Students at risk of losing credit for attendance have received a golden opportunity: Saturday school.
Heritage designates the first Saturday of every month to help students catch up on missing work and get a second chance to regain credits for absences. The Administration believes everyone deserves a second chance to change their habits.
“We understand that sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that prevent students from attending school on a day-to-day basis, and sometimes those absences can build up,” Assistant Principal Ashlye Pool said. “With the opportunity to earn back some seat time, it allows students to continue to have the opportunity to get credit for their classes and stay on track to graduate while also holding them accountable for showing up [and] doing what they’re supposed to be doing everyday.”
The students who use Saturday school for credit recovery have an overall positive outlook.
“I’m grateful to have gotten a second opportunity,” said Allye Hernandez (10). “I believe everyone in need of help should attend because it’s a great way to have a quieter time to study on your own assignments as well as catch up on attendance.”
Hernandez feels that the environment at Saturday school is what sets it apart.
“I personally think it works better for me because I’m more focused on work than I am in regular class,” she said. “I think they should add more Saturday schools because it could benefit more students. However, I do believe that some people could take advantage of this and not attend school regularly on purpose.”
Other students use this day to make up absences that they were not in control of.
“Being that it was not my personal choice to miss school for a long period of time, I am thankful that the school district has given me this opportunity to attend Saturday school for credit recovery,” said Reese Powers (11) “It has allowed me to give my complete attention to school work and to recover missing credit.”
Teachers have also been highly supportive of Saturday school and encourage students to attend when it’s needed.
“Saturday school is important for Heritage to offer because it allows students to get the opportunity to make up for missing work in time for their classes,” said Brittany Ray who teaches freshman English.
The next opportunity to attend Saturday school is Jan. 6, after winter break.
11, 2023
Heritage High Strives for Daily Growth
State Report Grade Puts Pressure on Students and Admin
In September, the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (ADE) published their annual school report card, revealing that Heritage High School had maintained its grade as a C school.
Since 2016, Arkansas law has required annual school report cards, which include performance data
and letter grades, for each public school in the state. The grade is based on multiple factors including student attendance, graduation rates and community service. However, 85% of the grade is determined by student performance and growth on state tests.
“State testing is ultimately how we are judged,” Principal Chip Greenwell said. “85% of our school grade card comes through those high-stakes tests: 50% coming from
student growth and 35% coming from student achievement.”
Unlike traditional letter grades in school, the ADE rating scale designates 73.22 and above as an A, 67.96-73.21 as a B, 61.10-67.95 as a C, 52.95-61.09 as a D and 52.94 and below as an F. Heritage’s accountability score is a 62.1, which is 1 point above the threshold for a D. (Chart on p. 2.)
Grade continued on p. 2
Tech Support Staff to Change Over Break
Howard Talon Staff
Heritage’s information and technology specialist, along with the rest of the IT specialists around Rogers schools, are being transferred to different schools at the end of the semester.
Randy Lusk came to Heritage by way of the district technology office in January because of a new initiative to give all IT specialists experience at the high school level. He replaced Mike Harris, who had been at Heritage since 2019.
“As I understand, they are doing the switch to give everybody
Tech continued on p. 2
Fraire
Heritage High School received a C from the state on the school report card published in September.
Salazar
Randy Lusk, who has served Heritage since January, will be changing schools due to a district policy about rotating IT specialists between schools annually.
Pullen Talon Staff
School Report Card Rating Scale
Since the implementation of the school report card, Heritage has consistently received a C grade. Moreover, since 2018, the accountability score has dropped from 65.76 to 62.1, a 3.66 point decrease and now the lowest score across the district. Dropping to a D or F could mean drastic changes for Heritage students, staff and the overall community.
According to the LEARNS Act, public schools with a D or F would become eligible for intensive support from ADE and could transfer control from the local school board to a third party or the State Board of Education. With such high stakes, the administration is taking the situation seriously.
Greenwell, who is in his first year as the principal of Heritage High School, has his attention set on “day-to-day learning” and believes that will have a direct impact on the state grade.
“I’m putting a huge amount of thought and resources into improving the state grade,” Greenwell said. “We are doing a ton of things that have never been done before to improve our grade, and I’m really proud of a lot of the work we are doing.”
