by Jessica Corbett and Katie Vitacco

“Drag him by his wrists if you have to!” shouted students in the Fox Valley Career Center’s Fire Science class on Feb. 10.

They stood, cheering on a fellow classmate who was completing a strenuous obstacle course. The classmate in question dragged the 200 pound dummy, Randy, to safety.

Some students performing the Combat Challenge wear heavy uniforms, while others wear lighter gear. All carry oxygen tanks and wear masks.

“This is the most challenging thing that I have ever done in my life,” Robert Goss, a Sugar Grove firefighter and ’08 Kaneland alumnus, said. Goss took the fire science courses last year and returned to assist the class.

Mental toughness is essential in the career of a firefighter, according to instructor Gary Baum. He offers the Combat Challenge to prepare students.

“They need to understand that this is a physically demanding job,” Baum said. “They have to be ready for the really bad fires.”

The challenge consists of many difficult obstacles, including running up two flights of stairs with a 100 pound bag, which represents the weight of a fire hose. Participants also struck and attempted to move an iron block three feet with a sledgehammer, which started to bend from the heavy blows.

“The sledgehammer drill really tests your physical and mental strength and endurance,” junior Alex Mollohan said.

Last year alone, 115 firefighters lost their lives doing their jobs, Baum said. Fifty percent of those deaths were caused from heart attacks as a result of physical exertion.

“The best thing is that they complete the course and they understand their limitations,” Baum said.

“You need a lot of physical strength,” Jim Kambell said.

To successfully complete the challenge, male students had to run it in less than seven minutes, while female students had to complete it in less than 10.

Adam Smith, known as “Smitty,” said the course was a challenge. He had trouble with the last obstacle, pulling the dummy Randy down a hall. He finished with a time of 4:58, stripping off his heavy equipment and breathing heavily afterwards.

Senior Erika Hight did not complete the course, stopping as she was dragging the dummy down the hall because she simply ran out of energy. She said she would only do it again if Baum made her.

“By far, [the challenge is] harder for girls than for guys,” Hight said.

She lay on the floor afterwards, her face beet red and breathing heavily.

“I really want my students to understand the toughness of Fire Science,” Baum said.

Contributing: Sarah Arnold, Collin Benson, Zach Brown, Maria Kernychny, Sam Komel, and Nick Sbarbaro.

By Zach Brown
Reporter

The corner of Routes 38 and 47 in Elburn is booming. First came the arrival of the new Jewel. Last month, Munchie P’s opened a sandwich shop, and Elburn Pack & Ship opened a few doors down. In February, a Walgreens will be opening.

Students from Kaneland High School are looking forward to the expansion of downtown Elburn.

“I might be able to get a new job,” Lindsay Bartell, a senior at KHS, said.

“We’ll be able to get a lot more food and a better pharmacy,” sophomore Brian Dickson said.

Munchie P’s, which opened just before Thanksgiving, serves a variety of sandwiches, burgers, hotdogs, gyros, soups and salads. The restaurant originally opened in Geneva in 1977, and the Elburn location is only the second store.

“I can walk there and get something to eat,” freshman DiAndre Maldonado said.

The new Walgreens is supposed to open February. Construction workers said that they are on schedule. Two buildings of soon-to-be-leased retail stores will accompany the new Walgreens.

“All it can do is bring good things,” Andy Strang, a sophomore at KHS, said.

After 10 years, Kuipers Family Farm is a familiar site for many in Maple Park—so familiar that some give it little thought.

That’s the case for Kristi Smith, a freshman at Kaneland High School, who passes Kuipers daily on the way to school, as her bus takes her past the intersection of Keslinger and Meredith Road.

Lately, her iPod has been more interesting than looking out the yellow bus window to see the local empire that has blossomed since 1998.

“I see it everyday, it just never catches my eye for some reason,” Smith said.

The family-owned farm, though, has been faithfully providing a family destination for area families for 10 years.

Kuiper’s was founded in 1998 by Wade and Kim Kuipers, who began with a simple 71-acre pumpkin patch and dreamed of bringing families from all around to create their own holiday traditions.

Ten years later, the farm offers seasonal and family-oriented activities, such as pumpkin picking, apple picking, hayrides, corn mazes and a Christmas tree farm.

Today, the farm has more than 230 acres, and area teens have grown up with fond memories of Kuipers.

“I went with my family into the haunted forest and my little sister tried to act tough, that’s probably my oldest and best memory at Kuipers’. It’s a really good atmosphere and they’re really nice,” Nathan Krauz, a sophomore at KHS, said.

