Consequences increase for students without IDs
By: Larie McMaster
Principal Jeff Seeton and the assistant principals (APs) are enforcing stricter penalties this semester for students not wearing their IDs.
All staff and students are required to wear an ID. For the past couple of weeks, administrators have been issuing lunch detentions to any student in the hallway without an ID on.
“The rule [of wearing IDs] was not enforced completely, but they were still there,” AP Jenifer Smith said. “I had [the same rules] even when I was a kid. At this school, they became a big rule around two years ago.”
The IDs are a huge problem at the school because students do not tend to follow the rules.
“Although I did not have IDs when I was younger, I strongly believe in this rule,” English teacher Stephen Beach said. “It’s for the best; even when you get a job after high school you will have to wear them.”
When students choose to ignore the rules, teachers and administrators have to
take away from instruction time in order to issue the necessary consequences.
“The rules are not my rules, they are our rules: Brewer High school rules,” Smith said. “It is frustrating when we don’t follow rules that are in place to help with the structure and safety of our campus.”
This rule was put in place to make sure that teachers have the right students, or if something goes wrong they can contact that student’s legal guardian.
“It’s about being able to uniformly see them in the halls,” Beach said. “Knowing where to look for an ID is a split decision that could save lives.”
Anyone could walk in the doors and they may not even attend the school; administrators just want everyone to be safe.
“Make sure your ID is visible and around your neck,” Smith said. “The only rule is to wear them, but that rule is rarely ever followed and it becomes aggravating when [the rules] aren’t followed.”
Changing Lives One Pal at a Time
By: Kalee Moran
There are many people in this world who feel like there is nobody there for them. They feel like it is them against the world. They believe that they have to fight every battle by themselves. However, there is a group of people, Pals, that are willing to stand and listen to those who feel alone.
PALs (Peer Assistant and Leadership) are juniors and seniors who were elected to help children or teenagers who have a troubled life. They talk to the kids about
what certain situations they are going through. They travel on Mondays and Wednesdays to see their kids at the schools in the White Settlement district.
“PALs is one of the most beautiful experiences a student can be a part of in High School. It is a unique, empathetic and compassionate program” PALs advisor, Jennifer Belisle, said.
In the beginning of the semester, Belisle goes through some training before the students go out to
visit their pals. The training includes a lot of profound conversations. She will read scenarios like a child being abused at home or a teenager hurting themselves. Then she will ask what your reaction/response is if that situation is presented during the visit with the kids.
“When you are in the PALs room, you know it is a safe place to tell your story. We lift each other up, support each other and truly believe in the goodness of every person,” Belisle said.
Many of the Pals members have shared their stories in the classroom. They talk about past situations that they have gone through in life. Sometimes it can be tough sharing because they are deep stories and the fear of being judged is present.
“PALs is a phenomenal program and helps many kids across the district who need a friend in life. The high school PALs walk through tough times and help to carry the burden of their little kids so they do not feel alone,” Belisle said There are certain expectations a PAL is supposed to have or learn before meeting a pal. Belisle mentions that there are two
main elements that a PAL should follow. It is incredibly important to follow because it is the base of communication with the kids or teenagers.
“Personally, I feel like trust and honesty is one of the leading factors of PALs. Open communication and trust are vital to the functionality of traveling around the district as well as being allowed to work with younger kids. If there is no trust, honesty or integrity within a PAL, it is my personal opinion that you should not be working with younger kids,” Belisle said.
The PALs program abide from the rules because they are incredibly important. Members always have to be careful on what they do outside of school. They not only have to be a good role model while they are meeting with their kids. They have to be smart about what they do outside of PALs.
“Watch what you do inside and outside of school. You need to have a clean/appropriate social media and respectable behavior. The kids look up to you so you have to be a good example,” second-year member, Jacie Vieck said.
Not only does Vieck explain the importance of following the rules of pals but also how the program has changed and benefited her.
“Pals has made me a better listener towards others, helping other people outside of yourself feels amazing,” Vieck said.
Some kids are so excited to see their PALs because they have created a special bond and connection.
“The daily job of a PAL is really a lifestyle, and the most crucial thing is for us to always stay kind to everyone because, in reality, we don’t know what people are going through,” first-year member, Arianna Mondragon said.
