Pg 2

The Devil Dog

AdvocateMorrilton High School

701 East HardingMorrilton, AR 72110

February 28, 2014Volume 29 Number 6

if MHS were a Movie

Pg 4-5 Pg 7

Ridingwith The K.

By Jonathan RankinStaff Writer

Beta goes to convention By Lauren MitchellOpinion Editor

Thespians go to festival By Sara ThompsonPeople Editor

At Morrilton High School we want you to have the best. We want the school to look great and it does thanks to the tre-mendous custodial staff we have. I have even seen students take pride in their school and pick up paper when they don’t even have to. If you haven’t noticed we have five times more technology in the last few years thanks to our school board and superintendent seeing the need to give you the tools to compete with other students around the nation.

Statistics will tell you that student achieve-ment has a lot to do with the quality of the teachers you have. Since I have had the pleasure of being at MHS we have hired qual-ity people. This is done by committee because we want you to have the best. Mrs. Starkey is the newest member of the staff, along with our new resource of-ficer Bryan Risner. We will continue to hire quality teachers because they make the difference.

The seniors know what changes have taken place because they were the class that was here when we arrived almost three years ago. The juniors and soph-omores are pretty much used to Mr. Chambers and I because he and I have been with you for almost four years. The ninth grade is doing a great job getting used to MHS. I am person-ally proud of all of you.

Mrs. Shavon Jack-son, Mr. Chambers and I will continue to work hard to make sure you have the best. You have to help us by doing your part and ap-plying yourself so you can continue to STAY the best. Remember the sign on my door “ if you think no one cares, THINK AGAIN!

Thanks for playing! Above: Members of Troupe 3131 pose for the camera at the festival.

Hopkins wins GQ Revue 2014

Above: 2013 Mr. GQ John Nelson congratulates this year’s winner, Freshman John Hopkins February 15 in HB White.

Express Yourself! Basketball

On January 24-26 the Morrilton High School Beta Club attended the 71st annual Beta Convention at the con-vention center in Hot Springs. A total of 40 MHS students attended along with the Beta sponsors, Mr. Vest and Mr. Ahouse. The theme this year was “Making History With Beta.” At convention, many competitions took place. Many MHS students partici-pated in numerous competi-tions such as banner, creative writing, English, math, sci-ence, social studies, spell-ing, quiz bowl, Spanish, small group talent, and color and pencil drawing. Sherry Lin placed third in spelling, Lyndsey Jones placed third in colored pencil drawing, and Jonathan Rankin placed fourth in the Social Studies competition. The quiz bowl team also placed second at the convention. Team members were Thomas Ragland, Jona-than Rankin, Bax Yarbrough, and Josh Brown. Junior Brett

Harken, ran for Arkansas Beta President. Following Brett’s speech a group of MHS stu-dents participated in Brett’s campaign skit, “Sweat With Brett.” The skit portrayed a workout video doing “leader-ship lunges,” “loyalty leaps,” and “responsibility reps.” At convention, stu-dents listened to many mo-tivational speakers from around the US. Both Friday and Saturday night, students had the opportunity to attend the mixer dance and social-ize with high school students from all across Arkansas. Aside from general sessions at the convention center, MHS students were also able to en-joy the downtown area of Hot Springs. Students had the op-portunity to eat at the fancy dine in restaurants and enjoy the shops on the main strip. This year, MHS Beta stayed at the historic Arlington Hotel. Former Morrilton Resident, Mr. Benny Baker, gave the MHS Beta a tour of the beau-tiful hotel. Arkansas Beta Con-vention was a huge success this year. It was a great op-portunity for the students of MHS to meet new people, and grow closer with each other.

