The Cruiser 2019-20 Issue 3

JANUARY 2019

VOLUME 55 ISSUE 3

LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL

Twitter - @LafCo_Cruiser

2020 5A Soccer State Champs

EARNED!

Soccer girls go back to back Sarah Grace Moore and Anna Kate Trost hold the Soccer 5A State Championship trophy after their win against East Central. Photo by Aubrey Claire Norris

By Sean Boney

The girls soccer team is back to back 5A state champs after a 2-1 victory against East Central on February 8th.

The girls got an early lead in the 10th minute after a scrappy shot courtesy of Julia Perkins slid into the far corner of the goal. The game continued on with Lafayette seeing the majority of possession and chances. However, their dominance only lasted a mere 10 minutes, as East Central pulled it level in the 20th minute with a 25 yard screamer into the bottom left corner, an impossible shot for goalkeeper Caitlyn Rhea to stop. Going into the half, it would seem the tide had turned, as East The team after their win. Photo by Aubrey Norris Central began dominating late in the first.

The lady dores came out gunning in the second half though, and pulled ahead 2-1 in the 57th minute with a floated cross from Katelin Johnson being squared away by 8th grader Caroline Perkins.

The lady dores made the long trip back to Oxford and did a couple of victory laps around the square courtesy of Oxford Police Department in front of a modest crowd of supporters.

Freshman Julia Perkins scores first goal of the Senior Bayleigh Moore gets emotional after her The lady dores were favored game. Photo by Collyn Lewis last high school game. Photo by Joy Thompson

to win state again this year after only losing 4 seniors going into the 19/20 season, only two of which were starters.

Next season however, Coach Melinda Scruggs will have a slightly more demanding problem to solve, as three of her four starting defenders, Bayleigh Moore, Sarah Grace Moore, and Anna Kate Trost, will be graduating.

Going into next season, the team will have a favorable balance of youth and experience, as Scruggs has a large group of graduating seniors for next season, yet she frequently placed freshman and even middle schoolers into her starting elevens. Many of these young players will be going into next season already being part of two state championship winning teams.

The girls’ schedule was much more intensive this year compared to last year. They played some of the biggest and best 6A teams in the state including Tupelo, Brandon, Richland, and rival Oxford High School, who at the time was nationally ranked.

The Lady Dores finished with a record of 21-4 and will look to complete the threepeat next season.

NEWS

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Should Instagram hide likes?

No

Yes

By Mia Dawson On Instagram, many people look forward to making a post and bragging to their friends about the number of likes or comments they have received, but there are more negative than positive effects caused by likes on Instagram. Likes can cause depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, stress, and participation in negative activities among teenagers.

Sophomore, Gracie Guest, said, “Taking away likes will help people stop obsessing over it and [people] can start living for the moment instead of living for pictures on the Internet.”

Katie Hurley from PSYCOM said, “...teens are influenced to like photos, regardless of content, based on high numbers of likes.

Bottom line: It feels good to be ‘liked’ and herd mentality is big on social media. Like what others like, and you’re in,” (5).

This suggests that likes are creating a negative influence on teens by making them feel like they must complete an action to “fit in.”

Danasia Brown, a freshman, said that likes cause people to sometimes be embarrassed, which in her opinion is wrong.

This “like factor,” may cause teens to do things they would not have normally. For example, teens may change the way they look, engage in negative activities, or even accept risky social media challenges. This proves that since teens want to fit in by getting a certain number of likes, they may participate in a negative or unnatural activity.

Jazmine Mccollum, a freshman, said, “If somebody gets more likes than somebody else, people might make fun of each other and base popularity off of likes instead of personalities.”

As proof, Jelena Borojevic, from Phlow, said, “With celebrities and social media influencers who portray their ‘perfect’ bodies

and “perfect” lives on social media in order to get bigger exposure, it’s ingrained in our brains that we must be like that in order to be successful and desired.”

In other words, this means that people with a favorable body image or lifestyle are more successful in getting likes than others; people feel as if, to get fame, they must have a perfect body, look a certain way, or have a “perfect life.”

