Edition 13.4

h r o n i c l eThe
December 11, 2015 thecspn.com Volume 13, Issue 4

Puppies are The fandom Girls basketball
dying to be has been team has high
adopted, see awakened, see expectations, see
page 7 page 12 page 23

Paris terrorist BEWARE OF
attacks felt in
Mason BACON

Asia Porter | Staff Writer Photo by Madison Krell
[email protected]
Junior Matt Deskins prepares to eat two Baconators despite the World Health Organization’s recent an-
Despite being 4,110 miles away, the
Mason community continues to mourn nouncement that meat consumption can be linked to cancer. [see story on page 8]
the victims of the Paris attacks.

On November 13, simultaneous at-
tacks were launched against the citizens
of Paris, resulting in the death of at least
129 people. Three teams comprised of a
total of eight terrorists, coordinated and
executed shootings and bombings on
six locations including a concert hall,
the Stade de France, and at least two res-
taurants.

Lindsey McDowell, sister-in-law of
Mason alumni Delaney McDowell, trav-
eled to Paris from Riga, Latvia, to visit
a friend on a business trip. McDowell
arrived in Paris one week before the at-
tacks, and said prior to the shootings,
there were no suspicions that an attack
was coming.

“Everything seemed normal the day
of the attacks,” McDowell said. “I rode
the train into the city center from the
airport and didn’t feel unsafe or notice
any suspicious activity. The streets were
buzzing with tons of people out and
about.”

Angela Randolph, friend of French
National Honor Society advisor Abby
Gist, has lived in Paris for four years,
and hours before the attack she visited
the café that would later be terrorized
as part of one of the four locations that
underwent attacks. Randolph said the
attacks left a vivid impression on her
mind.

[story continued on page 2]

2 C December 11, 2015
News
E. coli outbreak
reaches Ohio Chipotles [story continued from page 1]

Isabel Marotta | Staff Writer Paris terrorist attacks felt in Mason
[email protected]
Meghan Pottle | Staff Writer “I remember everything vividly: the at- Photo contributed by Dana Miller
[email protected] tacks, taking of hostages, and Kamikazes
at the Stade de France,” Randolph said. “I Kings Island lit its Eiffel Tower in the colors of
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report- knew it was a serious attack right away be- the Frace flag to show support for Paris follow-
ed 45 cases of Escherichia coli linked to Chipotle restau- cause I followed it on Twitter.” ing the terrorist attacks.
rants in six states, including Ohio.
The attacks immediately left 352 people were closed, and that really didn’t reassure
University of Cincinnati’s Director of Infectious Diseas- wounded, 99 of them seriously. McDowell me. There are a lot of bag searches and
es, Doctor George Smulian, said E. coli is a bacteria that said the French government insisted pedes- searches done on people in public spaces.”
is found in gastrointestinal tracts under normal circum- trians stay off the streets, and police officers
stances, but can develop and produce toxins that cause directed people away from the shooting lo- On November 13, attackers terrorized
sickness, like in the Chipotle outbreak. cations. Paris, and their actions left many dead or
unidentified, and in the aftermath of the
“There a number of different ways in which E. coli can “I walked back to my flat at 1 a.m. because attacks, MHS students rallied together to
change from being this bacteria that we live with every the restaurant I was at closed,” McDowell help a community in need. As for the City
day of our lives and causes us no problems to one that’s said. “They were not supposed to do this, of Lights, McDowell said Paris is trying to
causing illness,” Smulian said. “That’s what has happened and actually should have locked us in the return to normal despite a dark time.
with this outbreak. It is an outbreak caused by an E. coli restaurant since the French government
026, which is one that produces a toxin called the Shiga had requested no one to be on the streets. “My friend had gone out earlier in the
toxin and that’s one of the types of toxins that can cause When I walked back to the flat, there were day and said cafés and shops were open-
diarrheal illness.” streets barricaded and police with rifles in- ing,” McDowell said. “Parisians were trying
structing us not to go certain ways.” to resume their normal life and not allow
The CDC is still investigating to determine what spe- the terrorism to deter them from living
cific food is causing the illness. Smulian said he does not World leaders grieved for Parisians, and their lives.”
know exactly what is starting the outbreak because of the on November 16, the Eiffel Tower lit up
various states with infections. with the colors of the French flag, honor-
ing victims. Shortly after, the Eiffel Tower
“By looking at the data that’s available from the Chipo- at Kings Island followed suit.
tle outbreak, it’s so widespread from California to Wash-
ington to the East Coast ,” Smulian said. “It is something Mason High School showed its support
that is being distributed to the Chipotle supply chain to with a ribbon sale. Senior French Honor
a number of these stores that is likely to be causing it. I Society and French Club Member Kedi Hu
think that ground beef is unlikely to be the cause, even promoted “Peace for Paris” with the sale of
though it is often associated with these types of outbreaks, black solidarity ribbons. While the ribbons
and it is some other common thing that they use that’s are technically free, Hu said there is a rec-
being distributed from their company.” ommended donation of 25 cents with each
ribbon. Hu said the purpose of the cam-
According to Chipotle’s website, the business is taking paign is to support the victims’ families. Af-
extra precautionary measures to make sure their food is ter watching news stories in class, Hu said
safe since the incident began. the two clubs got involved, joining many
other nations who have extended a helping
“Chipotle is also taking significant steps to be sure all of hand to Paris.
its food is as safe as possible,” Chipotle said in a statement
made on November 24. “Specifically, we are expanding “They covered quite extensively the
testing of key ingredients, examining all of our food-safe- things going on in France and not only
ty procedures to find any opportunity for improvement, France’s side of the issue but also how the
and are working with two renowned food safety scientists world is coming together in order to sup-
to assess all of its food safety programs, from the farms port France,” Hu said. “They have filters
that provide our food to our restaurants.” of the French flag to show solidarity, like
a community that is helping out another
Senior Chipotle enthusiast Juan Tramontin said he community in need.”
stopped going to the restaurant for now because of the
health risk in Ohio. Yazmine Merkiled, who nannied for
Gist’s children, now lives in Cincinnati but
“I would regularly go to Chipotle three to four, maybe originally moved to Paris from her home-
five times a week,” Tramontin said. “When I first heard town Martinique. In the wake of the events,
about the E. coli outbreak in Oregon and Washington I Merkiled said she would like to move back
didn’t really care about it and I went a few times after to Martinique instead of Paris because she
that happened. Then I had it one day and that same day is afraid. Like Merkiled, Randolph said she
on the news it was talking about how E. coli was found at remains on edge after the attacks.
Chipotle in Ohio. So I took a short break from Chipotle
because even though I love it and it’s my favorite place to “I don’t take the metro or any other pub-
go, I think my health is more important. So maybe I’ll try lic transportation; there is so much crazi-
a new restaurant for now, wait until the E. coli thing dies ness,” Randolph said. “I went to a mall the
down a bit, and I’ll probably go back.” other day and three-fourths of the stores

December 11, 2015 C 3

The new Liberty Center offers jobs for students in retail near the Mason area. Photo by Abbey Marshall Seniors work polls as part of
‘Youth in the Booth’ program
New mall provides teen employment opportunities
Alekya Raghavan | Staff Writer
Abbey Marshall | Managing Editor “The mall has definitely provided more job [email protected]

[email protected] opportunities,” Berry said. “It’s a thriving place Since 2006, the Warren County Board of Election’s
Youth in the Booth program has aimed to help high
Liberty and jobs for all. with everything from retail stores, to tea and school seniors gain a better understanding of the
coffee shops, to food establishments. I would election process with a unique behind-the-scenes
The Liberty Center in West Chester offers definitely encourage more teens to seek out look at electoral activity.
jobs for students in retail that had been scarce jobs here because there are so many cool plac-
prior to the grand opening on October 22. Ac- es to work.” With Mason being the only high school in the
cording to junior American Eagle employee The Liberty Center’s contemporary ambi- county yet to get involved with the program, Senior
Tori Berry, the Liberty Center allowed her ence is appealing to the younger generation Leah Metzger thinks that it is important for students
to get hired in a field that she has always ad- and the jobs offered there, Berry said. to have an understanding of how the system works.
mired, yet couldn’t work in previously due to “There are tons of places to hang out at the
distance from other shopping centers. new mall,” Berry said. “The movie theater is “We’re growing up and we’re eventually going
“I’ve always wanted to work in retail from the amazing,thefoodisgreat,andthestoresarepop- to be that next generation voting,” Metzger said. “I
time I was little,” Ber- ular among think it’s really important for youth to get out and
ry said. “I love fash- have a say in who our next president is going to be,
ion, being exposed to our genera- in any election.”
tion. Overall,
different styles, and the mall just According to Warren County election administra-
interacting with peo- tor Dee Hudson, the program has some eligibility
ple. There weren’t has a really requirements.
modern, en-
many opportunities ergetic at- “Students need to be in good standing with their
to work in retail be- school and also be able to represent their school
fore Liberty Center mosphere. and Warren County Board of Elections well to the
I’ve already public,” Hudson said. “They must be a resident of
opened up, unless seen a ton Warren County and a United States citizen, a high
you wanted to drive school senior, have their own transportation, will-
down to Kenwood. of teens and ing to commit to an all day assignment anywhere
their friends in the county and also to be able to attend a 3 hour
So when I heard the hanging out training class.”
new mall was open-
ing, I was so excited there.” According to Metzger, Mason seniors will repre-
that I would finally Liberty sent the school and assist in processing voters.
have the chance to Photo by Abbey Marshall Center public
relations rep- “Because I’m a Mason student, they’ll put me in
The Liberty Center has decorated their park for Christmas. a Mason facility,” Metzger said. “That way, we can
see people we know come in. We’ll have an iPad for
work somewhere like resentative Jackie Reau said she encourages people to type their name in and register to vote,
that.” and pass out the little ‘I Voted’ stickers, etcetera.”
students to take advantage of the opportuni-
Senior Julia Salunek transferred from the ties and there’s more to come. Students involved with the program have much
Kenwood Towne Center Hollister to Liberty “As more restaurants and retail outlets open to gain. Aside from the $136.50 earned for the day or
Center. Salunek said the change has been a lot over the next few weeks, more jobs will need credit received for fourteen or more service hours,
more convenient for her commute. to be filled, and many will offer great experi- seniors benefit from a learning experience that ben-
“I wanted to find a job in retail and I got of- ence for high school students,” Reau said. efits seniors when it comes to college applications.
fered a job at the Kenwood Hollister,” Salunek Berry said she’s thankful for all the new op-
said. “They transferred me to the new mall. It’s portunities that the Liberty Center has opened “There will always be a need for the brightest
a lot more convenient because it’s not as far up so close to home. and the best to step forward and make a difference,”
and there’s not as much traffic. It’s easily ac- “We are extremely blessed to have this ad- Hudson said. “The program is beneficial to high
cessible.” dition to our local community,” Berry said. school seniors because it demonstrates community
In addition to retail, the Liberty Center of- “When you’re at the new mall, you feel like service and helps them to present to colleges as a
fers diverse jobs for students seeking employ- you’re shopping in a city. It’s such a cool ex- well rounded applicant for continuing education
ment, said Berry. perience.” or in the private sector as a job experience that in-
volves leadership.”

