Volume 41, issue 4, february 2017

The

T-Bird Times

Skyline High School • Volume 41 • Issue 4 • February 17, 2017

Homecoming King Logan Reece crowns Queen Montana Kocher at the assembly last Friday. Last years King Alex Lutz was able to attend. photo by Courtney Gamble

Page 2 • Editorial • The T-Bird Times • February 17, 2017

Toss standardized testing in U.S. CReporter orbin Keeling Albert Einstein once said “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish’s ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

The United States high school drop out rate is at 25 percent compared to Finland with less than one percent. Finnish students have the least amount of homework in the world with just under half an hour a night.

Most students don’t seek outside tutoring or lessons because there is no need, they understand the material given to them in class.

What can we learn from Finland whose students are outperforming students in the Asian nations who are assigned

the most homework and get the most outside tutoring and lessons? First, the kids get to know their teacher over a series of years instead of being handed off every year to a new teacher, a new start.

Kelly Day noted in a web article from 2015 that teachers in Finland spent around 600 hours teaching annually, or about four or less lessons daily.

In the United States, this number increases to over 1,000 hours annually or about six lessons daily. Also, Finland’s education system is dispersed evenly throughout the country, where there is no school better to go to than another.

The World Economic Forum did a study in 2016 and Finland

was ranked number one among the world’s education systems.

The United States did not make the top 10.

We have a lot to learn from Finland’s education system, and many teachers believe rethinking standardized testing is where we should begin.

“I don’t think standardized testing gives the whole picture of the student, it’s just a snapshot of one day,” Business teacher Jane Melroy said.

She also thinks we should not be putting as much emphasis on testing to be a single measurement on a student’s ability and progress. Melroy allows her students more time to complete tasks because all students work and learn at different paces.

The main problem Social Studies teacher Kenny Eddy believes is the technological failure with the tests. Instead of filling in bubbles on a piece of paper Eddy said he would rather have an iPad or a computer.

Eddy thinks standardized tests do not give the whole picture of a student or the teacher at all.

“Pick something and stick with it,” Eddy said. “Either have a state standards or national standards voted on by students and teachers, not governors who haven’t been in a school for years.”

American students should be outside learning with sticks, rocks, and acorns like Finland’s students instead of filling in the bubbles on standardized tests.

Career cruising added to short Fridays MReporter ichelle Ramirez Skyline recently started to do Career Cruising. Every first Friday of the month all the students go to a certain teachers classroom and get together with their classmates.

“Career Cruising kind of helps with my future of what kind of jobs my skills are good for,” sophomore Megan Urban said.

Students go online to the Career Cruising website and fill out a survey to see what careers are best for them. It comes up with a list of different careers and they can look and see the salary, how many years of college they need to take for a certain career, and certain classes they could take in high school for that career.

“I feel like career cruising will kind of help with my future plans,” Urban said.

On February 3, the students

got into their groups and did an activity together.

“I think it was helpful to figure out what value means the most to me,” Urban said.

They had to circle all the values they live by. Out of all the ones they circled they had to pick 10 and write them down.

They had to write each of those 10 down on pieces of paper, then they had to pick three out of the 10 to keep. The students wrote those three down on

paper and gave an explanation why they were important to them. They then had to keep only one value.

“The values activity was boring and not something I wanted to do at school because it’s something you could do yourself,” sophomore Courtney Reece said.

Reece thought Career Cruising helps you see what careers you would enjoy and some that you could pursue, but she said

students should not be forced to do it because not everyone got careers they wanted or were even interested in. Also, she thought it really didn’t help many people because they already knew what career they wanted to pursue.

Even though some students thought Career Cruising was a waste of their time, some students believe that it is helping them with their future plans and goals.

