C Vampusiew

“Celebrating 50 years of Charger pride”

Topeka West High School2001 SW Fairlawn Rd.

Topeka, KS 66604

Vol. 51 Issue 4

December 2011

Imagine waking up on Christmas day, and not hav-ing any toys under the tree. Volunteer Initiative has a toy collection to give children toys, who may have not received any otherwise. Volunteer Initiative start-ed collecting toys this year after Thanksgiving. Instead of following the tradition of adopting a family for Christmas, Volunteer Initiative officers

decided to collect toys. The toys collected go to the WIBW Santa Drive, Let’s Help, Red Cross, and the Rescue Mission. They take toys for all ages, for, as Lila Bartel Volunteer Initiative sponsor, said “All ages like toys.” Switching over from adopting a family to collect-ing toys allows Volunteer Initiative to support more families.

“I think its pretty good because now instead of helping a few select people we are helping several more people,” Natasha Smith, 12, Volunteer Initiative Presi-dent said. So far the room has collected over 80 toys, with many more coming in daily. Skateboards, stuffed ani-mals, picture books, toy tool sets and random assort-ments of other toys have been given so far. They take

new to gently used toys. The goal is for the toys to reach the ceiling, so to help them achieve this goal, deliver toys to the North Alcove. They will be collect-ing toys until Winter Break begins. For those with questions on donating, they can be directed to Bartel and the Volunteer Initiative officers Natasha Smith, 12 and Josh Karimi, 11.

Season of GivingToy collection continues at WestBy DEREK ROHRER

   Today it seems as if a new electronic comes out every week. It seems as if the world forgets the small inventions we use everyday. This is just a history of some few common “Junk Drawer” items The Zipper- The inventor Mr. Whitcomb Judson was credited for the invention of the Clasp Locker (an earlier form of the modern zipper). The modern zipper came about when Gideon Sundback, a designer, poured

himself into his work after the death of his wife in 1911. The zipper is a common item we wear almost everyday. Without the invention of the zipper, everything we wore would have buttons on them. Without Mr. Whitcomb Judson or Gideon Sundback, we might be buttoning our everyday clothing and be developing arthritis. The Paper Clip- In 1899 John Vaaler was credited for the invention of the paper clip. The

need for a paper clip came about as early as the 13th century. In the 13th century they would use ribbon to tie the end of the papers together. Later the ribbon was dipped in wax, this allowed the ribbon to be reused. This wax dipped ribbon was used for roughly 600 years until the brilliant invention of the paper clip was made known. The paper clip is a device that is often taken advantage of. It is nice

Junk DrawerThe zipper, the paper clip, and lip balmBy LYDIA BENDER

Continued on page 9

Holiday SeasonBreak is near which means finals, parades and Holiday fun.

InheritanceThe last Eragon book gets reviewed.

PhotosynthesisAn overview of Jason Berrymen’s Photo Blog.Photo by Kody Wade, 12

Best v. WorstThe best and worst of 2011.

Semester RecapA photographic overview of the first semester.

ReviewsInheritance

By MICHAEL SNOWDEN     The book Inheritance, subtitled the Vault of Souls, by Christopher Paolini, is the fourth and final volume in the Inheritance cycle, preceded by Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr.     I didn’t start reading this series until the sixth grade when I happened upon a copy of Eragon in the library. I was captivated by the world that Paolini created. I am not typically a lover of fantasy, however this series intrigued me.     I read the second and third books of the series and was equally pleased with the outcome. In regards to the film adaption, I feel it is a com-plete failure and hope that no one will ever again try to produce the film.     Inheritance begins with a recap of what happened in the first three books. As a reader, do not let the poorly written first six pages of the book make you close the cover. Paolini packed over 2000 pages of information into six pages to catch the uninformed reader up to speed.     Being a long time reader of this series you become emotionally invested into what has happened in Eragon’s personal life. Paolini is a good writer be-cause he makes the reader

