Volume 17, Issue 2

October, 2012

1102 Wildcat Ave.

Fruita, CO 81521

Fruita Monument

High SchoolThe Catalyst

TOO MUCH

TECH?

News Pg. # 3

Blue Ribbon SchoolsWhat does a Blue Ribbon mean to District 51?

A&E Pg. # 5

HoroscopesFind out what your zodiac sign says about you!

X-Factor < The Voice > American IdolWhich of these shows best its your music show needs

Managing Editors: Alyssa Urban and Jennifer Robinson. News Editor

and Business Mannager: Keaton Brown. Commentary Editor: Taylor

Scoield. Features Editor: Alyssa Urban. Sports Editor: Eden Laase.

Arts & Entertainment Editor: Jennifer Robinson. Photography Edi-

tor: Madison Wittman. Reporters: Kate Andersen, Adrienne Chiapuzio,

Megan Corisdeo, Taylor Eatwell, Sydni Hart, Logan McGovern, Melissa

Murphy, and Josephene Owens.

Staff Adviser: Trent Wuster Trent.Wuster@d51schools.org (970) 254-7280

The Catalyst is a publication of Fruita Monument

High School, 1102 Wildcat Avenue, Fruita, Colorado. The

Catalyst is published twice per quarter and is distributed

free to Fruita Monument High School students and staff.

Advertising rates and deadlines are available via e-mail at

fruitacatalyst@gmail.com.

Content of the student newspaper is an expression

of 1st amendment freedom of speech and press rights and do

not represent the position or policies of Mesa County School

District #51 or of Fruita Monument High School’s adminis-

tration or staff.

As stated in School Board policy, school-spon-

sored publications are a public forum for students as well as

an educational activity through which students can

gain experience in reporting, writing, editing and

more in the effort to promote responsible journalism.

Content of school publications may relect all areas of student interest, which may include topics about

which there may be dissent or controversy.

Comments, questions, suggestions, or

letters to the editor are welcome. Unsigned editorials

will not be printed. Letters may be edited for length

and grammar.

Some material courtesy of American

Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High

School Newspaper Service.

The Catalyst Staf:

Sports SuperstitionsSuperstitions help FMHS to win

Sports Pg. # 10

Fruita Monument students all gathered at the annual homecoming

bonire to watch as the Montrose Indian ignited in lames.

Serving it up: Junior Style

Juniors domiate the FMHS volleyball teams

Aspen College Fair

How to choose your college

The Fruita Monument football boys rejoice after their big

win against the Grand Junction High School Tigers. The

inal score of 20-14 ended the ive year drought for the wildcats.

Commentary Pg. # 15

Amendment 64The Legalization Situation

iFeel Left OutBuy an iPhone today; become broke in two years

Features Pg. #12

Average Joes With Average JobsAlbertons, Bananas, and Bostons student employees

Backpacks Causing BackachesHow much should your backpack weigh?

Juniors of 2013Juniors planning to graduate with seniors of 2013

Photo by Jennifer Robinson

Photo Courtesy of Rylan Perez

Aspen College FairBy Alyssa Urban, Co-managing editor

As students begin

their junior and senior years

of high school, counselors

including Bob Corneille at

FMHS strongly encourage

students to begin searching

for the right college.

“As counselors, we

can help students in general

about the college search and

application process,” Cor-

neille said, “But college fairs

are a way to get information

directly from the source about

speciics of a college.” The Aspen College

Fair, held on October 7, 2012,

was one event that attracted

over 2000 parents and stu-

dents who have begun their

college search.

The Annual 2012 Col-

orado Western Slope College

Fair (CWSCF), put on by the

CWSCF committee, featured

over 200 colleges and univer-

sities. Visiting students and

parents were able to speak

directly with the representa-

tives from each school they

were interested in.

“The reps were really

informative and I realized

what I need to start looking

for in a college,” junior Shan-

non Haughtzinger said.

Corneille believes

that the four most critical

topics to ask a representative

about their school are what

the requirements are, what

the school offers regarding

inancial aid, what programs the school runs and what the

housing situation is like.

These four questions

can help form a solid conver-

sation about a college, giving

the student a relatively clear

idea about the college they

are researching.

The CWSCF brought

together schools from across

the United States and even

two international schools.

Many of the colleges were

large Ivy League institutions

and private universities.

“There were a lot of

elite schools there,” Haugh-

tzinger said. “And I didn’t

recognize a lot of them, but I

got the chance to get an idea

of what’s really out there.”

The fair also offered

18 various breakout sessions

before and during the explora-

tion of each college’s booth.

These semi-

nars covered various topics

from inancial aid to student athlete regulations.

“I listened to a talk

about choosing the right

college and how to go about

doing that,” junior Megan

Volkmann said. “They gave

me some really good ideas on

rarely asked questions about

certain colleges.”

Volkmann learned two

important questions a student

should ask when speaking to

college representatives. One

is what the attrition/drop-out

rate is for students at a college

during their irst year and an-

other is if most students tend

to stay on campus or leave for

home every weekend.

College representative

Erica Engsburg from Emory

University, a private college

in Georgia, thinks that at-

tending college fairs are quite

important. As her irst year representing her college at

fairs and other similar events,

Engsburg has already ap-

peared at several college fairs

around the country.

“I think [college fairs]

are a great opportunity for

students to research and get

an idea of the background of a

college,” Engsburg said.

Engsburg notices that

the main group of people that

attended the college fair on

October 7th was juniors and

seniors in high school with

their parents.

Every student comes

with different questions

regarding their interested

school.

“People always ask

about academic programs

and speciic classes that our school may offer,” Engsburg

said.

Even though the As-

pen College Fair has a great

reputation, it may not be the

deciding factor in which col-

lege to attend, but Engsburg

believes that it is a great irst step for kids.

Blue Ribbon Schools are

public or private elemen-

tary through high schools for

students who perform at very

high levels or show sig-

niicant growth and improve-

ment. Since the Blue Ribbon

Organization started nearly 30

years ago, they have recog-

nized over 7,000 schools,

honoring America’s most suc-

cessful education programs.

Rynn Sadlie, one

of Colorado’s Blue Ribbon

representatives said, “There

are multiple beneits to be-

ing a Blue Ribbon School.

A Blue Ribbon lag is placed in front of the school, show-

ing that they are in fact a B.R

school. Also B.R schools

are nationally recognized

as some of America’s most

egregious schools. It validates

and acknowledges the hard

work of students, teachers,

families and communities.

B.R schools also mentor other

schools and may ind it a little easier receiving grants and

funds.”

Each fall all winning

schools are invited to Wash-

ington D.C for a ceremony to

celebrate their success, share

information, receive a plaque,

and a lag to commemorate their achievement. The U.S

Secretary of Education, Arne

Duncan, speaks of the 304

schools that have showed

exemplary performance and

tremendous execution in

maintaining a healthy school.

These Blue Ribbon students

get the sense of satisfaction

and joyousness as an addi-

tional beneit. In order to become a

Blue Ribbon School, there

are a certain set of eligibil-

ity expectations the school

has to meet. Schools that

are ranked among the state’s

highest performing schools

as measured by performance

on state assessments in read-

ing and math or that score at

the highest percentage level

can be a candidate for a Blue

Ribbon school. Also, a school

that showed improvement as

the years went on. Each year

the program’s representa-

tives visit select schools all

over the country to learn their

stories. They made an audio

slideshow of students, teach-

ers, parents, and all the com-

munity members involved

in that school. Many schools

apply to obtain this honor, but

only some will receive the

title of Blue Ribbon School.

Here in Mesa County,

we have one school that has

received the honor, and that is

Pear Park Elementary. It has

showed signiicant improve-

ment and over all bettered

their schools

society. Many

principals

and board

members

have worked

to achieve a

higher goal

and become

a good can-

didate for a

becoming a

Blue Ribbon

school. And

as we wait for

a response,

schools just

keep on work-

ing.

Blue ribbon schoolsBy Adrienne Chiapuzio, Reporter

3

The CatalystOctober 2012

News

The Catalyst4News

October 2012

Soda ban in NYCBy Sydni Hart, Reporter Fruita vs. Junction

On September 13, 2012

New York City’s Board of Health

voted to ban the sale of sugary

drinks larger than 16 ounces ap-

plying to everywhere but grocery

stores. This was put into action in

order to try to encourage citizens of

the city to live healthier lifestyles

and cut down on their soda intake.

The board voted eight in

favor with only one apposed.

Obesity is one of Ameri-

ca’s deadliest problems and sugary

drinks are a leading cause of it. It

seems as if the size of sugary bever-

ages grows, so do we. New York

City spends an estimated $4 billion

each year for obese or overweight

people in need of Medicare. 58%

Fruita Monuments head

coach Sean Mulvey brings his Wild-

cats to Stocker Stadium for one of

the best rivalry games against head

coach Robbie Owens and his Grand

Junction High School Tigers. When

it comes to these games, you can bet

the crowds are going to be hyped

beyond belief because this is Fruita

and Grand Junction.

Sure, when you look at the

game on paper you say the Tigers

win no doubt. But that’s not exactly

what happened. Wildcats came into

the game with a rough season due to

the loss of 2012 seniors and a new

quarter back starting for the irst season in his career.

Going into the game,

Junction was the favorite team, but

nothing was going to set back the

Wildcats.

Earlier that Friday, Fruita

Monuments Assistant Principal,

Todd McClaksey, made an an-

nouncement over the school inter-

com which ended in “Let’s show

them what a bunch of farmers and

ranchers can do.” And that’s just

what our Wildcats did.

Fruita Monument (2-4)

surprised No. 8 Grand Junction

(4-2) on Junctions homecoming

game night, ending the four year

losing streak against the Tigers.

Senior, Aidan Woomer

catches an 80-yard opening drive

for Wildcats scoring a 3-yard touch-

down with only 8 minutes left in the

opening quarter.

Senior, Spencer Fair then

adds a 49-yard ield goal making it 10-0 Fruita in the irst 12 minutes. Vince Grasso, senior,

totaled at 132 yards rushing. Jake

Lynch, junior, passed for 106 yards.

Senior, Zac Griggs took a second

quarter kick off 92-yards down for a

touchdown.

