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March, 2012
Music Trends By:Brooklyn Holder Reporter Music was Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd in the 1970’s. In the 1980’s, music trends were characterized by Joan Jett and Madonna. For the 1990’s, it was New Kids On The Block and Nirvana. But this is where music trends started to differ and defining the decade was harder. The 2000’s brought us Matchbox 20 and Christina Aguilera. Many bands are known to only so many people, and if you mention a band name such as Paper Tongues, the majority of people might respond with a puzzled look. On the other hand, if you mention a name like Drake, or Nicki Minaj, many people know exactly who you are talking about. So what is it about music these days? What makes some music artists more known than others? How do people hear about these bands and artists? “I grew up on 80’s rock like Poison and Bon Jovi. I also listen to country music like Dolly Parton and Reba. I felt as if while listening to Nirvana, Kurt Cobain’s lyrics spoke to me as did Bret Michaels and Jon Bon Jovi. Just knowing that someone has gone through what you have gone through what you have, makes you feel less of a freak. The country music came from my parents strict southern values which reflect that type of music,” junior Kim Embery said. Country music seems to be something some students have in common. “I listen to country, my mom listened to it and I never used to like it. But when my mom and I would go somewhere, that’s all we would listen to. A lot of the music is slow and some of the music expresses how I feel and the way I am,” sophomore Emma Edison said. But students have completely different music styles. “I listen to the radio station Power 106.9. I grew up listening to it because that is what my family listened to,” sophomore Jessica Meehan said. “I like the music because I can relate to the people or how the people think. It has a nice beat and rhythm.” Though there is a wide range of preferences when it comes to music, there is no set genre for this generation. So is music defining how our students act and the choices they make? Embery’s opinion is that “music does influence a lot of peoples’ actions and choices. Whether that choice is drugs or the way they dress. Look at MTV and the influences reality shows and music videos have made.”
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A class with no rules
By: Allie Townsend Reporter Attention incoming seniors! Would you not love to have a class that you can make up what you want to learn about and follow through with it? Next school year, 2012-2013, at Thomas Jefferson High School is going to have as class just for seniors. The Senior Project Class is a class that will last one trimester long and it is a program that offers the senior four credits if they pass it. This program is a pass or fail class; either the senior passes or fails. “The Senior Project is open to all senior status students that will have all or most of their required credits for graduation completed by the second trimester of their senior year,” Supervisor of Secondary Education and for-
By: Ciera Simbro Reporter
March Second. A day not only celebrated nationally as Read Across America Day, but also Theodor Geisel’s birthday. But who is he? You might know him better as Dr. Seuss. Seuss was born March second, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts to parents Theodor and Henrietta Geisel. After leaving Springfield as a teenager, Seuss attended Dartmouth college in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he worked as editor-inchief of The Jack-O-Lantern, the college’s humor magazine. After graduating from Dartmouth, Seuss moved to England to attend Oxford University. His studies there bored him, so he instead spent his time travelling Europe. Upon returning to the United States,
mer Principal of TJHS, Judith O’Brien said. Seniors in this class will have the opportunity to pick a subject that they are passionate about and do a complete in-depth study about it. In this program, there are going to be 25 seniors picked from Abraham Lincoln High School and TJHS. There will be an application and interview procedure. Because this class is a new elective, there is going to be an informational meeting with the seniors and their legal guardians. At the meeting they inform the students on what is required and how the class will go. The district is doing this because they want to prevent students dropping the class if they do not like it. “A Senior Project class will meet for one period daily for approximately
the first three weeks of the trimester,” O’Brien said. After the first three weeks of the class, the student will then meet with their mentor and school advisor once a week. They will discuss what the next deadline is and how the student will meet it. Of course, at the end of the class, there will be a, “culminating celebration exhibition”. This celebration is where all the information that the student learned is going to be put on display to inform anyone who is willing to learn. “It is an opportunity to apply all of what they [seniors] have learned during high school to a project that makes a difference to the student,” O’Brien said. The students who think that there are pointless things that they learn in class, this class can help those students use
Dr. Seuss’ Birthday
Photo of Dr. Seuss found on findingdulcinea.com
