The Lion’s Roar

Issue 2 November 2017

Fall Fun at GHS!

Congratulations to the Junior Class! Winners of our first annual Tug of War held at the

Pep Rally on November 22, 2017

What does Spirit Week mean to you? Spirit Week is the time for all students in GHS to express themselves freely, in a way that they don't get the chance to do on a daily basis. It gives each and every kid the opportunity to promote school spirit. Spirit Week is also a great way to get kids involved and participating in school activities. This year, all students of GHS came together with an amazing outcome. It was a truly a fantastic thing to see students come together with crazy ideas and go all out. You can really see how lion heart-ed each and every one of us is; from tacky tourist Tuesday to character Thursday we are a small town with big dreams.

Spirit Week By: Hana St. Clair

Homecoming

By: Emily Petrik

Homecoming is always a fun-filled night of dancing and laughs! I’m sure most people would agree that Homecoming is always a night to look forward to and it’s a perfect way to kick off the school year. Isabella Festa, this year’s Homecoming Queen, crowned Matthew McNutt as king during the dance and everyone seemed thrilled. All in attendance seemed to be having a great time throughout the night, and it was a wonderful evening to spend with friends. I think most people would agree that DJ KY would’ve been the better choice where the music was concerned, but there’s always next year.

Pumpkin Carving Competition

By: Nick Zingaro

Gloucester High held its first annual pumpkin carving competition among students in late October. During 7th and 8th periods, students from Mrs. Bennett’s and Mrs. Light’s art classes partnered up and got together to see who could carve the most creative pumpkin. Teachers and students later in the week voted on who had the best piece. First place went to Alexis Justiniano, Mariah Dietrich, Royce Gaudet, and Laney Ryan. Second place went to Arianna McGlinchey, Li Lin, and Erica Baker. Third place went to Dan Clifton, Cori Camp, Matt McNutt, and Lauren Pierman. The Lion’s Roar wants to congratulate all the participants on some remarkable projects.

1st Place

3rd Place

2nd Place

With the loss of six seniors from last year’s team, the Gloucester High Dance Team has a lot to prove in this year’s basketball and competition seasons. Our new coach Miss McGoldrick has already had try-outs and meetings to start the new season. As a member of the Dance Team since freshman year, I am very excited to learn new dances and get to know the new coach and team members better. While the loss of Mrs. S was saddening and a shock to all of us, she still supports our team and has even planned to come back and coach us one last dance. Make sure to come out to all home girls and boys basketball games this year to catch the 2017 Gloucester High Dance Team dance at half-time. Also, make sure to come out and support us at competitions this year. Dance Team always brings the energy (and juice) to every basketball game, and we plan on continuing our support for the basketball teams throughout this upcoming season. GO LIONS!

Dance Team By: Rebecca Wenner

Please note no new pictures of the team were available at publication. Last year’s dance team is featured

but many of the team members remain the same.

Our Varsity and JV field hockey team faced a tough loss in their last game of the season in late October. We took lots of time to prepare for this rough game that ended in a 4-0 loss against Haddon Township. Earlier this season, we played Haddon Township on our home field and got defeated by a score of 3-1. However, that was nothing like our first round playoff game loss to them by five goals in the 2016 season. Our team has stepped up this year and played as a completely different team than in our previous season. Each and every one of us gave our all and never stopped fighting until time ran out. Although our season ended in just Round One of playoffs, we still had a great turn-out this year. We defeated Pitman in a 4-1 game, resulting in our Tri-County cham-pionship win! A big thank you to all six of our seniors for being great role models to our team and helping guide us along the way. We are looking forward to another fantastic season next year with the rest of the team.

Field Hockey Playoffs By: Hailey Ritchie

Wednesday, November 15th on the Gloucester High football field yet another Powder Puff

game was successfully held. The stands were full of parents, teachers, and supportive stu-

dents cheering on their seniors and juniors. Amidst all the tradition, a new one has started

with the Gorman brothers each coaching a team. The game was a tough one, with both

teams fighting hard for every yard and flag grabbed. Seniors Rylie Iaconelli, Victoria Lon-

gona, and Myranda McCabe all scored a touchdown for their team. Lauren Pierman showed

off her running skills with 12 points for the seniors. Kylar Coughlin and Mikaila Gillen each

scored a 2-point conversion on the seniors’ side. Juniors suffered a hard loss, but scored their

own impressive touchdowns and conversions. Iristzell Bonilla scored two touchdowns for her

team and got a 2 point conversion. Ashlee Fleckenstein scored her own conversion, and the

game ended with a score of 34 for the seniors and 16 for the juniors. The halftime show was

one for the record books with the junior and senior boys teaming up for the funniest perfor-

mance in years. The audience (and Powder Puff players) cheered loud enough to shake the

bleachers. Speaking on behalf of the seniors, we applaud the junior side for their skills and

effort; we couldn’t imagine a better Powder Puff game to send us off into our last year as

GHS family.

