The following account allows CVPA a look at the truth

of how

the great flood came to be. “So this is what hap-

pened,” she began,

“So, I flushed the toilet that was actually working and

I hear this gurgling sound from the ones next to it on

each side - the toilets

with no doors. And I would expect to see the actual

toilet I flushed

start to spill but no. So, it started overflowing and

running onto the floor so I ran out of the bathroom

and there was a girl sitting outside on the floor and I

was like, ‘these bathrooms here!’ and in the next min-

ute the water started flowing under the door into the

hallways and the classes!” The victim was lucky to

escape the clutches of the toilet’s wrath, but perhaps

her main offense was neglecting to inform anyone of

the problem she witnessed but, it is quite clear she

did not intend for the consequences to be as disas-

trous as she displayed a personable and surprised

tone.

One of the worst things about the flood is

how far the dirty toilet water surged through the

school. It continued past the classrooms, and even-

tually began cascading down the stairs like a water-

fall. Certainly, if the anonymous victim had acted

immediately, the disgusting toilet water leaking out of

the toilet bowl would not have been a newsworthy

issue.

The lesson to be learned from our wayward friend is

most likely problems will often grow into regrets if left

to snowball into terrible crises because, believe me,

she regrets causing The Great Flood at CVPA.

It was a peaceful September

day, just like any other at CVPA, when it

was suddenly shattered by a horrendous

toilet overflow-

ing. It crept out

the bathroom

and continued

down the hall

like Dracula or

Grendel or some

other infamous

creature, and

proceeded to

claim its victims

as it went down

the hall.

The first victim

was spotted out-

side of Mr. Mat-

tler’s door. Ac-

cording to the teacher, “I heard a student

scream for help to a security guard out-

side in the hallway. Going outside to in-

vestigate, I saw it had already ruthlessly

moistened one of her shoes. It was a like

a river running down the hallway and so I

shut the door for protection and went

back to teaching.”

This attempt at protection would not, how-

ever, stop the creeping of the toilet’s

march. As with any monster, simply clos-

ing the door would not halt its progress.

“It’s coming in the door!” said one of the

students in his class, and by then it was

all the way to the middle of the room. In

desperation, all the class could do was flee.

“Okay kids pack up your stuff we’re leaving!”

said the teacher, fearful for their safety, and

the class tried to avoid the creeping menace

beginning to take over their room.

Mr. Mattler was quite shocked at the ap-

pearance of the water in his classroom. His

room was not the only one invaded by the

delinquent’s flood, though; quite a few other

classrooms were bombarded with the vile

liquid.

This flood, as it is now being dubbed,

caused a great uproar as it was clear some-

one had caused it and ran away leaving the

mess to increase in dreadfulness. However,

yours truly happened upon a witness to the

events leading to this disastrous act. In

respect to our frightened victim, though, she

will be anonymous.

For those of you who don’t know,

one of the new teachers in the

building is Mr. Jenkins. He has

come to our school and is part of

the arts programs. I took some

time to get to know the

teacher who will be directing

our fall musical Footloose,

and thought you might like to

get to know him too.

Q: What is Footloose and

what is it about?

A: Footloose is a musical that

was created in 1998. It is

based upon the 1984 film of

the same name. It is about a

young man and his mother,

who move from Chicago to a

small town where dancing

was not allowed.

Q: Why did you choose Foot-

loose for a musical?

A: I liked the movie, and

watched it as a youth.

Q: Where did you work before

coming to Central?

A: I started off here at Central,

and worked from 2007-2009.

After that, I went to Carr Lane

Middle School. From there I moved

to Los Angeles to direct and choreo-

graph a children’s theatre company.

I have also worked for COCA since

2006 doing musical theatre, and

have recently returned to Central.

Q: Can you tell me about the danc-

ing in Footloose?

A: The dance department will han-

dle the dancing in the musical. I

have the utmost confidence in the

dance department, so I know the

dancing will be great.

Q:What do you plan to change in

Footloose?

A: Some of the scenes call for

outdoor scenes. I’m chang-

ing those. The most roman-

tic part of the musical is the

bridge scene when the cou-

ple is below the bridge.

Q: What do you expect from

the students?

A: I expect them to give 100%

commitment to the musical

from the beginning rehearsal

all the way to closing night.

Q: Is dancing important in

your life?

A: Yes. I’m a trained actor,

singer and dancer. All three

of these are very important,

especially for a musical.