Mondragon mentions how she knows how effective the standards and rules have benefited her outside of the PAL’s program.
“Recently all of the PALs went to a conference in Austin, and there were hundreds of students from different schools all around Texas and it made us all realize how big this organization really is all around our state. PALs is offered around multiple schools as mentioned earlier,” Mondragon said
At the end of the day, the members have definitely accomplished so much by taking time of their days to help many kids/teenagers who are dealing with a lot at home.
“We’re an imperfect family trying our best to be friends to those who may be struggling emotionally. Your littles will mean the world to you, and it’ll be hard to say goodbye to them at the end of every visit, but just remember that the small victories are everything even if you only got a smile out of them,” first year member Jade Davis said.
Cheerleaders make history
By Kialani Siavii
The cheerleader’s competition season is officially over after participating in the UIL Spirit State Championship on Jan. 17. The competition was held at the Fort Worth Convention Center, where they competed against 77 other teams. For the first time in Brewer cheer history, the team made it to finals at a UIL competition. The team placed 12 in the qualifying round. They ended up placed ninth among the 20 teams that made it to the fi-
Brewer
By Robbie Hill
nals. The team made a goal at the beginning of the season to make it to finals at the competition.
“I believe that it is the best performance we have ever had.” Senior Kiley Benedict said.
The team practices every morning from 6 am to the start of the first period.
“The practices have been way more challenging this year.” Sophomore Isabella Love said.
The team brought in a UCA (Universal Cheer Associ-
Bear Plunge Slides By!
The district hosted its fourth Brewer Bear Plunge at Splashdayz Waterpark, a fundraiser for the education foundation
“It helps raise money for our school,” Student Council member Hailey Pope said. The proceeds made there help with the well-being of our school. The Plunge is
considered to be an entertaining and effective way to fundraise.
“I like how it gets the school involved,” Pope said. The Plunge is one of the biggest fundraisers for the district.
“It helps fundraise for kids who need an education,”
iation) staff member to choreograph the routine. They practice non-stop within a short amount of time to make sure that their routine is to the best of their abilities. In the weeks leading up to the big day, there are still changes and corrections being made to accommodate what the judges are looking for.
“It is upsetting that the season is ending but it has been a great experience.” Wheeler said.
American Sign Language Teacher Tonja Kesterson said.
They rank each school by attendance and hand out checks for the top three. The schools are: Brewer High School, first place; Brewer Middle School, second place; and West Elementary, third place. They ended the event with the high school earning a profit of $1922
See any suspicious activity lately?
By Jeslynn Huddleston
Ever see anything that looked suspicious? Well since the start of the second semester, there is a new tipline that will allow any student to scan a QR code to report anything from anything revolving around suicidal warnings to drugs to violence.
The tip-line provides an opportunity for anyone to report anonymously. Though you can give contact information, it can help to investigate tips more timely, but it is not required.
“Those tips go directly to our administration,” principal Jeff Seeton said, “They’ll go to myself and Dr. Duncan, over at the admin building, so we can disseminate them accordingly. It’s just another way for students to reach out and take some ownership in their campus.”
The full list of activity the QR reporting tool involves bullying, threats, weapons, drugs, alcohol or tobacco use, thoughts of suicide or self-harm, or any other type of suspicious behavior.
Honeycombs Shine Their Way Through Their First Competition
By Braylee Schlegel
The Brewer Honeycombs started off their competition season at the Crowd Pleasers Dance Showcase hosted at Burleson Centennial High School.
type of suspicious behavior.
“WSISD reviews its safety measures often, and we believe that the addition of a tip-line this year is vital to helping ensure the safety of our students and staff,”
Communications Director Desiree Coyles said, “Keeping our kids and employees safe is all of our responsibility, and we believe this helps our kids and the community to be a part of it.”
According to Seeton, if you see activity but do not know the students involved you can simply report a description and the administration will do the rest.
“People wonder, who is this going to go to, it’s going to come to me. Then I will disseminate it to who needs to know, “Seeton said, “obviously if we’re talking about vaping in the bathroom then it will go to the assistant principal but if we’re talking about suicide ideation or self-harm then it will go to the counselors and other folks I need to involve.”
