By Aileen Wood Chatterbox Contributor

Next summer, Walnut Hills High School will begin a $65 million, four-year transformation that, in the words of Principal Jeff Brokamp, will make Walnut unequalled “by any school in the state, in the country.”

The enormous project is part of Cincinnati Public Schools’ $1 billion plan launched in 2002 to replace or renovate schools. Some projects in this “Facilities Master Plan” are complete while others, including the new $75 million School for Creative and Performing

Arts and the $35 million overhaul of Hughes High School, are under way.

Walnut will emerge from the construction zone in 2014 with a whole new look. Nearly two-thirds of the project is dedicated to a total renovation of the main school building. Built in 1931, it will receive long-overdue infrastructure repairs, a new heating system and – can you believe it? – central air conditioning.

But what might create the most buzz around campus are the new additions extending from the north side and the Arts & Sciences wing toward the stadium. This addition will house a state-of-the-art music wing and athletic facility.

“It’s what the students deserve,” Brokamp said. “I think there will be no school like Walnut Hills.”

When completed, Walnut facilities will have grown in size by about 25 percent, to 325,200 square feet.

The new athletic facility will put Walnut more on par with suburban and private schools that have enviable sports complexes. The new gymnasium, next to the stadium, will be used for high school games and 9-12 physical education classes.

T h e m a i n g y m w i l l accommodate more spectators, and the complex will include offices for

coaches and staff, sports locker rooms and a weight room.

Not to be forgotten, the existing gym will be modernized with new floors and bleachers. Below the gym, the two undersized, end-to-end pools will be combined into an Olympic-sized pool worthy of staging swim meets.

By the fall of 2014, music students will have traded a leaky, catacomb-like warren in favor of a new, above-ground facility closer to the football field.

Brokamp said he cannot wait for the music department’s new home. “The gap between the quality of our music program at Walnut and the

quality of the building is enormous,” he noted.

The vacated music wing, built in 1976, is to be renovated – no more leaks – for a new modern languages wing.

Other perks from the renovation and expansion project include new electrical and plumbing systems, new computers, updated software for the library and computer labs, new flooring, a new roof for the A r t s & S c i e n c e s w i n g , consolidation of administrative and guidance offices, and more student lockers.

(Continued on News Page 2)

Page Editors: David Lerner & Sam Dubin Walnut Hills High School Vol. CIV, No. 2, October 30, 2009

The Skinny

October 31 Halloween

November 1

Open House Tours 1-3 pm

November 3 Election Day

November 9

No School - Veterans’ Day

November 16-20 Community Action Team

Coat Drive

November 25-27 Thanksgiving Holiday Break

Building Boom Massive Changes Coming to WHHS With Renovation, Expansion

Students Text and Drive A Dangerous Duo

Architect’s concept of the large addition, as seen from Jonathon Avenue. Below left: Aerial view shows building additions in black. Courtesy SHP Creative

Inside:

Texting and Driving: A Dangerous Duo Viewpoints, Page 3

Girls Cross Country Wins FAVC Championship

Walnut Football Breaks Losing Streak Sports, Page 4

Taylor-Made Costumes Style & Culture, Page 6

Rachel Horn Chatterbox Staff Writer

A new course was offered this year to a select group of students in hopes of raising Walnut’s already high college entrance test scores.

Th e semest e r - lon g c lass combines the existing Time to Speak coursework with PSAT, SAT, and ACT test preparation.

On Mondays and Fridays, Theater and Speech Department Chairman Tom Peters teaches a condensed version of the Time to Speak curriculum to a group of about 15 juniors. College counselor

Kathy Restle takes over on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to help the students prepare for crucial college entrance exams, such as the PSAT administered Oct. 14. Next semester, the class will be offered to sophomores.

Mrs. Restle said that the sophomores and juniors who are enrolled in this new course were selected based on their high PSAT scores from last year.

“We were noticing that at Walnut there were students with a lot of potential to do well, but they were missing the National Merit selection index by just a few

points,” she said. By scheduling some of these high scorers to take a preparation course, Walnut hopes to increase the number of juniors who qualify for National Meri t Scholarships.

Several students taking the class said they think the test preparation has indeed helped.

After taking the PSAT earlier this month, junior Eric Wessling said the course had especially helped him learn essential vocabulary words for the test.

“It’s a lot of work,” he said, “but on the test itself, you realize it was more helpful than you thought.”

Fellow junior Sarah Brennan agreed. “The class made me work on preparing, which I wouldn’t have done on my own … so it was helpful,” she said.

The school hasn’t decided whether or not to modify Time to

Speak permanently or, for that matter, whether the pilot course, as Mrs. Restle put it, will even survive another year.

She stressed that any student seeking to improve his or her test scores has school resources at their disposal, whether in a classroom setting or not.

“All kids at Walnut have a chance to come in [to the College Information Center] at study hall and during lunch,” Mrs. Restle said. “That same type of preparation is available if kids want to take advantage of it.”

Pilot Course Helps Students with Test Preparation

“Walnut hopes to increase the number

of juniors who qualify for National Merit

Scholarships.” - Kathy Restle, C.I.C.

Almost everyone has done it. While drivers navigate traffic,

the cell phone beeps, indicating another text message has been received. Chances are it’s just a friend, perhaps dying to share the latest gossip. According to a AAA study, among teen-aged drivers, 60 percent would read the text message and reply. They do not realize that they are putting lives seriously at risk.

In 2008, more than 6,000 deaths were caused by drivers who were distracted by cell phones, making it the leading cause of fatal car accidents. The death toll includes drivers, passengers, and drivers of

surrounding cars, making it dangerous for both drivers and people around them (AAA Transportation Services).

The “texting while driving” phenomenon sparked in 2007 when many teens and, yes, even adults began focusing on their cell phones rather than the road, contributing to nearly 4,000 deaths. Now that cell phones with texting capability are becoming must-have equipment, the number of car crashes caused by texting is expected to increase by four percent a year (Road & Travel magazine).

The prediction is one of many studies and surveys establishing that

texting while driving should be avoided.

A study at Virginia Tech showed that for every six seconds of driving time, people pre-occupied with their phones spend 4.6 of those seconds with their eyes off the road.

Traveling at 60 miles per hour on the highway, the driver travels over 528 feet every six seconds, the study notes. The Virginia Tech study reports that reaction time is slowed by 35 percent when reading or writing a text message. This compares to a 12 percent decrease in reaction time when a driver is at the threshold of intoxication.

(continued on page 2)

A student holds his phone on his steering wheel to text while at a red light. This is just one of the many ways teens text while driving. Photo by Joe Walsh / Chatterbox

Page Editors: Sam Dubin & David Lerner The Chatterbox—Walnut Hills High School October 30, 2009 / Page 2

News

Coreena Kuhl Chatterbox Staff Writer

Following the national shortage of H1N1 vaccines, the free vaccinations offered at Walnut have been indefinitely delayed.

In Cincinnati Public Schools, students can receive the flu vaccination free after filling out a parental consent form. The goal of the vaccination program for CPS is to keep students healthy, in class, and to prevent the spread of the flu throughout schools. School officials recommend that sick students stay home until one day after symptoms subside.

At Walnut Hills, precautions such as placing hand sanitizer and Kleenex in every classroom and sanitizing door knobs and drinking fountains during each class period are taken to prevent the spread of germs.

The vaccination being provided for Walnut Hills students is a nasal spray known as live attenuated

influenza vaccine (LAIV). This vaccine was developed for H1N1 at the end of April when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) distributed the virus to drug makers.

The vaccine received approval

from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Sept. 15, and will be used for the active immunization of people ages 2-49. Studies have shown that the seasonal flu shot will not protect against the H1N1 flu.

