PAGE 4, SPORTS
VOLUME 104 • ISSUE 2 • AUG. 30, 2016 VISIT MHSMENTOR.COM
THE MENTOR
MHS surpasses national and state average scores, benchmark percentages on ACT test ANGIE MOSS PRINT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Manhattan High has once again surpassed the state and national averages for the ACT composite score. The state average is 21.9 and the national average is 20.8; Manhattan’s average is 24, which is .3
points more than last year’s score. Oh MHS testers, 48 percent also met all four college readiness benchmarks, which is a 4 percent increase over last year. “I am exceedingly proud of the students and staff at Manhattan High School on the accomplishment of these scores,” principal Greg Hoyt said in a press
Schwartz family wins again
some, that’s great,” senior principal Marvin Rupe said. “... It’s a good effort to have The Schwartz family is perfect attendance.” The winner of the givean incredibly lucky one. Junior Juliana Schwartz won away is decided by handthe perfect attendance car ing each contestant an give-away this year after her envelope, only one containing the brother, key to the Joshua, “If it’s a motiva- car. Each won it the pretor for some, that’s student is vious great... It’s a good given their to years. effort to have perfect chance see if their Manattendance.” key is the hattan --ACTIVITY DIRECTOR right one High is that starts home MARVIN RUPE SAID the car. to many This year, traditions, one of them being the winner was junior Juthat every year students liana Schwartz, who was with perfect attendance incredibly shocked to see from the previous year are she had won the car for a entered into a drawing to surprising reason. “My brother won the car win a spectacular prize -- a car. The ability to be able to last year, so I wasn’t exremain present every single pecting to win this year, so school day is not as easy as now we have two cars,” Schwartz said. “I had no one thinks, however. “If it’s a motivator for hopes.” ELIZABETH ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
Ciftci brings chess back to MHS DAVID FLITER ONLINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
A club that you typically see around high schools is the gathering of strategists known as Chess Club. Unfortunately, Manhattan High School’s Chess Club was almost history when their former sponsor, beloved English teacher Jane Kenyon, passed away two years ago. At the start of the current school year, however, Chess Club’s return was spearheaded by determined veteran chess player Yusuf Ciftci. “[Kenyon] was our sponsor and when she passed away we could not find a new one until [Mr.] McCoy moved from the middle school to the high school,” Ciftci said. “He actually sponsored the Chess Club at the middle school so I asked him and he accepted.” Chess Club is gaining quite a large amount of members despite just being reinstated as a “We have some seniors but the juniors are really good at chess and there are some sophomores that I still need to talk to.” Ciftci said. While some chess matches are a timed battle between two veteran op-
GLOBAL
NEWS RICK BROWN COPY EDITOR
ponents, the MHS Chess Club pits new and old player’s pawns against each other in a deathmatch until one emerges the victor. “We are going to go in after school and meet for like an hour or an hour and a half and play with whoever wants to play,” Ciftci said. “It is just whoever wins; we are not going to have time it because we are not that good yet.” The main reason for Ciftci’s determination is a sense of nostalgia that he feels to his experience in middle school of when he was surrounded by people as eager to play as he is. While the enjoyment of playing with his friends drives him, he is also excited to lead the club and play with less experienced people. “I think it is going to be a good experience because I did it in middle school and my friends would just come together and play chess,” Ciftci said. “I think we are going to bring that back to the high school.” The MHS Chess Club is back and is shaping up to be a force to be reckoned with thanks to the efforts of passionate students working through adversity.
release last week. “The ACT is an important gauge of college and career readiness for our students, and these results are tremendous news.” Though Hoyt praises the work of MHS faculty, he acknowledged the work of teachers throughout all grade levels. “I applaud the work of
teachers and counselors at Manhattan High School,” Hoyt said, “but I also feel that these results reveal the work that is being done at all grade levels in USD 383, especially over the past several years, as teachers implement the Kansas College and Career Ready Standards throughout the district.”
Dr. Marvin Wade, superintendent commemorated the increase in scores and percentages, but is now focusing on how MHS can improve even more. “Don’t be complacent,” Wade said. “We want to celebrate our successes like the ACT scores that [Hoyt] announced the other night. That was great and let’s cel-
ebrate it for five minutes or whatever and let’s move on and say ‘how are we going to continue that trend,’ because each one of you deserves the best opportunity you can have for preparing to be successful.”
