The Cruiser Volume 54 Issue 1

the

CRUISER 2018

VOLUME 54 ISSUE 1

LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL

OXFORD, MS

twitter: @LafCo_Cruiser

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MAKING SCHOOL SPIRIT GREAT AGAIN

Photos by Samantha Rayburn

BY MURPHY SMITH MURPHY.SMITH34@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

School spirit has taken an interesting turn in the first month of this school year. Students are more hyped than ever and are showing increased participation in spirit days.

Our Associated Student Section is now known for its energy during games and even has its own Twitter page. As for the pep rallies… let’s just say there has been a massive improvement.

The lively LHS Associated Student Section is scoring points in the hearts of fans while the teams dominate on the field. The “‘ship” offers entertainment of its own with students taking over the cheers and yelling their spirited chants between plays. When the Commodores make great plays or score, the ‘ship brings out the Rally Scooter. The Rally Scooter is a big part of game spirit and adds to the student section liveliness.

“It was actually mine and Hayden Hopper’s idea-our love child.

We found a kids scooter behind the dugout at the baseball field. It was Friday night, and we went to Walmart first. Then we went home and we made it in about four hours. It was about $10 worth of material,” said senior Ben Harper.

At the volleyball games, the fun to dress up and have spirit. I’m student section belts the national on the dance team so I’m obligated to anthem showing pride in their country dress up, and I absolutely don’t mind it and lifting spirits in the crowd. Though at all.” there are some very active juniors,

This year’s pep-rallies have seniors are largely credited with the seen an amazing improvement. The massive shift in school spirit and lead students are much more lively and the student view them as section each “It’s definitely poppin’ here opportunities game. to unite at Lafayette. I mean we

the whole “Everybody school. Many got Oxford people in our wants to students still student section,” said come out believe that and be a the pepJacob Crawford part of the rallies are ‘ship,” said our weakBen Harper. spot in spirit and that they could still

The spirit days have seen be improved. more participation this year. The halls

“I believe they could be are filled with spirited outfits each enhanced,” Harper said, “I like Friday. the fact that the whole school

The rise in participation is pulls together, the freshman and largely due to the popularity of the sophomores could do more though.” spirit day themes chosen by the cheer

The athletic performances on team. Many sports teams are also the field could also be a factor in the requiring their players to participate. rising spirit with Commodore Football

“I think it’s important to show going 4-2 overall so far this season. school spirit [and] that not only am I The only two lost games were 13-14 here to learn and make good grades West Point and 25-27 Oxford. These but I’m here to have a good time,” said two very close losses have lit fires in senior Laurie Branch,“It’s always super hearts of Commodore fans to come

Page 2 A new grading software is introduced to LCSD

Page 3 Turnage answers some question about his All-American honor

out and support their team. Every game sees an increase in turn out and spirit in the Commodore stands.

Whatever the reason, school spirit has definitely increased this year aboard the ‘ship, and it is expected to continue to rise.

Photo by Emme Brown

Ben Harper holds up the Rally Scooter during the homecoming peprally last year.

Page 4 New drama teacher brings new life to the program

2

/ STUDENT LIFE

How to make it in nineth grade

BY ZYA KELLY ZYA.KELLY116@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

FRESHMAN SURVIVAL GUIDE

Having to deal with the stress of school and maintaining a social life can be hard and sometimes seem impossible. Well, sometimes it is. You're not always going to be able to make it to the sports event and get all of your homework done. The best way for you to understand how to make everything work is from other people and their experiences and apply them for yourself.

Several different upperclassmen have offered their advice on how to survive freshman year.

Sophomore Catherine Waddell has not had to deal with the immense amount of pressure being a middle schooler can have on someone for a year. For her first year in high school, she had a hard time getting out of the habit of procrastination, which resulted in bad studying and bad grades. She advises freshmen to actually study and buckle down, or they will not get where they want to be.

“You should stop focusing on everyone else and take time to take care of yourself,” Waddell said.

Benjamin Wells is one of many who is experiencing their first year of high school. With that comes a lot of stress about grades and high school life in general. One of the concerns for Wells was whether or not he would do good in his classes and make good grades.

