Elections officials enact new policies
April 29, 2008
By: Michael Wang and Lexi Muir <mwang@hilite.org, lmuir@hilite.org>
For sophomore Adam Burns, his dreams of becoming Junior Class vice president are finally within reach because the elections for class officer and Senate begin next Tuesday and end on May 9. Burns said, “I really just wanted to get more involved in school. I have good leadership skills. I like getting involved and I like to think that I am a good person. I would love to get people to vote for me and win.”
Despite the excitement from possible candidates, like Burns, who are eager to begin campaigning, according to Assistant Principal Amy Skeens-Benton, who has been in charge of student elections for two years, there have been several new policies implemented this year, which, including the upcoming class officer and Senate election also applied to last week’s Student Body President and Speaker of the House elections. Skeens-Benton mentioned these new policies to the candidates at a mandatory meeting on April 2.
She said candidates running for Student Body President and Speaker of the House could not spend any more than $150 for campaign materials and candidates running for class officer and Senate cannot spend any more than $75. According to her, this budget limit was enforced this year because in past years some candidates have spent lavish amounts of money on campaigning. After the election ends, she said all candidates, including the ones who did not win, will have to turn in a budget form to verify they adhered to the new policy. If a candidate wins but didn’t adhere to this new policy, Skeens-Benton said, “We may have to go with the next candidate.”
In addition to the new budget limit, students could only campaign beginning on April 21 if they were running for Student Body President or Speaker of the House and can start this Tuesday if they plan to run for a class officer or Senate position. Ways to campaign include T-shirts, posters, fliers, Internet, candy and freebies.
Under the new restrictions, according to Skeens-Benton, the Internet would be the best and easiest way to campaign.
Though some candidates have already made support groups on Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace, Skeens-Benton said those new groups need to stay inactive until campaigning officially begins, which was agreed upon by all the candidates at the April 2 mandatory meeting. She said, “(Students) have already set up pages. We had to get people to agree that they didn’t have to put down the site but it had do be inactive for right now. Then they can reactivate it at the time of campaigning. You cannot be sending (any messages) out.”
Despite the new policies this year in regards to elections, Skeens-Benton said the voting process will remain the same.
In order to be eligible to run for class officer and Senate, candidates need to turn in their forms by tomorrow. Skeens-Benton said she will tell candidates who the class officers and Senate members are on May 9, and winners will be announced to the school on May 12.
Tough Choices
April 29, 2008
By: Rosemary Boeglin <rboeglin@hilite.org>
Seniors Stevan Stankovich and Scott Williamson have good timing. They are eligible to vote this year and both are registered. They have sorted through the ideologies of the candidates and decided they want a Democrat in office. Both students are just in time to vote in the first influential Indiana state primary since Nixon and Kennedy.
“It is amazing for my first time voting to be involved in such a critical election. I could not have been more lucky to get to start voting this year,” said Stankovich, a moderate Democrat who supports Hillary Clinton.
Williamson, also a Democrat, said, “I am a strong supporter of Barack Obama and want to do whatever possible to help him wrap up the Democratic nomination.”
This year, the Indiana Democratic primary takes place on Tuesday with Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the ballot. According to Mary Beth Schneider of The Indianapolis Star, this is the first time in two decades that Indiana has been influential in the Democratic primary.
Alicia Smith, U.S. History and U.S. Government teacher, said that Indiana’s newfound importance in the national elections has affected Carmel. “I think it is creating more excitement because people are hearing about presidential candidates campaigning in Indiana and this is helping to generate more interest at the state and local level as well,” she said.
Because Indiana’s primary is of consequence this year, Williamson said that it is meaningful for every person to vote. “Especially in Hamilton County, where Democrats are such a minority, every vote counts for the Democratic Primary. As far as support goes, I think that organizing works like the movie ‘Pay it Forward,’ where every person you bring to your side might reach out to a few more people, creating a strong, grassroots campaign. So everyone can play an important role,” Williamson said.
Obama and Clinton know that Indiana is important this year, too. Kip Tew, the chairperson of Obama’s Indiana campaign, told Schneider, “I anticipate an all-out campaign here in Indiana.”
Similarly, Clinton’s Hoosier campaign chairperson Joe Hogsett said in an interview with Schneider, “It’s exciting, the voice of Indiana Democrats will be heard.”
Williamson echoes Hogsett’s statement, but specifically pertaining to young Hoosiers. “I think Indiana youth will be very excited to have a say in this election,” Williamson said.
Williamson said he is enthusiastic about the campaign and elections in general. “I have been following the campaign since the beginning, and knew that I would be supporting a Democrat,” he said. “ Initially I was attracted to Obama for his person life story and the lack of Bush or Clinton in his name.”
Stankovich was drawn to Clinton for the exact opposite reason. “Well, what first interested me (in Clinton) was that I was a big fan of Bill Clinton, so I thought I would like Hillary as well,” he said.
After Williamson’s initial gravitation toward Obama, he said he dug deeper and said he only found more to support about him. “After doing more research, I found that I agreed with the majority of Obama’s policy ideas. I also believe that his abilities to speak, persuade and build up political coalitions would make him an excellent president who could unite the country and overcome Washington gridlock,” Williamson said.
Stankovich was also confirmed in his preference for Clinton after further investigation. “The core reason I support Hillary is after researching both candidates, I saw Hillary Clinton had the values that really matter to me,” he said. “She is trying to get universal health care coverage for Americans, which is long over due. She knows how Washington works and has the experience to fight for what needs to be done in America. She also supports the middle class and wants to decrease taxes for the Americans who make $200,000 dollars or less and roll back the Bush tax cuts for the absurdly wealthy. She is also going to try to make college more affordable. Finally, and most importantly, she has the experience, passion and drive to fight to change America for the better.”
