Hughes Advocates Love for Sports

Story by Elliot Hughes   
The whistle blows and the program turns to advertisements. Commercial! I sprint into the bathroom, not enough time to close the door, got to hurry! I flush the toilet, run my hands through the water, sprint into the kitchen, grab another bite-size Twix bar and pour a glass of chocolate milk. “The game’s back on!” calls my dad from the other room. Ah! I can’t spill the milk! I forget about the Twix bar and walk as quickly as possible into the room and ask, “Did I miss anything?” just as P.J. Hill crosses the goal line for a Badger touchdown. read more

Erdmann Explains Why Ladies and Sports Do Not Go Well Together

Story by Sarah Erdmann   
As I walk to the living room, I stop and grab some tortilla chips along with the plate of taco dip my mom made for the ‘big game.’  I reach the couch and sit next to my dad who takes a chip and loads on the dip without taking his eyes off the television. read more

Studies Have Shown Negative Energy Balance for Ethanol

Story by Richard Merz
In recent months, gasoline blends such as E85 have begun to pop up at local gas stations.  Working at Kwik Trip, I am repeatedly asked the question; “Is it better than gasoline.”  I have researched to give you an accurate answer. read more

Bad Celebrity Influence Affect Teens

Story by Jessie Fields   
Nowadays, it seems as though every time one turns on the television to watch the news, yet another celebrity has been arrested or accused of some criminal offense.  With teenagers being more and more influenced by Hollywood, this is becoming alarming.  Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie—the list goes on and on.  I quite personally am getting sick of hearing about them. read more

School Starting After Labor Day Works Well

Story by Ty Schneider   
Ah, another summer has come and gone so fast.  Some say summer was too short, while others say it was too long.  For those of you who are like me and think it was too short, you should be happy with its current length as it is. read more

Unreasonable Number of Children Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder

Story by Alexis Hardin   
In society today, it might seem like so many kids are being diagnosed with disorders and put on medication.  The question that needs to be asked is, “Why?” I feel that bipolar disorder is one of the many disorders that are being over diagnosed and medicated at a very young age. read more

Legalization of Marijuana May Bring Positive Effects to Society

Story by Martin Crownover   
For decades there has been debate about ending marijuana prohibition.  To many the legalization movement is just a minority of hippies looking to have a good time, but there’s a lot more to it than that. read more

Obesity and Gym Class

Story by Bessie LeRose   
Obesity has been called an epidemic—in 2006, only four states had a prevalence of obesity less than 20 percent of their population.  The number of obese children has doubled in the last two decades and now one in five children are obese.  That means that between five and 25 percent of children and teens are obese.  Obesity various in ethnic groups as well; approximately five to seven percent of white and black children are obese, while a whopping 12 to 19 percent of Hispanic girls and boys are obese. read more

Gym Class Loses Importance

Story by Peter Zlebek
It can be assumed that students are required to take gym class at PHS to stay healthy and in shape. Physical Education in school supposedly combats the early development of obesity, an ever-growing problem in fat America. Additionally, the American Heart Association claims that gym “teaches [students] the skills they need to be active throughout their lifetime.” However, does archery really teach a student a life skill? How is playing bocce ball critical towards being active? How do activities like these benefit students physically? read more

Suspicious Deaths Surround the Clinton Administration

Story by Krisin Sippel   
Before anyone votes for Hillary Clinton in 2008, I think it is important that they know what happened to the people close to the Clintons during the Clinton administration. read more

Trick or Treating Teens is Ironic

Story by Emily Connor   
It’s a timeless childhood tradition—dressing up and begging for free candy from strangers. However, many teens still decide to participate in trick or treating every Halloween. Teens need to understand that free candy isn’t a right; it’s a privilege of being a kid. read more

Letter to the Editor

   Plagiarism is bad.  Everyone knows that. Easy enough, right?  Well, it is not always that simple.  Plagiarism is so easy to do; you might even do it without realizing it.  Maybe you copied an entire paper, or maybe only a couple sentences.  No matter the case, plagiarism is a serious offense every time.
   Webster’s dictionary defines plagiarism as “to steal and use (the ideas or writings of another) as one’s own.”  And that’s exactly what it is.  Whether you know it or not when you copy information from a website or a book, you’re really stealing someone else’s hard work and trying to get credit for it.  You probably think, “Oh no problem.  I’ll never have to resort to plagiarism.”  That’s exactly what I thought too; until it happened once.
  At some point in your life, you’re probably going to be weighted down with a lot of stress.  The due date for your huge paper is quickly approaching, but you have yet to even start.  And there you sit, the night before it is due, frantically trying to type up a seven-page paper.  Without even thinking, you quickly copy-and-paste just a couple good sentences from a website into your paper and forget to cite it.  No big deal, you think.  Wrong.  It does not matter that it was only a couple sentences.  It does not matter that you did not mean to copy someone else.  The fact is that you took someone else’s work and tried to pass it off as your own. 
   Perhaps you will not even get caught.  But let’s face it, if you copied something off of www.wikipedia.org, odds are it is not going to hurt the author who wrote it, but it is going to hurt you. The thing is, when you plagiarize you are only bringing yourself down.  You know that you can do better; you know that you can do it yourself.  But then why even do it in the first place? 
   People sometimes just use plagiarism as an easy way out.  Although, in the end it will not be that easy.  Plagiarism is a serious offense and therefore comes with a serious punishment.  People need to know that this isn’t middle school anymore; when you plagiarize, it’s a crime.   

Staff Editorial

   One thought on the minds of many students at PHS is college.  When colleges look at deciding which students are accepted, they examine many factors, such as GPA, classes taken, class rank, extracurriculars, test scores, and many other areas.  The question on the minds of the Hi-lights staff is ‘should colleges rely so much on ACT scores for college admissions?’
   Most students take the ACT because many colleges require an ACT or SAT score for admissions.  Between 2005-2006 over 2.1 million ACT tests were administered, according to http://act.org.  The ACT is supposed to predict students’ grades during their first year of college, but even the makers of the ACT admit that students’ high school grades will predict their performance during their freshman year of college more accurately than the ACT will. 
   One website, www.fairtest.org, has a lot of information on the ACT, including reasons why the ACT should not be used as a deciding factor in college admissions.  One reason why the ACT score should not be used, according to this website, is because the ACT is biased. White students had the highest composite scores out of all the races and boys scored higher than girls across all races, even if their grades said differently.  The multiple choice question format of the ACT favors boys because they are more likely to take a risk and guess on the questions than girls. 
   Even though the ACT is not an accurate reflection of a student’s academic performance, colleges still consider it in making admissions decisions.  According to www.farirtest.org, colleges consider the following factors as a certain percentage of their decision:

• High school record:  35-50%
• TEST SCORES:  25-40%
• Activities and accomplishments:  0-20%
• Essays and Recommendations:  0-20%
• Other factors:  usually 0, but possibly as much as 30%

  These percentages will vary depending on the college.  Because of the information previously stated, colleges should not consider the ACT as 25-40% of admissions.
   There are some colleges that do not emphasize, or do not use, ACT and SAT scores for admission.  Such colleges in Wisconsin are:  ITT Technical Institute, Lawrence University, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, UW Parkside, UW Stout, and UW Superior.  A list of additional colleges that do not emphasize or use ACT scores in other states can be found at www.fairtest.org/optstate.html.
   ACT scores can not always tell a college whether or not a student is a good choice for their school.  If the ACT can not provide colleges with the information it was made to provide, why is it still being used?