Issue 5

TROJANEERTHE CENTER GROVE HIGH SCHOOL

N

WE

S

S

SPORT

Dec

embe

r 2

1, 2

011

What’sinside

INDEX News 2 Opinion 3 Features 4&6 A&E 5 Sports 7-8>> >> >> >>>>

OP

ON

NI

I

Weather

TODAY43º

p. 8

p. 4

Matt Hill cheerson CG sports assuper-fan

AE

S

T

RE

F

U

THURS. FRI.42º 42º

Read

OnlineTROJANEER

THE

Trojaneer.com

When students hear balanced c a l -endar, automati-cally, fears of summer vacation

being re duced enter the mind. In previous years, the balanced cal-endar was only an idea that other schools used. Students at Center Grove doubted that their school would ever be on this schedule. However, the almost foreign idea of the new calendar appears to be approaching the future of this school. “There is no final decision yet but the balanced calendar is be-ing researched and considered for the school year of 2013,” principle Matt Shockley said. Although the term “balanced cal-endar” sounds drastically different from the one Center Grove follows today; the new calendar only re-duces the summer by eight days. Those eight days are added into an extended fall and spring break. Besides the greater opportunity to

get away during these extra long breaks, the calendar has a handful of benefits. “The calendar could enhance student learning because there is a shorter amount of time to for-get things and time could be spent for remediation for state testing,” Shockley said. From a teacher’s perspective, the new schedule will definitely call for the reconstruction of plan-ning around the extended breaks. There are doubts that the new sys-tem will not noticeably improve students’ academics. “I wonder how much loss will take place over a two week break and how much time I will have to spend reviewing when students come back,” Spanish teacher Kim Gill said. It is a fact that no school has done the balanced calendar long enough

and there is not a substantial amount of data present to prove that the balanced calendar is the way to all over academic success. With a lack of information, many are left asking questions about the change. “I would really like to know what is really driving the change,” Gill said. Center Grove High School has about 150 students enrolled in Central-Nine, which is consider-ing switching to the balanced cal-endar. C-9 is highly influenced to be on a balanced calendar because many schools that participate have already made the switch. Nevertheless, Center Gove views this change as an opportunity to further propel its achievements. “We have good attendance and high test scores but, we always want to keep improving and build-

An extremely interesting discus-sion has arisen over the past few years determining whether or not a “balanced calendar” should be implemented corporation wide.

Although the 2012-2013 schedule has al-ready been released, administrative person-nel have begun the pro-cess of explaining and experimenting with the option of moving to the balanced calen-dar. With new ideas comes opposition, and two groups that have doubts are fall sports and extra-curricular activities. Alongside the original discussion about the academic changes that

will ensue, concerns regarding fall season sports have recently been voiced. With the proposed calen-dar change, all students would go back to school Aug. 1, this would be slightly different than the nor-mal middle of Aug. return that

most students at Center Grove are used to, and this earlier start would cut some practice time for fall sports. “Since school is starting so early it would eliminate football two-a-days,” athletic director Jon Zwitt said in a recent interview. “The first official practice would be the first day of school.” The elimination of two-a-days has caused concern in some coach-es who base their season schedule for workouts and tryouts on the schools calendar. Zwitt also slightly foresees the lengthy breaks to possibly hinder performance, since the breaks would come in at crucial times during the athletic season and most teams are peaking by that point. “The extended breaks during the year [such as the extension of fall break] may affect results once we start to peak,” Zwitt said. Another program at Center Grove that may be affected by the change is the marching band. The march-ing band has always been viewed as a hardworking group of individ-uals that leaves it all on the field. Some people even speculate they practice from dawn until dusk.

“We will lose vital practice time in August, and that may come back to haunt us,” senior color guard member Kristen Drumond said. Band members spend weeks of their summer practicing, and the proposal to start school earlier in the year would mean a cut in these weeks of practice. Although more than one sport envisions the balanced calendar affecting their team’s performance during the season, the girl’s cross country team does not. “The balanced calendar won’t affect the cross country team as much as other sports,” junior varsity runner Anna Burton said. “We will go about our business as usual.” Both the girl and boy’s cross-country teams have the tradition of going to Spring Mill camp ev-ery summer. And even with the chance of change, both are persis-tent the tradition will live on. Changes in the school calendar are far from final, as teachers, stu-dents, coaches and athletes are voicing opposition and support for the change. The effects of the newly designed calendar are un-known, but ideas for improvement are always welcome.

PROPOSED BALANCED CALENDAR TO HAVE MASSIVE IMPLICATIONS

ON SPORTS PROGRAM

By Mackenzie DeanNews Writer

[email protected]

By Brady BrownNews Writer

[email protected]

Riley SoupDinner

p. 2

ing our success,” Shockley said. Time away from a time consum-ing commitment, such as school, can be healthy for teachers and students. By the end of a nine weeks, a student can feel frazzled and brain dead while a teacher des-perately needs breathing room. “It will give students and teach-ers time to re-group, re-fine and see what they did wrong and what they can do better,” teacher Dun-can Baumgart said. There are many surveys, meet-ings, decisions and steps left be-fore the balanced calendar makes its way to Center Grove. Regard-less of the reasons and results that might be found in this transfor-mation, the new calendar to many people is a refreshing idea. “I think that our school is ready for a change, and change is always good,” Gill said.

