East High School1600 City Park EsplanadeDenver, CO 80210

Spotl ghtvolumeLXXXXIXaugust2012

Rising from the AshesHow East survived the heat, flames, and tragedies of Summer 2012

in this issue...Adrenaline Inside the emergency room after the Aurora movie theater shooting. pg. 2

RemembranceA memorial to those we lost. pg. 3

Center: How our Teachers Spent their Summers

Opinions: The Importance of Play. pg. 6

Service through SportsEast athletes make the most of their abilities. pg.7

nihilsacrumest?

[news]august 29th 2012 page 2

Inside the ER: This particular night was completely

different from any other shift I’ve had in emergency medicine in the eighteen years I’ve been out of residency, and I hope I won’t have another night like it.” July 19th began as a warm summer night with many people on the streets and for Emergency Phy-sician Kevin McGlothlen MD, it was another night to treat routine chest pains, seizures, and minor injuries that needed stitches.

At 12:38 AM on July 20th everything changed. The police radio at The Medical Center of Aurora (TMCA) suddenly went wild with people reporting a mass shooting at Century Movie Theater, two miles from the hospital. The emergency department was already full and several patients were in the waiting room, “At first you hope it’s not true, or you hope it’s not as serious as they say. But you could feel the level of anxiety climb in the Emergency Department as the charge nurse moved the level 1 fluid warmer (warms blood for transfusions) into our temporary trauma room.”

Within minutes, eleven victims were ar-riving by police car, ambulance, and private car. “This clearly was a mass casualty incident, which by definition is when your amount of medical needs exceeds your amount of medi-cal resources.” That night there were two emergency doctors, one trauma surgeon, and a full complement of nurses. Immediately, the whole hospital moved stable patients, mobilized medical resources and opened up as many emergency and operating rooms as possible. Even then, the hospital still didn’t have enough resources.

An Overwhelming ResponseRealizing that there was going to be a

significant number of patients, McGlothlen picked up the phone and called his Medical Director, Dr. Frank Lansville, who called the EMS Director, Dr. Gilbert Pineda, and the head of the Trauma Surgery Department, Dr. James Denton. Among the calls was the or-der to his charge nurse, “You call your boss, I’ll call mine. Tell them to call everyone they know. And activate our internal disaster plan.” Everyone came as quickly as possible, and within 10 minutes, there were another six to ten off-duty emergency nurses, ICU (intensive care unit) nurses, trauma service doctors, the internal medicine team, operat-ing room nurses, and even nurses from the Labor and Delivery department, all offering their services and asking, “How can I help?”

The adrenaline in the hospital was run-ning high, “My partner Emergency Physician, Dr. Paige Archey, and I immediately tended to the more serious victims as they came in, and the Trauma Surgeon working that night, Dr. Jody Taylor, also tended to the sickest patients who needed to go to the operating room right away. As I was performing a resuscitation on a critically ill patient, I hardly knew anyone in the room because they were all from other areas of the hospital, but they were all there to help me. I couldn’t do what I’m trained to

do without such a staff supporting me and an organized trauma system behind me.”

As the Biophone announced more vic-tims on the way, extra trauma surgeons and emergency doctors came in and the hospital was able to stabilize the initial patients and triage additional patients by assessing the number of victims, their types of injuries, and the stability of their conditions. The patients were sorted according to their degree of in-jury then presented in a specific order to the operating room or CT scanner. When over-whelmed with limited time and resources for multiple injured patients, the ER must let the sickest ones expire so others can be saved.

“Every part of the hospital was over-whelmed from registration who has to get names and IDs for all those people, to lab who has to do blood tests or give blood to all these patients, and X-ray and CT scan who has to simultaneously do all the studies we re-quest. Everybody performed way above and beyond their usual level of expectation to an outstanding level of performance, and every-body did an amazing job.”

The Emotional ChallengesAt the time of the incident, the hospital

was not receiving live press reports and was not sure how many victims would be coming in, how many gunmen were involved, or if it was an isolated act of violence. “You’ve got your head down and you’re looking at your next victim and you’re just trying to take care of that patient and get a handle on what else is in the department.”

