Lake Park’s band proves excellence has its own reward

By Kurt M.

"Excellence has its own reward." This is just one of many theories director Ken Snoeck preaches to his world-renowned Lake Park High School marching band. Excellence did have its own reward on November 15, 1997, as the Lake Park Lancers claimed third prize at the Bands of America Grand National Championship. More than eighty bands journeyed to Indianapolis in pursuit of the Holy Grail - otherwise known as the BOA Grand National Championship trophy. The competition was fierce, filled with exhilarating performances by bands from around the country.

Lake Park advanced from the preliminary round to the semifinals with the highest score of 95.5. They also won all the captains' awards. These included outstanding music, outstanding visual and outstanding general effect.

In the semifinals, the pool of bands was reduced to thirty, with stiff competition coming from rival Center Grove, Indiana, who won Grand Nationals in 1995, and Marion Catholic, Illinois, a five-time winner of the coveted trophy. Lake Park finished second in the semifinals and tied Center Grove for outstanding General Effect.

Lake Park marched on to finals as one of the ten best bands in the country. Other finalists included Centerville Jazz Band, Ohio, Towyon Springs, Florida, Plymouth Canton, Michigan, Lawrence Central, Indiana, Carmel, Indiana, Marion Catholic, Illinois, Center Grove, Indiana, McGavack, Texas, and the Webster, New York, marching bands. After witnessing one of the most brilliant performances ever by the Lake Park marching Band, the final captain awards were given. Marion Catholic won Outstanding Music Performance. Lake Park took the award for High Visual Effect. Marion Catholic then captured its second captain award and Outstanding General Effect.

Following the presentation of the captain awards, the results of the finals' performances were announced. Lake Park finished third among the ten bands, with Center Grove placing second and Marion Catholic taking first place. Marion Catholic won an unusual sixth national championship.

The Lake Park band gave its best and third place in the nation was an impressive achievement. Mr. Snoeck said that he was proud of the band, how it overcame obstacles throughout the year and of the caliber of the final performances. Expect the Lake Park Marching Band to be neck and neck for a national title next year. As state champions continuously since 1989, they have placed in the top five at Grand Nationals since 1985.

"A.D.D." What is it?

By Alex M.

This is a question that alot of people are probably asking these days after all the attention in the media. Mrs. Lynch, student counsellor at Peacock, was recently interviewed to discuss A.D.D., or Attention Deficit Disorder. She said that A.D.D. "seems to be a modern problem that doctors diagnose to misbehaving children who frequently act up." According to Mrs. Lynch, a child who has A.D.D. will be unable to focus to get his or her work done, and will also not be able to keep his or her attention on anything for very long.

A modern cure is a prescription drug Ritlin, and other similar drugs that work like Ritlin. Sometimes, the side effects to the medicine include, loss of appetite, loss of sleep and depression. But for most kids, Mrs. Lynch said that the benefits far outweighed the potential side effects. Ritlin helps the child concentrate and actually finish his or her homework. Mrs. Lynch spoke from personal experience. Her son was diagnosed with A.D.D., and received the appropriate medication. He was able to bring his grades up from C's to A's. Mrs. Lynch's son outgrew his A.D.D. when he went through puberty. If, however, a student still has A.D.D. by the time he or she goes through puberty, there are other answers. Mrs. Lynch added a note of caution when discussing the widespread use of the label, A.D.D. "Sometimes," she said, "a student or parent will use A.D.D. as an excuse, and label a kid A.D.D. when in fact it is really out of control behavior."

An American student in Paris

By Amber S.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Yours Truly took a trip over the big blue ocean to Paris. Let me just say that an eight hour flight with a seven hour time difference is not exactly the most fun thing in the world. After I got there, checked into the hotel, yada yada yada, I went to the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel). That was really cool. You can never really experience the majesty of the Eiffel Tower without being there. Plus, there is this really pretty park, somewhat like the Mall in D.C., in front of the Tower. It was really sad at the Eiffel Tower, though. There were three or four children begging for money. You wanted to give them money, but you just couldn't. One of those dilemmas. But the kicker was, when I got my ticket to go to the top of the Tower they gave me counterfeit money. You might think when you go there they all say, "Oh look! It's an American tourist! Let's pawn off our fake money on them!" When I got to the second level, which is an open area, I became totally paranoid. I am terribly afraid of falling, so this was like dunking a cat into water. Even through the paranoia, the sights of the city were phenomenal! It's so weird, because almost all of the roofs of Paris are made of red clay, and all of the blocks are shaped like triangles, unlike Chicago's rectangles. At the 843 foot summit of the tower you can see how far it is from the tower to other points around the globe (it's really hard to convert kilometers to miles in your head). After I got down from the top I had to sit and take it all in. And then there was the high school art class that came there, that's a totally different article (he, he, he, he). There was the small pond with swans and geese and egrets gliding through the water with the weeping willow draping over it like a curtain.

