Lunch GuidelinesDissections Fashion trends

Wednesday, october 32012volume XV, issue i

PrideThe

www.hhsnews.comHarrisonville High School

Teachers and admin-istrators see masses of stu-dents walk to class and push past one another through the halls daily. However, the crowded halls are not what frustrate them. “You can wear what-ever you want to wear outside of school, but you have to be appropriate in school,” said history teacher Andrew Rives. Last year at a staff meeting this particular issue was found to be the number one problem according to teachers and staff administra-tors. Following this confer-ence, the staff was determined to put dress code violations to a halt. Yet, the 2012 school year has arrived and teachers

feel the problem still has not been addressed; tired of seeing cleavage and sagging pants in the halls and classrooms. “I don’t like seeing people’s rear ends hanging out of their pants,” said Rives. Counselor Kari Bliss feels that standing or sitting clothes should still be covering

your bodies in an appropriate way. “Shorts and skirts are the biggest problem. It can be distracting when girls sit down because what looks good standing up doesn’t al-ways sitting down,” said Bliss. According to Bliss, it can be difficult to find appro-

priate clothing that is tasteful for girls. “For females it can be harder to go shopping be-cause it is hard to find in-style and modest clothing. Girls also have sense of having to wear form fitting clothing,” said Bliss. Although Bliss feels

Questionable dress code enforcementin can be difficult for female students to follow the dress code, math teacher Pam Joseph believes it could be more strict. “The dress code needs to be stricter, I think it’s getting pushed to the limit,” said Joseph. However, Bliss ex-pects the dress code to always be somewhat of an issue. “There hasn’t been any changes in the dress code, we have been working on discouraging PDA. We will always have to work on the dress code. It would be nice if students had a way to report dress code violations that they see,” said Bliss. Though a teacher cannot address all students that violate the dress code, it is clear that they are not pleased with the attire of stu-dents disturbing the learning environment in a classroom.

Story by Kayley Brock-Staff Writer kayley.brock@hhsnews.com

Photo illustrations by Alison Krenzer.

PG. 3 PG. 12PG. 8PG. 4

Cancer hits home

“We as a faculty need to get better at bringing it up with students.”

-Kari Bliss

2the pride

staff

Editor-in-Chief:Maria Sanchez

Managing Editor of Copy:

Crystal WardenFeatures Editor:

Lexi EghbaliNews & Opinion Editor:

Audrey MarshallSports Editor:Lauren AmanPhoto Editor:Alison Krenzer

Columnist:Nick Campbell

Adviser:Brad Lewis

Staff Writers:Mackenzie Eisel, Brently

Probasco, C.J. Semler, Madi Dahn, Madi Phil-

lips, Tyler Cardinal, Aus-tin Royal, Kayley Brock, Lara Floyd & Joe Cramer

Staff Photographers:Jamie Hasenyager &

Cassie Long

The Pride Staff2012-2013

Harrisonville High School1504 E. Elm

Harrisonville, MO 64701(816)380-3273

Follow us on Twitter @ HHSwildcatnews

The Pride is written, edited and published by the newspaper production class at HHS. The paper is an open forum, distributed to the students, faculty, parents, alumni, and other members of HHS. All decisions concerning grammar, layout, content, and photography are made solely by the editors themselves. Our mission is to report news truthfully and accurately and to act as an open forum for student expression. Opinions in editorials do not reflect the views of the Cass R-IX school district, its staff or the adviser. All comments, concerns, and complaints should be forwarded directly to the Editor-in-Chief. If readers would like to submit letters to the Editor, they can do so in room 304.

Table of Contents

page 3 Teacher supplies by Kayley Brock

Fashion Trends by Lara Floyd Coach and student bond by Madi DahnNew coaches by Austin Royal

Drought by Joe Cramer

page 8

Homecoming by Madi PhillipsPolitics by Nick Campbell

page 4

Counselors by Brently Probasco The play by C.J. Semler

page 5

page 9page 12

Budget cuts have affect on teacher supplies

3the pride

news

page 8

Many things are needed in order for a class-room to run smoothly. How-ever, based on a yearly set budget, teachers’ hands are sometimes tied when they are in need of new equipment. Supplies play a sig-nificant role in what students can get done in class. Teach-ers receiving or not receiving items that they need can put a class behind or really help them throughout a school

year. Teachers have to send in purchase orders to be able to receive the items they need throughout the school year. The school budget is split up in different catego-ries. All of the categories are controlled by different people. When business teacher Lisa Moore updated the software for her classes, she sent in a purchase order for ADOBE CS 5 and waited for CS 6 which came out in the end of August. “You have to be creative and just think up of

Budget cuts have affect on teacher suppliesMany teachers are needing new things for their rooms. Brooke Rogers uses a draw-ing board instead of an art table because the tables are so unstable.

