Newspaper

All the New Faces

Introducing New Staff Members at ENHS

By Elizabeth Hamman

 

So, it’s your first day back to school, and you don’t know your fourth hour teacher.  You ask your friends if they have ever taken one of their classes, and they have no idea who they are.  Well then you have probably entered and/or met one of our new East Noble staff members.

   Mrs. Benedict has entered East Noble as a freshman counselor. She went to Ball State for her bachelor’s in psychology. She came to East Noble because everyone “is so positive and open.” She truly cares about the kids and is glad “to be somewhere that is open to new ideas.”

  Mr. Warrener is the new Spanish teacher in Mrs. Bohde’s old class room. He originally came out of college as a youth pastor, but “spent so much time in school” he just couldn’t “stay away.”

   “My favorite part of the day is seeing a student try something and succeed,” said Mr. Warrener. He also wishes to be a “springboard” for students who “rock the world.” Warrener also said that, “dunking on assistant principal Beasley” would also be a nice welcome for him.

   Ms. Carpenter is a unique sort of teacher-fresh out of college. With that being said, she is the youngest new staff member added this year. Her classroom shares some of her uniqueness. For example, she has a  “wall of stars” that shines over the class with every star having a student's name on it. Her favorite part of the day is “during passing periods when I get to learn about my students lives, when they open up and share things.”

   Mr. Sollenberger, though, may not be a "new" face to some. He has started this year with 18 other years under his belt. After five good years of reitrement he has been hired back to train Mr. Wilson, his student teacher. Mr. Sollenberger is temporarily teaching Earth and Space Science. As a returning teacher, he has “some student pictorial gifts as well as many photographs of science research students in competition.”

   Mr. Wilson is a student teacher in the science department. Mr. Sollenberger so kindly took him under his wing to teach him and help him advance as a teacher. Mr. Wilson is interested in EN because of “the focus on hometown”. His favorite part of the day is the ever so relaxing lunch.

   There are also four other staff members that are new to East Noble this year. In the Mathematics department, there are two new teachers, Ms. Noble and Ms. Simnick, and in the science department we have Ms. Shearer. There is also a new instructional assistant, Ms. Sparkman.

 

In Remembrance of a Disaster
New Orleans moves ahead as two-year Katrina anniversary arrives

by Whitney Smurr

   August 29. For many it’s just another Wednesday. But, for all of those affected by Hurricane Katrina, it will mark the second year anniversary of its landfall along the Gulf Coast.

   According to The Weather Channel, the Atlantic Hurricane Season stretches from June 1 to November 30. During this time, about one in twenty tropical weather disturbances turn into hurricanes. Since 1970, the occurrence of category four and five hurricanes has increased by about 50 percent. A category four has 131 to 155 mile per hour winds and storm surges that range from nine to twelve feet. A category five is anything greater than that.

   Hurricane Katrina was just a category three when it hit New Orleans. Because of power outages, there were never any accurate measures of how strong the winds actually were in the city. Surges breached the city’s levees in over 50 places. Over 700 bodies were found within two months, according to The Times-Picayune, a newspaper based in the New Orleans area. Any surviving residents in the city were trapped by floodwaters that covered most of the city.

   Still, Katrina was not the biggest storm that could have hit New Orleans. It was, however, the most devastating natural disaster in the history of the United States. It’s been a long two years for the Big Easy’s residents. The rebuilding efforts, as everyone knows, have been less than phenomenal. Fingers have been pointed at the government, FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers and their miscalculations when they built the levees that failed.

   Yet, New Orleans is rebounding, despite its hardships. Local Louisiana News Channel WWLTV reported that the population is about 60 percent of what it was in 2005 before Katrina, though the Lower Ninth Ward has only regained about one-third of its population. The tourism industry is also picking itself up, with the Garden District and French Quarter back to nearly pre-hurricane populations. The Superdome reopened last year on Monday, September 25. New Orleans started this year off with a New Year’s celebration and has also hosted several music festivals, sporting events and, of course, Mardi Gras.

   What the Big Easy needs more than finger-pointing and playing the blame game is more than just government funding. New Orleans needs to let the country know that it is alive again. 

