shark attack The Magazine of St. James High School
Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
Allegiance to Spirit Sharks style the halls and deck out with enthusiasm
NEWS
HOMECOMING
King and Queen
Bible Club
Campus group focuses on faith and offers a helping hand to those in need
Seniors Lawson Thompson and Andrew Wright are crowned at Homecoming
VIEWS
SPORTS
‘Running’ham Twins
Feelings on Adoption
Christine and Samantha Cunningham lead cross country team to success
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Two students share their thoughts about their struggles after being adopted
November 2013
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Contents
Shark Attack Magazine St. James High School Murrells Inlet, SC
news Bible Club aims for change by Michelle Pitoscia
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Guitar Club starts strumming by Anastasia Kasko
Volume X, Issue II November 2013
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Breast Cancer Awareness Month by Nidia Berry
Anastasia Kasko magazine and online editor
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Savannah Phillips broadcast editor Haley Olds special report editor
views Discipline only those who deserve it by Matt Snell 5 Custodians take care of campus by Tori Cluff 5 Adoption: dark pasts, bright futures by Karian Rushford 6 Adoption: dark pasts, bright futures by Anonymous 6
Talent Attacks! Every year, St. James hosts a talent show. This year was full of great performances brought to you by our very own students. Each performace was full of emotion and always managed to bring the crowd to a round of applause. St. James is truly full of incredible talent. Photos by Anastasia Kasko
Testing students for mental illness: yes by Josh Neilson 7 Testing students for mental illness: no by Madison Slater 7
homecoming
Ethan Johnson short film editor Nidia Berry Tori Cluff Caroline Codillo Daisha Cooper Carlos Cordero Pete Davis Chris DePace Mason Dean Stevie Eliason Savannah Healy Kevin Luongo Lizz Mazzatenta Josh Neilson Melia Penninger Michelle Pitoscia Karian Rushford Blake Ryan Madison Slater Matthew Snell Shay Vaughn
Senior court royalty by A. Hardwick and H. Garbade
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Spirit week scenes by M. Pitoscia and M. Slater
Jerry Moore faculty sponsor
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The Shark Attack staff attempts to inform and entertain the student body of St. James High School. All opinion columns reflect the opinion of the individual columnist. Letters to the editor, story ideas and advertising inquiries may be e-mailed to jmoore004@horrycountyschools.net. Letters must be signed to be considered for publication. The Shark Attack has the right to refuse advertising that is deemed inappropriate; advertisements do not necessarily reflect opinion of the staff, adviser, or school administration.
sports ‘Cunning’ham twins lead cross country by Daisha Cooper 11 Boys’ team has high expectations by Pete Davis 12 Girls’ squad continues to rebuild by Pete Davis 12
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November 2013
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Bible Club aims for change Michell Pitoscia Staff Reporter Class of 2016
Every Wednesday after school, students gather in Mr. Moore’s room (C142) for Bible Club. The group is a place for students to talk (or listen) about God and helping others. Mr. Moore said, “It’s a warm, welcoming place. Some people think, ‘Oh they’re going to try to shove Jesus on me,’ but really it can be for people who go to church all of the time or people who don’t go to church at all.” Bible Club is lead by senior Katlin Byrd. She writes down what she wants to talk about on Wednesdays, but she loves to go off on a tangent and go where the conversation takes her. “I write down everything I want to say in paragraph form, but I love to get off topic,” Katlin said. Katlin started leading Bible Club last year. “Alex Hamrick wanted a trustworthy
person to run it, and I was a person she trusted,” Katlin said. This year the focus is on changing yourself and eventually changing the world. At the end of each meeting, the whole group stands in a circle and prays. If anyone has something they want
everyone to pray for, they just simply say it, or write it in Katlin’s prayer book. This year, the club plans on doing some outreach projects just like previous years. Current plans include assisting at animal shelters and adoptions and going to homeless shelters.
