackle Dustin Wallis on the subject of Ryan Ennes, the newest recruit to the football team. Of course, Ryan Ennes is smaller than the average football player, standing 5-8½ and weighing only 115 pounds. “They can’t weigh my heart,” was his defiant answer to any objections to the physical aspect of his game.

This multi-sport letterman is most famous throughout the school for his long distance running talent, his consistent skill on the golf team, his lock down defense and clutch three-point shooting ability, and of course his fashion sense. But this year, he has added varsity football to his already impressive athletic and cosmetic resume. He believes his his-

tory in a variety of sports has helped him excel in football, particularly cross country: “I’ve got perfect running form—knees up, elbows tight.”

This year, however, Ennes was forced to discontinue his ca-reer in cross country to join football. His reason was simple: “I have some pent-up aggression; I just want to tackle some-

one… I want to put a kid on the ground. Cross country just didn’t do that for me.”

Senior captain and quarterback Chad Blicken-staff believes that “players and coaches alike are scared of this aggression-filled silent ticking time bomb.” He continued, “He’s got a lot of built up aggression, when game day rolls around I just leave him alone. I’m actually scared of him.”

Ennes’s decision to join the football team came late on in his junior year. Ennes, sup-

ported by football fanatic and friend Will Taylor spent their Saturday mornings throughout the sum-

mer training at Humboldt State University. “We put in work at the bowl,” Taylor said. Ennes continued “While ya’ll snoozin’, we runnin’ shuttles.”

Joining the football team as a first year player, of course, requires purchasing a large amount of new gear. In order to maintain his superb fashion repu-tation, the resulting prices were quite high for Ennes. “Yeah, I paid five bills, but swag is priceless,” Ennes re-sponded carelessly on the topic.

Although Ennes is a natural athlete and is passionate about all sports, he said. “I like golf best, but football is my way of life,” continuing, “I want to play football in college, I’m looking to be a place kick holder.”

Ennes’s introduction to the team arguably has been the cata-lyst for the best start in recent history for Arcata High varsity

football. He has quickly emerged as one of leaders of the team. On Ennes’s unexpected leadership, Blickenstaff said, “He’s a si-lent leader, definitely. He leads by example. He just goes about

his business.” Blickenstaff thought for a moment before con-cluding, “He’s wise. He’s wise beyond his years.”

The AHS community was well aware of Chloe Pigg’s running success before she even arrived at the school. Pigg has been running since elementary school but started racing competitively in sixth grade. She won the youth girls’ championship at the USATF Na-tional Junior Olympics Cross Country when she was thirteen. Pigg crossed the finish line with a time of 14:06.79, ahead of 260 other 4k runners. Recently, I got the chance to interview Pigg. At first she seemed like your typical, kind, quiet girl, but after the inter-view I got the sense I was talking to someone quite different. Hearing her talk about her

love for competition as well as what she wants to accomplish and what she has already accomplished changed her entire persona.

Pigg is driven by her personal goals: This year, she is trying to

achieve a spot in the eighteen-and-under division for state. When it comes to her student-athlete career, Pigg’s main focus is doing well overall, but also to earn a full-scholarship, and win her division in state. Pigg’s favorite part of cross country is “getting to travel as a team, going to different racing events and the competition.” Before races, Pigg routinely stretches, does drills, and listens to the pep talks given by team

leaders.So far this season, Pigg has been a great

addition to the previous North Coast Section champion team. As the school year progress-es, Pigg hopes to do well both athletically and academically. After cross season ends, Pigg will take about three weeks off and then continue to run reduced distances. Pigg also participates on the swim team and will be on the track team. “Pigg will be a great addition to the AHS track and field team,” junior Jose Lopez said. After high school, Pigg wants to continue to run in college and might pursue a job in physical therapy.

X-Country: Chloe Pigg

Errol FunkReporter

Geena DamianReporter

Will Taylor, Sam Winter, Pearse Narum, all the soccer boys we know and love… so who is Scott Lengel? Although many of us may have seen him around campus, probably most of us do not know who he is.

Scott Lengel is a 16-year-old German exchange student, who as of October 1st will be playing for the AHS soccer team, once his international papers get screened. Since there are no school sports in Germany, Lengel has been playing on club teams since age four. While it has been a vastly differ-ent experience for him, differing in our passion and physical battle in the game, he loves it so far. Co-captain Sam Winter confirms that Lengel made it “in the group” and can now be known around the school as one of the infamous soc-cer boys. The team expects big things from Lengel, hoping he will be able to use his unique upbringing in the sport to improve the overall team, especially in his center midfield posi-tion.

