Kim Deguzman/Maverick Messenger A small amount of snow graces a yard on Monday.

By Iun Chen
Junior Staff Writer

On Thursday, December 18, Clark County schools were closed for a snow day for the first time since the 1970s. The night before, parts of the county had received as much as eight inches of snowfall. The snow on Wednesday was actually the second time that week it had snowed, since it had also snowed in some regions on Monday after school.

“I think snow’s really cool because I’ve never really been around snow because I lived on the island of Guam,” said A-TECH senior Ariel Hernandez. “I’d rather be in the snow than just regular cold weather.”

“I wish to see soft and beautiful snow, because I’ve never seen it before,” commented A-TECH freshman Vanida Visessung on Tuesday. “It should be magical.”

“Snow is cool for like five minutes, then it’s like whatever. I mean, Vegas really thinks it’s awesome, so snow is really cool,” says Charles Buchanan, an A-TECH freshman.

“I really don’t like snow,” said A-TECH sophomore Samantha Richard. “It’s too cold and I can’t wear shorts. There’s nothing do when it’s cold and I have to buy more clothes for the winter, which doesn’t even last that long in Vegas.”

“I like snow because I used to live in Mississippi and everything froze. So to have it snow here in Vegas is a dream come true,” says Chance Martinez, an A-TECH sophomore.

Courtesy of atech.org

By Iun Chen
Junior Staff Writer

U.S. News came out with its second annual list of America’s Best High Schools on December 8. A-TECH is a silver medal school again this year.

Of 21,069 schools honored in 48 states, only a hundred were awarded a gold medal. None of these were in Nevada.

Twelve Nevada schools were recognized. A-TECH, Coronado High School, Douglas High School (in Minden), and Las Vegas Academy placed silver. Boulder City High School, the Community Colleges of Southern Nevada High Schools in the East, South, and West, Pahranagat Valley High School (in Alamo), Smith Valley High School (in Smith Valley), and TMCC Magnet High School (in Reno), received a bronze placement.

Parental ratings from School Matters News gave A-TECH all five stars on extracurriculars, school safety, and special needs programs. Teacher quality and after-school programs received four out of five stars. Overall, A-TECH received five stars, the highest rating a school can receive.

According to high school reading proficiency tests, A-TECH scored 100 percent, while the district scored a 90 percent, and the state scored a 90.9 percent. On math proficiency tests, A-TECH scored a 98.4 percent, with the district scoring a 62 percent, and the state scoring a 64 percent.

“A-TECH students are the best and most dedicated students in Nevada,” Vice Principal Burt said. “A-TECH teachers, through high expectations, superior teaching strategies, and caring attitude, foster an environment that is conducive to all students doing their very best academically. A-TECH students’ test scores are always above state level and national level. They deserve the Silver award.”

“It’s a great honor for the school and all involved in the school, for the students and faculty,” said A-TECH government teacher Mr. LaShomb. “Students come here for a reason, and the award is indicative of that reason. It also shows what can happen when academia is stressed.”

Photo courtesy of sahilonline.org President Bush narrowly avoids a flying shoe.

Tyler Livingston
Copy Editor

While speaking with the Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki to a group of reporters in Iraq on December 14, President Bush had two shoes thrown at his head by an Iraqi journalist who was reporting on the President’s visit for a local news station. President Bush wasn’t hurt; he dodged both of the airborne shoes.

In Iraq and other Arab countries, throwing shoes at someone is considered a serious insult: when the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down in Iraq in 2003, citizens threw their shoes at it to show their disapproval of the former leader.

After both the Secret Service and other reporters at the conference subdued the rouge journalist, President Bush jokingly stated that the shoes aimed for his head were size ten, obviously not offended by the reporter’s impolite gesture

Some Iraqis, who protest U.S. and its allies’ presence in the country, consider the shoe-thrower, Mantazer al-Zaidi, their hero. Other Iraqis and the Iraqi government consider the journalist’s act barbaric.

