Penn Points Online

Coffee Sparks new Addiction

McDonalds — The McCafe' selection from Mcdonalds has kids rushing to the popular fast-food venue in the "AM" for various types of coffee

By Matthew Ulmer –

Coffee has rapidly become the addiction that propels teenagers through their school day at Penn Manor.

Starbucks, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Turkey Hill are the main destinations teens reach out to to support this caffeinated habit.

These outlets not only provide coffee, they provide many other intriguing coffee drinks. Iced coffee, Mocha’s, Latte’s, Frappuccino’s, Cappuccino’s, and many other gourmet drinks add caramel, chocolate, whipped cream, and other sugar content to the morning selection for teens.

The common reasoning for the outburst of coffee products in school is, “I need it to wake up” or “It’s just good.”

Junior Megan Schlegelmilch said, “I feel like it wakes me up for AP Bio”…which just so happens to be her first block class. Her selection is the popular French Vanilla Coffee From Turkey Hill.

Another Junior, Aaron Vickers, followed up by saying, “It wakes me up because I’m up late doing homework and playing xbox.” Aaron also goes to Turkey Hill, but prefers black coffee.

Penn Manor teems say they prefer caffeinated coffee and agree it defeats the purpose of drinking coffee as their daily routine. What many of these “highschoolers” don’t realize is the amount of caffeine in the drinks they purchase can be quite high. A generic coffee from Starbucks has 93 milligrams of

This was a graph conducted of random high school students at Penn Manor

caffeine(http://www.cspinet.org); more than twice the amount of caffeine in a canned coca-cola. A Starbucks Espresso contains the same amount of caffeine as an 8 oz. Red Bull energy drink.

Now for the shocker, a Grande brewed coffee from the chain holds 320 mg of caffeine, exactly double that of a Monster energy drink. It is obvious that energy drinks are another fad, but when kids can consume the equivalent or double the amount of caffeine with their coffee.

The habits seem to start from the family’s of the teens, or just because they wanted to take on the “acquired taste.”

“It keeps me up, but I drink it because my family drinks it,” said Penn Manor sophomore Matt Slack.

Certain teachers have different opinions on this coffee habit among their students.

“I don’t think they should drink it at school, a good night’s rest is all you need,” explained math teacher Mike Fowler.

Science teacher Eric Duchess said, “It’s the same thing as soda, so I don’t see a problem with it.”

The fad is spreading throughout the school and it is apparent that unless a new rule is set in place, it will continue to occur.

Gas Prices Expected to Skyrocket

By Brandon McCormick –

Set your wallet and bank accounts on “withdrawal.” Gas prices are on the rise.

Gas prices are up nearly six cents this week, and that’s just the beginning according to CNNMoney. Tom Kloza, the chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service said to CNNMoney, “We’ve got another 10 to 15 cents of catching up to do in the next few days.”

575496_gas_pumps_3 — The Dreaded Gas Pump.

Penn Manor students are strategizing about how they will tackle the rise in gas prices.

“I’ll drive less,” said Bo Perez, a junior at Penn Manor. “It’s hard to pay for gas now.”

“I’m not going to stop driving [completely] because of prices,” Perez said.

Perez has a 30-minute round trip to school everyday. His 1984 Chevrolet S-10 gets about 17 miles per gallon.

Penn Manor senior James McElroy drives a 1995 Ford Mustang which gets 13-14 miles per gallon.

“Yes, I’m going to keep driving to school even with high prices,” said McElroy.

With only a 20-minute round trip to school everyday he said he has different things to worry about.

“It wouldn’t be so hard to pay for gas if I didn’t have to pay $40 for a parking spot.”

Gas prices have jumped 4.2 percent from the beginning of February. Prices increased about 35 cents in 13 days.

Getting only 8 miles per gallon, Josh Morgan of Penn Manor has his own way of dealing with the climbing prices, “I’ll cut back on driving but I’ll work more to pay for gas.”

Gas currently costs an average of $3.49 per gallon. At that rate, Morgan pays $5.24 PER DAY to drive to and from school.

