The Maverick Messenger is looking for pictures of A-TECH’s homecoming. Email us your favorite pictures from Saturday’s homecoming, and we’ll put the best ones up on our website–with your name! Send all pictures to maverickmessenger@gmail.com, and include your name, grade, and the names of the people in the pictures.

KEY clubbers stand with their fellow A-TECHians to show their school spirit. Photo By Kim DeGuzman/Maverick Messenger

By Kim DeGuzman
Research Editor

“Hey KEY club, how do you feel?”

A crowd of over 1,500 KEY clubbers, covered in face paint, waving around spirit supplies and sporting rainbows of hair color, “We feel good! Oh we feel so good! Oh we feel fine, all of the time! Unga, unga, unga, unga, unga, unga!”

This was the scene at Cimarron-Memorial High School on October 11 at KEY Club’s annual Regional Training Conference (RTC). Every October KEY Clubs from all over the Las Vegas Valley come together at a different high school to show their school spirit and unite as fellow KEY clubbers.

This year, over 1,500 KEY Club members and officers attended, from Divisions 28 North, South and West. There were also KEY Clubs from Southern California (Divisions 38 West and East.) Together, these five Divisions made up the entire Region Five. A-TECH is in Division 28 North.

RTC is required for students who want to attend KEY Club’s annual Fall Rally at Six Flags in Valencia, California. RTC started at 9:00 AM with Fall Rally Prep.

The Divisions split up into three separate sections to learn their cheers. The Divisional Lieutenant Governor (LTG) led cheers. A-TECH student Elaine Tan is the LTG of Division 28 North.

Fall Rally Prep ended at noon. Students returned from lunch at 1:00 PM for registration.

After registration was the Opening Ceremony in which all the divisions came together in the quad to listen to the overview of the Conference.

After Opening Ceremony, the Divisions split up again to go to various workshops, which covered topics such as district projects, public speaking and member recognition.

At 3:30 PM the workshops ended and the divisions gathered together in the quad for the spirit competition. A-TECH did their “A-WHAT?” cheer but did not make it into the Semifinals of the competition. Clark High School from Division 28 South won the Spirit Competition.

After the Spirit Competition came sandwiches from Port of Subs and students ate dinner and played various icebreakers, such as “Ride The Pony”, in order to ease the tension between the various KEY clubs at the conference.

After dinner, there was a Closing Ceremony. The Lieutenant Governors from the five divisions, heads of the Kiwanis Family and California-Nevada-Hawaii District Governor Jennifer Zhu were there to wish the KEY clubbers a good-bye until next year.

As a final farewell, a DJ blasted music for two-and-a-half hours while KEY clubbers enjoyed a farewell dance.

“It was so cold and freezing but we had so much fun cheering and dancing outside in the Quad,” says junior Ginny Chan, who is the A-TECH KEY Club’s bulletin editor.

By Emily Browning
Junior Staff Writer

Last year, most students ignored certain school rules because they were not enforced. In fact, many students didn’t even know most of the rules. This year, the rules are being more strictly enforced.

“There are no new rules,” explains Ms. Price, A-TECH’s dean of students. “The only difference between the rules this year and last year is that the dress code said that mohawks should not be permitted on campus, but that was too gray an area, so this year the rule is that mohawks are prohibited”

The reason for all the perceived “new rules” is that this year teachers have read up on the rules and are enforcing them.

According to Ms. Price, all the rules that are being enforced this year were there last year, but now the A-TECH faculty is enforcing them more thoroughly than before. Ms. Price said that this allows for consistency because when all members of the A-TECH faculty are enforcing the same rules, then all of the students are being punished for the same rules.

“I like consistency,” Ms. Price said. “I enforce the rules all the time, but I like consistency because it makes all the rules fair. It brings the staff together and gives a better climate for both staff and students.”

Ms. Price also mentioned that if all the teachers enforce all of the same rules, then it means that it’s fairer for the students being sent to the dean’s office because everyone is being disciplined for the same reasons.

By Alyssa Hahn
Junior Staff Writer

These are the top ten classic villains, the ones who defined the term ‘villain’ and struck fear into the hearts of millions.

