“[I want] to help spread the understanding of sign language and the culture that goes with it,” Brown said.

Both of Brown’s parents are deaf, so sign language is the only way to communicate with him. He has been signing since about the age of one.

“I just came up with the idea while talking to my parents one day,” Brown said.

Senior Devin Barker is one of the students that will be taking this class.

“I’ve wanted to learn sign language for quite a while. I’ve tried [signing] on my own, but it’s something you need to practice with others,” Barker said.

Teaching the lessons may come easy for Brown, as signing has become an integral part of his life.

“[If my parents weren’t deaf] I don’t really know if I’d still sign unless I was in an alternate universe,” Brown said.

“I believe it would be a great benefit to those people that would like to have the ability to learn a language that can be used without having to use words, but movements that could mean something to those not given the gift of voice,” freshman Sarah Cornejo said.

As for what the knowledge of ASL could mean for people later in life, everyone has a different opinion.

“I don’t plan on a career or anything, but it’ll be nice to be able to communicate with more people,” Barker said.

“I would use [sign language] to communicate with those who can’t by normal means and help in any way,” Cornejo said.

“Usually [when ever] the weather is nice enough and it is not freezing, I actually love to climb up in this old oak tree by my house and sit up in it. Usually, I do my homework there,” sophomore Maddison Hoverdale said.

Hoping the outside would help with quiet, senior Scott Hager finds the outside is noise- cancelling for times his house is too loud.

“[I go outside] once or twice a month because my house can get really noisy,” Hager said. “I go to the local park in my neighborhood. It is nice and quiet and it helps me relax.”

Being outside may have its benefits, but it also certainly has some negatives. It just depends on what really pushes those buttons. For instance, some of those annoying factors include the traffic buzzing by, insects crawling all over and the random weather changes that Noblesville is having. There may be a few students who protest to the outside.

“I rarely go outside for homework. I am just used to doing my homework in my room. I find the outside to be bothering,” junior Kimmy Hiatt said. “I do go outside if it is a nice day to hang out with friends or to swing on a swing.”

The choice of homework spots should be decided with a lot of thought. A shady tree, or a park bench may have an effect on how well a student is concentrated on what they are working on. There is also the choice of having class outside for the day. Whether for fun, or more room needed.

“I teach both Senior AP and Junior Literature and the times we go outside is when I need them to move about in a large space and the cafeteria is not a good space,” Senior AP and Junior Literature teacher Nicole Steele said.

Attending to the task of homework and the 90-minute class we have, going outside is a different scenario to some students. Contrasting homework time and class time could have different results as to concentration.

“I think that if you go outside for a change of venue, sometimes that change of venue could be distracting, but if you go outside with a purpose then certain rules applies,” Steele said.

The next time students are able to venture outside of the classroom would possibly delightful with the smell of spring air and the weather.

Surprising to some, spring doesn’t simply mean a count down to the end of the year. It’s also a trendy time to trash old clothes and rediscover bedroom floors again. Students find the time to practice the art of spring cleaning, and for those who are a little behind, the following list sketches five spring cleaning essentials.

Sophomore Cameron Gill reiterates the importance of removing clutter. “You have to clean out all your stuff before spring break, and I mean everything,” Gill said. “Get rid of everything you don’t need anymore and then you can party all spring break. And then after spring break, you clean it all up again.”

Trash all unnecessary, tattered clothes. “I do it every year,” junior Alysen Lemieux said. “It’s seriously the only time I really get into cleaning, and I don’t even know why spring is so special. I feel like Snow White sometimes when I go crazy with dusting, but my big thing is clothes. I have old sweaters that I never wore this year, so why store them for next year?”

Relocate the washing machine. “Every once in a while I take all the clothes that have just been laying around my bedroom floor forever and wash them,” sophomore Amila Puskar said. “It’s sort of liberating, but of course then you have the issue of folding them.”

