Download pdf - Reeds Spring Pulse - April 2015

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In This Issueapril 2015

PULSE7

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to-do lists 6APRIL FOOLS 7ONEDIRECTION DRAMA 8MAD MAX: THE REBIRTH 9REINCARNATION: FACT OR FICTION? 10THE OBJECT OF FAILURE 12PROM 14ANIMAL MYTHS 15CROSSWORD 17CALENDAR OF EVENTS: MAY 18

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BEHIND THE SCENESLead Editor:

Ann Temple

Graphic Editor:Megan Strayer

Photographer:Chancler McClelland

Writers:Courtney Bullis

Taylor ChambersWyatt Cooper

Aisha EbyMatt Gilderson

Alley GrantMisti Higginbotham

Hannah PhalenPaige Pritchard

Aaron SampsonAnn Temple

Lauren WeathersCindy Wenk

Danielle WhitworthAbby Williams

Stone Woodward

Sponsors:Mr. Matt LockeMr. Bob Lynch

Letter From the Editors: Stress is our reaction to what we cannot con-trol, or even what we can control. We cannot control whether or not that person, or that group of people, likes us. We can’t control what’s going to be on that big final exam. We can’t control other people’s opinions or actions. What we can control is ourselves: our attitudes, our perspectives, and our effort. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. When you get rejected by that person, or that friend group, remind yourself that you are more than people’s opinions. When you get a bad grade on a test, know that you studied and tried your best. When that guy or girl starts a rumor about you, brush it off. You are more than just what people think of you. In this point in our lives, other’s opinions of us are important. It feels good to be accepted and loved by others. When you get pushed away or judged, it hurts. However, something more important than oth-er’s opinions is your own opinion of yourself. Good self-esteem is what will help drive you as you get older. If you are confident in yourself, you will be more likely to do braver things. To step outside your comfort zone during that interview to leave that com-pany wanting you back. To go the extra mile during that presentation to put you ahead of the rest of your class. To give everything 110%, and leave knowing you gave it your all.“One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized, and cru-elly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.” –Michael J. Fox

We would also like to give a special thanks to Mr. Lynch, who is leaving us this year. It has been a good four years, and you will be greatly missed. Best of wishes to you and all your endeavors.

-Megan & Ann

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SPORTS - LIFESTYLE - NEWS - STUDENT LIFE - FASHION - MISC

to-do lists Many of us procrastinate, and sometimes we don’t even know or care until it is the day before we need to have something finished. It usually comes back around to bite us in the butt, and causes a ton of stress and rushing. It’s important that we know what our priorities are and what is most important in our daily tasks. Learning how to be productive and get things done sufficiently now will help us later in life. For those of you who aren’t the best at getting things done, here are some things that might help you create a more progressive and less stressful to-do list.

Know what is most important! When making a to-do list, think about what you need to get done first, and what can wait until later. This way you are tackling what really needs to be taken care of first and dealing with the smaller tasks later on, and this also helps your day become more spaced out. As you get the bigger tasks out of the way, the less stress you will feel as you get more toward getting the least important tasks done.

Be productive and know how much you can handle. Don’t make your-self a crammed full list of things to do. Try keeping your to-do list under a page. This way you are more organized and aren’t

repeatedly going through errands you need to get done and things you need to have turned in for the week. This can be tough because it is so easy for us to just list out everything we need to do for the next month or even longer. But it can help a lot to keep yourself under weekly to-do lists, and know what needs to be done more recently as opposed to what needs to be done months from now. Another option could be to make two lists; one of short term to-dos, and one of long terms. And you could even create a “today” list daily. This way you are pacing yourself, and if you finish all the tasks on your “to-day” list with time to spare, then you can add more tasks. Always remember that it is important to keep time for you as well. Don’t cram your day so full of errands to the point that you are drained, because odds are you have more to do tomorrow. Plan everything out so you will have a least a little relaxation time for the end of your long day. Keep realistic standards. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Know how much you can handle, and don’t expect yourself to get an impossible amount of things done. Making a to-do list that has so many tasks that your day will be constantly running isn’t healthy. This will stress you out. Getting things done should be productive and relieving.

Get in the zone, and get pre-pared for getting things done. Don’t wake up in the morning rushing around to get started. Taking your time in the morning, even if this means waking up a little ear-lier, will help your day to be much more relaxing and productive. Many of us make the mistake of getting that extra five min-utes of sleep that leads to rushing out the door, leaving a healthy routine out of place. Giving yourself enough time in the morning to actually get ready for the day helps a lot more than you would think; give yourself enough time to shower, get dressed, and eat (or whatever it is you like to do to prepare yourself for the day). Taking your morning at an average pace instead of rushing will help your body feel more awake, and will help you have more energy throughout the day.

