1900 Omaha Street Palm Harbor, FL 34683Volume 15 Issue 3 January 2011

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SPORTSTurn over for

2 News3 Opinion

4-5 Feature6 Entertainment

7-8 Sports

Index7Sports

2News

3

The 2011 Epiphany ceremony took place on January 6.

The girls’ lacrosse team becomes the newest sports team of PHU.

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Palm Harbor University High School Since 1996EYE

“Blackout in a can” banned

With Four Loko and other alco-holic energy drinks being declared unsafe and illegal by the Food and Drug Administration, underage drinkers are looking to the next al-cohol fad.

Whipped Lightning is an alco-hol-infused whipped cream adver-tised as a topping for drinks, cock-tails and desserts. One can costs between $10 and $13. The booze-infused whipped cream contains 14% to 18% alcohol by volume, which is equivalent to consuming

three to four beers.Whipped Light-

ning comes in a variety of flavors including Cinnamon Whipahol, White Chocolate, Rasp-berry Whipahol, and Ha-zelnut Espresso Whipahol. The topping ranges from 30 proof to 36 proof depending on the flavor. The amount of calories in Whipped Light-ning is undetermined. The company that manufactures Whipped Lightning has

The latest drinking fad being watched closely

-Known to cause blackouts and other health risks, the popular alcohol-infused energy drink Four Loko is ripped from the shelves.

High school and college stu-dents are very familiar with this malt-liquor beverage know as Four Loko. The “Four” in the name rep-resents the four components in the drink which are caffeine, alcohol, taurine, and guarana. Although taurine and guarana are commonly found in most energy drinks today, these ingredients can be a danger-ous mix.

Four Loko has become such a big deal across the country recently due to many overdoses and young individuals being admitted to the hospital. Usually, when Four Loko is at hand at parties, there are other alcoholic beverages present.

This 23.5 ounce drink contains up to 12% percent alcohol, 660 calories and the same amount of caffeine as two cups of coffee. On average, adults over the age of 21 can purchase Four Loko for $2.50

per can.From 2007-2009 Four Loko

made its debut around the US. In early 2008, it was available in 46 states. Before Four Loko was well-known, Utah had already banned it and stripped it from the shelves.

On November 17, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to some manufactur-ers of caffeinated alcohol beverages stating that the caffeine added to their alcoholic beverages is an “un-safe food additive” and said that further action, including seizure of their products, may occur under federal law.

Although many states have banned the dangerous beverage, Florida still carries Four Loko at lo-cal gas stations and liquor stores.

The drink is more so targeted towards a young crowd with its ap-pealing colors and flavors.

“I think this will make kids want

to drink more because it is being banned,” sophomore Demetrius Slover said.

Four Loko is produced in Chi-cago, Illinois by Phusion Projects and the company willingly offered

Adriana Catalinotto

Deb Damone & Lauren Spiegel

CorrectionIn the last issue of The EYE, Mr. Michael Zollo was incorrectly identified in “When I was in high school...”. We apologize for the mistake.

to take it from the shelves. The company made an announcement saying Four Loko is going to come back just without the caffeine sub-stances put in it. The company has kept their word and has now put

Four Loko back on the shelf with-out the energy drink components.

“Our company, Phusion Proj-ects, and our product, Four Loko, have borne the brunt of this scru-tiny,” a letter written by represen-tatives of the company said. “While we don’t agree with the notion that mixing caffeine and alcohol is inher-ently unsafe, we do agree with the goal of keeping adults of legal age who choose to drink responsibly as safe and as informed as possible... If product-specific bans remain the preferred course of action, we will protect our rights as a business to the fullest extent of the law. We sincerely want to avoid legal action. And we are committed to being as accommodating as we possibly can on this matter.”

More speculations are now being made against other alcoholic malt beverages with caffeine in them and they soon shall be investigated.

stated that they “have never had the product

tested to determine how many calories

are in a serving because Whipped Lightning is

not a food product and is not subject to FDA labeling

requirements; it is an alco-holic beverage.”

The State Division of Alco-holic Beverages and Tobacco said alcoholic whipped cream is regulated, like any other al-coholic beverage.

Many students are intrigued by the idea of alcoholic whipped cream.

“Whipped cream with alcohol? That’s awesome! I can’t wait to try it when I’m 21,” sophomore Kath-erine Matter said.

The Florida chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving said that it has never heard of the alcoholic whipped cream, but are concerned about the high level of alcohol packed into something most people consider dessert.

It’s reported that the flavoring

of the whipped cream masks the taste of alcohol, so when topped on an alcoholic beverage, the consum-er could get extremely intoxicated without realizing how much alco-hol they have ingested.

“It sounds pretty cool but very dangerous and could threaten peo-ple’s lives,” sophomore Evan Gunn said.

Although Whipped Lightning is approved by the State Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco the product is being monitored closely.

