News – Page 15 – Penn Points Online

Wrist Size Proves To Be Informational

By Cassey Graeff –

Bracelets, athletic bands, silly bands, and watches.

Each day a person’s eye is drawn to a wrist for different reasons thanks to accessories. But now there is a whole new reason to look at wrists.

According to Los Angeles Times, “Heart disease is the leading killer of adults in the United States, and the path to heart problems begins in childhood. But physicians don’t have an accurate way to assess which children, even the overweight ones, will be most at risk for developing heart disease.”

Scientific data has proven that the size of a child’s wrist can offer clues to their future health.

Children with larger wrist measurement have a higher insulin resistance. Insulin is a polypeptide hormone that regulates the metabolism of glucose and other nutrients. When a child has a high insulin resistance the natural insulin is less effective at lower the blood sugar causing an increase in blood glucose which may raise levels outside the normal range and cause health effects.

There is also a connection between the size of a wrist and a persons BMI (body mass index). According to medical experts, “BMI is the common acronym given to Body Mass Index, a number calculated from your weight and height that roughly correlates to the percentage of your total weight that comes from fat, as opposed to muscle, bone or organ.”

The higher a persons BMI is a higher percentage of fat is contained in the body.

According to Time.Health, “Results do not suggest that every child with thick wrist bones is at risk of insulin resistance and therefore heart disease. But the findings do suggest that among youngsters who are already overweight or obese, the easy-to-take measurement may be more effective than BMI at alerting doctors to those who may be at greater risk of developing heart problems in coming years.”

With this information parents can take a look at their child’s wrist and have a clue to whether heart disease could be a problem in their future.

Oh the Weather Outside is……Confusing.

By Matt Ulmer –

Monday sandals and short shorts, Tuesday umbrellas with a sweatshirt.

Students at Penn Manor are going back-and-forth between their winter and summer wardrobes. It’d be lovely to ensure students that they can set out their cargo shorts, tank tops and sandals for good, but the next 5-7 days may “wash away” that thought.

The inconsistent weather forecast for the next 5 days.

Last week temperatures hit 79, and Wednesday snow appeared in some parts of the county.

This week is just as odd. Yesterday, Lancaster hit a seasonal high of 84 degrees. Today’s weather is roaming in the 50’s with high chances of rain leading into the night. Tomorrow is gonna seem like Deja Vu.

One Penn Manor substitute said, “variety is nice, be aware of anything.”

Most students and teachers in the building seem to have the opposite mindset.

Sophomore Kyle Musser said, “I’m annoyed by the weather” which is forcing him to wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

Millersville University Meteorologist Eric Horst has his own theory on the weather pattern. He believes it’s a pattern that has stayed consistent for the past 10 years, and always seems to fall around the end of March into the third week of April.

“This roller coaster ride will continue for the next two weeks until around Easter weekend,” explained Horst, indicating the April 23-24 weekend.

His predictions were enlightening with his promise of sunshine and high 60s for Thursday and Friday, but they were erased with his predictions of rainstorms for the weekend.

One thing is for sure, this week is probably the start of a more unsettled climate to come.

Winklevoss’s Dealt Setback on Facebook Lawsuit

By David Mohimani –

Friend request denied.

Camereon and Tyler Winnklevoss, the nemesis of Facebook’s founder, learned Monday that their settlement agreement from 2008 with will be upheld.

Even though they are not happy about it. They want more.

winklevoss2 — Photo of Winklevoss's photo courtesy of Technicallypersonal.com

The twins, both Harvard graduates and Olympic rowers, filed a lawsuit against Zuckerburg back when Facebook was first starting, accusing Zuckerburg of stealing the idea from their website ConnectU.

In 2008, the Winklevoss boys agreed to a settlement of $20 million and gained ownership of $65 million in Facebook shares.

The Winklevoss’s however tried to renege on this agreement after Facebook was valued at a much higher appraisal than they or their lawyers anticpated at the time.

After an investment by Goldman Sachs last year of $500 million, the company was valued at $50 billion.

The attempt to reopen the settlement squelched by a San Francisco appellate court Monday.

The Court ruled that, “The courts might have obliged [with a continued lawsuit], had the Winklevosses not settled their dispute and signed a release of all claims against Facebook. For whatever reason, they now want to back out. We see no basis for allowing them to do so. At some point, litigation must come to an end. That point has now been reached,” the judge wrote.

