2021 October - Fairbury High School BLAZER

Page 1

Volume 67 • Issue 1 October 8, 2021

RETURN OF THE STUDENT SECTION

Fairbury High School 1501 9th Street Fairbury, NE 68352 Non-Profit Organization Permit #64

WWW. FHSXRAY. COM

Graduates Fight Fires PAGE 4

Exchange Students PAGE 8

Sports Injuries PAGE 11


2 Opinion/Editorial

10.8.21

Layout by: Aloe Richie

All activities are treated equal, right?

As humans, it is in our nature to want to feel acknowledged. When we are working so hard to get any type of recognition and not receiving any, it can make us feel discouraged. Throughout high school, I have done golf, swim and journalism. In all three of those categories I have rarely been recognized by our administrators, and I am not the only one speaking on this matter either. Many of my fellow classmates have expressed they’re hurt from not receiving recognition for their work. I have heard speech, band, other organizations and many of my teammates state they have received the smallest bit of acknowledgement, or none at all, from the school.

When walking into a volleyball, softball, football, et al, games one of the first things noticed is the administration standing and watching the game. At our home golf invite, I saw our activities director a few times throughout the day. That’s more than I saw at any of our swim meets last year. When I look at Twitter, I find dozens of tweets about how each sports game is going, but last year when the girls swim team won conference we got one tweet that stated, “Kwena just reminded me that BNFF Swim & Dive were RCC CHAMPS today!” What was left out was that this was the first time since 2003, a few swimmers qualified for state that day, and many improved their statequalifying times. Journalism spends many hours each week working to successfully print the Blazer, the X-Ray and the Trail. On top of that, we are constantly devoting our time to go take pictures and create everything to the best of our abilities. Every year we deliver a convocation for our yearbook that we spend hours developing during

school and even during nights preparing, yet this is not talked about. This is not meant to hurt the school in any way, it is meant to bring awareness to the matter in hopes that the school will take this into consideration and try to do better in the future. I understand swim is in Beatrice and it can be hard to make the drive and golf is during school hours so it’s impossible for everyone to be there. I don’t expect the administration to be at every event, but it doesn’t take much to send out a tweet or retweet a coach to let everyone know what is going on. As the school year goes on, I just hope there will be equality between each sport, activity, etc. I hope every person reading this really takes in what I am saying. It is not just me who feels this way, so when you see someone who has a meet/game coming up, wish them luck, or if someone got a PR or won a game, congratulate them. Hopefully, this will create a more inclusive environment for students and athletes.

Be careful when using confidence I believe that confidence is an important factor in anything you do and can really take you a far way with just a little. On the other hand, with too much confidence there can be negative repercussions. I am of course talking about the fact that sometimes problems will be ignored, major problems that won’t be going away anytime soon. With too much confidence people might stop giving effort, believing that they are already the best and don’t even need to practice to improve. This is a terrible mindset for many different reasons. For one, when someone is on the top there are always people that are down below that are giving their best efforts to improve and rise to the top. When we don’t try simply because we are already the best at something then there is a strong chance for a loss to placement.

Another thing is ignoring problems and choosing not to work on them because we are doing good in other factors. While in one factor of an activity, you may be the best at it, but in others you may be lacking. This is of course fine as we cannot always be perfect, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to improve our faults. Ignoring them is just going to cause problems in the long run, and while you may be the best in one area or factor, not working on your more problematic areas is going to cause more problems. At the end of the day, confidence is a lot like sugar. With just a bit of it you can make everything a little bit better, but use too much and you aren’t going to be helping yourself at all, you will instead be pulling yourself down.

At the end of the day, confidence is a lot like sugar. with just a bit of it you can make everything a bit better.


Layout by: Kaden Swartz

10.8.21

Opinion/Editorial 3

Open parking spots doesn’t mean open for everybody Editorial

High School is very different from middle school and elementary, such as students pick classes and they don’t have a homeroom teacher. One big difference that separates ninth grade and below is students driving themselves to school. With that, they also need a place to park, and the underclassmen are now parking in the senior row. Now there is not a written rule saying that the front row of parking is exclusively for seniors, but it is sort of a small perk for seniors fafter going through all the years of high school. For seniors to get to school and have underclassmen take up all of the front row is frustrating, especially for the seniors who have open block first period and get to school later than everybody else. The problem for underclassmen parking there could be fixed. A problem of why we have underclassmen parking in the Senior Row could be that they just don’t know about Senior Row and park there. An easy way to fix this problem is whoever parks there is to tell them that they are in the Senior Row. The reason why underclassmen park there; we do not know, but think it is simple. There is an open parking spot close to the school, so they park there, and that makes sense. Although it makes sense, it has been an unwritten rule for many years. Long before the senior class was in seventh grade, there was a senior row and everybody respected it.

