Provided by: De’Armon Hall & Cole Price. De’Arman Hall practices his moves before the wrestling match, while Cole is about to start his wrestling match.

By Raybin Dockery
Staff Writer

At A-TECH, most people don’t think of the students as athletes or sports fans. Surprisingly, there are various students that participate in different sports and have a deep passion for athleticism.

Junior De’Armon Hall and senior Cole Price are prime examples of students who are passionate in their program area and athletics. These students are extremely dedicated to the sport of wrestling, which led to them placing in the State Wrestling tournament held February 19-20, 2010.

De’Armon Hall took second place in the 112-lb weight class and Cole Price placed fourth in the 135-lb weight class.

Hall has been wrestling since he was in the first grade and plans to either continue wrestling or try football in college. He prepared for the tournament by simply practicing, weight lifting, and eating healthy foods. Before he begins a match, Hall tries to not be nervous while focusing on the opponent.

After each wrestling match, Hall rates his success by how many pins he has or by the number of points he has won during the match.

“I like wrestling because it’s very challenging and competitive,” stated Hall as some of his many reasons for liking wrestling.

Cole Price has also been involved in wrestling for three years and he plans to continue his wrestling success at either Baker University in Kansas or California Baptist University.

The day of the State Wrestling Tournament, Price tried to stay calm by mainly focusing on his first move, commenting, “I don’t allow any other entities to enter my mind when I’m preparing for the match and I focus solely on the first move I make.”

Price prepares for his matches by exercising through lifting weight and running. He also eats certain foods such as bagels and oatmeal to keep him strong.

He evaluates his success on the critiques given by his coach and he takes any constructive criticism and works hard on his weak areas. Price’s coach always gives him encouraging support and inspirational antidotes to keep him motivated.

Price enjoys wrestling because it is a fun and competitive sport. This year, he has won 48 matches. Also, his family is very supportive of his wrestling career, Price stated, “My family is at almost all of my games and they record and take pictures of my matches.”

These two talented A-TECH students will continue to have much success due to their zealous and spirited attitude towards wrestling in the future.

Geofrrey Demaio/DECA. Joshua Gray and Lidiya Kilchenko, two finalists who plan on winning this year.

By Stanley Blake
Staff Writer

The Distributive Education Club of America (DECA) has been a staple here at A-TECH for eleven years. For most of those years, DECA has had students go to nationals.

“This year is no different,” DECA adviser, Mr. Demaio, said.

Mr. Demaio has been adviser of DECA at A-TECH for the last four years and has been pleased with the clubs achievements. Those achievements include countless recognitions and regional awards.

The DECA regional competition took place on February 17 and 18 at the Santa Fe Station. All classes did well, but the juniors and sophomores stole the show.

This year, A-TECH set a record for the most students participating at nationals at one time. An outstanding sixteen students of the twenty who participated made it to nationals this year. Juniors Joshua Gray and Lidiya Kilcherko have both been to Nationals before, so they know how the competition is there. They were also in the top ten in their category.

“I joined DECA to express my creativity,” said Joshua Gray.

The competition at nationals consists of testing and a role-play presentation, on different categories pertaining to business. A couple of those categories being Sports & Entertainment, Travel & Tourism, and Apparel & Accessories.

Nationals will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, April 24 through 27. A-TECH students are confident they will do well this year. The winner of the national competition receives $1,000 and possibly a scholarship for the college of their choosing.

Mr. Demaio will be bringing in former DECA students to help train, and will spend time rehearsing roleplay presentations. Hopefully, A-TECH DECA will again bring trophies, yet another we can add to A-TECH’s extensive collection of Awards.

By Stanley Blake

Staff Writer

On March 25, 2010 at Veterans Tribute Career and Technical Academy (VTCTA), Mavericks and Veterans faced off for a battle of basketball talent.

A large group of students signed up hoping to be chosen for the team.

“There were about fifity students at the tryout,” Coach Arnold, campus monitor, stated. “But, we had to cut the team down to fifteen players.”

The Maverick team consisted of seniors George Ambartsoumian, Edgar Balbuena, Skylar Dunn, Terrance Ian Loria, and James Sikes; junior Johnathan Carmona; sophomores John Amogawin and Daniel Allen-Tucker; and freshmen Marco Austria, Stanley Blake, Aliah Blue, Terrance Lipscombe, Christian O’Quinn, Arlene Rodrigues, and Adam Tarr.

“Ms. Vallari approached me with responsibility of coaching the team,” Coach Arnold said. “I have experience coaching city league teams in Arkansas and I love working with kids.”

VTCTA, however, was not lucky enough to have as many experienced and older players. This fortunately helped give the Mavericks the upper hand.

“There really was no competition,” senior Edgar Balbuena said. “They were unskilled.”

