theblazerThe Student Newsmagazine of Timberline High School Volume XVI, Issue 1 • October 3, 2014

03Page

Save LBAOlympia protests development behind LBA Park 20Page

GnG NewsThe second-in-state broadcasters take on new challenges09Page

Ice BucketStudents get doused to spread awareness of ALS 25Page

FootballTimberline struggles to take league title with 4A competition

See story on pages 13-15

news & feature02www.theblazernews.com

Blazer BazaarThis year’s Blazer Bazaar is scheduled

for Saturday, Nov. 8 at Timberline. The ba-zaar is set up and run by Timberline’s band students. The students use the bazaar as a

form of fundrais-ing. The band re-ceives profit from the money that people pay to set up a booth.

Booths at Blaz-er Bazaar sell a huge variety of items, and anyone can set up a booth

as long as they pay the rental fee. Past booths have sold items varying from knitted goods to milk.

Vice President of the band, senior Chris-tina Ed, explained that the money earned is used for band trips. “Last year we had a chance to go to Canada and it was about $400 a person.” Ed says money raised from the Blazer Bazaar is divided up between band members and put into individual ac-counts that they can use like credit.

The band hopes to raise $6000 this year. The goal is the same as last year’s, but they fell short of that amount by about $2000. To make a larger profit this year, there will be a modest entry fee for the visitors.

Conferences Parent-teacher conferences are Oct. 27-31.

Besides the fact that students are released at 10:30 a.m. for the half day schedule, confer-ences allow parents to become involved in their child’s schooling.

Junior Jeremy Wetherald believes that conferences are effective because they pro-

vide a one-on-one basis with teachers and al-low parents to become more involved. “A lot of parents in today’s age don’t know what is going on in their kid’s life.”Effective as

they are, Wetherald thinks Timberline’s con-ference process could use some improve-ments. Wetherald claims to feel rushed dur-ing the ten-minute intervals provided for each teacher.

“Ten minutes goes by a lot faster than most people would assume, and if you want to sit down and talk about your child’s education, ten minutes is not enough time.”

Open HouseA little over a week ago, Timberline held

its annual Open House. At the event stu-dents’ parents were introduced to the teach-ers their child will be interacting with during the school year.

According to Patrick Geiger, one of the main people responsible for planning Open House, the night’s goal was to let parents

become familiar to their kids’ teachers. “It’s not for you to ask about your son or daugh-ter’s progress,” said Geiger.

Geiger ex-plained that conferences are the places to go to ask more in-depth questions about a particu-lar student, not Open House. But he still en-couraged par-ents to attend

Open House and not wait until conferences at the end of October to acquaint themselves with their students’ teachers.

“By conferences it may be too late. It’s good to make contact at the beginning of the year,” said Geiger.

General Election DayIn just about a month, Americans aged 18

and up will vote for public offices at local, state, and national levels for General Elec-tion Day.

In 2012, when the last General Elec-tion Day took place, 49 percent of the 221,925,820 eligible voters actually cast their vote.

Civics teacher Jason Bush believes that people of voting age should take advantage of the opportunity to make sure their voice is heard. “They should vote so they can de-velop an understanding of the system,” said Bush.

The only exception Bush has is that people “shouldn’t [vote] if they’re are unwilling to become informed.”

october 3, 2014

OCTC A L E N D A R

By Head Writer Caitlyn Stone

Christina Ed, senior

TID BITS

Pat Geiger, activities director

Jeremy Wetherald, junior27Monday

Annual Home-coming Dance in the commons

25Saturday

National School Bus Safety Week

19Sunday

Conferences be-gin and continue through Friday

18Saturday

Annual Father- Daughter Dance in the gym

31Friday

End of first quarter

08Wednesday

National Walk to School Day

photo by Maddie DhanensSmile: Sophomore Monae McMillian grins at the camera for picture day in the gym on September 9, laughing after the photographer snaps the photo. Picture day gave students an opportunity to recieve pre-purchased ASB cards and purchase photo packages in varying sizes.

news & feature 03www.theblazernews.com october 3, 2014

Trillium Parcel Bentridge Parcel

Morse Merriman Road

Population density is rising and the city of Olympia is looking for conservative ways to build housing without destroying the

natural environment. However, with limited space available

for new housing developments, the city council is considering taking down 150 acres behind (LBA) Little Baseball As-sociation Woods which consists of lush forest and community trails.

“The city should do all that they can to save the backwoods,” said junior Sienna Pavey. “As a runner I’d like to save it, there’s always places for trails but there it feels like you’re not surrounded by the city.”

Currently, the nonprofit organization known as LBA Woods Park Coalition has started a petition to save the woods. This petition currently has 5158 signa-tures, with petitioners from Olympia and beyond. “I signed the petition right at the beginning,” said teacher Elizabeth Lobe. “Then I wrote a letter to our con-gressman about it.”

Two potential consequences of turning

this natural environment into a housing development would be that it would end community access to the walking trails and that it may negatively affect storm-water runoff throughout the develop-ment.

“I think they need to save it,” said Lobe. “And my letter was about the need of sustainability.”

As part of the petition to save the woods, signers agree that the area should be considered as a potential construction area for community parks.

“They’ve been talking about building nature trails and putting in tennis fields,” said Lobe. If sports fields or trails were to be constructed within the woods in ad-dition to the already existing LBA Park, the natural environment could be pre-served while the open space is used as a community park.

The petition to save LBA Woods cov-ers two parcels of land beside the park known as Trillium and Bentridge, which are two of the largest privately-owned, undeveloped sects of land left in Olym-pia that are now up for sale.

“Nature needs to be left alone,” said senior Steve Martin.

Both the Trillium and Bentridge par-cels of land have forested area and open space, suitable for areas such as sports fields, dog parks, and biking.

Being able to provide a nature park with recreational trails as well as adja-cent sports facilities for thousands to en-joy is a primary goal of this petition.

Population growth needs struggle to be met alongside the desire to preserve the natural environment. As a step towards providing alternatives to tearing down the forest for a housing development, the concerned citizens of Olympia have searched for available areas for hous-ing developments to help preserve the woods.

On July 8, the Olympia city council heard the coalition’s reasons and exam-ples of how the LBA Woods could make an efficient community park. At that time, they were considering five different parcels to decide which would receive funding, with the Trillium and Bentridge parcels among them. The LBA Woods

Park Coalition proposed that the council should consider the natural habitat and open space that the woods provided, stat-ing that those factors is what made the area so effective and useful.

Since the meeting, the council has vot-ed on conducting a study to evaluate the five different parcels suggested as com-munity parks. The study is expected to take nearly 90 days, where factors such as the natural habitat, open space, storm-water drains, and proximity to urban ar-eas will be considered.

At the end of the survey on Nov. 5, the council will decide which parcel should receive the funding to create a commu-nity park; in the cases of Trillium and Bentridge, receiving that funding is the best course to preserve the natural envi-ronment. Otherwise, it will remain a vi-able option as a housing development.

LBA CoalitionBy Head Writer Samuel Beaumonte

What is the plan for our parks?M

OR

EO

NLI

NE

photos by Kerry Ervin500 ft

Existing LBA Park= Trails

= Property lines

Les Nail SpaAirbrushAcrylicSilkSpa Manicure

GelFiberglassPink & WhiteWaxing

805 College St SE, #EAcross from St. Martin’s Univ.Hours: Mon-Fri 9-7, Sat 9-5

(360) 412-0222

news & feature 05www.theblazernews.com october 3, 2014

Meet some of Timberline’s new staff

Mr. Mortillaro graduated from Evergreen State with a Bachelor’s in Science with an emphasis in math, later continuing onto earn-ing a Master’s in Teaching from Saint Martin’s University. He previously taught at South Sound High School from 2009 to 2014, but moved to Timberline because of his family ties. “My mother actually taught here,” Mortillaro said.

Mr. Tolle retired from the U.S. Army in 2013. He went to St. Martin’s University for another kind of service -- teaching. He has traveled to China, Japan, Kosovo, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Kenya, and Iraq, among others. “Saudi Arabia was vast and it smelled clean. Ja-pan...was very robotic and futuris-tic. China had very beautiful and large mountains....The world is a fascinating place.”

Ms. Linn is returning to Timberline after being the long-term substitute for Ms. Bonds last year, and this is her first full year teaching. Linn spent two years at South Puget Sound Community College before transferring and graduating from Brigham Young University-Idaho. “I like making connections with students, [and] watching them make connections with what they’re learning.”

