January 25, 2008 131 High School Road Latrobe, PA Volume 85 Issue 7

For the third time inless than two years, students atGLSHS are mourning the loss ofa classmate. For the senior class,it is their second time facing thedeath of a peer. Senior AdamDunn passed away on December23 as a result of an accident onMarguerite Lake Rd.

While Adam has beenhome schooled for most of hisjunior and senior year, he was apart of the student body for themajority of his education. “Hewas intelligent, he just reallydidn’t like being cooped up inthe classroom all day, and he didreally well once he was athome,” said his father.

Many of Adam’sfriends considered him to beoutgoing, funny, and friendly.His mother said “At home hewas more quiet and sensitive,

but from his friends we havereally learned that he was alwaysthe life of the party, and madeeveryone laugh.” “He was reallyoutgoing and funny, everyoneliked him,” said senior BrockStone, who has been friends withAdam since 5th grade. “Everymorning he used to come overand have coffee before school,we called it the coffee club,”said Stone with a smile.

Another side of Adamwas his compassion andhelpfulness. According to hismother, he would do anythingfor anybody. “He really caredabout people. He was alwayshelping anyone who needed it,”she continued.

Whenever Adam wasnot with his friends at Dino’s orthe mall, you could find himdoing the two things he lovedthe most, motocross andhunting. Beginning at the age of15, Adam started riding

competitively. “Every time itwas nice out, Adam would beout there riding his dirt bike,”said Mrs. Dunn. Adam made alot of progress in the 3 years heraced, and quickly moved intoPro Class C, an intermediatelevel of racing. Some of hisfriends’ best memories of himwere when he was racing.

Junior Jesse Copelli,who raced alongside Adam,described his favorite memorywith him as “[The] High PointNational this year, everyone gotmohawks and partied all

weekend. It was the best,” hecontinued, “He was alwaysreally funny, crazy, happy,entertaining and really a goodfriend to everyone”

Adam loved hunting somuch that his parents took himon a hunting trip for his birthdayin December. “It was really agreat time, everyone had a lot offun,” said his father. He took hisfirst deer last year, a monster tenpoint buck that is mounted onthe wall in the Dunn family’sliving room.

After Adams death,

support poured in from hisfriends. Stickers, t-shirts, andbracelets were all created andsold, and the proceeds willbenefit his family. In the schoolparking lot alone, more than 10vehicles don stickers that say “Inmemory of Adam Dunn”. Thevehicles also have the number15 on doors in blue tape.

At his funeral andviewing, his friends showed upin t-shirts and hoodies alsosaying “In loving memory ofAdam Dunn, #15.” “We wouldlike to thank everyone for all of

their support. We are reallyshocked at the compassion ofeveryone,” said his parents.

Come the end of May,Adam will not be there to walkacross the stage forcommencements. He will,however, forever survive in thehearts and memories of hisfamily, friends, and classmates.According to his father, “He wasa great kid, the best anyonecould ever ask for.”

Just because thefootball season is over does notmean that the colorguard girlshave stopped doing what theydo. The Latrobe winterguardperformed a preview show atDeer Lakes on January 12 toprepare for a competition atPenn Trafford on January 26.They will also be taking part ina regional competition onFebruary 2 at Norwin.

Winterguard is thewinter version of colorguard, adifference being thatwinterguard does not performwith a band, and it is performedindoors. The members ofwinterguard perform withdance, acrobatics, andequipment including flags andrifles. Winterguard practicestwice a week for three hours,and they practice beforeleaving for their competitions.This year’s winterguard song is“Ramalama bang bang” byRoisin Murphy. Eachperformance is four minuteslong.

Latrobe’s winterguardteam has moved up in class

from last year from scholasticregional A to scholastic A. Thecoaches are Staci Kotch, whohas been coaching for six years;Alietta Barker and KateRichards, two years; andBrittney Moore, one year. Girlswho choose to join winterguardmust be in eighth to twelfthgrade and a member ofmarching band. This yearsteam is compiled of eighteenmembers including seniorcaptains Katie Barchesky andJennifer Harold.

The competition atDeer Lakes is hosted by ThreeRivers Winter EnsembleAssociation. Greater Latrobewill be performing with twelveother teams during theintermission at the previewshow. It is the first show of theseason, and it gives a first lookat what each winterguard teamwill bring throughout the yearat each upcoming competition.The competition at PennTrafford is also hosted by theTRWEA. Greater Latrobe willbe up against thirty eight otherwinterguard teams at thecompetition at Penn Trafford.Last year Latrobe scored 74.6out of 100 at Penn Trafford.

The scores for the winterguardteams are based on fivedifferent aspects. One part ofthe score is how well they usetheir equipment. The next twoare how they move while on thefloor and an ensemble analysisof how their faces look. Thelast two aspects of the scoringare how the dance goes alongwith the music and whether

they are off beat or off count;and the performance as awhole.

“I never have anyaspirations of a ‘winningseason’ for the girls. I alwaystell them that winning shouldbe the furthest thing from theirminds,” said Kotch. “And ifyou’re in it to win it, you’re inthe wrong activity. My onlyrequest for them is that they go

out each Saturday and do theirvery best…and always makepersonal improvement fromweek to week.”

The regionalcompetition at Norwin ishosted by the Winter GuardInternational. The WGI is thegoverning body of winterguard.Over 11,000 membersparticipated in their Sport of theArts World Championship lastApril. This is Latrobe’s firstyear to participate in the WGIcompetition. Greater Latrobewill be competing againstseventeen other winterguardteams in their class at thiscompetition. “Not only willthey be competing there, butthey will also get to be aspectator to some of the bestcolorguards in the country,”said Kotch

The members ofwinterguard and the coachesare very optimistic aboutexpectations for this year. “Ihave this great feeling that thisseason will be amazing,” saidsophomore Andrea Love. “Weworked so hard and I’m soexcited to see the results fromthe judges.”

A cross placed on Marguerite Lake Rd. at the place were Adam Dunn was struck by a car. Students have since placed objects on thecross that represent Adam and his life.

Photo by: Angela Repko, Photo Editor

Local artist sharesknowledge

Greater Latrobe SeniorHigh School is known for theirexcellent art programs. Walkingthrough the halls, the pride thatthe school takes in the artcollection is self evident. Noother high school in the countrygives their students theopportunity to absorb such awide variety of art. However, onTuesday, January 8, students ofGLSH were able to go pastsimply looking at the artworkand had the chance to work witha human figure artist on creatingtheir own.

Local artist and SenecaValley High School’s art teacher,Jason Shorr came to the Centerfor Student Creativity to sharehis knowledge with the studentsof Mrs. Ross’s Human FigureDrawing class. The students firstsaw Shorr’s work on display atthe Carnegie Science Center inPittsburgh and wanted to knowmore. GLSHS was the first highschool that Shorr has visited toshare his artwork. “I am justflabbergasted to look at the artprogram and the Center forStudent Creativity here. It’s veryimpressive,” said Shorr.

Shorr displayed a slideshow of his work and also thepictures he uses as his influenceto his drawings to a group of nineart students including seniorsAbby Diamond, KristinSchmucker, and Lauren Taylor,and juniors Alex Duprey, AnnePenrose, Casey Ciocco, Lu Wu,Nina Stewart and Sam Stewart.The group of students were able

to apply what they’ve beenlearning in class with Shorr’sadvice to create a mural using thedifferent techniques.

“I wanted to give theman insight on the process it takesto create a drawing in the timewe had,” said Shorr. Shorr’smain goal for the students was tonot only teach them how tophysically capture the bodies butalso how to also capture them ina spiritual form. Along withscience and medicine books,Shorr uses Greek mythology andhis own personal experiences,dreams, memories andimagination to create his one ofkind artworks. “His presentationwas very informative. When Ilisten to an artists talk I can get asense of their style andincorporate it into your ownwork,” said Lu Wu.