McGlothlen describes it as “a chaotic and gory scene,” where multiple patients all actively bleeding and screaming in the hall-ways waited to be attended to, but weren’t even the most critical patients. “I’ve taken care of penetrating trauma before but some of

my Emergency Department staff hasn’t, and even less of the hospital staff that came to help has taken care of it. It’s not something the av-erage person should see, or anybody wants to see, in spite of how it’s glorified in movies and television.” McGlothlen emotionally recalls that in the midst of all the chaos another doc-tor came up to him and admitted, “I have no idea how you guys do what you do.”

Eventually, the number of critical pa-tients ceased and they began to hear more news on the incident and find out who their victims were, “That patient is more than just a victim with a hole in a cer-tain place; now they’re somebody’s teenage son or daughter or they’re some-body’s mother or father, and it makes it much more emotional and almost harder than the initial immediate response. In this case it was a random act of senseless violence, and that’s harder to explain to yourself or the patients afterwards who didn’t do anything to this person to cause such violence.”

When treating high velocity gunshot wounds, the challenge was the internal dam-age; the track of the bullet penetrates the body, expands, and then tumbles. “A high velocity firearm like the AR-15 weapon re-ally tears through the tissue with such force; it wreaks havoc.” That night there were a total of fifteen victims at TMCA, and the hospital later received eighteen patients overall con-nected with this event. Luckily, with all the in-hospital response, extra help, appropriate triage, and overcoming limited resources, McGlothlen proudly states, “We still had no

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fatalities at The Medical Center of Aurora.” Currently, two patients remain at TMCA and are stable enough to be transferred to long-term care facilities.

A Career Confirming MomentIn response to how this has changed his

life, McGlothlen states, “I now have an even greater appreciation for all the people who re-sponded, from the police and fire department at the immediate scene, the EMS who brought patients in by ambulance, the entire emergen-cy department and hospital staff, the operat-ing room and trauma surgery staff, and to the staff who looked after these patients, not only that night but for weeks afterwards. The day after the event I walked up to two unknown policemen on the street in two separate cir-cumstances and just thanked them for doing what they do; that’s not something I do on a normal day.”

McGlothlen doesn’t consider that night a career defining moment, but certainly a ca-reer confirming moment when called upon he could perform at his best. “You never ex-pect to see this in Aurora, Colorado. You, as an emergency doctor, hope you never see it in your career! But if you do, the fact that I was able to do what I was trained to do when asked to do it was very rewarding.” Tearing up, he adds, “I hope any one of my partners would’ve done as good or better.”

Since the tragedy, McGlothlen believes the community has become more unified and cohesive when they realized they could pull together that night to support those vic-tims. The Medical Center of Aurora has had many extraordinary visitors since July 20th including Denver Broncos, Colorado Rock-

ies, Christian Bale, and the First Lady Mi-chelle Obama in a show of support for the victims. “It was unique and a positive

experience. [Meeting Michelle Obama] It was an honor to meet her; it was humbling to meet her. Not only does it underscore the significance of the tragedy, but it also under-scores the heroism of those who treated these patients.”

As McGlothlen ended his narrative, he was emphatic that he was just doing what he was trained to do and concluded, “The word ‘hero’ gets thrown around a lot from something like this. I felt like the local police were heroes. I felt the doctors who came and backed me up were my heroes. I felt all the nurses, particularly those who hadn’t taken care of trauma patients like this before, were heroes. But as I drove home the next morning listening to the news unfold on the car radio, I didn’t think of myself as a hero; I thought of myself as an Emergency Physician.”

Doctor Kevin McGlothlen (center), an emergency physician on-duty the night of the Aurora shooting, waits to shake hands with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

EDITORS-IN-CHIEFAndrew Wise & Joie Akerson

MEDIA DIRECTORSGabe O’Connell &Alessa Barton

SENIOR EDITORKeaghan Dunn-Rhodes

BUSINESS MANAGERChris Harder & Andrew Palmquist

NEWS EDITORAbbey Lew

FEATURES EDITORGrace McCabe

STAFF WRITERSAubin Fefley, Harris Forbes, Gracie Freels, Eli Goldin, Chad Hanna, Marin Johnson, Kyrianna Killingbeck, Owen Mathews, Ezra Pratt, Sean Price, Brody Rastall, Noah Reynolds, Dylan Salzman, Abigail Sawyer, Spencer Soicher, Carson Stoltz, Natalie Torres

PRINTED BY BARNUM PRINTING

East High Spotlight, Room 210A, 1600 City Park Esplanade, Denver, Colorado 80206

720.448.5969 | info@eastspotlight.com | www.eastspotlight.comCENTER EDITORAdelaide Sandvold

OPINIONS EDITORAli Oksner

SPORTS EDITORDaniel Hartman-Strawn

REAR END EDITORJoe Harrison

PHOTO EDITORWillow Turano

SPONSORMr. Mark Ajluni

PRINCIPALMr. Andy Mendelsburg

Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service.

