Alexus Cleavenger News staff final

New Staff Final

By: Alexus Cleavenger

A New Start, A New Coach for Cheer They amaze the crowd with shocking stunts that hit every time, along with tumbling that makes the crowd go wild. After practicing tirelessly for long hours, the coach smiles as she realizes that their hard work is paying off.

Seeing the team’s determination, she feels accomplished. Between the sweat and the strain, these moments of success come through in just another day in the life of a cheer coach.

Trying to balance the life of a mom, wife, business owner, and cheer coach is hard work. This challenge is not beyond the capacity of coach Jessica Sanchez.

At the age of eight, she started cheering in Pop Warner and continued in cheer through high school. She was not only involved with cheerleading as a kid, but she participated in gymnastics and karate.

“My parents were very supportive of me and with whatever I wanted to do,” Sanchez said. “I was a busy kid and I continue to be a very busy adult.”

She definitely has cheer experience, since she cheered almost all of her life and is thrilled to bring that enthusiasm to University.

“I had been asked by several girls to take on the job and there is a lot of talent in this area and it is a shame that a huge high school like University didn’t have a coach that really wanted to commit to the girls,” Sanchez said. “I definitely want to commit to the girls and not only to the girls there, but to the girls coming as well.”

Not only does she want to want to commit, but she is willing to create new traditions that take cheerleading at University High School to a whole new level.

“It’s really nice to become a family with the football players as well so that is definitely something that I will be doing,” Sanchez said. “I’ve already reached out to the head football coach and we definitely will be doing events where the football players and the cheerleaders are together. From what I understand, Coach Kells is very excited to work with us and I’m excited too.”

Entering the 2017- 2018 cheer season with a new coach who is passionate about cheer is already a season that is off to a great start. Although, to have an amazing season it is going to take some blood, sweat, and maybe a little tears from everyone. She definitely is looking for a group of girls that want to work hard, but most importantly, have fun together as a team.

Analysis

I think the article i wrote on the new head coach of cheerleading is one of the best articles ive wrote this entire year. There are many things about this article i am proud of. To begin with, the first thing about this article that really sticks out to me is the lead that I wrote. Out of all the articles, i finally learned how to write an anecdote lead and made it sound interesting. I told a mini story using about a cheer coach at a football game to give the reader a visual of cheerleading through a coaches perspective. The lead helps enhance the story and makes it seem interesting to read.Another thing about this article that im most proud of is the structure of the article.

Im proud of the way i wrote it and how every idea links to the next. It fows smoothing and sounds enjoybale to read. Continuing on to that idea, tbis article demonstrates goodjournalism becauseof the style. This article is writin in the form LQTQ which is one on the amny ways you can write a journalistic article. In addition, it demonstrates good journalism by the importance of the article. A new cheer coach to University is an important event and localizes to our school specifically. This article is important to the student body because it entertains the students and shows them why they should join cheer.

It is an exciting piece that really describes the new cheerleading coach in a positive , uplifting way. Although, looking back on it one thing i would change to make it stronger is the wording. I think that some words or phrases i used came across a little confusing, so I think i need to be more direct.

Titans Targeted again Flashing lights, ear piercing sirens, and cameras everywhere. The target had been set but if anything happens run.

The halls of University were empty, each classroom almost bare with only five to seven students in each class. The words that had been marked on the walls had portrayed discomfort and an overall silence had casted upon the school. A threat that could potentially kill many had caused some students to stay home from school.

“I was on my way to school but then my dad called my mom and had convinced her that it wasn’t safe for me to go to school, so we turned around,” freshman Alexa LoBasso said.

The school campus was not as empty as was expected on the day the threat was in effect. Many students actually came to school and treated it as just another normal day in the life of high school students.

“I did send my daughter to school because I was sure the school was going to take the precautions necessary to have the students safe. If anything, it would be the safest day to send your child to school because of all the security that was on campus,” parent Monica Hernandez said.

Students and their parents either got the phone call that was sent out the previous night and just decided to skip school the day of the threat or went to school. “ I felt safe at school because I knew that nothing was going to happen and if something happened we would be safe since there had been a lot of security on campus”, sophomore Tamia McKnight said.

For instance, the previous week there had been a threat made at Lake Mary High School. The threat was written on the bathroom stall warning the students to stay home from school on Monday, February 13th. On the same day a similar threat was made at University. “ I thought it was kind of weird that the same threat happened at both schools.

