Volume XX, issue III 7201 W. Sample Rd., Coral Springs, FL 33065 Coral Springs High School issuu.com/coltchronicle May 2012

news................................1,2opinion............................3-6feature................................7advertisements...............8-10entertainment...............11,12sports............................13,14

The official newspaper of the CSHS Colts

Felix ChenStaff Writer From Jan. - Feb. 7, Republican Primaries and caucuses, the first of many elections to choose the party’s presidential nominee, were held. There were a total of eight states contested. The first caucus on Jan. 3, in Iowa, which many politicians feel is a usual predictor of presidential elections, yielded a miscount and made some candidates re-evaluate their positions in this race. At first the vote count awarded Iowa to Mitt Romney by a mere 8 votes, but further investigation by the Iowa Republican Party dis-covered that there were miscounts in 131 precincts. After tally-ing the final vote count, Rick Santorum pulled out the win by 34 votes. Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota representative and only female running in the presidential race, dropped out due to finish-ing sixth in the Iowa Caucus. “Last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so I have decided to stand aside, though I will continue to fight to defeat the president’s agenda of socialism,” said Michele Bach-mann, Minnesota Representative, in a press conference. Located in New Hampshire the first primary was held on Jan.10. Mitt Romney took 40% of the votes, Ron Paul 23%, and Huntsman 17%. Texas Governor Rick Perry dropped out of the GOP race nine days after the New Hampshire primary due to a poor show-ing in the state, but endorsed Newt Gingrich upon leaving. “There is no viable path forward for me in this 2012 campaign and feel that Newt Ginrich has the heart of a conservative reform-er,” said Perry. South Carolina is nicknamed the firewall for the GOP presiden-tial contests, because it usually encourages candidates who are not garnering enough support to drop out of the race. After several days of rallying in South Carolina results were to be counted for

Ohio school shooting affects nationShahnawz HardanianStaff Writer A fatal shooting took place at Chardon High School in Cleveland, Ohio on Feb. 27th. Five students were shot, and of those, three were killed from their injuries. Danny Parmertor died on the 27th at the hospital and Demetrius Hewlin and Russell King, Jr. died the following day. The alleged shooter, 17-year old T.J. Lane, stole a .22 Ruger semi-automatic pistol from his uncle and brought it to school where he fired ten shots at a cafeteria table in the high school. Chardon junior Nate Muller identi-fied Lane as the shooter. He confessed to the shooting the following day while in custody. The Geauga County law enforcement agencies responded quickly to the shoot-ing, placing the school on lockdown right away and then evacuating them shortly af-ter. Frank Hall, an assistant football coach at the high school played a large role in Lane’s capture. Hall chased Lane from the cafete-ria and away from the students. Authorities took Lane into custody shortly after this, and Hall was not harmed. Lane is a sophomore at Lake Academy, an alternative school 15 miles away from Char-don. A portion of the students take buses from Chardon High School. Currently, this incident is not linked to any acts of bullying or associated with drug use. According to David Goyce’s (Geagua Coun-ty Prosecutor) interview with the New York Times, the shooting was the result of Lane’s actions alone and was not provoked. Those who knew Lane described him as “very quiet” and “always alone”, but also friendly and polite, although in 2009 he was sentenced to 24 hours of community service after being charged with disorderly conduct. Lane was placed in guardianship of his grandfather in 2002 after his father was sentenced to a 9-month jail sentence. Students of the high school held a can-dlelight service on Feb. 28th at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in memory of the victims. The school opened back up on March 2nd, where counselors were available both stu-dents and staff members. A memoriam is being planned for the three students who were killed, Russell King Jr., Demetrius Hewlin and Daniel Parmertor. This shooting is the fifth to take place at a high school this century.

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Two proud senior football players sign with different colleges to play for their schools, page 15

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MITT WINS FLORIDA

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Follow us on Twitter! Student takes title of CSHS Idol after beating out many other tal-ented students, page 13

Romney rallied supporters in Pensacola, shaking hands and gain-ing support with his campaign slogan, “Believe in America.”

Photo coutesy of Kyle Jacobs

Did winning the Florida primary determine the party’s candidate?

2 news 2 MAY 2012news

NEWS BRIEFS

The district plans to implement the straight seven period schedule for all high schools for the coming school year. The change will assist in meeting the state class size mandate. Students will receive 9,000 minutes of instruction time per class and allow programs such as Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment classes to be taught the entire school year in preparation for their respec-tive finals. Other variations to the uniform schedule are the Ro-tator and the A/B Block schedule. They yield the same benefits of the uniform seven schedule. Some schools currently have the A/B Block, but have a total of eight classes over the course of a year. The disctrict’s initia-tive for this variation would result in three classes that alternate, with one remaining constant.

District to implement uniform seven period schedule in schools

-Alec Kaye, Managing Editor

Governor Rick Scott vetoed a bill on Apr. 27 that would allow the University of Florida and Florida State University to make increases in their tuitions by more than the current 15 percent a year cap. UF and FSU officials say they need the increase to meet with the market value as way to improve their academic and research programs. The annual tuition and fees at Florida’s public colleges cost an average of $5,626. The national average sits at $8,244. The bill would have also allowed colleges to charge higher rates for more complex majors. Scott instead wants the higher education leaders to review how each of the state’s 11 public universities fits into the system, and how each spends its money. The universities brace for a $300 million, state bud-get cut this year.

-Diego Munoz, Staff Writer

Hope remains despite rain amid Relay For Life

Governor vetoes bill that allowed UF and FSU to increase tuiton

The nationally run Relay for Life was held yet again at our high school on April 20th. In the event the pub-lic is allowed to roam the track and field in celebration for cancer survivors. Several club organizations par-ticipated in the event by selling merchandise to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Unfortu-nately this year, due to severe weather patterns, events were held in the school’s gym. At around 6 o’clock people from all over the county gathered to lounge in the stands and/or walk the perimeter of the basket-ball court. Vendors sold merchandise to accumulate funds for the American Cancer Society. A total of 71 teams and 560 donators successfully raised $75,677 to support the fight against cancer. The festivities came to an end that evening with an indoor ceremony in commemoration for those who faced or passed away from cancer.

A new Florida law was recently passed that requires all students, beginning with the Class of 2015, to take an online class. This requirement is an unfunded mandate, meaning that school districts are not given funding. Currently, the financial impact is estimated to be $2.3 million. This estimate is based on all 9th graders, starting the school year 2011-2012, taking a 1.0 credit of an online Florida Virtual class. The Florida Virtual School (FLVS) estimates that it will have an increase in student enrollments in the next few years. This online school was founded in 1997 and is the country’s first, state-wide Internet high school. FLVS now serves kindergarten through twelfth grade students. Advocates of this new law believe that virtual classes are more beneficial because they allow students to work at their own pace. Others believe that students who learn better with a teacher would not do as well when taking online classes. A study conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education in 2009 looked at research on online teaching vs.