On the other hand, some may think likes on Instagram do not affect them, but it does. Emma Kenny, from Cosmopolitan, explains, “It’s a reward cycle, you get a squirt of dopamine every time you get a like or a positive response on social media.”

This demonstrates that humans are affected by likes on Instagram; get a happy feeling every time they see likes or comments on their posts. Catriona Harvey-Jenner, also from Cosmopolitan, said, “The social media like triggers that reward cycle and the more you get it, the more you want it.”

“Too much time spent scrolling through social media can result in symptoms of anxiety and/or depression,” said Hurley. This shows how the relationship of the reward cycle of likes can lead to negative things, such as depression, anxiety, and sleep deprivation.

So, teens would greatly benefit from the removal of viewing the number of likes on an Instagram post. If Instagram removes likes, teens will not compare themselves to others, participate in negative activities, or put themselves in harm’s way.

By Bella Trott A new big topic has come up on Instagram: should Instagram apply hidden likes? This means only the user that posts something can see the number of likes the post gets. If this was put into place, part of the enjoyment of Instagram would be taken away.

Junior Ally Bryan says, “A lot of people on Instagram work really hard for the content they put out, the amount of likes they get is their form of validation.

They want other people to recognize their hard work and validation as well.”

For many, one of the most exciting things on Instagram is the amount of likes one gets. Getting a lot of likes on a post can boost one’s self- confidence.

This would be taken away if Instagram hid their likes.

Also, the amount of users on Instagram could go down due to this change.

Todd Spangler from Variety said, “The move ticked off some big influencers, including Nicki Minaj, who said on Twitter that she’s going to stop posting on Instagram because of the decision”(2).

The amount of likes on a post is very important to some people, therefore the number of users on Instagram could decrease.

Freshman Hayden

Bynum thinks that if Instagram hid likes you wouldn’t have as much fun because you can’t compete with someone to see who gets more likes.

Social media and photo editing app VSCO already uses hidden likes.

VSCO is an app where one can take, edit, and upload photos. This is primarily what Instagram is, except it allows people to view the amount of likes on a post.

Applying hidden likes to Instagram would make it very similar to VSCO and ruin one of the fundamental features that make it unique.

Some may argue that applying hidden likes is a good idea and could bring equality to Instagram.

Although in some cases this could be true, Instagram having equality may not be a positive change. Influencers, celebrities, and artists get a lot of endorsement from Instagram.

Peter Kari Paul from The Guardian quoted Peter DeLuce, “Instagram removing likes may be terrible for emerging artists online”(3).

If Instagram used hidden likes, this could be bad news for people who get endorsement from the app.

The use of hidden likes on Instagram could result in many negative outcomes. For many, the excitement of the app would be taken away if this was put into place. Hiding likes on Instagram would likely cause more harm to the app than improvement.

LHS weighs in on the debate Yes No

35% 65%

Source: @lafco_cruiser Twitter, January 14-16, 20 votes

NEWS Legacy of Kobe Bryant By Meia Vaughn Basketball legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna Bryant, were killed along with 7 others Sunday morning when a helicopter crashed and burst into flames in Calabasas, California. In addition to Bryant and his daughter, three other families, all apart of the Mamba Sports Academy, perished on their way to the game: husband and wife John and Keri Antobelli, their 13-yearold daughter Alyssa, Sarah Chester and her 13-year-old daughter Payton, and basketball coach and mom Christina Mauser. The pilot, Ara Zobayan, also lost his life. Bryant and his daughter were expected at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. Gianna was expected to play and Kobe was expected to coach.

The weather conditions were bad enough that the LAPD’s Air Support Division grounded it’s helicopters until later that day. The pilot, Ara Zobayan, was worried enough to ask flight controllers to keep track of them. As he approached the hills of Calabasas at a fairly high speed, they radioed him, telling him that he was too low to be seen on the radar.