“It was a beautiful facility, easy to maneuver through with a big team and a big cheering crowd, and ran very efficiently throughout the entire day.” Director Alesha Walpole said. “It was a great experience.”
For this being their first competition of the season, they ended the day with 25 team and officer awards, 18 Division 1 solos, and one senior solo semi-finalist. They brought five different team routines to competition as well as three officer routines.
The team routines ranged from dark and mysterious to funny and lighthearted.
“I love getting to portray each and every routine dif-
ferently with the team,” Captain Kayla Walpole said. They competed with a military routine, contemporary, pom, lyrical, and novelty. Military is an intense dance to “The Sound of War”. Contemporary is a darker dance and it’s to a cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. Their pom is an energetic routine to a remix of “Smooth Criminal”. Their lyrical routine is a hopeful dance to “The Sun is Rising”. And their final routine is a rendition of love-crazed girls chasing after boys and the song is “Call Me Maybe”.
“I loved each one of them [the routines] with my whole heart, and I am so, so proud when I watch my beautiful team bring each creative vision to life on that floor!” Alesha Walpole said.
The girls have been preparing for this competition for the entire season, and a lot goes into being ready for
the entire season, and a lot goes into being ready for an event like this.
“It definitely took many long, hard, and sweaty practices & too many bruises to even count,” Kayla Walpole said. “ Besides that, we had our amazing managers unboxing costume boxes, organizing everyone’s bags, and constantly checking on us to make sure we are 100% ready to go, as well as continuous support from all of the parents and our outstanding Booster Club.”
The Honeycombs had a large support system in the audience which consisted of friends and family members.
“I’m beyond proud of these girls and all of their hard work.” sophomore parent Holly Morris said. “The awards they won are a testament to how hard they worked all season.”
The next two competitions will be local. They will compete in their second regional competition in Mansfield with American Dance and Drill Team on Feb. 15. The second is at Weatherford High School and they will compete at the state level with Danceline USA Productions on Feb. 22. And their last competition is Nationals in San Antonio on March 28.
Brewer Honeycombs performing their lyrical routine to “The Sun is Rising” taken by Braylee Schlegel
New Coach New Era
By Madi James
This season is the start of a new era for the lady bears soccer team. Alyson Stallcup was the assistant coach last season when the varsity girls won three out of all the twenty-one games played. This year Stallcup got moved up to head coach and there is already a drastic change
“I used to be the JV coach before I became head coach,” Stallcup said. “It took awhile for the girls to buy-in and get used to the new rules.”
As the girls progress through the new season, this group of athletes will be doing new drills, harder workouts, and new field formations. The new changes will be a struggle and a lot of work, but the results will definitely be worth it, especially when facing difficult opponents.
Last season, the girl’s varsity team
had nine seniors and six of those girls started. Now with the coaching change and a completely different roster, the girls have higher expectations with bigger shoes to fill
In previous seasons, the Bear Cave tournament was rarely a win for these girls.
“Going into the tournament, I was not expecting us to win,” Varsity Player Kristen Daily said. “I thought we would have gotten second [as] we did in the past.”
At the tournament, the girl’s varsity team racked up some hard-fought wins and had a record of 3-0-1. In the final round, the varsity girls pushed through and beat Bowie High School in a shootout after a box score of 1-1, taking first place.
“Winning the tournament as head coach was a dream,” Stallcup said. “My girls were so happy and this definitely was a confidence booster for the team.”
Read full versions of all stories plus even more on the Ursa Major News website! QR code is located on pg. 8, or the website is ursamajor-news.com!
Another District Win
By Kevin Walker
This past Tuesdays basketball game at Grapevine against the Grapevine Mustangs ended in a victorious win for the Brewer Bears. Posting a winning score of 61-35 puts Coach Jason Porostovsky and the Bears at a 16-7 record mid way through the season, Porostovsky and last years District Champs are looking great. Ranking 3rd in the District at 4-2 and looking ready for the playoffs at any time Out scoring the Mustangs in almost every quarter, the Bears were able to record their seventh 60 point win this season. Scoring 26 points of his own was Senior Trey “Curtis” Moffett. He is having an outstanding season so far; averaging 15.1 PPG
(points per game). Moffett also leads the team in scoring with 347 points so far this season.