Powder Puff

By: Cori Camp

Phil Murphy (D) vs. Kim Guadagno (R) - An Unexpectedly Close Election

The most important New Jersey election in recent years took place on November 6th, 2017. This was non other than the quadrennial gubernatorial election between Democrat Phil Murphy and Re-publican Kim Guadagno. This election caught the eyes of many Americans around the country - for New Jersey’s current governor, Chris Christie, has made some questionable decisions and New Jer-seyans are excited to support a new governor. Phil Murphy is a proud progressive with a middle class background and many ties with the NAACP. Murphy’s campaign focused on promising to increase New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15, legalizing the use of recreational marijuana, making college cheaper, and reaching out to young adults, African Americans, and women. Phil Murphy’s political agenda is very similar to modern-day Democrats; however - even for a Democrat - his agenda is considered to be extremely progres-sive. Another key feature of Murphy’s campaign was criticizing Christie’s mistakes as a Republican governor, rather than criticizing his opponent’s stances on issues. Republican Kim Guadagno is described as a tough, law-enforcing woman who has a military back-ground and was Chris Christie’s second in command. Guadagno’s campaign heavily focused on de-creasing state regulations on businesses, cracking down on crime and immigration in New Jersey, and decreasing property tax. Guadagno is a proponent of strict state and government screening on all immigrants that come to New Jersey. She always wants to increase the size of military bases and homeland security in New Jersey (which makes sense given her background as military mother). Guadagno appealed to business owners, veterans, the wealthier class, and the elderly. From the outside looking in, the New Jersey Gubernatorial Election of 2017 did not look very close. According to realclearpolitics.com, Murphy won by about 14 percentage points, which is a lot less than many political experts predicted before the polls were released. Phil Murphy was expected to have a landslide victory for a number of reasons: New Jersey is a predominantly blue state, Guadagno was second in command to one of the least popular state governors in New Jersey’s his-tory, and Guadagno had made some questionable remarks regarding Murphy’s leniency towards criminals. Then why was this election was much closer than predicted? For starters, Phil Murphy was targeting an audience that has always been known for its lack of vot-ing - the 18-24 year olds in America. In addition, Phil Murphy’s lack of experience in running for office made Guadagno appear more appealing to some voters. This coupled with Guadagno’s out-standing last-minute push in her campaign could have potentially left New Jersey, a blue state, left with another Republican governor. Alas, Guadagno did not win the election, and Phil Murphy will be sworn in as the 56th governor of New Jersey on January 16, 2018. It will be interesting to see what progressive Phil Murphy can do with the power of governor. Will he soar and stay true to his promises? Or will he crash and crumble under the pressure of satisfying the tough New Jersey na-tives like the governor before him?

By: Kyle Markiewicz

During gym period this year, there are many options for what students could do. Whether it is aerobics, weight lifting, or regular gym class, students stay busy. Another option included is called Option II. This class is given as a free period to stu-dent-athletes who are involved in two or more sports. These student-athletes must complete the full seasons of both of these sports, or they will have to take gym as a summer class after the school year. However, this class option encourages students to stay involved and even inspires other students to want to get involved also. During the Option II period, there are many students in the Media Center studying for tests, do-ing homework, and many other things. Considering this op-tion is very beneficial to all students who choose it. It has con-tinued each year to be available to student-athletes.

Option II By: Hailey Ritchie

Option II 7th Period

On Tuesdays and Thursdays after fifth period a group of six seniors goes to Rowan College at Gloucester County to get a head start on their college career. Some take a foreign language and others take social sciences such as psychology, sociology and ethics. This will be very helpful in making college more

affordable and also helping the students get a feel for what college life and classes will be like. This also betters their transcript because it shows that the students challenged themselves by taking courses that they know would be difficult. With the semester ending on December 15th, the students have a lot of studying to do in order to pass their exams, and then they start their next class in the winter. Through taking the classes we have met several interesting people including wonderful and helpful professors. The students have already chosen their second semester courses and are looking forward to a successful second half of the year.

