Sports

FEATURES

Page 6-7

Volume LI, Issue 1Publish date (October 31, 2011)Oak Grove High Schoolwww.oakgrovehighschool.org

Over the summer, Mallory Maples went to the Abbie Rogers Civitan Camp as a coun-selor and came home with an idea that would change Oak Grove’s homecoming for years to come. After meeting a girl with disabilities at camp who had been crowned homecoming queen at her school, Maples thought that Oak Grove should also include students with disabilities in all aspects of school, not just academics. As the idea spread, petitions surfaced all around school, showing the entire student body’s support. What started as Maples’s senior project and small student petitions gained the attention of the school board.Maples sent a proposal to Principal Wayne Folkes as a part of her senior project that assured that one maid and one escort with disabilities, whether mental or physical, could participate in the school’s homecoming. Fol-kes then informed her that the proposal would have to be approved by the school board. However, the school board reported it was too late to change the school board policy for this year. Although the proposal couldn’t be put into action this year, it is

a definite possibility for the 2012-2013 school year according to the school board. The results of the homecoming elections showed that the proposals and petitions were never needed. All students nominated from the

community-based classes won homecoming escort and maid for the homecoming court in his or her grade. Those stu-dents elected for homecoming court from the community-based classes include freshman escort Josh Mixon, sophomore escort Cha Mar Booth, sopho-more maid Sharnee Fairley,

junior escort Ryan Hendley, junior maid Amber Williams, and senior maid Kaitlyn Fuller, who is also now in the running for Homecoming Queen.When the results for the homecoming court were announced, there was much excitement throughout the school. When the parents of the newly selected court heard, they were extreme-ly impressed with the Oak Grove student body and, as community-based teacher Mrs. Stacy Todd recalled, many cried. “I am so proud of our student body! They really rallied behind cam-paigning for these students, who normally are not given these types of opportunities,” Todd said. Students not nominated were recognized as princes and princesses at the pep rally for the Petal game. In preparation for homecom-

ing, Maples and others are shopping for dresses, and the students will practice a day in advance for the big night. “The Junior Civitan Club is also helping with many of the preparations,” Todd said.The results of this homecoming election prove that the student body of Oak Grove High School has a huge heart. Like Maples, they all believe that the stu-dents with disabilities should be given the opportunities to participate in all aspects of school, including homecoming. The par-ticipants and audience alike will never for-get Homecoming 2011. As Mrs. Swil-ley, another community-based teacher, exclaimed, “They will never forget this!”

By: Morgan GuessStaff Reporter

Student body’s choices make Homecoming special

PAGE 2

Rapid growth leads to new schools in district

More crowded hallways, longer cafe-teria lines, and a fuller parking lot are all signs of the exponential growth at not only Oak Grove High School but also throughout the Lamar County School District. Last year school of-ficials were in the midst of develop-ing a five-year comprehensive plan to deal with the influx of new students in the district. Thanks to the work of the Lamar County School Board, these plans will be carried out start-ing with the construction of a new Oak Grove kindergarten building west of 4th Street and, hopefully,

other buildings, classrooms, and cafeterias all over the district. School Board President Mike Pruitt explained that construction for the new K-5 building is expected to be-gin this October and end in about a year. “This means a mid-year move, but we’ve proven that our administrators, teachers, students, and parents can do this as we moved into the OGLE and OGUE in mid-year of 2010,” Pruitt said. There has also been talk among school board members of a 9th grade academy, which could be located on the Oak Grove High School campus and used for that grade only. Additional facilities that could potentially be built for the use of Lamar County Schools include a central track and field and tennis courts that would be used by all high schools in the district. Fortunately, no area of the Lamar County School District budget will be cut in order to pay for these new facilities; however, some debt will be retired over the next year or two to pay for the loan on this new school.Lamar County Schools Superintendent Dr. Ben Burnett has realized the rapid growth

within the district and made the commit-ment to take action before maximum school capacities were reached. “We conducted a ten year enrollment study a year ago to determine the long range needs of the school district,” Burnett said. “This study shows that our district could possibly double in size over the next decade and increase to as many as 17,000 students. We have to build new buildings and new cam-puses to keep up with the growth.” Both Burnett and Pruitt agree that without ef-fective expansion, safety, scores, and the well-being of the student body could be jeop-ardized. “When classrooms are overcrowded, it diminishes the environment for learning, not to mention the comfort, safety, and convenience of using the public spaces such as hallways, the library, and the cafeteria. Our job as a school board is to continue to plan for our district in order to meet the needs of all our students,” Pruitt said.Expansion at Oak Grove is causing and will cause many changes for both students and faculty. Fortunately, the administration is

working to meet the needs of each individual. Pruitt asserted that one downside of Oak Grove growth is money that could be used for an auditorium must be used to expand class-rooms. This issue of prioritization, however, is outweighed by the fact that new learners are being added to Oak Grove schools each year. Pruitt explained that many students are choos-ing Oak Grove over other nearby area schools because of all the awards it has received, which is an honor to the hard work of admin-istrators, teachers, and students. “I believeschools are the most important component of a community’s economic development ef-forts and from that we have exciting new re-tail, restaurants, and offices,” Pruitt said. Even though certain aspects of expansion may be setbacks, the construction of new schools is expected to reduce the burden of overcrowd-ing. “It will allow our students more room and will enable us to continue to increase our aca-demic scores and to keep all of our students safe,” Burnett said. The exapansion of the La-mar County School District is sure to broaden education opportunities for all its students.

PAGE 4 OPINION

Building bet-ter bonds...which onewins out?

By: Mary Ryan KarnesStaff Reporter

Jaylen Robertson (top) and Dalton Teck (bottom) greet the crowd at the pep rally.

Jordan Disotell and Hanna Turnage (left) and Al-len Jones and Aldraunna McNair (right) parade as part of the Homecoming princes and princesses at the pep rally on Septem-ber 30th.

Crowded hallways

Ghost Stories

Haunted

F l a s hy Words

Red-hot Warriors off to 5-1 start

“They will never for-

get this!”Mrs. Carmen Swilley,

Community-Based Teacher

Page 6-7 Features

N E W S B R I E F S

AP World History students excel on exam

Juniors Morgan Eguia and Nick Stevenson both received fives on the AP World History test. “Seeing that score made all of the study-ing I did in AP World History worth it,” Eguia said. This test is a three-hour long exam which contains 70 comprehensive multiple-choice questions and three essay questions. Students earn scores ranging from one to five. “AP World History covers nearly 10,000 years of human history. The course is fast and furious, to put it mildly,” AP World History teacher Christopher Rusco said. Sopho-mores in AP World History spend many hours doing weekly reading, writing history essays, and working AP exam practice tests. Rusco expected his students to do well on the multiple-choice portion of the test, but he was slightly nervous about the essay portion solely because the course wasn’t able to allow students to spend a large amount of time writing essays due to the semester time crunch.Although time restraints forced students to retain a lot of informa-tion in a small amount of time, Rusco’s students all gave their best efforts on the exam. “There are many students who did well, and I am proud of all of them,” Rusco said. This year, however, students will get an entire year to prepare for the exam. Also this year’s AP World History students are learning from a new book which Rusco hopes will make the course more stimulating and hopefully easier for

his students to understand..Rhonda Crawford receives $5,000

grant Last fall, STEM teacher

Rhonda Crawford completed a portfolio to apply for a grant to improve her classroom.