Ms. Smith was born in Reno, Nevada. She graduated from the University of Idaho in three years and has taught English for seven years. She loves interacting with her colleagues and students. “Wit-nessing the students’ aha moments is one of the best feelings,” Smith said. She loves to cook, and often does when she is on one of her nu-merous hiking, hunting, or fishing trips with her boyfriend.

Glenn TolleWorld Studies 1/2/3

Joe MortillaroGeometry/Adv. Reasoning

Erin LinnSpanish 1/2

Andi SmithSophomore English

Mr. Padilla graduated from Washington State University in 2013 and was the first of his fam-ily to graduate from a university. He began teaching at Timberline in January of last year. Padilla spent much of his life assisting his family, which contributed to his desire to teach as an adult. “I spent my whole life mentoring, helping, and teaching my family and broth-ers,” Padilla said.

Mr. Tuckett graduated from Evergreen State College with a Bachelor’s in Science and a Master’s in Teaching. Prior to Timberline, he taught at South Sound High School for five years. His first teaching job was at Rep-ertory Company High School in New York City. “[I have] a Gold-en Retriever named Dexter after the TV show...and a Great Dane named Rainier like the mountain.”

Ms. Worgum received her Bachelor’s in Psychology from Washington State University, with a minor in substance abuse in mi-nors; and her Master’s in Educa-tion from St. Martin’s. She wanted to join the counseling field to have the opportunity to work with all types of students. “[I] love com-ing to work and getting surprised. I love all the different stories I hear.”

Ms. McGroarty finished her Bachelor’s degree at the Univer-sity of California-Riverside, and remained to get her Master’s in Teaching. She is now working on a doctorate from the University of Redlands. McGroarty was an English teacher for seven years before she became a vice princi-pal. “I like that what I do has a di-rect impact on kids and interacting with kids on a daily basis.”

Oscar PadillaSpanish 1/2

Jeremiah TuckettPhysics/Integrated Science

Rose WorgumCounselor (Has-McJ/Avid 9)

Megan McGroartyAssistant Principal

This year, Timberline hired 25 new staff members. As the student population increases, more teachers, administrators, and classified staff are needed. Here are a few of them.By Staff Writer Julia PhiliPS photo illustrations by Richard Ammons

October 18th, 2014

NTPS Tenth Annual

$15.00

news & feature 07www.theblazernews.com october 3, 2014

photo illustrations by Richard Ammons

A Broad PerspectiveTwo new Timberline students share their opinions, experiences and the talents they gathered from studying abroad.

With the start of the 2014-2015 school year, there are many new students at Timberline High

School. Two of them are sophomore Maria Bucceri and junior Henning Freiberg.

Bucceri has studied abroad in mul-tiple different countries across four continents, while this is Freiberg’s first time studying abroad outside of his home country, Germany.

An Ear for Music Both Bucceri and Freiberg play mu-

sical instruments. Bucceri plays the viola while Freiberg plays the trum-pet.

Freiberg is currently a member of Timberline’s Wind Ensemble, an au-dition group featuring students any-where from grades 9 to 12.

Freiberg learned to play the trumpet four years ago when he was 12 and between the sixth and seventh grades.

Bucceri is currently a member of Timberline’s Green Orchestra, a non-audition group featuring students any-where from freshmen to seniors.

She learned to play the viola while studying abroad. When she showed interest in learning how to play, a mu-sic teacher offered to show her how.

Bucceri picked the viola out of the string instruments because, “it was the Goldilocks of the three instruments [viola, violin and cello].”

Lands of the Free Bucceri feels that the United States

can at times appear to be a ‘Goldi-locks’ compared to other countries around the world. Many places have a larger number of racial, sexual, re-ligious, and political oppressions in comparison to the ones present in the United States.

The United States has many free-doms such as the right to free speech, religion and assembly, as well as pub-lic education. Germany also provides many of these same freedoms to its citizens.

“We are lucky to have these free-doms,” said Freiberg.

Global Education Many countries around the world

have educational programs based on gender and economic class.

“In Mexico, primary school is free, but the higher your education goes, you begin to have to pay. If you didn’t have the money, you did not go,” said Bucceri.

This is one way that the United States and Germany are different from other countries. In the United States, educational programs provide primary and secondary education for children and teenagers through the end of high school (kindergarten through 12th grade).

In Germany, all of primary educa-tion is provided for children through

fourth grade, and then three different secondary school programs provide education through ninth grade, tenth grade, and twelfth grade.

However, in the United States, Germany, and many other countries in the world, college tuition must be paid for out of pocket.

In the public school sys-tems of the United S t a t e s many programs and opportunities are offered which include things such as sports, art, music, clubs, and studying abroad in different countries around the world.

In Germany, many of the same programs are not of-fered. Sports and art are specific to private schools. The most prominent program offered in Germany’s public schools is music.

“ [ E x t r a c u r -ricular programs] have nothing to do with school. School is just for learning,” said Freiberg.

By Staff Writer Sarah armStrong

Students Abroad

1,16

5

29,698

1,315 63

= Inbound (to the U.S.)

= Outbound

21Statistics courtesy of International

Youth Exchange Statistics

United StatesW

ashingtonNTPS

The statistics below show the number of students that study abroad both in and out of the United States.

news & feature 09www.theblazernews.com october 3, 2014

Ice Bucket ChallengeALS

Suddenly, the videos started appearing all over social media. Then the nominations were declared. More and more people be-gan scouring for buckets, stuffing them with

ice, until finally the deed was done and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was passed on for another to pour icy water over their body.

Three million donors didn’t just contribute in pro-viding a new type of Facebook post, but $115 mil-lion in donations.

Still, the question leaving people cold: is the chal-lenge effective or a trend?

ALS, which stands for Amyotrophic lateral scle-rosis, is commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. A player for The New York Yankees, Gehrig brought na-tional attention to ALS after his diag-nosis brought not only the death of his career in 1939 but, his own death two years later at age 37.

“I think it’s a great idea to have it because it’s raised more aware-ness for ALS,” said freshman Alexa Warden, who intended to do the challenge. Another participant includes head football coach Nick Mullen. Mullen received his nomination from sports editor of The Olympian Meg Wochnick.

Others are not so sure. “It’s treated as a game,” said senior Emily Turner, “whereas [ALS] is a much more serious matter.” A softball player, Turner idolizes Gehrig who, like herself, wore #4. She par-

ticipated in the challenge and donated towards the cause. Turner stressed in her video how vital it is to understand the disease rather than just partake in the challenge.

Once a person is diagnosed with ALS, the effects are described as Parkinson’s on steroids. Motor neu-rons in the brain progressively degenerate and once they die, the brain loses ability to control and initiate all muscle movement.

“I don’t think people know about ALS as much as they’re doing it [the challenge] and making it trendy,” said junior Katlynn Christman.

The official rules of the challenge call for the nominated per-son to either accept the chal-lenge within 24 hours, or donate $100 to the ALS website. If the person accepts, they must dump a bucket of icy water over their heads, post the video online, and then nomi-nate at least

three other people.While the challenge has been criticized for wast-

ing water, the ALS website reported it has garnered $29.6 million more in donations than the same time period last year (a comparison of Jul. 29-Aug. 20).

“They should do this for other diseases or condi-tions as well,” said Christman. Regardless of how the popularity is received, the ALS website released a statement thanking donors for ‘the outpouring of support’.

By Head Writer LeaH HatziaLexiou

The social media sensation trending with #ALSIceBucketChallenge invited the country to partake in an icy splash to spread awareness of Lou Gehrig’s disease.

““

-Emily Turner, senior

It’s treated as a game, whereas [ALS] is a much more serious matter.

$2.6 million

2013Donations to ALS

July 29 to

Aug. 26

$88.5 million

2014

32% of funds will be used to

educate the public

28% of funds will be used towards research

photo by Jenine Burwell

19% of funds go towards

patient services

Donations to ALS

Aug. 26 to

Sept. 25$26.5 M

Donations to ALS

in 2013

$29.1 M

Statistics courtesty of

ALSA

Senior Dayle Anderson completes the Ice Bucket Challenge.

After reading the paper,

instead of throwing it away

just return it to the newspaper

stand!

11oc tober 3 , 2014

news & featurewww.theblazernews.com

Type “Vance Creek Bridge” into Google and the whole first page of results is hiking and travel websites encouraging you to visit the tower-ing bridge, interspersed with heavily filtered Instagram and Tumblr posts. But with all the internet buzz, it can be hard to sort out what is fact and what is fiction.

