Bugg is a nineteen year old British singer songwriter whose music is reminiscent of older musicians like The Beatles or Bob Dylan because of his folksy acoustic sound. He updates this sound with upbeat choruses and contemporary lyrics about teenage restlessness and his experiences in the streets of his hometown, Nottingham, England.

            “[I write about] everyday things. Sometimes I like to fantasize or make a story but sometimes I just talk about what’s happening right now in the world or what’s happening in. For example, I’ll write something about my town, about where I’m from and my estate,” Bugg said in an interview with contactmusic.com.

            The album has multiple high points, including Bugg’s storytelling lyrics in “Seen It All” and “TroubleTown.” These songs create images of theNottinghamprojects where Bugg grew up. In “Seen It All,” Bugg sings “I’ve seen it all, nothing shocks me anymore.” This statements is explained in the song, which tells a story of party, pills, and a knife. In “Lighting Bolt,” Bugg’s rock and roll sound along with fiery guitar solos hook listeners. One ballad, “Note to Self,” stands out because of the thoughtful and softer lyrics of encouragement and reassurance.

            There are some misses, like “Fire,” which has a reggae sound that does not fit with the rest of the album. Another miss is “Country Song,” a cliché ballad about walking down a country lane singing a country song. It does not have the imaginative lyrics of the other songs on the album.

            Overall, Bugg’s classic acoustic sound and relevant lyrics create an album that is both traditional and innovative. Jake Bugg’s debut is the impressive start to what is hopefully a long career.

            He will perform his album live at Lollapalooza this summer.

            This event will take place from June 1 to June 2 from 6PM to 6AM the next morning at Mel Eide Field. Anyone is allowed to participate.

            Lisa Ledbetter, French teacher, and Dana Petraglia, administrative assistant to the dean’s office, are the leaders of the staff Relay for Life team. They were chosen to be team leaders because they both have loved ones who have been affected by cancer.

            “I’m excited to just be at the event and see the enthusiasm of people, and the camaraderie and the enthusiasm again to come together and fight this awful disease,” Ledbetter said. “I think the more people see the enthusiasm, the more likely they are to participate, not only now but also in the future. It’s good to be in the company of other people and feel the same way you and are there to support you. It’ll be a good time.”

            Money can be raised through donations online, donations at the race, or through money donated at the luminary service, Ledbetter said.

            “The goal we want to raise, [as a group], is $1,500. There’s no minimum that you have to raise individually, but my goal is $100,” Ledbetter said.

            Although the football team is hosting the event, anyone is allowed to participate in the Relay for Life.

            “You can go online and form a team and start donating as soon as you have your team. It’s just $10 to become part of a team and that goes towards your donation,” Ledbetter said. “For the LZHS faculty team, we each raise money individually and it goes towards our team fund. The team will come out that day, and each member doesn’t have to be there for the entire time, you can come in increments or you can be there the whole time, it’s all up to you.”

Christopher Martelli will officially begin working with the district starting June 1. Martelli will be replacing retiring Principal Lettie Ekovich.

Currently, Martelli is the assistant principal at the John Conyers Learning Academy, a therapeutic day school. Martelli has also served as principal of elementary schools in Hanover Park, Roselle, and Palatine.

Martelli’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from the University of Iowa, a Master of Science degree in education from Loyola University, and he is currently working on his Doctor of Education degree in educational administration at the University of Illinois – Champaign.

            Over 600 high schools in the state and over 21,000 high schools in the country were rated. The rankings were based on college readiness, student-teacher ratios, and testing scores on the Prairie State Achievement Exams, according to U.S News.

            “I feel that I’m prepared for college based on what I’ve learned [at the high school.] The teachers push you to your limits, but you have to realize that they are doing it to prepare you for college and the real world,” Paula Krokos, senior, said.

            Besides being rated in the top 50 high schools of the state, the school was also ranked at number 1,015 out of over 21,000 high schools in the country. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 18:1, which is larger than the state average. However, the school received above average scores for math proficiency, reading proficiency, and college readiness, which is based on the percentage of seniors who took and passed Advanced Placement tests.

