Category: Student Life

Natalee Holloway’s case still in the news – Teens Cautioned

Five years ago on May 30, 2005, Natalee Holloway disappeared.

Divers seem to think they catpured Holloway's remains. Photo courtesy of http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/03/natalee_holloway_aruba_skeleto_1.html

She was on a high school graduation field trip to an island in Aruba. No traces of her body were found except possible skeletal remains seen in a photo by two scuba divers that captured the image at the bottom on of the ocean, which turned out to be a false alarm.

Along with the underwater mystery, there was a jaw bone found along the beach of Aruba by another couple. According to AOL.com, Dutch forensic experts are testing this bone to see if it belongs to Holloway.

As a cautionary tale, as young teens already planning senior week, they should be aware that this could happen to them.

For example, in 2002, three Manheim Township graduates were charged with sexual assault of an intoxicated 16 year old girl at senior week.

Now, being five years later, another similar murder has occurred. Police chief Gen. Cesar Guardia stated that Stephany Flores, 21, was found face down in the hotel she was last seen in with Jordan Van Der Sloot.

According to Lancaster New Era, the Dutch government said Interpol, an organization based in Paris that coordinates investigations made by the police forces of member countries into crimes with an international dimension, had issued an international arrest warrant for Sloot.

Guardia then stated that Flores and Sloot were last seen entering the Lima Hotel around 5 a.m., and Sloot exited the hotel alone about four hours later.

“We have an interview with a worker at the hotel who says she saw this foreigner with the victim enter his room,” Guardia said.

Stephany Flores Photo courtesy of http://www.cbsnews.com/i/tim//2010/06/02/ramirez1_370x278.jpg

When Flores’s body was found fully clothed, they discovered multiple abrasions to her face and body with signs of trauma, the police general stated.

Some wonder what took so long for the hotel staff to check the room.

Autopsy results are still being waited on.

Guardia said that Sloot left Peru by land and his exit registered at the Santa Rosa border crossing. Sloot had been staying at the hotel since May 14 after entering the country on a flight from Columbia.

Stated in the Lancaster New Era, Sloot was found in a taxi Thursday, June 3, several days drive and a country away, and was arrested for the murder of Stephany Flores.

He put up no fight when he was detained about half way to the Pacific coast from Santiago, stated deputy Chilean investigative police spokesman Fernando Ovalle.

According to CBS News, Sloot’s Dutch lawyer said Sloot was intending on turning himself in shortly before he was found.

After the arrest and quickly into questioning, he confessed to killing Stephany Flores.

According to ABC News, Sloot grabbed Flores by the neck when he saw her looking up information about his previous case [Holloway] and then continued by hitting her.

“I confronted her,” Sloot told investigators, according to La Republic. “She was frightened, we argued and she wanted to get away. I grabbed her by the neck and I hit her.”

“I did not want to do it. The girl intruded into my private life,” said Sloot. “She had no right.”

According to Al.com, Sloot did confess but later tried to deny the whole thing. He claimed that the only reason

Natalee Holloway went missing during her high school trip and has yet to be found.

he confessed was because he was intimidated and thought he would be extradited to the Netherlands. His request to have his confession retracted was denied.

Joran van der Sloot was previously arrested twice but with little to no evidence connecting him to Holloway’s disappearance during a high school graduation trip, he was let go in 2005.

According to a Dutch television crime reporter, a hidden camera they set up captured secret footage of Sloot saying he was with Holloway when she collapsed on a beach, drunk.

After Sloot was found, he told investigators that he left Holloway on the beach drunk which implied that that was the last time he saw her.

A Dutch Newspaper reports that Sloot took money from the Holloway family in order for them to receive the location of her body. Sloot took the money but gave no address.

Natalee’s mom sent Sloot $10,000 through an FBI agent and later transferred $15,000 into his bank account. He then caught a flight to Latin America with the money.

