October Print Issue by RHS ECHO

When RHS Speaks, We

ECHO

Rolla High School - 900 Bulldog Run - Rolla, Missouri 65401- Volume 71 - Issue 3 October 31, 2019 - www.rhsecho.com @rhsechonews

Re-roaring twenties bring Homecoming magic Rolla High School had been preparing for homecoming since the very beginning of the school year. With so much buzz of, ‘Who’s going to ask you?’ and the staple, ‘Did you get your dress yet?’ it is impossible to forget the biggest fall event for Rolla High School. This year, with so many wonderful candidates which everyone loves, homecoming was unforgettable. The school’s lovely queen candidates included seniors Sloane Medows, Lauren Moersch, Annie Lonning, Stephanie Kim, and Kate Mallery and king candidates consisted of Gabriel Stanislawski, Dawit Pritchett, Justin Briggs, Colton Franks, and Darius Facen. “Four out of the five of us play football together so we’re already really good friends. Gabe, plays soccer, but I’ve known him for about four years now. We are all pretty close. We were all pretty happy with whoever got it [King],” Facen said. During the home football game on October 11th against Lebanon, coronation was held. Senior in the Rolla High Band, Sloane Medows was crowned Homecoming Queen. The following Saturday, the dance was held at Rolla Middle School where Darius Facen was crowned Homecoming continued on page 3 Candidates of the 2019 Homecoming Court. Photo by Rodger Bridgeman

Photo by Quinn Guffey

Dr. Zalis announces retirement after 35 years, ten as district superintendent

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Managing Editor After serving 10 years as the Rolla 31 School district superintendent, Dr. Aaron Zalis recently announced his retirement (effective fall 2020). “I announced it early so they would have a long time to find a replacement. They have an opportunity to post [the position] openly, do a search, or promote from within if they want. They have a lot to talk about,” Zalis said.

While Zalis has held the title of superintendent for ten years, he has been active in the field of education for much longer. “I’ve been an administrator in this district for 26 year, but I’ve been in education for 35,” Zalis said. Zalis humbly reflected upon his career and hopes for the future of the district. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of people who I work with whom I’ve learned a lot from,” Zalis said. Zalis explained that his position requires a great deal of independence and passion. “This is a really hard job and no one teaches you to have the will to do your job. There is no class in courage,” Zalis said. Zalis explains that humility is an important part of the position. “I always try to help others aspire to what they want to do. I don’t deem myself as the boss,” Zalis said. While he is stepping down, Zalis remains confident in the current state of the district, as well as hopeful for future improvements. “I want the district to continue to move forward, whether it be facilities or programs, opportuni-

ties for students first and foremost. I look over at the sports complex, which [used to be] nothing but a field,” Zalis said. Zalis maintains a future-oriented mindset. “I think it’s in a really good spot right now, both financially and the people. There’s always room for improvement and I hope someone will come in and continue to carry that [idea],” said Zalis. Although he is stepping down, Zalis is confident he will remain in the field of education for the foreseeable future. “I’m going to do something in education. I taught, for St. Louis University, superintendent courses. I’ll do something--I hope--along those lines… I don’t foresee myself doing nothing,” Zalis said. Zalis appears certain that a change in location is not in the near future. “We’re not leaving the area. My wife is a preschool teacher at Truman. We want to stay here--we’ve been here for a long time. Both of our kids graduated from high school here. We’re proud bulldogs through and through,” Zalis said.

Photo by Lauren Ulrich

Letter from the Editor Most students at the high school have at one time or another probably been pestered by a random girl to join something called Eco Club. As that random girl who seemed way too excited about recycling, I would like to clarify why I keep asking unsuspecting students to join Eco Club. As overly-sentimental as it may sound, this after-school club truly is a culmination of my entire life’s worth of passion towards protecting the planet. The concept of practicality never seemed to fully set into my brain as a child. Maybe it was the fanciful stories of my beloved books or maybe it was my many outdoor adventures, but, somehow, I became a dreamer. So, when the question was posed to me in my sixth-grade oratorical essay contest “How can your passion change the world?” the answer was simple. I, Lauren Ulrich, was going to save the planet. Growing up, loving the natural world was unconditional. When I was little, my family moved to an oasis in the country with blooming meadows, lush oak-wood forests, and a trickling stream right outside my window. My early connection to the earth instilled in me a passion to protect it that never faltered. Unfortunately, my starry-eyed optimism barred me from determining exactly how I was going to save the planet. In my sixth grade speech, I merely

listed off statistics on ocean acidification, coastal development, and the plight of bluefin tuna to a bemused audience. I was convinced that simply regurgitating scientific data would convince my peers to care about the earth just as much as I did. But as I grew older, I began to realize that my blind passion would be enough to make the change of my childhood daydreams. Joining the high school’s Eco Club my sophomore year was the first tangible action I took towards making a positive impact on the planet. Through Eco Club, I have had to learn to put my passion into practice and to find practical methods towards sustainability. Within the context of our school, I have realized that sustainability can be as simple as using less plastic bottles and taking time to go outside after school. By leading through example, I hope that even in a small sense, Eco Club has been able to influence all of you to care a little more too. I do still hope to make a much broader impact, but for now I am content in knowing that this club is the first step to get there. While recycling may seem trivial, I assure you it has a broader purpose beyond color-coded bins and plastic bottles. Having an outlet to pursue my passion has been transformative for me and I would encourage you all to find a similar pursuit, whatever your passion may be.

ECHO Staff Editor In Chief: Lauren Ulrich Managing Editor: Genevieve Huber Webmaster: Erin Pfiefer News: Elena Bai Opinion: Emma Starns Sports: Quinn Guffey Feature: Julia Leventis

Staff Writers: Mable Dougaard, JJ Giesey, Sudatta Hor, Michael “Mandy” James, Hannah Le, Kyle McCutcheon, Helen Weiss Adviser: Dr. Mary Gillis

Follow @rhsechonews on Twitter and Instagram. For more news and sports go to www.rhsecho.com

Haunted Mine Tonight & Tomorrow 6:00 – 11:00 pm 12350 Private Drive 7002 COSTS: $15 – Adults $13 – Kids under 10, Missouri S&T Students and Military (with valid ID) $1 discount if you bring 1 canned good, up to $3 per person, to be donated to Russell House! 2 Opinion

The stuff that nightmares are made of

Student Council hosts annual Homecoming dance

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King at 10 p.m. by Kelly Brown, who served as last year’s Rolla High Homecoming King. Anticipation wandered the halls as the theme for this year was announced. Student Council, the homecoming sponsors, had been working

tirelessly with the community to bring together decorations. “I did like the decoration a lot. The banners were super cool - the risers really set it off. The big ol’ thing in the middle, I don’t know what that was called, but it was sick,” says Facen. Along with the music and all other sorts of preparations and plans for ‘The Re-Roaring Twenties!’, this year’s theme is a play on decades as the “roaring twenties” is introduced as the 2020 school year. With flapper girls roaming the gym, and gentlemen asking lovely attendees for just one more dance as the night wore on. At eleven o’clock, the night came to a close, shoes disappeared from their lines along the walls, and coats were slung over shoulders. Students filed out the doors to cars waiting. Many had after plans. There were after-parties to attend, diners to sit in, and couches to fill friends with. But the majority of attendees, like Facen himself, decided it was a night well spent, and concluded to end the night in bed. “I decided not to go to any parties. I literally went straight to sleep,” said Facen.

