knightsnewsonline.com ClearFallsHighSchool February2011•Vol.1Num.34380VillageWay•LeagueCity,TX77573

Everybody cut Footloose!

Clear Falls Gallery

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Girls Basketball Off to PlayoffsBy MEGHAN MISTRY

ClearFalls’firstgirlsvarsitybasket-ball team made history on Tuesday,Jan. 31 when they secured a spot inthe play-offs after a win against rivalFriendswood.Theteamtiedforsecondin the district with LaMarque, whileundefeatedManveltookfirst.Theseasonbeganinearly

Novemberwiththegirlsgo-ing12-4 indistrictplayand24-8forthefullseason.

Clear Falls made its name known when the girls took consolation at the Clear Creek Classic tournament in early December, one of thelargest varsity girls basket-ball tournaments in Houston.“My favorite game to

coach was anything at the Clear Creek Classic because there were so many coaches in the stands and so many people that I used to workwith,”saidheadcoachShan-non Osborne. At the end of December, the girls

alsowonthechampionshipattheBra-zosport Holiday Classic tournament.At the tournament, junior point-guardMadisonRutamadetheall-tournamentteamwhiletournamentofficialsnamedjunior Erin Farmer theMostValuablePlayer(MVP).Thevarsityteamunderwentgrueling

practicestoprepareforatoughseasonafterlastyear’sundefeatedrecord.Thegirlsbattledhard,butinthefirstround

ofdistrictplaytheylosttoLaMarque,ManvelandFriendswood.To ready themselves for the second

roundofplay(onewith,hopefully,lesslosses), the girls practiced against theClearFallssophomoreboys.“[The girls] work hard in practice

withtheboyscomingineveryday.Itis

alwaysbettertohaveabiggerbodytocompeteagainstdayinanddayoutofpractice,andthegirlsdothat.Theydothatwithalotofhonor,”Osbornesaid.On Jan. 17, the girls battled La

Marqueforthesecondtime.Closefortheentiretyofthegame,thegirlswonbytwoina52-50crowd-rocking,over-time win. “La Marque was the hardest game

this year.The second game, the over-time, sixmissed free-throws, in over-

time.[Thegirls]werejustwornoutandplayingwithall[their]gutsfor36min-utes,”saidOsborne.“Iwasreallyproudofthatgame.”A fewwins later, the girls defeated

Friendswood60-45tosecuretheirsec-ondplacedistrictslot.District play ended on Feb. 7when

theteammassacredTexasCity78-34.ClearFallsvarsitygirlsbas-

ketball embarks on their firstplay-off journey. It will offi-cially begin after the secondplacetieisbrokenbetweenLaMarque and Falls on Friday,Feb. 10. “We will play La Marque

on Friday for seeding, decid-ing second and third place inthestatetournament,”saidOs-borne. According to Osborne, the

team,whichconsistsofjuniorsMadison Ruta, Erin Farmer, Maggy Mulholland, Morgan

Foster,MeghanMistry,sopho-more Hannah Odegard, and freshmenDelaneyDishman,ElenaKramarzandToriHatten, does a lotmore than justplaytheirheartsout.“[My favorite memory] was visit-

ingHarborView,visitingtheoldfolkshomeandwatchingthegirlsinadiffer-entlight.Igottoseejusttrulyhowlov-ingtheyare,”Osbornesaid.The team, a family according to its

players,willenditsseasonafterthefirstlossintheplay-offs.

By MAX VERAS

From the small town of Bomont tothe auditoriumofClearFalls, cowboyboots and plaid shirts reigned throughthegreenhallwaysofClearFallsHigh.The FineArts department at CFHS

presentedFootloose The Musical,asto-ryaboutayoungmanwhomovedfromChicago toBomont,Texas.There, theteenagerssufferedfromabanondanc-ing.The story followsRen’s footstepsashe tries tofight for the town’s free-domaswellashelpitspeoplethroughtheir losses.The production of thismusical took

“tons”ofhourstorehearse,accordingtojuniorAminaWindsor,who’spartwastoplayin“TheBand.”“Somuch time goes into amusical,

butthemoretimeyouputin,themorefunitbecomes,”saidWindsor.A musical requires more than just

massiveamountsofrehearsal;directionfromtheirproductionstaffisneededaswell.CFHStheaterteacherDiannaMoore

directed the musical. She guided the students with their acting while Jill

Fetty,musicdirector,helpedpreparethestudents with “all the songs in the musi-cal.”Butashowcannotbedonewithjust

singing and acting. Choreography andmusic are needed as much as the oth-er two. ElizabethYorlano, director ofchoreography, thoughtof theways themusical numbers would best look to a crowd.DougEger,orchestraconductor,had long rehearsals to get the orchestra playingatitsbest.Withouttheactors,theorchestraand

crew,ledbyKurtOian,technicaldirec-tor,wouldhavenoonetoproducefor.Out of the whole performance,Act 2seemed to catch the viewers’ attentionevenmorethanthefirst.Thesecondactstartedoutwithanoutstandingperfor-mancebyRusty,playedbysophomoreMaddieBaillio,asshesang“Let’sHearIt for theBoy.”Shewas accompaniedby Willard, played by Jacob Knight,whomanagedtohavethecrowdlaugh-ingthroughouthisperformance.Aftertheshowwasover,thestudents

feltsadthattheshowhadcometoanend.“I was very sad that the show was

over,”saidcastmemberjuniorMorghan

Dryden.“Inrehearsal,thecastandcrewbecameyoursecondfamily.”

