Opinions

Opinions

Editors-in-ChiefAshley Hawkins

Kevin Hyde

Online Editor-in-ChiefGarret Matchen

Editorial BoardAbby Fesl

Mackenzie FrancisBrin LoomisJessica Lynk

Emily Swanson

Managing EditorClaudia Caplan

Online Editorial BoardMax Bestvina Michael MillerCopy Editor

Melanie Cohodes

News EditorsNatalie Czarnota

Erika MurilloIsabella Murry

In-Depth EditorsNicole Cecala Mili Pandya

Caitlin StrozewskiJulia Kedzior

Entertainment Editors

Bryan BoyleMichelle Chester

Erin HorneSam Kronon

Jana Lopuszanksi

Graphics EditorsJack Hargett

Sports EditorsScott Bakal

Anthony BellafioreTim Griffin

David Milligan

Opinion EditorsNick Diaz

Dino LjubijankicDrew SnelsonRachel Terry

Feature EditorsMiranda FanellaKevin SchroederSusannah Sinard

Matt Stadnicki

AdviserJanet Levin

May 18, 2012The Correspondent4

is published 11 times a year by the journalism students of John Hersey High School, 1900 East Thomas Street, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004. Subscription rate is $15 a year. Call for advertising rates. Phone (847) 718-4945. The Correspondent welcomes a free exchange of ideas. Letters

to the editor may be sent to [email protected]. Because school officials do not engage in prior review, and the content of The Correspondent is determined by, and reflects only the views of the student staff and not school officials or the school itself, its student editorial board and responsible student staff members as-sume complete legal and financial liability for the content of the publication. The Correspondent will not publish any material determined

by student editors or the student editorial board to be unprotected, that is, material that is libelous, obscene, materially disruptive to the educational process, and unwarranted invasion of privacy, a violation of copyright or a promotion of products or services un-lawful (illegal) as to minors as defined by state or federal law. All unsigned editorial area the opinion of The Correspondent

staff. Materials in this newspaper are the property of The Corre-spondent 2011-2012. The Correspondent is a member of numerous press associations. Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/KRT Campus High School Newspaper Service.Two thousand copies are made each issue to be distributed to stu-

dents during their second hour classes. Two hundred are printed and given to subscribing parents.

The Correspondent

Caitlin Strozewski

Coming into Hersey on my first day was quite a shock. Being from a small private school, I knew it would be a difficult transition, but I wasn’t prepared for high school.

If anyone had previously warned me about the struggle of getting myself through the hall-ways between classes, I would have been drink-ing protein shakes and going to the gym all summer.

At least then, by the time school started, I would be strong enough to hold my ground when getting caught in the flow of students get-ting to class, which is nearly impossible for a freshman girl to escape. Something that fresh-men orientation should prepare us for is the hallways.

Navigating through an obstacle course complete with people shoving on both sides, being repeatedly hit by backpacks, having five

minute time limit to get to the end would have been a pretty accurate representation of what we would be going through.

Getting through the hallways, especially near the commons after a lunch hour, is defi-nitely not the highlight of my day. Ask anyone who isn’t a football player or over six feet tall, and they will agree with me.

In addition to the hallways, I would also have liked a heads up about the schoolwork. Through middle school, I was pretty much able to coast my way through homework after a sports practice, not really caring if my answers were right.

Little did I know that when I brought my procrastination tendencies to high school, I would find myself still awake into the hours of the morning, cursing the person who came up with abomination that is MEL-Con.

I know a lot of people take this route any-way, staying up until 2 a.m. doing homework or maybe not doing it at all, but I prefer not to be struggling to keep my eyes open the next day.

Luckily, most of my difficult classes are af-

ter lunch, which has saved my grade multiple times. Once again, a little heads up at frosh ori-entation would have helped.

Understandably probably students wouldn’t have listened if a teacher tried to lecture us about not procrastinating, but having an upper-classman talk about his or her experience of be-ing overloaded with work might have gotten the message into our brains--procrastinating will do nothing but create a mess of problems.

One last thing I wasn’t prepared for was P.E. I first began to worry when, after being asked by upperclassman who my gym teacher was, and then I told them who I had, I received com-ments like “Oh, you’ll be running.”

Some people warned me not to try too hard on my first 12 minute run because I would have to improve later, but I didn’t listen. Now it takes all my strength to improve every fitness testing.

Now I admit I exaggerated some about the ‘horrors’ that freshman go through, but they aren’t too off track. Maybe these wouldn’t have even phased me if I had been given insights on the real things that freshman should know.

What I would have liked to know before I was a freshman

Teachers and students walk into this brown, jail like buliding everyday. Why not make it pretty?

During the week of wishes, it would be great for students to participate in a number of charity events, but the more each student could do, the better.

