The

HI-LINETiger

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 Volume 56 Edition 11

MASON CITY MUSCLESenior faces up to his second kickboxing challenge/Pages 14

Follow us on Twitter at tigerhiline,Facebook at Hiline and on our websiteat www.hiline.cfschools.org

ALAMBy Editor-in-Chief Zuhayr

Two prominent CFHS teacher are making speedy recoveries over the past few weeks due to recent bouts with cancer: math teacher Rich Strike for prostate cancer and English teacher Scott Lawrence Richards for kidney cancer.

Lawrence-Richards underwent surgery on a kidney that began having issues, so naturally, he went in to get it fixed. However, during the surgery, the doctors noticed something else that should not be there.

“My kidney problem began over a year ago. I had been tested, scanned and had two biopsies done prior to my surgery,” Law-rence-Richards said. “It was during surgery that the doctors discov-ered the cancer.”

What was supposed to be a standard three-hour surgery turned into a strenuous six-hour procedure, but even though the scars have left him feeling like a survivor of an alien attack, he’s al-ready back in class as of Wednes-day, Dec. 9.

“It would be a cliche to say the robotic machine used in surgery looked like a spider, except that it did look like a spider. I have eight small incisions left in my abdomen, which are healing well, but it looks like I took shrapnel,” Lawrence-Richards said. “When the doctors discovered the cancer as a result of

a biopsy done while I was still on the table, the protocol called for removal of the kidney.”

Senior Meghan Hackett, a student of Lawrence-Richards said she was shocked when she learned that the upbeat teacher would be undergoing a proce-dure.

“I was really surprised because Mr. Lawrence-Richards had been acting as if nothing was wrong all year.”

Now, of course, Lawrence-Richard is happy to be back.

“I missed my classes most. I didn’t miss the meetings or the grading or the record keeping or the million daily emails, but I did miss being in front of my classes,” Lawrence-Richards said. “At the start of the semester, my students and I made a contract that said we’re going to be on the same ship this term. When I failed to be

aboard for 12 days, I couldn’t help but feel I’d somehow let them down.”

Hackett is ecstatic to have Lawrence-Richards back in class.

“He provides a unique dynam-ic that I have never experienced with any other teacher,” Hackett said. “Not only do we learn a ton, but we have a great time doing so.”

In addition to Lawrence-Richards, Strike is also missing an extended period of time due to cancer recovery.

The military man and beloved teacher was officially diagnosed with prostate cancer just before school started in August.

“My initial reaction was one of shock,” Strike said. “But once that was over, my reaction transitioned to a ‘So, what’s next?’”

Luckily for Strike, the cancer was found in Stage 1, so the doc-

By the end of this month, if conservative estimates hold up, the United States will have a grand total of 353 mass shoot-ings that have occured in 2015.

This disturbing trend has unfortunately increased last Wednesday in San Bernardino, Calif., when a married couple walked into the Inland Regional Center and opened fire. The shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, ended up killing 14 people and injuring 21 others.

This is now the deadliest at-tack in the United States since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2013.

About a week prior, another shooting spree occurred inside a Planned Parenthood clinic at Colorado Springs, Colo. The shooter, Robert Lewis, Dear, Jr., committed the massacre in order to spread protest against the Planned Parenthood move-ment. He killed three people in-

tors knew exactly what they were dealing with and what the conse-quences would be.

“According to the surgeon, the procedure was uneventful,” Strike said. “I assumed that meant it went well.”

Senior Nathan Tesfa was sur-prised to hear of Strike’s cancer.

“I was dumbfounded,” Tesfa said. “He said it so matter-of-factly that it took a couple of seconds to comprehend what he had said.”

Before Strike left, Tesfa and many other staff and students showed him support because they were aware ahead of time of his struggle. This included T-shirts, wrist bands and fund raisers for a charity of Strike’s choice.

“It was an exceptional effort made by our classmates. I felt like there was something we should do, and I’m sure everyone else did to, so kudos to the people

who came up with the idea,” Tesfa said. “It was a great show of support and everyone could participate.”

Strike is grateful for all of the support.

“This has been a long journey with many emotions. However, it has given me the chance to see firsthand how caring and thought-ful the CFHS family truly is,” Strike said. “That is something that my family and I will never forget.”

Lawrence-Richards shares Strike’s sentiment.

“I am grateful for the support and prayers of the faculty and my students. Everyone has been gracious and kind and loving in a way that is comforting and restor-ative,” Lawrence-Richards said. “I am fortunate to be a part of our school family.”

Teachers making speedy recoveries from recent cancer surgeries

side the clinic along with injuring another nine.

With some type of shooting occurring in our country nearly every day, the attention on the topic has reached an all-time high. Everybody around the country seems to have some-thing to say about the epidemic, especially significant political figures.

On the day of the shooting, Sen. Bernie Sanders sent out a tweet regarding his feelings on the San Bernardino tragedy. “Mass shootings are becoming an almost-everyday occurrence in this country,” he said. “This sickening and senseless gun vio-lence must stop.”

No one can ever argue with Sanders claim that all of the mass shooting happening in America needs to stop, but the bigger question asks how ex-actly it needs to stop.

Since shootings have oc-curred so often, the argument over gun restriction frequently breaks out, with each side argu-ing which action will benefit the most.

The ongoing debates over gun laws between politicians reflects the viewpoints of several CFHS staff and students as well.

Senior Seth Harwood is one student who said he believes that there should be a tougher regulation on obtaining a gun.

Staff, students react to mass shootings

SHOOTING REACTIONContinued on Page 2

math teacher Rich Strike

“It seems silly for people to get their hands on large arsenals that are only intended to kill other people,” Harwood said. “It’s so unregulated now, and regulation is nice. It keeps bad things from happening.”

ALPHA teacher Mike Kan-gas, on the contrary, said that if gun laws are not followed, they shouldn’t change. “The fact that most of these gunmen didn’t follow any gun laws in the first place, all you’re doing is taking guns away from people that are willing to follow the law,” he said. “The people that don’t want to follow the law aren’t go-ing to follow it anyways, so a law isn’t going to change that.”

Junior Albie Nicol said that in regards to the San Bernardino shooting, the resolution to the problem may be much more ambiguous than just restricting gun laws. “[The shooters] went through all the checks. They checked out with their guns, so

English teacher Scott Lawrence-Richards

activity secretaryJane Carter

In a trifecta of tenacious recoveries from CFHS staff, activity secretary Jane Carter, aka One Tough Jane, also reported for duty on Monday, Dec. 7 after recov-ery from her recent stroke.

I’m not even sure if that would help in this case,” Nicol said. “I do believe there are crimi-nals out there that get guns il-legally, and that’s not great, so we should probably have stricter gun laws.”

Although very few people in the building would know the re-sponsibility of having a gun and the procedure to obtain one, school liaison officer Mike Leary frequently carries a gun by his side during the school day. For his professional job, Leary need-ed to pass several qualification courses and classes in order to obtain his gun, which he has car-ried for five years.

“Understandably, since fire-arms can be dangerous and le-thal, it would be in all users’ best interest to go through training in firearms,” Leary said. “I think it is always helpful for people to

“The people that don’t want to follow the law aren’t going to follow it anyways, so a law isn’t going to change that.”

—ALPHA teacher Tim Kangas

HAIDERBy Staff Writer Amna

By Staff Writer Emma

Senior Paige Canfield has always liked the idea of becom-ing a teacher.

“I was really interested in teaching, and I wanted to know if it would be something I actu-ally wanted to do,” she said.

After talking to a couple of people, she was recommended the cadet teaching class offered here at the high school.

Cadet teaching is a class in which students get assigned to a classroom at either the el-ementary or junior high schools, and they get to spend the se-mester learning and observing what it is like to be a teacher as well as aiding the teachers with daily tasks.

“It’s a hand’s on experience that can help you see if teach-ing is something you would like to pursue in the future,” Can-field said.

Though she was eager to explore teaching, it wasn’t easy at for her when the moment came to step into a classroom.

“I think going into it, I was super nervous about interacting with children in a position of a teacher, but after the first day, it became a lot easier to talk to the kids,” she said.

Canfield began by helping the teacher with small tasks like sorting papers, paper clipping or stapling. As she got accus-tomed to the environment, she started helping out with ques-tions, activities and grading

papers. “Sometimes there are

games involved out in the hall-way. The kids really love getting time out of the classroom, and the teacher appreciates getting some of the kids who either need extra help the help they need, or kids who are already excelling in a subject some time doing something more interest-ing,” Canfield said.

As the semester went on, she became more involved. “Right now, we have been working on mastering their ba-sic facts in the hallway, so they have been taking timed tests with me lately. Another thing we have to do is plan and pres-ent a lesson in front of the class, so actually teaching the kids something,” she said.

Although she has had many happy moments during her time in this program, the one that stands out to her is less happy. There was an assem-bly being held in the memory of the music teacher at Cedar Heights who had passed away the summer before. “After the assembly, there were obviously some tears, but I was surprised by the newer student who had never had this teacher. He came up to me and started talking about how he never really knew the teacher, and I could tell he was starting to get choked up, so I put my arm around him and he just broke into tears.

He remembered when his dog died and that made him really sad, so I had him tell me about his dog, and after a while he stopped crying. It is just nice to know that you can at least comfort one kid in their time of need. I just remember that mo-ment so well because I was so unprepared with dealing with this situation, but when the time came, it all just fell into pieces, and I just treated him the way I would have wanted to be treat-ed,” she said.

Cadet teaching has helped Canfield better understand her future career choice and has given her another reason to pursue teaching.

“I think it impacts me by actually getting to interact with the kids and see all their dif-ferent personalities. Kids are actually quite funny and think they can get away with a lot of things. You also get to see a lot of the behind the scenes things that were always just there for you as a child being done by the teacher. I am always super excited to go and help. These kids always brighten my day, and I absolutely enjoy hear-ing the things these kids say. I hadn’t always wanted to be a teacher, but this program has helped me see that it is some-thing I would love to do,” Can-field said.