“I’ve really been in the gym 6 days a week every week for the past 3 years... just working and getting my mind set on my goal” Moffett said. “As of now I want to go to state, so I’m motivated to stay in the gym and work to get there. But in the long run it’s really because I love the game and I want to help my mom get out of the bad community I grew up in and just live a better life.”
“No season ever goes exactly as planned but I am pleased with our continued progression of getting better each practice and game.” Porostovsky says.“I know we can make a run, we have beaten several talented playoff teams this year which proves that we can compete with anyone.”
“I believe the whole basketball program breeds a championship mentality. The younger kids know they have some big shoes to fill, but they grind everyday so that when it’s their turn on varsity, they are ready to step up. And next year we will have 5-6 guys who’ve had experience playing at the varsity level. Plus, my JV guys practice with varsity so they are well aware of the hard work and dedication it takes to be on the varsity.” Allen also made it very clear that the younger generation is being taught well and right.
“The biggest thing for me to do as a JV coach is to make sure our kids are developing as a basketball player mentally and physically. I try to make sure my kids are becoming better players through skill acquisition and learn the nuances of the game and their basketball IQ increases. Practicing with varsity helps out tremendously, because it allows the JV to get coached by Coach P, Coach Burchfield and myself, so now they have 3 people constantly instilling the right things into them.” Allen said.
The Bears went on to defeat the Saginaw Rough RIders 51-37 on Brewer’s home court. This puts Brewer at 5-2 in district with an overall record of 17-7.
Photo taken by Cyndee Burchfield on Twitter @honeybphoto
Restrictions needed for texting and driving
By Caroline Thornburg
In 2017, Texas passed a law banning texting and driving. If they’re pulled over for it once the fine varies from $25 to $99, and the price goes up to $200 if one is caught again. It is great that Texas finally joined the other states in banning this activity, but how truly helpful are these restrictions? The penalties need to be much harder on those who offend this law. Putting pedestrians and other driver’s lives in danger isn’t worth just $25. Killing an innocent life just because someone needed to text their date about being late shouldn’t just be a year in jail. The penalty must be stronger if we want the numbers of crashes and deaths to go down.
11 teens die every day from texting and driving. Until Texas decides to put a bigger punishment on texting and driving, no one will take it seriously. In 2016, te-
First UIL Journalism Experience
By Erica Rodriguez
UIL, also known as University Interscholastic League, is an organization that organizes competitions for different categories, such as; math, science, and spelling. Various schools also participate in this event and those who place will receive an award like a medal or a ribbon to acknowledge their hard work.
got started on writing, all my nerves went away. I was so concentrated and ready to show what I know. As a result, I got 3rd place and received a medal.
xting and driving hit a spike due to Snapchat and Pokemon Go growing in popularity. There were 6,632 crashes caused by texting and driving in Texas alone; a 93% increase from 2014.
Texting and driving is six times more likely to cause a crash compared to drinking and driving. no matter how, texting can will delay a driver’s reaction time as much as someone with a .08% blood alcohol concentration. Texting and driving is more dangerous than drinking and driving, yet drinking and driving has a higher penalty with a possible $2,000 fine, up to 180 days in jail, and a driver’s license suspension up to a year; and this is for someone’s first conviction.
The low punishments are not going to solve this. If we want our streets to be safer, we need to start recognizing the impact.
Journalism was also one of the categories you can choose, which is the one I participated in. There are different parts that you can pick to compete in such as news writing, editorials, feature writing, headlines, and copy editing. You can do more than one if you want. Since this was my first time going to UIL for journalism, I was a little hesitant to do something else that is out of my comfort zone, so I only did news writing.
It was a very exciting experience because I got to use the skills that I have learned in journalism and newspaper. I was a little bit scared because I didn’t know what to-expect, but when I-
The only thing that I would complain about is how much you have to wait for your turn to compete. Sometimes it can take hours but at least you can wait with your friends and hang out in the meantime.
I loved how the judges provide comments that tell you what you should improve on. This helps me and other people to improve as a journalist. I received a lot of helpful remarks on my writing that I will for sure look over. This will get me more prepared for the next time I compete in news writing.
