December 2017
Also in this paper... Competition Cheer has finished their season early, after just one competition, where they won First place. Reporter Madasyn Davis has more information, read Competition Cheer finishes season early.
Page 2 Reporter Emily Eikenberry has an inside look at a win by the Bowling Team. See Jackets dominate Local Meet.
Page 2 Net Neutrality is a pending situation that the public has been fighting against, and will affect the School District. Chief Technology Director, Dave Fringer explains what impact the repeal will have if it passes through Supreme Court. Read Net Neutrality by Cami Wagaman.
Page 3 The Special olympics has been an annual occurrence at TJ for the past few years, and has been run by Gym Teacher, Nicole Vetter. Alondra Ibarra has more details about the day. Read Special Olympics for more information.
Page 3 JFK files were relased by the FBI, revealing what the FBI director had to say, as well as a look into the death of the Assassin. Reporter Morgan Jacobson has more information. See JFK Files released.
Page 4 Sophomore Jane Helms has been in the spotlight as of lately, as she prepares for competition within the Poetry club, another piece of her writing has been published. Reporter Adriana Ibarra has more information. See Face of the Month: Jane Helms.
Page 4 Singer Joyner Lucas has been making waves with his new Music Video for his song “I’m Not Racist”. Read Joyner Lucas, written by Reporter Morgan Jacobson.
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We’ve welcomed a new addition to The Signal, and we hope you enjoy it! View page 4 for a handmade comic, from one of our Reporters, Emily Eikenberry!
Volume 92
Issue 5
YMCA to turn into ‘The Hub’
Buzzing For More News? Follow #TJPride Check out more of our stories and ‘like’ our Facebook page at cbjacketjournalism.com Or follow us on twitter @TJHSJournalism
Alondra Ibarra Reporter
As the Council Bluffs YMCA prepares to leave their home of 35 years, a woman named Brooke Hubbard purchased the building, in hopes of creating a family entertainment center called “The Hub”. All together, this project will cost two million dollars in order to build the four party rooms, and to transform the upstairs gym into a trampoline park named the Hub Fly Zone which comes with more than 4,500 square feet of just trampolines. The Fly Zone will include an open bounce court, dodgeball court, battle beam, dunk hoops and vertical platform stunt boxes. Hubbard also commented “The trampoline park idea really evolved from being a frustrated mom and tired of taking my kids to Omaha.” The downstairs area of The Hub includes the Hub Fly Zone Toddler Take Off, which includes 1,500 square feet of trampolines
The YMCA will be moving to a new location, and the old location will be transformed into ‘The Hub’ Photo by: Cami Wagaman
just for the younger kids, also including a mini dunk hoop, slide, and a horizontal toddler climbing wall and balance beams. Next the the toddler zone will be an obstacle course like the ones people see on tv, the courses will feature different challenge levels, which contains ropes, and wall climbs and cheese walls. The Hub will also have a babysitting center named Jumping Monkeys Childcare. Hubbard
got the idea from being tired of taking her kids to Omaha for some fun, and decided that there should be an area in town where children can blow off steam. The pool area will be turned into a training space for Elite Cheer and Tumbling Council Bluffs, and will also serve as a practice spot for high school athletes. The training spot will also include a spring floor mat standard
for competitions, a tumble track and two underground trampolines for training. The Council Bluffs YMCA is expected to move into its new location sometime in December and as soon as that takes place construction will start on The Hub and Brooke Hubbard said that she hopes to open the family entertainment center by April 1st. For more information visit www.ketv.com.
Thomas Jefferson Girls Basketball off to successful start Jordan McAlpine Reporter
Hard work, commitment and dedication. That’s what head coach Devin Schoening said he wanted to see out of his team coming into the 2017-18 season. Through six games the Jackets have done exactly that as they sit at (4-2) and are (2-1) in conference play, one of the best starts this program has seen in recent years. The Jackets have already tied their win total from the 2016-17 season through six games and look poised for more. After opening their season with a 48-42 road win against Glenwood, the Jackets followed it up with an impressive 43-40 win at Sioux City East. In the victory over the Black Raiders, the Jackets snapped a 77 game conference losing streak and grabbed their first win in Sioux City since February of 2007. TJ then improved to 3-0 with a dominant 54-9 win at Essex, before falling in back-to-back games at Abraham Lincoln and Underwood, 51-47 and 60-46
The girls varsity team hyping each other up to go back in the game after half time. 12/12/17 Photo provided by: Cami Wagaman
respectively. However, the Lady Jackets got back on the winning track fast as they grabbed another conference win with a gutty 52-40 home win over Sioux City West. So far through six games, the Jackets are averaging 48.3 points a game and are shooting 33.8% as a team, making 105 of their 311 shots. TJ is 22.5% from behind the three point line as the Jackets have made 20 of their 89 attempts from behind the arc. The girls have also been good from the stripe as they’ve sunk 60 their 98 free throw attempts
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which is good for 61.2%, the fourth best percentage in the conference, but their team success is due to solid play on both ends of the court. As a team TJ has came down with 203 rebounds and has also stepped up on defense with 12 blocks and 107 steals. This season the Jackets have leaned on their sophomore class heavily, and once again they have came through. LaTeah Willie leads the Jackets in scoring with 80 points and is averaging 13.3 a game. Willie is shooting 57.1% and is 76.2% from the free throw
line, but has also been good on both sides of the ball as she has grabbed 35 rebounds and leads the team in steals with 23. Along with Willie, sophomore twin sisters Allison and Allisa Schubert have been key to the teams early season success as both have consistently been a big part of the TJ offense. Allisa ranks second on the team with 53 points, while Allison sits in fourth with 32. Both have also been very reliable on free throw
Continued on Page 2 with a photo collage!