Dryden wasn’t alone. Other students suchas freshmanSpencerFort,whoserole was to play the main male lead,Ren,werealsogloomywiththeshowstermination.“TherearesomanythingsIdidinthat

showthatI’llnevergettodoagain,soitallmeantalottome,”saidFort.The staff behind Footloose noticed

the abundance of hours and dedica-tionthestudentsputforthtomakethisshow“amazing,”saidbybothdirectors,MooreandFetty.

Footloose brought many people to-gether,fromtheaterartstobandtochoirtojuststudents.“It’s reallycool tobringall theFine

Arts department as one giant family,”said cast member sophomore CindySchepp.Receivingclapsandcheers fromthe

audience,theKnightsonceagainman-aged to do everything at their best.Manyorganizationsintheschoolcametogether foronemain reason: tomakethismusicalaneventsurelynottohavebeen missed.

Ashley Dugie and Hannah Odegard crash for the rebound as Elena Kra-marz shoots in the shut-out against Texas City on Feb. 7. Photo by Staff

2•knightsnewsonline.com Village ClearFallsPost•Febuary2012

Village Hosts Science FairClear Falls Hosts Second District Science Fair

By SANDA CAVALLARO

On Monday Feb. 23 the Edu-cation Village hosted its second Clear Creek Independent School District district science fair show. The elementary division was judged in the Clear Falls library. The junior high, ninth grade and senior divisions were judged in the gyms at Bayside Intermedi-ate.

Science experiments that ad-vanced from their home school to the district fair placed in the top three of their category in the el-ementary, junior and ninth grade

divisions or placed in the top five per category in the senior divi-sion.

All divisions, except for the el-ementary division, which only has fifth graders, compete at dis-trict to advance to the Houston Area Science Fair. Of the 80 ex-periments submitted on Jan. 12 to the Clear Falls senior division of science fair, 30 went on to the district competition.

At the district level Falls science fair entries competed with up to 25 other projects from every high school in CCISD for a shot at the

Houston Area Science Fair. To make it to Houston Area level an experiment must place in the top four in its category.

Fifteen students from Clear Falls will advance to the Hous-ton Area Science Fair, where their experiments can potentially win them scholarships, money, other prizes or the chance to compete in the statewide science fair.

The Houston Area Science Fair will be judged on Friday, March 2 and is open to the public from 9 AM to 2PM Saturday, Mar. 3.

2011-2012Clear Falls Post

Staff

MeghanMistry-Editor-in-ChiefMaxVeras-Online News

ProducerVanHuynh-Photographer

SandaCavallaro-Staff WriterSierra Ham -Staff Writer

Julie Jorgensen -Staff WriterAllison Griest- AdviserKarenEngle-Principal

JoBethBrizendine-Associate Principal

PublishedbyMirrorPublishinginTexasCity

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ClearFallsPost•February2012 Arts knightsnewsonline.com•3

An All-State Quest

Knights Represent Clear Falls at StateBy SANDA CAVALLARO

Clear Falls High School’s band and choirprogramsbothhavehadstudentsmake the Texas All-State Band andChoir. All-Stateisastatewidecompetition

sponsoredbyTexasMusicEducatorsAssociation for high school studentsin theirgivenmusiccourse.Studentsfromalloverthestatecompeteagainsteachother forachair inanAll-Stategroup.

Getting into All-State is a huge chal-lenge fora studentand isconsideredby many to be the highest honor a Texasmusicstudentcanreceive.IfaTexasmusic studentmakesAll-Statesaid student is safe assuming that heorsheisthebestmusician,ofacom-parableform,inthestate.FourmembersofClearFallsBand

madetheAll-Stateband.TimHanley(clarinet), Kyle Howard (bass clari-net), David Bontemps (French horn)andReillyOwens(trombonemadeitpast all three levels of screening be-fore they could make the All-StateBand.Aswithanythingthatencompasses

theentirestate,competitionforaspotinthebandisfierce.Dependingontheinstrument,ClearFallsstudentswentupagainst200othermusiciansatthe

firstlevel,region,beforemovingontothesecondlevel.Thefourbandmem-bersarethefirstClearFallsstudentstomakeTexasAll-StateBand.ThefirstrepresentativeoftheClear

FallsChoiratTexasAll-StateChoirisjuniorMaddieBaillio.Baillio went through four rounds

ofscreening,region,district,pre-areaandarea,beforemakingittoAllState.Our region for All-State Choir hadover600singers.Needlesstosay,theregionClearFallsChoircompetes inisoneofthemostcompetitiveregionsin the state. All-State Choir differs from All-

State band in that the students who makethechoirarefurtherdividedintothreechiors,whileallofthestudentswhomaketheAll-StateBandareputinto one band. Of the three choirs,Men’s Choir,

Women’s Choir and Mixed Choir,BailliomadetheMixedChoir.OfthethreechoirsMixedChoirhasthemostdifficultmusicandiscomposedofthebestsingerswhohavemadeAll-State.The five Knights who will rep-

resent Clear Falls at All-State havedone an amazing job.Theyhaveputincountlesshoursofworkperfectingtheirmusic,and theeffort shows.TothestudentswhomadeAll-State,youhavedoneyourschoolproud.

