TechPepBENSON POLYTECHNIC HIGH SCHOOL “THE WINDOW TO YOUR WORLD” VOLUME 90, NO.5

WWW.TECHPEP.ORG APRIL 2010

546 N.E. 12TH AVENUEPORTLAND, OREGON 97232503-916-5100 EXT. 77211

BY MAY WUTech Pep Reporter

Many cultures and traditions displayed what atruly unique school we are at the recent DiversityAssembly. The students showed real courage andstepped out onto the stage to show us what they got.

From breakers to jerkers, from songs in differentlanguages to songs you know and love so much, ev-ery act was filled with the zest and diversity that ourschool has to offer and every act proves that we areunlike other schools in our district.

Anyone can catch the performance onyoutube.com, but it was nothing like the real thing.That morning was where every student at Benson sawthe diversity of our school put in front of their eyes.

Highlights of the celebration of diversity includedsome outstanding acts, all performed by students.

One of the most popular was the Tongans, whowere featured last year as well and also was the big-gest hit.

"I missed the diversity assembly last year andwhen they popped out i was really surprised! Halfnaked men? Yeah!," junior Brianna Ono said aboutthe Tongans.

"Oh my gosh I touched one of them!" exclaimedsophomore Clarizza Catabay during the Tongan'sperformance.

Another popular act was the motion monsters fea-turing BaoNgoc Pham, Victor Trinh, Teresa Lai, DuaciLee and Alan Lam. These amazing dancers combinedmultiple songs to make a dazzling show, made allthe better with help from the BATS, and a great themethat made it look like they got up and danced rightin the middle of class.

If you were not there you missed Mr. Slaughter,the man who put the show all together, bust out hiswicked dance moves.

■■■■■See “Diversity,” Page 5

Show celebrates diversity

SHOWSTOPPERSAbove, Tongandancers wereone of theaudience’sfavorites. Left,group EmotionMonstersmade it looklike they gotup and dancedright in themiddle ofclass. For morepictures andstory, pleasesee Page 5.

Tech triumphsat SkillsUSA

Congratulations s to Benson's 2010 Skills USAcompetition winners! Fifty of Benson's best andbrightest were sent to the Skills USA competitionthis year. Thirty-three students won awards in 19events, including 13 who took home gold med-als qualifying them for the Skills USA Nationalchampionships in Kansas City in June. Here is thecomplete list of the award winners:

PROMOTIONAL BULLITIN BOARD Meyee Cha 2nd PlaceJOB INTERVIEW Sean Rice 2nd PlaceJOB SKILL DEMONSTRATION OPEN Nou Vang 4th PlaceFirst Aid/CPR Nou Vang 2nd PlaceRADIO/AUDIO PRODUCTION Brian Halvorson 1st place (team) Ebony Stewart 1st place (team) Sean Rice 2nd place (team) Demesha Joeseph 2nd place (team)RELATED TECHNICAL MATH Blaise Clarke 1st Place My Van Vo 2nd PlaceRESIDENTIAL WIRING Brayan Chin-Barahon 1st Place Ivan Preciado 2nd Place Jordan frazier 3rd place Corey Elliot 4th Place Joel Lui 5th PlaceAUTOMOTIVE SERVICE TECHNOLOGY Garrett Mura 1st Place Perry Freund 2nd placeCABINETMAKING Vicki Lam 1st Place Rafael Penate 4th PlaceELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGYCOMPUTER PROGRAMMING Kevin Burnes 3rd PlaceCOMPUTER MAINTENANCE Matthew Lee 2nd PlacePHOTOGRAPHY Peter Le 2nd PlaceTELEVISION VIDEO PRODUCTION Eileen Tom 1st place (team) Daniel Drakos 1st place (team) Ebony Foreman 2nd place (team) Ra'Chelle Boswell-Collins 2nd place (team)WEB DESIGN Matthew Dodier 1st place (team) Nathan Pointer 1st place (team)VIDEO PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Briana Ono 4th place (team) Mary Wu 4th place (team)AUTOMATED MANUFACTING TECH Anthony Bergeron-Burns 1st place (team) Meyee Cha 1st place (team) Jeff Wahlberg 1st place (team) Minh Doung 4th place (team) Vincent Lam 4th place(team) Tucker Brennan 4th place (team)SHEET METAL FABRICATION Meng Cha 4th placeWELDING (OXY-ACE) Gustavo Sig Garcia 2nd placePRECISION MACHINE TECH Anthony Moulazime 4th Place

While she wouldn’t give any details, Superintendent Carol Smithgave Benson building staff a ‘heads up’ Monday at a special meet-ing in advance of next week’s high school redesign plan.

At the next school board meeting, Smith will propose to theschool board her high school system redesign plan.

The plan will be followed by a 30-day comment period, andthe board will make its final decision in May.

The changes would not take place until the 2011-2012 schoolyear, but some changes could take place as early as next year inanticipation of the changes.

“We are wrestling with multiple professional/technical pro-grams that are just under viable, and need to make them work,”said Smith. “We are trying to make them viable and serve theirpurpose.” In addition, more people want to access what Bensonhas, she said.

There are a number of ways that could play out. TurningBenson into a grade 9-12 or 11-12 skills center could be a piece ofthe redesign, she said. If that option is chosen, academic teach-ers at Benson could be assigned to neighborhood high schools.Some CTE programs could also be moved.

The heads-up came after an evolution of policy as well aschanges in federal funding for professional/technical programs.Smith is still wrestling with details.

HOSA masters state competitionSKELETAL IDENTIFICATION INITIAL MASTERY

Kristina Brown Third PlaceVictor Trinh Fourth PlaceErica Wu Fifth Place

DENTAL TERMINOLOGY ADVANCED MASTERYSherry Liao First Place

MEDICAL SPELLING ADVANCED MASTERYAlysha Phan Third PlaceBao Ngoc Pham Fifth Place

MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY INITIAL MASTERYElizabeth Phan Third PlaceJim Ly Fourth PlaceKristina Brown Fifth Place

MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY ADVANCED MASTERYJeffery Pham First PlaceMy Van Vo Second PlacePhuong Pham Fourth PlaceChristina Truong Fifth PlaceJoanna Yan Sixth Place

MEDICAL MATH ADVANCED MASTERYPhuong Pham First PlaceMy Van Vo Third PlaceTri Tran Fifth PlaceShawn Chan Sixth Place

HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT ADVANCEDMASTERYJennifer Huynh Second PlaceJenny Truong Third PlaceLing Zhan Fourth Place

■■■■■See “HOSA,” Page 6

Skills center for Benson?Congratulations to Benson’s 2010 HOSA winners!Last week more than two dozen Health Occupationjuniors and seniors attended the Oregon HOSA Stateconference, hosted at the Valley River Inn in Eugene,and won 18 first place contests. (See the completelist starting on this page.)

