That’s how Penn Manor senior Mark Longenecker said he felt after voting in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Primary election.
But not everyone who is eighteen and attending Penn Manor High School voted.
“First of all, I didn’t register, second, I had no means of transportation and third, I don’t care about local government,” said another 18-year-old senior.
That seemed to be the trend for most of the 18-year old Penn Manor students, they didn’t vote.
Republican Tom Corbett is running for governor of Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of Gopcumberland.com
While, Joe Sestak took the race over the aging Arlen Specter for the Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat on the Democratic side. Pat Toomey won the Republican nod and will face Sestak in the fall.
The other major race was for gubernatorial candidates. Tom Corbett was the Republican winner and will face Dan Onorato, a Democrat, in the general election.
“I didn’t register or I would have voted,” said senior Matt Glick.
It was difficult to find even one student eligible to vote who actually did.
Although primary elections can have light turnout, the Associated Press estimated less than 40 percent of registered voters turned out on election day.
Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator, Joe Sestak. Photo courtesy of Washingtonpost.co
Yet, many students have strong opinions on government and politics making it curious why more did not take advantage of one of the strongholds of democracy.
“I would say, that the students probably do not know where to go and register,” said assistant principal and history teacher Doug Eby, “the majority would vote if they knew where to go.”
One student, other than Longenecker, was found who did vote, “It was a very serious atmosphere,” said senior Andrew Zell, “I thought it would have been a lot cooler.”
The Penn Manor Girls’ Lacrosse team was left disappointed, heartbroken, and frustrated after their 16-15 loss to Hempfield in their regular season finale, Tuesday May 10.
This game was at home and on Penn Manor’s Senior Night, which added to the pain of losing to Hempfield, the first time in five years and missing the L-L League championship game for the first time in four years.
Senior, defensive player, Kerri Althouse commented on the disappointment of missing leagues.
“It really hurts not being able to play in leagues this year,” said Althouse. “It will be my only year without a league medal. It’s a disappointing way to end my high school career.”
The Comets went into the game tied with Hempfield for second place in Section 1. The winner of this nighttime showdown at Turkey Hill Venue Field would move into sole possession of second place and claim the final spot in the league playoff bracket.
This year marks the first year of the new league system. Under the new system, the top two teams in each section get the chance to contend for the league title. Senior, attack player, Julie Falk said she does not like the new league system.
“I think it’s very stupid because our section [section 1] has the top four teams in the league. So, by adding this new system, you cut two great teams out of the league championship contention. It’s just not fair,” Falk said.
The Comets flew out of the gate against the Black Knights en route to a 10-8 first half lead in which they never trailed.
Hempfield did not have an answer on defense for Falk, who scored four times in the opening half.
Black Knights coach, Liz Hockley, must have given a great halftime speech because her team came out of the locker rooms with determination written all over their faces.
Hempfield opened the second half with a 6-1 run, took the lead (16-9), and never trailed after.
Falk, who is on her way to Old Dominion University to play Division I lacrosse, tried to analyze the close game, “I was doing great in the first half. I felt good and my game was really flowing. I don’t know what happened in the second half but they just completely shut me down and our team play as a whole followed.”
Although, the Comets are disappointed and frustrated with their loss and missing the league tournament, they are still ready to get get back into district contention. Last year, the Comets came in second in districts, losing to rival Manheim Township, and lost in the first round of states to Strath Haven, a team from the Philadelphia Area.
Althouse said she’s looking forward to districts, “This year looks good for us in districts. We got a good seed and one of the best routes, if not the best route, to the finals.”
Falk added to that by saying, “We are looking for gold this year. We really want another chance at [Manheim] Township. I want to show them what it feels like to get second in districts.”
The girls are pumped and ready for the playoffs to start. They took the field against Wilson at home Tuesday, May 18.
They were hungry to start their playoff run, trashing the Bulldogs, 15-5. They now move on to the second round of district contention to play three seeded, Kennard-Dale.
They will clash on May 22 with the venue and time still to be announced. Pay attention to the place and time for this game and clear your schedules to come support and cheer your Comets on to victory. Go Get ‘Em Girls!
When you walk into room 214, most expect the sound of “Hola!” or students grunting while conjugating verbs. But on Friday, the Spanish III classes, taught by Julie Bibiloni, celebrated the end of their recent chapter with a fiesta like no other.