The pilot began to rise enough to be just over the hills. The helicopter suddenly got off course and started to fall rapidly. It had now reached 176 miles per hour before losing contact and striking the hillside. The coroner has determined that all nine people on board died of “blunt force trauma” rather than “low visibility.”

Calabasas is about 30 miles downtown of Los Angeles. Bryant was 41 and Gianna was only 13.

Bryant left behind his wife, Vanessa (37), who had been married for 19 years. He also left behind three of his daughters, Natalia Diamante who is 17, Bianka Bella who is 3, and Capri Kobe who is 7 months old.

When Bryant was playing, he had been known to take a private helicopter from his Orange County home to every Lakers home game in Los Angeles’ Staples Center. It allowed him a little extra time with his children. He also flew frequently with the same pilot, Ara Zobayan.

The helicopter did not have a terrain awareness nor a warning system.

It also did not have to carry a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder, which would help incase of an emergency. The helicopter they were travelling in didn’t have any of these three features. The impact shattered the helicopter to pieces. The debris spanned 500 to 600 feet.

Bryant retired from the NBA in 2016. He was a 5 time NBA Champion,11 time all NBA first team, 2008 MVP, 18 time all-star, and a 4 time all-star MVP. He played all 20 years of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He won gold medals with USA basketball in 2008 and in 2012. He created an animated short film “Dear Basketball.”

He was born in Philadelphia in 1978. In 1996, he was named USA’s

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Today’s boys high school player of the year. Right out of high school, he entered the NBA draft and got selected by Charlotte. He was traded to the Lakers in 1996. With the Lakers he has 25 50 point games. He also had an 81 point game vs Toronto Raptors on January 22, 2006.

Kobe Bryant is the only player to have played 20 years with only one team. He has won five championships, two Final MVPs, one regular season MVP, third on all-time career scoring list, 15 AllBryant with daughter Gianna NBA teams, 18-time-AllStar, four-time scoring champion, and many more.

After Kobe’s 15-16 season, he was 3rd on the nba all time scoring list.

Kobe’s death happened a day after Lebron James passed him at No.3 on the NBA scoring list. Hours later, Kobe Bryant was on twitter, congratulating Lakers’ Lebron James for passing him as the third highest scorer in the NBA history with 33,655 points. It was special because the Lakers played the game in Philadelphia where Bryant was born.

On January 27, 2020, it was announced that the late Kobe Bryant will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as part of its 2020 class. He will be placed without a vote.

Kobe Bryant’s memorial service will be held at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, February 24, 2020. It will also be in honor of Gianna Bryant and the other seven victims who died in the same crash in late January.

They will also honor Kobe Bryant in the 2020 All-Star Game in Chicago.

The game will feature Team LeBron wearing NO. 2 and Team Giannis wearing NO.24 - Gianna and Kobe’s basketball jersey numbers. In addition to that, both teams will wear jersey patches displaying nine stars that represent those who lost their lives in the crash.

COLORS

the

CRUISER staff Lafayette High School 160 Commodore Drive Oxford MS, 38655 662-234-3460

SEAN BONEY editor EMILY SMITH designer GAGE MARTIN writer/designer KYLE TRAYLOR writer GRACIE PEARSON writer CYMRIA WILLIAMS writer MEIA VAUGHN writer JAIDA SOUTHERN writer

ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES BOOKS | ANTIQUE FURNITURE | ARTIFACTS | HANDMADE ARTS | AND MUCH MORE 709 North Lamar Blvd. Oxford, Ms 38655 | Call: (662) 236-1979

VISIT US ONLINE AT WWW.THEDEPOTOXFORD.COM OR STAY CONNECTED ON FACEBOOK AT FACEBOOK.COM/THEDEPOTOXFORD

MIA DAWSON writer BELLA TROTT writer Adviser: Loidha Baustista loida.bautista @gocomdores.org

SPORTS

4

Track and field athletes are state hopefuls

By Mia Dawson

As the beginning of February approaches, track and field athletes have begun getting ready for the 2020 season. Last year, the girls’ and boys’ teams won the division meet, and at the 5A Track and Field State Championships the girls’ team placed ninth and the boys’ team placed eleventh. This year, the team will try to win the division meet, again.

