Rolla High School February 12, 2014 Issue

Echo

Rolla High School - 900 Bulldog Run - Rolla, Missouri 65401 www.rhsecho.com Vol. 67 - Issue 4 - Feb. 12, 2015

Click bait; you won’t believe the effects pg. 6 Two students dream of Drum Corps International pg. 8 New culinary program at RTI provides opportunities pg. 18 How to be happily single on Valentine’s Day pg. 22

In this issue...

Collin Nash to perform Feb. 19.............................................................3 Pros & Cons of block scheduling...........................................................4 What is “Masculinity”?..........................................................................5 How RHS compares with others on AP courses..................................10 Thinking about going Greek? Hear from 2014 grads who did............12 Business ownership is doable for High Schoolers...............................19 It’s Back! Allada Bad Valentine’s Day Advice......................................23 New year, new fitness goals.................................................................25 A look at Rolla’s Culinary Arts Program..............................................18 Meet the Mascot...................................................................................26

Letter from the editor b y

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I often find myself wishing away the moments of my senior year. I wished away fall guard with all my might, we practice 18 hours a week, not counting games and competitions, and such rigorous practices coupled with all advanced classes meant I was exhausted pretty much all the time. However, faced with the fact that I’ll never stand on that field again I wish I could do it all again. So whenever I find myself wishing away other moments I try to stop.

Humans are terrified of the idea of death, of an end, of this being all that there is. We find all sorts of ways to try to deal with the idea, whether it be religion or a midlife crisis. But I find it freeing. This is

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 Anonymous letters will not be published.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. should be sent to ECHO, Rolla High School, 900 Bulldog Run, Rolla, MO 65401.

Editor In Chief - Maggie Duncan, Managing Editor - Theodora Leventis, Webmaster - Rohit Allada, Staff Writers: Chloe Myers, Trustin Dinsdale, Rahel Pommerenke, John Giesey, Amanda Steineman, Luke Walker, Elise Mazzeo, Celia Parsons, Emily Roberts, Samuel Frimpong

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all that there is. This means that we need to live every moment to the fullest. To drop another cliche, time feels like it has flown by, and it truly has. For whatever reason, we were given this strange gift of life, blessed with this consciousness and the free will to do whatever we want with this gift. So, with a large possibility that this is all that the world has to offer us, why would we wish any second away? Live your life for yourself, but not in a selfish way. This is all that you get, so make it count, and make yourself matter, because if you wish away high school, next you’ll wish away the stresses of college until you get a job, your job until retirement, every week until the weekend which you might very well spend the entirety of in front of the television.

So simply go and do. Have a fun Valentine’s Day, especially if you’re single (pg. 22 ), start your own business (pg. 19), chase your dreams (pg. 8), or make your dream revolutionary (pg. 3). It’s just life, and it can be whatever you want from it.

Collin Nash b y

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Maybe you’ve heard of him, maybe you haven’t. Either way, local artist Collin Nash, a senior at Rolla High School, is looking to make a splash in the music industry. Whether it’s as an artist or a songwriter, he is aggressively making his way onto the music scene. With his first single, “On the Lake,” playing on the radio a few weeks ago, his future is looking bright. He has big goals in mind, starting this summer.

“I plan on moving to Nashville within the next year or two to pursue a songwriting career. Ultimately, if I could achieve that, I would definitely achieve my goals. I’ll also try and pursue the artist angle of it. I’ll be going out and playing a ton this summer. I’ll be touring the Midwest playing like two to three shows a week,” Nash said.

Some would wonder why Nash would want to pursue a songwriting career as opposed to an artist career.

“It’s all I ever wanted to do. It’s something that I’m really good at and I really enjoy doing. I [want to] do it because it feels right, and it feels good,” Nash said.

Many components go into writing the perfect song. There are factors found everywhere that can inspire artists to write their feelings into lyrics.

“When I write songs, they kinda just come from everywhere. I like to take aspects that people don’t think about a lot and touch on those. I [like to write songs] that sound really cool and have a lot of meaning,” Nash said.

According to Nash, country music is becoming too much of the same thing. This is a problem in Nashville that he aims to fix.

“I think country music has been seriously industrialized. I think right now songwriters are going to an office with a blueprint of what works and what makes a number one hit and they write it and put it on the radio. You’re hearing the same song over and over and over again. I would write from a more personal basis. People are sick of the country music formula. The songs that people relate to are the songs that go number one because they really touch somebody,” Nash said.

A way to combat the industry of country music is to stay local. Nash plans on doing this with the album he has been working on.

“The album is called Homegrown, because everything that has to do with the album deals with local people. A lot of it is produced out of Salem. It’s recorded in a studio in Salem and the producer is from Salem.

It’s a product of a small town. Right now, it’s so important to stay true and for people to know that this is roots, that this is home,” Nash said.

Sometimes, starting local can be the hardest part for an artist, especially if you’re starting in Rolla.

“There’s a lot of talent in Rolla, it’s just that people go about it the wrong way. We’re trying to grow the music platform here [because] we as artists are all in the same boat. We have discussions when we’re playing shows, things you could do better. We have a lot of venues here, you could really build a music scene,” Nash said.

Nash has some good advice for some budding young artists.

“Just try to build a fanbase. Try to get out and meet people. Don’t try and be anyone other than yourself. My biggest advice would be just get out and do it,” Nash said If you haven’t seen Nash perform, and want to, he will be performing February 19th at 7 p.m. in the high school practice gym. Guests Justyn Moreland and Test Monkey will also be performing. Tickets will be $5 at the door.

Photo courtesy of Collin Nash

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Non traditional ‘block’ schedule has pros, cons

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block schedule typically replaces a more traditional schedule of six or seven 40–50 minute daily periods with longer class periods that meet fewer days each week. Types of block scheduling vary with models that have ten blocks, eight blocks and even five blocks.

“I’ve taught in a ten block where we had five classes that were 75 minutes each on red day and five classes that were 75 minutes each on blue day. Then I taught in an eight block where we had four classes on A day and four classes on B day. On the eight block, the classes were 90 minutes each. I also taught on a four block and on the four block, the students take the same four classes everyday for a semester and the students earned a full credit in one semester,” German teacher Tammy Lueck said.

Block scheduling allows more in depth classes but can also hinder learning by making classes more monotonous for students. Kids with various learning challenges may have a harder time when the class periods are longer than usual. “[A block schedule] would benefit some classes and hinder others.

You’d have a longer period of time for labs and lectures, but a problem is that you have to cover the same amount of material, so you end up doing a lot more instruction every day. A class such as art or world foods would be benefit, because you’d have a longer period of time to work on projects and make food. Other classes, such as band or weight training could be negatively affected by a block schedule because students are simply too tired after a 90 minute class period,” Counselor Sarah Kaelin said.

Schools are adopting block scheduling and it allows students to pursue multiple options that they couldn’t pursue otherwise.

“We have a lot of electives, and without the block schedule, the amount of electives would dramatically decrease as the students are restricted to almost solely core classes. Electives give us opportunities to explore subjects outside of core classes. Without electives, I never would have been able to teach for an hour at the elementary school and learn about teaching and I have the freedom of a block schedule to thank for that,” senior Miranda Smith from Saint James said.

The plan has plenty of advantages, but many squander these oppor-

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tunities and take the system for granted.

“While it allows us great things, some people take advantage of it and mess up their high school careers. They take a bunch of electives all through high school and go into their junior or senior year having to take night classes, saturday school, and sometimes even summer school just to catch up. Some barely have enough credits to graduate,” Smith said.

The negative aspects aren’t all the students fault though. The way that a teacher takes advantage of his or her time is also very important to how well their students do.

“From the teaching perspective you have to be a master at using your time wisely. When I taught on the block schedule, I would always try to divide the class up in fifteen minute segments and I would make sure to never spend more than fifteen minutes on any one activity or any one purpose so that I was always moving and always keeping it interesting. If you spend 90 minutes just lecturing “From the teaching perspective you to be a master at using your them, you’re going to lose have wisely. When I taught on the your students attention. time block schedule, I would always try to For example, I might do divide the class up in fifteen minute 15 minutes of a game, 15 segments and I would make sure to minutes teaching a new never spend more than fifteen mintopic, 15 minutes pracutes on any one activity or any one ticing the new topic, and purpose so that I was always moving then 15 minutes revisiting and always keeping it interesting,” a different topic. So you German teacher Tammy Lueck said just have to be a master planner as a teacher and just utilize your time wisely or else a lot of time gets wasted,” Lueck said.

However, if the time is managed wisely and the student’s attention is kept, then the block schedule can be very useful.

“From my perspective as a foreign language teacher, the main advantage is the depth that I can go into my curriculum. So I noticed that when I switched from block teaching in the first eleven years of my career to teaching here at Rolla, I had to spend a lot of extra time the next day after I taught something to review before I could get back down into more depth on the subject. So with block scheduling, I had a lot more time to teach the topic and for them to practice so that it could be ingrained in their brains,” Lueck said.

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Architecture and engineering Life, physical, and social science Legal Education, training, and library Healthcare support Protective service Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance Sales and related Installation, maintenance, and repair Transportation and material moving 20,000

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Masculinity

As seniors get closer to graduation, the pressure to choose a college increases and underclassmen realize that college is not too far away for them, too. While most focus of which particular college they desire to attend, it is important to narrow down choices. A big question that students ask themselves is private versus public.

Private undoubtedly has high quality education, good professors and a safe environment, while public schools have a more diverse community and is much less expensive. If a student is looking to go out of state, the cost of public college skyrockets, making it just as expensive as private college. Going to a private college out of state requires no extra fee, so if a student is looking for a out of state college, then both are viable options.

As shown on the graph to the left, private has one huge bonus: a huge difference in wages. Going to private school not only gives a premier education, but it shows in what type of jobs and how much money a person earns per year. Dishing out the big bucks in college can be rewarding in the future.

The perfect college fit is highly dependent on what a student is looking for in their future. Students must consider costs, location, size of campus, residential life and much more to find the right fit. Students that are looking for a high quality education, small class sizes, and a close knit community should consider looking towards private schools.

Several private schools that are in or around Missouri; Saint Louis University, Washington University and Rockhurst. If a student desires a more diverse, spread out campus and a cheaper education, they should check out Missouri state schools such as Missouri University of Science and Technology, University of Missouri Kansas City, Missouri University and several others.

