Volume 51Issue IIIFebruary 9, 20116001 Cassia St. Boise, ID 83709borahsenator.com

The Borah

Senator

“It’s one thing to put your name into a hat, but then they call your name and you think, ‘oh no what did I get myself into?’” Page 9

See photos from the Key Club blood drive

Page 19

Boise Language Academy to relocate to Borah, Hillside

Page 5

Check out new music venue, gallery: ColorCube

Page 12

Letters to the Editor2 The Borah Senator February 9, 2011

Senator StaffEditor in Chief: Megan MizutaAssociate Editor: Megan Harrigfeld Tech Support: Jessica Powell, Troy RobinsonEditorial Cartoonist: Chris LawsonPrint Photo Editor: Katie Helm Assistant: Ali ClapierStaff Photographers: Kristin Bracewell, Ali Clapier, Korey Combs, Katie Helm, Jamie Jones, Megan Mizuta, Ashley RiceText Editors: Megan Harrigfeld, Megan Mizuta, Samantha NelsonAdvertising Manager: Kristin BracewellPage Editors:Front Cover: Megan MizutaLetters to the Editor: Ali ClapierArtist Bio: Ali ClapierNews: Matthew Bray, Megan MizutaOpinion: Samantha NelsonLife: Jamie JonesSpread: Megan HarrigfeldA&E: Justin Kirkham, Haylie PeltonQ&A: Kristin BracewellPeople: Ari Anchustegui, Samantha WhittakerSports: Brandie Cichy, Sage UnsworthJV Sports: Savannah HarrelsonPhoto Essay: Megan MizutaFun & Games: Adam ThompsonWeb Staff: Matthew Bergman, Mechelle Conner, Lisa Garrard, Grace Gibney, Brittni Hanrahan, Jacob Horton, Gregory Kucinski, Logan Nye, Ryan PersonetteVideographers: Nic Schweitzer, Zack ThomasIntern Writers: Mitchell Bergman, Roxanne Lewers, Christin MartinAdviser: Michelle Harmon

The Senator’s duty is to inform and entertain students and faculty in an accurate and timely fashion. The paper covers events and information that affects the student body. The Senator is a non-profit organization. The Senator is published monthly by Borah High School, 6001 Cassia St., Boise, Idaho 83709. Phone 1-208-854-4370 ext. 142. Circulation 1700. The Senator is printed by Owyhee Publishing. The Senator maintains membership in the National Quill and Scroll Society and the Journalism Education Association. All signed commentaries that appear in The Senator are strictly the opinion of that individual and do not necessarily reflect the general opinion of the Senator staff.

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Artist BioThe Borah Senator February 9, 2011 3

Innovative artist is “the Kat’s meow”Artist Kat Davis, senior, began creating art at a young age.

“Ever since I could hold a pencil,” Davis said. “I have pictures of me as a little girl in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle t-shirt, just drawing.”

Inspired by everything from Andy Warhol and bright colors to anti-war paintings by Salvador Dali, this young artist walks among the Borah students and staff with a future in art on her mind. Vivid colors and surrealism are at the foundation of her paintings.

She hopes to use her talent and dedication to highlight her passion as a social environmental activist.

She’s still debating, however, on going to school for art or for environ-mental science.

“I definitely plan on art having a big impact in my future, but I have this love for the environment, too,” she expressed.

Along with her environmental

classes, Davis has taken photography, AP Art, and painting; she is currently working on building her art portfolio.

Davis’ art isn’t limited to the art hall and the cover of the Borah Sena-tor, though. Her work can be seen anywhere from the Valley Visions Lit-erary Magazine and the library, to her website: katdavisdesigns.com

“We like her,” librarian Jennifer Boyd said, while scanning the library to see if the popular artist is hanging above the shelves. “She’s a very strong artist.”

She has also done commissioned paintings for English teacher Rod Wray, history teacher Jayne Davis and AP Human Geography teacher Amy Everson. She even painted Boyd’s of-fice in the library.

“She’s such a great artist,” Everson said. “She’s very original, very very original.”

Davis created two pieces for the American History and AP Human Geography teacher. One, black, white and blue painting representing her

dog and the other a painting of Ever-son along side her significant other.

“I think it’s great, I’m able to show everyone me,” Davis explained. “I re-ally like being able to share my ideas.”

Using blues and purples is her secret.

“All of my pieces are really color-

ful,” she said. Davis corresponds col-ors carefully and creatively to make her masterpieces bright and pop, tak-ing her artwork into a whole different dimension.

“To me, the real world is boring,” she proposed. “The colors are fun. And the art gives me power.”

Still lifes by cover artist Kat Davis

Photo by Ashley Rice

By Jamie Jones

News4 The Borah Senator February 9, 2011

By Megan Harrigfeld

Newly into the second semester, the after school study sessions look like they are here to stay. Every day after school, library resources and student tutors are available to students from 3-5 p.m.

The program eventually to be called “Lion’s Den,” started by AVID (Advancement Via Individual Deter-mination), began the week before se-mester one finals on a trial basis, as a dwelling for End of Course (EOC) study. As the year dwindles on, the li-brary has become just a place for after school study. “This is something that our school can really benefit from,” said junior Baylee Critchlow, one of the students in AVID who launched the after-school program.

AVID started these controlled after-school study sessions as part of its Leadership 101 class. “They asked, ‘what is something that Borah re-ally needs?’” said AVID adviser Amy Everson, “and we hope that it really

grows this year.” Although student-run study groups

are anticipated to become prevalent, there is also a reserved quiet corner. Sophomore Rosa Parra, who uses the program, appreciates the silence in the library, but has also used a tutor. “It’s a really good place to come if you get distracted at home.”

As the study and tutor program continues to grow, AVID hopes that student participation does as well. Critchlow said, “We are just trying to lead our school and improve Borah.”

AVID debuts Lion’s Den study program

By Matthew Bray

The Borah Boosters are hosting the first annual Luau Dinner Auc-tion on March 12 at 6 p.m. at the Basque Center. This event will be held to “Celebrate 52 years of great Borah history, reconnect with old friends and be a part of the dynamic NEW Borah Boosters,” according to Borah’s schoolfusion website.

Head librarian Jennifer Boyd said that the event will mark the for-mation of the first Borah Boosters. Boyd stated that other high schools have successful booster clubs, and that Borah has never had one. Ac-cording to Boyd, it will be an alumni, staff, parent, and adult run program. Funds attained by the Boosters will be used to aid academics, athletics, and activities.

The successes of Borah High over the years will be celebrated, ac-cording to the event flyer. The event

will also gather those who wish to create a Booster Board that will start meeting Spring 2011.

The Boosters ask for help with donated items for the silent and live auctions, or monetary donations. Items already donated for the silent auction include a dinner at the Cot-tonwood Grill and a handmade jew-elry set. For the live auction, a one day trip along the Payette River for six and a front door reserved student parking space have been submit-ted. A complete list of already do-nated items can be found on Borah’s schoolfusion website. Donors will receive recognition at the event for their contributions.

Authentic Luau cuisine will be presented at the dinner along with live entertainment and auctions.

The attire is casual, and pricing is $30 a person or $50 per couple for open seating, or $200 for a reserved table of eight.

Citizens offer their input on Luna’s billBy Megan Harrigfeld

Newly elected incumbent Supt. Tom Luna re-leased a plan to overhaul Idaho’s education.

“Three Pillars,” includes The 21st Century Classroom, Great Teachers and Leaders, and Trans-parent Accountability, all of which concentrate on radical revision of public education in Idaho.

