Volume 36 Issue 6 - Hoffman Estates High School

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Hawkeye View March/April 2009 News
Amy Rudolph continued
Continued from page 1
of the year,” said Ally Reed (’09),
one of the Partners. “I love knowing
that we helped make this whole
tournament happen. It’s really important
to the kids.”
Not only did the tournament
give basketball players a
chance to shine, but it also provided
an opportunity for the special
education cheerleading squad, the
Hawkettes, to perform a dance and
cheer on their peers.
“It was really fun,” said
Ashley Jones (’10) about her experience
as a Hawkette.
The HEHS band, flag
Junior career shadowing
Afsara Zaheed
Staff Editor
How often do students
get to shadow a person in a career
the student is interested in? In the
Junior Career Shadowing program
at Hoffman Estates High School,
juniors got the opportunity to do
just that.
On March 17th, approximately
75 juniors went out on
career shadows to a job of their
choice and gained job experience
firsthand.
“Career shadows also
teach students responsibility and
gives them a chance to grow up,”
said Helen Henderson, career advisor.
The program has been at
HEHS for seven years now. Career
shadowing gives individual businesses
an opportunity to work with
students out of a group setting.
This gives the students more opportunities
to really find out what
the job is really like. It is different
from a regular career trek because
of its size- a career shadow is usually
a two-on-one experience.
There are many benefits
of a career shadow. Students get
to experience the profession firsthand.
Whether it be riding in a police
car or teaching a class for six
hours, students get to experience a
job firsthand and learn many things
squad, cheerleading squad, and
poms team also performed at the
tournament, providing entertainment
in between games.
“There was so much energy
at the tournament. And best
of all, it was all for a good cause,”
said Patel.
The National Kidney
Foundation is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to the prevention of
kidney and urinary tract diseases.
Each year, the foundation conducts
public and professional education
and supports kidney research for
new treatments. To receive more
information or make a donation, go
to the National Kidney Foundation
website.
that they wouldn’t have known otherwise.
Pinkesh Shah (’10) participated
in this year’s Career Shadow
Day. “I had the opportunity to
shadow my own dentist, and I got
to see an extraction,” said Shah.
He believes it was well worth his
time because he learned many
things that he hadn’t known before.
“It made me rethink this
career,” he said. “It made me confirm
that this is what I wanted to
do. We also talked about getting
into dental school and what programs
and majors to look for; it
was a great experience.”
Students are required to
arrange their own transportation
to and from the shadow and are
expected to be very professional.
“It’s a great way for the
community businesses to give back
to the students and they rarely say
no,” Henderson said.
For a great program like
this, there aren’t really any negatives.
“The negative is that more
students don’t take up this great
opportunity. Only 75 students out
of the entire junior class participated,”
said Henderson.
For those who missed
out on Junior Career Shadow Day
this year, there are still many career
treks offered till the end of the
school year.
Sending off cellphones
Sayali Sakhardande
Staff Editor
As cell phone use continues
to be the school’s number
one disciplinary problem, a new
policy has been introduced to
Hoffman Estates High school: the
use of the cell phone envelope.
“The envelopes are basically
to help the teachers,” said Jacquese
Gilbert, assistant principal
and head of the discipline committee.
“It lets them document when
and why the phone was taken, the
condition of the phone and so on.”
This contraption is precisely
what the name suggests;
it is a regular white 4 x 9 _- inch
envelope. The front of the envelope
provides spaces for teachers
to record vital information such as
the student’s name and I.D number
and the time and date during
which the device was confiscated.
There is also a special
line for the student’s signature. Of
course, if the student should refuse
to sign there is yet another line on
which the teacher can write his
or her initials. Along with student
info, the envelope provides space
to write down “specifics” about
the phone being taken- the cell
phone’s model, and its condition
which can only be “good” or “poor”.
Yes, teachers have been
using these paper carriers, but has
the policy really helped the situation?
Students still continue
to text and update their facebook
statuses in class, and teachers continue
to confiscate the students’
phones. Only now, instead of just
taking a student’s phone away
and sending it straight to the office,
a teacher can be assured that
the phone is sent to the office in
a protective envelope that details
the specifics of the situation.
“It’s a waste of resources,
money and time,” said
Katie Simmons (’09). “Why
can’t the teachers just walk
the phones down themselves?”
The envelopes are meant
to make both the student and teacher
feel more secure. Only time will
tell how effective this policy will be.
SAVE club saves the world
Eric Liu
Staff Editor
With all the recent talk
about the environment, S.A.V.E.
Club has been trying to promote
the idea of “going green”
throughout the student body.
