Sailors On the ScenenewsmagazineDecember 2011 | Volume 6 | Issue 2

MONA SHORES MIDDLE SCHOOL I 1700 WOODSIDE I MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN 49441

On the InsideStudents and athletes of the month exemplify Sailor Pride

Salad bar would provide healthier choices for students

Eighth grader balances music, sports, and academics

www.sailorsonthescene.com

PAGE TWO2

sai lors on the scene ~ staff

On

The

Cover

photo by: kaylee mclaughlin

Eighth grader Chase Ledsworth swims into first place during the mixed 100 butterfly.

staff writers:editor-in-chief:mitchel dinsmoor

managing editor:kara green

photo editor:kennedy potts

section editors:julia kwapiszewskililly mccollum jacy nicholssydney pieczynskimackenzie quinn

shamarie brownashlyn crossbrandy fortonbrendon freemanjamie gibbs alec huberkaylee mclaughlin selena sanchezantonio souza

adviser:mike phillips

editorial board:pam ackley marie bettenchristina bouwens ken byardshelly dykstrajacey ecclestoncheri kimballkathy miszecarol mogdismichelle phillips matt schuchardtcharlotte scottcindy soyarsamy stielstralori veurink

IN THE LEAD 3Students show Sailor pride earning student and athletes of the month

Our Voice

Christmas is right around the corner, and people are starting to put up their Christ-mas trees, lights, and buying gifts for loved ones. Some people don’t have enough money to buy Christmas presents for their family and friends, and for this reason we have charities like Toys for Tots. Toys for Tots, which is sponsored by the Marine Corps, benefits families throughout America and helps provide gifts for underprivileged

families. The middle school will be collect-ing toys in third hour classes from Decem-ber 5 through December 14. New, unused toys or five dollars will be accepted with the top three classes earning a pizza party. Coats for Kids is another Christmas charity that collects and provides gently used coats to families that can’t afford them. Many of the less fortunate appreciate people when they donate coats and toys. Not only do

you make Christmas special for a family in need, but you feel great giving to others.

Bringing Christmas joy to the less fortunate

Our Voice is the opinion message selected by the editors of the Sailors On the Scene newsmagazine.

Students at Mona Shores Middle School show great Sailor pride, but who shines out brightest among stars? The student and athlete of the month.

The student-athletes and student of the month idea was started six years ago by dean of students Ken Byard.

“Other schools did it, why don’t we?,” Mr. Byard said.

When receiving the award a picture is taken and hung in the front office window where the student can show his or her friends and family. Also when you obtain the award Mr. Byard lets the students call their parents and tell them their accomplish-ment.

“I told my dad that I won student athlete of the month and he was really proud of me,” eighth grader Kennedy Potts said.

Teachers and coaches look for different things when picking which students to nom-inate. They look for students who volunteer in class, who show Sailor pride, and have good grades along with leadership skills.

“I look for leadership, respectfulness, and eager to try to get good grades,” seventh grade science teacher Todd Herbert said.

Orchard View has a similar student of the month along with Reeths-Puffer which also has a athlete of the year award.

Sailor pride is important and receiving one of the awards shows students that hard work both in the classroom and in athletics pays off.

“Getting student of the month and being recognized by the school (pays off from hard work),” seventh grader Sara Recknagel said.

Top: Seventh grader Nicholas DeBruin who earned Student-Athlete of the month for October also competes on the seventh grade basketball team. Above Left: Outside the front office is where the winners for the Student and Athlete of the month are displayed. Top Right: Eighth grader David Woodrum, who earned Student-Athlete of the month for September of 2010, is studying for a social studies test in Mrs. Marris’ class.

photos by: mitchel dinsmoor

photo by: kennedy potts

by: mitchel dinsmoor I editor-in-chief

Fundraising is an easy way to raise money , but an even easier way is Box Tops being brought into our school. With taking Box Tops off packages all you have to do is cut or rip them off your boxed foods, bought binders, cereal boxes, or Ramon noodle packages.

“Collecting Box Tops has helped our school buy more science supplies like beakers and graduated cylinders,” seventh grader Madison Cirner said.

Ten cents can help contribute a lot for a school and every Box Top you bring in is exactly that.

