Pluto is in the dog house
Kasey Schroeder
Junior Staff Writer
Isn’t it unfair that
Pluto has to live in a dog
house while Goofy gets to
play golf and wear pants?
Maybe in some secret language, the word Pluto
means “one who receives
the short end of the stick.”
True, Pluto
is a fun-loving dog who
lives in ToonTown, but
Pluto is also the late, great
ninth planet.
Imagine being told
you were no longer classified as a human being, but a
chimpanzee. This is exactly
how Pluto feels. August
24, 2007 marked the oneyear anniversary of the
death of the ninth planet.
Discovered in 1930,
Pluto was named for the
Roman god of the underworld. This was the first
and only planet to be discovered by an American,
Clyole W. Tombaugh.
Last August, the
International Astronomical
Union changed the definition of a planet. According
to the new criteria, a planet
must orbit the sun, be big
enough for gravity to
squash it into a round ball,
and have cleared other
things out of the way in its
orbital neighborhood.
Pluto failed to meet
the third standard due to the
fact that it orbits among the
icy wrecks of the Kuiper
Belt.
Pluto was demoted
from a planet, to a dwarf
planet, and some students
are still devastated.
“I cried for several
days after I learned that
Pluto no longer would be
considered a planet. I felt
like a part of myself was
gone,” said senior Brittany
Bunker.
Pluto has a diameter of 2274 Km, which
equals more than half of the
U.S. That is equivalent to a
fifth of the mass of the
earth’s moon and a third of
its volume. (Don’t let the
statistics fool you; big
things come in little packages. Just look at Rhode
Island and Liechtenstein.)
Pluto is located 2.757 billion miles from earth and
takes 248 years to orbit the
sun.
Little is known
about
t h e
structure and
components of
Pluto,
but hold
y o u r
horses.
O
n
January
16, 2006, the New
Horizons Spacecraft was
launched, and will make its
closest approach to the
“once planet” July 14,
2015.
Many students were
surprised
to discover
that size
was
the
cause of
Pluto’s
downgrading.
“I
w a s
appalled!
How could
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they exile Pluto like that?”
said sophomore Baylee
Collins.
Pluto isn’t
even
the
largest dwarf
planet. Eris,
located 10 billion miles from
the sun, is the
largest dwarf
planet with a
diameter
of
2400 Km.
Personally,
I don’t think Pluto was
doing any harm as a planet.
Not only will science books
around the world now be
innacurate, but the riddle
that many children learned
to remember the order of
the planets, My Very
Elderly Mother Just Served
Us Nine Pizzas, is no
longer true.
The thought of scientists deleting and adding
new planets when they get
bored causes many people
to be distraught. Pluto
lovers around the world are
now left with only a fourlegged dog, who’s owner is
a rodent...I sure hope he
doesn’t run away.
But if for some reason scientists decide to
steal Pluto and use him as a
lab dog, I hope Mickey will
get a new dog and name
him Biscuit.
HASTINGS COLLEGE AD
Vo l u n t e e r H a i l e y K r u p a g e t s c u f f e d a s
s h e p a r t i c i p a t e s i n a s i m u l a t e d a r re s t .
News
Harms gets
Pg. 3
m o r e visi
B
Features
Pg. 14
ility
with new office
How he makes an impact
“One important aspect of my job is providing
resources/pamphlets to students in need. Last week one
student requested info for a family member who was
using drugs and facing an unexpected pregnancy. I was
able to provide multiple pamphlets on agencies willing to
provide assistance with kicking the drug habit and caring
for the unborn baby. In addition, WIC, Health and Human
Services, and Food Stamps pamphlets will give her
options for the future.” --Officer Harms
Beau Bagnell
Senior Staff Writer
NPHS is undergoing a
few changes. Recently, Officer
Rick Harms has moved his
office into the Commons area.
Harms’ office is now where the
ATM machine used to be.
The bank moved the
ATM around the corner to make
room for the office. His old
office was room 1521, which is
inside the media center.
The new office is made
of portable walls that are about five feet high.
It has one window looking into the Commons,
and another window looking at the front doors.
The idea for moving his office into the
Commons was promoted by Chief Martin
Gutschenritter from the North Platte Police
Department.
Actually, Harms has never liked sitting
in a small room in the media center, where he
risks not seeing potential problems.
Officer Harms requested that his office
be moved for a couple of reasons. “Most stu-
dents didn’t even know I
had an office here,” Harms
stated.
He also wanted to
move his office because
he wants to interact with
the students and get to
know them more.
“I
wanted to have better visibility, and more connection with the students.”
More visibility has
already made a difference
in student traffic and getting information in student hands. Right outside his office Harms has a display case featuring pamphlets on everything from drug abuse
to teenage sexuality.
In the old school building, Harms’
office was by the cafeteria, and was always
flowing with students and teachers. Not
because the students were in trouble, but
because they liked to talk with Harms.
The move was made possible with
donations and cooperation from First National
Bank and NebraskaLand Bank.
I know what you did last period...
Lachelle Hansen
Senior Staff Writer
Privacy. Remember the good old days
when a kid could hide their report cards? Stash
their grades? And make their parents
oblivious to the life at school?
Tonight, all that great stuff flies
out the window. When your parents come
(if they come) to parent-teacher conferences, they will receive a login and a password.
With that login and password,
your mom and dad, (each with their own)
can log on to Infinite Campus and access
something called Parent Portal.
Next to login and password, the words parent
portal could be despised by all skippers and stu-
dents accustomed to manipulating their parents
and the school.
Those four words alone give your parent(s) access to Parent Portal, which then gives
them the ultimate insight.
Your grades, schedule, attendance, behavior, fees, notices,
teacher comments, assignments,
assignment descriptions, and due
dates. Basically, it is everything the
teacher, or school enters into the
program.
Parent Portal isn’t new, technically. Infinite Campus has had this
technology and other area schools have used it for
years. “We’re just slow,” explained Principal Jim
Whitney.
What
do
YOU
think?
• “As a parent, I used it when my kids were
still in high school. I absolutely loved it. As a
writing teacher, I believe that parents have to
allow certain teachers more time to grade
papers. No one grades a research paper in five
minutes.” --Mrs. Jean Miller
• “Take that freshmen!” --Senior Dan Miller
• “I don’t think kids are going to like their
parents having that much control over them.” - Senior Carlos Carreras
• “I don’t really care, but I bet some parents
will use parent portal and the students will be
upset.” --Senior Jaci Hansen