These students were chaperoned by Medical As-sisting teacher Kathy Lloyd who is in her 20th yearas an Anatomy/Physiology teacher and Sara Callieswho is in her second year as an adviser.

These students competed in team skills eventsfrom CPR/First Aid to Biomedical debate. They alsocompeted in knowledge testing such as Nutrition tothe Muscular System. Benson students created a ram-page of success all throughout the competition.

Three Benson students campaigned and strivedto be state officers for HOSA. These officers includeJunior Alysha Phan as Oregon HOSA's State Secre-tary, Junior Vanny Chao as Oregon HOSA's North-ern Vice President, and Junior Sandra Van OregonHOSA's State President.

CATEGORY IMUSCLE IDENTIFICATION INITIAL MASTERY

Ken Duong Third Place

PAGE2 ■ APRIL 2010 opinionfocus WWW.TECHPEP.ORG

DAN DRAKOSTech Pep Reporter

With the recent shooting of Aaron Campbell, I have begun tonotice more and more, as many of you probably have, that welive in a society in which people are not held responsible for theiractions. It’s not just the police; it seems that everywhere people’sfailings are ignored and they are allowed to continue on unques-tioned.

Were these people children I would understand; a child is sup-posed to fail, in order to better learn. But they are not children. Infact these people are the ones given the utmost respect in oursociety, our soldiers, our doctors, our police officers.

When a man dies in surgery because of a bad call, the surgeonis given a stern lecture and allowed to continue. When a soldierkills innocent civilians, he is pitied because this will most likelyscar him for life, never mind the family that will never see theirchild, his cause of death labeled as collateral damage.

One reason this may be overlooked is because these jobs areconsidered high stress. I agree they are, but society didn’t say “Hey,you must become a cop.” The choice is individual, it is not up toanyone but the men and women wanting to become police of-ficers, soldiers and doctors.

The people who take these jobs know the risks and know itwill not be easy. If they thought they couldn’t do the job theyshould have picked a different career path. Not all the people whocan’t handle the job choose to give it up, so now we get to watchthe news and listen as children die because people make mis-takes. The reality of the situation is, there should be no zero ac-countability but rather zero tolerance.

No more excuses–hold peopleaccountable for their actions

NO EXCUSES GUIDE

Tired of being bored?

VANNY CHAOTech Pep Reporter

Why do some couples fight so much? Are you one of thosecouples? Here are some tips to get past the fighting.

Problems will grow and dig deep roots into your life, espe-cially if they were not tended and treated with "warmth and flow-ing rivers of love.” They may have already become "mangledweeds forming a big garden" of distress. Some of these tips maysound silly, but these are what the experts suggest!

Fight "nicely": This does not mean that the couple in ques-tion has to agree. But rather than name calling or screaming ateach other, "gently nudge each other towards change."

Don't hide from problems: Don't hide your problems andthink they will go away, confront them straight on to avoid a po-tential disaster.

Use conflict management skills: Learn to take deep breathsand speak calmly which will help from yelling or saying thingsthat you will regret. My boyfriend and I count backwards from10 when ever we feel like an argument is coming on. It helps.

Willingness to forgive: Learn to let things go. The things thatwe have said or done do not have to define us. Remember thegood along with bad. Of course, everybody has different thingsthat we will let slide.

A sense of fairness: Always remember the way your partnersees things and always try to see their view.

And my personal favorite relationship tip: the three C's:Celebrate, Communicate, and Compromise.

Everybody fights. Don't go down to the degenerative level of arelationship. Pick your battles and let everything else respondwith perspective and respect.

LUEHNATech pep reporter

Bored of doing the same things with your friendsover and over again? Do you always find yourselfbored at home wondering why your life sucks somuch?

Go out do something fun with a buddy or re-lax by yourself. There are probably a billion thingsyou could come up with to do when your bored,so start doing them!Here are a couple things youcan do around townwhen you have timeto roam around:

Take a walk downwaterfront on a niceday, and go to theSaturday/SundayMarket.

Make a trip to the zoo to see your favorite mon-key or tiger.

Do something simple and go watch a movie.There are always new ones coming out so the mov-ies can never get boring.

Take a group of friends and go ice skating at LloydCenter.

Have a picnic at a park near you!Go shopping, make it a fashion show.Take a trip to the park. You can play a pick up game

of basketball, play tennis, soccer, volleyball, baseball,Frisbee, whatever.

Take your siblings to the Children’s Museumright next to the Oregon Zoo. You just made theirday and you got to play along with them.

Go on a bike ride! There are so many bike pathsin portland like Johnson Creek.

Grab your skateboard and go skating. Get yourskater friends to teach you, or just hang out aroundthere meet new people.If you don't want to go out or the Portlandweather is just bumming you out, stay in:

Food day with your friends! Invite people overand try new recipes out or make your favorites. Makesome pancakes, grilled cheese, sushi, bake a cake,bake some cookies and decorate them.

Remember all those old school board games youuse to play? Pull them out and have a party. SomeApples To Apples, then Mancala, Chinese Checkers,Chess, Shutes and Ladders, Monopoly, Pictionary,Guess Who?, Trouble, Risk, Taboo, Gestures,Kerplunk, Battleship, Connect Four, Scene It!,Sorry!, Candyland, Parcheesi, Yahtzee, Trivial Pur-suit, Mousetrap, and Scrabble.

Do arts and crafts. Get some paint or crayons and

make your mamma a picture. Youcould make T-shirts, even tiedye them.

Sleepoverrrrrr!You could always have a

marathon of your favoriteshow like The O.C., House,and Modern Family. Go backwith some Hey Arnold, Doug,and Rugrats.

Have a movie day atsomeone’s house. Grab some of

your old VHS movies and mixthem up with some of your

favorite new DVDs. Iwould mix it up

with a 3 Ninjasmarathon, thenThe Little Rascals,and of course The

Sandlot.Have a car? Take a drive:

Bullwinkle’s. Always fun with a group of friends.Wild waves! Even though its far its worth the drive

to ride roller coasters, go on water slides, and swimall day in a huge wave pool.

Trips to the river or even the beach on a randomsunny Portland day.

College visits around Oregon. Go visit your sib-lings or get ready to pick your college and apply, getthe feeling of the campus.If you keep saying your soooo hungry thengo eat!

Slappy Cakes. Eat some yummy breakfast whilemaking your own pancakes at your own table.

Stepping Stones. Delicious breakfast withmancakes. Not pancakes.

Skinny Dip. A cute little frozen yogurt place thatlets you get all the toppings you want. Then they'llweigh it then pay.

