April Issue 2015

SCAN & VISIT

LHSNEWS.NET

The

Bell APRIL 1O, 2015 Volume 91, Issue 7

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Table of

Contents

UMKC Fiesta..................................................................................................................................................06 Teachers to Be.............................................................................................................................................07 To Debate or not To Debate .......................................................................................................08-09 Serteen Service............................................................................................................................................10 Scientists in Training................................................................................................................................11 Good as Gold...................................................................................................................................................12 The Scholarly bunch.................................................................................................................................13 This is my Cup of Tea..................................................................................................................................14 Sprigeo, a New Way to Report............................................................................................................15 Senior Hannah Bisges...............................................................................................................................16 Junior Jack Zhang.......................................................................................................................................17 Sophomore Rafae Pasha..........................................................................................................................18 Freshman Jackie Almaraz.......................................................................................................................19 Teacher Jordan Moree.............................................................................................................................20 Support Staff Joy rhew.........................................................................................................................21 Buy Your Tickets Now..............................................................................................................................22 Donut Skip Breakfast...............................................................................................................................26 The Good Old Days...............................................................................................................................28-31 Catchers and Kickers...............................................................................................................................38 Just Dance.......................................................................................................................................................40 Athletes of the Month......................................................................................................................42-43

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Photo by: Natalie Grusch

Photo by: Danni Hammontree

See Pages 38-39 Photo by: Aubrey Lytch

See Page 14

See Pages 28-31

Photo by: T.j. Stansbury

Photo by: Alli Collins

See Pages 39

SEE PAGE 13

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On the cover: Junior Morgan Fleming takes the ball down court to try and get a point for the Jays.

Photo by: Danni Hammontree

CONGRATULATIONS TO LHS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA FOR WINNING FIRST PLACE AT NATIONALS IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. The Liberty High School Orchestra was chosen by the American String Teachers Association out of 160+ other orchestra groups to be in the top nine to perform in front of a panel of judges. After performing, our orchestra won first in the nation.

Congratulations to the girls basketball team for winning 2nd place in the State!

Staff

Adviser --> Lori Oyler Editors in Chief --> Aly Copp & Zach Kilgas Opinion Editor --> Amanda Kovac A&E Editor --> Kennedy Allison Features Editor --> Tara Prindle News Editor --> Alex Wilson Spotlight Editor --> Teresa Parra Sports Editor --> Jeffrey Walters Ads Manager --> Michael McHale Online Manager --> Erica Schmitz Reporters --> Sarah Hartley Katie Crouch

Katie DeClue Teryn Deshler Sol Kim Kasey Allshouse Brooklyn Balsdon Kati Benhardt Kamden Bernard Daryl Gichui Addy Gray Emily Johannes Jackson Pe単a Hope Scobee Lacy Williams Annika Fuller Hannah Leonard Teegan Saunders Jenna Spence Hannah Berry

Mission

Our mission for the 2014-2015 school year is to unite a diverse group of people and ideas to compose an informative and enter taining magazine using articles, photographs, and commercial

messages. As journalists in training we endeavor to give the best representation of the community of Liberty High School. The Bell student newspaper is a public forum for student expression.

Contact

Address --> 200 Blue Jay Drive Liberty, MO Phone --> (816)-736-5353

Email --> loyler@liberty.k12.mo.us Twitter --> @TheLHSBell

Jabber

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“Sometimes I wanna live my life on the edge but then I remember I have priorities and I’m only a freshman in high school.”

-@Kiarahmosley

“I eat the stickers on apples because I’m too lazy to take it off” -@icey_fresh

“why am I not in a Disney movie where my only concern is if the boy in the band is going to like me or not” -@Hannah_Lilly98

-@TheNest_LHS

-@LPStheadvance

“Life is too short for homework” -@__noosh

-@rileypeek

News 06

UMKC Fiesta Story by Sarah Hartley

Photos by Tara Prindle and Kennedy Allison

Spanish 4 and 5 students recently took a cultural trip.

Spanish 4 and 5 students from LHS represented the school in many competitive areas at the UMKC Foreign Language Fair held on March 11. Their successes can be seen by visiting the hashtags #lhsruiz4 and #lhsruiz5. It was the class’ first time attending the fair in over ten years and their many accomplishments have paved the way for future LHS attendees.

“The students took a big challenge with open arms,” Spanish teacher Astrid Ruiz said. “It was a new experience that opened the doors for the next group that is going to participate next year.”

The Foreign Language Fair was created 15 years ago as a way to “celebrate culture and high school students’ hard work,” according to the UMKC website. Spanish, French and German are featured at the fair and students can participate in various competitions such as poetry, original skits, music, dance and Jeopardy.

In addition, there was an art exhibit this year called “Speaking for Peace.” Junior Brenna Newberry took first place out of over 20 different pieces.

“Sra. Ruiz approached me and knew that I liked art,” Newberry said. “I’ve wanted to

draw a cultural piece for a while anyways, so this was a great opportunity to do that.”

According to different students, the highlight of this year’s fair was the noncompetitive Spanish dance workshop led

by Sra. Ruiz. The dances included salsa, merengue and a warrior dance that was new to many people.

“The dancing class was my favorite part because it was really fun despite being a little silly,” senior Austin Cable said.

During the dance workshop, students were given the chance to hear Spanish music from a range of cultures, including songs from Sra. Ruiz’s own native country.

“I enjoyed showing the students the music that I grew up with in Guatemala,” she said.

Senior Austin Cable and juniors Samantha Bennett and Favour Oribhabor represented LHS in the Spanish 4 and 5 poetry competitions. They were required to memorize a poem entirely in Spanish and recite it in front of a panel of judges.

“The poem I delivered at the fair is called El Galla Despertador,” Cable said. “It is about a rooster crowing and waking up a town, and it focuses on how beautiful the

town is.”

Overall, the field trip was beneficial for the foreign language students. As Spanish is spoken at nearly all times in class, students were able to take this knowledge and practice having conversations in Spanish at the fair with students from other schools, as well as UMKC professors.

“The fair helped me realize that there are so many other cultures and languages in the United States and that learning a new language allows us to interact with them,” senior Brooke Loudon said.

Others agree with the relevance of bilingualism.

“Learning a second language is very important because it makes the world a little bit of a smaller place,” Cable said.

Bilingualism can be achieved at LHS through its many advanced foreign language classes.

“I think students should continue past Spanish 2 because Spanish is the second most common language in the United States and the classes here give you a good basic understanding,” Loudon said. “They also enhance your cultural knowledge.”

Left: Spanish Teacher Astrid Ruiz teaches Spanish students cultural dances. Below: The view from the rooftop terrace at UMCK is one of the many places Spanish students visited.

Teachers to be Story by Kamden Bernard

News 07

Photos by Maddie Wurtz

LHS seniors now have a chance to be in the shoes of a teacher.

The Educational Internship Program takes a step into seeing what it’s like to be a teacher and gives students a look into their future career.

The Educational Internship Program is an easy process. The student chooses their elementary grade level interest and they could be placed in it.

“In the spring before senior year you put down your top three interests in education whether it’s kindergarten, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, or special ed. Then you choose the top three schools you’d like to be placed at,” senior Noah Pozel said. “They place you in an elementary class first semester, then if you want to try teaching secondary you can make that switch after winter break, or stay with your current class.”

There is also an application that needs to be filled out to get into the program.

“It’s an application process towards the end of the year. You give some reasons why you want to join, then you select the grade level you want to work with,” senior Andrew Dipoto said.

“There’s a short interview session with Mrs. Bryant where you talk about your motivations and what you would like to teach,” Pozel said.

Students say that high school has prepared

them for the internship.

“In a way high school can prepare you for this internship but in a lot of ways it can’t. Teaching takes a lot of preparation and at the same time an insane amount of improvisation and flexibility. So going in and experiencing it for yourself is really the only way to truly prepare yourself for a career in education,” Pozel said.

As high school prepares the students, watching other teachers gives the students their own teaching ideas.

“I think that through watching a professional, I’ve developed my own idea of how I’d like to teach because no two teachers are the same, especially with their teaching style. It’s helpful to get out and see all of the ways teachers teach, and to observe and think ‘I like that, but what if I did it this way instead?, Dipoto said.

Watching teachers do the job helps the students get a feel of what one day they could be doing.

“I really believe that the best, and probably only way to learn to be a teacher in the real world is to watch an actual teacher do their job. There’s an insane amount of work and passion you need to do that job and you really only realize that by working with a teacher,” Pozel said.

Each student loves being in the program.

“I love being in the program, it’s one of my favorite classes, and easily the most unique class I have ever been in. You learn a lot about what a teacher does from day to day and the struggles that every one of your teachers has had to go through every day. On top of that I get to work with really smart and creative kids,” Pozel said.

“I love the program. It was really exciting for me to find out there was a class for students who wanted to become teachers. I was honestly pretty worried that I wouldn’t get in because there’s an application process and only so many students are selected,” Dipoto said.

Currently people are signing up for the program.

There is not a certain amount of people that have to be in this program.

“There are no limits to number of people that can join, currently there are 32 members,” EIP teacher Emily Bryant The program is only for seniors, and is geared toward the future of being a teacher.

If you find this interesting, you can speak to Mrs. Bryant about the program. The program will help you prepare for the real world and get a feel of the teaching career.

The students in it love having real world experience.

EIP students watch each others presentations on the different positions in a school staff.

News 08

To Debate or not to Debate Story by Emily Johannes Photos by Danni Hammontree

The Speech and Debate team competed at Districts to qualify competitors to Nationals.

The pinnacle of the Speech and Debate season is Districts weekends. A carefully selected squad was sent to compete against the best in the area for a chance to go compete against the best in the nation.

They first went to compete at an individual event Districts weekend on March 6th and 7th, in events such as Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Oratory, Duo, International and Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking.

The preparation for this weekend is considerable.

“I had to keep up with the news every day for a few weeks, pulling articles, figuring out what the most important events were, and focusing research,” sophomore Natalie Schaller said.

The same level of preparation applies also to the weekend after, devoted to debate, which took place March 12th, 13th and 14th. Students competed in Policy debate, Public Forum debate or LincolnDouglas debate if they attended this weekend.

The team as a whole supports those competing, even if they themselves are not participating.

