The

CentralianGrand Forks Central High School Volume 91, Issue 3December 22, 2015

By Stephanie McWilliamsStaff Writer

which means it is time to give to others. We have taken advantage of this oppor-tunity here at GFC in two ways: The Pajama Drive and The Giving Tree. The Pajama Drive is an opportuni-ty for students and staff to bring new pajamas into school to give to others around the community. When the pa-

distributed to women and children in need. The Pajama Drive was held from December 1st through December 11th. Central donated 91 pairs of pajamas to give to others in our community.

that the best part about The Pajama Drive is seeing the thoughtfulness of people who are willing to help other people in need. The second event we put on was

youth kids that are in need and might not usually get much during the holiday season. The event works like this: students and staff are able to pick up an “orna-

The number correlates with the child on the back of the card. The card lists

or staff member is required to bring

attached. These gifts are then distribut-ed to the families in which the gifts are intended for. One hundred gifts were donated this year. The event ran from December 2nd to December 9th. Over 30 Central students volunteered to hand out orna-ments during lunch or wrap presents

80-100 students and staff members signed up to donate gifts. “Sometimes we take for granted

those who don’t have as much and to

said.

but there is still more that we can do!

The next in-school volunteer opportu-nity is The Food Drive that NHS will put on. Keep yours eyes and ears open for signs and announcements about this

to show our love to people in need in our community.

donated and a special thanks to all of the GFC students and staff who volunteered to make these events extra

-eryone who helped out; GFC is a great place to be!

Student Council members Sophie Oen and Maia Jackson help wrap

gifts as part of the Giving Tree project.

Student Council president

Christian Wedin

Central students get into the spirit of giving

3 84 6

December 22, 2015Viewpoint2

Editor-in-Chief: Gracie Dahlen

Journalism II students: Belle LaCombe, Jamil Suleiman,

Izaiah Reynolds

Journalism I students: Abby Delgelder, Cheyanne Hopkins, Grace Jackson, Steph McWilliams, Kylee Charboneau, Kaitlyn Rerick,

Simon Ulke, Anastasia Usatii, Alex Wohlgamuth

Adviser: Mr. Matt Berglund

Mission Statement“At Grand Forks Central will build character, provide

The Centralian, incorporates these virtues to provide a fair, honest, accurate, and comprehensive account of events and issues.”

Editorial PolicyThe Centralian, founded in 1923, is the student newspaper of Grand Forks Central High School, acting as a public forum for student views. Opinion columns are the personal viewpoints of the individual writers. Letters to the editors from students are welcome, but must be signed. The content of the Centralian does not represent the policies, beliefs, or opinions of the Grand Forks Central administration.

The Centralian

By Cheyanne HopkinsStaff Writer Students and teachers across Cen-tral High School have been dealing with the same issue when it comes to using computers and the inter-net: websites and search terms being blocked. This has become a serious problem for students and teachers alike here at GFC. “There are a lot of topics that aren’t available to search in school, that I need for my classes. This is hindering my education, if I can’t do research at school, then I’m less likely to do it,” said senior CeNedra Whit-more.    Students from all grade levels are angry about websites being blocked, and teachers aren›t too happy with it either. “I understand why it takes place and why there’s a need for it. But sometimes things are blocked for me and I don’t know why. There have been some websites about schools in

France that I have found at home and was going to use in a lesson but haven’t been able to because for some reason they are blocked,” said French teacher Mdm. Larson.    Many students understand the need to censor out explicit content, but find all the blockings to be pointless. “I don’t understand why websites we would use at home, websites that we are using for our school work are blocked,” said senior Madison Baloy. “The blocking isn’t helping educa-tion, it’s just censorship. By blocking things we aren’t preparing kids for the real world, where there are no firewalls,” said sophomore student

Brenden Swanson.     Many people believe we are just going to far with some of the things we are blocking. “Some of it’s good, we are blocking too much though. I can’t search some topics for class, like war machines for my global ed class. It’s helping us from getting distracted but it’s hindering us from certain classes because they are blocking silly things,” said junior Emma Bostrom. People are upset with the recent blockings of Pandora, Barnes and No-ble, and how many videos on YouTube are also blocked. It has been hard for students to find things like pictures for

Access denied! More and more websites being blocked at Central

different classes, specifically graphic arts classes, because there are many websites that are good sources of pictures that are blocked, Tumblr, and Pintrest specifically. The main explanation for all the blocking is that the school district is trying to deal with slow servers and servers being down completely at times. This is a problem at the state level that hasn’t been solved. By having more sites blocked, especially ones that stream content, the district is trying to speed up the slow servers, but in the meantime, GFC students and teachers likely continue have to deal with more and more blocked sites.

By Simon UlkeStaff writer Spring is a favorite season for many, the clearing of snow, the smells and revolution.

