The Mission Issue 6

Issue 3Shawnee Mission North High School Volume 91Overland Park, Kansas

M I S S I O NShawnee Mission North High School Volume 91 Issue 6Overland Park, Kansas

Senior Shayna Thomas comes down from a tipoff at the beginning of a game against Olathe East High School on Jan. 8. The girls ended the year with an 11-11 record, beating SM West in the frist substate round before losing to BV North in the second substate game. Photo by Gabe Alejos

February 20132 | Mission Magazine | smnmission.com

Volume 91 Issue 6 smnmission.com | Mission Magazine | 3


Just a couple of months after Dennis Grayless’ resignation from the head football coaching position, a new head coach has been chosen.

Don Simmons, former head coach at Chanute High School, has been hired as the new SM North head football coach.

“We were looking for some-one with experience with bring-ing teams out of trenches,” said Athletic Director George Sallas. “Coach Simmons has the experi-ence we need.”

During his career, Simmons has been a head coach at Cha-nute, Blue Valley North and Riverton High Schools. He has a head coaching record of 194-95. He has won a State title and has also been to the playoffs 24 times.

When Simmons started his coaching career in the early ’90s he actually wanted to be the head basketball coach. When that po-sition was already filled, the high school asked him to be the head football coach.

During his first year as a coach at Riverton High School, he led his team to a State 3A Football Championship in 1990.

He went on to coach at Blue Valley North where he compiled a 37-10 record in 5 seasons. Later he moved on to Chanute High School where he coached for 9 seasons. Chanute made the playoffs all 9 years and had a 65-32 record.

“Losing is not an option,” Simmons said. “We have to get this school and its community used to winning tradition. We have to get things back to the way it used to be here.”

Simmons is well known for his passing style and running the

spread offense. The spread is based off the quarterback be-ing in the shotgun with 1 or 2 running backs and 4 wide receivers.

“It will be new to this school in a huge sense,” Simmons said. “North has been known to run the ball and this will be a change for sure.”

The last four years, North football has traditionally run the ball from the Wing-T for-mation or I-Formation.

The closest North has been to being a passing school was during the 2011-2012 season when Mason Perez had 25 receptions, 607 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Last season alone, North had only 260 yards and 0 pass-ing touchdowns.

Besides the play call change, Simmons wants to also bring more community involve-ment and tradition back to the football program.

“Everywhere I have been we have had a deep tradition that had to be kept,” Simmons said. “The reason I wanted

this job was because I knew North had a long chain of tradition. We need to bring that back.”

Principal Richard Kramer and Sallas have expressed their ex-citement about the decision.

“We are glad to have him,” Kramer said. “If you are a lover of the passing game you should be really excited.”

Football weights and conditioning has already started. If there are any students interested in joining the team next year, they are asked to meet in the weight room Monday-Thursday at 2:50 p.m.

Simmons holds up a plaque after Chanute won their district going 3-0. They won two playoff games and lost to Piper 24-22. Chanute’s overall record last season was 7-5. Photo by Regan Aylward/The Comet

Coaching Career of Don Simmons:

1 State Title, 10 Conference Titles, 9 Conference Coach of the year Awards, 14 District Titles, 24 Playoff Appearances, 194 total wins.

New Footbal coach, Don Simmons, plans to create a competitive football program

Bringing back the traditionBy Andrew Keech


Two students debate why one online radio app is better than the other Spotify is Better by Andrew Keech

Pandora is Better by Frida Felix

Spotify has not been around for that long, but it seems like if you are on a computer or on your phone, it is what you are constantly using.

For years it was Pandora, but now it is like everyone is discovering and using this new way of listening to music.

I like Pandora, but it seems a little old now. The limited amount of skips and the fact that you can’t personalize your radio is getting old.

The best part of Spotify is that it has every-thing. You can make infinite amount of play-lists, you can “star” your favorite songs and they get sent to a special list.

Also, if you are feeling picky, you can make a station for a favorite artist or song. You can also skip as many songs as you want.

In Pandora if you like the song you just heard you can’t go back and replay it. You have to wait until you are lucky enough to get that song to come through again.

With Spotify, you can actually click a previ-ous song played on the radio and you can play it again.

Spotify gives you a lot more options and a lot more control. With Pandora it is very un-organized on where your radios are or what songs you have listened to.

The only thing remotely wrong with Spotify is that if you want it on your phone or Ipod you have to pay $10 a month. But if you are using a computer it is still unlimited music for free.

Not to mention the fact that you can now have Spotify Radio on your phone or Ipod for free.

The bottom line, Spotify is new and way smarter when it comes to the person listening to music. I think it is time for Pandora to pack it up and leave.

vs.

People think that Spotify is somehow this new great thing. Honestly the way I see it, Spotify is new and everyone likes new. But after a while people will wake up and see that Pandora is still number one.

Yes, Spotify has unlimited music. Yes, you won’t have to buy anymore music if you get Spotify Pre-mium. But where is the joy in that?

The thing I love the most about Pandora is the fact that you can put on the radio and hear new songs ev-ery single day. Sometimes you might hear stuff you already know, but you have the choice to either “like” or “dislike” a song and hear it more or never again.

Pandora is the radio station of people that think and want to try new things in my opinion. People don’t understand that Pandora is made for the interest of hearing new music every time you log in. Spotify just doesn’t have that kind of personalized radio.

If you are someone like me, moods go with mu-sic. Sometimes I don’t know what I want to listen too. That is why I don’t really enjoy Spotify. I don’t like choosing what to listen to because I eventually change my mind anyway.

The great thing about Pandora is you can choose any genre of music you want at the randomness that allows you to hear new songs and discover new art-ists.

