March/April 20191

CHANCELLOR HIGH SCHOOL 6300 HARRISON ROAD, FREDERICKSBURG, VA 22407

VOLU

ME 31 IS

SUE 7

BIANCHINI, MOORE, GRIFFIN RETIRE

BOLT

CHARGERS VISIT COLLEGES

FREAKY FRIDAY SUCCESS

LIGHTNINGTHE

March/April 2019 2

MRS. GATTIEADVISOR

AVA PURCELLEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

SAVANNAH AVERSALAYOUT EDITOR

HANNAH CLOVENNEWS EDITOR

CHRISTELLE TEMPLEFEATURES EDITOR

TAYLOR SULLIVANSPORTS EDITOR

FAITH REMICKOP-ED EDITOR

CHARGER FUR BABIES CONTESTMATCH THE NAME OF THE PET TO THE PICTURE AND TAKE YOUR ANSWERS TO ROOM A113 FOR A CHANCE TO

WIN A PRIZE.HAVE A PHOTO OF YOUR FURRY FRIEND YOU WANT TO SUBMIT?

EMAIL SUBMISSIONS TO LGATTIE@SPOTSYLVANIA.K12.VA.US.

Charger 1 Charger 2 Charger 3 Charger 4Names to choose from. Note: There are more names than pictures!

Chase, Red, Princess, Tucker Sammy, Baylee, Ginge, Bonnie

On the spread: Freaky Friday stars

Holly Haus and Alexis Rivas. Photo by Mary

Cate MosherOn the back:

Here are the correct names fromt the last issue: Charger 1) Izzy

Charger 2) MillieCharger 3) Crew

Charger 4) Bones

FUR BABIES CONTEST ANSWERS

Chancellor High School competed at the VHSL Forensics State Tournament on Saturday, March 30 at Clover Hill High School. The students listed below placed in their category.

This placement represents their final placement in the State in VHSL Class 4. Congratula-tions to the Chancellor Forensics team on a great season!

2nd PlaceNatalie Masaitis and Brent Kneipp in Humorous Duo

4th Place Harry Landymore and Nic Gregory in Humorous Duo

Alexa Rivas and Dawson Garrett in Serious DuoHailey Belote in Storytelling

Cara Hadden in Original Oratory

5th PlaceEmma Magner and Kylee Tuebner in Serious Duo

6th Place

Holly Haus in Serious Dramatic

VHSL FORENSICS STATE RESULTS

1st- Alexa Rivas2nd- M’Kayla Ainsworth

3rd- Natalie Masaitis4th- Cara Hadden5th- Ziora Ajeroh

CHANCELLOR IDOL WINNERS

Craig Himko, Mrs. Slater, Brianna Thomas and Mason

Ortegel at the State Competition on April 7.

FBLA STATE COMP

Photo c0urtesy of Mrs. Stater

March/April 20193

The Journalism students at Chancellor High School publish The Lightning Bolt, the only official newspaper on campus. The purpose of the newspaper is to factually inform and entertain its readers. As an established open forum for the student body, truth will be the staff’s major goal. It is the responsibility of each staffer to adhere to the journalism code of ethics as set by the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. The code states that a journalist can not accept gifts, favors or privileges that could compromise their integrity. All material published will be the result of brainstorm sessions by the staff. Subjects stimulating to the majority of the student body will be used. The editorial board, which is comprised of all newspaper staff members will determine the priority of the stories and the overall design of publication. The advisor serves to give students a better understanding of the functions and ethics of a free press. The advisor does not serve as a censure. Student editors will decide the material to be published. In accordance with community standards, profanity will not appear in the publication. Students are free to express an opinion on matters of public interests under the, “fair comment rule.” Under this rule, the student has the right to intelligently criticize the school and its policies. Editorials reflect the opinion of The Lightning Bolt. Opinion stories reflect the opinion of the writer and do not represent the opinion of the faculty and administrWation of Chancellor High School. Controversial issues will be covered from both points of view. School news, as well as local, national and international events will also be covered. Letters to the editor are welcomed. All letters must be signed and be between 200- 300 words long. They may be submitted to A113 or by e-mailing chhslightningbolt@yahoo.com. The Lightning Bolt retains the right to edit letters to comply with journalistic standards. Anonymous letters will not be published. This is your school, help improve it through your opinions, praises, and constructive criticisms. If voiced aloud and in large enough numbers, we can bring about change. Our ultimate goal is to print the truth and with your help we can reach this goal.

Follow us on instagram @tlbnewspaper

SENIORS SAY GOODBYEBy Ava PurcellEditor-in-Chief There is no way to go back in time, but it is possible to change your outlook on the past once you’re far enough removed. If I had to do high school all over again, I can’t honestly list off what I would’ve done differ-ently: every choice had pros and cons, each moment open-ing new possibilities and shut-ting down others. Adjusting one decision over the course of those four years could’ve had a butterfly effect, positioning me in a completely different envi-ronment than what I’m experi-encing now. However, condemning the possibility change doesn’t mean high school has been easy. In fact, it’s been the hard-est chapter of my life thus far. I started out as a Charger not knowing a soul; now, I’m Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper, Key Club Presi-dent, NHS secretary, blah blah blah… the point is, somehow I made it work. Getting to this stage came with immense tri-als. Enrolling in the Common-wealth Governor’s School (a college preparatory program located at Riverbend, requiring that I take a bus back and forth for my core classes every day) will always be my biggest ‘what if ’. Would I be attending UVA on scholarship money next year if I hadn’t committed to the rigor? Would I have made lifelong friends if I’d gone to Chancellor full-time? What parts of the high school experi-ence did I lose forever when I signed my form of intent? Be-cause I spent half of my days at Riverbend, I couldn’t attend award ceremonies to recieve my own certificates, pep ral-lies, club meetings, or Morn-ing Charge. I couldn’t say the Pledge of Allegiance, be in club pictures, come in late my se-nior year for achieving honor roll, go to football games with-out feeling alienated, or even have a full lunch period. The flipside wasn’t much bet-

ter. I sat by, watching twenty-four CGS counterparts revel in a completely different reality. The Riverbend students en-joyed their flex time, stayed after school to retake quizzes without wasting gas money, got first dibs on food (leav-ing Chancellor kids with the unwanted leftovers), watched their morning announce-ments, had study halls in the CGS lounge, and will ultimate-ly have their teachers cheering them on at graduation. I will not see any of the core teachers I’ve had for the past four years at my own, unless the county gives them special allowances - and even then, only one or two at most can attend. Sacrificing a social life, my sanity, and countless gallons of gas to stick with the program was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. By my senior year, I’ve finally found a good group of friends, have gone to school games, and have even won a superlative. It took me almost four years to feel com-fortable living my day to day life: now that I am, I’m never going back. Next year, I’m going to have my cake and eat it too! The University of Virginia is both an academically outstanding and socially thriving school all in one. I don’t have to live a double life: my friends will relate to my beginner classes, I can cheer on a team know-ing I’m 100% a Cavalier, there will be traditions to take part in, and I can have everything in one place. My living quar-ters, dining area, professors, and friends will all be within the same campus. This unity is something I’ve been wanting for fours years, and I am more than ready to get to celebrat-ing. That said, I do appreciate all those I’ve come to known both through the program and at Chancellor. My elective and core teachers did everything in their power to fuel my suc-

cess, and for that I’m forever grateful. I made friends in both schools, and although they couldn’t totally relate to my situation, I can’t imagine high school without them. I truly don’t know what would’ve become of me without going through the split school expe-rience: CGS has prepared me well for the next four years, but it’s time to turn over a new leaf. Chancellor will forever hold a large part of our hearts, and it’ll be hard to let go of everything we have come to know - here’s to new adventures following the end of our high school chapter!

I have been on the news-paper staff for three years. Throughout my years on this amazing staff, I have grown as a person and a student. In my past four years at Chancellor I have learned a lot about my-self; I learned that it’s okay to not know what you want to do right after high school. I have gone from wanting to go straight into the military to be-ing a massage therapist. I went to massage school my junior year and graduated recently. It’s fun to get involved in school whether it’s sports or clubs. Anything that gets you closer to your fellow class-mates, makes high school a little bit more bearable. Throughout my sports career at Chancellor, I went from be-ing a nervous freshman my first day of practice, to a confident senior winning States. During my first practice, I was scared

to talk to the upperclassmen, and it seemed that all we did was run around the track. As my hockey career started to come to an end my skills got better, and my last practice ended up being on a turf field at the state competition. The field hockey team helped me grow as a student athlete, and helped me mature. In my four years at Chancel-lor, I learned to focus on my-self and not worry about what other people think about me, because honestly a year after graduation, most of us will never talk to these people ever again. I learned to not let the action of others mess with my focus, and that no one will have my back more than myself. Sports teams and clubs help you stay focused, and keep your grades up. They also help you stay in the right crowd and stay out of trouble. I am going to miss high school and the newspaper staff for sure, but at a certain point in life it’s time to start new begin-nings, and I’m happy to start a new part of my life. I will learn from old mistakes made. Some advice I leave to you is to always keep your family close to you no matter what, and appreciate every single thing they do for you. High school will be over in a blink, so don’t take any of the memories for granted, even the little ones like Friday night football games or even the smaller ones like talking with your friends at lunch. You will never get these time or memo-ries back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

By Taylor SullivanSports Editor

March/April 2019 4

SENIOR GOODBYES Over the four years of being at Chancellor I have participated in many activities that have truly shaped my high school experience from being a vol-leyball player my freshman and sophomore year, to focusing on AP courses my junior and senior year. One thing I regret is not being more involved. I was involved in many clubs such as NAHS for three years, photography club one year as well as poetry club, and FFA for two years. These experiences have taught me the impor-tance of practice, teamwork, and dedication. The most im-pactful volleyball experience I had was hearing the varsity team talk about how fast these four years go, and you only re-ally realize it when it is over. My best advice is to get out there, challenge yourself, and try new things. Both my heavy volleyball and art influence has taught me that practice makes perfect. No one will ever be good at something the first time, keep trying. What I found to be the most impor-tant to me is what I am inter-ested in, I have never gotten better at something I lacked passion in. Find something you are passionate about, and run with it. I have found re-cently that I am still learn-ing new things through my English, Journalism, and even psychology courses. I have learned not only more insight-ful things about others, but also much more about myself as to what I am like, and who I am. High school isn’t just edu-cation, it is a journey of discov-ery. Your journey is only four years, so make the best of it. Once I graduate I plan on working for the summer, and saving up money to go on vacation the following sum-mer. I plan to either travel to England, Japan, or maybe Australia. In the fall I plan on enrolling in Germanna and at-tending the spring semester as

well for the two years I can at-tend. After Germanna, I plan to enroll in a four year college, but as of now I am unsure of that college. Many are concerned about what college they are at-tending, especially seniors like me. I never really put too much thought into colleges until ju-nior year, and it stressed me out. Many adults always talk about the importance of col-lege and deciding and not to sound like a drag, but it is very true. Luckily I eventually did my research and decided on going to Germanna, as I am not completely set on what I want to major in, the costs I will have to pay, and what four year I want to go to. As of now, I aspire to major in psy-chology, but keep medical fo-rensics close behind as a back up. I have a deep connection with art, and so I hope to keep studying in arts as it is a pas-sion of mine. However, I would never want my career to be in the arts, because I want to cre-ate art because I am passionate about it, not because it will pay the bills. I am also fascinated in the studies of law and criminal justice as I plan to follow that path as well in possible plans to involve myself in criminal psy-chology or forensics. I hope to receive a counseling career certificate, administration of justice studies, Associate of arts & science, and my graphic communications certificate while attending Germanna. Many people think that if you want to make something of yourself that you have to go to a four year college, but that is not true. Two year colleges can be just as beneficial if not more, since it not only gives you more time to figure things out, and it also saves you money while not necessarily wasting your time. Always be thinking about your future, because you never knew when you might need to change and when that change might alter your life forever.

Editor-in-chief Ava Purcell

Sports Editor Taylor Sullivan

By Bailey McDanielStaff Reporter

March/April 20195

NEWSFREAKY FRIDAY, FUN SHOW

By Faith RemickOp-Ed Editor “Just one, simple, awesome, crazy, kick[Butt] Day,” is one line that wraps up the en-tire production of Chancellor High’s Musical Freaky Friday. When an overworked mother Katherine Blake (Alexa Rivas) and her spontaneous teenage daughter Ellie Blake (Holly Haus) magically swap bodies, they have just one day to make everything right again. The two ladies, disguised as each other, have to work together to figure out how to break the spell. As Ellie steps into Kath-erine’s heels she realizes that her mother has a lot going on around her. From managing a playful son, Fletcher Blake (Jason Ransom), to organizing her own wedding with her lov-ing fiance Mike (Dawson Gar-rett), Ellie has big shoes to fill. Ellie makes plenty mistakes, making Fletcher run away, de-stroying the wedding cake her mother spent so long on, and being quite uncivil with Mike. She soon realizes that maybe

her moms life wasn't as easy as she thought it was. As Katherine steps out of her heels and into more, comfort-able, worn-in shoes. She ex-pects life for her daughter to

be simple and easy. Imagine her surprise when she really has to face the challenges her daughter goes through on the daily. From fantasizing over sandwich-lover Adam (Brent Kneipp), to dealing with over-the-top gym teacher Ms. Mey-ers (Natalie Masaitis), Kather-ine finally starts to understand that neither of them has the easiest lives. As the wedding quickly approaches, the two girls are desperate to be back in their own bodies. Secrets

ANNUAL FFA PETTING ZOO FUN FOR ALL

By Bailey McDanielStaff Reporter A lot more than just some shelf making was going on in Chancellor High School's shop class on March 8th. Chancel-lor’s National FFA Organiza-tion hosted a petting zoo with over 336 students attending the event throughout the day. At the petting zoo there were various of animals from both Ms. Pannill’s classroom and her house. Rosie, a beef cow, was one of Chancellor’s special guests on this exciting friday. Instead of their annual “Kiss the calf” contest the FFA de-cided to put a twist and make it “Kiss the pig”. Unfortunately, Ms. Pannill’s pig was unable to

visit Chancellor due to stress issues, so again the tradition of “Kiss the calf” was carried on. Rosie was the lucky calf to snatch a smooch from Mr. Gi-annone. To add fun to the petting zoo,

Natausha Listen, Haily Cox, and Maddie Rollins joined together to create cut-outs of a pig and cow for the students to take goofy photos and ultimately

making amazing memories of their time at the petting zoo. Other animals that attended the petting zoo included two jersey cows known as Bruce and Earl, and three chickens: a golden comet chicken known as Laverne, black star chicken named Lucy, and a barred rock chicken named Marianne. Chancellor’s class pets also made an appearance: E.T. (Box Turtle), Lily (Aquatic Turtle), Shark Bait (Goldfish), May-belle and Bonnie (Dutch Rab-bits), Toby and Banana (Dwarf Hamsters), Charlie (Syrian Hamster), Fluffy (Specked Rex Rabbit), and Dean (Holland Lop Rabbit).

Rosie, a beef cow, was one of Chancel-lor’s special guests

on this exciting friday.

