the
Volume 3, Issue 5 April 6, 2021
ROCKET PRESS Your School. Your Magazine.
Winter Sports Recap pg. 4 The Shutdown : One Year Later pg. 9 What teacher are you? pg. 17
Express Yourself!
CONTENTS
NEWS COVER 4-ROCKET WRESTLING FINISHES SEVENTH AT STATE
10- EXPRESS YOURSELF
4-BOYS BASKETBALL BACK TO STATE
OPINION
12-WHAT’S IN STYLE?
5-INDUSTRIAL TECH BUILDING 14-FRESHMAN TO SENIOR: THOMAS SMITH LOOKS BACK PROGRESSING
FEATURES
15-BODY IMAGE
6-SOMETHIN’ ABOUT A TRUCK: SAM HENSLEY REBUILT HIS BRONCO 8-ONE YEAR LATER: MEMORIES FROM THE SHUTDOWN
CONTENTS--2
6
YOUR SCHOOL. YOUR MAGAZINE. ENTERTAINMENT 16- GOOD MORNING....ROSE HILL! 17-WHICH TEACHER ARE YOU?
PHOTOS 18- ROCKET LIFE
4
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
rocketpd17
ASSISTANT EDITOR
RocketPd17
REPORTERS
Rocket Productions
STAFF
LYDIA KIMBLE
SYDNEY LAKOUS
SAM LARSON JESSA LEE LINDSEY ESSLINGER KIRSTEN-ANN SMITH THOMAS SMITH KENDRA HOUSER
COVER DESIGN AND LAYOUT
LYDIA KIMBLE AND MR. BROWNING
The Rocket Press is the official news magazine of Rose Hill High School that is published six times a year. The Rocket Press is a student publication, written and produced by students. Opinions expressed in The Rocket Press are of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USD 394 Board of Education, the administration, the faculty or the adviser.
CONTENTS--3
ROCKET WRESTLING FINISHES SEVENTH AT STATE By Kendra Houser, Reporter
On February 27, the Rose Hill High School’s wrestling team went to state and came back 7th place as a whole. It's been fifteen years since Rose Hill has made it this far. Braden Tatum, a Sophomore at RHHS, came in second in the tournament. He lost to a wrestler who he’s competed with back and forth multiple times. Tommy Rogers, who is a senior at Rose Hill High School, came in third place. Saferite said he is impressed with his wrestlers since he didn’t know what to expect as a first year coach at Rose Hill High School. “This is my first year being at Rose Hill, so I didn't really know what to expect, and I'm sure a lot of the wrestlers didn't really know what to expect, but overall. They bought into
what we were trying to do and what we were trying to accomplish,” said Saferite. Saferite said he is proud of his wrestlers for adapting to his ideals as a new coach.
“I started coaching in 2008 over at Andover Central High School, so I was there for a long time, and with this being my first year here. It's been fun and the kids let me in and they kind of started buying into what I believe in,” said Saferite. Saferite said there’s always room for improvement on the team. “We’re always looking to improve on anything, whoever it is, whatever match it is, we’re always looking to improve,” said Saferite. “If you're happy with where you are, then you kind of get left in the dust.”
BOYS BASKETBALL BACK TO STATE
By Jessa Lee, Reporter This year, the Rocket Boys Basketball Team proved that they were a force to be reckoned with. After facing many tough teams, they ended the season with a record of 15-6 and a trip to the 4A Tournament. Josh Shirley, the head coach of the RHHS Boys Basketball Team, had positive things to say about the team’s performance this season. “This year's season was definitely a memorable one, having to play through several different COVID precautions and still being able to play 21 games on the year is nothing short of amazing,” Shirley said. “I am definitely proud of the team and how they responded to having to play in this environment.” Shirley said the team made several
NEWS--4
accomplishments this season.
“It is the first time in my six year tenure as head coach that freshmen, JV, and Varsity all finished with a winning record,” Shirley said. “Our varsity won the AVCTL for the first time since 2010 and we made back to back state appearances for the first time since 1993.” These accomplishments were a great victory for this Rocket basketball team, and they did not go unnoticed. Although Shirley says they did have some “rough patches” early in the season, he talked about the different ways his team has improved this year. “We ended up winning nine in a row and did not lose a game on the varsity level in February,” said Shirley. “Once we learned the strengths of our teammates and began trusting each other, our potential started to be reached.”
