Teachers experience global citizenship hunger games
Program gives students an opportunity to see how food insecurity and poverty differ around the globe. p2
hoop dreams
Returning seniors help boost the roster of last year’s conference champions. p4
on my honor
Lower tardies and absences help increase students ability to work hard and do well in school. p5
a study of habits
While some sleep deprived students cram to get in last minute studying, most students form study groups to tackle finals. p6
Story by: Janai Robinson
In October, MRH teachers Christine Henske and Derek Rowley traveled with MRH Superintendent Karen Hall to Morocco as a part of a Global Citizenship Program sponsored by Maryville University. The graduate course teaches educators how to incorporate cross cultural context activities into their instruction. This program aligns with Superintendent Hall’s vision of providing MRH students with a Global perspective on citizenship. “[This is] a part of our cornerstone and that’s the piece of citizenship, but I wanted to broaden it and look into global citizenship,” explained Hall. “The big vision for this work is to provide our teachers with a partner in another country, and then also have an impact on the
curriculum, have more of an international impact. So that would have a direct influence on the students.” While in Morocco, the three MRH travelers toured schools and met with students, educators, and administrators from around the globe. Both Henske and Rowley taught workshops focusing on hunger and human rights. As a social studies teacher, Henske believes that MRH students can gain from her experiences in Morocco. “Because of the world we live in today where everything is really connected, students [need] to realize that being a citizen today isn’t just about being a citizen in Missouri or St. Louis. It’s about being a citizen in the global world. The problems we face today, we face as a global society.” Over the last month, Hall, Henske, and Rowley have continued
exchanging ideas with their international partners and are excited about sharing these valuable experiences with MRH. In the future, Hall plans to provide students and teachers with more opportunities to advance Global Citizenship.
A school building in downtown Morocco where MRH teachers met students.
Kids Voting
Obama edged out Romney for the U.S. Presidency at MRH and in real life as we participate in Kids Voting Missouri. p8
it’s the end of the world as we know it... not The microCHIP asks the hard hitting journalistic question on everyone’s mind: What would you do on the last day on Earth? p8
English Teacher Derek Rowley shares a laugh with Naoual, an English language teacher for the 10th grade in Morocco.
MRH Goes Global at Heifer Ranch Story by: Jazmen Bell
In October five students and two MRH instructors took a trip to the Heifer International Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. This unique program is a partnership with Webster University that focuses on educating and immersing students and teachers into poverty and hunger simulations. For two days the group endured impoverished conditions and hunger to simulate different circumstances around the globe. Heifer International Ranch was founded in the 1944 following the devastation in Europe from WWII. Since then the organization has been dedicated to solving global hunger and poverty through educating students and teachers. Patrice Bryan, Cornerstone teacher, said, “Heifer global passport program is an opportunity for kids to experience how food insecurity and poverty differ around the globe. When they get to the camp each camper is assigned to a different country and they are immersed in that country’s unique cultural experience. The whole idea is that they struggle ,and they have to draw on those 21st century skills, collaboration, innovation, and adaptability to navigate that poverty experience.” The Heifer Experience is part of a larger vision MRH Superintendent Karen Hall has for students in
Spanish teacher Nicole Notorangelo gathers firewood at Heifer Ranch.
providing problem-based projects and a more global perspective on citizenship. Hall said, “The Heifer Experience fits in with our School as Apprenticeship model. Students in Ms. Bryan’s are learning the skills that a young person will need post high school, and that’s the 21st century skills or the critical thinking and the problem solving and collaboration piece.” During the two day stay, students learned sustainable hunger solutions, farming, gardening, negotiating resource allocation. Sophomore Anna Wermuth said, “I learned a lot about where our food comes from and how I can change that so that I’m getting healthier foods. I can start a garden at home, or shop at different places that are better with resource
distribution tactics. I learned a lot about what poverty looks like in the United States and that it’s really prevalent and something should be done about it. We grow enough food here in our country to feed the entire world so we need to do something to fix that.” Heifer International cornerstones are parallel to the MRH cornerstones of Stewardship, Leadership, Citizenship, and Scholarship. Most importantly Heifer’s vision is to empower the individual to navigate the unique global problems of the 21st century world. Below: Left to Right: Anna Wermuth (10), Teacher Nicole Notorangelo, Kajuania Tate (12), Teacher Patrice Bryan, Cassidy Snyder (12), Katelyn Stevenson (10), Christine Parham (12), Alexis Ramsey (10).