Members of the Bible Club listen and laugh as they share stories about how their faith impacts their everyday lives at school. Photo by Michelle Pitoscia
Guitar Club starts strumming Anastasia Kasko Magazine Editor Class of 2016
St. James has a brand new club run by Mrs. Howard and junior Alex Munday. Together, the duo has put together a guitar club that’s full of laughter, good vibes, and great music. This new club welcomes everybody who can play guitar. From beginners to experts, they’re all wanted. Guitar Club is made up of several grade levels and everybody gets a chance to learn and play. One of the coolest features of Guitar Club is the people. Everybody there has a great attitude towards one another. Guitar Club is full of shiny happy people. Guitar Club can be a great outlet. Everybody likes a different genre of music; in Guitar Club, aspiring musicians can play whatever they want and not feel bad about it. Everybody is there to learn and to make friends.
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Junior Alex Munday is an expert guitar player who has been playing guitar for more than 10 years. He is well-known and loved by most people and makes an excellent leader. Even if you don’t know how to play, go get yourself a guitar and stay after school for Guitar Club.
Novemeber 2013
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News
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‘Pink Out’ creates excitement for Breast Cancer Awareness Month Nidia Berry Staff Reporter Class of 2014
Art teacher Mrs. Sherry Martin created this mixed media piece to honor survivors and those currently battling breast cancer. Original art by Sherry Martin
Above left: Students pink out for breast cancer awareness month in Mrs. Vargo’s class. Above right: Sophomores Natalea-Rae Gibbons and Carlee Andrews pose by the breast cancer sign. Photos by Nidia Berry
Above left: Students and Mr. Mahaffey put their thumbs up for breast cancer awareness. Above right: Mr. Robbie Centracchio joins his students for a photo on “Pink Out” day. Photos by Nidia Berry
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November 2013
October is national breast cancer awareness month, and the St. James community takes it very seriously. The school has several staff members who have battled the disease personally, and many students and staff have family members who are or have been affected. Mrs. Debbie Lloyd, Mr. Pennell’s long time secretary, is fighting breast cancer; she retired in the middle of last after she was diagnosed. Art teacher Mrs. Sherry Martin is a survivor. She was only 47 when she found out she had breast cancer. Mrs. Martin underwent radiation for 31 days. Now she has been cancer-free for more than five years. She said she was extremely lucky she found out she had cancer before it spread throughout her body. “I was devastated when I found out. The weird thing was my doctor told me that I didn’t have breast cancer, but I did have other physical symptoms that resembled the breast cancer symptoms. So after doing some research on the computer, I went back to the doctor and demanded that I needed a mammogram, and that was when I found out I did have breast cancer,” she said. Fellow art teacher Mrs. Beth Mitchell and her sister attended the Susan G. Komen 3-day, 60-mile “Walk for the Cure” in Michigan. Together, they raised more than $11,000 toward research for breast cancer. Brest cancer is a malignant tumor that starts in the cells of the breast. The disease is mostly found in women, but men can develop it, too. There are several different types of breast cancer; for example, Mrs. Martin suffered from was DCIS, also known as Ductal Carcinoma in Situ.
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Discipline only those who deserve it
Matt Snell Staff Reporter Class of 2016
Since the dawn of public education, students have to deal with strict teachers. Some are good, and some are bad. At St. James, nearly every student hates getting ISS; it seems like a pointless punishment for students to sit quietly in a room doing class work and nothing else. Although some teachers approach it a different way, if one student does something that is disrupted, too often the whole class has to suffer. Freshmen Danielle Wagner said, “It isn’t fair at all that the rest of the class has to be punished because of what some stupid person did.” It’s unfortunate that many teachers get easily upset over students who talk or fall asleep in class. A teacher may warn the class that if someone talks during a class video or lecture, the whole class will not do anything fun the next day, and instead do book work. Inevitably, students who cannot control themselves get out of line and do something they’re not supposed to do. This ruins it and causes the teacher to take away all privileges from the class.
