over the last five years, which is a very good thing. I’d rather see us sustain than go in either direction at this point. It’s a

pretty manage-able team at the size that it is,” Kauten said.

They well be performing a recital for the public at Cedar Falls High School in the auditorium at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 8, and will be perform-

ing at the State Competition at Starmont High School on Saturday, March 13.

The following are the per-

away my time to rehearse with my coaches though,” junior Heather Kelly said.

Throughout the same situations every year, the team has stayed consistent.

“We are fairly close to the mark for individual events partic-ipation. This year we have a few more folks from Peet and Holmes participating, which is great to see. The 10-12 grade participation levels have remained pretty constant

T iger hi-lineTHE

1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613

Volume 50 Issue 19

March 2, 2010

Sara GabrieleStaff Writer

If the fall drama production evoked heart-wrenching emo-tion, this spring’s comedies are sure to elicit many lighthearted laughs.

The three act play is called Boy Meets Girl and is a farce of life in Hollywood. Set in the early Hollywood movie sys-tem, it is the story of a group of writers who, in desperation to come up with the next new brilliant script, see a pregnant waitress and decide they’re go-ing to use her new born baby as the star for their next string of films. From that point on, chaos ensues.

“I wanted to give some-thing the complete opposite of the fall drama, and what’s more opposite than a ridicu-

lous farce,” director Michelle Rathe said.

Senior Gage Stoneman described his thoughts on the farce. “(It’s basically) over-done, exaggerated comedy. The characters are so big and ridiculous, there’s no way they could exist in real life. It’s the polar opposite of the drama done the fall play.”

Going from emotionally taxing drama to comedic farce has been a hard transition for many of the cast members because it has required a com-plete switch of acting ideology.

“For drama, you can’t overdo it. You have to make it believable, but with farce, you’re not supposed to make your characters believable. You have to think of what someone ridiculous would do in that situation and times it by

10,” senior Bryan Anderson said. “I think it was hard for us in the beginning because at

first we were trying to make the characters more real than they should have been.”

Also a challenge for the actors is the limited number of props in the play.

“Instead of using props, to be funny, we have to use our physicality — our movements and facial expressions — rather than objects to get laughs,” senior Grey-son Henderson said.

And the audience should expect to laugh. The produc-tion is fast-paced and features a witty script that, even as a farce, incorporates many different layers of comedy.

“It’s more than slapstick

Junior Reed Bowden and senior Katlyn DeSerano share a pas-sionate kiss on stage during a rehearsal of Boy Meets Girl.

FEATURE, page 4

Ben Sadkowski Photo

Donald HalbmaierStaff Writer

Waking up early on a Saturday morning may seem foreign to many high school students, but not to the CFHS speech team.

On Saturday, Feb. 27, the team headed to Iowa Falls for the District Individual Events Contest. The team did excellent coming out with 21 Division I ratings and 12 who earned Division II.

Since there is the spring theater production and a small turnaround from group speech, there has been minimal time to prepare for the individual speech contests.

“Every year it would be

nice to have more time, but then again there’s something to be said for the adrenaline of the quick turnaround. If we started too early, I worry folks would get bored — not to mention we would creep into large group practice time,” speech team coach Rebecca Kauten said.

Some students had a more difficult time than others balancing activities such as the play.

“It was not extremely difficult balancing the two. I went to speech rehearsal and had someone call me or let me know when my scene for the play was coming up, so I owe a lot of people for helping me balance that. It did take

Spring FlingTheater students offer two comedies for weekend

formers that well be attending the State competition on the 13th:

Carter Allen/Improv, Gage Stoneman/After Dinner Speak-ing, Maggie Devine/Exposi-tory Address, Sam Takes/Solo Musical Theatre, Jillian Ross/Lit. Program, Leah Franke/Storytelling, Elena Bruess/Po-etry, Katie McDaniel/ Radio, Rhydian Talbot/Acting, Maya Amjadi/ Acting, Alex Staudt/Prose, Sam Takes/ Prose, Scott Sesterhenn/Improv, Heather Kelly/Lit. Program, Maggie Devine/Radio, Carter Allen/Solo Musical Theatre, Heather Kelly/Acting, Justin Marshall/Prose, Ashley Sorensen/Poetry, Justin Marshall/Improv and Darby Sheehan/Prose.

