December Newspaper - Miller R

Miller
High
School
Volume 2, Issue 4
December 2008
The Cardinal Flyer
SRVC Basketball 2008-2009
Lady Cardinals (from left to right)
Jessica Cook, Hannah Wilkerson,
Brooke Hill, and Katrina Logan
MHS Cardinal Basketball Players
(from left to right) Zach Eaton, Justin
Jack, and Captain Tyler Abma
The Spring River Valley
Conference will still be
competitive this year as
any previous year. There
has been a new team
added in the conference; since Everton
dropped out, College
Heights has been
added. The Miller boys
team is looking to have
another great year after
finishing 18-8 last year
and finishing in second
place in the SRVC, bringing back four starters
and a few other players
with significant playing
time. Another top team
this year will be the
usual Pierce City, last
year’s SRVC champion.
Miller is also looking to
make a run for the SRVC
title along with Lock-
wood and Jasper, two of
the
other top teams in the
conference.
The Miller Lady
Cardinals are looking to
have another good season as well. Last year
they went 22-6 and 8-1
in the conference finishing second behind
Pierce City. The Miller
girls are bringing back
their starting five to improve upon last year’s
season. Some of the
other top teams in the
conference besides
Miller are Jasper, College Heights, and maybe
even a young Pierce City
team. The Lady Cardinals will most likely have
a good chance of win-
By: Justin Jack
ning the conference title
this year.
Boys games to watch for
this season in the SRVCSRVC
Lockwood at Miller,
2-10-08
Pierce City at Miller,
2-20-08
Jasper at Miller,
2-24-08
Pierce City at Lockwood,
2-6-08
Lockwood at Jasper,
2-20-08
Girls Games to watch for
this season in the SRVCSRVC
Miller at College Heights,
2-13-08
Pierce City at Miller,
2-19-08
Jasper at Miller,
2-23-08
Jasper at Pierce City,
2-12-08
December Birthdays
Casey Blevins
Jonathan Brewer
Jordan Byrum
Matthew Cuttrell
Dylon Demster
Zach Eaton
Sean Erpelding
Brandy Estell
Alyshia Eyanson
Shane Gumm
Jesse Hickman
Nathaniel Johnson
Steve Kelley
Halston Kirby
Constance Leavitt
Joseph Lopez
Emmitt Mercer
Nikki Shepard
Austin Steele
Landon Steele
Casey Stockton
Dustin Thompson
Page 2
Music News
Underoath, the six piece
hardcore Christian band,
has been around since
1998. They have released six studio albums
and a live CD/DVD. The
six members making up
the band are Spencer
Chamberlain (scream
vocals), Aaron Gillespie
(drummer, clean vocals),
Timothy McTague (lead
guitar), Christopher Dudley (keyboard, synthesizer), Grant Brandell
(bass guitar), and James
Smith (rhythm guitar).
The band was
started in former vocalist Dallas Taylor’s basement in 1998. Since
then they have had 11
different members,
keeping the six current
ones for the last three
studio albums. The first
three albums were “Act
of Depression” (1999),
“Cries of the Past”
(2000), and “The Changing of Times” (2002).
After they were released, vocalist Dallas
Taylor left the band and
joined Maylene and The
Sons of Disaster.
When
Taylor
quit, Octavio Fernandez
and Billy Nottke went
with him. When they left,
the band added vocalist
Spencer Chamberlain,
bass guitarist Grant
Brandell, and rhythm
guitarist James Smith.
The next release was
when the band really
By: John Davidson
broke on to the scene.
“They’re Only
Chasing Safety” (2004)
was Chamberlains’ first
album. It sold nearly
100,000 albums in its
first week and has sold
nearly 500,000 albums
since its release. It has
been certified Gold. The
two singles from the album were Reinventing
Your Exit and It’s Dangerous Business Walking out Your Front Door.
The album contained 10
tracks and was rereleased with 4 bonus
tracks and a bonus DVD.
Every song on this album was written by
Aaron Gillespie.
