The best sci-fi third person RPG shooter is back for another round; it’s here to remain on top of the pedestal it set itself upon.

Game developer Bioware had a surreal amount of hype to deliver upon—to say Mass Effect 2 met expectations doesn’t begin to serve it justice.

Its predecessor Mass Effect remains to this date one of (if not the) best games on the Xbox 360.  Not just for its innovative action, exploration, and moral choices, but  Bioware’s extremely impressive and unique story development is what made the original such a smashing success.

For those that played Mass Effect, saved characters from the original carry over, and your choices (which I will not reveal due to immense spoilers) make major impacts on the galaxy and open numerous side quests within Mass Effect 2.

As for newcomers, the gamer plays as Commander Shepard and his decisions affect the fate of the entire galaxy and whether or not he is able to save it, through moral choices and avoiding conflict for example.

The story can’t be revealed too much beyond the fact that the galaxy remains at threat of complete annihilation and the arrival of new and old characters flesh out the story to an all new level thought unimaginable (even by Mass Effect’s standards).  Commander Shepard embarks on a suicide mission that will determine the fate of the galaxy, and only the allies he gains are able to help him on his dire quest.

The combat has been greatly improved.  Making cover far more accessible and encounters with enemies far more intense as weapons now feature limited ammunition as opposed to a gun overheat system (which froze the gun if too many shots were fired in succession).  Enemies are far more brutal with improved health systems, and Shepard’s own health system is based more on a shield recharge (like Halo or Call of Duty).

The graphics system has taken leaps ahead of the technical glitches that marred Mass Effect.  And though the Unreal Engine is back, lagging textures are a figment of the past and artistic design is at the forefront of Mass Effect 2’s unprecedented beauty.

With a storyline that is second to none, combat inspired from the best and plays like its own, and a universe to explore, Mass Effect 2 stands an early contender for game of the year and for good reason.  No one has come close to crafting a world like Bioware has, and the only games that seem to top it are created by themselves.

The Western Band Association (WBA) consists of high school marching band all throughout California. “At times we do have bands that do come in from Washington and Nevada,” Delgado said.

As the championship coordinator Delgado will be making sure everything runs smoothly. “From the stadium to the parking lot, my job is to make sure that the [event] is a positive experience.” Delgado said.

The competition takes place the weekend before Thanksgiving. “This year we had over 70 bands competing. The event took place at two venues, the Deran Koligian Stadium and Veterans Memorial Stadium. The preliminary competition takes place on Saturday and the finals are held on Sunday,” Delgado said.

Delgado was asked by the board of the WBA to take over the position of the championships coordinator. “I have had over 30 years of experience playing the drums; in fact I was the second drum major playing in the Clovis West High School marching band.”

by Yuhnee Cha

Clovis West High School will present a local premier of The Wedding Singer at Mercedes Edwards Theater, April 29, 30, May 1, 6, 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The Wedding Singer is a musical based on the Adam Sandler movie and the hits of the 1980s. Sander plays Robbie Hart, a wedding singer who gets dumped at the altar by his fiancé. He meets a girl name Julia who he falls in love with. He tries to get her to see the true colors of Julia’s fiancé.
Directed by Elizabeth Fiester, the Clovis West’s production involves members from the wind ensemble, choir and drama departments, including more than 60 students.
The lead roles are played by some of the most talented students. Junior Trent Dahlin plays the role of Robbie Hart and seniors Emily Ballard, Taylor Delgado, and Tim O’Sullivan play Julia, Holly and Sammy respectively.
“It’s a very funny show and better than the movie,” Dahlin said. “We worked very hard for this production, adding up to four hours a day, including driving time, for the last two months.”
“We’re excited and we think it’s going to be good,” O’Sullivan said. “There’s lots of talent this year and we hope to get a good turn out.”
Tickets can be purchased in advance at Clovis West in B-3, online at cusd.com/tickets or at the theater box office. The admission for students is $10 and $12 for adults.

by Ryan Lung

Key Club International’s annual District Convention was held at the Sacramento Convention Center on April 9-11 where more than 3000 members displayed their spirit and enthusiastic cheers. More than 600 Key Clubs from Nevada, Hawaii, and California gathered for a weekend full of leadership workshops, award recognitions, and spirit battles.