Head coach, Bennie Mikell, said, “As a team, we expect to win our division meet and qualify a large group of [athletes] for the state meet. We certainly expect everyone who qualified for the state meet last season, to qualify once again.”

To prepare the athletes to meet these goals, the coaches will try their best to individualize and specialize workouts to meet their needs.

Assistant coach, Taylor Langford said, “We want all athletes to maximize their potential and improve throughout the season. For some of them, that will mean trying to learn and improve enough to advance out of the division meet. For others that are more experienced, our goal for them is to qualify for the state meet and have the best day possible.”

As far as the team trying to continue their winning streak for the district meet, it will be a little harder, since they are in a new division.

“It will be hard, but going into the season it looks like the girls and boys teams have a chance to continue their division championship streaks.

The silver lining with having a much harder division is that anyone who advances through it will be that much more prepared to reach the state meet,” said Langford.

Last track season, Bralen Williams qualified for the individual 800-meter run at the 2019 Track and Field 5A State Championships.

This year, Williams has set his goals to improve his performance in the pole vault. He said he is going to try vaulting on a new pole, as recommended by one of the world’s best pole vault coaches, Scott Kendricks. Kendricks coaches his son, Sam Kendricks, who has won 2 world championship titles and earned the bronze in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Williams also competes in the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x200 meter relay. He has been preparing during the winter to make sure he can perform at his best level in the spring.

“For most of my offseason, I’ve been occupied with my other sports such as basketball, soccer, and cross country to help me stay in shape and prepared for this track season.”

Another pole vaulter, Anna Lafferty, has set her sights on getting on the podium at the 2020 Track and Field State Championships. During the off-season, she has made sure to sustain her upper body and core strength so that when the outdoor season starts, she can focus on her form.

“This year I’ve been conditioning more all year round so I don’t have to get back in shape before I can start getting better.”

This January, Lafferty was one of two people from the team who competed at the Icebreaker Invitational on January 3 and the Martin Luther King Indoor Track Classic at the indoor, hydraulic track in The Birmingham Crossplex on January 20. At the Invitational, Lafferty got fifth place and vaulted eight feet. At the Martin Luther King Indoor Track Classic on January 20, she placed tenth and vaulted eight feet. This was the first time anyone from Lafayette participated in an indoor track meet.

Mia Dawson also competed in the indoor meets at the Birmingham Crossplex. She found herself on the podium in both events and got second in the 3200-meter run and third in the 1600 meter run. At the Martin Luther King Indoor Track Classic, she placed eighth and ran a time of 12:29.93 in the 3200m. This year, Dawson hopes to break 12 minutes in the 3200-meter run and 5:30 in the 1600 meter run.

“I have been training very hard all year long and I really hope that it pays off. My dad and I have done specialized workouts that work just for me and fit accordingly with my events,” said Dawson.

Her favorite event, the 3200-meter run, is fun to her because “...it gives [her] time to settle and more time to get people tired… and it also reminds [her] of cross country.”

Dawson’s fellow distance runner, Della Shackelford, will be competing at the varsity level as an eighth-grader. She also ran for the varsity team at the Cross Country State Championships last fall.

To reach her goal of making it to the state meet, Shackelford plans on creating specific workouts that

will affect her performance. Her favorite event, the 1600 meter run, is a very strategic race, which is why Shackelford plans to race smart and “not go very fast the first two laps, pick it up on the third lap, and give whatever [she] has on the last lap.”

Last year, Ella Shelton was able to compete at the state championships for track. She raced in the 4x800 meter relay and the 800-meter run. Shelton favors the 800.

“I think the 800 is a really hard race, but I think for the first lap I’m not going to gas it as I do sometimes, but I’m going to slow down and the second lap I’m really going to take off.”

She hopes to further improve her personal records and continue progressing this season.