The proposal has sparked much controversy in the past few weeks, and supporters and adversar-ies voiced concerns and encouragement at a public hearing Jan. 21.

Constituents gathered in the Capitol build-ing’s Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) meeting and gave their testimonies in re-gards to Luna’s education plan, “Three Pillars of a Consumer-Driven Education.”

An estimated 300 citizens showed up at the meet-ing, most of whom planned to testify. Testimonies to the committee could be three minutes long: of the constituents who signed up to testify and the actual 64 able to speak to the committee, 55 of them were against Luna’s proposal.

Technology increase was the main concern of the attendees. Government teacher Korrin Rue was one of those in attendance who was given the op-portunity to testify. One of Rue’s concerns with the proposition was with the plan’s mandatory online classes. “It puts students in a virtual classroom to fend for themselves,” said Rue.

Senior Kelsey Nelson was not able to attend the meeting but also has reservations about the online classes. Nelson has taken six online classes, and is currently taking two, and understands the demands of taking them. “Online classes require a lot of self discipline because the teacher is only there to grade course work,” Nelson commented. “The student is essentially their own teacher.”

Key tenets of the plan include the aforemen-tioned increased technology (the proposed change includes a laptop computer for all students begin-ning with the ninth grade and with the class of 2014 and up; students would be required to take at least two online classes a semester), end of tenure for teachers (determining salary of a merit based pay plan), and increased class sizes.

Constituents from all over Idaho came to voice opinions, including Kent Black, an educator in the Blackfoot School District. Like many others at the meeting, Black identified most with the increased class sizes, and argued that the change would put even more stress on teachers. “Demanding more for our teachers and paying them less is not the an-swer.”

Photo by Katie Helm

Citizens attended the JCAF meeting at the Capital build-ing to testify on Supt. Luna’s proposed education plan.

Photo by Ali Clapier

Students study for their semester exams.

Borah BoostersEvent fosters community

NewsThe Borah Senator February 9, 2011 5

District to close building, transfer Language Academy

are specific for students new to the country,” said Principal Bonita Ham-mer. But ELL students may also be in some elective classes, she added.

A portion of the current BLA fac-ulty will transition to Borah along with their students, but the Boise School District (BSD) is “still working on the personnel side of that” and “there have been no final decisions as to how that might look,” according to Farris.

The official announcement of the move was made in a Jan. 12 press re-lease from the BSD, but the Borah fac-ulty was made aware Nov. 29. Ham-mer also paid a visit to the BLA in early January to speak with parents and was accompanied by two mem-bers of Student Council, junior Eri-ca Albertson and sophomore Keltie Vance, and one former BLA student who currently attends Borah, Doaa

Mahdi, sophomore. More visits are being planned said

Hammer; some will be held at Bo-rah for future students and their par-ents. Hammer also said that Borah is “planning to do some education for students here, so they can better un-derstand their new classmates,” which is tentatively set to happen towards the end of the year, after seniors have graduated.

Preparation for the upcoming in-flux of ELL students has already be-gun for the Borah staff. During the Jan. 23 in-service day, teachers at-tended a presentation by Stacey Roth and Jolene Lincoln regarding the up-coming development. There will be additional training for the staff and “ongoing conversations” to “address any concerns that may pop up,” said Farris.

Although Hammer declined to say where the sheltered classrooms would be located within Borah, saying that the exact locations were still being worked out, she said that the class-rooms would be “integrated through-out the building.”

See more of this story on borah-senator.com.

ELL students discuss a group activity at the Boise Language Academy, which will be integrated into Borah and Hillside Jr. High beginning next year.

At the corner of Aurora and Randolph lurk traf-fic problems that have been prevalent for some time now.

Neighbors up and around Borah are now pre-pared to do some-thing about it by installing cameras and recruiting more motorcycle police of-ficers to control the area.

“The neighborhood has struggled since its establish-ment,” said resident Helen

Although video-broad-casting has a tough crowd, recent changes to the daily announcements have sparked an interest.

So, why the changes? Some students in video-broadcasting visited Capital High School’s program be-cause Capital has the best program in the state and has even won a few awards. “The kids wanted to see Capital’s program and what they do. They wanted to see how it was done,” Baumberger said.

Senior, and video-broad-casting student, Thomas Van

Photo by Kristin Bracewell

Borah neighbors hope camera will cut down on traffic problems at intersection of Aurora, Randolph

Video-broadcasting takes cue from Capital television program

(who asked that her last name be withheld due to fear of vandalism).

With the installation of the cameras along with more

enforcement, Helen and neighbors hope to make the area a safer place and have

By Megan Mizuta

Beginning next year, students can expect to see new faces in the halls. But these students will be new to more than just Borah; most of them will be new to the United States and the English language.

The Boise Language Academy (BLA), which is a school for English Language Learner (ELL) second-ary students who have been in the United States for less than two years, will move its high schoolers to Borah starting next year. The BLA currently serves ELL students in grades 7-12, but 7-9 graders will be transferred into Hillside Jr. High next year.

The move, which has been in planning for about a year and a half, according to ELL Program Adminis-trator Dr. Ann Farris, could bring as many as 100 additional students to Borah.

The students will primarily be taught in sheltered content class-rooms.

“For the most part, students from the Language Academy will take Lan-guage Academy classes, because they

“The neighborhood has struggled since

its establishment.”--Helen, resident

been lobbying for this for a long time.

According to a 2007 study done by the ACHD, the vicinity around this cor-

ner was excessive in both volume and speed. When the camera is installed, the security footage will be presented to School Resource Of-ficer Steve Kincheloe,

who will issue traffic viola-tions for either failure to stop, $62, and speeding, $72.

Peursem added, “We wanted to experience layout and de-sign that other schools use in their programs.”

“We learned about orga-nization and layouts. We also learned about their weather and sports and how they in-cluded it.”

Some changes that will be added or that Borah view-ers have already seen are the weather and sports segments. Students can also look for-ward to special reports and standard anchors. There will also be an introduction com-ing for the announcements.

News Briefs

Opinion6 The Borah Senator February 9, 2011

SENATOR STAFF

OPINIONThe Borah Senator’s staff shares our opinion on

current events.

35 are killed and 110 critically wounded during a terrorist attack on a

Russian airport.

LWhole Foods Market plans to open a

location in Boise.

J“The Social Network” takes home four awards during the 2010 Golden Globes.

KKaty Perry will perform at the Taco Bell

Arena July 23.

KState Supt. Tom Luna proposes his plans to resolve school issues, which include

an emphasis on online classes and a laptop for every student.

LJ L KGood Bad Indifferent

The behaviors of American chil-dren have become more relaxed, lackadaisical, and less devoted to their responsibilities as the generations progress. Along with this, “proper” punishments as seen by society for a child’s actions have been rapidly becoming less se-vere. This may very well be a direct representation of each other, without consequences kids feel no need to follow the rules.

Not to say that the school system lacks any form of punishment, it just lacks any with substance, other than total expulsion or suspension from school.

The other option, one that is used more frequently than any other is, in-house suspension; this consists of sit-ting in a nearly unsupervised room with other students for the entire day, expected to finish the allotted work that would have been received in the classes that day, without the help of

In-house suspension: discipline, or just another way to ditch class?

teachers or peers. This system of punishment has

zero productivity; the students will only fall more behind in their classes by missing the lessons and lectures presented the days they’ve missed and no remorse for their actions will be taught.

It’s expected that students finish the work for that day; however the only help they can receive is from the in-house adviser, who isn’t qualified to help with all the diverse subjects that different students study. If a student doesn’t understand an assignment, and the advisor can’t clarify, the only option is to leave it unfinished.