Annual mean wages, private versus public, 2009. Data from Bureau of Labor Statistics

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What does masculinity mean to you?

When people say the word “masculine,” what comes to mind? Is it the stereotypical image of a buff guy wearing a sleeveless t-shirt just finishing up his two-hundredth sit up while drinking an extra large bottle of liquid protein? Or maybe it’s the picture of a guy with a snapback and Jordans. It might be that masculinity can be judged by the type of car a person drives; maybe it can be judged by their clothes.

Here’s an idea: perhaps masculinity isn’t defined by someone’s build, their type of car or even their clothes. Maybe, just maybe, masculinity isn’t a thing that can be judged.

“Being able to be yourself without anyone’s input affecting your outlook on something that others may vote as immasculine,” senior Gavin Lewis said.

“It’s not about muscle, it’s about a man who takes care of his business and takes care of his woman, loves and takes care of his children and is God fearing,” junior Michael Powers said.

“It goes a lot farther than just acting big and bad. It represents responsibility and being able to take care of things on your and manning up to your mistakes,” senior Collin Nash said.

“To me, it means being a hard worker to succeed in life, as well as being able to provide and protect your companion, and someday your family,” junior Nathan Nordwald said.

“Masculinity means having lots of all around strength. Coaches on teams look for very masculine men to do their task because they want someone that can be strong enough to take both a physical and emotional hit. I guess it boils down to how you show off your testosterone,” senior Jonah Heitman said.

Photos courtesy of Ryan Priesmeyer and Gavin Lewis

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Masculinity is made up by society to define what being a man is. It’s the idea in our heads that a man must drive a nice car, be tough, hang out with other men, and be muscular to be what we know as masculine, senior Ryan Priesmeyer said.

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Click g Ba i t i n E

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You Won’t

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What it Does to You!!1!1!!

“Famous actress fights with her co-star on the red carpet, and you won’t BELIEVE what SCANDALOUS things she said!”

Does this interest you? Maybe, but you want to see what your friends posted and you ignore it. Does it keep showing up on your newsfeed? Yes. Will you click on it? You might as well if it keeps showing up. When you do, what do you get?

A story about an actress joking around with her co-star. You come to the sinking realization that you have just handed over a few cents per click to this time-wasting site, and you have to urge to unfollow the people who spam you with these things.

Congratulations, you were just duped with what the Internet likes to call click-baiting.

Click-baiting is when a news outlet or website posts and advertises articles with titles and teasers to the content that are vague and over-exaggerate what actually happened in order to gain views and revenue. You can see these articles spammed throughout the Internet, but mainly on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. These spam articles are distributed by companies like Taboola, which allow the news websites to get a share of the profit that the company receives from the advertiser of the story.

The technology promotes articles and examines which articles each person clicks on or retweets oves and, based off of the data, spams your newsfeed with what they think you want.

But what makes these supposedly-entertaining click-bait articles so annoying?

Is it the constant flooding of them? The eye-catching descriptions that make you want to read them even when you know it won’t be worth it? The urge to throw your phone down when the flooding makes your phone freeze? The feeling that you’ve been tricked by one of the lowest and most popular forms of journalism and advertising?

Or maybe it’s the effects these click-bait articles have on us.

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A majority of people in the world get their “news” from online sources, and many of them believe everything they read. These crazy headlines and teasers nearly falsify information, and, if the viewers only look at the headline, they will be tricked and could possibly spread lies.

They have been scammed and some don’t even know it. These articles may become the leading source of “news” due to their availability, and the spamming of them on social media and the lack of those who search for trustworthy sources might lead to an uninformed public that makes dense decisions.

Most of these articles spread what would be considered as high school gossip as important information that everyone has to read or else you’re missing out on something so amazing that it may change the way you think of life. In reality, it’s just another gossip column pretending to be important and begging for attention, and you’re giving it to them.

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“The problem is that for everyone who hates one piece of content, many others love it and click it.”

- Adam Singolda, creator of Taboola

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Who is the Secretary of State? The Attorney General? What do you think about what happened in France or the summer Olympic games being in Brazil? Who has the majority in the Senate? How many people are unemployed in America, and how many jobs are available?

It’s time to stop the spread of click-baiting.

Next time an advertisement for a click-bait article on the newsfeed, consider removing it so that related subjects will not appear again (or just ignore it). Move on, find some articles that are newsworthy and beneficial, read an enjoyable book, or use the time for something that will enhance your life.

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Senior Nathan Aaron performs. Photo provided by Nathan Aaron.

HARD CORE

DRUM CORP

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rum Corps International, known as DCI, is a little known, yet enthralling organization consisting of corps all around the country with North American corps being divided between the highest level World Class and the smaller, less competitive level Open Class.

The European and Asian corps are assigned to the International Class, and are eligible to march in Open or World Class if they abide by DCI rules. Drum corps is a year-long activity with off-season activities occurring during “camp” weekends. Membership is earned through auditions which happen at the early camps. The members then gather monthly or bimonthly to work in preparation for the summer, where they go into intense, full-time camps, with the members moving in to wherever the corp is based and preparing for the DCI World Championships. World Class corp Phantom Regiment is located in Rockford, Illinois. Seniors Nathan Aaron and Katie Bohannan both attended the audition: Nathan for snare and Katie for color guard.

“It’s not like you’re auditioning for a weekend. Each person will get a personal audition, but the rest of the time, everyone is going through what’s like a rehearsal. It was basically a weekend long instructional camp for snare playing. The instructors would start with the basics and build their way up, acting as if everybody was at the same level. They would evaluate you through that rehearsal camp as if you were a member of the corp. They also noticed how you acted around others, how well you stimulated new ideas, and they also had a one on one audition where they could see you play and talk to you about your technique.

You think of a personal audition as being formal or having to prepare a piece, but I just went in and played for about ten seconds and the guy stopped me and then talked to me for like five minutes about ways to improve my technique. The atmosphere was very relaxing. Everybody was there to drum. The instructors weren’t intense, but focused and smart about what they did. They weren’t there to find the best people for the group, but to help teach everybody and along the way pull out who they need for the corp,” Aaron said.

Several people misconstrue how straneus and physically demanding marching band can really be. It is just as much of a commitment as any sport, and people are passionate about it in the same way. DCI seems small and unknown compared to the things we hear about on a daily basis, but it is actually a huge part of many people’s lives.

“Marching is my passion. It’s really hard to understand what it’s like if you haven’t done some sort of performance activity. It’s easy to think of it as just playing a drum, but honestly, I like performing and marching more than I like playing drums. If I could dance, I would do color guard, because of how much I enjoy performing. It’s an extreme amount of performance, and to prove so, my perspective completely changed when we had a winter drumline season here at the high school. That’s drumline essentially in a gym, and you’re so much closer to the audience. You’re performing something you rehearsed for hours and hours in front of people who are ten feet away from you.

You have to be completely open with yourself and transparent. There’s just so many things that go into it. I love drumming. I love music. I love performing. And with marching band, you get to do all of that.

DCI is just the highest level of that. It’s basically like the boot camp. So it’s like putting thousands of hours in one summer of something that you really love, and then going around the country and doing that. It’s extremely physically demanding,” Aaron said.

Bohannan came across DCI videos when she became ill and spent several days at home during her junior year. Her passion for color guard sealed her decision to try out for corps. Bohannan has auditioned for Carolina Crown and has been to Girls State and Ryla. Phantom is known for their lyricism and melody. Their motto is education, competition and performance, and they are just like a band family, which is what particularly draws her and Aaron into this specific corp.

“I’ve always loved watching Phantom shows. The first show I saw of theirs was Turandot, and it’s a really beautiful show. I saw it with the band when we went to San Antonio, but I was really wanting to go too

Carolina Crown, because they have such a good weapon line, but when I got there the people were very aware of how good they are, and it’s kind of off putting. Phantom is top seven every year, but they’re not pretentious about it. They’re very much like ‘We want people who are willing to work that have a very graceful persona.’ The director describes them as very virtuosic, and it’s close to the style I’ve been doing the past four years and it’s also all female so there’s a stronger bond that you can make with the people. When I went to those auditions, I just clicked really well. I have two friends from those auditions specifically that I talk to all the time and I didn’t even get contracted. I just have a callback, but they’re still very supportive. I can rely on them to help me with things, even though one of them lives in Texas. It’s just much more of a family feel. I think that’s more of what I was looking for; the adventure and the friendships, and not so much the wanting to win everything,” Bohannan said.

Phantom not only teaches their members how to do well as far as performance, musicality and technique, but also in being better human beings overall, and becoming efficient, well-rounded people. It is grueling and militaristic, but the instructors are there to make their performers the best people they could possibly be.

“When I signed up for the audition, I wasn’t like ‘Hey, I really hope I make this corp,’ because I’ve never marched anywhere before and there were sixty people trying out for about six spots. So you have to think that half of these people have already marched before. They’ve done some summers of just marching and have lots of technique built

enjoyable time, and I think it’s worth every penny it takes to get there,” Bohannan said.

With some things as specific as snare drumming and color guard, not too many people are involved with them. There are different fandoms and techniques in everything people do. Those activities are a very small part, but being with hundreds of people who are interested in the same thing is stimulating.

“I plan to try out again. I was really hoping to march this summer. I thought I would try sending a video audition to a couple other smaller corps that I would be more likely to make, but it’s looking like I won’t even be able to march this summer. I really need to just work, because marching is generally 2,000 to 3,000 dollars for a summer, because they have to feed you everyday and the bus has to drive you everywhere, so I just really need to keep my job and work throughout the summer now that I don’t have summer school, and hopefully keep on practicing. It’ll be a lot harder for next time, because I will have marching band, and marching band is an easy way to keep your level of skill, but now I just really have to do it on my own, but I definitely plan on marching, especially because the age level is 21. Once you turn 21 you can’t march anymore. Phantom is kind of my dream, but marching anywhere would be just as awesome, cause I get that DCI experience.

So hopefully I’ll march somewhere,” Aaron said.

Though DCI is not very well known, more people could become interested in it if they knew about it.