Friday, Nov. 20, 2015 HI-LINETiger

The

NEWS2Senior learns teaching first hand

GERDES

Imagine the smile on a little girl’s face when the strange stares finally stop. Finally setting an alarm a half hour earlier to get ready for school. Finally feeling somewhat normal again, having hair again after go-ing through the treatment of chemo and becoming a bald teenage girl.

Seniors Emily Braun and Ellie Burken have recently donated their hair to the Locks of Love foundation where they send their hair to make wigs for mainly can-cer patients and people suf-fering from alopecia, which also causes loss of hair.

Over Thanksgiving break, Braun went to Cost Cut-ters, where they chopped 10 inches from her hair. “I wanted to give it to people who needed it more than I did,” Braun said.

This is not her first time donating her hair for a good

cause. She donated her hair two other times as well, once in the fourth grade, and another as a sopho-more.

In fourth grade, Braun donated 18 inches of her hair. She donated enough hair for a whole wig. Braun’s hair made a wig for a 13-year-old cancer survi-vor, and Braun had the op-portunity to meet the new owner of her hair. She was able to witness the smile on the girl’s face, putting the wig on for the first time. The family asked to meet Braun because they were so thank-ful for her donation to their daughter.

“This is why I keep do-nating it,” Braun said. “It was such an awesome expe-rience.”

Burken donated her hair a few weeks ago. “I thought about it for about 13 hours, and then I did it,” Burken

said. She donated 11 inches of her hair. She had been growing out her hair since 9th grade before she finally decided to chop it short.

Burken got her hair cut at a new hair salon called Posh. “My friend Erin Hen-drickson inspired me to do-nate my hair. I just called Posh and asked if they do-nated,” Burken said.

She said she loves the length of her new hair short hair. It gives her more of a style and is a lot easier. “I would definitely do it again,” Burken said.

Art teacher Emily Lu-ensman has donated her hair on multiple occasions as well. “I think it’s a good cause, and it’s something to do with the hair I would just have thrown away. It’s a good way of recycling,” Lu-ensman said.

Like Braun, Luensman goes to Cost Cutters to do-

nate her hair. Cost Cutters throws in a free haircut for her when she donates. Her latest donation was 10 inch-es. “It’s a big commitment giving that much hair, but if you’re going to do it, it’s a good cause,” Luensman said.

Locks of Love is only one of the many foundations that accepts donated hair. The restrictions for donating may vary from organization to organization, but normal-ly they ask for 8-10 inches of hair. They prefer the hair isn’t damaged or dyed, al-though most will take any hair donated.

“It’s fun to surprise peo-ple,” Burken said, and it will put a smile on a little girl’s face.

Senior Paige Canfield has enjoyed exploring a career though the cadet teaching program this fall.

Amna Haider Photo

Locks of Love: CF students, staff donate to program

STORTZBy News Editor Sarah

have an understanding of how something works prior to using it.”

Having a position in the jus-tice system, Leary said he thinks that the outbreak of mass shoot-ing are happening because of how our society currently oper-ates. He suggests that more at-tention should be given to the correlation system and our so-ciety should learn more about addressing mental health con-cerns.

“If the goal of the correc-tional system is to reduce crime, then it has to have an overall dif-ferent look of something other than incarceration. While that is a popular method of crime prevention, it is not a complete fix to the problem,” Leary said “Mass shootings or incidence of mass violence will not be pre-vented until there is a different outlook within our society.”

SHOOTING REACTIONFrom Page 1

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015HI-LINETiger

The

FEATURES3

HEIMBUCKBy Staff Writer Aaron

As one reads articles from the Tiger Hi-Line or watches videos from broadcast, one may notice that many of these students have a real talent for journalism, but, sadly, many of these students don’t plan to continue journalistic storytell-ing as they move forward in life.

Former broadcast student Jackson Skiles is an exception. Skiles has channeled his pas-sion for entertaining through the skills he has learned from broadcast journalism. He said he hopes to continue develop-ing these skills and use them to make a difference. Skiles still isn’t sure what he wants to do career wise yet, but with his combination of passion, cre-ativity and hard work, he may be making waves sooner than one may think.

For him, the first steps to-ward reaching his goal have not been a straight line. First, he wrestled with what he want-ed out of a career. Money, hap-piness, family and much more went into his decision making process. He has found a major that currently fits but has kept his mind open to several possi-ble careers. His main objective right now is to do something that makes him happy.

On Nov. 20, he made the official switch to majoring in journalism and mass communi-cation at the University of Iowa.

“I plan to study the basics of journalism: storytelling, in-terviewing, building an audi-ence, maintaining credibility, etc., but I also want to really dive into how social media plays such a phenomenal role in the lives of millions. As for a career, I yearn for a fun work environment. Examples of people I’d love to work for are Vice.com or Buzzfeed or even just work for myself as a free-lance worker.”

Skiles got a taste of what he wanted while creating his stories for the Hi-Line Online broadcast at Cedar Falls, but he wants to continue refining his skills in college and pro-duce plenty of creations along the way.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say journalism is my passion. My passion is entertaining people by telling stories and through visual productions. At the same time, I feel as if I have to provide the masses with

something, and that some-thing could be news or even just random, yet interesting, stories. Just as a doctor aims to care for people, I aim to inform people. There are a lot of un-informed people in the world, and I think that’s because they find news boring. I want to change that.”

Before his experience with broadcast journalism at Cedar Falls, Skiles had a talent for storytelling, though he never thought he’d use it. He always loved being behind a camera ... and in front of it too. He would make videos of all sorts and often involved his friends and family. When he heard about broadcast journalism, he thought it would be a great op-portunity to have some fun and learn more about something he liked. Little did he know, it would spark a passion in him to make videos for more than just fun.

“I’ve always made home videos of which you can prob-ably find on my facebook. Going into senior year, I was making my own videos of like vacations and what not when I heard of broadcast journalism. This sparked my interest solely because of the video aspect, so I took the class. I put in count-less hours of video editing. I worked with people I never had before. I made videos that had an impact on people, and it all paid off. I was fortunate to receive the award for videogra-pher of the year in the state of

Iowa, and from there on I knew I wanted to have a camera in front of me for the rest of my life.”

According to Skiles, one can learn a lot of things in Brian Winkel’s broadcast journalism class. Filming, editing, how to reach an audience, interview-ing and much more. However, he took something far more important from room 208 his senior year. He learned how to work with others and better his content.

“Working with others hasn’t always been my first choice; however, broadcast was great at helping me overcome this. Broadcast also forced me to be a lot more open to criticism. Criticism can be worth more than compliments depend-ing on the context. I’m sure I’ll have people in the future critiquing my work, so I’m glad broadcast was able to give me a taste of that.”

After graduation, Skiles was set to pursue his camera magic at the University of Northern Iowa, but after a semester in the program, he said he could tell that he wasn’t going to find what he was looking for if stayed in that program, so decided he had to make a change. He did not want to just go through the motions of college. He decided that the University of Iowa could help him reach that goal. It was a difficult decision to make con-sidering everything he had known was in Cedar Falls. He

didn’t want to distance himself from his family, friends, job, and hometown. In the end, he made a decision based on his best interest and what would help him to reach his full po-tential.

“I was originally all set to attend Iowa in the fall of 2015; however, I backed out be-cause of other people, which I discovered was not a great choice. I stayed because I was afraid of losing my best friends, not seeing my parents and sib-lings, having to quit my job and a myriad of other smaller reasons. I saw second semes-ter as my second chance, and this time around I made the decision based off of my own choice. I’m not doing this for anybody else. I’m doing this for me.”

Though it was hard to sacri-fice his CF roots, Skiles said he is very excited to see what new opportunities Iowa had in store for him.

“I’ve only heard good things about Iowa, so I’m pretty sure they’ll be able to provide the right education for me. I’ve heard their video ed-iting and production courses are great, so you could say I’m really excited to see what Iowa City has waiting for me.”

Skiles worked hard to pro-duce quality videos and sto-ries. While he is proud of the work he’s posted on YouTube and while working on the Tiger Hi-Line staff, it’s the connec-tions he’s made with the stu-dents and teachers around him that he holds most dearly.

“It might sound cliché, but I’m most proud of establishing meaningful friendships with some people I had never re-ally associated with, but, video-wise, I’m proud of all my work. I wouldn’t put it up if I wasn’t happy with it. I try to only look forward, however, meaning that I’m always trying to grow as an artist and storyteller, so I don’t bother wasting my time dwelling on a video where I could have done something different. It’s up, and it’s done. On to the next one.”

Toward the end of his senior year Skiles had built up quite an impressive collection of videos. He knew he had done well. He earned his A’s. Howev-er, Skiles had not been aware that his efforts had earned him the prestigious award of Vid-

eographer of the Year. He will never forget the day Winkel called him to the center of the gym to receive his award.

“I was surprised, but I was more surprised when Winkel pulled Austin (Anderson, who won an award for Writer of the Year) and I out of the crowd during an assembly where he selflessly praised our hard work in front of the entire stu-dent body. It was an incred-ible moment to share with him and Austin. I’ll never forget the day.”

Many of today’s high school students had big dreams when they were little kids, but those dreams have faded. They wanted to be baseball players, singers, movie stars and even superheroes. Most teens have “grown up” and settled for a more reasonable goal; some-thing more realistic. For Jack-son, that kid-like dream is still very much alive. However, in-stead of giving that dream job a name, he gives it a descrip-tion. He doesn’t have a specific career picked out yet, but he does know that it involves his love for the camera.

“I want to create the best content I can. I want to explore the world all while capturing it through a lens, and I want to make memories that I can share with my kids someday. I really can’t pick a specific ca-reer right now because life is a crazy ride. Maybe I’ll film for National Geographic, or may-be I’ll have my own business, or maybe I’ll get into actu-ally writing for journalism. Who knows? I just want to create the best content I can.”