Ho! Ho! Ho!Cox’sChristmas p. 3

Senior Charles Patterson graduates early

Winter

“Since school is starting so early it would eliminate football two-a-days.” - Jon Zwitt

By Vince WilliamsNews Writer

[email protected]

NEWSThe Trojaneer DECEMBER 21, 2011 2

“When I was in high school, you could still be paddled,” Eng-lish teacher David Lawson said. That was in 1987. Center Grove High School has changed a lit-tle bit since then. Other differ-ences include building renova-tions, student culture and an increased student involvement. In the 80s, CGHS had all of the elements that are seen in the 80s movies of today. “There was a lot of big hair, lots of really tight jeans, and funny looking neon colors,” Lawson said. Lawson relays the strkingly accu-rate representation “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” has to what high school was really like in the 80s. Lawson even compared himself to Ferris from the movie. Except, to CG students skipping school was com-posed of some different activities. “If we skipped school, we went to the art museum and then ate lunch at Shapiro’s,” Lawson said. One of the biggest differences in student culture now as compared to the 80s is the idea of dating. Now, there are a good handful of stu-dents in relationships but the ma-jority of students are single. How-ever in the 80s it was not that way. “Dating is a lot different now. When I was in High School, most everybody was in some sort of

relationship. If you didn’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend, there seemed to be some sort of stig-ma attached to it” Lawson said. It was percieved in the 80s that everyone at school wanted to be there and suc-ceed in their classes. Every-one did their homework and put forth a good deal of effort on all of their assignments. Now, some students would rather not do any of their classwork and stay at home. “One of the most disturb-ing things is kids celebrat-ing bad grades now. [Back then,] going to high school, doing well, and getting into col-lege were just assumptions,” David Lawson said. Although the universities have also changed, Lawson stressed the fact that everyone was try-ing to go to IU or Purdue. If you did not get in to those schools and had to settle for IUPUI, you would keep that quiet and not tell your friends of your eventual fate.

However, in the 90s, things start-ed to change to more of what they are now. In the 90s, the building underwent significant changes. The library was not constructed yet along with the Hall of Excellence,

Auditorium, s w i m m i n g pool, and the East gym. “My whole high school career, the school was under con-struction,” As-sistant prin-cipal Kevin Gallman said. Gallman g r a d u a t e d in 1995. The a u d i t o r i u m used to be up by the West gym, and the weight room was just two c l a s s r o o m s connected to-gether across from John

Frank and Ivan Smith’s rooms. “Where the Hall of Excel-lence is now, used to be a grass area, and that’s where we would practice football. There was ac-tually an outdoor basketball court there too,” Gallman said. Another difference is technol-ogy. The Internet really took

off in the early 21st century, but before then, there was not as much use for computers. “In terms of technology, for news-paper we had Macs but that is about all the computers we had. In all of the business classes, we would still use typewriters,” Gallman said. The technology has changed and so has what kids do for fun outside of school. The busi-nesses on 135, for the most part were not there in the mid-90s. Gallman reflected on the memo-ries he had from his high school days hanging out with friends. “The only thing on 135 was Mc-Donalds by Kroger. That McDon-alds was the hangout. It was defi-nitely the place to go,” Gallman said. According to Gallman, StuGo and RSVP have contributed to many positive changes in CGHS. In Gallman’s days, they first came up with the idea of S to the 5th. Seniors, you can all thank him when you see him in the halls. Even that achievement, is noth-ing compared to the impact stu-dents have on the school today. “I was class president freshman and sophomore year and we did have an active role in some areas but nothing like today,” Gallman said. From the 80s and 90s to today, Center Grove High School has changed dramatically in some ways but in others it is still the same. Center Grove now is just as Center Groovy as it was back in the day.

Center Grove Was Groovy?Center Grove staff talks about what it was like attending CG

Why did you come back to CG?

“At first I was nervous and unsure whether I wanted to come back, but once the opportunity and interview presented itself, it was a blessing to have the job.”

What is it like being a teacher here instead of a student?

“There have been times when it has been a challenge going from student to teacher.”

What’s it like working along-side some of your high school teachers?

“Many of the teachers used to be my mentors and now they’re my colleagues, so that is kind of cool. Rick Jones was a huge role model for me and now I work beside him.”

What are some things that you enjoy the most about coming back to CG?

“Ms. Shake inspired me to be an art teacher and now I am in her old room. The most interesting thing has been getting to know my teachers on a different level.”

