Top Ten: Homecoming Courtships

Annie Loader & Jake Winter

1. Mat Kestle.... Decorated Danielle Gaztambide's red VW Bug with black dots accompanied by a note that read something along the lines of "Lady, it would bug me not to go to homecoming with you"

2. Ross Terrill.... Attached a bunch of helium filled red and gold balloons to a little pig stuffed animal which was tucked inside a box. On the outside of the box, a sign said "I'll go to homecoming with you.... when pigs fly!" When Natalie Warner opened the box the pig flew.

3. Jackson Elizondo.... Recreated a Taylor Swift music video asking Mary Morgan

4. Trent Clifford.... Paid for a person to dress up in a giant bunny suit and tell Alyssa Corbett that "somebunny wants to go to homecoming with her"

5. Post its.... Dexter Holmquist covered Grace Haley's entire room with post its

6. Stevie Strehl.... After scoring a goal in the JD vs JM hockey game, Strehl asked Kayla Nielson with a bouquet

7. Ben Cook.... Made a cheerleader themed Build a Bear for Annie Loader

8. Mickey.... Planted a note to Emily Andrews in the Newspaper

9. Hirning.... Put candles in paper bags that spelled out Homecoming

10. Hughes.... Led Hannah Robinson around Downtown on a scavenger hunt

Summer Service

Across the pond and from coast to coast, Judge students have left their mark all over the world this summer. While on Summer vacation, Judge students demonstrated their Christian values by soaking up the sun in communities all across the map while participating in service projects to benefit those in need. Service is in the foundation of Judge Memorial Catholic High School, and as every student completes Christian service hours during the school year, of the many students who rose to the challenge and chose to spend their Summers helping to serve others both domestically and internationally, two seniors stood out in the shining service oriented efforts. Emily Burchett and Kelly Hanlon traveled to Kiamuri, Kenya with YouthLinc, a local service agency; connected with Rotary International, with their motto being "Creating lifetime humanitarians." This was surely achieved, after completing over 260 service hours in Kenya Alone, not to mention the 100 hours of Service completed domestically, and the individual philanthropic efforts of both girls.


Emily and Kelly were just a part of the group's thirty members that were hand selected to travel to Kenya. Much preparation went into the planning of this trip. After being broken up into groups and being assigned different committees, like Education, fund raising, heath/medical, fun fair, and micro finance, the planning begun. Once the group arrived in Kenya, there were no limitations as to how they could assist the children. "I taught emotions to primary school students (k-4) and geography to primary and secondary (k-12). I also helped teach women's maturation classes, as well as build classrooms for primary and secondary schools." States Burchett. In addition to the work Emily participated in, Hanlon also aided the village by Giving loans to those who wished to start a small business, with the source of funding being deriving from the money the group members in America, and teaching a vocational training class to teenage girls.

The lessons that these girls taught the children of the village were invaluable in comparison to what Emily and Kelly gained from this experience. After seeing the slums that so many people lived in and the hardships that they had to face every day, it greatly effected the girls view of the world. " I had prepared for the trip all year, I knew I was going into a poverish country, but no matter how long you prepare for it, the shock is still so prevalent when you walk down the jet way off the plane." states Kelly when describing her feeling towards the living conditions of the villagers. As unfortunate as seeing these dreadful sights was, it served as a source of motivation for the two bulldogs. "Knowing that you put your whole heart and soul into something, and seeing how much you can get done, and how many lives you can touch is the best reward i could ever ask for. I am only 17 years old and I have traveled to another continent to change peoples lives. What makes it all worth it is knowing I put a smile on someones face." Kelly proudly proclaims.


After two weeks in the village, changing hundreds of lives, and making countless amounts of memories, the girls returned home, bringing much with them. This trip was only the beginning for these two young humanitarians. Philanthropic work in nothing new for Kelly Hanlon. "I hope to continue changing lives and leaving my hand print on the world. After this experience I have the courage to do anything. All it takes is a little hard work, dedication, sincerity and the will to achieve."

Emily, who channeled her altruistic spirit in the hopes of one day establishing herself as a humanitarian. Hoping to continue to apply her passion for traveling an being immersed in foreign cultures, to work with organizations that will help her grow as an individual, as well as establish a basis for the service organization that she hopes to one day create and run. Upon explaining why she enjoys service Emily states, "Life should be about simply being kind to others, not worrying so much about material goods, but instead the human connections we make."

