with taks testing prominent in kristin harmon, a long-time ... · which means summer vaca-tions...

XHawkThe

Volume 10 X Issue 7 X Birdville High School X North Richland Hills X Texas X April X 2009

A decade of...

Mitchell KempeStaff Writer

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Olivia NguyenStaff Writer


Bryan HambyStaff Writer


Josh HolbrookStaff Writer


Free

To test or not to test.................p. 2

With TAKS testing prominent in the Spring, students and teachers ponder the pros and cons

Lunch Lady serves up smiles. p. 5

Kristin Harmon, a long-time em-ployee for BISD, serves food with a complimentary attitude.

The Day the Earth Stood Still...p. 7

A highly anticipated box office remake dissappoints with bland characters and a tiring plot.

Immigrants bring new sports...p. 8

Immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa bring their love of sports, like soccer, to the U.S.

The HAWK is printed on 100% Recycled Newsprint

Please recycle this newspaper...give it to a friend or family member!

Death of actress raises public awareness45-year-old actress Na-

tasha Richardson died on March 18 at Lenox Hill Hos-pital following a ski accident.

What appeared as only a bump on the head turned out to be the cause of her symp-toms and death.

This incident has opened the eyes of the McCracken’s

family as they faced a similar situation.

The McCracken’s 7-year-old daughter Morgan Mc-Cracken was hit in the head with a baseball two days be-fore watching Natasha’s story on the news at Ohio.

Morgan only had a bump on her head. Her parents,

Connie and Donald Mc-Cracken, treated it with an ice pack.

The ice pack appeared to cause the bump to go away.

After treating the injury, Morgan was doing fine ac-cording to her parents

“She didn’t even blackout and had no blurry vision or any of the things you’d kind of associate with a severe head injury,” Donald said.

For two days, Morgan lived life normally. She went to school and showed no symptoms of a hematoma or any serious effects.

“We watched her con-stantly for two days, and there was no signs until two days later,” Donald said.

On the third night, Mor-gan began to have a head-ache. The headache was bad

enough to make her cry.“We were putting her in

bed when she started to com-plain of a headache,” Connie said.

Morgan’s parents had watched Natasha’s story ear-lier in the day.

After watching that, they realized the similarities be-tween Natasha and their daughter.

The pediatricians’ gave Morgan a CT scan.

Once the doctors discov-ered she was diagnosed with epidural hematoma, she was sent on a helicopter to Rain-bow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.

Immediately they sent her to the operating room.

The surgery was a suc-cess, and Morgan soon re-covered from her injury.

Where Natasha’s story did not turn out so lucky, Morgan’s did.

This time delay between Morgan and Natasha raised some questions.

Natasha experienced symptoms within two hours where as Morgan’s symp-toms did not show for three days.

“It depends on the type of blood vessel that’s torn,” Dr. Cohan said on Good Morning America. “In Natasha’s case it was probably an artery. In Morgan’s case it was a vein.”

Natasha’s story may have resulted in death, but the cause of her death has opened the eyes toward oth-er people and saved lives.

Teachers inspire students to learn everyday. Three of those teachers are retiring at the end of the school year.

Dudley Horton attended Texas Tech University to ac-quire his teaching degree.

Horton realized he would like to become a teacher be-cause of his love for coaching football and teaching history.

Over his 29 years of teach-ing his love for history shows from teaching Texas history, World history, American his-tory and geography, as well as health and P.E.

Horton is going to miss the people he works with the most and plans to spend his retire-ment traveling and playing golf.

Terry Eccles has been

Basinger, Eccles, Horton retire with plans for fun

Obama has proposed a new plan to increase school days and hours.

On the positive side, the goal would be to help Ameri-cans be more competitive with people from countries

that require school six days a week, year round.

The first part of this plan is to increase hours spent in school.

On the negative side, this would take time away from

home. Students spend about one

third of the day at school and on average one third sleep-ing. So it leaves students with one third of the day to do home work, work at part time

jobs and relax. Longer school days mean

that students will have less time for their families, home-work and jobs.

“I see the benefit, but that would take away from time at home and overall not very beneficial,” Keith Lyons said.

The second thing that Obama is trying to do in this plan is increase the number of days students attend school, which means summer vaca-tions will be shorter.

Students will be obligated to either go late or return ear-ly during summer break. Stu-dents spend three quarters of the year in school.

Some people feel this is too long of time to spend out of school, and others feel that it is not long enough.

Many feel that the Na-tional government should get out of education and let the individual states set their own standards.

Some feel that the stan-dards should be equal across the country and help Ameri-cans become more competi-tive in a global economy.

Obama proposes school increase

teaching and coaching basket-ball for twenty-eight years

Eccles’ career began after acquiring his degree at the Uni-versity of Texas in Arlington.

Eccles said what really inspired him to teach was his father who was a principal.

Through his career he has taught many subjects including I.P.C., health, P.E., and coached

girls Varsity basketball.After retirement, Eccles will

work at Stone Creek Soup Café in Burleson which has been his family’s business for two years.

The thing Eccles is going to miss the most about Birdville High School is coaching the girls basketball team and the time he has gotten to spend with them.

Kenney Basinger joins the group of retirees after 29 years of teaching chemistry and coaching.

Basinger said he received his degree from Oklahoma Central State University and just wanted to work with kids.

He will miss the relation-ships with the students, football, the coaches, the overall aspect

of everything coming together.Basinger said he has no

immediate plans except to just take life as it comes, and to watch Birdville football games.

All three were honored at a retirement reception in the library.

On April 4 in Binghamton, New York a Vietnamese im-migrant invaded the American Civic Association and shot 13 people before committing sui-cide.

The bulk of the victims were citizens attending an English class required for citizenship. The gunman, not a stranger to the American Civic Association, drove his car to the back doors of the building to block people from exiting and entered through the front of the building.

Once inside, he shot one receptionist and then the other in the stomach.

The receptionist who was

shot in the stomach waited for the gunman to leave before calling for 911.

As the gunman headed for a room in the reception area, she crawled underneath the desk and proceeded to call the police

The gunman continued down the hall and entered the citizenship class and started to fire at least 98 times in less than one minute hitting each person four to seven times. He killed 13 people then com-mitted suicide. Police said 37 people exited out of the build-ing safely and 26 of them were hiding in the boiler room.

“I heard the shots, every

shot. I heard no screams, just silence, shooting,” she said, “I heard shooting, very long time ... and I was thinking, when will this stop? I was thinking that my life was finished.”

Zhanar Tokhtabayeva, an immigrant from Kazakhstan,

told the Associated Press.Though the call for 911

was minutes after the shoot-ing, it took three hours for po-lice to establish that the gun-man was dead. After doing so they were able to rescue the other victims.

Police later found out that the gunman was a 41-year-old man named Jiverly Wong that was born in China but lived in Vietnam.

He was supposedly upset about losing his job at a vacu-um plant and was also upset

about people making fun of him because he did not know English very well.

“We have no idea what the motive is,” Zikuski said.