Fat Straw. Bubble Tea with a sandwich or a muf-fin. Free internet use.

The Waffle Stand. Waffles waffles waffles.Sapparo-sushi. I mean, who doesn't like sushi?Montage. Eat pasta then take it home in a fancy

creation of tin foil.American Dream Pizza. Pizza for the soul.Zach's Shack. The best hot dogs ever.Get out there live your life, people! Your friends

are probably sitting around thinking the same bor-ing thoughts on the weekends. Call them up and gochill somewhere, nobody wants you at home mop-ing around. Be active and have some fun while yourstill young.

DEMETRIUS LINCOLNTech Pep Reporter

His corsage, her dress, thethoughts of who will be best-dressed, the king, the queen, theluxurious ride in a limousine.

These are the things that go onin seniors’ minds as they knowwhen the sun goes down it’s time.Yes, prom is on its way, rightaround the corner actually,, andthe night is something to preparefor. So here is a check list to keepin mind the day:

1.Your Date! Now you couldcome alone; however, when youarrive with a date – whether it issame gender or not – you will re-member the night with that some-one special. After all, it’s prom.

2. Look Like a star! Girls bestmake up, sexiest hair style. Boysfresh cut, new braids or dreads.This is the night where studentsare shining stars; don’t be one ofthe ones that falls.

3. Tux Check, Dress Check:Okay so you don’t have to do thetux thing, nor does she have towear a dress, but that doesn’t meancome in a polo with jeans, or asweat suit, come promish, don’tbe afraid to throw on your ownswag, or bend the rules a little to

Prom do’s and dont’sbe different. Just make sure you fitthe mood but stand out at thesame time.

4. Beep, Beep, Vroooom: Howare you getting there? Better callthe rental shops, or ask mom orgrandpa for the keys to that 2010or that significant old school. Justmake sure that you get there fash-ionably whether limousine, oryour own whip, keep it clean andmake a scene Think big – a heli-copter would be a nice thing.Don’t be negative, you can do any-thing!

5. Cash Rules EverythingAround Me C.R.E.A.M.: Work ex-tra hours, ask for extra cash dolittle jobs and save as much as youpossibly can, maybe even take a bitout of your savings but not toomuch,. Keep in mind that this isyour senior prom, therefore pleasekeep in mind on a day like thismoney is not an issue. You willspend for after parties, accessories,who knows – just bring your wal-let.

6. After the party just changelocations: The flyers say 11 butlet’s be real there will be variousfunctions after it’s all said anddone, and instead of making thissegment long, lets put it this way:

PROM DOESN’T STOP UNTIL 8IN THE MORNING.

7. EAT B4: Even if that meansbefore 4, there will be lots of jump-ing, shaking, head bobbing andgrinding, and you don’t want thatsnow white dress to be broccoligreen; therefore don’t come hun-gry! But leave happy.

8. Charge IT! Okay the cellphone is big but you don’t want tomiss anything so keep all electron-ics charged, phones, cameras,iPods anything that can assist yournight and fill in the boredom (justin case).

9. Be Aggressive, Be Aggres-sive: Do not come in the buildingbeing a human flyer – come onthe dance floor and dance thenight away, so please practice yourmoves. Boys, get a girl and havethem show you the ropes. Keep inmind this is a different ring not aTyson fight, so hey prom “Any-thing goes.”

10. BE READY: take in steps 1-9and be ready to execute becauseprom night is a new height, so havefun, be at the ACADAIAN BALLROOM SAT, MAY 15th 8:00! P.S.Say Cheese for MOM.

RACHEL BENJAMINtech pep reporter

Everyone has a habit that theyhave whether they notice it or not.These habits might not be totallyobsessive compulsive, but they arehabits none the less. A few stu-dents shared with me their weirdhabits:

“I have to step on the cracks inthe cement every two steps I take,I don't know why but I have to. Ialso have this chair that is in myroom, and it has to be turned at acertain angle and if it's not then Ican't sleep.”

Amber Trimble, Senior“I eat ice, lots of it!”

Catalina Vu, Senior“I have a habit of organizing my

money from the biggest billls tothe smallest bills, then they have

What’s yourweird habit?

to be in order of their series yearand they all have to face the samedirection.”

Rachel Benjamin, Senior“I collect my hair everytime I

brush it. The hair that comes out,I put it in a bag. I have like a bigwad now.”

Sabinne Saint-Felix, Senior“I don't like misorganized

iTunes libraries. I can't have likefifty different genres and a wholebunch of artists all over the place.”

Phillip Melson, Senior“If I see a box of crayons or

something, I have to put them inrainbow order or else I feel likekilling somebody.”

Maggie Kowatch, Senior“If everybody gets in the car at

the same time, I can't get in.”James Gault-Love, Junior

Six tips to stop the fightingin your current relationship

WWW.TECHPEP.ORG best&worst APRIL 2010 ■ PAGE 3

WORST REJECTION STORIESLILY ZHAOTech Pep reporterEveryone feels on top of the world when that one spe-

cial person approaches them with a slick new pick up line.Every girl can't deny a cute and sweet boy that asks them tothe dance with a bouquet of flowers and a cheesy line. Andyou know you can't resist laughing at those brilliant pickup lines your friends come up with. So you need a littlehelp picking up girls? Need some ideas on how to ask outyour next boyfriend or girlfriend? Try out one of thesepickup lines and maybe you'll end up with your future girl-friend or boyfriend. See how Benson students picked uptheir love ones in these cute love stories.

“In 8th grade, I liked this guy so I asked him out. He said‘No. I just broke up with my girlfriend so I'm not going outwith anyone.’ Next week later, he was with another girl.”

–Skyler Donald, junior

“When I try to pursue agirl... I hate the 'Just friendspart.' Dang, I don't like that.I can be a potential boy-friend. You want Gucci,Louis, Ralph Lauren? Nomore of that Forever 21stuff!”

–Jamal Arnold, senior

“When a person leads you on and then goes out withyour best friend!”

–Darien Fleming, junior

“I really liked this guy and he flirted with a lot of girls. Ithought I was special because he flirted with me. A lot. So

I told his friends I liked him and they told him. He said ‘UGH, NO..! There's no way.’Then I talked to him and he said ‘You're more like a sister.’ It was depressing.”

Crystal Dill, junior

“I decided to visit my girlfriend on Valentine's day and as I walked in, I saw her kissingwith another guy. I was so sad. I cried.”

Sanjay Battan, sophomore

“I dated this guy for a month. When I broke up with him, he cried and went home forthe rest of the day. Everyday I saw him in first period, he'd cry.. for a whole week. He wasa nice guy but he was too clingy.”