“The really cool thing about our program is that everybody helps everyone else,

regardless of whether they’re competing or not,” coach Tim Baldwin said. “Students who are novice (first-years) are assisting students who are competing at varsity levels. They’re helping them after school, cutting evidence for them, helping them compare arguments and edit cases. It’s a really cool thing to see teammates come together even if they aren’t competing at the tournament.”

Nerves are a big part of competing.

Almost everyone had some kind of butterflies.

“I was so nervous,” freshman Alyson Oldham said. “I have never been that nervous for anything. Before rounds started, I was shaking.”

Schaller agreed.

“It’s always very nerve-wracking to compete because you never know what arguments people will use and what tricks they’ll have up their sleeve,” she said.

However, many of the competitors found success by the end of the tournament, qualifying several members of the team to Nationals.

“We had seven qualify the first weekend, then we had five the second weekend, but we had some overlap,” coach Michael Turpin said. “We have a total of ten people

going to Nationals so far.”

Nationals will be taking place June 14th19th in Dallas, Texas.

Students surprised themselves with the results of the tournaments.

“This year, being a freshman and a novice, I didn’t think I would go far at all,” Oldham said. “I thought going to Districts was an accomplishment as it was, because you’re selected to go by Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Turpin and then breaking to Nationals was huge for me because I didn’t think that would happen throughout my entire high school career, but it happened my freshman year.”

As a debate team, LHS is hoping to go far, whether it be personally or as a school.

And it starts with Districts.

“I think that this team is in a unique position to finish with a school of excellence award, which is awarded to the top 20 schools competing at Nationals,” Baldwin said. “The last time our school won that was 2008. That was the only time this school won that award. We would like to have a similar year, but that means everyone competing has to do their absolute best.”

Nationals Qualifiers Mallory Pinson Lucas Peterson Stefanie Flood Natalie Schaller Alyson Oldham Paul Ambrose David Laffoon Phoebe Alpern Riley Peek Ben Anderson

News 09 Top Left: Junior Paul Ambrose practicing for an upcoming debate.Top Right: Senior Mallory Pinson preparing on her laptop for a upcoming debate. Top right and bottom: Sophomore Lynsie Daniels, senior Riley Peek, junior Abby Hill, and junior Paul Ambrose are all members of the LHS debate team.

News 10

Serteens Service Story by Teresa Parra

Serteens are giving back again this spring.

Students at LHS come from different types of backgrounds and all have different stories. It’s important to have that awareness about your community and the people around you. Most importantly it’s good to help out the community.

On April 17, Serteens is participating in One Homeless Night.

“One Homeless Night is an event across the Kansas City Metropolitan area and it raises awareness for teen homelessness,” senior Isaac Knopf said. “It not only raises awareness but also raises funds for this local organization called Sertoma, which houses teens who don’t have a place to stay.”

Any students interested in participating in a great cause are welcome to join. You don’t have to be a part of Serteens to participate in this night, just let someone in Serteens or math teacher, Sara Langford know you’re interested.

“The event helps a local charitable organization continue its good worth to help teen homelessness,” math teacher Sara Langford said. “For the students and staff at LHS it helps us become more aware or this problem and get a small sense of what it might be like to be homeless.”

One Homeless Night has a variety of activities they do including spending a cold night in a cardboard box. “We all meet at the practice football field and bring boxes and use the boxes as shelters,” junior Seth Langford said. “Then we play several games like thrift store, fashion shows, canned food finding. It’s all to raise awareness of what these homeless people go through. And then we spend the night in those box shelters.”

In past years One Homeless Night took place in November. November nights often brought harsher weather such as rain or snow; it was also colder in November. This year One Homeless Night will take place in April, making the night not as cold as if it were to take place in November.

Not only does participating in One Homeless Night raise awareness and funds for a good cause, but you can also have a good time doing it and making new friends.

“It’s a really good bonding experience with other people that show up,” senior Shaley Baker said. “I always walk away knowing a lot more people.”

There are other things to look out for when it comes to Serteens and helping out your community.

“We’re going to be doing an event at the Tree House. Which is this housing organization for families of extended patients at Liberty Hospital,” Knopf said.

“So if you had a sibling or a parent in the hospital getting extensive treatment for a few weeks or a month. They have housing for the families to stay there. We go and cook a meal for them from scratch. So that’s kind of fun.”

One Homeless Night is a tradition at LHS as well as in Kansas City. It teaches people awareness and opens up their eyes. It’s a great way to be active and helpful in your community as well as have a good time.

Serteens is a club at LHS that helps with various service projects and other projects in the community. Anyone is welcome to be a part of the club.

“People should join because the biggest thing about Serteens that I think is awesome is that there are no required hours,” Baker said. “For other clubs you have to have a certain number of hours. For Serteens we get that you’re busy so you just show up when you can.”

155 students were asked: Do you help people in poverty?

67

Yes, but I could do more.

13

Yes, I do as much as I can.

22

I know I should but I’m too busy.

2

No, I choose not to help.

12

No, I am not able to.

39

I have in the past.

News 11

Scientists in Training Story and Photos by Hannah Leonard

LHS students teach the first grade class at Epic Elementry about science.

Recently students visited Epic Elementary first grade class to teach them about science.

Chemistry teacher Todd McDonald took a group of students to teach younger kids about forces, energy, temperature, and mass and had a foil boat challenge. The teachers collaborated ahead of time to be sure the experiments would be fun for both age groups.

“I worked directly with the first grade teachers and their learning coach to understand what they wanted us to help first graders understand,” McDonald said. “From there, we planned activities and what would help kids investigate the concepts in a fun and interactive way” Each station was run by high schoolers.

The experiments all proved to be very hands on as well as educational.

“What I did was teach the kids about motion. I had them on a number line and they were talking about speed, direction and position by moving up and down the number line,” junior Megan Barksdale said.

One of the stations was a foil boat challenge. First graders were given aluminum foil and other simple materials to build a boat that would support the weight of a golf ball. The kids truly had fun with the engineering aspect of this station and were very creative with it all.

“We performed the foil boat challenge,” junior Blaine Rohlfs said. “Our experiment was different from the others because it focused only on buoyancy and distributing

a load across a plane. I would run the foil boat challenge again because it was really fun.”

The experience proved to be entertaining regardless of the age gap between the high schoolers and first graders.

“My favorite part was getting to interact with the kids and teach them about science and see how excited they were,” Barksdale said.

“My favorite part about the trip was helping teach young minds how to be scientists,” Rohlfs said.

The interaction between the two different age groups was filled with a great educational value.

“Seeing the excitement of first graders learning science was my favorite part of the field trip. They are so eager to learn. I also enjoyed watching the high school students interacting with first graders. They did a great job.” McDonald said.

The trip was just as beneficial for the high schoolers that led the experiments as it was for the younger kids who performed them.

“We benefited from the trip because it helped to develop leadership skills when instructing younger students,” Rohlfs said.

It also helped the older kids learn something new.

“I learn (or more just contented to learn) that different kids learn differently. Some of them were interested and picked it up quickly. Others didn’t really care or want to be there.”

Having different grade levels teach each other not only gives the opportunity to learn in different ways and atmospheres, but also allows students of all ages to have fun in the learning process.

“We got to expand our knowledge by teaching and also got to have fun and hang out with the first graders,” Barksdale said.

“I think that it is great because the best way to learn something is to teach others.

By getting to explain things to the younger kids, we are able to learn more. Also it teaches us important traits we need outside of school.”

LHS traveling to different elementary schools within our district provides a sense of unity between students of all ages.

Having the older kids teach the younger ones through hands on activities gives fun memories for both groups and knowledge for future schooling.

McDonald agreed. “They love science and they love working with kids,” he said, “It was a great chance for them to help others learn. I think it is an amazing opportunity for high schoolers to help teach or mentor younger kids. It helps them communicate what they know so others can learn. It also exposes them to teaching and working with kids. Most importantly, younger kids look up to high school students. When high school students become excited about science, it inspires young learners to love science and investigation.”

Left: Epic’s first grade class perform the mass and balances lab. Right: Epic’s first grade class performs the forces lab.

Features 12

Good as Gold Story by Sol Kim

Photo by Danni Hammontree

Comedy Gold improv group is hilarious and enjoyable to watch.

Students at LHS might be familiar with the school’s hilarious improv troupe, Exit 1-6, but what they might not know is that there is a second improv troupe that competes citywide against other high schools. Comedy Gold was formed to represent LHS in ‘Operation: Show!’ the Kansas City high school improv league.

‘Operation: Show!’ is part of a non-profit organization founded by former Exit 1-6 member Clayton Ingram, along with a few other professional improvisers. They compete against other schools in doubleheader comedy matches.

The current members of Comedy Gold consist of freshman Hannah Odom, sophomore Jackson Ferguson, sophomore Kayla Jones, sophomore Berit Nuetzmann, sophomore Sami Kottmann, senior Tim Gibson and sophomore Gabe Maddex.

“Their collective sense of humor is a great mix of silly and smart,” club sponsor Trish Berrong said. “For every season, there’s an orientation to learn games and skills and then we rehearse for a few hours on show days. So they have to learn fast and trust each other a lot. They’re super focused and really talented.”

Comedy Gold provides an opportunity for students to try out for another improv group besides Exit 1-6.

“I have a lot of friends in Exit 1-6,” senior Tim Gibson said. “Since I was going to be a senior this year it was really unlikely that I was going to make Exit 1-6 so they just told me to try out for Comedy Gold instead.”

Comedy Gold performs at Comedy City in Westport where they play a series of improv games.

“I really like the game ‘Oscar moments’ because it focuses on one person and it gets really dramatic,” sophomore Berit Nuetzmann. “It’s really cool to be able to see how you compare to other schools like Rockhurst or Blue Valley North and compare the games other schools play to the ones that our school plays.”

Comedy City has no point system for their competitions. The winning team is based on the audience’s response after the team’s performance.

“There are four teams from different schools and the first half of the show, two teams from different schools play each other and they play some sort of game altogether and based on the audience’s cheers, that’s how points are received,” freshman Hannah Odom said. “It’ll be like ‘clap if you liked this team’, and then we do the second half which is the same thing but with different teams.”

Members of Comedy Gold agreed that performing on stage is nerve-wracking, but also exciting.

“It’s not quite as bad as performing in the Little Theater,” sophomore Jackson Ferguson said. “All the lights in the Little Theater are right in your face and so for all you know there’s a bunch of judge-y people out in the audience, but at Comedy City all the lights are going down and you can see the audience and you’re not scared

of anybody because it’s your friends and family out there that love you.”

