Senior Brandon Stafford, pictured above at the Brockway Tournament in December, recently took the gold at the Tool City Wrestling Tournament in Meadville, Pa.

Twenty wins. One loss. Those are senior Branden Stafford’s statistics for the 2011-2012 wrestling season thus far. On Saturday, Jan. 8, Stafford won the Tool City Wrestling Tournament at Meadville High School.

In the finals, he pinned Boiling Springs High School senior Tyler Wentzel in 3:42. “I wasn’t expecting to get the fall in the finals. He was a good wrestler,” said Stafford. Stafford has been a wrestler since his seventh grade year, and he has won four other tournaments throughout his high school career.

Last year, Stafford broke the school’s record for the most pins in a season with 28. He also had the most team points. Stafford finished the season with 38 wins and eleven losses. This year he is ranked ninth in the state.“My biggest competition is probably Blake Heim from Reynolds and Jeff Burger from Union City,” said Stafford.

He is currently working on making his hundredth win, with only eight to go as of press time. Next year, Stafford plans to wrestle for Edinboro University.

Michael Coddington, a graduate of Saegertown High School, recently helped raise over $15,000($15,473) for the Child’s Play charity, which donates toys and games to children in hospitals, by playing the popular video game series, “The Legend of Zelda,” for seven continuous days in an event known as Zeldathon. The money is donated by viewers, either out of generosity or for having a request granted, such as inflicting humorous injuries upon a member of the team, or even accent imitations. The event began in our area as a small marathon consisting of only three players, and from there, Coddington decided to hold one for his senior project. Since then, the project has grown in scale, and Coddington said that both he and Matthew Moffit, the one responsible for the creation of this website, plan to begin their own non-profit organization sometime in the future. “Zeldathon is about more than helping out a good charity. It is about proving that everyone, including gamers, can do good in the world,” said Moffitt. To get more information or become a part of the community of Zeldathon, visit http://zeldathon.net/.

SHS Spanish club members traveled to the Mattress Factory last year. They will return to Pittsburgh this year.

The Spanish club’s spring destination was finally decided upon during the most recent club meeting. Last year, they traveled to Pittsburgh where they visited the Mattress Factory and the Carnegie Science Center. They then went on a Spanish dinner cruise aboard the Gateway Clipper.

This year, without much debate, the club members decided they wanted to visit Pittsburgh once again. This year’s destinations include the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Zoo, and the Spanish dinner cruise aboard the Gateway Clipper. The trip, which will be scheduled for the end of May, is an all day event, so the members will not return until around midnight that evening. Mrs. Janyce Brawn, Saegertown High School’s Spanish teacher, said, “We look forward to this trip every year.” She laughed and added, “ I hope we remember the limbo stick this time.”

Pennsylvania has recently updated the laws for teenage drivers. This law states that a junior driver can have only one non-family member passenger in the car who is under the age of 18.  After the first six months, the number of passengers (unrelated to the driver) under the age of 18 is increased to three if the driver has a clean record. In addition, the driving time required to get a license has increased from 50 to 65 hours. Junior Layne Chatfield said, “I’m kind of disappointed with having to drive the 15 extras hours.” Under the new law, it will be a primary offense for any person to drive a vehicle with a passenger under 18 who isn’t wearing a seat belt or properly restrained within the vehicle. Officers can stop any vehicle that they think is not abiding by this law.

French Club members battled in a French toast cook-off on Dec. 23.

“Pain per du” means french toast cook-off, and it was held on Dec. 23 as part of the holiday activities under the direction of French teacher Mr. Youngblood in the Home Ec. room. Students signed up, and only the first 30 could participate. They brought their own utensils and ingredients, which included bread, eggs, milk, and cinnamon. A total of five teams participated, but the winning team, Team Brandi, won a sweet filled snack: a loaf of bread stuffed with candy. The first runner up was team “U-Mad Bro?”. The judges based their decisions on creativity, flavor, texture, and presentation. “The cook-off was a huge success,” said judge Meighan Henry. “We all got to eat a bunch of delicious french toast made by the students.” Honorable mentions were also awarded in the following categories: Texture, Brandi Ryder; Most like Moms, Team U-Mad Bro?; Presentation and Flavor, Erin Erdos.

“Search & Destroy” by Scott Cleland is a brilliant non-fiction book warning Internet users not to trust Google, Inc. The book reveals how Google’s mission “to organize the world’s information” causes great a concern to individualism.  It also informs that Google has a hidden political agenda threatening freedom and national sovereignty.  In addition, it explains how Google’s business strategy hinders competition, innovation, job creation, and economic growth.

I enjoyed this informational book and learned much about Google’s actions and how it is a powerful company. In addition, I learned how Google tracks and uses personal information to make a profit. Furthermore, I really enjoyed Cleland’s writing style. In one part of the book, he compared Google’s Gmail to the Hotel California saying, “Like the Hotel California, Gmail lets you check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” The writing style and metaphors used in the book made it more interesting and also easier to connect with the information.
I recommend this book to every Google user because it contains many things users don’t know about Google. It shows how Google profiles it users and what information it has about them.  This book is a vital read for any Google user so their eyes can be opened to what Google actually stands for and what they plan to do. “Search & Destroy” is a book that is relevant for every person who uses computers…and that means basically everyone.