From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Kameron VanWoerkom, Minjou Rhee, Roy Soetanto and two other guests sit behind the Key Club Asian Culture booth.

2. Victoria Chong, Raul Ramos and Michelle Lutao take a break from the festivities to pose behind the Skills USA Pacific Islander booth.

3. Marvin Pineda and Patrin Alquisada battle it out in their inflatable sumo suits.

4. Students engage in a game of Twister.

5. Students watch as a dragon floats by, as part of the performance for the Shaolin School of America.

6. Pyline Tangsuvanich sings the Pocahontas hit, “Colors of the Wind”

Alexis Hanselman/Maverick MessengerThe Maverick Messenger newspaper and broadcast journalism class pose in their classroom.

Thanks for visiting the Maverick Messenger’s brand new website. We hope you enjoy your visit to our site. For questions/comments/concerns or if you have a story idea, letter to the editor or want to submit a comic or guest story, visit Ms. Schultz in room 326 or email us at atech.maverick.messenger@gmail.com

Photo courtesy of kansascity.com. Represenative Bart Stupak, an anti-abortion Democrat, was criticized for accepting the abortion compromise and voting yes for the health care reform. A fellow representative, Republican Randy Neugebauer, yelled ‘baby killer’ as Stupak addressed Congress.

By Natasha Sushenko

Copy Editor

After a year of heated debate between party lines, the landmark health care reform bill has finally been passed in the House of Representatives. This $875 billion bill is the greatest reform to health care since Medicare and Medicaid were enacted in the 1960s.

Officially titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the over 100-page bill means to extend health care to every American citizen while lowering high health care costs.

Originally passed in the Senate last December, the bill was soon sent to the House of Representatives. There it entered a three-month process of debates, speeches, revisions, and compromises before it was sent to a vote.

The bill was changed and revised many times, differing sometimes greatly from the original bill passed in the Senate, to appease potential swing votes.

One of the major last minute revisions was on the controversial topic of abortion and what funds the bill may allocate. Many pro-life Democrats, crucial votes for passing the bill, disagreed with the government paying for abortions. However, they finally came to a decision.

With the new compromise, federal money will not directly be used to fund abortions. Women receiving financial support from the government to buy health insurance will use a two-check system: one check to pay for the abortion coverage and one check to pay for everything else with federal aid.

With this final revision, the bill was sent to a vote on March 21, 2010, and narrowly passed by a vote of 219 to 212. No Republicans supported the bill, but all except 34 Democrats voted yes.

Since both houses of Congress have approved the bill, it was sent to the White House for the final step before becoming a law: being signed by President Obama.

On March 23, 2010, President Obama took the leap and the bill was signed into law.

By this fall, the American people could be feeling the effects of health care reform. Within those six months, insurance companies will not be able to refuse coverage for people based on age, gender, or preexisting conditions because of their increased risk for specific health issues.

By 2014, most of the bill will be in effect, and the goal of health care, whether public or private, for every American is hoped be reached.

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.

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.”

Photo Courtesy of www.drjalili.com. According to statistics, 20,000 Americans are killed every year due to aspirin.

By Raybin Dockery

Staff Writer

Do you take aspirin? If so, you may want to learn about the serious affects and dangers of this over-the-counter medicine before you put another pill in your mouth.

The term “aspirin” is a trade name for the drug acetylsalicylic acid. Aspirin first hit the US in 1899 and is one of the most widely consumed drugs. It relieves pain, reduces fever, lessens swelling, and other symptoms of arthritis. However, there should be many cautions when
According to The Health Gazette, aspirin is very dangerous for numerous reasons. Aspirin can cause severe allergic reactions, stomach bleeding, and ulcers (small erosions in the stomach) that can be fatal.

Undoubtedly, there are a lot of adverse reactions to taking aspirin. Yet, many people believe if there is no obvious reaction, it is safe. A large number of people take aspirin daily to prevent the potential threat of heart disease.

Medical Research conducted during the past fifteen years indicates that aspirin has anti-inflammatory and blood-thinning effects that can reduce the chances of heart disease by 23 percent.

A-TECH senior Andrea Cordova commented on the side effects of aspirin. “I understand that there are dangerous effects of using aspirin but I believe that if the medication is taken in moderation, then there is a low possibility of experiencing the negative side of aspirin.”

Additionally, there are a few hidden problems when taking aspirin that are commonly overlooked. Aspirin induces nutritional deficiencies by depleting the body of nutrients, such as iron, potassium, sodium, and vitamin C. The side effects of these depleted nutrients include anemia, fatigue, hair loss, diarrhea, insomnia and infection of the body.

A-TECH senior Kenichiro Chaffee believes there is too much emphasis on using medication stating, “ I think the westernized society we live in focuses too much on taking medicine instead of letting our bodies naturally fight off viruses or other ailments.”

“Aspirin does have a lot of bad effects and hopefully people will be more careful about the types of medications they use in general,” Chaffee added.

Using medications are very serious because they can alter your mind and body. The next time anyone thinks of using a medication should consider the consequences of the drug. You may just have headache, but what you are putting in your body could do more than just subside your cranium pain. It could have lasting affects.

On March 1, 2010, disaster struck PS3 owners across the planet. Suddenly, they were unable to play some of their games. What happened and why? How did Sony miss something this large, and not stop it before it started? What will PS3 owners do now that they can’t play their beloved games? The answers to these questions, and more, can be found on Sony’s press release, which was publicized just hours after the initial outbreak.