The Fruita Monument

Wildcats upset the Grand Junc-

tion Tiger’s homecoming with a

inal score of 20 to 14. This marks Mulveys irst win against Junction as the head coach of the Wildcats.

“Our freshman beat them

(this year), our JV beat them, and

now we beat them,” Grasso said to

GJ Sentinel, “I’m glad to be a part

of it.”

By Jen Robinson, Co-managing editor

On Friday September 14,

2012 a very lucky baby was born

some would say. Shawna Arnold

went into labor and they were going

to the hospital when she decided

she just couldn’t wait to come to the

world. The baby’s mother and father

just happened to pull into the right

parking lot.

They pulled into New

Hampshire Motor Speedway as

she begun to give birth. A EMT

came out to see what was going on

and helped the young mother give

birth to her 5 pound baby girl. And

because she was born in their park-

ing lot and was later rushed to the

hospital in a New Hampshire Motor

Speedway ambulance the track calls

her the youngest fan and lightest

fan.

In respect for their newest

fan they gave this girl free tickets

for life. This means she can come

back to the track at any time and

will receive a free ticket to get into

the race; but that’s not the only

thing they did. They also rewarded

the baby’s parent’s free tickets for

life to.

The couple had

decided to pull into the

right place at the

right time. Now

they have

a story to tell

for a long

time

when

they use

the free

tickets to at-

tend NASCAR

races. Katie (the

baby girl) is one

lucky little fan.

One speedy delivery

By Josephene Owens, Reporter

Many snowboard-

ers look up to

Olympic snow-

boarding medal-

ist like Shaun

White for

an example.

White is a

natural at

snowboard-

ing and he

deinitely knows

what he

is doing.

White did not

know what he

was doing on

Sep- tember 17, 2012

when he got arrested.

White has been charged

with vandalism and public

intoxication. In Nashville,

Tennessee he was staying in a hotel

when he decided to pull the ire alarm. After pulling the alarm he

tried to run out of the hotel and get

into a cab and drive away. While

running to a cab a bystander tried to

stop him but White kicked him and

kept running.

“He appeared to be highly

intoxicated and smelled strongly

like alcohol.” Witnesses claim.

“One hotel employee ac-

cused him off smashing a phone.”

Police state.

The bystander who tried

to stop White chased after him and

after a while he fell backwards and

hit his on a fence but he did not

press charges. Later White was ar-

rested for misdemeanor and refused

to sign papers. Some people who

you look up to might not be the best

inluence.

Shaun White arrested

By Taylor Eatwell, Reporter

After Stacey Pulsifer took

a one hundred mile drive through

upstate New York, she discovered

a six week old kitten hitched to her

bumper.

Pulsifer told the press

that she had taken a drive from her

home town in Plattsburg to Eliza-

bethtown to go see some friends

and relatives for the day. The trip

took over twenty two hours. As she

drove, she heard some strange cries

coming from outside but thought

nothing of them.

When she had stopped at a

gas station for a cup of coffee, and a

snack, she heard meowing com-

ing from the back of her car. After

convincing two others from the gas

station to search her vehicle with

her, they discovered a furry little

surprise attached to her bumper.

A tiny black kitten was

wedged behind the bumper. Man-

gled and confused, the kitten had a

broken paw and was very cold, but

luckily was alive.

Pulsifer has since adopted

the hitchhiker and named her pump-

kin.

This story could have

had a very sad ending, but luckily

everything worked out ine and the kitten lived to see another day.

Cat found in bumper

By Melissa Murphy, Reporter

of adults in the city are considered

overweight or obese.

This action is expected

to create further protest from the

soda industry and also from those

concerned about the government

getting too involved in personal

choices. Some object that there are

other sensible and logical ways to

approach this problem.

The decision made on Sep-

tember 13 is expected to take place

in six months. The city’s restaurant

inspection team is allowing owners

of restaurants to adapt to change

before facing any potential ines. Some may say in six

months New York will be a health-

ier place, and some may disagree

that it should be a personal choice.

Web Briefs

iReview: 5th Edition

5The Catalyst October 2012

A&E

It’s been hyped up, leaked

out and more anticipated than ever.

This is Apple’s newest and big-

gest product. “The biggest thing to

happen to iPhone since

iPhone,” as the

Apple website

describes it.

This

post-Steve Jobs

Apple product

is the perfect

display of

Dieter Rams’

ten principles

of good design.

It’s innovative,

long-lasting,

unobtrusive, and

thorough

in its

details.

Just like

By Jennifer Robinson, Co-Managing and A&E Editor

the iPhone 4S, it’s been met with a

signiicant mixture of wonder and disappointment.

All expecta-

tions

aside: the iPhone 5 is the best

iPhone by a longshot. The iPhone 5

seems like a minor upgrade until it’s

in your hands. Apples’ claim of the

iPhone 5 being the smallest smart-

phone is questionable, as the Droid

Razr is .5mm thinner almost every-

where except for its 1.1mm camera bump. At only 7.6mm depth, 18% thinner than the 4S, the iPhone 5 is

still one of the thinnest smartphones

out there. The 5 has 12% less volume size overall, and is

20% lighter than the 4S according to the Apple

website.

The screen is now

four inches diagonal,

meaning a longer screen.

This lengthened screen is

the most noticeable change. The

iPhone 5 still retains its outstanding

retina display, now with 326 pixels per inch; making the screen

more preferable for games

and videos. However,

this means more thumb

stretching to reach that

top left corner.

To be able to

make the iPhone 5 thin-

ner and lighter, Apple

had to ditch its 30-pin dock connector.

Apple is now calling

the plug-in the “light-

ening cable,” which is

more powerful and more capable

than the micro USB.

Apple describes the light-

ening plug as “smaller, smarter,

durable and reversible.” The plug

isn’t capable of anything that the

30-pin couldn’t do, and it won’t it old iPhone accessories without a

Jonathon Bohrer: LG Octane user

Love: the new earpods.

Hate: the size of the screen.

Blaine Smith: iPhone 5 user

Love: how tall the screen is.

Hate: apps sometimes don’t it properly.

Tobias Keller-Nare: iPhone 4S user

Love: the thinness of it.

Hate: he doesn’t have one.

Band camp… a whole

week illed with sweat, extreme sunburns, sore feet and of course

marching. Some people would say

that band is not a sport, but ask any

of the FMHS members and they’ll

tell you differently. Five ten-hour

days of band camp and fourteen

weeks of rehearsal builds strength,

friends and character just like any

other sport. “Marching band is a

hard activity that requires coordina-

tion as well as dedication,” Justin

Lybrook, junior, said.

After working hard to

build core strength, muscle memory

and good marching skills, the band

gets the opportunity to compete at

the state competition. Band direc-

tor here at FMHS, Ryan Crabtree

explained, “State is the culminating event of the year. It’s pretty much

the playoffs for marching band.”

The band is given three

songs to perform and they must

make it musically appealing as

well as visually show. The visual

Never Stop MarchingBy Melissa Murphy, Reporter

part comes mostly from the color

guard. Spinning six foot lag poles around in the air while maintaining

a smile, is what the color guards

job is. Without this visual part of

the show, most people would not

be able to depict the theme of the

show.

Not only is Crabtree

excited for state, but other band members are also very enthusiastic

about the competition. “I can’t wait

to leave a bigger legacy than the

year before,” Shania Schortzmann,

junior, said.

Last year the band made

semiinals for the irst time, and came in twelfth place. Each year

the band has moved up a spot and

this year they hope to take elev-

enth or better. “State is the reason

I come back every year. I hope to

live up to our potential,” Lindsey

Cookson, junior, said.

Although many of the

upperclassmen are excited for the journey to state, many of the

$30 dock adapter. Other design differences

are less consequential and actu-

ally beneit the user more. The FaceTime camera is now centered

above the earpiece; the headphone

jack has been moved to the bottom

of the phone; earphones have been

restyled and are now known as

‘EarPods’; the phone is now made

of two-toned aluminum (scuff-able)

backing.

The new EarPods have

been engineered to reduce back-

ground noise and maximize sound output. The EarPods are designed

to it in and stay in the ear comfort-ably.

IGN is calling the iPhone

5 the “best gaming phone on the

market” with less lag and faster

loading. Even after an average days

use of LTE browsing, call time, and

gaming the iPhone 5 user is left

with about 25% battery. The camera app may have

beneited most from the newer design. Although the camera is still

only 8 megapixels, it now uses a sapphire lens, allowing much better

low-light photography.

Now, you can take pictures

just as fast as you can hit the button,

making the camera 40% faster, a much bigger step up from the 4S.

Not to mention, the iPhone 5 user

can take a video and take still pho-

tos at the exact same time. The new camera even has face detection for

up to 10 faces. The front facing camera

has been upgraded from VGA to a

1.3 MP, making FaceTime and self-shots much easier.

There are no iOS 6 features

speciic to the iPhone 5, which is a bit of an upset to iPhone 5 buyers.

But it seems like most are still con-

tent with their upgrades from older

versions of the iPhone.

Apple prides themselves

on new updates and sleek items,

and that’s just what this is. This is

the irst time Apple has changed the screen measurement of an iPhone,

making this a very big deal.

Photo Courtesy of MCT Campus

rookie marchers couldn’t be more

nervous. “This is my irst year on lags, and I’m freaking out for state,” Nichole Moss, sophomore,

said.

Each year state competi-

tion is performed in a different

area. The 2012 State competition will take place at the Air Force

Academy in Colorado Springs.

The band will be leaving the day

after Halloween, and returning

November 3rd. It is important the

band stay healthy and alert, so that

means no Halloween candy comas

for any of the members.

Crabtree and the other

ninety six members will be inish-

ing their show, and cleaning their

drill until the arrival of state. “I am

so proud of these kids. They have

worked so hard and have kept a

good attitude this season. I will be

pleased with whatever place they

take as long as it was their best

performance of the year,” Crabtree

said. Photo Courtesy of Alexis Wriston

The Catalyst6A&E

October 2012

By Jennifer Robinson, Co-Managing Editor

Top Songs

This mixed genre list is a

collaborative of old and new songs

that are getting the attention of

many Fruita students.