10. Dracula
Dracula is the famous and creepily classic vampire who influenced the rest of the vampire genre.

9. Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyl, takes a potion of his own creation that causes his evil side and he calls this side Mr. Hyde.

8. The Invisible Man
A scientist drinks of potion of his own creation to become invisible, but the side effects drive him insane.

7. Frankenstein
Frankenstein, a monster created by a mad scientist, comes to life and wreaks havoc around the city.

6. The Wolfman
After being bitten by a ‘wolf’, the Wolfman transforms into a wolf every full moon.

5. Freddy Krueger
After terrorizing victims, Freddy Kreuger turns sweet dreams into terrible nightmares.

4. The Shark from ‘Jaws’
The Shark claims a beach to feed off the innocent beachgoers, scaring real life viewers out of the ocean.

3. Chucky
Chucky takes away the innocence of a child’s toy when he comes alive and seeks revenge.

2. Carrie White
Carrie has telekinesis and is driven to destroy her school after a vicious prank on Prom Night.

1. Norman Bates
After being abused by his mother, he became a psychopath with his mother’s personality as an alternate for his own.

By Iun Chen
Junior Staff Writer

The month of October is very exciting because of its great holiday: Halloween. On Halloween, people of all ages like to be frightened. One popular way to scare is telling scary stories at night, sending chills down the spines of both the listeners and the teller.

Scary stories are both legends and folklore. There are many popular Halloween stories that have been told for generations. Here is a list of some of the more common spooky stories:

“Bloody Mary”

“Bloody Mary” is the story of a woman who lived in the deep forest. Villagers thought of her as a witch, so they never went near her cottage. When young girls went near Bloody Mary’s house, they would suddenly disappear, and their bodies were never found.

Eventually, Bloody Mary was caught in the act. She lured the girls into the deep forest, where she drained them of their youth and beauty. The villagers decided to burn the witch. While she was burning, she set a curse on everyone: whoever looks in a mirror and chants “Bloody Mary” three times will bring back her spirit.

“The Killer in the Backseat”

This legend tells the story of a girl that is driving home one night. The driver behind her starts behaving mysteriously and the lights on his car begin to flash on and off.

When she arrived home, she dashed from the car, and the driver behind her runs after her. The driver tells her that there was a man in her backseat with a knife. The other driver had been warning her all along.

“The Headless Horseman”

The Headless Horseman is a story about a Hessian soldier during the Revolutionary War.

A cannonball blew off his head, and his grave lies in Sleepy Hollow. Every night, he would rise from his grave, and ride on his black horse while carrying his head and a sword.

These stories are three of the most popular Halloween tales. Telling scary stories has been part of the Halloween tradition for centuries.

By Vincent Martinez
Senior Staff Writer

During the board game marathon (BGM) on October 17, students had the opportunity to play Mr. Patterson’s board games. The BGM lasted from 1:45 until 7:30 after school, enough time for students to consume food and beverages and still play over 300 different board games and five video games. There was a large chessboard at the BGM and students who beat the board’s owner, Al Withenberg, received a chess piece key chain.

All refreshments were sold until 7:30 and pizza was offered to anyone that wanted some of the leftovers.

Mr. Patterson played students at some of the games and even allowed video games at the BGM. Some to the video games included “Soul Calibur 4”, “Super Smash Brothers Brawl”, “Rock Band”, and “Guitar Hero”.

There was also a Super Smash Brothers Brawl Tournament, there were 32 participants in the event, and sophomore Alejandro Flores won the tournament for a second time. There was also a team tournament that was hosted after the Bawl tournament and the winning students were sophomores Vincent Martinez and Josue Arevalo.

As an added bonus, the winners of the 2008-2009 Play It Forward Grant, funded by Mr. Patterson and A-TECH’s board game club were announced at BGM. Six schools were each given a $500 grant to start their own board game clubs. Laura Dearning Elementary School, Las Vegas High School, Burkholder Middle School, Liberty High School, Sara Pundsack Middle School, and Bob Miller Middle School were all recipients of this grant.