The FFA petting zoo was far more organized than past years. Teachers signed classes up to attend during specific times and FFA members were scheduled to help out to al-low the petting zoo to run smoothly. With a variety of animals and even cut-outs to take memorable photos, the petting zoo was certainly lively. The petting zoo allowed for students to have fun and learn about agriculture and FFA. Interesting facts about each animal were displayed next to each of their cages. The well thought out event turned out amazing and fun for all who at-tended.

were unraveled, relationships were tested, but most impor-tantly lessons were learned. In the end, the two girls switched back into their own bodies, Katherine married the man of her dreams, and Ellie got Ad-am’s attention. Sometimes family can get on one’s nerves. Whether it’s a mom who doesn’t seem to understand her child, a pesky little brother, or a crazy grand-father, every family has its ups and downs. Are we able to put ourselves in other’s shoes?

Imagine her sur-prise when she

really has to face the challenges

her daughter goes through on the

daily.

Directed by Matthew Armen-trout and Connor Worthing-ton, along with music director Rhonda Miller, Chancellor’s performance based on the novel Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers and the Disney Films, ran two weekends only from March 7 until March 14. Isa-belle Withers was Stage Man-ager and Amy Beaulieu was Choreographer. The cast and crew of Freaky Friday made the crowd laugh, cry, and hang on to the edges of their seats the entire show.

Jason Ransom as Fletcher and Alexa Rivas as Katherine (Ellie)Blake take center stage during the performance of Freaky Friday.

March/April 2019 6

NEWSSPOTSY SCHOOL

CALENDAR CHANGES

“I really love the calendar we have with starting early and ending before Memorial Day,” states CTE teacher Robert Bry-ant. “It just makes sense for both teachers and students.” Bryant is a member of the school division’s calendar com-mittee. This 2018-2019 school year, the Spotsylvania County Pub-lic school calendar changed regarding the starting and ending times, as well as mid-terms. The most significant change was starting school in the middle of August, instead of after Labor Day in Septem-ber. The new schedule was im-plemented to get in the required school days be-fore Memorial Day. Midterms were held before winter break so students could learn the materi-al, and then take exams without being interrupt-ed with a break. School will be let out in May as well this school year instead of ending in June. The calendar committee meets every year to plan for the school calendar two years in advance. The school calendar for 2019-2020 was approved in 2017-2018. All schools will be starting before Labor Day in our region this upcoming year. Currently, the commit-tee is working on creating the 2020-2021 calendar. There is a Bill currently being processed by the governor that will allow any Virginia school system to

“The calendar com-mittee meets every year to plan for the school calendar two years in advance.”

By Cara SeelyStaff Reporter

FBLA REGIONAL COMPETITION

Congratulations to the fol-lowing FBLA members:Brent Himko and Craig Himko for placing first in Entrepre-neurship. Mason Ortegel for placing first in Health Care Administration and Brianna Thomas for her third place win in Business Law. These 4 stu-dents are now eligible to com-

HALF THE HEART, TWICE THE FIGHT

CHD (congenital heart dis-ease) is a birth defect where a child is born with half the heart working. My youngest brother, Alexander Stafford, has h y -poplastic right heart where the right atrium and right ventricle are underdeveloped; where the left side doesn’t work. Hypo-plastic right heart is what the CHD condition is called. This birth defect impacts one out of a hundred (1:100) babies, and the motto for the heart warriors’ families and them-selves is: Half the heart, twice the fight. Alex was born at Charlotte Field Hospital and was given his three heart and four open chest surgeries. The third and final stage of hypoplastic right heart syndrome is rearranging the blood flow within the heart and allowing the left ventricles to do the work for the undevel-oped side. Mother Brandi Stafford gives an account of living with a three-year-old son with CHD, and Alex’s heart journey: How did you feel when you found out Alex had CHD? Scared, because I didn’t know

pete at the FBLA State Leader-ship Conference in April. “We tested in February here (online) and yesterday we found out if we will be advanc-ing to State Leadership (in April). We went to Brentsville District HS in Noakesville yes-terday for the awards ceremo-ny,” said Lynn Slater

By Katie StaffordStaff Reporter

start before Labor Day. Upcoming changes to the school calendar include hav-ing spring break always on the third nine weeks, instead of it being on the fourth nine weeks. This is to allow stu-dents to come back from break and still have plenty of time to study and review for SOL’s, ex-ams and AP testing. Easter will be a four day weekend as well, so students will get two breaks during the spring semester. “My favorite part is having exams before Christmas Break. By doing this, both teachers and students can enjoy the holiday break and not have to worry about completing proj-ects or grading papers,” states

Bryant. He feels that the new school calendar is for the better, although it was hard for every-one in the school system to initial-ly adjust to it. “This year, we had a tough start because to make

the change to starting early, we had a shorter summer.” Bryant says. One of the main concerns about the calendar change was the short eight week summer before this school year. How-ever, after this year, summers will return to being 10 weeks long. Bryant adds, “As we con-tinue with the early start to the school year, I am confident students will begin to see the benefits of the new calendar and how it helps them become successful students.”

what to expect. When did you find out about CHD? Well, I found out about it when I started doing research. I thought my kid would be sick, but after he was born, he wasn’t. How did you feel to know that there were other fami-lies with children with CHD? Relieved that I had a good support system. One out of a hundred are born with CHD; there were a lot of resources, and luckily a strong group that will support each other. How did you feel after Al-ex’s first heart operation? Relieved because he was able to go home in 22 days, and not six weeks at the lastest. How do you feel towards Charlotte Field Hospital, the hospital where Alex was born and was given his three heart and four open chest surgeries? I love this hospital, and I have a good team there, and I wouldn’t go anywhere else.

Although Alex will never be cured of CHD, he will be able to live a healthy life otherwise.

March/April 20197

NEWS

Ever hear singing coming down the hallway in the morn-ing? Or, someone saying hello to you every time they walk past you at Chancellor? It is probably Mr. Griffin being his happy and outgoing self, try-ing to put a smile on everyone’s face. “I love the camaraderie that we have here in the CTE and business department,” states Griffin. “We support each oth-er and are always there for each other. I’ve always been a team

player and this is a team.” Grif-fin has worked at Chancellor High School for nine years in the technology and finance de-partment (CTE). The depart-ment has welcomed him, and has made him feel comfortable in the years he has been here. “Even after the knuckleheads graduate, I love seeing them do their job,s and telling me that I am the reason they are going to college.” Other than being a teacher here, Griffin also coaches the girls basketball team. He has coached for 19 years not just here, but at other schools as well. “My favorite part of be-ing a coach here at Chancellor is meeting all the young ladies, seeing them improve,and see-ing the team develop, because when I took over, it wasn’t re-ally a winning team. I enjoy watching the team improve and the girls go off to college

whether they go to college to play ball or not,” he states. As a former player for Griffin, he re-ally cares about all his players, and will help them do anything to make them better players on the court and better people off the court.

“Coaching is life for me. The girls want to be the best and do the best for their coaches,” he states. Griffin is going to con-tinue being a coach at Chancel-lor after he retires. “Get involved in your educa-tion, and always try to be the best. Whatever you do, try to be the best at it,” expresses Grif-fin. This is the advice he wants to leave behind for all the stu-dents here at Chancellor.

COACH, CTE TEACHER GRIFFIN HEADS TO

RETIREMENTBy Savannah AversaLayout Editor

“Get involved in your education, and always try to be the best. Whatever you do, try to be the best

at it,”

“After 41 years in education, I am ready to ‘hang up my cleats’, as they say [in] foot-ball, and move on with my life,” states Mrs. Bianchini, who has worked here at Chancellor for 19 years. That’s just one year shy of the establishing date of Chancellor High School. “I’m the first and probably not the last.”. After two years as a Direc-tor of Curriculum, Bianchini came to Chancellor specifically for the position of Instruction-al Coordinator. “When they instituted the position, I was the first person hired, so Chan-cellor has only known at this point in time one instructional coordinator, and that’s me.” Bianchini has always had a passion for education. “From the time I was in elementary school, I always kind of knew this [was] what I wanted to do,” she said. “I had a couple of teachers in high school that were really influential. [They] really made me enjoy learning.” While 19 of her years of edu-cation have been spent here at Chancellor, Bianchini has spent 41 years in total in edu-cation. “I taught for 20 years, and then I was Director of Cur-riculum for two years, and the I came down here as Instruc-tional Coordinator.” Education has been a big part of her life for a lot of years. Retirement for Bianchini will mean that she’ll be doing “initially noth-ing,” she says. “I’m going to relax and enjoy not having to get up at five every morning.” While relaxing is a large part of retirement, Bianchini has other plans as well. “We have some things around the house I want to do, and depending on what happens, I’d like to travel a little bit, but just take it easy.” Bianchini has travelled before and that has just helped her to

pinpoint her next destination. “I really would like to go to Ire-land,” she says. “That’s one of the places I have not been [to], and I’d like to go.” Of course, while retirement will be well a deserved break for Bianchini, it will definitely be bittersweet to say the least. “I’m going to miss the people without a doubt,” she stated. “I’ve enjoyed working with the staff.” There is much to be missed even in a job with as much paperwork as this one carries. “Just the people in gen-eral,” Bianchini reflects. “That’s going to be the biggest thing I will miss. I won’t miss the pa-perwork, I won’t miss the test-ing, but I will miss the people.” Bianchini believes that we learn something new every-day and being here at school is certainly no exception. Here she has learned patience. “I do have a tendency to be a bit short at times,” she said. “Dif-ferent students have different needs.” And for the fated individual who will take over when Bi-anchini retires, she has one piece of advice: “Be open to ideas and suggestions from the staff, because they’ve gone through it with me.” She con-tinued with, “Don’t be afraid to ask questions, [and] have and open door policy.”

BIANCHINI BOUND FOR RETIREMENT

By Kaitlyn GarveyStaff Reporter

“Coaching is life for me. The girls want to be the best and do the best for their

coaches,”

Coach Griffin cheers on his players at their game.

Mrs. Bianchini works hard at scheduling SOL tests in April.

March/April 2019 8

years. “I would frequently visit his classroom when I didn’t have him (Moore), so it felt like I had him as a teacher, but I didn’t my sophomore year.” Newton implies it felt to her as if he was her teacher all four years of her high school career. Many know him for his Fri-day, afternoon announce-ments, but not many know the story of how it all began. When asking Moore how the Friday announcement Chan-cellor tradition started, he tells the story as if it were yester-day: “Back in 1975, right be-fore we were going to gradu-ate (his high school class) we had Marty’s sphillagore. It was Friday, last day of school and he (Marty) played Alice Coo-per’s School’s Out. and I was like. ‘Yeah, okay, I like that.’.” Where did Moore get his “Friday, Friday, Friday” bit? “I can’t claim ‘Friday, Friday’ as mine,” states Moore. “I gotta give up the props to Murray Saul.” Murray Saul was a local DJ for WMMS 101 in Cleve-land, Ohio. “He would come on at six o’clock every Friday,” says Moore. Before Moore be-gan the Friday afternoon an-nouncements, he had a previ-ous history on the PA (Public Announcements), and this previous history wasn’t the best. Moore had said some-thing that wasn’t exactly liked by the staff, and was prohibited from going on the PA again, until he insisted he be on. “At the end of the year, maybe it was my third year, I forget, but I went to the assistant principal and said that I needed to make an announcement,” explains Moore, Even though Moore wasn’t supposed to make an-nouncements, he set out for a goal to make this special an-nouncement, and wouldn’t let anyone hold him back. De-termined, Moore went to the principal and explained he had

high school, since they are certified for K-12. “I spent my high school time with him.It was really invaluable to me, and I kept in touch with him through the years.” Houston admits,“He still mentors me a lot now, because I have only been teaching high school for five years.” Moore and Hous-ton often bounce ideas off each other and share common artistic ideas. “We both really enjoy collage, which is kind of unusual to have two teach-ers work so closely together, and I don’t know if there are any other collage artists in the county.” Houston also talks of Moore sharing new techniques with her, as does she with him, “We also really enjoy to paint, and do a lot of other things. We really help each other, like if we see a new technique or way of doing something, he definitely shares it with me, and I with him.” Moore and Houston are truly the united heart of the art department and as if like a ner-vous system, they work togeth-er to not only nurture Chan-cellor’s arts, but to help grow Chancellor kids into adults. When asked about Mr. Moore’s personality, Houston described him as, “Eclectic,, outspoken, and is very car-ing too.” No matter how you know Moore, you know he has an extremely bold personality and tends to even shock many of Chancellor. For those who aren’t used to his personal-ity this can be confusing. “He likes to shock people,” states Houston. “I think he likes to get people’s reactions.” This style emphasizes his playful and exciting personality that gives Chancellor no room to snooze on him. “He brings fun to the school, like ‘Friday, Fri-day!’ I don’t think anybody else would do that,“ states Bethany Newton, a senior at Chancellor who has had Moore for three

NEWSSTORY TIME: MOORE MOVES ON

“It’s Friday, Friday, Friday!” echoes an all too familiar voice over the intercom every Friday afternoon in Chancel-lor High School. This familiar voice belongs to Mr. Carlos Moore, one of Chancellor’s art teachers and most life chang-ing teachers. Moore has been teaching at Chancellor for 29 years, and in these years he was the first, black male teacher at Chancellor. “My JV girls basketball team was the first team to win a champion-ship here,” says Moore. This school year is Moore’s “senior year”, and for his senior year many Chancellor students and teachers have reflected on the influence he has had on them. Moore is so much more than just an art teacher at Chancel-lor. “I think he (Moore) opened my eyes to a lot of things, not even just about art, but about life,” states Hadley King, a ju-nior who has had Mr. Moore for three years. “I know that he (Moore) has been through a lot too.” King says that Moore can relate and understand his stu-dent’s struggles which allows him to better connect with them. That isn’t where Moore stops though; he not only re-lates and helps the students of Chancellor, but he inspires them. Moore gives ChHs stu-dents a role model to look up to, especially when they need one the most.. King admits, “I admire that he doesn’t care what people think of him.” Moore hasn’t only influenced his students either, teachers look to Moore for guidance sometimes as well. “I really learned a lot from him when I did my student teaching,” says Mrs. Houston, another art teacher of Chancellor. Art teachers are required to spend half a semester in elemen-tary school and then half in

a script. “If I have a script, I’m good; if I don’t have a script, there ain’t no telling what will come out of my face,” said Moore. The next year Moore was asked to do the Friday, af-ternoon announcements every Friday. “It is one of the few tra-ditions (Friday, Friday, Friday), which is done, of Chancellor,” says Moore. This Chancel-lor tradition isn’t just within the school either, Moore said that he has had parents from houses near the school say they heard his announcements. Moore explained that he was told once that the parents would sit out on their porch during the springtime, and listen to his announcements. “Anybody could walk into his room (Moore’s), it doesn’t mat-ter who you are, and he would make you feel welcomed,” Kings says. “I knew I could come down here (Moore’s room) at any time, he would drop what he was doing, and talk to me.” Moore is a very quirky and welcoming teacher, and this allows him to connect with his students and even offer help beyond academics and art. “He is very passionate about what he teaches, very passionate about art and creating his own art, and that passion is then passed on to his students,” ex-plains Houston. “I also think he is very passionate about help-ing his students, and he really listens, I don’t think a lot of people realize that about him.” “He made me feel welcomed, he made me feel comfort-able, and he made me feel like I was accepted in any given situation,” adds King. When asked what legacy Moore would hope to leave he answered, “A legacy that I was always willing to listen to a kid, help them out, no mat-ter what their problem was and don’t judge them.” Moore ac-complished exactly that. King

