Staff Writer

James Halpin’s eyes cloud over. He rocks forward a little bit and stutters. Eventually the words come. “I ultimately think it was good what he did. He made the right decision.”
 James, a senior at Bloomington North, was talking about his father, the late Scot Halpin. Scot was a husband, a drummer, and “the greatest artist that no one ever knew.”
 One day, while performing at Peoples Park with his band SnakeDoctor, Scot had a grand mal seizure. He was later diagnosed as having a benign but inoperable and growing brain tumor. The Halpins appeared to be in luck: one of the few facilities in the nation that could treat such a tumor, the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, was less than two miles from Scot’s house.
 However, Scot did not have health insurance, so he was given a choice: he could either completely bankrupt his family and buy himself a chance to live, or he could die without getting treatment. He passed away on February 9th, 2008, opting to go without treatment.
 The Halpins were not looking to scam the system. They tried to buy health insurance before Scot was ever diagnosed as having a tumor, but they were denied insurance because James’s mom, Robin, has asthma. “We just wouldn’t have been a good business investment,” said James. Had a health insurance company decided to cover the Halpins, the company would have lost money while covering Robin’s medical costs, so they refused to insure the family. “It’s a broken system,” said James. “It defeats the whole point of health insurance, which is to help people who are sick.”
 Stories like Scot’s are commonplace in this country. In 2008, according to a study done by HarvardScience, nearly 45,000 Americans died of curable diseases simply because they lacked health insurance.
 The human costs are not nearly so high in other developed countries. A report cited by Nicholas Kristof in his article “Unhealthy America” examined how well 19 developed countries succeed in stopping preventable deaths. The United States came in last. That’s not surprising, considering that the United States ranks 31st in life expectancy worldwide, though this position is also shared by Kuwait and Chile.
 Despite all this, the United States also manages to spend more money on healthcare and health insurance than any other country in the world. We spend a larger percentage of GDP (our country’s national spending) on healthcare/ health insurance than any other country and spend more money per person than any other country as well.
 The costs of health insurance negatively affect millions of Americans each year. Nearly one in every five families is placed under financial stress by the costs of medical bills, and according to a study done by The American Journal of Medicine, roughly 62 percent of bankruptcies in 2007 were due to medical bills.
 One family that has been adversely affected by the costs of our current system is the Vidaurri family. South freshman Carlos Vidaurri, the youngest of the family’s three sons, came down with cancer last year. The Vidaurris didn’t have health insurance, as the costs would have been too high for the family of six: the average cost of private health insurance is about $15,000 a year per family, which forces some families to choose between financial stability and medical care.
 Unlike Scot Halpin, however, Vidaurri got lucky. He was able to receive treatment at Riley Hospital for Children, which is run by a non-profit health insurer, Clarian Health.
 But there was a problem: Riley Hospital is located in Indianapolis. Vidaurri’s parents needed to drive him all the way up to Indy for his weekly treatments since a comparable non-profit health insurer was not available in Bloomington. “My parents could not work as long as they usually could,” said Jesus ‘Chuy’ Vidaurri, Carlos’s oldest brother. “Gas was a problem, and groceries got pretty expensive.”
 The Vidaurris were placed in an unfortunate situation because there was not a local non-profit health insurance company. However, compared to many families in the United States, the Vidaurris actually got a pretty good deal. In this nation, getting treatment to save your life is often synonymous with bankruptcy, and having private health insurance doesn’t always help. For example, among the 62 percent of Americans whose bankruptcies were caused by medical bills, 78 percent had insurance. Insurance companies often look for ways to drop their clients’ insurance claims once they get sick. For example, a common practice among private insurers known as “rescission” involves seizing upon technicalities in insurance claims to drop coverage for patients once they become ill. Companies are more than happy to take your money for insurance, but once you actually get sick, it is not in their best interests to pay for your treatment. “They don’t help you once you actually get sick,” said James. “The worry that companies have is that you might actually use your insurance.”
 This isn’t to say that all healthcare systems are bad, though. The American healthcare system is notorious around the world for its emphasis on profit rather than on quality of care. When Nicholas Kristof wrote articles in The New York Times comparing the American healthcare system to the Slovenian system, he took a tone along the lines of “worse than Slovenia!” Many Slovenians were deeply offended by this, though not because it was assumed that America should be able to do better than Slovenia. They were ashamed that their quality healthcare system should be compared, in any way, to the infamously dysfunctional American system.
 The Dartmouth Institute For Health Policy and Clinical Practice did extensive research on the problems with the current American health insurance system. They published a report of their studies in February 2009 that began with the line “The U.S. health care system is broken.” It is a system with not only the highest financial costs in the world, but the highest human costs as well; it’s a system in which the people who need care the most are the least likely to receive it; and as James Halpin saw, it is a system where your ability to pay often determines your ability to live.

