October 2015 Issue - Daniel Boone Area School District

The Blazer
BOO!
October 2015 ~ Daniel Boone Area High School ~ Birdsboro, PA 19508
DBHS Celebrates Homecoming
Week
Michael Nguyen
A girls-only football game, a school-wide
Jell-O-eating contest, and a windy,
rainy Friday night: these were amongst many of the
festivities the Daniel Boone Area School District
saw this past Homecoming Week.
Homecoming Week kicked off with a Powder Puff game on Saturday, September 26th. There,
two teams of girls from the DBHS senior class, the
Pink Team and the Purple Team, battled for the win.
In the stands were hundreds of spectators, wearing
either purple or pink to show support for the girls.
After a long three hours, the Pink Team came out on
top with a score of 42-35.
Throughout the week, the student government, with Alayna Roesener leading as President,
held a multitude of events after school titled “Battle
of the Classes.” Every class, as well as the staff,
duked it out in a myriad of competitions, such as tug
-of-war, a scavenger hunt, and relay races. By the
end of the week, the senior class came out on top,
with a victory in two of the four overall days.
On that windy, rainy Friday, before the actual game, the DBHS Homecoming Court was introduced: included in the 2015 Homecoming Court
were Nathan Weaver, Andrew Baer, Samuel Sjosten, Michael Nguyen, and Nick Hughes for the guys;
Rachel Eidson, Lindsey MacGregor, Jules Wanner,
Taylor Dallas, and Sydney Hansford. After a whole
week of the entire student body voting, Nick Hughes
and Sydney Hansford was chosen to be the 2015
Homecoming King and Queen.
The football game proceeded after the
Homecoming festivities – in this bout, the Daniel
Boone Blazers went up against the Muhlenberg
Mules. The Blazers fought hard against the Mules in
a very rainy, windy home game. The final score was
14-34 for a loss for Daniel Boone.
To wrap up the week, the Homecoming
Dance took place at the high school. There were
over 400 students in attendance hanging out with
friends, being goofy in the photo booth, and dancing
with others. Students rolled out of the school at 11 at
night, marking the end of a fun-filled week.
Table of Contents:
Pgs. 2-3: Relay for Life, Powder Puff, and
“Freshmeat”
Pgs. 4-5: Halloween and “Why are you always
tired?”
Pgs. 6-7: Girls’ Soccer and Cross Country
Pg. 8: Safe Trick-or-Treat Night and Dysautonomia
Awareness
Going on at Daniel Boone...
“Freshmeat”
Maddie Stroud
Beginning high school. All students go
through it sometime during their life. Some people
love the feeling of starting at a new school, but others may not. The people who had an easier time in
middle school may have a better time in high school,
but everyone has his or her own viewpoint on what
it is like to start high school. "When I first started
high school, I was always told to walk on the right
side of the hallway. I also thought that the Seniors
were really big and scary. But as time went on, I got
used to life as a Freshman," says senior Sadia Rafi,
recalling, "I remember being a little intimidated by
the upperclassmen." Some of our current Freshmen
had other things to say about the start of high school.
"High school requires a lot more work than in
middle school; it is harder than I thought. You really need to put a lot of effort and time into your
work,” said one student. High school is a lot harder
than middle school, many will admit. You cannot
procrastinate in high school. If you do, you will
have a more stressful time than others. Another
thing that freshmen tend to be intimidated by is having classes with upperclassmen. Freshmen Abby
Selbst and Emma Laigaie were asked about how
high school was going for them and what they
thought about having classes with upperclassmen.
"Pretty well actually, I found it was an easy transition. I think it's neat how we have classes with a
wider range of students so we get to meet people
from each grade," said Abby. Emma adds, "It's nice
to have classes with upperclassmen so I can get advice and ask them about their Freshman year." It
seems like we all go into high school with fears, but
as we get more familiar with the work, people, and
the difference in school environment, it gets better.
Relay Begins It’s Year
Mariah Elser
Relay for Life of Daniel Boone is
starting strong this year. Even though the event isn't
until May 21, 2016, 26 teams totaling 171 participants are signed up online, 12 survivors are registered, $1,956.40 has been raised!
Fundraisers:
- The Colors of Relay annual 5k on October 18 had
30 runners and raised over $200.
- The next large fundraiser, Designer Bag Bingo,
will be November 6 in the HS annex gym.
- Starting November 2 is the return of No Shave
November competition! Make sure to donate and
vote for your favorite contestant at lunch! Winners
will be announced November 24!
Pink and Purple Clash at Powderpuff
Madelyn Levy
The morning before this year’s annual powder puff game, the annex hallways were vibrantly decorated
with team spirit.
The 2015-2016 senior girls played a great game with a close score, but ultimately ended with team pink
as the champion. Pink’s Kayleigh Kardos stole the show racking up several touchdowns for the victors. The
hard work put in by both teams, pink and purple, definitely showed on game night.