So look out world, these bulldogs are taking the reigns and starting young. With a combination of passion and perseverance, Kelly Hanlon and Emily Burchett are sure to change the world.

Girls win State again; boys take 4th

On February 5 and 6, the Judge swimmers took a trip down to BYU to compete in the 2010 State Championships. "The atmosphere was very intense and nail-biting," said senior Malori McGill, a swim fan who made the trip to Provo.

Girls swimming won their seventh state title in eight years taking first place with 380 points while fending off top-rival Park City. Park City and Wasatch followed with scores of 372 and 275, respectively.

The "Scarlet Heroes of Yore" coach Matt Finnigan, was overjoyed with the win. "This one was maybe sweeter because it had to be a team effort," Finnigan said. "We just forgot about scoring, swam hard, had fun and let the chips fall where they may." Junior Lydia Jones took the Bulldogs home with individual wins in the 200 (2:00.68) and 500 (5:27.29) freestyles. This year's girls talented squad was led by team captains Erika Eisenman '10 and Carolyn Carter '10, and got power and speed boosts with newcomers Lydia Jones '11, Meghan Brockmeyer '10, and Emily Murnin '13.

On the boys' side, Park City won the state title (339) while Wasatch took second (320) and Juan Diego Catholic placed third (251) while Judge took fourth. In his final high school meet, Judge senior Oliver Diamond, the defending 3A swimmer of the meet, left no doubt about who is the best male swimmer in 3A this year taking first in the 50 (21.44) and 100 (46.98) freestyles and grabbing another "swimmer of the meet" award . Diamond followed up first place in the 50 free on Friday by producing a super-fast win in the 100 free on Saturday.

Diamond scored 268 points — the second-highest total of anyone at this weekend's state meets. "It was my last race and I was excited for it," said Diamond. "My goals were to just come out and swim hard and support this team." And Diamond did just that, flying by the competition and showing that Judge is still and always will be a competitor.

Save the Parade, Celebrate the Tradition

For more than thirty years, the St. Patrick’s day parade has been an integral part of the Salt Lake community. Many schools make floats for the parade, and many students (including Judge students) are in the parade. It has been a fun way to celebrate an important historical and religious figure. The parade is organized and funded by the Hibernian Society of Utah, a non-profit organization that strives to preserve Irish history and culture within the state.

Unfortunately, there was a major speed bump for this year’s St. Patrick’s day parade. The city had proposed billing event organizers with costs for services, including the right to parade routes, adding up to over $7,500. To put this in perspective, this exceeds the total amount of dues raised by the society in a year, and this is not their only event; they sponsor many other events throughout the year. Although this price tag may seem unobtainable, the Hibernian Society did not give up. They immediately launched the “Save the St. Patrick’s Day Parade" campaign which included negotiating with the city council, and increased fundraising. As part of the increased fundraising, a concert was planned for February 5 in the Judge auditorium.

All other parades and events that take place in Salt Lake City are also dealing with this problem. They were in talks with the city and no progress was made, until the Days of '47 began to contemplate their options, one being relocating the parade to another area, such as Sandy City. Before moving the parade a deal was struck. The Days of '47 argued that this was a violation of their First Amendment rights, specifically their right to assemble. They referenced other St. Patrick’s day parades in other cities and states.

The Hibernians also applied for a “free expression permit”; it was granted, and the St. Patrick’s day parade was saved. Many parades have filed for the “free expression permits," arguing their parades are not “special events," but “free expression events," like protests. Despite the success in the parade aspect of the issue, still left in the cold are every other “special event," such as the Farmers’ Market, and the Utah Arts Festival.

The Hibernian Society still hosted the Irish concert, despite the change in circumstances. The Irish-rock band Swagger performed. This concert was originally planned as a save the St. Patrick’s Day parade event, but later took on a different theme. It was still a fundraiser for the parade, though, as it was a celebration of the salvation of the parade.

There is a great lesson to be learned from the whole mess. It is that one can never be complacent, although our government is here to serve the people it often gets sidetracked in their willingness to throw tradition away just to help balance a budget. This shows that anybody with strong enough of a will can have an impact. Always contact your representatives with your opinion and urge them to represent you, or in this case put history and tradition before a quick buck. Many say that every letter a senator or congressman receives represents a thousand constituents.

Another step to assure the City Council, that they have made the right decision, and never even ponder resurfacing these recovery costs, is to contact the City Council and let them know we stand by the parade, that they made the right decision, and perhaps offer a voice for the “special events” that are still dealing with the issue. The St. Patrick’s day parade is our parade, and it is our responsibility to help protect the parade.

