Volume 42, issue 5, march 2018

T-Bird

THE

Times

Boys finish season at Central Plains

Bryson Fletcher.................... staff reporter The boys’ basketball season went well, ending with a 17-5 record.

“Everybody felt a part of the team, even with 37 players I felt like we were a family,” head coach Kenny Eddy said. “It was a great year. All the struggles were on me and not the team.”

The team got one win in the Sub-State tournament against LaCrosse.

“I am proud of how far we came as a team, battled through some adversity this year and got a lot closer to one another and actually had some fun,” senior Cooper Gates said. “I regret not coming in to get better every morning and not pushing my teammates to do their best every day.”

During the season, they won the 54 Classic.

There were over 40 boys at the beginning of the season and 37 finished the season. Because of the large numbers, ten C team games were added to the schedule. see basketball pg. 3

Junior Cade Swonger shoots over a LaCrosse Leopard. They hosted the first round game of the Sub-State tournament. The Thunderbirds beat the Leopards 66-50 to move on to the second round of Sub-State. Later in the week they were put up against the Central Plains Oilers. The boys lost this match-up 55-19. Their season ended with a 17-5 record. photo by Madison Tyler

CAP gives back through community service projects Ryan Adams staff reporter

CAP groups have been doing many projects all year including local community service.

Some groups have been volunteering at the school while others have gone to Pratt or Sawyer to help out. Jane Melroy’s group has been to Sawyer multiple times to clean street lamps, renovate the park and clear limbs throughout the area.

Kenny Eddy’s group decided to take over recycling

responsibilities for the school and help set up the bleachers and clean up for home basketball games.

“Our group went with Ms. Lucas to the B-29 memorial to clean things up in that area for one of our community service projects,” freshman Hunter Berens said. “I appreciate that all of the groups are taking time to help others.”

All students in high school and middle school are involved with the projects. It has given them a chance to give back to the community and helped

them stay more involved within the communities in which they live.

“I’m in Mr. Eddy’s CAP group and it is actually fun to go around and recycle,” sophomore Caleb Reece said. “All of the teachers really appreciate it and are glad we started doing it.”

The projects have received a lot of positive feedback from the community.

“We’ve received so many positive comments from the places like the B-29 memorial, the Humane Society, and the

Skyline High School  Volume 42  Issue 5  March 9, 2017

residents of Sawyer,” Student Success Coordinator Diane House said. “One thing we didn’t expect as much was the feedback from parents and students that we’ve gotten which has all been positive.”

House says that community service will continue to grow and stay a part of the school’s culture in the next few years.

Community service has impacted almost everyone in the school in some way and it has been a great way to help teach students responsibility and citizenship.

Students fly to New York Corbin Keeling copy editor

The journalism students are going to New York City a couple days before Spring Break begins to attend the CSPA Journalism Spring Conference.

The students will be flying over to New York through Southwest airlines. For some kids this will be their first time flying.

“I’m very nervous because I haven’t flown before and I am freaking out,” Fletcher said.

Other students are excited for the adventure.

“I am excited to fly for the first time,” Adams said. “It will be a new experience.”

Students will also go sight seeing while on the trip to famous tourist attractions including Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Statue

of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the 9/11 Museum.

“I’m most excited to see the 9/11 Museum because I like history and I have never been there before,” Fletcher said.

The 9/11 Museum was made to honor and remember all of the people who lost their lives during the attack in September 2001 and also the people who risked their own lives to save others. It also honors the thousands that survived and lived through the aftermath of the attack. The museum has two main exhibits, the historical and the memorial.

Times Square is another destination for the group. It is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment center and neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City.

One event Times Square

is known for is the New Years Eve Ball drop. Tourists are able to watch the world’s largest digital art exhibition in Times Square every night from 11:57 pm to midnight.

The three largest billboards in Times Square become synchronized to show one complete full picture.

“I want to go see Times Square while we are there because it is super busy and cool,” Adams said.

The journalism convention will be from March 14 through March 16 at Columbia University. It will have one hour sessions covering seven different topics, newspaper, yearbook, magazine, online media, video/broadcasting and law and ethics.

The group is looking forward to having lots of fun and seeing all the attractions New York has to offer.

Agriculture classes compete for prizes Bryson Fletcher staff reporter

The National FFA Organization had a week where students played games and had trivia questions to celebrate FFA. Normally the club would have a whole week to celebrate, but Skyline didn’t have school on the Monday of that week and so the officer team only had four days to plan out.

The officer team is Sydney Koirth as President, Wyatt Slade as Vice President, Kami McComb as Secretary, Kaley Cook as Reporter, Carson Lee as Student Advisor, Brock Montgomery as Treasurer and Bryson Fletcher as Sentinel.

Tuesday was set aside to learn about FFA and Wednesday was about distracted

driving. Thursday there were scavenger hunts for all the ag classes and Friday the FFA tailgate was held for the whole high school. The winner for the class scavenger hunt was Ag Mechanics, with the time of 4:22.

The organization also hosted a school assembly on Thursday. Radio personality Trent Loos came to the school and spoke about the benefits from agriculture. He talked about how the farmers made each generation a little bit better. Loos has spoke all over the country about agriculture and in 2008, he was recognized as the “Voice of Rural America.”

“I felt like the school needed Trent to come and speak and I feel like the school learned a lot more on how agriculture benefits the country,” Mont-

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gomery said.

What FFA week is mostly about is to promote ag and show people what students can do in FFA and what events they can participate in. There are several events, ranging from judging cattle and plant science, to welding and working on small engines.

“Each officer taught a class leadership skill and people get to release some stress for FFA week,” Montgomery said.

One of the greatest things about FFA is that all the projects in the classroom and outside the classroom are hands on.