Comedy Gold has acquired some helpful tips to calm down their nerves.

“It’s really exciting, especially when you say something funny and you can feel the crowd’s energy,” Odom said. “I do get nervous sometimes, especially at our first show. It helps watching other people do improv and watch other improv shows and eventually you get used to it and realize it’s not so scary.”

Comedy Gold members gave advice about performing on stage.

“Just don’t be afraid to be stupid because no matter what it’s only going to last like three seconds and everyone will forget about it five minutes later. You have to throw yourself out there. Sometimes you have to go up on stage and make a terrible joke to be the person that everyone laughs at for making such a terrible joke,” Ferguson said.

Comedy Gold will have one more performance in the spring season: April 12, at 3 pm. They will also perform in the Awards Show and All-Play Sunday, April 26 at 3 pm. All shows are at Comedy City and cost five dollars.

According to club sponsor Trish Berrong, a portion of the ticket sales will come back to Liberty High School to support the two improv programs, Exit 1-6 and Comedy Gold. Auditions will be held every fall and spring for students who are interested.

The Comedy Gold troupe consisting of (left to right) sophomore Berit Nuetzmann, sophomore Sami Kottman, sophomore Jackson Ferguson, sophomore Gabe Maddex, freshman Kayla Jones, freshman Hannah Odom.

Features 13

The Scholarly Bunch Story by Katie Crouch

Photo by Alli Collins

Scholar Bowl is a fun club at LHS that tests your knowledge.

If your looking for a club to test your knowledge and have fun while doing it, Scholar Bowl is the club for you. Several students get together every Tuesday after school to practice and prepare for competitions. “[Scholar Bowl is] a competition with questions that range in a variety of topics,” junior Madeline Belfonte said. “There’s topics about things you learn in school but also things like League of Legends, which is a computer game, so it’s all sorts of stuff.”

Preparing for competitions is not as easy as it may seem. Students who participate in Scholar Bowl work hard during practices in order to advance to more competitions.

“Our teachers are provided with the games that have all the questions from previous tournaments. We usually go through two of those at each of our practices,” Belfonte said. “We play with buzzers so it’s like a real competition, and we just split our team in half and play against each other in the library.”

The competitions are fairly challenging and require knowledge not only amongst the team, but also individually.

“Essentially, we’ll be asked a question, and if the other team buzzes in first then they get to answer. The first round is all individualized, you can’t converse with your teammates and you have to answer. If

not, it passes to the other team,” Davis said.

“The second round is worksheets. You and your teammates have 20 minutes to fill out 20 questions. The third round is just like the first round but with bonus questions. If we get it right, then the team confers on the bonus question.”

Scholar Bowl is also a great way to get involved and make friends.

“I don’t think a lot of people know about [Scholar Bowl]. It actually is very competitive; it’s not just a game. It’s competitive and you go to tournaments,” Belfonte said.

Any student who is interested can join Scholar Bowl, as it is not an exclusive club. Junior Aaron Davis was pleasantly surprised when he answered a question correctly at his first practice.

“I only got one question right [the first time]. But I really had a blast, it was a really good time,” Davis said.

Students in Scholar Bowl have high hopes for the future of the club and are eager to spread the word. “[We’re] really hoping to get more freshmen and sophomores to join in the next few years,” Davis said. “It’s all juniors right now, so we want some more underclassmen.”

Club sponsors Glory Fagan and Karla Schaeffer have coached many Scholar Bowl teams in the past at LHS.

“[Scholar Bowl] is a MSHSAA competition,” Fagan said. “I coached my first Scholar Bowl team in the 1980s so it has been around a long time. We have a long history of very successful Scholar Bowl teams.”

There are several upcoming events for Scholar Bowl. The students and sponsors are excited to participate and hopefully advance in the competition.

“We have one more conference event in March, and districts in April,” Fagan said.

“You win a few, you lose a few, and you come to expect that. We just want to win a few more than we lose.”

Scholar Bowl is a great way to get involved, and is open to any student who wants to join.

“It’s just like any other MSHSAA activity or sport, anybody can participate who meets the MSHSAA requirements, which has to do with their grade point average and things like that,” Fagan said.

If you are a student who is interested in joining Scholar Bowl contact any club member, Mrs. Fagan or Mrs. Schaeffer for more information.

“It’s definitely a really fun experience.

I think a lot of people are scared to like it because they think they won’t know any answers,” Davis said. “If you just go and try, you’ll find out you know more than you think.”

(Left to right) Junior Aaron Davis, junior Roman Accardi, junior Elizabeth Ruark and junior Meredith Malone prepare for their next scholar bowl competition.

Features 14

This is my Cup of Tea Story by Tara Prindle

Photos by Aubrey Lytch

Have you ever been lucky to get a token of someone’s kind nature?

Being chill and being compassionate is what Be Kind and Unwind is all about. The club meets every Friday during Liberty Hour in room 901 and every other week they focus on doing kind things for the students and faculty, like helping custodians stack chairs, buying vending machine snacks for random students or passing out treats to random classes.

“We do our best to help everyone out in the school like the custodians and the teachers,” sophomore Emily Paeth said.

“We also drink tea and burn incense, along with passing out food to people around the school. We hand out little snacks and tape money to the vending machines for people to buy themselves a snack.”

Club sponsor Jeffry Wilkins always keeps a good balance between work and relaxation.

“We hang out, unwind, we relax, we drink tea and burn incense,” Wilkins said.

“We do that one Friday, then the following Friday we actually circle up and meet and talk about things we can do for others. [For the] past two weeks, what we’ve done is tape little cards to a little bag of chips, granola bar or a sandwich from Chick-fil-A and just hand it out to someone they don’t

know. Sometimes they do this with whole classrooms and just leave them out on the desks.”

Wilkins started the club last year and he still loves it.

“Last year was the first year,” he said.

“Very little has changed except that we are a tad more organized with one year of experience. It was my wife’s idea to start the club over at the old junior high and I wanted to start it here. I got her permission and started it here.”

The club truly amplifies that it’s the little things in life that make people happy.

“I like that it’s a chill place and that sometimes we can go out and do really nice things for people,” junior Emily Backhaus said. “Whether or not we accept that it makes people’s day, little things always help. It’s always a good place to be.”

Members have become more organized after their second year as a club and a lot of people have taken notice.

“We’re definitely doing more this year, like putting sticky notes on the bathroom mirrors or handing them out to people and helping them have a happier day,” senior Faith Ordonio said.

Though sometimes the club meetings

Left: Sophomores Francesca Croce, Kamryn Hoy and Tianna Fry listen to Jeffry Wilkins talk during a group meeting.Right: Sophomore Emily Paeth lights the incense stick before the club meeting.

consist of just eating lunch, relaxing or being good to others, they also talk about things that have a deeper meaning.

“In Wilkins’ room we hang out and talk about what we can do to relax. Last week we talked about what it’s like just to meditate in the morning,” Ordonio said.

“We also talk about what it means to be truly happy and the meanings of life.”

The club is also planning acts of kindness they can do next year, including possibly adopting a highway to represent LHS. “We would like to get a little bit more involved with the community next year and do more random acts of kindness,” Wilkins said.

However Faith Ordonio wants to make sure the underclassmen keep the club going with more attendance.

“I hope they continue to come to the meetings,” she said. “It’s really just about relaxing; it’s nice that it’s on Fridays because it’s nice to relax at the end of the week.”

And if the club continues like Paeth describes, then it shouldn’t be a problem.

“I just really like how relaxed it is and we all can just talk. It’s always really quiet and peaceful,” she said.

Sprigeo, a New Way to Report Story by Jackson Peña

Features 15

Photo by Brianna Goszewski

Sprigeo is an app that allows people to report bullying.

Sadly, many people have encountered bullying. There is an awful feeling of being alone and not being able to get help.

Everyone has a right to feel safe at school.

An app that is new to LHS, Sprigeo, helps with that problem.

Sprigeo is a free app that students and staff can use to anonymously report bad behavior, whether it is for bullying, threats or gossip. Sprigeo has been up and running since January 15 of this year. The app is beneficial because now students do not feel as intimidated when reporting a problem.

They can stay behind the safety of a screen and get help for their problems.

“I think it could lessen the problems at LHS,” senior Josh Mapel said. “I think the app will make it a lot easier, instead of sitting down with someone one on one, they can just go to their computer.”

With Sprigeo, anyone can report an issue and it goes straight to a principal in the form of a text on his or her phone.

“If you see a friend who is being bullied or harassed, we are able to respond to it within a couple of minutes because it actually goes to our phone and lets us know that there’s an issue,” assistant principal Brett Coffman said. “We can get right to those issues much faster than normal. It also allows parents, counselors or anybody else that’s hearing about a situation in school to place that in front of us and so we can respond that way.”

The administration is also able to tell whether this is a case of bullying or even more serious, a hate crime. They are able to see if the same acts of violence are happening to the same people.

Although the uses for Sprigeo are positive, not every student seems to know about the new app. When interviewing students of all different grades, three out of twelve students did not know what Sprigeo was.

Many people however, had learned about the app during a meeting in the Little Theatre during advisory. During a poll most of the students said that they know of the app but have not had to use it. 25 students said that they do not know what the app is.

“I heard about Sprigeo in advisory; they told me it’s an anti-bullying app and that if there’s something going on I can report it,” freshman Raine Briscoe said. “I like the idea of it. I’ve thought about using it because I have seen some incidents around the school, but I don’t really know where to find it.”

Sprigeo can be found on the Liberty High School homepage. Some people don’t feel like they personally need the anonymous part of Sprigeo, but think it is a good thing to have.

“I think that having that feature would be good for some people who want to report something, but didn’t feel like they could tell someone,” sophomore Jacob Salas

Use Sprigeo to report bullying anonymously and keep the school safe.

said. “It’s better to have it and not need it, than not have it and need it.”

The goal of using the app is to help better the school. No one had a way to regulate how much bullying was happening. As people did not speak up as much before Sprigeo. Sprigeo is easy to use-- with a few clicks a problem can be fixed.

“What I’ve noticed is that we are able to keep track of when students are feeling unsafe or when there are unkind situations happening and then we are able to have even better follow through than before,” assistant principal Bridget Herrman said.

“We’re able to communicate with parents more effectively as well. It’s a great way for the administrative and counseling team to talk more about the situations that are happening in our school. It’s raising a lot of awareness. Could I say it’s improving? I’m not sure about that, but I would say there is a larger amount of awareness going on with our students, which is excellent.”