This doesn’t come close to the $60 PER WEEK Ryan Wissler had to pay to drive to and from school when he was driving his 2002 Ford F-350 Power Stroke pickup truck.

“Gas prices are ridiculous,” said Wissler. “I got a car because the money I would save on gas would pay for the car.”

Wissler bought a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt in hopes to save cash over driving his truck. The Cobalt gets 30 mpg versus 11 mpg of diesel fuel in his truck.

Crude oil hit a price of $102.23 per barrel, breaking the $100 mark for the first time since September 2008. With these prices, even teachers are cringing at the pump.

282730_runnin_on_empty — Start Worrying When You See "E."

Steve Hess, a physics teacher at Penn Manor sold his 2002 Dodge Ram and upgraded to a 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit.

“The main reason is fuel economy,” said Hess. “I get 50 mpg versus 13 in my truck.”

Hess commented about the political side of the price increase, “Worst part is it’s such a political thing and the government won’t do anything about [prices].”

The true reason for the price rise may be at question, but all drivers need to know is to be ready to pay at the pump, and pay, and pay.

SAT’s Coming Soon to Penn Manor

By Connor Hughes –

“Am I preparing for the SAT’s? No. Are they important? Yes.”

This statement from Penn Manor junior Alex Cummins may be shocking and may be a concern to SAT specialists at Penn Manor.

The Scholastic Aptitude Test is the most widely used standardized test for college admissions. The exam is created and administered by CollegeBoard. It covers three subject areas: critical reading, mathematics and writing. Students have 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete the exam. Each section is worth 800 points, so the highest possible score is 2400 according to collegeapps.about.com.

The SAT’s are being administered at Penn Manor, March 12.

School posters remind students of the upcoming exam.

James Yearsley, a counselor at Penn Manor who does a lot of promoting for the SAT’s, says the main complaint from students is ignorance about the test and when the test is being administered.

“There are announcements throughout the entire school. To this day I still do not understand how kids don’t know when the test is. There are announcements, posters, fliers you name it,” explained Yearsley.

Once a student overcomes the ‘obstacle’ of finding out when the test is being administered in their school, the next step is signing up. Sat.collegeboard.com is the only place to sign up for the test. It costs $47 to sign up before the deadline. If you sign up after the given deadline, it will cost a student $71.

Whether this is the first time you’ll take the test, or the fourth, Yearsley says studying is essential. The SAT scores were down last year, but were up the year before and fluctuations are normal, according to Yearsley. He believes this is because kids are relying more on their natural intelligence then going to sat.collegeboard.com to study and answer practice questions.

“According to CollegeBoard, scores are based on studying and coursing. You can’t expect a good score without putting in some effort,” said Yearsley.

Screen shot 2011-03-01 at 9.20.14 AM — Sat.collegeboard.com has many tools to help students improve their scores.

Gary Luft, the SAT Prep math teacher at Penn Manor, says students who take the course seriously improve their scores every time.

“Reports are, students study less than 10 hours. SAT prep (math portion) is half a semester long,” explained Luft. “The SAT is not a test you can just walk in and take. It requires some sort of preperation. ”

Andrew Herr, a junior who has taken the SAT twice and also took SAT Prep, didn’t take advice from Yearsley but agrees with Luft.

“I didn’t study at all, although SAT Prep helped me a lot. And I got lots of sleep.”

He also mentioned that you need to get excited for the test.

“Make sure you have solid pump-up music in the car ride there.”

Robert Warfel, a junior at Penn Manor, isn’t really nervous about the test.

“I did well on the PSAT’s,” said Warfel.

A pretest, a good luck sweatshirt or a favorite song could be just enough to give you the confidence boost you need to take the test and own it.

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

By Robin Green –

Sirens are blaring from the Millersville police car in your rear view mirror. You are 17 years old and the clock reads 12:03 am, driving 80 mph through a 40 mph zone. Crap.

cop car — Being pulled over by the police is one reason teens might lie.