By JULIE JORGENSEN

ThespringcastofDearly Departed has been rehearsing for amonth andahalf.TheplaypremieresThursday,Feb.

16. A funeral serves as the back-drop for the southern drawled True-man family; aneclecticbunch tryingto copewith the loss of their father.However, their individual problemssoonbegintoovershadowthesolemnoccasion.AbigailGonsoulin,playingtherole

of Nadine Trueman, remarked, “Notonly is Dearly Departed a hysterical comedy,butitisalsoadisplayofhu-manintentionsandtendencies.”You’re sure to witness a seasoned

crewoftalentedFallsthespians,sprin-kledwithdebut actors, as theybringtolifethisrichcomedythathastakenitsturnonBroadway,Chicagoandtheinternational stage.“Lightheartedness and death are

twothingsthatneverseemtogohandinhand,butwithatrulytalentedandpassionatecast,Dearly Departed is a comedythatwillkeepallagegroupsrollingwithlaughter,”addedGonsou-linMark your calendars for Feb. 16-

18 at 7 p.m. Tickets will be sold atthedoor.Bringyour student IDwithasenseofhumorandtheDearly De-partedcastwilldotherest(but,notinpeace.)

Dearly Departed a Killer of a Comedy

Photo By Emily Brockway

By MAX VERAS

Atjust15yearsofage,MaddieBail-liohassucceededin“whatbrings joyto[her]life:”Music.BailliocompetedintheAlto-2Dis-

trict competition on Sept. 21, 2011.Outofthe96studentswhoauditioned,only30advancedontoregion.Region is a competition consisting

of students competing against otherstudentstoadvanceontothenextlevel. Once a student is able to impress

thejudgeswithhisorhertalent,heorsheisabletoadvancetoPre-Area.Outof20whomake it,onlyfivestudentsfrom the districts CCISD, HSPVA,Woodlands,andDeerParkareabletomove onto Area. If a student makesArea, they are considered among thetop20singersinTexas.Baillioknewcompetitionwasgoing

tobefierce.That iswhypracticewasonhermind“25hoursaday,”shesaid “I practiced anytime I had the

chance,”saidBaillio.“Imadeasched-uleformyself.EverydayafterIfinishedmyhome-

work,Iwouldsingandpracticesight-reading.”Practicewasn’ttheonlythingBail-

lio had to worry about. “My nerves would have to bemy

worst enemy,” said Baillio. “Beforethe audition is the most nervewreckingpartofitallbecauseitkept running throughmymindthateverythingI’veworkedforcouldgodownthedrain.ButItrytostaypositive.”ByBailliokeepinghermen-

tality on the positive side, theresultsdidnotdisappoint.Bail-lio received the great honor ofplacing fourth chair in mixedchoir and being the only girl in CCISD to make Mixed Choirthis year. Baillio “was completely

shocked” when she found outthe results.“Iammyworstcritic,soI’m

always surprised when I heargoodnewslikethis,”saidBail-lio.Other people, like her choir

director Jill Fetty, know how“talented she is and how hard

sheworked”tomakeAll-State.NotonlyisBailliorecognizedasa

“great rolemodel,”according toMrs.Fetty, she is also “driven and hardworking.”“Shedemandssomuchfromherself.

[Shemakes]goalsandachievesthem,”said Fetty.Theroleofbeingagreatmodeldid

notjusthappenovernight.Baillioper-formedinfrontofacrowdthesummerbeforefifthgrade.“IwastheWickedWitchoftheWest

in the Wizard of Oz at a community the-aterwithAndreaOchoa,”saidBaillio.

Junior Class President and Choir President Andrea Ochoa also 0went through the regionprocess.Sheman-aged to place in region and Pre-Are,andwasthefirstalternatetoWomen’sChoir at Area.“[Andrea]workshardandissucha

leader,”saidFetty.“[Sheexpects]alotfromherself.”Even thoughOchoadidn’tmake it

All-State, she still accompaniedBail-lio throughout the whole process ofRegion,Pre-Area,andArea,whichde-servestoberecognized.“This is the beginning of great

things,”saidFetty. And great things always happen

atClearFallsbecauseKnightsalwaysstrivetobetheirbest.

Members of the Footloose cast give the crowd a taste of what it really means to cut footloose. Photo by Lilly Boily

Doyouhaveastoryideaoraphotothatyou

would like to see in the Clear Falls Post?

Sendyourphotosandstoryideastoknightsnewsonline@gmail.com.

CheckouttheonlinenewspaperatKnightsNewsOnline.com

forcurrentstoriesandslideshows.

It’sagreatdaytobeaKnight!