SPORTS
THE SIGNAL Editor-in-Chief Cami Wagaman
Continued: Thomas Jefferson Girls Basketball off to successful start
Copy Editor Adriana Ibarra Paginator Adriana Ibarra Cami Wagaman Emily Eikenberry Staff Kelsie Anderson Madasyn Davis Alondra Ibarra Morgan Jacobson Jordan McAlpine
Jordan McAlpine Reporter attempts as Allisa is 20 of 25 and Allison 6 of 7. The two have combined for 47 rebounds and 32 steals and in addition Allison leads the team in blocks with seven. Along with these three, the Jackets have also turned to a trio of seniors in Josey Starner, Tyra Conti and Anna Larson. Starner is third in scoring with 48 points and leads the team in rebounds with 36. Starner is also third in steals with 16. Larson ranks fifth in scoring with 26 points and has made six shots from behind the three point line. Conti has added 20 points of her own, but has set up a lot of scoring this year as the senior leads the team in assists with 18. Conti is also fourth on the team in rebounds with 22, and all will be key to the Jackets success the rest of the season. The Jackets will look to build off the successful start as they take on Ralston at home Monday night at 5:45 and will head back on the road to play Tri-Center Thursday night at 6:00.
Adviser Rob Lindquist Phone: 712-328-6493 Facebook: CBJacketJournalism Twitter:@TJHSJournalism Web: cbjacketjournalism.com Snapchat: tjhsjournalism
The Girls Varsity basketball team faces off against Souix City West. Photos by: Cami Wagaman
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Jackets dominate local meet Emily Eikenberry Reporter On November 21, 2017, the Thomas Jefferson bowling team faced off against St. Albert. Thomas Jefferson’s girls and boys varsity team beat St. Albert's girls and boys varsity team by 1229 pins. Thomas Jefferson varsity girls individual total; Natalie Arnold 353, Katie Eikenberry 329, Emily Eikenberry 329, Madison Baxter
308, MacKinzey Arnold 287, and Haile Hastie 235. Thomas Jefferson varsity girls overall were 1606 in individuals. Thomas Jefferson varsity boys individual total; Andrew Chavarria 468, Brett Hiers 389, Jacob Collins 382, Max Schuster 350, Jacob Schuster 347, and Tyler Failla 333. Thomas Jefferson varsity boys overall were 1936 in individuals. Make sure to wish the bowling team good luck in their future meets!
Announcements Senior Pictures are due on December 20th, send them to rlindquist@ cbcsd.org. Check your email for the requirements. There will be a Toy Drive held by ASTRA, take any donations to Mrs. Windham in student services. Welcome Back!
Thomas Jefferson girls varsitty team after a win. Photo provided by: Luanna Eikenberry
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Competition Cheer finishes season early
Competition cheer poses for a photo after a win. Photo provided by: Madasyn Davis
Madasyn Davis Reporter The Thomas Jefferson Competition cheer team was awarded first place in their division at the Mid America Extreme Challenge. Freshman, Zoey Breitkreutz is a first year TJ competition and varsity cheerleader. “I felt pretty good about our performance, honestly,” states Breitkreutz. “I think we could’ve
done a little better and hit more points on execution, but other than that, we hit and I’m proud we got first!” With a team of twelve, TJ competed in the small all-girl varsity division. After many obstacles this past season, they still managed to compete without hesitation. The cheer team will no longer be competing for the 2017-18 season, but they will be back next year ready to perform.
Net Neutrality
NEWS
Tillerson vs Trump
FCC has repealed Net Neutrality. Photo provied by: Wikipedia.