“Marching is my passion. It’s really hard to understand what it’s like if you haven’t done some sort of performance activity. It’s easy to think of it as just playing a drum, but honestly, I like performing and marching more than I like playing drums. If I could dance, I would do color guard, because of how much I enjoy performing. It’s an extreme amount of performance, and to prove so, my perspective completely changed when we had a winter drumline season here at the high school. That’s drumline essentially in a gym, and you’re so much closer to the audience,” senior Nathan Aaron said. up, so I’m going up against those kinds of people. So it’s not like I was expecting any huge results. I went up there mostly because I wanted to learn their technique and know what was expected of me, and I knew it was an education sort of thing, and I learned so much as far as becoming better. I didn’t even get a call back, but like I said, I wasn’t expecting it. I got exactly what I wanted and it was an awesome time being around everybody who’s there for the same purpose, and just hearing where other people had come from,” Aaron said.

A drum corp will call prospective auditioners back to consider them for a contract. Though it might be difficult for a person to leave their families to travel with 149 strangers at the beginning, the experience is said to be life changing. Anything that is really worth doing will be fearsome and require bravery, but it will also be rewarding.

“It went well, because I got a callback, and that’s what I was hoping for. I was like ‘I don’t need a contract right now. All I need to do is the best I can and get a call back and work on what they tell me to,’ but thankfully I’ve been to Crown, so I’ve been through the process before.

[But Phantom] is a lot more enjoyable and even the staff was nicer, and the staff is also your judges and they are looking at you all weekend and taking you into consideration every time they see you, but there are small group auditions and that’s where they actually have a pen and paper and judge you. That’s very nerve-wracking, but I think that it helps that they consider you all weekend, because at least for me, I got so nervous in my first small group and I felt very confident in the fact that I knew they’d been watching me all weekend and that I got a second chance in the small group, because being nervous was my biggest weakness. So I’ve been trying to perform more in front of people and do harder things and doing more of Phantom’s kind of technique to prepare for the next audition, so I think it went really well. It was an

“If you’ve never heard of DCI, and you like performance kind of things, try looking it up sometime. Not a whole lot of people know about it. I knew that championships used to be aired on the ESPN, but they don’t do that anymore. It’s like a hidden world, because you have sports and all these different things that a lot of people know about, and you’ve got the different teams and the different players and coaches and all these things that people get really into, and there are people who are the exact same way about DCI,” Aaron said.

Senior Katie Bohannan at auditions. Photo provided by Katie Bohannan.

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It is the goal of the school to provide its students with the best possible education, which means providing them with a long list of advanced classes that can qualify for college credit. This normally manifests in the form of Advanced Placement, or AP, classes and through dual-credit classes. There is also the International Baccalaureate program, considered to be a step above AP and used at Camdenton and Central High School in Springfield. In total, there are thirty-five classes offered by the AP program, of which Rolla regularly offers seven. Is this a good number for the school?

Of the thirty-five offered courses, eight are foreign language courses.

RHS certainly has a capable foreign language department, with four different languages going up to the fourth-level. Is it feasible to replace the fourth-level class with AP? Should that be done?

“Our main reason for not having AP is that in the foreign language department we believe that retroactive credit can be more useful to a student than AP credit. Many schools in Missouri will give a student X amount of credits depending on how they do on a placement test taken when they are admitted to the school. A lot of times it’s more than or at what a five would be on the test anyway. For example, if you’re going to Mizzou with a three or higher on the AP French exam, you would get three credit hours, whereas most of my students who go on to take four years of French can get into their second or third semester of college French. Normally when I explain retroactive credit to my students and what it can get them, most of them prefer the retroactive credit over AP credit. Another thing is that most schools that offer AP foreign language classes start their programs in about seventh grade or earlier, which is necessary because the AP foreign language tests are pretty difficult, even for AP tests, because they cover writing, reading, listening comprehension, speaking and culture in great depth. Not that I don’t think we’d be able to do it, but getting a student at that level in the forty-eight minutes we have with them every day would take much more time and focus from the teachers, as well as the students.

There’s also the potential problem too little interest in order to fill up an AP class and a level four class. Mrs. Allen taught AP Latin for a little bit but she had to stop because of that. Also by taking fourish years of foreign language, some colleges will just excuse you out of taking a foreign language in college,” Foreign Language Department Chair Kathy Roller said.

The Science department has different reasons for their course sequencing. Currently AP Chemistry is the only course offered at the AP level. With our diverse body of students one might think there should be an AP Biology or Physics.

“It is true that our physics is not AP or dual-credit, but I do normally have a decent number of kids take the AP exam because my physics is a little more advanced than a typical high school course; there are only two or three topics on the AP test that I don’t cover. I am qualified to teach AP and dual-credit, but one of the real reasons I don’t teach it is that I’ve never been asked and there has never been any real movements for it from students. Another problem I see is that a lot of students wait till their senior year to take Physics, so I am concerned if

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there would be a big enough group to Photo and graphics by John Giesey fill a classroom every year. The way it is, we only get about thirty-five to forty-five students in Physics every year. If we wanted to get more students interested in AP, I would say that the district should start emphasizing the Physical Science class in the ninth grade more, because it would give students a good foundation to understand physics and to work with it. Unfortunately, right now there’s the state requirement for students to pass a Biology EOC before they can graduate. Which has resulted in nearly every freshman choosing Biology over Physical Science. In Chemistry, there’s Chemistry I, Chemistry II and then AP Chemistry, which is easy enough to understand. I could see a regular Physics class leading into an AP Physics with Physical Science being a precursor to that in the ninth grade. I think it could be done, but the Biology EOC is a state requirement, which would be hard to change. Overall the real reason is probably just because I’ve never really been asked,” Physics teacher Steven Day said.

That is the explanation for Physics, but what about Biology?

“I explored doing AP Biology back when I was in Sedalia and when I came here. The reason I came was for the school to get an advanced biology course that was worth some college credit. An AP class would offer students dual-credit, but it wouldn’t be guaranteed since the issued credit would be based on their AP exam score. AP Biology is a wonderful course and will teach students nearly any Introduction to Biology class at a college, unless they’re in a type of pre-med program.

The thing about it is that most of the time they’ll need a four or five on the test if they want to be able to skip that Introduction class. Another thing was that I took training for AP Biology and all of the labs that a student would have to do are really an hour long whereas we only have forty-eight minutes. Additionally, the College Board recommends that teachers get an extra planning period to set up labs and we don’t have that here either. And so it made more sense to go ahead and do a dual-credit biology course which ended up as Biology II and Cell Biology, which are not only designed to give a student college credit, but also to give them a solid foundation for college biology. If we had block-scheduling, I would definitely think AP Biology would be a better fit for the school overall. To be honest, I’ve never been asked to start teaching AP. Although we do have a fair amount of students who take the AP Biology exam and do quite well. In AP Biology there are twelve labs that are a part of the curriculum; we do ten in Cell Biology and of the missing two, one is done in Anatomy and the other is a very basic one that I think is normally done in Biology I. I think I’d end up with around forty labs a year. So you can ask the question of should we have AP Biology? That’s up to the school board. For the students who take Cell Biology or Biology II with Anatomy and Physiology, there is no reason they shouldn’t be able to get a five on the exam,” Biology teacher Dwight Warnke said.

So, while we might be lacking a few AP courses, we have a large variety of dual-credit options to students. In reality, the greatest difference between AP and dual-credit would be in the title. Many of RHS’s dualcredit courses offer students plenty of opportunity.

“I prefer the dual-credit, because it is guaranteed. AP credits are issued differently based upon your score; you might get three, four or five credits or none whereas with dual-credit, you know how many

hours you’re getting from the beginning, and that helps students a bit.

We do have a pretty diverse offering for our kids, with AP Art, English, Science, Math, History, Psychology classes as well as AP Music Theory every two years, so it’s still possible for a diverse student body to take an AP course for their interests,” guidance counselor Sarah Kaelin said.

For those who wish for new AP classes to be brought in, there is certainly reason to believe that there might be more coming.

“We are continually talking about how we can bring better opportunities for advanced education to our students. We’ve talked about some new classes coming in for the next two or three years; as for next year, we aren’t expecting any major changes. There is a lot to bringing in a new class and we focus on dual-credit as well as AP. Another thing is that when we seek to hire someone, we don’t try to look for a person who can meet the qualifications of this university, but we look for the person who we feel is just the best person for the job, of course if they have their masters in their subject area that is a large plus,” principal Dr. Jim Pritchett said.

Finally, of the International Baccalaureate program, which is found in around four-thousand schools across the world, including neighboring Camdenton high school and Central high school in Springfield.

“The International Baccalaureate was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 as a non-profit educational foundation. Its original purpose was to facilitate the international mobility of students preparing for university by providing schools with a curriculum and diploma recognized by universities around the world. The IB consists of four distinct programs geared to the development and academic needs of students. The Primary Years Programme is for elementary students typically in grades K-5 in the US. The Middle Years Programme is for students ages 11-16. The Diploma Programme is for students ages 16-19. Whereas all students are considered part of the Primary Years Program and Middle Years Program, a smaller segment will pursue the Diploma Program due to the academic rigor. The IB Career-related Program is also for ages 16-19 but is a broader program that incorporates the values of the IB into a unique programme addressing the needs of students engaged in career-related education. IB students are encouraged to build their creative and critical thinking through inquiry, the willingness to take risks related to their learning, and to be open-minded. As for comparing AP and dual-credit to IB, there are benefits to taking dual-credit and those classes for sure. IB courses are similar but a difference is that an IB student has studied a variety of subjects that give a lot of breadth and depth. Although the IB Diploma is granted by passing tests in six subject areas, the tests aren’t narrowly related to a subject field but ask students to show a broader knowledge by connecting what they have learned in subjects outside of just the one being tested. Although the courses are challenging, a large percentage of Diploma Program students are leaders in various school activities. Students who wish to pursue the rigorous preparation necessary for the Diploma Programme must often have GPA qualifications, teacher recommendations, as well as certain targets on district testing. As for the transfer of IB credits into colleges, it depends upon the university. In the Midwest, there are many scholarships that benefit IB students. At more competitive universities, IB is not a guarantee for entry, nor is AP for that matter, but we have had students admitted into Ivy League schools and other renowned universities throughout the country. Many come back for an assembly each November to talk to our current sophomores and virtually everyone credits their IB experience as making them stand out on their applications as well as providing an excellent preparation for the rigors of university life,” Director of the IB Middle Years Program for the Springfield School District Lisa Lilley said.

