Rolla High School ECHO February 24, 2017 by RHS ECHO

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Rolla High School - 900 Bulldog Run - Rolla, Missouri 65401- Volume 68 - Issue - 7 February 24, 2017 - www.rhsecho.com

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO LEND A HAND, LEND AN ARM. pg 10

DECA pg 8

A Day with Dr. Ruby Payne

Barriers in Education pg 16

In this issue... End It Movement.................................................................................5 Boys’ Basketball ..................................................................................6 Artist/Athlete of the Month................................................................18 Youth Culture.......................................................................................21

Letter from the Editor

My fellow seniors, it is almost March of our last year together. Feeling nostalgic yet? Me either. March is probably one of my favorite months of the year; track season starts, the, what I like to call, “yuck” of winter is all washed away by lots and lots of green. And, March is sort of the hump day of the school year for me; I’ve made it this far, I can for sure make it to the end. But this year, March also represents the time of standardized testing. Let’s take a trip down memory lane shall we. It’s March of my Junior year. Missouri passed a new law stating that every junior in the state must take the ACT regardless if they plan to go to college or not. By then I have already taken the ACT twice and got a pretty average score but I was bound and determined to do better on this one. So I studied and stressed and stressed some more until test day came. I was extremely nervous, all the anxiety I had to do better and make my parents proud hit me hard. Scores came back and unfortunately, I had received the same score I did the last two times I took it. Sad. I was pretty much done with that dumb test at this point, but I decided to take it one last time. So I went through the whole process of emotions once again and lo and behold, my score went up a whole 3 points. A little higher, but still, a pretty average score. I hated that test with my whole heart. After a total of 4 ACT tests taken. I was still categorized as an average student. I haven’t had a grade below a B in my life. I worked hard for my grades and took pride in them, but all my above average work was just flushed down the toilet at the sight of one stinking number. Nowadays, colleges base lots of scholarships and programs off of ACT scores, which in my opinion, is just plain stupid. Some schools think that because I don’t have a 31+ score on my ACT means I won’t be a good addition to a school’s student body. I guess being active in 5 clubs, volleyball manager, track and field athlete, part time employee, and Editor-in-Chief of this magazine isn’t enough to let colleges know that I’m a qualified enough student. But, that’s none of my business. *insert Kermit the Frog meme here* What I’ve come to know throughout high school and now with college coming up is that everybody is obsessed with the numbers. Your GPA, class rank, and ACT score, are how we students are classified. But, to be honest, those numbers mean NOTHING if you don’t work hard for what you want. Sure your 33 on the ACT got you to school on a full ride, but if you blow off your classes and party more than you sleep, then college won’t be some walk in the park you’re imagining. Often I have to remind myself that I am not defined by these numbers, that those numbers in no way indicate my personality or desire to achieve. Yes, those numbers do play a big role in college applications and such, but once we’re all out in the real world, those numbers will just be numbers.

ECHO Magazine Staff 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.

Editor In Chief - Celia Parsons, Copy Editors -Adrienne Pyeatt & Connor Wilson, Webmaster - Ashanti Owusu-Brafi Staff Writers - Sophia Gesualdi, Nalani Massaro, Maia Bond, Diya Allada, Brandon Kirchner, Caroline Adams, Lydia Giesey, Theresa Lauer, Bailey Allison, and Lorren Black Adviser - Mary Gillis

Dan Collier, Agent Get your license Get a car Call Dan Collier for a great rate

1100 North Rolla Street Rolla, MO 65401

Office: 573-364-4133 Fax: 573-364-2531 Office Hours Mon-Fri 8:30am to 5:00pm After Hours by Appointment

ctagon Club B

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Throughout Rolla High School, there are dozens of clubs that students are able to join. Some clubs focus on personal interests, such as reading or films, while others are based on service. One of the more obscure service clubs of Rolla High is Octagon Club. “Octagon Club will help you out if you need volunteer and community service hours. A lot of clubs do service projects, but this one places an emphasis on the youth in our community. Octagon hasn’t been advertised much in the past, but we plan to fix that and get more people involved so that we can do even more for the community. Octagon Club is all about giving back to the community and helping all people throughout our local community, but with an emphasis on helping youth. It’s the student organization of Optimist Club,” senior and President of Octagon Club Megan Lenox said. Service clubs like Octagon Club help create benevolent students with a willingness to help others. These clubs also provide the opportunity to be a part of projects that serve the community and help with other organizations such as National Honor Society and scholarships that require volunteering. “Octagon Club teaches students leadership and giving back to the community, since all of the activities focus on helping someone others. We

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incorporate parliamentary procedure into our meetings, which is pretty unique. Octagon Club will help you out if you need volunteer and community service hours. A lot of clubs do service projects, but this one places an emphasis on the youth in our community. Octagon hasn’t been advertised much in the past, but we plan to fix that and get more people involved so that we can do even more for the community,” Lenox said. In past years, Octagon Club has been small and relatively unknown. One of the most important components of any club is recognition and having a strong base of members. The students involved in Octagon Club hope that students will see the numerous benefits of being a part of the club so that the organization will become more wellknown. We get to meet a lot of people in the community through Optimist Club as well as plan events. It was our idea to do the club fair this year in order to give students an idea of all the clubs they can join next year. We are hoping to get some new members from that event. Getting new members is important to us so that we can build up Octagon Club to do many projects and create a legacy,” Lenox said.

