the
Volume 2, Issue 3 December 17th, 2019
ROCKET PRESS Your School. Your Magazine.
new report on school shootings PAGE 10 STEEL MAGNOLIAS a Hit for rhhs PAGE 12 two wrestlers highly-ranked PAGE 14
IS TIK TOK #For You? the scoop on tik tok PAGE 6 ONE RHHS STUDENT HAS BECOME “TIK TOK FAMOUS” PAGE 8
CONTENTS NEWS 4-ROBOTICS advances to first ever regional 4-marching band takes second at arkalalah 5-voters elect four school board members
COVER 6-#for you
4
8-the bright lights of tik tok
OPINION
10 (Cont. on 17)-warning signs 11-Nothing Temporary about suicide
5 4 CONTENTS--2
Voters turn out to elect four candidates to the school board
Your School. Your Magazine. ENTERTAINMENT 12-STEEL MAGNOLIAS a success 13-ford vs. ferrari review
SPORTS 14-run, freshman, run 16-two wrestlers ranked no. 1 17-rocket BRIEFs
PHOTOS 18-rocket life
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
STAFF
LYDIA KIMBLE
ASSISTANT Editor CHARLEE CONROY FAITH EXLEY
STAFF WRITERS
ETHAN WOODROME SYDNEY LAKOUS TAEGAN BELCHER SARAH KELLOGG SAM LARSON KIRSTEN-ANN SMITH Cover Design and layout
LYDIA KIMBLE AND MR. BROWNING
14 Kyrsten Lucent runs at the El Dorado Regional, where she took first and broke the school record.
rocketpd17 RocketPd17 Rocket Productions
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
Marching band takes second at Arkalalah By Kirsten-Ann Smith, Reporter
Rose Hill High School Rocket Band recently placed second at Ark City’s Arkalalah competition, which was held October 26, in Ark City Their finish this season was a significant improvement from last season. “We received second place, only getting fewer points than Ponca City High School (in Oklahoma),” said Todd Shults, band teacher at Rose Hill High School. “We also won first in our classification of 4A Schools.” “Arkalalah is a good competition to go to because while it is competitive, it is also entertaining,” said Audrey Stanton a junior at Rose Hill. “It has always been my favorite competition of the year because of the glow show,” Stanton
said. “It is just a nice competition to go to and have fun.” “It was a bittersweet performance for myself and my fellow seniors,” said Michael Paddock a senior at Rose Hill who plays the baritone. “Arkalalah, was very fun and I thought we did really well,” Paddock said. “It is also sad because that was our last performance for us seniors. I am going to miss playing.” Not only did the band perform well at Arkalalah, but they also received high rating at competitions at Andover and Emporia. The Marching Band portion of the season is now over and up next is Pep Band, which will take place during basketball season.
Robotics advances to first ever regional
By Sarah Kellogg, Reporter
For the first time in the program’s history, the Rose Hill High School Robotics program is going to regionals.
up wire, taking these little pieces called transformers and hanging them with some other things.”
“I am so excited, this is the first time that we have gone to regionals,” sponsor Lee Ann Youse said.
The 12 students going to regionals are: Colton Morgan, Ethan Mann, Anna Cook, Micheal Paddock, Aiden Kiefer, Caleb Gregg, Draven Ramsey, Ella Nelson, Emma Lunsford, James Bauer, Kaden Achatz, and Kendrick Holland.
In their previous competition, their robot named Live Wire, went a solid eight rounds without any difficulty. But stumbled a bit throughout the ninth round. “We took this one apart and painted it to get it ready, and then drive,” Youse said. “The main thing is to practice this robot to drive and go nine rounds without having any trouble.” “The game was after a natural disaster putting up electrical lines, and getting electricity back to the houses. We are putting NEWS--4
“Yes, I am very excited to advance to regionals,” Ethan Mann said. “This is the first time in 21 years that we have ever gone to regionals.” “This is one of the very few times we have had a robot capable of doing it (operating) by itself, and a great experience for team building.”