-lationship between government and people, which boiled into a revolution. A semi-big goal of most revolutions is to spark other revolutions around the world, like the Cu-ban revolution of the 1950’s which brought Fidel Castro’s socialistic government into power, after a few years Fidel’s friend Ernesto “Che” Guevara decided that global revolution was inevitable, but it was taking too long, so Che travelled to the Democrat-ic Republic of the Congo in Africa. That ideal communist Utopia Che lived and died for has not happened.

point where many neighboring countries decided to do as they have done, creating civil wars across the Middle East. Syria and Iraq are the two most notable countries, however only Syria is in a civil war against their oppressive president Bashar al-Assad. The use of military power in Syria and Iraq used on its own citizens has had one ma-

East, but globally. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, popularly shortened to ISIS has used the occupation of the government force to seize power, not only in Iraq and Syria but a good portion of the Middle East and parts

in Africa. Isis’s main goal is to establish a global Islamic caliphate, which basically means a worldwide rule under Islam and one leader, the caliph. ISIS is a growing cancer in our world, which in the eyes of many cannot be stopped unless immediate action is taken.

with the Islamic state is that this will spark our third world war, or commonly referred to as the last world war. WW3 will be our global suicide. Solutions have been thought of, but were shot down, such as deportation and labeling every Muslim, due to the fact that we haven’t been in a war with a religion like this since the crusades of 1095 where the catholic church, was trying to rid the

state. The catholic was viewed in a similar way that some view Islam right now, one thing we must remember through this con-

portrayal of the ideas of Islam, which come from the holy book, the Quran. A small fraction of Muslims share the same radical views as the ones who have committed these atrocities. The bottom line is that the situation is in-credibly complex and not easy to explain in just a short article, so if you’re interesting in world affairs, take time to research using credible websites.

Extremists create distrust and paranoia

December 22, 2015News3

By Kylee CharbonneauStaff Writer Why give a speech when you can rap or rhyme instead? The results for the 2016-2017 Student Council Cabinet Elections are the student council wants to thank everyone who voted. This year 154 students voted. Your sopho-more reps are Hayden Capouch and Aman-da Rosenberg, junior reps are Maia Jackson & Adrian Cummings; and your 2016-17 Senior Cabinet is, Treasurer Evan Welsh, Secretary Rosa Grijalva, Vice President Francine Dong, and your Student Council President for next year is Sophie Oen. Some people may wonder why elections for next year’s cabinets are being held now when we are not even halfway through the current school year, so Activities Director Mr. Bina provided the answer. “The reason we have moved the elec-tions to December is for registering the newly elected cabinet members to the Lead-ership class that was created this year. This

-tration process begins. We are also looking

-cers to the National Leadership Conference to prepare them for the following school year. Holding the elections in December will allow this to happen.” Bina said. The voting next year’s cabinet involved the candidates giving a short speech during

the daily announcements. Also, during our latest student council meeting, which was on December 8th, we had our candidates running for a representative give a speech where they were asked one serious question and one silly question. There were several catching slogans that came about during this year’s election such as “You can’t go wrong if you VOTE Francine Dong for StuCo President!”

Sophie Oen her top priority would be to get the announcements broadcasted on a YouTube channel. Having the accouche-ments on YouTube would be very helpful if you have a noisy second hour, or if you just can’t hear what they’re saying over the intercom. With the announcements on YouTube you can go back and watch the announcements again if you missed any-thing.

Another interesting given during the student council meeting was by Dong. She jumped forward and got right into all the “famous” speeches that were given through-out history, but reminded us that most people don’t even pay attention to what any of them were saying. So, instead of giving a long speech, she decided to spit some rhymes. The other candidates, Rosa Grijva-la, Evan Welsh, and Madison VanGalder also delivered very good speeches. Other interesting things going on in StuCo are The Giving Tree, and Elementary reading to children in the morning of late starts before school starts. The next late start is January13th. Also, don’t forget to apply for a renais-sance card; applicants receive discount cards based on GPA and involvement in school activities. You should also buy your Central spirit themed shirts at the school store 3 for $20, 2 for $15, or 1 for $10. Coming up in January is snowball week. Snowball week is January 18th-22nd we will be having a pep rally on January 21st. Don’t forget to BUY YOUR SNOW-BALL DANCE TICKETS IN ADVANCE, IF THERE ISNT ENOUGH TICKETS BOUGHT IN ADVANCE THAN THE DANCE WILL BE CANCELED. There will be door prizes, during the month of November we spent $2,705.21 and raised NONE. Make sure that you contribute to your school, and buy tickets for the dance.

Elf Help: GFC students volunteer at Santa’s village

Photo by Kylee Charbonneau

Newly elected Student Council leadersBack Row: (left to right) Amanda Rosenberg, Adrian Cummings, Maia Jackson and

Hayden Capouch Front Row: Francine Dong, Sophie Oen, Rosa Grijalva, and Evan Welsh.

By Kylee CharbonneauStaff Writer Being an elf is hard work, and it is even harder work when the head elf does not take breaks. The head elf at Santa Village works all through Novem-ber and up to Christmas just to make sure that every single tree is perfect and every craft is done. She is always busy, busy, busy! From decorating the trees to making the crafts Lynne Roche has been the head elf for about 11 years. Lynne is a special events manager with the park district. She is at Santa Village whenever it is open to the public, which is approximately eight in the morning to closing time, and then a little later to get organized for the next day. The head elf builds (shops) all year round for decora-tions for the trees. At Santa Village they started out with approximately 12 rented trees. Now they own around 45 differ-ent trees. Lynne’s favorite part about working there is seeing families come

together to do projects. Santa Village is a way to offer them a part of Christmas because some families can’t afford to

get a nice tree or have a nice Christmas in general, so Santa Village is a way for families to come together, enjoy them-

selves, and have some fun! If you go to Santa Village don’t forget to stop and get some hot ap-ple cider, or hot chocolate to go with your cookies, and remember to bring a non-perishable food item or a toy for St. Josephs. The toys go to local charities, and all of the tips go to scholarship programs. The cheerleaders from GFC have been apart of Santa Village for as long as anyone can remember earning volunteering hours, but they aren’t the only elves there, so don’t start giving the cheerleaders your Christmas list. Give Santa your Christmas list! Santa, Mrs. Clause and the reindeers visit Santa

PM. So if you love eating cookies, sitting on Santa’s lap, going on slay rides and making crafts, then don’t forget to stop by at Santa Village!