This weekend The Correspondent staff, along with former staff members and friends of Shea Anderluh, will be selling and planting flowers. Flowers will be sold for $5 each from 9 a.m. un-til noon on Saturday and Sunday.

Each flower sold will help the An-derluh family and their expenses from traveling to New York and back for Shea’s treatments.

All flowers were donated to this fundrasier by Red’s Gardens Center, so all profits will go to the Anderluh family.

Money made during this fundrais-

er will be given to the Anderluh family to help with their finances.

Also, the 5K run and 1K walk in memory of Gina Giancola will be held by the Gina Giancola SAFE founda-tion on May 20 at 8 a.m. at Thomas Middle School.

The run will help get depression out of the dark and make more people aware of teenage depression and how common suicide really is. Some of the money raised will be given to a teenage girl as future scholarship money.

The race is also being held to help the soccer team run for Gina and to come together for one more time be-fore the seniors graduate.

So participate. Buying a simple flower will help a family. OR help the Anderluh family by attending tonight’s Big Bonanza at 7:30. All proceeds go to their foundation.

Finish the Week of Wishes by pur-

chasing a $10 t-shirt in memory of English teacher, Sarah (Kathy) Chris-tenson.

Students should wear them next Wednesday to the dedication ceremo-nies during all lunch hours.

Every part of Week of Wishes w i l l h e l p people in the c o m m u -nity. Why not par-ticipate?

April showers bring Shea flowers (and much more)OpinionIn Our

Drew Snelson

Making a list of all the things one wants to do in life seems like an impossible task. But that’s what a bucket list does, right? A bucket list refers to the slang term of “kicking

the bucket” (i.e., dying). Knowing how lazy I am, I would probably never get around to mak-ing one.

It’s like one of those things when two friends decide to do something fun but never end up doing it. Life should be spontaneous and full of surprises, not scripted. When an oppor-tunity presents itself, I should take it, no matter if it’s a wish I had for a long time or if I had never even considered doing it.

But I still didn’t get why the bucket list be-came so popular. Did people used to be bur-ied in buckets? Did they collect dead bodies in buckets in the Middle Ages? Why did they make such big buckets? I had to find out.

The first official recognition of the term “kicking the bucket” was in the 1785 edition of the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Delightful, isn’t it? But it gets better.

Whether there was some freak accident or a suspicious fire at the stool warehouse, there must have been some shortage of stools because instead of using them to suspend criminals on the noose, they used buckets. When the time came for the hoodlum to be executed, they would simply kick the bucket out from under them. State of the art technology going on there.

Bucket lists can be fun if the things on the list are actually real and worth doing. Which is a very small percentage from what I’ve read and heard from other people’s bucket lists.

Unfortunately, though, most fun things cost money. Just like everything else in the world. But Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson did one in the 2007 “The Bucket List,” though, so its got to be cool, right? Wrong. The only reason they got any of those things done was because Jack Nich-olson was a billionaire hospital magnate while Morgan Freeman was a mechanic.

The moral of the story there is that rich people do whatever they want and poor people just hop on for the ride. All I’m saying is that people don’t need a bucket list to have a good time and live life to the fullest. They need a can-do attitude and/or a billion dollars. Really, ei-ther one of those would work just fine.

Bucket lists inspire future accomplishments

• Graphic by jessica lynk

Somethin’ toabouttalk

OpinionsJ U S T S AY I N ’

The promised time is drawing near once again for students everywhere. With only about a month left in school, the prospect of summer vacation is building in the minds of the student body and ensuing fidgeting and giddiness galore. Summer is the reward given after all the hard work during the school year. Yet, over the years I’ve come to notice that there is always a returning issue once the time actually comes.

Obviously, there are the default options: swimming pool, theme parks, and sports. Those options are not as durable these days though. There is an increasing diffi-culty in finding things to do without them being illegal or too boring.

This lack of activity, however, is sustained only by a person’s refusal to embrace the power of youth and try something they aren’t too used to. As part of the teen-age population, there are possibilities out there that can make this summer spectacular, to put it lightly. Not that being a middle aged adult is some sort of curse, at least I hope it isn’t, but it’s clear that the interests of middle aged adults differ slightly from those of 15 to 18 year olds.

Imagination is also key. Take, for instance, the new phenomena grasping parts of the Hersey population known as “Fugitive”. The game, which is more like a fight for survival, consists of a group of players, who are the fugitives, that have to travel on foot to a designated area, sometimes over a mile away.

The other group is in charge of hunting down and tagging the fugitives in order to stop their advance, and get full use of whatever automobiles are available. The game becomes a full on battle and man hunt, somewhat reminiscent of “The Hunger Games.” This is just one example of how teenagers can engage in fun, physical activity that is full of exhilarating action. With a little imagination and a refusal to sit around and do nothing, Fugitive was born.

