The Mariner Compass

By Mallory Drover

The Homer High clothing drive, organized by student council members, began March 19th. What began with the intent to gather used prom dresses for girls who can’t afford their own became an all-clothes-accepted drive for the entire community. A committee of students made posters and morning announcements requesting old or unwanted clothing.

“I want to find clothes so I can get extra credit in psychology,” said Molly Duggan, junior.

Mrs. Fisher, an adviser to the student council, is offering extra credit in all of her classes to students who donate to the clothing drive.

“If we can fill the entire stage [with donated clothes], the whole school will get a treat,” she said. “We don’t know what yet, but it’ll be something good. The [prom] dresses might go to SoHi, since their prom is right after hours.”

Various dresses that could be worn to prom.

According to Traven Apiki, student body president, the rest of the clothing will be sent to Teens United for a Future. “It is a new organization, and its main focus is on homeless teens on the Kenai Peninsula (there is an extremely high rate, especially here in Homer). The organization’s main hope is to open a store here, similar to Plato’s Closet in Anchorage, where there is an emphasis on teens so that the homeless teens will be clothed and others will also be able to go to a local cheap store where clothes are meant for them.”

The collection buckets on the commons stage are already full and overflowing, but there’s still plenty of space to go across the stage floor. Donations will continue to be accepted for the rest of this week, and then the drive will be obsolete.

By Gabriel Selbig

Summer fever in mid-March? The excitement is growing throughout the school even as the snow continuously falls right outside classroom windows. For Homer High’s soon-to-be graduates, the lethargic symptoms of “senioritis” are at their peak. For others, the next nine weeks are filled with opportune moments to complete or build on to an triumphant school year.

Burl Tonga, an accomplished Homer High senior, has loved all four years he’s spent at the school but exceedingly anxious to cross the finish line. “It’s awesome of course!”, he replied when asked precisely how his feelings are of entering his final quarter of high school. Burl has held an astonishingly high grade point average since being a freshman, thus opening some bright windows for himself once his days in Homer are done. “I’m headed to University of Oregon and planning on either getting into music or sports business.”

He’s a captain of the football, basketball, and soccer teams. He’s handled nearly all school subjects thrown at him with ease. He quarterbacked the Mariners football team to their first state championship appearance. Robin Glosser is just one more senior of Homer High pushing through one more quarter and one more sports season to complete his high school résumé. “I feel great about my accomplishments in high school. They’ve prepared me to get on with my life away from Alaska. I’ll probably be going to Oregon State and become an engineer.” When asked what his greatest accomplishment of the past four years was, he quickly and sharply declared, “Going to state!”

As students go about battling anxiety for the remaining 25% of class days, certain staff members fight the same fray.

Her teaching at Homer High began in the fall of ’02 and will end two short months from now. Mrs. Sharon “Share-Bear” Thompson is set to retire at the end of the year. “Weird” and “somewhat relieving” are the expressions she feels about being in her last quarter in the school. When asked how she enjoyed juggling adolescent freshmen biology classes year after year, Mrs. Thompson snickered and replied, “The things these new kids say every year is endless fun!” With the deadly effects of senioritis in full bloom, will our staff members prove immune?

Now, just nine Mondays to go. Snow still falling but temperatures on the rise. The thrill of another gorgeous summer in Homer seemed like a fairytale just weeks before spring break. Those who put in eight hour days in Homer High, five days a week, will either struggle to the end, or strut.

Classes End May 23rd

By Cayenna Anderson

Over spring break, people’s agendas vary; one might go visit family, take an extravagant trip, or simply sleep through the days. But how often do you hear about people going on a trip to a different country to help the less fortunate?

For a group of twenty five people, many of them HHS students, spring break was spent building roofs, painting houses, spreading gravel, and fixing up the insides of buildings in the city of San Vicente, Mexico. Additionally, these twenty five people traveled to spread their religious views, including teaching the kids bible stories and about Christianity.

“It was actually a lot of fun! We got to help out with whatever was needed and got a lot done. But the best part was interacting with the people. From where we live, they seem so different, but we are actually just alike,” said Josh Vantrease, a sophomore who ventured for the cause.

Joseph Cardoza, another sophomore, said that his favorite part was having the opportunity to meet all of the kids. He added that the whole experience made him realize how fortunate he was.

Vantrease said the team was handed the opportunity to play basketball with men from an immigrant camp. “They were very intimidating at first, but then we started playing and they were just cool guys. We couldn’t understand a single word they said, but that didn’t matter.”

