Rolla High School by RHS ECHO

Ec ho

Rolla High School - 900 Bulldog Run - Rolla, Missouri 65401- Volume 68 - Issue - 2 September 30, 2016 - www.rhsecho.com

Looking back through the years as we reach #progressasplanned

Pg. 12 Spotlight: Rolla Highâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Athlete and Artist of the Month

Pg. 20

Marching to the beat: Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m with the Band

Pg. 22

In this issue...

KMNR Radio ................... .........................................................3

Get out and vote................................................................5 Constitution Project ........................................................ 6 Homecoming Proposals ...................................................7

Letter from the Editor

Now that classes are are in full swing, my level of procrastination is also in full swing, as I’m sure it is for you as well. Now, my procrastination begins and ends with a little program called Netflix. For those who live under a rock and don’t know what I’m talking on about, Netflix is an entertainment company that streams live video and media on demand or DVD for $8.99 a month. It’s pretty genius if you ask me; no commercials and you can watch as many shows in a row as your heart desires. But, it’s also a huge burden as it becomes ridiculously addictive ridiculously fast. I haven’t had this program long, but I can honestly say that it has taken over my life. I’ve watched everything from How I Met Your Mother to Orange is the New Black to Grey’s Anatomy and everything in between. Now you may ask, how do I have time to watch Netflix between school, activities, work, and other responsibilities? Well, I don’t. This is where my addiction becomes really bad. Every night, instead of just doing my homework and getting it done ASAP, I sit on my computer, watch Netflix, while trying to do my homework at the same time. It’s stupid, I know, but that’s what makes Netflix so Netflix. Your inability to never stop watching means you’re going to keep subscribing which means Netflix is making the big bucks off of your addiction. Now, I’m hopefully not the first to admit, nor do I think I will be the last, that this a major problem for me. I literally just watched 6 seasons of Hawaii 5-0 (Great show, I would recommend) in a month and a half, just to give you one of many examples I could share with you. My point in writing this spiel is not to promote or damage Netflix as a company, but to just warn you that things can get a little out of hand. One minute it’s 4:00 in the afternoon and you have all the time in the world to get things done, and the next, it’s 11:30 and you’re falling asleep while watching season 5 episode 12. All I’m saying is it’s a dangerous game, this Netflix, but if you have the time and the desire to waste that time, Netflix is right up your alley. Happy watching. P.S. I was watching Netflix while writing this...so there’s that.

ECHO Magazine Staff

Editor In Chief - Celia Parsons, Copy Editors -Adrienne Pyeatt & Connor Wilson, Webmaster - Ashanti Owusu-Brafi Staff Writers - Sophia Gesualdi, Visaka Ho, Caroline Adams, Lydia Giesey, Theresa Laurer, Bailey Allison, and Lorren Black Adviser - Mary Gillis ECHO is an open forum for student expression. All letters to the editor must include the writer’s name, signature and class or position. Anonymous letters will not be published. ECHO reserves the right to reject any letters. Letters should be sent to ECHO, Rolla High School, 900 Bulldog Run, Rolla, MO 65401.

2 table of contents

1100 North Rolla Street Rolla, MO 65401

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

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

KMNR

Rolla b y

y d i a

staff

i e s e y writer

While flipping through the radio stations of your car, you’re faced with some ultimate decisions: Country or Western? Christian or Classical? Top 40s or...more Top 40s? The musical menu here in Rolla isn’t ideal, but there is hope among such a dismal selection. KMNR is the radio station made by S&T students for all students’ listening pleasure. I had a chance to interview Brady Voepel, the public relations director at KMNR radio, who basically explained that KMNR, much like Drake, can go from 0-100, real quick. “KMNR has been in existence for 54 years. So we’re one of the oldest-if not the oldest-college radio stations in the US. We’re a free-format college run radio station. We can play absolutely anything we want. I’ve done shows where we just play white noise in the back while screaming into a microphone for an hour and a half,” Voepel said. The vibe that it gives off is very much, ‘ran by college students in an unconventionally decorated building with Bob Ross playing on a continuous loop’. Primarily because that’s exactly what it is-right down to the Bob Ross. The music itself can vary from country hits of the 1960s to Beyoncé. “We have a couple of metal DJs, we have a couple of hip-hop DJs, we have some EDM DJs, we have people who do live EDM shows for two hours. A lot of people just play between pop, indie, rock, electronica or whatever. We do talk shows-I had a talk show last year-we do video game review shows, we’ve got about 80 active DJs,” Voepel said. Fortunately, all this music can be easily accessed at any time of day-literally. And if you can’t bear to leave your car because the tunes are just too groovy, there is a solution: KMNR has a webstream at KMNR.org. “We’re 24/7. Essentially you’re going to have DJs coming at all hours of the day and doing shows, and between that you’re going to have people doing different artist features; we have a request show on Friday night from 10-12. When we don’t have an actual DJ we have an automation playlist, so basically it’s a robot that will play all of our programming, which is pretty cool. Basically it’s all just free-flowing DJs and automations doing all of our programming and everything,” Voepel said. Despite more popular means of listening to music such as Pandora, Spotify or Soundcloud, KMNR rise above the rest and remains a unique and refreshing sound. “There is really no distinct relationship between FM radio and Pandora/ Spotify-our volume is really not comparable to the usage of Spotify or Pandora. Also, being free format, we don’t really have much of a relationship to iHeartRadio (formerly Clear Channel, which is pretty much every radio station that isn’t free format or NPR). Online radio is definitely the spot in terms of listener volume obviously, but we don’t really particularly care about our metrics, as long as people keep listening,” Voepel said.