feel Eragon’s emotions, he makes the scenery appear in one’s mind and puts a lot of time into detailing the little things.     In the book, readers learn more about many charac-ters, chiefly among them Eragon’s cousin Roran and his wife Katrina; but also more about what happened to Murtagh. Being the last free Dragon Rider, Eragon also gets to learn more about the time before the Fall of the original Riders.     Other characters we learn more about include: Arya, Nasuada, and the con-tinuing story of the witch child Elva. New characters, such as the werecats finally reveal themselves. Readers never do learn much more about the herbalist, Angela but she does however keep popping up during interest-ing events.     In regards to supporting characters, I immediately take a dislike to Orrin, King of Surda, he has changed much since we last saw him. Orik, Eragon’s foster brother and King of the Dwarves has always been one of my favorite charac-ters and does not disap-point in this book. Queen Islanzadí becomes one of my favorite characters when she makes her appear-ances, which sadly happen

to be rare. Paolini doesn’t forget a thing, though many times I forgot certain people, such as Katrina’s father Sloan. Paolini will ad-dress what happens to him as well.     As the Varden takes their campaign towards Urû’baen, the capital city and the usurper King’s home, many different char-acters face challenges. For Roran it is his promo-tion through the ranks of the Varden, the birth of his child, and the successes he has as a commander. For Arya it is finding out her feelings for Eragon and how best to serve her people. Nasuada deals with the stresses of leadership and resisting Galbatorix, the evil ruler of the land. Young Elva deals with the pain that she has placed on others just as their pain affects her. With Orrin, it is his fear that he can’t conceal. For Eragon himself, he deals with the weight of all of their prob-lems and then his own fear of failure. Eragon becomes stronger throughout the book and I enjoyed watching him grow.     I left Saphira for last because she is the charac-ter that often times people forget. She is just as impor-tant to the book as anyone else, mainly because with-

out her we have no book. Saphira takes being the last free dragon of her race very seriously. Since the first book she has grown to have a healthly mix of caution and ferocity, becoming a more noble dragon. She is Eragon’s support system, and without her Eragon would fail to accomplish anything, a fact they both acknowledge.     Like I stated earlier many of Paolini’s readers have an emotional connection to these characters, which really is a testament to how accomplished of a writer Paolini has become. I am

not a huge supporter of some of Paolini’s plot twists or the ending he chose for the book, but I believe that it was masterfully done.     I rate this book a 4 out of 5, it has the qualities every good book should have: good character develop-ment with strong dynamic characters, it has a plot that keeps the reader interested and it was written in such a way that I couldn’t put the book down. The only way the book could have been better would be if it did not have such a depressing feel. Nevertheless, this is a must read for all those who love fantasy novels.

Caves of Steel    Many may have heard of the movie I, Robot that was based off the short story series by Isaac Asimov, but The Caves of Steel isthe first book of the real Robot series.     Asimov brings a perfect blend of science fiction and mystery through this series. First, the reader is introduced to a futuristic society thousands of years from now, where Earth’s population has surpassed 8 billion and live in giant, enclosed cities--the caves of steel.     Unfortunately, this is not quite a utopian society- the elite galactic colonists (Spacers) are years ahead of Earth technologically, while people on Earth still

reject and distrust robots.     Detective Elijah Baley from Earth has been asked to solve a most singular case--that of the murder of an important scientist (in a time where murder is unheard of)--with a robot partner: R. Daneel Olivaw.     “The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov’s 11th novel, is a prime example of virtually flawless storytelling and is even held by some to be the best novel Asimov ever wrote,” Thomas Wagner, science fiction reviewer, wrote. “The Caves of Steel goes beyond the boundaries imposed by genre convention.”     This book is not merely a fun murder mystery in an interesting setting, but also a call for humanity to

overcome its fears that keep society from progressing. Published in 1953, this was written in a time period where science-fiction writ-ers tended to edge toward the fearful theme of the Frankenstein complex. Asimov’s writing is a delightful break from those ominous conclusions.

