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The Music Man looks to Attract Large Crowd at Premiere

By Simon Zimmerman-

Another Penn Manor musical sets the stage.

On March 4th the Broadway show, The Music Man, will be premiered at the Penn Manor High School auditorium starting at 7:30 P.M.

The plot of the musical is about a con-man, Harold Hill (Tim Deubler), who is interested in fooling the whole town of River City, Iowa into buying band instruments with promises of assembling a boy band. However, his evil master-minded plan is overthrown when he is introduced to the gorgeous, Marian Paroo (Jill Wiley) who threatens Hill stating that she will inform the whole town of his scheme.

play musical — Tim Deubler and Jill Wiley play the leads in the Penn Manor musical "The Music Man". Photo by Carolyn Zimmerman

“It is a pretty famous show and a lot of people know the songs, it’s just a classic,” said Deubler.

The musical will also feature many famous Broadway tunes such as “Ya Got Trouble,” “Till There Was You,” and “Gary, Indiana”.

“‘Ya Got Trouble’ is definitely my favorite song to perform because I am the lead in it and it look me a while to memorize so it was sort of a challenge,” added Deubler.

The Music Man had great success on Broadway, premiering in 1957 and went on to win five Tony’s and an Oscar in 1963. Penn Manor Director Melissa Telesco believes their version will be equally as appreciated.

“I think the audience will enjoy the cuteness of the little kids and the classic harmonies of the barbershop quartet,” said Telesco.

In recent years, all of the musicals were run the same way. In a switch, this year there will be two significant changes.

The obvious change is that the musical will not just be featuring high school students in it’s cast, elementary school children will be starred as well and they are thrilled to be carrying such a heavy burden.

“They are very excited, they are always asking to stay late for more practice,” Said Telesco.

Some of the children have key roles including Chris Sherts who plays Winthrop, Marian’s little brother and Lauren Elledge and Haley Fafel who plays Amaryllis, one of Marian’s piano students.

The more noticeable change made in this year’s musical is that it will be open for viewing two weekends in a row, March 4th-5th and March 11th-12th with hopes of gaining a larger revenue and audience.

Each ticket costs $5 for students and $7 for adults prior to March 3rd and $6 for students and $8 for adults if purchased at the door.

Although there are changes this year, the cast and crew will still take their duties and parts as seriously as they always have.

Wrestling their Way through Districts

“I like the competitiveness, the individuality. It’s just you out there.”

Over the weekend, a total of five Penn Manor wrestlers made it to the District III Triple A Tournament. Of those five, two are moving on to states.

Bobby Rehm, winning first in his weight class, and Evan Singleton, placing third, are set to wrestle next Thursday. Both are excited to move on, especially after all their hard work.

“I was excited to go to Districts because I knew I was going to do really well,” said Singleton.

Rehm won all four of his matches at Districts, battling wrestlers from East Pennsboro, Carlisle, Southwestern and Central Dauphin.

In his final match, Rehm wrestled against Max Good from Southwestern. By the end of the first period, the score was 0-0. Rehm pulled through, winning 8-3.

Rehm, however, almost didn’t make it to the tournament. He suffered a concussion a week before during practice. If he had so much as a headache before his match, he would have been forced to forfeit. He felt good before his match though, he said.

“It was actually super stressful,” said Rehm.

Singleton also placed at districts and won third in the heavy weight class. He won five of his matches and only lost one. He beat Kyle Friend in the semi-finals in overtime. His only loss was to Avery Robertson from Susquehanna Township.

“It was awesome. All of my followers, the people supporting me, came out to watch and they all shook my hand,” Singleton said. “It was a good experience.”

wrestling — Pictured from the left are Tyler Funk, James McElroy and Alex Sorce who also made it to districts. Picture by Alyssa Byers.

Tyler Funk, Alex Sorce, and James McElroy all made it to Districts but didn’t place. Funk left the tournament winning two out of his four matches. Sorce lost both of his matches and McElroy won one and lost two.

