“Cinderella” Lakers not finding their Glass Slipper against the Celtics

By Aaron Brown –

It was the Celtics versus the Lakers without Kobe and Pierce, but it wasn’t without excitement.

A Lakers’ shot made at the buzzer sent the tense game into overtime, but it was not enough momentum to push the Lakers past the Celtics Monday night.  Uh, not the NBA, it was the always popular Penn Manor Rec Championship game.

“First Rec Championship, you tell me how I’m feeling,” said Cody Straub.

Straub, the Celtics first-round pick, was flying high after the win. It was  Straub’s final year in the Penn Manor Recreational League, and it was a sweet note to end with a first place trophy.

But he was sure to spread the credit across his squad.

“We won the game thanks to Ian Noll heating up, clutch free throws made by Ian Toomey, and solid defense,” said Straub.

The Celtics team holding up their first place trophies. Photo by Aaron Brown.

The Lakers, were hot off beating the number one seed Rockets and were hoping to keep their ‘Cinderella Story’ alive, but the Celtics were waiting to close the book on that fairy tale.

The bleachers were filled with fans from both teams, much like a famous  Hempfield vs. Penn Manor duel, but it was just the Penn Manor Rec Championship game.

But it wasn’t “just” a game.

The Celtics got a contribution from every member on their team, whether it be points or assists.

Although the Lakers scored the first four points, they could not score the last three to give them the win.

This game may be remembered for many years to come because of all the ties and lead changes. Also, ‘The shot heard around the gym,’ Austin Watson’s made three at the end of regulation to send it into overtime erupted in screams from the crowd on both sides of the gym.

“There is nothing better than rec basketball,” said Nick Tulli, a fellow rec player who watched from the stands after his team, the Sonics, were eliminated in playoffs.

This game was always close, with no team ever winning by more than seven points.

“It was a nail bitter all night long,” said Tulli.

At halftime, the Celtics were winning, 19-17, thanks to Bobby Goss’s shot made seconds before the half was over. The MVP at halftime was Jake Shiner, although his team was losing. He  scored 11 of his team’s 17 points.

During the sixth period-eight periods in a rec game- Ian Noll drained a three in two straight Celtic’s possessions to raise their lead to seven points. The Lakers roared back, on behalf of Jake Shiner and Dougie Taylor.

Then the real drama began. In the last minute of the eighth period, Ian Toomey made two free throws to give the Celtics a one-point lead. The Lakers hurried down the court, but missed the shot. The Celtics sunk two free throws at the hand of Noll. With the Celtics up by the three, Watson caught the ball a couple feet behind the three point line, raised up and ‘swish’, the shot went in to send the game into O.T.

The crowd didn’t get their money’s worth in the three-minute overtime period because the Celtics only scored three points and the Lakers only had one.  Good thing admission was free.

The momentum from regulation time was not enough for the underdog, Lakers. They lost to the Celtics 48-46.

 

 

Never Ending Cycle Can Cause Obesity

By Jay Jackson –

A new study just came out saying that if you are excluded when you are a kid then you are more likely to be overweight. You gain weight and then as a child you  are excluded more and as a result you gain even more weight.

“I used to be fluffy when I was little but I wasn’t ostracized. I was just naturally a little bigger,” said Brandon Smertz a senior at Penn Manor.

Obesity can start in early childhood and continue to adulthood. Image courtesy of knowabouthealth.com

The idea for the study was brought up by Jacob Barkley, who is an assistant professor in exercise science at Kent State, after watching his three sons play out side.

“I noticed when friends came over, the intensity of their activity increased dramatically. After seeing that, I went and looked at the literature in terms of peer influence and physical activity behavior,” said Barkley.

It is a dangerous cycle that harms kids around the world everyday, according to the research. Some think that this is a major break through  in the understanding of childhood obesity.

Overweight children can feel like they should exclude themselves from group activities. Photo credit to www.guardian.co.uk.

“As you get more ostracized, you get heavier; you get more ostracized because you got heavier and things get worse and worse,” explained Barkley.