The Spotlight is published by the student newspaper staff of East High School. The views expressed are those of the individual students and do not necessarily reflect those of the sponsor or of the staff as a whole. Student editors, not the administrators or the Denver Public Schools Board of Education, are

responsible for the content published.

STAFF ARTISTJax Downs

“It’s not something the average person should see, or anybody wants to see, in spite of how it’s

glorified in movies and television.”

An Emergency Physician speaks about the Aurora Shooting and the heroes who responded

year long course.”Every student learns differently, “and we

can only control what we offer them,” adds Anderson. The class sizes are estimated to be around 25 so teachers will have closer rela-tionships with the students and their parents. The classes will take the place of their core classes sophomore year and “they will put to-gether portfolios, explore activities and learn material as opposed to “spoon fed” educa-tion,” states Ms. Orwig. There will be less fo-cus on homework, more individual attention, work periods, and less direct instruction.

Although there will be class stan-dards to be met, the teachers have the free-dom to develop their own curriculum for the class. Ms. Arens has an idea for the frame-

work of hers, “One day I’ll be addressing the whole class, then the next day in sections and groups, then a counsel-ing day, and then a work pe-riod. We will all be very flex-ible.”

In the past, East has had Academic Success classes, but Ms. Arens explains, “We caught a few students, but not all.” Mr. Nagel adds that the old way was to wait till the students were seniors and have them finish re-quired classes that year, but since that isn’t working “we are trying to catch the situ-ation as soon as possible.” East offers lots of help for

students, there are academic success classes, tutoring opportunities, tutorial with teachers, and meetings with counselors. Mr. Harned relates this program to ones at the Rocky Mountain School for Expeditionary Learn-ing and Jefferson Open School, which have similar approaches. “We are figuring it out as we go and I’m very excited. Our focus will be more narrow but the culture of East [success] hasn’t changed.”

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the dropout rate has declined from 14% in 1980, to 8% in 2009, yet the racial disparity is still significant. Ac-cording to Mr. Anderson, of the group of 117 students from 2009, 90% of them were stu-

At East in 2009, 117 freshman students failed more than two of their core class-

es. This past year, out of those 117 students, 12 had remained enrolled, and only 6 gradu-ated. This surprisingly low number has been consistent and despite past efforts, the trend continues. After tireless years advocating for a solution, assistant principal Shawn Ander-son succeeded this year by introducing a new program to East, titled The Compass Project. “What we’re doing is not working,” states An-derson, “and our job is to fix that.”

Over the years, East administrators have noticed a disturbing pattern, freshman students who fail two or more of their core classes are likely to remain behind and drop out. For the 2012-13 year, the Compass Project will take on the challenge of in-terrupting the pattern and raising East’s graduation rates. Their plan is to iden-tify those at risk of failing during freshman year and will focus on putting them back on track during soph-omore year. It will be simi-lar to an academic success class and currently 110-120 students are enrolled to en-ter the course this year.

In the past decade, graduation rates have risen considerable amounts. Col-orado is ranked 18th in the U.S. for graduation rates (74.4%) and East rates have risen from 78% to 88% within the past 3 years. Nonetheless, each year about 1/6 of the class slips through the cracks and doesn’t finish high school.

The Compass Project is designed specifi-cally for this group of failing students and the teaching approach will be completely differ-ent from traditional classes. Students who will participate in the program will get a “pack-age deal” and have the same four teachers; Ms. Arens (American Literature), Mr. Nagel (Geometry), Mr. Harned (U.S History), and Ms. Orwig (Earth Science and Biology). “I’m excited because I really like working one-on-one or in small groups,” says Mr. Nagel, “the classes will be mainly project based and it’s a

duty since 2005. The seven-year police veteran from Detroit is remembered as a kind and competent of-ficer, who loved the color purple and is survived by a 12-year-old daughter and numerous fam-ily members.