4•knightsnewsonline.com School Scoop ClearFallsPost•February2012

By SIERRA HAM

Atmosthighschools,thelibraryisacentralpartofoperation.ClearFallsisnoexception.Thelibraryisliterallythecenterof the school,whilealsobeinganintegralpartofClearFalls.Manygreatthingsarehappeningin

the Clear Falls library. For example,ReadingRumbleiscominguponMay19.ReadingRum-ble is being held at Clear Falls and is the first time itis being held at the high school level. Atten-tion anyone who loves or wants toread more books;more members are needed forReading Rumble.Many studentsalsoliketospendtheirlunchtimeinthelibrary, either doing work for classesor just being there. That has causedsomenewrulesandpoliciestobeputinplaceforlunchinthelibrary.Newpolicieslikearecreationalarea

and a quiet area for students doingwork during lunch have been addedto already well known rules such as librarylunchpasses,signinginandofcoursenoeatingbythecomputers.

Homework Harbor is held in the li-braryeveryTuesdayandThursdayaf-ternoonfrom3:15to4:30.Itprovidesaquietenvironmentforstudytimeandhomework.“[Homework Harbor] is ultimately

good because people know about thelibrary and students who usually don’t go into the library might go there and work,”saidlibrarianValerieLoper.Loperstatedhowdifficultitisforher

to ask students who are doing work in thelibrarybeforeHomeworkHarbortoleave,sothereisanewpolicyinplacereiteratingno tolerance togoofingoffduring Homework Harbor.

There is awide selection ofbooksinTheClear Falls li-brary, whichcurrently holds 14,000 books.Also availableare e-books,which are use-ful for Nooksand iPads. “Wereceived

12 boxes be-forewinterbreaksand5boxesyester-day[Jan11],”saidLoper.Becauseofthis,thereareevenmore

books coming which means more se-lections for students when it comestime to read.This includes theonlineresource catalogs, like Facts On Fileand Gale Online. Clear Falls library is obviously the

centeroftheschool,notonlyforthosewho are trying to do school work but alsoforpeoplewhowanttocatchupinaquietwayandforthosewhojustwishtofindagoodbooktoread.ThelibraryisanimportantpartofClearFallsandsees many students through its doors everyday.

Library Sneak Peek

By SIERRA HAM

Clear Falls is home to many great teams and clubs and the Academic De-cathlonteamisnoexception.Theteamadvancedtoregionalswheretheywonbigwithsecondplace,onlybeingbeatby Alamo HeightsCoachedbyDr.KevinFleming, the

Academic Decathlon team is made upof eightmembers:EmilyHansen,KatherineLewis,AustinHubbert,Jon-athanCarpency,VivianGriffey,Eliza-bethCoggeshall, Lydia Shamoun andIanFoale.The2011-2012teamreceivedatotal

of 27medals at competition.The ac-complishmentsareveryadmirable,asthere are no seniors yet in the group.ThehighestscorewasfromsophomoreJonathanCarpency,healsoreceivedagold medal in science.“It [Carpency’swin]was surprising

becauseonlyjuniorshavehadphysicsexperience.He learned everything byhimself,”saidFleming.The students do have to study hard

tokeepupwith thematerial,but it isworth it when they do as well as this teamhasdoneinthecompetition.Eachyearthereisadifferentsubject

and thisyear itwas theAgeofImpe-rialism. According to Fleming the stu-dentsbecameexpertsinthefield.Be-sides knowledge of the subject, theyhavetohaveextensiveknowledgeofavarietyoftopics.Thecompetitionismadeupofseven

subjects that the students test in; theyrangefromeconomicstoart.Thestu-dentsalsoparticipate in theessay, in-terviewandspeechportions.Everytestisworthupto1000points.Each team is composed of anA,B

andC level student;GPAdictates thelevelastudentisplaced.Andtheteamscore is taken from the top twoA,BandCscoresoftheteam.Besidestheeight-studentteam,Aca-

demicDecathlonisalsoaclassavail-ableasanHonorscredit.In theclass,studentslearnthematerialandhaveachancetobecomeapartofthecompe-tition team. “Everybodyworksreallyhard,”said

Fleming.Nomatter what they do to prepare

withthesupportoftheschoolandad-ministration, theAcademicDecathlonteam is sure to go even further nextyear.

AcaDec’s Hard Work Pays Off

By Staff

The Army, Junior Reserve OfficerTraining Corps, often referred to asJROTC, is a very activeorganizationat Clear Falls High School.According to Kolten Johnson, the

Clear Falls JROTC public affairs of-ficer,JROTCislikeafamily.“There is something in JROTC for

everyone,” Johnson said. “Never isthere a moment inside or outside the programthatacadetisalone.”JROTC’s presence is felt all over

campus.Studentsand facultycanseethem at ceremonies, games and pre-sentations.ThemissionstatementofJROTCis

“tomotivateyoungpeopletobebettercitizens.” Cadets in JROTC have theopportunity to leadagroupof fellowcadetsinordertocompeteinchalleng-ingandfuntasks.

