Jacket Buzz (12/16/09)

TheJacket buzzstarkville high school • 603 Yellowjacket Dr. Starkville, MS, 39759 • www.shsjacketbuzz.com • VOLUME XVII, No. 3 • 12-16-09

By Taylor BowdenContributing Writer

It’s that time of year again.

And despite exams loom-ing overhead, several clubs at Starkville High School have embodied the giving spirit of the holiday season.

The Teenage Republicans and the Young Democrats are putting aside their politi-cal alignments to conduct a

joint food drive for a local food bank.

They have set up boxes in most history and English teachers’ rooms that stu-dents can donate canned goods to until Friday.

Student government is taking on an impressive ar-ray of holiday charity.

In addition to giving to Toys for Tots and sponsor-ing a family, they held the Share the Light program.

The Share the Light pro-gram allows a person to do-nate money and buy an orna-ment in honor of someone who has been a victim of cancer.

Half of the proceeds will go to the Rose Ella Perkins Scholarship and the other half goes to St. Jude’s Chil-dren’s Hospital.

Key Club won the non-profit civic organization division of the Starkville

Christmas Parade on Dec. 5 with their Southern Christ-mas themed parade float.

“I guess you could say it was a redneck living room,” Key Club sponsor Amy Barefield said. “It had a mounted turkey on the wall and a tractor hubcap as the star on the Christmas tree.”

The Key Club will also be ringing bells in front of Wal-Mart to benefit the Sal-vation Army.

The Junior Humane Soci-ety sold holiday bags filled with either dog or cat toys and treats to pet owners to fund their other activities.

The Leo Club visited lo-cal nursing homes and filled five Operation Christmas Child boxes.

National Honor Society did Salvation Army Bell ringing and filled three box-es for Operation Christmas Child.

Clubs help during holiday seasonKey Club, winners of the best non-profit civic organization float in the Starkville Christmas Parade, are only one of many clubs that participate in spreading good will during the holidays. Photo by Brooke Underwood.

Read how recession has affected local businesses during the holiday season on Pages 6-7...

• 12-16-09 www.shsjacketbuzz.com News

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By Collin WhittenAsst. Editor

Students taking the Introduc-tion to Engineering class hit the ground running in August with a project filled with ambition.

The class, taught by Dr. Paul Cuicchi, is a project-based course that covers mechanical, chemical, electrical, and civil engineering.

In the past, the Advanced Place-ment Physics classes have taken

on projects such as floating a concrete boat and building a bicycle-powered generator. This year, Cuicchi was search-ing for a new undertaking for his classes when he noticed that the state framework for the course mentions a bridge-building project. He knew he’d found what he was looking for.

The project, which totaled over $600, was made possible with a $500 grant from the Foundation for Public Edu-cation, and within the first two weeks of school, the In-tro to Engineering students had split up roles in the proj-ect and were ready to begin constructing their cable-stayed bridge.

“[The project] started out pretty rough because of set-backs with rain, but in the end it all came together,” se-nior Chad Thompson, whose job was manual labor, said.

Because of the weeks of con-tinuous rain in mid-fall, the proj-ect was finished in early Novem-ber, later than anticipated, but it was still viewed as a success by everyone involved.

“A lot of students are very inter-ested in what we’ve been doing, and the kids really liked working on it,” Cuicchi noted with a tri-umphant tone.

Junior Divya Patel shared Cuic-

chi’s pride in the finished bridge. “I really enjoyed working with my classmates. It took a lot of team-work,” Patel said.

When asked what she liked best about working with her classmates on the bridge, senior Colleen Read said with a smile, “I liked feeling like I was a part of something, but the best part was when the plat-form broke and one guy fell.”

This semester’s engineering proj-ect is finished, but Cuicchi plans to continue giving his classes op-portunities to take on other proj-

ects. The next may come as early as this spring.

“This was very costly, so we’re not sure yet whether we’ll do an-other project in the spring, but it’s a possibility,” Cuicchi said.

The bridge can be seen in the east-wing courtyard, and students are encouraged to stop by and see it.