Some reports have been made since the start of the app. The goal is to have that number drop to zero, not because students stops using Sprigeo, but because the number of threats and bullying drops.

“I don’t really have any [experiences with bullying]. I’ve seen some small problems in the hallway, but personally I haven’t had any,” junior Madison Bix said.

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What are things people should know about you?

“I’m a complete nerd, I love my videogames, anime and my classical literature. The second thing about me is I like to draw, sculpt and I love coffee.”

What activities are you involved in?

“I’m in GSA which stands for Gay Straight Alliance, I’m in anime club where we meet together every Friday after school until four where we watch animes and get introduced to new shows. It’s really fun. I’m in National Honor Society which is a community service group where we do a lot of help around the community and try to really strive towards success.

With the school I’m helping this group of middle school girls build an app for a local business and I do that every Wednesday morning.”

What made you become involved in GSA? “You know, it’s always been a topic that I feel really passionately about because I think that love is love and I’m totally for marriage equality, adoption rights and all those things. GSA just seemed like a wonderful support group and of course I wanted to help the LGBT community thrive in the school and feel safe.”

Jordan Moree's thoughts on Hannah: “Well sometimes she brings her guitar to class, so it’s kind of cool, that she’s very musical.

She’s got a good sense of humor, she likes to have fun and she always has interesting insights into our discussions in Psychology. She’s just a fun student to have.”

Senior

Hannah Bisges Story by Katie DeClue

Photo by Maddie Wurtz

What does Diversity Council mean to you?

“I joined Diversity Council because I think it’s a club in our school to celebrate diversity and I want to be a part of that. I love going to the meetings and we do a lot of fun stuff and get to learn a lot about other cultures. We have a lot of guest speakers. I hope to learn more about other cultures, and just as a club to help other people who need help like minorities or anyone who needs help. I hope that I get to do some fun stuff with Diversity Council, like a field trip.”

What are some of your favorite things?

“Chimichangas, I love chimichangas. Netflix, I love watching Netflix.

Next is ocean water from Sonic, I love ocean water form Sonic. Fourth, Twitter I love twitter it’s my life. I’m on the swim team, so that’s a fun activity, and I’m in different clubs. Some of my favorite classes are AP Physics, AP Biology, I like [AP biology], and spanish, [that’s] a lot of fun.”

Who has helped you in life?

“I think my counselor [Mrs.Alagna] has influenced me a lot, she is just really nice and helps me out a lot. She also sponsors diversity council and that’s how I got to learn about it, because of her.”

Kathy Alagna's thoughts on Jack: “I think he is a great kid, really active in Diversity Council. He works very hard and it’s been great being able to know him.”

Junior

Jack Zhang Story by Teegan Saunders

Photo by Morgan McNea

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What's your most memorable moment?

“Probably joining Chemistry club. There are so many people and so many cool demos we get to do. I just love being involved in chemistry. Also, I like being able to hang out with people I get along with and all the classes I take are really awesome.”

What did you cherish as a child?

“My tennis racket because it got me into tennis and got me started so it’s just been the most constant thing in my life. Science has been a constant thing in my life too. Now I either want to be a doctor or a biomedical engineer because I like science and being a doctor would be awesome because you get paid a lot and get to work with people.”

What's your favorite place to be?

“In my bedroom because everything is in there and I can just do what I want. I have all my computers and stuff, I also like looking out my window into the fall skies.

Fall is my favorite season because there are no wasps or anything. It’s also not too hot or too cold.”

Stuart Jorgensen's thoughts on Rafae: “He has a natural curiosity for knowledge. He is one bright and intelligent student.

I feel he is going to go far in life.”

Sophomore

Rafae Pasha Story by Kamden Bernard

Photo by Natalie Grusch

What are your most memorable moments?

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“When we were at my house and my friend accidentally kicked my wall with her heel and put a hole in the wall. I was worried my mom would be upset but all we could do was laugh. It was really random which made it funny. Another moment was during the last fire drill I was in the restroom so I got lost and went where my class usually went, but we had a sub so they didn’t go there: I was stuck with a bunch of P.E. classes and they all looked at me weird because I wasn’t in their class. When I got back to the class all my friends were just laughing and I started laughing with them.”

Why are you in StuCo? “When I was in 7th grade I always saw them doing stuff around the school, planning dances, spirit weeks and I thought that it would be cool to do stuff for the school. I feel good about being in StuCo. It’s a really cool group to be in. We do a lot of stuff for the bring more spirit to the school, I just love being with people who have the same idea about things.”

What do you do when you're not at school?

“I’m mostly spending time with my family and if I’m not I just do homework, practice my instrument or watch some shows, I really don’t do a lot. I focus on school and my instrument. I also watch American Horror Story, it’s one of my favorite shows because I love how they change the storyline every season so if you don’t like one season you can watch a different one, but I love all the seasons because they’re very original.”

Jessica Lumetta's thoughts Jackie: “I think Jackie is a great student. She always shows up for class on time and always participates.”

Freshman

Jackie Almaraz Story by Kamden Bernard

Photo by Alli Collins

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What are three things people should know about you?

“I went to high school here, I coach football, and I have the best beard as a teacher.”

What activities do you help out with at school?

“I coach football, I coach the offensive line. It’s fun cause you get to be with the kids outside of the school setting in a non-classroom environment and see a different side of them. I also volunteer for track. I have basically the same kids at track because I keep coaching the throwers so a lot of linemen are throwers, but again you get to be around them more.”

What are your favorite things about teaching?

“I enjoy telling the story of history, that’s the best part I think. The neat, little interesting stories that the people don’t know makes it interesting to students and also to teachers.”

Kochar Nawzad's thoughts on Mr.Moree: ‘“For a teacher for their first year in this school, I think he’s pretty good, He kind of goes his own way and I like how he does that because I’ve learned so much in his class. He’s a very good teacher and he’s very moral.”

Teacher

Jordan Moree Story by Katie DeClue

Photo by Aubrey Lytch

What do you think of liberty overall?

“I’ve been working here since 2006. I think it’s fun to interact with the kids throughout the school, that’s a good thing. I have fun working here because of the students, that’s why. It’s the truth. Everything is changing, the people I work with, the students, but being around these people here is one of my favorite things. I’m excited for the end of the year, and even spring break.”

What did you like about Thailand?

“Thai food. I’m [from] Thailand. Spicy rice, and steak. I love steak and rice, that’s my favorite. It’s pretty simple. Also just being with my friends and family, in my country because I’m the only one [of my family] here. I have met a lot of people through work.”

If you could have any super power what would it be?

“I’d want to be Wonder Woman. No I’m just joking, I don’t know.

I’m just a normal person, I don’t need any superpowers. I wouldn’t want any superpowers at all.”

Hannah Lively's Thoughts on Ms. Rhew: “I think she is really nice. Whenever I get something at lunch she always has a smile on her face.”

Support Staff

Joy Rhew Story by Teegan Saunders

Photo by T.J. Stansbury

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GAMES 23

Searching for Spring 1

2

3

4 5

6

7

8 9

10

Down:

Across:

1. These bloom from the ground 2. The season between winter and summer 4. Water that falls from the clouds 6. You paint these to be hidden 7. The grass turns this color in the spring 10. April _____ bring may flowers

3. Fourth month of the year 5. The search for hidden objects 8. Hops around, hiding eggs 9. Carries pollen from flower to flower

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Easter Egg Hunt Help The Easter Bunny find his 4 hidden eggs!

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Buy Your Tickets Now Story and Photos by Teryn Deshler

A Bell reporter gives the inside scoop on Kansas City’s music scene.

Kansas City is a city that prides itself on its music scene, a music scene that has grown from year to year. From country, to rap, to alternative music, Kansas City radio stations bring in artists from all genres to local venues around the city.

96.5 The Buzz is one of the highest rated radio stations among the teen demographic in the KC area. They are known for pushing the boundaries, and for their concert lineups throughout the year.

In 2015 so far, the station has generated a busy lineup; Afentra’s VD Party, featuring Lights and Melanie Martinez, Death Cab For Cutie, Brand New, Afentra’s Prom, featuring Vance Joy and The Kooks, Broods, Walk the Moon, SomeKindaWonderful, Milky Chance, The Mowglis, Robert Delong, Buzz Under The Stars Night 1, featuring Matt and Kim and Meg Meyers, and the incredible Buzz Beach Ball lineup of Alt-J, Glass Animals, Awolnation, Taking Back Sunday, Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness, and more.

“I’ve been to many concerts over the years, but as far as 96.5 goes, I’ve been to Buzz Under the Stars, Buzz Beach Ball, and I’ll be returning to Buzz Beach Ball again this July,” junior Sarah Berry said, “96.5 truly knows how to pull bands with different style and taste together into one mass of diverse music.”

“The best concert I have ever been to is Beyoncé. She’s the Queen B.” -Junior Grace Elrod

The Buzz has featured many genres of music at their shows, and even offers a variety of music on their radio shows.

“I enjoy a broad spectrum of music, but the Buzz concerts always seem to have my favorites,” Berry said, “I feel alive when I’m going crazy at a concert with a bunch of friends. If you have¬n’t gone, you definitely should.” impressing KC with their lineups. 106.5 The Wolf, Kansas City’s country music station, has promised Scotty McCreery, Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Kenney Chesney and Jason Aldean.

“I love country concerts for their atmosphere and the people,” junior Allison Neimeier said, “Everyone is so nice and excited. I love being in the same place as hundreds of people who have the same taste in music as I do.”

Jason Aldean’s ‘Burn it Down’ tour will come together with Kenny Chesney’s ‘Big Revival’ tour for 10 stadium shows throughout the US this summer. The stadium shows are advertised as ‘Two shows, One Big Night,’ and the two country stars are making a stop at Kansas City’s very own Arrowhead stadium.

“Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean have both had amazing concerts. They both love their fans and have great live shows,” Neimeier said, “So when they are going to

“The most memorable concert I’ve been to is The Dirty Heads with Flogging Molly. It was a totally unique experience.”

-Senior Gretchen Olhausen

be together in August, it will be such an incredible night that I am really looking forward to!”

95.7, The Vibe has also generated an exciting lineup for this year. On July 21st, The Vibe is advertising a concert that has had many people talking: The Boys of Zummer tour, featuring Fall Out Boy and Wiz Khalifa. Despite their obvious differences, the two are on tour all summer with opener Hoodie Allen, and will make their stop at Cricket Wireless Amphitheater in Bonner Springs.

