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New formation
West welcomes new commander for JROTC
Club officers announced • PRIDE club officers for the school year include seniors Morgan Lancaster, president; Josh Littauer, vice president; Meredith Foster, secretary; juniors Stephanie Watkins, treasurer; and Hannah Wilson and Lydia McCall, historians. Civitan leaders are juniors Carly Owenby, Kayla Martin, Torrie Minick, Meredith Cole and Emily Harris. • Health Occupations Students of America officers include seniors Jacob Turpin and Morgan Ray, co-presidents; seniors Cathy Boyd and Rebekah Parr, co-vice presidents. Members assisted with a schoolwide blood drive on Oct. 9. • Future Community and Career Leaders of America members elected officers for the school year: senior Celisa Glenn, president; senior Lori King, vice president; senior Emily Ware, treasurer; seniors Rachel Williams and Kris Cabe, secretary and chaplain. All career-technical education clubs had their annual cookout on Oct. 2. • Members of the concert band, dance department and orchestra sponsored an arts night on Oct. 20 to showcase students’ talents. • Marching band members won first place overall at the Land of the Sky marching band festival on Sept. 26 at Enka High School. They played at the Henderson County Band Festival on Oct. 6 at North Henderson as well as a competition at Freedom High School on Oct. 17. At Freedom, the band placed second overall with first place wins for the drumline, drum major and visual.
Flag Detail
Ryan Duckett Senior Editor
E
very day, Col. Arthur Lee Scott exemplifies one of the core values of the program he is taking over — loyalty. Scott drives two hours each morning from Hickory to reach his new job as senior Army instructor of West’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. His first impression of the school led Scott to believe that this is the place for him. “The cleanliness of the building, how quiet it was in the halls and in the classrooms, I was like, ‘This is a place that I believe I can settle down, and be happy for about 16 years,’” Scott said. Scott retired from military service in July. Before he reached his current retired rank of colonel, he attended several colleges. He obtained an undergraduate degree from Gardner-Webb University and a master’s degree from the American College of Metaphysical Theology in religious education. He also received a master’s degree in school administration from Appalachian State University. Scott replaced Lt. Col. Tom Petullo, who has headed the program since it began on Aug. 1, 1993. Chief Paul Weeks joined the program three months later. “Right now, what I’m trying to do is stay out of there and let Col. Scott get in there. He’s the new colonel; he’s the man in charge,” Petullo said. “I’m always readily available to offer any advice, but he’s the guy in charge now, and I don’t want to interfere with him too much.” When he enlisted, Scott had a goal to become a drill sergeant. After signing up as an 11-B infantryman, going through basic training, and going to drill sergeant school, he became just that. After serving as a drill sergeant, Scott submitted a packet of his military history to apply for a direct commission. The packet was approved, and he was promoted to second lieutenant. Scott worked his way up to his current retired grade of colonel. Because the JROTC program must maintain an enrollment equal to 10 percent of the school’s population (or 100 students, whichever is lower), Scott’s next mission is to help build up the program by starting at the middle school level. “If I could do one thing, it would be to increase the enrollment of the students in the program,” Scott said. “I think it’s
great when you have the older brother in JROTC or the older sister in JROTC that tells you about the program. But for students that do not have that in seventh or eighth grade, they may be thinking of other things and not thinking about JROTC.” To implement his plan, Scott would like JROTC students to have a presence at Rugby through flag presentations, involvement in PTA meetings and the creation of a mentor program. “He seems like a really nice guy. You can tell he’s here for the kids. It’s probably tough on him to drive from Hickory, but he seems motivated and really dedicated,” sophomore cadet Anthony Moore said. As for the future of JROTC at West, Scott is positive. “Chief Weeks and Col. Petullo have just excelled in what they’ve accomplished and what I’d like to do at a minimum is maintain the standard that they have developed,” Scott said. “But as a leader I am a change agent, so if I leave this program the same as I found it, then I have failed.” When school opened in August, West had additional staff changes. Brandon Ball joined the occupational course of study program and took over as head baseball coach; Cole Church replaced Jane Porter, who moved to North Guilford High; Graham Horton moved from teacher assistant to teacher in the exceptional children’s program when Lynn Metcalf was named assistant principal; Haley Watkins replaced Kylie Allen in the science department; Suzanne Perron replaced John Fohner as the English as a Second Language instructor; Dana Plitt became a teacher assistant in the exceptional children’s program; and Scott Orr replaced Jonathan Marvin in ISS.
