Meet this year's valedictorian and salutatorian

Dylan Tastet
Staff Writer

Valedictorian – Sanjna Iyengar

Sanjna Iyengar and Trevor Hair 

GPA: 5.2

Future plans: honors college at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in biomedical engineering

Career Plans: to go to medical school and become a neurologist

Clubs – National Honor Society, TutorConnect (president/founder), French Club (president), Math Club (president), Key Club, National Technical Honor Society (tutoring lead), French Honor Society

Hobbies: tennis, piano, art, ballet, reading

Favorite Food: pasta

Favorite Movie(s): the Divergent series

Favorite Class: Art gave Sanjna the freedom to express herself, so it is one of her favorite classes. She also enjoyed AP Calculus because of the interesting subject matter and because Calculus “…taught me how to think about math in a way I have never thought about before”

Favorite Quote: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde

Salutatorian – Trevor Hair

GPA: 5.1

Scholarships/awards Earned: Alpha Delta Kappa Mary Rose Mills-Linda Rankin Memorial Scholarship

Future Plans: going to UNC-Chapel Hill

Career Plans: to become a computer scientist/programmer

Clubs: National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society, Student Council (president)

Hobbies: swimming, video games

Favorite Food: cheeseburger

Favorite Movie(s): Identity Thief

Favorite Class: “Spanish, because I love foreig

n languages and I have had amazing Spanish teachers.”

Favorite Quote: “Stay awesome, bros.” -Pewdiepie

Ask Apex: Summer activities

Kenison Garratt and Jo Gatlin
Staff Writers

Apex High School students are eager for summer, many are even counting down the days. Each student is excited for something different. Some are planning family vacations, some are applying for jobs and others are just going to relax at home. Whatever is being planned, everyone can agree they cannot wait for summer vacation. With school letting out, there will be limitless possibilities for ways to spend the summer. A recently conducted poll reveals Apex High’s summer activity preferences. 

Seniors attending out of state colleges 2015

Zane Muzzillo
Staff Writer

Seniors attending in-state colleges 2015

Zane Muzzillo
Staff Writer

Joe Kilby resigns as Apex head football coach

Matt Sholtis
Sports Editor

After three years as the head football coach at Apex High School, Coach Joe Kilby announced his resignation on Friday. “There was no one reason why I resigned from this position, a lot went into the decision and after everything was weighed this was the best decision for my family and me.” Kilby took over as head football coach in 2012 when he replaced long time coach Bob Wolfe. Although Kilby’s record with the Cougars was 9-23, he took the team to their first playoff appearance since 2008 this past season.

Apex art history students hit D.C.

Nicholas Chupka & Zane Muzzillo
News Editor and Staff Writer

Apex art history students made the annual trek to Washington, D.C. this past Friday, paying a visit to both the National Gallery of Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Art teacher Ian Sands said, “This trip was very successful, despite both the east wing of the National Gallery of Art and the second floor of the Hirshhorn Museum being closed. However, the itinerary was customized to accommodate the closings.”

This trip marked Sands’ ninth year hosting the trip. He reflects on how the excursion has changed over time, saying, “We added a visit to the Hirshhorn to the trip the second year, and scheduled less docent-led tours. Now we only do one docent-led tour and we started at the Hirshhorn this year, unlike past years.”

Mr. Apex competition crowns a new winner

Johunna Gatlin
Staff Writer

Mr. Apex is an annual competition for senior males nominated by the senior class. This competition contains choreographed routines, a talent act, and an interview question. The 2015 Mr. Apex contestants were Zafir Alam, Sammy Camut, Andrew Fiorentino, Tyler Galvin, Trevor Hair, Bailey LaBerteaux, and Connor Riley.

For the talent section of the night Alam performed a magic trick, Camut and Riley danced and sang a duet, Fiorentino sang a song and “promposed” to his girlfriend. Fiorentino also performed a choreographed dance with Galvin while wearing a sumo suit.  Hair sang a song, and LaBerteaux performed a theatrical dance. The end of the night consisted of voting for a contestant and announcing Alam as the winner of the 2015 Mr. Apex competition.

