The Magnet Tribune, Jan. 5, 2015

11
See FESTIVAL, page 6 Singing, voting at Rock the Vote Page 2 One semester of college finished Page 4 The Magnet Tribune E-mail [email protected] Online http://magnettribune.org Twitter @Magnet_Tribune Facebook Facebook.com/ MagnetTribune RSS Feed http://magnettribune.org Look for The Magnet Tribune’s podcasts on iTunes Quill & Scroll International Honor Society of Journalism Vidal M. Treviño Online http://vmt.elisd.org The world’s link to you Facebook Search: Vidal_M_Trevino What a fright! Costume contest Page 12 Page designed by Krysta Robles Vol. 22, No. 1 http://magnettribune.org January 5, 2015 Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts, 820 Main Avenue, Laredo, Texas 78040 he Magnet A state- and nationally recognized student newspaper TRIBUNE BY MILTON HATTEM MT STAFF WRITER D ark pieces of literature seemed to be in the majority at Tapestry magazine’s Open Mic Night. The event on October 16 took place in Tapestry maga- zine’s classroom in the Hard- ing Building. Ashley Ramirez’s Open Mic Night audience of nearly 30 students saw 18 pieces of lit- erature presented. Ramirez is Tapestry adviser. Ramirez explained the pur- pose of Open Mic Night. “To generate student inter- est in Tapestry’s literary mag- azine that is printed at the end of the school year, and also to get possible submis- sions. What I mean by possi- ble submissions is that not all submissions are guaranteed to be published in the mag- azine. It just depends on if it follows through the theme the magazine has,” she said. According to Ramirez, “the event went really well. I got a lot of positive feedback,” along with a total of 20 items sub- mitted. The event began with Ramirez stating the beginning of the event and letting a stu- dent, senior Andrew Elizon- do, begin with a poem titled “Bloodhounds.” It started as follows: “As the sniff the air for their next victim, I can’t help but notice the tension thicken. I feel so sicken. I can’t believe I just stood there as they took my friend, but I was so fear stricken that I had no choice but to run away. Shh listen,” he read. During the rest of the time there were multiple students who went up and presented their pieces. One of the students was freshman Lauren Melendez, whose poem, “Life in a Nut- shell,” was presented. Here’s a sample. “You are sweet, you are fragile. You look like a boxer after a fight. You grow a little, then a lot. You have good eye- sight,” Melendez said. Lastly, one of the last items presented was a poem read by senior Cristina Oviedo. “I take a pencil in my hands and lay out some pa- per. These are my weapons. Without thinking, I let my thoughts flow. Word by word I let my heart speak without fear of being judged,” Oviedo said. When asked why they wrote pieces of litera- ture to a group of students the answers varied from Eli- zondo’s “it seemed interest- ing” to Oviedo’s, “To present something outside the box.” Melendez added, “Let the people hear what I have to write.” “Overall the event succeed- ed on its purpose and for stu- dents to present their hard work,” Ramirez said. BY MICHELLE FRAIRE MT STAFF WRITER T he annual Hispan- ic Festival hosted by VMT took place on Thursday, October 30 , at the Laredo Civic Center. Even before the festival started students and teach- ers were very busy setting up their booths. About an hour after the festival started the Mar- tin ROTC stepped onto the stage and did their routine with the U.S. and Texas flags. They were followed by Ce- lia Hernandez’s choir class who performed the Star Spangled Banner. After their performance VMT Theater Department Head Vernon Carroll came to the stage and introduced Mr. Jose A. Flores. Carroll Dancing, singing, food MT photo by Susana Ginez Valerie Gardea and Hugo Torres perform a modern dance routine at the Hispanic Heritage Festival at the Laredo Civic Center. Tapestry holds Open Mic Night MT photo by Miguel Zamarripa Tapestry staff member Linda Ramirez reads a poem about her grandfather at Open Mic Night. New campus is on its way MT photo by Michelle Fraire The new VMT campus is taking its final shape. Students and teachers will begin classes there in August. Part of the soon-to-be former campus will house Jose A. Valdez High School. VMT began classes in fall 1993. Festival unites students, teachers, community More photos online at: http://magnettribune.org/?p=3320 More photos are on page 11A

description

Vol. 22, Number 1

Transcript of The Magnet Tribune, Jan. 5, 2015

Page 1: The Magnet Tribune, Jan. 5, 2015

See FESTIVAL, page 6

Singing, voting at Rock the Vote

Page 2

One semester of college finished

Page 4

The Magnet TribuneE-mail

[email protected]

Onlinehttp://magnettribune.org

Twitter @Magnet_Tribune

Facebook Facebook.com/ MagnetTribune

RSS Feed

http://magnettribune.org

Look for The Magnet Tribune’s podcasts on iTunes

Quill & ScrollInternationalHonor Societyof Journalism

Vidal M. TreviñoOnline

http://vmt.elisd.orgThe world’s link to you

FacebookSearch: Vidal_M_Trevino

What a fright! Costume contest

Page 12

Page designed by Krysta Robles

Vol. 22, No. 1 http://magnettribune.org January 5, 2015Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts, 820 Main Avenue, Laredo, Texas 78040

he Magnet

A state- and nationally recognized student newspaper

Tribune

By Milton HatteM

Mt staff writer

Dark pieces of literature seemed to be in the majority at Tapestry

magazine’s Open Mic Night. The event on October 16

took place in Tapestry maga-zine’s classroom in the Hard-ing Building.

Ashley Ramirez’s Open Mic Night audience of nearly 30 students saw 18 pieces of lit-erature presented. Ramirez is Tapestry adviser.

Ramirez explained the pur-pose of Open Mic Night.

“To generate student inter-est in Tapestry’s literary mag-azine that is printed at the end of the school year, and also to get possible submis-sions. What I mean by possi-ble submissions is that not all submissions are guaranteed to be published in the mag-azine. It just depends on if it follows through the theme the magazine has,” she said.

According to Ramirez, “the event went really well. I got a lot of positive feedback,” along with a total of 20 items sub-mitted.

The event began with

Ramirez stating the beginning of the event and letting a stu-dent, senior Andrew Elizon-do, begin with a poem titled “Bloodhounds.”

It started as follows:“As the sniff the air for their

next victim, I can’t help but notice the tension thicken. I feel so sicken. I can’t believe I just stood there as they took my friend, but I was so fear stricken that I had no choice but to run away. Shh listen,” he read.

During the rest of the time there were multiple students who went up and presented their pieces.

One of the students was freshman Lauren Melendez, whose poem, “Life in a Nut-shell,” was presented. Here’s a sample.

“You are sweet, you are fragile. You look like a boxer after a fight. You grow a little, then a lot. You have good eye-sight,” Melendez said.

Lastly, one of the last items presented was a poem read by senior Cristina Oviedo.

“I take a pencil in my hands and lay out some pa-per. These are my weapons. Without thinking, I let my

thoughts flow. Word by word I let my heart speak without fear of being judged,” Oviedo said.

W h e n a s k e d why they w r o t e p i e c e s of litera-ture to a group of students

the answers varied from Eli-zondo’s “it seemed interest-ing” to Oviedo’s, “To present something outside the box.”