Johnson also said that cadets in JROTClearntheimportanceofphysi-cal fitness and havemany opportuni-ties to better their minds and bodies. Cadets compete in multiple physicalfitness competitions throughout theyear.“Ineveryaspectoflife,yougetout

ofitwhatyouputintoit,”saidJohn-son.“Itisuptoyou.”

The Army at Falls

JROTC performs at a pep ralley.Photo by Madison Morgan

Academic Decathlon team recieves medals at regionals.Photo by Dr. Kevin Fleming

Photo by Sierra Ham

Mascot, Kyla Hooper brings spirit to the crowd at the spring sports pep rally. Photo by Madison Morgan

ClearFallsPost•February2012 SPORTS knightsnewsonline.com•5

By MAX VERAS

Since the season began, the ClearFalls High School wrestling team has managedtocompeteinmanycompeti-tionsaround thearea.Notwanting todisappoint,theKnightstrytheirhard-esttobesuccessful.At the beginning of the year, both

teams wrestled against Cy-WoodsandKleinHighSchool.Strivingtobethebest,theKnightsbeatbothteams,placingthemata2-0dualrecord.ThesecondmeetfortheClearFalls

wrestlingteamwasagainstoneoftheCCISD schools: Clear Brook. Theboys’ teamwonwith42pointswhileBrook only received 24. The girlsbeatthemaswellwith48points.Thisplacedbothteamsat3-0.OnDec.3,theKnightsdidnotdis-

apoint. Both teams wrestled Lang-hamCreek,Cy-FallsandClearLake.The boys team triumphed by beatingall three teams while the girls “had a historicday,”saidbyEricThompson,the Clear Falls wrestling coach, bywinningtheirmatches,60-0,56-0and48-0.Thiswinprovedtobeateamen-hancement.“Webeatalltheseteamsasateam,”

said,juniorMirandaZipp.“Itfeltgreatthat we worked together not to let these teamsscoreanypointsonus.

Withthatconfidence,bothwrestlingteamspreparedthemselvesforthelasthomemeetofthisyear.Theboyswres-tled Morton Ranch first. Both teamswere tied 30-30 when sophomore,DevinCoffeybrokethetiedscoreandput the Knights in the lead with sixpoints.TristanNickolsonwonthelastmatchagainstMortonCreekwhenhepinned his opponent in 42 seconds.Their second opponent was ClearSprings,whotheybeat56-19.On the other hand, the girls team,

anchored by Lori Mitchell, managedtobeatClearSprings,butlostbythreepointstoMortonRanch.Thegirlsdidnot let this bring them down.“Weeachmademistakeswhichcost

us our match against Morton Ranch.Thatwontstopusfromhavingasuc-cessfulyear,”saidZipp.Astheyleftthepastbehindthem,the

Knights strivedone last time for vic-tory at the District 24 Dual Champi-onship.There, they combated againstClear Creek, who they beat 72-12.They also wrestled against ClearSprings and won 64-18. They finallyendedthedaybybeatingClearBrook51-21andadvancedtothefinals.In the finals, they wrestled Beau-

montWestBrook,winning35-34.TheKnights left being champions with a17-1dualrecord.

Don’t Mess With Knights Wrestling

By SIERRA HAM

At Clear Falls, the students workhardtobeoutstanding,andgirlssocceristheperfectexampleofthat.Afteranundefeated season last year at the JVlevel,thegirlsareworkingharderthanevertostayontopofthegame.The coaching staff is compiled of

headcoachAndySchaafsandassistantcoachesSarahSchaafs andSamanthaLingamfelter. They, along with theamazing group of girls that make uptheteam,haveworkedandfoughthardto make it to where they are. “If the girls play their best, noth-

ingcouldstopthem,”saidheadcoachAndySchaafs.The ladies are obviously playing

their best as theyhavebrought homethechampionshiptrophyfromtheIn-terstate-10ShootoutinKaty,thelarg-est girls soccer tournament in Houston.Even though the girls are doing so

well,theyarestillhumbleandmostoftheir encouragement comes from tiesand losses.“Losing a few games this year has

been a huge learning curve… and apushtogetbetter,”saidSchaafs.Andoptimismissomethingthesela-

diesalreadyhave.ToSchaafstheteaminspiresitselfandhehasneverseenateamsomuchlikeafamilybefore.Ac-cording toSchaffs thecaptains,espe-ciallyMaddieHuerta,aregoodatget-tingeverybodyriledup.Thealreadypositiveteammoraleis

only substantiated by the internal in-spiration and determination the girlsandcoacheshave.Theteamrealizestheyhavetowork

hardtowingames,sotheyhaveworkedhardtobethemostathletic,bestcom-municatingandhighestskilledplayersout there.“There’sawhole lotofsweat,abit

oftearsandpilesofpukeoutonthosefieldstoproveit,”saidSchaafs.Not every game has been easy for

theteamthough,themostchallengingopponent being SanAntonioReagan.Schaafsstatedthatwasthehardestandsmartesthehadeverseethemplay;hewas impressed when the game onlyended in a tie. Thisyear’sgirl’s soccer seasonhas

onlyjustbegun,andtheyhavealongtrailaheadofthem.Butwiththeirex-cellent teamwork and the great sup-port of the administration and fellowstudents,theywillcontinuewiththeiroutstanding record.

