(The following information was provided by the DIVERSIFY party. The Panther Press has pledged to provide equal access upon request to any political parties who are running for Student Council office in the 2010-2011 election, which will be held May 21.)

If you want your school to change, don’t vote for any other party but DIVERSIFY!

We follow through with your plans.

President: Gabby B.

Vice President: Stacey D.

Secretary: Breanna B.

Treasurer: Amanda D.

AND WE WILL TAKE YOU TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

Everyone gets annoyed. It’s a universal experience. But it seems that we are all annoyed by different things. Recently, the juniors had the opportunity to share their pet peeves with the world in an informal survey (see pie chart for results).

The two annoyances students seemed to want to discuss the most were people using incorrect grammar and people chewing with their mouths open. The grammar one may seem surprising, but it appears that by the junior year, students claim they are thinking more about using standard English and how “redneck” students from Northwestern Pennsylvania sometimes sound.

Some of the stranger pet peeves included students tapping their pencils on the desk, when people don’t use turn signals, and something simple like students talking loudly. If you would like to see the most complete list of pet peeves in the world, visit www.getannoyed.com.

The ballista, a medieval machine constructed by members of Mr. Schmucker's physics class, fired its bolt 40 meters. (Photo By: L. Taylor)

Taking action in your education is one of the best ways to learn, and physics teacher Mr. Schmucker has recently given his students that opportunity.  Basing his lesson plans on science teacher Mr. Young’s idea of a project-based curriculum, Schmucker assigned his students to take initiative and research something physics- related that really interests them. He said, “Learning is fun and easy when a student pursues a topic he or she is personally interested in.”

The physics students looked into various topics like the physics of roller coasters, photography, trebuchets, and ballistas. Other projects pertained to egg dropping and the physics behind baseball. The most successful projects, though, were the ballista and trebuchet. A ballista is a weapon that was used in medieval times for throwing rocks and stones at the enemy, and a trebuchet is, similarly, an ancient defense machine.

Four students, Josh A., Ethan D., Steven W., and Drew T., worked tirelessly on the ballista, and Ryan G. put a lot of time and effort into a trebuchet. When the machines were finished, the classes ventured outside to witness the test-firing of these projects. Both were functional and impressive, but when they went head to head to see whose was the best, the ballista took the prize. Josh A. said, “I really enjoyed exploring the different physics concepts, and our ballista is just flat-out sweet.”

Mr. Patrick's technology education students have been hard at work building their bots.

It’s time for the feverish battle of titanium vs. steel in the bot to bot showdown as Saegertown’s  finest teams get ready for the RoboBOTS Competition tomorrow (April 10) at Meadville High School.

The first SHS bot is Resurrection, from the senior team of Jordan A., Joe W., Tim C. and Eric B. Second team is the Whizzer 2, built by seniors Bob B. and Andy S. Third team is Jaws, constructed by seniors Bob R. and David A. The final bot is The Bull built by sophomores Zack B., Nate T., Nate S., Shaun W., Noah M., Branden S., Ryan P., Robert S. and juniors Brandon B. and Kurtis H.

Their adviser Mr. Patrick has been quite busy overseeing all four teams. “I’ll never have four bots again,” said Mr. Patrick. Senior Bob B. replied, “If it doesn’t work, get a bigger hammer!” as he and his teammate David A. worked on Jaws during a recent class.

Today, all team members sported the fluorescent yellow t-shirts they will wear for the event, and there was a flurry of last-minute packing and loading for the big day tomorrow. And the stakes are high. If one of the Saegertown teams wins the competition, those students and their bot will move on to the national competition in Kansas City, Missouri.

The battles begin at 10 a.m. in the gymnasium at Meadville Area Senior High School. Radio station COOL 101.7 will be covering the event, and you can follow the action all day at www.allprosoftware.net/toolcity2010/.

