Pony ExpressPONY EXPRESStheGAITHER HIGH SCHOOL - 16200 N. DALE MABRY HWY - TAMPA, FL - 33618

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2011

VOL. 28

ISSUE 2

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Florida colleges raise tuition cost by fifteen percent

J A N U A R Y 1 7Non-Student Day .

D E C E M B E R 1 9 - 3 0

Winter Break.

onlineTo read exclusive stories and stay up to date on the lat-est school events and news visit our website @ ghspony-express.com.

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.J A N U A R Y 1 6

Non-Student Day.

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FEATURES

The Marching Band’s long difficult practices have paid off.

See page 4

Marching Band show reflects hard work

After a year, junior Chaz Fermin continues his ongoing strife against brain cancer. During the 2010-2011 school year, Chaz felt a sharp pain under the cerebellum. His parents brought him to their doctor and after sev-eral tests, his doctor admitted him to All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL where they discov-ered Chaz had a tumor the size of a golf ball, located under his cerebel-lum. The unthinkable had occurred – Chaz was diagnosed with stage four megaloblastic anemia. According to Lucile Packard Chil-dren’s Hospital, megaloblastic ane-mia is characterized by enlarged blood cells with under-developed inner contents. This causes the bone marrow to produce fewer blood cells. There are multiple causes of megaloblastic anemia, but the most common source in children occurs from a vitamin deficiency of folic acid or vitamin B-12. “My reaction was like the movie 50/50 when I was first told I was diagnosed. I was shocked and the words went right over my head as if I didn’t hear them correctly,” said Fermin. Chaz’s first MRI was performed within the first three days of his di-agnosis at the hospital. “My friends were there the first day with me as well as my family that lived nearby,” said Fermin. Most of his family, as well as three of his best friends, juniors Tyler Mo-lina, Jace Miller and Joseph Sison, rushed over to the hospital. “To show support for my best friend. I shaved off my hair so that he wouldn’t be alone,” said Molina. Chaz’s friends came out to the hospital to support him. “I took it rough at first, not know-ing what to look forward to, but I was there every step of the way to support him and give him what he needed,” said Sison. Although his dad works during the weekends, he made sure that he attended every one of the MRI, chemo, and radiation session with Chaz. Chaz has gone through chemo-therapy nine times and his last scheduled session was held over Thanksgiving break. At the last chemotherapy session, Chaz was informed that he was officially done with the treatment. “It took a lot of hours and many missed days of school to get to the point where I am now and I want to continue helping out others who have brain cancer,” said Fermin.

On December 10, 2011 Chaz and his organization of supporters, Chaz’s Angels, helped to lead the Miles for Hope Organization’s Moving Towards a Cure Brain Tumor 5k/1m Walk or Run. The walk was held at Al Lopez Park in Tampa, FL at 9 a.m. All of the proceeds were used to help fund brain tumor research and provide travel assistance to those who have brain cancer. “I want as many people to come as possible, even if I don’t know them. I want them to come out to support the cause and others who are fight-ing their way through this battle. My goal is to try and raise $5,000 for the proceeds,” said Fermin. Chaz gave a shout-out at the event to his friend whom he met in the hos-pital. Her name was Alex Gorals. She was younger then Chaz and lost her

battle to cancer in August 2011. He met Alex in the hospital and they hit it off right away, becoming good friends. When Chaz had found out that Alex had lost her battle, he was in deep shock. “When I got the call I knew at that moment what it was about. It hit me hard and I took it roughly,” said Chaz. Along the way, many friends have learned a lot from Chaz’s story. “I learned from Chaz to appreci-ate your life and to not let anything bring you down no matter what it is. Chaz always wants to have a good time and doesn’t let cancer get in the way of him having fun,” said Sison. Keeping positive was the one thing that helped Chaz through thick and thin.

Katlyn Zielinski Asst. News Editor

Chaz Fermin reaches out into the community to raise support and awareness for brain cancer. He continues to fight an ongoing battle against a tumor located on the cerebelum.

Photo courtesy of Chaz Fermin

Student faces life’s biggest obstacleChaz Fermin fights the fight of his life as he battles against brain cancer

Florida college are rais-ing the cost of tuition by fifteeen percent.

SPORTS

Winter sports preview

Find out what to expect from the Soccer, Wres-tling, Cheerleading, and Basketball teams this year.

See page 10

Pro vs Con:

OPINIONS

Is Florida Virtual benefi-cial to students?

See page 9

ENTERTAINMENT

Mumford and Sons’ first albulm soars up charts.

See page 12

DECEMBER 2011News2

Gaither is part of a new National Non-profit Status Organization. Purposed with encour-aging an engineering mind within students in hopes to keep America relevant in the future

global economy, it’s the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Academy.

“STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, and it is developed to cohort students into those areas... So that the curriculum is seamless,” said mathematics teacher Nancy Feldhaus.

With “cohort,” Feldhaus refers to the way the stu-dents share all of their STEM classes: this year, those are 3rd Period Engineering I, taught by Peter Danile; 4th Period Geometry Honors, taught by Feldaus; and 7th Period Biology I Honors, instructed by Jerry Mur-ray. This new type of scheduling can be tricky as evi-denced in Murray’s class.

“Unfortunately for my class, what they’ve done, [be-cause a class of 20 STEM students doesn’t reach the minimum required for the class], I have 27 kids. But be-cause there is still a curriculum I have to teach, the ex-tra seven get the benefits of being in a STEM Bio class,” said Murray.

Feldhaus doesn’t share this issue with her STEM Geometry class, and sees the benefits of grouping the students this way.

“I like it. The students come in with a good relation-ship; there are no classroom management issues, and the students are all eager to learn,” said Feldhaus.

Danile has a contrary point of view.“I don’t think that ‘cohorting’ is all that good. The

students should learn to be comfortable around new people,” said Danile.

Most of the 20 students have been cohorts since they started the STEM program in their sixth grade year at

Buchanan Middle School, and indeed, they feel like “co-horts.”

“We’re more comfortable with each other – just like

a big family,” said freshman Adenin Henriquez, a STE-Mee.

Even a non-Buchanan graduate seems to enjoy the more frequent face-time with familiars, but notes a pos-sible problem with unfriendly peers.

“[It’s] nice to be able to see them more than just once a day. But, if you make any enemies in [those classes], you see them more too.” said freshman Thomas Auto, a STEMee from Stewart Middle School.

STEM students have a modified curriculum that is central to the entire program. In fact, STEM refers to the integration of concepts from different classes until the overall curriculum is “seamless,” as mentioned by

Feldhaus. Murray, Feldhaus, and Danile brainstorm ways to

synthesize their courses.“We sit down as a team, and ask Mr. Danile, ‘What

are the topics that you’re covering?’ We take those top-ics and figure out how we can implement those into our curriculum. Right now we’re still in our baby stages,” said Murray.

Last quarter, Danile, Feldhaus, and Murray tried out this surprisingly new concept with their Oleic Acid Proj-ect.

As Murray described it, in a pan of water, powder-like pine pollen (that yellow-orange substance that likes to linger on cars in early fall) is sprinkled on top, and a given volume of oleic acid solution is dropped on top.

The pollen then disperses, and after a measurement of the perimeter formed by the oleic acid, the students can calculate the height of an oleic acid molecule. Feld-haus taught the math portion.

“My job was teaching them about the concepts of vol-ume and the formulas of surface area,” said Feldhaus.

Then Biology added to the experience with some clas-sic molecule-modeling.

“I was having them build the molecule over here. My part was to reinforce [the] lab by giving them the tools to get an understanding of what they were working with,” said Murray.

