The PhoenixVolume 14Issue 2November 2012

Doral Academy Preparatory11100 NW 27th StreetDoral, Florida 33172

Inside the Phoenix...Homecoming recapPage 2

Swedish House Mafia Page 3

Wintersports and MLBPage 5

Creative CornerPage 4

Black FridayPage 6

By Kevin Gonzalez Editor in Chief

Israeli aircraft struck crowded areas in the Gaza Strip and killed a senior militant with a missile strike on a media center Monday, driv-ing up the Palestinian death toll to 100, as Israel broadened its targets in the six-day-old offen-sive meant to quell Hamas rocket fire on Israel. Escalating its bombing campaign over the weekend, Israel began attacking homes of activists in Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. These attacks have led to a sharp spike in civilian casualties, killing 24 civilians in just under two days and doubling the number of civilians killed in the conflict, a Gaza health official said. The rising toll came as Egyptian-led efforts to mediate a cease-fire be-tween Israel and Hamas got into gear. While Israel and Hamas were far apart in their demands, both sides said they were open to a diplomatic solution — and pre-pared for further escalation if that failed. The leader of Hamas took a tough stance, rejecting Israel's demands that the militant group stop its rocket fire. Instead, Khaled Mashaal said Israel must meet Hamas' de-mands for a lifting of the blockade of Gaza."We don't accept Israeli conditions be-cause it is the aggressor," he told re-porters in Egypt. "We want a cease-fire along with meeting our demands." An Israeli official said Israel hoped to find a diplomatic solution to the cri-

A poll published in the Haaretz daily on Monday showed widespread support in Is-rael for the offensive. It said that 84 percent of the public supports the operation, with 12 percent opposed. At the same time, it said just 30 percent of the public supports a ground in-vasion of Gaza. The poll, conducted by the Dialog agency, surveyed 520 people and had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

In Monday's violence, an Israeli airstrike on a high-rise building in Gaza City killed Ramez Harb, a senior figure in Islamic Jihad's military wing, the Al Quds Brigades, the group said in a text message to reporters. A number of for-eign and local news organizations have offices in the building, which was also struck on Sun-day. A passer-by was also killed, medics said.

Thick black smoke rose from the building. Paramedics said several people were wounded.

Islamic Jihad, a smaller sister group to Hamas, said it believed Harb was the target of the strike.

Israel has killed dozens of wanted militants in surgical strikes throughout the operation, the result, officials say, of intelligence gath-ered from its collection of high-flying drones overhead and a network of informants.

Before dawn Monday, a missile struck a three-story home in the Gaza City's Zeitoun area, flattening the building and badly damaging several nearby homes. Shell-shocked residents

sis as well and signaled Egypt was likely to play a key role in enforcing any truce. "We prefer the diplomatic solution if it's possible. If we see it's not going to bear fruit, we can escalate," he said, speak-ing on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive diplomatic efforts under way. The official said Israel doesn't want a "quick fix" that will result in renewed fight-ing months down the road. Instead, Israel wants "international guarantees" that Hamas will not rearm or use Egypt's neighbor-ing Sinai peninsula for militant activity. Overall, the offensive that began Wednesday killed 100 Palestinians, including 53 civilians, and wounded some 840 people, including 225 children, Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra said. On the Israeli side, three civilians have died from Palestinian rocket fire and doz-ens have been wounded. A rocket-de-fense system has intercepted hundreds of rockets bound for populated areas. Hamas fighters have fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israel in the current round of fight-ing, including 95 on Monday, among them one that hit an empty school in the coastal city of Ashkelon. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 29 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile battery. Rockets landed in open areas of Beersheva, Ashdod, Ash-kelon, and caused damage in a number of areas. Schools in southern Israel have been closed since the start of the offensive on Wednesday, and large police units de-ployed in the area to respond to any po-tential damage and injuries from rockets.

Hundreds killed in Palestinian bombings

Courtesy of urbanrelations.com

Courtesy of map-uk.org

Courtesy of blog.cleveland.com

Israel bombs Gaza supply tunnels.