Girls Soccer:Defeat and Win

Varsity girls soccer team group huddle at a soccer game. Courtesy of Clear Falls Soccer

Head coach Andy Schaafs and varsity girls soccer team pose with their trophy after a game.Courtesy of Clear Falls Soccer

Clear Falls wrestling competes at a home tournament.Photo by Staff

6•knightsnewsonline.com NEWS ClearFallsPost•Febuary2012

Costa Concordia Tanks Off Italy: OpinionBy SANDA CAVALLARO

The Costa Concordia cruise shipthatflippedcompletelyoveronitssidecanbeseenfromspace.OnJan13theItaliancruiseflippedcompletelyonitssideaftertheshipgotcaughtonsomerocks and ran aground less than 100 feet from the islandofGigilo.So farrescuecrewshaverecovered17bodiesand 15more people are still missingfromthe4200peoplewhowereonthecrusewhenitsailedofffromport.BoththecruiselineandItalianoffi-

cialsblametheship’scap-tain, Fran-c e s c o S c h e t -tino, forthe acci-dent and the degree of may-hem in the subsequen te v a l u a t i o n .S c h e t t i n o ’s misconduct be-gan before hisship ever collid-edwithrocks:in- vestigatorsare questioning Schettino’s choice togofasterthanthecruisingspeed.(It’sway harder tomaneuver a very, verylargecruiseshipthatisgoingjustover17milesperhourthan,say,acar.)Schettino’s potential speeding tick-

et isn’t the hot item for prosecutorsthough; the cruise captainmight facemanslaughter charges for his actions

duringtheaftermathofthecrash.Themainquestionis:wherewasthefear-less captainwho didn’t see the rockshisshipranintowhentheother4199peopleweretryingtoescapetheflood-ingship?AccordingtotheItalianCoastGuard,

eyewitnessesandsomeofSchettino’sbuddieshecalledupduringhousear-restSchettinoparkedhimselfinalife-boat and refused to help the peopletrappedontheConcordia.

Schettino’s recollec-tions of the eventdiffer slightly. Ifhis story is to be believed,heriskedhis life leadingpassengers tolifeboats, fell(somehow)intoone of saidboats and (be-foreheknewit) was toofar awayfrom the

Concordia to do hisdutyascaptain.

Toadd toSchettino’sproblems,hiscrew was reported as being disorga-nizedandasuninformedofthewreckasthepassengers.Passenger satisfaction in the after-

mathof thewreck is,understandably,nothigh:theirrelaxingMediterraneancruise got interrupted by a deadlywreck, the crew was unable to helpthem in the subsequent evaluation,somepeople died, the survivors have

to deal with the trauma and the cruise lineonlythinkstheydeservearefund.(Andanofferforgetone-thirdofftheirnextcruise!)Nocompensationforlostbaggage. No we’re very, very sorryour staff couldn’t got into a situationtheycouldn’thandle,sohaveloadsofm o n - ey.Nopaymentforcounseling.

Needless tosay

lawsuits are on the horizon. Totopit,offtheyearoldcruiseship

costfartoomuch,450milliondollarstobeexact,tobeabandoned.Removing the ship from the Italian

coastline is going to be a monumental task: according to CNN first the sal-vage crew has to drain out as muchofthewaterastheycantolightentheload. Then multiple barges will turntheConcordiarightsideupsothattheshipcanbe towedaway tobemelteddownforscrapmettleorrenovated.As

ifshiftingamultitonoceanlineroutofthemud isn’t hard enough, theCostaConcordiahas17tanksoffuelthatun-dernocircumstances canbe rupturedbecauseCaptainSchettinocrashedhisshipinamarinemammalsanctuary.While any captain could have had

hisshiprunontorocks,Schettino’sin-ability,orunwillingness,todohisdutyhadtohaveplayedapartintheCosta

Concordiawreck,and

make it a

t r u l y awfu ls i t u a -tion. Ins imi la r s i t u a -

t i o n s the cap-tainmakessurethepas- s e n g e r s aresafe,thenhiscrewthenheseestohisownsafety.Partofacaptain’sduties,alongwith

managingtheshipwhenitsailing,istotakeresponsibilityforthesafetyofev-erybodyonboard.Whenhisshipstartsfloodingheshouldbeinchargeofget-tingothersofftheship,notjoiningthemadrushforthelifeboats.