1. Hey Ho- The Lumineers

2. It’s Time- Imagine Dragons

3. Wicked Games- The Weeknd

4. Drained Out- Audio Bullys

5. Skyfall - Adele

6. Like Lions Do- Right Away,

Great Captain

7. Eyes on Fire vs. Jackie Boy- VIP

Remix ft. Omar Lynx

8. What You Know- Two Door

Cinema Club

9. Off To the Races- Lana Del Rey

10. Thinkin’ ‘Bout You- Frank

Ocean

11. Paris Satisfaction- Kanye West

and Jay-z vs. Benny Benassi

12. Horses- Yes Nice

13. Samson- Regina Spektor

14. Radioactive- Imagine Dragons

15. What Starry Eyes Know- Two

Door Cinema Club vs. Ellie Gould-

ing

As you can tell, technol-

ogy has taken over the world and is

a large part of everyone’s everyday

lives. The majority of students and

adults are occupied by their cell

phones and the internet too. Some

are also entertained by a few televi-

sion shows, “The Voice”, “Ameri-

can Idol” and “X-Factor.”

The voice consists of

three judges, Cee-Lo Green, Adam

Levine, Blake Shelton and Christina

Aguilera. These three judges face

the opposite direction of the singer,

and if they enjoy the voice of the

one performing they then press their

button, and turn around. This show

has been around for two years now.

“I prefer ‘The Voice’

because all of my favorite singers

are the judges,” said Olivia Aguilar,

senior.

“I prefer ‘the Voice’

because it gives starving artists a

chance, and they judge you by your

voice, not your appearance. The set

up and technology of the show is

really cool too,” said Tobias Keller,

senior.

Another show that many

people seem to have interest in is

American Idol. It’s very different in

the sense that the show is more for

the humor, and making fun, rather

than being serious. The judges are

Keith Urban, Mariah Carey, Randy

Jackson, and Nicki Minaj. “Ameri-

can Idol” has been around for ten

years.

“I like ‘American Idol’

over the two other shows because

the people who try out are not

very good, and that makes it really

funny,” said Mackenzie Brown,

junior.

Another popular show that

many are enjoying is the “X-factor.”

This show has its funny moments as

well, and this is only its second year

on television.

“I like the’ X-Factor’

because it expresses a range of

talents,” said Lyndi Cates, junior.

Demi Lovato, Britney

Spears, Simon Cowell, and L.A.

Reid are the current judges for the

“X-Factor.”

It seems as if the judges

have a large impact on shows; if

the judges are really bad, the show

tends to be as well. If the judges are

funny, the show is usually really

entertaining and holds interest.

“Out of all three of those

shows I like ‘American Idol’ the

best because when the people fail

it is really funny, and it makes me

laugh,” said Wyatt Gill, senior.

“‘American Idol’ is the

best because I enjoy singing along

and dancing with them,” said Levi

Cook, senior.

Senior, Jeremy Franklin,

also said he enjoyed “American

Idol” the most because “it’s cool,

and I enjoying singing along and

it makes me want to dance like an

animal.”

Kiana Bell,

sophomore, explains that she likes

“The Voice” more because it gives

the artists a fair chance at winning

and because “it’s based on their

actual voices not their appearance.

Once a judge decides they

like a voice, they press their button.

If only one judge presses their but-

ton, then the singer is automatically

on their team. If multiple judges

press their button, the singer gets to

choose which team he/she wants to

be on most.

A lot of the students prefer

shows that do not judge based on

appearance, but your actual voice.

However, Kailey Shabelski, junior,

says she likes the “X-Factor”

because “it is very intense and

you have to do stuff you normally

wouldn’t do.”

“I like ‘The Voice’ be-

cause it is better than all the rest and

it keeps your attention,” said Keisha

Cunningham, junior.

“Between all three shows I

like ‘The Voice’ the best because the

people are usually really good and

they are fun to watch,” said Blake

Harbottle, senior.

All three shows are liked,

but many of the students who pre-

ferred “The Voice” over the other

two said it was mainly because it is

truly based on the persons’ voice,

not their appearance. On the other

hand, “American Idol” and the” X-

Factor” are considered less serious

because they are both humorous.

“House at the End of the Street:” A Sneak PeakBy Josie Owens, Reporter

A 17-year-old girl named

Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) and her

mom, Sarah (Elisabeth Shue), move

to a new town. They get a house

that is somwhat cheap. Her mom’s

nursing career usually involves

late night shifts. Elissa isn’t used

to living with her mom because

she normally stayed with her dad.

When Sarah steps up and tries to be

the parent that she hadn’t been for

years, things turn in a way that isn’t

surprising.

Ryan (Max Thieriot),

the young man that lives up the

street from her, gives Sarah a ride

home and sparks an interest with

her. Only wanting the best for her

daughter she invites Ryan to dinner

with them. Elissa resents her mom

when she asks Ryan not to be alone

with Elissa so she decides to be a

rebel. Only wanting to help Ryan

and not be like the rest of the town

that avoids him, Elissa decides to be

with him.

This spikes interest all

throughout the town. Through all

of this, Ryan is trying to hide his

younger sister from everyone keep-

ing her locked up in a basement

in the bottom of his house. Most

people think she’s dead after killing

her parents, but Ryan raises her and

locks her in a room. Ryan’s sister,

is psychotic after falling off a swing

and getting a head injury. He never

quite stopped blaming himself for

that.

With noone in the town

that trusts him, Ryan becomes very

lonely in their large house. Elissa

only wants to help him and be there

for him doesn’t care about his chill-

ing past. Throughout the movie,

she realizes that it may be more

chilling than she could have ever

expected. Getting herself caught up

in all of his stories she becomes less

cautious, but the second her guard

is down Ryan takes advantage,

something that viewers won’t ever

expect.

“The House at the End of

the Street” deinitely has parts that are going to make you jump, parts

that will make you turn your head

and parts that turn your stomach up-

side down; they all lead up to a very

unexpected ending that twists in a

way you wouldn’t think possible.

It’s a scary movie that you

wouldn’t want to see by yourself

and one you’ll deinitely be telling your friends about when it’s over.

The whole movie keeps you guess-

ing on what’s going to happen next

and at parts you won’t believe your

eyes.

As the movie gets deeper

into the story it gives you goose

bumps and your skin cringes as you

watch; making you want to avert

your eyes but has you so hooked

you can’t turn your head. It’s not

your average scary movie that’s full

of guts and gory. It has a story that

you can connect to life its self and

could actually happen.

Things you wouldn’t

expect to happen end up happen-

ing and when you think the story

might turn for the best it turns and

just gets worse. Within the irst half hour of the movie, they already

have you jumping, heart rate

increasing and eyes glued to the

screen.

Everything that happens in

the movie happens for a reason. At

the end of it all, it shows how every

detail of the movie can catch up and

mean something. Things that didn’t

make sense do and things that were

out of place now have a place. It’s a

movie that is eye catching and grabs

your attention the second you sit

down.

X-Factor < The Voice > American IdolBy Megan Corisdeo, Reporter

By Taylor Scoield, Commentary Editor

HOROSCOPESARIES (March 21-April 20)

You will be sitting quietly on your couch when Mitt Romney and

Obama will show up at your doorstep. Without a word they will

step into your living room and begin a heated debate. It will be

your worst political nightmare come to life: a month long pri-

vate debate between presidental candidates in your living room!

Forutnatley, the president and his rival will grow tired and leave

in a couple weeks. You will have lost some sleep, but you will

be a very educated voter. Romney will return a while later in an

attempt to convert you to mormanism.

What to dress up as for Halloween: A Truck. What’s scarrier

than 8 miles per gallon?

TAURUS (April 21-May 21)

In a desperated attempt to earn some money you start breeding

rabbits. The situation soon becomes desparate as you are breeding

faster than you can sell. Thousands of rabbits lood your cottage. Luckily, you sir, are resourceful. You decide to sell rabbit stew

instead. You become famous in the soup world; right up there with

Cambells and Progressive. Your career is ruined when you start a

worldwide epidemic by selling soup made with rabbid rabbits.

What to dress up as for Halloween: Tell people you are a werewolf

but just dress as you normally would. When asked why you are

not dressed as a werewolf explain that it is not yet a full moon.

GEMINI (May 22-June 21)

After being inspired by the ilm, “Swiss Family Robinson,” you build a massive tree house in your backyard. You completly

ignore the fact that your tree is little more than a sappling. 30

years later the tree has matured and you have not. A slight

breeze nocks the tree (and the tree house) on to your house. You

are now forced to return to civilization. After being shunned

by humanity for your dirty, smelly apperance you lee to the mountians and live with the bighorn sheep.

What to dress up as for Halloween: You are scary enough; no

costume needed.

CANCER (June 22-July 22)

You watch “The Hunger Games” and become a huge fan instantly. Your favorite character is Rue. You grow your hair out and then

jump from tree to tree in your backyard. You become a very

skilled “tree jumper,” and the circus hires you. One day you recieve a call from the “Hunger Games” producers. They are making a sequel and they want you to be Rue. (Apperantly

the original Rue refused the role.) You inform them that you

are a 250 pound man, but they still want you. This is your big

shot Cancer! Don’t blow it!

What to dress up as for Halloween: Any One Direction singer.

LEO (July 23-August 21)

Your life is full of stress Leo. To cope, you begin a daily routine of

walking through the city park. You stop one day to help a home-

less man named Seth. Seth takes you under his wing and teaches you the ways of being a hobo. You will quit your job and hop

into a moving freight train on an ill-advised adventure. The next

morning you wake up and ind that Seth has stolen all your mea-

ger belongings and jumped off the train. You cry like a baby for

a few minutes at the thought of Seth betraying you. Then, you return to the city and never tell anyone about your brief “hobo” phase.

What to dress up as for Halloween: Al Gore advertising his charity concert for global warming.

VIRGO (August 22-September 23)

While plugging your vacuum cleaner into an outlet you uninten-

tionally shock yourself. You immediently loat to the ceiling where you are stuck for days. The electric shock triggered a long

dormant gene which turns the oxygen in your lungs into helium.

You swear to use this power for good not evil. Because you have

little foresight, you step out your front door only to ly into the air. As the air gets thinner you begin to think about your life.