“Right now I’m doing pretty good, but I know I’ll still have problems learning material in the future,” said Wells.

Although grades are extremely important and are a huge factor in high school, grades are not the only thing that people have to deal with. Drama is an ongoing problem for anybody, especially freshmen. Coming out of middle school, it is not uncommon for your friend group to change over time. People are maturing and finding different interests, and it is okay to grow apart from somebody. The easiest way to not create drama out of an “ex-best friend” is to realize that people are not always supposed to stay connected at the hip. You should allow yourself to meet new people and go out of your comfort zone.

Yazmine Norphlet, a junior this year, discovered this for herself throughout her high school career.

“Surround yourself with people who actually care about you, there’s a difference between those people and just your peers,” Norphlet said.

Basically, school is school. We all have to be here, and freshmen have a long four years ahead of them, so they might as well make it count.

SAM’S replaces old grading system

BY MURPHY SMITH

MURPHY.SMITH34@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Over the summer of 2018 the Lafayette School District changed the program teachers use to access grades to SAM’s Spectra by Central Access.

The change from the widely popular system Chalkable, more commonly referred to as InformationNow (INow), has many parents and students confused as to how the new system works and why

we changed in the first place.

The biggest deciding factor in the search for a new program was money. The Alabama based program, Chalkable (INow), was recently bought out by a company out of California called PowerSchool causing its price to skyrocket. The district’s technology director, McNeil Stanford, gave insight into the economics of the switch.

“We swapped because they were going to increase our price by six times what we were paying,” Stanford said.

After deciding not to continue using Chalkable, the question now was what other company to use. Swapping to SAM’s allows the district to support a local business with the Central Access headquarters being located in Jackson, Mississippi.

Central Access is also the company that the Mississippi Department of Education uses to test all of their state testing programs.

By aligning our district’s program with that of the state it allows our technology department to be on the same page as the Education Department in Jackson.

Most schools in the state use this system.

When asked about the teachers’ and students’ response to the change in systems, Carmen Jenkins, the district’s instructional technologist, explained the mixed feedback they have received. “[The system] is very user-friendly and simple to use.

Change is hard for everyone and

what you’re used to, but we’ve had some positive feedback, and teachers are still learning the program.”

Many students and parents have asked how to access their grades online through the new program. Currently, with only the Active Parent program running, students may only view their grades using their parents’ account.

This will soon be fixed when the new Active Student program is written, and it will allow students to view their grades through their own accounts without having to go through their parents account.

The reason it is not up yet is because the tech department is trying to make the program easier for students to use. In INow students had to remember randomly generated usernames and passwords to their account.

Now the technology department is working hard to write a program that would simplify the account usernames and passwords.

“We wanted to customize your login. We wanted it to be your same username and password you always used,” explained Jenkins.

The new program should be up and ready within the next few months.

3

SPORTS \

Volleyball team season sets it off

BY MEIA VAUGHN KESHONA.VAUGHN101@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Turnage honored as Lafayette’s first All-American title

BY KYLE TRAYLOR TIMOTHY.TRAYLOR18@ GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Xhiir Burgess going in for spike against the oposing team.

Lafayette’s volleyball team played at Belhaven University in Jackson, MS at the annual Set It Off Challenge. The Set It Off Challenge is where some of the top teams from around the United States compete against each other. They had mixed results following the tournament. The tournament was hosted on Aug.10 and Aug.11. Lafayette won to both Alcorn Central (2-0) and Hickory Flats (2-0).

But the Commodores fell short to the Lady Confederates (2-1).

Even though seniors Xhiir Burgess and Mariah Holland were not able to attend due to basketball camp, the team were still able to succeed.

Sophomore Brennice Kennedy hopes that their season will be successful. She felt like they prepared quite well for the Challenge.

According to Kennedy, they had practice everyday for hours. Even with the seniors pending to leave next year, the Lady Dores do not plan on giving up.

“We are going to continue to work and try the best we can,” Kennedy said.

Freshman Deundria Shaw wasn’t able to play in the challenge, but she supported her team anyway.

Shaw said that in order for the team to find success, the upcoming classes will

have to step up, be leaders, and start working together.