Crawford received great news at the beginning of this school year. According to a letter from the Mississippi Depart-

ment of Education, due to her exceptional teaching, Craw-ford’s request for a grant

was approved. Crawford was given $5,000 to improve her classroom which is a blessing for

any teacher, but it is especially useful for any sort of technology teacher solely because technology is very costly. “I received an e-mail listing the specifications of what I can and cannot buy, so I’m still trying to decide what I want to use the grant for,” Crawford

said.As technology advances, the price of items of this genre increases. This grant will help Crawford update her classroom and in the long run, will provide a better teaching environment for her students.

“Keeping computer technology up-to-date is expensive and requires grants,” fellow technology teacher, annual and newspaper advisor

Joy Davis said..

Homecoming dress-up days announcedHomecoming week will be October 12th, 13th, and 14th this year. “The only reason I’m not upset about homecoming week being only three days is because it’s right after fall break,” senior Brittain Allgood said. Since homecoming, October 14th, and fall break hap-pen to be in the same week this year, there will only be, as most students know, three days of Homecoming week. The theme for this year will be Warriors Celebrate the Good Times with all hall-ways decorated as creatively as possible with only black and gold colors. “The black and gold hallways will help raise school spirit during Homecoming week,” Student Body Reporter Hayley Higgason said.The theme for Wednesday will be Twin Day, which two students will dress exactly alike (expect to see a lot of Thing One and Thing Two costumes). Character Day, a student body favorite, will remain this year and will be on Thursday. One can only wonder which teach-er Anna Schwartz will choose to transform into this year. Friday will be Black and Gold Day as it has been for years. However, this

Homecoming week may only be two days for the stu-dents who are signed up to take the PSAT because the test falls on October 12th, Twin Day. “I’m upset that I have to miss the first day of Homecoming week especially since it’s so short,” sopho-more Morgan Guess said.

Warrior football off to fast start

The Warriors then hopped on the bus and headed to Forest Hill High, where they brought their record to an impressive 5-0.

The following week, the student body eagerly awaited the weekend game against the Warriors fierce rivals the Petal Panthers. On that cool Fall night, the Warriors charged into the stadium amidst screaming fans. The Warriors fought hard in the first half achieving three touchdowns and forcing a safety mak-ing the score at halftime 23-12 Oak Grove. Petal

came back with a vengeance in the second half, ex-panding their score to a three touchdown lead. Oak Grove answered back with multiple touchdowns and increased their score to 37; however, the Panthers continued to score with an impressive 54 points.After losing to the Panthers 54-37, the Warriors held their heads high as they walked off of the field. “We fought through the final whistle, and there’s no shame in that,” center Allen Cummins said after the game. Hopefully this mentality will go with the Warriors tonight as they travel to Meridian to face the Wildcats, ranked #3 in the state.

Oak Grove Warrior football stomped into the 2011-2012 games with a bang kicking off the season at home against the Sumrall Bobcats. The Warriors got their first hint of success in front of a screaming student section as they defeated the Sumrall Bobcats 52-0. After that victory, the Warriors traveled to their first away game against the Purvis Tornadoes where they continued their success by gaining another win with a score of 35-21.The following week, the then 2-0 War-riors prepared for their next opponent, the Laurel Golden Tornadoes. Oak Grove defeated them 17-3. With a record of 3-0, Coach Barr began preparing his players for the hardest game of the season yet. Just coming off of a victory over the infamous South Panola High School, Gulfport High School set its crosshairs on the Warriors. Little did they know what awaited them on that Friday night. The Warriors, led by senior quarterback Steven Swindle, forced Gulfport into a submissive defeat of 31-14.

We fought through the

final whistle, and there’s no shame in

that.

-Allen Cummins, Senior

By: Austin HeusserStaff Reporter

Rhonda Crawford

WednesdayTwin DayThursday

Character DayFriday

Black & Gold Day

GOP candidates battle for nomination

By: Miranda Rester, Copy Editor

By: Will Pipes Staff ReporterAmericans are about to make the choice which plots the future of their nation. The 2012 presi-dential election is near. This means campaigns, polls, and speculation galore about candidates, nomina-tions, and possible victors. On one side of the aisle, the Democrats have a returning candidate, President Obama, who has officially announced his run for re-election. On the other side of the presidential nomination field, the Republicans, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), have sever-al contenders with numerous ideas to offer. How-ever, as with all political races, a few front run-ners have distinguished themselves from the pack.The first is Michele Bachmann, the Congressional Representative for Minnesota. Bachmann’s mind-set is one of a conservative Tea Party member. This may hurt or help her in the long run, depending on how well Bachmann can relate to the people on cer-tain issues such as the lagging economy. Bachmann has started her campaign with a win in the IowaStraw Poll, which measures a GOP presiden-tial candidate’s popularity in the nation. Collect-ing attention from several media networks and magazines such as Newsweek, where she made the cover of the August 15th issue, has trans-formed Bachmann into a well-known public figure.Next is Ron Paul, a former Texas Representative and Bachmann’s polar opposite. Although he is a member of the GOP, Ron Paul’s viewpoints con-sistently stray from those of his party and into

more of a moderate standpoint, supporting a number of Democratic ideas as well as GOP ones. With 4,671 votes to Bachmann’s 4,823, he came in a close sec-ond in the Iowa Straw Poll. However, with news outlets choosing to cover Bachmann and other potential GOP candidates such as Rick Santorum, Tim Pawlenty, and Herman Cain, Paul has been given almost no coverage in the media. While his media coverage may be lacking, Paul is projected to have an advantage over the other can-didates. Paul holds the lowest difference in approval rat-ing against President Obama with 47.8% for Obama and 42.0% for Paul making for a difference of 5.8% .Rick Perry is the last GOP front runner for the presi-dential nomination. Perry has served as Governor of Texas since December of 2000. While not as popular as the other two candidates, Perry’s strength lies in his image of being on the opposite end of the po-litical spectrum in relation to President Obama. Perry recently suffered a loss to candidate Herman Cain in a Florida straw poll. Although daunted, a CNN poll released September 26th cites GOP (and indepen-dents who lean towards the GOP) as still being largely in support of Perry, with his support rating at 28%, 7% higher than his closest competitor, Mitt Romney.These are the current front runners poised to challenge President Obama for the presiden-tial office. As always, anything can change in a po-litical race of such importance. As the election ap-proaches, the people can only wonder who will come to represent the nation for the next four years.