Underage drinking: know the facts

Source: AbovetheInfluence.com

resUlts:According to the U.S. Surgeon General, about 5,000 kids under 21 die every year as a result of underage drinking – from crashes, homicides, and suicides. Teens that drink also are at risk for a long list of other injuries and potential life-long alcohol abuse. Reducing underage drinking can reduce drinking-related harm.

gateway:Teens that drink alcohol are more likely than non-drinking teens to smoke tobacco, marijuana, use inhalants, or carry a weapon.

what is alcohol?Alcohol is created when grains, fruits, or vegetables are fermented, a process that uses yeast or bacteria to change the sugars in the food into alcohol. Alcohol has different forms and can be used as a cleaner or antiseptic; however the kind of alcohol that people drink is ethanol, which is a seda-tive. When alcohol is consumed, it’s absorbed into a person’s bloodstream. From there, it affects the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), which controls virtually all body functions. Alcohol actually blocks some of the messages trying to get to the brain. This alters a person’s perceptions, emotions, movement, vision, and hearing.

risks:Difficulty walkingBlurred visionSlurred speechSlowed reaction timesImpaired memory and blackoutsMental confusionParalysis of the nerves that move the eyesDifficulty with muscle coordinationPersistent learning and memory problemsLiver diseaseUnintentional injuriesHIV risk due to impaired judgment

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January 20112News

The 105th annual Greek Ortho-dox Epiphany took place on Thurs-day, January 6 in Tarpon Spring. The event is a religious affair that many local students took part in.

“Epiphany means the rebirth of Christ,” junior Ava Haritos said.

Part of this event in the Greek Orthodox faith includes young men, ages 16-18, diving for a wood-en cross thrown by a priest.

Epiphany diving is for teenage boys who were baptized Greek Orthodox, are active members in their church, regularly attend Sun-day school, Wednesday night youth groups and submit an essay.

Before Epiphany day, many events occurred. On January 2, the Cross Divers Dance took place. This occasion honors the young men who dove for the Cross on Epiph-any. January 5 was the Blessing of the Fleet, where clergy blessed the fishermen, their vessels, and the wa-ter they sail on, and wish them safe and prosperous journeys.

Approximately 78 young men participated in the dive.

“[Diving] was amazing. One of the greatest feelings in the world. Everything just felt perfect,” junior Manoli Boutzoukas said.

The first young man to find the cross is blessed with a year of

good luck and receives the presti-gious honor of having retrieved the Epiphany Cross.

“It was my first year diving, and I didn’t know what to expect,” ju-nior Manny Konstantinidis said.

The dive took place at Tarpon Spring’s Spring Bayou, near St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral. This year’s conditions were much safer compared to last year’s freezing waters that sent several young men to the hospital with hy-pothermia.

However, for safety precau-tions, paramedics and safety divers were on scene.

“Before the epiphany, all div-ers meet at the church and have a church service. After that, they march with the group and they walk to the stairs by the water and have a blessing by the Archbishop,” fresh-man Sara Tavoularis said.

At around 1 p.m., the traditional procession to Spring Bayou took place, where the dove bearer re-leased a dove and male youths dove for the cross.

The young man that received the honor was Tarpon Springs junior, Louis Pappas.

“It was an honor and experience that I will never forget, and I can’t wait till next year,” Konstantinidis said.

Students take a dive

Adriana Catalinotto

Epiphany participants prepare to dive into the bayou in search of the cross.

Nikki Sawyer

Palm Harbor receives “A” grade once again

On December 7, Palm Harbor University High School was offi-cially announced as an “A” school for the 2009-2010 school year from the State of Florida.

“The state released the grades to all the superintendents and Dr. Ju-lie Janssen, our schools’ superinten-dent, sent an e-mail to all the teach-ers,” Principal Christen Tonry said.

13 high schools received a grade higher than that of the previous year; seven schools receiving an “A” grade.

“It’s important to meet the crite-

ria that qualify the school to be an ‘A’ school. The purpose of school is learning and measured by academic achievement. Earning the ‘A’ is a label that says that we have served that purpose,” Assistant Principal Mary Beth Corace said.

Most students were pleased with the grade, while others had an indif-ferent opinion.

“I think that it doesn’t matter that much, especially because nine other schools are ‘A’ schools. It doesn’t help me get better grades just because we’re an ‘A’ school,” freshman Anthony Mina said.

Jordan Lutz But a school’s grade is directly de-pendant on how students perform there. Criteria for grading include percentage of graduating students and percentage of students taking and passing advanced courses like AP and IB.

“It should make the students proud because it’s their achieve-ment. They are the ones that re-formed academically. Their scores are what helped us achieve the cri-teria for an ‘A’ school grading,” VE Specialist Kim Barker said.

I didn’t know what to think as Taylor and I walked to where Mr. Ray Mertz stood in the cafeteria. I knew very little about Theofano Nigiannis, or Fanie, as many called her. I knew that she worked to keep Palm Harbor University clean.

And that she passed away on De-cember 31, New Year’s Eve.

Walking up to the bustling man, I braced myself for a possible rejec-tion before asking if he was Mr. Ray

A true friendTiffany Townsley

Mrs. Fanie Nigiannis, longtime plant

operator, passed away Dec. 31.

