Countryside High School Paw Print Newspaper Volume 41 Issue 1

Roaring with the Records at the Countryside Hop

Homecoming information

brookeMICALLEF

Countryside’s Homecoming Dance will be hosted here at the school on September 28th, from 7-11 PM; no admission will be allowed after 8pm. Tickets start at $35 and will be sold during both lunches and after school.

Students should switch over their Spotify to ‘Roaring Record’ artists like Elivs Presley, Buddy Holly, and Tony Bennett while getting ready!

This year Countryside is hosting nightly events to continue the celebration leading up to Saturday’s Homecoming Dance.

Tuesday: Fantasia! A formal celebration of the CHS Homecoming Court. 6-7pm $2 cash and refreshments will be sold.

Wednesday: FREE movie event 6pm in the Gym. Bring a non-perishable food item(s) for the Salvation Army and you will be able to enjoy the movie ‘Grease’ with all of your friends.

Thursday: Powder Puff Football. Cheer on your team as the ladies of Countryside compete to see which class ends up on top. Homecoming Fall Festival. Free 6-8pm. Hosted by your fellow clubs with activies for all.

Friday: Homecoming Football Game and halftime recogniton of the Homecoming Court. Wear your best Garnet and Gold to help the Varsity Cougars defeat Largo. Kick-off is at 7:30pm.

With a sweet poster Sophomore Samantha Shackton puts a Homecoming spin to the promposal tradtion by homeposing to her friend, Camryn Pineault. She said yes!

Debateable door greeting

oliviaCRUTCHFIELD

staff writer

A singsongy “Good morning! How are you today?” is the first thing students hear in the morning from lively Principal Vicari when they walk into Countryside from the car line to start their day. They might respond with a grumbled reply, or maybe just a blank look, but who can blame them? It is 7 AM ,most of our brains are yet to have begun properly functioning at such an early hour. But half-asleep or not, I am sure every student can agree that Principal Vicari’s cheerful greeting is a delightful way to start the school day as it is a drastic change from the past.

Despite how appreciated his daily salutations are, Principal Vicari has numerous responsibilities throughout the day, places to be, people to see, things to do, he might need someone to take his place for the chipper morning regards. That is why Mrs. Overall made an effort to establish door greeters, members from each club around the school, who would undertake the responsibility of pleasantly greeting each student as they walk

through the door to brighten their mornings, and maybe promote their club or organization in the process.

The staff of Countryside is eager to find a way to make their students’ mornings better... but is assigning student door greeters truly a good idea? Mrs. Overall thought this would help.

Principal Vicari is always at the door with a smile and plenty of energy, whether he got that energy from his pure excitement to be at school, or from a morning routine including several cups of coffee, we will never know. Whatever the case is, it works; our principal’s happiness and energy is positively contagious.

Could the students of Countryside High pull it off just as well? I do not know about you, but the feel of waking up extra early to stand at the door and greet every student with incredible enthusiasm as if I am not absolutely exhausted seems practically impossible to me.

Are there any students out there who think they would be able to partake in such a deed at the crack of dawn? It might be a bit of a gamble

to find any students that would be willing to do so.

If students, who do not volunteer in the first place, are volun-told by an administrator into doing this role, that will not have a very good outcome. Despite the school’s positive intent, these greeters might be a bit unpleasant to encounter. Seeing as how they are not there by choice and are having to begrudgingly muster up energy and enthusiasm that normally would not appear in any teenager until at least 11 am.

Some students, unwillingly selected for this role, might not even be able to show up early. A sizable amount of Countryside students take the bus. Understandably bus riders have no control over when they arrive to school, so arrival times can be unpredictable.

The concept is indeed a sweet and pleasant idea of a way to start the day for the students of Countryside High, but maybe it would be best to leave this role to our beloved Principal Vicari.

Which Senior parking spot is your favorite?

madisonJOHNSON

staff writer

This summer was the beginning of a new tradition for Countryside High School. Seniors are now able to paint their parking spots!

On August 10th, seniors flooded to the student parking lot and spent all day painting

their designated spots. The bright colors turned the once boring, black student parking lot into a lively and welcoming place for all. The students used the asphalt as their canvas and displayed their creativity through the plentiful designs. The Paw Print Staff polled 200 students to see which of the spots were their favorite.