For now the Winklevoss’s will have to row their way home.

More Detours for Penn Manor Students

By Lyta Ringo –

During last school year, many students faced the road detours caused by the rebuilding of the Stehman Road bridge. Well, PennDOT is at it again. Many may know of the underpass located on Marticville Road. A good percent of Penn Manor’s students, faculty, and community members travel on that road everyday.

The bridge has caused problems in the past, due to its very sharp turn, most try and avoided it at all costs by using the overpass located before the bridge, according to a report published at the beginning of March by lancasteronline.com.

Senior Ben Hershock admitted he’s had some issues with people not paying attention while going through the bridge.

“I myself have never had problems,” said Hershock, “but I’ve seen many people just take the turn without looking, then realize there’s a car coming and panic.”

The overpass used to be a dirt road with many trees and no traffic signs. However six municipalities took ownership of the crossover. Converting it to a safer traveling space.

The trees surrounding the area were removed, the overpass was paved, and traffic signs were installed. All of this sounds like a good thing right? But that’s not all.

ar11861538779571 — Image of the Marticville underpass. Photo courtesy of a Lancaster County real estate blog.

Stated by the same news report, ownership of the overpass was signed over to the municipalities to fix up the overpass. Now that it is fixed and able to drive on safely, the state has found somethings wrong with it. For instance the road doesn’t meet the states standards.

“I don’t think closing it (the overpass) would be that big of a deal,” said Hershock.

Any students agreed that the bridge isn’t that big of an issue as long as there isn’t huge vehicles going through it.

“I go through the bridge all the time to get to my grandparents house, and I’ve never had any problems there,” said sophomore Adrienne Eager, “I mean I wouldn’t wanna be on the other side if a bus or construction vehicle was coming through, because that probably wouldn’t work too well.”

Deciding against its staff recommendation, the county planning commission, held a meeting to try and get the overpass turned into an actual road. As reported by lancasteronline.com, in the process of this happening $1.6million in federal and state money has been set aside for this project.

The only problem is the new road is in conflict with a in process PennDOT project, in which the entire 23-mile Enola line would become a rail-trail. The deadline for this project has been passed and no contract exists. However the trail is still up for question.

In the situation that this would happen the overpass would be closed, and all traffic would be directed under the bride again. Raising the question of if it would cause more traffic issues or if Holtwood would stay a quiet and peaceful place.

School Board Meeting Approves Teacher Pay Freeze

By Sarah Schaeffer –

Last night the Penn Manor School board held it’s public April meeting at Manor Middle School.

The board approved a new, one-year contract for teachers, after many months of debate.

This contract, beginning July 1, enforces a pay freeze for all teachers, meaning teachers will not receive raises, bonuses or any other sort of increase in salary. Though teachers will be without extra payment, it came with the assurance that no teachers will be let go in the coming year.

According to Dr. Mike Leichliter, Superintendent of Penn Manor, the pay freeze will reduce the school’s budget by almost $1 million, a helpful cut in the financial challenges the district will face in the future, he said in an e-mail.

“Both sides worked diligently to come to agreement on a contract which puts the needs of the students first. At the same time we recognize the financial hardships the district and taxpayers are facing,” said Leichliter.

Discussion for a 2012-13 contract will begin by January 2012.

In other news, Vickie Miller was introduced as the new girls’ tennis coach.

Beth Dengler and Kierstin McDonald, entrepreneurship class students, presented the business plans for the junior class project and encouraged board members to support the project by buying chicken BBQ tickets.

From the Boulevard of Broken Dreams to Broadway

For all the Green Day lovers out there, Broadway’s got a show for you.

Green Day’s most popular album, American Idiot, is on now Broadway. With a plot line based off of the songs on the album, the show is “invigorating, moving and thrilling” according to The New York Times.

The musical follows young Johnny as he is pressured into a life of drug addiction by the drug pusher St. Jimmy. Green Day’s very own front man, Billie Joe Armstrong, joins the cast as St. Jimmy himself.

Johnny is portrayed as a rebel more likely to love than to fight, but he can’t resist the temptation of the bad influence, St. Jimmy. As St. Jimmy leads Johnny into his life of drugs, sex, and rock ‘n’ roll, Johnny’s friends also become a focus of the show. Tunny, played by Stark Sands, joins the Army after his move with Johnny to the city, Will, played by Michael Esper, must stay home to be with his pregnant girlfriend (Jeanna de Waal), and then there is the girl Johnny has his eyes on.