Story by Kayley Brock- Staff Writerkayley.brock@hhsnews.com

Photo by Alison Krenzer.

Dissections spark questions about originsStory by Brently Probasco- Staff Writer brently.probasco@hh-snews.com

“It was gross at first, but then once you figure it out, it is pretty cool,” said sophomore Ashley Under-wood. Many students can relate to Underwood and the queasy feeling that she felt before really getting into the dissections. These dissections that turn students’ stom-achs and help them to learn more about the makeup of an organism’s body often bring up questions that go unanswered. Questions asked frequently include where do the animals come from and how are they disposed of? According to sci-ence teacher John Dyck, the animals come from different science supply companies such as Science Supply, Caro-lina Biological Supply, and Sargent-Welch. There are also other

ways that they can receive animals for dissections ac-cording to science teacher Dennis Kocher. “Sometimes they come from animal shelters because they want to keep the animals, but money is tight so they utilize them for science. Sometimes they are raised because rats and mice reproduce very quickly,” said Kocher. The Humane Soci-ety confirms this saying that

there are certain standards and conditions that must be met in order for the animals, often cats, to be donated for use in science. The cat must have a severe injury, an illness, or have been kept for a reason-able amount of time without finding a good enough home. Another requirement is that the cat’s former owners must have been notified. Not all animals are donated by animals shelters.

Dyck dissects sharks, which are caught in the wild and later donated. The fetal pigs that students dissect are collected from slaughterhous-es. The frogs can be raised or, according to the Humane Society, may be caught in the wild along with fish and many other verte-brates. Those students not taking biology or anatomy courses often notice the dis-

sections because of the odd aroma that fills the halls. “A lot of times every-one is always aware of the dis-sections because of the smell. It is not terrible, but it comes from the preservative so they do not rot,” said Kocher. According to Kocher, the preservatives also keep the animals from drying out. The animals sit in the pre-servative in the package that they come in. This year the frogs came in sealed plastic bags with the preservative. When disposing the animals, there is no special procedure. “Well, we throw away the parts that have been removed,” said sophomore Laura Hamilton. ”And we do not put them down the sink, that is like the main rule.”

Students dissect a frog, not always knowing where the animals actually came from.Photo by Alison Krenzer.

different projects, we’ve been very supported. Very few times have we haven’t gotten anything or have received them late,” said Moore. Some teachers share their budgets with one another if they teach similar subjects. “Mrs. [Becky] Bru-ens and I split our budget down the middle. We save a little money in the account for things if needed,” said art teacher Melissa Chaney. The school uses grants from the state to pay for supplies teachers need or

want for the year. With only so much money set aside, ad-ministration determines what is needed or not needed. “Budget cuts come from the state, depends on how much money they want

to give to different districts and this district has to use the money we have been given to run the district. If they cut money, we have to cut spend-ing,” said Principal Andy Campbell.

4the pride

News

Federal guidelines change lunches

Column by Nick Campbell - Columnistnick.campbell@hhsnews.com In this ever changing world, politicians and govern-mental figures grow more and more important but fall short of giving our country what it needs. The United States is approximately 16 trillion dol-lars in debt as of June 2012. Even with this debt and with the economy the way it is, the only thing the government is worried about is the middle class, raising taxes, rebuild-ing health care and other proceeding problems. Think about the lower class. If the government could focus more on the families barely scrap-ing by rather than the families that don’t have to worry about making a house payment or feeding their family, maybe there wouldn’t be a lower class. Now the main goal of the Democratic party for the presidential term is to lower the annual spending for the next four years by over $260 billion dollars. I strongly disagree with this. The whole point to fixing the economy is to lower costs of products and increase sales. Not to stop spending and save $260 bil-lion dollars that families don’t see any of. I’m all for the Re-publican Party, usually, but this year it seems they are not