Sharayah Hanson, junior

“When I was in high school, we had this thing called the Sady Hawkins. I was datinga guy and I asked him to go to the dance with me but he wouldn't go! That hurt me reallybadly. So I asked his best friend to the dance!”

Mrs. Ganoe

“Back in middle school, I went out with this one girland then I didn't like her anymore. She liked me hella' butshe was too clingy. On the last day of school, I told her Ididn't like her anymore and I broke up with her. She criedand I felt bad. That was the only time I rejected someoneand I'll never do it again.”

Victor Kuss, junior

“When this girl liked me but I didn't like her like that.She was my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. She doesn't talk tome anymore.”

Tasha Bilbrew, freshman

“It was in middle school. I didn't have a lot of friends because people were mean. ButI did have a few good friends and one of them was this guy that liked me from 6th to 8thgrade. He was the nicest person ever. He gave me chocolate every Valentine's day. Whenhe finally asked me out, I had to tell him that he was just best friend to me, not a boy-friend. He wouldn't talk to me for a whole year and he moved schools. When I saw himon the streets, he ran off. I feel so horrible because he was one of my best friends. But I justcouldn't like him that way.”

Brianna Ono, junior

“It started with a love triangle. Me, a good guyfriend, andthis girl. I went on a couple dates with the girl. But my friendliked this girl too. He ended up going out with her behindmy back. I found out from another source about it. Sheended up going out with my friend for over 3 years.”

Khang Truong, sophomore

“I was in middle school. Me and this girl had a compli-cated thing going on. She wrote 'Will you go out with me?'on a piece of paper, crumpled it up and gave it to my cousinto give to me. When I saw it, I threw it in the recycling bin.When she asked, I said I never saw it. I guess I wanted thingsto stay the way they were.”

Meng Cha, junior

“It was 5th grade. I liked this girl since 2nd grade. Her name was Sara. We finally talkedone day and I thought she liked me so I asked "Would you like to date?" She said "NOooo!"and gave me this look. We didn't talk anymore. I was heart broken. I liked her for so long.”

Khalid Osman, junior

BEST PICKUP LINESLUEHNA ABUANTech pep reporter

“One day my boyfriend came over to print somethingat my house but he accidentally forgot it. The next day hetold me he was going to pick it up later that night. We weretalking on the phone earlier and he said he needed to gobuy a tooth brush. When he called that night, he said hewas going to stop by the store to buy his tooth brush andthen he'd be over to pick up his paper. What I didn't knowwas that when he went to ‘get a toothbrush’ at the store, hewas really going there to buy me a bouquet of roses. So hecame over and I walked outside with his paper in my handthat I thought he needed. As soon as I handed it to him, hepulled out a bouquet of roses and asked ‘Will you be mygirlfriend?’ He made sure to do it at exactly midnight. Andof course I said yes!”

Sandra Van, junior

“In 7th grade I was playing twenty questions with thisguy. Then his last question was ‘Will you be my girlfriend– yes or yes?’”

Janine Rillera, junior

“If you were a videogame, you'd be my final fan-tasy!”

Jenny Truong, junior

“This one guy asked me ‘So do you wanna go out some-time?’ Then I said sure. So then I guess the next day he waslike, ‘Yeah this is my girlfriend.’ I was caught off guard andthought oh I’m your girlfriend? Then I told him ‘You didn'task me! Will you ask me out officially this time?’ ‘Okay,will you be my girlfriend please?’”

Dina Dely, senior

“Do you mind if I put my arm here?”Anders Wolher, senior

“Did you hear about the one with a fat penguin? It breaks the ice.” Anonymous

“If I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put U and I together.”Dylan Thompson, freshman

“Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?”Keighley Overbay, freshman

“Baby is your last name McDonald because I’m lovin’ it.”Franklin Norman, freshman

“My friend and I first made up this plan to ask this girlto winter formal. The original plan was to jump out of abig present but we couldn't put one together. So what weended up doing, was that we put on ski masks then ranthrough her group of friends, picked her up, ran her aroundthe school for a little while, then put her down and askedher to winter formal. And she said yes!”

Daniel Drakos, junior

“Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walkpast again?”

Sean Corrigan, freshman

“Are your legs tired because you've been runningthrough my mind all day.” Mr. Mylet, teacher

“Everyday after school, we'd find each other and go to apark by the school. We just talked to each other and sharedall of our common interests. I knew he liked me, and I wasjust WAITING for him to ask me out. Finally we were onthe topic, so he grabbed my hands, and asked me out. Thatpark is ‘our spot’ now.”

Alysha Phan, junior

“When I was in 8th grade I was on the cheerleadingsquad, and the guy I liked was on the football team. Afterone of his games the squad came up to me with him lead-ing, and they made up a cheer. At the end of the cheer heasked me out. It was so sweet I couldn't say no.’

Nicole Powell, junior

“My love for you is like diarrhea, I just can't hold it in.”Joanna Yan, junior

“May I take a couple of pictures of you, because you sureare worth more than a thousand words.”

Mary Dang, junior

“If you were a pirate, would you want your parrot onthis shoulder, or this shoulder?”

Viet Phan, junior

“So I like pick up lines so I decided to try some on thiscute guy. "Do you have a Band-Aid because I think I'm fall-ing for You." I tripped over my own feet and fell and he said"No I don't have one" and I just started laughing.”

Mary Dang, junior

Bestthe

&WorstPICK-UP LINES &

REJECTION STORIES

PAGE 4 ■ APRIL 2010 Need2Know WWW.TECHPEP.ORG

CommunicationsCommunications students are currently re-de-

signing the official Benson Polytechnic website. Theyare updating course information and replacing oldpictures with new ones taken by current students.

Aside from working on the Benson website, theseniors are also learning new advanced AdobePhotoshop techniques and putting together seniorportfolios. Students have taken photographsthroughout the entire year. Each assignment has beenfocused on a different element of design: line, color,foreground/middle/background and texture.The stu-dents will compile all of their best work from thisyear and put it in an electronic portfolio that can beviewed on the Benson website.

Video students Kyle Bocian Dan Drakos and EthanDedrickson made a promotional video showingwhat students in communications do. In their words,“The movie shows a typical day in communications:Taking pictures, uploading, downloading, making amovie, and of course having a sword fight with Mr.Mylet in the middle of his first period class to stealback a mystical golden role of film.” The communi-cations program is located in E-wing, so come checkout the digital artwork, videos and creative websites.

The Health Occupation students at Benson arehosting a wide variety of activities at Tech Show.

In Room 237 Mrs. Callie be showcasing the eyeand pig dissection. Take a look inside the anatomyof fetal pigs, or the inside of your eyes. Educate your-self by stopping by. She'll also be showcasing class-room activities and assignments. Test yourself, too.Test your eyesight and your reaction time.