LEADERSHIP PURPOSE PASSION OPTIMIST COMMUNITY DEVOTION COMMITMENT SINCERITY

SERVICE

Party Like It’s 1737

St. Patrick’s Day has always been a good opportunity to get out one last hurrah on any party vibes left over from the holiday season, but one troubling question for teenagers is what can they do to celebrate? Young kids have the whole pinching each other thing, but if a random stranger winds up getting pinched, there’s a good chance they’ll give some dirty looks and some sexualharassment charges. Then there’s also the fact that the drinking age is 21, so that should eliminate the whole getting blackout

drunk celebration that most college students seem so fond of. Well, it should anyways. So what is there possibly to do as a young-and-able high schooler on the prowl for fun and any possible ways to avoid doing homework or studying? Some of the students of Rolla High shared what they’ll be up to this March 17th.

“I’ll probably hang out with some friends and watch an NBA game, just having a low-key PG13 hang out, being family friendly and making good choices,” senior Jesse Liu said.

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“I don’t ever celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I just honk at people as I drive by and hope they get drunk,” senior Fatima Elawaeb said. “I normally eat sloppy joes and spend time with my family. It’s sort of tradition,” senior Lucas Marling said. “Galway Piper,” senior Ashley Wilson said.

“I’m not sure, It’ll be [fun],” senior Steven Stutts said.

“I don’t even know when St. Patrick’s Day is, so I probably won’t be doing anything,” senior Jeff Moss said.

THE END IT MOVEMENT b y

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Slavery is illegal, yet it still exists in our society. Organizations like the End It Movement have been working to make the public aware of this fact. “The End It Movement is basically a movement to spread awareness about the already large and growing slavery still very relevant in our world today. Slavery is everywhere and it affects all kinds of people from all across the globe, so it’s extremely important that we familiarize people with the very real fact that it is happening and it’s an unacceptable issue,” junior Hannah Strain said. On February 23, students of Rolla High were able to join together to raise awareness for the End It Movement. The Leadership class planned for the day ahead of time, and their preparations allowed the day to be impactful. “Leadership Class is putting on the event the day of the movement so that students can show their support by wearing a red ‘X’ on their hands! We will also have donation jars so that kids can donate any spare change they have to help the cause, and it will go straight to a fund that helps enslaved people gain their freedom back. It really just makes students and faculty aware as to what is going on around them. It allows a chance for people to ask questions and feel a little bit more comfortable discussing the issue considering what a large part of slavery lies in sex trafficking,” Strain said. The End It Movement expresses that slavery comes in many forms, and a prominent form is sex trafficking. Leadership Class plans to raise awareness and help fight against this in the future. “We are working on another event to raise money for a specific group that will purchase these girls back and give them their lives and freedoms back later on in the semester,” Hannah Strain said.

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$4 Million raised since 2013

For more information visit enditmovement.com.

SLAVERY IS REAL 2.23.17

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After a very successful 2015-2016 season campaign the Rolla Bulldogs lost four key seniors that lit up their offense. Sophomore Jonathan “Blaize” Klossner plays Point Guard for the Rolla Basketball Team. “We just need to be able to all fill our roles and really just do our job, losing the four seniors who really brought some firepower to our offense. We really need some younger guys and seniors to step up and we just need to be team oriented and not focus individually on our goals,” Klossner said.

Basketball: More than dribbling Basketball is a difficult sport to compete in and requires a lot more energy and dedication than some other sports. Junior Josh Pritchett plays small forward for the Rolla Basketball Team. “I’ve played basketball a lot longer than all the others sports I play. I started when I was like in second grade and just kept on playing up until now. I’ve put in a lot more work in basketball than anything else,” Pritchett said. The pre-game moments are some of the most important, it gives the players the time they need to get their head in the game. Junior Aaron Cunningham plays Forward for the Rolla Basketball Team “I mean everyone has their own little ritual or whatever but all I do is take two little energy pills and I’m golden for the rest of the night,” Cunningham said Over half way through the season the Rolla Bulldogs have a solid record. However the second part of the season is more critical to a team’s success. “Right now we are just taking one game at a time, 1-0 each game we are not worried about what is happening later on, I think this team has potential to go anywhere from losing in the first round

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Watch us win state, boys.

to winning a state championship. It just depends on where our minds are at,” Klossner said. The Rolla 6th Man has been an avid part of the team going to home games and even some away, the effect it has on the players is really uplifting. “I mean when they are around it is always loud. It makes it look like there are a lot more people in the crowd then there actually is. A lot of times you look up into the crowd there is not a lot of people but then you look at the section and it’s just packed and everyone is having fun, jumping around, whatever it is. It gives you a lot more energy to play,” Cunningham said. Last basketball season was one of the best seasons in school history and it will take a lot to recreate that same success. Head Coach Mark Miller has coached the Rolla Basketball team for a long time now. “Well, that’s a challenge right there. Last season was one of the best seasons in school history so it’s quite a tall order to be able to try to match something like that. But the guys we got coming back have blended together really well and play well together as a team. They work hard, they are very coachable and although we haven’t had quite the same success from the last couple of years we definitely are a solid basketball team,” Miller said. Losing the senior classmen from the last basketball season has affected the basketball team in different ways. “It will be a different look, it definitely is a different look from what we had last year it’s a very well-balanced team the guys work well together. Nick Janke is stepping into a bigger role, as is Josh Pritchett, Zach Burns and Brandon Cunningham. Those are four leaders for us that we need to get a lot out of,” Miller said.

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- Aaron Cunningham

Left Page: Junior Jake Grooms dribbling in a game against Joplin. Left: Senior Zach Burns going in for a layup against Jeff City. Top Left: Sophomore Blaize Klossner in a game against Joplin. Top Right: Sophomore Alec Buhr going in for a layup against Jeff City. Photos courtesty of Claudia Burns.