Saturday, February 15 played host to Morrilton High School’s annual GQ Revue. A showcase of MHS’s finest gentle-man, the event was organized by Morrilton’s Thespian Troupe 3131 and served as its main fund-raiser. This year there were eleven contestants (in order of appear-ance): Jakob Findenegg, Shawn Brockman, Ruelf Alarcon, Austin Betts, Brett Harken, Kane York, Will Qualls, Noah Nichols, Javon Jordan, John Hopkins, and Troy Parks. While the public was not admitted until six that night, the competition actually started earlier that day, with the young men competing in the interview portion of the event. At six the rest of the event took place, and

was hosted by the trio of MHS Drama Department Director Ms. Becky Jackson, 2014 Ayer Queen Jacey Russell, and 2013 Mr. GQ John Nelson. They kicked off the event by introducing the con-testants, who announced their number and shared a quote that meant something to them. Then each participant displayed their talent, which ranged from singing

in German, to performing magic tricks, to playing an instrument. Once all talents had been shown off, the judges went to tally scores while 2013 MHS grad-uate Akeem Kemp’s band AK3 played a set for the audience. Af-ter that there was a brief intermis-sion in which the audience broke out their spare change and voted on which contestant they liked the

most, who would be crowned Au-dience Favorite later on. With everyone back in their seats, the boys showed off their fashion sense in the evening wear portion of the show, as each contestant broke out their finest clothes and walked for the judges, and were escorted by a lovely lady. Soon the judges had their decision and the results were announced. In talent was 2nd runner-up Ruelf Alarcon, 1st run-ner-up John Hopkins, and winner Noah Nichols, who played guitar and sang “Say Something.” The Audience Favorite award went to Shawn Brockman and Mr. Nice Guy was Jakob Findenegg. In the overall competition 4th runner-up was Noah Nichols, 3rd runner-up Shawn Brockman, 2nd runner-up Austin Betts, 1st runner-up Brett Harken, and Mr. GQ 2014 was Freshman John Hopkins. John took his first walk as Mr. GQ and the event drew to a close, consid-ered by most a great success.

On January 24-26 the 2014 Thespian Festival was held at the University of Central Arkansas Reyn-olds Performance Hall. Jacey Russell, Austin Betts, Dustin Denham, Troy Parks, Tan-ner Baker, Hunter Garrett, Kaelyn Thibodeaux, Angela Thompson, Sarah Enebrecht, Allison Hallett, Avery Hall, Justin Tedford, Kane York, Zach Jolly, Jordan Yates, Em-ily Moll, and Emily Plummer

all attended and competed in the festival. Austin Betts served as an SSO officer and was awarded a superior rat-ing for his solo acting perfor-mance. Jacey Russell received an Honor Thespian medal and the Marsha Wooley The-atre Education Scholarship.

Troupe 3131 received an excellent rating for their one act and for their group musical. When asked about her experience Jacey Russell responded, “It was very bit-ter sweet. It is my fourth and final festival to attend and I’ve enjoyed every year of it. It was exciting to see the new thespians become involved and learn so much from the festival.”

Valentines Gifts

Thumbs up:

$40 Teddy Bear

Heart shaped Reese’s

Any type of food

Discount Candy

Puppies

Thumbs Down:

Coupons

Flowers

Pencils

Wafffle House reservations

Stickers

Opinion2 Morrilton High SchoolFebruary 28, 2014 Entertainment 3Morrilton High School

February 28, 2014

By Anna AdamsNews Editor

The Devil Dog Advocate is published by the journalism class of Morrilton High School, 701 East Harding, Morrilton, Arkansas 72110. Advertisements cost $4 per column inch. Subscriptions are $5 per year. Single papers are delivered to each member of MHS. Students who want extra copies may obtain a copy for 25 cents by contacting Jamie Bratton. The Devil Dog Advocate is printed by Southern Dutchess News in Wappingers Falls, NY. The Devil Dog Advocate is a member of the Arkansas Scholastic Press Association. Letters to the editor are encouraged. Letters are subject to editing for length, libel, obscenity, and The Devil Dog Advocate Policy.

