For some people a car is a form of transportation from point A to point B but its a little more than that for some kids at Penn Manor.
Dillon and his Eclipse
These fast tuner cars, as seen in big movie hits such as The Fast and Furious series and even video games like Need for Speed and Forza Motor sports, but these kids are taking these dream car and trying to make them a reality.
Dillon Walker, a senior at Penn Manor, has really put hard work and time into his 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse. He works all the time and he admits that most of it ends up going towards his car. He has done things such as putting on a new exhaust system, cold air intake, a new sound system and even a head unit. He has also done some external thing to his car as well, he put neons underneath and inside his car, and he has tinted his windows.
“Some kids take their cars way too seriously and spend too much,” Walker said. He feels that some kids think it is a competition at school to see who has the nicest car, but Dillon doesn’t feel that way. He does it just to get a reaction out of people and also because he really likes to make his car better than it was before.
Will and his Jetta GLI
Will Downs a junior at Penn Manor doesn’t have the same amount of money in his car as Dillon but it’s just as cool.
Will’s 2004 VolksWagen Jetta Gli has grey BBS wheels, a cold air intake, and even racing seats. But there are still things that he would still like to do. He wants to chip the engine to make it faster, re-tint the windows to make them darker, lower his car even more than it is now. He also wants to put in new headlights and add in a diverter valve.
“Basically I like to do anything I can to my car,” Will said when commenting about the looks of his car. But Will doesn’t customize his car to get a reaction out of people like Dillon does, Will sees it more as a hobby and because he saw his older brother Sam always making his car better so he wanted to.
There are a lot of hobbies teens can put their hard-earned cash toward but it seems like their rides give these owners the most satisfaction.
You walk into prom with a gorgeous dress hoping everyone loves it as much as you do. You’ve waited 12 years to experience this special night. But then all of a sudden, another girl starts walking toward you with the same dress. Now you’re left wishing you would’ve done your research.
Prom time is a special time for any high school girl. It only comes once and often you only get one chance to go–your senior year. It’s an exciting time toward the end of spring, with a hint of summer in the air. Boys often seem oblivious to the excitement the word “prom” brings with it for girls. Of course, everything for the girl starts with the dress. But no girls ever, ever want to show up with the same dress and there are ways to make sure this doesn’t happen.
There are many stores around the Penn Manor School District where senior girls can go to for their dress. Weddings by Paulette is only a mile from Penn Manor High School. A short drive away are stores like Fancy Schmancy in Ephrata, Renaissance Bridal in York, and Bev’s Bridal in Quarryville.
Looking for the right dress can be a long and tedious journey, hopping from store to store, but it can be worth it in the end.
Most girls going to their prom want to have a dress that no one else has seen or will be wearing. Each store tries to carry different designers so they offer different choices to local high school girls. Each store promises not to sell the same dress to more than one girl at each school. This promise seems to be a comfort to each girl once she thinks she found the “perfect” dress.
“If I had not already bought the dress, and I knew someone else was getting it, I would not get that dress,” said senior Megan Wilson.
It is also a great marketing tool for stores to use, trying to get girls to shop early for their dresses so they can lock in their favorite style.
Two girls at prom realizing someone else has their dress. Photo Courtesy to 1037litefm.radio.com
But the promise of no one else being able to buy the same dress does not have the same importance to every girl who is prom bound.
Senior Maddy Hess said, “I would probably just get a dress that I liked even if i knew someone else had it.”
By being more comfortable with someone else possibly having the same dress, you have more options like finding ones on sale or at various stores that might offer dresses that are more reasonably priced.
“I’m not that worried about someone else having my dress,” stated senior Jenna Waite.
Prom fever is in the air. Whether or not it’s important to you to have a dress no one else has, prom is a time to make your princess dreams come true and go to the ball with friends you care about.
Style and fashion are like a competition nowadays. Who has the newest sneakers, who wore what’s best and why she wore that shirt with those pants.
Penn Manor has a lot of different styles of fashion. There’s the skater boy look, the urban look and many more.
There are also many other subgroups such as, emo, scene, classy, goth, stoner, hicks, jocks, preppy, nerds and gleeks.
Honeysuckle pink is a new "in" color for spring 2011. Photo courtesy of Refinery29
Danielle Brooks, a junior at Penn Manor, describes her style as urban. Sometimes she can look preppy and get dressed up, but that doesn’t happen often.