She thinks that her season will be very productive this year.

“I think my volleyball season will be lots of fun and successful. I will learn so much more this year,” Shaw said.

After the Set It Off Challenge, things went downhill for the team. On Aug.16 Lafayette lost to the Lewisburg Patriots (3-0 ) and on Aug.20 Lafayette lost to the Corinth Warriors (3-1).

Lafayette had two big wins against Pontotoc (3-1) and New Albany (3-2).

On Aug.30 Lafayette lost to Caledonia (3-2).

Senior Xhiir Burgess feels like their previous games haven’t been the best and that they haven’t played their strongest. Burgess said that they are still working on communication and everyone is still trying to figure out what their role is on the team.

Burgess emphasizes the importance of communication in order for the team to find great success.

“If we fix our communication and we come together and play as a team, we gone be pretty good. Nobody can stop us, I don’t think,” Burgess said.

When asked if she thought they would have a good outcome against Oxford, Burgess said, “Most

Photo by Laurie Branch

definitely, most definitely, we got to, this is our rivalry. We got to win. We gone get the job done.”

Although Burgess thought they would have a good outcome against their rival Oxford, they lost (3-0) on Sept. 5. Caitlyn Rhea lead Lafayette with 7 kills. Lafayette also had four other players who had two digs each. Lafayette had a big win against Amory in all 3 sets on Sept.6.

On Sept.10 Lafayette fell short to Lake Cormorant (3-0). Lafayette won their first division game against New Hope in 5 sets on Sept.13.

Lafayette played in a tournament on Aug.15.

The Lady Dores won against Ripley on Sept.17. They also won against Tupelo on Sept.18. They also won to Ripley on Aug. 18.

Lafayette’s Volleyball team is now ranked number 25 in the state and number 10 in the state region. Their record is now (7-7).

Despite being mostly successful in the challenge, it hasn’t always been easy for the team, but they will continue to work hard and learn from their previous matches.

Harper accepts scholarship to Sewanee

BY SEAN BONEY SEAN.BONEY99@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Photo by Bayleigh Moore

Senior Ben Harper accepted a scholarship to play baseball for the University of the South, Sewanee.

Harper has been playing since he was young, and is very passionate about the sport.

Sewanee was just one of a few schools who offered Harper a scholarship for their baseball team.

“I got an offer from Lewis and Clark

college in Oregon and the University of the Ozarks,” Harper said. “I chose Sewanee because it was closer to home and it had the best academic and baseball opportunities for me.”

Harper has enjoyed playing baseball since he started and is excited to continue playing into his college years.

“I’ve always just enjoyed the love of the game, and to go out there and

play with my best friends everyday,” Harper said. “All my coaches, my family and friends, have been great in getting me to the point I’m at now as a player.”

Ben Harper will begin his college baseball career next year at Sewanee as a center fielder.

Photo by Joy Thompson

Brandon Turnage has been selected as the first Lafayette football player to ever play in the Under Armour All-American game. This event will be held in Florida on Jan. 4 and will practicing will start on Dec. 28.

Brandon Turnage is a cornerback and wide receiver for the Commodores. He is committed to Alabama and has been since Dec. 22, which means he is going to play football for Alabama, one of the best college teams in the nation. He also recently scored a hard earned 25 on his ACT. He will join Alabama in June.

What was the process of your work to get to this point like?

“The process was hard and fun at the same time because I like to work hard and I have teammates that push me to do what I do.”

Are you ready for the AllAmerican game?

“Yeah, I’m ready for it. To go out and compete with some of the best in the nation.”

What was your teammates’ reaction?

“They were really just proud of me and a loss of words but, you know, I worked hard for this.”

How does it feel to be a Under Armour All-American?

“It feels great, you know, it’s just I have to hold myself to a higher standard and I have to do almost everything right.”

How does your family feel?

“They are very proud of me because really I am the only person in my family that has ever gone far playing football.”

Why did you commit to Alabama?

“It’s just where I felt at home and where I knew I had to work the hardest to be the best player and get to go and play against the best players”

How are you going to tackle the rest of the season?

“I’m just going to go out and continue to do what I have been doing and just help my team win.

Making plays.”

