Author: Penn Points Staff

Ah, getting reading for college… so many things to do in so little time.

The time to worry about getting into college is over but suddenly a new list of worries begins when students realize they need to furnish and organize their dorm room at school.  Move-in day may be the biggest stress-filled day for a college freshman.

Two questions to ask before that day comes- how much stuff is going to fit in my room? What should be in it? If only there was a way to design your own dorm before you moved in…wait there is a way: DesignYourDorm.com!

Bryce Widelitz and Taylor Robinson first came up with the idea to design your own dorm during their sophomore year of college at the University of Arizona. The two since then have turned their idea into a fully Web 2.0-equipped site.

“Putting the posters on the wall and moving the items around, and just the flexible room layout are my favorite features,” said Widelitz.

The site is simple and forthright, first you select your room from a large list of participating colleges and universities. Next, choose the items you want in your dorm which ranges from everything from a Hannah Montana poster to a Tempur-Pedic mattress bed. Then connect with your future roomy to see what they have in mind. Next thing you know you’re tallying up your shopping cart and having the stuff shipped to your university.

The fact that you can select not just a poster, lamp or computer desk, but a specific item, is really what intrigues most people to the design aspect of the site. The collaboration between you and your roommate to see exactly what your dorm is going to look like before hand, is another factor to set this apart. But then to actually be able to buy and ship the items straight off the site, which uses Amazon.com, is a feature that will make move-in day go more smoothly for upcoming college freshman and their parents.

“To have high school seniors know what their dorm will be like is the key goal,” said Widelitz.

If this didn’t seem like enough, the two plan to expand their services to not only include dormitories, but to include apartment complexes, condominiums and office spaces.

The site is constantly being updated to keep up with the upcoming college bound students.

By Robert  Henry

What’s in 160 characters?

Texting. It happens under desks, behind computers, in the bathrooms.

Two-and-a-half billion texts are sent each day in America.

That’s an average of 28,935 texts sent every second.

But how many of those are yours?

“I use at least 1400 a month. I don’t think I’ve ever had under 1000 texts per month,” said sophomore Kelly Herr.

“[I send] like 520 or something a day. [I clear my inbox] like twice a day,” said sophomore Emily Sisson.

According to Nielsen Research, the average teen sends 3146 texts per month.

Boys average 30 texts per day while girls average 80. Boys are also proven to text with worse grammar and punctuation.

Some readers may remember when cell phones were used for calling.

But it’s not the eighteenth century anymore.

“I text for everything now.   I don’t call people at all,” said Herr.

The addiction of texting has also begun to create long-lasting affects on teens.

Annie Levitz, a Chicago student, was recently diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.

The cause? Texting.

After discovering shooting pains in her hands, Levitz went to the doctor, and now has to wear braces on both hands.

But the worst punishment: texting only 20-30 times per day.

Levitz sent ‘100 texts on a bad day.’

“I definitely regret it,” Levitz said regarding her extensive texting. “It’s painful, first of all. It’s embarrassing wearing the braces, and having people know – it’s not the greatest.”

Dr. Sofia Aksentijevich says texting and other movements over time can cause the condition of carpal tunnel.

“When you text, type or make other repetitive motions, irritated tendons or other swelling can squeeze the nerves inside the narrow carpal tunnel.”

Some may say it’s just the pain of staying connected.

By Lindsey Ostrum and Mike Nitroy

Bobby’s dating Sally. You found out on Facebook before Bobby even knew.

You RSVP’d for your grandma’s funeral on Facebook.

Facebook has now moved above showering on your priority list.

You just might be addicted.

There are 400,000,000 users worldwide and 175,000,000 of them log in at least once a day.

But what is it about Facebook has you, middle schoolers and your mom rushing to their computers every day?

“I like that I don’t have to leave my house to talk to a friend and I like that if I need help on homework, it’s right there,” said sophomore Maranda Kurtz.

“I like that I can not only talk to my friends from school, but I can talk to my cousins and friends who are really far away and catch up with them,” said sophomore Karen Myers.

Both class reunions and preschool play dates are organized on Facebook.

“I try to remember what I did before Facebook, but I can’t remember,” said Kurtz.

The average person visits Facebook four times a day for an average of 30 minutes.

But that’s not always the truth.