Students see in-house as an oppor-tunity to get out of class and goof off with friends, not as a serious punish-ment. It doesn’t strike fear into them or even persuade them the slightest to

change their unruly behavior; in fact it does just the opposite. Kids will break the rules knowing that their only po-tential punishments is either nothing at all, or preferably in-house suspen-sion. “In-house is fun; I don’t have to do any work all day.” Junior Calvin Kerns a frequent in-house resident

said, “I get to sit around and shoot the breeze; it’s way better than class.”

The punishment for a DUI isn’t having the police give the driver a ride to the

bar and a limitless tab; it doesn’t make sense to punish a kid for something they do at school by taking them out of the learning environment. Schools should throw out in-house suspension altogether; the only way it punishes students is by taking them away from the classroom and their education.

The districts could install after- school testing and extra classes as a punishment. Students would be more inclined to follow the rules, knowing that their precious time out of school is at stake.

“I get to sit around and shoot the breeze; it’s way better than class.”

-- Junior Calvin Kerns

Staff Editorial

Illustration by Chris Lawson

OpinionThe Borah Senator February 9, 2011 7

By Adam Thompson

Face Recognition software is a rap-idly-growing trend, both in the public eye, and in private use.

Recently, Facebook has utilized this new technology to make tagging friends in photos easier and simpler, and many law enforcement agencies are experimenting with face recogni-tion cameras.

But, with all this new technol-ogy comes new responsibilities. Is face recognition software an invasion of privacy? To answer this question, an individual needs a basic idea of what face recognition software is.

The dictionary definition of face recognition software reads, “biometric identification by scanning a person’s face and matching it against a library of known faces.” This is smart talk for

Face-savvy program opens too many possibilities for voyeurism

such as the shape of the nose and the amount of space between the eyes, and matches it with other photos of faces that hold the same qualities.

This technology is already widely

used to tag friends in photos on Face-book, but the new internet tool can also find individuals on Flickr, You-Tube, and virtually anywhere else on the Internet.

As scary as it sounds, it must be carefully considered whether it truly is a threat to privacy. A paranoia about such privacy would only be logical to those who have something they feel

Facial recognition software is not to blame for unwanted followers

“match the picture.” Some huge and fatal flaws can oc-

cur with face recognition software. Error rates are high, especially when tests of its accuracy were combined with surveillance cameras, resulting in mistaken arrests.

Furthermore, in several tests at large airports with volunteer mock terrorists, the cameras failed to iden-tify the individual, according to a sur-vey conducted by the TSA (Transport Security Administration).

This is largely to do with the fact that the cameras are often viewing the individual at oblique angles and in poor lighting.

Milissa Ngo of the Electronic Pri-vacy Information Center stated in an interview with the New York Times, “[face recognition software] enables ordinary security cameras to find out names of people being observed, why are you being tracked if you’re not do-ing anything wrong?”

This is a big part of why using this

software is a slippery slope for society’s watchdogs to use to monitor terrorists among the general population. Abso-lutely wrong.

Cameras, even when they are equipped with this special software, do not have the ability to differenti-ate between a potential threat, and an individual making a trip to visit grandma.

Without that key ability, to tell the difference between a threat, and just a person, is key, and is the biggest flaw in these surveillance systems.

Furthermore, such generic voyeur-ism also allows so-called authorized individuals to access almost anything about an innocent person without any form of real authorization, and the fatally-high error rates make their re-sults impractical to make use of, even for their intended purposes.

“[Face recognition software] enables ordinary security cameras to find out

names of people being observed.”-- Milissa Ngo, Electronic Privacy

Information Center

At parties, everyone knows some-one who seems to be acquainted with everyone in sight, leaving one wonder-ing how anyone could possibly have met that many people in one lifetime.

Well, with a recently available piece of technology, everyone is rec-ognizable.

Facial recognition software is be-ing used more and more in personal and professional endeavors, to iden-tify friends, family, acquaintances, celebrities, and, especially within law enforcement, even criminals.

But is the use of this technology an invasion of privacy? Some would defi-nitely say so.

The software takes parts of the face that are most easily recognizable,

they need to hide. If it’s really that much of a con-

cern, perhaps the first mistake users make is posting photos of themselves online in the first place.

If you are intensely concerned about privacy issues, it is also impor-tant to be sure that your Facebook friends know that you are uncomfort-able with pictures of yourself being posted online.

The issues of stalkers and unwant-ed friends following a user’s every online move is a serious one, but in reality, if you’ve littered the Internet

with self-portraits, you have no one to blame but yourself. Is the need to have online friends know what you look like more important than your safety?

It will most certainly happen no matter what, of course; Internet us-ers, especially teenagers, love to post pictures of themselves on social web-sites, and they are not going to stop any time soon.

But it is very important to consider that the abuse of posted material can be prevented, and that you are taking a risk by posting photos of yourself and friends.

If privacy is a priority, you can pro-tect it by refusing to post self-portraits online in the first place.

Proceeding to post the photos will pose some kind of threat, no matter how small.

“If privacy is a priority, you can protect it by refusing to post self-portraits online

in the first place.”

By Sam Nelson

PRO:

CON:

Life 8 The Borah Senator February 9, 2011

By Justin Kirkham

They’re there to listen. They’re there for support and to help. If the strain of stress, grief, or family problems has become too burdensome to bear, you aren’t alone. No matter how complex or how simple your worries and difficulties are, support groups are available to ease the tension. They’ll listen to your story, share their own, and work with you to dissi-pate the pressure.

Borah houses several support groups, including a grief group, an anger management group, and Narcotics Anonymous. There is also an Alateen group that supports students with alcoholic or drug abusing parents.

“We offer whatever the students want,” ex-plained social worker Rebecca Woodland. At the start of the year students fill out a survey to signify which support groups they are interested in. “I can’t remember a time when we didn’t offer support groups,” remarked counselor Dawn Tolan.

Counselors agreed that students who join a sup-port group have much to gain.

“We’ve seen attendance at school improve be-cause students have something to look forward to,” said Woodland.

“Teachers have reported that students are more

Teens find comfort in support groups

Classroom goes up in

steamBy Haylie Pelton

Psychology and Western Civiliza-tion teacher, Manny Varela, walked into his room one Saturday to pick up a few things. He thought the room was warmer than usual, but ignored the feeling since he had a jacket on.

It turns out a steam pipe in Va-rela’s room had exploded. Rod Eells, head custodian, said that the pipe had frozen over, warmed up and then busted. It created a lot of dam-age, and, when Varela walked into his room the next day, he said it was “filled with steam.”

Some materials were damaged, including his SMART Board, televi-sion and projector. Varela said when he walked in his room he saw that the bulletin board had fallen off the wall. All of the books in Varela’s book-shelves remained free of damage,

but the same could not be said for the materials sitting atop the shelves. All paper was “warped” he said.

In addition, the paint bubbled, ceiling tiles fell and the floor wax came off due to the “pure steam” pouring into the room for so long, Eells said.

Varela didn’t know what hap-pened. He just knew that his room was damaged and he needed to hold his classes elsewhere.

Nov. 29, the first day back from Thanksgiving break, Varela moved into room 809 for about a month. As he put it, Varela “rolled” his comput-er and printer off to the room and his classes took place in the New Gym building. Overall, Varela’s room un-derwent cleaning and repair for five weeks - including winter break.

Talking to numerous students, they said that they preferred having class in room 809. As one student summarized, “It was nice to have a change.”

