Twenty first century workout: WiiFit replaces traditional gym routine

 As January comes to a close, the stock resolution of working out starts to fizzle. Life takes over and the gym is forgotten. Some students, however, are taking a twist on the standard gym routine, using electronics such as the WiiFit to work out.

Junior Toni Rodano uses her WiiFit to play the popular dance workout Zumba.

“It’s a lot more fun to play Zumba as a game getting points for it than it is to go work out,” Rodano said. “Dancing to music is more fun than going on an elliptical for 30 minutes.”
According to Rodano it was the convenience of owning a WiiFit that kept her going with Zumba.

“I’m in my own home and I don’t have to drive anywhere,” Rodano said. “I can just get off the couch and play Zumba instead of having to drive to the gym and get ready to go there.”

Freshman Emily Bonin said that while she still goes to the gym to work out, she prefers to play the hula-hoop game on the WiiFit.

“I like doing the WiiFit because it’s more fun and I get to see my progress on the screen,” Bonin said. “I don’t think of it as working out, I think of it as having fun.”

According to sports medicine teacher Kristi Odom, using the Wii to work out provides just as good of a workout as going to the gym.

“As long as you’re getting your heart rate up it’s a positive thing,” Odom said. “If you go to the gym and you don’t get your heart rate up, you just walk around and do a little bit of lifting and you’re not working very hard, then it would benefit you to play the WiiFit games where you’re jumping around and getting excited.”

Despite the benefits of using video game technology to work out, Bonin said that during the summer keeping a workout schedule became difficult.

“School kept me on track of working out,” Bonin said. “I had a schedule to work out right after school and then during the summer I didn’t really feel like doing it.”

Rodano on the other hand, said that while she generally stays motivated to work out, her extracurricular activities can get in the way.

“If I’m busy with theatre and stuff I won’t play Zumba because I won’t have time to, but if I have nothing better to do I do it all the time,” Rodano said. “I’m pretty motivated because it’s fun, upbeat and intense.”

For both students, the clearest difference between a gym workout and the WiiFit was in the personal trainers.

“The trainers on the WiiFit help you and give you little hints at how to do better,” Bonin said. “A real trainer at a gym is more in your face. You can just push the Wii trainers aside.”

Despite this, both Rodano and Bonin said that the WiiFit provided a more enjoyable workou’t that brought results.

“After playing Zumba since October, I’ve gotten more flexible,” Rodano said. “I can take the higher intensity workout for a longer time. Instead of doing it for 15 minutes I can do the entire workout for 30 or 45 minutes.”

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Learning new lessons, experiences behind the wheel

There was no way to avoid it. The truck rushed towards the car. As the truck collided into the left side of the car, the car proceeded to flip over. Glass shattered in all directions. The entire drivers’ side of the roof caved in, two tires were flat and all the windows expect for the back one laid in pieces on the road.

According to car-accidents.com, the risk of being involved in a car accident is higher for drivers ages 16 to 19 than for any other age group.

Senior Kerry Quinn got into an accident after making a left turn while exiting Chik-fil-A last November.

“I definitely should have not been in a hurry,” Quinn said. “I now know to turn right and go with the flow of traffic and turn wherever I can.”
After the crash, Quinn said she was nervous the next time she drove her car.

“Driving for the first time after the accident was kind of awkward,” Quinn said. “I sat in my car and got ready to drive for about five minutes before I actually got out of the driveway. I drove super cautiously to school and I’m pretty sure I made a lot of people mad. I didn’t want to make right turns, unless there was a light and I would go quickly on a left turn.”

While riding in her friend’s Volkswagen Beetle, junior Meghan Menasco was hit by a dump truck on her way from weighing her farm pigs for the FFA.
“We were making a left-hand turn onto Rhodes Rd., and my friend thought she had enough room to go, but she didn’t and we got hit,” Menasco said. “I think we spun like thirty feet and ended up in a ditch.”

According to Menasco, the police officer told her that if the car had been going a sixteenth of a second faster she and her friend would have died.
“I was at the hospital all night,” Menasco said. “They glued up a cut on my face, I had a CT scan, and an X-ray. Both [of my friends] got CAT scans and I think one might have gotten an X-ray.”

After the accident, Menasco said she went to visit the crash site.
“I got out of the car and I found pieces of [my friend’s] car,” Menasco said. “I wanted to see for myself because [my friend’s] dad wouldn’t let us see the car after the accident. I think he didn’t want to traumatize us because the car was pretty beat up, I’ve only seen pictures.