Brandon and the Commodores will be making a rush for the championship this year and they have some big names like Jamie Shaw, Randy Anderson, Eric Jefferies and Brandon who have stepped up this year. Brandon is excited for his big moment in January, and Lafayette will surely be cheering him on the whole game.

4

/ NEWS

Furyborn entices with an action-packed magical adventure

BY KATIE SHOFFNER KAITLIN.SHOFFNER1013@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Furyborn by Claire Legrand is a new young adult fantasy novel on the block, jam-packed with conflict, emotion, adventure, and of course, magic. It is the first in the Empirium trilogy, and was released on May 22 of this year. It is a 512 page journey that follows two extraordinary women in two vastly different time periods, but whose lives are intertwined in incredible ways that ultimately define the fate of the world.

Legrand manages to build a world from her imagination with memorable characters, and the plot of the story is easy to follow.

She uses amazing imagery to fully immerse readers, along with detailed descriptions of the emotions the characters feel. However, many elements will be familiar to readers of the fantasy young adult genre, such as potentially lethal challenges, main characters who have special powers, and, of course, love triangles galore—because that never gets old.

Nearly every chapter is ended with a cliffhanger, which can get frustrating, and neither of the storylines are truly resolved at the end. Despite

these shortcomings, the novel is definitely worth the read and hype it has received in the book community.

Furyborn begins with the tale of Rielle Dardenne, who in the process of trying to save her beloved best friend/ secret crush Audric from assassins, reveals her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only two people who are meant to have this power are two prophesied queens, one of blood, who will destroy the world, and one

of sun, who will save it from angels. It is through this prophecy that the two heroines of the story are connected.

A millennium after Rielle’s time, bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora is on a mission to figure out why women across the land are being abducted.

She has a secret ability that allows her to heal herself whenever she is hurt, which is quite a convenient skill for someone whose job is killing people. It is revealed that Eliana is the other prophesied queen,

but before even she herself realizes it, she must go on a journey in which she betrays everything she’s ever known to save her mother. The evil she believed the empire to encompass is nowhere near as ghastly as the truth she finds while exploring the kingdom with a group of rebels.

Every chapter alternates between Eliana’s point of view and Rielle’s, telling the story in a way that could easily get muddled and confused.

Legrand exercises her writing abilities to enthrall the reader and weave the two women’s tales together nearly seamlessly.

This novel does echo some of the most popular YA novels of today, but it also has its own flair and heartstopping twists. Readers will come to admire both main characters, as they are strong, independent women who make difficult choices throughout their lives. The premise of Furyborn is intriguing in itself, but the actual novel will leave you breathless and wondering what will happen next, even after reading the very last sentence.

Mr. Codling giving new life to drama department

BY KATIE SHOFFNER KAITLIN.SHOFFNER1013@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Louis Codling, the new drama teacher for Lafayette High and Middle School, is excited to bring new ideas and enthusiasm to the department.

He has taught drama for five years through summer theater camps and other activities, but only received his

degree from Ole Miss just last year. He is really excited for the future.

“I want to do the spring musical and build the program up and up,” Codling said.

The spring musical will be “Zombie Prom”, which is an Off-

Lafayette High School 160 Commodore Drive Oxford, MS 38655 Phone: 662. 234. 3416 Fax: 662. 234. 3614 Associate Editor Katie Shoffner Editors Sean Boney Zya Kelly Staff Writers Katie Shoffner Sean Boney Zya Kelly Murphy Smith Kyle Traylor Meia Vaughn Adviser Loidha Bautista loidha.bautista@gocommodores.org The Cruiser is distributed free of charge to all students and community members. On average, 800 copies of each issue are printed and distributed.

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Broadway piece by John Dempsey. It is set in the 70s, high school based, and has a very large cast, which gives a lot of students a chance to act. Codling is looking forward to rehearsals and the premiere.

“It’s one of my favorite musicals,” Codling said. “It’s very enjoyable.”

Codling is young, energetic, and has a passion for teaching, drama, and teaching drama. Though it’s his first year at Lafayette, he already loves the school and thinks it is fantastic.