2 October 7, 2011

2012 Presidential Match-UpsSource: Real Clear Politics approval rating aggregator

“

Obama

49.0%

Obama

47.8%Bachmann

32.8%

Perry

41.4%

Paul

42.0%

Obama

52.4%

“

News/Sprots

3 October 7, 2011

OG swimmers gear up for South State

As Oak Grove athletes start off their new seasons, these Warriors are filled with determination and cer-tainly with Warrior pride. And while most sports teams fight on the fields, others find a more aquatic approach.The OGHS swim team dove into their new season leaving their rivals nothing but bubbles. So far the team has participated in four meets. Both boys and girls teams have placed in at least the top five at every meet.But this is not at all surprising con-sidering the amount of practice the swimmers have had. In the past years, tryouts have been held during the begin-

ning of the school year. Usually the turn-out is close to 40 members. This year, however, Coach Nora Rapetti decided to take another approach. Tryouts were held for the 2011-2012 swim team last April, and it was required for all team members to attend summer practices.For a number of reasons, this turned off many former swimmers. The purpose was to eliminate kids who weren’t as dedi-cated or as gifted at swimming. This also gave members more time to get back into swimming shape. “It takes a lot to get back into the swing of things after not swimming for so long,” senior Emilee Asquith said. “The extra time really helped all of us improve.” Summer practices were held every Monday and Wednesday from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. “At first prac-tices were really tough, but I just kept my eyes on the prize,” Asquith said.Winning a swim meet isn’t just about being

the best swimmer; it takes lots of thought and strategy as well. “We’re still trying to figure out the best way to strategize the events,” Haley Higgason, girls’ captain, said. “Everyone on the team this year is a good swimmer, but the hard part is figur-ing out who’s best to put in which events.”To score in a meet, the top eight of each event are given points. First place gets

eight points; second place gets seven points, etc. Each swimmer on the team can par-ticipate in a maximum of four events, which include two relays and two individual events, and no swimmer can participate in the same event twice. The events range from distances of 50 meters to 500 meters and include either one or all of the four strokes: Free Style, Breast, Butterfly, and Back Strokes. Events throughout the meet are numbered with odd numbers for boys and evens for girls.The main goal of this year, according to Higgas-on, is to win South State on October 15th.“Last time we won was two years ago, and I think this year we have a really good chance,” Higgason said.Swim meets are held mostly on Sat-urdays from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., and the season lasts until late October. Please come support the swim team as they splash their way to the state finals..

By: Amelia Passer Staff Reporter

Morgan Eguia, junior, com-petes in the 100-meter Butterfly event at the West Jones Invitational on Sep-tember 24th.

Photo by HAYLEY HIGGASON

Volleyball spikes Panthers, advance to playoffsBy: Jordan Farrar Staff Reporter

The Lady Warriors won Tuesday night’s game against the Petal Panthers. The Lady Warriors almost had a landslide victory of 3-0, but the Panthers gave a fight and won one of the games. The game against the Panthers gave the Lady Warriors a final record of 13-5 for the season. The team surpassed last year’s record by winning four more games than last year’s team. Head Coach Renee McInarnay (Mac) added, “These girls are just fantastic, no, fabulous. They’ve brought some-thing different, and it’s great.” Coach Mac commended the Lady Warriors on their teamwork as the season pro-gressed. “They have quite the fluid communication and work well together. Each girl has her own talent that she uses to better the team,” Mac said.For most Warriors, ringing a cowbell in the student section at the War-rior football field on Friday nights

is the extent of school spirit. Volley-ball, however, has not always had the recognition like that under the Friday night lights. For those who aren’t famil-iar with the game, it’s played with two teams, each with six players. The goal is to ground the ball on the opposite court or to make the other team fault.To begin the game, one player, the set-ter, will set up the ball. Another player will then come up behind to swat the ball over the net. The points are tallied by faults/kills. But volleyball requires much more than just hand-eye coordination. One must be a leader on and off the court.Senior Dana Marx is one of the Lady Warrior’s leaders and has played in all positions. One quick kill made by Dana Marx during the Brandon game had some of the spectators do a double-take to see which girl had the shot. These kills are explosive hits over the net that the opposing team cannot reach in

time to recover. Marx ended the game with three spikes, four kills, and two line shots, a shot down the opposing teams’ boundary line.“My team really loves playing volleyball. It’s amazing,” second year player Samantha Knowles said. “It’s a pleasure to watch all of them on the court in front of everyone.”Oak Grove has a definite spot in the up-coming playoffs. The Lady Warriors will take on Hancock on Saturday, October 8th for the first round of the playoffs.

Photo by LAURA PREHNAnna Kate Carstens, freshmen, blocked a hit from the Petal Panthers at their matchup on October 4th.

Warrior cross country off and runningBy: Allison Slusher Staff Reporter

Every afternoon around 3:40, the majority of the Oak Grove High School student body gets their daily exercise by running to their cars to

beat the parking lot traffic. One group of students, however, the Warrior Cross Country Team, begins a different run at 3:40, one that involves rigorous training in order to become the best team they can be. The team’s training consists of difficult workouts including morning and afternoon runs. With all of this training, the team has seen its efforts pay off af-ter receiving many top placings at meets and even gaining new personal records.The team began the season with their annual Oak Grove Running Festival which serves as both a fund raiser and the first meet of the season. Overall, this has been a busy year for the cross coun-try team, seeing as they have competed in numerous meets including the Missis-sippi College Choctaw Relay Challenge, two USM Invitationals, the Mobile Challenge of Champions, the East Central Invita-tional, and the Gulf Coast Stampede in

Pensacola. “My favorite meet would have to be the Mobile meet because of its course,” said Will Murphey, a sophomore on the team.Many members on the team have even set personal goals for themselves this year as they continue the season. “I hope to improve more than I have in the past five years on the team,” senior Lindsey Hardin said. When asked what he would like to accomplish as a team, Murphey said, “I would like to see us win state.” It is no doubt, though, that with all the determination the team has, these goals can easily be accomplished.The team has two more meets, the George County Invitational on October 15th and the Ocean Springs Invitational on October 22nd, before the Division meet on October 27th fol-lowed by the State meet on November 5th. As the season comes to a close, however, it has become clear that the Warrior Cross Country team will be one to watch not only as a team but also as individual competitors.

Photo by RAVEN JONES

Will Murphey, sophomore, and Jackson Shahady, senior, hustle to the finish line at the USM Invitational on Sep-tember 2nd at Tatum Park.

Warrior football has made many proud accom-plishments in the past several years including two South State Championships, numerous awards, and many Division I recruits. One dis-tinguished upcoming recruit is Evan Sobiesk.Sobiesk’s performance as a kicker has now led him to the opportunity to play at a Divi-sion I university, an accomplishment every high school athlete hopes for. Many universi-ties have already contacted Sobiesk includ-ing Southern Miss, Iowa State, Rice, Texas Christian, and even South Eastern Conference schools Mississippi State and Louisiana State. Even Ivy League universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Brown have contacted Sobiesk.“I would like to go to a school with good aca-demics, good athletics, and a good atmosphere,” Sobiesk replied when asked what he is looking for in a college. He also explained that one of the most important aspects to him in making this decision is playing time. “I want to be able to play early in college. I don’t want to spend my entire freshman year sitting out,” Sobiesk said.With all of these options, however, Sobiesk said he has not yet ruled out a school. In turn, we are all left to guess where he will go. In the meantime we will just be, dare I say, kicking it with Evan Sobiesk.

Evan Sobiesk is currently the kicker for the Warrior football team and is being recruited by many Division I schools. This column follows him throughout his decision making process and allows us to see which college he will choose in the end..

