The latest trend making its way through the halls is the new Twitter account “HaysHighProbz.” Technology provides a whole virtual world that can be used in such great ways, but how does our student body choose to use it? By saying hurtful and rude things about teachers.

This collective group of students who have chosen to start this think they are such hot stuff because they are bringing Hays High “all the news, gossip, and things you want to hear about.” The best part is they think no one knows who they are. Believe me, this isn’t the case.

Why use Twitter? It’s simple. By using Twitter, these cowards can hide behind a name rather than facing the harsh reality of what they are saying.

It made me sick reading the tweet about Coach Keltner, one of the kindest people I know. Whether he knows my name or not, he always has a smile and always makes it a point to say hi. Seriously, who could care so little about someone else’s feelings to write “When Coach Keltner starts talking, never stops, and there is a glaze of saliva all over the ground in front of him.” It’s just rude.

Or about Mrs. Spicer. “Two hour long conversations with Mrs. Spicer when you want to change one class.” She is so nice and cares about nothing more than your future and only has your best interests in mind, and this is how you repay her?

Or how about Donnie? For one, you can’t even spell his name right. Saying he has a “PHD in janitorial arts” isn’t that far off. He does a fabulous job and kudos to him for still getting up every morning to face the brats that go to this school. If I were him, you couldn’t pay me any amount of money to face the ungrateful and rude students at this school.

Ponder this: you say it’s all fun and games, and that because it’s “true,” there’s nothing wrong with it, but the majority of you would feel very uncomfortable reading the tweet to the teacher it’s talking about.

Where the cheerleaders are concerned, I’m astonished that the student section would turn their backs while they were cheering. They are your peers, classmates and friends.  Why do people feel the need to cheer over them? Don’t cheer with them, whatever, but at least have the decency to be respectful to them while they are cheering.

I guess I just don’t understand why we are spending so much time and energy being mean to one another. Is this your definition of cool? Is this your definition of senior leadership? Is this really how you want to leave your legacy at Hays High?

Many 18 year-olds are on their own for the first time, trying their hand at adult living and enjoying their first taste of the real world. Yet, with this milestone birthday, comes responsibility.

Young adults can vote, serve our country in the military, buy cigarettes, rent motel rooms and get loans. Yet, it’s illegal for these same 18 year-olds to buy or consume any alcohol.

Back in our parents’ days, drinking didn’t seem to be as big of a deal as it is now. Until 1987 adults 18 or older were able to purchase and consume beer with a reduced alcohol content.

Sure, underage teens still drank, partied and rebelled, yet we highly doubt any law would be able to squash rebellion among teens. Many argue that keeping the drinking age at 21 prevents teens from drinking, driving, and making bad decisions. Yet, those sorts of things can only be learned from experience and parental guidance.

There aren’t very many people who can act responsibly while stumbling drunk, 18 and under or not. The only way to learn about how alcohol will affect you and what your tolerance is, is to try it in a controlled environment.

According to www2.potsdam.com, the majority of countries around the world have a minimum drinking age of 18. These include countries such as Australia and many European countries. Some countries don’t even have a legal drinking age, or the legal age is 16.

On the other extreme, there are four countries like the U.S. that have drinking ages of 21. Of these four countries, it includes Pakistan, where consuming alcohol is prohibited completely for Muslims.

So the argument is that the U.S. has a high drinking age to protect our teenagers. But really, by doing this, we are only moving the danger zone to an older generation.

According to this website, the danger of drinking is not going away by the legal age of 21. In reality, as long as there is alcohol being consumed, and people abusing it, there will be a danger.

In our opinion, lowering the drinking age to 18 will only lessen the appeal. It won’t seem like such a big deal to teens because they won’t have to wait so long to do it legally. You don’t see masses of teens running out to try and gamble because it’s not that big of an ordeal. Once you’re 18, you can do it like any other legal adult.

If the drinking age were to be lowered to 18, it is more likely that the drinking that is done will be done in a more controlled, supervised environment. Kids won’t be sneaking around to underground college parties as much because they will be able to drink in the open.

Many teens drink to get drunk because they don’t know when their next opportunity to drink will be, or because they are trying to rebel.

Because of this, underaged students won’t feel the need to rebel in this way as much because the appeal won’t be there. They will simple look at it as another perk to being a legal adult.

Little do we realize that the horrific day of 9-11 will soon be seen as a historic event.

Most of us remember where we were on that Tuesday morning: In school, at recess or maybe even in art class. As children, we didn’t exactly comprehend the weight of the situation. It was a day of mass confusion and sadness for everyone.

The whole country felt an overwhelming sense of loss and grief; including many of the students from our generation. Americans will forever hold a special place in their hearts for the almost 3,000 people that died in the attack.

