The Mariner Compass

By Jacob Mayforth

                 The documentary film festival is an annual event at the Homer Theater where Directors from around the world submit their works to be viewed. This year viewers had a large choice of documentaries to watch. From Senna, a “heroic story” that follows the Brazilian Formula-One Racing driver and three time World Champion, Ayrton Senna, to Project Nim, a sentimental story of a chimpanzee who was raised like a human child and subjected to extended study. But which, out of the nine films, was the best one? Which was the one most seen by students? I sought to answer those questions with a poll.

                At the time the poll was taken, 32 students had attended the film festival.

 

                Because of the restricting nature of the Educational System’s technology, the picture is blurred. I tried for hours to fix this but the “God of Technology” is smiting me. So here are the scores of people who loved the film for those of us not blessed with impossibly good eyesight: Project Nim:1, Soul Resonance: 11, New York: 3, The Interrupters: 3, Buck: 4, Being Elmo: 0, I Am: 8, Cave of Forgotten Dreams: 1, Senna: 1.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

 

By Phillip Whitney

                Dana Olesch and Nykkole Poindexter, you’ve probably noticed them this month, because they have dressed up again this year for their Thirty-one days of Halloween.

Last year, between the two of them, they made a bet, to see who could dress up the best on the most days of October. Both love this ghastly holiday, “It’s like my Christmas,” stated Dana. While Nykkole is in love with it because of all the stories and myths associated with this holiday.

When asked when they found time to come up with all of the costumes they wear, they both adamantly said that they were thinking about the month of October either all year, or coming up with costumes all summer long. Only a week into this yearly event, and Dana and Nykkole have presented  a dark mage, a crowned king, a bladed  Wolverine, an echo into a past TV show Clinger, and a steampunk pilot. The students and staff can only wait and see what’s next from these two Halloween loving seniors.

Many people in Homer High School are wondering why our football team had to make the long trip down to Juneau once again this year when we have a better record than every school our size except for Sohi. Earlier in the year our Mariners beat the team they’re playing this weekend, the Thunder Mountain Falcons, 84-20. This would normally mean that had earned home field in our first playoff game, which can make the difference in who makes it to the state championship. Not this year however.

Starting this year, a third state championship was added to the original two, so not only are there small and large school championships, but also a medium one from now on. The medium school season, divided into two brackets,  has nine schools all together; the Northern Lights conference with six teams, and the Southeast conference with three. The Northern Lights conference’s top three teams, combined with the top team from the Southeast conference, make up the four teams that enter the playoffs for medium schools in Alaska. The playoffs games are run so that the number one seed in the Northern Lights conference plays the number three, and the number two seed plays the number one seed in the Southeastern conference.

The Southeast conference only has one seed though. This means that every year from now on, their top team will receive a first place seat and get home field advantage in the playoffs. This is why our Mariners, even after finishing the season with an outstanding 7-1 record, must once again make the long trip down to Juneau. Dr. Gee is fighting this issue, as are the other peninsula schools who don’t think this new arrangement is fair. “They wanted to have two separate conferences, and they wanted a guaranteed playoff seed.” said Dr. Gee, “I say that if they want to get in the playoffs, they should start beating some teams.” Unfortunately, no official change was made this year and our team still had to take the game to the Falcon’s field. The Mariners play tonight at six.

   In the summer of 2001, Mr. Robinson planned a trip for the high school choir, the community choir, and the orchestra to go to Carnegie Hall in New York City and sing Mozart’s Requiem. Then the events of 9.11 happened. The performance after 9.11 made the experience more meaningful. In April 2002, they performed the Requiem in Carnegie Hall and also Saint Patrick Cathedral, in New York City. They were also able to go to the Ground Zero.

  One year later, Mr. Robinson found out that there was a plan to sing the requiem all over the world in honor of those who lost their lives. This was called “The Rolling Requiem” as it was sung in each time zone at 8;46am, starting in Guam, and rolling through the following countries; Indonesia, Japan, China, Russia, Europe, U.S.A. (East coast) and Alaska. When this plan arose, Mr. Robinson received many phone calls from Anchorage, Fairbanks and even people from Minnesota who were visiting Anchorage.