Brittany Aders

News Editor

Eighteen year old Garrett Fell looks out the passenger window of a Bloomington police car while speeding 90 miles an hour as the car heads back towards the station. While most students would be hysterical in this scenario, Fell treats this as an everyday occurrence. His rebellious character is not the cause of this situation, but his interest in the field of law enforcement. While many students intern for family members or friends who will allow them some leisure time, senior Garrett Fell chose to take advantage of the opportunity and intern at the police station for a hands on experience in a career that interests him. “I’ve always been interested in law enforcement and criminal justice,” Fell said. “I thought it would be cool to be a detective and you have to have a long background as a policeman before you can become a detective.”
 Even though most students’ internships are every day for about 2 hours in the afternoon, Fell only interns on Thursdays between 2 and 10 p.m. at the police officers’ requests. “They told me I wouldn’t be able to get much done in only two hours every day, so they said to come one day a week for eight hours,” Fell said.
      Before he began interning, Fell also discussed his obligation to keep people and events confidential, considering he would most likely be witnessing much information in the weeks to come. This did prove to be true as Fell got to see first hand how arrests were made and records were filed. “I ended up riding five nights that I interned and the rest of the time I spent in the records division scanning and filing papers,” Fell said.
 Like the police force, Fell dealt with risky situations during his internship. On nights that he was not out driving, he was put in charge of scanning old files and then putting them through a massive shredder that could shred about 50 papers at a time. “I was always afraid that I was going to shred a file and let a criminal get away for a crime,” Fell said. “I would check and recheck the files three times before I would shred them.” He also said that it was crazy going through the files because he came occasionally came across files of people he knew.
 Although Fell was only in the police car five times and switched policeman during every drive, he encountered about five arrests throughout his shifts. “One time, we were riding around and another police officer was calling in the license number of a man he had just pulled over when all of a sudden, the guy jumped out of his car and the policeman on dispatch had to chase him down,” Fell said. “We sped to the scene to help and the officers ended up finding two of the three people.”
 Fell learned that even though work can be hard for policemen, “it is definitely not what they show it to be on television where the shows have cameramen driving around for months to get a 30 minute program.” He also found it very interesting how laid back the policemen were in tough situations. He shared how cool it was to be in the police car. “It was definitely weird to get to go 90 miles an hour,” said Fell. “It was sweet how they would turn on their sirens and everyone around would just part like the red sea.”
 Because of his internship, Fell has decided that he is much more interested in the field than before. “It is definitely one of my options,” Fell said. “I would consider it more because it’s not the same thing every day and you are often outdoors too.”

Staff Writer

Here at South, some people complain about the cafeteria food choices. Imagine if you were a picky eater… The cafeteria would be unapproachable! South is home to a slew of picky eaters with odd eating habits. Some students choose to be selective, while others are just naturally picky.
  People at south are picky for a variety of reasons. Some, such as Laura Emery, are just simply demanding. Others, such as junior Aubrey Seader hate processed food and prefer home cooked meals.  Some, such as Stephanie Weatherall, adhere to special diets because of their principles.

Stephanie Weatherall

Pescetarian

Weatherall is a senior with “selective” eating habits. A pescetarian (someone who eats no meat other than seafood) since she was 3, she has not tasted meat besides when her friends sneakily slipped it to her. She has also begun not drinking milk and eating other dairy products for both health reasons and sympathy towards animals.
 While many would claim having Weatherall’s eating habits would be almost impossible to maintain, she says it is not hard “these days because they have so many substitute soy products.” Weatherall just recently picked up some of her vegan habits, but she has been a pescetarian since her family had a family vote when she was 3. In terms of eating out she feels it really limits her fast food eating, but it helps limiting her choices down so much. While not eating out, she claims, “It’s not hard around the house to always accommodate everyone.” She’s lucky she lives in a family that shares her exact eating habits.   