Voters elect four school board members By Taegan Belcher, Reporter
On Tuesday, November 5, four people were elected on to the school board. Three people, including Tim Hottovy, Alyson Taylor-Smith, and Christy Streeter, were re-elected to the school board. Jennifer Jackson is the fourth person, and she is new to the board. Jackson will not officially start her position on the board until January, since she is newly elected. She has to further learn about her responsibilities that come with being a board member.
students. “I believe strongly in the mission of Butler, which is to contribute to the vitalities of the communities that we serve,” Streeter said. “So those things are really intrinsic in my own values as well, and carries over to my values as a mom.” Taylor-Smith’s son and nephew both attend Rose Hill schools and she believes people should be involved and active in public education in order to have quality education system. “The safety of the children in schools can continue to be improved,” Taylor-Smith said. “A goal that the board had was the bond issue (which included safety measures) and now we are seeing the benefits of it.”
“First of all I have a lot to learn. I have never been a school board member before and so I do not really understand or know much about the responsibilities,” said Jackson. “As a representative of the school board my goal is to support the Rose Hill staff and administration, to improve the education for Rose Hill students.” Tim Hottovy, who had already been on the board, said it means a lot to be on the board because he has such respect for the people who work in the district. “I think the administration, the teachers, the faculty, the staff, are all fantastic,” Hottovy said. “We have a great group of people and I think the use of technology and the continued improvements that we are making throughout the district is very encouraging and it is a great way to send kids off into the real world.” Christy Streeter, who is an employee of Butler Community College, has already been on the board. She said that one of the main reasons for her re-election was because of her desire to provide opportunities for all kinds of
Photo by Lydia Kimble NEWS--5
#For You
Tik Tok has nearly 500 million users worldwide By Faith Exley, Assistant Editor
have the more publicly you will have.
According to BuisnessOfApps, Tik Tok is the third ranked trend of the world as of November of 2019. It has been in the global top four since June of 2019. It is one of the fastest growing media platforms in the world.
According to BusinessOfApps, Tik Tok was the most downloaded free iOS social media app over the first half of 2019. As of late September 2019, it also became the mostdownloaded free app on the Apple App Store in the US, and also ranked first on Google Play since October.
How did Tik Tok come about you ask? According to Esquire, Tik Tok's history begins in 2014 with an app called Musical.ly, which was an app launched by two Chinese entrepreneurs, Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang. It was created as a simple lip-syncing video platform, but quickly grew to a worth of $1 billion. At the time, ByteDance already owned a version of Tik Tok and following the acquisition, merged it with Musical. ly, creating a more complete lip-syncing platform. It added all kinds of new features appealing mostly to Gen Z and Millennials. Esquire also said when the two were merged it was seen as a way for the Chinese app to enter the US market because Musical.ly was already boasting a considerable American audience. Tik Tok was created by the company, ByteDance located in Beijing, China. ByteDance is owned by entrepreneur, Yiming Zhang. It was launched by this company in August of 2017 for markets outside of China. Tik Tok is an IOS and Android media app used for creating, watching, and sharing short, 15 to 60 second videos soundtracked with music. From comedy skits, dancing, lip syncing, adding filters, and using stickers. All of these things to just to gain likes, comments, and followers. The more views and followers you COVER--6
“I think that their are so many other outlets for creativity,” said junior Abigail Diaz. “And yes, people can be creative on it but it is the same thing over and over, and sooner or later it goes away and then there is no use for it.” According to Esquire, Tik Tok currently has more downloads than YouTube and Twitter and is worth more than $75 billion dollars. Tik Tok described that it is appealed to as the following: “to capture and present the world’s creativity, knowledge, and precious life moments, directly from the mobile phone. Tik Tok enables everyone to be a creator, and encourages users to share their passion and creative expression through their videos.”
