Ava Gempler

By Ava Gempler
Davis High School

“We educate students for success: life-long learning, employment and social awareness.”
Those words, which make up the A.C. Davis High School mission statement, do not only represent an entire school, they represent the pride of the Pirates.
Because of the statement’s importance, Davis has a great and important responsibility to make it both clear and memorable to the students, staff and community. The mission statement was completed at the end of the last school year, and has since been introduced to the public.
However, the words are not alone in representation. The new Davis mission statement is a combination of photography, graphic design and words — a multimedia approach.
This combination was largely created by the imagination and work of two Davis students: Kimberly Mendoza and Alex Cervantez made up the mission statement team.
During the last month of the 2010-11 school year, an advertisement promised $50 to any Davis student who submitted a winning design for the mission statement. Among the total of about 100 applicants, two designs were officially chosen to be a combined project: one an angled photograph of the school, submitted by Cervantez, and the other a graphic design.
The graphic design was created by Mendoza, 17, a senior at Davis. After joining graphic arts for a sixth period occupational class her junior year, she sent in a design for the ad as an assignment.
At first, Mendoza was a bit hesitant to immediately start working with the computers, but that outlook soon changed.
“I started learning about graphic arts, and I really enjoyed it,” she said.
After gaining some experience in class, Mendoza said, “there’s a lot (in) graphic arts; you just have to dedicate your time to it and be passionate about it.”
Mendoza participates in marching band, in the Running Start program and the College Success Foundation. She has also been a part of Skills USA and TSA, the Technology Student Association.
In Skills USA, she won first in state in advertising design and went on to the national contest in Kansas City.
Mendoza’s design for the mission statement had four different drafts before the final version was achieved, each reviewed by Ben Ramirez, 50, the school principal.
“The mission statement identifies us and what we’re about,” Ramirez said.
He explained that the next step for the mission statement after establishing what it represented was simply, “so what does that look like?”
Creating the new statement took about a month of changing and editing the designs according to what was approved by a small committee.
“I gained a lot of experience,” said Mendoza.
When the mission statement was officially posted around the school, her first reaction was, “Oh my gosh, I did that!”
Mendoza said she may set up her own business involving graphic design in the future, but she is also interested in the fields of art, architecture and law.
The mission statement’s combination of words, graphic design and photography represents what Davis is really about.
Davis students made the new mission statement possible, and, as Mendoza said, the “pride for our school” was successfully represented.

• Ava Gempler is a freshman at Davis High School and a member of Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for high school students.

Hannah Besso

January 10, 2012.
Another day, just like any of other the 366 days this year.
I woke up feeling the same as always. I scarfed down my granola, arrived at my zero period class about 10 minutes late, and did my homework in between Facebook checks, as usual.
But whether I felt it or not, something was different.
According to the calendar, I was now officially an adult; it was my 18th birthday.
I could buy cigarettes, be tried in court as an adult, vote and go gambling at the casino.
In other words, my childhood is over.
Well, not quite.
Despite my new rights, I still live with my parents, go to high school and don’t have a job.
I have to sit in class and listen to teachers like I have for the past 12 years, and I still have no idea at which college I’ll attend.
So, how much has really changed?
I think it’s the way people perceive me — and all teenagers who turn 18.
With the number 18 comes higher expectations. The difference between 17 and 18 changes peoples’ views of us young adults.
I’m no longer considered impressive for having a driver’s license or running errands like grocery shopping. My parents expect me to take care of my car, my school work, and college applications by myself.
I am assumed to take medical responsibility for myself; I can sign waiver forms without a parent. And traveling by myself, say to Hawaii, would be much easier because I’m not a minor.
So overall, maybe it’s not so bad to have crossed the threshold into adulthood — however non adult-like I feel.
I am, according the law, capable of making decisions as important as voting for our next president and getting married without the consent of my parents.
I may still live at home, but I am freer than I was a few weeks ago.
And for an 18-year old high school senior, that’s just about as good as it gets.

•  Hannah Besso is a senior at Davis High School and a member of Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for high school students.