Aubrey Seader

Homestyle Cookin’          
 
Seader is a picky eater in a unique sense. Left to her own devices, Seader would only eat home made food, vegetables, fruits, and never have to eat a fast food or overly processed meal again. Seader is unlike the normal picky eaters as she is great with strong flavor and spicy food. She instead avoids foods that are overly processed, saying her least favorite foods are doughnuts and yogurt. On fast food she says, “I would probably do everything in my power to avoid eating anything on the Taco Bell menu.”
 Her pickiness limits the amount of new food she gets to try. About trying new foods Seader said, “I won’t try anything new because I think I won’t like it.” When dining out at known restaurants she eats what she had the last time she was there, something her friends like to tease her about.

Laura Emery

Acquired Tastes

Emery is just your plain, run of the mill, picky eater. While slightly adventuresome, she said “I like to try things but I rarely like them.” Others take poorly to Emery’s picky eating. She said, “My parents on occasion get upset about me not eating things.”
 Emery’s eating habits can also be costly. One time while dining at La Torre she bought a burrito that didn’t have enough cheese. She then ordered a whole other side of cheese for $3. “I was really mad” says Emery about the whole experience. She hates pickles, olives, plain turkey and tomatoes. Emery considers herself the opposite of a vegetarian: “Every meal must include meat on it or it isn’t satisfying.”

David Tiwari

Sports Editor

The South boys swimming team beat out Columbus North to bring the sectional title to South for the first time since 2006-2007. The panthers beat Columbus North by scoring 358 points compared to Columbus’s 257. In doing so, they finished first in every event except the 200 yard freestyle, 100 meter backstroke, and 100 yard breaststroke.
       Placing first in their events for the panthers were sophomore Scott Haeberle who set a sectional record in the 500 freestyle with 4:40.23 and also won the 200 individual medley, Brendon Michaelson, who won the 50 and 100 freestyle, and senior Devin O’Leary, who won the 100 butterfly. “Very emotional,” Haeberle said. “Wasn’t really expecting this, [going to state] feels great.”
      The relay events were all won by the Panthers as well, with a sectional record set in the 400 free relay by O’Leary, Senior Jason Sprinkle, Haeberle and Michaelsen. Michaelsen said of the relays, “The first event blew away the team and set the tone. From there it just got better and better.”

      In addition to qualifying eight swimming events to state, South’s trio of divers: Senior Darian Schmidt, junior Danton Rodgers and sophomore Dathan Schmidt all advanced to the regionals. The elder Schmidt set a school record of 613.6 while Rodgers and the sophomore Schmidt both had personal records.
      The success that the Panthers had in the sectional didn’t happen overnight. All the swimmers train year round with clubs and only get about a three week break between the high school season and club. The team’s closeness is also very apparent. “I feel like the swim team is one of the closest teams out there,” said O’Leary who also said the thing he will miss the most about high school swimming is the friends he’s made.
      Although the Panthers have now achieved all of their pre-season goals: winning the conference, going undefeated in dual meets (meets with only one other team), beating Bloomington North(for the fourth year in a row), and now winning sectionals, the season is not over as the boys hit the pool for the state finals tonight for the prelims, and on Saturday for the finals.
      On the girl’s side of things, the team had a successful season and sectional with first year head coach and teacher Katie Mitch. Advancing to state were the 200 medley relay team of senior Kelly Gifford, junior Haley Bloarstad, sophomore Casey Papp, and sophomore Miranda Shumes, and the 400 free style relay team of freshmen Priyanka Gosh, sophomore Sarah Lewis, Gifford and Papp.
      The 200 medley relay placed 18th with a time of 151.20 seconds and the 400 freestyle relay placed 19th with a time of 340.89 seconds. That time was a mere .1 seconds away from the school record. With only one senior on those state qualifying relay teams in Gifford, the panthers have a huge upside for the future. Lewis even took a break from swimming her freshmen year and came onto the team this year not knowing what to expect. “My first year back on the team and I did pretty well,” Lewis said.
      Having started the season with a completely new coach, the team used the season to improve as much as possible. “I feel like Katie has really helped us, all of us have improved [our times],” said Lewis.
      Coach Mitch said the season was really fun and is looking to build on it for the future. “I loved [the season]! Counting down to next season,” said Mitch. Mitch said that some of the goals for next year are to break records, go undefeated, take a large group of swimmers to state, and of course continue to have fun.