The most evident work is an increased focus on core classes. Over the summer, administration and staff reviewed the new state learning standards and identified the most essential targets for student success. Now that the school year is underway, teachers whose subjects are on the state test are given a full day to collaborate and align their lessons each learning cycle. This helps teachers stay on the same page and guarantees that every student in the same course is learning the same information.
Tech
the experience of working in a high school,” Lusk said. “We all come from a background of supporting the districts where we support all of the outside schools, so we have techs in all 3 high schools and the rest of the 8 techs take care of the elementary and middle schools. They are starting to do this rotation so everyone can gain experience at a high school.”
The switch coming in the middle of the school has dismayed Heritage staff and students who have built strong relationships with Lusk.
“He’s my friend,” said Travis Epps (10). “He’s a nice guy; I will miss him.”
Epps visits the IT office in the library regularly, where he discusses computers and motors with Lusk.
Melodi Erkul, Epps’ teacher, has noticed the time and effort that Lusk has taken and appreciates his investment in students.
“Sometimes when the bell rings, [Travis] will ask if he can go to the library [just to visit Randy],” she said.
Michele Markel demonstrates chemical bonds to a student. Markel participates in the collaboration days each learning cycle for Biology, which helps ensure that every student in Biology learns the same essential standards.
“We are all working as a team because the challenge is so great,” Greenwell said. “Academically we still need to grow in a number of areas. I am very confident that we are fostering the correct environment to ensure that we are going to move in a positive direction regarding academic growth and achievement.”
Some of the other steps he is taking include consistent award ceremonies and attendance incentive programs.
Greenwell, admin and teachers can’t improve the school report card on their own; each student has responsibility as well.
“The number one thing that students can do to start to fix the problem is come to school,” said Kate Lennon, who teaches upper-level science. “We need to get students involved. We all need to take pride in this school and know that we’re better than this.
“We’ve got such great opportunities for these kids, and
The library staff are not concerned about a decrease in the efficiency of the library or technology office, because they know that the district tech office is full of qualified IT specialists.
“I don’t think it will affect us that much. It might just take him [the new IT specialist] a while to get to know how Heritage works,” Elizabeth Ragain-Orta said. “We will see him, it’s not like he’s [fully] leaving Heritage, but we will miss him.”
The mid-school year switch is not without reason, though. Debbie Skinner, chief information office for the Rogers Public Schools technology office, shared that sticking to the calendar year instead of the academic year suits the technology department workflow.
“December is probably one of the slowest times of the technology year,” Skinner said. “For students, it may be that summer is the end of the year and a time for change, but for technology, summer is very busy. In December, most classrooms are running smoothly and members of
it’s embarrassing that this is the situation.”
While the staff is well aware of the school grade and its potential consequences, students interviewed by The Talon did not know the fullness of both the grade and its effects.
“I was very unaware of this information, and that makes me feel really bad for the school,” said Laney Sellers (10). “I don’t think we are a bad school, so that makes me want to work harder to help our school improve. Not just one person can make us go up to an A school; we have to all work together to improve.”
For students, teachers and community members who are concerned about Heritage’s grade falling below a C, Greenwell has encouraging news.
“I can confidently say we would have to drop our academic achievement and growth dramatically for a number of years for us to fall under intensive support,” he said in an email.
from p. 1
the Tech team have time to catch up, put their workspace in order and prepare for the year after the break.”
Lusk will return to the district technology office in January, but his duties will still require him to come to Heritage from time to time. For that, he’s grateful, because he has strong relationships here.
“Probably the most important part I’ve enjoyed about it is building the relationship with admin and all the teachers and even some of the students,” he said.
Correction
In our previous issue the photo essay “A Spooky Season at Heritage” included fabricated quotes. This piece has been pulled from our website. The reporter and the staff are aware of the gravity of this ethical violation. The Talon strives for honesty and integrity in its reporting and will continue to work to regain any lost trust.