The dental major with Ms. Beard will be show-casing X-ray mounting and different types of fillings.Her students will also be filling tooth molds as wellas traditional brushing and flossing in rm 238.

Medical assisting students with Mrs. Lloyd willbe blood typing and performing electrocardiograms.Students will check cholesterol and juniors will takeblood pressure in Ms. Niedermeyer’s classroom,

Room 238.S u p p o r t

Health Occu-pation studentsand visit theamazing eventsgoing on in theHOSA hall.

Drop bydrafting in F-wing to seewhat these stu-dents havebeen workingon for thesepast weeks. Se-niors will be inRoom F212showcas ingtheir projectboards. RoomF210 will alsobe open, withstudents work-ing on the Rivetdrafting pro-gram.

Room

F211 will display examples offreshman drafting work.

All Electric will say is that theyare doing all the cool stuff this yearfor Benson’s annual Tech Show.

"If it's cool, we're doing it. Ev-eryone else is dry, we're fresh,” saysMr. Hryciw, the famous electricteacher.

Electric has all the attrac-tions featuring the electric chair,the ejector seat, the flight simula-tor game, things that spark, makenoise, shoot up, and a new mazegame. The electric chair and theejector have always been favoritesto go see.

The flight simulator gameuses a fancy chair that follows theplane's movements as someone isplaying the game.

The newest invention in theelectric major is the articulatingmnemonic maze game made byjuniors Taylor Moyer, MartinNguyen, and Alex Salezar. Thismaze game runs off of air thatmoves the ball through air cylin-ders. You use the differentswitches to move the ball to com-plete the maze.

If you're interested go downto the Electric rooms in E-wingand check out all these inven-tions. Mr. Hryciw says, "If it's ex-citing, we're doing it. Electric isthe best!" Automotive

In Automotive for this TechShow, students will be showing offtheir class work. Some students are showing thework they have done on their own cars. These carswill be showcased as a car show in Benson's parkinglot. Other things that will be shown are diesel en-gines, Automotive engines, heavy duty truck, dem-onstration of break work, Running the helicopter,igniting an airbag Thursday and Friday at 8:00pm ,on both Thursday and Friday. Also running aviationengine If your interested in automotive and carscome check it out and see for yourself what thesestudents can do.

KBPS will give tours of the ra-dio station during Tech Show.Check out what happens behindthe scenes at your favorite radiostation and see what KBPS is do-ing.

In manufacturing, seniorswill demonstrate work in RoomC-111 while Juniors will be inRoom 127. Students will demon-strate the use of hydraulic jacks,CNC machines and welding.Come check it out.

The construction classes aretaught by Mr. Weber and Mr.Franciscone. Students put theirskills to use to make memorabiliato sell at the Tech Show. They are

Got-to-knoGot-to-knoGot-to-knoGot-to-knoGot-to-know it now it now it now it now it nowwwwwSTUDENT QUICK GUIDE TO TECH SHOW

So TechShow isnext week,and thewhole cityis invited.You are atour guideand host,whetheryou’reselling rootbeer floats,workingthecarnival inthe gym, orgiving atour inyour major.You kindaneed toknowwhat’sgoing on.Fast. So youcan lookreallysmart forthe guestsand impressyourteachers.

making wood crafts and selling them from $15–20each. They are also featuring the always popular buck-saw and nail-pounding contests for the fun fair. Theclass will also be presenting a PowerPoint about thehouse that they are currently building.

The money earned from the breadboards andthe contests will go toward the Benson House Fund.The construction class is the very last classroom tothe left in e-wing, so come on out to the Tech Showand support the building construction class.

WWW.TECHPEP.ORG DiversityAssembly APRIL 2010 ■ PAGE 5

■■■■■ “Diversity,” from Page 1To kick off the assembly, the Motion Monsters

took the stage and showed off their moves. They didan awesome job, doing many different songs anddances combined getting everyone pumped. In thebeginning Bao Ngoc Pham, Victor Trinh, Teresa Lai,Duaci Lee and Alan Lam were all on the stage in aschool setting. Then they did various dances to manydifferent songs grasping the audience, students evenstarted to sing and dance along.

Next off came two amazing young ladies on thestage Lily Zhao and Phoebe Van Buren singing apopular Chinese song, “Mouse Loves Rice.” Bothof them had voices that enchanted the students andfilled the auditorium. Afterwards Junior MinhDoung said "I couldn't get it out of my head so ihad to go download it."

Then Pascal and the gang ranging from big tolittle were all playing Latin music with various mu-sical instruments such as the marimbas, drums,guitar and xylophone.

Next off was a serious skit to remind us all tothink twice about the choices we make. SeniorRa’chelle organized the AIDS skit to tell everyonethat anything could happen and to be safe. DinaDely, Meyee Cha, Wade Norris, Juwan Robins,Ra'chelle Boswell-Collins and Bryce Clovell actedto explain the dangers of contracting AIDS. The skitshows teenagers going through various situationssuch as unprotected intercourse, drug use and preg-nancies. In all these circumstances many problemswere faced and the skit elaborated on how to solvethese problems and avoid them.

Young Lyric, Junior Tyson blew everyone offtheir feet when he started to sing with his hypno-tizing voice. He even switched up the original songand made it his own. He had his friend MichaelStewart rapping along his side. Afterwards studentswere going down the halls singing his jam.

After singing of course comes some dancing —Latin dancing that is. Beautiful girls and young mendressed in snazzy black outfits and sombreros tomatch up there Latin dance. Afterwards a juniornamed Mercedes Pizzaro with a gorgeous voicecame out and sang us all a song about friends inTagalog. Students sat in awe and thought about theirown friendships. Everyone was mesmerized by hervoice.

Next off was Senior cChico showed us what he’sgot with his hip hop dances to different songs. Eventhe triplets came out and danced along. They were

Showing off school diversitydefinitely a crowd pleaser.

Later the Poetry Club came out and we allsnapped and gave spirits to the poets reciting theirpassionate poems. Everyone was quiet and intentin listening to them and everyone was touched bytheir poetry. Even Mr. Slaughter gave us a poemabout Portland.

Next were three young ladies dressed in tradi-tional Hmong outfits doing a traditional Hmongdance. Their outfits were and the girls really spar-kling on the stage.

Then came a part of the assembly where we haveto think about all the people that had their livestaken away from them. The Haiti PowerPoint bySabinne shows us the devastation of the earthquakein Haiti. Chris Catabay played hallelujah on his gui-tar and sang beautifully throughout the slide show.

