RESTAURANT REVIEW
CHANGING ROLES
An in-depth look at how gender roles have changed over time at Ritenour
A new fast food restaurant has opened within the district
SPOTLIGHT Pages 4-5
OPINION Page 2
HOW TEACHERS MET THEIR SPOUSES SPOTLIGHT Page 6
For Valentines Day, the staff asked some teachers how they met their future spouse
THE PEPPER BOX RITENOUR HIGH SCHOOL
ISSUE 6, VOLUME 96
9100 ST. CHARLES ROCK ROAD, ST. LOUIS, MO 63114
MARCH 2019
Robohounds take the long road to State After it looked like snow had ended the season, the team found an alternate path to State By DANIELA SAENZ Pepper Box Staff After their first qualifier at STLCC Flo Valley was canceled due to inclement weather and the team thought that their season was over, Ritenour’s Robotics team, the Robohounds, recently qualified for state with a victory at the East Conference qualifier. This season had started immediately after last season ended, all the way back in March 2018, when they did not advance past the state championship. “We spent a lot of time planning and training new members, even over the summer. Our qualifying event for this season for the state championship was supposed to take place in early January, but unfortunately, it got snowed out,” Robohound CoCaptain Tai Huynh said. That canceled tournament was when the team’s morale took a big hit. “Almost eight months of work for what seemed like nothing. We were very disappointed, frustrated, and upset, but since our season had seemingly ended, we had to start preparing for the next one. In fact, we had already voted in new captains,” Huynh said. The team was prepared to move on until they got the message that their team was invited to compete in the East Conference Qualifier, which is an extra qualifier they have for teams that do not advance from their normal qualifying event.
Photo by: Martin Trujillo Carrazco Senior Tai Huynh works on the robot for the Ritenour Robohounds at an event at the Magic House. The team is now doing events like this one in preparation for their trip to the State tournament in March.
“And so, we had less than two weeks to prepare our team. We frantically met for a lot of late nights. One day, we even stayed close to midnight just to finish testing the robot,” Huynh said. Huynh has competed for this team ever since his freshman year, and has seen major progress in the levels of preparation amongst the team. “For the first time ever, I walked into a competition confident that not only our team would win some awards, but that we would advance to state. Being on the team for so long, I can see the progress
the team has made to become better,” Huynh said. “I felt eternally grateful to this team when they announced all the awards we won at the East Conference Qualifier and that we had qualified for the Missouri State Championship. It felt like I was solidifying my legacy on the team because now we had qualified for state two years in a row.” Computer science teacher Christina DeMuri is one of the sponsors of the Robohounds. She takes great pride in the accomplishments of her students, especially in the face of potentially having nature take away their shot at a championship.
“I am very excited and happy for the students since I knew they have been working very hard on their robot, outreach opportunities and their notebook along with everything else that goes along with robotics,” DeMuri said. “I do think their hard work has paid off, so I am not surprised that they qualified.” Sophomore Garret Ratcliff said that he had doubts about going to state because there were so many other good teams at the qualifier. This was his first qualifying event as a member of the team. “If we didn’t make it to state I would have been disappointed, but I wouldn’t
have been surprised,” Ratcliff said. “When I found out that we were going to state I was excited and happy for us all. The qualifier was a lot different than I was expecting it to be, I didn’t think that I was going to have fun there but I ended up having a really good time.” Sophomore Damien Cottrell and Ratcliff both think that the team could have done better, but they are both feeling happy by moving along to the state competition. “I am very glad that we were allowed to continue so I See ROBOHOUNDS on p.7
New Husky Health Center opens at Hoech The new endeavor, cosponsored by CareSTL, will help provide health services in the district By: JERSIE COX Pepper Box Staff As the years go by, the demand for health care services has gotten higher, and the Ritenour School District will be providing health services, which they call tbe Husky Health Center, housed at Hoech Middle School. According to Missouri Health, more than 2,900 students who attend the Ritenour School District have a chronic health and/or mental condition. Superintendent Dr. Chris Kilbride noted on the
IN THIS ISSUE
Ritenour website how excited he was to be opening the center. “Opening a school-based health center is one more way we can serve the growing needs of our students,” Kilbride said. Husky Health now provides pediatric and medical care and began to provide behavior care starting on February 11, Husky Health is funded and sponsored by CareSTL; a health and wellness service. Services will be provided to students through the weekdays, and students will be transported if needed NEW CHICK FIL A OPENS PAGE 2
via minivan provided by Ritenour. Students can go according to their schedule during the morning, before school, or during school hours. Students at Husky Health during school hours will not be considered absent, truant or tardy throughout the school day. Although services are not free and require payment through insurance, no student will be rejected health care because of lack of payment on the spot. However, paying for medication is still required since Ritenour does not cover
PAST THE GENDER ROLES BREAKING POINT OVER TIME PAGE 3
PAGES 4-5
any medication costs. Parents or guardians are able to attend the appointments if wanted, yet it is not strictly mandatory. Students are able to go on their own if they feel more comfortable going by themselves. A consent form must be filled and signed by the parent or guardian if that is the situation. If students want to attend Husky Health their parent or guardian must fill out a request and consent form, unless they are of eighteen years or older. Forms can be provided online by going to the
Ritenour School District website or by going to your school’s nurse office and asking for a form. Husky Health will be located on the second floor of Hoech Middle in rooms 200 and 201N. The only requirement for Husky Health is to fill out a request sheet and to be apart of the Ritenour district. CareSTL health officer Angela Clabon expressed her excitement on the Ritenour website. “We are beyond excited to provide much needed on site healthcare services to the students,” Clabon said.
HOW TEACHERS MET THEIR SPOUSES
THE POLAR VORTEX
SWIMMING RECORD BROKEN
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