Now that his room is fixed, Varela said that he is happier with the way it is. His room got a new coat of paint, new ceiling tiles and buffed floors, something most rooms don’t get in the middle of the school year.

Photo by Ali Clapier

receptive.” Social worker Holly Nogle, who works with Woodland, remarked. “We’ve seen improve-ments in behavior,” referring to the anger manage-ment group. “They’ve responded well to the help.”

Students who want to be involved in a group simply have to talk to their counselor or Woodland. It is ideal that they fill out the survey at the begin-ning of the year, but if they miss the survey, “come and let one of us know,” said Tolan.

The most helpful aspect of support groups is “having peers to identify with,” explained Wood-land. In addition to this emotional support, stu-dents learn how to deal with what they are going through. “Let us help you through it,” Tolan in-vited.

Junior Keegan Trundy attended a grief support group due to his counselor’s recommendation. “It helped me realize that there were more people out there in my situation.” Summing it up, Trun-dy added, “It shows [students] that they are not alone. That’s the big thing.”

Borah students gather in these rooms, near the counsel-ors’ offices, to relate and support one another.

Since April 2010, on the last Mon-day of every month, the Linen Build-ing has been filled with story tellers eager, and slightly nervous, to step on the spotlighted stage.

Story Story Night is a forum for which storytellers around Boise have an outlet to present a chosen-themed story told live for five minutes. The pick of these story slammers is up to the fickle hand of fate, or featured musician Dan Costello, who picks the names out of a hat.

August slammer Hobart Swan knows the fear that comes when your name is called. “It’s one thing to put your name into a hat, but then they call your name and you think, ‘oh no what did I get myself into?’”

“I didn’t anticipate it be-ing this big,” said 1998 Bo-rah graduate and co-creator of the event, Jessica Holmes. “It’s crazy.” January’s event, themed “HOOKED: Stories of Cravings and Compul-sions,” was a packed house, with many attendees standing

Story time offered for adults

LifeThe Borah Senator February 9, 2011 9

in the back or sitting on the cement floor. Tales ranged from Alcoholism to Legos, heroin to chapstick.

Presented at the event are three featured storytellers, who tell 10-min-ute stories at the beginning of the night. These storytellers are also the judges of the story slammers, one of which is awarded a Rediscovered Books gift card as a prize for captivat-ing the audience.

English teacher Chuck McHenry attended and was impressed. McHen-ry commented that for a city like Boi-se, this event was “a pretty progressive activity.”

Featured teller and retired Borah librarian, Al Blank, told his riveting

Poetry slam stirs up battles

As teenagers and adults alike filled the Woman of Steel gallery, making fold-out chairs and the floor their easel for poetic listening, Big Tree Arts prepared for another night of all-ages slam poetry on Feb. 1.

Through this event, Slam of Steel, young poets have the chance to voice their work in two catego-ries--poetry slam and haiku battle. Indiscriminate members of the au-dience judge both categories.

With nothing off limits, read-ings ranged from the sacred to the profane: from animals to love, with Pepsi and Coca-Cola in between. As a round began, a collective “You rat bastard! You’re ruining it for ev-eryone!” came across the audience when the topic of time restriction arose. Involvement is urged; it’s a simple sign up at the door to read personal poetry that night. “You just write something down, stand up here and read it to all of these good-looking people,” said Big Tree Arts president Cheryl Maddalene.

Although this slam organization started in 2006, it wasn’t until 2008 that the non-profit found a venue for all ages. “It’s really important to have an outlet for writers in this age group,” said event coordinator Isaac Grambo.

Students from all over have got-ten involved in the twice monthly event. Centennial High School se-nior, Matt Freeman first attended as a school activity, and six slams later feels as if poetry will never stop coursing through his veins: “This is what I need to be doing.”

account of his long addiction to al-cohol. “I think about my life at fifty,” uttered a trembling Blank, “and won-der how it just went to hell in a hand basket.”

While Blank was at Borah, an es-say club reigned with him as adviser, where Holmes, a member of the club, got a glimpse of her future career as a storytelling host. As a figure in Boise’s literary scene, Blank would like to see more involved. “Everybody has a sto-ry,” he said.

Photos by Jamie JonesAbove: Musician Dan Costello provided music at intermission.Top: Featured speaker Elisabeth McKetta told of her chapstick addiction.

By Megan Harrigfeld

The Linen Building hosted a full house of tellers and listeners.

By Megan Harrigfeld

10 The Borah Senator Volume 51 Issue IV February 9, 2011 11The Chamber of Secrets

Scene it! Borah edition 2. What is the name of the street that runs through campus?

A. CassiaB. AuroraC. Troxel

3. What is the namesake of the street?A. Name of a former PrincipalB. Name of a former football coachC. Name of a former Government teacher

Answers shown at bottom of page5. What year was Borah founded?

A. 1958B. 1959C. 1960

1. Why is Borah’s mascot the lion?A. William E. Borah was known as the “lion” of the SenateB. William E. Borah was known as the “lion” of the HouseC. William E. Borah was known as the “lion” of Congress

6. Who is the longest serving teacher?

A. Jerry HensleyB. Ron FreemanC. Becky Brown

4. What is the fine for “turn-ing left” onto Cassia from ei-ther student parking lot?

A. $42B. $52C. $62

7. How many teachers graduated from Borah?

A. 14B. 22C. 57

Rowdies, forefathers keep traditional school spirit alive

? ?

?

Graduates become judges, dog-trainers

By Brandie Cichy

The Rowdies are well known at Borah, but the ques-tion remains whether people actually know what they’re about. People generally know that the Rowdies show up to every football game, but this year’s forefathers dispel the myth.

Forefathers are the Rowdie leaders chosen each year to lead school spirit.

Forefathers from the previ-ous year choose four under-classmen that show up to all the games and help organize events. They also look for stu-dents that do well in school and are responsible.

Kristian Walker, senior and a forefather, stated, “What the Rowdies actually do is cheer for sports teams and show school spirit and pride. We will cheer for any sports team that asks us to. This year we went to football, basketball, volleyball, and soccer games.”

Senior Holly Purcell added, “We do more things than just sports teams. We hosted the Homecoming Carnival and we also organize other school functions.”

The Rowdies said that se-nior Kiri Higham’s father, who owns a floral shop, donated a van to them. “We used it one weekend for a football game and ended up painting it with

Borah colors and stencils. We used it in the Homecoming Caravan and also in Home-coming Court. It is a symbol for Borah Pride. We wanted something that no other school had and this is it,” Purcell com-mented.To become involved in the Rowdies, students show up to sports games dressed in the theme stated in the day’s an-nouncements.

By Sage Unsworth

Throughout its history, Borah has graduated the most students in Idaho sec-ond only to Boise High.

With the average gradu-ating class now about 450 students and nearly 650 in the 1970s and 1980s, Borah has seen its share of diverse students.

Today, many of these people have established themselves as successful adults, and one doesn’t have to look any farther then the halls of Borah to find them.

Vince Mann the ath-letic director, Bill Mckitrick a Vice Principal, and Kylie Christensen a highly regard-ed teacher; are among the alumni that are part of the faculty today.

Joel Horton graduated from Borah in 1978, and then attended the University

of Washington and later the University of Idaho where he received a degree in law. In September 2007, he was appointed to the Idaho Supreme Court by Gov. “Butch” Otter.

Steve Preece, class of ’65, and Cedric Minter, class of ’77, both graduated from Borah and had careers in the NFL; Preece is now a popu-lar commentator for Oregon State University, and in the college football hall of fame.