In this study 19 children boys and girl from the ages 8 to 12 completed both sessions of experiments. The first session they were on the computer and playing a ball-toss computer game. Some children got the ball a third of the time during the game and the others were excluded almost the whole time.

After this session, they were taken into the gym and not told what to do. The kids that were included in the game were found to have a 22 percent increase in physical activity than the children who were excluded. On the other hand the children that were excluded were 41 percent more likely to particiapate in sedentary activities such as reading, coloring or playing matching games

This study really shows and confirms the link between emotions and obesity, researchers said.

Amy Stanford who works with obese children at the Sports Medicine Center at Akron Childrens Hospital said they support any physical acticity.

“We try to encourage kids to find things that they enjoy doing. That does not always mean it has to be in a group. If there are things that get them moving and physically active that they can do with their families or with a best friend or even by themselves, we encourage that,” explained Stanford.

Some Penn Manor students feel like this isn’t always the case.

“That can’t always be true. I had plenty of heavyset friends and nobody ostracized them,” said Kara Ann Overmyer another senior who goes to Penn Manor. “I mean I guess it could be true but I doubt it.”

However others saw some validity in the preliminar research, like Penn Manor’s Bob Warfel.

“I can see that being true. There are a lot of obese kids around and most of them I could see being ostracized. I have seen it happen to kids and it sucks but it happens every once in awhile,” said Warfel.

 

Parents More Tolerant Towards Being Gay or Opposite Gender?

By Iris Santana –

Gender Identity Disorder. It is a formal diagnosis used by psychologists and physicians to describe a person(s) who experience significant gender dysphoria. Dysphoria is a discontent with the biological sex and/or gender with which someone is born.

There are many cases where people, male or female as young as five are ‘trapped’ inside the opposite genders’ body.

Five year old Zach Avery refused to live his life as a boy at the age of three.

Zach Avery as a boy

“He just turned round to me one day when he was three and said, “Mummy, I’m a girl.” I assumed he was just going through a phase and just left it at that. Zach’s mother, Theresa Avery recalled about the day her son ‘came out’.

It’s sad to think that a lot of people have this problem, dealing with the fact that they are something they’re ‘not’, especially if that person is your little boy.

He gets so frustrated to the point where he even tried to cut his genitals off.

But this is not a big surprise to most. People. Parents do this to their own kids, hiding their child’s identity so they are able to decide themselves what they want to be as if it’s a career choice.

Zach as Zachy

A pigtail-purple tutu wearing ‘Zachy’ is much happier now that he is able to be who he wants to be.

There was another case in 2011, where Toronto parents planned on raising their baby Storm genderless.

The parents, Kathy Witterick and David Stocker claim it’s a “tribute to freedom and choice.”

“That’s wrong, it’s torture and people that do that to their kids should be in jail,” Bianca Cruz commented about the Toronto parents.

“Their child is going to be so confused and with a lot of mental and emotional issues to deal with.” Cruz added.

The couple also has two other boys, five and two, which they encourage to dress and play less ‘boyishly’.

That’s exactly what they do. Jazz, 5, loves to paint his nails and wears pink while his younger brother Kio, 2, gets mistaken for a girl.

People have their own views about gender and sexuality.

“Everyone’s entitled to do what makes them happy,”  Dimitrius Dennison said.

Whereas other don’t agree with it.

“It’s just wrong. You think it’s  a female and when they turn around it’s a dude.” John Diaz said about cross dressers.

More and more parents nowadays are becoming tolerant towards their child being gay, lesbian and/or even cross-dressing.

“I think my mom would support me, but my dad would just look at it as a phase,” says Sierra Bland, a student at Penn Manor.

Other parents on the other hand are not.

“My dad would slap me, then kick me out,” says Robert Cruz, a senior at Penn Manor.

There are many students walking the halls of Penn Manor, innocently holding hands with the same sex. Maybe their friends, or maybe they’re more than friends.

 

High Praise for the Stock Market Game

By Jake Shiner and Sam Valentin-

Penn Manor takes its turn at the stock market.

Penn Manor’s government and economic classes are playing what they call the stock market game. According to Jon Boxleitner, Penn Manor’s history department has done some form of this game for the past decade. But this year it changed.