Mertz. Turning around, the man shot us a cheerful smile.

“Whatever happened, it wasn’t my fault. I’m innocent,” said Mertz.

Laughing a bit, I told him that I came to interview him about Fanie, and his cheery smile slipped into a fond one.

“Alright,” said Mertz.I asked the first question that

came to mind: what was Fanie like?“Outstanding, excellent,” he said.

“She was a very faithful friend and very faithful to the students. I’ve known her since, well,” and here he paused to think. He mentioned working with her at Palm Harbor Middle, but stopped. Mertz then said that he and Fanie had worked together since the opening of this school in 1996.

I asked what the funniest mo-ment they ever had together was. I joked that they must have had many adult jokes then. He laughed a bit and joked that some were. He then told me that they used to play jokes on each other.

“It’s just hard, we had so many,” he said. He laughed a little and start-ed telling us about this one joke he played on her.

He said that one time while fix-

ing something in one of the build-ings, he pretended that the room was haunted. He would make this voice and say that the room was haunted and he was a ghost. He told us that she turned to him and said “Let’s get out of here!” When he said Fanie’s part he took on this funny accent and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fanie was a very spiritual per-son; her friends, family, were im-portant to her,” he said softly. “As a friend and co-worker, you can’t replace her.

“About eight months ago, but Fanie was never the type to tell you what bothered her,” he said, smiling sadly but fondly. “When she came back two months ago, she was weak and almost always falling, but for two weeks she came and cleaned the courtyard.”

I thought about those who did know her as a caring woman, as a wonderful friend, as a hard worker, and as a loving mother.

“You take your best friend and multiply that by a million, and you get Fanie,” Mertz said.

Editor’s note: A full version of this story can be found on theeyeonline.com.

Opinion3January 2011

EYETh

e

Editor-in-ChiefDeb Damone

Palm Harbor University

High School1900 Omaha St.

Palm Harbor, FL 34683(727) 669-1131

Staff ReportersAdriana CatalinottoAngela DiGregorio

Kate HardwickKatelyn JosephikChristian Lemus

Jordan LutzSloan PattersonBarry RussellNikki Sawyer

Sarah ShellabargerLauren SpiegelAlex SquitieriKim Tabulov

Tiffany TownsleyTaylor WatsonKaley Witeck

Business ManagerErica Jones

AdviserJudy Cannaday

We, The EYE staff of 2010-2011, will strive to provide our peers with accurate news pertaining to their daily lives. We promise to uphold the integrity of both ourselves and the reputation of our school. Our reporting will be fair and objective as to appeal to all interest levels in the stu-dent body. Through these goals, we will provide an entertaining outlet and a reliable source that all students may enjoy.

New website!TheEYEOneline.com

People everywhere have waited in anticipation for the People Mag-azine’s November issue of “Sexiest Man Alive” I, Sloan Patterson, am one of those people.

I am not going to lie, it is one of my guiltiest pleasures, but I am subscribed to People Magazine and each year when the “Sexiest Man” issue comes to my house, I run outside, heart racing, I fling open the mailbox, throwing the unimportant bills and thank you cards aside. At that moment in time, my heart is set on one thing. I desperately need to find who has joined the most exclusive club in the world… the newest sexiest man alive.

It is quite an honor to be grouped with greats; Matt Damon, George Clooney, and Brad Pitt.

This year, like each before it, I was excited, anxious, and curious to see what was in store. I felt like a little kid on Christmas, but per-

haps even hap-pier. I opened the mailbox and snatched out the mag-

azine, my breath caught in my throat. My eyes froze on the cover of the issue, my jaw dropped. I was trapped in a moment of pure hor-rible shock and disbelief. I threw down the issue and stomped on it. Was this a joke? Was there a mis-take? I found out later that to my dismay, there was no mistake, it was all true, Ryan Reynolds had won Sexiest Man Alive.

Okay, in case of the off-chance that Ryan Reynolds will ever stum-ble across this article, I am honestly not trying to bash Mr. Reynolds, he is a good looking man. He has a cute face and a great body, he is witty and funny and a mediocre actor and whatever, I will even go far enough to say he’s hot.. But sexy? No. He is not sexy, let alone the sexiest man alive. Seeing that was such a disappointment to me,

it completely lowered my standards of the People Magazine’s taste in men. How could they? It felt like a personal attack, forever besmirch-

ing the name of the “Sexiest Man Alive” title.

“Sexy” is a strong word. It en-tails a rare passionate, irresistible attractiveness. It’s a word that can be used to accurately describe the men who won the award before Reynolds. Yet, somehow people magazine managed to ruin their stunning line-up of sexy men with one small act.

Ryan Reynolds slightly resem-bles a baby with his goofy smile, twinkling eyes, and soft face. I would much sooner describe him as cute than sexy and perhaps would vote him “Cutest Man Alive”. He does not hold a candle to the Hugh Jackmans, Ben Afflecks, and Denzel Washingtons of this world. I could have done a much better job pick-ing the “Sexiest Man Alive” for this year; I would have actually picked someone that qualifies as sexy, hence the title.