Editor ........................ Justin Hampel

Adviser...............Judy Hampel

Staff Reporters..........Hallee Burgardt Michal Cimerman Corbin Keeling Michelle Ramirez Raul Ramirez Jared Shriver Charly Spitzner Kamryn Stark Andrew Withers

Photographers............Nikolai Andrews Justin Brown Michal Cimerman Sherley Chavez Courtney Gamble Stephanie Holmes Charly Spitzner Mark Schmidt Madison Tyler Kayla Urban Jon Wiltshire

February 17, 2017 • The T-Bird Times • News • Page 3

Scholars’ Bowl wins HOPL meet JReporter ared Shriver The Thunderbird Scholars’ Bowl team won the HOPL meet for the fourth straight time on January 19. The meet was hosted at South Barber High School with six students competing.

They were sophomores Gabriel Flanders and Erik Ghumm, juniors Carson Lee and Corbin Keeling, and seniors Justin Hampel and Jarod DeWeese.

The Thunderbirds went 6-1 at the league competition with Lee and DeWeese both placing individually in points.

“I felt like things went pretty well, but we could have been better at Literature and Language,” Lee said. “We also should have been more aggressive answering questions.”

After winning League the team traveled to Burden to compete for a spot at State in the regional competition. The team brought the same lineup with the addition of Cody Shipley because of the absence of Corbin Keeling.

They had a three way tie for third, but ended up finishing in fifth place due to the points tie breaker.

“The best part of this season was making it as far as we did,” DeWeese said. “We did as best as we could and they have good potential for next year.”

The Skyline Scholars’ Bowl team will be returning five out of the seven members, losing only Hampel and DeWeese. The team already has goals for next season.

“I think our goals for next year are to win League for the fifth straight year and to make it to the state competition,” Lee said.

The Thunderbirds had a very

successful Scholars’ Bowl season winning League again and making a strong appearance at Regionals. The team is expecting big things for the upcoming season.

Seniors Justin Hampel and Jarod DeWeese, sophomores Erik Ghumm, Cody Shipley and Gabe Flanders, and junior Carson Lee all compete in Regional Scholars’ Bowl. The team placed fifth out of 14 schools who were battling for a spot at State. courtesy photo

Students show off their inner scientist MReporter ichal Cimerman Science Olympiad is intended for students that have an interest in science and engineering who may or may not choose a career in one of those fields. The point of Science Olympiad is to learn some science and have some fun in the process.

This annual event was held at Fort Hays State University on February 9. Events covered Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Earth Science, Engineering, and Inquiry. They range from pencil and paper tests, to performing lab experiments, to building a structure or robot.

Many kids through all of Kansas were there and Skyline also had their young scientists there. There were five kids who attended. Among them were sophomores Gabriel Flanders, Erik Ghumm, Adison Hampton

and Josie Jensen, and senior Jarod DeWeese. TARGET teacher Brenda Piester was responsible for all the kids, so she was in charge of everything that was going on.

Most of the kids did not know what they were going to do until the day before the competition. Some of them found out what they were going to do just a few hours before the event started. They did not practice.

There were many categories that the kids could compete in.

One of those was Optics.

“I had to move a certain amount of mirrors with a laser pointed at them and I eventually had to get that laser to hit a target in a certain amount of time,” Jensen said.

She was excited and looked forward to the day of Science Olympiad.

“I went because I knew it

would be fun and I could learn a few things,” Jensen said. “I really hope that everyone who went had a fun time.”

Skyline kids attend this competition every year. Jensen has been attending for a few years now.

“I’ve had to study for an event that involved insects and when I studied, it was usually on my own time,” Jensen said.

Veteran DeWeese has been going there since sixth grade.

He did Anatomy, Disease Detectives, Microbe Mission, Dynamic Planet, and Hydrogeology.

“I’ve been enjoying going and competing,” DeWeese said.

Hampton was involved in four categories. They were Ecology, Write it Do it, Invasive Species, and Experimental Design.

Interesting categories may be unknown for some people

and imagining what the thing is about can be difficult.

She went into more detail about the Write it, Do it category.

“You basically have a partner who is put in a different room, while you are shown an object and you have to try and explain in writing how to make the object to your partner,” Hampton said. “The paper with directions is taken to your partner and they have to try to recreate the object you were originally shown.”

Flanders and Lee got first in Geosciences, DeWeese and Flanders got third in Dynamic Planet and other kids got fourth through eighth places.