  “All Adults, students and even strangers wanted to be a part of the concert and perform together,” he said. Homer was the only place that sang Requiem at that time in Alaska.

  “In Homer, there were so many people who came to listen and we performed at the gym. It was very moving and people were very emotional. It was one of my most meaningful experiences as a choir teacher,” he said.

  Choir is going to perform Lacrimosa, a part of Requiem in this Fall Concert, on October 24th.

About one hundred students listened to the music performance of Tendai Mapurutsa, during the FOL Wednesday Sept. 28. Walking into the Commons, the sound of four large xylophones and a maraca set resonated from speakers into the hallways. Some teachers and students peppered the walls while most sat at the lunch tables. Passing students would stop to listen, gathering close to twenty people sitting at the 2nd story hallway to watch the jazzy ensemble high school students on the xylophones: Patrick, Axel, Jonas, Drew, the older gentleman on the maracas and Tendai.

The vast majority of students were either sitting and staring with blasé expressions or chatting in groups. “This is dance music,” Tendai proclaimed into the microphone after finishing one of his songs. “It’s not the same as classic music, where you sit and clap after the music.” And there were some who clapped along and tapped their feet along with the rhythm while most died away to just idly listening, having lost their initial interest in the music.

The school bell ended near the closing of a song and the students left without much of a commotion. There was a quick announcement about “Soul Resonance,” a documentary about Tendai during the documentary film festival going on this week, hardly noticeable as it was.

By Dylan Zharoff

By Matthew Meyer

To some the halftime show was just a time for the cheerleaders to show off their routines yet again, while for others this was the time to show what the classes at Homer High School can do.

the juniors float+ sea cannons

Most people know how the juniors staged a sea battle between the Kenai Cardinals against the Homer Mariners, complete with swordfights, nerf rocket launchers, smoke bombs and a mermaid throwing candy and necklaces to the crowd. However what most people don’t know is that after the float “sailed” away from the track, it almost burned down.

As the float went away from the track, there was an earth-shattering crack, as the mast broke, missing everyone onboard and landing on a bunch of lit smoke grenades.

With the smoke everywhere someone yelled, “Abandon ship!”  And everyone jumped off except for Maggie and Katy.

When asked why she didn’t leave the ship, Maggie replied, “Ya, I was the mermaid and my legs were wrapped together, so I couldn’t jump off… It was scary but not really, because I was laughing during the whole thing.”

Maggie Gramm on the junior float

Katy had noticed that the smoke bombs were starting to make the mast catch on fire, so she told everyone to help her get them off the ship.

After they were done with the whole ordeal everyone involved looks back at this moment and laughs. If you were to ask as to how the mast broke most would reply, “I think Jacob’s nerf rocket had something to do with it.”

Too Late, Too Bad

By Kikilia Kojin

Many students know that after five tardies, you get a detention for every additional tardy. Then after ten tardies, the consequences vary from detention, in school suspension (ISS), community service and a parent meeting.

According to Vice Principal, Mr. Waclawski, last year’s tardy policy was rough. “The only real problem last year were tardies. We don’t have fights or bullying or swearing. It’s changed. It used to be too unwieldy and loose. I had to go through packets, checking students attendance each week and comparing them. It was time-consuming.”

Mr. Waclawski further explained how previously, after three tardies, a student would get a detention, resulting in a lot more kids with detention. Luckily, changes were made that had positive results. “This year, it’s simple and efficient enough. It’s new, but kids are smart enough and they get it. It goes back to zero at the end of the semester. It’s not too harsh and it’s going smoothly, but it’s still early. . .”

It may be efficient, but it does not go without faults. “It’s a little bit ridiculous. It depends on the person, but during first period, students need to walk and get transportation to school. They shouldn’t punish a child for not being able to make it to class on time. How late you are should be the time of your detention,” defended Grace Steiner, a senior.