By Bailey McDanielStaff Reporter

March/April 20199

“Listen to your teachers, those who

know what they’re talk-ing about,”

NEWSSTORY TIME: MOORE MOVES ON CONT.

confirms this legacy by say-ing, “I didn’t even have to say anything for him to know that something was wrong, and he never had to ask. Whenever he could sense anything that was off, he would go out of his way to try to make me laugh, make me smile, or to let me know that no matter what was go-ing on that everything was go-ing to be okay.” King provides proof that Moore cares deeply for his students, and not only for their artwork, but also their well-being. “It has always been the most comforting to me to know that I could go to school in a room full of strangers and know that I have a home here. I am welcome here any time of the day, and that I have somebody to talk to about any-thing that I wanted to, and he (Moore) would listen; no mat-ter what was going on he would be there “ King expresses. When asked about how she felt after she would be done talk-ing to Moore, she states, “Just being able to walk away feel-ing like the weight of the world was just lifted off my chest.” “Some things you can just sense about people,” says King. Moore is a firm believer of this as well and often senses many things about his students, so much as to say it could even be his sixth sense. “Every-body has their own type of energy that they bring to any situation no matter where they are or not,” King claims. Often times Moore can sense these energies and will use his super power to help nourish his students to flourish with their own individual energies. “Everybody has a destiny to fulfill,” explains Moore, “Ev-ery kid has a destiny to fulfill, every single person, and you have to be around no matter how bad your problems are, how difficult they are.” This energy of encouragement is

easily understood by the strug-gling students of Chancellor. “It feels good to know that he has believed in me, and believed in how strong I am as a person, when I couldn’t see it myself,” confirms King. Moore is an absolute inspiration, and pro-vides astounding encourage-ment to the students of Chan-cellor that is truly unmatched. There are several wise pieces of advice that Moore has given throughout the years. Many of these are centered towards not letting situations con-trol you. “No matter what the circum-stance, no matter what you’ve been through, you can’t allow the circum-stance to break you, you have to let it make you,” states Moore. Many of Moore’s students have taken his wise advice to heart, and still to this day, use it to help grow. King’s favorite Mr. Moore saying is:“Be sure this makes you, and doesn’t break you.” King also commented that Moore would point in a straight line and say, “Keep your focus, Hadley,” which was another saying she admired. Moore is quick to be there for his students in times of need and even when they don’t need him; he reminds them to keep their focus and keep moving, even when times get tough. “Every experience is a les-son to be learned from, both good and bad,” says Moore. Moore doesn’t only just help his students but he also helps Houston. “With teaching, it is hard to not take things person-ally, and he has really helped me with that, especially with high school,” admits Hous-ton, “If somebody doesn’t do their work, I used to get really upset, and he used to be like,

‘What’s the big deal, get over it’ and he’s right, it’s not worth it sometimes, it’s not worth getting yourself all upset over something you can’t essentially control.” It is easy to be upset over things we can’t control in life, but Moore taught Houston how to let it go. Houston also admires his passion for mak-ing his own art while teaching. “I think a really important part of being a good art teacher is to continue being an artist in your own right,” she states. Sometimes it is hard to re-

member that not everything in life has to be so serious, and Brooklyn Brown, a senior, had to learn that through Moore’s words:

“Don’t take everything so seri-ous.” Brown had Moore for two years of her high school career. Through these years she had to learn how to separate her-self from her struggles. “He sat me down in his office once and said, ‘Look, this is the circle and you need to be on the out-side of the circle.’.” says Brown. Moore also encouraged King to do the same. “He told me that no matter what you face in life there’s always going to be a circle of things around you, whether it’s your family mem-ber, things you do or things that go on at home,” states King. These words of advice have helped his students to visualize the situation and un-derstand it. Moore never tells his students what to do or how to do it, he only helps them to find the wrongs and allows them to make their own choic-es to better fulfill their destiny. “Whether it’s things that other people are saying or doing that are affecting you in some way, shape, or form and whether it is good or bad, you are in the

middle of it,” says King, “He told me that even though it is out of my control, and even though I have nothing to do to be part of any of the things that are going on, if I get caught up in it and I lose my focus, then that is when I will lose myself.” “I think that has been the biggest and most eye-opening things. It’s my choice. Every-thing in life is going to be my choice,” says King. “Whether I want to stay in the circle or whether I want to get out of it.” When asked how some-one could get out of this cir-cle, King responds, “If I want to get out of it then I have to be focused on what I want to achieve and I have to hold onto that no matter what goes on, no matter what people say, no matter what people do; I have to hold on to what is true to me.” Moore has taught King this lesson.. Moore is very pas-sionate about preserving his student’s hope, strength, and beliefs. Every day Moore walks into Chancellor is another day he tries to change Chancellor students’ lives for the better. Another lesson Moore has taught students is through a doll called Susie. “There was this doll that somebody had made. This doll wasn’t like any other normal doll, it was ac-tually kind of scary looking,” states King. “It wasn’t neces-sarily disturbing, but it was if you hadn’t learned to look deeper than what you see.” This already shows Chancellor students that there is more to what lies on the surface. This doll teaches students to get to know someone before judg-ing them purely off their looks first. “He told us about the person who had made it, and he told us about how it was a representation of the emotions they were feeling. [Moore] talked about how so many people nowadays will look at

March/April 2019 10

NEWSSTORY TIME: MOORE MOVES ON CONT.

something and then decide they want nothing to do with it just because of its appear-ance.” Moore set out to teach students to instead of judging others by their appearance, to instead judge them by their character. “You never know somebody’s story,” King says. Another example of this les-son was actually taught by Moore through his Friday, af-ternoon announcements.“A lot of kids to this day do not know that’s the same person as the Friday, Friday guy.” Moore explains, talking about the strange voice he uses before he yells his Friday, Friday, Friday line. “One guy said, ‘I hate that kid.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ and he said, ‘That one kid who gets on there before the Friday, Friday guy comes on, I hate him.’.” When Moore asked the student why, and then asked the student what he thought the mysterious kid on the PA looked like, he de-scribed him as nerdy with glass-es. This proves that many even judge based off of audio and can create “negative” stereo-types about each other. Moore works to eliminate judging by stereotypes with his Susie doll. “He has this little sculpture of a malformed-looking girl and he brings it around and goes, ‘What do you think of Susie?’ and most people say negative things and then he says, ‘Su-sie dressed up as her best to-day and she is very proud. She doesn’t want to listen to what you guys say, but she enjoys the people that give her compli-ments.’ It kinda teaches you a lesson, and I think that is a good lesson,” describes Newton. Moore’s goal is to not only help students to grow creative-ly, but also positively. Moore understands the hardships of life and unlike others, he doesn’t let them go unnoticed. When asked Moore what ad-

vice he would like to leave with Chancellor, Moore answered, “Be most creative, believe in yourself, have some faith in yourself, care about somebody else; don’t be selfish, share some love, don’t hate, appre-ciate. Help those who need to be helped.” Moore hopes that in light of this advice that his students can grow and, as said by Moore, “They can be Mufasa for someone else, as I have been Mufasa for them.” Moore’s impact has had a t r e m e n d o u s influence on Chancellor stu-dents every year through his outrageous sto-ries, inspiring personality, and wise words. “Each year he al-ways has a lesson that I learn from, like my freshman year he told us stories of how to think outside of the box, how to do things differently, how to treat people and he contin-ued those lessons through-out my years (of having him as a teacher),” states Newton. Many examples of Moore helping his students with prob-lems are now quite evident, but how has he helped Chancellor’s artwork? “He taught me how to deal with the things that are wrong in my life through art-work, and has taught me how to use it as something thera-peutic,” explains King. Moore teaches his students to use art-work as an outlet for life, as a safe place to escape reality. But making art isn’t always safe,“He has made me step out of my comfort zone, which was one of my biggest growth moments.” Moore encourages his stu-dents to broaden their hori-zons in areas of safety, to help them better understand what they are capable of. Senior Mi-kayla Samuels has had Moore for three years. “His college sto-

ries [are my favorite] because they showed me how to be brave about my artwork,” states Samuels. He not only puts con-fidence into his students about daily life, but also in their art-work. “[Moore] shows me how not to be scared about my art work and to own it.” Students all start at the same level in art, and through practice, get bet-ter. Often times artists will get talented in one area and decide that is it, but Moore pushes his students to achieve for more.

“When I first started out, I thought I could only do one thing with one technique and in one medium, but now I am

open to anything, any me-dium, any kind of size paper, anything,” says Newton, “Be-ginning of my freshman year, I wasn’t willing to do 3D and sculpture work, and now I love sculpture work, and that is pretty much what I prefer.” Moore saw Newton’s potential in sculpture work, and pushed her to strive for more than just one medium. Moore also mo-tivates his students in times of need. For example, when art-ists get frustrated, they tend to never want to finish a piece, or even throw it out. Moore helps students to open their eyes to the possibility of reworking a piece and it actually turning out well, even when they couldn’t see this from the beginning. “With artwork I tend to just want to stop and never go back to it, but he always makes me keep going, even when I don’t like it,” states Brown. Moore is a realistic person, even with his goofy personal-ity. He understands that is is both important to dream, but it is also important to have a re-ality check. When asked about one of his favorite memories,

Moore talked about an event that used to be held at Chan-cellor called Some of You Will which involved Moore select-ing about six RedBox students to go on stage in front of the freshman and act out the dif-ferent high school experiences. Moore would then announce different situations as the fol-lowing, “Some of you will have a wonderful experience at high school.” and the RedBox stu-dents would then act this out. Moore would then move on, “Some of you will just be isolat-ed and not interact at all,” and Moore would read off several other scenarios such as athlet-ics, losing loved ones, and even losing fellow classmates. “One year we had the birth of a child on stage. Some of you will get pregnant, and have a baby,” says Moore. “I don’t know what they are going to do. I just told them I have the microphone, and if it gets a little too over the edge, then I will switch to the next one.” This event was cre-ated to show freshman true re-ality, and what could happen in their years at high school. “One year we had an overdose on the stage, and I was told by some-one in guidance that it was a little too much. I was told the kids laughed and I said, ‘Well ninth graders are quite imma-ture, so they are going to laugh, because they don’t know how to respond. It is a teaching moment, so we need to teach them, because of the mere fact that a lot of students are on drugs that we don’t know about.’.” By showing these fresh-man the possibilities and then addressing a proper response on how to handle these situa-tions better prepares students, exactly what Moore intended. Another opportunity that Moore used to do was for se-niors called LAH, life after high school. “Life after high school, you have five choices:

“Be sure this makes you, and doesn’t

break you.”

March/April 201911

NEWSSTORY TIME: MOORE MOVES ON CONT.

College or higher education, getting a job, military service, be a loser (do nothing), or end up in jail,” says Moore. Moore would list off these LAH choic-es to seniors during graduation rehearsal. “What I figured out when I was graduating back in ‘75, when I’m in that rehearsal with these kids, they are never ever going to be in the same place with this group of people ever again.” Many students of Chancellor don’t really realize this and tend to take pressure of peers quite harshly when in reality they will never see the entirety of all those people again. When students gradu-ate they each choose their own LAH. “Because that is rehears-al for graduation, somebody that is not there will be there tomorrow, there is somebody there that day that won’t be there tomorrow,” Moore says. An even older and lesser known activity of Mr. Moore’s is his remediation strategies using the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken. “I vol-unteered to accommodate the students that had discipline issues, and that other teachers did not want to deal with dur-ing Morning Charge,” explains Moore. He wanted to use this accommodation as more of a retention rather than a deten-tion room. “I felt I would be able to talk to some of these kid,s because the ones that do not come into Morning Charge and are sent to me would be the knuckleheads that nobody wants to deal with. I have had experience with knuckleheads that nobody wants to deal with, so I’ll take them in.” Moore be-gan planning how to deal with these students, commenting, “I needed to come up with an intervention that would teach them, and then the spirit led me to Robert Frost.” Moore explains the process, saying, “I told the knuckleheads, I said,

‘Okay, you have a choice: you can come in here and do as I ask you to do or you will choose the other option, you have two choices.’.” The students were given two choices: stand, fac-ing the wall, six inches from the wall with their hands down to their sides while holding their bag or Moore would call the student’s mother early in the morning. Students were not able to use the restroom or sit. All students had to stand. Dur-ing this, Moore would recite the poem by Robert Frost repeat-edly. Moore even explains that he had read this poem in dif-ferent voices and played Moon-light Sonata by Beethoven. “It got to the point where these kids wanted to come down here early in the morn-ing, even if they haven’t done anything wrong,” explains Moore, saying often times students would come down to avoid teachers they had con-flicts with. “They would go stand in their spot, they were territorial, they had their own personal spot of where they would go. We would discuss the poem sometimes, and then I would repeat it over and over again until they understood the message.” Moore com-mented that the record num-ber of students to listen to this poem has been 29. “It started having an impact on the kids,” says Moore. Moore had one instance where the poem was applied, even though it didn’t necessarily help the situation, “The kid (one of his remedia-tion students) got into a fight that afternoon, and I saw him in the office as an assistant principal had to escort him in and he looked at me and said, ‘Mr. Moore.’ I said, ‘Yes?’ and he said, ‘I chose the road most travelled.’ He understood the application of the poem.” When asked what the poem means, Moore replied, “Choose

wisely. Choose the best pos-sible route to get where you need to go even though we are going to be on detours. That’s why I use that because we are all confronted with a choice. We have been given choices.” Through this poem reme-diation Moore teaches these students the importance of choosing the right path, say-ing, “The kids need to under-stand that every decision you make, every choice you take, somebody’s watching you.” “I think that he brings more of a benefit than people real-ize,” says Houston. “Because of his background, if people lis-ten to him, he has a lot to say.” When asked about her favorite memory of Moore, Houston pleasantly replies, “Just every-day. Everyday is an adventure with him.” Moore’s retirement is an absolutely huge deal to all of Chancellor, and to lose such an influential figure and amaz-ing person will be difficult, but if there is anything Moore has taught us is that we are more stronger than we know. “Listen to your teachers, those who know what they’re talking about,” says Moore when asked what advice he would like to leave for Chancellor students. Moore admits that he will miss his “little kids” or his students the most. “I will miss their cre-ativity, to see them become who they can be in the future, and know that I had an im-pact on their development as artistic people.” When asked what is Moore’s favorite mem-ory, he answers, “Watching all my artistic little kids develop into older little kids, artisti-cally, and seeing them move on to college to come back and show us how we helped them.” As for Moore’s plans after re-tirement, he says, “Anything I want to. When I leave I am go-ing to do anything I want to, within reason, and within the

law.” Moore also mentions pur-suing his second life after teach-ing: writing. Those who have had Moore as a teacher have heard him talk several times of writing a book about his life, and when Moore retires, he plans on doing so and calling the book Story Time. “I’m just going to have fun,” Moore says playfully. “I get to drink milk. and eat more cookies too. A lot of milk, and a lot of cookies.” When asked what legacy that Moore would like to leave, Moore replies, “The legacy I would hope that I could leave is one that I cared about my little kids and stuff, stood up for them.” King confirms Moore’s hopes by saying, “I’m going to miss having him here all the time, and that I could always come here if I need to. I wouldn’t have made it through some of the things that I’ve had to face if it wasn’t for him.” Who is Mr. Moore? He is an art teacher of Chancellor, a mentor of many, a father to Chancellor, and overall a truly inspiring man who dedicates all he does to helping others in multiple ways. “Mr.Moore really has shown me someone I want to be like,” states King. “I know that as soon as he re-tires that isn’t going to be the end of it. I know that we will al-ways have that type of relation-ship to where if I ran into him at the grocery store ten years from now, it wouldn’t be like any time has passed. I could still talk to him like I do now.”

