When RHS Speaks, We
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Rolla High School - 900 Bulldog Run - Rolla, Missouri 65401- Volume 70 - Issue 8 March 15, 2019 - www.rhsecho.com @rhsechonews
‘Oklahoma!’ plays to a full house for all four performances
Photos courtesy of Laura Stites b y
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From March 8-10, Rolla High School’s drama department showcased Oklahoma! A nail biting story of Curly McClain fighting off Judd Fry in a dramatic attempt to get Laurey Williams all while in the territory
of Oklahoma. The show began preparations as early as December and featured some with now seven shows under their belt as well and newcomers with no acting experience. After years in theater, for his senior year, Kelly Brown tried his luck auditioning for the lead spot as Curly McClain, the curly haired cowboy.
Student Council raises hundreds for Regional Special Olympics at Polar Plunge Poetry Out A R Loud event held S W at Saint Charles Foundry Arts Center b y
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On March 2nd people from the entire community, including Rolla High School students, ran into the icy waters of Fugitive Beach. They were participating in the Polar Plunge, an annual fundraising event to raise money for Special Olympics Missouri. Ashley Barth, Student Council President as well as leader for the Rolla High School team, explains what the plunge is all about. “To be able to do the plunge you have to raise $75 for Special Olympics Missouri, and the reason they you are plunging is to show support. If you can jump into freezing cold water in March then you can support Special Olympics. I think it is really just to show how much you care about your local Olympians and to raise money,” Barth said. Barth and other participants were happy to contribute to an organization that is so involved in Rolla High School. Special Olympics Missouri organizes many opportunities for the special needs program.
Photo taken by Micah Wells Photo taken by Mary Gillis b y
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The regional Poetry Out Loud competition was held on February 13 in St. Charles, Missouri. With three poems and weeks of practice under her belt, Junior Jesse Kimball arrived to compete. To get there, she had won runner up at the school wide competition earlier in the year. Held in the lecture hall, Kimball first read her poem to a few judges, soaking up more experience and aquanting herself with more poetry. She did not expect to be able to advance to regionals, but found herself practicing performances with English teacher Mary Gillis each day after school. “A lot of what we worked on was how I presented things like diction or phrasing. One of the things I struggled with was skipping a comma and rushing the poem together. Accuracy is extremely important and by the end of the two weeks of practice, Mrs. Gillis wasn’t looking at the poem or scoring me on accuracy anymore. At the beginning she wouldn’t even look at me, she was just reading. Every time I got a word wrong I could see her mark it,” Kimball said. Continued on p. 5
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Robotics qualifies for world tournament after successful state championship
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An inside look into upcoming track season b y
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Opinion Editor
On February 25, the spring sports season at Rolla High School began with practices for baseball, women’s soccer, men’s tennis and track and field. With the introduction of new head coach Jon Franks to the track program, the future of the season is looking bright. “It is hard to predict the outcome of a season when there are so many variables present. That being said, I am excited with the turnout as well and the work ethic of the Rolla kids. If those two factors determine a season, we should compete at a high level. The main focus is going to be daily improvement,” Franks said. Sophomore Wyatt Thurston is very ex-
cited and hopeful for the upcoming season. “It is going to be pretty good. I am hoping that we are going to win some medals, it is going to be fun,” Thurston said. Thurston is a long distance runner, and is also involved with cross country. A typical practice with the track team usually starts with the girls taking attendance with Coach Kinder, and boys taking attendance with Coach Franks. Then Coach Zink leads the team in DW, or dynamic warm ups. Then each event will go with their respective coach. “It is pretty fun. We are like a big family. At practice when we break off, long distance people, we usually run 2 miles, one mile, sometimes 5. It is great,” Thurston said. “My goal is to get a really good race time, and hopefully get on varsity. It is going to be hard, but I am hopeful,” Thurston said.
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Last weekend the top 48 Robotics teams across Missouri and Kansas gathered to compete in the State Championship held at MS&T. Two of Rolla’s teams attended, and one will be advancing to the world competition later this year in Houston, Texas. Before the teams began competing, they were judged in the morning. Rolla won a second place Control Award, given based on how the team uses “sensors, unique or complex algorithms, and enhancements to have a consistent, high scoring autonomous and driver automation during the driver controlled period,” They also won third place for the Motivate Award, given out for teams that reaches out to the community not only to recruit but to spread FIRST’s ideals. As the competitions began, the crowd grew and hundreds attended to watch the robots compete. Two teams work together against two other teams to have their robots complete a task.
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Is ‘The Bachelor’ harmless Break up with your old or blatantly misogynistic? clothes, you’re bored
Letter from the Editor
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mom thinks is safe enough. There are too many questions and I don’t understand any of the answers. A six or four cylinder? I’m sorry I have not been in geometry for two years. How many miles is too many miles? I’m not even sure I know exactly what the miles mean. It does not help that tax season is the prime time for car buying and I am stuck in the middle, forced to buy a car when my Elantra was perfectly good until her bumper smashed in and the tail light nearly fell off. In conclusion, my troubles are incredibly dumb and easily solved by a competent adult, however, the problems arise when we realize that I am neither competent or an adult.
Need an idea for what to do during spring break? ECHO suggests: b y
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RHS Drama Department set to perform their One Act play throughout the day on Thursday, March 21 for English classes 2 Opinion
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Spring Break is a magical time of no school and lots of sleep. Although it may be three weeks away, that doesn’t stop some of us from planning on how best to use those 10 days off. If you are already trying to figure out how to best spend your time, here are a few ideas.
Follow @rhsechonews on Twitter and Instagram. For more news and sports go to www.rhsecho.com
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concern that The Bachelor and shows like it idealize a particular and limited type of beauty. A decent majority of the female contestants on The Bachelor are portrayed as ditzy and male-dependent. However, the most concerning quality of the show by far is the way it encourages women to undermine one another. The Bachelor turns love into a sport manufactured to pit women against each other. Meanwhile, viewers at home choose their favorite. This extends the conversation from TV and brings it into our daily lives. On the other hand, the women on the show chose, by their own free will, to be there. The women are looking to find love, and are prioritizing it above the other things in their lives--which is perfectly fine. Also, I would argue that viewing preferences and guilty indulgences are not automatically indicative of political stances. I believe you can enjoy a television show without having to consider its social implications. Although The Bachelor is dramatic and questionable, it draws attention to many of our subconscious desires to find and receive love. Although the show is founded on questionable principles, its viewers are not inherently sexist or misogynistic--they might just be hopeless romantics with nothing to do on Monday nights.