As students walk into the cafeteria kitchen to get their lunch, they are faced with an unfamiliar visual aid of a lunch tray and the nutritional guidelines of each option. The school menu has undergone revisions as a

result of new national regula-tions put in place on school lunches. One of the main new regulations is that now the school must offer a whole cup of fruits and vegetables instead of the original half cup. According to the

food manager of the high school kitchen, Jody Gilbert, the ways of preparation have remained the same for the most part, but the content of the meals were subject to the changes. “It’s the amount of food and kinds of foods that have changed,” said Gilbert. “Recipes have changed and we have to offer more fruits and vegetables.” Students are defi-nitely feeling the changes, but they are not necessarily appreciating them. “The vegetables are just there,” said junior Jack McCleave. “I get them, but I don’t eat them.” Junior Sam Riffle’s fruit and vegetables go to waste daily as well. “I don’t like fruit and vegetables so I don’t eat them,” said Riffle. Although there are healthier additions to the

lunch trays, students are walking away from lunch still hungry. “I feel as if there is less to eat this year,” said McCleave. “I don’t get full. I have to go back and get two lunches.” Riffle agrees that the lunches are not enough to fill him up for the rest of the day. “I go to football prac-tice hungry,” said Riffle. According to Gilbert, most students don’t under-stand the way the regulations work and all of the planning that takes place to make sure our school meets the require-ments. “The hardest part is the menu,” said Gilbert. “We have a minimum of certain foods we have to meet, but we also have a maximum too.

Story by Mackenzie Eisel - Staff Writer mackenzie.eisel@hhsnews.com

My view: both sides are wrong

Story by Madi Phillips - Staff Writermadi.phillips@hhsnews.com Wildcat spirit took over the school as Homecom-ing rounded the corner nearly three weeks ago. A month before the dance, the homecoming candidates were announced over the intercom. There were six couples this year rather than five due to a tied vote. The candidates were Anisa Alexander and Tanner Foer-schler, McKinnon Blalock and Matthew Baer, Emily Hix and Maxwell Galeassi, Audrey Marshall and Mitchell Haug, Mackenzie Hocker and Tyler Bundt, Amanda West and Jameson Knox. Out of those 12 candidates, Maxwell Galeassi and Anisa Alexander were

crowned king and queen by Shelby Lavery and Dal-las Stackhouse, the previous year’s queen and runner-up for king. Alexander was ex-cited that Galeassi was chosen

to be king. “He’s been through so much. I think it’s neat how the school chose to honor him like that,” said Alexander. According to Alexan-der, she had not fully expect-

ed to be queen and was taken aback. “There was a pos-sibility since I was a candi-date, but there is always the unknown, too,” said Alexan-der. “I was really shocked and really, really excited. I was focused on smiling, but that wasn’t hard because Max had kept making me laugh. I just didn’t want any bad pictures.” Hairband Day was the kickoff for the spirit days on Monday, September 10. Students and teachers alike trotted around with ratted, teased hair, messy wigs and scrunchies. Senior Brook Riley wore a dark brown wig from a beauty store with a

HHS shows homecoming spirit

This year, HHS is offering many new lunch choices. Jeannie Englebrick prepares to purchase a new chicken salad. Photo by Cassie Long.

See Lunches pg. 10

See Campbell pg. 10

Candidates are seated during the Homecoming pep assembly while watching fellow students participate in games. Photo by Alison Krenzer.

See Homecoming pg. 10

5the pride

Features Cast, crew of musical begins preparation

Story by CJ Semler-Staff Writercj.semler@hhsnews.com “Our motto here in the theater department is excellence in theater, so I think that is what we’re going to do,” said drama teacher Annetta Snowden. The cast and crew of the upcoming musical “Little Shop of Horrors” have been hard at work to bring the high school a show stopping performance. According to Snowden, this British com-edy is about a man who owns a small flower shop on skid row, and with business going poorly he decides to add some new exotic plants. Everything is turning around until they find out that the plant is really an alien man eating plant. “It’s hilarious, it’s funny, it’s really funny,” said Snowden. Cast members have

high hopes for the perfor-mance. “I’m really excited for how the show’s gonna turn out. We have a really good cast this year; it is going to be fun,” said cast member, junior Kaitlyn Austin. The music and drama department have been work-

ing on musicals together for two years now. This year they wanted to do a play that had good characters and vocals the students would be able to perform well. “That’s why we chose this play, we thought it would be unique, different, and something that we could do

to find a new place to rent it from,” said Snowden. “But as far as scenery and set, my theater production classes have been working extremely hard. They already have the platform and base for every-thing. The welding class down at the CCC has already put together the railings that we need for the balcony.” With each prac-tice the cast members look forward to putting on a great show. “I’m looking forward to when we start performing, obviously thats what we’ve been working towards for every rehearsal,” said Austin. Casts member are not the only ones who are excited for opening night. “It’s a play that most teachers remember,” said Snowden. “They went to see it, or saw the movie when it came out.” The dates for the performances are currently undecided.

in an excellent manner,” said Snowden. According to Snowden almost every-thing for the play is going as planned. “We thought we were going to be renting the puppet for the plant from one theater but they double booked their plant so we had

Story by Brently Probasco-Staff Writerbrently.probasco@hhsnews.com Walking into the Students Services Office at the beginning of the school year, students not only notice a physical change but an unfa-miliar face as well. At the end of the last school year, the district said goodbye to counselor Carolyn Johnston. Coming into the school year there were two additions made to the counseling department. Math teacher Kari Bliss now works as a part-time teacher and part-time counselor. Erin Dennis was also welcomed, not only new to the depart-ment as a third counselor, but to the district as well.