ASPASponsor .......................................................Jamie BrattonEditor............................................................... Ryan Joyner News Editor ................................................. Anna Adams Opinion Editor ........................................ Lauren MitchellEntertainment Editor ....................................Clay CrowellSports Editor .................................................. Josh BrownFeatures Editor ..............................................Tori JacksonPeople Editor ............................................Sara ThompsonComputer Editor ............................................Tori JacksonStaff Writers:Reese Heidenreich, Sherry Lin, Chandler Pinal, Jonathan Rankin,Luke Zimmerman

By Clay CrowellEntertainment Editor

Weather or nawBy Reese Heidenrich Staff Writer

Food or naw Lone Survivor teaches audiences respectBy Josh BrownSports Editor

Superbowl is unreliableBy Luke ZimmermanStaff Writer

Express Yourself

Dogs or naw

Pitch Perfect gets sequelBy Ryan JoynerEditorFlappy Bird or naw

By Ryan JoynerEditor

If you could be any Valentine’s Day candy, what would you be and why?

Merle Norman and More106 S. Moose

354-8092

Senior Jade Riddle: Raspberry filled chocolate be-cause they are different from all of the rest of the candy and they stand out.

Junior Jayla Criswell: All of the candy in the world because everyone would love me!!

Sophomore Isaiah Criswell: Sour Patch Kids because at first I may be sour, but then I am sweet.

Freshman Brittany Jackson: Gummy Worms because they are colorful.

Pretty much everyone has a best friend these days. We all have that one person that we know we can tell anything and they will understand you. That person that cheers you up when you can’t go to that party that weekend or when you bomb your test. Well, in my case, I have three best friends. Their names are Lola Belle, Greta

May, and Weezy. And yes, they are my dogs.

When I get home every day from school, it doesn’t matter how bad of a day I’m having, my dogs know how to cheer me up. Although all three of them have their different ways of consoling my moodiness.

Lola Belle (the oldest girl) is the caring one. She’s the one that comes up to me and licks my sorrows away very gently, tell-ing me that everything is going to be alright. Then there is Greta May (the youngest girl) who is the one

that flips my mood completely. All she wants to do is play with me and run across the room random-ly making the whole family laugh. And lastly there is my ride or die, Weezy (the only boy). People as-sume that I like him the most be-cause we’re always together. That’s not true to a certain extent. I love all my dogs equally but he’s just the one that follows me wherever I go. He’s basically my shadow.

I honestly don’t know what I would do without my dogs. They are truly my best friends.

For some indescribable reason, Arkansas thinks it is fun-ny to mess with the weather daily. Since it is January, I expect cold weather on a daily basis; how-ever, switching back from warm weather back to cold weather is not cool. When I see a forecast for a week I expect at least a little

consistency, but good ole’ Arkan-sas likes to keep you guessing. Starting in late Decem-ber I began a routine of waking up and putting on jeans each morning. Yet January had some-thing different in mind. After a full month of weather in the low 20’s, we receive a warm welcome of a weeks worth of 50 degree weather- which is perfectly fine. Despite the week of sunshine, we were then hit with single digit de-gree numbers. Are we in the Ar-tic?! In my eighteen years of life

I have never experienced single digit numbers in Arkansas, and it did not take me long to figure out I do not like it. Now we are back to the weeks filled with high 30 degree weather and wind that has no problem “staying fierce.”Moral of the story, expect the unexpected when you live in Ar-kansas. You might as well pack clothes for any type of weather each day. Arkansas’ weather is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you are going to get.