Armed gunman invades and attacks citizenship class

Junior

2 The Junior Hawk April 2009Opinions

RACHEL JENKINSEditor-in-Chief

KAYCEE GIAMMARCOOpinions Editor

KILI FERRELLLife & Arts Editor

DEVIN HARPERFeatures Editor

TAYLOR CARPENTERSports Editor

Staff WritersKIRSTIE BLAND

KENDALL CARLSONSARAH FREEMAN

NICK GOLDINGBRYAN HAMBY

JOSH HOLBROOKMITCHELL KEMPE

ALEX KORBAISLAM MOHAMED

LEJUANA MONTFORDDONNA MOORE

BAYLOR MORRISONOLIVIA NGUYENCALEB PIERCE

ELAINE SWARTZ

JANNET HILESAdvisor

Jason wellsPrincipal

The HAWK is published monthly, during the regu-lar school calendar, by the Journalism Department of Birdville High School. Its purpose is to serve as an open forum for the students, faculty and staff of Birdville, and the surrounding communities of Colleyville, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Rich-land Hills and Watauga. The HAWK is a member of the Interscholastic League Press Conference and Southern Interscholastic Press Association. Advertising Rates are $5.00 per column-inch. Current circulation is 1500. Papers are distributed free of charge. Editorials reflect the views of The HAWK staff, signed columns reflect the views of the writer and do not nec-essarily reflect the views of the school faculty, staff, students or administration. Letters to the Editor are welcomed and must be typed, double-spaced and limited to 200 words. They can be delivered to room A400 or emailed to [email protected] and must be signed and include a phone number and address for verification.

What are your summer plans?

Natalie Burkhart

Freshman

“My plans for the summer are to take Driver’s Education

and go on vacation.”

Will griffin

Faculty

“I’m going to be teaching chemistry in summer school.”

Juan alviso

Senior

“I’ll be working a lot and pretty much chilling

with friends as much as possible.”

Stormie Jackson

Junior

“I am going to West Virginia for a couple of weeks

then I’ll just be hanging out with friends and working.”

Anita Shaw

Sophomore

“My plans for summer will, hopefully, be getting a job

so that I can buy a car.”

HawkThe

StaffXHide under the desk! Quick, TAKS is coming!

This is the general reac-tion to the dreaded TAKS tests. Their eminent arrival is a source of stress for teachers, and one of immense boredom for students. So why has the TAKS test not been eradicat-ed? According to many teach-ers and students, their use has not yet been exhausted.

Though some teachers see the test as a waste of their valuable class time, others ap-

preciate the insight they give to their students’ needs. Teach-ers gain an understanding of what their students do not grasp by analyzing the results of the test. It provides a well-rounded synopsis of the year’s syllabus, and shines a light on the shadowy areas of student learning. This also allows the district to compare the rates at which different schools are progressing and note which are falling behind.

Accordingly, the TAKS

provides good practice for students, and while they may detest its standardized nature, they do gain basic problem-solving skills. Many students, while they easily get an A on their report card, lack common sense. TAKS assists with this by assessing their aptitude and logic.

Though there have been talks of doing away with TAKS, many teachers and students would benefit from the contin-uation of the standardized for-

mat. Assuredly, there would be a collective cheer at the news of the TAKS tests’ demise, at never having to bubble anoth-er Scan-Tron, and not caring whether their pencil is a #2 or a #124809.

Though the change may not be immediately recog-nized, in the long run students will suffer from the missed op-portunities at improvement.

Critics take sides on TAKS test

Every year, thousands of people make it out to the polls, but some are turned away. These legal citizens are over the age of seventeen, compe-tent, registered and pay their taxes; still this group is disen-franchised, or not able to vote. These people, which number in the thousands and is only ex-pected to swell within the next year, are ex-felons.

Now that the word “felon” has made its appearance, the

reader’s mind is filled with im-ages of grimacing, tattooed thugs making a mad-dash to voting booths to legalize such atrocities as murder, organized crime, narcotics pedaling, jay-walking, or whatever other de-spicable acts they committed to become a felon. To understand the issue more clearly, this im-age of a felon must be erased. Keep in mind that punishment for a felony can range from twenty-five years for murder to

as little as one year for stealing something worth four-hundred dollars or more (Grand Theft).

Many people believe that keeping felons from voting is as old a principle as the United States, but this is not true. The constitutional principle, the one that keeps felons and ex-fel-ons from voting, comes from the second section of the four-teenth amendment (an over-view of American citizenship). While the Amendment itself is

a valuable addition to the con-stitution, time after time it was abused in the Reconstruction South as a way to keep black voters away from the polls. Poll taxes, grandfather clauses, literacy tests and felon disfran-chisement were all instituted as ways to keep recently freed slaves from their right to vote. Almost all of these have been repealed, except felon disen-franchisement, but why? If the reasoning behind a law is ob-solete, it seems like the whole law should be.

Some would say that re-moving a felon’s right to vote is a deterrent from committing the crime. This is simply bad logic; extended jail time is a much stronger preventative measure then losing the right to vote. If the thought of los-ing two decades of one’s life to a concrete box is not strong enough to keep him from com-mitting a crime, is the possibility of not being able to vote really going to give him pause? No, besides, felons who were in-volved in voting before their incarceration (therefore those most likely to exercise their right to vote when they get out) are less than half as likely to repeat their offense and end up back in prison.

Ex-felons have paid their debt to society and it is exces-sive to punish them indefinitely from a principle this country was based on. The very idea that a person can commit an act that can strip them from a right we consider unalienable is more than just shortsighted, it is blatantly hypocritical.

Alex KorbaStaff Writer


Baylor MorrisonStaff Writer


Ex-felons should have voting rights

High school students should not have to pay for parking. The school should base who has to pay on the students’ attendance records from the previous year.

Students who show up everyday, go to class, and be-have in an appropriate manner should be rewarded with the incentive of free parking.

At the beginning of the year students have to pay $40 for a regular park-ing pass to park on the school’s park-ing lot.

School is already expensive at the beginning of the year with school sup-plies, ID’s and passbooks that students have to buy to be pre-pared. The added expense of parking is just too costly.

It is mandatory for a stu-dent to show up to school so if they have a good attendance record why should they have to pay to come to school?

If students do not come to school, they receive a truancy citation, which is a very expen-sive ordeal.

Many students must drive their own cars, since parents work and students must get to their own jobs or other obliga-

tions a f t e r school.

If a student is going to pay for their gas to get to school they do not need the added expense of a parking pass when they are dedicated

enough to come. A student spends more time

at school than any other place in a week, if they are going to spend so much time here, then a parking spot should be a re-ward not a required purchase.

If a student would like to purchase a spot closer to the school, then they should pay $20 which is the difference of the regular and reserved

spots. Students who show

up with a willing-ness to learn, de-serve something

extra since there are so many problems with

skipping, discipline and bad attitudes.

With the economy the way it is, $40 is more difficult to come up with than ever before.

Give students a break, even in Monopoly there is Free Parking.



