Wolf Pack Press

10 Reasons You Should Love Jimmy Fallon

adviser — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:00:47 +0000

1. Troll Dolls helped jumpstart his career as a comedian. He received a troll doll after his graduation ceremony and created the idea of incorporating it into his first stand up comedy act.
2. He was on SNL for 6 years. He bombed his first audition but had a fighting spirit and tried again, only to prevail and be a member of the SNL team.
3. He played beer pong with Betty White, but lost…
4. He can rap. Enough said.
5. In 2002, Fallon was named one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People, true.
6. He models for Calvin Klein, what else is there to add?
7. He hosts his own late night talk show and was voted most likely to replace David Letterman in school.
8. His office décor includes a huge plastic pickle hanging from the ceiling.
9. He has a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor with potato chip clusters named after his show.
10. He can do a spot on imitation of Justin Bieber.

Aurora 2012 Slideshow

adviser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:02:01 +0000

Comedy Sportz team offers rivals stiff competition

adviser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:47:23 +0000

“It’s not sports played as a comedy; it’s comedy played as a sport.”

That one line opens every ComedySportz game you will attend and nothing could describe this hilarious sport better. Woodcreek’s ComedySportz team players are the masters of improvisational comedy and their goal is to make you laugh. When having a face-off with another schools’ team, it is up to you to choose the winner based on how hard they made you crack up. Our team is chock-full of talent and if you haven’t seen them in action, you’re really missing out.

Senior Amy Shingara is captain of our ComedySportz team and very proud of how far they have come. “We have grown so much since the beginning of the school year,” she said. “The team as a whole is very hard working and we work together well.”

This captain knows how important it is to be a team in this sport and reveals it well with how she talks about her team. “I couldn’t possibly pick a single player,” Shingara said when she was asked to pick a player she thought stood out amongst the rest. “One person doesn’t make a team, but we sure need everyone.”

When watching these players up on stage, you would have no idea how hard they work to get this good. The team meets every Monday for rigorous improvisational practice and we see the results with each game played.

“ComedySportz is hard,” said Tom Fearon, drama teacher and supervisor of the team. “You must learn to play as a team and listen.”

And there is always room for improvement. “We need to work on not talking over one another,” said junior Bailey Jenson, who has been on the ComedySportz team since her freshmen year.

Shingara agrees that there is still work to be done. “I would just like to work on fine-tuning the team,” she said. “Just little things here and there that the audience probably won’t notice, but every little bit counts for the greater good.”

But through the sweat and tears of laughter, everyone always finds that one moment that sticks to them throughout the entire year. A memorable moment for Fearon occurred in a game against Tokay High School in October.

“It was Gabby [Donaldson]’s first time on stage,” he said, chuckling as he thought back to the game. That night, Donaldson had overcome the title of “ComedySportz newbie” and bought herself a standing ovation for her hilarious and witty performance.

When asked about a memorable moment of her own, Jenson recalled going to the ComedySportz tournament. “I had a lot of fun learning new games and meeting other teams,” she said.

The team’s last game was played at Monterey Trail High School on February 8. “It was a great game,” said Fearon. “It was high energy and we played a very strong team.”

If you missed this game, don’t make the same mistake again. Be sure to make it to our team’s next game at Bella Vista High School on February 17 at 7:00 p.m. You will most definitely be in for one side-splitting evening.

Celebrity alum returns to campus

adviser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:23:03 +0000

After ten years, alum Dominic Sandoval, also known as D-Trix, returned to Woodcreek for a quick visit. A lot has changed for him over the past decade. This includes earning a spot as a finalist in season three of So You Think You Can Dance, as well as, dancing as a member of the winning dance group, Quest Crew, on ABDC and most recently serving as a judge on the show. Lately Sandoval has been investing his efforts in his YouTube channel. He returned to campus Feb. 17 to help Lydia Viduya and her dancers with choreography. Students and staff welcomed him enthusiastically, excited to have a celebrity on campus.

Nature Center worms squirm into action

adviser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:34:05 +0000

It’s mission possible for the Nature Center class this term. Science teacher Kendra Grinsell and her students recently started a new, environmentally-helpful tradition of composting on campus.
Seniors Scotty Burdick, Jillian Ebrahimi, Taylor Galvan, and junior Ricky Jones are dedicated to starting this tradition and lending a helping hand to the environment. They are getting the word out about their plans for making additional compost bins and giving other students and staff a chance to get involved.
“Decomposition is nature’s way of breaking down organic materials,” said Ebrahimi.
Food will ultimately decompose on its own over time; however, worms will eat and digest the food scraps much faster in order to maintain a healthy environment. This method helps regulate the environment in many ways.
Composting reduces the amount of food that is put into landfills. By reducing the deposit of food in landfills, this simultaneously reduces the amounts of methane and greenhouse gases displaced into our atmosphere.
Another important factor of composting is the reduction of how much oil is being used in fertilizers. Fertilizer is produced daily and one of the ingredients for producing it is oil. Reducing the amount of fertilizer made will concurrently reduce the amount of oil used in our society, which leads a healthy lifestyle for our future generations.
“The best type of worm to use during the composting is Red Wigglers, which we buy by the thousands in order to fill our compost bins,” stated Burdick.
The reason that Red Wigglers are the best type of worm to use is because of their ability to eat and to digest the most food in the quickest time and also because of their survival skills.
Each bin contains about 1000 worms, and it takes roughly six to ten weeks for the worms to turn the scraps into compost. Currently the Nature Center Class has five, 14-gallon compost bins. The compost bins are located in room 501, the Nature Center classroom; everyone is welcome to bring in any organic food scraps for composting reasons.
With the help of teacher Kelly Mayo, the Nature Center Class is working on constructing a giant bin outdoors in the Nature Center Nursery.
Grinsell and her students hope to continue this tradition for many years and involve many more people in their project.

