Charlie hebdo
The Booster Redux Pittsburg High School 1978 E. 4th Street Pittsburg, KS 66762 Vol. 98, Issue 6 www.boosterredux.com
Opposing viewpoints over satirical cartoons
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Survivors’ story Herzog, Newcomer, bell reflect on car accident Page 5D
dedicated: kyle smith Smith takes advantage of offseason opportunities Page 7D
Friday, Jan. 30, 2015
tackling more than the stage Theatre students put in time for upcoming performance JOSHUA LEE @iAmTheJoshLee
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fter many hours of practice and work, junior Will Jewett will be standing on the stage in front of an applauding audience at the end of a musical performance. “It’s just that feeling when you’re on stage, and you know everybody is watching. It feels good,” Jewett said. With an upcoming performance of the musical “Guys and Dolls,” thespians have been rehearsing after school, on weekends and sometimes over school breaks to prepare for the production. The thespians rehearse every day after school from three to six, and many thespians spend their own time after school to prepare for the performance. “We casted right after we finished our last musical, “Loserville,” and ever since then I’ve been in the book, memorizing lines, researching Sky Masterson, the character I play,” Jewett said. But as with all musicals, lines and acting aren’t all that goes into a production. “We’ve had our choreographers come down, Mollie and Maggie Stevens, to teach everyone the choreography for all the big production numbers,” Jewett said. “We had a unique way of learning our dances, because over Christmas break, Mollie and Maggie would come down, because that was when they were most available. We would go in for a whole day, from nine to five, and learn a few dances. We’d come in the next day and learn some more, and the next day to learn some more.” With all of the time being put in to the production, however, some students have had difficulty balancing their time with other activities they are involved in. Theater director Greg Shaw has already had to make a few sacrifices because of the thespians’ involvement in other activities. “Obviously, we’re sensitive to any time there is another competition or another event going
Performing on stage, junior Will Jewett poses in his costume during the previous musical “Loserville”. Jewett was also cast in the upcoming performance of the musical “Guys and Dolls” that will be Feb. 11-14. PHOTO BY MADDY EMERSON
on, and we’ll take a step back,” musical rehearsal and then dance Shaw said. “But, we’re getting [at the YMCA] is from seven to close to that time where for the last nine, so I get an hour for dinner two weeks before our show, I really break,” Jewett said. want everyone to make our show In addition to dancing some as much of a priority as humanly nights, Jewett coaches gymnastics possible, because it’s push time.” other nights at the YMCA, meaning And with the date of the that his weeknights are completely performance occupied.. approaching, However, Jewett has even with been spending a minimal much of his amount of free own time time to spend, preparing for Jewett doesn’t the production. mind all of the “Personally, hard work. I spend time “It’s really on weekends fun, and I with lines and definitely don’t dances, just mind all of the because that’s time this all when I have takes because the most free it’s all definitely time,” Jewett worth it in the - WILL JEWETT said. end,” Jewett With all of said. the activities that Jewett is involved Jewett is not the only member of in, it makes sense that he only has the theater program spending time time on the weekends to put in and work into something that is work for the musical. important to the performer. As a member of the National Junior Ethan Ortiz is also a Honor Society, student government, member of the theater program, but theater, encore, dance, gymnastics, works behind the scenes to make and tennis, Jewett has to plan out sure that the shows run smoothly. his daily schedule to make it all Part of the tech crew, Ortiz works work out. outside of school to make sure that “My schedule is set up to where the set and the stage transitions run right after school to six is for smoothly.
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It’s also always rewarding to get the applause, of course, but also to know that you’ve left people walking away with a certain feeling and impression.
