Issue 1 September 2017 by Panther Publications

ISSUE 1 VOLUME 66

SEPTEMBER 2017

De um Holl y Mills and Zach Byn

OMING NOMINEES HOMEC

sir ee C

orte s and Joel

ad yW all sa nd

Craig

o rt e i nk P han t E and Whitne y Crawford

Adr rk iann a Gutierrez and Evan Cla

An n

a Sch aar

STAFF

CONTENTS

Content Jordan Cornell Editor Design Kayli Marczynski Editor Photo Caitlyn Dunn Editor Copy Courtney Brown Editor Production Savannah Hidago Editor

Other staff

Hannah Berk Xochitl Lozano Temperance Campbell Jack McDaniel Briantae Crockett Karlee Olmstead Cydney Drees Camryn Pagels Jillian Jackson Jessica Perea Olivia Jones Summer Reece Regina Waugh Jacob Karsak Hailey Willson

Page 3: New lanyard rule put into place Page 4: A look into the new Student Court Page 5: New courses and new clubs introduced Page 6: Welcoming new students Page 7: School year resolutions Pages 8-9: Homecoming: Preparing for the dance Pages 10-11: Homecoming: Planning for the parade Pages 12-13: Fall sports: Looking forward Page 14: Retiring teachers: Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaving? Page 15: Editorial page: Our staffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opinions Name:

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3. someone from a country that's different than one's own 5. the Apple product all students at Derby High School are provided with 8. a form of therapy to help recovering patients get back on their feet 9. a platform mounted on a truck and carrying a display in a parade 11. the dance put on at Derby High that is taking place on Sept. 30 12. a decision to do or not to do something

1. a public procession, especially one celebrating a special day or event 2. a cord around the neck to hold an identification card 4 . a sport with two end zones, is played on a field, and it's scores are called 'touchdowns' 6. an imitation of the court of law by students 7. a method of meditation/relaxation where one does certain poses to relax 10. to leave one's job and cease to work, typically upon reaching the normal age for leaving employment

Cover designed by Kayli Marczynski and Chloe Brown Back cover designed by Camryn Pagels

Student ID required

Senior Whitney Crawford demonstraes wearing her ID with a different lanyard. Students are not required to keep the original green lanyard, as long as their ID is visible. Photo by Regina Waugh

IDs worn in variety of ways

Story by Jillian Jackson and Hailey Willson

he requirement of student identification cards caused controversy among students and staff at Derby High School. Derby High School has added a new rule to the rulebook -- it is now required that all students must wear a visible ID when inside the high school. “I don’t like the lanyards. They say we have to wear them all the time. I don’t want to wear them,” freshman Faith Abou-Faissal said. Many students have expressed their dislike of wearing the IDs for various reasons such as it doesn’t look good, it seems pointless to wear them and the fact that students don’t need them. “I feel like they’re ugly,” junior Bailey Devine said. Junior David Romo doesn’t mind the new rule. He has gotten used to it. “I don’t mind it actually. It makes you look like an actual high school student because other high schools wear lanyards and have to have their IDs on them,” Romo said. Freshman English teacher Ed Bel-

san is glad to have the new rule, which makes it easier for him to identify the students in the hallways. “Now I can just simply look at their ID and know,” he said. “I think this is going to make keeping the hallways civil and following up when students do something inappropriate … easier.” Assistant principal Travis Moore helped implement the recent ID rule. There are about 2,000 students at DHS, and the IDs help keep the school safe. The new rule also makes identifying who should be and who shouldn’t be at the high school easier. “We have had some breaches in the past with former students coming into our building,” Moore said. “As an administrator, you might glance over and think ‘oh yeah, they’re a senior this year,’ when actually they were a senior last year,” Moore said. ID cards can be replaced for $5. IDs are also required at the attendance of Derby High School dances and must be shown to any school personnel asking to see it.