With more than 230 acres of farmland, there is a lot of history behind this unique family farm.

Starting off in 1998 as just a 71 acre pumpkin patch, Wade and Kim Kuipers built their farm in hopes of bringing families from all around to enjoy their hard work. The purchase of the neighboring 160 acre Pine-Apple Orchard expanded the Kuipers’ farm to its current size, and the family added a barn store, bakery and corn maze to complete the empire.

“This store started out really small,” Cheryl Hackbarth, store manager, said.

As years went on, Kuipers’ extended the walls of the store to incorporate more and more seasonal decorations for their patrons.

Today, the barn store is filled with jams, jellies and honeys. Their apple doughnuts are famous, and even made with apple cider to get that special Kuipers’ taste.

The farm and store employs several local teens.

Katie Willis, a freshman at KHS and a bakery employee, loves working at Kuipers.

“It’s really fun,” Willis said. “I eat a lot of doughnuts and slushies, so that’s good.” Willis said.

Her job is to refill the doughnut trays for consumers like Kristi Smith, who continue to pass by the farm everyday, without even realizing what has grown in front of her very eyes.

By Christina Janes
Reporter

Jack’s skeleton is finally finished along with suit and tie. The stained glass windows are cracked. The pebbles on the porch are set right.

That creative sculpture people are staring at? It’s a gingerbread house.

St. Charles native Suzanne Kathro and her son Evan Kathro, 28, create elaborate gingerbread houses for competitions every Christmas.

“My mom saw an ad for it in the paper she used to work for, the Kane County Chronicle. We had a new family tradition that year,” Evan said.

The Kathros create humidity-proof gingerbread houses instead of just using graham crackers. Traditional gingerbread is too soft and cakelike to make a good house; the Kathros describe the stiffer stuff as “plywood.”

“Everything you see has to be edible. The gingerbread can’t get soggy otherwise the whole thing could collapse. Our designs—there are so many—and how we use the elements, especially the candy, make ours unique and different than everyone else’s,” Suzanne said.

To make their gingerbread houses unique, the Kathros call upon pop culture for inspiration. Last Christmas, they followed a “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme. Melted Lifesavers became stained-glass windows, some of which were broken to add to the eerie effect. Speckled jelly beans became rocks around the house, and the Kathros placed tea lights inside the house to make the windows glow.

Breaking the Lifesaver windows wasn’t the original intentional, Suzanne said.

“The mistakes you make can actually make it better sometimes, like breaking the melted life savers. It actually looked pretty good,” she said.

The Kathros have competed in a creative gingerbread competition for the past two years together. The first year they competed they lost, but they noticed that other houses had themes. That’s when Evan thought of the “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme.

The Food Network-sponsored competition the Kathros compete in each year has been cancelled this season, but the mother-son team still plan to make a house.

“They can’t do the competition this year because they have other commitments, so we’re kind of bummed,” Suzanne said. “But we will still make a house.”

For Evan, what’s important is keeping up the tradition.

“I love working with my mom in our new Christmas tradition,” he said.

The texts started coming just after 11 p.m. on the night of Tues., Nov. 4, as Kaneland students shared the news with each other that Barack Obama had won the election. Others were glued to sources such as Facebook, news websites and YouTube, waiting for the results to pour in.

Seniors at KHS cast their votes for who they believed would be best fit for president. They also participated in the biggest turnout of young voters in American history.

“I voted for Obama because [I] thought he had a lot of good plans for the U.S. and the government, to get the troops out of Iraq,” senior Joshua Bloome said.

Election fever had broken out at KHS as students ran down the hall handing out stickers for their preferred candidates. Some yelled “Obama, Obama!” in the halls while McCain supporters were more subdued.

“I’m really happy he won. I think he’ll make a great president,” senior Patricia Alvarez, an Obama voter, said.

“I think Obama will be a great president. If I could [have voted for Obama] I definitely would,” freshman Josh Rogers said.

Others sat in silence as hey listened to their fellow classmates boast about Obama’s victory.

Senior Mike Jenny said he voted for McCain, but he was not surprised that Obama had won. He said he disagreed with some of  Obama’s views and thinks McCain would have been a better president.

“I was happy at first, but now I don’t know,” junior Chad Diacek said. “Obama is good for [ending the] war, but I’m concerned about more domestic things, like taxes.”

Several students seemed optimistic about the country’s future with Obama and a Democratic majority in the House and Senate.

“I think we’re going to start coming together and they’re going to make things get better in our world,” freshman Katie Taylor said.