Being productive is important, and sometimes it can be hard when we “just aren’t feeling it,” but it’s important that you keep in mind what the outcomes may be if you do not get things done. Re-membering all the things you need to get done, especially in school, can be tough; so just try keeping ato-do list using these tips. You never know, it may help more than you think.

courtney bullis

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april fools Doesn’t it seem crazy that people can celebrate an annual tradition of jokes and pranking worldwide, yet when someone tells a simple joke it’s never heard of again? With this being said, what kind of person would make a joke/prank so huge that it would start a worldwide trend for many gen-erations to come? Do you ever think about the interesting history behind April Fools’ Day? This is one of the most light-hearted days of the year. Many people see this day differently. Some see it as a celebration of the seasons changing, while some just see it as celebration and a day to adjust to the changes of a new calendar coming up. Back in the day, people celebrated April Fools’ Day at different times of the year. Some celebrated it in January, February, or even March. April 1st was originally the celebra-tion of New Year’s Day. It has also been said that when people changed the days around and made New Year’s Day on January 1st, and made April Fools’ Day on April 1st, some people didn’t get the memo; those who did mocked the people who still practiced the old traditions.

There is a lot more to this day than just pulling pranks and having a laugh. These past few generations weren’t the first to celebrate this day, and we sure won’t be the last. The ancient Romans had a day of jokes called Festival of Hilaria. In ancient Rome, the festival of Hilaria was held to celebrate the Vernal Equinox and honor the Anatolian Earth Goddess. This day was also called “Roman Laughing Day.” Obviously, the U.S isn’t the only country that celebrates

this day of events. Some other countries that do are: France, Scotland, Iran, Spain, Portugal, India, and Denmark. Each of them have their own twist on how they celebrate.

Now, it’s time to get to the good part. After interviewing a few people, I’ve gotten some pretty good feedback on the subject. Most people enjoy pulling pranks on others because they get a kick out of it, while others hate it because they just don’t enjoy the holiday. Some people that I inter-viewed are Julia Grant, Rylee Olson, and Katelyn White.

While asking Julia how she felt about the holiday, she had one simple an-swer. This answer was, “I don’t like April Fools’ Day. The reason is because the per-son you are dating could break up with you for the day, but you don’t know if they’re be-ing serious or just all around pulling a prank. I also don’t think that the day has that much meaning to it. What’s the point of having a day where everyone just makes jokes? We can do that any day and not have a specific day to celebrate.”

While asking Rylee what she felt about the day, her answer varied. She said, “I enjoy the holiday, but I usually don’t cele-brate it. I mean, it’s fun watching people pull pranks on other people and it’s fun watching people make fools of themselves. I wouldn’t celebrate it, only because I’m not into that kind of stuff.”

While asking Katelyn how she felt about the day, she had one answer and

one simple answer only. “I love this day. This is my day to be mean to people and pull pranks. Laughing on a regular basis is normal, but on this day it’s all around just a bunch of fun. I have such a blast playing pranks on my friends and watching people pull pranks on others. Let’s be honest, I would do this on a daily basis, but on this day I have an actual excuse to prank some-one.”

Although pulling pranks on people can seem all fun and innocent, there are some people out there that have gone a lit-tle over the edge. One high school student from Hollister decided to call his sister at 6 p.m. one night and woke her up from a nap. He claimed that it was 6 in the morning and that she had to be at work. Needless to say, this didn’t end well for either of them.

Some examples of good pranks are: putting tomatoes in a Krispy Kreme box instead of leaving the donuts in there; put-ting forks (sticking up) in someone’s yard; covering someone’s car in sticky notes; put toothpaste in Oreos; putting a teacher’s desk in the bathroom; and mixing soy sauce and sprite to make them look like Dr. Pep-per!

There you have it! There are a lot of people with a great sense of humor in this world, and you might think it’s hard to deal with them on a daily basis. You better watch out on April 1st, because that’s when people really come out to play. Enjoy this day, but don’t get too carried away!

alley grant

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Onedirection drama

One Direction has received hate and banter from nearly everyone imaginable just because they are a boy band. No one can deny that these boys are mega popular for the short time that they have been together. Sure, when they first started out they never imagined being in a band or even becoming as huge as they have, but here they are. They have always been immensely grateful to ev-eryone for the things they have, but that doesn’t mean they are always happy with things. We all unfortunately found this out the hard way when on March 25th, Zayn Malik announced through their Facebook page that he was, in fact, leaving One Di-rection behind.