Reading about Skiles’ jour-ney may inspire questions like, “Well, how do I do that? How do I find what I love and pur-sue it?” He’d say there is no secret formula. Everyone has to create his or her own path to success.

“Be open-minded. Chase any story you think is interest-ing and do your best job to accurately describe the story. Work hard and be prepared to fail because if you don’t fail, you don’t learn, and if you don’t learn, you won’t succeed. Just believe in yourself and look at the bright side in all situations. Be brave and don’t worry so much; we’re all trying this life out for the first time.”

Broadcast grad following his storytelling bliss“I want to explore the world all while capturing it through a lens, and I want to make memories that I can share with my kids someday.”

—Jackson Skiles

2015 graduate Jackson SKiles

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 HI-LINETiger

The

TRAVEL6

TRIPS

Seniors Mary Ingalls, Konner Crew and I went to Big Woods Park this week to take some pictures or the lake and surroundings. It is right across the Main Street bridge, so it does not take long to get to, and it is great for exercis-ing.

There are two different trails to walk on, but only one has a bridge. This bridge has been decorated with Christmas lights, and they turn on at night. Neither of the trails are terribly long, but you will still get a good workout by walking or running on them. There are even a couple little paths to the edge of the water where you could just sit and relax for a minute or even hang out with a couple friends.

The trail is lined with the widest variety of wildflowers in the Cedar Valley. The Cedar Falls Rotary in collaboration with the University of Northern Iowa has developed an extensive show of na-tive Iowa blooms and grasses, and though the season for bright colors has long since past, the brown and grey seedy remnants still make an impressive impact.

Of course, the trail that circles around Big Woods is also connected to the extensive Ce-dar Valley network of bike trails, and since the weather has been unseasonably warm, visitors to Big Woods could hop on their bikes and cruise over to Black Hawk Park while watching the waters roll downstream in the Cedar River as they continue the 9-mile loop.

Near the end of the circuit, take a break in festively decorated downtown Cedar Falls. Maybe some tea and a treat at Cup of Joe would be the perfect way to top off the trip be-fore completing the short stretch back to the park at Big Woods? Enjoy!

ALBERTBy Staff Writer Billie Ann

Big Woods offers many‘off season’ options

One Tank

Billie Ann Albert Photos

Though it’s the middle of Decem-ber, Big Woods Lake is still ice free, and the trails around its border are wide open for any visitors to explore. The bridge just around the bend from the shelter on the east side is even decked out with Christmas lights, and, of course, the many blooms from last summer, like the prairie cone-flowers at left, are also enjoying a ex-tra season above the still absent snow drifts.

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015HI-LINETiger

The

FEATURES7

Surprisingly more than 80 percent of the 120 students surveyed have more friends in their own grade than different grades.

With all music, sports and classes that contain a combination of grades, junior Delaney Schaffner is still closest to the people in her grade. “We have been together all the way through el-ementary. The junior class are all people I have been familiar with as I progressed up into high school,” Schaffner said. “I have made friends with them as they have gone through the same classes, grades and experiences as I have.”

Senior Chris Keys also has more friends in his own grade. “We’ve grown up together and a lot of my friends live in my neighborhood,” Keys said. “It’s easy to spend time with them.”

Jessica McMurrin, a senior, has friends in same and different grades but is closest to those in the senior class. “Those are the people I relate to the most,” McMurrin said. “We all have the

Greeted with the smell of Versace cologne and the bright lights in my eyes, I enter the Oster Regent Theatre for Mary Poppins rehearsal. I follow the rows down to the stage where I see a bright eyed brunette freshman looking me in the eyes: Marley Millar, my best friend who goes to West. But this isn’t where things started between us, about a year ago Marley was starring as Jojo in Waterloo Community Play-house’ production of Seussical. It was such a coincidence — a mutual friend of ours told me about her, and when I knew there was another Newsies fan in the area,I immediately en-tered a contest to win tickets to Seussical, and I received open-ing night tickets.

I vaguely remember loving the show, Marley clad in her yellow shirt and khaki shorts, a Jojo staple for the show of Se-ussical. Throughout the show my eyes were wandering, al-ways keeping up with the ac-tion on stage, but inside I was super nervous. I had talked to Marley through Facebook, but would we have that same con-nection in real life? The show ended, the cast bowed, and the curtains closed, taking my anxiety with them. It was time to officially meet Marley.

Since it was opening night, there was a reception after the show, so I was waiting by the doors of the audience for

Marley to get dressed and come out to the reception. The second I saw her, there were no words, just hugs on top of hugs. Eventually we did let go and started talking about Newsies and other important acting subjects. I told her she did a great job, promised to actually hang out soon and walked out to my car.

And now? Hugging is the definite go to greeting for each other. We’re usually discussing Newsies, our Mary Poppins choreography or about our days at school.

We go to two different schools, and it’s such an ironic coincidence that our schools are rivals because we are far from ever relating to our schools on that note. A West and Cedar Falls friendship? No, we’re not crazy. We’re very lucky. While it’s great to have friends in your school, I know that forever I’ll treasure hav-ing theater as a place to meet friends from other schools, and having Marley as such a great friend.

Being friends has really helped my understanding of the Waterloo school system and what it’s really like at West, which isn’t bad. Taking one ex-perience you have from Water-loo, or one experience with a West student and judging ev-ery student or the whole pop-ulation of Waterloo based on that one experience isn’t fair,

and it’s an overgeneralization. Find something that links

you with other schools. It could be anything from com-

munity theater, to Teen Trust or even just volunteering at the food bank or community center, I promise it’s a great

experience. And who knows? You might just meet your best friend.

same classes, we have all been through 13 years of school together.”

McMurrin said if it weren’t for ex-tracurriculars, it would be easier to be friends with people in different grades. “Sophomores have their own football, volleyball and basketball teams,” Mc-Murrin said. “Varsity is usually juniors and seniors. In dance team we are all together, from freshmen to seniors, but things are still separated by grade like camp gifts, different friend groups

within the team and how captains can only be seniors.”

Keys also makes a point the same classes, and electives are offered only to certain grades and people in the same grade usually are in the same classes. “When you’re in the same grade as someone, you tend to take similar classes,” Keys said. “You also have the same classes available, like the same electives, and some grades don’t have those electives available.”

Keys also noted that people in the same grade also get pulled aside as a group. “For some stuff, they pull you aside as a grade, like the senior, junior and sophomore meetings,” Keys said.

Schaffner, Keys and McMurrin all agreed if they were in a different grade from what they are now, they would mostly have friends in that grade.

When it comes to soccer, Keys said that even if he was a year or two younger, he would still be close to the same people. “I would hang out with the same people in soccer,” Keys said. “It wouldn’t really matter which grade I would be in.”

A big aspect about friendship is having common interests. For Keys it’s soccer, for Schaffner it’s classes and for McMurrin it’s dance and church.

Without these threads connecting these people with their friends, they wouldn’t have met their closest friends.

By Staff Writer Madeline

NICOL

Staff writer Madeline Nicol and West High student Marley Millar have be-come fast friends after meeting their shared theater productions.

Submitted Photo

Staff writer finds friend from ‘rival’ school

Survey: most happy with grade-alike friendsDo you have more friends in your grade in other grades?

My Grade83%

Other Grades 17%

This Hi-Line Poll represents 10 per-cent of all students in proportion to gender and the three grades at the high school. This poll was conducted by staff writer Hannah Sanderman.

By Staff Writer HannahSANDERMAN

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 HI-LINETiger

The

FEATURES8

By Staff Writer Cam

GRUBIC

It’s been several weeks now since the starving and anxious horse named Bullet made his surprise appear-ance on the Paulsen farm on that dark October night. As was reported in the Hi-Line on Nov. 5, the family had rescued him from a kill pen.He was quiet and patient, but as anxious as could be.

After three weeks, he is still the same: quiet, patient and anxious, but in a new light. Bullet the pony now craves attention and care. He realizes now that he has a handful of people who come to see him to care for him by brushing, feeding and hugging, and now the plans are developing for rid-ing him.

Releasing him from the halter in the pasture, he takes off at a gallop as he is so excited to be out in the open to graze. He winnies and trots around the pasture before he stops to munch on grass. He waits every

Bullet the rescued pony fitting in well with his new family

day for his two friends, the Paulsen children, to wake up the barn by feeding and working him and the dozen other horses.

Five-year-old Fisher presents him with pepper-mints and wraps him in tight warm hugs. Bullet occasion-ally has a stall mate, one of the many American Saddle-breds on the farm, which he is happy to have with him and will stand up to atti-tude. Regarding how Fisher feels with Bullet being on the main farm, he said he is “Great,” and quickly added, “I love him.”

Bullet’s stature has changed the most while his kind and calm personality remains the same. His ribs are completely invisible. He has put on muscle all around

his back, and his bloated belly has seemed to disap-pear. He is filling out, and for a three-year old pony, he may still have a growth spurt left in him yet.

Young Fisher and his old-er sister, Sutton, have both begun riding Bullet, along with Taylor, a friend and an advanced rider. Bullet ac-cepts a rider on his back and is quickly picking up on the commands of the reigns from the rider. Fisher’s first task is to teach bullet to gallop, “because he will run obstacles.”

By Staff Writer NathanHOY

Be sure to check out the earlier story on Bullet’s rescue on the Tiger Hi-Line Online website.

Fisher Paulsen, son of Debbie Paulsen, races out to greet Bullet, their new family horse.

As many of the people in Cedar Falls prepare for Christ-mas, parents focus on buy-ing gifts for the their kids and friends make it a priority to buy gifts for their friends. The reali-ty is that certain families do not have the luxury of having the ability to afford gifts for their loved ones.

A few people back in 2010 took notice to this and felt the urge to do something about it. For the last five years, Laura Hoy and Orchard Hill Church have been putting something on in the Walnut neighborhood in Waterloo called “Christmas in Walnut.”

