Gas prices

By: Michael Noriega
Reporter

Over the past years gas has increased at a drastic rate. In 1995 the gas prices were $1.15 per gallon. Now currently the gas prices are at an all time high at $4.20 but soon to average $5.00 by the summer.
This is a problem for a lot of people like for people who use their cars frequently like to get to their jobs and school.

“They’re too high! And my car only gets like 15mpg,” says Junior Connor Heinz.

“They are kind of high right now. But I think when society adjusts to the change it will not be a problem,” Say’s Junior Emily Ulsh. This is a problem that affects particularly more to teenagers, because it’s a fact that teens 13 through 18.

This costs the teens who can drive and their parents a lot of money to drive back and forth. Gas prices had never been a big deal before because gas prices were reasonable. But now a lot of parents are putting their feet down on giving rides to their kids because the gas prices are too high for them to be wasting to trips to the mall and other places.

“I think the rising gas prices are a huge sign that we need to start thinking more ecofriendly in our lives and switching to a more efficient way of transportation. As the years pass the number of hybrids will be outnumbered by fuel powered cars,” say’s Junior Jay Ulrich.

People need to stop and think about this because this problem is showing signs that it’s only going to get worse before it gets any better. Maybe going ecofriendly is the best thing to do at this particular moment in time.

Senioritis

SENIORITIS
 Planning your summer escape / exploration of the world!
 Triple checking your credits to make sure you have all the credits you need to graduate.
 Taking it a little easier on classes when you know you’ll pass for sure and don’t care so much for that A.
 Starting the weekend on Thursday… ending on Monday.
 Skipping classes more often.

Above are the most common symptoms of Senioritis. Senioritis is diagnosed in most high school seniors. If you find yourself ditching class, not getting your work done on time or as fast, then you may have senioritis. The cure? Graduating. Now some people may claim that they have “Senioritis” but it may just be a case of being lazy. Senioritis is typically diagnosed toward the end of senior year. The students are excited to graduate and get out of school so they think “what’s the point?” The last few weeks of your senior year may be a piece of cake but they still matter. It may be exciting getting to go out in the real world and start your life as a college kid but you just have to push through these last couple of months and then you’ll be free.

Benefit Concert

By: Kelley King
Reporter

Benefit Concerts seem to be an increasingly popular method of fund-raising, perhaps because the donors know that they are not only contributing to a worthy cause but also receiving musical dividends in the bargain.

Every year members of the group seek an opportunity to serve in the community.
Rosiland Hall said the service they render is one of the ways they are striving to accomplish that goal “I think the combination of service and music touches hearts in a unique way,” Hall said. “I often say to the Men’s Chorus that our ultimate goal is to change the world. If we can use that music to do even more good in the world than we accomplish just by singing a concert, so much the better.”
Abe Collier, second-year chorus member, said he just loves the chance to do some good.

“This has been an amazing opportunity for me to see the effects of my labor,” Collier said. “All throughout my time in college I’ve been grateful for chances I have, not just to go forth and serve, but to start serving now that I know and have the habits when I go out.”

The Heritage High School Choir has been holding benefit concerts to help pay for things to help the choir. There were three concerts held. The concerts were held at Heritage High School. The choirs performed greatly, making a substantial amount of money to support them. We have a really good member of the choir in our very own newspaper class, Ronnie Hester.

Artist of the issue: Jordan Ulrich

By: Ashley Davis
Opinion Editor

Jordan Ulrich, also known as Jay, is a junior and it is very likely that you have seen some of the videos she has either filmed or edited right here at school. Ulrich has taken nearly every class related to video and photography. Currently she is the only Heritage student in Video 6, meaning she has taken every video course she could get her hands on. She has also taken Photo 1 and skipped Photo 2 to head straight into AP Photography.

Currently she is in Multimedia, Video 6 and AP Photo. Ulrich is actively involved in every aspect of video production. She writes scripts, films, and edits. Her favorite aspect of video and what she considers her most specialized area would be the editing and cinematography aspect. Ulrich says, “When making a video I am very technical.” Whether the artistic effects go in with editing or with angles and lighting right when being shot, she always puts her own touch into her videos.

Ulrich was not a huge fan of photography when she first explored it, but when she entered Mr. Strong’s Photo 1 class, she saw it in a whole new way, “because he was a really great teacher.” So now Ulrich uses the skills she learns in Photography and applies it to video, and vice versa.

She plans to continue taking video and photography classes and plans on pursuing video making and photography as a career. She says, “Next year I’m going to Full Sail University to get my bachelors in science.” Ulrich is currently working on her own independent film called Guru. Auditions for the film were held in Mr. Strong’s room on March 9.

She explains why she is so passionate about creating stories through video and photography; she says, “Making movies is an escape from real life. You can make your own reality.” We are sure to see much more from Ulrich as she continues pursuing her passion and making art.