“I wanted to get back at Natalee’s family — her parents have been making my life tough for five years,” the Dutch Newspaper quoted him as saying from prison in Peru. “When they offered to pay for the girl’s location, I thought: ‘Why not’?”

He also publicly confessed to murdering Holloway and then retracted the statements may times.

Being a law enforcement officer and Penn Manor’s resource officer, Jason Hottenstein knows all the details about safe drinking and the dangers of being with strangers.

“You have to be extremely cautious with people you don’t know,” said Hottenstein. “Trust no one that you don’t know.”

There was also a website created to petition against senior week.

The website titled Stop Senior Week claims that the results of senior week are deaths, movies that glorify underage drinking, sex

Joran van der Sloot is taken into custody Photo courtesy of http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage.jpg

and drugs, public intoxication and drug use and hundreds of car accidents and hospital visits.

According to CBS News, Tim Miller, founder Texas Equusearch, a non-profit organization that searches for missing persons, has assisted with the search for Holloway from the beginning and has become very close friends of the family.

Miller stated that Holloway’s father, David Holloway, sends his sympathies to the Flores’ family in Peru.

“(David is) talking about what a senseless death that was, that we feel as though the cover-up that went on in Aruba, with Joran van der Sloot never being arrested, that we need to hold a lot of people accountable for Stephany’s death in Peru. I mean, a very, very sad time for everybody. And now Dave is just trying to, I think, just digest what’s really happening in his life again right now. And of course it brings it all back to 
Dave and Beth, I’m sure that it’s like it happened yesterday. So there’s disappointment, there’s anger, there’s frustrations. And, again, Stephany, there’s no reason she should be dead today. Somebody made some huge mistakes over there,” said Miller.

Joran van der Sloot is being held in a seventh-floor cell with a bunk bed and blanket with three meals a day while he is being further questioned of the death of 21 year old Stephany Flores and the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

By Sarah Garner

Texting- is it the New Gateway Drug for Teens?

Texting is the new coinciding factor to “bad behavior.”

Watch out kids, according to novel research, a plethora of texting, done in a day’s period of time, has an interesting link to sex, drugs and alcohol or bad behavior.

Texting is a way to converse with another person through text without having to actually talk on the phone.  Teens all over the world prefer texting as their main means of communication.

But surprising recent studies have shown that teens who text 120 times a day or more, “hyper-texters,” are more likely to have had sex or used alcohol and drugs than kids who don’t send as many messages.

Dr. Scott Frank, an associate professor of epidemiology and bio-statistics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, conducted a survey last year in the Cleveland area.

Texting, the new correlation to drugs, alcohol and sex. Photo by Cree Bleacher

Twenty schools participated in the survey and more than 4200 students added their help.

The survey concluded that about one in five students were hyper-texters and about one in nine are hyper-networkers, those who spend three or more hours a day on Facebook and other social networking websites.

Of all the students surveyed, one in 25 teens could fall into both of these categories.

The study found those who text at least 120 times a day are nearly three-and-a-half times more likely to have had sex than their peers who don’t text that much.  Startlingly, hyper-texters were also more likely to be in a physical fight, binge drink, use illegal drugs or take medication without a prescription.

The hyper-networkers on the other hand were not comparable to the results of hyper-texters.  Hyper-networkers were not as susceptible to sex but were more likely to be involved in drinking or fighting.

Hyper-texting and networking was found, in the survey, to be more common among girls, minorities, kids whose parents have less than a college education and teens from a single-mother household.

Another survey done by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project revealed in 2009 that one in three teens is sending more than 100 texts a day.

The American Public Health Association’s (APHA) said,”teens who are hyper-networkers are 62 percent more likely to be binge drinkers, 84 percent more likely to have used illicit drugs, 94 percent more likely to have been in a physical fight, 69 percent more likely to have had sex and 60 percent more likely to report four or more sexual partners.”