If creating a full on game/race for survival isn’t a fa-vorable option, don’t stop there. Adventure is never too far away. Exploring areas not previously traversed can re-sult in seemingly unlimited excitement. Try researching a different town with some interesting locales, and get there in whatever mode of transportation desired.

Taking a train to a foreign area or trying a cross country bike ride there can really heighten the sense of adventure. Exploring the natural world is, of course, chocked full of wonder and awe inspiring phenomena. Of course, this should all be done within the realm of safety. There’s a fine line between being adventurous and young and being stupid and fool hearty.

The point is, youth should be cherished and em-braced, and there’s no better time to do that then over the summer. With a young mind and body, and a free and adventurous spirit, the world can be a playground.

• Nick Diaz

Summer: aspire adventures

-Read more opinions online and then sound off yourself!Visit www.CorrespondentLive.org-

Many students associate May with rolling down their car windows and en-joying the spring breeze as they drive home from school. However, a better way to enjoy this weather is to bike. May is National Bike Month, and this provides the perfect opportunity to try something new by ditching the car and biking instead.

I know that high school students want to show off their new cars and driving licenses, but by putting aside their pride for a few weeks and biking everywhere, they will save money on gas, enjoy the outdoors, and get exercise, all while help-ing the environment.

Sure, it might take a bit longer to bike than to drive, but sometimes we all need to slow down, take a deep breath of the crisp air perfumed with flowers, and enjoy the flying sensation that a bike ride brings. Just Sayin’.

• NaTaLie CzarnOTa

In this era of technology and being able to connect with family and friends across the world, it has become easier to judge people by their covers now that it is the picture of a person that defies them. An individual’s Facebook profile picture is the single most important first impression that is given to a requesting friend once he or she has sought them out on networking sites. The time has come where it has become too easy to judge someone within seconds of seeing their face in pictures and albums. The single thought pops into everyone’s head, “Wow, Debra got fat” or “Luke’s face really broke out this year.”

Making judgments about others isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, but at what point does it become over hypocritical to make comments about someone else, when you yourself might struggle behind those same skin problems or weight issues. We all do it, it’s just being human, but be nice. Just Sayin’.

•CLaUDia CapLan

New saying disappoints sophomoreMackenzie Francis

Y.O.L.O. is an acro-nym created by singer/rapper Drake, but used by many. YOLO stands for “You Only Live Once,” and has become a

very popular saying- or should I say, an excuse- this year.

Drake first used YOLO in his song “The Motto,” and meant for it to be a mo-tivational term to show that life is short, and that it should be lived to the fullest. Although it started out that way, it has transformed into an excuse for students to use when mistakes are made.

In my classes, I constantly hear crazy stories about how my classmates engaged

in inappropriate activities over the week-end. As if that’s not bad enough, the story always ends with, “Oh well... YOLO!”

What YOLO means to me is doing things like making a bucket list and ac-complishing it, telling someone what they mean to me, conquering fears, dancing in the rain, staying up all night to watch the sun rise, and most importantly, living in the moment.

When a term that has so much po-tential to remind someone to embrace life’s opportunities is abused, it’s disap-pointing.

If students wish to use the term YOLO to ease their guilt or regret, then so be it. Just don’t be mad at me when these foolish life choices come back for a bite in the butt.

May 18, 2012 The Correspondent 5

“I’m looking forward to relaxing on the beach

with my family.”

Sophomore

Busayo Ajayi“I’m scuba diving

in Florida with my brother. ”

Junior

Natalie Karasinska“I’m going on a mission trip to

Indiana.”

Senior

Grace Sinopoli“I’m looking forward to

going to summer school.”

Freshman

Dimitrije Markovic

Student

What unique things are you

doing over the

summer?

Biking replaces gas guzzlers all month

Facebook pictures prompt judging

Sass

Opinions

OUROpinion

In

Editors-in-ChiefShea AnderluhAshley Hawkins

Kevin HydeBecky Pauwels


Connor HargettJessica Lynk

Garret MatchenEmily Swanson

Managing EditorClaudia CaplanLauren Kelley

News EditorsMelanie Cohodes

Erika Murillo

In-Depth EditorsNick Diaz

Megan BoyleJulia Kedzior


Michelle ChesterSusannah SinardNatalie Czarnota

Graphics EditorCarlos Andina

Zack Killam

Sports EditorsBrian Loomis

Michael MillerDavid Milligan

Opinion EditorsAnthony Bellafiore

Luis RuedaDan Mika

Feature EditorsMax Bestvina

Mackenzie Francis

Headline EditorScott Bakal

PhotographerMadeline Weber

AdviserJanet Levin

October 7, 2011The Correspondent4






The Correspondent

Jessica Lynk

In the early days of pre-school, coming home to sit down and practice my letters was not even close to a chore. Sitting down with my mom and drinking juice while prac-ticing my abc’s was a highlight

of my day. Going from grade to grade, home-work seemed to become more of a burden than actual fun.