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY BUILDING PROGRESSING
By Sydney LaKous, Assistant Editor
The date for the new building for the shop class at Rose Hill High School has been pushed back. Ryan Hill, the shop teacher, said he does not mind the delay. “I am not bothered by the delay,” said Hill. “I understand that is a possibility whenever you start a construction process.” The date should only be pushed back by about a month, so in the meantime, Hill says the class will go over the basics. “We were hoping to get in the building by the start of the school year, but because of some setbacks with moving utilities and weather, now we are looking at being able to occupy the building after Labor Day,” said Hill. “We will be Ryan Hill and the Industrial Technology program able to start our safety procedures and other will be moving into a new building next September. course work in the classroom while the building The initial date was supposed to be August. Photo by goes through its final checks.” Sydney LaKous Hill said there are many benefits to getting access to this new building, specifically the storage and space. “Last year we bought a new machine, but decided to wait on the new building to install it because of the wiring requirements,” said Hill. “The machine is a resaw bandsaw so we can get thicker, more raw material and cut it down to specifics in order to save money on material.” Once Hill moves his current classroom to his current shop and his current shop to the new Butler building, Rocket Productions will take over Hill’s current classroom. There is a portable wall that will come down during the summer.
NEWS--5
SOMETHIN’ ABOUT A TRUCK: SAM HENSLEY REBUILT HIS BRONCO
By Thomas Smith, Reporter
On the most recent topic of students with hidden gifts and hobbies, Sam Hensley had not long ago finished working on a major project that made an impact on his interests and who he wants to be in the future. Hensley first saw interest in building cars when he noticed a Bronco at an early age. “When I was in sixth grade, I was at the lake and I saw a Bronco and it was lifted and it looked really cool and so from then on I always wanted a Bronco,” said Hensley. From there he knew what he wanted to do. When he got started he really enjoyed working on his Bronco and that’s when he found his new passion. Given the fact that it isn’t easy to simply build a car, it was a challenge for Hensley to get the parts needed for his Bronco. It took effort and time to do such a large project. When looking for a Bronco it was tough.
When building his Bronco, it took Hensley about four years with breaks between them before he finally finished. “We would spend months working on it and then do other things and spend months working on it, but it took overall four years,” said Hensley. He took this as a possible career interest out of his enjoyment of working on his car and he hopes that this becomes something bigger for his personal goals. “I’ve thought about getting a main job when I’m older and then also building cars on the side,” said Hensley. Given this career opportunity and this new found passion of building cars and working on them, Hensley looks forward to what he has. The hard work and dedication Hensley went through is very well shown through the car that he has built, so after finishing this long term project, Hensley quickly started working on another vehicle and plans to make it a part of his future.
“Clearly buying a 5 thousand dollar car was out of price range, so we bought a really cheap Bronco and then just built it It can easily be shown that this is only up to where I wanted,” said Hensley. the beginning for Hensley and his amazing talents. Going with the much more affordable option, Hensley bought a cheap Bronco and customized it to where he has it today.
FEATURES--6
BEFORE
AFTER
FEATURES--7
ONE ONE YEAR YEAR LATER: LATER:
MEMORIES FROM THE SHUTDOWN By Lindsey Esslinger, Reporter
March 12, 2021 marked one year from the state of Kansas going online for the rest of the school year. Last year, COVID-19 started in different countries, and many people debated when it would reach the United States.
The seniors from last year remember having to do their graduation in their car. They would drive around and leave the car to walk across the stage to get their diploma, and then get back into their car.
Many of the students remember going to the last State game for boys basketball, or going to the last Pep Band performance. Some remember their favorite artists releasing their albums, like Lil Uzi’s album Eternal Atake.
There was also the time when everyone had to get their stuff from lockers, and turn in their textbooks.
There was also a play that was supposed to happen, and many RHHS students remember going to their last sports practices, and discussing what they would do if they had to go online. Olivia Schneweis talked about one of her last memories before the shutdown. “I remember getting first place at the forensics tournament for IDA,” said Schneweis. FEATURES--8
Many people in soccer were debating whether or not they would be able to have a season that year, but that ended up not being possible. After the school decided to go online, many other places shut down along with it. There were shortages of products such as toilet paper and cleaning supplies. People were panicking because everyone thought that they would be stuck at home, and nobody knew how long.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING... “We made it to the state tournament and we won the first round. We were all excited it was great energy in the locker room and on the bus ride home. Once we got home we saw KSHSAA canceled the state tournament, and were all pretty upset about what happened.”
“Last year I just remember at the end of spring break we were getting an extra week of break. At first I was pretty excited, but when they made the call that school was remote, and not sports. It was quite devastating.”
