2016 January Bark - Grant Community High School

The Bark
Bulldog
Cup
Standings
Freshman
34
Sophomores
24
28
Juniors
Seniors
22
The Bark Staff
Adviser
Mr. Boby
Editor-in-Chief
Katie McEnery
Sports Editor
Evan Viscioni
Reporters
JP Carreon
Bella Ehresman
Angelica Hornewer
Marissa Jezioro
Michelle Lumpkins
Lizeth Pacheco
Mia Reyes
Willa Stauffer
Melissa Valle
Dylan Ward
Page 1
Grant Community High School
I s s ue 4
Students of the Month:
December: Zachary Cooper
By: Dylan Ward and Willa Stauffer
Do you have a nickname?
Zach, but my friends also call
me Coop.
What is the farthest you’ve
been from Grant?
Either Romania or Uruguay. I
went to Uruguay to volunteer
to build houses out of clay since
Uruguay has very little wood to
build homes. And for families
that have very little income. I
went to Romania to volunteer at
a soccer camp where I designed
and coached drills for children.
What extracurricular activities
do you participate in?
I participate in track, marching
band, solo and ensemble trumpet,
soccer, and math team.
What honors/awards have you
received?
Oh geez, I’ve been recognized
as an A.P. Scholar, National
Honor Society, a North Suburban
Conference Athlete, Honor Roll,
and I am all-sectional for soccer.
I’m also in the Academic Top 10.
Are there any issues that you
care strongly about?
Honestly,
I
really
hate
participation awards.
What academic achievements
have you earned?
I have scored a 5 on all my four
of my AP tests, a 33 on my ACT,
and my GPA is a 5.009/4.00. This
places me 8th in my class.
How do you keep a healthy
school/life balance?
I just try to get my homework
done, get A’s. It’s only high
school, life starts after it. That’s
what I like to keep in mind.
Are you involved in any
community organizations?
I do a lot of volunteering and right
now I volunteer as a futsal trainer.
What has been most rewarding
so far this year?
My English project is going
well. I think I’m going to get a
really good grade on it.
What do you want your life to
be like in 5 years? 10 years?
In five years, I’m sure I’ll still be
a student going after my masters
or doctorate degree.
In ten years, I want to be working
at a company for aerospace
Where do you want to go to
college? For what?
I would like to attend either
Purdue or University of Michigan
for Aerospace Engineering.
Photo courtesy of Dylan Ward
engineering to tackle projects.
Do you have any hobbies?
I enjoy learning lab safety and
doing crossword puzzles. I also
enjoy ping-pong and naming
the planets in steeple formation.
Some other hobbies include:
astrophysics, coaching soccer,
mathematics, and spacecraft.
What are your favorite movies/
T.V shows?
Star Wars is definitely my favorite
movie, but I don’t watch much
T.V.
Do you have any stresses?
Basically, just not getting an A.
What comes easiest to you as a
student?
Math or Physics. Math is my
favorite class and I enjoy it a lot.
What’s your favorite weekend
activity?
Playing soccer at the Grant field.
Do you have any advice to those
who wish to be as successful as
you?
Try to focus, in order to win up
here [your head].
January: Anna Ngo
By: Bella Ehresman and Willa Stauffer
Where are you planning to go
college?
Anna is deciding between 18
different colleges!
“I applied to all the colleges that
had a six year pharmaceutical
program; including UIC, Ohio
State, Midwestern,” she said.
“I have visited Chapman in
California and UIC, but I plan to
visit more schools during Spring
Break.”
What do you intend to major
in?
She intends to major in a
pharmaceutical program.
“When I was 13, I had a friend
with asthma. Ever since then, I’ve
always wanted to help others and
teach them about the medication
that will help them.”
Where do you see yourself in
five, ten years?
In five years, she sees herself
still in pharmacy school, but in
What do you like to do in
your free time?
“In my free time, I like
to paint my nails, create
henna, watch things on
my computer and create
anything artsy.”
ten years she sees herself
working as a researcher.
What
extracurricular
activities are you involved
in?
Besides FBLA, Anna is
also involved in NHS, Math
Team, Speech Team and
she volunteers at the Vista
Hospital.
What honors and awards
have you received?
Anna has earned academic
top ten every year of high
school and has been on
the AP Scholar list. Also,
she is the president of
Future Business Leaders
of America (FBLA) where
she won seventh place
for
National
Business
Ethics and fourth place at
state championships for
Emerging Business Issue.
What else do you want
people to know about you?
“I’m not naturally a genius.