Online class requirement for freshmenJessica LeeStaff Writer

Sam HinkesStaff Writer Project Brain, a group of students in Crime Watch, aim “to prevent underage drinking by raising awareness and empow-ering students to make healthy choices,” Christopher Phillips sponsor said. Broward County Schools and the Office of Prevention Programs came up with the idea this past year. Crime Watch started the project in Oct. Project Brain is a subgroup of Crime Watch, “an active club committed to pro-viding security for students and adminis-trators,” according to its description on the Coral Springs High website. Along with the prevention of underage drinking, the project aims to stimulate the brain through activities and nutritional diet. Food, such as chocolate, walnuts, ba-nanas, and fish are part of the suggested diet. According to the club, a boring, sim-ple diet and high consumption of alcohol cause the brain to shrink. The project will commence in four differ-ent phases: Phase one is alerting the public of the project and informing them of what the project will do through posters and public

Project Brain helps students in needin-class teaching from 1996 to 2008. This study concluded that students who were taking online classes scored in the 59th percentile in a test, compared to average students who scored in the 50th percentile. The mandatory online class may seem beneficial in saving money for the high schools, but it may also cause them to use more money. In an interview with CBS, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) spokesperson, Baylor Johnson, stated that “there is a digital divide in this country and Internet access is limited by economic means.” The ACLU tells all school districts to provide internet access for students who do not have it at home. For many schools, this means that they will have to purchase more computers. With this new law, there are going to be many drawbacks and advantages. The vir-tual classes can help high school students be prepared for college online courses. At the same time, many students learn through the body movements and hand gestures of a teacher. With an online class, the only way a student can communicate with the teacher is through the phone or email

Romney leaves mark on country, taking Florida, cont.the Jan. 21 primary. This contest yielded far fetched results when Gingrich won the state by a 12% lead on Romney. Romney seemed to be the GOP frontrunner. Romney took another win under his belt on Jan.31 when Florida result were final-ized, obtaining 46.4% of the votes while Gingrich trailed with 31.9%. Exit polls have shown that 41% of voters felt that campaign ads played a significant role in how they voted. The amount of money that Romney spent in Florida was unprecedent-ed, as far as the amount of money a GOP primary candidate has ever spent in Flori-da. Romney alone spent $7 million on TV ads, while superPAC Restore Our Future,

which backs Romney, spent $8.5 million in Florida. This is about six times the amount Gingrich’s campaign spent. Another fac-tor that influenced voter’s choice between Romney and Gingrich were the Florida debates, in which Romney shined. Results taken from an exit poll show that 3 out of 4 voters said that debates were an important factor in their decision. Securing this big win has boosted Romney one step closer to becoming the GOP presidential nominee. Nevada has consistently voted for Rom-ney since the last GOP presidential nomi-nee race, receiving a 29% lead on Gingrich. Romney being the first candidate in the Republican race to win two consecutive

states showed his popularity among vot-ers and raised his chances even higher of becoming the Republican presidential nominee. After such a devastating defeat Gingrich reassured his supporters that he will not drop out of this race and will focus more on fundraising as well. On Feb. 7th, three states were contested by four candidates, though one candidate took them all. Santorum, former Senator of Pennsylvania, won Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota in one swoop. Romney had claimed winning these states would all but “clinch his nomination”. Gingrich didnt seem to be the only suitable rival in this race; Santorum also posed as a prospective

threat to Romney’s bid for the nominee. Santorum winning these states shows vot-er’s reluctance to place all their trust within Romney. “I don’t think this changes the title of front-runner (for Romney), but it under-scores the fundamental problem he has with the party base,” said Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia Cen-ter for Politics. The remaining four candidates are going to campaign diligently as Super Tuesday draws closer, only 2 primaries and 1 caucus left before it. Super Tuesday, which occurs on March 3, consists of ten states voting all on the same day.

service announcements. Phase two will take place in public. There will be games and other activities to raise awareness of underage drinking in the caf-eteria during lunch. Phases three and four will begin at a lat-er date. Phillips and Lucia Deus, another sponsor of Crime Watch, will continue with the project once phases three and four are known. Rayan Khan, senior, and a part of the Project Brain movement, thinks the project has come at the best time to put kids in the right direction. “I like what we are trying to do. Through this project, we can] bring different people to join as one for a common good,” said Khan. He feels that, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or age, it has the power to unite people and give them a chance to support troubled teenagers in their time of need. Phillips believes that the project can change kids’ lives. “It gives me an opportunity to work with students and present good messages that can be life changing in a positive way,” said Phillips.

-Alec Kaye, Managing Editor

3 opinion

By Jessica LeeStaff Writer Today, people can stream instant mov-ies and TV shows through their portable devices (including laptops, smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles) instead of watching them on television. With the help of Internet subscription services like Hulu and Netflix, people can easily access movies and TV shows. Hulu offers a selection of hit shows, clips, and movies via the Internet. Users do not need to pay a monthly subscription to watch these shows and movies, but they are restricted to viewing them only on the computer. Netflix is presently the leading Inter-net subscription service, with 25 million members worldwide. For a price of $7.99, viewers can watch movies fresh out of the theaters, as well as many popular television shows. Members in the United States and Canada can stream movies and shows via portable devices 24/7. What really makes Netflix stand out is the fact that viewers can rate the movies and shows they’ve watched and, based on those ratings, the system accurately predicts oth-er movies and shows members will enjoy. The Nielsen study held 12,000 online in-terviews in Mar. 2011 to determine how

Netflix and Hulu members watched their shows. According to Nielsen, most Netf-lix users use connecting devices like gam-ing consoles to stream movies and shows on the TV. The Nielson study concluded that Netflix is more advanced than Hulu in bringing web movie and shows to the TV. Recently, Hulu Plus was created so sub-scribers can pay $7.99 a month to watch movies and shows on devices like Smart TVs, gaming consoles, and tablets. Hulu includes advertisements to maintain its de-cent price. Compared to Hulu, Netflix does not have advertisements on their website. As a Netf-lix member myself, I’d rather pay $7.99 for an Internet subscription service that does not contain advertisements. Hulu’s website states that “[they] include advertisements in Hulu Plus in order to reduce the month-ly subscription price of the service.” How much would their Internet subscription re-ally cost then without advertisements? A monthly subscription of $7.99 can quickly drain your wallet; therefore, it would be reasonable to choose the service that provides the best deal. Hulu is a rather new company compared to Netflix. In my opinion, Netflix is the way to go if you pre-fer a more established and advanced Inter-net subscription service.

Netflix provides a better deal than Hulu among subscription sites

By Kasey LitchfieldStaff Writer The student Code of Conduct provides a clear set of rules to be followed and en-forced while on and off campus. Every student signs a binding agreement to abide by those rules and the administration and teachers try their best to enforce them. With this, students still feel the need to break the simple and clearly defined rules. Though the school board has granted us more freedom throughout the years, stu-dents continue to abuse their privileges and push them to their limits. Administration has given us the right to use cell phones and iPods during non-instructional time but students continue to abuse the privilege by texting during class and walking through the doors with ear buds in and music blar-ing. Time and time again, students take everything to an extreme and continually break the rules. The saying “give an inch, take a mile” comes into play here. Another aspect where rules aren’t fol-lowed in high school is arriving on time to class. Six minutes seems enough time to pass from class to class according to ad-ministration and to most students; in fact, just a few years ago students were only al-

lotted five. Yet, there are still those who can be heard sprinting down the halls in uni-son with the tardy bell. It seems as if tak-ing to friends in the hall between classes is the main priority of most students when it reality it just makes it harder for other stu-dents to get to class on time. The Student Code of Conduct produces a fashion show in the beginning of every year providing examples of what is and isn’t appropriate for school. Even still, students insist on sagging their pants, showing their middrifts, sporting hats and wearing re-vealing clothes. Even with surprise dress code inspections in the classroom, it is impossible for the administration to con-trol the outrageous number of violators on campus. Perhaps it is the thrill of breaking the rules or the excitement of weather or not you will be caught. Either way, students continue to test their limits and push their boundaries. Following simple rules is easy and I think to disobey them takes more ef-fort. It hurts the learning environment by taking away from class time as the teacher reprimands the student and distracts other students to have music on while they are trying to learn.