“Well we’ve been doing some form of it for maybe 10 years now. (We) keep changing it up,” said Boxleitner, a history teacher at Penn Manor who manages the game with the help of others.

“We play through Investopedia.” A website that was found by fellow history teacher Chris Meier. “The one thing that is good is we can set it to our own guidelines,” said Boxleitner, referring to the duration, amount of money, price, and other rules.

The new game seems to be more realistic then in past years and teachers believe students are enjoying the learning experience that goes along with it.

“I think so, they seem content and into it. Sometimes I overhear their conversations and they talk about checking their stocks out of class on their own,” stated Boxleitner, in response to if the students are enjoying the game.

Students seem to agree with his point of view. One of his students who is very engaged in the game is Darin Fry.

“(The stock market game) corresponds to the real stocks on Wall Street… it is pretty realistic,” said Fry, a senior, who is currently a week into playing the game. “I thought it was lame at first but now its cool.”

Fry was interviewed in the library, actually on his way to check on how his stocks were doing.

While many people are enjoying the current game, some have a different view of the game from the past.

James Servansky, who played a different form of the stock market game in Matt Scheuing’s class his tenth grade year, said that his experience with virtual stocks was not very realistic and he didn’t gain much knowledge on stock trading.

“[Scheuing] made the companies stock value fluctuate more aggressively than they would in real life. But that was just for fun between classmates,” said Servansky.

But Servansky does agree that it is helpful to have an understanding of the market.

“It is beneficial to see how the stock market fluctuates,” said Servansky. “They learn that stocks are high risk, high reward.”

Servansky, unlike some other students, has been involved in actual stock trading for about four years now.

“My dad bought me my own stocks freshman year and I’ve been dabbling ever since,” joked Servansky.

With the new version of the game, the students seem to be learning a lot more.

“I learned to appropriately invest in stocks, so now I could actually do it,” said Fry.

Fry said that the game plays from February through May, with each student starting with $100,000 virtual dollars. Students are required to make at least five trades and to not go in debt.

Troy Diffenderfer, another senior student playing the game, said, “I think it is really fun, you learn a lot, and it is a cool game.”

 

Underclassmen Have Questions, Course Selection Night Has Answers

By Austin Rowley –

Having a well planned-out education can be key to having success down the road.

The counseling department is hosting an opportunity for Penn Manor High School students for the 2012-2013 school year to give suggestions and offer help with choosing courses and planning for their futures – Course Selection Night.

“Future high school students can start to think about how you really need to do four year planning when it comes to choosing courses,” said Penn Manor High School counselor, Melissa Ostrowski.

It is stressful to some students to figure out what they possibly may be doing after high school when choosing classes. Many students do not truly know what they want to do after high school, but it’s never too early to take your future into consideration during the course selection process.

“Sometimes you need to plan backwards and make sure you take courses in 10th or 11th grade so that you are eligible to take the courses you want your senior year.  We like the students to think about where they want to end up and use that as a starting point. This is a great night for them to learn about those and set goals for themselves,” said Ostrowski.

It is strongly encouraged for all students to attend Course Selection Night, but especially for up-and-coming freshmen.

Talking with teachers and learning a little bit about the available electives might make the transition from middle school to high school a little bit easier, the counselors said.

The next school year will feature name alterations in English courses for freshmen and sophomores, and the social studies sequence will be altered for sophomores.

English 9 will be renamed to Foundations of Literacy, while English 10 will be renamed to Foundations of Composition.  The 10th grade  social studies course will be Civics, in place of US History II.

The night though is mainly meant for students who have questions for certain electives they may be interested in taking, according to the counselors.

Melissa Ostrowski (top row, right) Image by EngleOnline

“Future high school students probably don’t even realize all of the really amazing electives we offer at the High School. This is a great night for them to learn about those and set goals for themselves,” said Ostrowski.

“The main purpose is for students to get a chunk of time to talk with the teachers about the specifics of various courses.  They can ask for advice on what may be the best courses to take, learn about the requirements of the courses, and learn about what courses they should consider taking in order to prepare for their post-secondary goals.”