Sophomore Aaron Stang models wearing his ID on his backpack. Students have found a loophole with the saying ‘you have to have your ID on you at all times’. Photo by Regina Waugh

Sophomore Jose Ayala models wearing his ID on his backpack. Photo by Regina Waugh

Fresh outta Macbooks Shortage of laptops for freshmen common Story by Camryn Pagels

“We get a forecast, and then we get more (students) than that thinking we have enough, but when you have 500-something students, it’s kind of like .... we didn’t have enough,” Chai Halverson said. Photos by Jack McDaniel

o an upperclassman, the larger-than-expected wave of incoming students may not seem like a big deal, but the freshmen are lacking in one resource that most of us take for granted -Apple MacBook laptops. At Derby High School, where many, if not most classes, require at least some use of these devices, rumors circulated that it was a major problem. There are 530 freshmen. “It’s something that happens every single year,” principal Tim Hamblin said. “Enrollment gets changed every year, computers get broken or aren’t returned.” He said the laptops that are supplied to the freshmen class every year are pulled from the previous year’s seniors. In addition, some MacBooks are sent to be repaired during the summer due to damages caused by students. “They’re slowly coming in,” assistant principal Jeromy Swearingen said. “Actually, we have all the laptops we need now. On the first day we did check-outs, Chai in tech-

nology already had ... quite a few of those MacBooks come in. Around 60 or 80, and that was just on the first day. Some laptops just didn’t have chargers either, so we had to wait for those before checking them in to freshmen.” Hamblin added: “So it’s a matter of the annual flexing of student enrollment. There’s also the matter of getting laptops checked back in at the end of the year. That’s why we do it the week before finals, because last year during finals, there were still about 200 laptops out.” Swearingen and Hamblin explained how they track down students that still have not turned in laptops. By the end of the school year, there are usually still some laptops that haven’t been returned. At that point, the police gets involved in retrieving the lost devices. “Some students think they’ll just be able to keep them,” Swearingen said with a laugh.

Student court arrives at Derby Class will allow students to participate in a court setting by judging their peers Story by Xochitl Lozano

t’s everyone’s worst nightmare -- getting judged by your peers. Don’t get in trouble then, or that’s exactly what will happen. Derby High School is now home to a sutdent court. Student court is a student-led court where, once a kid gets a written up by administration, the student has an option of being sent there for a trial. The requirements to be a part of the student court are to be in the sophomore class or older, have a GPA that is 3.5 or above, and have six or less absences in a school year. The students involved with court will get to act as all parts of a court: bailiff, judge, prosecutor, defense, jury, clerk and more. The prosecution will represent the school and the school rules while the defense defends what might have went wrong for the student in trouble or why that student feels misunderstood. Law teacher Thomas Brumbelow has high hopes for the class being student-led. “Hopefully they embrace kind of a peer-mentoring without it being called that, if you will,” Brumbelow said. Like any other court, the jury will get time to decide the punishment and the severity of it. Justice will always be served no matter what. “There’s always a punishment, though. A kid will never walk away from youth court without a restoration of consequence of some kind,” Brumbelow said. Brumbelow is in charge of the happenings of the new student court. Student court has been in the works since Brumbelow proposed this idea to principal Tim Hamblin three years ago when the law enforcement pathway was introduced. Since Brumbelow based the idea off Wichita East High School, he and

Hamblin have observed the way East does things. “East High is the great one. I’ve worked with East over the last couple of years, so we’ve been modeling a lot of it after what East High does,” Brumbelow said. Student court is directed towards students who are going down the law and justice route. “This class will look good to colleges. And I want to go into law enforcement, then become a lawyer, and then work my way up to be a judge,” junior Lilith Krayer said. Junior Payton O’Brien feels the same way. “I feel this class will really help me figure out my career path, especially since I want to go into prosecution,” O’Brien said. The class has yet to have their first trial, but they are expecting it in beginning or the middle of October. Right now, Brumbelow has been preparing his students for that day. “Mr. Brumbelow is helping us prepare to hear cases of students and give reasonable punishments,” Krayer said. Brumbelow has his students going through mock trials and taking bar exams that will show him how prepared they are for the actual trial. He wants to make sure the students are comfortable with the content and environment. “Brumbelow actually makes me feel less nervous about running through trials,” O’Brien said. “He makes sure that we all feel ready and prepared, and I personally feel less stressed about the class.”. He also is sure the students will have a great time and learn a lot. “They’re excited for it. It’s a big responsibility; they’re nervous as anybody will be. They’ll be fine,” Brumbelow said.