Photos by Quinn Guffey

Halloween brings Choir students perform haunted houses to Rolla at annual Renaissance Festival

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Staff Writer As Halloween approaches, everyone starts to look for scary activities to get into the spooky mood of the season. Although Rolla doesn’t have many haunted houses in the city, there are many places that are under an hour away by car that would make your Halloween memorable. The Riling Ranch of Horror in Sullivan, Missouri, has been a popular spot for unique Halloween games since it was founded two years ago. Their main attraction is zombie paintball, where visitors get to ride on a trailer through a field of “zombies”, who are actual people, and shoot at them with a paintball gun for $20/ person and 100 paintballs. They also have a $10 escape room and a $5 mini haunted house. All their activities are open Friday and Saturday from 7-11 pm. “If you’re scared of certain things, they’ll

affect you differently. We had several people go through it this past weekend, and some of them were very scared. The zombie shooter is really not that scary. The zombies are in the field. They do get closer in the end, but they’re not allowed to touch you. It’s more of a fun activity. Last year we had as young as a two year old and as old as an 80 year old shooting,” Tina Riling said. The Riling Ranch of Horror also does a smaller version of the zombie paintball at several different local fairs in the summer to promote. The Carnival of Freaks, a haunted house in Licking, Missouri, starts in a building filled with many scares, such as animated clowns and other creatures. It eventually leads visitors out to a quarter-mile trail in the forest. They are open Friday and Saturday from 8 pm to midnight for $13 per person. “I’ve had a lot of people say that it’s probably one of the wickedest [haunted houses] around. I’ve had people who would chicken out before they even come to the door and I actually had some people who peed their pants, it scared them so badly,” Danny White said. What originally started out as a hobby in his yard eventually grew to be a business because of his love of giving everyone that scare that they want, and has now been up for seven years. “I tinker with it all year round, putting new stuff in, and building stuff. I don’t want them to go through [the haunted house] and say they didn’t get scared. I guess I’m just a big kid because I really like scaring people,” White said.

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Staff Writer Over the last month and a half, Rolla High School Choir students have been working their best to perfect their performance at the annual Kansas City Renaissance Festival. Students had to wake up around 3:00in the morning to be on the bus for the three-hour trip. Yet, they shared that they all had a positive attitude and were ready to make the day the best it could be.

“We all worked hard on our lines. Unlike the Drama Department, we don’t get out of school time to work on making things perfect, but the little amount of time we did have was just perfect,” Sophomore Morgan Korich said. Renaissance Festival is an annual festival where students get to dress up in old-timey clothes from the time periods of the 14th and 17th centuries, put on accents, and pretend they are really in that time period with no judgement. Students also get to perform a small play they have been working on as other schools and students watch. “Ren. Fest has everything! Old fashioned foods, clothing, and culture. You can dress up and be yourself with elf ears or really anything. They sell whole turkey legs! And there are even little shops with renaissance trinkets. You can also get your fortune told and your palm read by really strange people. The staff is just scattered around telling stories and joking around with everyone. If you go on the right day, you could have seen the Rolla Chamber Choir performing a Renaissance act with music and comedic acting,” Korich said.

Leadership students host the Haunted High

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Feature Editor “Spooky Season” is a time of year for people to experience the scary yet thrilling aspects of Halloween’s traditions. From horror movies and ghost stories to visiting haunted houses, it is undeniable how important these customs are to Halloween. From these traditions, emerged the creation of the Haunted High: an event led by Leadership students that will be open to guests from the community on October 26th from 8pm to 11pm . Rolla High School’s Leadership and Fashion Design teacher, Jamie Cantrell, proposed the idea years ago when she first started teaching leadership. “It’s only been about six or seven years that

I’ve been doing leadership. We just got the idea of a haunted house and were like, ‘Hey maybe it could be a haunted high.’ And I looked to see if there were any other schools that did this and there were none. I found no schools that did anything like we did and we thought, ‘let’s just try it,’ and the first year I think we made four hundred dollars,“ Cantrell said. The Haunted High, managed by senior Maddie Lucas and junior Emma McKee, is expected to be a perfect mix of scary and fun. Each year, the route changes within the high school, as do the tricks, actors, and decorations. Cantrell elaborates on the structure of this year’s Haunted High. “I think we have got the best route we have ever had. This year we are taking kids on the third floor. It’ll be a pretty long route and they’ll be going outside. Every year we have more masks, more chainsaws, and just more supplies in general. We also have the National Guard guys helping scare, and they are big, buff guys that’ll be chasing you. Our cast of people are put in certain positions and we tell them what we want them to do. If we want them to slam the door, chase somebody, or hop out with a chainsaw we tell them to do that, but we also tell them as the night goes on and as they see what works and doesn’t work, to feel free to jazz it up a little bit,” Cantrell said.

As the scenery and placement of the Haunted High is altered each year, preparing for this event is no easy task. “We have a ton of responsibilities preparing for the Haunted High. We have to find people to participate and supervisors to make sure it runs smoothly. We also have to spend the day off setting up different props and areas to scare people,” Lucas said. McKee expresses the same obligations when it comes to ensuring a successful Haunted High. “Maddie Lucas and I are responsible for getting volunteers to work, setting everything up the day of the Haunted High, getting all the props, advertising event designs, taking everything down afterwards, and evening logistics. Maddie and I would not be able to do it all without the amazing team we have working with us,” McKee said. Cantrell describes both Leadership as well as Lucas’s and McKee’s event planning process. “They have been planning since August. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is event day. They are all working on the separate event that they are going to have. And they have to do all the planning on their own. I kind of guide them and say, ‘Here’s what we’ve done in the past, here’s what I think you should do as far as organization,’ but I really let them take the lead. I let them figure out the route, who they want

where, what they want them to do, and what the costumes are going to look like. I leave it up to them,” Cantrell said. In addition to the creative and personal freedom Cantrell offers her students, she hopes her students take what they learn from her class to further their abilities and growth in themselves. “It’s not about putting on events. We do a lot of that. It’s about learning how to communicate, how to delegate, how to motivate, how to be the type of leader that makes a transformational change in their school and with their friends. It’s also about making a change in yourself. Learning how to be a professional person that can rally people behind a cause and just transform themselves into a person of excellence,” Cantrell said. Not only does The Haunted High give members of the community a way to have fun with their family, but the money they spend on this event will be used to support a good cause. “It’s five dollars, but all of the money either goes to various charities that we support throughout the year or right back into our school. Leadership or a charity might use a part of that money and the reason for that is because we help out Russell House and we feed veterans at the veterans assembly. We also need to be able to fund the things we never even charge for,” Cantrell said.