The first initial statement that was made and posted to the One Direc-tion Facebook page had just formally an-nounced his leaving and how upset/okay the people involved were; they knew they needed to let him go if that’s what he want-ed and wished him the best in whatever he does in the future. Prior to Zayn officially leaving, he had left the tour due to what he said was stress, but it wasn’t long after until rumors started that he was trying anything he could to get out of his contract that he only had a few more months left of. Malik ended up paying sixteen million dollars to get out of his contract saying that he just wanted out of everything and wanted to fi-nally live a normal 22-year-old life.

Anyone involved with, and includ-ing One Direction, should know that despite whatever lies they tell the world, we will find out the truth. Malik has been seen and photographed at a studio in London nearly every single day since the announcement of him leaving; we’ve also received an in-terview he had done with The Sun final-ly, but vaguely, discussing the matter. He blatantly told the interviewer One Direction was something he was never happy doing and now he feels like he is in more control of his life, despite feeling like he let down a world of people. Being seen at a record-ing studio with the artist Naughty Boy and making new music on his own isn’t exactly what most of the world would perceive as a normal 22-year-old life.

The fans of One Direction have truly shed their fair share of tears after this news, but no one takes them and their feel-ings seriously because this is just a boy band. We all have our own ways of being happy, and we are all insane fans of things that others may think are stupid. Regard-less of that, this was an insanely big deal to millions of people. Is this the end of One Direction? Absolutely not; we can all take a sigh of relief as the remaining four boys finish off this tour and assure the world that there is, in fact, a lot more in store for One Direction in the future.

Misti Higginbotham

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mad max: the rebirth

The sun beats down on the bar-ren land and the wind blows, sending sand everywhere and into everything. This is the Australian Outback; better known as a wasteland. On a hill sits a modified Ford Falcon XB V8, outfitted for vehicular com-bat and extra gas tanks for the long road ahead. It is known as the Interceptor. Standing next to it is the shell of a man named Max; once a law enforcement offi-cer, father, and husband. Now, he is known as the road warrior. He is destined to trav-el the wasteland alone and survive day by day. But where does his story begin?

In the year 1979, a man known as George Miller had an idea of an apocalyp-tic story in the outback. With little funding, he and a small crew set out to create his vision. They recruited Mel Gibson to play Max, the main character and soon to be cinema hero. The movie, even though low budget, became a cult classic and was immediately received well with the public; thus, the Mad Max series was born.

In the first Mad Max (1979) the world we know is gone; it is believed that nuclear weapons were exchanged. Riots break out, the oil fields dry up, and food becomes scarce. Society begins to break down the Main Force Patrol, or the MFP, which is created to act as highway patrol and super police force with the means of enforcing the law anyway they seem fit. Among these special officers is Max, the

best and brightest driver on the force. The first movie essentially introduces Max and the road gangs that begin to terrorize the land. The main turning point in the movie is when Max’s family is killed by a road gang, which sends Max into a rage. Max becomes a shell of what he once was as he hunts the gang across the outback, kill-ing every last one of them with his sawed-off, double barrel shotgun. The movie ends with Max heading deeper into the desert, looking for a purpose to the life he now has.

In Mad Max: The Road Warrior (1981), Max returns to aid a group of sur-vivors from a masked giant and his gang of savages. Although he is successful in helping the group escape the savage’s clutches, his modified police cruiser, or the Interceptor, is destroyed; leaving him in the desert on foot. In Mad Max: Beyond Thun-derdome (1985), Mel Gibson returns as Max for the last time. This time, Max helps a tribe of children, and a woman, escape the grasp of a power hungry woman who leads a town of raiders and savages alike. The movie ends with stories being told about the Road Warrior who wanders the wasteland, and Max is never seen again.

It’s been thirty years since the last Mad Max movie until now. Max returns on screen in Mad Max: Fury Road and will be played by Tom Hardy (Bane from Batman, Inception, and This Means War). According to IMBD’s website, the plot will have Max,

a woman and her band of survivors team up to take on, and/or escape, a warlord and a savage gang leader. Essentially, the good guys will take on two enemy factions at once. The trailer shows a weary Max standing on a hill, watching a huge group of savage vehicles followed by a wall of sand and dust heading for him. “My world is Fire and Blood,” the trailer says as cars explode and flip out of control. Going off of what is seen in the trailer, there will be many gun fights, car wrecks and, of course, awesome special effects. So for all of the action ad-dicts and adventurers out there, this is a must see this summer! The most excit-ing thing about this movie, other than the movie itself, is it is believed to be a reboot of the series since it’s been thirty years! What does this mean? If the movie does well, which we should all be surprised if it doesn’t, is that there is a possibility for more to come. Sources say that this is a contin-uation of Max’s story; it is a reboot for the film itself, and a chance to cast a younger actor to continue the series, hence, no Mel Gibson. There is a possibility that, following this movie, another sequel could emerge, telling another story of Max and his travels through the waste. If you’re taking a sum-mer vacation, take it in the outback in style while fighting raiders in the desert in a fast paced, fuel injected, screen blasting mov-ie! Mad Max releases to theaters May 15, 2014.

