DREAM Act: It was only just a dream Mr

words of a feather
January 28, 2011
The Official Student Newspaper of
the Crete High School Cardinals
1500 E. 15th St.
Crete, Neb. 68333
Volume 5 Issue 6
DREAM Act: It was only just a dream
Courtesy Photo
The DREAM Act was proposed by Sen. Orin Hatch [R-UT] and Sen. Richard Durbin [D-IL].
That would have helped about 65,000 immigrant students who do not get the opportunity to go
to college.
Marilyn Balaños
Layout/Design Editor
“What are you going to do
after high school?”
“I’m not sure.”
This is an answer many
senior immigrant students
tend to respond with.
On December 19th, 2010,
the DREAM Act 2010 was
denied by the senate.It needed 60 votes for approval and
the vote ended with 51-41.
DREAM, standing for the
Development, Relief, and
Education for Alien Minors
Act, is a law that would give
immigrant students the opportunity to go to college and
receive citizenship after six
years.
They would have a Conditional Permanent Residency,
which makes them able to
attend college like a legal
teachers, feels that it is very
beneficial.
“Last year Mr. Hintz made
my classroom podium in a
very short amount of time,”
Whitwer said.
Whitwer was not the only
teacher to benefit from the
hands of CHS’s woodworkers. Jay Quinn had a trophy
made by senior Micheal Tran
who has also worked and
helped with many other projects around the school. When
asked what kind of things he
had done for the school, Tran
explained he had completed
a plethora of projects. Not
only did he give an extensive
list but he could not even recall all of the projects he had
done.
“…the score box out on
the baseball field, podiums,
trophies, and the stands when
you enter the gym. I don’t
know. There is too much I
have done to name them all,”
senior Michael Tran said.
Agreeing with Tran, Principal Tim Conway also had
a long list of projects he has
completed for the benefit of
the school.
“…trophy cases, window
frames, score boxes, tearing out the risers in the gym,
there are just so many things.
I can’t even begin to put my
finger on the things we have
made for the school,” Conway said.
Another thing that Conway, Tran, And many other
students and staff share is the
feeling they get when they
walk down the hall and see a
piece of work they have done.
According to Conway he
feels that this type of handson work is a good chance for
students to work with real
situations and it could possibly even mean more to the
students.
“I’m sure it means more
to the students knowing that
their work will be around
and used for years to come,”
Conway said.
Not only is money being
saved and costs being cut, but
time consumption is also cut
down. According to Conway
he installed the score box in
the gym within a matter of
four weekends with the help
of Moore.
“I only dedicate a small
amount of hours out of my
weekend to the school.”
Conway said.” Even that is
enough to finish a big project
within the time that anyone
resident, but not able to go
abroad for long periods of
time. The DREAM Act 2010
would also allow immigrant
students to receive student
loans and federal work-study
programs.
In order for a student to
qualify, he or she must have
no criminal record, lived in
the United States for at least
six years, graduated from a
Nebraska high school, and
obtained a two- or four-year
degree from a U.S. college or
have been in military service
for at least two years.
“All I want is to go to college. It’s not like I am going
to take anything away from
anyone else, and anyway it
is not my fault that I grew
up in a country that everyone
else thinks is not mine. I have
lived in the United States
since I was four,” an anonymous student said, “ I don’t
even remember Mexico.”
The
Nebraska
senators both voted against the
DREAM Act.
Senator Ben Nelson posted on his website why he is
against the proposal.
“I do not support the
DREAM Act and I will vote
against it. I oppose it because
it is an (unorganized) approach to illegal immigration
and I believe border security
must be our first priority. I
will vote for cloture on this
bill to allow the legislation
to move forward for an up or
down vote,” Nelson said.
Senator Mike Johanns
also gave his views concerning the DREAM Act on his
website.
“I am not unsympathetic
to the plight of children in
this country illegally who
are facing difficult circumstances,” Johanns said. “Yet
offering citizenship to illegal
immigrants would not be just
while so many are waiting to
enter the country legally and
also desire an American education for their children.”
Before the Dream Act was
denied on June 9th, 2010,
about 150 people gathered
around the Nebraska capital
to proclaim their concerrns of
allowing the DREAM Act.
One O’Neill student, Daniel Dominguez, 17, walked
195 miles from O’Neill to
Lincoln because he supports
the legislation.
A group of seventy people
completed the last two-mile
walk from Devaney through
the University of NebraskaLincoln to the capital chanting, “Education, not deportation,” and “We are the
dreamers.”
Although the DREAM
Act did not pass, there is still
a way for undocumented immigrant students to go to college. According to Couselor
Karen Buckfink, everyone
can go to college, but the
problem is that when an immigrant student has their
degree they can’t get a job
unless they are legal U.S citizens.
“I want to be an immigration lawyer, but I’m not sure
how I’m going to be that
when I’m not even legal,”
anonymous said.
This month, Senator
Charlie Janssen of Fremont
proposed the repeal of the
DREAM Act of 2006 which
allows illegal students instate tuition.
“I didn’t even want to
come to school the next
day when I found out the
DREAM Act was denied because I thought, ‘well what’s
the point of being there if I
won’t be able to practice
what I have learned,’” anonymous said.
else could do it.”
The students and staff are
doing projects that are completed for the school just
because they have the “raw
talent” as Tran called it. They
are saving money and cutting costs subconsciously,
therefore helping the school
by putting more money into
other areas of necessity for
the school.
Mr. Conway, shop students cut costs
Mercy Thatcher
Staff Reporter
In This Issue...
With the state of the economy, schools are digging up
different ways to save money
and cut costs.
CHS has been doing things
for years to save money,and
according to Principal Tim
Conway, the projects he has
seen have been completed
with the help of Industrial
Technology teachers, Activities Director Jim Moore, and
a variety of students. They
aren’t just to save money, but
also because “why pay someone else to do something that
we can do?”
“I don’t pay attention to
the price of things,” Conway said. “I just feel that if
we have the capability to do
something, if not do it better,
I don’t see why we wouldn’t,”
Conway said.
Even though saving money may not be the goal here,
many students and teachers feel that it does help in
many ways to not only save
money but cut the cost of
things down a great amount.
Social Studies teacher Chris
Whitwer, out of many of the
Page 2:
Video games reveal
beneficiary results
Page 6:
Cheerleaders involve
aspiring members
Photo by Will Veguilla
Shop classes have lowered the cost of projects around the school. Participating students gain
experience as they also help the school in doing so.
Page 8:
Grapplers get a grip
on their weight
Page 10:
Crete graduate shares
her story of success
January 28, 2010
Page 2
words of a feather
News
Priority 1: Safety for all
Practice makes a prepared staff, students
Jessalynn Holdcraft
Copy/Content Editor/
Staff Coordinator
April 20, 1999: two students entered Columbine
High School with guns and
killed 12 students and one
teacher before committing
suicide.
September 22, 2010: a
man went to Americold near
Crete. He wounded three coworkers then killed himself.
January 5, 2011: a student
returned to school after being
suspended earlier in the day
and shot his principal and
killed his vice principal. He
left school and shot himself.
“I told my husband a long
time ago that when they started shooting administrators in
Nebraska that he was out, he
was done, that he wasn’t going to administrate anymore,
but that’s not the case, he
says that’s not going to happen,” World history teacher
Mary Conway said.
“It’s scary, it’s really scary
because he has to make decisions like that every day
about suspending people and
he makes decisions that at the
time are unpopular, particularly with students and with
parents and sometimes with
the community. It’s for the
greater good but people don’t
always see it that way at the
moment.”
Bold, black headlines burst
from front pages describing
every gruesome detail of the
attacks. Naturally, shock and
worry set into the readers.
“Of course, it reminded
me of Columbine because
it just makes me sick to my
stomach because schools are
supposed to be safe places.
They’re supposed to be safe
for kids and they’re supposed
to be safe for everybody including teachers and staff. It’s
like a church, it’s supposed to
be sacred, and everybody is
supposed to be
safe here,” Mrs.
Conway said.
“When
I
heard about it
was during my
plan and I immediately went
to the office to
just
reassure
myself that everything
was
ok. You know
on your conscious level that
it’s not happening here but
you just want to
check and make
sure everybody
is ok.”
The
first
thought is undoubtedly
it
could happen
here. However, Crete High
School is not Columbine, nor
is it Americold or Millard
South.
“As far as dealing with
weapons, I deal with it every
time hunting season arrives
because students forget because they get excited. The
biggest one I have is deer
hunters,” Principal Tim Conway said.
“They get their deer in the
morning and they come right
to school to show the deer
off but they’re so excited that
they forget that their firearm
is still in their vehicle. Common sense tells you that they
forgot, so you talk to the student, send them back home.
It has happened four or five
times since I’ve been here.”
“It’s a good thing that it’s
so rare. My thoughts on it
are that you prepare for the
worst and hope for the best.
All these schools, including
Millard South, they run these
drills just like we do and everybody prepares for it and
talks about it but the reality
is that you can’t always be
prepared for everything,” As-
and Dr. Doug Dolezal had extra practice with a false alarm
last semester.
“It was something that was
silly and stupid but hit you at
the same time because it was
so unexpected because at the
moment, no one had any idea
what happened or what went
on,” Royuk said.
Someone
slammed
Royuk’s
door
without warning.
“Everyone was
working in MAP
quietly and no
one saw it coming. But then a tile
from the ceiling
fell and the wall
cracked because
it got slammed so
hard,” Royuk said.
“I honestly looked
around to make
sure everyone was
all right and then I
went to out see in
the hallway and
that’s when I figured out what happened.”
While Royuk
thought
bomb,
Dolezal thought
gun.
Still, a disaster is a disaster
“At first I thought that
whether it is natural or man- sistant Principal/Activities someone had fired a gun out
made; therefore, the high Director Jim Moore said.
in the hallway so I made a
“You can do your best to B-line for the door,” Dolezal
school practices fire, tornado,
and intruder drills. According prevent, your best to prepare said. “It was during MAP,
to Mr. Conway, the school but if it’s going to happen so that’s about the only time
will have one intruder drill students are going to come in that I leave my door open
make it happen. It’s how you but when I got to the door,
each semester.