Not only the players think that Lengel will

change the team once he gets a chance to get on the field. “Scott’s impact on the team as a new and exceptional player means he has a chance to become a starter once he clears the international process. We don’t know if he is eligible yet, but if and when he is eligible, the players know he will suit up and play,” varsity boys soccer coach Phil Rouse commented. Rouse also found Lengel to be a great so-cial aspect of the team:“Scott is well-liked and friendly. He is able to fit in and the play-ers enjoy his energy and personality as a student, while respecting his skill as a player.”

Soccer: Scott Lengel

When you’re a freshman on a varsity team, you’re prone to earning nicknames. And freshman Ivy Ricca is no exception. Ivy is also known as Barbie, for her distinctive blond hair. She has also earned the nickname Tink, short for Tinkerbell, for her energy on the soccer field. These nicknames are proof of just how connected Ricca is with her teammates already. “She fits in really well with the group and is awesome to have on the team,” com-mented senior Megan Vina on her fellow defender.

Ricca started playing soccer when she was four years old.“Soccer is definitely my fa-vorite sport; it’s so dynamic. There’s the mental side of it with pass-ing, and it’s still physical.” Playing defense, outside left field back, is certainly a position that requires speed and smarts. In the past, Ricca has played on traveling teams of her age group, and this summer she even took her skills overseas and played in the Pitea Tourna-ment in Europe. Ricca already feels the differences between varsity play and her past teams: “The girls are bigger - MUCH bigger, and more physical. It’s a challenge to keep up with the competition now. But I’m up for it.”

Sophomore Hannah Matthew has been playing tennis since she was six years old. This year she moved up the varsity tennis ladder to position one. Being number one is an honor and essentially means that the player is the best of the team.

Her favorite part of playing tennis is doubles matches because it is “more fun” and “less work.” To get herself in the mood for victory, she warms up to Eminem, takes deep breaths and thinks posi-tively, which ensures a win.

“She’s one of the best ten-nis players I have ever met. She is perfect and only a sopho-more! When she’s a a senior, watch out!” said Kaitlan Tatro enthusias-tically.

You can often find tennis players grunting and growl-ing to intimidate each other; I asked Matthew if she uses this tactic to win, and she told me that she “growls in [her] head.”

She’s enjoying the new season and the new mix of people that have joined the team. “Tennis is really fun for the individual but you have the feeling of a team as well. I just love it!” said Mathew. You can watch her games on Tuesdays after school and Saturdays at 10 a.m. at the tennis courts here at Arcata High.

Soccer: Ivy Ricca

Lauren McCoySports Editor

Tennis: Hannah Matthew

Sage FanucchiFeature Editor

SPORTSSeptember 28, 2012 | 21Pepperbox

Cheerleading:Claudia Spinelli

Two weeks ago, Arcata

High School held its second

cheer tryouts. The cheer team

added seven new teammates, one of whom is Claudia Spinelli, who is a foreign exchange student from Italy. Italy does not have cheerlead-ers, so Spinelli is excited about being on the cheer team, mak-ing new friends

and wearing her uniform every

game day. “This is a new experience I

will always remem-ber, and I can’t wait to start practicing with the team,” Spinelli said.

Her opinions about cheerleaders have been based on what she has seen in movies about the

stereotypical cheerleader. Now Claudia has a new outlook on cheerleaders:

“Cheerleaders are normal girls, they’re not all mean,” Spinelli said. Spinelli will be cheering for basketball season starting in December, so make sure to keep an eye out for her!

Most of Arcata High is probably familiar with senior Maddy Kinder as a smiling student. She's tall, reserved, and sometimes her car doesn't quite start on the first try. What some of you might not be aware of are her talents as a volleyball player. Kinder is an avid athlete, claiming the position of star setter on the varsity squad as well as co-captain, although she remains quite

modest about her abilities. “It would be so chaotic without her,” senior defensive specialist Tate Borges said. “We probably wouldn't even have a real team.” Kinder started playing volleyball in the

seventh grade because she thought it would be fun and it was a non-

contact sport. She immediately fell in love with it, and has gone on to take part in prestigious skill-building camps in places such as Stanford and Santa Clara, and more locally at College of the Redwoods and

Humboldt State. Kinder feels optimistic about the upcoming season: “We're going to win everything probably,” she said. Coaches and players have only good things to say about their captain. “She's very positive and consistent,

and I think she keeps our team moti-vated and calm,” coach Laurie Griffith

said. “Tate and I have this weird ritual

where we can't high five because it's bad luck,” Kinder said. Instead, the dynamic duo, who also happen to be best friends, resort to pumping themselves up with the lyrical genius of “Empty Mynd.” When not proving her dominance on the

court, Kinder can be found eating mint chip ice cream or fruit with her friends. Not only

is she an excellent athlete, but a model student, who has taken rigorous courses throughout high school. When asked if she wanted to possibly play in the future, Kinder replied, “I'm tryna.”