Doctors rave aboutShorr’s ability to physicallycapture the flesh, blood and boneof the body perfectly. “My owninterest in anatomy and medicinefuel my choice of subject matterand relate to the theme of mywork,” said Shorr.

The students’ mural willadd a spot light on studentartwork which will be in additionto the extensive artworkcollection already displayedthroughout the halls. You can seethe students learning come to lifethrough their mural which isbeing displayed outside thecafeteria.

Mary MaattaStaff Writer

Anna SylvesterStaff Writer

Winterguard partakes ininternational meet

Amber BiddleEditor-in-Chief

Adam Dunn, never forgotten

In Loving MemoryAdam J. Dunn

Nov. 17,1989 - Dec. 23, 2007

The group will compete against 36 other teams

“I have this great feelingthat this season will beamazing,” said sophomoreAndrea Love. “We workedso hard and I’m so excitedto see the results from thejudges.”

Record breakingbench press2

22 January 25, 2008January 25, 2008

NewsNews

NewsIn-Brief

Compiled by: Brianna Saddler, Staff Writer

Upcoming E

ventsBumar lifts his way to history

New school bench press record stands at 410lbs.

Many Latrobestudents walk around the hallsand notice that senior BrettBumar could probably breakthem in half with only onefinger. Now just imagine whathis strength is like using twohands. Well you don’t have touse your imagination becausewe now know exactly howmuch Bumar can lift with twohands as he has broken theschool bench press record bylifting an astronomical 410pounds. The record waspreviously held by NickWaszlyk at 400 lbs, but the5’6.5’’ 205 lb. Bumar hasetched a new record in Latrobeweight lifting history.

“I was really excitedbecause one of my biggestgoals in high school was tobreak the bench press record,”said Bumar. Mr. Evans createda special power lifting programinvolving advanced powerprinciples to help Bumaraccomplish his goal.

“Bumar’s workoutwas based on the SuperCompensation Theory, whichbasically states that the moreyou break down a muscle andthe more you introduce amuscle to varied training, thebigger and stronger the muscle

will grow,” Mr. Evans said.The program consisted offorced reps, partial reps, boardpresses,

negatives, and drop setsconcentrating mainly on hischest, triceps, and shoulders.Bumar did this particular upperbody workout three times aweek. “He utilized proper restin this workout. Too manystudents overtrain andconstantly breakdown themuscle and never give it timeto grow,” said Mr. Evans.

With all that lifting,Bumar needed a unique diet inorder to properly nourish and

repair his muscles. The seniorbodybuilder would consume atleast 200 grams of protein aday to help build muscle. Hispost workout nutritionproperly nourished andrepaired his muscles.

One of the reasonswhy Bumar lifts so much isbecause he enjoys participatingin body building competitions.The next competition that he isthinking about entering is thePittsburgh Classic NGA BodyBuilding Competition on April25, 2008. Bodybuildingcontests are different thanpower lifting competitionsbecause they try to focus on

size and definition, rather thanoverall strength. One ofBumar’s goals for the future isto place first at the NGA BodyBuilding Competition.

Besides lifting to breakrecords and for body buildingcompetitions, Bumar wouldalso like to get involved inUltimate FightingChampionships. He hasalready been training for a yearand a half, but he is waitinguntil after he graduates to seewhether or not he really wantsto get involved with it.Bumar’s special UFC trainingconsists of kickboxing, muaythai, and jiu-jitsu. A majorchallenge for Bumar with UFCis that he will have to cutweight to 170 lbs. in order tocompete.

The bench press is oneof the most commonly usedexercises in the weight room.Now when your lifting the bartrying to catch up to whatBumar has accomplished, turnaround, look yourself in themirror, and say “Let’s face it,I’ll never be able to lift asmuch as Latrobe weight liftinglegend Brett Bumar.” Hisrecord-setting 410 lb. benchpress will remain in the recordbooks for quite some time.

Theater boosters hostannual wildcat cabaret

The Center forStudent Creativity will hostthis years Wildcat Cabaret onJanuary 26. The Cabaret is heldonce a year to benefit GreaterLatrobe Senior High’s theaterprogram. Last year the eventwas attended by 200 people.The doors for the event open at5:00 p.m. and the cost oftickets are $12 for adults, $8for students and children underfive are free.

A sit-down dinner willoccur in the commons area at5:30 p.m. A selection ofhomemade food provided bythe theater boosters will beserved including spaghetti,salad, and bread. The guestswill then be escorted into theCSC for the show. After theperformances coffee, tea, anddesserts will be provided.

The entertainment for

the night will include a varietyof songs and skits includingmonologues from StarSpangled Girl, and varioussongs from musicals such asJekyll and Hyde and You’re aGood Man Charlie Brown. Mr.Daniel Krack said, “It’s just afun night filled with good foodand good entertainment.”Eleven students will put theirtalents on display includingseniors: Isaac Prichard, JuliaSmolka; juniors: LexiAukerman, TheresaBaughman, Maura Greiner,Cara Marrero, ShelbyMcAdams, Angela Palombo,and Candida Sylvania;sophomores: Amanda Gregg,and Sam Prichard. Sideperformances consist of a liverock band and Mr. Krack whoperform along with a surpriseguest.

Students have beenpreparing for theirperformances in many differentways. Junior Cara Marrero

said, “I practice my song in thechoral room during study halls.I’m really shy about peoplehearing me sing so I’m hopingthat I do well.”

Students feel thepressure to perform well infront of their peers, “JuniorTheresa Baughman explained,“It is one thing to practice yoursong to yourself, but when youget in front of everyone that iswhen the nerves hit.” In theend the audience is just lookingfor easily enjoyableentertainment.

Anyone, includingcommunity members, canattend the cabaret. An orderform for tickets must be pickedup from Mr. Krack and are dueby January 19. Money fromticket and food sales willbenefit the drama club and itsfuture productions. “Everyonehas worked hard to put thistogether, and we are lookingforward to a great outcome,”stated Krack.

Kaitlin ZurawskyStaff Writer

Ryan LaDukeStaff Writer

Compiled by: Andy Smithhammer, Staff Writer

Photo above submitted by: Brett Bumar

1/237:00 Wrestling vs. Indiana

1/247:00 Breakfast of ChampionsHomeroom Report CardsDistributed4:00 Swimming vs. Hempfield7:30 Girl’s Basketball @ PennTrafford

1/257:30 Boy’s basketball @ PennTrafford7:30 Girl’s Basketball @ Shaler

1/26SAT Testing Date

1/286:00 Swimming @ Derry7:30 Girl’s Basketball vs. Kiski

1/297:30 Boy’s Basketball vs. Kiski

1/307:30 Girl’s Basketball @ Hempfield

1/316:00 Swimming @ Penn Trafford

2/17:30 Boys Basketball @ Hempfield

2/24:00 Girl’s Basketball- Hoopfest5:30 Glac Swim Meet

2/4Swimming @ Laurel Highlands

Photos by: Andy Smithhammer, Staff Writer

Bumar works out in the GLSHS weight room daily to increase his strength and prepare for competitions.

Rotary Student of the Month

For the month of January juniorsElizabeth Harkins and Mark DeDianawere selected for Rotary Student of themonth. Elizabeth is captain of thesoccer team and is active in track, sheis involved in AP classes and has a 4.1GPA, and Harkins is also a tutor forBig Brothers Big Sisters and is veryinvolved in Outdoor Odyssey. Mark isinvolved in Volleyball, Band, andChorus; he is involved in AP classes,and has a 3.98 GPA, DeDianavolunteers at the Latrobe Hospital and,volunteers a lot through Boy Scouts.

PA Math League Contest

The annual math league was held onJanuary 15, 2007. The contest wasopen to all math students who wantedto participate, and was held in roomS103. Top student winners includedseniors Alex Brown and Bryan Josephwith scores of four and senior ClayLong and sophomore HunterMcGrogan both with scores of three.