Students were able to vote on ten different spots and the top five were: the Hollywood Walk of Fame (18%), Lisa Meme (17%), Dory (16%), High School Musical (14%), Bulldog and Jersey (9%). The other five spots split the remaining 24% of the votes.

extreme makeover:

Vivacious Vicari takes over

ROBERT VICARI

PRINCIPAL

“My greatest goal is to make sure we are all working together to help all of our students reach their potential. The world is very competitive. I want all of our Countryside HS students to have every advantage available to ensure they are successful, with many doors of opportunity open to them.”

SKILLS

PERSONABILITY 10/10

LEADERSHIP 10/10

CREATIVE 10/10

ADAPTABLE 10/10

HOBBIES

HANGING WITH GRANDSON

Mr. Vicari loves to spend time with his grandson and even went to celebrate grandparents day at his school.

COOKING

Mr. Vicari is secretly a food fanatic! When asked about any hidden talents, Mr. Vicari shared about his enjoyment of cooking in his spare time.

FIXING SCHOOLS

In Mr. Vicari’s work experience he has transformed schools to flourish into a positive community.

Celebrity Look-alike

Not as unattractive as Danny DeVito but not as attractive as Vin Diesel. If they had a child I would probably look like him.

PERSONAL PROFILE

Mr. Robert Vicari has shown his dedication in improving the livelihood of schools for almost 30 years! Not only is he outgoing, highly personable, and fun but he also has allowed many great opportunities to come into the school among his arrival. He is very adaptable and willing to try new things. Mr. Vicari is also very dedicated to what he does and shows it through his engagement with the students and staff. In his personal life he also shares these ideals with his beautiful family!

DREAM VACATION?

Going to back to Italy to visit Venice and Naples. I also would go back to Croatia and Montenegro, which were surprisingly amazing.

WORDS OF WISDOM?

WHAT ACCOMPLISHMENT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

Work hard every single day.

A graduating class that I was principal of at Lakewood High School that had the most African-American kids in the nation graduating. There was even a PBS Special on this class called the “American Graduate”.

FAVORITE FOOD?

IF YOU GOT 1 MILLION DOLLARS WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

FAVORITE FOOD?

PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA?

FAVORITE SPORT AND TEAM?

Eggplant Parmesan.

Make sure that my family is completely taken care of.

Eggplant Parmesan.

I’m okay with it...Just take it in the other room.

Hockey and the Philadelphia Fliers.

countryside edition

Coloring inside the halls

This school year we have gained lots of updates to the school. On top of the new principal, painting parking spots, and new teachers, murals

have been added down some of the hallways! Before this school year, the halls were plain white and very dull. Now, with Mr. Vicari’s authority, teachers and students have begun to paint murals in several of the hallways, making

Kaleidoscoping down K-wing, Ms. Stoneburner painted a mural of over 100 languages all reading the same message, “we are one.”

our school more colorful. Throughout the year, the hallways will continue to be painted as murals are developed, giving much needed character and community to our school.

New faces of the school year

Countryside has many new teachers this year. All of these educators come from different backgrounds, but they share a common love for teaching and are excited to be apart of the Countryside Cougar family!

Meet Mrs. Trosio! She is teaching Marine Biology and Biology. Since she was in college, she realized that her passion for science in addition to her desire to help others would be perfect for a career in education.

“My teachers in high school inspired me because they always told me I was able to work

with others and this job is perfect for me!”

You might see Mrs. Trosio at Marine Biology Club because she will be the co-sponsor.

Next, we have Mrs. Kellers. This will be her first year teaching at Countryside, however she has been teaching for 25 years all over the state of Florida. She will be teaching Early Childhood Education and helping to promote the Florida Future Educators. She’s excited to watch her “students succeed!”

Mrs. Carmichael is one of the English Department’s new teachers. This year she will be teaching English ll and Reading. She began educating others at a young age. She said,

“When I was nine years old, I made my first five bucks teaching an adult Cuban nurse how to read English.”

Mrs. Carmichael has been teaching for 15 years and is excited to get back her “high school spirit” after teaching middle school.

Mrs. Gallina has also joined the English Department. One of her goals for this year is to help her students improve their skills in language arts. Her favorite part of Countryside so far is the overall school environment. “The staff has been welcoming and the students are really great,” she said. She is the co-chair of the Interact Club and she will be involved with the Creative Writing Club.