Drew Raymond, junior, said that where they went was amazing. “It was heartbreaking at first, then completely uplifting from there on out.”

Thought the initial poverty that Raymond commented on was intense, all three agreed that they would, without a doubt, go back in a heartbeat and are looking forward to going on this annual trip again next year.

By

Aurora Roderick

According to Mrs. Casseri and Cam Wyatt, only 11 members of Skills USA out of 41members are going to state. That is only 26.8%of skills members are attending the competition in Anchorage.  She also mentioned how only 28 of the 41 members went to regions and that is 68% of the Homer High Skills USA team.  Why did so many not go? Mrs. Casseri mentioned that a lot of them were ineligible, and one student who was entering the culinary competition, Savanna Kinnard, was too sick to attend.  

Cam Wyatt boldly said, “It’s indicative, it’s a time for changing the bar. It’s a time for them to step up, and I think we are just in the beginning of learning this system. I hope the students step up and take more interest in being eligible for regions and state.”

Ethan Roderick went to regions and placed 1^st in the trailer back-up. He easily secured this position by being the fastest by minuets. In regions he also was in a team competition for construction and his team took home 1^st as well. As Ethan heads to state, he entered the power mechanics event and is confident he will do well.  When asked about his opinion on the numbers of skills members not going to state Ethan was disappointed.

 “I think it is dumb, since we already paid for everyone to go. Now I think we got a lot of ‘flake outs’ in this school.”

Another young man going is David Jolly and he is entered in wielding. David placed 3^rd in regions and is confident in himself to do well in the state competition as well. David was just as unimpressed at his team member Ethan when asked how he felt about the number of people not going.

 “I think they are missing out on important things and good stuff Skills USA is offering them.”

“It’s frustrating and disappointing to be a part of the most employable school, and then have so many people not go,” stated Health Johnson, a Skills member who placed 2^nd in regions for construction. He is going to state to try and place again in construction. Yet again he was just as unenthusiastic about his fellow members not going as Ethan and David.

By Akane Fujimura

You stand in front of the judge and tell them your name and perform a song―this is how solo & ensemble works. It will occur on April 5th for students who are in band. Usually, solo & ensemble is optional for anyone who is interested. However, the band director, Ms. Christianson made it mandatory for all of her students.

As Ms. Christianson explained, she thinks it’s a great experience for each student to get good feedback. “Hopefully they’ll desire to do it and those are really good way for them to get feedback from someone who’s not me, because for some of them, I am the only teacher they ever had in three years, and they haven’t got any feedback from anyone else. So it’s nice to hear things from other people.”

Right after spring break in band class, two soloists or ensemble group have to play their music to the entire class every day. “During spring break, I practiced a lot. I wasn’t practicing much before, but when I found out that we have to play in the class, I started to practice a lot. And I told Chris, who is doing ensemble with me, to practice more,” Taurey Bowden said.

Ms. Christianson gave her opinion about what solo & ensemble has to do with the students. “Well, it’s important in band setting to be able to play as a part of the group, but it’s also important to understand everyone that needs to learn to play their individual parts.” As she said, a lot of them don’t have to perform tones as soloists so it’s a good way to do so in a relatively not threatening situation. “It’s not like a concert where there’s five hundred people watching you. Just the judge.”

All musicians are now working hard for the solo & ensemble to perform in front of a judge, while achieving their own goals.

By: Megan Gee

Homer High School students will never forget the first time they competed in the National Ocean Science Bowl (NOSB) in Seward.

NOSB started in 1998 to present an opportunity to students to study marine biology in a new way. They set up competitions around the nation, and the program began to expand. Students who have participated in NOSB at least one year, who want to pursue a career in science, and who have maintained their academics throughout high school are offered scholarships.

The eight students that participated in the competition were John Walsworth, Josh Vantrease, Katherine Dolma, Adi Davis, Dylan Faulkner, Traven Apiki, Axel Gillam, and Sabina Karwowski. They met every Wednesday at FOL to prepare for the competition, and studied biology, chemistry, physics, and geology, but focused primarily on marine biology.

During practice they either had an informational session to learn more about the ocean or they practiced the quiz bowl part of the competition using buzzers.

Adi Davis said, “For me personally, I prepared for the competition by taking the ocean bowl online quiz during my free time.”

Katherine Dolma said, “This was a great experience to learn about marine biology, and to meet people from around the state who are as interested in biology as I am.”

The team won 3rd place out of 20 teams, and hope to take 1st next year.