wyatt cooper

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Reincarnation: Reincarnation has been a topic of discussion for many years now. Some people are disbelievers, and some peo-ple are full believers. Reincarnation is the rebirth of a soul in a new body. For many people, this goes against their re-ligious beliefs and that is the sole rea-son why they believe that it is simply a myth. There are tons of stories out there of people claiming they have been rein-carnated or have lived a past life. Some of the stories will make you roll your eyes and say “ok, whatever,” but others will make you really think about the idea of reincarnation, and possibly even have you convinced that it is real. One of those stories belongs to a young boy from Tul-sa, Oklahoma who has just recently told his exceptional story to the public.

Ryan says when he was four years old, he would have nightmares that would disrupt his sleep fairly often. These nightmares continued until he fi-nally confided in his mother, Cyndi. One night before bed, Ryan said “Mom, I have something I need to tell you. I used to be somebody else.” Ryan cried and told his mother that he needed to “go home” to Hollywood. He talked about how he once danced on Broadway, met many different famous celebrities, traveled the world, worked for an agency where peo-ple often changed their names, and lived on a street that had the word “rock” in

it. He also told his mother details about his personal life like how many children he had, how many times he was married, the number of siblings he had, and more. “His stories were so detailed and they were so extensive, that it just wasn’t like a child could have made it up,” said Cyn-di. Now, it would be easy to just brush off Ryan’s stories as just a young boy with a wild imagination, something that many children have. However, he spoke about these things in such detail and as if it was something completely real. It was hard for Cyndi to not believe her son as he spoke with such conviction. Like mentioned before, religion is usually the reason behind why people think reincar-nation is a myth. Cyndi was one of those people. Being raised Baptist, it was never something that she believed in or even really thought about in detail. Due to the fact that the idea of reincarnation was so foreign to Cyndi, she kept Ryan’s story a secret for a while, including from her own husband.

Cyndi became very curious about Ryan’s story and decided to check out some books about old Hollywood from their local library. She was looking for answers and wanted to make sense of what Ryan had told her. After a bit of research, Cyndi finally found a picture that she says “changed everything.” One night, as Cyndi and Ryan were looking

through an old Hollywood book that Cyn-di had picked up from the library, Ryan says “She turns to the page in the book, and I say ‘that’s me, that’s who I was.” The photo was a shot from the 1932 movie “Night After Night,” starring Mae West. In the photo, Ryan pointed to an extra in the movie that did not even have any speaking lines. Cyndi felt shocked and confused. She didn’t know what else to do so she turned to Dr. Jim Tucker, M.D., the Bonner-Lowry Associate Pro-fessor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavior-al Sciences at the University of Virginia for some professional help.

Dr. Tucker has had plenty of ex-perience with stories similar to Ryan’s within all the years of his studies, but he says that Ryan’s case was “unusual be-cause of the incredible detail he was able to provide.” After some intense research, they found that the extra in the movie was an actor that went by the name of Marty Martyn and he later became a Hol-lywood agent and died in 1964. Tucker was shocked. He said, “If you look at a picture of a guy with no lines in a mov-ie, and then tell me about his life, I don’t think many of us would have come up with Marty Martyn’s life. Yet Ryan provid-ed many details that really did fit with his life.”

Dr. Tucker was determined to find some answers. Eventually, he was able to find some old records and even

abby williams

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tracked down the daughter of Marty Mar-tyn and confirmed at lease fifty five de-tails that Ryan had given him about the life of Marty Martyn. Dr. Tucker found that Marty was a movie extra, danced on Broadway, traveled, and eventually worked for an agency where there were often names changed and stage names created. Marty also lived at 825 North Roxbury Dr. in Beverly Hills, as Ryan had said he lived on a street with the word “rocks” in it. Ryan was also correct about the details of Marty’s personal life. Ryan knew more about Marty than Mar-ty’s own daughter did. Marty’s daughter had thought that her father only had one sister but Ryan said he had two. Tuck-er confirmed that it was in fact two. It all seems so spot-on. How could a young boy have known all these details about a man’s life that lived many years before he was ever even born?