Melendez added, “Let the people hear what I have to write.”

“Overall the event succeed-ed on its purpose and for stu-dents to present their hard work,” Ramirez said.

By MicHelle fraire

Mt staff writer

The annual Hispan-ic Festival hosted by VMT took place on

Thursday, October 30, at the Laredo Civic Center.

Even before the festival started students and teach-ers were very busy setting up their booths.

About an hour after the festival started the Mar-tin ROTC stepped onto the stage and did their routine with the U.S. and Texas flags.

They were followed by Ce-lia Hernandez’s choir class who performed the Star Spangled Banner.

After their performance VMT Theater Department Head Vernon Carroll came to the stage and introduced Mr. Jose A. Flores. Carroll

Dancing, singing, food

MT photo by Susana GinezValerie Gardea and Hugo Torres perform a modern dance routine at the Hispanic Heritage Festival at the Laredo Civic Center.

Tapestry holds Open Mic Night

MT photo by Miguel ZamarripaTapestry staff member Linda Ramirez reads a poem about her grandfather at Open Mic Night.

New campus is on its way

MT photo by Michelle FraireThe new VMT campus is taking its final shape. Students and teachers will begin classes there in August. Part of the soon-to-be former campus will house Jose A. Valdez High School. VMT began classes in fall 1993.

Festival unites

students, teachers,

community

More photos online at: http://magnettribune.org/?p=3320

More photos are on page 11A

Page 2: The Magnet Tribune, Jan. 5, 2015

2 The MagneT Tribune

January 5, 2015School newShttp://magnettribune.org, Twitter. @Magnet_Tribune, www.facebook.com/MagnetTribune

By norMa Garza and Jessica canales

Mt staff writers

The Magnet Tribune’s web-site received a First Class Award from the National Scho-lastic Press Association (NSPA).

The First Class Award, re-ceived Sept. 17, is achieved when a website receives a score of 3,400 points or more. The Magnet Tribune scored a 3,440.

Journalism instructor Mark Webber explained what this award is.

“… [It] shows the hard work that the students have put into producing the stories, photos, video, and audios for the past year so I’m proud of the stu-dents for what they’ve done.”

The online paper is impor-tant to get judged because the staff needs the opinion of some-one who is experienced in this field, Webber said.

The critique is based on the site design, graphics/media, writing/editing, photography, and frequency of updates.

“The judge had a lot of posi-

tive things to say about what we have published so far,” said Webber.

However, the judge empha-sized the addition of a sports section and the coverage of na-tional news.

Although there is not a foreseen addition of a sports section, there could be more national news if it affects the students, Webber said.

“I’m hoping maybe we can do the little bit extra to get the All-American Award instead of the First-Class Award,” Webber

said. The All-American award

is the total points of 3,400 or more points plus four or five of the following Marks of Distinc-tion: Coverage/Content, Inter-activity/Community, Breaking News, Design/Navigation, and Rich Media.

Morning staff members Ar-len Barba, senior, and Delilah Gonzalez, sophomore, said this award was an honor.

“It’s really awesome to be re-warded for something that you work hard on,” Barba said. Bar-

ba and Gonzalez agreed when working on the newspaper, as-pects such as the pictures and editing go into creating a story.

Afternoon staff member Su-sana Ginez, junior, said she would like to see more world-wide news on the website to keep students more informed.

“I feel proud because it is a reward that tells us that we are doing great and…makes me feel that there is someone out there who really appreciates what my classmates and I do for the on-line paper,” Ginez said.

By Krysta roBles

Mt staff writer

Two students debated for the title at VMT’s Rock the Vote on Oct. 23 with the stu-dent portraying Wendy Davis coming out ahead with 78 per-cent of the vote.

Rock the Vote, presented by the school, took place at St. Peter’s Plaza and consisted of persuading seniors and people over 18 to vote, and a mock election.

One of the things used to persuade seniors to vote was a mock debate for governor between two students, Marco Guajardo as Davis and Luis Bravo as Greg Abbot.

The themes, or questions, consisted of education, immi-gration, affordable healthcare, welfare, and voting ID require-ments. Both contestants had a valid argument, but the audi-ence seemed to love what Gua-jardo had to say.

Guajardo, “Wendy Davis,” received over three-fourths of the voting participants.

“Welfare is a very touchy subject. There is a struggle that people face for those on welfare when you see others abuse the system. We all have heard stories of people trying to abuse food stamps. I get it, but for a moment forget all your prejudices against all mi-nority people, and look at the

facts. In Texas 17.4 percent people live below the poverty line and 677 thousand people are unemployed. Think of the issues all those 677 thousand people faced. Think of how hard it will be for those 17.4 percent of people to get back on their feet. That’s what the welfare system is about. It’s about helping people, and it’s about spreading goodwill. We don’t want those people to lose their homes or their dignity. I know for a fact that there is at least one person here in this crowd that has been helped by welfare benefits. Let’s extend that to all those in need. Let’s bring all those numbers down to zero,” Guajardo said.

Bravo, “Greg Abbott,” re-sponded with, “It is not un-

common to hear about individ-uals abusing their Lone Star welfare money on junk food because junk food is consid-erably cheaper than healthier food. This creates problems. One, many abuse welfare and two, the lack of access to nutritional meals. The way I would address the welfare system is to change to a ra-tion system similar to WIC. In other words, instead of having money directly to use for one’s needs, we will provide coupons and food vouchers food. For example, one gets a voucher for three gallons of milk and whoever is in possession of that voucher can go to a local food market and pick up three gallons of pre-approved nutri-tionally beneficial milk. The

products, however, will not be limited and will be a variety of dietary necessities such as cereal, rice, and poultry. This way not only are we solving a welfare problem that limits the people that are unable to use the welfare system, but assure that everyone has access to safe, healthy, and nutritional meals.”

After the debate, the stu-dents from VMT, Martin, Nixon, and Cigarroa got up and voted. There were four voting booths, and students used a real bal-lot for local, state, and national races. While the voting was tak-ing place students and faculty bands played rock music.

“The importance of Rock the Vote is give awareness to students as to why it is impor-

tant to vote, and with the mock debate it gives the students what each party is fighting for, or the views of every party,” Sylvia Velasco-Flores, Social Studies instructor and event organizer, said about the im-portance and meaning of Rock the Vote.

“I liked everything about it, of course, but the students re-ally liked the music, and the photo booths, and the food. They just really liked it. The debate was really good this year. I know those are things that got everybody’s atten-tion,” Velasco said.

“It went really well, actually, and took a lot of planning, but at the end, it was a really good turnout and very successful,” Velasco said.

By JazMin caMpos

Mt staff writer

VMT held its 13th annual 9/11 ceremony on Sept. 11, commemorating those who en-dangered and lost their lives on that tragic day in 2001.

VMT Director Dr. Martha E. Villarreal opened the ceremo-ny talking about how this day should always be remembered and how the nation is envied by people in other countries.

“People envy our way of life, our way of freedom,” Villarreal said.

Mayor Raul Salinas was the event’s guest speaker. Salinas spoke to students, law enforce-ment officers and VMT staff about 911 and how this event relates to dangerous affairs on the border.