Four DECA members posing at the RTI. Left to Right: Maddy Jones, Miah Cyrus, Chloe Wood, Ryann Rigsby. Photo courtsey of Ryann Rigsby.

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Douglas Colvin at the RTI DECA Mock-Competiton. Photo courtesy of Maddy Jones.

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Rolla Technical Institute offers many career-driven classes for high school students around Phelps County. From graphic design to woodworking, RTI has all kinds of programs for all kinds of career paths. One of the more popular programs is DECA. “DECA is a marketing club that prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and even colleges,” Ryann Rigsby, the RTI chapter’s Vice President of Advocacy, said. DECA is offered to all Rolla High School students. Along with the usual Marketing I and II classes, there are also more specific marketing classes like Entrepreneurship and Sports and Entertainment. Drew Blair, a junior at Rolla High and a DECA student shares why he wanted to join DECA. “I’ve always had an interest in marketing, and have thought about majoring in it while in college,” Blair said. Along with learning all about the marketing field, DECA members also have the opportunity to go to DECA competitions. “At DECA competitions you go up against everyone in your district and then if you advance you go up against with all of the other people that placed at the other districts in your state. After that, if you place you compete against all of the people that make it to nationals. DECA competition is where you choose an event - either a role play or a written - and you also may have to take a test depending on what event you choose. For a role play you kind of just have to take the role of someone important and you’re given a problem in a company and it is your job to come up with a way to help the company out or

make a better way for the company to operate. For a written, you can do all kinds of things from creating your own business to creating a new way for a business to advertise themselves and more. With written your write a paper, which can be anywhere from 5-30 pages and you also have to create a presentation to summarize your paper,” Rigsby said. Along with competitions, DECA is also a really great way to get out of your comfort zone and learn some new skills. “The majority of DECA involves preparing for competition but there are also so many opportunities to go new places and meet new friends because we are always attending conferences. We also hold a lot of fundraisers that are really fun and involved. DECA is also a great way to do hands on things and actually make a difference, unlike a usual class,” Rigsby said. So, if you want a nontraditional, outside of a regular classroom sort of experience along with learning some new skills that could help you in all stages of life, DECA might be the place for you. Rugby and Blair, some experienced DECA members and two of Rolla High’s DECA state qualifiers, share some advice for interested students. “I would tell any underclassmen to start getting involved early. Complete your first year, learn as much as you can from the people who have been doing things a while, and run for office. It’s such a great opportunity and can really pay off in the long run, plus it’s just so much fun,” Rigsby said. “To be successful in DECA you’re gonna have to give 100%. It takes a lot of preparation but it all pays off in the end,” Blair said.

Community Blood Center of the Ozarks b y

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The Community Blood Center of the Ozarks is located in Springfield, Missouri, but they travel to great lengths to retrieve many people’s blood from their veins. Even though many people can say they have donated blood, in reality, only a fifth of people actually donate. Chris Pilgrim is the Media Relations Director for The Community Blood Bank (CBCO) and gave information about the bank and how the process of donation works. “Community Blood Center of the Ozarks is in charge of providing all the blood to patients in forty area hospitals. We deliver to thirty-nine county regions that have hospitals in Southwest Missouri, Northwest Arkansas, and Southeast Kansas. It goes from about Rolla and Lake of the Ozarks, down through Springfield and to Branson, Joplin, to Arkansas in the Springdale and Fayetteville area,” Pilgrim said. The amount of blood drives that many schools and facilities host come in around thirteen hundred a year-and that’s just the surrounding areas participation. CBCO hosts many of these drives “We host a lot. We have four donor centers-which are fixed site donor centers. One is in Springfield, one in Joplin, one in Springdale, Arkansas, and one in Bentonville, Arkansas. We hold probably twenty-five blood drives every week in areas around our service areas. Twenty-five a week, fifty-two weeks a year; that’s a lot.” CBCO puts many of its resources in many different schools with the amount of turn out they get at every drive. “We do a lot of blood drives at high schools-almost forty percent of the total blood that we collect that is donated to the Community Blood Center comes from high schools and colleges. We spend a lot of time and resources in our high schools and our colleges, [because] you guys are just great to be able to give at the rate you do,” Pilgrim said. The question is: where does the bag of blood go after being taken? “The bag of blood is taken back to our facility here in Springfield, where we start to take apart components. No one ever gets a whole blood transfusion from a donation-we’re dividing that blood into red cells, platelets and plasma, which are three components of blood. So those three components will go to different people, which is why we say one donation can save multiple lives. While the blood is being processed and separated here, we are sending test tubes of that blood on a daily basis to a blood testing laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia. In Atlanta is a number of different blood-related kinds of diseases that the Food and Drug Administration tells us that we have to test for-stuff like HIV, syphilis, West Nile virus, the Zika virus is a new one [also]. They test the blood there, give us the okay, then the blood is now released and shipped to a hospital,” Pilgrim said. The process of donating is long and time consuming. Prior to the actual donation, CBCO has each potential donor answer a series of questions regarding one’s health to make sure the blood one is giving is clean and can be given to another person. “Before you come into a blood drive, you have to have photo identification. You’ll pass that along at the registration table, we’ll enter the correct information. Then we’ll give you some information to read, and a questionnaire. With those questions, we’re not trying to pry, but to ascertain whether the blood you’re about to give is of good quality or not. After you answer those, you’ll go into another area where you’ll get a mini-physical. We take your blood pressure, your pulse, your temperature. We also take a tiny bit of blood from your finger and test it for it’s hemoglobin or iron level. If you pass all those qualifications, it’s time to go on the actual donation itself. That donation only takes about five to ten minutes. The actual needle is inserted in your arm isn’t very painful, contrary to popular belief. After the donation, you go and have a refreshment and a snack, and after that, you’re finished. The entire donation process, from start to finish, takes about forty-five minutes to an hour, and a very small amount of time is spent with a needle in your arm,” Pilgrim said. The Community Blood Center has many ways to contact with surrounding communities regarding the amount of blood that is needed at that time. The blood center uses a ‘stop light’ system that is described in three colors, red, yellow and green. “It takes about two hundred donations every day to meet one day’s needs, whether it’s a Thursday, a holiday or a snow day; sometimes it can be difficult. We use a stoplight system to better tell people about our blood needs. We like to have at least a three-day supply on hand, that way we can meet an emergency if it arises. If everything’s good and we’ve hit a three-day supply on a type, we’re at what we consider a ‘Code Green’ level. If we ever drop down below a two-day supply of any particular type we’ll call a ‘Code Yellow’ alert, and a that means that we got less than a two-day supply, so people need to give. If we ever drop down to less than a one-day supply, that is approaching a very serious shortage. We’ll call a ‘Code Red’ on that particular product. The stoplight system is what we’re talking about with three-days’ worth, two-days’ worth and one-day’s worth, [and it’s] something that everybody should be familiar with,” Pilgrim said.