Free parking incentive could improve attendance

April 2009 The Junior Hawk 3Features

Time out of every school year should be set aside for people with intellectual and physical disabilities to visit the students during one of their class periods.

Many students never have the opportunity to interact with kids that have intellectual or physical disabilities and they tend to isolate or make fun of the person’s differences, because they just do not un-derstand.

Having intellectually or physically challenged people spend a whole class period with the students would help eliminate some of that fear that students have.

Another reason people

with intellectual or physical disabilities should visit is they do a great job of instilling re-sponsibility, caring, thinking before you speak, and not judging someone before know-ing them, things that parents try their hardest to teach their children.

By having them tell their stories to the class or having someone do it for them makes other students sympathetic.

No, they may not change but then they would be thinking about what they say and what they do.

Finally, it will positively af-fect everyones lives within the school.

It would be a positive ex-

Interaction time wouldimprove social acceptance

perience for the person with the disability, who is getting to be around people and be social, getting to be a part of something important.

It would also be a positive experience for the teacher who gets to watch their students grow as human beings. There would not be one person who could leave the building and say that their stories did not touch them.

That is why the school should have time where each grade level can spend a class period with someone who is different and proud to be.

The self proclaimed “Strike Team’ is the new JROTC male color guard team. This is the second all male team in the battalion’s history to place in a competi-tion.

“We are Strike Team and we have a brotherhood,” Right Rifle Chris Gonzales said.

This team consists of four members, two flags and two rifles. Left Rifle Jeff Manley, Right Rifle Chris Gonzales, United States Flag Guard

Ethan Shepherd, and Texas Flag Guard Matt Rasnick.

“I joined because the team needed someone that was ex-perienced with both the flags and rifles,” Texas Flag Guard Rasnick said.

Some things they do as the color guard team is present the colors at football games and most recently at the golden gloves boxing match.

“I wanted to be part of a team that could have fun and be serious to get work done,” Shepherd said.

The main objective of this group is to honor and remem-ber the freedom that so many others have fought for in the past and are continuing to fight for, to this day, to keep the United States safe and protect the rights in the Con-stitution.

“I enjoy getting the sat-isfaction of presenting our nations colors with pride and honor,” Manley said.

JROTC adds male guard

Rabago finds passion, competition, fun in H.O.S.A.The Health Occupa-

tion Students of America, (H.O.S.A.), is a nationwide or-ganization. It is a program for students who aspire to work in the medical field.

The H.O.S.A. state com-petition is held in McAllen, Texas on April first through fourth and is open to anyone who placed at regionals.

Elena C. Rabago attended and competed in first aid and breathing.

It was Rabago’s first time to ever participate in a H.O.S.A. competition. There were over twenty-five different

events and 2,200 kids compet-ed in only seven areas of the state. Rabago was awarded fifth place, barely missing Na-tionals by two people.

“Its not just about compet-ing and winning,” Rabago said. “It’s about meeting new people and getting the experience of a life-time.”

Rabago has decided she is going to be doing this com-petition again next year. She had a lot of fun, but said it was hard and nerve-racking at first, but as soon as she read the paper, she knew what she was doing.

In the H.O.S.A. organiza-tion, there are leaders in ev-ery area. She would like to, eventually, become president of Area 5.

Area 5 is all of Birdville In-dependent School District, Ar-lington, Lamar and a few other schools.

When entering H.O.S.A., students can also enter a field to win scholarships. Also H.O.S.A. provides certain scholarship plans for the kids who do not enter the competi-tion.

Rabago entered into the organization, because most

of her family is in the medical field. She had thought from the time she was a little girl that she was going to be a teacher or doctor, but now she has dis-covered many more choices.

She knows she wants to work in the medical field. Rabago cannot decide if she

wants to be a pediatrician or specialize and work with kids who have autism.

Her mother influenced her to join H.O.S.A. Without the help of her mother and teach-er Kimberly Baker’s direction, she might not have joined.

Rabago had fun partici-

pating in the competition and would love for anyone else with a passion for the medical field to start now and join the Health Occupation Students of America.

Kirstie BlandStaff Writer


Schools offer alternativeCharter schools are one of

a kind. Educators, parents, or civic leaders design them.

The schools provide an alternative for students other than public school.

Most charter schools try to provide a better and more ef-ficient general education than nearby public schools.

Nearly 4,600 charter schools provide education for more than 1.4 million students in 40 states.

For the 2008-2009 school year more than 355 new char-ter schools opened. Texas has a total of 331 charter schools and 108,541 children are enrolled and attend these schools.

All the charter schools in Texas are funded at 72 per-cent and receive only $6,620 per pupil. District schools re-ceive $9,210 per pupil. The private schools are funded

much less and are expected to provide higher grades and better percentages.

The private schools re-ceive the public money but have been freed from some of the rules and regulations that the state gives.

“I have been going to char-ter schools since 8th grade,” a Winfree School student said. “I like it a lot better, because we have more freedom to do what ever we want.”

The schools set their own standards as long as that school has certain results.

Charter schools are part of the public education system and are not allowed to change tuition. There is limited space at each private charter school.

When new private schools open they usually fill up fast, and competition for spots is tight.

They are allowed to reject

students for not meeting the standards.

Some of the charter schools provide a curriculum that specializes in a certain field like art, math, dance, sci-ence and multiple sports.

They set up the schools like this so the students can specialize in a particular area.

A recent study by Harvard scientists found that charter schools that have been oper-ating for more than five years out pace public schools by 15 percent.

Also they found that about the same number of students attend public schools as char-ter schools.

The charter schools typi-cally have much smaller build-ing sizes compared to public schools.

Kirstie BlandStaff Writer


Sarah FreemanStaff Writer


Opinion

Bryan HambyStaff Writer

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx JROTC All Male Color Guard - “Strike Team” Ethan Shepherd, Chris Gonzales, Jeff Manley and Matt Rasnick awarded the 3rd place Performance Phase trophy

from the Fort Worth Cowtown Classic JROTC Drill Invitational

Penny pinching can help relieve economic stressThat forlorn penny resting

on the curb has never looked so appealing.

Stinginess has become a way of life for many people in the current economic situ-ation, and they can hardly be blamed for this.

Times are tough, and Americans are feeling the pinch.

While the economic cri-sis is perceived to affect only adults, many do not realize the

drastic effects it has on many teens’ lives.

Though gas prices have seen a decline recently, teens are still pressed for gas mon-ey.

Summer jobs and allow-ances simply do not provide sufficient funds to purchase necessities, such as gasand frivolous wants.

That cute purse grows dusty in the store window, and teens everywhere are digging

deeper in their pockets for that last dollar.

Times are hard, but by im-plementing a few simple rules, teenagers may be surprised at the money they can save.

Guidelines to follow:1. Volunteer instead of

spending money on entertain-ment to fill spare time.

Find a niche and fill it. Not only will this require zero cash, but one will always leave with a sense of fulfillment.

2. Minimize your travel time. Try to have a fun time at home, this way gas money is saved, and there are no worries about purchasing overpriced restaurant food.

Rent movies on Netflix, or from Blockbuster instead of go-ing to the theater.

