March 2010 – Page 4 – Penn Points Online

New York Garden is Full of Surprises

It was a day to remember in the Big East tournament when both Syracuse and Villanova ended up losing. Not that they need an automatic bid because they are locks to get in as an at-large teams.

Syracuse was upset by Georgetown in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. It was a back and forth game with Cuse leading by 9 at one point but that lead soon evaporated when Georgetown-led Chris Wright, who scored 27 points and had 6 boards and 6 dimes. The Orange was led by Wes Johnson who scored 24 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Orange senior center Arinze onuaku, who fell to the floor with about 5 minutes remaining in the second half, has a knee strain. The Orange lost 84 to 91. Georgetown will face off against Marquette in the semis tonight at 7 p.m.

Nova was upset by Marquette in another quarterfinal game in the Big East tournament. The Golden Eagles in the Big East this year have been in 13 games decided by 4 points or less. Eagles senior forward Lazar Hayward hit a 3-pointer with about 2 minutes remaining to give the Eagles the lead that they never surrendered. Hayward ended the game with 20 points and 7 rebounds. Nova guard Corey Stokes had 22 points and 5 boards. The Eagles won 76 to 80.

Everyone in Madison Square Garden and maybe even New York knew who was going to receive the ball on the inbound with 3.1 seconds remaining. The Mountaineer’s senior forward Da’Sean Butler got the inbound and shot with the buzzer sounding. The ball banked off the backboard and in to give West Virginia a win. He still found a way to get open and stepped up to win the game over Cincinnati. Butler ended the game with 15 points. West Virginia held the lead for most of the game but held off a late surge to win, 51 to 53.

In a game were the Irish held the lead for most of the game, Brad Wanamaker scored 16 points in the loss to Notre Dame. The Irish held on late to face the Mountaineers in the semis tonight at 9pm.

The championship will be decided this weekend. Watch selection Sunday to see what seed each team is and then fill out some brackets. But get ready for some upsets, disappointments and a Cinderella story or two and for only one team will cut down the nets.

By Sam Valentin

Newest Gas Crisis: Death by Explosion; How to Avoid It

A Cumberland County teen was killed last week after a gasoline pump he was using burst into flames from static electricity.

Was this just a freak occurrence or is everyone, including the students at Penn Manor, in danger when they pull up to the pumps?

Penn Manor juniors Jennifer Felegi and Jessica Lindaman aren’t interested in taking any chances.

“Yeah I’m scared. I might blow up,” said Felegi, after hearing of the incident.

“It’s a one-in-how-many chance and all, but I don’t want to die,” Lindaman said.

Sophomore Jonny Fernandez is less nervous about dealing with static electricity and a possible explosion at a gas pump.

“[Static electricity] happens,” said Fernandez. “I touch the door when I get out [of the car] and I get shocked. It happens.”

Fernandez is taking the right precautions to prevent injury.

Experts on automedia.com say that although this is rare, the possibility of causing a fire from static electricity is very real and very dangerous.

They also claim that 75 percent of victims of gas pump-related fires are women. They offer these tips to help reduce the amount of accidents and increase awareness of this under-the-radar menace:

Don’t get back into your car after you begin pumping
If you have to get back into your car, touch a metal area of your car away from the gas pump to “ground yourself”
Do not smoke, light matches or lighters while refueling

The Lancaster New Era also warns consumers to get help if a fire is started, not to remove the nozzle.

L. David Byers, the victim, was not smoking at the time of the accident and did not return to his car during pumping gas. However, the weather conditions were very dry, according to Lower Allen Township Fire Chief Frank Williamson, the perfect conditions to create static electricity.

Remember, this sort of incident is rare but can be fatal. Pass along the knowledge to help prevent further injury from ignorance.

By Danie Beck

SAT Anxiety Reaches its Peak Saturday

The SAT, or Scholastic Aptitude Test, is literally right around the corner, being held at Penn Manor Saturday, March 13.

This is the test that many colleges look at and it’s this same test that drive students off the wall.

According to a SAT pamphlet found in the Penn Manor guidance office, “the SAT is the only admissions test to let colleges see how well students do academically. It’s mostly used to get to know students better and it helps colleges understand how students think, solve problems and communicate.”

While some students are using online practice or practice questions from a book, others feel it’s better to relax and deal with the questions on test day. Which way of preparation is right, is completely up to the individual.

If some students feel relaxing will help them score better, more power to them. Though, personally, I would have practice questions with me everywhere I would go. There’s no such thing as too much practice.

For Junior Jill Wiley, preparing for the SATs is just one click away by answering the daily questions sent to her e-mail. Jill says, “I kind of get nervous when I click the bottom to see if my answer is correct. I’m sure on the testing day I’ll be a nervous wreck.”