The game took place inside of the VTCTA gym. The bleachers were filled with cheering students excited for the second intramural game of the year. VTCTA students had created a small cheer team that lined themselves along the Veterans goal. There, they cheered their team on, hoping to push them to victory.

Mavericks, on the other hand, made crowd-sized posters and smacked boom sticks together to show their school spirit. Although they didn’t officially have cheerleaders, the entire Maverick student body served as a successful substitute.

From the beginning of the game, it was clear the Mavericks had the advantage. Both teams traveled up and down the court with several baskets being scored. VTCTA played good defense but their offense wasn’t strong enough to claim the game.

“We owned them,” senior George Ambarstoumian said.

The Mavericks broke through their barriers carrying the lead throughout the entire game. They displayed great defense and held off VTCTA, stopping them from making several shots. Although VTCTA did get past the Mavericks several times, their shooting was not proficient enough to take the lead.

The game consisted of the traditional four quarters, each lasting eight minutes. During halftime, A-TECH fans gathered under the Maverick’s hoop and displayed their school spirit. Here, they showed off their own school cheers and the spirit posters to Veterans.

The Mavericks claimed the victory with a final score of 57-32. The crowd cheered for the great game and there were no bad feelings.

“[The students] played as a team and devoted a lot of time to the game,” Coach Arnold continued. “We had six practices prior to the game that everyone attended.”

All the profit from the game went to the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. The game wasn’t so much about competition as it was about bringing schools together for the first time since VTCTA has opened. It was to establish neighborhood friendliness.

“A little friendly competition never hurt,” Ambartsoumian stated. “We should have more games. They bring the schools together.”

By: Brianna Vargas
Editor-In-Chief

Every school year, there are several school activities students anticipate. One of the most awaited and treasured events is prom.

All year, students prepare themselves for this amazing event. It’s the most formal dance held by the school. It’s so formal, it is
held at a larger venue outside of A-TECH. It is April, which means prom is quickly on its way. Boutiques and tuxedo shops are setting up their stores for the mad rush of high school students that will be swarming in for prom attire.

Limosine companies are beginning to offer discounts for that glamourous night, and flower shops are preparing their corsages
and boutonnieres. Because prom is less than a month away, April is the most frantic month of the year. This is why I have created a step-by-step guide to help those sad few who may end up sitting in the corner at prom dateless and reading a book.

The Date: The first item on your prom to do list is your date. You must decide all the people you may be interested in going to prom with. It may be easier to make a mental list rather than a physical list just to avoid someone accidentally finding it and exposing your most embarrassing choice.

After you have chosen several candidates, you must narrow your options. Talk to the people on your list casually about prom. Do not ask them right away to be your date. They could have already had a date for several months now and would have to completely shut you down.  You will want to spare yourself the heartache of rejection.

Talking about prom as if it were just an idea in your mind will help you to decide which candidate is actually interested in going to prom with you.

Once you have finally decided on your choices, bring up the idea of going to prom with that person in an insignificant conversation. If they laugh at you and say you’re funny, do not take that as a sign to proceed and officially ask them to prom. This means they do not want to go and hope you never bring it up again. If this happens, move on to the next on your list and repeat.
The Invitation: Once you have decided whom you will likely go to prom with, it’s time to create a unique way to ask them to prom. Just asking them or telling them, “Hey, were going to prom,” will not suffice.

Instead, you want to try something extravagant that catches their attention. Several years at A-TECH, students have asked their dates to prom during assemblies, especially the Fun assembly. For guys, you must include some kind of token for your date in your invitation plan. Presenting them with a bouquet of roses or their favorite flower can never be a mistake. If they drive, writing a message on their car is also a clever idea.

When making decisions regarding your invitation, you must remember the sky’s the limit, but you must also know your date. If your date is the kind of person that hates being singled out, asking them to prom at an assembly is not the right choice. Instead of flattering them, this may insult or embarrass them, sending you back to square one, without a date.

Color: One of the most important steps to the prom preparation process is choosing your colors. Once you’ve officially asked your date to prom, it’s time to decide what colors look best on both of you. As a girl, your favorite color may be hot pink and you are dying to get a dress in just that color. However, your date may be completely anti-pink and forcing them to wear any shade of pink would ruin their whole night. You must both find compromise.

Although there are thousands of shades and designs for both of you to choose from, don’t be too extravagant. No one wants to see a couple walk into the dance in sequins and glitter.

Attire: The dress code for prom is formal;  dresses and heels or dressy flats for girls and tuxedoes for guys. Neither party should wear tennis shoes or boots. It is not an athletic event or a wilderness hike. Save your favorite shoes for your own time.
For girls, the dress is the most important part of prom. The perfect dress at the perfect price is almost impossible to come by.  In order to get the perfect dress, you may have to give and take. It may be a little out of your personal price range, but that’s what family’s for. If you need a little help paying for a dress, just ask and explain that going to prom in just any dress is social suicide. Hopefully, they will understand how important that dress really is and will gladly cough up a couple hundred dollars.