            “The ranking LZHS received is good for now. I believe that [our ranking] is only going to go up, even it’s little by little,” Krokos said. “Our education quality keeps improving with each year, and I think that we can only go up from here.”

            In addition to LZHS, other local schools also received fairly high rankings. Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Deerfield High School, John Hersey High School, New Trier Township High School, and Lake Forest High School include some of the local schools that were also ranked in the top fifty of Illinois.

            Suzanne Santiago, physical science teacher, did a “fire lab” where she squirted alcohol on the table and lit it on fire to explain the flame’s properties, said principal Kim Kolze. Santiago had performed the lab the previous day and was doing it a third time on April 9 during her third period class.         

“The flame burned out and the next thing she heard was rumbling in the ceiling,” Kolze said. “She called the department chair to come and check it out and when he, [Science department chair Brian Agustin], came the water started to go off from a sprinkler head. At the same time the fire alarm went off. She asked the kids to head to the back of the room and they eventually went outside to the parking lot behind the school.”

            Only one sprinkler head went off in the front of the room, so the Fire Department investigated. They found out there was a crack in the filament, which cause the sprinkler to accidentally go off. The lab did not cause enough heat to set off the sprinkler head, according to the Fire Department and Kolze.

            When the students came back in the school, they met in a science classroom at the end of the hall because their classroom was flooded. Those who sat in the front of the classroom closer to the lab were wetter than others, Kolze said. The students were offered t-shirts and sweatpants and were able to call their parents for extra clothes. All the backpacks were removed from the room and were placed in the small auditorium and main office for students to pick up.

            “When we checked in on them, we were happy to hear no personal electronics were ruined,” Kolze said. “The screen, projector, and Elmo were damaged and will be replaced though. There were only seven textbooks and two personal clothing items asked to be replaced.”

            The room, on the other hand, was flooded because it took 8 to 10 minutes for the water to fully shut off, Kolze said. Other classes in S111 were directed to other rooms for the rest of the week and the room was repaired that weekend.

            “Our maintenance and custodians did a great job mopping up the water and helping getting the room back to normal,” Kolze said. “That weekend people also came in to redo the insulation and drywall. Overall I was just happy it was not a real fire and everyone was alright.”

            Their latest album, Pioneer, released on April 2, has everything many country-lovers want in an album: a catchy country tune, a happy feel, and heart-felt lyrics.  The best part is that each song is different from the next. Between tempos created by Neil and Reid Perry and messages sung by Kimberly Perry, the siblings are able to create some diversity within their music.

            Ranging from their best-single in the album “Done.”, currently ranked number 31 on iTunes, to another song “End of Time,” the full spectrum of their music is present.  “Done.” has an upbeat feel that just makes the listener want to get up and dance.  Although the lyrics give advice of getting over others, the music adds a country spin to lift the spirits of the listeners.  However, “End of Time” has a slow tempo that allows the listeners to really think about the lyrics.

            The huge diversity between the songs really makes the album enjoyable for many listeners.  This band will reach the top of many rankings if they keep producing albums like this.  They are touring 38 cities around the country this year, from April 19 to August 18.

         In the last hundred years technology has come so far, with iPhones having the same computing power that the entire NASA program had when the first space launch took place. These new technologies may give insight into what the next hundred years is going to look like.

Memoto-

          Memoto is the first “life logging” camera prototype. The concept of life logging is that while wearing the memoto the camera apparatus takes a photo every thirty seconds. The apparatus has an extended battery life, lasting roughly two days while being used consistently, and can be recharged by connecting it to a computer. The device automatically transfers and catalogs the photos to the computer while connected.

          The idea behind the camera is a kind of daily photo blog of their lives. The creators wanted to create a device that documented everything, daily moments, not just the big things, according to the Memoto website.

          “Have you thought about how much of your life goes missing from your memories? Many fantastic and special moments become blurred together after a while and it feels like life just rushes by too fast for us to grasp,” according to the Memoto website. “We at Memoto wanted to find a way to relive more of our lives in the future – and enjoy the present as it happens.”

          Memoto has no buttons and turns off automatically when in the dark or placed in a pocket or backpack. The producers of Memoto are hoping to create a way to stream photos instantly to social media sites in the future. By double tapping the device, users can also take a photo spontaneously.

