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May 2019
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“Thomas Jefferson is a great place to be” Left to right: Janie Wolfe Rogers, Jim White, David Coziahr, and Jon Narmi holding thier awards.
Emily Eikenberry Reporter
Thomas Jefferson High School held 20th class induction for the Hall of Fame on May 3rd, 2019. This year there were four people who got inducted: David Coziahr (‘77), current school board president and businessman; Jon Narmi (‘65), founding partner and Director of the Narmi Group at Baird; Janie Wolfe Rogers (‘98), businesswoman; and Jim White (‘80) Senior Vice President at HR at Paramount Pictures. In 1965, Narmi graduated from TJ beginning his career in the investment business. “My counselor said I wasn’t fit for college, so I started in college prep classes.” Narmi was also enrolled in creative writing classes at TJ,
Photo By: Rob Lindquist
where his love for writing eventually lead to him finishing his first novel SEAL Team 6, bin Laden and Beyond in 2011. Coziahr graduated in 1977, he worked for his family business, Coziahr Heating and Air Conditioning. He is currently our
school board president. “The teacher’s relationships with me impacted my education and has taught me that you are always learning,” he said. White graduated in 1980, he has successfully held executive level careers in high profile en-
tertainment companies including BlockBuster Entertainment, Universal Music Group/Napster for, Activision/Blizzard for, currently White is working as a Senior Vice President for Human Resources at Paramount Pictures. Wolfe Rogers graduated in
1998. She first invested in real estate in 2003 with her now husband, Ryan. Wolfe Rogers focuses on her businesses throughout Council Bluffs. “TJ is the underdog,” said Wolfe Rogers. “I think we need to prove that we are as good [as Omaha]. We need to flip it [the perception] upside down.” Jon Narmi summed up his speach with a true ode to his alma mater, “TJ is a great place to be.”
Democratic Presidential nominee visits Farewell Wilson Middle School
Seniors
It’s almost the end of the school year, time to say your goodbyes to the class of 2019. The seniors are leaving for college, for work, or for whatever they plan on doing in their future. Congratulations on making it through high school, seniors! The Signal wishes all of you good luck with your future and have fun!
Alysa Arthur Reporter
Democratic Presidential nominee Beto O’Rourke (whose legal name is Robert Francis O’Rourke) traveled to Wilson Middle School to campaign for his chance at the 2020 ticket. His town hall covered a lot of different topics, which included education, equal rights, healthcare, and the future as a whole. “We want to make sure that all students that graduate here, and in all of America, are college ready. And not just ready, but able to do that without the price being a barrier.” His plan to do that invovles free higher education. “I want to make sure that community college is free to every American.” He went on that public four-year universities, which are publicly financed and public facing, should not present a financial obstacle for students entry. He also wants increasing teacher and staff pay at all levels. A lot of teachers have to work a couple of jobs because they
Beto O’Rourke delivering his speech and hoping to get the votes needed for the Democratic nomination before the 2020 Presidential election. Photo By: Chrisha Doss
aren’t paid enough to only teach. He wants all teachers to only have to work one job to make ends meet. To his crowd, the candidate reiterated that women are still making less than men, and he wants to change this, too. While strong on rhetoric, Beto also sprinkled in the plans for making these things happen. “If we’re gonna be able to move on healthcare, economy, on immigration, and climate, it’s
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not just me. It’s not just being one party, not just being one person in the White House but, all of us together.” Immigration reform is needed in a safe way. “Let’s rewrite our immigration laws to reflect the value that they bring,” he said. He said we can do this by fixing the visa system so those that want to join families, or work jobs, or go to school, and contribute to this greatness of a society can.
Health care is very expensive, the Representative from El Paso, TX said. “There are people with insurance that can not afford their medications. There are nurses administering insulin who can not afford it for themselves.” He included that all should be able to see doctors and nurses, not only for physical health, but also for mental health. During the question/answer portion of his stop, a question about climate change came from the crowd. “If left unchecked, generations after us are in for a hell we can’t even imagine,” he said. The U.S. must transition to renewable energy, he continued. Farmers should be given incentives to plant cover crops to reduce carbon dioxide levels. The next event O’Rourke will be speaking at that Iowans can see is during a CNN town hall on May 21st.