Cornerstone Culture leads by example Story by: Kaitlyn Raborn Video by: Mariah Medina
MRH has a variety of programs that are linked to the community, which makes the school district very unique. The Cornerstone program contributes students to experience in real world challenges and activities. “Outside of school, Cornerstone has an effect on me with my outlook on life,” said sophomore Lexi Ramsey. “Before Cornerstone I didn’t think I had much input and I couldn’t really do anything to help people but now I realize I can.” The Cornerstone program is a semester of service that helps students understand what change is about and how it affects people around them, focusing on the areas of scholarship, leadership, stewardship, and citizenship. Cornerstone isn’t just about reading inside a book about situations around the world, it also gets them involved with their own community and even helps them with their own situations with family and friends. But this class isn’t all fun and games, it also takes a process.
“There are many ways this impacts students,” said Assistant Principal Dr. Deann Myers. “The first is, knowing that the class itself, for semester of service, is essentially an inquiry based class. So students start with a problem and they have to do all the research, they have to do the planning and they see the indebt work that is required before you can help and have a big impact.” This class has also affected the local community: for the past two years, the program has rehabbed the VFW hall and cleaned up the Deer Creek Park.
Above: Seniors KaJuania Tate and Austin Golden help with the Blessing Basket. Below: Kids work on September 11 at Operation Food Search.
Faces behind MRH Story by: Amani Coleman Video by: Jazmen Bell
In the segment Faces Behind MRH, teachers, administrators, and support members explain how they make MRH a special place. Every teacher, administrator, and supporter is very important and appreciated. Social Studies teacher Shane Dixon, and SSD teacher Eleanor Wagner, talk about how they’ve helped students here at MRH. “I collaborate with teachers. I work with children according to the model that they need to have them succeed in this environment,” says Wagner. Wagner has been a SSD teacher in the MRH school district for 28 years. She has a passion for teaching and enjoys teaching her students everything they need to know. “I know Ms. Wagner both like a teacher and kind of personally,” said sophomore Satchel McDonald. “Teacher wise, she helped me a lot last year like especially on English papers,” said McDonald.
Students believe that Wagner will help them with their future. “She got a good confidence attitude, always telling you the truth about everything, and she gone help me get a job this summer,” said sophomore Kayla Foney. “They are able to embrace the success,” said Wagner. “They’re actually walking in that success and they’re feeling good about that accomplishment and I believe that that will be one of the most rewarding moments here at MRH.” Students also feel the same about Dixon, who has been teaching at MRH high school for three years. “What I learned from the students the most is their multiple perspectives how they can look at something and pull out their own meaning,” said Dixon. “In the morning, sometimes when I’m in a bad mood, he puts me in a good mood,” said sophomore Alexandria Thomas. “He’s really funny and it’s easy to be in his class and have fun, but at the same time
Ms. Eleanor Wagner
work hard.” Depending on the attitude of the students, they might learn different from the others in the previous school years. “Every year I may teach the same basic thing, but what the kids get excited about and really get into, typically changes year to year,” said Dixon. Dixon has been teaching for the past 11 to 12 years, and has previously taught in the St. Louis city area.
MRH Senior Leadership Shows Early Story by: Megan Owens, with additional reporting by Antar Thompson Video editing by: Mariah Medina
The MRH Boys’ Basketball team continued a strong season off with a win during the December 6-8th. Webster Classic. The Webster Classic is an yearly championship that hasn’t been won in four years by the Blue Devils. Head coach Corey Frazier says, “This is the first time we’ve ever won a championship since these guys have been in high school.” Blue Devils star player Kahlid Hagens said the team’s strength is helping each other succeed. “My teammates assist me and give me great opportunities,” said Hagens. Corey Frazier, Jr. says that he’s been hungry for a win against Webster for four years. “The Webster tournament was well overdue. The Blue Devils should have taken the championship two years ago.” Frazier also feels them winning it will not negatively affect their season with big egos. “We are very hungry,” said Frazier. The last time the Blue Devils won the Webster tournament was in 2008, the same year the Devils had two back to back basketball state titles. This could mean the Blue Devils are headed back to Columbia for another state ring. “This year’s team, the amount of seniors we have, and us being together since our freshman year, all the way up to our senior year, we have formed a brotherhood and a bond and I don’t think we can be touched,” said senior Kahlid Hagens. “State. That’s what we want, that’s what we have been going for, for like three years and we came up short for the last two years and I think we just want it real bad this year and I think we are going to get it,” said Frazier Jr. “We have guys that have been playing in the program for either three or four years, having guys that have been here that know what’s Top Right: Senior Kahlid Hagens (22) dribbles through the Soldan defenders. Right: Senior Corey Frazier (44) brings the ball down the court against Soldan.