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Junior Juliana Schwartz sits in the car that she won at the football scrimmage. This is the second year that someone in her family has one the car. PHOTO BY KARMEN MARTINIES
MATC begins offering cheaper, free classes to students TAYLOR BULLOCK STAFF WRITER
The Manhattan Area Technical College courses are a new set of college prep classes currently being offered at Manhattan High. MATC is a technical college located on Dickenson Ave across from CiCo Park. The technical college offers classes from College Algebra with AP statistics teacher Ted Dawdy to Busi-
ness management and Intro to Business teacher Kathy Ricketts here at the high school. These courses are opening a door for students to explore challenging college prep courses in a comfortable high school setting. The switch from KSU to MATC allows the high school to offer more classes such as a few of the newer automotive classes. These courses are open to all students despite their financial situations.
“The partnership with MATC is much more beneficial for students," Dawdy said in reference to MATC's tuition price, which is lower than K-State's. The pricing for the courses have now dropped by about $600. “It's a third of the price, so they can get a huge jump start on it,” college career counselor Katie Ball said. The Senate Bill 155 put in place mid-year 2012 is what allows tuition for these courses to be so
affordable for students. Although some of the classes may still be a bit pricey for some students there are classes that have no cost at all. Cheap to no cost classes are making it available to all families to encourage their student(s) to try before going to a higher education campus. “I believe that it makes it much more affordable for our families,” Bell said.
Cheer car wash boosts team morale, fundraises for team SAVANNAH CHERMS TRENDING EDITOR
The sound of high pressure hoses and laughter filled the AutoZone parking lot as Manhattan High’s cheerleaders soap up and hose down car after car during their annual car wash last Saturday. As the only fundraiser the team has all year, the funds raised can be used for new uniforms, stunting mats and travel. Despite the underlying pressure to make money, the team was full of positive energy and ready to take on the day. The car wash was seen as an equal amount of work and play.
While the goal of the many cheerleaders can reday was to raise money for member, but this year felt the cheer program, the car special to those returning. wash was seen as an equal “Being a freshman I just amount of work and play. felt new and nervous [last “Everyone had a lot of year],” sophomore Savanfun,” sen a h nior VarsiBarron “I enjoy helping out s a i d . ty cheerleader and knowing that I’m “As a Kayleigh doing something good sophoBallesteore and being around my m ros said. y o u friends makes it even f e e l “We were playing more in better.” with the charge. --SOPHOMORE SAVANNAH w a t e r It was BARRON SAID when cars more weren’t f u n there. We [this really just had a lot of fun.” year] because I got to bond The fundraiser has been with the Varsity girls more going on for as long as as well as J.V.”
LOCHTE LIES ABOUT RIO ROBBERY
UBER TO USE SELF-DRIVING CARS
FLOODING DEVASTATES LOUISIANA
TERRORISTS ATTACK WEDDING
Ryan Lochte claimed that he and three teammates were robbed at gunpoint by Brazilian police. Authorities discovered that the swimmers had vandalized a gas station while intoxicated and that the officers had acted to collect reparation for the damage.
Uber users in Pittsburgh will be able to ride in selfdriving vehicles by the end of August, according to an official announcement. However, due to legal requirements, a human monitor must be present in each car.
Flooding ravaged Baton Rouge, La. as water levels reached 9 feet on that Sunday though they subsided a few days later. Presidential candidate Donald Trump visited Louisiana on Aug. 19, and President Barack Obama arrived in the state on the following Tuesday.
Fifty-one people died and 71 were wounded on Aug. 20 after a child suicide bomber attacked a wedding in Turkey. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the attack, the deadliest one in Turkey this year, on Islamic State militants.
The hot August weather didn’t damper the team’s spirit, as cheerleaders could be seen happily dancing around waving signs, advertising their car wash. “I enjoy helping out and knowing that I’m doing something good and being around my friends makes it even better,” Barron said. “We held signs out on the road getting people to come in. Me and Ericka [McCaskill] got a lot of people to stop. We were just dancing and making people stop in.” At the end of the day after spending six hours baking in the sun, the team walked away with $777 to go towards their program.
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