“Considering we didn’t have a full team and didn’t have time to prepare, I think we did pretty awesome,” Jensen said after the competition.

Page 4 • Feature • The T-Bird Times • February 17, 2017

l e b the g ames i n

1. Kindergarten teacher Joyce Temanson receives the Teacher of the Year Award while playing “Deal or No Deal.”

2. Cheerleaders preform a hip-hop dance during the assembly. The dance was choreographed by senior Brynn McKennon.

3. Sophomores Courtney Reece and Kayla Flora perform a skit from the TV show “The Dating Game.”

4. Freshmen Brock Montgomery jokes with his coach, Steve Little, during their skit. The boys played “Family Feud.”

February 17, 2017 • The T-Bird Times • Feature • Page 5 1. Freshman Brenna Dolezal sketches on a pep club work night. Students had to attend three out of four of the work nights.

2. Seniors Sheldon Miller, Raul Rios and Matthew Giles participate in “Hungry-Hungry Hippos.” Games were held during seminar.

3. Sophomore Kara Bower watches in awe as classmate Gracie Bricker’s Jenga tower tumbles over. This was another class competition held during seminar.

4. During the homecoming assembly, teachers compete against juniors in a tug-of-war competition.

1. Senior candidates Jared Shriver and Drew Thornburg.

2. Senior candidates Andrew Withers and Montana Kocher.

3. Senior candidates Logan Reece and Emily Estes.

4. King Logan Reece stands with Queen Montana Kocher. First grade attendants were Cole Freeman and Reese Ballard.

King and Queen were crowned during the assembly.

1. Freshman candidates Colten Gatton and Jazmine Askew.

2. Sophomore candidates Zack Urban and Kayley Cook.

3. Junior candidates Mason Jones and Ana Lopez-Gil.

Page 6 • Sports • The T-Bird Times • February 17, 2017

Girls battle through tough year JEditor ustin Hampel The Lady Thunderbird basketball team has struggled their way to five wins so far in this rebuilding year.

The girls’ are currently sitting at a 5-13 record after dropping their past two games to State ranked Cunningham on homecoming, and Norwich this past Tuesday.

“I think we are where I thought we’d be at this point,” head coach Morgan Ballard said. “We knew going in that we would have to be patient and allow some learning to take place before we started clicking. I feel like we have the capability to compete in every ballgame when we are locked in and committed to doing our jobs.”

Even with the inexperience when the girls have clicked,

Assistant coach Darci Poland talks to the girls in a timeout during their 54 Classic game against Attica.

Poland was the acting head coach the last two games of the tournament for Morgan Ballard as he was too sick to coach. photo by Madison Tyler

results have showed. They have beaten Pretty Prairie and Attica two times each, which are a few of the bright spots throughout the year, despite the losses.

“The main bright spots of this year have been when the team has won and everyone is happy and excited,” sophomore Gracie Bricker said.

Multiple underclassmen play

a lot of varsity minutes, having never played varsity until this year. With all the youth the Lady T-Birds are playing with, the wins feel extra special.

“Any time you get wins, you feel good for your team,” Ballard said. “They work so hard, and deserve to feel that success for their efforts. Other than the wins, I think the brightest spot

is how much better we are today than we were when we played our first game, both as basketball players and teammates.”

The Lady T-Birds play the formerly state-ranked Central Christian Cougars tonight in Hutchinson, and end their regular season play on Tuesday for Senior Night against South Barber.

Super Bowl Sunday doesn’t dissapoint football fans Major half time deficit no match for the Patriots’ MVP Tom Brady

AReporter ndrew Withers Of the many hobbies that some high school students partake in, one is keeping up with the much anticipated NFL playoffs.

The NFL season began in early August with preseason games, and ended after the Super Bowl in early February.

After a 16 game season, the top teams from the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference are put into a playoff bracket to compete against each other for a

conference championship. Once the conference champions are crowned, they play against each other in the Super Bowl.

Early season favorites to win the Super Bowl were the New England Patriots at 6-1 odds, and the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, and Green Bay Packers all tied at 8-1 odds.

