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Issue 4 Volume 13 Feb. 28, 2018 Hagerty High School Oviedo, Florida
WRESTLING HOSTS REGIONALS The boys wrestling team finished second in regionals and qualified seven for states. page 8 Ethan Lopez, 12
Cheer back on top with fourth state title Bryson Turner
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Online Editor
arsity cheer coach Kim Barlowe thought she was done. When 2017 ended, the varsity cheer team’s state championship streak was snapped, and Barlowe was done… until she wasn’t. “Unfortunately, things didn’t work out with the person that was hired as my replacement, so they had approached me about if I would be willing to come back.” Barlowe said. “Of course, I wasn’t going to ever leave those kids hanging.” With Barlowe coaching one last time, the varsity cheer team won its fourth state title in five years and added a second world title to go with it. “We were falling all over the place, and then we hit our routine at the regional competition without ever hitting it in practice,” co-captain Courtney O’Dea said. “That started our momentum.” The team carried that energy to the state competition, earning an 84.55, the highest score of any 2A team, regardless of division. “It is honestly unexplainable,” sophomore Lauren Lee said. “Winning states, it gives me chills to think about it.” This title completed a year of redemption after the team finished runner-up to Bartram Trail last year, but that was not on the mind of those who were making a second, or even third, trip to the state competition. “Me, Chase [Garick], and Savannah [Hobbs], we were talking about it, and saying how last year never came to our minds [that] whole week because we were working so hard,” O’Dea said. While the core of the team returned, one cheerleader making her first trip to the state championship was freshman Courtney Downing, who became the first freshman in the program to be a part of a state champion squad. “When I was younger, I’ve always looked up to them and wanted to be on the team,” Downing said. “They were always so exciting to watch, so to be able to be on the team and wear that
PICTURESQUE PERFORMANCE The varsity cheerleaders perform at the National High School Cheerleading Championship at the Wide World of Sports. photo by Jay Getty
uniform, I just felt so honored.” But two weeks of competition, in both regionals and states, took its toll. Downing was one of two cheerleaders who injured an ankle during the state championship, which rendered her unable to tumble during the week between then and nationals, which was less than a week away. On top of that, three members of the team came down with the flu. “My biggest thing was keeping the kids well, but I wouldn’t let them quit,” Barlowe said. The team, the entire team, managed to get healthy enough to compete in the national
championship where the team finished 11th. However, there was still one more routine, and that was for worlds, a competition which invites top squads from the previous year to square off for supremacy. “We went through and watched the videos on everything that we could improve on and from other teams that we could be competing against to give us that mindset that we are up there with the other teams,” co-captain Savannah Hobbs said. “We just have to do our job.” The team scored an 87.63, enough to win the second world title in program history, and the
Students participate in walkout protest Ahilyn Aguilar
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Editor-in-Chief
n Wednesday, Feb. 21, students participated in a peaceful protest for 17 minutes to honor the 17 victims of Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. The protest was called a walkout, and students were to walk out of their class and meet at the picnic tables outside the cafeteria. The walkouts initially started with the twitter account National School Walkout, @schoolwalkoutUS, a page encouraging students and school staff to walk out of the school on April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting. After social media spread this movement, small walkout protests have been held in schools nationally, all of which are organized by local students. The school’s protest leader, senior Courtney Ring, first saw the idea of a walk out on an Instagram post, shared it with her friends and put it on her social media in the hope of bringing people together to honor the victims of the shooting. At 10 a.m. Ring and between more than 800 students walked out of their fourth period class to the picnic tables by the cafeteria and waited for the protest to start. Ring was hesitant at the start of the walkout since she did not know what to expect from the
PROTESTING FOR A CHANGE Senior Courtney Ring reads the names of the 17 Stoneman High School shooting victims during the walkout. Ring used CNN as a source of aid during her speech. photo by Nora Godisken
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students or administration. “Most of us have never participated in a protest before so we were being quiet and waiting for something to happen because we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Ring said. “I was already planning on standing up and honoring the victims if no one else was willing to say something.” During the 17 minutes, Ring spoke up and used a CNN article to help her honor the victims and give more information about them. Ring read the names of each victim and gave information like what their family said about each victim. Ring also encouraged students to contact their representatives and do something for change. “I was terrified. I’m not a very good debater, so I didn’t want to say anything political during the speech; that’s why I decided to use the article,” Ring said. “I knew no one was going to say no to giving people who shouldn’t have passed away their moment of silence.” Administration was present during the walkout and supported it by allowing students to walk out of their classes without consequence and lead the protest however they wanted as long as it remained peaceful. After the protest, principal Mary Williams personally acknowledged Ring for her leadership as well as her words and thanked students for holding the protest in a peaceful manner. “Our students need to be able to have a voice and I appreciate the kind and reflective way they did this,” Williams said in an email to the school. “Our role is to be able to provide them a safe and organized way to express themselves in the way that they chose.” Multiple students contacted Ring to recognize her speech after the event and juniors Avery Watson and Valeria Rivera decided to join her in making a change. They will be the ones to plan future walkouts for the school, and collaborate with local schools like Oviedo High School. The students will also meet with the school board to discuss school safety and will be making and selling shirts for future events. “I didn’t know [Ring] before the walkout. I direct messaged her because I wanted to make a change and do something about it so we decided to meet and talk about the things we can do,” Rivera said. “[Watson, Ring and Rivera] all know it’s important that we give attention to the issue, that’s why we’re doing all of this, the victims were our age and that could’ve been us.” Ring, Rivera and Watson are asking students to wear orange every Wednesday, starting Feb. 28 as an awareness to gun violence. For more information on future events and activities follow @ walkouthagerty on Twitter and Instagram.
second white championship jacket of the season. “We just kept staying positive,” Downing said. “If something messed up in warm ups, we shook it off, reset and did it again.” While the juniors, sophomores and Downing look forward to competitions to come, where more success may await, the seniors hung up their uniforms with pride. “I feel like we’ve left a mark on the program,” O’Dea said. “It just shows no matter what struggles you go through and no matter what successes you have, you can do what you put your mind to and finish strong.”
See more on HagertyJourn.com DREAMING OF A GOODNIGHT’S SLEEP Students yearn for that one good night of sleep, instead of having to stay up all night long doing homework. Students explain their struggles to stay awake during class and what they try to do to keep their eyes open.
STUDENTS, STAFF TAKE THE DARE To raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network, DARE Week encouraged teachers raise money by providing student incentives. From extra credit to hair dye, DARE Week was the week to have some fun.
CLAWING ITS WAY TO THE TOP When Black Panther came out on Feb. 16, Marvel outdid themselves throughout the movie. The plot, the back stories and the different cultures are the reasons that Black Panther is still on top of the charts.
2/26/2018 7:37:55 PM