Still wondering why teenagers lie?

According to Preventionaction.org, online news publication reporting programs for improving children’s health and development, all but two percent of teenagers in a recent US study admitted lying to their parents. And out of 36 possible topics – including drug use, dating, and their friends – the average teen lied about 12 of them. Teenagers lie more then any other age group and parents wonder why this occurs.

“I don’t want to get yelled at,” Trevor Troup explained.

Troup, as well as every student interviewed, expressed the same consensus. They all claimed to lie most to their parents. Ironic as it may be, that’s the truth. Teens are lying to their parents, the people who have the greatest concern for their welfare.

A Penn Manor junior who wished to remain anonymous recalled a time when he lied and really felt the consequences.

“I was being really dumb. I went to a party with my friends and I wasn’t thinking at all,” the student said. “Red cup in hand, a ping pong ball in the other, I wasn’t really concerned with anything. Beastin’ in pong without a worry on my mind until I heard people saying cops!! We all ran, unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough and I knew right then I was dead. Let’s just say my parents weren’t the happiest with me and I lost everything, my car keys included. It was horrible.”

The student had lied about where he was and that just iced the cake.

“My dad yelled a lot. Both of my parents don’t trust me anymore.”

1337577_wine_swirl — Alcohol consumption may lead to fabricating lies.

Lies come out of teens’ mouths like streams of water. But is it always their fault?

Pressure from parents to do well in school and be the perfect child can push students to rebel and lie at a rapid rate says education.com, an online parenting website.

“I never have to lie to my friends,” Troup said. “I only ever lie to my parents.”

Yes, though some kids do lie to each other.

‘Do I look fat?’ -Um yes? You look like a cow. You never really say that. You comfort them and fill their heads with compliments. But trivial things like ‘does my hair look good’ aren’t what kids lie about the most.

Three juniors told stories of lying about having sex, drinking and sexting to their parents.

“My parents wouldn’t like the truth,” a senior said.

Can parents really wonder why teens lie? Expectations for students have only gotten higher with time and doing calculus homework with friends sounds better than drinking with friends.

“I lie because I don’t want to look bad,” Karly Weist said. “But I always end up looking worse.”

Lies big and small are told all the time. The truth is, all of us are liars.

“The Music Man” Review

By Connor Hughes –

Half the school, one spectacle.

As half of the student body enters the auditorium for assembly A, there’s a buzz throughout the hallways. The musical preview can be an exciting time for students. It’s a break from classes, and the cast always puts on an exceptional show.

The cast gives a warm goodbye in the hallways to the pleased playgoers. Photo by Connor Hughes.

As principle Eric Howe attempts to seat the hectic students, I sit back with my camera anxiously.

The stage manager, Cheyenne Zuck and assistant stage manager Sarah Zerfoss introduce the cast. They were clearly nervous for the words they had to say. After they left the stage, the orchestra started to play.

They played, and played and played.

It went from a feeling of anxiousness to a bit awkward quickly. After about five minutes of just music and murmurs from the crowd, I was already thinking something went wrong. But then, the curtains finally opened and out came the cast.

Then the stars came on. Matt Noll conducts the train as Cody Goldberg, Tim Deubler, Brian Buckius, Jesse Graham, Joe Gordon, Jared Bonawitz, and Nick Charles ride along and sing a very interesting first scene. It must have taken perfect timing to execute the quick change of pitch from all of the cast members.

I take out my camera and snap my first picture, it comes out dark and blurry. I snap another and the flash goes off… everyone within a 20-foot radius turns around with judging eyes. When I realize I can’t hide the fact that it was me who created the giant distraction, I sheepishly say “sorry” and give up on taking pictures for the time being.

Hailey Fafel and Jill Wiley in a heart-wrenching scene. Photo by Connor Hughes.

When the next scene begins with Tim Deubler taking the stage, all eyes were on him. He grabbed the attention and didn’t let it go until he was completely off the stage.

Where did the little kids come from? Elementary schools in Penn Manor apparently. They sure are recruiting young.