Katie Coons, a Junior, commented on her preparation, “I took SAT Prep, which helped a lot. I also have a book that I use,” Katie mentioned, “I’m more nervous than anything because many colleges look at those scores.”

According to the pamphlet, “the SAT is more than just a test as it provides the opportunity for students to connect to scholarship opportunities, place out of certain college courses and learn more about their academic strengths.”

Counselors and faculty members encourage students to efficiently prepare for this test by practicing questions, getting a good night’s rest and eating breakfast the morning of the test.

Penn Manor math teacher, Ashley Thomas, believes, “The best preparation for the SATs is to take advantage of the knowledge gained from the classes taken in your high school career.

The classes integrate everything that will be covered on the SATs. Good luck to everyone taking the test,” Thomas concluded.

Collegeboard.com is offering practice questions, study guides and other resources to help students get ready for this big test.

If you are a Junior and are planning on taking the SAT sometime this school year, this site is extremely helpful and steers you onto the right path, leading you to success.

By Ariela Contreras

Hooked On The Hot Stuff

Every student has their own morning routine, which normally includes the snooze button, a shower and some dental hygiene.

Mine ,however, includes a very crucial element-my coffee, also known as the elixir of my life.

Monday through Sunday, I get my java at 6:15 sharp, found at the corner of microwave and kitchen counter, and I’m always welcome.

Dessie Jackson contributes her column to Whisper Down the Web.

I’m welcomed by the soothing smell of deliciously warm coffee beans, and the taste of hot coffee, one sugar, milk and vanilla flavoring. (I take my coffee very seriously). Now who wouldn’t want that? Who wouldn’t need that?

I can’t even imagine.

On October 21, however, my nightmare became a reality. Yes, the Jackson Household Coffee Shop closed.

I woke up on time, and all appeared well, but little did I know the tragedy at hand. The bliss-creator broke down.

As I pressed the green button that morning, I was shocked to find nothing was dripping. I was not hearing those musical drips and drops of liquid hitting the bottom of the pot.

I was devastated.

What has this world come to? Frantically, I approach the owner of the shop, my mother.

“Mom, I can’t do this. I can not go on with this day.”

She was not amused.

That was the day I realized that I have a problem. I’m hooked on the hot stuff.

Throughout the day nothing went right. I fell asleep in first block, I failed a quiz, I couldn’t pay attention, snapped at anything that moved and I had the most terrible headache brewing inside of me- these being just a few side effects of my coffee withdrawal.

To sum it up, I was cranky – really really cranky, and I was never happier to see 2:45 roll around.

As I was driving home, I realized how ridiculous I was being. I let coffee ruin my entire day. A liquid. A mere luxury. At that moment I decided I would turn an awful day into a great one.

So what did I do? I drove to good ole’ Turkey Hill for a good ole’ cup of joe.

Maybe it’s time I had a coffee intervention.

By Dessie Jackson

PM Wrestler Gets to States

Bobby Rehm Wrestling — Bobby Rehm will look to get another shot at states next year

Unfortunately the saying, “all good things must come to an end” was proven true for Penn Manor wrestler Bobby Rehm.

Rehm entered the PIAA state tournament after winning his second straight section title in the AAA class with a 36-4 record.

The junior was defeated in the first round of states on Thursday, March 11 to Bethel Park’s sophomore, Dylan Morgan who had a 23-1 record entering the tournament.

Rehm, who was in the 125 weight class, was defeated 5-4 after he was tilted in the third period ultimately causing his defeat.

Being only a junior, Rehm will continue his dominance next year in the LL league in his quest for another run at states.

By Cody Erb

Welcome to the World of Warcraft

Baladash Melanore, or in other words, greetings! The land of epic goodness starts here in the World of Warcraft. The game boasts 11.5 million players worldwide, and Penn Manor has little immunity to the infection.

“I play [World of Warcraft] at least 4 hours a day,” says Brandon Kauffman, a senior. “WoW is important enough that when I’m at school, I think about it.”

Blizzard Entertainment released World of Warcraft, often referred to as ‘WoW ‘ on September 2, 2001 and the company is coming out with a new expansion (addition) to WoW called Cataclysm and adding two new characters later this year. It can only increase the game’s standing since WoW is currently the worlds most subscribed MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game).

Many people don’t understand why WoW is so appealing to others, or why they play this game in the first place. But Sean Brunner, a sophmore here at Penn Manor, knows exactly why.

Sean Brunner promotes kids at Penn Manor to play World of Warcraft. Photo by Gabby Myers.

“Roughly, I play WoW 8-9 hours a day,” says Brunner. ” Playing Wow is like a hobby, but it’s really my only hobby. If it were taken away it would make me feel sad.