“I don’t think it’s fair for the students to suffer over something they didn’t do, that one person couldn’t control himself,” said senior Brionna Ehlenbach. One of the teachers of the school even admitted how unfair it is. Mrs. Riley said, “Just because one student is annoying, doesn’t mean every one else is like that.” One argument for corporate punishment is that makes students want to police themselves. In theory, well-behaving
students should be aware of what others do and tell them to stop acting out of line if necessary. Honestly, that isn’t the case, since this only makes responsible students frustrated and resentful toward those who aren’t. Teachers need to adopt a reasonable way to discipline students who do cause problems. The individuals who make the mistake should always be the only ones punished, not everyone else.
Custodians take care of campus Tori Cluff Staff Reporter Class of 2016 Running a school requires a lot of hard work from many staff: some to make all the rules and discipline, one to help us when we get sick, and others to feed us at lunch time. We cannot forget the ones who work so hard to keep the school clean: the custodians. Students might see them ridding around in school on a “Zamboni,” a floor scrubber, and cleaning everything from the baseboards to the ceilings. After the bell rings to dismiss lunch, Barry Formont and Kurt Hughes use disinfectant to wipe down the tables.
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“The hardest challenge for being a custodian is keeping up with the kids, the cafeteria, and especially the restrooms, enough said right there,” Kurt said. “Cleaning up the cafeteria takes about 50 percent up of my day,” he added. “the whole day is one big routine that you repeat every day.” Kurt has been working here for almost five and half years. He has many procedures he must take during the day, like being at school everyday at 6 a.m. to open school gates and school doors. Kurt’s day ends at 2:30. Barry, however, is on call 24/7. “They could call me at 2:30 in the morning, and I would have to show up to the school right then,” he said. Barry has to go home eventually,
Novemeber 2013
which means a new custodian takes the night shift. Ralph Simmons, who has been working at St. James for seven years, starts his shift at 2:30 p.m., which is about 45 minutes before students get out of school for the day. Ralph agrees that there are challenges he is faced with during his shift, which ends at 11 pm. “I come in around 2 p.m., put up my coat, go to the welcome desk to clock in on the computer, stock my cart and wait until 2:30 to start work.” As students, we owe a lot of respect to all the hard work the custodians put into our school to keep it clean for us. Arriving early and staying late just to clean up or mess deserves a big “thank you” from all of us.
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Adoption: dark pasts, bright futures Karian Rushford Staff Reporter Class of 2014 Being adopted is a double-edged sword. You are given to a family that wants and loves you, but at the same time you are being given away by someone who carried you around for nine months and made you and supposedly loves you. It’s so hard not to be angry at your birth parents for the feelings of abandonment and emptiness. Now the feelings adopted kids feel vary, but from my experience I have had such mixed emotions throughout my entire life. I switched between anger, sadness, numbness, and then gratefulness. After feeling all those emotions, I feel guilt: guilt for not loving my mom enough and feeling something toward people
Anonymous Staff Reporter Class of 2016 We all feel lost at some point in our lives. When we feel like we don’t belong, we begin to feel hurt, angry, and numb. I feel like a bulimic. Every day I eat those emotions, and every night I throw them up in privacy. These feelings are because I’m
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who didn’t want me and who didn’t even want to be a part of my life. It’s so hard to grasp sometimes that my birth mom knew I was growing inside her but did nothing to take care of me and then handed me over and moved on with her and got married and had two more kids after me, two kids she happily raised. I constantly wondered why didn’t she love me like she loved them. Yes, my biological father was a jerk, but I was still hers. I was hers, and she left me like I was nothing to her. Now this being said, I have a great life and a great mother, and if it wasn’t for her giving me up I wouldn’t have my best friend. I have recently met my biological father, and I still can’t forgive him for what happened. I shouldn’t have even been made; I wouldn’t be broken if I wasn’t. My birth parents didn’t even think what would happen if I came
about, what they would do to take care of me, so instead my birth mother ignored my existence and then handed me over without a second thought. Now on the other side of the sword, I have a great life and I am really happy most of the time. As much as it bothers me that I was given up when they could have kept me, I would never have the life I do now so I thank my biological parents everyday for my mom, and my best friend Kaitlyn. Being adopted is hard; you will always be in a different group of people and always feel empty even if you don’t acknowledge it. So please try and think before you make assumptions about being adopted and the people involved in it. Like I said, adoption is a doubleedged sword. One half is the realistic effects that it has on the people involved. The other half is the gratefulness for the brighter future that lies ahead.
