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S e n i o r s m o s t m e m o r a b l e m o m e n t

By Morgan WootonReporter

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Check out The Power of the Beard!

By Kelsey Nelson and

Megan CarrollReporters

Here at TJ, support and commitment is what pushes our se-niors to do their very best. Creating memo-ries is just something that happens along the way. Seniors have had an adventurous and mem-orable time through-out their years at this school. TJ has around 220 seniors, who will hopefully be starting their new journey at the college they wish to attend.

There have been sev-eral seniors that have made great memories here at Thomas Jeffer-son. “My most memorable moment was when I won the I-JAG national speech competition to go to D.C. and repre-sent not only my town and school, but my state as well.” said senior, Janette Gon-zalez. “I look forward to attending college at the University of Iowa, in Iowa City and just meeting new people, making new friends, and starting my new

journey there,” Senior, Freddy Wil-liams has said, “My most memorable mo-ment was this year, the first basketball game of the year for the boys team. There was only a couple seconds left of the game and we were

down by 2 points. We knew we were either going to win it, or tie. Coach set up this play for me to go through the baseline with 3 screens (blocks) and the best point guard in Iowa (Mike Row-ell) passes it to me, I

turn around, shoot the ball, fade away, than a 3 pointer to win the game.” He later added that he thought the Mr. TJ pageant was pretty fun. Seniors had lots of great memories cen-tered around TJ. Most of the seniors encour-age younger students to become involved and make memories of their own. TJ’s gradu-ates will walk across the stage and be awarded with their di-ploma on May 31, 2014 at the Mid America Center.

Who’s on First?Eighth-grade student Josey Starner tries to become only girl baseball player in Iowa

Our culture tells us that girls and boys shouldn’t compete against each other be-cause, depending on the sport, one gender will have an advantage over the other. Girls involved in all-male sports, like baseball, is not the norm. But one soon-to-be freshman has the intentions to change history. Josey Starner is an eighth grader at Wood-row Wilson Middle School and is playing for TJ’s baseball team in the 2014 season. Starner is a female, playing an all-male

sport. Starner is able to play on the baseball team because of Title IX. Title IX states that, “No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, or de-

nied the benefits of, or be subjected to dis-crimination under any educational program or activity receiving fed-eral aid.” According to National Federation of State High School Asso-ciations, “the impact

of Title IX has argu-ably been most felt in athletics through the tremendous increase in women’s and girls participa tion. However, just as impressive is the law’s influence in opening educational opportunities that were

previously closed to women.” Baseball is a sport that females and males can both go out for, yet softball and base-ball are two different sports. If there were a male softball team, as well as the female softball team here at TJ, Josie would have to play for the female softball team. “I think she enjoys the sport and enjoys playing it,” said Athletic Director Jeremy Stuke-nholtz. “She should be treated like any other baseball player. She is a good athlete.” First cont. on page 4

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By Megan CarrollReporter

By Parker RaesReporter

By Angela GardnerReporter

The power of the beard Dylan Nightser lead the track team to state this year. His perfor-mance in the events brought home a total of 3 medals. Although TJ has a solid track team, there is a secret to success locked away, holding the team to-gether. “I couldn’t have done it without the beard,” said Nightser. This statement stands as a testament to the fact that he is one of the humblest track stars on the team. The entire team agrees with this as well. "Our success can only be attributed to the vast power of Nightser's beard," said Eldon Warner, a fellow teammate and Nightser-to-be aspirer. Nightser doesn’t only keep the power to him-self though, he allows

teammates to get a piece of the action too. “My phenomenal per-formance was due to the traditional rubbing of Nightser's beard before every race,” said Kenneth Foote, Sophomore track run-ner. Foote then went on to finish third place in 4x800 race, missing his best time by only one second. “I heard rumors that when Dylan Nightser was born god sprin-kled pixie dust on that chin,” said senior track runner Stephen Flana-gan. Although divine

