Augusta High School 2020 Ohio Street Augusta, KS 67010 March 31, 2011 Volume 77 , Issue 7 Inside 3 New classes for 2011 - 2012 5 Student artwork places in Art Challenge 10 Reimer Review: League of Legends 14 Great Debate: Has the Westboro church gone too far? Bah Dun Dunda Dun! The AHS drumline was invited to compete in a “drum-off” for a cash prize. Pictured here at a basketball game is a portion of the drumline, Kevin Walp (12), Corey Edwards (12), Nate Johnson (10), Jacob Moore (10) and Drake Burrows (9). (Photo by Rachel Pangrac) (See page 2 for the details on the drumline’s performance.)
Transcript
Augusta High School2020 Ohio StreetAugusta, KS 67010
March 31, 2011 Volume 77, Issue 7
Inside3 New classes for 2011 - 2012
5 Student artwork places in Art Challenge
10 Reimer Review: League of Legends
14 Great Debate: Has the Westboro church gone too far?
Bah Dun Dunda Dun! The AHS drumline was invited to compete in a “drum-off” for a cash prize. Pictured here at a basketball game is a portion of the drumline, Kevin Walp (12), Corey Edwards (12), Nate Johnson (10), Jacob Moore (10) and Drake Burrows (9). (Photo by Rachel Pangrac) (See page 2 for the details on the drumline’s performance.)
The Oriole
Oriole Augusta High School 2020 Ohio Augusta, KS 67010
Policy Statement The Oriole is published monthly from October-May and distributed free to the members of the high school community. It is reproduced at the USD 402 Copy Center. The Oriole is a student-produced newsmaga-zine published to entertain the community and educate members of the Newspaper Publications class. Opinions expressed are those of individual authors and do not necessarily relfect the views of administration or the staff. Signed guest articles are encouraged but are subject to editing for grammar, length, legiblility, and taste.
Coming Next Month...April 1- April Fools’ DayApril 22- No Classes: Good FridayApril 25- No Classes: Professional DayApril 30- Junior/Senior Prom
2
By Halley Groom With the opening of the four newly remodeled business rooms where the old science rooms once were, the construction has moved yet again! Now construction has shifted to the West Wing, where old carpet was laid on top of the new carpet to protect it. All the classrooms that once were on the far west wall have now been moved. Deana Walls, Special Education teacher, was temporarily relocated to room 305 in the English Department. Karen Hasting and Kellee Roberts, business teachers, were moved into the remodeled science rooms. Hasting moved into room 401, and Roberts can now be found in room 404. The other two rooms are used for Butler College classes and credit recovery. Credit recovery will be for students who are
lacking enough credits to graduate. “I love all the extra space that I now have! Mrs. Hasting and I have a storage room to share and one storage closet each,” said Roberts. There will be three new science classrooms where the old business rooms once were. These rooms will be for Craig Thompson and Joe Conner and for the Health Science Course. Also the Drama Department will have dressing rooms in room 417. Thompson and Conner’s old rooms will be remodeled into one for the adult education program and the other an industrial arts classroom. The rooms are expected to be finished sometime toward the end of April. After they are completed, construction will yet again be moved to keep making AHS a better place.
By Halley Groom The AHS Drumline won round one of the Wichita Wild Drumline Competition against Mulvane High School March 12. All 11 members of the Drumline were in attendence at the competition. They will go on to face off the winners of Scott City vs. Wichita Southeast May 14. “I must say when the
4,000 plus fans roared in approval, it was the most enthusiastic response that any of my groups have ever earned in my 19 year career!” exclaimed Todd Hollis, AHS Band Director. “It was awesome to see people I knew from band class preform outside of football games and city parades,” said Cassidy Hartup (9).
Drumline victorious
Classrooms remodled,Construction moved
Ready for round two
March 31, 2011 3
By Kirsten Smith The autumn of 2011 of-fers many new class oppor-tunities for Augusta High School. Most of these new classes fall under the genre of the fine arts and com-puter technology, but who’s complaining? In the art field, Career Photography and Advanced Drawing and Painting (for-merly known as Advanced Art) are new. According to the class descriptions, Ca-reer Photography is the ad-vanced form of the Digital Photography class. The new class emphasizes applying the skills learned in the pre-vious class, such as editing and printing photos, as one would in a career in photog-
raphy. Advanced Drawing and Painting focuses on allowing more artistically inclined students to com-plete self-directed projects and preparing portfolios to be used for art school and scholarship applications. Computer Technology is taking a new creative turn next year; Animation and Game Design and Authoring are the new classes in this department. The Animation class is going to focus on both 2D and 3D computer generated animations. Game Design is perhaps the most interesting and unusual class to see in a high school’s cur-riculum. The class utilizes not only the programming prowess required to create
a video game, but the logic, artistry and critical problem solving needed to create a successful original game. Also the Computer Ap-plication classes have been divided and combined into a single computer application class and a separate Web Page Design class. In the Physical Educa-tion Department, there is a new Advanced Strength and Conditioning class whose name is pretty self-explan-atory. A whole new set of classes has been added to the curriculum in the new Health Science Department that focuses on healthcare education. Finally, a Creative Writ-ing class and a Speech class
By Rachel Pangrac It’s almost that season. Yes, you all know what I’m talking about; the exciting, loved, chaotic and dreaded time of prom. Ladies in dresses, men in tuxedos, camera flashes and loud music all based around a special theme. There are many layers to this night, everything from prom plan-ners, parents and paparazzi, those enjoying the dance, and the clean-up crew. The most essential part of prom planners, the Junior Class officers, along with help from Kelly Groom, Junior Class Sponsor and parents. The Junior Class voted in November for a most
have been added to the list of English electives. The Creative Writing class will not only provide the time necessary for writing and guidance, but the class itself will also act as an audience and team of critics to give suggestions for the students’ writing. It will focus on descriptive writing, narra-tives and poetry chiefly, but it will also cover other areas like satires and parodies. The Speech class will cover all the general areas of speech, from the different communication models to audience understanding. This is a mere preview for what the next school year has to offer at Augusta High School.
