“We could have played better but most importantly we tried our best ;It’s a disappointing loss . No loss is ever easy.For now we need to keep our heads high and be prepared for Chandler High  tonight.” said Tinisha Toussaint

Currently, Desert Vista is ranked 7th in state and 267 in the nation, averaging 63.3 points per game,12.3 assist per game,37 rebounds and 10.4 steals per game. This is the best record desert vista girls basketball has ever had, last year was difficult for them, Mesa Mountian View beat them making them lose their first game into the state finals (63-51) , the 2010-2011 season ended with a major downfall. This year they will have to take a step forward  and rise up to their expectations .

“We want to win state so bad , and I know we can do it.” said Jaymee Brugman

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.

Hoopcoming is back due efforts of Student Council asking and fighting administration.

“We really wanted to have another all school dance because the underclassmen can’t go to prom,” said Student body president Julia Thatcher

The dance will be space jammed theme but the attire is a basketball jersey!

“Student Council really wanted to make the theme fun and exciting. I don’t think we’ve ever had a space jam themed dance before,” said Thatcher.

Many students all over campus was very excited and anxious for the game and couldn’t wait for the Friday madness.

“I’m so excited! I’ve heard so much about how much fun Hoopcoming was and I can’t wait to go and dance my butt off,” said Freshmen Laina Goldwin.

Tickets were ten dollars but were only five dollars if you attend the Boys basketball game vs. Chandler High School before the dance. The freshmen boys’ game began at 4pm, JV played at 5:30pm and Varsity tip-ed off at 7pm.

It was a tough fight but the Thunder topped the CHS Wolves, 66-66. After the exciting win, students in the arena hyped and ready to dance. The small gym quickly filled with students, not only with fans that just came from the game but students that just arrived ready to dance.

“The atmosphere was great and I had so much fun, I wish there was more casual dances like this,” said Sophomore Amber Gregory.

With many students asking for more, it’s safe the say that Hoopcoming was a hit.

“It is never easy to get back into the routines of school,” said Maddie Spencer, a freshman, “But I refuse to let a couple weeks of break affect my performance in school.” Many students return with high hopes for the second semester. Some say that their grades from the previous year are what pushes them to be better than ever before.

However, some students say that the change in pace from the relaxed break back to school madness is more difficult than expected. “I never find myself easily getting out of break-mode and back into school mode,” said Mickey Melosi, a junior, “I just try to focus only on my schoolwork for a couple of weeks without any distractions from my friends.” Undoubtedly, friends and family can sometimes become unavoidable distractions.

But whether the change back into routine comes easily or with a bit of struggle, it seems that the stress is unavoidable. Many people find themselves overwhelmed by the workloads that classes burden them with. “Going from having nothing to do, to having three papers instantly seems outrageous,” said Madison Lange, a junior, “Nothing is worse than the initial stress that school puts on you.”

For most, a break from school is a necessity that comes far too infrequently. But after too much relaxation and too little studying, a break can increase the levels of stress that inflict when work picks up again. Everyone handles stress in differently, but hopefully in the end, everyone can find their own way to cope with the stresses of balancing school and extra curriculars successfully and peacefully.

A net worth of a whopping 52.4 billion dollars was dished out of society’s pocket on this day. Up 16.4% since last year. The amount of money spent from person to person differed, but none the less money has been spent.

Lines reaching past the front of many local businesses.”The line outside Forever 21 literally swept us off out feet,” said sophomore Mia Vollaro, who found herself among other students in the enormous lines outside the doors of the Chandler Fashion Center. Students and locals began lining up outside the doors of the shops as early as 6 p.m. Thursday night to score the great deals found each year on this glorious shopping day.

    “I got there at twelve. It was packed and there were really long lines to get in.” said Jessie Mickus.

The doors of most stores opened at midnight on Thursday; the average person participating in the Black Friday outing finds themselves arriving around 11-11:30pm on Thursday night.

Black Friday set the tone for the rest of this trading quarter. About 40% of the entire year’s sales is made in December. As consumers gain confidence in spending the season will be a jolly one for America’s businesses.

Since September the unemployment rate has dropped as well, shinning a new light on the unemployment crisis. The holidays are turning out to be a merry time for America as a whole.

Black Friday is the biggest shopping day in America making 52.4 billion dollars this year. The doors opened as early as 6 on Thanksgiving to let the money madness begin.

“It was insane. People are crazy,” senior Brooklynn Rydman says, “everyone was obviously really tired, and really irritable. They were taking it out on [the workers].” Rydman was working as a volunteer at the mall during midnight madness.