Finally, after starting the lab in his class, Danile wrapped up the project neatly with Excel program-ming.

“We used the formulas taught by Ms. Feldhaus and programmed them into Microsoft Excel so they could in-put various measurements and have an output of the oleic acid’s molecule-height,” said Danile.

For now, the minimum number of cross-curriculum STEM projects is one per semester, and next semester’s has yet to be decided upon.

School curricula adopts new STEM program

Donovan UyCopy Editor

New academic experiment takes root this year with three teachers, twenty students

STEM logo posters hang from the wall of the classrooms of every teacher in the program. The STEM program made is debut in school this year.

Joaquin Vidal-Collazo/Pony Express

Check out our website to read more about STEM.

the rising inflation of college prices.“It’s so unfair! You shouldn’t have to pay so much for

an education,” said Rivero. “It should stay the same it always has.”

Others can agree, the increasing college tuition that students cannot pay back becomes debt when they graduate from college.

“It’s a lot of expenses that we have to pay off,” said senior Shelby Woychowski. “I applied to schools here in Florida ‘cause it’s a lot cheaper, and I want to stay close to home. I don’t want to graduate with debt.”

Today, students find their own way to pay for college through scholarships, receiving col-lege credit and getting rid of require-ments that can be costly in college.

In the state of Florida, the Bright Futures Scholarship is a big factor in a student’s choice. The new Bright Futures scholarship has the ability to pay more than $3000 toward tu-ition.

“I’m working really hard,” said Espinal. “I need this scholarship.”

AP credit is college credit given to students that receive a 3 to 5 on their

AP test taken in the late spring. Students can also CLEP, or College Level Examina-

tion Program, a college course without actually taking the class. CLEP is a special test meant for students to receive college credit on courses that offer high school credit but do not offer college credit.

“You would have to contact the university you are going to attend,” said Ferguson, “Taking the CLEP test in a subject you want to study is another way to receive college credit.”

According to Ferguson, colleges have the right to raise the cost of college until it reaches the national av-erage in 2019.

With the price for an education at the high-est it’s been in history, high school students are now pressured into finding alternative ways to pay for college.

“Cost of tuition to attend college has gone up by 15% this year alone, and the reason is that the university has to offset a lot of the budget cuts that happened,” said col-lege resource counselor Ann Ferguson. “By law, they are allowed to increase the tuition cost by 15 percent.”

According to Ferguson, despite the recent inflation in college tuition, Flor-ida still has one of the best deals in college tuition, third behind Louisiana and Wyoming. The cost of tuition for a full time student for 15 hours is roughly $5500. Costs can vary by college.

“The cost of tuition is still pretty high, but Florida’s got one of the cheap-est college tuition in the country,” said junior Efley Espinal, “I’m definitely going to be applying for schools in Florida, but the rising cost is still too high, I’m going to need scholarships.”

Some seniors applied to schools in Florida in order to receive the Bright Futures Scholarship given to students to meet the requirements and are attending a school in Florida.

“I applied to USF, FSU, UF, and UCF. It’s mainly so I can get the Bright Futures Scholarship to offset my tu-ition,” said senior Max Pautler. “I think it’s insane how schools are raising the price of college, it should stay the same and allow more kids to go into Florida schools.”

Students, like senior Rocio Rivero, are angered about

3THE PONY EXPRESS NewsLocal colleges increase the cost of tuitionFlorida universities raise cost of attendance by 15 percent

“

”

By law, [state legis-lators] are allowed to increase tuition cost by 15 percent.

- Counselor Ann Ferguson

Kevin SardjaGraphics Editor

Webmaster

Students to receive National Merit Award

Each year, the National Merit Scholarship pro-gram gives away over $51 million in scholarship money to more than 10,000 students.

According to nationalmerit.org, the National Merit Scholarship program is an academic com-petition for credit and scholarships that began in 1955. More than 1.5 million students each year take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholar-ship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). To be consid-ered for such a high honor, participants must score in the top percentile of the nation.

“I felt almost a delayed happiness because I had taken it so long ago, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was recognized for my PSAT. I thought what a cool thing that I have accomplished,” said senior Reece.

Five Gaither students were chosen for the National Merit Scholarship program: Jordan Rea-sor, Kelly Cuppett, Kjeerstilinn Raabe, Lee-Ann Kerster, and Mikhail Reece. The two semifinalists are Kelly Cuppett and Kjeerstilinn Raabe. Our commended scholar was Jordan Reasor. The Na-tional Achievement honor went to Lee-Ann Kerster and Mikhail Reece.

“To be considered a National Merit you have to be a terrific student. The four out of five I teach that were qualified for such a great honor are the ones that are top of the class. These students work no matter who is teaching them. They can get an ‘A’ out of anything. They all have tenacity meaning they won’t quit until they have gotten the answer,” said math teacher Gregory Bradford.

Dedication and lack of apathy has given Cuppet, Reece, and Kerster the opportunity to earn a schol-arship from the National Merit Program and from universities across the nation.

To read more about the National Merit Scholars, visit our website at www.ghsponyexpress.com.

Story by Alex Rodriguez

Kelly follows a director, and plays along with the sing-ers. She picked up this difficult skill quickly and easily. “Kelly is incredibly focused. She is motivated and ob-servant. She takes the initiative to do things that are needed to be done. “She is a great leader, respectful and amaingly tal-ented. She is a great musician; she’s not only technical but also an artist in the way she gives off the emotion in her pieces. I’m in awe of her,” said chorus teacher Debra Cleveland. The musician audition for colleges is time consuming and a participant needs a lot of focus to be successful. Continuous essays and that keep appearing only main-tain the mundane feeling of filling out applications. Piano majors have to play pieces from memory when doing the auditions. Kelly practices many hours per week just to make sure her performance is flawless. “For my piano major auditions, I’m planning on playing a twenty four minute Beethoven sonata, a four- minute Bach prelude fugue, and a nine minute Chopin ballad. “In addition, some schools ask for an additional piece which will be a four and a half minute Debussy piece for me. So come January, I will have approximately forty minutes of music in my head,” said Cuppett. Kelly enjoys trying new things in her life. In her free time, Kelly likes to go swing dancing, and knows the ba-sics, such as the jitterbug and lindy hop. “I got introduced to swing dancing by my boyfriend Harrison, who’d been going for a long time before me. “I didn’t start till last year, because it’s on Sunday nights and it’s pretty inconvenient because of church and it being a school night. When you like something that much, you make time,” said Cuppett. Kelly Cuppett strives to do her best everyday.

DECEMBER 2011Features4

One remarkable student, who was a star soc-cer player and is now a profound pianist,has had a positive impact both on her mentors and peers.