Brant Gillham

For the students who did not know about Senior row, I hope this informs you a little bit more about our school. While there may be some open spaces in the senior row every morning, think about the Seniors who come in period two and leave an open spot for them.

I just don’t understand ‘kids these days!’ Makenzie Mills Reporter

I think it is safe to say that if you were to compare my childhood to the way children are growing up today you would see many key differences. While not all children growing up in today’s society are receiving bad exposure, I know of many who are. I grew up listening to “Veggie Tales” and the clean up song, watching “wonderpets” and the big comfy couch, and playing in my backyard. However, I have discovered that many kids today have a much more advanced taste in entertainment. The first experience that taught me this was when I was substitute teaching for my church’s preschool through first grade class and the two children that were there were playing with lego baseplates and tiles to “paint” pictures. One kid made Sponge Bob, which I also watched, but the other child spelled out the word “It.” I thought nothing of it until he said, “I made the Pennywise sign!” The kid who had made Spongebob chimed in, “Don’t show it to me! I’m scared of Pennywise.” I was shocked a four-year old knew of “It.” After that, I thought the topic of horror movies was over. That was, until

the boy who brought up Pennywise in the first place said “‘The Quiet Place’ is way more scarier than the Pennywise movie.” The girl from earlier replied “No way! Pennywise is way more scary than The Quiet Place.” I was in shock. “It” or The Quiet Place between two 4 year olds. I do not care how much you like horror movies; your 4 year old does not need to watch them with you. My surprise only continued when I asked for song requests to change the subject. “Anything by Skillet,” the boy said. I was not even surprised. I mean, the kid watches horror movies, so Skillet is nothing. There was nothing wrong with Skillet, so I played “Stars.” It might be the slowest song Skillet sings, but it is still by Skillet. Later that day, I was driving back home and I saw a kid who was not older than eight walking by herself while playing on her phone. Are you kidding me? I didn’t get my first phone until I was 14. She is way too

young to have a phone. Also, where are her parents? When I was her age I could not go anywhere without supervision, meanwhile, this girl is walking without anyone, not even a sibling. My point is, children today are exposed to far too many adult things. Parents should save their horror movies and favorite songs by Skillet for their alone time. I know they don’t get much of it, but that’s what date night is for, right?


4 News

New vaccine mandate affects healthcare field Eliza Kroeker Reporter

As President Biden is signing an executive order, which will require all healthcare workers to be fully vaccinated, it affects many high school students who work in nursing homes. Residents in these facilities are excited for the possibilities that the mandate will provide, but they aren’t the only ones to take into consideration. The mandate can have an effect on many people, not only the residents. Workers at the hospital are worried that this mandate will create problems with staffing. “I think it will create some problems,” an anonymous source said. “Such as, if people aren’t ready to vaccinate they might quit the job and the facility will need to look for more people to hire and the people who quit will have to look for a new job.” The vaccine is still new and workers who haven’t gotten the vaccine yet are worried of some of the long term effects the vaccine will have on them, along with how the vaccine will react to their body in general. “The vaccine is still so new and we are still learning new things about it everyday,” an anonymous source said. “We are familiar with the short-term effects, but we have yet to find out the long-term effects. I do not want to put something into my body without knowing of the possible effects it could have.” Some high school healthcare workers started working in these facilities because they want to make a difference in the residents’ lives. “My grandma and great grandfather were mistreated and passed away in nursing homes,” Halee Call 22’ said. “My family has a lot of health issues so I’ve always wanted to help them feel better.” With the mandate, workers are having to get the vaccine and if they don’t, they are having to give up something they feel called to do.

10.8.21

Layout by: Elizabeth Kerwood

Classes commemorate 9/11 Annamarie bryan

so many people and loved September 11, 2001 was ones. possibly one of the worst “For the rest of the week, days in U.S. history. This year we were watching the TV marks the 20th anniversary trying to figure out why of the tragic events which this would happen,” history occured in New York City, teacher Mick Suey said. “We the Pentagon, and a field in were devastated at first; then Pennsylvania. Most students all that sadness turned into in the school weren’t even anger very quickly.” alive back then. Since students were in When 9/11 happened, school, some didn’t know everyone was confused. For what was going on at the Raising the flag, Juniors Ashton days, weeks even, everyone time. McCown and Brendon Runge look watched the news. They up to make sure it’s stable. Mr. “It was very confusing, American History class was because they put all of us were in shock. Nobody did Suey’s tasked with raising the flags around anything because they didn’t the court house for 9/11. Photo by: in the gym,” social studies Trenton Ruhnke know if it would get worse. Aaron Leibel, a student then, “The actions of 9/11 left everyone in total said. “I thought that it was weird that not and complete shock,” English teacher Linda even the adults knew what was going on.” Brown said. “It just felt like it kept getting Now most if not all of the teachers worse as the days went on. It seemed like commemorate this day in classes on the everyone was walking around like zombies anniversary every year. Some classes glued to their phones and TV’s as the day watched CNN 10, others watched This progressed.” Week in Rap. At first, everyone was in shock and “We talked about it in class and we devastated. They were wondering why watched CNN 10,” Mr. Suey said. “I go more someone would do this. They were in depth and over the details that happened confused about their reasoning for killing that day in my American History class.” Reporter