Mason’s first steps will be with the upcoming pri-
mary and presidential elections. The Board hopes to
build a new generation of poll workers by including
a vital part of our community, the youth. Voters are
likely to see an influx of younger voters participat-
ing in a reformed election experience. Hudson said
this will also be a good way for seniors to get ex-
posed to the ins and outs of democracy.

“The Youth in the Booth program allows students
a front row seat in a democracy that is known world-
wide as progressive and inclusive to all.” Hudson
said. “ ‘We the people’ includes the youth who will
someday change the lives of many.”

4 C December 11, 2015
Opinion
The Chronicle’s Policy Staff Editorial
to the editor
The Chronicle is the official student newspaper ‘Age of Caution’
of William Mason High School. finally ushered in
following terrorist
The Chronicle promises to report the truth and attacks
adhere to the journalistic code of ethics through
online and print mediums. Usher in the ‘Age of Caution’ with nar-
rowed eyes, as they’re full of skepticism.
The Chronicle is produced by students enrolled
in Journalism I, II and III. Refugees knock at our borders, and af-
ter Paris, we fear copycats in their midst.
Editorials reflect the staff ’s opinion but do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of the school ad- Governors of 31 states, including Ohio’s
ministration or the Mason City School District. John Kasich, oppose President Obama’s
plan to accept 10,000 more Syrian refu-
The Chronicle is published monthly. Call gees, but true Americana turns its look-
398-5025 ext. 33103 for information regarding ing glass not to GOP debates but the in-
advertising in The Chronicle. The Chronicle re- nards of the nation that raised it.
serves the right to refuse advertising it deems
inappropriate for a high school publication. The Paris attackers were not refugees:
they were French and Belgian born,
As an open forum for students, letters to the reared in the nations they would grow to
editor are welcome, but are subject to be edited target.
for length, libel, obscenity, clarity and poor taste.
Letters to the editor may be dropped off in room We narrow in on our new threat: home-
C103 and must be signed. grown terrorism, masked by the masses.

The Chronicle is a member of The Colum- It’s been here for years now, but Friday,
bia Scholastic Press Association, The National November 13 awakened us to more than
Scholastic Press Association, Quill and Scroll landmarks.
International Honorary Society for High School
Journalists and the Ohio Scholastic Media As- ISIS targeted a rock concert: an expres-
sociation. sion of the human experience via profan-
Contact Information ity and shredded guitars in one of the
The Chronicle West’s cultural icons, a favorite of tour-
William Mason High School ists and academics since its creation. An
6100 S. Mason Montgomery Rd. American band, Eagles of Death Metal,
Mason, Ohio 45040 performed onstage, in a scene too simi-
(513) 398-5025 lar to any of our Saturday nights. It could
The Chronicle Staff have been us.
Editor-in-Chief
Gina Deaton We narrow our eyes further.
Managing Editor We allow the bag checks at Paul Brown
Abbey Marshall Stadium, the more-than-cursory scans
Sports Editor of our online activity. This is the Age of
Kylie McCalmont Caution, and these securities, nonexistent
Online Editor only decades before, pause our anxiety
Jessica Sommerville while the richest international terrorist
Online Sports Editor organization waits, patiently.
Eric Miller Endlessly patient, endlessly funded,
Visual Editor ISIS even honors battlefield deaths that
Madison Krell many soldiers fear. To them, a greater life
Graphic Designers awaits, where they will be rewarded for
Jake Broekema their services to an Islamic State.
Kate Madigan And yet as France targets Raqqa and
Business Manager Russia deploys S-400 missiles, the nations
Ashton Nichols amplify U.S. airstrikes in retaliation for
Staff Writers Paris and a downed plane.
Alyssa Brooks Usher in the ‘Age of Caution’: enter
Serina Cline tired, but persistent.
Arnav Damodhar We may not lose to ISIS, but we’ll lose
Juliana Discher our widened eyes, as the ‘Age of Caution’
Ariel Jones has left naivety in the past.
India Kirssin
Madison Krell
Lauren Lysko
Charlie MacKenzie
Duncan MacKenzie
Isabel Marotta
Matt Marvar
Jonathan McCollough
Erin McElhenny
Eric Michael
Blake Nissen
Meghan Pottle
Asia Porter
Alekya Raghavan
Ellie Uecker
Adviser
Dale Conner

December 11, 2015 C 5
Opinion
I can’t
Editorial Cartoon Beliebe it

World Peace: Even kids want to know, too much to ask for?

Lights off, Pictures of the New York Empire State Build- Jessica Sommerville | Online Editor
Internet ing shining the French flag’s colors were posted [email protected]
numerous times, captioned that the Empire State
Madison Krell | Staff Writer Building was showing respect to the victims. I only know the lyrics to “Baby” because I
[email protected] was held captive in an intermediate school
According to the Empire State Building’s official gymnasium.
Friday the 13th is always a day when superstitious Twitter, however, “The Empire State Building will
people predict terror and bad luck. go dark this evening in sympathy for the people of My friend rapped—“She knows she got
Paris.” The tweet included a picture of the build- me dazin’/ ‘coz she was so amazin’”—while I
But the real terror happened on Friday, November ing’s lights turned off. prayed for a basketball to hit my brain and
13 when terrorists attacked places such as Paris, Leb- knock me unconscious.
anon, Beirut and Baghdad, and earthquakes shook Besides incorrect reporting of France’s and
Japan and Mexico. America’s landmarks going dark, there were many I was not optimistic enough to imagine
pictures tweeted with captions saying they were the a future where Justin Bieber would have
Where did you first hear what happened? The results of the Paris shootings, while in fact, many of sabotaged his career in a haze of pot smoke
news? Twitter? Word of mouth? News spreads in all the pictures were the memorials and after-effects and speeding tickets. Boy Meets Prison was
sorts of ways, but we need to be careful of what news of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, a shooting in Paris to be the sitcom of our preteen years, but
is spread, because sometimes the facts are false. that happen in January earlier this year. most of us—the sane of us—turned off the
channel.
Videos of the Eiffel Tower going dark flooded There were tweets about American hostages
through social media feeds, claiming that the iconic being taken and tortured, tweets about Germany And now, having lost an octave, Justin
Paris land mark’s lights went off in memory of the marching in protest against the shooting, and tweets is back—back to croon apologies to gym-
Paris shooting victims. But in fact, according to the about the French President, Francois Hollande, fall- nasium graduates that spurn my-first-love
Washington Post, the Eiffel Tower’s lights turn off ing ill after hearing news of the shooting. songs.
every night at 1 a.m.
All false. Justin, however, rigged the game.
The rumor supposedly started when Rurik Brad- The so-called “facts” were people misinterpreting With the lyrics of songwriter Poo Bear
bury tweeted a picture with the caption, “Wow information then spreading it on social media or and the electronic tick-tock of Skrillex,
Lights off on the Eiffel Tower for the first time since purposely spreading the lies on Twitter, Facebook, “What Do You Mean?” became Justin’s first
1889”. He claimed his goal was to show how people and Instagram. No. 1 single. Its album, “Purpose”, sold
will fall for anything posted on social media. We need to be more wary about what we retweet 525,000 copies in its first week and stands
and believe on social media. When we retweet, we’re to be Justin’s sixth No. 1 record.
But the Eiffel Tower wasn’t the only incident in- just as guilty as Bradbury of spreading false infor- Justin, though not an engineer of his re-
correctly reported through social media. mation. vival, swallows his penance. He joins few
As Abe Lincoln’s Twitter account once said, “Don’t pop-and-lock dancers in his “PURPOSE: The
trust everything you read on the Internet.” Movement” music videos, and his album’s
test-tube conception leaves him nothing to
perform live but a stomp routine.
He doesn’t complain.
This is the Justin-less product, and it’s
one we’re buying. No more “Baby” voice, no
more $40,668 eBay hair, and no more mug-
shot smile.
The Justin “comeback” as hopefuls have
called it—is far from cutting edge. Its only
spot for him is on the cover, where he bows
his head in prayer or apology and grasps at
sex appeal.
But it is beyond cunning. Its choreogra-
phy is deliberate: no obvious Selena songs,
no much-needed expletives in “Love Your-
self,” no noticeability in a collaboration
more Halsey than Justin.
Sales soar, but the Boy Wonder of pop
music remains 21 and tired, for this album
is self-flagellating, and he pines for fame
that destroyed him. He’s “only human”, he
sings. He’s “not made out of steel”. Why
can’t we just forgive him already?
Oh, but Justin—we already have.