Anticipating the Oscars

adviser — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:39:43 +0000

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Academy released the nominees of the upcoming Academy Awards – known as the Oscars for short – to be aired at the end of February. Of the nominations, there were those that were expected to be nominated and those that came as a surprise. Receiving the most nominations of all movies was the animated movie Hugo directed by Martin Scorsese with a stunning total of eleven nominations. Followed closely behind is Michael Hazanavicius’s The Artist with ten nominations. Further, Moneyball and War Horse were able to pick up six nominations. As for the most anticipated Best Picture category, the movies up for the title of best movie of 2011 include the previously mentioned Hugo, The Artist, Moneyball and War Horse. Additively, the movies The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Midnight in Paris and The Tree of Life. Some of the more shocking of nominations included Bridesmaids being nominated for Best Original Writing (for a screenplay). Melissa McCarthy, known for her role as Megan in the comedy, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, despite Bridesmaids being starkly different from the other movies that are up for nomination. The final movie in the beloved series Harry Potter was nominated for the Art Direction, Makeup and Visual Effects categories, ending out the movie franchise with a decent collection of nominations considering the known curse of movies failing to meet the high expectations that the book they’re based off of. Most of the nominations were fairly expected as they had already won a few awards at the Golden Globes not too long ago. One of the prevailing movies that surprised people at first was The Artist, which is one of the first silent films in years with the leads of the movie being fromFrance. The actress, Bérénice Bejo, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a film. Another surprise was the nominations for Best Animated Feature Film. Hugo was unsurprisingly nominated in the category, however movies like The Adventures of Tin Tin, were passed over for the foreign films A Cat in Paris and Chito & Rita, both of which were only released to certain movie theaters throughout the country. Finally, in my opinion, I don’t see much to complain about when it comes down to the Oscar nominations. Several were expected, including Meryl Streep nominated as Best Actress in a Leading Role like she is almost every year. Others, like Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids, have me a bit more intrigued about the outcome as to who will receive the award. As a comedian standing against so many serious actresses, she is somewhat of an underdog when she is in the same category as actresses that starred in The Help, which had an incredibly different mood in comparison to Bridesmaids. In short, I look forward to upcoming awards, however, there is little guess work when it comes down to who will emerge victorious.

AP Biology: what to expect

adviser — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:03:14 +0000

When I first heard that Woodcreek would be starting an Advanced Placement (AP) Biology program, taught by long time biology teacher Johanna McCoy, I was excited. McCoy was my biology teacher freshman year, and I remember fondly those long after lunch classes where we would pore over osmosis and cell respiration and how the body combats diseases. However, this is not going to be a continuation of CP Biology, this is a whole different class.

Firstly, there are no more multiple choice tests that can bump your grade up. This class is all about the labs. McCoy said, “Students will help to create their own labs, after which they test it.”

Secondly, there are a lot of per-requisites: Biology, Chemistry, Pre-Calculus, and, the curve ball, Physiology. McCoy explained that this was because AP Biology not only focuses on the science of Biology, but also the math.

Along with other projects, homework, and lengthy tests, AP Biology is going to take students from the “How?” of CP Biology and instead focus on the “Why?”. In the AP Biology guide, students need, “Strong critical thinking skills….Tenacity (strong self motivation….[and]Independence.”

It has long been wondered why, with every other CP science class having an AP class attached to it, there is no AP Biology course. When asked this, Vice Principal and AP Coordinator Heather Schlaman said, “No one has stood up in the past….Ms. McCoy pushed for it after she started working full time.”

Schlaman went on to explain how past students had come back and said how the class would have benefited them. After McCoy started working full time a couple of years ago, she and Schlaman began looking into the class. Most of the cost comes from the course’s technology needs. Textbooks are funded by an outside organization, allowing more money to be spent towards those needs.

McCoy and Schlaman are both extremely excited to have the class on the already huge list of AP courses offered by Woodcreek. And while my CP Biology notes are long gone, I look forward to the class as well.