Kicking it with Evan Soliesk

FootballRecord

5-1

ScoresOG 52, Sumrall 0

OG 35, Purvis 21

OG 17, Laurel 3

OG 31, Gulfport 14

OG 41, Forest Hill 14

OG 37, Petal 54

Upcoming Schedule

10/07 OG vs. Meridian (Away)

10/14 OG vs. Terry (Home)

10/21 OG vs. Brandon (Away)

10/28 OG vs. Hattiesburg (Away)

11/04 OG vs. Natchez (Home)

VOLLEYBALLRecord

12-5

ScoresOG 3, St. Patrick 0

OG 3, Meridian 0

OG 2, Pass Christian 0

OG 1, Vancleave 2

OG 3, Terry 0

OG 3, Sacred Heart 0

OG 0, Hattiesburg 3

OG 3, Brandon 0

OG 2, Petal 3

OG 3, Sumrall 0

OG 3, McComb 0

OG 3, Sacred Heart 0

OG 3, Meridian 0

OG 3, Brandon 0

OG 1, Salem 3

OG 3, Terry 0

OG 0, Hattiesburg 3

OG 3, Petal 1

Upcoming Schedule

Round 1 of Playoffs - OG @ Hancock

Saturday, October 8th

WARRIOR SPORTS NOTES

Sports

4 October 7, 2011The views and opinions

expressed on this page are of an edito-rial nature and do not necessarily represent

the views of The Warrior Beat staff,

advisers, school faculty, or administrators of Oak Grove High School or the Lamar County

School District

Over the past few years, one so-cial networking force has been con-necting humans around the world in ways not seen since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. That force is none other than the incredible Facebook. Created in a college dorm room by Mark Zuck-erberg in 2005, Facebook has grown to encompass over 750 million people worldwide accord-ing to the Huffington Post. What makes Facebook so great is that it puts life online in a unique and interesting way. Users can have conversations, respond to the thoughts of another, or even post pictures of some of the memories they’ve made in order to show their friends all within a matter of minutes. Twitter tries to re-cre-ate the same effect, but the con-versations aren’t the same when they are submerged in dozens of tweets from others. Pictures re-quire several different sites to view while Facebook simply uses its own picture viewing system. Af-ter all, a “retweet” just doesn’t amount to a like or a comment.What’s even more impressive about Facebook is how it has in-vaded our society. Today a mes-sage sent on Facebook is more likely to be responded to than a message on an e-mail account.While checking an e-mail account is seen as a chore by most, people find checking their Facebook more

instinctual as Facebook is an exten-sion of themselves. You can’t find that kind of personalization on Twit-ter, being limited in what your profile can have on it and having only 140 characters, spaces included, to ex-press your thoughts. Even teachers have been looking into using the social networking site to post assignments via a Facebook group tailor-made for that class. Not only is Facebook useful for socializing, the site is also more than adequate for education.Possibly the most amazing aspect of Facebook, however, is the rea-soning behind this rethinking of social interaction. Mark Zuckerberg, along with partners Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, changed the way we look at the world by creating a world of social interac-tion that is, to borrow from Tron a bit, for the Users. When they made Facebook, they didn’t know what it would become, only that they want-ed to make something amazing. And according to 750 million plus people, Facebook is quite amazing indeed.So at the end of the day, Facebook has more of a personal feel, a better way to display some of your favor-ite moments for everyone to see, and an easier method of interaction between users. So when I update my status tonight (and invariably com-ment on something funny I read while doing so), I’ll remember the unique-ness of the site of which I’m on, and I encourage you to do the same.

Five years ago, Twitter was just another word in the dictionary. What was once defined as “a series of short, high-pitched bird calls” has since taken on a whole new meaning. In the world of so-cial networking, Twitter seemed to be a humdrum, copycat ver-sion of the popular Facebook. Of course, I came to this unfamiliar knockoff and refused to join. I considered myself above the Twitter fad and would tell you so with pride. Facebook had satisfied my social needs for years. What did Twitter have to offer? Basi-cally, nothing new. One simply logs on, “tweets” a message in 140 characters or less, and posts it for others to see. “Following” re-placed friending. “Retweets” were essentially “likes,” and replies were another way to comment on a status. Spring semester of my junior year, I was required to tweet once a week for my AP Statistics class. Kicking and screaming, and for the sake of my grade, I began to tweet. My world was forever changed.Twitter was the answer to my pent-up Facebook frustration. It had all the attention-getting and knowledge-sharing ability of Facebook without the bells and whistles. There aren’t any flashy sidebar ads promising a lower credit score, perfect love life, or free college tuition. Unlike

Facebook, Twitter isn’t plagued by risky, lawsuit-inducing privacy issues.With that said, Twitter has been gaining momentum among current Facebookers. Twitter, uncorrupted by college recruiters and nosy rela-tives, is a form of freedom. Change the privacy setting on your ac-count and write without inhibitions. Complaints, teenage love quotes, and awkward moments are en-couraged. You can say what’s on your mind, but you can also see what others are thinking. Celebri-ties, politicians, and journalists have been creating Twitter accounts to accompany their already popular Facebook pages. However, Twitter is not just a publicity tool used by the elite. On May 1st of this year, President Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden but not before the news was leaked through a tweet by Keith Urbahn, a former Navy intelligence officer. The news spread like wildfire across Twitter’s website, and soon the rumor was confirmed. Twitter has nonetheless proven itself to be an efficient communication tool.Of the 106 million Twitter us-ers, around 742,000 are high school students. Start your tweeting. Follow me,@ j g u n n u f s e n .

Starting high school can be the most exciting day for a 14-year-old. As freshmen walk through the doors on their first day of high school, they wonder if the first day will be as intimidating as it is on Mean Girls or as relaxed as on Saved by the Bell. The Warrior Beat staff polled five freshmen to see if high school has met their expectations.

Oak Grove High School5198 Old Highway 11

Hattiesburg, MS 39402601.264.7232

www.thewarriorbeat.comEditor - Sydney Sanders

Copy Editor - Miranda ResterStaff - Brittain Allgood

Adviser - Joy DavisAnna Kate Baygents

Nan ButiJordan FarrarMorgan Guess

Joanna GunnufsenAustin HeusserRaven Jones

Mary Ryan KarnesElizabeth Lee

Nathan MaxwellAmelia Passer

Will PipesLaura Prehn

Julie RobinsonAllison SlusherJenny Tran

“I thought it would be like it was in movies, but ev-eryone gets along better.”

Jessica Tran9th grade

“I thought they’d be re-ally strict about enforcing rules, but it’s really laid back.”John David Forten-berry 9th grade

“It’s a lot better than I had expected because there’s so much more freedom.”

Robert Becton9th grade

“Hanging out with Mrs. Sanders and Coach Thomas in the library has made it all worth it.”

Rebecca Gemes9th grade

“It’s a lot different than I thought. I have classes with juniors and seniors, and that’s kind of weird.”

Kintaja Griffith9th grade

Opinion

Opin

ion

Upgrade or downgrade?