3 Opinion

s ’ JJAnimal Corner

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Staff Writer Two reptiles that call Rolla Highschool home are the ball python and red eared slider turtle as classroom pets with the science teacher Mr. Hickerson. Both are very popular pets and are owned by many people alike around the world. Ball pythons are the smallest python native to Africa and are a popular pet for their comparatively large size and mellow attitude. Snakes as

pets aren’t demanding in terms of enclosure dimensions except maybe the very large species, as snakes are ambush predators and feel uncomfortable out in the open and they love to be in the nooks and crannies of the world, as it makes them feel safe from possible predators. They have a dark color with large blotches and sides that are yellow or dim gold color and a white to cream underbelly. Pythons are ambush predators in African savannas and hunt small mammals or prey on bird eggs and young, males have some arboreal presence while females live entirely on the ground. Since they are pythons, they follow the constrictor school of thought, where they capture prey by wrapping around them and squeezing hard to mess up their prey’s blood pressure, which kills the victim. Hickerson points out how “snakes are not as scary as people think. They are and are more relaxed than people think they are.” Snakes are a very common fear for people and plays into how reptiles are sort of distant and unfamiliar to humans. Learning about an animal can really change how someone perceives it and snakes are definitely a good example of an ani-

mal being misrepresented in pop culture. Red eared sliders are large aquatic turtles that are native to the southeastern rivers and lakes of North America, they eat a large variety of aquatic plants, invertebrates, and fish but these turtles are prey for small to large carnivorous Archie the ball python is a popular among students at RHS. mammals. The mating Photo by Genevieve Huber season for them begins in huge hassle to clean up. Turtles are not pets that Spring and lasts until mid are super fond of being handled or picked up to late Summer, males are smaller than females and males have long front claws to make it easier and are not shy to bite if threatened. “A lot of people don’t know that they are to hold onto a female. During the cold months, predatory. Students get amazed that [Ginger] they do not hibernate, but perform brumation, eats fish,’’ Hickerson said. where they enter a stupor in river bottoms or Turtles as pets are a good choice depending on under an object and slowing down every internal the turtle, but they are a much bigger commitprocess. Red eared sliders despite their popularment as they might be the animal that you will ity as pets, are not ideal for a beginning keeper, need to pass down to your kids to take care of. they require a large aquarium and a huge chunk of it to be filled very high with water which is hard to fill up and maintain, and it becomes a

although he came back as hero after the first voyage, and even though he brought gold and slaves, by the time he died he was not richalthough he also was not living in poverty like many people believe-and was seen as a failure by many. 2: Columbus did not really discover anything. First of all, as we all know, when Columbus reached the New World the first thing he found was the “Indians”, showing that people had discovered the Americas long before he ever arrived. Second of all, even if you’re considering it purely from the standpoint of Europeans discovering the Americas, Leif Erikson had reached the Americas almost 500 years before Columbus ever set foot there, although Leif Erikson landed in present day Canada and Columbus was strictly in South America, and did not even hit the mainland until his third journey. In fact, Columbus was not even the first one to land in South America, because Amerigo Vespucci (The man that the Americas are named after) was said to have landed in Venezuela in 1497, which would have been a year before Columbus ever hit the mainland. 3: Columbus Day as a national holiday was initially only meant to be a single year event. In 1891, New Orleans was home to the bloody lynching of eleven Italian Americans. Most im-

migrated cultures in America have gone through periods of oppression, and at the time it was Italians. President Benjamin Harrison declared the celebration of Columbus Day as a one year event in 1892, as a way to try and calm the hostility towards Italian Americans and to try and remind all the citizens of the importance of patriotism. 4: Sex slaves were common gifts to Columbus’s men. Now, Columbus enslaved many different Natives for many different reasons. In his journal after first landing on the Canary Islands and meeting the Native Americans, he described them, saying that they were strong and intelligent and that he believed they would make good servants, and he and his men had many slaves of their own. But along with the general abhorrent slavery and abuse, he also gave female Natives as sex slaves to the men who worked with him, as rewards and comfort. 5: He did lead to a lot of travel. As previously stated, Columbus did not actually discover much of anything, but it is true that his voyages led to a lot of the European exploration of the Americas, and in fact eventually led to the Columbian Exchange. All in all, Columbus really was not the hero that many of us believe he is. It is true that if

Columbus had not traveled to the Americas, someone else would have, and it is likely that they would have led to equal tales of genocide, rape, abuse, slavery, and the plundering of natural resources. Many people use this to justify Columbus, saying that is simply the way things were at the time, but being equivalent to the ways of the time does not really excuse the horrible actions of the old times. Even if it shifts our understanding of what happened, it does not make the actions of Columbus, his men, or the other people of the era alright. This said, we should not merely be saying that Columbus was terrible and let that be that. The lack of knowledge that many people have about Columbus and his atrocities comes merely from ignorance, and for the blatant disregard of Columbus’s horrors in American public school curriculum. To really celebrate Columbus Day, what we should be doing is trying to increase education about what he did and who he was, and to talk about the true history of America. Various states now celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, rather than Columbus Day. Whether renaming the holiday is the best course of action or not is impossible to know, but increasing education and understanding is perhaps the only way that we can try to learn and grow.

Most schools have made the change to online school instead of physical teaching. But is it really benefiting us? Schools around the nation are making the switch because it’s cheap and efficient, but most students aren’t absorbing all the knowledge. Most students just look up ideas for online assignments or google most of the questions. So they aren’t really getting the knowledge they need for future tests, or homework assignments. When in an online school you don’t get all the benefits of sitting in a physical classroom. You can’t just raise your hand if you are confused, instead you have to go through a bunch of phone calls and emails with your teachers. Professors can’t pace their lessons because they can’t physically see how students are reacting and doing

with the material. If you are in an online school you also lose touch with class discussions and student interactions. Such as group projects and getting to know your class and feeling comfortable. The biggest disadvantage of online schooling is if you don’t have internet or access to a computer then you will have to find somewhere to complete you assignments like a public library. Students really have to fight for their education during online school sessions, and never get a good grasp on the material because of such occurrences. My parents are enrolled in college at Drury University and if you don’t know it is based out of Springfield; so they study from home. A lot of times there are communication problems where my parents can’t get a hold of the school/

teacher, or the teacher can’t get a hold of them. Most of the time my parents have to ask each other, get a hold of a teacher and risk the assignment being late, and even sometimes just guess/ make something up to finish the assignment on time. In some cases, I like online schooling and assignments better, such as tests. It will give the teacher less work and give the students fast results on how they do. Online schooling also lets people have more flexibility in their time management and if they need to they can focus on bigger events going on without having to attend an actual school and go through 8 hours of real classes.