The 2017 Super Bowl featured the top seeds from the AFC and NFC, the Patriots and Falcons. After a slow start, the Falcons got any early lead, ending the first half 21-3.

Despite the large deficit, the Patriots came back to force the game to overtime, tied at 28.

The Patriots won the coin toss and drove the ball down the field, eventually running in for a touchdown to win the game.

The final score was 34-28.

“I’m glad that the Patriots won the Super Bowl, because they have been my favorite team since I could remember,” freshman Thomas Sturgeon said.

While most football fans actually watch the game, others are just in it for the entertainment, such as the commercials and the halftime show.

“The Super Bowl was fun because I like to watch football and hang out with my friends,” senior Rance Tucker said.

Super Bowl Sunday has brought traditions to America for the past 51 years. As America’s favorite sport comes to an exciting end each season, many people get together with their friends or family to watch the big game.

Thomas Sturgeon, 9 “I was a little worried at halftime, but I knew that Tom Brady could find a way to win it.”

Brayton Fletcher, 12 “I was glad that the Patriots were down, but I also liked that they made it an exciting game.”

February 17, 2017 • The T-Bird Times • Sports • Page 7

Boys’ team gets third in classic KReporter amryn Stark The past, present and future are bright for the fast-paced Skyline boys’ basketball team. The team took third place in the annual 54 Classic Tournament held at Cunningham.

On the first night of the tournament, the boys’ took on the number eight seed, Cunningham, winning 80-33. They headed into the semi-finals on Friday taking on Medicine Lodge, who outscored them 63-61. That game went into overtime which led to a T-Bird loss. On the final day the boys’ played for third place in a rematch against the Attica Bulldogs. The boys’ won in overtime with a score of 59-53.

“I feel like we did pretty good in the classic this year,”

junior Cooper Gates said. “We did not have the outcome we expected nor hoped for, but third place is still something to be proud of.”

The week after the tournament the boys spent their time in practice working on defense and staying familiar with everything they had been working on all season. They took the day off from practicing on Monday and Tuesday of the girls’ tournament week. Along with that, they were able to spend a few days in the weight room.

“I think being able to get into the weight room helped us stay in shape, and the days off were nice because we got to support the girls,” freshman Sam Fisher said.

The returning week, the team traveled to Stafford and Burton

where they stomped the Trojans 78-21. They had a close fight with the Chargers, losing 78-81.

For some of the final league play games, the boys were able to pull off wins against Attica, Cunningham and Norwich.

“It felt great to be able to win

these last few games because we can definitely benefit from it when it comes time for SubState,” senior Matthew Giles said.

The Thunderbirds take on the Central Christian Cougars tonight at 8 in Hutchinson.

Freshman Sam Fisher takes the ball to the hole during the homecoming game against Cunningham, as junior Tyler Tobin looks on for a potential rebound. photo by Madison Tyler

SPORTS Q&A’s Girls’ Basketball

Boys’ Basketball

Kayley Cook

Cade Swonger

How has the season gone so far this year?

The season has gone pretty well this year. We’ve had ups and downs but we have had a lot of positive things happen.

What would you say the team’s biggest strength is this year?

Our biggest stength this year is probably working hard and working together.

Who would you say you look up to the most on the team?

I look up to Kamryn the most because she is good under pressure, can handle the ball, score, and knows what to do with the ball.

What would you say the most challenging part of basketball has been so far?

Probably that we have so many sophomores that have had to step up and learn a lot.

What teammate do you think pushes you the most and why?

Mily. She knows what my stengths and weaknesses are.

What kind of goals do you have for the rest of the season?

To do better under pressure and know the court better.

How has the season gone so far this year?

This year has gone really well for us.

What would you say the team’s biggest strength is this year?

The team’s stengths would be how we never give up in a game. Most of the players don’t get tired easily, and we all get along on and off the court.

Who would you say you look up to the most on the team?

I look up to Matthew the most because he always works hard in practice and in games.

What would you say the most challenging part of basketball has been so far?