“The threat is real, not only to our city but for our nation of

USA,” Salinas said. Showing his American

pride, Salinas invited all pres-ent, including students to re-peat loudly, “I am proud to be American!”

Salinas finished with, “God bless you and God bless Amer-ica, and we will never forget those who lost their lives on 9/11.”

Also speaking was Larissa Espinosa, master of ceremo-nies, Abigail Garcia with the background of 911, and Eliseo Ceja with the invocation and the Sept. 11 proclamation.

In honor of those who risked and lost their lives, 10 chimes rung for every 300 that van-ished in the attack. To close the ceremony Taps were played by Edgar Compean, student of Robert Lopez and “God Bless America,” played by the VMT music faculty.

A former VMT student said he liked the ceremony.

“I like that we can have it to remember that day. It re-ally gives us back the Ameri-can pride we were missing that day,” Gerardo Lerma said.

VMT reflects on 13th 9/11 ceremony

MT photo by Jessica Canales Martin High School ROTC students hold the flag after presenting the colors at the 9/11 ceremony at St. Peter’s Plaza.

Votin’ & rockin’‘Davis’ beats ‘Abbot’ in mock election

MT photo by Arlen BarbaLuis Bravo, left, Leslie Suarez, center, and Marco Guajardo, right, took part in the governor’s debate.

Online newspaper earns national award

Page design by Krysta Robles

Mayor urges pride in America

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3The MagneT Tribune

January 5, 2015 School newShttp://magnettribune.org, Twitter. @Magnet_Tribune, www.facebook.com/MagnetTribune

By Krysta roBles

Mt staff writer

Jacquelyn Perez’s sixth year of teaching is at VMT.

“Now that I moved back to Tex-as, this is my sixth year teaching. I’m here with you guys,” Perez said.

She has been teaching for the past five years and now is with VMT for her sixth. She is hop-ing to stay here for the rest of her teaching years.

“I think it’s that I like to form personal relationships with my students. I want to get to know them on a more personal level be-cause that helps me understand how they learn, and I feel like I’m able to make those connections very well,” Perez said.

Getting to know a student on a personal level has helped Perez in the past. It’s a way to improve her teaching.

“My teaching philosophy is that you can’t expect high stan-dards while teaching with low standards, so I feel like teach-ers should always have very high expectations and students, you guys, will always meet the chal-

lenge,” Perez said. Perez has called her-

self “weird” in front of her classes.

“I’m very weird. I’m a character when I get up and it’s translated with parts of my life. I don’t care if I’m making a fool out of myself. I can be dorky, I can joke, I can be animated, and it won’t faze me,” Perez said.

Building a character and not caring what others think takes a whole lot of courage, she said.

Perez said that in order to get to know someone, a person has to let them get to know you.

“I really love it here. I love that there’s a celebration of culture and diversity, and the arts are go-ing on all the time. I love how self-motivated the students are. I love the staff; everybody is so positive and friendly. It’s just great work, and a great place to spend my days,” Perez said.

What does she think of her students?

“My students are amaz-ing. They are so bright; they are the brightest students I’ve ever taught. They challenge me ev-ery day, and I think that’s what

makes me want to come to work; it’s the students, and knowing you guys makes it worth teach-ing,” Perez said.

She explained her teaching ca-reer has been in two states.

“After I graduated college, I taught at United High School for two years, and I moved to Arizo-na and taught a year at a middle school and I took a break from teaching at that time because I had a baby. When I came back, I taught at a charter school, which was a high school, in Arizona for two years,” Perez said.

Perez could not compare other schools and VMT.

“I have taught at so many dif-ferent schools; every population is a little different, so I can’t really compare this school to others. The population is so distinct and unique,” Perez said.

“I would like to say thank you to everyone in this school for be-ing so wonderful and making my transition back home so much easier, and I look forward to more years teaching at VMT,” Perez said.

By Krysta roBles

Mt staff writer

Aemiee Martinez is in her first year teaching at VMT.

“The students are very creative, and they are very fortunate to have a school that encourages them to be creative,” Martinez said.

Martinez talked about the students, including her own. She strongly be-lieves that having students that are creative could lead the students to hav-ing leadership.

She said being adapt-able is a strong point.

“I have to say my stron-gest strength is flexibility. Since I am new, a lot of the times I plan, but things never go my way and be-ing flexible and think-ing on my feet has kept me sane,” Martinez says. “What I’ve learned about myself is that I’m extreme-ly patient.”

Martinez said teaching is very stressful, but hav-ing the ability to think on her feet has helped her keep organized.

“My teaching philoso-phy is that want to make history and also social studies fun for my kids. I think by letting them know that the decisions that other people are mak-ing and have made in the past are what brings them to what they are today. I think by making it rel-evant, students will find that it isn’t so boring and so my mission is to make them know that this stuff affects them and also let them know that they have everything to shape their lives and futures,” Marti-

nez said. She said she likes what

she sees in the students. “I think my students

are very talented. I feel like there is so much potential here for our future leaders. Extremely smart, extreme-ly outgoing and I am very lucky because I think we have the best Laredo can offer,” Martinez said.

Martinez talks about her students and the stu-dents that don’t belong to her, too.

“I think the students are talented, and that they are very fortunate to have a school that encourages them to be creative. I’m very honored to be here. I love the staff, I love the students, and I really do think that the arts is something, as a nation, we keep moving away from, so to have a place in Laredo that encourages them to be creative and also excel academically is a real jew-el. We are really fortunate to have something like this here,” Martinez said.

MT photo by Victoriano GarciaNew Social Studies instructor Jacquelyn Perez, second from right, stands with seventh pe-riod students. From left, Mario Peña, Lydia Palacios, Anelysa Rodriguez, William Rodriguez, and Jesus Rodriguez.

Jacquelyn Perez likes to get to know her students

1st year at VMT is first

year teaching

MT photo by Victoriano GarciaSocial Studies instruc-tor Aemiee Martinez is in her first year of teaching.

16 de septiember celebrates heritage

MT photos by Delilah Gonzalez, Norma GarzaVMT students celebrated Mexico’s independence from Spain with an event on Sept. 16 with performances of regional dances, songs and the Grito, or cry of independence. More photos, video are online.

MT photo by Krysta Robles

Visual Arts student Claudia Serna, left, and Maegen Yeary received school board recognition in December for their holiday greeting cards. Serna had her card se-lected in the Region One ESC Holiday Art Contest while Yeary had her card selected in the LISD Holi-day Greeting Card Con-test.

Four recognized by school boardJournalism/online

media students Belen Silva and Brandon Gamez received school

board recognition for

receiving first place in the Advanced

Multimedia category of the recent

Association of Texas Photography

Instructors’ Fall Contest.

Audio interview online:http://magnettribune.org/?p=3210

Audio interview online:http://magnettribune.org/?p=3208

More photos and video online at: http://magnettribune.org/?p=2946http://magnettribune.org/?p=2857

More photos online at: http://magnettribune.org/?p=4034

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January 5, 2015School newS

http://magnettribune.org, Twitter. @Magnet_Tribune, www.facebook.com/MagnetTribune

By MartHa inGuanzo, susana Ginez, andVictoriano GarciaMt staff writers

The teacher supervising senior Dual Enrollment

Government 2305 students likes the fact that they’re self-motivated.