Sophmore Jaylin Kennedy becomes a judge for one of these few mock trials.

Fun Fact: It takes six years to graduate with a law degree.

Junior Danielle Milligan, junior Alyssa Randolph, and senior Tanner Keene make up the jury in a mock trial in student court.

JuniorsPayton PaytonO’Brien O’Brienand andChalon ChalonDuft Duft Juniors discuss matters during their mock trial. Designed by Jordan Cornell & Caitlyn Dunn

New Classes, New Opportunities Story by Jordan Cornell and Hailey Willson

everal new classes were offered this year, and many bring exciting opportunities for DHS students. “If you have an idea of what you might want to do, and one of these classes or pathways fit into your ideas, you need to at least try the introductory classes,” sophomore counselor Joaquin Zapata. One of the new classes is Physical Therapy, which is taught by Dawn Bankston. Junior Britney Bayer enrolled in this class to begin the path to her future. “This class benefits me because I’m wanting to go into that field when I get out of college,” Bayer said. Physical Therapy not only educates students on the practice of physical therapy, but also teaches them people skills that will be important in their career. The students learn how to make patients feel comfortable while assisting with

their therapy. Those with a passion to help others heal have found the class interesting and educational. “I love the class. I’ve learned so much already in the first few weeks,” Bayer said. Bankston said she presented the idea of the class to the school board for approval. “This course gives students the opportunity to discover what their possible career could look like in the future and what kind of skills that will be required,” Bankston said. Another new class is Honors Spanish 1/2 compacted. Sophomore Anastasia Likiardopoulos is excited about earning her credits quicker. “It benefits me by giving me a nice challenge and getting two credits for the time of one,” Likiardopoulos said.

What is a Pathway? Q&A with assistant principal Alison Strecker Q: How are a group of classes classified as a pathway? A: “The state of Kansas has specific outlines and sort of like a template for us to look at with introductory level classes and then technical level classes and application level classes. And in order to have a pathway at your class you have to have an introduction class, a technical class and an application class.” Q: What are the new pathway

classes that are being offered here? A: “Creative and Practical Computing, Physical Therapy, Biomedical Innovations, Baking and Pastry, Law and Order and Public Safety” 2. Those are all new pathway classes this year.” Q: How do you think each of these pathways will be beneficial to students? A: “Each pathway teaches kids the skills and knowledge that they need

for careers in that area .... And they’re learning things that a lot of people learn in the job or in college so they’re getting kind of a jumpstart and more specialized instruction in a certain area. The pathway classes give kids a great opportunity to see if a career in that pathway would really be something they would like.”

- Courtney Brown

Students solidify futures through pathways New pathways offer students in depth look into future potentiental careers Story by Courtney Brown

chool classes and pathways become part of the past after high school graduation, but for some students, those same classes resonate deep into their future as it influences their choices for colleges and careers. Senior Logan Cannady is taking the new class Biomedical Innovation after completing the first three classes. Through the pathway, he has discovered what career he would like to pursue. He now wants to become a radiologist — a future he feels more prepared for after taking the biomedical pathway. “It allowed me to study different jobs in the medical field and do experiments and lab work, DNA testing and drug testing,” Cannady said.

Learning research techniques and building upon the skills they have previously learned, students in Biomedical Innovation complete a yearlong project. For senior Chris Whalen, his project will help him learn more in-depth information about being a nurse. “My yearlong project is going to be shadowing a nurse anesthetist,” Whalen said. “And then I’m going to try to find something within that specific job that is difficult and try to find something that would help benefit anesthetists in the future to make their job a little bit easier.” Senior Evan Clark has also completed a whole pathway — engineering. Engineering Design and Development, a new class in the engineering pathway, was

added this year. Although the inventing process can be difficult, taking engineering has reinvented his desire to pursue it as a career. “I didn’t know what I wanted to go into -- science or engineering,” Clark said. “But since it’s so much fun and you actually get to collaborate with other people and make something, I think it’s influenced me to go into engineering even more.” Senior Shay Glenn is also taking Engineering Design and Development his final year of high school, but his passion lies with computer science. The Pre-AP Computer Science class offered in 2016-17 has expanded into a new pathway, including Computer Science Essentials and AP Computer Science. “AP Computer Science really helped me

kind of get out that I really enjoy computer science and programming and all of that,” Glenn said. “It definitely pushed me to decide to go through with that for college.” Besides helping narrow down career choices, the Project Lead the Way pathways are now working with the College Board to form a new offer for students who have taken one of their pathways and AP exams. “We are learning techniques and learning vocabulary and learning procedures that we won’t use again until our junior year in college,” Whalen said. “We are learning things that are way ahead of people who are going into those programs, and it gives us a great head start.”

