The Hoofprint - The Brain - Issue 4 - February 9, 2012

Of 1.5 million applicants, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation(NMSC) annually awards a portion of the 15,000 finalists with the title “National Merit Scholar” – less than one percent. Of those awards, 17 have been presented to BHS students since 1995. This scholarship has most recently been awarded to alumnus Gina Filo and Jonathan Hank.

Although no one from the class of 2012 won the National Merit Scholar award, students were notified throughout the month of February that they had won other awards. Senior Liza Davis has already been notified of her status as a Commended Scholar.

“I was excited and surprised,” said Davis. “I was really happy when I found out I got even that far.”

Juniors applying for next year will have to go through the same process as Davis, which includes a four-step application process, competing with students all over the world.

After applying, the 50,000 highest scorers on the PSAT will qualify for recognition. Two thirds of the qualifying students will be recognised as a Commended Scholar. Though students recognised as commended scholars do not continue in the competition they will still qualify for special scholarships. Of the students not recognized, approximately 16,000 will move on to be semifinalists. Semi finalists will then be judged based on PSAT score and overall academic achievement. 15000 finalists will then be chosen–one percent of the the students that applied–and from that group the winners will be selected.

Junior Michael Hank, along with other Juniors, will be attempting to follow his brothers footsteps by applying for the 2013 NMSC scholarship. He will be competing with other high PSAT scoring students with GPA’s in the 99th percentile.

“[The competition] is a little worrisome because I know I got around the top one percent, but it’s close,” said Michael Hank. “I’m not so sure.”

23 students got on a bus the morning of Wednesday February 4th, not to go on a field trip, but to compete for the Buffalo Deca chapter at the District competition taking place at the St. Cloud Mall. Of the 23 students who stepped on that bus, every single one would return eligible to compete for state.

“We competed against nearly 300 kids. That’s 8 chapters,” said Junior Rachel Ulfers. “It was amazing to head to Sauk Center afterwords for the award ceremony.”

Deca is an academic organization that helps students learn about becoming a professional in marketing, advertising, and business operations. This year the Buffalo chapter of Deca broke a personal record by sending nearly 3 times more students to state then ever before. Deca competes in Minneapolis March 4th through the 6th.

“This year had been our best year yet,” Ulfers said. “We got everyone on the bus, and everyone on the bus who competed qualified to state. I know Katelyn Jerede, my partner district representative, are very proud of breaking such a record.”

Deca was not the only organization to receive such an honor over the week. Buffalo One Act competed in Sections Saturday, February 4th against three other teams. This years performance was The Amish Project, a dramatization of the Nickle Mines Amish schoolhouse shooting in 2006.

“I think the overall theme of this play is for forgiveness in hard times,” said Senior Andy Jacobsen. “Each of us demonstrates our humanity through that kind of forgiveness.”

One Act’s performance was consistently given the high mark of one. For sub-sections and sections they received a unanimous top score from three judges. For Junior Leif Nelson, this experience was made special by the people who took part in it with him.

“[One Act] is my second family. I spend as much time with them as I do with my normal, well biological, family,” Nelson said. “I know when they get anxious, and I actually have to chuckle. They call it stress, but I call it fun. Winning was a euphoric moment. For the rest of the day we were walking around elated.”

After winning their respective regional competitions both DECA and One Act will be going to state.

Science teacher Kip Wold has been recognized as January’s “Teacher Of the Month” at Buffalo High School.

Wold has received this honor multiple times in his thirty-five years of teaching. He has taught everything from environmental science to general chemistry.

Wold said he was honored but humbled by the attention.

“I don’t like the notoriety. I don’t want people to notice,” said Wold. “It’s kind of embarrassing.”

With a double major in Junior High Science and Biology, this modest science teacher dedicates his days to teaching ninth grade students and thoroughly enjoys it. Ever since his adolescence, he wanted to work with kids.

“I always thought helping kids was the most important thing in life,” Wold said.

During his daily lessons, Wold takes pride in teaching his students with labs and active learning.

“I like doing labs everyday. It makes kids get hands-on,” Wold said. “I really like physics because you can see what’s happening as opposed to nuclear energy labs where you can’t do anything to see an actual change.”

Wold said he chose to teach ninth grade science because he likes to tell jokes, and freshmen, he said, are typically more accepting.

“I think seniors might not like some of my jokes,” said Wold.

However, he said that seniors and freshmen alike are “all great kids here. This building has been a fantastic place to work.”