“We had 20 kids from Clovis West go and everyone had a great time,” said former Key Club President Will Jorge. “It was a great learning experience for our new officers and members.”

The Lieutenant Governor elect for Division 5, junior Tracie Umali said, “We were able to meet new people, celebrate the club’s accomplishments, and elect new district leaders. I made a lot of friends and it was fun to [participate] in all the spirit battles.”

Matthew Goode and Amy Adams star in the film and shine a whole new light on what it means to love to hate.

Ana (Adams) is a successful decorator living in Boston who is dating Jeremy (portrayed by Adam Scott). Jeremy is a cardiac surgeon who, like Ana, prefers to plan everything out instead of being spontaneous. The couple’s relationship lasted 4 years and Ana is anxiously waiting for Jeremy to “pop” the question.

When Jeremy doesn’t take the initiative to propose to Ana, she takes matters into her own hands. Ana stumbles upon an old Irish tradition that says a woman can propose to a man on February 29, otherwise known as Leap Day.

The idea works perfectly for Ana, whose boyfriend will be in Dublin that day for a cardiologist convention. At this point in the movie the audience wonders why Ana won’t use the ultimatum approach. But then again this is a “chick flick” and romance is key.

Misfortune, however follows her every step and her travel plans are plagued by troubles. A massive thunderstorm leaves Ana stranded in Dingle, the farthest city in Ireland from Dublin. When she finds a nearby hotel with a pub her situation doesn’t improve much, making the ultimatum look like a piece of cake.

With a strange twist of luck, Ana finds that the inn owner, Declan (Goode), is willing to drive her to Dublin. But her plan is fought with incidents.

Throughout their journey to Dublin, Ana and Declan hurl awful insults back and forth, but soon tension transforms into what seems like flirtation. Never the less Ana is determined to get to Dublin on time to propose to Jeremy, but soon she realizes that Declan is the man of her dreams.

The movie is sweet, and arguably better than your average romance, given that the plot offers plenty of twists and turns.

In a critical period in Clovis West history, amongst economic turmoil and a demographic shift, it’s important to reflect on the decisions made, and the circumstances that shape the school’s effectiveness.

No room to breathe

With a decrease of teachers and an impending increase of class size Clovis West is approaching a crossroads.

The $10.8 million cuts last year have forced larger classes to form in many schools across the district. In 2008-2009 the pupil-teacher ratio in the Clovis Unified School District was only 19.9 for high school students. This is the number of enrollment divided by the number of full-time teachers, so this ratio is much smaller than the average class size.

Teachers’ prep periods or other subject matters are not taken into consideration. The statistics provide a far stretch from actual numbers.

Class size is an important factor when evaluating a school’s effectiveness, according to Great Schools Staff online. On www.greatschools.org the average class size reported for Clovis West is 21 students, while the state average is 25. Realistically, this number is far from the current reality in classes at West.

A class size is defined as the number of students who regularly appear in a teacher’s classroom and for whom that teacher is primarily responsible and accountable.

According to an online source the low number is a reflection of all the personnel, including staff members who don’t teach a group of students. Classes with six or seven students can bring this ratio down considerably.

Students in classes at Clovis West number in the high twenties, with AP and honors classes mostly well over 30, and some even have 40 students.

Elementary school class sizes are reported separately by grade level, while middle and high school class sizes are reported by subject area. As students grow older their average class size will significantly increase, and according to state standards this is appropriate.

On average, private schools have smaller enrollments, thus creating a healthier environment for teachers provide to easily the attention students need.

Educational research has shown that small class sizes have a more beneficial impact on learning. An abundance of improvement has occurred in classrooms with fewer than 20 students.

“The more kids there are, the harder it is to stay focused and to learn,” senior Tristan Keller said.  Keller currently has 40 students in her 2nd period AP Economics Class.

“In the beginning of first semester I started with 44 kids in the class and 39 desks,” AP economics and government teacher Joe Pazzi said. “It does create a facility issue.”

“You can’t give the one-on-one time with students,” AP calculus teacher Denise DenHartog said. “For especially younger and lower students, we need to give them more individual attention as well as establish good relationships with the teacher.”