2021 graduates fight California fires

Morgan Stewart

Graduates from FHS have been battling this season’s California fires. They have been preparing for this for years now. Andrew Novotny ‘21 and Riley Stewart ‘21 have both had firefighting in their family for many generations. They have grown up helping the local volunteer fire department. “I’ve always loved being around fire and helping people when they need it the most,” Stewart said. “And something about being on a mountain when everything’s burning seemed fun to me.” Stewart left mid August to join his crew in the extensive drive to Northern California. There he worked on the River Complex fire. A week later, his crew was transported south to the Caldor Fire. Novotny was called on September 5 to replace a member on his crew. He got on a six hour flight to northern California and from then worked on the River Complex fire for two weeks. Both Novotny and Stewart’s crews are apart of the Lit ‘em up Custom Burning Inc. “I was first on the River Complex fire for a week, then moved to the Caldor fire for a week, then back to the river complex for two weeks,” Stewart said. Working on the California fires, you need all the help you can get. With how disastrous wildfires are, the need for help is high. To help stop the spread of the fires, the boys and their crews performed several different procedures. “We cut back trees from roads to prevent embers from crossing and laid hose lines along roads so other fire crews can use them to stop the fire,” Stewart said. The atmosphere around the area of the fire is smokey, dusty, and very hot. Even though this is not the ideal situation, the citizens of the area are very grateful for the firefighters there. “Seeing all the thank you signs that the communities put up for the firefighters,” Stewart said. This is something that gave him and his crew a sign of hope.

Reporter


Layout by: Morgan Stewart

10.8.21

School 5

Striv allows classes to cover live sports Gavin Schramm Reporter

Sports events are always fun to watch, but sometimes people can not attend the game because of practice or work and miss the game. Starting at the beginning of school last year, the school started to live stream home games using Striv so people who can not make it to the game can still enjoy watching the game. Striv is a software that the school had for many years before last year, and it allows the user to set a camera up and live stream whatever they want to their website. “I get the backpack that has all the stuff in it, and then I unwind all the cords and plug it in the computer,” Nylah Moody said. “I take the video camera and attach it to the tripod and then attach

New workshop added to FHS

Brant Gillham Reporter

The high school now has a new addition. The workshop can help with larger projects for many different classes and organizations. The staff says the new workshop has more open space for larger projects. “It is great to have a clean new space to work in,” Shop Teacher/Skills USA Sponsor Shane Haley said. “The new layout of the woodshop is longer but not as wide and the auto section will be nice and have two lifts with lighting as well.” Students are also happy with the results with most just being happy that they have a place to do welding and woodworking where previously they had to either stay in class and do small assignments. “I like the new shop better because of the amount of work space,” Seth Engleman ‘23 said. “The various changes will be effective for students and the way they will work.” Other students like junior Spencer Weers and Connor Heidemann favor the additions. “My favorite addition is the new toolboxes because...it’s easier to find tools,” Weers said. “My favorite addition to the shop is the new woodworking section and painting room,” Heidemann said.

the cords together.” To help out with it, Striv is run by the students in Video Production and some outside help. The students also commentate the game with what is happening. For about five years, only the principles of the three schools would use striv, to set up for whatever they need it for. From the second grade programs to graduation. “Prior to last year, we didn’t have a class associated with it,” Video Production teacher Mrs. Tammi Mans said. It took off last year when COVID hit and parents didn’t want to get exposed going to football games. Having it live streamed for them to watch worked out great with the class. This year is going by a lot smoother. “The main problems are out of our

control,” Ethan Smith said. “if the internet is bad down there (the ballfields) there is nothing we can really do.” Besides the internet occasionally being down, there are no other problems that the team faces. Though a new problem arises, not enough students. Last year there were 13 students who took the class and that meant that there were plenty of students to help out with Striv, but this year there are only four students. Luckly, students from the previous year come to help out, commentate and run the camera. With only a few problems that show up occasionally, Striv works great for the grandparents who live too far away and previous FHS students who graduated years ago wanting to watch their younger sibling play.

One act competition comes to FHS Makenzie Mills Reporter

“I really like the feeling of family that you get with the cast during a performance.”