Located about 20 miles northwest of Shelton, the bridge was built in 1929 by the Simpson Logging Company, and was originally used for logging in Mason County. In the 1980s, the structure was abandoned, but it still held the title as the second highest railway bridge in the world at 347 feet. Today, it remains the second highest railway bridge and claims the newsfeeds of many social media platforms. Rumored dangers

One rumor being circulated is that the bridge has two entrances: a short one that is legal, and a longer one which is illegal.

“Neither entrance is legal,” said Patti Case, the spokesperson for Green Diamond Resource Company (the current owners of the bridge). “It is on private property.”

“[The legality is] a bit wishy-washy,” said junior Foster Walston, who was invited by junior Jessica Diaz to go with a group of friends over this past summer.

Another misunderstanding is that accidents occur often at Vance Creek Bridge. The main reason for this is the nearby High Steel Bridge, which looks remarkably similar. Case said it is possible for people to confuse the two.

Rumors of fatalities also surround the bridge. “I heard that people used to have parties there and two people

died,” said senior Bencel Dizon. “They were drunk and they jumped off [the bridge].”

However, according to Case, no such incident, or anything similar, has happened at Vance Creek.#ThatNWBridge

With the rumors and media buzz, the site got to be so crowded that cars were lined up all along the side of the road to hike up to the bridge.

“I had seen pictures on Insta-gram,” said Diaz.

In addition to Diaz, junior Yana Soriano, senior Jane Stinchfield, and Dizon all said they heard about the bridge through pic-

tures they saw on either Instagram or Tumblr.

This social media buzz is exactly what Green Resource Company is trying to avoid. “We’ve noticed in-creasing popularity on social media. There’s a lot more interest [now],” said Case. Confirmed dangers

According to Case, Green Diamond doesn’t want people going to the bridge because the structure is dangerous. “There are no side rails, no safety precautions, because it was built as a railroad bridge, not for pe-destrians,” said Case.

The bridge not only lacks suitable safety installments for pedestrians (such as side railings or nets), but the bridge has also been vandalized, and is old enough to be a danger to hikers. “The railroads are old and rotting and at least on one occasion somebody started a fire on the bridge stacks,” Case said.Student attraction

So why are multitudes of people

searching out this bridge if it hap-pens to be so dangerous? Some like the risk factor associated with the condition of the bridge. “It makes you feel like a dare devil,” said Di-zon.

Others visit for the scenery. “It’s best to go when it’s raining because that’s the actual Washington feel. You see the mist, you feel the rain-drops falling on you, you see the ev-ergreen trees,” said Soriano.

A third group just wants to ex-perience the towering height of the bridge. “I’m scared of heights so I wanted to conquer my fear,” said Stinchfield. “I wanted to cry; it was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done.”Possible renovation

Since people still visit the bridge regardless of the danger involved and the possibility of receiving a ticket for trespassing, Case says Green Diamond has talked to Mason County Parks about renovating the bridge. Renovation would include installations of the proper safety provisions, as well as redecking

the bridge and adding viewing areas, a park, and a 4-mile long trail. A study was conduct-ed on the bridge in 2008 to determine the feasibility of such a

project, but no funding has been se-cured to start the renovation.

While adding railings to the bridge would certainly decrease the risk factor that made so many people flock there, the terrain would still be on display. “I would still want to go for the scenery, but it just wouldn’t feel the same,” said Soriano.

Walston agreed with Soriano, saying, “It’d still be nice to see the sights, but you wouldn’t get the same thrill of it being dangerous. It’s a bit of a pro-con.”

By Head Writer Caitlyn Stone

““

-Patti Case,GDRC

Neither entrance is legal. It is on private property.

photos courtesy of Morgan Johnson, Lecia von Neudegg, Yana Soriano, Jacqueline Miller, and Green Diamond Resource Company

“

“-Yana Soriano,

junior

When I saw it on Tumblr I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s my state.’

The story behindVance Creek Bridge

spotlight 13www.theblazernews.com october 3, 2014

Left Behind

No Child

spotlight14www.theblazernews.comoctober 3, 2014

By Staff WriterS CaSey Whitt and nolan WelCh

Timberline is a failing school. That is how the U.S. Depart-ment of Education has labeled it and fifteen other North Thur-

ston schools this summer. Due to the loss of a waiver last April

that exempted Washington from stan-dards set by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), nearly all Washington state public schools have been labeled this way. Alongside this label of “fail-ing,” the federal government has ap-plied sanctions to each of the failing school districts.

What does it mean to be a failing school?

Schools are declared as failing if they do not meet the standards that are set by NCLB. This act, passed by the George W. Bush administration in 2001, was designed to encourage success in disad-vantaged students.

“The fundamental principle of this bill is that every child can learn, we ex-pect every child to learn, and you must show us whether or not every child is learning,” Bush said when he signed the bill.

Until this past summer, Washington had a waiver from the federal government ex-empting the state from meeting the NCLB stan-dards. It allowed Washington to develop its own plan for academ-ic improvement.

NCLB dictates that public schools must meet the federal Adequate Year-ly Progress (AYP) level measured by standardized test scores. This means that every year schools must make suf-ficient academic improvements. By the 2013-14 school year, NCLB required a 100-percent pass rate.

Vicky Lamoreaux, the Assistant Su-perintendent of Instructional Services of the North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS), agrees with the goal of the act, but not its methods of reaching and

measuring it. “I think the intent of the law is good. But its methods are draco-nian—it’s regressive,” she said.

Courtney Schrieve, NTPS Commu-nications/Community Relations Direc-tor, shares a similar opinion. “The law, while it has good intentions to hold schools accountable and make sure kids are learning what they need to learn to graduate, is so unattainable.”

NCLB also evaluates teachers through standardized testing. In Washington, these tests are the MSP and the HSPE. However, some think this standard has flaws. “It should be used to encour-age an increase in student achievement rather than a punitive measure against teachers,” said English teacher Kim Tennant.

When it applied for the first NCLB waiver in 2012, the Washington state legislature agreed to use standardized testing later as a tool for evaluating teachers and school progress. However, they failed to reach an agreement before the expiration of the original waiver on whether MSP and HSPE scores would be used to evaluate teachers. Since a decision wasn’t made, the U.S. Depart-ment of Education revoked the waiver going into the 2014-2015 school year, making Washington the first state to lose its waiver.

Many people agree that the law is broken and antiquat-ed, but there is much disagree-ment about how it could be fixed.

“It has to be changed at the

federal level,” said Lamoreaux, “and nothing’s being changed at the federal level right now. Both Democrats and Republicans know something’s wrong with it but they don’t know how to deal with it right now...they can’t reach a compromise.”

Failing schools take steps to-wards improvement

In NTPS, 15 of its 22 schools are fail-ing.

These failing schools are required to develop and execute a plan for improve-

Olympia

Tumwater

Lacey

Yelm Hwy

Marvin R

d

Coopers P

t Rd

Martin Rd

THS

OHS

AHS

SSHS

CHS

RRHS

NTHS

THS**BHHS

5

5

Key Passing

Failing

AHS - Avanti H.S.BHHS - Black Hills H.S.CHS - Capital H.S.OHS - Olympia H.S.NTHS - North ThurstonRRHS - River RidgeSSHS - South SoundTHS - Timberline H.S.THS** - Tumwater H.S.

*Failing schools are schools that did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements for the 2010-11 and 2013-14 school years.

Failing* schools in the Olympia area

FAILEDTimberline has failed.

“

“-Vicky Lamoreaux,

NTPS Assistant Superintendent

When the public hears ‘fail-ing,’ when we are really not, it can be demoralizing.

No Child Left Behind is put back into effect in Washington State and its school districts suffer.

spotlight 15www.theblazernews.com october 3, 2014

Is Timberline really failing?

NCLBAct

Overviewmeasuring it. “I think the intent of the law is good. But its methods are draco-nian—it’s regressive,” she said.

Courtney Schrieve, NTPS Commu-nications/Community Relations Direc-tor, shares a similar opinion. “The law, while it has good intentions to hold schools accountable and make sure kids are learning what they need to learn to graduate, is so unattainable.”

NCLB also evaluates teachers through standardized testing. In Washington, these tests are the MSP and the HSPE. However, some think this standard has flaws. “It should be used to encour-age an increase in student achievement rather than a punitive measure against teachers,” said English teacher Kim Tennant.