They had an idea to come up with some kind of Christmas store that would sell toys for a very cheap price to people who couldn’t usually afford to buy their families any gifts.

They came up with a list of toys and sent it out all over the Cedar Valley. The goal was to receive about 2,500 new toys. All toys had to be brand new and between the prices of $10 and $20. Youth ministries like

CHAOS, Bighouse and BASIC jumped all over the idea of fun-draising toys.

Christmas in Walnut oper-ates a little differently when it comes to giving. “We hope that one day, there is so much development going on with individuals and in community that parents will begin to say, ‘I don’t need a ticket this year to the Christmas store.’ That’s the dream,” Director of Link CCD (Christian Community Development) Laura Hoy said. “Until that happens, though, we believe parents should have the opportunity to shop for their own children and pay

something for the gifts. We sell gifts for $2 and $5 … about 75 percent off retail price.”

Hoy said having the parents still pay a small price for the gifts is because she believes that when something is just handed to someone, all dignity is lost.

“In Christmas in Walnut, even though it’s just a small price, the parents come to the Boys and Girls Club and pay for the toy they purchased for their family. It’s the toy they bought for their loved ones, not the toy that was given to them so they could give it to their loved

ones,” Hoy said.All the toys are donated to

the event. Families, churches and individuals go out and pay for the toys that will then be sold on the actual day. Since the toys are donated, the event does receive a little bit of mon-ey. The money taken in at the Christmas Store goes back into the neighborhood school and the Boys & Girls Club to help further youth development ini-tiatives.

On the morning of the event this Saturday, Dec. 12, there will be a community breakfast that everyone is wel-come to. Alongside the Christ-mas store where people shop for Christmas gifts, organizers will also have a craft workshop in the same building where kids can make and wrap gifts for their family members.

Hoy said volunteers are needed each year. Volunteers can work as personal shoppers where they go one on one with a customer, learn what they are specifically shopping for and point out what the store has to

offer. They are also needed for the craft workshop to help kids with the making of crafts and to help wrap certain gifts for their family members. People will also be needed to wrap gifts, check people out and to pray with certain people.

Senior Annebeth Ahrenholz volunteered last year and plans to again this year. “It was a re-ally great experience giving back and seeing how many families were impacted and how happy that made them. It opened my eyes to things I’m not used to seeing and made me realize how blessed I am and how thankful I am for that,” Ahrenholz said.

Christmas in Walnut focuses on bringing the community to-gether and strengthening rela-tionships. “We believe Christ-mas in Walnut is just one way that we hope to continue to link arms to encourage one an-other and strengthen a neigh-borhood,” Hoy said.

Christmas in WalnutVolunteers ready for annual charity event this weekend

2014 Christmas in Walnut. This year’s event is Saturday.

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015HI-LINETiger

The

ENTERTAINMENT9

HEIMBUCKBy Staff Writer Aaron

Cosplay: the act of dressing up as character from a movie, tv show, an-ime or anything else you can think of. But there is something about bringing together a bunch of (slightly obsessed) geeky people that makes this environ-ment a little volatile, so here are some vital tips for surviving your first cosplay convention.

PLAN AHEADIt doesn’t have to be a 100 percent

foolproof plan, but at least have a rough outline, like dealer’s room, consuite (free candy room, awesome), meet up spot, etc. Make sure you have enough time between, making the costume, getting to the hotel and getting signed in.

YOUR COSTUMEThis is the most important part of

cosplaying (obviously). Make sure you are able to wear this costume all day. You can spend hours making a full body foam armor, but it means nothing when you’re sweating like a pig and can bare-ly fit through hotel hallway.

SAFETY PINS, FABRIC GLUE, SCISSORS.The essential first-aid kit of a co-

splayer, and you’ll probably want to bring even more. Your costume is bound to get ruined when you least ex-pect it, so having your survival kit will always come in handy.

GET SOME REAL FOODAfter a while, that Mountain Dew

and pocket full of snacks will start get-ting to your gut, and then it’s game over. Play again? It’s important to get out and get some real food from one of the nearby restaurants.

Remember, I’m sure you can, those days where the room was dark. Your eyes are hard to keep open and the cold temperature of the room was radiating as you silently shivered in your hard, cheap plastic chair. Then the light from the projector beamed onto the front wall of the room. The Bill Nye theme song kicks itself out of the bro-ken down and scratchy sound system. A smile unfurls onto your face and all of your awak-ened classmates.

Soon the nerdy and enthu-siastic, Bill Nye jumps onto the screen and rambles off into some theory or definition re-lating to sub-atomic particles or planetary alignment, and for the rest of the class your mind is entertained.

Before a year or two ago, I

had noticed a drop off in Nye. His name was never really spo-ken unless it was to discuss how awesome he had been. Not until a year ago, did I no-tice his name popping up in news stories and articles. How he publicly stood for the glob-al climate change theories and shared his stance on evolu-tion. This also occured with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, jumping onto the scene with his show on FOX; Cosmos: A spacetime odyssey.

To show he’s finally away from grade-school science, Nye recently published a book, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation. He writes in this book what he has experienced through his eyes and what the scientific world around him has discov-ered since the beginning of

darwinism. Nye is avidly supportive of

evolution, and like in his show, provides complicated and ex-travagant examples.

Like, for example, when he compares an owl to a boeing 747 airplane. At first it seemed unrealistic that such a humon-gous piece of metal could be compared to a barn owl. Then, like an extremely complicated puzzle, he takes facts and his own personal experience and builds up from an abstract ex-ample to the finish. He gives you an easy way of comparing how human and natural evolu-tion work. How both humans and nature have given birds winglets to conserve energy and fly more efficiently.

Another interesting com-parison he makes is the history of earth and the living things

and trekking across the United States. It was incredibly com-plicated to understand at first, but after reading through a couple of times, I was able to finally understand. I think that this symbolizes Nye’s thinking and how himself today, differs from himself in the past.

You might be thinking so far “why does any of this even matter?” Well, since Nye has come out of the bushes along with scientific celebrities like Tyson, they’ve helped the sci-entific community gain eyes and media attention. They’ve helped people recognize the power that science has to take down big topics like climate change and show people how dangerous it really is.

Nye was the person who brought to my attention the two degrees celsius theory.

The theory states that if global average temperature rises two degrees celsius — it’s at 0.86 degrees right now — then the national disasters we see will be more frequent and more devastating. Although this is just a theory, it brings a whole new light to my attention.

In short, Nye has done so much for the world and com-munity of science. He’s helped bring attention to important subjects that need to be ad-dressed, like climate change. Nye has done so much, even when he ran a simple chil-dren’s science show. I think that his exuberant personal-ity is the reason for current science’s return to somewhat popularity.

Nye, Tyson bringing science back into spotlight

Follow these steps to survive cosplay

MEDICATIONI know that many people are against

medications like ibuprofen and aspirin, but when you’re walking around for hours at a time with a tight costume, high heels and pounds of foam on your shoulders, you WILL start to hurt. If not for you, bring it for someone else.

Lastly, don’t worry about what oth-ers think of you. This is a place of fan-tasy and freedom. Cosplaying can help you escape to the fantasy you’ve always loved, and it doesn’t matter if someone says you’re too fat, too black, too skin-ny or just too weird to cosplay, it’s not about them, it’s about you.

JOHNSONBy Staff Writer Kierston

League of Legends, Jinx and Vi

Amethyst, Steven Universe (Me)

MUSIC

NEWRELEASES

MOVIES

GAMES

•RICK ROSS:Black Market•LIL BUB: Science and Magic•BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN:The Ties That Bind: The River Collection•BABYFACE:Return of the Tender Lover•COLDPLAY:A Head Full of Dreams

ONLINEEXTRAS

•THE BIG SHORT12/11/15•BOY AND THE WORLD 12/11/15•DREAMS REWIRED12/16/15•STAR WARS VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS12/18/15•ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP12/18/15

•XENOBLADE CHRONICLES X (WiiU)•FAST RACING NEO(WiiU)•KING’S QUEST CH. 2: RUBBLE WITHOUT A CAUSE (XB1, 360) (PS3, 4)•STEAM WORLD HEIST(3DS)•LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII (PC) (PS3, 4) (XB1, 360)•TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER (PS3, 4) (XB1, 360)

Delicious Dishes from Honduras:with host Adrian DiazTune in here for step by

step instructions for authentic recipes from Honduras.

This week’s feature:STUDENT CONTRIBUTES

MEMORY MAKING PORTRAIT

Find the inspiring video online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MghQHEDA0a8

Friday, Dec.11, 2015 HI-LINETiger

The

ENTERTAINMENT10

FORKERManga Master Noah

In the Anime of “Card-fight, Vanguard,” the show opens with a cardfight be-tween Toshiki Kai and Kat-sumi Morikawa. The fight ends rather quickly and seems rather unimportant. However, the next day, Mori-kawa is in class when he spots Aichi Sendou having a very rare vanguard card, Blast Blade. After school, Morikawa backs Aichi into a corner and steals this card, thinking it could help him de-feat Kai. Aichi runs after him but is too late, as Morikawa has already bet the card and lost it.

After this, Aichi fights and defeats Kai, earn-ing his blaster blade card back. From here on, Aichi only grows stronger. Want-ing to surpass Kai one day, he grows stronger and stronger, meeting new friends and ri-vals.

The manga of “Cardfight, Vanguard” opens up the ex-act same as the anime. How-ever, the way things play out is slightly different. As in the manga, one of Morikawa’s friends trips Aichi. In the manga, Morikawa punches Aichi in the stomach. The

same events as in the anime play out from here.

Despite some slight trans-lation differences, they are di-rect similarities; however, one small thing the manga does is do a close-up of certain cards the people use.

This pair of manga and anime, while very similar,

have differences. The main charac-ter’s rival, Kai, has a slightly different personality after Aichi beats him in the second epi-sode of the series, in about the sec-ond chapter of the manga. This differ-ence will be up to you to find.