March/April 2019 12

FEATURESTHRONE OF GLASS SERIES REVIEW

By Katie StaffordStaff Reporter

The Glass Castle is a nonfic-tion book following Jeannette Walls as she recounts keymoments in her childhood, compiling them into a com-pelling memoir. Jeanette’s childhood was filled with ex-citement and ad-venture, although most of the time it wasn’t exactly glamorous. Herf a m i l y m o v e d around frequently, and broke the law even more often. With her father being an alcoholic, and her mother, an aspiring artist with little to no inspiration for anything else, Jeannette and her siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen, were caught in some turbulent times. While her parents were undoubtedly intelligent, open minded, and at times wise be-yond their years, they some-

GLASS CASTLEBOOK REVIEW

times make decisions that are less than questionable, act manipulatively, and selfishly ignore the truth at the expense of their children. This book is suspenseful, and will make you curious and not

willing to miss out on a singledetail. The sto-ries Jeannette re-calls will have you laughing, sobbing, scowling, or an odd combination of all three. The Glass Castle is definitely worth the read, and even if it isn’t quite

your cup of tea, your curiosity might just force you to finish it. It is a non-fiction memoir laid out in 288 pages and was pub-lished 2005.

The King of Assassins, Arobynn Hamel, leaves the regal manor known as the As-sassin’s Guild, well-hidden by other Guilds near the glass cas-tle of the capital city, Rifthold, and rides out into a wild forest to find a half-dead girl with blonde hair and eyes the color of turquoise with a core of gold around the iris - Ashryver eyes - by a riverbed. The young man mounts his horse, and takes this eight-year-old orphan to the Guild to train her as Celaena Sardo-thien, Adarlan’s Assassin. As she trains, she knows her home - Terrasen - has been burned by flames from Adarlain sol-diers under the cruel reign of the King of Adarlan. Dorian Havilliard the First, who has outlawed magic, and executed any magic-wielders having had their magic robbed from them, and the gifted healers having their healing powers dulled, like Yrene Towers . (There will be spoilers from Assassin’s Blade - Assassin and the Pirate Lord.) Eight years have passed, and sixteen-year-old Celaena Sar-dothien has just been sent into Skull’s Bay a few months after the King of Assassin’s Sec-ond has been caught by royal guards and killed. Beside her is a young man, whose mother was a courte-san, named Sam Cortland. The two assassins are in the Pirate Lord’s office. As the brown-haired-and-eyed male hisses at Celaena to stop touching Lord Rolfe’s brandy and documents, the dark-haired lord walks in to see a dark-clothed assas-sin with her face concealed in shadows, in his chair behind his desk. The sixteen-year-old dis-respects the Pirate Lord by walking past him as if he was

nothing more but a piece of furniture in her way. Once seated, the girl accuses the lord about three assassins found dead in Bellhaven by Rolfe’s pirates. The Pirate Lord makes a reasonable claim of a survi-vor being unable to see whose pirates dispatched the assas-sins by saying there were no streetlights, and even with the full moon it would be too cold without coats, as he holds a document of the said dock at the time of the attack - three in the morning. Rolfe explains the King of As-sassin doesn’t blame Rolfe, and tells the two teenagers of the slaves arriving in two days to be ready to leave for Rifthold the day after. The sixteen-year-old wonders how her mentor and master could sink so low. She realizes he sent his two most valuable assassins to a slave trade. She also realizes her companion had somehow not found the time to tell her what he knew for the ten days they were at sea. Sometime after leaving the meeting, checking the room for traps. Celaena doesn’t eat the food in front of her be-cause she’s wearing a mask and she wants to keep her identity a secret. She conceives Rolfe to show her the slaves - or at least another batch of slaves going to be sent to a different loca-tion. It hurts her to see that some are crying, some are scared-looking as they see a dark fig-ure who seems to be Death to the slaves’ eyes, and most are silent. Celaena is heartbroken to see children clutching their mothers, and the assassins and Pirate Lord walk up to a bloody, naked slave who was reported-ly putting up a fight. Rolfe explains the King of As-sassins is not the only one get-

ting slaves. Most slaves would be sent to one of the two slaves camps: Calaculla or the Salt Mines of Endovier. The chil-dren would be sent out to the wealthy to be scullery maids or stable boys. Rolfe adds maybe a brothel madam might come to the auction as well. At this, Sam was pale-faced from fury, clearly remembering his mother’s death when a jeal-ous client killed her when Sam was six, and the small amount of money couldn’t provide for him. The King of Assassin’s took the boy in, as his mother was a favorite of Arobynn’s. After conceiving Sam to stop the slave trade, they meet the shipment of slaves that’ll go to Rifthold. Later that night,

Celaena and Sam go to the slaves of the two ships - one from theirs and the other of shipment of slaves - and tells them to head toward the only reason why the slaves couldn’t reach freedom, besides be-ing chained to the ship, is the catapults. Also, if the catapults didn’t stop them, then Ship-Breaker - a chain to destroy any ship entering or exiting - would end them. Once starting a brawl in a bar of drunk men (and Celae-na watching Sam “drink” in a drinking contest with the Pi-rate Lord), the two run off the Ship-Breaker to dismantle it. After getting into a fight with the Pirate Lord, Celaena and Sam are able to free two hun-

By Kaitlyn GarveyStaff Reporter

“. This book is suspenseful, and

will make you curious and not willing to miss out on a single

detail”

March/April 201913

FEATURESBy Ava PurcellEditor-in-Chief

MARCH/APRIL HOROSCOPES

Aries (Mar.21 - Apr.19)National Student Athlete Day (April 6th): Like a classic ath-lete, you hold all the distinctive traits of a world class competi-tor Aries. Your determination, courage, and honesty all feed into the success seen on the field. You do tend to struggle with teamwork due to a strong independent streak. Leader-ship in a sport can aid your development as a high school athlete, so be sure to take the position seriously and incor-porate your teammates in deci-sions.

Taurus (Apr.20 - Ma 20)National Earth Day (April 22nd): Taurus, you’re one of the most down-to-earth signs. Your desire for the world to be naturally at peace overpowers during your season. Earth Day is celebrated by cleaning up trash in local areas, an activity that would bring you immense joy. Grab a group of friends this upcoming Earth Day to help cleanse localities!

Gemini (May 21 - Jun.20)National Red Rose Day (June 12): Like a red rose, there are numerous ways people per-ceive you. In public, it’s easy to be outgoing and adaptable. Others see this beauty, but fail to take in the rest of the picture. Below the surface, your cun-ning nature lurks in the form of thorns. These barriers from full personal disclosure pro-tect your inner workings from others. Try clipping the thorns and letting your walls down for a happy change of pace!

Cancer (Jun.21 - Jul.22)National Flip Flop Day (June 21st): Cancer, your love of all things water-related is evident during the summertime. You are the nurturing and caring friend; take a trip to the beach and let the sun and sand put forth a healing energy. Because of your easy-going, relaxed na-ture, this trip is well deserved, but doesn’t have to be rushed my any means. Take your time in putting together a well thought-out restoration period.

Leo (Jul.23 - Aug.22)National Merry-Go-Round Day: As a warm, energy-driv-en sign you’re drawn to any-thing exciting and new, Leo. Carousels hold whirlwinds of fun, blast-ing through time much like you tend to do. The flashy, pomp-ous nature of these rides speaks to your inter-ests in life. Life is like a carnival, an a d v e n t u r e with new prospects on the ho-rizon. Follow these impulses to reach for the stars, and you’ll be sure to enjoy every day.

Virgo (Aug.23 - Sep.22)National Bow Tie Day (August 28th): Virgo, you tend to be analytical. A bow tie is repre-sentative of your uptight na-ture. It is positive in the sense that you’re a well spoken, dis-ciplined student. But some-times be sure to loosen up and do something unexpected! Ask your friends for an adventure, and follow through with the plans. Face up to your anxiet-ies about social interactions, and let yourself appreciate the good times coming your way.

Libra (Sep.23 - Oct.22)National Stop Bullying Day (October 9th): Libra, social justice is your forte. You are one to stick up for the under-dog, which is what October 9th is all about! You are a gra-cious force, bringing a touch of diplomacy to all you do. Even your everyday actions speak to how in tune with societal pres-sures you are! Help a friend in need whenever the situation arises, as you are the best sign to turn to in times of crisis.

Scorpio (Oct.23-Nov.21)National Black Cat Day (Octo-ber 27th): As a Scorpio, you love anything that relates to Hal-loween. Black cats represent

the elusive-ness about you, also p o r t ray i n g the moody nature you e m b o d y . A l t h o u g h s o m e t i m e s seen as bad luck, the truth is that black cats and Scor-

pios are just misunderstood. That said, you can easily bring storms into the lives of others. Watch your actions, so that they are not seen as malicious.

Sagittarius (Nov.22 - Dec.21)National Cake Day {November 26th): You are a happy-go-lucky sign, Sagittarius. Like cake, ev-erything in life seems to be a party. Your idealistic mentality brings freedom to your life and allows you to say and do as you please. But, too much of a good thing can bring stomach aches! Limit your intake of the overly sugary sweet aspects life has to offer, or they’ll lose their sheen.

Capricorn (Dec.22 - Jan.19)National Trivia Day (January 4th): As a Capricorn, you have some know-it-all tendencies. Those around you may see this as pompous, so be aware of reassuring them of your good intentions. You also love tradi-tion and family, as trivia encap-tures these aspects within the game. History is something you can’t get enough of, and it will take you far in life! Fol-low this passion for knowledge, and you cannot go wrong.

Aquarius (Jan.20 - Feb.18)National Random Acts of Kindness Day (February 17th): You are such a nice introvert, Aquarius. You love to engage in service and be kind to others from afar, but it’s time to face those you’ve helped in life. Re-ceiving their upfront gratitude will be nowhere near the anxi-ety rush you may fear. Boldly go about life, and do what makes you happy, no matter if you’ll be seen doing so or not.

Pisces (Feb.19 - Mar.20)Dr. Seuss Day (March 1st): Pi-sces, you are imaginative be-yond belief. Daydreaming in class and forming creations in your mind all day hasn’t been for nothing! This artistic trait will lead you to a bright future, just as Dr. Seuss’s did. Don’t be afraid to show the world the unique art you have created. Your compassion should be set free in your works as well, in whatever form suits it best. The world will love you for you, and nothing less.

https://imagessure.com/pictures/cliparts-aradia-aries-animal-symbol-0b.html

National Days that Describe YOU!

March/April 2019 14

FEATURESTHE POISONOUS SWITCH: THE FINALE

By Katie StaffordSrtaff Reporter

Lily bit her tongue, slightly relieved she was sitting on a chair; if she wasn’t, she knew she would collapse in a heap. But, having her too-still body frozen with fear and shock on the hard-backed plastic chair, didn’t stop the world tilting and spinning around her, her pounding heart like thunder through her shivering body, her nails bitten off one by one, or her throat becoming too dry to even swallow or let alone talk to defend herself. “Well, Lily,” the black woman said, the only one speaking to her like a mother to her scared daughter, “I’m sorry, but,” - she pulled out handcuffs - “I hate to do this.” She didn’t move. She didn’t fight even when the cold iron of the cuffs clicked into place. The corners of her green eyes burned with hot tears. Lily looked at the woman and said, “What about the series I’ve been reading? The Mystery Country series.” “Who’s the author?” the woman asked. “Katie Stafford.” “When was the book pub-lished?” “Last year.” “You’re wrong, Lily.” a cold voice snarled. Her throat moist enough for her to swallow, Lily gulped au-dibly. Why did her sister say she was wrong? And why were Chelsea’s eyes bright with de-light, and not tears? “Katie Stafford panned the Mystery Country series for a book called Hostile Prey. It’s not a book about two kids un-covering a mystery. It’s a book about humanity being caged from vampires and werewolves within four walls called the Four Great Walls. It’s really good - here!” Chelsea tossed a book to the woman, who

caught it easily. “‘The Last Warriors’ . . . ‘The Wounds’ . . . ‘The Last Night with a Home’, and ‘The Bas-tard Prince and Princess Histo-ria’s Heroic Moment’ . . . Well, Chelsea, this does look inter-esting. I might have to read it once I’m done with your sister.” The woman leafed back to the first chapter after studying the last chapter. “Wow, this first chapter is the last chapter, but with it being vague enough to snare a reader in like the au-thor used a hook.” “That’s why I can’t wait for the next book. Coming out soon. I heard she started the book in 2018, and I can’t remember when she published it, but it wasn’t easy for her.” Lily was trembling badly. If she wasn’t leaning against the wall, she’d collapse to her knees, screaming in terror. The woman murmured words of comfort anytime a half-stifled moan of terror escaped her lips. After the small talk about Hostile Prey, Chelsea asked if she could leave and strolled out, with a smirk, even if Lily could not see her sister’s face. A deep breath escaping her lips, Lily gulped back her fear. She was about to walk with her head high when she saw the girl in front of her. She screamed, and the black woman ordered, “Freeze!” before snapping a code into her walkie-talkie on her shoulder. Chelsea stumbled into her math class. The teacher was showing how to find X with a mixture of formulas for circles, squares, and trapezoids. She slid into her seat in the back row, and received a text by someone she had not talked to since the scheming began. “I’ve been caught. Destroy your phone. Your parents plan to get you the newest phone on the market. I love you, Chel-

sea.” At lunch, she followed a group of seniors to play a game of baseball, and she destroyed her phone without hesitation. If their plan failed, both of them might as well say good-bye to their lives as doctors to-gether, babysitting each other’s children, and clawing their way through life as free women. Lily was silent, tears sliding off her face in the police car like scalding rain. She looked at the redhead beside her, the girl’s eyes wide in terror. She ran into the nearby forest once Lily screamed. The police found no phone on her, no nothing but her bookbag full of school supplies and the loose-fitting clothes she wore. Abby! The girl was said to have killed herself. Her parents grieved over a girl who com-mited suicide only two weeks ago. Lily swallowed the vomit raising in her throat with a hasty gulp. She wanted to speak, but they had been told they had the right to remain silent, and even if they could speak, she wouldn’t know what to say. An ice-cold shiver rippled down her spine. Abby, alive. Abby, not dead. Abby having not killed herself. Lily bit her tongue and swallowed blood. The woman parked the car, herded them into the police station, and took their mug shots, got their fingerprints and a blood sample to test if they were taking drugs or drinking. Waiting for the woman to come back, Lily and Abby, her owlish eyes wide with awe as she studied Lily, asked, “Why are you here?” Swallowing hard she said, “I’ve been blamed for a crime that I didn’t even commit. I didn’t even commit a crime, as far as I know!” Abby only snarled, “Good.

serves you right, girl.” Lily shuddered swallowing her tears as she gulped back her terror of the girl’s harsh tone. She didn’t scare easily, and she was feeling like this girl was go-ing to strike and kill her. The black woman came back. She said their parents were coming to get them, but Lily was going to be staying home for a few weeks in house arrest. She didn’t care. Lily didn’t mind her parents taking her phone away, telling and scold-ing her about the luck of be-ing sent to house arrest. Lily sighed, and forced herself not to shudder at Abby’s cruel smirk. Chelsea texted Abby again. Their plan was going smooth-ly now. With her sister forced to stay inside, expelled from school, and without her phone, her books to read for entertain-ment. Lily was too easy to get rid off. Maybe they’ll toy with her before getting rid of her forever. Abby gave her a coded mes-sage in binary. Decoding it, she read: “Three days before strike. Get ready to get your hands dirty. Meet me in my garden, friend.” She sent an agreement in binary as well. This would be fun, and to see her sister - her courageous, open-minded, compassionate, bookworm of a sister - scared for her life would be wonderful to see and hear. Lily finished the book. She put Hostile Prey at the end of her list of new books to read. Her parents had given her four brand-new series to read. She knew it was more to keep her out of their faces than a present for her house arrest. She stared the young author’s book. So much struggle for a life that could have ended from the derseperation, fear, and impatience of becoming an au-thor.

