“I was like running constantly. We play one part then reset and play it again,” senior Samantha Alberts said.

The drum line practices twice a week to work on their show for the competitions they and sometimes only work on a certain section of the piece for most practice. When the competitions roll around the drum line show up early to run through the show a couple of times, load the buses up with their instruments and head off for their competition.

Once they arrive, they unload the bus and wait until they can go to the practice rooms. Once they finish practicing they go to the gym and wait until they perform. When they finish performing, they then load the buses and head back to wait for the results.

Last year the drum line played “Spanish Fantasy,” but the piece this year has proven to be more successful. On Saturday, Feb. 27 they competed in the Greenfield competition and finished with a third place trophy. They received their highest score going into preliminaries with a 76.35.

“It is awesome. I really like it even though it can be hard at times,” sophomore Kegan Anderson said.

The drum line will compete in preliminaries at Avon High School March 13.

Fast forward 12 years. I’m 18, and the Olympics are on North American soil, turning Vancouver into Canada’s new capital for 17 days. No surprise, I’m not the next Tara Lipinski, but my excitement for the Games hasn’t dimmed. The countdown started sometime in early December, and the 100 Greatest Moments in Olympic History came down off the library shelf late January. The only thing that could have heightened the excitement was if I’d actually booked the tickets to Vancouver whose fares I’d religiously checked.

It wasn’t the torch lighting malfunction that slightly dampened my high spirits. It wasn’t the corny nightly “fireside chats”, or Bob Costas’ terrible dye job, the slushy speed skating ice, or the commentators’ habit of giving athletes cutesy nicknames like “Uhrmann the German.” I’ll forgive that. No, it was the network that brought me the coverage of the Games I love: NBC.

Never before have I been so tempted to get on my knees and thank God for the miracle of technology my DVR is. For every one hour of watching NBC coverage, I think I saw about 10 minutes of actual sport. And with all the coverage so “exclusive,” I saw only what NBC decided to air, when it wanted to air it; for women’s downhill, this meant only six runs during prime time.

For an event that prides itself in bringing together the world, the Olympics I saw were lacking. During women’s snowboard halfpipe, NBC cut to commercials each time a Canadian rider competed. It got to the point where that evening saw me attempting to watch live streaming online off of a site with Chinese subtitles in order to see an event in its entirety.

I guess the worst part of it was though, that as much as I disliked NBC’s coverage of the Olympics, I still watched it. I still tuned in every night because it was my only option. I can sit here and complain about the network, but my television boosted their ratings. As pathetic the coverage was, I still loved the Olympics. I loved the thrill of watching athletes take tight turns down an icy course, I loved the fist pumping and tears of medal winners, the soaring notes of the Olympic theme song. As much as I hate to admit it, without NBC, I wouldn’t have that.

So here’s the thing, NBC. We need each other. What’s that term from freshman year biology? Symbiotic relationship. Come two years, London 2012 will air on your network. I’ll give you another chance. I love the Olympics, and maybe you will, too, enough to provide full coverage, enough to leave out the polar bear segments and give us what we want: the Games themselves, the athletes, the competition. Bob, you can stay, just fix up the hair, and maybe I’ll make you a sign for my front window, too.

1. Closing classroom doors to keep the heat in the classroom and not in the
halls.

2. Upon leaving an empty room, turn off all lights.

3. Create a “Brown Out” day where the school actually uses as little classroom
lighting as possible and just relies on the natural sunlight from the windows.

4. Remind teachers to close their blinds at the end of the day to help keep the
heat in the room.

5. Be proactive in looking for energy wasting opportunities.

6. Recycle Recycle Recycle! Everything and anything that can be recycled or reused.

7. Use both the front and back of paper before you put it in the recycling bin.

After a dazzling performance by many a swimmer and diver at sectionals, seniors and captains Audrey Welklin and Meghan Potee; juniors Marley Cripe and Katie Bittner; sophomores Michelle Hance, Cora Meeham, Aubrey Kluth, and Claire Brolsma; and freshmen Katie Horn and Heather Hayes, qualified to compete at the 2010 IHSAA Girls State Swimming Finals held on February 12 and 13. There, the girls swam their way to number eight, thanks to a hard team effort – including Potee’s first place in 1 Meter Diving and Welklin’s inexhaustible endurance used to swim the most yardage one can at a meet (which means the 200 Yard Freestyle, the 500 Yard Freestyle, the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, and the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay).

