Equality… what does that word actually mean? In any dictionary, it means the quality or state of being equal. But do you really think people follow what the meaning of the word is? Mitt Romney doesn’t. So don’t ask him for the definition, he wouldn’t know if it was the broad side of the barn. The gay rights act has been a major issue involving the upcoming elections. This is the wedge of all electors and the make it or break it marker for every electoral campaign.

Society has been in this war of American gays having rights for a very long time now. Courtny Roderick says that, “It’s been such a big issue since way back so why fight it? It’s going to continue to happen, even though we continue to fight against the rights.” And it is doubted that it will stop being a political fight because one straight man (president Obama) said that he is, “Okay with gays and wants their vote.” He has my vote for sure. Not only because he said that, but because when you watch his interviews on this subject, he is sincere about it, and not just thinking about the politics and elections. He actually is thinking upon evolution. Mrs. Noble, a Newport High School librarian, was asked her view on how politics are handling the gay rights act; her comment was, “The declaration of Independence says, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…”

Things need to be changed, but it shouldn’t be an argument upon politics. Gay rights, including marriage, etc., shouldn’t be the highlights of politics. Citizens may agree or disagree but it should be up to the president to change things.

Summer air is rising up, so get on your swimsuits and head down to the most delightful place in the northwestern United States, Silverwood Theme Park and Boulder Beach Water Park. It is the largest amusement park in this part of the U.S., and is now celebrating its 25th year since the day it opened. When this amusement park was under construction, there was doubt to whether or not people would visit the creation. Clearly, this wasn’t the case at all. According to recent records, more than 8.5 million guests have gone through the gates since Silverwood first opened in 1988. Originally Gary Norton, the inventor of this magnificent park, had planed for “vintage planes, trains, and automobiles” which has now been improved to an extreme theme and water park with 65 or more rides plus the many attractions.

In honor of Silverwood’s 25th anniversary, The Spokesman-Review is inviting students throughout the Northwest to get involved in two intriguing contests. The first contest is open to grades K-12. It includes drawing your vision of what the Silverwood theme park will look like for their 50th anniversary. The next contest is open to grades 1-8. In this competition, you must write a 100-500 word essay on “Why My Class Needs a Picnic at Silverwood Theme Park”. But, only one essay will be chosen. The winning class will receive a super spring picnic at the Northwest’s largest theme park. Finalists in both contests will be displayed in the park this summer and in The Spokesman-Review. Join the fun and participate in one of these two exciting competitions.

A few students were interviewed on the subject. “Do you go to Silverwood often?” Taylor Woods responds by saying, “No, I don’t go to Silverwood that often. I usually go only when the family goes.” When asked, “When is your favorite time to go to Silverwood?” Tami Bridges, a Junior, states her opinion as, “Summer! No rain.” Clearly, she knows what she wants. Judah Meek, a senior at Newport High School, was asked, “What is your favorite ride at Silverwood?” Her response was, “The umbrella ride because it makes you feel like you’re flying.” So get ready for a magical ride on May 5, 2012, when Silverwood opens yet again for a wonderful season of happiness and help celebrate the amazing 25 years of the magnificent theme park.

    On April 27, 2012 NASA said goodbye to the Space Shuttle called Enterprise. No- it’s not the one from Star Trek, but the shuttle was named after the famous fictional space ship.  After being retired in 1974, the ship was transported to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. How did it get there you may ask? It was placed on the top of a modified 747 via the “ultimate piggy – back ride” (Lynch). For photographers, there will be some very special photo moments. The shuttle will be flying past national monuments, including the Statue of Liberty.  When the space shuttle arrives at JFK it will be transported by boat upriver until it reaches the museum. The Enterprise’s expected arrival is sometime in June this summer. Once it arrives, it will be crane lifted onto the 900 foot long aircraft carrier, Intrepid. Intrepid served as a WW2 and Vietnam War carrier and also served as a recovery vessel for NASA’s space program. The Enterprise is one of four shuttles to be sent off to other qualifying museums. So next time you’re in New York, make sure to have Scotty beam you down to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. When Caitlin Balasa’s father, Andrew Balasa was asked, “With the space shuttle program ending, what does this mean for NASA?”he replied, “I believe that this is close to the end of NASA’s space programs due to all the recent budget cutbacks.”

The 2011-2012 school year has been full of events for the students at Newport High School. From Homecoming to Spring Break, Seniors are rushing to finish up with the rest of the school year before they graduate on June 9th and head off to college. This will be the last time many Seniors will see each other until their class reunions. Here’s a look back at this year: the Senior Class managed to win homecoming after three years of coming in last place, they also went to Silverwood for the annual Scarywood Theme Park, and the Winter Ball arrived.

Homecoming is towards the beginning of the year during the football season. This year, the Newport High School Senior Class of 2012 managed to pull off a win after coming in last place for the past three years straight. There has been talk of Homecoming being rigged in the favor of the current Senior Class that year. The theme the Seniors won with was Curse the Cougars; filled with a Halloween theme to give it that cursed look. Previous themes for that class include: Light up the Lancers (Junior), The running of the Bulldogs (Sophomore), and Bulldoze the Bulldogs (Freshmen). They also had the opportunity to create and perform their own “Senior Stomp” in front of the entire High School that Friday. Later on that night, the Newport Grizzly football team took down the Chewelah Cougars 41-26.