Senior Alexa Hornsby was in a car accident last summer when she ran her Volvo into her boyfriend’s Silverado, which caused her boyfriend’s car to hit the car in front of him.

“I didn’t know what to do, so I got in the middle lane and started freaking out and bawling my eyes out,” Hornsby said. “I only had the car for six months and I loved it. [My boyfriend] got out of his car and everyone else came to help us. I hugged him and cried, ‘I’m so sorry.’”

Hornsby got a ticket for failure to control speed and had to take defensive driving classes. Hornsby said the ordeal made her appreciate her parents more.

“[My parents] were really understanding,” Hornsby said. “I gained a lot of respect for them because of that, I wasn’t expecting them to handle it that well. His parents love me, so they were like, ‘oh it happens, it’s no big deal.’”

Menasco said the crash made her realize the responsibilities that being a driver entailed.

“[You have to] be more aware of your surroundings, especially if you have a car full of kids,” Menasco said. “Remember that you’re the one driving and you have other people’s lives on the line.”

Car-accidents.com also reported that teenagers have the lowest rate of seat belt use. Quinn advises drivers and passengers to always wear a seat belt.

“I probably would have died if I wasn’t wearing a seat belt,” Quinn said. “I would have probably gone through the windows. My seat belt saved my life. It might not stop you from getting into an accident, but it will definitely reduce any injuries you might sustain.”

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Raising the bar, expectations: Aspiring rapper becomes Internet sensation

 The isolation booth door clicks shuts. The recording sign blinks to life. Enclosed by soundproof walls, aspiring rapper J-Lew takes a deep breath as he steps closer to the microphone. 

After a year of rapping as a hobby, junior Jabari Lewis decided to pursue rapping as a career.

“I want to a rapper because I love music,” Lewis said. “I really think I can be something in hip-hop or any other thing to do with rapping. Also, I just like contributing to keep rap alive for generations. Plus, I won’t only make money, I’ll also be giving back to my community, family, friends and supporters.”

Lewis’ neighbor, freshman J’lon Smith said he saw potential early on.

“He would always be listening to music and come out with freestyles out of nowhere,” Smith said. “He raps some legit stuff, so it really wasn’t a big surprise when he told me he is going to be a rapper.”

The mix tapes were recorded at his friends’ house and Anarchy studio. Lewis said a recording session ranges from $20 to $40. 

“His songs sound like something I would hear on 97.9 radio station,” sophomore Sabrina Quiros said. “He has a lot of potential.”

On Nov. 1 Lewis posted his first digital CD to his Facebook page. His latest work was released in late December.

“I have a different variety of music it could be upbeat, calm, romantic,” Lewis said. “I sing about my everyday life, things I feel and my opinion. I am inspired by God, my mom, other rappers and my starting fan base. God because I believe if I keep him first, I can accomplish anything, other rappers because I see them going day in and day out and I just think that can be me, mom because she works so hard and it inspires me to work hard to one day reward her.”

According to his mother, Karyn Lewis, she was not initially thrilled with Jabari’s decision.

“I wanted him to do Christian rap,” Karyn Lewis said. “Jabari is constantly writing, and perfecting his craft to give his fans the best of the best. I can truly say that my son has changed my mind and made me so happy to just call him my handsome, wonderful, super-talented, extremely intelligent son. I thank God for my blessing.”

Karyn said she appreciates Jabari including morals in his raps.

“My favorite song is “Keep your head up to the sky”, Karyn said. “This song is special because it lets me know that he still has a since of God in his life. It lets me know that he is listening to me when I tell him to work on being positive in his rap lyrics and to spread love. I would prefer that he could be a little less colorful in some of the lyrics.  However, I know his heart is with God.”

As Jabari gains more popularity, he said he wants to make sure he thanks all his supporters  His stage name page on Facebook, J-Lew, gained  about 1,053 and counting fans in the course of six months.

“I watch the videos that he posts on Facebook and I like them,” junior Mackenzie Klempnauer said. “A lot of my friends are friends with him so they know about the page. He’s really friendly. He posts ‘thanks guys’ and ‘thanks for supporting me’ a lot.”

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Marriage of minds: Married teachers together at school, home

 Percussion director Lamar Burkhalter and his wife of 22 years, athletic secretary Kay Burkhalter, first connected in the classroom as students when they were paired as debate partners in their high school government class. Since then, they have kept their scholarly connection as  teachers at the same school.

Throughout the school, there are teachers who not only work together at the same school, but are married.