It was McElroy’s first year at districts.

“Districts was tough at my weight, but it was a good experience,” he said.

Coach Steve Hess said his team wrestled well. He also said that Rehm wrestled up to his potential and Singleton had a really good tournament and beat some tough kids.

“They both worked very hard and they both deserved to go,” said Hess.

History is the Feature at Penn Manor

By Sam Valentin and Jake Shiner

This weekend the regional National History Day (NHD) competition returns to Penn Manor for the 7th consecutive year.

“NHD is a nationwide competition held annually to help students develop skills in historic research, interpretation and analysis,” said history teacher Donna Brady.

The regional contest includes students from four local counties where students from all the inhabiting school districts come together to compete for the chance to move on to the state competition and from there, nationals.

There will be several hundred students plus family members and teachers flocking to Penn Manor for the regional competition this Saturday. About 42 students from Penn Manor will be competing and hoping to go onto the state competition at Millersville University.

Some events will be going on during the day besides the exhibits. The McSherry’s will be having at least two major exhibits in the overpass hallway from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The exhibits will feature ball gowns throughout history from 1760 to 1970. The other will be a wild west exhibit.

The day will also include a history festival. Movies and games will be shown from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Some of those include a Risk tournament, history challenge, Pocahontas and National Treasure to name a few of the fun events during the day.

Another very exciting event during the course of the history-filled Saturday at Penn Manor is the 1950s soda shop that will be held in Brady’s room. It will feature music from a jukebox and some very refreshing drinks. This will be held to raise money for the humanitarian projects.

Brady tells everyone, ” To stop in for ice cream and to play the jukebox.”

With all these events scheduled, it should be a great day. That will be fun for everyone who attends it.

“I like the whole mood of it. The excitement of history,” said Brady.

Brady doesn’t want to mention any names about competitors but did allude to the fact that she feels good about the winning chances of a few of the projects in several categories.

Companies are “Steamed” Over Piracy

By Ryan Krause –

Why buy it when you can get it for free?

That is the mentality of many.

Some Penn Manor students, and others around the world, partake in illegal downloading and companies are now working hard on methods to prevent that from happening. There are two major companies that are essentially leading the charge against piracy known as Steam and OnLive.

DRM (Digital Rights Management) is known as “Any technology used to limit the use of software, music, movies or other digital data.”

One of Steam's goals is to prevent piracy. Image owned by Valve Corporation.

Steam, a program created by Valve Corporation, was made to minimize the amount of space that physical copies of games take up. But it was also created to prevent piracy.

Some major computer games are Steam only, for example the Call of Duty series and the Fallout series.

Steam only lets an individual play a game after they buy it. It adds the game to your account so only that person has access to that certain copy. If someone else logs on to their account, it notifies them right away.

One can either buy the actual disk, but have to activate it via an included game code, or one could buy the game directly off of Steam.

“Steam is great because they actually have a good anti-piracy system that works well,” said a Penn Manor senior who wished to remain anonymous for previous trouble with the law on this topic. “I know from experience, their games are extremely hard to crack.”

Some think that piracy really isn’t all that bad, as long as they feel that the product isn’t cheap and not worth their money.

“I think it’s alright if it’s overpriced,” said the anonymous student.

But Internet piracy is all fun and games until you get caught.

“My ISP (Internet Service Provider) emailed me,” said the senior. “They were all like, ‘Ya dead kid!'”

Steam is a very solid platform for game management, there were always nice things to be said about it. It’s also mainly known for the fact that all the games that are purchased are online. So one who buys a lot of games, wouldn’t have a lot of clutter everywhere.

“I am usually a fan of physical copies since most online distributors only allow a certain amount of downloads, but Steam is good about it and usually allows unlimited downloads,” said the anonymous student.

My Computer Game Clutter — A clutter of computer games. Picture by Ryan Krause.