“Sometimes it’s very chaotic in classrooms because there are so many students,” junior Stacy Han said. “I can easily get side-tracked.”

Years ago Clovis Unified reduced class sizes in 1st to 3rd grade from an average of 30 to 20. New teachers were hired and additional classrooms were created. However asimilar tactic cannot be applied in high schools.

“The more students there are it will allow little time for students with greater needs,” English 11 teacher Karen Kyer said. “Discipline could be a problem, and the SRC would have to become bigger.”

“It would have to be teaching to a whole group as (opposed) to using differentiated teaching methods,” she said.

The correlation between class averages and teachers is very crucial to a school. Clovis West refuses to notice this trend and continues to cram more bodies into a classroom, draining the focus and education from the students.

The take on the change

Clovis West and the Clovis Unified School District (CUSD) have gone through a tough transition period since our nation went into an economic decline. Though this crisis has affected everyone, it can’t be blamed soley for the choices being made by the administration.

The economic condition of California is forcing the state to cut millions of dollars from school budgets. This leaves the school districts to individually solve their own money problems.

CUSD is in better shape than most because of the money it has saved by avoiding millions of dollars in electrical costs over the last two years. But it’s still not enough.

With the addition of the huge Clovis North campus costs are guaranteed to go up when it is in full use. In addition to more money going toward electrical resources, an equal amount will have to go towards employment.

With the budget cuts, however, hiring has been limited to a very few. To fill the necessary positions teachers are being moved from existing schools. This enlarges class sizes of the schools that donate the teachers.

This ultimately hurts the students as they will have considerably less one-on-one time with which to ask questions.

Changes are occurring in Clovis West’s English department as well. Ten teachers will either be moved to other schools, swapped in positions, or dropped and become activated substitute teachers. What is contradictory about this is that Clovis West is managing to hire a new football coach.

This comes across to many as if Clovis West is more concerned about the success of its football program than its student’s education.

By hiring a new football coach instead of using that money to fund another teacher the administration is only hurting its students in the long run. While the football program may be better off, Clovis West’s excellent academics may suffer.

In addition to the various changes that Clovis West will undergo next year, earlier this school year Principal Drati had many of the learning directors (LDs) change positions.

Most CUSD schools lost students to Clovis North, including Clovis West.

Since the number of LDs is determined by the number of students an LD was to be given to Clovis North next year. Mr. Drati, however, decided to send Mrs. Karsevar to Clovis North early. This meant that the remaining three LDs at Clovis West had to fill in for her.

Though the decisions being made are necessary, the administration’s means of handling them is not automatically justified.

Overall, the administration could have done a better job at fulfilling its duty to better our education. Adjustments should be made throughout the district to accomplish this.

Changes need to be made to preserve the education of the individual. That betters the whole.

Activities vs. budget

Lawsuits filed against Clovis West are resulting in changes to reform the school.

The current lawsuit is causing the administration to reexamine the school’s curricular and co-curricular programs.

The administration hopes to adjust to budget reductions so students will still be able to participate in activities regardless of their financial circumstances.

Many of Clovis West’s programs are not paid for by the state, and as a result, the administration has asked the community to assist in providing opportunities for high school students. Fundraisers and donations have been emphasized.

”We have been working with our district to ensure that our endeavors to provide educational and other enriching experiences for our students comply with all the legal provisions of public education,” Clovis West’s deputy principal Eimear O’Farrell said.

CUSD has made over $13 million in budget reductions over the past six years. Due to the recent economic downturn these budget cuts have been raised to $50 million in the past 18 months.

This is the farthest CUSD has gone in budget reductions in its 50-year history.

The district is trying to avoid laying off employees, and employees are considering pay reductions, health benefit cuts and possible furlough days (non-school attendance days) that will balance the budget.

Along with teachers, students will also be affected by budget restraints.

“Class sizes might increase, especially with freshmen. We will have to deal with less options and do more work with less resources.

(Students) should be responsible with classes (because) there will be less second chances and no make-ups with summer school,” student counselor Tracy Fowlkes said.

The lawsuit could have a potential effect on various activities across campus, including the science fair program.