Lee Charles Kelley may be the most wildly known graduate; he has seven pub-lished novels and several ar-ticles about dog training, and he now lives in New York City, where he owns a na-tionally distinguished train-ing program.

With every year that goes by and every graduating class, more Borah alumni es-tablish themselves as notable.

1. A, 2. C, 3. B, 4. C, 5. A, 6. A, 7. B

Photo by Katie HelmThe Rowdies gathered on Feb. 2 at Capital High School for the annual Griffin Cup (page 16), which the boys varsity basketball team won.

?

10 The Borah Senator Volume 51 Issue IV February 9, 2011 11The Chamber of SecretsGhosts of lions’ past -- senior gifts live on

The Senior Garden, which was donated by the class of 2003, may be the most interesting gift ever given by a senior class. It offers a beautiful view for anyone walking in the main hall, and a chance for anyone wanting to enjoy the outside air to wander out the two doors and sit in the sun. The artwork above the entrance to the Senior Garden was dedicated to Kali Kurdy, a remembered, retired teacher who not only taught Social Studies, but also played an extremely active role in the Borah family and community for more than 30 years.

The Fountain is a commemorative piece from the class of ‘99, and is located just outside the principal’s office window. The fountain hardly ever runs, so it acts more as a statue and thing of beauty that can be seen across campus. The brick surrounding the fountain is engraved with graduates’ names.(left)The 1980 picture that hangs in the main hallway between the main office and the business office, facing the doors that everyone walks through everyday, is probably the most visible gift  bestowed to Borah by a senior class.(right)

The Class of 2009 picture may be the most per-sonalized gift left for posterity by a senior class. The whole picture is created out of pictures taken throughout the year, pieced together and discolored to create a beautiful picture. (above)

Photos and captions by Kristin Bracewell

A&E12 The Borah Senator February 9, 2011

Morrison Center houses Broadway in BoiseTheater buffs all around the Boise area, rejoice!

You don’t have to live in New York City to appreci-ate the best of Broadway musicals, thanks to Broad-way in Boise.

According to the Morrison Center’s website, the program has been a part of its lineup since 1997, when the event center partnered with a Utah-based agency to bring Broadway tours --many of which go to every major city in the United States-- to Boise.

“It’s always a treat to see a live performance,” said senior Jaimee Thomas. “Whether it’s Broad-way or a live concert, it’s better than seeing it on a TV or listening on your boom box.”

As a theater student herself, Thomas has seen

Introducing ColorCubeBy Haylie Pelton

There’s a new venue in the city of Boise, and it’s targeted towards young people.

On Jan. 7, Clint Vickery opened up a music and art center called ColorCube located just off 17th and Main Street.

Aimed at supporting local artists, ColorCube will host a plethora of local musical acts.

But the center offers much more than that. The walls are adorned with art and a blackboard lines the back wall, with chalk to accompany it, for those wishing to express their creative minds.

ColorCube works with local artists to sell art-

work, clothing and merchandise. Sixty percent of the money made from sales of work goes to artists. Its website lists specifications for anyone that has artwork to consign.

Jen Compton, art teacher, said that art consign-ment is a good idea and that students should “go for it,” noting that “it’s rare” to find a company that will put artwork up for free.

ColorCube holds shows Thursday through Sat-urday, so during the week classes will be held for interests such as guitar and art. Guitar lessons begin Feb.15, and animation classes are being held now, Vickery said. Prices for lessons vary and can be veri-fied on the website.

At $5, ColorCube keeps admission prices low. ColorCube created an affordable space for people to hang out. Vickery and associates James and Lindsey Lloyd said that they hold shows during the end of the week so more people will attend. Musical acts will end no later than 11:30 due to the midnight curfew for those under 18.

A handful of Borah students who have been to ColorCube all mentioned that the low admission price and weekend dates work well since money can be hard to come by and going out is difficult to do on a school night.

Since ColorCube is a brand new venue, there are a lot of open slots for performances to reserve. Musical acts wishing to book a show should contact the venue via email. ColorCube also has a Facebook page that fans can “Like” to view photos and find out details about upcoming events.

many of the program’s shows, including “Cats” and “Chicago.” “‘Chicago’ was probably my favorite,” she said. “I know what it takes to get these all up and running, so it was pretty amazing to watch.”

An event sponsored by Fred Meyer, Broadway in Boise has been responsible for many musicals making it to the Morrison Center stage: “Beauty and the Beast,” “Cats,” and “Avenue Q,” to name a few. This year, the tour kicked off its season with “Grease,” and “Legally Blonde: The Musical” is next on the lineup.

“Legally Blonde” tells the story of the movie and novel of the same name, introducing sorority girl Elle Woods and her desire for greatness. Devastated over a bad breakup, the fickle and feminine Elle becomes determined to show her ex-boyfriend her

Founder Clint Vickery, center, and associates set up ColorCube.

ability to be serious rather than flaky, and uncon-ventionally makes her way into Harvard Law. Much to the shock of her classmates, she pushes her way to the top of her class and prances away as valedic-torian.

Other shows premiering this season are “Fid-dler on the Roof,” “Wicked,” and “Mamma Mia.” Tickets for all shows range in cost from $28 to $50, with prices escalating depending on the location of seats in relation to the stage.

Thomas said she believes that the opportunities given by the program are valuable. “I think it would be better if people from Boise themselves could get into programs like that,” she said. “But this is good training wheels, having it here in Boise. But going to New York would be a blast.”

Photo by Ali Clapier

New music, art venue debuts in downtown Boise

By Samantha Nelson

By Samantha Whittaker

“Destination Imagination,” the title of the drama department’s latest production is the story of a girl in a made up land surrounded by characters such as a carrot, a rock and a group of clouds. This all-ages musical was a collabo-ration between intermediate and advanced the-ater classes. Performances were held Jan 20-22.

“It’s a child’s play so it’s not as serious but it’s a lot of fun,” said senior Samantha Beebe who played the part of a stratus cloud. In addition, Beebe was originally an assistant choreographer but said that after working backstage, she also felt like acting.

“I hope it [“Destination Imagination”] will cause intermediate and advanced theater class-es to be better friends,” she said.

Another member of the “sassy clique” of clouds was senior Jaimee Thomas, who played the part of a cumulus cloud, the second cloud in the group of three. The “lively” and “fun” destination imagination appealed to Thomas. She said she thought to herself, “I want a part in this.”

Class rehearsals and night rehearsals made up the practice theater had for “Destination Imagination.”

Both Beebe and Thomas agreed that perfor-mance reviews were better than expected.

All-ages musicaldeemed success

A&EThe Borah Senator February 9, 2011 13

Embroidered with new fabric features, Kirby returns on Wii

Valley Visions literary submissions skyrocket

Image from Google ImagesKirby shows off his newly acquired yarn whip and stringy countenance in “Kirby’s Epic Yarn” for the Wii.

Writer’s Corner:Kelsey Weybright

Photo by Katie Helm

By Justin Kirkham

Tailored with humor-ous lines and surprisingly eerie characters, junior Kelsey Weybright’s com-positions are both enter-taining and pleasantly creepy. This budding writer prefers to formu-late short fiction because she can write without any sort of guidelines or restrictions. “I like to be fun when I write,” said Weybright, “not serious.”

Weybright’s writing is without a genre. “I don’t know what it’s called,” she explained. “I just like to write funny stuff.” Personal experi-ences flood Weybright with inspiration. “I take things I’ve seen in my life then twist them,” she remarked.

“She makes me laugh every time,” said sopho-more Britini Smith. “All her characters are bub-bly and well rounded.” Sophomore James Jenson, another creative writing classmate of Weybright’s, said, “She has her own attitude in her writing.”