T h e G r e a t F l o o d

b y A s h l e y M e r e d i t h

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Art News 2

Student Profile 2

Advice Column 3

Fashion 4

Love 4

Puzzles 5

Horoscopes and Comics 6

G e t t i n g F o o t l o o s e w i t h

M r . J e n k i n s b y A l i y a h A z i z

Rumor Has It Volume 1, Issue 1

The Newspaper of

Central Visual and Performing Arts

High School est. 2013

The year has just begun, yet Mr. Perry already has his work

cut out for him.

First, he's working for the Oktoberfest. They are paying him

to paint 1,300 yards

of cloth. Every year

the Oktoberfest com-

mittee rents a place

which they decorate

for their guests. In the

past, they used to

rent a park, but now

they are renting a

parking lot across

from Soulard which

they will decorate with

his art.

All the money for this

commission will be

contributed to the art

department, so in

order to get the pro-

ject completed, Mr.

Perry got creative. He

took his art classes

outside and rolled

out along strip of

cloth (about 210

yards at a time). It went from

the school alley to Kingshigh-

way. Next, he gave students

buckets of paint and had them walk along and splatter the

paint on the cloth. They used red, yellow, and black paint

because Oktoberfest is a German festival and those are the

colors of the German flag. He figured that splattering was

an easy way to get all of the cloth done in a timely manner.

It was also very inexpensive.

Another project that Mr. Perry is helping out with is a fund-

raiser for the Tower Grove Art Fair. This year CVPA get its own

booth! He is going to set the booth up with artwork from for-

mer seniors who left

pieces behind, and sell

them for reasonable

prices. The artwork will

be priced between $5

and $20. The booth will

be run by students, fac-

ulty, and parent volun-

teers.

Do you want to help?

Get involved! It is on

October 5th and 6th.

Anyone who wants to

participate should talk

to Mrs. Sponsler. If you

volunteer, you will get a

letter for your service

hours and a t-shirt iden-

tifying you as a Duck

Duck Goose team mem-

ber.

Mr. Perry is also working

with the Historic

Neighborhood Association in

a contest to be able to paint

the front gates at Tower

Grove Park. The gate stands 12 feet tall and is a 30 foot

wall, and whoever wins gets their design on this amazing

gate. The contest is already over and he is waiting on the

judges for the results. Thousands of people see the gate

every year. The result of the winner will be announced soon.

That's all the news I have for right now. I’ll keep you posted.

A: I’d say my grandma because she like doing

a lot of art and she likes to inspire me to do

more art. She’s always getting me to try new

things like woodworking and clay, and show-

ing me what different things can do with

painting and watercolors.

Q: What is a quote you would like to say?

A: Unless you have a lot of patience, art is

going to be very boring. I love dragons. I love

drawing dragons.

Q: How did you make the dragon? (she shows

me her drawing)

Q: Did you grow up in St. Louis?

A:No I am from Baltimore. I spent

like half my life there.

Q:What inspires you?

A:I like watching other people do art,

a lot of media, video games, and

such...a lot of fantasy stuff.

Q: What is your favorite art?

A: Drawing, because you can be very

precise. Like with painting if you

make a bad mark, you cover it up

but you can’t erase it entirely. With

metal working you can’t incorporate

as much color.

Q: Why did you come to Central?

A: My mom was like, “Hey let’s go to

Central” and I was like, “Okay.” My

other school was closing and I

wanted to go to an art school to

expand my skills.

Q: What do you want to be when you

grow up?

A: I want to be an artist.

Q: What type of artist?

A: I’m not quite sure.

Q:If you don’t become an artist,

what would you do?

A: I would probably do landscape

design

Q: Who has been the biggest influ-

ence in your life?

A: At first it just started as the head,

then we decided to elaborate on that

and add the neck and painting behind

it. Look into the dragon’s eyes.

Q: How did you feel when your dragon

was displayed?

A: I was very excited. I thought it

would be a good opportunity to share

my artwork.

How do you feel about being in the

paper?

A: I don’t know...ecstatic!

Lena displaying her artwork

A r t N e w s b y C i e r r a M o r g a n

P a g e 2

S t u d e n t P r o f i l e b y A s h l e y M e r e d i t h

Mr. Perry posing with his cloth of many colors

R u m o r H a s i t

other accountable and help each other

stay on track while having fun and catch-

ing up. Use this method carefully,

though, because it has a high probability

of failure.

