Category: Student Life

By Lauren Richards –

Didn’t get into the college you applied to? Forgot to send in your application? Have no fear procrastinators- it’s not too late!

The college application process can be stressful for many college-bound seniors. It’s easy to put off applying until you realize the deadline for your desired school has passed. Luckily there are 13 universities still accepting applications, some are even local. So if you’re currently unsure of your plans for next year and want to go to college, there are still some options.

The 13 schools still accepting applications are:

1. Allegheny College, Pennsylvania
2. Boise State University, Idaho
3. Chapman University, California
4. Columbia College Chicago
5. Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey
6. University of Maine
7. University of Alabama in Huntsville
8. Morehouse College, Georgia
9. Ohio Wesleyan University
10. Savannah College of Art and Design
11. York St John University, United Kingdom
12. John Cabot University, Italy
13. Marymount Manhattan College, New York

Some Penn Manor seniors were, or still are, unsure of their plans for next year.

Eric Bear didn’t know what he was going to do about college due to a cruise he was taking that would have caused him to miss the first week of freshman classes.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do, but then I got the opportunity to go to study abroad in Paris so I’m doing that,” Bear said.

Ella Perry is attending Temple University next year, but she could have been in trouble had she not gotten in because that was the only school she applied to. For Perry, a school accepting applications late in the year might have been an option.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t gotten in, I would’ve scrambled,” Perry said.

Hannah Willett is still not sure what she is doing next year, but forgetting to apply to schools was not a problem for her.

“I applied to colleges and got accepted but just decided I didn’t want to go,” Willett said.

Willett said the schools still accepting applications do not interest her.

Whether you’re planning on going to college or not, universities still accepting applications allow you to keep your options open.

Student loan debt rose more than credit card debt for the first time last year and is likely to top a trillion dollars this year. With Pennsylvania’s higher education funding cut in Pennsylvania for next year, local students could feel an even heavier burden.

Two-thirds of bachelor’s degree recipients graduated with debt in 2008, compared with less than half in 1993, according to the New York Times. Last year, graduates who took out loans left college with an average of $24,000 in debt.

“I started doing architecture and then moved to teacher. I attended Pennsylvania University and ended up at Millersville,” said Teacher Nick Swartz.

“I had to pay 30,000$ and it takes about 10 years from graduation to pay off. But money wasn’t an issue at the time in High School. I got some academic scholarship but if I could do it all over again I would have more academic scholarship. Is just that I wasn’t in the real world,” he added.

But it may be worth it.

In 2008, the median earnings of a bachelor’s degree recipient were almost $22,000 more per year than a high-school graduate. And lifetime – college grads earn 65 percent more than high school grads.

With more students borrowing money for college, student loan debt in the U.S. is now greater than credit card debt, but according CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports, it’s still a smart investment.

” I plan on going into college and being $50,000 in debt. It is going to be bad paying 16,000 a year, but it doesn’t surprise me how credit card debt is now lower than college debt,” said senior Tyler Beckley.

According to CreditKarma.com, a consumer credit advocate, which released its U.S. Credit Score Climate Report with trend data for April 2011, student loan debt increased over last year.

In fact, nationally, average student loan debt per consumer increased six percent since April 2010 to $29,572.

The debt is building higher and higher while the paychecks parents and students are receiving are remaining the same. Students and their families are just going to have to deal with it, according to senior Darius Howard.

“You gotta do whatcha gotta do,” he said.

By Connor Rowe –

I’m at the beach on sixth street; where are you?

On June 11 the senior class will depart to their destination they’ve been thinking of for the past 181 days in the classroom.

The biggest question in regards to senior week is, where is everyone going to be?

The most popular response to senior week was the three hour drive to Ocean City, Maryland. OCMD is not known for its pretty beaches or town; it is just able to attract the majority of the seniors because of its inexpensive housing, convenience and the 18 year old crowd.

Last year’s trip ending with six Penn Manor alumni arrested and put into the Ocean City jail didn’t hold this years class back from going there again.

Last year’s arrest made this years seniors more aware of what can happen.

“No open containers and make sure you’re with a buddy at all times,” district police officer Jason Hottenstein insisted.

“I’m going to Ocean City, Maryland with my friends because everyone goes there and I’d rather be somewhere where all my friends will be. There is also a lot more to do down there. For example, you can meet new people,” senior Jaq Presbery said (6th street).

“I’m going to Ocean City, Maryland; staying on sixth street with friends. Senior week is like a celebration with your high school classmates and you can’t really take all of your high school classmates to a private place, unlike OCMD,” senior Mark Curtin said (6th street).

“OCMD because its a great atmosphere the spirits are high because everyone’s graduating. Everyone’s going to be happy,” senior Jessen Smith said (5th street).

There are a few people who had to make different arrangements for the week most seniors remember for the rest of their life.

One particular senior put her family in front of her peers to celebrate her high school graduation. Senior Stefanie Friedman is going to head to Atlantis in the Bahamas with her cousin. She is going to then travel back north to Virginia Beach to see her brother-in-law return from deployment.

Another senior had to adjust her arrangements with her job in this difficult economic time.

“Well now I’m not going because of work and it just never came together with the group of people I was planning on going with. It will be the first week when school is over and I wouldn’t be able to request off my first week of a new job,” senior Emily Hutchinson said.

One student was offered an academic trip through the school to celebrate their 12 years of Penn Manor.

“I’m going to Germany for three weeks because I saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity and it was too good to pass up,” Peter Horning said.

By Alyssa Byers –

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

With the warm weather approaching, there are only so many ways to keep cool. So, what do you do on a hot, humid day when the air conditioner’s broken and the pool’s closed? Go get some ice cream of course. But where’s the best place in Lancaster to satisfy your craving? Penn Manor students have their opinions.