Courtesy of mashrabenabb.com

Courtesy of www.vtjp.org

Features November 2012

Page 2

By Nicole Soler Features Editor

This fall has been full of music that speaks to people’s souls and blows them away with incred-ible lyrics and moving melodies. From romance and breakups to letting loose and having fun, the top ten songs from this month cover it all. The top 10 song charts have been full of pop-culture kind of music. Topping the charts is One More Night by Maroon 5, Gangnam Style by PSY, I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift, Some Nights by fun, We Are Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift, As Long As You Love Me by Justin Bieber, Too Close by Alex Clare, Die Young by Ke$ha, Blow Me One Last Kiss by P!nk and Good Time by Owl City. This doesn’t necessarily mean everyone loves these songs for the same reason or likes them at all. Ninth grader Nicole Nieto said, “I only like the song One More Night because of the music video to it because it features my all-time favor-ite actress Minka Kelly.” “I feel that Gangnam Style is only popular because it has a dance beat

New singles rock November Top 10 chartsto it, otherwise no one would really listen to it,” said ninth grader Lucca Barbaris, who contribut-ed ideas on why this music might be so popular. There have also been many new singles that might’ve not made the top 10 but have people talking. New singles such as Skyfall by Adele, State of Grace by Taylor Swift and Diamonds by Rihanna have been very popular lately. Skyfall is the theme for the new movie Sky-fall 007 that hits theatres November 9th. State of Grace by Taylor Swift is one of five of the singles that will be featured in her upcoming album Red which was set to be released Oc-tober 22nd. Diamonds is the latest single from Rihanna that was released September 27th, leaving people wondering what her new will be album and when it will be released. Freshman Stephanie Pino-Moore said, “I like the song Diamond because it is really catchy and has a good beat. I also have a tendency to like most of Rihanna’s songs and this is one of them.” All in all, the music that has been on the radio is giving hints of many artists who might drop new albums and songs before 2013.

courtesy of jasontellsitlikeitis.comAdele’s single brings together movies and music in a creative way.

courtesy of justjared.com

Morone five’s Adam Lavine preforming One More Night.

By Gaetano Calagna Staff Writer Wreck-It Ralph premiered to large audi-ences in the United States on November 2. The PG-rated animated film features the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack Mc-Brayer and Jane Lynch. It is directed by Rich Moore and produced by Clark Spencer and John Lasseter. The film tells the story of an arcade game villain who becomes tired of his role in the game and embarks on a journey to become a hero. The plot seems rather innova-tive and the use copyrighted characters suchas Bowser and the Pac-Man ghosts gives the movie credibility. Trailers and previews have shown good-humored fun. Firebirds antici-pated its theatrical release. SophomoreMichelle Diaz said, “I like that the protago-nist is a villain. It gives the film a good per-spective for children who are usually taughtthat the bad guy will always be the bad guy.” Indeed, it is pleasant to see a film targeted toward children that depicts the bad guywith a full range of emotions. There must

be simply more to the bad guy than just evil. Performing Art student and yearbook co-editor Diana Martinez looked forward to hearing the voices of her favorite actors.She said, “I love Jane Lynch. She’s so comedic and her sarcasm is so great. She makes me smile. And Sarah Silverman is also really funny. I mean she’s a comedian. She knows how to use her voice effectively to give the character emotion. The day it comes out everyone was so happy.” Until then, Firebirds patiently waited for Wreck-It Ralph to come to a movie theater near them.

Wreck-It Ralph brings in big bucks

courtesy of structuregaming.comWreck-It Ralph breaking through the two worlds of gaming presented in the movie.