Engineering class works on bridge construction

Dr. Cuicchi’s Intro to engineering class works on the construction of a bridge for the class project. Photo by Leena Mrayyan.

www.shsjacketbuzz.com 12-16-09 • News

By Brooke UnderwoodStaff Writer

Last Saturday Starkville had its annual Christmas parade on down-town Main Street.

The parade is a time when the community gathers to celebrate the holiday spirit, bundle up in blankets, drink hot chocolate, and see what everyone has been up to.

The theme for this year’s parade was “A Classic Country Christmas”. Many groups from Starkville High School joined in on the fun.

When asked why the cheerleaders are in the parade and why she thinks it’s important, Verlyncia Leonard says, “Cheerleaders are in the pa-rade to spread the Christmas spirit through cheering,” Leonard said.

“I think that it is important for cheerleaders to be in the parade because it gives them a chance to cheer for something other than just sports.”

Savannah Hobart, who was Ms. Yellow Jacket in the parade, says her favorite part of the parade was “being able to ride in the convert-ible and wearing a pretty dress” and “being able to be a role model for all the little girls on the streets watching.”

Other SHS groups include: JROTC Color Guard, SHS Band, Ms. Yellow Jacket, Ms. Junior Miss, SHS JROTC Unit, Homecoming Queen, Key Club, ASSETS, SHS Cheerleaders, Starkville Founda-tion for Public Education, and Starkville School District.

Christmas parade brightens city

The Starkville High School varsity cheerleaders were one of many sports teams, clubs, and organizations at SHS that took part in the local christmas parade on Saturday, Dec. 5. Photo by Brooke Underwood.

• 12-16-09 www.shsjacketbuzz.com News

By Cheyenne Underwood and Collin Whitten

Staff Writer, Asst. Editor

December is the month that many students think about the wonder-ful two-week break they receive for the holidays, but for 18 seniors this year it is the feeling of accomplish-ment and the excitement of gradu-ating in December.

Unlike the years before there were not many seniors that had the interest in graduating early this year.

“It tends to come in waves, and many people do it for social rea-sons,” counselor Juawice McCor-mick said. “Some students decide not to just for the fact that their friends want to stay the whole year, others decide they want to leave

because their friends are leaving and having the feeling that no one else will be left at school.”

This year McCormick believes the economy played a major role in the amount of students graduating early.

“School means tu-ition, and in this economy that is a big turnoff for the check-writer,” McCormick said. “January comes very fast and people normally think of school starting in August and September rather than January, so it puts a strain on the student’s parents.”

Also, it is less time to sign up for scholarships which makes the amount of college very costly.

In all, it really depends on the in-dividual.

Graduating in May gives students an opportunity to prepare for step-

ping on to a college campus and get-ting to real fresh-man experience, while graduating in December means students having to have a plan right away and step right into classes in Janu-ary on a college

campus with not as much prepara-tion.

“I’ve never experienced early graduation as an option,” principal Keith Fennell said. “I do want high school to be enjoyable and some-thing that is memorable. There

are some things in life that seldom repeat themselves, high school graduation being one of them, and I don’t see any reason to cut that short.”

Fennell talked many students out of graduating early at the begin-ning of the year, based on the fact that he believes students should be well-prepared for college and get to experience their whole senior year.

This will be the last year for stu-dents to be able to graduate early.

The A/B schedule also doesn’t lend itself to early graduation, and the decision to do away with early graduation was something that in-volved collaboration with central office and alumni.

But in the end it was a decision made by SHS administration.

SHS seniors choose early graduation in December

“There are some things in life that seldom re-peat themselves, high school graduation be-ing one of them.”

www.shsjacketbuzz.com 12-16-09 • News

By Grant BeattyContributing Writer

At the district-wide band Christmas concert at Mc-Comas Hall last Monday, three seniors were rec-ognized: Nikia Harvey, Tenesha Poe, and David Bouchard.

Bouchard, however, got another recognition: an ovation after his trumpet solo in the Jazz Band.