I rate this experience 4 out of 5 stars because I got to spend almost an entire day with my staff members and I learned a lot of new ideas that can help me with my future writing. I recommend going to UIL if you have a skill you want to show off because it is a very fun and rewarding experience.
Coffee that’s only a dollar?
By Larie McMaster
The Bear Cafe is our school coffee shop. They sell different flavored iced coffees like French Vanilla, Pumpkin, and Mocha, then Caramel. And if coffee isn’t your thing they have hot chocolate.
All of the coffees that they sell are iced and my personal favorite would be the pumpkin spice latte. Although, I prefer my pumpkin drinks hot. This one has a different story. If you are a mocha fan then this is your go-to drink. One of the best things about the Bear Cafe is that everything is only one single dollar. All the money goes towards the Life Skills Special Olympics. The Special Olympics in which the activities they do are bowling, tack, and field.
The Bear Cafe is truly the best thing this school has. I will continue to support the cafe and get some awesome coffee in the process. I would give the Bear Cafe a 4 out of five stars! I Will definitely go back and I have already started recommending it to people!
Influential Math Teacher Breaks The Norm
By Braylee Schlegel
There are certain teachers in a student’s high school career that will forever impact the way they hold themselves after high school. Vanessa Garza is of those teachers. She has been teaching for two years now, and in those two years, she has influenced so many students in a way they will never forget.
During Garza’s first year, she taught regular geometry. This year she teaches Pre-AP Pre Cal and Pre-AP Geometry. During-
this time, she had the ability to impact many students’ lives. She studied at Texas Women’s University with a major in math and a minor in education. She lives for teaching, and in her opinion, it comes with many benefits.
“I think my favorite thing is all of the relationships that I can make with students, co-workers, and even parents,” Garza said.
Garza constantly tries to include her students into her lesson, to get
them involved and to also make sure they are retaining the information.
“Mrs. Garza’s teaching style is far from ordinary, but she fills it with so much of her personality,” Freshman student Toni Ogidan said, “Some teachers teach like they’re speaking to a brick wall. Mrs. Garza teaches like she’s performing at Bass Hall. I just feel very involved!”
Garza absolutely adores all that the school has to offer.
“I like how there’s always something going on, there’s always an opportunity to go see people and students do what they love,” Garza said. Garza loves to cater to her students, from a learning standpoint. She makes sure that each student is able to learn in the way they see fit. She makes sure that her students understand before moving on with a lesson.
Cheerleaders: The spirit and heart of BHS
By Alexia Palacios
“When you say blue, we say white,” the BHS cheerleaders chant while hyping up the students during a pep rally. The cheerleaders are the heart and spirit of the BHS halls.
The Brewer High School cheerleaders are known for their unconditional support and spirit. Hours on top of hours of hard work are put
into cheer. Both varsity and junior varsity spend most of their time constantly working hard on cheer.
“We practice Monday through Friday from 6:45 a.m until 8:40 a.m,” Senior Varsity cheerleader, Anahy Castillo said.
JV and varsity are determined by grade levels. Freshman and sophomores automatically make JV,
“I love her teaching style. I have never had a math teacher that made me want to go to class,” Past Geometry student, Brooklin Schlegel said, “I was able to pass her class with a perfect grade almost all year. She adjusts her style to each class in order to make sure everyone understands the material.”
She is one of the three teachers that leads students in two different types of organizations.
“I am currently in charge of Math Club and Math UIL with Mrs. Nolan and Mrs. Hudson,” Garza said. She will continue to influence many different students in her career and continue to make her mark.
“She’s willing to let us grow, as long as it isn’t self-destructive. It’s like we’re rose bushes being carefully pruned instead of suffocated into a vile shape of her own design. We still grow into our own beautiful, unique, mathematical shape.” Ogidan said.
Honorable Mentions:
Brewer Culinary Arts Students’ get their healthy snack recipes featured in a cookbook
Brewer powerlifters earn mulptiple awards and ‘Outstanding Lifter’ at competition
Mulitple seniors sign to play at a higher level
Ursa Major News raises over $1000 dollars from Battle of the Bands fundraiser
FAA members take home many awards from the Fort Worth Stock Show Junior Poultry Show
Pre-Cal competition team earns third place in Pre-Calculus Division at Coyote Area Math Championship
juniors, and seniors make varsity.