When it applied for the first NCLB waiver in 2012, the Washington state legislature agreed to use standardized testing later as a tool for evaluating teachers and school progress. However, they failed to reach an agreement before the expiration of the original waiver on whether MSP and HSPE scores would be used to evaluate teachers. Since a decision wasn’t made, the U.S. Depart-ment of Education revoked the waiver going into the 2014-2015 school year, making Washington the first state to lose its waiver.

Many people agree that the law is broken and antiquat-ed, but there is much disagree-ment about how it could be fixed.

“It has to be changed at the

federal level,” said Lamoreaux, “and nothing’s being changed at the federal level right now. Both Democrats and Republicans know something’s wrong with it but they don’t know how to deal with it right now...they can’t reach a compromise.”

Failing schools take steps to-wards improvement

In NTPS, 15 of its 22 schools are fail-ing.

These failing schools are required to develop and execute a plan for improve-

ment. This includes a range of options, such as bringing in help from outside the school, lengthening the school year or day, restructuring the curriculum, or even restructuring the staff.

In addition, all schools, failing or not, must now evaluate teachers based on student standardized test scores. Junior Alex Jones believes that this method is unfair. “A teacher can only do so much. Most students’ success is based on how much effort they put into it, not the teacher. [It’s] basically punishing the teacher for the students’ lack of effort.”

Senior Savanna Harris agrees. “You can’t force people to put in effort if they don’t want to.” She also under-stands why many teachers are up-set about the new evaluation method: “I would prob-ably think the same thing if I was a teacher.”

Junior Kimberly McGuire believes that the evaluations positively hold the teachers accountable. “I like the evalu-ations because teachers should be doing their job, making sure students under-stand,” McGuire said.

Further educational sanctions of NCLB do not apply to Timberline but do apply to NTPS’s Title I-funded schools. Title I schools are those where 40% or more of the student population lives be-low the poverty line. These schools are given extra funds by the U.S. Depart-ment of Education.

Title I schools in NTPS include Chambers Prairie, Lacey, Lydia Hawk, Meadows, Mountain View, and Pleasant Glade Elementary. These schools must now offer any student the choice to at-tend a non-failing school. If a student chooses this option, Title I funds are used to bus the student from their origi-nal school to the non-failing one.

These schools must also provide the option of private tutoring to disadvan-taged students. Each of these students can receive up to $1044.79 worth of tu-toring from state-approved tutors. This service is also paid for with Title I funds. “Personally I feel think it’s great that the state uses funds towards disadvantaged

students in progressing their education,” said senior Gabriel Roman.

Before the loss of the waiver, these Title I funds were used however was seen fit by the district to improve educa-tion in the schools.

Is “failing” a fair label?While Timberline is federally labeled

as failing, the district disagrees. “We’re not failing at all. Can we do better? Ab-solutely. But we’re doing quite well,” said Lamoreaux.

According to the Office of Superin-tendent of Public Instruction (OSPI),

in the 2013-14 school year, sophomores at Timberline had an 86.6% pass rate on the read-ing HSPE and an 86.7% pass rate on the writing HSPE. For all

grade levels, Timberline had an 82.8% pass rate for the Biology EOC.

As a whole, Washington State had an 82.6% pass rate on the reading and 85.3% pass rate on the writing portions of the HSPE. The state’s pass rate on the Biology EOC was 70.0%.

In each case Timberline had a higher pass rate than the state average.

To McGuire, these scores are indica-tive of success. “I don’t think Timber-line is failing because we already have a high percentage of students passing [standardized tests],” said McGuire.

Timberline’s success, in the eyes of Harris, is just as easily seen in our fac-ulty. “The teachers help out the people that try. They don’t just push you aside.”

A poll of 152 randomly-selected Tim-berline students conducted on Sept. 23 found that most don’t consider “failing” an accurate descriptor for the school. 75% of the students polled believe that Timberline is not a failing school de-spite the government label.

“I feel like there are a lot of schools that are doing worse,” said Jones. “Tim-berline has to be one of the best schools in the state in terms of education.”

Designed to help disadvantaged stu-dents succeed in school

Evaluates teach-ers based on the scores of their stu-dents

Requires schools to make adequate im-provement on test scores each year

Expects 100 per-cent proficiency in reading and math by 2014

Passed in 2001

“

-Vicky Lamoreaux, NTPS Assistant Superintendent

When the public hears ‘fail-ing,’ when we are really not, it can be demoralizing.

No: 75% Yes: 25%A poll of 152 Timberline stu-dents found that most don’t think Timberline should be considered failing.

““ -Alex Jones, junior

Timberline has to be one of the best schools in the state in terms of education.

cover story photos by Alissa Tuggle

16www.theblazernews.com

opinionsoctober 3, 2014

Letters to the Editor

Staff Editorial:

THUMBSThe opinions below represent the opinions

of a majority of The Blazer staff.

It’s the season of the pumpkin. Pumpkin rolls, pumpkin spice lattes, and all the other pumpkin flavored treats are everywhere every fall. Whether you like them or not,

you have to admit there’s a special, posi-tive vibe unique to pumpkin pastries. You know it’s fall when you wear your favor-ite sweater twice in the same week and can buy almost anything with pumpkin as the main ingredient. Fall treats are good for business and seasonal cravings.

It is time we address Timberline’s new speed bumps. They suck. Each bump provides its own unique, dis-comforting effect. It is advised that you drive with cau-

tion to spare the underside of your car, and, equally important, your nerves. But at least their purpose of speed reduction is accomplished. Most students can agree that in order to ensure complete safety, moving at .556 miles per hour is a must.

Off to a bumpy start

Overpopulation

As you know, our school capacity was set for around 1300 people originally, but now serves home to around 1600 people. We are way over our capacity. Everywhere you go, there is a plethora of people. I mean, people are cool, I guess, but too much is too much. You can see it when you are walking in the hallways to class, trying to leave the assemblies, at lunch, and the list goes on and on. There are just too many people to try to take care of at Timberline. Even the classroom sizes are bigger. This means less one on one time with teachers. So is learning going down? Only time will tell. For the time being, we can only hope to get through the year.

- Dayle Anderson, senior

Every child left behind

illustration by Meigan Girard

Season of the spice

No Child Left Behind was formed with good intentions, but also created a flawed system.

The 2013-14 school years were a suc-cess according to our district, but the Obama administration thinks otherwise. Unsatisfied with the state’s levels of proficiency in reading and writing, our waiver has been revoked by the Depart-ment of Education.

The waiver would have allowed the state to spend Title I funds with more freedom. Now, half of these funds must be redirected to state-approved tutors for failing students instead of improving the classroom environment.

NCLB was supposed to ensure success for all students, but many are trapped in failing schools, especially those on or below the poverty line.

For example, only after the second consecutive year a Title I school “fails,” can students request admittance to a non-failing one. This option is useless, overlooks the actual problem lying with-in the school, and does not take bullying and racial issues into consideration. 65 percent of Title I students are non-Whites. Would you want to spend the majority of your day in a place where few people look like you or can begin to understand your struggles?

After the third year, state-funded tutoring is offered. Extra help is good, but students should be able to learn all they need at school. It takes five years of consecutive failing for actual corrective action to take place. Five years is too long to wait for school improvement.

Instead of improving the failing schools, kids must spend time outside of school to make up for lack of learn-ing, or switch schools completely. Even though Title I students are provided with some help, the help they are provided with doesn’t allow growth for their school.

This act does not only affect dis-advantaged students. The curriculum pacing and alignment is a huge nega-tive for everyone. The one-pace-fits-all approach disregards individual learning, which can be hard for teachers, since all students learn at different paces. When certain curricula are not met, teachers rush to meet the standard before test dates. Most students can agree that dif-ficulty of coursework increases under a time crunch.

Without the proper help, students will never reach 100 percent proficiency. Focus on every type of student and learning is the key to complete success.

(29 staff members agreed; 1 disagreed; 3 did not vote)

(13 staff members agreed; 5 disagreed; 15 did not vote)

Preaching in the streets

Last week there was a guy preaching on the sidewalk next to our school’s parking lot. As people were both making fun of him and talking with him, I felt like I should hear what he had to say. Religion was obviously very important to him, as it is to me. Although we both believe in God and Jesus Christ, it seemed like there was definitely something different that he had found also, for he didn’t seem to have the spirit with him, and instead of preaching BOTH from his heart and scriptures, he was just clinically recit-ing verses from the bible. I was both glad that he thought he had found God, and saddened that it seemed to me that he hadn’t. I have been blessed with spiritual enlightenment, and hope that what-ever you believe in, you keep an open mind and let your heart AND scriptures tell you what your doing is right, for I know that with true intent and faithfulness you will find what you’re look-ing for and have the spirit with you, instead of just being seen as a weirdo on the street preach-ing to high school students.