A lot of hard work goes
into everything I do. With
some hard work and a lot
of determination, anyone
could do what I do.”
When people doubt Anna,
she takes it upon herself to
prove to other people that
she can do anything she sets
her mind to.
Photo courtesy of Bella Ehresman
January 22, 2016
Opinion
I s s ue 4
Grant Community High School
LGBT+ media exploitation
By: Dylan Ward
In the past, it was unheard
of for LGBT+ people (lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and
other inclusive gender/sexual
identities) to be portrayed in the
media.
But now, the acceptance
of LGBT+ relationships has
grown to the point where these
relationships that were once
thought of as sinful and disgusting
are now being represented in
modern day advertisements as
normal.
Recently, Tiffany &
Co., a high-end jewelry retailer,
aired a commercial in which a
real life gay couple was depicted
proposing marriage and acting
like a normal couple. The
company noted that this tactic
was a way to broaden their old
views on conservative marriage.
Similarly,
Doritos
and Burger King also released
pride-friendly
programs
and advertisements. Doritos
announced in September 2015
that they were working with the
It Gets Better Campaign to help
encourage the support of those
who receive hate for their sexual/
gender identification.
The chip company
partnered with the project and
if you donated more than ten
dollars to the campaign, you were
sent a free bag of limited edition
rainbow-colored Doritos chips.
The company sold out of the
chips in one week and raised over
$100,000 for the campaign.
Burger
King
also
implemented a pride themed
program in which, similarly to
Doritos, their famous Whoppers
came wrapped in a rainbowcolored wrapper that said “We are
all the same on the inside.”
Many LGBT+ and
tolerant members of society are
appreciative of being represented
as normal members of society.
What is not spoken of is why
these companies have chosen
to incorporate LGBT+ into
their marketing propaganda.
The companies claim they
are aiming to show their
support for the oppressed
community, but in reality,
these companies are just like
any other, and who is to say
they aren’t using this tactic to
create more business?
These commercials
no doubt draw new audiences
and new customers to their
business. Research has shown
that commercials and ads
draw much more attention,
both negative and positive,
when LGBT+ communities are
represented.
Are companies taking
advantage of the newfound social
acceptance in order to generate
more revenue? And if they are, is
it a bad thing?
As a part of the
community myself, I find it
empowering that LGBT+s are
making large strides towards
equal rights, protection and
Tiffany & Co. ad depicting a young gay couple.
representation.
I
do,
however,
believe there is some degree of
exploitation in this advertising.
While many companies may be
LGBT+-friendly and supportive,
it should be expected that their
support is being used in order
to generate more interest. Other
populations in the media are
exploited as well: women are
exploited by companies with large
billboards depicting beautiful,
skinny models in lingerie and
men are exploited by companies
that advertise shirtless men with
large muscles and six pack abs.
Media exploitation is a
matter of big business and while it
isn’t just the LGBT+ community
that is being exploited, it is a
fresher method of spawning more
customers and interest. While
I have mixed feelings on the
subject matter, I do believe that
there is progress being made and
that is all the LGBT+ community
could ask for.
Cheerleader uniforms are not appropriate
By: Genevieve Torrey
Are
cheerleader’s
uniforms appropriate? This has
been a major question at Grant for
years. In fact, it was an issue when
my sister first started attending
Grant five plus years ago. If the
appropriateness of cheerleading
uniforms isn’t an issue, then why
has it been controversial for such
a long time?
The answer is simple: it
is an issue.
In “Are cheerleader
uniforms appropriate for school”
Lizeth Pacheco states “banning
cheerleading uniforms would be
like banning school spirit.” (The
Bark Issue 3, page 2) However,
by writing this, Pacheco denies
all the other spirit teams including
dance, marching band, and super
fans, whose job is also to spread
school spirit. Not to mention the
fact that she is also denying the
skill of cheerleaders themselves.
Isn’t the spirit from
cheerleaders meant to come from
their skill and pep? Isn’t stating
that cheerleaders’ spirit comes
solely from their uniforms the
same as stating that cheerleaders
wouldn’t be useful without them?
Are short skirts really what makes
up all of Grant’s school spirit?
In the school handbook,
the dress code clearly states,
“The Board of Education has
designated these items are
inappropriate for school… shorts
or skirts that are above finger
length when hands rest at sides.”
(GCHS student planner, page 14)
Cheerleading uniforms
clearly disobey that regulation
regardless if, as Pacheco writes,
“cheerleaders
wear
shorts
underneath their skirts.” The
spanks, along with the skirts
cheerleaders wear, do not
conform with the dress code,
therefore they are not appropriate.