C6 December 11, 2015

Allen secures another
term on MCS board after
second recount

Alekya Raghavan | Staff Writer Ohio was awarded $196 Million for
[email protected] the Charter Schools Program State
Educational Agencies grants
It’s official—incumbent Mason City Schools
Board members Kevin Wise and Courtney Allen Photo contributed by Jennifer Yeung
will serve on the board for another four years.
Juniors Shirley Yang and Sneha Gundavarpu enter a color station at the Color for a Cure 5K.
As of this month, the Warren County Board of
Elections has issued not one, but two recounts to NHS gets colorful with 5K run for cure
decide which two candidates will be elected to the
Mason City Schools Board of Education to repre- Serina Cline | Staff Writer “We first had to pick a route and clear it with
sent the district over the next four years. [email protected] the Municipal Center,” Bizzarro said. “We had to
figure out t-shirts, where to get the color; it was
Since the primary provisional count revealed a The Mason High School National Honor Soci- a lot of tedious planning. We started planning at
margin of less than .5 percent between incumbent ety had a colorful idea, and they ran with it. the beginning of June and the race was in No-
President Courtney Allen and newcomer Erin vember.”
Schmidt, a mandatory recount took place on No- On Saturday, November 21, NHS hosted the Sheila Nimer, one of the NHS advisers, said
vember 24. With a sudden turn of events, Allen se- “Color for a Cure” 5K. All the money raised from that the reason behind the success of the color
cured the second spot, but the difference between Color for a Cure went to the Leukemia and Lym- run was the community response.
Schmidt and Allen still amounted to less than .5 phoma Society. Senior Toni Bizzarro, one of the “A reason why it was so successful is because
percent. Consequently, on Thursday, December 3, co-chairs for the run, said that with this being we got the community involved,” Nimer said.
a second recount took place, rendering the votes the first year that NHS has done a social 5K, the “With the winter dances we didn’t invite the
4,543 to 4,527 in favor of Allen. groups participating enjoyed it. community, so I think this was something that
more people got excited about.”
Incumbent Kevin Wise, who came out on top “It turned out really well; we got around 200 With the success of Color for a Cure this year,
during the first provisional count, retained the participants,” Bizzarro said. “A lot of people came Nimer said that the hope for next year is even
favor of the majority of voters with 6,776 out of with their friends and there were groups up to more growth.
15,846 votes in the second recount. nine people that were just there to be together.” “I think it will be big-
ger next year because
Schmidt, who won the first provisional count, Bizzarro said that NHS wanted a new way to everyone that was there
said that running against an incumbent can be raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma, so had a blast, even our
difficult but is proud of her dedication and the the idea for Color for a Cure came out of the student volunteers that
support she received. hope that the athletes and runners in the com- weren’t running had so
munity would get involved. much fun,” Nimer said.
“Running against an incumbent is an uphill “Being able to volun-
battle, especially since we have a school board “In the past we have done the winter dance and teer for an event where
that stays relatively quiet,” Schmidt said. “In cases no one ever really came so we scrapped that idea it’s just as much fun Scan the QR code to
where a board member is controversial or inef- and tried to figure out something new,” Bizzarro volunteering than it is see a video from the
fective, a campaign against that individual may said. “One of the NHS members suggested a col- to participate for the is Color for a Cure 5K on
be easier. That was not the case in this election. or run and we decided that would be a good way a real winner.” November 21.
Although I wish the outcome had been different, to get the school and the community involved.
I am proud of the campaign I ran and of the sup-
port I received.” There were many steps that NHS had to take
in order to get this color run to succeed, said Biz-
Allen said that the board needs to focus on sup- zarro.
porting work within the district that makes cur-
rent mandates beneficial to educators.

“We all recognize that there is change neces-
sary in the roles that the state and federal govern-
ments play in education today,” Allen said. “As a
school board, I believe we need to push back on
these mandates and help our legislators better un-
derstand how their decisions are affecting our dis-
trict. Concurrently, we should support work with-
in the district that takes these mandates and turns
them into something of value for our educators.”

Schmidt’s short term plans include continued
support for Mason City Schools and its board. In
the long run, she said she is considering running
again.

“My plans for the future are to continue to
support Mason City Schools,” Schmidt said. “ I
will support the current board and Dr. Kist-Kline
in any way I am able. The next school board elec-
tion will be held in two years, when three seats
will be up for vote. I am considering another
attempt in 2017, but only time will tell.”

December 11, 2015 C 7
Feature

Ohio pet stores accused of mistreating animals

Juliana Discher | Staff Writer have put something further in the bill to raise the Photo by Juliana Discher
[email protected] standards of pet stores,” Carr said. “They need to
add something regarding the source of puppies Junior Reilly Bogan adopted her puppy from a breeder
Buying a puppy is like adding a new member to that come into stores as well.” because her family noticed many of the dogs at Pet-
the family. So when that adorable, $1,000 dog dies land looked sick.
within weeks, it’s a huge emotional and financial Freshman Nicole Kaldas said she’s getting a
loss. dog soon, but she’s cautious of making sure it’s Phillips said she doesn’t want her situation to
healthy. She said she is looking into the dog’s his- happen to other people.
Petland and other pet stores have been under tory before purchasing.
scrutiny lately for selling sick puppies, many near “I don’t want any other family to go through
death. It all began two years ago when Ohio legis- “I wouldn’t buy a dog from Petland because a the same thing,” Phillips said. “Especially if they
lators passed a law meant to ensure that puppies lot of their dogs are sick and when people take have little kids. I know when a dog dies, to the
bred in the state were raised in appropriate condi- them to a veterinarian, there are a lot of things little child, it’s like the end of the world. I don’t
tions. An investigation by the Cincinnati Enquirer wrong with them, but Petland won’t refund think Petland stands by their word. I don’t think
revealed, however, that wording was stripped, them,” Kaldas said. “That’s what happened with pet stores should be able to sell dogs just because
causing the law to apply only to puppy mills, not my other dog because the breeder said she was so many of them are so sick. I think it’s awful.”
pet stores. This allows for pet stores to get away perfectly healthy, but was actually really sick.”
with selling seemingly healthy dogs, that are ac-
tually very sick. An article published by the Cincinnati Enquir-
er in November 2015 said that several customers
Junior Reilly Bogan said she used to frequently have accused Petland of providing puppies with
visit Petland, until she realized most of the pup- medication to mask an illness, such as a cough
pies seemed ill. suppressant to disguise pneumonia. For 2014 Syca-
more graduate Angela Phillips, her puppy pur-
“I used to go there a lot to look at dogs, but they chase ended in peril. Phillips said she spent over
always looked so sick and their eyes were always $1,300 on a Dachshund from Petland that died
red,” Bogan said. “My mom wouldn’t let us get within two days.
a dog from there because she didn’t think they
were healthy enough and they were way too ex- “I took her to the vet and I thought it was just
pensive.” going to be a regular appointment, but then they
found out she had multiple things wrong with
Petland isn’t the only pet store in Ohio facing her,” Phillips said. “She had pneumonia, parasites,
such allegations, but significantly more com- fluid in her stomach, and she had an eye infection
plaints have been filed against it than competing on top of it. When I took her back to Petland, they
pet stores. According to Mason veterinarian Ruth- literally took her out of my hands, put her in a
ann Carr, the problem with pet stores is that a cus- cage and she died right as we were in the store.”
tomer doesn’t get to know the history of the dog.
Petland wasn’t initially going to refund her,
“You don’t know what environment a puppy Phillips said, even though she followed the store’s
came from,” Carr said. “In general, no matter how protocol for having a sick dog.
good a store is, it’s just those kind of unknowns
that lead to issues.” “It became a huge scene because they didn’t
want to give me my refund even though I had
Ohio legislation needs to revise its laws regard- taken her to the vet within the first 48 hours,” Phil-
ing the treatment of dogs being sold, according lips said. “We were almost at the point of having to
to Carr. get a lawyer involved because they said they were
not giving back anything but half the money.”
“It is pretty disappointing that they couldn’t

The Humane Society of the United States did an investigation on Petland in 2008 that found serious violations of basic animal
care regulations such as undersized cages, lack of protections from the elements, and sick or injured dogs.