- Henry Rockett, junior

17www.theblazernews.com

By Staff Writer Kari Bunn

For the last ten years, companies have been trying to come up with new ideas to rival Apple’s, who has been the popular choice among consumers.Now the tables have turned.

Among these com-petitors is Samsung. In September of last year, the company released a line of wearable technology called Galaxy Gear. As it’s never been done before, the company accomplished something truly original.

It’s now clear Apple had to borrow this idea to sustain product flow.

Early last month, the iWatch was re-leased. As you might have guessed, it highly resembles the Galaxy Gear watches and includes many of the same technical specifications. The gap year be-tween release dates isn’t a coincidence. It was enough time for Apple to take some of Samsung’s features, add some new ones, and stick on their logo.

Apple definitely takes advantage of its popularity here. A company as power-ful as they are can do this and still make money. I don’t need a study or poll to tell you that people are more interested and aware of the iWatch than Galaxy Gear.

But what exactly is it that makes ev-erything beginning with a lowercase “i” so intriguing?

opinionsoctober 3, 2014

iWatch or just the Galaxy Gear redux?

Every issue The Blazer invites a member of the Timberline community to be a guest columnist. This month’s guest is Paul

Dean, who took over for as principal at the beginning of the school year.

Near the end of last school year, it was announced that I was going to be the new Principal of Timberline High School. I could not have been more humbled and honored to be selected to lead this school. After being se-lected, I was asked by more than one

person, “Aren’t you nervous? Tim-berline’s a great school and that’s a big job.” I was proud and excited for the 2014-2015 school year, but I wasn’t really nervous. More than anything, I felt very fortunate that Timberline is where I get to stay. I have been a Blazer since 1999 and there is no place I would rather be than Timberline. The Blazer family is special and I’m glad I’m part of it. But the real reason wasn’t nervous was because of the partnership between our staff, students and the Timberline community in our unified goal to be the best school we can be.

There are so many things to be proud of at Timberline. Our families and entire community are extremely supportive of all we do. We take pride in being the type of comprehensive high school where every student can find their strengths and excel. Our teaching staff is highly-qualified, caring, and dedicated. We have strong core academic programs as well as excellent elective programs designed to help all of our students become college and career-ready. I would take our Office Profession-als, Paraeducators, and Custodians over any others. Among our strengths, we have an award-winning student newspaper, numerous club opportunities, and a great performing arts pro-

gram. The athletic programs at Timberline combined to win the Narrows League 3A All-Sports Trophy last year. If you can’t tell, I’m proud of our school and I could go on and on.

With that being said, there are challenges ahead. I am confident we will continue to grow and im-

prove because of the way we treat each other. It’s the little things that make us one of the best high schools in the state – kindness, respect for each other, and the courage to push our-selves and each other to strive to be our best. I look forward to my first year as the Principal of Timberline and the 2014-2015 school year. Let’s have a great year together. Go Blazers.

A few first words to Timberline

illustration by Meigan Girard

The iWatch is just a downgraded iPhone you can attach to your wrist, but it is things such as fingerprint locks that catch our attention. Then there’s iCloud, which stores all our information and pic-tures and other Apple specific features that convince us to buy the next genera-

tion iPhone. We get stuck in a vicious cycle.

Nobody wants to admit to being the average, clueless consumer, but despite all this, you will still most likely choose to spend more than twice as much on the new iWatch and iPhone.

BE O

URGUEST Paul Dean

A Little Birdy Told Me

Below are the student-selected tweets of the month, in case you missed them.

“Calves are attractive to me idk why”

-tweeted by @LouNostrils

“97% of my socks are single. You don’t see them crying about it”

“I’d like to thank Yahoo Answers for helping me finish my homework in a jiffy”

“Cost all my contacts, music, music, and pho-tos. For sure switching to Android. #ios8”

“being a blazer positively connects you to so many amazing people it makes me so proud”

-tweeted by @Yana_Soriano

-tweeted by @AlexIsTooSavage

-tweeted by @AJohnson53

-tweeted by @RandeeCW_Wilhelm

18www.theblazernews.com

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S C A N T R O N

1889

testing?

PRO / CONopinions october 3, 2014

Mission Statement The mission of The Blazer is to provide the students and staff of Timberline High School and the surround-ing community with a quality, thought-provoking pub-lication. We aspire to print a publication that adheres to professional journalism standards, including sincerity, truthfulness, accuracy, impartiality in reporting news events, and equal representation of opposing sides. The Blazer will serve as a public forum for the free ex-change of information, opinions, and artistic expression in a civil and constructive manner.

Student Submissions Works submitted by students not on the staff, particu-larly letters, editorials and artistic expression, shall receive the highest priority for publication as long as they fall within the realms of good taste according to the standards of the readership. The Blazer will print as many submissions as space permits and request that all submitted work include the contributor’s name and grade. The Blazer reserves the rights to edit all submission for content, accuracy, spelling and gram-mar. All student work may be submitted in the Blazer Staff Room, room #425. All work may also be submit-ted via email at blazertalk@hotmail.com.

EditorialsThe opinion section of The Blazer will serve as a public forum for thoughtful, well-written forms of expression. Bylined editorials represent the views of the author. Non-bylined editorials represent the views of a major-ity of The Blazer staff. Views printed herein are meant to be opinionated and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Timberline faculty, administration, or the North Thurston School Board.

Advertising The Blazer will not accept any advertising that we be-lieve to be factually inaccurate; designed to mislead, deceive or defraud; containing malicious, vindictive, or unsubstantiated attacks; offering goods and/or services illegal for all teenagers to possess, buy or use; libel-ous; obscene; creating imminent danger or disruption to school. Advertisements do not necessarily represent the views or endorsements of The Blazer staff or the Timberline faculty, administration, or the North Thur-ston School Board.

Editor-in-Chief: Morgan LockhartAssistant Editor-in-Chief: Jamin RaderNews/Feature Editors: Kylie Charney-Harrington, Kris StewartArts & Entertainment Editor: Kathy BuiSports Editor: Ryan EricksonOpinion Page Editor: Evan MaunGraphics Editor: Alissa TuggleBusiness Manager: Felicia LozinskiWebmaster: Devon McBrideCopy Editor: Maggie TaftHead Writers: Samuel Beaumonte, Leah Hatzialexiou, Caitlyn StoneStaff Writers: Laiya McAtee, Julia Philips, Michael McAdams, Sarah Armstrong, Kari Bunn, Noah Lewis, Nolan Welch, Casey WhittGraphics Staff: Jeremy Poppert, Jenine Burwell, Sienna Brown, Nathan Bochenck, Richard Ammons, Maddie Dhanens, Maya Rader, Hayley Ruiz, Meigan Girard, AnnAlisa Cook, Kerry Ervin

Timberline High School • 6120 Mullen Rd. SE • Lacey, WA 98503 • (360) 412-4860 • www.theblazernews.com

By Copy Editor MaggiE taftCompeting claims about

public education and test-ing tend to have the same pattern as bad vampire novels: they start off with a work-able premise, but too often end up as a pile of failed concepts and eternally-mocked authors

To avoid this particular fate, I talked to someone who really knows what they’re talking about, and made as logical as-sumptions as my Spock-loving self could.

Wendy Rader-Konofalski is the WEA’s (Wash-ington Education Association) lobbyist on as-sessments, and has access to just about every study there is about standardized testing in edu-cation. Here is the general consensus: In Wash-ington State alone, there is an “opportunity gap” in test scores wherein students from wealth-ier families almost always score higher than those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

What’s more, standardized tests are biased to-wards the middle or upper middle class world-view, meaning that certain students have to over-come huge cultural boundaries to have a hope of doing as well as their peers. But cultural bias doesn’t even come close to the struggles of stu-dents who are still learning the English language.

“A kid coming from Japan or China might be smarter even than their teacher in math or science,” Rader-Konofalski said, “but [they will] never be able to show it on a standard-ized test because the language barrier is huge.”

But even beyond the inherent unfairness of stan-dardized tests, the fact is they don’t actually do anything to increase learning. To add insult to in-jury, many college professors are saying that stu-dents are less ready for college now than in previ-ous years because they can only focus on the test, and not (dare I say it) the actual joy in learning.