Nuevo, Neu, Nový

Gardening club established

Foreign exchange students talk about difference between home, Derby Story by Xochitl Lozano

Story by Karlee Olmstead

G Sofiyia Pastukhova Hanna Wendt

Gemma Mani

Franziska Gerstmayr

o doubt that being from a new place means being more aware of the differences between the place you are from and the place you are at now. Foreign exchange students are the most aware of this. Ever wondered how Germany and Ukraine differ from Derby? Seniors Hanna Wendt and Sofiyia Pastukhova shared their insight. The first thing that Wendt noticed about America was the size. “Everything is bigger,” she said. She noticed that in her home country of Germany, the grocery stores and the food, including the portions, were smaller compared to the United States. Pastukhova explained that she does not like some of the food here. “I don’t like white bread. A lot of the food has a lot of grease,” Pastukhova said. She is from the Ukraine and prefers the homecooked meals her host mother. Wendt and Pastukhova had the same thing to say about the way friendships form here compared to their home countries. “In Germany, friends is when you really know each other… and here you say hello to each other and that’s friends,” Wendt said. Both find that the language difference does affect the way they make friends. Pastukhova said some of the slang and terminology can be hard to understand, but she can deal with the small talk. Wendt also finds the hobbies are different, such as the fact there is no American football in Europe. There is a lot of differences when comparing the schools from Germany and Ukraine. One of the major differences to Wendt was the computers. “Computers are a private thing. We cannot use that in school; we have books and paper. Pretty old school,” Wendt said. Teachers and their style of teaching were also noticeably different to Pastukhova. “They make themselves much more approachable,” Pastukhova said. She clarified that it depends on the teacher, but teachers here are usually more interactive.

*New in Spainish, German and Ukrainian

ot a green thumb or are desperate for some mind-calming yoga? There’s new clubs just for you. “Clubs give me more things to do and make me feel busy,” sophomore Maddy Welch said. Yoga club is led by teacher Molly Kysar, who recently became a certified yoga instructor. “I think there are so many benefits from doing yoga with mental and physical health,” she said. “I thought it would be a good thing to give the students of DHS an opportunity to try yoga.” The first meeting for yoga club is at 3:15 on Oct. 16 in D-7. Anyone is welcome; just show up to one of the meetings. Meetings could be as often as every other week, if it ends up working for the members. Gardening club is a way for students to get in touch with their inner green thumb. Gardening club is sponsored by Sara Pound in B-4. Students helped Pound come up with the idea to start gardening club after they did a botany unit in Biology class. “I was in science and this girl who sat in front of me was talking about it and asked if I would help her and start it,” junior Sydney Smith said. Around 30 students have shown interest in joining the club. “The whole gardening club idea was built by students Karina Salinas and Sydney Smith. They already had club plans and just needed a teacher to sponsor it,” Pound said. The first meeting was Sept. 20 during homeroom. The club plans to meet the third Wednesday of every month.

Yoga: Oct. 15 after school in room D-7 Gardening: every third Wednesday of the month during homeroom in B-4 Designed by Regina Waugh

Freshman Logan Eickleman tosses the ball back in from outfield. Photo by Kayli Marczynski Derby attempts to block an extra point kick. Photo by Summer Reece

After throwing the ball, junior Hailey Vinroe readies to complete her serve. Photo by Courney Brown

Gracyn Reynolds , Sydney Nilles, Macie Edigar, Kennedy Brown, Bree Westbrook and Jalen Keener celebrate after scoring a point. Photo by Jillian Jackson

Elijah Trempy runs to the finish line at a cross country meet. Photo by Jack McDaniel