Texting, texting, texting. Hyper-texting is connected to bad behavior in a recent study. Photo by papamiket.com

Additionally, hyper-networking  was reported by 11.5 percent of students.  Hyper-networking was linked to higher odds ratios for poor sleep, stress, depression, substance use, fighting, poor academics, suicide, television watching and having permissive parents.

Hyper-texting was reported by 19.8 percent of teens surveyed.  For hyper-texters, teens were 40 percent more likely to have tried cigarettes, two times more likely to have tried alcohol, 43 percent more likely to be binge drinkers, 41 percent more likely to have used illicit drugs, 55 percent more likely to have been in a physical fight, nearly three-and-a-half times more likely to have had sex and 90 percent more likely to report four or more sexual partners.

“This should be a wake-up call for parents to not only help their children stay safe by not texting and driving, but by discouraging excessive use of the cell phone or social websites in general,” said Frank.

Students at Penn Manor can’t seem to quite fully understand the correlation of the hyper-texting and networking but have their own views on the subject.

“There is no correlation because some people text a lot but don’t talk about drugs, alcohol and sex,” said senior Jeremy Vital.

“This is not true because the majority of my texts I send are about school,” said senior Bryan Buckius.

“Me texting a lot has nothing to do with sex, drugs and alcohol,” said Spencer Barnett, a senior at Penn Manor.

Science teacher, Erick Dutchess, had a lot to say about this topic.  “I think the two (texting and illicit behavior) are correlated, but one does not necessarily cause the other one.  I think a lot of the factors that encourage large amounts of texting (a need of acceptance, a lack of parental communication, a desire to feel affection) are linked together.

“Just because texting occurs in the presence of these negative behaviors, one doesn’t have to be the sole root for the other,” he said.

It’s ultimately up to parents, experts said, to monitor their children’s texting and networking capabilities.

By Cree Bleacher

Attack of the Razor Haters in the halls of Penn Manor

You may have seen large, grizzly men lumbering throughout the halls of Penn Manor, but don’t be afraid, there hasn’t been an invasion of Wookies… it’s just November.

Although the original target of No-Shave November was young college males, the concept has morphed over the years to include even the most peach-fuzz-less freshman.

Senior Tyler Wilson proudly shows off his rugged beard. Photo by Ben Embry

The idea of going a full night without shaving one’s facial region was started by college students to raise awareness about men’s health issues. The main focus of the month was centered on prostate and testicular cancer.

It’s become quite popular at Penn Manor.

“It’s awesome, I like not having to shave,” Bo Perez, a junior, said. ” I think I can make it to the end without shaving. It’s so itchy.”

The objective of No-Shave November is, well, pretty much self explanatory. One must go, or at least attempt to go, the entire month of November without shaving their face. Students sometimes can be overheard toward the beginning of the month boasting about their goals, but few get to accomplish them.

“Oh yeah, I’m absolutely going to finish the month out this year,” said Nick Weidinger, a senior at the school.

Bo Perez shows off his wild side. Photo by Ben Embry

“I am pretty sure the tradition started when lumberjacks started to get cold and needed a way to keep their faces warm against the cold wind while they cut down trees,” said Tyler Wilson, while sporting what is arguably one of the best non-adult beards in the halls of Penn Manor.

“Of course I’m finishing the month,” Wilson insisted. “I finished the month last year without shaving.”

Wilson even shared some insider tips.

“The trick to battling the itchiness, he said, is to use conditioner on the beard in the shower.

“Works like a charm,” he said.

This writer lasted about three whole days without shaving, but the pressure proved too much. But it must be pointed out, if only to save this writer’s ego, many others caved as well.

Patrick Miller, is a senior at the school but  a first time No-Shaver had nothing but eagerness on his maiden voyage into unrestrained facial hair.

“I am very excited to do this,” Miller said.  “No-Shave November is a fun time that all young men should enjoy taking part in.”

Whatever the underlying reasons for shying away from the razor blade, one thing is certain with all the enthusiasm witnessed for growing facial hair, No-Shave November is here to stay.

