— Hannah Besso, Davis High School

Name: Chase Crouch
School: West Valley High School
School/year in school/age: West Valley High School, junior, 17.
Activities/Hobbies/Clubs: Leadership Plus Club.
Favorite food: Cheese pizza.
Favorite movies: “The Hills Have Eyes,” “The Descent,” and “Cry Wolf.”
Favorite books/writers: Scott Westerfield and his books, the “Uglies,” “Pretties,” “Specials,” and “Extras.”
Favorite music, musicians, or bands: Mika, Hellogoodbye, Brand New.
What is your most treasured possession? My iPhone, because it is one of the first things I worked for when I started my job at Living Care Retirement.
What’s your favorite place to go in your hometown? The Yakima Valley Mall.
Which person do you most admire and why? I admire my older sister, Catie, because I learn from her, whether it’s from the good or the bad.
What would you do with $1 million? I would buy an emu.
Three words that describe you: Funny, smart, happy.
What is your greatest achievement? Getting into Leadership Plus my junior year.
Greatest wish: I wish I had my car back!
When and where were you the happiest? Seeing my sister, Grace, for the first time.
Where and how do you see yourself in 10 years? I see myself in a successful job with a wife and maybe a child.

— Evalyn Suarez attends West Valley High School.

By KACIE CROSS
UNLEASHED STAFF

Two Davis vs. Ike games in one season of football!
Yakima’s two biggest public high schools — Davis and Eisenhower — have enjoyed a long-standing rivalry for decades. But earlier this year, the schools were placed in separate divisions in the Columbia Basin League for several major sports, including football, basketball, baseball and fastpitch.
Even though Ike-Davis matches don’t count now in official division tallies, the final scores sure matter to Davis and Ike fans for bragging rights.
After the first game against Davis this season, things looked pretty good. Ike won the Sept. 19 match 33-3. I was sad it wasn’t a home game. This year, my sister is a cheerleader for Ike. She is a senior, and I felt bad because her last Davis vs. Ike football game had to be an away game for Ike. But, other than that, I really enjoyed it.
After the regular season ended, we were looking into playing some crossover games, and there was a bit of hope for big football fans, like myself. Because of Ike’s Oct. 31 victory against Kennewick, we were scheduled to face Davis at Ike’s Zaephel Stadium again Nov. 7.
This time, Ike was the home team.
I knew this game would be big — not only for the seniors on the football team, or the cheerleaders, or even for the fans. From what I understand, there has never been two Davis vs. Ike games in one season. At least, not in the stadium both teams share.
I was ready for this game. Really ready.
My parents are big fans of football, and this year my mom made a Cadet Spirit Couch. The idea has been around at Ike ever since I can remember. And it always looked so fun for the kids who got to sit on it. They got to enjoy front row seats while the rest of us had to stand in the crowd and nearly freeze to death.
This year, before every home game, I got to climb into a truck and ride onto the track to help deliver the spirit couch to the game. It made each game a little bit more eventful.
Nov. 7, we were done with the couch delivery by 6:45 p.m. And the game didn’t start until 7:30 p.m. So I had a few minutes to spare. Very few people get to games that early. And as I looked around, I worried we might have a small turnout.
But as game time got closer, more and more students and parents and grandparents showed up and my worries were relieved.
While watching football games and socializing with friends in the stands, there is one thing that always brings a smile to the students in the crowd: the cheerleaders. Not only are they all adorable, but they bring pep and energy that wouldn’t be there if they weren’t there. Everything the cheerleaders do brings a taste of hope and faith in our team.
Now, we come to the team. These boys went through a long season. And their last game was not only a home game, but it was against the team we always want to beat.
For the seniors, this game must have meant the world to them. For the juniors, it was a taste of what next year might hold. For the sophomores and freshmen, it meant being able to suit up for a varsity football game.
Playing Davis happens every year, normally only once. The second time around this season was a very intense and breathtaking experience. A few of our players already had suffered injuries and weren’t allowed to play in the game. But even without a few of our key players the team came together and beat Davis 44-14.
It was a great game, with ups and downs. But altogether it was one big and gratifying evening. Ike came out on top for the second time in one season.
As the 2008 Ike varsity football team left the field, Cadets fans were filled with pride and dignity.