Drive a nice smelling car. “Sometimes, I’m sitting in my car, and I turn around and remember I have a back seat,” senior Austin Mulvaney said. “I threw all the trash away, and it actually looks nice. I’m hoping it will last at least a week.”

Love the locker. “I share a locker and there’s already minimal space so throwing away the handfuls of random paper and stuff from first semester actually made a difference,” junior Anna Scalzo said. “Now we have room for the important stuff. Like Poptarts.”

“This idea of tailgating for really no reason started when I was in the eighth grade when my brother started tailgating for random events like our church leader’s wedding, and when our own Tailgation Nation actually started this November, it was just me and a couple of friends,” Storey said. “That first Tailgation Nation is actually one of my best memories; Grooves, Middleton and I decided to wear shorts on an insanely cold November morning…it was definitely an experience.”

After the initial start of Tailgation Nation, word of mouth caused the small get-together to grow into a true tailgating experience with nearly 40 people in attendance, complete with cornhole and a variety of early morning breakfast foods cooked on a propane grill on the back of a truck or car. Junior Quinn Miller, the unofficial designated griller, was positive concerning this first Tailgation experience.

“I first heard about it from Storey since we have math together. I decided to go since it sounded like fun, and after being here I am definitely looking forward to doing this again,” Miller said.

One of the reasons that there were only a few in attendance at first could be that each Tailgation Nation starts around 4 a.m., with a few showing up as early as 3 or 3:30. Co-founder Grooves’ sister junior Hannah Groves explains that the early hour is what has kept her from going in the past.

“Even though my brother is one of the founders, this is the first time I have actually gone. I like to get my sleep before school, so 4 o’clock seemed really early. But now that I’m here it isn’t too bad, and the morning seems really promising,” Groves said.

Since the start of Tailgation Nation, the amount of people has slowly increased, and there are high hopes that it will continue even after the current junior class has graduated.

“The council [Groves, Storey, and Middleton] has talked about picking a new council for Tailgation Nation after we graduate so that it can continue. We also hope to take the idea of tailgating for random events with us when we go off to college,” Storey said.

In the mean time, the council plans to continue spreading the word about Tailgation Nation through Twitter as well as expanding it to include things, such as “tailgaitor of the month,” an award that went to the grill overseer Quinn Miller this month. Even with the most recent updates to the Tailgation experience, the council claims that they don’t plan on stopping quite yet.

“At first, there were only about three people who came,” Grooves said. “But the numbers have gotten better and better each month, and hopefully we will be able to do something awesome for the last Tailgation Nation our senior year.”

Senior Allison Cardona, former member of the Young Democrats club, feels very strongly about the 2012 election, and she will be voting in Indiana’s primary election in May and the national election in November.

“I feel extremely invested in this election because it could undo all of the major work done with Obama,” Cardona said. “For example, the new legislation could repeal the healthcare laws and could reinstate ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’.”

Senior Michael Borders feels that “this election holds a lot of power.” Borders says that he generally leans to being more conservative based off of his religious convictions.

“I personally think if the liberals/Obama win this election, the United States is going to be in a lot of trouble,” Borders said. “Honestly, my hope and faith is in God, and I pray that His will be done for this election. No matter the outcome, whether or not if it is what I want, God will take care of our nation.”

While students that have recently gained their voting rights feel strongly toward the right or left in voting in the primary elections, many teachers are taking advantage of the timeliness of the presidential primaries across the United States. Mrs. Stephanie Gilbert says that she uses the primary elections as teaching tools in her Government class.

“Seniors are more interested in understanding the policies of the candidates and how those policies could potentially affect their lives,” Gilbert said. “I’m thrilled to see students becoming more politically aware and interested in participating in the political process. I always utilize current events in my classes, but this is a particularly exciting time to be in a government class discussing the issues of today.”

Mr. Eric Gundersen also uses the primary elections as tools in teaching AP Government.