For another voice on this issue, check out David Mohimani’s opinion essay.

https://www.pennpoints.net/?p=949

By Ben Embry

Self-Defense Hidden in the Form of Dance

Kick, punch, duck.

These are the most basic defense skills of martial arts.

A little known form of martial arts is called Capoeira, a Brazillian martial art that was brought to the U.S.

These Capoeira students learn more than just defense skills; they learn how to sing in Portuguese, dance, and many other things.

Penn Manor junior Selena Hasircoglu goes to Quest Total Fitness on Tuesday and Thursday nights for her Capoeira class.

She, along with Russell Thorsen, are the only Penn Manor students to go to the class. Hasircoglu said that, at the most, about 15 people participate in her Capoeira class.

“If you want to do it, you need to train hard, ” Hasircoglu said. “It’s a bit like dancing and f

Selena shows off a Capoeira move. Photo by Sarah Gordon

ighting combined.”

Hasircoglu saw a demonstration in Lancaster City and said she could see herself doing it.

In May, she met someone who took classes and watched another Capoeira demonstration during First Friday. Soon after, Hasircoglu began taking classes.

Hasircoglu says she gets what she wants out of it.

“It’s a lot more than just physical work and cool moves,” Hasircoglu stated. “It’s also peaceful. The mind you set going into the circle and fighting is invigorating.”

She said in class a warm-up is always the first activity. After, they practice sequences, different combination and moves. Later, they do handstands and various acrobatic moves. The class then circles up and fights or the students sing to wrap up each class.

In September, Hasircoglu went to her first Batizado or baptism, where the students would receive their first cord or advance to the next cord.

She passed with flying colors and received her green cord. A cord is like a karate belt with the green cord as the first belt. For each cord, the students add the color of their level onto it. For example if someone is a level two, then the cord will be green and yellow.

Hasircoglu and Thorsen are always available to discuss this little known art.

By Sarah Gordon

Video Game Fever Sweeps Penn Manor

An epidemic has swept some of Penn Manor’s students: 12:01 disease.

Call of Duty features many lifelike war scenes.

Common symptoms of this terrible affliction? Coming down with a sudden illness at 12:01 a.m. – just the time when a new video game comes out. In most cases, the student will be advised to stay home from school the next day – and, in some severe cases, the student in question won’t be seen for the next week.

What could possibly be the cause of this terrible disease? Call of Duty: Black Ops, that’s what. The newest in the Call of Duty (or COD, as it’s commonly called by the players) series from the developer, Treyarch. The preceding game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, broke all records for the first 24 hours of its release.

According to MaximumPC, Modern Warfare 2 sold 4.7 million units in the first 24 hours in stores, the biggest release in video games ever – stealing the title from Grand Theft Auto IV. And those numbers are just in the U.S.- raking in $310 million just in that first day.

Black Ops is another record breaking game. A statement from Activision said that Call of Duty: Black Ops sold 5.6 million units and $360 million in that first day.

Many stores that sell video games had midnight release parties, where the line started early in the night and stretched out of the stores.

Penn Manor is home to students who were some of those lined up late on Monday night at video game retailers like Game Stop at the Park City mall in Lancaster.

“I’ve been awake for 27, no, 36 hours,” said one Penn Manor sophomore, “The game is awesome.”

Call of Duty's Black Ops game has realistic battle scenes. Photo courtesy of the Kansas City Star

Call of Duty is a First Person Shooter – or FPS – where players go through various historical scenarios. Call of Duty has been commended for its attention to historical accuracy and twisting plot. The only part of Black Ops that isn’t historically accurate is you.

Another part of the COD experience is a game called Zombies – or Nazi Zombies, as it is known in its previous title. It is a survival game where two people playing alone or up to four people online try to defend an area from the raging horde of zombies shuffling their way toward the building. The goal is survival, but all players must fall in the end to the walking dead as more and more zombies come at them, faster and faster. Players get points for zombie kills, and can spend the points on better weapons and barricades on the doors and windows. But Black Ops puts a new twist on the playable characters.