          The device has even more features, such as the ability to categorize photos by time and location, as well as an accelerometer that assures that photos are always right side up. Memoto just finished its beta testing phase and is set to be shipped to consumers in April. Customers can now order a Memoto camera for $279 at memoto.com.

 Storing data in DNA-

         When it comes down to it, humans are essentially giant memory sticks, with billions of files stored in our cells. In the past, scientists have had very little to no control over what is written into a person’s DNA.  However, in recent months, scientists have discovered a way to code DNA, able to store files and play them back.

         While the technology is far from being efficient for storing large amounts of data, scientists have been able to store data without a single mistake using error-connection software.

         Currently, scientists have been able to store 739 kilobytes of total data, equal to “all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets, a scientific paper,a color digital photo of the researchers’ laboratory, a 26 second excerpt from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s ‘I have a dream’ speech and a software algorithm,” according to a March New York Times article.

         While this breakthrough marks a huge step forward in science technology, there is still a long way to go before DNA is a conceivable way of storing data regularly. The next step is to create a simpler way of coding in order to store more data in the same amount of DNA, according to Nick Goldman, the head scientist of the project.

         Researchers are currently looking at a ten year timeline before another breakthrough is made in efficiency of storing data in DNA.

Google Glass:

            Google glass is a pair of interactive glasses manipulated by the user. Using the Google Glass a user can take photos or videos, use Google search, or even get directions.

            While wearing the glasses, users can send messages to other users and control the glasses through voice commands. The glasses are meant to be worn throughout the day and can even be worn for athletic events, such as while ice skating, horseback riding, tumbling, and even flying through the air on a trapeze.

            The glasses are currently in beta testing but are to be available to consumers sometime in the next year. Testers applied based on the type of activities they participated in and the winners included plane and hot air balloon pilots, trapeze artists, gymnasts, and skydivers.

            Apple is competing with Google to produce wearable technology, and they are currently working on the iWatch, a wearable computer that interacts with a user’s iPhone or iTouch.

After missing a day in P.E., teachers require that students do P.E. make-ups in the weight room to earn the missed points back. However, the current policy is not fair for students, and teachers should make P.E. make-ups easier to complete.

            According to the Lake Zurich High School Physical Education Expectations document, the current policy states “PE make-ups will be held each day in the Fitness Center . . . from 6:00-7:00am and 3:20-4:00pm. Only one make-up can be performed per make up session . . . There will be no PE make-ups during the school day. You have two weeks from the date of your absence to make it up otherwise it will be put in the grade book as a zero for that day!”

            For some students, there is not a problem with these rules; however, for others, the rules make P.E. make-ups near impossible to complete, and the students have to lose ten points from their grades.

            If the student is involved in extracurricular activities, such as clubs, sports, or a job, then the student is busy before and after school. Even if they are not busy every day, it is difficult to find multiple open days to dedicate to P.E. make-ups if a student misses several days of school. However, most of these students would be able to find one day after school where they can finish multiple make-ups at once. They do not have to worry about having to miss another activity because they have to do a make-up.

            “Well there’s a couple reasons [why there cannot be multiple make-ups]. One is we want to give everyone a fair shot at it. Usually when we do P.E. make-ups, there’s a lot of people who go up at the same time because of a fieldtrip or something,” Randall Dunbar, P.E. teacher, said.

            Although the weight room can become crowded, it is unfair to several students to force them to come before or stay after school multiple days, and there will still be many students in the weight room who are only doing one P.E. make-up at a time.

 Some athletes have P.E. exemptions; however, those are only available to juniors and seniors on IHSA sports, which exclude club sports such as swimming and lacrosse. Freshmen and sophomores are not eligible for any exemption, and juniors and seniors in club sports cannot have a P.E. exemption, but all of these athletes are still required to attend practice after school each day and dedicate effort to their sport.

            These athletes cannot miss a practice or game after school to do a P.E. make-up, and it is not fair to force those athletes to do a make-up in the morning because multiple workouts in one day would mean the athlete would not have as much energy to dedicate to their sport and represent their school.