With the new Homelogic system, it seems easier for parents to get in touch with teachers. This isn’t a bad thing until I am being questioned about homework and grades on a daily basis. I get that my parents are doing this because they love me, but I am not in kindergarten anymore.

Some students decide not to do their home-work, so the Homelogic system can be helpful for those students. In reality though, parents aren’t going to be following them around col-lege, messaging their professors, and checking

their grades at every moment. It is the responsi-bility of the student to get homework done and study, parents can’t do that for them.

College is right around the corner, so get-ting a phone call telling parents that grades have become lower than average is not necessary. In college, no parents should be able to check grades on a daily basis. In four years or less, students will be on their own, not getting a call from a machine that can’t even pronounce their name.

No parent will know what “El Secuestro one through four,” “foundations binder check, LOTF chart,” or “Issue two duties” is. Neither will they ever need to. It is the responsibility of a student to do their homework. LOTF chart will not be something that they did in high school nor will it be something they remember. Parents can check and question why it is not done, but there is no way that a parent will need to help a student through her homework. We all have been in school for at least ten years, I think most of us know what to do.

Getting calls so parents stay involved in school isn’t a bad thing, but every week is a little extensive. Especially because the system takes 24 hours to update, students could have gotten their grade up to an C, but they still get a call because the system hasn’t been updated yet.

Parents should care about grades, but not to the extent of excessively checking grades every day.

When my parents get daily e-mails telling them what my homework is, they seem to be more involved in my school life, but they nor-mally have no idea what my homework actually is and have no recollection of what I am learn-ing, so help is no where to be found. My parents can tell me to do my homework, but the effort comes from within.

Homework can be done with self-motiva-tion. Of course, when parents give a little push to do it, it might get done, but they won’t be there in college, so they don’t need to be here now.

Grades online provide unrealistic real world preparation

Lonely naked man wants a new place

Despite students’ com-plaints, we go to an excellent school.

Hersey is great academi-cally. Just look at the ACT scores. This past year, our average composite scores was 25.2. Seeing that the na-tional average is around a 21, this is outstanding.

Here students are given the opportunity to receive a first-rate education, and many take advantage of this opportunity. Our dropout rate is minimal, and 95 per-cent of graduates enroll in college.

Even if students do begin to fall behind academi-cally, plenty of opportunities are available to get the help. This starts by teachers often staying late or com-ing in early to help. But another key part is the Writing Well where teachers of every subject are always avail-able to help and even edit papers.

This school is also graced with some really fan-tastic teachers. This school has rather high hiring standards, so the staff more than qualified to teach their individual subjects. The teachers also put plenty of time out of school to make this school a better place. A small survey revealed that teachers work about 10 hours a day on average. This includes staff meetings, after-school activities, and out-of-school grading.

Some teachers have also been known to keep teaching while pregnant until the day they deliver. Not even an incoming newborn can pry them from what they love to do.

Hersey is one of a few schools in Illinois that houses deaf students. This allows other students to feel comfortable communicating in new ways. The Career and Life Skills program, or CLS, helps students with disabilities grow. The school welcomes students with all kinds of disabilities and teaches them vital life skills while exposing the general population to those who have struggles but have a lot to offer.

We are also fortunate to have great sports pro-grams. Sports for both genders include swim and div-ing, soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, water polo, track and field, cross country and technically football. That’s right: if a girl wants to, she can join football. Although we don’t always win, the Orange Crush continues to be supportive of the teams.

In short, This school has a lot to offer. The four years students spend here shape them, so they should take advantage of what is offered to make these years count.

Although the school may not be the most attrac-tive, it is loaded with opportunities.

Carlos Andina

The naked man statue looks lonelier than ever in the back of the school. While he was once accompanied by a bike rack and pine tree, our beloved statue now stands all by himself.

With grass clippings scattered on his base and garbage filling rust holes in his legs, the na-ked man has definitely seen better days. But why do we have to limit the view of his welcoming pose to a forgotten corner of this school? With all the renovations going on, we should take the time to find the naked man a new home.

The way I see it, we’ve got some options here. We can take the more subtle approach and put the naked man under the freshly painted Ro-land R. Goins Stadium sign. What better way to welcome people to our new turf field than with the naked man’s outstretched hand. He could become a new mascot! We could even dress him up for different holidays. Come to think of it, he even looks like the Orange Man! This was clearly meant to be.

While the naked man will be a stud wher-ever we put him, it’s our responsibility to make sure he’s used to his full potential.

So I say we go all out: put him smack dab in the middle of the front entrance hall, welcoming

all the students as they walk in the front doors. Not only could our plain white interior use a little bit of awesome statue, I bet seeing this rusty guy getting the attention he deserves every morning would help cheer up stu-dents as they headed to their first period class.