*SPOILER ALERT* Before, the player was a nameless soldier in a lonely shack, but now the action gets a whole lot weirder.  The playable characters now include John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, and Robert McNamara, who are fighting zombies at the Pentagon. As the players kill zombies, the characters will spew sound bites from famous interviews and speeches.

“That is so cool!” exclaimed one student.

Several changes have been made concerning game play in Black Ops – like the elimination of Deathstreaks and the dreaded Nuke – whenever a player gets 25 kills in a row in Modern Warfare 2, they can get the use of a tactical missile to wreak havoc upon their enemies. Another perk for kill streaks is a remote controlled car, which players can pilot near enemies and pull a trigger, detonating the car.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is set in the Cold War era, and spans many different locales.

Other, smaller changes include the moving of shotguns from a secondary weapon to a primary weapon.

Another new area is Combat Training, where new players can practice their skills against computer controlled enemies in a format similar to online gameplay, to ease newbies into the online experience.

Before, new players would be forced to run headlong into online games, where they would be shellacked by the older, more experienced players.

“I’m so excited for this game. I would get it, but I just got the new Fable, and I’ll be too busy playing it for the next month to play COD,” said another student.

Nerds and geeks alike will rejoice, for Black Ops also contains a hidden Easter egg that not all players could spot. Following the instructions in the main menu found here: Wired.com, players can turn the main menu into an old text based computer. Type in the command “DOA”, and the screen turns into a top down zombie shooter. Type in “Zork”, and the computer turns into the text based adventure game Zork, a classic choose your own adventure game. You’ll also receive the achievement “Eaten by a Grue”, which will only make sense after you’ve played the game.

Call of Duty: Black Ops has made a splash in the pool of Penn Manor’s gamers, but the best is yet to come. Modern Warfare 3 is slated to arrive in 2011, and who knows what that will bring.

By Gabrielle Bauman

Mice not Easy to Produce in Classroom

The AP environmental science class at Penn Manor has one project in particular that requires more effort than thought, breeding mice.

A group of three students received ten mice earlier in the school year, four males and six females.  They placed two females and one male in two cages, and the other two cages had one male and one female.

They figured in no time at all, there would be a lot more.  Little did they know, it was not going to be as easy as one, two, three.

All of the cages were given the necessities including houses, wheels, and tubes to play with, and of course the bedding.

“One time we weren’t able to locate one of the mice and it turns out it was buried in the bedding sleeping,” said Spencer Barnett, one of the group members.  “They seem to either bury in the bedding or hang in the houses to sleep.”

The students researched the key factors of breeding after they had the mice a few days and discovered the complexity of the project.

Breeding mice is unexpectedly difficult. Photo by understandinganimalresearch.org.uk

A mouse is mature by the age of 5-8 weeks, according to the Transgenic Mouse Facility.  It’s preferred that females are not bred until 8-12 weeks so that the pups arrive healthy.  Once of age, they are put in with one male, because if two or more males are in the cage with a female that is pregnant, the female will abort their babies to be with the alpha male or they will try to kill each other.

On the other hand, a female’s gestation period is 19-21 days, and every 4-5 days they have their estrus cycle.  When the babies are born, it is important to separate the male from the babies so none of the babies are eaten.  At three weeks they’re weaned or separated by sex in groups of five and the process is repeated, according to the students’ research.

But all the research and planning does not guarantee success.

The mice were kept in the room next to Sally Muenkel’s so that the stench of them wouldn’t be too noticeable.

“After a week, the smell was gagging us so we cleaned the cages out and found two dead carcasses of mice.  That was not a pretty sight,” explained Barnett.

The project is to breed the mice so that Erick Dutchess’ pet snake, Rex, has a continuous supply of food.

The group got their ten mice near the beginning of the year and had some difficulties keeping them alive.