Free Concert

Anora will be hosting a free concert at Cross Pointe Family Church!

By Jessie Fergie

  

   The local Cross Pointe Family Church will be hosting a concert on September 8 and everyone should come to enjoy the fresh air and the splendid music. The show starts at 1 p.m. The bands playing are Anora, Bless the Burried, Jonathon DeSutter, Wake Up and Panic, Silhouettes at Sunset, Eam and Truth 17.

   Anora is a local band from Kendallville. Their music is considered Alternative. The members are Jay King and juniors Zach Pattison and Jake Robbins. The group has been playing together for over a year. Soon however, Anora will be trying something new for awhile. King, the drummer, is moving to Salem, Oregon for at least three months to a year. While King is there, he plans to continue his solo project, Wake Up and Panic. He also plans to help council the youth in his area. King, a people person, enjoys helping people that are in need, so he is going to fulfill his dream.

   Pattison has his own side project, Silhouettes at Sunset and will be playing his acoustic set at coffee shops close to or in Kendallville. Robbins will continue to write music with Pattison and look for a replacement for a drummer until King returns.          

    Over the past year, Anora has gone through a lot of different band members, and they have grown together. Their music has changed a lot since they first started.

   So, if you have any free time on your hands, come on out and enjoy the music that Cross Pointe Family Church is providing. From now on, Cross Pointe will be having shows every other month. If anyone is interested in playing at one of these shows, contact Jake Robbins at www.myspace.com/thatindianakid or www.myspace.com/anoramusic.

   Just remember that this is a family friendly concert and there’s NO cover charge, so bring your family and friends and enjoy the show. 

“Cultural Diffusion”

East Noble Welcomes New Foreign Exchange Student

 By Isabel Manahan

    In the past, East Noble has not hosted a large number of Asian foreign exchange students. This year, however, one more has been added to the mix. Her name is Sunadda Vanaphongsai, or simply Nat, and she is the new foreign exchange student.

   “Excited” and “cold” were the first thoughts that came to Nat as she boarded off the plane. Originally from Bangkok, Thailand, where the average temperature ranges from the low 70s to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, it is no wonder she believes Indiana is cold.

   “It [Bangkok] is hot, hot, hot,” she said.

   Aside from the obvious temperature change, there are additional differences that Nat has noticed. For instance, the affections that Americans overtly express towards each other such as hugging and kissing and the endless proclamations of love. In addition, Nat cannot believe that American teens are permitted to drive at sixteen, a privilege most teens overlook.

 

     While freshmen have the time span of four years to know the map of the school (and not get lost), find their crowd, and adjust to the school, Nat only has one year.

   “[It is hard] fitting in to a new environment and culture,” Nat said.

  Nonetheless, that has not stopped her from exploring the various activities and clubs that EN offers.

   “It’s a big school compared to the school where I come from. There’s a lot of clubs…,” she commented. She has tried out for the Knightettes and has made it into the team. She also hopes to audition for theatre.

   One of the hardest parts of being a foreign exchange student for Nat is being at a place where everybody knows nothing about her, but she looks forward to making new friends and learning more about America—a process she dubs “cultural diffusion.”

   Even though Nat left behind her parents and a younger sister, her stay with Junior Erika Carmichael and her family has been enjoyable.

   “It has been great, and I like it. They are very kind and caring. I couldn’t ask for more,” she said.

   With her old life half a world away, Nat has no fears about her future at EN. Like most seniors, she knows that this year will pass quickly

   “I know that I’ll have a great year here in Kendallville,” she said.

1995s Most Popular Invention

Tips and Tricks for eBay-goers

 by Jackie Kessler

  Since its creation by Pierre Omidyar in the mid-90s, eBay has become a household name. The online auction web site was founded in San Jose, California in early September of 1995. The first item ever sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Omidyar emailed the buyer, concerned that he was unaware that the laser pointer was indeed broken. In his responding email the buyer explained: “I’m a collector of broken laser pointers.” The online marketplace offers everything from classic cars to trading cards; virtually anything can be sold on eBay.