Top 3 Tik Tok Videos of 2019 1. Dance MonkeyTones and I “The Kids are Coming” 2. Panini Lil NasX “7 EP” 3. LalalaY2K, bbno$ “Lalala”
“I like tik tok because it’s funny and it keeps me busy”-Emily Swearingen, Freshman.
“It’s a good time killer, but other than that it’s good for nothing” -Lucy Lunsford, Senior
WHAT ARE THEY SAYING.... ABOUT TIK TOK? “it’s a fun way for kids to express themselves” -Lauren Wacker, Senior
“The dances they do, and how they get blown up is kind of a dumb reason” -Calista Willig, Senior
COVER--7
COVER--8
The bright lights of Tik Tok Senior Koby Campbell is trending with his videos
By Sydney LaKous, Reporter
According to CNN, Tik Tok has become one of the world’s most popular video-sharing platforms. It was the third most downloaded app worldwide for the first three months of 2019. It has approximately one billion users that are active per month. Rose Hill High School senior Koby Campbell is one of those active users. He has 9,871
followers and over 508 thousand likes overall. The first upload on his page is from June 30 and this video has 9,747 likes and over 48,000 views. “I thought it was dumb and stupid,” Campbell said. “One of my friends was actually doing Tik Tok and just made dumb videos, and I was making fun of her for it. Then, she told me I should try it, and I said ‘I’m not trying this dumb Tik Tok app. Finally, I downloaded Tik Tok and tried it, but I made them private at first so I could only see it. Then I just tried to make some to see if other people would like it.” Over time he started posting them publicly, and people started liking them, so he continued to post publicly. “All of a sudden, one just blew up,” Campbell said. The term “famous” is a pretty flexible one that can have a different meaning depending on the person defining it. Campbell said that although he has a following, he would not necessarily consider himself famous on the app. “I would not consider myself Tik Tok famous,” Campbell said. “There’s a lot of people out there that are way more famous than me, but I guess in our little circle, I would kind of be considered Tik Tok famous.” Often times, people who make content online are made fun of, but Campbell said he expects it and thinks it is all in good fun. “I hope people see my Tik Toks and I expect to be made fun of some times for it,” Campbell said, “That’s one hundred percent okay with me because it’s all in the fun of it.” COVER--9
warning signs Secret Service releases study on school shootings By Charlee Conroy, Assistant Editor The Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center recently released a study about school shootings, and how the attackers showed warning signs before their violent actions. Many of these attacks happened by students who were severely bullied and showed disciplinary issues that were not reported. The Secret Service Center was formed to study mass attacks. This center focuses on studying signs and patterns that could lead to violent actions to help people prevent these mass attacks from happening. The report by the Secret Service researched 41 schools that were attacked between 2008 through 2017. In the study, the researchers found that many of the attacks were imitations of previous school shootings. This included Columbine High School, Virginia Tech University, Sandy Hook Elementary School, and more. “These are not sudden, impulsive acts where a student suddenly gets disgruntled,” Lina Alathari, the Center’s Head, said in an article by the Associated Press. “The majority of these incidents are preventable.” The research focused on school attacks that were committed by a current or recent former student within a year and at least one student was killed in the attack. There have also been attacks on schools by non-students and these were not included in the research. continued on page 17 OPINION--10
NO. 1 christmas songs of the rocket press
1) “Mary Did you know?” pentatonix--Lydia Kimble 2) “little drummer boy” justin Bieber--Faith Exley 3) “let it be christmas” alan jackson--ethan woodrome 4) “it’s the most wonderful time of year” andy williams--sydney lakous 5) “last christmas” wham!--taegan belcher 6) “santa tell me” Ariana grande--kirsten-ann smith
nothing temporary about suicide By Faith Exley, Assistant Editor Never let the temporary become permanent, because suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary problem. Suicide does not allow the pain to go away, it gives it to someone else.