Then your are struck by lightning. The gene is shut off and you

fall a hundred feet into a nearby lake. You now have a broken back,

a collapsed lung, and a few torn ligaments, but a heck of a story.

What to dress up as for Halloween: A homeless man named Seth.

LIBRA (September 24-October 23)

Charles Barkley calls you one day and challenges you to a game

of one on one. Don’t be lattered. He needs an easy game to regain some conidence, and he thought of you. Its a close game and it is tied at 20 all. It’s Barkley’s ball, and he desperatley

wants to win. “Hey look a shooting star,” he says. When you turn to look he swiftly kicks you in the groin. As you fall to your knees,

Barkley runs around you for an easy lay-up. A civilized game turns

into a broo-ha-ha when you take a swing at Charles. Barkley iles a restraining order against you so you can never attempt to beat him.

What to dress up as for Halloween: A poster for “The Green Lan-

tern 2.”

SCORPIO (October 24-November 22)

I would love to be able to give you some good news Scorpio; but I can’t. At midnight tonight your life will turn into a living hell. You

will be stuck in a tiny room with nothing but a small record player

and thousands of Jimmy Buffet records. You can never escape

from “Margaritaville.” I actually don’t feel sorry for you though. You kinda deserved it after what you’ve been doing. Anyways,

have fun soakin up the sun with Jimmy.

What to dress up as for Halloween: Gumby

SAGITTARIUS (November 23-December 22)

While playing twister with some nare-do-well friends, you strain

your back. It seems as if you can’t do anything physical for a cou-

ple months. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem since you are

fundamentally unathletic. However, you had planned to partici-pate in a LARPing tournament (that is Live Action Role Playing).

In one of the greatest LARPing stories ever told, you push through

the pain to win the tournament. After your victory, your larping

friends put you on their shoulders and carry you around. Some-

one takes a picture and captions it “Rudy” and your life is forever ruined when it is put online.

What to dress up as for Halloween: You’re good at dressing up; you

think of something.

CAPRICORN (December 23-January 20)

I only know a few speciic things that will happen to you. What happens in between is still unclear. You will ind something valuable. There will be aligators involved. Soon you will have a black eye. You will end up face down on the bank of a river with

your feet in the water. Please let me know what happens inbe-

tween because I am extreemly interested.

What to dress up as for Halloween: Crocodile Dundee

AQUARIUS (January 21-February 19)

Your obsession with “Back to the Future” has gone entirely too far. It is a decent movie but not worth changing your last name to

McFly for. People are laughing at your “time machine car.” Cant you see that? It is time for you to come back to the present. Burn

all the “Back to the Future” movies, books, collectables and set props that you own. If you feel like you have a void in your heart,

maybe start watching the “Lord of the Rings.”What to dress up as for Halloween: A Hobbit

PICES (February 20-March 20)

You make a foolish bet with your friends that you could take

a two ton bull in a one on one ight to the death. Your friends, being the jerks they are, mannaged to set up a ight between you and the bull. When the ight started, you of course screamed like a little girl and ran away. While running away you come to a for-

est. Having nowhere else to run you dash into the depths of the foliage. This is an enchanted forest, however, and you struggle

to ind your way out. You may or may not come across seven dwarves who will help you adapt to forest life.

What to dress up as for Halloween: Dress up like a cheerleader

with the words ‘Go ceiling’ on your shirt. You are a ceiling fan.

7The Catalyst October 2012

A&E

A week without

music

By Taylor Scoield, Commentary Editor

I held the play button on my iPod long

enough that the music stopped and the

screen went dark. Everything went quiet

and I took a deep breath; I was in for a

tough week.

I am a musician and I absolutely

love music. Honestly, I’m not sure what

I would do without music but I found out.

I was not allowed to listen to any

music for a week. This included

music played in stores, music

on TV, and hearing myself play

music.

At the beginning of the week, I didn’t

notice it too much. The only part that

was dificult was not listening to music while I drove. I would turn on my iPod,

as if to start a song, and then realize that I

couldn’t.

By the end of the week it was ob-

vious that I was more irritable and angry

than usual. Music relaxes me so a week

without it left me very nervous and ill-

tempered.

Needless to say, I was

ecstatic to listen to

music again on Mon-

day. For a couple

days, every song I

listened to sounded

incredible. I now

wonder how long I

could survive with-

out music, but I

will never attempt

to ind out.

iGive up my

iPhoneBy Eden laase, sports editor.

I never thought that I was very attached

to my phone. Sure, I used it as much as

anyone else, but I thought that giving it

up would be easy. The rules of my ex-

periment were simple. I couldn’t use my

phone for any reason except to set my

alarm in the morning and in case of emer-

gency.

The irst day wasn’t very dificult; in fact I went through it easily. However,

as the days went on I missed my phone

more and more. By the

fourth day I was dying to

use my phone for texting,

listening to music and snap

chat. The worst part of giv-

ing up my phone was watch-

ing everyone else I knew

using theirs’.

Finally, ive days had passed and I could use my phone

again. I was relieved and very

excited. However, it deinitely took some time for me to catch

back up. At the end of the ex-

periment, I had 49 snap chats,

16 text messages and three

missed calls.

Though I never want to do this

again, it’s nice to know that if I

absolutely had to , I could sur-

vive without my phone.

Life without textingBy Josie Owens, Reporter

Giving up texting was deinitely a chal-lenge that I hated throughout the whole

thing. Going from always being allowed

to text to not texting at all was deinitely a drastic measure. My initial thoughts

were how am I going to do this? How can

I give up something I depend on most?

It’s a very dificult thing to go from 400-600 texts a day to zero. Every

time I received a text I wanted to reply

but always got stuck calling them. I got

to the point where I felt like I was about

to break so I put on a special password on

it restricting me from sending a message

back. Typing all I want and the message

never sending; the only one who knows

the password is my mom.

The overall effect made me realize

how much I depend on texting. Without

it, I feel lost and torn apart. When I had

to call someone almost every ive min-

utes, I deinitely wished I had my texting back.

Being able to inally send a text again, going through all the messages I had

received and texting everyone all back;

it’s the best feeling you could ever imag-

ine; to inally do something that you have been waiting for all week. It made me

never want to lose my phone again. Teens

who have phones and who text as much

as I do would understand exactly what I

went through.

So Long Snapchat

By Alyssa Urban, Features Manager

For most teenage iPhone us-

ers out there, Snapchat has become a

popular and addicting app. The picture

chatting program had me sending snaps

to my contacts throughout my entire

school day, but I became nervous when

the time came to give it up for ive long days.

During the irst day, I kept my notiications on. Whenever I would receive a Snapchat picture from one

of my contacts, it would pop up on my

home screen. These tiny notiications taunted me as I had to restrain myself

from opening up the picture.

After the irst 24 hours without

Mission: TelevisionBy Keaton Brown, Commentary Editor

The second bell rang, marking the begin-

ning of my week-long T.V. prohibition. It

wasn’t hard to avoid T.V. at school be-

cause, unfortunately, we didn’t watch any

movies that week.

When I got home, however, the

pressure was on. I was doing my home-

work on the computer with my brother

watching T.V. right next to me, so even-

tually I just had to turn on my iPod and

avoid temptation. (What made it worse

was that the second season of “Walking

Dead” had just arrived on Netlix, and he was watching.)

This strenuous temptation went on

for the next week- him watching T.V., me

sulking in the corner- him having fun, me

not. It became harder and harder to avoid

watching T.V. every night.

Friday inally arrived, and after school ended, I went straight home and

began watching T.V. I had no inclination

to stop watching T.V., and felt that the

week-long break was no match for mod-

ern-day technology. I felt like I was sup-

posed to feel, “Hey, I don’t need T.V.!”

after avoiding it for a week, but I had no

guilt of polishing off the rest of Walking

Dead: Season II throughout the

night.

A Twitter-less week By Jennifer Robinson, A&E Editor

When the initial idea of a technol-

ogy fast came up in class, it sounded like

a good idea. That was until it actually

went into play. During the brainstorming

process, I knew I would be volunteered

to give up Twitter.

At the very beginning of the 5 day mark,

I completely deleted the app from my

phone. This way, I wouldn’t be tempted

by all the notiications or open the app out of habit.

The hardest part about

this tech-

nol-

ogy

fast

may

have been

just know-

ing that I couldn’t

retweet or favorite

anything that I had been a

part of. The fact that I couldn’t

Are Teens Over-Teched?The Catalyst’s weeklong technologly free experiment.

occupy myself during awkward situations

was also a big change.

Most of us believe that social

media makes us more involved in what’s

going on in the world around us. While it

may help to connect us through long-dis-

tance, it doesn’t help us to connect with

those that we see on a daily basis.

Before I gave up Twitter, I would

scroll through the live feed irst thing in the morning, during class, while I was

out with friends and right before bed. I

was always “in touch” with what was

happening with my followers.

It turns out that giving up Twitter

actually made me more in tune

to what was happening in the

moment. I wasn’t so focused on

scrolling through my feed any-

more, which let me give more of my

attention to the people I surround my-

self with every day.

At the end of the 5 days, I was able to re-

download the Twitter app. I returned to

the site and was welcomed by around 30

interactions and mentions. It was a relief

to be able to visit my friends’ proiles and see what had been happening the last ive days.

Now, I’m not always so attached

to Twitter. I spend my fair share of time

on the app when I’m not around other

people, but try to stay focused on what’s

happening in the moment when I’m with

my friends.

the app, I decided it would be best to turn

off the notiications as to not be distract-ed. The little yellow ghost still haunted

me though as I kept the actual app on my

home screen.

Throughout the week I watched

my friends open their snaps, feeling left

out as I could not do the same.

When Friday came and I could i-

nally look at all my unopened snaps that

were sent over the course of the week, I

was overjoyed to ind the 103 new pic-

tures awaiting me. It was a struggle

to stop using Snapchat so sud-

denly, but when I received my

privileges back, I continued to

use it as much as I did before, if

not more.

Photos By Keaton Brown and Taylor Scoield

The Catalyst 10Sports

October 2012

By Adrienne Chiapuzio,

Reporter

Serving it up: junior style

Spiking, slamming, bump-

ing; these are all aspects of volley-

ball. Each game the girls struggle

and ight to win for their school. The team is illed with juniors and the class of 2014 has dominated the

varsity team since their freshman

year. Each girl has a set of speciic skills that make them so good at

playing their game.