“It has been an adjustment period,” said Dennis. “I’m coming from a small school where I had 250 students instead of 450 plus students here.” According to Bliss, the hardest thing for her is being open for everyone. “Schedule wise, the only challenge is ninth hour and how to make myself available to two different sets of people,” said Bliss. “Some-times I have to figure out which hat I’m wearing and making myself available.” Unlike counsel-ors Andrea Laughlin and Dennis, Bliss plays a more specific role in the process. “I think it benefits them because it helps us help them deal with more,” said

Dennis. “Bliss has taken the role for college and career readiness. Without that not all students might be able to meet with us.” The changes have not just included the staff, but also the arrangements of the SSO including new paint and furniture. While the SSO staff seems to enjoy these changes, some students do not and say it will not have many benefits to them. “Probably won’t do anything,” said junior Mat Bartlett. “I mean, you can have three [counselors] and that’s great but it’s really not going to do anything. The only time I ever go there is if I need my schedule changed. I don’t really go for anything

else.” Others think it will help out with the amount of stress on the counselors. “It’ll make each counselor less busy because they get to lessen their workload,” said sophomore Sydney Hoff-man. According to Price,

no matter the day it is always a crazy place. “Overall, it’s a busy atmosphere here and I think it’s a good thing,” said Price. “The counselors seem like they have worked together forever. It makes for a very smooth transition and that helps the students as well.”

Student services office has new company

The cast of “Little Shop of Horrors” is hard at work with Mrs. Snowden. Photo by Alison Krenzer.

New counselor, Ms. Dennis works in her office when she’s not helping students. Photo by Cassie Long.

See Homecoming pg. 10

6the pride

Features

Where do you stand?

Barack Obama believes in protecting the Second Amendment. But with more thorough background checks when purchasing firearms.

President Obama is the most pro-abortion President in U.S. history.

Obama originally was op-posed to same-sex marriage but now supports it.

Obama believes that the current tax rates have only benefited the wealthy and is an advocate of ensuring a level of taxation for every income bracket.

Obama ended the war in Iraq and approved U.S. air power that helped Libya overthrow Moammar Gadhafi’s govern-ment.

Obama is Christian.

Todd Akin opposes any restric-tions to the Second Amend-ment.

Akin is pro-life. He made com-ments about abortions in cases of rape, saying a woman’s body can shut down during a “legiti-mate rape.”

Akin voted for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Akin is against cutting corpo-rate taxes, bailouts and stimu-lus spending.

Akin is very supportive of the war on terror however was opposed to the operations in Libya.

Akin is Christian.

Mitt Romney opposes gun control laws and has suggested that existing gun laws should have tougher enforcement.

Romney supported abortion rights but is not opposed to them and would end federal aid to Planned Parenthood.

Romney is against same-sex marriage and believes it should be banned with a constitution-al amendment.

Romney would drop tax rates, lower corporate taxes and end minimum tax for indi-viduals/families making below $200,000.

Romney does not believe a set date can be made on when American troops will end com-bat in Afghanistan.

Romney is Mormon.

Claire McCaskill supports Sec-ond Amendment rights (the right to bear arms).

McCaskill fought to preserve funding for Planned Parent-hood.

McCaskill is against gay mar-riage but supports civil unions.

McCaskill favored taxes being significantly increased for the wealthy.

McCaskill was against the war in Iraq but supports the mov-ing of troops to Afghanistan.

McCaskill is Catholic.

If you are not following politics, we believe you should be.

Barack Obama Democrat

Mitt Romney Republican

V.S. V.S.

Claire McCaskillDemocrat

Todd AkinRepublican

Guns GunsGunsGuns

Abortion AbortionAbortionAbortion

TaxesTaxesTaxesTaxes

WarWarWarWar

ReligionReligionReligionReligion

Presidential U.S. Senate

MarriageGay

MarriageGay Marriage

GayMarriage

Gay

7the pride

Features

Where do you stand?

Dave Spence opposes gun control.