The article also states
that cheerleaders “are just trying
to show their school spirit like any
other student athletes do when
wearing their jerseys.” However
I have yet to see a team wearing
their jerseys around school except
football, but then their jerseys
comply with the dress code.
When asked about the
team’s wardrobe on spirit days,
Megan Vanata, freshman, a
member of Grant’s varsity dance
team, responded “we have a lot
of spirit wear, they just wear their
uniforms.”
This is true among all
athletes. If their uniform is not
compliant with school dress code,
they wear their team’s spirit wear
instead except the cheerleaders.
In her article which
accompanies the opinion piece,
Willa Stauffer reports that the
District 300 superintendent said
“just as volleyball players can’t
wear their uniform shorts and
wrestlers can’t wear their singlets
to school, cheerleaders would
not be allowed to wear their
uniforms.”
It’s not the fact that the
cheerleaders wear their uniforms
while performing that is an
issue, it’s true the length of the
skirt is perfect for what they are
accomplishing, the issue is that
the cheerleaders are permitted
to wear their uniforms around
school but if any other girl were
to wear a skirt that short they
would be asked to change and
subject to discipline.
The path to fixing this
issue is simple: either change
the dress code to comply with
the length of the cheerleader’s
skirts, or ban the uniforms from
spirit days. Even with a ban on
the uniforms, the cheerleaders
can still show their pride for their
team by wearing spirit wear.
Grant needs a shooting team
By: Gena Bacsa
Page 2
There are many students
at Grant who hunt and are familiar
with firearms, so a shooting team
would have lots of appeal for
students. Many parents would be
grateful knowing that their sons
and daughters were learning gun
safety.
A team could get kids
out of the house and to stop
playing video games.
Hunting is popular in
the towns around Grant. Most
students have some friends and
family who hunt. Because hunting
and firearms use is valued in this
area, it makes sense that Grant
would include it.
A shooting team would
help students to have goals, just as
other athletes and club members
have goals. It will help kids to be
disciplined and respectful.
Grant students Kenny Beverley and Gene Bacsa after earning an
award at the Scholastic Clay Target Program shooting competition.
Photo courtesy of Gena Bacsa
January 22, 2016
Features
I s s ue 4
Grant Community High School
New Teacher: Mr. Cernek
By: Mia Reyes
and Melissa Valle
Jordan
Cernek
(pronounced
sir-neck),
27,
has taught for three years. He
was offered his first teaching
job at Bolivar High School in
Tennessee. He chose to come to
Grant because of the “positive,
professional atmosphere,” he
says and he moved to Illinois to
be closer to his family.
At Grant, Mr. Cernek
teaches English 10. He teaches
English because he likes to read
and write. He also coaches the
freshman football team.
When Mr. Cernek was
younger he wanted to be a farmer
because he wanted to work with
animals and loves to be in nature.
He graduated from Clinton High
School in Wisconsin where he
played football, basketball and
baseball. He was also in band
where he played the trombone.
He was very involved in sports
because he enjoyed them and his
parents were also very athletic. Mr.
Cernek’s father played football
and baseball in college. His father
coaches middle school football
and basketball. His mother was in
track and volleyball.
Mr. Cernek graduated
from Greenville College in
Illinois with a bachelor’s degree.
In his free time, Mr.
Cernek sings and plays the guitar.
He plays music for his church
sometimes. He dreams about
traveling to Africa one day to go
on a safari. If Mr. Cernek was not
a teacher, he says that he would
probably own a lawn care and
tree service because of his love
for nature.
“She’s very beautiful,”
he says, referring to his wife,
Lauren. She graduated from
the University of Memphis and
works as a nanny.
New Teacher: Mrs. Gaura
By: Lizeth Pacheco
Don’t
be
confused, you may have known
her as Ms. Faith but she is now
Mrs. Gaura!
One of our newest
teachers changed her name after
a fall wedding.
Mrs. Ashley Gaura, 24,
is a new teacher here at Grant
Community High School. She
teaches U.S history, psychology
and honors English 9. She loves
these subjects and she is also
learning how to teach psychology.
Mrs. Gaura taught at Zion High
School for two years before
coming to Grant.
When Mrs. Gaura was in
high school she was an involved
student. She played the flute, was
in color guard for marching band,
the National Honor Society and
academic clubs.
Here at Grant she
sponsors Winter Guard.