The Kaneland Krier, a public high school newspaper in Maple Park, Illinois, won the 2007-2008 honor rating of First Class with Two Marks of Distinction from the NSPA Publication Critique Service.

The paper was scored based on five different qualities. The Krier scored 150/150 points in policy guidelines, 200/210 points based on coverage, 341/360 for writing and editing, 172/180 for display and design, and 100/100 for business practices. The score totalled 963 out of a thousand points, winning the Krier the International First Place Award for Superior Achievement.

Some comments from the judge included that the Krier was “refreshing…with a delightful personality.” The final comments of the judge were, “[The Krier] performs an indispensable service. It is a service produced by mature and responsible teenagers. It deserves the full support of parents and school officials to achieve its potential.”

The Art club has recently been painting several murals in an attempt to bring life and color into the halls of KHS.

“I think they’re fun to look at,” freshman Jack Urquizu said.

“They’re inspirational,” freshmen Courtney Hastings said.

In the past few years, murals have been popping up around the school. Two years ago, the large murals in the cafeteria were installed. Last year, the murals in the vending machine area were installed along with the mural outside of the 3D art room.

“It was all very plain before them [the first murals], and we were happy when we saw them,” junior Trace Chiropolos said.

Now, one mural has been painted outside of the chorus room. This particular mural took about two weeks and was requested by music teacher Brian Kunstman. That is how the majority of murals come about. A teacher will request one, taking a rough sketch to the principal for permission.

After that, the art club may accept it and assign a few people to work on it. For example, the mural outside the chorus room was first assigned to eight people.

“After students see paint on the wall, we get a lot more volunteers,” Patricia Vlieger, Art teacher and Art club sponsor, said. “When a person walks in the school, it’s just white walls. It’s so boring,” Vlieger said.

In the near future, students can expect another mural in the ‘A hallway.’ Also, a mural that has been sitting in the 3D art room for eight years is finally going to be placed in the cafeteria. Vlieger said she would like to do a ceramic tile piece sometime.

“We try to do a mural for each painting class I have,” Vlieger said. In addition to the murals for Art club, this would mean we can expect to see a large amount of murals in the future.

“We hope to continue the mural process and really put some color into our school,” Vlieger said.

As the year comes to an end, it may be common for students to reflect back on all the events that took place during the year;  sports being one of them.

This year, the girls soccer team had a number of underclassmen playing at the varsity level.

“I’m pleased, the [girls] have played really well, and I’m happy with what they have done so far,” Scott Parillo, varsity coach, said.

Students, as well as the coach, have had a good season this year.

“I have enjoyed getting to know everyone and just working on imporving,” freshman Sophie Blank, varsity player, said.

The team’s last game was on May 8, with a record of 8-10-1 for this season.

“I just love being goalie all around and being aggressive,” Blank said.

With new undercalssmen on the team, the team is more diverse. As teh seniors leave,, more underclassmen are having the opportunity to play at a higher level.

“We just learn to adjust and improve from that,” Blank said.

Parillo said that the whole soccer program works well together, which is one of the benefits of the several hours Parillo contributes during the season.

“I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter if you’re the best player, if you work hard it pays off even if you’re on JV,” senior Jen Yach said.

Parillo said he likes spending tiem with the kids.

“I like seeing them develop and get better as students and people, and they are just good kids and a lot of fun,” Parillo said.

It goes for real life too, outside of teh soccer world, Parillo said it’s small things like teamwork and trust.

I’ll never forget the day. It was cold, just about to snow, and my m om made my boyfriend Josh go home early for no apparent reason. Being typical Tarah, I got mad at her but little did I know that would be the least of my worries.

On Feb. 17, I found out I was moving halfway across the country to South Carolina, right before my senior year. I sobbed, I screamed, I ran out of the room, I thought I was going to collapse from the shock. I hated my parents. All I could think was ‘no, this isn’t happening.’

I called Josh and my mom called my best friend Lindsay. Lindsay and I sat and cried while Josh tried his best to comfort me. Though the loving words and friendly promises were cherished, nothing would help.

The next three weeks were the worst of all. Some days I was up, trying to forget about the heartbreak; other days I was down. Way down. I remember day after day coming home from school just to cuddle with my pillow and cry.

Once the word got out at school, ‘I’m so sorry’ got old real quick. People would tell me how I could be whoever I wanted to be in a new town, but hearing that just made me even more sad. I like who I am and I don’t want to change that. I didn’t want people to pity me; I just wanted to make my last year at Kaneland the best.

