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PRESS & DAKOTAN MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2015
PAGE 9
Yankton Students Witness State Legislature First-hand As Legislative Pages Y s Words On
Net Neutrality
BY
JACLYN
ARENS
Local students have the exciting opportunity to witness the legislative process first hand in Pierre.
Three Yankton High School seniors have been selected as legislative pages for the 2015 State Congress sessions. The students are
Johanna Lippert, Tristan Roy, and
Adam Walter.
Lippert attended a two week session from February 8th to February
20th. Roy and Walter will be in
Pierre March 9th through March
13th. Lippert and Roy have the opportunity to shadow Jean Hunhoff,
and Walter will be shadowing
Mike Stevens.
Johanna Lippert has a great story
for why she applied to be a page.
She says, When I was in 5th grade,
I went to the capital with my
grandma and my mom. When I
was there I saw the high schoolers
running around, and I knew that I
wanted to do that. I also met Jean
when I was there and at Girl s
State this past summer. Lippert
also says that she has been interested in government her entire life.
Adam Walter applied for this
experience in order to gain a better
understanding of how our state
government works. He also wants
to learn how the local and state
governments intertwine. Walter is
looking forward to this experience
because he will be at the last session. He says, I heard that the
legislators usually debate state
funding and teacher pay at the last
session.
Tristan Roy wanted to be a page
because she is also very interested
in the government. She says, It
will be a great opportunity to see
first hand how the government
runs.
According to Lippert, the duties
of a page are numerous. In the
mornings she attended to committee members or did clerical work in
the capital post office. In the afternoons, she attended committees
and acted as a messenger for the
BY
ZACH
LATTEA
COURTESY PHOTOS
ABOVE (L to R): Johanna Lippert,
Adam Walter, and Tristan Roy were
chosen as Legislative Pages for the
2015 South Dakota Legislative
session.
RIGHT (L to R): Johanna Lippert is
shown with representative Jean
Hunhoff during Lippertt s recent trip
to Pierre as a Legislative Page.
legislators. In general she says,
We had a pretty similar schedule
each day, but different committees
met on different days.
Johanna says her favorite events
were the afternoon sessions because they featured lively debate.
She explains, At the afternoon
sessions I would run and get vote
sheets. It was interesting, because
sometimes I would know stuff before the legislators.
This unique experience is something that will help the pages with
National Honor Society Holds
Annual Induction Ceremony
their futures. Lippert comments
that, I was able to observe people
who are so eloquent and stand up
for what they believe in, and I plan
to try and incorporate what I observed in my life.
The legislators proved to be great
role models for the students, Lippert says, I admired seeing how
legislators with very different
backgrounds and opinions could
work together so respectfully. Even
if they disagreed, they would still
eat lunch together.
In particular, Lippert admired
Jean Hunhoff, who was her sponsor and Lynne Disanto from Rapid
City. According to Lippert, Disanto
raised many women s and human s
rights issues.
Three YHS seniors have a phenomenal opportunity to witness
first-hand the legislative branch of
our state government. Lippert was
grateful for the opportunity to
serve as a page, and Walter and
Roy are looking forward to their
experiences.
Lattea and Bergeson Chosen As Presidential Scholars
BY
LESLIE
ALARCON
On February 2, 2015 Yankton High School inducted
77 new students to their National Honor Society Program. National Honor Society is a nationwide organization that recognizes outstanding students for their scholarship, leadership, service, and character. Students maintaining the proper GPA of a 3.5 at the end of their junior
year are invited to join the program. Other criteria the
students have to meet are service, signatures of teachers,
and a brief essay.
The organization allows for students to excel and participate in service opportunities in the community. National Honor Society holds tutoring sessions for high
school students in the ALC, serving at food banquets,
hosting food drives, playing bingo with the residents at
Majestic Bluffs, a new program offering computer lessons, and additional volunteering where it is needed.
The program s advisor, Mrs. Amy Reyes, is about
to serve her second year as advisor. Mrs. Reyes shares,
Some of the goals for the new members include to have
a student in the ALC every period for tutoring. A new
approach next year will include more accountability for
the students involved.
The new members voted Joseph Kelly as their president of National Honor Society accompanied by his vice
president Amanda Gravholt. The young students hold an
important leadership position for the following year.
Talitha Griever will also be helping as she was voted
secretary and Cody Perakslis is assisting as treasurer.
Mrs. Reyes is excited to work with her second group of
students. She states, I am looking forward to building
upon new programs such as the library tech assistance,
reaching out to our community s senior citizens, and a
men s bowling league.