Food is wonder-ful. Food is magnificent. Food makes the world, or at least this girl, happy. Do I sound like a fatty? Yes. Do I care? Not in the least. If I could I would climb on a rooftop and declare my love for food as loudly as I can just like Spongebob in the ugly episode. Now, I would like everyone to please bear with me as I make a VERY shortened list of my favorite foods. Some say that you should save the best for last, but in my case that is not true…which is why I am letting the best food on my list come first. Ribs. Oh my goodness, ribs. If you run into me at a restaurant that has ribs on the menu there is a good chance that you will see a plate of bones in front of me because I will have already eaten all of them. My personal favorite is Chili’s original ribs, but Whole Hog Café is a close second. I have never given the Memphis Dry Rub at Chili’s a chance, so if you have and you think that they are worth a try please let me know! There is one down-side to ribs though. They are messy, messy, messy. But oh well, I still love them. What’s next on the list? Carrots. Don’t ask me why, but I just REALLY love carrots. Carrots are the kings, or queens (whichever you prefer), of the vegetable

kingdom. Some people pre-fer broccoli or rutabagas, but I say “No, you are dumb. Carrots are the bomb.com”. I’m not sure how much more there is to say about carrots, but yeah, they are pretty hardcore. I feel like every-thing I have put on my list so far is pretty healthy, well maybe only carrots really. Let’s move on to junk food! What is my personal favor-ite you ask? Well that would have to be frosted animal crackers, of course. It was a wonderful day at Wal-Mart when I first discovered these amazing crackers. They are just like regular animal crackers, but coated with a delicious frosting… can you believe it?! If you haven’t tried them I strongly suggest that you do. Frost-ed animal crackers can be found on the cookie isle at Wal-Mart, just a little bit past the cookies and on the top shelf. You’re welcome. The next food that makes my list of favor-ites is birthday cake, and I think Rihanna would agree with that. The best kind of birthday cake is the one that looks like it has little pieces of confetti in it. I just think that’s so cute. What is even cuter is when people make cupcakes out of birthday cake batter. Someone took that girl who doesn’t even go there from Mean Girls way too seriously when she said that she wanted a cake filled with rainbows and smiles because I think those are the two main ingredients in birthday cake. Rainbows plus smiles equals delicious.

A few weeks ago, I chose to go see the movie everyone was talking about, “Lone Survivor.” Everyone had been telling me that it is “the greatest movie they had ever seen” and “their eyes were glued to the screen the whole time.” I didn’t necessarily be-lieve all the hype, because I was pretty sure it was going to be like every other war movie. I was 100% wrong. This movie not only made me shed a tear or two, it also made me think about joining the military

(those thoughts are now gone, but it was in the moment). This movie shows you exactly what the members of the U.S. military have to go through to preserve the freedoms that we abuse every day. There were points in the movie where I wanted to laugh, cry, scream for joy, and rip my hair out. That is how intense this movie is. “Lone Survivor” is based on a true story in which four Navy Seal members take on an army of over 200 Taliban mem-bers. The movie doesn’t waste any time getting to the action. Within the first 15 minutes the team is faced with the choice of letting three Afghanistan

civilians go, or killing them. They choose to let the three guys go, because they were in-nocent bystanders. This choice causes the Seal members to enter a war that they never wanted to get into. The main goal of the mission they set out on was to kill this branch of the Taliban’s leader, Ahmad Shah. The team is made up of Marcus Lutrell (Mark Wahl-berg), Mike “Murph” Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), and Matthew “Axe” Axelson (Eric Bana). The team is trailed throughout the entirety of the movie by more than 200 of Ahmad Shah’s sol-diers. They must protect them-selves from RPGs and assault rifles, jump off of treacherous

cliffs, and risk their lives to complete the mission. There are a few lives lost, hence the name “Lone Survivor.” I wish I were able to tell you more without ruining the effect of the movie, but sadly I cannot. The movie is worth the seven or eight dollars you can most likely get from your parents. It will teach you to respect the things these brave men have to go through to pre-serve our freedoms. It will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time, and will draw up an emotion in you that you cannot really explain. You will feel like you are on the mission with the team. I highly recom-mend this movie, and I might even go see it again myself.