Illustration by Madison Krell

C8 December 11, 2015

[Cover Story]

World Health Organization reports cancer risk in meats

Jessica Sommerville | Online Editor
[email protected]

Baby got bacon. 50 Grams
Bacon burgers, bacon cheese fries, bacon cov-
ered in chocolate—all contribute to the 93 billion Each 50 gram portion of processed meat eaten daily increases
pounds of meat and poultry produced in 2012, re- chance of colorectal cancer by 18 percent
ported the North American Meat Institute (NAMI).
Americans devour these meats at a rate of 270.7 Cooking meat at high temperatures is also dangerous because it creates more
pounds per person in 2007, NPR said, a full 100 carcinogenic chemicals (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic aro-
pounds more than the world average of 102.5 matic amines) which are mutagenic, aka they cause DNA changes that may lead
pounds.
But on October 26 of this year, the World Health to cancer
Organization (WHO) issued a stern warning: meat
consumption can increase consumers’ risk of get- Food and Drug Administration and the Academy Illustration by Madison Krell
ting cancer. of Nutrition and Dietetics.”
Its International Agency for Research on Can- tial to good health,” Carpenter said.
cer (IARC) investigates suspected carcinogens, or Dew said the “everything in moderation” ideal A balanced diet can be flexible, Dew said, de-
substances that cause cancer, and categorizes them continues to apply in this instance, even as slight
in one of five groups. These include: Group 1, car- modifications may improve an American diet. pending on how an individual chooses to meet his
cinogenic to humans, Group 2A, probably carcino- or her need for protein.
genic to humans, Group 2B, possibly carcinogenic “Often there is room for improvement in any-
to humans, Group 3, not classifiable as to its car- one’s diet but going ‘cold turkey’ can be difficult in “Protein is made of 20 building blocks and these
cinogenicity to humans, or Group 4, probably not giving up entire foods or food groups,” Dew said. building blocks are essential to life,” Dew said.
carcinogenic to humans. “Therefore, if someone is consuming processed “We refer to the building blocks as amino acids.
IARC shocked Americans with its classifica- meats they should aim to decrease their intake. If What isn’t essential to life is getting these build-
tion of processed meat as Group 1 and red meat someone has processed meats perhaps one time ing blocks from meat. When protein comes from
as Group 2. per month, they too should consider what the meat, it is considered complete and has all 20
Processed meat encompasses any that is smoked, health implications are for themselves, but would building blocks. When protein comes from plant
cured, salted, fermented or otherwise preserved this fit the ‘moderation’ rule.” sources, typically two separate plant sources must
or enhanced, WHO said. Red meat refers to beef, be consumed together to offer the complete 20
veal, pork, horse, goat, etc. NAMI said the media had an alarmist reaction building blocks. Examples of this include peanut
Junior Matt Deskins said bacon and steak are his to this data and that meat is a long-standing part butter and jelly on bread or red beans and rice.”
favorite meats and that he eats them daily, and of modern diets. In a press release, the institute’s
new research is not enough to make him change president and CEO Barry Carpenter said both sides Dew said readers of this report should make sure
his diet. to meat consumption should be considered before they are getting the nutrition they need. Modera-
“Meat is not going to give me cancer,” Deskins it is declared dangerous. tion may be achieved through Meatless Mondays
said. “If it gives me cancer, I was going to get can- or consumption of plant-based proteins, but not
cer regardless, no matter where it came from.You “Scientific evidence shows cancer is a complex all meat needs to be abandoned.
can’t live your life in fear. I’m not going to be afraid disease not caused by single foods and that a bal-
of ‘Oh, I’m going to get cancer if I eat meat.’” anced diet and healthy lifestyle choices are essen- “The bottom line (is that) if someone is enjoying
Like processed meat, smoking tobacco is also a bacon as an occasional item this would constitute
Group 1 carcinogen, and in the ensuing panic, “Ba- moderate,” Dew said.
con dangerous as cigarettes” and “Hot Dogs Will
Kill You” headlines ran rampant.
WHO said this classification does not equate the
dangers of smoking and bacon but that it deter-
mines classification based on “the strength of the
scientific evidence about an agent being a cause of
cancer, rather than assessing the level of risk.”
The current report holds, however, that daily
portions of 50 grams of processed meat increase
the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent.
Registered dietician and Health Coach at Tri-
Health Diane Dew said it is important to remem-
ber that while WHO conducts such research, it
does not advise consumers how to modify their
diets.
“The organization that generated the report is a
‘research organization that evaluates the evidence
on the causes of cancer but does not make health
recommendations as such,’” Dew said. “The actual
implementation and recommendations for eating
practices are left up to organizations such as the

December 11, 2015 C 9

Seniors brave the application process as first-generation college students

Matthew Marvar | Staff Writer and to explore my options, of discussions about the ap- Photo by Matthew Marvar
[email protected] but I have to learn about that plication process, how much Senior Salvador Mendoza holds his acceptance letter and scholarship from
from school or do my own we’re paying for it, the pros
Senior Salvador Mendoza research on how to apply.” and cons of applying.” Northern Kentucky Univesity.
was just three years old when
he moved to the United In a study conducted by Forty years ago, job appli- man, so he’s really good with Mendoza said. “So if I start
States with his family. the U.S. Department of Edu- cants needed to have earned writing; he’s been helping that sooner, I can eventu-
cation, researchers found some sort of postsecondary me with my essays and my ally plan better to send my
Originally from Mexico, that roughly a third of col- education for only 28 per- resumes.” kids to college. I really want
he didn’t know English and lege undergraduates are the cent of jobs, according to to live on campus and live
he didn’t know the way of the first in their family to attend a 2013 study from George- Mendoza said the return is the college life like anyone
American culture. Mendoza a university. Senior Ri Mood- town University. The study worth the investment. else. Everyone wants to be on
said that every experience ie sits with Mendoza in the said that by 2020, 65 percent their own for the first time.”
was completely different. center of this statistic. of jobs will require addi- “I can get a higher paying
There was a first for every- tional educational experi- job with a bachelor’s degree,”
thing, and 15 years later, he’s Moodie moved to Mason ence past the high school
doing it again. from England when she was diploma.
12. In England, she said, it is
Mendoza is one of the first common for great success Moodie said she decided
in his family to go to college. without earning a degree, so to apply to school, and then
He said that because his par- the first thing she figured out she and her parents began
ents know so little about pur- with her family was whether the application process for
suing higher education, he’s or not college was worth it. the first time.
doing almost all of the work
on his own. “We sat down and tried to “They’ve helped me a lot,”
figure out whether I was ac- Moodie said. “Every couple
“My parents encourage me tually going to go to school,” of weeks we sit down and we
to think about college, but Moodie said. “I was either go- have a discussion about what
that’s sort of all that they can ing to go to school here, or I I’ve been doing, my progress.
do,” Mendoza said. “They en- was going to go back to Eng- We look over my applica-
courage me to go to college land and work. We had a lot tions. (My dad is) a business-

Trending Now: Man Buns

“They are pretty dope. My sister no- “I had really, really long hair and then
ticed it was kind of trending because I wanted to cut it into something dif-
her boyfriend’s European. It was trend- ferent, then I had it really short and I
ing over there before it was trending thought, ‘Why don’t just grow it out, why
here, and I had nothing to do with my not try a man bun, see what happens?’
hair so my sister said, ‘Do this!’ and I It’s very fun. It’s different, but it’s a good
did. People either love me or hate me different though.”
for it, I’ve had people straight tell me,
‘I hate your hair’, but then other people — Trey Gatch, sophomore
will stop me, like on the first day of
school my teacher told me she loved Group of Interest:
it.”
Med Club Over 120 members and count-
— Aaron Boyd, junior ing are involved in Med Club,
new this year. Students can join
“I like to keep it long, and I have to help them decide if they want
a superstition with football; I don’t to become doctors. From going
cut it during the season at all. A lot to labs and shadowing doctors,
of people really like them but I don’t to guest speakers coming and
think they look good on guys that talking to the group, students can
much, but a lot of girls like to play join to gain exposure to the medi-
with my hair. They just put it in a man cal field.
bun sometimes; a lot of girls like my
hair.”

— Joe Powell, freshman

Photo by Lauren Lysko Scan the QR
code or visit
thecspn.com to
view the full story

Photos by Lauren Lysko and Ellie Uecker Compiled by Lauren Lysko and Ellie Uecker