THINK PINK

adviser — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:44:00 +0000

This Thursday, February 09, 2012, Woodcreek High School Lady Timberwolves have their annual ‘Think Pink’ basketball game. This special game is in honor of victims and families of breast cancer and just other types of cancer in general. All the money that gets raised in this game will go to Susan G. Komen, Race for the Cure, foundation.

Seniors, Samantha Gonzalez, Fia Hoskinson, Kayla Gardner, and Destiny Standifer, have been looking forward to this game ever since last years Pink game. They all proclaimed that they love the aura of the game and they love the Pink mob even more because it gets them pumped and they feed off the energy from the mob.

Before the game tonight, they are not going to change anything when it comes to their routine. They have a team dinner, preferably Kayla’s pasta, then they have a pep talk and get a talk from the survivors of this deadly disease.

Woodcreek junior, Mitchell Mack is looking forward to just getting decked out in all pink. “Pink is my favorite color and no one will judge me for wearing it today”. Senior, Andi Wurster doesn’t really get excited about wearing pink but she is very proud of the cause that is behind the game.

GO WOLVES!!

Woodcreek Thinks Pink to Support Breast Cancer Awareness

adviser — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:20:51 +0000

For the 5th straight year Woodcreek will be hosting their annual Pink Zone game benefiting the Kay Yow Foundation and the Placer County Breast Cancer Endowment on Thursday, February 9th at 7PM vs. Granite Bay. Last year a record $3,100 was raised in ticket sales and donations, the Lady Wolves wish to beat that mark this year. Pink Zone games are held around the country and Woodcreek High is the only school to host one in our area. The games were started by Kay Yow, a women’s basketball coach at North Carolina State who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. She coached the USA women’s basketball team to gold in 1988, but died of breast cancer in 2009. The Placer County Breast Cancer Endowment is a local non-profit organization that is determined to support breast cancer victims and raise knowledge regarding breast cancer prevention. With a 14-8 record the varsity girls are looking to put on a good show for the crowd and add another win to their record with a good cause in mind. With the close of the season approaching they look to end on a high note. Senior Captain Fia Hoskinson stated, “I look forward to this game every year, it’s a good fundraiser and it is fun to play in.” The Lady T-Wolves will be going up against one of their biggest rivals, the Granite Bay Grizzlies. The game will be their second time the two teams have faced off and will also be the second to last home basketball game of the regular season. Coming off of two straight home losses to Del Oro and Rocklin, the girls are anxious to have the support of a whole gym at their backs because their support will be needed. One of the more enjoyable aspects of the game is that not only do the players dress in pink, but the traditional “Black Mob” cheering section of Woodcreek becomes the “Pink Mob” for the night. Varsity Girls Head Coach Ray Beck said, “I like it when the guys come and show support for the girls because they deserve it.” Don’t miss your chance to attend this year’s PINK ZONE game and show your support for your team and breast cancer. And, remember to wear pink.

Meet the senior Aurora Royalty

adviser — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:00:23 +0000

MEET THE AURORA ROYALTY 2012 – SENIORS The WPP sat down with this year’s 2012 Aurora Royal Court to learn more about their unique personalities. Here are the questions we asked and their answers… 1) Describe your complete opposite person/personality? 2) What makes you Hot (passionate) and Cold (apathetic)? 3) Who’s your hero? Why? 4) What past decade would you choose to live in and why? CLASS OF 2012 (SENIORS) SCOTT BURDICK 1) “My opposite personality would be somebody who is rude, inconsiderate, short, and totally mature.” 2) “I am passionate because when I’m excited about something, I put all of myself and all my effort into it to make sure it’s done correctly.” 3) “My hero is my mom because she has raised me and taught me the importance of intelligence and consideration.” 4) “I would choose to live in the 80’s because of the music and fads.” TAYLOR GALVAN 1) “I’m a mixture of a bro, gangster, and Blake Robinson plus facial hair.” 2) “I’m hot because I love getting to know all types of people and I’m only cold towards cats.” 3) “My hero is Oprah. No explanation needed.” 4) “I would have definitely liked to live in the 60’s because of Dirty Dancing, Elvis, and we went to the moon. There was every reason to be happy.” AUSTIN HAGARTY – unavailable for comment AMANDA NYE 1) “My opposite person would be Stewie from Family Guy because he is really mean and I’m really nice.” 2) “I would say I’m pretty cold because I don’t care about a lot of things. There are only a few things I care about like cheer, family, and friends.” 3) “My hero would have to be Brandi Mello because she is amazing.” 4) “I would live in the 80’s because I love 80’s music!” BOBBY PAJER – unavailable for comment DEANNA SMITH 1) “My complete opposite person/personality is someone who is obnoxious or someone who doesn’t care about organization.” 2) “When I care about something/someone I become passionate about it/them. I love to make people happy.” 3) “My mom is my hero because she sacrifices so much for me and my siblings. She sets a great example.” 4) “I would choose to live in the 80’s or 90’s because I love 80’s and 90’s music.”