“It’s so appealing because you can do whatever you want and there’s no consequences,” Brunner concluded.

For those of you who are “n00bs” and aren’t familiar with WoW, there are two sides to this world: the Alliance and the Horde. The Alliance has characters such as Humans, Draenei, Dwarfs, Gnomes, and Night Elves. On the Horde, there are the Undead, Taurens, Orcs, Trolls, and Blood Elves. On top of all of these characters, a class needs to be chosen. A class is the style of a player and it determines the type of weapons and armor the player can use, as well as abilities. The classes are Warriors, Mages, Druids, Death Knights (newest added character), Hunters, Warlocks, Priests, Paladins, Rogues, and Shaman. You’re confused? Maybe this explanation will help.

A new world does await for new players. Photo by Gabby Myers — A new world does await.. for more players. Photo by Gabby Myers

The demon-corrupted Orcs of Burning Legion destroyed many Human neighborhoods and killed a lot of Humans. When the Burning Legion was defeated, the surviving Orcs were put into concentration camps and forced into slavery until their liberation/escape to Kalimandor. Trolls and Humans have been fighting territorial wars since the beginning of their shared histories. When the Orcs came to Kalimandor, a group of them started logging a portion of Ashenvale (Alliance town), and fought and killed Cenarius, a defender of the forests there. This caused conflict and is the reason why the Alliance and the Horde hate each other. There’s more to the story on www.worldofwarcraft.com.

World of Warcraft might sound like the average game to others, but it’s very different. WoW has it’s own terminology and language which is what separates it from other games. The Alliance cannot communicate with the Horde and vice-versa.

“The neat thing about WoW is it’s realistic and not just a video game. There’s every age, race and sex playing. You can always find a friend if you spam something in trade chat,” Sean Brunner said.

One student said that they skipped at least four or five days of school just to stay home and play WoW.

“It can destroy your life, or make it happier,” said Peter Weidinger, another student here at Penn Manor.

But will you give in? Will you join the World of Warcraft? You decide.

By Gabby Myers

The Co$t of College Concerns Penn Manor Seniors

Acceptance letters may come in small envelopes, but the debt that comes with them is much greater.

Penn Manor seniors are preparing to go off to college next fall, but rising tuition rates for the majority of universities have already been causing stress.

As four of the five most popular college choices of Penn Manor students are increasing their tuition, applicants have to find more ways to earn the extra money.

But were students even aware that the cost was increasing?

“I had no idea,” said senior Zach Levenson, “But I still want to go. West Chester is a great school.”

West Chester University will be increasing its tuition cost from $12,229 to $12,704 this year, making a 3.8 increase.

However, Levenson has a plan.

“I’m applying for student loans and scholarships this month. Hopefully it’ll work out.”

Some seniors don’t have to worry about this increasing cost though.

“[The increase] didn’t really matter to me. My parents are paying for all of it.” said Mike Cotich.

Although, if you’re not like Cotich or Levenson, there are other ways to finding a method to pay for college.

“Financial Aid Night is a good thing to do,” said guidance counselor James Yearsley, “but there are always other things you can do.”

Yearsley recommends helpful websites such as collegeboard.com, educationplanner.org, and the guidance office’s Moodle page.

“Besides need-based scholarships, kids should take the time to go to the websites that ask for essays. That’s where there will not be as much competition, because if it takes extra work most kids will stay away.”

And Yearsley stated that this “probably won’t be changing any time soon.”

“There are extra cost of things like air conditioning in dorms, higher quality food, and even some laundry services. These weren’t around years ago, and it causes the cost to go up,” said Yearsley.

Penn Manor’s top five most popular colleges to attend are no exception.

Penn State and West Chester have already increased their tuition, while Millersville and Temple will announce their increases over the summer.

Pittsburgh University is the only school that is actually lowering its cost of tuition, in an effort to help students cope with the struggle of paying for college.

While college may be emptying your piggy bank, there’s still ways to save every penny you can.

By Lindsey Ostrum and Mike Nitroy

PM Nation:Tim Tebow top NFL Quarterback?

Welcome to the third edition of PM Nation by Cody Straub and Taylor Groff. This week’s column is about what arguably the best college football player, Tim Tebow, will do in the National Football League.

Cody Straub: Tim Tebow will have a successful NFL career because of his passion and love for the game of football. I am making a bold prediction that if Tebow is drafted by the right team, he will win rookie of the year playing in his own wildcat offense.

Taylor Groff: Not even close, Cody. Tebow seems like he has a lot of love for the game, but I don’t think he is an NFL quarterback. I respect what he did at Florida where he captured two national titles under Urban Meyer. There is just one problem. He seems to have figured out that he needs to change almost every aspect of his game to show NFL scouts he can throw the ball.