The security guards slowly cracked open one of the entrances, at first letting in only a couple people at a time to prevent injuries. Eager shoppers were pressed against the glass, sticking their hands through the doors as guards yelled for the few that had entered to not run. The shoppers ignored and continued to sprint through the mall. As if realizing that the people weren’t going to back off, the guards eventually just opened the entrance and the people with their pockets stuffed with cash stampeded into the food court.

According to others who attended the event, it didn’t quite live up to its notorious name of “madness.”

“I didn’t expect it; I thought it was going to be a lot crazier,” freshman Halie Johnson said. “Some [of the lines outside of stores] were really long, like Victoria’s Secret, but others weren’t as long.”

As advertized, there were plenty of reasons for the long lines. The sales were ridiculous; some stores, such as New York & Company, were offering 50% off for anything in the store. Sales like that only come around once a year, and the Chandler Fashion Center celebrated with great enthusiasm—and it showed as shoppers exited the mall with smiles on their faces, and their hands full.

The club has partnered with AZ Adoption and Foster Care to bring Christmas gifts to less fortunate families. Visit http://www.childcrisis.org/aafc/index.html to learn more about their organization and their movement.

“We hope to give a family in need an amazing holiday.’ said Latin Club sponsor and Latin teacher Sarah Palumbo.

Everyone can participate in this project, not only the Latin Club. Anyone can donate gifts, and anyone can offer to help with the gift-wrapping.  Gifts that have been donated in the past has been from anywhere from gift cards to bikes that look like motorcycles.

After all the gifts have been donated than Latin Club has a huge wrapping party at one of their meetings than they deliver it to the organization.

“Many have been blessed with a house, jobs and clothes. It only makes sense that we try to help those in need,” said Palumbo.

“It’s chaos. We’re making history, though–It’s the first time in the history of Desert Vista that there has been free and open trade without tariffs,” explained economics teacher Shannon Corcoran as she gained the crowds attention at the podium.

The point of the game is to better your country and help others, too. Teams gain point values for exports and imports made to and from a country, and you have to trade them with other countries.

Corcoran again turned to the microphone to announce, “It’s the time you all have been waiting for–trade session and summit making!”

At 10:45 a.m. the room immediately exploded with movement. Drew Denike, wearing a sleeveless green shirt and rugged blue jeans, said “I’m almost out of breath running around here-it’s hectic, but fun.”

The group who represented India brought thin sugar cookies with the Om symbol written in icing, delicious looking curry, samosas and naan, all traditional foods representing their country.

“You bring food around to attract people to your table and so they can get to know more about your country and your trade issues,” said Alexa Saunders, of India. Another member, Alison Brown, wore native clothing and Nick Carter dressed as a technical support employee.

“I dressed as tech support because India is infamous for it,” he said of the activity. A trade show goes down at the India booth, with a sweaty, excited flurry of words with lightning precision.

“What can we buy?” said Joe Kim.

“What do you want?” said Dana Zack.

“What do you sell the cheapest?”

“Transport for 3 devcos”, (the in-game currency represents a standard of living.)

“Done.”

With that verbal agreement and changing of hands of some scraps of paper, Kim rushes off to a different booth just as fast as he had swooped in. A Grecian calls out, “We had a good trade issue, but it kind of went out the door.”

The German table includes sausages, black forest cupcakes, soft pretzels, and cider in lieu of beer. Canadian students present passer byers and potential trade-partners with maple syrup and pancakes. Annie Huang, dressed in a green and white woven poncho, stood in front of a presentation for Chile.

“We’re learning about the world issues,” Huang said. “We’re trying to form alliances but mostly it’s about trading.”

Classes spent time researching countries, looking up recipes and designing costumes to lead up to the project event.

“It took 3-4 weeks to prepare this and our countries were picked out of a hat,” said Senior Thomas Nickel. “This project is an exercise to show how countries interacting with each other affects global economics.”

Alison Brown, wearing a red bindi and neon green dress with a head covering said, “I think it helps better the understanding of the global market. There’s food, fake mustaches, and it’s a rousing good time.”

“I wish we weren’t so busy with our jobs,” said James Sohn, who had been standing on a chair at the Kyrgyzstan station for three periods in order to attract commerce, “because I really want to walk around and eat some of the food. That and the costumes are the best pa-.”

He cut off mid-sentence in order to yell out “Finance! Who has finance! We buy!” to all in the room who could hear. When he returned his attention, he complained “it really sucks you can’t declare war,” as he glared at the Japanese booth.

Kelsey Krug of South Korea delineated her country’s economic strategy. “We’re seeking a trade alliance with Japan, I think it will be very fruitful for both our groups,” she said.