Due to the mice eating each other, dying, and one supposedly escaping, their ten dwindled to three.  Four were added to the three to make seven in hopes of succeeding.

The mice were forced to move to the greenhouse outside of Dutchess’ room where hopes were smashed and the seven mice quickly fell to two, one female and one male.

The students left for the long weekend giving them a clean cage, fresh water, and fresh food, the best habitat for them to survive.

Tuesday following the long weekend, the mice were checked on and unfortunately both were found deceased.

“I was so excited to get these mice thinking that we would get babies.  When I saw that our project was a complete failure, I was not happy with our results,” said Jesse Graham, another group member.

Now, the students need to do a report on the whole experience, which had few successful aspects and no baby mice to continue the supply of food.

It’s up to the next group to prove their skills in breeding mice.

By Cree Bleacher

As Last Harry Potter Movie Approaches, Excitement Grows

There’s a feeling in the air, and it’s not Halloween spirit.

It’s Harry Potter.

“I’m so excited!” said Carolyn Zimmerman, of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I Nov. 19 movie release date.

The Harry Potter series spans seven books.

First released in 1997, the Harry Potter book series has since skyrocketed across seven books and dozens of languages, becoming one of the world’s most popular book series.

The author, Joanne Kathleen Rowling, has gone from a single mother on welfare to the first author in history to make a billion dollars. The series has captivated millions and now is coming to its final end.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in the summer of 2007, ending the journey of the boy wizard and the magical school.

Now the release date of the second to last movie approaches, and Penn Manor’s fans of the series are making their plans to pay homage to their favorite characters.

“Harry Potter has a way of sucking you into the books. It almost feels as if you can relate to the characters to some point, and most kids have grown up with the books. I think the books will be around for awhile, I just can’t see them becoming unpopular anytime soon,” said sophomore Cate Shipley.

And it hasn’t since Deathly Hallows was released. Even though the books are over, the fans still take Harry’s journey with them.

First, there’s the Youtube sensation A Very Potter Musical, which as of October 28 had 2,754,300 views. A Very Potter Musical, or AVPM, first appeared on July 5, 2009, and since then has gained a remarkable following in the Harry Potter fandom. It spans two acts, and follows Harry Potter (Darren Criss) as he tries to defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort (played by Joe Walker) with some hilarious lines and dangerously catchy tunes in between. It was so popular that the cast (mostly made up of students) found the need to make the follow up to their hit – A Very Potter Sequel. The link to the first act of AVPM can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwM_AKeMCk

“AVPM/AVPS is something that anyone can find hilarious even if they are not a big Harry Potter fan. It has humor for everyone and it’s impossible not to like it,” said Zimmerman.

Darren Criss, who plays Harry Potter in the AVPM and AVPS musicals, also will be making an appearance in the show Glee in November.

AVPM isn’t the only outlet fans have had to express their love of Harry Potter. According to the Harrypotterfanfiction.com, they have a library of over 65,000 individual stories and receive over 30 million hits every month.

HP has even crossed the gap into music. Wizard Rock, or Wrock, is a genre full of bands whose songs are only Harry Potter-related. The first band known to have songs with lyrics that reference Harry Potter is Switchblade Kittens, who has a song entitled “Ode to Harry.”

But the band usually credited with being the “first” Wrock band are Harry and the Potters, the most well known and probably most successful Wrockers.

Other bands include The Whomping Willow, Tonks and the Aurors, The Draco Malfoys, The Mollywobbles, Remus and the Lupins and the Severus Snaped.

The second to last of the Potter movies- and the beginning of the end for the official merchandise and the wait for movies- is titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. It will be released into theaters  Nov. 19, 2010. Part 2 will come out July 15, 2011 – during summer vacation.

The two movies are being split – for those fans who are in the know – after Harry, Ron and Hermione arrive at Shell Cottage.

Harry Potter has impacted the lives of millions of children, and has been lauded as the series that has helped child literacy come back into focus.