By HELEN SHENG

Entertainment

A long time ago, in a state not so far away, Star Wars: The Old Republic (TOR) was announced. The game lets fans of Star Wars experience their own virtual trilogy. TOR is a massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) being developed by Bioware, a video game corporation famous for games such as Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, the Mass Effect series and the Dragon Age series. The game was an-nounced October 21, 2008. This is the second Star Wars MMO, preceeded by Star Wars Galaxies, which shuts down on December 15.The game is entering the MMO genre with basic talent trees, dungeons (called flash-points), and raids (called operations). The game also has warzones, PvP (Player versus Player) instances, in which two teams, 8 members each, fight each other. Bioware enters the MMO market with some innovative new ideas. Bioware has been emphasizing the fourth pillar story. They do this by having dialogue options available in short scenes, akin to their Mass Effect series. Within this, all characters are also voice acted, with this being one of the first fully voiced MMOs. The choices made allow one to guide their character along their own path, one of darkness or light. The game allows a player to choose between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. The plot has the game taking place years after a war between the two governments. Tension lies between the two, and players discover what is happening throughout the galaxy. There are currently 17 planets confirmed, including ones from the movies such as Tatooine, Hoth, and Coruscant, which is the Republic’s capital. They also have new planets, such as Voss, a planet in which two species vie for dominance, and Dromund Kaas, the dark capital of the Empire. Members of each side can choose between four classes, each with two advanced classes. Each class also has a mirror on the opposite side. On the Republic, classes include the Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Smuggler, and the Republic Trooper. Members of the Empire are the Sith Warrior, Sith Inquisitor, Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter. TOR is shipping with some game mechanics that are newer to MMOs. There is a companion system, in which players gather NPC (Non Playable Characters) to join them on their adventures. Companions also work into the crafting component of the game, which supports the games virtual economy. Players also get their own ships, of which they use to travel between planets, and in space combat, which is on rails, not too different from old Star Fox 64. Some of the ships will look familiar to Star Wars fans, with the Smuggler’s having inspiration from the Millennium Falcon. There is also a legacy system, which has been talked about little, but links each character on an account together with a legacy name. TOR is entering a competitive market, in which many game companies fail to achieve success. This is because of the major contender, World of Warcraft, which has been around since 2004. The game has garnered over 12 million players at its peak, but recently has been losing them. To prepare for the release of the game, Bioware has had a closed beta for several months. A more open beta has happened since September, on a few weekends. On the weekend after Thanksgiving, they sent out beta keys to many web sites, and allowed anyone previously signed up to play the game. EA reported over 2 million people were signed up for beta. For those interested in SW: TOR, their website is www.swtor.com, and you can check it out in stores December 20.

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Gaming News Past MMO Milestones

RIFT: March 2011 - Exceptional Class System

World of Warcraft: November 2004 Largest playerbase of any MMORPG

Star Wars Galaxies: June 2003Known for sandbox features

Everquest: March 1999 One of the earliest major MMOs

MUD1: 1978The earliest form of an MMO

By DEREK ROHRER & TREY DARR

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Sky.....................................................Spencer RaymondNathan.....................................................Austen HanleyAdelaide........................................................Sarah PressSarah..............................................................Jill SiebertNicely Nicely..........................................Noah LindquistBenny.........................................................Joe SimmonsArvide......................................................Carlos SerronoLt. Brannigan..........................................Spencer GustinGeneral Cartright.......................................Bailey CarterBig Jule........................................................Paul OwensRusty Charlie...........................................Lucero PadillaHarry the Horse.............................................Eric PasleyCarmen.....................................................Krista PojmanMimi.....................................................Taryn WilkersonAgatha.................................................Maribeth EmmertMartha...........................................Mary Grace DunsheeCalvin......................................................Onree SpencerLiverlips Louie..........................................Byron AshleyDamon....................................................Wesley LowreySociety Max..............................................Jake S. GreggAngie the Ox................................Jacob Edelman-DolanThe Greek.............................................Adam KinsingerScranton Slim............................................Tyler QuintinB. Bates...........................................................Isaac HanHot Box....................................................Alayne WeberHot Box..................................................Danika GirdnerHot Box..................................................Lauren RobertsHot Box................................................Donicia VasquezHot Box...............................................Samantha ConleyHot Box................................................Yubani MendozaEnsemble...............................................Cadence WalkerEnsemble...................................................Alexa BowenEnsemble.............................................Damaiya ColstonEnsemble...............................................Raeley RobledoEnsemble........................................Alexandria WilliamsEnsemble...................................................Sara Armfield