The next major differ-ence is that Aichi has a VERY powerful card in the first vol-ume that he doesn’t get until very late in the anime, which makes me slightly mad, but I suppose it's acceptable.

Overall, it's hard to chose which I like better. The manga has my favorite character act the opposite of what I ex-pect, which makes me love him more, but the anime has my second favorite character being a complete idiot, which makes for some hilarious dia-logue.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

—Dr. Seuss. On the nice summer days,

I like to go outside and read a good book. I open up the book and leave my world. Some-times I wish I could leave the real world and just go live in a good book and run away from all my problems, but sadly I know that would never happen. I also read when I want to calm down or get rid of a headache.

Most people cringe at the words “book” or “read,” but for me, I love it. I didn’t always love reading, but in the fourth or fifth grade, I got into read-ing books. I would read a differ-ent book every two week, and since then, my life has gotten better from reading.

Reading is an important skill

to have. It can help you learn about the world around you. Most teens today are playing videogames or surfing social media rather than being out-side or reading. You can visit more places in the world when you read than you can when you travel in the real world. Plus, it costs less to travel into a book then travel around the real world.

Reading changed how I look at things in life. I learned how to empathize with fictional characters so that I can relate to others with their problems.

Another good reason to read is that when reading for at least 20 minutes or more, it can make stress levels go down. It also helps people as writers because as you read, you learn more about grammar than any-one could ever teach you.

Even if you have an eRead-KRAABEL

By Staff Writer Mercede

er, you should still read a paper book once in awhile because when you turn the pages, you will remember more of the sto-ry. When you read, you have to remember everything about all the characters so that you can understand them better. Plus, that improves your memory. Your vocabulary will also im-prove as you are able to read more words and understand them.

Focus and concentration will also improve. When you are using a phone or computer, you are doing more than one thing at a time, but when you are reading, you use all your focus on the story that you are reading. If you want stronger thinking skills, try reading for about 15 to 20 minutes a day because when you are reading, you are thinking about what is going on in the book.

Most fiction novels that you read have lessens that you can learn from like being able to stand up for yourself or for someone else. Most people can’t find those lessons on their own, but the more you read, the more you will understand.

If more teens could find time to get off of their technol-ogy and read 20 minutes a day, then their memories, vocabu-laries and imaginations would be improved. It’s better to read the book and see the charac-ters in your head than on a TV. Teens’ imaginations would be improved.

Life isn’t fair, but the best part of life is being able to escape your life and go live in someone else’s for a while.

Anime is a common form of beginning drawing. You start with it and eventually break from it and move on to a new type of drawing. I too went through this phase, and a common thing for a lot of be-ginners was anime eyes. All the time I was randomly drawing eyes on homework and spiral pages.There are tons of different types of anime eyes, and there is a long list of eyes through the ages. Here`s how to start:

1.Draw two lines that are almost attached to each other, but don't attach them.

2. Draw some eyelashes.

3.Then, in between the lines, draw a circle and pupil.

4. Draw some circles in that circle, but make them smaller so they look like shinies.

5. Add little details in and around the eye.

6. Then you're done, but when you do the other one, space it an eye apart, so it's even.

Anime eyes have been a huge part of anime itself. Each kind has its own personal style and says what kind of person that character is. Some of the earlier designs of anime eyes were big and bright, but all looked similar. Later they evolved, turning into different shapes and sizes, and now they are unique in their own ways, and fans can deci-pher what each design reveals of each character from just looking at the eyes. Now go out there and make some eyes of your own.

DEKUTOSKIBy Staff Writer Alyssa

The importance of books: reading delivers wide range of benefits, opens many doors

Follow these steps for perfect anime eyes

Playing cards has never been more exciting

Friday, Dec.11, 2015HI-LINETiger

The

ENTERTAINMENT11

HOOD

HEIMBUCK

By Staff Writer Cody

By Staff Writer Aaron

Flying through the sky, Reimu can feel the wind through her hair, the weightlessness of her body is miti-gated by the pressure on her to stop whatever youkai is ahead. Bullets fly from all directions as familiars of all shapes and sizes fire at her in an at-tempt to stop her from reaching their master. Upon reaching the end of the area, there is no youkai to be seen. She lets out a long sigh and returns at her full speed, planning to contin-ue until the trouble-causing youkai is punished.

The Touhou Project are games that have been released by a sole develop-er by the name of ZUN. Most of them are shoot ’em up games, more com-monly referred to as Danmaku games. The other few that are made are 2D fighting games. Most of them are typically priced around $17.99, but it can vary, depending on what site the game is being purchased from.

Most of the Touhou games are nearly the same in their gameplay, but each story can vary. The complete sto-ry behind the Touhou Project is incred-

ibly long and complicated to explain, though, so it’s too long to place here, even in a summarized form. Overall, though, each character has a rich backstory along with playing a signifi-cant role within the Touhou universe.

Each game typically centers around an incident occurring within Gensokyo, where Touhou takes place, and it’s tasked to Reimu Hakurei or Marisa Kirisame to solve the problem that is occurring within their world. Game-wise, I think the story of each game individually isn’t the strongest, but overall the story is very solid.

The gameplay is as a typical shoot ’em up would be. Enemies fire a hail of bullets towards the player, which will have to be dodged by weaving the character’s model throughout the bullets. In later games, a mechanic was added, by the name of “Focus Mode.” During this state, the char-acter moves much slower, and a red ball indicates the character’s actual hitbox. If bullets pass the character’s sprite, but not the actual hitbox, then it’s called a graze.

During boss fights, each boss will use a variety of the signature moves by the name of spell cards. These spell cards last for a set duration or until the boss’ health reaches a cer-tain point. Spell cards are typically difficult, flamboyant patterns specific to each character. They provide extra difficulty to the game and a sense of theme to each character. The player also has spell cards, but these are typi-cally called bombs. By using them, it removes all of the enemy bullets off of the screen and gives points accord-ing to the amount of bullets that are destroyed.

The few fighting games have the same mechanics as a typical 2D fight-er game, with character selection and a combo-based fighting style. Each character has a special finisher, called a Last Word, within the game. Each game has certain characters from the Touhou universe within it, and some of those games actually add extra char-acters into the universe. Each charac-ter has just as good of a backstory as the last, with no character losing out

on a backstory.A definite negative to some play-

ers of the game that has to be noted is the difficulty. New players to a shoot ’em up game, especially with some-thing like Touhou, can find it difficult to get used to the learning curve, and it may even lead some to quitting. One of the biggest tips to give is to stay determined and continue play-ing, as eventually the patterns of the bullets can be learned and played around.

The Touhou Project as an absolute whole has a well-written backstory and a good difficulty curve for anybody who is willing to take a challenge. Individually, though, the games can fluctuate with how difficult they are, and the stories can also be individu-ally less or more impactful than others. Not every game can be perfect or sto-ry-filled, but gameplay wise, they’re still quite strong on their own. I’d give the Touhou Project an 82/100 overall.

Tubular ’Toons Cartoon Network’s offerings emphasized quality over quantity

Phil of the FutureThis show was ahead of its time … or should I say

behind? The wacky adventures of Phil and his family had us laughing all the way through time! The family’s goal was to get back to their own time, but when they finally got the chance to leave, they were too attached to the people and places in this time. It was a perfect combination of humor and emotion.

Take a seat and get in sync with your 8-year-old self once again. Imagine yourself laughing hysterically at the amazing animated shows of our childhood. Takes you back, doesn’t it? Cartoons are a rich part of each generation’s culture and can also teach some great les-sons. However, I believe cartoons have a much deeper meaning. I believe they take us back to our greatest

memories and provide us with good times to dwell on. The shows of our past are great conversation topics that essentially help connect our generation. We’ve already taken a look at two of the leaders in kid’s television, and this week is no exception. Pour yourself one last bowl of Captain Crunch and enjoy a blast from the past in this week’s edition of Tubular Toons.

Disney Channel: Last, but certainly not least, we will examine the works of Disney. I know what you’re thinking already: “Disney didn’t really make a ton of cartoons. Why are they even in-cluded?” Despite not having a large selection of animated shows, Disney Channel has provided us with some great non-animated television over the years along with some quality animation as well.

Suite Life of Zack and Cody Living in a five-star hotel with your twin brother

and loads of friends sounds like a blast. Often times it seemed that way for the mischievous duo of Zach and Cody. However, the two would often have to deal with deep issues involving family, friends, social problems, the past and much more. The show provided clever and humorous parallels to issues that we all face.

That’s So RavenYou didn’t have to be psychic to know that this show

would become an instant classic. The sassy, spunky hu-mor of Raven and her friends gave a unique and excit-ing twist on the classic problem-solving TV show. Raven would use her psychic powers to try and prevent disas-ters before they happened. Often times she would just end up making a bigger mess along the way.

Even Stevens Most of us would probably admit that certain family

members of ours are a little different (to put it lightly). Louis Stevens took “different” to a whole new level. I mean, he was just plain bizarre! He and his best friend Alan would constantly find themselves making the epitome of bad deci-sions. There was one thing Louis was good at, though, and that was being himself. Despite his seemingly perfect family, he was never afraid to be different.

The Proud FamilyMost of us would also admit that our family as a

whole is a little crazy. The Proud family is one of the craziest. They have a hilarious mixture of personalities that keep the giggles coming. They make you laugh all while dealing with important issues such as family struggles, racism, social class and more.

Kim Possible“Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me!” This is still

one of the most memorable cartoon lines of our childhood. In this show we experienced tons of action and suspense while Kim, Ron and their trusty naked mole-rat battled super-villains. The secret spy used an array of cool gadgets and giz-mos to stop the villains. The writers were also able to fit in a love interest between Kim and Ron. How could you not root for the guy? He was a loveable nerd with a naked mole-rat!