Hey A-TECH leave your name, grade, and seventh period teacher in a comment and we will enter you into a drawing for two free movie tickets to the Rave movie theater. The winner of the free movie tickets will be announced Friday, November 7. Entries will be accepted up until Wednesday, November 5.

By Vincent Martinez
Senior Staff Writer

This year’s first Board Game Marathon will be on Friday October 17. Marathons only occur three times a year and last from two to eight thirty at night. Like every Board Game Marathon, this one will be hosted by Board Game Club’s adviser, Mr. Patterson.

The Board Game Marathon will feature Mr. Patterson’s vast collection of board games and video games.

At the Board Game Marathon there may be a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament hosted by Josue Arevalo and the winner will receive a trophy; last years winner was Alejadro Flores.

Mr. Patterson will be giving away some of his own games in a raffle which is included in the ticket price for either five or nine dollars. But there are two different tickets for sale-one cheaper than the other. One has free pop-corn an ice cream and a normal three slices of pizza and three beverages with an extra four tickets with a total of nine. The other has only three slices of pizza and three beverages and only five raffle tickets along with food and beverages. Pizza is served around four thirty.

Mr. Patterson, an avid gamer, will be participating in some of the games as he hosts the event. Mr. Patterson now has a collection of over 300 games and still has not reached a point where he quits.

Mr. Patterson has always hoped that more people will arrive at the Game Board Marathon each time and to beat last year, he must have over four hundred students come to the next marathon. To see more information visit Mr. Patterson in room 804.

By Kim DeGuzman and Alyssa Hahn
Research Editor and Junior Staff Writer

Last year, grades were accessible through the A-TECH website, but this year that has changed. Students now have to go to parentlink.ccsd.net to to view their grades.

Parentlink is now being used by every school in the Clark County School District.

Both students and parents can now use Parentlink to check the student’s grades.

“There are two separate logins,” said Mrs. Price, “one for the parents and a separate one for the students. If a parent has more than one child, he will have only one login for all of the children so multiple logins will not be necessary.

There are still some glitches with Parentlink. The website is integrated with SASI, which has been having some problems lately. Parentlink may not be up to update whenever SASI is having problems.

While Parentlink has its glitches, it also has many advantages over Edline and Intouch. Using Parentlink, students can view grades, absences, and missing assignments like any other normal grade viewing websites–but Parentlink does more than that. When a student is absent, it sends out automated messages to the parents notifying them of the absence to prevent truancy. Absences are not the only reason Parentlink makes automated calls. The administration can set up calls to the students’ homes, reminding them of school events, such as as Open House or standardized test dates.

“ParentLink is convienient and easy for the students and parents to use,” says Mrs. Price. “It takes some getting used to but once you get a hang of it, ParentLink’s not that bad.”

By Alyssa Hahn and Kim DeGuzman
Junior Staff Writer and Research Editor

This year, A-TECH has four National Merit Semifinalists, Casey Goodwin, James Morgensen, Jacqueline Scott and Christian Tidwell.

The four seniors were selected for the honor because their PSAT scores from 2007 were among the top 16,000 in the country. Of the 16,000 semifinalists, 15,000 will become finalists.

In order to become a National Merit Finalist, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements which include having a consistently high academic record, completing an application, being recommended by a school official, and receiving a score on their SAT that confirms their PSAT performance.

National Merit Scholarship Competition is held every year and gives students recognition and a chance of obtaining a wide variety of college undergraduate scholarships.

“I really was pretty surprised,” says Jacqueline Scott on how she felt when she found out she was a semifinalist.

“Credential wise, yes, I believe I am able to fulfill all these requirements to become a finalist,” says James Morgensen. “But even if I do not become a finalist, there will still be many opportunities for me to get scholarships just for being a semifinalist.”

The students will find out if they are finalists in early February by mail at their home addresses and can use their scholarship for the school of their choice.

“Fifteen out of sixteen people make it into finalist standing, so I think I have a pretty good chance,” says senior Christian Tidwell, “I plan to use my scholarship at either Cornell or Brigham Young University to major in architecture.”

Many schools offer scholarships, ranging from a couple thousand dollars to full-ride, to National Merit Finalists.