MHS Mentor | Issue 20

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the Mentor

News Briefs d esseniam Im dui tionse tiniat ad tie zzriure ros eugiamet, o ex modip est magnit, modio od tis susci tie enis do od dol qui erosto re rcilit, Im and iscipsu ms zzriam eni ess d dui tionse

NHS

National Honor Society will have a garage sale at Pottorf Hall in Cico Park tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. This will be NHS’ second garage sale this year, and it will be open to the public for donations. The garage sale is a fundraiser for senior scholarships and a possible field trip to Worlds of Fun. “We’re hoping for a really good turnout,” senior Alex Booth said. Booth is in charge of the committee that planned the garage sales. “We had a lot of community donations last time. I really want students to show up, too.”

SCI. OLYMPIAD The Manhattan High Science Olympiad team is preparing for State tomorrow. There will be roughly 36 of the best teams in the state competing. There are five categories to compete in. They include engineering, biology, physics, chemistry and earth science. Every year the team averages about three events per person, but everyone has at least two events they compete in. Co- sponsors Pat Lamb and Dick Nelson have high expectation this year, saying they have a strong group of kids and will compete to the best of their abilities. “I expect and hope we will do well,” Lamb said. The State Tournament will be held tomorrow at Wichita State University from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

SPRING FLING

SADD and TLT will host the eighth annual Spring Fling tonight at West Campus from 7 to !0 p.m. There will be free food, a carnival, a film festival, music and dancing. SADD and TLT encourage all students to come to make it a more diverse crowd and social environment. Spring Fling used to be called “Kick-Butts Dance for Tobacco” in order to show students that they can have a good time without drugs.

Student’s T-shirt sparks teen action Cole Anneberg news editor A Manhattan High freshman’s decision to wear a T-shirt like the one “Glee” character Kurt Hummel dons in an episode of the hit TV show sparked controversy at the East Campus last week. The situation has since been resolved. The T-shirt which Michael Hartman wore contained the phrase “Likes boys.” He says that Assistant Principal Charlie Sprott ordered him to take off the shirt because it violated the dress code policy against sexual innuendo, but later Sprott suggested that the T-shirt could put Hartman in a unsafe situation if he continued to wear it. “I was upset when I was told take it off,” Hartman said. “I just didn’t see the point.” Hartman’s mother was called in to the office and discussed the situation with Sprott. Sprott used the MHS Student Handbook’s rules on the dress code to justify ordering the removal of the T-shirt. “He told me during lunch that ‘We’re not doing this right now, you have to change your shirt,’ because it contained a sexual innuendo,” Hartman said. “Although later he told my mother that it was done for my safety. It seemed weird that he kept changing the reason for why I couldn’t wear it. I’m comfortable with myself already and I would have felt safe even with not having worn the shirt. I

don’t need a shirt to say I’m gay. I feel safe with publicly saying that.” Hartman’s mother, Christine Bishop, was quizzical about how the situation was handled. “My initial response was that if his main concern was safety, why wouldn’t he have just came out and said that?” Bishop said. Sprott declined to be interviewed but stated that the ordeal was dealt with and Hartman is now able to wear the T-shirt at school again after having concluded that it did not violate any dress code policies. That following day freshmen Aspen Matton, a friend of Hartman, wore the same shirt to school as an experiment to see if she would endure the same consequence that Hartman had and if it was appropriate to label Hartman’s consequence as a form discrimination from Sprott. To her surprise, Matton had no consequences. Feeling upset and discriminated, Matton began organizing an event called “Rainbow Day,” which was held yesterday. The day consisted of a group of students who wore rainbow colored clothing to school to show support for Hartman and celebrating the sexual differences at MHS. Matton also has

started a student body petition to demand that sexual equality is given to all students at MHS with appropriate forms of self expression. “I’m trying to create change and more rules in the student handbook about our dress code. He [Hartman] was using his right of self expression,” Matton said. Freshman Marissa Orme was someone who chose to sign Matton’s “Self-Expression” petition. “I was extremely upset when I first heard about the incident with Michael,” Orme said. “I’m for the movement because it’s a form of self expression.” The petition has been passed around through the East Campus for signatures and around 200 students signed to show support. However Freshmen World History teacher Jessica Karr wouldn’t allow her students to take class time to sign the petition. “I wouldn’t allow students to sign in my class because it was disruptive,” Karr said. “Though I’m okay with students signing the petition outside of the classroom.” Hartman and the students who acted on his behalf thought that it was appropriate to take

I expect that some people won’t like it, but for me personally it’s a celebration of my sexual orientation. --Hartman

up the cause and raise awareness. “It’s the right thing to do,” Matton said. “I think a lot of people will be shocked by this, but it’s really great that students are standing up up for what they believe.”