Guys and Dolls Cast List

As eager as students are for winter break, many don’t have plans. A little relaxation time after finals is the best gift schools give, not that education isn’t important. To be honest though, one can only beat Skyrim so many times and kill just so many Nazi zombies before they need something to do. Times are tough, but not everything is costly. The Capitol building still has historic tours from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday for FREE. The light show at the lake, Winter Wonderland, is still kickin’ til the 31st of Decem-ber from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. It may be $8 per vehicle, but it’s just another reason to rent a limo and paint the town red and green. The show starts at 3435 SW East Edge Rd. at Lake Shaw-nee. Trees and Trimmings is a craft show of sorts. It is a holiday exhibition offering

Photo by Michael Snowden

    It’s that time of year. Time for mittens, snowball fights, and finals. Finals are a stressful part of every school year, but the Boomerang Mentors helped the freshmen prepare for them.     Since the Mentor program was implemented at West, the Mentors have been helping the freshmen prepare with hot cocoa, cookies and studying during the event, Cocoa and Cram.          “This is the sixth consecutive year for the event,” Amy Esquibel, social worker and co-director of the Mentor program, said. “I think it is important that students get a chance to be prepared for their first experience of high school finals.”     The afternoon started out with the freshmen meeting in the cafeteria for the cookies and cocoa while the Mentors provided entertainment by dancing and dressing as elves. The freshmen participated in activities similar to the ones found on the show

“Minute to Win it” to earn study tips for finals.     “I think it is a fun activity,” Tracy Schnacker, English teacher, said. “I think anything that combines fun and academics is a good idea.”     After the fun in the cafeteria, it was time to hit the books. At a previous time, the students decided which classes they needed the most help in, and signed up for help in those classes. The students headed to the room where their first subject was, and began to study. With the help of the Mentors and their teachers, they had forty minutes to ask questions about finals and work on assignments for that class.     “As a teacher, I participated because the tension [freshmen] feel is quelled,” Christine Sturges, co-director of the Mentor program and history teacher, said. “We help set them up for success.”     After the first session is completed, they headed to the room that their second session was

located. After forty minutes in that room, they were released to go home with eighty minutes of review under their belts and hopefully, a sense of readiness for their finals.     “I teach predomi-nantly freshmen classes and I think [Cocoa and Cram] is a great opportu-nity for students to spend time to study for their finals outside of class,” Lori Booher, his-tory teacher, said.

Cocoa and CramWintertime

“smaller, gift-sized original art [pieces].” Paintings, drawings, original prints, photography, mixed media, ceramics, glass, jewelry and much more are available. It takes place at the Collec-tive Art Gallery at 3121 SW Huntoon, near Huntoon and Oakley. It is open all through December and is from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. First Friday Art-WalkGallery Hours: Noon - 5 p.m. Wednesday - Friday; 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturday. To fill in the hearts of those who would much prefer a concert over an or-nament, there is always the Kansas Christmas Chorale. It is on December 22 at 7 p.m. at TPAC and is free with the donation of one canned food item! There, now there is no reason to beat Skyrim more than once this Winter break. At least you have a reason to get out and have a bit of fun with the family or someone special.

Winter ActivitiesBy MITCH MONTAGUECheap things to do over break

By JAMIE LADNER

Walking through the halls of “A” building you will pass room A103 where you would find the special education program led by Julee Smail. The program currently has eleven students with six staff members. Smail has been working here with students since 1988. The special education started a holiday program in 2005, which students would sing for an audience. This year marks the second year that they have changed their program to a “sing-a-long”. All audience members are en-couraged to sing along with the students. Last year also brought a joint production with both the special education members and the West Singers, which was continued this year. “The Singers came in last year, it’s a wonderful thing,” Julee Smail, special education teacher, said. ”Mrs. [Tina] Goodrich has been opening doors for

these guys. She’s been wonderful.” Some of the students in the special education program also sing in one of Goodrich’s choirs. Ray Jefferson, a special education teacher of nearly 30 years, helps out during both concert choir and Charger choir. “When I went to school here we [Players] did a play with Julee’s kids teaching them acting,” Tina Goodrich, choir director, said. “And when I think back on my memories at West that is one that immediately

pops into my head, and I am glad my students get to experience it with them through singing. “ This year the sing-a-long on December 9, not only filled the auditorium with the voices of the special education students and the Singers, but also with the alumni of the special education program. Smail said that about 30 alumni of the program came back to sing. After the program the entire group went to A103 for cookies, rice crispy treats, brownies and punch.

