The cost of staying current
February 29, 2008
By: Erin Lowe <elowe@hilite.org>
Walking down the hallway, junior Alixandra “Ali” Decaudin notices two other girls wearing Ugg boots. She herself has a pair of brown Ugg boots, but Decaudin said she does not know what to think about all of these trends. “Some of these trends are new like Ugg boots,” she said. “However, there are also dated fashions like leggings and skinny jeans that have been brought back.”
Every era is characterized by certain trends going, back to the elaborate gowns of the Victorian age. The 1920s brought the flapper style while the 1960s brought the miniskirt. Every decade has added something new to the mix. In the 21st century, trends are not only growing but trying to keep up with them has become increasingly more expensive.
According to personal finance teacher, Irene Farrell, this has become a real problem for teenagers because companies market expensive products like iPods and Ugg boots to them more than any other age group.
“Teenagers are heavily marketed to,” Farrell said. “In 2006, teenagers alone spent $129 billion. As an age group, they are really being hit at a time when they are learning how to manage their money properly.”
Compounded with the ordeal of trying to learn how to manage money, adolescents are the group most susceptible to following trends. “I think everyone follows trends or at least they follow some part of the trends,” Decaudin said, “A lot of people right now are really into Uggs, leggings, skinny jeans, the iTouch, the iPhone and laptops. I really don’t care about keeping up with trends though.”
According to Farrell, teenagers need to decide for themselves whether the item that they are buying is really worth the money. “My advice would be if you really want the product, research it and wait to see if it is worth the price that you will spend on it,” Farrell said.
“I think keeping up with trends is worth it,” Decaudin said. “I mean Uggs are expensive but I buy them anyway. Some jeans can be expensive too. I just think it is expensive to keep up with trends in general.”
A pair of Ugg boots, which is extremely popular, can cost anywhere from $120 to $325. A pair of jeans can be anywhere from $25 to $90, yet teenagers still buy these products in mass.
Farrell said she recommends several ways to deal with overspending. “ I think each student needs to set a savings goal for themselves. If they have a job, they should take a certain percentage of each paycheck and commit to not spend it,” Farrell said. “ If you want to start slow, you can also start a budget and spending journal. However, those are kind of like diets. They work for a while but many times, people will forget to record in them. I think those usually work for people that do not give much thought to what they buy.”
However, Farrell said she understands that saving is hard. “It is difficult to save because we are such a consumption-oriented society,” she said. According to Farrell, it is all about moderation. “I think students should be able to treat themselves once in a while. But at the same time, they need to be aware of how much they are spending. When it comes to spending, everyone makes mistakes but if teenagers can learn from them, they (mistakes) are the biggest teachers.
The Internet, it’s all the rage
February 29, 2008
By: Lily Zhao <lzhao@hilite.org>
Junior Danshi Su’s weekdays pretty much run the same course; he gets home, finishes his homework and then sits down with his obsession: his computer, which contains all of his precious video games. Not only is his computer his main life source, but it is also a tool that he uses daily to probe the online world of fads and trends in the 21st century.
“(My computer and games) are more important than food,” Su said. “I need them in order to breathe.”
According to Bonnie Grimble, the media department chairperson, the Internet and other sources of technology like it are embedded in our everyday lives, so students use the Internet as a tool because in terms of connectivity, it’s faster, quicker and easier. Furthermore, because of the increased time that teenagers like Su spend on the computer, Grimble said that they are more likely to set their sights on trends or fads in clothing, technology, online sites or games.
Not only does technology help facilitate many changing trends and fads, but it can make many students dependent on the Internet, which can affect them academically or personally.
Su’s counselor Kristina Hartman said that because most students are on their computer for a good amount of time everyday—be it looking up fads or just surfing the web—some students can create a false sense of reality.
“Now with the invention of cyber world websites, some people are creating the largest components of their lives online, and I think this is a false type of socialization and it is not reality,” Hartman said.
For Su, he said that he is hooked to these online crazes, but stays grounded reality-wise. While Hamsterdance and JibJab were popular Internet fads back in the ’90s, new online fads have surfaced, such as YouTube, Facebook and MySpace.
Su said that he spends about three hours each weekday online but can spend up to 14 to 18 hours during holiday breaks or school vacations.
Not only do Internet fads help influence students’ decisions, but they also have an influence on what a student wears, buy or eat. “I tried black chocolate once because there was a Facebook group about how healthy it was,” Su said. “It’s actually pretty good.”