Caitlin Feldewerth, representing Cambodia and wearing a slew of cloths draped around her. “It’s frustrating when the third world countries get overlooked and represents reality very well.”

Julia Thatcher, the student body president, dressed in Student Council spirit wear, helped out at the bank. “Mainly, we exchange currencies and take loans,” she said.  “The whole thing is a fantastic idea and very unique–only Desert Vista offers this in the entire state of Arizona.”

Amanda Coyle said, “I work at the bank, in which we just give out loans and help exchange. I was participating in the country Australia, but we unfortunately dropped out. It was super fun, and helps us learn about the economy and how to improve standards of living,”

Valeria Herrera said she thought the project was fun, but it took a lot of hard work and plenty of researching. “In the end, it has been very interesting and a good learning experience,” Herrera said.  “My favorite out of all the countries is Spain, they had the best food.”

Spain’s trade issue won first place, making them the leader in solar energy. Ireland won second by passing NO TARIFFS when trading, so there could be free and open trade. Guatemala won third by eliminating cartels. Greece and Russia tied in fourth place on their trade issues. According to Jonathan De Simone, “the hardest part of the project is probably remembering the rules and the best part is honestly the food.”

Corcoran gave what she saw as the benefits of the project. “These kids didn’t really know anything about their countries and some had a negative image on their countries and they had to learn a lot about a whole new side of living.”

By:Lotus Rogers

Staff writer

Almost everyone here in Ahwatukee,  probably gets enough to eat everyday and is part of their everyday life style: eat a bowl of cereal with some orange juice, snack on a couple chips before lunch which consists of salad and a cup of pasta, then snack on another handful of chips and maybe a granola bar,  then at last, come home and chow down on dad’s famous steak and baby-back ribs, complete with a cone of chocolate ice cream for desert.  Hungry? Students don’t know half of the agonizing pain of true hunger. Skipping a donut at breakfast doesn’t count. Not eating desert doesn’t cut it either. When living in a country full of McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Safeway’s, almost every 5 blocks, saying,  “I’m starving” is not an option.

143 million children worldwide, don’t get enough to eat everyday. That is millions of children sitting in their homes or in the streets with their stomachs aching and praying for at least a crumb of food to slip down their throat. They would do anything for a plate of warm, buttery toast, a bowl of chicken noodle soup, or a glass of cool lemonade. Us in Ahwatukee have easy access to food when ever we want. But in other countries or even across America, it would be lucky to get an apple for a day.
Luckily, Casandra Undhagen is ready to make a difference on the world hunger level. This freshman at DV, is leading the high school student ministry at Mountain Park Community Church, as well as the community to help an organization called One Meal One Day.

This is a Compassion International organization that invites anyone to skip a meal for one day. But why would students want to volunteer to say no to the tasty fuel that they chow down constantly 24/7? The money that  would have been used to buy a chicken fillet, or mac and cheese, goes to One Meal One Day to feed a child. To  feel hunger, means a child doesn’t have to.

“One Meal One Day is a chance for people like me, who have more than enough, to be able to give to those who have nothing. It is an opportunity to show act of love towards strangers.” said Undhagen. This is a chance for students to give back and have appreciation for what they have.

Students here and from the high school ministry, are working hard to raise awareness to the project. They will be selling bracelets for a dollar and shirts for $20, as well as walking around with jugs for change. Anything that is contributed will go towards feeding a child. The actual day of One Meal One Day is on November 9th. On this day, simply skip lunch, and the money that would have been spent buying lunch or a portion of a grocery bill, can be handed to anyone collecting donations for the cause.

“The outcome of this, I honestly don’t know. I feel that some people are really going to get involved and step up to the plate. While some others will probably ignore all of it and continue living in their zone of comfort.” explained Undhagen, who is trying to predict the outcome of the event. “Hopefully everyone will want to make a change in these kids lives.”

Although a fair percentage of students practice a Christian religion, there are also others that have different religions such as Mormon, Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic or Atheist.  But this program at the school is open to all beliefs.

“The reason I am doing this is because I feel God is calling me to love these strangers recklessly.You definitely don’t have to be a christian or have religion to feed those who are starving,” said Undhagen. “You only need the motivation and love, wherever that comes from.”

The over all goal of One Meal One Day team is not only to get at least $10,000 in donations, but also to raise awareness about many children are dying of starvation, and that there is a way we can help.

“A goal for me is to show people what God can really do in their lives.” said Undhagen. “People might question you for your actions, but the important thing is to have your mind set on the good thing that you are doing.”

For more information about how to get involved go to the One Meal One Day website: www.onemealoneday.org/