December 22, 2015News4

By Anastasia UsatiiStaff Writer What is it about this time of year that nearly everyone enjoys? Is it the festive holiday decorations? Is it the delicious Christmas-time chocolate chip cookies left presumably for Santa? Is it the beauti-ful scenery left behind after a majestic snowfall, tiny bunny tracks imprinted in the freshly fallen snow? Or is it simply the time spent with friends and family, celebrating a timeless holiday? Some students’ favorite things about the holiday season are simple and tra-ditional. “I love Christmas trees,” said junior Gracie Dahlen. “I will sit and stare at a Christmas tree for hours and hours because they’re so pretty!” Some students enjoy the festive out-door decorations adorning houses, residen-

“I love looking at the lights around town,” stated sophomore Isabell Jenkins. Driving around town, the amounts of Christmas lights are noticeably large and festively

swathe yards and houses in beautiful, multi-colored dazzles. Another celebratory festivity is the Christmas movies often airing on tele-vision every holiday season, featuring classics such as Home Alone, Elf, and A

Central students looking forward to the holidaysCharlie Brown Christmas, timeless fa-vorites that many enjoy watching. “I love watching Christmas movies,” said junior Maddie Van Galder. Suddenly a Christmas movie marathon with close friends and family sounds like a great idea! What is a Christmas in North Dakota without snow? “I love seeing the snow fall to the ground in little puffballs of white while I’m inside next to the tree, wrapped in my blanket all cozy and warm, drinking hot chocolate,” explained freshman Han-nah Jones, poetically describing a perfect winter wonderland. Other students enjoy the religious

the holiday for hundreds of years. “My favorite part is celebrating Jesus and the

a child meant,” said sophomore Joanna

prevalent throughout the holiday season. “It is an amazing holiday set aside to celebrate Jesus’ birth,” added freshman Alexis Roehl.

Friends and family play a key role in spreading love, joy, and cheer during the holiday season. Many students can agree that spending time with loved ones is an important part of the holidays. “I love being with family,” said sophomore Taylor Yanov. “It brings everyone together,” added freshman Chloe Hernandez. The joy and spirit of giving seems to be within everybody’s hearts, making the hol-idays a time of warmth and compassion,

the feeling and the warmth that Christmas brings,” explained Roehl. “When Christ-mas comes, people seem to be more nice and thoughtful of everybody.” What do you enjoy the most about the holidays? The lights? The candy canes? The overall merry spirit? Whatever one’s preferences regarding Christmas may be, there is one similarity that stands out above all others: the joy, peace, love, warmth, and happiness that a simple holi-day season spreads.

By Cheyanne HopkinsStaff Writer Tis’ the season for giving, loving, pres-ents, and of course, treats of all kinds. This time of year we are able to indulge our-selves in delicious treats, everything from cookies to pies, bars, candies, and pastries are all around us. This year try making a little sweet treat of your own: Cookie

and cheap.Ingredients: 1 block of cream cheese (room temperature), Your choice of cookie (Oreos and Nutter Butters work wonderfully), 1 bag of chocolate chips (any kind will do) Directions:1. Take around half your pack of cookies and run it through a food processor until it is reduced to essentially cookie dust. The more cookies you crush up, the more your

2. Take your room temperature cream cheese and combined it with your cook-ie dust. You can do this with a spoon or

it up with clean hands.3. After your cookies and cream cheese are combined, take the new mixture and roll it into little balls. You can choose to make these any size you want, but remember that they will almost double in size when you cover them in chocolate.4. Put your rolled cream cheese balls into the fridge to chill for at least 5 minutes.

5. While your cream cheese is in the fridge, take your chocolate chips and melt them in the microwave. Be careful not to heat them too fast. 30 seconds at a time in the micro-wave, and stirring in between works well.6. After your chocolate is melted, and your cream cheese is chilled, roll your cream cheese balls in the chocolate, completely covering them. This is the hardest part, so

spoons and try to roll them around in the chocolate with those. Or if you don’t mind a little mess, just use your hands.7. After all of them are covered in choc-olate, put them in the freezer so that the chocolate can harden. And that’s all it takes. Be creative with them; try different combinations of cookies and chips. If you want, while the chocolate is still meted, you can add sprinkles, can-dies, or extra crushed cookies to the top of

wonderful little Christmas gifts for friends, family, and coworkers. Just remember to keep them chilled, so the chocolate doesn’t melt.

A recipe for the season How old is Santa?By Belle LaCombeStaff Writer He goes by many names: Kris Kringle, Pelznickel, St. Nick, Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus. Most of us know the basic back-story about the legend of Saint Nick. (Sorry if I just spoiled your childhood but Santa is not real.) He and his wife live up in the North Pole with his eight reindeer and some elves. Once a year, on December 24th to be exact he loads up his sled with toys made by the elves and has his reindeer lead him all across the world delivering toys to the children of the world. In exchange people set out cookies and milk for Santa to eat. But the story of Santa has been changed many times through-

came in 280 AD, according to History.com. According to legend Santa was orig-inally a monk from modern day Turkey named Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was extremely kind to children and overtime became known as the protector of children and sailors. Santa didn’t make an appearance in main-stream America until 1773 when a bunch of Dutch Americans gathered to honor the anniversary of his death. The name “Santa” came up around this time as well. Santa evolved from Sint Nikolaas. In 1809 Santa became very popular in New York but peo-ple were still unsure of what Santa looked like. Some people said that he wore a blue three-cornered hat, red waistcoat and yellow stockings; some people said that he wore a broad rimmed hat and “huge pair of Flemish

trunk hose.” Stores in the 1840s began to sell Christ-mas stuff and had images of the now popular Santa. In 1890 the Salvation Army needed money to pay for the free Christmas meals for needy families, so they decided to offer a chance to meet Santa. They found a home-less man and dressed him as Santa. Thus forth the Mall Santa was born. In 1822 the modern Santa was born when Clarke Moore wrote a poem about how he believes Santa works. In 1881 cartoonist Thomas Nast drew the modern day Santa. Santa has been ever changing since 280 AD starting as a simple, kind monk and now, almost 2000 years later, the legend of Santa is a household name all over the world.