            “Who wants to get up in the morning at six am to either bike six miles or run two and a half when you’re already working out after school for a sport. It doesn’t make any sense, and you’d just be so tired,” Rachel Corrigan, freshman, said.

            Even if a student is not an athlete, they do not want to have to come to the weight room after school three different days when it would be significantly easier to do all of his or her P.E. make-ups on one day.

            Any student who does not drive to school might not be able to find a ride to school early in the morning or a ride home after school. If students rely on the bus for transportation, it would be difficult to find people to be willing to give rides either before or after normal school hours multiple days just to improve a P.E. grade.

            Another possible solution to help students who are busy before and after school or have trouble finding rides is to allow for P.E. make-ups to be done during the school day in a lunch, study hall, or open period.

            “I know you can’t get into the locker room after school, so its hard to find a place to change so that makes it even harder to go and do [a P.E. make-up]. You have to go find a bathroom that’s crowded with sports people changing. And all your stuff, like your gym shoes, are in the locker room, and I don’t want to bring another pair of shoes to school just to do a P.E. make-up. We should be able to do it during school hours so we can get to our gym stuff in our gym lockers,” Maddie Currie, freshman, said. “And my parents both work until six, so I have to find someone else to drive me home, which can be difficult.”

            If it were possible to do multiple P.E. make-ups at one time or to complete them during the school day, it would be more efficient and more convenient for a majority of students. However, according to Dunbar, doing P.E. make-ups during the day creates a liability issue. A P.E. teacher cannot watch over the students doing a P.E. make-up while they are supposed to be watching their own class.

            However, a solution to the liability issue would be to designate a P.E. teacher to the weight room each period. The Mathematics and Science departments do this with the MRC, and the English department does this in the writing center, so there should not be an issue with implementing this into the P.E. department.

            Although making P.E. make-ups more convenient would require change and a willing attitude from the P.E. department, it would benefit many students at LZHS. After all, without change, there can be no progress.

         F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel about the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby, is moving from paper to the big screen. The movie includes well-known actors, such as Leonardo DiCaprio (Jay Gatsby), Tobey Maguire (Nick Carraway), and Carey Mulligan (Daisy Buchanan). Additionally, it is directed by Hollywood legend Baz Luhrmann, who directed Moulin Rouge! and Romeo and Juliet.

         The Great Gatsby is a popular book among students. Dawn Kozlicki, English teacher, is excited for the movie and hopes the movie encompasses the whole book.

        “I really think they should keep all of [the parts of the book] because it’s a classic, and it would be a disservice to not include all the major components of it,” Kozlicki said.

         The Great Gatsby has been adapted onto film a few times. None of which, however, were very successful. Luhrmann decided he wanted to film the movie ten years ago. It was not until recently that he started production. Just as Fitzgerald spent much time on his book, Luhrmann chose his actions precisely, even down to educating the actors.

         “He gave us all these huge research folders at the end of the workshop with like seven books each to read and a folder this thick of information about the twenties. We all had little iPods with music and videos and lectures on the economy,” Mulligan said in an interview with Vanity Fair.

         Luhrmann was supportive through the whole movie and tried his best to ensure success.

         “The audition was horribly nerve wracking. I have never been so nervous in my life for anything,” Mulligan said to Vanity Fair. “But [Luhrmann] has the amazing ability to make everybody feel comfortable. I love him; he’s awesome. He’s got more energy than anyone I have ever met in my entire life.”

         Luhrmann chose Academy Award nominee DiCaprio to play Gatsby. DiCaprio also started in another famous adaption by Luhrmann, Romeo and Juliet. DiCaprio is a versatile actor and is a great pick to play Gatsby, according to Kozlicki.

         The movie will be released in 3D, as well as 2D. This has sparked some confusion over what exactly will be enhanced with the 3D effects or what purpose it serves.

         “The ‘special effect’ in this movie is seeing fine actors in the prime of their acting careers tearing each other apart. How do you make it feel like you’re inside the room?” Luhrmann said in an interview with The New York Times. “Everyone has strong and generally opposing opinions when you mention 3D or The Great Gatsby. [Fitzgerald would approve,] he was a modernist. He was very influenced by the cinema.”

         No adaptation is perfect, however, and more times than not, crucial scenes are either changed or completely removed. Unfortunately, DiCaprio feels Luhrmann made some poor decisions with the script.