However, a simulation respond and protect everyone I realized that it hadn’t been
cannot mimic a real school else that sets you apart,” Mr. a gun and that someone had
shooting. That is why prepa- Conway said.
just slammed the door. But
Math teachers Kyle Royuk my first thought was ‘get the
ration is vital.
“Of course it reminded me of
Columbine
because it just makes me
sick to my stomach
because schools are
supposed to be safe places.”
-Mary Conway-
door closed’.”
Such incidents and threats
can be startling or routine.
“I’m threatened on a regular basis. Whether ‘I’m going
to sue you’ or I’ve had kids
tell me that they’re going to
kick my rear end and so forth
and so on. That’s a normal
day,” Mr. Conway said. “You
don’t take it personally; it’s
your job. How many people
come in and chew me out
throughout the course of a
day? How many parents are
upset with a decision you
have to make? If I took everything personally, I would
be a mess.”
Administrators, faculty,
and staff are trained to be
professional in the face of
any personal attacks.
“When people are upset
you’ve got to try to stay calm.
I mean that’s just the way it
is. All of the administrators
in this district, throughout
the state, everybody has had
crisis team training, but the
one thing you know is that
you’ve got to stay calm,”
Moore said. “If being calm
is professional, I think that’s
how you have to act.”
For the time being, there
is no direct threat to the high
school, but that doesn’t mean
that safety isn’t important.
“We got about 500 students in here and 60 teachers.
Every one of them is important,” Mr. Conway said.
“Students mean the world
to him and I know he would
do anything in his power to
protect them,” Mrs. Conway
said.
Video games shoot-down misbeliefs
Students, teachers play
video games, see
benefits academically
Dulce Castañeda
Copy/Content Editor
Pow Pow! Whoosh! Ch ch
ch ch!
Not only are these the
sounds of video games in
action, but they are the very
sounds that help anyone in
the spectrum from childhood
to adulthood with physical
and emotional troubles to improve in their daily routines.
Despite reports and reviews on the harmful effects
of video games, new studies
conclude that video games
may have their benefits as
well.
“They’re kind of like
books, except they’re more
visual,” junior Aaron McCain said.
Decision making and
quick thinking are essential components of learning
to play games ranging from
Mario Cart Wii to World of
Warcraft. According to the
U.S. Department of Defense,
video gamers can achieve an
increase from 10 to 20 percent in cognitive abilities,
proving that being able to
think rapidly can be an asset
to a soldier on the battlefield.
It’s no wonder then, why the
U.S. military amounts for half
of the money being spent on
the $40 million video game
market.
“I think it gives troops a
more realistic representa-
tion of what they’ll see when
they actually go out there,”
junior Patrick Haller said. “I
don’t know if they should
be spending that much, but I
think they need them.”
Additional research has
confirmed that playing these
games can result in better
vision and improved attention skills. The University
of Rochester, in a study, established that playing video
games for a few fours daily
over the course of a month
improved visual capabilities
by at least 20 percent.
“I have the least prescription out of my siblings. Because I play video games,
I have better eye power,”
sophomore Jack Hung said.
“It’s not fair that he doesn’t
need as much eye prescription as I do even though he
plays on the computer all the
time,” junior Amy Hung said
about her younger brother
Jack and his vision abilities
compared to hers.
Furthermore, video games
have been proven to enhance
the level of hand-eye coordination a gamer has.
“When I do something that
involves hand-eye coordination, it seems like I can do
it better thatn what I used to
be able to,” sophomore Ryan
Weide said.
In fact, even surgeons play
video games prior to performing surgery to decrease the error percentage by a minimum
of 37 percent when playing
the games for three hours a
week, details Verena Dobnik
in an Associated Press 2004
article. Also, those same surgeons were 25 percent quicker in carrying out a surgical
process as opposed to nongaming surgeons.
Moreover, playing video
games during adolescence
may very well prove to decrease the potential for developing Alzheimer’s at a
later age.
“I play ESPN College
Town and I also play the Wii.
I think it helps with spatial
skills. I do think it helps with
memory; I don’t think I would
go as far as to say it prevents
Alzheimer’s because I’m not
a doctor,” Weights teacher
Jay Quinn said about the benefits of video games. “Video
games are ok in moderation.
An hour a day playing video
games is not bad. Seven hours
in one sitting…that’s bad.”
Video games are also beneficial when it comes to giving young gamers and their
parents the opportunity to interact with one another.
“They’re
entertaining.
They’re good when it’s
snowing outside and you’re
bored. You can have a nice
time with family members,”
freshman and video game fanatic Steven Santos said.
Even violent video games,
which are often associated
with negative connotations,
are likely to help develop
skills in certain areas. Games
such as World of Warcraft and
Mortal Kombat have shown
to increase the use of following directions and using
logic to determine what type
of a decision should be made
in the gaming
world as in the
real world itself.
“I can focus
on that really
good. I have
some
games
from China so
I have to read
what it says
and that kind of
helps me read
some words,”
freshman Jacob
Schafer
said,
who has spent
11.5 hours in
a day playing
video games.
Gaming has
indeed brought
about room for
further investigations
and
could in fact be
used in school
systems in the
future as a learning device, as
schools in New
York City are
already doing.
“I
think
that using video games in
photo by Dulce Castañeda
schools is effective because Sophomore Jack Hung plays online video games on a Sunday afternoon. J.
kids like them Hung has the least eye prescription out of the rest of his sibilings; he believes
and they’re used it’s because he plays more video games on a regular basis than the others.
to them. I would
like it,” sophomore Preston
McElravy said.
h t t p : / / w w w. d e f e n s e .
gov/news/newsarticle.
aspx?id=57695
http://healthmad.com/
health/10-health-benefits-ofvideo-games/
http://www.msnbc.msn.
com/id/4685909/ns/technology_and_science-games/
Opinion
Page 3
January 28, 2011
words of a feather
Veguilla ponders 2011 and stuff
Will, With a Hint of Lemon
Will Veguilla
Staff Reporter/Columnist
I’ve never made
a New Year’s
Resolution – my
lifestyle choices
are already kind of
absolutely perfect.
So, because I’ve
got my own life
under control, I’ve
decided to make
2011 resolutions
for you, fellow students.
Resolution one: stop talking so dang loudly.
The only sorts of people I dislike more than
those who eat ice cubes as if they cure death (I
feel like someone is scraping a blunt, cold spoon
across my spine just writing about it) are those
who always talk as if they’re in the middle of a
screaming fire-tornado seven miles away. Even if
they’re, like, in a library, where it’s illegal to be
loud, these people are loud.
It might just be my excellent hearing – if you
drop a pin near me, blood will trickle out of my
sensitive ears (side note: if you fire a high-caliber weapon close to me, my ears will literally pop
away from my head and punch you into a liquid
state).
Or maybe these kids have a compulsive desire
to shout about everything. I don’t know.
So, I think it’d be best if we all tone it down a
bit – or, better yet, whisper. Yeah. Let’s whisper
for an entire year.
Imagine
how nice
that’d be.
We might
s t a r t
hearing
birds sing
or something.
Resolution two: solve all conflicts by danceoffs.
Recently, my eight-year-old sister and I got into
a fierce theological argument. Though I provided
her with numerous pieces of convincing evidence,
she refused to accept the fact that my favorite Tiki
god was more handsome than hers.
When, out of frustration, I was about to knock
her down with a chair, she told me: “Wait! Drop
that chair. Rihanna will tell us who’s right.”
When her Just Dance 2 video game loaded up,
a shoulder-burning Wii dance battle to Rihanna’s
“SOS” song ensued. I was 2,000 points ahead of
my sister by the end of it. Effectively destroyed,
she collapsed on her room’s leopard-fur rug and
wept: “You’re right. Your god is more handsome
than mine.” Well, naturally.
As I laughed at the little girl’s pathetic condition, I realized the significance of conducting dance
battles. All the thrill of violent combat without,
you know, actually slaying
someone. If
only all wars,
revolutions,
gang fights,
family feuds,
and even petty
quarrels were
waged in this
way - humans
would have to find cleverer ways of wasting themselves.
Final resolution: pretend everyone is out to get
you.
Right. Let me explain.
I realized I was the target of an international
conspiracy (again) when, left home alone one day
during Winter Break, I just about died ten times.
Bruised my elbows on the slippery stairs, busted
my glass-like knees on chairs unsafely placed
in the shadows, punctured a lung on a bafflingly
“Final resolution:
pretend everyone is
out to get you.”
sharp doorknob, and who the in the blue-hell just
leaves hot coals on the floor?
My house, I discovered, was a deathtrap.
I began limping to the store for bandages,
which were conspicuously absent from home. On
the way, an elderly couple offered me a ride. “Hop
in,” they said. “We’re old and, therefore, honest.”
“That’s completely fair.” I hopped in.
Driving along, the man said, “Wow, the roads
are so icy. I hope we don’t crash and die horribly.”
Abruptly, the man jerked the wheel to the right.
Like a rolling wildcat, I rolled out of the backseat
before the car collided with a parked pick-up and
burst into flames. I left the fiery scene without
even notifying the fire department.
Right then, I knew I was on a global hit-list.
So.
The rest of my break was spent productively.
I constructed a panic room. I exercised regularly
and balanced my budget – in case I need to make
a quick escape involving physically-challenging
obstacles and a lot of money. I broke my addiction
to egg-rolls, which would be scarce if I must ever
live in the wild with only canned tuna and a flare
gun. I even spend more time with my family. You
know, keep my enemies closer and all.
By living as if the world is one move away
from neutralizing me, I’m actually accomplishing
several common New Year’s resolutions.
Anyway. Ciao.
Editorial Policy:
The Words of a Feather staff gladly accepts letters to the editor and news releases from students, faculty, administration, community residents, and the general public. We ask these submissions be of
300 words or less and contain the author’s name, address, phone number and signature. All submissions will be verified in person and in writing. Our editorial staff withholds the right to refuse any
letter, and/or parts of any letter and may return a letter for revision if it contains unprotected speech or errors that could hamper its meaning. Please submit letters to Mrs. Wright in room 412.
words of a feather
Crete High School Journalism
c/o Crete High School
1500 E. 15th Street
Crete, NE 68333
Phone: (402) 826-5811
Editorial Staff:
Layout/Design Editors:
Jessica Thatcher
Marilyn Bolaños
Copy/Content Editors:
Jessalyn Holdcraft
Jake White
Dulce Castañeda
Sports/Photography
Editor:
Nicole Reetz
Business Manager:
Nicole Reetz
Circulation Manager:
Christina Jackson
Staff Coordinator:
Jessalyn Holdcraft
General Staff:
Senioritis Spreads Early
MAPs are assigned due to “bad grades”
A Few Words
From the Words Staff...