Meat Trade Prohibition Act. This act prohibits people from slaughtering cats and dogs for consumption. It also prohibits people from donating, transporting, or selling dogs or cats for slaughtering. Many people are glad that this was made a law, especially those who support the ethical treatment of animals. Those people tend to be vegans and environmental activists. However, I am a vegetarian who does not support this law. The worst part about the passing of the law is not that it is against eating cats or dogs in America, but the House is also encouraging other countries to do the same. “This bill is a reflection of our values and gives us a greater standing in urging all other countries to end this horrific practice once and for all,” said Alcee Hastings, a Democratic Florida Representative. In my opinion, urging other countries to stop eating cats or dogs is very ignorant of their culture on our part. It is almost equivalent to

India asking America to stop eating beef, or any of the many Islamic countries to ask us to stop eating pork. Of course, eating cats or dogs is not common worldwide, but I do not believe that the government has a right to dictate what form of food or how a culture should be practiced. If cats and dogs are safe from consumption, every other animal must also be safe from consumption. That means that it must be illegal to slaughter chickens, pigs, or cows for consumption. We all know that these animals are raised on corporate farms with harsh conditions. Farm animals are made just to satisfy our appetite, while cats and dogs enjoy their peaceful lives as adorable pets. What defines which animal gets to be a pet and which animal is made into meat? The appearance and comfort of the animal does. It is only because that cats and dogs look “cute” that we refuse any harm to come to them, while we neglect the countless farm animals who are brutally slaughtered. Imagine if the same principal

applies to human society. What if your appearance determines your survivability? More realistically, I do not believe that removing the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act will have a great impact. Not many people in America are going to be excited to be able to sell cat meat, or being able to eat dog every week. In fact, in the places where cats and dogs are eaten most oftenly, there are many groups who speak out against the practice of eating cats and dogs. I personally don’t want to eat cat or dog meat. The main thing that bothers me is that it was the government who told us not to eat it. I have always thought that the government was supposed to serve its citizens of all cultures, not just the majority. I am glad that non-government organizations are willing to protest against this practice, because that means that we are setting the standards. But by outlawing the consumption of cat and dog meat, the government is forcing cultural expectations upon us.

Facts about Columbus Day: An overhyped day off?

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Webmaster October 14, 2019, is Columbus Day, or at least it is in most states in the U.S. For this holiday, here are a few fun facts about Christopher Columbus, and his infamous voyages. 1: There were actually four voyages. Although most people only think about Columbus’s first voyage (1492, 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492) he sailed again in 1493, 1498, and 1502. That said, he probably should have stopped after the first one, because

Are we really learning through online school?

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It’s unfair to prohibit the slaughter of cats

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Staff Writer On December 20th, 2018, President Donald Trump committed another unfair act: signing into law the Dog and Cat

4 Opinion

Art students travel to Arkansas to explore Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Rolla ECHO Press Release Students in Rolla High School Art programs were treated to a day of art discovery and exploration ath the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas last Friday, Oct. 18. Former local businessman and art advocate Kent Bagnall visited the museum and took the idea for a Rolla High School enrichment trip to Art teacher Connie Shoemaker. Shoemaker did some research and found that the museum offers financial assistance to schools that aim to promote art literacy. Shoemaker contacted the museum’s education coordinator about potential funding, and by June, 2019 she received word that Rolla High’s application was fully funded. The grant, which paid for transportation, substitute teachers, admission to the museum’s exhibits, and lunch was funded by the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation. Bagnall and Shoemaker worked together to plan the trip and reserve the bus. Meanwhile, Shoemaker and art teacher Shannon Englebrecht began to recruit students for the trip. Students wrote an essay to articulate their interest in the trip, and when Friday came, the transformative power of external enrichment came to fruition. 39 students and six chaperones boarded the USA Tours bus at 6:30 a.m. and embarked on the three and a half hour one way trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. As students arrived at the bus, they were met with a full contenental breakfast of pastries and fruit donated by Rolla’s Price Chopper, and a vast assortment of bever-

ages donated by Grellner Sales and Service, Inc. of Rolla. Rolla’s Phelps County bank gave each student a lunch bag, (which Bagnall and his wife backed individually with fruit for the bus ride). Upon arrival, students were split into small groups led by each chaperone and were led on a guided tour of the museum. “Our museum is focused on telling the story of America through time,” museum educator Raven Cook told her group, “It’s important to notice narratives that include those in our history who were often in the shadows, so as you study the art, look for who is telling the story

and who is left out.” Students were encouraged to engage in discussion about the exhibits as Cook led them through some critical thinking. “While viewing the expressionist artists consider the artist confronting the question, ‘How do [readers of art] consume emotion?’ and how that is reflected in the piece,” Cook said. Students offered insight into the composition, color, brush technique, and mood, often referencing concepts that they study in their classroom back in Rolla. Students viewed many pieces by artist Chihuly. “Observe how Chihuly is able to manifest art and put it back into the earth to challenge the way we see the world around us,” Cook said. One student observed, “Oh, I see, it’s a commentary on the power balance of the time period?” Cook responded, “nice observation, you must have great art classes.” “I liked how Museum educator Raven Cook challenges students to examine the story each [Cook] allowed us artist tells. to think and open

our minds about what it represents, If she didn’t, I don’t think I would think about those things,” freshman Chambriel Ridings said. At the end of the guided tour, students were served a complimentary lunch at the museum and then given time to explore the museum more thoroughly, which included the outdoor sculpture trails, a house designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and a special crystal exhibit. “I really liked the hanging sculptures. It reminds me of my father, who is an engineer and I really like that engineers from different types use materials differently to accomplish things. Artists are doing that same thing by using these materials to bring out different things for different people,” sophomore Zachary Parker said. The museum tells the story of America from many points of view beginning with pre-colonization stories of indigenous life and engaging audiences about many aspects of the American story since. “You can see multiple sides of the picture and to see if from a different perspective and angle, helps you see that you can use things in art that aren’t usually used that way. It’s a balance. It’s cool,” sophomore Matthew Blanton said. Entrance into the museum and its trails are free to the public because of contributions of the Sam Walton foundation. More information about hours and upcoming events at the museum is available at their website. see more photos on page 7