By Chris Amador Staff Writer Greetings, Firebirds. I’m sure you’ve all had the most outstanding shows this year, but sadly the year is,now ending. Don’t cry though, the party has just begun! For those who don’t know, Ultra Music Festival is hav-ing its 25th anniversary show and yeah, to many it’s just another show, but to millions it’s a very,important show. Electronic music group legend Swedish House Mafia is having their very last show this year. They mentioned on the online website of Ultra “One Last Tour… The Final Curtain… It had to be…Swedish House Mafia will return to ULTRA Music Fes-tival for their FINAL performances!!! Don’t miss your chance to see US for the last time!” In addition, great acts include Avici, Skril-lex, Tiesto Hardwell and many others who will also join in their last “big bang.” Sadly, the tickets are quite expensive. Since it’s the 25th anniversary the prices range from one weekend being $299.95 and both being $574.95.I know it’s expensive, but you get to see the world’s best electronic acts all under one roof for six-

days. “Its worth it,” said junior Eduardo Salazar who added that this is the chance of a life time to see Swedish House Mafia one more time before they split as a group. The set list of artists are still being added on the website Ultramusicfestival.com, but so is the intensity. Be sure you add an Ultra Ticket to your wish list to Santa, I promise it’ll be the best give that you’ve ever received.

Swedish House Mafia making their last stop at Ultra 2013

courtesy of funkyhousemusic.com

Swedish House Mafia performing at Ultra 2010.

courtesy of soundisstyle.com

courtesy of focusonlinecommunities.com

courtesy of swide.com

Creative CornerNovember, 2012 Page 3

Courtesy of Adriana Arcia

Courtesy of Andrea Proce

Brian Pino-Moore

Daniel Simpson

Courtesy of Mariana Fermin

Courtesy of Mariana Fermin

Courtesy of Andrea Proce

Courtesy of Adriana Arcia

School NewsPage 4

By Isabella Ruiz Managing editor

October 25 was surely one day to remember. The Senior Class had their first event. Students b o a r d e d buses at 8 AM and were off to the Inter-continen-tal Hotel for Senior Breakfast. While stu-dents ate a delicious breakfas t p r e p a r e d by the ho-tel, the S u p e r l a -tive win-ners were announced and called onto the stage to take pictures with their sashes. They pro-

courtesy of Barbara ArenasJunior Powderpuffs put on an invigorating performance.

By Natalia Ammon Staff Writer Thursday, November 8th was the Homecom-ing Game against Champagnat Catholic High school. The crowd of supporters for the Fire-bird football players gets more colossal as the years go by, so there was no telling how many Firebirds and parents would be at this year’s game. Gianny Aponte said, “I remember last year’s game. It was so much fun and I loved being on the stands supporting our school.” It’s always a fun and exciting time at each year’s Homecoming Game and this year wasn’t any different. Daphne Gure said, “I definitely didn’t want to miss this year’s game, it was so much fun. I love watching our Firebirds play.” If you happened to get hungry or thirsty

Senior Breakfast marks the last year for seniorsceeded the morning playing games such as Chubby Bunny and musical chairs. Chubby Bunny and musical chairs winner Giancarlo Rodriguez was rewarded with both

free Grad Bash and Prom tick-ets. “It was an amaz-ing experi-ence I will never for-get. I thank the Gin-ger Gods for my t r i u m p h . A m e n , ” said Ro-d r i g u e z after win-ning tick-ets to two

of the most expensive senior events. Once winners were chosen, students spent

courtesy of Kristen CruzAriel Guerrero breaks it down at Senior Breakfast.

courtesy of Kristen CruzGirls take pride in their attire as they take a group shot.

Football players prepare to shake hands with their opponents.courtesy of Kristen Cruz

courtesy of Kristen CruzFootball players give it their all.

throughout the game there was a food stand where you were able to purchase drinks, pizza, chips and other snacks which was a great benefit. The Homecoming Game also showcased the school’s Diamond Dance Team, Color Guard Team, marching band and cheerleaders during halftime. Adding to that, Homecoming King, Queen, Prince and Princess were announced. The game was held on the school field from 7:00-10:00pm. There was a $3-5 entrance fee. Former Doral Academy student Kassandra Per-aza said, “I’m definitely glad I went to the Doral Academy Homecoming Game this year. Even though I don’t go to that school anymore I loved the experience and supporting the Firebirds.”

the remainder of the breakfast dancing with their classmates. The time Student Government

dedicated to putting the event together really came through. “Senior Breakfast turned out a lot more fun than I expected, I’m so glad I got to be a part of it,” said Melanie Lopez. “I hope the

rest of the senior events are just as fun; because if they are, I’m sure it is going to be an amazing

year,” she continued.

