THE MAVERICK - Davenport Schools

October 2014
D a ve npo r t C om m un it y S cho ol D i str ic t
T H E M AV ER I C K
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Student
Showcase
2
The Candy Corner, Notes and
Updates
3
Up Close and
Personal
4
Editorials:
Halloween
5
The Art Corner
5
Guess that
Teacher
6
Special Interest:
Recipes and
Haunted Houses
7
October Birthdays
8
H A L L OW E E N : A B R I E F H I S TO RY
BY: NICK JONES & ANDREW BUESING
Halloween, originally
known as “Samhain”
(pronounced sah-win),
celebrated the end of the
harvest season and the
start of the winter season.
This was also thought to
be when a bridge opened
from the world of the
living to the world of the
dead—at least that’s what
the Celts believed!
Even though Halloween
is harmless, it received a
bad name from some
people back in the day,
when they believed that
this was the day that people celebrated the
“Devil.” Christians
thought that dressing up
as the devil is something a
good person would never
do.
“Samhain” often included
bonfires. Eventually, the
holiday known as Halloween transformed from a
“somber pagan” ritual to
a day of fun and fright,
when kids flood the
streets dressed up in a
plethora of costumes.
One thing people don’t
think about is the main
tradition of Halloween:
costumes. During the
Celtic Festival of Samhain, the Celts dressed up
in costumes to blend in
with the evil spirits, or at
least not being able to be
recognized by the spirits.
Today, everyone knows
the well known phrase
“Trick-or-Treat”.
“The best part of fall
is football. I also like
the crisp weather and
all of the colorful
leaves.”
-Mr. Smallwood
They thought the spirits
would congregate around
their feasts, so masked
men would try to get the
attention of spirits to lead
them away from the village.
For more historical information, read:
http://www.history.com/halloween
http://www.halloweenhistory.org/
Student Artwork by:
Jake Dobbs
Mrs. Smallwood’s 4th and 5th period classes created a new “splatter painting”, which hangs in
the main office. For more information about great things happening in art classes, see “The Art
Corner” on page 5! Great job to all students who helped with this beautiful work of art!
P age 2
V o l um e 1 : I s s ue 2
STUDENT SHOWCASE: THE HOUSE ON THE HILL
BY: MELISSA EMBREY
The house sat up there alone. Nobody lived in it and nobody ever went inside. Children didn’t play near it, and didn’t even like passing it, and nobody even knew why. Even the
old people didn’t remember anybody ever living there, and they didn’t know why people kept
away from it. It was an ordinary house, not like something from a horror movie. It was just a
house. But nobody went near it. At night was when the house looked it’s worst. It’s vines
covering the whole house as if it were wrapped in a blanket.
The house was just sitting there. Untouched. The street lights not even shining a
speck of light on it. It looked cold, rundown and unused. It was a scary sight. No one ever
went in, and no one ever came out. The grass in the yard was very dead. The shingles were
falling off of the house. The windows are cracked leaving a cool air to run through. At night,
you’d hear noises coming from the house.
But then one night, in the middle of October, there was a group of three teenage
kids, Eric, Stark and Zoey. They were walking home from school one day on the other side of
the street. They saw the house and thought how weird it was just sitting up on the hill alone.
They heard a weird and scary sound coming from the house. They all decided that they were
going to investigate it when their parents are sleeping.
Author Melissa Embrey
That night around 10pm the kids met across the street from the old house, just
(above) is a Senior at Mid
standing there looking up at it. They didn’t know how to approach the house. They had their
City this year.
backpacks full of supplies just in case anything happened. The kids decide that they were going to walk very slowly up the long and steep driveway. So the kids make it to the top of the hill and see bats flying out of
the chimney. They were startled at first but were persistent to go on.
They open the door to the house and heard something that sounded like a little boy screaming, which made Zoey
scream. Stark then said, “come on guys! This way!” and leads them through the old creaky living room. Eric didn’t want to
go along on this journey, but he was curious to know about the mystery of this house.
So Stark, Eric and Zoey run up the stairs to the 2nd floor. They hear the sound of an old door opening slowly.
They all point their flashlights toward the door opening slowly. The ceilings were old and leaked water when it rained.
Stark went into the first master bedroom and saw a box that had a lock on it. He wanted to open it, but he just left
it alone. Following him was Eric and Zoey. They all 3 went to each room and at the end of the hallway on the right, they all
stopped. Eric didn’t like the look of this. He wanted to go home and just leave all of this behind. Zoey then said, “can we
just leave? I’m scared.”
Stark insisted to go on so they did. He wanted to find out what the big mystery of this house was. Then they all
screamed in horror at what they saw. It was a little ghost child! They all hurried down the stairs into the living room and
hid behind the couches. They looked up slowly and saw a little ghost boy flying down the stairs. They heard crying coming
from the ghost. All of a sudden, they weren’t scared anymore.
They approached the little ghost slowly. Stark then asked, “What’s your name little guy?” The ghost replied,
“Ludo. My name is Ludo.” Zoey then said, “I like that name, but what are you doing here?” Ludo then said, “Well, this is
where I died. My family left me here all alone one night a few years ago and left the gas stove going, and I didn’t know how
to turn it off. I was turning knobs to try and turn it off but it just exploded.” Eric said, “That’s really sad. But why are you
still here?” Ludo was trying to remember why he was here. “I’m still here because I have nowhere to go. This is still my