C10 December 11, 2015

Politics/Economy

Democrat presidential candidate Sanders gaining popularity with young voters

Jonathan McCollough | Staff Writer a socialist, he has seen rising sup- sense when it comes to some things tives out of the equation and with-
[email protected] port and is gaining in the polls, es- like parks, defense, and without a out incentives we’re less productive
pecially among millennials. Accord- changed health care system poten- and less efficient.”
“Feel the Bern for he takes what ing to Allen, this can be contributed tially health care,” Prescott said.
you earn.” to a potentially justified sense of en- “But there are many ways that gov- The viability of socialistic poli-
titlement. ernment is too big and I don’t think cies have been widely disputed and
That’s the common rhetoric going cold turkey is the answer. I many people doubt that they could
among conservatives and opposition “A lot of younger people like the understand why his revolutionary be effectively put into place. Ac-
to Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, idea of things being handed to them attitude is accepted by young people cording to a Gallup Poll, over 50%
a self-proclaimed Democratic so- because they feel like they haven’t but I also think that radical change of Americans say that they wouldn’t
cialist who is running for president. been given a fair opportunity,” Al- can wreck the stability that we have vote for a socialist. Government
Americans have always been wary len said. “It is true in a lot of ways in the United States.” teacher Maria Mueller says that
of socialism, especially those who that they have to face problems that for socialism to work, a majority of
were around during the Cold War, older people didn’t have to face like, American exceptionalism is the Americans would have to support it.
but senior Ben Allen says the ideas the real cost of education has gone theory that America is inherently
behind modern socialism are not up tremendously from what it used different to all other countries due “There needs to be a larger con-
something to be scared of. to be way out of pace with inflation.” to our democratic ideals. Senior sensus around it,” Mueller said. “I do
Cole Branham says that imple- think (socialism being implemented
“The idea should be to redistrib- Some of the main ideas present- menting socialistic ideas would go is) possible because I don’t think it’s
ute wealth more equally so that ed by Bernie Sanders and the left against the ideals behind Ameri- as radical as people think it is. We
people have an equal opportunity in include universal healthcare, free can exceptionalism and could be spent a long time in our history try-
society to succeed,” Allen said. “Im- public universities and increased shortsighted because the long term ing to create this great divide be-
plementation in America is that we minimum wage. Although these impacts would not be worth the pos- tween communism and our system
pool money as a public and give it ideas may sound nice to some, eco- sible short term gains. and, because we’re oftentimes asso-
to the government as an institution nomics teacher Steve Prescott says ciating socialism with communism,
to work on projects that are better that they may have unintended con- “Socialism may sound like it’s go- we think there’s this huge divide be-
for the entire whole of the people sequences. ing to solve a lot of problems espe- cause we’ve always wanted there to
such as public schools, road systems, cially for younger folks,” Branham be one. I think that if we pause it’s
things like that.” “I understand the idea of using said. “But for the overall majority not the huge jump that people think
government to achieve the people’s what socialism does is it takes incen- it would be.”
Despite Sander’s identification as best interests and I think it makes

December 11, 2015 C 11

Economy

Potential minimum wage increase poses nationwide concern

Blake Nissen | Staff Writer Schedule 2 employers (When companies have less than 500 employees) $16.50 $17.25
[email protected] shall pay each employee an hourly minimum wage of at least:
ONE DOLLAR
There is a push around the country to make THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
the ceiling the new floor by raising the minimum
wage to $15 an hour. $15.75 ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Fightfor15.com has organized strikes for fast- ONE DOLLAR
food and other low wage workers; their most re- Minimum $11.50 $15.00 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
cent strike was on November 10. Gaining wide- THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
spread support with over 200,000 likes on their THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Facebook page, it has put them as the largest pro-
test by low wage workers in United States history, $12.00 ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
according to The Guardian. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Targeting large corporations such as McDon- ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
ald’s, these protests are hitting businesses that ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
can absorb these increased cost. Small businesses, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
however, will definitely be feeling the pressure. $11.00 $11.50 ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Advanced Placement European History teacher THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Charles Dugan has some fears about the grow- $10.00 $10.50 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
ing trend of metropolitan cities transitioning to ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
$15 per hour minimum wage and the time table THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
placed on small businesses to catch up. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
“The companies have to determine if that’s THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
worth the price of doing business,” Dugan said. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
“Is (six) years enough time for a small business ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
to create an infrastructure to be profitable? That’s THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
the difficulty of having a seemingly random num- THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
ber selected.” ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Six years is the amount of time schedule two THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
employers (500 employees or less) have to bring ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
their wages up to $15 per hour in Seattle. The THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
change is gradual, about 50 cents per year, but by THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
forcing this raise, businesses are being stripped of ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
their ability to compete with one another, Dugan THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
said. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
“If you have a strong economy, employers have THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
the incentive to pay above minimum wage to get THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
the better employee,” Dugan said. ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
This same concept carries over into state and lo- THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
cal governments as well. ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
“If you set it too high then it makes it difficult THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
for local governments to have those incentives. In ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
the big cities there might be some movement with THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
$15 but the bigger movement is when a state like THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
Ohio can jump from $7.25 to $8.25 and someone ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
living in Northern Kentucky or Indiana to come ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
right across the border to work and gain that extra ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR ONE DOLLAR
dollar. It brings jobs (and) it brings consumerism
into the state,” Dugan said. According to Seattle.gov

While Dugan said he can not stand behind the April 1, 2015 January 1, 2016 January 1, 2017 January 1, 2018 January 1, 2019 January 1, 2020 January 1, 2021 January 1, 2022 January 1, 2023 January 1, 2024
Fight for 15 movement, or a national increase of
the minimum wage by such extremes, he said he mini said. “I get by and I have to pay for a ton of Illustration by Madison Krell
does believe that it is time for a change. stuff and gas.”
Prescott said he believes minimum wage is not a
“We are moving in the right direction economi- Dugan said that while many believe that teen- long term solution, and raising it would not have
cally to where we don’t need to necessarily over agers are the only ones working under minimum the desired effect.
inflate it,” Dugan said. “Taking such a dramatic wage, many adults are stuck on the ground floor
step would be overshooting the mark.” of the pay scale. “Minimum wage is causing inflation potentially,
because its driving up the price of labor and there-
While a lot of low wage workers are complain- The Bureau of Labor statistics support Dugan’s fore the price of goods and services, which is go-
ing about their fares, senior Maddie Solimini said claims, showing 79.5 percent of minimum wage ing to make others have more pay, so it’s going to
she feels like minimum wage is enough for ex- workers being over the age of 20. The most im- be a never ending cycle,” Prescott said.
penses. portant thing is the ratio between the cost of liv-
ing and the minimum wage in the area, making Prescott said that job training and education are
“I have to pay for half my insurance, half my a national solution to the minimum wage prob- the more effective long term solutions.
car, my phone bill, and any clothes I want,” Soli- lematic.
“What I try to emphasize is to give yourself op-
“If you are looking at the federal rate changing portunities by making as many choices as you
to $15, it has the potential to be economically cata- can,” Prescott said. “Get Microsoft certified, take a
strophic, because you don’t have the same produc- business class, take plenty of science classes. Open
tivity nationwide,” Dugan said. “Whether you are your eyes up and get as much experience as you
dealing with the idea of cost of production or the can.”
idea of cost of living standards, state to state, re-
gion to region, comparing major metropolitan cit- Prescott said he knows that’s not the mindset
ies to rural America is not an equitable scenario.” of most minimum wage workers. Some are sim-
ply worried about their next meal. He said other
AP Economics teacher Steven Prescott said he methods of government intervention will grant
had concerns over the unexpected consequences more opportunities then spiking the minimum
of bumping the wage. wage, from child care and healthcare to job train-
ing.
“It’s great if you are one of the employees that
keeps their jobs and keeps their hours, but it isn’t A complete dropping of the minimum wage,
great if you lose your job or your hours are cut however, will have just have many negative effects
substantially because of what employers are will- as raising it, Prescott said.
ing to pay at that rate,” Prescott said. “(If the gov-
ernment steps in) less teenagers are going to have “There are consequences of not imposing a
jobs, or worse, less single parents.” minimum wage in the short term: crime, for
example,” Prescott said. “People will rob people
if they can’t feed their families since there is no
minimum wage. It’s great for those who keep

12 December 11, 2015 C

wwwwwwww

THE FANDOM AWAKENS

After a 10 year

hiatus the epic saga returns

to the big screen looking to grab a new legion

of followers while appealing to long time Star Wars loyalist

C 13December 11, 2015

Movie fanatics getting hyped for new Star Wars movie

India Kirssin| Staff Writer story and there were good characters, and it was different from
[email protected] anything else. So it exploded. (It) grabbed a whole generation
of people young and old at that time and people loved it.”
Once again Star Wars fans will be able to experience adven-
tures in a galaxy far far away. Bruewer said she believes the movies have continued to be
popular because the relatability of the stories still resonates
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opens in theaters on Decem- with fans, even after so much time has passed since the movies
ber 18 and fans of the franchise are gearing up for another ad- were first released.
dition to their beloved universe.
“The story is just brilliant, the characterization is brilliant,
Directed by JJ Abrams, the new film is set 30 years after “Star and the character arcs are awesome. It’s good writing at it’s fin-
Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi”, and will bring the famous est and it’s good acting at it’s finest,” Bruewer said. “It’s some-
trio of Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker back to- thing that we can all relate to because I think at some point we
gether. Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher will would all hope that something takes us out of the ordinary like
be reprising their roles from the original three movies that what happens to Luke in “A New Hope”. We suddenly find that
spanned from 1977 to 1983. there is this potential in all of us that we didn’t know and it’s
that idea that we all hope for something more,” Bruewer said.
The original three films were followed by prequels that came “But more than anything else the story is awesome.”
out between 1999 and 2005. While the three movies held impor-
tant plot points to the franchise, many fans were let down be- Star Wars fanatics are hoping “The Force Awakens” will be
cause of the acting, and weaker storylines, according to Junior able to instill love of the timeless story in a younger genera-
Spencer Walsh. tion. Walsh said the mix of old and new writers and producers
working on the movie will help create a better tie to the origi-
Walsh said the disappointment of the prequels, paired with nal scripts and characters that started it all, hopefully bringing
the long wait in between films, is what has excited him the everything together for the new and old fans.
most for “The Force Awakens”.
“They brought back screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan who did
“We haven’t seen a Star Wars movie in almost ten years and the script for Return of the Jedi and The Empire Strikes back
we haven’t seen a good one in almost thirty,” Walsh said. “I’m and JJ Abrams also worked on the script, so it’s a combination
mostly excited to see what direction they are going to go in and of a new perspective of someone who grew up with Star Wars
seeing where it goes after thirty years of silence.” and someone who created it to begin with,” Walsh said. “I think
that’s a really cool combination because Star Wars is multi gen-
English teacher Michelle Bruewer said the inclusion of the erational and is expanding in a way that no other franchise is
original trio is what has helped create hope among fans that really doing or has done.”
this movie will be exponentially better than the last three that
were released. Sophomore Ranjani Ramasubramanian said the new addi-
tion to the franchise will help younger kids connect to Star
“It’s good that the original trio is is in it,” Bruewer said. “That Wars, but she isn’t sure what to expect because this is the first
is sending a clear message that they believe in the story. A lot movie since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, creating some
of it is tying into the old films because it’s going to be satisfy- changes within the company.
ing to see what happened to Luke, Leia, Han, R2-D2 and C3PO
after that big celebration (in Episode 6). I think it’s going to be “Most of the younger kids didn’t grow up with (“Star Wars”),
a payoff for that.” but now that there is a movie they can watch it and experience
it as it’s happening so it’s closer to their generation,” Rama-
Advanced Placement Statistics teacher Steve Mays saw the subramanian said. “I don’t know what to expect because now
original movies when they first came out and said the excite- Disney is making it and the original six Star Wars movies fol-
ment over the franchise now is similar to the first time around, lowed a plot line and that plot line is complete, so they have to
but with a few noticeable differences. do something totally new. I hope they do a good job with it.”