Which lead me to wonder if there was some kind of connection between these people that were responsible for the threat,” LoBasso said.

The school threat was likely another one of those shenanigans that high school students like to pull. After all, officials are still trying to put together the pieces to figure out who was responsible.

Analysis I think this article is one of the many I wrote that displays my best work. To start off with one thing about this article I am proud of is the lead. I think it gives it that suspense touch to the whole article. It makes the reader think about what could happen next. Another thing I take pride in with this article is the way the article is presented. It covers the angle fully and it provides opinions from not only students, but parents as well. To continue on that idea, this article demonstrates good journalism writing through the style of the article. I used LQTQ to develop my story and each quote flows well with each elaboration. Finally, looking back at this article there are some things that I would change. The first change I would make to it is the headline. I think that the headline is not very originally and I used the word titans in it. Another thing I would change is I would add more to the lead. I think it is short and simply but to make it even better it need some more to it.

One Direction: Where are they now?

Maybe the end of something could lead to a new beginning. I guess nothing ever lasts forever. “I don’t think the band will get back together anytime soon, but they’ll probably tour again when they’re like in their 30s for a reunion like the backstreet boys did, “Freshman Coral Estes said. With the former band One Direction that must be the case.

Recent news came out that the band One Direction had broken up. Most fans are taking the issue quite harsh and they are sticking to the belief that they are just taking a break, voluntarily. After One Direction broke up, the members have been living it up.

The Former band member Harry Styles is busy making a movie. He is starring in a Christopher Nolan film called “Dunkirk”. It has allowed Styles to freely express himself.

He recently has done modeling in a magazine called “Another man”. He is the cover page of this magazine and fans have been going head over heals for this magazine.

“Harry brought in most of the publicity,” Estes said. Which impacted the band the most when they were still together.

On the other hand, the former band member Niall Horan has continued to pursue a career in music and he has decided to go solo. Horan has already released a new song called “This Town” and One Direction fans have already have mixed feelings about it.

“I love it. I’m super proud of Niall for taking advantage of the band’s split and branching out into a career for himself,” Sophomore Jordan Koehler said.

Most fans have been expressing the idea that he has done the most since the band broke up. Out of the students at University that voted on the One Direction poll on twitter, 47% of the students who voted said that Niall Horan has done the most since they split up.

If that is the case then some one directioners disagree with the fact that Niall Horan has done the most since they broke up. The former member Liam Payne has signed with “Republic Records” and is planning to take a solo music career further. Due to him signing with a record company now new music is foreseeable in the future.

“I love it. Even though it’s horrible they aren’t staying all together. Honestly, I’m proud of him. I’m glad that he taking on the solo career. Niall is doing that too. I still love them even if they all have a solo career,” Freshman Kyrah Burch said.

Louis is a dad! After the breakup of One Direction, Louis Tomlinson has been busy parenting as a dad to his new son Freddie. Louis decided to take a break from music unlike some of the other band members wanted to keep pursuing a solo career.

“Zayn leaving was like a jab in their routine that they has just accepted as a way of life.

His departure kind of showed them all this want the only thing they had to do, “Junior Abigail Kellie stated.

Some fans just believe that Zayn Malik, the ex-member of the band was the cause of the bands break up potentially. Without Zayn, the band didn’t really know what direction to continue in so they just went their own separate ways.

After all, the band is just taking a break for a while from each other as some fans would say. But others just believe the band is a wrap.

Even though the band isn’t together, at least they are all doing something that brings them pleasure.

Analysis This article was one of the first articles I wrote this entire year. First off, one thing about this article that I am most proud of is the amount of details that are provided. In the article I describe each band member in great detail and what they are up to now that the band has broken up.

Therefore the article demonstrates good journalism by the style and importance of the article. It demonstrates appropriate style by using LQTQ .

It also localizes to our school because the quotes are student opinioned that are asking what they think about the band and I used a twitter poll to bring it back to our school as well. Finally, looking back at the article there are two distinguished things that I would change to this article. The first thing I would change is the lead. I think it is very wordy and should be shortened. In addition I would take out the quote I put into the lead and I would put it somewhere else in the article where I think it would fit best.

The last thing I would change about this article is the amount of words.

It is very long and the sentences vary between 3-6. It is very wordy and each paragraph needs to be shortened. Other than that, I am proud of one of my first articles and the amount of detail it expresses.