Editorial Staff
Barstow Fraire
Howard,
Gray Ledbetter Manes Pullen Salazar Tallmadge
Amaro Brace
Castanon
EIC Reporters
Coleman Do Fitzpatrick Gaona Hernandez Isbell Jones Kiahd
Kristen Coppola, Adviser Chip Greenwell, Principal
Corrections
The Talon strives for accuracy in its reporting and will correct all matters of fact. As The Talon is a limited print publication, all corrections will be made on the website promptly and prominently. If you believe the paper has printed an error, please send an email to hhsjour@rpsar.net.
Opinion
The columnists’ opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff, Rogers Heritage High School or Rogers Public Schools.
Memberships
The Talon is an institutional member of the Arkansas Scholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association.
Student Press
The Talon was created by students for students. It is a public forum for student expression, and all students are welcome to submit content, questions or letters for consideration to hhsjour@rpsar.net. The Talon is governed by the Arkansas Student Publications Act of 1995 (A.C.A. § 6-18).
Salazar
Ramos Wins Scholarship, “Golden Ticket” for Future
Hernandez Talon Staff
The Buck Foundation honors one Heritage senior every year with the “Pride of Heritage” scholarship. Which is worth $8,000 a year, for four years, students have to score a 25-30 on the ACT, have a 3.5 GPA, complete at least 50 hours of community service to qualify, and submit an electronic creative project and a signed contract. This year’s recipient was Ivan Ramos (12).
The Talon sat down with Ramos to discuss Buck and his future plans.
Q: How do you feel about the scholarship?
“I’m so thankful for it! I’m so grateful! It’s like a golden ticket to be able to pay for my college. $32,000 is no joke. On top of financial aid, it’s a possible full ride. I couldn’t be more excited!”
Q: Can you explain your project to us?
“My project was a short film of me not knowing what to make my project on. I have gone through two projects already and I didn’t think it was up to my standard or their standard so I decided to restart the entire thing and kind of do this introspective kind of deal where it was a film about me discovering what I wanted to write my project about and teleporting through different facets and nooks and crannies of Rogers.”
Q: What are your choices for school?
“I would really like to go to the University of Notre Dame but other than that I’m looking at Purdue, Missouri S&T, and the U of A.”
Q: What do you want to major in?
“Aeronautical engineering.”
courtesy of Michael Schwartz Heritage Model UN participated int he Arkansas Model United Nations tournament in November at the University of Central Arkansas.
Model UN Gains Experience
Sparling & Kiahd Talon Staff
A group of Heritage students are learning about international relations and diplomacy by competing with other schools in Model UN.
Model UN imitates the real United Nations. Each competing school sends students to be representatives for all the countries of the United Nations.
Over Thanksgiving break, the team traveled to the Arkansas Model United Nations tournament at the University of Central Arkansas.
Heritage students represented Spain, Portugal and Montenegro as they worked to create a peaceful and fair solution to the assigned topical problems.
Torres Represents HHS in All-Region Jazz
Talon Staff
Moore
A Heritage student earned first placement for All-Region Jazz.
On Nov. 6 at Bentonville High School, Josh Torres (11), beat out students from Bentonville in All-Region, earning 1st band 1st chair for saxophone.
“All I made sure to do is to be confident in myself and not worry about anybody else’s mindset or audition,” said Torres, who is also a drum major for the marching band.
Both his fellow band mates are very proud of this achievement.
“I’m so proud of how far I have seen him grow,” said Joselyn Canales (11). “His achievements show how much talent and dedication he has for music.”
The Pride of Heritage director agrees and had high expectations for Torres going into All-Region.
“He has exceptional musicality, and I expected nothing less,” Band Director Christopher Richard said.
Torres was not the only member of the Heritage jazz band to make All-Region. For senior high, Bodhi Hollis (12) made 2nd band 5th chair on trumpet, and for junior high, Isaac Barrientos (9) made 2nd band 1st chair on trumpet.
The team didn’t return to Heritage with any awards, but they did develop their speaking and collaborative social skills.
“For Heritage, everybody except for one person was brand new to Model UN, so we didn’t come home with any awards, but we got a lot of experience and we did really well,” Coach Alicia Schwartz said. “Every single person participated in that committee.”
The Model UN plans to continue practicing and improving their performance so they can be more competitive in future tournaments.