Breanna Holland also made it to the state championships. She raced in the 300-meter hurdles and the 100-meter hurdles. She also runs in the 200-meter dash, but the 300-meter hurdles are her favorite. Holland wants to get faster throughout the course of the season and qualify for the state championships.

“During the offseason, I would run during the breaks when I had time, and I would also work on my form.”

Another hurdler, Brendan Toles, has his sights set on making it to the podium at state or even winning.

“I will work hard every day at practice and put in a little extra work on my own time so that I can achieve my goal,” said Toles. “During the offseason, I’ve been going to the track on the weekends and running a couple of laps then I’ll pull out the hurdles and work on those.”

He races in the 110-meter hurdles, 300 hurdles, and the 200-meter dash. He also competes in the triple jump. Out of all his events, the 110-meter hurdles is his favorite.

The athletes will begin training in late January or early February“...We have around 2 months to get everyone as prepared as possible.

Technique and conditioning are what we focus on during the week and we’ll use the practice meets we attend before the division meet to see how athletes respond to new events or what they need to focus on to improve their current events,” said Langford.

Brendan Toles glides to the finish after clearing his last hurdle at the Ole Miss High School Invitational in March 2019. Photo by Joy Thompson

SPORTS

5

The Problem with USA and Soccer

By Kyle Traylor

America has produced some very promising soccer players in recent years, and its league, the MLS, is steadily growing and seems to have a bright future. However, there are many setbacks the league and Federation are dealing with, most of which are self-inflicted wounds that will never allow the league or the USMNT (United States Men’s National Team) to grow. The issue with the MLS would be the poultry salary cap and the unwillingness of the league to convert to a more European style system with promotion and relegation.

The National team’s problem is the focus on MLS players that are miles below the young talented players in European leagues such as the Bundesliga (Germany) and the Premier League (England).

The MLS salary cap has caused many teams to lose their talent due to the jail cell that it is. Atlanta United, after winning 3 cups in their short time as a team, was forced to let go of most of the team due to the low salary cap. This team promised to change the culture of soccer in America, but a $4.035m salary cap is not going to allow them to do that.

To put that into perspective, the NFL’s salary cap is a whopping $188.2m, and for other soccer leagues, such as the highly regarded Spanish, English, and German leagues, don’t even have a salary cap.

A salary cap is theoretically a good idea, but at this time the MLS is not in a good enough state to have a salary cap that pigeon-holes teams into selling players when they become too expensive. The only thing that allows teams to go over that cap is the DP rule that came into play when David Beckham transferred to the MLS from the Spanish league.

This rule allows for a team to pay 3 players without them being included in the salary cap. To try to fix this, the first 20 players are counted on the salary cap and the others dont get counted on the cap.

The Problem is those are the players who would be starting and take the bulk of the salary.

If one would like to see the cap explained in more detail

Meet the Coaches

By Gracie Pearson

Interview with Shayne Linzy

Tifo Football has an amazing video on it called MLS Salary Cap Explained.

While Promotion and Relegation is the norm in European leagues, that is not the case in the MLS. Promotion and relegation is a system in which each team plays together in one league with no divisions. If they are at the highest league, then all teams compete to win the league trophy, but if they are competing in a lower league, they are competing to get promoted to the league above them. The bottom 3 teams get relegated to a league below in this format, making the league more challenging since no one wants to go down a league.

When they are sent down a league financial problems and players leaving forces teams to rebuild. Teams will no longer be able to get the best TV deals or fill the stadium as much as they did for the league above. Players often leave if they are too good for the league they get relegated to. This means attracting top talent will be more difficult as the best players don’t want to play in a lesser league. The change over to this format has been debated many times over the last few years. So, why hasn’t it happened so far?

The answer is money. The league won’t make a profit right away and it would take time to make a profit from the lower leagues. Another problem would be the size of

the United States. This makes travel for less fortunate clubs difficult. This could be fixed with regional leagues with playoffs for promotion. There would be 3 regional leagues split by time zones where winners of each respective leagues would be sent to a championship league that is below the top MLS league.