LAIV contains live virus strains that have been weakened so that they do not cause the flu. LAIV is designed to prompt the body to

begin an immune response after the first dose. The vaccine has not been guaranteed to protect everyone. Some possible side effects of the vaccine are runny nose, nasal congestion, fever, and sore throat.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that certain groups of the population receive the H1N1 vaccine as it first becomes available.

Among these “target groups” are “persons between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old.”

Different from the seasonal flu, the risk of swine flu infection among young people is higher than the risk for individuals age 65 or older

Even with the vaccine, it is important to maintain good habits such as hand-washing, coughing into hands or sleeves, disposing of tissues immediately after use, and using hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available.

Free Swine Flu Vaccines Delayed; Not Enough Supply to Go Around

Walnut Text-Drivers: “Why Not?” (Continued from page 1)

Although senior Sophie Roos

has memorized the key pad of her cell phone, she admits that she catches herself looking at her phone more than the road.

“It’s one of my worst habits,” she said. “I really need to stop b e fo re so meth in g ho r r ib l e happens.”

Insurance companies are becoming keenly aware when drivers in accidents were punching their little keypads. During accident investigations, insurers can gain access to drivers’ call logs and text message records to determine if texting preceded an accident.

States, meanwhile, have begun

clamping down on the practice. So far, 18 states have banned texting while driving, and six have banned cell phone usage while driving entirely.

Those saying no to driving with a cell phone in hand include California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington (National Conference of State Legislature). Ohio is currently considering a bill that would make texting while driving a primary offense. If it becomes law, police officers would be able to ticket drivers for simply glancing down at their phone.

Senior Weston Wolf thinks that a law banning texting while driving would be “completely ridiculous.”

He also said that “Some people say that it is bad but I feel like if you practice at it and pay attention to both the road and your phone it is ok.”

On a more humorous note, Senior Nathan Ziemba commented , “Some might say texting while driving is dangerous. I think they are just jealous they don’t have the skill.”

(Continued from page 1) The new construction adds

65,000 square feet, a little more than the 1999 Arts and Sciences wing that was funded by the Wal-nut Hills Alumni Foundation. About one-quarter of the new pro-ject cost is covered by the State of Ohio, with the remainder coming from the Cincinnati Public Schools bond levy passed by voters in 2002. The Walnut Hills Alumni Founda-tion does not have to raise money for this massive renovation and expansion, but assists with the plan-ning of the project.

“We are excited to see this pro-ject begin,” said Grant Hesser, chairman of the WHHS Facilities Committee and a 1965 graduate. “The renovation of the main build-ing, a new academic and music wing along with additional athletic facilities will provide the next gen-eration of WHHS students with facilities that match 21st century learning opportunities and also address our growing enrollment.”

The project also will make Wal-nut the greenest public school in Cincinnati – green as in energy efficient and built with renewable materials. “Walnut will be the first public school in Cincinnati to be accredited with gold LEED certifi-cation,” explained Deborah

Heldman, executive director of the Walnut Hills Alumni Foundation. The ‘gold’ certification is the high-est available from the U.S. Green Building Council, which wrote the Leadership in Energy and Environ-mental Design (LEED) guidelines for sustainable construction.

Construction begins immediately after classes end in May 2010, Heldman said. Temporary, modular classrooms will be brought in to accommodate classes during reno-vation work on the main building. “We will begin the renovation of the north wing portion of the main building in late fall or early winter,” she said. “These temporary class-rooms will be located on the prac-tice fields next to the gym. This will be a phased project; when the north wing is finished we will move back in and begin the south wing.”

Core areas – the library, audito-rium, lunchroom, existing gym and administration areas – will be worked on during the summer peri-ods so they’ll be functional during the school year, she added.

What about that favorite gather-ing space for students? “The Com-mons area will be replaced, but not in its current location,” Heldman said. “We are looking a several areas and also looking to expand our outdoor eating areas in gen-eral.”

One student prefers to text over the wheel, while the other prefers to text “freestyle”, or in his lap. Which do you do? Photo by Joe Walsh / Chatterbox Photo Editor

All students can receive the flu

vaccination free after filling out a parental

consent form.

“Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a

distracted driver.”

- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

“Worst offenders are the

youngest drivers: men and women under 20 years of age.”

- NHTSA

“87 percent (polled) consider

drivers texting or e-mailing to pose a ‘very serious’ safety threat.” - AAA

Construction Close at Hand for WHHS Campus

Homecoming Court 2009

A Look at the Future Artist’s rendering of the new high school gymnasium. The addition would extend towards Jonathan Avenue. The project could commence as early as January with creation of a new parking lot at the corner of Blair and Pleasant View avenues. Courtesy SHP Creative

Seniors Chris Bucey and Shauniece Steele were crowned King and Queen of the 2009 Homecoming Court. Photo by Lifetouch

Juniors Sam Dubin and Jaelynne Johnson were elected Prince and Princess. Photo by Lifetouch

By the Numbers:

Page Editors: Shiwani Kamath and Gideon Resnick The Chatterbox—Walnut Hills High School October 30, 2009 / Page 3

Editor in Chief Ryan Bardach

News Editors Sam Dubin David Lerner

Viewpoints Editors Shiwani Kamath Gideon Resnick

Sports Editors Joe Manavalan Andy McDonald

Fine Arts Editor Mia Manavalan

Style & Culture Editors Emily Spencer Riley Theurer

Know Your Nuts Editors Dan Druffel Derek Hattemer

Features Editor Nikki Fisher

Photography Editor Joe Walsh

Business Manager Chris Roark Advisors: Greg Loomis, Jim McNair

E-mail letters, comments, suggestions and complaints to cboxwalnut@gmail.com

Copyright 2009-10 The Chatterbox, Walnut Hills High School,Cincinnati, Ohio

The Chatterbox

Viewpoints

When you text while driving, which of the following best describes where you hold the phone?

On the steeringw heel

On your lap

In mid-air

Somew here else53.85%

23.08%

18.68%

4.4%

Serena Dugan Chatterbox Staff Columnist

Unfortunately for teen-agers, we get quite a bad rap when it comes to vehicular operation.

The majority of adults toss us all into a pile of the same unseemly classification: a teen-age driver is no more than a reckless, easily dis-tracted, crash-inducing scourge with an uncanny ability to create road-side carnage. I, for one – and I’m sure many of you would agree – believe these accusations to be un-fair, unwarranted, and downright ridiculous. The majority of teen-agers are actually safe drivers.

Therefore, I find it quite unfortu-nate that a few careless hooligans are responsible for the unjustified denigration of all those individuals helplessly trapped between the ages of 16 and 21. It seems to me that society should be far more con-cerned with the ailing geriatric population that can scarcely drive on the right-hand side of the yellow line.

It is utterly perplexing that peo-

ple so singularly concerned with teen-age drivers totally disregard the dangers posed by the elderly population. Yet as much as I would like to preserve the integrity of teen-age drivers everywhere, there is one major offense for which my

age bracket is extremely guilty. This serious and imminent threat is one that Grandma Jones could not possibly pose: the decision to text message while operating a motor vehicle.

Many teenagers seem to think that sheer invincibility and superhu-man multi-tasking powers enable them to defy nature. This however, is not the case. As slick and text-

savvy as you may deem yourself to be, no matter which way you cut it, texting while driving is extraordi-narily dangerous. Your concentra-tion, reflexes, and overall instinc-tual responses are so far hampered by texting that your risk of having a car accident is greater than that of an individual driving under the influence.

No matter how crucial your girl-friend’s message about the latest episode of “90210,” despite how your cell phone beckons you, use some common sense and wait until you park the car to pick up the phone. Explaining to the police why you’ve crashed into a utility pole is not a happy scenario. By ignoring your phone, you can save your li-cense and your life; think of it as a 2-for–1 sale.