Students should follow school rules, not violate them to stage pointless protests

By Sam HinkesStaff Writer You cannot log into Face-book, Twitter, Tumblr, in-stant message, or go on any social networking site with-out seeing what’s known as “IM language,” or instant messaging language. It all seemed to start with “LOL” (laughing out loud), “ttyl” (talk to you later), “srry” (sorry), and soon became hundreds of one-to-four-letter abbreviations. Webo-pedia, an online computer

dictionary and Internet search engine of Internet terms, has 1,353 online chat and text message abbrevia-tions indexed. This IM lan-guage has been blown way out of proportion and has caused teenagers to abuse the English language. Teens should not give in to the pressure to knowingly mis-spell words while on social networking sites. Virginia Walz, Honors and AP English teacher, has strong opinions about

misspelling on social net-working sites and instant messaging. She has been teaching for 14 years. She believes it doesn’t come from laziness, but instead comes from habit. “I don’t know that policing social networking chats is the right thing. The answer lies in holding language as a value. Language is a mere reflection of thought,” said Walz. The gift of language is a luxury. It gives us the ability

to express opinions and to communicate. If we abuse that privilege, then we may lose respect from peers and elders. Many Internet users claim that those who criticize other people, who use IM language, are hypocrites. “There’s a difference be-tween criticizing an indi-vidual and a societal issue as a whole,” said Walz. There is nothing wrong with an occasional slip. People make mistakes but

when it’s done repeatedly for the sake of efficiency, to entertain your friends, or to follow the latest trend, there’s a problem. The computer is like an enabling friend who never corrects your mistakes. I understand the computer will do whatever you want it to do and say whatever you type in, but don’t let it make you a lazy writer. Autocorrect, a quick spell and grammar check for your smartphone, contrib-

utes to laziness. It can also humiliate you if you send an incorrect message. For example, “I’m so hungry I could eat a corpse,” (when they mean to say horse). I get that we all make mistakes. That’s why we have spell check, grammar check, and auto correct. It makes our lives easier, but if it interferes with your re-spect for yourself, the way you speak each day, and the way people look at you, it’s time for change.

Y cant ppl tYp corr3c+ly: Social media a plague on English Language

4 opinion 4 MAY 2012opinion

THE CHRONICLESTAFF EDITORIAL

“I’m going to college in the next six months, I don’t care;” “It’s not like [insert college name here] is going to rescind my acceptance because I failed this test;” “High school doesn’t even matter. I’m already mentally in college;” These common phrases suggest one major thing: students have checked out. It’s a particularly common form of apathy known as senioritis. It’s true, students get to a cer-tain point in their senior year (with the exception of those who have been itching to get out since freshman year and those who are holding onto the threshold, kick-ing and screaming on their last day) and they just stop seeing the point in caring as much as they used to. There’s a good reason for it, too. Many have already been accepted into the university they’ll be attending, classes have started to lighten up a bit, they can count the months they have left on one hand, and the restless-ness starts to overtake them.

And honestly, what’s going to happen if they do stop paying at-tention, stop caring, stop show-ing up every day? Well, if their theory about their safety at that special university is accurate, probably nothing. They’ll gradu-ate with everyone else and go on their merry way. But what are they losing by spending the last few months of an ex-tensive and pivotal chapter in their lives just waiting for the next one to start? The overall life ex-pectancy in the Unit-ed States is 78 years old. Eighteen of those years are spent as a child, and only four of those are spent in high school. For the next 60 years, people get to do whatever they want for the most part, and maybe once or twice they’ll look back on those four years or even last few months

and think fondly of it, or they might just shrug their shoulders and dismiss the emptiness of the thought. At the time, giving up on high school doesn’t seem to negatively affect seniors, in fact it feels good, like a massive weight has been

lifted off of their shoulders. And then they start thinking there’s no point in going to prom or Grad Bash. It’s true, they’ll never suffer terribly from not going and

they probably won’t cry for years over not having the senior year-book. But there is guaranteed to be some amount of regret in a person’s future when they can’t say they did those things that ev-eryone else their age did. There will be no pictures to show future

children and grand-children, because the reality is they didn’t do much of anything worth talking about those last few months as a senior. Senior year is sup-posed to be the most fun you have in all of high school. So often things become the most enjoyable right before they end, be-cause people are the most comfortable and

have the firmest grasp on the sit-uation. They’ve been running a race for the past four years. Yes, they’re tired, yes, they deserve a good break, but what good will

stopping with half a mile to go and saying they’re done do for them? This is also a time to use that newfound apathy to try some-thing new. Seniors finally have the time, and if they don’t get a part in the musical, it’s not like they care. Because they’re leav-ing, right? This is reasonably the only time they’ll ever get to join a philosophy club or take a chance at acting or singing or writing for a literary magazine. High school is filled with opportunities that aren’t so readily available in the “real world.” Seniors should take advantage of that. In the end, it all comes down to what the person want to get out of their life. They can sleep away the last few months of youth, graduate and convince them-selves that what they had wasn’t worth fighting for; that their new life will be much better, or they can enjoy the freedom of youth, try something new, make new friends, play the game, and win.

Have a comment on our latest edition? Concerned with a recent event or an ongoing issue? The Chronicle will glad-ly accept letters to the editor. Anyone interested in writing may deliver their let-ter to the box outside room 803 or email it to coltchronicle@gmail.com. Letters must be school ap-propriate and are subject to editing for length and content.

All opinions ex-pressed are those of the individual let-ter writers, not of The Chronicle.

To Elisa Press, I enjoyed reading about spirit week and the homecoming dress up days. Reading about it gave me flashbacks about my funky out-fits. I feel articles like [this one] need to be published more often. I know most of my friends didn’t want to dress up because they were em-barrassed. If the news-paper shows it’s fun to get involved I feel the school will have more spirit.

Chelsea Williams Senior

Dear Lorenzo Moham-med, I really enjoyed read-ing your opinion about Christmas. I agree with your argument. Around the holidays the carol-ers...make me want to shut my lights off. I myself am not a very big shopper. But when I do go out looking for something I don’t want

to wait in a line for 20 minutes because of the lazy holiday shoppers that decided not to shop earlier. Those lazy shop-pers need to shop earlier, or if they dare, black Fri-day. I loved reading your opinion, keep it up. I want to read more in the future Chronicle editions.

Julia Lewkowicz Freshman

To the editor, The article that caught my eye while reading was “Be wary of Facebook’s so called ‘friends,’” and even though I enjoyed this ar-ticle I have to somewhat disagree with you. In life people have their differ-ent categories of friends, such as your social net-working friends – most of whom you know and most of whom you don’t hold a conversation with; then you have your school friends – you have your classmates who you might talk to during class only and you also

have your aquaintances the ones you associate with at school and then-you have your true and genuine friends who you have an actual friend-ship with. The fact of the matter is that the word “friend” can be stretched in so many directions you’re the only one ca-pable of choosing your friend and being able to have a relationship with that person; whether it be casual or not.

Shantae Waysome Senior

Dear writers of the Chronicle, I always look forward to reading the opinion articles and the feature articles. I enjoy reading the face off article this time due to the relevance of the topic. As a senior I have plenty of pressure on me to be involved in extracurricular activities as well as being in ad-vanced classes. Stress is used in my daily vocabu-

lary and I believe that the article was well debated and presented two sides clearly. There is tons of pressure on students but I feel with the weight on our backs students are more likely to succeed. I agree with Alec Kaye “A world with no competi-tion bores us, makes us feel that we wasted our time.” My dad constantly tells me “be in front of the person in second.” Whether I am at a track meet or taking an Ad-vanced Placement exam, I always want to be the best.

Ciera Campbell Senior

Dear Lorenzo, Sad to hear you’re not a fan of Christmas. I’ve al-ways thought Christmas was a beautiful holiday, but I suppose our opin-ions differ. The newspa-per was pretty impressive until I reached your ‘joy-killing’ article. Maybe surround yourself with

joyous people and a glass of eggnog? It wouldn’t hurt to join in the melan-choly celebrations.