The most commonly overlooked method

also happens to be one of the simplest:

just go and start! In the immortal words

of Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender,

“You've got to stop thinking like an air-

bender. There's no different angle, no

clever solution, no trickity trick that's

going to move that rock. You've got to

face it head on.” This quote means that

you have to stop trying to think of an

easier way to solve your problems and

just do it. Instead of spending time

trying to figure out how to do your

homework you

could get a lot

done simply by

starting it.

There are plenty

of other methods

to make doing

homework less

difficult but I

don’t have the

space to write

them all. Get

creative, though,

and try multiple

approaches.

Some things

might not work.

If you still need

ideas ask your

teachers; after

all, their job is to

help you! I hope

this makes

school a little

less painful.

If you have a question for La’shey, write

me! My box is outside Mr. Mattler’s

room in 220.

Until next month,

-La’shey

enrollment which exceeded over 1500 stu-

dents, and in 1955 the school began enroll-

ing its first African American students.

In 1976, The Visual and Performing Arts

school was created, and by 1984 it had

merged with Central to become the school it

is today

In 2004, (that’s the year that the song “Drop

It Like It’s Hot” came out) Central decided to

drop the old building it like it was hot and

move to its present location on Kingshigh-

way.

Did you know that your high

school is the oldest public high

school west of the Mississippi

River?

Try using that fact when bragging

about your school.

“Oh, when was your high school

founded? Well ours was founded

in 1853.”

Believe it or not, the first Central

High School was founded over

150 years ago. Back then, it only

had 70 students, but it grew and

soon needed a new building. A

few years later, a new one was

constructed in the downtown

area.

The popularity of the school con-

tinued to grow, prompting the

need for another new building,

which was built in 1893. This

new building did not last for a

long time, however, since a trag-

edy was about to befall it.

In 1927, the school was destroyed by

a tornado which had cut its way

through the city. Five students actu-

ally died during this event. (It kind of

makes you think about taking the

tornado drills a little more seriously,

doesn’t it?)

The destruction of the building forced

the school to be moved again, this

time to a location on Garrison where

it remained for a long time.

During the 1930’s the school in-

creased in popularity achieving an

It has been a long journey for this school, and

the tradition continues on with the students

who attend the school today.

It’s humbling thinking about how old our

school is, so take some pride in your school

and say with pride when someone asks, “I’m

from Central VPA!”

L i s t e n t o L a ’ s h e y

D o Y o u R e a l l y K n o w Y o u r

S c h o o l ?

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1

Students from Central School in 1882

Homework. For most of us it’s the bane of

our existence. Often, it’s simply too hard

to stay focused long enough to do our

long, boring work. The bright side,

though, is that it’s

totally within our

power to fix the

problem.

One of the best

methods to stay on

top of homework

and better your

grades is to con-

vince yourself it’s

fun. I know, “It’s so

not fun,” right? and,

“I don’t want to look

a fool!” Believe it or

not though, it’s

proven that if you

pretend long

enough, eventually

you start to believe

what you are pre-

tending to like. If you

believe homework is

fun it makes it a lot

easier to do. Plus,

nobody else can see

inside your head so it’s not like anyone

has to know. For the actors out there,

think of it as a drama exercise.

Another thing which can make homework

easier is to start study groups with other

people in your class. Now this might not

work if you spend the whole time chatting

it up with a good friend but often if you

have another person working toward the

same goal as you, you can hold each

Natasha McKinnies doing her homework

Kelly Sykes

Kelly Sykes says George Jetson

was her inspiration for her “Out of

this World” outfit. “I try to wear

really weird patterned, bold shirts

with solid color pants,” Kelly

stated. “Wearing cool patterns with

solid colors makes the pattern

stand out. You don’t want your

outfit to be too busy.”

Ms. Russell

“Shirley Jackson in the story ‘The

Lottery’ inspired my outfit,” Ms.

Russell says. She finds something

that looks decent and creates a

whole unique outfit for herself

that is just fit.

Jake

Jake says Fluffy, his cat (a stuffed

animal) and best friend, inspired

his outfit. You can follow them

both on Instagram.

Fluffy @ Its_ Fluffy_ 69

Jake @ Jakejustmadeyourday

Darriona Quarles Did you know that Darriona is a

senior and a dance major?

Couples! You see them everywhere, right? However, there is always that one couple who always carry them-

selves in a loving and respectful manner.

Couples don’t necessarily have to be physically attractive, couples that catch the human eye typically tend

to reflect the respectful side of the couple! Be aware of P.D.A. though, that’s not cute or fair to others.

For this month’s Cutest Couple, I have decided to highlight one of Central’s best known couples, Darriona

Quarles and Marquece Lomax.