Standardized tests will never be gone from the school system, and yes, they do have their benefits, but they are not the answer to everything. College admission essays and interviews can be just as important as your SAT results, and teaching students to enjoy learning and embrace cre-ativity will do far more for our state’s schools than slapping down another test.

By photographEr annalisa CookS t a n d a r d i z e d

testing is not the big bad wolf in our

schools, it’s the stakes that accompany these tests. Standardized tests determine many important things for students, passing the EOC is a graduation requirement, SAT’s are the key to a college acceptance and there are numerous others that are also not only vital to student’s success but also to teachers. Should this be the case? Probably not, but it doesn’t mean that standardized tests should be removed from the education system.

According to the University of California, without standardized tests such as the SAT, UC would be forced to raise the GPA requirements significantly to balance admission process, creating a more cutthroat college search for many students. Having both GPA and SAT scores considered allows students to show how well they test and how well they are at completing quality work.

Standardized test are also a useful tool for teachers. These tests create a scale of who is successful in learning what is taught in the classroom. This is greatly needed, and allows teachers to assess where students need more help.

Standardized testing is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way, and that is scored in a standard or consistent manner.

If each student got a gold star at the end of the class for a good ‘effort’ would learning actually take place? Or would Washington State’s schools really begin to fail?

Imagine a math class without a test with no right or wrong answers, as long as the problems were completed full points were awarded.

Standardized testing is needed to push students as well as teachers to our fullest potential.

The Blazer Staff

Are standardized tests good for

arts & entertainment19www.theblazernews.com october 3, 2014

At the end of the summer, one mov-ie came out which demanded you cry at least once, had excellent

acting, and stayed brilliantly close to the book where it mattered.

That movie was “If I Stay”, adapted off of Gayle Forman’s hit young adult novel. Chloë Grace Moretz is in the starring role of Mia, and Jamie Blackley costars as

Mia’s sweetheart Adam. Released on Aug. 22, the film gathered throngs of people

with boxes of tissues outside of cinema doors. With the book released in 2009 (and its sequel, “Where She Went” in 2011), many loyal fans couldn’t wait to see the adaption — and I do not believe that they were disappointed.

The movie “If I Stay” follows an out-of-body experience. After get-ting in a car accident with her parents and little brother on a snowy day, Mia must decide whether she wants to stay on Earth or leave and give up living.

The movie stayed close to the book when it needed to be, but deviated by adding little details that added more emotion and feeling to the actions of the different characters. Many of these additional scenes focused and further developed the relation-ship between Adam and Mia.

Filled with brilliant actors and actresses, most of them rela-

tively unknown, the film was full of excellent performances that added to the drama and laughter encompassing the whole of the film.

The plot, though some people felt it cliché and typical of young adult movies, feels fresh and new, for it posts a new spin on what otherwise would be an average high school romance.

Another great element of the movie was its soundtrack. Bursting with both classical and rock, as well as numerous genres in between, there was always a perfect song to support its scene.

In addition, the cinematography of the film was brilliant. It appeared as if every set design and clothing choice was con-

nected to the story that the film was aiming to portray.

The only downside is that the movie can at times feel a bit ste-reotypical, as well as understate the themes the story is meant to convey.

“If I Stay” was directed by R.J. Cutler, and was his first feature film. He is known for the large number of documentaries he has done, including “The World According to Dick Cheney” and “The War Room”, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1993.

I would recommend this movie to young adults, specifically girls, for it is a definite chick flick. Ultimately, “If I Stay” can only be knocked for it’s occasional plot cliché, and deserves an 85% for top notch acting, music, and visuals.

In one year, I will be going to college and beginning the process of my higher education. Depending on how long it takes to get my degree, I will shortly thereafter join the workforce, pay bills, drown in student debt, get married, have 2.5 children, drive to a ridiculous number of kiddie soccer games, have a midlife crisis, start voting Republican and eventually retire as another aver-age American old person.

The problem is, even though I’m supposed to be able to plan for all this, I haven’t, and really, I can’t. At my age, I can’t vote, I can’t leave the country without my parents’ permission, I can’t drink or smoke, I can’t even buy a Mir-acle Juicer from an infomercial—yet I’m expected to plan out my entire life based on my oh-so-vast experience in high school?

I don’t even know what college I want to go to (or which one(s) will ac-cept me), let alone what I want to major in or what my future career will be. And why should I? How could I possibly be expected to plan out the rest of my life when there’s still so much I haven’t seen and done and experienced?

High school students are constantly being asked about their futures, wheth-er the source be their teachers, their parents, college applications, or the High School and Beyond Plan—but I doubt that any of them, at 16 or 17 or even 18, knew what they were going to do with their lives.

Why do we put so much pressure on teenagers to have a “five-year plan” or to know exactly what they will ac-complish in college? Most of us have only planned as far as the next season of “Orange is the New Black.”

Yes, teenagers should probably be thinking about their future in some form. And yes, I do eventually need to decide on a college and a major (but The Procrastination Nation is holding strong on that point). But why should I be expected to plan out my life in such detail? Most college students change their major at least three times before they graduate, and according to a Ca-reerBuilder Survey, one in five work-ers plan to change jobs in 2014, so who knows where current high school stu-dents will end up?

Teenagers should definitely be con-sidering the paths they will take in their lives, but they shouldn’t be expected to author a master plan by the time they graduate. We need a chance to see the world before we figure out how to live in it, and to experience life before we know what to do with it.

Maggie TaftThe BlazerColumnist

MOVI

EReview Sarah Armstrong

“If I Stay” beats the cliché

The Peter Pan Argument

illustrations by Hayley Ruiz

arts & entertainment20www.theblazernews.comoctober 3, 2014

Behind the scenes of GnG

Every Monday, at exactly 8:30 a.m. music plays through classroom audio systems, indicating the start of another schoolwide Green ‘n Gold news broadcast.

This year is going to be a big one for GnG News as they experience changes in staff and technology. At the same time, the staff will try to keep up the broadcasts with a strict schedule, with a little help from some veteran cast members.

GnG News has always prided itself on its speed and efficiency in getting a broadcast ready to be shown every week. “This is a doing class, we want to get work done well and efficiently,” said senior Braydon Anderson.

Behind the projector screen is a working process that utilizes every day of the week to get the broadcast to be the best it can possibly be.

The staff assigns topics on Friday and then proceeds to expand on them over the weekend. The staff then films on-site segments on Monday and Tuesday and if time permits, edits the foot-age as well. On Wednesday, they compile all of the footage and get it ready to be broadcast. On Thursday, the anchors shoot “live,”to simulate an actual “on-air” broadcast; finally on Friday they touch up all of the footage before the whole process starts all over again.

In addition to this strict schedule, a lot of work goes into making GnG News.“The amount of time it will take: three, four, or five weeks to make a show

that resembles last year’s broadcast,” said adviser Jeff Reagan, “because film-ing, editing, sound and compiling them all into a thirty second segment is dif-ficult, as opposed to simply using Photoshop to create a document.”

According to a veteran member, the large amount of shifting on staff this year will improve their process as opposed to hindering it. “There is a lot of work to go around,” said Anderson. “And because so many new people want to work, [it’s] going to be evenly distributed and done with a quality that I would like.”

With an abundance of fresh faces comes a whole new learning curve for the students, and a lot more time and effort to get a new broadcast up and running. “14 out of 17 staff members are new to GnG News this year,” said Reagan.

Among the new staff, only three veterans have returned from past years. They will have to step up and start taking on more responsibilities, while teaching the new members all the tricks. “There is a lot of teaching,” said se-

nior Nathan Hughes. “I am teaching [the new students] editing, sound, and more importantly, how to get things done by the deadline.”

Not all the changes have to do with the new students. New technology will start to have a great impact.

Last year, GnG introduced the green screen to their broadcast allowing them to change the backdrop of their set to whatever they wanted. The school will be seeing this effect a little ear-lier than the last year. “We are going to be able to get the green screen effect earlier this year, we have the technology,” said Reagan.

With these changes, they are able to imple-ment a lot of improvements into the newscast

as well. “We are going to remake a lot of the intros and outros to make them much more readable this year,” said Hughes.

GnG is looking forward, with last year behind them, to improvements to this year’s broadcast. The crew looks to start off with a clean slate and a brand new show. “I love the blank slate of kids,” said Anderson, “because they all want to do work, and they all want to make a great show.”