Kelly Cuppett, a senior at Gaither High School, has an unweighted GPA of a 4.0 and has many talents both in, and outside of school. The variety of extracurricular activities she attends is not limited to her studies. She is currently taking four advanced placement class-es and is preparing for college. Cuppett is one of Gaither’s semifinalists for the Na-tional Merit Scholarship. “It was the first day of Leadership Week for Chorus, and one of the things you have to do is ‘an outward sign of devotion.’ People go all out.” “So I wrote ‘CHORUS’ in blue eyeliner on my fore-head. That was the morning I got called down to Mrs. Whelan’s office. It was an administrative staff meeting and Mrs. Whelan asked if I knew why I was there, and I said, ‘Am I not allowed drawing on my face?’ They called down a national merit semi-finalist, and [instead] got a clown of a future chorus president. “So if there’s anything I can stress to the underclassmen, it would be not to blow off the PSATs. I remember being one of the only ones who tried in my all classes,while the rest of the kids slept. They probably wouldn’t have slept if they knew that this test could be worth their entire college tuition. I just tried because I wanted an accurate indicator for my SATs,” said Cuppett. She calls one of these times a, “Kelly Moment.” Her

unique personality and positive outlook on life is greatly recognized by her countless number of friends. “Kelly is a very kind and talented person. I know she is awesome in school and plays the piano very well. She has an cool and unique personality. She is someone that can always make anyone smile and be positive,” said se-nior Matt Finnesy. Out of everyone in her class Cuppett always works hard and does not give up on a challenge, making her one of the top students in all of her classes at Gaither. “Kelly is considerate and goal oriented. She not only meets her goals but exceeds the goal to her fullest po-tential. Her work ethic is great. She knows what needs to be done and gets it done. She is very organized and utilizes her time wisely. I love having her in my class. She provides a positive attitude and answers questions I ask and gets them right,” said AP United States Govern-ment teacher, Teresa Trumbach. Not only does Cuppett thrive in her studies, she is also a remarkable pianist and musician. When she was little she started practicing the piano but only as a side hobby at first. However, since sophomore year she de-cided that she will major in music and focus on it more in the future. “Soccer was always more important. As a sophomore I decided I was going to major in music and the auditions for that can be pretty involved, and because of that I had to make some tough decisions about my time this year. “This is the first year I haven’t played club soccer since I was 8. There are days where I miss being part of a team, and the thrill of game days. “But I would choose the same way again. In my brain, I chose my future over my past,” said Cuppett. Cuppett is very gifted pianist, and this is her fourth year playing as the accopanist for Gaither’s chorus.

Student excels in extracurricular activities

Alex Rodriguez Sports Editor

National Merit Scholar maintains other hobbies while staying focused

The largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history is set to double the size of Disney World’s Fan-tasyland. Expansions are set to

open in late 2012. A few of these changes will include a new home for Princess Ariel, new ways to interact with the Disney Princesses, a thrilling new family roller coaster, a double dose of Dumbo the flying elephant, and much more. “Disney is getting boring,” said junior Faith Guevarez, “It’s about time they ren-ovate something.” Among the highlights planned is Under the Sea- Journey of the Little Mermaid where guests will travel above and below the sea through musical numbers from The Little Mermaid. “I’m excited about the Little Mermaid ride. I like Ariel the most because she’s a mermaid and taught me how to swim,” said senior Cody Robinson,“I would like to see a ride with Jasmine where I could ride the magic carpet with her, that’s all I want.” Ariel is a crowd favorite that has yet to be fully recog-nized as a Disney Princess by the Magic Kingdom. This attraction will provide her a new home and be-come a family favorite.“I’m most excited for the Little Mermaid ride. She’s my favorite princess and the ride sounds exciting and fun,” said junior Sarah Mallardi, “The money is well spent and hopefully the new attrac-tions will bring new [tourists].” Among the new rides is the Castle of the Beast, fea-turing the Be Our Guest restaurant which includes a memorable dining experience in the elegant ballroom, gallery, and mysterious “West Wing” of the castle. The restaurant will seat 550 guests and offer a fast food service during the day and a sit down dinner in the evening. Guests will also be able to visit Gaston’s Tavern

FeaturesTHE PONY EXPRESS 5Disney World expands Fantasyland

and Bonjour! Village Gifts. Just on the outskirt of the Village Guests is the En-chanted Tales with Belle. This adventure begins in Maurice’s workshop through a magic mirror to the Beast’s Castle where they will en-ter the library, encounter Lumiere and Belle, and enjoy a “tale as old as time.” “Nothing in Disney specifically has anything about Belle, so it will be nice to feature her,” said Guevarez. Another attraction will be the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. The ride will allow visitors on a musical ride that will make them feel as if they are actually traveling through one of the mine shafts. This coaster will be one-of-a-kind that responds to ev-ery twist and turn of the track. The ride will be accompanied by lively figures of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and music from the clas-sic Disney film. “Change is always good, especially in the entertain-

ment industry,” said junior Alma Duran. “Renovation for them is a win-win situa-tion. I’ll definitely be going.” Yet another addition to the upcoming Fantasyland will be the Princess Fairytale Hall. This hall will include princesses such as Aurora, Cinderella and the newest edi-tions of the princess collection such as Ti-ana from The Princess and the Frog and Rapunzel from Tangled. They are set to greet guests in their new home, which will be located on the current site of Snow White’s Scary Adventure. “It’s okay that they are taking out the Snow White ride,” said sophomore Emily Whittington. “It was pretty boring any-ways.” Visitors from all around the world will be led into the new and improved Story-book Circus by the Sound of Calliope. Not one, but two circling carousels of airborne carts from Dumbo the Flying El-ephant will be added.

Before actually stepping onto this Disney World favor-ite, visitors can take part in an array of family games and interactive allurements for all ages young to old. “The experience of the new rides is worth the cost,”said freshman Kayla Palange. Similar to Storybook Circus, the classic Barnstormer will also be redone. The modern enticement will feature Goofy as “The Great Goofini.” The twists and turns of the new roller coaster will encompass the Circus and guests will be able to soar high above the Circus. “I’m going to Disney,” said senior Jacob Snidle. All of these modern attractions will encourage a higher number of visitors. Be the first to ride one of these fresh, new excursions. Each new ride will present a brand new experience that will heighten the enjoyment of diney-goers. They will be able to ride through all new stories and the dis-ney staff is pleased with their proposals. Staff writer Taylor Yonke contributed to this story.

It is 3:55 on Tuesday afternoon and for the band it is time to hit the drivers ed lot to practice for the show. The practice schedule for the Gaither marching band is Monday through Friday for in-class rehearsals; Tuesday and Thursday, 4 p.m. -7 p.m., for after-school rehearsals; and another rehearsal is on Friday for the football game performance. “Many times the hard work goes unnoticed but is still important to the show,” said senior clarinet section lead-er Madi Harvey. The 2011 show is titled “Reflections”, and is composed of three movements (or 60+ sets). The band has been preparing and perfecting the show since band camp, two weeks before school. “Marching band is not easy. The final product comes after hundreds of hours of work,” said senior Eduardo Galvez; he has played the bassoon for concert band and the sousaphone (tuba) for marching band for four years. Most of the after-school rehearsals last three or more hours and on Friday, Oct.14, while the football team travelled over an hour to earn a road victory over East Bay High School, the band still did not get a day off. A four-hour rehearsal was held to learn the closing movement to “Reflections.” “They don’t give up through any conditions,” said band director Brian Dell. Throughout the marching season, the band has held practices in intense heat and rain. “The practices are long and intense, but we try our hardest and always produce good results,” said junior tuba player Austin Cornella. For the past two years the marching band has attend-ed the Florida Marching Band Coalition (FMBC) State Competition to compete against other elite bands across Florida. This competition is held at Tropicana field, and for many bands, is the biggest competition of the season.

Walt Disney World/ Used With Permission

Fantasyland is currently undergoing renovations. The first phase of the renovations will be revealed in late 2012.

Michael FarrellAd Manager

Largest expansion in Magic Kingdom includes variety of new rides

Marching Band show reflects hard work

“My favorite part of marching band is performing at the football games,” said senior Sam Garnett; he is the section leader for the trumpets and has been a part of band leadership since his junior year.

In the end, all the time, sweat, and hard work come together for a 10 minute show under the lights at half-time, and according to the tuba section, “Halftime is Game Time!”

Through competition, practice the marching band produces results

Amber RazzanoFeatures Editor

Kevin Sardja/ Pony Express

Marching band performs at lunch to rally up school spirit. They practice for more than six hours each week.

