The Pony Express The student newspaper of Center Hill High School
March-April 2019
Center Hill High School
Volume 2, Issue 5
Career Tech
Career tech offers ‘new kind of college pathway’ By Sarah Claire Miller Staff Writer Sophomores from Center Hill High School toured the DeSoto County Career and Technology Center East on Feb. 28. Career Tech East, located on Deerfield Drive, offers students from Center Hill, Lewisburg and Olive Branch high schools opportunities to learn about careers in Health Sciences, Law Enforcement and Public Safety, Logistics and Transportation, Information Technology, and Industrial Maintenance. Maggie Clifton, a participant on the field trip, said she does not know what her future career will be but going on the tour helped. “It’s between a few things,” the CHHS 10th-grader said. “I’ve been thinking about interior design, floral design and media arts. It just depends on what I figure out what to do. I think it’s better for you to figure out what you want to do early rather than waiting until the last minute.” Although she might not attend Career Tech East, Clifton said she liked what she saw. “The health science one gave you a lot of helpful information and it was my favorite,” she said. Chelsee Ayers, a CHHS junior, is in her first year of Law and Public Safety at Career Tech East. “I wanted to learn more about the law and policemen and the work they do in the field and to experience it,” said Ayers, who got to travel with her classmates March 1 to tour the sheriff’s office and
Photo by Sarah Claire Miller Tasheena Williams rides a lift while touring the Distribution Center at Career Tech East, where students can learn about careers in Health Sciences, Law Enforcement and Public Safety, Logistics and Transportation, Information Technology, and Industrial Maintenance.
jail in Hernando. “We learn about the history of law and policing, firefighting, CPR, physical training and everything we need to know.”
Not all students in career and technical education courses pursue that career path after graduation, but according to an article on
edweek.org, CTE is “a new kind of college pathway.”
According to the Career Tech East website, each career track
is designed to be a two-year program, and students can earn four credits toward graduation.
Mealer: Gold Ball changes nothing By Sarah Claire Miller Staff Writer After winning a Gold Ball state championship trophy at the Big House in Jackson, the boys basketball team’s goal for next season is simple. “Nothing changes,” said Newton Mealer, whose Mustangs beat Olive Branch 75-73 March 8 in Jackson. “Now that we’ve won a state championship, we want it again.” The first state championship in school history has put Center Hill High School’s basketball program on a pinnacle, Mealer said, but it didn’t happen overnight. “This has been a work in progress
over the years,” he said. “We’ve had a very successful basketball program in itself, but we haven’t been able to get over that hump of beating Olive Branch. We took the district championship away from them and we also took the state championship away from them. So I would say right now Center Hill is sitting on top of the mountain as far as basketball programs in our state for 5A are concerned.” Without seniors Marquez Berry, Cameron Goodwin, Kevin Henry, Antwan Honer, Kenneth Lewis and Calvin Temple, Mealer said the state championship run probably
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Photo by Nancy Toche Wearing their practice jerseys, seniors Calvin Temple, from left, Kevin Henry, Cameron Goodwin, Marquez Berry, Antwan Honer and Kenneth Lewis pose with the Gold Ball trophy they brought home March 8 after defeating district rivals Olive Branch 75-73 in the Class 5A State Championship. The win at the Big House in Jackson marks the first state basketball title in school history.