Spotify doesn’t have anything close to that.Another fact is that you have to pay for Spotify. You

do not have to pay for Pandora.Pandora allows you hear free new music for free

then gives you the choice to buy it or not. What is the point of paying for Spotify when you can’t ever decide what you want to listen to at any moment?

I will admit that Spotify is nice when you have a certain song stuck in your head at that exact point in time. But then again, why don’t you just YouTube or Google it? Why spend money on it?

Spotify is nice and new now, but it won’t be long until people sweep it back under the rug just like Rhapsody.

Fun facts about Pandora

• Pandora Radio was founded in Oak-land, Calif, in 2000.

• Will Glaser, Jon Kraft and Tim Wester-gren were the founders.

• Pandora is also available in Australia and New Zealand.

Fun facts about Spotify

• Spotify was founded in Sweden in 2006.• Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon were the original founders of Spotify.• The Spotify Headquarters is based in London.


Opinion

North needs to be a no loitering zoneStudent traffic jams during passing in the hallways and Time Square must end at North

Column by Tevin Oller

Loitering in the hallways in clumps is a constant and very an-noying action at North.

This is a major concern for everyone here at North.The first and most important reason is that it blocks people

from getting to class on time.The second reason is that the hallways are very full and very

hard to get through to classes as they usually are just one way through the crowd, which everyone has to use to get through Times Square.

The final reason is that it is so hard getting into the elevator for people with disabilities or injuries that if they don’t leave early, then they are between a rock and a hard place. Most students who are injured will say that it is very hard to get through the crowds if the bell rings and they are still in the hallways. This is mostly because people are so rude that they stand in the middle of the hallways and won’t move until they hear music or are told to move

by the teachers.Some might say that there needs to be more rules, but it is not

what principal Richard Kramer says.“We don’t want to be led by rules and give someone out of

school suspension, for instance, for going the wrong way,” Kramer said.

The way the loitering problem needs to be fixed is by getting rid of groups or moving a couple groups and/or making more room for people to get through to their classes.

We believe something needs to happen soon to the loitering problem like maybe getting the SonicScreen to tell people to go to class early. The SonicScreen emits a high pitch sound that only 13 to young 20-year-olds can hear. The sound is described as very annoying and irritable to the age group. So it would be a perfect way to get kids out of the hall and to class on time.

Cartoon by Shafer Jonas


February’s Monthly RoundupThe newest crazes and the biggest trends for the shortest month of the year

February’s GameFebruary’s MovieFebruary’s Music

February’s Trend: The Harlem Shake

Temple Run 2A Good Day to Die HardBabel by Mumford and SonsAfter reaching over 100 million downloads, Temple

Run felt a need to upgrade. Coming out at the begin-ning of the year, Temple Run 2 has come out with a few new characters and a longer range of game features including new coins, diamonds, that keep you alive lon-ger and a wider range of obstacles. The game received 6 million downloads in the first 24 hours of being re-leased.

John McClane is back in the 5th Die Hard film featuring a new character, his son Jack. When McClane finds out his son is in Russian prison, he sets out to the politically conflicted country to set his son straight. While there, things get messy pretty quickly and we reach a new revelation: Jack McClane is a CIA agent!

With their newest release, Mumford and Sons de-cided to take a more southern approach. With the title song for example they start the song with the mandolin and strumming of many guitars. But do not get it confused with country. They like to refer to themselves as southern rock. So far the album has sold 2 million copies and has also been recognized for their singles Babel, I Will Wait and Holland Road. The album is also currently No. 1 on Billboard.com’s album chart list.

This month we have noticed a sudden outbreak of videos on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Each video is fairly similar but usually in a different setting. Each one is exceptionally special or different in their own way. Usu-ally, the music starts and there is only one person dancing with some kind of mask on. As he is dancing nobody else in the video is acknowledging the dancer until you hear “Do the Harlem Shake!” That is when the craziness starts. Each and every person in the video breaks into dance and is wearing some kind of crazy costume or doing something completely random. Many

groups have come out with their own versions including The Miami Heat basketball team, the University of Kansas Men’s Basketball team, student sections from different universities and even swim teams from different schools. We have seen some in many different environments and situations. Even our school’s student section and student government has made their own versions including a video during a Girls’ Varisty game against SM East and at a local Taco Bell (Below). Which can be found on Youtube.

Volume 91 Issue 68| Mission Magazine | smnmission.com

Actor of the year

Movie of the year

Song of the year

TV Show of the year

Artist of the year

The best of 2012

1. Taylor Swift2. One Direction3. Justin Bieber4. Wiz Kalifa 5. Maroon 5

1. The Walking Dead2. Pretty little Liars3. Big Bang Theory4. Spongebob5. How I met Your Mother

1. Channing Tatum2. Emma Stone3. Robert Downey Jr.4. Anne Hathaway5. Will Ferrel

1. Gangnum Style by Psy2. Call Me Maybe by Carly Ra Jepsen3. Thrift Shop by Macklemore4. Wanted by Hunter Hayes5. Some Nights by Fun.

1. The Dark Knight Rises2. Pitch Perfect3. Ted4. The Avengers5. Breaking Dawn Pt 2

North Students each took surveys in their english classes to decide what the favorite movie, tv show, song, artist and actor was here at North. There were a total of 511 surveys.

Photo by Allen Schaben

Photo by Tina Rowden

Photo by Oliver Douliery

Walking Dead had 11% of the vote.

The Dark Knight Rises had 13% of vote

Gangnum Style had 12% of vote

Taylor Swift had 5% of the vote Channing Tatum had 14%

of the vote.

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The Mission Issue 6