“Senior Breakfast came out a big success. I’m extremely proud of all the people who helped give us such a memorable start to Se-nior Year. We definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it without each other or the rest of the Firebird fam-ily,” said Student Body Treasurer Alessan-dra Carlucci. Seniors seemed more than satis-fied. From the breakfast

to the games, and the time spent on the dance floor, it was no doubt a memorable moment for all.

Homecoming spirit

Seniors cheer on Powderpuff football players.

Firebird Pride soarssweeps Doral

By Priscilla Correa Managing Editor

It was that time of year again when stu-dents across the board were able to dress up as their favorite character or have a flash back to the 80’s, it was Homecoming Week. This year’s Homecoming consisted of Mon-day being Cartoon Day, so students were able to dress up as their favorite TV show, comic book or other cartoon. Tuesday there was no school, so Wednesday was Wacky Day. There were some weird looking students that day. Thursday was the Homecoming Game against Champagnat Catholic High, so it was Spirit Day. Only seniors were able to wear red. Juniors down to freshman wore white or their class shirt. Eighth grade was allowed to wear blue, and any other grade below wore grey. The last theme was Clique War, each

grade level wore their specific genre. For the grade level genres, students could go to the bulletin board by the activities office. “Honestly, this has to be the most spirited year I’ve seen across the board,” said junior Liz Ruiz. “I’m especially glad to see that Class of 2013 really got into, because this is their last year.” Miurel Madriz, junior, had also gave insight on how junior girls Powder Puff went down saying, “The nerves on the whole team were at the extreme because this was our first year in Powder Puff, but the results were pleas-ing as we ended in a tie with the seniors, but overall they put up a good game.” Senior Chris Abreu said, “Overall, as my last year, I was very pleased with all the spirit I saw around the school and was happy to see that everyone had been wearing tasteful clothing.” All in all, the majority of the student body was pleased with the outcome of Homecoming Week.

November 2012

Sports Page 5

By Allan Valiente Sports Editor

Voting started on Wednesday, November 14, for the annual Fifa goal of the year -award, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s incredible overhead kick against England, a nailed on winner, came too late to be considered in the 2012 poll. Ibrahimovic’s fourth goal in Sweden’s 4-2 victory came just hours after voting opened for the 10 candidates at 2:00pm on November 13, 2012, but Fifa is refusing to budge. The goal will instead have to be consid-ered for selection by its experts as a candidate for the 2013 Puskas’ award. The 2012 trophy, named after legendary Hungar-ian footballer and man-ager Ferenc Puskás, will be chosen by popular vote and announced at the Fifa Ballon d’Or 2012 Gala in

Zurich on Jan 7, 2013. The following names are the nominees for 2012: Hatem Ben Arfa: (Newcastle United - Blackburn Rovers, 7 Jan 2012), Gastón Mealla: (Nacional Potosí v The

Strongest, 29 Jan 2012) , Agyemang Badu: (Ghana v Guinea, 1 Feb 2012) , Miroslav Stoch: (Fener-bahçe v Gençlerbirliği, 3 Mar 2012) , Moussa Sow: (Fenerbahce v Galatasaray , 17 Mar 2012) , Eric Has-sli: (Vancouver Whitecaps v Toronto FC, 16 May 2012) , Radamel Falcao: (América de Cali v Atleti-co Madrid, 19 May 2012) , Lionel Messi: (Brazil v Argentina, 9 June 2012) , Olivia Jimenez: (Mexico v Switzerland, 22 Aug 12) and Neymar: (Santos v In-ternacional, 7 Mar 2012).