Furthermore, Su—who said he is obsessed with the “World of Warcraft” game online—said that once he started going online he could not stop. This presents another issue for students. Since many students cannot get off the computer, these online fads deter some students away from their homework and sometimes even, the social aspects in their lives.
In regards to helping students stop their addictions to trends and fads, Grimble said that it is a self-discipline problem that should be addressed at home with parents. Hartman said that she would advise students with addictions to just seek the help of an adult, parent or counselor as well.
Furthermore, because these online fads can be so addictive, many students miss out on some social aspects. Hartman said that some students cope with this by creating their own virtual world. However, while not every student does it, she said that many students just try to create a world that is not real with the online fads.
“To deal with this the most important thing a parent can do is be aware of what their children are doing on the computer. It is also important to do things together as a family that do not involve the computer,” Hartman said. “Get out and be active.”
Su said that getting over his addiction to the many Internet fads will take some time but does not guarantee anything yet. Su said, “I can’t think of a world without the Internet or “World of Warcraft”. I can not comprehend the magnitude of that happening.”
Distinguished Grad emphasizes quantity over quality
February 29, 2008
By: Jaclyn Chen <jchen@hilite.org>
Two weeks ago, I sat down to complete my Distinguished Graduate application, the new program set up in place of the valedictorian selection to honor a group of students who’ve achieved both academically and extracurricularly. And while that sounds like a statement straight out of a PR manual, it’s the program’s professed purpose. Read more
Hectic life makes procrastination the norm
February 29, 2008
By: Jon Haslam <jhaslam@hilite.org>
Over the past few months, I’ve come to a realization about the society that we live in. The rate of life in which we live, is much faster paced than it has been in the past. We live in culture where instant results and immediate gratification have grown to become the norm. If my dinner takes longer than three minutes in the microwave, I begin weighing other options that might be a faster way to get food into my system. If I text one of my friends and I don’t get a response within a few minutes, I begin to grow uneasy and anxious. Do we value our time more? Or is it simply trying to accomplish all that can be done in 24 short hours?
Whether you like it or not society moves fast, and if you don’t move fast, too, you might fall behind. Making it from the E rooms to the math department in 10 minutes is hard enough, but in a culture that moves so quickly, how is there any time to waste?
In an attempt to slow everything down, we build something into our lives and schedules to makes us feel more relaxed and at ease. Procrastination. Procrastinating is my way of slowing down. There is always something that needs to be done and there is always a deadline, but when I keep up with my tasks the only reward I get is another one waiting just around the corner. I keep my tasks and assignments as long as I can in order to feel like I have it all under control and to make if feel like the world is moving at my speed. There is no worse feeling than, feeling as though something has become beyond your control. At that point, motivation to keep up with everything around you comes to screaming halt.
As a student and a human being for that matter, we have a lot to worry about— relationships, work, school, sports, the future—and keeping up with it all, is nearly an impossible task. How can we be expected to not put certain things off until the last minute when so much is on our plate?
When I take a step back, I realize that the more time someone has with a task, the better the end result. Which would you rate higher, the doodles in the notes I was supposed to be taking or the Mona Lisa? It really brings up the idea of time vs. quality. So many people look for instant results, that true hard work is being overshadowed by sheer convenience.
Don’t get me wrong, completing tasks as they hit you can be a good thing. Keeping up with the world around you provides great experience as to how you will be living the rest of your life. It just seems as though we can only do that for so long until we become fatigued and start looking for some sort of outlet to just slow down. Jon Haslam is a reporter for the HiLite. Email him at jhaslam@hilite.org.
Gymnastics Sectional nears, might be last for head coach
February 29, 2008
By: Lily Zhao <lzhao@hilite.org>
With her hands powdered and her mind set, Dani Goeman, gymnastics captain and sophomore, gets set to practice attempting the vault, bars, beam and floor. Not only does she strive to get better at these four routines, but she will also be performing all of them at the upcoming gymnastics Sectional.
“It would be really good (to get out of Sectional),” Goeman said. “Because this is such a small group, (getting to Regional) will be great because it really shows that we earned it.”