March/April 201915

FEATURESTHE POISONOUS SWITCH CONT.

Lily wondered what it be like to write a book; she e-mailed the author to find out what it was like three hours ago. (Her parents agreed she can use her laptop, but they’ve looked at her e-mails, websearches, and photos after she finished.) The author had replied, and said it took her years to feel comfortable with the book. She admitted she’d almost drowned in hopelessness, nights of despair so deep, she’d wake up feeling like she was carrying a burden until mid-day. Some days, the author lost herself in darkness and day-dreams of blood, and flash-ing black metal, and roaring flames. (Lily went over to Hos-tile Prey and leafed through it, and saw why the author fell into the daydreams with char-acters talking of long-fought battles, and fights for survival. Putting the book down, she looked at the author’s work. So much work for a cost with more to lose than gain. She realized why the author would feel like giving up on a battle looking more like a lost cause than a victory. Lily didn’t care what happened; she would read Ka-tie Stafford’s debut book soon. Three days later Chelsea saw Abby. The ivy and brambles surrounded them as they walked through the forest. It was time. Chelsea swallowed hard. Her house was in sight when she heard Abby gulp loudly. “Let’s get this over with,” Abby growled softly, slipping out into the shadows. The pale sil-very-gray moonlight touched her lethally-held posure and short sword sheathed behind her back. No need for a loud bang from a gun. A near-silent whine from a blade complaining about be-ing unsheathed would be the weapon’s only battle cry before

Lily was murdered. Why was she doing this in the first place? Swallowing fear and gulping back the answer beating her thundering heart-beat, she slid into position. Lily heard the door open. It was Chelsea coming home be-fore her parents returned from a fancy dinner with Mom’s cli-ent on taxes and laws. She heard metal shrieking, and scraping against the walls leading to her room. Swallow-ing the hard lump forming in her throat, she looked up as Chelsea came in, carefully glassy-eyed, with Abby hefting a short sword, it’s blade lethally gleaming. She screamed a heartbeat be-fore Abby charged. She swiped the blade for Lily’s bobbing throat. Leaping on the bed, Lily threw a book - Hostile Prey - at Abby. Light-gray feathers flew and fluttered like doves. The pillow slashed, Abby hissed. Chelsea went for Lily, who cried out in shock by the de-mented gleam in her blue eyes. “Feed me deadly nightshade, I dare you!” Abby snapped. “Like you were planning on feeding me after I did that to you, Lily!” “I forgave you, and I learned to forget,” she hissed, fear from knowing why the girls were behaving this way flooded her iced-over blood. “I’ll get pliers. We can tor-ture her by removing her fin-gernails.” Chelsea left, and Lily knew she didn’t see the middle finger directed at her back. Why would Abby do that to Chelsea? Were they planning on killing her together? As the thought of her murder crossed her mind, she gulped. Abby tackled her to the ground. Winded, the blade gleamed lethally as it trembled from Lily desperately trying to not let it open her flesh, mus-cle, bones, and cleaving her thundering heart.

“This is 911, what’s your emer-gency?” an operator asked. “Yes, my friend is about to kill my sister. I didn’t have anything to do with it. I was a spy for my sister. Please,” she screamed. “Lily’s bleeding. She - I think Abby’s stabbed her! Help me!” Hating herself for everything silver-tongued Abby had plant-ed in her head, Chelsea threw her new phone at her former friend, who roared in anger and pain, and glared at her. “Say hello to Death for me, you two,” Abby said, charging toward Chelsea. Dawn received the call from Lily’s house. Racing into the car that been used to take the girls from the school to the sta-tion, Dawn remembered what Lily and Chelsea had told her in private. The black woman was at the house in ten minutes, and she saw the parents, confused and scared, staring at her as she lead them into their home about to become a murder scene. Lily screamed, the sword twisting mere inches from cleaving her heart, frantic and wild from fear. She didn’t care Abby said that this was quieter, this was taking longer. “Why?” Chelsea panting, her left arm broken after Abby slammed the hilt of the sword onto her elbow. The sword stopped twisting and snaking its way to Lily’s heart as Abby glared at Chel-sea. “I hate you two. You’re lucky I love you enough for me to break your arm, my friend, or you would be dead. Lily, on the other hand is better off with this sword in her heart.” Agony flickering before cre-scendoing, Lily swallowed hard and painfully. She was no lon-ger sure if she was alive or sim-ply dead waiting to enter the afterlife. She is no longer sure if her name was Lily at all.

Chelsea gazed at her. She raised her arm off the ground. When Chelsea held her hand lovingly, she drowned in the darkness from the void of death. Chelsea gulped back her grief as hot tears slid down her bloodless face and splashed on the yellow carpet like scalding rain. Lily was barely breathing, but alive. Clinging to life, but alive. She rubbed a finger against her sister’s palm. “Lily?” she whispered. “Lily, are you going to wake up?” Lily!” She gently brushed a strand of her sister’s hair out of her closed eyes. She nuzzled her sister’s fore-head with her nose, murmur-ing words of comfort to the un-conscious girl. Abby slammed the dagger deeper into her sister’s chest, and Chelsea thought she felt the hand she held grow deathly ice-cold. Lily walked through a forest. The honeysuckle sweetened a reek familiar and unknown to her. She closed her eyes and walked forward; she knew she could be deaf and blind and still find what she was looking for. What was she looking for? She stumbled through an un-dergrowth of leafy ferns. She opened her eyes when some-one leaped out in front of her. “Hello?” The boy looked at her. One dark ice-blue eye was wide in shock. “I was looking for Draven - a vampire.” The boy raced off calling the name of his vampire-friend. She walked deeper, remem-bering she needed to find a pool of water. A girl walked in front of her, her smoky heath-er-blue eyes gazing at her. “Do you know where Wren went? He has one blue eye, the other was gouged out from a terrible attack, along with the scars across his face and throat.” “He went that way.” Lily, odd-

March/April 2019 16

FEATURESly not scared of the girl who told her about the boy and his wounds, pointed to a patch of brambles. “Thank you.” The girl raced off and stopped. “The pool is that way, by that tall oak.” She left, heading after her friend. She saw the glowing pool of icy water when a pale-faced boy with night-dark eyes and blue-black hair leaped out in front of her. “Have you seen Koda?” Before she could reply, the girl and Wren stepped out of some brambles. “Koda’s coming, Draven,” Wren said, his remaining eye glowing. “Who are you?” Lily asked. “I’m Wren, this is Draven. Heather is from royalty. And Koda’s behind you, sneaking up to scare you.” Wren nodded to the boy behind Lily, who wheeled around to see a gold-en-haired boy with green eyes flashing in vexation. “Someday, you’ll learn not to go thundering through the pinewood. And we’re charac-ters from Hostile Prey, Lily,” Wren added to her. “Lily - wake up. Come on, wake up.” Heather soothed, as the vampire and two boys crowded around her before the girl finished the circle around her. Why were they taking her to the pool of water? The world tilted, and she fell with a splash. She resurfaced to be staring, not at the two boys, girl, and vampire, but at Chel-sea, who seemed to be barely breathing. “What happened?” she moaned. “Abby. Your house arrest has been done with for a month now. Abby barely missed your heart. If Dawn hadn’t start-ed with stopping the blood, and checking your pulse, you would be dead without Dawn knowing it.” “And Abby? She’s insane to

THE POISONOUS SWITCH CONT.think I would so much as seek revenge for the day she killed that family with deadly night-shade two years ago, and get-ting me in trouble when I was reading up on poisons, so I knew what to avoid during summer camp with all those plants and herbs.” “She hated you more than me. You got good grades, was the teacher’s pet, and was fool-ish enough to do reports on the toxic plants you learned. I was that girl who was popular for no reason other than people knew who I was. And Abby was that girl who was jealous, and wanted to see us fall from grace. “She did that to you already, with you and the dead fam-ily with the deadly nightshade, and she planned for me to look like I killed you. After you were getting in trouble, she wanted me to be seen as insane.” Chelsea wiped the brim-ming tears, a deep, shuddering breath escaping her lips. Lily carefully pretended her inter-est was at the IV tube feeding her medication as her sister collected herself and her scat-tered thoughts. She saw Hostile Prey on a chair. A doctor came in, saw her staring at her book, and, handing it to her, said, “You’ll be discharged in two days.” Nodding her thanks, she gave the book about humanity being preyed on by vampires and werewolves to her sister. “I don’t care if you’re slower at reading than I am. I want you to read it. At least the first chapter. I can’t wait to see how Wren, Draven, Princess Heath-er, and Koda survive.” “How do you know those names? I thought you didn’t read this yet.” “Oh, someone told me their the main characters, and their point of view is shown through-out the book. You know, third

person omniscient.” “Whoever told you that. Is right expect for one character. Koda’s point of view isn’t given, Lily. It’s Wren, Draven, Prin-cess Historia, and Rolf. Rolf is this fourteen-year-old (like the ages of Wren, Historia, and Koda) who has amber eyes and thick, wild, reddish-orange hair.” Chelsea began. And as she stammered over words every now and then, Lily closed her eyes to see the scene and the characters unfold from the first chapter entitled The Last War-riors . . . The soft, pale gray moonlight silvered a stone castle with a shattered window, blood-stained battlements, groaning men all dying from blood loss, and a terrible scene which was swallowed by the castle’s loom-ing shadow. A girl with honey-blonde hair burning, her smoky heather-blue eyes fearful, and her hard-muscled lithe body convulsing and spasming, screamed de-fiantly. The Prince swallowed hard. His ice-cold heart want-ed to flood with the weakness of pity, but couldn’t. He closed his eyes, a failed attempt to shut out her writhing, burning body. Even so, he still saw her in his closed eyes. He opened them when she stopped screaming, when the mottled pink, orange, and yel-low paled the dark, starless sky. He forced himself not to move. He shouldn’t look at the head-less king and the dead queen with her slit throat, but he did. He saw movement and called out, “Come here, boys!” The Prince glanced at the cin-ders and the blackened pole that had been the king’s and queen’s assassin. His smoky heather-blue eyes locked on the two warriors coming down. He didn’t know how that one could befriend a vampire when

everyone here in the Four Great Walls - Wall Dominic, Wall Bruno, Wall Rose, and Wall Rockley - knew about the war between the werewolves and vampires as both preda-tors preyed on humanity. The boy - the prisoner who was meant to be burned at the stake, not the assassin-princess - stumbled into the dawn light a half step ahead of the vampire. The vampire, his blue-black hair ruffled by an icy wind that made his midnight-blue cape flutter, and his night-dark eyes darker with grief and fear, was bit his lower lip with his fangs. The Prince eyed the vam-pire’s clothes, barely noticing the pale-faced immortal was swallowing nervously. The vampire wore dark jeans over knee-high, sturdy-soled, black leather boots, and a dark tu-nic with AW over the heart in dove-gray, which was con-cealed by the two-button cape of midnight blue. He eyed the black sheathes meant for his sheathed tiger blades, which were belted to his waist. “What have you got to say for yourself? For showing friend-ship in a vampire, that is.” The Crown Prince glared at the prisoner, and forced himself to be calm when the one-eyed boy was so heavily scarred. His left temple, eyelid, and skin just before his crooked nose, housed three, jagged claw marks furrowing a russet trail. The same was true from his right temple to chin. Below his remaining eye was another furrowing wound, stopping before his lips and crooked jaw, which was more lopsided with the scar giving his jaw an already lopsided appearance. His throat had thin, red scars of six, three for each slanted line, forming an X, which bi-sected at his Adam’s apple. The central lines, deeper than the outer scars, mated at the dead

March/April 201917

FEATUREScenter of his larynx. The Prince noticed the three jagged scratches on the back of the boy’s hands, which he knew unfalteringly journeyed to his shoulder blades. He stopped looking at the boy, and glanced at the vampire, who, he saw, had thin red scars across his face, like he had a terrible meeting with a colony of alley cats. The vampire’s right hand was burnt while his left had a long, red scar running from his palm to his wrist. The prisoner looked at the vampire a few seconds before the Crown Princess, her green eyes locked on the one-eyed boy with her honey-blond hair ruffled from another icy breeze. She had the assassin’s weapons in her arms and said,

“I can have a special scabbard belt made for both these weap-ons.” “Your Queenliness, why give them to this traitor?” the Prince asked, stroking his gold-and-chocolate hair. He saw her lean in, whisper something, and kiss him. The boy blanched, swayed, and swallowed. The boy looked at the vampire, who resumed biting his lower lip and swal-lowing nervously, then at him. Not with fear, but deseraption to die, and he wasn’t shocked when the one-eyed prisoner said, “Let me leave this hell we call life, your Highness.” The warrior bowed his head, not in an attempt to mock him for being the soon-to-be king. (King - he was going to

THE POISONOUS SWITCH CONT.be king!) The bowed head was for submission. He did not care how he died - quick and clean or slow and agonizing - he just wanted to die. He gave the boy two options: Become the next Captain of the Royal Guard, or force the vampire to turn the prisoner into an immortal bloodlusting vampire too. Night-dark fire flared to deadly life, as the vampire said, in a tongue sweetened by false kindness, “Let me leave. I promise you, King of the Four Great Walls, if he decides to become a vampire, I will make him so.” “How can I, a piece of prey to you, trust a predator?” “A long-lost regiment of war-riors, with their hearts filled with atonement and ven-

geance, will consister it sin to lie.” The soon-to-be King bowed his head briefly. “Then, leave, the Last Warrior of Fire, Blood, Ice, Vengeance, and Atone-ment.” The vampire the night-dark fire died from his eyes. He walked over to the boy, whis-pered something, and left. The Prince jerked his head to the boy. “Have you made your decision?” The boy swallowed hard four times before the decision seemed to dawn on him. The boy opened his mouth, and de-clared his choice of either im-prisonment in protecting him and the Royal Family, or im-mortality with this vampire . . .

