Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2007)
' -- ! . m Does keeping marijuana illegal cause more harm than good? Check out where seniors are heading next year. Girls' rugby defends State title fourth consecutive time. - page 6 - page 10-11 - page 13 Shtorts V iII crew tells ail about the production : - page 17 Official Student Publication of West Linn High School Published Since 1921 Web comics have their finger on the pulse of internet culture. - page 19 May 2007 - Volume 95, Issue 7 Humanities classes offer night of answers u R oya E lizeh _______________ co-Editor-in-Chief Honors Humanities classes held two separate nights of answering and reflecting on the knowledge the students have gained during the year-long class. Both classes, taught by English teacher Barb Murray, chose a class question to answer individually in an artistic way. Their expressions of their truth were displayed on May 14 and 16. "These nights were an opportunity to express their own beliefs," Murray said. The third period class, composed of all seniors answered the question "What is Reality?" on May 14 and on May 16, the fourth -iod class responded U Tie question "What is Human?" Family members, students and community members were invited to both Honors Humanities nights. The questions were decided upon by each individual class. Coming up with the question took each class period about five hours to decide. Past questions in previous years have included "What is the nature of reality?" and "What makes life meaningful?" Composed of two presentation sessions and a gallery, the nights were put together by the classes with the help of Murray. Presentations were held in the Forum and the Library Alcove. The Gallery was presented on the second floor of the school building. "Over 240 people attended each performance night," Murray said Concentrating on past philosophers such as Aristotle and Socrates, the Honors Humanities classes were asked to take what they learned and turn it into their own truth. These truths were presented and explained by each individual to the members of the community. "Honors Humanities is an important class because Kirstin Roby, senior, hangs up portraits demonstrating her answer to the question, "What is Human?" for Honors Humanities Night on May 16. Honors Humanities, an application only class, explores the Photo courtesy of Jordan Grelewicz history of philosophy. kids have the opportunity to explore questions they've never had the opportunity to answer in a school setting," Murray said. "This class allows them to have those conversations." Projects include photography, paintings, music, dance, an interactive movie, and a model of the Grand Canyon. Students have worked on the project since November and set their own deadlines for a grade in the class. "Even though the project takes up so much of our time , it is so extremely worth it," Lacey Mannex, senior, said. "Once we were finished, we felt so insightful and accomplished." Honors Humanities is an application only class and will be offered next year. Alum ni com poses m usic fo r "Family Guy" u J oseph M iller _____________ S R When you think of celebrity, you don't necessarily think West Linn. As great of a place it is to live, it's not known for turning out A-list stars. But, once in a while, an unusual success story comes along. This is the case with Ron Jones, a composer who has worked for 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. He's composed music for many big-time shows such as "Smurfs," "Duck Tales," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "American Dad" and "Family Guy," as well as co-composing the worldwide hit theme song of "The Fairly Odd Parents." Jones, who graduated in 1972, has worked on big productions and with M o c k Trial Team ; a t N ationals ili»! iillll staff Reporter In its first trip to Nationals, the West Linn High School Mock Trial Team won and lost two rounds each. How- ever, they also came away from the competition with the national award for Out- standing Professionalism and Sportsmanship. -1 ¡11 "It was our most successful year ever-largely due to the quality and work ethic of our ‘ m We have an incredible liii ■ ¡lili mum group of seniors. It’ll be very sad to see them go,” Matt Kellogg, Mock Trial adviser, said. M aggie G oldstein, se- nior, won an award as an Outstanding witness. Team members included: Lauren Currey, senior, Marta Hanson, senior, Eric Nesbit, senior, Hannah Cochran, senior, Maggie Goldstein, senior, Nina Dalgaard, senior, Amy Brumbaugh, senior, and Wil liam Fambach, senior. celebrities such as David Zuckerman, executive producer of "Family Guy" and Gene Rodenberry, executive producer and producer of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Although he was only at West Linn his junior and senior year, he made a great impact at the school that can still be felt today. He started the Oregon Crusaders' Drum and Bugle Corps and wrote for the high school's Jazz Ensemble. Jones not only played the percussions, but he also played instruments such as the French horn, piano and the trumpet. (Today, there is still a form of the Oregon Crusaders' Drum and Bugle Corps organization.) "[He] was phenomenal—a musical genius. He could sit down at any piano and play anything without sheet music," Gary Eppelsheimer, fine arts and science teacher, said. Eppelsheimer also graduated with Jones in 1972, took some classes Composer Ron Jones, who wrote music for "Family Guy" and "American Dad," visits the Advanced Film Studies class on May 15. Jones lectured on the process of scoring TV shows and films. Photo by Cole Fiala with him, but mostly knew Jones through the Oregon Crusaders' Drum and Bugle Corps which Eppelsheimer's sister was a part of. Their families also knew each other, so Jones and Eppelsheimer were well acquainted. lilt liiiS_______________ B continued on page 7