Outside of class, Weybright writes every now and then, but she’s “getting more into it because of creative writing.” When she was younger, Weybright often created little comics. “I’ve al-ways wanted to write movie scripts,” she said, re-ferring to her childhood pastime.

Weybright’s favorite piece of writing is one of her first compositions. Read her short story, “Di-ary of a Witch” on the Creative Fiction page at borahsenator.com.

By Megan Mizuta

Borah’s literary submissions to Valley Visions are up over 1,000 percent for the 2011 edition. Val-ley Visions, the literary magazine of writing and art that the Boise School District publishes, received only two literary submissions from Borah last year. This year the number of written works submitted by Borah students jumped to about 25.

The increase at Borah in the number of submis-sions can be directly attributed to Chuck McHen-ry’s creative writing class, in which students were required to submit at least one piece. The creative

writing class was reinstated as a course offering at Borah after being cut from elective choices last year.

The three-page literary entry sheet is “daunting for a lot of students,” according to McHenry, who is Borah’s Valley Visions faculty coordinator. The entry form, which includes a 13-step checklist, states “not following instructions exactly will disqualify your entry!”

One of Borah’s student art editors and a two-time entrant Kat Davis, senior, described the entry form as “snooty” and added that it was confusing and frustrating.

But despite their dissatisfaction with the entry

form, both McHenry and Davis stressed the posi-tive exposure that students gain from Valley Visions.

Valley Visions submissions are judged by a panel of students from each Boise district high school. The selection process involves a student editorial board consisting of two literary editors from each Boise high school. Literary editors meet at Timber-line on a single day in February to score submis-sions.

To find out senior and two-time student editor Jo Hersom’s take on the process and to read about what goes on during judging, visit borahsenator.com.

By Justin Kirkham

Morphed from his previous pink and feisty form and reupholstered into a new, patchy phy-sique, Nintendo’s super-star, Kirby, adds a new thread to his string of adventures in “Kirby’s Epic Yarn” for the Wii.

Nominated for Nin-tendo Power’s Wii game of the year, this cam-paign of rather small proportions (it takes place in a sock), offers an intriguing story for gam-ers of all ages to enjoy.

Kirby’s adventure begins when he finds and eats a curiously designed tomato, which belongs to an ominous sorceror. With a flick of his knitting needles, Yin Yarn sucks Kirby into his magic sock. With new found powers from his snack, Kirby runs into Prince Fluff. Kirby agrees to help Fluff find the magic yarn to piece Patch Land back together. And so, the simple storyline continues, slightly childish, but enjoyable all the same.

The levels of which the game is comprised are straightforward platformers with an innovative twist. Kirby must use his thread whip to defeat ene-mies, unzip portions of the world, and swing on but-tons sewn into the horizon’s fabric. He can trans-form into a car, a parachute, or a weight at will, and into an array of other forms with special power-ups.

Two-player mode al-lows Prince Fluff to join the action. Unfortunately, having two players jump-ing around the screen causes accidental friendly fire and disconcerting camera positioning.

Not only does Kirby complete levels, but he can also decorate his apart-ment or play with his neighbors back in Prince Fluff ’s kingdom. While this feature seems appeal-ing, it is difficult to attract more neighbors without scouring every level for the correct piece of furniture

to decorate uninhabited apartments.The graphics in this game are breath-taking.

From panels of fabric to yarn-based creatures, this game has every detail of the environment in perfect, patchy form.

At first glance, the game seems unbearably easy. Kirby never dies, but rather loses some beads, Patch Land’s currency.

In actuality, the game can be as complex as one makes it. Kirby can attempt to gather every last bead without dying and search every stitch for hid-den treasures to adorn his apartment or refurbish his neighbors’ homes.

This game offers something fun and decidedly challenging to each player, despite his or her age or gaming preferences.

What do you think is the most interesting thing about Borah?

Q&A 14 The Borah Senator February 9, 2011

“The people. Borah has such a vast array of people that are special in their own ways. Just imagine it, each and every person going

to this school is different and has their own story. How awesome is that! And each and every person is capable

of contributing something to this school or

their classmates, whatever it may be.

Like the U.S. Constitution says it is ‘we the people’

that make up this country, it is also

‘we the people’ that make up this school.” ~ Senior Walter

Nosalskiy

“The Borah instructors are diverse and unique. Their individuality and support in

itself helps me to be comfortable in

my own skin. Besides teaching their subject, they show us it is okay to be a little quirky…

everyone is a little bit.”

~ Junior Erica Taylor

“I love the quotes on the walls and the

welcoming at the front of

the school. They inspire me to try

better and makes me want to have my words remembered.”

~ Sophomore Samuel Jensen

“The most interesting thing at Borah, I believe, is the

friendship. Almost everyone seems to

get along, from my perspective.

Everyone fits in, that’s the way it should be.” ~ Junior Dalton

Dunn

To see more responses,

visit

Borahsenator.com

Photo by Kristin Bracewell

PeopleThe Borah Senator February 9, 2011 15

by Tyler Albretsen

Cary Cada, who was an English teacher, but is serving his eighth year as a counselor, is one of the most distinguished people at Borah. The same can be said for Alyson Pin-cock, who is a math teacher here. But these two are simply more than just figureheads in the classroom; they are both very accom-plished basketball coaches.

Coach Cada, as those familiar with him know him by, is the head coach of the boys varsity basketball team. Cada, who is enter-ing his thirty- first season as head coach, said he has enjoyed every moment of his coach-ing experience. “I’ve known since I was in high school that I wanted to be a teacher and a coach.”

Cada said that the best part of his coaching ex-perience was working with the variety of players over the years and seeing average players turn into great players.

Substitute learns from his students

Photo by Kaite Helm Substitute Daniel Banc sits in Zarbnisky’s enviromn-meantal science classroom.

By Matt Bray

A familiar face to students and faculty, frequent substitute Daniel Blanc’s background as a teacher in 1977-1978 serves him well in the classroom today.

Blanc’s days in educa-tion paused in ‘78 when his teaching career required him to leave his home city. His in-terest in education was redi-rected into sales. He worked as a construction estimator, a career that slowed down as a result of the current reces-sion. He has been filling in as a substitute teacher at Borah for eight years.

Blanc said he likes to substitute because he’s in different classes for different teachers on a regu-lar basis. He added that he likes to be involved; he helps time wrestling matches; he occasionally talks on the announcements, and he helped host the 4A basketball tournament. Blanc said he enjoys help-ing students outside of school because he likes to see them progress in and out of the classroom.

Blanc said that he believes it is important to get to know his students because everyone counts and everyone matters. He wants to notice each student,

because his observation is that kids sometimes feel overlooked if they’re not misbehaving or brilliant. Blanc’s goal is to be the nicest person he can be.

According to physical education teacher Linda Plew, “Mr. Blanc re-ally cares about kids, which is why he likes to sub. When you see him, you can just feel... that he likes to see them [students] suc-ceed.”

Senior Sydney Hibbs twisted her ankle in P.E. class. Ac-cording to Hibbs, not

only did Blanc make sure she was okay, but also he suggested alternatives so she could still participate. “He actually cares. He helped me when I was hurt, and when I felt bad about not being able to run he offered other opportunities,” Hibbs said.

Blanc said that teaching is enjoyable, not because of the money, but because the students teach him, and that is rewarding. He said he learns something from them each and every day.

Outside of teaching, Blanc said he enjoys music, riding dirt bikes, hiking, and snowmobiling at the family cabin.