“Most are self-motivated, and they get the work done on time,” Social Studies teacher and Dual Enrollment facilitator Sylvia A. Velasco-Flores said.

She said a facilitator observes students and guides them to be successful in their college courses.

During class she listens to the lectures with her 22 students. Everyone works when they go to college.

“The professor lectures, students listen and take notes. Students have weekly online quizzes and an occasional test,” Velasco-Flores said.

Quizzes and tests are different from what students take in high school.

“Everything is online. They’re self-guided,” Velasco-Flores said.

She was please with how the semester went.

“Overall, the course went quite well. The students had trouble at the beginning ad-justing to the style of teaching of the professor but they were able to adapt and all of them passed the semester,” Velasco-Flores said.

Earlier in the semester she said the students were doing quite well.

“They have adapted very well. It’s really just getting the hang of the professor and his methods,” Velasco-Flores said.

They always have something to do on days they don’t go to college.

“They can take the quiz for the week, read the chapter, work on another class’s assignments or practice with their fine arts,” she said.

She said she is able to help students with their work.

“Being a previous U.S. Government teacher I can tutor them and give them different examples,” Velasco-Flores said.

Eddie Arredondo said he was please with how class went.

“The semester went very well during my time in Dual Enrollment. I’m happy that I received a pretty good grade at the end of the semester,” Arredondo said.

Earlier in the semester, students said the high school government class is different from a college government class.

“Taking a high school Government class is mostly teacher oriented; however, college Government is mostly independent learning,” Senior Eduardo Arredondo said.

He said some of the students struggle and some don’t.

“As of right now, I’m struggling slightly but it’s something one can overcome,” Arredondo said.

Students can find out if they’re doing well in class or

not.“In government class I’m

doing fine. I can see my grades on a database (Canvas, a class website) and monitor them carefully,” Senior Amanda Castañeda said.

Both students have good views towards taking a college Government class.

“It is an advantage because one is saving money for the future,” Arredondo said.

On the other hand, it’s also one less class.

“I like the fact that I have will have to take one less class when I go to college,” Castañeda said.

He said a Dual Enrollment class will help with college.

“Taking Dual Enrollment should be taken into consideration for it will assist you once you start college,” Arredondo added.

Heads up though, students must do their work.

“Basically, if you’re going to take a college class you must do the work. You can’t get by on excuses. They don’t accept that,” Castañeda added.

Writing is a big part of English

Juniors that are new to Dual Enrollment will find it challenging, said

Gerardo Flores, AP English III teacher and supervisor for the students in Dual Enrollment.

According to Flores, the students taking college English 1301 seem to be doing well so far.

One class requirement was for students to write different types of essays.

Students are taken to Laredo Community College at 3:15 p.m. and they’re brought back

at 5:00 p.m.“It’s a rough schedule for the

kids because they get back from dual late and it often interferes with extracurricular activities, but it’s worth the opportunity to earn college credit for free,” Flores said.

When students are not taken to LCC, they stay in class with their supervisor, Flores.

“Some students use the time to work on their fine art because they only take one hour of fine art during the day due to dual, and they also use the time to read and write their essays,” Flores said.

In December, Rene Garza said he felt the class was a repeat of things he already learned.

“I thought the class was easy and that it was basically what we learned in freshman year.” Garza said.

“Taking an English college course is not for slackers. You have to be on the ball,” said Pedro Contreras, another Dual Enrollment student, earlier in the semester

“They (professors) expect more things from you,” said Rene Garza, another Dual Enrollment student. “For example, you are expected to know the due dates, and there’s a lot more work.”

Both students said they were proud and honored to be taking an English college class while still in high school.

Students will continue with English 1302 in the spring, Flores said.

Psychology:How the mind works

Some students in dual enrollment are taking Psychology 2301, which

is the study of how the mind works.

“Students study different ways on how the mind works,” David Blumberg, CTE instructor and supervisor of the Psychology dual enrollment class, said.

He said he makes sure that the students are paying attention to the professor during class time, and to help with assignments on days there is no class.

Students board the bus at VMT and get taken to Laredo Community College, where their class is located.

Blumberg thought the semester went well for the class.

“The Psychology students did really well as a whole. Almost half of them had a final average of over 100. The students should be proud of themselves. The students desire to discuss with the professor made this class particular good for them, Blumberg said.

Students will take a Speech class in the spring.

One of the requirements for taking the Psychology class is to be a senior, he said.

“Students should study psychology to help themselves and others on how their mind works,” Blumberg said.

Andrew Elizondo, a senior, said the class was a good experience.

“I learned a lot about psychology,” Elizondo said, who added he enjoyed taking the class.

Earlier in the fall, senior William Rodriguez said that he enjoys learning Psychology.

“It is very interesting, and I get a lot from it,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said earlier in the semester the class covered topics such as memory, how the brain is able to process information, and life span, on

how people change over the years.

“The class itself is not hard, but we do have to turn in our assignments online. We have to just make sure we stick to the deadlines, and that we do our work on time or else it won’t get graded and our professor won’t see it,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said that the college teacher differs from the high school teacher because the college professor, Dr. Laura Cruz Garza, lectures better and that he and his classmates interact more with (the professor) than they would do with a high school teacher.

Rodriguez recommends the class to anyone that is in dual enrollment due to the fact that it is a fun and interesting class.

Senior Eliza Elizondo also goes to the same class as Rodriguez. Elizondo says she enjoys the class.

“It is a great opportunity to experience a college class,” Elizondo said.

Elizondo said that the class will help her with college experience, for her to get ahead in college. Elizondo added the only difference between dual enrollment and regular classes is that students have to read more, and the majority of their grade comes from tests.

“Professors in college expect you to be more responsible. They don’t push you around to do an assignment. It’s your choice if you want to do it or not,” Elizondo said.

Elizondo is happy to be in dual enrollment.

“It makes me feel more free and (I go) more at my own pace, and I look forward to that later on,” Elizondo said.

(Staff writer Esmeralda Martinez contributed to this story.)

Juniors, seniors in collegeStudents face a new world of expectations

Page design by Jazmin Campos, Krysta Robles, and Gilbert Rodriguez

MT photos by Esmeralda MartinezAbove: Dual Enrollment college English students work on essays at VMT. From left, Laura Coleman, Ayesha Mc-Caulley, and Peter Contreras. Below left: Aribeth Baiza and Eduardo Compean study during a non-class day for their Psychology class. Bottom right: Gerardo Flores, AP English III teacher and dual enrollment supervisor, works with students on a non-class day.

Page 5: The Magnet Tribune, Jan. 5, 2015

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Strings students make TMEA orchestraNumerous strings students earned positions on the Tex-as Music Educators Associa-tion Region 14 High School Orchestra.

MT photo by Milton HattemTop photo: Bottom row, left to right: Sebastian Ortega, Jose Ugarte, Dante Aguilar, Carlos Alvarado, Josue Ortiz, Cesar Peña, Cesar Vela. Top row, left to right: Julithea Rodriguez, Diana Riley, Anna Lara, Rocio Garza, Saman-tha Gonzalez, Bianca Ochoa, Ruth Soveranes.

