I am always a little bit sad on the Monday following Homecoming Week. After such an exciting and energetic week, the next week of school, while much calmer, makes me miss the enthusiasm that we all had. This year’s Homecoming was a great one. First off, let me thank our ASB and Stew for the amazing job they did planning all of the activities and dress up days. They also did a wonderful job planning a great assembly on Friday. I don’t know if you realize what a task it is to plan and execute a 90
minute assembly, but t hey pulled it off very well . Also the tailgate party at the school prior to the game was a great idea and a
fantastic way to celebrate our school spirit prior to the game. Thanks to all of you, our students, for the showing of school spirit last week. From your participation in the dress up days to the lunch time activities to Friday’s spirit day and assembly, you all did a great job representing all the makes MTHS such a great school. Your spirit and enthusiasm are much appreciated. While we may have had a few not so positive things to deal with on Friday (as we always seem to do) the majority of you kept the intent of Homecoming positive and for that, I thank you. Thank you to our teachers for their work to maintain an environment that focused on learning. While we get pretty revved up to celebrate Homecoming each year, we are still a school and our main focus is about learning. Our teachers did a great job keeping our focus on the reason we all come to school every day—learning. Not an easy task when you consider all the distractions that take place during Homecoming. Thank you to our football team for their
efforts on the field Friday night. What a great game. Our football team has done an outstanding job this year and regardless
of the outcome of the game, we are very proud of you and they way you represent us all so very well. You have given us a lot to cheer about this year and Friday night was no exception. And now it is on to the playoffs for the first time in Terrace history. What an accomplishment! Thank you to ASB for the great dance on Saturday night. Our dances are always great events and this year was another example of the outstanding work our ASB does to plan activities for students that are fun. The music, the decorations—everything was very well done. I also want to make sure that I thank our other fall sport athletes as well—Boys tennis is going to state, cross country is sending Michael O’Neill and Nina Penner to state, our volleyball team is in the playoffs. What a great fall season. Again, thanks to all of you for a fun week. We made some great memories and had a wonderful time.

Hi. I’ll get around to telling you about ASB stuff, but I can make your life significantly more interesting with this paragraph right here. I would like to share a mind-blowing experience with each and every one of you. Some of us ASB folks noticed this a while back. What I would like everyone reading this column to do immediately after school is go to the HUB and lie down on your back on top of the stage with your head facing the windows to the baseball field. Orient yourself so that your head hangs over a stair –your perspective will be flipped upside down. Then imagine the ceiling to be the floor, and the floor to be the ceiling. Your eyes
will get used to perceiving things this way. It will be really trippy. Think about how hard it would be to climb over the wall into
Stew’s office, or why people’s feet are sticking to the ceiling. Keep at it for a few minutes, and the effect will only be amplified. I
couldn’t be more serious when I tell you to do this immediately. November isn’t nearly as busy as October. There are only a few things to talk about. The Mountlake Terrace Macho Volleyball tournament takes place on Nov. 10. Signups are over, but admission to watch is free with an ASB card. And for those of you who are competing, don’t forget to show up and get thrashed
by The Abusement Park. The top two teams will advance to the Edmonds School District tournament on Nov. 12. Hopefully those Meadowdale teams graduated and our school has a chance to win the whole thing. The canned food drive runs through all of November. Along with the altruistic notion of helping others who are less fortunate in our community, we have cut-throat, combative and more effective motivation. The Pursuit of the Power Plunger basketball games and races are scheduled for December, but the canned food drive is the best way to win and stick it those Lynnwood kids and their shiny new school. We lost PP last year because we only brought in about 11 cans per student. We can do better than that. Winning isn’t everything, but it means that we donated more of our time and resources to others than Lynnwood High School did. ASB will be more active this year in pulling your ears and nagging, so I look forward to better results in 2009. October’s Most Helpful Staff Member to Big ASB has been long overdue for accolades. His resources and knowledge have made our lives considerably easier while planning assemblies. His magic cords make projectors work in the gym, and his cameras capture images and sounds that need to be expressed every member of our school. Mr. Comeaux and HBN deserve a pat on the back, and even more really nice computers in their room.
Bye.

The Woman’s volleyball team had a rollercoaster season this year. They had a rocky start at the beginning of the season with only 1 win in the first five games all against schools outside their league. However once October came around they claimed 4 league victories in a row. Shortly thereafter their winning streak was cut short with the rest of the seasons matches being losses. Raechel Pendergraft, Kaitlyn Hatch, Christine Jenson, and Stephanie Mcgee celebrated their last year with the team as graduating seniors. The team finished with a record of 4-2 in the league and 5-9 overall. The girls took the No.4 seed into the 4A District 1 playoffs. Their first crossover game was at Nov. 2 against Cascade, who they defeated with scores of 25-15, 25-23, 18-25, 25-16.