Colorado Heals: Remembering and moving forward after a summer of tragedy

by gracemccabeGone but not forgotten: the victims of the Aurora shooting

A recent high school graduate who was known for “trying to bring the mul-

let back” his freshman year. A 51-year-old “Texas gentleman” with a passion for the outdoors. A bubbly 6-year-old who had just learned to swim. Theirs were among the 12 lives cut short when James Eagan Holmes opened fire on July 20 during a midnight

screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” In all of the grief, anger, and uncertainty that follow a tragedy such as this one, there is one thing we know for sure: they will not be forgotten:

Veronica Moser-Sullivan, age 6

Rebecca Ann Wingo, age 32

Jonathan Blunk, age 26

Jesse Childress, age 29

AJ Boik, age 18

Gordon Cowden, age 51

Micayla Medek, age 23

John Larimer, age 27

Jessica Ghawi, age 24

Matt McQuinn, age 27

Alex Sullivan, age 27

No more flames, but plenty of ashes: those affected by wildfires rebuildEarlier this summer, it seemed that

the whole state was, quite literally, burning up. From Durango to

Fort Collins to Boulder, an ex-tremely dry year contributed to the spread of fires started by lightning, sparks from blown-out tires, and poorly built campfires.

Spreading like, well, wildfire, over ten different blazes including the High Park Fire, Waldo Canyon Fire, and Flagstaff Fire quickly scorched at least 100,000 acres throughout Colorado.

The Spotlight remembers those whose lives were lost and sympathizes with the hundreds of families who lost their homes and possessions and who now face a long, messy road back to normal.

Remembering fallen officer, motherOn a warm June

evening in Denver, City Park was filled with families, young couples, and friends

enjoying a Sunday night Jazz concert. However, hours

later, the park was a scene of fear and chaos, as ambulances and cop cars

rushed to the scene where Denver police officer Celena Hollis was shot while breaking up a fight among rival gang members.

Hollis, 32, did not survive, the first Denver police officer killed in the line of A memorial in City Park still

marks the scene of the shooting.

East Pioneers a New Approach to Helping Struggling StudentsEast’s Compass Project unveiled

dents of color. Last year at East, 454 students graduated, 85% of all black students gradu-ated, 80% of Hispanic students graduated, and 94% of white students gradu-ated. The overall mission of the program will be to close these gaps and re-en-gage under-cred-ited students. It is East’s job to promote student success, have low drop out rates and teach students as best as possible. Anderson believes the goal of the program “is to put them back in the position where they can access higher level courses and take more fun classes-such as Newspaper.” The Com-pass Project “will create a space at East to

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“We are figuring it out as we go...Our focus will be more narrow but the culture of East [success] hasn’t changed.”

Graduation Rates

East High School: 88%

National average: 72%

Colorado average: 74.4%

re-engage the idea that learning is fun,” adds Anderson.

All teachers are excited for the new pro-gram, Ms. Orwig exclaims, “This is my first job and everything’s new. The school is new, I’m new, and this program is new!” All teachers are eager to help these students re-

engage to succeed, become confident, and en-joy learning with the motivation to graduate. Mr. Anderson believes the Compass Project is a major change for the school, and with a smile he shares the message behind the title of the program, “We are changing the direc-tion of East.”

Day 1.

Spotlight

by jaxdownsSketch

[features]august 29th 2012 page 3

Mario Ortiz of the Counseling Center spent his summer travel-ling with his wife up the west coast. Starting in LA ,the two drove more than 5,554 miles, visiting the lush forests and falls of Oregon. Ortiz, a photogra-pher, also got some amazing shots including these two on the post card! Kristy Skarphol of the math depart-

ment went on a family vacation to the midwest which included stops at the colossal monuments of Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore. Her boys loved seeing the “statues” in the mountain!

French teacher Andrea Barbera and counselor Lauran Allinson both competed in three Aquaman swimming and running competitions held at the Cherry Creek Reservoir. The two college swimming teammates successfully finished one of the races with Allinson in second place and Barbera in third.

Assistant Principal Wes Ashley played a small-scale version of The Dead-liest Catch while crab fishing off the northern coast of Washington... craving crab? He’s your guy!