“I think we need new triple beam bal-ances for our school,” sixth grader Trevor Versalle said.

Every ten Box Tops being brought in your science teacher will give you a ticket to try to win a pizza party. Giving an opportunity to win a pizza party brings in more Box Tops because it gives the urge to bring in the most box tops so a students name gets pulled.

“A reward helps bring in kids because they need something to win,” eighth grader Mitchel Dinsmoor said.

Box Tops brought in means prizes given out. With one-hundred box tops brought in by a student they win a candy bar. With five-hundred Box Tops brought in by a student they will win movie tickets to the Cinema Carousel.

“I have brought in three-hundred Box Tops and have gotten three candy bars,” sixth grader Trenton Vredeveld said.

Students have contributed to bringing in Box Tops. Students have brought in over ten thousand Box Tops this year raising over $1,000.

“I have brought in fifty and I have seen students bring in one-hundred,” said sev-enth grader Nicole Jacobs.

Last year they bought brand new micro-scopes with the box tops money. Box Tops in our school have given an easy way to give and also helping out our school.

At Mona Shores Middle School seventh and eighth grade students are now required by state law to take a world language class. French and Spanish are the two languages that MSMS has and students get to choose which language they want to take.

“I chose Spanish over French because the language seems really fun,” seventh grader Kendyl Marine said.

Students need to take two languages for high school graduation requirements and Mona Shores requirement is to have one in high school and one in middle school, or two in middle school.

Spanish is clearly the bomb-digity to learn, it is very fun to learn a new lan-guage,” Spanish teacher Senorita Barnett said.

In Spanish class students listen to Spanish music, play games, watch videos, read and write in Spanish, perform skits, have con-versations in Spanish, group and individual projects including Spanish music videos, homemade Spanish recipes, a fashion show and much more.

“I choose Spanish instead of French because I thought it would be easier than French class,” seventh grader Davaun

Barton said.French teacher Judy Blackledge comes

over from the high school and teaches the middle school French. It is the first time that the middle school has had French class. Students watch videos, play games and cre-ate skits.

“My favorite thing in French class is the language because it is fun to say,” seventh grader Tayshaun Kelley said.

Having Ms. Blackledge at the middle school and teach French has provided stu-dents an opportunity to learn another world language.

“It gives you an opportunity on what language you want to take,” seventh grader Courtney Sidock said.

by: brandy forton I staff writerSpanish and French bring great opportunities to students

Top: Senorita Barnett is playing a vocabulary game with her class to learn

spanish in an easier way.Right: Eighth grader Ethan Vanderlaan is going over his study guide for the test.

photos by: brandy forton / sydney piezynski

by: brendon freeman I staff writerBox Tops for school supplies

This student is looking through a microscope that was bought with the money that has been raised through the Box Tops for Education program.

illustration by: lilly mccollum

FEATURES4

The Mona Shores Middle School swim meet against Wayland was a great start to the season on November 17, 2011.

The four competitors from Mona Shores in the mixed 200 free race finished strong. Eighth grader, John Hunt finished in first place with a time of 2:10.10.

“I consider my time in this event fast,” Hunt said. “But my fastest time was 2:08.”

Eighth graders Dava Lakatos and Kyle Sullivan both came in first place in the mixed 1 meter 6 dives event.

“I spend an hour and a half at practicing my dives,” Lakatos said. “I love to dive because of all the gymnastics in it.”

In the mixed 100 free race, seventh grader Lexi Studabaker took first place with her new record setting time of 1:16.63. Eighth graders Amber Lisak and Sarah Baker

finished behind with times of 1:17.19 and 1:20.96 respectively.

“I spend about an hour every day practic-ing for this event,” Studubaker said. ”I think this time is fast but I want to do to better.”

Seventh grader Annika Cotner came in first place in the mixed 100 breast stroke with a fast time of 1:21.95.

“This is not the best time I have ever swam, but it is faster than some people,” Cotner said. “My fastest time is 1:20.18.”

Coach Meghan Barnett successfully coached the team into victory.

“I love seeing their excitement when they succeed in swimming,” Barnett said. “It is fun when we win, but swimming is an in-dividual sport and I feel more pride for my swimmers when they improve their times and their strokes.”