Spence is against abortion, unless it is for the safety of the mother.

Spence is opposed to same-sex marriages.

Nixon is not supportive of increasing taxes, especially for small businesses.

Spence supports the death penalty.

Spence is Catholic.

Hensley is pro-choice and will preserve funding for Planned Parenthood.

Hensley is a supporter of same-sex marriage.

Hensley supports an increase on taxes for the wealthy.

Hensley supports her district’s bases by supplying resources to “help protect our country abroad.”

Hensley is Methodist.

Vicky Hartzler supports the Sec-ond Amendment.

Hartzler is pro-life and voted in favor of the amendment to prevent funds from going to Planned Parenthood.

Hartzler is opposed to same-sex marriages and believes that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Hartzler is supportive of spend-ing cuts and lower tax rates.

Hartzler voted against removing troops from Afghanistan.

Hartzler is Christian.

Jay Nixon supports federal re-strictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.

Nixon is against late-term abor-tion, or “partial-birth” abortion.

Nixon is against same-sex mar-riage and believes marriage is only between a man and a woman.

Nixon is supportive of lowering taxes for small businesses so they will have the capital they need to create jobs.

Nixon supports the death pen-alty and feels it should include drug traffickers.

Nixon is Methodist.

If you are not following politics, we believe you should be.

V.S. V.S.

Teresa HensleyDemocrat

Vicky HartzlerRepublican

Jay NixonDemocrat

Dave SpenceRepublican

GunsGunsGunsGuns

AbortionAbortionAbortionAbortion

TaxesTaxesTaxes Taxes

Death PenaltyDeath PenaltyWarWar

ReligionReligionReligionReligion

GubernatorialCongressional

MarriageGayMarriage

GayMarriage

GayMarriage

Gay

Teresa Hensley supports the Second Amendment.

Editor’s note: Candidates’ positions on issues were found from a variety of news sites and official campaign websites.

8the pride

Features

Wildcats come together against testicular cancer

“It didn’t phase me as much as I thought news like that would have. Just like hearing any other unfortu-nate news.” This summer, senior Max Galeassi visited the doc-tor with pain in his testicles, hoping to find out what was causing it. “He gave me antibac-terial medicine and shots to make it go away,” said Gale-assi. However, the solution given by doctors was not a solution at all and two weeks passed with no change. Ga-leassi returned to the doctor and had an ultrasound test to see what exactly was being dealt with. “An ultrasound con-firmed the malignant tumor,” said Galeassi. Soon after the ultra-sound, Galeassi was diag-nosed with testicular cancer. “The only thing I was really concerned about at first, though in retrospect it

doesn’t really matter all that much, was losing one of my boys. Which is inevitable for testicular cancer,” said Gale-assi. Junior Bayli Galeassi was in shock when she first heard the diagnoses of her brother. “I honestly didn’t believe it at first, I was so scared,” said Bayli. “Then I realized that it was my brother and I knew it would be okay. He’s a really tough guy.” Max began a three cycle chemo-therapy treat-ment in July that lasted for nine weeks. “Chemo is very bor-ing, same length as school but no friends and one period,” said Max. About three weeks ago Max finished up his treat-ments. “His last treatment was on the [September] 10,”

said Bayli. Along with chemo-therapy, fundraisers are also helping Max fight TC. “I don’t really try to get involved too much because I don’t like attention,” said Max. “But the support is overwhelming.” According to Max, about four or five fundraisers have contributed to helping the Galeassi’s. “It means a lot how

willing everybody was to lend a hand. We have a great com-munity,” said Bayli. Junior Brianna Ken-drick created bracelets and sold them for $3 to students and community members in an effort to raise money for Max. The bracelets say “Live

Life to the Max #13.” Other high school football teams have fundraised as well as a Lee’s Summit mother whose son had fought the disease, too. “I as well as my fam-ily thank everybody for their support,” said Bayli. Not only does Bayli wish to thank those who have supported them, but she also wants people to know how Max feels.