Brandon Ball
Juniors of the JROTC color guard (from left to right) Kevin Mundy, Devin Esslinger, Holly Armstrong, James Blythe and Sergio Islas march in the Apple Festival Parade on Labor Day. The students bore the colors down Hendersonville’s Main St.
Cole Church Church received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and his master’s degree in educational counseling. Church also works part-time as a ski instructor at Cataloochee Ski Resort in Maggie Valley.
Ball graduated from West in 2002. He returned to West after graduating from Brevard College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He is currently taking classes at the University of North Carolina at Asheville to obtain his teaching license in special education.
Horton joined the faculty as a fulltime teacher in the exceptional children’s department. Horton has a bachelor’s degree in English. He is currently working on his master’s degree.
Haley Watkins
Lynn Metcalf
Watkins began teaching in 2008 after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a minor in secondary education. She taught at North Henderson for one semester.
Group Effort
Graham Horton
After Debra Rhymer’s retirement in June, Metcalf became assistant principal in July. She graduated from East Henderson and Western Carolina University with a bachelor’s degree in special education before teaching and becoming the depart-
ment chair of the exceptional children’s program. She is currently working to obtain her master’s degree in administration.
Suzanne Perron Perron, a native of Columbia, South America, received her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of North Texas and her master’s degree from Texas Women’s University.
Dana Plitt Plitt graduated from New Mexico State University with a bachelor’s degee in journalism. Before coming to West, she worked at Etowah Elementary.
Scott Orr A West graduate in 1989, Orr is the new ISS coordinator. He came to West after taking courses through the Navy and at Blue Ridge Community College.
College (continued from page 1) whether or not Early College received the grant, they would still have the school. The students may still retain ties with their regular high school by playing sports on the high school teams. Students at the Early College begin taking college courses their freshman year. The courses switch off days during the week. On Fridays, students do not have college courses. Instead, that time is used for clubs, including yearbook, newspaper, robotics and nature clubs.
• JROTC cadets posted the colors at the homecoming football game on Oct. 16. They will also participate in a service learning project on Oct. 23.
Each student was issued a Dell laptop. To go with the laptops, Walmart donated flash drives to Early College so that students or teachers could transfer their work. “We try to be different from a normal high school; we are not that kind of setting. We try to provide much more individual support for each student. They can master the honors level high school courses and also do well in the college courses,” Owen said.
Budget (continued from page 1) Photo by Haley Glatzer
• Key Club officers include seniors Ryan Duckett and Ashley Roy, co-presidents; juniors Kiersten Ellsworth and James Loder, covice presidents; and seniors Courtney Pulley, secretary, Carly Holland, historian and Leah Moss, treasurer.
Photo by Haley Glatzer
In Flight
wingspan • october 26, 2009
At the first pep rally of the school year, students participated in a tug-of-war competition against the faculty. After three tries, the students went on to win the tie-breaking round.
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test. You have to pay for your SAT and other things,” Page said. “It has absolutely nothing to do with our feelings about the importance of the AP testing. When you think about it, you pay a relatively small fee to take a test that could end up saving you thousands of dollars.” There were additional changes to balance the school system’s budget. School officials saved more than $170,000 by changing the insurance carrier for work-
ers’ compensation insurance. Money was also cut back from the county’s support of Johnson Farm. For teachers who want to become National Board certified, the monetary support given to help them has been reduced. “In the end, it turned out OK in a sense that we were able to balance the budget and didn’t have to cut or do anything worse then what we had predicted,” Page said.
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