unusual theme. This year Augusta High School is supporting the theme ESPN. “I think the theme is really unique, and if the
juniors can pull it off, it will be really cool,” said Katie VanDeaver (10). “We have to cut down on the extravagant decorations because of the remodel-ing, but there will still be
some good surprises,” said Groom. In the past AHS has used themes such as Welcome to the Jungle and Night at
Less than a month away, here comes Prom
New classes offered for the next school year
the Roxbury, along with Groom’s favorite, Phantom of the Opera, among many others. Even with all the action and excitement for prom, make sure you don’t forget
anything and that all the rules are followed. Ticket sales start in the second week of April, but ticket prices are not set yet. Prom starts at 9 p.m. and will end at midnight. If you are bringing a date who is not from Augusta High School, or graduated make sure you sign them up in the office, before April 27. They will not be allowed in if they are over 20 years old, and a li-cense will have to be shown at the door. Anticipation is building for this spectacular night. After the lights fade, you will always have the memo-ries, so for those who are going, have a great time!
“We have to cut down on the extrava-gant decorations because of the remod-eling, but there will still be some good suprises.”
-Kelly Groom
The Oriole4
What’s your favorite Spring Break memory?
“Going to Sea World”-Caroline Phipps (11)
“Softball practice”-Katy Nordman (9)
“Eating delicious brownies”
-Sean DeMayo (9)
“Going to Jamaica”-Logan Smith (11)
(Photos by Rochelle Browning)
By Halley Groom They may seem like ordinary freshman girls, but these two are more than your ‘Plain-Jane’ freshmen. Brianna Archer and Brigit Williams are both players on the Wichita Warriors hockey team. These two girls are also the only two girls on the team. Archer and Williams also are part of the Wichita Thunder Hockey Booster Club and play softball for a summer team. The girls have played on the Wichita Warriors for the past two years. They started playing when they were 13 years old. Archer is number 50 and Williams is number 25. Their season is the same as the regular hockey season of the pros. “The hardest thing about
hockey is the boys think they know everything,” said Archer. To help support the Thunder Hockey team, Archer and Williams, along with their families, joined the booster club five years ago. During the booster club meetings the girls watch the children and do arts and crafts. Each family has a player to sponsor and with that player they take them out to dinner, go on vaca-tion with them and make them goody bags when they travel to away games. “I thought joining would be a great learning experi-ence and fun,” said Archer. During the summer to keep busy these two join a summer softball team. They have been on a summer softball team for the past
seven years. Last summer the girls played for a team based out of El Dorado. They really never picked a team name, but their team color was lime green. Play-ing for an El Dorado team gave the girls a chance to form new friendships. Being the only girls on a hockey team nonetheless is pretty out of the ordinary, but not for Archer and Wil-liams. The girls have been attending hockey games as far back as they can remem-ber. “I’ve been going to hockey games since I was born. My mom thought she might actually go into labor during one of the games,” said Williams. To keep in touch with their “girly” side they will always have softball.
Pioneers On The Rink Brigit Williams (9) and Brianna Archer (9) show their sweet side with their winning smiles. However, these girls know how to tough it on the ice with the guys. (Photo by Rochelle Browning)
‘Warriors’ on the ice
Not your ordinary freshman girls
March 31, 2010 5
By Rochelle Browning April Fools’ Day, al-though not a legal holiday, is widely recognized across the world. On April Fools Day practical jokes, general foolishness, and pranks are not only tolerated but highly expected as well. No one knows exactly the origin of April Fools; however, it’s said that the first recorded association with the foolishness and April 1 was in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” when
April Fools!
Day for tricksters, pranksters, jokesa fox tricked the rooster Chauntecleer. In 1539, poet Eduard de Dene incorpo-rated April Fools’ Day in his writing as well when he wrote of a nobleman who sent his servant on point-less and foolish errands on April 1. Some well-known pranks have been done by popu-lar businesses through the years. According to “Time,” in 1996, Taco Bell claimed to have purchased and renamed the Liberty Bell to
the Taco Liberty Bell. The phone lines at Philadelphia’s National Historic Park were ringing off the hook with complaints of this unaccept-able joke. In 1998 Burger King ran an ad in “USA Today” of a Whopper for left-handed people where the condiments would fall out the right side. Through- out the day not only did they have people ordering the nonexistent left-handed burger, but they also had people requesting the “old”
Whopper. A British news-paper, “The Sun,” ran an article about a scratch and sniff paper and added a sample of a plain paper in 2010. People were spotted sniffing the paper all day. For those of you trick-sters who intended to bring the pranks to school this year, be sure that they are appropriate and won’t get you into some serious trouble! It’s all in good fun, but remember where the line is before you cross it.
By Ally Spease Artwork of the Month spotlight shines on not one talented AHS artist, but two students who placed in the top three at The Art Challenge held at Friends University March 4. The students were informed of the contest by art teacher Chuck Bishop. Everyone who wanted to enter The Art Challenge was to submit their artwork to him before the contest, so that he could submit their work beforehand. There were approxi-mately 350 students in attendance from Wichita and other schools from the surrounding area, creat-ing what appeared to be a tough competition. There was a “Quick Draw” where students drew a model. Six students from Au-
gusta High School had their artwork entered into this contest. Of the six students, two placed: Alex Bayer (12), and Audrey Bacon (11). Bayer took home first in Digital Photography with her Damsel Fly photograph and second in Digital Il-lustration. Audrey Bacon received second in Pen and Ink Drawing along with a third place in Watercolor Painting. “Out of 350 students, it’s impressive to say that two of AHS’s students placed in the top three,” says Bishop. The student body and faculty should recognize Bayer and Bacon for their accomplishments, along with the other students who entered the competition. It’s safe to say that AHS houses some very talented artist.