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We are approaching the time of the year when the grime in your cockroach-ridden home becomes a lifestyle hindrance for your temporarily motivated self. You eagerly pull all the clothes out of your closet in a coffee-fueled burst of productiveness-but it will not last. Then what? Maybe you even get so far as detaching yourself from some ugly sweaters you bought in 2012, but what to do with them? Fortunately, you have options. It can be overwhelming to dive into a mess of garments that have been untouched since last spring. Luckily, I have some advice so that you may tackle spring cleaning, and perhaps even come out on the other side. It may be a cliche, but start small. You cannot clean out the whole dresser before you tackle one drawer. You do not have to complete your spring cleaning in one day. That is why it is called spring cleaning--it is basically limitless! You have an entire season to finish. The whole purpose of spring cleaning anyway is to make your living spaces more orderly in preparation for the summer. But it is never too early to get a head start. So turn on some music, put your phone to the side, and dive into the disaster that
is your life. Eliminate distractions, keep a positive mindset, and do not forget to drink water. Cleaning can be a workout when it is done properly. Make a pile of clothes you want to keep and clothes you want to get rid of. Then subdivide the category of clothes you want to get rid of into a donation/sell pile, and a trash pile. If the clothes are in good shape, they can be donated to your local second hand retailer or a Goodwill. You will feel good for not only tidying the clutter in your own space, but for providing for those who may find other uses for your secondhand belongings. Although it should not be a specific goal, many second hand stores or thrift shops may pay cash or offer in-store credit for your donations. With the newly reclaimed space you create, you can fill with other items. For instance, if you make some room in your dresser drawers, relocate your swimsuit collection to make it more easily accessible. You do not necessarily have to buy items to replace the old ones. You can still make a better use of your space. This spring, I encourage you to dedicate a lazy afternoon to reclaiming your space.
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Science Olympiad qualifies for state competition for third consecutive year
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Sleep. A lot. Go camping Take some friends and go swimming Binge watch Netflix Get an outfit for the Prom Go on a road trip with some friends Eat tons of food Reread your favorite book Try something new Volunteer Learn how to cook a new dish Go on a date Try a DIY project Participate in spring cleaning Get some more sleep
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ABC’s The Bachelor is a wildly popular reality television show featuring 25 women in competition for the attention and heart of a single eligible man. As the show progresses, the bachelor sends women home who he does not deem a good fit. The women live in a single house and take turns going on dates with the bachelor, meanwhile the pool of candidates gets increasingly smaller. The show has been manufactured in such a way that frames the conflict and highlights the cattiness of the contestants. The job of the producers is to intentionally bring out the immaturity and faults of the women. However, the public has continued to eat up the drama since the show premiered in 2002. Celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres invite the stars to her show, and even publicly choose favorites. Unsurprisingly, the series has faced extreme scrutiny from critics. Many have argued that The Bachelor depicts women as disposable objects. The lack of diversity between contestants has not helped its case. According to a journalist from TIME magazine, “the women on the show are mostly white, weigh roughly 100 pounds and have really long hair.” This raises the
Senior Maia Bond For this episode of Maia’s Ridiculous Complaints, I will be talking about the awful task of car shopping. I guess it can be fun if you have money and can afford to get a new car, however literally no one can do that. Since being rear ended and my beautiful child, the Hyundai Elantra, dying, we have been on the hunt for a new car. However, every car that I think is nice actually turns out to be a heaping pile of junk. The headliner is droopy, the door has been replaced, the front bumper sticks out, all apparently precursors to terrible wrecks and breakdowns according to my parents. No car is safe enough, not even a bus. I might as well start investing in a private jet because that is the only option that my
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Rolla High School’s Science Olympiad team competed in their regional competition on March ninth, securing their spot as state qualifiers. They placed fourth overall as a team, securing first through fifth place in 17 total specific events. The subjects tests ranged from forensics to thermodynamics and have taken months to study for. “Science Olympiad is more of an academic competition. There are two types of events you can have: a tested event where
ECHO Staff
DIY hacks are changing the game b y
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Adviser: Mary Gillis Editor In Chief: Maia Bond Managing Editor: Kayla Copeland Copy Editor: Jace Swearingen Arts and Entertainment: Nalani Massaro Webmaster: Blaize Klossner Photography: Bailey Allison News: Taylor Miller
Opinion: Courtney Kelley Sports: Brandon Kirchner Feature: Lorren Black Staff Writers: Julia Leventis, Lauren Ulrich, Rosalia Bolyard, Genevieve Huber, Emma Starns, Erin Pfeifer, Quinn Guffey, Audrey Roberts
ECHO is an open forum for student expression. All letters to the editor must include the writer’s name, signature and class or position. Anonymous letters will not be published. ECHO reserves the right to reject any letters. Letters should be sent to ECHO, Rolla High School, 900 Bulldog Run, Rolla, MO 65401. ECHO is a member of Missouri Scholastic Press Association, Journalism Education Association, and Quill & Scroll Honor Society
students will go in, usually in pairs, and they will take a test over a specific area,” Science teacher and Science Olympiad coach Keith Peterson said. A tested event in Science Olympiad might be anatomy and physiology, herpetology, rocks and minerals, or other similar areas. “Then there are skills or build events. In these, they will build an object like a airplane, helicopter, or bridge. They will see how long it will fly or how much weight it will support. The students will then be judged on how well their object does,” Peterson said. Preparation begins as early as September to get an idea of how many people they will
A lot of the time, people do an unnecessary amount of work for things that can be easily done if a certain trick is known. That is why, for this week we decided to try Do-It-Yourself hacks to see how much they work and how they affect our lives. These hacks ranged from face masks to cleaning a foggy mirror with shaving cream. While both are vastly different in simplicity and effectiveness, they both provide aid. From not having money to wanting to try something new, many DIY hacks work off of what can already be found in one’s house (i.e. pineapple juice in place of cough syrup- and it actually works!). Often people already have a set of DIY hacks, and not even realize it until they see some-
thing online and are like ‘Oh, I do that!’ This can be seen with a common cooking ingredient, baking powder, that not only can be used in the kitchen, but can remove general odors or perspiration stains on clothing. These simple hacks can be used for food conveniences too. For example, sometimes it can be hard to cut the stem off of a strawberry. For easy removal, simply take a straw and feed it through the bottom of the strawberry. It will pop through the top of the berry and pull the stem and leaves out with it! Easy and creative shortcuts like these can save time and be worthwhile. Many times, everyday products lying around the house can have multiple uses. Tea bags can be used as organic fertilizer for plants, and a cut in half tennis ball can be used as a bottle opener for stubborn caps. Using household products that are already purchased can save time and money, since going to the store will not be as necessary considering the multi-uses of items that are already available at home.
have. In terms of teams, they fill them out according to who is interested in what. “The officers basically survey the students to determine who wants to do what events. Each year the events change a little bit, so some years the students want to do a build event without a test. From there, if we have more than two students that want to do an event, then we will do a test and whoever scores highest will get to do the event,” Peterson said. Co-Presidents and seniors Logan Choi and Carol Koob are praised for their leadership and hard work, making most of the decisions. “They just run things past me just for teacher approval. But I just let the students
presidents and members run the group,” Peterson said. Choi and his main partner, senior Autym Decker, study for their events and then on competition days, compete against approximately seven other schools. For the past two years, they have placed in the top four at regionals. “Our goal every year at regionals is to place in the top four because that qualifies us for state. Our current senior’s goal is to go out being three time state qualifiers,” Peterson said. Their goal was accomplished last weekend, allowing them to advance to state for the third year in a row.