Past accommodations and transportation for out-of-town trips have been paid for by the district and have included teachers and students.

It may become difficult for students to attend important events such as the State Science Fair competition as it can become costly for students.

This impacts participation, according to Rebecca Avants, the co-advisor for Science Fair.

Decorations, balloons and spirit items have been limited because of budget reductions.

However, despite budget issues the school’s clubs and programs have not been removed.

“Future budget reductions can hurt us drastically. We would have to look at what else can be done to spend less money,” activities director Danny Munster said.

“The new rules [from the lawsuit] could impact our economical stability in terms of advertising sales,” advisor for yearbook Anne Powers said.

The yearbook program in previous years has required students to sell one business ad page to raise money.

In the past three years, however, the program has relied on selling personal ads and other methods to generate income instead of requiring students to solicit.

Because of the decreasing number of personal ads being placed by students, yearbook may need to return to selling business ads to fully fund its costs.

The choir program also has suffered under the effect of the lawsuit. Students can no longer be charged for their dresses and tuxes.

Currently, the school pays for them, with the option of student purchase.

Consequently, choir has to increase its fundraising to pay for festival fees, outfits and other materials.

“Our options for trips, which includes out-of-town festivals, are highly limited because costs cannot be charged to individual students,” choir director Tanya Florer said.

Despite the fact that some of Clovis West’s programs have been significantly affected by the lawsuit, other programs are being financially supported by the community, allowing them to continue.

“We are very lucky to have a dedicated community which supports our athletic programs.

The downfall of our economy has been more of an obstacle than the lawsuit,” athletic director Joe Aiello said.

As a result of economic strains, fundraising and financial contributions have dropped this year.

This may have a crucial effect on even the athletic programs.

“If we are unable to achieve our fundraising goals we will no longer be able to offer some of the first class opportunities we have been able to offer in the past,” girl’s basketball coach Craig Campbell said.

The few programs that have avoided serious financial difficulty include volunteering programs and school clubs, which mostly rely upon student-organized fundraisers run mostly by students.

“Lawsuits haven’t had any effect on Interact because we are a community service organization.

We give back to the community by (volunteering),” supervisor of Interact Club Rosie Reed said.

“As long as I have dedicated students that are willing to donate time to their community, budget reductions aren’t going to affect my program at all in the future,” said Reed.

Breaking the bank

The Clovis Unified School District (CUSD) is currently facing a $28 million budget deficit for the 2010-2011 school year.

Of the $28 million the board has already approved $12.9 million in cuts, which came from a slight increase in class sizes from K-3 and ninth grade, reorganization of district office positions and reallocation of flexible categorical dollars, according to district officials.

The board is still working to accomodate the rest of the reductions. Some possibilities are furlough days and salary reductions for all employees.

A spokesperson for the district office said the current budget situation is not the result of the district’s mismanagement of money but the State’s freefall in tax revenue, forcing the Governor to cut funding for public education.

The Governor initially proposed a budget cut of $1.5 billion to California schools, which widened CUSD’s previous state budget reductions of $19.8 million to $28 million.

Despite the budget gap the district pledged that every permanent employee this year will have a job next year. However, it mentioned that not all employees will keep the jobs they have now, and may be asked to make sacrifices.

Performing arts and athletic programs will still be part of CUSD next year, with modifications to improve efficiency and save money.

In the board meeting January 20 the district officials reported that there will be a five percent reduction in co-curricular activities, totaling $211,735 annually.

The meeting also concluded that summer school will continue this year with more online and independent study courses. On-site instruction will be reserved for students taking remedial classes.

English as second language students will continue to have the Accelerated English Academy funded by a federal grant.

In regards to the possible use of federal grants intended for re-modernization of school buildings and Career Technical Education (CTE), Clovis West principal Ben Drati sent an email to all taechers to clarify that “There are a number of funding sources, each one assigned specifically to certain areas of public education.”

Drati also added that “It is illegal to spend them on items outside of the designated purpose.”

The Vantage contacted Dr. Steve Ward in early spring for comment and clarification of the facts above. To date, Ward has not responded to our emails or phone calls.

Director debacle

Over the past four years, our school has seen five different football coaches come and go.We’ve seen many newfaces with very little explanation.