Math Department Food Drive

The Math Department is sponsoring afood drive for the weeks of January 7 -18. The math teachers are asking all oftheir students to bring in non-perishable food items. Each studentthat brings in an item will have theirname written on a star and hung in thehallway. The food is donated to theSalvation Army.

Hot Dog Sale

Thursday January 10, 2008 the period10 entrepreneurship class held a hotdog sale in the commons. They soldthem “all day, baby, all day.” Mrs.Kalp along with student managerssenior Alyssa Hennessy and juniorAriana Richards, assisted the studentswith the sale, and they made a profitof $190. The period 6-7 class also helda hot dog sale before break, but theperiod 10 class managed to make abetter profit. All of the money fromthe sale went toward benefiting theWildcat Mall.

Opinion Opinion 33 January 25, 2008January 25, 2008

Offseason practices put strain on athletes Andy SmithammerStaff Writer

It feels good to workhard for something that hasbeen earned. Likewise, earn-ings should be worked toward.As true as this is, the strict off-season of many high schoolsports teams leave athleteswondering toward what, exact-ly, they are working. When itcomes to the high schoolsports, a fine line separates theexpectations of coach-recom-mended conditioning andmandatory practice.

In the preseason, prac-tices are voluntary but athletesknow they don’t have much ofa choice if they want playingtime during the season. Forthis reason, many choosebetween being an athlete andbeing an employee, or even an

involved student or one inter-ested in something other than adisciplined activity.Depending on the individual,involvement in athletics cansacrifice valuable time andsometimes cause grades to suf-fer. Also, practicing too muchout of season can lead to over-use injuries and actually hurtthe team in the long run. Evenstill, players know if they don’tshow for the voluntary train-ing, they won’t make the cut.

All of this extra train-ing would make sense if thehigh school sports team is theonly pressure of a particularathlete. Regardless of the para-mount of athleticism atGLSHS, students join sportteams to have fun and keep

busy after school. Their intentis not to solicit stress or prac-tice as if the after school activ-ity will some day be a career.On average, less than five per-cent of high school students goon to play at a college level.Around two percent then getdrafted into professionalsports. Most of those athletesare playing other sports in theoff-season.

Thus agilities andpractices can consume the wellrounded athlete year round. Ifan athlete is involved in morethan one sport, by the time he isfinished with the first one, hisother team has been practicingtogether for months. Even ifthe athlete has only one sportof choice, some teams start to

train for the pending seasononly weeks after the previousone ends. Before he has timeto loosen up, he is back in thegym at designated times.

Of course, someteams feel the pressure and thepain worse than others. For thefootball players on the Latrobeteam, summer vacation is eatenaway by training. By the end,players do not have time to doanything except for eat, sleepand practice football. In fact,they do all three of these thingsthroughout the day duringthree-a-days. Basketball play-ers are not given much more ofa break as the last week ofpractice before the season isunofficially known around theschool as “Hell Week”.

Winning really is noteverything. The mission of thedistrict as a whole is to teach,produce and build the characterof “students to become lifelonglearners and responsible, pro-ductive citizens”. Players do infact put in the extra work fortheir team with the right kindof encouragement. Senior SamGaten says, “I think it’s a goodidea and it makes the teamstronger.” In Gaten’s six yearsof playing soccer for GLSD, hehas never once felt pressured toattend a preseason practice.The most effective way forsomeone to build character isto learn it on his own.

Whether it’s to makethe cut or just to assure someamount of playing time, some

high school athletes attendevery session of preseasonpractice. On the other hand,some decide it is better to pur-sue a social, familial, and voca-tional life than to waste theirglory years with sweat andexhaustion just to see it all endafter they’ve walked acrossthat stage with a diploma inhand.

It cannot be beneficialto the team if the player has totake a season off from overuse.Serious overuse injuries liketendonitis and torn ligamentscan bench a player for theentire schedule.

Chit ChatHigh school Relationships

Carmella Stanko Columnist

Girls grow up envi-sioning the perfect “white wed-ding.” At a young age, they useBarbie dolls and play dress upto act out dream wedding cere-monies. Entering teen years,girls grow out of Barbie's andinto high school relationships.Although many teens see them-selves marrying their “highschool sweethearts,” this ishighly unlikely. Truth be told,most couples break up beforecollege. Regardless of this fact,each grade contains severalrelationships deemed “classcouple” material. These couplescommit to one significant otherfor a very long time, some eventhroughout their entire highschool career.

Many positives comefrom being involved in a highschool relationship. For exam-ple, Juniors Jeff Yunetz andKollin Zitelli have been togeth-er three years. “Kollin makesme do my homework, and shehas helped me to improve mygrades,” Yunetz said. “There arenot really any negatives becauseshe lets me go with my friendsand I let her do pretty muchwhatever.” Clearly the key totheir relationship is understand-ing one another, and allowingone another to be themselves.Juniors Heather McMann andAndrew Fisher are going onfive years, and like most long-term couples, plan on attendingthe same college. They evenhope to get married. Heathersaid, “I always have a bestfriend to talk to. If I didn’t haveFish I would be lost and wouldhave no one to make melaugh…I’m feeshed!”

Senior Class coupleJenna Giovannagelo and RyanKissell are a bit different.Although an “official” couplesince the 8th grade, they arechoosing to not attend the samecollege. They are instead plan-ning to try out the whole longdistance college relationshipthing. “We don’t have any spe-cific plans. I guess we’ll justsee how things go.”

Both newly formedand long-standing relationshipssometimes have trouble seeingany negatives. Are they justblinded by attraction? Forexample, Zach Delsordo said ofMorgan Stouffer, girlfriend offour months, “She’s perfect.There are no negatives abouther.” However, much likemyself, some who recognize thenegatives of a teenage relation-ship, including Meghin Kerilawho said, “I hate fighting aboutthe littlest things.” She and sen-ior Darrick Dominick started

dating in early August. Most students are

unwilling to provide examplesof the downsides of being in acommitted relationship for fearof possible backlash. However,as I see it, several negativesexist in serious high school rela-tionships. First, you are com-mitted to spending all of yourtime with one person. This per-son can take away from spend-ing time with friends, especiallyif they are controlling. Keep inmind that friends see youthrough the tough times withyour partner, so everyone needsthem. Even though one mightbe “in love,” make time for yourgirls and guys.

Another negative isgrades. While some couples,like Zitelli and Yunetz, haveactually managed to improvetheir grades by working togeth-er, others only fool around, get-ting no work done and instead,simply watching grades plum-met.

Having a companionin high school can also be frus-trating, and in severe instanceseven cause depression.Misunderstandings arise andarguments easily erupt. Don’tbeat yourself up over these tinyfights. They are most timesmeaningless. Instead of sayingthings you might later regret,talk to your boyfriend or girl-friend. If you two are trulymeant to be, things will workout.

Junior Paige Blawas isthe perfect example of a girlhappily living the single life.She said, “I don’t think I’mmissing out on anything nothaving a boyfriend because Ihave lots of guy friends that Ihang out with. I’ll probablyattend prom with a boy I’m justfriends with and I’m fine withthis. I’m not missing out on anyevents.”

My parting advice:have fun! Being involved in ahigh school relationship is fine,even expected, but try not totake it too seriously. Chancesare you won’t marry the person,although a select few couplesmight survive and eventuallytake the plunge. Some studentsmay choose not to date, choos-ing rather to keep their optionsopen, which is fine too. Don’texpect to find your life longpartner at Greater Latrobe HighSchool, just have fun and let lifetake you for a ride.

Around the world in 80 words

Standings

Perhaps our worstfears will become reality withthe up coming presidential elec-tions. Hillary Clinton andBarack Obama are the leadingthe Democratic candidates, andare possibly the favorites to winpresidency. If the preliminarystatistics as of January 22ndcome to fruition in the actualelections, we might be in sometrouble. John Edwards is possi-bly the most capable candidatefor the whole Democratic Party.I would sleep better at night ifhe were leading and not a per-son like Hilary Clinton who

breaks down on national televi-sion in front of the world.