How to be a little better b y
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Now that your socks are arranged, and you can see the titles of your books, it is time to dive into the realm of personal growth and change. Luckily for you, the possibilities are endless. In other words, when you begin at rock bottom, the only way to go is up. For one day, monitor your behavior in regard to those around you. Analyze who you speak to on a daily basis and the subject matter of the conversations. Consider how you act toward people: the vibes you give off, your body language, and the tone you adopt. Then, examine how others react. Refrain from changing anything about your average self--it begins as an analysis before a change to your current behavior. You can even turn it into a game. I wrote a handy acronym to help. S-A-U-N-A. If it is S for stupid, A for annoying, U for unneeded, N for narcissistic, or A for abnormal, refrain from voicing it aloud. Before you make a comment or ask a question, consider the following: Does it contribute anything to the conversation? Is it
thoughtful, important, helpful, or urgent? Would this thought be better left unsaid? Now, I am not advising that you change yourself and your personality. The purpose of this exercise is to examine whether or not you are the person you desire to be. Often times we do not come off the way we intend to, and this exercise--at the very least--will make you more self-aware. After that point, you are free to make of the results what you will. If every time you open your mouth, the room instantly quiets, congratulations! You might be a superhero or a celebrity. On the contrary, if others cast strange looks at you from across the room while you are talking, you might be coming off as a bit over the top. That, or you have spinach in your teeth. Finally, I will summarize the points that you ought to take away from this month’s edition of “How to Be a Little Better.” Analysis should always come before change. Changing your behavior is contingent upon understanding yourself. To be a little better, think a little harder about who you want to be.
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Opinion: Climate change is a natural occurance, despite what scientists say b y
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In a world being ripped to shreds by natural disasters, where promotional video after video gets spread wildly online portraying tragic pictures of starving polar bears, there are few intelligent enough to see through the lies. Most of the world has been whipped into a completely pointless panic that the world is on the brink of death right in front of their eyes, and it is all a scam. All of it. Between the lies being spread sounding so ridiculous and fake -I mean, “rising ocean levels,” a “global temperature rise,” and “extreme weather events” do not sound real to me- and the fact that everything online is fake anyways, it should be obvious that we are being scammed. People desperately clamor from all corners of the earth -the weary Bill Nye, overactive Twitter users, and those with self proclaimed “common sense”- to convey the sheer urgency of the danger of the rapidly deteriorating climate. In all of those, there is a distinct lack of actual experts, with people being obviously brainwashed, Bill Nye is much too old to know anything relevant, and any actual “scientists” clearly have an agenda. Skeptics are rare, as much of the population has become sheep too easily fooled by two minute clips of clickbaity news shows. Three years ago, Pew, an American think tank reported that 82 percent of conservatives agree that climate change isn’t occurring. If so many people are in agreement, then how could they all possibly be wrong? Luckily, many of these freethinkers have secured political jobs from which they can clearly speak the truth and continue to cast doubt on what is one of the most widespread conspiracies of all time. This includes a vast majority of politicians on the frontline of creating laws to “protect the environment.” Of course, it must have been quite a feat to get all, or close to all, 97 out of 100 scientists to agree to commit to such an obvious scam. But this is how they maintain their employment, by publishing hundreds of false articles and studies to trick others that this nonexistent threat is
imminent. This is also helped by having celebrity names backing the hoax to get the general public on board. The media, also being conformists in this regard, fell for the trick just as easily, and the scam spread far quicker and wider than the “lying climate scientists” probably hoped for. Documentaries, studies, and conferences over the years have helped pull the wool over the eyes of the public. The whole thing took about three decades to really take off, which is roughly the amount of time they’ve convinced people we have left to live. Look what’s happened in the past month in our very home; multiple times we’ve had school cancelled due to inclement weather, including colder temperatures. So, what global warming? Another one of the many things cited as “evidence” for the crisis is the rising CO2 levels- a substance toxic to humans. If the CO2 levels were truly rising, surely we would have noticed some adverse effects on our health. Besides, if the environment was actually doomed, the average American citizen could not do anything. Clearly all of this has been created out of normal seasonal changes to cause panic and further divide throughout the world. I mean, saying that by 2099, sea levels will be nearly two feet doesn’t even sound real. Recycling plastic and shorter showers would do nothing to slow the sheer amount of byproduct made by major corporations that supposedly contribute to pollution -but capitalism is of course a perfect economic model. If people are using all of the planet’s natural resources, we should simply use man made ones and have the Earth adjust accordingly. Climate change is merely a natural occurrence that happens throughout the course of the Earth’s existence. At one point, we had upwards of one Ice Age, these devastating hurricanes and forest fires are pretty minor in comparison. The statistics have to be falsified, anything else wouldn’t make sense and would be terrifying. When looking at the sheer improbability of the “facts” presented, it becomes obvious that this is a scam to distract from something else they are hiding - perhaps that the Earth truly is flat.
Robotics qualifies for world tournament after successful state championship b y
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“What we have to do is collect wiffle balls and two inch blocks on the field and place them in this bin in the middle. We have to sort them whether it is a ball or block. Before the driver control period, first comes the autonomous period where the robot is controlled all by programmed preset into the phone. There, we have to knock a block off of a certain location, and that location is randomized depending on a dice roll,” Senior Jade Effinger said. Along with that, they must also park the robot and come down from the landing. To start, each team must compete in five matches for the qualifying rounds. During this, their partners and opponents are completely randomized. Senior Pranal Madria and his team, 4964, worked together and ended up winning all five of their qualifying matches, even through some hiccups. After winning those, they moved onto the elimination rounds, were they were able to choose their partners and alliances. “Our scouting team had gathered data on every team in our division and every match they played prior to state as well as at state on Saturday. They did a fantastic job, we use their data and notes to find the best fit by looking at different statistics that we gather on them,” Madria said.
With the statistics and a team in mind going in, they were looking at teaming up with FTC Team 3409, the Astromechs. Last year the pair had worked together and won the State Championship, so when they picked Rolla’s team during the draft, they immediately accepted. “For the third team in our alliance, we picked 9808 The Chargers, who were a great addition to the alliance. Our alliance won two out of two matches in our division semifinals, which led us to also win two out of two in our divisions finals. During these matches, two out of the three teams in our alliance would play together against another alliance,” Madria said. During the second match of their division, Rolla and the Astromechs worked as partners and scored the winning 475 points pre penalized, which is currently the ninth highest score in the world. After going completely undefeated until this point, they went onto the state championship finals, were their alliance played the other winning alliance from the other division. They won again in their first match but lost the other two for a total of three matches between them. Though losing those two matches, they won nearly every match they competed in all day and, because they were apart of their division’s winning alliance and a finalist, they will be traveling to the world competition for the third year in a row.