feature 3

Clubs ‘n Stuff Rolla High School’s Clubs and Meeting Times Right at Your Fingertips! Student Council - Tuesday Mornings at 7:30. See Mr. Bridgeman for more details.

Latin Club - Once a month. See Ms. Morris in room 204 HOSA - Once a month, usually on Monday ECO Club - Mondays after school in Mrs. Hickerson’s room 311 Book Club - Every Wednesday morning in the Library German Club - Once a month. See Mrs. Lueck in room 202 FBLA - Every other Friday morning in Mr. Haberman’s room 208. Key Club - Every Other Thursday morning at 7:30 in Mrs. Green’s room 122

FCA - Every Thursday Morning at 7:15 in room 214 B

Octagon Club - Every other Tuesday in Mr. Curtis’ room 220 Art Club - Every Thursday at 3:30 in Mrs. Engelbrecht’s room 107 Anime Club - Every other Thursday at 3:20 in Mr. Hill’s room 120 Improv Club - Every Monday 3:30-5:30 in Mrs. McNeven’s room 310

Spanish Club - Once a month. See Mrs. Smith in room 210 FCCLA - Once a month on Wednesdays in Mrs. White’s room 219 French Club - Once a month. Next meeting is September 30th in Mrs. Harshbarger’s room 206

d r i e n n e

t a f f

Forum & 10th Street Rolla, Missouri 4 feature

Pyeatt Writer

Amnesty International - Fridays in Mrs. Hargis’ room 313 Book Club - Every Wednesday morning in the Library TableTop Gaming Club - Every other Thursday at 3:30 in the Cafeteria Academic Team - Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 3:30 in Mrs. McCarthy’s room 117 Science Olympiad - Every Thursday in Dr. Peterson’s room Pokemon Club - Tuesday’s after school in Ms. Morris’ room 204 Knitting Club - Every Wednesday at 3:30 in Mrs. Shoemaker’s room 106

b y

Cel

i a

Editor

a r s o n s in

Chief

906 North Cedar Street Rolla, Missouri

Whatever Floats Your Vote B

Connor

i l s o n

Staff Writer

y d i e a

In the United States, one of the most emphasized and important subjects taught to kids is how important voting is. Regardless of this however, voter turnout among the younger voters always seems to be around 50%. This means that nearly half of the youngest generation of voters do not have a say in the future of our governing body. “You need to have your voice heard. If you don’t have your voice heard, then the foundations for our very Democracy can’t properly function,” Senior Jesse Liu said. “If you look at it from the point of view of saying, ‘Ok, I’m just one person. My vote’s not going to matter’. If everyone looked at it that way then it would matter. You’d go from just one individual not voting to a bunch of people. So if you all focus and say that voting is significant and it matters then it will matter,” Senior Donald Wunsch said. To register to vote in Missouri, there are a few requirements that must be met: the person registering must be a Missouri resident, a citizen of the United States, and must be at least 17 and a half years old and turning 18 either on or before election day. If they meet all of these requirements, then they can either register online, register via the mail, or visit the county clerk’s office and register in person. “How significant is [voting]? I’d say it’s pretty significant. When I sign up to vote, I’ll vote, and then that’ll be significant because other people will vote as well and I’d like my voice to be heard as well,” Wunsch said. Everyone has different reasons behind which candidate they’re voting for. Most of the news stations today have