Jessica Brennan Freshman

Dear Sam Hinkes, Your article was my fa-vorite, “Pursuit of swag should not result in the sacrifice of dignity.” To me, the word “swag” in our generation is just unnecessary and child-ish. It makes no sense what-so-ever. It’s almost as if every other word that comes out of [the mouths of] my fellow students is “swag.” I’m ashamed to say I am part of this generation. Hopefully, [the word} swag isn’t taught to those in elementary and mid-dle school.

Selena Hosein Junior

Seniors who check out of school early accrue late fees

5 opinion 5 opinion

Either America has ceased to care about the rest of the world, or it never did. In 1823 the Monroe Doctrine set up the coun-try for an isolationist foreign policy that would carry us through to the First World War. Maybe this influences us today, or maybe we just love the superficial and would prefer to spend our time catching up on worthless tabloid gossip. Whatever the reason, the United States is suffering from a severe shortage of international news. As of the time of this writing, none of the top stories on Google News concern an international issue. The lack of news is to the detriment of American understanding of the world. According to a 2006 National Geographic study, young adults are seriously handi-capped in terms of geographic understand-ing. Nine out of ten couldn’t find Afghani-stan on a map of Asia, 54 percent were unaware that Sudan is an African nation and 75 percent were unable to locate Indo-nesia. These are nations mentioned with relative frequency in international news segments. Nonetheless, the media rarely focuses on global events, particularly not ones that do not directly impact the United States. Why should people understand the geography of places they are never going to hear about anyway? When abroad, people find themselves ex-posed to different news styles. I remember watching the British Broadcasting Channel when I was in Spain three years ago because it was the only thing in English. I remem-ber being so delighted to hear a story about Eritrea, a nation I have not heard of since. The story was presented as casually as US news presents the latest celebrity divorce or political scandal. Maybe it’s because the United Kingdom is much closer to dozens of other countries, but it seems that they hold different values of news. Sure, the British have as many trashy tabloids as we do (see the ongoing News Corp scandal), but the BBC is one of the most respected sources of news in the world, and it is rife with global news. The world is becoming increasingly glo-balized; it is impossible (or at least, unwise) to pursue a diplomatic course of isolation. Since the advent of faster transportation and communication, you cannot avoid foreign influence on our shores. With an increasingly global economy and a tough American job market, in the coming years many may find themselves working for for-eign firms. A better understanding of the world beyond the US might be crucial for preparing new generations for the future. Despite this, it seems that Americans are becoming more disconnected from the rest of the world as news becomes predomi-nantly celebrity and scandal centered. Long Story Short: Let’s do without the celebrity gossip and flood the media with some real international news.

By Shahnawz HardanianStaff Writer Joining a new club is supposed to be a worthwhile experience. The chance to participate in an activity you’re passionate about with others who share your interest is something that every individual should have; but unfortunately, this is not always the case. Hazing, the practice of harassing newcomers to an organization as a form of initiation, is occurring more and more often. Incoming members have to suffer all sorts of abuse, both mental and physical, just to be accepted by old members. Hazing has been practiced for years all over the world, but only recently has it been brought to at-tention.

The most noteworthy incident of hazing that has occurred recently is the case of Robert Champion, a 26-year-old drum ma-jor from Florida A&M University. Cham-pion, who had loved music since he was a child, had to suffer through intense physi-cal beatings from the band’s older mem-bers. The beatings became so severe that they led to his death shortly after playing at his school’s football game in Orlando on Nov. 19. Friends and family of Champion said that he knew about the school’s hazing reputation before he attended the school, but his desire to be a part of the band over-powered the prospect of being hurt. Champion’s death from hazing is just one out of many that could have been pre-vented if stronger action was taken to stop

the hazing before it got to such an intense level. Unfortunately, even though hazing is now illegal in 44 states, many people still turn a blind eye to it. Hazing operates un-der a “don’t-ask-don’t tell” principle, where it is simply accepted and not questioned. Those who participate in hazing justify it by pointing out that they too had to go through with it, and in later years, the vic-tims they are hazing will have the opportu-nity to be on the other side as well. Hazing is unacceptable. Senior members of a club or team don’t have a right to make newer ones feel unsafe and humiliated just to feel like a part of the group. Hazing is just a socially approved form of bullying, and like bullying, its consequences can be deadly.

Hazing is just a socially approved form of bullying

America suffers from a shortage of international news in the media

Lorenzo MohammedDimensions Editor Students today are finding pens and paper to be on their way to being obsolete, as they are taking advantage of the technology and opportunities of the present. Tablets are compact devices, which many students use to take notes and keep records for their classes, foregoing the old method. The school rules used to forbid any kind of device that could prove to be a distraction in the classroom, but today many teachers allow student to have out their tablets, which is a great way to embrace the growing technological age. Tablets offer a vast amount of note-taking apps for a diverse group of users. They allow students to sort notes into digital fold-ers, which can be further stored into broader categories to ensure the most efficient form of archiving notes for a class. The old-fash-ioned way of keeping notes was writing on loose-leaf paper with a ball-point pen and storing those papers into a specific binder or folder that was kept specifically for that class; and there was a fold-er kept for each class. Then all the papers would start to build up, backpacks would start to get larger and more unorganized as the semester went on. Tablets make it much easier and convenient to

store all the vital information that students need to have on hand. Another advantage tablets have over hand-written notes is the fact that tablets also have the ability to access the Internet. With certain applications, users are able to pull PDF files into the note, then write directly on to it. Particularly for a class that uses dia-grams often, such as anatomy or psychology, this feature can come in handy. If there is a digital version of the class’s textbook, the student can simply pull up the page and take notes directly onto the margins. This is, of course, an advantage beyond the ability to carry a full schedule of classes worth of books in a single device which is much lighter and more convenient. If there are confusing terms or misunderstood concepts, Google search is readily avail-able for an alternative explanation, which could be quite beneficial. Hand-written notes become more obsolete as the years prog-ress, new tablets are released every couple of months, each more efficient than its predecessors. The apps continue to be updated and improved, and more tools are created to make users’ lives even easier. Paper is an inconvenience that appears on its way to be be-ing replaced in its entirety.

Tablets are making pen and paper obsolete

Lorenzo’s Moment of Truth Cartoon by Lorenzo Mohammed Dimensions Editor

6 opinion 6 MAY 2012opinion

By Kasey LitchfieldStaff Writer Day after day student drag them-selves through the halls tired and groggy from staying up all night trying to finish the pile of home-work assigned from the previous day. To help the student body and prevent the spread of the walking dead infested with the homework bug is to create a study period for students. The term “study hall” has two meanings, both relating to aca-demics. The first is the concept of a room or area set aside specifi-cally for the purpose of studying or reading. The next is a period of time in which students are ex-pected to study or work on home-work. Students who have finished their work may also use this type of study hall as a free period. Ei-ther way, both are beneficial to students. From freshmen to se-niors, every student could utilize a study period and advance their knowledge by doing homework, studying, doing projects, having group meetings or getting tu-tored. A study period provides stu-dents with time to study and do homework. This is especially valuable for students taking Advanced Placement courses, since taking a class that possibly credits you with college credits comes with more homework and a greater need to study. With a study period AP passing rates would rise. Also, some students don’t have the time or resources to do homework and study. Some have problems at home, do sports

and extracurricular activities, or are simply overloaded with seven classes worth of work. When the issue of the study period simply becoming a slack- off course or a socializing time arises, it is unnecessary. When a study period is strictly enforced by teachers and faculty the time to study turns into nothing more. A study hall does not have to be a mandatory class therefore, those students who elect to take the course are the ones who will actu-ally utilize the time appropriately. Missing a day of high school re-sults in the student falling behind because they go at such a fast pace. A study period could provide stu-dents with make-up work due to absences to complete it without overloading the students in an effort to catch up. Cantwell Sa-cred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, California made making up missed work during a study period a mandatory activ-ity. The policy has produced more honor students, raised the aver-age GPA, and improved teacher morale. The honor roll went from 32 percent of the student body to more than 50 percent. Teachers have taken up too much time complaining or rep-rimanding students for doing homework or studying for a test in another class. If a study period was available this could be avoid-ed all together. Students shouldn’t have to stay up late and come into school droopy-eyed and dragging their feet from sheer homework exhaustion. Have a study period and save a student.