house and I don’t want to leave. I just want to stay here and play all day,” Ludo said. Stark, Eric and Zoey were really sad
and felt bad for Ludo. “Well Ludo, everyone is scared to come near this house.” Zoey said. “Maybe it’s time to move on.”
Ludo didn’t know what to think.
The 3 teenagers were trying to figure out what to do. They were trying to figure out a plan to help. But they couldn’t think of how to get him out of the house so that maybe someone can live there again one day. They knew they couldn’t
force Ludo out because after all, he is a ghost. So, they just decided to leave him alone. “Ludo, we know we can’t force you
out, but you can stop scaring people when they pass the house?” Eric said. Ludo was only 9 years old. But he was pretty
good at being a ghost.
Stark, Eric and Zoey were just standing there looking at the poor little ghost. “Well, it’s getting late, Ludo.” Stark
said. “Yeah, we have to go.” Zoey added. “NO! Don’t leave me here! I wanna play with you guys. I’m all alone here with no
one to play with.” Ludo cried. “We will come back soon. Just promise us you will be a good little ghost and stay out of trouble?” Zoey said. “Well, okay. I promise,” said Ludo.
So Stark, Eric and Zoey headed home and went straight to bed. They all thought how amazing it was that a little
ghost was at that house and how that, was the biggest mystery of all.
V o l um e 1 : I s s ue 2
P age 3
T H E C A N DY C O R N E R
BY: ASIA SKRIVER
Candy sales nationwide peak in the weeks before October 31st. Did you know the average American eats 24 pounds of candy a year?!? This left Maverick staff wondering, just how does Mid City
High’s sweet tooth compare to the rest of the country ? See our data below to find out!
Mid City Votes by the
Numbers:
Reese’s: 49
Snickers: 37
Kit Kat: 33
Hershey’s: 14
Butterfinger: 12
Milky Way: 7
Musketeers: 6
M&Ms: 3
Baby Ruth: 1
Almond Joy: 0
= 163 Total Votes!
FREE BOOKS FOR KIDS!!! Did you know you can register to get a free book for your child every month for
their first 5 years of life? Signing up is simple! Go to www.imaginationlibrary.com Follow the “register my
child” links to get signed up! Our local affiliate is United Way, and the total number of local children receiving free books is up to 5057 locally, and almost 9,000 in the state!
ATTENTION PARENTS:
Did you know reading to your child helps with brain development, speech development, understanding emotion and general knowledge of surroundings? PreK books and “Book Buddy Backpacks” are available for our
young moms and dads to check out
and take home and
read to their children. See Mrs. B in
the IMC for details!
:)
Mrs. B. and Fred
look sharp while
showing their
Maverick Pride!
Sassy Shoe Spotting!!!
Which staff member
rocked these hot pink
runners on Spirit
Day?
P age 4
V o l um e 1 : I s s ue 2
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL:
A N IN T E RV IE W W I T H D R . TAT E
Andrew Buesing met with Dr.
Tate in the collaborative learning area on 3rd floor earlier
last month.
In Andrew Buesing’s recent interview with Dr. Tate,
Superintendent of the Davenport Community School District, he answered a few questions that Maverick staff and
students have been wondering.
When asked about the building and it’s development, Dr.
Tate shared that there was a
strategic plan, in which money
was specifically set aside to be
used on the Kimberly Center.
Because of the way things fell
into place, construction and
renovation of the new school
was moved up.
There were no prior
thoughts about having a new
school, the idea was rather
sudden, and the money that
was in the strategic plan was
strictly for renovating and
fixing up the old building.
When this property became
available , it got administration
and district staff thinking
about buying, renovating, and
moving the school entirely,
and what this may look like in
the spaces available.
When beginning the renovation of the new building, a
major concern was that it wasn’t going to get done in time
for the new school year, which
was literally right around the
corner.
Construction of the building couldn’t have even started,
if it hadn’t gotten board approval. The approval to start
working came last year around
April-May. There was a considerable amount of thought
on where the new school
would be located.
There were discussions
about the old K’s merchandise, or even about buying an
empty plot and building a new
school from the ground up.
Finally, they decided to buy
the building connected to the
Select Hospital. It all started
with a “vision” as they walked
through the building ,which
was full of medical offices.
They visualized what it might
come to be.
There were still many obstacles to climb when it came
to the school board. They had
to first approve the purchase
of the building. The board had
to approve the renovating and
the cost of the renovation.
This started in December .
The final approval came in
May. As the last steps rolled
around, the PAC (Physical
Activity Center) was not big
enough to hold all of the activities here. The board approved
4.2 million for the add on
PAC to begin this month.
This addition will include a
gym, classrooms and meeting
rooms. It will leave room for
important things such as the
child care, which will be in the
main building.
FROM THE DESK OF DR. KLIPSCH
INTERVIEW BY:
Dr. Jake Klipsch, Mid City’s first
principal, came to us this year
from Eisenhower Elementary
school. Before this, Dr. Klipsch
worked as an administrator at
several other DCSD schools,
including J.B Young and Hayes
Elementary.
Dr. Klipsch, a Davenport West
graduate, attended college four
different times before receiving
his Doctorate degree. He attended The University of Iowa, National Louis University, and
Roosevelt University. He then
went back to The University of
Iowa to receive his Doctorate
degree. After college, Dr. Klipsch taught at a school in Chicago for five years before returning to the Davenport Community School District.
BAILEY TROYER
Dr. Klipsch said he decided to
become a principal because he
“loves kids and wanted to have a
stronger bond with the students.” Anyone who knows