He grew up in Starkville, and came to Oxford so he could go to Ole Miss, where he studied for two years. He has a good outlook on the department and life in general.

“I just want everybody to be positive and have a good time,” Codling said.

This year is junior Zoe Sherwood’s second in drama at Lafayette, and has been through

a lot already. Last year was hectic, according to Sherwood, and the program wasn’t active at all later in the year. This was a disappointment to many theater members, but Sherwood hopes that this year will be far better than last year.

“I am so hopeful about this upcoming year, “ Sherwood said. “Last year was such a disappointment to a lot of students that were wanting to act so I’m excited to see what this year holds.”

Sherwood loves theater, and her favorite part of this year’s class is how free she and other students are to be themselves. Mr. Codling is a major part of that, as he makes them comfortable and able to perform at their best.

“Mr. Codling is genuinely an amazing person,” Sherwood said, “and seems to actually care about our thoughts concerning the class.”

Long-running sheriff passes away at the age of 76

BY SEAN BONEY SEAN.BONEY99@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Lafayette County’s sheriff of nearly 50 years died at the age of 76. East took office in 1972, and will most likely go down as the longest running sheriff in the state.

Alan Willburn, chief investigator for the sheriff’sdepartment, issued a statement on Saturday regarding East’s passing:

It is with great sadness that the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department releases the passing of Sheriff F.D. ‘Buddy’ East. The Sheriff’s passing came on September 8, 2018 at 10:20 A.M. at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford, Mississippi after a brief illness.

The Sheriff was surrounded by his family, friends and his Deputies. The Sheriff is

survived by wife Mary East, son Joey East and daughter Melissa Westbrook, daughter Shannon Lomax, son Steve Lewis and son Scott Lewis and several grandchildren.

Words cannot describe the impact and legacy left on Lafayette County and the entire Law Enforcement community in the state of Mississippi over his 46 years of honorable service.

Mayor Robyn Tannehill also commented in a tweet released on the day of his passing,“Sheriff Buddy East will be remembered as the longest tenured sheriff in the State of Mississippi, a public servant who defined what true service looked like, a wise counselor, a dear friend, a man who has left a mark on every corner of our

community. We will miss you, my friend.”

Chief deputy John Hill will be the interim sheriff and will complete the rest of East’s term until December of 2019. He has been with the department for 25 years.

The funeral for Buddy East was held on Sept. 14 at North Oxford Baptist Church and was attended by over 2,000 people.

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5

T HE ANCH R TEACHER: Mr. Alvarez

FRESHMAN: Bella Kalil

SOPHOMORE: Ally Withrow

JUNIOR: Mason Bay

SENIOR: Calvin Oaks

If you could make one law that everyone had to follow, what would it be?

Everyone has to be more diverse with race.

That it is okay to show your shoulders and be able to have a hole above the knee in school.

I would make schools have a three day weekend every weekend instead of two day.

I’m very political so I would make it to where big corporations couldn’t give large donations to politicians.

Cellphones are always allowed at school.

What weird, random food combinations do you enjoy?

Takis with hot sauce.

Cucumbers and Tony Chachere’s seasoning.

I put steak sauce on mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.

I put sriracha on like, everything. I put sriracha on pizza, just everything. I’ll even put sriracha on cereal.

Saltine crackers and butter.

What is one pet peeve that you wish you didn’t have, but always will have?

My accent.

Stick bugs, I hate those things.

Procrastination.

When I hear people eat, but, like, not smack, like, they’re just eating in a quiet place and you can hear them chewing.

People smakcing.

Delta Kappa Gamma holds inuagural meeting at LHS The inaugural meeting of the Beta Beta chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International met at Lafayette High School on Saturday, September 22nd.

The members conducted a business portion of the meeting and then had a presentation on school and community gardens which included trips to the Lafayette High School gardens and the Della Davidson Elementary School gardens. The attached picture includes members and honored guests, including Mississippi State Teacher of the Year Whitney Drewery. Beta Beta’s mission is to assist teachers and students in the following counties: Lafayette, Panola, Yalobusha, and Calhoun. For more information please contact Chapter President, Kim Gregory via email at choirgirl36@yahoo.com.

Picture provided by Delta Kappa Gamma

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