“Bruster’s is where it’s at,” said senior Kaylin Madonna. “I’ve never gotten anything other than an M&M blast there.”

With ice cream shops lining the roads of Lancaster County, it’s hard to choose where to go. From Dairy Queen to Rita’s, each ice cream shop is unique in its own way.

With over 50 ice cream flavors and more than 30 mix-ins ranging from bananas to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Maggie Moo’s has plenty of options. Not to mention their variety of ice cream cupcakes, pizzas, cakes, and specialty treats.

Maggie Moo’s is senior Whitney Reno’s favorite.

“There are a lot of options and it’s frickin’ delicious,” said Reno.

However, some say that at Rita’s you get the best of both worlds. With a list of ever changing flavors of Italian ice and a growing inventory of types of custard, Rita’s can satisfy anyone’s craving.

Rachel Chapman said Rita’s is her favorite because you get a mixture of custard and ice.

But what can end a meal better than a FREE sundae? At Friendly’s, a “happy ending” sundae comes with certain meal options. If you’re just in the mood for ice cream though, that’s okay too. Friendly’s has milkshakes, sundaes, friend-zs and much, much more.

A little closer to the high school, and with milk as fresh as it comes, Pineview Dairy offers ice cream, sherbet, frozen yogurt and even ice cream pie.

“Pineview Dairy is my favorite because their ice cream tastes different than anywhere else,” said sophomoreLauren Swinehart.

If you still can’t decide where to fulfill your appetite, here’s a list of places to buy ice cream in Lancaster County, followed by a map of where each business is located:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&safe=active&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=212690286688843050742.0004a3288a5d2e8462f36&z=11

1. Haagan Dazs
2. Pineview Dairy
3. Jim Mack’s
4. Dairy Queen
5. Bruster’s
6. Maggie Moo’s
7. Friendly’s
8. The Creamery
9. Dippin Dots
10. Scoops
11. Rita’s Italian Ice

By Erica Galgon

The heroes of the world come together to help protect us and help us survive everyday.  Firefighters, EMTs, fire police, law enforcement.

Some of them are walking the halls of Penn Manor.

You can’t miss them during an emergency, they’re the ones who have the buzzers buzzing and the pagers beeping.

But why do the junior fire fighters or EMS students carry those silly little pagers around during school. If all they do is make a bunch of noise during class?

“I carry them around for the calls we get. I don’t want to miss anything.” Said Darren Pickel of the Highville fire company.

One of the female volunteer firefighters in Penn Manor is Allison Rohrbach, a junior, doesn’t use a pager.  She gets text messages when there is an emergency.

“It has been three years since I started at Pequea Fire Company, and now I am moving to Refton to start my next chapter,” said Rohrbach

The National Fire Protection Agency estimated that there were 1,148,100 firefighters in the U.S. as of 2009. Also, 29 percent of the fire fighters took firefighting up as a career. There are also 71 percent volunteer firefighters out of that 1,148,100.

More than 40 percent of fire companies provide EMS services, while 41 percent don’t provide any EMS services at all.

“I grew up in it,” said Joey McMillan about volunteering as a firefighter in the Penn Manor community.

McMillan spends most of his free time training and volunteering  with the Rawlinsville Fire Company, located in Holtwood, Pa.

The hardest part of being a volunteer firefighter is “seeing death,” said McMillan.

Even though this may be a volunteering job, it is still a big part of the lives of many young men and women at Penn Manor.

By Iris Santana –

Although some of the more violent and severe racial acts are not commonly expressed anymore, the verbal and “brainwashed” antics are still alive today.

There was a recent case where an 8-year-old South African girl told Ted Koppel on Nightline her disturbing outlook on the subject.

“White people are better than black people. Whites know more, have more and get more. I wish I was white but I am not,” the girl said – again… 8 years old.

Racism is a developed set of attitudes that include antagonism based on the supposed superiority of one group or the supposed inferiority of another group, based solely on skin color or race.

“I hate racism,” said Quay Hanna, a Penn Manor club leader, activist and author who gets kids talking about racial issues in an effort to ease tensions.  “It’s artificial.”

According to Hanna, racism runs in a four to five year cycle at Penn Manor. If racial discord is bad from a new freshman class, Hanna explained, it doesn’t start again until that same freshman class are seniors and more mature.

In high school, Hanna was considered racist.

“There is an underlining prejudice,” he said, adding, “you weren’t offended unless you were that race.”

When college hit, he had to watch what he said around certain people because he wasn’t sure whether or not they would take offense to it.

Hanna and other racist friends called black people “shallwesays” instead of the “N” word, so no one would know what they were talking about.

Between his junior and senior year, Hanna started feeling guilty for living two lives because he was friends with a couple of young black men.

There are many reasons why people become racist.

One of the main reason why people become racist are because of their family and friends. Being surrounded by racism and learning to think that’s the right way to be is going to make you live that way.

In my opinion family or friends shouldn’t try to influence their children to become like themselves. They should try to encourage them to do better and explore different cultures, expanding their knowledge about other ethnicities.

Xenophobia, meaning the fear of people who are different, is another reason why a lot of people become racist. They’re not able to adjust to changes and/or different characteristics between certain people.

According to humanrightsfirst.org, the race most targeted for hate crimes in the world are African Americans.

In 2007-2008, many of these attacks were reported in Germany.

In Berlin, on March 2, 2008,  a young woman screaming racial slurs pushed a dark-skinned man into the path of an oncoming train. The 19-year-old victim, luckily, was able to jump back onto the platform in time, with the help of two bystanders.

There are still some very cruel and hateful people in this world. Honestly some people just need to get over themselves. Even if everyone was the same skin tone or ethnicity, we would not all get along, just for the simple fact that we are all different and have different personalities.