“Define
The
Great Line” (2006) was
Underoaths’ fifth album.
It debuted at number
two on the Billboard
200, selling nearly
98,000 copies in its’
first week. The album
had four singles: Writing
on the Walls, In Regards
to Myself, You’re Ever so
Inviting, and A Moment
Suspended in Time. The
tracks on this CD were
written by both Gillespie
and Chamberlain. Define the Great Line was
also released with a special edition DVD and
new artwork.
The bands most
recent album, “Lost in
the Sound of Separation” (2008), was a
huge change for the
band. They went with a
much heavier, darker
sound for this album.
This album debuted at
number eight on the Billboard 200, with 56,000
copies sold in its first
week. There was only
one single from the album: Desperate Times,
Desperate Measures.
There was a special edition with a bonus DVD
released and a deluxe
edition that was hand
signed and numbered by
the band there were
only 5,000 of this album
made.
Above: Act of Depression
(1999)
Below: Cries of the Past
(2000)
Page 3
Tori Jones Attends Leadership Conference
“If anyone ever gets
the chance to attend
a leadership
conference, DO IT!
You won’t be sorry
that you did, I
promise!”
Recently, Tori Jones,
MHS Freshman, attended the National
Young Leaders State
Conference in St. Louis,
MO. She was nominated
by her 8th grade teacher,
Mrs. Valerie Pendergrass, to be selected to
go to the conference.
“My trip to the
Leadership Conference
was extraordinary and
exciting. It was definitely
challenging, but it
taught me how strong I
am as a person as well
as a leader.
The first day was very
FCCLA News
FCCLA students make preparations for the Christmas float
The first thing on the
agenda for FCCLA this
month was their annual
trip to Silver Dollar City.
They viewed the spectacular array of Christmas lights. The trip was
held on Friday, December 12th for all FCCLA
members. During the
hard.
Everyone
was totally alone,
and to be honest,
it was scary. Eventually, we all decided to take a
stand and be outgoing.
I
was
blessed to have an
amazing
group
who was supportive and caring.”
“We had
support
groups,
and I will never
forget any of these
people. I made some
amazing friends! We did
tons of activities that
revealed who we really
were. The activities also
taught me some great
skills such as public
speaking, conflict resolution, active listening,
and group involvement.
These things will be forever helpful with not
only my education, but
my life in general,” Tori
said.
Tori’s favorite
part of the trip was Saturday night when they
By: Cole Duncan
last week of the semester, the members of
FCCLA had a Secret
Santa gift exchange. A
Secret Santa gift exchange is where all the
students that are involved in FCCLA drew
names and then buy
By: Sam Gillaspy
put everything they
learned together and
came up with a leadership goal. She said that
this night was labeled
“Magic Night” because
of the high goals everyone was supposed to
set. Tori’s goal was to
become a more positive
and inspiring person
with both her actions
and her words. Tori
says, “I know this will be
difficult, but I am willing
to put forth the effort to
achieve it.”
Tori said she
would most definitely do
it again. “I learned so
much and made so
many amazing friends. It
would have to be a little
ways down the road, but
yes, I would totally do it
again. It was a lifechanging experience,”
she said.
“If anyone ever
gets the chance to attend a leadership conference, DO IT! You
won’t be sorry that you
did, I promise!”
that person a small gift.
On December 18th they
revealed their Secret
Santas. The last thing
on the agenda for this
month was the Miller
Christmas Parade that
was held on Saturday
the 13th. The FCCLA
members featured a
float entitled “A Cardinal
Christmas”.
Page 4
Cardinal Basketball Preview
The Boys basketball
team is looking forward
to having another good
season. They finished
off last year with an 188 record and took second place in the SRV
conference. They have
been working hard each
day to achieve a lot for
their season.