“Downloaded files simply cannot compare to a stack of physical, tangible games,” said Penn Manor senior Jerome Lynch. “The ability to have hundreds of games on a shelf as part of a collection is something that is not possible to achieve with games that are available exclusively through digital distribution.”

Many people like to have the physical copies for the sake of collection or resale.

Lynch said, “As a collector, this is something that I will miss once digital distribution completely replaces physical media.”

Other companies are also working on their on programs for rights management.

OnLive was created for both DRM and to be different.

It has a revolutionary feature that doesn’t require a lot of hardware to play “high-end” games. High end games are newer games that have very high graphical properties and cannot be handled by a simple machine usually.

OnLive actually has the games hosted and played on their own computers, while the user controls that computer from their own personal TV or computer. This means that the person playing isn’t hosting the game on their personal machine, so it doesn’t require a powerful computer. Essentially, the player is only seeing a projection of what that remote computer is showing. OnLive sells a very small box to plug into one’s TV, or one can just download the program for free on their computer.

To help put a stop to piracy, gamers have to buy or rent the games on the OnLive program to play them. There are many time-based demos on there as well. It’s an effort to help stop piracy because players who don’t wish to buy an entire game because of the price will have the ability to rent for the cheaper price. Most gamers only play a game for a little while, usually within that time-frame.

Although there have been complaints about how the program doesn’t host enough popular games, OnLive stated that their selection will broaden once more companies submit more games for them to host.

Injuries Can Hold Back the Strongest of People

By Zach Campbell –

Is it hip to injure a hip or out of style to ignore?

Sports injuries happen frequently. Some major, some minor, but the ones that are serious can affect someone’s life in many different ways.

Dillon Walker, a student at Penn Manor was faced with that fate. Walker learned that he had femoral ace tabular impingement in his left hip.

That means his bone was pushing through the socket and rubbing against the other side. Walker still isn’t able to dead lift or squat. That’s what he did best. He was strong and he has different world records for power lifting. Now, Walker is starting his rehabilitation and is regaining his strength back and his mobility.

Sports equipment that can help and hurt an athlete. Photo by Zach Campbell

Some young athletes push their limits, unaware of the consequences lurking in the future. Most athletes are very stubborn and don’t stop when they get injured and make it worse, resulting in surgery or therapy and even risking their sports career.

“If I start again the same injury could happen all over again. Then I’d be back to square one,” Walker said.

Now Walker is taking it easy. Walker was scared going into his surgery because it could have ended his lifting career forever.

He is nervous for his future and doesn’t know how the rest of his lifting career will go because of his current injury.

Walker is working hard to recover his injured hip by going to therapy and taking it easy for a while until he is cleared to lift again.

According to the Penn Manor senior athlete, his recovery has been long and hard considering what he had done. Walker currently is allowed to lift whenever his pain goes away, so Walker is making a full recovery. This is what overworking your body will do. Wear down and end up broken.

East Bests the West in Unbelievable Game

By Brandon McCormick & Spencer Barnett –

Behind the back, over the shoulder, between the legs, and diving crease shots were all on display at the National Lacrosse League’s All-Star Game at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY.

langtry-asg-575x255 court of NLL — Langtry Finishes with a One-Handed Behind the Back Shot. Photo Courtesy of NLL.com

On Feb. 27, the East topped the West 30-26, in one of the highest scoring games in NLL history.

Some Penn Manor lacrosse players took a keen interest in the game.

“I think [fans] got what they expected,” John Tarvares of the Buffalo Bandits said to a reporter of NLL.com. “A lot of offense and no defense. I feel bad for the goalies.”

Tarvares hit a NLL milestone this year. He holds the record for All-Star Game appearances with nine.

“John Tarvares deserved the MVP for the game,” said Alex Cummins, a junior on the Penn Manor lacrosse team.