-Sophomore, Kellan Simoneau
-Junior, Jenna McCulloch
“So many uncertainties like where the district was heading, and what were other districts doing. Then with the governor shutting things down. It did take me personally about 2-3 weeks that it was shut down, and track was over.” -Social Studies teacher Brandon Barger “It made me sad and I was very disappointed, because we were gonna do the best play ever. The play was going to be mill over buffalo it was a comedy. But we ended up being able to do it over the summer, so that was one thing I was excited for.” -Sophomore, Olivia Schneweis
“Whenever we stopped going to school, I thought was pretty fun, but later I did not I got bored really fast, and a lot of the sports things stopped happening so that was not fun at all.” -Junior, Cade Evans
FEATURES--9
EXPRESS YOUR SELF
By Sydney LaKous, Assistant Editor
At Rose Hill High School, students are expressing themselves more than ever through tattoos and piercings. Spencer Nolan, a senior at RHHS, has three tattoos. One of them matches with the rest of his family. “My entire family was getting it and so we were all gonna match,” Nolan said. “My entire family has been through a lot so us getting that tattoo just brings us closer together.” Nolan’s inspiration for that tattoo came from his family’s beliefs and priorities. “One night we were thinking about it and, Jesus, we praise Him through everything we do and so we knew we wanted the cross involved,” said Nolan. “We put the roots at the bottom of it because that's kind of like a family tree so kind of like the roots of our family. And then the family over everything banner is what we’ve always said so that just goes around it and ties it all together.”
my other ankle and lip one. The wave on my ankle was just a fun summer one for the lake.” Murray said tattoos should have a meaning to yourself, even if no one else understands it. “I think they should mean something to you, whether they mean something important or they just mean that you wanted to have a good time,” said Murray. “They're on your body so they don't have to make sense to anyone but you.” On the other hand, Nolan thinks every tattoo you get should have a significant meaning in your life. “I think every single tattoo you get should definitely have a meaning. On my body I'll never just put art on it, but it's permanent, so if you're gonna get something permanent, it should definitely have a meaning that you should carry deep in your life.” Piercings are another way students are expressing themselves.
Haley Murray, a junior at Rose Hill High School, has six tattoos. Her mom was the Jayan Cravens is a junior at RHHS. She inspiration for many of them. has 12 piercings. “The one behind my ear is supposed to be a mom and daughter dancing; my mom has it on her arm. The one on my ankle is for my hometown as a remembrance,” said Murray. “The one on my finger was just for fun as well as
COVER--10
“They looked cool and it makes me feel more individual,” said Cravens. Cravens says her parents don’t mind the piercings, and she plans on getting more in the future.
Haley Murray
Spencer Nolan
Jayan Cravens
COVER--11
WHAT’S IN STYLE? By Sam Larson, Reporter
Over the years, fashion has changed and continues to change. Every year has something newer and different than the previous year before. Even though fashion is always alternating and developing, some students don’t buy into the ever growing industry, but instead stick with traditional wear, while others stick with the modern trend. Many kids and young adults wear modern fashion all around the country and world. Modern fashion contains simplistic designs on shirts and hoodies, ranging from a dark black to a variety of bright colors with ‘easy on the eye’ shapes. Modern fashion isn’t just a fad, but a way to express one's self and emotion. People can wear clothes with designs that could say something about their personality. If a person met someone wearing a pair of jeans and a polo, you can’t fully understand their full picture.
picture for that individual.
But not everyone wears modern day fashion, as students are in Rose Hill, Kansas. Some prefer to wear more of a cowboy or cowgirl style. You can walk through one passing period and see at least 5 people in steel toe boots or long ripped jeans. Junior Alayna Tagtow said she has more of a traditional style. “It isn’t very unique. It’s usually just jeans and a t-shirt or a sweatshirt. It's just a laid back style I've been wearing since kindergarten,” said Tagtow. Tagtow said she would much rather blend in than stick out.
Fashion is an ever-continuous industry, but not fully in Rose Hill. In a world that seems to be always speeding up, some students remain to take it slow, and express themselves through styles of the past, while others express If a person meets someone with themselves through styles of black sweatpants and a multi-color today. tee, you can make up more of a COVER--12
Rylie Baker
Spencer Nolan
Jack Hensley
Hayden Swope COVER--13
FRESHMAN TO SENIOR: THOMAS SMITH LOOKS BACK
By Thomas Smith, Reporter Whenever you see me in the halls, you can look at me and see that really and truly I never changed--same clothes, same 14-yearold backpack, and same face.
Though I might have not changed much when you see me, in the past four years I have grown more than many realize. The beginning of my freshman year I was going to a totally different school with different students all around me when previously I was going to Haysville schools. I was in a very new environment.