But another question is how does our AP content compare to other schools in our area? To examine this, the nine other schools in the Ozark Conference and Central High school in Springfield were used.

It should be noted that Central and Camdenton have the IB Program, which essentially guarantees they have a decent number of classes above or at the level of AP. All info was taken from each school’s website, from City-data.com or U.S News.com’s high school rankings.

Most other Missouri high schools have more AP classes than we do, except for Lebanon, who doesn’t have any at all. For total AP classes, Joplin has ten, West Plains has nine, the Springfield schools have

twenty and Waynesville has eleven. Does this mean that our school is bad? Not necessarily; one should also consider RHS’s enrollment, which with the ninth grade included would be around 1,200, which would make Rolla the third smallest school in the conference and the smallest without the ninth grade. The Springfield schools total enrollment is 7,391, explaining their amount of AP classes. Joplin, at 2,069, does not surpass Rolla’s content by that much, despite the difference of about eight hundred students. Waynesville, at 1,698, offers more than Joplin. Meanwhile Camdenton, at 1,350 has IB and Lebanon, at 1,401, has zero AP classes. There is somewhat of a correlation between number of AP classes and enrollment, but not much. Another notable statistic: Within the Ozark conference, Rolla has the highest average ACT score at 23.5, and is tied with Kickapoo for highest graduation percentage at 90.8.

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When leaving high school and entering a college setting, one of the main worries students have is how they are going to make friends and fit in in a new enviroment. The answer for many students is joining Greek life.

“I want to join a fraternity because it is one of the best ways to get involved on campus. If you join a fraternity with 50 guys, chances are each of those guys will be in some other group or organization that they can help get you involved in. Also, fraternities volunteer hundreds of hours per year and raise money for charities. As well as have fun social lives and go to the sporting events,” RHS graduate and current Theta Chi member Turner Rafter said.

Each sorority or fraternity has a national philanthrophy that they raise money throughout the year to donate, as well as smaller brotherhood or sisterhood bonding activities.

“Some of the biggest activities we do in Zeta are events, sisterhoods and service projects. The events are dances, and sometimes we have themes. Our last one was called Glitter and Glow and everyone wore as much neon as possible. Those are really fun. Our sisterhoods are big outings for everyone, so like we’ll go to the zoo together or, for instance, next week we’re going ice skating. We also have required service hours, but they’re always really fun. Dance Marathon was 12 hours long I think, and you dance and eat tons of food and spread awareness for the event to raise money for kids with cancer,” RHS graduate and current Zeta Tau Alpha member Tess Haller said.

If you are attending a smaller school in a smaller town, Greek life can be especially useful for finding ways to enhance your social life.

“Coming from Rolla, I knew that there is nothing to do in this town.

A fraternity gives you something to occupy your time,” RHS graduate and current Kappa Sigma member Patrick Beasley said.

To join, however, a new recruit must first go through rush week.

Potential members are separated into several smaller recruitment groups, and are escorted to one or two days worth of open houses by their recruitment counselor, or Pi Chi. After the initial open houses, both the new recruits and the sororities and fraternities start the mutual selection process. A house will choose to invite back certain recruits, and recruits will choose which houses they clicked with. A recruit will be invited back to more events, where the house will explain their philanthropy events more in depth. A new recruit will rank which house they like best, and based on this and the house’s opinion of a potential member, the member will then receive a “bid” or an invitation to join. This bid can either be accepted or denied, but once a recruit has accepted a bid it becomes a contract of membership. Each house typically has it’s own personality, which is how a member will decide which organization they fit in with best.

Photos courtesy of Emily Strassner, Tess Haller, Turner Rafter and Kappa Sigma.

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“Fraternities usually stand for a basic trait or characteristic such as Men of Principle, or Men of Honesty. Even though they all have their own trademark trait, they all focus on acting like gentlemen. The difference between the different fraternities is usually things such as how many live in a house, how social they are, how much they focus on academics or how much time they give back to the community. That’s why it’s important to at least go through rush, because chances are you will find a fraternity that has the same interests as you,” Rafter said.

These differences lead to many different personalities being involved in Greek life, and the Greek experience very different from what it can be portrayed as in popular media.

“I chose Zeta because I felt like all of the girls I talked to truly wanted to get to know me. They were very down to earth and laid back - not your stereotypical sorority you might see in movies or whatever.

There was a bigger connection between me and the Zeta girls. As your choices get narrowed down, it gets easier. The personalities shine through; you see who you click with the best. I saw that Zeta had these strong, confident, down to earth women, and I really admired that, and I knew that I wanted to surround myself with those types of people,” Haller said.

Another reason people may be wary to rush is the hazing that is so prominent in films and urban legends.

“The hazing is not nearly as bad as what the media makes it. The new initiates usually have to do things like cleaning and yard work that the older members and upper class men don’t want to do,” Rafter said.

Most sororities and fraternities are nationwide with individual chapters at each school. If a student transfers schools they will be able to join the chapter of their new school, which can help ease the transition. 2013 Rolla High School graduate Emily Strassner is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and recently transferred from the Zeta Zeta chapter at Westminster College to the Theta chapter at Mizzou.

“Being in a sorority definitely helped my transition here. I was nervous about going to Mizzou just because it was so different than what I was used to before, but having a house of sisters to go to made it a lot easier. They have all been so accepting and they were so nice to me right from the start. It meant a lot to know that it didn’t matter that I didn’t go through recruitment at Mizzou, I was still their sister and we still shared the bonds that our sorority gives,” Strassner said.

Due to this nationwide status, going Greek can also help a student make future business connections.

“From all of the brothers that you have in the house, you get connections from everyone that they know and it can really help you with getting a job, or research experience or an internship. It’s a really good way to meet fun guys and make lifelong friends and you all benefit from it,” Rafter said.

Even if a student is still unsure if Greek life is right for them, finding out for yourself is consequence free.

“I definitely would recommend Greek life to everyone. Even if you aren’t sure, you should definitely sign up and try it out. You can always drop in the middle of the recruitment process if you know that’s it’s not for you. Greek life is where I met my best friends and I honestly cannot imagine college without it,” Strassner said.

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Former RHS students tell you how to rush “Even if you don’t think that you are the stereotypical ‘frat guy’ or ‘sorority girl’ just go out for the house tours and the rush events.

Every house is different and stands for different things and you will find a group of people that you really like.” - Turner Rafter.

“Go to everything that you are invited to. Find the right house for you.” - Patrick Beasley “To someone who is going through recruitment I would tell them just to have fun with it! Don’t be so stressed because what’s meant to happen will happen. Be yourself, and don’t take it too seriously.”

- Calli Luna “Honestly, just be yourself. If you try to be someone that you’re not, you’ll end up in the sorority that’s not right for you. And it’s important to not think about all the stereotypes cause they usually aren’t true. Just be yourself and try to have genuine conversation with the sorority member that your talking to. It’s very easy to tell the difference between someone who is being fake and someone who is genuine. Usually you wear a sundress or a skirt and a nice top and sandals or heels ,but I definitely recommend sandals if you aren’t good at walking in heels.” - Emily Strassner “Definitely be yourself. I know that sounds cliche, but it’s extremely important to find the sorority/fraternity that’s right for you. If try to act cool or completely different than yourself, you might end up hating the people in your pledge class or chapter, and then you’re screwed. Once you place a bid, you have to either stay with that sorority or drop. Don’t be nervous! The sorority girls are extremely excited to find new members and are definitely going to be more nervous than you.” - Tess Haller.

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the regulations, the problem.

One of the main complaints students have about Rolla High School is the cafeteria food, and it is commonplace for students to complain about their lunch. Simply sitting in the lunchroom can mean being subject to a barrage of complaints and suggestions, each student wanting things to be done a different way, and thinking that they have the solution. However, while students continue to be indignant about the quality and quantity of their food, district officials struggle against the guidelines that caused this discontent in the first place.

“I personally think that it was too much too soon. Stretching them out would have given schools more time to implement them slowly.

They passed down quite a bit of change at once, which forced school districts to really revamp and change the way they bought food. As well as manufacturers be able to make the food to meet those guidelines, which was the biggest problem. The federal government was wanting healthier pizzas, whole grain crust, but the manufacturers had to figure out how to make it and how much the school districts would need,” Larry Greene, food service director for the Rolla district, said.

According to Kelly Hinshaw, assistant superintendent of Rolla Public Schools, the regulations must be followed to continue even having lunch available for students.

“If we want to keep getting their 1.2 million dollars or whatever it is exactly that [the government] sends us, then we have to follow their rules. I don’t know many school districts that could afford to run without their money. We can’t just not take their money and say we are going to try to run this program on our own. We could not do it. That would be a million dollars out of our savings account every year, and we don’t want to start cutting other stuff [out of the budget],” Hinshaw said.

Hinshaw mentioned that lately there has been even more policies that are regulating school lunches.

“I am serious when I say in the last two and a half years, I get a memo a week trying to explain a regulation, or explain the explanation of a regulation. Regulations this year even said things like, ‘if it is an 8 oz bottle you can sell this product, but if it is 12 oz then you can not’,” Hinshaw said.

Hinshaw believes that the hardest part in coordinating school lunches is all the more recent rules that have to be followed.

“It is getting crazy. I think that is the real challenge. How do you offer a quality meal that fills someone up?” Hinshaw said.

Federal legislators, recognizing the strain that these guidelines puts on smaller schools, have been slightly more lax to allow schools to compensate.

“It hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure. They have backed off on those a little bit, this year on the whole grain and the sodium. They are trying to ramp that down to give us more time before they redo it. There is

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not one district in the United States that doesn’t struggle with trying to get ahead of those guidelines,” Greene said.

Students and lower level employees needed time to get used to the change too, as well as administrators.

“A lot of kids still need to get used to eating the whole grain versus the white bread. It’s a lot to wrap your head around. It takes three times as long to write the menus because you have to take all these things into account. I thought it was a lot of change too quickly.

Schools prepare in different ways, and we’ve always tried to stay ahead of the game,” Greene said.

One of the changes that students have struggled the most to accept is the rationing done on the ketchup packets.

“The only way we could control how much ketchup we give is to give packets, which I know last year was a big deal for students. They were upset that they could only have two packets. I would feel the same way, if I was going to sit down and eat french fries, I would like lots of ketchup. However, that is not a school choice, that is a federal regulation,” Hinshaw said.