Mayor Magdits signs Head Start proclamation

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Staff Writer Head Start is a program that caters overall toward low-income students that prepares pre-

school age children for kindergarten by ensuring school readiness. Head Start is provided through Missouri Ozarks Community Action (MOCA), which has several other projects, such as housing and electricity programs. Head Start is a program that caters overall toward low-income students that prepares preschool age children for kindergarten by ensuring school readiness. Head Start is provided through Missouri Ozarks Community Action (MOCA), which has several other projects, such as housing and electricity programs. Proudly displayed in the window of Rolla Head Start is the statement, “The mission of MOCA Head Start is to prepare children and develop partnerships with families and communities to enhance the quality of life.” The program is currently in its 55th year of operation, and Rolla Head Start has been in

the area for 25 years. Student numbers tend to fluctuate between 50 and 53 children. On October 8th, Mayor Louis Magdits read to students at Rolla Head Start to celebrate the signing of Head Start’s proclamation. “Head Start instructs kindergarten readiness, where we teach the kids their gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and socialization. We also are trying to prepare the parents for kindergarten, and help them teach their children,” said Nicole Dicus, who is a family advocate at Rolla Head Start. At Head Start, reading is a main focus for teachers and students, as the curriculum pushes students to develop reading skills before they enter kindergarten. Students are provided books to encourage strong reading development, and give the children a positive opinion of reading. “Each child gets a book sent home once

a week. Monday the book goes home with a worksheet. The books encourage child and parent bonding, since each book has science and math activities, along with a song or poem. Every sixth book they return, they get one book to keep at home.” Dicus said. The goal of the “Ready, Set, Read” program is to assist children in not only understanding what they have read, but also helping them build their own personal library at home. Staff at Head Start are not only focusing on the present, but setting up children for a strong future in education. “None of this program would be possible without the staff here. They all care, and they all have a lot of heart for what they’re doing,” Dicus said.

Digital Art program receives generous grant

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Staff Writer A new program has recently opened up at Rolla High School. Laurie Myers, a former art teacher at Rolla Middle School, started teaching Digital Art in the fall of 2018. With the help of a generous grant from the Chymiak Family Foundation, the program was able to open up a lot of opportunities for students at Rolla High School. “I believe the innovative curriculum I have written for this program will not only educate and prepare students, it will inspire and direct them to be responsible, respectful creators and members of society--regardless of the field in which they choose to work,” Myers said. For Digital Art, new and updated computers are required as well as licenses to professional programs like Adobe Photoshop. Finding the funds to kickstart the program was not an easy

process. “The project, as with all things we do, is a priority but must fall within budget parameters and timelines throughout the school and district. Our current computer lab has old, slow computers which cannot handle much of what our students need to be prepared for their future,” Myers said. The school reserves funds to constantly update all resources, not just computers. Marching band uniforms are updated every ten years or so, while sports uniforms are updated much more frequently. Most of the time, the frequency of updates are enough to cover ensure that equipment is not worn out. Computers, on the other hand, are a different story. “Our district technology updates occur on a 5-year rotating cycle through our budgetary process. We were currently mid-cycle with our lab. It is very difficult to keep up with the constantly changing technology as anything two years old is considered ‘old’ unfortunately,” said Myers. After some planning, Myers decided to write a proposal to the Chymiak Family Foundation for a grant to fund the Digital Arts program. The foundation is an organization that helps fund and support causes for the advancement of education and other causes. According to the Chymiak Family Foundation, “The Chymiak Family Foundation will provide Grants that support the charitable purposes for which the Foundation was created. Specifically, the Foundation’s interests center on financial support for not-forprofit educational programs and activities such as libraries, computer resource centers, music

departments, and shop or vocational classes.” Eventually, Myers was fortunately able to receive the grant and start the Digital Arts program as well as provide the school with new resources. “We were quickly hit with many frustrating and limiting factors in building this program and, after much discussion with Dr. Pritchett, we decided to reach out to the Chymiak Family Foundation as they have helped the Rolla Public Schools with other projects as well. They are very generous and very much appreciated. They

donated around $37,000 to bring in the latest SSD computers and creative software for new Digital Art program,” said Myers. With the grant, the Digital Art program is able to flourish. In the near future, there will be more advancements being made. “Next semester we will mainly have intermediate Digital Art courses, and next year we are adding an advanced Digital Art course. The classes are filling up quickly, and I am excited about that,” says Myers.

5 Feature

Sophomores take ASVAB test to gauge military skills

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N e ws E d i t o r Today, Rolla High School students took the ASVAB. The ASVAB stands for the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and is a military placement test that determines what jobs a person can hold in the military. It consists of eight tests, including general science, arithmetic reasoning, word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, mathematics knowledge, electronics information, auto and shop information, and mechanical comprehension. However, the “four critical areas” of Arithmetic Reasoning, Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension and Mathematics Knowledge, determine a person’s AFQT (Armed Forces Qualifying Test) score. Rolla High School offers all sophomores the opportunity to take the ASVAB as practice, since it has benefits beyond military placement. The ASVAB has applications beyond the military and gives students practice with standardized tests, Rolla High School counselor, Liz Pogue, explains. “We’re giving it to give you guys exposure to a standardized test because no matter what you’re doing after high school, chances are, you might have to take a standardized test,” Pogue said. For those seeking a career in the military, there are 5 different tiers, distinguishable by AFQT scores. Each of these categories include different jobs and incentives. Those who score between 0 and 15 fall into category 5, and are not admitted into the military. Scores between 16 and 30 are category 4, and are admitted with a high school diploma or a line score that qualifies them for the job. Scores between 31 and 49 are in category 3, for which people are admitted into the Army, National Guard, and Marines with a score of 31; the Navy with a score of 35; and the Air Force with a score of 36. People in category 3 also qualify for $4,500 of federal tuition assistance and those in the National Guard also qualify for $10,000 in state tuition assistance and a $375 per month stipend. Scores between 50 and 89 are in category 2, and qualify for bonuses that range

from $20,000 to $80,000 bonus and an additional $350 per month stipend. Finally, scores between 90 and 99 are category 1 and qualify for nuclear careers. Similar to the ACT or SAT, a student can take the ASVAB again if they are not satisfied with their score. “You can take it again but as soon as you start the next test, it erases your old score,” Pogue said. After one gets the desired score on the ASVAB, it is recommended that the person talk to family and friends with military experience to gauge whether the military would be a good option for them. “Talk to people who have been in multiple branches. Talk to people who’ve done academy, academies. Make sure your parents are with you, make sure somebody who helps you make really hard decisions is in the room with you when you’re asking those questions, when you’re before you commit yourself,” Pogue said. It is important to talk to people from multiple branches to gain a better perspective of the variety of career options, Army/National Guard recruiter, Brian Beard, explains. This will help ensure you make the right decision and know what each branch and possible career entails. “If you want to join the military I would - and [if] you know what you want to do, you have an idea of what kind of job you want to do- I would shop around, talk to a recruiter from each branch, see what each branch has to offer and which one would be the best fit for you, and then go from there.” Beard said. It is important to note that each military experience is different and many experiences may be completely different from what a person may expect. “People think that you’re going to sign up and go straight to Iraq. Even though that’s always a possibility, that’s not the case for most people who sign up, especially in the last five years. It’s actually unlikely that you would deploy even though it’s always a possibility,” Beard said Military experience may even expose a person to a diverse selection of people that they would not have otherwise been exposed to. “I developed a lot as a person just from the culture that I experienced in the military,” Beard said. Whether a student is going into the military or not, it is important to explore career options in high school before making a decision that will impact their future. “You’ve got to be a critical consumer of whatever you’re committing yourself to, whether it is the military or job or college or an apartment that you’re renting,” Pogue said.