It’s the end of the Friday afternoon. Being a
senior, one has no MAP. Also, it’s the first Friday of the third quarter, and grades are, well,
decent. Feeling free, waiting to get out of that
eighth period class to go home and (not) work
on homework. Then you see Mrs. Stec heading your way. Your Friday afternoon just went
down the drain.
“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Stec says, “You have a
MAP. You’re failing [enter class here].” She
hands you your assigned MAP with a pass,
and the rest is routine.
With the near-deadly disease of senioritis,
Mrs. Stec (or Buchfinck, for that matter) does
not have a good job as the bearer of bad news.
It’s really not her fault. The fault belongs to
many people.
Being a senior in MAP may not seem like
such a bad thing to some people. Woohoo.
More power to them. However, to many oth-
ers, it’s almost as if December 2012 came ion. We’re human beings, and we’re not perearly.
fect.
It’s simple, really. When teachers get the
Teachers need to not manipulate students’
list of who is a “model student” and who is grades to satisfy their needs for power.
Te a c h e r s
should also not
treat students
who are failing
like they are
only complete
failures. Some
kids--not all-are trying to get
their grades up
and simply need
extra help and
not, they get this idea in their minds that com- encouragement, not to be made to feel incompletely erases the fact that some of those stu- petent.
dents who are on those lists have straight A’s
Students, many of you try with grades, but
in every other class.
many do not. Don’t give teachers a reason to
Nope, they only see that big, fat F.
treat you like you are imcompetent failures.
That is prejudice.
Go in for help and do your work. Soon, you’ll
Who really knows if teachers know they’re be off the D’s and F’s list in no time and studoing this. We all do it in some form or fash- dents and teachers alike will be happy.
“...it’s almost as if
December 2012 came
early.”
Jerri Casteel
Skyler Doremus
Cord Egger
Rachel Hoesche
Emily Potter
Mercedes Thatcher
Will Veguilla
Adviser:
Mrs. Katie Wright
Words of a Feather is the official
monthly, student-produced
publication by and for students
in the journalism program
at Crete High School
in Crete, Nebraska.
This paper has been established
as a designated public forum
for student journalists to inform
and educate, and to act
as a catalyst for thought
and discussion.
Content in Words of a Feather
is determined by and reflects only
the views of the student staff
and not school officials,
faculty or staff.
The intent of this publication
is to act as an agent
to facilitate the learning
of the principles of journalism,
including writing,
photography, design
and editing.
28 de enero del 2010
Página 4
words of a feather
La Voz Hispana
Balanceando la tarea y el trabajo
Edith Rivas-Baños
Reporteras
Hoy en día, nacionalmente
más de un tercio de los estudiantes en la preparatoria trabajan medio tiempo.
De acuerdo con el “Journal of Educational Research”
cuatro de cinco estudiantes
son empleados en algún
punto mientras asisten a la
secundaría.
En la escuela de Crete
High para muchos estudiantes
hispanos es común tener un
trabajo de medio tiempo, es
decir, un trabajo de menos de
30 horas a la semana.
Pero también hay varios
estudiantes que trabajan
tiempo completo, más de 40
horas a la semana, además de
venir a estudiar.
Estudiantes de ELL son los
que tienden a trabajar tiempo
completo. Al menos 8 de 60
estudiantes de ELL tienen
trabajos de tiempo completo.
“Hoy en día muchos estudiantes trabajan y estudian a
la misma vez,” dijo Señora
Kuzma, maestra de ELL.
Andrés Rafael Lucas, Nelson Pineda y Pascual Lucas
Tercero, todos de 18 años,
trabajan de tiempo completo
en Lincoln.
Andrés, Nelsón, y Pascual
son estudiantes que se considerann del grado 13.
Ellos asisten a la escuela
por medio día y no están planeando en graduarse, estudian en Crete High para aprender inglés.
Estos tres estudiantes dicen que para ellos es obligatorio trabajar. Han decidido
estudiar medio tiempo y trabajar porque tienen una esperanza de superarse.
Aunque no a todos les
agrada el trabajo porque no
tienen tiempo para los amigos, o no tienen tiempo para
estudiar lo suficiente y las
calificaciones bajan.
Según Journal Educational
Research estudiantes que trabajan largas horas tienden a
participar menos en clase,
tienen menos motivación, y
menos esfuerzo para aprender.
“Cuando yo trabajaba
casi no me daba tiempo para
hacer las tareas. Por trabajar mucho mis calificaciones
bajaron especialmente la de
matemáticas. Yo antes tenía
una “A” y me bajo a una “F”,
dijo Juan Franco, freshman,
quien antes trabajaba en un
restaurante.
A pesar de todo esto a algunos estudiantes no les impide trabajar porque les gusta
el dinero y quieren ser mas
independientes.
“Trabajo porque soy mayor
de edad, y necesitó el dinero
para pagar mis gastos,” dijo
Andrés Lucas.
Ortos no necesitan trabajar
pero lo hacen para tener algo
en que gastarse el tiempo libre. Humberto Sandoval es
un senior quien trabaja en el
Burger King.
“A mi me ha ayudado a
olvidar de la escuela por un
rato y me puedo enfocar en
mi trabajo y me ha ayudo a
sacar el estrés que tengo”,
dijo Humberto.
Foto por: Marilyn Bolanos
Casi todos los estudiantes
dijeron que el trabajar y estudiar los ha ayudado a no an- Hay muchos estuduantes trabajando y estudiando a la vez. Unos estudiantes trabajan y van a la
dar en malos pasos y ser mas escuela sin problema pero hay algunos que les afectan las calificaciones. Cuatro de cinco estudiantes trabajan en algún tiempo mientras están en la preparatoria.
independientes.
Escojen clases fáciles
Tomando clases fáciles no hace
que los estudiantes tengan que
hacer menos tarea
Ingris López
Reportera
Al comienzo del segundo
semestre escolar algunos
estudiantes optan por cambiarse a clases que son más
fáciles aunque estén capacitados para obtener y pasar
clases más avanzadas.
Según oficiales de la escuela, esto pasa todos los
años después del primer semestre escolar y en casi todas
las materias.
Según la consejera Jeanne
Stec, muchos de los estudiantes que cambian sus clases
Foto por: Ingris López por clases más fáciles pienLos libros demuestran la cantidad de estudiantes que se salieron de las clases de español y trigo- san que al hacer esto, ya no
nometría después del primer semestre. Los estudiantes varias veces dejan clases difíciles para van a tener que trabajar tanto,
que no van a tener tarea, o
entrar a unas más fáciles.
que simplemente van a pasar
las clases con una buena calificación, aunque no todo el
tiempo éste es el resultado.
La señora Eckerson, quien
enseña niveles avanzados de
español, reporta que entre
dos a cinco estudiantes dejan sus clases al concluir el
primer semestre por año por
evitar hacer tareas o proteger
su GPA (promedio de calificaciones).
Algunos estudiantes imaginan que la clase que toman
ahora será mas fácil que la
supuesta clase difícil que dejaron.
“Yo pensé que al agarrar
una clase más fácil de Ingles
la iba a pasar mucho más rápido y fácil, pero nos daban
más tarea y exámenes que en
las otras clases más difíciles”,
dijo Luz Ávalos, senior.
Señora Conrad, profesora de matemática, opina que
no es una buena idea que los
estudiantes tomen clases que
son mas fáciles.
No los prepara en realidad para ir a la universidad ni
para enfrentar a la vida real
cuando se gradúen de la preparatoria.
“Yo no pasé el primer semestre de álgebra dos y eso
afectó mis grados, por eso
este nuevo semestre decidí
ya no tomar otro semestre de
álgebra pero cuando vaya a
la universidad me va a tocar
que pagar por esa clase” dijo
senior, Santos Domínguez.
El básquetetbol no es popular entre los Hispanos
En el equipo de básketbol masculino solo hay un varon Hispano
participando y en el equipo de hembras hay tres freshman.
Nancy Elizalde
Reportera
Los estudiantes hispanos
no se involucran en el deporte
de basquetbol porque están
en fútbol o en otra actividad
que les impide estar en basquetbol, según investigó La
Voz Hispana.
Todos notarán la relativa
ausencia de estudiantes latinos en los equipos de basquetbol de Crete High, tanto
masculino como femenino.
Pocos hispanos en el equipo de basquetbol no es sólo
un problema en la escuela,
sino también en las ligas nacionales.
Según un articulo de Maria Burns Ortiz, el obstáculo
más grande que impide a
los hispanos participar en el
equipo es porque los deportes
más reconocidos por los hispanos son el fútbol, boxeo y
el béisbol.
El NBA, la organización
profesional de basequetbol
en Estados Unidos, sólo tiene
cinco jugadores hispanos que
nacieron en los Estados Unidos y tiene diez y nueve jugadores internacionales que son
latinos.
Aquí en Crete el único hispano en el equipo masculino
de basquetbol es júnior Juan
Carlos Bautista.
Según Juan Carlos, le gusta el basquetbol y por eso se
dedicó a estar en el equipo.
Sophomore Luís Valdez
estaba en el equipo de basquetbol pero lo abandonó
porque entró al acondicionamiento de fútbol.
Luís ahora es uno de los
asistentes del entrenador.
“A mé me gusta más hacer
de asistente del entrenador
porque me la paso más tiempo con los freshman y es mas
divertido” dijo Luís.
Según los entrenedores,
no es necesario que los estudiantes dejen un deporte por
otro, como lo hizo Luís.
“No hay ningún problema
con los estudiantes que juegan basquetbol y luego entran a fútbol, en mi opinión,
yo creo que es mejor que los
estudiantes estén en mas de
una actividad física”, dijo el
señor Quinn.
Por otro lado, en el equipo
feminino de basquetbol hay
tres hispanas, las tres freshman: Lorena Islas, Yulieth
Alarcon, y Noemi Saldana.
