INSIDE THIS EDITION FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS -- Sophomore Dayne Aschenbrenner readies to throw the ball as the Indians take on Wichita Southeast Friday. The Indians won 73-20. Photo by Hailey Eilert. Senior Hallie Matteri pours frosting into a bowl. Matteri participated in cupcake wars, a competition in the baking and pastry classes. Photo by Emma Elliot.
the mentor volume 106 - Issue 06 - OCT. 30, 2018
MHSMentor.com
USD 383 prepares for bond referendum vote Sophia Comas Sports Editor
Amid the Nov. 6 midterm elections, USD 383 is having a vote of their own. The 2018 Bond Referendum is set to be decided upon on that date, either making or breaking the district’s plan to improve security and spacing issues for schools and setting the final decision as to whether the $129.5 million will be obtained to make those improvements happen. The bond is meant to touch all aspects of the district, from prekindergarten all the way to high school, as well as administrators and the central district office. According to Assistant Superintendent Eric Reid, one of the main issues the bond is meant to combat is overcrowding. At the
younger level, the district is hoping to make true Early Learning Centers out of two adapted former elementary schools -- College Avenue and Eugene Field -- and to build a new one entirely in Blue Township. “It’s a huge impact on the district,” Reid said. “Some of them, it’s two elementary buildings put together for that increase that we’ve seen, so it’s extremely important for that.” On the elementary level, USD 383 is hoping to have a strictly K-5 program and is working towards putting sixth graders in the middle schools. They also hope to eliminate mobile units to better ensure student safety as well as working towards better art programs through more classrooms. “At the elementary level, it’ll expand offerings for sixth grade,
allowing them to take some elective classes that maybe they don’t have access to at the elementary schools,” Reid said. In addition to these changes, the district has even bigger plans for MHS. The biggest change is to welcome the freshmen to West Campus, something that the school has yet to get used to. Instead of being at East Campus, A Hall would be rebuilt to have a second floor in order to accomodate to the new influx of students. It would also eliminate the need for transportation during passing periods that take away roughly 10 minutes of class time each day. According to MHS principal Greg Hoyt, the plan could also expand the practice field and tennis courts for more parking space and storm shelters that would fit the entire school as well as updat-
SADD celebrates Red Ribbon Week Hannah Heger Features Editor
Students Against Destructive Decisions hosted this years Red Ribbon Week with events ranging from simulating driving under the influence and postponing the seatbelt check due to rain. “[Red Ribbon Week] was really good this year. We did a bunch of activities, mostly with our club members,” senior Cami Wells said. “We also did a pledge event at lunch where students sign their name to make good deci-
sions on a banner that we did.” “Instead of doing one banner all together we did two banners so they could hang up, one at the East campus and then one at the West campus,” senior Ashby Stark said. “We have a seat belt check planned for this year, but it was postponed.” During the Red Ribbon Weeks SADD helped out at the middle schools with activities for the students to do, “We went to Anthony Middle School for their Red Ribbon
Photo by Hailey Eilert Senior Cami Wells talks to an Eisenhower Middle School student about Red Ribbon Week. SADD members travelled to EMS on Friday to motivate students to sign a poster to be drug free.
week. We did an obstacle course with what we call, fatal vision goggles,” Kari Humes, SADD sponsor said. “Those are goggles that stimulate if you’re under the influence of alcohol or parents.” Students also had a bicycle they had to ride with the fatal vision goggles to simulate impaired driving. While SADD was at Eisenhower Middle School SADD helped out at Red Ribbon Week dance that Eisenhower Middle School hosts. “Here [Eisenhower Middle School], we always come to this dance and do something with the students.” Humes said. “I felt like it was really a good, successful week, and it’s kind of nice to have this at the very end to finish it up.” With many volunteers for Red Ribbon Week SADD has to prepare the next generation of SADD officers and members. “Since most of our senior officers are going to be leaving next year, we really try this year to involve new students, sophomore, freshman kind,“ Wells said. With Red Ribbon Week coming to a close the new generation of officers will be ready to plan next years Red Ribbon Week. “Our officers are mostly seniors so we already have some See Red Ribbon on Page 4
ing the security systems for ensured safety. “I think it would make us feel more like one school. We are one school, but we’re at one school in two different buildings,” Hoyt said. “There’s a certain element of disconnection attached and associated with that. It’s my hope that there will be more unity in cohesion.” There is a question as to what the district will do if the bond doesn’t pass. Their main concern is with the elementary schools, as they hope to avoid a difficult situation with a surplus of students. According to Hoyt, the student population has increased by 776 students since the last bond was passed in 2008. “We didn’t add a lot of space at the elementary… at the last bond issue,” Hoyt said. “It really
was bringing buildings up to par with one another so that there was equity in terms of space at each of the buildings.” While all of these ideas are still being discussed, USD 383 is hoping that those who are able will vote in favor of the bond in order to put these changes in progress. “I encourage every high school student that is the voting age to get out research this topic,” Hoyt said. “Even though I’m not going to be here as the principal next school year... I strongly support this because I think it’s what’s best for this community, for the kids of this community. I think kids of our community deserve the best educational experience this community can provide.”