We lived through an extraordinary piece of history, which one day, many of us will be relating to our kids and grandkids. They will look up at us with awe and think “I wonder how it felt to live through that event.”

With ten years having passed, this event is slowly becoming something to be remembered. In these past few weeks respect has been a big topic when it comes to the anniversary of 9-11. Respect for the people who died, respect for the firefighters, policemen and other such heroes that gave their lives to help save others.

The memorial where the twin towers once stood has the names of people who lost their lives. This show of respect and remembrance is a physical reminder to everyone of what happened that day at what is now called Ground Zero.

Also on the anniversary this year, many people participated in acts of remembrance, such as standing on overpasses on the highway with flags, signs and in some cases, fire trucks. These people took time out of their day to pay gratitude to the ones lost.

As the years pass and the intensity of the feelings felt that day start to fade away, we can’t let the memories fade along with it. We must let our respect live on, and our hearts forever hold the memories of the ones who died that day.

I can personally testify that I have spent at least three hours on homework a night on an easy night; not to mention when I miss a day of school for being sick or going out of town. That can give me days of homework. When is there time to have a life?

I know that in high school we choose most of our classes and I personally have chosen honor classes but high school shouldn’t just be about getting into a good college or even preparing for a career; that’s what we do in college. High school is a time where we start to discover who we are as individuals; what our interest and opinions are independent from our parents.

It’s not just the teachers who control what we learn. Federal bureaucrats, who must have forgotten what it was like to be a teenager, are making ridiculous standards and all but setting us up to fail in our standardized testing. There are so many better things we could be learning in our class rooms. So many better methods of teaching are out there but it seems to me that the powers that be are stuck in an archaic time zone and are deaf to anything that might help us.

I don’t feel bad about asking for some down time or time to hang with friends. I have had to cancel plans or bail early from events more times than I can count. I have accomplished great grades on a rigorous course schedule but at what price? Sometimes my friends and I even have days where we hang out and all we do is do homework.

I’m not trying to bash our teachers or administration – they are doing the best they can with what they are given – and maybe it’s just a cranky teenager running on an average of five hours of sleep, but I’m still trying to discover myself and hours upon hours of homework is not really what I think life should be about. There is a fine line between learning more like I should in an honors class and just doing more busy work which is what I feel like I’m doing between the combinations of course work and testing work.

I’m proud of the work I’ve accomplished in high school and I love my teachers for the most part. They have sacrificed so much and I wouldn’t be where I am without them. I truly am grateful for everything that this school has to offer but I am also truly grateful for the nights I get more than five hours of sleep.

A certain group of people have been getting on my nerves. They’ve bothered me for as long as I can remember, but their behavior as of last has pushed me to my breaking point. I can’t take any more. These people are whiners.

It must be that time of the year where everyone is lazy, bored, cranky and trying to avoid responsibility. Maybe I notice it more this year because of the senioritis business. But regardless of the cause I am severely annoyed.

Life is too short to complain about supposed “injustices” 24 hours a day. Trust me; your friends do not want to hear it.

Seriously, I don’t want to deal with the fact that you hate your life because all your privileges were suspended at home due to your five F’s. Come on. Also, relentless relationship problems take their toll on friends.

Of course, sometimes things really are unfair and you just need to vent. A big breakup or other life event is cause for a bit of whine. We’re all guilty of that, we want to receive sympathy so we feel better about our problems.

But whining consistently over petty things like homework assignments is utterly obnoxious. All you have to do is sigh to yourself and get it done. I guarantee you no one has ever died from writing an English essay.

There’s also another type of whining that I hate. I’m sure you all know someone who complains about their appearance far too much, when most of the time it’s unwarranted.

“Ugh, I’m breaking out. There’s like 12 pimples on my face.”

“I don’t see anything…”

It’s especially annoying when the whiner saying these fallacies is pretty/handsome and you wonder how someone like that can voice such insecurities.

I digress. My point remains that there is a certain time and place for a bit of whining, but as of late the act of complaining has become trite.

Suck it up and get to work.

I thought I could travel the world. I thought I could grow up and be a genius and come up with the cure for cancer. I wanted to spend a year in the rainforest, walking among the trees. I was six and all I could see in my future was time.

Now, as the years have passed by me, I feel like there isn’t enough of it. Each day I spend here in high school is a day I could be spending adding another amazing experience or adventure to my life. For a while now, all I’ve wanted is to someday grow old and have amazing exotic stories to tell my grandchild. I want to have done something with my life. I want to have a purpose.

I’m not one of those people who have it all planned out. I’m not going to have a five-year plan that I will stick to no matter what. I’m more of a go-with-the-flow kind of person. Taking life as it comes at me, riding the waves.