The East came out strong winning the first face-off, but the West immediately took the lead scoring the first goal with a frozen rope pass from Brett Mydske to Jeff Shattler, only 33 seconds into the game.

The East responded 84 seconds later with a goal scored by Cody Jamieson.

Midway through the first quarter, Andrew Watt, representing the Minnesota Swarm, deflected a shot from Washington Stealth’s Luke Wiles, putting it right past the East goalie Brandon Miller, of the Philadelphia Wings, to put the West up 4-2.

The scoring was an even exchange, yet the East was in charge at the end of the first quarter with the score 8-6.

Tarvares scored his second goal of the day for the East just 16 seconds into the second quarter.

After a series of acrobatic shots and unbelievable passes, the first half closed with a stalemate score of 12-12.

“One thing I loved about the game was all the behind-the-back shots and tricky moves,” Cummins said. “I was rooting for the East to win.”

John Grant, team captain of the West and captain for the Colorado Mammoth, got his turn, putting in three goals in the third quarter alone.

“It was great to be here,” said Grant to a NLL.com reporter. “I was excited to be asked to play. We came and gave it our all.”

Another late scorer, Ryan Benesch of the Minnesota Swarm, put in his first goal late in the third quarter.

Both the East and West put in eight goals a piece in the third quarter, to keep the game going in to the last quarter tied 20-20.

usl_marksteenhuis_nllallstar_michaelmartin — Photo Courtesy of laxmagazine.com

As the fourth quarter rolled around, things started to get serious with both sides. With the score 25-26, the East scored five unanswered goals. Brett Bucktooth (3), Mark Steenhuls (5), and Josh Sanderson (4) all added goals in the last five minutes of the game to give the East a victory by a score of 30-26.

“I’m so pumped for next year’s game,” said Cummins. “It’s gonna be great.”

East goalies Brandon Miller (Philadelphia Wings) and Anthony Cosmo (Boston Blazers) totaled their saves to 55, while the West goalies, Chris Levis (Colorado Mammoth) and Nick Patterson (Minnestoa Swarm), ended the night with a total of 51 saves.

Shawn Evans (Rochester Knighthawks) was named MVP of the night, totaling his stats to four goals and eight assists.

“It was a good, hard game out there tonight,” said Evans. “I’m just honored to play with the guys that played on my team; Josh Sanderson, Colin Doyle, John Tavares, and the veterans on the team. It was great.”

Student Donors Vital to Blood Drive

By Faith Walauskas

The gift of life is significantly easier to give than most people think.

Penn Manor and Lancaster General Hospital held a blood drive in the school’s band room Feb. 24.

“You fill out a form, and the nurse checks you for your iron count and blood pressure,” says blood drive organizer Jenn Rote, “You can’t have any recent piercings or tattoos, you can’t be sick, you must be over 110 pounds and you can’t have been out of the country for the past year.”

The drive was a great success according to Serteen adviser and Penn Manor Science teacher Barb Rathbone-Frank.

“Over 50 pints of blood were donated by students and teachers to LGH today,” said Rathbone Frank in an e-mail following the event. “Each pint is worth $160 to $300 depending upon the type (O- is the most expensive and hard to find). This equates to a donation of approximately $8,000 to $15,000 worth of blood. In human terms, each pint saves three lives.”

Prospective donors who were out of the country recently could not give blood because of the quality of water abroad and the chance of passing water-born illnesses.

Students could voluntarily donate one pint of their blood to help in the effort to save the lives of people in need of the life saving liquid.

“If you don’t know what blood type you are, they run tests and send the information to you later on.” Rote said.

The all day event is held once every year usually in late winter.

5474629101_ede83be3f0_z — Senior Morgan Moses helped with the blood drive. Photo by Faith Walauskas

Penn Manor senior Joe Gordon said “It’s a really great experience, it helps save lives and it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes.”

This is Gordon’s second time donating blood.

The event gives incentives for students to donate by offering food and snacks to eat after donating and by offering door prizes.

