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Manhattan High School Volume 101 Issue 1 Aug. 14, 2013
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Pool employees come together in friendly competition Liz Logback Editor-in-Chief Lifeguards all around town stepped down from their chairs to dance, race and enjoy each other’s company in a friendly competition. July 31 marked the first Pool Olympics held at City pool organized by Manhattan’s Parks and Recreation, and it will become an annual event. “It was an intra-pool competition with several different events. Some that tested our training and others that were pretty goofy. It was made to encourage friendly rivalry so we could perform our duties as best as possible and have a good time,” senior Hanna Hayden said. The three town pools, City, CiCo and Northview each formed a team and began preparing weeks in advance. One of the chal-
lenges was a dance that had to be choreographed to “Footloose” or “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” CiCo lifeguards spent close to two hours each night after the pool closed learning a dance. Junior Katie Bussmann estimated they spent 10 hours working on the dance all together. “When we got there, City didn’t even know their dance and all copied [junior] Levi [Jones.] Northview took the win, but CiCo deserved it,” Bussmann said. Senior Emma Samenus was proud to be on the winning dance team. “I contributed to the our Northview dance, which we beat the other pools at,” she said. Relays and mock situations made up the other portions of the Pool Olympics. Each team selected a few team members for the indi-
vidual competitions. “I pledged my services as a pro drowning victim to Team City for the deepwater spinal injury backboarding,” Hayden said. “But after an unfortunately-timed service I was drafted into team CiCo’s rescue tube relay.” The Iron Man challenge event included swimming 500 meters, performing five minutes of CPR, going up and down both slides, swimming a lap and a half against the lazy river current, then finishing it off with another 200 meters of swimming. Throughout the events, team members not participating in the event stood on the edge of the pool and supported their teams. “Being so close to my pool family and cheering them on is something I definitely got out of this event,” Samenus said. “We lost almost every race but still cheered each
Members of the pool staff dive into the water during one of the night’s relays. other on like crazy. Junior Lindsey Hageman was only a part of her team’s dance, but she remained dedicated to team CiCo throughout the events. “I wasn’t in any of the relays, but I went to cheer on my pool,” she said. “How excited and supportive ev-
eryone was of their pool, especially during the Iron Man and before the dance, was really awesome and memorable.” “It was a great way for all of the lifeguards to come together and end the summer with a bang,” Bussmann said.
Senior Melissa Bohn and Molly Webber jump during CiCo pool’s dance. Bohn choreographed the dance with junior Lindsay Hageman. Pam Stokes, Photographer
Enrollment draws parents, students
Above: Riley County Health Department dietician Lisa Ross educates parents about good nutrition. Above right: Student volunteers distribute schedules for 9th through 12th graders. Lower right: Parents work their way through the steps of the enrollment process, ending up at the fee payment table.
Administrator of IQ Academy Brooke Blanck talks to a student about the online learning program.
Photos by Liz Logback
New dismissal time ‘no big deal’ for Manhattan High Maddie Ross News Editor ----There’s a bright spot in the new school year for Manhattan High students: the school day is 10 minutes shorter than it was last year. Instead of dismissing right before 3 p.m., school will now let out at 2:47 p.m. The schedule is reverting back to what was in place before construction began in 2011.
“The total amount of time is changing from what is was three years ago,” Superintendent Bob Shannon said. “We are really just returning to amount of time, the length of day and the number of days that we had before the construction process. We adjusted this in previous years knowing that we had to utilize long, busy summers to complete the construction.” Students look to it as a
convenience as far as extracurricular activities go ---Despite the importance the new time holds for students, it’s less critical to administration. “I suppose sports practices will start a little earlier,” MHS principal Greg Hoyt said. “It will be a small adjustment for both us and the middle schools but overall it is not too big of a deal.”
Newspaper solicits reader input Staff report The staff of The Mentor student newspaper is inviting student input by reinstating the Question of the Week in an updated format. The newspaper, which is designed to serve the student audience at Manhattan High, invites readers to respond to the weekly question with their ideas and comments. This year the column will combine the print version with the online publication,
mhsmentor.com. Students can look for the Question of the Week to be announced on the Opinion page (page 2) of the printed newspaper each week, then go to the website to post responses. A number of the responses will be chosen to run in the next week’s print edition, and readers can find the full collection of responses on the online version. “Our whole generation is online right now, and we want to integrate The Mentor into
that,” Liz Logback, editor-inchief, said. “Our multimedia editor, Alan Brown, is generating new ideas to make our website more accessible and informative.” The website will be a place for timely news stories and extended versions of articles. “We may also be able to do some prizes for readers of online content,” Logback said.
See Question of the Week, Page 2
After being held at Susan B. Anthony in previous years due to contruction, the USD 383 central enrollment returned to Manhattan High School. Faculty, staff and volunteers helped direct parents through the process of paying fees and finalizing enrollment for students from preK through 12th grade.
Summer musical sells out two shows Danielle Cook Copy Editor “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” a comical musical “lovingly ripped off from” the 1975 film ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail,’ was Manhattan Parks and Recreation’s annual summer theatrical presentation this year. Manhattan’s production of the medieval-set musical casted Manhattan High alumnus Alex Tolar as protagonist King Arthur and junior Charlotte Benjamin as the story’s leading lady, the Lady of the Lake. The show also included other classic Arthurian legend characters such as Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, and Sir Bedevere, played by MHS alumni Da’Merius Ford, Claire Freeby, Tyler Cochran and Mariah Messmer. Directed by Ginny Pape and assistant directed by Alex Zolnerwich, the show’s cast began primary rehearsal on June 5, working toward two performance nights at Nichols Theatre on July 19 and 20.
“It was all a lot of hard after we put in all those work, as far as rehearsing,” changes, we still had some junior Rose Gruenbacher lines that required extra censaid. “We rehearsed for sev- soring,” Benjamin said. “It eral weeks and there were a was challenging sometimes, couple of numbers that took trying to keep the joke, a lot of practice to get perfect but having to change the and a lot of lines we had to words, and sometimes we get worked out, but it’s all just couldn’t pull off keeping worth it in the end when you the funny. It took away from know the audience will enjoy some of the really quotable, the show.” hilarious lines that truly addThe script ed to the show’s was originally overall hilarity. “We sold out It was still an exwritten including bits of crude hufunny both shows a tremely mor, as was the show, just not week and a with quite as film from which it originates. jokes as half before many Due to their originally writthe perfor- ten,” she said. family-friendly standards, the All the cast, mances,” MPRD cast, crew crew and direc-Benjamin. and directors tors’ hard work worked through paid off in sellthe script, choosout crowds for ing clever alternatives for the both performance nights. rude humor, in order to keep “We sold out both shows the whole show entertaining a week and a half before the and appropriate for viewers performances,” Benjamin of all ages. said. “Knowing that made “The script came with a everything even more excitbunch of pre-written cen- ing.” sored alternatives, but even