“He doesn’t want people feeling sorry for him,” said Bayli. “I just hope he can get back out on the football field and be an even greater inspiration to

everyone.” Through these past three months, Max has be-come all too familiar with the nature of cancer and wants others to be aware of them-selves. “Self exam your [yourself] if you’re a man, or

lady parts if you’re a woman, because cancer is an evil, poi-sonous demon to work with,” said Max. Max will know just how effective his treatments were in early October after taking a computerized to-mography scan. And when it comes to football, Max keeps the positive outlook that he holds for everything in life. “Optimistically,” said Max. “The next couple of weeks maybe.” Midwest drought effects lifestock industry

Story by Joe Cramer- Staff Writerjoe.cramer@hhsnews.com Heat waves on the horizon, sweat dripping down someone’s face who is des-perate to find relief from the heat, a dog panting profusely. These were common sights last summer. With tem-peratures peaking over 110 degrees, people were forced to take extra precautions to keep themselves, people around them, and animals safe from things such as heat exhaus-tion, heat stroke, dehydration, or possible risk of death. Though the drought

heightened in mid July, it was affecting citizens of the Mid-west throughout June, July, and August. According to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, it was the worst drought Missouri had experi-enced in about 30 years. But humans were not the only living things at risk. Farmers especially felt the effects of the drought. Keeping track of all of their crops or livestock is a tough enough job. But dealing with the struggle to keep them alive and thriving is a whole different challenge. Keeping crops and livestock alive is only part of

the issue. Farmers need to supply food for their livestock and with limited rain, they have to find alternate ways to give their crops the hydration they need to survive. With hay prices jumping from $85 to over $200, it was becoming highly expensive to make a living on a farm. Junior Carter Neill works for his father on a dairy farm. The extreme heat the Midwest has experienced within the past few years has made it hard for them and the drought this summer did not help much either. “We’re a grass based operation,” said Neill. “And

with the drought, the grass obviously didn’t grow. We’ve had to use hay the past two years due to the lack of rain which has made it very ex-pensive for us to run. Lately we’ve been importing alfalfa from Nebraska and also bar-ley,” said Neill. Keeping the cattle cool is another step the Neills have been forced to take recently. “Since the trees didn’t have as many leaves as they usually do, we’ve had to find shade for them, use fans, and make sure they have plenty of water to keep them cool,” said Neill.

Luckily for The Neill’s, they have access to the appropriate resources to keep their cattle well-nourished and producing like they should. “We’ll be using corn silage and bean silage,” said Neill. “We should have over 1,000 each of these. That’s what going to get us through the winter.” Neill also mentioned that the plants and native grass they will be feeding the cattle in the spring will serve more than one purpose.

Story by Maria Sanchez- Editor-in-Chiefmaria.sanchez@hhsnews.com

Max Galeassi watches a football game from the sidelines. Although he can not play at the moment, he is still support-ing the team.

Photo by Alison Krenzer.

“Self exam [yourself] if you’re a man, or lady parts if you’re a woman, because cancer is an evil, poisonous demon to work with,” -Max Galeassi

See Drought pg. 10

9the pride

Sports

Midwest drought effects lifestock industry Luckily for The Neill’s, they have access to the appropriate resources to keep their cattle well-nourished and producing like they should. “We’ll be using corn silage and bean silage,” said Neill. “We should have over 1,000 each of these. That’s what going to get us through the winter.” Neill also mentioned that the plants and native grass they will be feeding the cattle in the spring will serve more than one purpose.

Sports create coach-athlete connections In sports, students normally hear about the score, wins and losses, how much practice was put in by the team, and how much the coach yelled or celebrated with the team. Rarely do they ever hear about how the team and coach(es) bond together. Most athletes would agree that it is important to have a bond with their coach; they spend so much time with them, but different athletes believe that bond is important for very different reasons. “They’re telling you how to be successful, so if you don’t respect them as a per-son, you don’t respect them as a coach; if you don’t listen, you won’t learn,” said senior Genevieve Allen. While Allen believes the relationship is important because it is necessary for success, other athletes think it would just be odd without it. “It’s definitely im-portant to have that bond

because it would be awkward if you didn’t,” said senior Wal-ter Eastwood. Although Eastwood believes it is uncomfortable not to bond with all coaches, senior Summer Livingston explains it is easier to bond with her female coach rather than her male coach. “I’m closer to [Coach] Eagle, she’s more comfortable being with fe-males,” said Livingston. With smaller teams, coaches are able to spend more time with each athlete individually and bond with the team as a whole. “We’ve got such a small group so I get to spend a lot of time with each kid,” said coach Layne Ander-son. “We’re always running together and we spend a lot of Saturdays together. It’s that time that we spend do-ing what we do; running the town.” However, on larger teams with multiple coaches, athletes being closer to one coach over another is inevi-table.

