Volume 33, issue 2

The

Eagle’s Eye Graves County High School 1220 Eagle’s Way Mayfield, KY 42066

Volume 33, Issue 2

February 14, 2018

If the crown fits…

Felicity Spurgeon was crowned as the 2018 Graves County Basketball Homecoming Queen on February 2. She was nominated by the Drama Club.

Spurgeon, senior, said after her name was announced, she “started laughing because it was so unexpected.”

Through her new title, Spurgeon hopes to bring recognition to the Fine Arts Department.

“I had a chance to be a part of it [Fine Arts] this year and it made me realize how underappreciated the program and the people are.”

Spurgeon was cast as the lead role of Belle in the school production of Beauty and the Beast last fall. Spurgeon is a member of the all-girl cheerleading squad and recently placed 2nd in Buying and Merchandising Team Decision-Making at the Region 1 DECA competition.

Spurgeon tweeted shortly after the crowning, “Blessed to be a part of homecoming court, blessed with the best of friends, blessed with the most handsome escort, and blessed to be an Eagle!”

No more NTI days?

Nick Kendall, Eagle Life Editor

Whiteman claims prize buck Katie Hendley, Head Editor

After a whopping 36-0 decision, the KY Senate has passed Senate Bill 73.

The bill will ditch the Non-Traditional Instruction program in three years.

Bailey Whiteman is the winner of the 2017 Big Buck Contest.

The NTI program allows school districts send work home with students during snow days, and therefore counts toward instructional days.

He claimed this was his best hunt yet, calling it the biggest buck he ever had the opportunity of shooting. Whiteman shot the buck Thanksgiving morning, as he was about to call it a day.

Whiteman considers hunting very important to him, as it is something that he has done since he was young; he shot his first buck when he was just 10 yrs old.

“I was sitting in the stand with my Granddad,” Whiteman recalled. "I shot the buck after it came around to my left. It didn’t get far; it was a

KY could soon exterminate a program that allows schools in the state to send home assignments to work on during snow days.

Republican state Sen. David Givens said some districts are having students do a minuscule amount of work and counting it as a school day. He said the program creates “disparities of learning” in the state’s school districts.

GCHS Teacher Guier Millikan stated, “As education (and every aspect of life) becomes more technologically reliant, the idea of work in a non-traditional setting needs to be embraced.” pretty good shot.”

Whiteman revealed his favorite part of hunting is sitting in the stand and taking in the scenery.”

"What I enjoy most is being in the creation and environment that God has made."

Millikan went on to express that “removing the option of NTI days would be a step backward for the state. The fact that this member of the state house sees fit to send students to school every day but doesn't trust that schools can do what they're supposed to in an innovative and different setting is disheartening to say the least.”

The bill now heads to the House of Representatives as KY schools await the decision.

GC BLOOD DRIVE

GCTV WEATHERMAN, JACOB WOODS

Kerri Walker, Staff Writer Friday, February 9th GCHS blood drive took place in the PE commons from times 8-1.

Students aged 16 and older were encouraged to participate in another blood drive organized by Mrs. Mills.

Junior, Rachel King tells us about her first time experience donating at the school. "For the longest time I avoided signing up for the blood drive but the more I thought about it the more I convinced myself to donate."

King continues, ¨Knowing that I’m saving lives just by donating has encouraged me to start participating in more of these events. I knew that from this drive I was making a difference, and with some people requiring specific types of blood that should convince anybody to want to donate because who knows they may have the type needed."

Christi Moore, Senior English Teacher emphasized the importance of giving blood. "Multiple people just don’t understand how server the shortage is, and they don’t truly understand how much of a difference they’re making by donating even just a little.”

Moore continued, “With me having a medical condition and my step father being a liver transplant patient I donate every 8 weeks. If everybody donated the outcome would be incredible”

Shea Speed, News Editor Jacob Woods, a sophomore at GCHS, is creating a name for himself and the school's broadcasting program, GCTV. Every A-day at the high school, students await Woods’ high energy and lightning=fast weather breakdowns.

Ever since he was 7 years old, Woods has been intrigued by the weather—his interest spurred by the Ice Storm of 2009.

Woods says he keeps close in touch with actual meteorologists, such as WPSD Local 6's own Jennifer Rukavina as well as Beau Dodson, a broadcast meteorologist for Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois.

Woods creates YouTube videos weekly to inform watchers of the incoming weather forecast over the next couple weeks. He also runs a twitter page in which he states is "specifically for weather such as the forecast for the long-range, medium, and shortrange weather."

Woods' intentions after high school are to attend Mississippi State University and major in Meteorology.

All donations were sent to the American Red Cross.

Drama Showcase draws local crowd Ian Puckett, Opinion Editor Graves County High School hosted its first Drama Showcase on Saturday, February 3rd. The showcase was held in order to raise funds for the Drama Department.

The Drama Showcase was an improvisation event, as all of the show was mostly improvised (with the exception of three monologues and a couple duet scenes).