December 22, 2015Feature5

By Gracie DahlenEditor-in-Chief The Christmas season is one of my favor-ite times of year. There are so many holidays and fun activities going on at this time. Dec-orating the Christmas tree while listening to my favorite carols, then settling in to watch a classic Christmas movie is one of my most cherished part of the holiday season. Here are some of my all time favorite Christmas movies. “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” is a children’s classic that I have loved my whole life. However, I do prefer the animat-ed version to the live action version. There is something about the original animation that makes the movie better for me. It sticks more to the original story line and doesn’t add certain aspects to create more drama. It still shows the dramatic transformation of the Grinch but leaves out, what I believe is nonsense, which the live action movie includes. “White Christmas”. This is a classic in the true sense of the word. The movie was made in 1954 and contained music by a famous composer at the time Irving Berlin. This movie is about two former military

came home from World War 2, who begin producing shows and performing. They become quite famous actually and go to watch two sisters, at the request of an army buddy. The two end up helping the sisters escape some trouble and travel with them to the sister’s next job in Vermont. The lodge, that hired the sisters, is owned by the two

out to help him bring business to the failing ski lodge. All in all there is great music and colorful characters. It, in my opinion, is a great movie! I’m also very fond of another Irving Berlin movie, “Holiday Inn”. This movie also has Bing Crosby as a main character. Bing plays a young performer, who after

friend and fellow performer, opens up an inn in Connecticut. He realizes that it can’t make money if he stays open all year round, so he creates in inn only open on holidays and that give special performances. The original “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” is a personal favorite. I love the animation. It’s something you don’t see to

often today. I love the songs and the charac-ters’ journey. It is a part of my childhood. “Eloise at Christmas Time”. This movie, while more a childhood favorite, is a fantastically funny movie. The six-year-old girl’s adventures through the Plaza Hotel in New York City are pure laughter. Through-out the movie the colorful characters work their way into your heart. Not to mention, there’s a pretty great love story worked in. I also really love Hallmark’s Christmas movies. While I admit some are extremely

some real gems. For instance, “Christmas with Holly” is a great one. The acting is a bit sub par, but it has a heartwarming plot. Another great Hallmark movie is “Hitched for the Holidays”. In this movie, two people who need a person to attend family functions with decide that they will pretend to be in a relationship, so their nosey fam-ilies won’t bug them about not being in a relationship. Christmas time is one of my favorite times of the year. The movies of the season are a huge part of that. I hope you enjoy some of my favorite holiday movies this year.

By Cheyanne HopkinsStaff Writer Christmas songs, we love them or we hate them. But either way we have all heard them. Everyone has a different opinion on what Christmas songs are naughty, and which ones are nice. A poll of staff and stu-dents at GFC has revealed the top 5 best, and the top 5 worst Christmas songs:Best Christmas Songs:1. Baby It’s Cold2. Carol of the Bells3. Jingle Bells4. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer5. Silent NightWorst Christmas Songs:1. Santa Baby2. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer3. Deck the Hall4. Little Drummer Boy5. 12 Days of Christmas

By Cheyanne HopkinsStaff Writer Christmas time, a time for baking cookies, wrapping presents, spending time with family that you only sort of like, and trying to stop Krampus from taking your entire family to the underworld because you lost the Christmas spirit. In the new PG-13 movie Krampus that is what Christmas is about. The movie is based on an old German legend that Santa Claus has a sidekick, a shadow that goes with him on Christmas Eve. If you have been naughty, or if you have lost the Christmas spirit, Krampus comes to your house instead of Santa Claus, and he takes your family to the underworld, leaving you with a Christmas ornament with his name etched into it. Despite the spooky theme, Krampus is actually really funny. “I laughed so hard at that movie” said junior Emma Bostrom. The movie is

will keep you laughing, and if they don’t, then the helpers Krampus has will. There are little gingerbread men who are not only adorable, but hilarious. There are jump scares in the movie, making it more of a

to anyone looking for a laugh, and looking to jump in their seat a little.

Some great Christmas films

The best and worst

Christmas songs

Movie review

By Grace JacksonStaff Writer What do you like about Christmas? What don’t you like? Most kids love Christmas and would even classify it as their favorite holiday, because of the gifts. Even as they get older, they still are generally most excited for presents. But, as kids turn into teenagers, what they like or don’t about Christmas starts to change.    “I honestly can’t think of anything that I don’t like about Christmas.” A GFC junior, Gracie Dahlen, likes everything about Christmas. “I especially love Christmas trees,” she said. “My family can even vouch that I could just sit and stare at Christmas trees all day because they’re just so pretty. I know that’s kinda weird, but I really could.”     Many people claim that Christmas is basically the whole month of December, and sometimes even starts at the end of November. People start decorating and baking, and that’s something freshman Camryn Rydell doesn’t like. “I don’t like the fact that Christmas practically starts a month before it actually is.”    Family time is something that truly brings people joy in the Christmas season. Kaitlyn Rerick, a freshman, said that one of her favorite things about Christmas is, “getting to see my family that I never see.”     “Back home, everyone would come and visit,” said senior Izaiah Reynolds. “Just getting to spend time with my family is great.”     A big debate that goes on between people during Christmas season is Christmas songs. Some people argue that there is no such thing as a bad Christmas song, like ninth grader Peyton Stanich, but others don’t like any Christmas songs. Freshman Olivia Kuchera doesn’t really like Christmas songs because she finds them annoying.     At the end of the day, all that really matters is that everyone enjoys Christ-mas however they choose to spend it; whether it be with their family, a month before December 25th, or with or with-out Christmas music.