adopted, because I was unwanted for five years of my life. I’m now trapped as an outsider. This wasn’t my choice. It’s impossible to open up, to love, when I have a constant feeling of hurt stuck in my throat. My feelings of helplessness and hopelessness are eternal and haunt me day after day. Every day I wake up angry. Your mom loved you from the second she knew she would birth you. The first moment
she got to look at you she loved you. My mom tossed me aside, handed me over to an orphanage like I am nothing. Your mom loves you. My mom never has and never will. And finally, when I’m done feeling hurt, done feeling angry, I feel nothing. It’s a tortuous numb feeling. It’s inescapable and always there because that one person who should love me, doesn’t.
November 2013
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Should students be tested for mental illness?
YES
NO
Josh Neilson Madison Slater Staff Reporter Staff Reporter Class of 2015 Class of 2016 Any student with a history of violent crimes should be I completely disagree with the idea of being mentally subject to a mental health evaluation before returning to evaluated before entering high school. Why does the school school. There is no reason that shouldn’t happen, so why need to know what students do and don’t suffer from? And shouldn’t all students be required to receive a professional why should we have to pay for it? I don’t think it’s any of evaluation before attending the school’s business if a any high school? student suffers from mild I understand that some depression to extreme students have serious anxiety. A person’s mental issues they may not feel health should be left to be comfortable addressing, known by his or her doctor, but it isn’t right to parents, and themselves. compromise the safety of Would being evaluated other students in order to before entering school make these students feel make a difference? Would “normal.” it decrease the number of The school already bomb threats or school offers in-house counseling shootings? Maybe it would, courtesy of the Waccamaw maybe it wouldn’t. We can’t Mental Health Clinic, know. But what I do know but incidents like the is that having to share our vandalism committed in mental disorders with the September by a former school is ridiculous. St. James student prove While mental illness is that access to these tools found in a large number is not enough to prevent of people, especially teens, potentially dangerous others are very ignorant to incidents from occurring. the subject. Some will see These students need a frown on someone’s face help, and sometimes and think they’re depressed. parents aren’t willing to Some will see scars on or are simply unaware a classmate’s wrist and that their child can get the automatically come to the help they so desperately conclusion that the person need. That’s why I suggest “only wants attention.” It’s a all students should be disgusting way to look at it, required to receive a but it’s true. psychological evaluation Many even argue that before attending high people chose to be that school. We already are way, like we can choose to required to have proof of have depression, anxiety, immunization in order schizophrenia, bipolar enroll. Why not extend disorder, or any other our standards for physical mental illness. health to mental health? If it makes you Waccamaw Mental Health Counselor Jim Garvey is available for Just imagine how students who need assistance. Photo by Josh Neilson uncomfortable to go to many school shootings school with someone who would have been prevented if we had this system in place sees things or hears things, maybe you’re the one who needs everywhere in the United States. Potentially, we could have “help.” We’re not going to make ourselves feel uncomfortable avoided disasters like Columbine and Virginia Tech. by sharing our mental disorders just so someone feels safer.
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November 2013
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Homecoming 2013
Senior court royalty
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November 2013
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Photos by Alyssa Hardwick and Harmoni Garbade
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Photos by Michelle Pitoscia and Madison Slater
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Homecoming 2013
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Spirit week scenes
November 2013
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Sponsors
November 2013
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Sports
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‘Running’ham twins lead cross country Daisha Cooper Staff Reporter Class of 2014
Senior Samantha Cunningham and her twin sister Christine are both integral members of this year’s St. James cross country team. They are hardworking, dedicated twins who always put their all into everything that they do. Earlier this season, Samantha set the girls’ cross country school record with a time of 20:47. She has been recognized for her hard work, which resulted in her record-setting performance. Her plans after high school are to “continue her journey as a runner at Winthrop or the University of Andrews.” Christine, a former cheerleader, has changed her passion and now also has her heart set on running. She joined the team this year and is proud of her accomplishments already. She decided to run because she felt like “cheering just wasn’t her anymore,” and she wanted to do something that she was more comfortable with. Samantha has been running since her sophomore year and she loves it and wants to do her best to move forward with it as a career. Her goals this year are to run in the low 20-minute range and maybe set the county record or even the
state record. Although she knows it will take time, dedication and commitment, she is willing to take on the challenge. The twins have never been involved in the same extracurricular activities until this year. They said that the cross country coaches and judges know them very well and never get them mixed up, which is a great feeling to them because most people cant tell them apart. Training together has really made an impact on the both of them because they can achieve their goals together. They encourage each other to do better, and if they don’t, they still pat each other on the back. The Cunningham twins are very fond of cross country, and they will continue to be reliable, dedicated and committed runners for St. James.