CFHS speech team balances for State

“This year we have a few more folks from Peet

and Holmes participating, which

is great to see.”

—Rebecca Kautenspeech coach

Contact the Tiger Hi-LineThe Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journalism classes

of Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division St., Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Our website is www.hiline.co.nr. The Hi-Line is distributed to CFHS students on Tuesdays to read in their DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) classes.

Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Hi-Line or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial staff view is presented weekly in the editorial labeled as Our View.

Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to the Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Letters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Thursday for publica-tion the following Tuesday. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limitations. Include address and phone number for verification. Editorial Staff

Editors-in-Chief: Maggie Devine and Vincent StiglianiNews Editors: Vincent Stigliani and Ben Sadkowski

Opinion Editor: Monica ClarkSports Editor: Alex Entz

Feature Editor: Aubrey CarusoOn-Line Editors: Vincent Stigliani and Maggie Devine

Entertainment Editor: Maggie Devine Senior Writer: Alex Entz

Photo Editor: Ben Sadkowski

THE

tiger hi-lineopinion2March 2, 2010

our view

Prom only comes once a year, but is that an excuse to spend hundreds of dollars?

Here at the high school, the women’s choir is “fighting” against the epidemic of overspending and raising money for the choir program, which has experienced a budget cut this school year.

The choir is selling reused and recycled prom dresses for much lower rates than what you’d find at a typical boutique or shop.

Choir director and “CEO” of the Something Elegant fundraiser Kendra Wohlert is excited about putting this event on for its second year now.

“The women really get into it and have a lot of fun. With the budget cut for music this year, it really is a good fundraiser for us, too. We love being able to give women an option to find a beautiful dress at a great price. I also like to encourage buying things second hand in general, and this is a great way to support that way of thinking,” Wohlert said.

Here is a list of times that the girls will be show-casing their inventory to the public:

Friday, March 5 (Sneak Peek Fashion Show) from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Saturday, March 6 from noon to 4 p.m. and Sunday March 7 from noon to 4 p.m.

We encourage you to stop by and check out the offerings. Prom doesn’t need to burn a hole in your wallet, and this cost-saving option would keep your money right in the high school!

Weighted grades would motivatestudents to deeper challenges

Choir’s prom dress sale worthy of exploration

I don’t have many gripes with school policy. I can understand the rationale behind most programs and practices, at least to some degree. What I still cannot wrap my mind around, however, is the logic behind the school’s unweighted grading system.

With our current method, every course is equal in the context of GPA. Someone receiving an A in regular chemistry is exactly equivalent to someone else receiving an A in honors chemistry. This also means that someone taking all available honors classes for four years and receiving one B will have a lower GPA, and thus class rank, than another student tak-ing all regular-level classes who receives all A’s.

As anyone could predict, this greatly reduces the in-centive to choose challeng-ing coursework. Although in an ideal world everyone would learn for learn-ing’s sake, in actuality this doesn’t hold true. For many, the choice seems simple; why forge through the extra work and increased diffi-culty when you can receive the exact same credit with much less effort?

Cedar Falls High School

prides itself on strong aca-demics, and rightfully so, but I believe that unweight-ed grades hold it back from an even greater level of student success. Weighted grades would undoubtedly act as a powerful incentive for students to challenge and push themselves further. This, in turn, would likely

raise the overall level of student achievement and bolster the school’s strong academic reputation.

In a weighted system, certain advanced classes carry more “weight.”