By Shahnawz HardanianStaff Writer When walking into any store, it seems that it’s al-ways a holiday. Holidays take up only a fraction of the calendar, but stores advertise and decorate for them all year long. You’ll see festive Santa hats dis-played the first of Novem-

ber, pounds of Halloween candy on the shelves in August and pink and red stamped items before New Years. Sure, it may seem odd to run into Christmas trees while the weather is still warm out, but is this early holiday decorating practice really the huge pain shoppers make it out to be every year?

Many shoppers claim that stores decorating their aisles months in advance is just plain annoying, but there are also those who find it to be festive and fun. “I love going into stores and seeing all the decora-tions and holiday items out,” said Veronica Orr, se-nior. “Even though the ac-tual holiday itself is far off,

it makes me look forward to it even more.” By displaying their decora-tions and holiday products in advance, the stores ben-efit as well. Having items available to the consumer gives the stores more time to sell and make profits. Profits go up significantly during the holidays, which helps the store maintain

stability. If stores were to simply put up their holiday displays the week before the big day, consumers would have no time to peruse the items for sale and put aside enough savings to purchase what they want; both con-sumers and the stores lose. What harm comes from creating a more festive en-vironment in stores? The

stores regular products aren’t discontinued, nor are their prices raised. If the decorations are really that bothersome, why not just avoid the portion of the store where they are being displayed. Don’t ruin the benefits that come from the decorations simply because you have a problem with holiday spirit.

Holiday displays in storefronts delivers an early dose of holiday spirit

By Jessica LeeStaff Writer Study periods, a time for finish-ing homework and studying, do not help most students improve in school. For the student, it usu-ally becomes little more than a time for socializing and sleeping. In some school systems, when students have enough credits to graduate from school, they are given free time to work on home-work and study. This is usually in the form of a large number of stu-dents being instructed to gather in auditoriums or libraries when they have no arranged classes. Study periods are not benefi-cial for students if they don’t do anything productive. The aver-age teenager can’t focus when his friends are trying to brew up a conversation with him. When students socialize with each other, it provides a distraction to others who actually are trying to study. Lots of students would honestly rather do their homework at home and then wait till the last minute to study for tests, than take advantage of free time. Study periods are ineffective when there are no improvements in students’ grades. Instead of having a study period, students are enrolled in classes to help them meet school standards. This is a brilliant idea, because stu-dents are at least learning instead of socializing. Recent teacher budget cuts have caused the amount of study halls to increase. A larger number of students can attend a study hall compared to a regular size class.

Therefore, fewer teachers have to be hired by the school. The school can use the money that it saves to-ward other areas, like purchasing new textbooks and school sup-plies. Every student has different pref-erences when it comes to study-ing. Some like to study in a loud environment while others prefer to study in a quiet environment. When all students are placed in a room together, problems arise. The environment will be advan-tageous to some students, but for others, it will be unbeneficial. The difference in students’ study pref-erences causes study periods to be a waste of time. In a 2007 study conducted by Oxford Brookes University, 1,180 students were surveyed to see where they preferred to study. The vast majority of students, 79%, said that they preferred to study at home. Only 6% of stu-dents favored studying in the li-brary. When students are used to studying at home for their tests, another environment may cause them to study ineffectively. Hence, study halls are preferred by a small amount of students. Study periods are ineffectual due to the variation in studying pref-erences among students. Most students define a study period as a chance to catch up on sleep or gossip. Although study periods are beneficial to some students, they prove to be unhelpful to oth-ers. Study halls may seem advan-tageous at first, but after a while, they prove to be ineffectual for students.

“It’s a good idea because it’s time for students with busy schedules to complete some work at school.”-Amber Johnson, sophomore

“There should be a study hall period because students will then be able to get a teacher’s help in school.”-Eliette Casimir, sophomore

“There should not be a study hall period because it will give students a reason to procras-tinate and finish their work at school.”-Christopher Sullivan, junior

“No, because it will take away time from classes and there won’t be enough time to cover all the material in class.”-Theresa Newstreet, junior

Study periods become wasted time Study periods are a valuable resource

“I really think we should have study hall because I really need extra time to do homework.”-Jenna Skrypek, freshman

FACEOFF

Should there be a study hall period?

7 feature

Savita RamkalawanStaff Writer Not many students in high school know exactly what they want to do in the future. Some, on the other hand, have it planned out completely. Luisa Patino, senior, has already made up her mind in that respect. Recently, Patino has earned herself an internship at the State Attorney’s Office in Fort Lauderdale, through a new class called Quest, Valerie Arena’s senior internship class. As an intern, she gets the chance to review cases, view videos and pictures, and listen to witness’s testimonies. Much to her advantage, Patino gets the opportunity to view evidence that nobody else besides the attorney gets to see. A dedicated student, she plans on using the tactics she learns in the courtroom in her career as a lawyer in the Air Force. Patino, who has been in court a few times, loves the feeling and can’t wait to help those who are wrongly accused. “Being in the actual courtroom makes everything seem so much more realistic and understandable, as opposed to fake and dramatic,” said Patino. According to her, real-life court cases are not exactly the way they are portrayed in movies, but still hold a large amount of suspense and intensity.

Everyone has a story: Luisa Patino

So far, Patino has read a number of cases, but has only seen a few. This includes murder stories between couples and family members, and other countless cases. “I get to hear phone calls that the public don’t, and collaborate with the attorney and their evidence afterwards,” said Patino. “It does get really intense sometimes, but

Feyaad AllieContributing Writer The City of Coral Springs strives to offer a wide range of activities that appeal to our diverse and growing community, and last month was no exception. The fifth annual Teen Political Forum, held at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts on April 2, attracted a record student turnout. The Forum allowed high school students to interact with local government leaders and make their voice heard. Mayor Gold would like to thank all of the student participants and all of his colleagues on the panel, for once again making such an impact. Mayor Gold would like to congratulate the new Chief of Police, Anthony Pustizzi, who was formerly the Deputy Chief. The City began a national search to replace outgoing Police Chief Duncan Foster, who retired this year after 27 years of service. During this highly competitive process, over 150 candidates applied for the position. Chief Pustizzi demonstrated a combination of experience and leadership skills that clearly confirmed him as the best candidate for the position. The City of Coral Springs is launching its new program the “Career Outreach Project.” This database’s purpose is to pair up high school and college graduates with jobs and internships locally. Students can sign up for this database on www.csoutreachproject .com. Mayor Gold encourages those who want to discuss city issues to visit him during his office hours. The scheduled monthly hours can be viewed at www.CoralSprings.org/events. Another way to stay updated on city events is to add the city on Facebook at www.faceb o ok .com/cora l spr ings . Finally, if there is anything that Mayor Gold could help you with, or if you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email him at rgold@coralsprings.org.