Something that hit close to home was JoseHernandez’ death, a slide show for was presentedfor us to remember what a wonderful young manhe was by Daniel Morales, Alex Torres and MichaelDeriew. We all took a moment of silence and tocherish every moment of life.

Then a bunch of young men came on stage witha hip-hop vignette. The boys showed their rhymesand their dancing skills. There were the breakersvs. the jerkers. Both of the groups did extremelywell, the jerkers even had a cute little boy join thestage which had the crowd going wild.

To keep the action going was the fashion show.Benson students strutted down the stage and woretheir traditional outfits down the stage. Next off wasJunior Kiara Brinkley doing a very inspirationaldance to a soulful song and everyone was quiet andstunned at her compassion. She is an inspirationto us all.

Next up was something we’ve all been waitingfor since the last diversity assembly, which werethe Tongans doing a traditional dance, Hak Ka. Thecrowd screamed for them from the top of theirlungs. First off was the girls doing the traditionaldance with a lot of booty action. Then came stomp-ing in the Tongan men all glossed up with oil, run-ning on stage making everyone go wild. Afterwardsthe crowd was a little sad inside when they left thestage.

Last but not least was hip hop dancing and stomp-ing with some talented young men and ladies. Theypumped up the students to go to their next class evenif they didn't want to.

PEAKPERFORMANCESinging, dancing andfashion highlighted theDiversity Assembly.

PAGE 6 ■ APRIL 2010 newsfocus WWW.TECHPEP.ORG

KYLE JOHN BOCIANTech pep Layout EditorThe first manifestation of whatevolved into OneRepublic formedin 1996 by Ryan Tedder and ZachFilkins who befriended eachother during their senior year atColorado Springs Christian HighSchool.

They enlisted a few musicalfriends and named their rock actThis Beautiful Mes. When seinoryear ended Ryan and Zach wenttheir separate ways and the bandbroke up.

Reuniting in Los Angeles in2002, Tedder and Filkins formedtheir second band called the Re-public. Tedder, by then an estab-lished songwriter and record pro-ducer, had convinced Filkins, whowas living in Chicago, Illinois torelocate.

Nine months later, they weresigned to Columbia Records. Af-ter a few line-up changes, they fi-nally settled with Tedder on vo-cals, Filkins on guitar and backingvocals, Eddie Fisher, an Orego-nian, on drums, Brent Kutzle onbass and cello, and Drew Brownon lead guitar.

They later changed the bandname to OneRepublic after theirrecord company mentioned thatthe name Republic might causecontroversy with other bands.

OneRepublic's hit “Apologize”was not the song’s original ver-sion, but a remix heard on“Timbaland Presents: ShockValue.” The original appears onDreaming Out Loud, the band’sdebut album, released Nov. 20,2007.

One of the coolest things about

OneRepublic gets raves

■■■■■ “HOSA,” from Page 1NUTRITION ADVANCED MASTERY

Ling Zhan Fourth PlacePATHOPYSIOLOGY ADVANCED MASTERY

Chelsey Brown First PlacePHARMACOLOGY ADVANCED MASTERY

Viet Phan First PlaceShawn Chan Third Place

CONCEPTS OF HEALTH CARE ADVANCEDMASTERYJennifer Huynh Sixth Place

CATEGORY IIDENTAL ASSISTING INITIAL MASTERY

Elizabeth Phan Third PlaceDENTAL ASSISTING ADVANCED MASTERY

Mary Dang Second PlaceMEDICAL ASSISTING ADVANCED MASTERY

Chelsey Brown Second PlacePHYSICAL THERAPY ADVANCED MASTERY

Chelsey Brown Second PlaceCATEGORY IIICPR/FIRST AID INITIAL MASTERY

Kristina Brown Third Placeand Sharaya HansonVanny Chao Sixth Placeand Victor Trinh

CPR/FIRST AID ADVANCED MASTERYPhuong Pham First Placeand Jason MahVanny Chao Sixth Placeand Victor Trinh

CATEGORY IVEXTEMPORANEOUS HEALTH POSTER INITIAL

MASTERYKristina Brown First Place

EXTEMPORANEOUS HEALTH POSTERADVANCED MASTERYSherry Liao First Place

EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING ADVANCEDMASTERYVictor Trinh Third PlaceTri Tran Sixth Place

EXTEMPORANEOUS WRITING INITIALMASTERYHuong Cao Second Place

EXTEMPORANEOUS WRITING ADVANCEDMASTERYTri Tran First PlaceSharaya Hanson Second PlaceSara Yon Third PlacePhuong Pham Fourth PlaceMary Dang Fifth PlaceLing Zhan Sixth Place

JOB SEEKING SKILLS INITIAL MASTERYErica Wu First PlaceElizabeth Phan Second PlaceKen Duong Fifth Place

MEDICAL PHOTOGRAPHY ADVANCEDMASTERYJoanna Yan First PlaceBao Ngoc Pham Fourth Place

PREPARED SPEAKING ADVANCED MASTERYLing Zhan Second Place

CATEGORY VCAREER HEALTH DISPLAY ADVANCED

MASTERYSara Yon First Placeand Christina TruongJim Ly Second Placeand Vanny ChaoElizabeth Phan Third Placeand Joanna YanMary Dang Fourth Placeand Jenny Truong

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING INITIALMASTERYHuong Cao, First PlaceKristina Brown,and Sharayah HansonJennifer Huynh Second Place

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING ADVANCEDMASTERYShawn Chan, Tri Tran, Ling Zhan,and Sherry Liao First PlaceTabina Nguyen, Alysha Phan. and Bao NgocPham Second PlaceMy Van Vo, Jim Lyand Victor Trinh Fourth Place

FORENSIC MEDICINE INITIAL MASTERYKen Duong

FORENSIC MEDICINE ADVANCED MASTERYViet Phan First Placeand Vanny ChaoElizabeth Phan Third Place

MEDICAL READING ADVANCED MASTERYMary Dang First Placeand Joanna Yan

CATEGORY VIKAISER PERMANENTE HEALTHCARE ISSUES

My Van Vo First PlaceJim Ly Fifth PlaceJennifer Huynh Sixth Place

HOSA studentsrock at state

OneRepublic is the cello played byBrent Kutzle. I really believe it iswhat brings their songs to life andmakes them different form all theother rock bands.

OneRepublic’s newest album“Waking Up” came out on Sept.24, 2008 The album contains 11tracks, most of which feature acello.

The genre of the album is con-sidered rock and holds up to“Dreaming Out Loud,” and in my

opinion is better the “DreamingOut Loud” because of how wellproduced the instruments and vo-cals are. They also use a choir andother cool and interesting tech-niques to please their audience

They are touring Europe at themoment and the closest concertis in Del Mar, Calif., at the San Di-ego County Fair on July 7. If any ofyou happen to be at the San DiegoCounty Fair, make sure to checkthem out. You won’t regret it.