Alex Braman

I was very disappointed when I first began to listen to Enter Shikari’s ”A Flash Flood of Colour.”
I was desperately craving at least one song to be entirely rapped. The short burst in the intro was simply not enough.
Once I got over my inane desire, I realized that Enter Shikari had produced an amazing musical discussion of the world’s problems wrapped in dubstep (an electronic genre characterized by heavy bass and drum beats), hardcore and rock genres.
Although I disapprove of dubstep in general, the smooth transitions into dubstep and few ‘bass drops’ (where the percussion ceases for a second and then returns even heavier), make it palatable.
Enter Shikari literally means “enter the hunter” —  shikari is Persian for big game hunter. “A Flash Flood of Colour” is an embodiment of their name; the lyrics in their new album are all about hunting down the problems in society today.
If you are looking for love songs, this is not an album for you. Every track is a commentary on society, most notably “Meltdown,” which is calling for a discouragement of nationalism, stating: “…countries are just lies, drawn in the sand with a stick.”
Other commentaries focus on reviving the collective conscious of the masses to unify humanity and push mankind to further heights.
Enter Shikari’s ability to combine social commentary into their music is nothing new. Their previous album “Common Dreads” began this path, and this new release is simply a much more ideologically focused product.
Compared to previous releases, “A Flash Flood of Colour” is both much harder rock and much softer. About half of the tracks are primarily hardcore rock, and the other half are much softer.
Neither of the types of music on the album are particularly melodic. The mixing of so many genres does not contribute to the melodic aspect of any musical work. Enter Shikari has never been melodic, instead choosing to emphasize emotion through lyrics.
Tracks like “Gandhi Mate, Gandhi” break down into angry screaming, which may not be pleasant to the ear, but emphasize the anger against the broken system that is described.
Some songs, like “Stalemate,” manage to break the angry aura that surrounds most tracks and become mellifluous. This track likens the world to a game of chess, and speaks out against wars around the world.  In keeping with an anti-war theme, the track does not imply feelings of anger but of forgiveness and love.
I found it very hard to pick a favorite track. To me, all of the songs have good and not so good parts; there is no one song that shines as the best.
The song that carries the most powerful message is “Constellations.” It manages to be uplifting, really focusing on the hope for humanity. As the final track on the album, it is very suited to its role. It ends the album on a good note, speaking of the hope that they feel humanity has to band together to fix the problems plaguing society today.
The album’s political message speaks to me, and that is why I am so impacted by it. “A Flash Flood of Colour” paints a dire picture of the world, warning of dangerous consequences that seem all too real to me when reading the news.
If you’re looking for love songs, or something peaceful and melodic, this is not an album for you. It is an album for you if you’re looking for something full of energy, and with a powerful message.
If you fall in the second category, and are a fan of hard rock and/or dubstep, I would advise you to check out this album, even though there is no track with entirely rapped vocals.

•  Alex Braman is a senior at Davis High School and a member of Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for high school students.

Russ Shean

“Do you actually get in the Dumpsters?”
That is one of the first things I hear whenever I tell people that I Dumpster dive.
That, or “Ewww! That’s gross.”
I quickly change the subject when I hear the latter; those people are too grossed out to be interested in hearing more.
Fortunately, people who say the former are by far the most common. They are nervous about the idea of rooting around in garbage bins, but they are not grossed out enough not to be curious.
I imagine that if I offered people escargot I would get the same types of reactions; there would be the people who would reject it outright, and there would be the people who are too curious not to try it, despite the “ick” factor.
This column about how I got started Dumpster diving is addressed to the cautiously curious people, those who would eventually take the escargot, and those who ask, “so do you get in the Dumpsters?”
Yes, I do occasionally get into the Dumpster.
When I first started Dumpster diving, I didn’t. I was too scared about the possibility of drug needles to do anything more than open the lid, scan the top of the black sacks, and only stick my hand in if it was to grab an item on the top.
Unbelievably, this approach works very well. I have found countless treasures lying on the top of the stack within easy reach of the container’s edge.
I gradually started to put more and more of myself into the Dumpster.
First, I was leaning over the edge to grab that pair of shoes just out of reach, and then it was lifting up bags to see if there was any more chocolate (wrapped, of course!), and before I knew it, I was inside the dumpster with my legs buried below the surface of black sacks.
“That’s disgusting! Why would you subject yourself to that?” is a pretty typical thing for me to hear at about this point in the story.
People imagine my legs squelching into a smelly swamp of rotting garbage. The reality is that the majority of the trash is pretty clean because most of what we throw into the trash is pretty clean, and a lot of the time not actually trash.
I have rescued lawn chairs, clothing, stereos, bread, chips, a phone booth, backpacks, an abnormally large roll of wrapping paper, and innumerable other items. (I suspect the wrapping paper was actually wallpaper, but no one notices the difference and it never seems to run out.)
When I first started Dumpster diving, the problem wasn’t that I wasn’t finding anything; the problem was that I was finding too much stuff.
Yes, the piles of candles, mounds of yarn and other things were perfectly useable, but I didn’t have a use for any of it, so it just clogged up my room.
The room cleanliness problem was compounded by another curious habit of trash: everything is thrown out in huge quantities. You don’t find just one hair dryer; you find 20. A person can have only so many hair dryers at a time and the extra dryers, stuffed animals, briefcases and other items rapidly filled my room.
After several tense moments with my parents about fire hazards and the lack of floor space in my room, I began rescuing only what I knew I could definitely use.
I had to start viewing Dumpster diving as shopping (something in which you take only what you need) and stop viewing Dumpster diving as prospecting (something in which you take everything has value).
This paradigm shift was hard for me because I started Dumpster diving for environmental reasons. I had wanted to save every still functional thing from the trash.
Now I realize I can’t because there is just too much functional stuff for one person to save.