Senior Ashlynn BotwinskiSenior Mitchell GraffSophomore Alexander HazimJunior Shakeel KhanSophomore Julian LopezSophomore Stella Mason

The Process

Upcoming Changes

photo illustration by Sienna Brown““

-Braydon Anderson, senior

99% of the school doesn’t know a single thing about what we’re doing.

by staff writer Noah Lewis

GnG’s New Staff Members Junior Maria ReyesSenior Samuel StaabSophomore Brooklyn TaylorSenior Garrett VasquezSophomore Kyle WalterSophomore Lexus WhiteSophomore Brandon Whitted

arts & entertainment 21october 3, 2014www.theblazernews.com

by staff writer Maddie dhaNeNs

Some people can lick their noses. Some people can cross their eyes. And then there are those who can bawk like a chicken. Timberline is full of talent, but there are a skilled few that have rather unusual abilities. A few of these spectacular people are senior Michaela Smith, senior

Callan Russell, and teacher Rob Denning. Some of their skills may be surprising...

The animal impressionist Smith’s skill is not one that is easily forgotten. Smith is well known for her ability to make a shockingly authentic chicken squawk. “People always say, ‘do the chicken thing!’” said Smith. In 4th grade, she discovered her friend could make a chicken sound and she became determined to do it too. After a lot of practice, she was able to master the technique and it eventually stuck. “The chicken sound was a gateway drug!” said Smith. She admits to being able to make all sorts of unique sounds. For instance, she can talk to her guinea pigs by successfully imitating their signature high pitch “wheek”. This skill is not as easy as it may seem according to senior Brittney Hellums. When asked if she could mimic Smith’s chicken sound, Hellums said, “I have no idea how to do that. Here’s my chicken sound: ‘cluck-cluck!’” Smith’s unique talent is just one of Timberline’s abundance of rare and uncommon abilities.

Timberline’s hidden quirky side

Some people have an “innie” belly button and some have an “outie”, but Russell has both! She can pull her belly button out or push it back in with ease. “I have been able to do it since I was little,” said Russell, “I used to play with it.” According to Russell, her umbilical cord was tied up. When she was born, this forced the doctors to cut it farther out, leaving a little extra skin in the knot made for the belly button. This is why Russell is able to pop her belly button out and back in. Her talent is no secret to those close to her. “My basketball team and the soccer players know,” said Russell. It may make some people squeamish, but to her it is normal. When sophomore Hailey Dhanens was asked what she thought about Russell’s talent, she remarked, “It makes me feel like my belly button is unaccomplished!”

Teacher talent Not only do Timberline students have spe-cial talents, but so do teachers! Denning has a unique ability. He discovered this talent when he first started playing the trumpet in middle school. One day while he was playing, both sides of his upper neck started to swell up. It seemed like there were two balloons inflating on either side of his trachea. Denning and his family had no idea what was causing the unusual swelling so they took him to the doctor. Trumpet in hand, he and his mother went for an appointment. Not wanting to disturb others, the doctor had Denning play his trumpet in the middle of the parking lot! After observing the phenomen, the doc-tor was able to identify the issue. “It’s called loose muscle tone,” says Denning. While some may be uncomfortable demonstrating their abil-ity to others, Denning is not afraid to showcase his weird talent to his social studies and AVID classes. “It was at the beginning of the year when he made the face. I remember everyone laughing including myself,” said junior Aaron Furman. Though his talent originally worried him and his family, Denning has embraced it now and uses it fill his classroom with giggles.

The bellybutt-in and outCallan Russell

Michaela Smith

photos by Alissa TuggleRob Denning

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By Staff Writer Laiya McateeEvery issue of The Blazer, a staff member is chosen to go out in the hallways of Timberline and get to know someone new. Meet Kennedy Greer, a freshman with a passion for dancing, a big personality, and hair to match it.

What would be your spirit animal and why?A koala because I think they’re cute. They’re really small but everyone seems to like them.

On a scale of One-to-Beyonce how good is your singing?Probably a two because I just like to scream at the top of my lungs.

What color in your opinion best represents you?Neon orange because it’s bright and it gets people to notice you. I like to meet people and show my personality to them.

What is your favorite thing about Timberline so far?The football games because everyone is so hyped and spirited.

Dude me too! Want to be my new best friend?Yeah!

photo illustration by AnnAlisa Cook

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Just for the Halibut by Hayley Ruiz (below)

Daily Struggles by Meigan Girard (right)

Full-Tilt Boogie, featur-ing beauty, grace, and sophistication by Maya Rader (above).

Identify all four locations and return paper to Rm

. 122 to be featured on @

theblazernews Instagram

Daily StrugglesFull-Tilt Boogie

What is that?

Just for the Halibut

sports24 www.theblazernews.comoctober 3, 2014

SPORTSOctober DATES

Week 2

October 77:00 p.m. Girls soccer vs. Olympia at

South Sound Stadium

October 93:30 p.m. Boys tennis at South Kitsap

7:00 p.m. Varsity football at Gig Harbor

STRIDE: Sophomores Nikoly Andrade, Christian Morrison, Matthew Hancock, Conner Kankleborg, Joseph Aponte and junior Zahn Schultz start off their race at the Three Course Challenge in Seaside, Ore. on Sept. 20.

New runners benefit cross countryIn Timberline’s meet at South Kitsap on Sept. 24,

the team went against Bellarmine Prep, Gig Harbor, Olympia and Yelm. “Our new runners are starting out great, but the boys varsity races are so competitive that the place that [they] earn may not reflect how good they are,” said junior Paige Wright, “considering we’re going up against a lot of 4A schools it’s pretty tough to stay up on the leaderboards.”

The team’s next meet is the Curtis Invitational to-morrow at Chambers Creek Central Meadow, where Timberline will be facing off against dozens of other teams.

With a great start for the season, the team has high hopes for the next run and continues to stay close through their training, “The community of cross coun-try is amazing. We cheer each other on, have team nights, and there’s always a shoulder to lean on,” said

senior Kaitlin Daniel. Seniority doesn’t matter on the team, everyone

runs; and everyone has their own chance to improve throughout the season. “It’s been a better year for newcomers, the returning players are having a bit of trouble but it’s still early in the season [and] I could tell from the last meet that our returning players are putting in a great effort,” said Wright.

Boys tennis grows, hopes for successThe Narrows League tournament for boys tennis

will be Oct. 23-25 at Capital City Tennis Center. With the team’s 2-3 record, the players hope to turn things around; the players still have four games left before the tournament.

The team’s next match will be against Black Hills on Oct. 7, “I haven’t played against Black Hills since I joined, but the team is putting in a lot of effort and hard work to prepare,” said junior Christian Hunter. “We have a young team this year, where five of about ten are freshman. As of right now we’re doing okay, we’ve won two matches this year which is better than our last but we’re going against some pretty tough teams soon.”

While the team strives for victory, they don’t do it just for respect, “Nobody plays tennis to be seen, they

play it to learn something new and have fun,” said se-nior Kyle Cardwell.

Swimmers feel 4A pressureKicking off the season with a record of 0-1, the girls

swimming team hopes to beat last year’s winning re-cord of six wins and five losses, which beat previous school records for the last fifteen years. With such a score for the team to beat this year, senior Sienna Devinny, one of the girls swim team’s captains un-derstands the difficulty of competition, “I expect them to put in their best effort. It’s not about winning, it’s about trying,” said Devinny.

The team recently competed against Wilson on Sept. 23. “We...did pretty [well], our players beat some of their best times but we didn’t win,” said sophomore Delaney Dalquest. “We just became a 4A team so we’re going up against teams with nearly 70 members, right now we’re just trying to fit in.”

Their next meet will be on Oct. 7 against Tumwater, where varsity hopes to turn things around.

Despite the rigor of team competition, the players aspire for individual scores and times throughout the season. “You can win a meet, but if you don’t get a best time or try your hardest you’re not succeeding,” said Dalquest.

UTS30 second

TIM

E

Week 3

October 143:30 p.m. Girls swimming vs. Shelton

at Timberline

October 167:00 p.m. Varsity volleyball vs.

Bellarmine at Timberline

photo by Jenine Burwell

Week 4

October 221:30 p.m. Cross country Narrows League meet at Ft. Steilacoom

October 305:15 p.m. JV Girls soccer at Olympia

By Head Writer Samuel Beaumonte

25www.theblazernews.com

sportsoctober 3, 2014

Football tackles new challenge in the 4A Narrows League

By Staff Writer Laiya Mcatee

The varsity football team will be facing a whole new level of play entering into the Narrows League 4A classification this

season. With minds set on success, the team has been preparing diligent-ly with several goals in mind, “[We want] to face adversity and do the little things right,” said junior Christien Barnes.