Not everybody

loves Christmas

December 22, 2015Feature6

Match the teachers with their first car

1962 Chevy Impala

1971 Volkswagen Campmobile

1985 Toyota Cellica

1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager

1980 Oldsmobile Omega

Early 1900s Hanoverian

Mr. Polries

Mr. Lennon

Mr. Landry

Mrs. Kalka

Dr. Garaas- Johnson

Mr. Vandervort

This is a picture of Mrs. Lauer and her daughter after picking up her 1971 MG Midget after getting it restored. See if you can match the other teachers with their first cars. (Answers are in the article on page 7.)

1971 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88

Mrs. Aleshire

December 22, 2015Feature7

By Gracie DahlenEditor-in-Chief As high school students, first cars are not foreign concepts to us. Many of us have just purchased or have been giv-en our first cars. But has time changed what a first car is like? The story of our teacher’s first cars should give us a dis-tinct comparison. “My first car was a 1962 Chevy Impala,” said English teacher Yvonne

Kalka. “Her name was Lizzy. She was older than me. She was maroon, but she had more rust than paint. My dad was sure that she would protect me (like a tank). She was my first, of three, Chevy Impalas. I also had a ‘67 and a ‘72.” Fellow English teacher Kristin Ga-raas-Johnson might have had one of the most unique vehicle on our list. “The first car I ever bought was a 1971 Volk-swagen Campmobile. It had a fridge and sink, a table, and pop-up topper with a cot. I always had envisioned taking it on the road and going camping with it, but never had the chance. Unfortunately, the pop-up topper had a problem with its seal and so every time I took the thing

on the highway it would veer as though led by a sail. Mine was white and had a red stripe across the middle ridge like a candy cane. I’d named it “Stan (the van)”. I recall my irritation when someone broke into it one night. I’d parked it in downtown Fargo for a poetry slam com-petition in which I was participating, only to find that someone had pushed through the little window by the steering wheel. It reeked so bad I had to air it out for days and was paranoid that I would get pulled over for speeding and have the police think I’d was up to no good. I

drove very carefully as a result. To my dismay, the poor thing died when it began to burn oil, rendering it a giant paperweight. I eventu-ally sold it to buy more college textbooks and pay for rent on my apartment.” Special Education teacher Brandon Vandervort’s first car was a white 1985 Toyota Celica. “It was white and nice and clean on the inside. My favorite features were the electric sunroof and the pop-up headlights. One day, when I was walking home from school during my sophomore year, I saw my mom and dad sitting in the back yard. Dad was up to something; I could tell by the look on his face. He said to me, “I want you to go in the garage. There is something for you on the work bench.” I walked in and

By Jamil SuleimanStaff Writer As you walk through the halls of Central this year, be sure to say “salve!” to our new Latin teacher Jason Hawley. He teaches Latin 1, 2, 3, and 4 along with a Latin Studies class which explores the lasting impact of the Latin language and the ancient Romans on the modern world. Hawley attended Mandan High School and Poudre High School. He then went on to attend Bismarck State, Moorhead State, and graduated from the University of Ore-gon. He would later return to North Dakota State to earn his teaching license. “I did not really plan on being a teacher. When I was younger I wanted to be a soldier or pilot; something exciting like that, but it did not work out.”

Teachers share their “first car” storiesthe only thing was a set of car keys. My mind started racing, and I walked back to my parents. My mom said, “Go out front of the house and check it out.” Back in the mid-90’s, Eric Polries’s parents got him a gold 1980 Oldsmobile Omega. “Since I was born in 1979, we had a lot in common! It didn’t have any real cool features, but my friend and I al-most crashed it once while fox hunting, but we didn’t, so we just claimed it had really good brakes. Another interesting thing was that in the cold ND winters, if you tried to drive it without it first warming up for 5 minutes, it would stall out. But it would only stall if going in “Drive”. I could go in “Reverse” without having it warm up. My friends and I joked that if you saw me driving down the street in reverse in the winter, it is probably because I was trying to escape from a serial killer.” Christie Aleshire’s car came with carpet inside. “My first car was a Old-smobile Dynamic 88.It was a 4 door , built like a tank. It had steel fenders and as they say.......they don’t build them like they used to. Oh yes, and I had brown furry carpet on the dash. Classy huh?” Business teacher Trevor Lennon’s first car was a 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager minivan. “It was white with a black trim at the bottom. All of my friends called it

the “grocery getter”.

After a couple of months of having it, I wanted to add a special touch to it so I put on new hubcaps that were $20 that really spiced up the life of the van.” “During the summer I took out the back seats and put a small twin size bed in the back. I used it for when I went to summer camps and took naps in between basketball games and during breaks.” And then there’s the story of Special Education teacher Karen Lauer and her first car, a 1976 MG Midget. “I drive it to high school and all over Minneapolis including Minnesota winters. My par-ents had 3 kids in college, so they could not afford to buy me a car. My dad gave up his MG which he bought when I was 12. I was the lucky one out of six kids. I went car shopping with him and helped him pick it out. The MG is now in my possession. I don’t own a lake home, but I do own my MG Midget-my summer fun.” So even if you don’t think you drive the “coolest car”, you might actually have more great stories one day about that beast that brought to you to GFC each day.