i e s e y

Staff Writer

o p h i a

e s u a l d i

Staff Writer

the purpose of providing you with those reasons. Students all have different factors, either being family or, on a more facetious scale, which candidate just ‘looks’ better. “My family and how I grew up, that’s going to be a bias for me no matter how much I try to eliminate it. But, you know, reason. That’s another factor. Of course, the current events of today, if a politician is going to talk about how they want to resolve some of the current events [I] might listen to him or her, more than an opponent who is more laid back about said current events,” Wunsch said. A common conception is that if you choose to not vote, then you don’t have the right to voice your opinion about the turnout of the election. However, sometimes people feel that the candidates are just too horrible to even consider voting for. It’s a tricky situation-choosing between having your voice heard, or sticking with your morals. Because of this, most people choose to just abstain. “I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily bad just because, especially with the election of today you have to pick the lesser of two evils, as much as I hate to say it if it was an election that came down to two crappy candidates then I don’t know that I’d want to see either one of them enter office, but one of them is going to enter anyways. So I guess if you didn’t vote it wouldn’t matter, but if you did vote at least you’d have a say in it,” Wunsch said.

In 2012 45% of young voters (aged 18-29) cast their ballots In the state of Missouri 48.5% of young voters cast their ballot.

(civicyouth.org)

RHS kicks off ‘Constitution Project’ with a debate over gun control on Missouri House floor B

a i l e y A ll i s o n & Lorren Black

Staff Writers

Missouri’s Constitution Project Kick Off event was held September 21st in Jefferson City. Courtney Colench, junior, described for us what exactly the Constitution Project is. “It’s a competition between different schools. You get to test your ability to go in and look at a crime scene, analyze it, take the case to court, and be able to prove how it happened and in what way,” Colench said. We also had Hannah Holton-Langley, a junior and one of the team’s attorneys, explain the process for us. “First we go to a debate in Jefferson City and are given a write up of a bill. We get to go into the House of Representatives and have a debate over the bill and how we feel about it and then, depending on the points we make, we can get more points for our court case. A couple weeks later a crime scene team will go in and investigate a mock crime and a week after that they will have a court trial,” Langley-Holton said. As a sketch artist for the team, Colench described what the crime scenen investigation process is like. “First we go to a crime scene, analyze it, sketch, take pictures. Then we take all of that information and give it to the law side and the journalism team, they take and it analyze it as well. Then depending on what side we get, whether we’re trying to prove them guilty or prove their innocence, we try to prove who did it. The law team will try to take it to court and then it’s like a normal court case,” Colench said.

Autym Decker, Addy Brow, Peyton Dent, Mackenzie Clayton, Celia Parson, Thomas Booker, Lydia Giesey, Courtney Colench, Hannah Langley-Holton, Jessie Liu, Samuel Wilsdorf, Caroline Adams. Photo by Mary Gillis

Follow the RHS Constitution Project on Twitter @rhscsinewsteam

6 feature

Jessie Liu standing in opposition to the gun control bill on the Missouri House floor on Sept. 21 in Jefferson City as the Constitution Project kicks off.

BULLDOG PRIDE NIGHT

b y

i s a k h a

Staff Writer

On the first Friday of the new school year, August 19, 2016, Rolla’s annual Bulldog Pride Night was held in the Rolla High Parking lot. Many businesses and people from the community came out and celebrated the first home football game of the season. “I am totally [pumped] for the game. It’s the first game of the season, and I’m excited to kick it off my senior year. I’m excited because we have a new coach this year, the boys have been working hard in practice and let’s see if they can show their hard work on the field,” Senior Deja White said. Pride Night occurs on the first home football game. It is something where students and adults alike can hang out and get pepped up for the game. “Bulldog Pride Night was started a few years ago by our committee as a way to celebrate the first home football game of the Rolla High School Bulldogs and get the business community out here just for a fun tailgate party to kick off the football season. All of the proceeds that the Chamber of Commerce raises from Bulldog Pride Night all goes to our scholarship fund, and our scholarships are awarded to our show me scholars graduates,” Stevie Kearse, Executive Director for the Rolla Area Chamber of Commerce said. “So the more successful Bulldog Pride Night is, as far as the participants from the business community and sponsors then the more scholarships we are able to give you. But it’s also very fun because then the whole community also comes out and celebrate the football season.” Many vendors showed up at Pride Night and gave out free goodies. A lot of the sponsors gave out food and items starting at 5:30 p.m. “We want this to be a really fun event so they can give away bulldog memorabilia food. We have a balloon person making really fun balloons. We have face painters, we just have all kinds of really fun things that business’ community gives out; it usually says Bulldogs on it or Rolla High School or something like that. So it is just a lot of fun,” Kearse said. The Rolla High School football team also acquired a new coach. “[I am] most excited to see the new team with the new coaching staff. I’ve heard nothing but good things about [Coach Franks, the new football coach],” said Casey Robertson, the Rolla High School athletic trainer.