Soon after, One Direction will stop at Arrowhead Stadium for their ‘On The Road Again’ tour, the band’s fourth headlining tour since their start. The tour is promoting their album Four, released in November of 2014, featuring the song ‘Steal My Girl.’

In September, Taylor Swift will also be at Arrowhead for her 1989 tour. 1989 is the seven-time grammy winning artist’s fifth album, and the demand in Kansas City was so high that Swift is preforming two nights: September 21 and 22. Vance Joy, who is also headlining Afentra’s Prom on May 1, is the main support during the duration of the North American tour.

No matter what genre of music you listen to, Kansas City will have a concert for you.

“The best concert I’ve been to was U2. A guy two people down from me actually got on stage and got to play with the band.”

-English teacher Mr. Zavos

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"Donut" Skip Breakfast

Story by Annika Fuller and Jenna Spence

Two Bell Reporters stop by a few local donut shops.

Dunkin’ Donuts Annika: Dunkin Donuts was not a disappointment. Although it is a little more difficult to find, and a little out of your way, it is worth the trip out of Liberty and to 10143 Wornall Rd Kansas City. Entering the shop you get the feel of laid back eating. There are a number of comfortable sitting places inside and outside where you can watch their self promoted commercials. Not only does it look like a donut shop, but it smells like one. The music selection allows you to enjoy your donut, feeling as if you have all the time in the world. The customer service was what you would expect it to be for people

selling donuts, happy. They were laughing and smiling, making the atmosphere even better. Dunkin Donuts does sell other food like sandwiches and flatbreads, but mainly it is a donut shop and it shows. Even for a store specializing in donuts their prices aren’t bad, their donuts are $0.99 per each. And you can get one anytime from five a.m. to ten p.m. creating a great place for a before school snack. They have a wide variety of selections not only including the basics, but also ones that are unique including brownie batter.

It was around six in the afternoon when I had their glazed donut and it still had the

overall fresh taste. The donut was a touch dry, making you a little thirsty. Luckily, they also have a wide variety of drinks that pair well with donuts. It was a little hard, understandably, but the glaze still left my fingers sticky, which I valued. The glazed donut was exceptionally messy, which in my opinion is exactly what donuts should be, they are America’s pastry after all. Dunkin Donuts is a place I would like to take my children one day, so they can see where true love is created.

Hy-Vee Annika: At 5:06 p.m. I went to HyVee to try their glazed donuts. HyVee’s location is awesome because it’s so close and easy to get to. It is easy to stop by there after shopping at Dicks or coming home from school, creating a perfect ending to maybe a not so great day. And if your day goes longer than school hours, no need to fret, HyVee is open 24 hours. Not only is the location great, but the prices are awesome for a high schooler living paycheck to paycheck.

Their donuts are $0.99 each.

The donuts always have that soft taste, but they never reach the full richness. There was a

fair amount of selection: Long Johns, glazed, cake, chocolate covered, chocolate, and jelly filled. While I understand that HyVee is not just a donut store, it would have been nice to see sprinkles, which I hold so dear to my heart. Don’t worry if you aren’t a fan of donuts, they have a number of other baked goods sitting along side America’s pastry.

Surrounding the bakery display there are more baked goods and the kitchen of the bakers. Unfortunately, they also have the deli selection neighboring the pastries. Instead of smelling sweet, sweet sugar you are wafted by the smell of fish. The donuts still look like

art, as they are evenly glazed and perfect circles. However, depending if you think this is a good thing or a bad thing (personally I think it’s a little disappointing) these donuts would be perfect if you are eating them in your car or in your living room because these donuts do not leave a crumb or a sticky finger behind. There was “a helpful smile” at every cash register, asking how my day had been, primarily making the experience a little better. Overall, HyVee is a good place to stop by for a donut if you are needing emergency sugar.

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Lamar’s Donuts

Jenna: I went to Liberty’s Lamar’s Donuts on a bright Sunday morning. When I walked in, there were a few families in front of me so I had time to look at what I wanted and soak in my surroundings.

Awards littered the right wall, and piles on piles of the famous yellow box with navy writing were stacked on the back wall next to their amazing display of various donuts.

My sister and I ordered a dozen donuts for our whole family. This included half a dozen glazed, 2 apple spice donuts, 2 apple bear claws, a chocolate-covered donut and a maple-covered donut. When it was my

turn to order, I was welcomed with a warm smile and a genuine question of “What can I get for you?” When ordering, I did not feel rushed, and felt completely comfortable talking to the woman taking my order.

When we checked out, the man behind the counter asked if there was anything else he could get for us. When I got into the car, I went straight to the apple spice donut. This donut is smaller than the classic glazed donut that Lamar’s offers, but boy, does it have flavor. Obviously the first thing that I tasted when taking my first bite was the apple. Then the spices of what tasted

like cinnamon took over. It was a great combination. The light glaze topped it all off as well. After a while, I decided to give the original glazed donut a try. When I took my first bite, the first thing I noticed was the excess glaze icing falling off and into my lap. This continued throughout the whole time of eating my donut. Past the messiness, Lamar’s glazed donuts were delicious. You could compare these donuts to a cloud; fluffy and soft. The glaze icing completely takes over your taste buds (and sadly your lap) and leaves you speechless from the flavor.

welcomed by a smiling worker who greeted me with a hello and asked how my day was. After a light and friendly conversation over her checking out my items, I was bid goodbye with a “We’ll see you later!” which made me feel like they were truly looking forward to seeing me (or maybe just my ten dollar bill) again. When walking out of the gas station, one word was etched into my mind-“quick”. I was in and out of the place in a matter of minutes. Once I started in on my donuts, I started with the glazed donut. One thing that I noticed that the donut almost looked smooshed- definitely not as fluffy as the Lamar’s glazed donut

that I had previously. Although when I bit into the donut, it was everything that I hoped for. The icing was delicious and did not fall apart when biting into it and it was very filling. When I tried my chocolateand-sprinkle-covered donut, the first thing that came to my mind was “Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!” The icing took over and I wasn’t anything less than happy. I was unable to taste the sprinkles- I came to the conclusion that they were just for decoration and getting onto my lap and the floor. This was probably my favorite donut that I got from QuikTrip, given my undying love for chocolate.

QuikTrip Jenna: When walking into the all-familiar gas station, I was not welcomed by any workers- no surprise there. They were all busy checking out customers. I walked over to the assortment of donuts and grabbed two. This included a glazed donut and their seasonal chocolate-covered donut with green and white sprinkles. The assortment and effort put into the donuts made it obvious that QuikTrip was not a store solely to dedicated their donuts.

However, my surrounding beckoned me to grab something else, so I obliged and got something to drink for my sister and me. After waiting in the quick line, I was

Indepth 28

The Good Old Days Two Bell reporters explore the changes to Liberty from it’s founding in 1822.

Story by Kasey Allshouse and Daryl Gichui Even though the town of Liberty continues to change and expand, the community manages to keep a small town attitude while still acknowledging the history that comes with it. As time moves on Liberty carries with it a long history that has stretched over generations, and is connected to many

Photos by Danni Hammontree, Kasey Allshouse

families within our community. Other than the fairly well known Jessie James Jail and the Belvoir Winery; there are a various other historical places and people around Liberty that hold a lot of history and still make a difference in our community today.

Above: The Historic Liberty Square was once the center of the town.

Liberty Community Center Though the Community Center was established in the late 1980s it has still had big impacts on the community.

“We were one of, if not the first, facilities of this kind built by a municipality in the Northland area,” Community Center Manager Donna Kay Taylor said.

According to Taylor, the center is also unique due to its cooperative use agreements with the school district. On top of providing exercise facilities, meeting places and classes for health or practical skills, the center is used for both the swim

and dive teams for Liberty and Liberty North High school, as well as a performance and assembly space for the middle school.

“We’re kind of a model for a lot of cities and school districts,” Taylor said. “Nobody shares in any kind of staffing, nobody has to pay staffing costs on either side, nobody pays for any kind of maintenance keep up or anything. There’s all kinds of ways you can develop a cooperative-use agreement but this one works incredibly well for both parties.”

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William Jewell College William Jewell is the beloved college in our town, but where would we be without it? Ruth Bax Edward, EdD RN at Jewell has been working there since 1973. Throughout these past years she has seen the school grow into the successful college it is today and knows the history and hauntings of this historical school.

There are many stories of how the school is haunted.

“They closed the school briefly during the war but during the Civil War they had horses downstairs, a hospital on the top

and they had soldiers living on the middle floors.

“Every year when it’s Halloween, people come to “feel” the ghosts because they had the hospital that people died in upstairs,” Edward said.

The students also take part in the ghost lore every year.

“We have a cemetery just on the other side of campus and people do ghost walks and that kind of stuff there because it’s a cemetery.” she said. “They had somebody from the people that are interested in

ghosts come and they sat in Jewell Hall for days listening for ghosts. Somebody said they felt a presence.”

Even though the school is changing, Edward said that the history and character of this school hasn’t been lost.

“This campus really captures the history.

We still have all our old buildings but have redecorated them and renovated the insides,” Edward said. “I think we’ve kind of kept the character. The buildings that have been redone all have historic character to them. Some have taken on more of the black and red colors of the college with the furniture that we get. They are sort of modern but they always have a little bit of history with them. It varies a little bit from president to president.”

The connection to the town hasn’t been lost throughout the years Edward explains.

“We do a lot with the Liberty Community.

We call it “Town and Gown”. They do things for us and we do things for them.

A lot of our faculty members have been city councilmen, and one of our faculty’s husband was mayor for awhile. One of our alums has been mayor for awhile also,” Edward said.

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Clay County Museum The historic Liberty Square is well known for having many local owned stores, banks, and businesses that have been there since the late 19th Century, including the the Clay County Museum.

“This place has always been a drugstore/ general store, until the museum purchased it in 1965,” Museum Manager Jana Becker said. “We still have the original floor from the 1870s remodel that they did and the original cabinetry from the 1870s.”

Becker also mentions that the museum features busts of Noah Webster and William Shakespeare, which were used at the time to inspire those who entered the store.

“One story about what caused the remodel in the 1870s is that they used to have a keg of gunpowder that sat in the middle of the store,” Becker said. “Somebody came in sat on it and lit his pipe and the thing blew up and blew out the whole front end of the building. Of course, it was fatal for him, but some people said he did it on purpose.”