Science teacher Margret Bobb took a trip to Ice-land which included some frigid snorkeling and a snowmobile ride on a glacier!

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Karen McChesney of the Future Center completed a two week trek through south Peru and did volun-teer work in villages with altitudes of more than 15000 feet along the way!

Mr. Madison got his left hip replaced right here in Denver, Colorado which earned him the best friendship of Morgan Freeman and recognition as an All-American Hero.*

*Well... he got his hip replaced.

East teachers share amazing feats and scintillating experiences from their well -deserved summers.

English teacher Mark Trapino took a history and tradition-rich trip to England. This included a month-long study of contemporary British litera-ture and Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” at the Exeter College of Oxford University. He also visited Shake-speare’s home of Stratford-upon-Avon and the city of Bath which was a temporary residence of Jane Austen. After waiting in a four-hour line, he got tickets to see tennis superstars Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Maria Kirilenko at Wimbedon. He also made stops at ancient wonders such as Stonehenge and the Roman baths from over 1900 years ago.

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Science teacher Margret Bobb took a trip to Ice-land which included some frigid snorkeling and a snowmobile ride on a glacier!

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East teachers share amazing feats and scintillating experiences from their well -deserved summers.

Dear Boy, I have three things to apologize for:

1) I’m sorry that I was so much taller than you, although to be fair, I felt pretty ridiculous too.2) I’m sorry I kept stepping on your feet. Your shoes were nice and they looked expensive.3) But most of all, I’m sorry you had the wrong idea about my diverse and wonderful high school.

While we were dancing (or attempt-ing to, in my case) I learned a little bit about you. You were from Cherry Hills, a private-school kid, obviously privileged, leaving for prep school on the East Coast come fall. But I won’t stereotype you, or insult your lifestyle, or even make com-parisons. My problem does not lie with your socioeconomic class or educational choices. I guess I just feel bad for you. I feel bad that you have had so little experience with what cynics may call “the real world” and what I will truthfully call

“the city.”While the hard core advocates of

the public education system may worry for your future, once graduation forces you out of your “bubble,” I think they’re wrong. An intelligent young gentleman such as you will know how to make the most of his opportunities. Average test scores for private schools are consis-tently higher than the mean public school scores, especially in inner city districts. On paper, you are not missing out on any-thing and maybe you don’t think you are. I won’t pretend to know anything about your life, but through the eyes of an outsider, you are not in a position to be complaining.

Let’s be clear. The idea of East High

School scares you. It scares you. I was an overly excited incoming freshman and you shook your head and wondered “Why on earth…?!”

Looking at the racial demographics of East High School: the majority is minority. A portion of the student body qualifies

for free or reduced cost lunch. And yet, we are all Angels. During my first two years at East, I have met so many wonder-ful people with totally different lifestyles and beliefs from mine. I am so grateful for this. I know it has made me a better, more open-minded, more mature human being.

You’re scared of that?

I do not experience gang wars on a daily basis. I do not walk out the front doors with the fear of being jumped on neighboring Colfax Ave. I’m sorry that this is the mental picture you have be-cause it is so tragically untrue.

I wish you the best, but I just can’t help shaking my head.

Sincerely,Aubin Fefley

As a crowd of six through eight year-olds stare into their dream come true, I real-

ize something incredible: we are looking out at a giant mud pit in a Coloradan meadow, created for the simple purpose of getting as messy as possible. With pure joy, these girls and boys plunge into the mud, dancing and screaming. Little do they know, as they lather themselves in mud sunscreen and fashion each other mud hats, that they are investing in their health.

It’s a new school year and you have new stresses. Certainly, there will be moments that terrify and overwhelm you. Funny enough, playing is proven to help. It is not exactly socially advisable in high school to spend your free time with Barbies or sidewalk chalk. But we were spot on back in elementary school; sometimes the best way

Dear Boy... I Danced With In 8th Grade Cotillion Who Asked Me If I Was Scared To Go To East

by aubinfefley

by alioksner

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY

We’ve published our opinions. Now publish yours. Contact us at articles@eastspotlight.com

Six through eight-year-olds play in a mud pit at Geneva Glen Camp this summer

to cope is through playing.This theory focuses on divergent think-

ing, or the generating of ideas. When you stimulate your mind with an old yo-yo or

hula hoop, the seemingly tough problems in life can be solved creatively. As one turns his or her thoughts to lighter things, the mind is better able to process

everything else with ease. I’ve seen a direct link between play and

creative problem solving. The more creative your play, the more ways of coping you’ll find under stress. Basically, the more fun you’re having, the more stress-free you’ll be. My summer break was spent at a camp where I was surrounded by proof of this connection. I saw kids work through adult problems and conquer their biggest fears, unaware of the impact of their simple game of tetherball.