The night following my trip to the Eiffel Tower, I walked along the Champs Elysees (pronounced Shahmps Aleesay) where the Arc de Triumphe sits. This big monument was a gift from Napoleon to his troops. A little tidbit of info for your hungry minds. Oh! Guess what! There was this restaurant called the Chicago Pizza Kitchen. They had a menu that had a deal called "Michael Jordan." I have pictures. My mission of the trip (get rid of the counterfeit Franc) was fulfilled at the Hagan Dazs restaurant where this really nice French guy (surprising isn't it?) who spoke English took my counterfeit money. The Champs has many shops and restaurants lining it including a Mc Donalds and a Planet Hollywood. There was a really expensive pair of pants in the window that cost 659 F which is about $122. Cheap for France anyway. Enough said.

The third day was for the museums. I started the day at the Musse d'Orsay where I saw Whistler's Mother, several Monet's and Renoir's and other really cool paintings. Next was the Louvre, or as Michael Jordan would put it, the "Louge." There's this really awesome statue garden that has statues of all the Greek gods and goddesses. I saw the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory and had lunch in a time frame of an hour and a half. Then came Musse Orgaine. It was an okay museum, but not as good as the first two. Next I went to the Modern Art Museum, which was closed, and I took an elevator ride to the top. The Picasso Museum was really stupid because you couldn't understand any of his paintings except for the earlier portraits. Then there was a mile hike in a circle to the Metro station. That's not all. After all the museums (all that walking) I walked up 195 stairs to the top of the Arc de Triumphe to see the city at night. It was beautiful to see the streets of Paris radiating from the circle. That was an exhausting day. Yawn.

Day three was a trip to Princess Di's tunnel. You have no idea on how ashamed I was to take pictures of the place where she died. I had to though. That was depressing. After that I went to, in my opinion, the most beautiful place in Paris. Notre Dame. There aren't words to describe the beauty of this place. It brings tears to your eyes. My fear of falling vanished as I climbed the 323 stairs to the top to have my picture taken with a gargoyle. I feel sorry for all those that are claustrophobic while climbing to the top. The staircase starts at about 2 feet wide and ends at about half a foot wide. The Hunchback of Notre Dame does not do that church justice. Just thought you'd like to know. After Notre Dame I went an underground mall. That was really weird. Unless you knew where it was, you wouldn't notice it. There is no hint of it above the ground. Next was a really long Metro ride to Mont Marte, the highest point in Paris. Let me just say I hate stairs and hills after this trip. Sacre Coeur is another really cool 16th century church. Down the hill from the church is a really artsy square where artists painting and sketching pictures of Paris and tourists. They're conniving vultures. They prey on people that come there. Note, always bargain! After that, I went to look at the Sorbonne which is the Evanston equivalent in Paris.

All in all my trip to Paris was one really great trip. I would have liked it better had I not seen almost everything in three days. Five or six days would have been better. A very good piece of advice: always say "merci" to the flight attendants on the plane 'cause they tend to throw food at you if you don't.

It is so beautiful there. It's amazing to think that you walked down the same street that Napoleon walked down, or touched the walls that have seen almost a thousand years of church services. It's an experience that I hope everyone can experience.

A Gift Gone Awry

By Nicole S.

As I, Kate Burnelly, tell you my story, you will learn how something so special can be so dangerous. It started off back when I was ten. Life was rough in the fourth grade. But I began to notice something different about me. It was not that I looked different or talked different, but I thought different. I knew things. Good things as well as bad things. Like at Christmas time, I would sit by the tree and look at all the presents. I would only pick up the ones that were mine, but I didnít have to look at the label. I knew which ones were for me. I looked at each gift. I shook it and concentrated hard so I could make a good guess. But somehow I knew that it was the hair ribbons that I had asked for. At first I had thought it was merely a guess. But when all my guesses were right, I became suspicious. The Christmases in years to come were strange; for I knew what I was getting before Christmas. Then I tried to avoid the tree until Christmas day, but I always knew the contents of the presents before they were opened. It was fun, though, when the phone rang. I would always call out who it was and who they wanted to speak to.

