By Kristiana Trinidad
Junior Staff Writer

Two A-TECH students are off to the National Forensics League Tournament from June 13 through 20, in Birmingham, Alabama. Before being able to compete in Nationals, eight Forensics students participated in the Golden Desert District Congress on Saturday, April 18 for five spots in Nationals.  The two of the five winners are fellow A-TECH Mavericks Brianna Lamana in Congress and Henry Castillo performing in Original Oratory.  Bill Braitenback and Nicolas Rosa also placed as finalists in the House but were not able to go to Nationals.

Including A-TECH, there are nine schools going to Nationals that are representing the Golden Desert District.

“There have been students at A-TECH in the past that have already competed in Nationals,” said Ms. Brooks-Curtis, the Forensics advisor. “The last two were in interpretation from two years ago.”

“The competition is very stiff, and students need to be well prepared,” says Ms. Brooks. “They need to be very well informed on national and world events for the debates and Congress activities. A-TECH requires its students to have some form of debate as well as individual events, which could include events such as impromptu speaking and memorized events. Students must be able to speak of current events without much preparation.”

By Iun Chen
Junior Staff Writer

Heritage Night brings students together in the SAC to celebrate the many cultures at A-TECH. This year, A-TECH’s Heritage Night was held on April 24 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The event began with Ms. Norby reciting “Pandora’s Box,” a poem by Esmeralda Kent and “Hope is the Thing With Feathers,” by Emily Dickinson. Afterwards, performances began and the food was served.

There were many exciting performances this year. Songs were sung in different languages including Chinese, Korean, and Thai. Groups danced to music from India, Korea, Hawaii, and Tahiti. Other performances included Chinese yo-yoing and Flamenco guitar playing. There was also a group, the Steppers, who gave a great performance. Even a few A-TECH alumni came back to A-TECH to participate in Heritage Night.

This year, foods represented North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Publications brought food for North America, which included hot dogs, apple cobbler, and root beer floats. The Foreign Language Department brought food representing all of South America and other Latin countries.

FBLA and their advisor, Ms. Stidhum, brought food for Africa. Some of the foods included were cornbread and lamb. National Honor Society brought European food, which included sour kraut, cream puffs, Swiss chocolate, and Spanish tapas. Key Club brought Asian food, which included noodles and lumpia.

The food that was served was devoured very quickly, so by 7:00, most of the food was gone.

“I think it went off really well. We had no situations at all. We had, I think, about between three to three hundred and fifty people,” says Ms. Norby, Heritage Night advisor.

Ms. Norby also comments that there were a lot of surprising talents, including last-minute auditions. She thought that Heritage Night did very well this year, considering the recession the United States is in now. Many families have been starting to worry about money, and it is good that people can still take the time out and buy food for this school event.

Heritage Night ended early, as it seems to every year. People started to leave at around 8:25, so the custodians started the clean up. Because they were cleaning up, the custodians forced people out of the school around 8:45.

Ms. Norby wanted to thank the RESPECT officers for their hard work. Officers include seniors James Stutzman, Gabriel Cleto, Jennifer Lee, and Yuki Falcon, and juniors Jessica Lee and Cheresa Taing.

Heritage Night this year was a great success, as it has been every year. There were great performances by A-TECH students, and even some special surprises that took place, including the special appearances by some of the college students.

By Kim DeGuzman
Research Editor

The Student Ambassadors are the “Faces of A-TECH,” the first people prospective students see when visiting and learning about A-TECH.

The Ambassadors are the students who visit all of the middle schools and recruit students to A-TECH. Next year, the ambassadors will also serve as freshmen mentors and will work together with the middle and elementary magnet schools and tutor after school. The Ambassadors will also tutor kids with cancer at Sunrise Hospital

The officers and Mrs. Leavitt-Roberson are in charge of selecting the new Ambassadors for next year. In order to become Ambassadors, students must have a 3.0 GPA, good citizenship and two good letters of recommendation. If they fulfill those requirements, the interested students will be interviewed and then the final decisions will be made.

