25th Feb2012

Strange gifts of Valentine’s past

 

By Kristen Reyes

 

It’s Valentine’s Day and you are entire second-grade class has made boxes to fill up with all of your love notes. Chocolate kisses, pink heart-shaped lollipops, and little cards that have the words “Be Mine” all over them are typical.

However, this year you find something different. Between all the candy and cards, someone dropped a rock in your Valentine’s Day box. A perplexing gift to some, but to another it could be the most unique gift they’ve ever received. For Alyssa Santana, Div. 385, receiving a rock has remained on the top on her list of “most original gifts.”

Tom Kryca, Div. 263, tried giving a unique gift on Valentine’s Day of his freshman year, but it did not go over as well as he had hoped.

“I once carved wood into a heart and wrote ‘Tom + Renay’ on it and gave it to her,” Kryca said.

A group of kids found out about his efforts and bullied him about how “uncool” his gift was. Kryca regretted making the gift and the torment went on for days. As the Valentine’s day candy slowly disappeared so did the teasing.

“Dumbest idea ever…I wonder if she still has it though…” Kryca asked.

Another Valentine’s Day disaster occurred in eighth grade for Andre Garcia, Div. 276. Garcia received a bright pink “I (heart) my girlfriend” t-shirt from his girlfriend at the time.

“Oh…it’s cute…I’ll wear it next week,” was all that Garcia could say in response to the gift.

“It was so embarrassing…we ended up breaking up a week later,” Garcia said.

Though Garcia claims the “embarrassing” gift was not completely the reason for the break-up, it did add fuel to the fire.

It wasn’t until Antonio Abreu, Div. 378, found women’s underwear placed in his locker that he experienced the curse of bad gifts.

“It was probably one of the most unexpected gifts I’ve ever gotten,” Abreu said.

The gift was from Abreu’s close friend at the time. Once word spread about his “unique” gift, Abreu decided it was not the best idea.

“Now that I think about it, it was a pretty weird gift,” Abreu said. “I don’t even know how to describe it.”

Ari Harris, Div. 256, has also received unexpected message from an admirer. Earlier this school year as he was walking through the Lane hallways Harris was approached by a girl who handed him a small note. It was from an admirer he had heard about earlier in the year.

“It said I was her ‘dream guy’ and that I was ‘gorgeous’…but I still don’t know who sent it,” Harris said.

Will his secret admirer ever reveal herself? Perhaps this Valentine’s Day she will step forward and talk to him person.

Whether attempts at love work or fail miserably, one can be sure that new and intereting methods will be used by creative Lane students once again this Valentine’s Day.

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25th Feb2012

College-bound students consider long-distance relationships

 

By Maggie Popek

 

Dating a senior leads to one inevitable problem: graduation. And graduation means college, where one can find parties full of singles on the prowl. While this may be a good time for many, it is a temptation that can cause relationship problems, especially for a high school sweetheart who has been left behind.

Emily Ciasto, Div. 350, and Cody Davis, Div. 270, have been dating for five months and are planning on making their relationship work after graduation. Although Davis is undecided on what college he will be attending, Ciasto is looking into the same colleges he did, in hopes of joining him after her graduation in 2013. Meanwhile, she is planning on seeing him on the weekends in order to stay together.

“I thought long-distance relationships were stupid and couldn’t work. But our strong relationship makes me believe it is up to the person to make it work,” Ciasto said.

The strength in their relationship goes hand in hand with the amount of trust they share.

“Cody and I have been faithful to each other and not given each other any reasons to be suspicious, so our trust is very strong,” she said.

Ciasto and Davis are only one of many couples facing this situation.

Sara Glowacz, Div. 350, and Alan Gunderson, Div. 253, have been dating for a year and a half and are also planning on making their relationship work after graduation.

“I thought long distance relationships didn’t work and are just bad for people, but it depends on the distance,” Glowacz said. “If it is close enough that you can see each other every weekend, or every other weekend it will probably work out.”

As for communication, Gunderson believes that it will not be that much different from the usual calling and texting.

“I think we both realize it won’t be 24/7 communication and I don’t think it would be a good thing anyway,” he said.

Glowacz admits that she is a little scared because she will not be there all the time to see what he is up to, but she trusts him completely.

Despite all the trust and strength in a relationship, it may not be the healthiest thing for a college freshman to hold onto.

Psychology teacher Mrs. Langford explains that college is the time to branch out and meet new people. Relationships only limit students to their dorm rooms where they would Skype with their significant other back home. She offers some advice for those students who are questioning whether or not to stay together after graduation.

“If you are a junior dating a senior, after prom be the better person and let that person free. Break up and give him or her a chance to let him or her have the college experience he or she deserves. It is the responsible and mature thing to do,” Langford said.

This, of course, is easier said than done, and some couples cling to the hope that they can make their relationship last even though they are apart.

Special Education teacher Mr. Dan O’Donnell married his high school sweetheart a few years after they graduated. However, he agrees that relationships after high school do not often work out.

“My wife and I were lucky,” he said.

O’Donnell’s relationship was aided by the fact that he and his wife both attended college here in Chicago and admits that things would have slowed down if they had been farther apart.

Even if a relationship is put on hold, the possibility always exists of starting things back up again a few years down the line. Until then, several Lane couples have a tough decision to make between now and graduation.