Aunque hay pocos jugadores latinos de basquet aquí
en Crete, la popularidad del
deporte crece entre los hispanos en Estados Unidos.
El NBA reporta que los
hispanos forman 16 por
ciento de su la audiencia. Las
otras ligas como el NFL (fútbol americano) cuenta con
13 por ciento de su audiencia siendo hispano, el MLB
Foto por: Márilyn Bolanos
(biésbol) a 12.9 por ciento y
la NHL (hockey) a 8.3 por Este es el primer año que Lorena Islas juega básquetetbol en la preparatoria. Ella es una de las
pocas hispanas que están en el equipo de básquetetbol en la escuela.
ciento.
La Voz Hispana
Página 5
28 de enero del 2011
words of a feather
Las vacaciones en familia
Assenet García
Reportera
Las vacaciones de Navidad y Año Nuevo dejaron
muchos recuerdos, ¿verdad?
O, a lo mejor, no. Lo imLos estudiantes José Gar- dez fueron interrogados para
portante es divertirse y estar rido, Montserrat Elizalde, ver cómo se la pasaron en
conviviendo con la familia.
Noemi Saldaña, y Luís Val- los días festivos. Todos com-
Montserrat Elizalde
Freshman:
Noemí Saldaña
Freshman:
Luis Valdez
Sophomore:
Foto por: Assenet García
En la Navidad y año nuevo no hicimos nada porque estábamos en el hospital porque mi sobrino iba a nacer.
En Año Nuevo fuimos a misa a las
12 y comimos tamales con champurrado.
Me gustaría haber viajado o algo así
con toda la familia y juntarnos todos
para una reunión familiar.
Foto por: Assenet García
Yo estaba con mi familia en la casa
de mi primo para la Navidad. Para
Año Nuevo estuve con mis amigas y
me divertí mucho.
Mis primos y yo nos divertimos demasiado.
Quisiera que para la próxima Navidad y Año Nuevo pueda ser tan divertido como ésta.
Foto por: Assenet García
Para la Navidad y Año Nuevo yo
fui a Columbus a visitar a mi mamá
y hermana.
Comimos chilaquiles y bailamos
mucho.
Sí, me divertí mucho estando con
mi familia pero la próxima vez quisiera
que se ponga todo más loco para que
se divierta en las fiestas.
¡Si que se saben diver- pañeros. Sus historias son
tir, eh! Éstas son unas de las interesantes ya que reflejan
pocas historia de los com- como se pasaron sus días sin
escuela. Para el próximo año
esperamos que se diviertan
más todos y que tengan unas
buenas vacaciones. Tal vez
se necesite tiempo para planeación y preparación, pero
partieron tiempo en familia
y parecen haberse divertido
bastante.
José Garrido
Junior:
Foto por: Assenet García
Para Navidad yo me quedé en
la casa y estuve con la familia, yo
quisiera haber ido a México. No me
divertí, me hubiera divertido más en
México.
Para el próximo fin de año también quiero ir a México porque tengo
familia allá y quiero ir a las fiestas a
divertirme.
falta todo un año para otras con la escuela y los estudios
hasta que llegue la hora de
vacaciones Navideñas
Pero, por ahora, a seguir celebrar de nuevo.
El vestuario no determina personalidad
Bryan Guardado
Reportero
Cuándo se trata de vestirse,
muchas personas usan ropa
de marca, de la que esté de
moda. Otros usan ropa normal, sin importarles de qué
marca es o de donde viene.
Hay muchas personas que
se llenan la boca diciendo
que los jóvenes de ahora se
creen mucho sólo por lo que
tienen puesto.
Lo que quiero dar a entender es que solamente
porque una persona usa ropa
buena, de marca y que sea
cara, no quiere decir que la
persona sea creída. Es cierto
que hay personas que son así, y no quiere decir que vengo nas no usan ropa cara o de
pero conozco a muchos estu- de familia que tiene mucho marca porque sus familias y
diantes de familias con dine- dinero. Mi personalidad ha ellos mismos han conocido
ro, y ellos siempre andan bien sido la misma siempre.
la pobreza y se conforman
vestidos con ropa de marca y
Individuos que no usan con lo que tienen. Por el otro
a veces
lado, hay
hasta
muchas
nueva,
persopero no
nas que
les he
no usan
notado
ropa de
ningún
marca y
cambio
se visten
de pernormales
sonaliy todavía
dad o
son creímaldad
dos.
contra
La perotras
sonalidad
persono tiene
nas.
que ver
A
Foto por: Dulce Castañeda m u c h o
mí me “Miss Me” es una marca muy popular de pantalones de mezclilla. También con lo
g u s t a es considerada una de las más caras. “Ugg” es una marca de botas que
que la
v e - tampoco es barata y se ha visto comunmente en la escuela.
persona
stirme
t r a e
bien. También tengo ropa ropa de marca han dicho que puesto. Uno tiene que tratar
de marca, pero yo nunca me no les importa la marca o de hablar con las personas y
he considerado ser superior a clase de ropa que usen, lo que conocerlas antes de criticarlos demás. La forma en que les importa es que les guste y las o tener una mala opinión
yo me visto no tiene nada que que les quede bien.
por cómo se visten. En mi
ver en como yo soy y como
Lo que les importa es que opinión, no hay que juzgar
actúo. Desde que yo era anden vestidos y no desnu- a nadie sólo por la ropa que
pequeño me he vestido bien, dos. Muchas de estas perso- usa.
Internet: pensar antes de actuar
La Voz Hispana
¿Para qué sirve el cerebro
si no para pensar? ¿Cuándo
estás en Facebook piensas
en lo que estás subiendo a tu
página?
Siempre se escucha de
casos en Facebook u otras
páginas en que personas son
maltratadas por otros, o suben una foto para luego arrepentirse. La pregunta es, ¿por
qué estas personas no piensan
en el daño que le van hacer a
alguien o a sí mismos antes
de cometer una tontería?
El hecho de ser jóvenes
no es escusa para permitir la
estupidez. Sin embargo, hay
personas que no entienden
eso. Al escribir cosas como
“**** a los ****” en tu página, das una imagen negativa de ti mismo. No muchos
saben, pero en ocasiones los
empleadores buscan a la
gente en Facebook para obtener una imagen de su personalidad.
Digamos que la persona
investigada no tiene su perfil en privado; entonces, el
empleador podría ver las
cosas de esa persona, como
información personal, direcciones, y correo electrónico.
Si esa persona tiene algo inapropiado en su página, es
posible que el empleador no
le dé el trabajo.
La preparatoria de Crete
ahora tiene una cuenta de
Facebook: y aunque la escuela usa la página simplemente como medio de
enviar información a los estudiantes, todavía es posible
que la escuela entre a los
perfiles de los estudiantes.
Dicho esto, nosotros los estudiantes debemos cuidar
más nuestras palabras, al
igual que las imágenes, que
subimos al Internet. No sólo
debemos ser cuidadosos por
la escuela, sino porque un
completo extraño puede usar
nuestra información en contra de nosotros.
La solución más simple de
todas es que pongas tu perfil
en privado. También es aconsejable que midas tus palabras y tus imágenes ya que
todo lo que haces tiene consecuencias.
Póliza de cartas al editor
La Voz Hispana acepta gustosamente cartas al editor y noticias actuales de estudiantes, docentes, administración, residentes de la comunidad y público en general. Pedimos que estas cartas no consistan de más de 300 palabras y que incluyan
el nombre del autor, dirección, número telefónico y firma original. Todo material entregado será verificado en persona y por
escrito. Nuestro equipo editorial tiene el derecho de rechazar cualquier carta y/o partes de cualquier carta y podrá devolverla
para revisión si contiene lenguaje inapropiado o errores que cambien el significado. Favor de enviar sus cartas a Sra. Eckerson en el salón 708.
La Voz Hispana
Personal de la Voz Hispana
c/o Crete High School
1500 E. 15th Street
Crete, NE 68333
Teléfono: (402) 826-5811
Correo electrónico:
[email protected]
Personal Editorial:
Diseño, Redacción
y Coordinación:
Marilyn Bolaños
Dulce Castañeda
Reporteros:
Edith Rivas Baños
Wendy Cevallos
Nancy Elizalde
Assenet García
Bryan Guardado
Ingris López
Sonia López
Consejera:
Sra. Janet Eckerson
‘La Voz Hispana’ dentro de ‘Words of a
Feather’es producida por la clase de hispanohablantes nivel III/IV de la secundaria
de Crete. Esta sección del periódico se ha
diseñado para que estudiantes periodistas
informen y eduquen, específicamente en
español y procuren reflección y discusión
en la comunidad. El contenido de ‘La Voz
Hispana’ se determina por la clase de hispanohablantes nivel III/IV, con el apoyo del
personal de periodismo escolar, y el contenido no refleja la opinión del personal de
la secundaria, únicamente de los estudiantes
quienes lo crearon.El propósito de esta sección es publicar la escritura de estudiantes
hispanos en una vía pública para facilitar el
aprendizaje de los fundamentos de escritura
y fotografía periodística escolar en conjunto
con la clase de español para hispanohablantes nivel III/IV.
January 28, 2011
Page 6
words of a feather
Seniors skip out on speech
Jake White
Copy/Content Editor
Seniors skip out
on speech should be added
to the warm-up tongue twisters for the speech team.
If one were to ask a
“speecher”, he or she would
be informed that
speech takes a
lot of work. That
is
presumably
the reason why
there are a lack
of seniors on the
speech team this
year.
“Who needs
seniors,” sophomore
Lincy
Meraz said.
This year is Meraz’s second year in speech.
According to her last year
the seniors trained the sophomores to be well prepared
leaders for this year.
A few of the leaders mentioned by some of the novices are juniors Amy Hung,
Dulce Castañeda, Emily
Potter, Naomi Ristvedt, and
Shane Kraus.
“They know pretty much
everything about speech,”
Meraz said.
The number of seniors has
been decreasing through the
years, with the 2009/2010
season having only two seniors.
“There are certain schools
where speech is really valued. I think it isn’t as valued
here as in some of the other
schools. However, I do think
the team works hard to stand
out,” junior Amy Hung said.