Homecoming Gameplan Student Council plans retro video game-themed homecoming Story by Courtney Brown

ith the 10 homecoming royalty candidates waiting for results and Friday football games now a regular pastime, students can tell that the homecoming dance is almost here. In Student Council, different committees focus on a certain task, ready to piece the puzzle back together during the week of homecoming. There are five committees ready to make the most of “Retro Video Games” theme: Homecoming Dance, Royalty, Parade, Spirit Week and Publicity. “My favorite part is all the aspects of the different committees, and all the kids that can be involved,” junior class vice president Erin Kooser said. Junior Teagan Brown chaired the new Publicity Committee, which was responsible for advertising the homecoming events. “Our intention is for committees to give them their information so that they can kind of do a coordinated effort to get their information out to the students,” STUCO sponsor Sara Wilson said. The committee made posters and used social media to spread the news about the homecoming dance, with some “having different video game characters” on the posters, according to Brown. The other committees prepared for the actual event. Junior class treasurer Dani Conaway led the Spirit Week Committee, which was charged with creating five dress-up days to lead into the homecoming dance. The committee incorporated the Retro Video Game theme into some Spirit Days, including Dress as a Video

Game Character. “That’s just because if they’re already dressed up, then they’re more likely to come walk with us in the parade,” Conaway said. “We also have Eighties Day, too, to also represent the retro-ness of the video games.” Just like Spirit Week hoped to spark school spirit, the Parade Committee wanted to involve more of the school and community. As committee chair, senior executive secretary Emily Hightower was in charge of organizing the parade floats and spreading the news that the parade is back on the streets. The committee also found judges willing to vote on the best parade float. The 10 candidates will line up on the football field, waiting expectantly until a glittering tiara is placed on the homecoming queen’s head. That piece of jewelry, along with the smaller tiaras for the queen nominees, the medallions for the king nominees, the flowers and the entire coronation, are details that the Royalty Committee took care of. Kooser was chair of this committee, and although glad for the experience, was surprised at the responsibility she had. “The amount of work that I had to do as a chairperson kind of was a shock because I didn’t know how much would have to go into organizing the royalty,” Kooser said At the first meeting, she showed the committee different tiaras that Student Council could purchase for the homecoming queen. After a vote, they chose a tiara with a heart on it symbolic for this year’s theme.

Homecoming Royalty Committee looks at options for crowns and medals. Photo by Hannah Berk “They were like ‘that kind of represents video games when you die and have lives of a heart’ and I was like, ‘oh, that’s interesting; I never thought of that’,” Kooser said. Following the coronation, students can join the homecoming queen and king in attending the homecoming dance on Saturday in the commons. “The fact that it’s based off of classic games such as Super Mario Bros and Pac Man means most kids can find some enjoyment in the theme,” senior executive president Whitney Crawford said. Crawford chaired the Homecoming Dance Committee, which handled the decorations and tickets for the dance. They even designed the tickets themselves. As the commons is transformed for the dance and students can finally arrive to have a good time, the last piece of

the homecoming puzzle will fall in place a puzzle that Student Council hopes will form a picture of fun times and lasting memories. “To see the dance on Saturday will be kind of a relief to see what we could put on for the students to enjoy,” Kooser said. “That’s my favorite part — to know that we’re doing something fun and good for the students of Derby.”

Spirit Week

Monday: Pajama day Tuesday: 80’s day Wednesday: Meme day Thursday: Video game character day Friday: Extreme Green day

Prepping makes Perfect Story by Cydney Drees Junior Erin Kooser presents information about homecoming royalty in the past to committee members. Photo by Hannah Berk

oys put on suspenders, girls slip on their heels. Or do they? The homecoming dance is Sept. 30 starting at 8 p.m, which is also when the royalty will be introduced and shown off to the crowd. Students will dance ‘till they drop. In the weeks before, students shopped for the perfect outfit to wear. Many girls go to several shops before finding the right dress. Some borrow dresses from friends. The majority of boys use suits they already have. Everyone has different routines when getting ready for a dance. Some people put hours in getting ready, and some don’t. “Well, I have a volleyball tournament, so after that I’ll be going home and slipping on my dress … going to homecoming and partying,” 15-year-old Emrey Anderson

said. Anderson will have about an hour to get ready. She even considered wearing Nike shorts and a t-shirt because of how little time she has. But she decided against it. “I mean, I guess I get up, eat and shower and then like 20 minutes before I get dressed,” sophomore Jacob Cathcart said. Cathcart went to homecoming last year and plans on procrastinating as long as he can to get ready again. Others don’t care so much about the preparation part but more about the dancing. “I’m just ready to get litty on the dance floor,” junior Tatum Haney said.