Ask Apex: Throwback TV shows

Jo Gatlin and Kenison Garratt
Staff Writers

Everyone can recall their favorite television show from their childhood. Many of the throwback shows our generation enjoyed were aired on Disney Channel, Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. Results from a recently conducted poll of Apex High students show the most popular television series from the ‘90s and early 2000s.

Ask Apex: Favorite Vines

Jo Gatlin and Kenison Garratt
Staff Writers

Vine, the social media site for sharing video, is becoming increasingly popular. The United States alone holds 38.2 percent of all Vine users. Vine has always been successful, reaching one million viewers only three months after launch with their number of active teen users growing by 639 percent that same year. More recently, it was found that five Vines are being tweeted every second and 1.5 billion Vines are played daily. The Twitter owned app, available in 19 different languages on the iPhone and 21 for Android, won the top spot in the social category in the App Store on its first day. Similar to Instagram, one of its most used hashtags is #cute, the other top tags being #loop, #selfie, #remake, and #magic. Yet, Instagram has far more users and 37% more Instagram videos are shared on Twitter. But, at Apex High School, the results of a recently conducted poll show that Vines are still thoroughly enjoyed.

Need volunteer hours? Look no further

Jessica Stiehm
Staff Writer

Students needing volunteer hours for National Honor Society or other various classes/clubs need look no further. Below are some exciting volunteer opportunities that will fill up your sheets in no time.

Brown Bag Ministry

Have extra time on Saturday? Donate two or more hours to bag lunches for the homeless. Anyone is welcome to show up without notice. No worries for not knowing what to do. Instructions are given out at the beginning of each session. If you can spare more than two hours, you can help hand out the lunches near Moore Square in Raleigh. To volunteer, check our their website or go to St. Andrews Catholic Church in Apex at 9:30 any Saturday morning.

Local Library

There are many volunteer opportunities at the library. Depending on your library's program, there will be different options in the Teen Leadership Corps.  The program is for middle schoolers and high schoolers who want to put in some time at their local library. If you are in grades 6-10, fill out this application. If you are in grades 11 and up, fill out this application. Turn applications into your local library for consideration. (Eva Perry Library in Apex will host a sign up meeting on Thursday, April 2 from 7-7:45 p.m.)

Apex Science Olympiad team places first at regionals

Natalia Ghan
Staff Writer

Captains Meera Nagaraj, Tanya Qureshi, and Adam Zeid led the Apex High School varsity and junior varsity Science Olympiad teams to place at the top of the regional competition at Campbell University on Saturday February 7. With their regional win the varsity members will advance to the state competition at N.C. State on April 25. This is the third year in a row that Apex has placed first at regionals. The team met twice a month to work on the computer and collaborate with partners. Carol Bost, the team sponsor, describes the dynamics as “a highly supportive team with very independent captains.” Captain Nagaraj affirms that, “These last two years I have learned how to be a leader. We all worked together to make sure everyone was on top of things.”

Peak Players' production of Les Mis dazzles

Michael Lyday
Features Editor

Les Miserables is a very difficult play to put on. The need for a strong ensemble cast where every member must be proficient to a high extent and detailed sets and costumes make creating the play a daunting task for any theatre. Tag on missing nearly two full school weeks creating a lack of rehearsal time, and the degree of difficulty becomes even higher. Not to mention the high expectations set by the audience seeing a beloved classic.

Despite circumstance getting in the way of an already difficult production, Les Miserables was the greatest performance I have ever seen from the Apex Theatre Department. The production value was very high, with excellent costumes and set pieces giving the play plenty of believability. The cast gave a dynamic performance which featured many members of the ensemble playing four or five roles each. Every character, no matter if they were a minor role or a main character, was played with conviction and featured excellent singing. Highlights in the main roles included seniors Will Stapleton as Valjean and Josh Menzies as Javert, whose tension-filled rivalry propels the play to its climax. Other notable performances included senior David Flowers as Marius, the student revolutionary who falls in love with Valjean’s daughter, and freshman Daisy Bingham as Eponine, the tragic character whose love for Marius goes unrequited until it is too late.

The play was very cohesive and was performed flawlessly, making the thrilling story even more exciting. Les Mis is definitely not a play you want to miss.