“He actually cares. He helped me when I was hurt, and when I felt bad about

not being able to run he of-fered other opportunities.”

--Sydney Hibbs, Senior

Senior Nathan Lorana, who has been on the varsity team since his junior year, said, “[Cada] is a hard working coach, and is always hungry to be the best. He is always striving to get better.” The varsity boys basketball team is in first place in its respective conference this season.

Alyson Pincock is the head coach of the girls

varsity basketball team. Pincock has been coaching at Borah for 10 years, and is in her sixth year as varsity head coach at Borah.

Pincock had basketball ambitions as a child in elementary school and loved to play the game. She played for the Bo-rah Lions basketball team from 1994-1997, winning the State Championship in 1997 in her senior year.

Pincock played basketball on schol-arship in college. But basketball didn’t end for Pincock after her playing years. Pincock added, “I wanted to continue being part of the game.”

Pincock obtained her coaching po-sition from the very same coach that coached her during her playing years and she’s been at Borah ever since. Pincock added, “I love Borah, I love the girls I work with, I love competition.”

Junior Claire Richardson said, “Coach Pincock pushes us and makes us the best we can be.”

Ambitions continue for basketball coaches

Photos courtesy of Safari Yearbook StaffCounselor and boys varsity basketball coach Cary Cada (left) and math teacher and girls varsity basketball coach Alyson Pincock (right) push athletes to their potential.

Sports 16 The Borah Senator February 9, 2011

Lions devour annual basketball rivalry

Pre-season baseball training readies fielders, batters

It’s training time as Borah gets ready for the baseball season with tryouts starting Feb. 25 and open gym already in progress.

Batting and throwing are two verbs that can be found regularly bandied about at the indoor practice facility located on Borah’s campus as players get ready for the sea-son. These open gym practic-es are after school every Mon-day, Wednesday, and Friday.

Nate Currier, senior, said “There is basically a lot of hitting and getting our arm strength ready for the sea-son.”

The first game, March 10 is at home versus Caldwell High School. Other crucial games throughout the season include the ones against Capi-

tal and Rocky Mountain high schools.

The varsity team will be comprised of mostly new members, with about only two players returning from last year’s team.

The rest will either be from last year’s junior varsity team or new players to Borah. There will also be some fresh-man in the running for varsity positions.

Coach Wes McAllaster ex-plained that, “Ninety percent of the players will never have played on varsity before, so it will be different and challeng-ing.”

Another challenge for the team and coaches is that varsity and junior varsity will have practices together in-stead of separately.

They will mostly be work-ing on the fundamentals like

hitting, defense, base running, and other improvements. McAllaster added that his goal for the team is to place in the district tournament as well as be competitive in all of the games.

Currier also stated that, “This is going to be a better season with a lot of young tal-ent. The team also seems to be getting along a lot better.”

McAllaster said that it will be an exciting season, but that there will be challenges due to all the changes on the roster. He added that he would love for the students to be at the games to cheer, and he hopes for a good season with excit-ing games.

Sam O’Neil, a sophomore who has been playing base-ball for nine years stated with enthusiasm, “We’re gonna be great.”

By Savannah Harrelson

Who will be the new head coach of the girls soccer team?

Since previous varsity head coach Michael Cum-mings left after the Fall 2010 season, anticipation builds as the decision for who will lead the team is left unanswered. “We are still in the process of hiring a head girls soccer coach,”said Athletic Director Vince Mann.

Meanwhile, players from last year’s season reflect on what could have been im-proved. “Things could have been better with relationships on teams,” said junior Renae Pasta. “There should not have been as many cliques between varsity and JV as there were.”

As for the upcoming sea-

son, returning players begin to set their expectations for their new coach. “For the new coaches, since they will be new to the team, they have to learn our way of playing, and they have to be able to handle it,” said sophomore Ashley Snider.

With a new coach, a new year and a new team, players’ outlooks for the season are set high.

“My hopes for next sea-son would be for the team to welcome the new coach, along with varsity to support JV and to try hardest in every game,”said sophomore goal-keeper Jessica Parker.

Others hope for a gener-ally, successful season. “I can’t wait to kick a** next year!” said sophomore Katie Irusta enthusiastically.

Girls soccer team has high hopes for new coach, season

By Kristin Bracewell

Lights dance across the basketball court as junior Braden Corpus winds up to attempt a make-or-break three pointer. This is the game; the competition is wild. The game is the Griffin Cup: Borah against its rival, Capital.

The Griffin Cup is unlike any other basketball game that occurs in the season. Varsity boys basketball coach Cary Cada explained, “The Rowdies and Student Coun-cil started it with Capital in 2009. It is a classic rivalry for years, so they decided to turn it into trophy winning event!”

Junior Konnor Moden said that the game was set up “to highlight the rivalry and make it a tradition.” Corpus agreed by saying that the game “just shows who wants it more and which team is overall better.”

Senior girls varsity bas-ketball player Jessie Nelson explained that in the end, the game decides who has “brag-ging rights.” Coach Cada agreed.

The 1-1 record tiebreaker was Feb. 2 at Capital. “Capi-tal won the first game at Cap-ital in 2009; we won the sec-ond game last year at home,” Cada explained. Borah won this years away game with a

score of 58 to 47, keeping the cup for another year.

Moden said that Borah doesn’t have to win the game to make it worth watching. “No matter what, the game’s always interesting.” Nelson explained that in the first game, her sophomore year, was in high anticipation up until the last buzzer, where the boys lost by one point.

Borah and Capital are not the only high schools that par-take in these activities. Cada explained, “Many smaller school have an event like this and it really brings the spir-its out in the participating schools!”

Basketball in general, can

be suspenseful to watch; a winner is often not clear un-til the end of the 4th quarter. But the Griffin Cup is the one game that encourages crowd participation.

Corpus clarified that if he wasn’t a player, he would defi-nitely show up to watch the game. “It is just a big game and a lot of people like to see the rivalry.”

By Grace Gibney

Photo by Katie HelmJunior Ben Tucakovic drives the ball to the hoop againt Capital on Feb. 2

nior Natalie Fuller. “My stomach al-ways has but-terflies up until we do our pre-game chant and tip-off.”

The first half was close, and without a lot of scor-ing. However, Borah jumped out to a quick lead, and by the end of the first half, they were up on the Braves 19-15.

At half time the winner of a raffle was named and given the prize, after the younger Borah associ-ated girls teams were presented, and some fun com-petitions were held. The teams came back out and began to warm-up.

SportsSenior night ends bittersweet for girls

The Lady Lions played their last home game of the season Jan. 25 against rival Boise High. For se-niors Natalie Fuller, Christina Heckelsmiller, Jessica Nelson, and Taylor Gregory, it was the last game they’ll play in the “Jungle.”

The night started with a ceremony to pay trib-ute to the four seniors. Each were announced over the intercom, accompanied to mid-court by their parents, and presented a going away gift, a back-pack full of goods. Once at mid-court, teammates in pairs brought each senior a flower and the an-nouncer read their accomplishments in basketball and in school.

The seniors and their parents then posed togeth-er for pictures, as the crowd applauded, the band played, the girls’ parents took their seats and the la-dies joined their team on the bench.

The cheerleaders took the court and the starters for both teams were announced. The Lady Lions did their traditional pre-game ritual lying on the court in a circle chanting and pounding the floor, which always precedes the ladies’ play.

“I’m really nervous before the games,” said se-

By Kristin BracewellParents and senior varsity girls basketball players, Natalie Fuller, Christina Heckelsmiller, Jessica Nel-son, and Taylor Gregory stand together in honor of the girls’ last season of high school basketball.