Whenever you are in this state of mind, your thinking gets pushed to the back of your brain, and the part of your brain that makes decisions shuts off and you are not able to think clearly.
Suicide is a deep voice inside of us that is willing to give everything away for peace. Sometimes life gets so hard for us to handle alone so we give up, instead of turning for help because we are ashamed.
According to Michael Poulter, a neuroscientist at the Robarts Research Institute states that the brain has an abnormal distribution of receptors for the chemical GABA, one of the most abundant neurotransmitters in the brain. GABA’s role is to inhibit neuron activity.
But does the pain really go away when we do? The answer is no it doesn’t. The pain is passed down to our loved ones, while they carry the burden of your choice. They have to go through their days wondering what they could have done to prevent the tragedy. The suicide rate with children ages ranging from 10 to 14, has tripled from 2007 to 2010. The suicide rate among 10 to 24 year olds has increased 56% over the last decade. This continues to be the 10th most common cause of death for these age groups, according to the Centers for Disease Control. What drives people to take their own lives? Suicide is a desperate attempt to escape suffering that people can no longer bear. They get blinded by feelings of hopelessness, isolation, and self-loathing. They just can not see any way of relief except through death. For those who do not experience this kind of depression, it is difficult for them to understand what drives people to their suicidal breaking point. However, suicide is not caused by one single factor, it can be several ranging from mental health, social, physical, emotional, and financial issues.
The frontopolar cortex is involved in higherorder thinking, such as decision making. The scientists do not yet know how this abnormality leads to the type of major depression that makes someone suicidal, but anything that disturbs that system would be predicted to have some sort of important outcome. In the frontopolar cortex of suicide brains, the gene for the GABA-A receptor often had a molecule called a methyl group attached to it, the team found. When a methyl group is attached to a gene, it keeps that gene hidden from cells’ protein-building machinery— in this case, preventing the cells from manufacturing GABA-A receptors. Sally Curtin, co-author of the Christian Post said, “Not only is suicide trending upward, but the pace of increase is actually accelerating.” Not only did the suicide rates increase but so did the depression rates which coincides with suicide. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately one million people die each year from suicide. Ways to get through the depression and the temptations of suicide is to talk out everything bottled inside of you, because no one can get through pain alone. OPINION--11
Steel Magnolias a success for RHHS By Charlee Conroy, Assistant Editor
The Rose Hill High School Drama Department performed the play Steel Magnolias on November 14 and 15. The play is based on the movie that was released in 1989. The drama department did a few things differently though, such as having an all female cast on stage, while in the movie there were male actors. The production of Steel Magnolias was performed at Rose Hill High School had incredible details with the set and also with the performers. Each actress made their own character unique to where all of them were memorable. Rachel Craddock who played M’Lynn the mother of Shelby (Lucy Lunsford), had a noteworthy performance at the end of the production when she lost her daughter to diabetes and had a mental breakdown. The performance seemed to be real and it was captivating to see a weeping mother lose someone she cares about dearly.
disturbing as M’Lynn tried to give her orange juice, which Lunsford would profusely spit out on the stage. Lunsford played this scene remarkably well and did not disappoint. Even though this play did not capture my emotions fully, the play did make me laugh in the correct moments. The production was funny and seemed to delight the audience when Truvy Jones (Maya Isabel) would crack a joke and gossip about everyone who came into her salon. The set was striking and charming with pink and white colors that emphasized the setting of the production. There were some scenes though that seemed to be missing some intensity, but the production by the drama department kept you entertained with goodhumored jokes and realistic gossip of the character’s lives.