Wake County Schools add a new sport

Jo Gatlin
Staff Writer


Stunt is a new and growing sport that is very similar to cheerleading. Both cheerleading and stunt have the same athletic skills.  Its competition format and scoring systems are what makes stunt different from cheerleading. Although cheerleading is both a male and female sport, stunt only allows females to participate. Every year the USA Cheer Stunt Competition Committee develops routines and publishes them. Teams compete side by side and participants are awarded points by a panel of judges. The teams are judged on mastery of a set routine, not creativity. Stunt is being considered for NCAA Emerging Sport status and has been designed to meet Title IX's requirements for intercollegiate sports.

Bus accident heading to Baucom

Alexandria Sands
Arts & Entertainment Editor

A bus carrying 16 students crashed Monday morning on Holt Road and Jenks Carpenter Road on its way to Baucom Elementary School.

The bus driver and students were not injured. The driver of the other vehicle was taken to WakeMed. It is still unknown if the driver faced any injuries.

Peak Players' production of Les Mis opens March 6

Michael Lyday
Features Editor

The Peak Players’ production of Les Miserables opens March 6. Tickets start at $8 and are going fast, so be sure to buy your ticket soon. Tickets can be purchased at www.apexdrama.com. The play is also being performed March 7 and March 12-14. All shows start at 7 p.m.

Upcoming albums for 2015

Nicholas Chupka & Michael Lyday
News Editor & Editor-in-Chief

Nicki Minaj - The Pinkprint

On December 12 New York based rapper Nicki Minaj released her third studio LP The Pinkprint. The album features a variety of musicians including Ariana Grande, Drake, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and many more. Debuting at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, Minaj’s third studio LP was greeted with generally positive critical reception, receiving a 7.5/10 on Pitchfork and a 7/10 from Spin Magazine.

Ten point grading scale applies to all

Grace Fendrick
Features Editor

Comparison of the grading scales

The North Carolina Board of Education voted to change all high school students to the 10-point grading scale for the 2015-2016 school year. The scheduled decision was made on Thursday, January 8.

In August the North Carolina State Board of Education approved plans to slowly integrate the 10-point grading scale in the 2015-2016 school year. The scale was only to be applied to incoming freshmen, the class of 2019. Additionally, it was decided to reduce the weight of extra points or “quality points”, which are added to students’ GPA by taking AP and honors courses. Honors classes currently receive one extra “quality points” and AP courses receive two; the change would reduce the points by one half, honors receiving half a point, and AP receiving one point, this change will not affect current high school students.

Dixon returns to Apex High

Alex Sands
Staff Writer

Dr. Thomas Dixon 

Doctor Thomas Dixon began his term as interim principal Jan. 2, after former principal Matthew Wight left to fulfill his duties as the principal of Apex Friendship High, a new high school opening the fall of 2015.

Dixon was principal of Apex High School prior to Wight. “I've probably done as many of these little interim jobs as anybody and coming back here just made me realize just how terrific this school is,” said Dixon. “Not that other schools aren't good, but this is just kind of a step above everything to me.”

Having grown up by the coast in Morehead City, he says him and his wife try to get down to the beach as much as they can. Dixon says he likes to read, walk, golf, and loves dogs. Currently, he’s caring for his new 9 month old golden retriever, the fifth that he’s owned,

Apex Chorus honors veterans at Pearl Harbor Memorial

Claire Feasey
Staff Writer

The Apex High Chorus flew to O'ahu, Hawaii to sing at the USS Missouri Memorial, and open the Annual Pearl Harbor Day Parade with the Star-Spangled Banner on December 4.

On December 5, the students put on their leis, long black dresses, and tuxedos, before heading out to the USS Missouri Memorial, for a tour and a performance. 

Apex High School Chorus on the USS Missouri

WCPSS tests "Bring Your Own Device" program

Alex Sands

Student uses tablet to study

Staff Writer

In first period AFM, I pulled up my Blackboard account on my iPhone and studied the notes my teacher had posted before my test began.

In second period Holocaust and Genocide, Mr. Moncelle paused his lecture, to have students pull out their phones and google the definition of unrecognized words he had used.

In third period journalism, I scrolled through my Twitter timeline attempting to find potential headlines and learning about what was going on in school.

So, what’s the big deal with the “Bring Your Own Device” program? Why is the local media talking about this and why are parents concerned?