Republicans

The Republican Partyhas been picking up the slacklately. Among the candidatesMitt Romney and MikeHuckabee, and John McCainhave won states. Romney wonMichigan, Huckabee won Iowa,and McCain won SouthCarolina. This country does notneed drastic changes made byelecting a Democrat into presi-dency the Republicans shouldhave won all of the preliminar-ies. When a country goes to war

to keep us safe, costs are includ-ed. The war in Iraq is necessaryand because the RepublicanParty realized that unlike theDemocrats. The solution isRudy Giuliani. Perhaps peopleforgot who handled the whole“ground zero” situation in NewYork City. He held that citytogether, and that city stayingtogether held the countrytogether.

Oil Prices

Inflation is a naturalprocess inside of a country, per-haps the one product that keepsrise in price hits us the hardest.

Gas prices are ridiculous atmore than 3 dollars per gallon.The rise is being resisted bymethods such as car-poolingand buying smaller more envi-ronment-friendly vehicles.Everyday when I put around inmy family’s new fuel efficientvehicle, I see massive SUVvehicles barreling down theroad. The cost to fill those mon-sters has to be unbelievable.Some one child families driveEnvoys that get 13 miles to thegallon, but then smarter familiesdrive cars like a Volkswagen thecan get up too 40 miles per gal-lon.

Critics Corner

While his perform-ance in I Am Legend may notbe the best of Will Smith’scareer, it is the one that bestdefines his talents. Not manyso-called movie stars arecapable of being convincingin their roles. Smith can pulloff action movies, romanticcomedies, and heavier dramasin part because he’s honed hiscraft to match his naturalcharisma.

Although the moviedoes not lack acting talent thefilm is missing something.

The story line begins slow,feeling out every aspect ofRobert Neville’s life in NewYork City where he is com-pletely alone, or so he thinks.Random flash-backs arethrown into the story-lineinstalling knowledge aboutprior events leading up to thepresent setting of the movie.At night monsters roam thestreets looking for food, andsurvivors. The idea for thefilm which is based on a bookis brilliant, I had rather highexpectations. Director Francis

Lawrence dropped the ballwith this production. He washanded a budget for amazingspecial effects and an all staractor with an amazing storyline, but yet something wasstill missing from the puzzle.

I would love to see asequel to the movie, becausethe first movie was left un-finish. With different direct-ing and another all star cast, IAm Legend 2 could hit big onthe movie market.

Patrick LynchColumnist

The popularly grow-ing video game, Assassin’sCreed, was released world-wide in November 2007 forPlay Station 3 and Xbox 360.In this third person stealthgame, the gamer assumes therole of Desmond Miles, anaverage bartender who is thelast descendant in a familyline of assassins.The objective of the game isto slay nine historical figurespropagating the Crusades inthe year 1191. The game playfeatures responsive controlsand insanely descriptivegraphics.

The best areas of the gameinclude the extremely realisticartificial intelligence. Thegamer has the ability to climband jump over anythingbecause all terrain is in play.The gamer can realisticallyrun around and jump frombuilding to building to escapethe enemy. These features arewhat adventure video gamesare raving about. One of the few areas thisgame could improve on is theclarification of the storyline.Many games love to followthe storyline and theAssassin’s Creeds’ story is

somewhat confusing. The sto-ryline follows an assassingoing back in time living ashis ancestors. Unless youreally follow along with thestory, it is easy to get lost andnot understand the game.Overall Assassin’s Creed is anamazing one playeraction/adventure game. Thegraphics and design of thegame play is definitely in theupper echelon of gamingtechnology. Please note: This is rated formature audiences only.

Issue Giveaway:Congrats

to Josh Davis.

Come to C109 to

claim yourprize !

Guess Who

Ray Palmer

Assassin’s Creed

I Am Legend

Photo by Anglea Repko, Photo Editor

Ben BatagliaColumnist

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20

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60

students

a b c

Snow Day Make-ups

Series1

OpinionOpinion 44January 25, 2008January 25, 2008

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor,

I am writing inresponse to Brian Noel’s arti-cle “Good Guy Bad Guy: DoesCreationism Have a Place inPublic School?” (Volume: 85,Issue: 5). Despite being in theopinion section, this articlestates blatant misconceptionsabout the theory of evolutionthat I feel need to beaddressed.

In his article, Noelreports that he believes theCouncil of Europe’s“Committee on Culture,Science and Education” lacksbase… How can a committeebased off of some of the bestscientific minds and educatorsin Europe “lack base”? Noelgoes on to ask the question“Why can’t creationism betaught along side evolutionlike it was with our grandpar-ents?” There’s a simple answerfor this: Our grandparentsgrew up in a time where thescientific evidence wasseverely lacking for the theoryof evolution; teaching cre-ationism allowed for educatorsto answer questions despitebeing impossible to prove fac-tually. Today the opposite istrue.

Another importantassertion that Noel makes inhis article that needs re-evalu-ated is the statement that moststudents and adults in the USagree with the idea that cre-ationism should be taught

along side evolution in school.Why should educators beforced to teach what is popularwhen it lacks the scientific evi-dence needed to justify thetime it takes to teach it? Abelief system is not enough ofa justifiable basis to waste thetime and resources it wouldtake to teach creationism inschool, even ignoring the con-stitutional violations it wouldimpose.

Perhaps the mostunsettling part of Noels article,is his gross misrepresentationof the difference between ascientific theory and the gen-eral definition of theory. TheTheory of Evolution, a scien-tific theory just like Newton’sTheory of Gravity orEinstein’s Theory of GeneralRelativity, is based on scientif-ic standards of necessary factsand testable experiments.Creationism is a theory in def-inition of “a set of principlesfor possible explanation ofphenomena.” Note the lack ofthe word “fact”. Finally, whileNoel is right when he statesthat evolution doesn’t have allthe answers, it is important toknow that evolution doesn’tclaim to have all theanswers… but unlike creation-ism or intelligent design, it isable to evolve as our under-standing grows. Studentsshould be entitled to the truth.

Sincerely,Will Brooks

Good Guy Bad GuySchool content control

Brian NoelColumnist

You walk into study hall and fire up your laptop to startyour research paper on the Holocaust. When you GoogleHolocaust, the first website is blocked due to “advocacy groups.”The next site is blocked due to “Cultural Institutions.”

Greater Latrobe High School uses Websense content con-trol filtering software. Websense is fairly strict at GLSH, eventhough it is at the default level. One good thing about the currentsystem is that the restrictions ease up as the technology departmentun-blocks websites that they find aren’t malicious.

Websense is infamous for blocking websites that are notoffensive under an inappropriate category. For example “KeepNacogdoches Beautiful” an all volunteer project to clean upNacogdoches, Texas, was blocked as sex. Recently, the block hasbeen lifted on this site.

Some sites aren’t completely blocked, but filtered.Students must use “quota time” to access sites like ESPN, SportsIllustrated, and The Onion. In a given day, a student is allotted only60 minutes of quota time. Once that time is out, the student has noway to access these sites. Looking back the our previous example,a student could expend all his quota time during history. Then,when he accesses ESPN for Probability and Statistics, he is out oftime.

To me, there is no need for filtering and quota time. If asite is truly inappropriate, it should be blocked. If a site is appro-priate, it should be accessible. Why is there a magic number, 60minutes, that students can access filtered sites? Does this mean thatif a student looks at ESPN for 60 minutes it is ok, but once theclock rolls over to the next hour it becomes inappropriate? Mr.Matt Snyder of the Technology Department, reminds us that “lap-tops are educational tools, that are not supposed to be used for

entertainment reasons.”The casual observer would think that it would be common

sense for a school district to restrict what students are looking at ontheir laptops for obvious reasons. Some groups such as the ACLU(American Civil Liberties Union) believe that students should havethe right to look at whatever they wish to under their 1stAmendment rights. The ACLU wants radical changes in the poli-cy of censorship, radical changes are not necessary; however Ibelieve that some changes need to be made.

