The goal for this years relay is 150 team. The normal turn out is around 120 teams. Along with growing teams the committee plans on raising more money. The goal is to raise $150,000 is although every year they make more than that because of the donations that come in later. The plan is to get 150 thousand by the night of relay. Lastly, a total of 150 cancer survivors and care givers at the event is the heftiest goal to reach.

“With survivors we’ve been kind of lacking so its going to be a very big goal but its something we want to try and get,”said team development chair Ashley Roselli “I want to say we had about 40 last year”

The Awhatukee Relay for Life event is the 3rd biggest in the southwest region and the largest student run event. With the theme “Once Upon a Relay” teams come up with creative ways to defeat evil arch-nemesis cancer.

“The name of my relay team is ‘Bibbity Bobbity Boop Cancer’. I want to do relay because my best friends mom got cancer. She’s in remission but that’s why I relay,” said a Relay for Life Captain, junior Sasha Soto.

Mountain Pointe computer lab was flooded with team captains and co-captains signing up their teams for this upcoming Relay event in April. With a turn out of about 60 teams at kick off, the biggest kick off in five years, it is going to be a big a tough year for cancer.

By Sujin Seo

It’s that time of the year again. Relay for Life is coming up just around the corner and DV students are lining up to participate. Team captains are already signing up their teams to be part of the world-wide event to raise awareness for cancer. This event commemorates the lives of the people who have struggled with this disease, recognize their loved ones, and spread the fight against this dreadful illness.

Relay for Life Kickoff started with a spirit week that included a Harry Potter day, Dress Up As Your Favorite Character day, and a Purple-Out. Mark Honaker, the Ceramics teacher, is in charge of this year’s relay and is doing his best to make it a success.

Last year, hundreds of people participated in the relay, including many people from the Desert Vista community, who all united to raise awareness.

Millions of dollars are raised every year and donated to many research facilities. Relay for Life, sponsored by American Cancer Society, contributes funding toward various medical institutions like  National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. The money has provided funding for low-income women to get screenings for breast and cervical cancer and is continuing to fund studies and research opportunities.

By Sydney Barendrick

Spirit flags waving, class presidents shouting, and all of the excited students showing their thunder pride, Desert Vista’s annual winter sports assembly took off. Not only were the winter sports represented in the assembly, but awards were given out to Coach Rachel Proudfoot and Desert Vista’s own varsity football team. As people and teams were recognized, DV students, dance team, cheerleaders, and faculty joined together to bring spirit to the winter assembly.

As the students filed into the buzzing gymnasium, the thunder marching band was already in the midst of one of their spirit-lifting songs as the student council rushed around, trying to get every class into their right area.

“The whole gym was crazy, but crazy with spirit,” said Maggie Jenks, a senior. “You could tell that everyone was pumped and ready to show their class pride.”
With student council busying away, the cheerleaders were also belting out catchy cheers that boosted up the spirit around them.

After the gym had quieted down for a minute, Coach Rachel Proudfoot, a Physical Educations coach at DV, was presented with the Husband and Wife Law Firm award. Due to her long hours put into  P.E. classes, then coaching a basketball team after school, Proudfoot was recognized with the outstanding reward.

“She definitely deserved that award,” said Katie Saline, a freshman . “I have her as my P.E. coach, and she is an amazing and hardworking person, who deserves to be recognized for what she does.”
Soon after Coach Proudfoot’s award ceremony, there was a visit from the U.S. marines. These marines weren’t at the assembly just for fun, but to present the  varsity football team with a huge trophy, that only 50 teams out of the whole nation achieve. This award was for an outstanding and the best football team out of state. The team was presented with a two feet tall, bronze trophy and a banner to hang around school.

“It was amazing to see the looks on the football player’s faces as they held the trophy high above their heads,” said Nikhil Patel, a spirited freshman. “They looked proud. Proud for the coaches, proud for the school, and proud for themselves.”

By Jordan Trout

Within the decade, many people have turned to eco friendly and recycled
products to help keep our planet safe and sound from global warming. Solar
panels, hybrid cars, and eco-friendly shopping bags have now become part of our day-to-day lives.

But has the world gone too far with this whole “reduce, reuse and recycle”
phrase?