“They (the nurses) ask you questions and they take your blood,” said Penn Manor Senior Morgan Moses. “It’s really great because you get all this free food.”

This year was Moses’ first time donating.

“The event is organized by the Serteen Blood Drive Chairman – this year it was Jenn Rote. She is also the club’s President Elect, so this means that she will be our Club President next year,” said Rathbone-Frank.

“In the past we recruited by holding (with the Principal’s help) special homeroom sessions for seniors and juniors,” said Rathbone-Frank. There, the homeroom teachers gave out information and the TV studio showed a brief film. With all the snow disruptions this year, we decided to recruit students at lunches so had a table there with information.”

iPad 2: Now Thinner and Better

By DaYonte Dixon –

The new iPad 2 was just released Wednesday and the fans are lining up for it.

Apple is now selling a new, lighter, cheaper and more easy-to-transport iPad. The iPad 2 is one-third thinner than the original version, which was one of the main complaints about that early version.

It will begin shipping in over a week, according to the company, and with the hype around the world has carried into Penn Manor high school.

“People are going crazy over the new iPad,” said Alex Kirk, a Penn Manor student. “Actually I already asked my mom if i could get it today.”

Most people just want it because of the word “new” that is in front of the name but Kirk has done some research.

“I heard it is as thin as the iphone and holds more memory,” said Kirk. “I also heard that it’s selling at the same price as the original, that’s why I want to go out today so I don’t miss the opportunity of this great pricing.”

But it comes with many more new features than the last tablet Apple put out. According to the company, the new pad has rear and front facing cameras for recording video, taking photos, and for FaceTime video chat. The new iPad also has a new A5 dual-core processor which offers up to nine times faster graphics processing.

Ipad 2. Photo courtesy of http://www.devicemag.com

Apple’s official statement says, “The faster speeds of the new processor will not have any greater power consumption than the previous A4 processor.”

So it’s sort of green and fast.

The new iPad will also be available in two different colors, black and white. It will also be available for both AT&T and Verizon.

“Once I heard about the iPad 2, I eliminated a laptop from my Christmas list,” said senior Demetrius Dixon, a Penn Manor student.

“But I plan on getting it a lot earlier than Christmas.” added Dixon, who is off to college this year.

With all the hype around the world, and at Penn Manor, the iPad 2 may end up being very successful.

According to Kirk and Dixon, many of Apple’s first ipad 2 sales will be coming from Penn Manor students themselves.

Texting Behind Teachers’ Backs Becoming More Common

James Frese –

High school classes couldn’t be more interesting.

Text your friends, check Facebook, answer some e-mails. Oh yeah, and that voice droning on in the background, that’s the teacher trying to do her job.

During the present time at many high schools, students can be on a different level than the teachers and administrators. The question is, do teachers and administrators know when kids are texting behind their backs? With the most up-to-date cell phone technology (smart phones independently connected to the Internet), kids can text without looking at their keyboards or screens and surf the Internet.

Lots of kids at Penn Manor think its alright to text during the school day.

David Schneider, a junior from Penn Manor, stated, “What they don’t know doesn’t hurt them.”

Is a text message really that important during an 88 minute class period?

To some high school students it is not, but to many others all across the country a single text message is more important than what the teachers are actually trying to teach students.

“Not being allowed to text during the day doesn’t stop students at all from texting,” said Schneider.

An anonymous student here at Penn Manor said he sees kids texting in class, “Oh my all the time, kids are texting all the time; and there’s no reason students shouldn’t be allowed to use their cell phones, they’re all passing anyways.

“I send and receive 40 texts easily if not more in each class period. I have to clear or delete my inbox and outbox because they fill up quick at school and I’m still passing,” said the student.

In many schools across the country, texting is not allowed during the school day hours for many reasons. Cells phones are considered unnecessary because they distract not only students, but teachers as well.