Editorial
THE SIGNAL
The Signal’s view: Know What’s The Signal Editorial Physical relationships between students and teachers haven’t really been brought up in our community. Although they might be rare, unfortunately, they still do happen, and this has to stop. It’s our responsibility to help report these inappropriate relationships if we know about them. The recent incident at Abraham Lincoln should be a reminder that this could happen anywhere. The Daily Nonpariel stated that “Iowa law establishes 16 years of age as the age of consent to engage in sex, but state law also prohibits school employees from having any sexual contact with students, regardless of the age of the student.” With this case being so close to home, we need to talk about it. While it may seem like it was consensual, it’s not. Students could be coerced, or even “groomed,” into thinking that what they are doing is okay. The manipulation by the adult is not only illegal, but it could also be devastating to the student in the long run. If a friend is in a relationship, it may be difficult to let the staff know about that situation; but, if you don’t speak up then it may continue to happen. The Council Bluffs Community School District released this statement Thursday, May 1, from Superintendent Vickie Murillo
regarding the arrest: “We are disturbed by the outcome of the investigation. The safety of our students is and will always be our priority.” Some ways that you can protect yourself from getting in a situation similar to the one that happened recently in our community is by not giving your personal contact information, like your phone number to the staff members, if they want to get ahold of you for school reasons they have your email or other ways, such as Remind. Another way to prevent these types of situations is to not follow or accept a request of staff members personal social media accounts. Along with other things that Dr. Murillo stated, this was the most important for each and every one of you to understand. Your safety is the top priority at school. But, if you don’t speak up and let a trusted adult know what has been going on, it could go without recognition. Trusted teachers and adults will follow through on their role as mandatory reporters. They are here to help, and they can help, but you need to go up to them and tell them about what is going on. If this is happening to you, a friend or anybody attending our school, you need to speak up. We understand that this might be a difficult task, but a physical relationship with a student and a teacher is illegal.
Write Touch Magazine
Heather Giovannoni Reporter
Students were chosen from Council Bluffs, Lewis Central, Saint Albert, Heartland Christian, Children’s Square, and Iowa School for the Deaf for publication in the community literary magazine, The Write Touch. The Write Touch is a magazine published annually by the Council Bluffs Community School District, along with the Council Bluffs Optimist Club. The people in charge of this magazine want to share the students writing and artwork who were chosen with schools and the community. Four TJ students’ work will be featured in the Write Touch, along with the teacher who helped them enter. Samantha Avalos Banderas (writing/ Harris), Breana Rowell (writing/ Lindquist); Serina Meinecke (art/ Mimick) and Kailey
Rablin (art/Mimick). Any student can enter any creative writing that they have done, from short stories to poems, to artwork they turn it into a teacher and that teacher can submit it with their name on it. “Samantha Avalos wrote a story about her parents coming over to this country, and the struggles that they dealt with to get here. It’s a very heartfelt, personal story” stated Kristy Harris Harris continued, “We edited it down to 500 words so that it could fit into the magazine, and they liked it and they took that one.” The students who had their stories chosen were invited to a breakfast on Thursday, May 9th. These students received a copy of the magazine and a trophy to go with it. You can find an online copy at our website bit.ly/SignalNews
Editor-in-Chief Emily Eikenberry
Inappropriate
Copy Editor Katelyn Gwennap Paginator Emily Eikenberry Staff Kelise Anderson Kayleigh Cooper Riah Davis Jordan Fay Heather Giovannoni Katelyn Gwennap Krista Meyer Adviser Rob Lindquist Phone: 712-328-6493 Facebook: CBJacketJournalism Twitter:@TJHSJournalism Web: cbjacketjournalism.com Snapchat: tjhsjournalism
The Signal is a school-sponsored publication of Thomas Jefferson High School 2501 W. Broadway Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501. The Signal’s office is located in the upper library. The Signal is printed by OH-K FASTPRINT in Omaha, NE. The Signal is a school-sponsored-publication and therefore recognizes its responsibility to stay within the boundaries that the school administrator sets. The Signal will therefore inform its readers using a high standard of morals and ethics. The Signal encourages readers to respond in the form of letters to the editor, which can be sent to room C128. The Signal’s editorial staff reserves the right to edit the letters for grammatical errors and to remove any profanity. The editors also reserve the right to exclude letters that are false in their statements or accusations. The Signal will not accept advertisements that promote activities illegal to minors. Advertising rates are available upon request.