Touhou Project challenges players to shoot for gold

Friday, Dec. 12, 2015 HI-LINETiger

The

OPINIONOur View

The Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journalism classes at Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Our website is www.hiline.cfschools.org. The Hi-Line is distributed to CFHS students on Fridays to read during their third period classes.

Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hi-Line staff or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial is present-ed weekly in the editorial labeled Our View, and it is the view of the majority of the editors listed below. Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to The Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Letters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Monday for publication in the following Friday edition. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limita-tions. Writers should include their contact information for verification.

Entertainment Editor: Tana Gam-AdFeatures Editor: Sommer DanielsenNews Editor: Sarah StortzOnline Editor: Zuhayr AlamSports Editor: Jason RathjenGraphic Artist: Sierra SteenStaff Writers: Annebeth Ahrenholz, Billie Ann Albert, Daphne Becker, Madi-

son Belden, Jamie Blair, Ben Boezinger, Abbey Carlson, Gabi Carr, Miranda Cole, Amanda Crockett, Ashton Cross, Sommer Danielsen, Alyssa Dekutoski, Noah Fork-er, Emma Gerdes, A. J. Godbey, Camryn Grubic, Amna Haider, Aaron Heimbuck, Noah Hermansen, Cody Hood, Nathan Hoy, Jacob Jensen, Kierston Johnson, Brennan Kohls, Mercede Kraabel, Sam Magee, Olivia Martin, Jade McBroom, Scott Miller, Nolan Nickerson, Madeline Nicol, Kaylee Olson, Austin Reyhons, Hannah Sanderman, Lane Schwickerath, Lexi Sheeley, Allie Taiber, Tehya Tournier, Isaac Turner-Hall, Drew Walker, Isabella Wilson

Contact Us

Joyful Noise

12According to PoliceOne.com,

as of 2010, women still made up just 11.9 percent of all sworn police positions in America. The yearly gain of female police has been less than half of 1 percent since 1971. And, the most shocking thing is that there is evidence that the numbers of female police have come to a stand-still, or could even be decreasing altogeth-er. Why is it that so many more men are cops than women?

First of all, there is a lot of skepti-cism attached to the idea of female police officers. Some believe that women aren’t strong or thick-skinned enough to handle police work. An-other common idea is that women don’t look imposing enough to have people take them seriously as police. Yet another thought is that women can’t shoot guns properly.

All of the above statements are false. Women are definitely capable of being great police officers, yet they face a lot of bias from society from the start because they do not fit the stereotypical image of police officers.

In a study on the status of wom-en in policing done by the National Center for Women Policing, the find-ings show, “Despite overwhelming evidence that women and men are equally capable of police work, wide-spread bias in police hiring, selection practices and recruitment policies keeps the numbers of women in law enforcement artificially low.” Even though it is known that women can do just as good a job as men in polic-ing (and many other professions, for that matter), they still face adversity

while trying to combat stereotypes. What is even worse occurs once

female police officers are hired. To rise above female stereotypes, they have to work twice as hard as men. According to the same study, “Once on the job, women often face dis-crimination, harassment, intimidation and are maliciously thwarted, espe-cially as they move up the ranks.”

This terrible pattern of abuse sabotages any efforts to recruit fe-male police officers and explains why many women choose to leave the force. If women are being discrimi-nated against by their peers just for being women, then no wonder there is such a dramatic underrepresenta-tion of them in law enforcement.

It is a real pity that the system works this way because the addition of women to police forces every-where would be nothing but good.

Research conducted in the Unit-ed States and internationally demon- MARTIN

By Staff Writer Olivia

strates that female police officers use a style of policing that relies less on physical force and more on commu-nications skills. Women are usually better at defusing potentially violent confrontations and are less likely to become involved in excessive force situations.

Even better is the fact that “women are substantially less likely to be named in a citizen complaint, sustained allegation or civil lawsuit for excessive use of force.”

So, imagine living in a world where there is much less police bru-tality and people are generally con-tent with police officers.

That is what it would be like if more women were cops. It sounds like a better world to me. But, it’s up to the world we have now to make it a reality.

JENSENBy Staff Writer Jacob

Ever since 1776 America has been a capitalist economy. With the 2016 election right around the cor-ner, democratic candidate Bernie Sanders threatens to ruin that amaz-ing streak.

The definition of capitalism is “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.” This means that the people run the mar-ket and the government stays out as much as it can.

The definition for socialism is “a social and economic system char-acterized by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production, as well as a political the-ory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system.” This means that the government owns businesses and profits. You share the majority of what you make with the government, and the government uses that money to take care of you.

Sounds good doesn’t it? Well, wait until you see how much you make after taxes.

Sanders has made many promis-es including tuition free college, paid family leave and an expansion on so-cial security. With all of his promises added up, that will cost our country $18 trillion over the next 10 years. With the very vague information we have on Sen. Sanders tax reform, over the same 10 years the United States will make about $6.5 trillion in revenue.That’s more than $11 tril-lion we will be in debt in that 10 years according to www.ontheissues.org. Add that to the $18 trillion we are in debt now, and that’s an outrageous $29 trillion in debt. We as a country can simply not afford a socialist presi-dent right now.

Sanders claims he will stand up for working families, which means the poor and middle classes. There is no way Sanders can keep all of those promises he made and not raises

taxes on the middle class. Not only will he raise taxes on the middle class, all tax brackets will sky rocket.

The Clinton campaign has even attacked Sanders tax plan. “Bernie Sanders has called for a roughly 9-percent tax hike on middle-class families just to cover his health-care plan, and simple math dictates he’ll need to tax workers even more to pay for the rest of his at least $18-20 trillion agenda. If you are truly con-cerned about raising incomes for middle-class families, the last thing you should do is cut their take-home pay right off the bat by raising their taxes,” Clinton’s campaign said in a statement two weeks ago.

That’s 9 percent just for his health-care plan. Just think of all the other promises he has made. How can you be for the middle class and workers when you are going to tax them tre-mendously?

America can’t affort policies of Sen. SandersShelled out by Socialism

We need to recruit, support more female copsWomen in Blue

Do you feel protected or paranoid by law enforcement?

PROTECTED PARANOID

35.8% 64.2%

This Hi-Line Poll represents 10 percent of all students in proportion to gender and the three grades at the high school. This poll was conducted by staff writer Isabella Wilson.

‘Tis the season to be jolly, and what better way to get into the holiday cheer than by going and listening to our school’s three music ensembles play?

The bands will be performing on Monday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. and will be featuring both the Symphonic Band, directed by Kyle Engelhardt, and the Wind Symphony, di-rected by Gerald Ramsey.

Next, on Thursday, Dec. 17, the orchestra directed by Scott Hall will be performing their winter concert at 7:30 p.m.

Finally, the choir, directed by Elliot Kranz, will be per-forming Monday, Dec. 21 at 7:30, and the brass choir will also be performing some Christmas tunes.

All of these performances will be taking place in the high school’s auditorium, and tickets will be sold at the door. They will be $4 for students and $5 for non-students, but free if you present an activity pass.

This is an excellent opportunity to help support our music department, all while getting to enjoy beautiful mu-sic. Each ensemble has been practicing for the past few months to perfect their performances.

If you’re looking for something to do, come out and celebrate the holidays and the hard work each ensemble has done, and don’t forget to bring friends and family.

December full of opportunities to enjoy school concerts

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015HI-LINETiger

The

SPORTS OPINON13

TURNER-HALL By Staff Writer Isaac

KOHLS By Staff Writer Brennan

Last Thursday, the Green Bay Packers came back to win the game 27-23 against the Detroit Lions, with a 61-yard Hail Mary-touchdown pass with zero seconds on the clock. After no Green Bay score in the first half, finally in the third quarter, they scored a touch-down as James Starks fumbled the ball into the end-zone and luckily Randall Cobb was there to jump on it for the score. Later on in the quarter Aaron Rodgers passed to a covered Davante Adams for a touchdown, ending Davante Adams’ touchdown drought this season.

With just three minutes left in the game, Rodgers ran the ball from the 23-yard line for a touch-down, setting the score at 21-23. The Packers defense made the Lions’ offense punt with only 23 seconds left in the game. Rodg-ers threw two incomplete passes, then passed to James Jones, who lateraled it to Richard Rodgers, who then passed it back to Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers was caught by Taylor on the Lions defense, but he grabbed Rodgers’ facemask, giving the Packers one last play with no time on the clock. Rodg-ers weaved around the defenders coming at him and let his receivers get to the end-zone, and he threw the ball at the Green Bay 36. The ball was in the air for five seconds, those five seconds would be the most tense moment of the game for Packers fans. Richard Rodgers jumped in the air completely sur-

rounded by defenders and other receivers and caught the pass for a 61-yard touchdown game winner. It’s safe to say quite a few cheeseh-eads were thrown into the air and quite a bit of screams were occur-ring in every Packers fan’s house.

Aaron Rodgers said in a press conference after the game, “It’s the greatest feeling. We’re blessed to be able to play this game, and it reminds at times, how special this game is. You live for days like this, to be able to have something mi-raculous happen.”

Many Packers fans think this is the turnaround game for the sea-son. The Green Bay season started off well with a 6-0 start but took a turn for the worse after their first

loss to the then undefeated Den-ver Broncos, and three more losses to the Panthers, Lions and Bears. The offense has not looked like its former self, with some of the prob-lems being attributed to the loss of the star receiver Jordy Nelson.

In the second preseason game at Pittsburgh, the star wide-receiv-er on the Packers, Nelson, tore his ACL executing a simple play. Later it became clear that Nelson would not play the rest of the 2015 sea-son. Aaron Rodgers and Nelson were arguably the best QB-WR pair in the league, so losing Nel-son was a gigantic hit to the Pack-ers’ offense. In the 2014 season, Nelson caught 98 passes for about 1,519 yards, with 13 touchdowns,

After Hail Mary, Packers have shot at bigger prizebut lately and through most of the season, Rodgers and his receiv-ers are not in sync. Adams, one of the Packers’ starting receivers, only caught two of 11 passes tar-geting him in the Thanksgiving night game against the Bears. The Green Bay TE Richard Rodg-ers had only had about 30 yards against the Bears on the Thanks-giving night, but in the Lions game, he had 146 with 61 yards coming from the game-winning Hail Mary touchdown pass. Some of the problems will not be solved this season, but most Packers fans would agree that the offense may just turn around.