Past HoCo Queens and Kings: 2016: Alexis Palmer, Dakota Taylor 2015: Rheagen King, Liam Ormiston

620 N Baltimore Ave, Derby, KS 67037

(316) 351-5904

Parading back into old traditions Derby brings back it’s tradition of hosting a homecoming parade Story by Camryn Pagels

omecoming preparation doesn’t stop at the dance itself. One of the most popular events during this pride-filled week is the homecoming parade, which takes weeks of work and planning to create. Students from each class are invited to help design and construct a float based on the theme. This year’s theme? Retro video games. We asked Student Council members to fill us in on what to expect at this year’s parade. “The biggest thing (we’re changing) is our parade, because last year our parade was on the track on Friday afternoon,” Student Council sponsor Sara Wilson said. “And this year we’re going back to the model that we’ve used previously, where the parade will be on the streets.” The parade was held on the DHS track field last year due to potential safety hazards. “The administration was concerned about someone getting hit or getting a foot run over by a float, which is obviously something that can happen if we aren’t careful, but we hope we have enough safeguards in place,” Wilson said. Students are encouraged to enjoy the parade from a safe distance and avoid approaching floats that are in motion. Some students, however, will be marching proudly alongside their creations as part of the festivities. Each class has chosen a video game to base their float around, and any clubs or organizations are free to interpret the

theme as they wish and implement it into their designs. Senior Emily Hightower, executive secretary and chair of the parade committee, is hoping to get a variety of people from our community involved. “This year, I know we are trying to get every school in the district to be in the parade, or at least more than there were last year,” Hightower said. “... I’m hoping to get as many as I can without people forgetting about it, because it hasn’t been a thing for so long.” The amount of guests at last year’s parade were comparably lower than usual -- but Student Council aims to jump in stronger than ever before. Hightower anticipates dozens of participants in the parade itself. “We already have a lot of different elementary school groups and organizations emailing us, and me and Mrs. Wilson both are receiving emails from groups and organizations from around the city.” Student Council members enjoy providing the school with this event for a variety of reasons “I think it’s a good opportunity for families to enjoy a parade because parades get people involved in the community and people get to see different organizations that they might not see in an everyday basis,” Hightower said. The parade is scheduled to begin on Westview Drive, then turn left and eventually loop back around to Bulldog Drive by Derby Middle School.

The parade starts at this intersection and follows a six-block path back to the former Sixth Grade Center. Photo by Jordan Cornell

The route for the parade on Sept. 28 spans six blocks. Courtesy photo

Floats set to highlight parade

Story by Xochitl Lozano It’s September, and everyone knows what that means. The wild homecoming dance, the roaring homecoming game, pride week and don’t forget the parade. What else is missing? Yup, it is the homecoming floats. Though it is not as lavish as the dance or the game, the homecoming parade can be just as fun and entertaining. The parade kicks off Thursday at 6 p.m. All four classes, clubs, and community clubs if they so choose to do, participate in creating floats based off the theme chosen that year and present them during the homecoming parade. “We have a theme in mind and we design a float that would best reflect that theme the most creatively and efficiently,” senior executive president Whitney Crawford said. Judges then pick the float that looked and was presented best. The festivities include tossing candy. The parade begins on Westward Drive, and heads up Market Street to Georgie Avenue, where it will go down Madison Avenue and end at Bulldog Drive. The parade committee works hard behind the scenes to organize the homecoming parade. “They are working on things like getting judges for the parade, organizing the lineup, and other things that need done for the parade in general,” student council sponsor Sara Wilson said. The classes and clubs work on

their own time to plan and design. This can be done during advisory. “There are several meetings of individual classes to work on preparations for their floats,” Wilson said. The class officers usually take charge at these meetings and moderate the conversation, making a lot of what happens up to the students themselves.