This year they
have four seniors on the
team. Tyler Abma is a
starting varsity guard for
the Cardinals. Helping
Tyler is Ryan Morris, a
varsity lettermen forward, and Tylar Hill, an-
other forward. Jeremy
Gulick is a newcomer to
the team after taking his
sophomore and junior
year off. Returning juniors are Dallas Bloomer,
Wil Harrington, and
Derek Jack. Sophomores Justin Jack, Tyler
Hinshaw, Zach Eaton,
Casey Blevins, and Brandon McNutt help to
round out the team.
They are a great group
of athletes that work
hard to contribute to the
team.
New to the team
are freshmen Cole Dun-
Lady Cardinal Basketball Preview
Good Luck,
Cardinals!
The Miller Lady Cardinals are expecting a
good season, with high
expectations on their
shoulders. Their preseason prediction was
set high when they were
ranked first in Southwest Class 2 girls basketball. Each and every
day, the Lady Cardinals
are working hard to earn
the title and not settle.
For the 20082009 season, there are
two returning seniors: a
powerful force down
low, Samantha Henderickson and shooting
guard, Katrina Logan.
Helping out the Cardinals are three juniors:
By: Brooke Hill
can, Fred Sattler, Dylon
Dempster, Austin
Richardson, Dakota
Cady, and Jordan Moots.
They are valuable members to the team this
year.
Coaching the
Cardinals is head coach
Ryan Stokes and assistant coach Derek Hill.
By: Brooke Hill
Nicole Adams, Hannah
Wilkerson, and Betsy
Epps. All three are athletic and are dedicated
to their team. Sophomores Jessica Cook and
Kurstine Owens are also
valuable members to
the team.
Newcomers are
Freshmen Brooke Hill,
Kayla Gammill, Kaylie
Wilson, Brandy Estell,
and Ashley Fox, all working hard to contribute to
the team and improve
their game.
Also joining the
team is the new head
coach, Brandon Weiss
and assistant coach,
Jennifer Leeper.
Page 5
Miller Christmas Parade
By: Darius Jones and Chris Douglas
It was a cold, chilling night on Saturday, December 13th, when Miller held their
Christmas parade. It was well worth being out to see the Miller Marching Cardinals
Band covered in Christmas lights and the playing the song “Sleigh Ride.” The band
did a very good job at decorating themselves and their instruments to show their
Christmas spirit. The Christmas parade was very exciting, and we were glad to see
so many people there.
“Teen Angel”
The Drama class
performed their first play
of the year, “Teen Angel”, on Friday the 21st
of November and once
again on Saturday the
22nd. All the cast members arrived two hours
before the play actually
began to get into clothes
and make-up and
squeeze in a little practice time before the curtain opened. Most of the
cast members seemed
pretty nervous, while
others had a different
attitude and weren’t
By: Whitney Gumm
nervous at all. Since the
play had a 1950’s
theme, the clothes and
make-up were really fun
to do and everyone had
fun with it. The first performance was very well
done and all of the cast
members did a great
job! The audience did
have a hard time hearing because the gym
fans were on, and it
drowned out the actors’
voices. Saturday’s performance was excellent
and there were no fan
interruptions that time!
Wednesday was their
last performance, and it
was for the entire
school. Despite some
obstacles they faced
such as a couple actors
that couldn’t make it,
they did a very good job!
Everyone is relieved that
it is over with, and they
have worked very hard
putting this play together. Please show
your support and thanks
to Mrs. Fox and the
Drama cast!
Page 6
Entertainment News
By: Kent Johnson and Brock Duncan
“Twilight”
Never one to run with the crowd, Bella never cared
about fitting in with the trendy, plastic girls at her
Phoenix, Arizona high school. When her mother
remarried and Bella chose to live with her dad in
the little town of Forks, Washington, she didn't expect anything to change. But they do when she
meets the mysterious Edward Cullen.
Quote from John Davidson: “The most LAME acting ever!”
Other New Movies to Watch
“Transporter 3’
“Four Christmases”
“Bolt”
“Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa”
The 3-D cartoon stars John Travolta as the main
character, Bolt. Also a voice in the film is musician Miley Cyrus, as Bolt’s loving teen owner.