And imagine: If we can all stop texting while we drive, it might be possible to remove the awful stigma that a teenage driver is no more than a safety hazard on wheels. Do us all a favor: the next time you get in your car, turn off your cell phone and stow it in your backpack. Your friends can wait; your life can’t.

By Jon Moller Chatterbox Contributor

For those of you who are sopho-mores, this year may be your first encounter with AP classes. For others, perhaps still mentally fried from AP exams in May, the new year brings a new slew of courses redeemable for college credit. Yet for nearly everyone who signs up, Advanced Placement classes repre-sent significant academic chal-lenges.

Disappointed by their grades during the semester, some AP stu-dents find themselves imploding because they can’t handle the aca-demic challenges that these classes present. These students – including myself and no doubt some of you – sometimes feel that their brains failed to grasp the latest ingestion of class material. Some may have trouble conceptu-alizing the deriva-tive (AP Calcu-lus); some may not remember the chemical path-ways of aerobic respiration in their entirety (AP Biol-ogy); and some may wrestle with applications of Newtonian mechanics (AP Phys-ics).

Comprehension problems aren’t limited to mathematics and the sciences. AP humanities classes can be equally overwhelming. Those of you taking AP Latin: Vergil will be familiar with the task of writing an essay analyzing a 20-line passage from the Aeneid within 45 minutes. It already takes much effort to write essays that thoroughly analyze, evaluate, or assess a subject. It is often difficult to know simply how to begin; it is often difficult to know how to best use the available information to support an argument.

While these courses may appear confounding from the outset, they need not be. It only takes persis-tence and mental flexibility to con-

quer them. If you’re in Walnut, you’ve probably got it. Moreover, AP classes don’t require hours of studying each day. AP classes don’t need to overwhelm extracurricular activities.

All of these courses involve problem-solving, thus they call for consistent practice and thorough study. Consistent practice goes much further than cramming before a major exam.

And understanding new con-cepts in these courses requires multi-faceted perception. In other words, an idea must be viewed in more than one context. The state of American labor today, for example, must be assessed in not only eco-nomic but also political and social terms.

The intended result of these classes is that you – the stu-dent – gain new insights and new under-standing in a specific field, as well as col-lege credit. AP classes prepare you for critical thinking, an

integral part of college. Yet these classes are most bene-

ficial because they promote innova-tive thinking. Thomas Edison never took AP classes, but he utilized the same problem-solving techniques in much of his work.

Later in his life, Edison strove to develop a plant that would effi-ciently produce rubber. He was only successful after he had ana-lyzed the rubber content of hun-dreds of plants, eliminated the less efficient species, and cross-bred the remaining plants countless times.

It was persistence and repetition that made Edison successful. They will make the AP student success-ful, too.

Moller is a junior who was on

last year’s dominating Walnut Quiz Team.

Texting: Teens Get the Rap Again

Alleviating the Stresses

of AP Classes

“Society should be far more concerned with

the ailing geriatric population that can

scarcely drive on the right-hand side of the

yellow line.”

“Thomas Edison

never took AP classes, but he utilized the

same problem-solving techniques in much

of his work. ”

The Evolution of Walnut Football Drawn by J.P. Schmitz

Walnut World Featuring Jon Moller 

Junior and senior drivers at Walnut Hills were surveyed about texting while driving. Of the 137 responses, approxi-mately 33.6 percent said that they never texted while driving, while about 22.6 percent of the total respondents indicated that they frequently do it.

Among those that do text and drive, 53.8 percent of the students said they held the phone in front of them. As to the legality of texting while driving, 40.1 percent of respondents said it should be banned, while 34.3 percent thought that both texting and talking

on cell phones should remain legal for Ohio drivers. More than 53 percent of students said that using Bluetooth or other hands-free cell phone applica-tions would make for less of a distrac-tion. A third of students disagreed.

Page Editors: Joe Manavalan & Andy McDonald The Chatterbox—Walnut Hills High School October 30, 2009 / Page 4

Sports

Ben Fricke

Chatterbox Contributor

As the end of the fall season

draws near, the Walnut Hills girls

cross-country team has closed out

one of its most successful seasons in

recent memory.

On Oct. 17, for the first time ever,

the girls team claimed the cross

country championship in the Cardi-

nal Division of the FAVC as the

Eagles edged Kings, 29-32. In cross-

country, the team with the lower

score wins.

Freshman sensation Erin

McAuliffe won the 5-kilometer race

with a 19:14.00 time, breaking Wal-

nut Hills’ school record in that race

by 16 seconds. Because of her con-

sistency in races and placement in

the top five in all of her varsity

meets this year, McAuliffe was

named the FAVC’s Runner of the

Year.

Along with McAuliffe, two other

runners, Emily Akin and Maryn

Lowry, were named to the First

Team All-FAVC. Head coach Bill

Valenzano was named the division’s

Coach of the Year.

The team had other successes as

well earlier in the year. The team

started off the season with a bang,

winning its first varsity race of the

season at the Milford invitational.

At the next race, the team tied for

first place with Centerville High

School. Although they lost in a tie-

breaker, the team’s finish raised

eyebrows because Centerville is a

perennial powerhouse in cross-

country and consistently makes it to

the state meet every year.

After these remarkable runs, the

girls team reached as high as sixth in

the Enquirer’s Division I top 10.

“This ranking underestimates

how well the girls have really done

this year,” Valenzano said. “The

lady Eagles could very easily be

ranked higher in the polls.”

More recently, Walnut was

ranked seventh on The Enquirer list

but was behind teams such as Leba-

non, which had already served as

Eagle carrion once this season.

“We could’ve beaten Lebanon a

second time if not for a mess up in

the scoring at the St. Xavier Invita-

tional,” Valenzano said.

This year’s cross-country team

was solid, consisting of runners who

could post a 21-minute time or be-

low in a varsity meet. The includes

senior captain Claire Janke, juniors

Allison Nurre and Emily Akin, and

freshmen Erin McAuliffe, Maryn

Lowry, Megan Koenig, and Rachel

Jarrold-Grapes.

With only one senior graduating

and four freshmen on the team,

Valenzano said, “The team looks

prepared to jump to even greater

heights in the future.”

Adam Wolf

Chatterbox Staff Writer

Winning records don’t seem to

come easily for the Walnut Hills

football team. In fact, they never

seem to happen at all.

The notion of a winning season

used to be an ongoing joke around

Walnut and in all corners of Cincin-

nati. People looked at Walnut as a

perennial bottom-feeder.

But this season, the varsity foot-

ball team has a chance of posting its

first winning season in nine years.

With a 7-6 win over Amelia two

weeks ago, the team improved its

record to 5-3, assuring itself of at

least a break-even season.

“Credit goes to players as well as

the coaching staff,” said Head

Coach George Kontsis. “ We came

in with a vision for a championship

program at Walnut Hills and we’re

pulling through.”

But with this week’s loss to Wil-

mington, the team is now 5-4, with

just one game left at Kings to grasp

that ever-elusive winning record.

Kontsis said “We plan on being

competitive against Kings and play-

ing them hard the whole game.”

Another win would match the

school’s last winning season in

2000, when it went 6-4.

Starting 3-0, this team has had

fans abuzz since the beginning of

the season. The Eagles faced a hic-

cup in their run for success with

back-to-back losses to Turpin and

Little Miami, putting them at a 4-3

record. After the loss to Little Mi-

ami, Kontsis said, “ You come into

every game expecting a win. It was

a disappointing

loss.” The team

bounced back

with a nail-biting

win over Amelia.

