by Julie Vonderschmidt

by Scotti Twombly

Dec. 12, 2012

volume 9, issue 2

Hunting is a favorite past time of many students, and on average they will spend around three to four hours in the great outdoors and have been hunting with a family member since they were in elementary school. Besides hunting for deer, many stu-dents also hunt for turkey, raccoons, and coyotes and are always waiting for the next hunting season to begin.

HITS AND MISSES

Hit:Halftime performances by our own “Fillies”, the dance team

Miss:Late night basketball practice

because we have one gym!Hit:

When girls have early practice.Miss:

Practices over break when all you want to do is rest.

Miss:When only 14 girls show up to the preseason basketball meeting and

only 16 are out. Hit:

When “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is on the radio!

Miss:You wake up, get ready to leave, and then realize your vehicle has frost on the windshield then have to stand in the cold while freezing

and scrape it off.Hit:

Early Christmas movies on TV in the middle of November.

Miss:Christmas is right around the

corner. Be prepared to gain some weight :)

Hit:Getting out of school 2 hours or more earlier than normal during

the week of finals!Miss:

STUDYING FOR FINALS.Hit:

Dunkin Donuts relocating and being open for business--better

watch out cause here I come!Miss:

Boys with beards and girls with hairy legs for No-Shave

November... EwwMiss:

You’re in the weight room and the boys sweat all over the bench

before you start benching.Wipe it off fellas!

Hit:When Math ball gets so

competitive that Mr. Swendson has to stop it and let everyone take a

breather.Miss:

How the teachers expect us to get 15 A.R. points a semester when we

can barely get 5.Hit:

Mr. Lackey telling us school gets let out early!

Hit:K-State is good at football and KU is good at basketball. Let’s just say

the state of Kansas is awesome.Miss:

Having to stay at school after finals because we have to get counted for

the minutes.Hit:

3-day weekends that give usMonday off.

Miss:Procrastinating A.R then stressing

about it when it’s due.

by Mackenzie Boos

Peanut Butter Balls

Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Pretzels

Puppy Chow

Oreo Truffles

Pretzel Turtles

Without the birth of the Christ child, there would be no Christmas. It is a joyous time of year to celebrate God’s greatest gift to the world—Jesus Christ.

Christmas is not about the par-ties or the frenzied buying of gifts or getting a long “winter break” from school. Those are what many people think Christmas is all about. But, even Santa Claus knows what the true meaning of Christmas.

Throughout the winter months other holidays such as Kwanza and Hanukah are celebrated by many people all over the world, yet do not get the same attention as Christ-mas. It is rare to hear someone wish you a “Happy Kwanza” during the holiday season in the United States versus the popular “Merry

Christmas.” People with different religions or non-believers who do not celebrate Christmas may some-times be offended by the empha-sis on the holiday by Americans.

While some people accept their decision to not participate in Christmas, others feel the need to somehow change their mind. For example, “He is the Reason for the Season” is a huge argu-ment every holiday season. Some businesses are even forced to say “Happy Holidays” no matter what their beliefs, in order to bypass the possible religious controversy.

No matter what the religion or beliefs, wish someone a won-derful holiday and remember the reason to celebrate the festive day. May you and your loved ones experience love, hope, joy, and peace during this Christmas Sea-son and throughout the New Year!

Don’t forget the true meaning of Christmas

Sitting in a tree stand when it’s freezing cold out waiting for a deer to come into shooting range doesn’t appeal to a lot of people, but there are a lot of students at DWHS that will skip school to wait for that trophy buck. Deer season opened on Nov. 28 and many students were doing just that.

Even though the deer popula-tion is down due to Blue Tongue Disease, a hemorrhagic disease that is spread by gnats or flies that bite the deer, students are still sport-ing their orange and looking for a deer, no matter what size it is.

Many hunters will say the most exciting part of hunting is the mo-ment right before they get to make the shot. Others will say the most ex-citing part is dragging the deer out of the woods and field dressing it.

Almost all hunters will say that the worst part of hunting is the disap-pointment of not getting a deer and having to go home empty handed.

Far left:Hunter Idol and Houston Cluck gather brush to build a duck blind for the winter duck season.

Left: Fresh-man Houston Cluck proudly poses with his 12 point buck, which was taken on the morning of Dec. 2. “He was with two does, 200 yards away. I shot him in the neck with a 243 rifle.” This deer was the first for Cluck who has been deer hunt-ing for about eight years.

Deer season brings high hopes, disappointment

Decked out in a bright array of sparkly Christmas sweaters, red bows, and red lipstick, the dancers gather after performing their dance to “Jingle Bell Rock” on Dec. 11. “The ugly Christmas sweaters made us get in the mood for the dance and Christmas. With the little time we had to practice, it pulled together really well,” Mackenze Boos said.

