Volume 4, Issue 2 December 16, 2021
The
Rocket Press
SHHHHH!
Movie Theaters Silenced By High School Adds Dance Streaming-Page 10 Team-Page 5 Pandemic, Streaming assist in decline of movie theaters-Page 11
Girls Cross Country Makes History-Page 14
STAR WARS THEME CONTENTS PAGE
The Rocket basketball team gets ready for their game against Nickerson. District Suffers Through Sub Shortage - 4 Rocket Productions gets new lighting - 5 Last Hoorah - 6 Broadcast Receives New Lights - 7 From Blockbuster To Hulu: The Evolution Of Home Theatre - 8-9 Quiet On Set: Movie Theaters Silenced By Streamers - PG 10-11 2
Haley Murray competes in the 4A state race. Rocket Football Takes A Step Back - PG 12 Boys Soccer Falls In Regional Final - PG 13 Girls Cross Country Makes History - PG 14 Andale Knocks Out Rocket Volleyball - PG 15 Boys Basketball Pegged As League Favorite PG 16
Lady Rockets To Lean On Youth - PG 17 Freshmen To Impact Rocket Wrestling - PG 18 Boys Swim Splashes Into Season - PG 18 Bump, Set, See Ya Later: Editor Sydney LaKous Says Goodbye To Rocket Volleyball - PG 19 It’s Christmas Time - 20-21
STAFF
Rocket Life - 22-23
Reporters: Sydney LaKous Jessa Lee Pierce Probasco Ethan Potter Ben Walker Layout Editor: Samuel Larson
Makayla Kiser attempts a shot against Chanute. @RocketPd17 on Twitter and Instagram @Rocket Productions on Facebook and YouTube rocketproductions.net 3
District Suffers Staff Shortage By Ben Walker
Over the past few months, there has been a nationwide shortage of substitute teachers in school districts due. It has become difficult for teachers to get substitutes in the event that they cannot be at school. This shortage may be occurring for a few reasons. With the new Delta Variant of Covid, many teachers are getting Covid more often than they previously did. Because of this, there is an increase in demand for substitute teachers. Teachers also have to stay home and quarantine whenever they are exposed to Covid from either a coworker, students, or a family member. This will then require a substitute to take their place. Many people may feel unsafe or at risk if they work in a school since they are coming in contact with a lot of people, and they will have a higher risk of getting sick if they work in a space with a lot of people. Shannon Haydock, the principal at Rose Hill High School said that if the pay for substitute teachers was to be increased, the job would be more appealing. “One thing that we’ve done at the high school recently was to give each of our subs a ‘goody bag’ of small tokens of appreciation,” Haydock said. “There is also a hand-written note inside the bags to show the school’s appreciation.” 4
Some of the people who used to substitute teach might not have wanted to come back and teach this year, because they had a few months off back in 2020. Another possible reason for the shortage is that people may want to choose jobs that come with higher pay and more benefits than what comes with substitute teaching. This is especially true due to the improving economy which allows people to be more picky about what jobs they pick. To compensate for this, some schools are trying to raise pay for teachers and substitutes to incentivize people to work for them. Some districts are also increasing the benefits they offer to get more people to work for the school. Teachers in schools are having to go to other classes to teach during their plan period because there are not enough substitute teachers to fill in when teachers are gone.
Gayle Tenbrook is one of the handful of substitutes the district regularly utilizes.
High School Adds Dance Team
USD 394 teacher Rachel Swope and her daughter, Hayden Swope, who is a sophomore at the high school, went to a board meeting at the beginning of the year and asked for a dance team with a few other people that supported this idea. They weren’t told if the team would be happening, but that it would be taken into consideration.