The Tatanka Yearbook, the Hoofprint, and Hoofprint.net received All-State Gold Honors from the Journalism Educators of Minnesota and Minnesota High School Press Association. This award is the top publications award available to earn. Various categories were submitted to, such as Features stories and Opinions columns for the Hoofprint, Website General Excellence for Hoofprint.net, as well as Spread Design and Sport photos for the Tatanka Yearbook.

Some of the students who received individual awards for the Tatanka Yearbook include Anna Mason, who was awarded first place for Academic/Copy, McKenzie Ross and Leeza Kennedy for first place Feature Copy, as well as the Tatanka Yearbook “staff” as a whole winning third place for Theme Concept. Teacher and advisor Ryan McCallum couldn’t be happier for his students.

“I was really proud of the students involved,” McCallum said, “The groups are completely student-run and student-driven.”

Hoofprint.net is currently being evaluated for a Pacemaker Award.

Art is not limited to the painted murals we see every day on our way to lunch, or to the music we hear permeating the halls as the jazz band practices. Some of the most interesting art within the walls of Buffalo High School shows up with a few calm clicks of a mouse. Sophomore Jared Swanson creates three-dimensional images in his spare time; among them, a digital gun that actually discharges casings and an incredibly realistic white desk, complete with detailed knobs and drawers.

“This is the actual desk that I do a lot of work on,” Swanson said. “One day, I just took some measurements on it and decided to make it digitally.”

Swanson’s love of video games facilitated his experiments with digital art.

“I’m a gamer. When I say I play a lot of video games, I mean a lot. It’s an insane amount. I love Call of Duty and Battlefield especially,” Swanson said. “I want to make video games when I get older so a few years ago, I saved up a bunch of money and went to Best Buy and bought a nice laptop. I started browsing for design software and wound up practicing with a program called Cinema 4D, which I use now.”

Swanson’s practice images are giving himself an introduction to video game design.

“The designs I do now help me broaden my horizons and figure out what I still need to learn in the field,” Swanson said. “The other day I was playing Call of Duty and I saw a file cabinet in the game. So I paused the game and just went to my computer and started modeling that cabinet.”

The actual process of making an object requires eclat and much practice. A new file starts from a black screen with only 3D axes shown. Next, a “primitive parametric object” is chosen to form the basis of the object. Cubes, pyramids, and spheres are among these starter shapes. Next, the artist shapes and models the object with different tools and effects to form it into the desired image.

Not all art goes as planned, however.

“I actually lost a whole year’s worth of work not that long ago,” Swanson said. “My computer crashed, so it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I could bring it all back. Now I remember to back every file up with a USB drive so that doesn’t happen again.”

Swanson also revealed that though he already knows some basic coding for video games, for the present he’s just making objects for its own sake.

“Right now I just make whatever the heck comes to mind,” Swanson said. “I’m having fun.”

Every day we are bombarded by advertisements; a sports bag with a large logo, a sweatshirt with a clothing company’s name emblazoned across the front, or billboards for things like car insurance. It seems as though we live in a world where ads are fashionable. Why else would we pay extra to wear the latest trends or save up for that brand new car? The psychology behind advertisement can give us a clue as to why we are so eager to buy what the world is selling us.

Psychologists think that advertisements that fit a certain criteria are more likely to catch our attention (and potentially our wallets). First, they must attract the attention of the potential customer. Since ads aren’t just newspaper clippings anymore, this can be done through almost infinite means -- flashy logos, bright colors, interesting headlines, or anything that might make you give the advertisement a glance. Think of the Geico commercials. A talking gecko is something out of the ordinary, so it catches our attention.

“If an ad has big sales, looks good, and is colorful, it gets my attention,” said Senior Natascha Mrohe.

Once you’ve looked, ads must focus your attention on a message. Your emotions decide whether the ad works or not. Love, fear, anger -- effective ads appeal to these basic emotions. Love for that special someone will drive you to buy a diamond ring from Jared’s. Fear of pasty white skin at prom will convince you to spend cash on tanning. Anger is the outrage felt towards an injustice revealed by the advertisement, such as a TV commercial to help abused animals. Whether you act on these emotions or not reveals the effectiveness of the ad. It’s all about mental influence.

“If an ad connects somehow to me, I’m much more likely to buy what they’re selling,” said Junior Jessica Kath.

Emotions can be strong, but they don’t automatically lead to action. Good advertisements make the consumer want to take action, and provide an easy way to do so. This involves a message like, “Use this!” “Buy this!” or “Wear this!” If the consumer takes action, the advertisement has done its job.