feature 7

pre

HOCO 2016

Chloe Wood & Trey Quick

Madalyn Franks & Blayne Yarger

Sadie Cartwright & Steve Heavin

Sophie Parsons & Levi Loughridge

Audrey Roberts & Tanner Mertens

Olivia Holmes & Kelly Brown

Maddy Jones & Reid Hoss

Rylie Veik & Jessie Liu

Color Mash Monday

Homecoming Candidates

Maroon Madness Friday

Kelly Dupes & Hunter House

Take Back Time Tuesday

Class Color Thursday

Superheroes Vs. Villains Wednesday

Emma Rodgers & Blaize Klossner

Lauryn Kamper & Gage Maxwell

Theres

b y

h o t o s

By W

r i t e r

s s i c a

a n d

o u r t e s y

a u e r i

Reporter o f I n s t a g r

a m

Unheard Hits

We roamed the halls of RHS asking people a question: what is your favorite song that you feel no one has ever heard before? B

a i l e y A ll i s o n & Lorren Black

Staff Writers

“‘Undone’ by MercyMe because it’s really catchy and it’s always stuck in my head.” -Noah Lewis-daly, senior

“‘Hold on Forever’ by Rob Thomas because everytime i’m feeling down i listen to it.” -Nora Dunn, senior

“‘Sound and Color’ by the Alabama Shakes because it’s very funky.” “‘San Franscico’ by -Mr.Loker, history teacher The Mowgli’s because it’s really good and my friend and I lis“‘Wasted on You’ by Louis ten to it in the car futon (ft. ROZES)” everytime we go some-Devon Green, sophomore where.” -Maia bond, sophomore “‘Roundabout’ by Yes because there is “‘Sloppy Seconds’ by that one guitar lick Wastsky because it’s a difat the beginning ferent type of song and it that is beautiful.” makes good points in the -Dylan Swift, senior lyrics.” - Jessica Crump, sophomore

10 6 feature

“‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ by Neutral Milk Hotel because it’s fun!” -mr. Goldschmidt, Band Director “‘Mr. brightside’ by The Killers because It’s not very popular in modern music genres.” -Makenzie Proffitt, junior

“‘Syrup’ by TEA becuase it’s really chill and I like the way it sounds.” -Kassi Hayes, sophomore

“‘Angel of the Morning’ by Juice Newton because it’s Juice Newton.” -Carson Arnold, Sophomore

“‘This Girl’ by Punch Brothers beacuse it is very cute.” -Micah wells, sophomore

“‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis because it just really gives me posi“‘green Eyes’” by coldplay because it has really tive vibes.” pretty accoustics and it’s - Lexi Turner, junior not popular” -Ashley Barth, sophomore “‘Save Rock and Roll’ by Fall Out Boy because it basically “‘Revival’ by Goblins tells you to be yourfrom Mars becuase it has self , it doesn’t a bunch of nice tunes tell you to follow a that sound good together” crowd, it tells you -Seth Smith, sophomore to be who you are.” -Sarah Butler, senior feature 11 7

Going Down b y

Cel

i a

Editor

a r s o n s in

Chief

A look into Rolla High Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s past, present, and future. #progressasplanned 1909

This building (see below) was referred to as the Ward School. By 1958, it had been renamed the Thomas Hart Benton School. At different times, it was attended by elementary and junior high students until it was closed in the 1970s.

12 feature

1915

The first ever Rolla High School was built on the 9th block of Cedar Street. This was considered the North half. The South half was built in 1926. (See below)

1939

A vocational agriculture and shop building was constructed at the rear of the property.

In History 1951

Joyce Darr, a Rolla resident, graduated from Rolla High School. She shares her experience at Rolla High including location, similarirtiers and differences from the High School today, cultural influences, style, and traditions.

Due to the fact that the 10th street Rolla High School building wasn’t finished until 1953, Darr went to the old High School building on Cedar street. “[It was] just the one, brick two story building. The gym was in the basement. It was really kind of a tri-level because you had the gym downstairs and then the main level that you went up steps to get to and then really a partial third floor of classrooms up top. The football field was up where the back part of the school is now. So all that on down, where the current sports fields are now, those were all homes and there used to a swimming pool on 10th street too. When you went in the front doors, you walked downstairs to the gym and locker rooms. When you went up, you had the principal’s office on one side and the superintendent’s office on the other. And then, directly in front of that was the auditorium and then down the hall you had several classrooms. That’s where the english classrooms were and some history classes,” Darr said. Most school times are from eight in the morning to three in the afternoon, but that wasn’t the case when Darr was in school. We went to school at nine o’clock, we got an hour for