Price is important to consider when buying a dress, but it is not the most vital thing. The design of your dress will either make or break your couple attire. A provocative dress doesn’t always give off the right impression but a full length Amish dress doesn’t either. You want to find middle ground, don’t show too   much but don’t show too little either.

The Itinerary: Once you’ve decided what to wear, you need to decide where to go and what group to go with. If you’ve never talked to this person before, prom dinner isn’t exactly the best place to begin a new friendship.
Once you’ve decided who you’re going with, you all need to decide where you will go before and after prom. Don’t be to choosy on your restaurant. You want to go to a place that everyone will like and has a great variety to choose from.

Transportation: Transportation is the final step in your prom prep process. Most prom groups rent a party bus or a limousine for their special night. For the fancier couple, renting a nice car may be better than actually renting a limo. There is no wrong choice of transportation, even if you have to take your beat-up old bucket.

Prom creates the best memories of the entire year. It’s the biggest and often most expensive event in high school. For seniors, prom is the finale of their high school career. This is the last time that the entire senior class will be together. Be careful to follow your to-do list precisely and your prom experience will be one you never forget.

By Tyler Livingston
Editor-in-Chief

What’s not to like about grilled cheese sandwiches?  They’re fast and easy to make, include simple ingredients, and taste delicious—especially considering that the main ingredient is cheese, which is everyone’s favorite dairy product without question.  This may be why Americans consume more than 2 billion grilled cheese sandwiches every year, according to Kraft Foods Company.

Some feel that the sandwich is so special that it has become necessary to nationally recognize grilled cheese by giving the food its own 30 days on the calendar.  The entire month of April is known as Grilled Cheese Month.

Believe it or not, National Grilled Cheese Month has been celebrated nationwide on Web sites and in restaurants, for approximately seven years.  Throughout April, grilled cheese enthusiasts can go to www.iheartgrilledcheese.com, a Web site owned by Kraft Singles, to share stories about why they like grilled cheese and why the sandwiches make them smile.

Of the people who post stories to the Web site, five hundred will be selected during each week of April to receive a coupon for a free pack of Kraft Singles.  The Web site also provides visitors with a variety of recipes for grilled cheese sandwiches, showing everything from classic grilled cheese to variations involving different types of cheese and bread.

“My dream grilled cheese experience consists of buttered garlic bread and flavorful American cheese with a can of tomato soup,” states Thomas Bergren, an A-TECH junior.  “The Kraft give-away is cool, but it’s not hard to just buy a pack of cheese.”

Restaurants in several cities, such as Clementine in Los Angeles, also celebrate the month and it is very popular among the restaurant’s customers.  Clementine, which specializes in sandwiches of all kinds, offers five different types of grilled cheese each week of the months.  All of the recipes are from top LA chefs who are each determined to create the best grilled cheese in the city.

Other restaurants in Los Angeles offer “create your own masterpiece” grilled cheese workshops where customers can build a unique sandwich from any of the restaurant’s ingredients.

By Ashley Morris

Staff Writter

This April is Autism Awareness Month. April has been celebrated by the Autism Society of America since the 1970s in order to “highlight the growing need for concern and awareness about autism.”

“Autism spectrum disorder is really four separate diagnosis under the umbrella of autism,” Special Education teacher Mrs. Reed said.

“One is Aspergers, which is high functioning without significant communication difficulties. Then there is classical autism with features including communication impairments, such as muteness, or limited verbal skills. Another type is Pervasive Developmental Disorder not otherwise specified. The student is on the autism spectrum, high functioning, and has or had communication difficulties, such as ones with expressive or receptive language, but does no fit into the former three categories. And then we have Retts syndrome, which is rare. We do not see it here at A-TECH. It mostly affects girls, and the individuals are usually dead by age ten.”

The symptoms of autism usually appear around the age of three. “Sometimes the child may develop normally, then have a sudden regression. This could happen from around fourteen months to three years. They also may have sensory issues, such as lights being too bright, or sounds being too loud. Voice moderation may also be a problem. During normal conversation, they may use a loud voice, or be unaware of their volume,” Mrs. Reed continued.

“Personal space is also a huge deal. Some may be obsessed with keeping their distance, while others have no sense of space whatsoever. When they don’t get there way, or there are unexpected changes in their routine, it can result in a total meltdown. In severe cases, due to their high tolerance of pain, they can resort to self-injury. A student will likely not be able to quickly take the perceptive of another.”
“When we talk about communication disorder, we are talking about four different problems: there is receptive language, understanding what others are saying, expressive, expressing their thoughts, wants, or needs,” Mrs. Reed continued. “Articulation, which requires classical speech therapy, and the use of pragmatic language, in which the person does not properly respond to questions asked of them in social situations.”