“I’m closer to Cun-ningham, because he’s my position coach,” said senior Tyler Bundt. “I would say each player is closest to their position coach in most cases.” Often, coaches and athletes being closer can lead to what may seem like favor-itism on a team. “I definitely think there’s favoritism. It’s mostly position coaches who fa-vor their players over other positions-it’s playful favorit-ism though,” said Bundt. Other athletes take favoritism more seriously however. “There will be favor-itism in any activity,” said ju-nior Kayley Martley. “Some people on the [dance] squad favor some people more than others.” Although Martley believes favoritism is un-avoidable, some athletes do not find any signs of favorites on their team. “I think [our soccer coaches] treat everyone even-ly,” said junior Alec Sloan. Coaches also believe

the bond is important and do their part to create a bond with the athletes and amongst the team all around. “I just talk to them. We can’t do much outside of school, but we like to do bonding games at practice,” said coach Alisha Schutz. Anderson also agrees

that it is important to have a relationship with the team. “If you have a good relationship, they’ll do what you ask them to,” said Ander-son. “They’ll do things they might not want to and you can tell them things they may not want to hear, but it’s all to make them better.”

District coaching staff continues to grow Story by Austin Royal- Staff Writeraustin.royal@hhsnews.com

Heather Emokpae (above) and Ryan Peters (below). Photo by Cassie Long.

Story by Madi Dahn- Staff Writermadi.dahn@hhsnews.com

Teachers and coaches have special bonds with their students and players. Coach Eagle laughs with softball player, Reagan Osborn.

With the end of the 2011-2012 school year, many coaches left to find new op-portunities. The empty shoes left behind were filled with new coaches that brought past experiences along with them. To some, the job did not appeal to them solely for the love of the game. Accord-ing to running back coach, Ruben Hartzler, coming back to roots was a motive. “I went to school here,” said Hartzler. “I love the tradition of Harrison-ville athletics and wanted to continue to be apart of that tradition.” Like Hartzler, Cheer

coach Heather Emokpae is familiar with the wildcat way. “I grew up in Harri-sonville and I graduated from the high school,” said Emok-pae. Defensive line coach Ryan Peters also agrees that his roots brought him to the coaching position. “One reason was so that I could live closer to my friends and family,” said Peters. In addition to being closer to family, Peters simply enjoys the Wildcat’s play. “The players here at Harrisonville already know what it is like to win and

know how much hard work it takes to be a champion,” said Peters. Peters believes that one of the jobs a coach has is to push athletes to perform their best on the field. “I will drill the fundamentals so that they become second nature and instill confidence in each player. When my players do not have to think and can just play with confidence then I am confident they will play to their best of their abilities every down,” said Peters. To some coaches the only thing new is the title. Head softball coach David

Hix was the assistant coach for six years and is head coach this year. “We will do more instruction and teaching on the little things that will help us to be successful on the field and continue to do the big things that have been suc-cessful in the past. This years seniors have really worked to change the culture of our team than what it has been in the past. They have been mentoring the younger play-ers both on and off the field in a positive way and that translates to a more cohesive team which makes our job as coaches easier,” said Hix.

Photo by Cassie Long.

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Opinion: Playing dumb can only get you so far

We all know that one girl and sometimes boy who subjects his or herself to dull, attention seeking behavior that emulates a not-so-high IQ

benefitting them the title of the “ditsy” one. I find it difficult to acclaim to this behavior myself or find the appeal in others because my opin-ions on self sufficiency through true presentation of intelligence are ten times more appealing. But the issue here is not how it is annoying to me but rath-er the reasons behind such actions. Is playing dumb and receiving the chided laughs really a confidence

booster or furthering a lack of self assurance and how large a role does society play into this behavior? Often in life we are lead to believe particu-lar theories that although seem true, really are not. I feel many girls fall into the trap that showing how intelligent they really are around the opposite sex poses them as a threat so rather they dumb them-selves down to appear more approachable. Failing

to reach one’s true poten-tial is most likely linked to an idea that they don’t feel their potential is sufficient. When boys ac-climate this behavior it is most frequently related to the idea that by “trying hard” or doing well scho-lastically is a sign of weak-ness because it means he cares about his education. Society has played a major role in developing this type of attitude towards pursuing and achieving an

Column by Audrey Marshall- News & Opinion editoraudrey.marshall@hhsnews.com

Politics: Parties’ frustrating inconsistencies organized. It seems to me that they are just desperate to take the presidential office back. However, if they don’t grow up and get their act together, they won’t. It seems the Democrats are organized and united while the Republicans are split and can’t agree on one plan. Everybody has their own opinion that they feel is right; however I feel mine is not only right, it is logical. The Democrats want to cut spending to fix the economy but they don’t realize cutting spending is not the solution. Like I said before, they must cut the cost of products. This will make consumers want to buy more which will increase sales and the circulation of currency while also helping the economy fix itself. Anoth-er solution I feel would work is making more products in the United States. This would cut down costs on taxes and transportation while putting more money in the banks and becoming less dependant on foreign countries.

education. Yet what both parties don’t understand is that staying true to yourself and fulfilling the actual person you are meant to be encompasses your brain power also. All in all, getting back to the basic principles of self fulfillment includes staying true to the person you are, your ditsy side, and more importantly: your smart side. Don’t be less than who you are to please anyone else.