Tech PepFounded September 21, 1921

The Tech Pep is published bimonthly by the journalism students of Benson PolytechnicHigh School. Tech Pep is a member of ASNE/MCT Campus High School Newspaper

Service and uses all wire content with permission. The American Society of NewspaperEditors is a nonprofit professional organization whose members are the top editors of

daily newspapers. MCT Campus is a website operated by McClatchy/tribuine informationservices.

The district's lawyer wants you to know that "According to new Oregon law, studentjournalists are responsible for determining the content of this publication, except under

limited circumstances. The subject matter, content and views of the news, feature andopinion sections in this paper do not reflect the views of Portland Public Schools of

Benson Polytechnic High School. This disclaimer is applicable to each and every page ofthis newspaper.

Snail mail: Tech Pep, Benson Polytechnic H.S., 546 N.E. 12th Ave., Portland, OR 97232Phone: 503-916-5100 ext 77211

Web: www. techpep.org

Email: Sndr.h.l.vn@gmail.com, robmelt@gmail.com

EDITORIAL BOARD & STAFFSandra Van -- Editor-In-ChiefLaura Ramirez -- News Editor

Vanny Chao -- Advertisement ManagerDiadira Pedro Xuncax -- Opinion Editor

Bryce Howell -- Sports EditorKyle Bocian -- Layout Editor

Luehna Abuan, EJ Akins, Rachel Benjamin, Demetrius Cox-Lincoln, Ethan Dedrickson,Ephrem Diribsa, Daniel Drakos, Esperanza Rendon, Phuong Tran, Samuel Tsehaineh, May

Wu, Lily ZhaoRob Melton, Adviser

KYLE BOCIANTech Pep layout editor

Portland has many bike rides,runs and triathlons. One of the up-coming popular bike rides is thereach the beach ride.

The ride starts from four differ-ent locations: Portland (100 mi),Newberg (80 mi), Amity (55 mi)or Grand Ronde (28 mi).

The route is beautiful, medicaland mechanical support are onthe course, there are eight lunchand snack stops, and a magnifi-cent beach party at the end with a

delicious, hearty feast.Reach the beach is one of

Oregon’s most popular rides. Theentail fee to ride is 25$ then an ad-ditional 75$ in fundraising is re-quired.

Another popular bike ride thattakes place all across the world isthe world naked bike ride or theWNRB. Portland actually hasthree naked bike rides/ runs. Thefirst naked ride is the "SunnyNekkid Ride" starting at the Joanof Arc statue at NE 39th andGlisan, at 2 p.m. This will be the

fourth year for this ride.The second ride is the "Fig Leaf

Naked Run/Ride" in Forest Parkat 7:30 p.m. It is a 10K off road na-ked bike ride and 5k run/walkstarting at the paved section of LiefErickson Drive.

No fee is required other then 2canned foods that will be donatedto the local homeless shelter. Thebig ride, though, starts from andreturns to the Pedalpalooza Kick-off Dance Party, which begins at 9and continues well into the night.

Bicyclists plan Reach-the-Beach ride

A few weeks ago, the Benson Band performed atWestern Oregon University for the annual MusicFestival. They all left at 8 a.m., spent the entire daythere, returning at 3 p.m.

For the amount of practice they had, they per-formed impressively well. They meet for about 45minutes every morning during 0 Period.

The group played three pieces: Pentland Hills, anEnglish-style march; Down A Country Lane, a slowmoving piece with beautiful chord progression to setthe atmosphere for a dusky summer countryside; andPuszta, a four-movement piece with the title of "FourGypsiedances."

Although the band didn't win anything in thecompetition, they all played and had fun, knowingthat they weren't coming to win.

"On a scale of 1 to 10 in fun, I had about an 8,"said band director Dan Foster after the competition.The band sat there on stage with nearly no audience,but played furiously nonetheless. It was absolutelycertain that the competition was enjoyed by all, re-gardless of how well they did.

Band plays, has fun, atWestern Oregon University,competition enjoyed by all

WWW.TECHPEP.ORG sportsfocus APRIL2010 ■ PAGE 7

BY BRYCE HOWELLTech Pep Reporter

When you go into the new gym you will see theplethora of state titles covering the gym’s hallowedwalls. If this is true for you, then of course you havealso noticed that Benson has more state titles thanany other sport we have competed in.

This season the track team looks to continue thistradition of excellence in the sport for both boys andgirls. Heading the coaching staff and team is LeonMcKenzie, the long-time track coach who coachedall those track teams that have brought home thestate meet titles.

I got a chance to sit down with the man himselfand see how the season is going so far, which accord-ing to Mr. McKenzie has been “tough what with stu-dent athletes needing to get cleared and understand-ing the legacy that we have here at Benson and de-veloping a steady work ethic. But we are ready tomove forward in the season, especially in this up-coming part of the season which is our most impor-tant."

It's good to see we are prepping for the best of theseason, which are the invitationals at Pasco, Centen-nial, Jesuit, and then the big state meet.

The Pasco, Centennial, and Jesuit meets are de-scribed by Mckenzie as, "Great building blocks forthe season goal of bringing home the hardware, be-cause we always shoot for being the best, we alwayshave. We are a big meet team. And another thing,"Mckenzie said, as he shifted in his seat and his mouthslowly turned into a grin, "is that if Benson bringhome one more state title we would have won morestate titles, period, than any other school in state his-tory total. I feel like this would be quite an honor es-pecially for an inner city school who does not havethe privileges most suburban or rich schools have.It's really a testament to our school about how hardwe compete and that's to the best of our abilities ev-ery time."

With that in mind it's vital that we win a title.With the nearly endless amount of talent we have,

that accomplishment does not seem impossible toattain.

"Senior Freddy Jackson is somewhat of the leaderin the sprints and triple jump area for our team,” saidMcKenzie. “Junior Wesley gray is one of the top lead-ers in the triple jump in the state. Senior JustinJohnson is our leader in the hurdles. SophomoreDemetrius Rhodes has a great chance to be a defini-tive long distance runner before he leaves. SeniorGabe Jenks is great in the throws. Senior PaulJohnson good quarter mile runner. Even junior An-drew Andrews, who is one of Benson's top basket-ball players, is getting in on the action by doing the

jumping events."So lots of guys. We get it. But don't count the girls

out either."Junior Jasmine Radcliff is our leader in the 300

hurdles and somewhat of a team leader,” McKenziecontinued. “Junior Corina Conley is excelling in thetriple jump and sprint events. Junior Iielijah Dardenis someone we're counting on this season. And alsowe have a bunch of little freshmen coming out aswell. No big numbers, but the goal remains is to de-velop."