Competitive cheer has been around at Mona Shores Middle School for twelve years, and on November 7th, the competi-tive cheer team got a new assistant coach Allison Mocere, and it is her first year coaching.

“Alli motivates me and encourages me to do my best and keep trying,” seventh grader Braxton Wasilewski says.

Mocere is helping head cheer coach Shelly Dykstra because she couldn’t cheer on MSHS Varsity Sideline Cheer due to a back injury, but she wanted to stay involved with Mona Shores Cheerleading.

“Having an extra set of eyes and keeping control when I’m not there helps me man-age the team,” Dyksta says.

Mocere is a senior in high school, and has been cheering six years, but she is only cheering on MSHS Varsity Competi-tive Cheer this year. She started coaching sideline cheer when the season started in the summer, and she decided to keep coaching competitive cheer.

“She is always positive when things go wrong,” eighth grader Megan Reinink says.

Competitive cheer has been around at

Mona Shores Middle School for twelve years. Coach Dykstra has been coaching for nine years at Mona Shores, and she has made it a very popular sport for girls to get involved with at MSMS.

“Shelly makes cheer fun, and she is nice about it and it makes people want to try out,” seventh grader Kasey McCarl says.

Many of the girls value Mocere in helping them with many different skills in cheer-leading, and she communicates very well with all of the girls.

“She gives me good pep talks and is willing to correct me on what I am doing wrong,” eighth grader Kaitlin Maycroft says.

by: sydney pieczynski I sports editorMSMS competitive cheer gets a new assistant coach

Top: Coach Shelly Dykstra coaches eighth graders Kennedy Ryan and Megan

Reinink and seventh grader Sarah Resterhouse at practice while working on

round one.

Right: Eighth graders Danielle Warren and Morgan Smith pose with assistant

coach Allison Mocere.

photos by: sydney pieczynski

by: kaylee mclaughlin I staff writerMona Shores swim team dives into a new season

Eighth grader Amber Lisak grips on to the starting block in the mixed 50 backstroke.

photo by: kaylee mclaughlin

SPORTS 5

In 1893 the Hershey bar was brought to mind by Milton Her-shey in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, introducing the delicious treat to America’s candy bar needs in 1900. The Hershey bar was origi-nally supposed to be a caramel candy, instead of a chocolate bar. In 1903 Milton broke ground with making 5.5 million dollars by selling so many delicious snacks. About two decades after the Hershey bar came out, The Hershey kiss came out in 1921. In the early 1940’s, in every Gi Pack or health kit for the army, you would find a Hershey bar because they are so popular and it was everyones favorite snack. The candy bar factory is located in Harrisburg Penn-sylvania. Unfortunately Milton Hershey died in 1945 of pneumo-nia, but the candy bar tradition leads on.

by: Mackenzie Quinn, Selena Sanchez, and Antonio Souza

If you could

be any candy

bar, what kind

would you be?

C a n d y B a r

Erin Bordeau 7th Grade

“I would be a Heath bar because they’re really good.”

Austin Lanore 7th Grade

“I would be a Snickers because they taste good.”

A’Kira Lewis 6th Grade

“I would be a Snickers because they are satisfying.”

Jalen Kelley 6th Grade

“I would be a Twix Bar because they are delicious.”

Connor Schotts 8th Grade

“I would be a Snickers because they’re deli-cious.”

Morgan Johnson 8th Grade

“I would be a Twix Bar because Twix Bars are sweet and they are amazing.”

CENTER SECTION6

Riley Jacobs 6th Grade

“I like Almond Joys because they have Almonds in it.”

Jared Thomas 6th Grade

“I don’t like Mounds because they have dark choclate.”

Taylor Denman7th Grade

“I don’t like Butterfingers because they are too sweet.”

Kalie Callison7th Grade

“I like Heath because they make me happy.”

Moe Boyd8th Grade

“I like Twix because they are caramelly and crunchy.”

Tera Strandberg8th Grade

“I don’t like Snickers becasue I don’t like peanuts or chocolate, and I don’t like how

it’s all chewy and chunky.”

