2 News Feb. 10, 2012

Iliad

Club presidents seeking to withdraw funds from their account may be disappointed with new limitations for the rest of the semester. State regulations placed on ASB this year may alter the way Poway High clubs operate, restricting how funds can be utilized pertaining to donations and spending.

According to ASB director Emily Petterson, there are many new laws that specifically target the spending of club funds. In order to protect Poway High’s credit, ASB has the responsibility of closely regulating all money.

By the district’s interpretation, the new law states that all spending related to ASB must benefit the student body in some way. For clubs that focus on the local level, this may have little impact. But for international clubs, like Care Highway and Key Club, this rule has a potentially great hindrance.

“Key Club is the oldest and largest organization on this campus. We need that money to achieve our goals,” Won-Ji Lee, president of Key Club, said. The club sponsors events that promote leadership and community service; however, a majority of these activities take place around the local and national community, not within our campus.

Care Highway, an organization that provides aid to countries in poverty across the globe, was given $3000 by the national Care Highway organization last year. President Haley Urbach planned to spend a large portion of that money to support starving children in Kenya. Now, she finds that money cannot be applied to such expenditures because the money lies within the school’s sphere of power and must be regulated by strict laws.

“Care Highway’s sole function is to support international programs. Without the right to our own money, we lose all legitimacy,” Urbach said.

The regulations have little impact on ASB’s activities because the organization’s purpose is to spend money on the students and the school’s affairs. “As much as it may be needed, we cannot use our funds to help Mr. Harris’s

photo program or buy new computers,” Petterson said.ASB insists that their responsibility cannot be altered.

They are simply carrying out the laws to prevent any legality issues. Especially after such problems in the San Diego and Sweetwater School District, where a lack of regulation led to corruption, even criminal charges for some individuals, Petterson is taking stronger precautions to prevent fines that could damage our school.

“I don’t want to go to jail,” she remarked.Whether or not these precautions are necessary

or simply driven by paranoia, they are being enforced strictly. “I appreciate ASB’s intentions to monitor funds, but these regulations are really hurting Poway High clubs,” Urbach said.

She believes that since her club’s funds were received last year, before the regulations, the money should be exempt from new policies. The plea has been considered by the financial office.

The only advice ASB can give is that students raise money in different ways. “Clubs can spend their money on T-shirts or bracelets to give out to spread awareness,”

Petterson said. Creative thinking may be necessary in order to find legal fundraising methods, despite the inefficiency.

Collecting cash or checks made out to the national organization, not the club itself, will allow students to spend the money in any way they see fit. While these steps are logical, they also seem to debunk the entire ASB system. To advise students to sidestep ASB is to avoid and disregard authority completely.

“I think they’re failing to create unity or order, but are actually tearing apart the foundation for all of these clubs,” said Lee.

Regulations for future years could easily be contested and changed as policies are deliberated.

However, for at least the remainder of the semester, clubs like Key Club and Care Highway will need to work outside of ASB’s boundaries in order to evade superfluous regulations and fully carry out their plans for the year.

star of the show: Junior Forest Jenkins takes center stage, playing Conrad Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie. The character is a celebrity heartthrob who is set to join the army. ~Courtesy of Rex Castor

“I think they’re failing to create

unity or order, but are actually tearing apart the foundation for all of these clubs.”//Won-ji Lee

Poway High School’s annual musical, Bye Bye Birdie, opened successfully last weekend.

Shows took on place on Feb. 2 and 3, and there are more performances tonight, Feb. 9 and tomorrow.

Bye Bye Birdie takes viewers back to the late 50’s. It tells the story of a teenage heartthrob Conrad Birdie, who has recently been drafted into the army.

Smitten teen girls everywhere are devastated, and in order to send him off, his managers arrange for him to give a goodbye kiss to a randomly selected high-schooler. Intermingled love stories, humor, and lively songs dominate this feel-good show.

“It’s a fun show about teenagers, so students can relate to it,” musical director Nancy Gray said.

The musical, which has been an annual production at Poway High for years, was originally cut due to a lack of funds.

However, dedicated musical fans banded together in order to try to bring it back.

Emails to Principal Fisher circulated, fundraising efforts were made, and parents volunteered for jobs, like set-building, to cut costs.

A situation that originally seemed rather dire was turned around by the determination of musical performers and attendees.

Leads of the show include senior Luke Castor as Albert, Conrad’s manager, juniors Claire Davis as Kim, the girl chosen for Conrad to kiss, Chase Cullen as Hugo, Kim’s boyfriend, and sophomores Jackie Foster as Rosie, Albert’s secretary, and Forrest Jenkins as Conrad.

“The fact that we pulled such a complicated show together in such a short amount of time is a demonstration of how much the cast, crew, and community is willing to give,” Luke Castor said.

“It’s become a fantastic show and it is an honor and a privilege to have worked on it with everyone.”

Students still have two more chances to see it- tonight and tomorrow night.

The show starts at 7 p.m. and student tickets are $10. “The musical is very fun and everyone should go see it!” Jackie Foster said.

The robotics team showed off their quick minds and computer techniques at the Cyber Patriot competition, getting to the third round which took place Saturday, Feb. 4. Though not ending in the win they expected, the team got to an extremely high level and learned lifelong skills according to the team.

The goal of the competition was to prevent against hacking. Robotics team member Alex Aldava explains the detailed procedure; “We download the program that has the test… it’s like a computer inside a computer. Inception, ya know,” said Aldava. The purpose is to find possible leaks and fix them.

After a win last year, the team was confident going into the competition. “It’s nothing we can’t handle,” Dylan Van Dam said. The year before Poway Robotics won tenth in the nation.

The team’s confidence got them far. The competition is quick and is organized into three rounds, and after getting to the top thirty six teams in the country, the team looked forward to passing round three, but barely fell short, getting to 35th in the nation. “We did a lot of fancy stuff but I guess not fancy enough,” Aldava said.

Through it all the team found the experience to be extremely interesting as well as beneficial. Aldava believes the skills learned through the competition will be able to be used in the real world. “A lot of countries are trying to hack us and steal our stuff. There’s a group called anonymous and we are learning to be the people who protect against it.”

The team is beginning to train again for another competition, never letting go of their goal. Aldava doesn’t see the computer techniques learned as a skill like math or science, “It’s more of an art,” Aldava said.

State rules restrict clubs

LONDON DETRICKPhotographer

CARLY METZStaff Writer

The Cyber Patriot Robotics tournament comes to an end

Bye Bye Birdie makes debutPoway play makes successful showings

CHASE PADOLUKE CASTOR

Funds spent must impact student body