intervention is hyperbo-le, Nightser has man-aged to pull off multiple miracles. In the 4x400 meter relay, Nightser single-beardedly gave his team a strong start, it was only after he passed the baton that the team went on to finish fifteenth in the division. Other con-tributors to the suc-cess of the team in-clude: Aaron Pierce, Zach LaCombe, Jakahi Gregory, Eldon Warner, Brian Collinson, Kenny Foote, Robert Conley, Jake Meyer and the

rest of Dylan Nightser’s body. However, without the limiting factor of other runners Nightser was able to achieve first place in the 400 low hurdles in the 4A dis-trict. Though this is the last meet of the sea-son, it won’t be the last we see of the beard. Nightser has already signed for his senior year. This means that the seniors of this year can leave assured the track team’s fate rests in Nightser’s beard.

Sophmores going into junior year All around TJ, stu-dents are constantly buzzing about the fol-lowing year that awaits them. Whether it in-volves sports, activi-ties or academics, this

present year is where the adventure begins.Facing several chal-lenges throughout the year, before one of the most important years of high school, could make or break stu-dents. “Even though it was

hard I’m glad that it was a difficult year, I learned a lot, and it is going to make my Junior year a lot bet-ter.” said sophomore Nathaniel Thomas. Thomas was capable of juggling advance placement classes, sports, and various issues, but he is al-lowing himself to learn from his mistakes. Go-ing into his Junior year, he has goals that he is striving to accomplish in.“Probably one of my biggest goals is to make sure I don’t fall behind in any classes

and do all of my AP and CE homework,” said Thomas. While students simi-lar to Nathaniel focus there awaiting year on academics, others turn their attention to athletics. Not only do they face various situ-ations, but their goals are somewhat alike.“I plan on achieving my goals by working very hard in school and get-ting my credits for my college classes.” said sophomore Stephanie Hand. By taking the extra step at achieving their school work, Thomas,

Hand, and other stu-dent athletes work hard to finish off half of their high school ca-reer. As each indi-vidual takes the next step towards the next grade, it is expected to put in more effort and time towards their school work and activi-ties. Developing throughout high school has a huge part of grade level. Going from sophomore to junior year has just as much responsibility as the previous grades increasing.

SENIOR PRANKS It is always been a tradition at TJ for se-niors to pull a prank within there last week of their senior year at the school. But It is ending in May, and people are beginning to wonder what it will be or if it will happen. Senior Christopher Barnhart has attended TJ all four years and has seen plenty of pranks. “The one last year, tying blow up dolls, was lame, and ge-naric the one before that, some guy spent a good amount of money on bouncy balls and dropped them from the 3rd floor.” These pranks seemed boring to Barn-hart as he went on with, “It was creative but not funny”. Seniors seem to be focusing more on school than the traditions like “Senior skip day” or “The senior prank”. There is a plan for the “Senior skip day”, but no senior pranks have been rumored. So watch out for the seniors to pop out!

Megan Carrol, sophmore snd future junior

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ByAlejandro Vieyra

ByAlejandro Vieyra,

Angela Gardner,and

Parker RaesReporters

By Morgan Wooton

When in high school, student’s main con-cerns are getting their work done and getting good grades. But for other students, having a job is another prior-ity that they are very focused on. Obtaining a job in high school can be helpful in many differ-ent ways. One of the biggest aspects of a job is the money. An-other is having more experience with all around areas for future jobs, once the students are done with school-ing. “I got a job at sub-way to pay for the gas in my car so my par-ents didn’t have to,” said senior Nathan Kesselberg. Also dealing with school and a job may be difficult, Kesselberg

stated, “...if your em-ployer knows you go to school they are usually pretty good about mak-ing sure school is your first priority.” References from adults allow students to experience the real world and the skills needed to do it right. Teachers are some of the people that can have great advice for students going into the

work industry. “Knowing how to interview, dress prop-erly, eye contact, be prepared for your an-swers, and have good references available, especially if you don’t have experience.” said Business teacher Mrs. Denise Hoag. Then continued to say once you have the job, “Make sure it’s a place you really want

to work at, also make sure that the hours fit your life. - and make sure you have a way to get there,” said Hoag. A job is one of the first steps for preparing one’s future. Students need to gain the initia-tive to look and work for skills they will use in the real world. Good luck to seniors and underclassmen looking for jobs!