It takes more than just a catchy jingle to make us buy a product. The marketing process isn’t always controlled by the advertiser. Advertisement happens in our most intimate or casual interactions. Think about popular trends. If someone starts wearing clothes you like, you are likely to go out and buy their own. It works a bit like peer pressure. When everyone seems to be buying it, sometimes following their lead is an easy way to fit in. Say you want a tablet. All your friends have an iPad. You’re more likely to stop by the Apple store, because it’s been “advertised” by people you trust. Advertisers depend on their customers to be walking, talking, and driving solicitors for their products. It’s easy to rush and buy things that we like impulsively, but this isn’t the best option. Ads are good at getting us excited about a product, but often this excitement takes the place of common sense. This leads to disappointment and regret if the product isn’t what we expected.

“Sometimes a flashy and eye-catching ad can fool you into buying something,” said Junior Wade Hansen, “and the product ends up sucking.”

So, how does one avoid a situation like this? It all comes down to asking the right questions. Asking questions like “Is it something I want or actually need,” “Is it the best option,” or “Should I buy it now or can I wait?” can help avoid unessisary purchases. A simple evaluation of the product or even just a little bit of time to think can be enough to help make smart decisions. This isn’t to say we shouldn’t buy things or invest in the latest gadgets, but to start thinking before we compulsively hand over the cash. If we know how advertisers get our attention, we will become smarter consumers.

“I walked into the bathroom for a routine poop and a Barbie was in the toilet,” said Freshman Frank Graham.

Sometimes, taking a bathroom break at school can be an otherworldly experience. Other times, it can provide a break from class or a place to send a quick text message.

Assistant Principal Brandon Prell has noticed that when kids aren’t engaged in something, they will always make excuses to get out of doing it. He has also seen more kids lingering around the bathrooms to avoid AAA, which administration frowns upon.

“My friend and I were taking our usual AAA poop when we heard the door click,” said Junior Chandler Engle. “A janitor had locked the door on us mistakenly. We had to call one of our classmates to track down a custodian to let us out.”

Engle agrees that the bathrooms here at school are not only a place to take care of business, but a place to escape to. In fact, 40 percent of students surveyed said that they have used the bathroom as an excuse to get out of going to SSR, AAA, or used it as a place to text.

“It was my first time skipping SSR to use the bathroom,” said Graham. “I walked into the bathroom and these kids were packing a chew. I didn't make anything of it. I just walked over to the stall and started using the bathroom. Then a teacher came in and all the kids sprinted into the stalls around me as the teacher was screaming at them. Pretty soon, I was the last one left in a stall and the teacher was yelling at me to get out. I tried to explain that I was just taking a poop and had nothing to do with it, but he wouldn’t buy it. Luckily one of the kids explained the situation to the teacher and I was left alone to finish my business. That was the last time I was ever going to skip SSR for a poop.”

Art Teacher Jon Holtz says he constantly sees students distracted by their phones. They know that if he catches them on their phone, it will be taken away. Students say the bathroom is one of the most used excuses to text and make calls.

“I was in the bathroom when I overheard a kid talking on the phone while using the bathroom,” said Freshman Eric Anderson. “I thought it was weird at first, but then I realized he was talking to his mom which made it that much weirder.”

Some teachers use bathroom passes that can be turned in at the end of the quarter for extra credit. Eighty-two percent of students surveyed said they have had a teacher that has done so. This makes going to the bathroom as an excuse to get out of class no longer possible, unless you want to give up extra credit.

“It’s like being rewarded for not pooping,” said English Teacher Ryan McCallum. “You can either do a worksheet or not poop during class. Pooping is separate from academics. “

Timing your bathroom breaks to get extra credit or to skip only the most boring moments of class is like how workers will only use the bathroom during work hours instead of on their break. That way it’s like they’re getting rewarded, or paid to poop. Workpoop. com is a site designed to calculate “Poop Pay”. For example, if a person poops for 15 minutes every day during work, five days a week, and is paid $10 per hour, they would get paid $650 annually for time spent pooping.

“That just shows that something as simple as using the bathroom can really affect your life,” said Graham. “Who knows what bathrooms will be used in the future?”

As one goes throughout their day, they’ll begin to notice an increasing necessity: sleep. Peoples’ energy begins to fade and their biological clock tells them that they need to recharge. According to WebMD, The United States has one of the highest rates of sleep deprivation with 37 percent of Americans saying they are sleep deprived.

As an experiment, Buffalo High School Senior Kaelie Lund tried a polyphasic sleep schedule in which slept for half hour periods every four hours throughout the day for two weeks. The goal of this sleep schedule is to train the body to almost go immediately go to the Rapid Eye Movement state, or REM state. In REM, the body goes into deep sleep and begins dreaming.

“I was supposed to get three hours of sleep every day, but I only got around one hour,” said Lund. “I would maybe only sleep for five or ten minutes of the 30 I was supposed to get.”