Alec KayeManaging Editor After only one job, Jerry Frederick became the owner of two worldwide companies built for airline quality management. Opportunity flew his way, and he took it. Frederick was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1964. His father worked in construction, and found work difficult to come by during the chilling winter seasons. Deciding it was time for change, Donna and Charles Frederick moved to Coconut Creek, Florida. With nothing but a few bucks in their pockets, they would have to construct their lives anew. By the time Frederick reached high school, he was a six-foot tall, 150-pound machine on the soccer field. Despite three coaching changes in three years, the team remained successfully competitive with him playing left fullback. Before each game, the team would hype themselves by beating the high score on their Defenders game and jamming to Edgar Winter’s hit Frankenstein. It was his senior year when Budd Hulse, father of current boys soccer coach Randy Hulse, began his stay with the team. The class of ‘82 graduate went on to attend Florida Atlantic University with a full ride, half paid for by academic scholarships and half by athletic, Frederick graduated with a BS degree in computer science. Fresh out of college, Frederick was browsing through the classified ads in the newspaper when he came across a job opening from General DataMax. The deciding factor to accept the position? The offer of a new Unix computer upon employment. The job involved working with

aviation information technology, such as computerizing catalogs of plane parts. During this time, The Boeing Company issued a Request for Proposal to engineers to develop a format for their forthcoming transfer of their Illustrated Parts Catalog to Optical Drive. Frederick successfully created a proprietary algorithm that saved approximately 90% of disk space. Frederick branched off on his own after developing one of the first Windows-based inventory management software systems, called Automated Aviation Material Management, and migrated it online in 1992. The two resulting companies were

Alumni Spotlight: Jerry Frederick

Asset Conversion Services, Inc. and Av-Info, which focuses on providing gathered catalog pricing, interchangeability, and market trending data of aviation parts for commercial and regional aircrafts and quality departments. Frederick works in this very specialized field that aids airline companies across the world. His interest in aviation did not occur while in high school. He almost didn’t even consider it. He attributes his success to the opportunities that opened to him while in college. His advice to the current population of Colt Country: “Treat college like a job....It’s just plane sense.”

Photo by Alec KayeAVIATION EXPERT: Alumnus Jerry Frederick, left, explains the history of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress with his youngest child, Julia. The WWII bomber landed outside of his office building the previous morning and opened its hatches as a form of “flying museum.”

Photo by Carolina AmbrosiniPARALEGAL: Luisa Patino works intensely, writing for her job as an intern.

Mayor’s Messenger

those are the most interesting points.” Being an intern to an attorney opens so many more doors to a life as a lawyer. Although her input doesn’t have any impact on the outcome of a case, it still serves as a strong stepping-stone in her advancements.

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11 entertainment

After reading Philip K. Dicks novel Blade Runner, originally known as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, it would be hard to find a single reader of science fiction who would disagree that Blade Runner is a classic in its genre. The book takes place in the United States right after a third World War that killed millions, and has nearly driven the entire species into extinc-tion and forced mankind to reside on other planets in the universe such as Mars. Those who remain on Earth have desperately struggled to find what little animal life remained. Though animals are expensive, there are many other ways in which one would be able to obtain one of their own. The only question is whether it is real, or just another artificial creature created by the large corporate companies. The companies strived to put together and simulate several species of creatures, even human beings. Blade Runner is a novel that once read, will not be forgotten for a very long time. With a setting that is ex-pansive, and a cast of characters who are unforgettable, readers will find it extremely difficult to put this book down. Readers who find themselves inter-ested in the genre of science fiction, will find themselves particular inter-ested in this novel. But both readers of sci-fi and readers who are not into the genre, will find themselves quick-ly growing a soft spot for the novel and all of the characters within it. Although the plot of the book may seem straightforward, there are many twists and turns that occur through this 216-paged book that make it a unique experience. From androids discovering some-thing that is life threatening to their race, to even the hunter growing feel-ings for one of the hunted. This novel will keep you on the edge of your seat and provide surprises around every corner that will have the readers not wanting to stop. Blade Runner is a book that will be read and has been read for over 25 years and will continue to be read for a very long time. This book is sure to keep its read-ers entertained from start to finish, and those interested in the genre of science fiction will definitely want to check this book out.

Carolini AmbrosniStaff Writer/ Photographer

Every year, Coral Springs High holds Coral Springs Idol, which is a take-off of the famous Fox series American Idol. This year, Colt Idol consisted of 17 contestants who attend Coral Springs High. The audition process consisted of forty contestants having a one shot chance to sing in front of Chorus teacher Mary-Catherine Salo, and former chorus officers. Coral Springs Idol took place on Feb 29 in the auditorium. These contestants had to sing to their greatest ability in front of a large audi-ence. This was the perfect opportunity for students to show off their vocals in front of their friends and family, and to compete with other competitive singers for the grand prize of $100. It was a packed house with many friends and family members coming out to sup-port their favorite singer. In the first round, each contestant had a mini introduction that gave the audience a little background knowledge of the con-testant, followed by their performance of a song of their choice. For only a minute, every performer had to bare it all. After each contestant finished perform-ing, there was a ten minute intermission which allowed the judges to decide who

Duffy DufresneFeature Editor The Red Tail pilots, or Tuskegee Airmen, were a group of American pilots who made history by being the first all African-American group of pilots to serve in the armed forces. Their story of courage and strength has inspired two films, one in 1995, and another named Red Tails that premiered on Jan. 20 in theaters. The film featured Terrence Howard who played the role of Colonel A.J. Bullard, a character based on General O. Davis, a Tuskegee general who fiercely defended the Tuskegee airmen against opposition, and played a major role in getting the Red Tails off the ground and into the air. The movie also starred Cuba Gooding Jr. who played the role of Major Emanuelle Stance, a character based on General Davis. There were also a number of talented actors including Nate Parker

(‘Easy’ Julian), Tristan Wilds (‘Junior’ Gannon), and Ne-Yo (‘Smoky’ Salem). The film was action-packed and heartwarming, just as producer George Lucas intended it to be. It illustrated the struggles of the 332nd fighter group, or Red Tails to gain the respect and trust of the other soldiers and to earn their right to fight for their country. They were often kept on the ground and did not originally see much airtime; only after much persistence from Major Stance were they finally given a chance to prove their skill, by escorting U.S. bomber planes across Europe. According to Red Tail veteran Lieutenant Colonel Leo Gray, who was present at a showing of the film in the Paragon Theater in Deerfield on Jan.27th, the film lacked a few historical details but was for the most part a good film, despite negative critiques. “I’ve heard a lot of criticism … some

of the people complained that it didn’t talk about before they went overseas or after they got back, but it was two hours and five minutes as it is and it looked like a hit,” said Gray. Gray also stressed that the movie was not a documentary, but a fictional story based on historical events, “This is a Hollywood version of true stories.” The actual Red Tail pilots were all Tuskegee airmen, but not all Tuskegee airmen were Red Tail pilots. They were coined Red Tail pilots or Red Tail angels because they painted the tails of their planes red. The Tuskegee airmen successfully destroyed 261 enemy aircrafts, damaged 148, completed 311 missions, and were awarded 95 Distinguished Flying Crosses during the war. 450 pilots were sent overseas, and of those pilots 84 were killed in training and non-combat missions.

Red Tails reels in viewers with historical story

advance to the next round. The tension arose in the auditorium as everyone was anxious and eager to find out which top five contestants proceed to the next roundSoon afterwards, the top 5 finalists were announced. However, it was a tough decision for the judges, instead of the traditional 5 finalists they added one more finalist. For the final round each contestant had to sing their full song.

After the six finalist were done singing their heart out, it was time for the audi-ence to choose their favorite. The audience were supplied with paper and pencils to cast their final vote. For the next five minutes everyone in the auditorium was on edge, dying to know who the grand prize winner was. Finally, it was time to announce the winner. The 2012 Coral Springs Idol winner was Noelle Dionisio, sophomore.