Here’s to hoping that next year’s issue won’t let us down.

Ryan Reynolds sexy? Not so much...

When I first heard about the idea of graduation at the school, I have to admit I was frustrated and a little confused. So many of my friends were complaining and frantically

suggesting other places for gradua-tion to be held. Why pay 80 dol-lars for graduation fees when it’s not even going to be at some sort of venue?

The Sun Dome, being our first

The time we have all been wait-ing for has come! The shadows are here and waiting to be corrupted!

Potential incoming freshmen canvas the school in search of the right fit for them. Whether to see what the Center of Wellness Medi-cal Program or International Bac-calaureate program has to offer, excitement is in the air.

Middle school is a totally differ-ent world compared to high school. When kids shadow, they leave their close circle of friends and are thrown into a world where they are once again thrown to the bottom of the food chain.

Shadowing gives the overly con-fident 8th graders a reality check. They become aware that they will

no longer be the “big kids” of their middle school. Being dropped back down to the bottom of a swamp full of hungry alligators known as the seniors will put them back into place.

These young ones will realize fast that teachers will no longer sit around babying their students and don’t have time to waist on imma-ture behavior.

Freshman year to most people was a battle field where petty drama came up daily.

So in these following weeks, when you see a shadow walking around self consciously, don’t be too mean. I’m sure you remember what it was like in their shoes.

Happy shadow season every-body.

I keep seeing all of these “Fin-est of” groups on Facebook and I am completely shocked by how dis-gustingly shallow these individuals are who created them and partake in it.

These groups take two people, often times without their knowl-edge or approval, and compare them based on their appearances. Others comment and choose who is more attractive. Basically, it creates an environment where degrading com-ments about those being compared is acceptable. These groups are not like Formspring, where people choose to be bullied, these pictures are taken without the consent of the owners.

As if discovering the popular-ity of these kinds of groups was enough, at one point while I was looking over one of these groups, I saw someone I knew. People like him do not deserve this treatment, especially because it was meant as a joke. Consequently, I know as a fact that those who run these group steal photos.

But really, I cannot help but wonder if these people’s parents forgot to teach them that looks are not as important as the person within. Physical beauty fades be-cause real beauty comes from the inside.

Has society come to the point that even if you are unintelligent, immoral, rude, without ambition,

and have a foul personality, it does not matter as long as you’re “hot?”

I know since the beginning of time so much emphasis has been put on physical traits, and it would make sense for undeveloped groups of people or early men, who needed stronger individuals for hunting and surviving under hard circumstances. But we are no longer cave people.

I would hope that with devel-oped society we would also have a developed sense of being - with a superior understanding of what is really important in others.

I challenge you to be above these groups. Please do not join them and instead be conscious of the feelings of others. High school is already hard enough without our peers judging our appearance on the internet.

To those who manage these groups, I encourage you to delete them. Neither you nor I can pre-dict the consequences of the exis-tence of these groups. However, I imagine it might eventually include school intervention due to bullying. Additionally, don’t you think there are already enough bullying-related suicides in the United States? Just something to think about.

What we really need is more rec-ognition of those who help others and prove continuously to be sim-ply good people. But then again, there’s a reason why we never see any groups like that on Facebook. Perhaps we are all just too shallow.

“Finest of" groups need to go

Watch out for the shadows!

choice, is currently under construc-tion and all other possible options are taken, thus leaving us with our only choice, the school’s football field.

I can understand why students disagree with this decision. The is-sue of it being outside and the pos-sible limited number of guests you can bring, but after thinking and getting some of the facts I realized that graduation at the school might actually be a really good thing.

The faculty and administration are going to do everything in their power to make sure our graduation is the best possible. After talking to reliable sources it was said that the school will be renting bleachers and also a high quality sound system.

Graduation is a time of remem-brance and I feel it shouldn’t be focused around the luxuries of it. When we graduate we want to re-

member all the good times we had in high school so why not “finish where we started”?

I can remember my first foot-ball game in my freshman year with all my friends. The football games were an event to bring everyone together outside of the classroom to socialize and make new friends; they built the foundation of our high school lives.

I think the school is where all cherished memories are held and where we need to share them to-gether once more before we each depart our own ways.

Starting a tradition like this one might be beneficial to school spirit and make the graduation ceremony a little more meaningful, despite the fact that it might be outside.

If you think about it, it would almost be insane not to have gradu-ation at our own school.

Graduation doesn't sound that bad

Sloan Patterson

Christina Barbo

Lauren Spiegel

Kate Hardwick

Sophomore Lauren Spiegel took her shadow on a tour of the school.

Deb Damone

The football field will be the site of the 2011 graduation.Kate Hardwick

GRAD NITE

Ticket SalesPrice: $95

Ticket sale dates:

Feb. 28 - March 4

March 7 - March 11 In the theater lobby during lunch

No tickets can be sold after

March 11!

Cash (exact change only),

checks, bank checks, and money

orders accepted.