Two art students place in top three
Draw! Alex Bayer (12) works on the Wacom Tablet on one of her various digital art projects. Bayer re-ceived second March 4 at The Art Challenge.
The Oriole6
By Natalie Sykes Juniors enjoyed a “day off” March 2 for junior Job Shadow Day. For some it was a good day. Others would rather have been at school. The juniors picked a person in the career field in which they are inter-ested. When March 2 rolled around, the juniors got to follow their mentor into their place of work. Unlike his fellow class-mates, Nelson Bahruth job shadowed Sgt. Tock at McConnell Air Force Base. During the course of the day Bahruth attended boot camp, directed by Sgt. Tock, and also tested jet fuel to make sure it was safe. There definitely were “normal” everyday jobs that
people shadowed. Nathan Pearcy shadowed Danny Park at the Augusta Middle School. Park is a sixth grade math teacher. Pearcy said, “I got to watch them work and play clickers in some of his classes.” Taylor Schneider shad-owed Dr. West at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. Schneider found some things very interesting while he was job shadowing. There were many other places around the surrounding area that AHS students job shadowed. As everyone’s projects came to a close, the juniors will re-memner Shadow Day once in awhile and will always remember the lessons that they learned.
Shadow Day
Illustration and Current Events join forces
By Halley Groom The Statistics classes, taught by Jonathan Morgan, a mathematics teacher, are doing their annual Statis-tics Project. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill project. The students actually have to go out and ask people ques-tions. Last year was the first year that Morgan assigned the project. There are two Statistics classes this year with roughly 30 students. The students were allowed to choose their own groups of two or work alone. Most students chose to work with a partner. Every group had to come up with an original question to ask so they could obtain quantita-tive data. Then the students
Jobs make impressionsare randomly assigned at least 30 students to ask their question. If the group decided not to survey high school students, then they had go out in public and ask 30 random people their question. After the groups collect ed all their data, then they had to make a presentation. Morgan is leaving it up to the groups to decide how they want to present their findings, but they had to follow his requirements. B-Day Statistics class’s project was due on March 16 and A-Day class’s project was due on March 17. “This project has real life applications that the stu-dents can use later in life,” said Morgan.
Real world applications
By Kirsten Smith Mrs. Shelite’s Illustra-tion and Mr. Hess’s Current Events classes joined forces to create political cartoons. The Current Events stu-dents were split into groups and assigned topical issues to research. Then, based on their findings, they formu-lated a witty, comical and/or satirical way to express the issue through a cartoon. The select artists from the Illus-tration class were charged with the physical drawing of the cartoons, the content being entirely the Current Events students’ ideas.
The topics for the car-toons included the effects of collective bargaining on unions, Somalian pirates, and Charlie Sheen. The Illustration class had just finished with caricatures, so they were primed for the satirical nature of political cartoons. A cartoon was selected by the Current Events class to be displayed in this month’s issue. It was written by Gabby McCart (9), Cin-dy Taylor (10), Cheyenne Watkins (11), and drawn by Kirsten Smith (12). The car-toon illustrates a current is-
sue in Palestine where a U.S CIA agent, Raymond Davis, shot and killed two Palestin-ian men. Davis argues that he had reason to believe the men were attempting to rob him and that both men were armed. However, the men’s weapons were not loaded. The agent is supposed to have international diplomat-ic immunity, but the Pal-estinian authorities refuse to release Davis, even now that it is revealed that he is a CIA agent. The cartoon takes a satirical point of view showing Davis driv-ing a snazzy car, complete
with flames bellowing out the back, while firing into the backs of fleeing, and unarmed, Palestinians with a caption that reads “Attack me? Really? Can you spell ‘diplomatic immunity’?” The project was fun and it’s interesting to see two very different classes working together to make something so comical.
Stat students survey
March 31, 2011 7
Class And Club
News
Choir Choirs held a concert March 15 and is preparing for their final concert of the year. The theme will be Dance Evolution. The choirs are also preparing solos and small ensembles for regional contest at Andover Central April 9.
SADD During the month of April, there will be a Gatorball Tournament held by SADD. Tickets to watch the tournament will be sold during lunch. The money raised will go directly to fund After Prom. Keep your eyes open for flyers around the school with the dates and registration information!
Spanish Club Spanish Club had a Taco Party March 7. It was held in conjunction with the French Club’s Mardi Gras festivities.
Counselors Allen County Com-munity College was here for a college visit March 9. The Navy was at lunch March 10. Enrollment was due to seminar teach-ers March 14. Jolene from Butler was here to give the Asset Test March 29. The reading assess-ment was March 30 to April 1. Regency Beauty Institute of Wichita was here at lunch March 31. Butler will be here at lunch April 1. The math assessment will be from April 6-April 12 and Jolene will be here to enroll students in college classes April 26.
FCCLA FCCLA had their National Random Acts of Kindness week, which had members making cupcakes for the teachers and using sticky notes to post words of encour-agement for students on their lockers. The sticky note sayings ranged from ‘You’re Awesome,’ to “Have a Wonderful Day!” Intro to Human Services students made presenta-tions for the Wellness Fair. These presentations helped to promote living an active lifestyle and eating healthy for teach-ers and students attending the fair. These posters can now be seen around the hallways.