• Russ Shean is a senior at Davis High School and a member of Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for high school students.

•  Abby Ramos is a junior at Sunnyside High School and a member of Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for high school students.

Ryan Chang

By RYAN CHANG
EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL
When Eisenhower High School drama teacher Janey Peterson takes on a project, she goes all the way with it.
Her musical from last year, “Once on This Island,” was honored at the 5th Avenue High School Musical Awards in Seattle, a statewide competition where she was nominated for Best Musical, Best Lead Actress, Best Choreography and Best Director, among others. Peterson’s musicals have also received many other honors.
Her students and actors recognize Peterson as a person who challenges herself to make the best product available, and she is going beyond her limits for “The Boy Friend,” Eisenhower’s next musical.
“The Boy Friend” is a story of five English girls in a French Finishing School, where a girl named Polly falls in love with a messenger boy named Tony. “The Boy Friend” was originally produced in London in 1954, where it was performed more than 2,000 times. It became a hit and made its way to Broadway and made Julie Andrews a star at the age of 18.
After putting on “Honk,” “High School Musical,” and “Grease,” Peterson said she wanted to go back to the musicals she used to love – the “Chestnuts,” she called them, referring to the style of a traditional musical.
“I wanted a large ensemble, a traditional-style musical with lots of dancing,” said Peterson.
Having a more classic play than usual brought unforeseen challenges. Peterson strives for authenticity and it caused her to make a big decision before the play started.
“I knew that handling a story in the 1920s could be really hokey, so I told the girls if they wanted to be in the production they need to cut their hair and get a bob,” Peterson explained. “I knew it was a lot to ask for, but it ended up being an incredible part of the process.”
Peterson then made an event out of the hair cutting. She contacted Blue Sage Salon in Yakima, and some of the employees volunteered their time on their day off to cut the actresses’ hair, which was then donated to Locks of Love.
The actresses received support for altering their appearances for the play.
“At first it seemed like no big deal,” said senior Hannah Beehler, who stars in the play and also serves as its assistant director. “But once I saw my hair on the ground it all became emotional. Having all the girls get the hair cut together while the guys comforted us really brought the team together. We had cake and Blue Sage brought flowers; it was a good time.”
Having acting and directing responsibilities are big achievements for Beehler, even as the roles bring her new challenges.
“It was a different experience being in charge and one of the students,” said Beehler. “Although the students mostly listened, it was hard to get into the idea that I was superior.”
An essential part of “The Boy Friend” is tap dancing. The students spent 15 hours a week learning to tap dance in order to get ready for the production.
“Going in, only two of the students knew how to tap dance. Now, all 18 of the actors know how to tap dance,” Beehler said.
Peterson reached out to professionals to make sure her performers learned the right dance skills. She said Lorie Holtey, owner of the Kent School of Dance in Yakima, held lunch practices with the students, even on Saturdays.
“We took the tap dancing very seriously,” said Peterson, who watched the students give their dedication to the musical, to make the best show they can.
Musical director Laurel Cawley also touched on the process involved in such a large scale musical.
“We had a big audition process where we had every (student) bring a piece of music to sing for their audition,” Cawley said. “Then we had to work a lot with group singing, and we had to work really hard with the solo pieces, which there are a lot of here.”
Peterson likes to have the students act as teachers for their fellow performers, and this included junior Tori Gresham.
Gresham has been involved with acting for three years at Eisenhower and this year she is dancing and teaching the choreography to the others.
“I’ve always been a dancer and I’ve taught kids at Melody Lane for a year and a half, but directing students my age was different,” Gresham said.
As a junior, she has to teach choreography to her peers and seniors who are older than her.
“I’ve known most of the people and some are my friends, which made it different to teach,” said Gresham, “but at some point you just have to realize that things need to be done and we need to make progress at rehearsal.”
Cawley said a mix of seasoned and new singers came together to reveal their talent.
“We found a lot of really talented kids,” she said, “from the veterans of the school who’ve been in the musicals a lot, to new kids who surprised us, which makes this musical very unique.”
Although Peterson knew the challenges she would face with such a large musical — there are 32 students in the cast — she admits it is a process she is still learning.
“This is a show unlike anything ever done here, but we knew we had to do something different,” Peterson said. “This whole experience has been learn-as-you-go. Even (though) we had a strategy ahead of time, we are still evolving the process and it has become much different than how it first was.”
“It was like clay,” she continued. “We just kept morphing it as we went. With so many different things like the tap dancing, we had to divide the schedule in completely new ways to make it flow together.”
Peterson is ready to share to play with the public.
“It’s campy, light-hearted, funny, and something everyone can appreciate,” she said. “It’s something I want the community and students to come enjoy.”
“The Boy Friend” runs Feb. 23-25 and March 1-3 with 7 p.m. showings, with 2 p.m. matinees on Feb. 25 and March 3 at the IKE Little Theatre. Tickets are $7 at the door.