If you have ever been in, helped prepare for, seen or have respect for history and tradition, then it is asked that you help preserve this rich bit of history by coming to the parade on Saturday, March 20.

The Show Goes On Despite Controversy

by Eric Humphrey

Judge Memorial's decision to produce the popular Broadway musical, "Rent: School Edition," has raised a few eyebrows among the Catholic community and those abroad due to its edgy content. "Rent," centered in an impoverished neighborhood in New York City, focuses on issues that some say are inappropriate for a high school audience.

"My concern is that at a Catholic high school, even with the toned down version, I don't think ["Rent"] is age appropriate without having an alternate perspective so that young students have a Christian perspective of those hard social issues," says Deacon John Kranz of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. Kranz, who filled in for the sick Monsignor Mannion during the Sunday mass, discussed, in his homily, the necessity for high school students to be shown the positives in life. Parents who have approached him regarding "Rent" find fault with what Kranz describes as, "[Judge's] lack of a Catholic viewpoint."

However, this controversy in not confined to Salt Lake City's Catholic community. Blogs such as "moonbattery.com" and "orthometer.blogspot.com" have been the sites of brutal spitefulness between those who want "Rent" banned and those who support the production. KSL's appearance at director's night and subsequent news story brought further publicity to Judge's production and with it, broader criticism.

Local conservative radio host, Doug Wright, questioned Judge's choice of play and the issue of homosexuality dominated his discussions. Judge's own principal, Mr. Rick Bartman, phoned into the Doug Wright Show to defend his school's choice of performance.

"[Rent] addresses issues that kids in a diverse community are confronted with on a daily basis...the base of the play is sense of community and inclusion and sense of looking at opportunity," Bartman told Wright, "It's about young people trying to make it, make a difference, follow their dreams." However Wright persistently questioned Bartman's judgment to allow a Catholic school to perform a play that might glorify homosexuality. To this allegation, Bartman challenged Wright to, "find a person infected with HIV or even full blown AIDS that glorifies their situation," adding, "the Church does not condone homosexual behavior acted upon but welcomes homosexual persons as a part of our community." The podcast of Rick Bartman's interview on The Doug Wright Show can be found on KSL.com.

Darin Hathaway, director of "Rent" head of the drama department, seemed confused at the existence of any sort of controversy, and for good reason. "I had a parent meeting with every student who wanted to audition for Rent. I received nothing but support from the parents," said Hathaway referring to a mandatory meeting for all parents of students who auditioned, "This meeting was an opportunity for parents to express concerns about the production." For parents, this was their chance to read the high school script, discuss "Rent's" edgy content, and ultimately decide whether it is appropriate for high school students. "I received positive comments and excitement," revealed Hathaway, "I heard nothing but support from parents."
In spite of the controversy, the show did go on. "Rent: School Edition" debuted October 22 in the Judge auditorium.

English Quest

Friday, February 27th, 24 bulldogs ventured to Weber for the annual English Quest. This is the 4th year Judge has participated, and our bulldogs have always been successful in this English competition. It is a "contest that began in St. George years ago" says Ms. Simpson, who takes the English Quest participants under her wing each year. The small event that took place at Snow College, turned statewide about 6 years ago. The winners for this years competition have not been announced yet, but several bulldogs were finalists: Laura Lighty, Pat Thompson, Tom Luchs, Kelsey Hom, Sean Sweeney and Katie Harrington. Students took on feats such as persuasive essay writing, personal narrative, character sketch, spelling bee, poster making, an editing test, designing a book cover, poetry and creating a photo essay. "There have always been competitions for sports, drama, debate...but this is the only competition I know to both celebrate and compete for all language arts." says Simpson. It is a chance for students strong in English to "take it to performance". The other participants included Mary Morgan, Nicholas McDonald, Emily Andrews, Lydia Gardynik, Mike Sayre, Lizz Graham, Craig Domeier, Ben Davis, Jackie Graham, Patrick Boner, Chelsey Rodriguez, Jamie Pisciotta, Lukas Richards, Sam Highsmith, Jade Martinsen, Ryan Sabol, Nickie Worth and Sierra Brimhall. Simpson adds, "A lot of what you do in English, who sees it?" but these bulldogs got a great chance to show off their writing, speaking, poetry, photography and design skills. Congratulations!

Simplot Games: Throwing, Long Distance, and Hurdles.