“I don’t have anyone to impress.” she said.
Brooks then goes on about the style in the school and gives her honest opinion on it.
“There are some ugly, raggedy styles in this school,” she said while shaking her head.
Breezy Rivera has a similar view.
When she sees someone dressed outrageous, “Eww” sometimes comes out of her mouth.
Fashion changes up every so often. There’s always a new brand coming out or a different way to wear something.
“Doubt it. Button ups is what I do.” said Rivera.
Audriana Dalton said she started to become more interested in fashion and her appearance in the ninth grade while she lived in California.
Audriana Dalton wears an urban/classy style- fashion at Penn Manor. Photo by Iris Santana
“School in California ain’t no joke.” said Dalton.
Every season there are new “in” colors and new clothing, mainly recycled from the eighties and nineties.
Most girls are starting to bring the baggy, over the shoulder shirts back, netted, colorful stockings, nerd glasses and bold makeup.
Most people usually wear whatever is in stores and in style during that season.
The new spring colors of 2011 are, honeysuckle, coral rose, peapod, beeswax, silver peony, russet, regatta, blue curacao, lavender and silver cloud.
The top ten trends for this spring, according to Teen Vogue are:
1. Graphic patterns
2. Boat totes
3. The long skirt
4. Cool cover- ups
5. Color blocking
6. Turbans
7. Boyish flats
8. Marc by Marc Jacobs
9. White jeans
10. Punk
Fashion is everywhere, in many different forms. A lot of people use the same “in” styles of the season, some people just tend to put their own unique twist to it.
Rebecca Black, only 13 years old, is now competing with Justin Beiber and other young, popular artists. On Feb 11, her music video “Friday” went viral on Youtube, taking few days for her to receive thousands of views. Now the video is up to 40 million hits and counting.
“Her voice is terrible,” said Amber Ayala.
Hope Martin watching the new Rebecca Black video "Friday". Photo by Chelsea Miller
A company called Ark Music Factory was the one who published the music video. The company announced they didn’t even auto-tune Rebecca’s voice; they believed her to be amazing as is.
“She is famous because people love to make fun of her,” Kelly Hoover said.
Black’s song “Friday” is now available for download. Her song reached 39 on the top 100 on iTunes. She even beat her crush, Justin Beiber. “Friday” has been downloaded millions of times while her Youtube video gets more then a million hits a day.
“She is not good enough, the most suckiest song ever,” said Courtney Jacobs, a Penn Manor music department student.
Good Morning American interviewed Black about her astonishing popularity. She admitted her “Beiber Fever”, and even looked at the camera stating that she would want to do a duet with him. She has also been on MTV and other popular talk shows.
Since the video was uploaded to Youtube, cyberbullying directed at Black has gotten out of hand. Some people commented the video, saying things about how horrible her voice is, that she’s worse then Bieber, how stupid she is, she needs to die and other inappropriate comments. Some people went so far as to make parodies out of “Friday,” making fun of the lyrics and Black herself. Black said she was upset about these comments and admitted to crying at first, but said she is over the attacks and just wants to forget about them.
Comments about the video "Friday". Photo by Chelsea Miller
In the past few days, an internet rumor went around about Black commiting suicide, but she is still alive and belting out her song.
“[‘Friday’] is repetitive, annoying, and lacks musical talent,” said junior Selena Hasircoglu.
Black is currently planning on a new song. On MTV’s 10 on Top, she announced that “if you don’t like ‘Friday’ then you wont like my next song.”
Some people say she is only famous because how horrible she is. Decide for yourself by clicking the link below to the official music video.
At Penn Manor High School, the students are wearing spring clothing even though it is still winter. The temperatures are ranging from a chilly 30s to a pleasant 60s. The students’ winter clothing has been put away in anticipation of the warmth.
And we’re all still waiting.
“When it’s hot out it seems cold, but when it starts to warm up in winter, it seems really warm,” said gym teacher Billie Jo Atkins.
Students are excited that the snow has at least melted, except for a last winter blast of snow on April Fools Day, and are wearing less and less clothing as it warms up.
Students wear summer clothing even before spring. Photo by Katie Breneman
“Suns out, guns out,” said one student wearing an Easter egg-blue polo with khaki shorts.
