Academic Awards celebrates efforts Story by: Isaiah Gray
Maplewood Richmond Heights School District inspires and prepares students as leaders, scholars, stewards, and citizens for a diverse and changing world. When students excel in this high standard, the district recognizes their efforts. On March 7, several MRH students from grades 4-12 were awarded for their academic excellence at the annual MRH Academic Celebration. Freshman Sarah Robberson, who was awarded honors in communication arts and
math, loves that she was recognized for her work. “It’s so nice when my hard work pays off,” says Robberson. Students are recognized based on their testing scores. If they earn a 90% or higher on their EOC spring tests, they are awarded a medal. The MRH scholars with the highest test scores were recognized and awarded separately to distinguish their hard work from the others. Sophomore Janai Robinson was excited that she earned awards in a subject she is interested in. “I am very happy that I got an award because I just think it over shows what I’ve done all that year for geometry, and it also helps me know that I can use geometry in one of my careers,” said Robinson. The awards ceremony has become a welcome addition to the academic culture at MRH. Board of Education Director Nelson Mitten says the increased numbers of students recognized only shows the increased levels of achievement at MRH. “The MRH academic celebration has been a tradition for many years and every year more and more students are awarded for their excellence,” said Mitten.
Top: Superintendent Karen Hall makes remarks during the ceremony. Left: Caroline Haines (10) shakes hands with Supt. Hall. Above: Janai Robinson shows off her blue ribbon.
Pie in the Face raises money for pantry
Left: [Hyperlink] Janai Robinson (10) tosses a pie into Spanish teacher Nicole Notorangelo. John Jehne (11) throws a pie at Dr. Myers. Above: Mr. Dennis Love is all smiles after his pie.
The microCHIP Guest speakers highlight Black History Month at MRH Story by: Mariah Medina and Morgan Patterson-Gill Staff Reporter
On Tuesday, February 26, the MRH school district celebrated 2013’s Black History Month with 2 school events used to bring together students, faculty and the community. MRH kicked off the celebration with keynote speaker Art Holliday, KSDK news anchor of over 25 years. Holliday spoke to students and faculty about tenacity and doing ones best in life in order to positively impact others in the future. “Was I going to cave and be a victim?” said Holliday as he describes a disappointing time in his life. “’Oh I didn’t get my dream job!’ No! I just said, ‘Ok it wasn’t meant
to be. But, you’ve got this other great opportunity and you need to take that seriously.’” In the evening following the visit from Holliday, MRH students, alumni, parents, teachers, and community members congregated by the hundreds to share in the annual Soul Food Supper event. Families gathered for an evening of inspirational music, tasty food, and great fellowship. “The food is good, the fellowship is good. Everything is great!” Gwen Donnell High-School Advisor. “We’ve been here for the Soul Food Supper for several years in a row,” says former school board member Bob Harsh. “Well, probably ever
Above Right: News Channel 5 Anchor, Art Hoilday speaks to the MRH students. Above: The administration team posing with Art Hoilday. Right: Claudette Howell presents a choir to the group. Below left: A Church Choir sings a song at the open of the night. Below right: Member of the community enjoys the delicious food adt the soul food supper.
since it was created. We love coming and hearing the entertainment.” he concluded. Others said sharing their background only added to the enjoyment. “It’s awesome, the food is incredible. This is a chance for all of us to get together in the community and share culture and just be together,” added MRH parent Dawn Medina. The annual supper would not have been complete without musical selections. This year, diners were treated by the Medina family and choir members of Word of God Christian Church under Rev. Ralph Posley. “What a success it was. Over 300 persons dined with us. All I have heard are good reports of the food. We had our family of the
year (the Medinas) who performed. We had board member Ralph Posley and his church choir which was excellent,” said Soul Food Supper Coordinator Claudette Howell. With a variety of special speakers and entertainment the MRH community came together and unified for the celebration of Black History.