Both parents and students and parents are invited to attend Course Selection Night at the high school, and current eighth grade students are urged to attend a presentation in the auditorium starting at 6:30. Students in grades 9-11 may attend Course Selection Night at 7 p.m., on March 1st.

Ostrowski stated that parents and students from the past have given positive feedback on Course Selection Night, and have let it be known that it has helped students picking elective courses.

“The parents and students tend to feel it is helpful,” said Ostrowski.  “Nobody likes to get into a class and realize that he made a bad choice so any research that is done ahead of time ( like attending Course Selection Night) can eliminate problems down the road.”

 

 

 

 

Homerun Hopes Run High in Spring

By Taylor Skelly –

Experience.  It’s what the Comets hope will pull their baseball team out of the slump that plagued them last year.

Last spring, the Penn Manor High School varsity baseball team ended the season with a less than inspiring Lancaster-Lebanon League record of seven wins and nine losses, coupled with an overall record of nine wins and twelve losses. In the 2011-2012 season, Penn Manor looks to a more experienced pitching staff to carry them through the season.

“Last year we didn’t have one returning starting pitcher, this year we have three, Darren Weidman, Joe Witmer and Zac Burke, which will give us some extra experience,” said head coach Jim Zander.

Pitching, along with fielding will be oh so important this year due to the change in rules regarding the types of bats allowed. As a result of an increased number of injuries to high school and college baseball players, the National Federation of State High School Associations requires that all bats meet the new Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution, or BBCOR, standards. Although making the game safer, these bats will greatly inhibit players’ ability to hit for power, creating lower scoring games, all while making the team’s ability to field without error and pitch efficiently all that more important.

Penn Manor’s varsity baseball field. Photo by Taylor Skelly.

On the diamond tech, the Comets will rely on returning starters, senior Will Welsh at first and junior Zac Burke at third to hold down the corners.

Junior Darren Weidman at short stop and senior Joe Witmer at second will protect the heart of the infield.

Coupled with the added experience, this year’s team has been dedicated to the weight room and off-season work outs.

We’ve had a good off season with a lot of dedication, we have workouts Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. in the weight room, as well as open gyms a couple times a week in the evenings said Zander.

“Everybody is doing what they can to improve,” said junior Zac Burke excitedly.

Although the season has yet to begin, the team is already looking forward to the post season to achieve their number one goal.

“Last year we finished with a record under .500 which was a disappointment, so we are looking to improve that record to be over .500, and of course we want to win a section title,” said Burke.

The final season for all high school athletes is always special, but for this year’s group of seniors there is an increased sense of urgency.

“It’s more emotional because I know it’s my last year and I feel like I have something to prove, and there’s more kids looking up to me,” said senior Austin Richwine, “We(seniors) all have a leadership role on the team.”

Penn Manor’s baseball team may have lacked the experience to be successful last year, but the 2012 season may a completely different story.

 

 

 

 

Downton Abbey Unexpectedly Delights

By Gabrielle Bauman –

When I sat down to watch Downton Abbey with my mother last month, I fully expected to be bored. In fact, I was quite looking forward to ridiculing the show as trite and poorly acted, something geared toward middle aged women.

The Crawleys like many of the main aristocratic past times, such as hunting.

I was wrong.

Downton Abbey chronicles the stories of the Crawley family and their servants during the first decade of the twentieth century up until the 1920s, showing their struggles and the inevitable drama. It has everything a classic Romance novel usually has – heirs, scandals, and dashing young gentlemen. But more importantly it takes the genre beyond the Pride and Prejudice type roots, creating a cast of witty, engaging characters.

This show isn’t just about the servants and their masters, you see, there is also a complex political and socioeconomic background. The show opens with the sinking of the Titanic (and with it the two male heirs the family was counting on), two characters fought in the British Boer Wars, and World War One drastically changes the household.