Armstrong and his band Green Day wrote all of the songs for the show and Armstrong wrote the book with the director, Michael Mayer.

The show received outstanding reviews from many critics including The Toronto Star which said that “American Idiot” is “the first great musical of the 21st century.”

Rolling Stone called it “a global knockout. Blows your mind while it blows the roof off. ”

Penn Manor students, however, have mixed reviews about the musical.

Zoe Hower, a junior, thinks “it looks stupid. I don’t like musicals.”

Another student said it sounds dumb.

Some students think it’s a great idea to make the album into a musical. Trina Martin and Haleyy Smith, both sophomores, would go see it.

“I love the whole album,” said Martin.

“Green Day? I love them,” said Smith.

“American Idiot” will be at the St. James Theater, 246 West 44th Street, Manhattan with Billie Joe Armstrong performing as St. Jimmy.

By Cassie Funk

The Beauty of Spring is a Burden to Many

By Morgan Fletcher –

Yep, it’s that time of year again.

Sniffles and sneezes will be heard throughout the school as allergy season plagues many at Penn Manor.

Spring is not the most pleasant time of year for allergy sufferers, but there are easy ways to find relief and bear through the harsh first months of Spring.

allergy_385x261 — It's hard for seasonal allergy sufferers to enjoy the beauty of nature. Photo courtesy allergyasthma.wordpress.com

School nurses evaluate students’ symptoms and have general information that they can share with someone who has allergies.

“The student needs to be prepared – bring lots of tissues, drink lots of fluids, and take medications at home if their physician has recommended that they do so,” said Penn Manor school nurse Anne Butterfield.

“We can notify a parent and ask that medication be brought in to help control severe symptoms,” she added.

April and May are the height of the tree pollen season, and May and June are the height of the grass pollens.

Allergy season provokes a lot of uncomfortableness to its victims. The overall quality of life is affected for sufferers with the most severe cases as the simplest activities become hard and annoying tasks to bare.

Sleeping can become a pain during the peak allergy period as well as sports activities since athletes are outside for an extended period of time and are overexposed to the allergens.

: As beautiful Spring plants bloom, the misery for allergy sufferers blooms as well. Photo courtesy decideforyourself.wordpress.com

Symptoms of seasonal allergies include congestion, sneezing, rhinorrhea (runny nose) and itchy, watery eyes. It is important to distinguish the difference between the common cold and seasonal allergies as many of the symptoms are similar.

To alleviate symptoms, sufferers can take control of environmental systems. Windows should be kept closed, laundry should not be hung outside and showers should be taken every evening so that allergens trapped in hair are thoroughly rinsed out.

Complications of allergies include sinusitis, asthma , conjunctivitis (inflammation of the membrane lining the eyelids) and otitis (inflammation of the ear).

In the coming months, when students and faculty at Penn Manor appear to be groggy and teachers seem to go through a box of tissues in half-a-day, it will be evident that allergy season has struck, but it’s reassuring to know that it will all soon be over.

Hassel with Finding, Maintaining Teen Jobs

By Cynthia Rodriguez

With the economy still shaky, teens are having major problems finding a job. Handling them is another thing.

Photo courtesy of http://www.google.com

The job market for teens is possibly the worst it’s been since the Great Depression. Any employment is getting tougher to find, let alone good employment. If you are a teen, you may have to put a lot of effort into finding a job, as employers are cutting back on hiring.

Lancaster County resident Georgia Rodriguez is an adult who had trouble finding a job recently and spoke about how much harder it is for teens.

“Jobs are so hard to find in today’s world. Right now there are so many companies throughout the world having financial problems,” said Rodriguez.

Undoubtedly, the recent financial downturn has affected much of the economy. When the economy is strong, workers can easily find a job because employers are looking for people to employ.

“This causes pay rates to rise. On the other hand, when the economy is weak, competition for jobs becomes fiercer because more people are unemployed. This causes pay rates to decrease,” said retired worker Carol Main of Lancaster.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor and Industry, 50 percent of American teenagers hold some sort of jobs, such as babysitting or yard work, by age 12. And by age 15, nearly two-thirds of American teens have had some kind of employment.