Mrs. Dawn Jobman, the director of the one act, is starting a new tradition in the theater department, One Act Competitions. As the cast list came out last week and the first rehearsals started Tuesday, October 5, participants are excited to start something new in the theater department. “I am not sure what the most exciting thing about the one act competitions is seeing as we have not yet done one.” Brook Tatro ‘24 said. “Although, the way I understand it, we have a certain amount of time to set up, perform, and tear down, and I think that aspect of the competitions will keep us on our toes.” While they are excited for what is to come, they do not know how competitions will work. Thankfully, Mrs. Jobman has done these competitions before. “You have basically 45 minutes to set up, do your production, and get everything back off the stage again.”

Mrs. Jobman said. “And you compete with, I think, about 9 schools and we have judges. It’s kind of like speech. They judge on the play and set. They also have a form and the judges judge on the crew, lighting, and all the technical sides of the play as well.” Students have many reasons for wanting to participate in theater and, while this is a different form of it, students are still excited to start back up again and get some of the same cozy feelings. “I really like the feeling of family that you get with the cast during a performance.” Tatro said. Participants are very excited for the old and new elements that the one act brings. They get to have some similar feelings and responsibilities while adding some new elements as well. “We would like to do Greater Tuna, but with one act productions you have to have a licensing agreement okayed before you can start production, so we’re waiting on the licensing agreement.” Mrs. Jobman said.

-Brook Tatro ‘24


6 In-Depth

10.8.21

Layout by: Tre

Cheer continues to movitave at sport games Trenton Ruhnke Editor-in-Chief

With the return of the student section at games, the cheer consisting of pom dances and cheers while this year will also squad now has an audience to lead in include hip-hop. cheers. “I am so proud of the girls for While being moved back to coming in with a positive attitude second after the marching band is and an energy to learn new roudone playing at the half-time shows tines and challenge themselves at football games, the cheer squad is with different styles,” Coach still performing their new cheers and Madison Moody said. “I am dances they have been practicing. excited to work on stunting and “I am excited that we are include new stunts into starting finally getting to perform,” cheerline-ups and cheers.” leading coach McKehna Bartels said. With the season moving for“The girls seem to really enjoy learnward, the cheer squad still has ing dances and performing so that more events in the future. With a makes it all the better.” cheer clinic on Oct. 8, the squad Moving forward from last will continue to perform and Nylah Moody ‘22, Aspen Swanda ‘24, Jamie Junker 22, Morgan Stewart ‘24 year, the cheer squad has a smaller cheer on. get the group hyped up for the football size compared to last year, going “They have been busy working at fundraiser events and game. The cheer squad practiced new dances for games. Photo by: Gavin Schramm from 13 members to 8. volunteering at various events in our community,” Coach “We have a lot of new girls Bartels said. “I am really proud of them, and excited to so I’m excited to see how we do at state,” Eliana Livingston ‘21 share future dances and routines with our Jeff community.” said. “We are also a smaller size so it will be interesting to see how we do.” The cheer squad also plans on cheering at more than just football games for half-time shows, with them including Jorjia Shellhase the plan to perform at basketball games and wrestling. Reporter “I know the girls are really looking forward to being With the long school year starting, that routines we have to m able to go to away wrestling and basketball games,” Coach Bartels said. “This will help them a lot with getting more expe- also means the band is marching and play- vas ‘22 said. “Sometim ing at games. Last year, they couldn’t play at rience with cheer.” games due to Covid. Now there is a new addi There are also plans for the cheer squad to perform tion to band and halftime shows, color guard at state and change what they are going to do, with last year also known as flags. Band and flags are known to be time consuming, especially for people in sports in clubs. After a year of the band not being able to play at games, no one really knew how it was going to go. Plus new students such as freshmen are making the big change from junior high band to the high school band is causing a difference. “It’s a bit of a culture shock for them.” Ryan Dusso said. “There’s definitely repetition in switching but I don’t think it will be too hard for them to get used to.” Every year they play different songs for pep band. This year they are playing ‘Danger Senior Mariel Ramos p Zone’ , ‘New Divide’ , and ‘No Place’ . A change during the homecoming Olivia Linscott ‘25 and Alyxandria Kuzelka ‘22 perform at the Fairbury Before performing that has happened since last year is getting cross country invite. Some of the songs that the band performed homecoming game, Colo include “Colors” and “The Star Spangled Banner”. Photo by: Trenton Ruhnke new marching band uniforms and getting flag marched at the parade first time. Photo by: Gavin Sc uniforms. It was flags first year marching in the homecoming parade. “It does get stressful sometimes due to new ple only play one inst

Marching band and colo


enton Ruhnke

10.8.21

In-Depth 7

Students explain why student sections are crucial to a game Ericka Kroeker Reporter