Maggie Smith plays The Right Honourable Violet Crawley, Countess of Grantham — or the Earl of Grantham’s elderly mother. Harry Potter fans will recognize her as Professor McGonagall, but Smith is no wizard in this series. Instead, she is a conniving old woman bet on saving the Downton estate and Crawley fortune. Every scene she is in could arguably be considered the best scenes of each episode — from the moment she shies away from the new electric lamps distrustfully to the careful conversations shying around talk of *gasp* sex.
Smith’s character represents the vestiges from the Victorian mores, standing against the servants and the younger generation. It’s clever the way the producers do it, really, by focusing in on both the aristocracy and servant classes it becomes clear how the divides between them are evaporating as the modern era chugs along.

Matthew Crawley is the new heir to the Grantham title.
There are about a hundred story lines to keep track of, but it’s worth it. The intrigue has all the appeal of a soap opera, with all of the complexity of The Lord of the Rings. It’s smart and well written, plus – at the risk of alienating every teen from it – almost educational.
Each episode as originally broadcast was forty five minutes long, but when the episodes crossed the pond for some unknown reason PBS decided to make them into four ninety minute episodes. Because of that, the endings are slightly altered in the American version, but not to a great extent. The content, the story, the show itself is the same.
There are some drawbacks, of course. Occasionally the show will have moments where the characterization is a bit hard to believe, ranging a bit too far into the soap — but it more than makes up for itself when the next episode airs and you’re plunged once again into great pacing and plain old good writing.
The first season as it originally aired is available on Netflix, and Season Two started airing January 9th. Season Three will be broadcast sometime in September 2012 in the United Kingdom.
Downton Abbey has something for everyone — from dashing men to plotting servants, pouting heiresses to historical context. As the show gains steam in the United States, there is even more incentive to film more episodes. Hopefully Downton Abbey will end up just like fine wine: aging into perfection.
More at: 4c3ofsp4des

 

Comet Kid Gets Big Role

By Richard Schulz –

“Chicago Fire” will introduce a former Penn Manor student and local celeb when it premiers in the coming weeks.

Penn Manor alum, Taylor Kinney, will be featured in the NBC pilot called “Chicago Fire.”

The leading role.

The Lancaster Mennonite graduate who attended Manheim Township and Penn Manor is known recently for his close relationship with Lady Gaga.

And although he’s had other appearances in shows like “Fashion House,” “The Vampire Diaries,” and “Trauma,” this time the former Conestoga Township resident will be the star of this series.

Taylor Kinney, alum on NBC, stars in the new pilot “Chicago Fire” photo credit to Petrova Diaries.

The show will center around the men and woman of the Chicago Fire Department. Kinney will be portraying Squad Lieutenant Kelly Severide, described as an “adrenaline junkie” by Deadline, a Hollywood Entertainment News site.

The show seems to be getting mixed reviews. Some good. Mostly bad. The pilot is still being directed but the show’s survival may hinge on this first episode.

The 30-year-old  and his girlfriend, Lady Gaga, have been spotted on visits to local spots with his family in Manheim Township. Also a local star on the Lancaster Mennonite volleyball team, Kinney was Section Two Player of the Year in 2000, his senior year.

He never thought of doing acting in high school or when he went to West Virginia University.

 

 

Teens Awarded for Volunteerism in Serteen

By Alexa Stewart & Breiana Herr –

Raising money for victims of tragic situations, reading to young kids, helping out with a world renowned chicken barbecue, and other acts of community service resulted in BIG awards for two Penn Manor High School seniors.

Jennifer Rote and Taylor Gamber are two head members of Penn Manor’s own Serteen club. Rote and Gamber are in charge of putting together volunteer opportunities for their club to partake in. Some events that Serteen participate in are; the Blood Drive, Daffodil Days, Read Across America, Winter Formal, Sertoma chicken barbecue, and Pennies for Patients. These events led to Rote and Gamber receiving scholarships and awards.

Rote is the president of the school’s Serteen club and was recently invited to a luncheon with the Sertoma president at Media Heights. There the president presented her with the three awards for her outstanding leadership in Serteen.

“I was ecstatic and honored at the same time when I was awarded with top club Serteen, top district Serteen, and top region Serteen,” said Rote.

President Jen Rote and Secretary Taylor Gamber

Rote will be attending HACC in the fall and, although they don’t offer any scholarships for community service, she plans to continue her work in the community, helping and serving others.