“I remember seeing “The Empire Strikes Back” which came Bruewer said she has seen her students getting more and
out in 1980 and then I saw “Return of the Jedi”, which came out more excited about the movie as the release date nears.
in 1983,” Mays said. “It was very exciting.”
“They are really excited,” Bruewer said. “All of my junior
Mays went on to say that social media has had a huge impact bells asked to watch the trailer when it first came out. Even if
on how audiences experience movies today. they hadn’t seen the original trilogy they were like, ‘That looks
really cool.’”
“It’s different now than it was a long time ago because all of
the excitement was amongst your friends and you occasionally Walsh said that while he wishes more people would have al-
would see something in mainstream media about it,” Mays said. ready seen “Star Wars”, he thinks “The Force Awakens” will in-
“There was buzz but it wasn’t being talked on about on Twitter spire those who haven’t been a part of the franchise to see what
or Facebook or things like that. The excitement was there, it it is all about.
was just a little bit of a different type of excitement.”
“It bums me out that a lot of people have not seen ‘Star Wars’
Star Wars’ longstanding success has many fans wondering and hopefully this movie does really push people to check
what has kept it relevant for so many different generations. them out,” Walsh said.

Mays said “Star Wars” first became popular because it was one Mays said the fans are coming to support the movie in full
of a kind and its story was appealing to those of any generation. force because The Force Awakens includes favorites from the
original classics.
“When it came out originally, the United States was just com-
ing off of the Vietnam War and the Korean War and a lot of the “That’s part of the excitement for this one is they’re playing
movies during that time were dark, sad movies. Then all of a to the fans a little bit more,” Mays said.
sudden Star Wars comes along,” Mays said. “The special effects
were awesome, the story was very relatable because it’s a hero’s Photos by Madison Krell

C14 December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015 C 15

College admission officers take absenses into consideration

High school students must consider
impact when making decision to miss school

Duncan MacKenzie | Staff Writer of responsibility to keep up with her Photos contributed by Vardan Avasarla
[email protected] work. Photo illustration by Madison Krell

Grade point average isn’t the only “Missing school comes with a re- Junior Vardan Avasarla missed two weeks of school to travel to India to volunteer
number that appears on a high sponsibility of making the time to in the medical field while attempting to keep up with classwork.
school transcript. complete your assignments and self-
teach the material,” Starcher said. some homework done,” Avasarala Without that story, all he sees are
Excused and unexcused absences “You have to take the initiative to get said. “On a normal occasion, I would numbers on a page.
are presented beside grades on a col- the work in advance and then com- rather just attend a regular day of
lege application. The number of ab- plete it. Upon your return you need school because with the classes I’m “As somebody who reads appli-
sences, however, does not reveal the to schedule time, if necessary, with taking, it’s almost impossible to cations, I work very hard to make
reason for missing school. your teachers and they will help you make it up because there is so much sure I’m not creating a narrative for
catch up.” work.” a student,” Reed said. “If there are a
Rob Reed, Senior Assistant of Un- lot absences, I’m going to let the stu-
dergraduate Admissions at The Ohio Starchers does agree with Reed on No matter the excuse for an ab- dent tell me why, I’m not going to
State University, reads thousands of the basis that taking large amounts sence, or if the absences may con- try to create a narrative around it. If
applications every year and decides of days off can threaten school suc- tinue into college, Reed said that it is there is no narrative, all I can see is
whether or not a student’s atten- cess. detrimental that a student tells him that the student has missed quite a
dance affects their college eligibility. the story behind the missed school. bit of school.”
Reed said that whatever the excuse “I think that you have to weigh
for missing school, it is imperative your options,” Starcher said. “At the
that it be explained in a college ap- time, it was a really good opportu-
plication. If the story about a large nity for me to travel with my fam-
absence has not been told, the conse- ily and so obviously I was going to
quence could be denial. take it, but it can put you behind in
school, so you shouldn’t take the de-
“We aren’t able to and don’t inter- cision lightly. You should definitely
view students so the application and take time to consider it.”
the supporting documents those stu-
dents send in are in a sense the inter- Senior Omar Shafi took a month
view for admission to the university,” and a half off school consecutively
Reed said. “Any information the stu- for a cousin’s wedding in Pakistan.
dent thinks is important should be Shafi’s farewell included a month
included in the application that first and a half’s worth of make-up work.
time. I wouldn’t worry too much Shafi said that he completed all work
about sending in too much informa- before leaving, meaning he complet-
tion because I can always filter out ed his current work and work from
information, but if there is too little the subsequent month and a half at
information and we make that deci- the same time.
sion of deny, to be very honest, we
don’t typically go back and change “I talked to my teachers at least
decisions.” two months before I left and I did
all the homework,” Shafi said. “It was
Reed said that the reason why long, worth it because I went there and I
unexplained absences can affect an enjoyed it like it was a vacation. Even
admission is fear that high school though I was missing school, I en-
habits may continue into college. joyed it a lot because all of my work
was done before.”
“If a student in high school is not
making it to class, I have concerns Junior Vardhan Avasarala took
about that motivation to come to almost two weeks off to travel to In-
class when they are in college, when dia. He said that his trip gave him an
suddenly students have more free- experience that no school classroom
dom and they potentially don’t have could.
their parents to tell them to go,”
Reed said. “The laws that are in place “This is a unique opportunity
that mandate that students have the where I get to come and help with
mandatory K through 12 education medical care,” Avasarala said. “It’s
are not there in college.” directed for those who can’t afford
medical afford.”
Junior Reagan Starcher missed
two weeks of school for a family trip Despite that experience, Avasarala
to Europe. She said that her absence said that the amount of make-up
didn’t illustrate a lack of motivation. work definitely affected his exposure
It instead required a great amount to the medical field.

“I have that one thought in the
back of my mind saying I have to get

C16 December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015 C 17

Modern fashion trends guilty of stealing from past eras

Alyssa Brooks | Staff Writer ments and wanting a little bit more stylish looks.” popular social media accounts, and said that those
[email protected] Gorman said that the ‘90s were the beginning of an accounts play an important role in what is trending.

New fashion trends may not be so “new” after all. era of wearing casual clothing acceptably on many “I think that technology, especially Instagram and
As the 1990s became the 2000s, the fashion trends occasions. the app ‘Tobi’ has played a really big role,” Wade said.
of the two decades morphed into polar opposites: “A lot of (trends on social media) stem from the ‘90s.
neutral colors became technicolor, loose clothing be- “ We always tend to There are a lot of crop tops, ripped shirts, flowing
came skin tight, turtlenecks became low necklines. borrow from past skirts. On Instagram, there’s so many trends going on
In the world of fashion today, what were known generations, things we in fashion blogs. It’s almost like the ‘90s are cycling
as “mom jeans” in the 2000s have now become the ”liked and turned to. back through.”
trendy high waistline. The neutral color choices that —Audrey Gorman
were known as tasteless in the 2000s have become to- Fashion Design teacher Wade said that the reappearance of ‘90s trends
day’s style. stems from people recently feeling like they don’t
Now, after two polar opposite fashion decades, this “The ‘90s were a beginning, especially with the have to wear what everyone else may be.
generation of teenagers is straying away from bright grunge era, to when we started to be more casual all
attire of the 2000s, and sporting the ‘90s neutral tones the time,” Gorman said. “Back in the day, when you “I see a lot of people not trying to conform to what
and trends. wanted to dress up, other people would say, ‘Wear everyone else is wearing,” Wade said. “They are more
Fashion Design teacher Audrey Gorman said that your church clothes.’ If you were going to go to the trying to see trends they have liked over the years;
it’s interesting to see the resurgence of trends that she theatre, you wouldn’t dare wear jeans. Now, it seems they look back at pictures of their parents or their old-
was a part of 20 years ago. pretty normal that everyone is more casual. People er siblings and say, ‘Oh, I really like that!’ and aren’t
“There are a lot of things that are similar, yet some- don’t dress up like they used to.” as worried as much about what’s happening now.”
what different,” Gorman said. “The grunge look be-
came very popular from the ‘90s and we are repeat- Junior Sarah Wade said she sees ‘90s trends on The ‘70s and ‘80s have repeated themselves
ing that with the messy bun look, larger, oversized through the recent resurgence of velvet and the re-
tops. But they have to be designer now. Back then, it peat of peace signs in the 2000s. But for this genera-
could be secondhand or thrift store but now people tion, Gorman said we have added a modern twist to
are looking at the finishes and the fine detail of gar- the 90s.