Due to the outbreak of Covid last year, many regu- “I think having a student section makes you want lations were put into place. to play and be hype throughout the One in particular was a lim- Jami Mans ‘22, Anna York‘22 Casidy Sipek ‘23 cheer on as the game,” Sophomore Riley Arner said, homecoming football game go onto the fourth quarter. People it of students allowed at sporting hold up the number four to signify the football game going into “Not having a student section just isn’t events. There were times no one the fourth quarter. Photo by: Gavin Schramm as fun to play the game.” was allowed in besides immedi Having your friends and felate family members. Luckily, as low classmates at your games Covid cases in Fairbury become supporting you and cheering less, student sections are allowed you on can boost your confiback in games to cheer on their dence and mood throughout the friends and classmates. game, which makes you want to “At first it seemed weird to try harder to win. have so many people back in the Cheerleaders are also benegyms after hardly anyone being fiting from the return of student there because of Covid, “Senior sections. Karly McCord said.”But I think it “Student sections definitely makes the game more fun and remake it easier and make us all ally shows how many people folwant to cheer,” Senior and Cheer low our school activities.” Captain Jamie Junker said. There are many different reasons why students and “Compared to when it’s dead silent and it really brings up athletes love having a student section. the energy.” Hearing classmates put faith into the Jeffs and get loud in the crowd has proven to be vital to athletes during games, so when you aren’t busy go to a sporting event. Join the student section and cheer loud.

or guard march again

memorize.” Perla Cuemes the flag gets tan-

performs g game. at the or Guard e for the

gled up and causes me to mess up the chramm routine.” A lot of peotrument but there are

a few people who play multiple instruments. Brook Tatro ‘24 is one of these people. She plays oboe for band, bells for pep band, and cymbals for marching band. “I play multiple instruments because the oboe is generally a concert band instrument only. In previous years I had tried to play oboe for pep band and marching band, but I had to read flute music which is much higher than oboe music.” Tatro said. “So this year Mr. Dusso and I decided that I would play bells for pep band because I play piano, so it would not be a difficult instrument to learn. Then I play cymbals for the marching band because they are a simple instrument to learn.” Both the band and flags had good ways to practice their talents. Band holds a band camp that happens at the beginning of August every year and flags practiced a lot at the beginning of the year. Now that the flag team knows the routines, they practice from 7:30-8 a.m. “At the beginning of the year we practiced from 7 a.m. till around 8ish.” Cuevas said. “We would watch videos repeatedly to learn the routine.”

Elianna Livingston ‘21 marches with the other cheerleaders down at the homecoming parade. After the parade, the cheer squad went to go cheer at the homecoming football game and performed after the band. Photo by: Trenton Ruhnke


8 Feature

10.8.21

Layout by: Jorjia Shellhase

Exchange students adjust to new environment Kaden swartz reporter

Broschkowski, Spahn are first exchange students since 2016; Both involved in multiple activities New foreign exchange students joining the FHS 2021-2022 school year. The students arrived in August of 2021, right before the school year started. It has been five years since Fairbury High School has had any foreign exchange students. Before this year, FHS’s last foreign exchange student was in 2016. The school’s first time having foreign exchange students was in 2013. In 2014, they had five foreign exchange students, which was the most they’ve had so far. This school year they have two, Alea Broschkowski ‘23 and Lena Spahn ‘23. “It’s fun meeting them, most of them are good kids”, Taylor

Biehl said about having foreign exchange students. “I like having foreign exchange students here. It’s interesting to hear the stories they have about their home country.” In order to have students come here from a different country, there is a company they have to go through, and they determine whether the students are qualified to come to this school or not. The company is called International Cultural Exchange Services. “It’s a great company, they’re super responsive”, principal Sean Molloy said. “It’s very beneficial to our school and our foreign exchange students.” The new students both came here from Germany, which has a very different culture and school system than we do. “It’s interesting to hear how excited Lena gets about riding on a yellow school bus,” Mrs. Biehl said. “It’s not so uncomfortable being this far from home”, Broschkowski said. “It’s much better here. The classes and sports are much more fun.”

Honors English moves online for first time With the loss of many of our staff, it has been difficult trying to find teachers to fill the positions. One class that suffered especially was Honors Composition I. In order to be qualified to teach this course, the instructor must have at least 18 hours towards their masters degree. Luckily the school was able to find an online teacher who could instruct the course, which kept this class as a choice for students. “Being able to still have this class at least an option online allows students to fulfill the Composition I class that

Ericka Kroeker Trail Editor-In-Chief

Mariel Ramos

is required at all colleges, “Guidance Counselor Taylor Biehl said. “If we were unable to offer it online, students would not have had the option to even get this basic credit.” When taking any dual credit or SENCAP class, it can make your life easier and save you money in the future. This class is one of the many classes that is required for college. In SENCAP courses, the only thing you must pay for is the book, rather than in college you must pay for the course and the book. Junior Ellie Livingson said, “I like that it’s self paced and you can work

Senior Spotlight Something you didn’t do in high school that you regret not doing?