As the boys strive for success, their approach to the league is much different than previous years, “Last year our mindset was getting to state and this year we’re doing one game at a time,” said junior Connor Crump.

A certain mentality goes into the way

the team mentally prepares for their new season. Not letting the rumors of their competition or pressure of the new league affect their play is a key aspect for them and they seem to be handling it well said head coach Nick Mullen. “ I don’t

think it has a f f e c t e d our guys at all. Players are play-ers any-where you go; they’re not better, there are just more of them.”

To be classified as a 4A school Tim-berline had to have a net enrollment of at least 1252.4 or above and is currently at 1255.9 shifting the league level of play from 3A to 4A.

In theory larger schools are more com-petitive due to the size of their student body and sports programs, making 4A schools Timberline will now be facing in regular league play more challenging teams.

The task of taking on a whole new league may be daunting to some but for Crump it is just a bigger test for the team. “I don’t feel like there is any pressure re-ally. We’re just trying to be the best we can be in a higher league,” he said.

The differences in the strengths of the team this season will help the team ad-just to their new surroundings in the 4A league. “We have a ton more team speed and the players grasp the changes in our offense totally different,” said Mullen.

The team started off their stint in 4A by playing the Yelm Tornados Sept 18 and swept the Tornados 31-7. The boys started off a with a strong first half scor-ing all of their 31 points before the end

of the second quarter. More recently, the team fell to Olympia 6-38 bringing their overall record to 2-2.

The boys will be taking on Bellarm-ine Preparatory School tonight at South Sound Stadium at 7 p.m.

The Timberline varsity football team ended their last 3A season before mov-ing into the Narrows League 4A classi-fication, with a record of 6-4. The team had been the defending league champs from the 2012 season and came into the 2013 season just as strong. “Last sea-son the team had a solid defense and It was one of their biggest strengths,” said Crump. Graduating 23 seniors from the 2013 season, one of the biggest changes going into the new season is the type of leadership. “We were really experienced in some key spots. We had tremendous senior leadership [last year],” said Mul-len.

RUSH: Junior Ryan Birbeck breaks tackles to help pick up a gain contributing to Timberline’s 34-21 victory over the North Thurston Rams Friday, Sept. 5.

“ “

-Connor Crump,junior

Last year our mindset was getting to state and this year we’re doing one game at a time.

photo by Jeremy Poppert

blazer sports26 blazertalk@hotmail.com

sports26www.theblazernews.comoctober 3, 2014

Girls soccer kicks off 4A season

By Staff Writer Michael McadaMS

With Timberline’s move to a 4A school, girls soccer has a tough road ahead of them. Luckily, for the first time in nearly 12 years, they again have three different teams - Varsity, JV and C team - to lead them to their goal of the

playoffs. Just last year, girls soccer only had one team. The immense growth

this year, speculates head coach, Jeff Peltier may be due to the large number of freshmen that were involved in soccer at Komachin.

Timberline’s increased student population in past years has led to it moving up to be classified as a 4A school. Applying to all Timberline sports teams, this means that players will go up against bigger schools with more advanced skill sets.

For girls soccer, Gig Harbor and South Kitsap appear to be the schools to beat, but coach Peltier has faith in the strength of the girls, “We’ll give these big shot teams a real run for their money,” he said. This is coach Peltier’s 19th year coaching soccer.

JV coach Carol Jordan has a positive frame of mind as well. “I think we can hold our own against them,” said coach Jordan. This is Coach Jordan’s first year coaching at Timberline. She previously coached for eight years in Alaska.

At the beginning of this season the JV team lost their Sept. 9 game against River Ridge 0-3, but won the Sept. 11 game against North Thur-ston 4-0. Varsity won against River Ridge 4-1 but lost against Thurston 2-1.

The 4A move isn’t the only thing changing for the team this year though. With the large influx of new soccer players this year, team build-ing has been one of the major focuses during this season’s prep along with the players’ technical and tactical skills.

For the team as a whole, the ultimate goal is to make it to the playoffs. Junior Andrea Diaz’s individual goal is to “be more aggressive, and more confident in my decision-making skills.”

Diaz, who is a defender for the varsity team and has been playing for eight years, says that this year will hold tougher competition.

“I view every team as a competitor. I just take it day by day and focus on the game ahead,” said Diaz.

In addition to having enough players for three teams this year, girls soccer has been able to welcome some foreign exchange students.

Senior Nora Lyngstad is from Norway and plays defense for the var-sity team. One of her favorite things about soccer is the social aspect. “It’s a good experience,” said Lyngstad.

While here, Lyngstad hopes to improve her skills and become a better player. Now that Timberline is classified as a 4A school, she understands it might be tougher. “I have to work for it,” said Lyngstad.

The next varsity game will be Tuesday, Oct. 14 against South Kitsap at South Kitsap at 7 p.m. JV will also face off against South Kitsap at South Kitsap on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 5 p.m.

Pass: Freshman midfielder Maddie Welling passes the ball upfield to her teammates to start an offensive attack as junior defender Nora Lyngstad surveys the field against South Kitsap at the Regional Athletic Complex on Sept. 18. Timberline would later fall to South Kitsap 0-2.

photo by Nathan Bochenek

sports 27www.theblazernews.com october 3, 2014

7 p.m. Oct. 7 at Yelm

4:45 p.m. Oct. 14 at Stadium

7 p.m. Oct. 16 Home vs. Bellarmine

7 p.m. Oct. 21 Home vs. South Kitsap

7 p.m. Oct. 23 Home vs. Olympia

7:15 p.m. Oct. 27 at Curtis

4:45 p.m. Oct. 28 at Gig Harbor

By head Writer leah hatzialexiou

The varsity girls volleyball team started off their first game of the 4A season with a win against one of Timberline’s rival opponents,Yelm, winning 3-0.

Junior Clea Sypeck highlighted how the game means more for the team’s self-esteem than the score alone. “That’s our first moment of the day really being a team,” said Sypeck.

Each of the past four years, the team has made it to the state tournament. Timberline placed in two of those appearances. In 2011, the team placed 8th after a loss to Meadowdale. In 2013, the team won consolation against Kennedy Catholic, placing Timberline as 7th in the state.

“We have high expectations after last season with what we accomplished,” said senior and captain Molly Emmons. “Coming from 3A we were kind of the big dogs.”

Along with her co-captains, seniors Brianna Honc and Emily Tate, Emmons has plans of utilizing prac-

tices to get the team to their full potential now that Timberline has moved up to 4A. “I have a lot more responsibility [as a captain], but at the same time it’s good for me,” said Emmons.

Now that the school population is roughly 1,730 stu-dents, Timberline is classified as 4A in league and will compete against other schools of this size.

Athletic director Pat Geiger put in perspective the distinction between these two divisions, “If School A has 1,000 more students than School B, I’m likely to find some pretty good athletes out of that extra 1,000.”

Some local 4A schools in Timberline’s conference include Olympia, Gig Harbor, and Stadium.

“I think the depth from top to bottom in 4A league classification is stronger than the 3A league classifica-tion,” said Geiger. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

In volleyball, a team must score 25 points in at least three out of five sets in order to win. At the Yelm game, the girls won the first three, dismissing the need for two more sets.

“Within a new league it’s kind of unexpected [to win the first game],” said junior Mady Hitchings. “We just worked really hard on unifying the team.”

Head coach Krista Manke noted the way the girls managed to fix mistakes and adjust quickly to playing with newer people on the team. As for what she expects for the team entering their new season as a 4A clas-sification?

“Hard competition,” Manke said. “The level of com-petition will be much higher.”

While the Sept. 16 game against Tumwater was a loss of 0-3, the team quickly redeemed themselves 3-0 against Stadium just one day later.

Timberline and Olympia High School are in a current battle for second as they chase first place ranked Bel-larmine. Timberline’s next home game will be against Bellarmine Prep on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.

photo by AnnAlisa Cook

Dig: Junior Clea Sypeck and senior Brianna Honc practice in preparation for tough competition they will have to face throughout the 4A season.

Volleyball digs into 4A competitionUpcoming

Games

28october 3, 2014

photo essaywww.theblazernews.com

A Day in the Life of the

6:15 AM

12:00 PM

7:30 PM

11:00 PM

The Blazer Man scarfs down his breakfast.

Memorizing chemical formulas

Cheering on Timberline with cheer captain

Mascot

senior Abbey Talbot

Timberline’s mascot crashes after an exhausting day.

photo illustrations by Sienna Brown