Darr’s 1951 Senior Class Photo

lunch, and we got out of school at four. And everyone walked to school in town. The only buses brought kids in from the country. So kids walked home for lunch or you brought your lunch. There wasn’t any lunch room. I lived on 7th street where it’s part of the parking lot of the high school now, so it was very easy for me to get back. It took me two minutes to walk from home to school. Like today, Rolla High in the 1950s had a great band program as well. “We had a really good band because Isabelle Estes, whose name is known all over Rolla, was the band director. Isabelle did the vocal music and then by the time I was a Sophomore, she was only doing band and then we had other vocal instructors,” Darr said. Estes wrote the Pride song in 1937. This song is still played by our band at football and basketball

feature 13

Breuer’s 1970 senior class photo

1953

The 10th street building was built on Sept. 12. It contained 22 classrooms, a library, and an administrative office. In February of 1957, the 2nd phase was completed, containing a gym and music rooms. In the Summer of 1959, a cafeteria was added.

1964

The Junior High on Soest Road was built.

1970

Debi Breuer, a Rolla resident, graduated from Rolla High School. She also shares some insite on her experience at Rolla High. With a 19 year age gap between Darr and Breuer, Breuer’s background at Rolla High School differs a little from Darr’s.

In 2017, the additon to the Rolla High School will be completed. This addition will accomitdate for the first class of Freshman coming over to the 10th street High School building.

2017

Unlike today, female students didn’t have many activities to get involved in. “It was all boys because there were no girls teams. Anything that was girls was just done during P.E. which we had everyday. So, we had gymnastics but it wasn’t a competitive team .We didn’t travel or anything like that. There wasn’t a whole lot for women back then. You could be in FHA, Future Homemakers of America, or Secretarial Club.” Breuer said. Dances were also pretty similar to today, just with a few different traditions. “We had Homecoming and in the winter, they had a Key Club dance, and in the spring we had Prom. And we used to have a homecoming parade up Pine Street. We made floats, the sophomore, junior, and senior classes competed against each other. We had band and then the convertibles that the candidates rode in with their suits and hats that they wore that friday night to the football game. The float competition was a big thing. Each class had a teacher sponsor and it was tissue paper and chicken wire. it was hours. I can remember it being midnight or one am and were trying to finish the float because the parade is the next day. And, then we had a lot of sock hops in the gym. Back then, the garage bands were popular, and there were four guys from my class that had a band called The Reactions. They played at all of our sock hops. Then sometimes when we didn’t have a school one, they would rent out the Armory and charge a cover and we’d

have sock hops at the Armory,” Breuer said. Bands and celebrities ruled the fashion trends back in the 70s just like they do today. “The Beatles were big, but it was starting to trend more to harder rock. I felt that our class was one of the last classes that the boys didn’t have the long hair. Into the 70’s was where it became more hippy but our class was pretty clean cut. But, mini skirts came in and skorts, knee socks, bell bottoms were just starting to come in, and palazzo pants,” Breuer said. Since the middle school wasn’t built yet in 1970, students went straight to the Junior High. “All we had was Mark Twain and Wyman and then you went to the Junior High. We were the first class to go into the Junior High when it was built. 7th, 8th and 9th was there on Soest and the year it was built, our class was the first class that started there,” Breuer said. After she and her children all graduated from Rolla High School, Breuer expresses her overall experience in the Rolla Public Schools system. “I have to say it was an overall good experience. I know Rolla High offers a lot more than it did but that was 46 years ago things have come a long ways. My kids went there [and] I feel like they got a good education went on to have successful lives,” Breuer said.

Schools battle the dress code dilema b y

i s a k h a

Staff Writer

Schools all over the country have had debated school dress codes. Rolla High School is no different. One of the main issues concerning dress code stems from rule 10 in the student handbook, which states: “Student tops, blouses, shirts, etc., must have sleeves. No spaghetti straps, tank shirts, muscle shirts, halter-tops, tube tops, etc. will be allowed. In addition, students shall not wear mesh or transparent shirts, or any shirt that exposes midriff, clothing with tears or holes in inappropriate regions, or severely sagging clothing. Also, clothing that exposes undergarments shall not be worn” The rule against shoulders tends to be challenged more than any other rule. “Sometimes I think there are things the school is a little too strict about, and I would say that if I were to wear something that violated the dress code I may get in trouble, but the person right next to me violating it would not get in trouble. This is not okay.” Students expressed concern that the rule is not applied equally to all students. “Personally, I feel that [the dress code is] very unequally distributed. For example, whenever a girl will wear something like a tank top, and they get chastised for it. But whenever a guy wears it, it’s not usually as big of a deal. And I personally don’t think it’s very well enforced. I understand why there is a dress code, but I think we need to stop sexuallizing girls. It’s inappropriate.” Senior Joseph Sweitzer said. So how should we address this issue? Should we issue school uniform rules in our school? We can address this issue with school uniforms, but that is very unlikely for a public school to wear uniforms. “I wore [uniforms] in fourth grade and I guess they were okay. A uniform doesn’t really help the dress code because it doesn’t help prevent the problem. You can wear a shorter skirt or roll your sleeves up” Junior Delanie Winchester said.