Dayna NaishReporter

You see her walking on campus - well, only when there is not a match! Matches have been so impacted lately for the girls golf team that they have to work hard to keep up ac-ademically as well as on the course. “Golf affects school—you have no social life and a lot of makeup course work,” senior co-captain Greta Huschle said. As a co-captain, Huschle has been a participating member of the Arcata High School varsity girls golf team for three-and-a-half years. On the course, Huschle strives for “deeper strokes and a lower score,” which helps her maintain the average shot of 95 and the lowest score of 87.

Huschle is quite the asset to the girls golf team as a whole. “My job as a coach is to get the most out of Greta, she is a very caring teammate…with the potential she has, she can easily be shoot-ing in the low nine-ties, upper eight-ies,” coach Troy Ghisetti said.

Being a c o - c a p t a i n , Huschle has the respon-sibility of l e a d i n g the team to use proper e t i qu e t te w h i l e c omp e t -ing for the HDN champion-ship and w i n n i n g s e c t i o n s . “Personally, I have learned very good people skills which will help me later on in life,” Huschle said, describing the respon-sibility of the position for which she has been selected.

Volleyball:Maddy Kinder Golf:

Greta HuschleKaitlin Tucker

Reporter

Molly SalamunovichManaging Editor

SPORTS22 | September 28, 2012 Pepperbox

Date Opponent Location9/28 McKinnlyville HSU10/5 Fortuna HSU10/12 McKinnlyville MHS10/19 Eureka HSU10/26 Del Norte HSU11/2 BYE AHS11/9 NCS Game 1 TBA11/16 NCS Game 2 TBA11/23 NCS Game 3 TBA11/30 NCS Championship TBA

Date Opponent Location9/29 Fortuna Fortuna High10/6 McKinleyville AHS10/10 Eureka Albee Stadium10/13 Eureka AHS10/17 South Fork Arcata Sports Complex10/20 Del Norte Del Norte High10/24 Fortuna Arcata Sports Complex10/31 NCS Playoffs TBA11/3 NCS Playoffs TBA11/7 NCS Playoffs TBA11/10 NCS Playoffs TBA

Date Opponent Location9/29 Fortuna Fortuna High10/310/6

FerndaleMcKinleyville

Fernale HighAHS

10/10 Eureka Albee Stadium10/13 Eureka AHS10/17 South Fork Arcata Sports Complex10/20 Del Norte Del Norte High10/24 Fortuna Arcata Sports Complex10/31 NCS Playoffs TBA11/3 NCS Playoffs TBA11/7 NCS Playoffs TBA11/10 NCS Playoffs TBA

Date Location10/4 Del Norte Golf Course10/11 Baywood Golf Course10/15 Big Foot Golf Course10/16 Submitte NCS Deadline10/22 NCS10/29 Championship

Date Opponent Location10/2 McKinleyville AHS10/4 BYE10/9 Eureka EHS10/11 Del Norte AHS10/13 Healdsburg AHS10/16 Fortuna FHS10/18 McKinleyville MHS10/20 JV McKinleyville AHS10/23 Alumni Game AHS10/25 Eureka AHS10/30 Del Norte Del Norte11/7-17 NCS Playoffs TBA

Date Opponent Location10/2 NPA NPA10/6 Fortuna FHS10/9 Del Norte Del Norte10/13 St. Bernards St. Bernards10/16 McKinleyville MHS10/20 Eureka EHS10/27 H-DN Singles11/2 H-DN Doubles

Date Location9/28 Stanford Invitational10/2 Arcata10/6 Clam Beach Invitational10/9 Del Norte10/12 West Valley Invitational10/16 McKinleyville10/20 Yoshaany Rahn Invitational10/30 Fortuna11/10 HDN Championships Del Norte

Football

Boys Soccer

Girls Soccer

Girls Golf

Volleyball

Tennis

Cross Country

Fall Sports SchedulesDesigned by Gabe Schneider

SPORTSSeptember 28, 2012 | 23Pepperbox

OPINION24 | September 28, 2012 Pepperbox

It’s been confirmed. I’ve been diagnosed with a mild case of senioritis, although my doctor has told me it will get worse

and possibly even worse than just worse. The usual symptoms include laziness (when I can see my back-pack only 6 feet across the room, but I simply do not have the will-power to hoist myself up from my chair to grab it), chronic procras-tination (when I find that spinning in circles in my chair is a better use for my time than actually doing my homework), and often sleeping far past my alarm because I have com-pletely convinced myself in my half-conscious state that I must stay asleep in order to save the human race from a robot alarm clock inva-sion.