“I think JV and Varsity should be determined by your skills and not your grade, but it’s understandable since Varsity has more responsibilities. For example, upperclassmen can drive and are more selfreliant than lowerclassmen” Sophmore JV cheerleaderSavannah Sampson said.
Football season keeps the cheerleaders on their toes! Varsity has football games to attend to every Friday night, and a pep rally every home game.JV, on the other hand, cheers every Thursday night and cheer on at a pep rally every home game.
“Home games are stressful for us JV girls. We cheer that Thursday night, get home to get ready for Fri-
day’s Rally,” Sampson said. They spend hours working hard to perfect their routines. They dedicate time to cheer, ”We have camp from 8 a.m to 4 p.m, sometimes even later”, said Sampson. The cheerleaders are a great source of grit at BHS, and will never stop showing their unconditional support and love for the school they represent.
Tips for Beating Student Burnout
By Gabby Vidana
Sometimes school and life can become so stressful that you just don’t know what to do anymore. This can lead to students experiencing a new level of stress called burn out. Burnout is characterized as a form of extreme mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion caused by intense prolonged stress. Some people may not even realize that they may be experiencing. Students affected by burnout may have symptoms such as lack of productivity, loss of motivation, constant exhaustion,
and losing interest in things that used to interest you. Even though it may seem like there is nothing that might help, here are some tips for coping with burnout.
Time management is one of the best ways to handle and to avoid burnout. Planning for the time that you will do work or study helps with preventing a heavy workload. Instead of rushing to do everything at once, try to get assignments done as soon as they get assigned. Or prioritize your assignments by their due date or
The Making of a Drum Major
By Braylee Schlegel
“I can go home and know that I contributed something real and feasible to better the band as a whole, and nothing is more rewarding than that.” Drum Major Matthew Bradley said.
The Brewer Band is led by Drum Majors Matthew Bradley, Jose Melendez, and Kameren Shoemaker. They are the line between the dir-
importance. If you can’t do it immediately try to plan to do it sometime when you aren’t working on other work before the due date, but not the night before. Taking breaks in between working can help with the constant exhaustion that burnout brings. Your brain can only handle going over so much information for so long and if you try to work for hours at a time with no break it will start to shut down. If you’ve been studying for 2 hours straight try to take a 15-minute break before you continue working. It may not seem like it, but 15 minutes can make a big difference.
“It has been a challenge, just like any time you take on a new challenge in life it takes adjustments and time to get used to, but in the end, I found a way to balance it all,” Bradley said.
Setting realistic goals can make the difference between getting your work done and getting next to nothing done. It is much easier to get two assignments done in one night than to get six done. Every day that you have homework set a goal for what you need to get done that night and stick to it. Getting a little done each night is better than having to do everything in one night. Not getting enough rest is one reason burnout starts so to avoid it rest whenever you can. Even though you may think that you can function on three hours of sleep you really shouldn’t try to test it. The average amount of sleep you should be getting is sev-
equipment we need for practice, keeping the band in check, and conducting, the most important of all is being the example for the rest of the band to follow,” Bradley said.
en to eight hours of sleep. You can’t expect to only get three hours of sleep each night and not eventually become exhausted. As soon as you finish your work or any time you are caught up on assignments try to get some rest afterwards. Your health and well-being will always come first.
Life and school are always going to make everyone stressed out every once in a while. There are going to be times where you feel like you have hit rock bottom and you just do not have to motivation to do anything about it. In those times try to use some of these tips to pull yourself back up and to beat burnout.
but the expectations never change. “ Bradley said. “You’re still expected to be the example in academics, musicianship, leadership, and service, no matter the season.”
ector and the band. Their job is to keep the structure together as well as keep the band on the same tempo by conducting. Bradley is the Head Drum Major and he is followed by Melendez and Shoemaker.
This position comes with many responsibilities, and sometimes it is difficult to balance everything.
The audition process to be granted this position is hard, it consists of teaching, conducting in front of the directors, etc. They are held to very high expectations since everyone’s eyes are always on them.