FIFA Ballon d’OrBy Giancarlo Rodriguez Staff Writer

courtesy of wordpress.comThe “Ballon d’Or,” the trophy awarded to the player who wins the goal of the year.

High expectations set for Doral winter sports Soon, continuous days of scorching heat will wane and then a chill, breezy climate will begin to take over South Florida. An exciting time for Doral Academy will begin: winter sports. Months of Friday night football games end and fierce soccer games and intense wres-tling matches take over the athletic news at the school. Some of the most successful sports in Doral Academy history begin at this time, in-cluding varsity boys’ soccer, varsity girls’ soc-cer, varsity boys’ basketball and wrestling. State qualifiers, a district title and two district runner-ups are just some of the many accom-plishments these teams acquired last season. The soccer program at Doral produces some of the most talented athletes and is run by boy’s head coach Pamela McDonald and girls’ head coach Martin Gross. “We have high expectations for ourselves this year after winning districts last year. Our ultimate goal is to win States,” said senior Ariel Ramirez. The boys were elim-inated in Regional Quarterfinals where they lost to nationally ranked Ransom Everglades. How-ever, they were able to defeat some of the tough-est schools in all of South Florida, and nothing less is expected this year. Led by a senior-dom-inated team, they hope that their talent and their

experience lead them to a successful season. They have begun their season right, by win-ning two games, tying two and only losing one. The wrestling program has been known to send players every year to the State Champion-ships, and this season is no different. Last year they sent a handful of players to Regionals and senior Chris Alfaro placed sixth at States. This years’ squad looks overly qualified, as it has paired together numerous returning play-ers and a handful of transfers from Mosignor Edward Pace. Daniel Garcia, Christian Perez and Christopher Moreno all made it to States last year and are prepared to join their tal-ent with the returning wrestlers. “Doral is al-ready one talented team. I’m hoping we can contribute and work together to take the State Championship as a team. That would be one for the books,” said senior Daniel Garcia. Girls’ soccer has been known to be just as tal-ented and successful as their male counterparts. They came up short last year in a suspenseful game against rival LaSalle, where they took the game to sudden death and lost on the last kick. The team looks more talented this year though, as its mainly comprised of upperclassmen now. Senior Melissa Campaña said, “I know we

can take the mistakes we’ve made in the past and learn from them. We’re a really close team and that chem-istry can take us far.” Varsity boy’s basket-ball also lost to LaSalle in their district cham-pionship game. After leading the majority of the game, LaSalle was able to catch up in the fourth quarter and take the game into overtime, where they eventually won. “We’re ready this

photo by FoxMarThe varsity boys’ soccer team gathered in a huddle at the pep rally where they were introduced.

New CBA implemented, big changes to the gameBy Allan Valiente Sports Editor

The 2012 season of Major League Base-ball not only exhibited the rise of previously unsuccessful teams (primarily the Wash-ington National and Baltimore Orioles), it also was the first year the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) went into ef-fect, which made immense changes in the sport – one of the biggest in post-season play. The CBA is a contract signed between Ma-jor League Baseball and the Major League Base-ball Players Association. H o w e v e r , CBA’s occur in all sports. T h e y ’ v e come to light more in re-cent years ( N a t i o n a l B a s k e t b a l l Association 2011-12, Na-tional Foot-ball League 2011 and the Nation-al Hockey League 2012-2013), caus-ing lockouts in the sport’s season until the two associations come to an agreement. Major League Base-ball has had the longest streak of years with-out a lockout, and with the new CBA signed in 2011 it has extended to 21. “It’s such a relief knowing baseball won’t be having a lockout anytime soon. It was so nerve-wracking see-ing other sport’s seasons almost disappear into thin air,” said junior Walter Gutierrez.