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pilot program perfecting technology for chromebooks New computers issued as science, English departments test out Google Chromebooks KATY BROWN @katylady22
A Hunting In depth look at Hunting and how it works Page 8D
s technology is being implemented into the classroom, an update is needed. The school is striving to put a new learning technique into place with the trial of Chromebooks. The test period for Chromebooks is being tested by four teachers, science teachers Mary Packard and Stuart Perez, social science teacher Gary Wolgamott and English teacher Kristy Uttley. These teachers are working the problems out with the Chromebooks in their own classroom to make it simpler for their students in the next school year. “I think the pilot is going well. The whole purpose of it is to see what kind of stress the Chromebooks are going to put on the system and work that out with only [four] teachers as opposed to seventy teachers,” said Uttley. Uttley also believes that using the Chromebooks is going to be helpful for students. “I think the students benefit so much from the addition of being able to incorporate videos and music and research on the internet into classic literature that it just makes it so much better,” Uttley said. Although more technology is being
implemented, most teachers are hoping to use it as a device to help teach, rather than teach only through technology. “Technology is a supplement, it’s not a method of teaching, but it’s supplemental to teaching. It’s a tool,” Perez said. The Chromebooks are still in the pilot study, but seem to be working out well, according to students and teachers. “I think they’ve been used to the best of what we have so far, but they’re still in the testing stage,” sophomore Karis Mengarelli said. The Chromebooks introduce more ways to learn as well. Usually students learn through lectures, taking notes and with worksheets but there are more ways with Chromebooks. “It allows the student different modes of gaining information, other than just hearing it or having to write it down,” Perez said. This program may continue into next year, when each student would have their own Chromebook they could take outside of school. The feedback to this is positive. “I think it would give students more access to technology and be able to learn better and take school outside of school,” Mengarelli said.
“This year, we’ve had to tear down the set for ‘Loserville’ and start building the set for ‘Guys and Dolls’ immediately,” Ortiz said. Because members of the tech crews cannot work on the stage and the sets during rehearsals, they have to work from six to nine during school nights. “We’re staying with the thespians during their rehearsals to run the stage now that we’re two weeks away from the musical, and we’re staying after to build and work on the sets,” Ortiz said. “We’re almost done, but we still have a lot to work on.” With over ninety students involved in the production, the musical brings all those involved together through all the work involved. “It is a lot of time and a lot of work, but it doesn’t feel like that when we’re all together as a group having fun,” Jewett said. “It’s also always rewarding to get the applause, of course, but also to know that you’ve left people walking away with a certain feeling and impression. With a social issues play, you’ll leave people thinking, and with an upbeat musical, you’ll leave them happy. It’s always a good feeling.” The musical will be performed on Feb. 11-14 at 7 p.m., with an additional performance at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14.
new policies implemented for current semester Garzone, Kidd supportive of new tardy, grade policies JOSHUA LEE @iAmTheJoshLee
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he new 6, 9, 12 and 1, 3, 5 rules are part of a new policy that is in place this semester, and they are here to stay. According to Assistant Principal Chris Garzone, the tardy policy was implemented because of the excess amount of student tardies that were being reported. A sixth tardy will earn a student one In School Suspension (ISS), a ninth tardy will earn a student three in-school suspensions and a twelfth tardy will earn a student five in-school suspensions. Up until the beginning of this semester, the policy involved either Friday Night Schools (FNS) or lunch detentions as consequences for tardiness. But with the implementation of the new policy, Garzone hopes for the best. “The overall goal is to get kids to class on time. [This allows] teachers to get class started on time and use all the minutes possible for the academics,” Garzone said. However, the new tardiness policy is not necessarily permanent at this point. “We have not officially adopted this, but we are piloting this,” Garzone said. “And the reason that we are doing this is because we had close to nine hundred tardies last semester, and we were looking for ways to try to decrease that number.” Garzone believes that this system has been working well so far. “I have seen a decrease so far in the number of tardies, and mainly for the kids who are habitually tardy, I have seen [the number of tardies] decrease,” Garzone said. This policy for tardiness is not the only one that is new to students this semester. In addition to the tardy policy, an academic grade policy was adopted at the beginning
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