“On the field we fought hard and had fun. Bonding with our teams united the girls of my graduating
class and brought us closer together,” said Purple Team’s Lizzy Paglia.
Besides the team spirit on the field, off the field the powder puff boy cheerleaders represented the pink
and purple teams very enthusiastically. Displaying a fun routine at the pep rally, the boys of the senior class
motivated the hard working teams with pride; allowing for an exciting 2015 Powder Puff Game.
Celtic Myth
And Moonlight
Kat Kishbaugh
If someone asked a young Dorothy Knowles
what she wanted to be when she grew up she might
have said a fairy, a vet, or a teacher. However there
is no way she would have said an incredibly successful entrepreneur, nor would she have known the
words at the time. Dorothy Knowles, who goes by
the nickname Dot, owns and operates Celtic Myth
and Moonlight, a Pagan and Celtic store on Penn
Avenue in West Reading, PA. As
Knowles got older she began to realize she wanted to own a store.
She wanted to run her own shop, to
be her own boss, she just wasn’t
sure what kind.
Time passed and she began
to find her place in the world; she
found her place through the ancient
religion of Wicca, a modern, in the
general sense, form of paganism.
She grew older and branched out
from the broad term of Wiccan and began to learn
about the pagan lifestyle until she found her niche;
she identifies as a Celtic. Both Celtics and Wiccans
fall under the umbrella term Pagan. The interesting
thing about paganism is that there is no defined
pathway for any individual or group of practitioners.
In this way Knowles does not
have a definitive path but calls
herself a Celtic for all intents and
purposes.
A large issue with running a shop
similar to this one is the fear of
judgment. Most people assume
that paganism is Satanism, while
the two religions have no relationship to each other except for a
misunderstood symbol. The symbol of the goddess is the five
pointed star. (Top Left) The God of the Pagans is a
Satyr, half goat, half man. The Symbol of the god is
the upside down star with the two corners forming
the Satyrs horns. Satanists, who formed after paganism and after Christianity, stole the symbol and used
it for themselves in a similar way that they stole the
symbol of the inverted cross of Saint Peter. Knowles
explained in an interview that Paganism and Celtic
ways are, “Full of nothing but love and acceptance,
the Celtic way is everything I love.”
The shop is currently 12 years old . When
asked about the flow of customers, she responded,
“Some days are very slow, and other days are ex-
tremely busy; it constantly fluctuates, but I wouldn’t
ask for anything else.” Knowles does a lot of donations to the community; she also works with local
covens (pagan churches) to help supply them with
everything they need, whether it be herbs for rituals
or candles for vigils.
Something else unique about Knowles’ store
is that it is the only one in the immediate area. The
closest similar shop used to be in center city Philadelphia but has since shut down. The hardest thing
about her shop, Knowles claims, is keeping it open,
“It isn’t your usual Wal-Mart type crowd that shops
here.” she joked. With such a limited scope on who
shops at her store it does constrict
how much business she is going to
get. As she put it, it isn’t like Target. However, she makes sure all
customers always feel wanted in
her store. “I have learned more
about my faith and way of life
from,” she states “the people who
have walked through my door than
all my years of studying and more
than all the books I have ever read
on the subject.” The store has a lot
of Celtic objects but also contains a lot of magical
ones as well. “Some people only come in for the
Celtic artifacts and others come for the paganism and
not the Celtic side of things. It’s a great mix.”
Knowles explains.
Knowles used to do different conventions and
festivals where people of varying types would come and gather under the umbrella terms
Celtic and Pagan festival. For
the past few years she has been
working with the Celtic Fling,
an organization of Celtic people
who gather together to enjoy
shops that get together to share
their novelties with others.
However this past year Knowles
has not gone to the festival,
claiming “It moves year to year, where it is being
held, so its very time consuming and I just didn’t
have it in me this year.” Although Knowles did not
go to the Celtic Fling she did attend the pagan pride
day in Philadelphia held this past Saturday on October 3rd.
Knowles’ store means everything to her, she
considers it her pride and joy. With her many loyal
customers and covens she hopes to keep it running
for many years to come. And in the witchy spirit,
similar to saying God Bless you in the Christian
faith, Blessed Be and have a “Blessed Samhain” or as
we know it “Halloween”.
Getting to the Spooky
Why are YOU always so tired?
Joshua Gest
Halloween today is widely known in relation
to getting your spooky on, the return of candy corn,
trick-or-treating, and the start of all things festive,
like Disney movies and grandma sweaters.
It is fairly safe to assume that most people
have read about Halloween’s origin, even if forgotten. Other holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and
Thanksgiving have their histories covered. The
origin of Halloween, on the other hand, is at best a
little fuzzy.