Yet in another department the same exact thing, or worse is happening. It’s happening with learning directors.

Four years ago, students were used to being dress coded by or or were used to seeing on band or choir trips were the likes of Joe Farkis, Johnny Alvarado, Gina Kismet and Wendy Karsevar.

Now it’s understandable why most of these administrators left Clovis West. Most of them went onto bigger and better jobs (or lack thereof in Farkis’s case.)  Farkis retired.

Alvarado became the Principal at Kastner.  Kismet became the Principal at Maple Creek.  But what about Karsevar?

After biding her time and slowly making her way up the chain from  teacher to an activities director, then a learning director, one would think that the next step would be at least a vice principal job.

But no.  Karsevar applied for a transfer mid-way through this 2009-2010 school year, and is now a learning director at Clovis North.

“I’m very sad she’s gone,” Mrs. Melocik said, an AP composition teacher.  “We loved her.  We weren’t even told why she was let go.  The administration told us it was a personnel issue.  We were told we didn’t need to know why.”

As a Learning Director, Karsevar ran multiple departments at Clovis West from the English department to band to the social studies department and more.

Karasevar’s staff credited her outstanding team-working skills and successful working relationship to her calming influence and efficiency.  She was said to have been very encouraging and dedicated to her job.

“She was a good liaison between teachers and parents,” Melocik said.  “It was nice to have a learning director with a background in English.”

It is well known that our district is in a budgetary crisis, and everything is being done to preserve the quality education that students receive inClovis Unified, but it’s moves like this that cause us toquestion whether the district is really looking out for the well-being of its students.

It’s also understandable that the district may not have a high ranking job such as vice principal open at the moment.  But why wasn’t more done to keep Karsevar at Clovis West?

“Karsevar understood the English department very well,” English instructor Ted Hawkins said.  “She had a leadership style that was very effective.  She found ways to influence people in the right direction.”

Clovis West and the District Office need to do what is right for this district.  If Clovis North was hurting for a learning director I have no problem with staff members being moved to fill the vacancy.  But why does Clovis North get blessed with a move in the right direction while Clovis West gets left behind?

“Karsevar was highly respected among all the students, and she got along with everyone,” Senior Lauren Zuniga said.  “She seemed to take her job very seriously and related well to the student-life on campus.”

Though Karsevar will be dearly missed, students and staff are still wondering why nothing else was done to keep such a hard working and highly influential administrator.

If students really are the first priority at Clovis West and in Clovis Unified—then I have no doubt that Mrs. Karsevar would still be working at Clovis West.

Solving the problem

State budget cuts have heavily impacted Clovis West in various areas, and school officials are planning to work on solutions to this problem.

CW principal Ben Drati is committed to “provide the students with activities and co-curricular activities to promote meaningful experiences,” he said. Although the success of students is important, the cost of doing so is not cheap.

“We [CW] are always in a position to look for alternative ways of cutting cost and increasing revenue to support student activities,” Drati said.

CW opened a T-shirt screen printing business on campus this year. Profits from that business go to the school, which further helps produce funds CW needs to support activities.

Activities director Danny Munster also plans to eliminate less important things to help with the more important items such as activities. For example, the extra decorations at the rallies have been reduced to fund other activities.

“We have had to cut back on many things such as spirit items at games, food incentives, balloons and signs, but it is the people, students and staff, who make our activities so great so I do not think we have missed that much,” Munster said, “We are not as fancy as in years past but I do not think we need to be.”

To solve the problem of budget costs Munster advises cutting back. “Just like everyone else, including athletic teams, performing arts and academic teams; we just have to fundraise and get donations,” he said.

Munster feels that we will be successful in the future with budget cut solutions. “We have a great community support, and I believe with their continued support it will be helpful to our school,” he said. Munster feels that the budget issues will actually be beneficial because they will teach Clovis West to be more efficient with spending.

Many activities advisors feel that clubs, programs and sports need help in overcoming their budget positions. “There is a constant pressure to fundraise in order to compete all year long,” Forensics head coach Adriana Cisneros said. Assistant varsity football coach Russell Harding said “We’re going to have to rely heavily on donations.”.