The Rant: Award Shows

Award shows are not important
Marina Gephart

And the Grammy goes to… Adele. Again. Honestly, how many award shows are out there that, rather than choosing the most deserving artist, seem to salute the same person or group again and again? Too many.

While I have no reservations about recognizing a job well done—everybody loves praise—I have a serious issue with a monopoly, and that’s exactly what a select group of singers and actors have over Hollywood and consequentially, the nation.

Over the past three years, Robert Pattinson has won nine MTV Movie Awards. Despite the unwavering hold the Twilight Saga has over the world, MTV had to shove more Edward Cullen down our throats. Pattinson’s underwhelming acting didn’t deserve one award, let alone nine. And we rewarded this notion by collectively sharing the moment and tuning in to MTV to watch it all go down.

While I enjoy a romantic vampire movie as much as the next guy, it seems unethical to award the most popular actor with award after award (especially with a guy like Pattinson, whose fan base relies massively on his looks and British accent).

This sheer unoriginality plays out at every awards show. I’ve created a fool-proof method to predicting the winners: look at those nominated in each category, choose the most popular nominee, and proceed to revel in psychic glory when they all win.

There are exceptions to the rule; Meryl Streep, with 26 Golden Globe nominations and 17 Academy Award nominations, wins an award at almost every award show she attends due to her vast record of successful movies and moving performances. Overall, though, young, popular actors and singers have increasingly drawn awards.

Such coveted awards should remain exclusive and special and not be exploited by such stars as Lady Gaga, a one-trick, pop music pony who, in the few years she has been famous, has reeled in nine American Music Award nominations and hundreds of other awards worldwide.

Why would we, as viewers, the fuel to the fire, want to feed into this madness by watching these shows? They’re always the same, regenerated programs of lackluster performances, embarrassing clothes, undeserved awards and notoriously bad presenters. Not to forget, these awards are going to mostly rich, spoiled and sometimes drug-abusing individuals who don’t deserve the public’s support. These awards aren’t for us, they’re for celebrities, and I don’t understand why we think we connect to them so much.
So my proposal is this: stop this award show insanity. These shows may remain, but please, let’s stop airing them. Give the deserving celebrities their awards and let us move on with our lives.

Award shows are important
By: Sarah Johanson

Award shows were originally created to recognize all the hard work different artist put into their careers. From the Academy Awards to the Grammy’s, award shows are a time to show the public how hard people in the entertainment industry work. The public only sees the glamour and end product; they don’t see the work that goes into making a song, album, or movie. Award shows inform the public of that hard work.

Publicity is always good for an artist. At the Grammy’s, there have been several occasions where a random band or artist beat out huge musicians. At the 2012 Grammy’s, the winner for “Best New Artist” was a band called Bon Iver. A lot of people had never heard this band but because it beat out Nicki Minaj, The Band Perry, Skrillex, and J. Cole, the public was interested. Certain award shows are not fan voted, which is great for artists that sometimes go unnoticed.

It’s hard to think, “Oh wow! The set design in this movie is great!” while you’re watching a movie. These shows point those details out to the public and show what went into making a movie. The actors and actresses are always being recognized for a great film because it’s not hard to miss them while watching. The people behind the scenes, such as the directors, producers, set designers, and make-up artists, are the ones who make all the magic happen. These artists don’t get as much credit as they should, which is why these award shows are so great…the people in the background are noticed.

My favorite part about loving music and loving bands is seeing them succeed. In middle school I really liked a band that I saw play at a local fair. I even got the chance to meet them a few times. A few years after I met them, they were performing at the Grammy’s with Stevie Wonder. For a lot of bands and artists, performing at the Grammy’s or winning a Grammy is the pinnacle of success. It’s reassurance that they’re doing something right.

It was really inspiring for me to see a band go from playing a fair to playing at the Grammy’s. It shows the world that hard work and dedication pays off.

The humor and controversies that come along with watching award shows are always a plus. Although controversies may not be a good thing for an artist, they’re always interesting and sometimes funny to see happen. Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMA’s made headlines for weeks.

Opening monologues from hosts are ones for the books. A lot of the time they make fun of celebrities in attendance and sometimes throw in a song and dance. Picking a host for an awards show can make or break the night.

Not only is it fun seeing who’s considered the best of the best, but these shows have tributes to important people who have changed the industry. Michael Jackson, legend. Whitney Houston, legend. The tributes aren’t always for people who passed away but for people who inspire others. The tribute to Britney Spears at the 2011 Video Music Awards had other musicians raving about her. Lady Gaga even said that Spears was her inspiration while she was trying to break out into the music industry.

Whether you like awards shows or not, you’re not required to watch them. For a lot of people it’s fun to see the fashion and the performances. Other people respect artists

Kony 2012, a bad idea

By Erin Michel
Reporter

If a child goes missing in the United States police are notified and everything is done to bring the child home to their family. They go after the abductor to put him behind bars, so they cannot harm any other child. In Uganda nothing is done for the child to be found, just the sound of silence while another school, town, and house has been swept by Joseph Kony’s child army, known as The Rebels, in Northern Uganda. Though, heartbreaking, it is too late for the U.S. to change the damages of the lost childhoods.