High school job opps Even though he is new to this school, the math teacher Jeffrey Daugherty, most would agree that he is already well established. His name unfortunately, has not been established very well. Daugherty has had his name spelled wrong in almost every award or recognition he has been given this year. Along with the “Teacher of the Week” award giv-en to him by Swarm TV, and in the year book.Daugherty says he “doesn’t really care.” He later added that “honestly it makes me laugh. I know nobody does it on purpose so I sorta gave up on trying to correct them.” So, has an apology from TJHS to Daugh-erty, We’ll try to not spell your name so wrong next year.

HyVee, where students at Thomas Jefferson are employed.

No, you’re wrong

The daily routine of a reporter for the Signal is not as easy as it sounds. It takes a lot of time, hard work, and dedication. The first couple days of a trimester or after we publish a newspa-per we brain storm sto-ry ideas on the board. There are dozens of thoughts that come in and out of room C128 (the journalism room) everyday. Once we are content with the story ideas we have come up with, the reporters decide which writer will have the best time writing which story. We all try to help each other out be-cause there is always

room for improvement. Criticism is welcomed if it makes our story bet-ter. This is the easy part, then we have to come up with our lead, which grabs the reader’s at-tention. It might be one of the hardest parts of writing a story. If the lead does not inter-est readers, there is no point in writing the

story. The varieties of writers in our class come up with many dif-ferent dilemmas that we all try and work out. Then we set up the interviews, when we set up the interviews we typically ask experts in the fields that apply to the article in which we are writing. We tend to get both student and teachers involved in the

story. With their quotes they are contributing to our process writing the story, we all try and form our story around the quotes. With all this hard work that the newspa-per staff goes through, it always feels good getting the newspaper complete, even if its a little late, our audience will be entertained.

We would like to thank our whole Signal staff, especially to our editors Kelsi Thurman, and Isabella Moore who have both now graduated. Also our journalism adviser Rob Linquist for not only educating us, but for being there and helping with complications we have had and will con-tinue to have.

The routines of The Signal’s reporters: First hand

The Signal’s story idea board

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The Signal is a school-sponsored publication of Thomas Jefferson High School 2501 W. Broadway Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501. The Signal’s office is located in room C128. The Signal is printed by OH-K FASTPRINT in Omaha, NE. The Signal is a school-sponsored-publication and therefore recognizes its responsibility to stay within the boundaries that the school administrator sets. The Signal will therefore inform its readers using a high standard of morals and ethics. The Signal encourages readers to respond in the form of letters to the editor, which can be sent to room C128. The Signal’s editorial staff reserves the right to edit the letters for grammatical errors and to remove any profanity. The editors also reserve the right to exclude letters that are false in their state-ments or accusations. The Signal will not accept advertisements that promote activities illegal to minors. Advertising rates are available upon request.

By Morgan Wooton

ByDerrick Johnson

andParker Raes

Reporters

Drake NealReporter

For a Freshmen to move up a grade is a relief. Freshmen are always getting made fun of, or picked on by upper classmen. Now our first year of high school is finally coming to end. When the freshmen move up to a sophomore. I think it will be a great

experience to finally move up from being a lower classmen. For a Freshmen to go up a grade it’ll be dif-ferent for them. There will be new teachers, new hallways, and a new setting. I have so much to look forward to as a Freshmen mov-ing up. For a Freshmen to move up a grade you have to wonder if some of us upcoming sopho-mores will pick on the upcoming freshmen of next year as we were picked on. Although the future holds more challanges and opprotunities, moving on to sophmore year will be a blast.