Another thing to take into account is that there is no “one size fits all” diet, and while one student may thrive on 2,000 calories a day, a moderately active teenager may need 3,000 per day.

“High school kids are so different. If you are a person in band and you got here at 6:30 in the morning and then you are going to stay after school for volleyball or cheerleading, you need some more calories than someone who is just here from eight to three. I think trying to fit everybody into one box does not work very well,” Hinshaw said.

Another challenge the district faces is budget. The district is reimbursed by the federal government for the lunches it sells and this money is reintroduced back into the budget. However, with half of Rolla’s students qualifying for the free and reduced lunch program this reimbursement does not cover all of the costs even though the reimbursement is higher for free lunches since no money is coming in. This means that the districts food budget was in the red by over $100,000 last year alone.

Even though their job is complicated, the district employees strive to provide the best service they can to their students under the difficult circumstances.

“We want our kitchens to be open. If the students have something they don’t like, bring it back. If the hamburger tastes funny or is cold, we will be happy to replace it and give you something else. If you don’t understand what makes a meal, that’s what the cashiers and the supervisors are there for. Please ask questions and we will help you through it. We want you to enjoy the food,” Greene said.

Zero sodium pretzel bun with chicken salad proves that healthy food can be good.

The solution?

A lot of students make this choice, but could save money and get more food by making healthier choices.

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The restrictions are rough on all schools, even our neighbors at Waynesville. To learn more about how the regulations are affecting schools, we spoke to Waynesville’s Food service Director. Since the reality is that the regulations aren’t going to change soon, they’ve made progress in showing that their program is up to the challenge.

A main challenge Rolla has faced is expiration dates, and so going to weekly deliveries has helped them. Healthy food expires faster, making it not as cost effective to purchase. Waynesville approached the problem the same way that Rolla did by switching to weekly deliveries. Food high in fat and sodium is generally considered to taste better, so in order to keep the taste and lose the calories, their director uses the help of students.

“I often bring new product in to try, or I make [food for the] students; they taste test and give me feedback. Some ideas are trial and error while other ideas are keepers. This week we tried a new item; it’s a zero sodium pretzel roll with chicken salad. The pretzel bun with zero grams of sodium was a hit, so we’ll add it in,” Waynesville’s director of food services Deanna House said.

A common complaint among both Rolla’s students and staff is small portion sizes. House has compensated for these limitations by upping servings of foods high in nutrients and low in sodium and fat, while at the same time taking taste complaints into consideration.

“We still give the 2 oz portion of the meat/meat alt as we always have and the fruit and vegetable servings are larger than before. Finding the right product for the pallet that fits the calorie count isn’t that hard, it is finding that same item in lower sodium that is the challenge. I do find that students don’t care for the 100% whole grain breads so the government has given a little flexibility right now to use a 50% whole grain and that has helped some,” House said.

House owes the relative success of her program to great communication between the cooks, customers and herself as the planner.

“I stay updated on changes and challenges and I keep myself open to new ideas. With food you will never please 100% of the people but our goal is to provide a healthy meal daily to our students that they will eat. Food is a bit “trendy” so you have to know what your customer wants. Challenges are going to be there whether it is regulations, employee problems, food shipment shortage or damaged.

My staff steps up to those challenges every day. We have a great food service staff that is trained and knowledgeable,” House said.

House urges students to understand and be patient.

“We are all facing these same changes, and all of us in the industry, your director, us, and everyone in the country is trying to make this work. Understand that we’re not doing it to torture you, we’re not doing it to make money, we are doing it because it’s the law. The law is an attempt to make things better for your generation,” House said.

House added that the industry that processes our foods is catching up to the challenges and every day they find a new pallet-pleasing item.

“Although the changes are hard on older students, look around at restaurants--they are all offering lower calorie, lower sodium options on their menus, even a Happy Meal offers a healthier option, we are all working together to change the pallet desire for our younger generation so that we can help cut down on the childhood obesity rate and the childhood diabetes, and the rate of children under 16 with high blood pressure,” House said.

House issues a challenge to students.

“I challenge you to look back in time at portion sizes and compare them with portion sizes today.

[We live] in the ‘biggie size’ generation. Use the internet take a trip to a movie theater in the 1980’s Page designs by Rahel Pommerenke look at the size and calories of a large popcorn and soda, then look at the same thing for what a large size looks like now. This is a great eye opener of how we have become ‘Big Size’. Our country can’t afford the medical costs due to the obesity that we’ve allowed to happen, so we have to make changes -- even though they are uncomfortable right now,” House said.

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Q & A Larry Greene, food service director for the district, addresses some commonly asked questions and complaints.

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WHY DO WE USE PLASTIC SILVERWARE WHICH IS WASTEFUL?

We do have dishwashers, so we wash a lot of stuff. We have been using trays and using styrofoam cups and other disposable containers that helps speed up the lunch process. There are pros and cons to washing the trays and paying for the chemicals to wash them, or using the disposable styrofoam. There are items on the market that are decomposable, which some schools are looking at.

We lose a lot of silverware. That is 12-14 cents per piece and sometimes we lose a couple of hundred pieces a month. I kind of played back and forth between the real and plastic silverware. But when students started throwing away silverware, I decided to stick with the plastic silverware.

WHY IS THE FRUIT NOT ALWAYS RIPE?

We have to buy according to what we’re going to need and it’s hard to predict the condition that it’s going to come in.

The fruit is shipped in large quantities and so sometimes we are well into the middle of the box and find some fruit that isn’t perfect. We send stuff back when we can. Sometimes we buy a little bit green, so that it lasts longer.

WHY HAVE HEALTHY JUNK FOOD THAT TASTES BAD, INSTEAD OF GOOD TASTING HEALTHY SNACKS?

With the new guidelines, you have to have less sodium, sugar, and fat. It is hard to find healthier items because they are not always available on the market for schools yet.

WHY DON’T WE BUY FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES LOCALLY?

We do not have the availability in this area right now. We are working on it.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD STUDENTS KNOW?

In the past, students have invited me to talk with the Principal’s Advisory Committee. This is helpful to me to get feedback from students about what they like. I want students to understand that they can make suggestions, and that I want to hear them. Sometimes I can’t do what they suggest because I am required to follow the guidelines, but I do want to hear from students and would be happy to come back to the advisory group any time.

Before/After Regulations: Elementary School Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Before Beans & Cheese burrito with mozerella cheese Applesauce Orange Juice 2% Milk

Before Hot dog on bun with Ketchup Canned Pears Raw Celery and Carrots with ranch dressing Low-fat Cholcolate Milk

Before Pizza Sticks with marinara sauce Banana Raisins Whole Milk

Before Breaded beef patty with ketchup Wheat roll Frozen Fruit Juice Bar 2% Milk

After Submarine Sandwich on Whole Wheat Roll Refried Beans Jicama Green Pepper Strips Cantaloupe wedges Skim Milk Mustard Reduced fat mayonnaise Low Fat Ranch Dip

After Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Whole Wheat Roll Green Beans, cooked Broccoli Kiwi Haves, raw Low-fat Milk Low Fat Ranch Drip Soft Margarine

After Chef Salad with Whole Weat Soft Pretzel Corn, cooked Baby Carrots, raw Banana Skim Chocolate Milk Low Fat Ranch Dressing Low Fat Italian Dressing

Monday

Friday

Before Cheese Pizza Canned Pineapple Tater Tots with ketchup Low-fat Chocolate Milk

After After Oven-Baked Fish nuggets Whole Wheat Cheese Pizza with Whole Wheat Roll Baked Sweet Potato Fries Grape tomatoes, raw Mashed Potatoes Steamed Broccoli Applesauce Peaches Low-fat (1%) Milk Skim Milk Low Fat Ranch Dip Tartar Sauce Soft Margarine

School lunches are provided for the entire district. In 2014, the food budget was in the red by roughly $101,000.

NSES FOOD SERVICE EXPE

EXPENSES: CAFETERIA FOOD SALARIES BENEFITS EQUIPMENT OTHER

school lunch

FOOD SERVICE RECEIPTS

FRIES

INCOME: $894,019

STUDENT PAYMENTS

$674,767

ADULT PAYMENTS

$239,199

FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT

$19,246 $107,760

$1,934,991

STATE REIMBURSEMENT EXTRA MILK

$1.25

FRIES

$1.25

Sub-total

$2.50

$416,101 $11,034 $1,115,927 $17,282 $258,014

$1,833,019

TYPE A MEAL Main Entree FRIES Fruit VEGETABLE MILK

$1.90 $1.25 $0.65 $0.65 $0.45

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$2.25

* Saving money on school lunches starts with being informed about the cost

of meals. At the high school, a full priced lunch costs $2.25 and the reduced costs $0.30. Don’t under eat and over pay.

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he Rolla Technical Institute offers many programs to high school students from the counties of Phelps, Crawford, Maries and Gasconade. From agricultural education to graphic design to marketing, RTI has it all and as of the 2014-2015 school year, RTI has added another program to its directory: Culinary Arts.

“It’s a two year program that gives students every skill they need to enter the restaurant industry or into a culinary institute of some sort,” Culinary Arts instructor, Lana Altemeyer said.

In Culinary class, it’s not all about pies and cookies.

“We start off with knife skills. With knife skills, we do a lot of soups and things. With basic measuring skills, that’s making more of the cookies and things like that. There’s a chapter on yeast bread and rolls, breakfast foods, roasting meats, frying, everything,” Altemeyer said.

This new class is offered to juniors and seniors and teaches them more than just how to make bread.

Altemeyer also wants her students to learn life lessons and manners that will help them in not only this line of work, but in anything they choose to do. “[I try to teach them] professionalism, to know what it means to be responsible and held accountable for stuff, making sure they know how to present themselves in a professional manor. Also making sure they have the basic skills they need to make it through Culinary school or in a restaurant,” Altemeyer said.

Krystin Ward, a Junior at Rolla High School and a first year student in the Culinary Arts program, tells how she feels about this new class.

“It’s fun. I like meeting everyone from the other towns. I kind of expected it to be a lot of random home echy stuff, but it’s not quite that. It’s much more professional than that. I didn't know a handshake was so important,” Ward said.