Samantha and Christine’s parents cheer them on at the Cross Country meet, encouraging them to reach the finish line. Photos by Mallory Panuelo
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November 2013
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Sports
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Boys’ team has high expectations Pete Davis Staff Reporter Class of 2016 Although several key players from last year graduated — leaving the varsity boys’ basketball team with an extremely young team for the 2013-14 season — talent is certainly not going to be an issue. According to head coach Monty Carr, “We have a lot of young, individually talented players. But our success is going to be a matter of coming together as a team.” The amount of talent and depth at the guard position this year is astounding. Senior Tyrell Dukes can step in as a replacement for Brooks Hurston defensively. As productive as Nehemiah Stafford and Caleb Duggan were last year, they were somewhat one-dimensional on the offensive end. With sophomores Jackson Hurston and Zach Werba, the Sharks can expect a more balanced and consistent effort with fewer turnovers and higher quality shot selection.
Of course, with such a young team, it will almost certainly take several games to truly get in to the rhythm of playing older, more athletic teams. But returning sophomore Jackson Hurston claims that “Playing as a freshman last year helped me mature pretty quickly. I knew there were a lot of seniors last year, so I am prepared to be a leader this year.” Last year’s team was one of the most athletically gifted in the county. However, the Sharks constantly shot themselves in the foot with turnovers, defensive lapses, and inefficient possessions that typically involved a pull-up jumper off the dribble without a single pass. What the team has lost in athleticism and size, it make up for with wit and much higher quality shooters. As exciting as it was to watch Caleb attempt to snipe from NBA 3-point range, once the players can develop chemistry, this year’s team should be much more efficient on both ends of the floor. Smart, hard-nosed basketball is effective at all levels. And that’s exactly what the Sharks can expect for the next several years.
Sophomore Jackson Hurston sets up the offense. Photo by Pete Davis
Senior Hannah Price leads the fast break with sophomore Kelsi Bachmann trailing behind. Photo by Pete Davis
With Hannah Price, Kimmie Hotzelt, Kelsi Bachmann, Anna Cavin, and Nicole Meyers returning this year as the center-pieces of the varsity girls’ basketball team, the Sharks show great promise this year. However, the main concern is going to be whether or not the rest of the very young team can step into their roles this season. Hotzelt and Bachmann have already proven to be serious threats offensively as freshmen last year. Although carrying the load as sophomores is going to be difficult, according to head coach Stan Patterson, “because we had such a young team last year, I think we grew up pretty quickly.” Despite being such an inexperienced group, the returning upperclassmen should be able to replace last year’s
seniors as leaders. Hotzelt understands that she needs to be one of the leaders this year. She included that last year’s team was inexperienced as well after losing several seniors that led St. James to the playoffs. “The year after we made the playoffs, we didn’t really have anybody to step into the role of a leader. This year I think we have a couple people, including myself, that are now ready to be leaders.” Perhaps the most important aspect of having a young team this year is the promise they show for the future of girls’ basketball at St. James. Expectations for this year should be for the team to grow and improve. The Sharks are at the starting point of a rebuilding process, with plenty of promise for the future.
Girls’ squad continues to rebuild
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Novemeber 2013
St. James High School 10/29/2013 7:46:43 AM