Cami Wagaman Reporter On Thursday, November 14th, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to repeal Net Neutrality in the US. The vote ended in a 3-2 repeal, and the case will now be passed to congress for the final decision. The repeal of Net Neutrality means that citizens of the US would have to pay money to use otherwise free internet, or apps on their phones, that they use everyday. Dave Fringer is the Chief Technology Director for CBCSD. “For the average person,” states Fringer. “Net Neutrality is about the expectation you have online: you expect to connect to
the internet; you expect to have access to the websites you want and; you trust your internet provider not to be messing with how you use the internet that you pay for. Large business and government entities have the ability to negotiate the terms of their contracts with Internet Service Providers while most consumers do not.” Net Neutrality has been voted on by the FCC before, in February of 2015, under the Obama administration. In 2015, Obama had set strict net neutrality regulations, which Trump has corked. As the Council Bluffs Community School district relies on a lot of technology, the repeal of Net Neutrality could mean big changes are going to happen within the district.
Keystone XL Pipeline
“I don’t think government (e.g., Federal, State, County, City, School Districts, etc...) will feel much effect from the Net Neutrality changes,” explains Fringer. “We buy large amounts of contracted bandwidth and have the ability to negotiate terms based on high volume.” No Net Neutrality means that internet providers have more say in how fast or slow the apps on your phones are, as well as the content that you can see. “So I say wait and see, I don’t think the pros are as great as advertised nor are the cons as bad as people say,” said Fringer. “In my opinion the free market will take care of it over time.” The date that the supreme court will rule on this has not been released.
Rex Tillerson has not been fired after a disagreement with Trump. Photo provided by: Wikipedia.
Kelsie Anderson Reporter The United States Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has been disagreeing with Trump as of lately. The disagreement has been due to what has been happening in North Korea, as Trump is trying to stop Tillerson from trying to negotiate with Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea. Trump and Kim Jong Un have had many disagreements in the past, such as the various tweets of President Trump’s that refer to the Leader of North Korea as “Little Rocket Man.” Although Tillerson is 65 years
old, and is close to retirement, he accepted the job as Secretary earlier this year. Tillerson is also known to be acquainted with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which could link him into Russia tampering with the voting during the US presidential race. The main reason for Tillerson’s deployment is rumored to be that Tillerson had called President Trump a “moron” behing his back. Due to recent allegations, President Trump was rumored to have a plan to fire Tillerson, and replace him with the CIA director, Mike Pompeo. The state department have debunked the rumors, and Trump has not spoken much on the subject.
Special Olympics Alondra Ibarra Reporter
The route for the Keystone XL Pipeline will go through Seven states, as well as part of Canada. Ohoto Provided by: www.2009-2017.state.gov
Morgan Jacobson Reporter In 2008, the Keystone Pipeline was proposed to go through Nebraska, as it would create more jobs and move oil all the way from Canada to Texas. Nine years later, the Nebraska Public Service Commision voted on it. The votes were 3-2 in favor of the Pipeline. They ended up disagreeing with the route picked by trans Canada and voted for an alternative route. Not long before it was approved to go through Nebraska,
there was a burst in a pipe and over 200,000 gallons were spilled over the leak. Environmentalists in Nebraska are not happy about the pipeline, if a spill were to happen, wildlife, soil, and living could be affected. A spill in Nebraska would be similar to the BP oil spill in 2010. The purpose of the pipeline is to move tons of oil from Canada to Texas, the oil we get from Canada will create more power across the US.
Every year around the beginning of November, Thomas Jefferson holds the Special Olympics. The Special Olympics gives kids with special needs a chance to interact with their classmates and participate in activities they can’t do on a day to day basis. If a class has someone with special needs, the whole class is invited for a day of fun. Students that attend TJ, have the chance to be a part of this wonderful day. Over 100 students helped out.
For Nebraska, it will help with tax revenues and create thousands of jobs for people, it will also help with millions of dollars in economic opportunities.
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The volunteers for the Special Olympics gather before the play day starts. Photo by: Nicole Vetter
Each volunteer had a position that they were assigned to. The student got to pick if they wanted to be a team leader, work lunch, or help out at a station. Some of the stations were soccer kick, bowling, dancing with ribbons and more. The participants are separated into different groups with their
team leader. Before the Special Olympics starts, everyone gets together in the middle of the gym for an oath and the National Anthem. Then the groups go to each activity. After all the activities are finished, the kids are rewarded with a medal and are given a lunch.
News
Face of the month: Jane Helms
Mobile Pantry Kelsie Anderson Reporter On February 19, March 19, April 16 and June 18, in 2018, there will be a mobile pantry available at Woodrow Wilson Middle School for people in the community that are seeking help. The times are 4:30-6:00pm,
if you would like to attend, they prefer you bring boxes or bags to carry food. The entrance will be door 3, located on the south side of the building. The goal of the pantry is to supply food where there is a high need but limited resources. For more information on the pantry, call (712) 328-6476.