By Lindsey Esslinger
Once the team was approved, they This year, a new sport will be added said the team would be in place for to Rocket Athletics: a dance team. the football season of 2022. After some pushing, they were able to This team has been in progress have it for the upcoming basketball during the fall and the program will season. This made many people be starting this basketball season. happy because there are seniors this While there has not been a coach year that wanted to join, and now named, the position was recently are able to. posted. This team opens many opportunities “We had to do an interest survey for students after high school with and find out where it would be more scholarships. Many students budget wise,” Rose Hill Athletic who participate in dance are now Director Jim Linot said. “(We more easily accepted into colleges needed) to see what all the supplies for dance. They still are not sure are needed to start it, plus posting how many people will be joining the for a coach or sponsor and going high school team, but students are through that process to find where very excited that it is happening. they fall on the salary scale, plus board approval.” “If we can get somebody in place coaching wise, then we will start For years now, students have been after Christmas Break,” Linot said. asking for a team and finally the “We need to find a place for them to school board requested for it to be practice.” brought back. 5
Last Hoorah
Shirley To Step Down After Season By Sydney LaKous
Due to his wife being relocated to a job in Chicago, boys basketball coach and social studies tea
Josh Shirley will step down from both positions at the conclusion of the school year. He will coach for the rest of the basketball season and teach for the rest of the year, and then move to Chicago with his wife and family. He told his team last Thursday at the conclusion of tryouts. Shirley has been teaching at the high school for seven years, and has been head coach of the basketball team since he started teaching. He previously assisted in coaching basketball at Campus, Conway Springs, and Salina Sacred Heart, where he also taught. “I’m very happy and I owe a lot of thanks to our players,” Shirley said in reference to the state of his program as he enters into his final season. “It's been them throughout my seven years, it’s not something I’ve done alone. It’s been my assistant coaches, the administration, all of that. It’s always difficult to do but I feel like we have made up some ground from when we started to where we're at now.”
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In the time Shirley has been coaching the basketball team he’s been to state three
times in six years, including making it into the final four in 2020, and won the AVCTL Division IV Coach of the Year in 2019. His record as head coach through the past six years is 54-66. Shirley's philosophy about leaving the program goes along with a certain phrase he tells his players. “We always talk about in the program, whether its locker rooms, gym floors, whatever it is, you wanna leave it better than you found it. Part of me hopes that’s what we're doing here is being able to leave this a little bit better than when we found it. “ Shirley said this year does feel different knowing it is his last at RHHS. “I would like to say no, but that’s just not the truth. The truth of it is that it is different,” said Shirley. “I've got a great coaching staff helping me out with it all but I’d be lying if I said everything is exactly the same as it's been in my previous six years. I want this season to be about our kids. It's not about me, it's not about any sort of last run I'm on. It's 100 percent focused on our team and what our team can accomplish this year.”
Broadcast Receives New Studio Lighting
By Ben Walker
Recently, new lights were installed in Rocket Productions broadcast studio. Students had been using the same lights that were installed when the high school was built. There are several new features that the lights have now that should help the show. The lighting makes the video look more professional.
They were paid for by a Perkins Grant for Career and Technical Education courses. The cost of the lights was approximately $9,000. Dave Hull was the lead for the project and he hired it out to Tim Sidebottom. Sidebottom has given three training sessions to Browning and a few of the students about how to use the lights. The lights are controlled by a switchboard in a room connected to the studio.
These new lights are LED lights, so they do not get as hot and are more energy efficient than the lights that were previously installed in the studio. They are industry standard and “We are very grateful to the district for could be seen at other news stations such as allowing our program to be the beneficiary KSNW or KWCH. of the Perkins grant last year,” Browning said. “It gives our staff the best possible “Adding lights to the studio is the final touch technology needed to have the best show.” to our broadcast setup,” Rocket Productions adviser Matt Browning said. “We really have a real-world type production now.” The lights are now able to change colors and brightness, which means you can have different colors and blend colors. The lights can also fade which means that it can gradually increase or decrease brightness. Behind the desk in the studio, there are an additional two lights that shine on the wall. This can make colors in the background of the video, if they want it.