This would make the MLS a lot more competitive through the challenge of trying to get every last available point and getting promoted. Players have to play well every single game or risk getting sold. This will punish teams for playing badly and will ensure that tanking for a good draft spot no longer occurs. The threat of relegation will incentivize teams to always play hard and want to win. This will bring the development of young American soccer players to an all time high.

So, how could MLS fix this along with other problems? The first and most obvious answer is getting the salary cap out of the league. They could then switch to a more free market way of allowing the teams to sign whoever they want like America’s biggest rival Mexico. Also an American/ Canadian team has never won a CONCACAF Champions League. The leader in Champions League titles is Mexico with a free market.

So, if they switch to a more free market that would allow

teams based in New York, LA, Miami, and Atlanta to bring in top-class players, making the MLS more competitive and win a few Champions Leagues.

Another problem is the way academies are handled. Young talented players in America don’t stay in the country because they have to pay to get in. This is the complete opposite everywhere else. If a young player is good enough to get in they will do anything to help that player succeed. For example, Barcelona found Lionel Messi as a young boy with a growth disorder and took him in and paid for everything from medical bills to his school. The reason MLS doesn’t do this is due to the huge risk involved.

Some teams will and have taken steps to change that, but for the most part this is still the case. This also slows development of young players in America, whereas the likes of France and England employ under 23’s in their national teams frequently, such as Kylian Mbappe (France) and Jadon Sancho (England).

Continuing to produce players in this manner would bring the league to the spot light and fix many of the problems as said earlier.

The national team also has its own set of issues when it comes to developing players, one of which being their clear bias towards MLS players. The Berhalter

brothers are believed to be a big part of this with Gregg Berhalter being the head coach after being less than impressive as a coach in the league for Columbus Crew.

Through the Berhalter regime a lot of MLS players that are average like Paul Arriola, DC United midfielder, and Cristian Roldan, Seattle Sounders midfielder, continue to get chances in the team when players like Timothy Weah, son of Ballon D’or winner George Weah, and Richard Ledezma, young PSV player in the Netherlands, hardly get any chances with the first team, if any at all.

The American talent pool is the most talented it has ever been, but the current MLS bias is too strong to consider players in the Bundesliga and other leagues. This is starting to change with the masses on social media calling for players like Josh Sargent, Sergino Dest, and Duane Holmes to finally get the respect they deserve and start for the national team at the highest level.

The MLS will never succeed with the current path it is on. Even if it is just the salary cap it would do a world of wonders for the growth of the league and would make the MLS bias of the USMNT just a little bit more reasonable in the eyes of the fans.

Lafayette Schools have 18 sports available to students. There are three sports during the winter that are active, soccer, bowling, and basketball. Along with the sport, they have great coaches to train and guide them along the path. This Meet The Coaches article goes out to Shayne Linzy.

Linzy is the head coach for the girls varsity basketball team. Before Linzy was a coach, he attended the University of Mississippi and graduated with a banking and finance degree. After that, Linzy started coaching at Oxford High School for 6 years and Watervalley for 11. In 2015, he moved to Lafayette and started coaching.

Linzy was originally from New Orleans Louisiana, but enjoys Oxford and his job. The thing he loves most about his job is seeing his team’s growth over the season. He loves Lafayette overall, the peaceful environment, and the people who feel like family.

He is married with two sons and has been coaching for a total of 22 years. Linzy has lead Lafayette girls to one championship since taking over the coaching job.

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NEWS

7

Graphic by Gracie Pearson and Mia Dawson

By Kyle Traylor Meme culture has grown and become a big part of a lot of people’s daily lives through the rise of the internet and social media in the 2010s. Throughout the last 10 years, memes have gone from underground jokes to the mainstream, even being used by big companies for promotional purposes.

Virtually nothing is off-limits, and almost every event will have a meme made about it.

Vine, Tik Tok, Twitter, Reddit, 4chan, and Youtube have helped expose memes to more people.

Influencers like Youtubers Pewdiepie and the now-retired Filthy Frank are seen as the main source of memes from the popular website Youtube, with others like Dolan Dark, Memeulous, and Pyrocynical also helping spread these viral

jokes to their audiences.