In order to incorporate the new culinary program, the RTI has recently finished building a new addition to their institute; a brand new state of the art kitchen.

“It’s a great kitchen, I like it. We have actual shelving and things like that that we can put the pots and the pans on. We have actual stoves now, not just little hot plates. We have a dishwasher, a giant fridge and a big freezer. We have a lot of counter space now, so you’re not elbowing someone everywhere you go,” Ward said.

At the end of the two years, the students have a chance to receive certifications showing that they are capable of the tasks they learned throughout the course. If they complete 400 hours of mentored culinary experience, they then can become certified with Prostart National Certificate of Achievement (COA).

Earning the COA can give the student a head start in his or her job search and open many doors to scholarship opportunities.

“It basically tells an employer that you know sanitation, you know how to cook, [and] you know how to do all of this,” Ward said.

As of right now, there are no prerequisites for the course, but having a FACS or World Foods credit would be helpful in knowing basic measuring skills. This class also gives a half Applied Communications credit per year. With the new kitchen up and running, Altemeyer is hoping to recruit more students and get this course on the map.

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Staff Writer

magine being a sixteen-year-old junior in high school and after spending all day at school going home to work on orders for your online business. This is a reality for Michigan junior, Gabi De Coster, who owns her own online business, Deco Naturals. De Coster enjoys running and owning her own successful business.

“As a whole, running Deco is not at all challenging because I love it. If I wasn’t passionate about what I was doing, I would not be enduring the challenges and celebrating the victories,” De Coster said.

She does have to prioritize what she has to get done so she doesn’t fall behind with her responsibilities. Between school and her business she has a lot on her plate.

“Realistically, finding time to manage being both an entrepreneur and a fulltime student can be difficult. I do not want either one to receive less of my attention; 24 hours each day is simply not enough,” De Coster said.

De Coster credits the success of Deco Naturals to her passion for the company and what they do. She also has some excellent advice to give to other high school students wanting to run their own business.

“I would stress the importance of passion. If you start a business at this age simply for money, it will not succeed. You need to be devoted to your business concept. I absolutely love what I am doing, thus am willing to put in the extra work to nurture my business. Starting a business is work but it shouldn’t feel like it. If you are not confident in your ideas and passionate about the products or services you are providing, entrepreneurship will not be a valuable experience for you. Business is hard. You will hear ‘No’ an infinite amount of times but all of your hard work is worth that one ‘Yes.’” If a person is interested in starting their own business the first steps would be to be clear on why they want to start their own business, determine the business type and create a simple business plan in order to successfully reach their targeted customer and start bringing in an income.

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Favoritism: Unequal treatment causes negative consequences b y

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Managing Editor

There is no doubt that students may feel robbed at times when their expectations aren’t met. One student may spend hours and hours on an English paper only to get an average grade in return, while their classmate gets a high score when they only spent half that time. Though favoritism may not seem as extreme in high school, it definitely occurs to some extent and could cause some students to give less effort, because not that much is expected from them.

“Some teachers tend to be friendlier towards students who seem to have a more outgoing personality, or a student that they have known for a while, while the students who are less outgoing and more shy tend to get the short end of the stick, because they don’t like to be as outgoing or the first to raise their hand to answer a question. For example, let’s say you put in just as much work as another coworker, but your boss always picks the other coworker: You’re not going to want to put in as much effort if you never get any recognition for your hard work,” senior Kadie Clark said.

Favoritism at the high school level is a little different than working in an office building or retail. Though there are relatively strict guidelines for everyone’s position, people still find ways to bend the rules and cut salaries.

“When I was younger, I was working in retail and there was definitely favoritism toward women, especially coming from my male bosses. In the two different jobs that I worked at, we would get first pick of holidays off and that sort of thing, and I guess at the time I didn’t really understand it, and now that I look back on it, I can see it was definitely more favoritism toward the younger girls than it was toward the younger guys or even the older girls. So I guess that’s a little bit of sexism coming into play there, but I haven’t really seen it in the high school level as far as like that kind of comparison is con-

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cerned,” English teacher Breanne Chenault said.

A teacher may also seem like they favor a student more, but it may be because he or she knows the student has more potential. Favoritism happens, but it’s also easy to misconstrue.

It is important to put everybody on the same wavelength, that way it is easier to see how far they can go.

“It’s kind of hard not to [have favorites]. You have your favorite people. There’s a difference between having favorite people and having favorite students, because liking somebody for who they are is different from liking somebody as a student. And so I’m sure that favoritism as far as academia is concerned happens, but I tend to see it workas having more in common with a person and not liking a certain kind of student. Of course, people like the harder workers and the ones who answer questions and the ones who cooperate more than the ones who might not turn in work, but that’s just because they make life easier, but they could be a great person, just not a great student, but that doesn’t mean they like them any less,” Chenault said.

A lot of favoritism is based on stereotypes. For example, expecting women to get a certain amount of pay and expecting a certain student to produce a definite quality work is harmful, because it’s like saying they are only worth that much. Setting limits on people is detrimental to our society, because their opportunities are essentially limited as well. Attempting to do anything with that mentality is hurtful on many levels.

“I think our society would be benefited without favoritism, because if you treat everyone equally, there wouldn’t be this constant battle to have to be the best and people wouldn’t feel like they are doing something wrong just because they aren’t someone’s favorite,” Clark said.

Photo by Theodora Leventis

NEW COUNTRY

NEW SCHOOL

Around the world, kids experience school differently than we do in America. While a school in Japan practices a trimester schedule, (a schedule in which school starts in April and ends in March and is split into three semesters by summer, winter and spring breaks) a student in Brazil goes to school at 7 a.m. and is let out at B y S a m u e l F r i mp o n g noon to go eat with Staff Writer their family. With the help of various exchange programs, high school students can travel across the globe and experience these different methods of education. Next year, Tyler Myers, currently a sophomore at Rolla High School, will be given the opportunity to go to school in Germany.

“Originally, Kent [Bagnall] from Kent’s Jewelry, who is the head of the Rotary Breakfast Club in Rolla, brought up the chance. My mom had gone into Kents Jewelry to get a ring fixed and they started talking and he brought up the idea. When he told me about it, I obviously knew about the foreign exchange program, but I didn’t think it was possible. I thought it cost a lot of money and it turns out that it isn’t that expensive. So when he brought up the idea, I said I’ll give it a shot,” Myers said.

Next year will not be the only time Myers has been across the Atlantic Ocean, as he has been to Europe previously as a young ward experiencing life in other countries. Obviously, his time there has fueled a fire to go back and try living there for a year and experiencing life in a new way.

“I’ve already done People To People, which is a younger exchange program. They take sixth and seventh graders over to tour [Europe].

Just from my experience from that, I decided that I want to try and do more. I also like traveling in general. Now, I’ve been given the opportunity and I decided to accept it,” said Myers.

Going to another country for a year might be exciting and all, but one must prepare heavily for a change in lifestyle. If one goes to a country like France, it might be a good idea to brush up on some French and remember the proper way to eat a crêpe. As with many countries,

however, there are regions that do things differently than others. If one does not know which region they will be living in, preparations may not be so straightforward.

“So far I haven’t been able to prepare much because I won’t find out where in Germany I’ll be going until April. I can’t start getting things ready until then. So far I’ve been trying to learn more German and prepare myself mentally for being away from my family for a year. Also, I’m in contact with an exchange student in Germany now. She’s been giving me tips and tricks. I’ve been talking to her and finding out what it’s been like for her, just to get a heads up and see a little bit into what I should expect,” Myers said.

After preparing for this event in their lives, students in the Foreign Exchange Program go off to their chosen destinations. After about a year, they return to their homes, bringing with them knowledge of a culture different than theirs and hopefully the ability to speak the language of the country they lived in.

“The Rotary’s main thing for the Exchange Program is not so much about the school you went to. It’s mainly about the experience of that country’s culture and also learning and becoming fluent in the language. They don’t judge so much on grammar, but they do want you to be fluent,” Myers said.

Now, the Rotary Club may have certain goals for students in this program to achieve, but students who participate in the foreign exchange program have to make sure that they earn the credits they need to graduate from high school. When they get back from their exchange, they have to have proof that they passed their classes and show their school. Some schools around the world handle the Foreign Exchange Program differently.

“It really depends on where you go. If you were to go to South America, generally, their schools don’t require you to go to school, so you don’t technically earn the credit over there. In South America, you might earn some P.E. credit for walking around a lot and touring.

There is not much you can do in terms of the credits you can earn because their school systems aren’t the greatest. In terms of Europe, you do go to school five days a week, so it’s easier to earn credits. If I were not able to earn credits [while in the Exchange Program], I’d have to come back [to America] and take summer classes to try to graduate on time. There is a possibility that I’d have to retake a year,” Myers said.

The thought of possibly having to retake another year of high school might not seem appealing to most high school students; it might even make some sick to their stomachs. Thoughts like that should not hinder one from trying something new and exciting. Going to school in a different country might prove to be the best thing that you have ever experienced in your life. With the Foreign Exchange Program, great opportunities are just a plane ride away!

Forum & 10th Street Rolla, Missouri feature 21

Ways to celebrate

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Staff Writer This Valentine’s Day, some people will be eating fancy dinners with their lover, surrounded by roses and other mushy love stuff. Others will sit at home, tweeting about how lonely they are, eating a box of chocolate that they picked up for themselves at Walmart. The thing is, people seem to think that these are the are only two ways they can spend Valentine’s day: to be grossly in love or lonely and miserable.

But guess what! It does not have to be this way. It has officially been declared, by me, that there are endless ways to have a good, meaningful Valentine’s day. And the best part? You don’t have to be in love.

Love

1. Make cupcakes with friends and go door to door in your neighborhood passing them out and wishing your neighbors a happy Valentine’s day. It will brighten their day and yours.

2. Make festive cards for people in nursing homes. Chances are, they may not be getting to celebrate with their friends and family.

3. Find some fun Valentine’s crafts on Pinterest to make. From heartshaped cinnamon rolls to Frozen-themed cards, we all know Pinterest has tons of cool ideas.

4. Rent a bunch of sappy romantic comedy and a horror movie and watch both back-to-back. You know...to balance things out.

5. Host a party for your friends and family. Make some Valentine’s themed hors d’ oeuvres and plan some fun group games. Let’s be honest, charades can get pretty hilarious.