Now every time I drive through Elburn I think of the old memories that grew here. Elburn’s my home. I remember back in the day when the get-away spot was Lion’s Park to play sand-toucher with all the neighbors, riding bikes up to Alice’s Place (one of my oh-so favorites), and walking up to Gliddon’s Drug Store to get handfuls of candy.

I’d have to say my favorite part about growing up in Elburn was playing sports. I played Elburn basketball and softball from first through eighth grade. It’s where I met the majority of my middle school friends. I used to love baseball and softball season kick-off days at Lion’s ark every spring where we’d play ball for hours on end.

And of course, I could never forget Elburn Basketball’s All-Star Spectacular. To this day I can still brag about my unforgettable buzzer shot to win the championship back in the seventh grade.

Elburn is a big part of my whole family’s lives. My mom owned her own flower shop, my dad was the president of Elburn baseball and softball, and we kids, well, we loved the perks of living my Lion’s Club. Every Fourth of July, we have the perfect view of the tremendous fireworks from my house. Not to mention, I only have to walk 30 feet and I’m at ‘A Day in the Park.’ And even though I’m 17, it still breaks a little piece of my heart to know that my last Elburn Days was rained out.

Living in Elburn also led me to one of my favorite places around. Kaneland. I know what you’re thinking: ‘why in the world would school be one of her favorite places?’ I’m not crazy; I’m just proud to be a Knight. A part of me always loved the small town feel, like you see in the movies, at every football game and the fact that everybody knows everybody. It’s what makes KHS a home.

Kaneland is where I grew up and is what I’ll miss the most. I’m not that naive to think that I’ll hold on to all the friends I’ve made through middle and high school forever, but I don’t regret meeting any one of them. Whether they know it or not, each person has changed me into the person I am today.

I still get a little emotional when I think about moving away. I think about being hundreds of miles away from Josh, I think about all the fun things my friends will do without me during their senior year, and I think about stepping away from everything that’s warm and familiar to me.

Here is where I stepped into a classroom for the first time, where I hit my first triple, where I made my first true friends, where I got my first job, and where I met my first love. It’s a place that I will never forget.

As painful as it is, when I think more and act a little more mature about the situation, I realize that my parents aren’t trying to hurt me. My dad got a promotion and there was nothing they could do. I realized that my harsh words to my parents and in my thoughts weren’t going to make the move any easier.

Most of all, I’ve learned that a part of growing up is letting go. I suppose I just wasn’t ready to let go of some of the friends who let go of me first once they found out I was moving. This hurt, but in return, I’ll treasure the ones who will be there. The ones who laughed and cried with me through thick and thin. And trust me, this is a thick one.

So I guess all there is left for me now is just to hope. Hope the new opportunities in South Carolina are great, hope my friends stay in touch, and hope to God my parents let me fly back up every month.

I also hope that I can leave my mark. I know I’m just your average, ordinary teenage girl. I’m not first in my class or the star point guard, but I still wonder: did I make an impact on Kaneland? Will I be remembered?

And–I still ask myself, why me? I got that answer through a friend. She told me that the world doesn’t through the tough stuff at people who can’t handle it.

Maybe moving isn’t the end of the world, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget those words. Just like I’ll never forget my home. Elburn is the place I’ll always find myself coming back to, as cheesy as it sound. The memories and adventures I’ve experienced while living here will carry on forever. I don’t think I could have asked for a better place to grow up.

When the TV turns on, it’s there, it’s also on the front page of every major newspaper. These targeted audiences may already know what I’m talking about; the presidential raceis the biggest thing being covered in the media to date, and it’s not getting any younger.

“Getting information out early is good but only publishing bad things will push people away,” Senior Jackie Smith said.

There is just too much media coverage for the news today. It seems when a big or major event happens in Chicago, there’s over four helicopters from different news stations hovering over the top, along with reporters from every newspaper on the scene.

“I think that the news organizations are too big and have too much time to kill. They just flood things to death. There is too much media for the news,” Wiley Overly, Elburn resident, said.

Sitting around for four hours on end watching the same news channel cover what this political aide said, or who did what, left me wondering: what would happen if the media ran the presidential race so much that people got burned out? And-when voting time came around, people didn’t vote because they had already had enough of the elections for the year?

“I think that the people determined to will vote, but the ones who are not too involved will get pushed away,” Don Christensen, Elburn resident, said.

There are only six democratic primaries this election.

“It is still a close race, but Obama has the advantage,” Scott Parillo, government teacher, said.