MT photo by Cassandra Gonzalez/Lauren Melendez

Bottom left: Seated: Jael Guzman, Carlos Gonzales. Top row, left to right: An-thony Barrones, Maximiliano Hernandez, Victoria Pache-co, Laryssa Garza, Melissa Irogoyen.

MT photos by Krysta RoblesBottom right: Emilio Hinojosa

Making a spaceship out of milk cartons

MT photos by William RodriguezVisual Arts students in sculpture created a “War of the World” themed-spaceship for the Made by Milk 2014 Carton Con-struction Contest. Students used more than 500 milk cartons and other material to create the spaceship. Pictured, from left to right, Clarissa Guerrero, Cecilia Gallegos, Brittney Muñoz, Hyde Fran-co, Vanessa Cordova, Marissa Guerrero, Amanda Garza, and Amanda Castañeda.

6 perform in the region choir concertMT photo by William Rodriguez

Six choir students sang in the TMEA Region Choir Concert on Nov. 15 in Rockport. They are, from left to right, Kristelle Rivera, Joey Villa, Adriana Castro, Diego Cruz, and Ayesha Mc-Caulley. Not pictured is Laura Coleman. Also, McCaulley and Cruz have advanced to Area competition. Villa and Rivera are alternates.

Video online at:http://magnettribune.org/?p=4098Story and photos to come

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Festival features student performances

MT photos: above, Delilah Gonzalez; below, Arlen BarbaAbove and below: Students perform a folklorico dance number at the Hispanic Heritage Festival at the Laredo Civic Center.

Page design by Edward Barrera

MT photos by Delilah Gonzalez, Martha Inguanzo and Susana Ginez

Above: A student from the Theater Arts Department walks around with a poster advertis-ing cupcakes.

Left: Creative Writing and Pre-AP English I & II instructor Ashley Ramirez and students Kassandra Garcia and Arturo Moncivais set up the Tapestry booth before the festival.

Center left: A dancer in cos-tume was one of many per-formers at the Hispanic Her-itage Festival at the Civic Center.

Below: Silvia Castanos and Debra Barrera sell cupcakes at the Hispanic Heritage Festival.

Bottom: A modern dance num-ber at the Hispanic Heritage Festival at the Laredo Civic Center.

presented him with a plaque for his dedication for theater.

Flores said he was shocked to be receiving the plaque.

“I was very surprised when I found out I was going to receive a plaque. It’s humbling to be rec-ognized by people at a school I don’t even work at. I’m glad that a school like VMT exists because it helps reinforce the peoples’ love for the arts.”

Afterwards there were many performances by student dancers and musical ensembles.

Brisa, a freshman who is in modern dance, felt comfortable after performing.

“I was a bit nervous at first but

afterwards I was relieved,” she said.

The students seemed to be en-joying themselves most of all.

They were given the chance to enjoy the performances and the food, which many of them agreed was really good.

“The tamarindo taco is really good. All the food is really good,” said a student.

Not everything was fun and games, though. The students also had to help out at their organiza-tion’s booth.

Dr. Martha Villarreal, the school director, said the festival was an opportunity for the stu-dents to work together.

“This festival was the biggest and most attended we’ve had. It was a great opportunity for them [students] to connect with the Spanish culture and to work to-gether to put all of this together. I’m very proud of how responsible they are,” she said.

Laryssa Garza, freshman, thought the festival was ‘‘fun.’’

“I think this is fun and I think everyone else is having fun too.”

Freshman Sandra Chavez be-lieves the festival was a success.

“I think everyone did their best to make sure the festival was suc-cessful. I had a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to it next year,” Chavez said.

MT photo by Arlen Barba

Students perform a Folkloric dance number at the

Hispanic Heritage Festival at

the Laredo Civic Center.

FroM page 1

More photos, video, story online at: http://magnettribune.org/?p=3651http://magnettribune.org/?p=3634

More photos online at: http://magnettribune.org/?p=3571http://magnettribune.org/?p=3466

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On Oct. 29, EA and Digital Illusions Cre-ative Entertainment

(DICE) released a new game that hit the market named Battlefield 4 Final Stand.

In the game players take their places in a squad of sol-diers venturing through Eu-rope and Asia in an attempt to prevent World War 3.

When progressing in the game, the player begins to bond with their squad and slowly get to know their squad better.

The online multiplayer is one of the best I’ve seen in any battlefield game. The graph-ics compared to the previous game Battlefield 3 are a tad darker and give more depth when playing the game. The online maps are also bigger in

the previous game.The multiplayer setting has

new features such as the com-

mander mode which allows players to see the whole map at a top view and talk to other

squads on their team to help navigate their way to an objec-tive, drop missiles or drop sup-plies while in battle. All of this can help a lot if you have team mates that are willing to lis-ten to the commanders’ com-mands and suggestions.

The developers at DICE added new graphics on the on-line multiplayer. One cool ad-dition was the way players can manipulate the maps. In pre-vious battlefield games players could fire rockets at a build-ing and a small portion of the building would be destroyed; now in Battlefield 4 players can do much more than that. Some examples would be like entire skyscrapers collapsing or destroying a dam which can flood the map, or even a ship crashing onto land.

Some downsides to the mul-tiplayer mode is that there is no party system. For those of you that don’t know what that is, it’s a system that al-lows players to play with their friends in the same game.

Another downside is de-struction. The graphics don’t really look as realistic as they did in the previous game Bat-tlefield 3. DooM Goblin on You-Tube describes these graphics as glitchy and “the destruction just kinda turns into rubble all of a sudden.”

Other than that, there aren’t many downsides. The graphics still look great, the maps are huge, guns are bet-ter, and there’s a longer game time. Battlefield 4 is definitely worth buying if you don’t al-ready have it.

Adventurous ‘cops’ face criminals“Let’s Be Cops” is

one of the funniest movies I have seen in

a long time. It brings a whole new meaning for the comedy genre and it’s a different type of humor that will have you laughing throughout the whole movie, from the hilarious lines of the actors, to the funny scenes in the movie.

It introduces a new idea that could actually be done by anyone if they would wish to, and that is pretend to be cops around the city which you live in. The journey of the movie is one that will take an unfamil-iar twist and even though the movie is comedy, you will see that the action is still there as well.

This film is about two strug-gling pals who dress up as police officers for a costume party and soon they become neighborhood sensations. Ryan (Jake Johnson) and Jus-tin (Damon Wayans Jr.) are really good friends, but their lives seem to be boring and at times they find their careers pointless. They feel as if they are not progressing in their ca-reers and that others are more successful than them.

Ryan doesn’t really have a job or he just works for an of-fice, and Justin is a video game creator who is always showing off his new games to people, but he never seems to impress anyone because the people in charge of reviewing his games never like them. He gets disap-pointed because he knows he worked hard on the game and for his coworkers to tell them that it’s terrible really does hurt him.

He tries to get his mind off

of the situation by going with his friend Ryan. When they get invited to a costume par-ty, Ryan believes they should dress up as ghosts at first, but then Justin tells him they can just wear some old police of-ficer uniforms he has and so they decide to go as cops to the party. This is when the journey begins and the night were they begin to act as real cops.