The film is about a small German Shepard
named “Bolt” who is a superhero dog who
grows up as the star of a television show, but
the producer hides the cameras and the crew.
The reason for the producer doing this is so he
will get a more realistic act from the dog. This
leads to Bolt actually thinking he has heat vision, a super bark, and the ability to stop trucks
with his head, but when Bolt is accidentally
moved to New York, he goes
on the biggest adventure of
his life to get back to his
owner across the country in
Hollywood. While on this
adventure, Bolt meets an ally
cat and an over enthused
hamster. For more on this
movie, you’ll just have to
watch it.
After being stranded on the remote shores of
Madagascar, the New York animals come up
with a great plan to make it back to Central
Park. The penguins find the remains of a
crashed airplane, but once the penguins finish
the repairs and take flight, it looks as if the animals will be soaring over New York itself. After
the journey starts it looks all good, but Alex the
Lion (voice of Ben Stiller) and his
friends find out that the penguins
are not quite the aviators they
claimed to be. After the group
crash-lands on the plains of Africa, they come in contact with
their wild counterparts for the
very first time.
Hope you will all go watch this
fun, animated flick!
Page 7
Evangel Crusaders
Evangel is back for the
2008-2009 season. The
Crusaders are coming
off a 28-7 record tied
with MidAmerica Nazarene for its fourth Heart
of America Athletic Conference title, won the
conference postseason
tournament for the
fourth time and made
the program’s seventh
overall and third straight
appearance in the NAIA
II national tournament.
Head Coach
Steve Jenkins, who begins his 27th season at
the helm of the Crusaders, returns seven lettermen out of the 12. Out
of those 7 letters are 2
full-time starters, and
2006 MHS
Graduate
By: Zach Eaton
one part time starter.
Jackson Capel (6-3, Sr.,
G) leads Evangel into
the season. Capel was a
second team NAIA II AllAmerica selection and
first team All-Conference
selection. Capel averaged 20.9 points and
4.7 rebounds per game.
The senior holds six Evangel 3-point field goal
records, including most
in a game, season, and
career. The other fulltime returning starter is
Shane Nicholson (6-0,
Sr., PG), who earned
honorable mention allleague last season.
Nicholson set a new Evangel record for career
assists last season while
averaging 5.5 assists
per game. He also averaged 9.9 points and 3.8
rebounds per game.
Chad Simon (6-7, Sr., F)
is the returning parttime starter. He averaged 4.9 points and 4.1
rebounds. Jordan Chapman (6-3, Sr., G), Chad
Gillaspy (6-6, So., F),
Spud Harbour (5-11,
So., G), and Josh Kleine
(6-7, So., C) are also returning lettermen. Harbour averaged 7.3
points.
Lost from last
years team is: Austin
Brewer, Joel Brown, Jared Clay, Tim Dial, and
Todd Simon.
Chad Gillaspy is a 2006 Miller High School graduate. He set the all-time scoring record at Miller. I sent Chad a couple questions about college:
Chad Gillaspy
Evangel Crusaders
Basketball
•
What do you like best about Evangel?
I like the basketball best. The people at Evangel love their basketball.
• What tough upcoming games do you have?
The non-conference schedule is almost over and once the conference games
start there will be a lot of tough games. We won conference last year so we will
get every ones best shot.
• Do you think this year’s team is better than last year?
It is so hard to tell this early in the season, but we have a chance to be very
good. As good, if not better than last year.
• Do you like college life better?
I do like college better. There is more freedom and on some days you might
only have one class.
• How different is basketball in college?
It is quite different. The game is faster and more physical at the college level.
• Have you made a lot of new friends?
I have made a lot of friends. More than I even thought I would.
• What’s the biggest change going from a small school to college?
There aren’t as many changes as you would think. As long as you are able to
adjust to new people it’s fine. That’s probably the biggest change.
Page 8
Basketball Cheerleading Preview
“I love cheerleading so far.
I am just excited to lift up
the athletes of our school
and show my school
spirit.”