The most challenging part is probably losing to the teams that we all know we should’ve beat.

What teammate do you think pushes you the most and why?

I think Jared pushes me the most because whenever I mess up he tells me that I’ll get it next time.

What kind of goals do you have for the rest of the season?

To not lose another game.

Page 8 • News • The T-Bird Times • February 17, 2017

FFA introduces Blue and Gold RReporter aul Ramirez

The FFA organization sold Blue and Gold, cups, hats, shirts, coats and sweatshirts to raise money for the new chapter that started in the fall.

The FFA crew worked together to reach their $7500 goal. With everyone’s effort, the chapter made more than the starting goal. The money will be used to support the chapter for any trips or events.

Sophomore Kami McComb, freshman Jay Crowdis and sophomore Wyatt Slade were the three highest sellers. They received prizes like gift cards, free lunches and a formal dinner in Wichita. McComb got first place for selling the most products, and Crowdis and Slade came in second and third respectively.

All of the FFA members who participated in selling the products met the requirement of selling $200 worth of products

or more. Products were mainly sold to the Pratt community, students’ family members and to Skyline patrons. The sales began during Thanksgiving and ended in January in order to sell as much as possible.

“I enjoyed the hard work students put into selling,” Ag teacher and FFA advisor Michelle Keener said.

The packages arrived on January 31 and were sorted and picked up by the end of the day.

Keener had to collect every students’ money and keep record of how much was sold.

“Blue and Gold has been a tradition and I feel it helped out the chapter since it just formed,” freshman Brock Montgomery said.

Montgomery enjoyed selling and meeting up with people he had not seen in awhile and explaining to them what it was all about and how they could help the chapter. He got to enjoy the sausage and chicken he bought

himself and realized it was better than he thought.

“It’s really good,” Montgomery said.

Sophomore Trayton Audiss also enjoyed spending his time selling products, because it advertised the chapter and got more money to buy things for the chapter. He said customers were easy to handle and were pretty nice. Audiss looks forward to attending any available trips.

“I think it was easy to sell because I sold to my friends and family,” Audiss said.

The Blue & Gold Sausage Company concept began in the early 1960’s, by an agricultural education teacher in Oklahoma to fund their ongoing projects.

Don Ramsey began processing pigs raised by his FFA members and made breakfast sausage for them to sell. The Blue and Gold was a success and is now expanding throughout the country.

Junior Logan Clifton worked rapidly to organize the boxes that were delivered. With only one class hour, Clifton and the rest of the class had everything done and picked up by the end of the day. photo by Sherley Chavez

Class learns skills from freezer meals CReporter harly Spitzner If you wanted to save time making your meals, Cheri Haskett’s entrepreneur class sold freezer meals for the second time this school year.

“It’s teaching entrepreneurship how to make money,” Haskett said.

They got 55 orders and worked on them in entrepreneurship class all last week and many days after school.

“It’s hours of work. We easily put in 50 to 60 hours,” Haskett said.

The profit will be used to help update the classroom and for future trips.

“I think they are fun and something different, so it gives

people a different look about what we are doing,” freshmen Jazmine Askew said.

The students put all the ingredients together, measured it all out and at the end they put it in all the bags.

“It was stressful when people didn’t help or put effort into it because a lot of us were trying,” Askew said.

Eight students from the class went with Haskett to buy all the ingredients on a trip to Wichita.

“We only spent $2,387 but we brought in $5,700,” Haskett said.

Each order consisted of ten meals. Customers had to buy the complete package, so each order was $100. Customers also had to pick up the meals after

school.

It’s the second time that the class has done the freezer meals.

The first time was in November and they got 45 orders. Most of the students liked to do them because they were fun and they helped raise a lot of money.

Students learned entrepreneurial skills such as time managment, marketing, in which they planned the product mix and determined services to provide the customers, developed the budget, and managed the finances.

Sophomore Mily Guerrero, and freshmen Jazmine Askew and Hayley Roberts put together all the ingredients in a bag. The freezer meals were a success for the entrepreneurship class. They are thinking to do it again during the summer. photo

by Charly Spitzner