THE ECHO » Meredith Headtke

UHS Dress Code Causes Stir Among Some Students

Meredith Headtke — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:29:31 +0000

usd116.org

Lately in the halls of Urbana High School, the dress code has been heavily in effect. Girls are getting stopped for short skirts, shorts, tanks and now racerback shirts.
It seems that the administration especially the deans have been cracking down on the dress code policy. This has ruffled a few feathers within the student body.

“It is unfortunate that the administration at UHS feels the school dress code is an issue deserving of the amount of attention and effort we have seen,” said Senior Abigail Taylor. “This is a public school. We are not at the Vatican or going to Amish Country.”
“Students are wearing less and less these days due to what’s in style right now. Rules haven’t really changed – we’re just trying to do a better job of being consistent, so a ton of kids have been approached,” said UHS Dean Angi Franklin.
Some teachers agree with the dress code and find it needed in the school atmosphere; when people don’t follow the dress code it can be distracting.

“The purpose of school is not to impress your friends with fashion, it is to learn,” said UHS teacher Mark Foley.
Skirts and shorts need to be fingertip length but recently it seems that girls have been told to go home and change for shorts that are well, not short at all.

“I understand they (administration) want girls to dress appropriate but this is over the top,” said Senior Tess Allen.
Some tanks are school appropriate but some expose too much skin and undergarments. It is up to the dean to decide the verdict on attire. If a student does not meet the dress code they will be asked to change. They are allowed to go home and change, or there are clothes available in Franklins’ office .
“I do sympathize with students who don’t feel they can express themselves because of the dress code, but there are a lot of places where we are not free to do whatever we want. School is one of those places,” said Foley.

UHS Alum Dan Whaley Gives Commencement Speech

Meredith Headtke — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:31:27 +0000

http://cleantech.com/news/2334/plankton-to-the-rescue

Graduation means that many Urbana High School seniors are preparing to leave Urbana, but one UHS alum is coming back to the community. Urbana High School alum Dan Whaley came to the Assembly Hall for the graduation ceremony. Whaley will be giving this year’s commencement address.
“Dr. Taylor suggested him. We were looking for someone who had achieved something in the business world. Someone who was not an athlete because we have had those in the past,” said Senior Class Sponsor Erin Ludwick.
Whaley is an extremely successful businessman who graduated from UHS and received
bachelor degree in English Rhetoric from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1990. Asking him how UHS impacted his life Whaley said, “It enabled everything I did. What can be bigger than that!”
In 1995 Whaley founded the first company that allows people to book your travel over the web on GetThere.com. He is currently working on another project.
In Whaley’s commencement address he talked about the amazing time we live in, and the opportunities that young people today have to partake in humanity’s next renaissance.
“I can’t imagine a greater honor. It is my privilege!” said Whaley on giving the commencement address.

UHS Teachers Reveal Where They Went to College

Meredith Headtke — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:09:17 +0000