•  Ryan Chang is a senior at Eisenhower High School and a member of Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for high school students.

Alec Regimbal

ALEC REGIMBAL

WEST VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

As you may have seen in the news, there has been much uproar among companies, websites and individuals who are up in arms over the government’s recent attempts at abolishing piracy on the Internet.
The two bills I’m sure you are most familiar with are the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), which were proposed earlier last year by the House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively.
The goal of these two bills was to seek out and eliminate sites that distributed illegal or counterfeit technology, like films or music. However, many believed that the federal government was overstepping its bounds.
Many claimed the bills were too broad. Not only would these bills hurt economic growth for the U.S. by a large decrease in online spending and investing, but they would also violate First Amendment rights by extending to legal sites like YouTube and Facebook where users can post content that might “infringe” against the laws outlined in the bill.
This all means that many law-abiding sites would be blocked (which could decrease online spending), and people who were not necessarily breaking the law would be subject to the consequences of the bill, violating First Amendment freedoms.
On Jan. 18, many sites, including Wikipedia, engaged in a  blackout — the sites willingly shut down for 24 hours in protest of SOPA and PIPA. Some sites just provided information about the bills, but many shut themselves down completely.
Along with the blackout, Congress received a letter signed by 130 of the Internet’s biggest names, expressing their opposition to these bills. Ultimately, the protest of SOPA and PIPA led to the vote on their passage being put on hold until further notice.
However, opponents of SOPA and PIPA now face a much larger challenge.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which was created in October, has begun to amass much support, with 31 signatories onboard. Members of the agreement include the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, South Korea, Singapore and Morocco as well as 22 country members of the European Union.
ACTA basically outlines the same elements found in SOPA and PIPA, but on a global scale, striking much more fear into the hearts of its opposition.
In response to the agreement, the activist hacker group Anonymous has issued a call to arms for its next attack, known as Operation Black March.
The group, which gave support to SOPA and PIPA’s opponents by hacking and shutting down sites that supported the bills during the blackout, issued another eerie video message to the American public announcing their plans for March 2012.
The group wishes to form large gaps in the profit margins of media lobbyists — companies who donate money to congressmen — who want these bills to pass. They propose to do this by boycotting media through the entire month of March.
In other words, Anonymous wants the American public to go an entire month without purchasing any type of media (music, movies, books, magazines), legally or illegally.
The hope of the group is to use American media as a scapegoat to show other countries that the ones in protest mean business.
I do not condone the downloading of pirated material, but am concerned with the potential drawbacks that may be a product of ACTA.
Therefore, I will be participating in the boycott during the entire month of March.

•  Alec Regimbal is a junior at West Valley High School and a member of Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for high school students.