I’ve been having some fairly heated arguments in the small, cramped debate room inside my brain between slacker Calvin and

his studious counterpart about what senioritis really entails. On one hand, maybe the powerful effects of the senioritis virus are just my subconscious telling my conscious to prepare for an entire new chap-ter of my life; a chapter where Top Ramen will reign supreme and its closest advisors will include coffee and the dreaded meal plan. On the other hand, what if senioritis be-comes an epidemic, what if it spi-rals out of control? There is no tell-ing what harm it could do. Senior students “sick” with the virus will go days without gracing the school campus with their presence, and the valuable free education we receive will all be for naught.

We, the seniors, have a sense of maturity and confidence that is un-matched in grades below us. Many of us seem to think that we are at the top of the ladder, and to some extent we are. After all, we are the culmination of American public ed-ucation. However, what I’ve come to realize in the past couple months is that senior year is only the be-ginning. In the scope of our entire lives, we are still mere children. Because I have realized the nature of my immaturity, I believe my doc-tor is wrong about the condition of my senioritis. I cannot see it getting worse, or worse than just worse, because I know I have room to im-prove, and because I know that there will always be a place for education in all of us. For the rest of my senior year, I will have some minor symp-toms of senioritis because, although it may seem contradictory, I believe that senioritis and the carelessness that accompanies it is essentially a mechanism to cope with the sudden and overbearing encroachment that is the rest of our lives.

The indolent epidemic: SenioritisCalvin Ryan

Opinion Editor

This picture has nothing to do with my article, but I’m a senior, so whatever.

Sam Freed & Benjamin McCreath/PEPPERBOX

Top Ramen will reign supreme and its closest advisors will include coffee and the dreaded

meal plan.

be fostered or destroyed in a class-room setting, and schools should work hard to foster the positive traits that lead students to succeed.

An article in the New York Times, “What if the Secret to Suc-cess Is Failure?”, recently discussed how students do not learn how to have good qualities and how posi-tive characteristics really influence a successful life. Angela Duck-worth, a former graduate student at Penn, believes that schools need to change and teach students the value of character. “True, learning is fun, exhilarating and gratifying-but it is also often daunting, exhausting and sometimes discouraging…. To help chronically low-performing but in-telligent students, educators and parents must first recognize that character is at least as important as intellect,” said Angela Duckworth regarding school reform. Academic awards could be implemented at Arcata High in such a way to allow students to be acknowledged for good qualities such as attendance or citizenship awards. For a student to succeed they need to understand the power of good character and how far that can take them in life. Aca-demic awards can confirm the good qualities students possess, and these students who receive such awards can influence their peers to build stronger character.

But is it the school’s responsibili-ty to recognize their students in such a way to influence these positive traits? Principal Navarre believes that to a certain degree the school does have responsibility, however, what students do outside of school sometimes never reaches the scope of administration and therefore they cannot recognize these students. “We hope to bring back the aca-demic awards this year,” Principal

Sage FanucchiFeature Editor

With a switch in ad-ministration last year, many new changes took place.

One such change was the absence of the academic awards. ASB advi-sor and leadership teacher, Wendy Zamboni noted that, “The academic awards continue to honor the same students each year, which is clearly not the goal.” Awards such as “GPA Improvement” were meant to go to students who had lower GPA’s such as a 2.0 and were able to raise them to a 3.2. Instead the awards

went to students who took more AP and Honors courses and raised their GPA’s from 3.9’s to 4.5’s. She hoped last year that someone would take the initiative to renovate the academic awards to recognize achievements among all dedicated scholars. The purpose of academic awards should be to honor dedica-

tion and hard work, not calculable achievements.

However, like many major deci-sions on the Arcata High campus, no one approached the students asking for their opinions on the academic awards. Many students expressed disappointment in the administration. “Academic Awards are the only time when we get rec-ognized [academically] and is a great opportunity to build a posi-tive learning environment,” senior Kelsey Sloane said. Many students had similar thoughts. “It feels good to be appreciated,” junior Makayla Orlandi said.

English teacher JoAnn Moore was in agreement with these stu-dents. “I think we should award academic achievements more. We have all these rah-rah things for sports but not academics. We don’t encourage kids to be smart in pub-lic,” Moore stated, regarding the fact that sports have three separate awards ceremonies. It is hard to de-termine the effect of such awards on the student body.