French Club French Club had a Mardi Gras party March 7, the Monday before Mardi Gras with the Spanish Club. There was food, masks, beads and many more fun festivities. The day after they hosted a bake sale during lunch, which also bubbled with Mardi Gras festivity.
Stuco Throughout Febru-ary, Pennies for Patients was held for clubs and activities. Once the boxes were collected and to-taled, roughly $100 had been donated. Compat-ibility matches were also sold, and roughly $200 was earned. On March 31 Stuco members will be cleaning concessions stands during seminar. Please see Mrs. Bradford to sign up.
Administration AHS receives the Stan-dard of Excellence in sub-jects almost every year. Most schools are proud of this accomplishment, and AHS now displays their awards in the commons right above the kitchen. The different departments all meet once or twice a month during seminar in meetings called Profes-sional Learning Commu-nities or PLCs.
NHS Senior Scholarship Night is April 26 and NHS is providing cookies and punch to the attend-ees. There will also be a breakfast for the new members April 20. NHS will be helping out at the Mini Relay for Life April 20. New members will be inducted during the Stu-dent Academic Assembly April 26.
Journalism The deadline to turn in money for your yearbook will be May 1. The last day to turn in Senior Trib-utes was April 1. Also, applications for next year’s newspaper and yearbook staffs are being taken. Please turn in ap-plications to Ms. Barker (Rm. 119) or Mrs. Gibbs (Rm. 203).
8 The Oriole
Girls’ SoccerMonty Rowland (Head Coach)Strengths- Seniors Weaknesses- Inexperienced players, 8 out of 28 girls haven’t playedLast Year’s Record- 3-12-1 (3 wins, 12 losses, 1 tie)Key Players- Seniors and Taylor ChildersOutlook on season- Wide open as long as we work together, do decent and surprise alot of teams
Spring Sports Preview Dance, cheer squads selected Baseball
Doug Jefferson (Head Coach)Strengths- The seniorsWeaknesses- Throwing strikesLast Year’s Record- 5-7Key Players- The seniorsOutlook on season- We will go as far as the seniors will take us. One team goal was to make it to state
SoftballRay Aguirre (Head Coach)Strengths-Very good hitting teamWeaknesses- Age, only two seniorsLast Year’s Record- 8-12Key Players- Christina Downs (11), Kayla Clark (12), Tori Dehlinger (12), Taylor Williams (11)
Boys’ Tennis Brian Hallmark (Head Coach)Strengths- All players returnedWeaknesses- Lack of playing timeLast Year’s Record- Individual recordsKey Players- “We are a team, we don’t have key players. We eat together.” Outlook on season- Improved a lot in how long we have been practicing. It all depends on the strength and experience of the teams we play.
Boys’ GolfKeith Conrady (Head Coach)Strength- Top three players returning from last yearWeaknesses- DepthLast Year’s Record- Second place at regionals, Eighth place at stateKey Players- Connor Carman, Trey Hayden, and Cole Richardson
Track Steve Reichardt (Head Coach)Strengths- Good upperclassmen leadershipWeaknesses- Lack of numbers, especially on the girls’ sideKey Players- Sean Wisdom (12), Halley Groom (12), Zach Budda (11) and Alex Clausing (11)Outlook On Season- We will do okay, We are young but competitive.
New coach, new season
By Adam Tabor The last number one seed, Kansas University, in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament fell in a Cinderella story to VCU March 27. Virginia Commonwealth University, ranked 11, became the lowest seed left in the tournament. According to ESPN, the VCU Rams had never been had a Final Four appearance until then. VCU was left to play the Butler Bulldogs for a spot in the final game in
the tournament. On the other side of the bracket, the Kentucky Wildcats beat the North Carolina Tar Heals to reach the Final Four. Kentucky has had seven championship seasons. The Wildcats lost eight games, and one of those games was to the University of Connecticut. UConn is Kentucky’s Final Four opponent April 2. I predict that Butler will beat VCU and that the Kentucky Wildcats will beat UConn.
VCU upsets KU
By Hailey Base The dance team and cheer squads for the next school year have been an-nounced announced, and the girls say they are ready for an awesome year! Hope-fully, things go well. Tryouts for the 2011-12 AHS dance team were held on March 11 in Gym Two, and four new members have been named. With a new coach, Kris-tie Haskall, previous coach of the AMS Cheer Squad, and more members than the dance team has had in three years, this should be a fresh start for AHS dance. The of-ficers are as follows; Senior Captain Hailey Base (11), Junior Lieutenants Ashley
Rieschick (10) and Kennadi Kropf (10). The rest of the team con-sists of Kennadaey Bratton (8), Sidney Dey (11), Bri Perry (10), Jenna Reynolds (10), Allison Scott (9), Haley Schild (9), Cassidy Wheatley (9), and Kelsey Unrein (11). Cheerleaders also had tryouts in Gym Two on March 18. The new squad consists of Chasity Pickney (11), Sidney Smith(10), Jordan Spellman(10), Jacie Gorgeous(10), Madison Cody(9), Savanna Smith(9), and Faith Braungardt(9). New members are Shelby Clay (8), Kalley Trebbe (8), Cheyenne Brown(8), Stella Butler(8) and Lexi Luce(8).
9March 31 , 2010
By Adam Tabor The boys and girls varsity bowling team ended the 2011 season at regionals, but two girls, Kate Nordman (9) and Bethany Watson (9), and one boy, Samuel Davis (10), continued by qualifying for the state tournament March 3 at North Rock.