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25th Feb2012

Semester’s end finds students scrambling

By Brenna George

 

Scrambling on the edge, holding on by a mere point. Many students are earning grades on the very edge.

The end of the semester is the final push for students to get the grade they want. Students with borderline grades have the pressure of making the jump to a higher grade or to keep the grade they barely have.

Ms. Blanchfield, a physics teacher, had an entirely different experience with finals.

“More grades were changed by the Final exam than I thought,” said Blanchfield.

Most of her students’ grades were dropped by the final, meaning students with borderline grades in her class fell to the undesirable side of the grading scale. She did curve her final “a bit” because she knows her final is very difficult.

“It’s a lot of stuff for students to remember,” Blanchfield said.

Mr. Golden says you have to be very borderline for a final to raise a math grade.

“In general, finals never help students. They hurt them.” said Mr. Golden. “If a student is struggling all semester, they’re not going to do well on the final.”

Mr. Golden is so confident, he makes deals with his failing students. If they pass the final, he’ll pass them in the class. It has never worked. The students always fail the final.

On the contrary Ana Hernandez, Div. 275, studied for hours for her finals and ended up pulling up two of her grades.

“It was stressful, but in the end it worked out,” Hernandez said.

Anastasiya Sapatynska, Div. 467, had a borderline grade in her HT class of an 89.03 percent. Her grade on the final exam dropped her overall grade, but she did not ask her teacher for the higher grade. She knew the teacher would not budge.

Sapatynska says that classes are harder this year because teachers are nicer freshman year. She is already planning to make this adjustment.

“Next semester I’m going to try to finally achieve that A,” Sapatynska said.

Some students like Liliana De Leon, Div. 352, have found this year harder than last. De Leon plans to go to tutoring, study harder, and slack off in her extracurricular activities to achieve a better grade next semester.

To improve those borderline grades for next year, Blanchfield suggests looking over notes and practicing problems at least two weeks in advance to make sure one is proficient before the final. Cramming the night before finals is not the route to earn the grade.

Better luck next semester!

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25th Feb2012

Will the world be eclipsed by apocalypse in 2012?

 

By Diana Barragan

 

Flip-flopping of the Earth, cosmic storms, and solar storms sound crazy when taken out of context. In actuality, all of these are just a few of the things happening that are leading to doomsday predictions.

Whether these are believable or not, they are still a part of the current fuss about whether the world will end in 2012.

“I think now that the whole big deal is out about 2012, people are taking certain things [natural disasters] to the extreme,” said Sebastian Silverio, Div. 563.

Eschatology is the study of predicting the end of the world. One widely known group of eschatologists are the Mayans. They gained their popularity mostly due to their calendar.

What most people do not know is that the Mayan, or Mesoamerican, calendar contains several different calendars within itself. The date December 12, 2012, when most people think the world will end, just marks the end date of the Long calendar in the Mayan Calendar. However, the other calendars within the main one can have an even longer end date. For example, according to maya-portal.net, the p’iktun has an end date of October 13 4772 AD.

With movies like The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon, and 2012, it is hard to buy into believing that this time the world might actually end. The failed attempts at predicting this event does not help either.

“Nothing points out to something big happening in a couple months, but there’s so much hype about it because in all these shows they’re like ‘this guy predicted this and he was right,’” said Stephanie Porrata, Div. 275.

While people like Porrata are not too convinced about the idea of the world ending. There are still those out there that have what seems like slight fear that it just might happen.

“A lot of crazy stuff has been happening with the world and it seems pretty plausible,” said Celia Serrano, Div. 359.

Since Serrano holds a slight belief that this could happen, living life to the fullest this year while keeping up with her grades is key in her eyes.

“Let’s just hope the Mayans weren’t right,” Serrano said.

Students are not the only ones objecting to the end of the world prophecy. According to an article by Charles Choi from msnbc, many of the “disasters” that are said can end the world have already happened. So why are we still here?

“For instance, some theorists claim that from our point of view, the sun will cross in front of the plane of our galaxy on Dec. 21. However, the sun already does this twice a year,” said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near- Earth Object program office, in an interview with Choi on January 1, 2012.

While the Mayan calendar prediction is the most recent, there has been other end of the world predictions that never happened.

“It’s not a big deal and we all die at some point, plus two people have gotten it wrong,” said Diane Barrera, Div. 551.

Perhaps it may not have been the mistake of just two people, but certainly one example is the panic in 1999, Y2K, which brought the fear of the possibility of a nuclear war due to computer failure. However, this did not go as predicted.

“It’s stupid and not going to happen because they say it’s going to happen and then it doesn’t. Then they find a new date,” said Steven Guardinl, Div. 459.

Another prime example was the fear of Halley’s Comet in 1910. Panic erupted in the Chicago Yerkes Observatory after an astronomer said that the tail in the comet contained cyanogen, a poisonous gas. It was believed that this gas could potentially wipe out life on Earth. But it was soon announced that this gas was so thin that it could harldy do any damage. By the time the public heard of this, they were already out purchasing gas masks and other protective materials. When Halley’s Comet passed in May 1910, nothing happened.

The events in 1910 and 1999 both demonstrate what people tend to do when under a certain impression, even if it is true or false.

“I think the idea of the apocalypse is taken out of proportion. I mean the date just ran out on the calendar,” said Adam Glueckers, Div. 475.

Even though the end of the world has not been correctly predicted, this story, however, does have an official ending…now.

 

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