This means that, depending on the method, these classes

are based on a 4.5 or a 5.0 scale. Which courses carry weight is a point of debate, but I would advocate it for honors core classes (English, math, science, and social studies) and all Ad-vanced Placement courses.

There are multiple com-plaints I have heard against this system, one along the lines of, “Why should we reward and punish people based on in-born intellectual differences?” I completely understand this argument

and agree with it when applied to a system like the Renaissance test exemp-tion (whose abolishing I wholly supported). In the context of weighted grades, however, the reasoning hardly applies, for there is no “reward” that only some students are receiving. Everyone receives a GPA, which should be a measure self-motivation, level of achievement and academic aptitude. As the sole factor in class rank and a deciding factor in college admissions, unweighted grades invalidly assess these qualities.

A second argument, one which I believe carries more merit, says, “Why should a semester’s worth of work and accomplishments of a dedicated band student carry less weight than the work of an honors biology student.” I strongly believe in the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach to

education, where musi-cal and artistic ability are nurtured. I also support requirements for classes in these areas. However, I think a fair weighted system would only rec-ognize advanced classes in core areas.

First, while only a handful of students will

pursue music, for example, in college, nearly everyone will encounter and utilize the core areas in some ca-pacity. Additionally, for the fine arts, students often sup-plement their applications with personal auditions or bodies of work, with GPA being less of a factor.

With this in mind, I hope that school policy-makers will weigh their options, and, with any luck, our grades as well.

Vincent StiglianiEditor-in-Chief

“What I still cannot wrap my mind around, how-

ever, is the logic behind the school’s unweighted

grading system.”

THE

tiger hi-line SPORTS 3March 2, 2010

Women’s TrackAway 3/2 @ Wartburg Invitational, 3 p.m.Away 3/8 @ Warburg Co-Ed Invitational, 3 p.m.Men’s TrackAway 3/8 @ Wartburg Co-Ed Invitational, 3:00 p.m.Intramural DodgeballHome 3/4, 7:30 p.m.Men’s Basketball3/2 @ McLeod Center vs. CR Jefferson, 7 p.m.

Tigersin Action

Athleteof

the Week

Jessica FullerWomen’s Bowling

Senior

1. What motivates you to be successful in bowling?I would have to say the thought of bowling a great score motivates me to be successful.2. What was your favorite moment at State?My favorite moment would have to be bowling the final qualification. I got 6th place.3. When/how did you get started bowling?I started bowling when I was about 6 years old. My mom got me started because my whole family bowls.4. What is your favorite activity outside of bowling?I don’t really do any other activity but bowling. The only other thing I do is work. I enjoy hanging out with my friends too though.

Fuller made her third trip to State in the last three years last Friday.

Ali MillerStaff Writer

Men’s head basketball coach Tom Bardal and his boys were fired up for Friday’s 79-55 win against Waterloo East.

After East beat West on Monday, Feb. 21, stakes were high for the CF boys.

“East is a tremendous rebounding team. They’ve given us a lot of trouble in that area already this season,” Bardal said.

With a healthy team, there were minimal nerves.

“We don’t have just one weapon. We rely on everybody to do the job. They all bring something dif-ferent to the table,” Bardal said.

The strength on Friday came from defense. “East’s strength is their ability to get to the offensive glass. With our lack of size, it’s important we do a good job of boxing out.”

Now getting deeper into the playoffs, Bardal said

they’d start thinking about the next opponent and room for improvement with State inching its way forward.

Bardal said, “Our strength has been our kids

understanding what their roles are and trying to im-prove in the areas we need to improve in.”

The 16-5 CF team will face 17-4 Cedar Rapids Jefferson tonight in the last game before of substate to determine the winner of a trip to State.

On Jan. 12, Jefferson beat the Tigers 65-48.

The game starts at 7 p.m. at the McLeod Center. If CF wins, the team ‘s first state tournament game would be on Wednesday, March 10

“We don’t have just one weapon. We

rely on everybody to do the job.”