From pg. 4 “Our plants for the cattle in the spring should sprout right off the hay,” said Neill. “Our cattle can’t eat the grass right out of spring because it will be very rich which will make the cows

sick. Also we’ll be using prairie grass for the cattle in-stead of spring grass. It’s also helpful for when the cattle ‘do their business’. It makes it easier to clean the stalls and barn and if one of the cows decides to ‘do its business’ when you’re behind it, it’s

easier to get out or off of your clothing.” According to Neill, he and his father are optimis-tic that their farm will recover fairly quickly and they will be back to normal soon. “It will more than likely be into next year if

there isn’t another drought next summer and if we have a fair winter,” said Neill. “We should be back on track by the end of next summer mainly because we’ll have grass to feed the cattle again.”

Drought: Student takes precautions with crops, lifestock

Lunches: Requirements leave students feeling hungry for more

We can’t serve some meals very often anymore because they have so much of one food group.” Along with meeting guidelines for certain food groups, there are calorie and fat restrictions that must be met during the planning of

the lunch menu. According to lunch room supervisor Mark Ror-vig, not all students are ever going to be happy with school lunch. “Kids complained last year, they complain this year and they will complain next year,” said Rorvig. “Students

have always complained about school lunch.” According to Mc-Cleave, kids are going to continue to complain as long as the food stays the same. “It’s the same low quality food as last year,” said McCleave. “It’s not good food.”

Students are not get-ting the amount of food or the quality of food needed to satisfy their hunger. However, the kitchen departments’ hands are tied when trying to please the students and meet national guidelines as well.

From pg. 8

From pg. 4

Homecoming: Students participate in rock-themed spirit days From pg. 4

headband wrapped around it. “I got an innumerable amount of stares everywhere I went and lots of double takes,” said Riley. “I just felt it was a fun way to participate in spirit week.” Tuesday’s spirit day was Classic Rock Day. Senior Taylor Ricker participated by

wearing a black mesh shirt with a white tank top and a black wig. He also carried around a guitar case slung over his back. “I wanted to show some school spirit and kick-start the year,” said Ricker, “I was in uncomfortable cloth-ing and I had a lot of uncom-fortable stares.” Alternative Rock Day

took place Wednesday. Senior Tyler Bundt called senior Tanner Foerschler Tuesday night. Bundt planned to bor-row his sister’s clothes and dress as a woman. “I figured the school would get a good laugh out of it,” said Bundt. “Almost everyone stared. But it was a good day because when you look nice, you feel nice.”

Punk Rock Day was Thursday and most students dressed in ‘80s style. It was finally Fri-day and Homecoming had arrived. The colors blue and white engulfed the school as coronation and the game were that night. After coronation the Wildcats defeated Warrens-burg 44-0.

11the pride

there isn’t another drought next summer and if we have a fair winter,” said Neill. “We should be back on track by the end of next summer mainly because we’ll have grass to feed the cattle again.”

Drought: Student takes precautions with crops, lifestock

Lunches: Requirements leave students feeling hungry for more Students are not get-ting the amount of food or the quality of food needed to satisfy their hunger. However, the kitchen departments’ hands are tied when trying to please the students and meet national guidelines as well.

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Homecoming: Students participate in rock-themed spirit days

12the pride

Features

High Waisted Skirts:$24 - $148

Sperry Topsiders: $50 - $125

TOMS: $20 - $70

Nike Elite Calf Socks: $12 - $18

Crop Tops / Half Shirts:$15 - $60

V-necks:$10 - $50

This year’s style in the ‘Ville...

“They feel good on my feet.” - Freshman Jonathan Allen.

“I feel like a man when I wear them; I’m sexy and I know it.” - Junior Anthony Franco.

“They aren’t flat footed. They include arches like most shoes.” - Freshman Savannah Nash.

“They’re cute and go good with tank tops.” - Freshman Nicole Crawford.

“They’re cute, comfy and inexpensive. I love them.” - Junior Kelly Warden.

“It shows off your flat stomach.” - Senior Kassy Conner.

Fashion TrendsFashion Trends

Photos by Jamie Hasenyager.