December survey of 60 students

Dec. 12, 2012

by Lexie Whetstine

The content of this student publica-tion, the D.West Express, does not necessarily reflect the views of the school board, the administration, the adviser, or the entire newspaper staff. The content has been selected and determined staff members.

Staff members: juniors Macee Scott, Scotti Twombly, Megan Green, Julie Vonderschmidt; sophomores Regan Gibson, Mackenzie Boos, Carla Cahue, Bailey Boos, Leah Johnson, Alysa Simmons; freshmen Malia Smith, Lexie Whetstine, Cooper Leach.Adviser Marla Taylor.

The D. West Express is published by the Journalism I class of Doniphan West High School, P.O. Box 308, Highland, KS 66035.www.doniphanwest.org

D. West ExpressStaff

2

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

What is the best or worst Christmas present that you have ever gotten?

Best

“A dirt bike because I love going fast and the adrenaline feeling after I wrecked.”- Chris Tygret

“My stereo because I thought it was the coolest thing ever.” - Gabby Speer

“A Wii because we play it as a family.”- Allyssa Clark

“My laptop because I use it all the time.”- Lexie Whetstine

“An MP3 player because I listen to it all the time.”- Brittanie Langley

“A Wii because it had just come out.”- Laura Rush

“An art spinner because I was little and it was the coolest thing ever.”- Regan Gibson

“A record player because I like music and my grandma got it for me.”- Macee Scott

“Diamonds from my boyfriend.”- Alexis Simmons

Worst

“A pig balloon because it was pointless.” -Ms. Grusenmeyer

“A Dora doll because I was 14.”-Elizabeth Courtin

Get Crossed with Christmasby Regan Gibson and Macee Scott

The first 10 people to finish this correctly will get a prize! Show Mrs. Taylor.

Most people think that the holidays are going to be boring spending time with their family and not their friends. Wrong! Here are some fun games to play with family over the holidays.“The Left/Right Game”• Print a left/right story off

the Internet• Make a circle and have a

present given to one of the players in the circle.

• Have someone read the story

• Every time they say “left” pass the present to the left once, and every time they say “right” pass the pres-ent to the right once

• When the story is over whoever has the present gets to open and keep it

• Repeat “Candy Saran Wrap Game”• Get a handful of candy and a roll of

saran wrap• Wrap up the candy until the whole roll

of saran wrap is gone• Make a circle and give the saran wrap

ball to one person• Another person has a pair of dice• The person with the saran wrap ball

tries to unwrap the candy before the person with the dice rolls a double • If the person with the saran wrap ball is still not done when the person rolls a double, they pass the ball on and the next

person tries to get to the candy while a new person rolls for doubles• The person who gets to the candy first gets to keep it“Christmas Song Game”• Play random Christmas songs & the first person to guess the song right gets a present.“Unscramble Game”• Everybody gets a piece of paper and a pencil• Take a Christmas saying like “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”• Everyone has five minutes to unscramble as many words as they can out of the saying• The person with the most words gets a present“Picture Time”• Set up a camera with a timer on it• Gather the family & take as many silly pictures as you can “Don’t Fall Asleep or Else”• When someone falls asleep take embarrassing pictures of them and put them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etcNow you can look forward to spending time with your family instead of dreading it. Hopefully, these games add a little more fun to your holidays!

Whats on your

wish list this

Christmas?

Adam Wilmes- A batman costume

Brandon Caudle- A Hippo-potamus and two front teeth

Kyleigh Edie- Charlie Hun-nam

Joey Edie-His special under-wear

Malia Smith- Food!

Maggie Johnson- A rainbow

Kassiday Blevins- A Unicorn to go to with Maggie’s rainbow

Derek Gibson- Maggie’s rain-bow to never show up

Jordan Sellers- Aaron John-son

Cooper Leach- Kungfu fight-ing panda bear named Hal

Mr. Thorton- An alligator

Try cheap, easy DIY Christmas Yard Decorationsby Cooper Leach & Malia Smith

While decorating your yard for Christmas can be a fun part of the holidays it can also be expensive. Here is an idea to make a cheap and easy yard decoration that doesn’t even need to be taken down afterwards. To make a colorful ice ball you will need only a few things: water balloons, water, scissors and food coloring.Step 1: Add your food coloring to the balloonStep 2: Fill it with water!Step 3: Freeze it!Step 4: After it is frozen take it out and cut the balloon off with scissors!Now you are finished and have pretty decorations for your yard that will be sure to make your house stand out from your neighbors!

Play games, take crazy pictures

with family, friends

Beat Holiday Boredom

by Macee Scott

Hottest giftsfor that

special person

Leah Johnson- It depends on the person, and how long we have been dating. Amber Smith- New radio for his truckTaylor Sullivan- Some BIG jewelryJordan Cluck- Popbellybeaver-coongoat

by Megan Green& Alysa Simmons