On December 9, STUGO held their 5th annual Riley Soup Dinner to help raise money for Riley Children’s Hospital. Guests to the event received a bowl of soup, a roll, different side items from local restaurants like tortilla chips and salsa from Qdoba, and a drink. Texas Roadhouse, Chili’s, McAllisters, Chick-Fil-A, and Max & Erma’s were among the several restaurants that donated food to this event. Several different STUGO members provided the soup. “We got a lot of great donations from local restaurants, like McAl-listers sweet tea,” said STUGO

advisor Becca Heasley. This is Heasley’s first year as a STUGO advisor. The event was a rewarding experiences for Heasly as she saw STUGO members working to bring the event to-gether. “Seeing the end product and how everything came together was very rewarding,” Heasley said. STUGO helped make this a great experience for everyone. The Hall of Excellence was decorated with Christmas trees and lights, and with several other donated holi-day decorations. Center Grove Students pro-vided entertainment for the soup dinner. Larry Esquivel, Connor Whiteside, Parker Radecki, Austin

Russell, and many others were among those who entertained the crowd. Third grader Abigail Johnson was one of the big acts of the night. Johnson has been a Riley patient since she was only six months old when she had to have emergency surgery. Throughout the years, Johnson has had multi-ple visits since. She has developed an incredible passion for singing and performing and has created her “Smile and Believe” CD to help give back to Riley for all the help they have given her. She sold her CD at the Riley Soup Dinner and also performed some of her songs off the CD. With help from all of the STUGO

volunteers and the 325 people that came out for dinner, STUGO was able to raise 2,100 dollars for Riley Children’s Hospital. Karen Davis’ Honors English 10 class contributed to the total by finding a new way to help raise money for Riley. It all started when Davis’s Honors English 10 class read “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe. This short story contained a poem called “The Haunted Palace.” “As we read the poem, I would draw the palace. The palace ultimately looked like a person’s face,” said Davis. Davis came up with the idea as a joke with her students to auction off her piece of art. The Riley Soup

By Nikki BaseleyNews Writer

[email protected]

Riley Soup Dinner Success for Fifth YearDinner is usually around the same time she teaches this poem so she decided to donate all the money from the auction to the Riley Soup Dinner. “It started out with a nickel. Our highest bid was six dollars,” said Davis Davis matched the money her students raised for each class. This year Davis and her classes donated 40 dollars to Riley Chil-dren’s Hospital. This year’s Riley Soup Din-ner was a successful event that brought people together to enjoy great food, entertainment, and raise money for Riley Children’s Hospital.

Senior Adam Ferral performs at the Riley Soup Dinner.Hannah Duke/The Trojaneer

Senior Connor Whiteside performs at the Riley Soup Dinner.Hannah Duke/ The Trojaneer

English teacher David Lawson works with students. Hannah Duke/Trojaneer Assistant Principal Kevin Gallman talks with students during the day. Hannah Duke/Trojaneer

“Mr. Gallman was the kind of person who was always prepared. He always crossed his t’s and dotted his i’s, never slouched in class,” History teacher John Frank said.

“Mr. Lawson always liked English. McGuire was his hero very early,” Government teacher Tom Brogan said.

“The biggest simliarity is that Jerry McGuire was just as talkative as he is now,” David Lawson said.

TROJANEERTHE

Volume LI Issue 5

Editorial StaffDesign Editor

Lucas MatneyNews Editor

Trish BartonCopy Editor

Mackenzie ThompsonSports EditorKeaton A. WrightCopy EditorMatt Saunders

Photo EditorHannah Duke

Business ManagerJake Hudson

Page DesignersKristen Southern

Elaina MellottKeaton A. Wright

Julie JosonWeb Master

Julie JosonAdviser

Melissa Warner

The Trojaneer is a bi-monthly student-run publication with a press run of 2,400 copies. The Trojaneer strives to provide the Center Grove Community with factual, timely, rel-evant, and entertaining information in an un-biased fashion. This paper serves as a public forum. Opinions expressed in the newspaper are not necessarily those of Center Grove High School nor the Center Grove Community School corporation’s faculty, staff, or administration. The Trojaneer is a member of the Indiana High School Press Asso-ciation and then National Scholastic Press Association.

Letters to the Editor Policy The Trojaneer accepts letters to the editor no later than noon on the Fri-day before publication. Letters must be emailed to [[email protected]] and must be verified by a signature. Letters may also be dropped off at room 175. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters containing personal attacks against individuals will not be published. The Trojaneer editorial staff regards the right to edit letters for grammatical error and length. Writers should strive to keep letters to less than 250 words.

Correction Policy The Trojaneer staff strives to keep all information as accurate as pos-sible. Corrections may be dropped off at room 175 or emailed to the Copy Editor [[email protected]] Corrections will be published at the next publica-tion date.

2717 S. Morgantown Road, Greenwood, IN 46143

Phone: (317)-881-0581 ext. 4175

Website: www.trojaneer.com

CredentialsThe Trojaneer is a member of the Indiana HIgh School Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association.

For more stories and information visit:

www.trojaneer.com

STAFFeditorial

Cox’s Corner

Reason For The Season:

To be short and to the point, the true meaning of Christmas has been blurred. In the high-tech, instant gratification world that we live in today, we give presents that are just that – instantly gratifying, popular, high-tech and expensive. What so many of us often forget, and what some still do not know, is that the greatest gift of all has already been given. When you were young, was it

Will we always have a long summer break? Maybe not anymore.