According to counselor Kathi Olesen not having these academic honors could affect college appli-cations. On both the University of California application and the Com-mon Application there is a section that asks for the applicants to tell them about any Academic awards or honors they have received. Each part of an application is important and “in that respect they [academic awards] have value” Olesen stated. However, more importantly, stu-dents do not always receive recog-nition for positive achievements. “Students are often noted for the things they aren’t doing well. For self-esteem, to be recognized for things they do well is a good thing,” Olesen concluded. Self-esteem can

Navarre said.How can the awards change in

order to be productive and award a wide array of students? I believe new awards can be added that honor achievements in leadership, citizen-ship as well as academics. All three of these are important for success and honoring them in schools lends itself to students becoming success-ful and gaining an understanding of the importance of character. What if students were gathered and then awarded these honors with a mini-speeches appreciating who they are, instead of a list being called out where they may or may not get your last name right? Or if teachers gave out awards just within their own classrooms with sincerity and heart-felt anecdotes? Maybe it’s a little too Kumbaya, but I believe that be-ing honored for hard work and hav-ing people notice the hard work is truly a wonderful experience.

These awards are important be-cause it conveys to students, who are in a seemingly stressful and of-ten ostracized stage of life, that they are, in fact, doing something posi-tive. A little appreciation can go a long way.

Honoring students for grades, character

Senior Ashlynn Cox models her varsity letterman’s jacket, featur-ing an Academic Honors patch.

Sage Fanucchi-Funes/PEPPERBOX

“Students are often noted for the things they aren’t doing well. For self-esteem, to be recognized for things

they do well is a good thing,”

-Kathi Olesen

OPINIONSeptember 28, 2012 | 25Pepperbox

OPINION26 | September 28, 2012 Pepperbox

A hazey line: The “rites” and wrongs of passageDay Robins

Online Editor

Dripping wet and near-naked in the middle of a parking lot, I watched the red tail lights pull

away. Inside the rowdy car, current AHS senior Kaylee Holland held up my shirt, jeans, and a shoe, turned to the backseat and announced, “Day’s naked!” to the car full of varsity soccer girls. Seconds later, I was rushed into another car, wear-ing only my wet sports bra and un-derwear and holding a shoe. I was also a freshman; jumping into a pool two hours past my usual bedtime had been part of an important rite of passage intended to “welcome” me onto the varsity soccer team.

Was my midnight welcoming a team bonding experience or haz-ing? Hazing is an initiation into a group involving coercion, humilia-tion, embarrassment, or harm. It’s what happens when team bond-ing gets out of hand and crosses “the line.” Schools claim to draw the line at “zero tolerance” when it comes to hazing, but who deter-mines where team bonding morphs into harmful coercion? And if we’re drawing lines, won’t there be sev-eral depending on different people’s perspectives?

Recently, HSU’s administration determined that bringing illegal activities, such as coerced under-age drinking, into team initiations constitutes official hazing. As a re-sult, the 33-member men’s soccer

team will not participate in games for the entire 2012-2013 season—a shock for Humboldt’s rapidly grow-ing soccer community. But HSU’s “zero tolerance” policy on hazing is a fallacy. According to a 2008 University of Maine study, over half of all college students who join sports teams, fraternities, sororities, or other student groups experience some form of hazing. It’s very like-ly that group initiations (that may resemble hazing) are part of many HSU teams, clubs, and frats. Initia-tions are part of college culture.

Explaining the goals of team ini-

tiations may help justify why they persist as traditions. Let’s assume that team bonding leads to better group unanimity. Team bonding rit-uals often put players outside their comfort zones with the goal of nail-ing down the team pecking order. In the name of trust, teams have to coalesce. When new players fol-low the demands of team veterans, they demonstrate a willingness to put the team first. Also, participat-ing in adventures outside of game time deepens friendships and cre-ates stronger bonds.

The ethics of team initiations come into play when certain group members abuse their leadership

power. When members of a team victimize certain members, instead of strengthening bonds, the whole team loses. This type of “group-think” happens when people stop using their own moral reasoning abilities and go along with the group mindset, letting bad ideas turn into actions with harmful consequenc-es—like hazing, which is against the law. A lawyer involved in a haz-ing case described the act as “bully-ing disguised as tradition.”

The hazey line between team bonding and hazing can really only be determined by the initiates them-

selves, since the definition of haz-ing requires that the initiates feel “coerced, humiliated, embarrassed, or harmed.” Parents and school

Schools claim to draw the line at ‘zero tolerance’ when it comes to hazing, but who determines where team bonding morphs into harmful coercion?

administrators, who do not share the typical teenage mentality, will likely not be able to accurately de-termine how the initiates really feel. Players may also view the same experience differently. Two fresh-men could go through a team initia-tion together and one could be left emotionally scarred - or in extreme cases, physically scarred - while the other could view the experience as the best night of his or her life.