Sophomore Jane Helms poses for a photo. Photo by: Cami Wagaman
JFK files released Morgan Jacobson Reporter On October 25th, 2017 President Donald Trump teased on twitter about the JFK assassination files being released finally. 50 years after the death of President John F. Kennedy, there have been many conspiracy theories and no closure for what happened. Finally after these years of questions the files will finally be released to the public. For many people this is something they have been waiting for, all the conspiracies could
Joyner Lucas Morgan Jacobson Reporter
On November 28, 2017, rapper Joyner Lucas dropped a new song titled “I’m Not Racist”, the song touches on racial events that have occured over the last few years. In the video, you see a white male, right away you notice a “Make America Great Again” hat and that’s when he starts mimicking over Joyner’s lyrics.
be finally put to rest, for others it could almost be too much for a president that had been killed over 50 years ago. Over one thousand documents about the assassination written by then FBI director Hoover, and much more were released on October 26th 2017. The documents vary from things such as the soviet union's response to president Kennedy's assassination, death and responses to the assassination of the assassin himself, Lee Harvey Oswald. For more information on the files released, you can visit: https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/2017-release.
Writing poetry is something that Thomas Jefferson sophomore, Jane Helms, has always been passionate about. She had the feeling that no one shared the same love for poetry that she did. Luckily for her, she found a group of people to share her passion with. As a freshman, she found her place in the slam poetry club at TJ, Louder than a Bomb, and is now one of two students that have
returned for a second year of competing. Helms become amazed by the members of the club from previous years. Although, the team was small she didn’t mind because everyone was close and had a family feeling. “I feel pretty accomplished that I got published on teen ink,” stated Helms. “I was honestly shocked at first because I know that piece wasn’t my best work.” When asked about possibly becoming a writing as a future career she didn’t rule it out. “At this point in time, I’m not sure what I want to do with
ENTERTAINMENT
When the camera pans across his table, you see a young black male listening to this man spew out his opinion of what he thinks about the black race but the very end, it ends with “I’m not racist, but there’s two sides to every story, I just wish I knew yours.” Joyner then switches up the second verse through the eyes of the young black man, and it covers over what he has been through from white people using the “N” word, past slaves in family, the fear of getting pulled
Photo provided by: Wikipedia
over just because of skin colors and so many more. Certain verses like this: “When Eminem went against Trump that was the illest, cause even if he’s white, he let us know he standing with us.” One of the biggest parts of the video is during the ending of the video, after all of the arguing
Adriana Ibarra Reporter
and anger spit back and forth, the men get up and hug. Joyner’s song shines a light on racism in the 21st century. It shows that you shouldn’t judge a book by a cover and that everyone has a different back story, take time to know one another.
my life or what career I’d like to pursue, but I haven’t ruled out writing as a possibility.” In her life, Helms has used poetry as an outlet for her depression, and her family is very supportive of her. “My family has helped me get to where I am. I’ve struggled a lot with depression and mental issues, but my family has always supported me.” As just a sophomore, Helms has set an example for her fellow classmates and the ones to follow. We wish the best of luck to Helms as she continues her writing journey!
Thomas Rhett: Home Team Tour Emily Eikenberry Reporter On December 2nd, 2017, country singers, Thomas Rhett, Old Dominion, and Walker Hayes came to the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. This group of bands were called the HomeTeam. Walker Hayes was the first to come out on stage, and the crowd was screaming with excitement. He sang Shut up Kenny, which is a song about Kenny Chesney, he had a setlist of songs of Save It For a Rainy Day that Chesney wrote about a girl breaking up with him. Hayes did an excellent job getting the crowd hyped up for Old Dominion and Thomas Rhett. One of his newer songs that he sang was You Broke Up With Me, it is about his ex breaking up with him and her trying to get back with him.Hayes wrote a song about DollarTree and he did really good about describing his relationship with him and his kids. Next to come on stage was
The HomeTeam came to Omaha Nebraska for their last concert together. Photo by: Emily Eikenberry
Old Dominion with a standing ovation from crowd. They are a small town band wanted to make it big, they have done just that. They sang SnapBack, which is a song about a girl they like and her snapback hat that she always wears. Old Dominion did a good job at keeping the crowd going. They wrote No Such Thing As a Broken Heart this year and it was a big hit, they wrote the song about how you can’t fix everything but you have to keep moving in life. 30 seconds before Thomas
Rhett came out, they had a 30 second countdown before he came up from under the stage. In 2012 Thomas Rhett was just becoming a famous person so many people didn’t know about him and he played at a local bar in Nebraska where only 48 people showed up for the concert. Five years later in Omaha, Nebraska he had a crowed of 14,000 plus people cheering him on. At the concert he brought his dad, Rhett Akins, along with him and they sang a couple of old songs. Rhett and his father did a good job of keeping the crowd
Even more stories online! Visit bit.ly/SignalNews
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