Personal Essay I sporadically jumped out of bed awakening to the excitement and joy of Christmas morning. It was quite an early hour but knowing who had came to visit my house the previous night was worth it. Dashing to the living room where I knew my presents were anxiously waiting to be opened, I started to get into an argument with expectation versus reality.

Knowing the thought that I had believed my parents all of this time was one of the worst feelings. I always went to the mall around Christmas time and sat on Santa’s lap. As far as I can remember, I was scared of Santa Claus and I would always try and figure out if it was the ‘real’ Santa. I remember looking into the dressed up mans’ eyes and felt a sense of happiness when he gave me a warm and welcoming smile. After all those year it’s hard to think that I thought some man dressed up in a Santa Claus suit was actually Santa.

I was such a gullible child and thought I lived in a world full of magic with rainbows that painted the sky and unicorns that roamed the earth.

Although I do think that my parents had done a fabulous job playing off the role of Santa Claus. They always made me write a letter to Santa and would make guilt creep upon me if I ever did something wrong. I remember them always saying, “Santa Claus is always watching”. There was never a time where I didn’t fall for the old trick, but the fact of knowing this magical figure doesn’t exist makes Christmas mornings not the same.

Just imagining that Santa Claus delivers presents to children all over the makes me question: what type of logic is that? Nothing really backs up those facts but the idea that most of the children of the world believe in the figure. After all, kids start to question how a chubby man can squeeze through so many narrow chimneys without getting stuck. Parents and older siblings who know the truth do a good job hiding it. It is truly a hard challenge to hide the truth and when children face the darker reality its devastating. It’s a more powerful and long-lasting than other beliefs of its kind. This belief can cause children to undermine their trust in their parents.

Not only that, but it could ruin the relationship you hold between you and your parents. The belief of magic and Santa Claus is one of the biggest beliefs in a child’s life. When you get older and your parents have to fill in the holes it can have many different outcomes and emotions associated with the deep truth.

To continue further on with this idea, it’s not only the fact of finding out the truth, it’s the question whether you consider it lying. The Santa Claus belief can be considered as a tradition passed on from generation to generation. If you think of it more as a story their might not be so many hard feelings. Even though it’s just a lie that is helping your childhood, some people think that you should never lie to your kids and it erodes the trust you share with them.

This belief can be pulled and dragged in all sorts of directions but I think the truth does not always matter. Knowing this, back to when I was a child, I was always taught to believe in Christmas magic even if it might not be truth. I always followed the saying” Seeing is not believing”. With the that being said, this belief has changed the way I view world.

Furthermore , this belief of this magical figure has changed my opinions in both negative and positive ways. When I was first told that old Saint Nick was pretend I took a long pause of confusion. Then when my parents had explained to me that it was them the whole time the tears started to roll down my check and flow out of my eyes like a river. I couldn’t believe my ears as they were being filled with information I certainly did not want to believe. I was so puzzled by the idea that my parents were lying to me my whole life. I thought I could trust them in every aspect and immediately wondered if I would still receive presents on Christmas morning. They of course would still get me presents and the moment was bittersweet.

On the other hand, I was effected by this belief in a positive uplifting way. After I had cried for what felt like an eternity, I then expressed my feelings toward my parents with thankfulness. I told them thank you for all of the wonderful presents I had received over the years and that I was very grateful. I had begun to appreciate the little things in life more than ever.

In spite of this belief coming to an end , I still to this day continue to believe in Christmas magic. I feel that when my parents revealed the truth it had really knocked some sense into me. I started to question the truth in most things and became more curious.

From that day on, I had changed not only my beliefs but my character as a person. I have become more thankful and learned that everything happens for a reason. In my family, I carry the role of a big sister so I have learned to display the qualities of a leader. In order to be fair to my younger brother, I still show him that I believe and he looks up to that. In addition I have become more grateful and this belief really takes me back to times where days were simpler. Being reminded of this belief will always sprout memories in my head like a baby flower seed who is coming out of its shell. I have grown up to realize that its better to be a bigger part of my family and create bigger connections with others.

The Best Moments I Captured

The photos displayed above are some of the best moments I captured all year.

From football games to Latin dance performances in the courtyard, they all are photos that show positive energy and have good vibes. I choose these photos because of what they display and the quality of the picture. With that being said, I learned that when taking pictures you should not move the camera to get the clearest pictures. I also learned that to get good photos you should always focus the camera on the subject and it will either blur out background or anything around the subject.