When Mrs. Gaura was
younger, she wanted to be a
teacher because her mother was
a teacher. She saw how much her
mother loved the students and
loved teaching, so she wanted to
do the same. If Mrs. Gaura wasn’t
a teacher, she would be happy
writing historical books.
“They are the perfect
blend of learning about history
while reading an interesting
book,” she said.
“Since I am a new
teacher it was fun getting to meet
the other teachers,” when being
apart of the flash mob at the first
pep assembly of the year she
adds.
If there was one place
Mrs. Gaura could travel to she
would like to visit Scotland so she
could go camping there.
This year, Mrs. Guara
married David Guara on October
3rd. He works as a Farmstead
manager in Fox Lake and he is
also a store trainee at Jewel-Osco.
Mrs. Guara attended
University
of
WisconsinWhitewater. Mrs. Guara looks
forward to being a part of the
Grant Community.
Afternoon Acoustics
By Angelica Hornewer
Guitar club, sponsored
by Ms. Forbes, is a great place to
hang out and learn how to play
guitar. Students practice their guitar playing and even teach others.
Michelle Nguyen, senior, says her favorite part of
Guitar Club is “getting to jam out
with others!”
Trinity Anderson, freshman, has already “learned to read
cap.” Cap is the sheet music gui-
tarists read from when playing.
“I play, teach others, and
come in to tune the guitars,” said
Jeff Straub, senior.
For students who are not
yet familiar with Ms. Forbes, she
is a fun and energetic English 11
teacher. Her passion for music is
expressed through her involvement with Guitar Club as any
former or current student of hers
would agree.
When asked if Ms.
Forbes is successful at running
guitar club, Sydney Mayhew,
sophomore, nods her head “yes”
as she strums her guitar.
Guitar Club meets every other Tuesday directly after
school in room 250 where you
will be greeted by a group of laid
back, guitar strumming students
and one lively teacher.
OVERHEARD
“It’s nice to work with my hands after a day
of writing. After we make something we
can use the laser engraver to engrave it.”
Joey Meyer, freshman, on why he likes Woodworking Club.
Powerful writing, beautiful art, all student
created.
Are you interested in being a part of
Grant’s newest creative community?
GCHS Literary Journal
Attend a morning meeting or just stop by.
All students are welcome.
Finally, a place to showcase student
writing and artwork including:
Poetry – Stories – Songs – Raps - Personal
Narratives - Original Student Artwork
See Mr. Boby in room 235B.
Photo courtesy of Angelica Hornewer
Page 3
January 22, 2016
Sports
I s s ue 4
Grant Community High School
Lady Bulldogs Talent Pipeline
dominate the court
By: Michelle Lumpkins and Mia Reyes
By: Marissa Jezioro
The Lady Bulldogs have
become a force to be reckoned
with in the North Suburban
Conference.
Their newest addition is
Coach Kathie Swanson. Swanson,
previously a coach at Libertyville
and Elk Grove high schools with
three conference championships
under her belt, now hopes to lead
Grant in the same direction.
The girls’ basketball
team is currently 9-5 and the
only thing holding them back is
themselves. After a nine game
winning streak the team lost three
games.
“When we focus on
the little things we play well,”
said Swanson, “but our biggest
challenge is inconsistency.”
Team Captain Jordynn
Hundley agrees and adds, “Going
into this season with a new coach
all the players kept an open mind.
We were excited for a challenge
and ready to be pushed to become
better. Our nine game winning
streak came to an end over the
holiday tournament, but we’re
ready for the oncoming games
Results
Date
Team
Score
11/18
11/20
12/1
at Mundelein
vs Carmel
at Round Lake
42-40 W
45-32 W
49-32 W
12/5
12/8
at East Aurora
at Dundee-Crown
64-44 W
40-37 W
12/11
vs Vernon Hills
50-45 W
12/12
at North Chicago
57-23 W
12/21
vs Cary-Grove
48-46 W
12/22
vs Libertyville
24-39 L
12/23
at Lake Zurich
19-39 L
12/26
vs Lakes
38-42 L
11/16
Mallory Haritty against Round Lake
Photo courtesy of VIP
within the next few weeks.”
According to Coach
Swanson, the Lady Bulldogs
focus on the team as a whole, they
stress commitment, positivity
and accountability, not only in
practice but also on the court.
Although the season has
had its ups and downs, Coach
Swanson says, “this group has a
lot of potential and ability and I’m
looking forward to them putting it
together in the second half of the
season so we can surprise people
in the playoffs.”
vs Grayslake North
44-48 L
The wrestling program
is off to a great start this season.