The new hit craze is the app Flappy Bird. Flappy Bird is a game in which a player attempts to fly a little bird in the middle of two beams and the object is to see how far one can go without hitting them. Some consider this app the best game since

Angry Birds; however, I con-sider Flappy Bird one of the worst things ever invented. Flappy Bird is ruin-ing people’s phones, social lives, and emotions and leav-ing absolutely nothing in the wake of its destruction. This game that once seemed harmless is the first sign of the oncoming apocalypse. Families, relationships, and friendships are breaking all because a little yellow bird is running into a giant green

pole. When asked about Flappy Bird, Junior Ryan Kordsmeier said, “Flappy Bird is the reason why I can’t sleep or eat. I close my eyes and I just see that stupid bird hitting the pole and falling to the ground. It has become a serious issue.” In closing, please do not let this silly app ruin your life. If you have not down-loaded it yet, you have been warned. It is addicting. It is tiring, and you will lose.

As Americans, we believe in tradition. Some people celebrate different things, but one thing that most everyone takes time to appreciate is the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl as a whole brings in a lot of prof-it! People buy food, apparel, and even some take a trip to watch the game in person. One thing that is most ex-pensive is commercials. A company may spend close to four million dollars for a thirty second commercial.

What happens when something goes wrong with the network, or there is a technical difficulty, and a company’s commercial can’t be viewed? All the time and money is wasted. For the past several years there has been a technical difficulty occur at some point during

the Super Bowl. Last year the whole game stopped for a blackout in the stadium. Thousands of people were left sitting in the dark. This year Fox network experi-ence a fault in their systems and caused many viewers televisions to go blank.

Is it not embarrass-ing to have those problems when millions of people are watching? Many networks have no problem getting through any regular game without any problems. Why is it that we always experi-ence a screw up in a game that is so important to many people? Not that this year’s Super Bowl was an enter-taining nail bitter, but still, some people would like to enjoy the game without any problems. If Fox network wants to keep airing the game, they need to step their game up. Somewhere there is a network that won’t mess up. Companies would much rather advertise on a more reliable station.

In October of 2012, the hit movie Pitch Perfect was released into theaters for the world to see. The movie starred Anna Kendrick, Sky-lar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, and Brittany Snow as college students who sing in various acapella groups. With a budget of 17 million dollars, the movie grossed of 113 million worldwide in the box office. Now on February 6, 2014 it was announced that Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson have signed on for a sequel reprising their roles

from the first film. The film is set to be released in the year of 2015. Rumors have that Kendrick and Wilson signed on to the film without read-ing the script, and stars Brit-tany Snow and Anna Camp are also expected to return. When asked about how ex-cited she was for the sequel, Senior Chloe Vaught had this to say, “I have quoted the movie Pitch Perfect every day since its release. It was aca-awesome! It has been a real life changing movie for me, and the news of the sequel brings me great joy. I am sure I will be there on opening night with all of my friends. I cannot wait!” For more in-formation on Pitch Perfect 2 you can go online.

4 Morrilton High SchoolFebruary 28, 2014 The Devil Dog Advocate 5Morrilton High School

February 28, 2014

Who would

star in...MHS: The Movie

Has your favorite teacher ever reminded you of your favorite celebrity? It happens a lot! We decided to cast our faculty with the most popular celebrities out there, and here’s who we came up with! See the similarities?

Cate Blanchett Mrs. Griggs

as

Meryle Streep Mrs. Rutz

as

Mellisa McCarthy Mrs. Erickson

as

Rachel McAdams Ms. Jackson

as

Robin Williams Mr. Ketcherside

as

Matthew Gray Gubler Mr.Vest

as

Channing Tatum Coach Muller

as

Zac Efron Coach Watson

as

Anna Kendrick Mrs. Bratton

as

Amy Pohler Mrs. Spivey

as

Isla Fisher Ms. Russell

as

Gary Oldman Mr. Askins

as

Sandra Bullock Ms. Brown

as

Robert Downey Jr. Coach Davis

as

Ellie Kemper Mrs. Hopkins

as

Jessica Biel Mrs. Goodson

as

People6 Morrilton High SchoolFebruary 28, 2014 Sports 7Morrilton High School

February 28, 2014

Northwestern Sporting Goods

Team Sales Trophies Award Jackets

David Stobaugh (owner) 800-338-3895 Email: northwestern123@sbcglobal.net

Teacher Feature

Jeff Davis

Devil Dogs continue their winning waysBy Jonathan RankinStaff Writer

Soccer looks forward to a new seasonBy Anna AdamsNews Editor

Lady Devil Dogs looking to finish off strongBy Tori JacksonComputer Editor

Above: Devil Dog Shawn Brockman sets up a play against Vilonia.