“When I joined speech
three years ago, there were a
lot of seniors. Now, there are
common, and the members
don’t stay in their events for
critiquing.
“For peer coaching it’s
random,” Hung said. “Our
coaches put us into rooms. I
think they try to even out the
Varsity and Novices, but we
watch events outside of our
own.”
Meraz said.
“I do what needs to be
done and take care of the
young; I lead with an iron
fist and expect no back-talk,”
Kraus said. “I don’t mind
not having seniors because
I don’t really have anybody
there telling me what to do. I
make my own choices.”
The
juniors
stepping up has
opened up the
eyes of the novice
speech members.
“I think they
see how hard
the varsity team
works, and they
want to to well
along with us, so
they all put in a
lot of effort as well,” Hung
said.
Speech has never had a
team the size of football. It
is a common misconception
that speech is only going
up to the front and giving a
speech about a topic. However, besides the informative and persuasive speeches,
there are numerous other
events one can be a part of.
A few of thes are humorous
interpretation, dramatic interpretation, a duo or duet. It’s
more like acting, according
to the members.
“Speaking in front of people isn’t exactly on everyone’s to do list,” Hung said.
Clubs/Activities Calendar
Jan 29:
Forensics Lincoln Northeast
Feb 1:
FBLA Meeting 7pm
“There are certain schools where
speech is really valued. I think it isn’t
as valued here as in some of the other
schools.”
-junior Amy Hung
none,” Kraus said. “ I don’t
think it’s just a problem for
our school. It’s just noticed
more because of the size of
the program.”
Although there are no seniors, the speech team is in
no way in trouble with organization and leadership.
“The juniors are doing a
phenomenal job. Probably
better than seniors could,”
Meraz said.
One of the activities the
members do is peer coaching. This is a practice in
which the members perform
their event, and their teammates comment and critique
on them. It has become more
The juniors have stepped
up and taken jobs and responsibilities normally acclompished by the seniors.
Hung and Emily Potter are
points captains. They enter
points individuals earn at a
tournament, sort out ballots,
and organize the trophy case.
Dulce Castañeda and Naomi
Ristvedt are communication
captains, and they write articles for the newspapers and
create the announcements in
school.
“Shane Kraus is a very
good competitor. He’s really good in his events, but
he doesn’t like to show off.
He also gives good advice,”
Feb 2:
FFA District Degree
Interviews/Exam
Student council members Alan Poteet and Alex
Smith were elected for the
Nebraska Association of
Student Councils (NASC).
Poteet became President
and Smith reveived VicePresident.
Alan was elected without much trouble.
The NASC is in charge
of district fundraisers such
as Make a Wish.
Crete High is part of
District 7.
Student Council is planning some activities in
February.
“We are talking about
doing a talent show,” Student Council Sponsor Jeremy Fries said.
A Spirit Week is also
planned. February 7-11
is the week that has been
chosen for the talen show
to take place.
Day theme ideas being
tossed by student coucil
member are Decade Day,
Nerd Day, Superhero Day,
and of course, at the end of
the week, Spirit Day.
Keep in mind, these day
themes are not yet fixed
and there is a possibility to
they will change before the
week gets here.
“We are just trying to do
something different,” Fries
said.
After
Homecoming
there is not much to keep
students interested during
second semester. So, the
talent show was an idea to
give students something to
be excited about.
Student Council member Brook Nerud gave
several ideas about what
could be done during the
talent show.
One idea would be to
gather senior guys and
have a beauty pageant in
between talent displays.
As the council posted
in the announcements, if
there are not enough people signed up for the show,
then there will not be a
show
“The last talent show
was when the middle
school was up here,” Physical Education teacher
Chuck McGinnis said.
The middle school has
been around for six years.
Therefore there has not
been any talent shows in
the las six years.
According to McGinnis,
singing and playing musical instruments were the
most common talents in the
shows. Dancing was the
next most common. One
talent that he mentioned
was someone preformed
some hacky sack tricks.
Another act during the
last talen show was a pair
of students asked each other trivia questions. Controversially, if either one
of them answered a question wrong they could be
hit with a stick. That act
was stopped right in the
middle.
The snow day on January 10 delayed student
council discussions about
having the talent show.
As of now the talent
show is planned for February 10 at 7 pm in the auditorium.
Cheerleaders host another successful mini camp
Feb 5:
Forensics – Crete Speech
Invite
Feb 7-11
National FBLA Week
Feb 7:
FFA Meeting 7pm
Prizm Club Meeting 7pm
Band Boosters Mtg. 7pm
Student Council celebrates school spirit, again
Cord Egger
Staff Reporter
Activities
Feb 11:
SAT Registration Deadline
Feb 12:
ACT Test
Forensics-Northstar
Feb 14:
TBA B FR BKB @ Seward
Tournament
Parent Teacher Conf.
6-8:30pm
Feb 15:
TBA B FR BKB @ Seward
Tournament
Feb 17:
Parent Teacher Conf. 2-5,
6-8:30pm
Photos by Jessalyn Holdcraft
Senior Taylor Schelstraete helps lead kindergarden through
fourth graders during the mini camp performance.
Sophomore Alexis Determan practices doing the splits with one
of the girls before the performance.
Feb 18:
No School
G/B JV/V BKB vs. Seward
4:30/5:15/6/7:30pm
Feb 21:
All City Band Concert
(Doane) 7pm
Seniors Alli Sherman and Kara Seidoff lead the girls during a
performance. The seniors choreographed the routine.
Senior Christina Jackson teaches elementary school students
some cheers during mini camp practice.
Feb. 21-25
National FFA Week
Scholastic Journalism Week
People
Page 7
December 21, 2010
Senior Spotlight
Jesssalyn Holdcraft
Copy/Content Editor &
Staff Coordinator
Rene Escobar
Q: Do you plan on
going to college, if so
what college?
A: I’m not sure.
Q:What was your favorite class throughout
high school?
A: I’d have to say Ms.
Georgi’s class.
Q: What do you think
your class will be remembered for?
A: Football.
Q: Do you plan on
staying in Nebraska or
moving out after you
graduate ?
A: Staying.
Taylor Schelstraete
Q: Do you plan on
going to college, if so
what college?
A: UNL.
Q:What was your
favorite class throughout high school?
A: Mrs. Hiemer’s class.
Q: What is do you
think your class will
be remembered for?
A: How awesome we
are.
Q: Do you plan on
staying in Nebraska or
moving out after you
graduate ?
A: Unfortunately staying
here.
Alex Moore
Q: Do you plan on
going to college, if so
what college?
A: UNL.
Q:What was your favorite class throughout
high school?
A: Eleventh grade English.
Q: What do you think
your class will be remembered for?
Football.
Q: Do you plan on
staying in Nebraska or
moving out after you
graduate ?
A: Staying.
Yanett Ortiz
Q: Do you plan on
going to college, if so
what college?
A: UNK.
Q:What was your favorite class throughout high school?
A: Spanish.
Q: What do you think
your class will be
remembered for?
A: We’re the best of the
best.
Q: Do you plan on
staying in Nebraska or
moving out after you
graduate ?
A: I’m planning on staying.
words of a feather
Coming of Age
Emily Potter
Staff Reporter
an entourage of people.
Sophomore Lincy Meraz
turned 15 on November 19.
Her Quinceañera was the
week of her birthday. Lincy’s family had previously
told her that they would not
be able to throw her a party;
little did she know that they
were planning her 15th birthday party in secret.
“My mom had to try on
my dress,” she said. “I didn’t
know anything until that
day.”
Coming of age is an imLincy said, “If they have
portant time in a teenager’s the change to do it, just do
life and is commemorated it because it’s a memorable
in different ways around the moment.”
world. These celebrations
In the United States, the
range from huge parties to sixteenth, seventeenth, and
just a cake and candles. Some eighteenth birthdays are imof those traditions are cele- portant milestones
brated at Crete High School. for teenagers. JuA Quinceañera is a huge niors Emily Manparty centered on the girl turn- ning and Julie Jiring 15. She puts on a beauti- ovec celebrated with
ful dress and is escorted by
friends
and family.
“I ate
at Carlos
O’Kelly’s
and then
went ice
skating
with my
friends,”
M a n ning, who
turned 17
on the 16
of January, said.
About the
preparations, she
Courtesy Photo said, “I sent out invites the week of.”
When boys of the Jewish faith reach
Jirovec will turn
the age of 13, they celebrate with a bar
mitzvah and a reading of the Torah.
17 on the 24 of
Bar Mitzvahs,
Quinceañeras,
Sweet 16s are
cause for
celebration
January.
About
her sixteenth
birthday
bash,
she said,
“We had
a dance
party. It
wasn’t
t o o
huge,
but we
Courtesy Photo
had quite
a lot of A new car is a common gift for children when they
p e o p l e reach the age of 16 and get their drivers’ licenses.
come.”
S h e
However, not all coming of
celebrated her 16th birthday
age parties are grand and orwith other January birthdays
nate. For junior Amy Hung, a
like Emily Manning and Jake
quiet dinner with family was
Hollman. This year, however,
enough.
“I hung
out with my
friends,”
she
said.
As for what
she did with
her family,
“We went to
Great Wall.”
T h e r e ’s
a
reason
why Hung
doesn’t celebrate birthdays
like
most do: her
family emigrated from
Taiwan to
the United
States when
she was little.
“BirthJirovec will tone down the
days aren’t as important in
partying.
the asain culture. Age isn’t
“I’m probably just going
seen as important. We look
to celebrate with my family.”
up to our elders.”
“My mom had
to try on my
dress. I didn’t
know anything
until that day.”
-Lincy Meraz
Why I didn’t go to Mexico
Jessica Thatcher
Design/Layout Editor
Christmas is a time for
happiness and family.
But for a concerned family who was unable to be
with part of their family,
fear was in the mind.
Junior Ben Adame and
his family travel to Mexico, where he still has family residing in San Jose,
each year, usually for a
celebration in March.
“I have fun with my
family in Mexico, it’s a
free feeling to be there,”
B. Adame.
It’s tradition and this
year that tradition had
to change and they had
mixed emotions about the
situations why.