These new programs have had an excellent outcome in
our community and hopefully the new students will be
able to continue these activities. Mrs. Reyes concluded,
I had a great first year of students and I am looking forward to the next group.
National Honor Society is a program that was created
in 1921 and was introduced to Yankton High School in
1960. The tradition continues where students are honored
for their academic accomplishments, service, leadership,
and strong character.
COURTESY PHOTO
ABOVE (L to R): Zach Lattea and Kyle Bergeson are 2015 Presidential Scholars.
1
Senior Zach Lattea is involved with the
High School Debate, the school newspaper, National Honor Society, Math Team,
Pioneer Club and attended the National
History Day National Tournament last
Every year in the United States thirtynine hundred high school seniors are nom- summer for his paper on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Zach is a straight A student and
inated as finalists for the United States
Presidential scholarship. The average sen- earned a score of 35 on his ACT. For reference, a perfect score is a 36. Zach has
ior has one tenth of a percent chance of
yet to decide where he will attend college,
being selected. This year Yankton High
but one can be certain he will find success
School has defied the odds as two members of the class of 2015, Zach Lattea and no matter where he decides to further his
studies. Zach says that, All the hard-work
Kyle Bergeson, have earned this distinct
has paid off.
honor.
Kyle is involved in National Honor SoThe United States Presidential Scholars
ciety, Cross Country, Track, and Y-Club.
program was established by executive
order in 1964. Of the thirty-nine hundred Kyle is a straight A student and also
earned a 35 ACT. He plans on attending
students nominated, up to one hundred
the University of South Dakota and majorand forty-one students actually earn the
honor. The odds of two students from the ing in Kinesiology. Kyle says that, He is
excited to go through the Presidential
same school earning this finalist distincScholarship process.
tion are one-one hundredth of a percent.
It is a credit to the teachers and adminThe seniors earning this distinction are
obviously the cream of the crop at Yank- istration of Yankton School District as a
whole that they were capable of producing
ton High School. Each of them displays
dedication and success inside and outside not one, but two students who are considered academically elite on the national
of the classroom. Teacher Leo Kallis belevel. The Yankton Community should
lieves that, Zach and Kyle epitomize
support Kyle and Zach as they continue
what it means to be a student. They are
their pursuit of academic excellence.
intellectually curious, hard-working, and
dedicated.
BY
JACOB
SELGESTAD
Put on your learning
pants, kiddos it s time to
discuss the Internet. Yes,
the Internet, that wondrous and vast collection
of infinite information.
Isn t it nice to be able to
access anything you ve
ever had a question about?
Commonly searched
bits of quizzical information include whether or
not it s legal for a man in
Scotland to marry his widow s sister, the reason that
the sky is blue, and why
daylight savings time exists. Truly, the Internet is
an amazing resource, and
one that should be kept as
accessible as possible.
Censorship, though
sometimes a necessary
evil, should be avoided. If
necessary information is
blocked by governmental
or corporate entities, everyone is harmed. Censorship destroys progress and
free will, and, in many
cases, advances the agenda of the few in exchange
for serious harms to most
of society.
Up until Thursday, February 26, 2015, the flow
of knowledge wasn t as
free as would be expected.
Service providers in the
United States acted as
gatekeepers of information transmission, able
to change the speed of a
person s connection at
will; in other words, the
Internet was controlled by
a few large corporations
with profit-based interests.
A company controlling
communication like this
has many harms those
who appealed to the interest of the company,
through business connections, money or ideology,
could receive higher quality Internet service.
The people who could
not afford this treatment
or were held with distaste
by the company could
have their connection
slowed severely. The
same goes for webpages.
Across the nation, many
have been outraged at this
disparity of treatment,
bringing the issue into the
spotlight.
A change had to be
made, a change to put
corporations in their place
and ensure the fair treatment of American citizens.
At 1:00 ET, on February
26, the FCC ruled in favor
of a policy called net
neutrality. This policy
would open the floodgates
of knowledge, removing
corporate control of Internet access in accordance
with the Communications
Act of 1934, and other
important statutes dealing
with information transfer.
With net neutrality, the
Internet will be preserved
as an important provision
of modern life, affording
to everyone fast and easy
access to information.
Business-based bias
thwarted, people across
America will benefit from
the FCC s decision, a vote
split 3-2.
As FCC Chairman Tom
Wheeler stated, no one
whether government or
corporate should control
free open access to the
Internet.