Al-Zaidi is being held in detention for the time being.

“I think that it was ridiculous!” sophomore Sonya Snyder said. “I would have never imagined someone taking off their shoes and throwing them. Even though it was something I wouldn’t expect, I started laughing so hard. I think Bush handled it really well.”

Marissa Myers, a sophomore at A-TECH, had a different opinion: “I think Bush needed to take his shoe off and throw it back!”

Al-Zaidi could be facing trial on charges including insulting the Iraqi state. The journalist’s employer is demanding his release from detention while protesters are rallied in the city of Shi’ite, where the news station is located.

Article and Photos By Casey Goodwin
Editor-in-chief

It’s beginning to look a lot like the holidays within A-TECH’s halls.

The four main hallways have each been festively decorated to celebrate the season. A different graduating class decorated each hallway.

The class of 2012 decorated the 300 hallway, the focal point of which is a depiction of the Student Body officers as M&Ms. Every freshman in A-TECH has his or her name written on a Christmas bulb in the 300 hall.

The 400 hallway, decorated by the class of 2011, has a “Welcome to Winter Wonderland” theme. Snowflakes, penguins, and Eskimos grace the 400 hall. The names of the sophomore class are written on “snowflakes” on the wall.

Decorated by the class of 2010, the 700 hallway includes Santa’s sleigh. The names of the juniors are found on Christmas ornaments, stockings, and various other places within the hallway.

The 600 hallway was decorated by the class of 2009. The name of every senior in the class is written up on Santa’s list, and trains, teddy bears, and other toys are found throughout the hall.

Brianna Vargas/Maverick Messenger
Key Clubbers crowd the bus on the way to Fall Rally.

By Brianna Vargas
Assistant Editor

On December 13, Key Clubs from Nevada, Hawaii, and California finally had their Fall Rally. High school students from all Las Vegas high schools met at Cimarron Memorial High School before the dawn that Saturday morning. Role call began at one AM and continued until students filled the charter buses in the parking lot.

A-TECH’s Key Club is part of the 28 North Division. All members of 28 North gathered in the gymnasium, signing in and waiting for the Key Club officers to announce boarding time. Other divisions were spread out across the Cimarron campus. 28 North stayed in the gymnasium until around three-thirty AM when they were finally moved to wait in the cafeteria.

When the officers announced it was time to load the buses, Key Club members sprinted toward the buses to get the best seats.

The buses finally loaded and left the Cimarron parking lot around four AM and headed toward state line with all students trying to catch as much sleep as they could in the uncomfortable charter seats.

Buses stopped briefly in Barstow around seven AM for bathroom breaks and food refills. Once Key Clubbers were refueled and relieved, the buses headed off on the long journey to Valencia, California, home to Six Flags Magic Mountain.

The students arrived at Magic Mountain around 11 AM, and their Spirit Rally began at 11:30. The bus began to fill with hair spray and hair paint. Faces were painted the phoenix stripes, 28 north’s mascot.

Key Clubbers walked into the cheer session with high hopes of becoming the reigning champ for the third year in a row. However, in the cheer off, Division 28 West took the crown, cheering the loudest and clearest.

“I really thought we were going to win this year,” junior Meagan Profit said. “We’d won three years in a row before but I guess we just didn’t cheer loud enough this time.”

Division 28 north was greatly disappointed but decided to live up enormous roller coasters that surrounded them. Although the air was cold, every key clubber had a blast.

“It was so much fun, even with the freezing weather,” junior Chelsey McNair excited recalled. “The lines were kind of long though. But I still have a great time.”

The Fall Rally day was over around seven PM. All key clubs loaded up on their buses and took the long ride home, arriving in Vegas at midnight.

“The whole day was completely tiring. But it was worth it,” junior Randy Weyer remembered. “I’m deathly afraid of roller coasters and I even went on the biggest one in the park.”

By Jerick Goering
Guest Writer

Courtesy PhotoThe newest installment in the Guitar Hero series was released on October 26.

