News Clues
Junior Hockey vs. High School Hockey
-by Dylan Metcalf
I
t is overtime and
Chris Wagner dances
around the defender
and breaks towards the
net. He is on a breakaway
with the game on his stick.
He comes down the ice
and he shoots into the top
right corner and scores,
right under the crossbar!
But there is only one thing;
he is not playing for his
high school team but in-
stead for the South Shore
Kings in the Eastern Jun-
ior Hockey League. This is
a scenario many aspiring
young hockey players
come to when they reach
the hockey crossroads in
high school.
High school
hockey has always been
known for the school wide
stories of triumph or sor-
row the day following a big
relationships with the
game. What would high
higher level of competition head coach. This is for-
school be without the
and the more exposure. bidden in Junior Hockey
jocks and the champion-
Junior Hockey leagues sta- and has not been a
ship banners hanging in
tistically give players more problem to this date.to
pride from the gymnasium
exposure to college and the young hockey
ceiling? Many people who
NHL scouts. This will in- player. However, it is
attended high school prior
crease the player’s chances unclear which is better.
to the 21st century find the
in furthering their hockey That is simply something
idea of not participating in
career. Conor Martin, a for the player to decide
high school sports hard to
skilled sophomore ice what he wants more
imagine. To affirm this
hockey player at Xaverian point in time where the
statement, Señor Fleming
Brothers High School, has player needs to choose
has been
been quoted what is more important
quoted say- “High school cul-
saying that to him, playing for enjoy-
ing, “It’s an ture without high
“Junior Hockey ment or playing for a
important part school sports
is much faster future.
of the culture would be very de-
than high school
in the school prived”-Sr. Fleming
hockey and it
especially at
also increases
the high school level. High April 11th, 2011
the probability of being able
school culture without high
to advance into college Volume 1, Issue 1
school sports would be
hockey. Another advantage
very deprived.” By this
Señor Fleming means that
of Junior Hockey is that News Clues
there are no high school try-
the school wouldn’t be
out politics. Being the
unified and would not be
coach’s son doesn’t come Inside this issue:
able to share the same
into play when you try out
pride and glories of high Cost of College 2
for a Junior Hockey team.”
school varsity sports.
In high school hockey you
Facebook 3
Premier Junior can see examples of sub
Hockey Clubs have al- par players making the team Distracted Driving 4
ways been known for the solely based upon
 Rising Cost of College
-by Kevin Flynn
N
ancy Swanton
knows what the
college process is
like. Applying to colleges, visiting
colleges, chooses a college; you
name it, she’s done it. As a mother
of four, Nancy now has two sons in
college, and two daughters who
graduated in the past five years.
She of all people knows what the
cost of college is like. When I asked
her if she had noticed a recent in-
crease in the cost of college she
said “Definitely, the recent increase
has been incredible. It’s not just tui-
tion, the cost of living, books, food,
it’s all getting more expensive.”
When asked what she’s been doing
to help pay for college she gave a
common answer. “We’ve been try-
ing to cut costs at home. We try to
spend less money on food each
week, cut back spending on things
we don’t need and the kids have
been helping a lot. Billy got a job as
a camp counselor last summer and
Steven is working part time at BC.”
College has never been
cheap. Because the state does not
mandate children to attend college,
Page 2
private colleges are free to charge
“It’s not just tuition, the
however much they want for tuition.
cost of living, books,
The recession did little to help the
food, it’s all getting more
price of college and it makes sense
expensive.”
why the price of college continues to
go up. In the past the average
household income and the average ting jobs to help pay for college. Be-
cost of college have both risen cause the cost of college is increas-
steadily and over the past ten years ing, college students are making the
the average cost most of their college experiences,
for a four year col- and the future of college grads is
lege has gone up looking good.
ten thousand dol-
lars. However, in
the past two years
the cost of college
as a percentage of
the average house-
hold income has
increased 5%. As
the cost of college goes up, and the
average household income de-
creases or stays the same, the cost
of college steadily becomes a lar-
ger and larger part of a family’s Tuition and Fees at Boston College currently
costs $40,089
expense. The rising cost of college
is a major source of stress for many
parents who refuse to not send their
Source(s):
children to college. To combat the
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/
price of college, many families are historical/families/index.html
trying to cut spending and start sav- http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76
ing earlier. Many children are get-
News Clues
 Facebook: Productivity or Distraction?
-by Matt Dilane
S
ophomore Dylan Metcalf
wakes up, goes to school,
goes to his extracurricular
activity, goes home, logs onto to
Facebook and starts his homework.
This is the typical daily routine for
Dylan and the average student in
today’s world. As more students
sign up for accounts on Facebook,
more parents become concerned as
to how it affects their children’s’
studies. Surely there are benefits of
the use of such sites, but it is also
easy to see how they can become a
distraction for students. The ques-
tion is raised: Is Facebook crippling
students’ ways of studying or en-
hancing it?
At any point, one can sign
on to Facebook and find at least
“Facebook is an added
menace to students’ al-
ready hectic lives.” - Dylan
Metcalf
one status saying something nega-
tive about homework. It is obvious
that that particular person is search-
ing Facebook for anything that
would be more exciting than what a
textbook has to offer. This is not
hard to accomplish. Along with chat-
ting with friends and checking out
their profiles, applications being up-
dated constantly you can do any-
Volume 1, Issue 1
thing from taking fun quizzes, to lis-
tening to music, to watching music
videos. There is an endless amount
of semi interesting things to do
which are more entertaining than
reading a textbook or solving math
problems.
However, the argument for
Facebook being beneficial to stud-
ies is legitimate as well. If a student
forgets to write down an assignment
for a class, that student can simply
log onto Facebook and ask a Face-
book “friend” who is in that student’s
class what the assignment is. On
Facebook, one can organize friends
into “groups” making it simple to
share links and files among group
members and eliminating some of
the challenges of group projects for
work. It is obvious that most parents
school.
are more reluctant to call Facebook
In an anonymous survey a useful tool for homework. While
conducted while roaming the halls there are solid arguments for both
of Xaverian, 18 of 20 students said sides, the question of Facebook
they had a Facebook account and being beneficial or a distraction to
15 of those 20 said that it was bene- students remains unanswered. One
ficial to their studies. Students are thing is clear, with over 700 million
finding Facebook to be an extremely users and growing rapidly, Face-
useful tool for working on group as- book is a major influence as part of
signments. According to the sur- the everyday students’ life. How-
veys, Students seem to think that ever, it is unclear whether to call
Facebook is helpful to them, yet Facebook a “friend” or enemy to
some still disagree. Sophomore Dy- students.
lan Metcalf describes Facebook as
“an added menace to students’ al-
ready hectic lives.” The students’
opinion on Facebook is generally
favorable, but parents are clearly
still concerned for their children. In
another survey conducted, 9 of 10
parents had found their children us-
ing Facebook while doing home-
Page 3
 Dangers of texting and driving
-by Richard Yeung tion (NHTSA), 20% of injury crashes
in 2009 involved reports of dis-
tracted driving. The NHTSA also
included that “of those killed in dis-
tracted-driving-related crashed, 995
involved reports of a cell phone as a
distraction (18% of fatalities in dis-
traction-related crashes).” Studies
show that it was the under-20 year
old age group with the greatest pro-
portion of distracted drivers. Of that
age group, 16% have been involved
The Increased Dangers of Car Dis- with fatal accidents due to distracted
tractions driving. According to the University
a car distraction related accidents.
We asked Ms. Vona if she felt that
teenage drivers are more likely to
be at fault. “Teens are more danger-
ous. They have a lack of experi-
ence. [They] think they are fearless
behind the wheel”. Whatever the
reason, everyone should drive re-
sponsibly and focus more on the
road more than their cellulars.
Roles:
Publisher Guru—Matt Dillane
Designer—Kevin Flynn