Protesters Cry for Freedom By JULIE JORGENSEN

Whenisitokaytosaythatyoudon’thavefreedom?Whenitisokaytoprotestoverit?Aninternationalcryfordemocracy

has toppled long term dictators likedominos around the globe. Tunisiawas the first to revolt, followed byEgypt, and then suddenly the major-ityofcountriesintheMiddleEastandNorthAfrica were literally dying fortherighttovoicetheirdissention.Thecitizensofthesecountrieswant-

eddemocracy,freedomandrights.Protestors were rebuked, struck,

beatenandevenkilledbecausetheyareno longerwilling tobe submissive tothe ruling authorities.This isnot thefirst time inhistory

thatpeoplehavehad tofightfor theirfreedom. Women in America foughtfor100yearsfortherighttovoteun-tilthe19thamendmentwasratifiedin1920. In1776AbigailAdam’swroteherhusband,John,whowasattendingthe Continental Congress in Philadel-phia,askingthatheandtheothermen--who were at work on the Declaration of Independence-”Remember the La-dies.”Johnrespondedwithhumor.TheDeclaration’s wording specifies, “Allmenarecreatedequal.”From 1861-1865Americans fought

amongst themselves in the CivilWartoendslaveryandtobegintheprocessofguaranteeingallAmericanstheright

tolife,libertyandthepursuitofhappi-ness.LaterMartinLutherKingJr.andRosaParkswouldbecomeinstrumentstofurthertheadvancementoffreedomforallAmericans. It has been a little over one year

sinceseveraldictatorshadtotalcontrolovertheircountriesofferingfewliber-tiestotheircitizens.Throughtheuseof the Internet, protestors unified andralliedinCairo,Egypt.JournalistsandciviliansdiedindemonstrationscallingforEgyptianPresidentofthirtyyears,HosniMubarak, to be removed frompower. Publicmedia reported the ap-parentsuccessoftheprotestorswhichthen encouraged Bahrainians, Yeme-ni and Libyans to take to the streetsagainstoppressiveregimes. In April 2011 the government of

Egypt declared that over 800 peoplehad died in the demonstrations and more than6400werewounded in theeighteendaysofprotestthatfinallyre-sultedinMubarak’sremoval.WithsomuchthatdividestheMid-

dleEast,UnitedStatesandEurope,allcanbeproudtosaytheyhaveonethingincommon,andthatisdemocracyforeveryoneandthewillingnesstodiefortherighttolife,libertyandthepursuitofhappiness. In honor of the courageousmulti-

tudesaroundtheglobe,Time Magazine named“Personof theYear,” thePro-testorsof2011.

Photos Courtesy of MCT Campus

Protest march in Lybia Photo Courtesy of MCT Campus

ClearFallsPost•February2012 POP CULTURE knightsnewsonline.com•7

Review: Hungry for The Hunger GamesBy MEGHAN MISTRY

Twilight and Harry Potterhavenew-found competition; Suzanne Collin’sThe Hunger Gameshascaptivatedtheattentionofreadersalike,withouttheuseofmagicorvampires.Thenovel,publishedin2008,takes

placeinAmerica’sfutureland,Panem.Pollutedandresourcedepleted,Panemisdividedinto12districts,ruledbyaverycommandingcapital.The Hunger GamesfollowsthejourneyofKatnissEverdeen and Peeta Mellark as theyfightfortheirlivesinaawidelytele-visedgameshowputonbytheheinouscapital.Eachyearthecapitalinitiatescompetitionwhere each districtmustsacrifice two12 to 18-year-olds untilonlyonepersonremainsalive.Suspenseful and captivating, The

Hunger Games is impossible to putdown.Itssurvivalofthefittestthemeis a unique change from the typicalmagicorromanticyoungadultnovels.Refreshing to avid readers, Col-

lin’s masterpiece incorporateselementsofdangerthatsocietynormallyshunsfromchildren.Additionally, it includes atwisted and somewhat un-expectedromance(withouttheuseofvulgardetailorsexualencounters).Luckily, the enthrall-

ing plot line does notendwith the pages ofThe Hunger Games. Actually a trilogy,the story continues in the second in-stallment, Catch-ing Fire, andthe final book,Mockingjay. Fans over-

whelming re-sponse to the futuristicnovel triggered Lionsgate to se-cure the filming rights of themovie.The movies stars Jennifer LawrenceofX-Men: First ClassandLiamHem-

sworthofThe Last Song. Themovie will premiere

in theaters

na-t i o n -

w i d e o n M a r c h23.T h e

movie, ex-pected to

draw large crowds, comesequipped with

its own star-stud-ded soundtrack. Taylor Swift, in

collaboration with The Civil Wars, produced thesong “Safe and Sound.” The song,

which immediately became #1 on iTunes after its release, matches thesomber tone of the novel with itsacoustic ballad.

The Hunger Gamesisbyfarthebest(relatively)newserieson themarket.Avid reader or not, every person canenjoy the novel’s realistic charac-ters.All inall,The Hunger Games is amust-read andmust-see: anA+ forsure.

Photo Courtesy of Scholastic Media Room

Album Released by Lana Del Rey

Superbowl XVLI Entertains Viewers

Photo Courtesy of Scholastic Media Room

By SANDA CAVALLARO

Lana Del Rey’s career has been awild rollercoaster ride, identity cri-sis included. (Her original name was LizzyGrant.)When hermusic videofor thesong“VideoGames”wentvi-ral last year,MTVnamedher one ofelevenartiststowatchforin2012,andonJan.14shepreformedonSaturdayNightLive(SNL).