Teacher feature: Mr. Rinehart was coaching in Rolla and it was an opportunity to coach with him again. Originally, S t a f f W r i t e r I taught so I could coach football, but I found teaching as enjoyable as my coachJamie Rinehart teaches American History ing career,” Rinehart said. to freshmen, and he History is a big has been teachpart of Rinehart’s ing for 21 years. life because many He played a part of his family memin organizing the ber’s background Veteran’s Memoinvolves history. rial Hall, and he “My family came is involved in the to Phelps County National Honor Missouri in 1856, Society and the and I own the Civil War trip for farm my Grandpa students. Rinehart bought “I organize the in 1940 after a annual Civil War lifetime of sharefreshman trip to cropping. My Vicksburg, Missispersonal history sippi every spring. runs deep. My wife We hike the battleis from Lexington, field and visit Civil Missouri, which is War attractions a famous Civil War in the town. It’s a town where the great way to get a Battle of the Hemp feel for the history, Bales occurred. standing where they Her great grandstood and walking father is buried where they walked,” next to John Rinehart said. Newman Edwards, Photo taken by Bailey Allsion Rinehart used to the journalist who be a member of the Western Writers of helped create the legend of Jesse James, America where he wrote a script for a and her great grandmother rode the boat television series. to America from Italy,” Rinehart said. “WWA is a writer’s association that helps Although Rinehart has not been out promote the western genre in books and of the country, he has been all over the other media. I was a member of that writUnited States. ers association for several years. I wrote “I have traveled to Wisconsin, North the script for a four part television series Carolina, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and all about the history of the American Cattle over the great state of Missouri. My favorIndustry that aired on a half hour program ite place was Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It called The Cattle Show on RFD-TV. The is mythical and such a wonderful place,” series aired internationally in August Rinehart said. 2009,” Rinehart said. Rinehart enjoys teaching history to high Rinehart is extremely interested in footschool students for many reasons. ball, so being a football coach to students “I love the subject, and it is a big part of was something that drew Rinehart in to my life. I like to watch as kids begin to enteaching. joy history like I do. I also really like being “The positive impact my football coacha part of their lives at a pivotal time, and es-Tom Hayes and Marc Garr-had on my getting to be a kid with them from time to life made me want to get into coaching. time,” Rinehart said. Also, my good friend, Coach Aaron Bartle, b y
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Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby to open in Rolla b y
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Rolla may appear to have a small and seemingly insignificant role in the political process, but this is not necessarily the case. A group of local residents are now taking action in the face of one of the most pressing threat to modern day societyclimate change. Rolla is in the process of starting our own chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby. I personally have spent a great while attempting to find my own way of contributing to conservation efforts and find this emerging group to be a highly promising outlet. The CCL is a nationwide, citizen-led organization building political will to make positive action addressing climate change. Their approach is through enacting a carbon fee and dividend through the legislator. This policy will impose a carbon fee on all fossil fuels and other greenhouse gases at the point where they first enter the economy. The revenue generated through this tax will
be returned to each American household through a monthly dividend. This bill is critical to making the shift towards renewable energy and goes about it in a practical way through bipartisanship and economic awareness. While at first glance a lobbying group may not sound tremendously appealing, my time as a member has been more fulfilling than I previously could have hoped for. For starters, we are a group making history by introducing the first ever carbon tax legislation to Congress. Compared to the actions of the group as a whole, I know my contributions have been relatively small. However, I am comforted by knowing that although I am just one individual, every movement towards progress is accomplished one individual at a time. At the very least, by being a member of CCL I can look back in time and know that I was not completely idle in the fight against climate change. Rolla’s chapter just recently became official after its members completed Climate Advocate Training hosted by
the co-coordinators for Missouri-Sharon Bagatell and George Laur- on March 2nd. The members of Rolla’s chapter have been extremely welcoming and enthusiastic at the prospect of growing their group, specifically Susan Wrassmen. Wrassmen has devoted her time to conservation through her work in the Missouri Master Gardeners, the Master Naturalists, and now in the CCL of Rolla’s Launch Team. Wrassmen has also assisted our Eco Club in the past and is one of my personal mentors and inspirations in regards to environmental conservation. “I didn’t respond right away when I first learned about CCL, but gradually I realized it was the only thing that had a chance to bring the change that is needed quickly, largely because of the commitment to respectful engagement of people with whom you might not agree. Rolla, and this whole part of the state didn’t have a chapter, but I personally knew a lot of people who I thought would join. What sets CCL apart is a practical, bipartisan
Students reflect on how high school affects their college careers b y
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When high schoolers are preparing and scheduling for the new school year, they should have their interests and what they suspect they’ll be pursuing in college in mind. A 2016 study from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that 69.7 percent of high school graduates reported enrolling in college. If a student wants to major in English during their college career, then
they are a lot more likely to enroll in more writing and reading classes than math or science focused classes. If they do not like an art class they are in, next semester they will have a chance to try out a history class they might prefer. High school gives students a chance to consider their interests and options without having to pay for it later in a college career. “I think in high school, you’re given this opportunity to explore all these different paths, and that’s an opportunity you’re not going to get later in life. If someone’s
introduced to something that they hadn’t known about before, and they find out that they really like that thing, then anyone is going to pursue that,” Freshman Akira Durbin said. When a student takes a class focusing on the topic they expect to go into, and has college in mind, they need to focus on not just on the necessary credit to graduate, but they also take in a factor of if that class is going to benefit them in the future. If a student takes classes earlier in their education career it gives them experience,
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Staff Writer The Girl Scouts is a national organization that encourages young girls to learn skills such as leadership and teamwork. There are over two million troops around the country, and every year between January and April they reach out to their communities to sell cookies. Troop 10425, located in Rolla, are currently working towards their cookie goals. Troop members and Rolla High School students, Hannah Fryer and Sloan Davis, talk about their long time involvement in the group. “We have both been in Girls Scouts since we were about three, before we could actually join, but we have been selling cookies since then,” Fryer said. Between the Phelps, Dent, and Pulaski counties there are 11 active troops. Rolla’s troop, 10425, meets every Thursday night and takes to selling cookies every weekend. They boast over 30 members, aging anywhere from 5 to 18 years old. Their biggest fundraiser of the year is the cookie selling; they do this for many reasons such as supporting the activities they do throughout the year.