“The Model UN competition is once every year in November,” she said. “But there is a competition that is really similar in March, so we’re hoping to be able to go in early March.”
Local Lights Draw Crowds
Ledbetter & Castanon Talon Staff
Fayetteville’s Stewart Family Christmas opened for the season on Nov. 18.
Stewart Family Christmas lights is a light show with inflatables and 6 million lights that people can go and look at. The Stewart Family has had their light show every year since 2003.
“What is Christmas without lights?” said Esme Cruz (12).
The light show slightly changes each year, but a majority of it stays the same. Almost everyone looks forward to the unique displays found in the path at Stewart Family Christmas. In addition to the lights, there are also concessions available.
“It’s a family event where a family puts up the lights for everyone to see, and the kids enjoy it,” said Brittany Ray, Heritage English teacher.
Admission to see the light show is $10, and a majority of the money that they raise is donated to charity to provide children with Christmas presents. People can visit Stewart Family Christmas at 4279 E Wyman Road in Fayetteville until the end of the season, Jan. 1.
Salazar
Ivan Ramos won the Buck Pride of Heritage Scholarship for the Class of 2024.
Amaro and
Photo
Amaro
Josh Torres (11) practices a piece on his saxophone. In November, he earned 1st Band 1st Chair in All-Region Jazz.
FEATURES
Meet the Admin: Principal Greenwell
Manes & Fitzpatrick Talon Staff
This year, there are four new administrators in the main office of Heritage High School. The Talon will be doing profiles of each of the new principals in our print issues. This month’s feature is Principal Chip Greenwell. ***
Greenwell has nearly completed his first semester as the principal of Heritage High School, and he still has seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm for the school.
“Heritage is an amazing school with incredible people,” he said. “The history, the teaching staff, the support staff, the students and everyone in between are what I was really drawn to.”
Greenwell brings a lot of experience from across the state and within the district to Heritage. He was formerly the principal for Lingle Middle School and an assistant principal at New Tech High School before that.
He didn’t start out planning to be an educator.
He originally majored in business and finance at the University of Missouri but later realized he
wanted to do something to benefit the education system in his community and joined Teach for America after graduation.
“My heart and soul is all about helping people, and I believe that education is the best way to bettering students’ lives,” Greenwell said.
Outside of work, Greenwell enjoys cooking, triathlons and
spending time with his wife and two kids.
In his earlier life, Greenwell aspired to be a chef; he spent many years in kitchens and still loves to cook. He also spent a couple of years in Argentina and studied Spanish in college.
At the end of the day, Greenwell wants everyone to know that he is delighted to be a part of the
community and plans on staying here and seeing what the future holds for Heritage.
“I am so excited to see what the future holds for the entire community for the next week, the next month, the next year, even the next ten years,” Greenwell said. “I’m honored and humbled to have the opportunity to help and be a part of it.”
O’Brien’s Full-Circle Career: “It Truly Feels Like I Am Home.”
is
Pullen Talon Staff
year
For Melinda O’Brien, all roads lead back to Rogers.
dropped out in 8th grade. They had 4 kids and limited job opportunities,” O’Brien said. “Rogers High School to me was a place to excel and I saw school as my way to improve my economic situation.”
O’Brien graduated in 1989 and went straight into attendance at the University of Arkansas. From there, she finished her schooling with a Bachelor’s of Science in Secondary Education and a Master’s in Instruction from Arkansas State.
O’Brien taught World History and Sociology at Rogers High School for 29 years. After one year of retirement, her now husband took over family farm responsibilities in order for O’Brien to return to her passion of teaching. Presently, she is working as one of the two AP World History teachers at Heritage High School. She views these events as a full circle moment, ending her career on the campus where it started.
“AP is a challenge but I need to grow too,” O’Brien said. “My goal for teaching [is to] build strong, trusting, caring relationships with students so that they feel that they have a safe learning environment and provide students with a challenging curriculum that helps them develop skills in areas where Covid created a gap. Growth is the goal!”
student has the opportunity for a perfect score.
“Mrs. O’Brien is so welcoming and she really makes me feel comfortable in her class,” Brandon Sanchez (10) said. “She even told all her students that she will always be there for us even after this year ends, which not many teachers do.”