This year, my senior and my final year, everyone has supported each other through this pandemic and helped each other out. In August, I turned 18 and was ready to vote. To present day, I continue to think and remember how much I truly changed and how much all my friends changed as well. I can definitely say that we all have grown in many ways and we will continue to grow as we face the future.
In the classes I was in, I was normally the quiet kid and kept to myself, trying to avoid being called by the teacher. Not a lot of people knew me that year and I had very few friends, which at the time I was perfectly fine with. Everyone has a class that they really enjoy and find themselves in and mine was during my sophomore year when I joined one of the random classes that Mr. Browning taught. It was listed as Audio Video Production Fundamentals, also known as Fake News. Joining that class, I never knew what I was in for. That class led me to be where I am today. The second semester of that class I also joined Video Productions, which is Channel 7 News. The people within those classes have pushed me to get out of my comfort zone and it allowed me to grow as a person. In the beginning of the pandemic, everyone wasn’t really sure on what to do and we didn’t have a full understanding of the virus. We stayed home for the rest of the year and regardless of how bad the situation was my teachers assured me and the other students and planned on doing online classes.
OPINION--14
Freshman year Senior year
BODY
By Lydia Kimble, Editor-In-Chief
According to dosomething.org, “Approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting to achieve their ideal body shape. Unfortunately, only 5% of women naturally possess the body type often portrayed by Americans in the media.” This tells a lot about how women view themselves and their bodies. At a very young age, I remember the first time someone told me I looked different than other girls in my grade. They said I had more fat on me than other girls, or that I was just ‘too heavy to like’.
IMAGE things to you. So it can almost put you in a place of shock. For several women I know, they have their own story, even with their own insecurities. Society has made it even harder as you get older, because now you can see other women that have certain things you do not. I sometimes even wish I had what other girls have. Society will push and pull you, until you reach the standards or they break you. They never say the standard out loud, but we all know that they exist.
For a very long time, it would be one of the first things that came to my mind when I would meet people. Still to this day, that’s the first thought I have when I walk in a room, or while trying clothes on.
These standards have changed several times and they never will stop changing. With the expectations of the world, it often feels like you will never reach these beauty standards.
It is funny to me how sometimes the things said to us as children can be the words that cut the deepest and affect you through the rest of your life.
The simplicity of it all is that there is too much pressure sometimes placed on young girls. Trying to live up to how they see themselves in the world, and how men and other women can perceive them.
When you are younger, you tend to be more naive, and I hope your parents would never say those
OPINION--15
G
D MORNING ROSE HILL!
Students of RHHS share their morning routines Aislin Burnison, senior wakes up in a rush:
-I set my alarm for around 6:30- 6:45 ish -But I snooze till about 7:00
-Then I have to go wake my brother up for school -I pick out my clothes, get dressed, and do my hair -Then grab my backpack and double check for my computer -I try to grab something to eat before I leave around 7:20 ish -It takes me about 10 minutes to get the school, along with dropping off my brother.
Jessica Wilson, junior takes her time in the mornings: -I wake up before 6:30 every morning -I get dressed right away, and get ready -I do most things the night before, like pack my backpack -Then I eat breakfast, before I leave -I have at leave half an hour to relax, before I leave -Those 30 minutes before I leave, I enjoy to have them for my self Then I leave around 7:25
ENTERTAINMENT--16
WHICH TEACHER ARE YOU? What motivates you? A) To instill learning in students B) Meeting all the state standards in one year C) Getting to see my students succeed D) getting to reveal something new What is there favorite snack? A) Gardettos B) Pre-Workout C) Bread D) Snickers
Favorite genre of music A) 80’s music B) Rap C) Country D) Ambient A)
Mrs. Holland
B)
Mr. Penner
What is your biggest strength as a teacher? A) Showing students they can try and succeed even in hard subject B) I can bench around 200 pounds C) Making connections D) teaching math still excites me after 30 years What is there favorite hobby? A) Logic Puzzles B) Disc Golf C) Golfing D) Hiking and riding bikes C)
Mrs. Rettinger
D)
Mr. Cole
ENTERTAINMENT--17
ROCKET
The Rocket boys basketball team defeated Clearwater to advance to the 4A Tournament.
Mr. Treat’s Entrepreneurship class sells desserts at lunch. PHOTOS--18
Senior Tommy Rogers took third at the 4A Wrestling Tournament.
LIFE Homecoming Queen and King, Riley Larson and Colby Heinz.
Senior Riley Lane and Bobblehead Browning win Queen of Green.
Sophomore Teagan Cobb and junior Kale Kochick win the King of Hearts. PHOTOS--19
COVER--20