Although the team had hoped to rank in the top five – especially since the number two spot was up for grabs – they placed eighth with 88 points, behind the infamous Greyhounds, who championed their twenty-fourth state title with a sweeping 419 points – a whole 232.5 points ahead of Center Grove’s second place spot (ihsaa.org).

Despite the disappointment at state, Welklin said, “The overall season was, really, pretty good. I’m proud of my girls.”

Indeed, the season proved to be rather successful, highlights including the team’s second at the Carmel’s Sectional and the smashing of two school records, provided by Meeham (100 Yard Back) and Hayes (100 Breast Stroke).

And just as the swimmers taper before a meet, the swim now season tapers to a close – yet, not entirely. Noblesville Swim Club resumes directly after school swimming takes its bow, proving once again just how dedicated these athletes are.

But remember, no matter how crazy they may seem, the swimmers’ hard work pays off, and through daily practices, they become something of a family. Hance has enjoyed her time in the pool and said, “It’s really fun to participate.”

If you missed witnessing these ladies swim their way to state, make sure to support the boys swimming as they begin the tournament season!

American Lindsey Vonn won her gold in Ladies' Downhill skiing. Her medal would worth roughly $500 if melted down.

At a time when gold is worth roughly $1100 per ounce, the value of an Olympic gold medal lies in both its physical worth and its symbolic meaning. That golden circle hanging around champion’s neck? It represents years of training and sacrifice, the pride of a victory, and the pure hard work of beating out every competitor and becoming the best in the world.

Cue up the Olympic theme song in your head.  The soaring notes work to showcase that broadcasting of exhilarating victories and bittersweet seconds, of devastating mistakes and the spirit of these 16 days of competition on the world stage.

You’ve heard the names: Shaun White, Apolo Anton Ohno, Lindsey Vonn. The hype surrounding these athletes and their sports hit a feverish pitch just prior to the Games, and it continued as these athletes all competed, eventually winning gold. Students caught onto that gold fever and tuned in, witnessing the best of the world go head-to-head in competition.

“Last night I was watching Lindsey Vonn and was really surprised when that German girl [Maria Riesch] won [Ladies' Super Combined],” sophomore Zach Isaacs said. “I mean, she [Riesch] had more medals, but Lindsey was expected to take it all.”

Shaun White’s dominance in Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe brought him a second gold medal and more fans, especially with the unveiling of his new trick, the Double McTwist 1260. Sophomore Luke Vandewater enjoyed watching White’s performance, but he cited a different kind of race as his favorite.

“[My  favorite was] that one event where the girl got completely trashed by the pole, the Swedish girl, not Lindsey Vonn,” sophomore Luke Vandewater said.

Wipeouts were aplenty in many of the events and drew viewers, but senior Kelsey Corbett looks forward to another heavily favored event.

“I’m super pumped for Women’s hockey finals because Canada’s going to win gold,” Corbett said, supporting her native country.

Hockey, snowboarding, skiing, and figure skating may be crowd favorites, but one event has drawn a large following in these Vancouver Games.

“Curling. Curling’s the number one sport, best one in the Olympics,” sophomore Charles Logan Knotts said.

The following boys qualified: freshman Mitch Hensley, sophomores Ivan Keene, Wayne Specth, Cody Bond, and Alex Wormuth, juniors Tyler Carlotto, Jordan Edwards, Tyler Gadient, Alex Bowers, Derrick Holpuch, and Steven Rushforth.

Bowers, Gadient, and Holpuch all advanced to the semi-state competition before being eliminated, all by third place state wrestlers.

“We had no seniors in our starting line up, so if everyone works hard in the off season we look forward to an even better year next year,”

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games have not only brought together 82 nations to compete, but they also have brought a vast array of Olympic Moments. From the tears of near-misses and podium pride to the smiles and cheers of at-last victory and unexpected success, these Games have provided an outpouring of emotion from athletes and fans alike.