Photography teacher Gary Franz suggests that CW look at its list of expenses and eliminate the ones not necessary. However, he also acknowledges that the school is taking good action in looking for ways out of the setback. “I’d rather have a cut in pay than having teachers lose their jobs,” Franz said.

Resolutions to the budget cuts are currently taking place. Many programs have already begun to fundraise. “I think Clovis West will be fine,” Munster said.

Spread Contributers: Michael  Basara, Brittany Bui, Yunhee Cha,  Devin DeFendis, Nate Evans, Ryan Leung, Andrew Robillard, Ruhee Singh, Yi-Shiuan Tung.

by Ruhee Singh

The Clovis West science fair team competed successfully in the Science, Mathematics and Engineering Fair held at the Fresno Fairgrounds March 22.

The science fair team members set up their boards and presented their projects on the day of the competition. The awards ceremony in which the team picked up a total of seven awards and other special recognition was held March 25.

The team’s coaches include AP biology and biology teacher Rebecca Avants, and chemistry teacher Wayne Garabedian. They are proud of their team’s effort this year. “We’re the best team ever,” Avants said. “We have sustained achievement, and we’ve become the school to beat over the past two decades,” Garabedian said.

Overall, the team earned three $2000 scholarships. Juniors Suchith Nareddy and Ruiqi Zhu and sophomore Anita Sarkar were awarded the scholarships to CSUF. “We want students to get recognition for all they did,” Garabedian said. “It’s a feeling that money can’t buy.”

Sarkar decided to test water in her experiment “because of recent water issues,” she said. “I was really glad that all my hard work paid off.” Sarkar was one of six to qualify for the state competition. “She has potential,” Garabedian said about Sarkar.

Although the team did not win sweepstakes, 11 out of 13 projects were awarded numerous category and special awards. The team had a total of five first place winners, two second place winners and one third place winner.

Nareddy won first place in the animal science category, while junior Alex Hunter also won first place in the biochemistry category.

Sarkar won first place in the chemistry category, Zhu won first place in the engineering category, and junior Yi-Shiuan Tung won first place in the plant science category.

Senior Andrea Collins placed second place in the plant science category and sophomore Alice Wong received second place in the medicine and health category.

“The students have more willingness because the projects are not our ideas; they are the students’ ideas,” Garabedian said.

A total of six projects were invited to compete in the state-level competitions, which will take place at California State Science Center in Los Angeles May 17 and18. This was a big improvement over last year; where only two projects went on to the state level.

Garabedian is looking forward to the state competition. “The students shine when describing their projects because they know their topics. They come across natural, not artificial,” he said. “Now we’ll see if their ideas are technical enough.”

“We had an excellent result,” Avants said about the awards ceremony.

“Every year I see kids work and get excited, and I think it’s so worthwhile,” Garabedian said. “I’m proud of all of them.”

by Liz Witt

Clovis West junior Nonny Okwelogu competed March 15  at the California State Finals for the Poetry Out Loud competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Though she did not qualify for the national competition she represented Clovis West well. She competed against some of the most talented students in California.

Qualifying for the state level competition gave Okwelogu the opportunity to speak on the State Senate floor. Okwelogu also attended a formal dinner party in the state capital.

She performed at the Fresno City Council chamber and earned a check from Fresno County Arts Council and a gift card from the State Arts Council.

The Poetry Out Loud competition begins in the classroom and progresses to a national competition.

According to Okwelogu the competition is about “Interpretation and how you make words come to life.”

She began preparing for the competition over winter break, choosing to perform “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne and “Insomnia” by Dana Gioia.”

Okwelogu began by memorizing, “Whenever I had a few minutes,” she said between classes and at home.

Next, she listened to the words in order to capture the message and deeper meaning of the poems. “It’s important to hear the words and not just see them,” she said.

Okwelogu participates in track and field, forensics and debate, key club, environmental club, math team and the African-American Student Union. She was looking for something manageable, as she was also busy with memorizations for forensics at the time. “You need to look for (poems) that play to your strengths,” she said.

“It’s also more impressive when they’re difficult in length and in depth of interpretation,” Okwelogu said.