— Kacie Cross is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends Eisenhower High School.

The grocery store is full of choices, and with choices come decisions.
You have to decide whether you want chocolate chip cookie dough or rocky road ice cream, or Lucky Charms or Cocoa Puffs. Which checkout line is the shortest? Should you spend your money on the latest issue of People magazine?
And then, you might be asked: “Paper or plastic?”
This is the one grocery store decision that won’t affect your sugar intake, but could directly impact the environment.
It’s the battle of the bags.
The paper versus plastic conundrum vexes many shoppers.
Some grocery store baggers make it easy; they don’t bother to ask anymore. They just drop the bananas in one plastic bag and grab another for the six-pack of soda and dish soap.
One store in Yakima that offers both paper and plastic bags is Wray’s. Customers choose which one they prefer.
Either way, says assistant manager Sal Garcia, 26, “Many customers are bringing their old bags back and reusing them. Every time someone reuses one of our bags, we give them a nickel.”
This policy helps the environment by reducing the amount of paper or plastic waste thrown away each day.
But which is better for the environment, paper or plastic?
According to reusablebags.com, “It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.”
In addition, paper comes from trees, which causes millions of them to be cut down each year. And, the manufacturing of paper bags can produce greenhouse gases.
However, the manufacturing of both paper and plastic releases pollution into the air.
“Biodegradable was considered ‘green’ 10 to 15 years ago, but now it’s different,” says Scott Robertson, 51, of Yakima Waste Systems. “Greenhouse gases weren’t as much of an issue 15 years ago.”
According to reusablebags.com, “It takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper. But recycling rates of either type of disposable bag are extremely low, with only 10 to 15 percent of paper bags and 1 to 3 percent of plastic bags being recycled.”
In landfills, paper doesn’t break down faster than plastic. In fact, nothing completely degrades in landfills. And paper takes up more space under the ground than plastic does. But this problem is usually solved since paper is recycled more than plastic is.
Although many people don’t know it, there are many recycling options in town, at locations such as Safeway, Albertsons, Wray’s, Fred Meyer, Union Gospel Mission, Top Foods, and Wal-Mart. For more locations, visit yakimarecycles.com.
One of the largest privately operated recycling centers in Yakima County is located at Wesley United Methodist Church. The church has bins to collect newspapers, magazines, cardboard, aluminum and clear plastic. The volunteers, most of whom are in their 70s and 80s, average about 120 to 125 hours of volunteer service a month.
Elmer Bigham, 73, says, “The main reason we recycle is for the preservation of creation. We want to keep things out of the landfill.”
The program has been going on for almost 30 years.
And, “This year we are on track for recycling 700,000 pounds of material,” Bigham says.
In order to promote the use of reusable bags, the City of Seattle has proposed that grocery stores charge an extra 20 cents per disposable bag. Recycling aluminum, paper and glass has been mandatory at most Seattle homes since 2006.
In Yakima, 24-year-old Deputy Mayor Micah Cawley says, “The City Council has not had any city programs to recycle or cut back on waste.”
While Yakima city councilmembers haven’t discussed charging residents for paper or plastic bags, Cawley says, “I think in three to five years it might be possible to start a recycling program in the city of Yakima. I think if it were free, then more people would participate.”
Many large supermarkets and fast-food chains are consciously choosing packaging alternatives that are lightweight and use materials that are manufactured with fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
Wal-Mart suppliers are rated on a score card for environmental impact, and the new Starbucks Vivianno fruit smoothie cups are made with less plastic than previous latté cups.
Whether ordinary consumers realize it or not, every time you use everyday items made from paper or plastic, you are participating in affecting our evolving environment. And the choices we make today have a direct effect on the sustainability of our future world.

— Hannah Naughton is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends Davis High School.