         “And working now on The Great Gatsby, for example, it’s amazing what was edited out of the movie. What made that book great was everything they stripped away,” DiCaprio said in an interview with Kevin McCarthy.

         Nevertheless, Kozlicki said she would still show the movie to her class, even if it lacked important parts.

         “I would still show it,” Kozlicki said. “If I do notice something significant missing, I would take previous versions of [The Great Gatsby movies] and show the class the important parts that were missing in [Luhrmann’s version].”

         So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into theaters on May 10 to watch The Great Gatsby.

            The schedule for year-round schooling generally has frequent longer breaks, although the summer break is significantly shorter than what LZ has now.  The number of days of school between year-round schooling and the traditional schedule is the same, just separated differently.  Although the term “year-round school” is intimidating, it academically helps students, as well as teachers and administration.  

            “The perception of a lot of students when they hear year-round schooling is the current system of vacation but filled with more school,” Aaron Rogers, math teacher, said.  “But that’s not how it is.  There are a lot more mini-breaks other than one large break, but anytime there is change, people are intimidated by it.”

            The number of school days of year-round schooling is very similar to the schedule LZHS currently follows. Each has 180 days of school and 185 days of break, but year-round school does away with an extended summer vacation and instead just spreads out the school days.  In addition to the other breaks, year-round schooling has a fall break to help break up the year a bit more.  All the other breaks are longer than what LZ follows now, except summer is shorter in order to compensate for the other lengthened vacations.

            People’s misperceptions may add to the dismissal of year-round schooling, but students should realize the benefits it has to their education.  With year-round schooling, teachers do not have to spend a large portion of the beginning of the year reviewing material taught the previous year, allowing classes to cover more depth within their lessons.

            “Year-round school would prevent a lot of forgetting of previously mastered material,” Rogers said.  “That time could be used more effectively, like to teach new, more challenging or farther material.”

            Although many students would agree that summer break is a good time to recover from a long year, year-round schooling would not make a school year seem as long because it is more broken up, creating less stress.

Tests show about 2.6 months of learning is lost during the summer, and year-round schooling is a simple solution, according to an article on National Association for Year-round Education’s website.  Due to the knowledge restrained rather than lost, scores on ACT testing for those students in school who participate in year-round schooling increases by about 2.34 points in math and 1.61 points in reading, according to Statistic Brain’s website.  

It is a fact that the United States is often compared academically to other countries.  Although the education in the United States is excellent, according to Rogers, the increase in academic strength might create equality with those excelling countries who participate in year-round schooling.

China can be argued to be one of the United States’ biggest international competitors academically, but a possible factor towards their intelligence level is nation-wide year-round schooling. Almost all schools in China follow the year-round form of schedule, according to China Culture’s website. 

Their nation-wide academic determination is shown through world-wide academic rankings, where China ranked 5th in reading, 4th in math, and 2nd in science. On the other hand, the United States ranked 14th in reading, 25th in math, and 17th in science, according to an article on The Guardian’s website.

“If time is saved by not reviewing every year, that time can be used to learn new strategies that are on standardized testing,” Rogers said.  “You can only imagine those scores will go up.”

Although the main focus of a school is to help the students grow in their intelligence, this system could also please many teachers.  At the beginning of each year, teachers suffer from a lot of stress due to the fact that students forgot material necessary to continue the class.

“I can only speak for myself, but year-round schooling can alleviate a lot of stress that teachers have where they feel students have forgotten that of which we expect them to know,” Rogers said.

When students are not in a classroom environment, they do not apply themselves in the same way as they would if they were in school during the school year.  It does not mean they are not learning, they just do not use the knowledge as if they were being lectured and tested on a weekly basis, Rogers said.

Although, planning around the new schedule may introduce a whole new type of stress to families, at least it would not reflect through test scored and grades or problems in the future.  Also, the breaks are long enough for vacation, just at different times of the year.

“All I can say is that I see both sides. Obviously, this decision will not be made over-night,” Rogers said.  “It has a lot of pros to student learning and understanding, but if not all teachers are on board with in, then it cannot happen., but it should be considered.”