NSPA Member Publication IHSPA Member Publication
Physical relationships between teachers and students are not appropriate in any way. Graphic by: Jordan Fay
NEWS
“TheBy: Breana Recipes” Rowell
The following piece of fiction was written by Breana Rowell and published in the 2019 Write Touch magazine. A copy can be found in the TJ Library or online at bit.ly/SignalNews
Once long ago, there was an old woman who was near the end of life. She held an abundance of marvelous recipes. The old woman never had any children. Which meant nobody to share, or pass her recipes on to, be experienced for generations to come. Simultaneously, there was a young freelance chef who only had inadequate recipes. He searched for anyone who had recipes to share. When visiting the library one day, looking for cookbooks he met the old woman. They then arranged cooking sessions every day at the old woman’s house so he could learn all the recipes she had acquired throughout many years of life. After the first session, the young chef went home and knitted a square for an afghan blanket. He began to do this every day, after every session. This went
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on for months, with the blanket looking better each day. Over the months the old woman’s health deteriorated at a much faster pace than it had before. Eventually, the chef finished the blanket and went to deliver it to the old woman the next day. When he entered she was bedridden unable to get up to go anywhere. When the chef gave her the blanket she unhesitatingly began using it to keep warm. The young chef soon realized she wasn’t up for teaching her session that day. However he wanted to talk. After a long discussion that lasted hours, the young chef eyes began to grow tears. “Please don’t leave me! I never want you to go!” The young chef said through his tears “I have so many recipes or yours left to learn!”
“Silence young man, I will always be with you, even if you can’t see me, as long as you have my recipes a part of me is still with you. Then one day once you get your own recipes and share them all, you will join me once more.” The young chef and the old woman then sat quietly side by side in silence the rest of the morning. Before the sun hit its highest peak at noon, the old woman fell into eternal rest. The young chef stayed by her side until he had no more tears left to cry. He then called to report the old woman’s death. The old woman had no family. She had left all her money to the young chef. The young chef bought a restaurant so the old woman’s recipes could be appreciated by everyone for generations to come.
NEWS
Jacket Journalism recieves awards TJHS Jacket Journalism recieved many awards this Spring, including a News Team of the Year Finalist awared from the Iowa High School Press Association. Below: Paxton DeVault’s photo of President Donald Trump, titled “I can’t hear you” recieved first place in the IHSPA News Photo Category.
Keslise Anderson Reporter This year, TJ’s Jacket Journalism won three awards from the Iowa High School Press Association 2019 contest, with two of the awards being First place in their categories. One of the accomplishments that Jacket Journalism won was a Class B News Team of the Year finalist. Another one of the awards was TJ’s Jacket Journalism taking home first place in the IHSPA Spring contest News Photo. The photo was taken by sophomore Paxton DeVault, her photo is of President Trump with the title of “I can’t hear you.”
Paxton Devault also won second place for Photography Feature for “Crowd Reaction” and also earned an honorable mention for her photo of President Trump which did a great job capturing the President in his pose. TJ’s Jacket Journalism also took another first place win in the IHSPA competition for Multimedia News led by senior
Chrystina Winchell’s work with her SwarmTV story about the Governor of Iowa visiting TJ’s Tradeworks Academy Program. Braxten Graef and Alex Luna contributed with video and photos of the event, and all content contributed to this award. Winchell also earned the 2019 Jacket Journalism Key Staffer award for her amazing work on both The Signal and SwarmTV.
and as a team. The volleyball team had a decent season with lots of improvement and we’re hoping for a better season next year. The girls swim team had a good season with individual wins and relays. For winter sports we have: bowling, basketball, wrestling, and boys swim. The boys and girls bowling teams had a great season with the girls being MRC champs, boys placing first place at State, and Mrs. Storey being named the boy’s coach of the year. The boy’s basketball team didn’t have the best season but they can come back next year better than ever. The girl’s basketball team had a great season this year with a season score of 12 wins and 10 losses. For the wrestling team, they had a great season with Cameron Baker who showed how much he cared with all of the work ethic that he put in in order for TJ to make it to the finals and giving TJ another State finalist. Ms. Mimick, TJ’s Art teacher gave her top three favorite art showcases from this year. One of them is from Students artwork being published in the Write Touch magazine, the Fine arts festival at the Harvester in April, plus more student artwork that is being displayed at the Artists Cooperative Gallery in the Old Market. Throughout the whole year, band and choir also did their best performances with Ms. Todd,
who is TJ’s band teacher. She gave her own personal top three favorite band and choir moments of this year. “Some of my favorite moments in band this year include traveling with students to marching band competitions, performing for parents and community members at concerts, and seeing the growth of students throughout the year. Performances are important, but seeing students improve their skills from day one to the end of the year is the best part for me.” Ms. Custer, TJ’s drama teacher, who will be leaving at the end of the year, gave her own favorite moments from this year by saying, “Definitely our musical that we had in December, Evil Dead the Musical, the high school version and we also had a amazing speech season as well with a lot of different groups doing a lot of different things. “I hope the new and old students will get along with the new drama teacher and I hope that the drama department stays really active and stays positive and keeps showing off all that talent that they have and the dedication. I also hope that they work really well with the new drama teacher who is a super cool person so I am sure that everything will be fine. “Out of everything this year, Evil Dead was my favourite event that happened this year because it was really really fun”.