After college he moved to Japan to teach conversational English for three years, then moved back to Bismarck and taught Latin for a couple years, then

years. After the disastrous earthquake and reactor meltdown of 2011, he decided it was time to come home. “The midwest may not be as exciting as Japan, but it is probably safer than living 100 miles from a leaking reactor.” “When I came home I found that there was an extreme shortage of Latin teachers and that some programs were being closed

teachers. I felt I had a duty to the subject, which had given me so much, and I wanted to pay it back.” Hawley said. Before Grand Forks he taught Latin

teaching at Central, but his third year with

impression of Central was that it reminded

“Carpe diem” in Latin class with Mr. Hawleyhim of his own high school. “I like the solidness of the older style architecture.” Something that most people would not know is that Hawley unfortunately comes from a family of dropouts. “Both my mother and my brother are high school drop outs. But, I chose a different path. I stayed in school, went to college, lived abroad, and traveled to other continents”. Hawley has always shown a passion for teaching students not only lessons in Latin, but in life. “Because of my life experience, it really bothers me when people do not take their education seriously.” Hawley concluded. So when you looking for an interesting elective class and you would like a world-ly, devoted teacher to guide you, consider taking Latin from Mr. Hawley.

December 22, 2015Sports8

By Gracie DahlenEditor-in-Chief

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Staff Writer

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Staff Writer

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WrestlingBoys’ Basketball

Boys’ Swimming

Girls’ BasketballBy Jamil SuleimanStaff Writer The girl’s basketball team is looking forward to a promising season this year. Currently, their main goal is to make it to state. “Last year we lost our play-in game to get into state, so we want to get past that point and get further than last season”, said senior Steph McWilliams. The team’s strengths this year are its quickness and strong defense. “We are faster than most teams, so we’ll be able to pressure teams and hopefully force a lot of turnovers and gain transition points.” The team also has a strong emphasis on improving their defense every game. Coach DJ Burris said, “We have to keep on improving in our defensive system to create more opponents turnovers.” The top experienced returners are seniors Steph McWilliams, Shelby Dahley, Jasmine Lindblad, Abbie Ferry, and juniors Lauren and Liz Dub. The most anticipated impactful newcomers would be Sr. Desi Hanson, Jr. Megan Schumacher, Jr. Amber Anderson, Jr. Carolyn Smith, Jr. Taylor Walsh, Soph. Korri Gust, Soph. Cassidy Kuntz, and Soph. Natalie Johnson. There is a lot of talent on the team as a whole, but the trick is to know how to use it. “We all have our strengths, we just have to learn to put those strengths into a game situation,” said McWilliams.

Winter sports season begins

CorrectionIn the November 2015 issue of

The Centralian, an article writ-

ten about the cross country team

stated that Alexis Roehl placed

sixth in state. She placed fifth.

December 22, 2015Sports9

Gymnastics

Girls’ hockey

Boys’ hockeyBy Grace JacksonStaff Writer The KnightRiders Gymnastics team has started another season, and they are looking to do better than last season. Top returners are Claire An-derson, Becca Warnke, Sophie Sholtis, and the only performing knight on the team, freshman Emily Kilichowski. The top newcomers include Sydnee Spivey, Grace Shirrick, and Abi Keitz-man. “We have a bunch of new girls that are really skilled on all events,” said Emily Kilichowski. “I think that we will have a strong floor and beam this year.”    Coach Courtney Gripentrog and Kilichowski are in agreement on what they think will be their greatest strength this season. “Floor is looking like it will be one of our best events this year,” commented Coach Gripentrog.     On every team, there is always room for improvement, and Coach Gripentrog says that the main thing for the team improve upon is their bars, with input from Kilichowski, who also thinks they need to do better on bars. “We need to work on our bars,” said Kilichowski. “We haven’t been scoring as high as we would like, but some easy fixes can help us out,”     Like many other teams, they have more than just one season goal. “The goal that we really want to reach is a score of 135,” said Kilichowski. “Also, it would be great if we could make it to state this year.” At a recent meet in Valley City on December 12th, the KnightRiders already came close to their goal of an overall score of 135. They came in 2nd place out four teams, with a score of 129.950.    “We would love to see all of you at our two home meets on January 9th and February 13th, at 2 pm,” Kilichows-ki added.

By Belle LaCombeStaff Writer The future looks bright for the Grand Forks Central Boys Hockey Team. The Knights have already picked up wins over Fargo Davies, Warroad and Minot the team that spoiled GFC’s dreams of a state cham-pionship last year in the state final game. “We have team speed and offensive tal-ent,” said senior forward Skyler Belgarde. “We have a lot of guys that have varsity experience,” junior defensemen Collin Caulfield added. “We have a real strong junior class and have guys we can rely on to have big games.” “Overall we are an inexperienced team with only three seniors in our line-up. We graduated a lot of leadership, character players, and scoring punch from last sea-son, as well as a four-year starter in goal.” said head coach Grant Paranica. “We have a lot of question marks in key positions this year in the early going, and we will have to work diligently on the building process.  It will take patience and persistence to get where we want to be.” The team has three freshmen, two soph-omores, fifteen juniors and three seniors. The starting goalie so far this season is Kaleb Johnson, a freshman. “He will be tough to beat for most teams,” said senior forward Cody Aarvig. With a little over two months until State and a great start this season, hopefully the Knights can grab that elusive state champi-

onship.