Flowing down F-wing, a blue whale inspired by Mrs. Ferreira is painted down the Marine science hall.

nydiaKUSHTA category editor

oliviaDYDZUHN business manager

Displayed in D-wing, various students and teachers have contributed to painting science related images, led by Ms. McGlamery.

Located in L-wing, Mrs. Walsh painted a mural encouraging students as they walk past it daily. Students have even decorated themselves by putting up sticky notes of things they believe they can accomplish.

Entering E-wing, Mrs. Anderson painted a plant cell including all of the parts ranging from a mitochondria to a chloroplast.

Cougar captain callout

oliviaDYDZUHN

staff writer

Cougar football kicked off over the summer and Countryside’s Varsity team has three games

already on the scoreboard. With three away games after the opening Friday at home, the next time they play at Countryside will be for Homecoming. Both Coach Schmitz and players

are excited for the upcoming season, improving their running and passing game, and focusing on keeping the defense off-balance.

“If each player executes their parts throughout the game then we can defeat the our opponents easily each week”

Sean likes to play football because of the rush he gets when the team wins.

He appreciates the input and help that the new DB coach has brought to the team.

“The team’s strength is in out defense because that’s where most of the team’s energy comes from.”

Overall, he just enjoys playing the game and wants to be able to play in college.

Damon likes the new coaches and feels confident about winning the Homecoming game.

“I enjoy working hard and playing hard for my team.” Mekhi has played for the Varsity team since his Sophomore year.

He says that he likes the new D-line coach and apreciates his contributions to the team and how he has made Mekhi’s own job easier.

Tik Tok takeover

starDOANE

Over the summer of 2019, a not so new app has regained popularity. Remember the countless days on Musical.ly spent trying to master transitions and perfect lip syncing to songs? In 2017 a Chinese company, Bytedance, bought out Musical.ly, and by the Fall of 2018 rebranded it as Tik Tok.

category editor taken the opportunity to go on tour and attend huge media events such as Vidcon, hosted annually in Southern California.

People redownloaded and revived the once loved Tik Tok to make fun of the cringey content being posted, and to make their own joking videos. However, this mockery changed as the app gained tons of popularity, creating a new “Vine”. People slowly got addicted, spending hours watching and creating TikToks. Videos content includes anything imaginable from dancing

The Git Up, Meeting Rebecca, storytime with @TaylorKornoely, and viral challenges.

With the app downloads surpassing YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, teenagers are now striving to become “TikTok famous”. The app has more than 500 million montly users and 29% of users open TikTok every day. Newly minted celebrity content creators have gained so much prominence that “TikTokers” have even

One of these rising celebrity stars walks the halls right here at Countryside. While only a sophomore Tik Tok sensation, @ KayliiCocio, has over 250k followers on Tik Tok and over 4 million likes. She created the famous dance to the song ‘Obsessed’ by Mariah Carey which is easily one of the most popular dances on Tik Tok with over 2.6 million videos under the song. Her video gained over 407,400 likes and 4,400 within a month; and the dance has gotten so popular that even Mariah Carey posted a video about the trend. Cocio never expected the dance to blow up. She even stated that she “didn’t like it at first”. The now viral dance Cocio posted was the first version she made saying, “I tried fixing it because I wasn’t the biggest fan of it but that ended up being the best version so I just posted that one.” It was obvious that everyone else agreed considering the success of the dance and overall growth of her account.

Kayli Cocio a student here at countryside, has gained some fame on the app TikTok over the summer.

Even Officer Comini’s daughter asked him to get Cocio’s autograph when she found out that Cocio went to her dad’s school.

Social media summer

Summer is the time for students to chill and relax. After studying hard and taking tests 180 days of the year, students can finally enjoy a break from school and the stress it carries.

Students and teachers alike take advantage of this time off to drive, cruise, and fly to new cities and create lasting memories. Even without leaving the state, Florida means easy access to the beach, historic towns, national parks, and

even a few theme parks. A few of Countryside’s cougars had an eventful summer 2019, exploring and traveling outside of state lines or even gaining a new passport pawprint when traveling out of the country.

PhotocreditNydiaKushtaandOfficerComini

If you described yourself as a food, how would you taste?