Freshman moving up to sophmore

Josey the first female athlete to try and play baseball at TJ in recent history. Madison Sapienza is a freshman at Abraham Lincoln High School, and this summer is her second season play-ing for AL softball. But, Sapienza grew up play-ing baseball with boys. Her eighth grade year, she decided to play softball for AL. “I don’t really have a future in baseball,” said Sapienza. “I have a better chance of get-ting a scholarship for softball.”After switching gears, Sapienza became the catcher for AL’s varsity team. There are other girls participating in tradi-tionally male sports in the metro area, and are

being recognized for doing well. Haley and Hannah Thiele are sisters who are on the boy’s golf team at Wahoo Bishop Neumann, a Catholic high school in Nebras-ka. Haley is a Junior and has qualified for State for three years, winning Districts last year. The younger sis-ter, Hannah, decided to follow Haley’s foot-steps and succeed in qualifying for State. The Thiele sisters are thought to be the first female siblings to be a part of a boy’s golf team in Nebraska.TJ’s first freshman baseball game is May 30, 2014. We will con-tinue with this story over the summer, and have a followup next fall.

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Summer speed and agility programs

As the school year comes to an end once again, student athletes are already working on their fall sports and fit-ness. Over the summer, starting on Monday, June 9th, 7:30 a.m, Thomas Jefferson will start their summer speed and agility work-out program. This year is going to be a little bit different from other past sum-mers. For the first six weeks, coaches from Accelerare Omaha will be here at TJ operat-ing the first hour of the three hour program. They will be working on speed and agility in all student athletes. Also, this year is dif-ferent on mondays. Thank to Hy-vee, there will be free breakfast provided to any kid that shows up the the sum-

mer program, and stay for all of the workout. The workouts for the summer program are a little different this year as well. This year the workouts will start at 7:30 a.m, and end around 10:45. Also, it will not just be 2 different groups any-more. From 7:30 to 8:45, every athlete will be participating in the speed and agil-ity workout. At 8:45 to 9:45 boys will be lifting weights while female athletes can work on fall sports such as cross country on Mon-days and Wednesdays, along with basketball on Tuesday and Thurs-days. At 9:45 to 10:45, girls will start weight lifting, and boys will have the chance to practice in such sports as cross country and football on Mondays and Wednesdays, while basketball and wres-

tling are on Tuesdays and Thursdays.“I’m hoping all kinds of kids come out over the summer and par-ticipate. It does a lot for the school and the students.” said head football coach, Mark Puev. Coach Puev is the main instructor behind all the summer agility programs, so he has decided to work with head softball coach, Shannon Stussie. “It’s important from young female athletes to become stronger and more agile for their sports” says Stussie. “Therefore the softball team will be apart of the summer agility pro-gram.” she later added. The summer weight, agility, and speed pro-gram is six week long, and will end on the 17th of July, and is open to any athletes, or TJ students.

New hopes with a new grading system

The Council Bluffs Community School Dis-trict just informed staff and students about a new grading system that will take effect next year. Now, being gone from class can and will affect your grade point average (GPA). The new rule is that if a student misses ten or more days of one class, the teacher has the option of changing the students grade to a

pass/fail. If then able to pass, the highest grade the student could get is a D. This change is an attempt to lower the amount of skipping and to help kids receive the education provided to them. Other changes in-cludes that teachers of the same subject departments (like math or science) can now change the weight of practices and perfor-mances as long as every teacher agrees and the performances are weighted more. If no agreement can be made then the scale will result in 70% per-formances, 30% prac-tice. Most students

dislike how much a test can influence their final grade and next year, a teacher will have the ability to change that. Also, a performance will only be able to be redone once and a one point reduction will be taken from all retakes. Plus, there will be no retakes for practices. It’s obvious that some students aren’t taking classes as serious as they should be. Receiv-ing an education is one of the best opportuni-ties teenagers have and it’s going to waste too often. There will more information about this change over the a sum-mer and as the next school year starts.