These meetings are usually filled with a lot of ideas being thrown out and a lot of erasing and writing. The older grade classes usually share experiences from previous years to see what can be changed. Freshman usually draw their ideas from what they have seen or heard. During the sophomore float meeting, stuff like the color scheme

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and student roles on the float were discussed. During the freshman meeting, the background and colors were discussed. Each of these meetings were controlled by the students. “The best thing about coming up with float ideas are the fact that it can come true. Even absurd ideas can actually be a possibility because everyone contributes to the idea to make it a reality and a pleasure,” sophomore Alex Le said. On Thursday, the participants of the float building get the whole school day to go on-site to the bus barn, where all the floats arehoused, to build up their design. “Students that are working on the float that day are either working nonstop to finish or improve the float or providing the group with some fun to keep spirits up,” Crawford said. Even though the homecoming parade isn’t as widely talked about as the homecoming dance, the planning and the presentation is stressful. The homecoming parade has always been fun for students to participate in and to watch it take place. “This year will most definitely be different from last year because more people are contributing,” Le said.

Bidding farewell to retiring teachers Buzzi and Unkel to say goodbye to Derby High School Story by Briantae Crockett

iana Unkel, who started teaching in 1975, is the piano teacher at Derby High and also teaches voice lessons. “This is my sixth year with (choir teacher Tyler) Morris, he’s like my son. We’re very close -- we’re like a duo,” Unkel said. Morris shared his own feelings about Unkel’s retirement. “It makes me very sad,” Morris said. “We’ve been together for six years now. We work very well together and we are friends outside of school. She can read my mind. Before I can think of it -- she’s ready.” Robert Buzzi, a history teacher, is also retiring after this year. He has taught for 28 years. Buzzi loves the fundraiser “Teacher Turkey,” which has been around since the time he started at Derby High. “It is great for district families in need during Thanksgiving. It was started by (Student Council). I have won at least four years in a row, and I plan on winning one final time,” Buzzi said. Robert also coached wrestling for 11 years. “Being around kids, I love history, it’s real easy,” Buzzi said about his favorite parts of teaching. “I like interacting with kids, I’ve never had a problem with students since I’ve been teaching.” He says he will miss the kids he has worked with, and that they have kept him on his toes. He will also miss his peers that he has worked with. Robert reveals that before he started teaching, he worked in lawn care. “I did that for eight years and I decided that I was tired of working for other people, and that I better get an education. Got to college, finished my degree, and here I am,” Buzzi said.

Students share school year resolutions Story by Briantae Crockett

Students in Madrigals rehearse as Diana Unkel plays her piano. Photo By Kayli Marczynski

Robert Buzzi has taught at Derby High for 28 years and is leaving to enjoy retirement. Photo by Kayli Marczynski

t’s a new school year, and Derby High School students have set goals and are looking forward to the future. “I want to get straight A’s,” sophomore Kaitlyn Wharton said. “I try so hard. I want to try to get more involved -- besides choir -- and making better friends that I can trust.” Of course, like anything else, it takes time, patience and motivation to set a goal. Wharton explains how she plans on achieving her goals. “The straight A’s comes with studying a lot, which I’m not good at, but I’m going to learn how to do it. With making new friends, you have to try. I was really quiet last year,” Wharton said. Sophomore Hannah Sanders and junior Danielle De Bruyn also share their goals. “I want to get good grades. Last year didn’t go so good,” Sanders said. “To not miss as much school as I did last year and to make more friends.” “I’ll achieve these goals by -- doing my homework early, studying more. Getting up and telling myself ‘I have to go today’. And making new friends -- you just have to talk to somebody. It’s not that hard,” Sanders said. De Bruyn has a few goals in mind as well. “This year, I plan on being more committed to doing my work, instead of procrastinating all the time. I will also commit to getting my grades up and being organized,” De Bruyn said. Making friends and creating friendships is important in high school. You learn a lot from those experiences. The memories will be with you forever. Friendships come and go, you learn about who you are as a person. “It’s hard, but since I’ve been through it all my life, I just kind of know now. True friends don’t put me down,” Wharton said about losing her friends. Wharton goes on to talk about how getting good grades will help you in the future. “Getting good grades definitely helps in college. It’s about your work ethic,” Wharton said. De Bruyn added: “I will achieve these goals by getting my work done as soon as possible, putting it in my agenda so I don’t forget.”