The first question everyone asks is “What happened?” Well, every first generation Playstation 3 had a corrupted code that made their consoles unable to play games enabled with the trophy system. Older games such as Medal Gear Solid 4 or Rachet and Clank: Future: Tools of Destruction worked fine. But newer games, suck as Rock Band: Beatles, would not initialize. People got this problem just by booting up their console. No one with the older model PS3 was unaffected, not even people who were not connected to the Internet. People with the newer, slim model PS3, however, escaped unharmed.

The next thing people ask is “How did it happen?” Well, it happened when Sony mislabeled 2010 as a leap year. So, on the console’s internal clocks, March 1 was supposed to be February 29. With those date discrepancies, the anti-cheating software kicked in. Basically, the consoles thought the users were cheating for their trophies by changing the date, and made it so the users couldn’t get any trophies the easiest way possible — make those games unplayable for everyone. For whatever reason, the new slim models did not have the corrupted code.

The final question is “What is Sony doing about it?” They released a patch that should have fixed every problem almost instantly, however some older model PS3 with Internet connection didn’t start working again for a few more days. Sony has also released, for free, clothing for the PS3 Home’s avatar characters that relate to what is being referred to as “The Meltdown.”

Well, even with disaster averted, what other problems will arise? If Sony lets something as simple as mislabeled date get through the cracks, what will happen next? Is the future of the PS3’s reliability in jeopardy? Only time will tell.

Xbox has also experienced the ring of death for several of their systems. However, they are quickly repared and sent back to the customer.

This tragedy to all game lovers and addicts poses a destruction to life as they know it. To many, video games are their best friend. Melt downs and rings of death are only the beginning for their world falling apart.

Don’t worry too much, though, Sony and Microsoft always take care of their customers. The wait to get back into the game may take a while but your system will be good as new.

Photo Courtesy of www.hiphopdx.com. The newly released Gorillaz CD is bound to be a success and blow the band’s other successes out of the park.

By Kim DeGuzman

Entertainment and Website Editor

Brilliant. If you look up the word in the dictionary, you’d find its meanings to be “luminous” or “talented.” Many artists strive for their albums to be acclaimed as brilliant.

The new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach released March 9, takes the words “luminous” or “talented” to an entirely different level with its host of collaborators and environmentally fueled message.

The virtual band is the brainchild of Britpop band Blur’s lead singer Damon Albarn. Albarn serves as the principal songwriter and lead vocalist. Gorillaz are a unique hip hop collective that use cartoon stand ins onstage and in their music videos.

The band’s riveting, yet occasionally vague, third release, is an environmental concept album prompted by the time Albarn went to a landfill in Africa.

Previous Gorillaz albums live or die based on who is collaborating on the disc and on Plastic Beach, Albarn has made some wise decisions. The new album has a host of collaborators.

Among them Bobby Womack, who takes over the disco hit “Stylo” with collaborator Mos Def. The Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon reunite on the title track. The Fall’s Mark E. Smith guests on “Glitter Freeze” while Lou Reed invades the lively “Some Kind of Nature.”

Plastic Beach is the group’s first disc not to feature an outside producer (their first two releases, Gorillaz and Demon Days, were co-helmed by Dan the Automator and Danger Mouse, respectively).

On Plastic Beach, Albarn showcases his versatile gift of moving from one distinct musical style to another. At one end of the musical spectrum is “Empire Ants,” which opens with a gently pattering drum machine and one of Albarn’s melancholy melodies, then explodes into glittery disco.

At the other end of the spectrum is “Sweepstakes,” an off-kilter, brass-powered hip hop featuring Mos Def.

There are also some combinations that just don’t appear to work. At first listen, the fake jingle of “Superfast Jellyfish” (a collaboration featuring De La Soul and Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys) is either wildly entertaining or just really rather annoying.

“White Flag” is a rebellious war-and-religion takedown featuring appearances from British grime artists Kano and Bashy and the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.

“Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach,” the disc’s opening track, is a sleepy, Snoop Dogg-led number with a “Let’s save the environment!” message designed to mobilize kids to prevent global warming.

With so many collaborators and different musical styles being fused, the album also seems as if Albarn does everything in excess.

While the album does suffer from an excess of everything, Plastic Beach is a mind blowing work of art that showcases the Gorillaz’ versatility. With a dramatic range of musical styles and Albarn’s stunning musical talents, there is no doubt that Albarn has broken the brilliant barrier.

Vanida Visessung / Maverick Messenger. Summer is the event where most students look foward to, but with summer being cancelled, students will be really disappointed.

By Vanida Visessung
Staff Writer

With the school year almost over, summer is crawling near. Students are anticipating summer break, but they are about to be met with disappointment.

Although A-TECH is a high priority school, there has been a significant change within it. A-TECH has seen a decrease in its test scores in the past few years. Teachers believe this is due to the insufficient amount of time to educate students. Students are not comprehending the concepts as well as they should.

“Sometimes my teachers go over the material really fast,” sophomore Helena Vuong said, “it gets really confusing at times.”

To improve scores, the administration has decided to increase the number of school days, therefore reducing the amount of days during summer break.

There has been mixed feedback regarding this issue, as some students argue school should not be prolonged just because of the school’s overall test scores, while others claim it is beneficial.

Sophomore Arianna Hobbs argued, “It’s really not fair, to be honest. I was looking forward to summer since I had so many things planned!”

Summer has always been the event students look forward to. Many people go out of the state or just relax and sit back.

“Longer work days and cancelling summer vacation will raise achievement levels and also make the legislature happy with our action,” A-TECH principal Ms. Diamond stated.

In addition to prolonging school days, it has recently been shown A-TECH students are very gullible.

A-TECH has always been known as the school with the best grades in Clark County school district and continues to show greater improvement. No matter how low a school’s test scores are, summer cannot be cancelled. Students should get their swimsuits ready.