Although Penn Manor changed its rules on technology this year to allow cell phone use on a teacher-by-teacher basis, most classrooms do not allow their use.

Another student at Penn Manor said, “I send 50 to 100 text messages in a school day and everyone else I look at during class is texting. I think texting should be relevant during the school day to communicate with whoever is trying to talk to me.”

Carson Bennett, an English professor at the University of New Mexico, commented on the issue.

“Maybe high school teachers are not making classes interesting enough, maybe that’s why kids may be interested in texting during the class. Especially if the class is boring, or the teacher is lecturing, I can totally see high school students texting left and right.”

“Texting during class and throughout the day is a piece of cake, depending on the teacher, usually I can text about 20 messages in a class period. I sit in the back in all my classes so I can see what is going on in front of me during the block, always its texting and nothing but. I put my phone under the the desk, look at the teacher in the eyes and text without looking or I hold my phone next to my leg, the opposite leg that the teacher is teaching from and text away” stated an anonymous student from Penn Manor.

According to Schneider, “Some teachers just lecture the entire 88 minute class period at Penn Manor and it is boring and very hard to listen, understand, and pay attention to, therefore I text. ”

Technology teacher Sean McKnight added his opinion on the issue.

“Students should be allowed to use the technology during the school day if it is in the form of respect,” said McKnight. “If my teaching style is lecturing, then students should respect me and put their phones away. I think teachers get a bit carried away with the cell phone policy here at Penn Manor. If kids use their phones in a non disrespecting way, then I don’t see a problem with them manipulating the technology at certain times.”

Scott Lackey, a phys ed teacher, had his own side of the story.

“Texting behind my back depends on the text. I think kids do not need to text unless its necessary,” said Lackey. “If it’s that important, sign out your passbook and text in the bathroom because if you text while I’m trying to teach, then you’re not paying attention to me. It’s a school rule.”

Prom Dress Frenzy Hits Penn Manor

Cassey Graeff –

“I want to look like a princess,” said senior Robin Green.

Prom night is an unforgettable night for the graduating seniors. Guys have little to no stress but it’s a different story for the girls.

Hair, nails, makeup, and most importantly the DRESS.

Seniors Sam Eshleman, Maddy Hess and Samantha McCrery look at websites for dress ideas

According to edressme.com, new trends for 2011 prom dresses include bright colors, unique hemlines, and glitz and glamor.

The top ten trends include the following

1. Bright Colors : sunset orange, citrus yellow or popsicle pink

2. Ombre: wearing two or three colors at the same time

3. Basic Black: every girl looks great in black

4. Glitter: dazzle friends by wearing sequins, beads, sequins, rhinestones, and jewels

5. Detail: ruffles, slits, overlays, ribbons or bows,and embroideries of flowers can add a personal touch to your dress that makes it perfect for you

6. Hemline: tea length, ballerina, and asymmetrical along with many other styles. You’re bound to find the style that fits your body type

7. Hi-lo effect: the front of the dress shorter then the back

Lady-Gaga-jet-2 — Thierry Mugler fashion worn by Lady Gaga

8. Short & Sweet: short is becoming the new long; having a short dress is becoming popular

9. Celebrity Inspired: dresses that are worn by celebrities are becoming popular and different styles are reflecting these looks

10. Trains: trains are a very elegant look and can add some class to your dress

Thierry Mugler a fashion designer in Paris is debuting Lady Gaga in his fashion show Wednesday some at Penn Manor are wondering whether any of the fashion ideas will influence prom dress decisions.

“I would go to New York City to find a dress if I could,” said Eshleman.

Emily Nickel a senior at Penn Manor has a different idea for her prom dress. “I am wearing my mom’s (prom dress), I’ve always wanted to wear hers, it’s unique and vintage.”

Regardless of the dress style, color, and design, girls from Penn Manor are excited to find their perfect prom dress.

“I am so excited to show off my dress,” said Hess.