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Aquapod...Aquapoi...Aqua...what? Story by: Lucy Miller and Dylan Boyer
MRH middle school began a new practice in sustainability. In the basement of MRH high school can be found the aquaponics lab, a project in the works since last year. Using fish to fertilize plants, and plants to filter water, the aquaponics lab provides healthy food for the students, as well as a unique learning experience. We spoke to Michael Dittrich about the funding for this project, “There was actually three grants that helped pay for a lot of it down there, and we’re also lucky that we have a district that believes in these sustainability projects and they put some money behind it as well, but we received some grant money from Gateway Greening,
some grant money from SARE, in addition to some grant money from the educational initiative fund. Using those funds, we were able to put these entire systems in place.” “More than anything, it’s just about getting the kids to think about connecting this to our other sustainability practices and how we can evolve this process into something that becomes learning, not just for our aquaponics students, but for all of the students in our building.” “When I first found out about aquaponics and there was a seminar going on and a bunch of students went from my E4 class and they got fish tanks,” “I really wanted to get on board, you know, in case I got a fish tank, in case it was fun and it went a little bit further than that and now we have a lab. It’s a
lot of fun, I’m glad I got involved.” Said 8th grader Jamie Tipton, of his motivation to take part in the project. “Well we take all the tests in the tanks to make sure that the fish are in a stable environment in which they can live and thrive. We also went to the Missouri Small Farm conference, it was like a forum and a conference, and we got to talk about what we’re doing here
with like our school, and the garden, and in aquaponics.” Said Lauren Wiseman of the students role in the aquaponics lab. This hands on learning experience is not only fun for the students, but is also a real life application in sustainability. The aquaponics lab will continue to be a fruitful and unique part of the MRH Middle School community.
Joe’s place fundraiser creates doors Story by: Amani Coleman
The MRH school district was chosen to design doors, and send them off to the Koken Art Factory. This event was to help fundraise for Joe’s Place. In order to do this, the organization went to each building in the district asking them to design a door. “Every building created a door. One from the Elementary, I think there’s one from the ECC, there’s one from the middle school, and we did one,” Said MRH high school Art teacher, Chris Stocker. There was no specific theme or criteria that was wanted. Every building had the option of several smaller doors,
or one regular sized door. Stocker chose to use a bigger door that was about 7 foot by 3 foot. “Studio class decided that what we would do is to paint the door black and then sculpt some eyes and mouths out of clay fire them and stain them and fire them again and then glue them to the door so that it’ll look like these faces are coming out,” said Stocker. The Studio class helped Stocker make the eyes and mouths, but none were meant to look exactly alike. Senior Hannah Hlavaty said, “After just sculpting the eyes and mouths, we just put together the ones that looked like they matched.”
Above: A door that has many diffenert faces made in The Studio Class at MRH.
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microChip covers the news for METC Story by: Megan Owens
During February 1213, MRH MoJo students got the chance to put the mobile journalism concept to application as eNews journalists at the Midwest Educational Technology Conference. The students that attended included senior editor Megan Owens, senior Mariah Medina, senior William Wadsworth, senior Morgan PattersonGill, junior Amani Coleman, sophomore Janai Robinson, freshman Dylan Boyer and freshman Lucy Miller. This conference featured many prominent educators and provided a range of presentations and keynote speakers. Students were glad to have the opportunity to gain hands on experience working in a real life news
situation. “METC was enlightening and it was a great opportunity,” said Medina. “The hands on learning was really valuable. I think that one of the most important parts about being a journalist is having that experience and knowing how to work together with your team seamlessly, and I think we have that.” The students worked together in a tight-knit group; no one was left to do something alone and every student helped each other out. “I learned more as a whole about journalism and the workflow of it, as well as that you have to be on your toes because anything could happen. You basically have to have your game plan, but know that everything won’t go
Inmates run the school in play them. That they are just as sane as anyone else,” On February 28th, said assistant director Joe March 1st and 2nd, Hosea. Maplewood Richmond Despite being a very Heights Theatre serious play, humor is performed “One Flew instilled to add to it. Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” “The drama of the show Actors paraded around the is very serious. The play stage as mental patients in the 1960’s, led by Randall P. McMurphy. The play was about a sane man named Randall P. McMurphy (Miguel Hernandez), who was sent to an insane asylum to finish off his prison sentence. As he is staying at the asylum he starts to realize that the people is also mixed in with a there aren’t as crazy as lot of humor but then all they seem. of sudden all these very “He goes there and he bad and serious things tries to prove to the people happen,” said sophomore that are there that there’s Anna Wermuth, who plays nothing really wrong with Nurse Ratched. Story by: Kaitlyn Raborn and Mila Wofford