The Packers have a fairly easy schedule ahead of them, first they play the Cowboys in Dallas, and with Tony Romo out, the Packers should be able to pick up a win. Then they play the Oakland Raid-ers away, and after that is the Ari-zona Cardinals, which is also away.

The Cardinals will be a tough game for Green Bay. Arizona’s de-fense is ranked fifth in the league, and their offense is ranked first. The Green Bay defense has been stepping up lately, or at least more than they did last year, but it still cannot stop passing, and with the Cardinals coming out of a 300-yard passing game against the St. Louis Rams, the defense might have a hard time stopping them.

The last regular season game is against the Minnesota Vikings in Green Bay. This will be a huge game for the Packers. They are

0-2 against NFC North teams at Lambeau field. First they lost to the Lions 18-16 in Week 10, and after that they lost to the Bears at Lam-beau on Thanksgiving night 17-13. They beat all of the NFC North teams away, but so far have lost to all of them at home.

This may not be a Super Bowl year, but there is always a chance. If they have to end up playing the Panthers in the post-season, the Packers don’t stand a very good chance. If their offense can turn around after the miraculous win in Detroit, the team could go, but if they don’t start getting in sync now, they won’t be able to get through the playoffs. In the 2010 season, the Packers went 10-6, but they still won the Super Bowl, and in that season the Packers went 4-2 against the NFC North in regular season. So far this year they are 3-2 against the NFC North, with a game against the Vikings ap-proaching.

After the game-winning 61-yard Hail Mary pass against the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Pack-ers could turn their season around.

So far it’s been a pretty unpre-dictable season for the Packers starting at 6-0 and currently sitting at 8-4, but if Rodgers and his re-ceivers can get in sync, they might be on the road to the Super Bowl.

This is the second year of the College Football Playoff, and things went pretty smooth this year for the selection commit-tee. Four conference champions made it into the playoff for the second straight year, but what if the committee had to se-lect eight teams to make it into the playoff? Would North Carolina who lost controver-sially in the ACC championship get into the playoff? Would Florida State who has better wins than Notre Dame get in over them?

There would be more games, there would be more fans, and there would be more excitement. Stanford coach David Shaw feels like an eight-team playoff would be better as well. His Stanford Cardinal team went 11-2 this year and won the Pac-12, but they were still left out of the playoff picture although they have a pretty good consola-tion prize, the Rose Bowl.

There are several coaches, AD’s and CFP committee members who feel like an eight-team playoff would be the answer. An eight-team playoff would help teams like Notre Dame who will never be a conference

champion because of their independent sta-tus or non-Power 5 conference schools like Houston or Navy earn bids into the playoff.

The past two years when making selec-tions for the playoffs, too much attention has centered around whether or not the teams in the playoff were undefeated or whether or not they were a conference champion. Teams had to meet one of those require-ments and sometimes both to get into the playoff. Now imagine there are eight teams in the playoff; that means teams like Ohio State and Iowa, who both had their playoff chances cut short because of heartbreak-ing losses to Michigan State at the end of the season, could make it into the playoff. It would also help an independent team that couldn’t be a conference champion like Notre Dame sneak into the playoffs.

An eight-team playoff would have made for the best month in college football history, What if there was an eight-team playoff this year? Some of the matchups are very intrigu-ing if the ranking stood as they are right now:

No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 8 Notre Dame

No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 7 Ohio StateNo. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 6 StanfordNo. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 5 IowaThese matchups would have a lot of ex-

citement building up around them. Clemson vs. Notre Dame is a rematch from earlier this season where the Tigers snuck out with a two-point victory. Alabama vs. Ohio State would definately have the most buildup than any other game because it’s a rematch of last year’s semifinal where the Buckeyes upset the Crimson Tide with Derrick Henry and Ezekiel Elliott pounding the ball against each other, but Alabama’s defense is much better this year than last year’s team.

Michigan State vs. Stanford would be a rematch of the 2014 Rose Bowl where Sparty’s defense stopped the Cardinals’ of-fense on a 4th and short to seal the deal, and both teams have a balanced attack and have great quarterbacks in Connor Cook and Kevin Hogan. In the Iowa vs. Oklahoma matchup, we have the two longest tenured coaches in college football coaching against each other in Kirk Ferentz and Bob Stoops.

They have both been coaching their teams since 1999, and Stoops is an Iowa alum. He played defensive back for the Hawkeyes and was an assistant under Hayden Fry. Both teams are tough, grind it out, have playmak-ing quarterbacks and the matchup of the Hawkeyes defense vs. the Sooners offense would have been fun to watch.

These are all just what ifs, but maybe not in the future as many people are calling for change to the playoff field like Baylor AD Ian McCaw and Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly along with many others who want the field to expand to eight. There are many prob-lems surrounding an expansion, but sev-eral people also believe that the four-team playoff was just a test drive to see how the playoff would go, and in its first two years, it has been very successful, but if we expand to eight teams, then will the teams ranked 9th and 10th call for the field to be expanded even more and where do we draw the line?

DOUBLE DIPNCAA football playoffs should expand to eight teams

Green Bay fans are still hoping they’ll be some ‘Super’ surprises under their trees this year.

Brennan Kohls Photo

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 HI-LINETiger

The

SPORTS14

COLE By Staff Writer Miranda

Facing his foe in Mason City is senior Frankie McGlaughlin. “I was disappointed because I thought I had won the second and third round, so I thought the decision was unfair. My biggest motivation to continue fighting is becoming a champion. Losing an amateur kick boxing fight doesn’t stop my goal in the slightest. I can improve just by putting more time in at the gym, training harder, and working harder,” he said.

Musclein

Mason CitySenior faces tough ruling by judges during his second kickboxing fight

As the song “All of the Above” by Maino started playing, senior Frankie Mc-Glaughlin made his way to the ring. It was the second kickboxing fight of his life, and his nerves were fraying as Michael Koath, a Mason City hometown native, walked out to meet McGlaughlin in the ring at the North Iowa Event Center on Nov. 21.

During the first round McGlaughlin got cornered by Koath, and it didn’t look good, but when the bell for the second round rang, McGlaughlin came back at Koath with a ven-geance.

McGlaughlin was determined to win this fight. “It was exciting to hear the crowd cheer-ing me on even though some of them didn’t know me. When I was in the ring waiting for him to walk out, I remembered that the anticipation and adrenaline I felt was the reason I continue fighting.”

In the end, however, McGlaughlin lost to Ko-ath, by decision. McGlaughlin threw more pow-

erful hits at Koath. He knocked Koath down twice during the fight by sweeping his leg out from the floor. McGlaughlin used many different strategies such as, “Using my reach to try to strike with straight punches and front kicks, then circle away from him,” but the judges gave the match to Koath for land-ing more hits that counted for points instead of just poundings.

After the match, some people in the crowd asked if these two would have a rematch since some people thought it was an unfair decision. “I tried to set up a rematch, but he said it would be a while, but I really would prefer not to wait since it’s just an amateur fighting record,” McGlaughlin said.

A few weeks after their match, however, Koath retired, so Koath and McGlaughlin will not be hav-ing a rematch. McGlaughlin had a turnout of a half dozen CFHS students who attended, including fam-ily members. There were a total of 24 people on the fight card that Saturday night.

Miranda Cole Photos

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015HI-LINETiger

The

SPORTS 15

HERMANSEN By Staff Writer Noah

TAIBER By Staff Writer Allie

The outsoles of her white Nike Hyperrevs abandon the gleaming wood floor as sopho-more Kiana Barney explodes from the court, reaching high for the ball, soaring above her opponents. Her fingertips blast through the hot gym air, extending forward to take possession. Possession of not only the ball but of her every ambition, and the victory for the team over Waterloo East last season in Barney’s best performance of her first varsity campaign.

Barney dominated last year’s season, despite being only a freshman. But the next season is here, and her best is yet to come. It’s year two on the varsity basketball court for Barney, and she’s ready to bring her all.

With both parents active in college athletics, Barney was born into the world of sports. A trusty companion alongside her dad at CFHS women’s bas-ketball games since she was little, she’s attended nearly ev-ery one. Her eyes flashing as the ball was thrusted back and forth from one player’s hands to the next. With the satisfying swoosh that came from every basket made and the alluring energy that captivated the en-tire gym, a young Barney, sat in awe in the stands thinking, “someday, that will be me.”

Since that moment, Barney was determined. Expressing interest at a young age, she worked with her dad, leading to her debut on the court with her old brother’s team in just fourth grade.

“It was a good start. It made me tougher and taught me a lot,” Barney said. After success

on the all boys team, Barney was scouted out the following year by the Iowa Barnstormers, the most elite team in Iowa for her age. And since then, she hasn’t backed down.

As the years went on, the hours of hard work had payed off. Barney started to receive attention from the CF varsity coaches. “We had watched Kiana play through her upper elementary and junior high years, so by the time she be-came a ninth grader, we had a really good idea of what she could do on the court,” varsity coach Gregg Groen said.

Joining the varsity girls over the summer before her ninth grade year also gave the coaching staff the reassur-ance she was ready for varsity basketball. “For an athlete to play at the varsity level, it has a lot to do with their ability and potential. We felt Kiana could definitely play at that level and contribute to the success of the varsity team,” Groen said..

Barney was physically ready and had the skills to compete at the varsity level, but she struggled with the mental as-pects.

“I wanted to be good, but not too good. It was hard be-ing a leader when worried about not being a show off or stuck up,” Barney said. The challenge of finding that bal-ance definitely set her back last year, she said.