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DECEMBER 2011Centerspread6 THE PONY EXPRESS Centerspread

Gossip, lies and scandal have become culturally ingrained to be “norms” in adolescent life. Teens use rumors to defile the reputations and emotional stabil-ity of others to give themselves a social advantage or ego boost.

Here are some easy solutions to help teens cope with the dramatic effects of rumors:

7

•Be forthrightWhen someone comes up to you to start gossiping, simply tell them that you don’t like talking about other people and offer to talk to the person who the rumor is concern-ing. If they say no, that person is unlikely to tell you any more gossip they hear.

•Just be nice If a person talks about other peo-ple, chances are that they talk about you, too. Remember that even though people don’t have to like you, it is possible to change their perceptions of you. Try to be friendly and polite to everyone, in-cluding the gossipers, despite how they treat you.

•Keep calmIf a rumor is being spread about you, keep calm. Stressing over it, getting angry or even crying just gives the person who made the rumor ex-actly what they wanted. Acting crazy about it just makes you look bad; count to ten and breathe.

•Avoid talking about itBy not discussing rumors, you can be safe from be-ing blamed for starting them. Regardless of who re-ally is to blame, if someone sees you saying some-thing, you’re guilty by association.

Story by Lexi Cuervo

•Debunk the mythIf you hear a rumor that you know isn’t true, challenge the person saying it. Al-though it may be hard to stand up to a bully, rumors just get worse if left alone.

“It’s hard for me to confront gossipers but I know it’s the right thing to do.” - junior Juan Loaiza“

”Try as one might to avoid it, gossip plagues the

halls of high school. Cliques, fights, drama and lies are everyday effects of rumors.

In one way or another, every student experi-ences these dangerous effects of rumors.

According to teendepression.org, a website de-signed to help victims of bullying, about 58 per-cent of kids and teens have reported malicious name calling, rumors, or slanderous comments have been made about them behind their back, to their face or directed at them online.

Many students do not realize that spreading a rumor is an indirect form of bullying. Students can get into serious trouble with administration under the school’’s bullying policy.

“Rumors are a form of bullying. It is a way of getting revenge against the person it’s about. It can cause a lot of pain, intentional or not,” said junior Tatiana Olivier.

Although a small, fabricated story doesn’t seem like a big deal, the original story is often altered.

“My motto when dealing with rumors is ‘Be-lieve none of what you hear and only half of what you see,’” said senior Jordan Walsh.

Gossip is a poor excuse to talk badly about a person behind their back rather than to talk to the person about disagreements directly.

“No matter how the rumor starts, even if it is true, somewhere along the line it will get twisted and manipulated into something completely differ-ent. Rumors are nothing but a waste of time and should never be taken seriously because you have no way of knowing where and why it started and is more than likely to be untrue,” said Walsh.

Although it may not be morally right, rarely do teens ever think of the person on the other side of the rumor and how it effects them.

Story by Haley Solomon

“Rumors are pointless. All that matters is that you know the truth. When I hear a ru-mor about me that isn’t true, I ignore it.” - senior Kendall Duncan

“”

HOW TO BREAK THE RUMOR CYCLE

Many teens have experienced the wrath of a vicious rumor, but it is hard for teens to truly understand the detrimental conse-quences of their actions. Not all adolescents spread rumors, many are unwillingly cast into the role of the victim. Victims must deal with emotional pain as well as social hardships. Rumors create an unwanted surplus of drama and are hard to manage alone. Here are some pieces of advice and anecdotes about experiences with rumors shared by students.

“I think there are too many rumors spread at Gaither. Everyone gets into each others’ business.”- sophomore Lexi Perrini

“A while ago, this girl told all my friends that I was a lesbian. Peo-ple spread rumors about other people because they’re either jealous or insecure.”- freshman Nava Rodrigues

“I dated this girl’s ex-boyfriend. After we started dating, she had spread so many rumors about us that it ultimately ended my rela-tionship with him.”- junior Andrea Carhuavilca

“I listen to gossip. It’s hard not to. But if I’m hearing it and it sounds really petty, I’ll ignore it.”- freshman Victor Griffin

“I hear rumors every day at lunch. I think there are too many rumors that people spread to just get at-tention.”- junior Thanasi Halkias

“I think that there’s good and bad gossip and even if they don’t mean to, everyone gossips.”- senior Jobeth Gilles

“People don’t actively spread ru-mors about me all the time, but it’s been rumored that I’m some sort of giant.”- senior Dalton Riikonen

Experiencing a rumor is vicious. One of the worst feelings in the world to walk through the hallways and feel like all eyes are on you while they quietly whisper what they heard.

After a week or so, people eventually get bored with a rumor and move on to new drama. The spotlight, in varying degrees, always finds a new victim. The social stigma will partially remain with the person whom the gossip was about.

It’s important to realize that rumors are not the end of the world.

“Rumors can really hurt someone, but if they aren’t true than you have nothing to worry about,” said sophomore Jacqui Carcamo.

High school drama is typical at best. Getting through the troubles of rumors and moving on is an important part of life.

With the right attitude and a positive approach, the effects of rumors on a teen can be conquered.

Story by Jessica Lawless and Marc Costello

HAVE YOU HEARD?

% OF STUDENTS HAVE BEEN NEGA-TIVELY AFFECTED BY A RUMOR

“I don’t like to listen to rumors, I try to avoid the subject, especially if it is someone close to me,” said sophomore Jonathan Sardja.

For some boys, if a rumor stings hard enough the situation will end in a violent way.

“If I heard a rumor about my-self and it bothered me enough, I wouldn’t be able to ignore it. I doubt talking about it with the source of the rumor would help anything, things would probably get physical depending on who said it,” said Ce-sari.

Teenage boys are more aggres-sive than their female counterparts. They are also less likely to “talk” out the problem.

Regardless of the tough guy atti-tude, boys do participate in rumors.

“Guys don’t spread or start ru-mors as much as girls do but they definitely participate in them,” said freshman Chris Johnson.

Rumors are mostly associated with teenage girls.

Gossip in high school spreads like wildfire, especially among girls.

Girls handle gossip by either ris-ing above it or crushing and becom-ing upset over it. Regardless of at-titude, gossip that girls hear about themselves stings deeply.

Rumors have the power to destroy an adolescent’s reputation. Some teens try to be cautious when dealing with gossip, but others spread it around with no qualms. Here are the results of a survey given out to 320 students, detailing how the student body handles rumors. Statistics and surveys by An-thony Prieto and Alex Rodriguez.

Rumor Has It

Some teens say they’ve never spread a rumor, but it’s important to realize that people participate in spreading rumors just by listening.

Although rumors aren’t the end of the world, they are an indirect form of bullying.

There are plenty of other things to talk about than gossip about people. Bringing other people down for amusement is childish and is a big part of the bad reputation of high school.

“I don’t think you should listen to rumors, they are for immature people,” said junior Jeffery Ce-sari.

No one deserves to be bullied. Students should-be able to rise above pity talk and converse about bigger and better things. There are many conse-quences from rumors, and many students don’t un-derstand that these little white lies hurt.

Rachelle Mourra/Pony Express

Spreading rumors is considered to be a form of harassment, which can dehumanize teens, causing embarassment, emotional distress and potentially a physical fight

Ignoring rumors and seeking comfort from friends are both com-mon ways for girls to cope.

Junior Julia Deabreu said, “I try to ignore rumors and not pass them on. I don’t let them get to me, I know they’ll pass by in a week and there will be new things to talk about.”

Others take the drama very close to heart and find it personal. Com-pared to teenage boys, girls are less likely to confront other girls.

A girl’s main form of bullying is to spread rumors. A piece of gossip can alienate even the best of friends. So-cial status is very important to teen-age girls, and a well thought out lie can take that away from them.