The Urbana High School eight-page newspaper that came out May 5 had an article about where former UHS students have gone to college and where seniors are planning on going. Working on that article got us thinking- where have teachers at UHS gone? A lot of the results we got were similar- since there are so many quality schools around Urbana, like the University of Illinois, Eastern Illinois University, and Illinois State University.
1) “Moody Bible Institute because it was a Christian college, it was 2,000 miles from home (I was ready to stretch my wings), and it was tuition free! A couple years after graduating I decided to become a teacher, so I went back to school. I started at DePaul University, then transferred down to the U of I,” said English Teacher Tami Bajema.
2) “I went to Northern Illinois University because the girl I was in love with was taking classes there,” said Social Studies Teacher Jeff Davis.
3) “I attended Lincoln Christian College because it had a well known transfer program for education and it had a good basis for my faith,” said English Teacher Erin Ludwick.
4) “I went to Millikin University in Decatur, IL. I chose that school based on it’s availability of technology and small class sizes,” said Social Studies Teacher Charles Trabaris.
5) “I graduated from Eastern Illinois University. I began college at the University of Illinois (majoring in Engineering), but ended up transferring to EIU because I wanted to be able to teach following graduation,” said Math Teacher Nick Stillwell.
6) “I went to Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. I went there because
the tuition was only $50 per semester, no matter how many hours you took.
It was fairly close to home and I went to college during the heyday of women’s liberation, hence a woman’s university,” said Math Teacher Glenna Rogers.
7) “I went to Illinois Wesleyan University. My choice to go there was based on a combination of its academics and athletics: I wanted an academically challenging school that would also give me the opportunity to continue my soccer career on a competitive level,” said Math Teacher Caroline Leighton.
“I went to Buffalo State College in Buffalo, New York. I chose that school was because it was well known for its education, I had looked into it a few years prior to attending for the purpose of playing football. Ironically, after attending a two year college, I ended up attending BSC and playing football,” said SPED Teacher Donald Mayr.
9) “The first college I attended was at Augustana College. I wanted a school that was similar in size as my high school (about 2,000-3,000 students) and located in Illinois. I liked the idea of smaller classes and it had a good English education degree program and great extra-curricular music programs. My junior year I changed my major to pursue a degree in music business management and switched schools to Columbia College in Chicago. Several years afterwards I went back to school for my Master’s degree in Education at DePaul University, which has brought me to Urbana High School!” said Business Teacher Kristen Bartholomew.
10) “University of Arkansas, they had a great Deaf Education program,” said Special Education Teacher Christine Creek.
11) “The university that I attended immediately after high school was Southern Illinois University of Carbondale. I choose SIU because I had attended their baseball camp all four years of high school and loved the campus and surrounding areas. I wanted to be an Architect at the time and they had a descent Architecture program. GO DAWGS!” said Assistant Principal Travis Courson.
12) “I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign because I wanted a college experience very different from my high school experience. I was raised in a small town west of Peoria, Illinois, population 2100 people and a graduating class of around 100. All of the students were raised in similar environments: lower/middle class, white, Christian, etc. I wanted to “get out” of the small town small mind scenario. I came to Urbana in the fall of 1996, and I’ve never left…” said Dean Angi Franklin.
13) “University of Illinois because it was my dream. I never wanted to go anywhere else,”

http://www.uscollegesearch.org/blog/category/college-admission

said Math Teacher Davis Reif.

Harmony Week at UHS

Meredith Headtke — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 00:02:49 +0000

http://www.cheryllynn.com/images/708_peace_harmony_rocks.jpg

Harmony Week was very successful at Urbana High School this year. The event took place the week after UHS students returned from spring break. It began on Tuesday and ended Friday.

“Harmony week is a week-long program sponsored by the UHS student senate program,” said Senior and Senate Coordinator of Harmony Week, Mandy Facer. “One hundred students come together to learn how to be tolerant of one another and positively contribute to our community.”

Student Senate has been busily preparing Harmony Week for the last few months and has worked hard to making sure the week went on without a hitch. “It was better than last year. Mandy put a lot of work into it and it all paid off,” said Senior Group Leader Morgan Copper.

“I decided to do Harmony Week because I like to spend time with positive people and talk about issues that are important,” said Senior CiCi Stewart.

Tuesday was the first day of the event. Students were divided up into about ten groups that had two group leaders who were members of the Student Senate. The groups were very diverse and many students met people that they had never met before. “I liked getting to know everybody,” said Freshmen Amber Marion.

The groups played various icebreaker games. Then Emily Warren and some other members of Ellen Dahlke’s English class presented a PowerPoint presentation about rape.

The following day, students met during seventh and eighth hour to listen to Dr. Laura Taylor and Travis Courson talk about bullying, harassment, cyber bulling, etc. Then special education teacher, Cristina Godoy talked about disability awareness. She provided UHS students with activities that stimulated what it would be like to have dyslexia and autism.

On Thursday, Jason Epperson spoke about his humanitarian work and talked about the different countries he has been to and why it is important to help people.

“I felt like the students got a lot out of it [Harmony Week] and are excited to go and change the world and community after Jason’s talk about being a humanitarian,” said Cooper.

Master Hwong was also scheduled to come and teach the students Taekwondo, but did not make it to the presentation. His two freshmen assistances Chang-hee Lee and Niknaz Iranmanesh did an excellent job of taking over the students and teaching them Taekwondo. “That was difficult. However, through the efforts of the students, group leaders and Senora Alvarez, we were able to recover and still have a good time,” said Facer.

On Friday, the final day of Harmony Week, students gathered during fifth and sixth hour in the Auditorium and created encouraging posters that will be hung in the hallways and enjoyed a celebration lunch.

It can be confirmed without a doubt that this year’s Harmony Week was great. The hard work done by the senators and Student Senate advisor, Yvonne Alvarez-Cortes was definitely worth it.

“This is my second year hosting the event and I feel this year went even better than the last,” said Facer. “I’m grateful for the lessons Harmony Week teaches everyone, and I know I learned a few things myself.”