“The chapter deals with vocab of celebrations including birthdays, weddings, Christmas, Three Kings Day, Hanukkah and New Year’s,” said Bibiloni, “The grammar’s hard in this chapter. It’s a great relaxing way to end the chapter.”
Students in Spanish III celebrate traditional Spanish holidays. Photo by Mike Nitroy
And the students from the class were quick to grab at the chance to relax.
“Bibiloni’s made the course tough so we deserve one party a year,” said student James Servansky.
The party started with a simulation of the celebration of New Years Eve in Spain in a new way.
“In Spain, as a tradition, they eat 12 grapes, one for every second after New Year’s at midnight,” said student Kelly Lenahan.
Students gathered around with cups of grapes, attempting to chew one every second, but had more difficulty than most would think.
“I only got to cinco (five) [after 12 seconds],” said Lenahan.
A traditional Spanish wedding was then performed with students portraying brides, grooms, flower girls and the priest.
Students simulated a traditional wedding in Spain. Photo by Mike Nitroy
During this fiesta however, the wedding featured live music by Tosh Chambers on bass and Selena Hasircoglu on keyboard who serenaded the “newlyweds” Claire Collison and Brandon Stone.
“[I liked] playing the wedding march.We gave up our lunch to come in and practice,” said Hasircoglu.
“It had a good turn out,” said Chambers.
The rest of the party was filled with food, drinks, a birthday cake and the loud singing of Feliz Cumpleaños (Happy Birthday).
“The food was really fun. The music was really good too,” said Stone.
Students Tosh Chambers and Selena Hasircoglu played the wedding march during the fiesta. Photo by Mike Nitroy
“The wedding and the ‘orchestra’ [were my favorites],” said Bibiloni.
While most days Señora Bibiloni can be found concentrating on new verb tenses and weekly vocabulary quizzes, on this day she made every student want to run to the counselor and sign up for a Spanish course.
The Penn Manor tack team continued their success this season, in the L-L League Championship meet held at Hempfield, including stellar performances by lady Comet discus hurlers.
New track coach, Art Morris, took the reins of the team this year. Previously, Morris coached the
The girls finished fourth overall, and the boys finished seventh overall in league competition. The Comets won four events as a team.
First place winners were P.J. Rehm in the 110 hurdles, Laronn Lee in the triple jump, Carenna Neely in the discus and the girls 4×400 relay.
The L-L League meet wrapped up the Comets successful L-L League season. During the regular season, the boys finished 3-3 in head-to-head meets. The girls finished 4-2 in head to head meets.
Long-time track coach Coach Joe Herman credits their success to teamwork.
“Our most impressive thing is that we work as a team,” said Herman. “We give each other moral support, and we help each other with our techniques.”
The most successful event for the team all season has been the girl’s discus. Along with the L-L Champion Carenna Neely, the other throwers include Sarah Connor, Rebecca Connor and Helen Doolittle.
The discus team was recently featured in a story done by WGAL’s Pat Principe. To watch the video go to:
It’s Thursday again and I am sitting here bored in homeroom.
There is only a few weeks left of school and I am trying to enjoy what is left. All students have to go through finals, study hard and work like they have never worked before to make sure they do well in all their classes.
But one thing that I looked forward to since day one was going to club every Thursday. When I wake on Thursday mornings, my motivation to get out of bed is knowing I could play floor hockey.
Now for others, it’s different clubs they enjoy including chess, basketball or newspaper clubs. I can say that I am probably not the only person frustrated that I can’t participate in club for the remainder of the year.
Mike Bouder - Penn Points staff writer
What I keep wondering is, why exactly do we not have clubs for the rest of the year?
Whatever the reason, its unfair. If students need time for tutoring, they are supposed to skip club, anyway. If not, administration punishments ensue. I know that, and I am sure the rest of school does as well, its common sense.
If there is one thing that I would tell the school administration and board is: keep clubs all year. There’s really no need to make these students suffer in homeroom when we can be doing the things we love.
Some clubs benefit and help students in their classrooms, they advance learning and thought, like German club.
I have never been in German club but I sat in a homeroom while the club was going on. They do activities having to do with all things, well, German. I’m not saying the kids don’t have fun, just that if they want to get more in-depth into German, they turn to their club.
My new end of the year resolution is to get through the rest of the year without losing my sanity sitting in homeroom and not running around joyfully playing floor hockey.