“We are scared something
might happen to my grandma
and the rest of the family in
San Jose, that they might have
a run-in with gang members,”
B. Adame said.
It’s a familiar topic, the
violence in Mexico. That is
the reason they didn’t go, not
chance.
Some violence that B.
Adame mentioned was being
held for ransom or possibly
killed. In the Adame family’s
situation if the cartel found
B. Adame said the cartels
aren’t as easily bribed as the
police were in Mexico.
“You could get pulled over
and get a ticket, but if you offer the cop money, like 20
dollars, they’ll let you
go. The cartels want
more,” B. Adame said.
Not all the violence
is caused by the cartels, it’s people on the
streets also.
“They threaten you
if they think you have
money, and if you don’t
want to give it to them
they pull out a gun,” B.
Adame said.
Going to Mexico
may have downed
Christmas break for the
Adame family but they
have other opportunities to go, like in March
because they didn’t have the out they owned an Ameri- when they usually go.
money but because they were can business there could be a
“You don’t want to be in
afraid of what could hap- chance they would become a the wrong place at the wrong
pen to them if they took the target.
time,” B. Adame said.
“You don’t want
to be in the wrong
place at the wrong
time.”
-Ben Adame
Cardinal Quotations
Freshman Cole Bodfield
“Because most people don’t even
remember what they say.”
Senior Taylor McLain
“I think kids aren’t responsible
enough to keep their goals.”
Skyler Doremus
Staff Reporter
Why do you think people don’t
finish out New Year’s resolutions?
Sophomore Leah Keller
“Because they are procrastinators.”
Teacher Bernie Ludvik
“Most people don’t have to drive and
determination to complete them.”
Junior Ross Van Horn
“Because they set their goals to high
and can’t achieve then.”
Januray 28, 2010
Page 8
words of a feather
Sports
Weight loss worries students
Skyler Doremus
Staff Reporter
“I have a problem with
my weight during wrestling
season,” freshman Vince
Thatcher said.
At the start of every wrestling season many of Crete’s
students thoughts are filled
with worry and concern for
the wrestlers.
Insane workouts and starvation may be in the cards for
some wreslers.
“I usually wear four shirts
during practice,” Thatcher
said, “It helps me get down to
weight and it’s a really easy
way of losing the weight that
I need.”
Head coach Matt
Anderson believes that the way
the wrestlers choose to lose,
gain, or maintain their weight
is better and healthier than it
has been in the past because
there are new rules and guidelines that they are forced to
follow.
“It’s been awhile since we
have had serious problems
with guys not eating, and starv-
ing themselves,”Anderson
said.
In past years the students
of Crete have seen acts of
starvation among the grapplers.
“I have seen in the past
where some of them go to
huge extremes in order to lose
the weight that they need” junior Alison Sandoval said.
“They are more disciplined in what they eat. More
often than not, it’s the underclassmen with the eating
problems because they are
not used to high school wrestling yet,” Anderson said.
“I don’t think all of us have
problems. I doubt if even half
of us do,” Thatcher said. “It
may be true that there has
been problems in the past,
but I don’t think that applys
to us.”
For many wrestlers, it’s
just another part of the sport
that they have to deal
with
anytime they’re in season, but
it makes other students worry
about the health of some of
the boys.
“I feel bad for them some-
times because
they work
extremely hard and say they
don’t eat. I think it’s dangerous for them and I just
hope they are careful about
it,”Sandoval said.
“The guys whine a lot
about not being able to eat, but
it’s not as bad as they make
it sound. Most of them just
want sympathy. They’re disciplined, but if they eat a ton
on one day and aren’t able to
eat the next, that’s their own
fault,” Anderson said.
According to Anderson, if
his guys can’t make weight
they have to wrestle at the
next weight class.
“I could probably tell
you how much each of them
(wrestlers) weigh. With the
new rules a lot of paperwork
has to be done. We
try to weigh in as many times
as possible just to keep them
aware of their weight,” Anderson said.
“I like to weigh in a lot
because it makes it easier for
me to know how much work
I need to do to gain or lose
weight.” Thatcher said.
The Muff family is no
stranger to the NSAA State
Championship games. As a
senior, Ben earned his spot in
the football state championship game at Memorial Stadium, meanwhile last year he
put his name in the program
of the NSAA state basketball
games. As a freshman, Ben
participated in the state track
meet in the 4x1 relay and as
a junior he competed in the
100-meter dash and the 4x1
relay.
Nikki is a state track qualifier for the past two years in
the 100-meter dash hurdles.
“I’ve always wondered how
we are so fast and athletic but
I guess my dad way fast back
in the day,” Nikki said.
Parents, not only in the
Muff family, have influenced
Crete High athletes by starting them at a young age. Junior Will Dittmer gets to hear
about his fathers past ‘glory
days’ as a Husker football
player. “My dad would play
Photo By Jessayn Holdcraft
Junior Corey Kalkwarf is ready for any move from his opponent. Kalkwarf has been
wrestling since he was little and intends to continue to wrestle. Kalkwarf has been
apart of the wrestling team for three years now.
Starting from a young age
Nicole Reetz
Sports/ Photography
Editor
Business Manager
When the Muff starting
growing 18 years ago with
Ben and two years later with
Nikki and followed by a eleven–year-old brother Zach.
Growing up, their parents Joe
and Jenny never participated
in athletics. “The only thing
my parents did was my mom
did gymnastics and my dad
bowled,” Junior Nikki Muff
said. Jenny also participated
in 4-H while Joe was active
on the farm.
Ben Muff participated in
gymnastics,
“I was like five years old
when my mom put me in
gymnastics,” Ben Muff said.
“It was a family thing that we
all did it.”
“I was five years old
when my mom put
me in gymnastics. It
was a
family thing, we all
did it.”
-Ben Muff
catch with me when I was
little and show me a little bit
Female Athlete
of the Month
Morgan Hill
Sophomore Morgan Hill was chosen
as December’s Female Student Athlete
of the Month.
“It’s unexpected,” Hill said. “I think
each of us have tried to step up more.”
In December, she averaged 10.7
points, eight rebounds, three steals, and
two assists per game.
Among the female Cardinal cages
she leads the team in rebounding.
“A big reason why I chose her was
not only because of her statistics, but because she’s one who will go hard every
possession in a game and she goes hard
every drill in practice. There’s never a
letdown with her,” head coach Marcus
Gillespie said. “She’s always going 100
miles an hour and always giving it her
all.”
“I think we have a lot of leaders on
the team that’s why we’re starting to see
a change in how we play. I feel that I’m
contributing to it,” Hill said.
Photo by Jessalyn Holdcraft
about how to play football,”
As a wrestler and football
Dittmer said. “He is a major player senior Blake Reistroffer was influenced by his father. Troy. “He played, so I
play,” Reistroffer said. Tory
played football and wrestled
for a year. While his mother, Patty was a Cheerleader.
Younger sister, Karlee, is
currently a cheerleader. “My
mom didn’t really push be to
be a cheerleader, I personally
wanted to be one. She said
that, that would be the only
time I would be able to do the
splits,” Freshamn Karlee Reistroffer said.
From the sidelines assistant soccer coach Jay Quinn
has already started introducing the game of football to
his son. “When we have spare
time, I will roll a football to
him and he tries rolling it
back,” Quinn said. “Growing
up that is what we would do
impact as to why I play to- to pass time so what is what
day.”
I am going to do with my
son.”
The Fye family was born
and raised on the track. As a
junior, Breanna Fye, watched
he father coach, as she would
sit along with him as she listened to what she needs to
fix. Marty Fye, her father,
went to Doane and partook in
Track and Field.
“I was influenced by my
dad who was one of the best
bull riders in the world,”
Marty said.
“I was also influenced by
my five older brothers,” One
of Marty’s brothers is now
the Doane Head Track and
Field coach Ed Fye.
“I’ve hear a lot about track
through my dad so I thought
I would give it a shot,” Breanna said
According to livestrong.
com having kids in sports
boost the self confidence, exercise, socilization skills and
keeps kids in shape.
Male Athlete
of the Month
Grant Harms
Senior Grant Harms was choosen as
January’s Male Student Athlete of the
month.
“I was really surprised when they told
me,” Harms said. “I wasn’t expecting it
so it was a good surprise.”
“Grant goes hard in every game and
works even harder in every practice,”
Cardinal boys basketball head coach
Brent Cole said. “He’s a good player
on our team and has the right leadership
skills to excell in whatever he puts his
mind to.”
Not only is Harms playing Basketball, but he contributed to this years
football team and the championship title
the Cardinals now own,
“This year’s football season was
great,” Harms said. “We couldn’t have
done it without all of the team work
from all of us.”
“We chose Grant for this nomination
because he’s an outstanding student and
a great athlete,” Athletic Director Jim
Moore said.
Photo by Nicole Reetz
Sports
Page 9
January 28, 2011
words of a feather
Building blocks
Jessalyn Holdcraft
Copy/Content Editor/Staff
Coordinator
They are the scout team,
the benchwarmers, the replacements, and the future.
“It’s tough because we usually go up against the starters
and they usually dominate
us,” sophomore Cory Hintz
said.
However, as it is said,
what doesn’t kill you makes
you stronger.
“I think it’s important that
we have a JV team because
then it gives us more experience so we can play to our
best ability at the varsity level,” junior Natasha Kingston
said. “But it kind of sucks
sometimes because you feel
like you don’t matter if you
play JV.”
While some athletes feel
frustration from JV, freshman
Clare Hollman looks at the
team as an accomplishment.
“You don’t really expect
underclassmen to be on a
higher level of competition
like JV, and since I am an
underclassman on that team
it feels like I’ve risen to that
kind of competition,” Hollman said.
Junior varsity provides
mostly underclassmen with
time to learn the plays and
prepare for varsity-caliber
contests.
“JV is just a stepping stone
to varsity. You’re building the
foundation for varsity,” sophomore Alexis Page said.
“They’re the future of
our team and so you want
to develop those guys. High
school athletics isn’t always
about winning; it’s about
kids, an experience, and an
opportunity to grow and learn
in other ways,” head wrestling coach Matt Anderson
said. “For instance, you look
at Francisco. He’s a senior
and he’s on JV but he helps
to provide an extra workout
partner and we’re providing
an education for them in an
activity.”