In compliance with the policy of technology usage here atGLSH, if a student is using a website for educational purposes andit is blocked, then the student can go down to the technologydepartment and have it accessible. However, this is a major incon-venience. Anyone who has done research knows that you might goon 10-15 websites in five minutes. If the sites are blocked, studentshave to run down to technology then back up to their laptop. Thiscould take 5-10 minutes. Once the site is unblocked, who is to sayit will have all the information. The student needs to repeat theprocess, and run back down, wasting another 5-10 minutes. Stillthere is no guarantee this site will be any better, so students tend toskip the site in question, and go on to another, perhaps less rep-utable website.

When students complete research assignments, theyexpect to be able to access the websites they need to complete theproject effectively. When they are not able to do so, they feel likethe school is hindering the efforts to do their work. While the cen-sorship of the websites should be retained, it should be cut downsubstantially for the sake of education.

Cartoon by Brianna Saddler

Voicebox

The staff of The High Post is committed to serving the stu-dent body of Greater Latrobe Senior High School. The opinions pagecontains the ideas and views of individuals and does not represent theviews of the staff, advisor, or administration in its entirety.

The High Post is a public forum for student expression,therefore any student who wishes to create dialogue concerning anissue may do so by submitting articles or Letters to the Editor inroom C-109. In order to uphold the integrity of the publication, TheHigh Post reserves the right to edit submissions for grammar, styleand available space. Submissions should not exceed 300 words.

Advisor: Mrs. Renee Stallings Administration: Dr. Georgia Teppert, Mr. Steven LoCascio and Mr. Chad Krehlik Printed by the Latrobe Bulletin

The High Post 2007-2008 Editors-in-Chief

Mike DeFabo and Amber Biddle

Section EditorsNews Editor- Samantha ServiceFeatures Editor- Courtney Furwa Sports Editor- Matt ZittOpinions Editor- Stephanie SiorPhoto Editor- Angela Repko Distribution Manager-Ian KishAd. & Prod. Mgr.-Nick BaughBusiness Manager-Chris James

StaffTyler Baloh, Ben Battaglia, Courtney

Briggs, Joe Ferlin, Justin Downs, RyanLaDuke, Pat Lynch, Mary Maatta,Brian Noel, Angela Repko, Brianna

Saddler, Natalie Schade, AndySmithhammer Carmella Stanko, Anna

Sylvester, Kristina Wiggins,LindseyYelenic, Kailtin Zurawsky

Editorial Policy

The scheduled make up for the 1/3/08 cancellation is February 18, the Winter Recess. The second scheduled make up day is March 25,the last day of the Spring Recess. Based on personal preference and the consideration of academics, social plans and future plans, whenshould students make up the cancellations?

a. The only day of Winter Recessb. The end of Spring Recessc. The beginning of summerIf you would like to see the reason for your answer in the newspaper, write it and your name on the back of this sheet. Senior Annie Perrysuggests, “They should add extra school days throughout the year in case of cancellations. That way we won’t have to lose any plannedvacation days.”

Infograph by Andy Smithammer

Compiled by Carmella Stanko & Lindsey Yelenic , Staff Writers

Good Guy Bad Guy: Evolutionin the school system

What was your highlight of 2007?

“My Super Sweet 16. It was betterthan the average MTV show!”- Shelby McAdams, Junior

“The time me and myfriends bought dog whistles,drove around town, and triedto get dogs to come to mycar.”- Sam Kerila, Senior

“Being tackled by Megan Taylor at cheer practice...and get-ting it on video camera!”- Marissa Singley

“I got my first summer job. Ididn’t like working, but Iliked the money.”- Sam Brant, Senior

“Moving up to high schoolbecause I like it a lot morethan the junior high.”- Stephanie Caverno,Sophomore

“The release of Halo 3. It was way better than the first two.”- Jesse Metz, Senior

“Pitt beat West Virginia. Wewent nuts!”-Joe Churbock, junior

“Winning sections forGirls’s Basketball. I hopewe can do it again thisyear!”- Emily Butina, Senior

“Getting my studio. I canfinally make music andrecord my beats.”- Glacy Jones, Junior

“My summer vacation at the beach. It is always nice to justrelax in the sun.”-Sarah Brant, Sophomore

“I enjoyed my cruise. I defi-antly recommend going onone if you have the chance.”- Renee Lundquist, Junior

“Going to Bucknell with Megan and getting stuck in a snow-storm.”Samantha Hauser, Sophomore

“Probably going to the outer-banks this summer for a weekthen staying with my olderbrother in Virginia for anotherweek.”- Hannah Zamiskie, Sophomore

“Learning how to jet ski at Deep Creek Lake this summer.It was so much fun!”- Megan Puleo, Sophomore

“Moving to this area and gettingto meet cool new people.”- Jaimie Georg, Senior

“When I failed my driverspermit test and the answer Ineeded was on the front ofmy drivers book.”- Cassy Dowler, Sophomore

InternAndy Wyant

Sports Sports 55 January 25, 2008January 25, 2008

There had been all kinds of ballin’ over the tournamentstarting with the boy’s basketball team. They entered into a tour-nament held in Upper Saint Clair. The cats took on third rankedWashington High who was a highly respected team going into thetourney, but they couldn’t live up to it as the Cats pulled an earlyupset beating them 54-35. After advancing from the quarterfinals,the cats took on AA Seton LaSalle who was a solid AA team andwas beginning to make a name for themselves after they knockedoff AAAA Plum. The cats continued to roll, beating Seton LaSalle76-53. The cats had made it to the championship. And unfortu-nately that was the end of the run as they lost 61-46 to Upper SaintClair and took second place in the tourney.

“I thought it was a good tournament for the team. Wegrew tremendously as a team and a lot of players got to expandthere roles as a unit,” said head coach Wetzel. “The remainder ofthe season is to be determined. I think there is a lot of growing tobe done but it is hard to tell at this point in the season.”

On top of the second place trophy, Jeff Yuentz who hadaveraged close to 20 points a game and was named to the all-tour-nament team.

The Wrestling team entered in the Annual PowerAde tour-nament located at Cannon Mac High school including a 42 teamand 33 of them were from PA as the rest were from as far asGeorgia, Ohio, Virginia, and New Jersey come to wrestle. Only twowrestlers placed in the tournament. Junior Nathan Pennesi placedthird in the 119 weight class as he lost to Garofalo and sophomoreRyan Walters placed seventh in 112 weight class as he was defeat-ed by Brown. Overall Latrobe finished in the top 30.

“We benefited from this tournament because the com-petion was so tough, plus you’re getting different kinds of styles ofwrestling from different states,” said coach Mekeski.

The ice cats entered in the PA Scholastic Tournament heldin Delmont. In the past years they haven’t exactly been as success-ful as they would have liked to be as they have not made the cham-pionship game. The ice cats played a tough Peters Township teamin the first round of the tournament, but it wasn’t much of a prob-lem for the ice cats who demolished the Indians 10-1. They thensqueezed out a 3-2 victory against Shaler Titans who had alwaysbeen known to be a solid team. Going into the quarterfinal gameagainst Seneca Valley, the ice cats didn’t really know what to expectbecause they are not on the regular season schedule. The game wasa dog fight from the beginning, and the cats went back and forthlosing in over time 4-3.

“We enter this tournament every year and to keep every-one sharp on their game,” said head coach Ron Makoski.

It had been a tough loss for the ice cats as they really aren’tuse to losing that much as they entered the Christmas break with aregular season record of 10-1.“Sometimes it’s a good thing to lose to get as refocused towards theremainder of the season and get the right mind set.” Said Mckoski.And maybe that is the thing for them and gives them something tolook forward to doing is winning as they go back into the regularseason.