After losing to a powerhouse Hempfield squad in the LL league playoffs, The Penn Manor Boy’s Volleyball team now must prepare for the District III playoffs.
The Comets (10-5) are ranked third overall in districts, and will begin their district play against Chambersburg High School on Monday at 6 p.m. at Dallastown High School.
“If we work hard and don’t get down on ourselves if we get down [in the game], I think we can do well,” said senior middle hitter, Aaron Gochnauer.
The Comets have four seniors and two sophomores in their starting lineup, and haven’t gotten much credit despite their unexpected success this season.
“They have proved that they can adapt to any team, and they refuse to give up, as we saw in the first round of Leagues against Garden Spot, coming back from a 0-2 deficit to win the match,” said Comet’s head coach Chris Telesco.
Senior, Jeremy Funk, the Comet’s leader in kills this season, will look to continue his hot play for Penn Manor throughout these playoffs as they will attempt to make a run at this thing and continue to surprise the league.
“If we play to our potential, we could definitely go far,” said starting sophomore outside hitter, Dylan Weber.
Manor has great-united team chemistry and as Gochnauer said, “It is not just a one person show.”
The Comets will have the opportunity, starting Monday, to show what else their team is made of.
Three of Penn Manor’s brightest were competing in National History Day at a state level.
Jeremy Vital
Jeremy Vital, Trevor Troup and Ande Olsen finished in the top six in state competition for their documentary on the innovation of refrigeration.
The project was made for National History Day(NHD), and took these three to glory.
“It was surprising because I started out just trying to get an A in the class, but ended up getting sixth in states,” said junior Trevor Troup.
The project for the three began in the classroom as just another class assignment.
Trevor Troup
“We didn’t even try that hard, then it ended up being a really good project,” said junior Ande Olsen.
Penn Manor also had the home school advantage in
Ande Olsen
the event since they hosted it.
“I felt right at home because I didn’t have to travel,” said junior Jeremy Vital.
This was the most successful year for Penn Manor at the NHD event, and the Social Studies department looks forward to next year’s event with enthusiasm.
“Even though we wont have the class together, were still going to make a project for the next event(NHD),” vowed Jeremy Vital
By Paul Slaugh
Emotion is at its highest and the stakes are higher. Dreams can be fulfilled or lost in one game, one quarter or even one basket. This is the NBA playoffs.
There are only four teams remaining, all with the same goal to be crowned the NBA champions.
In the first round, the Magic easily handled the Bobcats, even with the Magic’s big man, Dwight Howard getting into foul trouble early in games. They swept the Bobcats and advanced to the second round.
The high-powered Cavaliers moved the Bulls aside in their first series, winning the series four to one.
The big three players of the Boston Celtics, with Rajon Rondo looking good, led the Celtics past Wade and the Miami Heat.
Milwaukee’s Bucks somehow took the Hawks to seven games but the Hawks still survived with strong play from Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford.
In probably the best playoff series, the Thunder came back from a 2 -0 hole and tied up the series but went on to lose the next two games. The Thunder are young and full of talent built around Kevin Durant.
With an upset, the Spurs won the battle over Texas. The Spurs were led by Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan. The Mavericks’ Caron Butler and Brendan Hayward didn’t show up in the series letting the load rest on Dirk Nowitzki.
Phoenix knocked out a fighting Trailblazers team without Roy for most of the series. Grant Hill, Amare Stoudemire and Jason Richardson all stepped up to beat the Blazers.
The Jazz took down the Nuggets in six games where Carmelo Anthony scored a lot but somehow looked like a none-factor.
The Jazz got swept by a Bryant-led Lakers team. Pau Gasol showed up in the second game and played well.
The Celtics vs Cavilers game was overshadowed by Lebron’s elbow but in game three, James came out and scored 38 points leading his team to an easy victory. Making many ask whats wrong with Lebron’s elbow. Rajon Rondo far outplayed James in the playoff series. Rondo recorded his fourth playoff triple double in game four. He even earned MVP chants from the fans inside the TD Garden arena in Boston.
The Magic led by Dwight Howard, who hasn’t been in foul trouble this series, eliminated the Hawks easily with a sweep. The Hawks couldn’t find an answer for the Magic with five players in double figures in game four.
The Suns have already wrapped up their series against the Spurs. The Suns were led by Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash. They might have some rust heading into the conference finals.