Like the Burkhalters, World Geography teacher Thomas Allen and his wife of 10 years, Algebra I teacher Krisitine Allen met in McGregor High School as teachers.
 “We love being at the same school,” Thomas Allen said. “This makes [life] easy for us as we know most of the same students, can talk about some of the things that happen here, and understand what each other are talking about. Having the same time off makes planning our lives easy, because we know that the other spouse knows what is happening at school and we enjoy having the same school holidays and summer off.”

When Kristine Allen switched careers from a business office manager to become a teacher, Thomas Allen was working at his first job as a teacher.
 “It was a very small school and a very small faculty so we met at lunch,” Kristine Allen said. “Nobody knew we were dating at our old school until I actually got my ring. We started dating [around the] end of December and got engaged in May. We were engaged for 19 days and then we got married.”

Since becoming married, the Allens make their fellow faculty members and students aware of their marriage.

“Other teachers think that it is nice that we are married and sometimes envy our being off together, riding together, and having our spouse around,” Thomas Allen said. “Students recognize that we are married and we both tell our students that we are married.  We want them to know that if they have Mrs. Allen for math and Mr. Allen for Geography that we know them.”

However, the Burkhalters do not tell many students of their marriage.

“The only students that know we are married are some of the athletes in my department and his students that play percussion because they see us at events together,” Kay Burkhalter said.

Kristine Allen said many students find out that they are married on their own.

“Sometimes we tell students, sometimes they see pictures of us in our classroom, sometimes they’ll make the connection with the name,” Kristine Allen said. “Mr. Allen talks about me all the time and where we’ve [traveled] because teaching geography in the course of his lectures he’ll talk about me.”

For the students who know they are married, Lamar Burkhalter said he thinks they find it unique.

“We just joke about it,” Lamar Burkhalter said. “I make my drumline say good morning to Mrs. Burkhalter when she walks in and I go down and see her with Coach Svoboda.”
Except for driving to school together, Kristine Allen also said that she and her husband do not spend time together throughout the day.

“Once we get to school we don’t see each other until we leave the building in the afternoon,” Kristine Allen said. “We have different lunch periods and conferences so we don’t see each other during the day. We don’t really e-mail, or talk on the phone, and he doesn’t text so there’s no texting at school. We’re not working together. I know that sounds funny because we’re both teachers at the same school. We have the same type of job and same bosses. We have a lot of co-workers in common but we don’t really work together.”

Although they do not see each other, Thomas Allen said sharing their profession and work place allows them to discuss different teaching methods.

“Math usually gets [in] new [technology], so when Mrs. Allen learns new things, she tells me about them or shows me,” Thomas Allen said.  “As math does not show many videos, our running joke is that Mrs. Allen could not be a Geography teacher because she does not know how to operate a video player.”

Kristine Allen said having a spouse who shares her job at the same school creates a supportive atmosphere.

“Non-teachers tend to think that teaching is easy. We understand that’s [false], and how busy we are during the day,” Kristine Allen said. “If I had a spouse that wasn’t a teacher, he may wonder ‘why didn’t you pick up the phone when I called’ or ‘why didn’t you answer my e-mail’. We understand the job pressures of each other. I chose teaching, I chose Mr. Allen and so I have to say that life is pretty good right now.”

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Tech crew prepares for largest production in school history

The screeching of drills and saws deafens everyone around.  Sawdust flies through the air.  The acrid smell of paint fumes indicates set pieces are still wet.   Together these elements are an average day in technical theater.
The drama department will present “The Wizard of Oz” from Jan. 26 through Jan.31.  As the days to opening night approach, tech crews work towards completing the finishing touches on the production.
As the largest production in school history, the 30 students working backstage had their hands full. For the first time in five years, the rigging was an aspect of the play.
“Rigging is the process of strapping the actors into harnesses that they wear when they’re going to fly across the stage,” stage manager Michelle Lutz said. “The tech crew has to set up these special types of wires and all the stuff up in the rafters, and set up the harnesses to the people as well.”
As the rigging crew head, senior Charlotte Alcorn’s responsibilities include, taking measurements, securing actors in the harnesses, as well as paper work.
“It is a big deal because so many peoples’ lives are at risk,” Alcorn said. “We take lots of safety precautions. It can be hectic. We have to send the contracts out to the district lawyers and wait a month and a half for them to approve it. I saw more of what my directors do like getting rights and more of the business side. ”
According to Neeley, the leadership role had an educational aspect as well. 
“I’ve had to learn how to instruct people and how to do things that I assumed most people know how to do,” Neeley said. “The deal with this show is that the set pieces are so complicated that a crew member might not be able to figure it out. I have had difficulty trying to build these pieces.”
Neeley said the shortage of workers have inhibited the play’s progress and have pushed him into structural role.
“We haven’t had too many people show up when we really need them,” Neeley said. “But we really appreciate when they do and there’s still a lot to be done.  I’ve been more alert to the fact of whether people are doing something or not.”
According to theater teacher Norman Grueneich, most of the $30,000 budget went towards royalties such as play rights and script rentals.  Although the play was written before the movie, some aspects are similar.
“This is one of the most complicated and expensive productions,” Grueneich said. “I think people can expect to see something similar to the movie. .”
According to junior tech crew member Jacob Hirsch, the experience compensates for all the work.
“I love what I do in this department and I like putting on good shows,” Hirsch said. “It’s been one of the more difficult shows that I’ve worked on, with all the lights and special effects we’ve had to do, but the chance to bond with people make it a good experience.”