The things that are happening in Uganda are terrible; families are killed, children are getting abused, walking for miles, and the biggest one of all is their childhood being stolen from them forever. No child should have to go through those types of things.

The issue should have been focused on much earlier. Now over 30,000 children have gone missing in Uganda in the last 20 some years that Kony and the LRA been abducting children for his army. Ugandans believe that it’s a little too late for the United States help; and I do agree. This was important to them about 10 years ago, but by now it’s just something normal for them. We could help by sending army forces to train the Uganda’s army to catch Kony, but I believe that this will turn out to start a war with the rebels, because Kony will want to keep his power and army.

These may not affect us physically or nationally, but this is very heartbreaking to know that things like this are happening around the world and it’s normal for them to have those things going on. No matter what color, religion, or gender you are; it should never be okay to let these types of people abuse and abduct children. However, we neglected to care until now and now we can’t do anything about it. If something likes would happen in our country the abductor will be found in 24 hours or less, but 20 years and 30,000 children long gone in Uganda is a way to late for us to help and rebuild Uganda’s family’s and childhoods that have been taken away. The best thing we could do would be to focus on the rebuilding of Uganda and our own issues going on in the United States.

Confidence Week March 26 to March 30

Opinion Editor
Ashley Davis

March 26 to March 30 is Confidence Week. During this week all students are encouraged to participate by not wearing makeup, not styling their hair, and not wearing anything fancy. The purpose of this week is to show the world that each individual is a confident person, even without makeup or cute clothes; the message is that these things don’t define the person.

Confidence Week is being promoted by Mrs. Rice and her health classes. Mrs. Rice was inspired first, when she found a movie called Missrepresentation. The trailer for this movie can be found on Youtube. Missrepresentation is a movie that explores the role of women in today’s society. It discusses the serious issues of how women are viewed as objects, rather than people. It also sends a message of how our society sets unrealistic goals for women to achieve, in order to appear ‘beautiful.’

This video sparked one of her students to suggest that Heritage hold a Confidence Week. Since Confidence Week has been proposed, many other teachers and schools are participating in their own way. Evergreen, Union and Battleground are participating. Mrs. Perez will be exploring the use of Photoshop in ads and the Dove advertisements with her marketing and advertising classes. Mr. Emmert will be taking portraits of people au natural, during Confidence Week, who are committed the cause between 7:30 and 1 in room 601. Mrs. Keller will be exploring what actually goes into makeup, and how we can find more natural products. Mrs. Rice says, “I love to see all of the other teachers participating in this as well, and incorporating these ideas into their classrooms.”

The purpose of this week is really to unite and embrace ourselves as individuals. Mrs. Rice says, “It’s really the elephant in the room. How do we expect kids to go far and go after their dreams if they aren’t confident enough?” Mrs. Rice also admits that it won’t be easy. “It will be really hard for everyone, even myself, but I have talked to girls who are excited to take off the mask and boys who are excited to see girls without so much makeup on.”

Mrs. Rice hopes that everyone, including guys, participate in Confidence Week because, “confidence is not just a girl’s problem.” The message is really to embrace who you are as an individual, rather than how everyone expects you to look.

DECA: six for six

Anna Tomlinson
News Editor

DECA’s state competition was a huge success as six massive projects were submitted, and all six qualified for Internationals. Having taken twenty-six students to State in Bellevue, fourteen will be moving on to Nationals.

Senior Hannah Terry has been a member of DECA all four years of her high school career, and said it is “something I’ll never regret”. The club has been on an impressive roll this year, winning the newly-added DECA Spirit Award at the Area Nine competition, and by having each one of their six intricately-constructed projects qualify for Nationals. It showed the competition that Heritage DECA is ready to conquer. “I think this is the most successful we’ve ever been,” said Terry.

Terry, along with fellow seniors Fletcher Stenlund and Michael Youngs, began their project back in April 2011, laboring for over eleven months thus far with even more to go. The trio’s project was about public relations, and after their ever-impactful SKID presentation, and after the assembly earlier this year touched the whole school, their estimated impressions spanned about 383,000 people.

Each of the students who competed and took part in the 2012 State Competition worked hard to prepare. Other students that will be attending nationals are: Sophomores Victor Duran, Zach Dyment, Johnathan Hubbard, and DeMitre Rodriguez, juniors Samantha Ballard, Mati Hendrickson, Dakota Kerns, Emily McCoy, Grant Terry, and senior Caileigh Gale. Mrs. Perez, the club advisor said, “It was a fun award celebration for our outstanding students.”

All of the DECA members have worked hard to represent Heritage well, and their success is worthy of congratulations.