Adolescent boys deal with rumors a lot differently than girls do.

They don’t talk about rumors a lot to begin with and most think they are stupid. Most boys just don’t care for all the gossip and drama that come along with rumors and wish not to get involved at all.

But every so often, a rumor comes their way.

“Someone spread some gos-sip that I’m a player and I hang out with too many girls and I get around a lot.”- sophomore Jonathan Hickson

GAITHER AT A GLANCE% OF STUDENTS HAVE PROTECTED A FRIEND FROM A RUMOR

39

1687

95% OF STUDENTS HAVE TRIED TO STOP A RUMOR

% OF STUDENTS ENJOY SPREADING RUMORS

41 % OF STUDENTS HAVE HELPED TO SPREAD A RUMOR

5260

% OF STUDENTS WHO ADMITTED TO STARTING A RUMOR% OF STUDENTS

HAVE HAD A RUMOR SPREAD ABOUT THEM

Gossip provides opportunity for secretive form of bullying

Rachelle Mourra/Pony Express

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DECEMBER 2011Centerspread6 THE PONY EXPRESS Centerspread

Gossip, lies and scandal have become culturally ingrained to be “norms” in adolescent life. Teens use rumors to defile the reputations and emotional stabil-ity of others to give themselves a social advantage or ego boost.

Here are some easy solutions to help teens cope with the dramatic effects of rumors:

7

•Be forthrightWhen someone comes up to you to start gossiping, simply tell them that you don’t like talking about other people and offer to talk to the person who the rumor is concern-ing. If they say no, that person is unlikely to tell you any more gossip they hear.

•Just be nice If a person talks about other peo-ple, chances are that they talk about you, too. Remember that even though people don’t have to like you, it is possible to change their perceptions of you. Try to be friendly and polite to everyone, in-cluding the gossipers, despite how they treat you.

•Keep calmIf a rumor is being spread about you, keep calm. Stressing over it, getting angry or even crying just gives the person who made the rumor ex-actly what they wanted. Acting crazy about it just makes you look bad; count to ten and breathe.

•Avoid talking about itBy not discussing rumors, you can be safe from be-ing blamed for starting them. Regardless of who re-ally is to blame, if someone sees you saying some-thing, you’re guilty by association.

Story by Lexi Cuervo

•Debunk the mythIf you hear a rumor that you know isn’t true, challenge the person saying it. Al-though it may be hard to stand up to a bully, rumors just get worse if left alone.

“It’s hard for me to confront gossipers but I know it’s the right thing to do.” - junior Juan Loaiza“

”Try as one might to avoid it, gossip plagues the

halls of high school. Cliques, fights, drama and lies are everyday effects of rumors.

In one way or another, every student experi-ences these dangerous effects of rumors.

According to teendepression.org, a website de-signed to help victims of bullying, about 58 per-cent of kids and teens have reported malicious name calling, rumors, or slanderous comments have been made about them behind their back, to their face or directed at them online.

Many students do not realize that spreading a rumor is an indirect form of bullying. Students can get into serious trouble with administration under the school’’s bullying policy.

“Rumors are a form of bullying. It is a way of getting revenge against the person it’s about. It can cause a lot of pain, intentional or not,” said junior Tatiana Olivier.

Although a small, fabricated story doesn’t seem like a big deal, the original story is often altered.

“My motto when dealing with rumors is ‘Be-lieve none of what you hear and only half of what you see,’” said senior Jordan Walsh.

Gossip is a poor excuse to talk badly about a person behind their back rather than to talk to the person about disagreements directly.

“No matter how the rumor starts, even if it is true, somewhere along the line it will get twisted and manipulated into something completely differ-ent. Rumors are nothing but a waste of time and should never be taken seriously because you have no way of knowing where and why it started and is more than likely to be untrue,” said Walsh.

Although it may not be morally right, rarely do teens ever think of the person on the other side of the rumor and how it effects them.

Story by Haley Solomon

“Rumors are pointless. All that matters is that you know the truth. When I hear a ru-mor about me that isn’t true, I ignore it.” - senior Kendall Duncan

“”

HOW TO BREAK THE RUMOR CYCLE

Many teens have experienced the wrath of a vicious rumor, but it is hard for teens to truly understand the detrimental conse-quences of their actions. Not all adolescents spread rumors, many are unwillingly cast into the role of the victim. Victims must deal with emotional pain as well as social hardships. Rumors create an unwanted surplus of drama and are hard to manage alone. Here are some pieces of advice and anecdotes about experiences with rumors shared by students.

“I think there are too many rumors spread at Gaither. Everyone gets into each others’ business.”- sophomore Lexi Perrini

“A while ago, this girl told all my friends that I was a lesbian. Peo-ple spread rumors about other people because they’re either jealous or insecure.”- freshman Nava Rodrigues

“I dated this girl’s ex-boyfriend. After we started dating, she had spread so many rumors about us that it ultimately ended my rela-tionship with him.”- junior Andrea Carhuavilca

“I listen to gossip. It’s hard not to. But if I’m hearing it and it sounds really petty, I’ll ignore it.”- freshman Victor Griffin

“I hear rumors every day at lunch. I think there are too many rumors that people spread to just get at-tention.”- junior Thanasi Halkias

“I think that there’s good and bad gossip and even if they don’t mean to, everyone gossips.”- senior Jobeth Gilles

“People don’t actively spread ru-mors about me all the time, but it’s been rumored that I’m some sort of giant.”- senior Dalton Riikonen

Experiencing a rumor is vicious. One of the worst feelings in the world to walk through the hallways and feel like all eyes are on you while they quietly whisper what they heard.

After a week or so, people eventually get bored with a rumor and move on to new drama. The spotlight, in varying degrees, always finds a new victim. The social stigma will partially remain with the person whom the gossip was about.

It’s important to realize that rumors are not the end of the world.

“Rumors can really hurt someone, but if they aren’t true than you have nothing to worry about,” said sophomore Jacqui Carcamo.

High school drama is typical at best. Getting through the troubles of rumors and moving on is an important part of life.

With the right attitude and a positive approach, the effects of rumors on a teen can be conquered.

Story by Jessica Lawless and Marc Costello

HAVE YOU HEARD?

% OF STUDENTS HAVE BEEN NEGA-TIVELY AFFECTED BY A RUMOR

“I don’t like to listen to rumors, I try to avoid the subject, especially if it is someone close to me,” said sophomore Jonathan Sardja.

For some boys, if a rumor stings hard enough the situation will end in a violent way.

“If I heard a rumor about my-self and it bothered me enough, I wouldn’t be able to ignore it. I doubt talking about it with the source of the rumor would help anything, things would probably get physical depending on who said it,” said Ce-sari.

Teenage boys are more aggres-sive than their female counterparts. They are also less likely to “talk” out the problem.

Regardless of the tough guy atti-tude, boys do participate in rumors.

“Guys don’t spread or start ru-mors as much as girls do but they definitely participate in them,” said freshman Chris Johnson.

Rumors are mostly associated with teenage girls.

Gossip in high school spreads like wildfire, especially among girls.

Girls handle gossip by either ris-ing above it or crushing and becom-ing upset over it. Regardless of at-titude, gossip that girls hear about themselves stings deeply.

Rumors have the power to destroy an adolescent’s reputation. Some teens try to be cautious when dealing with gossip, but others spread it around with no qualms. Here are the results of a survey given out to 320 students, detailing how the student body handles rumors. Statistics and surveys by An-thony Prieto and Alex Rodriguez.

Rumor Has It

Some teens say they’ve never spread a rumor, but it’s important to realize that people participate in spreading rumors just by listening.