By Jacob Mayforth

Last year the music department of Homer High put on the rock musical Rent, bringing crowds and wild applause to the Theater. Such was the success that Mark Robinson, the musical director for the past two decades, decided to expand his top three favorite musicals to four. Now the choir is following last year’s crowd pleasing performance with Into the Woods, a musical that twists fairy tales together and smudges the line between story and reality.

“I like it a lot better than Rent,” said John Walsworth, a sophomore and leading role in the musical, “I’ve seen a lot of musicals at Homer High, all the rock ballads we have done, but the music in Into the Woods is either really light or big and powerful. Especially the muted trumpets which I find hilarious every time”.

The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Cinderella, while making references to several others. The musical started on Broadway in 1987, and was brought back in 2002 with a revival cast. Along the way it has received the Tony Award for Best Original Score, Best Performance by a Leading Actress, and in 1991 it was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical; now it has made its way to Homer High.

“It’s a brilliant book and a brilliant score,” said Owen Duffy, playing the part of the Narrator. “I love it, but the length of the musical is its double-edged sword. We can’t have a three hour show and it forces us to cut it, and the script has a lot of messages and subtleties that are lost if not cut carefully. I want people to be dazzled by this performance.”

Despite the changes, both Walsworth and Duffy agree that Into the Woods is more fun than last year’s musical, Rent.

“Rent was a really sad story, and that showed in rehearsal. This musical shines a really cool light on old fables and those recognizable fairy tales make it more fun to practice,” said Owen.

The Musical opens on Friday, 3/22 with a preview performance on the day before, and special discounts are available for parents.

Carson Duggar & Theo Noomah

One phone call is all it took to affect the lives of ten student athletes at Homer High School. A blizzard in the forecast did force the cancellation of the school’s Valentines Dance, but it didn’t slow down the teenage socializing on a Saturday night.

Police halted a birthday party after an unknown female reported that there was a party with underage drinking and gave police the address, according to Homer High student. The officers stopped the party; however, they did not cite anyone with Minor Consuming Alcohol (MCA). Kids were not allowed to drive away from the party unless the driver had blown into a breathalyzer and passed.  Although it seemed that everyone would walk away from the night with a clean slate, it was a different story for the student athletes at Homer High.

Two varsity boys’ basketball players, two varsity girls’ basketball players and five varsity basketball cheerleaders were all notified Tuesday afternoon that they would be unable to travel with their respective teams to the Region Tournament the following day. Another varsity boy basketball player admitted to being at the party and was disallowed to join the team in the tournament as well.

 The players were removed due to the proximity rule. Each athlete signs a document before every sport season that states, “A participant shall not be in attendance at an activity where alcoholic beverages and/or controlled substances are in the illegal possession of other individuals present.”

The Homer High Principal, Dr. Allan Gee, stated after the incident occurred, “We have a great group of student athletes representing Homer High at the Region III basketball tournament- they will walk on the court with integrity, strong moral character, and a positive attitude. There were some poor choices made by good kids this past weekend. Hopefully, all students will learn from this lesson to prevent future incidents.”

Both boys and girls Mariner basketball teams traveled to Regions at Wasilla this past Wednesday to face the tough competition in the Northern Lights Conference.  The girl’s team fell in their first game 16-53 against Kodiak and also in their consolation game versus Palmer 23-66. Even though the boys were missing three starters going into the game versus Kodiak, they rallied to an eight point lead at half. Kodiak came back to control the game and the Mariners lost with a final score 48-71. In their consolation game versus Skyview, they also lost with a final score 41-47. It was a very disappointing finish to promising season for Mariner Basketball, according to multiple players on the boys basketball team.

By Jacob Mayforth

Safe house, no one is safe, not even your wallet because if you have an ounce of sanity you will see this movie before it leaves the theater. Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds team up in this espionage thriller where a young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is broken open, he must flee with his charge.

First things first, the best thing this movie does well is atmosphere. All the actors perform spectacularly and every scene moves the action along. Denzel Washington’s character is a master of manipulation, and for the first half of the movie it really feels like the whole thing is one big ploy, and that everyone is playing into his hands.

This movie even goes so far as to use human psychology to its advantage. They play off the reptilian part of the subconscious that constantly wants to find a warm, dark, safe place by first: establishing that the safe house is a safe place, and then forcing the main character, and the audience, out into the open. This movie makes the audience feel vulnerable, scared, and uncomfortable.

Safe house is very reminiscent of the Bourne Trilogy, with creepy level espionage and conspiracy to the highest level. All in all, it is incredibly well directed, written, filmed, and performed. No one part of the movie sticks out as bad. There is no good reason not to see it.