Steven Aden

M: I regret not being involved in more stuff. S:Focusing more on college.

What are your plans after graduating? M: Go to college but not sure where I want to go.

S: Planning to go to UNL and study computer science.

Who’s your role model and why?

M: My parents since they are hard working.

S: Don’t know if I have one.

What is your dream job?

M: Anything where I can travel.

S: Either meteorologist or software engineer.

What’s something you wish you could tell your freshman self?

M: Enjoy it while it lasts.

S: Look more ahead to the future.

ahead on some things if you would like.” Many students like to take online classes due to the fact you can learn at their own speed and are in charge of their own grades. While you can also pace yourself during the course, you also have plenty of time to work without instruction time. “I really like the fact that we only have class three times a week, because that gives us a lot of time to work on our assignments and our big essays,” junior Beckett Chappell said. Although there are many positives on having this class, many students find it hard to ask questions to a teacher through zoom. “I feel like we would probably have an easier time with getting help on our homework and other stuff if we had a teacher to talk to that was in the school,” Chappell said, “but because we only see our professor over zoom it’s hard to communicate all of our questions and the things we need help on.” Taking online classes often gets stressful and leaves students overwhelmed, but after you are done with the class and have three credit hours out of the way, you are left with a smile on your face and a weight off of your shoulders.


Layout by: AnnaMarie Bryan

10.8.21

Feature 9

Military provides opportunities to students Trenton Ruhnke Editor-in-Chief

When deciding on what students what to do when they graduate, there are various choices that they can choose. One choice that students are making is joining different branches of the military consisting of the army, coast guard, navy, marine corps, air force, space force, and national guard. “It’s definitely going to be an experience,” Ethan McCown ‘23 said. “I am very nervous for it and very excited as well.” To be able to go into any branch, one thing that people have to do is to fill out paperwork, taking the ASVAB, MEPS, eye test, hearing test, and a drug test. “To prepare for basic we have training,” “The trainings are going to be throughout the year and will train us for basics.” McCown said. Students go into different branches for various reasons. Some go in it since their family has been in that specific branch, some go for opportunities and to help people. “Everyone in my family has done it,” Riley Vculek ‘22. “It makes me feel like I am accomplishing something for once.” Whether they chose to help in the air, land, or water it is their choice to decide what they are going to do for when they

graduate. “Swearing in made me feel joyful,” recently sworn in Ashton McCown ‘23 said. “I was happy to see my life long dream come true, I was excited that I can finally serve my country and my community.”

STEM students introduced to green screen Aloe Richie Reporter

STEM instructor Carly Winter demonstrates egg drops to junior high students Weston Graham, Jamison Runge, Eric Deras, Henry Judd and Dominic Joe as they look on. The students had to build a contraption to stop an egg from cracking when dropped from various heights.

Green screen work is a stop motion photography program. and junior high students will be working on many more brand new projects coming up. Not only are these projects new to the students, they are new to Mrs. Carly Winter as well as to the students. Students in junior high STEM are given opportunities to work as individuals, pairs and larger groups throughout the year. On each project, students get to see where each project started and watch it grow into something they could use in a potential future career. “This is a great opportunity to make the learning enjoyable for students as they get to work in so many different things,” Mrs. Winter said. The units in junior high STEM allow them to get the full experience of their education. It provides opportunities for a wide-range of activities across multiple disciplines. “I chose to do STEM because it seemed like it would be a fun experience to have. The projects are also really fun,” Lucas Livingston said. One project junior high students will be introduced to will be the use of a green screen.


10 Entertainment

10.8.21

Layout by: Makenzie Mills

Marvel’s “What If” is their most ambitious show yet! Brant Gillham

Reporter

The latest in Marvel Studios catalog of movies and T.V. Shows, “What If ”, is an animated series with 7 episodes at the time of writing. The Watcher guides you through the show and makes you question, what if this hero was a bad guy, what if this character was swapped with another character, what if this happened instead of this. This series shows us those stories, and their outcomes. Let’s start with the negatives, the animation is a mixed bag. In the episodes so far, there have been animation errors, such as the lips not lining up with the words and constant awkward movements of the characters. Some errors are minor, others, like the lip sync, are noticeable. The rest of the show is very good. Each story has interesting plotlines that make them unique to one another. There are definitely episodes that destroy the others in quality and execution, but even the lower episodes are still enjoyable. The first episode was about Captain Carter, an alternate version of Captain America. It is a solid start to the series, with the main character, Captain Carter but it had some patches that needed to be fixed. First, the dialogue is kind of whack. It is basically written as a kid show with swearing once in a while. Other than that, the first episode is solid. Episode 2 asks, what if the Black Panther was Star-Lord. This was my favorite episode for a while, being a detour to an already good story. The episode