End of year Recap
Keslise Anderson Reporter The 2018-2019 school year may be a year to remember for some. Like TJ’s students or staff with this year’s events and their favorite moments, such as TJ’s Second Trimester Honor Roll turnouts, or when the Governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, visited TJ to have a look at the Tradeworks Academy, who was left impressed as she left the tour. Another favourite event for some students at TJ is the construction of the Single Occupancy bathroom that is going to be located in TJ’s library. As a reminder, this year was the last year of having a trimester schedule for CB High Schools. With starting the 2019-2020 school year, we will be switching to a semester schedule at TJ and AL, which will bring many changes. We will also be starting school at 8:00 AM next year. As well as the school being redone or being changed, our sports will be changing a lot next year. For the fall of 2018, our sport are: football, boys golf, volleyball, and girls swim. The football team had a good year but they are losing a lot of seniors who held the team together. They are going to have to work harder and come together to continue having more good seasons. The boy’s golf had a good season by improving individually
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For next year, Journalism adviser Rob Lindquist has decided to have co-editors for the newspaper: Emily Eikenberry will reprise her role with Katelyn Gwennap adding in. Alejandro Luna will be the next producer of SwarmTV. And the next yearbook editor is Cyann Rankin, with section editors Neyla Walton and Emma Mueller, and Business Manager
Chrisha Doss. Congratulations to everyone who has been chosen for a leadership role. If you see any of Lindquist’s staff, please congratulate them for these outstanding and wellearned awards. You can find all of our award winners online at bit.ly/SignalNews
Great Opportunity For Ms. Williams
It’s a great honor for the school and Ms. Williams for getting to know more to teach her students and get them more engared in learning Photo By: Katelyn Gwennap
Kayleigh Cooper Reporter This summer, one of our science teachers here at TJ is participating in an Iowa Governor’s STEM council teacher externship. This teacher is Ms.Williams. She will be working at the Omaha Zoo’s wildlife Safari Park. It will be like a normal job considering she will be working 8 hours 5 days a week. Her job there will be for 5-6 weeks. Ms. Williams will most likely begin this project the week after school gets out. She will be work-
ing with other employees at the ZOO on there Citizen Science Projects on monarch butterflies research and habitat monitoring. The project she is working on is to take a professional science teacher works with a STEM professional and they design and come up with lessons for students. This project is very hands on and it will be easy to use this project in the classroom.
NEWS
Revisiting a Movie: Reviewing Coco By: Melanie Martinez
Ed. note -The following review was done by an Intro to Journalism student and was a movie that was seen, “new to me” by the student.
Katelyn Gwennap Reporter Mental Health is a battle that many people including adolescents are fighting every day. Ending the silence is a presentation that was created to combat the stigma that was created with mental illness. Emanuel Lutheran Church is hosting an event, staring Connie Grunder. She is presenting the Ending the Silence presentation on May 19th, on 2444 North Broadway from 11 am to 12 pm. According to LiveScience. com, about 1 in 5 teens in the United States suffer from mental disorders to the point where it impacts their daily lives. Gunder works with NAMI which stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness, Gunder’s own son suffered from Bi-polar 1
disorder and psychosis. Bi-polar disorder is when the person suffering from it experiences states of depression and states of Mania. Unlike unipolar which is just depression. Mania is when they are too optimistic about everything, it is also called the Vegas stage because they will make irrational decisions about everything. While the depression stage is where people suffering has suicidal thoughts and feel like no one is there for them. “Anxiety disorders, such as panic disorders and social phobia, were the most common conditions (31.9 percent of teens had such a disorder)” stated LiveScience.com
Gunder got started with NAMI about 4 years ago by attending Family to Family classes and now she is the coordinator for their Ending the Silence presentation. Anxiety and mood disorders have a big impact on many people in the U.S. and the reputation that having mental illnesses that have been created by movies and social media makes people be frightened of the people that are affected by mental disorders. Which could make their Mental State worse. Emanuel Lutheran Church also hosts a Mental Health Advocacy and Awareness group on the first and third Sunday of every month from 11 am to 12 pm.