If the cinema is irresist-ible, bring food and drinks from home.

Food prices, especially popcorn, have escalated expo-

nentially, and bringing alterna-tives can save money.

3. Get a job. Financial in-dependence from one’s par-ents will not only bring a sense of pride, but hopefully a fatter wallet.

4. Cut down on the shop-ping; however, if the urge is insatiable, resort to discount retailers such as Kohl’s, Wal-Mart, Target and secondhand stores like Plato’s Closet.

Keep in mind, though this

crisis is currently in the hands of adults, soon enough it will fall to the younger generations.

For this reason, one should prepare early, so the issues may be corrected in the future.

In the meantime, all any teen can do to soften the blow of this crisis is to take these necessary precautions against its costly effects.



4 The Junior Hawk April 2009Features

Mobs of excited teens rushed through the front doors to snatch the best spot to see 3OH!3, Family Force 5, The Maine, Hit the Lights, A Rocket to the Moon and Drive A play their favorite songs on stage at the Dallas House of Blues.

The atmosphere tense with anticipation, Drive A, was the first opening band, started the first night of the Alternative Press tour with a couple of unknown songs.

To get the crowd pumped, A Rocket to the Moon, the second band, performed a set of catchy songs like Da-kota and If Only They New for everyone to sing along to.

Up next to play was the third band called Hit the Lights.

Armed with a few upbeat songs, Hit the Lights got the crowd up and ready for the first headliner band of the

night, The Maine. The lights finally dimmed

for The Maine to take the stage and the crowd came to

life making a beeline toward the front of the stage.

High-pitched screams filled the room as they started

playing. Not one song went by without someone singing along to every word.

The Maine then ended

their performance with their most well known song Every-thing I Ask For.

Family Force Five then

came on with many surpris-ing tricks up their sleeves.

With crazy dance moves, flips and handstands on the drum sets there was never a dull or calm moment.

Especially when they performed Love Addict which seemed to be the crowds fa-vorite. Ending the show was 3OH!3 creating the rock show into a dance party.

The techno style of their songs kept everyone on their feet and dancing until they played the last song of the night Don’t Trust Me.

After the show A Rocket to the Moon and The Maine came out to take pictures and sign autographs for the fans telling them how much fun they had on their first night of the Alternative Press tour.



30H!3 - Photo courtesy of Rollingstones.com

Teen screams greet AP tour bands

Nick Santino and Eric H. A Rocket To The Moon

John O’CallaghanThe Maine

Photos by Olivia Nguyen

Long seven period days, having tons of homework and not being able to work flexible hours has caused some buzz in school.

Some students would love to have longer periods to shorten the amount of classes each day.

A day B day schedules, known as A/B Block, could be an alternative. Not only could it help students pre-pare for college, since that is how most college schedules are set up, but it could also help teachers get more in-formation into their students each day.

Many teachers from other school districts have grown accustom to it and

As a high school student, college seems an eternity away, especially as a fresh-man, but college is just around the corner.

Before senior year hits like a brick wall, here are a few tips to stay prepared for college.

The first thing a student should do when they enter a high school is to choose their classes appropriately.

“Take as many classes in high school to prepare for college as possible and research jobs,” counselor Cindy Larson said.

Sure, blow off classes are fun, but picking classes to enhance the future will be beneficial in college.

Their are many choices offered for scheduling so choose wisely.

AP/Pre-AP classes are important to take because AP classes can help earn college credits so a student does not have to take that specific class in college, if they do well on the AP test.

It is also a great idea to keep grades up so time is not wasted, plus, good grades look good on a college application.

“The better grades you have, the better college you can get into,” freshman Tues-day Brooks said.

Though high grades are important, they are not the only things that a college looks for in the well-rounded student. Extracurricular activ-ities are a big part into getting accepted to a college.

“I made sure I was really involved in school and volun-teered outside of school and

kept my grades up to show that I was well-rounded stu-dent, because you want a college to want you,” Univer-sity of Texas student Chris-tine Nguyen said.

Colleges look for extracur-ricular activities because they show a student can manage time well and that they have good leadership skills.

Following these simple tips in high school and it will help to stand out on the appli-cation and increase chances for getting accepted to the college of choice.

For more information on hot to prepare for college visit:

www.midllandtech.edu/edu/sds/howtohigh.html

For science and other lab classes, both students and teachers would benefit from having the extra time.

Teachers would be able to conduct labs.

Math teachers would be able to help students who need extra help in one class sitting oppose to before or after school.

Also instead of rushing through six weeks to prepare for TAKS students can learn and be able to process the information given.

A/B block scheduling should definitely be a consid-eration.

College prep necessary


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lejuana MontfordStaff Writer


AB block should be optionEditorial

think it is an effort to improve academic standards.

More time in one sitting could help students concen-trate better and might help them pass TAKS more read-ily.

Students are currently overwhelmed with homework from multiple classes each day and jobs, for those who have them.

Block scheduling would allow students to concentrate on fewer subjects every other day instead.

The current schedule is not bad. Each type of sched-ule has pros and cons.

A/B Day scheduling would be an adjustment for both stu-dents and teachers.

April 2009 The Junior Hawk 5Features

Students explore optionsMotaz Mohamed, an

immigrant from Egypt, is a young man. He is only 14 years old, but he has already thought a lot about his future.

Mohamed wants to be a fire fighter in the future.

“I am going to study to be a fire fighter, because that’s what I want to be when I grow up. I want to save peoples lives and I want to be a hero,” Mohamed said.

Before he starts his train-ing, though, he has hopes of going to college.

“I am going to college for 4 years and get a career. I will get married and get a great life and a great family.”

Mohamed is optimistic about his future.

“I know that I will succeed as a fire fighter. It will be a good career for me and I will make enough money to take care of my family and I will be a hero.”

Amber Smith is 18 years old; she has thought some

about her future.“After graduating high

school I am thinking about going to college, but not for a while,” Smith said. “I am tak-ing a break from school and am working hard. I just got my own apartment.”

Smith is putting off go-ing to college, because she’s not sure what she wants to study.

“I have not made up my mind about what I am going to study in college and that’s one of the main reasons why I am not in college yet,” Smith said.

She does have some ideas about what she wants to do, though.

“If I were to go to college I would study graphic design or to be a teacher,” Smith said. “I want to do graphic de-sign or be a teacher, because it’s something I have always enjoyed and loved. No one pushed me to do any of those it’s just something I have al-

ways wanted to do.” Two completely different

people from two completely different walks of life, both Smith and Mohamed have thought about what they want to do with their lives.

Making decisions about the future is difficult. Many students become focused on the thought that they must choose only one career path and stay in that career their entire lives.

Some understand they have many choices and can make changes as they prog-ress, change and grow as people. Many students sense a “calling” to go into a particu-lar field. Some follow in the footsteps of family members to specific careers or go into the family business.

The choices are endless and not permanent. Explore the options.

Truancy, intentional un-authorized absence from school, has been labeled one of the top ten problems in this country’s education.