“Our goal for this year is
to increase environmental awareness
both in our school and the
community. This is why we have
been involved in community events
such as cleaning Kessel Park and
volunteering at Spring Valley Nature
Center,” said Jill Youngblood,
club sponsor and science teacher.
For the past few weeks
S.A.V.E. members have been passing
out buttons to students and staff
in order to get the message out.
“We thought that the buttons
would be a fun way to promote
school spirit and awareness of global
warming and also give students
a chance to decorate their lanyards
that they often express their dislike
for,” said Bill Anderson (’10).
S.A.V.E.’s main goal this
year is to increase awareness about
Breakin’ out the breakdancers
Jaime Notzen
Staff Reporter
The Breakdancing Club
is making its debut this year at
Hoffman Estates High School.
“What if, instead of violence,
all of the world’s problems
could be solved through breakdancing?”
asks Jasmin Chung,
club sponsor and English teacher.
This year breakdancing
gets its chance to shine at HEHS.
A devoted group of
breakers have been trying to get
this club started for several years.
Brian Manadero (‘09) and Edrian
Fernandez (‘10) finally took a
stand. They organized a petition,
recruited over 200 signatures, and
got themselves a sponsor, Jasmin
Chung.
“Break club is a group
of people who just come to dance
together. We’re all just there to
enjoy ourselves, said Fernandez.
“It’s our own form of expressing
Some of the breakdancers show off their flashy moves at the Variety Show this past fall.
They helped make the show a huge success with their original steps.
ourselves and we all work really
hard. We want to keep it fresh.”
The club does not compete
against other schools, according
to Chung. The club is not competitive.
However, groups within
the club do participate in various
shows here at HEHS, such as the
Dance Show. They hope to be incorporated
into other shows in the
future.
“The whole culture of hip
hop and breaking is just so that
they can get together and dance.
We are a very open club,” said
Chung. “All of our members are
very openhearted, patient, and
kind. They are all just there to
dance and share techniques with
each other. It’s awesome.”
Members of the club
bring in their own music, varying
from hip hop and disco-esc to
urban trip hop music. And B-boys
aren’t the only ones who can dance
in this club.
“We have a handful of
B-girls, but we could always use
the environment throughout the
school and community. Throughout
the years, S.A.V.E. club has volunteered
in the community by getting
involved at the Sugar Bush Festival
at the Spring Valley Nature Center
and cleaning up at Kessel Park.
Participating in the
Sugar Bush Festival is a fun
way for club members to interact
with a variety of people.
“I had an amazing experience
helping out at the event and
knowing that what I did was for
something good,” said Anja (???).
S.A.V.E. has also been
promoting the idea that everyone
can do things at home to help the
earth. Since the beginning of the
school year, S.A.V.E has posted tips
throughout the hallways that students
and staff can do to help the
environment. One of the tips was
participating in Earth Hour, which
was held on Saturday, March 28.
“I participated in earth
hour because I think it was a good
way to help the earth; it was a fun expierince,”
said Diana Martinez (‘12).
Earth Hour was the
first global event of its kind. Anytime
someone switched his or
her lights off during Earth Hour,
it became a “vote” for Earth.
Those who left their lights on
“voted” for global warming.
The point of Earth Hour
was to try and reach 1 billion votes.
The results were then presented to
world leaders at the Global Climate
Change Conference; these results
determine whether or not any action
will be taken against global
warming. Not only did students
and staff at Hoffman participate
during Earth Hour, but people
from all over the world did the
same as well. From the Golden
Gate Bridge in San Francisco to
the Bird’s Nest in Beijing, everywhere
was shrouded in darkness.
“I thought it was cool
that the whole world participated
in Earth Hour on Saturday. It
demonstrates that people really
do care about this world and its
limited resources,” said Amanda
Woszczak, science teacher.
Although there are
many opinions on the environment,
everyone can do their
part to make their voices heard.
Photo by Samantha Kubota
more,” said Chung.
Leaders of the group include
Manadero, Fernandez, and
Joshua Parado (‘12), the club’s
“Official Junior Officer.” They are
extremely patient and try to help
he more shy members break out
of their shell.
“My favorite part of the
Breaking Club is having the alumni
come back to Hoffman. They have
a lot more experience and can be a
lot of help,” said Parado.
Parado and his friends
could describe their lifestyle as
“Break, sleep, eat.” Not only do
they practice at school, but they
break dance outside of school on
their own on a regular basis.
The club is always open
to new members, even students
without experience. They try to
meet twice a month, but they are
looking into practicing on Tuesdays.
All students who are interested
in joining should pick up a
permission form before they attend
the next meeting.