“Beastly” Review

Meredith Headtke — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:17:38 +0000

A few weeks ago, on Saturday night, a few friends and I went to see “Beastly“, a movie we had wanted to see from the first time saw the trailer. The movie was great and pretty close to the book written by Alex Finn. Another great plus was it starred Alex Pettyfer from “I Am Number Four” (which came out earlier in the month) who is really cute.

“Beastly” is a modern version of Beauty and the Beast, which is set in New York City. Kyle Kingson (Pettyfer), thinks he is all that and that ugly people are not meant to exist in a world with beautiful, popular people.

Kyle tells this to the wrong person, Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen), a witch who vows to turn him as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Kyle then has one year to change his behavior and get a girl (who ends up being Lindy) to fall in love with his ugly self, or he will stay as a beast forever.

“To redo The Beauty and the Beast and introduce a movie version of classic literature to a texting addicted, reading challenged generation, at least do it right,” said Gary Wolcott from the Tri-City Herald.

Senior Meghan Houk disagrees. “The movie was adorable. Vanessa Hudgens did great and it was cool to see her in another movie beside High School Musical ones,” said Houk. “I really like how they made Beauty and the Beast a modern day film, it was great!”

This movie was cute. It was just like Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, but based in modern day. Though this version did not have the great Disney songs like “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty and the Beast,” it was still nice. “Beastly” even had the Disney happy ending and Disney star Vanessa Hudgens, who plays Lindy (the Belle in this version).

“It’s really important to stand for what you believe in, and this message is definitely something that’s very strong and close to my heart,” said Hudgens on About.com about playing Lindy. “But I think the main thing always is to develop the character, develop a real person with depth and emotions, and to have it come from a personal place.”

Overall, this short, one hour and thirty-five-minute movie was worth the $6.75 you had to pay to see it at the movie theater. But if you are not willing to pay the price to see the movie, wait until it comes out on DVD and then rent it.

UHS Celebrates Black History Month

Meredith Headtke — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:07:26 +0000

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cznxuC2qBXI/S4CiErNi0xI/AAAAAAAAAYI/99Mk84u0ap4/s320/BlackHistory_pstr.jpg

Black History Month has been celebrated for over forty years. Carter G. Woodson started Black History month innately as a week long celebration. It started in 1924 and was Negro History and Literature Week, which was later, renamed Negro Achievement Week. It was not until 1976 that it turned into Black History Month and became a month long celebration.

“I think it is important not just for African American students but all students to learn about African American history because textbooks do not reflect all of the components of American history, and this gives us a time to highlight the importance and impact that African American History has had on America,” said Minority Enrichment Program Coordinator, Kellie Blanden.

This year the UHS African American club planned an event every week for the entirety of the month. The first week of February was suppose to be a kick off assembly, but due to the snow day, it was not able to happen. Dr. William Patterson was going to be the keynote speaker. He is the dad of UHS Senior Maya Patterson, and Sophomore Jordan Patterson. Also three sororities and fraternities from the University of Illinois were going to Step, (a style of dancing and drill team routines that is part of the Black Sorority and Fraternity history).

The second week of February, the school hosted NAAPID (National African American Parent Involvement Day) on Monday, February 7, 2011. The purpose of this event is to encourage African American parents to come to the high school and become more involved in their child’s education. This year’s program had a student MC, Jemika Butler and several other students participated on the program as well. The students involved in the program were from the Minority Enrichment Program and the African American Club. There were parent-led break out sessions where the guests could learn about ways to increase parental involvement and Black History in Champaign-Urbana. These sessions were followed by a luncheon and question/answer period.

The third week, African American Club is hosting African American Fun Night on February the 17th from 3:30-7pm in the Commons. There will be games to play and pizza and the event is free. “It’s a chance to celebrate and anyone is welcome,” said Blanden.
The final week of February, the club will show the movie “Hurricane Season” Thursday the 24th after school in the Auditorium; this event is free as well. Hurricane season is based on a true story of how a Louisiana High School basketball team rebuilds after Hurricane Katrina and makes it to the state championship.

African American club meets every other Thursday after school in room 3107. All students are welcome. “It’s [African American Club] fun, we always have something to do for example for Christmas we made care packs that had mini shampoos and conditioners and gave them to the Times Center (a homeless shelter for men), its nice knowing your doing something,” said UHS Senior and member Jasmine Small.

Special thanks to Ms. Kellie Blanden for the information and helping with the article.