Thousands of kids skip school everyday. In the Dal-las/Fort Worth area alone, over 7,000 truancy cases have been filed in the past year.

There are major fines as-sociated with truancy, includ-ing a $500 fee, a suspended license and possible jail time or community service.

Both parent and student must appear in municipal court.

Any other day that a student is out of school is a separate offense, and could be a separate fine.

According to the Kids

Count Data Book, in north Texas, about 13 percent of students drop out of high school, most due to the whole ‘classes are boring!’ notion.

In Tarrant County alone, only 81 percent of adults have a high school diploma.

“They [the students] quit coming and get behind—or get behind and quit com-ing,” DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said.

He went on to explain that because there are so many truant students in the north Texas area, many drop out before senior year.

When students are not in school, police report that vandalism, shoplifting, graf-fiti and other crimes sky-rocket.

So far this year, 187 school-age students have been arrested for burglary—almost all of them happen-ing between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

Police did an experimen-tal sweep of the streets last October.

It turned out that 60 per-cent of the crimes on any given day were committed by school-age students.

Taking a day or two or five off is not worth it.

Money is lost, licenses are taken away, crimes are more likely to be committed, free time vanishes, dropping out is likely and futures are dismal.

Truancy not worth trouble

Industry sources indicate a 99.999 percent of the food people buy is safe, but what about the rest? The small percent of the food which is not safe has caused illness or fatality.

There were peanut but-ter products, infected by Sal-monella, which have been recalled off shelves, but there are still other occurring out-breaks such as problems with

pistachio nuts. In 2007, Salmonella in the

peanut butter started to sicken people. After the discovery of a candy bar which sickened an individual, it was discovered that there was tainted peanut butter.

The Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), recalled some of their products to test for the Salmonella.

The PCA of Blakely, Geor-

gia was inspected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and tested positive for Salmonella Typhimurium. The PCA recalled more of their products soon after.

Then the FDA inspected another plant in Plainview, Texas. It was difficult finding the plant owner, because it was not even licensed. The inspection and internal tests proved positive for the same

strain of Salmonella, which led to more recalls.

“It’s among the largest recall we’ve had,” Dr. Stephen Sundlof said.

The FDA found records of the processing plants where in 12 instances in 2007 and 2008 confirming the PCA knowingly shipped products with Salmo-nella.

On February 20, after all the recalls, the PCA filed for bankruptcy and they were not able to communicate with the consumers about their prod-ucts. Any questions now can be answered by the FDA.

“The findings of the FDA report can only be seen as a clear and unconscionable ac-tion of one irresponsible man-ufacturer, which stands alone in an industry that strives to follow the most stringent food

Safety standards studied following salmonella scaresafety standards,” said presi-dent of the PCA, Patrick Ar-cher in an article by Caroline Scott-Thomas for the Confec-tionery News.

The Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) announced to the public they were tracing the Salmonella that plagued more than 40 dif-ferent states.

“Outbreaks can be really expensive, not only to the farm or factory that housed the bad food, but for every farmer or factory that makes something. Right now, there are thou-sands of peanut products be-ing pulled from shelves.

Each of those compa-nies is losing money. Losing money can lead to job loss,” said Meghan Satyanarayana Health Writer for the Detroit Free Press.

So far this outbreak has caused nine deaths nationally and sickened several hundred people.

Half of the cases of infec-tions are children under the age of 16 years old.

People who were young, old or had weak immune sys-tems were the ones mostly infected by the Salmonella. At the time there was no federal law which required a manufac-turer to report any health is-sues such as the Salmonella.

Legislators will be adding onto the Food, Drug and Cos-metic Act and other bills for the federal law to be established. There will be more safety regulators for the food industry making food safer to eat.

Harmon serves up smiles

Nick GoldingStaff Writer


Many a student passes through the lunch lines of the school every day, weary from the day’s labors, only to be greeted by the smiling face of Kristin Harmon, lunch cashier extraordinaire.

Harmon, an eighteen-year veteran of the school district’s war on sack lunches, is iden-tifiable by her blonde bun and buoyant attitude.

Harmon began her work in1988 at Mullendore Elemen-tary, despite little work experi-ence in the cafeteria, so that she could be with her boys through school. She has stuck with it after both of her sons have graduated. She cites in-teracting with the students as

her favorite part of the job.“Students make me want

to come to work in the morn-ing,” Harmon said.

Job choice seems to have spilled into other aspects of Harmon’s life also, since her favorite TV show is Hell’s Kitchen and decorating cakes is one of her favorite hobbies.

“Birdville High School taught me to decorate cakes… I do it as a hobby, but I wouldn’t like it as a job or day to day activity,” Harmon said.

Harmon’s duties begin at seven in the morning and include working the register, stocking shelves, baking hot rolls, getting change from the bank, and anything else the

cafeteria needs. The work does nothing to

damper her spirits however, since all students are met with a large smile while in Harmon’s line.

“I try my best to be a pos-itive example,” Harmon said.

Despite being at BHS for only a year and a half, Har-mon is easily one of the most recognizable personalities in the school.

So, during the next lunch break, take time to think about the person who serves the food everyday with a smile on their face and smile back.



Kendall CarlsonStaff Writer


Twitter takes on America Twitter is the new hit site

of the net that has millions of people flocking to tweet. This site has became a blog-ger sanctuary for the people. What it offers is a combina-tion of speedy messaging, a social network and texting.

Twitter can be accessed through the computer or on a phone. It is the third best so-cial network right now, behind Facebook and MySpace.

Starting up on this site takes only a couple of min-utes, because it requires only minimal information.

On a beginning profile a person starts with a blank page. The options of cus-tomization are basic: have a profile picture, change back-

ground, short bio, and add-ing updates on what you are doing.

Twitter is known for its blog search engine. It has a vast amount of topics to choose from to blog about.

“It’s real addictive,” Rob-ert Scoble master blogger said.

Getting friends on twit-ter is a simple task for most people. The real trick is trying to follow their actions.

Twitter lets people keep track of all their friends’ up-dates, so they know what the other person is doing 24/7. When blogging on Twitter, a person gets only 140 charac-ters to use.

People usually use the

site to blog about their views on topics, but some people are using it to find jobs.

Celebs like Shaq and Weird Al cruise the site up-dating on what they are do-ing daily and sometimes tweeting where they will go for the day.

Members can find many different types of people to “follow” including news per-sonalities, celebrities, movie stars, teachers, business pro-fessionals and people from all walks of life. Members can also follow organizations, like schools. Join today and find BHS on Twitter.



Islam MohamedStaff Writer


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Life & ArtsElvis Presley, the King

himself, once said, “I can’t sing like Fats Domino, I

know that.” And indeed still, no one can.

Still, there are attempts, and Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino is one of the best attempts.

A massive two-CD, thir-ty-track playlist dominates the back side of the album.

Bigger names include Paul McCartney, Elton John, John Lennon, Tom Petty,

Randy Newman and even B.B. King.