Over the years, I researched this "knowing all" thing I seemed to have. It was quite obvious. I soon became familiar with the term ESP, which means extra sensory perception. I did not use this ESP just for myself. When I was around people, I advised them of the dangers around them. Once while babysitting, I noticed the leftover Halloween candy. One of the candy bars contained a razor. I knew it. I opened it up and carefully examined it. Of course, there was the razor, waiting to tear up the little boy's throat and insides. When it came to my friends, I knew when they were hurting and why. I tried desperately to help them. Sometimes it didn't work. They would say, "How did you know my dad was abusing my mother! Did Annie tell you? She's the only one I told because I trusted her! I'm going to kill her!" That, of course, was the cause of a broken friendship. I had tried to tell her that Annie hadn't told me anything, but it was no use. So you see I had my ups and downs.

Now this brings us to a time when I was fully aware of my ESP. I was fourteen years old. My brother, Jon, was twelve. I would always tell him things like, "If you don't pick your clothes up Mom will ground you." He didn't believe me till after it happened, not once, but several times. I would advise him, "Don't watch that movie, it will give you nightmares." But no, he had to watch it and keep us up all night! I would say, "If you don't put your book report in your backpack now, you will forget it and get a D on it." He would always look at me a strange way and then say some nasty remark. Things got worse. As I tried helping people, things slipped out of my mouth wrong and people misunderstood me and people started to hate me. I once told my teacher that she wouldn't like her haircut. She wondered how I knew that and thought that I looked at her daily calendar. She thought I was very rude. The next day, the teacher had gotten a haircut and I saw why she didn't like it, just like I knew! She apologized, but then didn't understand how I could have known that she was getting a hair cut and that she wouldn't like it.

Then there was my best friend, Megan, who was going on a date with a sixteen year old. He was driving a motorcycle. I had a very bad feeling about this. Megan was turning fifteen. I told her not to go, but she just got really mad. I begged her not to go. She got a broken leg. Need I say more? And this got me angry.

On another day, my brother was going on the internet. I sensed something, a disease maybe. So I told him. "Jon, don't go on the internet today, because something bad will happen to your computer." I thought harder and then said, "It's a virus, yes, I think your computer will get a virus. Please don't, Jon," I warned him.

"Yeah right, you don't even know what a virus is, Kate. Sometimes you are so dumb. What is wrong with you? Why do you think you know everything? Gosh. You can be so annoying. Why don't you just mind your own business!" He shouted into my ear. Two weeks later he was busy rebooting everything that had been deleted from the virus. He didn't seem to notice that I knew that there was going to be one.

So, one by one, there were incidents of people who hated me and told me to bug off. And that's exactly what I did. Jon's words were stuck in my head. I could hear his angry voice screaming into my ear, "Why don't you just mind your own business!" I heard it over and over everyday. It was haunting me. I left him alone. And I left everyone else alone too! They asked for it.

So I began keeping quiet. It was hard not to stop people from doing something that I knew without a doubt would hurt them. But I was using the anger inside me to distract me. I started to hate the people. My anger was cold.

My family was on vacation in Arizona. We were on a hiking trail. My brother saw a beautiful rock on the ground in a little hole. I knew, but I didn't say anything. He hadn't appreciated me telling him before, so why would he now? I stepped back and smiled the most evil grin I have ever grinned before. I heard a shrieking laugh in my head as I watched him reach his hand to grab the beautiful stone sunk into the sand. Then I heard him scream the most wonderful scream ever. I stepped away in all the commotion so I could howl with laughter. It was amazing. And I was evil. Wickedly evil! The thought of this made me cackle with laughter. I knew! That was the neatest part. I knew that he would be bitten by a . . . . what was it? A snake, or a spider, a rat? I pictured him it my mind. I concentrated and then suddenly I knew. It was a spider. And it was poisonous. Why hadn't I thought? I had just wanted to see him scream and I didn't realize or think. I ran to him and grabbed his arm. We had to get to a hospital!

Blame it on El Nino

By Amber S.

What is El Nino?!? Hmmm... Lets see. El Nino refers to the warming of a vast stretch of the tropical Pacific Ocean that occurs every couple of years. Everyone keeps saying, "oh, it's just El Nino," when something out of the ordinary happens in winter. It is true that the world's weather goes haywire, though. For instance, we could either have a moderately cool winter with tons of precipitation, or a freezing forty below dry winter.

Meteorologists predict that this will be the worst El Nino in years. It could cost billions of dollars in damages from the extreme weather. The good news is that we knew it was coming so we are prepared for the worst. I suggest plenty of hot chocolate, lots of firewood and a really great book. Hey, look on the bright side, if it gets really bad we can always miss school.