No ticket will be sold without two

completed mandatory paperwork

forms:

1) Grad Nite PHUHS Field Trip

Permission Form (two pages)

2) Pinellas County Field Trip

Permission Form for Grad Nite

All students must have parent/

guardian signatures, even those

who are 18 years of age.

No actual tickets are given until

students are on the buses going

to the event

The receipt is proof of purchase.

Tickets are non-refundable.

Feature4 January 2011

It’s 2011,let’s do it right.

-Taryn Mackey, senior

-Austin Young, senior

-Skye Tabulov, junior

-Austin Brookes, senior

-Aaron Williams, freshman

-Ryan Beehler, sophomore

-Josh Hytner, senior-Brad Roberts, junior

-Shelley Marie Garcia, sophomore

January 2011 5Feature

Hours spent on

FACEBOOK VS. HOMEWORK

THECHALLENGE:

Facebook surrounds our everyday life without us even taking knowledge of it. It’s ev-erywhere; on Vitamin Water bottles, billboards, websites, and in magazines. But, what would it be like without Facebook? I wanted to find out.

I created a Facebook group making up general rules of ab-staining from Facebook for a week. I also made the people participating document their sleeping patterns and what they did besides the social network-ing site. It sounds easy right? Or so I thought.

My first day doing the “Face-book Challenge” was extremely difficult. All I thought about was who was writing on my wall or what events I was being invited to. I definitely wanted to sign on to Facebook but I kept

myself busy that night with studying and watching movies.

My second night and so on consisted of me sneaking onto Facebook on my phone- I couldn’t live without it. As pa-thetic as that may sound Face-book surrounded my daily life without me even realizing it. I did end up going to bed way earlier than I did when I could go on Facebook every day. I forgot about many events that were happening and missed out on some fun things. Many of the participants cracked under the pressure of the second day or even that night.

One of the participants, Jeff Ting, abstained from Facebook from November 9 to Decem-ber 11.

“I started off doing it be-cause I wanted to see if I could, because people always

joke around and say ‘oh I’m addicted to Facebook’, and I realized I go on it all the time for no reason, just zoning out while watching the news feed update,” said Ting. “When I started my Facebook fast I found myself having the urge to come home and sign on to Fa-cebook out of habit, not neces-sarily to see what all my friends are doing. After a week or so, I realized that I was really un-informed about what was hap-pening or I forgot things that Facebook normally reminded me of. I forgot about parties that I was invited to weeks ago (which I’m normally reminded by Facebook about) and ended up almost missing them. I be-came to realize Facebook was the only way of contacting certain friends and it became a hassle to call around to get

in contact with those people. I didn’t get more sleep or better grades, I feel like I just found other things to distract me, like the Food Network. Overall, the “Facebook Challenge” was more of a test of my willpower rather than anything else.”

After the Facebook Chal-lenge I realized how misin-formed I was from everything. I learned that now in the 21st century the social networking sites do run our lives.

In conclusion to the “Face-book Challenge”, I realized how much it connects to me.

It still is kind of sad to know that a social networking site controls my events, friends, and of course my daily life. I didn’t realize how addicted to Facebook I was until I had to live without it.

Adriana Catalinotto

What would you do without Facebook?

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

Homework Facebook

*Based on a survey taken by 318 PHU students

0-1 hours 2-3 hours 4-5 hours 6+ hours

January 20116Entertainment“Bieber Fever” hits Tampa Bay

Flashing lights, loud bass, and lots of screaming girls? Sounds like Justin Bieber has come to Tampa.

On December 19, Justin Bie-ber cast his love spell on t h o u s a n d s of girls at the St. Pete Times Fo-rum for is 2 0 1 0 - 2 0 1 1 “My World” Tour.Swarms of girls, rang-ing from the age of 5-18, flooded the stadium with their ex-cited giggles and shrieks of joy as the stadi-um doors o p e n e d . Girls came with signs and their very own made shirts To open up the show, Mindless

Behavior, a very young group of boys, danced around the stage wear-ing MC Hammer pants. All songs were upbeat and were about texting their girls ‘smiley faces’.

Then J a s m i n e V i l l e -gas took the mic. T y p i c a l t e e n a g e girl sing-ing about how “ev-erywhere she goes, s o m e -one’s try-ing to be her boy-f r i e n d ” . Conceit-ed much? There was no live band to back her up, just a

wannabe swag master DJ. Not the most impressive performance.Somebody call 911, because Sean

Kingston was a fire burning on the dance floor...or stage. He brought the crowd back to life by singing songs the audience actually knew and could dance to like “Take You There” and “Face Drop”. He even mixed things up and DJ’d the popu-lar song “Whip My Hair” by Willow Smith. Random, but very entertain-ing.

Now, for the main event. Justin Bieber. The talented 16-year-old opened up his show with a video of himself playing Kinect Adventures on Xbox Kinect. Then he arose from the floor of a stage and started singing “Love Me” while perform-ing a series of skilled dance moves. I found myself singing all of his heart felt songs with him. At one point, he climbed into a mechanical heart contraption and floated 25 feet above a sea of screaming, swooning, and crying girls. He even won girls hearts by serenading them with his guitar and piano playing. In addi-tion to playing the guitar and piano, JB played a legit drum solo that showed off just one of his many talents. Every girl wanted JB to make her feel like one less lonely girl. Sean

Justin Bieber performs on stage with singer Sean Kingston at the St.