But it’s not always easy to keep a job.

“I was employed at Timberland right before Christmas working as a cashier,” Penn Manor junior Breezy Rivera said. They had me with good hours. Getting the job was definitely not easy. When it came close to Christmas it was busy, busy, busy. After Christmas, that’s when I had recently got laid off, they said they no longer needed me.”

One difficulty teens run into with employment are child labor laws. The law requires that kids age 16 and 17 year olds not start work before 6 a.m. or after midnight on school days and 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Photo by http://www.google.com/

Also, teens are not allowed to work more than eight hours per day and 28 hours per school week. During the summer, the only restrictions on 16 and 17 year olds, is that they can work no more than eight hours per day.

Vanessa Marquez, 17, works at Salad Works in Park City Center in Lancaster. She doesn’t agree with the restrictions on teens from the Child Labor laws.

“I sit back and think, if you can maintain a job and get things done, do your duties, then why not be able to stay late and make some good money,” said Marquez.

Amanda Sanchez, 18, is a Penn Manor alumni who is appreciative of her job, although she said it’s hard working for hourly wages.

“I’m employed at Giant grocery store,” said Sanchez. “I’ve been here for a good amount of time.I also had a good paying job at QVC, working over nights then getting up going straight to the next job, I rarely got any sleep.”

To get a job this summer, MSNBC had these 10 suggestions:

1. Convince your prospective employer that you’re not too young for the job.

2. Spread the word that you’re looking for work and don’t be shy about it.

3.Speak to the boss not a employer.

4. Show positive energy.

5.Maintain good grades and attendance in school.

6. Keep proof of paperwork,if you don’t yet have a driver’s license or learner’s permit is to have your school district issue an age certificate for you.

7. Clean and neat. Mind your manners and grooming.

8.If you get hurt on the job don’t be afraid to ask your boss for help before the next task.

9. Work hard and show initiative. If you can tell the boss is hesitant about hiring you and you really want to work there, suggest that you can work for two weeks without pay.

10.Work for a family member or friend, study buddy, tutoring. Figure out whether you might be able to use something like this to make money now and also improve the image of your college and scholarship applications in the future.

Cuts in Funding have Students Running

By Zach Campbell –

Runners are getting their track shoes on to protest cuts in higher education.

Millersville and Lock Haven students are running a either a 40-mile or 100- mile relay to prove their point against Governor Tom Corbett’s plan to make higher education cuts. They will meet up with other students from state universities to hold a rally at the capitol.

Corbett plans to give the state system of universities a little over $232 million which some people say is only as much as they received in 1983.

Lock Haven students plan to leave their campus bright and early to be able to make their close to 100-mile run to the state capitol.

The rally will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. About 700 students from various universities are expected to make an appearance. Two buses packed with Millersville students will leave their campus at about 10 a.m. to meet their fellow runners in Harrisburg.

Corbett has stated that various cuts are needed to close a multi-billion dollar budget deficit.

Facebook Loses Friends

By Bryan Buckius –

Nothing is worse then trying to check your Facebook and having it take forever for the page to load. All the advertisements that pop up on the side of the page slow this process down. This makes checking your account take even longer.

Now with a developing advertising war of coupons, Facebook pages may take even longer to load.

Facebook has recently added a new perk for its millions of users. For those interested, Facebook offers an application called Deals. Users can subscribe to these deals and receive coupons for restaurants, clothing stores, and other places of interest.

More advertisements will be on Facebook. By Penn Points Staff

The dilemma with this new application is not between Facebook and its users. It’s between Facebook and a website called Groupon.com. Groupon offers coupons very similar to the coupons Facebook is now promoting. In retaliation against Facebook’s new application, Groupon.com will be posting adds on Facebook to promote their website.

While this dilemma is between two large online corporations, some students at Penn Manor are affected by the problem.

“The advertisements on Facebook are annoying. All that they do is take up space on my computer screen,” said Emily Yinger.

“I don’t even take time to read the adds on Facebook,” said Dylan Weber.

Although the coupons on Facebook may be convenient, one Penn Manor student has other ways to get great deals.

“I don’t have a Facebook account for this reason exactly. Facebook is too much of a hassle. If I want to find coupons I look in the newspaper or in my family’s Entertainment book,” said senior Austin Groff.