While all three seniors are very accomplished musi-cians, David is not your or-dinary trumpet player; he is blind.

Starkville band direc-tor Shawn Sullivan ex-pressed his admiration for Bouchard’s drive and abil-ity.

“He’s phenomenal,” Sul-livan said. “David’s been a great attribute, and I’m re-ally going to miss him.”

Because David is gradu-ating later this month, this was his last performance with the SHS band.

However, being in the band wasn’t always a walk in the park.

“I was frustrated at first with being in the band,” Bouchard said. “A lot of people don’t do it for the love of music. But I stuck it out and it’s been great.”

David is a member of both the Jazz Band and the Wind Ensemble.

“Before [Jazz Band], I never really wanted to solo and show off,” Bouchard said. “It really helped me

to break out and feel the music. The music is already written, but I find a way to make it my own.”

He said the turning point for his music was when he made the All-State Lions Band and got to play in an international parade in Minneapolis, Minn.

“I got to play with great high school musicians and see what the competi-tion’s really like out there,” Bouchard said.

Bouchard has been in the band since the sixth grade and has taken trumpet les-sons since the fourth.

“It’s my outlet,” Bouchard said. “It calms me. I’ll go home and ideally just have music in the background. It’s freedom.”

David’s SHS experience is coming to an end, but he plans to continue to make music a major part of his life.

“I’m looking at colleges,”

Bouchard said. “I’d like to get a degree in music educa-tion for an undergrad, defi-nitely. Although I’m taking my final bow at SHS, I’ll continue playing music.”

Bouchard leaves legacy

Trumpet player David Bouchard (center) performs his final concert with the jazz band. Photo by Brooke Underwood.

Christmas shoppers cut back on holiday spending due to economy

By Ruth BrownStaff Writer

It is the 2009 Christmas holiday and everyone is stressing about the same thing.

Money. Consumers this Christmas are not anticipating

spending quite as much as in Christmases past. Because of this, many businesses in Starkville

are going to be adversely affected by the econo-my this holiday.

Small business owner Mike Murphy owns one of the two bike shops currently existing in Starkville.

He keeps his business afloat by exercising cau-tion in good and bad times.

“We should always be cautious, especially in this economy,” Murphy said, “small businesses don’t have big budgets at the best of times.”

Murphy’s shop, aptly named The Bicycle Shop

and located in the Cotton Crossing Center, used to be the only one of its kind in Starkville.

Yet ever since competition moved in a couple of years ago, Murphy has had to keep on his toes with sales.

Because of the competition, Murphy may be hit even harder by the economy than what would usually be expected.

“Sales are down,” Murphy said, “but it’s hard to say what’s from the economy and what’s from competition.”

Businesses throughout Starkville are basically experiencing the same things.

Any given day could bring another for sale sign to their windows.

Whether this tactic of continuous sales is work-ing or not, it appears to be the most solid tactic that small businesses are willing to constantly fall back on.

Hopefully, this holiday will be a joyous one if not a particularly expensive one.

•12-16-09 www.shsjacketbuzz.com Opinion

The Jacket Buzz

The Jacket Buzz is published three times each semester by the Journalism Department at Starkville High School.

The Jacket Buzz is a student-run publication committed to providing the students of Starkville High School with objective and

informative coverage of events involving or affecting the student body.

The Jacket Buzz serves SHS as a forum for student expression and thought. Content decisions are made by student editors.

Factual errors will be corrected by a retraction in the next issue.

Opinions expressed are those of students and do not necessarily reflect the views of the adviser, administration,

Starkville High School faculty, or the Starkville School Distict. Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Jacket Buzz staff.

Letters to the Editor are accepted and published, excluding those that are deemed libelous, malicious, hurtful or disruptive.