5 October 7, 2011

Watch out, President Obama! Ac-cording to the June statement from the U.S. Treasury, compared to the U.S. government’s operating cash balance of $73.8 billion, Apple has a whopping $76.2 billion in cash and marketable securities. In other words, the world’s largest tech com-pany now has more money than the world’s largest sovereign government. This symbolic feat - the world’s most highly valued tech company, surpass-ing the fiscal strength of the world’s most powerful nation - is just the latest pinnacle for Apple, which has

been on an unprecedented roll.This feat comes to no surprise see-ing as Apple has been rolling out new electronics every few months. The federal government could probably learn a thing or two from Apple’s success. For the past few months, Congress has continued to remain

embroiled in a debate over spending and whether the government, which cur-rently owes trillions in debt, should be allowed to borrow even more. Not only that, international credit rating agencies have downgraded the national debt for the first time in the nation’s history if Washington doesn’t come up with a solution to lift the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling while implementing a concrete plan to get the nation’s financial house in order. In a recent address to the country, President Obama seemed to have the answer to such a crisis. Obama proposed the American Jobs Act to save the United States’ economy. “The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working,” President Obama said. Essentially, he plans to increase consumption within our economy through job growth. While I do agree that we must focus on job growth within the economy, how do we know this act will work when the 2009 stimulus package did not? In February of 2009, Obama proposed $787 billion in economic stimulus when unemployment was around $25 mil-lion. Now, more than two years later, unemployment is still around $25 mil-lion. Why, therefore, should Obama’s latest proposals to create jobs, consisting about half the size of the

2009 stimulus, expect to create jobs when the larger stimulus did

not?Compared to the government’s budget and spending money, Apple is valued more than $363 billion. With the rise in Apple’s spendable wealth, experts believe the company may use the money to secure more technology patents or make stra-tegic acquisition of other business-es such as Hulu and Netflix. How-ever, one thing is for sure: this news of Apple having more money than the U.S. government has not fazed the company at all. “We don’t let the cash burn a hole in the pocket or make stupid acquisitions. We’d like to continue to keep our powder dry because we think there are one or more strategic opportunities in the future,” former CEO of Apple Steve Jobs said. Offering Uncle Sam a short-term loan, however, is

probably not one of them..

Uncle Sam has met his match. Accord-ing to the latest updates, Apple has become the new top dog.

An apple a day keeps the debt away

By: Jenny Tran Staff Reporter

By MORGAN GUESS

Check out our blog!www.thewarriorbeat.com

Read news stories, features, sports, and editorials from

current and past issues.

Q: Why do you feel that it is necessary to have flat screen TVs in the cafeteria?A: It is not necessary that we have flat screens in the TV. We’ve survived this long without them, but I thought it would be educational, fun, entertain-ing, and informational. We could work them in a way where we could run announcements on them eventually. We don’t have the funding, so if there is money out there that someone wants to donate, we’ll take it.

That’sAll

F o l k e s

Q: Why don’t any of the clocks in the hallway work?A: We are looking into what it would cost us to put in digital clocks to replace them and stuff like that. That would be even better or just take them out. They are just there. They were put in the building when it was built, and they have never been real efficient.

Q: If Oak Grove’s mascot were not a Warrior, what would it be?A: I went through a list of all mascots at different high schools. There are a lot of crazy names out there. The Warriors have been with Oak Grove for a long time. Before the Warriors, someone had given the old annual the Acorns, but what we would have to do is vote on a mascot through the student body. However, if I had my choice, off the top of my head, it would be the Grovers.

Q: If you were President, what would be your first act?A: That would be an awesome responsibility to be the President of the United States. My first act would be to really look hard at employ-ment and jobs all together, so we can accomplish great things. I think that if you have people working and you have income and prosperity, the country runs better.

INSIGHT FROM YOUR WISE PRINCIPAL, MR. WAYNE FOLKES

Imagine that it’s 6 a.m., and your eyes pop open. But before your legs hit the floor, you have to put them on first. Now imagine that after putting forth all of the extra effort it takes to get dressed for the day with two artifi-cial legs, you have to walk on them ALL day long. For the past 30 years, such is a typical day in the life of Coach Schraeder. The accident that took his legs, and nearly his life, made Schraeder’s daily routine a bit more difficult than most of ours. So, it’s a special kind of upgrade that this inspiring teacher and coach finally has a classroom of his own...no more trekking up and down the hallway between classes, floating into someone else’s classroom. But Coach Schraeder never has wanted sympathy or favors because of his artificial legs. “I love having my own room, but I understood having to float with a school as big as ours and growing,” he said. “I love OG and want to be here for the rest of my career, God willing.” This is Schraeder’s 25th year teaching and his 7th year at Oak Grove. Coach Schraeder having his own classroom? upgrade

By: Sydney Sanders Editor

Downgrade Prison-issued bathroom uniform?3 words.

Green. Mesh. Vests.Bring back the bacteria-laden, incredibly loud-sound-when-dropped making apple. Please.

Have you noticed that man behind the ‘stache roaming the halls this year? Mr. Davis, sporting a new look, made a deci-sion over the summer that he said was based on a need for psychological warfare against the freshmen he would be teaching in the Fall. But, when school started and he learned that he would be teaching seniors, making the “exploitation of the enemy” factor unnecessary, Davis decided to keep it anyway. He said he can always get a part-time job as a player in the re-enactment of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. Either way, the Fu Manchu is around

until Christmas. “Look for a smooth-lipped Davis in January,” he said. Davis’s version of a taller, less red-headed Yosemite Sam? upgrade

Downgrade Homecoming on Fall Break week?So here’s the question. Why was Homecoming Week scheduled the same week as Fall Break? Intentional or accidental? Fess up, LCSD calendar makers. We’re bummed that we only have three days to show our school spirit that week. Now we’re forced to decorate the halls, a time-honored Warrior tradition, on a Fall Break day! Basically, this means that many of us will only have one day off instead of two. But, in true Warrior spirit, we’ll be there to help make our class’s hallway the best ever. It just seems a shame that our classmates will only have three days to enjoy the hard work that will surely be put into the job. And what about dress-up days?! Only three days to be Warriors Celebrating Good Times, dressing in crazy get-ups to display our school spirit.

We’ll make the best of it, but the bottom line is this...Homecoming on Fall Break week? Really?

Opinion

Most students dread P.E. fitness class at Oak Grove because they know what awaits them each morning: push-ups, jumping-jacks, and of course lifting weights. Strenuous activities, such as these, are not something that most girls qualify as fun; however, girls who enroll in P.E. fitness can now look forward to a lively Zumba class every other morning. Kriste Lewis began teach-ing first and second blocks Zumba classes around the end of August. The coaches, who normally teach the fitness classes, were looking for something new and fresh to keep the girls entertained while maintaining their health. Anna Lauren Weeks, a freshman in the first block class, knew that the coaches were looking for an instructor and did not hesitate to ask Lewis. “She teaches Zumba at Heritage United Methodist, a church that I go to sometimes, and I knew she would do a great job at Oak Grove,” Weeks said.Lewis has been teaching Zumba for a little over eight

months and normally teaches at her church. “I have enjoyed instructing the girls here at Oak Grove. It is giving me the opportunity to work with many dif-ferent age groups,” Lewis said. Zumba is a dance fitness program created by dancer and choreogra-pher Alberto “Beto” Perez during the 1990s. The program combines Latin and international music with dance in an effort to make exercise enjoyable. Zumba is Spanish slang for “to move fast and have fun.” In these classes, participants are in constant motion. It incorporates hip-hop, samba, salsa, mambo, martial arts, Bollywood, and belly dance moves. Squats and lunges are also included in choreography in order to tone muscles; participants are burning calories while having fun. Zumba has been referred to as a party