According to Mrs. Leavitt-Roberson, the interview consists of basic questions. “We want to see if you can talk,” explains Mrs. Leavitt. “We’re looking for kids with dynamic personalities, not just a kid who has a 4.0 GPA weighted and can’t talk to anybody.”

Current Ambassadors say they enjoy the experience. “We work on our speaking skills,” said Student Ambassador president Greg Nikogosyan.

“I honestly believe it’s an honor to be an Ambassador,” said Mrs. Leavitt. “I believe the kids feel important.”

The recruitment for the 2009-10 Ambassadors is well underway, with applications due April 30. The interviewing process started the week of May 6. There are 32 spots open.

Alyssa Hahn
Junior Staff Writer

After being on the hand-held video game console market since June 2006, Nintendo’s DS Lite was due for an upgrade. Though the DS Lite was extremely popular and has sold millions of systems throughout the world, it needed to be improved to reflect technological advances.

On April 5, Nintendo launched the DSi, the new, upgraded version of the DS Lite. The DSi is pretty expensive, priced around $170, but it’s worth every penny.

Upon viewing the DSi, some of the improvements are obvious. By giving the DSi two cameras, one on the outside, one on the inside, Nintendo has added a whole new element to gaming technology. A new line of video games exclusive to the DSi will utilize some of its new features, including the camera and Wi-Fi capabilities. Even though the cameras are only 0.3 megapixels, the quality is much better than one would expect. Images taken with the DSi camera are generally better than most taken on camera phones.

Not only was the quality great, but you can do more with the DSi’s camera than just take a simple picture. The DSi allows you to distort the picture in any way, change colors, or even decorate the photo with writing or little stamps using different camera modes. A plain old camera doesn’t seem like a lot of fun, but with so many different modes, the DSi makes it impossible to not have fun while using the camera.

Though the DSi has tons of great new features, it has drawbacks as well. Those video gamers who still love to play their Gameboy Advanced games will be disappointed that the DSi is no longer compatible with GBA games. Though losing the slot for GBA games makes the DSi thinner than the original DS Lite, it can’t make up for the fact that those games now cannot be played on the system.

On the DS Lite, Wi-Fi capabilities were limited to playing games online. The DSi uses its Wi-Fi capabilities to the max, enabling players to download a Web browser for free from the online store. Games from the online store are bought with Nintendo Points, normally priced from 200 points up to 800 points. 2000 points cost around $20. The online store is great for kids especially because they no longer have to beg their parents for a ride to the nearest Wal-Mart to buy a new game. With just a touch of the stylus, the game can be downloaded to their DSi and could be played in less than five minutes.

One annoyance with the DS Lite it has no main menu. When a player went to go to the system settings or Pictochat, they were stuck there until they powered off their DS. Instead of being able to go to a central main menu, players were forced to turn the whole system off and back on again to get back to their game.

The DSi eliminates that problem with its main menu. What’s great about this is the fact that the player doesn’t have to go through the inconvenience of turning the whole system off just to go from the system setting menu to playing to a game.

The DSi, overall, is a great system.

Alyssa Hahn
Junior Staff Writer

On Wednesday April 1, A-TECH Junior Kameron VanWoerkom was notified that he received the Harvard Book Prize. Earlier in the year, A-TECH counselors selected some of the school’s top students and asked them to fill out an application, write an essay, and type up a resume to send to the Harvard Club.

More than a hundred students across the nation applied for the Harvard Book Prize, but only twenty were selected as recipients. Local divisions of the Harvard Club judged the applicants, basing their decisions on the applicants’ essays.

The applicants had to write an essay on a person who had a significant influence in their life. “Kameron’s essay was especially touching,” says Ms. Packert, VanWoerkom’s counselor, who nominated him for the Prize, “The essay was really the determining factor for which applicant received the award.”

On Thursday, April 23, VanWoerkom attended a reception sponsored by Harvard Club of Nevada, along with the rest of the Harvard Book Prize recipients.