The Football Varsity
Cheerleading Squad had
a lot of fun this year. The
squad was small in
number but they were
mighty and made an
impact. There were five
girls on the Varsity
squad. Freshman Halston Kirby, Freshman
Nikki Shepard, Freshman Shelby Hartley, Junior Bailey Carpenter, and
Junior Kelsey Allen. The
captains were Bailey
Carpenter and Kelsey
Allen. The cheerleaders
performed a dance at
three pep rallies and
cheered at every game.
The new members are Senior Kenzi
Gwen, Junior Jake Reynolds, Junior Ashley Barnes, Sophomore Krystal
Evans, and Sophomore
Corri Hillberg. Kenzi
Gwen says, “I’m very
excited to be on the
squad. It’s going to be
good. We are going to do
a lot this season”
Coach Heather Moenkhoff, former NCA employee, leads the squad
and captain of the
squad is Bailey Carpenter. “We have a lot of
work to do, but with so
many people there is a
lot of potential and I
know that we can
achieve a lot.”
Heather Moenkhoff cheered on the
Miller varsity cheerleading squad for four years
when she was in high
school. She also
cheered for Missouri
Southern when she was
in college and after that,
she worked for NCA doing camps for a few
years. “Heather is a
great coach. She can
always answer any question. She knows so
much about cheerleading and she actually enjoys being around us,”
Shelby Hartley said.
On December
2nd, a pep rally will be
held to kick off the basketball season. The
Cheerleaders will be
dancing and cheering as
usual. Until then, there
are long, stressful practices as the new squad
members are learning.
Jake Reynolds is
the only male on the
cheerleading squad. He
will bring a lot of
strength when it comes
to stunting. In addition,
having a guy on the
squad should bring in a
lot more attention. “I
love cheerleading so far.
I am just excited to lift
up the athletes of our
school and show my
school spirit.” Jake Reynolds said. The cheerleaders are ready to
have fun and kick off
another great sporting
season with support,
enthusiasm and school
spirit.
By: Bailey Carpenter
Page 9
Teacher of the Month—Ms. Winans
Ms. Darrelle Winans
teaches many computer
classes here at Miller
High School. This is her
second year teaching
here. She leads a lot of
clubs here too including
FBLA (Future Business
Leaders of America), the
yearbook staff, and Student Council.
Ms. Winans received her Bachelor’s
degree at Missouri
Southern State University in Joplin and her
Master’s at Missouri
State University in
Springfield. Before com-
ing to Miller, she taught
at Sheldon High School
for three years.
The Miller High
School Student Council
sponsors many activities
and functions in the
school. They have organized the pep rallies and
dances. Every month,
Ms. Winans’ leadership
class elects a committee
to help organize the
events.
Ms.
Win a n s
seems to really enjoy it
here at Miller and has a
lot of students that all
like her a lot. She works
Drury Lady Panthers Preview
extremely hard, planning
field trips, dances, pep
rallies and still teaching
many classes at the
same time.
By: Hannah Wilkerson
son Oliver led the Great Lakes
Valley Conference in offensive
rebounds and led the Lady
Panthers with defensive and
offensive rebounds with 8
boards a game.
“Drury is currently
ranked number 4 in
the nation and look to
go back to the Final
Four this year.”
By: Bailey Carpenter
Coaching Staff:
Head Coach: Steve Harold
Assistant Coach: Shelly Jones
Assistant Coach:
John Nicolais
Graduate Assistant:
Erin Hendrickson
Star Players:
Junior guard Melanie Oliver
has kicked off the 2008-2009
season with a good start. A
week ago against Grand Valley she had a career high of
21 points to lead the Lady
Parents to a victory. Last sea-
Freshman Katie Pritchard has
made a great impact on the
Lady Panthers success this
season. She does a little bit of
everything. She had 15 points
against Washburn and is now
averaging 9.8 points per
game. There is only one direction for the freshman to go
and that direction is forward.
She is an all around athlete.