Despite the overall misfortune, which reared its ugly head for the men’s tennis team this year, one of the biggest highlights of the season lies with senior tennis partners Joe Kim and Chris Raunio. Though the team as a whole won just one match the entire season, the two captains dominated in the WesCo South doubles championship. According to Coach Alberto Ramierez, “This is the first time in decades that any tennis team [from MTHS] or a member has been in the WesCo South finals.”

The WesCo South Finals took place at the Harbor Square Athletic Club, Oct. 23. There, Kim and Raunio played against Edmonds-Woodway for championship. Coach Ramirez said this of the match; “Today’s match will be a great opportunity for the tennis community in the area to know that Mountlake Terrace can develop good players in the tennis program.” People are definitely paying attention now, since Kim and Raunio became the WesCo South champions with scores of 6-3, 3-6, and the tiebreaker 6-4.  “It was a great match. I am very proud of how the team played.” Coach Ramirez said. “They took care of business on the court.” Joe was also quite proud of their achievement. “It feels great. It was a tough battle, but in the end, victory feels sweet.”

Code of Washington (RCW) 28A.230.140, Mountlake Terrace High School students recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Amongst the MTHS community there are many misconceptions about what is legally required for students to do regarding the Pledge. Some students object to reciting the pledge due to personal convictions, yet some teachers verbally chastise students who do not participate.

The RCW calls for, “Appropriate flag exercises to be held in each classroom at the beginning of the school day, and in every school at the opening of all school assemblies, at which exercises those pupils so desiring shall recite the [pledge of allegiance]… Students not reciting the pledge shall maintain a respectful silence.”

The code clearly indicates that reciting the Pledge is optional as long as students not participating are not disrupting other classmates who do participate. Legally, every student must be given the opportunity to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but none can legally be forced to stand or say it, only to remain quiet and not disruptive.

Although this is the law, some MTHS teachers are confused or uninformed about what they should be requiring their students to do.

Formal punishment for non-participation goes against state law and federal, yet it still is present in the MTHS community. School districts who punish non-participating students may be sued under federal law because the right to no recite the Pledge falls under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Science teacher Penny Lefavour requires her students to stand and be quiet during the Pledge of Allegiance. She said she does not think that requiring students to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance is forcing her personal beliefs on them, because in her view it’s the law and the common belief.

“It is a law for students to do the pledge,” Lefavour said.

“We can’t force students to stand,” Principal Greg Schwab said. “We can’t force our personal beliefs regarding the importance of the Pledge of Allegiance on our students.”

Lefavour finds the Pledge of Allegiance  to be an important matter since her “family has fought, and is still fighting, for the rights and freedoms that people take for granted on a daily basis.”

World history teacher Marlynn Hartline asks her students to take off their hats when they say the Pledge of Allegiance, but she gives them the option of saying the Pledge or being quiet. Hartline encourages standing but she doesn’t require it.

“There are other important things in life too,” Schwab said.

Through the mud, grass, woodlands, and rain, cross-country has ran close in both times, and in bonds. 4A is a tough league to run in, especially for a team with such similar times. In the 5,000-meter race for WesCo South, senior runners Jacob Howell and Brandon Hines, had times within 1 second of each other.

The varsity team, consisting of all seniors, has been running together all four years of high school so it is no wonder how they have progressed.

“We’ve got a tight pack when competing [and training].” Howell said. “The top four runners are close in times for the most part, which makes it difficult to race other teams because we get going at the same speed.”

But keeping the pack on each others flanks has not exactly hurt the team. The individual runners, senior top-four pack runner Michael O’Neill and sophomore Nina Penner, placed for the WIAA 4A state championships, which is a 5,000-meter race on the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, Washington this Saturday.  The women’s varsity race begins at 1:00 p.m., and the men’s varsity race begins at 2:30 p.m.

Though after this season there will be a very small cross-country team if at all because it now consists of mostly seniors, there will still be forces to be reckoned with from the JV team.

Among the contenders are Sophomores Justin Frazier, Matt Black, and Ben Pierson, and Juniors Tyler Baker and Abdi Jama.

Based on a recommendation that Superintendent Nick Brossoit received from the Snohomish County Health Department, he has canceled all overnight student field trips until Dec. 1. This issue is a direct response to the rapid manner in which H1N1 (Swine Flu) is being transmitted among students and community members.