They arrive to the party and they both realize that it wasn’t a costume party, but rather a masquerade party. Ryan notic-es all these people with fancy clothes wearing masquerade masks, and they all stare at them since they look like po-lice officers. They end up stay-ing at the party because they know several people and it’s like a reunion of all the friends from high school.

This one man goes up to Ryan and asks him what he has done with his life and what type of job he has, but he just responds with well it’s difficult to explain but I’m working here and there. This makes him re-alize that he doesn’t really have a career and that maybe being a police officer could be his new career even though he didn’t really pursue that career.

Ryan and Justin leave the party and continue to walk around the city. When they begin to walk, they notice that several nice looking women are walking towards them, saying “cops let me kiss you.” They

both stay surprised at how ev-eryone outside thinks they are actual cops and so they start to mess around with the people. For example they go to some thugs in the streets with drugs and they start smoking with them. They also order for peo-ple to stop walking and that’s when they begin to realize they have power over people. Ryan then tells Justin that they can pull it off and pretend to be the new cops in town.

Justin begins to talk to Josie (Nina Dobrev), a woman he gets attracted to, and she happens to work in a restau-rant of a well-known owner. Ryan notices that one day a mobster under the name of Mossi (James D’Arcy) shows up to the restaurant demand-ing money and threatens the owner that if he doesn’t pay, there will be terrible conse-quences. Ryan tells Justin right away and they talk about it like if they are actual cops and they begin to open up an investigation on Mossi and his squad. They know he is a dan-gerous criminal but they still believe they should help out the city by taking them down.

Later on Ryan and Justin go to the restaurant dressed as cops again and they make Mossi and his squad leave. The people are grateful that the mobsters left, but now the mobsters want to kill Justin and Ryan for interfering with their negotiations. Ryan takes

things to a whole new level when he buys a white car on eBay and makes it look like a cop car by putting the sticker of the cops and getting the si-rens for the top of the car. Ryan even buys a radio that signals where there is a crime and it communicates to other police officers. Ryan goes to show Justin and he is surprised that Ryan is still thinking to keep it going even after weeks of being fake cops. Justin is scared that they will be caught and have to go to jail.

An actual officer shows up one night when Ryan and Jus-tin are patrolling the city and he ask them what they are up to. The actual police officer is Detective Segars (Rob Riggle) who doesn’t notice that they aren’t actual officers and Ryan even has a badge he got to pro-mote himself to sergeant so the officer asks him if he is new in town. Ryan responds with say-ing yes, “how could you not know,” and they end up talk-ing with each other, but sud-

denly they notice an alarm go off at a hardware store so they all get off and try to search for the robbers inside the store.

Now Ryan and Justin are involved in an actual crime so they don’t know what to do and they start acting really dumb. After that they contin-ue to focus on Mossi and his squad so that they may bring them down and have justice and peace for the city. They think they will become great heroes, but what they don’t know is the real problems they will have to face.

Ultimately “Let’s Be Cops” is a hilarious movie that will have you full of laughter, and it’s a movie you will really en-joy. You will find it one of the best comedies recently pro-duced as a movie. It’s now available to watch online for free and soon will come out on DVD since it’s not in theatres anymore.

Hope you all enjoy the film and have a fun time watching it.

This has to be the MOST EXCITING, RO-MANTIC, THRILLING,

and SUPERNATURALLY SEXY book I’ve ever read.

I cannot stress this enough. “The Unbecoming of Mara”

by Michelle Hodkin will leave you wishing it wasn’t just a trilogy, but a whole 10-book box set.

When Mara wakes up in a hospital unaware of why she is there, her mother informs her that all her friends died a few days ago when the aban-doned asylum they stayed at one night collapsed without warning. She was the only sur-vivor but why has she survived when all friends have died?

The story starts with her friends Rachel and Claire and her boyfriend Jude in the abandoned asylum. They be-gin to use the Ouija board and ask how each of them are going to die. As they are playing, the

planchette moves from letter to letter eventually spelling Mara’s name. So, how would you typi-cally react if an insane ghosts told you your friend would be the cause of your death?

Mara wakes up in the hos-pital with no memory of what happened that night. Her fam-ily believes that in relocating, Mara might feel better and try to forget about what has hap-pened. Mara and her family move to Florida to try and for-get what happened. In Florida she meets eccentric and well-rounded Noah Shaw.

How to describe Noah Shaw? He’s your typical bad boy, but with the brains. At first, Mara can’t stand his cyn-

ical personality, until he helps Mara kidnap a wounded dog from an abusive owner.

As she’s walking to school one day she sees this dog in very poor living conditions. Her chain is digging into her skin and she looks like she hasn’t been fed. Mara can’t helping feeling sorry for her, so she goes into the house and tries to free the animal. Suddenly the owner shows up. Mara tries to reason with the man about let-ting the dog go, or treating it better but the man threatens her. As Mara gets up to leave, the owner kicks the dog. Mara becomes so mad she imagines the owners head bashed in.

Hours later after school,

Mara passes by the house where the man and dog lived. Police officers and an ambu-lance surrounded his home and she sees the man was found dead in his home, with his head bashed in.

With the help of Noah, Mara steals the dog from the crime scene and takes her to Noah’s home. When they reach Noah’s home, she realizes what she can do. And it’s possible that Noah can help her control it.

Besides her weird super-natural power she now has to worry about Jude, her sup-posed dead boyfriend. She’s been seeing visions of him, un-til later in the book she comes to grasp the reality that Jude never died in that asylum even though they found his hands in the rubble of the crime scene. Jude has been watch-ing her, unseen and unno-ticed, like the ghost he should have been. But he’s alive, and

he wants revenge on Mara.This stomach twisting, hair

pulling, nail-biting, self-de-structive book will leave you in awe in every chapter. I highly recommend this brilliant piece of fantasy literature and hope-fully you enjoy it.

8 The MagneT Tribune

January 5, 2015http://magnettribune.org, Twitter. @Magnet_Tribune, www.facebook.com/MagnetTribune

The Book LookBy Belen Silva

reviewS

www.letsbecops.comJake Johnson, left, and Damon Wayans Jr. star in “Let’s be Cops.”

Supernatural love story never told before

CinematicBy William Rodriguez

GamebreakerBy Chris Cantu

Could Battlefield 4 been made better?

Page 8: The Magnet Tribune, Jan. 5, 2015

Boys and girls tend to stop believing in love as soon as they get hurt …

Let me tell you about a friend of mine. Let’s call her Marlene.

Marlene had gotten hurt once and was afraid to “love” again, but as the time passed she realized that when she said to that person (which dur-ing that time he was someone “SPECIAL”) “I love you,” she knew she had made a humon-gous mistake. Marlene wasn’t just hurting herself, but she was hurting him too… when she told him “I love you” his eyes sparkled and his smile made cars crash. She knew she had ruined his life!

It was her first time lying and she wanted to die!! She decided to just keep going with the flow. She had started gath-ering feelings for him as the time passed because she had realized how sweet and nice he was but when she was about to start opening her heart … with his man hands he forced it to close, he put chain over chain, lock over lock around it and broke the key with such anger!