The girls basketball team has had an up and down season as they were entered the Monessen Holiday Tournament. Inthe first game of the tournament they took on Charleroi. The ladycats prevailed with a final score of 69-28. Although Charleroi was-n’t a tough challenge, they had to face undefeated Monessen. Aftera good hard fought game, the girls ended up losing 58-48. SeniorEmily Fenton scored her 1,000 point as a wildcat. SophomoreCourtney Zitt had received the Sportsmanship award and Fenton as well for hard workand efforts. Of course with the most important award that could be given, they finished as a team in second place.

“The Monessan Tournament was very competitive. Weprepared very hard and competed at a high level. We are

looking to take the hard work and use it in section play and com-pete for a section title,” said head coach Greg Fenton.

Although they didn’t win the tournament, it was a successful tournament as they placed second and had obviously boost-ed their confidence and take their game play to the next level.

Rose Bowl

This game went just asthe experts picked it. SinceOhio State played for theNational Championship, theRose Bowl had to invite thesecond best Big Ten team tokeep tradition, Illinois. Notonly was USC playing the sec-ond best team, but they hap-pened to be one of the hottestteams in the country cominginto this game, especially sinceall of their injuries are healed.The Trojans got off to a quick21-0 lead and never lookedback. The closest the FightingIllini could get was 21-10, butan unfortunate fumble deep inUSC territory led to a good old-fashion but-whippin by theTrojans, as the racked up aRose Bowl record 633 totalyards of offense. USC shouldhave had a shot for the nationaltitle because their previousslip-ups could have been pre-vented if they did not have somany key injuries. When theTrojans are all healthy, they canbe the most explosive team inthe country.

Sugar Bowl

People were expectinganother Boise State-Oklahomafinish from last year as Hawaiiwas the only team entering theBowl season undefeated. TheWarriors high-powered offenseled by Heisman candidate ColtBrennan was absolutely shutdown. The only touchdownthey scored was at the end ofthe game with the second stringin. Georgia’s offensive anddefensive lines were morephysical the entire game andgot to Brennan all night. TheBulldogs defense forced sixturnovers which included threeinterceptions and a fumblerecovered in the endzone for atouchdown. A 41-10 blowoutis not what the Sugar Bowlcommittee had in mind.

Fiesta Bowl

West Virginia lost to Pitt,a chance at the national cham-pionship, and their head coach,so not many people gave thema chance. However, the quar-terback Pat White and theMountaineers still had some-thing to prove. White led the

offensive attack all night with176 yards passing and twotouchdowns along with 150yards on the ground.Oklahoma was hot coming intothis game after defeating theprevious number one seedMissouri in the Big 12Championship. Not only didWest Virginia surprise collegefootball fans by upsettingOklahoma 48-28, but they alsofound a new head coach in BillStewart.

Orange Bowl

Most people wereshocked when they found outthat Kansas had been invited tothe Orange Bowl overMissouri, but the Jayhawksmade the most of their BCSbowl invitation by conqueringthe Virginia Tech Hokies in a24-21 shootout. Kansasjumped out to a 17-0 start andthe Hokies could never catchup. Three turnovers hurt VT’schances of making a comeback.A huge factor of the game wasthat Kansas was able to get a lotof pressure on Virginia Techquarterbacks Sean Glennon andTyrod Taylor, totaling 5 sacks.Kansas quarterback ToddReesing also had a big gameagainst a spectacular Techdefense by completing 20 of 37passes for 227 yards and atouchdown.

National Championship

After getting out to a 10-0 lead, LSU was able to get itunder control and score 31unanswered points. Ohio Statewas looking for revenge aftergetting absolutely destroyed byFlorida in last year’s nationalchampionship. All year theBuckeyes kept hearing abouthow they couldn’t keep up withthe SEC speed. Well, it wasdéjà vu for Jim Tressel andOhio State as the LSU Tigersran all over them to a 38-24victory. Glenn Dorsey was aforce all night on the defensiveline, but Ohio State runningback Chris “Beanie” Wells stillran for 146 yards and a touch-down. The X-Factor for theTigers was quarterback MattFlynn as he threw for 174 yardsand 4 touchdowns on a goodBuckeye secondary.

Sprints, running and ab workouts. Yes, this might soundlike the basketball team but in actuality this is the workout of thevarsity cheerleaders. Most people think of high school cheerlead-ers as the stereotypical, “ditzy, peppy girl,” but in reality they aredown to earth, hard working athletes. These girls work all yearround to get and keep in shape for the many sporting events thatthey attend.

The cheerleaders start in the summer training and learningcheers for the upcoming football season. “We practice from 7-10 inthe summer, three times a week,” said junior cheerleader MorganStouffer. The training consists of lifting, running and building teamtrust.

One of the most grueling activities participated in is theTony Mitchell program. The team trains with the JV and varsityboys basketball teams and takes part in the exact same agilities toget prepared for the season. The cheer squad completes a runningand abdominal workout to improve core strength and quickness.Also lower body work is done such as squats, high knees and a vari-ety of kicks. They also worked out on the track and ran the steps at

the stadium. “Tony Mitchell really helps me throughout the summerto get in shape for the upcoming cheer season,” said Kollin Zitelli.

The cheerleaders involve themselves in summer camps.They participated in the Universal Cheer Association Cheer Campat the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg where they won sev-eral awards. In addition the varsity cheerleaders help the youngersquads develop their cheers and learn the skills that they will needto compete at the varsity level.

Other ways the team helps out in the community is byholding a summer camp for girls simultaneously with the footballteam. They teach dancing, band dances, lifts and stunts. The girlsalso work at the concession stand when the Pittsburgh Steelerscome to the stadium for the night practice.

A lot of time and effort goes into this sport. They spend atleast four days a week after school hours cheering for a variety ofdifferent sports. “We don’t get as many in the crowd as the guys soit’s nice to have them in the stands making some noise for our games,” said senior basketball player, Emily Fenton. Like any sport these girls come in many nights late after school. Unlike other

sports teams they are cheering at least four nights a week which means that they get home late more night than any other sportsteam. Time management is something that these girls must be ableto handle. Also they spend a lot of their time after school hoursmaking signs for every season. Each cheerleader is required tomake 13 signs, which takes up a lot of time out of school as well.

Extra effort goes into making this squad as good as it is.They train throughout the school year and the summer months.Cheerleading is a very demanding and time consuming sport. Thesquad puts in the exercise and training they need to be in shape andbe successful.

Cheerleading

Natalie SchadeStaff writer

Ryan LaDuke and Tyler BalohColumnists

Face OffCats dominate in holidaytournaments

Tyler BalohStaff writer

Commitment mirrors that of other athletics

Photo by Marissa Milchak

The cheerleaders pump up the crowd during the fall peprally. Through a lot of hard work and dedication they haveproven themselves to be true athletes.

Photo by Mr. Snyder

Junior goalie Nick Loyacona mans the net as senior Jeff Smailplays defense in attempt to stop Seneca Valley in the PA ScholasticTournament held in Delmont. The ice cats were defeated bySeneca Valley 4-3 in overtime.

Girls and boys basketball teams advance tochampionship games

Photo by Matt Zitt

Senior guard Emily Fenton became the fourth player in Latrobehistory to score 1,000 points in her career. This came in the sec-ond half of the championship game against Monessen in theMonessen Holiday Tournament

Sports Sports 66January 25, 2008January 25, 2008

Josh FrySenior• Has been swimming for 6 years • Best time in breaststroke (1:07.00)• Best time in 50 freestyle (23.94)

Kathleen KashmarSenior• Third year swimmer• Best time in freestyle (1:00.12) • Best time in 200IM (2:32.22)

13/36 14/36

Compiled by Ben Battaglia

Wildcat Cardbook

Girls Basketball

The Girls’ Basketball team fin-ished second in the MonessenHoliday Tournament after destroy-ing Charleroi by a score of 69-28.The Cats fell just shy against theundefeated host, when they lost toMonessen in the championshipgame.Senior guard Emily Fentonreceived a late holiday gift, as shebecame just the 4th girl in LatrobeBasketball history to score 1,000points.