EASTERN KENTUCKY IN THE SPOTLIGHT On November 30th, 2019 I took a college visit to Eastern Kentucky University to hope-fully find out if that is where I want to go to college. I had only heard about East-ern because I went to the col-lege night at the mall. When I approached the table and talked to the admissions coun-selor for Virginia students, it was exactly the type of college I was looking for. They have nu-merous majors to choose from, and they have a great tuition rate for Virginia students. After hearing about all the college had to offer, I looked at the col-lege site and in Naviance to see if it was somewhere I could see myself going. When I decided that this was a place I was interested in, I researched into doing a tour. I found out that they have spot-light days where they have spe-cial events for the kids who are interested in joining their col-lege. The next day I asked my dad if we could go, and signed myself up for the spotlight day.

At the spotlight day we went on a tour of the school first thing in the morning. It was so beautiful and exactly what I hoped for for in a college cam-pus. It was in a small town, had lots of places to go hiking, and the college campus was all close together and within walking distance. After the tour, they had a big assembly to introduce the administra-tors from each state then split the kids from the parents so we could go with some of the college students. Every state in America has a administrator that works at the college so if you have any questions about enrollment, you contact them. When we split, they talked to us about college life and op-portunities you have in college. Just being around the campus made me feel at home. I really enjoyed the experi-ence of getting to be at the col-lege and if you get a chance to tour your future college do it because it will let you know if it is the perfect fit for you.

By Savannah AversaLayout Editor

Layout Editor Savannah Aversa next to Eastern Kentucky’s lucky statue of Daniel Boone. It is said that if you pass the statue and

touch the golden foot, it will bring you good luck.

March/April 2019 18

FEATURESINVITING CAMPUS TOUR AT WVU

A very difficult time for teen-agers is their junior and senior years. Those last years in high school are a time to start think-ing about their future. College searching is a difficult and an emotional experience when one thinks about getting ready to leave family, friends, every-day routines, and becoming more independent. Recently I went on my first college campus tour at West Virginia University, and it defi-nitely opened my eyes and my mind. I was so scared driving with my mom to the campus thinking I would be out of place, or just not able to feel comfortable. When we walked in, the people at the desk were so warm and nice. They gave us a folder full of campus in-formation and showed us a station for free cookies, cof-fee, and hot chocolate. We waited in a visitor center un-til we were directed to a room with a big screen. Two students gave us a slide show presenta-tion and the campus before our tour. Most of it was about the majors they offer, and the re-sources the campus offers such as financial aid. Shortly after, we got on a bus, and our tour guide Bryson showed us all around the campus. On the tour we went all over the campus. Our guide pointed out which buildings we would go to for classes or specific ma-jors. We even went downtown to where the college kids spent a lot of time. We also walked a bit throughout the tour. We went into a large cafeteria where they had a variety of places to eat. Bryson explained the system they have for college students to eat which included a meal plan on a card. Students pay a certain amount of money depending on which meal plan chosen. The meal plan choice determines how many times

one can swipe their card for that semester. In the cafeteria there was CFA, Which Witch, a Mediterranean style place, and a burger shop. After touring the cafeteria, we went inside an actual classroom. One of the best parts of WVU are the class sizes. Even though they have a student population of about 31,500, the class sizes range from 20-60 students per class. Our guide explained most of the larger classes are for the freshmen and sophomores who are undecided. As a result, the classes with over a hundred students would be math or science classes for freshmen. Once a major is declared, the class sizes shrink. After walking around for awhile, Brycen showed us the sororities and frats on campus and then the dorms. There are different ways of living on cam-pus. Freshmen have to live in a dorm their first year, but there are campus apartments, hous-es, and different style dorms. So after the first year, housing is up to the student. There are even all female dorms, honors

dorms, and dorms for only Af-rican American students. Our guide brought us inside a dorm to look around. One dorm fits two people, and it comes pre-furnished. The campus is also unique because it has something called the PRT. It’s basically a metro above ground, in fact

it’s in the air. The carts take you everywhere on campus, and it’s 100% free for all stu-dents with the swipe of their student ID. The campus also offers a gym, rock climbing, sports equipment, basketball courts, volleyball courts, a pool, two gyms, yoga classes, Zumba classes, and other types of workout classes, all for free. There is even a dog park for students with animals. It’s also one of the very few campuses that allow freshmen to have cars; however, drivers have to keep their cars in one designat-ed parking spot at night, and it costs about $300. The school’s biggest majors are medicine, engineering, and business. The WVU hospital has nursing, pharmacy, and doctorits programs which are very popular and one of their biggest fields. In fact, they are building a children’s hospital on campus for students to be-come residents. WVU is also a land granted campus, so a lot of funding is from the state. They do a lot of research and devel-opment for coal and energy re-search, since West Virginia was founded for coal mining. The University also just received a $10 million donation from an anonymous donor to build a New York style Stock Exchange like what is on Wall Street, for business majors. WVU is a campus that supports its stu-dents and is a family.

If that wasn’t enough, our tour guide also explained that for football games students can get in free by a lottery system. Basically there are about 100 seats free for students, and if a student goes to get a ticket, they randomly draw 100 stu-dents names and one can get in free. Or a student can buy a $50 season pass for seats to every football game. WVU also has a very strong fan base, and has a great football pro-gram. Mountaineer fans are enthusiastically supportive. The home stadium holds up to 70,000 seats, and they stay filled for home games. If a stu-dent wanted to play sports in college, but maybe didn’t get in on a sports scholarship, they do offer D2&3 club sports. Even if a student doesn’t have a good enough schedule to participate in club sports, they still hold sports teams just for fun. They even have quidditch field for all you Harry Potter fans. After the tour I was so excited to apply and hopefully get ac-cepted. WVU is a great school, and our tour guide was knowl-edgeable and helpful, that he just made us want stay on cam-pus. The school has over 120 different majors and an abun-dance of different clubs and organizations. They also offer numerous types of financial aid for anyone who wants to be a Mountaineer.

By Christelle TempleFeatures Editor

“The University also just received a $10 million donation from an anony-

mous donor to build a New York style Stock Exchange”

March/April 201919

FEATURESWEEKEND EVENT AT LIBERTY

By Hannah ClovenNews Editor From Thursday, February 21 through Sunday, February 24, 2019, I attended Liberty Uni-versity’s College For A Week-end (CFAW). It was an amaz-ing opportunity, and I am glad I was able to go. CFAW is an event at Liberty University where second-semester high school sophomores, juniors, seniors, and transfer students under 25 can experience college for a weekend, hence the name CFAW. The cost for CFAW is $50 which will get you lodging, all your meals, and entrances to campus activities. CFAW-ers have the option of staying on campus either with a friend or relative, or with another LU student who will host you for the weekend. Every CFAWer receives a CFAW flames pass which is a plastic card that al-lows you access to the different buildings and is your meal pass. On the first day of CFAW, we arrived at Liberty Univer-sity’s campus. Since I was stay-ing with my friend, Caroline, we went ahead and met her to drop off my luggage at her dorm. From there, we went to check in for CFAW. When we arrived to check-in, we were greeted by many LU students who were volunteering to help with check-in. They were all very friendly and welcoming and offered us some treats of cookies and mini cupcakes. We dropped off our permis-sion slips and picked our ex-cuse notes for school. Then, we received a bag that included a lanyard, a beginner’s guide to LU, a visitor’s guide, and an ite-nary. From there, we watched a presentation to inform us about what to expect during CFAW as well as more informa-tion about LU. The presenta-tion was interactive.They gave out prizes of free LU tee-shirts for competitions on who could floss the best and who could come up to the front the fastest

and do ten pushups (my friend, Jestin, won that one). After the presentation was over, the walls opened up behind us and re-vealed another part of the room where we would receive our CFAW Flames pass, air mat-tress, information on where we were staying, and who we were staying with if we didn’t already know. After we checked in, my friends and I hung out. We went LU’s eight lane bowling alley and bowled two games, which was a lot of fun. Thursday night we had a hall meeting in the commons room for all the CFAWers. We all went around the room and said our name, where we we from, and what we planned on studying. It was interesting to see where people where from, because there were so many people from different parts of the U.S. We went over the rules, as well as played the game “Would you Rather”. After that, it was cur-few. Curfew at LU is at 11pm on the weekdays, and 11:30pm on the weekends. As long as you tell your RA and sign out on a sheet of paper, you are able to stay out past curfew. On Friday, CFAWers had the opportunity to go to ac-tual classes that were be-ing held. There were several classes to attend. I went to my friend Caroline’s biology class at 8am. We learned about tor-sion in gastropods and about the endocrine system. It was an interesting class. The class was not huge, which was a nice thing. After class, we had con-vocation, which is where the whole school gathers together in the Vines Center. The Vines Center looks like a huge dome, and I made the mistake of call-ing it “the dome” a couple of times. Convocation is held three times a week, and is man-datory for each LU student; however,everyone is permitted one skip per semester. Convo-cation consists of worship, fol-

lowed by a speaker. Some of the past speakers have includ-ed President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Melania Trump. Nick Vujicic was the speaker for convocation during CFAW. After convocation, my friends and I explored the LU’s campus. We went to the book-store which has a Barnes and Noble, the library, and then went bowling later on. Friday night, my friends and I all went to the Liberty vs. Adrian hockey game. All the CFAWers met at the Hancock Welcome Center and walked together to the Lahaye Ice Cen-ter. It was my first ever hockey game. I enjoyed it, but it scared me everytime the players crashed against the glass right in front of me. Hockey is just one of LU’s 20 NCAA Division I athletic programs. There are also over 40 club sports. Saturday was spent mostly ex-ploring the campus and hang-ing out with my friends. We went to the different buildings and walked around in them. We discovered that in DeMoss Hall, there was a game room complete with xboxes, playsta-tions, Wiis, a pool table, and a ping pong table. We played some of the games and had a lot of fun.There was also dif-ferent informational sessions CFAWers to attend Saturday morning. Saturday night, I at-tended a Bethel Music concert at the vines center with two of my friends. It was my first con-cert and I loved it. Several con-certs are held at the Vines Cen-ter throughout the year. Sunday was the last day. All the CFAWers met at Hancock Welcome Center and walked to Thomas Road Baptist Church together and attended the 9:15 am church service. After that, CFAW was over and everyone headed home. CFAW was an amazing ex-perience and was a great way to learn more about LU and

what it is like to be a college student. There were definitely a few things that stuck out to me during my visit. First, Liberty university is located in Lynch-burg, Virginia. Since it is at a higher altitude due to being in the mountains, the area experi-ences a lot of rain and has been nicknamed “Drenchburg.” Needless to say my umbrella was a lifesaver during CFAW. Second, the dining hall was truly amazing. It is the Reber-Thomas resident dining hall, but is known around campus as the “Rot.” It is huge and was a little easy to get lost at first. There are 22 stations to choose from. Each CFAWer was given a meal pass, which is their flames pass. We were allowed one swipe per hour which meant we could basically go once every hour if we wanted to. I went five times one of the days. Third, LU is a Christian college. The community was very strong there. Before classes start, the professors open up with a word of prayer. Most everywhere you go, you could see people fel-lowshipping by praying with each other, having a Bible study together, and casually talking about the things they had read about in the Bible. Even after the hockey game ended, the two teams came together and prayed. Fourth, LU’s campus is huge! There is over 7,000 acres, over 6.6 million sq. ft of build-ing space, over 380 buildings and structures, and over 200 classrooms. In one day, I man-aged to walk 14,792 steps, 6.1 miles, and climb over 16 flights of stairs. Fifth and lastly, CFAW is a unique college tour. It is re-ally an interactive tour where you can get a real sense of what LU is like as well as learn what it is like to be a college student. It is held several times through-out the year the next one is Sep-tember 26-29, 2019.

March/April 2019 20

FEATURES

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March/April 201921

OP-EDTHE PRODIGY HAS EERIE TWIST

By Bailey McDanielStaff Reporter

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

The horror, thriller movie The Prodigy is about a mother named Sarah Blume (Taylor Schilling) with a special child named Miles Blume (Jackson Robert Scott) who is later dis-covered to be more special than normal. It is suspected that an evil and possibly supernatu-ral force has taken over Miles, and has forced him to perform and act abnormally. Sarah is forced to look in the past for answers of what is wrong with her son, and is faced with the harsh decision to choose be-tween investigating what or who is causing Miles’ strange behavior and her maternal in-stincts to love and protect her son. Released February 8, 2019 the movie The Prodigy is 1h 32m long, and is rated R for the violence, bloody images, and brief graphic nudity shown. The movie begins with a strange scene of a woman es-caping a man who had taken her hand. Police then show up to the man’s house and shoot him. There are cutscenes in be-tween of a woman giving birth, and a viewer’s first implication is likely that this man trapping women and harming them is the same person as the one be-ing born. As the story goes on and the kid grows up, it is ob-viously apparent that the child, Miles Blume is extraordinarily gifted with intelligence. He has such a high intelligence that is astounding for his age, and he is put through special school-ing to nourish his intelligence. Miles also had an uneasy toler-ance for pain, such as getting shots without crying like a nor-mal child would. He was also born with two different colored eyes, called Heterochromia. Certain behaviors of Miles soon become clear when a babysitter of Miles ventures

into the basement while play-ing hide and go seek, and she is injured by stepping on glass left on the floor. When asked what happened, Miles insists that he doesn’t even remember playing the game. One night Sarah Blume hears her son talking in his sleep in a strange language, and begins to tape what he is saying. Later, Miles describes the dream as a good dream. That isn’t where the bizarre behaviors end either, Miles attacks another kid for stealing his c lassmate for a part-ner proj-ect. Sarah d e c i d e s this is the last straw, and sends Miles to a psycholo-gist for his b e h av i o r, Dr. Elaine Strasser (Paula Bou-dreau), in an attempt to figure out what is wrong, and why the child is acting out so viciously. Sarah ends up giving the tape of her son’s strange sleep talk-ing to Dr. Strasser. Strasser be-comes suspicious of the strange language and contacts a friend of hers, Arthur Jacobson (Colm Feore), who confirms the sleep talk as a rare dialect of a small portion of people in Hungary. Arthur then says that what Miles was saying translates to a very insulting remark towards women. Arthur then brings up a past child he has met who has claimed to have a past life, linking this child’s experience with Miles’. It is suggested that Miles has another more threatening personality within him, and that it was urgent they remove this personality trait before it overtakes Miles entirely and permanently. Sarah rejects this idea, but is

sent home with videos of the other boy and his experience with this other personality. The family dog Tallulah sud-denly disappears, and after a small argument between Sarah and her husband John Blume (Peter Mooney) finds a camera in their bedroom and angrily confronts Miles. During his parent’s argument, it is discov-ered that John had an abusive childhood, and Miles had sug-gested previously that he was possibly harmed by his father.