Sing-A-LongBy MICHAEL SNOWDEN

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On the chilly evening of Saturday the 26th of November, the downtown area of Topeka was unusually loud. The annual Miracle On Kansas Avenue Parade took place at 6 p.m. following the lighting of the Community Christmas Tree taken from Burnett’s Mound earlier in the month. 20,000 people lined the streets of the downtown route. More than 250 different floats weaved the streets. Children flocked to the candy handed out by many of the floats and parents became fancifully giddy as the Frito-Lay truck approached. Radio vans blasted rock music and the

hot air balloons heated the streets with their balloonless firebaskets of warmth. Many vintage vehicles showed off the past in a fantastic new light. Not only were many of the vintage vehicles typical “classic cars” restored, but there were also some vintage surplus. World War II-style Jeeps with drivers in uniform and massive army transport vehicles paraded through the procession with pride. Though they were massive and almost scary because they are vehicles built for war, the inflatable helicopter with Santa inside on top of them, it does take away quite a bit of the fear. The parade also features

classic horse-drawn carriages drenched in Christmas lights as well as a Star Wars themed group walking ahead of them. Nativity scenes being pulled behind trucks, Shriners shrining as well as one playing merry music on a small organ float. As a first-year attendee going with a family who had gone for as long as any of them can remember, it was a magical night. The parade is correctly named a Miracle on Kansas Avenue, not because of an averted crisis, but simply that we can get together as a community, as Topekans, and share in the magic of the season and holidays as a group.

WintertimeMiracle on Kansas AvenueParade By MITCH MONTAGUE

Snowball

Photo By Mitch Montague

The 50th Snowball was held on Saturday, December 10. The King candidates were Benjamin Talley, Douglas Turner, and Barrett Perry. Queen candidates were Me-lissa Clark, Kelsey Haflich, and Alyssa Bautista. Congratulations to Benja-min Talley and Alyssa Bau-tista the 50th King and Queen

where announced at 10:00 pm at the dance. “It made me feel known around Topeka West, it made me more attached to the school and gave me another memory,” Talley, Snowball King said. “I was so happy and ex-cited when I found out,” Bau-tista, Snowball Queen said.

Candidates during the assembly.

Candidates directly after the second assembly.

Snowball King and Queen

Snowball Photos by Savannah Hays

Feature

There are many good photographers at West. This is proven by the photo blog of Jason Berryman, our resident Photo One and Ad-vanced Photo teacher, there is a lot more talent around the school than even the teachers can see. In Advanced Photogra-phy students have a “cri-tique” in which, four times a semester, the class gathers around the whiteboard and give helpful criticism to other students

By MITCH MONTAGUE in the class who show their best photos from the last few weeks of work. Berry-man himself finds works from each critique that he feels best exemplifies the work of his classes. These images are then digitized and uploaded to the Photosynthesis Blog. The blog is read by student and staff alike. At this moment a poll on the website shows 28.99% of readers are Photo One students, 40% are in Advanced Photo, 18.84% are Faculty, and 12.17%

aren’t affiliated with the school. Students that get their images put on the blog also get their photos attached to the “Photosynthesis Board” which is right outside of Berryman’s room, C307. Not only does the Photosynthesis Blog show off student work, but also work by other photogra-phers and artists who are using new and innovative techniques that students can learn from and use. Apps for phones such as

Instagram and Internet applications like Pixlr which edit photos with filters and offer a suite of Photoshop-esque innovations respec-tively. The blog is accessible anywhere with Internet. Even the school unblocked the blog, though it is at a Blogspot. The URL is http://twestphotosynthesis.blogspot.com/

The end of first semester concludes another successful season of policy debate here. This year’s topic was: Resolved: the United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere. “I can honestly say that this season went better than I expected,” Matt Baer, debate coach, said. “We lost some seniors last year, but we do have lots of strong leadership and promising new talent. We managed to go out and place or win something pretty much every weekend.” This topic allowed for a wide range of affirmative cases from the realistic, like space based solar power and the removal of space debris, to the sci-fi, like Rods of God or space elevators. “We got to do a lot of interesting reading that wasn’t re-ally dry,” Baer said. “We debated about things like talking to aliens, weaponizing space, and colonization.” One new change on the debate circuit this year is allowing the use of laptops in round. Many teams in the