What is your

most or

least favorite

candy?

c h a o t i c s

-When the Snickers bar was first introduced, it cost five cents.

-In 1953, it took 27 hours to create one PEEPS® Marshmal-low Chick.

-Twix first originated from the mars company, which also created the snickers bar.

-Hershey foods made the first golden almond bar in 1977.

-In 1991 The recipe for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is changed to add three times the amount of peanuts.

-60 million chocolate easter bunnies are sold each year.

-Cotton candy was originally called fairy floss.

CENTER SECTION 7

Students have been wanting this idea for years and years, the stu-dents want cell phones at lunch because they have nothing better to do than sit around and talk to random people.

One reason why students need cell phones at lunch is so they have something to do with the rest of their time. Students have the option of going outside or down in the gym, but most of the

students decide to just stay inside and chat with there friends. Some students don’t want to get up and go talk

to their friends so they wish that texting on cellphone’s was allowed.

Last year twelve students were busted for having cell phones at lunch and this year so far only three people have gotten busted

for having cell phones at lunchtime or in the classrooms. The policy for having cell phones at lunchtime has been around for as long as Mr. Byard or many of the other teachers that work here.

Many students have snuck phones into their pockets and some of them have gotten away with it, but some have not been really lucky. Sometimes the students would sneak their cell phones into the bathroom at lunchtime then they would sneak it into other places. The students have been sneaking into bathrooms and other places just so that they could talk to their friends without the teachers knowing.

Allowing students to have cellphone’s at lunchtime will lead into less office referals, less bathroom talking, and less phones be-ing snuck into the classroom.

A salad bar should be present at Mona shores middle school, our school has boxed salads, but that doesn’t provide a variety.

A salad bar would inspire students to eat healthier because of the healthy choices. MSMS

has made some healthy changes in the past by taking away the junk food line, but by taking this even further with putting in a salad bar would increase our schools health by a lot.

One out of every five kids in the U.S. is obese or overweight, well a salad bar would provide a fresh, daily salad with multiple options for any staff or student. With the food we have it doesn’t really provide any

options for vegetarians. Most of the food in our cafeteria contains meat.

Some students bring salads in their lunch box but, when its finally lunch time their salads aren’t that fresh. It’s not just students that often eat salads, staff members also eat boxed salads or bring their own too.

There’s always the option of a cookie and chips, but that doesn’t really provide energy for the rest of the day.

Salad bar would provide healthier choices

Lilly McCollum

Top: Two boxed salads containing salad, bacon, tomatoes, ham, cheese, dressing,

and chicken.Right: Some of the few non-meat options

in our cafeteria.photos by:lilly mcCollum

Students should be able to have cell phones at lunch

Students sneaking cell phones into lunch would prevent trouble anywhere else.

illustration by: ashlyn cross

— Montaijjh Kitchen ~ 8th

“It’s healthy and it’s good for someone that might be on a diet.”

AshlynCross

— Beth Prentice ~ 7th grade English teacher

“It would help seeing the variety, and different veggies might appeal to students.”

— Kohl Richards ~ 6th

“The students could text their friends or contact them somehow.”

— Troy Moran ~ 6th grade S.S. teacher

“I was 22 when I got my first phone and I survived.”

OPINIONS8

For little or no cost at all students can have fun playing outside in Muskegon’s winter wonderland.

You can get a group of friends and make the biggest snowman you have ever seen. Snow forts with snow-

ball fights are fun free options that keeps everybody busy. Near Christmas time you

and your family can go outside and spread their Christmas cheer by singing carols in your neighbor-hood.

Muskegon Winter Sports Complex is a great place to go for inexpensive winter fun. It is located at 462 Scenic Dr in North Muskegon and usually open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. There

are hockey rinks and figure skating for four dollars if you have your own skates, hel-met, and hockey stick. Along with the rinks there is also an ice skating trail through the woods. And for no cost at all you can go sledding. Don’t worry if you don’t have your own sled, you can rent

one for three dollars. If you need any more information you can visit www.msports.org.

Another thing to do with family or friends is go rent a movie from Redbox, the rental is only a dollar a night. So whether it’s ice fishing on the big lake or making Christmas crafts with friends and family the options in the winter are endless.