On the down-side, Lana DelRey has takenheat for justabout every-thing. HipsterRunoff, a hip-ster culture blog, blastedher for beinginauthentic and posted picturesof her wearing,GASP, nonvin-tage clothing and bottle blond hair. Onasimilarlyshallowlevel,DelReyis takingheatforhavinga,supposed,lip augmentation. (NaturallyDelReydenies the accusations of plastic sur-gery.)Onacareerwreckinglevel,herlive performance on SNL was justplainbad.Theopinionsofseriousmu-sic critics (like The Rolling Stone, LA Times,andThe Boston Globe)haven’tbeenmuchbetter.Theprevailingopin-ion is: Lana Del Rey is overhyped,overproducedandunder-talented.Andthiswasbeforeherfirstalbum

evencameout.Lana Del Rey’s first album, “Born

ToDie,”hitthestoresonJan.31,and

thetitlesinglewastheitunessingleoftheweekabout for twoweeksbeforethealbumwasreleased.Ifyoulistento“BornToDie”youneedto ignoreallthehype.(Ifartistsweregivenrecorddeals only if they had amazing firstperformances, they wewould have amuchsmallermusicindustry.) ADe-spite the bombed SNL performanceand hate fromHipsterRunoff, “BornToDie” is a strong album.Over half

ofthesongsaretrulybeautiful works ofart, which is betterthan most singers. DelRey’sgorgeous,sultry, voice, thatputs the rumors thathermillionarefatherbought her a record deal, croons overhip-hopworthybeatsabout love, loss andthe trials that come withgrowingup.

It’s natural for a much anticapatedartisttogeneratealotofbuzz,buttheamout of hype surrounding “BornToDie”andLanaDelReyisastounding.As for the haters, there is a very

simple solution to your problem: ifyou don’t like Del Rey’s music, justdon’tlistentoit.It’snotlikeDelRey’srecoding label is going to hunt you down.You don’t need to go out andblastanewsingerontheinternetjustbecauseyouhavetonsoffreetimeanddon’tcareforhermusicstyle.

By MEGHAN MISTRY

OnFeb.5theNewYorkGiantstooktheir fourth Super Bowl win in Su-perBowlXLVI,held in Indianapolis.Thebowlcouldhavehadanamazingfinish inSuperBowlhadPatriotRobGronkowski caught the ball in the end zone as time ran out. In the end, thePatriotscameupfourpointsshortafterleadingbytwopointsforthemajorityofthesecondhalf.Thefinalscorewas21Giantsto17Patriots.This years Giants versus Patriots

face-offwasquiteunliketheonefouryearsago,whenthePatriotswentintothe bowl with a perfect record. Thisyear,bothteamswentinwell-seasonedwith wins and losses, and the Giantsmade history for being the first teamtoevergo9-7intheseasonandcomebacktowintheSuperBowl.TheGiant’ssuccesscanlargelybeat-

tributed to their win against the Dallas CowboysbackonJan.1,whichturnedtheseasonaroundforthemastheywontheNationalFootballConferenceEastandadvancedtotheplayoffs.Butitwasn’ttheGiant’swinortheir

season record that made this Super

Bowl spectacular;Madonna, groupedwithLMFAO,NikkiMinajandM.I.A.,puton,debatably,oneofthebesthalftime shows.Whileviewershave splitopinions on the performance, onething’s for sure: the visuals incorpo-ratedwereagreatworkoftechnology.Possiblythemostinterestingpartsof

the games are the legendary commer-cials.Corporationspayover$2millionfor thehighlydesired timeslots.Tra-ditionally liked commercials include those produced by Doritos, Budlight,andvariouscarcompanies.Accordingtomultiplestudents,thisyear’scombi-nationofcommercials,was,well,kindofadud.Disappointinglyunwitty,thecommercials lacked the “spark” thatthe others included. “Ifelt lastyear’scommercialswere

somuchfunnierthanthisyear’s.Someof them were good, like the DavidBeckhamone,butlastyearwasbetteroverall,” said junior, yearbook editor,KellyJones.Photo Courtesy of MCT Campus

February2011•ClearFallsPost FUN @ FALLS knightsnewsonline.com•8

A group of Clear Falls Cheerleaders pose for a picture before walking in the League Christmas

Parade. Photo by Staff

Bio-Tech student Demetrius Zipp carefully spreads e. coli on an agar plate.

Photo by Staff Member

Student teacher James Rodriguez helps Charlie Parsons read in Mrs. Bacon’s preschool Camelot

Kids. Photo by Staff

Members of the first graduating class of Clear Falls High School

gather with their parents and friends to receive their class rings. Junior Sean Clay poses for a picture with

his mother. Photo by Staff

At a home game, varsity defender Carson Muscat chases down the

Clear Brook player. Photo by Sarajh Holden

After months of hard work, Chris Regan presents his pig, Bentley, at the CCISD Livestock Show.

Photo by Staff

The Emeralds Dance Team surprised everyone when they performed a flash mob to Michael

Jackson’s Thriller.Photo by Staff

Coach Ward’s PALS class helps out with the canned food

drive. Katie Karlman carries the cans upstairs.

Photo by Erin Farmer

Some of the Emeralds smile before performing at the Clear Falls versus

Sante Fe basketball game.

Photo by Max Veras

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