UHS Remembers Lucas Billingsley

Meredith Headtke — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:12:31 +0000

Lucas Billingsley was a one of a kind person. Lucas participated in the Illinois Special Olympics. He competed in the tennis ball throw, similar to the shot-put. He won a silver medal in 2009 and a bronze medal in 2010. Lucas was an ambassador of the Special Olympics to the area elementary schools. Unfortunately his life was cut short on Wednesday, January six.

He attended Urbana Public Schools ever since elementary school. He went to Prairie, Urbana Middle School and finally Urbana High School. This was Lucas’s fifth year attending UHS and he was part of the ASSIST program.

“Anytime someone who is part of our lives passes on, it is extremely difficult. We miss them, but we also miss what they meant to us in our own personal way,” said UHS Principal Dr. Laura Taylor. “Lucas touched the lives of so many people at UHS. I believe we are all very lucky to have been a part of his world and he a part of ours – if only for a short time.”

Lucas worked at Leal Elementary School; he watered the plants in the front hallway, picked up paper recycling in the office and puts it in the paper bin in the front hallway. He also delivered the newspapers to various teachers’ classrooms. “Lucas touched the lives of so many of us during the years he volunteered at Leal. He will always a have special place in my heart,” said Linda Zimmerman, Behavior Consultant/Inclusion Facilitator at Leal.

He also worked at CVS were he restocked items. At UHS, Lucas gathered the recycling and delivered teachers’ packages to their rooms. “Lucas was a very loving person. He was the type of person that once you knew him he had a place in your heart and that will always be there,” said his teacher of five years, Vania Hannah.

Lucas also enjoyed sitting in the swing in his classroom or on the mat hangout out with his classmates. “He was ornery and mischievous that made you wonder what he was going to be up to next,” said Hannah. “He enjoyed doing things that he knew wasn’t suppose to do which would get your attention very quickly.”

The senior class has made a donation in honor of Lucas to the Special Olympics. UHS English teacher, Erin Ludwick is in the process of organizing bake sake in honor of Lucas. The money from the sale will be donated to the Special Olympics. The sale will take place some time in February.

“Lucas will dearly be missed, and had lots of friends throughout UHS and the community. Lucas brought out the best in people,” said Hannah.

UHS’ Feminist Club

Meredith Headtke — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:28:04 +0000

This fall, UHS launched the Feminist Club. The Feminist Club is sponsored by English teachers: Ellen Dahlke and Erin Ludwick. The club meets every Friday, right after school.

“Ms. Dahlke and Ms. Ludwick are the perfect team, they are really bringing the group along,” said Sophomore, Sophia Ruiz-Gehrt.

Feminist Club was Ruiz-Gehrt’s idea. She came up with the idea for the club last year. “You hear students joke and talk about feminism and make sexist jokes, but I don’t think they even know what they are talking about,” said Ruiz-Gehrt.

The club started this year and already has many plans for the semester. “I joined feminist club because it sounded like something right up my alley, and to help get rid of stereotypes,” said UHS Freshmen Bridget Mueller-Brennan.

The club will hold a bake sale. It will be during fourth, fifth, and sixth hour, January 19 and 23.The club is also hoping to get more publicity with the t-shirts that they are creating. The front of the shirt will say “UHS Feminist Club”. The back will say “How have you treated women to day?” (see image below). The shirts are being sold now and can be bought in Ludwick’s room for or $15.

The Feminist Club does not only focus on getting rid of feminine stereotypes but stereotypes of men as well. The club realizes that these stereotypes do not necessarily just affect women, but men also. Not all men fit in the stereotypical man and can feel hurt by stereotypes as well.

“There is not always a place in the curriculum to talk about this and both male and females get hurt by comments; Feminist Club is a safe place to talk,” said Dahlke.

Holiday Shopping

Meredith Headtke — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:03:15 +0000

http://www.visit-suffolkcoast.co.uk/files/ChristmasPresentsUnderTree.jpg

It is getting to my favorite time of the year Christmas! Here are some great gifts you can get your boyfriend /girlfriend, or your friend for the holidays. With the help of some girls and guys I created some great present ideas for girls and guys.
For Her:

http://teenstarsworld.com/2010/11/17/taylor-swift-dish-favorite-perfume/
$10 These days magazine subscription can be really inexpensive and so they make great gifts. Right now Seventeen subscriptions are only ten dollars, which is less than a dollar per issue. http://www.seventeen.com/. Other fashion magazines such as teen Vogue, Vogue and Cosmo are also good ideas.