“They need to be more relaxed and have teachers be more realistic for those who don’t deserve tardies. It depends on circumstances. They need to take it more on a case to case basis. Assess each situation differently. Who didn’t want to be there vs. who couldn’t make it.” Adella Sunmark, a sophomore, explained.

Students and teachers have different opinions, but they all can agree that it’s a system they can work with, even though it’s not perfect. “[The] whole point of punishment is to change behavior. We want kids to come to class on time. We’ll use any punishment till they stop being late, using a combination if detention doesn’t work. No student has ten tardies, yet,” Mr. Waclawski concluded, agreeing that this new system has improved attendance and behavior.

Teen relationships. Most grown ups see teenage relationships as a fling, nothing more; few people see it as a long term commitment. But is it?

Most teenagers would agree with Keoni Alfiche, a Homer High School student, who said “I think you could meet your future husband/wife in high school. I think it would mainly depend on the people and the environment though.”

Abby Gilliam, another Homer High School student, said “Yes, I believe you could meet your future husband or wife as long as you aren’t getting in too many fights or you’re not getting too serious before you’re older.”

Many Homer High School students believe that high school relationships are essential to helping teens grow into adults, that it’s a huge milestone in our lives. Some people like Logan Edwards, A junior, said “It does build social bonds between people that grown ups usually use in their work place.”

Based on interviews, most people felt teen relationships are valuable whether they’re long term or not. People found that they are effective and helpful, whether to remember to fill up the car before a date, or teach you how to act appropriately. Whether you’re a freshmen or a graduating senior high school relationships play a large part in social development.
Some teenagers however believe they are pointless and that it’s just teenage hormones running wild. They believe that when they’re a teenager and you hear some likes you that you’re going to get so excited and happy you’re not really thinking about it.
Some grown ups even think it’s unhealthy because once a teenager dates they are likely to cut off their friends and parents so they can spend quality time with their boyfriend/girlfriend, and potentially comprimise independence. Then when the boyfriend/girlfriend breaks up, then they will become depressed and reserved from the world.

By Isabelle de Armoun

Your own Homer High Senior Hoss Frank is the captain of a team that made history homecoming week. The Mariners defeated Kenai 21-14, overcoming 22 years of defeat. Hoss got to this point like any other normal kid. Hoss grew up playing the game he loves in his back yard, when he got to middle school; he joined a team playing competitively. Hoss never let anything get in his way for instance if he didn’t have a ride to practice he would ride his bike, even if it meant ever day. He fell in love with the game because it was always there for him, and he sill continues not to give up. 

 The Mariners mantra, HIC (Honesty Integrity Courage), is just one reason why Hoss was elected captain by his teammates. When Coach Cam Wyatt told his team to elect a captain there was no question that Hoss was a player that showed determination, strength and leadership by always being at practice, being a friend to everyone on the team and always showing respect.

 When I asked Hoss how he felt the day of the Kenai game he told me he woke up the morning of the game knowing inside that the team was going to win, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind.

 After the win, Hoss said that he has received compliments from teachers and guys from other teams, “I have earned some bragging rights.” He has gotten offers from other college teams to play; he said that he doesn’t ever see himself playing with anyone besides his boys. With the Homer Mariners being lead by Hoss Frank one thing is sure, this year is making history.

Powerschool. The new “better” program that Central Office has decided to use, in place of Edline. They chose this path because Powerschool supposedly does everything that Gradequick, Edline, and Discovery did. So instead of having three separate programs to use, we have one that’s better. This Program was chosen from a selection of similar such programs, of which Powerschool was graded as the best by a committee of Information Technology people. But many people have been having problems with this program, some just the fact that they were using something different than normal, some just the fact they couldn’t log on, students and teachers alike. Cindy Denny, an Instructional Technologies Coach, said that the problems from teachers were being handled by teaching the teachers, but she knew nothing about the problems faced by the students. Keoni Alfichi, a junior, has been having problems logging on, he says that every other time he tries to log onto Powerschool it will not let him. Mr. Stineff had similar problems when he first started to use the program but as time has gone by he has started to appreciate the genius of the program, his only problem with powerschool is when he had mouse problems and it wouldn’t click.