The author of the series, J.K. Rowling, had published two books earlier in the series: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, both of which had the proceeds go to the nonprofit Comic Relief. After the seventh book was released, she also hand wrote seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and sold one of them at auction. The final selling price was $3.98 million, and all of it went to The Children’s Voice charity campaign.

Along with the numerous charities that Harry Potter books have benefited, they also have impacted the lives of some of Penn Manor’s students.

“When you read Harry Potter, it takes you somewhere new and gives you a break from reality,” said sophomore Kael Miller. “I love reading in general but Harry Potter just takes it a step farther. It becomes an obsession. I find myself quoting Harry Potter all the time, for various subjects. Harry Potter will always be part of my childhood that I remember.”

Some of Penn Manor's students can't wait to see the next movie.

“Harry potter is so fascinating because it takes you out of your world and into another for a brief time,” added Sarah Whyler. “It’s also so easy to imagine a picture while you’re reading, which I love about the books.”

“It is what made me fall in love with fantasy books. My group of friends is obsessed,” said Eleni Jones, “Its something you can read to get away from your world and sort of hop into another -where magic is real and anything can happen.”

It’s the beginning of the end of a journey, one that the fans have lived through as much as the Boy Who Lived himself.

by Gabrielle Bauman

Tis the Season For Flu and Flu Vaccines

Achoo!

The fall season is already here. As the leaves change and fall, it’s time for scarves, gloves and fears about the flu.

We hear the words, “the flu,” and think to ourselves that we won’t catch the illness, but that isn’t always true. Each year, schools see high rates of absences going into the fall and winter seasons.  Last year, the swine flu hit Penn Manor students and teachers alike.

The flu or influenza can be deadly.

Healthy advice is posted in the school nurse's office. Photo by Allana Herr

About 30,000 to 40,000 deaths occur each year in the United States due to flu, according to health officials and 300,000 to 500,000 deaths occur worldwide. The majority of flu-related deaths occur in people over the age of 65.

Many people are taking precautions this year and are getting vaccinated which is good advice, along with washing your hands and covering your cough.

“Definitely get the flu vaccine,” said senior Samantha McCrery.  “I get it every year and so do my parents. It saves lives.”

While the flu vaccine is very important, being courteous to yourself and others is just as important.

“Wash your hands as often as you can and use the alcohol gels,” said Penn Manor High School nurse Anne Butterfield. “Stay away from sick people and cough into your elbow rather then your hand. Use plenty of tissues.

“It is best to get immunized,” Butterfield also explained. “The vaccine that is currently available covers you for H1N1 in addition to the other strains of flu. The vaccine is widely available.”

The previously free flu vaccine was offered to teachers this year for $10.

“You can get the vaccine almost anywhere. Most doctors offices offer it, as well as Weis, CVS, Walgreens, Target and Walmart,” McCrery explained.  “Just look for the signs, they give out flu shots almost anywhere.”

A flu shot can protect someone from several strains of the virus. Photo by Allana Herr

Penn Manor Administrator, Eric Howe, is taking the illness seriously this year.

“I will definitely be getting the flu shot this year,” Howe said. “And students need to make sure that they are constantly washing their hands and covering their mouths when they cough or sneeze. I tell my kids the same thing at home.”

By Allana Herr

Messages of Support Continue in Girls’ Bathrooms

Inspiring notes are still being found in the girls' bathroom. Photo by Sarah Garner

“You are so beautiful,” “hey there beautiful… smile,” and “smile, you’re too pretty not to.”

Wouldn’t you like to wake up each morning having someone say these things to you?

Well, you can if you’re a girl at Penn Manor High School.

Lately, mornings at Penn Manor have been self-esteem boosters for some Penn Manor students.

Usually walking into the girls’ cafeteria bathroom consist of straightening your hair, doing your makeup or fixing your clothes.  But lately, girls are getting a kick of confidence from positive messages and even flowers and candy left conspicuously by each sink.