“Guitar Hero: World Tour” rocks

Review

Activison Blizzard released a new sequel to one of the best rhythm games ever created. “Guitar Hero: World Tour” was released on October 26. It is available on the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PS2. This game makes an astonishing sixth sequel to the first game, “Guitar Hero”.

This new addition to the Guitar hero series features a full band play system, much like “Rock Band”.
The game includes new instruments, like a drum set, which consists of 2 cymbals and 3 drum pads, a microphone, and a new and improved guitar with touch slider buttons that players can strum, and tap solos with.

Players now have the choice to play as bass in career mode, as well as drums and vocals. “Guitar Hero: World Tour” boasts 84 songs, including tracks like Linkin Park’s “What I’ve Done”, Tokio Hotel’s “Monsoon”, and 30 Seconds To Mars’ “The Kill”.

“World Tour” also has downloadable content on the PS3, the Xbox 360, and the Wii. This game plays much like any other Guitar Hero game, and is great for families.

Jerick’s Rating:
9/10

Courtesy PhotoThe new DSI console was released in Japan on November 1.

Nintendo “DSi” coming soon

News Update

Nintendo released new info about it latest console, known as “The DSi”. This system came out in Japan on November 1.

The DSi features wider screens, improved speakers, an SD card slot, built-in camera, and Internet browser.

The DSi also features a shop application, in which you can use Wii points (Soon to be Nintendo Points) to download games to an SD card, or maybe internal memory. More information will be available as the DSi’s North America release approaches.

Other Cool Games Out Now:

Left 4 Dead (M) (360, PS3, PC)
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain Of Memories (T) (PS2)
Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (T) (DS)
Super Smash Bros Brawl (T) (Wii)
Gears of War 2 (M) (Xbox 360)

By Allison Neighbors
Editor-in-Chief

On December 11 at 6 PM, A-TECH held its first open house of the year for prospective students. The open house showed the students who are interested in coming to A-TECH what it is like to attend A-TECH and even introduced them to some of the teachers.

Student Ambassadors, a program through which current A-TECH students recruit new students, hosted the open house. Approximately 50 of the ambassadors were at the open house to help guide the prospective students and their parents through the school and get answers to all of their questions. Ms. Leavitt-Roberson is the recruiter for A-TECH and the advisor of Student Ambassadors.

The program doesn’t only run the open houses, but also allows three or four of the ambassadors to go with Ms. Leavitt-Roberson to different middle schools to recruit eighth graders. There are about 100 student ambassadors, so each ambassador attends about three school recruiting events.

“This open house was extremely successful,” said Ashley Huggins, a senior and Student Ambassador. “There were definitely a few incredibly smart prospective students who would fit in perfectly at our school.”

The open house was one of two that will be occurring this year. The next open house will take place on January 21 at 6 PM. The next open house will also be for prospective students and there will also be different places where they can meet with the ambassadors. The prospective students may have the opportunity to see the magnet high schools visit their school or they may see them at the magnet fairs that will be taking place in January.

There are two magnet school fairs that will be occurring over the next couple of months. The first magnet school fair will be held at Meadows Mall on Saturday, January 20, from 10 am to 6 PM. The other will be a parent-information night and it will be held at Legacy High School on Tuesday, January 27, from 7 PM to 8 PM.

Image courtesy of A-TECH Student Council
The serious senior shirt.

By Allison Neighbor
Editor-in-Chief

The results are in. The class of 2009’s senior song is “Here’s to the Night” by Eve 6. Eve 6’s song beat out other candidates including Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”, Oasis’ “Wonderwall”, R. Kelly’s “The World’s Greatest”, The Rocket Summer’s “Around the Clock”, Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road”, and Rick Ashley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

“Here’s to the Night” won by 25 percent, with Oasis’ “Wonderwall” and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” tying for the second highest number of votes, according to the senior class officer Natasha Daulat.