If his mild nudity is the reason for his solitary confinement, then we can compromise. We’ll make him wear some clothes. I’m sure we could use some of this school’s artistic talent to make some metal shorts for him, so he’ll be a bit more family friendly. If he’s too heavy, we’ll use some weights class guys to lift him while our physics students figure out a good way to move him. We should let the naked man bring us together.

Some schools might be embarrassed to have a rusty naked guy hanging out on their back porch. But not us. They’re just jealous. Most of the high schools around here don’t have much to set them apart. So let’s embrace our statue and invite him in.

Other schools might have swimming pools or nicer cafeterias, but what they don’t have is good ‘ol Rusty. It’s time we give the guy a proper home.

Students should appreciate this school

• Carlos Andina



In the short time I’ve been here, the world has be-come immensely faster. Cars have cut down their zero-to-sixty times, mail can be sent around the world in seconds and with the black magic of Netflix, we can watch entire movies on our PCs instantly. This new-found speed is undeniably awesome; we can now learn more about our world in a few hours surfing Wikipedia than our ancestors did in a lifetime of experience. But this blistering exchange of information carries a hid-den downside: it’s turning the world’s inhabitants im-patient.

Our inner speed demons manifest themselves ev-erywhere, demanding fast food to be ready before our nerves can relay the message representing hunger to our stomach. If a airline pilot tells his passengers that the flight’s been delayed, they’ll all groan and run to Twitter and Facebook to complain about their 30 min-ute wait. It seems that anything other than instanta-neous results are unacceptable these days. In fact, a good chunk of the readers who started this article have already stopped reading it (thanks for sticking with me!)

Maybe it’s just my inner senior citizen speaking, but no one appreciates the wonders of mankind that make life immensely easier. Take the plane analogy; people have no problem whining that their flight from New York to London was delayed 30 minutes. They be-lieve it to be an injustice for them to sit on a grounded plane with internet access. Orbitz says that on average, their plane would take off from New York and land in London in under eight hours. If one was born before commercial flight existed, their trip across the Atlantic by boat would take eight days.

It seems like taking it slow is a skill that has be-come obsolete. But it’s still necessary in the age of the fast and (if they’re stuck behind a slow driver) furious. The brain simply hasn’t reached a point in its evolution that it can process so much information in such a small amount of time. It’s the reason why the world becomes a blur when looking out the window of a car speeding down the freeway. It’s the reason why a class would fail a test on material they learned the day before. It’s the reason why I had writer’s block and took two weeks to write this story.

While a faster world is great, some parts are bet-ter when served slow. “Romeo and Juliet” wouldn’t be as good a story if Shakespeare just wrote “and lo, the teenage lovers killeth themselves.” So if life is looking like one tripping blur, then step back for a second, take a deep breath, and notice something that wasn’t there a few minutes ago.

The greed for speed

• Dan Mika

-Read More Opinioms online and then sound off yourself!Visit www.CorrespondentLive.org-

I was putting away clean laundry the other day and noticed that the amount of oversized shirts with iron-on decals far outbalanced the amount of properly fit-ting shirts I have actually bought. Most of these ruling t-shirts have some form of “JHHS” and always have a shade of orange somewhere on them. Over my past four years here. I have accumulated well over a dozen school shirts, ranging from Fresh-men Orientation to Homecoming and AP Photo shirts.

I wondered how large my collection would be if I had taken up all the t-shirt opportunities presented to me. They may not be my article of choice as far as fash-ion goes, but once I graduate each and every one of these orange-laced tees will bring back fond memories. The more involved the student, the more chances they will have to reminisce each time they tug an orange sleeve out of the bottom of their drawer. Dresser nuisance now, cherished high-school memory later. Just sayin.’

• Madeline Webber

Bathroom writing disgusts studentsWhenever I walk into the girl’s bathroom and open a stall door, I’m greet-

ed with random colors of writing on the wall. I remember watching TV or movies about high school and watching scenes with girls writing guy’s names or whatever on the bathroom doors. However, I remember I never thought that I’d look at writing with such language against this school. I can’t think of a reason for this. Is this school so horrible for some students that they have to write their complaints on the bathroom walls? I don’t understand the meaning and I get annoyed whenever I see it. This habit needs to stop. Just sayin’. • Emily Swanson

Class ring personalization defeats purposeJulia Kedzior

A high school class ring is known to most people as a symbol of graduation that com-memorates the end of one’s experience of high

school over the four years. Ever since the idea of the class ring

originated in 1835, it has been meant to unify each class and give them something to remember high school by. Each class is different from the others, and they share hundreds of memories that will stay with them.

The identical rings were usually kept for a long time and worn often, and could be seen at class reunions.

Even though some of these things are true for the class rings we see today, the rings have become significantly more in-dividual, and the unifying force has been lost.