Casey Papp

Staff Writer

Friday, January 29, the school televisions broadcasted a video of two drag queens shaking their butts and dancing for the camera…
      No, not that kind of video. The drag queens were principals Jay True and Joe Doyle dressed as ‘80’s workout girls. The dancing? They were demonstrating what not to do at the Retro Dance the following night.
      According to True, the explicitness at school dances has gotten progressively worse throughout the years. Lately, it’s “gotten out of hand,” said True.
      Guidance Counselor Joel McKay says that True and Doyle’s initial message was “misconstrued.” True clarified that it was not necessarily the dancing itself the school is cracking down on, but the excessive vulgarity.
      “A little rubbing back and forth is okay, but we’re seeing it go beyond dancing…There’s some pleasuring going on there, that’s what we’re trying to stop,” said True.
      The strictness was prompted by numerous complaints from parents after both the Homecoming and the Halloween dances. 
 “It’s self expression,” commented freshman Austin DeSpirito regarding the alleged inappropriate dancing.
      “If parents saw that and we didn’t do anything about it, then they’d think, ‘Okay, well, South condones that,’” said True. It’s not just South that’s really cracking down on this overtly sexual dancing. “Most schools don’t even have dances anymore because of this problem.”
      He’s right. Google ‘high school dances cancelled’ and you’ll find pages upon pages of news articles with titles such as, “Dance like grandma’s watching,” “High school’s dances grind to a halt,” and “High School: Freaking must stop,” all about cancellations of high school dances due to excessive grinding.
      At Pacific Hills High School in West Hollywood, their choice of punishment is to threaten students with bad music if the dancing gets too out of control. If anyone is caught grinding, it’s lights on and Cher for the rest of the night. At Nathan Hale High in Seattle, students will have to sign a dance contract agreeing to eliminate “lewd contact” before they enter the doors. The principal at Aliso Niguel High School in Aliso Viejo, California, is engaging a similar policy after condoms were found on the dance floors at nearby schools. All attendees must sign a dance contract that forbids grinding, garters, lingerie, the removal of shirts, and other explicit clothing.
      When the Salina Public Schools in Salina, Kansas banned sexual dancing, students decided to rebel. They boycotted their schools’ dances and organized their own events where more than 400 students attended.
 Students at here at South aren’t too pleased with this idea either. Students tend to agree that the expectations for appropriate dancing and behavior in general have changed dramatically over the years. Most teenagers see nothing wrong with the way this generation dances.
 “The boundaries that the principals’ generation pushed when they were growing up set us in motion for the music, ideas, and culture we have today. We didn’t create grinding, it’s just an evolution of what used to be dancing,” said freshman Austin DeSpirito.
 Sophomore Allie Hetrick added that while the rules laid down for the Riley Dance were more understandable, “the proposed rules at the Retro Dance were definitely not reasonable at all.”
 On announcements and broadcasted videos the week of the Retro Dance, the principals stated that if they felt you were being too inappropriate, you would be asked to leave the dance.
 “It’s kind of lame if you see someone get kicked out…it makes you just not really want to be there anymore,” said freshman Cristiaan Broderick on how students were asked to leave at the Riley Dance.
      When it comes to dances, it comes down to one bad apple. True explained that there are usually only about four or five couples that a chaperone would have to ask to “calm down.” McKay adds that “of the people that would normally go [to the dances], only about 10 percent are offenders. Those people are the reason they had to make that goofy video.”
      That goofy video caused uproar amongst students, and the dances lost their popularity in a matter of minutes.
      “It became the cool thing to not go,” said McKay.
      Student council typically produces around $700 for school dances, but due to the lack of attendance, they barely scraped in about $50 at the Retro Dance.
      “Whatever it was wasn’t worth counting,” said McKay
 McKay explained that the lack of money grossed from the Retro Dance didn’t have much of an affect on Student Council. The majority of their money goes towards Holiday Child, and thankfully enough money was produced at previous dances to cover those costs.
 By not attending school dances, students aren’t screwing over the school, because the school doesn’t receive the earnings, explained McKay. Individual clubs decide to host dances to raise money, and according to McKay, “[Student Council] can make money other ways.” 
      McKay also put many rumors to rest regarding rules for dancing, explaining that the school never said students had to dance facing each other. They were merely asking for students to lessen the amount of vulgarity. McKay also denies the alleged taping of the dances. No recording of any kind will occur at future dances.
 “We don’t want to see that in the first place. Why would we record it?” commented McKay.
 He also denies that the school administration called any house parties, contrary to rumors.
      “I might even be afraid to call a parent,” said McKay.
  “I don’t think we can control what you do outside of school,” True added.
 True explained that he would love for the school to continue to host dances, because based on the past, the majority of students always seem to have such a great time, but if it gets to a point where students can’t handle the responsibility of dancing appropriately, the school doesn’t have to host them.
      “We do want you [at the dances], but we’re not going to let you stay here if you’re going to be inappropriate…we can’t have you excessively grinding your parts into another persons parts,” explained True.
       “[Parties] don’t give you the same high school experience…it’d be a shame if schools no longer have dances,” added McKay.