On Saturday April 10, seventeen area schools will compete in the 14th annual Armstrong Cable Academic Challenge at Butler County Community College in Butler, Pa. Last year, the Saegertown Hi-Q team placed third, and with three members returning from the 2009 squad, they feel confident that they can make a strong showing this year as well.

Senior team captain Ethan D. said, “It’s on. We are in it to win it.” Senior Drew T. added, “We are going all the way this year.” Other team members who have made the cut for this tournament include senior Josh A., juniors Matt S. and Zak O., and sophomore Camden B.

The Hi-Q team meets once a week with adviser Mrs. Anderton to practice rapid-fire question and answer across a wide range of trivia. “It’s like Jeopardy on steroids,” said Josh A. At the Armstrong competition, each match will consist of three rounds: twenty questions, coursework and quick recall. The match ends with a bonus question, and the winning team moves on in this single-elimination tournament.

If you are interested in watching the SHS Hi-Q team in action, the tournament will be televised beginning at 9a.m. on the Armstrong Cable Channel (23). Saegertown’s first match is at 11:30a.m. against Commodore Perry. Other schools competing include Lincoln, Riverside, North Allegheny, Mt. Pleasant, Butler, Connellsville, Grove City, Meadville, Maplewood, Cochranton, Moniteau, Mercer, Linesville, Conneaut Lake and Knoch.

(Note: This editorial was awarded third place for opinion from the NWPA Journalism Competition. It is reprinted from the Feb. 19 issue of The Panther Press.)

Richard Tatum, an 18-year-old teenager, experienced a horrible tragedy. “I don’t even remember hitting the truck because I was looking down at my phone when I hit it,” he said. “You just look down to text, look up to drive, look down to text. It’s not hard to do, so everybody does it,” he added. His decision to text and drive resulted in a crushed pelvis, hip and knee, two torn ligaments and a chipped knee-cap.

ANYONE CAN BE A HERO WITH EPICA, the latest portable gaming device from Heroic Games.

Epica is the latest offering from Heroic Games. Check it out at the trade show on Friday.

Epica allows you to do many different things including:

• Latest Games
• Free wifi
• Webcam (5.0 megapixels)
• 2 screens ( 1 touch, 1 slide)
• Headphone connection
• 3 varieties of color
• Made with Eco friendly parts

Become a hero today…

Stop at your local game store and pick up the latest addition to  Heroic Games.

(This simulated advertisement was placed for the Heroic Games Company by Vice-President of Marketing Kristina H. through special permission of The Panther Press as part of PA Business Week at SHS.)

We finally get to the part of the day when Activity Period begins. A break from classes, time to talk with friends and attend club meetings. You may hear that Key Club is meeting. You’ve heard about Key Club; it’s just a bunch of the “good kids” doing work and “helping out.” Good for them, right? Exactly. Saegertown High School’s Key Club is doing more than just a few good deeds. Three members of the SHS Key Club recently attended the Key Club Leadership & Convention Conference in Hershey, along with students from many other schools across the state. Upon arrival, each club was split into different groups to see what everyone had to bring to the table. Each state has one Governor of State and one Secretary/Treasurer of State. These officials are voted for by the members of the Key Club House of Delegates, two members of which represent Saegertown High School, Gabby B.- who is the SHS Key Club Editor, and Lindsay B.- SHS Key Club Secretary. Also joining them was Olivia F.- Key Club representative. During the conference, several awards were given, and the SHS Key Club, in it’s first trip to the conference, was not left out. Junior Gabby B. said, “We won third place for the Single Service Award for last year’s Prom Boutique. We had to put together a binder of documented details such as all of the planning, hours, outcome, and reason why we chose the project.” Saegertown High School’s Key Club has about 30 members at this time and they have completed several impressive projects including Share the Warmth and Battle of the Bands. “I don’t think people are quite as aware about Key Club as they could be. For example, we just had some new members join recently. Some people join Key Club just so they have something impressive to put on their applications for college, but I want people to realize the great things we do,” said Gabby.