Allison Ford-Lincoln“You’ll love the

difference”

East Harding Street Morrilton, AR 72110

(501) 354-4541

What are your hob-bies?

-I enjoy hunting, playing golf, and working out.

What is your favorite type of food?

-Japanese and Mexican

What is your most embarrassing mo-ment?

-I honestly don’t have one.

Who is your favorite celebrity?

-Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

What 3 words would you pick to describe you?

-Athletic, out going, humorous

What is the best thing about MHS?

-The Kids!!!

What was your favorite subject in school?

-A&P, Contempo-rary American His-tory

If you weren’t a teacher, what would you be?

-Police Officer or a Fire Fighter. I had already passed my civil service exam when I decided to finish school.

What sport do you play and how long have you played? - I’ve played bas-ketball since 2nd grade.

What are your goals for this sea-son? -To win a state championship and get a ring

What do you enjoy most about basket-ball? -Being able to play with my friends and com-pete against other good players.

Do you want to play college ball, if so where? -Yes, anywhere I can get a scholar-ship to.

Who is your favor-ite NBA player? -Kevin Durant. He is a good role model and a good baketball player.

Sports Spotlight

Marcel Swinton How long have you been together? 8 months

How did you meet? In Montana’s mom’s store

What do you enjoy doing together? Watch tv and chill

Favorite memory together? Valentine’s Day last year

Advice to other couples? Don’t ignore eachother when you’re fighting.

Favorite thing about her? She doesn’t stay mad long

Favorite thing about him? He’s just so good to me.

How long have you been together? 2 years and 5 months

How did you meet? In PE in the eighth grade

What do you enjoy doing together? Watching movies

Advice for other couples? Always laugh and have fun together

Tyrah’s avorite thing about Jose: His smell

Jose’s favorite thing about Tyrah: Her hair

What is your favorite memory? Race For The Cure and Toad Suck

How long have you been together? 2 years and 10 months

How did you meet? We met in our 8th grade P.E. class. Be fore that, I did not know who he was.

What do you enjoy doing together? Anything as long as we are together. Everything we do is a competition and we always act silly and retarded around each other!

Favorite memory? When Alex spilled all of his Ramen Noodles on the kitchen floor!

Advice to other couples? Be loyal, be yourself, and do not be afraid to fall in love. Love with all your heart and learn to forgive each other’s flaws. Don’t just be a “cou-ple,” but be each other’s best friend.

Favorite thing about each other? There is nothing we don’t like about each other!

How long have you beentogether? 2 years and 1 month.

How did you meet? In Coach Watson’s class.

What do you enjoy doingtogether? Just spending everyday with each other.

Favorite memory together? When I accidentally broke his Xbox and we laughed about it.

Advice to other couples? Communication is key.

Favorite thing about her? I love the way she smiles at me.

Favorite thing about him? I love his dimples.

Montana & Dakota Tyrah & Jose

Morgan &Alex

Kayla & Alex

After opening conference play with 4 straight wins, the Devil Dogs continued their win-ning way in the new year. After a tense four point win over Greenbrier on January 21, the Dogs went up the pig trails to Hunts-ville and came back with a resounding 71-63 win. Sandwiched in between 3 road games loomed a huge home game against first ranked Clarksville on January 28. With a rau-cous home crowd at their backs, the Dogs were able to knock off the previ-ously undefeated in con-

ference Panthers by a fi-nal score of 65-60. With the victory the Morrilton usurped Clarksville and took hold of first place in the 5A West as well as the 5A conference overall. While some teams may play poorly on the road following an emo-tional home win, the Dogs showed no such signs of weariness as they went