Feature Editor

Students long for summer vacation, but this coming summer break will be a sentimental one.  It will mark the transition of the way we now know South into whatever results from the $5.8 million budget cut that was okayed by the MCCSC school board.  As a senior, I am extremely grateful to not have to experience the “new South,” but I am also angered that Indiana’s government allowed this to happen, and I have a lot of sympathy for all those who will have to deal with this budget cut.
 About eight teachers are expected to be cut from South, and about 75 teachers and other certified staff members over the entire school system.  This will increase are already overcrowded classes to 40 to 45 students.  How will students be expected to learn in a class this large?  Many classrooms do not even have enough space for that many desks.
 In addition, the plan of cutting the teachers with the least amount of experience in MCCSC is absurd.  More time spent in this school system does not prove that a teacher is more competent than one with fewer than five years.  In fact, because many of the teachers at risk of being laid off are some of the youngest, they can better relate to their students.  It would actually save money by keeping more of the new teachers because they earn the least.  According to Teacher Portal, the average salary of a teacher with less than one year of experience is about $33,000.  One with one to four years experience makes about $35,000, and one with five to nine makes approximately $41,000.  A teacher with more than 20 years of experience can earn about $56,000 a year. 
 This reduction of teachers is also going to discourage others from pursuing teaching because simply put, there just are not any jobs.  There is going to be a large age gap in the ages of teachers since many less young people will want to be teachers.  It was especially funny when Governor Mitch Daniels said that in order to prevent firing anyone, teachers in MCCSC should accept a pay cut.  Teaching salaries in the United States are already considerably lower than those in South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, and about six other countries.  This low pay leads nearly 50% of new teachers to leave the profession within five years.  The people with one of the hardest jobs in this country do not get nearly enough credit.
 Another ridiculous cut is the school board’s plan to cut middle school foreign language.  Meanwhile, the United States still tries to pretend that we are leading the world.  Compared to Russia and China, we are doing very little to get ahead in terms of education.  With everything going global these days, cutting foreign language classes is regressing when we should be moving forward. 
 In addition, the school board plans to cut elementary school librarians.  It seems like kids these days are spending more of their time watching TV and playing videogames than reading books, and the board is cutting the students’ greatest advocates of reading.  Now it makes sense why United States ties for 19th place on average IQs, behind Hong Kong, South Korea, and others.  Furthermore, a review of research called “Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement,” shows trends such as “better academic performance by students when the library professional is part of a planning and teaching team with the classroom teacher, teaches information literacy, and provides one-on-one tutoring for students in need.”
 The amount of money cut from athletics is almost embarrassing.  One of the only cut that affects athletics is the draining the high school pools during their off season, and closing the Batchelor pool.  This is just another example of this school system prioritizing athletics over academics. 
 The sad part of all of this is that this will uphold the reputation of public schools as inadequate, which is untrue; public schools offer free education in an atmosphere which exposes students to diversity and many opportunities. But parents who have enough money to send their kids to private schools will be more inclined to do so, more clearly defining the two types of schools through students’ economic backgrounds (the rich go to private school, and the poor to public).  If you, like me, are extremely angry about this budget cut, you can thank “our man” Mitch Daniels for his “accomplishment” of cutting property taxes, which funds our schools!  Now which seems more important?