The movie Coco, starring Anthony Gonzalez as the voice of Miguel, Gael Garcia Bernal as the voice of Hector, and Benjamin Bratt as the voice of Ernesto De La Cruz is set in Santa Cecilia, an imaginary town in Mexico. Coco is an animated family movie about tradition and following your dreams. Coco is all about traditions and the customs of our ancestors on Dia De Los Muertos, just like our grandparents and parents teach us, to carry on the tradition of our ancestors. In Coco, the protagonist Miguel loves music with his whole heart but unfortunately, his family forbids music. Miguel wants to grow up and be a musician but his family wants him to join the family shoe business. Although, Miguel discovers that his great-great-grandfather was a musician and Miguel accidentally enters the world of the dead on a journey to find him. In the world of the dead Miguel encounters Hector and they become instant friends and Hector agrees to help Miguel find his great-greatgrandfather. The culture appreciation to
Mexico and this holiday is very well represented in this movie. Ofrendas are used to welcome someone who has passed into the world. They are very colorful and full of the things that they used to love when they were alive and this movie perfectly represents them, Miguel’s family and other ofrendas in the movie are perfect representations of what they look like. Dia De (Los) Muertos is an actual holiday that people in Mexico take very seriously. It is a holiday to welcome and spend a night with loved ones that have passed and this movie once again represents this perfectly and respectfully. Coco is such an amazing movie that everyone should see. It is appropriate for all ages and teaches great lessons about family love, tradition and following your heart. Coco also teaches about the Mexican culture and the beautiful reasoning behind Dia De Muertos. Memories help us keep our loved ones in our minds and hearts. When you have memories it’s like your holding onto a rope with your loved ones but once you forget and you let go of that rope your loved one disappears.
Promise for Paws Senior Dogs
Riah Davis Reporter
The Promise for Paws Senior Dog Sanctuary is having a drive. They are accepting donations from May 6th to May 10th. Any donations can be given to B219 or Kandice Myers. “I felt that these dogs were in such an amazing environment, but I couldn’t help but wonder how this facility was run,” stated Kandice. Over the summer, Kandice visited this sanctuary and it touched her heart knowing all these dogs were getting help so she decided to dig into it a little more. “I learned from one of the volunteers that the facility was non-profit and therefore thrived within the limits of the founders and volunteers own banks. And that, because of this, donations were essential to the growth and continuance of the home.”
After finding out this information, she wanted to help out as much as she could. She hopes to get donations of what they need and so much more. All food items that are needed are green beans, rice, canned pumpkin, hotdogs, cheese, pill pockets, marshmallows They are also in need of cleaning supplies such as Clorox wipes/cleaning wipes, Windex, bleach cleaners,
Swiffer and pads, and just general household cleaning supplies. Other items that would be greatly appreciated are toilet paper, paper towels, dishwasher soap, dish soap, hand soap, HE laundry detergent, and vinegar. Having all these items will help keep their sanctuary going. Since they are a non-profit facility, they will take all the help they can get.
“Having this sanctuary provides a safe place for these dogs to be taken, and provides them a feeling of happiness,” she said. This facility gives the older dogs the chance to continue or maintain a happy, healthy life. This ensures that old dogs will have a place to live and will not have to finish there life in a shelter. “This sanctuary prevents them
from being euthanized at shelters due to old age or a lack of adoption, which is sadly common.” This program frowns upon dogs being put down for being of old age. They want these dogs to be able to live the longest life possible, even if they have to help the dog regain stability of their health. Some older dogs that are put down the reason for it can be preventable, it is just a lack of money and this program is here to prevent that from happening. This is how we can start helping dogs in need. All the supplies will be donated to The Promise for Paws Senior Dog Sanctuary on Friday the 10th. Any other donations that you are willing to give can be dropped off at The Promise for Paws Senior Dog Sanctuary at any time. If you are willing to do this they are located on 1027 S 3rd Street.
Even more stories online! Visit bit.ly/SignalNews Page 4