north yet again, this time to Harrison, on the last day of January and won yet again, 71-65. After a playing at breakneck pace in the latter half of Janu-ary with a schedule that featured 6 games in the fi-nal 16 days of the month, Morrilton was able to take a few days off as they did not play until seven days into February. The break

was surely a big help, be-cause the Dogs were able to shake off the long trip to Shiloh Christian and increase their winning streak to a whopping 13 games with an 81-71 win. With only six con-ference games left to play and the Dogs at a stellar 8-0 in conference play (15-1 overall), they have all but locked up a playoff berth. It is hard to argue with the assertion that the Devil Dogs are poised to make a deep run in the state tournament. Time will tell just how far Mor-rilton can go! Morrilton played at Alma on February 14 and at Greenbrier on the 18th, losing the first and taking the second.

It is an exciting year full of changes for both the girl’s and boy’s Devil Dog soccer teams. All of the coaches and players are ex-cited to see where this sea-son will take them and they hope that the state tourna-ment will be in the future for them! The coaching staff for both of the teams has undergone changes this year. For the boy’s team the head coach is Jeff Da-vis and the assistant coach is Zac Noland. Head coach for the girl’s team this year is Shannon Ferguson and her assistant coach is Ryan Davis.

The teams practice after school and from the way the practices are looking it will be a good season for both teams. Coach Fergu-son has said, “I am so ready to start off this season with a bang and see how each of the girls progress as players throughout the season. It should be a good year for the Lady Devil Dog Soccer Team!” As a player myself, I completely agree with Fer-guson and I know the rest of the Lady Devil Dogs do too. This soccer season will start at the beginning of March. The coaches and players are excited to start the season, hopefully the fans are equally as excited to come watch the games!

After starting off the first round a little rough, the Lady Devil Dogs looked to make a comeback in the second round. It started on February 7 when the team traveled to Shiloh Christian and beat the Lady Saints 56-48. Senior Katie Price scored a career high 21 points while Junior Tori Jackson contrib-uted 16 points and Danielle Wright with 11. At the team’s next home game on Febru-ary 11, the Lady Dogs nearly snuck out a win against the number one ranked Vilonia Lady Eagles with a close 45-50 loss. On Friday February 14, the girls traveled to Alma

and had a tough night. They put up a fight but lost 43-58. Looking to get back on track the team hit the road and headed to Greenbrier. The Lady Dogs played extremely well and won 47-45. The Lady Devil Dogs look to finish off the season strong with two home games against Huntsville and Harrison with a road game against Clarks-ville in between.

Above: Lady Devil Dog ShaMia Wright tips off against Greenbrier.

News 8Morrilton High SchoolFebruary 28, 2014

By Sherry LinStaff WriterBy Chandler Pinal

News Editor

By Josh BrownSports Editor

Above: Toney Hawkins signs his national letter of intent to the University of Centeral Arkansas for baseball and football.

Morrilton Drive-Inn Restaurant ONE POUND SUPER CHEESEBURGER TWO POUND SUPER CHEESEBURGER

FRESH CATFISH & BARBEQUE

Hawkins takes talents to next levelMarch Events

Read The Advocate

online!

http://sccsd.org/mhs/The%20Advocate.htm

On January 29, the Morrilton High Schools FBLA (Future Business Lead-ers of America) suited up and headed to the University of Central Arkansas where they attended the annual District 5 FBLA Conference. District 5 includes surrounding schools such as Greenbrier, Conway, and Nemo Vista. Those who attended the conference from MHS were sponsor Gail Betts, seniors Jacey Russell, Austin Betts, Troy Parks, Helen Mar-tinez, and Sherry Lin, sopho-mores Hunter Betts, Mike Smith, and Kevin Lin.