The administration is seriously considering making the switch to a balanced schedule, and the newspaper staff supports the de-cision. Although summer break would be shortened by eight days, these days off would pay off at other times. Summer break is fun, obvi-ously. But what most do not often consider is that summer break has its setbacks. Every high school students knows the feeling of coming back to school in Aug. and having forgotten everything they learned the year before. This happens because of

DECEMBER 21, 2011 The Trojaneer 3OPINION

an unnecessarily long summer break. We spend weeks doing nothing academic and it always comes back to bite us on the first day of school. The balanced schedule would move eight of the days from sum-mer break and extend both fall and spring breaks. If you think about this for a few moments, it becomes clear that it would be a great change. Most of us would trade four days of summer for four extra days of spring break. At least eight days’ worth of everyone’s summer is already spent being bored anyway. Spring and fall break are much more valuable because they are breaks in the middle of the school year rather

than a long break after everything is over. An extra four days at the beach would be worth trading a week of summer. Sports would be positively affected by this change as well. Eight fewer days of summer would mean eight less possible two-a-day practices. Coaches may protest that this is a bad thing, but football players will no doubt be happy. This balanced schedule would also help improve standardized test scores. A shorter summer break would keep material fresh in everyone’s minds instead of having a big gap when we all forget everything. Now an SAT scheduled in August or July will not be as daunting.

There may also be some negatives to a balanced schedule. Longer spring and fall breaks would have the same effect as the long summer break, mean-ing students will still feel the lag from there break and struggle to return to the daily grind of high school. But none of these breaks would be as detrimental to test scores or grades as summer break has been. We believe that the balanced schedule is a good idea because the positives outweigh the nega-tives. Although summer break would be shortened, it would be worth it because spring break and fall break would be longer.

not the best? The anticipation on Christmas Eve of what might await you in the morning. The joy you feel as you finally get to unwrap your presents. My child-hood Christmas’s were all of that and beyond. There have been 18 years of money, clothes, PlaySta-tions, Xbox’s, computers; you name it. I was raised in a fortu-nate, well off home, and I loved the home I grew up in. But as the years went by, the present from the year before seemed to lose its value. Not to say I no longer appreciated what I had, but something that I had cov-eted at that time was not as big of a deal as before, and my interest shifted to the next popular item on the market. I think many of us do this, and t a k e

what we have for granted. Unfortunately, it also seems that somewhere along the line, we be-gan to put a price tag on our re-lationships with others, meaning the more important the person the more expensive the gift. And some people are so obsessed with receiving gifts that their world ends if they do not get one. Let me say, there is nothing wrong with giving and getting presents on Christmas. It is a great way to show love to others, but my point is that it is not the

only way. Christmas should not be simply about swapping gifts but a time where you think about what you have been blessed with, and to show love and appreciation to those in your life. I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many years of holiday celebrations where I have been undeservedly been given special and expensive gifts. I am beyond blessed. So this Christmas, all I will do is be thankful for Jesus, for what I have, what I do not have, and what he did for all of us, the reason for the season, and the greatest gift of all.

Has Christmas changed for the worse?

Proposed Schedule Changes: Good or Bad?

Bringing the Schedule into Balance

By Jake HudsonFeatures Writer

[email protected]

It is that time of the year again! Houses and trees are decorated, busy shoppers go to and from the mall, and old ladies are wear-ing ugly Christmas sweaters and vests. However, holiday sea-son does not necessarily mean Christmas season. For billions around the world, and even here at Center Grove, Christmas is just another day on the calendar. “This winter break, I’m going to India,” senior Janit Pandya said. “Over there, Christmas is defi-nitely celebrated, but not to the magnitude it is here. There is no school break.” Pandya is one of around one billion Hindus around the world. Hinduism began in India, and is widely considered to be the oldest living religion. The Hindu

religion has many holidays and festivals, but none are bigger than Diwali. “In India, there is a Diwali break, which was a couple months ago, and that is like a big Christ-mas celebration. There are a bunch of little festivals around that time that celebrate the birth of a god, or the return of a god from exile. All of that combined creates a Christmas atmosphere,” Pandya said Nilofer Rajpurkar practices Islam, along with approximately one and a half billion others in the world. A major holiday in the Islamic community is Eid. “Islam has two big holidays, called Eid. One celebrates the end of Ramadan, where we fast for a whole month. The other one commemorates the end of the pil-grimage to Mecca. Those are our

The Trojaneer DECEMBER 21, 2011 4FEATURES

two big celebrations, our equiva-lent of Christmas,” Rajpurkar said Many Christians celebrate Christmas by exchanging gifts and going to church to honor the birth of Jesus Christ. Religious holidays for both Hindus and Muslims are not too different. “The Hindu temple, or puja, has a service, so we go to that. Also, exchanging gifts happens, but that is part of another festival. Overall it is a festival of lights and food, all of which has symbolism. There is a lot of singing and danc-ing and food,” Pandya said. “In the morning, we go to prayer. After that, we go to dif-ferent people’s houses for parties. We eat a lot and get dressed up in really nice clothes. If you’re still a kid, you get presents: little kids get toys, and big kids get money,” Pandya said.