The love reflected from her students is heavily reciprocated as she strives to make sure her students are taken care of.
“My students here are so hardworking, respectful, and kind,” O’Brien said. “It makes my work a joy.”
Since O’Brien taught at Rogers High, eight of her students have since returned and become faculty at Heritage. One of them being Kyle Moix, who now teaches AP World History alongside his former instructor, whose passion inspired his passion for teaching.
“My single favorite high school class was her sociology class. It was obvious she knew what she was doing and she was so passionate about the subject that [the passion] transferred to us.” Moix said. “Working with her again is great.”
Despite difficult upbringings, she worked hard to strive for her academic success.
“We were very poor. My mom graduated from RHS, and my dad
From graduating high school in David Gates Stadium to teaching at Rogers High, O’Brien is back after more than 30 years. In her lifetime, she went from playing make believe school in 2nd grade, to being National Board Certified for 10 years.
O’Brien believes that grades reflect one’s work ethic and not someone’s knowledge or learning abilities. Rather than focusing on a student’s grades on tests, she focuses on the person’s growth. O’Brien does this by allowing students to retake vocabulary quizzes as many times as needed so every
After her long journey as a teacher, wife, mother, and farmer, O’Brien returned to her roots and plans to stay.
“Rogers did so much for me as a student and athlete that I wanted to give back and help kids love school like I did,” O’Brien said. “Since finding out in May that I got this job, I have been super excited to be at Heritage because it truly feels like I am home.”
Manes
Principal Chip Greenwell is excited to be a part of the future of Heritage.
Salazar
This
Melinda O’Brien’s first
as a Heritage teacher, but it’s not her first year on this campus.
Staying Local This Winter? You’re In Luck!
Do, Salgado & Mulcare Talon Staff
Bored and tired of staying home? Wanting a place to hang out with friends? Then here is the solution to your boredom. Four places to visit locally during winter break.
Starting off with Bentonville Square, located in Downtown Bentonville. Here people get to experience the love for Christmas lights. Everywhere people look, they’ll be able to admire the festive lights. They’re hung on trees, placed on the ground, even on the bushes. In the very middle of the square a phenomenal Christmas tree decorated with very colorful lights can be viewed. There are also multiple places to dine in once the night is over.
“Bentonville Square is a good place to get into the Christmas Spirit,” said Brayden Alderson (11).
Located in Downtown Bentonville, following the Christmas decor, is the ice skating rink at the Lawrence Plaza in Downtown Bentonville. There is an ice skating rink where families and consumers alike can participate in the dazzling dance of skating. It opens at noon, and closes around 8-9 PM. $7 per session, a session is 45 minutes.
Moving to Downtown Rogers, it’s a local area where there are many stores to visit, for the Christmas Time. It has a well decked out town square that is perfect for an array of photos to paint the festivities with Christmas cheer. The square is filled with candy canes, holly-alike, and a grand traditional Christmas Tree to bring it all together. It’s a great place with those that want to save money, but have an aesthetic area to be with your pals.
“I like hanging out at Downtown Rogers with my friends
and walking around, and since Christmas time is here, I get to see the decorations,” said Jaden Malonson (11).
Lastly, Lights of the Ozarks located in Downtown Fayetteville. It’s a very common place to travel during winter break. It is filled every evening with families. They come here to admire the ongoing view of very colorful festive lights.
The park crews spent over 3,300 hours decorating this square with over 500,000 holiday lights. When the sun sets the scenery comes to life. There are many food trucks serving a variety of warm foods including, funnel cakes, churros and hot chocolate. There is also a horse carriage that takes people on rides. This year it celebrates the 30th anniversary of this event. This place is by far visited quite often, so make sure to go experience this once during Winter break.
HHS Sounds of the Season
Orellana
& Leon Talon Staff
Throughout the halls of HHS, the holiday spirit is spreading in every corner. Many show their spirit through music.
Each student was asked three questions: (1) What is your favorite song during the Christmas season? (2) What song was most popular growing up? (3) What song would you recommend to other students?