The most shocking part if the story was a twist. There were many crit-ics of this story who definitely did not believe Ryan and thought that he and his family were all lying. The critic was thrown off because one of Ryan’s im-portant details was wrong. Ryan had once said he didn’t understand why God

would let you live to be 61 years old and then make you come back as a baby. The problem with this was, Marty’s death certificate was had stated that he died at the age of 59. This was a major flaw in Ryan’s story and it was weird that he was correct about so many things but wrong about the age in which Marty died. As Dr. Tucker continued to research more in depth, he eventually discovered that in an old census, Marty had been born in 1903 instead of 1905 which would have made him 61 when he died and not 59. This means that the death certificate that had been around for longer than Ryan was wrong, and Ryan was right.

It’s amazing. How could Ryan have known all these things about anoth-er man’s life better than his own family and legal documents? Could Ryan have really once lived another life as Marty Martyn? Ryan says that as he continues to grow older his memories of Marty’s life fade. He also says he is happy that he had those memories but he is look-ing forward to living his new life now. So what do you believe? Is reincarnation fact or fiction?

fact or fiction?

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Many students, usually near the high school age, tend to think that they are worthless and will never amount to anything. Many students believe that since they have no special talents, they are not going to go anywhere in life; they just shut themselves down and their whole world turns upside down. The problem is that students in this day in age aren’t filled with enough ambi-tion to really push themselves forward. They make themselves feel as if like they are not important enough to contribute to society.

You may not believe this, but many of the teachers in this school are just like you. They were once in high school, too. They know what it feels like to fail. Grow-ing up, Tonya Lewis didn’t always want to be a chemistry teacher. She wanted to work for the National park System, and she got a Comprehensive degree (a double major de-gree) for outdoor education. In 1983 during the last recession, Ronald Reagan froze all hiring positions and cut budgets on not only the National Park System, but nearly on every job. Mrs. Lewis worked as an Apart-ment Manager for a while until she was introduced to “at risk” youth in the Kansas City area. They had a number of outdoor programs at the YMCA and at the Rockies. She thought that it was fun to work there, and a very good experience, until she de-cided to go back to school in 1986 while she was still young. She went back to college for

2 years and completed course work so she could teach chemistry. She was certified to teach in 1988, but by the time she was fin-ished with school it was during the summer and it was hard to find a job. She substitut-ed and had many other flunky jobs beyond that. She even worked at the Branson West Country Mart as a evening job. During that time, her dad had developed cancer. She had to work while also living with her par-ents to help them through their tough times. Finally, she got a job at the Kansas City East Environmental Science Magnet school. The reason why Mrs. Lewis is such a great ex-ample is because she has tenacity, and she’s adaptable. She had people in her life that believed in her to do well, and to get great things done. She wanted to work in a high school because she likes working with younger people in a less formal setting. She got her Master’s degree in 1999; it took her 8 years to get her Master’s Degree in Sci-ence because she moved so many times. As for Mrs. Lewis, she states that “there is no substitute for hard work.” Mrs. Lewis is one of the millions of people who struggle with dyslexia. She had wanted to read so bad because she loves reading stories. She worked hard to improve her reading skills and she didn’t give up. She didn’t learn to read until she was in the 6th grade. When Mrs. Lewis was in school, she had to take an exit test so that she could go on to the next grade. At the beginning of the 6th grade she started at the bottom of her class in the

reading category, and ended up being at the top of her class.

Growing up, Joshua Flora didn’t always want to be a science teacher. He wanted to be a wildlife biologist. He gave up his dream of being a wildlife biologist because he started coaching softball. Suc-cess to Mr. Flora is attaining your goal that you have achieved; failure, in his words, is not attaining the goal that you desire. He’s never really felt that he wasn’t going to amount to anything, because Flora has a strong base in his life, and we’re not talking about softball bases. His main base is God. He’s a hearty Christian, and God gives you strength through your ups and through your downs. “If you trust in your faith, then you’re not a failure.” – Joshua Flora

As a kid, Craig Barr wanted to be three things: a cop, a fireman, or a GI-Jo. As he reached his high school age, though, he wanted to be a physical therapist. He ended up giving up this dream because he thought it would be weird working with and/or for his peers, so he thought he would become an elementary teacher. Then he realized that he wanted to make a bigger impact on stu-dent’s lives, and as an elementary teach-er the kids would just forget about you too quickly. So he started to get his degree in teaching high school students. He had al-ways known that he wanted to teach high