UPCOMING DONATION DATES Dixon High School 03/09/2017 8:00 am - 2:00 pm Phelps County Regional Medical Center 04/13/2017 8:00 am - 6:00 pm Dixon High School 03/09/2017 8:00 am - 2:00 pm Being in red zone is a crucial situation for the Community Blood Bank. However, due to the immediate response from people willing to donate, they have rarely reached into the red zone. “Over the last two weeks we’ve been in a code red for a couple of different products, type O- and type O+. It’s really rare for us to be in a code red-this is the second time in two years that it’s happened to us-we just now came off of it and came back to yellow because we’ve had a really good response from our colleges and high schools in particular. It’s really uncommon to have a code red, but people really need to pay attention if we do, because the blood situation is getting critical,” Pilgrim said. The tornado hitting Joplin in 2011 was one event that most Missourians can’t forget. The Community Blood Bank, in particular, was a vital role in the town’s recovery after the natural disaster. Any natural disaster can affect many people, but CBCO is hit hard to provide blood to people in hospitals. “We are an independent blood center, but we are a part of a group of independence called America’s Blood Centers. What that group membership allows us to do is to pool our resources in case of a natural disaster. During hurricane Katrina, we were able to successfully ship blood to that region in the aftermath of that hurricane-that’s one example of us helping on a national stage. The Joplin tornado was certainly another thing that taxed our blood supply. We had ample supply of blood at the time the tornado hit, there was a great donor response after the event to try to refill our coffers, and it was so much so that we actually had to turn some donors away and say ‘come back another time.’ That’s why we have that three-day reserve; if there’s ever a case where we need two hundred and fifty donations immediately, we want to have it on hand, but if we don’t, we have the ability to import it from other parts of the country,” Pilgrim said. Donating blood is a bit taboo for people; the fear of needles-or blood itself-is enough to make them second guess whether they want to donate or not. But the act of giving blood is an important one, having the ability to save lives. “If somebody’s never donated blood before, I would tell them to try it once-what I’m betting is that number one is that they’ll realize it doesn’t hurt very much, and number two, after the donation they’ll realize that they really help somebody. It is a life-changing thing, to give blood, and have it be used on someone else. Our website is CBCO.org, you can find a blood drive coming to your area from that website,” Pilgrim said.

First Baptist Church 03/14/2017 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm

First Baptist Church 03/20/2017 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Rolla Middle School 04/04/2017 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Salem High School 04/12/2017 8:30 am - 2:30 pm Rolla Technical Institute 04/19/2017 8:45 am - 1:45 pm

BLOOD DONATION FAQS WHY DONATE? ONE in FOUR people will need a blood transfusion at some time in their life.

every seconds someone needs blood

less than

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blood annually

O 45% Type O negative blood canT

A 40% AB 4% B 11%

O Type O negative blood can be given to people of all blood types

People with AB blood can receive donations from all other blood types

Different types of Donations Whole Blood Donation You must be at least 16 years old to donate and weigh at least 110 pounds. The major source of blood and blood components in the United

Double Red Cell Donation Double red cell donations allow you to give enough red blood cells for two transfusions in a single visit. Double red cell donors must meet the same requirements as whole blood donors, in addition to having a higher iron level.

Apheresis donation Apheresis (A-fur-EE-sis) is a special kind of donation that allows a donor to give specific blood components, such as plasma or platelets. Platelets then activate substances in plasma which form a clot and allow the wound to heal.

Plasma is the pale yellow liquid portion of your blood that can be easily replaced by the body.

Therapeutic blood donation is a procedure for individuals with a medical condition requiring phlebotomy. Conditions like polycythemia or porphyria cutanea tarda may require patients to have blood drawn as a form of treatment. These procedures require a doctor’s order.

Autologous (aw-tawl’-o-gus) blood donation is a procedure in

which you give blood for later transfusion to yourself.

Directed blood donation is

a procedure in which a friend or family member donates blood specifically for a patient, with a doctor’s orders.

What is the Impact? A single blood donation can provide red cells, platelets, and/ or plasma, meaning a single donation could be used to save three different

lives.