is one of the four episodes the late Chadwick Boseman recorded before his passing in 2020. His role in this episode is refreshing, showing a humble thief who makes bonds, not destroying them. This episode also has more surprises. Episode 3 is about Nick Fury and his recruitment of the Avengers. Instead of them being recruited, they all die, right in front of Fury. It is a murder mystery, with many memorable scenes, but it is also boring and weak. I have heard much praise for this episode, but I don’t see it. Although the reveal of the killer was sick and creative, the rest is watchable, and mostly enjoyable. Episode 4 is my favorite episode so far, being about Doctor Stephen Strange. In the movie, his hands are severely damaged during a car crash, but in this timeline, he loses the love of his life, Christine, in that same crash. He then tries to go back to save her, but each attempt ends in brutal failure. It is a sad beginning to a dark episode. After so long, his master tells him to stop, Strange doesn’t listen and gets split in two. In one reality, Strange keeps on living, finally putting down the past. The other goes mad, only wanting Christine. He gains power by absorbing other sorcerers into himself, gaining their power. But it was all in vain, as he absorbs the other half of himself, and completes the ritual of bringing her back, but it destroys his reality, due to her death being an “absolute point,” a point where something

would happen. She appears, then disappears with the rest of his reality, with only him remaining, wallowing in sorrow. Episode 5 gives us the weakest and most overdone cliche, zombies. It starts at the beginning of Infinity War, with the Hulk being taken back to Earth, only to find it overrun by zombies. There are many heroes in this timeline that are still alive like Spiderman, Vision, the Winter Soldier and Black Panther. Although the episode looks fantastic, it is cheesy and grows old quickly. Episode 6 is about Tony Stark if he was saved instead of being captured in Afghanistan. Erik Killmonger, a villain in “Black Panther,” saves Tony, but also leaks many secrets of Stark Industries. The story takes a sharp turn, and the rest is very enjoyable, I will let you watch it for yourself. Episode 7 is about what would happen if Thor never had a brother and became a “chad” instead. The episode is great, and has a lot of easter-eggs to dig through. As of writing this, there are 2 more episodes coming out in the coming weeks, and it’s looking like it will be a megacrossover of all of the episodes, with each character returning. I am hoping Marvel keeps it up and makes more that goes beyond the MCU. Although it has some bad episodes and the animation quality is half-baked, the amazing and interesting stories and plotlines make up for them with style. I will be giving Marvel’s “What If ” an affirmative 7/10.

Cast

Chadwick Boseman.........Black Panther Hayley Atwell.........................Peggy Carter Jeffery Wright.......................The Watcher Tom Hiddleston.......................................Loki Dominic Cooper..................Howard Stark Karen Gillan........................................Nebula Sebastian Stan...................Bucky Barnes Michael Rooker..................................Yondu David Dastmalchian.............................Kurt Michael B. Jordan...........Erik Killmonger Jeremy Renner.........................Clint Barton Taika Waititi..............................................Korg Chris Hemsworth...................................Thor Stanley Tucci..........Dr. Abraham Erskine Josh Brolin...........................................Thanos Neal McDonough..........Dum Dum Dugan Mark Ruffalo.............................................Hulk Paul Rudd...........................................Ant-Man Samuel L. Jackson........................Nick Fury Chris Sullivan...............................Taserface Sean Gunn............................................Kraglin Dijimon Hounson....Korath the Pursuer Michael Douglas.........................Hank Pym Toby Jones....................................Arnim Zola Jeff Goldblum........................Grandmaster Georges St-Pierre.....Batroc the Leaper

IMDb rating: 7.6/10 Rotten tomatos: 93%


Layout by: Eliza Kroeker

The Next Generation

G

rowing up everyone had their favorite player to watch play their sport and looked up to them, but now sports are being taken over by a new generation of young players and many of the athletes that we idolized growing up are getting older and forced into retirement. Players such as LeBron James, Cam Newton, Salvador Perez and Carmelo Anthony who all used to dominate their era are being considered washed or too old. Sports analysts and sports fans feel that these players are past their prime and their current talent is not enough to keep up with those of the younger players. Although these players are still great, they are getting older which could force them into retirement. Many new young players are taking over sports and they are taking all the fame away from the previous greats. A lot of younger children now don’t even know who some players that we loved are. They only recognize the new young stars like Jayson Tatum, Trae Young, Patrick Mahomes and Fernando Tatis Jr. All of our favorite players are now overshadowed by the new young talent. A lot of the players we watched are also retiring and putting an end to their legacies. Players like Drew Brees, Alex Gordon, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwayne Wade and David Ortiz were all fan favorite players and were looked up to by many of us when we were younger. We watched every single one of them become legends their own ways and now they are no longer even apart of the game.