Rocket Productions broadcast studio received state of the art LED lights. 7
From Blockbuster to Hulu: The evolution of home theatre
By Sydney LaKous
From Blockbuster to Hulu, the evolution of home theater has changed dramatically. Blockbuster was the biggest company to provide rentals of movies and video games in the United States for a long period of time. It was founded in 1985, but to this day, there is only one Blockbuster left standing. Another popular movie rental service was Redbox. It was created in 2002, and became popular with their accessibility. Redbox machines were placed outside of grocery stores, gas stations, and more. They were convenient and easy to recognize. With the ever changing technology society has access to now, there are ways of streaming movies and television shows that don’t require leaving the house. Some of the most popular streaming services today started very small and have evolved with society and shaped the streaming industry. Netflix is the biggest streaming PG - 8
service as of 2020, according to newsweek.com. It started as the company mailing CD’s to people’s houses upon ordering them. Makeuseof.com explains the original idea of Netflix as “a subscriptionbased service with no due dates or late fees and unlimited access to content at $19.95, a “Queue” that subscribers use to specify the order in which DVDs should be mailed to them, and a delivery system that automatically mails out a DVD as soon as the previous DVD is returned.” In 2007, Netflix quit the DVD’s and started streaming shows and movies directly to T.V. ‘s, computers and tablets. The company started adding more and more entertainment to the service, which brought in more customers and eventually led to the downfall of services like Blockbuster and Redbox. According to lifewire.com, there are over 200 different streaming services available today. Many people have prioritized these
services over cable television. Many of these services, like Hulu, YouTube TV, and more, offer live streaming channels with their subscriptions. With so many different streaming services, people are often overwhelmed and have to pick and choose what to subscribe to and whether the services they pay for are worth it for how often they’re used.
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Quiet On Set:
Movie Theaters Silenced By Streaming By Lindsey Esslinger During the pandemic, many movie theaters had to close their doors for the safety of others. This didn’t affect many people because of the many streaming services available. Theaters were already losing business due to the fact most people like to watch movies in the comfort of their own home, and streaming services allow this. Although, going to the theaters was a different experience, and sometimes preferred depending on the movie. Seeing a movie in theaters is a different experience than watching them at home. In a theater, it is easier to give the movie your full attention, while at home, there are constant interruptions such as other people, animals, or even your phone. In theaters, having your phone out is frowned upon, so many people turn it off which allows them to give the movie all their attention. With the pandemic, many people got used to only being able to watch movies at home. Now, many people have paid for the streaming services, so there isn’t a real reason to stop watching movies at home. This has caused a major decrease in people going to theaters. 10
In 2021, there has been a 81% decrease at the box office from pre-pandemic times. Ever since theaters have opened their doors, there has been an increase in revenue, but the numbers are still way down. This has caused many small theaters to go out of business, leaving only big franchises. Many people didn’t even go to the theaters before the pandemic, and those who have become accustomed to streaming movies. There is still hope for theaters though. As it becomes safer to have public gatherings, people are returning to theaters. This year has been great for the box office with popular franchises such as Marvel and Fast and Furious releasing new movies. The top three movies for the domestic box office for 2021 were “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” and “Black Widow” along with the fourth being “F9: The Fast Saga.” These big movies have shown that there is hope of increasing box office revenue and attendance. As many other movies have released trailers for the upcoming months, there is still a constant battle with theaters and online streaming.
2019 Movie Theaters previously were packed and a popular place to visit.
2020 Covid-19 sweeps the world and forces theaters to have limited seating.
2021
After over a year, people moved to watching movies at home. Even with theaters open again, people still would rather watch them in the comfort of their home. 11
Rocket Football Takes Step Back
By Rocket Press Staff
Keegan Beavers runs the ball against Independence. The Rocket football team struggled this season, ending with a record of 3-6. It was disappointing considering the success they had last season, where they won six games and won a playoff game. “I was proud of our team for their resilience and fight. They never quit on the season and their teammates,” said Weber. Next season, they plan to explore new offensive concepts to keep evolving for the future. One of the high points of the season was their win at Winfield, especially considering all of the injuries that week, and then the next week winning the senior night game with the first group of seniors that have played for four years under Weber. Next year, Weber is hoping for the Rocket football team to finish at the top of the AVCTL-IV and host a home playoff game, but he says that their goal is to go 1-0 each week.