On THE CURRENT DRESS CODE “I think the school dress code is fine. There seems to be no shirts that are offensive, unless one person is offended by a specific shirt that someone wears.” -Justin McEaney, on the current dress code.

14 opinion

On free dress codes “In theory, a free dress code would be very good. However, there would always be people who, just, misuse it. Everything. I mean it is a good idea. It would be nice because then we would have more freedom of expression. However there is always that chance of abuse for it.” -Joseph Sweitzer, on a free dress code.

On School Uniforms “I feel students express themselves through their clothing. Wearing the same thing everyday would be boring, but at least you don’t have to pick out your outfits. [...] You can’t have a lazy day,” -Emma Weinbaum, on school uniforms.

Have a Free Dress Code ...

Or Have Uniforms?

DRESS CODE POLL STATS 120 students were randomly polled Q1: Would you rather… Have a completely free dress code 59% Keep the current dress code 25% Have school uniforms 4% I don’t care 11% Other 1% Q2: Do you feel the current dress code affects guys or girls more? It affects girls more 80% It affects boys more 0% It affects both genders equally 19% Other 1% Q3: Agree or Disagree: Shoulders are distracting Agree 3% Disagree 96% Other 1%

Q4: The dress code is unequally enforced: Agree 71% Disagree 27% Other 2% Q5: Is the dress code unnecessary? Yes 53% No 42% Other 5% Q6: Would having a school uniform address any issues with distraction in class? Yes 22% No 76% Other 2% Q7: Is the “shoulder rule” unnecessary? Yes 82% No 18%

feature 15

Foreign Exchange b y

y d i a

staff

i e s e y

writer

l a y o u t

b y

o p h i a

Have you ever traveled to another country, to a brand new school, spoken a complete different language, and tried an endless amount of new things and experiences? For most of us, the answer is probably no. But we do have some pretty cool students who, by chance, have taken this plunge for us. Youstena Aziz is a Junior, from Cairo, Egypt. She’s never been to America before, and came to help people learn more about her culture. One of the most different things about Rolla compared to Aziz’s school back home is that they stay in the same room all day and the teachers move around, instead of the opposite like here. “It’s calm here. There’s no noise, there’s no traffic. I also love tacos. We don’t have them in Egypt,” Said Aziz. Maryke Afrika is a Junior from Cape Town, South Africa. She’s also never been to America before, and came to America because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Afrika noted multiple changes from her school back home to Rolla, one being that we don’t have uniforms here. “I like everything about Rolla! I can’t choose because everything is a new experience. What I really love is the drive-through bank. You don’t have to go inside and stand in long queues, you just drive through. But I actually love everything-it’s just something amazing, something different,” Said Afrika. Howard Lin is a Senior from Taipei, Taiwan. He has been to America twice before, Hawaii and New York, and came to Rolla this time to learn English better. The biggest difference Lin faced was that we don’t have breaks at RHS. However, Lin couldn’t decide on what he liked best about Rolla. “I really don’t know,” Said Lin. Yuka Nagayama is a Senior from Fukushima, Japan. She’s been to America six times before-and this is her favorite. Nagayama came to America because she hopes to become a Japanese teacher in America in the future, and more recently, get into an American university. Something different Nagayama noticed between her school back home and here in Rolla is that the relationships between teachers and students are much more close. Nagayama’s favorite thing about Rolla so far was very simple. “The nature,” Said Nagayama.