For those of you who think you are above blowing bubbles, not all hope is lost. Psychologists have found that play can be learned. That’s right; you can learn how to play better. You can even practice with your friends. It’s proven that play and relaxation are vital in friendships. According to Plato, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversa-tion.” In the end, a night of bowling with some friends not only clears your mind, it also studies your friendships. How could you even say no?

Now there is a difference between dis-tracting yourself and completely avoiding an issue. Denial, distortion, and escape will get you nowhere. Doodling, however, can bring you to an actual solution.

So next time you look at your enormous workload or undesirable circumstances, don’t ignore them or let them consume you; go play.

[opinions]august 29th 2012 page 6

6,000. 4. 58. 12.

These are, respectively, the number of rounds of ammunition James Holmes

carried, the number of guns he possessed, the number of people he wounded, and the number of people he killed. Numbers. Hol-low, cold, lifeless mathematics. Yet, it was these numbers which were repeated over and over by grave sounding newscasters and printed billions of times in newspapers across the globe. These numbers were compared to other shootings, so we might understand how many more or how many fewer people were killed here than at Columbine or Virginia Tech.

Rather than asking why this happened or what can be done to make sure it never happens again, we answer the easy questions: How many dead, how many rounds of am-munition, how long it lasted. Math. Numbers.

True, there is very little that journalists, law enforcement, and government officials can do to answer the questions of “why,” but to switch the focus to these meaningless num-bers thoroughly undermines the humanity of the victims. Their families and friends will not grieve by the numbers. Their remem-brance, their sadness, and eventually their closure, will come from a vast and complex mental scrapbook of jokes and embraces and fights and reconciliations. It will not come from knowing how many times their child or friend was shot, or even how many hundred years James Holmes’ prison sentence will in-clude.

It does not help these people to repeat over and over again just how numerically bad this tragedy was. If anything, it is insulting. But the greater insult is to do nothing to pre-vent this from happening again. We struggle

to turn the d i s c u s s i o n from what happened to what happens

next. And the moment we start, the moment potential solutions start to pop up, they are instantly politicized and warped until all progress and pragmatism sits stagnant on talk radio stations and cable news.

It is extremely basic logic that if fewer people have guns, fewer people will get shot. Whether progress comes in limiting the amount of ammunition a person can buy, or preventing people from purchasing military level assault weapons, beefing up background checks, or creating a monthly mental health examination for gun owners, something needs to be done. We realize that this is far from the only editorial calling for action. But we would like to add our voice to the tremen-dous shouting mass calling for progress.

Sure, there are multiple sides to the issue, but frankly, the people who fight against at-tempts to control weapons stand on the same side as James Holmes, and all of those who have been driven to commit such acts. The rest of us are seeking justice.

It’s time to solve this. Watching and talk-ing only fills time until the next set of num-bers scroll across television screens.

We can’t afford to wait anymore.

Grief by Numbers

We struggle to turn the discus-sion from what happened to

what happens next.[ ]

by andrewwise

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than

in a year of conversation.”

From the Editors in Chief:

[sports]august 29th 2012 page 7

Service through Sports

East is all about inclu-sion. We have a GLBT

club, a young democrats club, a young republicans club, and even a Harry Potter club, not to mention students of almost every ethnicity, race, and religion. But East’s special education program is one of the least integrated, residing in the back hallway on the second floor, somewhat removed from the other classrooms and students. All that is about to change.

“The idea [to integrate special education stu-

dents into the cheerleading program] was introduced to us by a student here at East,” says coach and East coun-selor Terita Walker. After hearing the proposition last semester she decided to implement the concept this season, with the team preparing to hold a series of clinics that are open to any of the students in the special education program. Sean McCarthy, who works in East’s special education department, says that, “Ms. Walker and I are very ex-cited to try this out. Part of the purpose of our program is to integrate students with

Breaking Barriers with School Spiritby spencersoicher and dylansalzman

Thursday, August 30th1:00 p.m.