By ALYSSA PATRICK
UNLEASHED STAFF

Sleeping bags in my grandparents’ living room, hot chocolate, my grandma’s famous snowballs, and the movie “Little Women.”
Those things define the winter season for me. The movie is one of my favorites, and it has been since I was old enough to determine favorites.
At different times I have identified with all four of the sisters, and as my understanding of life has broadened, so has my appreciation for the well-woven story.
Never once have I watched the movie and not felt the urge to jump into the story with the March sisters. And never once was I given the opportunity to do such a thing, until this year.
In August, Eisenhower High School’s drama teacher, Janey Peterson, announced the fall play would be “Little Women.” I was beside myself. And so were several of my friends who share my familiarity with and love for the March family.
In September, when we read the cast list after two days of auditions, two of my best friends and I discovered we were to be three of the sisters, and another close friend was to play our dear Marmee, the mother of the March sisters.
I play Meg. My friends in the play are Mackenzie Karn (Jo), Laura Fairbrook (Beth) and Nicole Frymier (Marmee). We’re all seniors.
The tale is a classic and has been around since the Civil War era. Louisa May Alcott, the author of the novel “Little Women,” was one of the first established female writers in this country.
Though set in 1861, the story is one that transcends time. Its strongest point goes beyond Jo’s complex personality and eventual discovery of self, a fact I only truly realized by becoming one of these impoverished sisters myself. The real element that makes this a continuously poignant piece is the undeniable strength of family.
In Eisenhower’s version of the play (written by Sandra Fenichel Asher), Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are four sisters ranging in age from 12 to 16, just as they are in the book. They must do a great deal to keep up the house while their father is away at war.
Each girl has a distinct personality. Jo is a tomboy with a knack for writing. Meg is the caring but bossy type. Beth is shy but has a tremendous heart. And Amy is very much the girly younger sister who hates to be left behind.
What one of them lacks, another one makes up for, making them a very close-knit group, indeed. But the thing that really holds them together is their admiration for their parents and their adoration of each other. In the Marches, we find a family that takes care of itself as every family should.
At the same time, they are very real. They are not flawless human beings. The girls peck at one another, and Laurie (the boy living next door) is quite the rambunctious type. They make each other angry, hurt each other’s feelings, and get wrapped up in their own affairs.
They are just people with a story to tell, and that story is not a far cry from many of our own.

• Alyssa Patrick is a senior at Eisenhower High School and the student editor of Unleashed, the newspaper’s teen journalism program.

By KAMI CROSS
UNLEASHED STAFF

I remember the first time I watched “High School Musical.” It was right after the Disney Channel movie had been on TV. My sister and I rented it and stayed up most of the night singing along and dancing to the songs.
I was an immediate fan.
I went from being an avid ‘HSM’ watcher to an active participant in “High School Musical On Stage!” The production was put on by Eisenhower High School’s drama department last winter.
So when I heard the third chapter of my secret obsession was going to premiere on the big screen late last month, I could hardly wait. My original plan was to see it opening night, but that fell on the night of Eisenhower’s homecoming football game.
So I went the next day, with my sister and mom. I didn’t expect it to, but the movie really hit me hard with the facts of senior year.
I’m not going to lie, I did cry.
“High School Musical 3: Senior Year” is the story of Troy and Gabriella’s last days at East High School. It tells the tale of their last basketball championship, final musical and prom, leading all the way up to graduation.
Zac Efron stars as Troy Bolton, the high school basketball star confused about college and whether to follow his high school sweetheart to California.
His love interest, Gabriella Montez, played by Vanessa Hudgens, is struggling with having to say goodbye, yet again. Sharpay and Ryan Evans, the ambitious twins and leads of the drama department at East High, are played by Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Gabreel.
The movie made me realize how quickly all of my high school experiences are coming to an end.
What really struck me was Gabriella going to college about 1,000 miles away from the boy she loves and all of her friends. I plan on heading to the East Coast for college, which will put me about 3,000 miles away from the people I love here in Yakima.
This movie made me sad, because it made me aware of the realities I will be facing in the next eight months.
But it also made me incredibly happy.
I couldn’t help but smile at the awesome songs and outrageous dance numbers. In fact, it made me want to call my drama teacher and beg her to do “High School Musical 3” as our musical this year, even though the rights are not out yet. Instead, I rushed out and bought the soundtrack, and now I play it every time I’m in my car.
I also went to see the movie two more times with friends. The friend who spent five months of her life with me on the set of “High School Musical On Stage!” The friend who has been through all the tough times at school with me. And the boy who holds my heart in the palm of his hand.
Every time, without fail, the movie brought tears to my eyes.
This movie is touching in so many different ways. I believe it is a story that can speak to anyone, young or old.
Children will enjoy the humor and Disney aspect of it. High schoolers, like myself, will appreciate the realities it presents.
And older generations will smile and remember the times they spent in high school and how far they have come since then. They will also be able to understand the depth of emotion that high schoolers nowadays face at graduation time.
Anyone who enjoys musical theater will love this cinematic adventure, which is comparable to both last year’s “Hairspray” and this year’s “Mamma Mia!”