Although rumors aren’t the end of the world, they are an indirect form of bullying.

There are plenty of other things to talk about than gossip about people. Bringing other people down for amusement is childish and is a big part of the bad reputation of high school.

“I don’t think you should listen to rumors, they are for immature people,” said junior Jeffery Ce-sari.

No one deserves to be bullied. Students should-be able to rise above pity talk and converse about bigger and better things. There are many conse-quences from rumors, and many students don’t un-derstand that these little white lies hurt.

Rachelle Mourra/Pony Express

Spreading rumors is considered to be a form of harassment, which can dehumanize teens, causing embarassment, emotional distress and potentially a physical fight

Ignoring rumors and seeking comfort from friends are both com-mon ways for girls to cope.

Junior Julia Deabreu said, “I try to ignore rumors and not pass them on. I don’t let them get to me, I know they’ll pass by in a week and there will be new things to talk about.”

Others take the drama very close to heart and find it personal. Com-pared to teenage boys, girls are less likely to confront other girls.

A girl’s main form of bullying is to spread rumors. A piece of gossip can alienate even the best of friends. So-cial status is very important to teen-age girls, and a well thought out lie can take that away from them.

Adolescent boys deal with rumors a lot differently than girls do.

They don’t talk about rumors a lot to begin with and most think they are stupid. Most boys just don’t care for all the gossip and drama that come along with rumors and wish not to get involved at all.

But every so often, a rumor comes their way.

“Someone spread some gos-sip that I’m a player and I hang out with too many girls and I get around a lot.”- sophomore Jonathan Hickson

GAITHER AT A GLANCE% OF STUDENTS HAVE PROTECTED A FRIEND FROM A RUMOR

39

1687

95% OF STUDENTS HAVE TRIED TO STOP A RUMOR

% OF STUDENTS ENJOY SPREADING RUMORS

41 % OF STUDENTS HAVE HELPED TO SPREAD A RUMOR

5260

% OF STUDENTS WHO ADMITTED TO STARTING A RUMOR% OF STUDENTS

HAVE HAD A RUMOR SPREAD ABOUT THEM

Gossip provides opportunity for secretive form of bullying

Rachelle Mourra/Pony Express

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DECEMBER 2011Opinion8Staff Editorial:Cell phones distract students in class

Benevolence isn’t just for the holidays

Editor-in-Chief: Cameron ValdezAssistant Editor-in-Chief: Jackie LawsonNews Editor: Joaquin Vidal-CollazoAsstistant News Editor: Katlyn ZielinskiFeatures Editor: Amber RazzanoOpinion Editor: Sahar TakshiCenterspread Editor: Jackie LawsonSports Editor: Alex RodriguezAssistant Sports Editor: Anthony PrietoEntertainment Editor: Camila AcostaGraphics Editor: Kevin SardjaCopy Editor: Donovan UyWeb Team: Kevin Sardja, Donovan Uy, Grant PeelerAdvertising Manger: Michael FarrellBusiness Manager: Justis BelloPublic Relations Manager: Jessica LawlessGraphics Team: Haley Solomon, Rachelle Mourra, Gigi Rodriguez, Lexi CuervoStaff Writers: Marc Costello, Brett Wasmund, Taylor YonkeAdviser: Louisa Ogle The Pony Express is published by the newspaper staff at Gaither High School, 16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, FL 33618.

Advertising rates are available upon request by calling (813) 975-7340 ext. 254. Advertising which promotes illegal products under Florida law, opposes any religion, or is of any sensitive nature will not be accepted.

The Pony Express

THE PONY EXPRESS

A Deeper

by Lexi Cuervo

Think About It:

[ Be sure to send your complaints, thanks, thoughts, and stories to

portable 7, or e-mail your rants to GHSPonyExpress@gmail.com ]

Got Rants?

Maybe it’s the aroma of a fresh Christmas tree, the sight of a beautifully cooked meal, or just the general cheer, but there’s something about the holidays that makes people much more benevo-

lent than in any other season, and this can be a prob-lem.

Although volunteer work and charitable donations are plentiful throughout the year, people tend to be much more giving during the holidays. Surely, part of the urge to do good comes from the fear of ending up on Santa’s naughty list, but according to the National Center of Charitable Statistics, the largest contributing factor of the increased desire to give comes from all the media attention.

Holiday specials exist to evoke thoughts of good will. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer shows the power of helping others, Charlie Brown’s Christmas teaches us the importance of integrity, and the Rugrats Chanukah

displays tolerance and compassion. It is no wonder that people suddenly become so generous. Many charities take this opportunity to hold canned food drives and ask for increased monetary donations.

This altruism also has its foundation in what Aaron Heffron, a director at the NPD Group, Inc. calls the “warm glow effect,” a feeling of righteousness when one performs a good deed.

Clearly generosity during the holiday season, Thanksgiving through New Years, is justified. But is it truly a positive thing?

Similar to the problems that gap-year volunteers cause, volunteering for a single season can cause tre-mendous emotional harm to the receiving end of the help. When the season ends, and people rapidly return to their normal routines, the unfortunate realize that there are fewer people who care. The volunteers they had grown attached to (personally or through organiza-tions) are suddenly out of their lives, leaving them feel-ing unwanted and unloved.

So, should one be proud that they donated canned goods so a family could have a Thanksgiving meal? Should someone feel good because they gave blood on

Christmas day? Should a student smile when they give tutoring help as a holiday gift? Absolutely. Volunteer-ing, donating, and benignity is welcomed during this season, but that doesn’t mean it is limited to it.

By taking the kind holiday mentality, with the cheer it brings, and incorporating it into our everyday lives, we could keep that warm glow in our hearts all year round.

Statistics from the NCCS show that people volunteer most when they are asked to. By simply requesting the donations or time of others, whether it’s in July or De-cember, we can make everyday a special occasion.

The extended holiday cheer can include anything from substantial monetary donations towards an im-portant cause to a simple New Years card to family and friends.

How about this year, instead of wildly donating our savings to this-charity-and-that or tossing out unused compliments from the beginning of the year, we make it our resolution to do good no matter the season? We can spread out the kindness of the holidays to cover each and every day, and hold on to our “warm glows” from January to December.

Students these days are on their phones constantly, completely ignoring the world around them.

They are small and have com-pletely taken over daily life. One can see them on television, on the internet, on billboards, on posters, but most annoyingly, in hands.

Is this really necessary? Is sharing every second of their life really that important to them? No one wants to receive that text that badly.

The rapid evolution of cellular phones since their invention in the early 90’s is flabbergasting. At first cell phones were avail-able to be installed in cars, then in ridiculously large suitcases, and now cell phones can fit in a pocket.

They used to be considered as a house phone on the go. Nowa-days cell phones have the ability to connect their users to the world at the palm of their hands.

While all of this is great, phones have also separated peo-ple as much as they have cyber-linked them. Everyone is so fo-cused on their two by three inch touch screens that they forget

that there is a whole world wait-ing to be explored and people to be met.

Teens are so distracted on tex-ting their friends and running virtual farms that they forget that there are many more people to whom they can talk directly and probably get much better opinions on why their BFF never called back. It was probably be-cause their so called best-friend-fo’eve’ was busy leading an actu-al life that involves some type of work that is not being the boss of a zombie ninja mafia.

There is a reason why phones are prohibited in school and it is not because the administration wants to prohibit friendship. In fact, they promote friendship! The reason they prohibit phones and materialize behind students as soon as they see a phone is because they care about the fu-ture.

All students are aware that being caught using a cell phone in school results in it being taken to SAO and held there for three school days. Yet students contin-ue to take the risk. Administra-tion reports that on average they confiscate seventeen cell phones per week.