“We still learn about what a primary is, what a caucus is, how the systems work, what the results mean, etc.,” Gundersen said. “But I think maybe the difference is that it’s not just in a book.  We have real elections and results to talk about which hopefully brings some life to the process,” Gundersen said.

Students who want to register to vote can find a link to the website with the voting application on it at Mr. Gundersen’s AP Government classroom page on the Noblesville Schools website. The Indiana primary election is set to be held on May 8, 2012.

“I will most definitely be voting,” senior Sierra Browning said. “People complain about who wins and most the time they don’t vote at all. I’ll be making my own decision and putting that forth through voting.”

This is what happens on every Wednesday between eight and twelve o’clock. Barley Island, located on 639 Connor Street hosts open microphone night. Students and other residents of Noblesville come to watch and support those who get on stage. Barley Island has been welcoming underage students and other various ages of people to join them for a night of singing and playing instruments. The hardest thing was actually focusing on the music; the whole style of Barley was a little distracting.

Once a patron enters Barley Island it is cool objects like a jukebox, old barrels, a trophy case, and intriguing signs. Barley Island had a glass case full of trophies and awards for different competitions that was held at the bar. Next to the case were old barrels that were used to hold drinks. It was neat to see the different trinkets and objects that Barley Island had.

The thing that was amazingly distracting from the music was the ceiling. It had an old, antique charm, but really had a Titanic style to it. The pattern on the ceiling made you feel like you were on the Titanic I one point of time. The whole style of the pub and eatery was majestic.

Add in the music and it was the cherry on top. Not to mention the friendly people those were in the crowd. Usually talking to their friends and other people around them. The whole crowd was happy while clapping for the stage performer.

A night full of various styles of music like jazz or country was interesting to watch as those types of styles were sung. Then there were artists like junior Jason Strauser playing on stage, in a creative way. Open mic night made it clear that inspiring artists love to play at Barley Island and the crowd loves to hear the differences in what people sing or play.

The whole night was surmising to me. Thinking it would not be as fun as first, and then it became clear that more people should start going to Barley Island. Open mic night has an ending of the crowd smiling and laughing. It was a good way to end the night of a Wednesday. Besides the factor of some people talking the entire time, it was great to be able to experience the excitement of Barley Islands open mic night.

Freshman Faith Romming signs the No Name-Calling Week pledge on the first day of the anti-bullying campaign, April 9. Posters were available to sign at lunch at both the freshman campus and the main campus during the week of April 9 to 13.

When words pass through the lips of students, intentions may vary. Some are meant to encourage, but others are meant to hurt.

In order to put a stop to verbal bullying, the Gay-Straight Alliance and Best Buddies teamed up during the week of April 9 to 13 to sponsor No Name-Calling Week.

During No Name-Calling Week, students were invited to a table set up at lunch and overseen by members of the GSA and Best Buddies. Students could then sign the pledge not to throw hurtful or derogatory names at peers. In return for their efforts, students who agreed to the pledge got a button to show off their support.

Members of the GSA noted the buttons to be one biggest differences between this year’s No Name-Calling effort and last year’s. The involvement of members of the Best Buddies program has also added a new dimension to the cause.

“We did a No Name-Calling Week last year, but we’re ramping it up this year,” GSA sponsor Mrs. Maggie Coyne said.

“There’s a lot more people getting involved,” senior and GSA member Sydney Hudspeth said, who also noted her pleasant surprise at the growth of the movement. “There are a lot of groups getting into it.”

Hudspeth also said that she felt the buttons this year made students more likely to join the cause and sign the pledge.

The buttons were designed by junior Shelby Lackney, who heard about the opportunity from Coyne, her physics teacher. Although she’s not personally involved in the GSA or Best Buddies, Lackney took the chance to display her work for a good cause.

In the beginning of the school year, the GSA applied for a $300 mini-grant through the Noblesville Schools Education Foundation and won, putting the money toward getting buttons at no charge to the clubs involved or students signing the pledge.