area began reading evidence from their laptops, though they are still required to have some method to allow their opponents to view the evidence too. This decreased the amount of paper used, though many teams still prefer paper evidence. “We used so much paper in debate, it’s ridiculous,” Jacob Edelman-Dolan, 9 said. “But it’s rewarding in the end. The trees are happy to give their lives for this cause.” Throughout the season, the debate squad attended a total of 10 tournaments (not including after school). The last tournaments of the season took place at Lawrence and Hayden, but debate is not yet over for those going into post-season, which includes National Forensics League qualifiers and two-speaker and four-speaker state. “The year’s been great for debate, we’ve seen a lot of really good up-and-comers,” Josh Karimi, 11, said. “Going into post season I can see nothing but a Topeka West bal-lot.” Next year’s topic will be either a resolution regarding immigration or a resolution regarding infrastructure.

Debate Comes to an End By HELEN SHENG

Photo By Mitch Montague

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Senior ProfileColin NeukirchBy KELLI YOUNG

Colin Montgomery Neukirch is a seemingly typical senior at Topeka West High School with an awesome name. You may know him from various activities around campus. The more you think about it, the more you may real-ize, you know him from a lot of activities around campus. When it comes to Colin, there is much more to him than initially meets the eye. Even before the first day of school, at Fresh-men Orientation, Colin can already be found along with all the other Boomerang Mentors, goofing around and mak-ing all the freshmen feel welcome. “It’s one of my favorite programs on campus,” Neukirch said. He has been a mentor since his Sophomore year, and this year he serves as one of the eight “Bods” (Board of Directors), training new mentors and taking on extra responsi-bilities for the program. Neukirch also has been serving on the Student Council for 3 years. His sophomore year he was the Secretary-Treasurer for the class of 2012, and the Executive Treasurer his senior year. “I love contributing to help out our school, and it’s fun,” Neukirch said. Neukirch also has a

new found passion for singing. He joined concert choir his senior year, and is already hooked. “I love singing! It’s so much fun,” Neukirch said. A not-so-new passion of Neukirch’s would be his theater work. Neu-kirch has been incredibly involved with the Topeka West Theater since he was a freshman. Tracing all the way back to Jekyll and Hyde, the musical performed in 2009, he has been on the sound and lights crews. He has been designing the sound for the plays and musicals since Hairspray in 2011, and building the sets in stagecraft class since Oklahoma! in 2010. That means that he has designed sound for 4 productions, built sets for 6 shows, and been on crews for 9 performances For those of you who don’t entirely understand how much work that is, Neukirch estimates that he has invested more than 600 hours into To-peka West Theater, with many more to come for his remaining shows. All of this theater work doesn’t even include the work he does for Players, the acting troupe on campus, as one of the two “techies.” Colin has been a part of Players’ technical crew for 3 years. Being in Players’ tech in-

cludes responsibilities like designing set for POPS Concert, One-Acts, the Children’s show and Play-ers’ show. He also runs lights or sound for the Players’ productions, as well as building the Play-ers’ homecoming float, and essentially doing the work of all the backstage crews combined. Knowing all that Neu-kirch does for the theater program at West, it makes sense that he intends to pursue it in college. He is undecided as to where he wants to go, though he is looking into many in-state schools. He hopes to teach theater one day,

focusing on theater tech. But Neukirch’s inter-ests don’t end with his extra-curricular extended school day. Outside of West, Neukirch has been a competitive gamer since he was 13 years old. He has attended two national tournaments, as a coach. He coached the team “Outta Controller” in the Major League Gam-ing Dallas competition, in ‘09 and ‘10. They ranked in the top 100 teams in the nation for 2009 and in the top 180 for 2010. He used to be a player on the team “Pallet Town Heroes.” He also enjoys casual gaming in his free

time. Neukirch is a perfect example of what makes West the best. Neukirch is also one of the most spir-ited people in the school. “I have a bunch of school spirit, I go all out on the spirit days,” Neu-kirch said. He can often be found cheering on his team in the Dub Zone with his fel-low Chargers. All in all, Colin Neukirch is a pretty amazing guy. He is a great friend, has a fantastic sense of humor and contributes count-less hours to bettering his school. Also, he’s got fantastic hair.