Even then, the

team had to over-

come more doses

of adversity with

the loss of key

players like sen-

ior kicker Brad

Janitz, who is out

with an ankle

injury. “Although

we’re a little low

on numbers now

due to injuries

and we’ve lost a

couple players

due to grades,

we’ll still be

competitive,”

Kontsis assured.

Coming off the

loss of two-time

all-conference

quarterback Ben

Heiser to gradua-

tion, Walnut’s offense in 2009 has

been of the “who dey” variety.

Sophomore Kenny Davis is a dou-

ble TD threat as a running back and

kickoff returner, while junior quar-

terback Dez Stewart runs the of-

fense through the air and on the

ground. Miles Crawley, Derek Jack-

son, and J.R. Roley each have over

100 receiving yards.

With all five returning next year,

the future bodes well for the resur-

gent football program.

After seven dismal seasons and a

36-game losing streak between

2004 and 2008, the Eagles gave

notice early that they were no long-

er conference doormats. Perhaps

opening the season on St. Xavier’s

home field left the team with long-

lasting karma. Walnut beat Purcell

Marian in that game and has been

competitive ever since.

Courtney Chase

Chatterbox Staff Writer

Ever since former coach Tim

Mersch left the Walnut Hills volley-

ball program in 2006, the varsity

and junior varsity teams have strug-

gled to re-establish themselves as

Cincinnati powerhouses.

Last year, varsity managed an

overall record of 10-15. Although

this was an improvement from

2007’s record of 5-17, the girls

knew that they had more talent than

these losing records showed.

The players kept their heads held

high and continued to work hard but

something was missing: passion.

This year, Dion Reyes joined the

team as coach, and the team has

come back to life.

“A lot of our success was the

hard work and the belief that these

girls had in themselves,” Reyes

said. “It was their decision to buy

into what I wanted to do at Walnut

that has brought about a new pas-

sion.”

Coaching alone isn’t responsible

for the team’s improved record. The

girls, who are very close and think

of each other as sisters, spend more

than 20 hours a week practicing in

the gym together.

Walnut players try to psyche out

their opponents in a pre-game

“ground roll” in which the team lies

in a circle, hits the floor with their

hands, screams, rolls to the right

and back to the left. Walnut’s girls

further pump themselves up by

singing and dancing to Miley Cy-

rus’ ‘Party in the USA’ and playing

a game called ‘little Sally Walker’.

“We like to mess around but

when it’s time to play, we instantly

become focused,” says senior Alys-

sa Essert.

The varsity team has a record of

13-9, recently defeating Little Mi-

ami on Walnut’s senior night in a

grueling five-game match.

Now that season play has ended,

the Lady Eagles will start the

playoffs against Colerain, a team

they beat earlier in the season. If the

team does well in the tournament, it

will ultimately have to face volley-

ball powers like St. Ursula.

“We’re going to fight until we

can’t physically play anymore,”

said junior Jenna Bange.

Although seven seniors will be

leaving the team behind, they say

they hope that this is the beginning

of a series of winning seasons.

Walnut Volleyball ReboundingWalnut Volleyball ReboundingWalnut Volleyball ReboundingWalnut Volleyball Rebounding

Walnut Football Breaks Losing StreakWalnut Football Breaks Losing StreakWalnut Football Breaks Losing StreakWalnut Football Breaks Losing Streak

Cross Country GirlsCross Country GirlsCross Country GirlsCross Country Girls Dominate As FAVC ChampsDominate As FAVC ChampsDominate As FAVC ChampsDominate As FAVC Champs

Quarterback Dez Stewart receives the snap as the offense marches down the field Quarterback Dez Stewart receives the snap as the offense marches down the field Quarterback Dez Stewart receives the snap as the offense marches down the field Quarterback Dez Stewart receives the snap as the offense marches down the field against Amelia. The Eagles won the game 7against Amelia. The Eagles won the game 7against Amelia. The Eagles won the game 7against Amelia. The Eagles won the game 7----6.6.6.6. Courtesy of walnutsports.shutterfly.com

Freshman phenom Erin McAuliffe races towards the finish line as Freshman phenom Erin McAuliffe races towards the finish line as Freshman phenom Erin McAuliffe races towards the finish line as Freshman phenom Erin McAuliffe races towards the finish line as she leads the girls cross country team.she leads the girls cross country team.she leads the girls cross country team.she leads the girls cross country team. Courtesy of walnutsports.shutterfly.com

Soccer Wrap UpSoccer Wrap UpSoccer Wrap UpSoccer Wrap Up

“ We came in with a vision for a championship program at

Walnut Hills and we’re pulling through.”

-Coach George Kontsis

“We’re going to

fight until we can’t physically play

anymore”

- Jenna Bange

A thrilling playoff run from the boys soccer team finally came to an A thrilling playoff run from the boys soccer team finally came to an A thrilling playoff run from the boys soccer team finally came to an A thrilling playoff run from the boys soccer team finally came to an end Oct. 27 after a 3end Oct. 27 after a 3end Oct. 27 after a 3end Oct. 27 after a 3----3 loss to top seeded Mason, finishing with an 3 loss to top seeded Mason, finishing with an 3 loss to top seeded Mason, finishing with an 3 loss to top seeded Mason, finishing with an 11111111----6666----2 record after wins in the first two rounds. The first was a 22 record after wins in the first two rounds. The first was a 22 record after wins in the first two rounds. The first was a 22 record after wins in the first two rounds. The first was a 2----1 1 1 1 win over Hamilton in the final 20 seconds of regulation, and the win over Hamilton in the final 20 seconds of regulation, and the win over Hamilton in the final 20 seconds of regulation, and the win over Hamilton in the final 20 seconds of regulation, and the second came Oct. 24 over Moeller with the Eagles winning 4second came Oct. 24 over Moeller with the Eagles winning 4second came Oct. 24 over Moeller with the Eagles winning 4second came Oct. 24 over Moeller with the Eagles winning 4----3 on 3 on 3 on 3 on penalty kicks after the teams remained tied following two over-penalty kicks after the teams remained tied following two over-penalty kicks after the teams remained tied following two over-penalty kicks after the teams remained tied following two over-times. The girls varsity soccer team finished its season 8times. The girls varsity soccer team finished its season 8times. The girls varsity soccer team finished its season 8times. The girls varsity soccer team finished its season 8----8888----2 after 2 after 2 after 2 after a seconda seconda seconda second----round playoff loss to Mason.round playoff loss to Mason.round playoff loss to Mason.round playoff loss to Mason. Joe Tadesse / Photo Contributor

Page Editor: Mia Manavalan The Chatterbox—Walnut Hills High School October 30, 2009 / Page 5

Fine Arts

Fall Events

Three Sisters

Playhouse in the Park

Oct. 21 – Nov 24 Showtimes will

vary

Rent Aronoff Center for

the Arts: Cincinnati

Oct. 28 – Nov. 1 7:30 p.m.

Ingrid Michalson

20th Century Theater, Oakley

Oct. 29 8:00 p.m.

Tracy Morgan Taft Theater

Cincinnati, OH Nov. 7

8:00 p.m.

Oliver! Walnut Hills High

School Nov 19 – 21 7:30 p.m.

Junior High

Instrumental Concert

Walnut Hills High School

Dec. 1 7:00 p.m.

Junior High Choir

Concert Walnut Hills High School

Dec. 3 7:00 p.m.

Holiday Choir

Concert Walnut Hills High School

Dec 8 7:00 p.m.

Matisyahu Bogarts Dec. 3

8:00 p.m. A Christmas Carol Playhouse in the

Park Dec 3 – 30

Showtimes will vary

By Ben Brandincourt Chatterbox Staff Writer

A great way to spend summer

days hanging out with friends, lis-tening to music, and drawing, all the while getting paid minimum wage, is available through the city of Cin-cinnati’s ArtWorks program.