A single person who gives blood once every 56 days from age 17 to 76 donates over 48 gallons of blood, potentially saving more than 1000 lives. SOURCES

www.cbco.org redcrossblood.org mayoclinic.org americasblood.org

Immigration ban “I don’t think we can just be a blanket ban on people of a certain nationality”

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On Jan. 27, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that sent shock waves across the country, stating that people from seven countries including Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Yemen Syria, and Sudan, were unable to come into the United States. The ban included dual citizenship, visas, and other formally legal ways of entering the country, such as green cards, although not explicitly mentioned in the order. It also barred entry of any refugees for at least 120 days. Since then the order has been suspended, but many people are still unable to receive visas to come to the United States if they wish to see family members or vacation. The ban, although suspended right now, is affecting families across the nation, even here in Rolla. Junior High counselor Becky Snodgrass spoke about how the ban has affected her family. “It’s pretty personal because my daughter-in-law is from Iran, and she has her green card and has been here [the United States] for five years, it’s just a process to become a citizen,” Snodgrass said. Her daughter-in-law is living in the US [Chicago] now now, but her family lives in Iran and she travels out of the country often. “She has what is called a Global Entry Membership, which is a TSA pre-approved membership that makes it quick and easy so

she doesn’t have to be checked each time at the airport. They cancelled that, but later changed it back,” Snodgrass said. There were several reports of green card holders not being allowed into the country and others being sent away in the airports. That has changed since the hectic weekend of the order, but the fear and unknowing of if the ban will stay suspended remains. “The unknowing, the up and down with this has been pretty disturbing,” Snodgrass said. Her daughter in law is already here though, and has been for years. The bigger issue is her family living in Iran that visits her regularly. “Her mother is a teacher at a university in Tehran, she teaches chemistry. Her sister is sixteen, and last time she came here to visit she wanted to stay and go to school in Rolla. They can’t now. What they’ve done for the past few summers is her mom and sister come to Chicago from June to mid-August and then her dad comes for a few weeks, and they all go back together. That is not happening,” Snodgrass said. Snodgrass tells about a common defense of the ban and how it cannot apply to this situation of a blanket ban, in her opinion. “What people don’t understand is that in the past, with President Obama, all these people were investigated and looked into. It is not like everybody can get on a plane and come over here, it’s a long process. People have already been vetted and looked into,” Snodgrass said.

affecting Rolla families

She explains the extensive process of receiving visas for her daughter in law’s family, and how it is not even an available option to establish appointments right now. “It’s not like you can just come to the United States from Iran, you have to apply for a visa. So they have to go to either Turkey or Dubai to get a visa. You apply for your visa, pay your fees, wait to see if you can get it, then you can come to the United States. For my daughter-in-law’s family, it’s a big deal because they have to take off work and buy airline tickets to travel,” Snodgrass said. Since the immigration ban has been suspended, it is expected that visas will be available for citizens of the seven countries, but that is sadly not the case. “There has been a temporary stay on the ban; it still isn’t open to establish a time to apply for a visa. My daughter in law’s family have had visas before. This is not the first time,” Snodgrass said, “my family has an appointment set up for March, but that may change if President Trump issues another ban. However sad and scary the situation is, her family being in limbo, the case is the same or worse for international families everywhere, especially international students at universities much like MS&T. Snodgrass recognizes that this is about more than her family’s struggle by mentioning how many other families are stuck in this limbo as well. “It hits close to home because I know these people, but when I think about refugees and students at the university, I don’t think we can just put a blanket ban on people of certain nationalities,”

Snodgrass said. Snodgrass is right to think about students at the university being affected by the immigration ban. 13% of the total campus population are international students. That doesn’t count the number of students with families living in the banned countries, although the students may be citizens or have a form of visa or green card. Not only does the ban create justifiable unrest among students, it discourages them from pursuing careers and futures in the United States and potentially causes them to return to their home country. Financially, this could deeply affect the income of not only the university in Rolla, but every college in the United States. Thousands of people start as international students and go on to pursue innovative and high paying jobs in the United States, resulting in paying high taxes. Without even most of the international students that study here, the country and its universities will suffer. Snodgrass’s story is only one of hundreds in just the town of Rolla. The ban, although suspended right now, is leaving families across America in a scared in between state that they can’t do much to fix. She has taken action in small ways that she hasn’t done in the past to show her support for the immigration ban to stay suspended. “I’ve never been a politically active person, but I’m stepping it up now because there are a lot of things I’m not pleased with,” Snodgrass said.

Barriers

Are You Aware of the Hidden Rules?

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Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D. is the founder of aha! Process and author of A Framework for Understanding Poverty. The primary goal of her work is to help both students and adults from all classes become successful academically and professionally. Through her work, students may find that success cannot be achieved without hard work and recognition of how their personal background affects their road to success.

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“There are many barriers for those who have fewer resources in their household. Schooling, the way we do it right now, requires that you have a certain amount of resources and stability. You learn more if you have food every day and if you have a place to sleep every night. You learn more when those kinds of things are predictable. If you come from a household where there’s a lot of instability it is very difficult to negotiate school because school requires so much,” Dr. Payne said.

In the School Setting

Photo courtesy of http://www.ahaprocess.com/who-we-are/ dr-ruby-payne/

“There isn’t such a thing as an even playing field because some people have distinct advantages. Regardless of class; [for example] some people are very athletic. If you come from a resourced household those skills will probably be developed for you. Some individuals are really smart, but if you have to spend your time just surviving then that takes away from developing skills. I wish that the external environment outside of school would be more stable for people because talents can be developed when things are more stable,” Dr. Payne said. “It is a teacher’s responsibility to bond with the student. Many students in poverty have heard a lot of negative messages regarding authority. And with any student, they don’t want to work with a teacher if they don’t like them. I was a teacher for nine years. I told my students, ‘You’re not going to like me every day and I’m not going to like you every day; it’s okay but I care about you. We are going to work hard in here and you’re not gonna like it every day.’ And having this laid out for students from the beginning let them know that we were going to work on it,” Dr. Payne said. “Many teachers in secondary education create a distance between students on purpose for control. I myself was very frank with students and if they said, ‘I don’t like you today.’ I would say, ‘Well I don’t like me today either.’ [jokingly] but the bottom line is they know that you care,” Dr. Payne said.