CS: Taylor, he is not changing his whole game, he is just tweaking his arm motion to make his release a little quicker. This kid does not accept failure, and doesn’t fail. Everybody is forgetting that he won a Heisman Trophy and two national championships. They think because he is not an “NFL style” quarterback he will not be successful. He is a proven winner at every level of competition he has played at.

TG: When a player has to tweak something a week before the NFL combine that’s not a good sign. He is now taking three and five step drops instead of the shotgun format he ran in Florida.

CS: Taylor, I said the right team, not some idiots who take away his unique style he brings to a team.

TG: His delivery is awful and he takes way too much time to get rid of the ball. You are also right about people forgetting about his Heisman and the two championships because people are more worried about his possible failure in the NFL.

CS: Everybody makes the mistake of writing him off. Coming into college all the scouts were saying he is not a good enough thrower to be a good college quarterback. In his amazing four college career Tebow had 88 passing touchdowns and 9,285 passing yards. Pretty good for a guy whose throwing ability everyone questioned.

TG: I want to clear this up with everyone. I believe that Tim’s college career was probably one of the best in NCAA history. Even though he had a highly successful college career I still believe he is not ready for the NFL. He hasn’t proven to anyone he can throw the ball.

CS: Obviously you are thinking too hard about how to bash Tebow instead of understanding my point. Tebow succeeds even if nobody else thinks he will.

TG: I have one question to you though, being completely honest, do you think Tim Tebow can throw the ball well enough against NFL defenses?

CS: Yes, Tim Tebow is a good enough passer to go against NFL defenses. With his long throwing motion, he was able to dominate the best defenses in college football. He has already made huge strides in changing his arm motion for a quicker release. No, Taylor he isn’t changing his whole game he is changing his throwing motion a little bit to have more success. I just have one last question for you, how can you or anyone hate Tim Tebow? Is it because he is a great role model or that he has a Heisman and two national championships?

TG: My point is Tim is, without a doubt, a great role model but he will be known as the two-time national title winner and that’s it.

CS: Alright that’s all we got, just remember this column next season when Tebow is dominating the NFL.

TG: I would like to give a shout out to the Uconn Huskies women for breaking the division one record with 72 W’s in a row.

“Curtains” Draws Its Curtains Open for the Community

One of the most anticipated events of the year is upon us as Penn Manor’s spring musical draws its curtains.

Starting Thursday, March 11, Penn Manor will host their annual show to the community at 7:30 p.m. This year’s musical is a reproduction of the recent Broadway musical, Curtains. Just two and a half years after it debuted on Broadway, Penn Manor will become the first High School in Lancaster County to reproduce this young musical.

The show is a “show within a show,” set in 1950s Boston. It is centered on a Broadway-bound musical with hopes of making it big, until their leading female role is mysteriously murdered. The cast attempts to balance solving the murderer with preparing their own show in this musical-comedy.

“Curtains is a spoof on other musicals,” said Melissa Telesco, co-director of the musical. “Our characters are overdramatic on purpose”

For those who may be skeptical about going to see a musical, there seems to be a general agreement that Curtains has more to offer than simply song and dance.

Choreographer and Penn Manor junior Jill Wiley said, “It’s a comedy, it pokes fun at many different Broadway musicals.”

curtains 2 — Curtains will be open to the community starting Thursday at 7:30 PM. Photo by Andrew Zell

“It’s very funny,” said assistant director Melissa Mintzer. “You don’t have to be a ‘musical person’ to understand the jokes.”

Tickets are on sale this week in the cafeteria during all lunches for shows on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Saturday. Tickets are $5 for students and $7 for adults at lunches and increase a dollar in price at the door. All seats are reserved, so it is advised to buy tickets for groups at one time.

By Cody Erb and Sarah Schaeffer

Daniel Boone’s season ended by Penn Manor

Thursday night’s boys basketball game at Cedar Crest High School was for a spot in states for either Daniel Boone or Penn Manor.

Boone’s senior guard, Tyler Brooks, was shut down scoring only four points all night. His season average is 18.3 points which is second in the Berks conference.

Penn Manor’s Patrick Welsh scored seven first half points leading the Comets to a 13-point lead, late in the second quarter.

Boone ended the half with an eight-point run to cut the deficit within five at half.

The Blazers came within two points of Penn Manor near the end of the third quarter but couldn’t capitalize.

Welsh led all Comet scorers with 16 points. Leron Lee added 14 points and Sam Cornell contributed 11 points.

The Comets will face off against district one champion Penn Wood, Saturday 3:30PM at Norristown high school.

By Sam Valentin