She was devastated. She knew she had done wrong at first, but was not expecting to fall down from that beautiful cloud she was on.

He broke her. He knew that with time she was going to give it a try and try to put the key together so she could un-lock the locks and remove the chains.

He was smart. He reached into his pocket and boy was it an amazing feeling. He had a spare key! He decided to do her the favor that she was plan-ning to do with time. His hands went slowly to unlock her heart and remove the chains.

She had the chance to do what she had been wanting too before he closed it. The beauti-ful cloud picked her up again. It was her time to shine! He fin-ished removing the last chain and yanked her heart out.

He kicked it like a soccer player trying to get the last goal so they could win the tour-nament. He ran after it and picked it up and threw it like a drunk driver would throw his beer bottles. Her heart shat-tered and all the pieces went different directions. It was go-ing to be impossible for her to find every tiny piece.

Her knowing where her heart had been shattered, she knew that she would have that place in her mind forever.

After months of depression, she decided to take a walk down that path where trillion of pieces of her heart were scattered.

As she would walk down that path, with a microscope she would search for the piec-es slowly. Every tiny piece that she found she would pick it up with a glove and put it in a zip-lock bag. She was afraid. She did not want to cut herself and bleed to death.

After months of walking down that same path and pick-ing up the pieces … she was just missing one! The center of her heart … she kept looking for that one special piece, but yet was never found. She gave up! She was tired of walking down that same path!! Sud-denly she decided not to look for it anymore; that path was boring already.

Months passed, and a friend told her that he walked down

that dreadful path and found something mysterious. He kept it as a secret from her. He didn’t give her any hint of what it was. Too bad she thought, she couldn’t force him to tell her what he had found that was so “mysterious.” They started talking more and more every day. She started to like him.

When she would talk to him, she would feel some type of way. She would mention how his voice was fascinating. How his eyes were amazing. How he would brighten up her day with the beautiful, amazing, spectacular words he would tell her. How the way that he would express himself was perfect. His personality was just marvelous she thought. Everything about him was just wow! He would make her feel wanted again.

She was scared though. Marlene thought that if she would tell him about the feel-ing she had towards him that he was going to do the same thing that the other one did. One day that they were talk-ing on the phone and she de-cided to tell him all the feelings that she had towards him. He was speechless. She thought to herself that she had made the biggest of the biggest mis-takes ever in her entire life!

She was afraid that he was going to hang up. Delete her number. Block her from Face-book. Block her number from his phone. Anything possible to get rid of her.

Boy was she wrong! He was proud and excited of what she had told him. She had no rea-son to be scared anymore. She was still a bit nervous though. That same day, he spilled the beans. He told her every-thing. All his feelings towards her. What he liked about her. What he disliked about her. Everything, everything! Man was she lucky that he had the same feelings towards her. She thought to herself, that they were perfect for each other!! Knowing each other’s feelings just made everything even bet-ter than it already was!

They became boyfriend and girlfriend. Made a deal that they wouldn’t hide anything from each other. No secrets. No regrets. That they weren’t going to listen to anything that anybody said. It was just going to be us two against the world. Becoming boyfriend and girl-friend was the best thing ever.

One day he told her that he had a surprise for her. She was excited to see what it was. He showed her an x-ray of his

Secrets should never be shared, especially if told in confidence.

If shared, it could lead to unwanted audiences, start rumors, and break up friend-ships. Secrets are meant to be kept, not shared.

If a secret is given to you it’s the reason for that person trusting you. If he/she tells you “I trust you, please don’t tell anyone,” it’s because he/she doesn’t want anyone to know but only you and wants your confidence.

If you share the secret that’s given to you, you can lose his/her trust and friendship. It’s better to keep a secret than to break a friendship and lose someone’s trust.

In addition, when you share a secret there’s so many people out there that not only want to start rumors, but they also want to hurt you.

If you tell the secret you will

have rumors spreading about what was told. Whether the se-cret is good or bad they won’t care because it won’t affect the one spreading the rumor. Peo-ple use secrets like a weapon to hurt you, especially if it’s very personal.

Also, when a friend shares a personal secret of a friend of theirs it will lead to many unwanted audiences, as it spreads from one person to another. Others can even add something to the secret that isn’t true at all. What if, the secret goes to the ears of the person who you were keeping it away from? Probably his/her parents or even an enemy? That’s the point of a secret: no one else knows about it but

you. Remember, secrets are

meant to be kept, not shared. They’re between you and the person you told. I know I wouldn’t say anything, no mat-ter the situation between me and him/her. Secrets revealed can lead you to many conse-quences but mostly unwanted audiences, rumors started, and broken friendships.

Best friends share common traits

Not all the time do best friends have a lot in common, but their trust and love is stronger as they become best friends.

There are many reasons to keep a best friend, especially if you have a lot in common, like not liking the same people, lov-ing the same type of music or singer, and having a birthday in the same month.

First, I know some friend-ships that if one friend doesn’t precisely like someone you talk to they’ll be so jealous and would want you to stop talking to them. Some friends don’t really mind if you do talk to the ones they’ve had conflicts with and still talk to you. Also, if both friends happen to dis-like someone that makes one thing in common. That’s just the way best friends are.

My favorite common thing is when you and your best friend love the same type of music or singer. Both can talk about his/her performances on the awards shows or vid-eos they saw on YouTube, or talking about the words of lyr-

ics they love the most includ-ing their favorite song. Best friends always happen to sing and dance their favorite song together.

It’s so fun having a birthday in the same month. It’s totally a for sure birthday celebration together. They get to hang out to celebrate their birthday and exchange gifts. Not all best friends have the same birth, but if you’re lucky and both have the same birth month and same day it’s something in common that makes that friendship special.

Every friendship is differ-ent but my point is that in that every friendship they have at least one thing in common that makes it special.

I have a friendship and we have a lot in common. One thing that makes a great friendship is trust and love that we both have.

9The MagneT Tribune

January 5, 2015 http://magnettribune.org, Twitter. @Magnet_Tribune, www.facebook.com/MagnetTribuneopinionS

Comments? Write us [email protected]

Sharing secrets can cost a friendship

Contact The Magnet TribuneBy e-mail: [email protected] || On the Internet: http://magnettribune.org || Facebook || TwitterAddress: Vidal M. Treviño School of Communication and Fine Arts, The Magnet Tribune, 820 Main Ave., Laredo, Texas 78040In person: Room TM-23 (Journalism classroom), or drop off items for Mark Webber in the school office.

First Class Award: 1996-97, 98-99, 99-00, 02-03 03-04, 04-05, 05-06, 06-07, 07-08, 08-09, 09-10, 10-11, 11-12 Second Class Award: 2000-01, 01-02, 10-11 (web-site), 11-12 (paper and website), 13 (paper)

It is the policy of the Lar-edo Independent School District not to discrimi-nate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gen-der, limited English pro-ficiency, or handicapping condition in its programs.

The Magnet TribuneThe Magnet Tribune is a publica-

tion produced by students in the Journalism, Newspaper Production and Photojournalism classes of the Vidal M. Treviño School of Com-munications and Fine Arts, Laredo Independent School District. This publication provides readers with information relating to the school and its students, provides stu-dents a lab for producing a news-paper using professional-level computer software and offers an open forum for student opinion. The Magnet Tribune is distributed free of charge.