OR… Maybe you are in love and want to spend the day with your valentine, without burning a hole in your pocket, so here are a couple cheap, romantic ways that you and your date can celebrate.

1. Paint a picture together with a twist. One canvas, a palette of paint, and two paint brushes. See what you two come up with!

2. Look through some old cookbooks together and make a dinner for two. This way you will save money and have fun cooking together.

Even if the food does not turn out as pretty as the picture, it will be a great memory!

RHS student’s perfect Valentine’s days “Take her Fishing!” -Junior Brett Hoffman “Dinner and a movie.” -Junior Kylie Moon “I’d gather up single friends and have them over to my house. We would bake something really sweet and chocolatey. Maybe a molten chocolate cake or chocolate waffles. At home, we would watch our favorite TV shows or movies in comfy pjs. The we would be gobbling up food throughout the night.”- Junior Claudia Kim “Horse riding and a picnic.” -Junior Aaron Davis “Pregnancy check cows with my honey.” -Senior Braden Tiddy 22 opinion

Sophomore Allie Pernicka, Photo by Chloe Myers

A Lot Of Allada Bad Advice b y

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Webmaster

Disclaimer: This article, as implied by its title, gives horrible solutions to common petty high school problems. In no way should you follow this advice as it is purely satirical. If you do choose to follow this terrible advice, do not hold Echo or RHS accountable, because quite frankly, you must be kind of stupid.

Dear Rawhide, Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, and I have yet to find a date for the big day. My mom says I’m handsome, so I can’t figure out why girls aren’t flocking to me. Can you help me find a Valentine?

Sincerely, Uglyboi Dear Uglyboi, Valentine’s Day is by far the most important holiday of the year. It’s an occasion to spend tons of money on perishable goods and tacky, unoriginal gifts for that “special someone” - aka the girl you asked out last week because you didn’t want to seem like a single loser on the best day of the year. It is absolutely essential to have a date on Valentine’s Day, and that should take precedence over any other events in your life. Luckily for you, I’ve compiled some tips on how to get your dream Valentine: 1. Hygiene. Girls love guys who have bad personal hygiene. When you walk into a room with luscious greasy hair, exquisitely filthy skin, and the tantalizing odor of perspiration, it’s a sign to girls that you’re too cool to care about trivial things like showering or brushing your teeth. No, you have more important things to do, like staying up all night playing Pokemon X or waxing your action figures. Girls also love it when a guy is helpless; they’ll be all over you trying to fix you and clean you up.

2. Act like a tool. I’ve seen enough teen movies to know that girls will always go for the bad boy. Something about the blatant misogyny and disregard for manners drives the ladies wild. To recreate this attitude, make sure you disrespect everyone you see on a regular basis.

Call out your teachers, make fun of little kids, push elderly women over, and most importantly, tell every girl she’s ugly. This will serve a double purpose, because not only will you look like the coolest guy ever to her, but you’ll also kill her self-esteem and she’ll be more likely to settle for you.

3. Ask her out. Once you’ve caught the girl’s attention, it’s time to move in for the kill. You need to ask her to be your Valentine. However, you want to impress her, not bore her with the same old things every other guy does. Remember, Valentine’s Day is the most impor-

tant day of your love life, even more important than your wedding day.

There are a number of different approaches you can take, like sneaking into her house at night to surprise her, or photoshopping your face onto a picture of her ex-boyfriend. However, my personal favorite is taking a gun and, like a modern-day Cupid, shooting her through the heart to fall in love with you. The only problem with this method is that she is so excited and overcome with emotions that she faints and is extremely hard to wake up. Alternatively, you can run her over with a car and tell her that she’s your “crush”.

4. If all else fails, own it. If you’ve followed all of these steps and somehow still not gotten a girlfriend, you’re probably too ugly to function and should just stop trying. Instead, embrace the single lifestyle.

A hilarious and original way to look at Valentine’s Day that no one else has ever thought of is “Singles Awareness Day”. Make sure you share your unique viewpoint with everyone you know. Don’t forget to drop annoying self-deprecating jokes in every conversation you have.

For example: “Oh, you’re going out to that new restaurant with your supermodel girlfriend? I’ll just be at home on my couch eating Nutella straight out of the jar and watching Netflix because no one will ever love me and this is such an original joke. Happy Singles Awareness Day! Haha I’m so funny.” Update your Facebook status to “Happy Singles Awareness Day. #foreveralone” so you can get three likes and a comment from your grandmother that reads “LOL. Ur so funny.

Luv & miss u xoxo.” Finally, cry yourself to sleep at night while the knowledge that no one will ever love you because your own insecurities inhibit you from ever becoming an outgoing member of society eats away at your self-esteem and you slip further into the endless cycle of loneliness.

Dear Reheat, I can’t figure out what to get my girlfriend for Valentine’s Day. Do you have any ideas?

Sincerely, IHaveNoIdeasForAFakeName Dear IHaveNoIdeasForAFakeName, Here are some gifts that I’ve given to some girlfriends in the past: 1. Used underwear - a personal possession of your own 2. A necklace with your initials on it - so she’ll never forget you 3. Your mixtape - because it’s straight fire homie 4. A dead kitten - more realistic than a stuffed animal 5. A diet pill - to help her lose those extra few pounds 6. Prescription strength deodorant - smells better than perfume 7. A photo of your ex-girlfriend - to motivate her to be better 8. $1 gift card to the Dollar Store - she can buy anything in the store 9. Your math homework - extra practice so she can ace her test 10. Coronary artery - a gift straight from your heart

opinion 23

Top of the

C ountry is undoubtedly the best genre

Top

Photo by R

ahel Pomm

erenke

of music. It has songs that almost everyone can relate to.

By Lu k e W However, as I listen to KZNN these days it seems as if all I hear is music that’s the S t a f f aWl k e r riter same. This is called the Nashville Sound. It’s an attempt to make the music appealing to a larger audience by de-countryfying it. This new sound has turned many people away from country music. Country music in its purest form existed pre-1920s. The sound of the music changed from region to region, giving it a distinct sound nationwide. In the 1920s, country music started to become the booming business that it is today. Ralph Peer for Okeh records went across the country and found budding artists. From the 20s to the 40s, the music stayed remotely the same. It was the type you would hear at a barn dance. Then after World War II, it changed drastically. During the post war cultural revolution, country music took another drastic turn. It now had to compete with the Elvis Presley driven era of rock music. Country music competed with it, and emerged victorious. According to The NPD group, country music is the most popular genre of music. So even if it does ‘make your ears bleed,’ just remember it is more popular than anything else.

Alas, back to the strife at hand. The modern sound of country can be boiled down to three main themes: a tailgate, a girl and a beer. Industry giants in Nashville know that songs with this formula will be huge, and that’s why they continue to pump them out. This is a huge variation from classic country, where singers would tell a story in or with their music. If country musicians want to make music on the level of the greats, they need to figure out their roots, and get back to them. When they figure this out, country music will be back to the prime stuff that it was.

Photo public domain.

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A New Year signals a time for change Every year, it seems, people seem to make these commitments to themselves, saying that they will do this or that they will change that in their lives. We will call these commitments resolutions for these purposes, range from being smarter with money to enjoying life and getting the most out of it. Statistics show that the most common resolution among people is losing weight. Scott Caron, manager of The Centre in Rolla, Missouri, has seen this trend happen for a while now.

“It always gets busier. It’s interesting going from December, which is a slower time of the year because of the holidays. Then you get into January where we have a big rush of people that are interested in working out and exercising and getting fit. [Normal Centre members] get a little upset [about the increase of new people], but they understand also and a lot of them are pretty patient because they know that in another month or so, it’ll get back to what it’s used to,” Caron said.

Aside from the actual workout area, the front desk gets swamped with people wanting to buy memberships and start the New Year off in a healthier way. Mikala Harman, a front desk worker at the Centre and a senior at RHS, has seen many people come in with a readiness to workout, buy a membership and then proceed to use them scarcely.

“I’ve seen a lot of people come and go. About 90 percent of new people tend to buy year memberships and then they only come a few times a month. I think people do it just so they can say they have a membership,”Harman said.

As one can expect, the Centre gets pretty packed in the month of January and things can get hectic. Usually a month or so afterwards, though, things get back to normal with the new members giving up their new resolutions and putting them aside.

“Usually around March is when people begin to stop going. It doesn’t happen so much during February because all throughout January people are joining. They don’t get [to joining] the first week and they’ve procrastinated for 20 years, so what’s another week or so. So usually

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it’s the whole of January is when people start to join and they tend to stay with it for about a month or two,” Caron said.

Caron would like for the Centre to be as full as it gets in January all year. When a manager has a ton of people using his/her facility, it means that they are doing something right and their members are liking it. Also, it means that people are sticking to and going somewhere with their resolutions for the new year.

“What we try to do is hopefully engage these new people, to keep them around and to help them figure out what they like, what they don’t like and help them get through things. Hopefully it does stay busy year round. We contact all of our new members within a week of them joining, then we do so one month out and then we run a report as to how many visits they’ve had and we either email or call them and ask how things are going. We touch base with them and make sure that everything is okay and if there is something that we had done that made them choose not to come back,” Caron said.

A lot of times, New Years are broken due to setting goals that are not thought about carefully. Trying to cut something out of your life that has been there for years is not easy to do. Social scientists have said that willpower, which they have described as an actual form of mental energy, runs out and people give up on their goals. The goal to succeeding at resolutions for the New Year is to start simple and build up.

“One of the things we do talk to [our new members] about is that, maybe you’re not coming three days a week as you would’ve hoped, but if you could make it a goal to come atleast once a week and then hopefully build on that and turn it into a routine. One of the things we tell our members is to do it consistently, same day, same time and get into a routine. Studies have found that in order for you to do something regularly and for it to become a routine, you have to do it thirty times and then it’ll start to change your behavior,” Caron said.

Sweet Treats b y

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While making New Year’s Resolution seems like a good idea, keeping up with the resolution is a different story. Many people conspire to get healthy and eat right. Salads, fruits and vegetables are all very healthy, but every once and awhile you deserve a treat. During the week, students do not have time to spare to spend cooking healthy and delicious snacks. They usually throw the closest thing in the pantry they can grab; which usually ends up being a poptart or a granola bar. While you may feel good about yourself for eating a granola bar because they are healthy, but they have hidden calories and lots of fat. Instead, make these “cookies” that have only 93 calories and 2 grams of protien that anyone can grab and go for a quick snack, or even for breakfast. With this quick and healthy cookie recipe adapted from Pinterest, you can treat yourself without having to feel guilty. Using only three ingredients, this recipe takes thirty minutes to prepare, bake and cool.