Orlando finished it’s series last night along with the Lakers sweeping the Jazz. The Lakers will head into a series against the Suns starting Monday.
The Magic beat out the Hawks easily, they will face the Celtics.
The Celtics versus the Cavaliers series broke its tie at two on Tuesday at Cleveland. The Celtics won game five easily behind Ray Allen’s 25 points. Lebron James only scored 15 points in his probable last game as a Cav in Cleveland. Lebron, with a triple- double, couldn’t stop the Celtics but he also had nine turnovers.
The Celtics are now going to face the hot Magic who have not lost a game during the playoffs. Sorry to Cleveland fans but this maybe the last time you see Lebron in the red and blue. But that’s a whole story by itself and the news will be surrounding him this off season.
The Celtics, led by Ray Allen, gave the Magic their first loss of the playoffs. Dwight Howard only scored 13 points and 12 boards. Game two will be on Tuesday. The Celtics win another against the Magic. The game was close with a 95 – 92 win for the Celtics.
The Lakers won big against the Suns on Monday night with a lot of help from Kobe Bryant, who scored 40 points. Both teams come in hot off a sweep. Game two was another win for the Lakers behind Pau Gasol’s 29 points and Bryant’s 21 points. The game was close until the fourth quarter when the Lakers took control.
Who will take the championship trophy home? Will it be the aged Celtics lead by MVP like Rajon Rondo. The Lakers may repeat, but they have to go through the sizzling suns of Phoenix. The Magic might bring their first championship to Orlando but they have to go by the Celtics. The Suns could also bring their first title home.
As always, one thing is sure, the NBA playoffs will thrill its audience.
Not only does the tradition of Spring Fling continue, the tradition of wet, rainy weather does too.
On May 14, Spring Fling, Penn Manor’s annual carnival, was held at Comet Field from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., with additional fireworks that started after dark.
Sumo wrestlers battled it out at Spring Fling 2010. Photo by Sarah Garner
The Spring Fling adviser and assistant principal, Doug Eby, was satisfied with the outcome of Spring Fling this year, setting aside the weather conditions.
“We were about running out of parking, but then it started to rain and people left,” said Eby. “[When the rain stopped] they came back.”
WeatherChannel.com had predicted afternoon thunderstorms for the day of Spring Fling, but Mother Nature surprised everyone by adding hail into the mix.
The hail was the size of marbles and did minor damage to stands and the surrounding cars.
“We had a good amount of people and when it started hailing we lost about half of them,” said senior Kayla Drexel, a Spring Fling coordinator.
“I think they need to have a rain date so the stands can make their money,” said sophomore Matthew Ulmer. “Mother Nature ruined it for the past three years.”
Although the rain and hail put a frown on many peoples’ faces, there are those who still had a good time.
“It was a little slow at first, but I feel people were having fun at the beginning,” said junior Emily Land.
“I worked ITS Thespian Club [stand] and it went pretty well, but we didn’t make [as much money as] we wanted to ’cause of the rain,” said junior Alana Herr.
One wrestler gets knocked to the mat before storms interrupted Spring Fling 2010. Photo by Sarah Garner
Spring Fling has been a district event for several years and it continues to grow and change, according to Eby and Drexel.
“I think it was more organized this year,” said Drexel. “We had more stuff done ahead of time.”
“It costs about $4,000 to run Spring Fling,” said Eby. “We raise enough [money] to have Spring Fling [in order to] help clubs make money.”
But not everything went perfectly.
Drexel considered what she would change in the upcoming years if she could.
“I don’t think we’ve had as many clubs [as previous years],” said Drexel. “More sports clubs [will be asked to participate].”
Eby felt confident enough to say the weather will not be an issue next year.
“This will be the last year it rains,” said Eby. “It will not rain next year!”
“It would be extremely hard. It’s always there, ” said freshman Kayla Brown.
“I couldn’t. I’d be really bored and wouldn’t know what to do,” sophomore Kelly Herr, said emphatically.
“That would be hard since it’s everywhere. It would be very tempting,” said freshman Nick Charles.
Twenty four hours without any iPods or music of any kind, no computers, no Facebook or television or news. A reporter from Lancaster Intelligencer Journal challenged us to go a full day without the use of any of the mentioned electronics.
She said it would be a good experience and a good writing exercise.
We were nervous. We were skeptical. We were unsure.