Administration bans phones in school because they are aware that students can be easily dis-tracted in class when they have the ability to catapult a bird into a wood, ice, or stone structure that contains green pigs that steal eggs.

But if those students were paying attention to their phys-ics or biology class they would understand why a bird will not break ice or split into three at the touch of a finger. They also know that once students understands these concepts they will lead a successful life as something im-portant and not a bird flipper.

Life extends farther than un-limited calls and text messages. Students need to realize that this is their future on the line. Pay at-tention now, earn the greenbacks later. When cash is flowing out of the pockets and there is no need for worry then maybe a quick bird attack is an option.

But until then, work on the task at hand. Put the phones away and socialize in person, learn about the world and all its wonders, see planet Earth at work! Life is bigger than a cellu-lar phone screen, so why limit it to one?

Sahar TakshiOpinions Editor

Perspective

THE PONY EXPRESS Opinion 9

Student Perspectives

pro

What effect does online school have on students?

con

What is your favorite part of the holiday season?

Senior Brittany HopkinsFreshman Sergio Morejon Sophomore Judy Chen Junior Adam MiddletonKevin Sardja/Pony Express

Incoming freshmen of 2011 are now required to take at least one online course with Florida Virtual School, and frankly, it’s about time.

The new addition of online courses to graduation requirements is long overdue. Teenagers these days, spend all their time surfing the web on their computers anyhow. It only makes sense to link school with something that they are already familiar with.

“But it’s not practical!” one might exclaim. It’s just an excuse for stu-dents to spend more time on the in-ternet. Well, that’s the challenge of it. Online classes teach studentsthe re-sponsiblity to work using computers and online resources without getting distracted by the many things on the internet.

To most teens, this sounds like a pretty useless skill, but it will pay off in the future. More and more careers are now requiring basic computer skills, the most important of which include the ability to take orders through the internet, create and fix documents on computers, and com-municate ideas without being face-to-face with other people.

“But learning computer skills is not the point of online classes,” you say. Sure it is. FLVS courses are not just the digital version of the courses offered in schools; rather, they require students to go above and beyond in some cases. In a way, they teach stu-dents the type of independence that is

to come in college and in later years.With online classes, students do not

have their teacher in front of them to answer every little question and clarify all of their issues; students may have to do a bit of research or use their intu-ition to figure things out on their own.

FLVS courses offer a variety of digital study guides, online discussion boards, and virtual collaboration web-sites. These resources can also be used outside of the FLVS environment.

Online classes teach students that talent, giving them a wider range of career options, ones that include com-puter use. Like it or not, we live in the world of technology and if future gener-ations want to be successful, they will need to learn basic computer skills.

Besides, the requirement of online classes means that a student could a take a required course that they espe-cially despise online, such as HOPE, a foreign language, or even their math course. That way, they could eliminate two graduation requirements at once, killing two birds with one stone.

Students may even realize the con-venience and practicality of it and con-sider online classes in college. A recent Marketdata Enterprise Inc. survey shows that 30% of all college students are enrolled in online school. The avail-ability of online courses is especially handy in post secondary years, when students have to balance their jobs with school.

In the end, students have nothing to lose by taking online classes, except for maybe a couple hours during the week when they would’ve been spent on Fa-cebook chatting anyways.

By being required to take classes with FLVS, students improve their in-dependent thinking and communica-tion skills by way of the internet, have the opportunity to knock out two grad-uation requirements at once, and will be encouraged to use online schooling in later years.

Online classes are a step towards a more convenient, more practical, and more technology-oriented future, and it all starts with one change in gradua-tion requirements.

Hats off to our patrons!

In this wonderful age of comput-ers, interconnectivity, and so-cial media, we have pushed the boundaries of technology to fan-tastic limits, but when it comes

to online schooling, especially when it is required, our culture has been caught unprepared.

After eight prior years of regimenta-tion, incoming freshmen are no strang-ers to the pointless rituals associated with education. Ideally, high school would be a time where they would be able to focus less on the minutia of day-to-day assignments, and begin to learn about the overarching concepts that make up the major disciplines of aca-demia.

English begins to merge with phi-losophy, math and science meet head-on, and history provides a backdrop and an oracle for what comes next. The student begins to see that each subject relies upon the other, and learns to “think outside the box”, applying skills gained in chemistry to problems seen in economics.

This process could be seen as the point of schooling, as the apex of the goals of the education system. FLVS does not adequately provide support for this to happen. It lacks the ability to challenge students, to support criti-cal thinking, and to prevent fraud. In effect, it cheats them of a proper educa-tion.

The reason FVLS cannot challenge students academically is that it lacks the personal contact of a teacher on a day to day basis. In many cases, teach-ers have the freedom to tailor the class, or parts of a lesson, to the strengths and weaknesses of each individual student. With FLVS, a rigid curriculum must be adhered to, and followed to the letter.

Without this vital scaling of diffi-culty, intelligent students would soon become disinterested with the lesson offered, and less gifted ones would find themselves swamped with work and quickly failed.

We’re left with a situation that looks

fantastic on paper, but results in ter-rible “return on investment” for actual education.

What exactly does this mean? It means that we’ll see a happy admin-istration, as grades will inevitably go up. We’ll see happy students, cheaply boosting their GPA past the 5.0 mark and beyond with easy courses, and we’ll see graduates with no idea what they are doing if they reach a post-secondary level.

In many ways, FLVS is a disaster for the honest ‘test focused’ student, the one who may not turn in the homework, or take notes, but has a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the subject. On the other hand, if a student, who was gifted with a skilled work ethic, yet lacked moral fiber, he could easily cheat his way to a passing score on any test imaginable.

How? The wide availability of in-formation on the internet guarantees that a correct answer not only exists, but is a simple keystroke away. Soft-ware based solutions to this would be equally useless if the student in question simply possessed a second computer or method of accessing the internet.

The real cost of FLVS won’t be in GPA, test scores, or even in gradua-tion rates. It’s going to be in the skills that students walking out of this school possess. History, science, math-ematics, and technology majors going into post-secondary education will be woefully unprepared for professional level work, dropping us even further behind our international rivals.

Grant Peeler Web Team

Sahar TakshiOpinions Editor

Online classes now required for class of 2015

Key Club Debra Dyal John HeatherlyCostello Family

Marisol Collazo

Mr. ZielinskiRobotics ClubMrs. Wasmund

AVIDBeta Club

Angie VasquezSara Ellen CoyneRichard Meyers

Minarva Mekon

“I love the cheer, the candy, the singing, EVERYTHING.”

“The thing I love most about the holiday season is the sweet

smell of Christmas trees.”

“I love spending time with my family during the Christmas season.”

“What I like most about this season is the cold weather.”