The H1N1 influenza virus has recently developed the ability to be transmitted between people. Numerous cases have been reported in the area and several deaths have been attributed to the flu across the state. All planned overnight field trips from now until the end of November have the option of being converted to day trips, or rescheduled after Dec. 1. Health officials recommend avoiding contact with infected people and staying home for 24 hours after fever symptoms have dissipated.

Mountlake Terrace High School is hosting a vaccine clinic from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m on Saturday, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5 for priority groups of community members. Such priority groups include individuals 6 months old to 24 years old, pregnant women, caregivers of infants, school teachers, and people 25-64 years old with medical conditions.

The swim team had a rocky season overall but individually they had outstanding achievements. Eight members of the team qualified for districts and one of those eight is very close to qualifying for state. Sophomore Hunter Goncalves is going to districts to compete in the 200 and 500 free. She had a qualifying time of 2:08 for the 200 free and a time of 5:27 for the 500 free. Her times nearly qualify her to compete at state level and she has two more opportunities to achieve those times. Senior Kari Sjolin and freshman Riley Morgan both qualified for the 50 free with times 28.5 and 27 seconds. Morgan also qualified for the 100 free with a time of 1:01.  Five other members of the team qualified for the district relay. Competing members are Senior Teryn Bouche, Senior Erin Gustafson, Senior Alyssa Kier, Freshman Jerusalem Kifelew, and Freshman Mackenzie LeSueur.

The library policy is currently no food, no phones.

Casey Meier, new MTHS Library Media Specialist said, “The function of a library is to provide a working and studying place. The phone isn’t involved with work or study.” Although library policy has was not revised at the start of the school year, new library management is enforcing it differently.

Phones are liable to be confiscated from students who do not comply with library policy; but students are allowed to listen to portable music devices in the library because they do not take away from a student’s ability to study.

“In my discussions with (Principal Greg) Schwab, he agrees that the library is a learning place with no phones,” Meier said.

In addition to no phones, no food is allowed in the library. It is acceptable to drink covered beverages at the tables, but not at the computers.

“In the past the library was where students could hang out, but that isn’t the district standard. Administration supports [this policy], I support it as well,” Meier said.

The most significant day in Terrace football history to date was last Friday, with a possible encore set for this Saturday as the Hawks host the Central Kitsap H.S. Cougars at 1 p.m. at Edmonds Stadium in the first round of the 4A playoffs.

“We’re not satisfied with just making playoffs,” assistant coach Russ Vincent said following Friday’s 21-12 win over Kamiak.

“It’s a great feeling knowing that it was my senior class who made history by getting to the playoffs for the first time, and being a part of a team that has so much passion and drive is an awesome experience,” senior captain Casey Ellersick said.

This team was set for history having earned the support of Terrace fans by winning five games including impressive wins over Mariner, Edmonds-Woodway, and the colossal upset of Glacier Peak.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Hawks caught the first of several breaks. Jhalen Brown blocked Kamiak’s punt attempt and Julian Snow dove on it at the 10 yard line, giving the Hawks a superior field position and setting the stage for a touchdown run by Casey Ellersick. Nate Ryals’ kick gave the team a 7-0 lead with 9:06 to go in the 2nd, then held through halftime, with the Knights’ missing their first field goal attempt just before the half.

However, Kamiak put up a steady fight. The Knights marched down the field and scored a touchdown of their own, but missed the extra point kick with 8:01 to go in the 3rd. After the Hawks failed to keep up a steady offense, the Knights advanced down the field until they were halted inside the 30-yard line by the Terrace defense.

The turning point came as Brown made one of the most exciting plays of the season. The Knight’s attempted 42-yard field goal kick but it was blocked and bounced off one of the linemen. After ricocheting numerous times, the ball landed in Brown’s arms, who ran 74 yards for the touchdown. After Ryals’ kick, the Hawks led 14-6. The crowd erupted and the Terrace sideline began to fill with energy.

The Knights seemed to lose confidence and poise, but did not stop fighting. Kamiak scored a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, but failed the two-point conversion attempt, making the score 14-12 in Terrace’s favor.

After the Hawks failed to score, Kamiak took the ball back in an effort to take the lead, but could not penetrate the strong Terrace defense. Kamiak was unable to get a first down in the four plays they had left. The Terrace offense took the ball at the 27 yard-line and easily trampled the tired and demoralized Knight defense.

Ellersick capped off the drive with a touchdown with 2:09 to go in the game. Ryals added the extra point and the scoreboard showed what would be the final score of 21-12.

Kamiak’s last flicker of hope was blown  when Ellersick intercepted a pass with little time left on the clock.

After the game, students packed outside of the locker room door, waiting for the team to emerge.