The program, funded by the city, the Fine Arts Fund and private do-nors, is open to teens between the ages of 14 and 19. Since its incep-tion in 1996, it has employed more than 2,000 teenagers.

Over the course of a summer, ‘apprentice’ artists work with other teen-agers and professional leaders to create murals in participating neighborhoods across the city. The murals “speak to the city's history, imagination, and aspirations, while acting as powerful agents of neighborhood transformation, civic pride, and identity, Artworks has the power to inspire, engage, and trans-form lives, ” said Tamara Harkavy, the director of the Artworks Pro-gram.

ArtWorks murals included a wall of Keller’s IGA in Clifton, a wall of the Blue Manatee book store in Oakley, and one on the Easter Seals Work Resource Center in Walnut Hills. Others are in Over-the Rhine, Columbia Tusculum, O’Bryonville and downtown..

The program aims to create works of art for public appreciation while also bringing young artists alongside working artists in a men-toring atmosphere. In addition to the

art, the program seeks to instill skills such as public speaking, time management, workplace etiquette, teamwork, problem solving, and leadership. To enter the program, applicants need to prepare five pieces of art, including one still-life and one self-portrait.

Applicants are interviewed to make sure they have the personal skills required to work well with other students and mentors on the job. If accepted, they put in five-hour days over six weeks, earning $7.30 an hour.

“It was a lot of fun and a great experience,” said sophomore Paul Neidhard.

Jessica Fann, also a sophomore, added, “It had its up and downs. Downs because I was unlucky enough to work in the basement, but we didn't have to stay under the sun the whole day. Ups because I got paid $32 to make cucumber sand-wiches."

Other ArtWorks participants from Walnut include Frances New-berry, Cush King, Vashti Blackmon, Dominick Clark, Joe Walsh, Alex Knapp, Sydney Lister, and Lilli Currens.

Participants say that the experi-ence of camaraderie and teamwork is almost as fulfilling as the art it-self. The money doesn’t hurt.

“You spend your summer draw-ing and getting paid lots of money,” said sophomore Ruby Bachemin, who has been participating in Art-Works for two summers. “Who can complain about that?”

By Alex Sukin Chatterbox staff writer

A new course is being offered at

Walnut this year – a piano class. Lucy Hattemer, a ninth-grader,

came up with the idea of a class for talented pianists. The goal of the class is no less than to improve students’ piano skills, help them achieve their full potential and pre-pare them for t h e a n n u a l World Piano C o m p e t i t i o n coming to Cin-cinnati, which will be held June 28- July 2, 2010.

Two Walnut students will be part icipat ing, Hattemer and s o p h o m o r e Vivian Mao. They meet with their teacher, S i m o n Goykhman of SCPA, after school for a 30-minute class session on Mondays and Wednes-days and a hour long private session on Fridays.

“We play our piece for the teacher, he comments on it, and helps us to improve upon the piece and our piano skills,” Mao said.

Ten students auditioned for the class, but only the two girls were

admitted. Mao said the class is a great opportunity “if you are a dedi-cated player,” Mao said. Clearly, Mao and Hattemer fit this category.

Mao also said, “It’s such a great experience and I’m so excited to be a part of this.”

Mr. Goykhman, is also a faculty member at the Cincinnati Conserva-tory of Music. “He has taught many students in preparation for the

World Piano Com-petition two of whom won grand prizes”, said Mao. The competition, established in 1956, receives around 750 applicants yearly from around the world and takes place at the Aronoff Center. Winners perform at a variety of prestigious ven-ues, including Car-negie Hall in New York. Mr .Go ykh man ’s two Walnut stu-dents and others were to have played a t a “B a ch -B e e t h o v e n -

Brahms” recital on October 26. With a 2-1student-teacher ratio,

Walnut’s new piano class offers quite the learning opportunity for Hattemer and Mao.

“I hope this program will expand so more students can get a chance to be part of it,” Hattemer said.

WORLD CLASS New Piano Course Aims for International Level

By Emily Friedman Chatterbox staff writer

Carlton Monroe could not be

happier about landing in his new teaching position in the Walnut Hills choir program.

Dr. Monroe arrived by way of Miami University, Georgia College and State University and, most recently, Ursuline High School. But Walnut is where he wants to be.

“Walnut has a fantastic reputa-tion as a school,” he said. “The music program is great. The caliber of the students is off the charts.”

Dr. Monroe is no unknown quantity, having known choir program director Lisa Peters for years. Be-sides co-leading the senior choir, he also teaches the new woman’s, which is open to all girls in grades9-12.

The Women’s Choir music ranges from pieces written in the last five years to classics from the 1 8 t h cen t u r y. Th e Women’s Choir is singing a variety of pieces, includ-ing one in Latin.

Dr. Monroe said he was inspired to go into music by his admiration for the American composer, ar-ranger and conductor James Erb. Teaching, he said, allows him to share his love of music with others, all the more be-cause he is now at Walnut and alongside Ms. Peters.

He cited Walnut for its intellectual rigor, diversity and high level of achieve-

ment. So far, his students seem to like him.

“He’s really nice!” said Lainie Eichner, a freshman in the Women’s Choir. “He’s lots of fun and does lots of cool activities.”

Said fellow freshman and choir member Liliana Luna-Nelson: “I like him a lot. He realizes our po-tential and expects us to live up to it.”

Dr. Monroe said the feelings are mutual. He never could have imag-ined how much fun it would be to teach high school students. He said the first quarter has surpassed his expectations.

“They ask so many compelling questions,” he said. “They are open-minded, motivated, intelli-gent, and curious, all in a wonderful way.”

After receiving his undergradu-ate degree in musical education at Louisiana State University, Dr. Monroe earned a doctorate in cho-ral conducting at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

New Choir Teacher Sees Excellence Here

A Window to the Past: A Reflection of Ludlow. Kelley Hensing was the lead artist, with apprentices Plivia Suffern, Chloe Williamson, Evan Hand and Emilie Clark. Adrienne Donica / Chatterbox photographer

Mr. Monroe poses outside his classroom for a picture Michelle Baverman / Chatterbox photographer

Walnut Students Perk Up the City in ArtWorks Program

The goal of the class is no less

than to prepare students for the annual World

Piano Competition,

coming to Cincinnati in

2010. “They are open-

minded, motivated, intelligent and curious, all in a wonderful way.”

— Carlton Monroe on Walnut students

Page Editors: Emily Spencer & Riley Theurer The Chatterbox—Walnut Hills High School October 30, 2009 / Page 6

Style & Culture

By Alexis Nelson Chatterbox Staff Writer

If you don’t feel like going out for Halloween this year, turn it into an occasion to treat yourself to some classically creepy thrillers. There are plenty of titles to choose from: the original Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera and The Mummy should be on any A-List. But for now, try these keepers from horror genius Alfred Hitchcock. They are sure to make your living room scarier than any haunted house.

Psycho (1960)

This classic thriller has been regarded as Hitchcock’s crowning jewel for its intense and suspenseful plot line, beautiful black-and-white cinematography, flawless acting, great soundtrack, and a certain famous murder scene that’s sure to leave anyone afraid to take a shower.

The story begins with young secretary, Marion Crane, who in a desperate attempt to start a new life with her lover, steals $40,000 from her boss. While driving from Phoenix, Ariz., to California in a state of paranoia, Marion decides to rest at the Bates Motel, a decision that would prove fatal.

The plot thickens as Marion’s loved ones come searching for her, risking their lives to find out why Marion disappeared. Can they find out what happened, before they, too, are murdered by the psycho?