Darriona and Marquece have been dating since freshmen year and they met at Central in 2010. Unfortu-

nately, Marquise left St. Louis to go to California for the 2011-2012 school year and left Darriona here

alone. The distance was too much and they realized how much they missed each other. Luckily, Marquece

came back for the 2012-2013 school year and is here to stay. Now we see this couple all over school and

just realize that high school romance does exist.

Marquece Lomax Did you know that Marquece is a

senior and a dance major as well? I guess they have danced their way

into each others’ hearts!

T h a t F u n k y T r e n d b y X a n i e l l e r o d g e r s

C u t e s t C o u p l e b y A l o n d r a C o r n e j o

P a g e 4 R u m o r H a s i t

Mr. Robinson

“I feel like you can express your-

self through clothes and shoes.

Not only can you show your

moods, but it can show your per-

sonality also. I try to keep it sim-

ple but bold at the same time. I

also love to wear loud socks no

matter what I am wearing. I am a

RECOVERING ‘Sneakerhead’ so I

enjoy Fridays when I wear differ-

ent sneakers. I feel like if you are

not comfortable in it, then you

should not wear it. Keep it simple,

and do not overcomplicate things

when it comes to clothes. That is

my way of thinking.”

Fall is here, so dress appropriately. Now dressing appropriately doesn't mean you can’t be stylish, here are some tips…

- When it gets cooler out, wear a jacket, blazer, cardigan, or other warm clothing.

-If you’re going to wear bold patterns, don’t mix your entire outfit with them, you don’t want your outfit to be

too busy. You should wear a solid color with the patterns, to have your outfit still awesome but not outrageous.

Here are some few stylish students and staff…….

6. Dr. White’s first name

7. Featured on MTV’s Made

9. This teacher likes to salsa dance

11. The picture next to room 222 says

13. Principal’s name at Cleveland

15. First two words on the soldier’s plaque in the lobby

17. The southern street bordering our building

18. Teacher who has a son named John

19. How many doors are at the entrance to the theatre?

20. The last assistant principal

21. Recently renovated room

F u n S t u f f !

A c r o s s

P a g e 5 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1

D o w n

1. Color behind the 6 on the clock in the lobby

2. The new World History teacher

3. How many steps does it take to get from the 4th floor to the 1st, including

the landings?

4. Which water fountain has the coldest water?

5. You might catch this staff member playing football

8. Staff member from Florida

10. The blue condiment in the lunch room

12. Musical from 2011-2012 school year

16. What side of the building are the odd numbered rooms on?

Riddle of the Month

A bus driver was heading down a street in Colorado. He went right past a stop sign without

stopping, he turned left where there was a "no left turn" sign and he went the wrong way on

a one-way street. Then he went on the left side of the road past a cop car. Still - he didn't

break any traffic laws. Why not?

He was walking

Joke of the Month

Where do you learn to make

ice cream?

At sundae school

Puzzle of the Month

The shape above is made with one continuous line. Starting anywhere, can you complete

the shape without lifting your pencil? Oh, and your path cannot cross over itself.

Newspaper Contributors

Ashley Meridith - Editor

Alondra Cornejo - Director of Photography

Xanielle Rodgers - Fashion Editor

Rainbow - Artistic Director

Aliyah Aziz - Reporter

Deja Jackson - Society Reporter

Capricorn - Good news! This month has a high likelihood of good fortune, high energy, and financial success toward the end of the month. Aquarius - This month, events in your life will begin to pick up, but your energy level could fall. This month is likely to be tough, but keep going and you will reap the benefits. Pisces - Keep the bad vibes away and you will find happiness.

Aries - Don’t be so competitive; it leads you into bad habits.

Taurus - Be positive. Things are looking up. This month brings money and for-

tune.

Gemini - This month your knowledge will prosper. Use it widely to achieve what you need. Cancer - Be aware of your surroundings, both for good and bad.

Leo - This month you will find something very important to you, whether it be friendship or a physical object. Virgo - Pay attention to the family this month. The home is where the heart is.

Libra - This month will run a progressive and gainful period in which friends are high on the agenda. Enjoy this month because your stamina is likely to fall to-

ward the end. Scorpio - When it rains, it pours, but for you that means opportunity. Make lem-onade out of lemons. Sagittarius - Keep your options open. New and better things await. Go for it, but find a balance with your work. A great balance brings great success.

C o m i c s B y R a i n b o w Zodiac Attack

Where arts and academics share center stage