Brittany Carver, the head of the Drama Department at GCHS, served as director and hostess of the show.

“She was absolutely amazing,” said Wendy Puckett, an audience member at the Showcase. “It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of a crowd, and she did it with grace and elegance. The performers were amazing too! It was like they were professionals!”

This event was a success by any definition of the word. Many who were in attendance had positive reviews of each performer and their respective skits, and left with a deeper appreciation for the arts at GCHS.

GCHS ACADEMIC TEAM WINS DISTRICT TITLES The GCHS Academic Team and Future Problem Solvers won 1st place in the Governor's Cup district competition. Overall, Graves County came in 1st place with 54 points, while Mayfield came in 2nd with 38, and Ballard in 3rd with 27.

The team celebrated quite a few individual victories in the written test portion as well.

In mathematics, Parker Gerard placed 3rd while Taylor Goodwin placed 4th.

In Science, Karli Prather placed 3rd, and Taylor Goodwin placed 5th. Jaggar Belew won 1st place in Social Studies, and Kendall Tubbs won 3rd.

In the Arts and Humanities department, Emily Goddard won 1st place, while Naima Bhutta and Megan Schmitt tied for 3rd place.

Bhutta and Goddard placed yet again in Language arts, in 4th and 1st place respectively.

According to member Karli Prather “We had a lot of fun! It was really tiring, but I think it was worth it.”

The team will advance to the Regionals at Calloway County High School on February 17.

GCHS FCCLA members win regional titles Abi Evitts, Staff Writer The GCHS Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) traveled to McCracken County High School for their regional competition on February 6th.

Neely Shoulta and Nicole placed 1st in Sports and Nutrition, while Kylie McCormack and Callie Goodman placed 1st in Advocacy.

Chloe Grover, Audrey Adams, and Paige Merrick placed 2nd in Social Media Campaign.

Shelby Turner, Clorie Neale, Alyssa Smith placed 3rd in Community Service Project.

Sponsor Makayla Kim expressed how beneficial this learning experience was to her students. “We had a great group of girls who had never competed before, but ended up placing 1st or 2nd in their events. They had a great time working on their projects and meeting students from around the region.

The 1st place winners will advance to the state competition in Louisville, KY in March.

ENTERTAINMENT The Maze Runner Movie Review

Timberlake vs. selfie kid: Who really won the halftime show?

By: Arianna Piroutek, Staff Writer

By: Christa Crittendon, Staff Writer

The third and, what we know of, the final movie in "The Maze Runner" series was released in theaters on January 26 of this year.

The fans of the series have been, most of them anyways, patiently waiting for the release since the second move, "The Scorch Trials" was released at the end of 2015.

"The Maze Runner" is about a group of boys stuck in the Glade which is surrounded by walls. The walls protect them from the maze. Every month a new boy comes up and joins the Gladers along with supplies.

"The Death Cure" is an action-packed thriller that leaves you on the edge of your seat. There is love and hate, gain and loss, and a whole lot of action. As the trilogy comes to a close, it finishes with just enough information and plenty left for the imagination.

Many of the "original" fans, or fans of the books, were not disappointed with the way this movie turned out. However, they are sad that the movie franchise has come to an end.

Superbowl LII may have been the start of a big downfall for singer Justin Timberlake.

Timberlake performed the halftime show this year, which included snip-its of some of his hit songs, involving the crowd, and even a hologram of Prince. Sounds phenomenal, right?

Wrong. This half-time show was rated the lowest out of the past 9 years.

Since the performance, the singer has begun to receive tons of backlash from fans online, including posts such as, "The show is almost over. And then it is. And a feeling of togetherness washes over us, a feeling of certainty that we all just witnessed something unambiguously underwhelming."

The performance started with bits and pieces from his latest hit, "Filthy", which is his lowest-rated song. After that, he was swarmed with dancers, making it hard to keep up with where he was. Fans on Twitter were also very displeased with the choice of his outfit, describing it as a "hipster-farmer style suit."

Although the performance lacked in some areas, it made up for the loss with a new trending hashtag, #selfiekid. Timberlake busted through the Superbowl crowd in high hopes to keep them on their feet when he came across seventh-grade Ryan McKenna, who was busy on his phone. He quickly stood by for a selfie, not knowing that it would become the next internet sensation.

From his outfit, to landing selfie kid a spot on the Today Show, Timberlake did not fail to put on a, well, memorable halftime show.

The Lovely Bones Review

Black Panther Soundtrack

By: Valencia Thorn, Entertainment Editor

Landann Brown, Staff Writer

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold follows the story of a family who is in the wake of their teenage daughters, Susie Salmon, murder.

Note: This album is for audiences 17 and older.

Parental Advisory for explicit content.

The interesting aspect of this novel is the way the story is told: from the point of view of Susie in Heaven. The first chapter begins with the gruesome details of the young girl’s murder. She goes on to describe what Heaven is like throughout the story as well voicing her concerns for her family and watching them closely, including her murderer.