videos and simultaneously went out and interviewed and filmed footage. The ‘word on the street’ style of videos allowed students to release videotaped reactions to different METC sessions quickly so that many attendees were able to view them as soon as possible. “One of our main Above: Senior Mariah Medina films a story for the conference. goals was to get out as right,” said Robinson. many high quality videos The fast pace forced as possible. We even had students to work together. a separate booth for ‘word “The fast pace and the two on the street’ types of hour deadlines are what videos,” said Boyer. made the trip so valuable,” said Boyer. The students MRH METC staff hard at work. constantly worked on
“It’s just a very emotional show,” said director Holly Potthoff. John O’Keefe, who played Martini, was happy with the success of the play. “I thought the play went well. It surely had its ups and downs, but as does anything. As my first high school play I was happy with it.” O’Keefe, as well as other cast members of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” are up for a Cappy awards. O’Keefe was nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Receiving generally high reviews from both students and parents alike, the play also received very good reviews from the high school theatre critic group, the Cappies. “Maplewood-Richmond Heights’ production of “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” quietly
raises important issues that still today must be included in our national discussion while also remaining true to the classic source material and doing it all with near-professional skills and intelligent, blistering fury,” said Mary Baker of Marquette High School. The Cappies Awards will be held May 18 at Lindenwood University. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is nominated for the following: Best Set Design for a Play James Owens Best Prop Design for a Play - Natalie Mitten Best Ensemble in a Play The Acutes Featured Actor in a Play John O’Keefe Supporting Actor in a Play Zach Arias Lead Actor in a Play Miguel Hernandez Best Play
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Steubenville Rape Case Is Not Over Yet Story by: Mila Wofford
On March 18th, 2013 Steubenville, Ohio charged two high school football players with the rape of an unnamed minor. This controversial case, now known as the Steubenville rape case, has been highly debated in the media. Media outlets, CNN, Fox, and MSNBC released an uncensored statement given by Trent Mays, one of the young men charged. This uncensored statement contained the young victim’s name, which is often frowned upon in the journalism community. Many believe the young men deserved more time, and others believe they don’t deserve any time, stating that it wasn’t their fault. The August 2012 crime involved seventeen year-old Trent Mays, and sixteen year-old Ma’Lik Richmond. Both young men are charged with rape and Mays was charged with sexually explicit material of a minor. This means that on the night of August 11, both young men committed rape and one even documented it. Both Mays and Richmond are sentenced to at least one year juvenile jail and possibly until they’re 21. Both young men can be seen in court crying after the verdict. Mays released, “I would truly like to apologize to (minor’s name), her family, my family and the community. No picture should have been sent around, let alone even taken.” Media outlets and the general public debate this case for a number of reasons. First, some believe the young men deserve our
sympathy. After all, these young men’s lives will never be the same. They are now registered sex offenders. Any idea of a football career is gone. Second, many are debating on whether or not CNN, MSNBC, and Fox should’ve released the victim’s name as she is a minor and this is a rape case. CNN is being mostly criticized for showing sympathy for the young criminals. CNN news anchor, Poppy Harlow, stated on air, “It was incredibly emotional. Incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believe their life fell apart.”This case really strikes a nerve with me for a number of reasons. First, sympathy should be entirely out of the question for these two. While these young men appear childlike and innocent, making a fuss in court, the heinous crime they committed is still present. These boys raped a sixteen year-old girl, and bragged about it, even going so far to post the videos online. They’re not innocent, they were entirely aware of what was happening. Their lives weren’t ruined by this girl, they chose to commit this crime, and they deserve the consequences. Secondly, there’s the notion that a longer sentence should be applied. If considered, one has to wonder what this would do. Henry Rollins, an ex singer from Black Flag, wrote a great editorial on this subject,
and said “I wondered if the years in the facility will “help” them. What, exactly does one “learn” in one of these places? That is to say, after five years locked away, does the idea of assaulting a woman seem like the wrong thing to do, more than if you were incarcerated for one year? Would you be “more sorry” about what you did?” I agree with Rollins. This is not a moral problem that can be fixed
with a longer sentence. In his statement, Trent Mays didn’t even acknowledge that actually raping this girl was the problem. This is a problem that we, as a social structure, need to fix. Women are treated like objects and no one cares for moral decency. Until we can fix this, people will continue to degrade each other.