Junior Hannah Carter is a play
maker. She doesn’t score
much but is the queen of
assists. In the win against
Grand Valley she had 6 assists and shot 100% from the
charity stripe. She is always
making her teammates look
better with her ability to get
them open and distribute the
ball to them.
Drury is currently ranked
number 4 in the nation and
look to go back to the Final
Four this year. They are also
number 2 in the Great Lakes
Valley Conference.
Page 10
MHS Art Club News
By: Kent Johnson
The MHS Art Club, sponsored by Mrs. Leeper, is currently trying to raise
enough money to go on a trip to the Kansas City Nelson Atkins Art Museum. If the art club does not earn enough money for this trip, they will
have to settle with a trip to the Springfield Art Museum. It would be much
appreciated if you were to donate money to Mrs. Leeper and the wonderful
MHS art club. The Art Club members are Michael Clark, Melanie Atwell,
Nicole Morlan, Laney Calvin, Bayleigh Reynolds, Caressa Harlow, Taylor
Cummings, Shelby Smith, Alyshia Eyanson, and Chelsea Gutierrez.
FFA News
By: Cody Williamson
Most of the FFA members are busy starting their SAE projects (supervised agriculture experience). For this, they keep a record book to track the money they make and spend on
their project. Meanwhile, the students are choosing which agricultural team they would
like to be on this year, which are called CDE teams (career development events). In other
news, the Greenhand Conference was held 1/8/09. This conference is a way of introducing freshman students into the FFA world. It allows them to get a feel for what FFA’s about
and what all it has to offer.
Quote of the Month
“You have no control over
what the other guy does.
You only have control over
what you do.”
-A.J Kitt
By: Jessica Cook
Quote of the Month
“You have no control over what the other guy does. You only have control over what you do.”
-A.J Kitt
The reason that I chose this quote is because another sport is starting again, only this time it’s basketball. The athletes are practicing and looking forward to the season starting in December.
They could always use more advice. As A.J. Kitt says, you can only control yourself. As one thing goes,
another will come. Attitudes go the same way; everyone gets them and uses them when it comes to
playing the game. As you read the quote, look at it as though you were losing in a game. You can’t
control the refs or the other players; you can only control how the game will turn out by the way you
play.
JQH Arena
by: Jessica Cook
The JQH Arena is finally finished. The Arena is the new home to the Bears and Lady
Bears basketball teams at Missouri State University. The JQH Arena opened up with
a concert by the Eagles on November 13th, 2008. The ribbon cutting was held November 24th.
The JQH Arena is named after John Q.
Hammons. The arena is named after him due
to his 30 million dollar donation that he gave to
MSU to build the arena. The arena will seat
11,000 and includes 24 private seats, 55 court
side seats, and 100 lodge seats. The first game
played in the brand new arena was on November 22nd,
the Bears vs. Arkansas.
The Cardinal Flyer Newspaper Staff
Editors: Samantha Gillaspy and Darius Jones
We’re on the web at
www.millerschools.org
Staff Writers:
Bailey Carpenter
Jessica Cook
John Davidson
Chris Douglas
Katrina Logan
Cody Williamson
Hollywood in Springfield
Brock Duncan
Cole Duncan
Ronnie Dunlap
Zach Eaton
Dustin Thompson
Whitney Gumm
Brooke Hill
Justin Jack
Kent Johnson
Hannah Wilkerson
By: Cole Duncan
You can get a little taste of Hollywood closer than you think! On November 7th the
new Hollywood Theater opened up in Springfield. Located in the heart of downtown, within
walking distance to many great restaurants and coffee shops, you get the best of the experience. Tickets are a bit pricey compared to other Springfield theaters, but this one really
gives the viewer some serious bang for their buck. Everything in the theater is state of the
art and new, so there isn’t much gum to stick to your feet and really comfortable seats! To
any movie goer, this may seem like a bit of a jump in price for the movie, but it brings a bit
of elegance and class to going out to see a new flick.
EK