“We raise money for cookie credit, as well as a trip to Orlando, Florida for a big meeting in 2020. The money from the cookies also goes towards the badges that we earn,” Davis said. Some of the money also makes its way back to the national organization so that it can be spread around. “All the money that is made nationally helps pay for the camps in the area as well as a financial aid program for girls who can’t pay for their uniforms and books,” Fryer said. Both Fryer and Davis sold over 1000 boxes of cookies last year each. Their strategies include social media, word of mouth, and getting out into the community. Both girls believe they have gained important life experience from this. “By selling cookies the girls learn a lot of different skills, like counting back change. Most kids now don’t know how to do that, but we do,” Davis said. As for the involvement in the community the Girl Scouts volunteer at the homeless shelter, Russell House, and GRACE. Davis and Fryer hope the community will continue to support them by buying cookies.
letting them dip a toe into whatever they’re trying to pursue. High school classes can familiarize a student with that certain topic they are considering exploring in higher education, which better prepares them for the work to come. “If I went straight into college for a psychology major, and hadn’t taken any psychology classes now, I wouldn’t really know what to expect,” freshman Grace Gorman said.
Rolla High represented at regional Poetry Out Loud competiton
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approach and a really unique way to draw people in by guaranteeing that poor and working people will not bear the costs of taxing carbon. I love the big banner on the CCL website that says, ‘Our Solution to Climate Change? Democracy.’ Climate change is the one issue on which everything else hinges, but to me, the most important reason is because we humans are destroying the planet for all of our fellow creatures. In the last week, a new study about the extinction of insects has received a lot of buzz because most people have no idea that if they perish so do we. Since I spend a lot of my volunteer time working on habitat for pollinators and aquatic insects and love to garden, this really hit home. I’ve noticed the changes in my own garden with many fewer native bees visiting. This problem is not all due to climate change, but many of the changes we need to make in how we grow our food, for instance, will impact these creatures’ ability to survive too, and it is critical in my point of view.”
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Gillis invited teachers from across the school to come watch their practices, and Kimball even performed in front of some English classes to help her be confident in front of a crowd. Their practices together were fairly short because of Kimball’s busy schedule, but packed with manageable tips. “It was really easy because she is pretty motivated and driven. I would give her a little bit of different feedback each time. The first time it was deciding the order
that she was comfortable with. I told her to go home at night and just think about this one line or this stanza and read over and over to understand what the author is trying to do,” Gillis said. Finding her way through the grammar and syntax of poetry proved to not be the most difficult aspect of the project though, as Kimball balanced several clubs on top of her practices. “I already have clubs everyday after school and on Wednesday I’m double or triple booked. I have an English class seventh hour and I would book it down to Mrs. Gillis’s room and perform for 10 minutes and then have to leave. Mrs.Gillis did a really good job of making it easy for me. She said they don’t need me to be there for half an hour reading poetry, I could
be there for 10 minutes and it was okay,” Kimball said. After the hustle of prepping, Kimball got up and dressed in a suit on the day of regionals. About five other students competed against her in three different rounds before they were given feedback and judged. “They only tell you if you get first or second place; beyond that you don’t know what place you got. I did not get first or second, however, they did say that all of the scores were very close together that is really good,” Kimball said. Gillis believed she may have been only a point away from runner up, and appreciated the tips the judges gave to Kimball, as she is a junior and able to compete again next year.
“I really like the poetry choices she made and I think it was an appropriate level of difficulty for the competition. We are really proud of her showing and hope that she is able to audition with us next year,” Gillis said. Kimball plans to return to the competition next year and particularly enjoyed meeting other students with similar interests to hers. She appreciated getting to talk to others about their poetry and seeing all the other works presented as well as relating to others difficulties while practicing. Her success in the competition stemmed from her passion for poetry, which she was grateful to see others like that in St. Charles. “I really like writing poetry, that’s what I usually do. Sophomore year, I read a poem at the Poetry Jam that I wrote a poem specifically for that. After that, I just kept on writing poems,” Kimball said. Though Poetry Out Loud involved choosing already written poetry from an approved list, she still liked the idea and thought it would be a good experience. While she wants to pursue a career in medicine, poetry is still an active part of her life. “I think it’s a really good way to express yourself without having to be quite as direct. There are a lot of different techniques that you can employ like symbolism and imagery, and I think it can be really beautiful,” Kimball said. One of the best parts of the whole event was being able to read all the poetry choices she had. Gillis agrees that the study of arts connects people and encourages other students interested in language to audition next fall. “Just know that you don’t have to perfect, you just have to show up because that’s about 90 percent of the battle. We can work with you and do some great things with you, so I hope that Jessie auditions but also know there is space for a lot of people,” Gillis said.
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Band students transition marching to concert season b y
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Each year around November, Rolla High School Band gets ready to step into concert season, wrapping up their busy marching season. Band is a huge part of Rolla High School; more than 300 students are actively participating in the Rolla High School Band. One branch of the band, the school’s marching band, is a favorite of the students. Marching season is filled with busy schedules, friends, long practices, and bonds that last through many kids’ high school career. The transition from marching season to concert can be tough, or relieving; it mostly depends on how a student looks at it. “Marching band is really fun, but it’s high-key stressful. So I’d say going from marching to concert is a positive change, because I’m not as stressed about what’s going on,” junior saxophone Celeste Lietz said.
Some see it as an ending, others view it as a start. From freshman to seniors, there is no doubt that everyone has their unique stories, different experiences, and independent opinions from marching band, but they all come together from the bonds and feelings they share. “I think it’s a little sad because it was the seniors last show, there’s a lot of really good seniors that are going to be leaving,” Freshman clarinet Serenity Gaither said. A lot of the band is made up of seniors, the kids who have seemingly been marching the field since forever. Everyone knows the seniors, they are looked up to and valued among all classmen. When that competition hits, tears tend to fall, and emotions only intensify as kids realize this is the last time marching with a band they have known for four years. While a lot of students are worried about their time left, others are enjoying sleeping in without all the early mornings and late nights. For most, concert season is a chance to kick back and relax without the stress of competitions, football game halftimes, and extensive practices. “Well, I have more free time after school,
and my Saturdays are no longer busy. I don’t have to wake up as early, that’s really good,” Lietz said. When the season mellows out, most of the band kids do too. The once rowdy, adrenaline rushed teens are reintroduced to the controlled chaos of Symphonic and Concert Band. Drill sets and marching techniques slide into chair placements and submitted audition videos. “I think we are happy with how our season ended,” Gaither said. The members of the band loved their marching season, and now that they have transitioned into the concert season, they give the whole community a chance to experience the power of their music. And since March is Music In Our School Month, it is one of the best times of year to experience all that the Rolla band has to offer. Junior Morgan Bell plays the clarinet, and music has always been one of her favorite escapes from the real world. “Whenever I get too stressed out at school or in life in general, I will usually just go to my room and play some form of music. Trying to improve myself as a musician
helps me forget my problems,” Bell said. Senior flute player Kristina Happel has similar feelings about the emotion that goes into band and music. “When I go to college, and graduate, and get a job, it’ll be a little weird, but it’ll be good. Because I’m not going to be, like a body doctor. I’m going to be a soul doctor,” Happel said. Rolla’s band is one that has been celebrated by the students in it and the audience that watch it. Rolla has been blessed to are about the music programs, which has helped many students flourish. “You hear a lot about school not caring about the arts. Like it’s all STEM now, no music. And I’m not going to lie, STEM is important, but so is music. Two things can be important in different ways,” Happel said. The music programs in our schools are the kind that people can savor for their whole student careers, allowing students to explore not just their art, but themselves. “The music programs in our school have really helped develop me as a person, and it’s helped my confidence a lot,” Bell said.