The novel is thought provoking in the way a grieving family searches for comfort and peace. It also compelling in the way that shows that Susie has a hard time of letting her family go in Heaven just as much as her family is having trouble letting go of her.

It’s a beautiful story of loss, tragedy, and eventual acceptance. I would rate this story a 7/10 as it is well written and the concept is interesting, however the story does tend to drag in some areas.

Featuring big names like Future, The Weeknd, SZA, and Travis Scott, curator Kendrick Lamar has masterfully pieced together a track with themes that perfectly mirror those of the film.

The album blends African culture, modern rap culture, and African American justice flawlessly. Kendrick, king of modern hip-hop, definitely shows off in the production of this album. But, what else is expected from someone who can release an album full of untitled demo tracks, and still top the charts?

The lead single, "All the Stars", first released on Jan. 4th, highly resembles Kendrick's track "LOVE." off of his 2017 release. SZA flawlessly delivers an angelic sound, similar to that of Rihanna's.

The album features multiple shifts in style and beat, from explosive, knotty rhythms, like those in "King's Dead", to smooth jazz-like riffs in "Redemption Interlude."

Kendrick also does a marvelous job portraying the African culture through the inclusion of African dialect and tribal sounds with beats that take after African drums in "Redemption" and "Seasons."

Opinion Candy Craze With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, Eagle’s Eye asked 200 students at what they thought was the best Valentine’s Day treat:

Reese’s Hearts: 52% Assorted chocolates: 29% Other: 13% No candy: 6%

Literature vs.

LITerature

Ian Puckett, Opinion Editor

Jennifer Armstrong, Staff Writer

Ah, February. Love is in the air (along with the flu). Men are flocking to Walmart to purchase reasonably priced flowers and chocolates, women are swooning, and that can only mean one thing: Valentine’s Day is near. This would be a pleasant and heart warming holiday, except for the fact that this over-played day on the Gregorian calendar has been shoved down my throat since January 1st. Like, are you for real?

When I walk into Walmart in January, I should see employees taking snowflakes and snowmen to the back storage closet. What I should not see is heart shaped chocolates, comically sized teddy bears, and a young man in a tank top and flip flops trying to find the perfect gift for his mate. Season Pushers, listen up: I don’t think you are idiots, I think Season Pushing in and of itself is idiotic. If you must feel the need to yearn for Valentine’s Day for weeks in advance, then so be it. Just don’t subject me to your ridiculous season pushing. I didn’t ask for it to be “pushed” on me, so for the love of all that is good and holy, stop pushing! Thank you, tooda-loo, go with God, and don’t take any wooden nickels.

In the thrilling third installment of our series on season pushers, we’re here to discuss Valentine’s Day. Even though I’m single, bitter, and spending Valentine ’s Day alone with my pets, I love it. The wholesome overall feeling of affection throughout the day tugs at my heartstrings, and the discounted chocolate only helps. While many cynics do have a point when they say that the theme of Valentine’s day is lost in the rampant consumerism and constant advertisement of the holiday, I think it’s better to have a small percentage of the love on Valentine’s be misguided and blind, rather than to have no love at all. While I’m not a fan of the competition to get your girl the biggest flowers and most expensive gifts, it really does warm the heart to see people being happy. I guess my point is to say that as long as your motivation behind Valentine’s Day festivities is earnest and wholesome, go for it. Just, y’know, stay safe, don’t make dumb decisions, and don’t be out after curfew.

Olivia Vowell, Staff Writer

A raging debate in the literary community is that of whether classic literature or modern literature is better.

Classic literature usually appeals to a more refined, mature class that is just as interested in the way something is written as they are in what is written. To understand the meaning of classic literature, one must understand that the books are not restricted to a certain time period but are defined by a certain status in the literary community. Modern literature is often read for entertainment rather than for scholarly duty.. To compare and contrast classic and modern literature, I have chosen books from each category to compare: The Catcher in the Rye and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Both books tell the tales of teenage boyhood, growing up, and confronting the realities that come with adolescence; however, the two draw a great contrast in the way in which they tell their story. Catcher in the Rye is set in the 1950s, while The Perks of Being a Wallflower is set in the early 1990s. The 40-year difference sets very different tones for the two books, as well as their settings: Catcher in the Rye is set in CA while Perks of Being a Wallflower is set in Pittsburgh.

Catcher in the Rye follows the main character, Holden Caulfield, through his expulsion from boarding school and his love life, while Perks of Being a Wallflower very similarly follows its main character, Charlie, through high school and its complex social structures in the modern world. The main characters of both books show frustration with adolescent normality and consider themselves outsiders. In Catcher in the Rye, the main character is shown having intrusive thoughts and depression, as is also suggested with the main character in Perks of Being a Wallflower.

In my opinion, Catcher in the Rye definitely wins over Perks of Being a Wallflower due to its intellectual style of writing versus Perks of Being a Wallflower’s attempt to be “overly contemporary.”

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