10.8.21

Sports 11

Injuries diminish depth for fall teams Elizabeth Kerwood

When accidents Sports related occur, teammates injuries happen every have to be there to year. It’s just inevitable make sure whoever when doing a sport that is injured is staying there is a chance for an positive about their injury. Whether it is injuries and not the own athlete’s fault stressing about or the fault of someone the chance of not else, injuries can and playing for a while. will occur. Everyone has Injuries can be different ways to good though. They can Dominic Hyson ‘22 is assisted off the field by Coach Matt Edson stay motivated while and Coach Derek Garfield while his teammates take a knee. Hyson be a good chance for missed 3 games due to a knee injury. Photo by Eliza Kroeker being injured. an athlete to take some “I already am a time to rest and reflect on their sports season so loud person so I think just being supportive and far. Athletes seem to continue to do sports even positive from the sidelines would be the best with the possibility that they could get hurt. thing I could do to cheer my team on,” Karly “It gives me something to do so I don’t get McCord ‘21 said. “I hate missing anything so I fat,” Junior Spencer Weers said when asked why would definitely play through it.” he continues to do wrestling. “And I enjoy it Injuries seem to be very common in high because I get to beat people up legally.” school sports. Fans can’t seem to watch a single Many injuries happen and sometimes when game without an injury occurring. athletes are hurt, they don’t know if their injury According to Coach Matt Edson, if an athlete is a long term problem, they are sore, or just is willing to push their body to the max, they cramps. Sometimes even the coaches can’t tell may suffer an injury. as it’s not their bodies that are hurt. “Sports are tough on your body, proper “The athletes know their body better than technique, nutrition, stretching, and recovery we do,” Coach Derek Garfield said. “So we go are important to each athlete,’’ Coach Edson said. off them to know if it’s a serious injury or just “Everyone must take care of their body, and if an soreness.” injury occurs they must take care of the injury.” assistant editor


Volume 67 • Issue 1 October 8, 2021 Layout BY: Jackson Martin

Football prepares next generation with flag football Jackson Martin

“The importance is being able to bond with the kids and really show them what football is about.”

Sports Editor

The high school football team once used the slogan “We’re kinda a big deal.” For kids growing up, the football team is often something they look up to. Now the football team gives them an opportunity to see players up close with flag football. The high school team has been running flag football games every Thursday after they are done with practice. Kazz Hyson ‘22 feels that flag football is very important in the kids' development in football. “The importance is being able to bond with the kids and just really show them what football is about,” Hyson said. “It has prepared them by showing them how

- Kazz Hyson ‘22

to compete and showing them to have good sportsmanship.” Some players on the high school team such as James Olds ‘23 participated in flag football when they were younger. Olds believes that flag football was very important to his success in high school and it helped him become more knowledgeable about the game.

“Playing flag football as a kid helped me bond with my classmates,” Olds said. “It helped us build up the chemistry that we used all the way through high school.” Head coach, Matt Edson runs the flag football games and has watched as the kids participating have progressed. Edson values the importance of the high school players instructing the younger players as they learn the game. “Getting the youth involved in football at an early age has helped them with their skills and knowledge of the game,” Coach Edson said. “I believe the youth of Fairbury looks up to the high school athletes as role models, [and] this gives our players the opportunity to give back to the community and help grow football in Fairbury!” 1. I recently just accepted a full-ride scholarship to go to the University of Nebraska at Omaha to play volleyball after high school.

1. My goal is to play collegiate softball with a good enough scholarship

1. What are your goals for sports after high school? 2. What is one thing you would like to accomplish in sports this year?

Jami Mans ‘22

1. I hope to play college basketball somewhere.

Ethan Smith 22

2. For cross country I would like to qualify for state. In other sports I would like to have a great record.

2. I would like to make as many fun memories as I can, because it is my last year.

Emily Huss ‘23

1. My goal for sports after High School is to go to college for either baseball or football.

1. My goal for sports after high school is to try for a golf scholarship and continue playing at a college level.

Ericka Kroeker ‘22

2. I would like to qualify for state and be able to have that memory.

2. This year a really big goal for our team is to make state. A personal goal for me is to keep improving my volleyball skills & hopefully stay around the 10+ kills per game mark.

James Olds ‘23

2 . I would like to accomplish a few more wins with the boys because that feeling is irreplaceable.


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