The most notable changes in the 2011 CBA were the post-season changes. The Wild Card was extended to two teams per league. There-after those two teams would have a one-game playoff to determine the fourth spot in each league’s post-season. This turned out to be extremely beneficial as numerous teams were hungry for October baseball this season. “I think it’s truly amazing that the post-season has

extended itself to include an-other team per league. It pro-motes com-petition and a second chance to other strong teams who came up short of their divi-sion or Wild Card,” said senior Kevin R o d r i g u e z . Wild Card teams this season were the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis C a r d i n a l s ( N a t i o n a l League), and the Texas

Rangers and Baltimore Orioles (American League), of which the Cardinals and Orioles won. Other significant changes seen this year due to the CBA were the permission of randomized drug testing at any time of the year, as long as it had “reasonable cause.” San Francisco Giants centerfielder Melky Cabrera who led the Ma-jors in batting average and hits at the time and seemed to at the peak of his career, tested posi-

courtesy of content.usatoday.com

courtesy of usatoday.com

Giant’s centerfielder Melky Cabrera, who test positive for testorone and receieved a 50-game suspension.

Houston Astros players and minor league players sport their new uniforms at an unveiling at Minute Maid Park.

courtesy of sportsinvasion.netThe 2012 MLB post-season bracket, showing the two new Wild Card brackets.

tive to testosterone. It resulted in a 50-game suspension, and ultimately his dropping-out of the race for the batting title. Other players who test-ed positive were Bartolo Colon, Marlon Byrd and Guillermo Mota. Among these new game-chang-ing rules are many more to be imple-mented. Such in-clude the Houston Astros becoming part of the Ameri-can League West Division, the scheduling of In-terleague play throughout the whole season, and new mandatory Rawlings brand helmets that can withstand 100 mph fastballs. All these additional rules are to be implemented in the 2013 season. “It’s always a tough decision to see tradition change, but who knows, maybe the game will change for the better with these rules,” said player Jose Vazquez.

year. We have a lot of tal-ent and we’re determined to win that District title,” said senior Nicolas Marcondes. These sports are definite-ly those to be on the look-out for. Their talent and success has paved a path for their respective pro-grams for years to come. What awaits them the 2012-2013 season is unknown, but a journey to success.

photo by FoxMarSenior Giancarlo Rodriguez recovers the ball and prevents a goal.

November 2012

Phoenix Staff The Phoenix

Doral Academy Charter PreparatorySchool

11100 N.W 27th St Doral,Fl 33172

November 2012Issue 2

Editors in Chief

Managing Editor

Sports EditorSchool NewsFeaturesAdviserPrincipal

Kevin GonzalezJonathon WarringIsabella Ruiz Priscilla CorreaAllan ValienteJack MarquezNicole SolerCatherine KononoffDouglas Rodriguez

The Phoenix is published by the Doral Academy Preparatory Jour-nalism Department. The opinions expressed are those of individuals credited and are not to represent the

entire student body or staff. The Phoeninx welcomes let-ters to editors. Letters must be signed and submitted, and may be edited for space and content.

ViewpointNovember, 2012

By Jonathon Warring Co-Editor in Chief I recently read a novel entitled American Conspiracies by Jesse Ventura. In addition to be-ing an author Ventura is also a politician, former governor of Minnesota, actor, naval veteran and former professional wrestler. Ventura has also hosted TruTv’s show Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura where he attempted to confirm the validity of several rumored conspiracy theories. Ventura’s show has gone off the air but is expected to return sometime in 2012. He has used the novel American Conspiracies in order to continue educating the masses about pos-sible conspiracies. Television host Larry King said, “If you’re talking outspoken, unconven-tional, and no-holds-barred, you’re talking Jesse Ventura.” King is absolutely right. In this book he details the theories that the CIA or-dered the assassination of President Kennedy, and that the American Government is secretly