As many have seen and heard of, EOS (Evolution of Smooth), the cute
egg shaped chap sticks that most teenagers are toting around, are 100% organic
and eco-friendly. There outer shell, mostly in pastel colors, is made out of
biodegradable materials, so if you drop or lose it, it’s not harmful to our mother
planet.

Not only do they look cute, but they smell amazing as well. With flavors
such as honeysuckle honeydew and summer fruit, they’re a must buy.
Chloe Heenan, a freshman, loves her light blue mint flavored EOS. “I like
that they’re so big. I typically lose my chap sticks, but this one is easy to keep
track off. Sweet mint is the one I have, and I seriously love it.”

Although this phenomenon seems to be wide spread amongst the home
of the Thunder, many people don’t know what they are! Caitlin Touchet, a
sophomore, didn’t even know about EOS until I interviewed her! “Although I don’t
have an EOS, I would love to try it. From what I heard it’s way better than most
chap sticks.”

Some other not as popular, but very adorable and environmentally friendly products are Earth Rite’s bio-degradable TEDDY BEARS. These fuzzy friends are made of newspapers and plastic water bottles. They’re super soft and stitched to give it an old original teddy bear look. They come in all colors and sizes, for a very low price too!

Whether you’re trying to save the polar bears or maybe just trying to get
an organic chapstick like EOS, you’re helping the Earth, one baby step at a time.

Rachel Christensen and Danicke Van Ecke dance around in anticipation for audition results.

“Dancing with your feet is one thing, dancing with your heart is another.”  (author unknown)
The nerves were tense on January 4th through 7th as students from various middle schools and our school prepared to audition for Desert Vista dance classes/companies next year. The girls and guys were asked to wear all black and only black so that scoring could be based off of performance, and not who wore the cutest hot pink half top. The girls were taught both a hip hop and contemporary routine along with being asked to do basic across the floor technique such as kicks, pirouttes, etc.
“The hip hop was harder because I’m better at contemporary but that’s just my opinion,” freshman Jessica Goswick said. “I thought hip hop was harder because the moves were more technical and it was much faster than the contemporary dance.”
Hundreds of girls showed up to try out for intermediate, blue, silver, gold, junior, and senior company. Whether they were watching the incoming 8th graders or more experienced juniors audition for their senior year of dance, some of the judges were at school from early Saturday morning until 4:30pm.
“We practiced five hours a day,” said Goswick. “Auditions were Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday but we didn’t perform the dance until the last day.”
The dance room was hot and stuffy with nerves, sweat, and pressure on audition day. Senior dancers from all companies came to watch and support the auditioning girls. They stood around the edges of the room, clapping and cheering.
Desert Vista dance does not compete at competitions as a team, but students love to watch them dance at assemblies, concerts, and other events. Audition results are posted at 3:15 after school on Friday, January 20th. And look out, DV! A lot of talented 8th graders auditioned for next year.

Videos from auditions are on Youtube under “Desert Vista dance auditions 2012” for more information or to see these talented girls showing off their skills.

Gloves with rubber on the end for touch screens: Ever had to take off warm gloves to use anything touch screen? Well Digits understands that cold weather won’t keep their dedicated users from their iPhone’s and iPod’s so they decided to save everyone from frostbite. $12

The chilly weather is perfect time for tea. Teavana has gourmet tea’s for 10.45 plus the tea. The best type of gift card is a Starbucks gift card. A warm cup of coffee against the cold. $15

Cologne and perfume stocking stuffer. The kind of gift the benefits the giver as well. Smelling great is always in season.

Godiva chocolate, indulging in rich gourmet chocolate is always a holiday traditions for sweet teeth.

Small Jar Yankee candles for 10.99 are perfect to set in a small room. Any christmas scent to put an accent on the time of year. One can never go wrong with the strong and pleasant aromas.

Trendy art posters of morals, bands or nature scenes, the person is into or lives by. Walmart, Target or Etsy.com. Price ranges.

Music. $15 dollars to iTunes. Instead of choosing one CD for them they can pick something for their playlist that is dying to be updated.

A scarf to battle the cold for the next month, whether its for a man or women scarves give any outfit a sophisticated twist. Old Navy $12.