Check out a few of these moments the Mill Stream has picked to showcase the latest Winter Games.

The Thrills:

-American snowboarder phenom Shaun White’s second gold medal in Men’s Halfpipe. The Flying Tomato lives up to the hype, laying down the “Double McTwist” at the end to awe audiences with another golden performance.

-American skier Lindsay Vonn fights a bruised shin and a rough, icy course to add Olympic gold medal to her list of skiing achievements in Ladies’ Downhill, then goes on to win bronze in Ladies’ Super-G.

-Johnny Spillane’s silver makes him the first American to medal in Nordic Combined, an event dominated by the Europeans since its arrival to the Olympic Games.

- Russia’s Nikita Kriukov and Alexander Panzhinskiy finish 1-2 in the Men’s individual sprint (1.6K) cross country classic, crossing the line in a photo-finish, with Kriukov’s ski edging his teammate’s for the gold.

Russia's Nikita Kriukov and Alexander Panzhinskiy skied a very close 1-2 finish in Men's Individual Sprint (1.6K) Cross Country Classic

-American Shani Davis becomes the first man to win back-to-back 1000-m speed skating gold medals as he defended his title, while his teammate Apolo Ohno became the U.S.’s most decorated American athlete (7 medals) with his bronze in the 1000-m race.

-American Evan Lysacek ends Russia’s reign of dominance in Men’s Figure Skating when he upset defending gold medalist Russian Evgeni Plushenko. Lysacek’s Olympic gold is the first for the U.S. since Brian Boitano in 1988.

-Switzerland’s Simon Ammann ties the Olympic record for most decorated ski jumper when he soared to his fourth gold in Men’s Ski Jumping.

-Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir capture for hometeam Canada its first-ever medal in Olympic Ice Dancing with their gold medal victory over the U.S.’s Meryl Davis and Charlie White and Russia’s Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin.

-Great Britain’s Amy Williams brings the country its first individual Winter Games medal in 30 years with a gold medal victory in Women’s Skeleton. The race also set a new track record of 53.83sec on the 1,450-metre course at Whistler’s Sliding Centre, at a speed of 143.3 kph, according to www.vancouver2010.com .

The Spills:

-American Lindsey Jacobellis fails to capture the elusive Women’s Snowboard Cross gold the second Olympics in a row, despite her dominance in the event outside of the Olympics. Torino 2006 brought her a disappointing silver after her infamous board grab, but Jacobellis didn’t even make finals in Vancouver after bouncing out of bounds in the semi-finals.

-In an event the Americans were favored to sweep, Gretchen Bleiler misses her chance for a gold medal, falling in each of her two runs of Women’s Snowboard halfpipe. Australia’s Torah Bright edged reigning champion American Hannah Teter to win gold, while American Kelly Clark rounded out the podium with a bronze.

Downhill skiing saw wipe-out after wipe-out, as the rough, icy course brought down many a skier, including Swedish standout Anja Paerson who crashed and slid headfirst across the finish line. Germany’s favorite for the event, Maria Riesch, skiied conservatively and finished the race but failed to make the podium.

-World champion Britain falls in the first day of Men’s Curling after Sweden delivers a stunning defeat, 6-4.

-In the inaugural run of Women’s Ski Cross in the Olympic Games, gold medal favorite French Ophelie David crashes out in quarter-finals, allowing for a Canadian win in the finals by Ashleigh McIvor.

The Surprises:

The U.S. Men's Ice Hockey team defeated hometown favorite Canada in a Premliminary Round, 5-3.

-Nicknamed by some the U.S.’s 2nd greatest Olympic moment since the “Miracle on Ice” U.S. win over the Soviets in 1980, the United States beats out Canada in a Men’s Ice Hockey Preliminary round with a score of 5-3.

-Swedish biathlete Helena Jonsson, world champion and ranked number one, fails to even make the podium in the both women’s individual biathlon events, finishing 49th the 15K, won by Norwegian Tora Berger in 40:52.8, and 12th in the 7.5K sprint, where Anastazia Kuzmina won Slovakia’s first gold medal.