“My favorite Christmas song is ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town,’ and the most popular song growing up was ‘Santa Tell Me,’” said Aalyha Munos (11). “A song I recommend is ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.’”
The most commonly recommended songs were “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Frosty The Snowman” and “Last Christmas.”
Many students agree that music is the best way to raise the spirit throughout school and having a playlist that everyone has access to is a great way to brighten students’ days. They recalled music from their childhood days including: “Feliz Navidad,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Where Are You, Christmas?”
“My favorite Christmas song is ‘Silent Night’ and the most popular song growing up was ‘Let it Snow,’ and song I recommend to other students is ‘White Christmas,’” said Luis Flores (9).
To say the least, Christmas songs bring cheer to many of the students of HHS. All suggested songs were put into a playlist for all students and faculty to listen to. Scan this QR code to listen on Spotify!
HHS Students Are in the Spirit for Giving (And
Lopez & Sellers
Talon Staff
With Christmas around the corner, students at Heritage shared wish lists and gift suggestions for the holidays.
“I want shoes like Nike, Converse, Uggs and Coach slippers. Gold jewelry is also something I want, and sweaters too because it’s getting cold. Then some makeup and some yummy food. You can’t forget food.” Alanna Rotherham (9) said.
However, many people struggle on what to get others during the Christmas time. Thankfully, Rotherham has suggestions.
“[Get them] a blanket and a stuffed animal to go with it. The best Christmas gift is food. You can never go wrong with food.” Rotherham said.
After doing some research on the best gifts to get someone, the top options were a food basket, clothes, a gift card or shoes. The Talon then asked students to take a poll on which of these op -
tions were the best. Overall, gift cards won by a landslide getting 46 votes out of 87 voters. Food baskets placed second having 19 votes and clothes and shoes were tied for third with 11 votes each.
“On my Christmas wish list are some ProClub sweatpants, a ProClub zip up, some Black Cats (Nike shoes), new Dickies pants, the 501’s, and a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat,” said Keagen Black (10).
Black also had some ideas on what to buy someone for Christmas.
“A suggestion [for a gift is] a Hellcat. The best Christmas gift is money and new clothes.” Black said.
With all this being said, Christmas is all about spreading cheer with the loved ones in your life. Therefore the best gift you can truly give anyone is your kindness and love. Even a simple card with words of affirmation can mean the world to someone. True friendship and genuine connection has no price tag.
Fraire
The Railyard in Downtown Rogers is decorated with thousands of lights for the holidays.
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash
OPINION
Dec. 11, 2023
From the Editorial Board: Effort Needed From Students to Improve Our School Grade
Our front-page story this issue is “Heritage High Strives for Daily Growth,” which discusses the school’s grade from the state and the contributing factors that have resulted in a less-than-positive reflection on our school.
Ultimately, The Talon editorial board are not proud of our school grade and feel that it doesn’t accurately reflect what we see in our classrooms each day. We are calling on the student body, because the reporting revealed that we, the students, have the largest impact on the school report card.
For our school’s performance grade to improve, the entire student body must take part in a collective effort to increase daily attendance and show growth and achievement in state testing.
The Arkansas Department of Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation (ADE) doesn’t take individual performance into consideration when calculating a school’s score report. Instead it looks at the overall trends on how many students are improving their scores (growth) and earning passing scores (achievement). This means it is up to the whole campus to put forth our best effort to raise Heritage’s grade.
If our accountability score continues to drop and we reach the point of needing intensive intervention as determined by the state, the entirety of our school’s structure could shift drastically.
The LEARNS Act says in section 14 that schools at that level must enter into “school transformation contracts” in order to receive funds and avoid sanctions.
This means in a nutshell that our school could be controlled by
either the state Board of Education or a local charter school, and Heritage would never be what it once was. Principal Chip Greenwell is confident that this is not a likely future for our school, and while we appreciate his positivity and effort, we also realize that many of our peers are unaware of the stakes.
We as students play a key role in our school’s grade; therefore, we have the responsibility to do our best to improve it. If you are not at school you can’t learn. If you don’t learn, you won’t do well on standardized tests. Those tests determine our school’s grade. Individual success or failure alone doesn’t make change happen, but if we all put in our best effort to succeed, we can bring about real change.