The holiday’s name derives from AllHallows, a Christian church holiday. All-Hallows,
also called All Saints Day, is a feast in honor of all
of the Christian saints.
However, this is not the beginning of our
current holiday’s formation. The current tradition of
dressing up and asking our neighbors for candy
comes from the Celtic people of two millenniums
ago in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom,
and northern France. Here, on the night of October
31, they celebrated Samhain, a night the dead would
allegedly return to the Earth.
To celebrate, people wore costumes made up
of animal heads and skins. They would build great
bonfires and predict fortunes, usually of the forthcoming winter, being at that time a season of great
hardship and death.
The church then altered Samhain into what
became All-Hallows, or All Souls Day. Parades
were held to celebrate, in which the poor would beg
for food and families would give pastries called
“soul cakes” to honor their dead relatives, likely resulting in the tradition of “trick-or-treating.”
A little closer to today, Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine in their homeland brought
these practices to America. Since the 1920s and
1930s Halloween has been molded into a largely
nonreligious, community oriented holiday.
Delaney McCleary
Between school, work, a job, and maintaining
a slight social life, most teenagers don’t even have
time to answer why they are so tired. Students are
often viewed as lazy, when in fact they don’t have
the opportunity to be so. As the years pass by, more
pressure is continuously put on students. From making life altering decisions at the mere age of eighteen
to sacrificing overall well being just to finish homework, students face stress no matter where they turn.
School has become more weighted on the ability to
pass a test than genuinely comprehending the material. Some students are brilliant, but lack test taking
abilities, creating an enormous amount of unnecessary stress.
With awareness of health at an all time high,
many studies have been conducted over the amount
of sleep necessary to function properly. The numbers
of the tests range, with twelve being the highest and
seven being the lowest. Upon asking classmates, not
one person’s average was even seven hours per
night. Often teenagers and students get the reprimand, “Well that is your fault,” in response to being
up extremely late in the night. As a full time student,
homework is of utmost importance. However, with a
job, students generally can’t start homework until
later in the night, leaving the regular two to three
hour affair to often carry over into the next morning.
Now more than ever, students are asked to
complete painstaking and exhausting daily schedules, with hardly any recognition. Running on less
than five hours of sleep, coffee has become a lingering scent throughout school hallways. Pulling allnighters is no longer viewed as an unattainable challenge, but more as a normal Tuesday night. Be
thoughtful of students; after all, they’re the ones who
are dedicating their health just for an A on an exam.
No wonder students are always tired.
Lady Blazers Kick It to States
Caitlin MacGregor
The girls’ soccer team has been making DB soccer history here at Daniel Boone High School in this
fall season. They have won 8 games, lost none, and tied twice in the county league. Overall, they have won 15
games, lost twice, and tied twice showing off their soccer skills on the field. They have also showed their
kindness off the field by having a teal out for scleroderma, dedicated to Mrs. Lyn Hansford, who had lost her
strong battle to the disease in spring. The money raised by selling t-shirts went to scleroderma research.
Back on the field, the starters on defense are Gianna Walker, Miranda Majewski, Marissa Stevenson,
and Taylor Carroll. Playing midfield is Jill Braunsberg, Kayleigh Kardos, Alayna Roesner, and Sammy Settle.
Playing forward is Maddie Spitko and Megan Breidigan. The team went on to counties after the league games
were over and won in quarter-finals and lost in semi-finals to Governor Mifflin. However, they headed to Districts to show that a loss at semi-finals meant nothing to them. Before their second district game, Gianna
Walker said, “I’m thinking we have a really good chance to make it into states because we have only one more
game we have to win to do that. We’re all so invested in going farther than any other Boone girls soccer team
has done before, we talk about it constantly. That’s what’s going to get us to the top.”
In their first district game against Dallastown, they won 3-2 and in their district semis game they won 2
-0 against Conestoga. The team will be heading to states on November 7th up in Hershey. There has never
been a DB girls’ soccer team in all of our schools history that won both of their district games and made it to
states. We as a school could not be more proud!
DBXC Is Back in the Running
Diego Santos
When students think of cross country, they usually mistake it for “track.” However, track and cross
country are two different sports. Both extracurricular activities involve running, but cross country is more focused on long-distance 5K races while track encompasses sprints, mid-distance, jumping, and throwing. This
year was the beginning of a new era for both guys’ and girls’ team as the younger runners of the team’s past
are beginning to become upperclassmen.
As the season came to a conclusion, both cross country teams finished with an 11-4 record in league
meets. In the county championship standings, girls placed 4th and guys placed 6th overall. Lauren Reightneour, Rachel Eidson, Maeve Picariello, and Ethan Shane earned all-division honors, while Zach Murray
earned all-country honors. Both teams qualified for states.