“We always tend to borrow from past generations,
things that we liked and turn to,” Gorman said. “I def-
initely think we have given it a new twist. Now people
are really paying attention to what really is available.”

Photo Illustration by Madison Krell

18 December 11, 2015

SPORTSThe Chronicle COMETS VS THE BIG BLUE FAST FACTS MASON BEATS ST.XAVIER

IT’S GAME DAY Match Up: Mason Comets 2-1, SHOUT OUT Senior Braden Sauer
Hamiliton 2-2 bowled a perfect game
With wins against Lakota West and East, the Comets travel to Hamiltion Big Blue Capsule: against the Bombers. His
Wins over Richmond and 300 score was the first in
Hamiltion to take on the Big Blue. Hamilton is off to an 0-2 start in Beavercreek the GMC this season and
Primetime Players: Ryan contributed to the Comet’s
the GMC with a ten point loss to Lakota East and three point loss to Robinson 18.8 PPG, A’Shan win over St.Xavier.
Riggins 14.5 PPG, Myles Howard
TheCSPN.com @MHSChronSpor ts Sycamore. The Comets swept Hamilton last year. Ben Schutte 11.5 PPG

Comets get revenge, hold off East 56-47 in GMC contest

Forced to settle for share of Photo by Blake Nissen
conference title a year ago,
Comets take down Senior and second year starter Kylie Lamotte fights off a Lakota East defender. Lamotte scored ten points in the
Thunderhawks
game against East, two points coming from his break away dunk at the start of the second quarter.
Charlie Mackenzie | Staff Writer
[email protected] kota East spread out,” Haller said. “It made them Photo by Blake Nissen
use the perimeter more.”
The Mason Comets boys basketball team has Junior Carlos Lews guards a Lakota East
had to wait nine months to avenge a loss that still Tied at 15 going into the second quarter, senior offender. Lewis went one of three from the field,
doesn’t sit well in Comet Country. After watch- highlight maker Kyle Lamotte sparked a Comet totaling three points in the East game.
ing Lakota East spoil the Comets undefeated sea- 9-0 run with an explosive dunk pushing the Com-
son a year ago in a 63-62 overtime loss that forced et advantage to 24-15. The Comets were able to the Comets the 56-47 win and push their record to
Mason to share the Greater Miami Conference take a five point lead into half time. 2-0 in the GMC.
championship with the Thunderhawks, the Com-
ets were able get revenge with a 56-47 win over Assistant coach Kyle Peters said that that due to Puisis lead a balanced scoring attack with 13
East on Friday, December 4 on the Comets’ home Emrick’s absence, they discussed changing their points while Lamotte also hit double figures with
court. defense during halftime. 10 points.

With Friday’s win and a convincing 56-39 victory “With Emrick in the game, they try to get the Despite getting this win, Puisis said that East
over Lakota West earlier in the week, the Comets ball down in the post a lot. Without him in the won’t be their only competition this season, the
set themselves up for a long winning streak. Reel- game, they tried to spread us out, shoot more GMC will pose other challenges.
ing off 19 straight wins to start the season is out threes and dribble drive more,” Peters said. “We
of the cards for now after a season opening 51-49 had to make adjustments defensively, because “This year the GMC is actually very competi-
loss to Dublin Jerome in the Ohio Valley Hoops they changed what they did on offensive.” tive,” Puisis said. “There are multiple good teams-
Classic at Wilmington College on November 27.
The Thunderhawks raced out to a 30-29 lead Oak Hills is a really good one. Lakota West,
The Classic featured some of the top teams in after East seniors Mark Isom and Ryan Midden- who we just beat, is a very good competitor and
Ohio and perennial Indiana power, Park Tudor. dort drilled back to back threes, but after a Haller we will look to see them again at the end of the
The matchup between Mason and Jerome was scored with a three, the Comets held a slim 35-33 year.”
one of the featured games on the docket. Dub- lead heading in the fourth quarter.
lin Jerome finished 22-3 last season and advanced
to the final eight in the state, and posed a stiff After a low scoring third quarter the final
test for the Comets in their opener. The Comets stanza saw the Comets out score East 21-14 in the
chances at victory were thwarted when Jerome’s fourth quarter sparked by a Puisis three with 4:15
Seve Stavroff tipped in a shot at the buzzer giving left in regulation. Shortly thereafter junior guard
the Celtics a 51-49 win. Matt King converted an East turnover pushing
Mason’s lead to 45-39.
Junior Eddie Puisis said that the team’s offense
wasn’t as strong as they would have hoped against There would be no overtime heroics this time
Jerome. around for the Thunderhawks as Mason convert-
ed crucial free throws down the stretch to give
“We definitely started out slow,” Puisis said.
“We struggled finding a rhythm throughout the
game but we competed the whole time. The big-
gest setback was our offense. We were able in the
fourth quarter to get multiple stops in a row but
we couldn’t finish on offense. Then they were
able to hit the last shot in the last second.”

Lakota East handed the Comets their only
GMC loss last year. In this year’s game East senior
big man Andrew Emrick, suffered a first quarter
ankle injury, limiting him to only six minutes of
action for the night.

Senior Nate Haller said Emrick, who is 6’’8,
scores a majority of his points while posting up,
and his injury forced the Thunderhawks to take
more perimeter shots.

“Emrick is a good inside presence and can play
outside a little, but for the most part it made La-

December 11, 2015 C 19

Photo by Eric Michael

J.unior Alex Domingez pins down teammate sophomore Alex Trinidad in practice as the Comets prepare for the upcoming season.

Health management, weight class placement, crucial piece of puzzle for wrestlers

Eric Michael | Staff Writer championship title last season in the 106 weight class. ing in our sport as much anymore because of all the
[email protected] However, when the tournament came, and he stepped guidelines they’ve put into place.”

After placing eighth in the state last season and cap- on the scale, he missed his target weight by two pounds. Murnan said that finding the perfect weight class for a
turing a Greater Miami Conference championship the He was forced to sit out of the tournament. Donathan wrestler is like solving a puzzle. However, various rules
Mason wrestling team is once again preparing for an- said watching from the sidelines was worse than any diet have been implemented which have made that puzzle
other successful season. he could have ever dreamed of. much easier to solve.

In order for the team to stand atop the championship “You put all of that work into it, you cut weight ev- Murnan and his staff identify the optimal weight class
podium again this season they will have to do more than ery weekend and wrestle every single day, and then not for athletes is a new regulation in the Ohio High School
just wrestle well. Much like an intricate puzzle they will get the outcome you wanted,” Donathan said. “The kid Athletic Association Wrestling manual that calls for
have to make sure all the pieces are aligned to ensure who won, I wrestled over the summer, and I demolished strict monitoring of the wrestlers’ weight loss.
another successful season. him.”
“A wrestler will not be permitted, at any time, to wres-
The complications of the sport can go far beyond the Donathan was the first Mason wrestler in the ten years tle in a weight class that would require him to lose more
mat. Whether it be grueling wrestle offs, perfecting tech- of Craig Murnan’s tenure as head coach to not make his than 1.5% (body fat) per week.”
nique, or maintaining a healthy diet, wrestlers at Mason weight goal at the state tournament. In order to prevent
High School are constantly working to make all the another incident like this from happening this year, Do- “It is a big puzzle,” Murnan said. “I have a kid who’s at
pieces fit together. nathan is taking a different approach, focusing less on 20 percent body fat, and I told him, ‘You could be a start-
losing weight and more on training his technique and er at 160 pounds. So he’s gonna have to lose six to seven
One aspect of achieving peak performance as a wres- skill. He said this change will allow him to sharpen skill. percent body fat. But those are easy things to do over a
tler is wrestling in the weight class which will offer the course of the season. It used to be where a coach could
wrestlers the best chance to succeed. “It’s going to help because the focus is on not losing say you need to do this by next week, well I can’t do that.”
as much weight, keeping it to a minimum of where it’s
Whether this requires the athletes to gain or lose gonna be so easy to where you can focus on getting bet- The system tells them when they’re first allowed to go
weight, maintaining a healthy diet through weight man- ter,” Donathan said. down to that weight. There’s no crash diet, there’s no
agement is a vital element of a wrestlers lifestyle. Junior big drop that people associate with wrestling because it’s
Jack Stein said managing his weight is more of a mental While some wrestlers may force themselves onto rig- been there in the past. They’ve really done a good job of
battle than anything. orous diets at times, Murnan said that there have been getting rid of that stuff.”
regulations implemented over the past decade which Nutritionist Dawn Weatherwax of Sports Nutrition
“It’s really hard on the mental standpoint,” Stein said. has increased the safety of the sport, and ensured a 2Go said that managing weight in order to switch weight
“But that tells you how rewarding it is on that Saturday healthier lifestyle for high school wrestlers. classes can be healthy, as long as the wrestlers are doing
morning when you do weigh in and make the weight- it the right way.
class. You kind of go crazy.” “There’s a whole process that has been put in place “Your top wrestlers always want to stay within ten
over the last six to seven years that has really cleaned up pounds of their wrestling weight, all year round,”
While managing their weight may be tough, the con- our sport,” Murnan said. Weatherwax said. “So even if they may need to cut, they
sequences for not making their goal can be much worse. shouldn’t cut it to just one meal.”
Junior wrestler Zack Donathan was in line for the state “Seven years ago they could just crash diet and do the
things that are really unhealthy, and it’s not happen-

Comet Stat Line

ALEX KING JAILYN MASON EDDIE PUISIS
Junior, Football Senior, Basketball Junior, Basketball

Special 10.6 points per game 11.0 pts. per game
Mention All State 4.4 ast. per game 100 FT%
Arkansas Signee
5.7 reb. per game

Statistics as of December 7.