Josten’s, the company that provides class rings here, has decided to promote rings that can be different for each per-son. The rings now have a surprisingly

wide range of design possibilities, dis-playing anything from a representation of a club or activity to a student’s name. The different stones and types of metals that are used to make the rings as personal as possible allow students to really get cre-ative and make something unique.

In all of this variety and individual-ity, we have lost sight of why the class ring was created in the first place. If every per-son has a different ring, how does it unify everyone as a whole?

It’ll be just like any other ring that can be bought outside of school for per-sonal amusement. When I go off to col-lege in a few years, I want to look at my ring and remember how awesome my class was, and know that no matter where we all are in the world, we’ll have that one thing to represent our time together in high school.

The realization that class rings have lost their original true value is making them seem less special each year. I already know what activities I participated in and what my birthstone is, and a class ring isn’t needed to remind me of that.

October 7, 2011 The Correspondent 5

Sass

“I love all the activities and sports.”

Sophomore

Sabrina Barrett“I like the bathroom by the

East Gym. It’s really nice.”

Junior

Nick Schneider“I like our athletic programs and the teachers.”

Senior

Keith Pedersen

“I enjoy the variety of clubs.”

Freshman

Jackie Aronson

Student

What is your favorite

aspect of Hersey?

Shirts bring opportunity to reminisce

Opinions

Editors-in-ChiefShea AnderluhAshley Hawkins

Kevin HydeBecky Pauwels


Connor HargettJessica Lynk

Garret MatchenEmily Swanson

Managing EditorsClaudia CaplanLauren Kelley

News EditorsMelanie Cohodes

Erika MurilloMatt Stadnicki

In-Depth EditorsMegan Boyle

Nick DiazJulia Kedzior


Michelle ChesterNatalie CzarnotaSusannah Sinard

Graphics EditorsCarlos Andina

Zack Killam

Sports EditorsBrian Loomis

Michael MillerDavid Milligan

Opinion EditorsAnthony Bellafiore

Dan MikaLuis Rueda

Feature EditorsMax Bestvina

Mackenzie Francis

Headline EditorScott Bakal

PhotographerMadeline Weber

AdviserJanet Levin

Feburary 17, 2012 The Correspondent6






The Correspondent

Lauren Kelley

My body jumps from the loud ‘beep’ coming from my phone. I turn over and open my half-asleep eyes to try and make out the time on my clock. 2:01 in the morning. Who would send me a text at

2:01 in the morning?! I reach for my phone and read “It’s your turn” from Mom. To help my dis-oriented self, I get out of bed and head for my parents room to ask my mom what she’s talking about. I silently peek through the doorway to see only my dad sound asleep.

At this point, I’m wide-awake and ready to solve this mystery. I stealthily walk downstairs and turn the corner and see my mom sitting on the couch holding her newest Christmas pres-ent: the iPhone. She holds it as close to her face as humanly possible while scrunching her nose to keep her glasses from falling off her face. I walk over and sit down on the couch next to her; she doesn’t even budge. I clear my throat loudly

enough to start a toast at a dinner party; she re-mains a statue. Keeping my distance and collect-ing my bravery, I prepare to do the unthinkable: wake the sleeping bear.

“MOM!” I scream. She forcefully peels her bloodshot eyes away from her toy and looks at me as if I had just spit in her food. “This is worse than I thought…” I think to myself.

“When’s the last time you blinked?” I ask her, immediately distracted from what I was originally going to say. She raises her eyebrows, wanting to know why I dared interrupt her game of Words With Friends.

It was just yesterday that my mom owned a pink Razor and had no idea what a smartphone was. Today, I cannot picture my mom without that little piece of technology glued to her hands.

As she stares at me, I study her face and re-alize she’s addicted. I saw the same look on my dad’s face when he discovered MeTV, my broth-er’s face when he played World of Warcraft, and my other brother’s face when he got the com-plete Star Wars saga on Blu-Ray. It was time for an intervention. I ripped the phone out of my

mom’s hands and held it tightly between mine and quickly sprinted across the room, ready to put up a fight.

The iPhone is the young generation’s de-mand. It is I who my mother should be yelling at to go to bed. I should be the one getting yelled at for texting at the dinner table. I should be the one joking with my friends about how moms are clueless when it comes to technology.

“I finished my math test early, so I just played Hanging With Friends with my mom for the rest of the period.”

“My mom is always playing Words With Friends, it’s so annoying.”

“My mom wants me to get your mom’s Words With Friends username for her so they can play.”

“When my mom’s phone is charging, she sometimes steals my phone just so she can play Hanging With Friends.”

Apple is aiming these games at the younger generation. So why is it that all moms are taking over? This dilemma has gone on long enough. There should be an app for this…

There’s a mom for that: older generation discovers technology

Popularity shouldn’t be the priority

Teenagers are rebellious crea-tures. We don’t like being bossed around, especially if the rules seem useless. It may seem that Hersey’s administration has created some rules solely to annoy the student body, but the administration says otherwise. Most of the rules at-tempt to keep the school running as smoothly as possible, and students just have to deal with that.