Grade: B
Disappointingly through the scene of heartbreak, other actresses were trying to make jokes to avoid mourning, there just seemed to be something missing in that certain moment. Though the scene was still enthralling to the audience, and was beautifully performed by the actresses. Lunsford, who was Shelby Eatenton, had another remarkable scene, which was in the beginning of the play. Shelby is the daughter of M’Lynn and has severe diabetic seizures randomly. In the play Shelby has an intense seizure while sitting in a salon chair. The scene was dramatic and somewhat ENTERTAINMENT--12
Anna Nutsch performs during a scene of “Steel Magnolias.” Photo by Eva Smith
Ford vs. Ferrari: a highly entertaining film By Sam Larson, Reporter
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CLASSIC CAR?
Ford vs. Ferrari is a new drama and sport film, telling a legendary story of the 1966 Le Mans race, along with how Henry Ford entered and won the race against Enzo Ferrari. It was released on November 15, 2019, earning $64 million after its first week. What made this recent movie such an incredible hit? Ford vs. Ferrari brought a new experience to a racing film, with its amazing true story and intense race scenes. The acting was also on par, with Matt Damon playing Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale playing Ken Miles. The CGI was life like, along with the theater experience. It felt like I was actually in a race car. The movie may have been a tad bit long, but it was made to its perfect pace. The story behind this movie is breathtaking. In just nine days, Ford, Carroll Shelby, and Ken Miles build the fastest race in the world and beat Ferrari in the 1966 24 hour Le Mans race. In my opinion, I think this is one of my favorite movies of 2019. I am not a big car guy, but this movie impressed me more than I thought it would when I walked into the theater. Everything about it was well-done. Ford vs. Ferrari has very little flaws. The first one was the length of the movie. Near the end it keeps going on when you expect it to end. The other flaw being that the soundtrack was pretty dull for a car show. Maybe it was not my taste in music. It did not get me energized for some scenes where it tried too.
a) PORSCHE 911 (1963) b) CHEVY BEl AIR (1950) c) FORD MUSTANG (1964) d) FERRARI 250 GT (1962) e) MASERATI (1914) *Vote now on Twitter @rocketpd17 Graphic by Lydia Kimble Photo from unsplash.com
In conclusion, I think Ford v Ferrari is a perfect movie for everyone, not just the car guys and girls. Ford vs. Ferrari will be known for decades to come for its amazing story, and how it was told.
Grade: A+
ENTERTAINMENT--13
run, freshmAn, run ! Lucent breaks school record at regionals; fellow freshmen Herod also qualifies for state
By Sam Larson, Reporter
On Saturday October 25, freshman Kyrsten Lucent broke the school record time at the Class 4A regional cross country meet. The previous record holder was Kempsie Griffin and Lucent’s record-breaking time was 20:20, which was 27 seconds better than Griffin’s. Lucent’s previous best time was 20:47.9. “Cross country kept me busy because I wasn’t playing sports at the time,” said Lucent. “It also got me in shape for soccer, which would be coming up the next season. “I plan to continue to run in cross-country for our high school for many years to come.” Lucent then placed 23rd at the state tournament, which was held at Wamego on November 2. Head coach Brandon Barger said Lucent’s performance was really impressive. “She proved that she can run with some of the best runners in the state,” Barger said. “Does this mean she is really good yet? No, but it’s a good building block.” Fellow freshman Elliot Herod took 55th at state. So the girls cross country program has a bright future. “I’ve never had two freshmen (girls) go to state before,” Barger said. “We knew how good Kyrsten can be, but the darkhorse was Elliot. She is also another one we can build around. She has grown a lot from middle school to high school.” SPORTS--14
Kyrsten Lucent runs at the El Dorado Regional on Saturday, October 25. Photo by Faith Exley
For the first time in school history, two freshmen individually qualified for state cross country. Kyrsten Lucent (left) took 23rd and Elliot Herod (right) took 55th. Photo by Faith Exley
SPORTS--15
Anayka Besco took 2nd at 113 in 2019. photo by rocketathletics.com
David Leck took 3rd at 160 in 2019. photo by rocketathletics.com
Two wrestlers ranked No. 1 Besco tops 116 class; Leck atop 170