Rites of passage thrive here on Arcata High’s campus. Most teams at AHS have some form of initia-tion, many of them passed down through the years. If you see boys with mohawks, they’re probably on the varsity boys soccer team; their scalp was recently at the mercy of a teammate holding an electric ra-zor. From what I’ve heard, both the cross-country and track teams have an optional initiation similar to my experience joining the soccer team. First-year runners are encouraged to jump into the slimy pond behind the HSU track. The water is cold, murky and mosquito-ridden, and it doesn’t count if your head doesn’t go under. Imagine stripping down in crisp, fall weather while twenty veteran runners are screaming your name. Would you jump in?

Juniors Kylen Maple (left) and Cayman Durham-Vance (right) sport their traditional varsity soccer mohawks with pride.

Dakota Goodman/PEPPERBOX

Career & College Center closedOPINION

September 28, 2012 | 27Pepperbox

Molly SalamunovichManaging Editor

Senior year. Senior. Year. I've said those two words a thousand times, but they never really stuck with

me or meant anything at all until I stepped onto the campus of Arcata High on August 27, 2012 with a fresh new pair of shoes and a stash of pencils I was determined to keep track of. The shock of actually at-taining upperclassman status hit me like oncoming traffic. Suddenly, I was all too aware of the ticking clock of a mere 180 days of school instruction and the immense pres-sure to figure out what I want to do with my life. Each person I greeted and hugged in the parking lot was one more person I wouldn't be see-ing next year. The huge challenge of completing the SATs, ACTs, various subject tests, and AP tests to my satisfaction, not to mention maintaining above a 4.0 GPA, all has to be done this year. Let's not even mention extracurriculars like orchestra or varsity sports year round. Time cannot be wasted, be-cause there is no more time. God forbid, I should even begin to think about the big C. No, not cancer. College.

College. You know, that thing we thought about once or twice fresh-man year and then figured we had three more years until we had to actually worry about it? That thing we thought about looking into last summer but didn't really get around to? That place of endless freedom

and opportunity that our parents said would come in the blink of an eye? Well... we blinked. It's con-stantly nagging at the back of my mind, and I'm sure it's starting to affect my fellow seniors and their sanity as well. One can't have a con-versation with an adult without the dreaded question of “What colleges are you looking at?” or “What do you want to be?” One can imagine my dismay when I walked into the attendance office to sign up for an appointment to the Career and Col-lege Center and was told that Mrs. Hile had left the staff of Arcata High. As of now, there is no Career and College Center at Arcata High School.

As many of you know, the center was a place where students could go a few times a semester and look into their options for the future. She was excellent at hooking students up with scholarships, volunteer op-portunities, and SAT and ACT test dates. Hile was in touch with all of her students, and gave good advice based on scores, personality tests, and personal interests. She was an incredibly valuable resource to the upperclassmen and underclassmen of Arcata High.

“I only went once last semes-ter,” senior Megan Viña said, “but it

sucks because I need scholarships, and I feel like we're at a disadvan-tage not knowing what's out there for us.” Some of the counselors on campus agree with Viña's point of view.

“Hopefully, seniors should al-ready have a good idea of what colleges they want to apply to,” AHS counselor Kathi Olesen said. However, for those who never got the chance to visit the center or were putting it off, it really will be an inconvenience. With the lack of the center, the already very busy counselors will be forced to take on some of Hile's responsibilities. “We will have less time for one-on-one, so students will have to do more on their own,” Olesen stat-ed.

Upon learning that the Career and College Cen-ter was tempo-rarily shut down during her most dire moment of need, senior Kay-lee Holland cried, “I feel like I don't know what I'm do-ing with my life!” Other students like junior Jose Lopez replied, “I don't re-ally care,” and se-nior Sydney John-son stated, “Yeah, I'm not personally affected, it won't change my college application pro-cess very much.”

Principal Dave Navarre remains

optimistic about Hile's job switch to Fortuna High School where she will receive full benefits and a pay raise. “She seemed really excit-ed and I wish her the very best of luck,” Navarre said. Navarre went on to reassure the Pepperbox staff that this change is only a temporary disadvantage. “We'll probably have somebody in place by spring,” he stated.

However, most college applica-tion deadlines occur at the end of November and early December, so seniors: consider this a gentle nudge. Get moving. You've got a lot of work to do.

Senior Aiyana Allen stands in dismay in front of the locked Career and College Center.

Tami Conrad/PEPPERBOX

The shock of ac-tually attaining upperclassman status hit me like oncoming traffic.

Pretty Lights lights up HumboldtJamie Maher

Reporter

Concert fiends of all ages gathered together on September 9, 2012 at Blue Lake Casino to

see the Pretty Lights Show. Pretty Lights, often confused with dub-step, is a mixture between elec-tronic sounds and hip-hop inspired beats.