“I really like the expectations because I see them as a challenge to do better,” Shoemaker said.
Alongside the expectations, there are many different responsibilities that are attached to the position.
“I couldn’t name all of them, but among taking role, accounting for the
The band members look to them as leaders, always looking to them for advice.
During the school year, the band goes from marching season to concert season. It’s a different dynamic, and the roles can change.
“In actual responsibilities, there’s less overall for you to take care of, and so certainly the responsibilities change, but the expectations never change. “ Bradley said. “You’re still expected to be the example in academics, musicianship, leadership, and service, no matter the season.”
There are challenges that they have to face when in this leadership position
“The most challenging part of being a drum major is making sure that the band doesn’t lose their focus,” Shoemaker said.
Although these challenges occur every day, they always find positive experiences.
“There is not one single thing I like about being a drum major, it’s everything,” Shoemaker said.
Only they know what happens, but they will keep leading the band to sucess.
Feaure & Opinion
How to make your College Selection
By Aimee Monnett
In High school, one of the hardest decisions we have to make as a youth is to decide what career we want to pursue and what we want to pursue it. The foundation of this choice is what college you will select. How do you make such a weighted decision?
There are many different categories in which a college may fall under. Community, public, private, two or four years, etc. To make this choice, it is best to know the benefits of each category and go from there.
A community college is a “junior college” that offers courses within a community. Statistically, those who begin at a community college and transfer to a university afterwards are generally more successful. The benefits of community college are lower costing tuition, the ability to improve your transcript, lower cost of living (due to lower tuition), and more support than a regular university.
gree, Master’s Degree, and may also offer Doctorate programs.
Another thing to consider when applying to colleges is scholarships. It is important to keep in mind what scholarships are offered and what scholarships you might be able to pursue. Furthermore, it is essential to keep in mind what financial aid the school might offer to minimize debt as much as possible.
A public university is a school supported by public funds. They collect federal and state funds, allowing for cheaper tuition prices than most private schools. Furthermore, public schools usually have a much higher rate of acceptance than private schools.
A private university is a university that sets its own policies and regulations and is privately funded. The benefits of private schooling include more one-on-one time with professors, shorter completion of schooling (on average), additional extracurriculars which may not be offered by community or public colleges, and the creation of more scholarship programs.
A two year school is a school that offers specialized courses. Two year schools generally offer an Associates Degree.
A four year school is one that investigates areas of learning more extensively, and offers a Bachelor’s De-
February Horoscopes: Valentines Day Gifts:
By Jeslynn Huddleston
Aries: A cute picture frame that someone got for half price from a garage sale
Taurus : Their favorite scent in a nice big candle
Gemini: A lovely evening with great friends (try not to get arrested this time)
Cancer: A soft teddy bear named Charles
Leo: 12 red roses
Ursa Major News Staff
Advisor: Stacy Manross
Editor in Chief: Braylee Schlegel
Managing Editor: Gabby
Vidana
Debt becomes more expensive over time due to interest. For example, if you went to TTU (Texas Tech University) for 4 years, you’d pay $34,900 before interest. The average student loan interest rate is 8-10 percent. For this example, we’ll go with the average annual household income in Texas: $60,629. This would work out to roughly $1,263.10 per week or $2,526.20 bi-weekly..It is also important to remember that this price does not include the price of supplies, books, or dorm fees. When you choose a college, keep in mind not only which one you want to go to but also which one you should go to- whether that be concerned with academics or budget.
Finally, there is the school’s programs to consider when selecting your college. You want to select an academy best suited to your career choice. Overall, do your research and work hard in high school. It will be worth it.
Virgo: One of those instagram crates filled with all their favorite things
Libra: 1 heart-shaped box of chocolate
Scorpio : A rather large bag of spicy chips
Sagittarius: Fuzzy socks with tiny cats on them
Capricorn: Fancy bath bombs
Aquarius: A handshake?
Pieces: A gift card to a fast food restaurant
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Sports Editor: Kevin Walker
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Peyton T. Pottker
Erica Rodriguez
Kalee Moran
Caroline Thornburg
Kialani Siavii
Robbie Hill
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Arita Qerimi
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