John is then forced to leave the house after this minor o u t b u r s t in fear for Miles’ safe-ty. Sarah at one point has a night-mare about Miles cry-

ing in the hallway; she yells to him to come to her and as he does, he briefly morphs into the man that Miles is sus-pected to be, Edward Scarka (Paul Fauteux), who grabs her and wakes her up. Miles is at her door when she awakes and claims he can’t sleep, asking to sleep with her. He asks Sarah an eerie question, asking if she would still love him no matter what. She hesitantly agrees, and then several flies appear in the house leading Sarah and Miles to the basement. There in the basement is a puddle of blood, and discovered is Tallulah’s body mutilated. Miles is taken to meet Arthur where he is hypnotised so that Arthur could potentially com-municate with Scarka, and hopefully do away with this personality. There is a negative confrontation as Arthur tries to draw out Scarka’s name. He refuses and threatens Arthur

into silence about the session, telling him that he would tell the parents that Arthur had engaged in sexual acts during the hypnotist session. Late at night Arthur contacts Sarah, insisting she look up Scarka’s name, claiming he couldn’t say anything before as Scarka threatened him, but Miles had managed to engrave Scarka’s name into the couch. It is then discovered that Scarka is a seri-al killer, killing multiple wom-en and keeping one hand has a trophy. Scarka had heterochro-mia and died 15 minutes before Miles was born. Arthur deduc-es that Scarka has come back for some unfinished business. Sarah finds clippings of the only survivor of Scarka’s attacks in Miles’ closet and decides to take Miles with her and finish his business for him to get her son back by killing the woman. When Sarah gets to the house, she realizes she can’t kill the woman, and Miles ends up get-ting in the house and killing her anyways. Sarah then chases af-ter her son, after trying to save the woman, and then threatens Scarka with a gun, telling him to give her back her son. Scar-ka tells her he is already gone.She is then shot by a nearby neighbor, and is suspected of killing the woman. With both parents away, John being in the hospital for Miles attack-ing him at one point, Miles is then adopted by a family. The amazing storyline, shocking events, and fresh twist on supernatural occur-rences lands The Prodigy with a rating of 6 Lightning Bolts. There were some plain ele-ments to the movie, and it was more subtle and creepy rather than thrilling that dragged the movie down. Overall the movie is still quite well structured, and still mysteriously inter-ested as well as recommended.

“The amazing story-line, shocking events,

and fresh twists on supernatural occur-

rences lands The Prodigy with a rating of 6 Lightning Bolts.”

March/April 2019 22

OP-EDFRESH TAKE ON AQUAMAN

By Bailey McDanielStaff Reporter

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

Based off the the DC Comics of the legendary hero of Atlan-tis, on December 21, 2018 the movie Aquaman was released. The movie is rated PG-13 for some language, sci-fi violence and action. The movie has as-tounding graphics and fantasy attributes, running 2h 23m. Aquaman is an action-packed adventure of a character known as Arthur, secretly Aquaman, (played by actor Jason Momoa) born half human and half At-lantean (from the underwater city Atlantis), who is met with conflicts of reality as to his worthiness of fulfilling his fate and becoming king of Atlantis. Aquaman is a thrilling story about a man doing good for ordinary people with his un-ordinary gifts, but when chal-lenged with taking the throne of his underwater counterpart, he wants nothing to do with it. Arthur gives watchers a taste of a humorous and humble hero who at the same time is seen as quite stubborn for good rea-sons. He rejects his fate of be-coming king of Atlantis as he

was always seen as an abomina-tion by Atlantis for being part human. During this era there is mass conflict between humans and Atlanteans. Arthur is ulti-mately forced to take a claim on his throne as Atlantis’ current ruler threatens the lands above the sea, and everyone Arthur fights everyday to protect. On Arthur’s journey to claiming his place on the throne, he must retrieve a trident that is said to be impos-sible to get ahold of and only the true king will suc-ceed. After mul-tiple obstacles of constantly avoiding Atlantean authority and finding where the trident lies, Arthur is fi-nally tasked with defeating the creature who protects the tri-dent. This is a particularly im-portant moment as he nearly misses his chance, but uses his innate talent to talk with ani-mals to let the creature know that he too shares it’s pain. Only when Arthur wields this powerful trident does Atlantis

listen and accept his author-ity. Arthur accepts his fate, and continues to overrule Atlantis. Of course there are other dangers within the movie that Arthur overcomes including a past enemy, known as Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) from before Arthur was trying to claim his throne. Manta and

his father were tak-ing over a submarine when Ar-thur saved the day and ult imately killed Man-ta’s father. At the very

end there is a hint at a pos-sible next movie as Manta en-countered Aquaman after his father’s death and was again defeated, Manta was res-cued by a scientist working to prove the existence of Atlan-tis, Dr. Stephen Shin (Randall Park). Manta insists that he find Aquaman and kill him.There were also friends of Ar-thur’s such as the woman who chased after him to fulfill his

destiny and stop Atlantis from attacking humans, Mera (Am-ber Heard). She ventures with him on his destiny to claim his throne and even man-ages to steal a kiss from him in the end, and seemingly steal his heart all together. The movie Aquaman receives 8 Lightning Bolts for it’s beau-tiful graphics and storyline. Aquaman also contains plenty of amazing action, astound-ingly developed characters as well as backgrounds. Many Aquaman fans were eager to see his new and much more bold outfit change, and actor Jason Momoa has even caught the hearts of many with his attractive features. Plenty of conversation on the new look of the hero has boosted the respect for Aquaman as many thought his old outfit was quite dorky as was his power to com-municate with animals. With the fresh look in Aquaman and the amazing graphics, Aqua-man is now seen as reborn and transformed into a stronger hero for many years to come.

“Aquaman is now seen as re-born and trans-formed into a stronger hero.”

SILENCEBy Natalie ArnoldStaff Reporter Do you ever sit alone in your room at night and just read? In the midst of reading, you hear something. The silence. Silence is dis-tinctive. It’s not like anything else in the world. You are trying to con-tinue reading, but you find yourself focusing on the si-lence more than the book. You eventually stop reading. You sit there for a minute. You just appreciate the silence. A light bulb goes off in your mind. You decide to write about the silence, but as soon as you pick up the pen and make the

slightest movement...you real-ize something. The beautiful silence, the one you were about to write about, is broken. Since

you’ve broken it, you might as well write about it. As you be-gin to write, other thoughts fill your

head. The sound of your pen scratching against the paper. The endless thoughts com-ing to your mind. Your hand is beginning to cramp. You stop writing and think about some-thing. You actually aren’t lis-tening to the silence, because you hear a fan blowing. The AC rattling. You sit there just appreciating the white noise.

HAPPINESSBy Natalie ArnoldStaff Reporter What exactly is happiness? Do you know? Isn’t it different to everyone? How long does it last? All of these are questions that float through my brain. My happiness comes in a vari-ety of forms. It can be the sim-plest thing like the smell of my mama’s pumpkin bread, which reminds me of Christmas. It’s the simplest things that can make you smile the most. Is it? That is the question. Is it actu-ally ourselves who determine whether or not we are happy? Or is it society? Or is it fate? Or is it a creator from above?

Why is it that we put ourselves through so much pain just for a few moments of happiness? Now think about what truly makes you happy. Is it the love you’ll feel towards your signifi-cant other? Is it the “love” you see in movies and tv shows? Is it the sound of leaves crunch-ing underneath your feet dur-ing the fall months? Is it the silence? Is it music? Is it the day-time sunshine or the nighttime darkness? That’s the beauty of it all. It could be everything, but it could it also be nothing, or does nothing even exist?

Silence is distinctive.

March/April 201923

OP-EDWarning: Spoilers Ahead

GRAPHIC NOVEL CAME TO LIFE IN ALITABy Bailey McDanielStaff Reporter Alita: Battle Angel is a bitter-sweet story of an angel of both heaven and death. Alita (Voice actress by Rosa Salazar) was found in a scrap yard by the mysterious Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz) when looking for cy-borg parts. Alita has no mem-ory of who she is, but Dr. Ido knows all too well of the truth. She eventually learns this truth through combat and through the help and even prevention of those around her. Alita: Battle Angel was released on February 14, 2019 and is rated PG-13 for some language and violence. The movie is 2h2m and the genres include sci-fi, action, adventure, romance, and thriller. The movie begins with Dr. Ido fishing out Alita’s parts and then reassembling them. As Alita becomes ac-customed to her new body provided through Dr. Ido, she is given a tour of the city and

meets Hugo (Keean Johnson) with whom she later falls in love. As Alita lives her new life, she tries to piece together her past that she can’t remember. There is talk of women being killed in the night, and Alita soon becomes suspicious of Dr. Ido as he comes in the house late at night covered in blood. One night Alita follows him, and discovers he is a bounty hunter. Alita helps Dr. Ido to kill some criminals, and soon remembers a part of her life while unleashing unexpectedly master-level combat moves. Alita begins to pressure Dr. Ido to tell her who she is, knowing he knows something he won’t tell. As Alita begins to hangout with Hugo more, he takes her to a ship that had crashed from the above city. There, Alita gets into the ship, and finds the body of what she was supposed to be in, called a Berserker. Al-ita brings it back to Dr. Ido, in-sisting she feels a connection to

the body. Dr. Ido then admits it is a body she was designed for to be an ultimate bot of de-struction. Dr. Ido then refuses to connect her with this body as it could end badly for every-one with that amount of power. Alita stomps off to then be-come a licensed hunter war-rior, and shows up at a pub to challenge all the hunter war-riors to fight her. As she fights with them, a previous crimi-nal only partially defeated by Alita emerges and claims to take Alita’s life. The city from above, where Alita came from known as Tiphares, wants Al-ita dead for being such an ad-vanced machine and for being so destructive. Alita is older technology and far more pow-erful than anything else which makes her a wanted criminal to Tiphares. Alita then be-gins fighting almost everyone chasing after her, and learns more about who she is, and eventually has to make risky

decisions to save Hugo’s life. Hugo ends up dying, and with time Alita competes in Mo-torball and becomes popular enough to then get a trip up to Tiphares where she plans to kill the man behind it all. Alita: Battle Angel is an ac-tion-filled movie based off the graphic novel series Gunnm written by Yukito Kishiro. Ali-ta: Battle Angel has astounding graphics that work beautifully with the well-developed story and characters. The amount of detail put into the movie is groundbreaking as are the mysterious elements that re-ally catch the eyes of viewers. Alita: Battle Angel is proudly awarded 9 Lighting Bolts for its amazing graphics, char-acter development, storyline structure, constant action, and bitter-sweet moments. This movie is highly rec-ommended, especially in 3D with all the intense action.

Summer days are on the way, and that means new trends, styles, and clothes. Be prepared for inspiration and more in this issue of Fashion Forward! Basics are a necessity for any summer wardrobe. With basics you can style them in any way with any accessory or another item of clothing. Here are some basics that you should think about adding to your wardrobe:1.) White or black tank top2.) A couple pairs of jean shorts3.) Plain white tee4.) A tee shirt dress 5.) A pair of flip flops or sandalsThese items are a great start for any summer wardrobe. Bright patterns and vibrant colors really pop in summer light. Whether it is on shirts, pants, or bathing suits the

FASHION FOWARDBy Savannah AversaLayout Editor

bright colors are a bold and fun choice for the summer months. Swimming and tanning in the summer is a must, and in order to do that you need a swim-suit. There are many places to buy them, but I’ll give you my top three. The place I go most often to look for swimwear is Arie. They go up to a 2x and campaign for body positivity. Most of their swimwear is un-der forty dollars but they have sales all the time, so be on the lookout for the best deals. The one other place that I shop is Target. They have a great size range and styles that fit every-one’s tastes. Check the clear-ance rack, because they always are putting swimsuits on it. Have a fun and great summer ev-erybody, and see you next year!

BLEXITBy Christelle TempleFeatures Editor 2019 is definitely a year for change. Big controversy is al-ways seen on the news with the media and the democratic party hating on President Don-ald Trump and the Republic party. However the media has failed to cover this new up ris-ing starting in America. A new organization started by an Af-rican American Republic Ac-

tivist, Candice Owens. “Blexit!” is an organization that stands for Black and Hispanics exit-ing the Democratic party. The organization is vastly growing and has conventions held all over the East Coast. The fa-mous music artist Kanye West has jumped on this organiza-tion creating the Blexit! Logo. The organization is looking to broaden its public stance during the 2020 election.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2018/10/27/exclusive-kanye-west-and-candace-owens-how-africa-inspired-the-blexit-artwork/

March/April 2019 24

OP-EDMY OLDEST FRIEND

By Christelle TempleFeatures Editor

I get scared being aloneI’m 16 and in a store with a

parent, or friend, somehow I always burst into tears the mo-

ment I can’t find themI get scared being alone

To the point where I’d rather walk to my neighbors door-

step whos an 83 year old man talking for hours about the

leaves changing colors than to be in my house alone when my parents went to go run errands

without meI get scared being alone

Yet somehow it is a more predominant feeling than

breathingThe feeling is closer to me

than most peopleThe feeling has been my lon-

gest connection than someone ever has

I was one when my mother first deployed

It might not seem like much, until every two years since that

first deployment my parents took turns

I get scared being alone

It started out as me crying on my birthday when my dad was

in IraqOr when he missed the third

christmas in a rowTo when my mom missed Val-entine’s Day, St. Patrick’s day,

Mother’s day, to Flag dayEven when they’d be gone for months at the same time and our Grandma would stay with

my brother and I or even living with the neighbors

I get scared being aloneKnowing I’ll always be aloneKnowing I’ll be moving in

three yearsKnowing everyone is or even-

tually will be a strangerKnowing nobody stays in

contactKnowing no matter who I’m

with if it’s one person or 20 the feeling will never stray

For being alone terrifies me, but comforts me knowing this is the only thing that has never

left and never willI get scared knowing I will

always be alone and alone is all I’ll ever be

I get scared being alone

Finding places during break that are not expensive can get very hard. Here are a few af-fordable things to do on your break that can be fun for all

ages!Holiday Trav-l Park

Generally costs $40-$70 a night. It’s 5 minutes away from Virginia Beach and includes so many fun things to do on and

off the resort! Phone #- (866) 849-8860 1075 General Booth Blvd,

Virginia Beach, VA 23451Fun Land

Fun Land is family-friend-ly, can be costly, but is super fun for all ages. It has games, batting cages, go-karts, tracks, laser tag, and other fun adven-

tures. Phone #- (540) 785-6700 1351 Central Park Blvd,

Fredericksburg, VA 22401Old Rag

If you love nature and hiking with your friends, Old Rag is for you. Old Rag Mountain is a

BREAK IDEASBy Kaelee SinclairStaff Reporter

THINKING ABOUT WHERE WE EATBy Emma PurcellStaff Reporter How much do you question the food that is served to you when your waiter presents it? The company Chuck E Cheese, one of the most popular attrac-tions for kids, has been dealing with some stirred up contro-versy these past couple weeks about just that. In a recent conspiracy series created by a famous youtu-ber, Shane Dawson, a theory was brought up that Chuck E Cheese reuses their pizza slices instead of preparing new ones. In other words, If a few slices are left on a table, those slices are taken back to the kitchen, placed together with other slic-es that were found, and reheat-ed. There are many reasons for this assumption; like the fact

that their pizza slices seem to never line up or where the pizza is cut the pepperoni is on one side, but missing on the other. While Chuck E Cheese has denied it, numerous peo-ple are still very skeptical about the whole situation. What is happening to their pizza? Is it safe to eat? How many hands have touched it? With a annual revenue of around $1.8 million, many cus-tomers are rethinking about going forth with their next trip to Chuck E Cheese, which will have a big impact on their fran-chise. Related to this claim against Chuck E Cheese, we need to be more vigilant about what we are eating and where. Here is a list below of many restaurants

in Fredericksburg that have re-ceived food violations. While the specific violation isn’t list-ed, there are certain codes that were mentioned. It makes you wonder.