“Sadly, I think I’m on Facebook for about two hours [a day]. It really goes from one extreme to another, like 10 minutes if I’m with friends for the day, or hours if I’m home alone,” said Brianna Rice.

“I spend around two hours on Facebook daily,” said Myers.

But to make sure they weren’t holding back, Kurtz was put to the test.

Kurtz tracked her hours for a weekend, including Friday.

Both Friday and Saturday were just under two hours each.

But Sunday, she made up for lost time.

First logging on at 10:52 in the morning, Kurtz spent a total of six hours and 56 minutes on Facebook that day.

“It was because of my CLA. I like to keep the tab open even if I’m doing something else,” said Kurtz, attempting to defend herself.

After logging off at midnight, Kurtz finished the weekend with a total of nine hours, 56 minutes, and one CLA.

“I actually thought it would be more than it was. I’m glad it wasn’t as much though,” said Kurtz.

Six billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day.

But everyone goes onto Penn Points more than Facebook anyway.

By Mike Nitroy and Lindsey Ostrum.

“If I showed you, I’d have to kill you.”

There are many mysteries among us here at Penn Manor High School.

What are teachers’ firsts names? What makes our popcorn chicken so delectable? Is Mr. Kaufhold the same man we all love and know after 2:45?

But the greatest perplexity of all…Where, and is there such a thing as a bomb shelter here under the campus of Penn Manor?

With our senior year rapidly coming to an end, we have made it our mission to tackle this myth and to unveil the biggest kept-secret of Penn Manor High School.

Our first step was to find out what the word on the street, or in the hallways, was concerning the existence of any possible bomb shelters among the staff and student body.

We wanted to see what the students’ take was on this legend.

“There is definitely one underneath the English wing,” said senior Dave Karabaich. “When the school was being created in the 1950s, the country was being threatened, [so we needed one].”

Senior, Kenny Tomaszefski, describes the supposed bomb shelters as,“not just secret hiding places, but a haven for magical and mythical events that the human mind cannot explain.”

“I think there is basically another underground school somewhere underneath [Penn Manor],” said Alysha Kreider who is a firm believer in the existence of the bomb shelter.

However, not all students are believers.

“I don’t think there is one to my knowledge. I think my mom would have told me if there was one,” said senior, Ryan O’Day, who is the son of long-time English teacher, Cece O’Day.

Cory Delmonte, another senior, said, “There is just a generator – No bomb shelter.”

Overhearing the topic of conversation, curious senior, Henry Stewart said, “There is one under the science wing – You have to go outside to get to it.”

Throughout our search for more knowledge, we stumbled across another pupil who shared the same lust for unraveling this mind boggler.

“It’s in the math wing stocked with food,” said Sam Cornell who claimed to gain these facts from previous head principal, Dr. Jan Mindish. “If any serious event would have happened, [Dr. Mindish] would have taken the twenty brightest students and teachers [to the bomb shelter].”

With so much talk about the old math/science wing, we decided to further investigate.

“We are sitting on top of it right now,” said math teacher, Bruce Pierce.

“During the Three Mile Island scare (1979), they considered having students and faculty spend the night in the bomb shelter,” said Pierce.

These convincing words, from a seemingly reliable source, almost guaranteed us that there was, in fact, a bomb shelter here at Penn Manor High School.

The bomb shelter had to be big if it was going to fit Penn Manor’s student and faculty 30 years ago.

We still wanted to see it for ourselves.

“If I showed you, I’d have to kill you,” said custodian Janitor John who admitted it was possible to access Penn Manor’s bomb shelter.

“This is top secret stuff,” said John. “This is like Watergate.”

With the devoted secret-keeping custodians, we hoped the administration would be an easier nut to crack.

We were wrong.

Soon after, we approached the principals with high hopes, our ambitions were crushed, as they belittled us for even requesting to see such a mystical place.

Although we were denied access right off the bat from the bomb shelter, we weren’t going to throw in the towel just yet.

We decided to approach the custodians and administration with a willingness to abide by whatever terms were needed to catch a glimpse of this shelter.

After days of consulting and agreeing to a binding contract, a figure, who wanted to be kept anonymous, decided to allow us access to the all-mighty bomb shelter of Penn Manor High School.

Although excited, we would later find out that this wasn’t going to be a light stroll through the school.

Stay tuned for the actual trip to the bomb shelter…

By Cody Erb and Dessie Jackson