Boys basketball

The boys basketball team fell tothe Norwin Knights by a score of76-66. The Cats have now lostthree straight games. The Catswill face Penn Trafford and KiskiArea before the final showdownagainst the Hempfield Spartans.

Hockey

The Varsity Hockey team showedyet again why they are ranked asthe states number one team inClass AA with a 3-2 win overIndiana. Ryan LaDuke, Jeff Rossi,and Michael McCurdy scoredgoals and Goaltender NickLoyacona stopped 24 shots in thevictory.

Wrestling

The Wildcat Wrestlers weredefeated by a very strong KiskiArea team in their most recentmatch by of score of 60-12.Winning for the Cats were NathanPennesi and Joey Walters.

WildcatSportswire

Justin DownsStaff Writer

Varsity Hockey(14-1) 1/23/08

Wrestling(3-5) 1/23/08

Girls Swimming(3-0) 1/17/08

Boys swimming(1-2) 1/17/08

Boys’ Basketball (13-8) 1/23/08

Girls’ Basketball(9-9) 1/21/08

Justin DownsStaff Writer

Ice Cats maintain first place in class AARyan LaDuke

Columnist

On the Ice

After a good showing at the Pennsylvania HockeyScholastic Showcase Christmas Tournament, the Latrobe Icecatsare back into the season with a lot of momentum and upside. Weare currently in first place in all of Class AA and have a comfort-able lead at the top. Out of the top four teams in the league, wedefinitely have the easiest remaining schedule. Our next fiveopponents have a combined record of 23-35-3. West Allegheny,who was in first place in Class AA, has been losing to a lot oftough opponents and dropped to fourth place in the league at 12-4-0. Franklin Regional, who is currently in second place in ClassAA, still has to play against West Allegheny and Bishop Canevin,currently third place. If we can keep on moving the puck aroundto set each other up on offense and limit the other team’s scoringchances, we should be able hang on to first place come playofftime.

Our first game after the break was a rocky one against agood Peters Township team, ranked fifth in Class AA. It was ourfirst game of the season that was broadcasted on the radio and onmsasportsnetwork.com. Unfortunately, we started off very slowand let them get off to a quick 1-0 lead, 15 seconds into the game.At the end of the worst first period all season, we were down 3-1. However, we got our act together in the second period to tieup the score 3-3 thanks to goals from Jeff Rossi and NealHenderson. We were all over them like butter on a roll in thethird period, peppering the goalie with tons of shots. The Icecatswere able to ride the bus home with a victory after MikeMcCurdy scored the game winner for a 4-3 triumph over PetersTownship.

Along with being ranked at the top of Class AA, Latrobehas five players represented in the Class AA All-Star Game onJanuary 26, the most from one team. Latrobe’s players in the All-Star Game include: senior forward Jeff Rossi, junior forwardMike McCurdy, junior forward JeffJoe Regula, junior defense-man Brody Aukerman, and junior goalie Nick Loyacona. For thesecond year in a row, Regula has received the most All-Star votesof any other player. Brody Aukerman received the most votes ofall defenseman playing in the event. Clearly we have the talentto keep our first place run until it really matters, playoff time.

Cats finish 11th inWCCA tournament

Ben BattagliaStaff writer

Greater Latrobe’s wrestling team waspumped up for the weekend of January 12-13 andthe previous week. This was because the 55thWestmoreland County Coaches Associationwrestling tournament took place at GreensburgSalem High School during this weekend.Finishing with 230 team points, Burrell demol-ished the rest of the 17-team field includingGreater Latrobe.

The Wildcats sent two of their wrestlersto the finals, Joey Walters (130) and NathanPennesi (119). Joey Walters and Pennesi eachmade the finals, both settling for silver medals asthe ‘Cats finished with 83 points for 11th place.

“We had four place winners and the tour-nament is always a really good competitive tour-nament,” said head coach Marc Billett,“Westmoreland County overall is greatwrestling.”The ‘Cats fought hard but didn’t always finishtheir opponents to lead them to a better outcomein the tournament. “I thought we could have had a few more placewinners but we had individuals that showed signsof improvement,” said Billett.

Pennesi, ranked 6th in the state and #2 inthe WPIAL, lost by a single leg takedown that ledto a three-point near fall in overtime to HempfieldArea’s Nico Cortese.Walters, ranked 12th in the state and #1 in the

WPIAL, was defeated by Kiski School’s BrockLivorio. Livorio hit a takedown and added anescape to steal the victory. Although the ‘Cats didn’t have a first place win-ner, Coach Billett still thought his team has bene-fited from wrestling in this annual tournament.“Anytime you are in that kind of a tournament, itis to prepare you for the end of the season and theState Championship, which is the ultimate goal inwrestling,” said Billett, “It showed our wrestlers,you know, how good am I and how much do Ineed to improve.”

Although the tournament was a seriousbut fun event, the ‘Cats must shift their focusback to the regular season where they sit at 3-3 inthe section and 5-8 overall. “[The tournament] is still a match,” said Billett,“If you’re going to wrestle you’re going to com-pete and if you’re going to compete you’re goingto do the best you can.”From the tournament, the ‘Cats have gained valu-able experience and knowledge. They know nowwhat is working for them and what is not work-ing. With practice, they can learn from the tour-nament and build on it to improve and make a runat it next year.

Wrestlers gain experience andbenefit from tournament

88 FeatureFeatureJanuary 25, 2008January 25, 2008

Not So Shady: Alicia Brasile

When I first inter-viewed senior Alicia Brasile shehad been cooped up all day witha bad cold. She went on to tellme that this was the first day ofschool she has missed sincefourth grade. I knew then thatAlicia must be dedicated to herschool work and being in schoolso she doesn’t fall behind.Brasile concentrates on herschool work which takes up a lotof her time. One thing that sheputs a lot of effort into is themany AP classes, such as APHistory and AP Spanish, she hastaken throughout her highschool years.

“I might be crazy fortaking on some of these APclasses but getting good gradesand challenging myself willbenefit me more in my future,”said Brasile. Knowing that sheis a senior, and almost being atthe end of her high schoolcareer, it is sometimes very hardfor her to stay focused, yet sheknows that she needs to take thetime she need and stay in fullconcentration and keep hergrades up. “She is a very hardworker,” said Mr. Duda. “It isapparent that she spends a lot oftime on her work.”

Brasile tries to main-tain a healthy and fit lifestyle.She takes time out of her day,about 3-4 days every week, tostay in shape. Throughout herworkout Brasile begins with 20-30 minutes of cardiovascularexercises to start, followed byan ab workout, and then she liftsweights. To end her workout shealways finishes with stretching. “I like to change it up so some-times I’ll do yoga or pilates or afun dance routine,” says Brasile.She is also very conscience ofher diet. She doesn’t eat anorganic diet because of howcostly it is but manages toreplace it with other healthy eat-ing alternatives. Yogurt, soy

milk and fruits such asClementine and mandarinoranges, are some of the thingsthat Brasile puts into her dieteveryday. “I am basically think-ing how I want my body to lookin ten years and I know that Ishould take care of it,” saidBrasile.

Brasile participates onthe lacrosse team during thespring months. “I don’t knowhow good I am but I mainlyenjoy it because it’s actuallypretty aggressive and I’m verycompetitive,” says Brasile.

In her free time sheenjoys dancing. She had been adancer for 12 years but had toend her career because there wasnot enough time to travel toplaces that were up to her levelof competition. She likes to read

and trades books with herfriends to get double and triplethe reading. Another thing thatinterests Alicia are movies. Sheis a movie guru and tries to seeas many as she possibly can.

In the future, Brasileplans to attend DuquesneUniversity and take part in thespeech and language pathologyprogram.

Alicia Brasile is a girlthat tries to maintain her gradesand is focused for her future.She knows that she will, in theend, benefit from all the hardwork that she has put into them.She tries to keep herself physi-cally fit and knows that she willthank herself in a few years.Brasile is a student that is striv-ing for an excellent future aheadof her.