Seuss took up a career as a cartoonist and had some of his work published in local newspapers, advertisements for companies, and animated training film series for the Army. Seuss’ first big break into children's literature was provided by Viking Press when
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they asked him to illustrate a collection of children’s stories. Though the book was not a commercial success, the illustrations received excellent reviews. Publishing his first book, And to Think That I saw it on Mulberry Street, was a bit more of a task however, as it was rejected
the little specks of information that they acquired over the years. This class is supposed to help the students open their minds and have positive output on the society around them. To join this class any up coming seniors need to talk to their counselors when they are registering. From there, your counselor will work with you to do everything that you need to join this class. “I am very excited about this opportunity for senior students. What a wonderful opportunity to design your own learning,” O’Brien stated. For further information about The Senior Project Class, please contact your counselor. You can also see a video introduction to the class at: http://bit.ly/xJJshF
27 times before being accepted. Before he passed away on September 24, 1991, Seuss wrote and illustrated 44 children’s books including Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Some of his books such as, Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who, The Lorax, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, were made into movies. Seuss was also awarded two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award, and a Pulitzer Prize for his work. Time to give a birthday wish to the man who wrote about red fish, a cat in a hat, and the wonderful sounds of Mr. Brown (he can Moo, can you?). Information on Seuss was found at http://www.cati n t h e h a t . o r g / h i s t o r y. h t m
Don’t take offense! By: Jill Gunzenhauser Opinion Writer Sitting around the lunch table just having a conversation with friends can become wild and crazy, and none of us take it offensively. However, away from the lunch table we have to be a little more careful with what we say. Thomas Jefferson High School houses a variety of people, and with such diversity, the chances of offending someone are high. Too many people take offense too easily to the things people around them say. Names that friends call each other can turn into a fist fight with someone else, and that fact is ludicrous. Unless a student walks up to you and calls you horrible and degrading names and means them, there is no reason to make a scene over them. The amount of people who are offended by certain religions or religious jokes is growing it seems like. Even when I was an avid church-goer I did not take offense to the things people would say to me about it. I laughed along with their jokes and answered any of the questions I could, whether they were serious or just questions meant to rile me up. If I can do that, why can others not? Then there are the people who take every joke seriously. It’s a joke. It’s supposed to be laughed at, shared, or forgotten. They aren’t meant purposely to offend someone. People just need to learn how to let it slide off their skin. Besides, some people who tell offensive jokes will feed off the reaction of the one person who takes the joke seriously. It’s better to laugh and walk away in the long run. Clothes. This has become a colossal deal. With more and more teenagers wearing shirts and accessories with vulgar sayings or repulsive images, more and more adults fight back and take offense to the clothing. I personally do not care to see some guy walking down the halls with a belt that says “I <3 BOOBIES,” but I’m not going to make a tremendous deal out of it because that’s what they want. I can’t make people stop being offended, and I can’t stop offending people, but all I ask, is that someone step up and realize that not everything is worth flipping out. If some people worked on laughing off the things that bother them, or even just nicely and calmly pointing out what bothered them, life would run more smoothly. I wouldn’t mind being able to joke around with my friends without someone butting in and telling me that’s offensive. So try to lighten up and just have some fun!
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Spring sports preview
By: Abi Raymer, Allie Townsend and Kaylinn Taggart As the weather begins warming up, winter sports leave and spring sports take its place. The outdoor sports such as soccer, track, golf, and tennis all start to kick off with the new weather. You can find all of the spring sports’ schedules online at www.missouririverconf.org. Soccer Heading into the season the boys’ soccer coach, Mr. Matt Young, plans to improve weekly and maintain an average of about 30-40 players. “One thing I would like to see this year is for some of our older players to step up
Photo of senior Tricia Brown for soccer.
and take the leadership role on the team,” Young said. Young also mentioned that the team’s main goal is to make it to the state tournament this year but also wants to retain the title as City Champions for the 6th year in a row and to be conference champions going into the post season playoffs.
the upcoming meets. The first month of the season can be a grind. We need to keep them excited and aware that good times are ahead,” said coach Nepple. With a load of new talent this year, the team looks froward to a fun up looking season. “We have a very talented group of athletes,” Nepple commented.