While some of these traditions from other cultures and religions may sound uncommon to those of us who celebrate Christmas, our traditions for Christmas appear just as uncommon to them. “It {Christmas season} is definitely interesting. I don’t celebrate the religious part of it, but my family still exchanges gifts during Christmastime, and we even set up a tree and every-thing,” Pandya said. “I think its cool how the whole nation decorates everything, and its all festive. I definitely respect your beliefs on Christmas, I think its cool,” Rajpurkar said No matter what your beliefs are this time of year, Pandya sums up the holiday season best: “It is definitely a great time of year, and everyone is a lot hap-pier.”

If you could, would you cut your senior year in high school in half? Some students have felt the three and a half years attending Center Grove has been more than enough, and are ready to take on a new chapter of their lives. Out of the 15 students graduating early, each one has decided on doing something different in the months they could have been spending in school. Some have decided to spend the last semester of high school working to help raise money for the endless anxiety of college. Other may be doing something more exotic, such as spending five months in El Salvador. One of the students graduat-ing early is heading out to IUPUI to get a head start on her first semester of college. “I mainly wanted to gradu-ate early because I have a lot of friends that graduated last year,” senior Alli Hopkins said. “I also want to get the first semester of college out of the way.” While at IUPUI, Hopkins is planning on majoring in events planning and tourism, and is go-ing for a four-year degree. Jacob Berryhill, on the other hand, wanted to take the year off

in order to help prepare for col-lege in the fall. “I am going to start working full time at Chick-fil-a, and maybe start some online classes,” Ber-ryhill said. Senior Charles Patterson, rather than spending the five months in English class, decided he will spend that time not learn-ing English, but teaching English to students in El Salvador. “I was offered to go to El Sal-vador for five months to teach English with the church I went with when I did mission work in El Salvador two years ago.” Pat-terson said. “I am renting a house with another person who has al-ready been down there for about a year... It has no hot water.” Going to another country may be scary, but Patterson is plenty prepared. With three other mis-sion trips under his belt, Patter-son is ready for his five-month adventure. “I have been to El Salvador once before, as well as Belarus and Trinidad and Tobago,” Patterson said. With his knowledge of Spanish and other skills from previous mission trips, Patterson is ready to spend his time not learning in school but teaching in one. “I’m going down, and I’m figur-

ing things out as I go,” Patterson said. The process in order to gradu-ate early is not as complicated as students may think. “I just went in and talked to my counselor. Together, we sched-uled my classes so I was able to receive enough credits to graduate early. It was actually pretty easy,” Patterson said. It is not that the students did not like Center Grove; most of them had special moments or

By Kelsi GendayFeatures Writer

[email protected]

Alternative Celebrations

Students Graduate EarlyCenter Grove seniors begin the new chapters of their lives early

people that will remind them forever of their high school expe-rience. Though high school has its ups and downs, it is a memorable part in every person’s life. How-ever, all good things must come to an end, and for these 15 Center Grove students, the next chapter of their lives is just beginning.

25th Christmas

5th Ashura

8th Bodhi Day

8th -16th Hanukkah

13th Santa Lucia Day

12th Virgin of Guadalupe16th - 25th Las Posadas

26th Boxing Day 26th Kwanzaa

6th St. Nicholas Day (International)

December Holidays Around

the World

Well “Bieb”, you have finally done it. You have ruined classic Christmas jingles that all of us have come to know and love. Justin Bieber’s Christmas album, “Under The Mistletoe”, could be the worst thing that I have ever heard. Half of the songs are irrel-evant to the holidays anyways. I am pretty positive that Santa Claus does not want the girls to “Shake it” like he suggests in “Santa Clause is Coming to Town” and nobody tells Santa that they have been “cool” all year.

Also, if it is a Christmas song that Bieber is singing, it is just him repeating the song over and over until he has filled up four more minutes for his album. I am all for sappy love songs and I am all for Christmas music, but they should remain separate, and the love songs that Bieber sings are awful anyways. This album should be illegal and nobody should have to go through the pain and suffering of listening to it.

After polling 100 people, including CG students and staff members, it is safe to say there are movies that dominate the mainstream of classic holiday films. The top three Christmas movies, according to the poll, are “Elf”, “A Christmas Story”, and National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation”. “Elf” is a humorous story and is one of the better holiday films in my mind, but it is not a classic, yet. It is full of Will Ferrell’s corky antics with that “good vibe” Christmas mood that leaves you feeling warm. “A Christmas Story” is a bona fide Christmas classic because we have all had to convince our parents that we would not

shoot our eyes out. “A Christmas Story” is excellent because it gives the viewers a funny perspective from a kids look. “Christmas Vacation” is an explicit comedy about the Gris-wold’s who has the whole family over at their house for the holidays. Normal Christmas traditions turn into a quagmire when the crazy relatives get together. Personally, my favorite Christmas movie is “A Christmas Story” simply because it is clever, child humor and is relat-able. I do not know about you, but my television will be tuned into AMC to watch the 24-hour rerun of “A Christmas Story” when the time comes.