to have something that keeps our messy piles a little more organized. It came before the staple or binder clips, nothing would become of paper organization if paper clips would have never been invented. Not ev-eryone can be a boy scout, tying knots in ribbons might be a struggle for some. The paper clip is a practical useful invention. It should be looked upon with gratitude. Lip balm- Dr. C. D. Fleet, a physician from Lynchburg Virginia came up

with the idea of lip balm in the early 1800’s. He sold his invention to John Morton in 1912 for five dollars. John Morton gave this recipe to Mrs. Morton. She made the pink lip balm (now called Chapstick) in her kitchen. They sold it and expanded it into a business. Chapstick soothes your aching, dry, burn-ing lips. Lip balm is ice cream for our lips. If Chapstick would not have been invented in a kitchen one day, lips might have never felt the relief they deserve to feel.

Opinions

Each and every person in the United States is required to stay in school until the age of 16, so why don’t we make the best of these years. It is proven that those who are involved will succeed more in school, but what students should also do, is to be supportive of the extracurricular events at this school. Truthfully, the spirit at Topeka West isn’t at its greatest. School spirit is contagious to people in a school, while a lack of spirit can be just as bad. That is what we are experiencing this school year. Going to the football games this year was a blast, but if we want to show oth-er schools that we have a great team, it means spend-ing time in the Dub Zone, and supporting the bas-ketball teams. Our teams appreciate when we cheer them on, and show that we value what they do for our school. On Tuesday nights, make time to spend watch-ing our basketball teams; on Friday nights, make a few hours to spend with the students of Topeka West and support our basketball teams. These two days of the week show how much you support the people of Topeka West. Also, to show your support, wear your spirit gear. Instead of a few look-ing lame wearing their spirit clothing, every person who doesn’t wear their spirit wear will look lame. Wouldn’t that be an awe-some sight for people who aren’t familiar with our school to see that we are a unified front? I am issuing a challenge to each and every student here at Topeka West; before making snap judgments about what be-ing in the Dub Zone means, to come out and see what it means to support your peers on the basketball court, and our school will be the best it can be. Be the change that you want to see here at Topeka West!

Austin Krug

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Rebecca Black’s “Friday”

Released on March 14, “Friday” got a lot of attention very quickly. “Is this a typo?” You may ask. “Shouldn’t this be on the worst list?” And the answer is no. This was completely intentional. I, for one, love the song, but I am not alone. Entertainment Weekly explained that there is “something sickeningly catchy about this tune that keeps you coming back for more.”It’s absolutely true. The song will pop into your head at any time and get stuck there, and you can’t help but sing and dance to it. Even renowned singer and woman-beater Chris Brown is a fan of the song: “Honest opinion? It was great. I’ll be jammin’ to it on Friday, Friday.”

11:11 11/11/11

Once every hundred years, an amazing numerological oddity occurs. With the number one lined up across the calendar, this only happens once a century, and therefore, only once in most of our lifetimes. 11:11 is a popular time in an ordinary day, believed to be a magical time to make a wish, so with the added power of 11/11/11, it’s the best time in the century to make a wish. Many people sat in their fourth hours at Topeka West high school anxiously awaiting 11:11 am, the first time in one hundred years a wish so magical and fantacular could be made. Or, if you aren’t into that kind of thing, it’s pretty cool at least.

The Rapture

Harold Camping predicted that the Rapture and Judgment Day would happen on May 21st of 2011, at precisely 6 pm local time. Despite the vast majority of the public doubting the prediction, the date and time received a lot of attention. At 6 pm, hundreds of people stood around awaiting the rapture that wouldn’t come. Skeptics would attribute the lack of mass chaos and missing people to the fact that Camping had already wrongly predicted the Rapture’s coming in September of 1994. What truly happened though, is much more amazing. Mark Young, a 2011 graduate of Topeka West high school, took a break from his game of Ultimate Frisbee to invest all of his will and brain power to stop the Rapture and save the world.

Topeka West’s 50th Anniversary

Having opened in 1961, our very own school celebrated it’s 50th birthday this year. All of the events and festivities of the 50th homecoming will be unforgettable. It gave all of the students and staff an excellent opportunity to review the rich history and alumni we have here at our school. 2011 marks a milestone in our history, filled the school with pride and shows how West is Best.