18 feature

e s u a l d i

staff

writer

Youstena Aziz

Howard Lin Maryke Afrika

Yuka Nagayama feature 19

Athlete of b y

o p h i a

e s u a l d i

staff

writer

As little kids try to find their place in what seems to be a world of curious things, most will inevitably try out a sport or two. For senior Tyler Parker, soccer was the sport that kept his interest. “I was five years old when I started playing soccer. My parents put me in Optimist and I really enjoyed playing. My dad coached my team every year until I started playing in high school, ” Parker said. After gaining his start through Optimist Soccer, Parker began to travel with the Knights Soccer Club. He now spends his last year at Rolla High playing varsity soccer. “I play center defensive mid. My job is to stop the ball before it gets to the defensive,” Parker said. The team aspect of soccer has allowed Parker to bond with his teammates, especially since many of them were on the same team growing up. The closer a team is, the easier it becomes for them to work to-

Tyler Parker Grade: 12 20 sports

The

gether on the soccer field. This applies in and out of season, as Parker enjoys playing pick-up games with some of his teammates during his freetime. “I like playing with my best friends and competing with others. I think that having chemistry with my teammates helps us to play better together and have more fun on the field,” Parker said. Like any athlete, Parker faces challenges during a soccer season. Soccer not only requires physical capability, but also a positive mindset as challenges arise within a season. “I think that the hardest part of playing soccer is trying to stay strong mentally and physically throughout the season,” Parker said. After high school, Parker is interested in attending Missouri State. Although he does not plan on playing soccer, he is open to any opportunities that he is presented with. As for right now, you can find Parker enjoying some of his last moments playing soccer as a Rolla Bulldog. Parker encourages RHS students to come watch the bulldogs as they continue their season.

Artist

Month b y

o p h i a

e s u a l d i

staff

writer

Art is often perceived as a picture on paper or something that is appreciated by the human eye, but for many, like senior Atonia Bayless, art is expressed musically. “I just started choir this year, and I was in it for a little bit in middle school, but then my schedule got really full. And then I’ve been in band since 7th grade, so this is my fifth year,” Bayless said. Bayless was raised around music, so it was natural that she would make the decision to join band. “Music has run in my family a lot. My mom’s side of the family does a whole bunch of singing, like in church choirs and stuff. My older brother and my older sister both played the trumpet while they were in high school. So, I was like, you know what, I’m going to give it my shot. We went to the mouthpiece night to try it out, and clarinet was the best fit,” Bayless said. Bayless’s favorite thing about band is that it unifies all types of people. “ There are jocks, cheerleaders, anime fans, or just the average Joe.

Personally, I was never one for much social interaction unless I knew you, but in band you truly become a family no matter who you are because one hundred and ninety five kids guide each other to become better and to become one band, one sound,” Bayless said. Bayless continues to express that band becomes one big group as they work together towards the same common goal. “There is no stress over one person being the star. One person makes the difference for everyone, but when everyone is a solid unit the music naturally comes alive, whether it be concert or marching season,” Bayless said. Bayless plans to take her love for music to the next step, as she plans to major in music therapy. “I want to major in music therapy, so pretty much what it is is we help a lot of Alzheimers and stuff. It helps bring back their memory or if they have fits, like temper tantrums, it helps calm them down. There’s also mommy bonding classes,” Bayless said. Bayless is currently applying to Jury University in Springfield and Maryville University in St. Louis. She encourages students of Rolla High to come watch band perform during halftime on Fridays, where she has a clarinet solo in the second movement.

Atonia Bayless Grade:12 feature 21

movement because it’s the ballet of the show. We have some impact moments in that but generally we don’t play much. First movement Staff Writer is like the intro so there are a few features. The second movement is fairly continuous, there are only a few measures involving us. The last The Rolla High School band has been practicing since the last week movement is the percussion movement itself, so that’s our biggest of July, even before school started, on their fall routine. Taking only a movement there,” Kelton Heaven says. few days learning the music and blocking, they have spent many more Every year the band has a different theme for weeks perfecting the routine. their routine. Last years theme was Event Hori“Currently we are working on the third zon, which told a story in space. This years theme movement, we just finished it. Now we just is very creative. have to work on perfecting it and we should “This years theme is Japanese. So in Japan they be starting the fourth movement soon. And have a lot of old shrines and they also have these we are really just trying to clean everything trees which they believe spirits are kept in. A lot up, getting ready for competition. The first of the times some tie notes to the trees because one is October 1st, ” Atonia Bayless says. it’s their ancestors. In the show, it’s about a girl A movement is a lot like acts in a play or who goes on a journey and pretty much does movie. It breaks up the story line so you can what she is not supposed to. It starts out, she follow it better. was told to never touch the trees and then she “A movement is just all the different songs, Adrienne Pyeatt and Brayden Gruben like you start out with one song, and we con- preparing for the fight song, photo by Visakha touches it and all the spirits come out. At first you think all the spirits are bad but it turns out sider that first movement, and so on. It takes Ho that some are good. And in the end she makes the entire season to perfect a movement. We her way home,” Bayless says. learn it within a week or two but perfection is constant, and there is Every year the band goes to four competitions, last year they went never one run that is like ‘okay, that was good’. There’s always that one to two and got 2nd place in both. This year they have high hopes to person who is off step or that one note your could have played wrong,” winning; Bayless says. “I really just want to beat Willard again because it’s a good feeling. Besides having the regular band that plays the clarinettes or trumBut I think we can do it, we just have to get our focus and dedication pets, there is always a percussion band. Which consists of drum line. “I play snare on drum line. The drum line don’t do much for the third and get that locked in. Then once we have that, we are set,” Heaven says.