Laker great Kobe Bryant saying goodbye

By Alex WohlgamuthStaff Writer The Golden State Warriors win-streak

th,

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-tained the Warriors to playing one of the

seasons. Milwaukee, starting out pretty rough with their sloppy defense, seemed

Los Angeles Lakers’ 33 game win-streak,

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say we played as hard as they did.” With

overjoyed with this déjà vu win.

Bucks finally

stop Warriors

record streak

Winter sports season begins Staff Writer

The returners are: Seniors Allison Mulroy,

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returning players who have played in some -

have a lot of depth and work really well as a team.” She feels they have a great shot to

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young players that are adapting to the dif-

Staff Writer

players who qualify for NBA stat-keeping with enough attempts this season. With a

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year old. Nowadays, teams don’t waste an extra

talent evaluators feel differently. They would -

last season at the same age, though neither

-

person in the league to stay with one team for

know what is.

December 22, 2015Feature10

By Cheyanne HopkinsStaff Writer Almost every senior would agree that senior year is way different from freshman year. We are different people then we were 4 years ago. But just how different? Freshman Emily Kuether, and Senior Madison Diemert were interviewd to create a comparison

Freshman Emily Kuether

Q: What is your homework load like?A: I don’t really get homework because we have time in class to do it.

Q: What would you say your friend group is like?A: I’m friends with more older people be-cause a lot of freshmen are immature.

Q: What would you say relationships are like as a freshman?A: My boyfriend doesn’t go to this school, but I’ve noticed there is a lot of dating and switching who you’re dating as a freshman.

Q: Do you have a job?A: Nope, no job right now, but I am trying to get one.

Q: What would you say about getting in-volved in school?A: I’m not really involved, but I think people should be involved.

Q: What advice would you give to an 8th grader coming into high school?A: Use your planner.

Q: What would you say is important in your life right now?A: Being to school on time.

Being a freshman

vs. being a senior, a varied perspective of high school

Teens deal with stress, lack of sleepBy Kaitlyn RerickStaff writer Do you get stressed with your home-work? A lot of people do. After asking around and seeing the loads of homework some students have each night I got a little anxious myself. Some students have up to three hours of homework some nights. For some this is a bad night but for some others this is a good one. Some students get so stressed it messes with their sleep pattern. Some students get

or less. Many students stay up late on their phone, on their computer or watching TV or movies. Depending on if you procrasti-nate, your homework can go all night. This can get very nerve racking. Not a lot of students know how to deal with this stress problem so they just push it off and eventu-ally the stress just keeps building up. Here are some ways to help relieve the stress. Exercise regularly, if you exercise

Student teachers learn on the go at GFCBy Anastasia UsatiiStaff Writer The 2015-2016 school year at GFC includes a small amount student teachers. There was a total amount of eight student teachers this semester. A student teacher, often a student attending a college or university simultaneously, observes classes, occasionally instructs a period, or assists teachers by creating new or innovative lesson plans. Katelynn Dub, a student teacher for Mrs. Miedema’s english class, is one of a select few student teachers at Central this year. “I chose to student teach at Central because I did some observations here through UND and loved it,” said Dub, upon being asked about choosing GFC as a destination for student teaching. Another important fact to note is that student teaching can be a reliable learning experience and is essential for potential future teachers. “Teachers are always doing different and creative things in their classrooms that I can try with my own students,” explained Dub. “I also learn from students because their feedback lets me know what students like (and don’t like) to do in class.” Dub decided to become a teacher because she enjoys the feeling of helping somebody learn and understand something, as well as improve in his or her abilities. “It’s pretty amazing to watch someone improve and grow until he or she ‘gets it,’” said Dub.

Another student teacher at GFC this year included Claire Erholtz. In addition to gaining experience teaching, Erholtz also learned alongside her students. “I had such a great time getting to know all of the students in my classes,” said Erholtz. “I loved learning new things and growing alongside them.” Unfortunately, the life of a teacher is not always as easy and undemanding as it seems. Many days can be jampacked with student work to grade, additional errands to run, meetings, planning lessons for classes, and juggling family life. Luckily, Erholtz was prepared for this, gaining experience ahead of time. Erholtz said that the hardest part of student teaching was balancing everything that goes on in a day. “Between teaching, planning, grading, meetings, home-life, and working a separate job on top of student teaching, I was exhausted,” explained Erholtz. “I made it through, though, and this experience gave

juggle all that life throws at you.” A full list of the 2015-2016 student teachers includes Katelynn Dub, Timothy Brooke, Claire Erholtz, Kevin Matze, Christine Moe, Wyatt Sabott, Roman Waldera, and Hayley Wilhelmi. “My time at Central is something that I will never forget. I could not have asked for a better school to teach at,” said Erholtz. “Students and teachers should feel lucky to be a part of such a great school. I had a fantastic experience!” added Dub.

then it might clear your head. Take a few minutes of silence and just breathe. Try not to put all of your work of until last minute, because that will build up stress. Then it gets later and later and you have homework and need your sleep. If you are going to have an anxiety attack these are a few things that really

objects in the room to focus on. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Just repeat these steps and hopeful-ly it helps. If you listen to alternative or metal mu-sic like I do sometimes, it helps the stress go away but sometimes it doesn’t so I try and listen to something softer. Lastly try to do your work in an organized space. If you try to go to a room that is organized with little clutter then it might clear your mind a little. Also try and organize your homework by writing it down in a planner so you don’t forget to do something.

Senior Madison Diemert Q: What would you say your homework load is like?A: It’s not as bad as junior year, but it’s second most. Especially compared to freshman year.