the object of failure

kristian dalquist

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SPORTS - LIFESTYLE - NEWS - STUDENT LIFE - FASHION - MISCschool students from the start, and make an impact on their lives as said before. Barr has felt the feeling of failure. He knows what it’s like, but he believes that natural human emotion makes you feel that way. It makes you feel the feeling that finding a purpose is the only way you can get a head in life, and it is. Barr states that “if you can’t find purpose in life, then you’re always going to feel lost no matter how successful you are. You’re not going to be happy, even if you feel like you’re doing a good job. You’re always going to feel like you’re not doing well enough to make yourself happy. How you would fix this is you would have to re-check yourself, or realize that your focus is worrying about the future and not thinking about the now, and that you have to change it.” Most high school students are selfish; they’re only thinking about their selves and not thinking about the global things. Failure, in Mr. Barr’s own words, is just not trying and giving up, and success to him is trying and never giving up. Having the ultimate belief in yourself, even if you’re wrong, then you still have enough confidence to try again. Suc-cessful people are never satisfied because they are always trying to get better. That’s why he always tells his students to be cre-ative and just take a chance, and take a risk. “We would rather have you make a mistake at 100 percent rather than to do something right at 50 percent.” - Craig Barr

Vice Principal Moler has even experienced the feeling of failure. Growing up, he never expected that he was one day going to become an assistant principal. He thought that he was going to growing up to be a lawyer or a doctor because he had lived up to the expectation of his father be-ing a lawyer. But then his perspective shifted during his high school years and mid college when he decided that he wanted to become a football coach. He felt like it was his pas-sion and God was ultimately leading him to become a football coach, because that’s what he was generally good at, and that was something that was going to make him happy. He also decided that his stomach wasn’t nearly strong enough to be a doctor, and being a lawyer definitely wasn’t for him.

Moler believes that we all have dreams, especially dreams of having a good paying job. We’re not really thinking of the fact that the job that we want that’s going to make us a lot of money, really isn’t a job that is going to make us happy, though. The true key to overcoming failure and being happy is figur-ing out what you’re good at, and going into that field. That’s where his happiness is go-ing. He loves working with students and be-ing an administrator. That’s what makes him happy. He’s taught foot-ball for twenty-two years, and has won a lot of games but he’s also lost a lot of games and he thought, “Oh my gosh, did I make the right de-cision,” but the key is sticking to what you believe in, and re-alizing that success isn’t tied to loses or wins. It’s tied to what you’re set out to do. Every doc-tor fails. A doctor can make you feel better temporarily, but even-tually you’re going to die because every-one dies; it’s the im-pact you made on their life, the impact that made their life better. Failure in his words is giving up. When you quit trying, and he deals with this in his office a lot, that’s when you begin to fail. You’re not a failure because you’re failing a class, but you are when you give up and try not to pass the class. Success is mak-ing the most of what you’ve got, and giving your best effort with the gifts that you have. Some advice that he can give is never quit just because you figure out that you’re not good at one thing; there is always a way to make something successful. This happens all of the time. Kids think that something’s getting too hard, so they just give up. What they don’t realize is there are tons of people in this school who are willing to help them, but the students are either too shy to ask for help or they just think that no one cares at all, which is not true. We all want everyone to be successful.

From a student’s perspective, senior Miranda Oliver wants to be a Veter-inarian when she grows up. She’s taken the action of signing up for Health Occupations; a class that teaches you how to become a CAN, and teaches you skills that you will eventually use in your future. In that class, you can job shadow Veterinarians. She also volunteers at the humane society whenever she gets the chance. Miranda has run into bumps in the road, and she has been dis-couraged once or twice. One day, she was trying to check off on radial pulse ( a skill you must do to pass the Health Tech class) and she failed. So she thought that she could

never be a vet if she couldn’t even check off on radial pulse.

Then she realized that half the stuff she would

learn in Pre-Vet school is completely different than what she would learn in a CNA class. Her advice for stu-dents that feel like they’re failures is to be

prepared before you try and do something

that you think you might have the slightest chance of

possibly messing up. Don’t set yourself up to get discouraged, but

if you do become discouraged, just remem-ber that nobody is perfect. Failure is the first step to success. Success to her is achieving personal happiness, and she doesn’t think that it has to be anything specific, because success is different to everybody. Failure is not achieving personal happiness, and not meeting the standard for whatever it is that you are trying to achieve.

Never give up. Everyone can suc-ceed, and there is always someone there who is willing to help you reach success.

“If you trust in your faith, then

you’re not a failure.”

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prom

For teenagers all across the na-tion, it is prom season! Prom is supposed to be one of the best nights of all of your teen-age years, and a highlight of high school. It is sad to say, but prom usually isn’t as excit-ing and special as it should be due to all the stress that comes along with it. From finding a date to finding the perfect dress, and ev-erything in between, the stress sometimes overrides the fun.