Varsity bowling wraps up season
By Natalie Sykes Ten AHS powerlifters competed at the state meet in Abilene, March 5, against 23 other schools. Two Orioles placed, Phillip Traylor (11) and Dustin Owen (10). Traylor placed fourth in the 173lb. weight class. He lifted a total of 890 lbs. Owen was sixth in the 114lb. weight class with a total of 255 lbs. Others from Augusta
Two students place at state powerlifting
Congratulations!
Phillip Traylor (11)
4th- 173 weight class
Dustin Owen (10)
6th-114 weight class
Katy Nordman (9)
Bethany Watson (9)
Sam Davis (10)
Freshman boys end season with one loss
State Bowling State
Powerlifting
By Hailey Base For the second year in a row, the AHS freshman boys’ basketball took first in the Armond Hillier Basket-ball Tournament Feb. 19. After four games against Valley Center, Andale, Circle, and the champion-ship game against Buhler, the boys won their tourna-ment! The games were held in Augusta, and every one was won by at least 20 points or
The girls’ team missed going to state by three pins. The team that beat the AHS girls was Andover Central. Earlier in the season the girls’ varsity team lost to Central by 119 pins the first meet, and 244 pins the second time. Nordman and Watson made it to state, both placing in the top 10 at regionals with a 634 series.
more, which is very impres-sive for such young players. The biggest highlight of the tournament was a half court shot by Greg Slaton, two second before the half-time of the Andale game, putting them two points ahead. A few other high points were 27 points by Kyler Steinkamp and three con-secutive three point shots by Kolton Schenker, both in the Buhler game.
who participated at the state meet were Justin Schwartz (12), Kyle Warrington (12), Garrett Emond (12), Joey Hasting (11), James Sutton (11), Jacob Johnson (10), Hunter Hoge (10), and Aaron Stewart (9). “All of the kids worked real hard. Most of them imroved, set a personal record in one or more events,” commented Coach Aaron Craig about the season.
“All were young. No doubt they will have the chance to go again,” said Head Coach Kellee Roberts On the guys’ lanes at regionals, Augusta had the lead after the first game, then dropped to fourth after the second game. Even during a disappointing day, there were good moments.
“I did good. Just everyone did better. I was stupid in situations when I shouldn’t have been,” said Davis about his preformance at state. Roberts said that the team improved from last year, but in years to come needs to be more mentally prepared for high stake situations.
“...they will have the chance to go again.”-Kellee Roberts
The Oriole10
By Nick Reimer This is a call to arms. The era of building and surviving is over, and it is time to attack a new genre of gaming. It’s time to choose your team and pick your champion. It’s time for League of Legends. League of Legends is a 2-10 arranged team player versus player-oriented MMO “strategy” game. In LoL, you play the role of a Summoner, a person who controls a Champion. With your Champion, you must fight through waves and waves of weaker minions to destroy your enemies’ defense towers, while simultaneously having to avoid and/or defeat enemy champions, to eventually reach the enemy Nexus and destroy it. Matches are divided into two “main” catego-ries: 3v3 and 5v5. From personal experience, 5v5
promotes more teamwork and strategy than 3v3, whereas 3v3 promotes more… personal champion-slaying experience. Each week, new pools of characters are unlocked for free play. If you wish to keep a character, for ex-ample, you like the playing style of Morgana, you can spend Influence Points (IP) to buy the character perma-nently and have him or her unlocked forevermore. IP is gained after each match; more points are awarded for victories. If PvP isn’t your style, then you can play a custom game versus CPU players; however, they are consider-ably more predictable and easy to defeat than human players are. I give League of Leg-ends a 4.5 out of five. League of Legends is avail-able, completely free of charge at Pvp.net.
Reimer's Review
Helping to solve the prom date dilemmaBy Rochelle Browning Prom seems to be a BIG deal to a large majority of high school students. How-ever, it’s always a tough problem to decide who would make a good date. Here are some tips on how to choose the right date.
#1. Make sure that the person you go with is fun and has a good personality. You surely don’t want to go with a dull date.
#2. Try to find some-one who gets along with your friends. It would be an awkward night for everyone if they didn’t get along.
Pick someone you won’t regret going with. Prom is something you’ll remember for years, and you don’t want to feel like you went with the wrong person.
#3.
Go with someone who has meaning in your life that you know you’ll have a good time with. For instance, a best friend would make a great date.
#4.
Be sure the person you choose is a reli-able date. It would be a terrible feeling to have your date cancel on you last minute.
#5.
For those who wait until last minute to choose a date, I hope these tips help. If you already have a date, I hope they make prom a memorable night for you!
Things You Wanted to Knowbut were too afraid to ask
#1.
#2.
#3.
#4.
#5.
#6.
#7.
#8.
#9.
#10.
#11.
#12.
What’s your middle name?What college did you graduate from?Where were you born?What is your significant other’s name?What is you favorite color?What was your first job?What is your favorite movie?What’s your favorite band?Who’s your celebrity dream girl?Where have you always wanted to travel?What’s your favorite TV show?If you were an animal, what animal do you think you’d be?
#1.#2.#3.#4.#5.#6.#7.#8.#9.#10.#11.#12.
Find the answers in next months is s ue!
Unscramble the words to the questions to
reveal the secret teacher’s name!