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Living for the weekend: Friday Wavers club celebrates end of week

Decked out in themed outfits, holding up signs reading ‘Honk if you love Fridays’ and shouting at the top of their lungs, the members of Friday Wavers are not simply a random collection of boisterous high school students. The club meets outside of the school at 7 a.m. every Friday to pump up students for the end of the week.

Club president, now a senior Carter Smith said as a freshman he had his doubts about the club.

“I didn’t know how they [waved] without being embarrassed, but once you do it, it’s the most fun thing to do,” Smith said. “You don’t really care about what people think because you’re changing the start of their day and that’s a really good feeling. As I got more comfortable in high school, I decided to try new things and a lot of my friends were doing it so I just decided to [become] involved.”

Although Smith felt reservations about joining the club, he said that it became something he looks forward to during the week.

“I know that everyone who [waves] loves it because it’s just a lot of fun to do,” he said. “Whenever we wear the costumes for the rest of the day, [the other students] always [have] good spirits and seem to respond well to it.”

Senior Bethina Campbell said she also noticed a change in peoples’ mood because of the Friday Wavers.

“Usually in the morning everyone [feels worn-out] and having that jolt of energy helps you push through the rest of the week because it’s Friday [and] we only have one day left until the weekend,” Campbell said. “A lot of people come up to me [and] they’re like ‘thanks for saying happy Friday’ or ‘thanks for waving’. They seem to be a lot more awake and [I know] it’s my doing.”

According to Smith, Friday Wavers have been recognized by students and principals alike.

“At one point last year Mr. Kirk came and [spoke] to us and said even if [the students] might feel embarrassed by us or even if they do like it, he feels that we are making a difference on how the kids feel when they do come to school on Friday,” Smith said. “[Being noticed by him was] a really cool feeling.”

According to sophomore Laura Mafla, Friday Wavers have many ways to cheer people up on Friday mornings including themes, signs and chants.

“We have a theme every week and so we kind of do chants toward that theme,” Mafla said. “We do a wave where we line up and our leader runs past us and we do a wave kind of like Collins Crew does. We do bridges when [students] come out of the car and they go under the bridges. The main thing is that we have huge signs that say honk and so we get all the cars to honk.”

In addition to adding cheers similar to Collins Crew, members of Collins Crew have become involved in the Friday Wavers.

“On the waiver that you sign to be in [Friday Wavers], it says ‘promotes enthusiasm on Fridays and also school spirit’, and since Collins Crew is the school spirit club they thought that it would be cool if Collins Crew and the Friday Wavers were to join forces and wave on Fridays,” Campbell said. Collins Crew and Friday Wavers sponsor, English teacher Amber Wallace said the club allows students to share school spirit in a great way.

“We have kids from each organization playing a part in the Friday Wavers club,” Wallace said. “These kids are all very involved in the school and care about promoting spirit throughout the community. It’s a great way for kids from all different backgrounds to get together and share in school pride.”

Members of Friday Wavers, like Smith, hope to include more new members than just those in Collins Crew.

“[Friday Wavers has] always been more of a theater organization,” Smith said. “Those are the people that founded it and are generally the people that make it up, and so it’s always just kind of stayed in the department. This year I have included some members that weren’t in theater or even Collins Crew to come in just to try to make it a bigger crowd.”

Campbell also said she wants the club to grow but understands why people do not want to join.

“It’s so early in the morning that’s one of the drawbacks of the club,” Campbell said. “I just hope a lot more people come because I feel that everybody can be happy in the mornings and it’s just a real easy thing to do.”