The lists of

juniors rounding out the Varsity team are, Loryn

Chiapuzio, Joelle Lefe-

vre, MacKenzie Schuller,

Lindsay Thomson, Allie

Hatch, Emily Conkling,

Jordan Eatwell, Kasey Dollerschell and Savannah

Ashmore. There are only

two seniors on the team: Jen Morris and

Eiley Durham.

Loryn Chiapuzio

is one junior on Var-sity who has devoted herself to volleyball.

“I am an all-

around left, which means that I play

all the way around the court but my

specialty is hitting

on the left side,”

Chiapuzio said. She

is one of the many

girls that enjoy her sport, playing year

round in the Western Colora-

do Volleyball Club, apart from

the time taken to play school

ball.

“I think that our whole team will be seniors next year, and we will be very stron

skill-wise, I can’t wait to ind out though,” Chiapuzio said.

She has been playing vol-

leyball since she was in the second grade and she instantly fell in love

with it as soon as her hands touched the ball, and found inspiration from

two Olympic greats. “Misty May Treanor and

Kerri Walsh motivate and inspire

me greatly. They have both worked so hard to be where they are today.

The idea of the Olympics pumps me up, though it’s doubtful that I will ever make it,” Chiapuzio said.

“ As a team we are 4 -1. I play everywhere and so far I haven’t been taken out of a game. Recently

we barely lost to Durango, but I am looking forward to when we play them again,” Chiapuzio said.

One of her good friends and teammate, Joelle Lefevre has

grown up around volleyball, expe-

riencing a distinct love for the sport

as soon as her ingers skimmed the ball.

“Watching Joelle and this

team grow has been fun, exciting and a little bit stressful,” said Cheri

Lefevre, Joelle’s mom. “When Joelle started club volleyball she

really liked it, and since then it

became time consuming, and a big

part of our lives.” Cheri has done

many things for the team, almost

acting as a team manager. Her

warm and kind spirit touches the hearts of all the girls.

“As seniors next year, I think they will be really good. They have a lot of athletic ability and are

really well at playing as a team and they always give 100%. I hope they can make it to state,” said Lefevre.

Other key players include Jen Morris, a senior setter and Eiley

Durham, a senior outside hitter who is making her senior year count.

The team ranks 2,359 Nationwide, 56th in the state and 27th in the

state division. The team is ready

and excited yo got to state. “Perfection is impossible

because you can always get better. But nothing says you can’t come really, really close,” said Chiapuzio,

“I can’t wait until we go to state.”

Peyton Manning was surrounded by a great deal of hype

going into this season, and the

excitement is still there. People certainly aren’t shy about voicing their opinions on Peyton Manning.

Some think he is the answer to all of the Broncos’ problems, while others think that he will never be back to how he played pre-surgery. As of week ive, the Broncos had a less than stellar, 2-3

record; beating the Raiders and the

Stealers and losing to the Texans, Falcons and Patriots.

Marshall Gore, junior, is a Broncos fan who is unhappy with how the season has gone thus far. “[I’m not happy with how they have been playing]; we should have beaten Atlanta and Houston

easily.”

Though they have gotten

off to a rough start, Gore remains

optimistic that the season will turn around.

“[I think that they will] make it to the playoffs and then

win the AFC championship.” A successful playoff run

has a lot to do with how Peyton Manning preforms this

season. After multiple neck sur-

geries last year, Manning has been

working hard to get back to his old form.

“His decision making is

there, but

he lacks the arm he once

had,” said Gore.

In his irst game with the Broncos, Manning completed

73% of his passes and threw for two touchdowns leading the Broncos to a win over the Steelers. Following this game, many were left with the feeling that Manning would be the answer to all of the Broncos problems.

However, the Broncos lost their next two games and Manning was nowhere near the quarterback he used to be.

Against Atlanta he threw three interceptions and looked uncom-

fortable in the pocket. Then, the

following week against Hous-

ton he only completed 50% of his passes. After these two games, fans that were previ-ously excited about what

Manning makes By Eden Laase, Sports Editor

Manning

could do for the Bron- cos,

were concerned that he would never be the quarterback that they hoped

for.

Manning turned his play

around again in weeks four and ive with a win against the Raid-

ers and impressive numbers in a

loss to the Patriots.

This early in the season, it

is hard to tell whether Man-

ning is back, or if the Peyton

Manning of old is going to

be left in the past. After four

neck surgeries a full recov-

ery is not probable, and Man-

ning will most likely always have to play with some kind of pain.

The Broncos worked very hard in the off-season to ac-

quire Manning, and it would be a huge disappointment if

things didn’t pan out.

If Manning wants to regain his reputation as one of the best

Quarterbacks of all time, he is go-

ing to have to continue putting up

numbers like he did in against the

Chargers in week six. Manning helped lead the

Broncos back from a 24-0 halftime

deicit. Scoring 35 points in the sec-

ond half, the Broncos joined the ’92 Rams, the ’88 Raiders and the ’46 Eagles on the list for largest second

half comeback on the road in NFL

history.

Manning threw for 309 yards and three touchdown passes in the historic win. This game is certainly a

bright spot in the Broncos season

thus far; however, there are still plenty of games to play and Bron-

cos fans will just have to wait and see what happens.

Stats: With Denver With Indy

2012 2010

RAT CMP%

YDS TD

105.0

67.8

1,808

14

Joelle Lefevre bumps the ball to a teammate.

MacKenzie Schuller spikes the ball.

Photos courtesy of Tiffanie Hatch

Photo by Madison Wittman

91.9

66.3

4,700

33

a comeback

Story and Photo By Alyssa Urban, Managing Editor

Voices of victory: student section gets loud

The players on the football

team are no longer the only people

making news during football games

as the student section of Fruita

Monument High School is becom-

ing known for their undeniably

strong school spirit.

“[The student section] is

a lot bigger than past years, which

is really exciting,” junior Kaley

Kreidler said, third year member of

the poms team. “The kids are way

more into the game.”

Coaches, players and

teachers are noticing the difference

in the student section. The amount

of fans has grown immensely,

and the spirit has increased just as

much. Football players CL Flowers,

senior, and Jacob Lynch, junior, can

conirm the amazing spirit from the ield. “Kids will wait around for

us after the game and it has gotten

a lot louder,” Lynch said. “I even

remember hearing them yell ‘Jake

the snake’ when I was down in the

Eagle Crest game.”

Flowers agrees as he

remembers the student section still

cheering at the Eagle Crest game

even though the Wildcats lost 55-

28. “I believe that we will win” is

a popular chant when the team is

going through a dificult game. “I could hear the fans yelling in the

Alps even when we were losing that

badly,” Flowers said.

Fruita’s student section may have

proved their sincere dedication dur-

ing that Eagle Crest game. Coach

Jeremy Felt, along with the rest of

the team, noticed the enthusiasm of

the students throughout the entire

game.

Felt described the group to

be one of the stronger student sec-

tions that he has seen. Even when

the team was down by 27 points,

students continued to cheer as the

stands remained full.

“It’s nice to see [the

students] standing by the team in

situations like that,” Felt said.

Felt adds that the cheers

really do pump up the team before,

during and after games. The players

cannot come out lat at any time during the game and the fans keep

them motivated to keep their heads

in the game.

The irst two to three rows of the bleachers are known to be

taken over by seniors because they

are the ones leading and starting

most cheers. Blain Uphoff and Jake

Thornburg, seniors, are observed by

some students as the ones that initi-

ate most of the cheers and raise the

noise level.

“Someone needs to lead

it,” Uphoff said, “And whoever

does it has to be loud.”

Uphoff described the stu-

dents to follow along with most any

cheer he, or any other senior starts.

From spelling out “Fruita” to recog-

nizing certain players, anything has the opportunity to be chanted from

the students.

“I’ll usually be the irst one to start a cheer and as soon as

people realize which one it is they will all join in, so it all works out,”

Uphoff said.

Even underclassmen are

beginning to catch onto the enthusi-

asm of the rest of the school.

“As a sophomore I don’t

have to stand in the very back this

year,” sophomore Nicole Twar-

dowski said, “We actually cheer

with everyone else.”

According to Flowers and

Lynch, the student sections were

abnormally large for their opposing

teams during away games in Den-

ver. The students had cheers that

included dances and other simulta-

neous hand motions.

Grand Junction High

School has also been known to have

a very enthusiastic student section

at football games.

“Junction goes pretty hard

at games,” Flowers said, “but I

think our section could easily be

better than them this year.”

Lynch was certainly proud

to hear ‘GJ no way’ coming from

Fruita’s students after the Wildcats

huge upset on Friday, September

28th as they beat the Junction Tigers

20-14 at the Tiger’s homecoming

game.

“Coach [Sean] Mulvey

said that our student section is the

loudest that we have had in the last

four years,” Uphoff said, “And I

take that as a big compliment.”

Superstition has always

been a part of human nature- black

cats, stepping on cracks and walk-

ing under ladders, but these beliefs

also exists in the sports at Fruita.

Athletes at FMHS have always done

well, but many of them don’t think

they would be doing as great with-

out the help of a little superstition.

The girls’ basketball team

has a few individual superstitions

to win their games. It’s not really a

team thing in their case; each player

has their own game-day ritual.

“I wear the same necklace

before each game,” said Vanessa

Herrera, junior.

“I always straighten my

hair the day of the game,” said

sophomore Courtney Coffey.

These seemed to work,

because they came out with a win-

ning record at the end of last year’s

basketball season.

Each of the individual girls

has their own “pre-game ritual”, but

in other sports, like Fruita’s baseball

team, the superstitions are more like

rules that have to be followed. The

whole team follows these supersti-

tious “rules” in hopes that they will

win the game. The coach doesn’t

really endorse them, but the team

just follows them. In most cases, the

team said, they work.

“Never step on the foul

line when you’re running around

the ield on game day,” said Mar-shall Gore, left ielder. “Don’t play catch in front

of the dugout,” said Luke Goodrich,

second baseman.