Moving out of your Class

“A friend of mine who is a multimillionaire grew up very poor in the barrio of San Antonio. He once said, “When you live in poverty you live in a foreign country.” If you want to move up social classes you have to learn a different set of rules,” Dr. Payne said.

“There are many hidden rules. An example is that in middle class when you go to a party you introduce yourself. Among the truly wealthy, the top 1% you never introduce yourself, you are introduced. If you were to introduce yourself people tend to turn around and walk off because that’s one of the ways they keep safe. By resources I don’t mean just money, I mean knowledge, emotional resources, financial stability, having a belief system, and having relationships and a support system. If your resources are stable then you usually spend your time working, going to school to get a better job, and buying things that become an asset like having a mortgage. If you are in wealth you have this problem: more resources than you can take care of by yourself. So you pay people to help you which makes you vulnerable at a personal safety level. This is why at a party they are introduced with their connection which right away people know of your safety,” Dr. Payne said.

The Bottom Line

“When you are in a social setting and you feel uncomfortable it is because there are hidden rules going that they don’t know about. They might be hidden rules by class, race, or region of the country. But you always have a choice whenever you run into that: you can be offended or you can try to understand the rules that are there,” Dr. Payne said.

Language

“You literally have to learn another language because you have to go from casual language to formal language which you must be able to write. Tests like the ACT and SAT are mostly vocabulary which is very much a learned activity. And the differentials in vocabulary are huge between poverty and middle class. Many adults who are in poverty will tell you that not having a formal register is what holds them back. It is the language you have to learn to make money,” Dr. Payne said.

Relationships

“You also have to give up relationships for achievement. There is not time for them both. If you are going to a university and you are working there is not going to be a lot of time for friends. So what happens there is that you must give up one for another, but in poverty relationships are what keeps you alive,” Dr. Payne said. “One of the most valuable things you can cultivate in your life is social bridging capital; meeting people different than they are. People who are like yourself are called bonding social capital, they are the people who help you get by. Bridging social capital are the people who will help you get ahead. Look at those people as people with knowledge and information that you don’t have and will be able to learn from,” Dr. Payne said.

Courtesy of A Framework for Understanding Poverty

Athlete of The Month B

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Joshua Pritchett With the success that the boy s basketball team has had this season, it’s easy to wonder how some of the star player s got their start in the sport. One of Rol las top players, junior, Jos hua Pritchett, tells about his near life long experience with the spo rt, starting around second grade. “I always played basketbal l as a kid because that’s wh at my dad coached so I just played for him. As I got older I got dec ently good at it so I like to play and it’s what I like to do,” Pritchett said. Having played for so long, it is not uncommon to get bored or uninterested in playing, but Pri tchett states how he stays mo tivated. “The pressure from everyo ne, the environment in pla ying right now, and all the fans, [keep me motivated]” Pritchett said . Even though he is an essent ial player for the basketbal l team, and it’s his favorite sport, he exc els in other sports as well. “I play football and I used to do track, but I don’t thin k I’m going to do track anymore,” Pritch ett said. Being in several sports can not only be very physically demanding, but also time consuming and tiring. This can lead to not having the time or energy to do hom ework and falling behind on grades. “Doing homework is kind of hard sometimes because you don’t always want to do it, you don ’t always have the time. But you just have to get it done so you can get into school in the future, you just have to keep that in mind,” Pritchett said. Besides loving the sport, it’s important to have a good sup port system and fans to make the playing environment fun to be in. Rollas Sixth Man is a always a source of energy and sup port to our teams to ensure the enthus iasm. “They’re really great, always getting into the games and having good themes and everyth ing. I’m glad they’re with us and not against us,” Pritchett said. Being so active and succes sful in high school sports can often spark an interest in pursui ng a future or getting schola rships for playing. This idea has not surpassed Pritchett as he tell s about his future plans. “I’m trying to go to college to probably play either foo tball or basketball, but not anythin g after that,” Pritchett said . There are obviously many perks of being a talented and skilled player, but his favorite par t isn’t during a game, the gre atest part is afterwards. “The little kids that come up to me and think I’m the bes t and I’m really not but they think I am,” Pritchett said.

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Artist of The Month Asma Elawaeb

For some, art ju st comes natura lly as something love to do. Thei r interests are fo they und in art classe elementary scho s in ol, and for Asm a Elawaeb, her art began in sixt interests in h grade. “My main intere st started in sixt h grade, now I it’s just a thing feel like i use to cope,” El awaeb said. Finding inspira tion to create ca n be a struggle with the lack of , especially creativity presen ted in day to da but she finds it y classes, in her own way s. “I love looking at cartoons, I lik e their style. I looking at Goo also love gle images, thos e get me,” Elaw Though art can aeb said. mean many thin gs, painting, sc acting, etc., she ulpting, found her spec ialty in drawin “I specifically lik g. e drawing peop le’s emotions an expressions. I al d facial so kind of like drawing hand ge think that’s on stures. I e of the most in te resting things to Elawaeb said. draw,” Though art is a tough hobby to excel in, Elawae proved she has b has the talent and sk ills to succeed in beautiful art. making

Sweet Date Ideas

Although Valentines Dayis over, we wanted to here about some students’ ideal date ideas. We asked students of RHS what their dream date would be, and we thought those could be used anytime of year! b y

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“Emma and I, a heart-shaped pizza, and brownies from Papa Johns,” sophomore Blaize Klossner said.