“I took the idea of ‘spreading the word’ almost literally with the speech bubble,” Lackney said of her button design. “I also wanted it to be clear and easy to read. I used red to grab people’s attention and big letters to make the cause known. I hope the buttons clearly demonstrate the initiative to spread the word about eliminating bullying.”

The pledge itself, displayed on the poster that students have been visiting at lunch, reads, “I believe that bullying and calling other students hurtful names is wrong. I pledge to: Not bully other students or call them hurtful names. Intervene if I safely can, in situations where students are being called names. Support efforts to end bullying and name-calling.”

By the end of the first day the pledge was offered at lunch, Monday, April 9, about 48 students and staff members had signed their names.

“I hope students realize that we all have things in common, and we’re all just people,” Lackney said. “No one should be bullied for any reason. No one has the right to make another feel inferior.”

“You don’t have those things!? Your life must suck! I’m so sorry.”

I just look at those people and smile. It’s true, I have no internet connection at home. I have no cell phone of my own. I have to go to the library to use the internet, all of my family shares one cell phone, and I think it has made me a more social person.

Not having these so-called “luxuries” has forced me to actually use my vocal cords to connect with people. Yes, I actually have to go and meet with people if I want to talk to them. That’s how it was 100 years ago. No phones. No Facebook, Twitter, email, none of that. If one wanted to meet with someone to talk, they would go to the town square and do so in person.

But now, everything is so impersonal. Even with Skype and all these forms of video calling people have now, it lacks the satisfaction or closeness of meeting with a person face to face. People rely on cell phones, webcams and computer keyboards to say everything for them.

Some people call the eyes the most expressive part of the body. Body language plays a vital role in a person to person conversation. This digital revolution is inhibiting the ability to read body language. It’s hard to look someone in the eyes through a grainy webcam.

This is not to say that the rise in technology is all bad. There are many good things coming from all of this social media. It is easier to get in touch with faraway relatives. Forty years ago, one would have to put the pen to paper and send their mail the old fashioned way. Write, ship and wait three months for a reply.

In addition, social media is a huge benefit for businesses. Workers now have LinkedIn, which, according to Wikipedia, is “a business related social networking site… mainly used for public networking…” LinkedIn can be used to post job listings, resumes and other documents that a business would find useful.

Finally, news organizations have benefited much from this new digital age. At the Mill Stream, we have our web-based format, the Streamline. The Indianapolis Star, New York Times and pretty much all print and broadcast journalism groups now have Twitter accounts where they post tiny blurbs or headlines and then link viewers to the full story.

In my opinion, this rise in technology is a great thing. I tip my hat to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (may he rest in peace) for their huge contributions to the field of computers and electronics. The point is, people must not lose their voices, the basis for all communications. Even in caveman times, before written words, one could use barks, groans and moans to communicate.

I urge everyone to limit themselves for an entire day. Send no more than about 20 text messages a day. Spend no more than an hour each on Facebook and Twitter. Just try it. Stretch those vocal cords, Noblesville! Let’s at least try to stall this dependence on technology.

As a kid, many people had that one object that has always brought him or her security or comfort, be it a teddy bear, a blanket, or a cowboy doll.  What really makes these things special is not the physical value of the items, but the memories and histories associated with them.  Here are some of the things that NHS students held—or still hold—close to their hearts.

Freshman Maggie Anderson is the owner of a pink stuffed bunny rabbit named Bunny. When Anderson was first born, her grandmother gave her the pink fluffball as a “welcome to the world” gift. But when Anderson was no more than two, her grandmother passed away from liver cancer. Now Bunny sits on her bed, serving to remind Anderson of her grandmother.

Sophomore Alec Bullough also has something to remind him of his grandmother.  In his case, it is a blanket that he refers to as “the hugs from grandma blanket.”  Bullough’s grandmother was constantly in the hospital.