The team doesn’t really

know where these rules started, but

they seem to hold true. They also

ended the season with a winning

record, thanks to the players’ super-

stitions, or so the team thinks.

Cross country is seemingly

the simplest of sports- start, run,

inish. However, many of Fruita’s cross country runners believe their

success is attributed to their super-

stitions. The superstitions in cross

country have been passed down for

years and religiously followed by

the team.

“If you walk through the

inish before you run, you’ll have a bad race. That’s a fact.” said Matt

Steele, varsity cross country runner.

“It’s (this superstition)

been a part of the team for as long

as anyone on the team right now

can remember,” Steele added.

“The worst race I had last

year also happened to be the only

race I’ve ever walked through the

inish line,” said sophomore Brett Johnson.

The whole team also

makes sure to “knock-on-wood”

anytime anyone says anything

negative, which, in most cases, is

sophomore Tim Chandler.

“More than worrying about

karma, it’s really about having the

right, positive mindset when you

start the race,” said Chuck Bisbee.

“We try to keep Tim from

being negative on race days so the

whole team can race well, and I

think it’s working,” he added.

Basketball, baseball and

cross country are not the only sports

at Fruita that have superstitions and

pre-game rituals; almost every sport

here has some kind of ritual to keep

them from losing. Though no one

knows for sure whether or not these

superstitions improve their game,

they sure seem to be doing good

things for Fruita.

Superstitious sports

By Keaton Brown, News Editor

Anticipating the move of your

opponent and waiting to make that

perfect swing to end the game.

Concentration, hand eye coordina-

tion and quick thinking are all skills

required to succeed at the game of

ping pong.

Many

people have

hobbies that

they enjoy,

but when

more than

one person

enjoys that

hobby, it

can be turned

into a club.

Here at Fruita

Monument, there are

many clubs full of

dedicated members.

Although

there are some well-

known clubs with

many members, one

of the most unknown clubs at the

school is, The Elite Ping Pong

Society. “The ping pong society?

Since when did we get a ping pong

society?” said Noah Dennison,

junior.

Each club must have an adult su-

pervisor, and Mr. Davis is proud to

be the supervisor of the ping pong

society. “I enjoy the camaraderie

of all the kids, and it’s such a fun

atmosphere to be in,” said Davis,

well- known Spanish teacher here

at Fruita. According to Davis, The

Elite Ping Pong Society is a fun

activity for students to do dur-

ing lunch. They meet every

Wednesday and Friday

during lunch up on

the deck.

The pres-

ident of the

club, James

Balls of fury

Ping pong club

By Melissa Murphy, Reporter

Stagg, and his brother Grant, are

some of the most dedicated mem-

bers. When asked what the best part

of the club was, members responded

with one word; “Competition.”

If anyone is interested in

becoming a part of this society, just

bring your lunch up to the deck on

Wednesday or Friday and bring

your game face. Forrest Gump

would be proud.

Photo By Madi Wittman

11

The CatalystSports

The Catalyst 12Features

October 2012

Story and Photos By Madison Wittman, Photography Editor

Average Joes with average jobs

Between sky high gas

prices and daily trips out to lunch,

teenage wallets can really take a hit.

In an attempt to earn some money,

many students pick up part time

jobs. Not the most farfetched idea,

earning money because you have to

spend money, but it’s a bit strange

when you realize fellow peers tend

to stick together.

Devin Winstanley, junior,

along with many other Grand

Valley students, works at the local

grocery store Albertson’s. “I ap-

plied halfway through the sum-

mer, so it’s only been about four

months,” Winstanley said.

But of all of the local

shops and restaurants, why work

at a grocery store?

“Albertson’s is very lex-

ible with school schedules. It’s a

very student friendly place,” Win-

stanley said. “I think it’s a solid irst job for any high school student.”

Jamie Euler, senior, and an

Albertson’s employee for nearly

a year and a half, has progressed

from bagger, to checker and now

works at the Starbucks located

within the store. “Albertson’s is

close to my house, has coopera-

tive hours and is a really fun and

laid back place to work,” Euler said

agreeing with Winstanley. “And it’s

a blast working with classmates.”

“Sometimes it can be

stressful balancing work and school,

but like I said, they assign very

manageable hours,” Euler added.

“I think kids enjoy working with so

many of their classmates, they see

the fun environment and want to

be a part of the ‘Albertson’s Crew’

themselves,” Euler said.

Fellow member of the

“crew”, Karen Rico, ju-

nior, has been employed

at Albertson’s for seven

months. “It was kind

of my last choice. I’d

applied other places but

never heard back,” Rico

said.

Rico has found

balancing work and

school can be a major

task. “When I was a

courtesy clerk you

either got the 4:30-8:30

or 5:30-9:30 shift. You

never knew which it

would be or how often.

I really had to stay on

top of my school work.”

“The hardest

part though is maintaining a social

life. Working at 7am on the week-

ends makes it hard to be out late the

night before,” Rico said.

But perks of the job don’t

only include money. “Two other

students got hired the same time

I did. I didn’t really know or like

them, but I’ve gotten to know

them outside of school a lot

better. It kind of changed my

perspective on a lot of things,”

Rico said.

Tristan Wuster, along with

several other Fruita students, has

found his source of income from

local fun park Bananas. Owned and

operated by a Grand Valley family,

the business is a “fun, easy going

work place that’s very lexible” ac-

cording to Wuster.

“I needed money for gas,

insurance, and other things, so I

started working a little over a year

ago,” Wuster said. “It’s also nice

working with other students because

it’s a lot more fun and less stress-

ful.”

Austin Bratt,

senior and a Banana’s

employee for over

a year, agrees with

Wuster saying “it [Ba-

nanas] is really lexible which is nice.”

“They don’t

usually schedule stu-

dents to work on week-

days, so it’s pretty easy

to keep up with school

too,” Wuster added.

“I think it’s

way chill being able to work with

friends,” Bratt said. You can ind Bratt working any station when

he’s on the job, anywhere but in the

kitchen that is.

Bram Heberle, junior,

although working at a restaurant,

stays out of the kitchen as well.

The Boston’s Sports Bar employee

“mainly hosts” and “busses table

after table” on an average work day.

“I started working in early

June. I only did it for the money,”

Herberle said. “It pays really well,

Pick-up lines have become

an easy way for boys to attract girls.

We all know that one guy who uses

pick-up lines to impress girls, or at

least tries to. But the real question

is how many girls actually fall for

cheesy compliments?

Junior Gabby Herrera is

among many girls who would not

enjoy a pick up line being used to

get her attention.

“I think they’re more like

jokes,” Herrera said.

When a line is heard or

used several times, it becomes less

honest. At least that is a girl’s opin-

ion. They start seeing them as jokes

when they hear them over and over

again. To really impress a girl, be

original and come up with some-

thing new – or less used.

Attracting girls’ attention

is not the only reason pick-up lines

are used, there are more reasons.

“I don’t pick-up girls with

cheesy lines. I’m just trying to make

them laugh,” senior Jordan Shannon

said.

Every girl likes a good

laugh, and some lines can be funny

while others can be offensive. Guys

never know whether their openers

will be met with a giggle or a slap.

No female is the same, and there

is no way to tell if a girl will react

to the pick-up lines one way or

another.

If you ask any girl if she

has had a guy tell her a pick-up line,

the answer will probably be yes.

Luck and conidence in a guy might be just what it takes to pull the

lines off. A simple compliment on a

woman’s smile or her hair is always

a good start. Honesty and sincerity

are important as a irst impression. Who knows, it could be fate. So,

be clever and never lie in a compli-

ment.

However, just as no female

are the same, neither are males.

Many guys use pick-up lines, but

there are also the ones that do not.

Senior Gage Lorentz has never told

a girl a line. “I don’t know why, I

guess I’m just not that social around

new girls.”

Cheesy lines for cheesy guysBy Kate Andersen, Reporter

1. Are you a map? Because I’m lost in your eyes.

2. Can I tie your shoes? Because I don’t want you

to fall for anyone else.

3. Are you tired? Because you have been running

through my mind all day.

4. Do you believe in love at irst sight or should I walk by again?

5. You’re so sweet that you put Hershey’s out of

business.

6. There is something wrong with my cell phone.

Your number isn’t in it.

7. How was heaven when you left?

Top 7 Pick-Up Lines

and you only need basic training.

They assign reasonable hours too.”

Brady Antonelli, junior,

applied at Boston’s because he

knew he’d be working with friends.

“Sometimes it can be overwhelm-

ing, but I work mostly weekends,

so that makes it much easier to

handle,” Antonelli said.

“It’s great working with

classmates. There are a lot of us

working there, so we have more

fun than if we were working with

people we don’t know. That attracts

more students too,” Antonelli said.

“Boston’s is very student friendly

because they understand our lack of

time as students, and work that into

the schedule.”

Jake Gulden, junior and

son of the owner, agrees with He-

berle and Antonelli in that although

it can be “extremely hard” balanc-

ing work and school, Boston’s is

“most deinitely a student friendly environment.”

When it comes to needing

a little extra cash, a part time job is a great option for students. Any

job is a way to make money, but as

Fruita students have proven, work-

ing with classmates might just make

going to work less of something you

have to do, and more something you

want to do.

Karen Rico shows of on the job at

Starbucks in Albertson’s.

Jake Gulden holds the menu

of his place of work at Bos-

ton’s.

October 2012

13The Catalyst

Features

By Josephene Owens, Reporter

With backpacks come backaches

Carrying a ton of books

in your backpack may leave you

wishing that you didn’t at the end

of the day or even after high school.

When you carry your backpack you

wouldn’t think that it could lead

to problems after high school. But

when a bag weighs half of what you

do, then maybe you should work on

lowering what you’re carrying in

your bag.

10-15% of your body

weight should be the max on

your back. Carrying around

more can leave you regret-

ting that decision later.

“A heavy back-

pack can pull

on the neck

muscles,

contrib-

uting

to

head-

ache,

shoul-

der

pain,

lower back

pain, and/or

neck or arm

pain,” said John

J Triano, DC, PhD

said.

“After high school, I know,

after carrying as much as I do on

my back, I’m probably going to

wish that I hadn’t carried so much.