Unsigned letters will not be published, and all letters are subject to editing. Please email all letters, or other comments/concerns, to

[email protected]

Tess LongEditor-in-Chief

Collin WhittenAssistant Editor

Volume 17, Issue 3

R.J. MorganAdvisor

Staff Writers Ruth Brown, T’Keyia Davis, Ryan English, Leena

Mrayyan, Ty Ringo, Ebony Robinson, Jimmy Sherrod, Brooke Underwood and Cheyenne Underwood

Contributing WritersTaylor Bowden, Grant Beatty, Terra Blair,

and Cullom McCormick

Statement of Policy

On behalf of the student body, the Jacket Buzz staff would like to show our appreciation for the hard working support staff at Starkville High School. We feel that our custodians, secretaries, librarians, and cafeteria staff go under-appreciated by many of our students. Therefore, we would like to give a warm, holiday thank you to our support staff. To our custodians, thanks for all you do. From keeping our bathrooms clean to keeping the grounds neat, you always do a superb job. When the H1N1 virus hit, you kept our school disinfected, and when cases of the stomach virus hit, you patiently took care of any messes. You diligently work to maintain a work-ing school. And for that, we thank you. To our secretaries, thank you for keeping our school running smoothly. You handle our visitors, finances, par-ents, phonecalls, safety, attendance, and all kinds of other needs. You’re the backbone that keeps Starkville High functioning. Without you, where would administrators, teachers, and, espe-cially, students be? We can’t thank you enough.

To our librarians, thank you so much, especially from our juniors and seniors. When the time comes for junior and senior research papers, where would we be without our librarians? When we needed that research novel, you were there. When we had to print that his-tory paper because we may or may not have forgotten until the night before, you were there. When we tried to cut from the main hall to the west wing, you were there. Yes, you were stopping us, but you were still there. You have our thanks, librarians. To the workers in the cafeteria, we have nothing to say but thank you. You have never failed to keep us ener-gized and full. Sure, some of us may not like spaghetti, and some may not like fish nuggets, but when chicken tender day comes, you never cease to make us one big happy family. Most people would say that it’s impossible to keep over 1,000 teenagers happy, but you somehow man-age to do just that. You are, without a doubt, saints. To all of you, have an especially merry winter holiday.

EditorialThe editorial below is a written collaboration among all members of the Jacket Buzz

staff. Ideas expressed represent the majority opinion of the staff.

Happy holidays, support staff

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• 12-16-09 www.shsjacketbuzz.com Sports

By Terra BlairContributing Writer

The Starkville High Lady Jackets defeated the Grenada Lady Chargers 75-71 Friday night at the Beehive.

The Jackets came back from an 8-point hole to take control of the sec-ond quarter, taking the lead, 42-40.

With two players in foul trouble in the fourth quarter, the Jackets were able to take control of the game.

Kala Williams scored 14 points and fouled out in the fourth quarter.

“With Kala on the bench, we had to make sure we covered all areas defensively,” SHS head coach Kristie Williams said. “Kala has got to un-derstand that she is one of our go-to players, and when she’s in foul trouble like that she has to pull back on her aggression.”

With Williams and Shay Bonner in foul trouble, the rest of the team had to step up and make plays.

Courtney Moore was able to step up.

“We needed that,” Wil-liams said, “Our job was to feed the post because

they could not handle her inside. We ran sets just to look inside and Courtney stepped up big.”

Moore scored 19 points to help the Lady Jackets in the defeat.

In the last minutes of the game the Lady Jack-ets had a 13-point lead which was quickly cut short by Lady Charger Sky Archie.

“We gave her too many open looks at the basket,” Williams said.

The Jackets were able to come out on top with Ashley Robinson’s 12 points and Johneice Moore’s 10 points.

Merry Christmas&

Happy Holidays

-From the SHS Film Club

By Cheyenne UnderwoodStaff Writer

Hard work and dedication really paid off to Starkville High’s Cheerleaders who placed second in regionals on Oct. 31 at Boonville High School.

The cheerleaders began practicing on their routine for regionals in July, which was a relatively late start, caus-ing the girls to give up many weekends to practice. They worked on motions, jumps, conditions, and the most chal-lenging move in their routine called The Torch; a combination of one stunt within another stunt.

“The amount of hard work put into this routine can not be explained,” se-nior cheerleader Ashley Brown said.