As Lund continued the sleep method, she experienced common symptoms that follow from a lack of sleep.

“At first I thought it was going to get easier, but it never did. I couldn’t distinguish between what was a dream and what was reality,” said Lund. “I remember I spent an entire day in school convinced I was dreaming.”

To Buffalo High School Physical Education Teacher Jason Karn, a lack of sleep in students is evident. To Karn, deprivation of sleep can’t be solely blamed on one thing.

“Kids want to be so connected. Our society has basically has turned into an instant news feed. We’re conditioned that this is how it should be.” said Karn. “Kids also don’t understand that even if you drink caffeine at 5 p.m, the effects could still be keeping you up by the time you’re going to bed.”

Karn is also concerned about students getting an hour less of sleep than they should be. In a chart he made, Karn demonstrated how much sleep can be missed annually.

“So if we miss one hour of sleep every week night, and we miss two hours of sleep every weekend night, we miss nine hours of sleep every week. Added up, that’s 36 hours of sleep lost monthly, and 432 hours of sleep lost annually.”

As Sophomore Kelley Vassar falls asleep she always has one worry on her mind. For her, dreams and nightmares are a thing of the past. Vassar has a rare and strange habit that occurs while she’s sleeping. Taking part in a new phenomenon in the world of technology, Vassar not only texts during the day but finds herself grabbing for her phone at night too. Vassar sleep texts and has done it at least twenty times before.

“I feel embarrassed when I realize I was sleep texting,” said Vassar. “I usually end up replying to people if my phone is on vibrate and if I set it right next to me. One time my friend said ‘What’s up?’ and I replied with ‘Sleeping lol.’ I ended up telling him that I liked him. It was really awkward because I didn’t want him to know. I’ve also sent people just a bunch of random numbers.”

According to Doctor Mike Howell from the University of Minnesota Sleep Medicine Center, sleep texting has a lot to do with the brain. If you’re sleep deprived then the brain is more likely to “play tricks” on you. These tricks are triggered by different noises that you may hear while sleeping. If you hear a noise that sounds like a phone then part of your brain will become active. This active part of your brain causes you to respond to the noise.

“I’ve sent about ten sleep texts before. I just kept the conversations going with perfect spelling but I feel that I could have easily said something that I wouldn’t normally have sent,” said Freshman Frank Graham. “I always have a hard time waking up the next day after sleep texting.”

Sleep texting can bring people feelings of embarrassment and insecurity. The feelings may never leave depending on what the sleep texter does. The simplest solution is to just keep your phone out of your bedroom.

“One time I sent a story about why bananas are yellow,” said Junior Justin Huhn. “I felt really stupid and I honestly have no idea why I did that.”

The kids, Dick and Jane, are gathered around the dinner table for their daily evening ritual. Their mother and father join them, while Spot sleeps at their feet. Dick and Jane discuss their day at school, homework load, and valentines. The family bonds, not over dinner, but over video games. “It’s fun to help [my dad] out and joke around,” said Sophomore Rachel Koch. “Plus it’s nice to have a partner on games like Gears of War. Nice to make fun of him when I win too.” Rachel started playing video games with her dad when she realized it was fun to do more than merely watch. Both love video games, but only recently have combined their interest. According to the Memorex “We-Time” Survey conducted in 2010, 42% of families play video games together every few days. The We-Time survey’s goal was to see how the average family transcends the family night board game. Statistically, more fathers play video games with their children than mothers, and while Koch and her father’s time together fluctuates with new and exciting games, they try and spend as much time as they can playing co- operative games such as: Fallout, Tomb Raider, Drake’s Fortune, Bioshock, and Gears of War. Their tradition to play the game together stems from the importance to have an activity only to themselves. “It’s something special for us because my mom never plays video games.” says Koch. “We both get excited about a new game and always watch the opening cut scene together.” Senior Maya Bolduan originally found video gaming to be a foreign world before her brother bought Skyrim. Although gaming was a lifestyle she thought she would never enjoy, she decided to humor her brother and attempt to play Skyrim. It quickly became an activity they could enjoy together. “My mom was thrilled about it because she would hear us laughing all the way from the basement,” said Bolduan. Not only does Bolduan find gaming valuable for strengthening family ties, but so does psychologist Kairen Cullen. Cullen’s studies show families who play video games are closer and feel more comfortable around each other. So what does all of this mean? Jess Walton, the director of Memorax, says that “The concept of “we-time” hasn’t changed, but the tools families use to bring “we-time” to life have evolved.” Even Dick and Jane’s family doesn’t sit and play Monopoly after dinner, they find time to spend together through different mediums like video games. The stereotype that video game players are bachelors sitting in a damp dark basement is breaking. Many families like Koch’s are finding the benefits of video gaming. “I think we spend time together and get inside jokes and it’s something sort of special,” said Koch.