It’s got to the point that even after

I put my backpack down my back

still hurts,” Shay Jenson, sopho-

more, said.

It could also be the way

you’re holding your bag. Carrying

a backpack with one strap on the

shoulder while the other dangles

will cause a person to strain their

back sideways and that leads to

leaning. The straps, though, should

not be so tight that they pull

on the shoulders. But

even wearing your

backpack

correctly can cause

issues.

According to the American

Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on

kidshealth.org, “carrying a heavy

pack changes the way kids walk

and increases the risk of falling,

particularly on stairs or other places

where the backpack puts students

off balance.”

Although they may not

get rid of the issues you have from

you backpack, these tips might help

lower the issues that are present.

Make sure your bag is only 10-15%

of your body weight; anything more

could possibly cause permanent

damage.

“I carry 12 books total,

4 binders, 2 textbooks, 2

notebooks, a free reading

book, planner, and any-

thing else I need for

a class I carry,”

sophomore

Summer Earl

said.

Another

tip is to

distribute

the

weight

evenly and

have a backpack

with two straps,

making sure they

are tightened so the

pack its closely to your body. This will distribute the

weight throughout the body so the

weight is not just on your back,

shoulders or neck.

“Habitually carrying back-

packs over one shoulder will make

muscles strain to compensate for

the uneven weight. The spine leans

to the opposite side, stressing the

middle back, ribs and lower back

more on one side than the other.

This type of muscle imbalance can

cause muscle strain, muscle spasm

and back pain in the short term

and speed the development of back

problems later in life if not cor-

rected,” Triano said.

The last tip would be to

use your locker. Do not carry books

or binders that you don’t have to.

Over time it will make you regret

the decision.

"The issue I have seen is

that kids fall and have an injury

because their backpack is so heavy,"

William Hennrikus, MD, chairman

of the orthopedic section of the

American Academy of Pediatrics on

webmd.com said. "If kids are carry-

ing a 40-pound backpack and they

weigh 80 pounds, they can fall right

over or not have enough stability to

balance themselves throughout the

day, risking wrist, arm, or leg injury,

or worse."

“I don’t use my locker be-

cause it’s too far away from all my

classes and I would be late if I went

to it,” Earl said.

“If students don’t utilize

their locker properly and cram

every book into their bag that they

can, then [they can be injured],”

math teacher Amy Sexe said. “If

they use their locker properly, then

they won’t have any problems.”

Be cautious and careful

carrying around your bag because

you wouldn’t want to carry around

the regret after high school from

carrying it. Don’t carry more than

recommended and be careful if you

have to using both straps and all the

pockets.

Body Weight (lbs.) Backpack Weight (lbs.)

50 5

75 7.5

100 10

125 12.5

150 15

200 20

Suggested weights for backpacks

And we (didn’t) danceBy Taylor Eatwell, Reporter

Photo By Alyssa Urban

In High School dances

are usually considered one of the

most popular events to attend. The

thought of girls getting asked by a

guy they like being able to go out

and buy a dress to look presentable

for the night. So why do the stu-

dents of Fruita Monument not look

forward to dances?

“[The dances are] alright

because they play the same music

and teachers are everywhere just

staring at us,” Said Olivia Aguilar,

senior.

When you go into dances

you expect them to be black inside

with the windows covered and all

the lights off but now you walk in

and there are teachers with lash-

lights. Not having the dance be

pitch black makes students want to

leave.

“[I don’t like the dances

because] the mood of everybody

effects if the dance is fun or not.

When everyone is having fun it is

fun. When everybody is leaving

then they are boring,” Said Levi

Cook, senior.

The biggest problem for

the dances for girls and guys seem

to be the dancing, lighting, and the

rules. With fewer rules more people

would be involved. Teachers are a

lot more disciplined about the danc-

ing and how they can’t dance how

they would want to.

Students who are com-

plaining about the lights being on

are referring to the Blue and White.

Students do not realize that the

lights were not supposed to be on

but the deck lights are motioned

censored so students would trigger

it when they were dancing.

“When we had the Blue

and White dance, it took place in

the old gym and we did not have a

DJ. The dance was not sponsored

by the student counsel but by the

athletics. Many students keep com-

plaining about the lights but we did

not have any lights on at this year’s

Homecoming. The only lights that

were on were the ones supplied by

the DJ,” Said Vanessa Hayward,

Language Arts teacher.

Many students are over-

reacting about the entire situation.

Students do not even know the main

reason for the lights being on in

Blue and White and they just feel

the need to complain.

Dances used to be a big deal to all

the students in high school. Since

the rules have changed and the en-

tire event changed itself, it is chang-

ing students’ opinions whether they

want to go or not.

Both genders of students

seem to agree and share the same

opinion about the whole dancing

structures that are involved. They

do not go because it is too strict and

more students would show up if

there would be fewer rules.

Halloween is approaching,

and many kids are excited for what

it brings. Ghosts, creepy pumpkins

and costumes are what most adults

think about when they hear the

word Halloween. For kids it is the

candy that runs through their minds.

The candy is such an important part

of the holiday, and who does not

enjoy collecting free candy?

Trick-or-Treating is a tradi-

tion in many families, and the stores

know it. Cheaper candy in many

varieties is being sold throughout

October. Families start decorating

their homes as soon as possible, and

Halloween is a big topic in most

conversations.

Caution: trick or treat at your own riskBy Kate Andersen, Reporter

1. Kit Kat

2. Starburst

3. Twix

4. Butteringer5. Snickers

6. Sour Patch Kids

7. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

8. Crunch

9. Skittles

10. M&M’s

There are those people

who give more candy to the better

costumes. It can be discussed if that

is fair or not, but it can be seen as

an extra price for the kids who care

more about their costumes. Some

people even will not hand out candy

to kids they believe to be too old for

Trick-or-Treating.

In 1964, a housewife in

Long Island started giving out

uneatable packages to children she

thought were too old for Trick-or-

Treating. They were objects such as

dog biscuits, steel wool and ant but-

tons. Luckily nobody was injured,

but the woman was prosecuted and

pleaded guilty to putting children in

danger.

Over the years, many

incidents have happened with candy

around Halloween. Metal shav-

ings have been found in lollipops

and cold medicine in Smarties. The

lollipops were said to be made in

China and not tampered with in the

US. They got taken down from the

shelves after a mother reported the

dangerous candy.

Many parents all over the

world have an agreement with their

kids. The children cannot eat any

of the candy, until the adults have

checked everything. In that way,

fewer accidents happen. You never

know what kind of person handed

out the candy or what could be in it.

Top 10 Candies

Photo By Madi Wittman

Source: spinehealth.com

The Catalyst 14Features

October 2012

Illustration by Alyssa UrbanBy Sydni Hart, Reporter

The early bird gets a diploma

For many years you have

seen many people walking around

attached to their phones, including

adults. Adults often think they have

to be caught up with the lat-

est technology so they go

out and buy the newest

IPhone even if they do

not know how to use it.

iPhone’s can become

addicting to anyone and

usually people think that

the ones who are getting

addicted to the new tech-

nology are teenagers, but

adults are sometimes just

as bad as teenagers.

Most children

are busy with school and

sports and do not have

time to call their parents.

Instead of calling they

can send a text message

knowing that their par-

ent still knows what is

going on. It can literally

take a couple seconds

for a teen to send a text.

Parents may be super busy

with their work and that

is when they can do the

same.

According to a

recent survey by Cingular

Wireless sixty-four percent

of parents found that texting

made their kids easier to reach.

When most teens are hang-

ing out with their friends and a par-

ent calls them they usually do not

want to answer because they will

be-

come embarrassed. This is when a

text can come in handy. Sending a

2 old 2 textBy Taylor Eatwell, Reporter

Welding, machinery, con-

veyer systems and combines, most

people would be clueless when

it comes to knowing about these

sorts of things. But the Fruita FFA

chapters Ag mechanics is not like

most people. They are hardwork-

ing, intelligent young men that have

worked hard to gain the necessary

knowledge to be an Agricultural

mechanic.

Because of how well the

boys did at state, they will be com-

peting at the National Convention,

representing the state of Colorado

in the future farmers of America Ag

mechanics team. The Fruita FFA

chapter is proud to support the Ag

mechanics team as they compete at

nationals. Over the course of last

year, Jake Womack, James Wom-

ack, Acer Rodgers, and Nathan Vid-

mar worked hard to take irst during the state competition for mechanics.

During the state competi-

tion, different CDE projects (Career

Development Event) come together

to compete for the gold. They test

all their knowledge that they have

gained about that subject and com-

pete against different chapters. Ag

mechanics tests both technical and

agricultural mechanics skills.

A team of three or four

members must demonstrate their

ability to work with others while

solving problems. During this

event, members complete a written

exam and demonstrate problem-

solving and hands-on performance

skills. They learn about machinery

and equipment systems, as well as

agricultural machinery systems.

Nathan Vidmar, sopho-

more, is the youngest on the team.

“I have a lot to learn in six weeks!”

Vidmar said.

National Convention is the largest

event that takes place in FFA. Chap-

ters from all over the Unites States

will be sporting the familiar blue

corduroy jackets, as they compete

from October 24-27 in Indianapolis,

Indiana.

Until then, they will be

practicing every day after school,

preparing themselves for this excit-

ing privilege to compete. Ryan Hud-

son, advisor of the Fruita chapter

is happy to keep the shop open for

them as they practice. “I couldn’t

be more proud of them.” Hudson

explained. The shop is a section of

the Ag building, where construction,

welding, and other hands on activi-

ties take place.

According to Jake Wom-

ack, they had some great memories

in that shop.

“James catching on ire was deinitely something I won’t forget.” said Womack. These young

men have worked so hard, and

they’ll do great. Fruita FFA and

Fruita monument will be cheering

them on as they bring home the

gold.

text can take only two seconds if

it is short and simple and is easier

than picking up the phone.

Many students have opin-

ions on parents and texting.

“[I do not think parents

should text because] they are

terrible at it and it takes them

forever to respond,” said Ben

Pettis, senior.

Many adults are saying that

texting is ruining teenager’s

speech but parents are just

focusing on how close they

are getting to their children

thanks to texting. Texting

between two people can help

to get to know more about

them and maybe it is doing

the same for parents and

teenagers.