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Television productions satisfy teen audience

 Whether it’s with the Gleeks or vampires, teens are becoming a huge part of the fandoms of various television shows. Popular television shows are swarming the teen population, luring teens with inspirational story lines and suspense.

According to sophomore Bella Pallavicini, TV shows become part of the viewers, and can persuade or inspire them in ways never imagined.

“The characters in ‘Pretty Little Liars’ are inspirational to me,” Pallavicini said. “They always stick together, no matter what, which shows true friendship.”

According to junior Katie Gonzalez, the TV show “Glee” sparks inspiration because of its focus on music and how it allows students to feel proud of who they are.

“I love that it’s a show about the underdogs,” Gonzalez said. “At the same time, it’s a music-based show and since I love to sing it makes the show even more awesome.”

Whether the show is based on reality or fantasy, the storyline is also important for senior Ariana Checkles, who said she is a fan of “The Vampire Diaries”.

“The show has a great storyline,” Checkles said. “There are lots of twists and surprises, so I’m constantly sitting on the edge of my seat.”
For all of the students, different aspects of shows catch their eyes.

“A friend of mine introduced me to ‘Pretty Little Liars’,” Pallavicini said. “I was immediately hooked from the beginning. They have awesome fashion sense. I get a lot of my inspiration for different outfits I wear from the show.”

To Gonzalez, it is the talent level on “Glee” that makes the show worthwhile.

“Lea Michele is one of my biggest role models because she is so successful in her performing career,” Gonzalez said.

Checkles said she watches “The Vampire Diaries” more for entertainment and the messages that are tied in with the show.

“The show can honestly make me laugh or cry or feel any emotion that the characters are feeling,” Checkles said. “At first glance, people write ‘The Vampire Diaries’ off as a cheesy show, but in reality it’s full of amazing actors who know how to communicate messages.”

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T-shirt frenzy: Students fabricate T-shirts to accommodate needs

Kimberly Witty, a seventh grader with a perpetual smile across her face and a positive attitude that earned her the nickname Kim Possible, was diagnosed with kidney failure last year. After countless doctor appointments and numerous tests, she discovered a compatible donor, her father, and will have kidney transplant surgery.

Senior Ashlen Lee and the other members of her church group decided to enlist the power of customized T-shirts as a way to show support for Witty on the day of the operation and to raise funds for post-surgery expenses.

“I think people get more use out of a shirt,” Lee said as to the reason why T-shirts was the fundraising route they chose. “It’s something they notice more.”

According to senior Alex Thompson, customized T-shirts have other functions.

“It’s like a social thing too,” Thompson said. “You see [T-shirts] in the halls [and] people are like ‘where’d you get that from?’ or ‘oh man, I wish I could have gone to that’ [or] ‘oh you went to that too.’”

Senior Nicole Vickroy, who made T-shirts for her history classes since sophomore year, said the reactions to her shirts are the best part.

“I wear my shirts all the time,” Vickroy said. “I wore the AP [U.S. history] one to church camp. It was like the easy button [and said] ‘All it takes a APUSH to start, making it easy since 1776’ and everyone liked it because it’s funny and [were] like ‘that’s so creative.’ Then people come back and ask me to make them a T-shirt and I just think ‘man, I’m good’.”

Thompson, like Vickroy, gets asked to make shirts which he said sometimes present issues.

“Someone will ask me about doing a shirt for a club and it’s hard to get what you should put on the shirt,” Thompson said. “Striking an idea [for] some clubs that [I don’t have] much to do with [is] hard.”

According to Vickroy ideas sometimes come from her surroundings.

“I was watching TV and saw a Staples commercial [that said] ‘that was easy’ and I was doing APUSH homework and was like ‘wow that’s creative’,” Vickroy said. “[For] the world history one, [I was] actually at a study group and we were like ‘we’re going to conquer the test like a Spartan’ and were like ‘that would be good for the shirts.’”

Further difficulties, according to Vickroy present themselves in money collections.

“Getting everything situated is very stressful,” Vickroy said. “AP world went over a lot easier because there was only one teacher [as opposed] to [U.S.] history [which] had two so that was tricky. What I do is make people pay with cash because checks are too hard to handle, and then I make them put their name on [an] envelope, put the money inside and put their size in there just to double check. You don’t get the shirt unless you pay.”

For Lee and the others this was not a problem as they have sold about 300 shirts which read “Team Kim Possible” on the front and “OPERATION: NEW KIDNEY” on the back and made approximately $2,400.

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