MACE SHOE REPAIR

If you’re interested in learning more about the history of Liberty be sure to check out:

Mace Shoe Repair is another family business on the Liberty Square owned by Daryl Mace, whose father started the store as a shoe repair store and taxi service. When Mace’s father started the business, he did not know how to repair shoes, so he hired a man from Kansas City to teach him and work for him. He and his wife Sandy also mentioned that this community never had any serious issues or crimes that other cities had to deal with due to the cities separation from that mentality.

The Jesse James Bank Museum Mon-Sat: 10am-4pm Adults: $6.00 Children (8-15): $3.50

Above: Sandy and Daryl Mace, the owners of Mace Shoe Repair on the Liberty square. Below: The Liberty Courthouse, located on the Historical Liberty Square.

Belvior Winery No tours are offered, but explore the main building, view work from LHS art students and grab yourself a soda.

Heritage Middle School On the search to learn more about Liberty we met by Chris McMenemy, William Jewell College, LHS alumni, William Jewell College, and retired LHS teacher.

“I graduated 1974, and the first graduating class from Liberty was 1973, so I was there the first year it opened and then of course the second year. It looks the same in a lot of ways and I got to look inside it a few years back after they had done all the remodeling,” McMenemy said. “It was built in the 70s when they wanted flexibility, so the rooms didn’t really have walls then. They had these curtain things you push back and forth but they wouldn’t shut all the way because there was no hallway and there were three rooms.”

McMenemy continued her love for teaching and knowledge at William Jewell College. “I went to William Jewell for four years. I came back to teach at Liberty High School. I came back as an art teacher and I did the yearbook,” McMenemy said.

“At some point we actually had a cable news show but they had a little place right across over there on the other side of the

square. That’s where we went in and did our little news show,” McMenemy said.

McMenemy said many changes have taken place over the years in schools from her teaching standpoint.

“When we first started, we had no computers or anything like that and about two or three years into it we first started typing our stories and then the Liberty Shopper would fix it all up for us and print out all these strips for us [for the newspaper],” she said “We’d paste it down and when I was in there one day and Dale Garrison [printer of the school paper] came in. He goes, ‘Chris! Chris!

Come here, I have something to show you.’ He had a mac and he goes, ‘Okay, we’re starting to do our newspaper on the Mac,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ He showed me desktop publishing. I went to my principal and said, ‘I want to tell you something.’ He let me buy it and I

Indepth 31

couldn’t believe it.”

“We got three of the little tiny Macs.

They’re in museums now with the little tiny screen one piece and a laser printer.

The laser printer cost $6,000 or some ungodly amount because now they cost $200 or $300,” McMenemy said.

“So we had our little computers and we started doing the newspaper and yearbook and eventually we did it all so you could basically print out in sections because we didn’t have anything that could print big enough. In fact, one of the Bell newspapers was 8½ by 11 so that we could do it all on one sheet because we were always changing it up. The year we did our Yearbook on desktop publishing was the year before there had been four high schools in the whole nation to use desktop publishing. I don’t know how many there were at the time we had did it but we were one of the first.”

Opinion Opinion 2732

Do you help people in poverty?

When people think about helping those who live in poverty, it usually is a straight yes or no answer. The Bell Staff dug deeper into the topic.

Think about how many different events our school holds to help charities and those who are homeless. There are the coat drives, the supply closet, coin drives, can food drives and many others that are quite similar. These are great and many students participate but the staff discussed a few problems with having so many drives during the year. Many students do not have money to help. It seems that every club and sport team is trying to do a charity drive and with so many different drives, eventually, they go in one ear and out the other by the fifth time being asked.

There are so many other activities going on in students’ lives that sometimes students do not think about giving to charities. Some students take advantage of opportunities

outside of school. Many churches participate in food kitchens, food drives, back pack drives before school and some even go to places where they feed the homeless and serve them warm meals. There are many ways to get involved in and outside of school, and many students do this with their families.

Outside of school, students notice those people with signs on the side of the road asking for money for food or clothes more frequently than they do anything else. Some people do give money but then the staff discussed the questions that arose. Do these people actually use money for food? Do these people actually need that money or are they lying just to get extra money? It’s a tough call to make so the staff hit upon a solution, give food instead of money.

On staff 18 people said yes they help those in need as often as they can and nine people said no, they don’t. The staff came up with

solutions to help LHS students become more involved in charitable giving. One of the proposed solutions to helping more is to continue competitions to raise the most amount of food with food drives, and do an annual one each year so more people will be obligated to do it and those who are always asked to participate will only have to do it once a year. It’s a great way to support and help those in need.

Giving your time and helping give food can help with the issue of not having money.

Giving to food drives is just one simple way of helping. Giving time is even more rewarding because the people you are giving to are so appreciative for what they are being given and you get to watch them get the necessary things they need. Being there gives you the chance to watch those whom you helped smile.

The articles on these pages do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the entire Bell staff. Please feel free to comment in a letter to the editor.

Editorial Cartoon

Staff Topic Vote Yes - 18 No - 9

Illustrated by freshman Daryl Gichui

Photo by Amanda Kovac

Here Comes the Sun

Opinion 33

Story by Brooklyn Balsdon

The sunbeams fall down upon the grassy land, flowers bloom into pretty pinks and lavenders, and everything in the outdoors starts to get bright green again. Warmer weather is better than colder weather. April is my favorite time of the year because the weather is starting to warm up. It’s a beautiful sight. When warmer weather comes, everyone seems happier. There are way more smiles seen in school when it’s warmer. If you look around at school, the atmosphere just seems lighter and more cheery.

My favorite part about the warmer weather is driving around in my car with my windows down. I don’t have to waste my precious sleep time waiting for my car to warm up and my windows to defrost in the mornings.

In a recent poll, about 63% of students prefer 51°- 75° Fahrenheit. 30% of students prefer 75° Fahrenheit weather. Around 93% of the students at liberty LHS prefer warmer weather than cooler weather.

A very important reason why warmer weather is better is because cute clothes come out. Duh! Cute spring clothes are the bomb. I feel like I don’t even need to explain that. What’s not to love about a cute floral dress and some strappy sandals? It totally makes your outfit look wack if you have to lug around a heavy winter coat. My favorite outfit is a nice pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a cute spring floral flowy tank top, and some adorable brown wedges. So cute!

Since we don’t have to wear layers upon layers of clothes, the feeling of the warm sun on your skin is enough to make anyone

happy. After being cold all winter, I think everyone can use a little TLC from the sun.

I’m not talking about tanning until your skin sizzles off your body, just catching a few sunrays and some vitamin D can change someone’s whole perspective about a day.

I personally think the best part about warm weather is that the day seems to go by much faster. Instead of having nothing to look forward to during the winter, I am waiting for school to get out so I can feel the warmth of the sun on my skin and hang out outside.

Not to mention that once the weather warms up, we are out for summer break. No more trigonometry identities, genetics punnet squares (trihybrids are the worst if you have never done these) or just the simple dreaded parking lot.

I don’t find cold weather as fun. Everyone perks up when the weather starts to hit 65 degrees. It makes being anywhere more enjoyable because people are cheery and excited for the weather. Overall, I prefer warm weather to cold weather.

Pro/Con: Warm Weather vs. Cold Weather Don't Have a Cold Heart

every muscle in your body thawing. Cold weather is refreshing; every time you step outside you feel like a mint.

Let’s not forget the biggest part of winter: the snow. No matter how much you try to deny it snow is the frosting on the cake when it comes to winter. It’s truly a wonder looking at all the snowflakes hitting the ground or stepping in the plush substance and instantly feeling a chill; it’s an experience I’ll never forget. Snow itself is a true miracle, but the magic doesn’t stop there. Snow gives people freedom to do what they want with it, when they want.

For me, the best part of snow is sledding.

When I was little I would go to William Jewell every winter and quickly soar down their snowy hills on my red sleigh. If I ever got bored of sledding I would attempt to build a snowman. I never got far but every winter, Liberty has a bunch of snow people guarding each neighborhood.

If there is one thing people like about snow is the free time it creates. This extra time comes from the cold weather freezing every major road and covering schools across town in a snowy blanket. My favorite part of cold weather is the chance of no school.

Of course it’s not a guarantee but every time

the weather goes below 10 degrees I check to see if school is cancelled.

No matter what, sitting in front of a fire with hot chocolate can put a smile on anyone’s face. Not everybody has access to a fire 24/7 but whenever the opportunity arises to gather in front of a flame, it should be taken. A fire brings warmth to a whole room and also provides a light show of flickering waves. Of course hot chocolate is the signature treat to cold weather.

Anytime of the year coffee can be had left and right but drinking hot chocolate during summer break is a very rare and out of place occurrence because of the awkward feeling of your body heating up while it’s already hot enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk.

Everyone has that one thing that defines cold weather for him or her. It could be something negative like slippery sidewalks or something positive like snow days, it could even be something simple like using two blankets. No matter what it is the grumpiest person on earth can’t help to crack a smile when it’s time to take out the sled from the attic. People may naturally be attracted to a warm week but for me, wearing gloves and two pairs of pants creates the best memories.

Photo by Amanda Kovac

Spring is in the air! Which means warm weather is quickly approaching Liberty and all of it’s residents. For some people warm weather is a finish line after a long and brutal winter but for me it means finding the nearest source of air conditioning every other hour. Warm weather may not seem that bad at first but after a few weeks of sunburn and mosquitoes it can drive a person insane.

Cold weather, is much better.

Cold weather is the perfect example of “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.”

It can be annoying and overwhelming but when the snow melts, the fire inside is no longer delightful and the hot chocolate has double the price. You can’t help but miss it. Nothing feels better than being outside in the cold until your fingers are frozen, then walking inside and feeling the relief of

Story by Alex Wilson

Opinion 34

Bungeeing Out of my Comfort Zone

“Always strive to be the best you can be.”

That is something my parents have told me since I was a little girl. A big part of that for me is stepping outside of my comfort zone on a regular basis. I think it is important to always be open to trying new things even if it’s not something you would normally do.

A couple of years ago when I went on

a vacation to Colorado with my family, we found an amusement park on top of a mountain called Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. This park contained everything from ferris wheels and rollercoasters, to a giant mechanical swing that swung you off the side of the mountain. As we were walking through this park, the thing that caught my eye was the giant 90-foot-tall bungee tower.