“I’m getting sick of wearing jeans and need a wardrobe change,” said senior Devin Yecker, in a flowing spring skirt.
“The warm weather makes me excited and brings spring fever,” said senior Jenna Santaniello, wearing a short red v-neck shirt.
Students and teachers at Penn Manor High School said that being outside in 45 degrees to 75 degrees in the winter in spring attire is acceptable.
“I wear shorts and t-shirts because it’s comfortable. Even if I’m cold, at least I’m comfortable,” said senior Danielle Landis wearing athletic attire.
Spring fever continues to burn through frigid temperatures at Penn Manor High School.
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.
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.
Penn Manor high school is in quarantine from the deadly disease called senioritis. Senioritis is a crippling disease that effects most to all seniors in high school. Is there any way to stopping this disease?
Penn Manor High School
Mark Curtin another senior at Penn Manor says, “Symptoms of senioritis include overall fatigue, cramps, violent mood swings, low grades, skipping school, lack of focus and wishing to be graduated already.”
Vaughn Stetler a senior at Penn Manor stated, “There is only one cure and that’s to graduate.”
Holly Mancinelli a senior that has A’s and B’s and seems to be the least infected but still has the disease. Mancinelli says, “Everyone has it, its just who wants to do a little bit more but not much.”
Senioritis is a good thing for most teens waiting to get out of one environment to another. In some cases, Erick Dutchess, a teacher at Penn Manor said, “It shows which kids don’t want to be in school.”
Patrick Jones a senior taking the same class as Curtin said, “I have to get work done in AP calc A/B. I would be dead if my teacher found out that I wasn’t trying. If I didn’t have AP calc, I would rather stay home and play Rockband and sleep.”
“Senioritis is here every year, but this year seems to be the worst,” said Dutchess. “The students are not doing as well as they should.”
Senioritis affects 1:1 students at Penn Manor. Some say they lack the urge, while others profess, “Who cares I am going to college.”
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.
The newest TMI disaster is waiting to happen. Its name: Facebook.
Facebook users can create personal profiles, collect friends to communicate closely with, join groups in which they are interested, share pictures and so much more. The possibilities seem endless.
“I mostly post lyrics that explain my feelings at the time,” said Kim Blake, a junior at Penn Manor, “I sometimes use code. There are just certain people who don’t need to know about my life.”
But not everyone uses the same mentality that Blake uses.
“I really don’t pay attention to what other people post. It’s just ridiculous. Your status shouldn’t change with the wind. Seriously, get a life,” Blake commented, “People need to learn to fight in person. Facebook just makes you look stupid. And those people who post the countdown until they have their baby and post pictures after they have it really make me want to tell them that babies are NOT cute. Babies look like aliens!”
“I don’t care that you’re getting a smoothie,” commented Michael Ariano, a junior at Penn Manor.
Ariano sees Facebook as a whole other issue, aside from the obvious drama epidemic. Ariano sees Facebook as a violation of privacy.
“Places by Facebook makes it easy to stalk people,” Ariano chuckled, “and people need to learn to read the conditions before they click the ‘I accept’ and make their profile.”
According to Ariano, the pages and pages of fine print that so many of us ignore to save time and automatically accept include conditions that Facebook has rights to (and owns) everything you post. Your opinions, feelings, and any original ideas you post on Facebook now belong to Facebook.
Have you ever written a song? If you were to post the lyrics to that song on Facebook, it’s no longer yours. The owners and creators of Facebook now have the legal rights to your work.
Are you thinking about what you post? Well, you should.
The world doesn’t care about your problems, so all you are doing is giving your ideas away to Facebook.
Have an iPhone or an iTouch? Then chances are that you enjoy apps. Apps are software applications that can let users do a variety of things and have become a huge part of modern society. Games are a very popular apps and are enjoyed by many.
The games can be anything from simple puzzle games, to complex shooting games that rival those used on other popular hand-held systems. Although not all the apps are free, some games must be bought and many are more popular than the free games.
Even though these games come in all shapes and sizes, for senior Nick Hartley it’s Angry Birds. He plays it on his iPhone 4.
“You can play it whenever because its your phone and you always have it,” explained Nick. That is one of the aspects that makes these games so popular.