In the beginning of the second half the lions held the lead; however they were overcome by Boise and fell short of the win.

“Losing is always a disappointment, but it helps ease the pain when you have good teammates to lean-on,” said Nelson after the game.

By Sage Unsworth

Should Borah tackle head injuries?By Brandie Cichy

Sports players and coach-es have all been warned about the severity of concussions.

Players among all levels of sports, even professionals, have admittedly denied be-ing hurt when experiencing a concussion. However, athletes who do so, suffer serious con-sequences.

“I think that one of the problems with head injuries is that not enough people are certified in treating concus-sions. Awareness needs to be raised about the severity of concussions,” Baseball coach Wes McAllister stated.

Contact sports are notori-ous for the chance of getting hurt. To prevent head inju-ries, precautions need to be taken.

“I think that in order to protect players from getting

head injuries, techniques in teaching kids how to avoid head injuries would help im-mensely,” Wrestling coach Bill West commented.

“If we teach kids how to take a hit the right way and also how to give a hit so that they don’t injure themselves or the person they’re hitting, it would reduce head injuries quite a lot.”

Among the sports most vulnerable to head injuries, many coaches said it was foot-ball. Although coaches are mindful that there is no such thing as a sport that is im-mune from accidents, wres-tling and lacrosse also made the list of high school sports that are highly vulnerable to head injuries.

Technique needs to be taught efficiently, which is why head injuries happen. Local news station, KTVB,

reported that in Omaha, NE, the NFL is influencing deci-sions on a legislative level to raise awareness about head injuries. KTVB also reported that other states are enacting or studying similar laws to reduce head injuries among athletes.

In a recent post for “The Hockey News,” details on the long-term effects of concus-sions are provided. The site reported that outside of ex-treme headaches that come back after years of not hav-ing them, people who have had concussions potentially have to deal with depression as well.

With this evidence, even the pros in professional sports such as the NHL and NFL are creating tighter head in-jury regulations.

The borahsenator.com con-tains links to related stories.

By Jamie Jones

As it rains in Boise on these gray winter days, senior Ryan Personette feels enlightened to know that the showers will turn to snow up at Bogus Basin; that fresh snow means he can pursue his passion and shred the freshly powdered mountain.

“When I’m not skiing, I feel like I’m a ghost trapped in-side of a prison,” Personette explained.

The member of the Borah Freestyle Ski Team recently placed in the top five at the last competition, but said the placement doesn’t matter to him; he simply enjoys the ride.

“It’s like, in a way, I’m dead when I’m skiing,” he said. “It feels like I don’t have a body. It’s just the mountain and me. I feel like I’m letting my soul and creative energy out.”

The sport started as a family affair; Personette began tak-ing lessons in the third grade.

“We’re so proud of how passionate he has become with skiing,” his mother Camille Personette said. “He has so much talent.” He said he enjoys skiing with his friends while his favorite place to ski is Mt. Bachelor in Oregon.

Along with camping and fishing, Personette said he sits around, doing absolutely nothing but patiently waiting for the snow to return.

“I just love skiing,” he said. “I love it because it lets me escape the material life and the city.”

Skiing means more than life to freestyle competitive racer

The Borah Senator Feburary 9, 2011 17

JV Sports 18 The Borah Senator February 9, 2011

Sophomore exemplifies work ethic on, off basketball court

For Sophomore Cody Spjute, basketball is more than just a family tradition. Basketball is something that he really enjoys.

Spjute said, “[I started] because my dad loved playing it and my whole family loved playing it, so I thought it’d be fun.”

Spjute has been playing basketball ever since the sec-ond grade. He grew up play-ing on various YMCA and AAU basketball teams and played for the varsity team at West Junior High School in eighth grade. He is on the ju-nior varsity team at Borah, for which he also played his fresh-man year.

Manny Varela, the coach

of the junior varsity basket-ball team said, “Cody is a good representation of what a good Borah basketball player should be.” Varela also add-ed, “Cody is the kind of per-son you want to be around. He has a great attitude and he is a very hard worker.”

Spjute’s family has had a rich basketball history, which is something he hopes to con-tinue. His older brother, Craig Spjute, who was a senior last year at Borah, started on the Borah boys varsity basketball year for three consecutive years beginning in his sopho-more year.

Spjute’s dad also played for the Boise Braves, win-ning the state championship in his senior year at Boise on a game winning shot in the

championship game. After high school, his dad played for Riggs College of Idaho and then Boise State, each for two years.

Spjute said that his favorite part about playing basketball is winning. He is a very de-termined player and expects great things of himself. Spjute added, “I want to become the best player that I can.”

Spjute also plays on the junior varsity football team. Andy Woodbridge, coach of the JV football team added, “Cody is a good teammate and gets along with others well. He encourages others to perform their best.”

Woodbridge also said, “He always works hard and brings a healthy personality to the team.” Spjute has considered

playing tennis for Borah, but said he’d prefer to just stay with basketball and football.

Spjute also has ambitions of playing basketball after his high school career at the col-legiate level, saying that he’d

like to play wherever he can. A hard work ethic, a healthy personality, and a commend-able attitude are all things that make Spjute not only a great athlete, but a good per-son overall.

The upcoming Junior varsity ten-nis season is expecting to see at least one major change, a new coach.

Junior Sean Kuiken said that the new coach is the only major change he is anticipating from last year’s sea-son.

Kuiken played street tennis when he was young and began playing for a school team in seventh grade. He said he enjoys the competition among players on his team.

This season Kuiken said fans can expect an active team trying hard in competitions while “having fun.” Kui-ken is also planning on trying out for the varsity team this year.

Another player, junior Andrea Bat-

ten, said her cousin influenced her to play tennis when Batten was in seventh grade.

Batten has high expectations for the season. “Everyone is competi-tive. They are all really good peo-ple,” she said. In addition, Batten said “lots of teamwork and good at-titudes” are to be expected.

Junior Kallina Breakfield, an-other junior varsity player, be-gan playing tennis in ninth grade. “Some friends said I should join,” she said. “I really enjoy the friendly atmosphere,” she later added.

Although she said she dislikes the cold, Breakfield said she expects to see a positive and competitive team this season. “I think we are going to be pretty good this year,” she said.

By Tyler Albretsen

By Samantha Whittaker

Tennis players await season, new coach

By Kristin BracewellBy Katie HelmShophomore Cody Spjute continues family tadition of playing basketball.

Photo EssayThe Borah Senator February 9, 2011 19

Max Oja, senior, donated blood during the Jan. 27 blood drive, hosted by Key Club. (above) Kristian Walker, senior, gave a thumbs up before donating blood. (above)

Junior Hannah Schleis had her arm swabbed with iodine before donating blood. (left)

Veins of generosityBlood and needles may

send some students running, but others opt to donate dur-ing one of the three blood drives held at Borah every year.

The blood drives are put on by Key Club, and the Red Cross comes to Borah to per-form the actual blood draws. The blood drive was held on Jan. 27 in the New Gym.

To read a first hand account of the blood draw, visit Lisa Garrard’s blog on borahsenator.com

Photos by Katie Helm

Workers from the Red Cross preformed blood draws in the New Gym. January was National Blood Donor Month. (above)

Fun & Games 20 The Borah Senator February 9, 2011

Each row, column and block must have numbers from 1 to 9 in them. No number can appear more than once in any row, column, or block. When all boxes are completed, you win.

The Dot Game

Each player takes alternating turns by connecting two dots with a line. When you create a box by closing the fourth line, you get one point and take another turn.

Sudoku