Let’s show up and show everyone how great our school actually is.
Food Mandates Create Unnecessary Waste
Do, Mulcare & Salgado Talon Staff
Heritage faculty has been enforcing the law that students are required to have an item from each category from the food table.
During lunch, if a student gets their food in the cafeteria, but gets no fruit or vegetable, the lunch staff directs the student to get one of these items before they can checkout.
“It is very important to receive nutrients from the whole food wheel. If you want to be healthy, it is necessary that you incorporate them all into your diet,” said
Ana Almaraz, Heritage lunch staff member.
Students deserve to have the choice on what they want to have for lunch. At the end of the day, they pay to eat cafeteria food. The rules in place are a nuisance to students who have to go out of line, grab a random article of food, and go back through line to be able to checkout.
It doesn’t stop students from chucking whatever item they don’t want into the trash after they do leave. It is an unnecessary requirement for students to grab an apple they’ll end up trashing anyway.
Students Cope With Changes
Barstow & Pullen Talon Staff
At the end of October, students in certain English and math classes found themselves changing classrooms to accommodate a shuffling of teachers between courses.
Five teachers were affected during a process where administration changed the grade and/or subject they taught. This action caused students to leave their beloved teachers as the teachers shifted into their new courses.
“The teacher swap made a lot of students upset and were given very vague reasons behind it,” said Lance Hawkins, who teaches math and was affected by the teacher shuffle. “Even I still don’t fully understand why.”
Along with Hawkins, Britney McLain’s English classes changed from on-level juniors to Pre-AP sophomores.
“As far as other factors that influenced the swap, I’m not necessarily sure what conversations happened between the admin. I was told that it would help play to each teacher’s strengths in order to improve test scores,” McLain said.
Many students were not pleased with this event. They were given short notice and had no choice in the matter.
“I liked my other teacher better,” said Ailyn Garcia (10), whose math classes were changed. “I thought I was learning better in [Hawkins’] class because of the way he taught things, but I guess not so they moved us, and now I have a 60% in math when I used to have like, a B.”
Other students appreciate that this shuffle occurred and are now thriving in the new classroom.
“I swapped from Ms. Whitson to Ms. McLain, and I really liked the swap,” said Maria Hermios (10). “Because of her teaching styles, I feel like I work and learn better.”
Every student has different learning styles. Therefore, every person’s experience with this swap and personal results were, of course, varied.
This has not only impacted students, but it has also disrupted teachers. McLain was working alongside Gavin Nelson to revamp the junior curriculum so that it would work with the new Arkansas standards and within the school’s learning cycles. This meant that they occasionally had to create new units from scratch, but they were mostly revising what was already there to make improvements.
“I think that forcing us to get fruit or other stuff at lunch just encourages food waste,” Jessalyn Bewley (11) said.
Perfectly good fruits are thrown out alongside half-eaten burgers, trash, and the leftovers of whatever the cafeteria served that day. These items would have gone to more appropriate places where they could have benefited people in need.
The law cannot enforce a proper diet amongst the youth of Heritage High School nor can the lunch ladies try to convince us to get a banana on our plates.
“If I wanted it to begin with, I would’ve gotten it,” Bewley said.
“It’s still sad to think that we could have finished basically fixing the junior curriculum, and we didn’t get a chance to,” McLain said. “But it’s okay; my juniors are in good hands.”
It seems as if this change might not have been the best way to improve student success, because of the toll it had on the affected students and teachers. It’s difficult to make a change mid-semester, and many students have strong bonds that they have to start afresh with their new teacher.
However, like McLain said, all students have been left with teachers who care about their well-being and academic success.
A nutritional specialist explains the servings laws, which mandate that students must always choose a serving of a fruit or vegetable with their lunches.
Talons Dance Team Is Best in State, Readies for Nationals
Heritage Talon’s dance team is Arkansas’ new best.
Talons’ dance team was first out of 12 other teams in the 5-6A Game Day division at the state competition, with a final score of 94.6, besting their competition by 4 points.