“It’s just convenient,” said Nick. “I play them during car rides or when you have nothing to do.”
Student Kayla Morgan agrees with Nick.
“It’s different and funny, it both relieves and causes stress,” she said. She also enjoys the convenience of mobile games.
Tiny wings is a popular iPhone app for teenagers. Graphic courtesy of Platformation
Some of the most popular games in the school are Fruit Ninja, Tiny Wings, Doodle Jump and Angry Birds just to name a few. After trying out a host of games, I’ve come up a top ten list of iPhone games.
1. Tiny Wings Tiny Wings puts the player in control of a small bird that “flies” by sliding down hills. By tapping the screen, players must use precise timing in order to gain speed and fly further before descending again. By flying, players travel to different islands and beat the nighttime all while gaining points along the way. Although it has a slight learning curve, the cute and simple game is addictive and fun. It is a great $1 game to add to your phone.
2. Angry Birds The massively popular Angry Birds puts players in control of a variety of birds. In the game birds have had their eggs stolen by green pigs and you attempt to get them back. By dragging a finger across the screen, players launch the birds into structures that fall on the pigs or directly into the hogs to destroy them. A crazy number of levels and constant updates keeps the game from getting old. Some levels may cause a bit frustration but the game never sways from being fun.
3. Doodle Jump In Doodle Jump, the user plays as a small alien like character that leaps off of platforms to ascend higher and higher. Holding the device vertically, players must tilt the screen in order to keep the creature from falling. By bouncing off of trampolines and using rockets, players can effectively increasing their score. It is another game with plentiful updates and spin offs, so it’ll keep you wanting to beat your own high scores.
4. Fruit Ninja In Fruit Ninja, players must slice different fruits as they fly across the screen. Using their finger, players swipe and slice the fruit, while obtaining points and avoiding bombs that end the game. Gaining higher scores can lead to unlocks such as a flaming sword or backgrounds that keep the player interested. Although responsive, the game couldn’t keep my attention for as long as some of the higher games on the list.
5. Plants vs. Zombies Another game that has gathered a ton of popularity is Plants vs. Zombies. To stop a wave of zombies from reaching your house, players must place a variety of plants in their lawn to battle the walking dead. A silly story, ridiculous enemies, and large catalog of plants make for a long, enjoyable game. A few extra modes and new game play mechanics add up to an already addicting game and will keep you fighting in the lawn for quite some time.
6. Words With Friends A fairly new game with a growing fan base is Words With Friends. This game is about as casual as it gets. Words With Friends is essentially Scrabble. Those looking to play the word game without a board have everything they need. The ability to have multiple games going at once and an alert notification of when you opponent has made a move keeps Words With Friends up with the cream of the crop.
7. Drop7 is a puzzle game that takes some time to learn but rewards those who do. The game is an odd combination of Tetris and Sudoku. Players must prevent a pile of continuously rising numbered bubbles from reaching the top of the screen. Bubbles will disappear when a row or column matches the number on the bubble itself. The learning curve will intimidate some players, but once you know what you’re doing, Drop7 is a rich puzzle-playing experience.
8. Infinity Blade Although it’s the most expensive game on the list, it also looks the best. With tap-and-swipe controls, players embark on a quest as a knight to defeat the God-King and free the kingdoms citizens. The game boasts the most impressive graphics on a phone to date and is also fun to play. For $5.99 players will enjoy the console-worthy graphics and exciting game play.
9. SuperMega Worm As the name suggests, players control a huge worm on a mission to destroy everything on the surface of the planet. By launching from the earth to eat and absorb the surface life, players use a slider that controls the path of the massive worm. The game is awfully violent, and some will appreciate the intense violence this game bring to the table, and some not so much. Though certainly entertaining, SuperMega Worm isn’t for everyone.
10. Flight Control Simple, fun, addictive. Those three words sum up the air-traffic controller game. Players must draw lines to safely land planes along the runway. A very basic but fun time waster, so players shouldn’t expect too much. Still, a long car ride or a little boredom and you’ll find yourself playing this game more than a few times.
After playing all of the games and speaking to those who have done the same, I have come up with the top games that are addictive because they are fun and can keep a person’s attention for quite some time. With the iPhone and iTouch gaining more and more popularity, there will be more addicting games out there trying to do the same.