Gamber, Serteen’s secretary, will be attending York College majoring in public realtions and minoring in graphic design for the fall and some of her tuition will be payed from a scholarship she received for her community service and Serteen.

“I love giving back to the community and the skills I received from participating in Serteen club, so receiving this scholarship was a complete honor and it feels really good to know they chose me,” said Gamber.

York college was so impressed with Gamber’s involvement with the community that they personally sent Gamber a letter stating that they’d really like for her to start a Serteen club at York College.

“I was shocked when they asked me to start a Serteen club at their college, and I knew I had to accept it right away,” recalled Gamber.

Serteen is a community service club and there are very few in Pennsylvania. In fact, Penn Manor is the only high school around that has a Serteen club at their school.

“Serteen is a really great club, and we’re so passionate about what we do. We work well together to make everything successful,” said Rote.

Serteen is also a teen version of the community service organization Sertoma. Sertoma host the biggest chicken barbecue in the world every year locally at Long’s Park.

“Everyone in Serteen is required to participate in the Sertoma chicken barbecue since it’s such a big event for Sertoma,” added Gamber.

“We all really enjoy the chicken barbecue and have a lot of fun together while participating in it,” said Rote.

Serteen club organizes all of the events that happen at Penn Manor. This year they set up winter formal and came up with the theme. They recently organized the blood drive at school, and are currently working on Read Across America where they encourage kids to read by reading them books, and handing free books out.

“Knowing we were the ones who made all the events successful and knowing we helped out without receiving anything in return is all what Serteen is about, and we’re honored to be head of the club and to have received the awards and scholarships we have,” said Rote and Gamber.

 

 

Prom Preparations for Penn Manor Students

By Dayonte Dixon and Joey Jackson –

It’s the day that high school students talk about and prepare for since freshman year.

“Don’t talk to me about prom, I’m so ready for prom already,” said senior Janelle Musser.

Penn Manor’s prom of 2012 is quickly approaching, and seniors are beginning to take action on the preparations they have been setting up for some time. Unfortunately, the amount of time this takes seems to be increasing as more standards are set upon this year’s senior class.

For example, it’s no longer accepted for guys to ask their date straight up. As the years have come along, asking somebody to prom has evolved from a simple dinner date into complex plans that could range anywhere from a poster with pictures and flowers, to a pre-made fortune cookie. Unfortunately (from the man’s perspective of course) these extravagant plans have now become the norm for the high school prom-goer.

Senior Ian Toomey presented the question by giving his date a custom-made puzzle with a poem that incorporated the question. But it isn’t just a matter of “how” when you are going to pop the question, it is also a matter of “when.”

“When your heart begins to feel a tingling sensation, and your palms get sweaty,” said senior Ian Toomey, referring to the right time to ask a girl to prom.

A picture uploaded to Facebook of the puzzle made by Ian Toomey for Janelle Musser

How a guy pops the question is so important now-a-days, that even those who are currently in relationships have not asked simply because they haven’t  yet thought of a way that is clever enough to impress their prospective date.

After all, why put so much thought and effort into something that could be condensed into a one word question, “Prom?”

Maybe the best way to answer that question would be to break it up into two parts- the women would like the idea that someone put much effort just for them, while the guys are willing to make the effort necessary in order to make that one lucky lady say yes.

“I figure we are going to prom together,” senior Alex Cummins explains, “but I haven’t officially asked her yet because I haven’t thought of a way that is good enough yet.”

But even after all this, more preparation is yet to come.

Picking a dress for the woman, obviously one of the most time consuming pieces of the preparation process, must then be matched to the guys tuxedo, not to mention all the time spent getting hair done and pre-prom pictures.

Then there’s the deal of the cost.

Although the chivalrous and most common thing to do would be for the guy to pay for the girl, with ticket prices on the rise, some students have decided to take a more liberal approach.

“We plan on splitting all cost.” said senior Ian Toomey.

Even with prom about two and a half months away, a lot of seniors still haven’t made their intentions final, which can only mean two things, either we will soon see an outbreak of prom invitations or there will be a lot of seniors without a date.