http://www.instyle.com/instyle/package/general/photos/0,,20438820_20439606_20871194,00.html
$15 Every girl would love a Starbucks giftcard. You can put any amount on it which is great because it can fit everyone’s budget. The great think about giving a gift card is that the (starbucks) red gift cards donate ¢5 for every time you use the card to The Global Fund, which raises money for AIDS. My favorite part about this is that you can design your own gift card got to https://www.starbucks.com/shop/card/customize to do this. You can even write a personalized note.

http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4309311
$25 Bath and Body works it one of the top places for getting lotions and items of that nature. Bath and Body has already made gift sets that start as low as $10 go to http://www.bathandbodyworks.com to check it out.
For Him:

http://www. target.com/iTunes-Gift-Card-15/dp/B002KD0MLC
$15 Itunes is a good gift, similar to a Starbucks giftcard because it can fit into any type of budget because of the different price ranges. With tons of music to choose from any guy would be happy to by their favorite album or episode of thier favorite TV show. Though, one of the nicest things about this present is that Itunes cards are sold about almost every store.

http://www.express.com/sweaters-60.cat?Mcat=60&Mcatp=cat_1&Mcatn=Sweaters&Mcatg=category_root&Mcatpn=For+Him&Mpg=SEARCH%2BNAV&Mpos=1
$29.90 Express has some really nice sweaters that are inexpensive like this nice red one. If you’re really not crazy about the sweater idea, you could always try some type of hoddie which can be found at about every single clothing store.

http://www.target.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=2289919011&searchNodeID=2289919011&rh=product_site_launch_date%3A-0a|launch-date%3A-1y|availability%3A-2|hardware_platform-bin%3AXbox%20360&releaseID=
$59.99 What guy would not like a video game; um I don’t think I know one who wouldn’t want one. Fifa from Target is just one example of the many games that are available to buy. Yes the can be a little on the pricey side, but hey it is ok to splurge sometimes.

The DMV Experience

Echo Staff — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:58:19 +0000

http://www.autospectator.com/cars/files/images/2008-Ford-Focus-50.jpg

Going to the DMV to get your driver’s license is a special moment that many teens look forward to for years. For nine long months you’ve been able to drive, but only with a parent. Your new license signifies more than driving- it gives you the freedom to go where you want, when you want (provided you have a car and insurance, that is). Even if you’re only driving to school or work, there is still a new feeling of control and freedom unlike anything else.
However exciting this prospect is, however, many teens may forget an important part that comes with driving- responsibility. Here are a few important statistics that teens should know as well as UHS students reactions to getting their license a being a safe drivers
Here are 10 facts about teenage driving that I bet you didn’t know:
1) One in six teens deaths was caused by a motor vehicle accident.
2) In 2006, one teen died every hour on weekends.
3) Twenty-five percent of all teen drivers killed have a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher.
4) Fifty-eight percent of fatalities didn’t buckle up.
5) Eight teens die every day in DUI crashes.
6) Males are twice as likely as females to die or become injured in a car crash.
7) One out of every five licensed 16-year-old drivers will be in a vehicle crash.
For 16- and 17-year-olds, carrying just one passenger increases the crash risk by about fifty percent.
9) Talking on a cell phone can double the likelihood of an accident and can slow a young driver’s reaction time to that of a 70-year-old.
10) Wearing lap/shoulder belts can reduce the risk of dying in a crash by fourty-five percent.
To sign a teen drivers pledge go to http://www.teensafedriverpledge.com/pledge
Sources :
-http://www.teensafedriver.com/facts/default.asp
-http://www2.courtinfo.ca.gov/stopteendui/teens/facts/teen-driving-crash-and-fatality-stats.cfm
-www.driverzed.org/zedalert/FactSheet_Teen_Driving_Stats.pdf
UHS Responds
How did you feel when you got your license?
“I don’t have my license yet, but I’m getting it in like a week, I’m really excited,” said Junior Loujain Fouly.
“It was exhilarating to drive freely,” said Junior Tessa Turner.
“ It’s not like a big deal, It just like learning to ride a bike it’s great at first then it gets terrible,” said Senior Jake Corley.
“Amazing, I felt like I had more freedom,” said Senior Jen Hart.
“Besides it being on a Monday before school, I felt personally good considering that I already had a car and had to drive places,” said Senior David Conover.
How are you a safe driver?
“I try and drive slow during the day,” said Junior Chris Fontaine.
“I wear my seatbelt!” said Junior Tiffany Walthour.
“I always make complete stops at stop signs,” said Junior Lexi Johnson.
“ I drive well, I don’t do stupid things,” said Senior Drew Martin.