him, knows he is all about the
students here at Mid City. We
asked Dr. Klipsch what he enjoyed most so far about Mid
City and he said “The students,
they are my favorite thing”! We
were wondering why he always
has at least a couple of his fingernails painted— he told us he
wants “everybody to feel comfortable with the person they are
and do what they feel like doing—not what other people
want them to do”.
Dr. Klipsch is married with 3
children. His wife's’ name is
Leslie. She’s a writer who also
teaches online classes. Together,
they have 2 boys and 1 girl. Their
son Oliver is 10 and Eli is 7. Their
daughter, Sintayehu, is 4. After Dr.
Klipsch and his wife had their first
son Oliver, Leslie was told it might
be dangerous to have another baby
so they looked into adoption. Soon
after that, they found out that they
were actually expecting their son,
Eli. Even though everything went
O.K. with the delivery of their
second son, they still decided to
adopt Sintayehu from Ethiopia.
They adopted Sintayehu when she
was about 1 and a half years old.
Dr. Klipsch is a friendly, optimistic and enthusiastic principal,
who gets to know each student as
an individual. We are so lucky to
have him here at Mid City!
T he M a v e r i c k
P age 5
EDITORIALS: HALLOWEEN MEMORIES
BY: ALAINA OTTE AND MELISSA EMBREY
“I got married Hallow-
een night 2009. Halloween has always been my
favorite holiday! When I
was little, my neighbors
would save the prizes
from the crackerjack
boxes for the year and
handed them out to
kids.” - Mrs. Goddard
“Four years in a row my
mom would make me
wear the same costume,
which was a big pumpkin stuffed with newspapers” - Miss. Charvat
“Many years the children in my neighborhood would dress in
group costumes. One
year we went as the cast
of Sailor Moon!”
- Miss. Mastalio
“Since my birthday is so
close to Halloween, I
always had costume parties for my birthday.”
- Ms. Jones
“When I was in second
grade, I got into a fistfight with Wonder
Women for messing up
my raggedy Anne wig
with her lasso…. Don’t
mess with raggedy
Anne, You'll get the
yarn!”
-Mrs. Woolley
THE ART CORNER
BY: VICTORIA SHERROD
This month in art, the
students are working on a
splatter paint picture for
the school. This painting
was created by our students and we are very
proud of their work.
“4th and 5th hour are
creating a splatter paint
picture for Mid City,”
says our art teacher, Mrs.
Smallwood. Students
came up with the idea and
created the work themselves.
As always in her classroom, students are hard
at work! Outside of
Learning Studio 211, stop
by to see some of our
great student artwork on
display.
Mrs. Smallwood is
also looking for a few
students who can come in
early in the morning to
work on and paint chairs
for an alternative program. If you interested
please contact her ASAP!
“I love making
big leaf piles and
jumping in them.
I also like climbing trees and the
weather…”
-Sam Ballard
“A friend of ours
puts together a
haunted house in
his backyard for
all of the little
kids out trick-or
treating in the
neighborhood.” Trevor Sawvell
Additional Artwork
by: Africa Shorter
This student-created work of art hangs in our front office!
P age 6
TRICK OR TREAT:
Can you guess which staff members are pictured below?
Think
you know
them all?
See Mrs.
Goddard in
room 321 to
make your
guess and get
a “treat” if
you get them
all correct!
V o l um e 1 : I s s ue 2
V o l um e 1 : I s s ue 2
P age 7
HALLOWEEN TREATS BY: MELISSA EMBREY
MUMMY DOGS
Black Halloween Punch
1 (.13 ounce) envelope unsweetened grape soft
drink mix
1 (.13 ounce) envelope unsweetened orange soft
drink mix
2 cups white sugar
3 quarts cold water
1 liter ginger ale
Directions:
1. To make a
frozen hand, wash
a disposable glove, fill with water, seal with
a rubber band and freeze until hard.
2. Stir together grape soft drink mix, orange soft drink mix, sugar and water until
solids are dissolved. Combine with chilled
ginger ale just before serving. Dip the frozen hand briefly in warm water, then peel
off the glove. Float the prepared hand in
the punch bowl for a ghastly effect.
1
CAN (8 OZ) PILLSBURY REFRIGERATED
CRESCENT DINNER ROLLS OR 1 CAN (8
OZ) PILLSBURY CRESCENT RECIPE CREATIONS REFRIGERATED SEAMLESS DOUGH
SHEET, 2 ½ SLICES AMERICAN CHEESE,
QUARTERED (2.5 OZ), 10 LARGE HOT
DOGS, COOKING SPRAY, MUSTARD OR
KETCHUP, IF DESIRED
DIRECTIONS:
1.
Heat oven to 375°F.
2. If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate at perforations, creating 4 rectangles. Press perforations to seal. If
using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles.
3. With knife or kitchen scissors, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough.
Slice cheese slices into quarters (1/2 slice cheese, cut in
half).
4. Wrap 4 pieces of dough around each hot dog and 1/4
slice of cheese to look like "bandages," stretching dough
slightly to completely cover hot dog. About 1/2 inch from
one end of each hot dog, separate "bandages" so hot dog
shows through for "face." On ungreased large cookie sheet,
place wrapped hot dogs (cheese side down); spray dough
lightly with cooking spray. Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until
dough is light golden brown.
HAUNTED HOUSES IN THE QC AREA
BY: ALAINA OTTE
Jaycees Haunted House
( 319 Western Ave Davenport)
7pm - 12:00a.m.
Open Fridays and Saturdays $10
Fear Grounds
(2815 W. Locust Davenport)
7pm - 12:00a.m. Fridays /Saturdays
7pm -10pm Sundays $10
Terror at Skellington Manor
( 420 18th St. Rock Island)
7pm –12:00a.m.
Fridays and Saturdays
7pm - 10pm (sundays)
$15 ($20 fast pass)
The Asylum of Mad Dreams
(Cordova Dragway, Illinois 84 )
7pm - 11:30 Fridays and Saturdays
$15
Factory Of Fear
(5027 4th Ave. Moline)
7pm - 12:00 a.m.
Fridays and Saturdays
$14
Davenport
Community School
District
If you have suggestions, comments, questions or editorials, we meet every day in Learning Lab
321 (Mrs. Goddard’s room) on the third floor. Please include your name with all inquiries.
Look for the following features in the November edition of “The Maverick”:
Mid City High School
3801 N. Marquette Street
Davenport, Iowa
52806
http://www.davenportschools.org/midcity/