Design by Savannah Hidalgo

Editorial Page Task-switching sadly lessens concentration skills in students

What a difference a Seventeen things still school year makes to do --- really, it’s not about you reshman to sophmore year.

hen I first realized that Google on the computer tab as their new message Hangout Chats had been blocked popped up in Google Hangouts. on the school computers, I’ll admit, Studies say that movement catches the I panicked. eye. They weren’t wrong. I had multiple chats that I used quite But Google Hangouts isn’t the only danfrequently my freshman year, and it was ger—the whole Internet is. pretty sad to think that I wouldn’t have After my English teacher assigned my such easy class an assignment to communiread an article called, cation with “Is Google Making my friends Us Stupid?” my anymore. opinion about Google Yes, there Hangouts was solidwas still ified. In the article, texting, but author Nicholas Carr it just didn’t discusses how the seem as easy Internet is designed as getting on to keep people’s atmy laptop tention span short. and surfing With hyperlinks the web, for and easy access to homework or articles, Internet users pleasure — can jump from article well, in my to article, skimming a case, usually paragraph or two but homework not really absorbing — while the content or taking chatting my time to think about friends at the what it means. Over same time. time, this lessens Copy editor Courtney Brown I didn’t people’s ability to concentrate used to do that. Reand think more deeply. ality 101 had played a video warning our That’s a tragedy. Losing the ability to class against the dangers of task-switching, focus, to actually think about wonderful when your brain constantly switches back pieces of literature and their meaning. and forth between two or more tasks, While it was great being able to talk saying that it lowers focus. with friends on Google Hangouts, and a I have to agree with the video. I knew part of me still misses it, I now realize it’s it from the start, but once I had caved in, actually good that Google Hangouts is it was too late. I kept on telling myself it gone. I’m able to concentrate on homework was bad, but— easier without being able to chat directly Beep. from the computer. That nagging notification got my Maybe that was a part of the technoloattention every time. gy department’s decision to block it. So then I turned it off. -- Courtney Brown But. . . My friends’ names would still appear

Whew. Sophomore year has only just started, but I already can see the difference in both years. The beginning of freshman year was so much more slow-paced, and I was getting used to the change in scenery. I was learning my way around the school and making new friends. It was all very confusing. Instead of having all my classes in one day, they were split up into two. The halls were always so packed, and I had trouble getting class to class. After a while I did get used to the change and getting around the high school became second nature. Last school year also gave me more free time. I had more time to hang with my friends and do whatever I wanted to do. But the beginning of sophomore year was much different. I had homework on the first day, and I had no time to adjust to coming back to school. But on the down-side I have a great deal of homework, more than last year. Organization is key for this school year. I didn’t need much time to figure out where my new classes were because I knew where all the halls were located. And memorizing my schedule was a piece of cake. I finally got to drive to school instead of having my mom take me every day. And I got more involved in school and made new friends. Sophomore year is a lot more stressful but I feel more independent. And I can only image how different my junior year will be. -- Cydney Drees

T yet.

oo many tests. Too much homework. Work, family, newspaper, extracurriculars. Sports. Extended family. Friends. Money. Broken phones. Volunteering. Everyone needs something from me. I just want to watch Netflix. But there’s 17 things I haven’t done

I have not done any of the things I need to get done because I cannot stop thinking about the stuff that I need to get done. I have had a headache for the past month, and it doesn’t seem like it is going to let up anytime soon. I was studying for a test this morning, and every time I went through the set of notecards and got over half right, I got to close my eyes and take a power nap. That is sad when that is the highlight of your day. I have never been so tired in my life. I look forward to the days when I get over six hours of sleep without being interrupted. My eyes are permanently droopy and have bags under them. I feel as if everyone is wanting a piece of me and there is nothing left for myself. Everyone is tearing me apart little by little, and I am going to break into a bunch tiny pieces. Where is the time for myself ? When am I going to get a day off? Why was I crying about having ranch potatoes at lunch? It wasn’t about the potatoes, Brenda. Next time I don’t answer your text on time or when I look particularly stressed maybe it’s just the 17 things that I have not done Really. It’s not about you. -- Savannah Hildago