Average Americans consume astonishing amount of red meat each year

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Staff Writer In 2018, the average U.S. citizens had consumed 2200 pounds of red meat and poultry. Is this good or the right thing to do for human health? Increasingly, more and more people are becoming more wary of what they eat and meat has been no exception to this. Food is eaten for 3 reasons: to give the body the energy it needs, materials to rebuild and repair the body, or get various materials and molecules the body needs to function and cannot produce on its own. The first two categories are what fats, carbohydrates, and proteins in food are for the body, and the third is what minerals and vitamins are in. Proteins are the main molecule that rebuilds cells. Meat has almost every aspect of these. It has every amino acid the body needs and provides iron and some vitamins that are hard to find in plants, like vitamin D. Meat is also easy for humans to process. Spinach contains more iron than meat does, but spinach takes more energy and time to process. People cannot survive on meat alone -almost every meat available is completely devoid of vitamin C which comes from plants and is needed for the body to recover and forms up tissues that connect the body together. The nonmuscle parts of the animal, like the organs, do give necessary nutrients. One example of a source of vitamin C from animals was whale skin which Inuits ate. So meat as a whole is not unhealthy, but its health effects vary. Meat in the western world is the muscles of animals which are nutrient-dense but do not have all the vitamins necessary for our needs. Fish are probably the healthiest meat available for consumption. Fish meat contains omega

three fatty acids which helps the body’s immune system and may help against heart diseases. The only downsides to eating fish is the overfishing of water ecosystems and the destabilization of water ecosystems. However, the territory of red meats like beef and pork are up in the air. Most studies conducted have tried to study similar people with similar choices, but since people are so diverse in their lives and health it is incredibly hard to properly conduct a study on that scale. Processed meat that is changed through the process of smoking, curing, salting, or other means to make it taste good or preserve it. The World Health Organization had peer reviews of more than eight hundred studies and had the conclusion of processed meats increase chances of colorectal cancer and put them in the same tier of carcinogens as cigarettes. White meat is the best bet and probably what a person should eat if they are going on a diet. Dr. Keith Peterson, biological science and anatomy teacher at Rolla High School, explains. “It depends on the person. Some people actually feel better when they eat more meat, some people feel better when they eat less meat. I think a lot of it depends on the quality of meat you eat. I know for me, I eat a lot of chicken and turkey, but I do eat beef around three to four times a week. If I were to eat nothing but beef or over do it, I would start to feel sluggish.” “Red meat tends to have more saturated fat in it than white meat like chicken, turkey, or fish, and the reason I don’t like to eat a lot of red meat is because of that level of saturated fat and saturated fat has a direct link to cardiovascular disease,” Peterson said. The major downside to eating meat is the environmental damage the meat industry causes and how inefficient it is to use it to feed people. A cow needs to convert twenty five kilograms of feed and fifteen thousand liters of water to make one kilogram of beef. 83 percent of all available farmland is used up for livestock and fodder crops farmers feed them. That makes up a quarter of all usable land for humans. The industry also contributes to fifteen percent of all carbon dioxide emissions - the same amount as all human vehicles combined. Meat also comes from living animals and the treatment they go through with nightmarish conditions to satisfy the huge demand for meat.

Sleep deprivation affects student motivation

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Opinion Editor

The struggle to balance school, work, and sleep is extremely common among high school students. On top of that, students often participate in extracurriculars such as clubs, sports, and band. With expectations to succeed in all of the above, the pressure can build up rapidly, eventually forcing the student to further prioritize their priorities, becoming a never ending cycle. In an article from Stanford Medicine, pediatric sleep specialist Rafael Pelayo, MD goes into detail about how not only sleep is disrupted but the student’s natural rhythm is disrupted as well. “When they enter their high school years, they find themselves in schools that typically start the day at a relatively early hour. So their time for sleep is compressed, and many are jolted out of bed before they are physically or mentally ready. In the process, they not only lose precious hours of rest but their natural rhythm is disrupted, as

they are being robbed of the dream-rich, rapideye-movement stage of sleep, some of the deepest, most productive sleep time,” said Pelayo. When students get inconsistent amounts of sleep for days and weeks on end they go into what is known as ‘‘sleep debt’’ to William Dement, MD, PhD, founder of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic. Dement explains that high school is a real danger for students and the amount of sleep they get. The less sleep you get, the more hours you lose and the hours are ‘cumulative’ and adds up into debt. In addition to losing sleep, effects are also shown in learning, memory, and a zigzag metabolism. The more one slips in school, the more likely one is to start doing things that do not reflect good behavior, and it is a slippery slope from there, causing bad driving and experimenting with alcohol and drugs. This shows how

crucial sleep is in a person’s life, not just as an adult, but as a growing high schooler. Academic performance is highly impacted by sleep, there is no question about that. Nanci Yuan, MD, director of the Stanford Children’s Health Sleep Center, goes into detail. “With academic demands and extracurricular activities, the kids are going nonstop until they fall asleep exhausted at night. There is not an emphasis on the importance of sleep, as there is with nutrition and exercise. They say they are tired, but they don’t realize they are actually sleep-deprived. And if you ask kids to remove an activity, they would rather not. They would rather give up sleep than an activity,” Yuan said.

Launch program opens opportunities for online learning

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In order to encourage students to enroll in additional courses, Rolla High School has introduced an online program to provide new opportunities for students to explore a variety of programs. Rolla Public Schools currently has a partnership with the Launch program, which is an online schooling program offered through Springfield Public Schools. Launch is mainly being utilized by students during summer school sessions, but it is occasionally used as a supplement during the regular school year. Currently, assistant principal Josh Smith runs the Launch program, and provides information for students who are interested in enrolling in online courses.

“There are many different classes available, but we specifically offer programs we don’t offer here at the high school. All of the classes have to meet the Missouri state standards,” Smith said. Launch is a tool that students may use to work ahead of their normal schedule, so that they can enroll in more classes to gain graduation credits. “Some students take the first level of a course over the summer, and then continue on to the next level during the school year,” Smith said. One student who has previously used the Launch program is sophomore Angela Yang, who decided to enroll in an English II program offered online over the previous summer. “I decided to take the Launch program so

that I could free up an hour in my schedule for another science class. I got to finish the class in a really short amount of time,” Yang said. Particularly, classes that are presented online differ from classes that require physical attendance, specifically with a higher workload. Launch courses take place within a typical month long period, which requires students to complete assignments on a strict schedule. “There was a ton of course material you had to go through every day, so you would have different modules with different work amounts. My strategy was just to complete my assignments daily,” Yang stated.

