News Briefs: Oct. 22-29

Breast Cancer Awareness

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, created over 25 years ago is a collaboration between a variety of public service and medical organizations working together to promote the search for a cure for breast cancer to help prevent the near 40,000 deaths projected for 2012 alone. More recently, a new emphasis has been put on raising awareness for the rare cases of breast cancer in men.

East sports have been honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month held every October. They have been rallying fans to show their support to find a cure by wearing their pink at games. Earlier this month soccer held its pink-out game, the members of the volleyball team have been wearing pink sweatbands on their arms and football had their own pink night last Friday Oct. 18.

Cheerleaders worked together to create a banner for the football team to run through displaying the breast cancer awareness logo, the pink ribbon, replacing the normal East logo for the football team to tear. The sign created by seven of the Varsity cheerleaders had the phrase “Tackle Breast Cancer” written across it.

“I think tackling breast cancer says it all,” varsity cheerleader Mackenzie Sweat. “Having the football players run through the sign is like they are ready to fight against cancer.”

Arts Career Fair

The art department at East will host its first Art Career Festival on Thursday Oct. 25. Registration will begin at 3:30 p.m. and the fair will be held from 4-6 p.m. in the main gym. No materials or pre-registration is necessary.

The festival is a forum for students to talk with professionals in the art industry from a variety of fields. Eleven speakers, such as the Johnson County Arts Commissioner, professionals working at museums in their education, restoration and curating departments and gallery owners, are just a few of the presenters attending the fair to inform students. Students from Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO, Olathe, Blue Valley and private schools are invited to attend as well.

The Art Career Festival was made possible this year through planning by the recent two-year-old art booster club “Friends of Art,” as well as teachers in the art department and parents.
Students will visit a different speaker or group every 10 minutes or so, to create an environment unlike normal “open career fairs” so that the students and speakers are able to collaborate on a more personal, uninterrupted level. The coordinator of the fair, Adam Finkleston, believes that this kind of an art fair will expose students to a variety of different art fields and careers that they may not have known about or considered before the event.

Sky Diver Breaks Record

Felix Baumgartner, a 43-year-old Austrian man, broke existing records for skydiving at the highest altitude and speed the world had known prior to that point on Sunday Oct. 14, 2012.

Baumgartner hit 833.9 mph at the height of his plummet. He dove from nearly 24 miles up, and gained enough speed to break the sound barrier in the atmosphere.

Although the procedure was carried out safely and, for the most part, smoothly, moments of concern were encountered along the way. One of the most daunting was the uncontrollable spiral Baumgartner was launched into only 90 seconds into his descent which could have caused unconsciousness or more severe complications. Somehow, Baumgartner managed to fight his way through the spin and landed successfully in a New Mexican Desert.

Baumgartner broke more than just the sound barrier during his free fall, but also his paralyzing claustrophobia that once stood in the way of accomplishing this historical dive. Baumgartner struggled with feeling trapped inside his special space suit, crucial to his survival during the plummet. He was able to overcome his stifling fear by consulting with a physiologist specializing in extreme sports.

After overcoming his phobia, Baumgartner was able to shatter the existing unofficial records for being the first person to reach supersonic speed without the aid of a spacecraft or aircraft, intriguing viewers worldwide as they witnessed him making history.