Super Computer Scare

IBM’s Artificial Intelligence supercomputer, Watson, competed against two humans on the popular game show Jeopardy in February of 2011. It seems like a no-brainer, of course a computer would beat humans at a trivia game. The interesting thing, however, is that Wat-son was not connected to the Internet and was com-peting against two of the shows best contestants ever, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson was unable to answer questions unless it was sure of its answer, and took longer to process short clues do to the shortage of keywords to search for, leaving it at a disadvantage to the human players. The computer’s faster buzzer time and immunity to human psychological tactics gave him an advantage, however, sort of leveling the play-ing field. Watson beat both of the human competitors in a two-game match, over the span of three days. The implications of this Artificial Intelligence advancement is amazing, and terrifying. Robots and computers are getting that much closer to being able to overthrow the humans. First Jeopardy, then the world.

Loss Of Late-Start

As hundreds of upperclassmen returned to Topeka West in August, eager for a new school year, they were met with discouraging and heart breaking news. Late-Start, a beloved extra half hour of sleep associated with every Thursday, was no longer a weekly gift. Instead, late-start would only be happening on the first Thurs-day of every month. Every other Thursday would have that half hour spent in Socratic Dialectic in Charger Time. The new freshman will never be able to know the glory of the weekly late-start. The upperclassmen will cherish the single late-start they get every month, while all the while remembering the most terrible tragedy to hit Topeka West in 2011.

Ending of Harry Potter

Ever since the release of the first Harry Potter book in June of 1997, the memorable characters and unique world has had a place in all of our hearts. In November of 2001, the magic came to life with the release of the first movie. Since then, countless fans have followed Harry and his friends through his effort to save the wiz-arding world from dark magic. On July 15, of 2011, the amazing legacy that has been around for most of our lifetimes, came to a close with the release of the 8th and final movie. Post-Potter is a dark time, with only one light offering hope. JK Rowling’s release of “Potter-more,” a website offering additional content left out of the books, and a permanent online home for the world of Harry Potter and all of it’s fans.

Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

On March 11, an earthquake off the pacific coast of Tohoku shook Japan to its core. With a magnitude of 9.0, it was the most powerful earthquake ever to hit Japan. The earthquake resulted in a tsunami with waves as high as 40.5 meters. Between the two disas-ters, more than 15 thousand people were killed, and over 125,000 building were damaged or destroyed. As if the natural disasters were not enough, damage to 4 nuclear power plants sent the country into further panic. The estimated cost of rebuilding after the disas-ters was around ¥10 trillion ($122 billion). Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, “In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan.”

BEST WORSTandLetter to the editors

Photo By Kelli Young

By KELLI YOUNG

11Semester Recap

Editorial Policy

Campus View is an ac-cessible public forum for the publication readers. Editorials represent the collective opinion of the publication staff. Other opinions expressed in any Topeka West stu-dent publication are not necessarily those of the Campus View staff, the student body, faculty, administration or school district. Signed columns and letters to the editor represent the view and opinions of the writer only. The publications are subject to state and fed-eral laws, and the content reflects student thinking and is not necessarily in agreement with adminis-trative policies. The Campus View newspaper will act as an open forum for public dis-cussions and field letters for all of the journalism publications. A forum, by

definition, is “a market-place of ideas”, or “a public meeting place for open discussion.” Letters will be edited for content and length as well as spelling, grammar and other considerations. Let-ters will also be edited if the letter is in poor taste, and letters will be edited to fit space requirements. Letters that are libelous, obscene, or are an inva-sion of privacy will not be printed in the paper. All letters must be signed and verified before pub-lication. The number of letters included will de-pend on page space that is available. The Campus View will not directly answer letters, unless a question is posed. The opinion pages are a forum for the exchange of comment and criti-cism, and they are open to students and others interested in Topeka West High School. All letters to the editor must include

the writer’s name, signa-ture and class position or role in the community. Typed, double-spaces let-ters are preferred, but leg-ible, hand-written letters are acceptable. Emailed letters to the editor WILL NOT be accepted (since no signature will be in-cluded.) Letters should be limited to approximately 300 words, or about one-and-a-half double-spaced, typewritten pages. Poetry is not accepted for publication. Some information used has been provided by MCT Campus.

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