But with the support from family and friends, Barney knows exactly where she wants to be. Clocking in more time on the court than she does any other activity, Barney’s managed to keep up with two teams, in addition to off sea-

son training. On long days and nights, she put in work, making her more confident, a better leader and willing to take the chances needed.

“Take a chance this game, Kiana. Do something you’ve never done before.” Her father, Willie, has been saying this quote to her since she was lit-tle. The phrase “take chances” is customised on the inside of her basketball shoes. His words stand constantly echoing in the back of her mind every game.

“I know exactly how she felt,” said teammate Emma Gerdes, who was also on the team her freshman year four years ago. “You just can’t be afraid of people ahead of you. Everyone wants the best for the team, especially if you’re one of the best players. High school goes by super fast, so if you want it, you’ll get it,” Gerdes said.

After a nervous year of holding back and not shining as much as she could, Barney certainly did not let the fear of failure stop her too much. She lead the Tigers in blocks last year and was third in all of 5A. She already has received three full ride scholarship offers after her freshman season.

“It’s all pretty crazy to me,” Barney said.

Now that her dream of playing college basketball is here, when she steps out onto the court, her mind is cleared, her stresses leaving and it’s just her and the game.

Tying the red laces back onto her feet before going out with the team, Barney catches a glimpse at the small letters sewn on the inside her shoe. She’s put right at home

Sophomore eager to step up for teamafter second year as varsity starter

“Take a chance this game, Kiana. Do something you’ve never done before.”—Willie Barney, father of Kiana

Olivia Mickey Photo

Sophomore Kiana Barney aims for a putback after a rebound against Waterloo West at home last Febru-ary. She played on the basketball team last year as a freshman.

with what matters, reminded of all that lies within her. The power of taking a chance could change her entire athletic ca-reer. “Basketball is my life,”

Barney said. “I’ve worked real-ly hard, and whatever happens is meant to be.”

Women’s basketball stays focused with perfect recordWith the thrusters on full

blast, the women’s basket-ball team is soaring its way to State with a 4-0 record in 5A play. With a strong start, the girls are confident coming into the season and are excited for games to come. Sophomore Kiana Barney said, “I predict we’re going to have a really good season and our team chemistry is just going to keep getting better. A goal is to make it to State and keep competing with every team

we play.” Sweeping Cedar Rapids

Jefferson Tuesday night, the girls face Waterloo East to-night at Cedar Falls.

Last year the Cedar Falls Tigers marched on to State

after beating Cedar Rapids Kennedy at the buzzer. The season has started off smooth, and the season looks to be on point to where the team is wanting it to do. “I feel re-ally good about this season already. We have stuff to work

on, but for the start of the sea-son, we are doing really well. I’m excited for it,” junior Ally Conrad said.

The Tigers have many things looking good for them for the rest of the season. “We are a really good shooting team this year. We can also push the ball a ton and are a very good defensive team. One of our goals is to be the best defensive team in the state,” senior Emma Gerdes said.

Having a lot of strengths coming into the season, the girls are taking it one game at a time and are learning about their teammates more, though they are already close. “It’s a whole new team from last year, so I think just learning how each other plays is hard now, but that will come as we play more and get further into the season,” Gerdes said.

One of our goals is to be the best defensive team in the state.

—senior Emma Gerdes

Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 HI-LINETiger

The

SPORTS16Athlete

Weekofthe

Averaging nearly 20 points a game with his 39 through the first two games leading the team to victory in both games, sophomore AJ Green is on fire to start the season for the basketball team. The Tigers are currently ranked 4th in the state and looking to improve off a 15-8 record last season.

How did the team prepare for this season in the offseason? How did you prepare?

The team prepared in the offseason by going to weightlifting three days a week in the summer. We would also go to various team camps. Once school started, we began having open gyms for guys to start playing again. For myself, I would go during power hour and shoot during the week before school.

What goals does the team have for this season, and how can you reach them?

The goals our team has for this sea-son would be making it to State and hav-ing a better record than we did last year. To achieve this we need to buy into the little things as a team and always push each other to work harder.

Do you ever feel any added pres-sure as a sophomore in the varsity spotlight?

No, I don’t really feel any added pres-sure. I just go out there and try to be a good leader and do what the team needs me to do. I feel much more comfortable on the court this year than last year.

AJ Green Men’s Basketball

AHRENHOLZ By Staff Writer Annebeth

TigersActionin

Men’s BasketballDec. 11 @ Waterloo East

6 p.m.

Women’s BasketballDec. 11 vs. Waterloo East

6 p.m.

WrestlingDec. 12 @ Western Dubuque

Dual Tourney10 a.m.

Men’s BowlingDec. 11 vs. Iowa City High

3:45 p.m.

Women’s BowlingDec. 11 vs Iowa City High

3:45 p.m.

Men’s SwimmingDec. 12 Marcussen Invitational

11:30 a.m.

Working to perfect the routine that would eventually lead to their sixth 1st place finish at State on Friday, Dec. 4 sophomore Sam Burken, sophomore Andrew McVicker, junior Trevor Sanders and the rest of the all male dance team in an exhibition at home one week before the dominate trip to Des Moines.

Vanessa Kime Photo

At state dance at the Wells Fargo Arena this past Friday, Dec. 4, the dance teams cap-tured a 5th place finish for the girls pom squad and a 1st place finish for all-male, which is the sixth year in a row for them get-ting the top spot. Hip hop per-formed as well and received a Division 1 rating, and was only one point away from placing. The coed squad also received a Division 1 rating.

Senior Andrew Nurse said he is happy about the way they finished and proud of the team for the hard work it took to get there. He is a member of the All-male and coed teams.

“The hardest part was trying to get our form and facials to be on point,” Nurse said.

The team also had fun per-forming at State, as well as bonding together the night be-fore the competition. “Going down the night before State to the hotel was quite a blast. We had a lot of team bonding and did some hardcore shenani-gans,” he said.

Nurse, along with his team, said he believes that their perfor-mance at State this year will live on to be remembered. “I think people will look back at how we performed at State, and we will be remembered forever.”

Nurse has had a great ex-perience the last few years as a part of the all-male and coed dance teams, but he admits that his senior year tops them all and will be remembered as the best one. “I still remember the lasting effect that the seniors had on me when I was a measly sophomore. This year had to be my favorite because it was our biggest group ever, and we had some great spontaneous leader-ship among the males.”

Senior Kaylene Konigsmark has been dancing on the hip-hop and coed squads this year and had fun performing at State.

“It was a great experience

Dance teams capture 1st, 5th places at State

being a part of the competitive squads considering it’s only my first year of dance. I was hoping for a higher placement in hip-hop, but I am proud of what we put out on the floor, and I am ex-cited for everybody to see it at a basketball game,” she said.

Senior Katy Lockard has been on the dance teams for three years now and also performed at State. She said she was proud of their performance.

“It was a very long and stress-ful day, but performance wise, we went out there and killed it. The judges points just didn’t add up in our favor,” she said.

She also had favorite memo-ries of dance team.

“For the last three years, dance team has been my life. I will definitely remember State the last three years and the friendships that I’ve made,” Lockard said.

Junior Summer Pieters said her favorite part of state dance

was performing their hip hop routine.

“Before I walked out to perform, I felt so nervous and scared, but the moment the mu-sic started all of my fears went away and the dancing itself be-came my only concern. It is so fun to look around while danc-ing, and see the joy in everyone’s faces. We all work so hard and the performance makes all the hard work seem so worth it. I am so thankful for the experience and my team,” Pieters said.

Junior Sierra Fredrickson also had a great time performing with her team at State. “I always enjoy performing with them and I am proud of how far we have come throughout the season.”

She is excited to see how next year turns out, as well. “I can’t wait for State next year, although I will really miss our awesome seniors. Overall, we have had a great season, and I am looking forward to dancing

at upcoming basketball games,” Fredrickson said.

Junior Kylie Mast thought ev-eryone performed well at State and has a strong appreciation for their coach.

“We worked so hard all sea-son, and it showed on the floor. I was really proud of every single member. I think my favorite part of state this year was watch-ing coach Bruene win and ac-cept Coach of the Year. She’s been an awesome coach for so many years, and she’s a joy to be around. We are all so sad to watch her leave at the end of this year, but have been so blessed to be apart of her team,” Mast said.

The dance team will perform at future men’s and women’s basketball games this year. The teams consist of freshman through seniors at Cedar Falls High School.

Young wrestling team starts season finding early success

ALAM By Editor-in-Chief Zuhayr

The CFHS wrestling season got underway last Thursday with a double dual meet in the high school gymnasium. Even though the Tigers fell short in both of the duals, the young team showed many positives and promise for the rest of the season.

Assistant coach Ethan Weich-mann looks forward to the growth ahead.

“We are a very young team this year with 16 freshmen,” Weichmann said. “Couple this with having several first-year wres-

tlers, and we have the potential to make huge gains throughout the season. We are very excited about the type of kids we have in the wrestling room. They are hard workers and buy into what we are trying to accomplish.”

Two days later, on Saturday, the Tigers had another meet. This time, it was the Keith Young Invita-tional which was held in the CFHS gymnasium. There, the Tigers placed three on the podium.

Seniors Ryan Roth and Jacob

Watters both picked up third place finishes for their weight classes 138 and 126 respectively, along junior Bryce Pilcher at 170. Freshman Jake Penrith and junior Brock Wei-denbacher also got 5th and 6th re-spectively. The Tigers finished the meet at 11th place overall.

Senior Jacob Watter has high hopes for the remainder of the season.

“Personally, I want to win a State title,” Watters said. “As a team, we will wrestle every team as

hard as we can, and hopefully we will surprise some people with our results.”

Weichmann also wants to fo-cus on the fundamentals.

“This season we want to be sure to teach the basics of wres-tling and team culture.”

The Tigers’ next meet is on the 12th at Western Dubuque at 10 a.m.