The Birds (1963)

Another Hitchcock classic, The Birds, is just as terrifying as Psycho.

Though the cinematography during many of the bird attack scenes are a little below par compared with the scenes from some of Hitchcock’s other works, the acting compensates for any feelings of fear that would have been lost.

The plot revolves around Melanie, a young socialite who follows a man she met at a pet store to his home in Bodega Bay (because she likes him, not because she’s some creepy stalker). As soon as she arrives, bird attacks begin to ravage the town. At first, the attacks are relatively harmless, but soon they become seriously and deadly, as masses of birds begin to brutally assault the citizens of Bodega Bay.

A pivotal scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Birds. Photo courtesy of : www.guardian.co.uk

Side Reel: Classic Halloween Movies

By Maddy Becker Chatterbox Contributor

The Woodstock Festival, or simply Woodstock, has gone down in history as the symbol of youth, peace, freedom, and the ultimate demonstration of independent thinking. Originally meant to be a small-scale festival in the rural town of Bethel, N.Y., the August 1969 event grew into a three-day music extravaganza with a lineup of 32 artists and an estimated 500,000 viewers. It had a monu-mental effect and stood as the symbol of America’s youth during

the 1960s and ’70s. Forty years later, Woodstock

continues to influence the fashion and music tastes of American teen-agers, including quite a few at Walnut. “The counterculture of Woodstock and hippie fashion is

extremely influential today,” said Walnut junior Bridget Battle.

Battle and other students wear floral skirts with woven belts and simple blouses – a more modern take on bohemian styles. Girls wear Woodstock-era emblems like flowing dresses, moccasins, and oversized sunglasses and sport long wavy hair. Bridget, and countless others can be seen with this hair style.

Senior Olivia Suffern wears her

hair long and said , “I make two braids around the crown of my head and wear it long to channel the flower child vibe.” Olivia not only styles herself in a free spir-ited manner, but also stays in-volved politically and with her community. She volunteers at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center and in the 2008 Presidential Elections hoping to spread peace and inspire change.

Boys with long hair wear cloth head bands and seem to recoil at the thought of using a brush.

Although fashion was an im-portant part of the 1960s, it was a secondary facet of Woodstock. Some people there bandied about naked! No, Woodstock drew peo-ple for the music and to spur an end to the Vietnam War.

Among the 32 artists playing were Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, the Who, Santana, and Country Joe and the Fish. Among the big no-shows were the Beatles, who had quit touring in 1966 and were a year away from breaking up, and Bob Dylan, who was in negotiations to play, but wound up declining be-cause his son fell ill.

As much as Woodstock re-mains influential today, that will wax and wane with styles and tastes. In fashion, there is always something new, but often the in-spirations are drawn from the past.

Woodstock: How the ’60s Still Influences Today’s Teens

By Boyang Zhang Chatterbox Staff Writer

Taylor Hunt can be confusing. He wears distinctive styles on various occasions that make him easy to spot in a crowd. Style

might not be the right word for it; Hunt dresses in costume.

Hunt, a senior, wears costumes to school as one would wear a mask to a ball, dressing up as

various familiar faces for humor-ous effect and, he would freely admit, to hide his deep-seated need to antagonize the world and everyone in it. In other words, just like many teen-agers, except that most tone it down.

Yet Hunt’s showmanship extends beyond mere eccentricity. He not only wears outrageous outfits on occasion, much to the mirth of his classmates; he assem-bles them from ordinary materials. Thus, all of his creations are “Taylor-made.”

Hunt handled the general dis-comfort of senior pictures with wit and creativity. Hunt dressed up for the photo shoot as Waldo, as in Where’s Waldo. He wore a striped red short-sleeved shirt, only mildly loud until one saw that the stripes were hand-taped.

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, Hunt sometimes adorns himself in honor of his favorite friends.

On occasion, Hunt engages in the identity theft of senior Max Chaiken. Chaiken-watchers know the look: glasses, slicked-back hair, and beard, the latter repli-cated with eyeliner pencil. Hunt also dressed up as sporty senior Ben Fricke. Complete with flam-boyantly bright basketball shorts and a too-tight T-shirt, he was almost indistinguishable from Fricke. His clothes, at least.

Since his father is a book pub-lisher, Hunt gets many of his clothes for free – if you regard T-

shirts emblazoned with “Reading iz LYFE” as clothing. On most days, you will see him wearing a white T with some kind of slogan relating to literacy on it.

Hunt has a retro side, too. Al-though most of Walnut’s male population stopped wearing cargo shorts in third grade, he likes to

play up his boyish good looks with elementary–school wear. Somehow, it works: He has been on three dates. With girls.

Style Profile: ‘Taylor-made’ Costumes

Taylor Hunt striking a pose in one of his many “costumes.” Photo by Joe Walsh / Chatterbox Photo Editor

Cheap Eats: Bella Luna

By Ahena Sehn Chatterbox Writer

At Bella Luna, an Italian restau-rant with a lot of charm and a de-lightfully quirky interior, I couldn’t help but feel comfortable.

Even on a weekday, the restau-rant was extremely busy. For the Halloween season, friendly servers are dressing up in costumes rang-ing from classic to hilarious. One charaded as James Dean (complete with a leather jacket and an atti-tude to match) from Rebel Without a Cause. Another costume that brought laughter from everyone was a man dressed up as an ex-tremely old and heavy woman. The spirit of Halloween was definitely in the air.

As for the food itself, the most popular menu items among fre-quent restaurant patrons included the shellfish stew and veal saltim-bocca, part of the regular menu. Every six or so weeks, Bella Luna changes its menu and features new items from different areas of Italy.

On the dessert menu, the bread pudding with amaretto butter sauce is a must. A signature dessert of the restaurant, it won the Best Taste Award at the Taste of Cin-cinnati in 2008.

However, with such an interest-ing crowd, ambiance, and food, the price is worth it. Here, you’re guaranteed to have a delicious Halloween.

Bella Luna RATING: ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ 4632 Eastern Avenue Cincinnati, OH, 45226 513-871-5862 Hours: Open Tuesday through Sunday at 4:30 www.bellalunacincy.com

Bridget in a ’60s Woodstock-inspired outfit. Photo by: Maddy Becker

“The counterculture of Woodstock and hippie fashion is

extremely influential today”

-Bridget Battle

Taylor Hunt lost in the crowd as Waldo from Where’s Waldo? Photo by Carina Carpenter / Chatterbox Contributor

Page Editors: Dan Druffel & Derek Hattemer The Chatterbox—Walnut Hills High School October 30, 2009 / Page 7

Know Your Nuts

By Alex Autran and Brad Hinger Chatterbox Contributors

Other than the fact that they come from foreign countries, Rai-win Lewsakul and Alexander From had nothing in com-mon, at least until they came to Walnut Hills through the American Field Service (AFS) pro-gram.

Lewsakul hails from Bangkok, Thai-land, a heavily ur-banized city on the southeast coast. Although he jokes that he “rides an elephant to school,” Lewsakul describes a Thailand that is not so different from America. He says that the biggest difference between American schools and Thai schools is that in Thailand “[the students] do not change classes, instead the teachers move classes.”

Music is a big part of Lewsa-kul’s life. He plays guitar, is learn-ing to play steel drum in the Walnut Steel Drum Band, and enjoys listen-ing to all kinds of music. Even be-

fore he came to Walnut, he listened to The Red Hot Chili Peppers and other American bands. He also plays in the AFS band (which can be seen on youtube by typing in “AFS band”).

Lewsakul describes America as “diverse, consuming, and open” and finds that the strang-est aspect of American culture is “people kiss-ing in public.” He asked that the Chatterbox pass on a message to the stu-dents: “Hey Walnut, my name is Beam. Please don’t be afraid to say ‘hi’ to me in the hall. I’m looking forward to making a lot of friends. It helps for

people just to say ‘hi’ to me because sometimes it gets lonely. Oh, and ladies, I’m single.”