The clocks ran as soon as the Judge team walked into the stadium. Two and a half hours in and out of sleep on a bus, and the indoor track team had finally made it to Pocatello, Idaho. It was late afternoon by this time, around four o'clock, and there was barely time to prepare for the first race, the 3200 meters. Runners began to jog around the track, and around the campus near the stadium, though many weren't looking too overworked, for 16 laps around a 200 meter track, the first four could substitute a proficient warm-up.
In these races competed senior Lizzie Hindert, freshman Conner Liston, and freshman Jordan Higley. Each person pulling through their monotonous events, and finishing decently. Along with physical endurance, these competitors required an esteemed level of patience for the 7 heats of the boys mile, and 5 heats for the girls ranging from 9 to 14 mintues per race.
During the seldom exciting exhibit of the 2 mile, reigned weight throw in the center of the ring. Sophomore Ofa Vaisima competed in the weight throw the first Thursday of the Simplot games, and then entered the shot put on for the second night. Ofa has been throwing for two years now, and throws roughly 28 ft. in shot put, her main event. However after her second year competing in the tournament, she was especially proud to have thrown further than her sister, a Senior at Woods Cross High.

Simplot Games: short distance and high jump

Last weekend the Judge Memorial track and field team traveled to Pocatello, Idaho to participate in the annual Simplot gamse, and the bulldogs really excelled. In the 200 meters, junior Kiersten Berg got first place in her heat, even though she was running in the first lane. The first lane is the hardest lane to run in because it is set farthest back and has the steepest curve around the end of the track. Junior Christian Barbiero and sophomore Kevin Ortiz also surpassed in the 200. Paul Clark did very well and was in one of the fastest heats for the 60 meter dash. Mary Morgan, a sophomore, joined Camille Overmoe, Kiersten Berg, and Lizzie Hindert to compete in the Medley relay, while Linda Frank mastered the high jump, jumping over the bar at 4'10''.

Our Town Premiere Tonight

The main stage production this year, Our Town, premieres tonight at 7:00 pm in the Judge Memorial Auditorium. It is directed by our drama and tech teacher Darin Hathaway and stars Pat Thompson, Lexie S. Allen, Nick Shifrar, Alice Gonzalez, Ashlyn Lozano, Lukas Richards, and Ryan Sabol. Our Town is a three act play, meaning there are three intermissions. During these intermissions, donations will be collected for the Road Home charity. If you can't make this performance, you will have the opportunity to attend on Friday or Saturday.

Freshmen Girl's Basketball: Undefeated

All the Girl's Basketball teams are tough to beat. The Varsity squad is heading into the playoffs as region champs and they finished with a regular season record of 19-2. The Freshmen Girls went undefeated, 17-0, in the regular season. Then won the next two games in the Freshmen tournament for an overall record of 19-0 . Their success reflects the hard work of the upperclassmen and the talent of the underclassmen. With the skill of all the teams in the program Judge Girls' Basketball can only get better. Make sure to support your Lady Bulldogs Varsity this Saturday, but don't forget the Freshmen as they play in the semi-finals this Thursday at Judge.

13th South - Illegal Beagle

Boy's Tennis Preview

As spring begins, it means something important for a group of
bulldogs: boy's tennis is starting. After pulling an upset victory in
the 2008 season, the bulldogs are the current 3A state champions and
are hoping to keep it for at least another year. Despite some
graduating players, the varsity team still has depth. Andrew Lamb,
Trey Kennedy, David May, and Kolbe Newton should be returning to the
team for the 2009 season, along with other players. The tennis season
will begin in early March and the bulldogs will start the search for
another state title.

Chamber Night

In the midst of what would be the off-season for Judge Memorial's orchestra and band, seeing as there are no major concerts until the month of May, Chamber Night is a chance for the individual performers to showcase their work. Every February Ramona Mayer organizes Chamber Night; this recital is a collection of soloists, duets and even some quartets. The pieces that are performed are not rehearsed in the early mornings of class, but on the musician's own time, making this a very personal concert.

On the types of music that will be performed Ramona Mayer said, "I encourage classical, but over the years, jazz, Broadway, soft pop and other genres have been added. The idea is to perform close-up and personal with the audience and that often supercedes the style choices. Rap, hip-hop, and alternative are still out, though!"

Be sure and celebrate the talents of your fellow classmates on February 12th at 7:00 PM in the Music Room (across the hall from the auditorium). Admission to watch professional level music being performed by high school students is free and treats will be provided. Come and support!