Dr. Martha VillarrealSchool director

Mark WebberJournalism instructor and adviser

The Magnet Tribune

Vol. 22, No. 1, January 5, 2015Nameplate on page one was

produced by Brandon Gamez, sophomore, for use beginning in the 2014-15 school year.

Production is by VMT journal-ism/online media/CTE students using Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop on HP computers.

Printed by Greater Dallas PressCopyright ©2015 Vidal M.

Treviño School of Communica-tions and Fine Arts and The Mag-net Tribune.

ILPC

ObservationsBy Delilah Gonzalez

Award of Distinguished Merit: 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 (Star nomination), 2010 (online)Award of Achievement: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2011, 2011 (online), 2012 (online)Award of Honor: 1998, 2004, 2005

See MARTHA, page 10

Waffle IronBy Michelle Fraire

Breaking up hurts, but pick up the piecesThe Bug

By Martha Inguanzo

Page 9: The Magnet Tribune, Jan. 5, 2015

10 The MagneT Tribune

January 5, 2015School newS

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heart and the missing piece of her heart was there. He com-pleted her. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to her and she wouldn’t change him for anything.

He listens to her. He un-

derstands her. He gives her advice. He’s the best boyfriend anyone can ever ask for. She’s glad that god brought him into her life and she wants him to stay with her forever.

Not everyone thinks how

they think. He’s her other half. He was made for her. After so many months of depression and having her heart closed, she finally decided to open it.

She doesn’t regret it at all whatsoever. He makes her re-

alize that not everyone is the same. It just takes time to find the right person. You’ll find that person eventually though and realize that love really ex-ists. Just be patient and don’t rush into things. And remem-

ber to treat the person that you are with nicely. They are people, not things. Not just be-cause you are going out with means that you have the right to abuse of them and do what-ever you want with them.

MarTha, froM page 9

Decorations for the season

Christmas trees:

This decoration, in the Choir house, incorporates musical symbols. This wreath decorates the Urbahn Building.

Left: Harding Building. Center: Urbahn Building. Right: Office. There’s also a tree in the Choir building.

MT photos byMilton Hattem

andKaylah Reyes

These Christmas decorations are part of a much larger, elaborate display in the library.

The Magnet Tribune online: http://magnettribune.org Facebook: MagnetTribune, Twitter: @Magnet_Tribune, iTunes: search for The Magnet Tribune

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11The MagneT Tribune

January 5, 2015 School newShttp://magnettribune.org, Twitter. @Magnet_Tribune, www.facebook.com/MagnetTribune

New campus nearly done

Page designed by Victoriano Garcia

MT photos by Michelle Fraire and Krysta Robles

VMT’s new campus will be ready to use in the fall. Costing about $24 million, it will have specialized areas for music, dance, communication, visual arts and theatre as well as academic classrooms. The ground-breaking ceremony for the school took place April 29, 2013.

More photos, video online at: http://magnettribune.org/?p=3979http://magnettribune.org/?p=4011

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12 The MagneT Tribune

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By edward Barrera

Mt staff writer

A student who dressed as a hot-dog stirred up

much laughter during The Magnet Tribune’s af-ternoon costume contest.

Ethan Vega, who won the Funniest category, stirred up the crowd with his dancing.

The annual afternoon contest was held Friday, Oct. 31, on the outdoor stage next to the cafeteria.

Celso Hernandez, a se-nior who dressed as 1950s rock star Richie Valens, talked about the contest.

“It was a good event. It was very school appropri-ate,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez also spoke about the costume he wore to the contest.

“Due to my costume, (students) were persis-tent for me to perform the song ‘La Bamba’ on my guitar since I was dressed as Ritchie Valens. It was funny at first, but it wasn’t so funny at the end of the day,” Hernandez said.

“I felt like (the contest) was a war to the death. … If it actually were I would have died for I came out last. Either way, I still got a token of appreciation. Whether I were to come in first or last, it was all for fun in the end,” he said of his honorable mention in the Most Original category.

Miguel Zamarripa, fresh-man, a staff writer who was a judge at the contest, also enjoyed seeing the cos-tumes.

“I thought the contest was pretty awesome. There weren’t a lot of costumes, but they were cool,” Zamar-ripa said. “The most unique one was Alice in Wonder-land. There were three girls, one dressed as Alice, one as the Mad Hatter, and one as the cat.”

Zamarripa talked about the hardest part of judging the contest.

“The hardest thing was the costumes. They were

pretty cool, so it was hard to decide for first, second, and third place,” Zamarripa said.

Two contests were planned on that day: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. However, due to rainy weather, the morning contest was cancelled.

The contest had five categories: Couples, Cut-est, Funniest, Scariest, and Most Original. Most Origi-nal had the most entries while Funniest had one entry.

Amaranta Espinosa, who received an honorable men-tion for her costume as a nun in the Couples catego-ry, enjoyed participating.

“(People) were surprised (at our costumes) but they seemed pleased about it,” Espinosa said.

Espinosa wasn’t the only person dressed as a nun; her costume was part of a single entry to the contest: three nuns.

The two others dressed as nuns were Cristina Gi-nez and Andrea Arredondo, who are both sophomores.

---Winners are below. Listed

are names of contestants, their costume and place. Names are from the registra-tion lists.

CutestKevin Gonzalez, Peter Pan, 1stAmanda Guevara, Panda, 2ndLaura Coleman, Scarecrow, 3rdBecky Merito, Minnie Mouse,

honorable mentionFunniestEthan Vega, Hotdog, 1st(one entry)ScariestDenisse Alvarez, Jigsaw, 1stJose Ugarte, Serial Killer, 2nd(two entries)Most OriginalRodrigo Ramirez, Cholo, 1stDaniela Ramon, Kim Possible,

2ndRuby Salas, Captain America,

3rdCelso Hernandez, Richie Va-

lens, honorable mentionCouplesMarissa Guerrero, Clarissa

Guerrero, Lidia Palacios, Alice in Wonderland, 1st

Sergio Hernandez and Sherline Salazar, Mary Poppins-Bert, 2nd

Marina Medellin and Anayansi Ortegon, Mimes, 3rd

Cristina Jimenez, Amaranta Espinoza, Andrea Arredondo, nuns, honorable mention

Contest brings out the funContestants for Most Original costume pose for the judges during the afternoon Halloween Costume Contest at the cafeteria outdoor stage.

Contestants wait while the judges look at their costumes.

Marina Medellin and Anayansi Ortegon dressed and acted as mimes.

Cristina Ginez, Amarana Espinoza and Andrea Arredondo dressed as nuns.

Couples contestants walk on the stage.

Sherline Salazar and Sergio Hernandez dressed as Mary Poppins and Bert.

Cutest category: Kevin Gonzalez, Amanda Guevara, Laura Coleman and Becky Merito.

Contestants leave the stage after judging.

Contestants in the Couples category show off their costumes.

Ethon Vega was in the Funniest category.

Page design by Delilah Gonzalez

MT photos by Victoriano Garcia and Susana Ginez More photos online at:

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