rather than a workout, which is probably why over 12 million people of all shapes and sizes take part in weekly Zumba classes in more than 125 countries.Many of the girls have found Zumba to be a new and exciting experience. “I actually look forward to first block now that we have Zumba classes,” senior Su-sannah Carpenter said. “It’s a fun way to stay in shape!” The girls are beginning to memorize some of the choreography and get excited when they hear one of their favorite songs begin to play. Even other groups such as Golden Spirits and the community-based classes take part in the Zumba classes.Lewis’s goal is to show girls that fitness can be fun rather than stressful and strenuous. “Statistics prove that Mississippi is one of the fattest states, as well as

one of the laziest states, so I want people to know that they don’t have to run laps or starve themselves in order to lose weight,” Lewis said. “The classes are easy and something new to take part in.” Lewis plans to continue her instructing at Oak Grove for the remainder of the year and hopefully for years to come.Freshman, sophomore, and junior girls: talk to your counselor about next year’s schedule for “an exhilarating, effective, easy-to-follow, Latin-inspired, calorie-burning dance fitness-party that’s mov-ing millions of people toward joy and health.”

6 October 7, 2011

By: Brittain AllgoodStaff Reporter

Dances into OG

Kriste Lewis and the 1st block girls’ fitness class shimmy and shake their way through the morning.

Photo by BRITTAIN ALLGOOD

Susannah Carpenter: fashionista turned drill sergeant?By: Julie RobinsonStaff Reporter

Susannah Carpenter is that girl at school who looks cute every single day. Last year when the new dress code was

implemented, she was the first one to figure out how to make the dress code look nearly fash-ionable. Even in weightlifting class, Carpenter’s hair and makeup are flawless. Usually, when Car-penter wears something new or different, everyone else starts wearing it; she’s a trendset-ter if there ever were one. How would a girl like Carpenter be ex-

pected to spend her summer vacation?To everyone’s shocked surprise, Car-penter accidentally spent a week of her summer at boot camp in Maryland at the United States Naval Acad-emy. What many people don’t know

about Carpenter is that she is very interested in studying engineering and more specifically aerospace engineering in college. She thought she was going to get a week of classes on aerospace engineering when she signed up for the Summer Seminar at the Naval Academy.When she got there, she realized that she would be spending a week in boot camp and had

seriously misinterpreted the Naval Acad-emy’s brochure. A few of the other ill-in-formed girls left early, but Carpenter chose to tough it out. Carpenter sharply stood out from the remaining girls and guys at the Summer Seminar who were built for the army. She noted that the girls were probably all in the heavy division on their high school weightlifting teams. While Carpenter is athletic, she would never fit the criteria for a heavy division weightlifter. If the girls were muscular, then the boys might as well have been already in the army, and the ra-tio of boys to girls was four to one. There were 750 at the Summer Seminar in all.An average day for Carpenter consisted of waking up at 5:00 a.m. to 30 minutes of physical activity, classes, and more physi-cal activity. She did 300 push-ups a day for a total of 1,500 push-ups in five days. She was forced to run everywhere she went and totaled 35 miles for the week. One of the many activities Carpen-

ter participated in during the week was called Sea Trials; this activity was comprised of 12 hours of non-stop physical exertion. Carpenter’s maxi-mum number of push-ups, sit-ups, and chin-ups were tested and recorded, and her fastest mile was clocked. She had to wear a uniform of boy shorts and tucked-in t-shirts all week long.When asked if, given the opportunity, she would participate in the Summer Seminar again, Carpenter replied, “I would definitely do the seminar again because I gained so much from it. The Naval Academy’s campus is beautiful. I am strongly considering going there for my undergraduate degree next fall.” Carpenter’s example warns us to care-fully read the brochures we are sent ad-vertising summer college camps but also proves that misinterpretations can lead to new challenges and new experiences that can shape who we will become.

Susannah Carpenter, senior, (middle) and friends relax after a grueling twelve hours of physical activity at the Naval Academy’s Summer Semi-nar.

COLLEGE SEARCHMississippi State University

Tuition and feesApplication Fee - $40In-State Tuition & Fees - $5,808Average Financial Aid Package - $10,854

HousingOn-campus housing - Approx. $8,160

Other•SAT or ACT is required, but ACT writ-ing section is optional•Average freshmen enrollment - 2,450

•MSU has 15,543 undergrad-uate students•MSU is located in Starkville, MS in a rural set-ting•Average indebtedness at graduation is $25,261•Student-to-faculty ratio is 20:1

Campus TourVisit www.statement.ms-state.edu to schedule a tour

Mississippi College

Tuition and feesNo Application FeeIn-State Tuition & Fees - $13,988Average Financial Aid Package - $15,010

HousingOn-campus housing - Approx. $6,340

Other•SAT or ACT is required, but ACT writ-ing is optional•Average freshmen enrollment - 508•MC has 3,107 undergraduate stu-dents

•MC is located in Clinton, MS in a suburban setting•Average indebtedness at graduation is $21,332•Student-to-faculty ratio is 16:1

Campus TourCall or email JJ Benson at 601.925.3948 or visitwww.mc.edu

5 October 7, 2011features

only last year. “My favorite by far is this movie I just finished called No One Lives. I got really bloody and shot up, and that was a really cool experience,” Walker said as he joked about the fact that his char-acter is one of the first murder victims.While many young performers develop an in-flated ego from all of the attention, Walker

makes it clear that his fam-ily is, and always will be, his first prior-ity. “Family is first. Without my fam-ily, I wouldn’t be in the acting business. Without my mom and dad keeping me confident, it never

would have happened. I think the only reason someone can be an actor or is allowed to do something like this is because of their family,” Walker said. Walker knows how much money and effort his family had to put into making his dream come true, and he expressed extreme gratitude for them.Oak Grove is the first public school Walker will have attended for an entire year. “The only real difference betweenhere and California is that everyone in

Family is first. Without my family, I wouldn’t

be in the businessJake Austin Walker,

OGHS Freshman

7 October 7, 2011

From the big screen to the school scene,

Oakgrove gets a taste of Hollywood

Oak Grove is full of ambitious and talented students such as former Warriors model Andie Arthur, star athlete Steve McNair, Jr., and singer Lindsay Lee. Jake Walker’s name can now be added to this list. Walker is an established actor and singer at the age of 14, and he is now a freshman at Oak Grove. While Walker has spent seven

years in California, he was born right here in Hattiesburg. “I was born here, and I’ve made a lot of great friends here. I’m a normal kid. I love going to the movies, hang-ing out at the mall, and ringing the cow-bell at the football games,” Walker said.At the age of eight, Walker’s acting career surprisingly began with a singing perfor-mance at Talent Rock in Orlando, Florida. “The sing-ing was okay, but I choked up. So, they handed me a monologue, and I memo-rized it right off the bat. I went in there, and they loved it,” Walker said. Af-ter Talent Rock, Walker got a manager and moved out to California.“I’ve been on at least a thousand audi-tions,” Walker said. Walker auditioned constantly in California, and he is still continuing to do so. He premiered in his first movie at the age of ten, Front of the Class in which Walker played the child-hood bully. While he has performed in five movies and ten television shows, Walker’s first movie in which he was a main char-acter was The Chaperone which he filmed

high school has their own little groups. In California, no one cares who you are. There, everyone got along because we realized we’re just people. No one is bet-ter than anyone else,” Walker said.Walker makes the point that while he loves acting, it is not easy. He uses Bella Thorne, star from Dis-ney’s hit show Shake It Up and a friend of Walker’s, as an example. “Bella Thorne’s been at this for nine years, and she just became a star. This shows that you don’t go straight out to California and get a role on a show or in a movie. It just doesn’t happen,” Walker said. Walker is currently waiting to hear the re-sults from his latest audition for The CW’s new show Charlie’s Angels.