At the district championship, held at Big Spring High School, the girls were represented by Lauren
Reightneour, Rachel Eidson, Maeve Picariello, Emily Scott, Hannah Moyer, Bella Moyer, and Jules Wanner.
The guys were represented by Ethan Shane, Zach Murray, Diego Santos, Jack Zummo, Jordan Gest, Josh
Heffner, and Adam Davis. Lauren Reightneour even qualified for the state championship, which will be held
in Hershey.
Under the captainship of Jules Wanner, Rachel Eidson, and Marissa Christiana, on the girls’ side, and
Nathan Weaver, Diego Santos, and Clay Brenner, on the guys’ side, both teams feel they put their absolute
best into the season. When asked how he thought the season went overall, Nathan Weaver said, “Coming into
this year we didn’t really know what to expect. We knew we had talent, but there werea lot of questions as to
whether our young team would be able to compete with the more experienced teams in the county. I think our
one point win over Exeter ea a turning point for us because it sent a message to the other teams that Boone
can’t be taken lightly.” After waking up early every morning during the summer, each runner looks forward to
running even faster times during track.
The cross country teams also say goodbye and good luck to their seniors, who have contributed so
much to the program through their leadership and character.
Reina Inspires Us All
Trisha Bhatt
Sophomore Abbie Reina seems like a typical
teenager attending school every day. However, she has
been battling an autonomic disorder called Dysautonomia. Abbie was diagnosed in March, the middle of her
freshman year. Dysautonomia is an umbrella term used to
describe various medical conditions that cause a malfunction in the Autonomic Nervous System. Someone with
Dysautonomia has good days where he or she wants to
get on with life and enjoy themselves, and bad days,
where they want to modify their daily activities and focus
on getting better.
One of the major things Dysautonomia has affected for Abbie is her ability to play field hockey. From
being a starter on varsity her freshman year, she has had
to manage with limited playing time due to her doctor’s
orders- specifically 3-5 minute increments. But one of the
things Daniel Boone Field Hockey has done for Abbie is
host a “Make Some Noise for Turquoise Game” on October 2nd in honor of their teammate.
“When I first found out [about the game] I couldn’t help but cry because I was so happy,” Abbie said.
On the day of the game, Abbie was beyond excited. Despite the rain, she could not have been happier with the
amount of people who showed up. The team is Abbie’s
family and her shoulder to cry on.
“My entire team and coaches have been amazing.
The first time I saw them with my feeding tube in, I was
scared of how they were going to react. Everyone ended
up being amazing. They treated me no different and I
really appreciated that,” she said.
Abbie played in the first six minutes of the game.
Boone beat Tulpehocken 3-1, for their teammate, their
inspiration. On October 10th, Abbie scored her first goal
of the season.
“When I scored the last goal of the game I couldn’t help but bring myself back to March. The doctors told
me that I would never be able to stand on the field again.
As soon as the ball hit the boards, I knew I proved them
wrong,” said Abbie.
On this same day, at the end of the game, the whole team
released teal colored balloons in honor of Abbie. Despite
all the troubles Abbie is facing, she has friends, family,
and her teammates to support and stand by her. She is an
epitome of a strong player and a fighter. Everyone who
knows her knows she comes into school every day smiling and keeps her head up no matter what. Abbie Reina
has done something extraordinary, something that not
everyone can do in their lifetime. She took something
that has affected her life tremendously, and keeps a positive attitude no matter what the situation is. She does not
allow Dysautonomia to define her; she gains strength and
courage from it, which makes her a true inspiration.
Safe Trick-or-Treat Night
Katie Dotterweich
On October 30, 2015 Daniel Boone Area
High School hosted our annual Safe Trick or Treat
Night. Even though it was raining outside, it didn’t
stop those kids from getting their free candy. This is
an event that allows kids, and their parents, to trick
or treat while knowing that the candy they are receiving is safe for them to eat. This year, many clubs
joined in decorating the hallways in the Annex for
kids. Some clubs that had a very nice display was
The Power of Positivity, SADD Club, Key Club,
and Spanish Club. Each class also had very nice
decorations. The freshman class decorated their hallway as a walk through the ages. The sophomores
decorated their hallway as super heroes. The seniors,
however, were by far, the best hallway. The seniors
recreated the Land of OZ including a tornado and a
tornado shelter. All in all, this was a successful, and
not to mention fun, year
for Safe Trick or Treat
Night.
The Blazer Staff
Reporters
Mariah Elser, Brady Hayes, Delaney McCleary, Kat
Kishbaugh, Katie Dotterweich, Caitlin MacGregor,
Michael Nguyen, Joshua Gest, Madelyn Levy, Maddie Stroud
Editor
Gianna Walker
Creative Editors
Diego Santos and Emily Scheuring
Student Chief
Lindsey MacGregor
Advisor
Rhea Shirk