Athletes of the Month

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Senior Emma Puetz has participated in Track and Field and Cross Country since her 8th grade year. In addition to Track and Field and Cross

Country, Puetz also participates in other school activities such as National Honors Society and French Club. “National Honors Society is for students who excel in academics who want to better their community life, we do a bunch of serve projects in the community to get Rolla out there, not just looking like a school that only does sports,” Puetz said. Before running, Puetz was doing other sports. Her parents inspired her to do something different. “I was a competitive dancer, so I didn’t even really know that cross country was actually a sport before my 8th grade year, and my parents were just like, ‘you should try it and maybe you’ll like it; it’ll be something different for you’ and so I was just like ‘sure I’ll try it’ and here I am now,” said Puetz. Puetz is verbally committed for running Track & Field and Cross Country at Missouri S&T.

She has won lots of medals over the years. “Last year in track, I got all-state, which is like top honors, I got it in the 1600, mile, and the 4x4, and then I have been first team all conference every single year in both sports. Those are both really good and I have gotten first place at a bunch of meets, and I hold the school record for the 5000-it’s an 18:09’,” Puetz said. There are difficulties in almost every sport, and running is no different. “Pushing through mentally when I don’t feel like running is the hardest thing ever, because everyone is like ‘Oh you’re so good, so it just comes naturally.’ Well, I still have to push through injuries just like anyone else, and just that mental blockade that sometimes tells me that, ‘those people are better than you’ I have to just push through that and keep my head up,” Puetz said.

Sophomore Johnathan Reade is a part of the football team. He started in his 8th grade year, but quit because of an injury and joined again this year. Reade is a starter, the starter keeps the offense from scoring at all costs, and a kicker, the kicker has the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. “I’ve been playing soccer since I was a little kid, like two or three years old. When I moved here I played soccer, I played basketball in upward optimus, and I’m in flag football too. I

tried football in junior high, but I quit because I hurt my hand then I tried it out this year,” Reade said. Before moving to Rolla, Reade played soccer and continued to play a few years after he moved. “I was actually a soccer player and I was a goalie, so I can kick the ball really good and I want to push myself towards doing football,” Reade said. Reade plans to try out for soccer next year.

Reade did Upward Basketball for a couple of years, but he shares sports can be nervewracking. “It was scary for a little bit, but I practiced a lot. I was like, ‘ I got this’,” Reade said. Over time, and a lot of practice later, Reade was able to play with as much confidence as the next person, maybe even more. “Push yourself to do it. If you push yourself in confidence and focus on school, but also in sports, you can do it,” Reade said.

Artist of the Month

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Art has been a big part of freshman Caden Hanrahan’s life. Through drawing, digital art, song lyric writing, pixel art, and storylines for all of the characters he has made along with some of his friends, Hanrahan expresses his creativity and connects with other artists. “Back in 4th grade, before I was even into horror in the slightest, I was introduced to Five Nights at Freddy’s while watching my favorite YouTuber. It gave me a nightmare, but somehow it inspired me to draw,” Hanrahan said. When he first started drawing, he drew characters from many games such as Untertale, Pixel Gun, Minecraft, and Five Nights at Freddy’s. Recently Hanrahan has been drawing robotic

characters for one of his stories. The stories are not written or recorded anywhere, but are more like many plots that he has created and now memorized. Almost all of his characters have separate backstories and unique names. “Some days I work more on story stuff. If I were to average it, I would probably draw twice a day. The days I do draw a lot, it’s around two to five times a day, but it depends. 5th grade is when I actually started drawing on a more regular basis. I’ve just been getting more constant each year,” Hanrahan said. Some of his characters have been inspired by his dreams. He bases drawings off the things he sees in his dreams, and around 10 percent of

his characters were created that way. Hanrahan currently has over 500 different characters that he shares on Amino, a social networking app where you join different communities based on your interests. “I have a lot of artists that I like. A lot of them are on Amino because that’s where I keep up with artists the most, and 50 percent of them I’ve actually become friends with. It’s the good thing about being on Amino because you can connect with people more, so if you like those artists, there’s a chance you’ll become friends, because you guys keep up with each other and their art,” Hanrahan said.

Staff Writer

Leadership to host Powderpuff next Friday

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Powderpuff is a competition between junior and senior girls in flag football. At half time, the

boys perform a cheerleading dance. Powderpuff is scheduled for November 2nd at 7 p. m. for five dollars per person. The games usually last from one hour to an hour and a half. Leadership is running this event with Kendall Wyatt and Justice Ousley in charge of it. Ousley is a Junior. “Powderpuff is where juniors and seniors go head-to-head in a game of flag football and there’s going to be a half time for the boys to perform a dance that they worked with some of our older cheerleaders on; they kind of create and perform and hope everyone comes out and have a good time,” Ousley said. The five dollars people must pay to get in are going to a charitable organization called March of Dimes. March of Dimes is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. “It raises awareness for premature babies and it’s an association to help little hands make a

big difference. My little sister was a premature baby, she was 3 months premature and I saw that November was premature awareness month, so I chose this charity,” Ousley said. There was not a set amount of money that Leadership would like to raise, but they expect to raise about $2,500 from the games and other fundraisers Leadership hosts. “We are taking as much as we can get for it. I go home now I would probably say anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 hopefully. We also have some money from the bake sale that we did for powderpuff and March of Dimes, but that happened a few weeks ago,” Ousley said. Setting up the Powderpuff games are not an easy task. They have a lot of meetings they have to go to in order to get all the places they need booked, and get approval from the staff members. “In Leadership, we have to keep our binder.

This is how a lot of the staff members here at Rolla High in the activity’s office get the waivers we have. We talk to them about everything that was put on waivers, for the sign-up sheets we had to create that out of nothing,” Ousley said. The work leadership team does behind-thescenes requires full dedication, hard work, and commitment; students are often here late after school and on the weekends when they can plan, organize, and get the message across. While others are sleeping in on days off, like Martin Luther King Day, leadership kids are usually out serving the community during one of their many planned service events. “We had to have a meeting with Dr. Pritchett can get that finalizing sentence down there, we have to talk to the janitor about setting up the scoreboard, and getting the football tied down for just us. We just have a lot of planning and organization that goes into it,” Ousley said.

Art, nature, education in one full day of enrichment Art students enjoyed a day at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum blends nature and art through unique architecure and sculpture trails.