By: Miranda ResterCopy Editor

BONUS VIDEO INTERVIEWwith Jake Walker available at

www.thewarriorbeat.com.

Rocket City Diner has launched as the new din-ing hot spot in the West Hattiesburg area. Social networks buzzed with anticipation for the opening of the local diner months in ad-vance. The diner was made popular in the early 90s and has been missed ever since its clos-ing. Before the big lift off, crowds of invitation-only guests filled the diner for the soft opening of Rocket City on Tuesday, September 13th.Guests enjoyed rounds of hula hoop contests

MORGAN GUESSStaff Reporter

and dancing to the “Hokey Pokey” while others snapped memorable photos in the photo booth and enjoyed some of Rocket City’s diner style food. Hundreds of lo-cals gathered outside the diner for the long awaited grand open-ing the next day. Employees and customers of the original RCD were among the hundreds of local guests anticipating that the new diner would have the same fun atmosphere and as good food as the original. New customers were eager to get a taste of the fa-mous milkshakes and classic burg-ers they had heard so much about.“There was no better place to work where you could have a little fun with the customers at the same time! I met my husband there so we are having a blast returning to the new Rocket City Diner,” Stacy Odom, former Daisy Mae, said about the new RCD. The outgoing wait staff and the bub-bly hostesses added to the ener-getic 50s theme as they dance around to 50s music in between serving. Just like the original RCD, the wait staff wears 50s style uniforms and goes by fake names from that decade such as Daisy Mae, Peggy Sue, Opie, and Bubbles.The main staples of the original Rocket City Diner menu such as wet fries, classic hamburgers, and

blue plate specials are all offered at the new Rocket City. The blue plate specials include red beans and rice, chicken fried steak, pork chops, burger steak, fried chicken, and pot roast. The blue plate specials also include a choice of two sides: mac n’ cheese, mashed potatoes, corn, black eyed peas, green beans, fried okra or turnip greens. Even some of the desserts, including strawberry shortcake, fudge brownie, and pies, are offered in addition to some newer options such as bread pudding. For the health conscious, RCD offers some of Season’s former famous salads and Rocket City Grilled Chicken Sand-wiches. Since many of Rocket City Diner’s fans are kids, there’s also a special menu for them that includes the famous Hailey’s Hot Diggity Dog.Because of Rocket City Diner’s unique atmosphere and good food, it is assured to be enjoyed by people of all ages! The new Rocket City Diner is located atNewpointe Shopping Center and is openMonday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Also, there’s good news for Oak Grove Warrior foot-ball fans, Rocket City stays open late after all home football games!Many Oak Grove students are ex-periencing the 50s lifestyle as serv-ers, soda jerks, and hostesses. Go say hello to Alexa Martin (Lola), Carley Robertson (Rizzo), Rachel Rog-ers (Bets), Dylan Carpenter (Jeb),

Andrew Adams (Opie), Jacob Creel (Duke), Michael Shannon (Slick), Amelia Passer (Mary Jane), Willie Jean Lewis (Billie Jean), Mary Taylor Jones (Trudy), Cassidy Crampton (Frenchie), Caitlin Osborne (Ozzie), Brooke Carney (Pinkie), Will Glenn (Scooter), Jade Willis (Thelma Lou), Cole Lang (Fonzie), Sean Thomas (Frankie), Garneisha Jones (Wanda), Ty Creel (Bud), Addison Arroyo (Rosa Lee), and Hannah Coursey (Roxie).

Hattiesburg gets a blast from the

past

features

Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley first meet on the night of their college gradu-ation. After just one day together, they begin a 20-year friendship that withstands the tests of time, distance, and miserable life choices. Clearly, Dexter and Emma are made for each other. However, like most love stories, their relationship just never seems to work out in a picture perfect way. Through life’s ups and downs, their only hope of happiness appears to simply be with

each other.

David Nicholls wrote two novels before find-ing tremendous popularity with One Day. The book takes a different route than most romantic beach reads. He chronicles the anniversary of their college graduation for 20 years to see where life has taken

Dexter and Emma.Surprisingly, Nicholls manages to write a complex relationship between two main characters who seem like total opposites. At first, Dexter and Emma are frus-trating. Dexter, a party-loving womanizer, spends his younger years chasing after a superficial career and abusing many mind-

altering substances. Aspiring authorfirst of these features was a surprising firework show that captured everyone’s attention. Secondly, the band displayed the most incredible light show. Coldplay made each song more memorable by presenting a light feature for each particular song. During the song “Yellow,” for example, huge yellow lights streamed across the audience, mak-ing the song reach out to even those in the last row of the crowd. Another light effect came during the song “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” in which fog machines dispersed clouds that were highlighted by an assort-ment of laser lights. With all of these special effects, the energy level at the concert was quickly lifted, and it became evident

that this was no ordinary show.

Unfortunately, at concerts of any size, there is no way for every au-dience member to feel as though they were on the front row, right in the action. However, Coldplay’s efforts were obviously to include everyone in the audience during their performance by constantly mentioning the people in the back of the crowd and making sure they were enjoying themselves as much as the people closer to the stage. Coldplay even ended the night by claiming the audi-ence at this event was one of the best audiences they had ever played for; however, whether or not that state-ment is true remains to be

decidedly undetermined.With all of the build-up of the festival’s return, the concert could have easily been over rated and somewhat of a let-down. Fortunately, the event wound up being anything but. After all was sung and done, the event was definitely one to be remembered, and with results such as these, the Music Midtown Fes-tival and Coldplay will be around for many years

to come.Emma just wants to publish her own novel. They refuse to become romantically involved with each other because they want different things in life. Once they grow closer, the reader can’t help but finish. To all those who get emotionally attached to their main characters, One Day will leave you feeling heartbroken with its unex-

pected and tragic ending.Like most best-selling novels, One Day was quick to sell out into big screen adaptation. The movie features Anne Hathaway as smart, head-strong Emma and Jim Sturgess, known for his role in Across the Universe, as the proud Dexter. The chemistry between them seems unrealistic, and their dialogue falls flat, coming across as simply scripted words. The movie’s

director Lone Scherfig worked with Nicholls to write the screenplay, but I was shocked at how far the movie strayed from the book. Emma is made out to be the predictable good girl who is waiting for Dexter to finally fall in love with her,

even though the novel shows her faults.Scherfig’s film falls short of the book’s high standards. To those who see the movie, be-ware: One Day will seem like a boring eternity.