By Ethan Woodrome, Reporter Anayka Besco, a senior wrestler at Rose Hill High School, has been on the wrestling team all four years. She is currently ranked No. 1 in the girls 116 pound weight class according to the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association. She went to the girls state tournament all four years and is a three-time state medalist with one state championship. “She (Besco) had surgery over the summer and this is going to be her biggest challenge,” said coach Darian Eshelman. “We are going to take it slow getting her back into competition. We do not plan on her being at her best until the end of the season.” Besco said she is looking forward to her season and having a chance at another state title. SPORTS--16
“I am excited for the girls season and being ranked number one,” Besco said. “So hopefully it will be a good season and I can come out with a state championship.” David Leck is a senior wrestler at Rose Hill, and has wrestled all four years as well. Leck is currently ranked number one in the 170-weight class according to Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association. Leck has gone to the state tournament each year of High School and has progressed each year, placing third last year. “David finished at the state tournament last year wrestling the best I have ever seen him wrestle,” said Eshelmen. “We are going to focus on the skills he needs to get better
every day and he will end up as a state champion if he does that. David is only a few victories away from having the most wins in the Rose Hill High School history.” Leck said if he continues to work hard, he thinks agrees with Eshelman in that a state
Warning Signs (from page 10) The question and answers that this research brings up is if school shootings can be prevented if warning signs are reported early on. In my opinion school shootings can be almost completely avoided with awareness around the school setting. Many types of methods have been given to schools to help students with their mindsets, and to be aware about situations that they might be in. Also security has increased in most schools to catch anyone with bad intentions. Still this does not seem to be enough to stop these tragic accidents from occurring all over the United States. As a Generation Z, we hear about school shootings all the time because of the media and the increasing amount of these incidents. Many people blame the media on the increase of school shootings for attention purposes, but in the Secret Service’s research, many school shooters had signs of stressful behaviors before the attack. Seeing these signs shows that most shooters are not looking for attention on media platforms. One of the main ways to prevent school shootings is to report if something seems off about a person who is maybe being severely bullied by a student or even a teacher. I think if people in general were more observant and aware many of these horrendous incidents would stop. In edition, there should be more school training programs for officials and the students to notice the signs before they it is too late.
championship is within reach. “If I can get my technique down and get down to my weight and stay there, I think my chances are really good,” Leck said.
Rocket Briefs -The 2019 Snoball King and Queen were Trey Coykendall and Izy Cain. The Prince and Princess were Colby Heinz and Aubrie Thomison. The rest of the Senior Court was Christian Smith, Chandler Cox, Jenna Fisher, and Anayka Besco. The rest of the Junior Court was Caden Dinkel, Bryce Bischler, Faith Exley, and Lexie Rose. -The Robotics Team made it to regionals in Denver, where they placed sixth They advanced to the semifinals before they were eliminated. -The RHHS Chior performed at the nursing home on Friday, December 6. Also, they performed at Iluminations at Botanica on Thursday, December 12. -Members of the Drama Department directed and produced “The Grinch,” which featured students throughout the district. Ryan Hill’s classes built the set. The play took place December 13-14. -A raffle was put on by Stu Co for Adopt-a-Family. The prize is Mr. Haydock and Mr. Linot’s parking spots for Finals Week. SPORTS--17
ROCKET
Senior Tori Kaiser donates blood during the annual RHHS blood drive. Photo by tori kaiser
Seniors Trey Coykendall and Izy Cain are crowned Snoball King and Queen. Photo by cindy Bradford Freshman Kellan Simoneau shoots a three-pointer in the Rockets’ 62-56 victory over Circle. photo by rocketathletics.com
PHOTOS--18
LIFE
Senior Anayka Besco signs with Baker University for wrestling . Photo by rocketathletics.com
Anna Nutsch, maya isbel and Lucy Lunsford perform in steel magnolias. Photo by eva Smith
PHOTOS--19
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