Contrary to what the hallways would suggest, there’s a rule forbid-ding students from hanging objects or pictures outside a locker, unless it’s dealing with a school-sponsored group or an individual accomplish-ment like a “birthday.” These deco-rations should only stay up for three days, according to the Administra-tive Team. Advertisements are supposed to go on the bulletin board outside the commons. The reason for this rule is because the tape used for decorations can take the paint off the lockers.

Students are also not allowed to purchase snacks from the vending machines during class. It’s true that students don’t learn as well when they’re hungry. But this rule was made for multiple reasons, accord-ing to the deans. Students will miss out on the lesson while heading off to buy their treat. Also, food isn’t al-lowed in classrooms, so there isn’t a point in going to the vending ma-chines anyway.

Another disputed rule is the Course Swap-O procedure. Instead of changing schedules whenever they’d like, students have to wait for designated dates to make changes. Course Swap-O takes place in Au-

gust and allows

students to switch electives. Ac-cording to the counseling depart-ment, this is done to give teachers a set roster on the first day of class.

Students can also change an elective class during the first two days of the semester, but only if an-other class is available during the same period. The school is trying to bring some structure as schedules change. They’re trying to step away from being too lenient. Changing classes can cause problems. The student and teacher have to become acquainted, and the student has to make up missed work.

It’s easy to argue over the regu-lations of this campus, but the ad-ministration gives reasons for these

rules. Heed caution to those seemingly silly rules and Hersey will run more smoothly for everybody.

Jessica Lynk

Being in high school, al-most everyone cares about what other people think about them. Whether it’s about their outfit or who they talk to in school, peo-ple care, sometimes too much,

about what others people think. Not only is this seen in high school, but throughout the world.

A major example in society comes from the bystander effect. The basic outline of the bystander effect is that when others are around people, they are less likely to help out when oth-ers need it. If someone’s purse is stolen, a person is more likely to help out if others aren’t around.

I began to wonder why this is. It seems that in our society, it is more important to maintain the ‘cool’ persona than to actually help out. Then it clicked. In our heads, we say “Someone else will help them,” or “I’m too busy.” But if every-one says this, no one will help. It takes a lot of guts to help, but it is so beneficial to say, “I actu-ally helped them.”

Being popular can be made important by classmates, parents, or even older siblings, but the reality is that no one should care. A friend should not think a friend is “less cool” if he stops

to help someone else pick up a pencil in the hall. Although a high popularity status can be

something that a student wants to achieve, it can be much more fulfilling to a student know-ing she helped change someone’s life.

Whether a person is trying to be “too cool” or is trying to be safe, in some cases peoples’ lives can be in danger. For example, a few weeks ago a couple, who lived in Arlington Heights, was involved in a suicide/homicide on a Sunday. The bodies were not found until that follow-ing Wednesday. People who lived in that same apartment said they heard something like gun-shots, but they never called the police. The bod-ies were found after the police went to investi-gate the home, when their son called to say that the mother hadn’t been at work for two days.

Huskies pride themselves in being nice and helpful, but when ever a student is booked or falls down, rarely do I see a student help. Stu-dents just continue walking by, pushing the fact that another student is in need of help to the back of the mind. It can make a real impact on someone’s day by just helping them.

If everyone tried to help at least one person out, whether it is calling the police when some-one seems to need help or picking up loose pa-pers for them, this world would be a better place.

Light shed upon reasons for rulesOpinionIn Our

PSH DUDE I’M SUPPOSED

TO BE IN CLASS BUT I

TOLD MY TEACHER I WAS

GOING TO THE BATHROOM

AND JUST LEFT.

MAN, I CAN’T BELIEVE I

HAVE TO ASK TO GO TO

THE BATHROOM. I’M

GLAD IT’S LUNCH.

WHY WE CAN’t Have nice things •GRAPHIC BY CARlos AndInA



About a week and a half before this article was published, I began work at the second real job I’ve held throughout my short life. I scraped by the cash I needed by doing stereotypical teenage odd jobs: mowing lawns, baby/dog sitting, painting gutters and other simple ven-tures. But none of those assignments compare to hold-ing an actual job, and nothing can compare to holding one’s sanity together while at his job.

During my first job as a waiter/dishwasher in a re-tirement home, I felt as though I was living out a terri-ble remake of “Office Space” without being able to steal a copier and smash it to pieces while blasting gangsta rap. Adults love to discuss how awful their jobs are and they’re somewhat correct.