Lietz has also participated in District Choir, which is a competition that is held every year. “District choir is in the fall, and it is an audition based off of a solo from a specific list of songs and sightreading. If you score well enough, you make it into the District Honor Choir and can try out for the AllState Choir. Everyone who tries out for all state sings the same solo. We also go to Worlds of Fun as a choir, and sing there. We receive a rating from one to five, where one is the best rating,” Lietz said. Lietz has had many solos in choir, and he has a new one this year. “My solo coming up for the spring concert for a song called ‘Seasons of Love,’ and I’m excited for it,” Lietz said. All-State Choir is the highest level of competition for high school choir members. Lietz had the opportunity to attend. “I went to All-State Choir in January by the lake. It was one of the best experiences I have had. Being surrounded by other people who love music was awesome, and I met so many people,” Lietz said. A lot of practice is needed to qualify for these reputable competitions, and Lietz has had help getting prepared. “Some of my singing talent was natural, but I have also had to work on it a lot. Mr. Bartelsmeyer has helped me with my singing. He makes sure that I get enough practice for competitions, because you need a lot of practice to get up to that level,” Lietz said. Lietz’s mom has been the most supportive person regarding his singing. “My mom has encouraged me to keep singing from a young age and has driven me to and payed for countless trips,” Lietz said.
showcases Oklahoma! for spring musical
Artist of the month RHS drama department
Photo taken by Bailey Allison
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Senior Tristan Lietz has been singing since he was incredibly young, and has been in choir ever since. He is also involved in community choir. “I started singing when I was in preschool, but I didn’t join choir until second grade. The first choir I sang in was the Children’s Choir. Community choir is one of several choirs in the Rolla Choral Arts Society. They are an organization that wants to spread the joy of music,” Lietz said.
Bullet Journaling gains popularity as oganizational, creative outlet b y
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Staying organized and on task can be tiring. Having to remember various things to do, upcoming events, and soon to be homework without a way that works for the individual person may be difficult. A simple way to stay on track in an organized and fun method is bullet journaling. Examples of bullet journal entries may include lists displayed in a chart or image, doodles to provide creativity, and logs of money spent throughout a certain time frame. Bullet Journals provide inspiration and a clutter-free space to keep track of important numbers, dates, and deadlines. Neuroscientist David Levitin on inc.com
6 Arts and Entertainment
suggests bullet journaling effects act like an ‘external memory extension’. “The conscious mind can attend to about three things at once. Try to juggle any more than that and you’re going to lose some brain power,” Levitin says. A bullet journal, or just a journal if the creative aspect is not relevant, provides for a space to write down a ‘mental to-do list,’ and to relieve the brain of extra stress. A bullet journal can be filled with things that describe a person’s individual life and personality. Many cover designs and sizes are available online, as well as various colored pens, markers, and highlighters. Although these items can help for a more colorful and personalized space, they are not necessary. Just fill in the pages with things that help to stay on track and stay organized!
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“This part has a lot of singing and it’s a really big part so I was excited to do it. I auditioned, memorized my monologue, and tried to be as country and old time western as I could be. I finally got the part and worked very hard to memorize all of the lines and all of the blocking and singing,” Brown said. Though a definite staple in not only high school drama but community theater, Brown worked for months perfecting his part and knew that it was Photo courtesy of Laura Stites “definitely a difficult role to play,” “We started out doing just about two hour rehearsals in January. In December, we learned all the solo and duet music so that was about an hour every day after school then. We have practiced about every day except Mondays for at least two hours since then. This past week we have gone from 4 to 10 at night,” Brown said. The time commitment required wore on first time actor, senior Rhys Proffitt. Having never been in a production, he took a risk and auditioned for the part of Slim. “It is my senior year, so I just wanted to get outside my comfort zone. I have always been interested in it and it was my last chance to do it,” Proffitt said. Though the practices were hard, he met “so many new, supportive friends” along the way who helped him learn through the months about singing, dancing, and performing. Because this particular show is so musical, they struggled to remain well throughout the colder months and flu season. In order to maintain a good voice, cast members had to stay hydrated and limit their talking and volume. The intense musicality and subject of Oklahoma! was something that the drama department had never done before. “My first show was Once Upon a Mattress which was more of a renaissance story. I wore tights and loose clothing and was a funny, kind of dumb character. It was a fun character. Last year we did Guys and Dolls and I did a New York accent
and wore a fancy suit. Now I do a country accent and walk bow legged with boots on. It is definitely different and extremely musical,” Brown said. Besides what happens on the stage, the props and mechanics of the show proved difficult as well. Stage Manager and senior Kelly DeNise worked mainly in the booth, calling cues to the stage managers backstage. “We don’t have that many scene changes but for what we do we are moving giant props on and off stage. We have an eight by eight foot platform that has a wall in the middle. One side is the front porch of Laurey’s house and the other is the inside of Judd’s smokehouse,” DeNise said. Although sometimes difficult to pull together, as Rolla High School’s drama department continues to up their production value, tickets continue to sell. Last year’s show also sold out on Friday and Saturday, and Brown looked forward to performing for a full house. “To have three sold out shows is absolutely amazing. It means we are getting the most money out of our show that is possible. We are really excited and the more people that are there, the more energy that comes to us as performers,” Brown said. Despite his experience with theater and excitement for the crowd, he still gets nervous with each performance. He opens the show by singing without any music behind him, walking up from a field of corn. “I think this is one of the biggest roles I have been nervous for. But my confidence builds with each good performance and knowing the house is full gives a boost of confidence too. If you’re not nervous though, then you’re doing something wrong,” Brown said. After an exceedingly successful show of Oklahoma, Brown had just one show left with Rolla High School, nearing the end of his long career with the high school theater. “It feels very bittersweet. I love performing with every single person in the cast and this is my last one, but I am also glad to be moving onto bigger and better things,” Brown said.