Even though Williamson said that he is a strong supporter of a Democratic candidate, he said he was not always aligned with the left. “I am a Democrat,” he said. “After living overseas and watching the Bush presidency with disgust and doing a lot of reading on my own about history and politics, I realized that I was liberal.”
Due to the magnitude of this election, Williamson said he has taken steps to get other students involved.
Smith said the social studies department tries to make the process easier for students so they are more apt to get involved. “The teachers in the social studies department make the forms available to juniors and seniors,” she said. “We also collect and turn them in for students so that they are more likely to register to vote. We also make forms available for students to sign up and work the precincts on election day so that students can be actively involved on election day.”
Stankovich said his plight for Clinton is not always easy. “I talk to my friends and try to convince them to vote for Hillary. Most of the time it doesn’t work because a lot of them are very conservative and wouldn’t vote for a Democrat in a million years,” he said.
Teachers take steps to get students informed about the elections according to Smith. “We encourage them to watch the news, discuss the topics with their family and friends, incorporate the current election information into the curriculum as well as have student’s complete current events in our government class,” Smith said.
Although he is hoping for an Obama victory, Williamson said he is unsure about the results of the primary. “As of now, it’s a toss up. The demographics lean toward Hillary, but I think there is a lot of excitement about Obama in this state, so I could definitely see it going his way,” he said.
Despite his enthusiasm for Obama, Williamson said, if it came down to it, he would vote for Clinton. “I do not like how Hillary has run her campaign, and I do not believe that she would be as strong a president as Obama. However, I agree with her policies over those of McCain,” he said.
Stankovich said he might take the Republican road if Obama were to receive the nomination, “(I) probably (would not vote for Obama) unless Hillary was the VP of the ticket. Obama is too inexperienced, and so far what I have heard from him has been empty and not with a lot of real solutions.”
For Williamson, the long-term effects of this campaign are not entirely in the hands of either Clinton or Obama. “This election has really drawn me into politics,” he said. “And as a result, I think I will stay involved throughout my life.”
Clinton’s visit precursor to primary
April 29, 2008
By: Jaclyn Chen <jchen@hilite.org>
The pounding beat of country music, the daunting American flag hanging front and center and the roar of the crowd were only appropriate to welcome to school Monday morning former President Bill Clinton. Read more
Slideshow Feature: Bill Clinton at CHS
April 28, 2008
Former President Bill Clinton visited CHS today and spoke to juniors, seniors and other community members in the varsity gymnasium. Photos by Managing editor John Shi
(Exclusively Online) Sudoku Solution for 04/03/08
April 15, 2008
EPA raising air quality standards, designed to reduce heart and asthma attacks
April 3, 2008
By: Michael Wang <mwang@hilite.org>
Junior Fatimah Hameed was diagnosed with asthma the summer after seventh grade. She said she realized she had asthma when she found it increasingly difficult to breathe in Carmel Middle School, which has carpeted walls and could thus trap dust.
Air quality can negatively affect people like Hameed with asthma or other respiratory illnesses.
Nurse Carol Gelatt said, “With a pollutant in the air, that causes an irritant to those airways and causes more of an allergic reaction and therefore causes some tightening and increased mucous in those airways, which (makes) it difficult to pass air in and out.”
However, Hameed’s condition may be exacerbated, because according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Web site, the air in hundreds of U.S. counties, including Hamilton, is too dirty to breathe.
The new EPA standard will lower the allowable concentration of ozone, commonly known as smog, in the air to no more than 75 parts per billion, compared with the old standard of 80. Health experts feel this new standard can significantly reduce heart and asthma attacks from breathing smog-clogged air.
Maintenance foreman Michael Wyatt is in charge of air handling at this school. “There is like a cube of air that they measure and there are 80 parts in that cube of air. That is particles per million,” he said.
Wyatt elaborated that though there is a change to the EPA standards, it will be a minor one.
Hameed said, “You might not notice (the change), but I think to a certain degree it definitely will (help). Maybe if we don’t even realize it, it will still be affecting us and still be improving our own health.”
When the EPA listed the counties in Indiana that contain air that is too dirty to breathe, which included Hamilton County, it only applied to outside air. However, this still is pertinent to the high school.
Wyatt said, “We bring in 30 percent outside air. That is fresh air into the building and that would affect (the air quality). I mean, if they cleaned up the (outside) air a little better, it would make it better (at this school). (The other 70 percent of air) is re-circulated air into the building.”
However, Wyatt said there is no way to evaluate the air quality here.
“We rarely evaluate it. There is no testing you can do,” he said.
Some upcoming factors may affect air quality as well.
According to Wyatt, there is a construction project that is speculated to begin after spring break which could affect the air quality.
However, Wyatt said the air quality should not be affected too much here.
“We built the Freshman Center. There shouldn’t be anything that (the workers) do to cause any (bad air),” he said.
Other factors that may involve air quality here concern the switch from heating to cooling.
Wyatt said, “We have a chilled water system. We have a cooling tower that chills the machine down, so that is winterized, so that is drained out. In the spring, we fill that back up and switch over. We can do it within 24 hours. When the temperature gets above 55 degrees at night on a constant basis and above 60 degrees during the day, we will have it.” However, Wyatt said this switch won’t affect the air quality at this school.
As to how EPA is raising the standard of the quality of air, Gelatt said, “Any type of improvement would be a good improvement.”
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