Thankfully, there are many things you can do to lessen or avoid some stress while you are preparing for Prom 2015. A big part of avoiding prom stress is plan-ning. If you plan how long it will take to get ready, where you go to take pictures, where you will go to eat and who you will go with, and how long it takes to get to the venue at which the event is going to be held, it will ensure that on the day of prom you are not running around trying to get things done and end up being late. On the day of prom you will want things to run as smoothly as possi-ble because it’s often a pretty chaotic day.

One of the most stressful parts of prom for girls is finding the perfect dress, their dream dress! For most girls, it has to be the right length, the right color, the right amount of beading, the right cuts, etc. It has to be unique and special so that everyone remembers it for months. The problem is, nice dresses can end up being pretty ex-pensive and some girls struggle to afford a nice dress. There are many alternatives and money saving ways for girls to get a beauti-ful dress and avoid the stress of paying hun-dreds of dollars for something they will only wear once. First, you can buy a used prom dress. Some girls don’t like this idea because

they feel it will make their dress less special due to someone else previously wearing it. However, many girls out there spend hun-dreds of dollars on dresses, only wear them once, and then sell them for much cheaper. It’s a fantastic way to get an amazing dress for a low price. Secondly, if you do splurge on an expensive dress, you can sell it after prom. You probably won’t be able to sell the dress for as much as you originally paid for it, but you can at least make back about half of what you paid or more. You may have to wait until next prom season to roll around to be able to make a sale, but it’s a great way to earn some of your money back.

Another stressful part of preparing for prom for girls is all the beauty bits. Hair, makeup, nails, tanning, and maybe even working out. Most girls start preparing for prom months in advance. All these things can start to add up and get pretty expen-sive. If you think about it, it’s a little crazy how teens (or their parents) are spending hundreds of dollars for one single night. If you want to save some money and avoid spending so much at a salon, there are su-per easy solutions. The day of prom, get some girlfriends and have everyone meet up and bring all their beauty products! In-stead of going to the salon, you and your friends can all do each other’s nails, make-up and hair for free. There are hundreds, even thousands of tutorials on YouTube and Pinterest for gorgeous prom looks.

Now, although girls usually have a bit more stress and expenses during prom season, boys also struggle with stress and the pressure of finding a date. Typically, the boy is expected to be the one to ask the girl

to prom, and that can be pretty scary when there is a chance of rejection. There is a pressure put on boys to have their prom pro-posals be creative and romantic. There are thousands of cute ideas out there, but they usually take tons of planning to make sure they go right. If you can’t figure out how to ask a girl to prom, don’t feel like it is required for you to go above and beyond. Sometimes, sweet and simple does the trick. Get some flowers from the local flower shop, maybe some candy, and just ask the girl flat out. It doesn’t have to be extravagant or make The Best Prom Proposals of All Time list. Don’t put unnecessary stress on yourself.

One of the most important parts of prom is the crowning of Prom Queen and King. We will begin voting for them the week of prom. They will let students vote at lunch time during the week, and then they will choose the top four female and male candi-dates to vote for the night of prom. Everyone gets one vote. When all the votes are count-ed, the Prom Queen will be crowned by the returning Queen from 2014, Julia Krueger; the Prom King will be crowned by the return-ing King from 2014, Draven Corn.

Prom should be something special, wonderful, and a day you remember forev-er. You should enjoy every moment of it, let loose and enjoy yourself. You should act re-sponsible during prom and any after-prom events or parties. Be safe and make sure your friends are being safe as well.

abby williams & Paige pritchard

15

Animals are amazing creatures. There are so many myths about animals that stem from their strange behavior. Peo-ple don’t always understand animal behav-ior; it is a common mystery to the majority of society, especially the people who have not studied animals. According to www.care2.com, here are some common animal myths that have been interpreted and studied.

One common animal myth is that an elephant never forgets anything. It is not certain how this myth came about, but many speculate that it is because of the large size of an elephant’s brain. Elephants have the largest brain of all land-dwelling animals. Scientists have seen correlation between a larger brain mass, and better memory. El-ephants can map out and memorize their habitats, and elephants from the same fam-ily have been able to recognize each other after twenty three years. According to scien-tists, this myth is true.

The term crocodile tears come from an ancient legend that crocodiles will mourn while enticing and killing their prey. The real reason for the tears is that croco-diles cannot chew, so they need to rip the food apart, and then swallow it whole. This process of eating actually causes tears in the eyes of the crocodile, because the glands that keep the eyes moist are located in the throat. The rough eating process of the crocodile disturbs those glands and, in turn, causes the crocodile to cry.