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In the past few seasons, the Rolla wrestling program has had quite some success, with multiple wrestlers placing in state competitions, and the whole team competing well in conference and district play. However, since 2007, has no accomplished was a first place wrestler in the state championship. That changed when Sophomore Nathaniel Pulliam pinned Pacific’s Callum Sitek for the championship. To become one of the best wrestlers in the state of Missouri, it takes more than just to wrestle during the winter season. That is why Pulliam partakes in club wrestling activities and offseason workouts. “In the offseason, basically from March to November, I go to Columbia two to three times a week. It is called “Ironman Elite.” I train with national level athletes and other state level athletes to improve on my techniques. I also go to St. Louis a couple times out of the year to practice with opponents I might see throughout the season,” Pulliam said. Wrestling is not just a physical match between two opponents, there are also mental aspects to the match. Pulliam focuses a lot on preparing mentally and physically for upcoming matches. “There is a lot of emotions going on before heading into a big match. You pretty much just got to shut everything out and just be calm. There are a lot of superstitions out there, like why did I tie my left shoe today instead of my right first? Why did I do this instead of that? You pretty much just have to put in the work and the time to wrestle. I know how to wrestle obviously, I know I can beat anybody, I just got to focus on wrestling and I’ll be fine,” Pulliam said. Without a good coach to guide an
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Photo taken by Bailey Allison Athletes of every form walk the halls of Rolla High School. Eden Potter, junior, has played soccer almost her whole life, and celebrates the time she has had. “I started playing soccer when I was six years old, in New York. That’s almost eleven years. I remember having so much fun and loving my teammates,” Potter said. Her teammate of three years, fellow junior Celeste Lietz, is happy to brag about her long-term teammate and friend. “Playing for the high school team has helped her grow a lot as a person and a player. I am very proud of her, and wouldn’t want to play with anyone else!” Lietz said. Potter does not just play the game, she allows herself to be overtaken by it completely. “Each match brings a new and invigorating challenge. There’s no better feeling that beating a player one on one,” Potter said. Overall, the game has been a source of joy for Potter, who reviews her time playing with great affection or the sport. “The biggest reason I’ve stuck with soccer is because of the friends I’ve made. I love soccer, and if the university I choose to attend has a women’s soccer team, I’ll definitely be checking it out,” Potter said.
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The end of regular season basketball starts the playoffs for over two hundred basketball teams in the state of Missouri.
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Rolla is home to all kinds of people. Intellectuals, artists, people of every flavor. Among those people are the athletes. People of great skill, who can succeed in their sports. One of these people is Pranal Madria. Madria has played tennis for about five years. The decision to play was an easy one for him. “My brother would take me to the courts and would teach me the basics, some technique, and some footwork. I stuck with tennis because it was challenging in that it was physical and also rather mental.” Madria said. Madria’s time playing tennis has allowed him to form great bonds with his teammates, such as junior Josiah Homan. “I think very highly of Pranal and his abilities on the court. He’s an outstanding player,” Homan says. Homan is quick to point out the best parts of Madria’s playing, as well as his willingness to fight through injury. “Pranal has definitely improved over the time I’ve known him. Battling injuries is tough, but he came back even stronger last year and that shows his character and drive to play the sport he loves,” Homan says. Madria has been one of the most successful of any tennis players that Rolla High has ever seen. “Everytime we play against someone, it’s important for me to try and grab two wins for the team. I don’t write down my wins and losses. Instead, I try to focus on improvement and the next match.” Madria says.
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athlete, they will never reach their full potential. Luckily with Pulliam, he has full confidence in his wrestling coach Marty Hauck. “I think compared to all the other coaches in the past, he is honestly doing the best. Basically, just his adversity, he doesn’t have an ego he sticks to, while other coaches do. That is a thing I don’t like about some other coaches, they have a thing they like and they set to that. With Hauck, he likes to change everything around. From my freshman year to my sophomore year, things were completely different on how we practice, warm up, our eating, the way we think about wrestling, our wrap up,” Pulliam said. Pulliam takes part of many different sports, such as soccer and golf. However, wrestling is the hardest practices he is a part of. “Wrestling in general is just a full body workout and I’m not saying soccer or other sports don’t have a hard work ethic as well. Wrestling though, you feel every muscle in your body being worked, there is no other ways around it, that is the real reason why you see other people do it and quit. The full body workout is the biggest thing about wrestling to me,” Pulliam said. Only being a sophomore and already having a strong resume is quite an accomplishment. However, Pulliam hopes to build on his resume to continue wrestling during college. “I plan to wrestle at college, preferably at Mizzou though. I do think I can achieve a D1 level so there are other opportunities for me at the collegiate level. Winning national tournaments in the summer, and hopefully making a world team are my future goals and plans. Until I can’t wrestle because of age or physical fitness I’ll wrestle my whole life,” Pulliam said.
Photos taken by Nalani Massaro This season Rolla High School fielded two respectable basketball teams, with the girl’s basketball team winning the conference title, and the boys’ basketball team placing fourth. It will be interesting to see how both teams perform during the postseason. When playing such a high stakes game, it is easy to succumb to the pressure of playoff basketball. Senior Alec Buhr, a captain on the basketball team is not worried about changing his mentality as a leader of the team.
have to be on our A-game for those,” Rodgers said. As a coach it is important to keep athletes focused on the game at hand and not to succumb to the pressure. Coach Luke Floyd has prepared his team quite well to compete this postseason. “We have spent the past week working on fundamentals. We put in a couple of new things for the postseason, but mainly spent time fine-tuning what we do. As far as the mental aspect goes, it’s the same approach that we took during the regular season. One focus on the game at hand. Two focus
“My mentality doesn’t change as far as being the leader. I’ve told the underclass players that if you want to play for someone, play for the seniors who have a limited amount of games left,” Buhr said. Towards the end of the season, the stakes of every game are raised as teams get tougher and tougher to compete against. Senior RJ Alfred is motivated to play this offseason. “It’s surreal, I mean my whole high school basketball career could potentially be over after any game. It just makes me want to go harder, I don’t want to lose, I want to make it as close if not to state,” Alfred said. Junior Ellie Rodgers is excited to compete in districts and believes the team has been performing well as of late. “I think the team has been really clicking
on defense...defense wins championships. Three win possessions. If you win possessions, you win quarters. If you win quarters, you win games,” Floyd said. During Rolla’s postseason push the boys and girls team had many ups and downs. With the boys team losing in heartbreaking fashion to Sullivan during the district championship by a score of 48-38 finishing the season 18-9 with a second place finish in districts and fourth in conference. The girls however made it a little farther, winning the district title against Owensville by a score of 62-60 however the season ended with a loss in the quarterfinals to LoganRogersville a score of 45-40. They ended the season with both a conference and district championship and a total record of 24-4.