Ingredients: 2 overripe bananas 1 cup of uncooked oatmeal ¼ cup of walnuts Instructions: 1. Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl.

2. Mix in oatmeal.

3. After oatmeal is combined into the bananas, fold in the walnuts.

4. Place tablespoonfuls of the dough onto a nonstick pan.

5. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

6. Remove from oven, take off pan and let cool.

The only three ingredients needed to make these healthy cookies. Photo courtesy of Celia Parsons.

Tips: 1. To add taste or mix it up, try adding mini chcolate chips, cinnamon, or other types of nuts 2. Make sure to watch the cookies in the oven because they can burn easily.

arts & entertainment 25

Living on your own Life will get you there, will you be ready?

You know when you think about something, and no matter how hard you try to not think about it, you still do and you end up saying it? Later on, you probably figured it was the wrong thing to say.

And after you said it is when you actually process the words in your mind. You had a little oopsie, I guess everyone has those once in a while. It’s really easy to hurt someone, but oh heaven forbid if they ever smacked your wrist! Yeah.. It’s easy to think you’re the one who suffers the most, but really, everyone goes through their fair share of difficulties. You just have to remember to control your thoughts, I guess, and think before you speak. It sure would be nice if they sold those kinds of filters at the store. Sometimes, however, not having the filter is better. Sometimes you need to say what’s on your mind.

But for the most part, the uncalled for things people say are just unnecessary. I feel like the filter would help with that.

Thoughts are where everything begins, where our character forms. Everything we do spurs from the product of our mental activity. Every idea, notion and cogitation, reflects who we are and how we think. Negative thoughts can lead to a not so pleasant character.

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Thoughts are interesting, because we compartmentalize them based on what we know and don’t know and what we assume. Usually what gets us are the uncertain thoughts. The outcomes are not so great when they are just spewed out. Sometimes, expressing what you think can be good, but when you blurt out mindless assumptions that are just in the head, it doesn’t end too well. It’s never okay to hurt people, whether they deserve it or not. If you know you hate something, why do it to someone else? I guess that’s the golden rule: don’t do things to people that you don’t like done to you.

Powerlessness can corrupt just as much as powerfulness can. Are you really powerful or are you just a bully? Are you powerless or do you think you are because you’re scared and covered up? Nobody should feel attacked, and no one should be attacking anyone. Using words wisely makes a better difference and the process is less hurtful, at least in my opinion. So when you all are on your own, or even now, just think about what you say… to your teachers, your coworkers, your friends, your parents, strangers, acquaintances.. it makes things a little easier.

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Staff Writer

The Profusely Sweaty Personification of Pep Edition

At every Rolla High School athletic event, we are graced with the presence of a six-footish anamorphic bulldog with a head as large as a decently sized kindergarter. It jumps around, causing either terror or weird facial expressions, depending on your age. Because the identity of the figure is such a closely kept secret (although it took me approximately twenty seconds to figure out who it was, thanks Chloe!) many students wonder who the person is behind the mask: Is it a coach? A Cheerleader? A student? I can’t tell you. But I can show you the answers to some questions I asked the Rowdy Rogue of Rolla.

What’s it like in there? It can’t be too bad; sweaty mascot costumes with limited visibility are so cliche! Surely RHS is above giving a student that.

“Oh my God it gets so bad; I look like I was dumped in a pool afterwards, It’s disgusting. On the inside it smells like a locker room, but more advanced. Advanced essence of locker room really. I can’t really see too well either,” the Suited Swashbuckler said.

Oh. Well, why do they do it?

“It’s a lot of fun and I love doing it. My favorite thing about being able to do it is when I’m in the suit, the fact that nobody knows who I am makes it just really easy to do stupid and ridiculous stuff and not care, which is a good trait for a mascot. I also get to hang out with the cheerleaders before and they are all really cool and fun,” the Stouthearted Stalwart of Rolla Students said.

Well that’s good. But how did they get started?

“I was just always really big on school spirit and spirit days, so London Clift was doing something with Pep-Club and so she asked me if I wanted to do it. She then told one of the cheer coaches about me and said I’d be really good, so that’s how it happened,” the Paragon of Pep said.

You hear that? If you want to sweat profusely, hang out with cheerleaders and dance in front of people who don’t know who you are, all you have to do is know London Clift. It’s almost like there’s no downside to this job! Unless you mortify a child every now and then but that’s…

“Usually with little kids I’ll give them high fives or hug them and take pictures, but one time I went in to give this one kid a high five but then he started crying and ran away from me; he wouldn’t even look at me.

It was really sad,” the Harbinger of High-Five Induced Terror said.

26 opinion

Touche. I guess being a mascot is not all fun and games. Oh well. Is it really time consuming?

It looks like it’d be time consuming.

“Really, I just show up to games and that’s it.

Occasionally it clashes with work, but I don’t care. I’d rather dress up for some games than go to work anyway. I’ll show up pretty early, hang out with the cheerleaders, watch the JV game, then get suited up and go out and have a ball,” the Ball-having Barnstormer said.

Well they do talk about the cheerleaders a lot don’t they? I wonder if they have any personal

opinions about them.

“The cheerleaders are my absolute buds. One thing that has changed since I’ve started is that I really don’t like it when people make fun of the cheerleaders. Sometimes even players from the Basketball team come up to me and complain about the cheerleaders. I don’t like it because all of the negative stereotypes everyone gives cheerleaders don’t apply to them and they are out there to get people pepped and loud.

I’ve had to go to a lot of games where almost nobody’s there or they’re quiet but the cheerleaders are always there smiling and working hard to give the fans a good show and support the teams. I especially don’t like it when people on the sports teams complain about them because when the cheerleaders don’t show up the teams complain. There’s also so much less drama than probably any other sport in the school,” The Champion of Cheer and the Leading of it said.

Photo courtesy of Mary Gillis

Serious Silliness b y

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Disclaimer: This column’s purpose is to not rant on about my opinion… well maybe a little bit… but I do want to provide a new outlook on different issues that affect high school kids, like myself. But like always, I promise some silliness at the end to lighten up the seriousness.

Rolla, Rolla High we pledge our faith to you! Rolla, Rolla high Da dahh da dahh da dahhh! Dah dah dah dah Da dahh da dahh...

That is usually how it goes, am I right? We all know the first verse then it keeps going to the tune with “dahs.”

This can mean one of two things: First, this could indicate the student section is tuning their voices for the best part, which we all know is the B-U-L-L-D-O-G-S chant at the end. The second thing that this could mean is that our student body as a whole reeks of the lack of school spirit.

I choose to think that the kids in the student section are tuning their voices for the bulldog chant. While others may say that our school lacks spirit because of lack of participation in spirit days, or people in activities saying that another activity is not as important, I think that we as a student body are going the right direction in promoting school spirit, even if we do not know all the words to the fight song.

I mean, sure there is always some room for improvement. For example, I wish more people wore their pajamas on spirit days, but when I, as a cheerleader, look out into the crowds during game nights I see some pretty awesome things.

At basketball games I see the giant cutouts of Shane O’Brennan’s face and of the other basketball players floating around the crowd. I see Adam Darknell happily jamming out on the electric guitar. I see Hannah Lucas so committed to school spirit that she paints all of her hair red, white and blue, not knowing if it will even come out.

At football games I see all the student section standing through the long, three hour games. I see Marissa McCall with her face painted with paw prints. I see the surprise, and then the grin on the crowd’s faces when Hannah Hall is thrown up into the air while the band plays the Superman theme song.

At school I hear how it was awesome that the girls’ basketball team pulled it together in the second half and scored some more shots. I hear about James Kosbar running out onto the court doing some cool flip things during half time. I hear about the soccer team terminating a big rival town. I hear about the band showing the other schools how it is done at their latest competition.

Online I see announcements from London Clift about the coming up Pep Club meetings. I see pictures of the cheerleading competitive squad getting a bid to compete in Florida. I see a bunch of friends getting excited to go to the new Courtwarming dance that Key Club and Pep Club have worked so hard to put together. I see updates of how Robotics is doing in their competition that day. I see pictures of shivering Student Council students coming out of the cold water for Polar Plunge that helps fund Special Olympics.

My point is that our school is awesome. We have so much diversity in all of our talents. Not everyone is good at everything, but everyone is good at something. All of our different talents fit together like puzzle pieces, which make Rolla High, Rolla High. Let’s continue to make our school shine with positivity and uniqueness by continuing to do what we are good at, which is supporting each other and valuing each other’s differences.

Now for the silliness…

What did the football coach say to the broken vending machine?

Give me my quarterback!

Ha ha ha. . . sorry. . .

Show-Me College Showcase b y

T

r u s t i n

D

i n s d a l e

Staff Writer

It’s a new year and it’s about time for juniors to start thinking about college. Now, if you’re like me, then you’ve probably had an idea in mind for a while now and you’ve already done your research, but if you haven’t, there’s plenty of time. As usual, I’m going to promote a college within Missouri, but this semester I’m going to put a twist on it. In the past, all of my college showcases were small colleges but this one is a larger, better known colleges.

Missouri State University, located roughly two hours from Rolla, is home to an abundance of majors and minors as well as many extra curricular activities and sports. If you’re in the market for a unique and interesting college experience, look no further. Featuring twelve different sports, three of which have both men’s and women’s teams, MSU plays host to a variety of tournaments and competitions. Go to cheer on the bears as they play basketball in the JQH Arena, or take a seat at the Killian Sports Complex to catch a game of softball. Offering over 100 majors and 120 minors, MSU is sure to have a place for everyone. Even without the extensive athletics and the multitude of educational paths, MSU has much to offer. With 372 different student organizations, what’s not to like? Ever since “Pitch Perfect” came out, acapella has become very popular, so of course there’s the A Cub Bella group. Has anyone ever felt the urge to take up acrobatics? We’ve got you covered. There it is, all spelled in black and white, MSU has a place for everyone.

For further information, visit their website at missouristate.edu

Photos courtesy of Austin Bench

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