RCGC By: Rick Gaskill

Riverdale is popular TV show that is booming right now in the television industry. The show is basically one big mystery tak-ing place in a high school featuring not so typical teenagers. This drama reels in people from all over the place and they can’t seem to get enough. Season One, which is airing right now, left the entire audience on the edge of their seats. This whole TV drama is based on the Archie Comics, which is eerie and addic-tive. Many people who have read the original comics really en-joy this new TV show because it displays a better, more modern take on it.

Riverdale Review

By: Hana St. Clair

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Thanksgiving Game

By: Melanie Gumpper

Thanksgiving Day marked when crosstown rivals, Gloucester City High School and Gloucester Catholic, take part in their annual football game. This football game also had a very special place for the seniors of 2018, being the last time they will step on the field as Lions. Spirits were high before and during the game. The hype for the game kicked off during a pep rally held on Wednesday, November 22, where the whole school got together to show support for the Lions. Even Super-intendent Dr. Vespe took part in friendly competition bringing a stuffed Ram to kick around in good spirit.

The student section, now clad in blue and gold in order to show support for GHS, is a newly started tradition this year at the game. Tensions were high throughout the game; all fans on both sides were sitting at the edge of their seats hoping that their team would finally make a touchdown. Even though the Lions played their hearts out, we lost to Catholic 22-0.With the close of football season, the Lions over-all 2017 record was 4-6.

Thanksgiving, “the holiday before Christmas,” is rapidly approaching, and it is the best time to discuss Thanksgiving misconceptions and interesting facts. Many people fail to

remember that Thanksgiving is a time for bonding with friends and family instead of being one day a year on which a large feast is presented. The very first Thanksgiving took place in November of 1621, when the Plymouth pilgrims invited the Wampanoag

Natives for a large banquet celebrating a bond of trust and acceptance between the two groups. The food presented at the first Thanksgiving included many delectables we eat at today’s Thanksgiving. The feast included cooked wild turkey, various types of seafood, plentiful amounts of vegetables and fruit, and Thanksgiving favorites like squash and pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving is widely known for being celebrated in

America, but what many people do not know is that Thanks-giving is also largely celebrated in Canada. Similar holidays in-clude Oktoberfest in Germany and Kinrokanshahi (Labor Thanksgiving Day) in Japan. Approximately 46 million turkeys are cooked for Thanksgiving each year, approximately 50 mil-lion pumpkin pies are consumed on Thanksgiving day. Thanks-giving is a holiday that Americans and Canadians should learn to appreciate more for its kindhearted nature.

By: Kyle Markiewicz

Thanksgiving Fun Facts

Review: Vic Mensa’s The Autobiography

The Autobiography by Vic Mensa was one of the many highly anticipated albums that came out in the summer of 2017. Mensa takes us on a journey through his life in Chicago, what he had to go through and overcome to get where he is now. Some of the headline songs on the album are the following: “Memories on 47th Street”, “OMG”, “Down for some Ignorance”, and “Wings” ft. Pharrell. Personally my favorite lyric is from the song “Down for some Ignorance”: “...These kids grew up with no moms and no dads, Blew up with these rhymes and notepads, Even if they did they'd dump heads, One a one way street to no-where, Everything to prove, with nothing to lose, You fools at Fox News, Couldn't walk a block in our shoes.” Vic demonstrates the struggles he faced in Chicago and how the average folk tries to understand what he went through but really has no idea. He expresses ideas that many young men and women ex-perience but just shake it off. Mensa did a great job in The Autobiography mesh-ing his past thoughts and experiences into the rap culture while reaching a wide audience and making his music relatable.

In my eyes, “The Autobiography” was a solid 8.5/10. Even with the likes of Catch these Vibes by PnB Rock, The Bigger Artist by Aboogie, 17 by

XXXtentacion, and Good for You by Amine, Mensa hit a homerun with The Au-tobiography making it my favorite album of 2017.

By: Nick Zingaro

Lion’s Roar Staff

Advisor

Cori Camp Rick Gaskill Melanie Gumpper

Kyle Markiewicz Emily Petrik Hailey Ritchie

Hana St. Clair Rebecca Wenner Nick Zingaro

Miss Donohue