Above: Senior DeVontai Halfacre (50) stands tall above the Soldan Tigers during the First Annual Maplewood Richmond-Heights Round Robin.
going on, I’m not going to say it is going to make it easy for us, but it’s going to be a challenge for those seniors to get all on the same page. This is their last year (to) finally put it all together and try to have a successful season,” said Coach Frazier. At the MRH tournament on Thursday November 29, MRH won second place. It was a tough loss, with a score of 55-54, against Lee the number one ranked team in the state of Alabama.
Left: Senior Curtis BoClair shows smiles while giving blood
Students Show Smarts in the Classroom Story by: Megan Owens Video Editing by: Megan Owens and Mariah Medina
First quarter has come to an end at MRH and while most schools average 20 to 30% of their student body on honor roll, MRH has increased the percentage on honor roll to 46%, while at the same time increasing its enrollment. Principal Grawer contributes most of the success to student work ethic and quality teachers while students attribute their success to planning, organization, and just plain putting more time and effort in. “We have kids that care about their grades, and then we have teachers that support them and challenge them as well,” said Grawer. Despite the size of the school, MRH has managed to continue to increase the number of students on honor roll. At this time last year, 38% of students were on honor roll, at 46% MRH has already increased last
year’s numbers by 8%. “46% of the student body is about 155 students out of about 340, that is an astounding number,” said Grawer. Numbers aren’t the only thing motivating the success. Students used extracurriculars to help them stay on track. “I was motivated by Volleyball because I knew that I had to keep my grades up in order to stay on the team,” said freshman Anna Weir. Students also studied more and planned out their time better. “I planned out my schedule and thought about what I need to do to keep up my work and not fall behind,” said sophomore James Owens.
“I was on honor roll this year because I did all my homework and I studied for all my tests,” said junior Michael Oliver. Lack of tardies and absences also helped increase students ability to work hard and do well in school. “I showed up more, wasn’t as late, focused more on school and didn’t slack off,” said senior Brandon Vasquez. Grawer also contributes some of the success to a change in the culture of the idea of being smart. “It’s creating a culture around, ‘it’s cool to be smart,’ and that is something that I think is very important that we really try hard to do,” said Grawer. As MRH students head into the second quarter, students plan to keep up the momentum and hard work from the first quarter.
In the Wild: Study Habits of the MRH Student Story by: Megan Owens Posted on December 19, 2012
The week leading up to finals is always full of anticipation. Sleep deprived students cram to get in last minute studying. Several students have formed a study group, to tackle calculus. “Since the beginning of the year, we have been meeting almost every week. Hopefully, that will give us an advantage when we take our finals,” said senior Morgan Patterson. The group meets about once a week. Occasionally they meet more depending on what tests are coming up. “Everyday this week, before the final, I am having a study session at my house,” said Patterson. Other students share their strategies for
remember an entire semester’s worth of concepts. “How I study is by practicing problems over and over,” said senior Curtis BoClair. “My friends and I also pass our notes around for our mutual classes to try to better understand and remember all the stuff we learned so far this year,” added BoClair. Some students rely on memorization and quizzing techniques. “My study habits for finals are walking around my room and trying to remember stuff and recite it to myself to remember it better. I also have my mom quiz me to make sure I really understand,” said senior Jasmine Ivy. As finals week continue students work to achieve their goals, and
make up last minute grades. Last minute studying is packed into students already crammed schedules, but these students, as well as others, feel that their study habits will let them achieve the grades they desire.