“We feel appreciated because [the people doing it] know the girls go in this bathroom,” said freshman Aalyiah Glen-Cephas.

Notes first appeared in September and may have been part of a national effort to raise self esteem among girls.

Caitlin Boyle, a 26-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., is credited with starting “Operation Beautiful” that strives to help women stop the negative talk about themselves and other girls.

Boyle started her healthy lifestyle blog online in June 2009. She also started the posted-note trend which has spread to many public schools and bathrooms across the country and includes the walls of Penn Manor bathrooms.

Other notes in Penn Manor’s girls’ bathrooms read:“You are so much beautiful” and “God Loves You.”

Now, it looks like it’s being expanded from the last time these notes appeared because now there are flowers and candy rather than just notes on the mirror.

Juniors Maribel Dixon and Aaliyah Glenn-Cephas take time to appreciate the message left randomly in the girl's bathroom. Photo by Sarah Garner

The group of girls in the bathroom who found these items were at first confused because they were not sure what all the fuss was about, but then they were pleasantly surprised when they read the messages along with the gifts.

“It boosts up my self-esteem in the morning,” said junior Maribel Dixon

Some girls at Penn Manor are loving the excitement of not knowing what is next.

“It makes me feel precious because the note I found said so,” said freshman Michelle Keck.

“It makes me feel beautiful,” said freshman Stacie Millson.

The girls look forward to seeing these notes and now with additional candy and flowers they are even more excited.

They ask themselves, what will we find next?

By Sarah Garner

Penn Manor Experiments With Science Fair Success

While some schools take as many as 150 students to the science fair, Penn Manor usually takes only 10 students.

Here students are now beginning to meet and plan their projects for Lancaster County’s annual science fair held in March at Franklin & Marshall College.

The difference in numbers may be because many schools demand their students participate in the science fair, while at Penn Manor it’s optional.

Surprisingly, Penn Manor has one of the highest percentage of winners at the science fair but without many students participating, it’s hard to get recognized.

“We have no common time in class. It would be nice to have an elective class where we could focus on the science fair,” said Penn Manor science teacher David Bender, who has coordinated and advised students in the science fair for five years.

Science Fair Advisor, David Bender. Photo by Kyle Hallett

This year Bender plans to present the school’s best projects, including Ben Clark’s much-anticipated astrophysics research.

“The worst part of doing this is just tracking down the kids, and having to get all of them together trying to get all of the information I need from them,” said Bender.

The science fair consists of roughly 50 schools, with 50-60 students per school, and only two students will go to the next level.

“We take most of the students’ projects to the fair, unless the project is very bad. If the project is that bad and the student is willing, I will sit down with them and help them improve their project and take it to the fair,” said Bender.

Some students like Ben Clark are working on projects with professors at some higher educational institutions. Also, Anthony Crognale is working on a project dealing with cancer.

If a student has completed a project and entered in the fair, they will get 1/4 of a credit. If the student participates in this all four years of their high school career, they will revive one extra credit. This credit can either be an AP or honors credit, depending on how well the project was put together.

The select group that will admit their projects into the science fair put as much time into their projects as they need. Some of the students tend to spend more time on theirs than some others. Their are assignments that need to be turned into Bender by a certain time though.

“The students seem to relax after the due date, and then when something is due soon they struggle with having to turn that part in. It’s like a roller-coaster going up and down,” said Bender.

The science department has to evaluate other school’s projects, as other schools will do the same for Penn Manor’s projects. They do it this way so there is no bias judgments on some students projects.

At the fair there are nearly 100 judges. The judges score the students on their projects with a rubric first. After they have gone around scoring with the rubric, they  ask the students certain questions about the project.  This is to clarify the student doesn’t have smart parents that will do their child’s project for them.

“My favorite part of doing this is just seeing how well the students did,” said Bender.

By Kyle Hallett and Dillon Walker