“I know it sounds kind of horrible for me to say this, but she had every disease known to mankind,” Bullough said.  According to Bullough, she had problems with her nerves that prevented her from walking and caused her to hurt.  While she was in the hospital, she would knit blankets for her grandchildren, which would serve as a substitute for her hugs when she couldn’t be there for her grandchildren.

“I thought it was nice because I felt like she could be there, even though I was in Indiana and she’d be in California,” Bullough said.

Anderson is not the only one with a beloved stuffed animal, though. Freshman Evan Baker owned an Elmo when he was a mere 3 years old. He would carried this Elmo everywhere with him, not putting it down until he was 5. Elmo helped him through everything…like learning to ride a bike.

“I couldn’t do it,” Baker said. “I totally wrecked [the bike], but when my parents brought me inside, they brought me my elmo and I stopped crying. I guess you could call it your best friend, kind of…your best friend that you can carry everywhere.”

Yuri Wright, one of the top high school football players in the nation, was considering some of the best college football programs in the country.  However, they lost a lot of interest in him when he was kicked out of school for explicit tweets.

Ever since the beginning of social networking, there have been questions about how it affects kids that use them around the globe.  Most users have said that it doesn’t affect them in a negative way.  But there are definitely a few people who have ruined opportunities by saying or doing certain things on social networks.  So the question is, are there negatives of social networking?

“Students and adults can underestimate the word, and it’s out there forever,” Dean of Students at Noblesville Freshman Campus Mrs. Miranda Miller said. “The filter for knowing what to say disappears on the Internet.”

Miller handles cases of cyber-bullying and other incidents involving the Internet at Noblesville Freshman Campus.  She feels that the biggest problem on these websites is immaturity.  Miller believes that some things she has seen on a social network are horrible, and she can’t believe that somebody would say these things.

According to freshman Jake Hornsby, things are said on social networks that would never be said in person. They can be extremely mean and degrading.

The age Hornsby is right now, or teenagers in general, is where most people believe social networking is at its worst.  He believes that social networking is a huge problem for kids his age, especially for bullying.  His solution to solving this problem involves random checks of people’s accounts. If content is found that isn’t appropriate, the person would be kicked off the network and a notification should be sent to a parent or guardian.

Yuri Wright, who was a student and standout football player at Don Bosco High School in New Jersey, was expelled from school due to “explicit and sexual tweets.”  Wright, who was considering Rutgers, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Colorado along with other schools, was set to be a star at the school he went to.  However, the way people view him now after his tweets has changed. Some of these schools chose to no longer pursue Wright, and he quickly committed to Colorado before the incident could blow up any more.  This is a perfect example of how in one click of a button, a future could go from a certain lock for success to potentially nothing.

According to 20-year old Noblesville High School graduate Colton Orr, social networking has a negative impact on kids because it “takes away from developing real relationships and restricts the growth of young people’s social skills.”

This is another part of the argument against social networks that has taken a back seat to bullying lately.  Not only does social networking open up more opportunities to harm other people, it could also ruin social skills.  Orr pointed out that on social networks, a person never has to talk to somebody face to face. There is no real response to anything that is said, and it can hurt people’s ability to hold long conversations.  This was one of the main concerns when social networking became popular, and it is still a problem.

According to Miller, the most important thing when it comes to social networking is education by parents.  She said that schools do all they can, but what happens out of school is the parents’ job.  Bullying and other things that happen over summer can easily affect an incident in school, but what can the school do to stop the first actions on a social network?  The answer is nothing, and as Miller said, most of the problem can be fixed by parents’ involvement.

Social networking may be harmless to most of the kids that use them.  However, what about the small amount of kids who do something to hurt themselves or are severely attacked by peers on a daily basis?  As you can see from the Yuri Wright situation, no matter how good somebody is at something or how bright his future looks, social networking can lead to one click that could ruin everything.