This earned the team a spot at UDA High School Nationals in Orlando, Florida. The Talons will be spending the next months perfecting
their routine to be the best high school dance team in the nation. “Right now, we’re working on technique but closer to time we will be drilling our routines and trying to make them a little more harder and advanced to compete at the national level,” said Brett Gaffney (12).
After winning state runner-up last season, The Talons dance team was motivated to bring home the gold this season. They put in countless time and effort into being able to finally call themselves state champions.
Heritage Basketball Tips Off
Newberry & Isbell
Talon Staff
Basketball season is warming up, and Heritage teams are looking promising.
While the teams have competed in tournaments to start the season, they are looking forward to home games and are setting their sights on the conference and state tournaments.
“I can’t wait to catch a lob in the War Eagle Arena,” said Braxton Wachholtz (12), referring affectionately to the RHHS gymnasium.
Tocarra Neal (12) has her focus on returning to the state tournament.
“We hope to accomplish winning state,” Neal said. “We have a lot of good players and very skilled attributes this year.”
In their recent tournaments at the start of December, both the boys and girls teams had strong wins with Ben Manuel (12) scoring 27 points at Lafayette of Rockwood, Missouri, and Sophie Sarratt (12) averaging 19.3 points for the girls team during the Great 8 tournament.
With talented rosters of returning and new players, both teams are sure to be competitive in their division. They have a solid mix of shooters and ball handlers that will help them spread the floor and create offensive opportunities.
So far the Heritage basketball teams have had mostly success in this year’s games. They hope to have continuous success throughout the season.
“We’re not playing to finish second,” said Tom Olsen, the boys’ head coach. “We’re always optimistic when we get a chance to start a new season. We want to get in the state tournament then springboard from that.”
The Lady War Eagles are hoping to return to the state tournament, and the boys are hoping to qualify for state and to again show dominance over the Mounties.
“Our biggest opponent is Rogers, and we’re hoping to sweep them again like we did last year,” Wachholtz said.
The varsity boys play next against Webb City at home on Dec. 12. Both teams will take on Bentonville High at home on Dec. 21.
“Winning a state title in any sport is incredible,” Athletics Director Matt Murray said. “We compete in the hardest division in the state of Arkansas, the 6A West. Winning a state title in any sport, not only boosts that sport, but Heritage Athletics as a whole.”
A big part of this team’s success was the support they received. The student section showed school spirit during the routine, resulting in the team having outstanding crowd involvement scores.
“I think that our team had the most energy out of the 12 teams in our division,” Coach Symphony Lockard said. “I really feel like that was our biggest strength and being able to have the student section down in Alma with us was really great! They were able to participate in our routine with us and do all the call-outs.”
The Talons will compete for the last time at UDA High School Nationals in Orlando, Florida, in February.
Salazar
The Heritage Talons dance team finishes their “game day cheer routine” at Rogers High on Oct. 1. This is the routine that made them state champions.
Coleman & Mendez Talon Staff
Salazar
Sophie Sarratt (11) shoots a free throw during the Great 8 Tournament at Rogers High School on Dec. 1, where she averaged 19.3 points per game.
Ceramics: A Creation Story
Photos and Story by Macquinn
At Heritage High School, students in ceramics have been experimenting with clay and crafting creative pots and bowls.
For the project they are working on, they had to choose if they wanted to create pots and bowls related to the holidays, or if they wanted to create pots and bowls from their own culture.
One student chose to add a unique and festive twist to the typical tin cookie containers.
“I’m in this class because it makes me more creative,” said Sebastian Vanarji (12). “I like the teacher better than the class. I’m creating a dinnerware set, it is a bowl and cup. I’m creating it because I like to eat soup and with a bowl, I can eat soup.”
Ceramics is a class that pushes students outside of their comfort zones but also allows for reflection and downtime.
Each ceramics student creates new artwork with their hands. They mold and perfect their art every day in class. Once they see their creations, the clay-covered hands, messy clothes and even failed attempts are all worth it.
They have been working on their projects for some time, while trying to tap into their creative side.
“I’m creating a sled [to hold] cookies for Christmas,” said Bryan Briceno (12).
Other students however, created a household item that can be used for various purposes.
“Right now, I just got done creating my bowl for soup,” said David Fitch (12).