According to the Cingular

Wireless survey, sixty-three

percent of parents who text

their children found out that

it also improves communi-

cation.

There are many people

who believe that texting

is bringing families closer

together but there are also

many people who believe

it will separate them from

the real world and everyone

else. Teenagers are always at-

tached to their phone and you have

to pry them away and now parents

are getting just as bad.

FFA goes to NationalsBy Melissa Murphy, Reporter

“I have dreamed

about going to Pep-

perdine University

for a long time.”

The class of 2013 is gradu-

ating this year, and they are getting

ready to start their journey in life.

It’s not just our seniors graduating,

though, there are juniors getting

ready to go into the real world as

well. Several students from the

class of 2014 are graduating early

as juniors, leaving Fruita Monument

with the seniors at the end of this

school year.

Macy

Fleming is one of

the juniors graduat-

ing early this year.

After she graduates,

she wants to go to

college and maybe

work part-time. Her

ideas for college are Pepperdine

University, Oklahoma Christian

University (where her brother is)

and Colorado Mesa University.

“I have dreamed about

going to Pepperdine University

for a long time, but if that doesn’t

work out I might go to one of those

instead,” Fleming said.

“I’m not sure what I want

to do in terms of a career yet but I

think I want to do something in the

business or math ields.” Fleming decided the “high

school experience” just wasn’t for

her. She thought college would be

more it to her and more of a chal-lenge. “And I’m inally ready to get out of Grand Junction,” Fleming

said.

In order to graduate early

she had to sacriice a few “fun” classes for classes like American

Government and Comp. Lit. 12.

Fleming doesn’t have to take any

extra classes though. She has some

middle school math credits that

carried over to high school, which

also allows her to have a

release this semester.

“In ten years I see

myself living in a big city

maybe on the east coast. I

also hopefully

will have a

great job, but

we’ll just see where

life takes me,” Flem-

ing said.

Another student

graduating with the

2013 class is Hailey

Vidmar. After Vidmar graduates,

she wants to go to Cosmetol-

ogy school in Lakewood,

Colorado at a Paul Mitchell

beauty school. She wants to be

a hair stylist and own a salon.

“I decided to gradu-

ate early because I’ve known

what I want to do for a few

years now and I think

I’m mature enough

to start my dream

now,” Vidmar

said.

Vidmar

took some tests to

sign her out of elec-

tive classes so she had

more room to put in core classes

in order to get all her credits in

before graduation.

“In the future I see

myself owning a salon and or

having a salon in my house so I’m

able to stay home,” Vidmar said.

Jeremy Claussen was go-

ing to graduate early, but then he

decided not

to.

“I’m just going to take some col-

lege classes through the school; it

seemed like the smartest thing to

do.”

How do others view gradu-

ating early?

“Personally I think it’s bet-

ter to graduate as a senior than

a junior rather than trying to

cram in the required classes. You

will probably feel like you belong

more if you graduate with your own

class and being a senior is kind of

fun! High school should be enjoyed

rather than trying to rush through

it,” senior Lindsey Whitesides said.

“It can deinitely add more stress trying to get credits in, tak-

ing what credits you need on top

of senior credits like American

Government,” FMHS counselor

Andrea Bolton, said. “All of the

sudden you have to start doing

things like looking at colleges

and preparing to take the ACT

early and just preparing for

real life in general.”

“It mostly depends on the

student. It’s really just a mat-

ter of maturity level,” Bolton

said.

As we send our seniors on

their way to real life within the

next year, remember to congratulate

and recognize these juniors too and

wish them luck on their new begin-

ning with the class of 2013.

Hailey Vidmar pepares to graduate with the class of 2013.

Photo by Madison Wittman

“If alcohol

is legal and

worse for you,

then canna-

bis should be

legal, too.”

October 2012

15The Catalyst

Commentary

By Keaton Brown, News Editor

The legalization of cannabis has

been one of the most controversial

topics in recent Colorado history.

In November of 2006, legaliza-

tion made its irst appearance on the ballot, in which it was voted down.

However, the Campaign to Regulate

Marijuana like Alcohol received

enough signatures to put the issue

back on the ballot this November.

If passed, the measure would

allow adults 21 and over to have le-

galized personal use, possession and

limited home-growing privileges.

Persons appropriately aged would

be able to possess up to one once

or six marijuana plants (equal to 60

joints or nine pans of pot brownies).

Purchased cannabis would be taxed

similarly to alcohol.

Cannabis should be legalized. Not

only is it less detrimental than alco-

hol for many parts of the body, but it

would also generate serious

revenue.

CNN estimated that the tax

on cannabis would make

$17.6 million in the irst year in Colorado alone, all

of which would go towards

education.

“It would start to bring

the US out of debt,” said

junior Taylor Lee.

“It would create more

job opportunities,” added

junior Walter Selvidge.

The Hufington Post estimated that legaliza-

tion throughout the United

States would generate

almost $14 billion annually

from taxes and from not having to

stop drug importation.

“Legalization would stop illegal drug

cartels, because America wouldn’t

need them anymore,” said senior Ben

Kerrigan.

Cannabis

is also very

versatile as

to its uses.

It can be

used for

fuel, paper,

clothes,

rope, oil,

plas-

tics, and

hundreds

of other

items.

Until a couple hundred years ago,

virtually every paper products was

made from cannabis (including the

US Constitution.)

The way I look at it, an entirely

new industry (war material manu-

facturing) was what got the US out

of the Great Depression, and with

the current recession America is in,

cannabis as a new industry would do

the same thing.

Besides the economic beneits, recreational use is also advocated for

because of the legality of alcohol,

when alcohol causes many more

problems.

Statistically speaking, teenagers

are 100 times more likely to die

from alcohol consumption than

they are from cannabis. Alcohol,

which was legalized in 1933, is

second to drug-related deaths in

the United States, only behind

heroin. Though people claim

cannabis would have the same

dangerous effects on driving as

alcohol, a 2010 study at the Uni-

versity of Iowa, researchers found

no noticeable difference between

the driving abilities of those with

the inluence and without the inluence of cannabis. “If alcohol is legal and worse

for you, then cannabis should

be legal, too,” said junior Jake

Gulden.

Those against the legalization of

cannabis don’t see a need for it to

be legalized.

Junior Cory Odom summed it

up. “Drugs are bad.”

Arguably, cannabis does

contain more carcinogens (cancer

causing agents) than do cigarettes,

but these carcinogens only affect

the lungs if it is smoked. At the

renowned “Cannabis Cup” last

year in Denver, the most popu-

lar version of cannabis was an

edible, or, a way for cannabis to

be ingested, not smoked, so the

carcinogens would not affect the

lungs.

“People say it would be good

for paper products and all that, but

really all they’re going to do is

smoke it,” said junior Zach Lowe.

Colorado polls currently show

that pro-legalization is at 51% to

40%, with the rest undecided..

It is hard to believe that alcohol,

which is more detrimental to

health and causes many more

deaths per year is legal, while

cannabis remains frowned upon.

Despite the “anti-cannabis”

posters around, marijuana is a

relatively harmless drug. On top

of that, legalization would make

the state millions of dollars a year

to be put solely towards education

and save millions more in crime

costs.

The legalization of cannabis

made it to the ballot once more,

and this time I think it should

pass.

An iPhone 4s

costs about $550. A plan

for this iPhone will cost

at least $79. I like to think

that I am pretty much

inancially stable. Under no circumstances, however,

would I be in any position

to purchase an iPhone or an

iPhone monthly plan.

Yesterday, I was texting

in the hallway and I soon

became aware that my peers

were laughing at me. Appar-

ently, my lip phone is now a pathetic piece of history.

I swear that my lip phone was “cool” the day that I bought

it. Unfortunately, technology has

progressed and I have not.

Every day I see people

“Snap chatting” and “face timing”

on their iPhones. They have them in

the hallway, in classroom, and even

on the way to the principal’s ofice. It all looks very entertaining and I

would love to have one.

The problem with the iP-

hone is that it is the gift that keeps on

taking. After paying the initial cost

for the iPhone, the customer must

also pay the monthly plan which can

cost anywhere from $79 dollars to

two ingers. Okay, hold on a second, this might

be possible for me! Let me do some

math. I have 2,346 dollars (approxi-

mately) in my bank account. Assum-

ing the initial cost of the iPhone is

$400 my bank account would now

have $1,946. An average 4g data

plan costs $80 per month.

After 24.3 months I would have no

money left and I would be forced to

live on the streets. My iPhone plan

is ‘buy an iPhone today, become

homeless in roughly two years,’ and

I don’t know if I’m willing to make

that sacriice for an iPod on steroids. So how does everyone do

it? How can teenagers, who have

less money than I, afford an iPhone?

The trick is having “hip” parents.

My mom bought a ‘droid’ once and a

month later returned it. She had put

zero apps on it and had only used it

as a fancy paperweight to the best of

my knowledge. You see, my parents

don’t embrace

technology; they

lee from it. So if I approached

them asking for an

iPhone they would

ask me why I need

it. Since there is

no response to this

question that they

could understand,

this would be a futile

conversation.

Some kids have ‘hip’ par-

ents. These are the parents that say

“yo” and “YOLO” and they might

even know the chorus to the

new Beiber song. These

are the parents who will

either aid their children in

purchasing an iPhone or

buy the entire phone. Part

of this is because ‘hip’ par-

ents are “hip to that jive”

which means they know

how cool iPhones are. Part

of it is that it is hard them

refuse to buy their children

iPhones when they have

had one for three years.

When I bought my

current phone, back in 2006,

I was really excited about it.

I thought that I would be the

envy of all my friends and I

was for a while. Today, people

tell me, “1980 called, it wants your

phone back,” and other such insults.

I have decided that even the iPhone

The Legalization

Situation

5, in all its glory,

will be mocked in

5 years. So hipster

iPhone owners, I

may not get social

networking on

my phone, I may

not get Snap chats,

I may not get Face

time, but I certainly will get the last

laugh.

iFeel left

outBy Taylor Scoield, Commentary

Editor

Photos by Madison Wittman

Illustration by Taylor Scoield

If you could eat lunch with any person, who would it be?