Colt Idol contestants present noteworthy performances to earn top spot

Books that are best with Andres

By Andres Fernandes

Annual singing competition displays impressive talent

Singing Marked Successful: Sophomore Noelle Dionisio wins 2012 Colt Idol and is filled with joy as she recieves her Award from Chorus teacher Mary Catherine Salo.

Dark ShadowIn Theaters: May 11

What to Expect When You’re Expecting

In Theaters: May 18BattleshipIn Theaters: May 18

12 entertainment 12 MAY 2012entertainment

Skrillex hits sophomore’s slump with BangarangBen MitchellStaff Writer Skrillex has had a giant year. In Dec. 2010, the relatively unknown DJ released his debut album Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites and quickly won international acclaim for helping bring dubstep to the mainstream. Now, a little over a year later, it’s time for album number two, Bangarang. For those not in the know, Skrillex is a DJ that plays a style electronica called dubstep, which is an intensified version of European club music. It is character-ized by multiple loops of music playing simultaneously, and distorted synthesizer sections known as bass drops. Bangarang doesn’t quite match the magic of Scary Monster, but it’s not for lack of trying. Skrillex takes all of the elements that made the first album great and takes them

to the extreme. The bass drops are heavier, the samples are stranger, and the album as a whole feels more polished than Scary Monsters. That’s where the problem is though, Skrillex is just trying way too hard. The first album sounded like a collection of songs, while Bangarang sounds like a col-lection of bass drops and random noises all attempting to outdo one another in their quest for intensity. A perfect example of this is the open-ing track “Right In.” The song has little discernible melody or composition until the bass drop finally comes around. Song-writing gets thrown under the bus for the purpose of making the album as intense as possible. The album isn’t all bad though, the title track and the song “Devil’s Den” are both great songs that I would stack up against

anything from the first album. The reason that those songs are good is that they are actual songs. They have a coherent “verse/chorus/verse” structure that helps make them memorable. The last two songs, “Summit” and “Skril-lex Orchestral Suite”, close out on a gentler note that stands in contrast to the remain-der of the album. Also, most of the songs aren’t bad, just mediocre. It’s just disap-pointing after the amazing first album. Scary Monsters was the sound of a talented young DJ helping to pioneer a new genre, while Bangarang sounds like someone trying their hardest to recreate past success. This album fits the rating of 3 out of 5 horsehoes.

Zachary, BerthiaumeStaff Writer Chronicle is the story of three teens whose lives change dramatically. One night at a rave they go and explore a cave in the middle of a forest. As the teenagers go deeper into they find an alien rock. When they touch the stone they obtain the powers of telekinesis. As they learn to control the powers they have to learn to adapt to society. The movie was shot in first person perspective, which was a great addition, and gave people the impression they were one of the characters in the movie. It was a risky move, as movies similar Cloverfield, weren’t easy to follow. The director pulled it off and the story flows smoothly. The story revolves around the character of Andrew, was does most of the filming throughout the movie. There were some parts of the

movie made use of other people’s camera’s, which added a nice touch to see the movie as if you were on the outside looking in. When an event in the movie got personal you could see it all and really connect to the character because the acting was never dull. The acting from Dane Dehaan was the most convincing, and really put this movie over the edge. The movie seemed, however, to be missing parts as if was edited out or cut straight to another location. For example, the boys could be practicing their new powers and then jump home and the boys could be talking about something different from before. This happened because either the camera died or they turned it off that left the viewer wondering what could have happened in between what is shown. Another action that got annoying was the dropping of the camera, because the viewer

would be lying on the ground hearing the voices of the characters but not seeing what was going on. The film trailer acts as a plot spoiler and gives away who the villain is in a scene in which Andrew crushes a car. So the whole movie the audience was sitting waiting for that event to happen which gives away a sense of surprise, or the twists the movie was trying to send to the audience. The movie leaves a lot of questions to be answered by ending the movie ended on a cliffhanger. The movie has a lot of ups and very few downs. For those interested in seeing a movie with a little sci-fi and action that you will want to go see again, Chronicle is the way to go. I would give this movie 4 of 5 horseshoes.

Joe CerasuoloStaff Writer Bethesda is a game company. A darn good game company, and one that should be known around the world as the creators of the Fallout series and The Elder Scrolls series of games. The newest edition to their legacy is a game known colloquially as Skyrim, but known by hardcore gamers as TES V: Skyrim. Skyrim starts out as other TES games have; the player is a prisoner and is to be either sentenced to death or imprisoned for all eternity. As you are being led to the literal chopping block a huge dragon swoops down and begins laying waste to the city around you. This city, Helgen, is ravaged and the player must escape with his life. The rest of the game centers on you, the “Dovahkiin” or “Dragonborn” slaying dragons and absorbing their souls. Yes, you absorb their souls. You can use these

souls to unlock “dragon shouts,” which al-low you to breathe fire or stop time. When dragons breathe fire they are actually speaking an ancient and powerful lan-guage, and it is their power that has been granted to you. There are three shouts to each complete dragon shout, and when the player learns all three shouts; in a shout’s series the pow-er of the shout is multiplied. The effects on the environment and on enemies caused by these shouts are interesting to watch. Skyrim also allows you craft your own weapons and armor, and the higher your Smithing skill the better weapons and armor you can create, and the more they can be improved. Being the fifth install-ment in this much loved series has put tons of pressure on Bethesda to create a large open-world game, a “sandbox game.” These types of games are usually large and free-roam, where players are able to ex-plore the world in which they are playing.

These titles are oftentimes hard to develop and are filled with bugs, glitches, and hackable areas. These bugs come in various forms such as defeated monsters “falling” through the ground, or certain solid objects being inside of another solid object, such as an arm being inside a wall. Skyrim is an amazing game and the developers and creative minds behind it should be proud of their work, as should fans of the series, for being so faithful. The game is a great addition to Bethesda’s rep-ertoire of sandbox games and is a welcome distraction. I thoroughly recommend Skyrim to anyone looking for a game that will keep you entertained . I am convinced that this game deserves nothing less a full 5 horsehoes.

Skyrim: Amazing adventure of epic proportions

Joe Cerasuolo

Zachary Berthiaume

Chronicle like no other, film labeled as successful

Ben Mitchell

Full 5 alert!

Joe Cerasuolo has been in the jour-nalism program for two years. He is thankful for the opportunity to write for the Chronicle, as he wants to be a successful journalist and novelist for his career. He likes working around his friends and is really grateful to Mr. Laub for his support and help in the program.

Zachary Berthiaume is a sophomore who has been involved in journalism since last year. He has plans to be a future editor, of sports or feature. He joined jour-nalism because he has always found interest in writing. Zach always works hard and is glad to be a part of something bigger then himself.