Small election decides one of two paths Editorial by: Mila Wofford Posted on November 28, 2012
It’s election season in our country, which means a lot more than just a decision about who will be the President. It means decisions that people don’t seem to think about until the very last second. Forming an opinion on something like cigarette taxes or who your senator will be may seem silly at the time, but when it comes down to it, it’s better to have an opinion than not. This year the decision for the Missouri Senator is fairly simple. With Claire McCaskill against Todd Akin it seems that McCaskill has the election in the bag. Akin ruined his chances about two months ago when Akin used the very offensive phrase, “legitimate rape.” Despite what he may have meant to say, this ruined his reputation in the Republican party, even Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, distanced himself from him. “Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape,” said a Romney spokesperson when asked. Along with his controversial views on rape, he also has made critical comments on other things, such as student loans, even comparing them to “stage three cancer.” When asked about people
Republican Rep. Todd Akin and Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill shook hands after the Thursday, October 25 second debate in the Missouri Senate race in Clayton.
who could not afford health care, his response was, “I think that what we have to realize is all of us make decisions in our lives and there are consequences to those decisions. If we try to separate the consequences from the decisions that we make eventually you end up with a system that is broken and will not work.” In the end Claire McCaskill won the election. There could be a number of reasons for that, but one could begin to wonder, if Todd Akin had kept his mouth shut, we might have a different Senator. I for one, am a fan of McCaskill, but I know that a lot of people aren’t. She’s
voted in favor of affordable health care and to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I can see how some Americans wouldn’t be a fan of her. Everyone has their own opinions, but most agree that she is a step up from someone who compares student loans to cancer. The point I’m trying to make here is that these decisions are a big thing and it’s important to keep oneself educated on what, or who could be potentially elected into office. Whether we, as Americans, would like to believe it or not, even the seemingly small elections affect us greatly.
Changing social standards change us Editorial by: Mila Wofford Posted on November 28, 2012
It’s safe to say that a lot has changed regarding our social standards. We have an entire T.V. show dedicated to teen pregnancy and “Honey-Boo-Boo,” a young, obese girl, is famous for being exactly that: a 7 year-old obese beauty pageant contestant. And something that is equally disturbing is that smoking in America is at an all time high. Even in high school students, it’s considered as normal as it was in the fifties to smoke. This is pretty unsettling. While the smoking rate amongst Missouri teenagers has decreased, it’s still a problem. As of 2011, 18.1 percent of high school students smoke cigarettes, while 5.4 percent of middle school students smoke.
This is a decrease from two years prior, but it’s still considerably high for our small state. “If you smoke across a life course, you’re at a much higher risk than if you just smoked around the college years,” said David Batty, who works at University College London. Even though the state has taken precautions, such as creating smoke free environments and taxing cigarettes to prevent teenage smokers, 52.1 percent of high schoolers have already tried to quit. “The good news is, for people who are able to quit, this is going to have profound effects on their health,” said Dr. Michael Siegel, a researcher for Boston University School of Public Health. This poses the question, what do we do? Obviously, teenagers smoking isn’t a new problem, I’m fully
aware of that; I just feel like it’s become worse. Everyone always wants to blame our current youth for the problems in society, like teen pregnancy and smoking. These things have always been here, we’re just seeing them differently. The real problem here is that we continue to glamorize problems instead of fixing them. Clearly people know the effects of smoking and they continue to do it, but there has to be something that causes some people to not do it. Why don’t 81.9 percent of high school students smoke but the rest do? I think we really need to stop and really look at our priorities as a society because trying to quit smoking and worrying about lung cancer are problems students shouldn’t have.
Human Rights for St. Louis County Editorial by: Mila Wofford Posted on December 11, 2012
On November 28th, a controversial ordinance was passed in St. Louis County, banning the discrimination of an LGBT person in the workplace. The ordinance already covered discrimination against race, religion, national origin, and gender. People who are of a different sexuality or who are transgendered will no longer face unemployment for who they are. However, this is being debated by several different religious groups. Michael Peters of the King
Covenant Church in Webster Groves has asked that his church be exempt from this ordinance. Peters’ reasoning was that the church rents its hall out to the public. Kathy Nix from Maryland Heights challenged the religious argument with her views. “I was born a lesbian. I am not a sex offender. I am a Christian. God made me this way.” While religions can debate about morals, this is not about morals. This is about human rights. Let me just begin by saying how tired I am of people combating human rights with religion. They’re
called ‘human rights’ for a reason. One cannot blame someone for their beliefs and one cannot blame someone for being their own person. On that note, there is a big difference between someone’s human rights and someone’s religious beliefs. They are not related. We as a society need to start learning to separate the rights of the people from religion. It’s similar to someone being on a diet and banning everyone else from cake. Feeling safe in one’s job is something every human should feel.