Although the cause of autism is not clear, many associate it with either genetics or vaccines. “All evidence for the cause of autism points to genetics, not vaccinations,” Mrs. Reed said. “10 of the 13 authors involved with the publication of those results withdrew the publication.” Although there is no definite cure for autism, some children have been found to outgrow it.

Tammy Hahn is the mother of an autistic child. “Autism definitely makes life a little chaotic. With all Michael’s appointments, making any kind of plans is next to impossible. Autism affects the whole family in good and bad ways,” Hahn said.

“He makes little eye contact, seems to not hear when you call his name. He also has sensor issues. He is sensitive to loud sounds, textures, tastes, and has fixation on certain objects,” Hahn continued. “He also has a habit of lining up toys or stacking things.”

“I deal with constant stress and exhaustion. Michael’s extreme eating habits makings planning any kind of meals impossible. I constantly worry about his health and safety. By learning as much as I can about Michael’s autism, and what I can do to help him function in daily activities, I discovered that having a structured environment, using schedules, to do lists, keeping things simple is very important. I have a lot more patience, and tolerance. I don’t take things for granted anymore, and I learned not to take myself so seriously.”

Hahn believes that autism awareness is very important. “The sooner you get the diagnosis the sooner you can start treatment.”

In order to spread awareness, The Autism Society suggests you volunteer at some events, donate, or start learning more about the symptoms of autism at www.autism-society.org.

Although autism may not be a large fixture in A-TECH’s students lives, awareness is still important for people who have family members who are diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Autism Awareness Month is important for all.

By Kristiana Trinidad
Junior Staff Writer

Most A-TECH students have never heard of College Prep Club (CPC). CPC meets after school and prepares its members for anything unexpected when dealing with college application process.

The advisor of the organization is Ms. Bouchard.

“There are exactly 42 students who registered for College Prep Club at the beginning of the year,” Ms. Bouchard explains, “however, we currently have 53 students attending the meetings, so we’re actually growing.”

The club is full of students from every grade who plan on going to college. About twenty of the members are freshmen and sophomores, and the rest of the fifty-three are juniors and seniors.

Despite its popularity, the club was only created last year. Ms. Bouchard never planned on forming the club, but a chain of events led to it.

“Two years ago, I was having a discussion with my business communications class. It was surprising to find out that a great majority was worried about what they would need to do for college. Afterwards, a girl named Brittany Coleman asked me if I could form a club to help other students get ready for college. I thought it was perfect. Now, she’s the president of the club,” explained Ms. Bouchard.

Last year, College Prep Club started out strong with about forty students, but it dwindled down to an amount close to fifteen due to scheduling conflicts with other activities.

Different topics are covered in every meeting. The officers organize all the information, and Ms. Bouchard provides the reading material. The club even helps juniors and seniors with the college process.

“Everything is done in a timeline, so all the deadlines won’t jump on you at the same time,” Ms. Bouchard commented.

Freshman Jessica Pererez is a member of CPC.

“College Prep Club is awesome,” said Pererez, “It’s preparing us for the PSAT, SAT, and ACT.”

For those wishing to join, College Prep Club meets in Ms. Bouchard’s classroom, room 616, after school every first and third Thursday of the month.

Photo by Kim Deguzman/Maverick MessengerEmylia Terry smiles for the camera.

By Kim DeGuzman
Research Editor

A-TECH is filled with a wide range of people who possess a wide range of interests ranging from music to art to athletics.

A-TECH doesn’t have any sports teams but students can participate in sports at their zoned schools.

Such is the case with A-TECH senior and tennis player Emylia Terry who proceeded to the October 13 Quarterfinal Division of the Sunset Regionals with her doubles partner, Debbie Houge of LVA. Terry plays for her home school of Shadow Ridge High School.

“It was an individual event, not a team event, so the team sends the people who can play the best in that sort of event,” says Terry. “Debbie and I had the most points in that type of event [doubles], so they sent us to the competition.”

Terry and Houge beat out tennis players from Clark High School and Spring Valley High School in order to proceed to Quarterfinals but lost in the Quarterfinal match and did not proceed to the State Championships.

Terry has also received various standings in her sport of tennis. In her freshman year, she competed in regionals.

“I started playing tennis young,” she explains, “but I didn’t start getting serious about it until right before I reached high school, probably right around when the eighth grade ended.”

Spencer Mussoli and Jared Banares, who play for their home school of Bonanza High School, were able to go to the State Championships from Thursday, October 23 to Sunday, October 26 as a whole team. The team went up to Carson City on October 23 to compete. However, neither Mussoli or Banares went with their team to play.