Commenting on someone’s status one night, I never expected to wake up the next morning to hundreds of notifications. As I began reading what other people had to say, I realized I was taking place in a debate. A debate that derived from a controversial Facebook status.

It’s safe to say that most often, when on Facebook, we post a status to get some sort of attention. But do we ever post to start a debate? I began noticing more and more controversial statuses with hundreds of opinionated comments all over my News Feed. This sparked my interest in not the statuses themselves, but the fact that debates stemmed from them. Facebook is a good tool for hosting debates.

Senior Jason Prigge shared an opinion about the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show through his Facebook status on November 31. Within 3 days, the status received 35 likes and 92 comments.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal, and I didn’t think it would get heated. I’ve been bashed on all week but I don’t care what they say, I’m me.” said Prigge. Prigge was not the only one to post a controversial status that week. Senior Maya Bolduan posted a status about homosexuality on December 5th that received 23 likes and 112 comments in just 57 minutes.

“I know that many of my friends have beliefs that vary greatly from mine,” Bolduan said. “But I’m not ashamed to voice my opinion, and I want to make others think.”

She succeeded in making me think, as did Prigge, and I found myself voicing my opinion through comments on both statuses.

It seemed as though every time I logged in to Facebook, a new debate was taking place, heightening my curiosity. Did students comment because the issue at hand was something they felt strongly about, or did they join in the debate just for the fun of it?

“When I contribute, it’s usually something I believe in. But, I will admit, as a high school student, sometimes drama can be fun,” said Junior Bailey Braatz.

Braatz believes that arguments on Facebook cause more trouble than good. Junior Riley Smithson had a different point of view.

“We as a nation are entitled to say whatever we so choose, and that right is protected under the first amendment of our constitution. The moment we are limited in what we are able to say, we renounce that right,” Smithson said. “As long as the conversations are not emotionally harmful to anyone, I see no harm in it.”

But harm is a hard thing to diagnose. You may not be harming anyone, but you’re probably not changing their opinion, either.

“There sure is a lot of venting, but I know at the same time I learn things from the debates on Facebook. If nothing else, you see the perspectives of those on the other side of the argument,” said Bolduan.

Prigge, on the other hand, has a different point of view.

“I think people were trying to challenge me and push my buttons, but they all failed. There is not one argument that was good in my opinion,” Prigge said.

I don’t think anyone’s opinion truly changes during a debate. People usually get pretty fired up about where they stand, and aren’t willing to back down and admit someone else is right. Even still, I think Facebook is a good place to post your opinion, whether it leads to debate or not. It’s often easier to say something on Facebook than to say it to someone’s face, which makes it hard to understand the intent. Whatever you post, chances are someone will disagree with it. Enjoy those disagreements; it means you have something worth talking about.

Surveys conducted by National Sleep Foundation show that 60 percent of high school students report extreme daytime sleepiness, and 25 percent fall asleep in class at least once a week. How much of that loss of sleep preventable? School districts such as Edina Public Schools implemented later starting times in the 1996-1997 school year in which their high school started at 8:30 a.m. and several of their Elementary schools started at 9:20 a.m.

After Edina High school changed their time to 8:30, 92 percent of the student’s parents favored the new schedule. Out of a survey of 30 students at Buffalo High School, only one of them said they got nine hours of sleep occasionally. 30% of these students said they receive only six hours of sleep, 33% said they receive seven hours, and another 30% said they received 8 hours of sleep. Every one of these students are still missing more than an hour of sleep than their bodies are supposed to get.

“If we miss one hour of sleep every week night, and we miss two hours of sleep every weekend night, we miss nine hours of sleep every week,” said Physical Education teacher Jason Karn, “Added up, that’s 36 hours of sleep lost monthly, and 432 hours of sleep lost annually.”

Imagine the car accidents that could be prevented, and over 1,000 students can im­ prove their health and performance, such as grades, GPA and SAT scores, just because of that extra hour of sleep.

“Students frequently tell me when they didn’t get enough sleep the night before,” said Science Teacher Rachel Busch. “I notice their lack of focus and sometimes even putting their heads down in class because they’re so tired.”

“I think a later start time for the school would help students get more sleep.” said Busch. “I’d never heard of a school at 7:45 before I taught here.”

“I think it’s a reasonable amount of time,” said Sophomore Auston Alvarez. “I would definitely stay an hour later in school if that means I could I could sleep in for another hour.”