The album comes out swinging with one of its strongest songs. John Len-non’s version of Ain’t That a Shame is probably the song that most strongly blends Fats’s lyrics and style with

Domino tribute album features McCartney, Nevillethe new artists own.

This song is well fol-lowed with Tom Petty’s ver-

sion of I’m Walkin’. The uptrend continues

throughout the first disc with only a couple of notable ex-ceptions (Paul McCartneys version of I Want to Walk You Home sounds like an undercooked wedding sing-er) and at least one surprise

Texas is no stranger to ori-ental cuisine. From PF Changs, to Pei Wei, and every fam-ily-owned Thai, Japanese and Chinese restaurant in between, North Texas is jam-packed with Asian culture, wooden chopsticks and spicy, expen-sive dishes; however, there so happens to be one little gem of a restaurant tucked into a bustling neighborhood that in-

cludes all of that, excluding the expensive price.

One might give Sweet Ba-sil, a small, family-run Thai res-taurant just outside of the North East Mall, a passing glance.

It is certainly tiny, and crammed in between AT&T and Silver Creek Jewelers; however, what Sweet Basil lacks in size, it makes up for in atmosphere.

Imported bejeweled art-work and hangings from Thai-land adorn the red brick walls, and the entire restaurant is splashed with authentic Asian artifacts. The ambiance is very classy .

The staff is friendly, and there is always a bright-smiling greeter to take you to your seat. The waiters are attentive and helpful with describing the dish-



Kendall CarlsonStaff Writer


On February 28th, art students went to Fossil Ridge High School for the Visual Arts Scholastic Event, also known as V.A.S.E.

11 BHS students were ac-cepted to the state competi-tion out of more than 13,000 entries state wide.

“We’re always proud,” art teacher Ian Floyd said.

Two students had both of their pieces go to state, including Melody Karsi and Caitlyn Juarez.

“We spent a lot of time and a lot of hard work,” junior Caitlyn Juarez said.

V.A.S.E. is a great expe-rience for young artists. Stu-dents from all over the area came to the event.

“You get inspiration,” ju-nior Melody Karsi said.

The experiences the stu-

dents receive are positive and are a great way to see others’ work and get new ideas from them.

“They get the perfect at-mosphere,” Floyd said.

Many artists were nervous about the competition. They saw other students’ work and they were worried about the judges’ opinions.

“Art is so subjective, you never know if the judges will like it or not,” Juarez said.

Even though it is stress-ful, students still get a lot out of the event. Many young artists would love to have a chance like this.

“It’s a once in a lifetime possibility,” Floyd said.

The contest is not like other contests. The practice gained from this competition is nothing like the academic

competitions. “Art is a visual experi-

ence,” art teacher Eddie Brown said.

The best students are sent to V.A.S.E. to show other schools their talented skills.

“When we got to V.A.S.E., it’s the best of the best,” Juarez said.

Birdville has proven itself to contain the best and the teachers are excited to see more and more students go.

“I always want to see more kids go,” Brown said.

V.A.S.E. is an opportu-nity for young artists and is sponsored annually by the Texas Art Education Asso-ciation (TAEA) and is the only art event of its kind in the nation.

Elaine SwartzStaff Writer


(Corrine Bailey Rae’s bluesy cover of One Night (Of Sin) is brilliantly left as a live ver-sion on the album).

Unfortunately, the good feel and lyrical nostalgia do not spill onto the second disk; Neil Young and Robert Plant’s contributions are par-ticularly disappointing.

The let down could pos-sibly come from a lack of good material.

After all, you can’t have two people cover two songs, and after the sway-inducing beauty of the first song’s source materials, some on this side of the box feel like the leftovers.

There are still some highpoints worth listening to, though. Marc Broussard’s Rising Sun is a thrilling tip of the hat to all Southern mu-sic, and Los Lobos’s cover of The Fat Man is just bril-liant.

How a band with so much Spanish influence managed a successful cover of a jazz/early rock and roll song may remain a mystery.

An additional bonus is that every time a new copy of the CD is bought, a frac-tion of the sale goes to the Tipitinas Foundation.

The Tipitinas Foundation is a charitable organization

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

From Ice Cream to Italian, the last thing Jerry’s Italian reminds patrons of is the Braum’s Ice Cream and Dairy store the building once housed.

The first sensation, walking into Jerry’s Italian Bistro, is the smell of freshly baked bread and all kinds of Italian aromatics coming from the kitchen.

“Everyone is so nice, the service is great, and the food is amazing,” Marissa Nelson said.

Reminisent of an Italian gangster movie, Jerry’s transports customers to another place in time.

Unlike many restaurants and fast food establishments that microwave prepared frozen entrees, the food coming from Jerry’s kitchen imparts the taste and feel of a chef that cares. It is like eating food prepared by Momma...the love is the main ingredient.

Every meal there is unique. They are not going to be identical every time and that adds to the experience, for example all the little imperfections on their pizza, cal-zones and stromboli, including the burnt edges and the veggies hanging off the side.

It is nice to go to a restaurant and know that they are using the freshest vegetables they can get. It is kind of like eating a homemade meal, but just paying someone for it.

From all the sauces they make specific for each meal upon order, to the bread provided to snack on while wait-ing for the food, customers will know this place is authen-tic and that the owners know what they are doing.

Its the perfect place to take a date to dinner on a Saturday evening. Complete with white fabric tablecloths and napkins, it is the nice without a pricey price.

Entrees range in price from just under $10 to just over $10. An array of pasta dishes, salads and pizza are served. An extensive dinner menu is complimented with a quick in-and-out lunch menu at smaller prices.

Children are welcome in this family friendly Italian atmosphere.

There are several rare recordings not likely to be found again, a few new names of interest, and the money goes to a good cause. Give Goin’ Home a spin. It is worth the money.

working to restore Louisi-ana’s local music scene, not a bad goal since Louisiana has given us such artists as Louis Armstrong, Jerry Lee Lewis and Lucinda Williams.

Only time will tell if Goin’ Home will go down in the history books as a musical classic.

es, and service is very fast.The food at Sweet Basil is

moderately priced, the least ex-pensive dish at about eight dol-lars, the most at about fifteen.

The menu includes every-thing from egg rolls, to duck, to peanut chicken. They are famous for their extensive list of noodle dishes.

Sweet Basil is very clean, and the perfect place to take someone on a date, or just a quick snack after shopping at the mall.

Caleb PierceStaff Writer


Jerry’s Italian offers quality experience

Eleven chosen for VASE

Sweet Basil, great food, great price

April 2009 The Junior Hawk 7Life & ArtsLife & Arts

3…2…1…GO!Action-hungered movie-

goers raced in line on April 3rd, 2009.

Recent release, Fast and Furious, is filled with fast cars, romance and revenge.

Vin Diesel and Paul

Walker star in this nail-biting thriller that keeps people on the edge of their seat, won-

Film exceeds expectationsdering what is going to hap-pen next.

It is no surprise that the outcome of this movie shows extreme success.

This number one box of-fice film brought in a whopping $72.5 million in its weekend’s

release, making it the high-est-grossing opening week-end for a car-themed movie.