As with any team there are struggles, specificallythings that are beyond the team’s power to control.

"We have the worst facility and track in the stateand have no real estate to work on,” said McKenzie,“as well as the attributing fact we have no weighttraining curriculum." His posture when speakingabout this topic gets serious and he tightens up. "Alot of kids are first-year runners so they are just learn-ing the ropes and it's hard for them to compete. PILor someone needs to do something about this! It'spathetic compared to schools in the suburbs andschools like Lincoln or Cleveland. Luckily for us wehave a dedicated track staff who give up time andmoney to see us succeed."

So all is not lost for the season. There are also ben-efits from running with the Tech. Ask any of our re-cent alumni. "Eric Bailey is running at the univer-sity of Oklahoma,” said McKenzie. “Nate Andersonwho was a great sprinter here is running the 4x4 re-lay at the University of Southern California. KaylaSmith is doing big things at the University of Illinois.So we send our athletes to the big name schools andthey are graduating with degrees."

The greatness that comes with running forBenson Tech is evident when speaking withMckenzie and without a doubt this will be a goodseason.

LAURA RAMIRETech pep news editor

April 10, 2010 Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, were scheduled to play.These two very well known teams who both share an unlimitedamount of great players and outermost respect for each other were go-ing head to head. Real Madrid coming in confident for they were firstplace on stats and Barcelona ready to fight. For such teams to suppos-edly have lots of respect for each other, they were not showing anymercy, bashing greatly on each other. The game started up with PepGuardiolas massive change in his starting line-up, albeit just one. DaniAlves had moved up to the right side of midfield, even possibly upfrontin attack considering how Barcelona tend to mix things around mid-game. Starting at right-back instead was be Carles Puyol, with GabyMilito and Gerard Pique in the centre and Maxwell. Xavi, Busquets andSeydo Keita occupied the midfield with Leo Messi and Pedro headingthe attack.

After a bit of keep away within the two teams, Barcelona managedto make the first goal at 32:04. Leo Messi who put the team in lead,right now is considered one of the best soccer players of the world whostands at 5'7. I feel this was something that had Madrid a bit shaky andalso a disadvantage with the absence of Kaka on their team. As sessionsof great footwork and awesome tackles, came half time leaving Barcain the lead 1-0.

Christian Ronaldo, one of the best, was looking extremely slow thisgame; its hard to say that he didn't leave the Madrid fans disappointed.Ronaldo, who had all of us fooled thinking you would take advantageof the free kicks but yet didn't see anything from you. With the secondhalf of the game left it was only a matter of time for another goal... At55:33 Pedro made the 2nd goal for Barca.

Barcelona takes the win AGAIN, alike last year who really kickedsome Madrid ass. Madrid who had only 2, Barca smacked with 6 Goals.I who am a Madrid fan didn't think we would win this year either butyet i saw other fans who really did feel we would take the win. Thisgame was differently a nail biter and an utterly suspense, one of thegreat things about soccer is you can be so close yet so far. Both ofBarcelona's goals were results of beautiful passing, and it is somethingthat all soccer fans can appreciate no matter what team you go for.Overall, it was a good game.

SAM TSEHAINEHtecp pep reporter

Blazers strike first in the play-offs by stealing one from Pheonix.The Portland Trailblazers pulledout an upset by winning on theroad in Phoenix. Andre Miller hada game high and a playoff high 31points with Jeryd Bayless dropping18 and Lamarcus Aldridge with25.

From tip off to the final buzzer

Barcelona takes the lead

BY BRYCE HOWELLTech Pep Sports Editor

"Tiger Woods, you suck! G-- damnit!" One would think these to bethe words of a middle aged corporate employee who has his next pay-check running on the world's greatest golfer and is mad that Tiger ismessing up. But these words are from Tiger Woods himself.

Throughout The Masters Tiger had many of these similiar outburstthroughout the most heralded tournament in all of the sport of golf.

But can we really get on him about it? Earlier this year I tore intoTiger about his decisions to cheat on his wife with multiple women.

I do not regret talking about that I do not take back anything I havesaid. But I respect the game of golf. I respect the frustrations that comeswith the pressures he must have been feeling at that moment.

The Masters tournament played annually in Augusta, Georgia, isprobably bigger then the PGA championship itself. It also happens tobe the venue that Tiger Woods chose to return to golf after all the dramainvolved in his life. Who could blame him though? Who wants to bein the hustle and bustle of other venues or tournaments, when it seemslike the most serene and peaceful of all of venues is The Masters? Greatchoice. Smart choice. So in terms of the game of golf, leave Tiger be.criticize his game on the golf course and leave his personal matters inhis home be.

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger...

it was a pretty close game through-out. There weren’t any huge leadsby either team. They both playedhard and pushed the tempothroughout. Blazers were able togrind out the game and come outwith a win and surprise somepeople.

Brandon Roy is out for thewhole series against phoenix dueto a knee injury. He is battling atorn meniscus witch is according

to the trailblazer staff a small tearof cartilage in the knee. Even if thisis a small tear it troubles Roy to runeasily because its within the knee.

If the Blazers continue to thenext round its likely for him tomiss that series also. If Miller,Aldridge, and Batum continue toplay the way they are and some,then the blazers have a goodchance to pull an upset.

Blazers pull off playoff win

McKenzie leadsmost successfulprogram in state

SPORTS COLUMN

BY EJ AKINSTech Pep Reporter

There were high hopes for the Blazer this year, but no one wouldguess that three influential players would be out.

The Blazer lost there starting center Joel Przybilla, as well as theirback up center Greg Oden. Not to mention Brandon Roy, the Blazersstar player, a four-time all-star and former rookie of the year who willmiss the rest of the post season.

Despite the severe impact of injuries, the Blazers’ new starting cen-ter Marcus Camby is playing spectacularly, averaging 7 point, twoblocks, and 11.1 rebounds since arriving in Portland. He is a trafficaddition, leading the Blazers to discuss contract extension of two yearsas well as over $20 million in his pocket.

The Blazers’ overall record at the end of the regular season was 50-32, ending up second in the northwest division. They ended up plac-ing sixth in the Western Conference, leaving them matched up withthe third place team, the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns have had an outstanding season, led by their two all-starplayers Steve Nash and Amri Studamier. Despite the injuries the blaz-ers finished their last few regular season games strong and that sameenergy and focus has transferred into the post season as well.

Despite injuries,Blazers place sixth

PAGE 8 ■ APRIL 2010 bensonartists WWW.TECHPEP.ORG

The future is bright for Benson artists. We profile a few of the up-and-coming stars