Are you reading the article? Good. But ask yourself “why?” Was it because the article specifically said “Read this”? What began as a plan to conduct a simple sleep study, opened up this issue to the infinite expanse of the brain of your average high school student. The Hoofprint is here to tell the stories that exist within the school and community, and to better do that, we set out to discover the motives behind the events that take place on a day to day basis here at BHS. Are you still reading, because this article requires you to continue.

Each teacher here has a unique approach to teaching, whether it is to keep strict control of the room, or to be more lax about the teacher student relationship. But consider for a second that whatever way a teacher adopts, there is some psychology behind their choice. According to the American Psychological Association more and more colleges require that prospective teachers take at the very least an introduction to Psychology course to earn their degree. There’s a reason some teachers hand out bathroom passes, that if kept are worth extra credit. They are conditioning you to stay in class, by rewarding full attendance. That’s not to say that it’s not undeserved, students certainly try to play the system in their favor (check out “The Scoop on Poop” on pg. 7).

As the cliché goes, if someone asked you to jump off a bridge would you do it? Well would you? Students, and people in general, are almost wired from birth to accept orders. Listen to your parents, to your teachers, to your boss, ect. The constant bombardment of this message, while keeping our everyday lives ordered and conflict free, can make us more susceptible to social conformity, and advertisement campaigns. The problem runs much deeper than this though. It is making this generation cringe at the thought of challenge. People like to be told what to do, how to do it, and what the results should be right from the start, and then go through the motions. When the word creativity is used, it is in the positive sense, yet when faced with a new idea, or something that requires out of the box thinking, the first reaction is to cringe. Researchers have found a growing bias against creativity in our generations, so teachers have had to take a step back from just saying creativity is good but actually incorporate creative thought into the class room.

“Revealing the existence and nature of a bias against creativity can help explain why people might reject creative ideas and stifle scientific advancements, even in the face of strong intentions to the contrary,” said Jennifer Mueller of the University of Pennsylvania and Shimul Melwani of the University of North Carolina. “The field of creativity may need to shift its current focus from identifying how to generate more creative ideas to identify how to help innovative institutions recognize and accept creativity.”

The brain is a marvel of biology and chemistry, neural pathways that carry out the function of life. To think how mind-boggingly impressive it is to be able to be conscious, take a moment to evaluate your thoughts. Knowing why you think the way you do, and how others do, allows you to better work with others, even under great duress. You owe your cranium that much at least. Are you still reading? Good.

Your parents have probably told you not to steal at least once in your life, but more people seem to be turning to a less savory method of adding to their iPods and MP3s. File sharing of copyrighted songs has become more common as there are more ways to anonymously download. However, there is still a taboo. These ‘pirates’ seem to be viewed as maliciously downloading music for free as opposed to buying things like everyone else.

Since 2008, the amount of people that have admitted to illegally downloading music has risen from 15% to 27%. The popular websites uTorrent and BitTorrent released information explaining that they have hit over 150 million users monthly as of December.

Are these people stealing an artists’ work or are they contributing to the artist’s eventual profit?

Piracy may, in fact, boost sales. Several studies support the fact that about 75% of artists eventually gain profit from pirated music. Some may see it as a sort of ‘free preview’ and go on to attend concerts, buy tee shirts and tell their friends about this great new band. There is the 25% left over, who tend to be more popular artists, that lose money on the deal. Some government issued surveys put the money loss at $200-250 billion per year, but smaller surveys have said about $58 billion. There tends to be biased information and people failing to triple check their numbers. There isn’t a set number that everyone can agree on.

With the recent events regarding three controversial bills: SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), PIPA (Protect IP Act), and now the global scale ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), you would think that there would be less confusion over exactly how much is lost due to piracy when the government feels the need to go to such lengths to stop it.

How an artist handles the situation can be just as important as statistics and numbers. Musical artist Sonny John Moore, better known as Skrillex, updated his Facebook page around Christmas regarding his new album.

“Happy Holidays just like I promised, Just like I always say, go pirate it if you don’t have the money, I just want you to have it. You can buy it here, either way I’ll love you,”

Much like Skrillex, some in the book industry look to pirated copies as a boost rather than something you lose money from. Some have even started to offer their own books on file sharing websites and have seen a boost in sales shortly after.

You or a friend may have downloaded music at one time or another, or you could have never realized this was an issue. Know the risk, realize that not everything may be as black and white as we are led to believe.

Peering into any classroom, students are listening with half an ear, pulling out their cellphones, checking their email, and texting friends while having “off to the side” conversations. Students are also on their laptops surfing the web and playing “Bubble shooter” in their spare time. The cycle continues for the entire block, distracting them, thus making it difficult for them to get good grades. Distractions such as these should not be present in a classroom.