Grab your boots, mittens, and your friends and have a great time playing in the snow.

1984 Footloose has been redone and brought to theaters in 2011.

The movie is about a boy from the big city, Boston, who is placed in a country town, Bomont . The teen-aged boy named Ren tries hard to fit in. He is extremely

shocked that rock and roll music and danc-ing are illegal. He finds a group of friends who want to have a prom, but can’t . Five years earlier the pastor’s son died from a bridge accident be-cause he was dancing too late at night. So they banned dancing for future incident’s.

Footloose was originally brought to the theaters on February ,12, 1984. It had $80 million worth of tickets sold. The movie was a big hit in the 80’s. Footloose was re-done in October 11 2011. The new footloose 2011 version is a big hit. It had a modern day twist on the 1984 Footloose movie. The outfits in the movie are quite similar

to the ones in the older version. The movie story line also captured the one in 1984. Being only out for a couple of weeks, new Footloose has $16.1 million tickets sold.

Even though it had only $63.9 less than tickets then the original version 2011 viewers loved the

movie, and some even liked it more then the last one.

What I liked about the new Footloose, is that it stuck with the original concept of the movie. Yet , had a modern day twist on songs, Victoria Justice sang a song with Hunter Hayes “Almost Paradise” ,which was featured in the prom scene of Footloose 2011 version .

Footloose is a crowd favorite . It shows the sacrifices they had to make to just dance.

1984 Footloose has been remade for 2011 viewers.

Top: 1984 Footloose, Kevin Bacon and Chris Penn are practicing to dance before prom. Kevin is teaching Chris dance moves since dancing was illegal. Above: 2011 Footloose, Kenny Wormald and Miles Teller are dancing at prom. Kenny is teaching Miles how to dance since dancing was illegal.

www.imdb.com

Fun things to do in the winter for five dollars or less.

illustration by: eden peña

— Shelby Sikes ~ 8th

“The dancing is better and Ren is cuter.”

— Desirae Parker ~ 8th

“It is a remake of a classic.”

— Marilyn Rockey ~ 8th

“I have gone caroling once with family and it brightens peoples smiles around the holidays.”

— Madison Dunn ~ 7th

“My tallest snowman was about six to seven feet, taller than me, and that’s surprising.”

JuliaKwapiszewski

MariBrown

ENTERTAINMENT 9

Cousins Sunny Han and Tony Han are both seventh grade students from Guangta-sian, China. Sunny started learning English two years before he came to America and Tony started learning English the year before he came.

Sunny came to America last year and Tony came this year.

“Six more family members are coming from China to America,” Tony said.

They live in the same house, with Sun-ny’s parents. Tony is living with Sunny’s family this year. They are only staying for half a year and they don’t know where they are going when they leave.

“It’s scary being around new people,” Tony said.

They’re favorite type of food is fast food.

They like fast food places like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s in America.

There are things about America that are different from China. In China there are more restrictions on the Internet and there are no social networking sites such as Facebook.

“There is more restricted stuff in China like Facebook,” Sunny said.

Sunny and Tony like China and America about the same, but what they like most about America is Facebook, fast food and Sailor Celebration. They also like American schools a little better than Chinese schools.

“In China we don’t have late start or half days,” Sunny said. This has been a very big change for Sunny Han and Tony Han.

When talking about eighth grader Samuel Karel most people probably think of his mu-sical talent because of the multiple instru-ments he plays, but he is also in Algebra 2 at the high school, all honors classes at the middle school, and plays many sports.

Karel starts the day at the high school when he gets dropped off for Algebra two, then he gets a bus ride to the middle school to finish out the school day with all honors classes.

“Algebra two is pretty much the same, except you’re in the class with older people,” Karel said.

He is also participating in wrestling, track, and tennis, and he is the starting cen-ter in football.

“Football and wrestling are probably my favorites,” Karel said.

Karel also plays many instruments such as the guitar, upright bass, drums, mando-lin, cello, and some banjo. His favorite is the upright bass and he plays in the middle school orchestra, as well as playing in Fid-dlers.