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“First, we go to the NASCAR track where we watch Dale Earnhardt win. After that we go to Applebee’s and we have a fivt-course meal right there,” sophomore R.J. Alfred said.

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YOUTH CULTURE b y

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Dabbing was the biggest dance trend of 2016. Sure, we had the “Running Man”, “Juju on that Beat”, and “Hit the Quan”, but the “Dab” was the most prominent, and is still popular now. According to Urban Dictionary, dabbing is “to give a sharp nod to your raised forearm”, not to be confused with the smoking of concentrated THC. Although everybody knows this dance, no one knows the origin of the dab. Dabbing originated from the hip-hop scene in Atlanta, Georgia in early 2013. Many argue over whether it was Skippa Da Flippa or the popular rap group, Migos, who invented the dance move. In fact, the Skippa Da Flippa and Migos often have Twitter feuds over this. This has not been resolved but most think it is Skippa da Flippa because in his music video for his song, “How Fast Can You Count It?”, he is shown dabbing multiple times. Shortly after this, Migos put out a song called “Look at My Dab”. Some of the lyrics of song are, “Dab, dab, dab, dab, dab, dab/ Look at my dab,dab”. However, Migos wasn’t talking about dabbing in the drug sense or dancing sense. Quavo once explained that the dabbing that was talked about in the song was in the fashion sense. Quavo told USA Today, “Dabbing is a way of fashion. Not too much flashy, but when you’re very proper. When your posture is very proper. You could dress up and have a bowtie as long as it has some swag.” Contrary to popular belief, the dab is not named after the Clemson head coach, Dabo Swinney. The dance move in all of these rappers’ music videos was never actually called the dab. Fans just called it the dab because they confused it with the rappers’ many definitions to the words. People think it’s just a dance, but it’s a way of fashion. If it’s swag, it’s dab. The dab was popularized when Carolina Panthers quarterback, Cam Newton, dabbed after a touchdown on November 15, 2015. Newton was placed in a center of controversy after this. Everybody was mad at him for doing a dance that promoted marijuana, but the dance has nothing to do with drugs. Newton also got a lot of positive feedback for dabbing, and continued to do it until he made it to Super Bowl 50. Many other professional athletes started dabbing after Newton including Lebron James, D’Angelo Russell, and Lorenzo Cain. The dab has a very elaborate and complex origin story. However, like most popular trends, the dab is slowly going away thanks to 12-year-old boys on Musical.ly. Though dabbing isn’t quite dead yet, so keep “dabbing on them fools”.

Breaking the Habit: Snapchat b y

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Snapchat is the social media app that is taking over the world and has over two million users. The app allows its users to send videos and pictures that disappear in 10 seconds. With its ability to add drawings, captions, and hilarious filters to pictures and videos, Snapchat can be addicting. I have been an avid user of Snapchat for almost four years, so with a score of over 25,000 and multiple snap streaks, I was very reluctant to quit using the platform. The first day didn’t go very well. I thought I could resist the temptation while still having Snapchat on my homescreen, but it bothered me to ignore the constant notifications. I finally gave in, and opened all the snaps I received and watched everyone’s stories. I did have some dignity and self control and didn’t reply to any of the snaps. I finally deleted Snapchat on the second day. After I deleted it, I realized that I forgot my password so there was no way that I would be able to get back on it without great difficulty. I didn’t have anything to do while I was waiting for class to start so I just mindlessly scrolled through Instagram even though I had already seen the same posts countless times. The third day was difficult because by then, everyone had realized I had lost my streak with them. One of my friends passive aggressively confronted me, and in that moment, I thought our friendship was long over. I understand that is a little dramatic, but streaks are basically the tools of quantifying friendship because it takes a lot of time to get a high streak. In the back of my head I know streaks are just a number and that it’s really stupid, but I feel obligated to continue the streak. After our streak ended, our friendship didn’t end like I had thought, but it felt like we were not as close because we weren’t talking outside of school. We could text, but our sense of humor doesn’t work with just words. After I had lost all my streaks, I wasn’t missing Snapchat anymore. I had less of a fear of missing out because I couldn’t see everyone’s stories of them out with their friends. I could finally enjoy my time on the couch watching The Office all alone, guilt- free. When I was with my own friends I actually got to spend time with them and didn’t feel obligated to document every second with them for others to see. I know it sounds cliche, but I was no longer looking at people through the lens of a phone and finally living in the present. A week later I was feeling withdrawals. I felt lonely when I would check my phone for new snaps, only to find notifications from Fruit Ninja, Google Classroom, and the occasional text. I was very close to redownloading it a couple of times, but I had to stay strong for the entertainment of others. I had a lot more free time sans Snapchat. I got my homework done faster because I wasn’t picking up my phone every five minutes. I also spent less time Snapchatting my friends complaining about being at the gym, and more time actually exercising. However, a little extra free time and more exercise wasn’t enough to keep me away from Snapchat. As soon as the month was over, I was already in the app store, downloading Snapchat again. It took awhile to use because I had no idea what my password was. However, once I had successfully logged in, it felt so good to just scroll through my snaps. I was really angry that all of the snaps people sent me more than 24 hours ago were deleted so I never got to see them. It was also fun to finally understand what was going on in everyone’s life without having to ask them, only for them to tell me to look at their story. All in all, not having Snapchat was a real pain, but also allowed me to take a step back and realize how much my life relies on social media. I don’t use Snapchat as much as I used to and I have finally found a balance between time for my homework and time for my social media. Although quitting Snapchat was hard, it was very rewarding.