The exciting story and the extreme special effects kept people’s eyes on the screen the whole time.

Unlike the previous mov-ies of the sequel, Fast and Furious is more about the characters’ stories than fast cars and winning races.

Although Fast and Furi-ous pulled off the biggest opening ever in the month of April, improvements could have been made.

The realistic level of the film is questionable and can-not be seen as possible, but it is easy to sit back and enjoy the film without confusion.

Parents should think twice before letting under aged chil-dren watch this film.

Some aspects of the mov-ie were wanted for change, but overall, Fast and Furious is worth the $7 to $10 for ev-ery minute. This movie is one that cannot be waited on for rental.

Once people watch it, they will want to speed out of the parking lot and swerve through cars on the roads.

Jump in a car and head to the movies; it is a must see.

Movie remake release disappoints excited viewersWith a title as exalted as

The Day the Earth Stood Still, it would seem appropriate to have some sort of apocalyptic action. Instead, this film deliv-ers an awkward mixture of bland characters, flimsy plot line and contrived messages.

A remake of a classic 1950’s film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, had a sufficient bud-

get, and remarkable potential. Instead, the film fell flat.

Keanu Reeves, who plays the role of an alien named Klaatu, maintains a stony dis-position throughout the film. He plays the part well, but then again, so could any other actor with the inability to smile and a monotonous voice.

The gifted Jennifer Con-

nelly portrays the protagonist, astro-biologist Dr. Helen Ben-son. Unfortunately, her role was equally forgettable, an-other cardboard cutout mem-ber of the cast.

With a plethora of trigger-happy American soldiers and adequate special effects, the movie managed to satisfy its quota of action; however, the

plot was tied to the simple ba-sis that humans are destroying the Earth, and therefore must be eliminated. Sound familiar? The high point of the movie consisted of a line delivered by Reeves.

“If the Earth dies, you die. If the human race dies, the Earth survives.”

After this realization, the

plot quickly tires and the view-er loses interest in the obvious environmental message being delivered. To make matters more confusing, this message against human consumerism is muddied by the constant interjections of product place-ment for McDonald’s and LG.

Overall, this film solidifies the theory that remakes are

Ladies and gentlemen, summer is coming, and that means that it is time to shave those legs and clean out those sweatshirts and jeans from

gloom for A-list designers such as BCBG, Max Azia and Louis Vuitton. These designers let the world know that not even a severe recession could stop them from ripping the runway. Christian Dior, Calvin Klein and others like Micheal Kors, partnered up to show fashions from Milian, Paris, London and the fashion capital New York City.

Models were placed on platforms with dresses, gowns and suits. For many design-ers, this was their first time ex-periencing and showing their creativity to the world. Fashion was brought to many celebri-ties such as Victoria Beckham, Paris Hilton and Kanye West. It was evident that they walked away with a visual of the looks for Summer ’09.

With economic times and the economy down leaving pockets low Fashion Week could not and did not forget to express the hot and elegant looks for less.

From the hottest jeans to the hottest dresses, they showed it all.

From the parties. to the fashion shows the world was reminded that summer was here and it was time to bring sexy back.

Many people were pleased and let the word out that Mer-cedes Benz fashion week was a success.

generally a failure at replicat-ing a classic. Other than a vague insinuation at human ‘change’ no profound mes-sages are gathered, and any viewer with an appreciation of sci-fi would leave this imitation disappointed.

Summer fashion unveileddespite economic recession

The whiff of pasta trails behind the food on the table.

The smell of pasta feels the pictures on the wall, ex-pressing the Italian city Ven-ice.

With the dim lights fill-ing the room, the restaurant gives the feeling of Italy.

Ferari’s, which is located on the corner of Mid Cities Blvd. and Davis Blvd., is an Italian restaurant that had its grand opening in January.

Within only a couple of months, Ferari’s has had many comments and, at one time made it in the top ten of the best restaurant in North Richland Hills.

The chefs create food, such as pizza, rolatini and the original spaghetti.

They put decoration on the plates and food, mak-ing the entrees and desserts more appealing.

Not everybody has a crav-ing for Ferari’s and their food. Customers tend to notice that not all the food is fresh out of the oven.

“The bread was stale as if it was set overnight from last nights batch,” customer of Ferari’s Tara T. said.

People are greeted at the door when they arrive at Ferari’s.

“The service was nice and with an easy pace. Enough to where you can socialize with your friends and family,” customer of Ferari’s Paul H. said

The waiters do take their time with the service as well as the chefs.

Sitting with a party of six usually has a comfortable pace to some people.

Going as a date may put a worry as in how much lon-ger it is going to take.

“If you like Italian food, you have to come here,” the family of Ferari’s said.

When driving along the streets with pasta on the mind, it might be worth a try to have a bite of Ferari’s.

Lejuana MontfordStaff Writer






Josh HolbrookStaff Writer


Ferari’s Italianmakes top ten

Photo courtesy of MBfasionweek.com

Photo courtesy of Cealagar.com

Photo courtesy of Movies.Sky.com

the closet. Well at least that is what the designers at Mer-cedes Fashion week in New York had to say.

It was not all doom and

Many people were pleased and let

the word out that Mercedes Benz

fashion week was a success.

Summer BlockbustersSummer is right around the corner, which means lots of time to watch movies. Summer Blockbusters are movies that come out in theaters during May, June, July and August. The top ten movies from last year are: 10. The Incredible Hulk 9. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 8. Mamma Mia! 7. Sex in the City 6. Kung Fu Panda 5. Wall-E 4. Hancock 3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull 2. Iron Man Last, but not least, the Number One movie to beat is The Dark Night grossing

533,345,358 in profits.

Some movies coming out this summer that everyone may want to see are: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen X-men Origins: Wolverines

Looks like this summer is going to be a summer of diverse movies.

Sarah FreemanStaff Writer


8 The Junior Hawk April 2009Sports

The face of America is changing; this is certainly nothing new.

America has always been composed of immigrants and as America changes, sports preferences are changing too.

It should not be surpris-ing that our newest immigrants are bringing their love of sports with them.

Immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa are learning to love traditional American sports, such as base-ball, football and basketball, but they will never betray their most beloved sport, soccer.

Yelsin Moreno is an immi-grant from El Salvador. When

Passion migrates to U.S.

Islam MohamedStaff Writer


he talks about his love of soc-cer he represents the feelings of many immigrants on the topic of Soccer.

“Soccer basically means a lot to me, because by playing soccer it has kept me in good shape and has kept me out of trouble. This is [the] only sport I really like to play,” Moreno said. “I have played soccer since I was six years old in El Salvador with all of my friends. When I play soccer I feel great with pride because I love play-ing soccer.”

Soccer or football as it is known in other countries, takes its routes back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries in China, where

Robert Bean and Margo Helen Branach finished first in district mixed doubles ad-vancing to regionals, leading the team results for Varsity Hawk Tennis.

Finishing third in girls doubles, Brooke Blakeslee

and Tori Benner were fol-lowed by Francesca Norris placing fourth in girls sin-gles.