Although, the kids were in the perfect spot, they were almost prepared as well as the high school students.

Miss Teen Pennsylvania, Jill Wiley, did an exceptional job as always with her Disney-quality voice. Penn Manor has been watching her for four years now and she never ceases to amaze. Along with Hailey Fafel, who plays Amaryllis, the aspired pianist who has a crush on someone who is afraid to speak a word to her, the singing was exceptional.

Overall the crew did a great job. The choreography lead by Donovan Hoffer was executed perfectly. The plot didn’t draw my attention much, though, and the non-existent cliffhanger at the end didn’t help. Maybe the full version of the play will draw audiences into the story line.

To see the cast in action with the prolonged version of “The Music Man”, the dates are March 4, 5 and 11, 12.

High School Presents Ballin’ Against Bullying

By Spencer Barnett-

Leave the trash talking on the court. A basketball tournament is being held at the high school to promote awareness of bullying.

On Sunday, March 27, at 12 p.m., the Penn Manor Varsity Club is set to hold a co-ed 3 v 3 basketball tournament in the East Gym. The event is open to students in grades 9-12, the faculty and the surrounding Penn Manor community.

From left: Dan Elliot, Alicia Burns, Maddy Hess, Ande Olsen, Jessen Smith. Senior officers of Varsity Club. Photo by Spencer Barnett

“The idea behind this is that we have an athletic club that wanted an athletic event,” said Kimberly Marsh, adviser for the Varsity Club. “We can use it to educate people on a topic, like bullying.”

One thing that Marsh wants is to open the event to more than just Penn Manor students.

“This event is not only to promote bullying awareness, but to bring the community members together and have fun,” said Marsh. “I’m really encouraging the community members to get involved.”

Dan Elliot, a senior Varsity Club member and volunteer for the event, is looking for students to participate.

“We’re holding this to increase bullying awareness, ball hard and have a good time,” said Elliot. “Competition will be at a premium and there will be lots of teachers involved.”

One of the teachers, Erick Dutchess, has his hopes high on, as he said, “utterly decimating” the competition in the tournament.

“Mr. Fowler, Mr. Staub, Mr. Swartz and I are open to any challengers, all in the name of battling bullying,” said Dutchess. “We anticipate fierce, yet mediocre, competition from the students, with minimal contest coming from the few ‘basketball’ players entering the tourney.”

How’s that for talking smack?

Along with the 3 v 3 tournament going on, there are also plenty of other things to do.

“There is a skills competition that will be open to middle school students,” Marsh said. “A concession stand will be available and people can just hang out.”

So uh, Wanna go to Prom With me?

By Morgan Fletcher –

Prom season is upon the students at Penn Manor and it is causing quite a stir.

There are many things in question when it comes to planning out that special night and many students find themselves stressed when they think about all that goes into it.

“I can’t even think about it right now,” said senior Katie Maisel. “It’s so far away and everyone’s already freaking out about it and it’s making me really nervous.”

One thing that students find to be extremely nerve-racking is how the question of asking someone to prom will come up.

Some guys feel obligated to go out of the way and enjoy taking the time to plan a creative way to ask a girl.

“Guys should definitely go out of the way,” senior Jeff Ford said. “You want to have the best idea. You have to do it big.”

One senior boy who wishes to remain anonymous plans on asking a friend he tutors to prom in a special way.

“I tutor the girl I want to ask in French so while I’m tutoring her I’ll ask her in French, ‘Will you go to prom with me?’ Knowing she won’t understand what I say, I’ll tell her to type the question into the translator.”

He believes asking a girl to prom should be “subtle, not generic; intimate, but not over the top.”

Guys with girlfriends have a different take on prom.

“Since I have a girlfriend, I’m just going to be like, ‘Are we going to prom or what?”’ said an anonymous senior boy.

Other boys simply don’t understand why an elaborate proposal is necessary.

“If it makes you happy, go for it,” senior Evan Singleton said. He admits that he never really heard of going all out for the occasion though and probably won’t attend prom.