According to Head Coach Jerry Brickley, the gymnastics Sectional will be at Warren Central on Saturday, with 12 to 13 teams represented. Last year, the gymnastics team finished fifth at State, but this year, Brickley said his goals is for his team to do something that it has never done before: break 100. By doing so, he said, it would give the team a good chance of getting out, or moving on to Regional. For Brickley, who plans to retire from coaching after this season, this will be his last time coaching the team at Sectional, or at all. He said that with” (the season) is winding down, it will be a little surreal (when the season is over)”.
“My focus right now is on the girls,” Brickley said. “I’m really proud of them.”
Brickley also said that at Sectional, there is a totally different environment than at regular meets. He said that he enjoys the Sectional for the pressure and that the team has to be coordinated and calm in order to do well. He also said that because there is a lot of pressure, he thrives on it.
For Goeman, she said that for her Sectional is not any different from regular practices.
“You get a huge adrenaline rush and Sectional is longer (than regular meets),” said. “But we know that if we don’t do well, our season might be done.”
In order to achieve that 100-point score and move onto Regional as a team, Brickley said that he is “always fighting for those tenths (on the score).” He said that the team is currently throwing new skills and fine-tuning its current routines. He said that scoring in gymnastics is much different from any other score because on the bars, beam and floor there are levels of difficulty. He said that the judges give you points based off of what skills are put into the routine; eight skills are a requirement. Also, skills include releases on bars or full turns on beams; the most important, Brickley said, was execution, where the judges automatically start off with four points and deduct from there.
“They’ve really worked hard at breaking 100. If we move on that would be great,” he said.
Now while this is his last season, Brickley said he has had some highlights this season. He said that it’s “always fun when you work someone through a mental block.” But his defining moment of the season was at the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (MIC) meet, when Goeman scored a perfect 8.8 on the vault and the judges called him over to tell him that she had a perfect score.
Brickley’s other defining moment he said that he also enjoys seeing the girls hanging out as a team; that they really love to be in one another’s company. It is moments like these, along with the memories of several crashes where gymnasts have landed on him, which he said he will cherish.
Goeman said that while she is looking forward to seeing the Warren Central gymnasts again because they are all good friends, she said that she hopes that this good year will be accented with a Sectional win. She said if the team does move out of Sectional, it will still be great because “this year, we were not really focusing on scores.”
According to Brickley, he said that he knows his girls will perform well because they have worked out all season. Due to its strenuous and dedicated work ethic, last year’s Sectional brought a lot of students here to support their gymnastics team.
“(Gymnastics) is different. It is unlike any other sports contest,” Brickley said. “It’s seeing things that you won’t believe. Some girls can really move their bodies in a way that it really seems that they can fly.”
Splashing into the record books
February 29, 2008
By: Daniyal Habib <dhabib@hilite.org>
After another year, there is one more state title trophy in the women’s swimming trophy case. According to Jessie Hammes, varsity swimmer and junior, though, this year’s title was the most special.
“This year has definitely been the most special because everyone worked so hard this year and it paid off. There were very few disappointing swims.
“This was the year that we were ‘supposed’ to get beat, and it was a little scary. We all really stepped it up, though, and I think it really showed how hard we had worked and how bad we wanted to win,” Hammes said.
Indeed, the women finished up a national-record tying 22nd consecutive women’s swimming state title season. The Punahou School in Honolulu is the other school with 22 straight women’s swimming state wins.
Only four longer high school state title streaks exist in the nation, ever, for any sport. Wilson High School in Tacoma, Washington had 24 straight men’s swimming titles from 1960 to 1984. Mt. St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island had 26 straight wins in men’s hockey from 1978 to 2003. Pickford High School in Pickford, Michigan had 27 straight men’s track and field state titles from 1952 to 1978.
The granddaddy of them all goes to the Punahou School in Honolulu with 29 straight men’s swimming state wins from 1958 to 1986.
Hammes knows that the burden of senior leadership will be placed upon her shoulders next year, and she said she was excited to accept the challenge.
“I’m really excited to be a senior next year. Our leadership was so awesome this year, which I think contributed to our success, so I’m going to have to try to follow their example. A big part of that is upholding our many traditions, but still keep the team moving forward.
“It’s going to be a big challenge because we have some really strong seniors who scored at state. We just have to fill in the gaps and look to the younger swimmers to try and make up for who we lost,” Hammes said.
As far as predictions go, Hammes would not offer one. She said, “I don’t want to jinx anything!” Time will tell if Hammes can lead the team to State next year.
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