If electronics weren’t in the classroom, students would get good grades. We live in a world of distractions, and the banning of electronics is something that is common. It states in the STMA Student Handbook that “All electronic devices, such as cell phones, radios, head phones, I-pods, TV remotes, laser pens, games, etc., are not to be used and/or visible at any time during instructional time, lunch, in locker rooms or lavatories.” In Monticello’s Code of Conduct, it states “Possession of nuisance devices or objects which cause distractions including, but not limited to, pagers, radios, and phones is an example of unacceptable behavior and is subject to disciplinary action.” These rules are there for a reason: so that students can focus on what’s at hand.

The banning of cellphones and electronics make some complications arise. For example, parents would not be able to communicate with their children during the school day. They wouldn’t be able to schedule rides, or get updates on extracurricular activities during the day. To overcome this problem, parents could simply leave messages at the front office for the children, and children could use school phones (located inside classrooms or on teachers desks) instead of cellphones to call parents.

Most electronics could also be considered tools of learning instead of distraction. For example, with an iPad the user can surf the web for any homework help, and they can even use it as a textbook. Altrhough, for this very same reason of its technology, it can be very distracting in the classroom and make it easy to become unproductive with the device.

In order to enforce the banning of electronics, every time an electronic of some sort is spotted, it would be confiscated by a teacher or staff member and would be held until the end of the school day where it would be returned prior. Cellphones and electronics have more of a negative impact than a positive impact. If they were banned, it would increase academic grades due to the fact that students would be more focused without them.

The text on his work packet starts to unfocus, and the school day is slowly becoming unbearable. As his head pulsates with pain, the exhaustion is starting to set in. Senior Cameron Rudenick experiences the consequences of most recent of nine concussions.

During the Varsity Boys’ Soccer game at Cummings Field versus Robbinsdale Cooper on September 13, Rudenick and a Robbinsdale midfielder collided during an aggressive tackle. Followed by the back of Rudenick’s head bouncing off of the firm field. Though he continued to play for the remainder of his shift, the symptoms weren’t far behind.

“Even though I felt a little lost for a minute or two, I just went with it,” said Rudenick. “By the time coach called for a sub, I knew I hit my head harder than I thought.”

Since February 23, 2010, when the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) approved a new concussion awareness rule, officials have been required to remove players from play if they are showing any signs, or symptoms of a concussion; if a player is dizzy, off-balance, or even confused he or she may be asked to refrain from play.

In order to return they need to be directly cleared by an authorized medical professional.

“I know that in football they’re teaching the players how to block, and tackle properly to help limit these injuries,” said Varsity Boys’ Basketball Coach Nick Guida. “In hockey, they’re focusing on coaching the physical aspect of the game in a way that should help protect kids’ heads. The equipment is also getting more advanced, and that helps keep the athletes as safe as possible.”

A concussion is caused by a jolt to the body or head, resulting in the brain making contact with the skull. The brain is a soft tissue surrounded by spinal fluid, and further protected by a hard skull. Normally, the fluid that surrounds the brain absorbs the blow and prevents injury, but in the instance of concussions, that isn’t enough to keep it safe.

“I could do my work, but it was really hard to keep my mind on one task,” said Rudenick. “If I needed to read small print my head would pulsate, and it would take all of my effort to finish the reading. I knew what I needed to do, it was just hard to stay focused and complete tasks.”

Freshman Jarrett Pedlar encountered a concussion on the first day back from Winter Break, January 3, while playing football in gym class. Pedlar talked to the school nurse and was then allowed to leave school. Suffering three concussions in his life, two from skateboarding and the third during gym class, Pedlar reflects on how the concussion happened.

“I was running for the football, then turned around and jumped backwards to try and catch it,” said Pedlar. “That’s when my head hit the ground. When I went home my parents told me to chill and let the headache go away.”

Pedlar goes on to say that he hopes he never receives a concussion again.

“It was the worst,” said Pedlar. “Do I throw up, or sleep? Wait, I can’t sleep. I guess I’ll just sit here and suffer.”

According to a report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, awareness of head injuries has increased in the past decade. Proof of this is the report also states that emergency room visits for people age 19 and under who received traumatic brain injuries increased from 153,375 in 2001 to 248,418 in 2009.

“It started at the top, and worked its way down,” said Guida. “The pros did a great job of getting everyone’s attention. The awareness of concussions has come a long way in my lifetime, but we still need to go further with the studies of the long term effects of them.”

Pressure.