McLaughlin experiences a different kind of summer vacation

Some students would not expect a teacherto take part in activities that they have in commonwith their students. Some think that their teachersdo not have a life outside of school. Miss KellyMcLaughlin is one teacher whose summer activi-ties are very similar—although probably moreworldly—to her students, creating a natural con-nection.

McLaughlin is a second year mathteacher at Greater Latrobe. Her classes includetrigonometry, integrated math, C++ computer pro-gramming, and probability and statistics. “Idecided to go into teaching because I like to helppeople, I like to work with people, and I likemath,” said McLaughlin. If she was not a teacher,McLaughlin says, “I never really thought aboutanything besides a teacher, but I would have prob-ably gone with the engineering route (civil orstructural).”

During the summer, McLaughlin enjoystraveling. She has been traveling since a veryyoung age. The first place McLaughlin visitedwas Disney World at the age of four. “I enjoy trav-eling because there’s so much to see,” saidMcLaughlin. “It’s exciting.”

When most people think about traveling,they bring back memories from past summers atOcean City, Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach, orsome other typical tourist attraction. McLaughlin

also travels to the Outer Banks, North Carolinaevery year with her family. But McLaughlin takesa somewhat different approach to traveling. Sheexperiences the more cultural places. She has vis-ited many international places including Croatia,Denmark, Italy, Norway, and Sweden. Denmark’scapital, Copenhagen, houses the Tivoli Gardens,the home of the Danish monarchy, and The LittleMermaid sculpture. Croatia is a favorite ofMcLaughlins because “It’s cheap. It’s gorgeous.The people are friendly, and they speak English,”she said. Croatia is located in south centralEurope. “ When I was in Split, Croatia, I attendeda national soccer tournament. While we were atthe tournament a riot broke out, and there werepeople getting beaten up, falling down into thestands--it was complete chaos.” It includes sixWorld Heritage Sights and eight national parksand is believed to be the birthplace of the necktie.

Even though she has been to differentplaces and seen unique things, still some placesMcLaughlin has not yet experienced. One placethat she wishes she could go to that she has notvisited yet is Australia. “I like warm weather andbeaches, so I think it would be a great place tovisit,” she said. “Also, the culture would be real-ly fun to experience.”

Miss McLaughlin lives the life many stu-dents dream of having. Along with being anexceptional teacher, she is a world traveler and anoutstanding role model to all of her students.

Alicia Brasile packs her own healthy lunch so that she can maintain herdiet. She not only eats healthy at home, but continues her healthy lifestylewherever she goes.

Beyond 4.0s and 1,600s

Getting into college is getting harder and harder. A 4.0 GPA and a 1600 on the SATs is nolonger a ticket to the Ivy Leagues. Students must go above and beyond by participating in after schoolactivities and other clubs to stand out.

Forensics is an after school debate team that gives students the advantage in the long run.Junior forensics club member Cara Marrero said, “Being involved in forensics helps you learn how tohave effective speaking skills, conquer stage fright, and have good eye contact. This will help in col-lege during interviews because you will have better communication skills.” Communication skills areessential for success in both the college classroom and professional life. Along with teaching good com-munication skills, forensics also provides thousands of dollars in scholarships.Business Leaders advisor Mrs. Kalp is in charge of the Life Smarts competition. The students involvedin Life Smarts compete with other students from across the state on issues involving being a consumerand salesperson. Senior Heather Prah said, “Participating in Life Smarts is a good experience becauseit teaches you how to be a smart consumer which is going to help me out when I’m older.” Last year’sLife Smarts group including seniors Mike Roach, Scott Miller, Richie Kucera and Prah who placed sec-ond in the state for the second year in a row.

Another after school club is available to join is math league. When involved in math leagueyou compete with other high school students from all across the state on a monthly exam of 6 questions.Getting high scores on the tests will give an addition to college applications which will help individu-als stand out when it comes to being compared to someone with equal grades. With three tests complet-ed, the top scorers from GLSH are seniors Alex Brown, Bryan Joseph, and Taylor Thompson. “Mathleague challenges them because it’s a variety of problems from all different levels of math classes,” saidadvisor of math league, Ms. Fennell.

For the student who enjoys learning and using the knowledge already gained, quiz league isthe club to be in. Advised by Mrs. Kubus, the club has two days of matches, and then a tournament.Latrobe is lucky enough to be involved in the Mount Pleasant Quiz League, as well as TheWestmoreland Quiz League. The team includes students in grades 9-12 in a varsity and junior varsityteam. GLSHS has been in the finals 3 times. They have been involved in the KDKA Hometown HighQ eight times. This year they are currently preparing for the tournaments to come. Seniors Chris Anna,Lauren Taylor, JT Soltis, and Issac Prichard participate, as well as juniors Mark Dediana and Lu Wu toform the varsity team. The junior varsity team consists of Emily Anna, Sam Fox, Nick Klohants andNick Rutigliano.

Another after school activity is the reading competition. The avid readers compete againstother schools for the grand prizes. Miss Riebel is the advisor and requires each student to read at least5 books. The students create practice questions and summaries for the books they have read. The clubmeets every few weeks to prepare for the Westmoreland Interscholastic Reading Competition. The com-petition involves three to four rounds with questions about five different books. In the end, awards andprizes are given to the teams with the highest points. GLSHS has two teams, the Wildcats and the SecretWeapons. The Wildcats includes captain Deidra Wells, Casey Wertz, Kayla Devault, CaitlynClingerman, Allison Kinney, Emily Polier, Melanie Perna and Shyloh Elder. The Secret Weapons teamincludes captain, Tiffany Shrum, Marie Kunkel, Jessica Sillaman, Isobel Parish, Matt Elam, JoanCatinchi, Greg Dunn, and Aqua Gentis.

Science is a subject that can always be related to real life situations. In every grade, a few stu-dents stand out for their ability in science. Every few weeks, meetings are held to prepare students forthe Olympiad. Ms. Kniff is the advisor as well as the physics teacher at GLSHS. The students will goto various colleges for the Science Olympiad which is an all day event with egg drops, car races andvarious building plans. Medals are awarded, and the lucky schools with the most points will reach semi-finals and then advance to the finals.

Although Forensics, Life Smarts, Math League, Quiz League, Reading Competition, andScience Olympiad are just a few of the clubs at GLSHS, students show a lot of interest in them, whichis good because they are an individual benefit. Most clubs do not have a prerequisite so if you are inter-ested talk to an advisor, the club may be just right for you now and for your future.

Clubs at GLSH prepare members for the future by creating well rounded students

Courtney Briggs and Mary MaattaStaff Writers

Senior Spotlight: Alex Halferty

Anna SylvesterStaff Writer

Kristina WigginsStaff Writer

Nicknames “Big” and “Half”

Describes himself as optimistic pessimist

Hobbies Checkers and videogames

Job Playground instructor

Favorite TV show American Gladiators

Plans after Highschool

Washington andJefferson and pursuedreams

Current car Mini Cooper

Proudest moment Being accepted to col-lege

Dream Career Working on WallStreet

Favorite sports teamto watch

“DA BEARS”

Photo By: Kristina Wiggins, Staff Writer

Photos submitted by: Miss. McLaughlin

Photo By:Courtney Furwa, Features Editor

December 31, 2007, just minutesaway from the new year, andeveryone is skating at the LatrobeSkating Center. With the last fiveminutes of 2007, skaters elbowtheir way into prime position inthe center of the rink. Above, a netholds hundreds of balloons.Within certain balloons are dollarbills for a lucky individual toclaim. The countdown begins.Five...four...three...two ...one,“Happy New Year!” The balloonsdrop and the battle begins.Confetti floats to the ground likesnow flurries. Needless to say, thenight was successful, fun-filled,and very memorable.

Photo and cutline by: Andy Wyant, Intern

Happy New Year!

Natalie SchadeStaff Writer