Staff Writers

Turning on the radio was once an enjoyable experience, but with popular music at an all-time low in quality, it has become an irritating process that almost always yields poor results.  Mainstream music is certainly not what it used to be, and is now dominated by absurdly bad pop songs.
 There once was a time when listeners cared about good lyrics and interesting instrumental parts in songs, but that seems to be the least concern for music fans of the present.  In the 60’s and 70’s, radio stations played excellent selections ranging from the skilled lyricist Bob Dylan, to the rousing rock and roll of The Who.  Even MTV played entertaining music videos of artists like Bruce Springsteen and Cream. 
 Unfortunately, the days of quality music dominating the mainstream media are long gone.  Surfing through the Top 100 music charts of the year, an abundance of artists can be found that lack a single grain of musical talent.  The current top song in the nation is called “TiK ToK,” by an artist named Ke$ha.  All of the problems with the spelling of both the artist and her song aside, “TiK ToK” could very well be the worst song ever to come into existence.  Fortunately for Ke$ha, her awful music does not stand alone.  Among the other artists t plaguing the charts are Lady Gaga, Young Money, and Boys Like Girls, which rest assured, are all as bad as their names would lead you to believe.  Young Money’s song “BedRock” contains arguably the worst romantic lyric of all time: “I’ll let you be the judge, and I’m the case.”  Lyrics such as this may be acceptable on a Kindergartener’s Valentines Day card, but not on the nation’s top music charts.  Most of the hype generated about “Lady” Gaga is revolving around the fact that she is a dude. However, this does not mean she doesn’t suck. In her hit song Bad Romance, she uses more random noises than actual words. One of the chorus lines is “Rah-hah-ah-ah. Roma, Rom-ma, GaGa Ooh La-la.” Great stuff.
 A step up from this music played on pop stations is the popular music classified as “chill music.”  This music is an example of how even slow, relaxing songs have been infiltrated by poor musicians.  Popularized slow music tends to be extremely boring to the point where you can barely stand to listen to a whole song of it.  An example of this boredom is just about every song by John Mayer, a musician who sings in a slow, nasal drawl that is bound to put listeners to sleep.  To put his lack of talent into perspective, I could make more interesting music with a carrot.  Far superior chill bands are The Shins, Modest Mouse, and Wilco, whose songs put John Mayer and the like to shame.
 Though the popular music scene is grim at best, there are still other bands making good music that do not get as much time on the radio.  Some good examples are The Flaming Lips, Umphrey’s McGee, and Immortal Technique.  These three artists use creative lyrics and interesting music, rather than mainstream pop drivel.  Immortal Technique is a rapper that uses powerful rhymes to talk about serious topics, rather than almost every rapper that is played on stations like Bloomington’s B97.  Umphrey’s McGee is and interesting in that they are a jam band, and often elaborates on their music with incredible solos.  The Flaming Lips go off in a completely different direction than the status quo, with their own unique style.  With these artists, and others still producing great music, there is still plenty of listening material for those willing to look beyond TV and radio stations.

When I feel the first chill of winter, it is my first innate instinct to drop everything I’m doing, chop some firewood, and pick out a festive sweater. Reindeer and snowmen are a must, and a nice argyle brings out the true gentleman inside.

Argyle = class

You’ll rule the school with a sweater wrapped around your waist.

With this bright cherry pattern, school won’t be the pits!

Domination!

Staff Writer

2009 South graduate Jolees Brown was born and raised in Haiti, moving to the United States at the age of 15 when she was adopted by an American family. When news of the recent 7.0 earthquake reached American media, Brown grew tremendously worried. “I was very concerned, selfishly for my family because I did not know of their well being,” said Brown.  “I was also worried for my people; it made my heart melt to see my country and my home shaken to the ground.” 
      Although Brown is not in constant touch with her birth mother, her friend recently traveled to Haiti, returning with news of her family’s whereabouts and conditions. Along with many, Brown’s mother lost her home and is temporarily residing in a government building in her hometown of Bourdon Port-au-Prince until further plans are developed.

The Haitian government began a programme to move homeless people out of Port-au-Prince on a ferry to Port Jeremie and in hired buses to temporary camps.  