This tower was questionably constructed, and the whole structure wobbled back and forth whenever someone dared to walk up its creaky stairs.

As soon as I saw the tower, I knew I would be one of the crazy souls climbing those stairs that day. How could I pass up an opportunity like that? The employees of the park weighed me and provided me with the proper harness and told me to climb up the stairs to the very top. Once I reached the top of the tower, I could see very clearly over the side of the mountain.

The tower was on the very edge of the cliff.

Editorial by Aly Copp

Before I knew it, a man was grabbing me and hooking me to this giant bungee cord.

He screamed to me through the deafening wind, “Jump now!” I walked to the ledge, took one look down and didn’t even allow myself to think a single thought before I jumped. I plummeted at full speed until the cord caught and sent me flying back further up than where I’d jumped. At first I was full of terror, but after about a second I just started laughing. It was such an amazing feeling. I felt an overwhelming sense of adrenaline when I made my final fall to the air bag.

Although this bungee jumping adventure may sound random, it was an example of me stepping outside of my comfort zone.

To this day it is still something I remember vividly, and is a story I love to tell people.

I try my hardest to continue this little tradition of stepping outside of my comfort zone through trying new foods, going new places and always being open to experiencing new things.

Editor in Chief

Updated Lenses

In seventh grade, I was a problem child; I refused to pay attention in any of my classes, I didn’t talk to people (and had no desire to), I was even more uncoordinated than I am now and I probably played too much Runescape.

The solution came when my social

Editor in Chief

Editorial by Zach Kilgas studies teacher noticed me squinting at the board from the back of the class. I needed glasses.

The first time I wore glasses outside everything seemed different. I saw the trees for how they really are. I saw leaves versus green blobs. Looking out my window I could now see down the street. I remember trying to play off my excitement, but the details were almost overwhelming. It seems insanely silly now, that for a large majority of my life I was unable to see clearly, but the new glasses provided me a new more exciting and vivid perspective on the world around me.

However, every six months or a year I have to “update” my glasses lenses. Over time, they become scratched, worn out or I just grow out of them. It happens slowly and I often don’t notice until I can no longer see properly.

This idea also applies to the opinions I live my life by. I think everybody should

take some time and evaluate how they view the world around them. It might seem fine, but more likely than not it can be improved. We often carry around the same ideas for so long they become worn out.

For me, I was unable to see the problem until I had my new lenses.

Seventh grade turned around for me after getting my new glasses. I became a good student, began to participate and turned around my grade in social studies.

Nowadays, if I put on my lenses on from seventh grade my vision would once again be blurred. The same way the same way if I judged the world and set my opinions from my seventh grade point of view. I would be incredibly blind. In our lives, we need to remember to update our paradigms.

Overtime, like my prescription glasses, I’ve needed to update my norms in order to see the world around me in its true light.

Don't Knock It Till You Try It

In my opinion, one of the best things you can do in life is try new things. There are so many different things out there to try, such as new foods, a new hobby, a new book to read, or maybe even a new series to watch on Netflix.

When I was little, I used to be a really picky eater; in fact, a majority of my childhood lunches consisted of either Lunchables or bologna sandwiches. Eventually, with the help of my mom, I slowly began to branch out and now I’m not nearly as picky. I was just nervous to try new foods, but after I did

Ads Manager

Editorial by Michael McHale

it, I really liked it, like the first time I ever had sushi. Beforehand, I was really skeptical and nervous, but I tried it, and loved it. Now sushi is one of my favorite foods.

The same thing has happened to me time and time again throughout my high school career.

One of the more recent experiences I’ve had like this involved a Journalism 1 class I took during the beginning of my junior year.

I wasn’t really sure what I was going to be getting myself into, but within a few weeks I absolutely loved it. By the end of the semester I was invited to join the Newspaper staff, which led me to try even more things I had never done before.

One of the most significant new things I’ve tried in my life actually turns out to be this job. I was extremely anxious when I was given (my adviser says “earned”) the title of Ads Manager for this school year. It was something completely unfamiliar to me and I honestly wasn’t sure I could do it. However, I didn’t let this stop me. I knew I had people counting on me, such as my new editors-in-

They're an Acquired Taste

All my life, I’ve been lucky, considering the wonderful support system I’ve had. I have my family, with my mom, dad and three wild siblings and then there are my friends, who are always looking out for me. The one thing I have that I’ve realized not a lot of high school students have is a close relationship with my neighbors. I’m probably one of the few who would be perfectly content to spend a Friday night around a bonfire with my neighbors.

In seventh grade when we moved away from Manor Hill, I was upset. I was leaving behind a group of ten or so kids that I’d known for years, as well as my childhood best friend, Kim. There were years of

Opinion Opinion 35 27

chief, Zach Kilgas and Aly Copp and our adviser, Lori Oyler. I also knew I would not have been given this job if they didn’t think I was capable.

With these things in mind, I came into this year more than ready to take on my new leadership position. While it was new to me, I slowly but surely felt more comfortable and confident with what I was doing. Today, I can honestly say that I am extremely proud of myself for how far I’ve come.

For the first issue, I was constantly having small panic attacks, because I felt like I was doing something wrong, but it turns out I was doing fine. Luckily for me, as this year has progressed, I’ve become more and more confident in my work, and can easily say I have the job down to a science.

My advice to everyone out there would definitely be to try new things. You never know what you may find yourself doing, and that’s what life is all about. It’s just like my mom always said to me, “You’ll never know until you try it!”

Opinion Editor

Editorial by Amanda Kovac

memories of playing night tag, capture the flag and having water fights. In my mind, there was no way our new neighborhood could compare. I wasn’t necessarily wrong because both neighborhoods are amazing in completely different ways, but I was relieved at how much I liked my new neighborhood.

After a few months at the new house I made a habit of spending my evenings shooting hoops outside in my driveway. One night, I was approached by a kindergarten version of the now fifth-grade Tate, who told me he wanted to play basketball with me. For a few years it became almost a tradition to play basketball with Tate after school. My youngest sister started making friends with Tate’s sister and some girls up the street, which introduced me to even more neighbors.

Somehow, the parents started to be pulled together by their children as well, until we became the group that we are now.

On warm Friday nights it’s not unusual to find someone’s back deck or patio lit up in gathering. While the parents sit and chat, the kids are running all over, playing night tag, riding bikes, jumping on the trampoline or any of the other things I experienced in my

old neighborhood with my own group of friends. It hits me with equal parts nostalgia and happiness to know that my sister will probably have those friends for the rest of her life.

Another thing I love about my street is that I can hang out with my neighbors of any age. In a frequent occurrence, the little neighbor girls like to run and jump to give me hugs, while Tate and Owen will sometimes shoot hoops with me. Often times though, I find myself sitting out with the parents on a Friday night, discussing my favorite books with Marlene or movies and songs with a number of different people, regularly answering questions about my latest projects at school.

I don’t ever find myself bored and I feel comfortable enough that I can go to my neighbors for help with any problem that I may have. They are a critical part of my support system and they’ve been imperative this year in helping me de-stress from school.

They’re an “acquired taste,” but I’m thankful that they’ve become such a big part of my life and I’m really going to miss Redwood Friday nights next year when I’m in college.

Editorial Photos by Amanda Kovac, Aly Copp and Michael McHale

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1 r occe 's S olf men 's G s Wo Men's Tenniield Menack & sFeball Tr Ba

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Sports 36

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Sports 37 Baseball

Date Opponent 4/11 4/13 4/15 4/18 4/27 4/29 5/1 5/2 5/4 5/6 5/8 5/9

LS North Park Hill Truman Oak Park St. Joe Central PH South Ruskin BS South LN Park Hill Truman LS

V V V V V V V V V V V V

Men’s Golf

Date Opponent 4/13 4/13 4/14 4/16 4/20 4/20 4/21 4/22 4/24 4/27

Men’s Tennis

Level Location Time

BS South Invite Oak Park Invite Truman Fort Osage LN Invite Liberty Invite St. Joe Central LN Richmond Invite Conference

LS North Liberty Truman Liberty St. Joe Liberty Ruskin Liberty Liberty Park Hill Liberty LS

Level Location V JV JV JV JV V V JV V V

Track & Field

Date Opponent

4/10 Jerry Crews Invite 4/11 LS North 4/13 Park Hill 4/13 BS South Quad 4/15 Truman 4/17-18 KU Relays 4/18 Oak Park 4/22 BS S. Double Dual 4/24 Gary Parker Invite 4/27 St. Joe Central 4/28 Conference 4/29 PH South 4/30 Rockhurst Invite 5/1 Ruskin 5/2 Blue Springs S. 5/4 LN 5/5 Conference 5/6 Park Hill 5/7 Conference 5/8 Truman 5/9 LS

Lakewood Paradise Drumm Winterstone Cardinal Shoal St. Joe CC Cardinal Shirkey Drumm

Level

V V V 9th/JV V V V 9th/JV V V 9th V JV/V V V V JV V V V V

Date Opponent

12:00pm 5:00pm 4:00pm 12:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 4:00pm 12:00pm 5:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 12:00pm

4/13 4/14 4/16 4/21 4/23 4/28 4/30 5/2 5/05 5/07

Date

8:30am 8:30am 3:00pm 3:00pm 8:30am 9:00am 11:00am 3:45pm 7:00am 8:00am

Staley LS North Liberty BS South Truman KU Liberty BS South B. Springs St. Joe PH South Liberty Rockhurst Ruskin Liberty Liberty Liberty Park Hill Liberty

Liberty LS

Time

Clayview LS North Bennett Park Oak Park Liberty Liberty Liberty Oak Park Ruskin

Park Hill

Women’s Soccer

Time

Location

Level Location

LS West JV/V LS North JV/V LN JV/V Oak Park JV/V St. Joe Central JV/V Truman JV/V PH South JV/V Northland Invite V Ruskin JV/V Park Hill JV/V

Time

4:00pm 12:00pm 5:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm TBA 12:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm 12:00pm 5:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 12:00pm

4/10 4/14 4/16 4/17 4/21 4/23 4/28 4/30 5/6 5/7 5/8 5/11 5/12

Opponent

St. Joe Central Park Hill Truman PH South LS North St. Joe Central PH South Tournament LS West Park Hill Staley Blue Springs S. Truman

Level Location

JV/V JV/V JV/V JV/V JV/V JV/V JV/V V JV/V JV/V JV/V JV/V JV/V

Liberty MS Liberty MS Truman Liberty MS Liberty MS St. Joe Central PH South Iowa LS West Park Hill Liberty MS Liberty MS Liberty MS

4:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm 4:00pm TBA 4:00pm 4:00pm

Time

5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm TBA 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm

Sports 38

Catchers and Kickers Story by Jeffrey Walters

Photo by Natalie Grusch and Desiree Johnson

Baseball and soccer jamborees initiate spring sports.