March 31, 2011 11
By Hailey Base Gnomeo, Gnomeo, Gnomeo, wherefore art thou Gnomeo? Most people know the story of “Romeo and Juliet”: forbidden love that in the end leads to death. Well, take the basis of this classic story and insert a few lively yard gnomes into it and you have an adorable movie that children and adults can both enjoy! In “Gnomeo and Juliet” there are two gardens, a garden filled with red yard
gnomes and a garden filled with blue yard gnomes, who all come to life when the humans aren’t looking. The red and blue gardens are mortal enemies who like to stir up trouble in the other garden as much as possible. Juliet lives in the red garden under the rule of her overprotective father, Lord Redbrick, and Gnomeo lives in the blue garden, encouraged by his mother, Lady Blueberry, to wreak as much havoc on the reds
as possible. One night, Juliet sneaks out of her father’s watch-ful eye to get a pretty flower she’s seen on top of the shed roof. As chance happens to be, she and Gnomeo have their first en-counter on the roof where they automatically have a connection. Even though Juliet is a red and Gnomeo is a blue, they continue to flirt and meet in secrecy. After their secret rela-tionship is discovered by one of Gnomeo’s close
friends, and a huge mis-understanding upon Gno-meo’s well-being…Lady Blueberry thinks that Gno-meo is dead as a result of the reds. A huge garden war is started, causing Juliet great danger. Can Gnomeo make it back to the garden in time to save her? You have to watch the movie to find out! It’s definitely worth your time and money. Yard gnomes, romance, and hu-mor…what’s better combi-nation?!
Shakespeare characters turned to porcelain
By Casey Matlock When looking through your closet, deciding what to wear on that florescent, chocolate lovers holiday known as Easter, is the first thing that comes to mind something that resembles a giant Easter egg? Well, help is here to assist you in incorporating the colors of the holiday without looking like a part of the younger sibling’s Easter Egg Hunt. When choosing your Sunday best, try mixing it up with two patterns. The key is two look for two patterns with a similar color and make sure that both of the patterns are different styles. For example, don’t wear two plaids at the same time. That’s nonsense! In-stead try a black and white plaid skirt with a polka
dot top to give an outfit a “funky and brand new” feel. Do you remember the Easter colors from your childhood? Don’t wear them or you’ll look like you’re five. There are new pastel colors that aren’t as vibrant. They look modern and sophisticated. Think pale pinks, robin egg blues, rose colors, etc. With a white button-up and khakis, you’ll look feminine and sophisticated. Choose one color to accent the neutral colors to add a splash of color and keep the outfit your age. When looking at dress-es, avoid blacks and grays. This is a holiday, not a funeral. Look at dresses with flowing fabric and floral prints. They look
youthful yet sophisticated for a get-together with your family (think Taylor Swift). Pair your outfit with a small chain necklace so you don’t overwhelm the pattern. Shoes can make or break an outfit. Easter is a spring holiday, so show off that pretty pedicure. That DOESN’T mean to wear clear 6-inch heels and look like a stripper. Try modest 2-3 inch heels to show off your ankles so you don’t tower over the guys. Look for neutral colored heels or pale pastel heels so that they go with whatever you are going to wear that day. Easter is a wonderful holiday. Look both festive and your age with these helpful tips.
Evaluating Easter elegance Four AHS sophomores have been named semi-finalists in the 2010-2011 Kansas Letters About Literature Reading and Writing Contest. Taylor Childers, Olivia Cox, Andrew Faust and Angie Thompson received no-tification of their of their honor in a letter from Roy Bird, Director of Kansas Center for the Books. Semi-finalists are among the top 10% of almost 70,000 contestants nationwide, according to Bird. Participants wrote letters to authors of their choice, explaining how their books had impacted the students lives. Entries were judged for exposi-tion, context and writer’s voice. Junior Caitlin Sudduth was a semi-finalist from Augusta last year.
Young Writers
12 The Oriole
1.A car2.A computer or laptop3.A game system4.A musical instrument5.CDs or an iTunes gift card6.A cell phone7.Lego/playmobil8.G.I. Joes9.Sport equipment (new cleats, tennis racquet, base-ball or soft ball glove or bat) 10.Best of all, $ or gift card
Tabor’s Top 10
Text Talk for TeensBy Ally Spease These days, HTL (hip teen lingo) is used not only through technology but sometimes even in face-to-face conversations! This is a little something put together to make sure everyone is caught up with the new way to communicate. After all, you don’t want to be the big loser who has to ask what an abbreviation means, right? JS – just saying (statement used when someone is try-ing to make a situation seem like NBD.)NBD – no big deal (something said when the person is trying to act like it doesn’t matter, when in their minds they are thinking IHML!)IHML – I hate my life (an over-dramatic phrase that people use way too often, IMO.)IMO – in my opinion (a phrase generally used only by gamer nerds, TBH.)TBH – to be honest (often used in situations where the text is too many characters to type out the whole phrase, LOL)LOL – laugh out loud (they usually aren’t laughing out loud. It’s just used to fill TAM when theres noth-ing left to say.)TAM – that awkward moment (a phrase created by the dance team girls, that all of AHS uses now)AHS – Augusta High School (everyone knew that one..so TTYL!)
Best birthday presents
Rachel Pangrac Easter, the day cel-ebrated for the triumph of life over death. Is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon, after the Spring Equinox in the Northern hemisphere and the Autum-nal Equinox in the Southern hemisphere. The tradition of Easter eggs started in Medieval
Europe; during Lent eggs were forbidden so they were preserved until Easter mak-ing them a treat for kids. The tradition of the Easter bunny was believed to have started in Germany and was brought to the United States along with the tradition of chocolate bunnies. One other common American tradition is Easter cards. Easter cards were started in Victorian England. Now Easter cards are the fourth most popular holiday for sending cards right after Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mothers’ Day. The second week of April is known as Holy Week. Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter. It recalls Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem one week before His execution. Holy Mon-
Did you know...
day commemorates Jesus’ cleansing of the temple. Holy Tuesday recalls Jesus’ description to his disciples on the Mount of Olives of the destruction of Jeru-salem. Holy Wednesday recalls Judas’ decision to betray Jesus in exchange for 30 pieces of silver. Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper, Jesus’
agony in the garden and his arrest. Good Friday recalls Jesus’ death on the cross. Holy Saturday is the final day of Holy Week and of Lent. Easter Sunday com-memorates Jesus’ resurrec-tion. Many people celebrate Easter Sunday. Like Lexi Wallingford(11), they attend a church service, followed by an Easter egg hunt. Many young kids participate in the egg hunt, because the eggs are filled with goodies like chocolate and some-times a little change. The day known as Easter has many traditions to help celebrate the resurrection of Christ is the most com-mon. It’s a day of remem-brance, and for some, a time to spend with family on a beautiful spring day.