   As with any website, eBay is not always what it seems. “Shill bidding,” can sometimes be a big problem for eBay buyers. “Shill bidding is bidding that artificially increases an item's price or apparent desirability,” says eBay’s policy tutorial page on eBay.com. In May of 2000, Kenneth Walton sold an oil painting on eBay for over $135,000. It was speculated that the painting was by Richard Diebenkorn, a famous Califiornia modernist.Walton pretended to know nothing about the painting and faked surprise that the painting sold for such a high amount. After a series of investigative reports by The New York Times, it was revealed that Walton was in fact an experienced eBay art dealer with many unhappy customers, and he and his two friends had conspired together to bid on each other’s auctions. Walton and his friends were banned from eBay in April 2001 and were eventually convicted of fraud by the federal government in the first ever prosecution for shill bidding on eBay. For more information on this story, check out his book about the event, Fake: Forgery, Lies and eBay or his website www.kennethwalton.com.

   Recently I found a phone on eBay that I’ve wanted for months and after about a week of researching the phone and perusing the various sellers, I bought it. My dad, who just so happens to be an experienced eBay buyer, had to help me on several ocassions with picking out the right phone. I had found a seller that was auctioning off the phone I wanted for around five dollars, but it was obscenely obvious to my dad that he and his friends were shill bidding the phone. The same bidder had repeatedly raised his bid to more than a 100 dollars in a five minute period of time. The good thing about eBay however is that the site makes it easy to tell if someone’s account is a fraud or not. If the same buyer keeps rapidly raising his bid in a short period of time, check out his account. If the bidder’s account is new or was only made within the last few days, the most logical answer is that he’s shill bidding his buddy’s account. Sellers do this to lure in new eBay buyers, like myself, to get them to bid on this item while their friends, or the sellers themselves, steadily raise the price. If any item that is worth several hundred dollars is going for less than a hundred, it’s most likely a hoax. Common sense right?

   When buying an item on eBay, research the seller. Go to their personal web site or the web site of the business that they run. Another strategy is to read the feedback profile for the seller. This is the place where previous customers of the seller can leave feedback about the service they received and give either a positive, neutral or negative rating. Most sellers also come with a money back guarantee for the items that they sell. With cell phones, if the phone they send you is dead on arrival, your phone will be replaced immediately. Sellers also offer a return policy anywhere from three to 14 days after the delivery of the phone. All of the information for returning eBay items can be found in the buyer’s return policy information which is most often included on the page that holds the information about the item.

   All in all, buying an item on eBay has its risks. In the end though, you will most likely find the item that you want cheaper on eBay than anywhere else.

 

Bridges: Doomed to Fall

Minneapolis Bridge collapses—will there be more?

by Rochelle Carey and Alicia Fulk

    Imagine going through an average evening commute, only to be startled by plummeting six stories to the rushing waters below. Chunks of concrete and steel crumble and splash down next to you. People are screaming.

   Dozens of people went through this catastrophe during the evening of August 1, 2007, when a major bridge in Minneapolis collapsed during rush hour traffic due to a structural failure. According to MSNBC, rescue workers managed to secure 50 cars found in the water. Every Minneapolis ambulance was present at the site.

   A freight train traveling below the bridge was even cut in half when it fell. Over 60 people were taken to the hospital, 10 of which were children. Injuries mostly included blunt force trauma. Repairs on the bridge were delayed until the final body was found in the wreckage; CNN reported that Gregory Jolstad, a construction worker, was found Monday, August 20 — leaving the fatality number at 13.

 

   The real question is— are enough precautions being taken to prevent these types of incidents? From the article “US Bridges Are ‘Structurally Deficient,’” found on Time.com, it’s reported that currently about 70,000 bridges over the United States aren’t quite up to standard. Most of them won’t be fixed because of the expense. Of all the bridges that have collapsed, many have been under construction at the time of the incident. In the case of the Minneapolis Bridge, repairs were underway at the time it fell. Because of this, lanes were closed and guardrails had been put up. Wikipedia’s article on the bridge stated that, previously, about 141,000 cars per day had passed over it, and repairs on the deck (the flat platform on which the cars drive) weren’t expected to be done until 2020.