Did you know?•that Anne Hathaway was born in New York but raised in New Jersey, has a seven-year-old chocolate Labra-dor named Esmeralda, and is lactose-intolerant?•that Jim Sturgess has played in three bands: Dilated Spies, Tragic Toys, and Saint Faith; and his break-through role was in the musical, Across the Universe?

On September 24th, the Music Midtown Festi-val came back to Atlanta, Georgia, for the first time since 2005. The event was held in the city’s Piedmont Park in order to house the expected 50,000 audience members witnessing the festi-val’s reprise. In a successful attempt to bring back the excitement the festival once held, the event created a line-up featuring many big name artists including Young the Giant, The Black Keys, and Cage the Elephant to name a few. The festival’s headliner, however, was a band MTV puts in the same com-

mercial category as U2: Coldplay.Coldplay’s ap-pearance was one of few in the United States until the upcom-ing release of their new album Mylo Xyloto on October 24th. The band took advantage of this opportunity by pulling out all the stops. Coldplay began the night with “Yellow,” one of the songs on their first album. They kept the night rolling by playing many songs from their upcoming album including “Paradise” and “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” but of course the band continually im-

pressed its audience by playing some of its fan favorites including “Viva La Vida” from the same name album. The band even paid tribute to the newly dissembled band

R.E.M. by covering their song “Everybody Hurts.”In order to add a special touch to what could have been an average concert, the band added many unique features to make the concert unforgettable. The first of these features was a surprising firework show that captured everyone’s attention. Secondly, the band dis-played the most incredible light show. Coldplay made each song more memorable by presenting a light feature for each particular song. During the song “Yellow,” for exam-

ple, huge yellow lights streamed across the audience, mak-ing the song reach out to even those in the last row of the crowd. Another light effect came during the song “Every Teardrop is

a Waterfall” in which fog machines dispersed clouds that were highlighted by an assortment of laser lights. With all of these special effects, the energy level at the concert was quickly lifted, and it became evident that this was

no ordinary show.Unfortunately, at concerts of any size, there is no way

for every audience member to feel as though they were on the front row, right in the action. However, Coldplay’s efforts were obviously to include everyone in the audi-ence during their performance by constantly mentioning the people in the back of the crowd and making sure they were enjoying themselves as much as the people closer to the stage. Coldplay even ended the night by claiming the audience at this event was one of the best audiences they had ever played for; however, whether or not that statement is true remains to be decidedly undetermined.With all of the build-up of the festival’s return, the concert could have easily been over rated and somewhat of a let-down. Fortunately, the event wound up being anything but. After all was sung and done, the event was definitely one to be remembered, and with results such as these, the Music Midtown Festival and Coldplay will be around for

many years to come.

After adding up the statistics, I have come to the conclusion that all the hype about 32 degrees really is warranted. 32 Degrees won by only a small margin

but really is a better yogurt bar.

Many people eat to live, but I live to eat. Food brings me the utmost joy, so writ-ing about it comes naturally. In this column, I will document all my glorious food-related adventures.

One of my favorite foods is ice cream and, until Twist and Taste frozen yogurt opened, I believed there was no substitute for it. Then frozen yogurt became the new fad. I jumped on the band wagon and raced over to Twist and Taste to pick my frozen yogurt flavors, the amount of yogurt I wanted, and my top-pings. In my ignorance, I was blissfully happy.My world was yet again rocked upon the opening of 32 Degrees, a Yogurt Bar. 32 Degrees seems so much more modern and all around better. The yogurt seems better, and there are so many more toppings. Surely, 32 Degrees is the all-around better frozen yogurt supplier, right?As the hype about the opening of 32 Degrees, a Yogurt Bar settles down, I have to ask the question, is it really all that much better than Twist and Taste? They both sell frozen yogurt at 45 cents per ounce, so the price isn’t any better. Originally, I argued that the yogurt at 32 Degrees tastes better than the yogurt at Twist and Taste. I decided to test my theory by getting the same flavor yogurt at both 32 Degrees and Twist and Taste. I concluded that my French Vanilla yogurts tasted exactly the same.Since price and flavor are the same at both 32 Degrees and Twist and Taste, the two yogurt suppliers were tied until I polled the newspaper staff to find a winner. They voted on customer service, environment, and top-pings. Their results are as follows:

With Julie Robinson

M u s i c Coldplay Live * Piedmont Park, Atlants, GA By: Allison SLusher

Did you know?•Chris Martin, Coldplay’s lead singer, majored in Ancient World Studies at the University of London?•On May 18, 1998, Coldplay released a three-song EP entitled Safety. The band only made 500 copies of the album that were given to friends and family members.

M o v i e One Day By: JoAnna Gunnufsen

8 October 7, 2011Entertainment

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wendesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

2 3 4 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

PSAT

Black & Gold DayTwin Day Character Day

Football vs. TerryForensics St. Andrews Tourn. Drama Festival

Cross Country @ George Co. Inv.Swim South StateForensics St. Andrews Tourn.

16School Board Meeting6:00 - 7:00@ PHS AuditoriumMSPA Fall Workshop @ OG

First PrioritySEA Project Component Due

Check yourpriorities...

It’s EVALUATE YOUR LIFE DAY!

Football @ Brandon Cross Country @ Ocean Springs Inv.Swim State Meet

Petal Forensics Invitational

First PriorityBasketball Meet the WarriorsDodgeball TournamentLog #1 SEA Due

College Fair6:00 - 8:00OGHS CafeteriaCross Country Division Meet

Football @ Hattiesburg Band ChampionshipBasketball Jamboree @ OGPetal ForensicsInvitational

Get it RIGHT!Its National Punction Day

Halloween

Name Your Car Day

He was also spotted:

• shoppingatTarget• tailgatingatUSMfootballgame• shoppingatNewYork&Co.

playingwargamesafterschoolinthelibrary

Drama State Fair Festival9th/JV Football @ Petal, 5:00/6:00

First Priority

24 Turtle Creek CrossingHattiesburg, MS 39402601.579.9077

Serenitynailsandspa@yahoo.com

Store Hours:

Mon.-Wed. 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM

Thurs.-Fri. 9:30 AM - 8:00 PMSat. 9:30 AM - 7:00 PM

Indulge, relax, and pamper yourself to our upscale full-service salon.

NAILS & SPAWe provide professional and friendly service

Serenity

Antwain Duncan

A TrueWarrior

You will be missed greatly!

9 October 7, 2011Entertainment

October

Spotted Mr.Robert

Sutton Oghs

HistoryTeacher

Swim Meet @ BiloxiCross Country @ Gulf Coast Stampede

9th/JV Football Home vs. Hattiesburg,5:00/6:00

Volleyball vs. Petal (Home) 5:30/ 6:30First PrioritySEA Research Papers Due 5

Football @ MeridianEnd of Term OneBand FestivalForensics Tour. @ OG

End of Term One

Forensics Tour. @ OGBand Festival

Fall Break

Sunday 1:00-5:00 PMMYSTERY SKATE

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Tuesday 5:00-8:00 PMDOLLAR ADMISSION (for everyone entering)*FREE regular skate rental included

Friday 7:00-11:00 PMOPEN SKATE

$6.00 Admission & $1.50 regular rental

SATURDAY 1:00-11:00 PMOPEN SKATE$6.00 Admission & $1.50 regular rental

5272 Old Hwy 11Hattiesburg, MS 39402