Both the varsity and freshmen
teams are 13-2. The JV team has
won three tournaments in a row
and is undefeated in team meets,
15-0.
“Everything we are
doing is working towards the end
of the year,” said Mr. Grodoski,
the varsity wrestling coach, “we
get better every single week, as a
program.”
Coach
Grodoski
acknowledges that wrestling
starts early and he said that the
reason they are successful at the
varsity level is because of the
program below it.
Seniors
Christian
Kanzler, Justin Gilich and Kobe
Lear are varsity’s stand out
wrestlers so far this season.
“They have all competed
at a very high level,” said
Grodoski.
“We are looking forward
to the state series and seeing how
well we can do as individuals and
as a team,” said Justin Gilich and
Christian Kanzler.
“Every weight class is
tough in its own way, they present
different challenges,” said Mr.
Grodoski.
Tucker
Rogan,
sophomore, has shown a lot of
heart this season according to
Grodoski. “He has wrestled a lot
of tough opponents and never
gets discouraged.” When asked if the
coaches wear suits to each
match in order to intimidate
their opponents, Mr. Foster, the
sophomore coach jokes, “Coach
Grodoski doesn’t need a suit to
intimidate anyone, it happens
naturally!”
“We take this very
seriously,” said Grodoski, “I think
we need to present ourselves as
such.”
Justin Gilich against Wauconda
Photo courtesy of VIP
Grant shoots for success
By: Evan Viscioni
The
boys
varsity
basketball team started off 1-4 in
a Thanksgiving tournament that
Grant hosted. The team played
some of the toughest competition
in the Chicagoland area, including
teams such as North Lawndale,
Lake Zurich and Waukegan who
are all forces to be reckoned with
in Illinois, and the heightened
competition seems to be paying
off as the Bulldogs have gone 6-3
since then!
Coach Bosworth stated,
“This is a team who is really
improving and getting better this
season,” said Coach Bosworth.
“The strength of [the] schedule
has really paid off and they’ve
proven they can play with some
of the best teams around.”
Andy Kaye, junior, hit
a layup off an assist from Logan
Lewis, junior defeat defending
conference champions Vernon
Hills 56-54.
After that they traveled
to Round Lake and squeezed
out a 56-55 win to improve their
overall record to 3-4 and 2-0 in
Page 4
the conference.
Next we competed at
the Jacobs Christmas tournament
winning three games against
Lakes, Rockford Jefferson and
Cary Grove, while losing two.
Following
the
tournament the Bulldogs traveled
to Lake Villa to take on their
rivals Lakes. The team played
with passion and energy and
walked out of Lakes with a 5851 victory and a 3-0 record in the
conference. The sophomores and
freshman teams also walked out
with wins and a 3-0 record in the
conference to complete the sweep
at Lakes.
“That was a big sweep
for the entire program,” said
Bosworth, “and the best part is
it hasn’t just been Lakes. Every
division game so far has been a
sweep for the program including
Round Lake, defending division
champion Vernon Hills, and now
Lakes who is consistently right
near the top of the division. All
levels are playing extremely well
and we’re looking to keep it going
and hopefully add some
more schools into the
column of who we’ve
been able to sweep
across the board.”
More recently
the Bulldogs ballers
struck again on January
12th when they showed
rival
Wauconda
Bulldogs who the big
dawgs really are with
a 4th straight program
sweep. The varsity
team won 57-51, and
both the sophomore
and freshman teams
defended their home
court in a decisive
fashion to walk out with
victories.
The
varsity
team currently has an
8-7 record and 4-0 in the
conference.
“Our boys in
this program deserve
a lot of credit for what
they’ve been able to do
so far,” acknowledges
Coach Bosworth.
Results
Date Team
11/23
Score
vs Hoffman Estates 61-58 W
11/24
vs North Lawndale
57-93 L
11/25
vs Lake Zurich
60-61 L
11/27
vs Waukegan
69-60 L
11/28
vs. Carmel
56-62 L
12/3
vs. Vernon Hills
56-54 W
12/9
at Round Lake
65-64 W
12/19 vs Cary-Grove
61-47 W
12/21 vs Zion-Benton
74-84 L
12/22 vs Marian Central
76-79 L
12/23 vs Rockford Jefferson 64-62 W
12/26 vs Lakes
78-75 W
1/2
at Prairie Ridge
54-74 L
1/8
at Lakes
58-51 W
1/12
vs Wauconda
57-51 W
Drew Walker against Vernon Hills
Photo courtesy of VIP
January 22, 2016