Seven compete in programming, engineering contest Brianna Carmack Opinions Editor
Solving programming problems in the fastest time possible was the challenge in front of seven of Kathy Ricketts’ students who attended the High School Design Competition at the University of Kansas on Wednesday. “Basically it was an engineering contest at KUS where there’s a bunch of different events,” senior Max Kokene said. “There’s, like, building stuff, programming, which was the competition I was in.” The students were divided into two teams, both in the advanced programming portion of the contest, competing from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. “Depending on how fast they solve the problems and if they got it correct, partially correct, depending on how many points they got, that puts them into a ranking,” Kathy Ricketts, business and media teacher, said. Ricketts was also the sponsor of the trip. Scholarships are given to those who place, but unfortunately none of the Manhattan High competitors placed. “I think the first or second place winners of a lot of the dif-
ferent types of the contest had scholarships offered,” Kokenge said. With this being the first year for some student and others having more experience, the students managed to come out with a positive attitude even though they didn’t place. “They learned a lot about a... they should’ve studied more, should’ve practiced more, that there’s a lot more that they should learn before going to the contest,” Ricketts said. “It was a good learning experience for them, and they came out with a positive attitude, so they did a good job.” After the contest was over, the students had the options of going and touring the KU engineering department, watching other competitions or stuffing their faces with free pizza. “The best part of the contest I think was just having the students, the competition with the different programming levels,” Ricketts said, “Both teams were both in the advanced portion of the contest, so the problems were a lot more challenging to solve. Just working together as a team, and doing the best they could do.”
New Science Cafe introduces scientific discussion, student participation Alora Osterman Staff Writer
The roars of Manhattan High’s lunchroom could barely be heard in the Alumni Room of West Campus last Tuesday as, about 10 juniors surrounded a small table, craning to listen to a woman seated in the middle. Behind her, a PowerPoint presenting the psychology of video game play stood paused and at attention for the inaugural Teen Science Cafe event, hosted by Sunset Zoo’s Behind the Science program and Science Communication Fellowship, with help from Biology teacher Noah Bush and Environmental Science teacher Clancey Livingston. “It’s important for high school students looking for higher education to get a realistic idea about what it’s like to be a graduate student,” Livingston said. “With [Science Cafe], we get both the scientific and human aspect of the experience.” According to their Twitter, Behind the Science is “an initiative to take the public behind the scenes of scientific research.”
This is often done through their science communications training program for graduate students by using Behind the Science events as practice in engaging a public audience. While it typically hosts events for adults, such as Science on Tap, or family events like Science Saturdays, according to director Jared Bixby, the group has been looking for a way to reach out specifically to the high school audience for some time now and are quite enthusiastic about the introduction of Science Cafes here at MHS. “The thing [program directors] keep hearing is ‘we want to inspire younger generations and future scientists’ and high school is a great way to do that,” Bixby said. “Working with [Livingston] and [Teen Science Cafe] will allow both grad students in our program and high school students to be exposed to something new.” Similar words were expressed by Science Cafe’s first speaker ever, Lisa Vangsness, medical student, Ph.D. candidate at Kansas State University and Sunset Zoo
Science Communication Fellow. According to the Teen Science Cafe flyers, Vangsness was invited to speak to students about her research regarding human beliefs about difficulty, and how they affect our ability to complete tasks, as well as how she studies these through visual research, academic procrastination and video game play. “There are a lot of different areas of science and high school does a good job preparing us for those but doesn’t actually address necessarily the specific fields,” Vangsness said. “[Science Cafe is] a way to get people exposed to the different areas of science and help them understand not every aspect of science is just a bunch of calculations.” She went on to encourage all students to participate in the experience regardless of their postsecondary goals. “I want to point out that not every person goes to college,” Vangsness said. “Some go and others go to tech school, or some don’t go at all and that’s okay. This is just another point of inter-
est, a way to get exposed to something else.” Again, exposure to the various aspects of science seemed to be a recurring theme of the event, as stated by attendees. “I want to go into the medical field and even though [psychology] isn’t the specific career I want to study, it applies to many differ-
ent career paths you can take,” Liz Efken, junior, said. The next Science Cafe will be hosted next Tuesday in the Alumni room during first and second lunch. According to Bixby, they may relaunch the series in the winter and spring depending on the success of these first few events.
Photo by Mason Alberto Sunset Zoo representative Lisa Vangsness talks about her profession and how it affects her life as junior Alex Andresen listens. Students had the oppurtunity at lunch to come together and listen to Vangsness. Photo by Mason Alberto.