“Sam wrestles varsity and
he’s also a senior, so he’s my
competition,” senior Francisco Padilla said. “It’s my
first year and I get more out
of practice because I’m wrestling someone who is at the
varsity level. When I practice
against him, I have to give
him a challenge.”
In one case an upperclassman requested to play JV.
“Typically we didn’t allow
seniors to play JV but Robbie (Sattler) came to us with
the idea. We knew Robbie;
Robbie just simply wanted
to play and he didn’t ever
complain, he worked hard,
he was role model, and that’s
why we made the decision,”
assistant football coach and
former head boys’ basketball
coach Greg Hobza said.
Following the 2009-2010
basketball season, Sattler
won the Sixth Man Award
for Class B from Huskerland
Preps.
“I nominated Robbie because I felt what Robbie did
was unbelievably unselfish. I
thought it was great because
here’s a kid who’s getting rewarded just because he wants
to be a part of something,”
Hobza said. “I’ll probably
never coach another kid like
him again because the attitude today is that the kids are
more worried about themselves versus the team or the
program but, to me, JV is
tough at times because you
don’t get the glory of playing
varsity, but it’s still a game.”
The old saying ‘There is
no I in team’ still rings true
for a number of athletes.
“I think the ultimate goal
is for the JVs to make the
varsity better which makes
us better, so we have to work
harder to make varsity better because we want to have
the best team all together,”
Kingston said. “In practice
we’re helping them get better,
we’re helping them run plays,
and we’re running plays with
them, so if varsity wins, it’s a
win for everyone.”
Several athletes are on the
roster for multiple squads.
Being a part of freshman and
JV, JV and varsity, or even all
three can pose challenges for
the players.
“Mostly we don’t get
enough time to practice together because most of the
time at practice it’s just the
JV players on one side and
everyone who suits up varsity on the other, so that creates a problem because we’re
not used to playing with each
other,” Page said.
“I think it’s kind of hard
because I don’t get to practice as much with the freshman team because I’m always with the JV team so
it’s kind of hard to balance
between two teams like that.
It’s a work in progress,” Hollman said.
Coaches see eye-to-eye
with their players on this issue.
“Our JV kids play scout
team all week long for varsity so they’re playing the
upcoming team’s offense and
running their defense so they
don’t get as many reps at our
own stuff so that’s definitely
a challenge. Usually our
playbook is a little smaller
than on Friday night so we’re
not able to do as much,” assistant football coach Jebb
Hatch said.
“It was hard to get any
continuity or team unity going because we never got a
lot of practice time together.
Games came and we would
be thrown into the game and
they hadn’t played together
a lot,” assistant volleyball
coach Merri Kaye Bradley
said.
Kingston, Hintz, and Hollman are players on the bubble; these individuals have
the opportunity to see varsity
minutes.
“You freak out. You’re like
‘Oh my gosh, what am I doing here? Why am I playing?’
But then you have to get over
it because if you make a mistake you’re going to get taken out,” Kingston said. “You
have to be more mentally
tough than physically tough
to play in a varsity game because you have to be ready to
go in and do your job.”
“I’ve learned that when
you do get into the game to
go 110 percent all the time because that’s what the coaches
are looking for,” Hollman
said.
Coaches agree with Hollman’s assessment.
“I think the thing that’s
missed is that coaches take
JV games seriously and if
there are kids on the border
of playing varsity minutes,
then, as coaches, we put a lot
of stock into JV games,”
Hobza said.
As
athletes
improve
throughout the season, instead of spending just the
last few minutes in a varsity
game, they could become one
of the first off the bench.
“We definitely miss them
on Monday night but it’s always nice to see those guys
make big enough improvements that they can help us
on Friday night and become
a starter or a contributor so
it’s kind of double-edged,”
Hatch said.
Although some JV competitors can move up to solely varsity time, most remain
locked in their JV roots for
the season while they continue to grow and develop in
their sport.
“I try to focus just on our
team. I try to get them excited
or get them motivated to play
our game and try not focus on
them not being able to play
maybe where they want to
play. I try to encourage them
to get better with the JV team
and prepare them for the next
level,” Bradley said.
This outlook may be disheartening for a few but others recognize the cycle.
“If I don’t go all out in
JV then I’m not going to be
worthy to play varsity,” Hintz
said.
Girls battle back into top 10
have to figure out how to
apply in a game,” Gillespie
said. “Once we figure out that
third quarter, I think we’ll
start seeing some Ws.”
They jujitsued the FairFour of the six Cardinal
losses on the season were bury Jeffs 44-35 for the last
handed to the cagers by home game of 2010. Senior
Nicole Reetz led the charge
ranked opponents.
“There’s a reason we with 18 points and sank four
scheduled those games. I out of four shots from the
knew they were all were go- three-point range. Sophoing to be ranked high and more Morgan Hill added nine
be very good teams,” head points and nine rebounds
coach Marcus Gillespie said. while sophomore Kaitlin
“If I didn’t schedule those Bradley had six points, six
games, we could be at 4-2 steals, and eight assists.
“It felt great. I shoot the
like we were last year, but I
don’t think we’d be where we ball when I need to shoot it,”
Reetz said.
want to be as a team.”
No. 3 Gretna handed Crete
Challenging the ladies all
year has been their seeming- their second loss of the season
ly unavoidable third quarter 59-35. Hill led with 11 points
and three steals and Bradley
slump.
“We’ve been trying, as added eight rebounds and
coaches, desperately trying eight points.
The Doane Holiday Tourto fix that third quarter. I just
think that it’s lack of defen- nament was the team’s last
sive intensity. Intensity is stop for 2010. They lost their
something that the girls will first game to Omaha DuchJessalyn Holdcraft
Copy/Content Editor/Staff
Coordinator
esne 49-48. Bradley scored
20 points and nabbed eight
steals while Hill added 14
points and nine rebounds.
They faced off with the
Pierce Bluejays for a battle
of the birds in the consolation
game. The ladies won 47-26.
Edwards led the team in scoring with 12 points, Bradley
added 11 points and four assists, and Hill performed her
first double-double of the
season with 11 points, 12 rebounds and five steals.
“It felt good to beat Pierce,
and it felt great because it
was my first double-double,”
Hill said.
The Cardinals rounded out
December with a 4-3 record.
Missteps met the Cardinals in the first two games of
2011.
Class C-2 No. 5 Lincoln
Christian cooped the Cards
36-28 for their primer contest
of 2011. Bradley scored seven points, six steals, and three
assists; Hill had six points
and eight rebounds; and junior Breanna Fye worked the
inside for six points, six rebounds, and four steals.
“I’m feeling pretty good
because we’ve been working
on post moves in practice to
get a good seal that led to my
buckets,” Fye said.
In a double-overtime
matchup, undefeated Class C1 No. 2 Wahoo beat Crete 6453. Bradley scored 17 points,
seven rebounds, three steals,
and five assists; Fye added
10 points and four rebounds;
Hill had nine points, eight rebounds, and four assists; and
Edwards hit the boards for 10
rebounds, six points and four
assists.
“It was the first time I can
remember that we went into
double overtime. It was overwhelming. I got a little tired
and I knew they were tired,
too, but it just didn’t go our
way,” Bradley said.
A 48-37 victory over the
York Dukes brought the Car-
dinal’s record to an even 5-5.
Fye led the girls and scored
15 points and six rebounds,
Bradley added 12 points, and
Hill hit the boards with five
rebounds and five assists.
“It feels good to know that
I’m contributing to the team,”
Fye said.
The team traveled to Norris to face their fifth game
against a ranked adversary.
The Lady Cards tore down the
then No. 6 Titans 48-44. Following the contest the ladies
rose to No. 10 and knocked
Norris down two spots to No.
8 in the Lincoln Journal Star
rankings.
This was first “W” the
girls saw as a result of snapping out of their third quarter
slump by outscoring the Titans 12-10.
“This was their first game
where we actually didn’t lose
a lead, because we were up by
nine at halftime and we were
up by 11 in the fourth quarter,
so I thought that’s a step for-
ward for us,” Gillespie said.
“Then we kind of struggled
in the fourth quarter after
that, but we did get through
that third quarter slump alive
and we were able to compete
with Norris and eventually
beat them.”
Hill led the tirade against
the Titans with 17 points, six
rebounds, and three steals,
while teammate Bradley had
16 points, five rebounds, and
four assists.
“It felt great to beat Norris and watch G dougie,” Hill
said.
Pius X Thunderbolts struck
down the Cardinals 44-40
in overtime. Hill scored 13
points, five rebounds, two
blocks, and four steals; Edwards had 12 points, and
senior Taylor Reetz seven rebounds.
The Cardinals commenced
Central Conference action after press time. Crete faced off
in a rematch against Fairbury
at home.
Ranked wrestlers take flight
Jessalyn Holdcraft
Copy/Content Editor/Staff
Coordinator
State Wrestling is a month
away and three Cardinal
mat men have worked their
way into the rankings. The
Lincoln Journal Star ranked
junior Corey Kalkwarf and
senior Brock Sherman sixth
and first, respectively, while
HuskerMat had concurring
rankings for the two and put
junior Chase Sherman at
sixth.
“Chase is really improving
and he gave the No. 1 kid a
pretty good match last night.
Corey looks strong; he’s go-
ing to have some tough kids
down the line but Corey can
beat anybody,” head coach
Matt Anderson said. “Brock
is expected to do well. He’s
a little out of shape because
he was a little banged up
over Christmas and couldn’t
workout quite as hard as he
needed to, but we’re working
on that and what he needs to
do to win it all.”
The grapplers gripped
a final win in 2010 in their
Auburn Dual 51-28. Three
open weight classes and pins
by freshmen Isaac Betke and
Hunter Poteet, sophomore
Jordan Loy, and junior Ross
Van Horn led the Cardinals in
the matchup.
“As a freshman you’re not
expected to win most of your
matches so you’re the underdog,” Betke said. “It feels
like I’ve proved the world
wrong.”
Poteet’s season ended after
a reoccurring wrist injury led
to a cracked scaphoid. Poteet
will undergo surgery to repair
the fracture and faces a sixmonth recovery.
“It sucked. I cried about
it,” Poteet said. “I still participate with the team and go
to the duals and invites.”