Alexander From, known only on his birth certificate as Hugo Her-som, comes from the small city of Skander-porg, Denmark. Drawn to the culture he saw in

Hollywood movies, From came to the United States to hone his Eng-lish and immerse himself in the dynamic American lifestyle.

But From was surprised by how greatly America’s educational sys-tem differed from Denmark’s.

In Denmark, he said, “School is a lot stricter, and everything is based on test scores.” But what strikes From most about American schools is the affiliation between sports and school. The strong school sprit and “cheering for the football team on Friday nights” have been new experiences for From, which he envies.

From plays for Walnut’s varsity soccer team. He also has a passion for music. He listens to both Danish and American bands and likes all kinds of music except heavy metal. Although From used to play trum-

pet, he recently gave it up to learn guitar. From considers himself to be “very open-minded” and “easy to talk to” and hopes to meet new friends. He is easily recognizable by his blonde hair and 6’3” height. And yes, ladies, he too is unspoken for. Next month: two more AFS students

AFS Students at Walnut

By Taylor Hunt Staff Writer and Cartoonist

All-Seeing Eye of Brough Campth (orbis nondorminusaum)

Habitat: EVERYWHERE Call: dead silence Distinguishing Characteristics:

reflective shell, unwavering sen-tience

A new species to Walnut, the All-Seeing Eye of Brough Campth has already produced ripples of fear and com-plaining throughout the population of the stu-dent body. After a few featureless black domes were screwed into the roof, a smat-tering of students who had read 1984 were shocked and outraged to the point of proof that this was in fact, A Big Deal. The new admini-stration was slowly inserting its tendrils into Walnut’s robust, liber-ating environment, twisting and perverting all that we as students hold as good and right. Strangely enough, a few weeks after this mon-strous and gross violation of our

basic rights as human beings, no-body cared.

I, for one, believe that the ASEBC is merely a more evolved version of the current disciplinary niche predator, the Security Guard. Requiring one-fiftieth of the space and zero-fiftieths of the paycheck, the Eyes will proliferate and render the Security Guard endangered.

S o o n the entire d i s c i -p l i n e system will be reduced to an elec- t r o n i c c h i m e r a c o m -posed of 3 0 , 0 0 0 p i n h o l e c a m e r a s ,

seventeen miles of electrical cord, and Dr. Houghton.

Northern Scrufted Janitor (magnus ron)

Habitat: Nomadic Call: “Ehy-jhak!” Distinguishing Characteristics:

plumage tufts, broad bill (on hat), 6’ wingspan

Humanity has often mused on its apparent complete dominance of the food chain. Gifted with advanced

intelligence, Homo sapiens has stomped across every significant piece of land this planet has, and subjugated the smack out of it. However, if my findings are cor-rect, there exists a superior species. The Northern

Scrufted Janitor pos-sesses all of our outward characteristics, but gives himself away by his behavior. This species protects and maintains our school continuously: fighting off large predators in the wee hours of the

morning [pictured: an example of such a spat with the Autumn Gar-bage Dragon], ghostbusting in the middle of the night (the Janitor seems to be able to see and hear wavelengths and frequencies far beyond our pitiful sensory nuggets’ abilities), and cleaning and scouring every surface of our campus to pre-vent organic material from building

u p ( w h i c h w o u l d cause the

school itself to gain sentience and place us all in grave danger). The only thing preventing this species from establishing itself as the true pinnacle of evolution is that it al-ready knows it’s better than us (it may also be that the exact reason for its dominance is the more desirable personality traits, eclipsing our leg-acy of being grabby and selfish).

A final moment of clarification: while a certain member of this

noble species has cemented itself as the most fa-

mous and beloved, the truth is that

there are many others that are proud to call W H H S their habi-

tat. Make sure to at

least make it look like you

tried to clean up after yourself—I

think they can kill you from 200 yards

away with mind bullets.

Hunt’s Guide to Common Corridor Beasties: Part II

You get a call that your favorite cousin is dying in Oakland. You buy a ticket but, once in the air, you hear the pilot announce that you’re enroute to Auckland, New Zealand.

Your boyfriend borrows your car to “run some errands.” You find out later that he went to a pool party at another girl’s house.

You’re a self-proclaimed “hockey mom,”, outraged over the penalty the soccer ref has called against your 6-year-old son.

Michael Peters sat down with one of five prospective valedictori-ans, Sarah Weiskettel

So what exactly is your grade

point average? Sarah: It’s a 4.0 unweighted, but

if you count it on the weighted scale with APs and AAs it’s a 6.0.

Wow, uh, that’s double mine.

Sarah: [Laugh] Congratulat ions.

Anyway, so – jeez, 6.0. Silly question, but was it hard?

Sarah: Yeah, I mean a lot of people think that I’m a genius who doesn’t have to study and I know people like that, but I am not, so I have to spend a lot of time studying. I had no social life for a little while and that was not very fun. But, yeah, I mean it took a challenge. Some classes I was better at than others and didn’t have to study as much, but I defi-nitely spend a lot more time study-ing than most people, I would say.

What’s the lowest grade you’ve ever gotten? If you have a 6.0 I assume that means you’re pretty on top of things.

Sarah: I’m pretty sure I’ve got-ten As as quarter grades in every-thing. Maybe some midterms, but not finals. I think in seventh grade, I might have gotten a B in gym or something, but except for that, yes.

Oh no, a B in gym! What now? Sarah: Yeah, I’ve gotten that a

lot. Would you ever admit to cheat-

ing to get the grades done? Sarah: Um, not really. [Laugh] Not really? Sarah: No, I mean, sometimes

people have copied my work. Espe-cially this year.

Comes with the territory, I would think.

Sarah: Yeah, I don’t really. If I don’t want to do the homework, I

don’t do it. I’ve never cheated on tests because I think if I don’t know it or if I’m too stupid to understand it, then I shouldn’t take someone else’s work.

So was it worth it? Sarah: Honestly I’m not sure. I

would just say no because of all the time I’ve spent on it and how stressed out I’ve been about it, but the one thing that makes me think it had some redeem-ing benefits, is all the college stuff. Being able to say I was valedictorian of Walnut Hills is a huge thing. If I hadn’t been valedictorian, I would have automatically been bumped down to sixth or something. If I hadn’t

been hardcore about everything, chances are I wouldn’t even be that high. As far as getting into college, I’m glad I did the work, but I’m still not completely sure if it was worth it. I put so much time into it and stressed so much about it that it wasn’t even about learning; it was just about getting As.

Not about learning? Sarah: Yes. Isn’t that the point of working so

hard, so that you learn? Sarah: That is why as a senior I

have been taking some classes that I’m more interested in. I’m glad that now I can get back into learn-ing things just to learn them, like with music theory. It’s really cool because school definitely got away from learning, which is one of the reasons why I’m not sure if it was worth it.

That’s some serious stuff. As a valedictorian don’t you have to be excited about school?

Sarah: I like learning in general, but it’s almost like being a valedic-torian is something completely different. You have to take all these classes whether you want to or not. You have to make sure your grades are perfect. It’s not the same thing as liking school, I guess.

In Character: Deanna Ashworth You might remember Deanna Ashworth from last year’s performance of Romeo and Juliet. You can also see her

this November in Oliver!. Photos by Joe Walsh, Chatterbox photo editor.