A lot of girls in Penn Manor are indifferent about receiving an elaborate proposal.

“I’d appreciate something more elaborate but it’s not an engagement- it’s prom!” said Julia Rios.

“I don’t care. I think it’s the thought that counts,” said Veronica Willig.

“I don’t really care, but if you really like someone and they ask you in a really cute way, then it makes it a lot more fun,” Maisel said.

“I feel like as a girl you don’t have a choice of who you want to go with,” added Maisel who believes that it’s friends who usually set each other up.

Senior Elena Hart decided to go against the norm and ask her date to prom. She was nervous before doing so.

“I’m kind of freaked out because I think he’ll think it’s taking away his manhood but it’ll be a good senior memory and is a way to switch it up,” she said.

Other girls are in favor of Hart’s Sadie Hawkins approach.

“I think it’s a very defiant thing to do,” said Natasha Fletcher.

In case any guys feel like being creative in how they go about asking a girl to prom, here are some ideas courtesy of SparkNotes:

Spell out Prom? on her driveway in candles or on her street with chalk.
Write Will you go to prom with me? on a piece of paper, cut it up, then give it to the girl to put together.
Fork her yard so that it spells out Prom? and take over spaghetti for two to her house. Ask her to borrow a fork since all of yours are in her yard.
Bake a batch of cupcakes, put a piece of paper that says Prom? in one of the wrappers and give it to the girl.
Stand outside of school with a sign that says Will you go to prom with this guy??? with a downward arrow on it pointing to you.
Grab the girl in the hall, swing her into dance, and tell her that that’s only a taste of what she’ll get if she goes to prom with you.
Create a Build-a-Bear and insert into the voice box Will you go to prom with me?
Upload a video asking the girl to prom onto YouTube.

When an Ending Also Means a New Beginning

By Alyssa Byers –

For some, it’s a celebration. For others, it’s an ending.

When a sport’s season comes to an end at Penn Manor, a senior night is held for each individual team to recognize the accomplishments and hard work of its senior members. Senior night is usually held at one of the last home games, meets, or matches. For parents and coaches, it’s a celebration of the effort and success of their kids and the team.

It can even be a celebration for the seniors themselves, but it’s also a reminder that their high school sports careers are coming to an end. For some students, it will be the last time they ever play their sport.

“Senior nights are kind of bittersweet. They are sad because it’s the last time you’ll be with your teammates and the last time you’ll play that sport in high school,” said senior athlete Maddy Hess, “but it’s exciting because it means you’re moving on to bigger and better things.”

102 — The senior members of the girl's basketball team gather for a photo. Photo by Davor.

Hess plays field hockey, basketball and lacrosse for Penn Manor. She plans to attend Virginia Tech to play lacrosse. According to Hess, her lacrosse senior night will be her saddest and most memorable night, but she’s looking forward to it.

On senior night, each senior and the position they play are individually announced. The achievements of both team and player are listed. Most students feel a sense of pride at moments like these, but for some, it finally hits them.

“I was really excited about it, but it was kind of sad because it was the last time I’d wrestle in that gym,” said senior wrestler Bobby Rehm.

Each senior night has the same basic purpose, but teams often have certain traditions. In past years, the girl’s soccer team has had its junior members write poems for each of the seniors. Some teams celebrate with food.

The girls basketball team introduced its seniors, brought out their parents and presented each member with a rose, a card and a balloon. The celebration ended with cake for everyone.

Wrestling coach Steve Hess sees senior night as a sense of accomplishment and enjoys seeing how his players have grown.

Twelfth grader Hannah Willet has mixed feelings about her senior night.

“It’s like a recognition of all the hard work you’ve done, but then you also know that it’s kind of a goodbye,” said Willet.

Willet isn’t sure if she’s going to play soccer in college, but she knows this past season was the last time she’d play basketball.

00007 — The senior portion of the swim team. Photo by Davor.