C20 December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015 C 21

Commentary

Missouri
football
players take
a stand

The Mason players hold up the Trophy of the Skies Photos by Blake Nissen India Kirssin | Staff Writer
after defeating Sycamore in the season finale. Each [email protected]
season the winner of this game gets to take home the Bryson White sprints through a hole created by senior
coveted trophy. Sycamore won the trophy last season. Cameron Quallen and junior Michael Magness in the It turns out students can make a difference.
Comets win over Sycamore. . In November, 31 African-American Uni-
versity of Missouri football players, backed
Death of neighborhood rivalry gives birth to new battle lines by head coach Gary Pinkel, announced they
would not be participating in football activi-
Kylie McCalmont| Sports Editor be battling,” Matula said. “It seems as though we ties until University President Timothy M.
[email protected] have this rivalry with Sycamore but I think that’s Wolfe resigned.
for some reason because of the proximity maybe. Mizzou students and faculty had already
They’re not enemies, just rivals. Right now it’s Lakota West; that would be our ma- been protesting for weeks, calling for Wolfe
The viscous, heart-racing rivalry agianst one jor rival.” to resign after his slow responses to racial in-
school, that has the ability to bring out the best cidents on campus.
performance and the worst sportsmanship hasn’t Unlike the basketball program, the football Incidents include racial slurs and threats
been present at Mason since the rivalry with Kings team isn’t rivals with one of the Lakotas. The posted on social media. Wolfe also came un-
High School came to an abrupt end in 2007. Comets lost to Springboro in the first round of the der fire for his definition of systematic op-
In the fall of 2007, Mason left the Fort Ancient playoffs this year. Last year they lost to Sycamore pression, which implied that oppression is a
Valley Conference and joined the Greater Miami in the season finals. This loss not only prevented state of mind rather than a reality.
Conference. Ever since then, Mason has been con- Mason from qualifying for the playoffs but it also The addition of the football players to the
tinuously ranked at the top of this league, winning meant the Aves got to take possession of the Battle protests put pressure on the university to do
the All Sports Trophy seven years in a row. of the Skies trophy. “I think for sure that Mason something about Wolfe. Without those play-
Boys basketball is now one of the only sports football has a rival,” O’Brien said. “I can say that ers, Missouri would have to cancel its upcom-
that still battles with the Knights. Junior Matt King even though we haven’t been playing them for the ing football game against Brigham Young
said that although this year’s rival in boys basket- longest time, Springboro I’d say is one of our big- University and pay a $1 million fine to cover
ball is Lakota East and Sycamore, every time they gest rivals. We’ve played them in the first game the game.
play Kings, it’s always a competitive match. for the past six years and it’s always a really in- A few days later Wolfe “resigned”.
“Every game is a big game,” King said. “But I tense game. The Sycamore Aviators are obviously The students, faculty and athletes had suc-
think it is less of a rivalry but more of a good out another huge rival; that game is normally pretty cessfully come together to make a difference
of conference game because Kings always has a intense.” and I applaud them for having the courage to
good team.” stand up for the injustices they saw.
With success in almost every sport, senior Mi- In addition to football, Mason girls lacrosse and There are many reasons the protests
chael O’Brien admits that Mason doesn’t have a boys tennis are very competitive with the Aves. worked, the biggest being the football team’s
school rival but a rival based on who is the next Former Sycamore student and current Mason se- involvement. This drew national attention
best pertaining to each sport. nior Ray Berling said that the Aves consider Ma- to the race issues and to the importance of
“It depends on different sports as certain rivals son a rival in more than just a few sports. student-athletes getting involved. At many
around the conference; that depends on who’s schools athletes are looked at, and treated,
good in what sports,” O’Brien said. “Colerain is “No doubt Mason was our biggest rival,” Sterling differently than other students. But by join-
really good in football; it’s not really a rivalry as said. “We always wanted to beat a bigger school. ing the protests, Missouri players “bridged
much, I don’t really like Colerain a whole lot, but Every year they would usually sell go Aves beat the gap” between students and athletes.
Lakota West, I really don’t mind them. They are mason shirts and get posters for games.” Whether Wolfe was the problem, or the
just another GMC team.” scapegoat, I don’t know. And I’m not sure if
Girls basketball head coach Rod Matula says Even though there isn’t a consistent rivalry making him resign will solve any of the ra-
that his team’s rivals are based on who’s the best amongst the Comets, O’Brien said individual rival- cial issues Mizzou faces. But hopefully the ex-
competition that year . ries still benefit the school. ample set by the Missouri football program
“I think the rivalry changes year to year depend- will show other athletes across the country
ing upon who is the top teams that are going to “I definitely think rivalries bring the school to- that they can make a difference.
gether,” O’Brien said. “They’re great for schools
and for athletic teams. I love having rivals; it BRADEN SAUER
makes the sport more fun.” Senior, Bowling

MATT KING Comet Stat Line Bowled 300
Junior, Basketball game, 15
Lauren Van Kleunen
9.0 pts. per game Senior, Basketball consecutive
5.3 reb. per game strikes
3.3 ast. per game 12.0 pts. per game
6.8 reb. per game
Statistics as of December 7. Marquette signee

C22 December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015 C 23

Photo by Jonathan McCollough Photo by Jonathan McCollough

The girls basketball team huddles up prior to taking on Springboro in the Comets season opener. Junior forward Makenzie Dixon dribbles past a Springboro
defender in the Comets season opening 60-28 win over
Off to hot start, Comets relying on powerful Springboro. Dixon is one of several returning starters for
punch of roster packed with experience the Comets.

Eric Miller | Online Sports Editor I think the underclassman really look up to us Photo by Jonathan McCollough
[email protected] and know we have starters and they know how
to get it done in practice.” Senior and Marquette signee Lauren Van Kleunen fights a
Coming off three consecutive 20 win seasons, her opponent for possesion of the ball in the Comets game
the Mason girls basketball program has seen According to Matula, this is the deepest team against Springboro. VanKluenen is among several experi-
their fair share of success. But senior forward he’s coached. enced players on the Comets roster. She has been a starter
Lauren Van Kleunen said her team, which re- since her sophomore year.
turns all five of last years starters a and 95 per- “This is depthwise, both with boys and girls
cent of their scoring, has set their goals higher that I’ve coached, the best team that I’ve had,”
than ever. Matula said. “I’m very confident going 11 deep
and knowing that each night we’re going to
“Definitely we want to be GMC champions,” have some different people that can put it in the
Van Kleunen said. “Then we have the big goal basket and defend. I just thank that that puts us
of state. We’ve worked really hard this preseason in position to battle for a GMC championship
and into the season the first month, practice has and hopefully make a run.“
been great. It’s really that focus of GMC then
state championship.” With their experience, comes one of the most
difficult schedules in the state. The Comets play
Head Coach Rob Matula said it is rare for him the defending Division I state champion, Lako-
to return so many veteran players. ta West, twice, as well as playing the Division II
state champion, Archbishop Kettering Alter, in
“It was just a situation with a lot of the under- January. Matula’s Comets opened the year with
classman we’ve had over the last couple of years two of the first three games coming against the
and the low turnout of one class in regards to top two teams in Ohio: Lakota West and Solon.
seniors,” Matula said, “So it’s pretty rare, it’s nice The Comets dropped their matchup with West,
to have. The thing that’s really nice is that many 58-49 but took down Solon 57-39. Matula said
of the younger kids, although they were young, his team learned a valuable lesson from their
they still had an opportunity to grow into the matchup with West.
situation.”
“I liked the fight, I told them that,” Matula
The Comets five returning starters have said. “But we have got to figure out that fight
a combined 12 years of varsity experience consistently. I think that’s the message that I
and have started a combined 180 games. Van tried to send them today, is that they need to
Kleunen and senior Jailyn Mason were also both find that and if we do that, we’ll be fine.”
a part of the Comets last GMC championship in
2013. Van Kleunen said returning all five start- With the return of so many key pieces comes
ers, herself along with Mason and senior Mari- added pressure, but Van Kleunen said her team
ah Campbell plus juniors Samari Mowbray and isn’t focused on the outside noise.
Makenzie Dixon are a huge advantage for both
the players on the floor and those coming off of “We try not to focus that but there is a little
the bench. bit just based on how we did last year and what
happened in the postseason which didn’t really
“Our huge thing is experience,” Van Kleunen want to happen,” Van Kleunen said. “I think
said. “That’ll help big time in game situations. there’s going to be a little pressure from the
outside but we’re just trying to play our game.”