Q: What would you say your friend group is like?A: You go into freshman year thinking you’ll have the same friends, you won’t. I have fewer friends now, but I have closer friends. You care less about what people think of you.

Q: What would you say relationships are like as a senior?A: It doesn’t matter as much whether or not you’re in a relationship. You tend to be smarter about your relationships, less naive about it.

Q: Do you have a job?A: I don’t have one right now. But having a job helps you understand more of what being an adult is. The further you get through high school the more jobs open up instead of just McDonalds.

Q: What would you say about getting involved in school?

interest you. Get involved, you make friends that way.

Q: What advice would you give to freshman?A: Don’t treat high school like it’s your whole life, it’s not. It’s only 4 years of your life; you have so much ahead of you. Do your homework; it will make life easier. Do the extra credit, you might need it. Don’t slack off. Don’t act more immature and unintelligent then you are, It’s not cute, it’s just annoying.

Q: What would you say is important in your life right now?

important then I use to realize. And my friends, you’re going to rely on a few people and their go-ing to be so important. It’s less about what people think of you.

December 22, 2015Feature11

By Cheyanne HopkinsStaff Writer Do you have problems remembering to drink water? I do. Our bodies are made up of around 60% water, so it’s important to be drinking water to help replenish the water we lose throughout the day. That’s where Plant Nanny can help. Plant Nanny is a cute little app for your phone that can help you to remem-ber to drink water. You enter in your weight and how active you are, and it tells you how much water you should drink in a day. After that you get to pick a cute little plant to raise, you get to name your plant, and even pick what kind of pot to have it in. Every time you drink water, you give your plant the same amount of water, and it will begin to grow. If you don’t drink water, your plant can get sick and even die. This little app helps you remember to drink water, because you don’t want your little plant to die.

By Cheyanne HopkinsStaff Writer Make up is expensive. Eyeliner on average costs $6.00 a piece. This is realistically really expensive, especially if you want to have many different col-ors. Well now there is a way to have 24 different eyeliner colors for under $3.00, make your own eyeliner out of colored pencils! This is completely safe, because Crayola colored pencils are created so that small kids are able to chew on them and not be harmed.

Gauge your

water intake

with Plant Nanny

American Horror

Story Motel

Cool Apps

Make your own inexpensive eyeliner

Cool IdeasCool TV shows

Supplies needed:1. Crayola (or other non-toxic brand) pack of colored pencils2. Hot water3. Cup The real beauty of this is the fact that it is super simple. Fill your cup with hot water, make sure your water is nice and hot; it will soften the colored pencils better. Let your colored pencil(s) soak in

Never waste your money on expensive eyeliner again.

Order your 2015-2016

GFC Yearbook in the

main office.

The cost is $50

and the books will

arrive next fall.

American Horror Story Abby DegelderPeriod 1 Everyone has their favorite TV show, mine is American Horror Story. American Horror Story is a TV show (on Netflix). There are five seasons right now; Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Freak Show, and Hotel. They are thinking of ideas for the sixth season, but they haven’t said much about it though.     Every season is different from the others. Murder House is about a family, which moves into a mansion that is haunted, but they don’t know it yet. The time frame for Murder House. Asylum has some of the same characters that they had in the first season, but it is a whole different story. In Asylum, it is an insane asylum run by a church. Asy-lum’s time frame is based around the 1960s. Coven is a camp/school for girls that are witches. Coven’s time frame is present day. Freak Show is about a carnival that is based on circus freaks. Freak Show’s time frame is around the 1950s-1960s. I haven’t seen Hotel but I know it is about a hotel that has a murderous demon and a homicide detective. Whoever stays at that hotel gets murdered. Hotel’s time frame is present day.     American Horror Story is a show that is a little twisted and not a lot of people understand it when they watch the first season. For me, I fell in love with the show when I saw the first episode. American Horror Story is very interesting and is horrific.

December 22, 2015Feature12

By Stephanie McWilliamsStaff Writer The Grand Forks Central Music Depart-ment has done it again. “Big Fish” was the latest production the team put out, and once

and cast were phenomenal, and it was a treat to see the show. Big Fish is a show that centers on two men: Edward and Will Bloom; as well as two thematic questions: 1. Mortality, or how does a hero live on? 2. Fatherhood, or what makes a good dad? Both of these questions were thoroughly answered, all the while providing an exciting and emotional setting for the audience to be a part of. The show involved a small cast, consist-ing of only 15 members, as well as 5 crew members, 6 pit members, and 9 people who assisted in directing. The two male leads were held by Seniors Alex Barta(Edward Bloom) and Landon Swallow(Will Bloom). The guys played the parts perfectly and their passion for performing was evident. There is so much talent inside the walls of GFC and it

really showed with this production. Seniors Anna Vandeberg, Melody Sondrol, Casey King, Gus Tandberg; Juniors Calli Medley, McKenzie Johnson, Krista Slusar-Mrazek, Meghan Allan, Grace Netz, Angie Sheard; Sophomores Casey Hennessy, Maia Jack-son; and 7th Grader Isaac Barta all added fabulous parts to the show, making it an unbelievable performance. We should all applaud their dedication to making this show one to remember. The script itself was moving. The emotions within the Black Box, where the production was held, were shifting through-out every scene. Laughter was shared throughout the crowd. Tears were shed. The show touched every person; the story was engaging and the personnel involved were very entertaining. Going to the show was a great decision and I urge everyone to go see GFC’s next production: The Addams Family, which will show from March 3rd-5th this spring. Thank you to everyone involved, especially Director Paul Barta and Music Director Geoff Mercer, on making this another fantastic event for GFC.

Performance of “Big Fish” reels in packed audiences

The “cast” of Big Fish