East Boys’ Golf Overland Golf Course

Saturday, September 1st9:00 a.m.

East Football v. Eaglecrest HSEast Turf

Tuesday, September 4th4:15 p.m.

East Softball v. John F. Kennedy HSEast Softball Field

Wednesday, September 5th1:00 p.m.

East Boys’ GolfWellshire Golf Course

Wednesday, September 5th 3:30 p.m.

East Cross Country DPS 2-Mile at Washington Park

Thursday, September 6th4:00 p.m.

East Boy’s Tennis v. Montbello HSTBA

Upcoming Sports Events:

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Squad captain Mariah Cladis

The cheerleader veterans are excited about the new additions to their team.

Making a Difference in Mexicoby danielhartman-strawn

As millions around the world watched the Olympics in Lon-

don this summer, every one of the spectators and athletes were united by something that supersedes any language barrier or cultural differ-ence: the love of the game. For six East students, the love of sports and the connection that they can estab-lish between people brought them to Juluchuca, Mexico.

East se-nior Zach McCabe de-cided that this summer he wanted to make a difference in someone else’s life, but he wasn’t sure exactly how to go about it. He knew about trips to Af-rica and South America where they could build schools or work on other projects; however, he wanted to be able to design the p r o j -ect himself. H i s mother had

been down to the town of Juluchuca, Mexico, where she had established a connection with the owner of a resort. After explaining his philanthropic goals to the owner, he was able to se-cure a discount on the price of rooms. “Then I called a couple of my ‘amigos’,” says McCabe, “[who] I knew would love to help out and could offer a lot of help in the area of sports.” In the

end, Mc-Cabe was a c c o mp a -nied by fel-low East se-niors Matt

Fitzgerald, Austin Neureiter, Ryan Chavkin, Andrew Palmquist, and Bri-an Litvak

With only a population of ap-proximately 528, Juluchuca, which is located along the southeastern coast of Mexico, is an obscure destination, to say the least. The group knew that once they arrived there, they would be hard pressed to locate sports equip-ment. So they set out asking coaches, teammates, friends, and family for their used soccer balls, baseball bats, tennis rackets, and more. They also gathered some supplies to touch up the town’s bas- ke t b a l l

court, such as paint brushes and bas-ketball nets. However despite all of this preparation, they were still tak-en aback when they first arrived. “I think we were all hit with the realiza-tion of how difficult this was actually going to be,” says Neureiter, “we had almost no ground plan other than to play sports with some kids that we weren’t even sure would show up.”

They decided to start with the basketball court, cleaning and paint-ing it and hanging the new nets. By the time they had finished, word had spread throughout the town about what the American boys were do-ing, and on the third day when they set up their soccer camp the kids came “pouring in.” The participants ranged from three year-olds to eigh-teen year-olds, and even some adults showed up. For the rest of the week the kids continued to come out, and the East boys instructed them in baseball, tennis, basketball, frisbee, and volleyball. Over the week they handed out the equipment they had collected back in Colorado. The boys hope that the program can continue well into future.

Austin Neureiter gives the local kids a pep talk.

East cheerleaders invite special education students to join the squadspecial needs into the community. This is an opportunity for East’s general student body to get to know some of our kids.”

The cheerleaders are ecstatic with the change to the team. Senior and captain of the cheerleading squad Mariah Cladis says, “We’ve seen a couple of other programs do it, and it’s a really nice feel-ing, incorporating other kids into the program.” Although East’s program has engaged in other community outreach in the past, such as coach-ing younger kids, this is the first year that the program has involved students with special needs. Cladis knows that, “the inclusion of every student is impor-tant, so that’s our goal, to include everyone,” and she adds, “I think it’ll be fun!”

The squad is looking forward to both the promise of a success-ful year and striving to make a positive impact in the East community.

The dates for the clinics have yet to be decided, but an exuber-ant Cladis says, “I know we’re going to do it, and everyone’s really excited about it!”

“We had almost no ground plan other than to play sports with some kids that

we weren’t even sure would show up.”