It came to society’s attention in the 1500’s that “March hares are mad.” This saying doesn’t actually mean that they are angry, but it does mean that they are crazy. Hares are typically shy and quiet animals,

which is the reason people have taken no-tice. The myth originated in Europe, and the hare’s mating season just so happened to be in the month of March. Hares were often seen boxing one another and acting wild or rabid. The mating season definitely explains the strange behavior of the hares during the spring months, and for this reason the myth has been found to be true.

One myth that almost everyone believes is that bats are blind. This myth has become common knowledge because bats use a type of sonar called echo-location to navigate through dark areas, caves, and to avoid objects. Bats eyes are small and sometimes can be poorly developed, which is another factor that contributed to the de-velopment of this myth. Despite this myth, bats actually have fully functional eyes, and that makes this myth false.

We have all heard the saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Old dogs are sometimes just as willing as puppies to learn something new. A dog that has been trained on average of fifteen minutes a day for up to two weeks can learn just about anything its owner is trying to teach. This saying can actually pertain to people more than animals because it regards old habits that can be almost impossible to break. This myth is undoubtedly false.

It is known that a camel can sur-vive seven days without water. Many may think that it is because they are storing large amounts of water inside their humps. But what many don’t know is that they are able to go so long without water due to their oval-shaped red blood cells. Most other organ-isms have circular shaped red blood cells.

However, the camel’s body does retain wa-ter in its kidneys and intestines. They work to hold water so that a camel’s urine comes out as thick as syrup and their feces are ex-tremely dry. Their humps are actually com-posed of pure fat. That fat provides camels with an equal amount of energy as three weeks of food.

An Earwig has been thought to ac-tually live in your ears, but the bug actually got its name from the shape it has. Even though they enjoy living in warm, humid places, they won’t actually choose to dwell in your ears. Besides, they are too big to make it past the big bones at the front of your ear canal to lay eggs.

Some have said that lemmings leap to their deaths during migration, and they call it a mass suicide. People have even tried to prove that they did with videos, which have turned out to be a hoax. The legend started in the 1530’s when a geog-rapher claimed that the lemmings fell from the skies during storms. The reason for the major drops in population during migration is because they do in fact jump into the wa-ter, but it is not to die, it is to swim for long distances to migrate, which results in death. So as far as this myth is concerned, it is also false.

Animals are very strange crea-tures, and they can do many unique things. Those things often result in misleading or exaggerated myths. Some can be proven to be true, while some cannot.

taylor chambersanimal myths


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across:1) What Mr. Flora wanted to be before he found softball coaching4) something that can help prevent you from procrastinating and feeling stressed5) the name of the Ford Falcon in Mad Max8) where the glands are located in crocodiles that cause them to tear up while eating their prey9) usually the most expensive thing bought for prom10) The animal that most people believe to be blind11) The actor that Ryan believes he was reincarnated from

Down:2) The man with the idea behind Mad Max3) a festival that Romans held that celebrated the Vernal Equinox and to honor the Anatolian Earth Goddess6) The name of the company that interviewed Zayn Malik after leaving One Direction7) The profession Mr. Moler decided he didn’t have a strong enough stomach for

crossword


Monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday1Track @ MT Vernon - 4 pmFresh. Baseball @ Hollister - 4:30 pm

2

4boys tennis @ log-rog - 4 pm

5boys golf @ legestone - 4 pmtrack @ home - 4 pmbaseball @ home - 4:30 pm

6 7track @ bolivar - 4 pmbaseball @ home - 5 pm

8boys tennis @ Spfd green-wood laboratory School - 4pmbaseball @ home - 4:30 pmSenior’s last day of school

9

11boys golf - TBAbaseball @ home - 4:30 pm

12 13baseball @ blue eye - 4:30 pm

14graduation @ welk theater - 7 pm

15 16Baseball - TBA

18boys golf - TBA

19 20 21 22 23

25 26 27 28 29

LAST DAY OF SChool

30

may 2015

19


Monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday1Track @ MT Vernon - 4 pmFresh. Baseball @ Hollister - 4:30 pm

2

4boys tennis @ log-rog - 4 pm

5boys golf @ legestone - 4 pmtrack @ home - 4 pmbaseball @ home - 4:30 pm

6 7track @ bolivar - 4 pmbaseball @ home - 5 pm

8boys tennis @ Spfd green-wood laboratory School - 4pmbaseball @ home - 4:30 pmSenior’s last day of school

9

11boys golf - TBAbaseball @ home - 4:30 pm

12 13baseball @ blue eye - 4:30 pm

14graduation @ welk theater - 7 pm

15 16Baseball - TBA

18boys golf - TBA

19 20 21 22 23

25 26 27 28 29

LAST DAY OF SChool

30