7 Feature/Sports

Middle school hosts ‘Kindness Day’

By Lauren Ulri

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Editor In Chief In a middle school classroom brimming with overly-energetic fifth graders, today’s lesson is slightly different than the typical multiplication tables or Lewis and Clark lecture the students are accustomed to. At the front of the classroom stands their teacher, Kaitlyn Jones, along with two guests - her adoptive parents. On the board are pictures of famous adoptees ranging from Steve Jobs and Nelson Mandela to Harry Potter and Spiderman. As the students chatter in delight about their favorite adopted superheroes, Jones takes a serious tone. “How many of you have been told by someone that you look like a family member?” Jones asks as an array of hands fly up. “I’ve never

been told that,” she explains. Today is Kindness Day at Rolla Middle School and for Jones’s lesson plan, she is sharing with her students the story of her childhood as a woman of color with two white parents. Jones and her parents are one of over 20 presenters at the middle school covering topics ranging from adoption to blindness to English-language learner programs. For Kindness Day, students are visiting different sessions of speakers with a common message - accept differences and be kind. In this session, Jones and her parents apply this message to adoption. Jones’s mother, Darlene Bramel tells the students “all families are different - embrace the difference. You’re probably a little different from your siblings and that’s okay to be different. Every family has its own story.” Jones is co-directing this year’s event on Oct. 11 along with teacher Sarah Russell. “My first year at the middle school I had never heard of Kindness Day, but once I went to each of these sessions and saw how the kiddos soaked up all this knowledge and loved the experience, I thought ‘what an amazing thing for kids to have this opportunity,’” Russel said. The annual event, formerly titled Acceptance Awareness Day, has traditionally focused on fostering acceptance of people with disabilities. This year, the event has evolved into the all-inclusive Kindness Day which covers a broad spectrum of topics including various disabilities but also subjects like anti-bullying and mental illness stigmas.

Russell shares thatthe day is all about immersing students in unfamiliar situations. “At the beginning of the day when they walk into that first room and there’s someone who’s completely blind or there’s someone in a wheelchair, they’re kind of scared because they’ve never been in that kind of situation,” Russell said. Along with being introduced to entirely new Photo by Lauren Ulrich situations, students are also educated on things they may see daily, but not fully understand. In one session, a sixthgrade student explained to his classmates why he goes to the special education room each day. “By three of four sessions in, you see them start to get ‘oh, okay we’re all alike. We all have struggles. We all have differences and that doesn’t mean we can’t be kind to each other,’” Russell said. For middle school students, Russell believes that this message is especially important. Not

only are students still young and impressionable, but they are also beginning to use social media. Russell shares that students witness little repercussions to negative comments they may share online, so experiences like Kindness Day can help raise their awareness of the impact their words have on others. “My hope is that at the end of the day when kids walk out of here, they realize ‘I can be kind’ and being kind is a big deal and one little thing a day can really change the way our school is and the way our community is,” Russell said.

Harvest Season brings fruit, color to Ozarks By Lauren Ulri

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s hay fields sway in the crisp fall air and green-colored leaves morph into autumn yellow, local farmers can sense harvest season is on its way. Harvest season is the traditional term for the end of the growing season in the summer and the harvesting of crops in early autumn. For Missouri farmers, harvest season can be the most labor intensive time of year as they must harvest fields of hay, corn, and soybeans. For others, harvest seasons marks the end of picking summer produce. At the Rolla Downtown Farmers Market, the lively, summertime conversation has turned to discussion of what wares will be available into fall and what the fall weather will look like this year. John Muesch, who sells most of his produce and livestock from Muesch Farms locally at the farmers market, remarks on how his inventory will dwindle as fall progresses. “A lot of the summer things are just about gone,” Muesch says as he surveys his produce. “As soon as it frosts, they’re definitely gone.” Muesch shares that summertime produce, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans are winding down for the season. At the market,

he is still able to sell some late-season produce including lettuce and spinach, but most fresh, green goods will soon be off the market. “Mostly in the fall, what you’re doing is putting everything to bed. You’re planting things like garlic, getting the beds ready for next season. You’re pretty limited for what you can do production wise,” Muesch said. Farther down the lane at the market is a bright yellow booth selling honey. James and Yavana Roe raise bees on their land in Bourbon, Missouri and sell their honey each Saturday at the market. While bees may not wilt away like tomato plants in the fall, James Roe shares that producing honey is still closely connected to the seasons. “It’s farming. It depends on the weather because flowers depend on weather. If we have a drought, we don’t have enough flowers. If you get too much rain, the nectar will wash out of the flowers,” Roe said. In the fall, bees are limited to fewer flowers to find pollen. While meadows are currently full of autumn’s trademark yellow flower called goldenrod, Roe shares that later in the season, less honey will be produced. “Bees live on flowers, so only when flowers are blooming. The fall is getting ready for winter, and in beekeeping, winter is the 800 pound gorilla. Why? There’s no flowers in the winter,” Roe said. While fall brings extra struggles to Roe as a beekeeper, he also shares his fondness for the cool fall weather which he dubs “glorious,” as well as his appreciation for the harvest season. “It’s the traditional harvest time of farming

Photo by Lauren Ulrich

and leading into winter. Farming is plant based and most crops are harvested in fall: the corn is being harvested, the soy-beans are being harvested, pumpkins are being harvested, apples are being harvested,” Roe said. While harvest season has the practical purpose of yielding crops, it is also of social significance. The tradition of harvest season is often celebrated with seasonal festivals and gatherings,

something which Roe attributes to the event’s importance to traditional farmers. “From the old days of farming, that’s when you worked all summer and you harvested in the fall and sold your crops to have the money to buy your kids shoes to go to school,” Roe said.

Bow season winds down, hunters gear up for Deer season

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Bow season for whitetail deer started in September and some of the students at Rolla High School are preparing for rifle season, which starts on November 16th. Junior Jack Gesualdi, a regular deer hunter, is excited for the annual deer season. Deer season is a long time tradition that attracts many Missouri residents. Gesualdi gave insight on why he hunts. “Hunting isn’t just about getting the deer, it’s also about getting to hangout with family and friends. It’s a big part of growing up and getting to learn from others,” Gesualdi said. Rifle season starts November 16th and goes to November 26th. The youth portion spans from the 29th of November to the 1st of December. Then, alternative methods go all the way to the 7th of January.

“I usually hunt the rifle season. It’s always a good reason to look forward to fall,” Gesualdi said. The times of archery and rifle season are around the same time every year. The consistency of the seasons and the bonds it forms between hunters are why it is so popular amongst people not just in Missouri, but across the country. There are many kinds of animals in the deer family in North America. Whitetail is very common in the U.S. and is the most common in Missouri. Mule deer are in some parts of Missouri, but are more common in the states to the west, such as Colorado, Idaho, and Nevada. While hunters are permitted to hunt mule deer with certain tags in Missouri, they are not located in the areas around Phelps county.

It is important before hunting to get the proper tags for the animal that one wishes to hunt and to research the regulations. This makes sure the hunter is not poaching or hunting illegally. Hunting an animal without tags, or anytime an animal is killed illegally, is an example of poaching. “Poaching is definitely something that needs to be fought against in order to keep the population of deer and other species healthy,” Gesualdi said. Everyone should be mindful of the laws and regulations in place. When the rules are followed, the deer population remains consistent. “The fall is an exciting time for hunters all around the country,” Gesualdi said.