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New Coach, Same Expections
Above Left: Marquise White(11) finishes the last 100 meters. Above Right: Essence Daniels-Brewer(11) finishes the last 100 meters in the girls relay.
A Fresh Start
Above: Zech Biship (10) throws a fastball for a strike. Right: Gabe Jackson (9) at the plate, waiting on the pitch.
Ready to Win
Above: Nmae kicks the ball downfield away from an opponent. Above right: Megan Owens (12) moves the ball away from her opponent. Right: Name dribbles away to prepare for a shot downfield.
Right: Maja Eernisse (9) kicks a ball out of the backfield. Below right: Gabby Campanella (10) boots the ball down the field off a goal kick.
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Faces Behind MRH Story by: Morgan Patterson-Gill
MRH high school is a unique learning space with staff members who are not only skilled educators but full time parents who juggle the life of, a grad student, a surfer, and a spouse while dedicating their time to students and other staff members. In this segment we will highlight high school counselor Justin Harcharic and math teacher Elizabeth Connole. “I became an educator because I think teachers were really influential to
me. When i was growing up I had some great teachers who guided me along the right path and steered me away from the wrong path,” said Elizabeth Connole “I still keep in touch with them and have great relationships with them. They are a big part of my life.” She continues. As Connole reflects on the influential teachers in her life, she goes on to describe her busy life as a mother, student and athlete. “ I have a one year old son ,Seamus, and my husband Sean and a dog named Woody. They’re the most important thing
to me. I spend most of my time hanging out with them and running.” She says “I also go to grad school. So, I am there at night --at UMSL for school counseling.” Justin Harchic is a California Native who enjoys aiding students and surfing on his time off. “I am a high school counselor because I am a natural helper. I like working with others and helping problem solve. Working with students as they transition from high school to college beyond is something I find rewarding.” Though there are no beaches in St.
Louis, Harcharic satisfies his taste for the ocean by traveling during breaks for a holidays in the sun. “I started surfing when I was seven years old when I first moved to California. I still surf currently. I go in the summertime and wintertime during winter break. I schedule trips around the beach.” From 8:05 to 3:10pm most students see them solely as teachers, but as you can see teachers too can be full of surprises.
Left: Elizabeth Connole helps her math students. Right: Justin Harcharic.
MRH Students Blast Off Story by: Megan Owens
The MRH High School freshman physics class took part in a unique project that encourages creativity and design skills. 9th graders constructed paper rockets from a limited supply list, working in teams to perfect their designs before launch. “A friend of mine named Robert Powell at the Challenger Learning Center does this with the students who visit. And I’ve adapted it into a school lesson,” said Ryan Massey, freshman physics teacher, of his inspiration for the rocket project.
“Making rockets out of paper is actually pretty easy, but making good rockets out of paper is very difficult, so students learn design and engineering skills,” explained Massey “It’s really like kind of a review because as we build the rocket, we have to consider things like friction and stuff and it’s like that kind of stuff that you learn in 7th and 8th grade and it’s coming back and you have to put that knowledge into the new knowledge that we’ve learned in this class And just to help you make your rocket. And it’s not even just physics, it’s physics and engineering. So I feel
like I’m learning a lot by experiencing how to build a paper rocket,” said Jiyra Walker, a freshman who completed the rocket project. Both educational and fun, it’s clear students thought the rocket project was out of this world.
Below: Jordan Goliday (9) launches his team’s rocket on the Sunnen Track. The rockets were launched with compressed air.