The students are close on the court and off the court, slapping high-fives and smiles when they pass

each other in the hallways.“Tennis is hard, but I

think the team is the stron-gest it’s ever been in all four years that I have been here,” Varsity team member Robert Bean said.

Some may think it is so

Kirstie BlandStaff Writter


third place, Scott Logan and Diedra Seudemier.

“Most people don’t think of tennis as a sport, but re-ally, we work just as hard and fast as soccer or track,” Korba said.

Each player learns and practices good sportsman-ship and etiquette on the court, as well as off.

Coached by Celina Bur-ris, the tennis team mem-bers agree that it would be great if more people would join, simply because it is a

fun and fast-paced sport, and it encourages people to be more respectful toward others.

Other Varsity members participating in the district meet include Jordan Tana-ka, Christian Suarez, Ryan Moore, Billy Stewart, Jason DeFriese, Jordan Crane, Kevin Bell, Olivia Nguyen, Natalie Graves, Katharine Mekush and Tiffany Garner.

Bean, Branach lead in district tennis team results

Around the globe are tons of sports rarely even heard about in the U.S. From Bossa-ball to chess-boxing, odds are it is being played somewhere.

These extreme sports have become internationally famous, and may someday come to the U.S. Sandboard-ing, Chess boxing and Bossa-ball are sports with intense ac-tion and a lot of fun.

Sandboarding is played throughout 44 different coun-tries including the U.S. Similar to the popular sport Snow-boarding, the big difference be-ing instead of riding the snowy mountains, the Sandboarders glide down sand dunes in the deserts or beaches.

Going down the sand dunes someone can reach speeds of 60 to 70 miles per hour. In Monahan, Texas, there is a Sandhills State Park for people who are willing to try it.

“One of the latest sports crazes [is] Sand boarding,” Simon Reeves on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corpora-tion) said.

Those preferring to play chess and others that enjoy boxing can now enjoy the

Unusual sports emergein countries around world

two combined into one pain-ful mental and physical sport. This extreme sport has spread all over the world into tourna-ments. Two competitors are set in a ring for eleven alter-nating rounds of speed chess and boxing matches.

The chess match lasts for four minutes then a one minute break is rewarded for changing gear which is fol-lowed by a boxing match for two minutes. To win this sport, one of the competitors has to get a knockout, checkmate, or a judge’s decision.

There are official training clubs for this sport in Berlin, London and Sofia, Bulgaria, which are called intellectual fight clubs.

“Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board,” is the slogan for the Berlin based World Chess Boxing Organization.

Sports can get to a certain level until some start to see them as weird. The people have to decide if Bossaball is one of those weird stories.

Bossaball is a sport com-bination of beach volleyball, beach soccer, gymnastics and football. Two teams of three,

it was used for military training purposes.

The game later spread to other countries, eventu-ally making it to Latin America, where the rules were refined for a more friendly sport.

Since then, it has become a favorite in many parts of the world, with several leagues and tournaments world-wide.

As immigrants come to the United States with their culture in tow, they learn new and exciting sports; however, they will never forget their love of Soccer.

four or five players play on an inflatable volleyball court with trampolines.

The goal is a basic one: a team tries to ground the ball onto the opponent’s field to score points. If the ball hits the inflatable part of the court, you gain one point. If the ball hits the trampoline, you gain three points. The entire team has a maximum of eight contacts with the ball in any form of contact, whether it be hands, feet or head.

Players can touch with their hands only once then double touch with any other body part. Bossaball games have referees, which are not just for making sure players are following the rules, but to also be the DJ.

They are considered masters of the ceremony at a game. This sport is played mainly in Latin America and Europe; so do not expect to see it in the U.S. just yet.

“I think it’s [a] great sport because it mixes a couple of sports,” Zven Scholle, a Ro-mania Bossaball Trainer said.



Every angler knows that spawning time is one of the best times to catch bass, but every-thing gets a little more tricky after the spawning time is over. Here are a few pointers on post-spawn bass fishing to help out the frus-trated fisherman.

1. When fishing offshore, on a rock bottom, or in a rip-rap, try using a Carolina rig and slowly fishing it deep off the bottom be-cause some bass will go deeper to try to recuperate from there hard work during the spawn.

2. Weed prone lakes are also great to fish in at this time.

In these waters try throwing a tube jig with a slip sinker in the shallows. A good tip for this is not to spend too much time on every cast, let it drop, pop it a few times and if there is no action, reel it back in and throw again

3. When fishing deeper in lakes with an abundance of veg-etation finesse a deep crank bait slowly from the shore in. When fishing a crank choose a sensi-tive rod, because the bite will not be as ferocious as the pre-spawn bite.

4. If there are skittish bass in the weed beds throw a weed-

less soft plastic in as close to the beds as you can and twitch it.

5. Sunfish usually gang up on bass beds, if there is a school of them up off the shore throw double bladed spinner which will replicate the fish and the bass will attack protecting his nest.

Also in these conditions a top water popper or buzz bait will replicate the sound of an at-tacking fish and trigger a bass to attack.Good luck and happy fishing!

Fishing provides leisure



Birdville’s baseball teams are full of talented players.

Talent is not everything when it comes to game time. The baseball teams show dedication, teamwork and in-tellect. These appear in their winning games.

Coaches also see the teams’ great sportsmanship. They see the positive attitudes the players have to each other and teams around them.

“We are extremely proud of our players. They are fine young men that are highly disciplined,” Varsity Coach David Hatcher said.

The coaches are happy to have teams that have a great mind-set. They are committed to their teammates.

“I am very honored to be able to coach with the guys that I coach with and I am very proud of the dedication and tremendous attitudes of

our players,” Coach Daniel Chaney said.

The team must stay to-gether throughout the whole game. There is no giving up in the middle of a game.

“There have been teams who won all but one inning and lost, but you can never lose if you win every inning,” freshman player Ryan Fla-herty said.

Baseball coaches are al-ways going to push their play-ers to their limits. They want to show the players what they can really do.

“We always expect more hard work from them, we push them beyond what they think they can do,” Hatcher said.

The players get along with each other and have a strong bond. They stick together throughout the season.

Multiple people agree that the baseball players are close

to each other. The players can win games, because of the close relationships they have to each other.

The three BHS baseball teams pull together as one big team effort to win their games.

“We expect to be in the playoffs and a serious threat to defend our Region One Championship,” Hatcher said.

The coaches are antici-pating playoffs and the rest of the season.

“I am looking forward to another great run in the playoffs, and I do expect to be playing in June,” Chaney said.

The way the teams have been playing, summer base-ball is possible.



simple to hit a ball over a net, but to make it accurate and have perfect precision requires a lot of hard work.

The tennis team has done well this year.

Junior varsity results in-clude the following:

Girls doubles - first place, April Bell and Katie O’Brien; Girls doubles - second place, Alex Korba and Kirstie Bland; Boys singles - fourth place, Ryan Eleopolous, Girls singles - third place, Taylor Brewer; Mixed doubles -

Baseball sets teamwork standards during season

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