Rumor has it... that the students of Rolla High School have recently been subjected to a cocktail of illnesses resulting in an unusually large absence rate. B

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The plague has been reborn in our very own Rolla, Missouri. Students at Rolla High were unable to attend school for days at a time as a result of a combination of multiple illnesses (not including the actual plague, fortunately) Attendance for February 6-10 was abysmal at best. Normally, attendance of high school students is 95%. The attendance for the week of the plague was 87.57% overall, with a low on Friday at 84.11% Thankfully, the stats rose to 89.35% Monday the 13th and continued to return back to normal quickly. The students afflicted by illnesses had a perfectly good excuse to skip school as Sandy Van Aken, Rolla High School’s nurse, explains.

“We had Influenza A and B, Strep Throat, Mono, Bronchitis, and Stomach Flu. A lot of kids had fevers, which is highly unusual for kids in high school. Teenagers don’t normally run fevers, which are highly contagious. Coughs, sore throats, and headaches were common. There were also kids with stomach aches and nausea,” Van Aken said. So how did all of these kids become sick with so many different illnesses at once? Although there are many possibilities, it seems as if it all comes down to school. “I don’t know why there were so many kids who got sick. I think it’s probably because students are in such close quarters. [They] share everything, like water bottles and food utensils. That’s a great way to spread sickness,” Van Aken said.

has been right from the start. He won the Republican vote in a landslide, which is bound to make the party reevaluate who it is that they are backing in the race to be the next president. Then, Trump managed to win the electoral vote despite losing the popular vote. This election was important for many young voters, and hopefully this Welcome to this month’s installment of Completely Credible, the column where I state turns out to be a harsh lesson to learn my opinion on things that I know too much about, all while not providing a single source to back it up. Essentially, a typical news column. The subject of each column is bound to be on being inactive with their vote and in the different, and this will more or less be about whatever happens to catch my attention at the next election they’ll actually get out and vote instead of complaining on Twitter time. While reading be sure to keep in mind this is purely my opinion on something that about the results. probably doesn’t matter. better than working a fast food job, to the Lastly, the biggest reason why I think this By Connor Wilson fact that he’s holding rallies even after his will make the country stronger: if in the Staff Writer presidency, and of course everyone’s favor- end we all agree he wasn’t a good president ite, the restriction of travel to the US from In this month of Completely Credible, and don’t support all that he did, we as a most Middle East countries. Regardless I thought I’d delve into a subject which country will have learned a strong lesson of whether they are pro- or anti-Trump, it everyone is a huge fan of and absolutely and can move forward using Trump as an seems like practically everyone has a very nobody thinks irrationally about: politics. example of what to avoid with any future drastic opinion on each of these things Now, I’m not going to sit down here and presidents. Yes, it could take time to repair and what he’s doing. In light of this, I felt just spout all my political beliefs at you. any damage he may do, but in the end of it necessary to share my optimistic way of Nobody likes that and it’s super lame. things the whole country would come out looking at everything: regardless of what What I will be doing, however, is sharing stronger. Trump does and whether he turns out to my way of looking at the presidency of There’s also of course the fact that if it be a good or bad president, we will come Donald Trump. turns out Trump was a good president in out a better country because of it. Now, Trump is without a doubt the most the end when all is said and done, then I’d Alright, hear me out on this one. The controversial man in the country at this have a hard time seeing that as having a reason why I say this is exactly because point, from his talks about the wall and negative effect on the country. of how controversial Trump’s presidency how building it will supposedly be paying

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Join the RHS ECHO Magazine Staff! Sign up for the intro class:

Journalism Composition

Two ways to take Journalism Composition 1) Traditional Face to Face Class (in the school schedule) 2) Online (done entirely outside of school hours on own time) The curriculum is the same, the method of delivery is different. Both are ½ unit of English. Both meet the prerequisite for being on ECHO or Growler.

If you enroll for online, you will just enter that separately in your IC portal.

Going Places On the ECHO staff, you have multiple opportunites to travel all across the country for the Journalism Education Assocaition National Convetnion. These conventions take place anywhere from Seattle and Washington D.C and everywhere in between. While there, you learn about all aspects of journalism from some of the top journalists in the country!

Meeting People

In room 302, you will meet more people than you thought you could in high school. From baseball players, to artists, to FCCLA officers, to expert L.A.R.P.ers and everyone in between. Joining the ECHO staff is a great way to get to know people from your high school you normally wouldn’t have any interaction with. It’s a great way to make new friends and new relationships that could last a life time.

Awards Every year, the ECHO staff participates in MIZZOU’s Journalism Day. J-Day is a full day filled with speakers, break-out sessons, and award ceremonies. We, as a staff, send in our layouts and stories throughout the year to be judged at J-Day for awards and recognition. If you are on staff for a year or more, you could also recieve a cord for graduation!

Skills Being a part of the ECHO staff advances your knowledge in all aspects of journalism. You’ll take part in the entire process.From interviews, to writing the story, editing, layout, and exportation, you’ll be a part of it all in room 302.

Contact RHS ECHO Magzine

All of the ECHO staff posing in matching stripped t-shirts. From left to right: Connor Wilson, Diya Allada, Maia Bond, Adrienne Pyeatt, Nalani Massaro, Caroline Adams, Sophie Gesualdi, Lydia Giesey, Celia Parsons, Bailey Allison, Ashanti Owusu-Brafi, Theresa Lauer, Lorren Black, and Brandon Kirtchner.

Mary Gillis, Adviser mgillis@rolla.k12.mo.us (573)-458-0101 ext. 14302 Room 302