Okwelogu prepared for the competition with the help of debate coach Kyle Kirkley and forensics coach Andriana Cisneros, with assistance from creative composition teacher Karen Kyer. “I am proud of the effort Nonny put into this program,” Kyer said. “She is extremely talented.”

Okwelogu intends to participate in the competition next year.

She plans to look for a longer piece and possibly something humorous.

“It’s one of the most interesting and enriching competitions I’ve been a part of,” Okwelogu said, who delivered one of her own poems for the opening ceremony at state.

According to Okwelogu, writing her own poetry has been helpful to interpret the work of other poets. “It really does,” she said. “It helps you see how much can be said with so few words.”

by Han Wang

Brian Hunter accepted the responsibility of molding AP Chemistry students into college-ready scholars while enjoying himself and using a little wizardry in his classes.

“He explains it to you, so you gain the grade easier,” chemistry student Robert Laboeuf said. “We always have an experiment; he’s always blowing things up.”

Hunter is convinced students who are learning chemistry are heading in the right direction.

“The motivation is internal in that I love to see my students be successful and have the opportunity to achieve their occupational wishes that they want in life,” Hunter said.

According to Hunter learning chemistry has many benefits in and out of the classroom.

“Students learn how to do a lot of problem solving. Particularly in AP chemistry, students are able to analyze fairly complex problems and break them into their parts,” Hunter said.

“It requires a mental tenacity for students to stay with a challenging problem and be able to just simply take the time to figure where you have to go and eventually solve it,” he said.

Growing up in Fresno, Hunter developed into a multi-sport athlete (diving, volleyball).

He was outgoing yet ambitious—despite dealing with the absence of a motherly figure.

“My mother, when I was growing up had multiple sclerosis. She was bed-ridden,” he said.

“I was the youngest of four kids, and my dad took care of us, but we kind of fended for ourselves,” Hunter said.

After graduating from McLane High School, his strong Mormon background  guided him toward the next stepping stone of his life.

“I served in missions for my church when I was 19 years of age in New England. I served there in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut,” Hunter said.

His experience did not immediately help in choosing a major for college. His college education would not begin until years later.

“Initially when I got back from my mission I worked as a jeweler for two to three years,” Hunter said.

After graduating with a degree in microbiology and a minor in chemistry from Brigham Young University (BYU) he abandoned higher education to start a family.

“Once I graduated from BYU, I realized that to become a doctor, it would require four years of med school, a year of internship and then residencies,” he said.

“I just wasn’t quite sure that I wanted to commit that much time to education before I started a family,” Hunter said.

Allocating time for his family and his passion for adventure, he could not be more pleased to father two ambitious sons who excel in sports and academics.

He is always willing to improve his teaching by taking lessons from his wife, a first grade teacher at Maple Creek. “Her ability to work with young kids is unparalleled,” Hunter said.

Like the laws of science, Hunter’s willingness to teach is pretty much guaranteed.

“When [students are] able to eventually get into med school or a top engineering school, what they have been able to achieve on the university level is truly amazing,” he said.

“They let me know that I’ve been instrumental to this process. That really means a lot to me,” Hunter said.

Millions of people worldwide especially teenagers are using cell phones unaware of the health hazards the hand held devices can bring.

According to Fresnobee.com the true correlation between cancer and the use of cell phones is not yet confirmed and it is still premature to conclude anything.

It is simply a warning to people that talking long hours into the hand held device can distress the body, sometimes unknowingly.

Cell phones are two-way radios that send out radio frequencies, a radiation energy that can affect the cells if they are too close to the head for long periods of time.

Research shows that the rate of cancer is five times greater than normal for those who use cell phones as teenagers. Since adolescents have thinner skulls they are more susceptible to radiation that can reach the nervous system tissues.

Not only can signs of cancer arise, but people may develop headaches, lack of concentration, memory loss and sleeping disorders.

Children are given mobile phones in case of emergencies. Soon enough, they are constantly socializing on the phones or even sleeping with them tucked under their pillow.

In order to decrease the levels of radiation people can try to use Bluetooth devices. They still emit radiation, but at a lower frequency.

Turning phones off when possible and texting rather than talking are steps that can minimize large doses of the radiation effect.

Or better yet, teenagers can try to put the cell phones down and get some fresh air.