-The Slovakians continue their Olympic surprises with a heavy upset over Russia, a favorite for the gold medal, in a Men’s Ice Hockey Preliminary Round.

-A less arrogant American Bode Miller makes a comeback after his highly touted, disappointing appearances in Torino, shaking off the doubts to win gold (Men’s Super Combined), silver (Men’s Super-G), and bronze (Men’s Downhill).

-American Julia Mancuso adds to the United States’ skiing dominance in Vancouver with 2 silvers (Ladies’ Downhill and Ladies’ Super Combined), becoming the most decorated female American Olympic Alpine Skier with 3 medals (gold in Torino). Prior to Vancouver, she had not even cracked the top-three in World Cup competition in two years due to back problems.

-South Korean Lee Sang-hwa knocks off two overwhelming favorites in the women’s 500m short track speed skating, coming out on top of German world-record holder Jenny Wolf and China’s Wang Beixing. Her gold medal win added a South Korea sweep of the 500-m event in Vancouver to Asia’s unexpected dominance on the speed-skating oval.

-American Hannah Kearney’s win over reigning Olympic champion Canadian Jennifer Heil in Ladies’ Freestyle Moguls leads to a bittersweet silver for Canada’s favorite.

Have other ideas for the best thrills, spills, and surprises of Vancouver 2010? Comment below and let us know.

“Student government usually likes to donate money to good causes. It was a great way to get people to the dance and donate at the same time,” student body president Luke Hoffman said.

“The Student Government decided without input from me to donate proceeds from the dance to Haiti relief. I entirely support their decision. Given the great need, and our ability to give, I think these are very commendable actions for our students to take,” principal Annetta Petty said.

The theme of the dance this year was Red Carpet, which meant students could choose dress like their favorite celebrities. Instead of the usual dance location of the gym, winter formal took place in the Commons, junior Abby Floyd said.

According to junior Claire Gawaluck, there weren’t a lot of people at the dance.
“The dance was okay,” Gawaluck said. “But it was a good idea to send the money to Haiti.”

Sophomore Whitney Cummins also agreed with Gawaluck.

It was pretty good. There were a bunch of kids dressed like old people, which made my day,” Cummins said.

“I really like how the money went to Haiti,” Floyd added. “I didn’t stay very long, but that was okay because I knew where the money was going. They deserve it more than I do.”

Proceeds from the winter dance were donated to Unicef, which is dedicated to work for children’s rights, according to www.unicef.org.

Blowing Bubbles: What first grader doesn’t love blowing bubbles? Be it classic (with a plastic stick and a cheap bottle of bubble solution) or homemade (dish soap and water with a bent wire hanger for a stick), it’s just downright fun! Contests with your siblings over who can make the biggest bubble, watching the soap swirl on the surface of the shiny see-through orb, and of course trying to pop as many as possible were just the beginning of the bubble joys!

Holding Hands with Your Best Friend: Looking back on early elementary school days, we recall anxiously crowding the door of my classroom, everyone clamoring to be line-leader. As we walked through the halls, I would step out of the line, catch up to my best friend, and grab his hand with a smile (not that we prefer walking the halls in lines, but oh how we wish that we could hold hands in high school without the constant speculations of: “Ohmygosh, are they dating? Since when?!”). Ah, the days of youthful childhood innocence, when no one cared if you held hands with more than one person…

Stickers, Glitter, and Glittery Stickers: Don’t you miss the days of smiley face stickers on the tops of your papers, smearing gluesticks on construction paper to make the glitter that you sprinkle over it stick, and the shiny stickers adorning your 100 percent A+ projects? The squeals of delight over the construction paper projects and motivational stickers rang through the classrooms! Well, maybe we just have short attention spans, but sparkly things are fascinating. It’s juvenile, but we believe that the small act of putting stickers on papers again would elicit a surprising amount of smiles even from teenagers.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Lazy, lazy Saturdays with nothing to do…so what did we do? We watched mindless cartoons, of course! Some are classics that withstand to this day (Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo) and some aren’t really around anymore (Dexter’s Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Recess, Pokémon, Sailor Moon), but they were all legitimately great time-wasters!