Jobs can subject people to mind-numbingly long hours of work for terrible pay. But it’s much harder to hold a job as a teen than it is as an adult. For example, we have to go to school for eight hours and head for work. But for some reason, adults don’t consider school to be tiring and think anyone who thinks so should suck it up. My first boss certainly believed so. If the line of work calls for it, a kid may have to regularly work six days in a row. Add in the school day, homework and the occasional extracurricular and we’re looking at 10 hours of work per day.

Holding a job while being under 18 also means that the employee is subject to a legal form of discrimi-nation. My boss can legally pay me 50 cents less than someone who’s reached the legal age. Why is my work not as valuable as an adult’s? It isn’t as if I don’t have expenses. I need money for gas, college and the door fee to get into Zero Gravity. It’s amazing that society has fought to make sure that everyone earns the same wage whether he be of a different gender, color or creed but can’t be bothered to give their youth their fair share.

Yet despite all of these depressing truths, I fear I’ve painted too dark a picture of teenage employment. Yes, having a job can be make the hearts of men miserable, but I think that I’ve learned a truth about the human condition though having one. Societies tend to unite in order to share the positive things in life.

But when humans come together to their work-place, they somehow manage to get past the existential crisis starter that is employment and they become some of the best of friends. If that isn’t a display of our specie’s resiliency, then I don’t know what is. And if that isn’t sweet enough, just imagine quitting a stupid dead-end job. Spoiler alert: it’s freaking awesome. •DanMika

Employment hurts student

-Read more opinions online and then sound off yourself!Visit www.CorrespondentLive.org-

After the shocking viral video of a group of kids brutally attacking one of their peers, there has been a big concern over the notion of violence in teens. I am a strong believer in the idea that violence is never the answer. Some may call that naive but that makes little difference to me.

Part of what makes the scenario I mentioned earlier so sad is the fact that these kids are of the same school and probably see each other in their everyday lives. As a student here, I can’t even imagine an act like that taking place. As adolescents, we should be working with each other and depending on one another to move along in our lives. Whatever petty squabbles we may have should never lead to violence.

The only reason one should fight is if it’s to protect the values and people they care for. Pride and hate should not lead to fists. Just sayin’.

•nickDiaz

Greedy drivers-stop snagging handicap spotsGarret Matchen

Within my six months of having a li-cense, I’ll admit I broke a few rules: I’ve changed lanes in an intersection, rolled through a stop sign, and gone over the

speed limit. But the one thing I haven’t done, and will never do, is take a handi-cap spot.

Sure, there are laws against it, but who follows them? Everyday on my trek home, I notice a taxi or parent sitting in the handicap spot. I don’t know if the tax-is are picking up a disabled student, but I know many of the parents that park there aren’t picking up a disabled student.

Even if the taxi is picking up a handi-capped kid, they must have the proper identification. According to eHow, the Il-linois law states “In order to lawfully park in a handicap parking space, the owner of the plate or placard must be present, en-tering or exiting the vehicle. Fines of up to $500 and possible driver’s license sus-pension are among the penalties for un-authorized use of these plates and plac-

ards.” Despite the laws, no one is here to

enforce them. Someone should watch the spots, so they’re not taken up.

On my walk home, I always see a van picking up a handicap student. The van however, due to the handicap spots being taken up, has to park in the last spot of the reserved parking. I understand that few people are affected by this, but it doesn’t warrant them from being cheated from what is rightfully theirs.

Handicap plates in Illinois cost $29 plus the original cost of the plate. Now that may seem like a small amount of money, but when parents have to pay thousands in medical bills, it’s a lot.

Money, however, shouldn’t be the is-sue in parking in the reserved spots; mo-rality is the problem. I believe it is morally wrong to take handicap spots.

Doing so forces the student to walk farther and many of the students have trouble walking. Handicap spots are not a meant to cause drivers pain, they are meant to help those who can’t help them-selves. Next time there’s an empty spot in a crowded lot, get some exercise and be a helper to the disabled.

Feburary 17, 2012 The Correspondent 7

“That you can use your phone in school.”

Sophomore

George Vladimirov

“For staff members to treat all of us like adults.”

Junior

Shaunte Vega“You should be able to go through any of the

doors in the school.”

Senior

Rachel Morrison

“I wish freshmen could go out to lunch.”

Freshman

Konrad Szczygiel

Student

IF YOU COULD MAKE

ANY RULE AT HERSEY,

WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Think before throwing fists

•MattStaDnicki

Letters lower college interest

Sass

For the past month or so, I have been receiving letters from many colleges. I, along with other sophomores, have gotten letters from Loyola and many others.

When I first received a college letter, I felt proud of myself. Somehow, a college was interested in me. When I realized that other students were receiving letters, the effect diminished. All the colleges were doing was sending letters with barely any personal touch.

After that, I realized that this influx of letters were all my fault. During the PSAT, students had the option to have their scores and information sent to colleges. Because of this, colleges are now able to send letter to careless students. Students should be more careful who they give their information to, or it could be annoying later. Just sayin’.

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