   President Bush declared the accident a federal emergency, which would help with the prices of cleaning the disaster up. Plans also include fixing the bridge and making it light-rail-ready within 16 months. $300-350 million is expected to be spent on the project.

  

Meet the Staff

By Abbey Meyer

   East Noble’s student newspaper is up and running once again. 

   Three years ago, with the help of publication teacher, Ms. Robideau, East Noble’s student-run newspaper, The Scroll, awakened from a long sleep.

   Now, in 2007, with one of the biggest staffs in East Noble history, we’re continuing the Knight tradition.

    Let me introduce you!

 

Name: Abbey Meyer

Grade: 12

Position: Co-editor-in-chief

Favorite thing to write about: editorials/columns

Favorite class: News-Sun internship

Favorite food: butter, provolone cheese

Hobbies: guitar, harmonica, journalism, listening to music

 

Name: Alicia Fulk

Grade: 11

Position: staff writer

Favorite thing to write about: disasters

Favorite class: newspaper

Favorite food: pizza

Hobbies: horse-back riding

Say something: enjoy!

 

Name: Cale Gerst

Grade: 12

Position: Staff writer

Favorite thing to write about: music, social topics

Favorite class: Cadet teaching

Favorite food: beef n’ noodles

Hobbies: Writing, music, quoting movies

Name: Elizabeth Hamman

Grade: 11

Position: Staff-writer

Favorite thing to write about: profiles on East Noble students

Favorite class: theatre arts

Favorite food: orange chicken with rice and soy sauce

Hobbies: dancing

Say something: We are fam-i-ly!

Name: Howie Stanley

Grade: 10

Position: Staff-writer

Favorite thing to write about: things about the school, community, haunted houses

Favorite class: none

Favorite food: pizza

Hobbies: card games, hanging out with friends, playing soccer

Say something: hey what’s up?

 

 

Name: Ian Baker

Grade: 12

Position: staff writer

Favorite thing to write about: music

Favorite class: newspaper

Favorite food: wings

Hobbies: swimming, listening to music, watching movies, power napping

Say something: It’s off the chain!

 

Name: Isabel Manahan

Grade:12

Position: Co-editor-in-chief

Favorite thing to write about: World Events/school/movies

Favorite class: history

Favorite food: Philippino foods, chicken

Hobbies: tennis, watching, anime, reading, listening to music, being with friends

 

Name: Jackie Kessler

Grade: 11

Position: copy editor

Favorite thing to write about: reviews and editorials

Favorite class: English

Favorite food: pizza or basically any kind of chicken

Hobbies: reading, writing, movies, music, art, plays, musicals

Say something: this is my second year in newspaper and I love it!

 Name: Jessie Fergie

Grade: 12

Position: reporter

Favorite thing to write about: music and fashion

Favorite class: history

Favorite food: chinese

Hobbies: making music and clothing, kickin’ around the ol’ hacky-sack

Say something: Everything has its own kind of beauty. Just take a minute and explore!

 

Name: Jessica Hamman

Grade: 12

Position: copy editor

Favorite thing to write about: news

Favorite class: English

Favorite food: any type of Chinese food

Hobbies: writing poems, colorguard

Say something: newspaper is the best thing since sliced bread!

  

Name: Rochelle Carey

Grade: 11

Position: Staff-writer

Favorite thing to write about: entertainment

Favorite class: English of course!

Favorite food: raspberries

Hobbies: horseback riding, writing

Say something: Rock on!

 

Name: Whitney Smurr

Grade: 10

Position: reporter

Favorite thing to write about: personal interests, what people need to know

Favorite class: English

Favorite food: chocolate, chicken & broccoli casserole, quesadillas

Hobbies: writing, knitting, playing music loudly and dancing…in my head

Say something: you know how they say orange doesn’t rhyme with anything? Say door-hinge really fast.

 

Name: Ms. Robideau

Position: adviser

Favorite food: coffee… is that a food?

Hobbies: scrapbooking, reading, spending time, with family and friends, watching movies, and writing...of course!