Ben Mitchell is in 10th grade and is one of the newest writers in The Chronicle family. Ben joined the paper in January and this is the first issue that he has been involved with. He plans on being an editor for The Chronicle his senior year

PoorHorseshoe rating:

GoodFair Excellent

Amazing

13 sports

Every sport has them, and every true fan despises them. Bandwagon fans have been around for as long as spec-tator sports have. A “Bandwagon fan,” according to UrbanDictionary.com, is defined as “anyone who claims they are a “fan” of a particular sports team, even though they had no prior support for/interest in the team until that team start-ed winning.” This type of fan is disap-proved by die hard fans that have a per-sonal connection to their team of choice, such as living in the team’s town. These fans often arise around major games, like the Super Bowl or the World Series. Once a bandwagon fan, a person may show sudden interest in buy-ing merchandise and praising a team that they have just begun to root for due to predicted success. This brings tension with fans that are passionate about their team be-cause most people see bandwagon fans as a source of superficiality. Tension between bandwagon fans and true fans is the situation with the Miami Heat that occurred last sea-son, when the team formed “The Big Three,” welcoming LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside Dwyane Wade in a winning record season of 58-24. That season, Miami’s fan base rose dramatically from an average of 17,000 fans per home game in 2010 game to around 20,000 fans the next year. Many seemed to take notice to the dra-matic increase in fan attendance and the rise in Heat apparel and memorabilia purchased. Another example of bandwagon fans centers around former UF quarterback Tim Tebow, who played for the Denver Broncos and now the Jets. Since his introduction into the NFL, there has been nonstop attention circling around the Broncos and their un-orthodox winning habits. Many Floridians became Broncos fans be-cause of Tebow, but if he is leaving the franchise, will those fans still be loyal? The media’s concentration on Tebow is easily the biggest reason why the team’s fan base has grown in the past year. With the growing rate of band-wagon fans, business has been good for many sports teams who are making headline news, but still, the whole moral behind specta-tor sports is to stay true to your team even through rough times. With so many fans switching their support to the successful teams, it’s getting harder to tellwho the true fans are and where their team’s true support comes from.

Bandwagon fans are on the riseReed Congdon & Danny LopezSports Editors

Diego MuñozStaff Writer On the 1st day of February varsity foot-ball cornerback Dion Witty signed with the University of Memphis Tigers, in the media center. Running back Jared Joyner also signed, going on to the West-ern Michigan Broncos. Wednesday was a special day for these up and coming athletes, a day that will mark the begin-ning of their college football careers.

Signing day, the one day in the year when the nation recognizes the young athletes who have earned the opportu-nity to officially decide their future teams. For high school-level football players it is the day that they decide which collegial team they will be represented by, and playing for. National signing day is on the first Wed. of Feb., the first day a high school senior athlete can officially apply for a spot in the NCAA.

Players who are offered scholarships ap-ply on the National Letter of Intent, an obligatory contract towards a particular university. The NLI implies the player’s commitment to a university while schol-arships imply the college’s commitment toward a particular player. Universities show their interest in a player by offer-ing an institutional financial aid agree-ment, otherwise known as a scholarship.

A day to remember for athletes

Photos by Carolina Ambrosia

Miranda SuarezStaff Writer Training for Cross-Country six days straight is a weekly routine for junior Cour-teney Jacobazzi. This being her first year on the cross-country team, or XC, she has proven to go far beyond her expectations, almost breaking the high school record for the girls XC team. “Progressing as fast as I did came as a sur-prise to me because I thought I was just going to stay in shape for track later in the year, but as the season went on I performed better then I ever thought I could,” she said. Jacobazzi started off her season with 22:15 for 3.1 miles, which is exceptional for a first time XC runner, but her personal record (PR) is a 20:17. She won 4 out of 7 of her races and plans to keep striving for her

PR. Jacobazzi seeks to have her time under 20:00 min by the end of this season which she has accomplished even better then she wanted with her PR being 19:41. On top of being the 2nd best in the dis-trict, she also juggles being on both football and competition cheerleading teams. Jaco-bazzi is also the Junior Class President and takes two AP classes. Athletic scholarships are definitely a goal for Jacobazzi. “I’d like to get a scholarship for academ-ics, but if I could I would take an athletic scholarship as well.” In her future she plans to attend the Uni-versity of Florida or Syracuse in New York, majoring in journalism and hopes to ap-pear on CNN one day. Jacobazzi is only in her first year of XC as

Jacobazzi: A balanced athleteATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Michael TrotmanStaff Writer This year in sports several teams and athletes have achieved feats never done be-fore. Numerous records in many national sports have been broken or tied in 2011. Several prominent records were beaten. Drew Brees, quarterback for the New Or-leans Saints, broke the single season re-cord for passing yards by throwing for 5,476 yards, breaking Dan Marino’s pre-vious record set in 1984 of 5,084 yards. David Akers, kicker for the San Fran-cisco 49ers set an NFL record for field goals, with 44. Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots broke the single

season record for touchdowns and re-ceiving yards for a tight end with 18 touchdowns and 1,327 receiving yards. Nearly 10 significant record-breaking mo-ments happened this season in the NFL alone. Football isn’t the only sport in which many records were broken. The Boston Celtics’ Ray Allen set a record for three-point shots made. Allen’s record was the major record set in 2011 but a total of 5 records were broken or tied in the NBA. Five records were either broken or tied. Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins set re-cords for most saves by a goaltender in a playoff run and most saves by a goalten-der in the Stanley Cup Finals with 798

saves in the playoffs and 238 in the finals. In the U.S. Open, golfer Rory Mcilroy finished with a re-cord score of 16-under-par on his way to an eight-shot victory. Derek Jeter of the New York Yan-kees reached 3000 hits, a re-cord held by only 27 other players. Coach Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils basketball team passed Bob Knight for most Division I wins. Bob Knight had 903 wins and Krzyzewski currently has 913 wins. Joe Paterno, coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team ended his career this year. He finished with 409 wins and he is the only FBS coach to reach 400 victories.

Record breaking sporting events of 2011

a junior and is doing better than ever. She can’t believe how far she has gotten and wants to continue to keep herself in train-ing for the track season right around the corner.

14 MAY 2012sports The Rise of

LinsanityDanny LopezStaf f Writer A basketbal l sensation has swept the sports world this year. Har vard graduate Jeremy Lin has endured media exploitat ion and worldwide acknowledgement to become one of the most ta lked about players in the NBA. In 11 starts for the New York Knicks, Lin is averaging 23 points and nearly nine assists per game. Lin was dominating opposing teams defense as the Knicks won 8 straight games, even putt ing up a career-high 38 points and even outscor-ing Lakers guard Kobe Br yant. Linsanity was at an al l t ime high.On Feb 3, Jeremy Lin would play in a game against their r ivals the Boston Celt ics . In a mere seven minutes of playing t ime, Lin managed to go 0-3 on shooting from the

f ield, scoring only two points from the free throw l ine. The

Knicks were st i l l in desper-ate need for a quality point

guard to work alongside Carmelo Anthony and

Amare Stoudamire. Lin had no idea that af ter this

game, his career was about to skyrocket towards star-

dom. Linsanity was born.

The fol lowing night, the Knicks were at home against the New Jersey Nets. Head Coach Mike D’Antoni decided to give Lin extra minutes, which resulted in a superb outing. He scored an impressive 25 points, and had fans chanting “Jeremy” through-out the sold out Madison Square Garden crowd. Impressed with Lin’s performance, D’Antoni decided to give the start ing gig to Lin the next game against the Utah Jazz. In his f irst career start , Lin scored 28 points and handed out eight assists as the Knicks started one of the most historic winning streaks in NBA histor y. . Ever s ince L in received the star t ing point guard spot on the Knicks roster, they have managed to win e ight of their next 11 games, putt ing the Knicks back in the playof f hunt . He has become one of the most popular players in the NBA today, re-ceiv ing standing ovat ions f rom the Knicks fans . These chants included “MVP” and the t rending phrase worldwide, L insanity. L in’s success is only cont inuing to r ise as he is going to remain to Knicks star t ing point guard. Praise f rom ESPN analysts rose as L in nai led a buzzer beat ing three-pointer to beat the Toronto R aptors , and defeat ing the last two NBA champions , The Los Angeles L akers and Dirk Nowitzki’s Dal las Maver icks . L insanity cont inued its rapid growth unt i l an unfor tunate injur y in late March took Lin’s amazing run to the s idel ines . Although the star t ing point guard is no longer dominat ing the court , LInsanity has cont inued as being the mosr ta lked about stor y in the NBA.

Since Lin hit the media, merchandise such as T-shirts and Lin jerseys recently went on sale in sports apparel stores running around $30 a shirt.