“I really have no idea what’s going to happen on Thursday,” said VanWoerkom before receiving his award, “I have to wear fancy clothes, but that’s all I really know.”

Harvard applicants from Las Vegas and winners of the prize along with VanWoerkom, Ms. Diamond and Ms. Packert attended the reception. There, winners were introduced and presented a special book about the history of Harvard.

There is no scholarship money associated with the prize, but receiving this award is considered a high honor. The only physical reward recipients receive is a book with pieces of literature selected by the Harvard Club.

“The day I found out, I was so tired,” says VanWoerkom, “It didn’t really sink in since I was so tired and busy working on a project for CADD, but when it finally sank in, I was really excited. I wasn’t expecting it at all and I was really excited.”

By Brianna Vargas
Assistant Editor

In the past weeks, A-TECH has been shaken by disrespectful incidents involving students. As an A-TECH student, it is important to show visitors what makes our school shine. Every one at A-TECH, from students to teachers, knows that our school is something special.

“I wanted to work at A-TECH because of its reputation,” said Graphics teacher Mr. Blount. “A-TECH students are generally hard working and know right from wrong.”

However, given the recent actions of some students at A-TECH, it is hard to believe that all members of A-TECH still strongly withhold these simple morals. Because A-TECH is such a small school, it is absolutely dire that everyone gets along and showing respect to the school, its students, staff, and visitors, is essential.

As Dean Price has said before, “A-TECH is treated like a work environment. Would you act that way at your work?”

A-TECH students should be preparing themselves for the real world and growing up. But, it seems, many students have the opposite attitude and treat A-TECH like a playground where anything, however offensive, is accepted. Its time A-TECH takes a lesson from the RESPECT club and learns to treat others in the way those people would want to be treated.

“ RESPECT stands for respecting every student’s pride, ethnicity, and culture today,” said RESPECT’s Vice President Jessica Lee. “Our club tries to instill consideration for others lifestyles including the clothes they wear, the foods they eat, and their heritage.”

Tyler Livingston
Copy Editor

Many of the applications for iPhones available from Apple’s iTunes App Store have become critical parts of my daily life.

Just last month, I bought a hamster.  For the life of me, I couldn’t think of a single decent name for the little guy.  Like any iPhone owner, I pulled the device out of my pocket and launched the App Store.  I found the perfect application within three minutes of perusal.  The app was called “Names”, and it displayed a list of randomly-generated names for my choosing.

After twelve minutes of careful deliberation and twenty-one screen refreshes, I decided Hugo Raisely would be the perfect name for my pet rodent.  Little Hugo quickly responded to his new name, obviously pleased with my choice.  It’s imperative that all iPhone owners install “Names” to their device so they are no longer subject to hours of name-choosing like I once was.

Once, my dad and I remembered that my mom left a check on the kitchen table for us to cash for her.  We quickly left the house, knowing the bank was closing for the night in fifteen minutes.  We got to the bank just as a shady-looking fellow walked into the building.  All of the bank’s customers glanced at him, obviously a bit uncomfortable.

I, however, was not uncomfortable in the least, thanks to a feeling of security provided by an application that I installed to my iPhone the day before.   The app is called “Gun”, and upon tapping its icon on the homescreen, a small, golden gun appears on the display.  One tap of the screen pulls the trigger.  With this type of protection, I felt completely secure.

We often have to answer difficult questions.  Should I do this homework?  Is Johnny a good friend?  Am I overweight?  After downloading the “Yes/No Free” application to my iPhone, I no longer find answering such questions to be a difficult task.  Upon pressing the icon on screen, I was presented with a simple answer: “yes” or “no.”

With help from this application, I learned that I should not do the homework in question, that Johnny is indeed a good friend, and that I’m never going to share the answer to my third question.

After discovering such useful applications on the iPhone’s App Store, I never again used ridiculous and useless applications like Facebook, Google Earth, and the New York Times.