Caro

Wade Hawks, Seth Smith, and Bailey Allison playing pep tunes before the game, photo by Celia Parsons

22 feature

l i n e

d a m s

The guard and band performing at the football game photo by Visakha Ho

The band playing their 2nd movement during the halftime football game, photo by Rob Barth

Rumor has it... that Rolla High School students targeted Joplin students with “Fear the Tornado” B

d r i e n n e Staff

Pyeatt Writer

The Joplin tornado in 2011 killed 158 people and injured an additional 1,150 others. It is a terrible tragedy that left a lot of people in a bad place. Rolla High School’s class of 2011 made contributions to assist with the recover effort and our hearts have always been with the residents of their affected city. This month, a rumor that spread quickly on social media, shed alleged a different kind of spirit at RHS, one that made RHS seem like a distasteful group. The rumor was that our district approved a pep night targeting Joplin with a message of “Fear the Tornado”. The rumor is definitely false. “There was a poll on Twitter to have a Poncho night because it was raining. It was affiliated with the school because it was tied to the game,” Principal Dr. Jim Pritchett said.

Completely

Credible. a

Dr. Pritchett stressed the importance of being cautious about what you read on social media and share. “All people need to verify their facts and information before posting on social media. You can always call the school and ask before you post something on social media that isn’t true. This kind of thing is preventable if people will check their facts. Unfortunately, in this world of social media, it’s so easy for people to say stuff and not worry about whether it’s true or not,” Dr. Pritchett said. Unfortunately, the facts of this rumor are very muddled, but it is clear that our school would never sanction a hurtful campaign like this. We owe it to our school to be smarter consumers of the media and not spread misinformation. As a student of Rolla High, I know that the tornado that occurred in Joplin is a very sensitive topic, especially for the people involved in that community. It’s not a joke, and I believe that the majority of students at Rolla High School recognize that.

Welcome to this month’s installment of Completely Credible, the column where I state my opinion on things that I know too much about, all while not providing a single source to back it up. Essentially, a typical news column. The subject of each column is bound to be different, and this will more or less be about whatever happens to catch my attention at the time. While reading be sure to keep in mind this is purely my opinion on something that probably doesn’t matter. Democrat. By Connor Wilson My first piece of evidence, as well as one Staff Writer of the most important pieces, is this: Donald Trump is a former democrat. Not only In this issue I wish to share a theory about that, but in years past the Trump Foundasomeone in politics: the man, the myth, tion actually donated to Hillary Clinton’s the legend himself, Donald Trump. Trump campaign in the past election. How strange is a candidate who has been the center of it is that someone would have completely attention in countless controversies, and the opposite of their past beliefs over the has made this election very entertaining as course of just four years. a whole. He has done and said many things, Trump is not a stupid man. He realized as well as a lot of very radical opinions in that it would be suspicious for him to be all possible directions. Some say it’s just a Republican after years of supporting him being honest and open. However, what Democrats, which is precisely why he I’m about to present will blow this whole knew he needed to renounce all his views campaign wide open: Donald Trump, the so strongly. If Donald Trump stayed quiet current Republican candidate, is secretly a

rather than being loud and extreme in his statements, more people would begin to be suspicious of whether or not that’s what he really thinks. If you look at political beliefs and statements of past Republican nominees, you’ll see a huge discrepancy with Trump’s current views and statements. He has many opinions that are just unheard of for a Republican to have. He does have many Republican beliefs as well, but it’s hard to deny the fact that Donald Trump has some very brazen opinions and beliefs in practically all directions. Whether from the what ifs of what he would say and do if he were elected to office, or even the possible repercussions from having someone able to break our two-party system, or even if Donald Trump turns out to favor Republican opinions regardless, this election and Trump himself are set to bring nothing but surprises. Now, whether Trump has secretly been a Democrat sabotaging the entire election the whole time or is just a man who changed his political views in the past 5 years may never be certain. However, there is at least one certainty in all of this: someone out there is going to be angry I decided to write this.

opinion 23