Hartman agreed with Matton’s statement. “I expect that some people won’t like it, but for me personally it’s a celebration of my sexual orientation,” Hartman said. “It shows that we’re not afraid.”

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MENTOR The following survey was conducted on POLL 300 randomly-selected students of MHS.

Did administrators have the right to use dress code and safety concerns to justify the removal of the T-shirt?

13 % undecided

yes They did 21%

74% no they Didn’t graphic by Cole Anneberg

FCCLA members qualify for nationals and teaching students about eating right, being fit, and making healthy choices. Holly and Jordan Morris Family, Career, and Compresented their National Promunity Leaders of America grams in Action event called traveled to Wichita Monday “The Morris Quints Give Back” and Tuesday to compete in the Kansas FCCLA State Leadership and received a gold medal, coming in third in their category. Conference. All teams fared As the top two teams qualify well, but only a few groups for Nationals, this makes them qualified for the National FCCLA Leadership Conference in the alternative in the event of a no-show. The Morris girls have Orlando. been busy all year donating to “It was a little disappointing the March of Dimes during preto say the least,” senior Kayla maturity birth awareness month, Fraley said. “But the rest of us selling programs at K-State were runners up behind the sporting events and supporting freshman.” their Polar Plunge effort, raising Kristen Fraley, Siera Haug and Shaylyn Hubbell presented over $8,500 between the two for their project “Superkids” in the the Special Olympics. Claire Freeby and Tyler Henjunior level Focus on Children ry presented their senior level event on and received a gold Focus on Children event project medal, qualifying them for “Let’s Have FUN” and received National Competition. Their a silver medal, less than a point project consisted of traveling to Amanda Arnold Elementary shy of a score of nine and gold Jimmy Risberg copy editor

medal. Their Project consisted of community outreach efforts to teach kids about fitness and understanding nutrition. The members of teams that did not qualify for the national competition now have the opportunity to act as judges for the competition in Orlando. Various FCCLA members were also a part of the “Dollars and Sense” program, a financial literacy program for pre-K through sixth graders. The “The Morris Quints Give Back” and “Coast to Coast” programs were submitted for separate awards within the national program as well. Although not all teams performed as well as they expected, FCCLA members were pleased with the outcome and look forward to Nationals. Top: Juniors Claire Freeby and Tyler Henry present their senior level Focus on Children event project “Let’s Have FUN.” The presentation earned them a silver “I felt like we all did really medal. well,” Fraley said.

Bottom: Junior Tyler Henry accepts his membership award at FCCLA State Competition. photo by Jordan Morris

Student Council changes candidacy requirements Ben Shields staff writer Student Council has recently voted to change the requirements for candidacy. A minimum of a 3.0 grade point average is now required to run for office (whether it be an officer position or otherwise), as opposed to a 2.5 as was the previous rule. This was decided early in October and has been made official. The other changes are considered “temporary” until Student Council re-opens the discussion. These changes are as follows:

The President and Vice President of Student Council must have served at least two terms, including the term preceding the term of the office sought, and must have been an officer in at least one of those two years. As has always been the case, the Treasurer and Secretary of Student Council must have served one term with Student Council, but in addition, now all candidates desiring either of these positions must have been an officer for that term. If a student who wishes to run does not meet one or more of the aforementioned require-

ments, he or she may apply for a consideration. In this form, applicants must state why they feel qualified to be running, why they think they would be good leaders, and what they feel is the biggest responsibility of the position they are running for. “I can get behind these changes,” Student Council head sponsor Leslie Campbell said.

“They make sense. We want the best people possible to be there.” Senior class president Noah Schmidt expressed general approval for the changes but appeared to have some ambivalence. “I think [the changes] are good,” he said. “It makes it so people running for Student Council are more qualified.

I can get behind these changes.... We want the best people possible to be there. --Campbell

NEWS

April 6, 2012 Manhattan High volume 99 issue 20

Page 2: Deployment, Rainbow day, Brownback’s bill Page 3: Hunger Games, April timeline, Actor adversity Page 4: Girls Soccer, Girls Swim & Dive softball, Varsity baseball, Freshmen baseball, Track and Field Page 5: Bluestem vs. Starbucks, Art club trading cards, Next year editors of The Mentor/Blue M

But I also think the GPA requirement is a little high. I know that Student Council is supposed the leaders of the school, but I think there could be a risk that, since exceptions are allowed, some people will just pick who they like to be on StuCo.” “I’m looking forward to these elections,” Campbell said. “We know that there are people out there who want to be involved who haven’t been, and these changes are not meant to discourage students from running. Some really great kids have stepped forward.”


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