It is a winter tradition that will never die. Something that everyone does, no matter what age we are or no matter what the risk is. Sledding is an activity that anyone can do. It is so simple, all it takes is a sled, snow, and of course, a massive hill. So where are a couple of hot spots to sled? A local favorite is the El Dorado Golf Course. The hill faces State Road 135 and is just a bit north of Stones Crossing. You will see many familiar faces roaming the area and making the daring drop that the hill offers. If you are feeling adventur-

ous, walk across the frozen lake to find more hidden hills. Another place to try is Craig Park by Greenwood Middle School. Many residents flock there to give the hills a try. They are not as steep as El Dorado’s, but they are longer and provide a fun ride. Finally, for the novice “sledder”, Independence Park has a calm family setting with slow and easy hills. There are many hills around Greenwood, and some of the bests are in your own backyard. So go out and try them all, but remember, safety first!

#SleddingSpots

#ChristmasMovies

#UnderTheMistletoe

by Troy Willsey

DECEMBER 21, 2011 The Trojaneer 5 A&E

16must have

gifts

1

23

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

1. AEO Texting Gloves, $15.50. ae.com 2. Mini Foosball Table, $36. fredflare.com 3. Rubik’s Cube, $9.99. rubiks.com 4. EOS Lip Balm in Lemon Drop, $3.29. ulta.com 5. Flip UltraHD Camera, $79.99. theflip.com 6. Giant Gummi Bear on Stick, $12. fredflare.com 7. Limited Edition Beats By Dre in Purple, $349.95. beatsbydre.com 8. Awkward Family Photos Board Game, $25, amazon.com 9. Lego MP3

Player, $68.95. fredflare.com 10. Batman Mimobot USB Flash Drive, $27.99. fredflare.com 11. Geospace Air Kicks JR Anti-Gravity Boot, $143.99. qualitytoys.com 12. iPad 2 in White, $499. apple.com 13. Like and Dislike Stamps, $16. fredflare.com 14. Harry Potter Bobblehead, $17.99. toywiz.com 15. Modern Family Complete Season 2, $27.99. best-buy.com 16. NOOK Color, $199. barnesandnoble.com

1 23

4 56

78

9

1011

12

1314

1516

The Trojaneer DECEMBER 21, 2011 6FEATURESBEFORE

“I got the phone call here at school and I turned to Mrs. Duffey and told her, they said I have cancer. When you get that call, you’re sur-

prised. You know there’s a chance you can develop it but when you hear it, it’s just kind of hard to take it in. It slowly sinks in,” secretary Lee Ratliff said. Cancer is quickly becoming the biggest epidemic that humans have seen. In the United States alone, it is estimated that throughout our history, 11.1 million Americans have had cancer. That statistic is expected to rise up to 20 million by 2030. This could be led by the fact that while the rate of people diagnosed with cancer increases, surprisingly the amount of expo-sure to carcinogens continues to

Staff members survive cancer

DRIVER EDUCATIONBEST BY REPUTATION

The Driving Academy Offers: -30 hours of Classroom Instruction (NO HOMEWORK!) -6 hours of one-on-one in car instruction -Opportunity for drive test waiver - Also Available On-Line!

COST: $375

(317) 534-0016

DRIVING ACADEMY3015 MERIDIAN MEADOWS

GREENWOOD, INDIANA 46142 WWW.DRIVINGACADEMY.COM

CLASS DATES:

December 14 - December 29January 4 - January 19January 23 - February 7February 8 - February 23February 27 - March 13March 14 - March 29

Classes meet 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Monday - Thursday

By Delainey BurnettFeatures Writer

[email protected]

ALEC DIETZ/ The Trojaneer

grow. Despite the fact that this disease can be considered a serial killer, there are some of the most inspir-ing stories about people overcom-ing this disease including some of the faculty at CG, secretary Lee Ratliff, school nurse Ruth Ann Ev-eretts, and English teacher Debi Dixon. One can only imagine being told you had cancer and the implica-tions that come with it. But for these women this was a reality. News like cancer can only be de-livered with sadness and received with shock. “I had just been to the doctor, had a mammogram done, and all the reports came up clean. My first thoughts were that it wasn’t real; it wasn’t happening to me,” Everetts said. After the initial shock sets in, something comes alive in the brain. Like any major game, when

in the game, all you can think about is winning. “I wanted to begin treatment, fight hard, and be well. I had lost a sister to breast cancer and I knew it was a deadly disease but dying wasn’t an option. I never really considered it,” Dixon said. After being struck down with a hefty blow like cancer, the climb back to normalcy is a struggle and is rarely done without a cause or just the will to fight. “More than myself wanting to live, I didn’t want my mom to have to suffer the pain of losing a child,” Ratliff said. “I have a wonderful life and I wanted to return to it. I had to get well,” Dixon said. When there is an unhealthy amount of radiation in one’s body, ones capabilities are hindered. Daily tasks become more of a chal-lenge than ever before. “The hardest thing to overcome

was the total lack of energy and illness following each treatment,” Dixon said. Although the fight may seem one sided because it is in one person’s body, this is not the case. People in the community pitched in; even the teachers showed their sup-port. “The school held a fundraiser; Mr.Buckmaster, Mr. Bennent, and others shaved their heads. Stu-dents sent huge packages of cards, notes, and gifts of encouragement. Friends left gifts on my front porch when I returned from treatments or surgery,” Dixon said. “I had chemo for six months. Someone had prepared food ev-eryday for those six months,” Ev-eretts said. “They (the faculty) were wonder-ful. One department had someone come and clean my house. An-other made a care basket with tea, magazines, etc,” Ratliff said.