After Hours: with Michael Peters

Raiwin Lewsakul Photo by Joe Walsh

Alexander From Photo by Joe Walsh

Sarah Weiskettel Photo by Parker Rueve

Photo by Parker Rueve

Page Editor: Nikki Fisher The Chatterbox—Walnut Hills High School October 30, 2009 / Page 8

Features

RULES FOR KENKEN®

Fill the grid with digits so as not to repeat a digit in any row or column, and so the digits within each heavily outlined box will produce the target number shown in that box by using the operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division) shown by the symbol after the numeral. So, for example, the notation 6+ means that the numerals in the box should add up to 6, and the notation 48x means that by multiplying the numbers in the box you will get 48. A 4x4 grid will use the digits 1-4. A 5x5 grid will use 1-5. A 6x6 grid will use 1-6, and so on. ©KenKen Puzzle LLC 2009. KenKen® is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC. All rights reserved. www.kenken.com

September puzzle answers

KenKen

English class. Quick, what was the first

thing you thought of upon read-ing that fragment? Most stu-dents think something about essays. Teachers often think “that class I (don’t) teach.” Mr. Scudder thinks “apex of my day.” Wiseacres tell me “English class.”

Ignoring the individual meanings to these, I can draw one conclusion: knee-jerk re-sponses don’t betray much thought. (If anyone wants to cite me in a behavior study, make sure to put me down as Dr. Wally Hill PhDD. The second D is for extra doctor.) But even if I were to probe a little deeper, I don’t think many of you have devoted serious thought to Eng-lish class (except for Mr. Scud-der). Naturally, I recently have, and you, gentle reader, are go-ing to have to bear the results.

Upon serious thought, Eng-lish is a bizarre class. It is doubtless seen as one of the most important subjects (it takes up two-thirds of the three R’s), but is remarkably scatter-brained in what exactly it teaches. Part of it is learning how exactly to deal with that ridiculous mongrel that has somehow instituted itself as the official language of the world (which has something to do with the British/American habit of subjugating whoever they don’t understand). The other part is learning about how to discuss literature and other works in a reasonable manner, which has varying degrees of success (some people are, by their very nature, incompatible with reason or manners). But going into those a bit more, the

class is just plain spastic. In math, either your equation makes sense or it doesn’t. Grav-ity does not stop working when you don’t think about it. The moon landing happened regard-less of what paranoid conspir-acy theorists “think.” (Quoted because the word “think” sug-gests a sort of logical progres-sion of ideas, which is clearly not what is going on when it comes to these people.) In Eng-lish class, that William Carlos Williams poem about eating a wheelbarrow of plums is either pure poetry distilled into its even more pure essence or what would happen if you gave a chimp a box of refrigerator po-etry magnets. Except I’m pretty sure the chimp’s version would be entertaining.

To explain: in order to under-stand writing, first we must un-derstand what the author was thinking. To do that, we need to understand the historical context of the work, and a good bit of human nature/psychology. We’re introduced to a junkyard of theories, movements, and ideologies. Teachers explain archaic usages and try to stifle giggles whenever swearing comes up. Example: Beowulf is basically a dismal story. But if one reads about the translation efforts, early Britannic epics as a whole, and the endless dis-courses on determining what exactly Grendel is, one finds hundreds of layers behind the tale of how a Danish prince saved the helpless Brits from a big ugly Frenchman. This is English class at its best: not so much a study of writing, as it is a study of humanity and how it uses writing to express itself.

Wally Hill

The Art of Trick-or-Treating

Bio-Eco Leaving Its Mark By Stuart Johnson Chatterbox Contributor

Everyone is going green these days, so why not Walnut Hills?

The school’s recycling program, formed in 1990 by AP Environ-mental Science class teacher Judy Callahan, helps the school give back to the environment.

Bio-Eco Club leaders Gabby Glenn and Clair Bullock, along with Biology AP and 9-Honors teacher Rajni Harsh, have helped Mrs. Cal-lahan manage the recycling project over the years. Its goal is to keep Walnut Hills as green or environ-mentally friendly as possible. “We’re not afraid to get down and dirty for the environment,” said Glenn, a senior.

Currently, the program includes recycling paper, foam and card-board, raising money to buy and place recycling bins around the school, and collecting bottles and cans at all Walnut Hills’ varsity home games. Recycling bins sit in all classrooms and offices. A paper-recycling bin sits near the Arts and Sciences Building.

Organic trash is not neglected in

this program. Compost bins are distributed in the courtyard outside the Art and Science Building, in the teachers’ parking lot and in the teachers’ lunchroom (whew!). Ac-cording to Dr. Harsh, coffee beans not only increase the volume of usable compost, but reduces the stench.

The recycling program also con-verts unwanted fabric into green lunch bags for students. The fabric is supplied by student donors and sent to senior Grace Schottelkotte of the Bio-Eco Club, who sews the bags. The club then sells them at events like EarthJam.

Callahan said that getting rid of e-waste – spent ink cartridges, dis-carded cell phones, and other elec-tronic trash – is an important func-tion of the program. Toward that end, the Bio-Eco Club hosts cell phone drives to make it easy for others to dispose of their old phones properly.

For the past six years, the Bio-Eco Club has hosted Earth Jam, a spring fund-raiser featuring student bands. The profits earned from selling food and reusable lunch bags, go to IMAGO, a non-profit

organization that runs an Earth center and “eco-village” in Price Hill.

This year, Bio-Eco members started a water bottle drive to help deter students from throwing plastic water bottles into trash cans. The club purchases 50 reusable water bottles from a non-profit organiza-tion, then gives them to 50 students whose names are pulled in a draw-ing.

Bullock said members of the Bio-Eco Club are looking forward to the future of their program. In addition to continuing current pro-jects, she said, they hope to place a compost bin in the student lunch-room, and start a series of “Tuesday Tips” announcements of ways to act in earth-friendly ways. Other goals include buying more fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics for reusable lunch bags and placing paper recycling bins all a r o u n d t h e s c h o o l . Callahan said the recycling pro-gram has brought Walnut Hills at least one distinction: the school, she said, generates the least amount of trash per student among Hamilton County high schools.

By Lillian Currens Chatterbox Contributor

With Halloween coming up, we must ask ourselves the ulti-mate question: To trick or treat or to not to trick or treat?

Many of us will answer this question with a resounding “Yes! I love trick or treating, and no age limit will dampen my Halloween spirit!” Others of you are not so quick to jump on the candy-collecting band-wagon.

Well, don’t let being “too old” or “too mature” discourage you from trick-or-treating this Halloween. In case you decide to cast off any doubtful feelings concerning this much loved tradition, here are some helpful pointers on trick-or-treating for the older set.

– Wear a costume!! You

might think costumes are strictly for the kids, but dressing up can be fun. Get creative with your costume. With a little imagina-tion and elbow grease, you can easily whip up a unique costume in no time. And remember: Some people don’t give as much candy to plainclothed trick-or-treaters!

– Map out your route. Be sure to hit up all the houses you know that give out good candy. If you haven’t been trick or treating in a couple of years, ask your little brother or sister for some hints on where you can score the good stuff, i.e. jumbo-sized candy bars and Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups.

– Bring a big bag. Being older and bigger comes with its advantages. You can get from house to house quicker than the little ones and cover much more

ground. – Don’t feel discouraged if

someone turns you away be-cause you’re too old. Just tell yourself that they don’t know what Halloween is really about and continue on your way. Plenty of other houses will be happy to give the older kids candy, too.

– Don’t eat it all in one night. You may think this advice no longer applies to you, but you’ll be happy you didn’t the next day.

Remember, trick-or-treating ends at around 9 so you’ll still have plenty of time to celebrate the holiday with your friends. Happy trick-or-treating!

Bio-Eco Club member Grace Schottelkotte, a senior, with science teacher Dr. Rajni Harsh and the composting unit. Chatterbox photo