So here’s my opinion – high school students shouldn’t have to have it all planned out. All this planning, choosing and preparing is crazy. Sure, I think an education is essential, and that all students should push themselves, but only to better themselves. I don’t think that as a freshman, you should have to start deciding what you want to major in in college or where you want to go with your life.

I think too much planning is bad. It hinders the imagination and can crush your dreams. How can a person see all the endless possibilities when all they are focused on is their “plan?” Then comes the disappointment. Plans almost never work out the way they are supposed to, and that’s life. But what happens if you plan out your next five years around getting into some Ivy League college, and then don’t get in? With no plan B, you end up sad and disappointed.

So check out your options, and look at the future as a map with no designated course, not as a narrow road with a cliff on either side. It’s not always sink or swim. And remember all those things you wanted when you were six? Go for it, and let your imagination take you where it may.

Phrases like “Oh you know,” “nothing much,” and “whatever” are overused and completely unnecessary in conversations. When someone asks you “What’s up?”, why on earth would you reply “Oh you know.”? No, they don’t know, that’s why they just asked you. When you answer “nothing much”, you deprive yourself of a conversation and an opportunity to make a connection with the person you’re talking with.

“I’m just saying” that maybe it’s a good idea to take the time to say something sincere every once and awhile to make it appear like you actually care about talking with someone.

“I mean really,” if Darren Criss dropped down from heaven above, took off his fabulous pink Wayfarers, and said “Hey Cora, what’s up?” do you honestly think I’d say “Eh, nothing much?” No. I’d say, “Hey Darren, I’ve been pretty busy lately with spring play and newspaper, but life’s been great. I’m sure my life doesn’t compare to how busy yours has gotten in the past few months. What made you drop in to see me? …Oh, you wrote a song for me? …And you wanted to sing it to me? …Well aren’t you the sweetest!”

Really, there’s just “no need” for all this conversational fluff. Get to the point. Quit saying “like” every other word and tell someone about your day rather than answering a “What’s up?” with “The ceiling.”

Some schools, such as Garden City High School, do not care about the new regulations that have been set in place.

The school already has open lunch for students who are sophomores or older, but now they will be putting in fast food restaurants such as McDonalds and Arby’s into a food court at the school.

While our school is cutting out pop machines and losing money in the process, other schools are taking in money, even though it goes against the new nutrition guidelines for schools.  Our school technically didn’t have to take out our pop machines yet, but it continues to follow the guidelines instead of being punished.

When taking a step back to look, Hays’ lunches are decent and students have many choices to decide from at lunch.  Not only are there several choices, but fairly healthy.

If students choose to eat unhealthy, they are going to eat unhealthy.  There is no way around that.  As a school, the majority of students should be able to make a wise decision on the intake of unhealthy products they consume on a daily basis.

Those students that decide to eat healthy regularly, but decide they need a pop just to stay awake for that last hour of the day shouldn’t be punished.  If students are considered old enough to drive at this age, shouldn’t they be considered old enough to decide healthy lunches and snacks?

Is it just me, or is it that everywhere I turn there is some couple sucking face? I would like to go one day without people having PDA. I mean, I’m okay with holding hands and small kisses, but full make out sessions in the hall kind of makes me want to lose my lunch.

There is a time and a place for that place and it’s not the hallway. I don’t want to be minding my own business, walking down the hall, and discovering people all over each other. I know they like each other, but I don’t need to see it.

People, please remember that people are watching you at all times and we don’t like watching what you should do in private in public. Sometimes, I feel like I’m in a horrible teen movie.

These days it seems that everyone has a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Students, I’m not asking for a total ban on touching, just keep it classy. If you wouldn’t want your friends and strangers seeing your parents doing it, then don’t do it.

As the years have gone by, hamburgers, sandwiches, and steaks have ballooned in size. Michelle Obama has been working hard to get Americans healthier and eating less food, but maybe we need to look to the heart of the problem: portions.

High schools across the nation have undergone a vending machine makeover. Caffeine, sugary snacks and fatty foods have been discouraged for quite some time, but lately they’ve been treated as Satan’s goodies. Yes, that’s quite understandable. But maybe the problem isn’t exactly what we’ve been eating, but how much we eat.

Moderation use to be a good thing. Now when you go to a restaurant and food is in moderation, it’s a cheap hole-in-the-wall who rips off paying customers. What happened to the nation that we always need more, more, more? There was a time when food was used in smaller portions and lately bagels and baguettes have increased to the size of my head.

Sure, you’ll probably try and go on and on about how you’ll take the food home and eat it tomorrow, but does anyone actually eat their leftovers anymore? I know when I take something home from a restaurant, it sits in my fridge for the next week and a half and I only remember to throw it away when the fridge starts to smell a little fishy.

All I’m saying is portions need to be smaller again. The result will end with a healthier and less-wasteful America.