“Samuel is a very accomplished bassist. He works hard to learn new skills, but also has fun in the process. I think he enjoys performing and I hope to see him doing just

that for many years after middle school,” Mrs. DeRose said

Karel balances music, sports, academics, and makes time for friends and family. He also has learned about how to evenly divide his time so it all works out.

“Samuel is really funny and he is good at everything he does,” eighth grader Shelby Sikes said.

by: jacy nichols I section editorEighth grader balances music, sports, and academics

Top: Karel plays upright bass in Mrs. DeRose’s orchestra class during third hour at the beginning of classAbove: Karel wrestles a Montague Wildcat last season at the wrestling match on February Eighth 2011

photo by: mitchel dinsmoor

by: alec huber I staff writerMSMS has two students from China in the seventh grade

This is Sunny and Tony in front of a model train in China.

courtesy photo

courtesy photo

PROFILES10

SAILOR DAYS 11

Students of the Month

Student-Athletes

of the Month

SwimmingBasketball

7th Grade

7th Grade

Hannah Jansen-Yee

Grant CooperAnnika Cotner

Nicholas DeBruin

Students and athletes of the month are voted on by the staff at Mona Shores Middle School

If you were Santa what kind of Cookies would you want and

why?

voices

Kaitlin Hermanson 7th GRADE

“Chocolate chips are classic you gotta go with chocolate chip. It’s the rules.”

“I would want rainbow cookies because unicorns eat them.”

Davaun Barton7th GRADE

“Gingerbread cause you could make shapes out of them,

decorate them and inspire them for the Christmas season.”

“I would have white macadamia nuts because I love them, and they are

delicous.”

hallsfrom the

Grace Hellman 6th GRADE

Cameron Devore6th GRADE

Anne Wegner7th GRADE

“I would want chocolate chip because I love chocolate, its the best.”

“Ginger snaps because they are ever so tasty with a fresh cup of coffee.”

Marcus Olmstead 7th GRADE

“Probably chocolate chip because they

taste good.”

“Chocolate chip because there the best cookie in the

whole wide world.”

Eric Wahlberg8th GRADE Science teacher

Ken Byard Dean of Students

“I would want the most expensive kind infused with 24 karrot gold and decorated with diamond chips, preferably sugar.

“The good kind because there just so good.”

Riley Reeds 8th GRADE

Connor Sturr8th GRADE

Noah Paddock 6th GRADE

“Sugar cookies with frosting because sugar and frosting is delicious.”

“Toll House chocolate cookies because they melt in your mouth, not in your hands.”

Connor Belanger 6th GRADE

“Chocolate chip because they go good with milk.”

“I would want Rudolph carrots because Santa has a

weight issue.”

Scott Volkmannstaff

Meghan Barnett Spanish Teacher

“I would want a cake cookie with butterscotch and white chocolate.

“Snicker doodle because I like the way it tastes.”

Rachel Kourtering8th GRADE

Dymond Jefferson8th GRADER

16 PHOTO STORY

Taking it to the Hoop

The seventh and eighth grade basketball teams played strong during the 2011 winter season.

Above: Eighth grader James Cooper charges through a Reeths Puffer defender, driving to the basket. Below: Taking control of the court, eighth grader Jared Pitt-man surveys the floor.

Above: Shooting over two Reeths Puffer defenders is eighth grader Hunter Bro-ersma.

Above: Eighth grade point guard Linwood Lee takes con-trol and dribbles the ball down as eighth grader Kobe Burse follows.

Above: Keeping the ball away from a Bunker defender, eighth grader Nick Brown looks for an outlet. Below: During a time-out, eighth grade coach Scott Volk-mann, gives the team instruc-tions.

Above: Leading his team, sev-enth grader Max Urban calls out orders during the game against Bunker. Below: Beating a Reeths-Puffer defender, seventh grader Justin McPherson drives his way to the basket.

Above: Seventh grader Emari Hardy attacks with focused attention aganist Steele.

Above: Making an effort to comeback against Bunker, sev-enth grader Casey Walukonis attempts a three point shot.

Above: Looking for a pass, seventh grader Hezekiah Slater keeps the ball away from a Bunker defender. Below: Seventh grade basket-ball coaches Jeremy Andres and Kevin Terpstra give their team a pep talk during a time out.