Track With a team of 56, the largest team Mr. Patrick Nepple has seen in his 15 years at Thomas Jefferson High School, girls’ track kick of the season, striving to achieve their goals. “Right now, we just need to keep all of the girls motivated and get them prepared for
Girls Golf One thing that the girls’ golf team is striving for this year is to increase their numbers. “I want to have more girls go out this year than last, and build our numbers so that we have strong competition for roster spots,” golf Coach Mr. Rob Dittmer said. Last year, the team had about
Photo of juniors, Carly Williamson and Ejanae Hume , practicing for track
Photo of senior, Sadie Wood, practicing for golf
First there were eight...
By: Allie Townsend and Kaylinn Taggart
To be able to have an activity in school, there has to be people interested in it. If people are not interested in that particular activity, the activity slowly becomes extinct. In every club, the numbers of students are cyclical. It varies from students’ interest with what is supplied by the school. This fact is the cause of many great clubs and activities downfall. Some clubs and activities that are effected by small numbers at Thomas Jefferson High School are boys and girls golf, the chess team, boys and girls swim, and even the school newspaper. Lack of students in clubs
and activities may be because people just do not know about them, or they do not know where to go to sign up for the specific activities or clubs. Any student can sign up for a club or activity in the main office or by talking with the teacher in charge of it. Activities that are classes can be signed up for in the counseling center. Clubs and activities require some kind of commitment. This means that the student involved needs to be willing to do the work and meet deadlines. Deadlines in any class are important. Sometimes deadlines are met and other times they are missed. The same is with this newspaper staff. Even with eight people working hard to get sto-
... And then there were two
ries done, it was barely printed on time. Now with the third trimester underway, there are only two students left in the course. The newspaper only publishes and prints once a month. The finished paper, a front and back 17 x 11, is supposed to be handed out around the first of each month. This class, and many others, could very well end within the next few years if students do not choose to get involved. Regardless of that, this article was written as a reminder to keep students involved in school activities, not as a plea for more people to join. This was also written to raise awareness of the fact that if students do not participate in activities, such as the newspaper, they will cease to exist.
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five or six girls on the team. The more girls there are to play, the more likely that the six spots in their competitions are filled. “I expect us to have more reliable, dependable workers who strive to get better every day,” said Dittmer. Tennis Finally, tennis is also right around the corner. The team is made up of mostly underclassmen. “I think that the girls will try a lot harder this year and be more concentrated on the game,” senior ConTessa Bazer said. “I would also like to see us grow as a team.” Good luck to all of the teams in their upcoming season!
Photo of senior Brandon Brown and junior Kyle Hall for tennis
Signal bulletin: -The yearbook staff has changed their previous goal from selling 300 yearbooks to selling 250 yearbooks. This means that they are only 33 yearbooks away from their new goal. -Tickets are on sale in the main office for the dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace, March 23 and 24 at 7:30 p.m. Adult tickets are $5 and student tickets are $3. -Sign up for spring sports in the Main Office! -Congratulations to juniors, Sarah Ingwerson and JaVohn Rollins for moving on to State Speech Competition. -Mr. Loots is taking applications for current or former CE Government students to travel to Des Moines on March 23rd for Capitol Youth Day.
Seniors’ corner -Seniors looking for money for college can go to College Click every Tursday from 3-4 pm. It is open to anyone in the library who needs help with scholarships or has questions.
College Visits:
*3/1 University of Northern Iowa- 2nd hour *3/6 Missouri Western- 4th hour *3/8 Iowa Western Community College- 4th hour *3/13 University of Omaha- 2nd hour
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