Many memes have been thrown into internet fame during this time period.

The most notable being Loss; a pattern in 4 sections of a comic strip featuring a man rushing to the hospital to see someone who’s dying, Pepe the Frog; Ricardo Milos; a brazilian dancer, and Doge; the Shiba Inu. Dark humor, known as Dank memes, would come to the forefront with the help of Reddit and 4chan, transforming memes like Pepe and the OK hand symbol into something they weren’t meant to be. This would cause the media to pick up on them and turn them into alt-right political symbols. After these events memes would become darker and darker.

So, why did memes change over time? Why are

memes more offensive now than they were in the 2000’s?

The answer is actually really simple. Humans get bored of things very easily. This is why meme formats change every 2 weeks or so. We see the same thing in video games also.

New games from the same franchise come out every year.

They might be the same game, but they might just add 1 or 2 “new features”. This can be seen in a lot of sports games like 2k of FIFA. That also happens with memes. When one can hide behind a screen and say whatever they want, who is going to stop them from saying what they want to say? When people got bored of memes like Bad Luck Brian and Grumpy Cat, they started looking for other things to make fun of.

Memes can go too

far or be nice little jokes.

Nevertheless, they now have become a normal part of a teen’s day. The new generation will more than likely be influenced by them.

They have only become bigger and bigger throughout the years. So, one could expect them to also be a massive part of the next generation’s normal day.

They have also been a way for people to reach others that are like them.

There are memes about everything, so the memes create a sense of community amongst those who get the joke. Like in sports, when Jameis Winston fumbled and fell down with the ref or LeBron’s questionable hairline. While in video games there are many memes about Skyrim and Minecraft. Music

and Influencers are also part of the fun with songs like Never Gonna Give You Up

by Rick Astley and All-Star

by Smash Mouth getting used in memes. While celebrities are made fun of, sometimes with what they have said being used against them, people like Felix Kjellberg, Will Smith, and Keanu Reeves lately have had a lot of them made about them in a positive light.

Memes will continue to grow for a long time, and with the growth of them in the 2010’s, who can say how much bigger they can get. They have had a big impact on teens and sometimes even cause a little trouble. Even though they may die out every few weeks no one can take away what they have become in these short 10 years.

LIFE STYLE

8

the

ANCHOR Braylon Robinson Freshman

Gracie Guest Sophmore

Well, I went out of town with a friend of mine. You guys know Jayden Reed?

We went to his grandmother’s house.

Doing great things, that’s What are you most excited for what I’m most excited for. in the new year?

What was the most interesting thing that happened to you over the break?

Caitlyn Rhea Junior

Sophie Pitts Senior

Stacey Raspo Teacher

Well, I fell off my bed when I got a new bunny.

I was trying to get a pen and I fell on my friend.

I got in a wreck and I totaled my car.

I spent almost 80 hours in a car over break...driving back and forth to California and traveling to see lots of family while I was there.

Getting my driver’s license. Becoming a senior.

Going to college.

I am looking forward to watching my son Andrew’s senior season of track at Ole Miss and his graduation in May.

2018, because it was one of Probably 2018 because I 2010, because I was little If you could time I would go to Kobe Bryant’s last basketball my happiest years when I would be a freshman and I and it’d be fun. travel to one year in the past game because he is the goat. had some of my best friends. would rather redo that year. decade, which would you go to?

I think maybe the 2015-16 school year, it was the last year we lived as a family of four under the same roof before my daughter left for college.

What is your favorite song from the past decade?

I really liked Tim McGraw’s Humble and Kind.

I have several favorite songs, Definitely Baby Shark. but one off the top of my head is probably Mo Bamba by Sheck Wes.

Probably Sunflower by ‘When He Sees Me’ from Post Malone and Swae Lee. the Waitress musical.

Cheer and dance to nationals This year, the dance team attended UDA Nationals which were held at Disney World’s Wide World of Sports. The following week, the middle school and high school cheer teams competed.