It seems that for most students senior night brings excitement, but uneasiness follows close behind. Seniors are hopeful for the future and upset about the conclusion of their high school sports careers all at the same time.

Junior softball player Jenn Hanner knows how hard senior night can be for some, but she likes to see it as a night of recognition.

“You never want your friends to go, but you always want what’s best for them and this is a huge change in their lives, so you want them to feel good about moving forward. It’s sad, but it’s also a pretty proud night,” said Hanner.

A New Beginning for Penn Manor Boys Soccer

By Eric Gerlach-

Fútbol is the world’s most popular sport.

Soccer, is what we call it in the United States, but foreigners seem special to us in the soccer world. That is how some of the students feel at Penn Manor High School about the new soccer coach.

“Coach McCabe likes winning so I think he will do all he can to make us into a winning program,” soccer player Bobby Goss said.

Coach McCabe was a coach at Eastern University and he is from Scotland. Some soccer players think the athletic director made the right decision but they will always miss their old coach Jack Kremer.

“Coach McCabe seems good but no one will ever be as good as Coach Kremer,” said sophomore Juan Cubano.”We still have a lot of work to do, we lost eight seniors, but hopefully we will be successful in the future.”

Even the graduating soccer players think it is a good change from the old style of play. The game of soccer is changing. It is becoming faster and you have to do things twice as fast.

Senior Willie Chalfant believes the new coach is Penn Manor’s answer.

“Yes I like the coach a lot, he has a wealth of knowledge on the game and seems very excited to be here,” Chalfant said about the new coach.”The only way they will have a successful year is if some young players step up and be leaders.”

Coach McCabe stands on P.U.S.H which is Passion; Unity; Selflessness; Humility. He has been on very successful clubs in Scotland. As a five-time national champion he hopes to improve the lives of Penn Manor’s soccer players both on and off the field.

Horoscopes: Not What They Used to Be

By Crystal Bugner-

So you’ve grown up your entire life thinking you’re a Sagittarius. You’re an Archer, you’re invincible. All of a sudden a new study comes out and boom! You’re stuck there holding a snake, you’re an Ophiuchus!

This is exactly how student Jenny Weaver feels.

“I was Leo. Now I’m Cancer. Great,” Weaver complained. And she’s not the only one with a few gripes about this ‘new’ science of which people are starting to take notice.

The truth is it really isn’t all that new. We’re taking all of this old news, Astrology that dates back to the times of the ancient Babylonians, and putting it back into place.

This is because of the moon’s gravitational pull on earth, which has pushed the alignment of the stars back by about a month, affecting the way astrology works. Astrology is based around the position of the stars, not the dates of the calendar, and that’s why it’s become tricky.

Ancient Babylonians had 13 signs originally, and now that the stars have been pushed back, astrologists have chosen to reincorporate the sign that had been axed out years ago, Ophiuchus. Now it has pushed all of the other signs around, according to one source.

Here’s what that Zodiac looks like:

Capricorn: Jan. 20 – Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18 – May 13
Taurus: May 13 – June 21
Gemini: June 21 – July 20
Cancer: July 20 – Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10 – Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16 – Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30 – Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23 – Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 – Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17 – Jan. 20

However, other sources claim that this isn’t going to affect anyone who follows the western zodiac. Still other sources are telling the world that because it’s based on star positions, this only affects those born after 2009.

The traditional zodiac — The Zodiac Calendar Courtesy Stock Xchng

The knowledge of students is ever varying.

Many reacted with shocked ‘What’s?’ and many questions, such as asking if they can choose to stay with the sign they were. One of the few students who knew something about the subject, Cheyenne Brubaker, didn’t know much.

“I heard it was in some different country or something,” was all Brubaker knew about the issue.

Until astrologists come to a collective decision, or publicly announce their collective decision, the public may have to remain in the dark and adjust to their new signs. While this frustrates many people, it could be the best option for the time being. That’s not to say people can’t be frustrated about it. Student Suzanne Brown gave her two cents, voicing the same opinion many others have.

“I feel ripped off. Like something that I’ve had forever was taken away,” said Brown