One authority, the Kaiser Family Foundation, that tracks these kind of trends, reports that children ages 8-18 use technology for more than seven and-a-half hours a day.
Seven and-a-half at the least, we thought.
But we did it.
With a journal in our hands at all times, we kept track of how we got through the grueling experience.
Carrying journals with us helped document what we did - and didn't do. Photo by Mike Nitroy
The first few hours of the day, it really didn’t make as much of a difference because we were in school.
School policy does not allow cell phones, iPods or access to social networking, although most students usually find some way during school to connect to the outside world.
But not for us, not this day.
“I’m not feeling too different yet because I don’t usually use my phone and iPod a lot during school. Right now, I’m just focusing on planning to find things to occupy my time tonight.” – Mike Nitroy 10:26 a.m.
“It hasn’t really affected me yet except that I keep reaching for my phone to check the time and it’s not there.” – Lindsey Ostrum, 11:01 a.m.
But after lunch, we were surrounded by computers in journalism class. It was difficult not to take a peek at those brightly colored screens all around us. They were calling us. They knew our names.
It seemed so inefficient to spend the time it would take to get out a pen and look endlessly for a piece of paper when others could just turn their computers on.
They were all busy typing away while we sat technology-less and empty.
“I’m so bored, Mike and I are playing tic-tac-toe, and making M.A.S.H notes. The boredom is really starting to sink in.” – Ostrum, 12:21 p.m.
“Lindsey and I played so much tic-tac-toe that we had more draws than anything because we figured out how to play so you don’t lose.” – Nitroy, 12:37 p.m.
24 hours without technology including laptops is difficult.
The real test of endurance and temptation started as we stepped inside our houses. Our technology-loving families filled the house with sounds of their favorite TV shows.
“I’ve decided to choose eating in order to pass the time right now, but no worries, I have a high metabolism. Watching my neighbor mow her lawn is almost like TV, right? I watched her push her Craftsman lawn mower around and around as it lowered the two-inch-tall grass. Down the hill and the up the hill, down the hill and up the hill. It was mesmerizing for a whole four minutes.” – Nitroy, 3:10 p.m.
“I feel so lazy just laying around, but I have no clue what to do. I could read but I finished my book and I need to find another new book that I can read for hours. But, that will never happen. Harry Potter’s over.” – Ostrum, 3:35 p.m.
As the day progressed, things weren’t looking up.
“I’m running out of things to do. My attempt at cleaning my room was an utter failure. I picked up my Coldplay shirt off my chair. Just looking at it hit me in the face reminding me of this horrible day. I thought about taking it down to the laundry room, but I just can’t get motivated without listening to music.” – Ostrum, 5:25 p.m.
“I just played the piano, which I haven’t in forever. I couldn’t remember what was flat and what was sharp. I had to mow the grass without my iPod and it really was not enjoyable. It seemed as if it took five times longer than with music.” – Nitroy, 5:30 p.m.
“I had color guard practice after 6:30.It distracted me for a while, but then when I thought about coming home I got depressed remembering about how boring it was going to be. As other members talked about recent photos on Facebook, my thoughts went to how I would check them out, but all I could do is watch my mom on Facebook. ” – Ostrum, 7:44 p.m.
As the sun went down, so did the amount of things we could find to do.
“I’ve never played so many board games in one day. I’m extremely bored. No pun intended. Scrabble and Boggle with my mom made the time pass. A little.” – Nitroy, 8:02 p.m.
“This is killing me. Death by the eighteenth century. Not being able to listen to music all day is like telling a kid with chicken pox not to scratch themselves.”- Ostrum, 8:20 p.m.
An entire day without technology, including music, proves to be difficult for teens.
When we couldn’t think of anything else, there was only one thing left to do.
“I’m officially going to bed almost an hour early because there is just nothing left that I can find to do. This whole no-technology thing got old fast.” – Nitroy, 9:35 p.m.
“I tried to fall asleep earlier than I usually do, but since I did pretty much nothing all day, I couldn’t get tired.” – Ostrum, 9:55 p.m.
We woke up. It felt like Christmas as we sprinted for our phones and turned on the radio to full volume.
Twenty four hours later, the positives were slim but they did exist.
Spending time with families, being more focused on homework and revisiting old activities were just some of the productive things we experienced.
But even acknowledging that, we came to one obvious conclusion.