The routine for regionals had a mix-ture of music from Nelly Furtado, Ludacris, The Pussicat Dolls, and Lauren Hill.

“The girls use basically every mo-tion known in cheerleading,” coach Kim Williams said, “and they are so

excited to have made it this far. When we were viewing the video of them at regionals, the girls saw their mistakes and the spots we needed to work on to make the routine even better for State Competition.”

“It will be my last time performing at State Competition and I am more than excited to display our skills,” Brown said. “This year a number of the girls were new to Varsity Cheer-leading but they were always open minded, willing to listen, and ready to learn. This by far is the strongest squad I have ever been a part of, and for that I am proud. I believe this will be the year that we will do well at State.”

The cheerleaders continue to work hard and practice to show off their skills and strong dedication. The rou-tine will remain the same, with a few minor adjustments, as the cheerleaders head to State Competition in Jackson, Mississippi on December 19, 2009.

“It has been fun and quick this year,” Williams said.

Cheerleaders ready to take state

Lady Jackets defeat Lady Chargers 75-71

The Lady Jackets have started their season with a 7-1 record and hope to their winning ways continue. Photo by T’Keyia Davis.

www.shsjacketbuzz.com 12-16-09• Sports

CONGRATULATIONS! The cast and crew of “Almost, Maine” took home numerous awards at the North Mississippi Drama Festival earlier this month and were selected for advancement to the MTA State Competition in Tupelo in January.

Awards Earned: * Best Actress: Laura Kathryn Lindsay * Best Supporting Actor: Grant Beatty * Best Supposting Actress: Lauren Hughes * All-Star Cast Member: George Bennett * The Peer Choice Award * The Distinguished Play Award

Please come out and support our production at our next public performance.Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.

SHS Theater

By Grant Beatty and Cullom McCormick

Contributing Writers

Senior forward Rashad Perkins scored 13 points to lead the Starkville High School boys’ basketball team to an 81-59 victory over Indianola Gen-try.

SHS (8-0) “played together, and that’s how you win games,” Perkins said. Perkins had with five field goals and three 3-point shots, along with three free throws.

By halftime, the score was 44-22, thanks to Perkins making key shots at the beginning to get things going.

“We played well,” SHS basketball coach Greg Carter said. “Gentry’s a good team, but when we play well, that other team doesn’t matter.”

Gentry made several shots and was prevented from scoring many times.

Sophomore center Gavin Ware made more rebounds than any other SHS player with three offensive rebounds and five defensive rebounds.

“It really wasn’t a tough game,” Ware said. “As a team, I think we came to-gether and helped on defensive press and just did a good job.”

Carter and the team are both proud of the win.

“We didn’t play our best game last night,” Carter said. “We came in tonight focused and ready to play, so I’m proud that we bounced back from last night.”

The night before, Perkins scored 29 points to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 75-64 victory over Grenada.

The Jackets were able to execute more on the court with the forc-es of Perkins and guard Edward Townsel.

However, the Grenada Chargers

were able to hang with the Jackets due to their guard Robert Willis, who scored 28 points.

A technique that Grenada head coach Rahim Lockhart used to keep up with the Jackets was large substitutions of players. This had little effect after the first half, the Jackets leading 33-28.

“We were a step slower in the first half,” Carter said. “They were patient; they scored on break and

got offensive rebounds.”Even so, the Jackets pushed on

behind Perkins’ 29 points, includ-ing a 3-point shot and four free throws. Townsel had an overall of 18 points for Starkville, 14 of which were free throws.

Willis hit five 3-point shots and four free throws to lead Grenada. “We have to stay ready,” Perkins said. “Our Christmas schedule is preparing us for what’s ahead.”

No. 2 Jackets win two, stay unbeaten

The undefeated Yellow Jacket varsity boys’ basketball team practices hard for an upcoming game. Photo by Leena Mrayyan.

Holiday buzzThe

Happy Holidays from your Jacket Buzz staff !

Jacket Buzz (12/16/09)

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