Disney Movies: Ah, the oh-so-illogical but oh-so-wonderful world of princesses, frogs, and knights in shining armor. Looking back on it, it may seem stupid, but we adored all of those classically animated Disney movies. There was Cinderella and her glass slippers, Snow White and her eccentric dwarves, Ariel and her lovable fish friends, Alice from Wonderland and the often partially invisible Cheshire Cat, and Belle and her ultimately endearing beast. All seemed so real in our little-girl minds. That imagination was a crucial part of our lives back then, and though maybe not quite as prominent, it’s still hiding somewhere.

Class Parties: Oh, the parties! Every holiday, the elementary parties were the highlight of everyone’s day. There were cupcakes frosted with the holiday color of choice, sugar cookies in cute shapes, every type of candy you could imagine, fruit punch in plastic cups, holiday-appropriate arts and crafts, and even treat bags to take home. And then there were those things specific to one holiday: dozens of valentines on St. Valentine’s Day, edible ornaments on Christmas, popcorn balls on Halloween, plastic eggs on Easter.

Plastic Jewelry: Chunky beaded bracelets and stretchy necklaces never go out of style. It’s been said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. I beg to differ. A girl’s real best friend knows that a trip to the mall must include exploring that familiar accessories store, Claire’s, on the hunt for plastic jewelry. No matter what age, I will stand by the statement that neither gold nor silver can come even close to delivering the satisfaction that takes place upon hearing rainbow colored bracelets slap against each other each time I raise my wrist to wave to a friend in the hall.

Hopscotch: It seems like activities have gotten progressively more complicated as we get older. What was once a game you played with the neighborhood kids after dinner turns into endless practices and hours spent conditioning as we move on to high school. Whatever happened to simple games like hopscotch? Picture dirty hightop sneakers bounding from square to square. The only requirements are a piece of chalk and a blacktop, and maybe a rock if you want to get fancy.

Coloring: What little kid doesn’t enjoy the glide of waxy crayons across images thickly outlined on the pages of a worn coloring book? Everyone had those Picasso moments. You know the kind. You would flip choosily through a dinosaur coloring book, gazing upon each picture before selecting a stegosaurus to fill in with yellows and blues and reds. You would concentrate as hard as your short attention span would allow, frowning when that ornery crayon strayed outside the lines, but once again smiling contently when your masterpiece was complete.

Pop Music: Even at the age of 16, I have no problem admitting that I blast Aaron Carter in my car. Remember how fun and full of life and puppy love old radio music used to be? The days of boy bands and bubblegum pop may be gone, but they are not forgotten. My iPod is chock full of the classics (no, not Beethoven and Mozart) like the Backstreet Boys, the epitome of inspiration for spastic fangirldom; *NSYNC before Justin Timberlake went solo; Hilary Duff, Disney’s original TV-star-turned-singer; Play, a textbook girl band; Christina Aguilera, granting wishes as a genie in a bottle; and Britney Spears in her “…Baby One More Time” days. Don’t deny that you still know all the words.

The 20 songs on the charity album show the contrast of destruction versus rebuilding, despair versus prayer, and loneliness versus togetherness.  Songs titled “Motherless Child”, “Driven to Tears”, and “Alone and Forsaken” speak of how the earthquakes rocked that country to the core, leaving so many with so little, some without family, friends, or any material goods to cling to.  But then, of course, “We Shall Overcome”, “I’ll Stand By You”,  “Lean  on Me”, and many more show, just as this CD itself does, the Haitians are not alone; everyone in the world is watching and praying for them, and with our help, they too “shall overcome.”

With both brand new tunes partnered with covers of old, well-known ones such as “Let It Be” by Jennifer Hudson, “Lean on Me” by Sheryl Crow Keith Urban, and Kid Rock, and Beyonce’s revamped version of “Halo”, listeners can both add new songs to their favorites list and hear how ones they already know and love carry a special meaning so perfect for the people struggling in Haiti.  And with numerous big name singers – Jay-Z, Dave Matthews, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys and many more – everyone can find at least a song or two by an artist they enjoy.

But though these artists come from many different time periods, backgrounds, and genres, all the songs the sing on this CD revolve around a single message: even in the darkest times, hope and love prevails, and every song on this CD fits this message to a T.