1. Goolrick’s Pharmacy, 901 Caroline Street : 1 core2. Buffalo Wild Wings, 1638 Carl D Silver Parkway: 6 core, 1 repeat3. China Delight, 300 Cha-tham Heights: 4 priority, 3 pri-ority foundation

4. Central Station, 1917 Prin-cess Anne Street; 1 priority foundation, 1 core, 2 repeat5. Spirts, 816 Caroline Street: 4 core, 4 repeat6. Curitiba Art Cafe, 919 Caro-line Street: 2 priority, 1 priority foundation, 1 core7. Mason Dixon Cafe, #11 Suite Hope Road: 1 priority8. Angela’s Italian Restaurant 6336 Jefferson Davis Hwy: 4 priority9. The Butcher’s Table, 1000 Charles Street: 3 priority, 1 pri-ority foundation, 1 core10. El Rincón De Selena Res-taurant, 6322 Five Mile Center Park: 3 priority, 5 priority foun-dation, 10 core, 2 repeat11. Top Chef, 33 Town and Country Drive: 3 core, 3 repeat

3,284 feet mountain near Sper-ryville in Madison County, Vir-

ginia. It is $20 for parking, and

you’re set for the whole day! Old Rag Mountain Rob-

ertson, VA 22743New River Gorge

New River Gorge is another landmark that you can stay at, hike at, and see breathtaking views! It’s a must-see landmark

to see.Phone #- (304) 465-0508

Glen Jean, WV 25846Kings Dominion

Roller coasters, water parks, games and more! Kings Do-minion is somewhat costly, but for an all-day deal; you cannot

beat it. 16000 Theme Park Way,

Doswell, VA 23047Mary Washington’s House

This is the house George Wash-ington purchased for his mom. It’s a Historical place, and only

costs $7 for a full tour!1200 Charles St, Fredericks-

burg, VA 22401-3706

“What is happen-ing to their pizza? Is it safe to eat? How many hands have

touched it?”

March/April 201925

SPORTSTENNIS CAUSES

RAQUET By Emma PurcellNews Reporter This spring sport season at Chancellor High, many stu-dents are super excited to start off their tryouts and begin practices. Sports including soc-cer, baseball, track, and tennis are all sports that are played at Chancellor for this season. Two star tennis players, Caitlyn Dick and Sarah Stillabower, shared their previous experiences with tennis and what they’re look-ing forward to for this year. “I’ve only played tennis for a short four years,” says Cait-lyn Dick, a senior on the team. “During freshman year, I had a bunch of girls convince me to play, because it was so fun, and great to be social with the girls! Although for this season, I’m looking forward to play-ing with some of my closest friends, and win more matches as a team. As for the off season, Dick enjoys going to the courts and playing with a friend.

states Dick. “I would also en-joy seeing everyone on the team have immense amounts of success in their games, and the team as the whole just ac-complishing bigger and bet-ter things for our season!” “This season I plan on just en-joying every moment, and not stressing over a need to win’” states senior Sarah Stillabower. “I’m sure that we’re about to have a great season!” Stillabow-er started playing for the ten-nis team her freshman year as a way for a group of her friends to play a sport in the spring season. She has continued to play for the past four years. “I had never played before, so it was definitely a new experi-ence!” she says. Stillabower believes that Chancellor has one of the strongest tennis teams in the district, and has a good chance of winning against King George, Spotsy, Caroline, Courtland and possibly James Monroe. She says that Eastern View has always been the hard-est team to play, but she thinks Chancellor will have a good fight against them this season.

“I had never played before, so it was

definitely a new ex-perience!” she says.

“I don’t necessarily have an idol for tennis,” mentions Caity when asked about her inspira-tion. “The few major players I enjoy watching are Rafael Nadal, Thanasi Kokkinakis, and of course Serena Williams!” When asked about the tennis team’s biggest competition, she responded with, “Eastern View has definitely always been a struggle we strive to overcome. Although, for schools like King George, Caroline, and Spot-sylvania, we need to put away early, which I think we have a great chance of doing!” In addition, Dick mentions that juggling school, social events, tennis, and keeping a posi-

Juggling school and tennis hasn’t been

too big of a struggle for her, but she still

says that coming to practice every-

day requires a lot of dedication.

tive mindset through all of it can get tough. “It mostly be-comes a struggle though with my responsibilities waiting for me at home, like my dogs. ”This season I want the team as a whole to have more commu-nication and positivity, not that it was an issue, but it’s always nice to have a close knit group,”

“My favorite part about tennis is the teamwork.” she explains when asked about her favorite aspect of tennis. She says that even when playing singles, she is giving it her all for the rest of her teammates. When play-ing doubles with her partner, Stillabower says that it still has the same goal of playing for the entire team. She was sur-prised by how much she came to enjoy tennis after she joined

the school team her first year, considering how different it was from other sports. Juggling school and tennis hasn’t been too big of a struggle for her, but she still says that coming to practice everyday requires a lot of dedication. She says that all the hard work at practices pays off when the team wins and the tennis coach, Marla Aste, bakes brownies for the whole team.

ALLY COOK: SENIOR CAPTAIN

By Taylor SullivanSports Editor Ally Cook plays for the girls varsity soccer team here at Chancellor High School. She has been playing soccer for the past 12 years. She normal-

ly plays center back, but her coach has recently been playing her at center defensive mid. “I feel more comfortable at center back, but center defensive is starting to grow on me,” Cook states. Cook loves playing soc-cer and states, “[I love the] feel-ing I get after I save a goal or score a goal, but the best part is winning.” She is easily mo-tivated to come out and play for the school team every day,

“Personally, I’m a very com-petitive player,” states Cook. “I want to be the best athlete/ teammate, and in order to do that I have to go out and prac-tice. Each practice and game

“I want to be the best athlete/ team-mate, and in order to do that I have to go out and practice.

Cook plans on going to Wheeling Jesuit University to play

division 2 soccer. In her years

is one more step to becom-ing the best player I can be.” Cook plans on going to Wheel-ing Jesuit University to play division 2 soccer. In her years of playing soccer she has had many accomplishments, but getting a scholarship to play in college is one that stands out to her most. Cook’s main strengths in soccer is being a natural lead-er out on the field and being a coachable player. Cook states, “Every athlete, no matter what sport, has to be able to adapt and pick up new skills quickly. This way it makes it easier for the coach, so he or she isn’t stuck on teaching one thing for a few days.” Cook has played Varsity soccer all four years.

March/April 2019 26

SPORTSELI CARR: SENIOR

SOCCERBy Taylor SullivanSports Editor Eli Carr is on the boys var-sity soccer team at Chancellor. He has been playing soccer for 13 years, starting as soon as he was able to play and fall-ing in love with the sport al-most immediately. Carr started off with tot soccer around age five or six and gradually made it to playing for acad-emy in Richmond and the var-sity soccer team at Chancellor. ”Scoring goals and building re-lationships with my teammates is my favorite part about play-ing soccer,” states Carr. “The feeling of scoring a goal and helping your team win is inde-scribable and in my opinion it’s priceless no matter what level you play at. The adrenaline rush is amazing, and it pushes me to score even more goals. Soccer has given me some of my clos-est friends and created bonds which will last forever.” He has played every single position on the field but goalie. “That has taught me a lot of valuable les-sons, but as of right now I am playing 9 (striker) and 10 (at-tacking mid). For college I was recruited as a winger/ striker, so we will see what position I end up playing in the future.” Carr is committed to playing Division 1 soccer at Longwood University for the next four years. ”For the time being, I am working as hard as I can to make it to the professional lev-el. Although I know it requires a lot of work, and I still have a long way to go. My first goal of playing at the collegiate level has been reached, so now my sights are set on playing pro-fessionally no matter where it takes me.” As a sophomore Carr received some major accom-plishments/honors. ”I received quite a few honors such as Free Lance Star First-Team All Area,

First Team All State, and re-cord holder for most points as a sophomore. The highlight of my soccer career so far has been the opportunity to play with and against some of the best players in the nation during my time playing for Richmond united.” Everyday he chooses to come out and play soccer for his family and God. ”I know they want me to be successful, and I try everyday to improve both as a soccer player and as a person, even though I fall short most of the time. I know how much my parents have sacrificed for me to be able to play this sport, and I try to remind myself ev-eryday that I am extremely for-tunate to be in a position I am in,” states Carr. “There are a lot of kids who don’t get the op-portunities I have been given.” Carr’s greatest strengths are his ability to create something out of nothing.”There are times where I can go almost an entire game and contribute nothing, but at the last min-ute I’ll get the ball and score a goal when we are on the back foot, and it seems as though nothing is going our way.”

TRENT SETS SITES ON STATES

By Stephannie MarinezStaff Reporter Trent Sites is a 15-year-old freshman at Chancellor High. He plays on the varsity ten-nis team, and has been play-ing for a year and a half. At the time of this interview, his seating, or rank, is three. Tennis is a spring sport at Chancellor where two or four players volley a ball with rack-ets over a net and across a court. We have both a girls and boys tennis team. “When you hit the ball, it just feels good,” Sites says. When asked if the sport was hard to play, he answered not as long as you practice. Sites started to play tennis af-ter trying different sports and not liking them, so he gave it a try and ended up liking it. ”Coach Webster is very help-ful, nice, and awesome,” states Sites. No one in his family plays, so he is the first one to play. “I plan to play for all four years

of High School, and then it de-pends in college,” Sites states. A pre-game ritual he does is to make sure he warms up first. Sites hasn’t won any awards and no one specific inspires him to play; he just likes to play. Some advice sites gives to anyone interested in ten-nis is: “If you haven’t played, watch videos and try to hit the ball over the racket.”

ELLE’S BELLSBy Christelle TempleFeatures Editor Now is the time to start get-ting things moving. It’s March! The start of spring and every-one is getting out of their win-ter hibernation. The weather is getting warmer, the sky is blue, get outside and try some-thing new! Haha, just kidding. But since the weather is so nice going outside to get

that vitamin D we all missed so much is a great idea. A good endurance workout to start off the spring would be to do some intervals. Run for 10 minutes then stop, do 15 jump-ing jacks, 10 push ups, and 20 crunches. Repeat this 3 times. Go at your own pace. This may seem diffi-cult but you can do it!

March/April 201927

SPORTSNEW CHALLENGES:

MARCUS CHEW Whether you are playing in the field or at the bat, this game is played between two teams that take turns playing offense and defense. It is a vigorous sport that involves the complicated ability to hit a sphere with an even longer sphere. This sport is known as baseball. Marcus Chew, a Chancellor High senior athlete, has been playing the sport since he was five. Chew’s current position on the ChHs

baseball team is right field. When interviewing the talent-ed athlete he claims no specific inspiration and just that he en-joys the game. However, Chew’s favorite MLB team is the Wash-ington Nationals. Bryce Harper, despite being traded to the Phil-lies, is Chew’s favorite athlete. After high school, he plans on not playing baseball, and will be going into a trade school for welding. Chew’s dream

job is to be doing something more hands-on and outside. “Don’t hold back,” says Chew to students who have never played baseball, and who are considering the sport. Although Chew doesn’t plan on continu-ing his baseball career after high school, he does say he would recommend baseball to athletes who have not played, saying, “You don’t know if you’re go-ing to make it if you don’t try.

Our greatest missed opportuni-ties are the ones we never go for. (Coaches) don’t need all-star players. They would rather have people they can build up and teach.” explains Chew. The biggest lesson Chew has learned is to not let his er-rors get the best of him, say-ing, “Not to get frustrated with your mistakes.” Mistakes help us to learn and grow, and without mistakes, we wouldn’t learn or adapt to improve. Get-ting frustrated over mistakes will only distract us from get-ting better to fix these mistakes and become better players. When asked if he is looking forward to graduating, Chew answers, “Yes, and no.” Chew expresses all the things he will miss about baseball, saying, “I will miss the memories of talk-ing to people during practices and on bus rides to away games.” In truth, all the memories he has made, even the bus rides and the games he has played, these moments will stay with Chew even as he leaves Chancellor. Never be afraid to take on new challenges because, like Chew, they could end up making for great stories, amazing memories, and even life changing lessons.

“You don’t know if you’re going

to make it if you don’t try.

“Not to get frus-trated with your

mistakes.”

By Bailey McDanielStaff Reporter

PLAY BALL!CHARGER SOFTBALLBy Brianna ButcherStaff Reporter Chancellor High School soft-ball is leading one of its big-gest season in years with 20 games on the schedule . The team coach Jimmy Hensel has been coaching the team now for three years. He has made a lot of improvements to the once poorly maintained field. The JV season this year has had a fantastic start with two wins under their belt. The Var-sity team has also done great things with one win so far . Erin Dameron a sophomore at Chancellor plays catcher, first base, and occasionally pitches for the varsity softball team believes that this season will be good. In an interview she explained that she has high hopes for the season stating that “We lost some seniors last year but I feel we have some solid players filling in those po-sitions to continue to be com-petitive.” Erin also says that the biggest competition in her opinion will be Courtland but has no doubt that the Chancel-

lor will be able to beat them. From a player who has been enjoying softball since she was six, Dameron believes that they have a motivating coach who makes the team better. She would like to see the team limit their negativ-

ity and focus on being positive. She recognizes that they have a tough schedule with a lot of bigger schools with which they

will compete. She says the team has a lot of fun together and has secured lasting bonds. The Chancellor Charger soft-ball team is headed to lead a great season full of teamwork and team bonding. Go Chargers!

“We lost some seniors last year

but I feel we have some solid players filling in those positions

to continue to be competitive.”

“Erin also says that the biggest com-petition in her opinion will be

Courtland but has no doubt that the Chancellor will be able to beat them.”

Erin Dameron

Tessa Dodson and Sam Tillman

March/April 2019 28

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