Along with the senior song, the senior shirts and senior quote were also selected as well. There were seven shirts that the seniors voted on, and there were two shirts chosen: a serious shirt and a humorous shirt. The serious shirt says in calligraphic writing “Senior Advanced Technologies Academy” on the front and “09” on the back. The humorous shirt has a more amusing side to it with “SENIORITIS …” written on the front, with a picture of a lady screaming, and “09” printed on the back.

When the senior shirts will be available for purchase is still unknown, but the shirts will each sell for $15.

The senior class also chose the senior quote. The senior quote, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson that was chosen is, “What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” The senior quote chosen beat out four others including, “Our lives are before us. Our pasts are behind us. But our memories are forever with us,” by unknown; “We are like stars, we shall shine even after we are gone,” by unknown; “To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world,” by unknown; and “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right,” by Henry Ford.

Photos courtesy of A-TECH Student Council The serious senior shirt (F) and the humorous senior shirt (D) are both pictured below.

By Iun Chen
Junior Staff Writer

The A-TECH Forensics (speech and debate) Team is raising money for its national tournament in California by selling smoothies at lunch.

“We want to go to a national forensics tournament in Berkeley, California,” said Forensics President, Nicolas Rosa.

“We’re trying to raise funds for basically any tournament so that we have the money to do things that what we want to do,” added Vice President, Brianna Lamanna.

Because of the large amount of money the team has to pay in order to go to Berkeley, California for competition, the Forensics Team had to find a way to make fast money.

Ms. Brooks-Curtis, the Forensics Team adviser, says that she heard other schools were selling fruit smoothies, so she researched the company and the fruit smoothies soon appeared in the A-TECH SAC.

Since the Forensics Team won’t be able to cover the entire cost of the trip, students have to contribute to travel costs as well.

“They have to pay all their own expenses” Ms. Brooks-Curtis said. “They have to pay for their food and room and things like that. They are very expensive.”

Teams also have to pay for judges, if they are not provided by the tournament.
Even though the smoothies are from America’s Best Gourmet Coffee Co., A-TECH’s forensics team earns 40 percent of the profit from selling them. According to members of the team, smoothie selling is their first really successful fundraiser, and if the smoothies do well during their trial period, which ends when winter break begins, the team will permanently sell them after the break.

The fruit smoothies are two dollars each, a price set by the smoothie company.

The current flavors include strawberry, orange-tangerine, and forbidden fruit. The team will introduce new flavors as the time passes.

Smoothies are sold during both lunches.

Besides trying to earn money for their out-of-state competition, the Forensics Team also wishes to gain recognition from their school. Team members hope that A-TECH will realize Forensics is awesome, and more people will join them in the years to come.

By Kim DeGuzman
Research Editor

A-TECH’s student council is starting a new program called RSVP, which stands for Raising Student Voices and Participation. The RSVP program consists of 50 A-TECH students serving as the facilitators of the program.

Student council leaders train the student facilitators. The facilitators of the RSVP program meet together and give their opinions about the current state of A-TECH in order to decide on what changes need to be made around the school and the campus to make it more student friendly. Students decide, essentially, what the future of A-TECH will be like.

“The RSVP program was first introduced to our student council during the NASC State Conference ’08,” said junior class secretary Florence Fernandez. “Through the RSVP program, Stuco hopes to hear what the student body has to say. RSVP’s main audience is the student body, the people who see the flaws of A-TECH, they would be able to suggest ideas for improvements in our school.”

The facilitators also go from classroom to classroom and ask students their opinions on what is needed to change the school. That way, the whole program isn’t just based on the opinions of the facilitators, but rather the students of A-TECH coming together as a whole.

“Once all the ideas are implemented, the students would feel more included in the school, raising their voice and participation and make A-TECH into a better place,” Fernandez explained. “We want the students of A-TECH to know that stuco cares about them and that we want to hear what they have to say and RSVP seems to be the solution to hear that voice.”

The trainings for the RSVP facilitators starts on January 6.