Several weeks later, the Seniors took a trip to Scarywood in order to celebrate their final year of high school together. They left the high school at 4:30 on October 14th, 2011 during the school’s parent/teacher conferences. Arriving at the theme park around 6:00, the group headed in to the nearby pizza parlor before running off towards the Zombie Express Train-ride at 7:00. Many students found this enjoyable as it put their fears to the test, seeing if they could handle their fears in real life.

Later on, the Seniors hosted the Winter Ball at Kelly’s restaurant in Newport, Washington. It was the first time in years that a restaurant/bar had ever been used as the venue for the school dance. A new DJ was hired to work at the dance, playing many remixes of favored songs. Along with dancing, students were also able to hang out in the dining area as well as play pool against their friends.

The school year is almost up for Newport High School, but that doesn’t mean the memories will end with it. Prom was a few weeks ago, and the Senior All-Nighter and graduation ceremony are coming up. Through the many events that happened at Newport High, students will be able to carry on those memories to their adulthood.  Amber Verville, a senior at Newport commented on her plans for after graduation, “After I graduate, I plan to attend the Evergreen State College. I also plan to study abroad my Sophomore or Junior year.” The Seniors now have less than a month to get their plans in order before they graduate from Newport High School and move on with their lives.

Tanning has become a very popular activity in the world today. Tanning in a tanning bed is common for teenagers and young adults. There are quite a few people that go tanning in Newport High School. Adrienne Seger and Tiffany Thomas are some of those that go all the time.

Tiffany goes about once or twice a week in an effort to keep her skin the same color. After coming back from Mexico, she doesn’t have to tan anymore so she waits until her color is gone instead of risking her health. Adrienne, approaching it from a different angle, says, “It depends. Sometimes it’s twice a week. Sometimes it’s three times. No more than three times.” While tanning they usually go for 12 minutes.

Tanning beds have been considered very dangerous and can cause skin cancer. If you go into a tanning bed for too long, or too many times, it might eventually cause cancer. To reduce your risk of skin cancer you should only go tanning every once in a while and not make it a permanent hobby.

There are better ways to get a tan than to go in a tanning bed. For instance, you can tan in the actual sun. Or, during the winter, use tanning lotion. Even though the lotion can cause your hands to turn orange, its still better than risking skin cancer. People can get spray tans too. This makes you tan, but not permanently.

What teens don’t think about is the bad future effects and symptoms of tanning in a tanning bed. It’s possible that users could blister, peal, burn, and possibly get skin cancer. The only thing teens think about is being an attractive tan person than a pasty white person. But white is safer than risking your body and health in a tanning bed. Its best to wait for the summer to get a more natural tan in the sun.

Here at Newport High School, we are trying to make a change by going green.  If we go green, we will not only be helping the planet, but our school as well. Going green will show us that we can make a difference, and that going green can be super fun! Hailey Patterson, a student at NHS, said, “I wouldn’t mind going green, in fact, I think it would be super fun, and something that could help benefit our school.”

Jessica Ross of NHS said “Some ways I would help NHS go green would be to help clean up the garbage in the school parking lot, and recycle my bottles and paper.” Some options that have been considered are recycling, and the conservation of energy and water. All these things will help NHS become a cleaner environment for students, and also teach students how to become green at home or around their neighborhood.

At NHS, recycling hasn’t been brought up as a critical school-wide issue. Some of the staff and students take part in recycling paper and cardboard, but in order for going green to be effective, everyone in NHS needs to be on board and each individual needs to take on an active role in this project. Not to say that going green would be easy, but the process would bring people closer and create an enjoyable project for students and staff. Placing recycling bins for glass, paper, and plastic in multiple areas of the school would be the first, most effective steps on a path to a green school.

Instead of selling or providing bottles of water to the students, supervisors could provide students with reusable BPA free bottles and purified tap water. Not only would this save thousands of bottles, but would provide the students with a bottle that could show off their school spirit. The bottles could be reused by students and eventually could stop millions of plastic bottles from ending up in landfills around the world. Also, by providing purified drinking water, the school would eliminate the need for purified bottled water.

Adding solar panels or fluorescent lights could help conserve energy. Instead of having the lights on constantly teachers could open the blinds to let some natural light from the sun in. This way the school can save money on bill electricity, and that extra money that NHS saves your can give to other sports or activities to help benefit the school.

If NHS started a program for going green, the students would probably be willing to participate in helping the school. Recycling will give the students a chance to learn about what happens to the planet when we don’t recycle or pick up after ourselves. Also, by providing reusable water bottles to the students, the school would be saving money on buying a water bottles that, in the end, will be thrown away, and it will help them show off school spirit. Lastly, if there were solar panels or fluorescent lights, it would help the school really save money, and show kids that the staff supports going green, and that they really want to make a difference in helping the planet. If NHS decided to recycle, provide reusable bottles, and got solar panels or fluorescent lights, they would make the school and the environment around it a cleaner and greener place.