“The music was out of this world,” said senior music enthusi-ast Taylor Gleave.

The mastermind behind it all is Derek Vincent Smith, who DJs live with an incredible light show rais-ing the energy of his audience. With such a unique type of music and captivating lights, Pretty Lights has a way to keep the people going.

“I saw lots of happy faces and I was in a really good mood,” senior Eli Perrett said.

However, not all who attended were impressed. “The music wasn’t very interesting, but I had fun danc-ing,” senior Gwyn Caughey said.

“I wouldn’t see Pretty Lights

A&E28 | September 28, 2012 Pepperbox

again for the music, but for the so-cial aspect: to dance!” senior Taylor Borges said.

The event was quite a scene. The dance floor was filled with people dressed crazily, but dancing even more crazily. For the most part girls were dressed in very bright, rather promiscuous, spandex shorts with sparkly tops and guys in jeans with “bro-tanks.”*

In some cases though, the con-certgoers were dressed uniquely. “I saw people wearing animal fur on their head!” Borges exclaimed. “I

saw someone dressed like the Grin-ch, it was not chill,” Gleave added. If that weren’t strange enough, there was a man in a green Gumbi suit: “He told me his name was Pring-les,” Caughey commented.

Overall, the crowd that formed at this event was very diverse but shared a common interest in their love for dancing and music.

*bro-tank: a sleeveless cotton shirt, most likely patterned or de-signed, worn by guys who want to show off their arms.

A&ESeptember 28, 2012 | 29Pepperbox

Arrrmack gears up for swashbuckling silent filmGrace Lovell

Art Director

The talented young musi-cians of the ArMack Or-chestra are preparing for what promises to be one

of the most exciting music-related events of the year: the biannual Orchestra trip to New York, where ArMack will play at Carnegie Hall. In preparation for their big musi-cal adventure, the Orchestra is busy getting ready for their fundraiser of the year: the silent film.

“Silent film is my favorite part of orchestra!” cellist Kira Weiss ex-claimed.

And this year’s silent film is rais-ing the barrr. On October 18th, 19th and 20th, the ArMack Orches-tra will play the music to the 1926 silent adventure film, The Black Pi-rate. Also on the silent film agenda are performances at McKinleyville High on the 25th, 26th, and 27th of October and a private screening for members of the Elk’s Club on Octo-ber 28th.

Carol Jacobson, ArMack’s mae-stro, said, “Silent film is such a

1242 G St. in Arcata1734 Central Avenue in McKinleyvilleOpen Mon-Sun 10AM-11PM

unique experience… It’s so great watching all these kids take on the role of the music, and it’s fun for the audience because they really get to use their imagination. They can participate in the film by cheering for the heroes and booing for the villains. It’s great.”

Violinist Skyler Wrigley said all the members of the Orchestra are looking forward to playing selec-tions from “Pirates of the Caribbe-an” as the opening to the film.

Concertmaster Carson McHaney stated that the Black Pirate features “lots of gunshots and pirate ac-

Silent film is my favorite part of orchestra!

- Cellist Kira Weiss

tion… I’d say, go see it.” Tickets are five dollars and can be

looted from any member of the Or-chestra. Shiver me timbers!

Grace Lovell/PEPPERBOXConcertmaster Carson McHaney re-hearses for the upcoming silent film.

A&E30 | September 28, 2012 Pepperbox

Pump up music: From athletes and kingsLumina Adams

Reporter

I magine: drowning out the world with your headphones, your pulse speeding up, your heartpumping, anticipation

over comes you as the beat flows through you. You're ready for it all, the game, the crowd, the season. Music is the motivation.

Hannah Cosgrove (9th grade): “My favorite song that gets me motivated would have to be Buzz-in' by Mann and 50 cent, I get so pumped and ready to ball up, and its just fun to get down to!”

Georgie Cavinta (11th grade): “Lumiere by Blue Scholars gets me motivated the most before a game, and gets me focused on contributing to the teams overall play.”

Ella Dixon (11th grade): “Hey Ladies by Travis Porter gets me so pumped up and motivated to dance! Me and my friends always getting down in A-Town to that song!”

Chad Blickenstaff (12th grade): “Chief Keef everyday! I KNOW I play better when I listen to Chief Keef! Always gets me motivated to put the ball in the end zone!”

Matthew Mayer (10th grade): “Ndyahimbisa Mulcama is good African Tribal music. When I lis-ten to it song I envision greatness.”

Raven Marshall (10th grade): “Mercy by Kanye West gives me so much stamina and builds up my energy and ready to play!”

Julie Angles (Administration): “Love Shack by B52's makes me want to get up and dance and jump up and down!”

Tahnia Campbell (Dean of Stu-dents): “Eye of the Tiger helps me work through the pain!”