DECEMBER 2011Sports10

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

THE PONY EXPRESS 11Sports

All it took was one broken bone, one tear in the ACL, one pulled muscle and poof, you’re done, out for the game, out for the season, possibly out of your scholarship, and now that the var-

sity cowboys have made it to the top 8 in the state play-offs for the first time since 2007, the pressure was on. It only makes sense to keep your players on high alert and out of trouble. Head Coach Jason Stokes issued a rule that players playing overlapping winter sports cannot attend the physically intensive practices other players would regu-larly attend during playoffs. Players are limited to only attending practice after

Coach limits the risk of injury during playoff season

Kevin SardjaGraphics Editor

Webmaster

football practices that are low intensity workouts that focus solely on technique rather than physically demand-ing, muscle building exercises. Now I know it seems like a bad thing, but trust me, it’s actually a blessing in disguise. Athletes may think they know their limits, but let’s be real, a player that has been programmed to “leave everything on the field” will do just that, leave everything. Little do they know the dangerous effects a high in-tensity practice can have on a body. It’s pretty easy to be become exhausted when you practice three hours a day for football then head straight to basketball for another two and half hours. So now what? Do we let them play and possibly hurt themselves? No, set the precedent, we all know a worn out player who plays sluggishly helps no one, not them-selves, not the coach and certainly not the team. It’s for the betterment of the team, and for the player. Don’t worry, it’s not permanent, its only temporary. You’ll

have your chance to play, but now, your team needs you. They need you to be healthy, to be rested, and to be ready to play when the time comes. Your fifteen seconds of fame comes fast, don’t spoil it because of some avoid-able injury that can be evaded by two words we hear over and over, “be careful”. It’s like your mother telling you to stay away from the kid down the street that picks on his little sister. She tells you this to help you before anything happens, to protect you, to keep you out of trouble. Good eye, Coach. Don’t worry guys, you’re going to look back at this and be thankful that you didn’t go to that one practice, that you didn’t do that drill, that you didn’t tear your ACL. It’s not about being lazy or taking away the chance for you to shine in another sport but merely a precaution to save you from that bench you’ll get to know when you’ve broken your leg because someone slide –tackled you from behind. Coaches, take note, watch your athletes.

Through playoffs, coach assures athletes stay committed to one sport

Winter SportS previeW

CHEERLEADING WRESTLING

BASKETBALLSOCCER

Last year, boys soccer team made it to the state playoffs and are hoping to go back, but with the loss of many seniors, it may be a little more of an uphill battle from last season. Girls soccer made it to the regional playoffs last year and are looking to do bet-ter this year. With a young team, they will have many years to build a strong team. “I feel like we are very strong and we just have to work together better. We have a very young team we have eight new fresh men and four or five are starting so yes we are. We have really good potential to go further than last year,” said senior captain soccer player Madi-son Henriquez

The boys’ basketball team had a dismal season with two wins, six losses and one tie. This year’s team has many more underclassmen. “We have a lot of young talent on the team and I like the direction we heading in. I think if we play to the fullest potential we have and come together as a team, then we can go far into the playoffs. This year we run a more up-beat offense and de-fense,” said junior Dominic Neglio. The girls’ basketball team is in the same boat as the boys. They are look-ing to do better than the previous year.

Cheerleading is trying to build on last year’s Western Conference Championship. With a new coach, the girls are certainly trying to im-prove their finishes in the competitions lead-ing up to regionals and states. “We as a team are more competitive and we don’t mess around as much during competi-tion season. I think our stunting is our best quality but we are pretty good at everything. We can do much better than last year. On a scale of one to ten our team would be like an 8.5 because we are good and work very well together,” said sophomore cheerleader Nadia Holloway. Recently, the cheer team got third place in their first competition.

The wrestling team went four and two last season and had a couple of students qualify for regionals, but none went any further than that. They will be looking to do much better than that this year. “We are one team, we work really hard in practice and

we are very disciplined. I think we have a lot of young talent and I think we can do as well as last year if not better. With a lot of hard work we can have some of the team go to states.

I think all of our varsity team can qualify for districts but we need to be very commit-

ted everything is there for us to do well we just need to get the people there in the stands,” said sophomore wrestler Kirby O’Loughlin.

Compiled by Anthony PrietoGloria Rodriguez / Pony Express

Alex Rodriguez / Pony Express

Kevin Sardja / Pony Express

Kevin Sardja / Pony Express

Athletes prepare for fast approaching winter season

THE PONY EXPRESS Entertaiment 12

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Mumford and Sons sets standards

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With transcendental harmonies, lyrics and mystical acoustics, Mum-ford & Sons has expanded the barriers of folk mu-sic, rallying up fans of all sorts.

Marcus Mumford, Country Winston, Ben Lovett, and Ted Dwane make up the Mumford & Sons band. These four friends from London formed the band in 2007 with, according to mumfor-dandsons.com, hopes of creating music that matters but not taking themselves too seriously. Their debut album Sigh No More was released in the United States on Feb. 16, 2010.

Their passion for music and ability to translate emo-tions in a song is what makes them stand out, Sigh No More is moving in every way.

They deliver their music with confidence and jubi-lance, twisting traditional folk music that is usually considered smooth and gaving it power, courage, and enthusiasm.

“Sigh No More” starts off the magical journey that follows their entire debut album, the song name is bor-rowed from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, a

comedy about a pair of lov-ers.

Following the second released single, “The Cave” has more literature under-tones from the ancient tale told by Homer, The Odys-sey and Plato’s allegory of the cave from his work The Republic. “The Cave” is about seeking indepen-dence and freedom and re-gaining the hope and confi-dence that was lost.

Among other tracks there are ballads like “White Blank Page”, “Win-ter Winds”, and “Roll Away Your Stone” that reveal the band’s vivacious side, with

mellifluous banjo and rip-roaring percussion.The guys of Mumfords and Sons place their heart in

the songs. their commitment to their music seems to come from pure enjoyment, not money. Their lyrics in-vite one to a warm circle of story-telling time, most of their lyrics taken from their own life and experiences as well as previously mentioned pieces of literature like Shakespeare’s.

If one might feel a fire in the belly or romance in the heart while listening, don’t freak out, indeed, it is the emotion that only Mumford & Sons can conjure up with soulful honesty.

Listen to their music and find out more at www.mum-fordandsons.com

As soon as you walk into CJ’s Bar-B-Skew you are thrown into a world of mu-sic and food where you are bound to say that you’ve never seen anything quite like it before.

The “rock star” atmosphere is pushed from the minute you order (where you receive a record as your order number), in addition, murals of recognizable musi-cians line every square inch of the walls.

The music theme came across strong as paintings of rockers such as the Beat-les, Kiss, Elvis and dozens more surround you in the restaurant.

The modern atmosphere was shown with the flat screen televisions and their vivacious menus which complemented the music theme well.

“Our specialty here is that all of our meats are smoked in Hickory Pecan wood for hours and served with our homemade Bar-B-Q sauces,” said co-owner Chris Politis.

CJ’s Bar-B-Skew, which opened this past September, is co-owned by Politis with Julian Lara.

Before my meal, Politis taught me the basics about Bar-B-Q sauces.

“The sweet sauce has a Louisiana background, the Chipotle sauce from

Texas and the mustard B-B-Q sauce from Tennessee.” said Politis.

When my food arrived from the friendly staff I was ready to dig in. The St. Louis-style ribs were the best part of my meal as I could taste quality in the meat and its prep-aration. I was not as impressed with their pulled pork which could have been easily disguised as a Sonny’s drive – thru meal.

The modern menu showcased appetiz-ers such as “Ancho Chili Deviled Eggs” and Smoked House Almonds. Options such as the Mediterranean Chicken Skewer and Greek Style Veggie Skewer are what put the Skew in Bar-B-Skew. Politis wanted to make his restaurant different than the aver-age Bar-B-Q place and he did just that with his diverse menu and musical atmosphere.

I was very impressed with the BBQ chick-en which went very well smothered in their homemade sauce. While their sides had re-ally unique names, they did not live up to the expectations.

The “Green Apple Herb Slaw” tasted the same as a KFC side dish and the “Smoked Mac Attack Oh So Gouda” was not what as good as I had hoped.

Overall, I still recommend CJ’s as a place to try.

CJ’s Bar-B-Skew is located at 10047 North Dale Mabry and its hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m.through 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

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Critics

Camila Acosta/Pony Express

Camila Acosta Entertainment

editor

Michael FarrellAd Manager