Pete Times Forum for the Tampa stop of his “My World Tour” on Decem-

ber 19. The Canadian teen sang for a sold-out crowd.

Jordan Lutz

5 worst things to put on Facebook1. Personal Information

Facebook gives users the op-tion to put their phone number, address, email address, and cur-rent city on their profile. By giving people this information, you’re al-lowing them to locate you, harass you, and pretty much stalk you.

The best option would be to leave this information off your Facebook to avoid anything too personal getting out.

“Don’t put personal informa-

tion. Like, don’t say I’m going

to an isolated area and I’m go-

ing to show you the address,

but don’t follow me.” –

-Cheyenne Lambert, 11th

2. Suggestive photos“I’ve seen people in their

underwear; they should have

some self respect and leave

something to the imagina-

tion.”

- Enid Jimenez, 11th

Putting pictures on Facebook is something almost every user partakes in. However, be very careful what pictures you’re put-ting out there. Suggestive and in-appropriate pictures shouldn’t be uploaded.

“Anything that involves sexual connotations and drug abuse,” ju-nior Keon Boozar said, shouldn’t be uploaded to Facebook.

3. Threats

“Threatening messages, like

you’re going to kick some-

one’s butt.” –

-Ezra Gardiner, 9th

Threatening messages, in any way, shape, or form, should not be posted on Facebook.

Updating a status involving a threat could result in your profile being reported, your school get-ting involved, or even the authori-ties getting involved.

4. Illegal Activities

“Anything that involves drug

abuse.”

-Keon Boozar, 11th

By posting on Facebook that you’re involved in illegal activities, you’re setting yourself up to get in trouble. Not only is it foolish to mention things such as drug or alcohol use, but it could lead you to a lot of trouble.

5. Cheating

Call of Duty: Black Ops reviewOh Russia, if the most recent

blockbuster video games have taught me anything it’s that your ability to pump out evil geniuses and war criminals is without equal. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 and 2 you gave us Zakhaev and Ma-karov, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 spawned Kirelenko, and now Call of Duty: Black Ops continues the tradition with yet another rogue element of the Russian military: General Nikita Dragovich. And I thought we didn’t actually fight during the Cold War.

It was Treyarch’s turn to take hold of the Call of Duty reigns this year and they proved that this year is certainly the year of sequels with their release of Call of Duty: Black Ops. You heard right, Infinity Ward didn’t develop this one, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Black Ops starts with the Bay of Pigs Invasion and ends during the middle of the Vietnam War, giving the story eight years of game to de-velop itself. And, for the most part, it does this successfully. In fact, I can’t think of one thing that I was confused on, even though the cam-paign supports quite a complicated twist. However, the game play does fall prey to grey shooter syndrome. Symptoms include seemingly end-less waves of copy-paste enemies, random difficulty changes, bland vehicle segments, and uninspired missions.

However, the same can’t be said for the online multi-player. Black Ops did right what Modern War-

Barry Russell

“No cheating on homework

[should be on Facebook].”

- Steven Cless, 11thAcademic dishonesty is not

something anyone would want to get caught doing. Writing on a friend’s wall “hey, can I copy your math homework?” may seem harmless, but could have serious consequences.

fare 2 couldn’t in this department, which was very little. Yet Treyarch fixed many balance issues and made sure they had cleaned up all the bugs and glitches in their maps be-fore they released the game. I can only think of one complaint: some of the maps are plagued by horrible spawn points. Either, you spawn in the sights of someone’s rifle on the smaller maps or you need to sprint for 12 seconds to get back to the fight on the big maps, which is a dangerous practice in and of itself because the battle lines are in con-stant shift.

The final experience Black Ops has to offer is the zombies game mode. In it you’ll find the odds stacked against you as waves and waves of zombies break through the windows in search of your brains. The two maps that are avail-

able are either set in a Nazi era the-atre or the Pentagon; both are very big, which in turn forces you to constantly move to stay alive. And since this game mode is heavy on the team work you’ll need to coor-dinate your constant flight to stay together and stay efficient. Bring some friends for this one, because the matchmaking community is less than adequate.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is good but not great, which is fine, but I have a feeling that even if I told you it is terrible you would still buy it because it’s Call of Duty. So for a poor campaign, a decent zombie survival mode, and a fantastic multi-player experience Call of Duty: Black Ops get’s 2.5 out of 5.

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Kingston came back out on stage and performed “Eenie Meanie” with JB and pumped up the energy of the arena. The show ended with JB singing his hit single “Baby”. Confetti shot out of cannons and the sound of

girls screaming was the icing on the cake.

All in all, Justin Bieber’s first headlining tour was a huge success. I had a great time and I’m not afraid to admit it.