Jeff Boydtsun (Health Teacher): “Garry Glitter is a motivational song that makes me want to put on a uniform and just say, PUT ME IN COACH!”

Being asked to list the 10 top songs of all time is a dubious task. It reflects a snapshot in time.

The time of right now, today. Then given the nebulous request of ten top songs. Based on whatcriteria? Ones to sing along with? Those with particularly poignant lyrics? Of social. political,or cultural significance? Of com-mercial success? American music? Roots music? Had thisrequest been made a week ago, a year, ten years, the same list would likely not appear. Therewould have been more Neil Young. Given all that, here is a try…

Louis Armstrong- “What a Won-derful World”

Woody Guthrie- “This Land Is Your Land”

Hank Williams- “Lost Highway”

Muddy Waters- “Rollin’ Stone”

Chuck Berry- “Johnny B. Goode”

Johnny Cash- “Jackson”

Bob Dylan- “Like a Rolling Stone”

Booker T. and the MG’s- “Green Onions”

Neil Young- “Southern Man”

Graham Parsons- “Hickory Wind”

Mr� JohnsonThe King

Selecting the top 10 songs of all time is quite the dubious task, even for a king.


Steve SheetsMy Story

I am a living example of the push and pull relationship with tobacco. Like the waves in the ocean, its harmful pull

can sweep you out into a sea of ad-diction. Then you become weary and tired as you fight your way back to shore, in good hopes to quit, but then it relentlessly takes its control! My first cigarette was when I was thirteen. I found a half smoked cigarette on the ground in the gut-ter and lit up. All I remember after that was spitting all over the place and complaining about that bad taste lingering in my mouth. But two years later at my ex-girlfriend’s house during my freshman year, I smoked my second cigarette. Her dad was a smoker so I said, “Why not?!” I took out a cigarette from his pack on the coffee table, lit up and went to town. I couldn’t really stand afterward because of the head rush I was experiencing and then I found myself smoking his en-tire pack. About two weeks later, I stopped. Then last year came along and that all changed. I began smok-ing cigarettes every day. My friends all did it and I had smoked before. Before, I wasn’t really opposed to

it and I didn’t have a problem with addiction so I joined in. Little did I know it would lead me to where I stand now, right in the middle of it all, treading the suffocating waters of addiction. Now, I think if I could go back, I would. It took hold of me like a viper with its prey, injecting its venom, only to kill slowly. It’s so hard to quit. You find your-self on a bus to another town just to bum cigarettes off of people or run-ning around town, just looking for someone with a cigarette stuck in their face. The worst for me is when I don’t have one and begin to sweat and become very uncomfortable and angry for no reason whatso-ever. So the question most of you might ask is, “why are you trying to quit if it makes you feel this way?” It is be-cause I don’t want to feel this way. Here is my advice for you: DON’T START! And if you do smoke and want to quit just remember that it’s not easy at all. Find someone who motivates you to quit, but everyone is different and works differently when struggling with something like this. Oh, and one more thing, just remember: you are not alone.

On trying to quit smoking

LifeSeptember 28, 2012 | 31Pepperbox

It’s so hard to quit. You find yourself on a bus to another town just to bum cigarettes off of people or running around town, just looking for

someone with a cigarette stuck in their face.

Question:Why should we vote for you?

Taylor & Aleric: “Be-cause we love each other.”

Kasey: “I'm the new and im-proved Will Tay-lor”

Colleen: “Feel bad for me. I have to run with Kasey.”

Mason: “I'm the only Rammptor on this page.”

Andrea: “Blondes al-ways have more fun.”

Andy & Han-nah: "Be-cause we have hot moms."Chad: “My char-

acter.”

Sydney: "Chad’s character.”

Will: “Because I'm Will Taylor.”

Megan: “Be-cause I'm a ginger.”

Ben: “Why not elect the king of the nerds to more than one office?”

Kaylee: “Deep down I am a prin-cess.”

Homecoming Schedule:

2012 AHS Homecoming Nominees

MondayLunch: Rap Battle & Performance by Humboldt RockersAfter School: Float building

TuesdayLunch: Battle of the Bands (featuring The Secretary Band)After School: 5:30 & 7:00 Volleyball vs Mack @ AHS gym

WednesdayLunch: Free Barbeque & Line DancingAfter School: 6:00-9:00 Bonfire

ThursdayLunch: Tie dye T-shirts in front of schoolSpecial performance by The Teacher BandAfter School: 6:30 Hall of Fame induction

FridayASSEMBLY1:00 Homecoming Parade 5:00 & 7:30 Football vs Fortuna @ HSU9:00-12:00 Homecoming Dance @ AHS gym

volume 85 issue 1

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