Easter cards are the fourth most popular holi-day for sending cards, right after Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mothers’ Day.
All about Easter’s traditions , history
March 31, 2011 13
By Casey Matlock Love can be one of the greatest things in the world; you are accepting someone into your life, and it seems like nothing else matters when you’re with that special someone. But when you find that someone and forget about everything else, what happens to the people that you originally had in your life? What happens when the friends in your life seem to disappear into oblivion and the only person seemingly left in existence is the man/woman tenderly holding your cheek, turning you to their direction to kiss you? Have you ever felt aban-doned when your best friend leaves you in the hallway to flirt with their crush? Not caring how you feel and if you made plans to hang out and they toss you away like last week’s homework assignment? I have, and it hurts. You and your friends share your deepest secrets, laugh at the stupidest things in school to get through the day and promise to have each other’s back no matter what. To have that taken away by someone who
threw a note at their head that says, “I like you” is heart breaking. How inconsiderate is it to be suddenly be the third wheel after being part of the metaphorical bicycle that helped keep balance in each others’ lives. It makes no sense to abandon your friends for a crush. A flirt is unreliable and doesn’t know you like your friends do. Were they around when you had a tough day at school and your parents won’t stop bugging you. Will they be there when you need to talk about a bad breakup? No, because he/she most likely will BE the bad breakup. The next time you are sucking face with the guy/girl, turn around and look over your shoulder because your friends will most likely be awkwardly looking away. Why don’t you take their feelings into consid-eration and put yourself in their shoes? You might find out a few things that you would have half-heartedly tossed to the back of your mind. AND REMEMBER: crushes can come and go, but friendships will last forever.
She SaidHe SaidBy Nick Reimer There’s a term that the females I talk to use a lot. It goes something along the lines of “Sisters before Mis-ters.” Being there for your fellow sister and not letting any man get between you is a beautiful thing. Friends are friends, and lovers are lovers, but as a guy, just because you have a woman to call your own doesn’t mean you have the right to abandon your friends. What makes you think that you have the right to desert them? The same could be said about the femme. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen a woman desert all of her comrades for some egotistical jock who knows not the difference between love and lust. But for the most part, stereotypes play themselves out, and we (the good guys) always try to pick them up. Look at both sides here: Your romances will be there for you. They’ll hold your hand and make you feel loved, but when they tear your heart from your chest by leaving you for Mr. Jock, what will you
have left? You’ve already pushed away your friends to be with this woman. They’ll expect you to do it again, so is there any true way to repent for stabbing them in the back? Look at it from the friend’s standpoint. You see them writhe under the stress of trying to hold together a dying relationship, and over and over you hear “without him, I’d be dead.” Maybe I’m over-examining it, but if I where that friend, I’d be crushed. My friendship hasn’t affected their life enough to keep them happy, and here they are spew-ing to you about how their boyfriend is their “saving grace.” My friendship with them for umpteenth years can be thrown away for someone she just met. Look at your life. Your friends. Your love. Look at them, and you tell me who’s been there for you longer, through everything. You tell me who’s been there for you, after you’ve betrayed them over, and over, and over again. I know you want to say Miss. Perfect, but she’s off locking lips with Mr. Jock.
Should you leave your friends for your ‘love’?
The Oriole14
By Natalie Sykes I honestly believe that Westboro Baptist Church has overstepped the First Amendment. Granted, there is nothing in the First Amendment that says Westboro can’t protest, but some of the things that they say are way over the line. I don’t like some of the things that our government does, but I’m not going to make offensive signs and protest. Westboro has abused the First Amendment to the full extent. Whatever they do and say is “legal,” and that’s the worst part. No one can stop them. Westboro members have “different” views. They link every tragedy in the world to homosexuals. They target almost every other religion, politicians, actors, and even television hosts. I honestly think that they
believe anything they want and use their “religion” as an excuse to protest. There are different ways to make a point, like papers and blogs, but the way Westboro does it is just plain wrong. Even their website flat out disgraces people. They protest at the funerals of the people who died to give them the rights that they abuse today. Westboro should have limits set on what they do because the way they are headed, things are only going to get worse. Westboro will eventually be the thing that pops into people’s heads instead of wheat or cows when they think of Kansas. We do not need Westboro’s reputation. The only way to prevent Westboro’s despicable behavior is for no one to support them.
Great DebateDoes the Westboro Baptist Church act within its consitutional rights?
No Yes
By Rochelle Browning Everyone seems to know about the situation with the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka. In case you don’t, during the past few years Fred Phelps, pastor of the church, and his followers have been picketing events such as military funerals, gay pride gatherings and high-profile political gatherings. First, let me clarify that I do NOT agree with the Westboro Church and their decision to picket these events. I am 100% in support of our soldiers and even of the gay pride gatherings. However, there is no legal way to stop them. Our First Amendment grants us the right to freedom of speech, religion, press and peaceful assembly, which they have used to their advantage. Based on the
Constitution, Phelps and his followers have every legal right to picket the events. There is a fine line between right and wrong, but, yes, they have the right to continue. It’s clear after the recent Supreme Court ruling, though, that no law can ban them from protesting; however, there are other ways to go about stopping them. For instance, a group of motorcycle riders have formed what is known as the Patriotic Guard Riders who put a buffer between those attending the funerals and the protestors. Another idea to show your disapproval toward their actions would be to use your First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, press and assembly on THEM just as they have on many others.