Angela Lutz

Angela Lutz

Rodney Russell

Senior Barry Russell tests out his skills while playing Modern Warfare: Black Ops at home.

Sports7January 2011

The newest team at PHU- A girls’ lacrosse team formed to become the newest addition to the school’s athletic department

The tennis club finished their fall season of 2010. The club has matches every Wednesday and has practice every Monday-Thursday from 2-4:15. Their practices con-sisted of drills, games, running, and core work to help you keep in shape.

If you didn’t get a chance to at-tend the 2010 fall season you can still be a part of the next season, in the spring. You get to choose the days you come so that it fits your schedule and doesn’t interfere with your other activities.

Whether you choose to be in the matches on Wednesday’s or not, that’s up to you. They play against other schools, but it’s not a big competition; you just play to have fun.

At the end of each season you receive a t-shirt and/or sweatshirt.

They have a party and you play games and are able to win prizes.

“Tennis is just an awesome sport!” Junior Hugo Markopulos said. “It’s a good way to keep you healthy and a chance to meet new people who have the same interests you do.”

The tennis team has started try-outs this past week and will contin-ue to practice until their first match after winter break.

The tennis team is a little more hard core than tennis club. You need to be able to serve the ball in the box every time and be able to hit any shot no matter where in the court. For tryouts you have to play 4 different people and beat at least 3 of them in order to advance to the next requirement. About 60 stu-dents (30 boys, 30 girls) tryout for the team but only 12 people actually make it.

Taylor Watson

Tennis club open to everyone

Sloan PattersonSoccer season is in full swing and

the PHUHS boys’ soccer team has started the season off right.

“We look pretty good, it’s obvi-ously a huge loss to lose a player like Ben Sweat, who graduated last year, but we’ve done well so far,” junior goalkeeper Hobie Bryant said.

Excluding two losses to Coun-tryside High School and a nail bit-ing tie facing their rivals at East Lake High School, as well as a 0-0 tie against Riverview, the boys are having a winning season.

“I enjoy every moment of being a part of this winning team,” junior center midfielder Kiril Dimov said.

The boys’ teams have won three state championships and are striv-ing to earn their fourth this year.

“We just take it one game at a time and nothing is guaranteed. We will have to work very hard to get

back there,” Bryant said.The team is led by senior cap-

tains Brandon Shaneyfelt and Corey Cox, as well as junior captain A.J. Michelotti and sophomore captain Jesse Caron.

The Hurricanes played Seminole High School on December 6 and left the fields with a solid 4-0 win. Cody Sitton, a sophomore transfer from Indian Rocks Christian High School scored two goals during the game while playing in the outside midfield for the Canes.

“Cody is a great addition to the team, I believe that he can help lead us to victory this season,” Bryant said.

“I think the only way we can achieve our goals this year is by playing together as a team and keeping up what we’re doing now,” Dimov said.

Boys soccer kicks grass

This issue of The EYE was sponsored by:The Hardwick Family & Carol Green

Two hours of laps around the court, wall sits, crunches, and sit-ups are what the boys’ and girls’ basketball team gets to look forward to after school Mondays through Thursdays. In order to make the basketball team, you need extensive hand-eye coordination skills, run-ning ability, and of course, having the ability to dribble the ball across the court and shoot it in the hoop.

The girls’ class 6A teams consist of PHU, as well as North Port, Riv-erview, Countryside, Sarasota, and St. Petersburg high schools. Each team will play each other at least once in the season and then move on to another district after that.

So far the girls’ team has played 5 games and has a record of 2 wins and 3 losses.

The girls’ team hopes to make the district championship with the help of their top scorer junior Kris-tine Fuller.

“I think with the team work plus the work outs and the challenge of the game gives us an advantage against some of the other teams,”

Basketball season is in full-swing

At first, the possibility of mov-ing the team was small. With barely enough people to play, it seemed that the girl’s lacrosse team would stay at the Clearwater Yellow Jack-ets. Until one player started a Face-book group. Now with more than enough, the girl’s lacrosse team is moving to PHU.

“When I came down to Florida they didn’t have a lacrosse team,” said senior Cassie Bailey. “So I joined the Clearwater Yellow Jack-ets.”

The Clearwater Yellow Jackets is made up of multiple disbanded high school teams, both boys and girls, and with middle school teams.

On the website, clearwaterlacrosse.com, the site provides a master schedule, drills and links to other high school teams and the US La-crosse. Last year, a boy’s lacrosse team had disbanded and created a new team here. Now the girls are doing the same.

“They didn’t have enough people to join the team,” said Cassie Bailey, “so I set up a Facebook group.”

Bailey has been playing lacrosse since seventh grade. In what started as an effort to lose weight, Bailey soon fell in love with the sport

Now with around ninety follow-ers, the girl’s lacrosse team is start-ing out big. The team is open to any type of player, with varying experi-

ence in the sport.The point of a lacrosse game is

to pass, catch, and carry a solid rub-ber ball in order to score by hurling it into the other team’s goal. The players use a stick called a Crosse, or a lacrosse stick, to pass the ball. For woman’s lacrosse, it is played with 12 players and is a no-contact sport. The game lasts up to 60 min-utes, with two halves that are 30 minutes each.