This year’s confer-ence did not offer many work-shops for students. Although work shops were not offered, the students were still able to compete in various competi-tions. Some of the competi-tions at the conference were Business Procedures, Business Ethics, Impromptu Speak-ing, and Electronic Career

Portfolio Design. All of these competitions helped better the students in the business world.

After competitions, it was time for the students to attend the general session. At this session, plaques were given to those who placed in competitions, and the 2014-2015 district 5 officers were elected. The student from MHS that placed higher than fifth in her competition was Jacey Russell. Jacey was award-ed first place in her competi-tion which was Business Pro-cedures. Although she did not attend the conference, Allison Williams was awarded fourth place in her competition which she did out of school. Both Jacey and Allison qualify for Arkansas FBLA state con-vention which will be held in Little Rock April 7 and 8. When asked how she thought the conference went, Sponsor Gail Betts said “ I feel like this conference went great! I am very proud that I will be able to attend state with Jacey and Allison and I’m looking for-ward to it.”

This semester the MHS choir is very busy pre-paring songs for Valentine’s Day and the CPA in March. The choir consists of sopra-no one, Londyn Weidower, Abigail Windham, soprano two, Meagan Mudge, Kaelyn Thibodeux, altos Emily Moll, Monica Aragon, tenor Tanner Baker, and bass Hunter Gar-rett. In the weeks lead-ing up to Valentines Day, the MHS ensemble choir took orders for singing Valentines. People could choose from three songs: Bless the Broken Road, My Heart Will Go On, and the Pitch Perfect version

of Just the Way You Are. Stu-dents from MHS as well as people from the community were able to order singing Valentines. On Valentine’s Day, the Morrilton Melodies delivered singing Valentines through out the day. They sang at the school as well as the hospital and the senior center.On March 8, the choir will compete in the Choral Perfor-mance Assessment. They will perform their three prepared pieces, Let Me Ride, Maria Walks Amid the Thorn, and A Red Red Rose in front of three judges. One of the three prepared pieces must be an acapella. Then they will sight read a new piece of music for another judge. They will then be ranked on a scale of one to five with one being superior and five being poor.

Above: The choir sings to a group of people on Valentine’s Day.

March 1st – 2nd Almost, MaineMarch 4th Jostens Ring PresentationMarch 6th Jos-tens Ring Or-dersMarch 7th Cosmetology Fashion ShowMarch 11th Holocaust Speaker, EOC LiteracyMarch 12th FCA Praise NightMarch 14th End of 3rd QtrMarch 21st Report Cards, 100 ProofMarch 24th – 28th Spring Break

Toney Hawkins, the quarterback for the 2013 State Champion Devil Dogs, has signed with the UCA Bears to play both football and base-ball. Toney is an outstanding leader and proves that not only with his play on the field, but also with the way he car-ries himself. If he is able to carry that confidence and tal-ent to the college level, there is no telling how far he’ll be able to go. When asked about his signing with the Bears he said “It feels good to have the opportunity to continue my passion for football and base-

ball at UCA as a Bear, but at heart I will always be a Devil Dog.” Toney finished his fi-nal season at the helm of the Devil Dog offense with 2617 passing yards and 28 passing touchdowns. Not only did he get it done through the air, he also rushed for 1330 yards and 23 touchdowns. Toney led the Devil dogs to a two loss regular season, and through a very difficult play-off road. With only one home playoff game, this was not an easy task. He finished his senior season the way every quarterback dreams of, win-ning the State Championship. Toney played well enough in the Championship game to earn himself MVP honors for

the 5A State Championship game. If leading his team to a State Championship isn’t a good enough illustration of how talented he is, he also earned multiple other honors to accompany it. Toney was the 5A player of the year, 5A offensive player of the year,

Choir stays busyFBLA looks to-ward state comps

5A outstanding back of the year, and a Lander’s award fi-nalist. He also plans on end-ing his high school sports ca-reer with a great season with the Devil Dog Baseball Team. Devil Dog Nation couldn’t have asked much more from him, and can’t wait to see him thrive at the next level.