In many ways it can take away from someone’s ability to perform. It builds with high expectations in high school, whether it be a teacher about grades, a parent about things at home, or a coach about your sports performances.

According to the Online Journal of Sports Psychology, many student athletes report an inability to sleep and have tension, fatigue, headaches and digestive problems. These are all indicators of additional stress that athletes have to cope with day to day. Although there is this pressure added, not all students let it affect them negatively.

“To me in Track and Field, being under pressure is better than no pressure at all,” said Junior Mitchell Valli. “It keeps me under focus and it also gives me the adrenaline I need to perform at the high level expected. With my grades I feel as if there is more pressure added on me over someone who is just a regular student, athletes have higher expectations.”

A Minnesota State High School League survey of 300 Minnesota high schools showed that the average Grade Point Average (GPA) of a student-athlete was 2.84, compared with 2.68 for the average student. The added pressure makes the athletes apply themselves more to their grades, because they need to keep them up to stay on the team.

Even just a simple label of ‘Varsity’ can change the entire aspect of playing sports and the level of pressure placed upon them. When on a Varsity team there is more expected from a player performance wise and things become more serious.

“It’s a lot more competitive and played at a higher pace than the other levels,” said Senior Alexa Thielman. “Encouragement from teachers and my parents to do better really influenced me.”

Coaches and family can play a big part in a student athletes life in high school and through college. They can add stress and also help reduce stress.

“With being a varsity athlete there is added pressure. One thing I really appreciate about coaching is that you can help a kid grow as person from being in those pressure situations,” said Varsity Basketball Coach Nick Guida. “If student athletes can figure out how to handle themselves in those situations at a young age, they will be better off once in pressure situations when they are beyond varsity athletics in life. I try to put kids into overload situations in practice with lots of pressure. If they can handle themselves well here, the game should be easier. If the game pressure is easier than practice, you should be able to perform!”

Academically pressure in high school can affect grades and participation. After games athletes sometimes don’t get home until mid-night, they then have to do homework and are deprived of sleep. Then wake up and go to school, then to practice for a couple of hours.

From the statistics in the fifth paragraph it states that the GPA of a student athlete is higher than that of an average student, from that research it shows that grades really depend on how much a student or student athlete applies themselves everyday in school.

“By being in sports, I have developed much better work ethics,” said Freshman Reed Morehouse. “I use these work ethics to help me apply myself more in school and keep my grades up. I have a better understanding that the more you practice the better you will perform, and the more you study the higher your grades will be.”

The AP Physics classroom buzzes with activity as the students rapidly construct Rube Goldberg machines. Scanning the room, one sees a machine made out of Kinex building materials. Another is constructed with a chain of falling dominoes. The last machine in the far corner blooms with metal spoons of various sizes, masking-taped to strategic points. Junior Michael Hank is a proud member of the last group and is affectionately known around BHS for his unique personality.

“It’s just fun to act crazy,” Hank said, “but despite the fact that I act so spontaneous, I actually am able to plan out things that require thought. It’s just more fun the way I do it, though.”

Spontaneity can produce positive and negative consequences. The night before Hank took the ACT, he decided to stay up late to play video games rather than study. One would think this would be a negative result from a spontaneous whim; however, Hank received a perfect composite score of 36. Only 705 students out of 1.6 million attained that score in 2011--0.04% of the total.

“I didn’t really prepare all that much for it the night before,” Hank said. “I played video games ‘til I was visibly shaking from exhaustion before I realized ‘oh, crap, I have to take the ACT tomorrow!’ So then I got pretty nervous for the test, but afterwards I felt okay about how I had done.”

Such an impressive score is not going to Hank’s head, however.

“I’m kind of self-conscious about it,” Hank said. “I’m lucky that they don’t count the writing score as part of the total, because I only got 4 out of 12. That’s way below the average. Whenever people ask about my score, I always make sure to tell them that part too.”

Besides academic achievement, Hank excels at Knowledge Bowl. This being his only school activity, he has plenty of time for his other passion--video games. Hank also tried to organize a Quidditch league, but unfortunately, it didn’t fly.

“I really wanted BHS to have a Quidditch league, so I asked my mom if we could go out and buy supplies for it because I didn’t really want to organize it unless we had all the materials already,” Hank said. “But she said that she wouldn’t buy things unless the group was organized. So it was kind of a weird circle and Quidditch ended up just not happening.”

Most of the student body knows Hank by his high academic achievement and his quirky personality, a label that Hank is happy to have.

“I’m glad that people think of me as eccentric,” Hank said. “Sometimes people ask me, ‘Why aren’t you normal?’ Well, to me, normal is another word for boring. Who wants to be boring? I don’t.”