Bailey and Coach Mayer are still working out further details of where practice will be.

“Hopefully we will have a meet-ing in the next two weeks,” said Bailey.

Tiffany Townsley

Taylor Watson

Junior Nick Purdy goes for the point in the game

against Countryside.

junior Jessica Bligh said.

The boys’ team has also been practicing everyday and it showed dur-ing their first game against Freedom High School, which ended with a fi-nal score of 41-38. Although they lost to Seminole High School with the close score of 51-45, the team won’t let that keep them from continu-ing to practice hard and keep-ing up their game for the many other games ahead of them this season.

Both the girls’ and boys’ team are working harder than ever to make

sure that they dominate at upcom-ing games and are able to compete in finals and states.

Courtesy of The Aftermath Staff

Courtesy of The Aftermath Staff

1900 Omaha Street Palm Harbor, FL 34683Volume 15 Issue 3 January 2011

For the latest PHU sports updates, go to TheEYEOnline.com!SPORTSE

YE

When they graduate from PHUHS, students depart onto all sorts of different journeys, all are unique in their own way. Graduates go off into the world to leave their mark. Some start leaving a mark faster than others.

Zoe Lombard graduated in June 2010. In a few months, she would be headed off to Boston College in Massachusetts and she had no idea what to expect.

“I was so scared, I had never gone somewhere so far away all by myself, I felt so lonely,” Zoe Lom-bard said.

Lombard was welcomed to the school very quickly thanks to her new teammates on the Boston Col-lege Eagles’ soccer team. The Eagles beat the North Carolina Tar Heels this year and were, at one point ranked #1 in the country. Being a freshman, Lombard wasn’t expect-

ed to play much, but she has been pulling her weight on the team and working hard the whole season.

“Zoe has so much drive and pas-sion, she can do anything that she sets her mind to,” Zoe’s younger brother, junior Sterling Lombard said. “That’s why none of us were that surprised by what she’s accom-plished this year.”

Sterling Lombard is referencing the NCAA tournament run that Boston College endured. The Bos-ton College Eagles almost went to the NCAA Women’s soccer cham-pionship, making it to Raleigh, North Carolina for the Final Four, where they faced a defeat against Stanford who put up a fight and escaped to the finals with a 2-0 vic-tory. Notre Dame was the winner in the end, after outplaying Stan-ford in the finals and earning the NCAA championship off a solid 1-0 defeat.

“I was depressed after we lost and got knocked out of the tour-nament, but I am still thankful for the amazing season we had and glad that there’s always next year,” Lom-bard said.

Boston College wouldn’t have made it to the final four without a close win against Hofstra Univer-sity on November 14 at the NCAA regionals. Lombard managed to score the game-winning goal.

“The feeling overcame me, there was so much adrenaline. It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before,” Lom-bard said.

The win against Hofstra allowed Boston College to claim the spot in the final four at Raleigh.

“Watching Zoe’s game was awe-some even though they lost, just being there for her in Raleigh was a cool experience,” junior Sterling Lombard said.

Sloan Patterson

Alumnus makes Final Four

Courtesy of The Aftermath Staff

Lombard takes one of her final shots as a Hurricane in the state finals

against Boca Raton High School.

The PHU wrestling team is in line for a promising season. There are a lot of new players this year helping create a strong platform, which in turn will help build the team for the years to come.

“There are a good amount of new players this year and a major-ity of them are from the football team. I don’t think that we really have a specifically hard team that we will face because all of the teams are equally good,” said Orgera.

Some of the new players that

seem to stand out the most, accord-ing to Orgera are junior Ryan My-ers and freshman Tucker Hardwick. The team recently wrestled in the Longhorn Tournament in Orlando and placed 4th. The Canes also recently wrestled in the AJ Jones Memorial Tournament in Kissim-mee and finished exceptionally well placing second over all.

The Canes have many more matches coming up this year and plan to continue their hard work in order to keep placing high in the tournaments.

Kate Hardwick

For the 2010 varsity girls volleyball team, senior Chelsea King and senior Leah

McNary received special awards. Seniors King, McNary, and CarrieShae Showalter all

played in the county All Star Match on Saturday, December 4th. McNary was voted

team MVP of the senior All Star Match! McNary led in kills with 248, blocks with 58,

and also had 97 digs. She received a scholarship to play volleyball at Creighton Uni-

versity in Omaha, Nebraska. She plans to continue playing in college.

Chelsea King was named MVP of the varsity volleyball team. King led in digs with

246 and serve receptions with 194. She also had 215 serve attempts. King would like

to attend the University of North Carolina. Although King could play in her collegiate

career, she would like to attend a larger school.

Freshman Gunner Hurst with his a opponent held in a tight head lock.Courtesy of the Aftermath Staff

Courtesy of The Aftermath staff Courtesy of The Aftermath staff

Congratulations Chelsea King and Leah McNaryCanes wrestling off to a good start