In the past decade, dropout rates have been higher than the graduation rates of high school students in the state of Washington. On average throughout the nation, about 1.3 million high school students become dropouts each year. Parents continually pound into children’s minds how important education is going to be to their lives.  Many students at Newport High School take their education seriously, planning to go on to either a two-year, four –year, or technical school after high school.

But how would getting a high school diploma help us succeed in life? Amber Verville, one NHS senior this year, says, “Education gives you an idea of your abilities, and it shows you your interests that you can expand. I found that I am really good at math, which I don’t like, but that I am also good at Spanish and learning languages, which interests me for the future.” In other words, a high school education can help individuals know what they are capable of doing in life so they know what  are possible career choices for those particular individuals.  If individuals didn’t know what abilities they were capable of or what they wanted to do after high school, they wouldn’t be able to perfect some of their better abilities and put them to use later on in the future.

Whether or not we have a basic high school education also affects how we view the world and other people in it. Having a high school education also affects the kind of choices that all individuals have to make in life. Mrs. Waterman, an English teacher at NHS comments, “Knowledge is important to be an educated, balanced person; it prepares you for college and careers, and it teaches life skills.” Amber also adds that, “If you graduate from high school, it shows that you care about finishing something, succeeding at something. Many high school dropouts gave up on high school because it was too hard, and an employer doesn’t want to see that.”

So what encourages our students to graduate from high school and get their diploma? Amber blurts out, “I am highly self motivated, and I just decided at a young age that I wanted to go on to college, and that I didn’t want to stop learning, ever.” Duncan Heaney, another senior at NHS informs, “To find a job that I can enjoy after high school, that I can do for many years to come.”

Getting a high school diploma is one of the most important decisions that students have to make in their lives. Making this decision can affect an individual’s life forever. But without a high school diploma, we can never truly be successful in our lives.

America is a big country with 50 states, so America has a lot of different cultures. America has cultural influence on other countries in a lot of areas. Mrs. McGetrick, a teacher at Newport High School states, “The U.S. culture has affected other countries through the movie industry. Hollywood produces a great number of morally bankrupt films, which affect our culture and the culture of other countries where they are shown.”  I always went to watch a movie from America with my friends because they always have really good movies. I especially love Universal Studios because it’s shows a lot of cool thing about Hollywood movies that makes most Thai people think it’s the best movie company.

For me I saw some culture from America in Thailand. While some of them just make our life easier, sometimes they became our culture too. “America has a lot of different cultures so it just looks like it’s mixed together,” explains Junior Zerrin Frankel.

For example, Thai people always eat rice with every meal. Our food takes a long time to make, and the entire meal has a lot to prepare and has a lot of vegetables. Amber Verville, a senior at NHS says,  “I really like any and all food from other countries. My favorites include rice, noodles, spaghetti, and mae Ploy sweet chili sauce (which tastes awesome on rice.)” When we had fast food such as American food, it became famous for teenagers and people in the big city that have a busy life. It makes us save our time to eat but it’s not healthy. In reverse, I saw a lot of Asian restaurants in the USA too, such as how I always saw Asian food everywhere that I went, especially in big city.

1st Place – “Roon” by Judah Meek

2nd Place – “Talamh and The New People” by Duncan Heaney

3rd Place – “Blank Television” by Merriee Averill

Honorable Mention – “Sky Ascendance” by Zerrin

On May 11, 2011 at 2:46 p.m., Japan got the largest earthquake that had ever struck the island. At the time, the state I lived in was really far from Sendai, which got the worst of it. I remember this day really well. I was in my high school and had just finished my sixth period class. I was going to my homeroom.

When I was dropping down, many of the people in the hallways were screaming. All of the students were panicked. I didn’t know what had happened. Because I was walking fast, I couldn’t feel the earth shaking. The teacher started screaming “Get out of the school! Right now!!” Others were yelling, “Run!” and things like that. So I and my friend tried to run outside. Then I saw what had happened. Because many students were afraid of the shaking that was happening outside, I realized what was wrong. We were all waiting for the news of  what had happened. One of my teachers told us, “At the northeast end of Japan, we got a magnitude 7.0 earthquake!” I couldn’t believe what he had said at first. Then Principal let us go home.  Then, I went to my friend’s home with him. I don’t remember the reason. Anyway, when we got to his home, his mom was upset. And she told us “Come in front of the TV.” After seeing what was on the screen, I was lost for words. Many of the  gas tanks that were around Tokyo were burning. A couple hours later, I knew that around the northeast area, they had been hit by a huge tsunami, and some nuclear power plants were broken by the tsunami. After that two nuclear plants had explosions. We were really afraid of those. But employees of nuclear plants didn’t put seawater nearby to help them cool. Because if they used seawater, the staff of nuclear plants that expensive can’t use it anymore. Because sea has many microorganisms. So they were putting just fresh water near the reactors. That’s why other two nuclear plant suffered explosions. I think that they were thinking just about the cost. If they put seawater nearby to help nuclear reactors cool fast, we wouldn’t gotten many problems.