Chemistry teacher Neil Rapp also has a friend in Haiti, whom he met when using ham radio to communicate with sources in Haiti before the devastating earthquake had struck. As the sponsor of South’s ham radio club, which communicates via radio with other operators across the globe, Rapp, once able to regain contact with his Haitian friend, asked club members on their thoughts of participating in Haitian relief efforts. The club encouraged the idea, and began funds nearly immediately following the news of such an opportunity.
      Senior Victoria McClary said, “I think it’s very important to do something to support those families, and especially because of our connection with ham radio, since it is their only means of contact while power is down.” Although it is impossible to communicate with Haitians via ham radio currently because of its restricted use for emergency only and limit to certain frequencies, Rapp has been able to maintain contact with his friend through email and Facebook. The friend’s internet is supported by a portable power generator.
      Money collected through ham radio’s efforts goes straight to an orphanage located in Jacmal, which Rapp’s friend has been dedicated to rebuilding. “The town of Jacmal is in ruins, and many people have died there,” said Rapp. Aid from the U.N., U.S. the Red Cross, or any other outside sources has not reached the town yet, and medical supplies are being shipped from the Dominican Republic, which is costing the Haitians a great deal. “We are raising money as a direct donation, and it’s comforting knowing our money goes to the right cause,” said senior Cassie Qualls. Haitian natives appreciate such direct contributions as Brown said, “Since the earthquake was so unexpected, direct funding for a quick start, food and shelter is very necessary.”
      Ham radio efforts have included competitions and donation collections. At sporting events and other school activities, club members have been collecting change and any other donations for the benefit of Haiti. There is also competition to see which 1st period class can raise the most money for Haiti. A free breakfast will be rewarded to the class with the greatest donation.
      Former citizens of Haiti, such as Brown, will forever be grateful to those who have taken time to help the reconstruction of the Haitian community. “I think that help and funding from this country can be very helpful, especially in times of emergencies like this,” said Brown. “The Haitian community greatly appreciates the actions that Americans are taking to reinsure that it is not going to be great, but it will be OK.”

Abby Towell doesn’t let her diabetes get her down.

Priscilla Cuevas

Staff Writer

Daily finger pricking and regularly checking your blood sugar doesn’t seem like something a 15-year-old would have to worry about. But freshman Abby Towell, dismisses these daily routines and doesn’t let them stop her from participating in cheerleading and other various activities.
      In September 2006, Abby Towell was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, which is a rare autoimmune disease amongst teens where the immune system attacks the pancreas. In return no insulin is being produced. Insulin is important because this is what helps regulate the sugar levels within one’s body. However, this condition has not stopped Towell from being who she is. “You can’t really let it define you,” said Towell, “I don’t want it to define me.”
      Towell is like any other teenager: she likes to go to the movies, the football and basketball games, and hang out with her friends. She is currently taking Honors English, Biology, Stain Glass, Spanish, and Algebra as a freshman. Not only that, Towell also cheers for South on the competition and regular squad.
 Towell’s day begins with waking up to check her blood sugar. Although the effort taken into count to checking her blood sugar isn’t very much, it is very important to Towell’s health. Towell has something that is called a glucometer, which she refers to as her meter. She tales this and puts it up to what are called strips that are found on her side. The meter then calculates how high or low Towell’s blood sugar is. Not finished quite yet, Towell then pricks her finger as well to see her blood sugar levels. This whole process may sound like it’s time consuming but in reality it is only a minute or two. Once this is done Towell gets ready to go about her day.
 When lunch comes around, Towell goes to her locker to get her blood glucometer (or meter) and checks her blood sugar level. With Towell being a freshman she has to adjust her insulin doses because high school lunch is a lot earlier than middle school lunch. After lunch, the first thing Towell does is count her carbs. The reason behind this is because carbohydrates act as energy. “My body doesn’t make insulin,” said Towell, “and that’s what insulin is.”
 Once school is out, Towell walks home to check her blood sugar another time, eats a snack, does her homework, and is ready to head off to cheerleading practice. One condition to Towell participating in cheerleading is that she must check her blood sugar 30 minutes prior, right before, and every hour during it.
 One may feel restricted having diabetes, but according to Towell, “[a diabetic person] can do anything. You just have to do things with more caution and carefulness.” For Towell, she feels restricted at times when her friends are able to eat junk food and not have to worry about their blood sugar. Yet, “I can eat anything, I just need to have my insulin,” said Towell. It is important for Towell to have her insulin because she has encountered a scary moment one time when her blood sugar was extremely high. “I just felt really sick,” said Towell.
 In dealing with Type 1 diabetes, Towell sees it as something she has to do, as if she is learning something new. Even though Towell’s mother was a nurse and was the one who started noticing all of the symptoms beforehand, both of her parents were scared at first. Towell’s parents had to learn about the disease as well. “My parents have adapted to the situation,” said Towell, “by disciplining, checking up, and understanding me.”
 It sounds strange to think that someone as young as Towell has to deal with diabetes. Usually this isn’t the case because diabetes is more common among the elderly population. However, not to get it mixed up with Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes is where the body does produce insulin and the body does not respond to it.
 As for the future, knowing that diabetes does not go away, Towell is optimistic saying: “it is 2010, anything is possible.” Towell plans to graduate from high school, attend college, and get a successful job like any other person.