The start of a spring sport has many steps, there are team meetings, tryouts, practices and scrimmages and then there are the Jamborees.

“A Jamboree is an opportunity for teams to engage in where they are compared to other teams,” varsity girl’s soccer coach Tom Rottjakob said. “As you go through the first three weeks of the season, and when you’re practicing against your own team mates day in and day out its then hard to get a good gage of where you fit in against the other competition.”

“Basically we have us and William Chrisman, Blue Spring South, and Platte County, and we play each team once and you play a three inning game,” Varsity baseball coach Vince Armilio said. ”It’s a way to get in an actually game situation and playing better competition than squaring off against yourself in a scrimmage.”

Going into a jamboree there are expectations of what to get out of the experience and both coaches agree that the jamboree is something very valued by both the coaches and the players.

“We except to see some guys in live game situations, see some guys up to the

plate or trying to execute certain hit and runs or bunt plays and stuff like that we’ve worked on in practice but to see it at game speed is a lot different then seeing it at practice speed,” Armilio said.

“It’s a way us coaches being able to see players in game situations that aren’t against our JV scrimmaging our varsity because that’s who we’ll scrimmage at first and you don’t quite get the same outcomes, and same looks as if we would against another varsity team and we have 4 teams in our Jamboree we play the other three teams for 25 minute games,” Rottjacob said.

There is a lot that the Jamboree will help with.

“Well the Jamboree will help us with many different situations that will come again through out the season, it’ll give us a game like experience, and just help us all together as a team,” junior Joe Kinder said.

“I think it’ll really help us see where we’re at as a team and help us afterwards reflect on what we did wrong and help us improve and get better as a team,” junior Ben Kunckle said.

There are so many things to like about

the Jamboree and all the experience it brings.

“I like getting to see all my friends from other schools in one night, ” senior Grace George said. “[My favorite thing about the jamboree is] Just getting back out on the field again and being able to play,” Kinder said.

“[My favorite thing about the jamboree is] That it’s a short game and that it’s not very long, and that it’s fun and it’s not very serious,” sophomore Peyton Trestor said.

There are some players that it will be their first time out on the field being able to experience the jamboree for the very first time.

“Well this will be my first time playing in a Jamboree, so I’m just excited to see what its like and I’m just ready for the competition,” Kunckle said. “I think it’ll be a good experience and we’ll be able to see where our team is and how we’re doing at this point, and it’s good to just have everyone out on the field facing some good competition so that we can see where we’re at.”

Below left: Peyton Trestor Passes the ball.

Below left: Junior Ben Kunkle swings for the ball. Below Right: Senior Grace George passes defenders. Bottom left: Junior Ben Kunkle rounds first heading toward second Bottom Right: Junior Matt Gastner Pitches to the opponent.

Sports 39

Sports 40

Just Dance Story by Kati Benhardt

Photo by T.J. Stansbury

Social Connections Club is a time to be together to interact with others.

You can expect nothing less than laughter, dancing and a fun time during Social Connections Club. Students come from all different classes to hang out for a time together to create relationships and memories.

“Social Connections Club is a Liberty Hour time that we set aside for our students (special ed) to interact with regular ed peers from the high school. We play games, we talk and hang out, there’s no big expectation,” Special Service Teacher Jessica King said. “We do some outside activities, we’ve been to the musical and we’ve gone to some sporting events. We’ve been to Exit 1-6 shows and a few different things, we provide different opportunities for our students to hang out in a social setting.”

This club started in 2011 and has changed throughout the years.

“Our club has grown and it’s changed during the past 4 years. We used to meet in the morning and do a monthly activity, like going to ball games. Now we have a lot more students involved. We have students that are in the essential skills class, therapeutic learning center and also who are in the regular classrooms that join in,” Speech-Language Pathologist, Kim Stewart said. “Coach Frigon encourages his football players to come to the club, and these guys really interact well with everyone in our club. They generalize it

into the school environment, for instance, by greeting the SCC students in the hallway and eating lunch with them. All of the kids that come have a great interaction with each other, it’s a fun club!”

Some find this club to be beneficial for many and relationships are made through this club.

“I think I do (think social connections club is beneficial), especially when they’re so used to seeing the same people everyday, it’s nice to see new faces in there so you can see new friends,” senior Jacob McGowan said. “[One friend I’ve made is] defiantly Dylan Hoy. Were pretty good buddies and we eat lunch every day together.

New relationships are created in this club.

“I like it because I get to step back and watch other kids interact with my students and not have to be teacher directed, so that’s kind of cool to see those natural relationships form and I can kind of just stand back,” King said.

Playing Just Dance and different activities is a favorite thing for many of the students.

“My favorite thing to do is play Wii and trash,” freshman Haley Bray said.

“All I care about is playing games, like Just Dance,” freshman Dylan Hoy said Everyone also enjoys the socializing.

“I like to talk to other people and be at the school,” junior Daniel Lehenbauer said.

“I like to play games, especially trash [card game]. Everyone always wants to play

trash.”

For special events everyone in the club comes together and has parties.

“We had a Thanksgiving feast together and that was awesome,” senior Haley Hart said. “We played card games and we had 20 people and it was a long row of people. It was really cool, it was like a little family.”

Senior Karen Bush likes Social Club’s parties and meeting new people.

“I like the parties the most,” she said.

“We like to celebrate birthdays and special events. My favorite memory is meeting new people.”

The club has a really relaxed atmosphere.

“It’s just really fun, from the stressful atmosphere of tests and homework, it’s a good place,” junior Sarah Phillips said.

“Those kids teach you so much and they’re just so fun and always have a smile on their face and it just makes my day going in there.”

Everyone can benefit when they participate in this club.

“It’s just fun to see the kids because they get happy whenever you go in their, it brightens their days and our days too,” freshman Mason Phillips said.

Social Connections Club is every Thursday, Liberty hour B in room 100.

“There is not really a membership, people come and we meet new people every week.

We’re always really welcome there, it’s always a good time,” Hart said.

On the left senior Karen Bush, junior Daniel Lehenbauer, freshman Haley Bray and freshman Dylan Hoy playing Just Dance.

Blue Jays Flying to State Photos by Danni Hammontree

Top left: Junior Sydney Offield dribbles the ball to the hoop.

Top right: Junior Morgan Flemming shoots a free throw.

Middle left: Senior Chiarra Franklin blocks opponent.

Middle right: Team and coaches celebrating win.

Bottom left: Student section reaction to amazing buzzer beater win.

Sports 41

Sports 42

Grace George Story by Addy Gray

Photo by Alli Collins

“Soccer means a lot to me, it’s a lot of fun and I have made so many new friends from playing at Liberty. I love being able to get on the field with my teammates and play to the best of our abilities.”

-Senior Grace George said.

“Grace is a super hard worker and has a huge positive influence on our team.

Even with being hurt, she was always a major leader on our team and she never gives up. She plays with a smile on her face and we can always count on her on and off the field.”

-Senior Marissa Adams said.

Senior Soccer Position: Foward Height: 5'8" Favorite Food: Chicken Wings

“Grace George has come into her senior soccer season as a leader who has worked hard in the off-season to be a positive role-model for the younger players. As a player Grace had to battle knee injuries that have slowed down or kept her from playing in the previous three seasons. This year she is back to full strength for the first time in her high school career, and I think she will impress many.”

- Head Soccer Coach Rottjakob said.

Jared Rohm Story by Hannah Berry

Photo by Steve Nyepon

“I like track because you put in a lot of work in order to see the outcome, of all the running, practices and meets, I like seeing the final pay off of all the work you’ve put in over the season. This season the goal is always a state championship, but as a team I want to see everyone progress. I also want to see personal growth, from the beginning to the end of the season.”

-Junior Jared Rohm said.

“Jared is a hard worker, and listens to the coaches and always put forward what they have to say. He is a big role model on the team and everybody looks up to him. He has helped me out a lot, working on my starts and form.

Jared is an exceptional athlete. His work ethic is shown on the track.”

-Junior Benny Aulner said.

“He is a great kid, with a great work ethic. He always shows up to practice ready to work He is a good mentor and leader to the younger kids in the group. I look forward to seeing him progress this season and to compete and represent the Blue Jays.”

-Coach Mario Brown said.

Junior Track: The 100 Height: 5’8” Favorite Food: Hamburger pizza

Sports 43

Aidan Bishop

Story by Addy Gray

Photo by T.J Stansburry

“Tennis is a tough sport because you can get really frustrated with yourself, only having yourself to rely on, but it feels great to go out there and compete, I love to knock the fuzz off balls”

-Sophomore Aidan Bishop said.

“Aidan has worked very hard during the offseason so we expect a lot from him this year. He is a great teammate and makes everyone around him better”

-Senior TJ Stansbury said.

“Aidan had a great freshman season going undefeated in JV singles play last year. He has put in a lot of work in the off-season and is fighting for a spot on varsity this season. I look forward to seeing where he ends up on the ladder in 2015”

-Coach Andy Schneider said.

Sophomore Tennis Height: 5’9” Favorite Food: Buffalo wingww

Kaitlyn Lewis

Story by Hannah Berry

Photo by Bri Goszewski

“I like track because it’s very competitive, and you really have to have the drive and the heart to be competitive. That is what is fun about it for me. I like knowing all of the hard work and preparation before meets allows you to be successful at meets,”

- freshman Kaitlyn Lewis said.

“Kailtyn is one of the most hardworking people I know, she is very motivational and she always strives to get better. She inspires me to become a better runner, and pushes me in my academics. She is really funny, and she makes track more fun, it always better when Kaitlyn is there,”

- Freshman Kiarah Mosley said.

Freshman Track: The 200 Height: 5’6” Favorite Food: Chicken and shrimp fettuccine

“Kaitlyn is an extremely hard worker that is dedicated to being successful in track. She is naturally talented in the sport but her dedication and work ethic will take her even further. It is great to see a freshman with that much talent that can still be a team player and role model for the team. I look forward to seeing all that she accomplishes throughout her tenure at Liberty High School,”

-Coach Pam Koch said.