The best gifts don’t have to be bought. For the grandmothers and moms who like the sentimental hand-made goodies making them a Christmas ornament to go on the tree for years to come is the perfect idea for something memorable. Going to Michael’s and pick out materials to make the ornament is the best shot for supplies. Price range depends on the quantity of materials.

Thunder struck and victory was ours as the varsity boys’ basketball team defeated Pinnacle with a score of 70 to 55 at the first game of the season. The players are jumping into action, and clearly doing a good job at it. The boys ended Pinnacle’s winning streak of 5-0, and added a win to their own ratio. Then again on December 1^st, the boys tackled another win for DV against St. Mary’s with a final score of 73-53. The team finished the first week strong by winning once again against McClintock.

“I think our team has a good chance of doing some spectacular things,” senior player Matt Geranen said. “If we work together as a team, I believe we could go deep into the playoffs, and possibly achieve our ultimate goal, and bring home another state championship trophy.”

Geranen was also a wide receiver for our champion football team. “I think that the football team has more chemistry than any team of any sport could ever have,” Matt tells The View. “The chemistry of the basketball team will grow as the season progresses, and it will be a critical component of our teams success. As the chemistry of the basketball team grows stronger, it will lead us to a better record and a better chance at bringing home the championship. The bond we shared in football was a key to our success, as it is in every sport.”

Students can only hope that this season ends as great as it started, and as great as the last season ended. With a first week as promising as this, there’s no doubt that our basketball team will be able to carry us far this winter.

Junior Alexandra Fardelos conducts in front of a choir for the first time

The Desert Vista Bell Choir Performs A Piece at the Winter Concert

By  Michelle Borbon

Last Friday at 7:00 PM a full house was waiting in eager anticipation of Choir’s Winter Concert. The stage was decorated with a colorful string of lights, Mr. Andrew DeValk was ready to direct, and the choir was poised and anxious.
The evening began with the Jazz & Madrigal choir, first singing songs in Latin and then pieces like “Deck the Rooftop” from Glee with Koustubh Kondapalli beat-boxing away. Then the Bella Voce choir took the stage, with classics like “Baby, its Cold Outside” and “The Chanukkah Song”.
“It really gets your adrenaline pumping,” said freshman Bella Voce soloist Richard Bui about “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”. “I was kind of nervous, but it was fantabulous and we worked really hard to get there.”
The Bell Choir, consisting of 7 students, performed the piece “How Great Thy Joy” and a combined piece with the Cantilena choir “Personet Hodie” using several handheld bells.
“I love playing the bells and we did really good for only having one rehearsal,” said bell player Laura Volant.
The Stool Stompers also got a chance to preform a fun routine in front of the audience. They advertised the “Rally For Life” foundation and encouraged audience members to make donations to the program, which is geared toward finding cures for cancer.

The evening ended with the A Capella choir.  The concert was full of new experiences, including one for junior choir member Alexandra Fardelos, who directed on stage for the first time.

Fardelos, who has plans of becoming a music educator in the future,  took the spotlight and lead the A Capella choir in “Bashana Haba’ah” in front of an audience for the first time. With a graceful flick of her hands and a wave of her arms, the choir rose and fell.

” It took a lot of work to make sure I was showing the things I wanted to show,  like for the choir to be louder or quieter, or word stress,” said Fardelos.

“ Alexandra has shown a lot of interest in becoming a Musical Educator, and we thought now would be a great time to start,” said DeValk about Fardelos. “I never got in front of a choir until my junior year in college, and here she is as a junior in high school, doing a phenomenal job.”

” This was my first time directing a choir in front of an audience,” said Fardelos. “It was great to look up and see all my friends who have supported me.  It was interesting to see how the things I would do would affect how the choir sounded. I love music and I want to share it with people. I think it would be great to see kids share that same passion.”

After Fardelos’s conducted, A Capella played “Ave Marie” and “Jabala Jesus” with percussionists Parker Peelen and Jacob Burress. At the end of the night, the bright red poinsettias that lined the stage were sold as donations to the choir. At the end of the night, people left smiling and with a piece of holiday cheer Desert Choir had sung inside their hearts.