As their journeys continued through cancer, signs of encour-agement began to show. “I remember one nurse saying that when you retire, if you move, you want to take a three ring binder filled with your medical in-formation. I thought, ‘Wait you’re talking about my future, implying I have one,’” Ratliff said. Now looking back on the journey, the women say they came out of it a changed person and are moving on with their lives. “I think like so many people say you appreciate the small things, the routine things. The only time I think about it is this time of year when I am going back to get check-ups,” Ratliff said. “It can happen to anybody. And it (cancer) reaffirmed you need to take care of your body; being responsible for it. And honestly, there are days I don’t even think about it,” Everetts said.

English teacher Debi Dixon helps student (far right), Secretary Lee Ratliff (far left), Nurse Ruth Ann Everetts (center).

DECEMBER 21, 2011 The Trojaneer 7@CG_SPORTS

By Zach WhiteheadSports Writer

[email protected]

We all know him as Trainer Dave or maybe just Dave. But some wonder if people actually know the man or anything about him at all? The athletic trainer here at Center Grove is Dave Buchholz. Dave started his career in high school to become what he is so great at now. Curiosity stirs on what exactly Dave does. “I wanted to be involved in athletics, but I was always hurt, so it was the easiest way to be involved without having to lift all the weights and run all the sprints,” Buchholz said. “I started out helping the hockey team with stu-dent managing in high school,” Buchholz said. From then on his interest in athletic training grew and he began taking courses that were offered at the Sports and Medicine Clinic throughout the rest of his high school career. “I went on to college and started in a program there at Minnesota State University at Moorhead,” Buchholz said. After graduating from college, Buchholz moved on to a career in athletic training. Now trainer Dave spends his days at St. Francis and at Center Grove working with athletes. “My role here is the care and prevention of athletic injuries and daily athletic training room coverage and treatment of those that are injured,” Buchholz said.

As a trainer Buchholz is able to help athletes with treatment for whatever injuries that they are dealing with. “We do some rehab here [at Center Grove], but not a whole lot, such as taping, bracing, splinting, padding, and stretching. We do pretty much whatever it takes to get athletes ready for practices and games,” Buchholz said. As one of the schools only trainers, Buch-holz clearly has many things to do every day, but taping ankles is the most common athlete need he deals with. Athletes arrive in the training room every day before their practices to get their ankles taped. Although his job may seem tedious with the never ending line of students needing their ankles wrapped, Buchholz admits that he enjoys being a part of this athletic program in central Indiana.“The best part of this is being involved in a successful athletic program. I don’t know if I would have as much fun if I was at a school that wasn’t as successful in as many sports as we are here at Center Grove, so it’s definitely a bonus,” Buchholz said. With all that he does here to help the ath-letic side of the school succeed, he finds a way to stay positive on and off the job. Buchholz attracts athletes and students because of his hard work and because of his personality and humorous character.

Dave SavesTrainer Dave Buchholz keeps athletes in the game

Trainer Dave starts by spray-ing the ankle with a no stick spray. Then Dave wraps the ankle with pre-wrap. After applying

pre-wrap, Dave uses white tape. He starts by wrapping the mid foot and the top of the ankle.

Dave then wraps close to the heal. He does this a few times. Next, he moves the tape to the top of the ankle to make it more secure.

He wraps the ankle in the form of an eight to insure the ankle is secure from further injury.

Dave finishes wrapping the ankle by applying tape to the top and bottom once again to make sure the tape is secure.

The Art of Wrapping an AnkleTrainer Dave Buchholz observes the boy’s basketball game. JULIE JOSON / The Trojaneer

ALLI CHAMBERLAIN / TROJANEER

SPORTS PAGETHE TROJANEER

Playerprofiles

Q: A:

swimming

Q: A:

Q: A:

Q: A:Q: A:Q: A:

Q: A:

Q:

A:

Favorite Food?

Pasta

Favorite TV Show?

Transformers 3

Pauly D.

Weights

ESPN

Last movie you saw in theatres?

Favorite Jersey Shore character?

Favorite class?

BobbieClayton

Athlete you wouldmost like to meet?

If you could play any other sport what woulld it be?

Favorite vacation destination?

Clay Matthews

Football

Florida

basketball

Q: A:

Q: A:Q: A:

Q: A:

Q: A:Q: A:

Q: A:Q: A:

Favorite Food?

Favorite school lunch?

Athlete you would most like to meet?

Toms or Sperrys?

Favorite VacationDestination?

Last movie you saw in theatres?

Twitter or Facebook?

No. 1 artist on your ipod?

Toms

Disney World

Twilight

Twitter

David Crowder Band

Chicken Poppers

Spaghetti

Peyton Manning

Rawley Davis

By Troy VorhiesSports Writer

[email protected]

By Jacob StallardSports Writer

[email protected]

Q: A:Q: A:

Favorite Pro Team?

What makes you cry?

Death

Colts

Q: A:

FavoriteClass?