Does Westboro act consitutionally?
100 Student poll
March 31 , 2011 15
By Nathan Daniel Breast cancer awareness is being promoted in our society. With all kinds of things available for you to wear and to do to support the fight against breast cancer, however, one bracelet tends to present a problem in schools. The “I Love Boobies” bracelets are among the most debatable “dress code” topics at our school for obvious reasons. Some people wear the bracelets to support the fight agianst a deadly disease that affects thousands of people each year, yet some wear the
bracelets just because of the word “boobies” makes them giggle like an obese fifth grader. “The problem is you cannot tell the difference between the two,” said choir teacher Rachel Simmons. Along with a few other teachers, Ms. Simmons is concerned with the way these bracelets express the support for breast cancer awareness. Because of this concern, students are forced to turn their bracelets inside out. “I think the bracelets support a great cause, but they could have said it more
classy,” said Vice Principal Ryan Muhlig. As well stated as these arguments might be, many students take a different stance. “I think it’s stupid that teachers would make students turn their bracelets inside out,” said Kristi Rowe (11). Many other students feel the same way about the topic. “What’s the point of buying them if you have to flip them inside-out?” asked Kennadit jo Kropf. These bracelets have raised thousands of dollars
toward breast cancer education, awareness, research, and action. Although the statement is offensive to some, the majority are for the bracelets being worn the way they should be, with the slogan being visible to all. Whether you’re wearing them because you or a friend or family member has been affected by breast cancer and you want to support the cause or because you like the catchy saying, the money is going to a good cause, so wear your bracelet with pride!
‘I love boobies’ bracelets: a dress code violation?
Lunchroom theft a real, prosecutable crimeBy Nick Reimer From the student’s standpoint, stealing a lunch from time to time might sound like a fun idea. Those of you who’ve been to Mr. Bodyk’s room, might have noticed his motivational poster, on the right side of the room on the north wall. It reads “Stand up for what’s right, Even if you’re standing alone.” Value those words as you read these next few paragraphs. Students seem to forget that the “lunch line” is actually a stand-alone business of sorts. The school doesn’t owe a lunch to you because you’re a student. After all, they could always serve you an alternative meal of a tiny box of ceral.
They’ll give you food if you need it, but you have to have the character enough to ask for it, rather than jacking the food and speed walking away. A good example would be McDonalds. If I walk into Micky D’s and steal a McChicken or two, they’ll prosecute me. What’s different about school lunch? They’re all the same; they’re businesses, and as such, the managers won’t allow for “freebies.” And yet you steal. And yet you watch your friends take food, and say nothing. That’s very hypocritical, in my own opinion. If you watch theft and let it go unpunished, that’s just as bad as committing the crime yourself. And it IS a crime.
According to Officer Strobbe, theft at the high school can be taken and prosecuted just as any other crime would be. Punishment can range anywhere from a fine to a few days of jail for a first offence. If that’s not enough reason for you to keep your fingers to yourself, then think about this. You steal, you go off and jack people’s hard earned work, and then you proceed to whine when your stuff is taken from your backpack, or the locker room. Speaking of the locker room, I had a first-hand ‘walkthrough’ of it by Brandon Terry. I can safely say that I saw at least seven
or eight pairs of pants lying around; each with a wallet in its back pocket. For instance, a random pair was drawn, and its pockets were searched. Inside, we found a wallet, an ID, Drivers License, and all other sorts of things that should have been locked in the locker. As a student, it’s your responsibility to keep an eye on your valuables or leave them at home. You’re here to learn, not jam out to your MP3. In short? Stop the stealing. If you see theft, report it, and keep your own stuff locked up. The office staff has enough to worry about without them running about, trying to catch soon-to-be jewel thieves.
March 31, 2011 16
GlitterVille!
By Nathan Daniel Four years ago, a van was designed for a special person, a person who would use the van for going airborne and hauling kids. Science teacher Erika Richardson is the owner of 2007 Chrysler Town and Country van, notoriously named, “The Marshmallow.” This van is loaded with a 3.8 liter v6 pushing 200hp. It also is stocked with auto-sliding doors, a DVD player and lots of extra room. The Marshmallow was bought at Winfield Motor Company for $12,000. This baby has a lot of life left in it, having only 60,000 miles, but don’t let the miles fool you. This van has been put to good use. While on the way to watch the Reichardts run a marathon, Richardson failed to notice the 40 mph
speeding sign she had just passed. At the intersection of Kellogg and Sante Fe Lake Road traveling south, the Marshmallow went airborne. “When they say 40 mph, they mean it.” she said. What caused the van to fly into the air was the large bump in the road that goes unnoticed to those going the speed limit. (At a rate of over 60 mph, you definitely notice the bump.) After flying into the air, Richardson made a quick stop to reassure herself that everything was alright and continued her journey. “My daughter got out of her car seat and while trying to disclipine her, I veered into a curb,” said Richardson. Hitting the curb resulted in a flat tire. A passing police officer witnessed the event and turned around
Bumper to Bumper
February Game Solution!
Did you lose it?
to cause her more anguish by citing her for reckless driving. Once the officer left, a good Smaratian helped her change her tire and once agian, the Marshmallow was on its way. This automobile has
suffered through a lot. The next time you see a nice looking minivan loaded with children and a lady trying to discipline her kids while driving wildly, you’ll know you saw Mrs. Richardson in her mauled Marshmallow!