Last Day on Earth Story by: Mila Wofford
Many believe that the Mayans predicted our fates to be decided during a nine-day period between the dates of December 12, 2012 and December 21, 2012. According to Mayan folklore, the “Great Calendar” ends on December 21 this year, and some believe this will bring about either a global change for the better…or worse. Some MRH students
and staff wonder what they would do if it was their last day on earth. Many students chose the rest and relaxation route. “I would probably play Call of Duty: Black Ops all day and then I would play Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and then Halo,” said sophomore Heath Thornton. Unlike Spears, history teacher Shane Dixon had his students in mind. “If this were the last day on earth, because I love all
Polling Results from Kids Voting Missouri
of my students so much, I would give them all A’s,” said Dixon. Still others wanted the basics, including comfort food. “If it was my last day, I’d probably eat a bunch of food and just party,” said senior Allison Schott. History teacher Robert Welker said if it were his last day on earth he would eat all the food he couldn’t eat now. Senior April Stokes said she’d just start on a bucket list. “If it was my
President Barack Obama (D) 328 Mitt Romney (R) 48 Gary Johnson (I) 23
82.21% 12.03% 5.76%
last day on earth, I would probably make my last day as fun as I possibly could and try and achieve all the things that I want to get done before I would die anyway of old age,” said Stokes. In any case, believers in the Mayan date can breathe a sigh of relief. The “doomsday” scenario turned out to be wishful thinking after all.
United States Senate Claire McCaskill (D) 320 81.42% Todd Akin (R) 44 11.2% Jonathan Dine (L) 29 7.38%
Story reposted from www.mrhsd.org Posted on November 10, 2012
When citizens go to the polls on November 6, 2012, MRH students voted in each school through Kids Voting Missouri. An affiliate of Kids Voting USA, Kids Voting Missouri is a grassroots, non-partisan, nonprofit citizenship education program for students in grades K-12. Weeks before the election, students learn about the candidates and issues and importance of becoming an informed citizen. They discuss, debate, learn about decisionmaking, compromise, majority rule, branches of government, and representative democracy. On Election Day students have the opportunity to vote on many of the same candidates and issues as the adult voters.
Above: Students make their decisions in the Kids Voting Missouri ballot in the Research and Design Center on November 6, 2012.
Teachers and staff grow it all out for cause Story by: Isaiah Gray
After “No Shave November,” the annual month-long awareness campaign to bring attention to prostate cancer, the male staff at MRH followed through with “Moustache Friday.” Moustache Friday is where the beards come off, but the moustache remains. “It was a chance to work with the community here in the school and with all the other guys towards something good,” said Research and Design Center Coordinator Joe Hosea. “It was for a good cause. There are a hundred different types of cancers, but very rarely do we actually hear about how cancer affects men.” Hosea is just one of several teachers who participated in this face -tching awareness month, later shaving off their beard, leaving a freshly trimmed moustache. No Shave November or “MoVember” is meant not only to bring awareness towards prostate cancer, but also to become part of a greater community. Principal Kevin Grawer thought highly of those who helped bring
awareness to prostate cancer. “One of the main killers with men across the world and the United States is prostate cancer and so theres a lot of ways to create awareness or try to raise funds and thats the fun way to do it,” said Grawer. Although Grawer favored showing awareness, he was a little nervous after shaving his beard off. “I was really cautious about it because a moustache looks pretty bad on most people I think and for a lot of us we looked pretty bad,” said Grawer. History teacher Rob Welker, a professed non-beard grower, says it took time for him to get to used to his beard especially because of
Rendon gets new chair Before:
all his years in the military. “The first couple of weeks were sketchy because it’s itchy, it curls in, and starts to itch but once it gets in and gets softer it’s pretty fun,” said Welker. In all, 19 teachers participated in No-Shave MoVember.
Click on the image below for video of Marcos’ new chair in action!
After