AmericanStudies

n Seniors (from left to right) Nate Miller, Kody Kavanaugh, Matt Hill, Brady Lynch, and Lyndsey Donnar sport their neon-wear at the Dec. 9 basketball game.

n Filling the water bottles, get-ting the equipment together and being an inspirational leader in the locker room is what Matt Hill does on a consistent basis as the manager of the football team. But Hill’s contributions to Cen-

ter Grove sports do not end when football season is over. If there is a Center Grove athletic event, chances are Hill will be there. “I always get hyped for all the games and I love my school,” Hill said. “I love my school because coming to a school where they are

focused on not only sports but also academics just amazes me how you can do that.” The common high school student will go to the football and basket-ball games and occasionally the soccer games, but Hill is different. “Everybody needs somebody to support them. I love going to all the sporting events because I enjoy learning about the sports I don’t see every day,” Hill said. It is this love that inspired Hill to sign up to be a manager. As some-one who loves Center Grove ath-letics, Hill appreciates that same passion in athletes. “I love being around athletes who work their hardest at what they love. If you don’t love what you play then why play it all?” Hill said. By being around the football team Hill has developed a strong relationship with the players, who

realize what Hill means to the team. “Without him we would have to get our own water and equipment. He made it so much

I always get hyped for all the games and I love my school.“ ”- Matt Hill

easier on us,” Senior Spencer Weeks said. When the student body sees Hill at a football game, he is always helping out on the sidelines but Hill also does a significant amount of work behind the scenes. “He’s always the one lifting us up when we’re down” Weeks said. Hill brings a positive attitude every day and also provides some entertainment. “He definitely brings us enter-tainment at practice, but also he is always excited and gives us high-fives” Weeks said. “My favorite Matt Hill memory is when this year he broke Coach Moore’s key to all the doors. It was already bent and Matt accidently broke it in half,” senior football player Jordan Bedan said. Center Grove sports are impor-tant to Hill, something he does not go a day without thinking about others. He is always in the front row of the student section, and talks to all the athletes and coach-es in the hallway. Hill aspires to be an inspirational leader and con-tribute to Center Grove sports in any way he can.

Senior Matt Hill shows CG what a sports fanatic really looks like

n In the closing minutes of a tight high school basketball game, emotions run high and players can lose their focus as fatigue sets in. After all, these are kids, and not seasoned professionals, and mistakes are bound to happen. This is where the team captain must step in and make sure his teammates keep their intensity. At Center Grove, each of the winter sports teams depend on senior leadership to provide a second voice of authority to reinforce the coaches. But Center Grove captains also are more than great leaders. These players have the respect of their teammates because they are fantastic players as well. Boy’s basketball captain, senior Joe Reed, is the lone returning starter from last season and is leading the team with 23.3 points per game and 13.3 rebounds per

game. Girl’s basketball captain, senior Jordan Jones, is also a returning starter and was the second-leading scorer on last year’s team. The swim captains, seniors Tom Stemnock, Tyler Dollar, Steve Godfrey, Kristen Nunnelly, Emma Schoettmer and Haley Townsend were all varsity swimmers last year. Godfrey and the three girls’ captains all competed in last year’s state meet. The wrestling team does not name captains. The captaincy is more than just an honorary title given to the team’s most talented senior. It is a serious role that comes with responsibility. It is one thing to have a coach screaming at you from the sidelines. It is quite another to have a highly respected teammate confronting you when you lose your focus. Reed was awarded the boys bas-ketball captaincy by Coach Cliff Hawkins because of his four years of varsity experience. “I talk to the referees and keep the team under control,” Reed

said of his duties. Talking to the referees about questionable calls is a duty unique to the captaincy. Jones was selected as the girls basketball captain by Coach Shawn Sanders. The honor usu-ally goes to the senior with the most varsity experience. “There’s more responsibility,” Jones said of the position. “You have to be more accountable.” The captain, Jones added, is expected to be a leader both on and off the court, and must calm her teammates down when the pressure mounts. As evidenced by Reed and Jones, experience at the varsity level is crucial for a captain. In the early stages of the season, many of the players may have little to no varsity experience, and so the captain must make sure the team does what needs to be done to keep its composure. The wrestling team, however, chooses not to name captains. In-stead, Coach Cale Hoover allows room for students to step up and

earn a leadership role over the course of the season. “I’ve found that when you name a team captain, it prevents other people from stepping up,” Hoover said. And, Hoover believes, captains can even be detrimental to the team at times. “I’ve also found that when you name a captain, that person may abuse the position,” Hoover said. Rather than unifying the team members, captains may some-times cause added tension and create distractions over the course of the season. Just as the players are mere kids capable of losing focus, so, too, are the captains. But in most cases, the captain is indeed an asset. In the heat of the battle, their authoritative voice asks for the most out of their teammates. Trojan captains represent ev-erything that Center Grove stands for. When the game is on the line, these veteran players rise to the occasion, and make sure that their teammates do the same.

Oh Captain, My Captain! Team captains step into leadership roles

ALLI CHAMBERLAIN/ The Trojaneer

JULIE JOSON/ The Trojaneer

Vo

lum

e LI, Issue 5

Issue 5

Documents

Transcript of Issue 5