A
aron Duveau drives down
the street while texting. He
runs a stop sign without
knowing it and collides with another
car. Donald Bowley, the other
driver, dies from the car crash, while
ambulances roll up to treat Luz Ro-
man, the passenger of the victim.
The ambulance rushes toward the
nearest hospital in Boston while the
police interrogate Duveau. Duveau,
only a 17 year old, faces up to 8
charges in connection to this acci-
Editor—Richard Yeung
of Utah, cell phone use while driving
Photo Guy—Dylan Metcalf
can impede a driver’s reaction.
“The whole premise of
talking distracts me”— Ms.
Vona
In a recent interview Ms.
Vona, she stated that she was in a
car crash in October of 2010. We
asked her what the cause of the
crash was, and she replied, “He was
cited and texting and driving […]
and blew through a red light at 30

dent.
There are three types of
driving distractions: visual, manual,
and cognitive. A visual distraction is
taking your eyes off the road. A
manual distraction is taking your
!
mph”. As you might know, Ms. Vona
was out of school for a few days
that month. “It was a huge mess. My
KS
car was totaled. I had to buy a new
W
car and I also still have to deal with
insurance companies today.” We
HA

hands off the wheel, and a cognitive asked Ms. Vona about distractions
distraction is taking your mind off while driving, and she responded,
what you’re doing. Several distrac- “Sometimes I find myself distracted.
GO

tions while driving include, using a
cell phone, talking to passengers,
eating and drinking, watching a
video, reading (including maps), and
changing the radio station.
According to the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administra-
I sometimes talk on the phone. Al-
though I have my hands free, the
whole premise of talking distracts
me. The law restricts talking on the
phone, and it helps me.” As men-
tioned earlier, the NHTSA showed
that teenagers are more likely to get