—Tom Bardalmen’s BB coach

Tigers face Jefferson tonight in substate finals at McLeod Center

dodge, duck, dip, dive

and dodge!

Brian Hughes PhotosIn action last week are senior Conar Reed, sophomore Matt Adrian and junior Chris Ro-land. The finals for intramural dodge-ball are moved to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 8, due to earlier snow days.

THEtiger hi-line feature 4

March 2, 2010

SupportStudent Press

The list of businesses and individuals included here are backers of the real world educational opportunities made possible by all the publication and broadcasting programs at Cedar Falls High School. Check out their links at our website: http://www.hiline.co.nr

Gold Star Sponsors ($250)•Cedar Falls Community Credit Union•Element Portraits and Design•National Dance Academy Cedar Falls•Sandee’s•The Shirt Shack•Together for Youth at Allen Women’s Clinic

To find out how you can be a Journalism Backer, call 553-2590 or email hiline.devine@gmail.com or hiline.stigliani@gmail.com.

Silver Star Sponsors ($180)•Gary and Margaret ClarkBronze Star Sponsors ($100)•Raymond and Judith Burfeind•Jiva Salon Spa•Larry and Judy Timmins

much more

Photos by Ben Sadkowski

Junior Melina Gotera cons senior Bryan Anderson into giving her money.

Senior Gage Stoneman as-saults junior Reed Bowden, and senior Greyson Hender-son breaks up the fight.

Junior Sam Takes steals the lime-light from sophomore Rhydian Talbot.

because it’s not just physi-cal comedy,” Rathe said. “(It has) multiple levels of comedy; it has the physi-cal humor elements on top, but there’s also lots of line humor and development of the script itself.”

Or as Henderson put it, “It’s like the fart jokes without the fart.”

The play will also fea-ture a number of multimedia components such as song numbers and a movie trailer that add to the performance.

All this will be preceded by the one act play which will feature some innovative and risky theatrical features of its own.

For the first time ever, CFHS students are writing their own play. This one act play, called The Niki Taylor Project, is a devised theater piece, meaning it’s a collab-orative project in which the ensemble creates the piece from scratch.

The comedy is about a girl who wakes up in Face-book and encounters various people and applications while trying to get out.

“We basically started by posing the question, what if Facebook was real,” said Laura A. Neill, UNI theater major and the director of the play along with Danni Jo Stephenson. “We wanted something new and relatable

to high schoolers.” To get the students

started, the directors began with lots of ensemble build-ing and improv games to help the cast begin working together as a unit. The students were given “buzz words” that they then de-vised scenes around in small groups.

“I think we’re all so used to having a set format to follow, and it’s been a nice change to get out of main structure (by) improv-ing every day for weeks and also trying to write a script for the randomness of our own heads,” said sophomore Dylan Martin, who plays the lead of Niki Taylor.

Stephenson, who is co-directing the play as her

UNI senior project, shared her thoughts on the comedy.

“It’s a new type of the-ater. It’s has a new type of energy to it and a new type of format.”

However, the lack of the structure in a devised play that is usually presented by a script creates a challenge for the cast.

“We’ve focused a lot on learning more to bounce off of what other people do. If you don’t know what they’re going to say, you still have to be able to stay in your character and bounce back from that and give them something to work with,” Martin said.

Although a group of stu-dents have outlined a script, there are still no set lines,

and parts were only decided on last week.

“As an actor, there’s nothing you have to work in (to create your character). We still don’t have set lines, and we won’t because the directors have enough faith in us and our improv skills they’ve taught us through the different games that we will be able to carry on a full show,” junior Tracy Lu-kasiewicz said.

The one act part of the show will span about 20 minutes before the three act play.

The whole

performance will be on Friday and Saturday, March 5 and 6, at 7:30 in CFHS auditorium. Tickets will be $4 for students, $5 for adults and activity passes will be accepted.

Spring Playfrom page 1