involved in the drug trade. These are just a few of the shocking theories exposed in the novel. I found this novel to be an interesting read. It brings to light suspicions about our govern-ment in ways that make them appear as abso-lute rather than simple theory. Readers will be horrified to hear that their government would ever commit any of the acts mentioned, but it is so well written you just can’t put it down. Ventura has another book out called 63 Documents the Government Doesn’t Want You to Read. This book is set to expose fake terrorist attacks planned by the U.S, military experiments on its soldiers, and homeland security’s “emergency” detention camps. The reviewers at ESPN.com posted, “Is Jesse Ven-tura crazy? Maybe. Is Jesse Ventura a genius? Maybe that too. But one thing is for sure: He’s never boring” I’ve yet to read this book, but I can guarantee you that, much like Ameri-can Conspiracies, it will be worth the read.

Ventura book presents conspiraciesVentura’s novel exposes CIA plans to asssassinate President Kennedy Courtesy of blogspot.com

By Jack Marquez School News Editor

Jumping from the stratosphere on Octo-ber 14, Felix Baumgartner broke the speed of sound reaching an estimated speed of 833.9 mph. Baumgartner and his team de-cided to commemorate Chuck Yeager, who first broke the sound barrier flying in an ex-perimental rocket powered airplane, by jump-ing on the 65th anniversary of Yeagar’s flight. When certified, Baumgartner will be the first man to have broken the speed of sound in a freefall. Baumgartner climbed to 128,100 feet in a helium-filled balloon, and then jumped with a pressure suit and helmet. Alison Lopez said, “That was a very high altitude for a per-son to jump with a pressure suit and still sur-vive, it’s like jumping off from Mount Everest.” The trip back to earth lasted 9:09 minutes, with only 4:22 of that time in freefall (without drogue). Baumgartner said, "It was an incred-ible up and down today, just like it's been with the whole project." He broke two other world records (highest freefall, highest manned bal-loon flight), leaving the longest freefall record to project mentor Col. Joe Kittinger. Michael Paz said, “The space jump was like something from the movies, it was just so unrealistic.”Getting prepared for the first launch of a space jump took over seven years. •2005: The first steps to the space jump began when Baumgartner and Red Bull began to lay the groundwork for a stratospheric freefall. •2007: Art Thompson directed the planning and recruiting for the space jump pro-gram, with the capsule’s development in Sage Cheshire Aerospace in Lancaster, California.

•2008: National Aviation Hall of Fame member Col. Joe Kittinger joined the Red Bull Stratos team, and David Clark Com-pany agreed for the first time ever to produce a suit for a non-governmental space program. •2009: Baumgartner started to train for the first time in a high-altitude pressure suit, including several para-chute jumps from aircraft at 27,000 feet. •2010: Baumgartner obtained his U.S. gas balloon license and began wind tunnel testing/ training in a pressure suit. •2011: Chamber tests began; they were conducted at Brooks-City Base in San An-tonio, Texas. There the Capsule was "man-rated" (confirmed for human transport) to 121,000 feet. •2012: The first manned test was completed in March: Baumgart-ner freefalls successfully from 71,615 ft. •In July 2012 the second manned test was achieved, the highest jump and fastest speed for Felix Baumgartner so far (Altitude: 97,063 feet and a freefall speed of 536 miles per hour). Millions of people around the world tuned in to watch Baumgartner’s ascent and jump live on television broadcasts and live stream on the Internet October 14. At one point it appeared as he was spinning rapidly, but he quickly regained control and several move-ments later opened his parachute to land with ease. Ground crew and viewers sighed with relief. Miguel Ramirez said, “I was astonished that Felix Baumgartner was able to land suc-cessfully without injury such an incredibly high jump, but I was an amazing accomplishment.”

The data on the records set by the jump are preliminary pending confirma-tion from the authorized governing bodies.

Baumgartner makes historic jump from space

Courtesy of blogspot.comBaumgartner seconds away from his record breaking jump.

Page 6

Family and friends recently gathered to paint and dedicate a portion of “The Wall” near the University of Florida in Gainesville to Christian Aguilar.

Wall dedicated to Christian Aguilar