The Cardinals’ first stop
in 2011 was to the Wilber
Duals Tournament. They
defeated Johnson County
Central 69-9, Sutton 51-26,
Wilber 38-36, and Lincoln
Christian 60-21 to advance to
the championship dual. The
team earned second place
after West Point-Beemer outscored them 45-32.
Undefeated for the night
were juniors Tyler Stinson,
Kalkwarf, and C. Sherman;
freshman Thatcher, and seniors Sunny Phommavongsa
and B. Sherman.
“It’s always a good meet to
come back with after Christmas and get our guys tuned
up and ready to head into
probably the hardest stretch
of our season,” Anderson
said. “For our final dual with
West Point, they were deeper
than we were and they were
able to put a pretty solid guy
at every weight class and that
was really the difference.”
After a week without contests, the team placed fifth at
the Elkhorn Invite led by first
place finishes from Kalkwarf and B. Sherman. Four
more Cardinals added places.
C. Sherman placed second,
Betke and Thatcher earned
thirds, and Loy was sixth.
“It was pretty rewarding
because I’ve never won that
tournament before,” Kalkwarf said.
A re-rescheduled dual
against No. 10 ranked Aurora ended with the Huskies
beating the Cardinals 53-21.
Crete’s 21 points came from
an open at 119, Kalkwarf
winning by decision 2-1, and
pins from Thatcher and B.
Sherman.
“I feel like some of the
guys look up to me so I work
hard during practice and conditioning,” Thatcher said. “I
feel like a leader already as a
freshman.”
Crete placed fifth as a
team at the David City Invite. B. Sherman and Kalkwarf topped their podiums for
the Cardinals. Adding places
were C. Sherman second,
Thatcher third, Betke fourth,
and Reistroffer sixth.
The Cardinals traveled
to Lincoln Southwest after
press time.
January 28, 2011
Page 10
words of a feather
Features
Preachers’ kids pivot from parents
Photo by Christina Jackson
Photos by Christina Jackson
Junior Naomi Ristvedt and Freshman Joel
Senior Jonny Avelar supports his fathers loRistvedt siblings share the . Pastor Ristvedt
cal church. Pastor Avelar preaches at Dios es
fathers, mentors, and preaches at the Lutheren Amor (God is Love).
church.
At Crete High there are six
students whose parents are
preachers at different church“There’s a higher power es in Crete.
Preachers’ kids
that will judge your indecenare held to a higher
cy,” Marianne said.
“Tom Cruise?” Olive said. standard in school
In Easy A, Marianne is the to reflex the leadperfect preachers kid who ership and qualidoesn’t do anything wrong. ties of the pastor.
“People think
She leads bible studies at
kids
school, prayer circles, and preacher’s
doesn’t judge. However in can’t do anything
wrong, behave,
the movie,
To Save A Life the preach- and attend church
ers son smoked pot, lied to every Sunday,” jupeople, and tried to get an- nior Natasha Kingston said.
Kingston’s father, Kirk
other student in trouble.
Those are two sides most Kingston, is the associate
people believe are preach- pastor of Crete Berean.
“A perfect kid who does
ers’ kids. Either they are
the goody good students in everything right but most are
the opposite,” junior Aaron
school or the opposite.
Christina Jackson
Circulation Manager
Photo by Christina Jackson
Junior Aaron Braunberger and Freshman
Marc Braunberger attend church every week
as father Brent Braunberger pastors at the
Radiant Springs church.
said. Avelar’s father, Isreal
Averlar is the pastor of Dios
es Amor (God is Love).
“They are as
normal as any
other kid just a
little restricted”
freshman Mark
Braunberger
said.
Some preachers’ kids are
taught to do
things a certain
way at home
which
carries
over to school.
ant Springs.
“I was raised at home to
Some preachers’ kids
didn’t know where to start do things a certain way,” A.
when to describe the typical Braunberger said “ If I swear
I get grounded for weeks so
preacher’s kid.
“I don’t know because I’m it’s easier to do the things I
not it,” senior Jonny Avelar do at home at school too.”
Braunberger said. Braunberger’s father, Brent Braunberger, is the pastor of Radi-
“ We all have our
own personal flaws”
-senior JonnyAvelar said
Photo by Christina Jackson
Sophomore Rachel Pedersen enjoys her father when he’s at home. Pastor Rod Pedersen
is the pastor at Faith Christian Fellowship.
“At home
it doesn’t feel that my dad is
being the pastor,” sophomore
Rachel Pedersen said.
Students whose parents
are in the ministries and are
pastors are most likely to
go into the ministries themselves when they become
older. However, some of the
students in our school don’t
know whether or not it’s for
them.
“ I’m not going into pastoring because it’s not the job
for me,” Avelar said.
“I don’t know yet, we will
have to see,” Junior Naomi
Ristvedt said.
Ristvedt’s father, Nathan
Ristvedt is the pastor of Crete
Luthern church.
Preachers kids think of
themselves as just another
student in the school who
is just like everyone else. No
one is perfect.
“We all have our own personal flaws,” Avelar said.
There are many advantages and disadvantages to being
a Preachers’ kid.
“ One advantage is that
our parents care about us
more but the disadvantage
is that they always make us
go to church,” Freshman Joel
Ristvedt said.
“The disadvantage is that
if anything conflicts with
church it’s always church
first,” M. Braunberger said.
“The advantage is that you
learn more about your faith
and always have someone to
count on,” Pedersen said.
Alumnus makes it big as marine biologist
Skyler Doremus
Staff Reporter
When Cami Holtmeier
was a senior at Crete High
school, nobody, not even her,
thought she would continue
her journey to travel around
the world, teaching marine
biology to people of all ages
from 6 to 75.
“When I think about my
days at Crete High School,
I never would have quessed
that I’d be here now,” Holtmeier said.
Holtmeier, now living
near Seattle, Washington, is
married, has two kids named
Zeya, age nine, and Mace,
age 7, and countless ‘little
critters’ running around, including chickens, cats, rabbits, and guppies. She is
now a seventh grade science
teacher, working near seattle,
and greatly appreciates her
job and home life that she’s
been blessed with.
Though she is far away,
the memories at Crete will
never fade in her mind. She
is not alone in remembering her days at Crete. Lifelong friend, Jack Lionberger,
lives near her and frequently
shares stories from hard tests
,to rumors, to food fights during lunch.
“We’ve been best frinds
since seventh grade and have
kept in touch throughout the
years, and now by coincidence we both live near Seattle after moving countless
times, and share stories that
nobody particularly cares
about or thinks is funny, except us,” Holtmeier said.
“Mr. Coe’s class was probably my favorite class out of
all because of the material I
learned. That is when I first
learned that I was very interested in biology and when
I thought seriously about
making a career out of it. If
I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to take his class, I
wouldn’t be where I am today and have the experiences
that I’ve had the pleasure of
going through,” Holtmeier
said.
According to Holtmeier,
she learned more than just
biology facts in Mr. Coe’s
class.
“His class was challenging, not only in the school
work, but also in life. It
taught me some great skills
that helped me out after high
school. It wasn’t just about
that facts. He taught us how
to be on time, organized, and
how to work with people in
the right ways. They are all
skills that have helped me in
every job situation I’ve encountered. All of the classes
I took at Crete helped me in
preparing for not only the
college courses I took, but
the jobs I had while I was attending high school and college,” Holtmeier said.
While she was in high
school, Holtmeier juggled
a job working in a lab that
raised crickets with her
school work.
“It was pretty disgusting,”
Holtmeier said. “I had to feed
the crickets and clean their
cages. It doesn’t sound glorious but it led to better jobs
in the science field in the future.”
After graduating from
Crete in 1987, Holtmeier attended college at the Univer-
sity of Lincoln, Nebraska,
taking classes pertaining to
biology and science.
Holtmeier earned her PHD
in Ecology and Evolutionary
Science from Cornell University.
After graduating from college Cami traveled to the Everglades to research the ecology of small fish living in the
mangroves of small islands.
“I was almost always
alone so I had no one to joke
around with so it got pretty
lonely. Whenever I had boat
problems I was pretty much
out of luck until someone
came looking for me because
cell phones were not popular
yet,” Holtmeier said.
Driving to the mangroves
was her least favorite part of
working in the everglades because of the chance of sudden
intense storms and because of
having to maneuver through
shallow waters that could
cause serious damage to any
type of boat and it’s driver.
If she ever encountered a
storm while working on one
of the small islands, it meant
staying the night on the island alone, or until the storm
passed.
“I was always prepared for
anything the weather decided
to do. If it acted up with rain,
or it got really humid out, I
always always kept a tent and
the bugspray handy,” Holemeier said.
Holtmeier’s job as a mangrove reasearcher meant she
was responsible for catching
small fish, and examining
their habits, bevaviors, and
habitats.
“It was really physical
work. I had to walk through
Courtesy Photo
Cami Holtmeier and her nine year old daughter, Zeya, and sever year old son, Mace, enjoying
the mountainous view, near her home in Seattle, Wachington.Holtmeier now teaches seventh
grade Science in a school in Seattle.
small, muddle shallow waters with twent pound boots
on after they got wet. I’d
compare it to detassling,
though I wouldn’t know for
sure. I always carried at least
a fourt pound back pack on
my back,” Holtmeier said/
One of her most memorable experiences of when
she was working in the Everglades involves a dolphin and
a sand dune.
“On my way to the mangroves I was focusing on not
hitting the sand dunes that littered the waters. They could
pop at at any minute. I spot-
ted a sand dune and swerved
to miss it when a donphin
jumped up and out of the water and literally scared me to
death. That dolphin followed
me and my boat for what
seemed like an hour, until I
got to where I was supposed
to be,” Holtmeier said.
While finishing up her
work in the Everglades, Cami
found a job in the Bahamas
that in terested her greatly,
causing her to move yet
again.
Holtmeier taught marine
biology to people of all ages,
the oldest being 75 years of
age.
Her favorite course was
teaching retired or handicapped people about marine
biology.
“I hope someday when I
am 75 years old I’ll still be
brave enough to go off and
fly somewhere and learn
something new,” Holemeier
said.
“To me, my life has been
the dream I’ve always wanted, and it’s came true, and
there’s no way I would have
gotten here without all of my
hard work put towards my
dream,” Holtmeier said.