“FFA also produces the best leadership skills with speaking in front of people,” Montgomery said.

There are over 600,000 FFA members today.

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The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of other students, the adviser, faculty, administrators or the Board of Education of this district.

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Editors Copy.......... Corbin Keeling Design...... Hallee Burgardt Staff Members Reporter........ Ryan Adams Reporter... Bryson Fletcher Adviser..........Judy Hampel

Track jump-starts season with new coaching staff Hallee Burgardt

design editor

Track season is in full swing with one week of practices down. The team introduced three new coaches to the program.

Band and choir teacher Bob Lee took over as the throwing coach. P.E. teacher Andrew Nation is now head coach. Nation did track in middle school and high school and experienced almost all the events offered.

“I saw this as an opportunity to strengthen my relationships with students,” Nation said.

A total of 40 kids are out for the sport and English teacher

Morgan Ballard was added as a third coach.

“I will primarily help with the jumpers, but will do whatever coach Nation needs me to do,” Ballard said.

Ballard was a long and triple jumper all four years of high school and jumped some in college. He wants to work with the jumpers on getting stronger and improving their form.

Junior Colby Shriver has been in track and cross country since middle school and he has high expectations for the season.

“You have to get used to running distance,” Shriver said.

“I run the mile and two mile

so in practice we work a lot on stamina.”

With lots of potential on the team, the track team has set high goals and expects to reach them with a new coaching staff on hand.

The team has had a more structured warm-up introduced and they have been working on sprints a lot this week as well as running form.

After sprints they split up and work individually on their events.

Madison Tyler has been to State track three years. The senior thinks the team is going to be very successful.

“I know the coaches have high hopes for us, and they’re

just as excited as we are,” Tyler said.

Tyler mostly competes in mid-distance events and jumps.

Their first meet kicks off March 29 at Kinsley.

“I saw this as an opportunity to strengthen my relationships with students.”

Andrew Nation, Head Track Coach

basketball from pg. 1

The varsity team beat Attica twice. Attica was one of the harder teams on the schedule, as they were also ranked third most of the year. Beating Attica at Attica one of the best games for Gates.

“We were without coach Eddy and Cade Swonger while being on the road for one of our toughest games and we balled out,” Gates said.

He said the boys thought when they were playing in Sub-State that they needed to hit the weight room and shoot more. He wants to start out next year on the same level as they played in the last game of the season.

A Skyline High School survey was recently taken to see which mens’ college basketball team students thought had the best chance at winning the NCAA tournament.

40 people surveyed Infographic by Ryan Adams

Wichita State Gonzaga Kansas Virginia Villanova Duke

March 9, 2017  Sports  Page 3

Academic Olympians take third Hallee Burgardt design editor

Students put their brains to the test at the annual Academic Olympics. The event was held at Pratt Community College.

Fifty-one Skyline students were enrolled in events that day. Out of those students, five different kids placed in their event.

Junior Erik Ghumm placed in two out of his three tests, first in General Science and second in American History 1860-1960.

“I wasn’t confident getting started, but once I got going it felt super easy,” Ghumm said.

“I almost placed in all and I was pretty happy.”

Students were placed in tests they had the opportunity to do well in.

“In some ways the event is good for our students,” principal Herb McPherson said. “I wish the tests were more real world with real world audiences.”

Another junior, Gracie Bricker, also placed on her

Sophomore Jesus Marquez created a photo of sophomore Colton Gaton with a cracker for a head and an American flag as the back round of the photo. The photo placed third at Academic Olympics.

test. She received third in Animal Science. A third junior, Tanner MaGee placed first in Computer Science.

“Over the summer and fall I took classes at Wichita Area Technical College,” MaGee said. “I had hoped I’d do well but I wasn’t certain of anything.”

Business Math received a

placing from senior Sydney Koirth. She got third. Koirth has taken both Accounting and Personal Finance.

The last placer was Jesus Marquez. The sophomore took third in Digital Photography Manipulation. His photo was of his classmate Colton Gatton’s head as a cracker.

“I just kind of thought of the

idea and combined the two,” Marquez said. “I didn’t think I would end up placing.”

The day was a great way for kids to put their knowledge to the test and be competitive academically against other schools. Out of all the schools in the Heart of the Plains league Skyline took second behind Norwich.

Two Forensics team members qualify for State meet Corbin Keeling copy editor

Two students have qualified for State Forensics so far.

Other members of the team currently have six more opportunities to qualify for the final event of the year.

So far senior Jade Downs and freshman Rosamond Eves have qualified for State, both in poetry. Downs received first place and Eves received third place at the Fairfield Forensics Meet.

“I do poetry and IDA,

improvised duet acting,” senior Jade Downs said.

IDA is where the duo picks two of three characters, one of three settings and one of three situations. Then the students are given 30 minutes to prepare a four to seven minute skit in which they act out the scene.

Students are allowed to compete in a max of eight meets, not including the regional and the state meet.

“Forensics is an activity that develops public speaking skills through acting and speeches,” senior Carson Lee said.

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Forensics offers students a lot of opportunities to express themselves freely and compete at the same time. While at Forensics meets, students often make a lot of new friends when they go to different schools to compete. Meets have over 20 different contests that students can perform in.

“There are various events that you can compete in including three of my favorites Improvisational Duet Acting, Impromptu Speech, and Solo Acting,” Lee said.

Impromptu Speech is

where a student draws for a topic and is then given five minutes to form a speech with an introduction, three different sections and a conclusion. The student has five minutes to give the speech with a 30 second grace period.

“I appreciate the kids who go out and compete at our competitions,” Downs said.

Skyline will be hosting the Heart of the Plains League Meet on April 3. Students will then go on to compete at the Regional meet on April 21 at Ellinwood High School.