• Kami Cross is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team and a senior at Eisenhower High School.

By ANDY CARROLL
UNLEASHED STAFF

By definition, a changeling is a child who is secretly exchanged for another. But a secret exchanging of children is just one of the many real horrors addressed in “Changeling,” Clint Eastwood’s latest film.
Released at the end of October — and the start of a particularly slow awards season in Hollywood — “Changeling” is a mature and unsettling film that takes its viewers down paths not adequately hinted at in the trailers.
“Changeling” is based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, which actually occurred in California in the late 1920s, and involved many of the names featured in the movie. The fact that the events depicted in the movie are inspired by actual events only makes it more unsettling.
The time is 1928. The place is Los Angeles. And the focus is a single working mother, Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie).
Christine works for a telephone company during the day and cares for her young son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith), at night. She returns one night to discover he is nowhere to be found. Thus begins a months-long search to find the boy.
By what at first seems to be a miraculous turn of events, police inform Christine they have found her son in Illinois. But upon seeing the boy, Christine knows he is not Walter. But the police, wanting to avoid further negative attention from the press, insist the boy is indeed Walter Collins, even though Christine has physical evidence, the testimonies of others, and her own motherly instinct saying otherwise.
After pestering police, the officer in charge of the investigation (Jeffrey Donovan) has Christine sent off to a mental institution, where she gains even more knowledge of the corruption evident within the city’s police force.
Meanwhile, police detective Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly) is looking into a case involving a minor named Sanford (Eddie Alderson), who immigrated illegally from Canada and claims to have been involved in a series of brutal murders in Wineville, Calif. He tells Ybarra his guardian Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner) forced him to participate in abducting and killing young children in the chicken coops on his farm. Could the missing Walter Collins be connected to the case?
In the dramatic thriller, Eastwood works masterfully behind the camera. The tension can be felt from the very beginning, welcomed by an eerie score (also the work of Eastwood) and grayed cinematography. Eastwood ups the ante as the story advances, eventually showing particularly disturbing scenes within the psychiatric ward and the coop in Wineville.
Though the film contains few instances of onscreen violence, it earns its R-rating by instead presenting some of the most unnerving scenes of any movie this year. Without resorting to a hardcore display of gore and eviscerations, “Changeling” manages to deliver very creepy and frightening moments, something not many period pieces can claim. Though the film does let up as it comes to a close, it remains a film capable of having its viewers biting their nails as their hearts pound.
Jolie delivers a career-best performance, playing against her type-casting and discarding her standard sex appeal for a highly mature and affecting performance. Proof of her incredible range can be seen in the extreme contrast between Christine’s self-presentation of a sane woman in an alien world with her Oscar-winning role in 1999’s “Girl, Interrupted,” in which Jolie plays an out-of-control sociopath.
But Harner and Alderson are also great in the film’s most disturbing roles. Though both are Hollywood unknowns, they execute their roles with just the right amount of creepiness and disturbed loss of innocence, respectively.
Most filmmakers lose steam as they get older, but 78-year-old Eastwood has only gotten better in his old age. “Changeling” is Eastwood’s fifth film in six years (with “Gran Torino” on the way in December), and it is a worthy addition to a recent résumé that includes films like “Mystic River” and “Million Dollar Baby.”
“Changeling” is a haunting and powerful drama, and one of Hollywood’s best offerings in the past few months.

— Andy Carroll is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. He attends La Salle High School.

— Alyssa Patrick, Eisenhower High School

Illustration by Loren Button of Riverside Christian School