The Art Corner

Up Close and Personal

Thanksgiving Features: Traditions and Recipes

Editorials

Student Showcase, November Birthdays

The Art Corner/ Festival of Trees
O C T O B E R B I R T H DA Y S
B Y : K I R K G R AY & B R A N D I S U L L I VA N
Breeann Reger
Breeann Reger is turning 16 this
month and is going to Azteca
with her mom and grandparents.
She wants a car for her birthday—it does not matter what of
car it is. Her favorite birthday
memory was when she turned 14.
Renee, Karen
and Sandy
keep Mid City
in check!
Tiara Racy
Tiara is turning 15 this month.
She is throwing a party and will
be with her friends, as well as
spending time with her sister and
brother. She wants a puppy and a
laptop for her birthday.
Micah Coleman
Micah is turning 16 and is going
to a hotel party for her birthday.
She will be with her mom . She
wants a car, an Iphone, candy,
and movie tickets . Her favorite
celebrations are when she is
around her family and when she
is shopping.
Other October Birthdays:
Jonathan Brady 10/01
Damian Braun 10/13
Damian Burnside 10/06
Micah Coleman 10/18
Jake Dobbs 10/26
Nathan Dunahoo 10/06
Frank Gregorich 10/06
Christian Hann 10/16
Soraida Hull 10/03
Breanna Johnson 10/31
Calvin Jones Jackson 10/31
Carlos Maxfield 10/20
Breeanna Reger 10/02
Michelle Scanlan 10/27
Gabriel Sims 10/30
Tiara Tracy 10/03
Cayla Wilford 10/08