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Local 4-H group in planning RPS students compete in the stages of a community garden Doodle For Google contest to showcase native plants L b y
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With the many scholarship opportunities offered to students through academia, a scholarship opportunity called Doodle For Google is a contest open to all grade school kids from around the world. As stated by junior Brenna Heavin, it is also a great way to not only earn scholarship money, but spread a message. “For this year, the prompt is ‘for the future, I hope…’ and for the future, I want conservation and environmentalism to be a bigger focus, because we’ve kind of leaned back on that when it is something we all live in. I incorporated this idea by drawing my design within nature. I used a flower concept by drawing petals, and had the center of the flower be where I put the Google logo and trees, to show that what is in the center is what our focus should be on,” Heavin said. According to an article published by Billings Gazette, in 2018, approximately 100,000 people in United States participated in Doodle For Google and with this incredibly insane amount of people partaking in this competition, a vast panel of judges examined each artwork. This panel ranged from actress Julie Bowen, astronaut Yvonne Cagle, Golden State Warriors’ basketball player Stephen Curry, professional soccer player Alex Morgan, director and animator Glen Keane, to writer, director and producer B.J. Novak. Even though this contest can be seen as competitive, Heavin believes each person
obtains a special quality that if put into their drawing, can help them stand out. “I think the judges will first off look for a drawing that is original, so not something they’ve seen before. They want something that’s eye-catching but with a message behind it and not just letters,” Heavin said. However, while originality does play a factor into how each doodle is evaluated, technicality along with artistic skill and theme communication play a big part in who does and does not become a finalist. Heavin discusses how incorporating her design with the Google logo was the most challenging part of creating her drawing. “I initially had a different idea for my doodle and it involved making the letters into different shapes, but it was really hard to try and come up with how I could make those look good. So instead, I decided to scrap all of that and I went with the simplistic drawings that I knew I could portray well” Heavin said. Though assessing one’s weak points can come in handy, knowing what one does well can be beneficial in wanting others to notice that strength as well. “I liked how I connected my theme to portray the image and I think that was one of the best things I did. It’s something different, that not a lot of people have seen before. The biggest message I want to get across isn’t the biggest part of the drawing, it’s the smallest part, but it’s plays onto what I’m trying to convey. The message I want to get across is also something I’m really passionate about, so I knew that that’s exactly what I wanted to talk about.,” Heavin said.
Student Council raises hundreds for Special Olympics at Polar Plunge
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Staff Writer “Special Olympics Missouri works to host events for our special needs students at Rolla High School. There is Track and Field Day, there was also a Special Olympics Bowling day where other schools came to Rolla,” Barth said. “There were participants from all of the schools, as well as the Police Department and other local businesses. There were probably 100-150 people there, this year it was definitely smaller due to the weather. It was still a great crowd and the energy was awesome,” Barth said. Rolla High School’s Student council has been involved in the Polar Plunge for many years now, as well as the rest of the community. This year’s event was circus themed, so students collaborated in creating their costumes. “The costumes are really fun, it was
circus themed so we had a bearded lady, the strong man, and all sorts of animals. It really fun to come up with the costumes together as a team,” Barth said. Fellow participant and Rolla High School student, Kate Mallery, also enjoyed the event and told about some of the teams that were formed for this year’s plunge. “People from Rolla and surrounding areas form teams. The Rolla and St. James Police departments form teams as well as schools, different clubs, and different groups of people. They come out and raise a lot of money. Basically after they raised a certain amount of money they jumped in freezing cold water for fun,” Mallery said. Mallory believes that although it can be a little unpleasant, the experience is very rewarding and exciting. “My favorite part was the plunge itself, I was waiting around for hours and I was nervous. I honestly didn’t want to do it, but once I actually did it I was proud of myself and it felt great,” Mallery said.
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Rolla will soon be adorned by a native plant and agrarian garden courtesy of the local 4-H chapter. The garden, a long term dream of 4-H members, is intended to share 4-H values with the community and encourage outdoor learning. Although plans are still underway, members hope to start planting this spring and have their project fully accessible to the public by summer. Though typically thought of as an agriculturally focused organization as a result of its history, 4-H today focuses on a broad range of disciplines which encourage personal growth and career success. The 4-H name represents four areas of focus: head, heart, hands, and health. Junior Faith Ford is the President of Rolla’s 4-H chapter. “4-H is a community club where we encourage our kids to become leaders and give back to their community. Our motto is ‘to make the best better,’” Ford said. Giving back to the community is a key motivation for 4-H members in the making of their garden. “This project was started by the members as a way to bring awareness to 4-H and to help beautify our trails for the community,” Ford said. The garden will be planted with advise and guidance of groups like the Master
Gardeners and Master Naturalists, a group dedicated to enhancing natural beauty and wellbeing through landscaping. The Master Gardeners are planning on planting a large native species garden by the Westside Marketplace. The 4-H garden will be a smaller extension located on the Acorn Trail off of Lions Club Drive. Both gardens will be interactive, meaning they will be equipped with signs and guides that will inform visitors of the garden’s plants and ecology. “The club will plant native flowers that are hand picked by each member specifically, and there will be a trail of landscaping stones as a walkway through our project. There will also be signs of information about 4-H, and flowers and butterflies and such,” Ford said. Rolla’s 4-H group is excited to share their contributions with the community, as well as to learn and grow as an organization through their gardening endeavors. “We trying to improve not only our surroundings, but our knowledge overall,” Ford said.
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Over this past summer, Senior Pranal Madria worked as a programmer for the organization called MinerFly at MS&T. MinerFly is a small group of people, some students and some full time workers, who build drones and other robots completely from scratch. The team is eight to fifteen people building aircrafts for researchers and their specific needs “They have several different types of drones that they use for several different things depending on what the researcher wants. It is a small team that works incredibly hard to build these drones for other people to use for research purposes,” Madria said. For example, Madria worked on a program for a drone that would inspect bridges for Inspire UTC. They are one of the researchers that MinerFly helps with, and are currently wanting to use drones to inspect bridges in hopes of making the process more convenient and safe. “Humans have full control of the drone, but they want it to be where the drone is completely autonomous. However the human still has to be there to watch it and be able to control it at any point. They have already done some tests with the city and they want to have drones that can go all around the bridge and inspect it safely to check for damages, weak points, structural damage, and other things like that,” Madria said. MinerFly was already working on the project, but a student that was doing the programming had just graduated and was leaving. He set Madria up with what he needed to know and do before he left, and Madria took over for the summer. For the two months he was there, he worked on an obstacle avoidance framework. “I took the program and made it to where it was able to detect certain objects and find the distance to them. It will hopefully
eventually be used on some of the drones to autonomously go to the bridge and do whatever they need to do on the bridge using that program,” Madria said. Because each aircraft is built from the ground up, the team works tirelessly to design, wire, and put together the robot. They are built with a pre-loaded software, but if there is a specific need or a custom feature necessary, They have to make their own. Currently they are trying to load their own code to hopefully go onto the drones. “They are 3D modeling it, buying the equipment for it, and then they wire it together and build it from scratch. It is really neat to see when the first test happens and how they handle things when it doesn’t work. They go back to see what is wrong and fix it. But you can’t ask someone, you have to look at yourself because you are the one building it,” Madria said. Along with the programming, MinerFly also took him out near the Cuba Airport to do tests, where he learned more about how field tests work and the safety involved. Though he works with robots every day in Robotics, he finds it different to work with robots designed for real world problems. As a high school student, being able to work with an elite team on projects for a clientele is a rare and exciting opportunity that he feels he was graciously given by Dr. Chen and Inspire UTC. He attributes the success of the organization that started out as a small design team and is now serving several different researchers around the clock to the hardworking people there daily. “They build some really neat stuff over there and it was a really awesome opportunity and a great experience. I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity and the real credit cards them because they’re working on some amazing stuff every day,” Madria said.
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