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Boys Soccer Falls In Regional By Pierce Probasco
The Rocket boys soccer team finished their season with a 1-0 loss to Buhler in the opening round of the playoffs. The Rockets finished with a record of 9-8. “Season is going as well as expected, although we have had a few more injuries and illnesses than normal,” said Treat. He understood the challenges they experienced this year, but persevered through them.
Treat is excited to see where the team goes and how many things they accomplish in the near future. The hope is this year can springboard the Rockets into bigger and better things in 2022. “You just have to deal with it one day at a time and hope that you come out better in the long run,” said Treat.
“Favorite moment was coming back to tie Coffeyville in regulation with no time left on the clock and then beating them in OT with no time on the clock again,” said Treat. The number of memories created this year were significant but to Treat, the heart and grit the Rockets had in the comeback overtime victory against Coffeyville made that moment his favorite of the year with his team.
Josh Fisher goes after the ball for the Rocket soccer team.
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Girls Cross Country Makes History By Jessa Lee
The 2021 Cross Country season has come to an end, and the team worked hard to finish strong. The girls team was able to accomplish some big goals this year, and both boys and girls had several new runners get some experience for the upcoming years. The Head Cross Country Coach, Brandon Barger, went into some detail about the overall season. “Our season was pretty successful,” said Barger. “After our last meet at State and when I compare it to where we were at the beginning of the season, we have come a long way and I am proud of them all.”
“I knew that we were going to be pretty competitive, I just didn’t know how competitive we were going to be,” said Barger. “My goal was to win league, win regionals and get better than sixth at State. We accomplished two of those.” Barger wasn’t sure what he could expect for the boys team, but with there being younger runners, he knew it would be good to work with. He is looking forward to next year, and to seeing kids put in work to get better. “Just to see how many of our kids are going to be committed to be better during the off season, with doing indoor track, and then to outdoor track and then to summer training,” said Barger. “If I can see improvement there, then I know it will be a better season.”
This year, the girls were able to win the league and regional meets for the first time in our school history. The boys team finished their season placing eighth at regionals. Following the regional meet, the girls ended up in ninth place at state. This wasn’t quite what they had hoped for, but they were still able to put out an impressive season record.
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Kate Dare and Savannah Crawford finish the 4A state tournament race.
Andale Knocks Out Rocket Volleyball By Lindsey Esslinger
This volleyball season has come to an end and the Lady Rockets ended the season with a 19-16 record. Cherith Mock has been the coach of the Rose Hill High School Volleyball Team for four years and she thought the Rockets will be able to learn from their mistakes. “I was very proud of our team this year,” said Mock. “Even though the team didn’t make it to state this year, the community can always hope that they will next season. Last year, the team ended the season with a 9-20 record. This year’s 19-16 record is a big step up from last year. Out of their losses this season, 12 of them were from teams who went to state. “Most of those losses were very close,” said Mock.
Payton Jackson attempts to serve the ball for the Lady Rockets.
The seniors this year are Jillian Rockley, Sydney LaKous, Emily Wellenstein, Mia Kuehn, and our foreign exchange student Barbora Davidova. Mock was extremely proud of these girls because they all showed great leadership. “I felt they showed the younger girls how to be good teammates,” Mock said. 15
Boys Basketball Pegged As League Favorite
By Jessa Lee
With the 2021-22 basketball season starting, Head Boys Basketball Coach, Josh Shirley, gave some insight on how the leaders and returning players will affect the team. “Leadership is a big one from our guys,” said Shirley. “We’ve got three guys who started a lot of basketball games for us last season and that leadership, you can’t even quantify how important it is. And then we’ve got a couple other guys who saw some varsity minutes, so that should be very helpful to them as we try to integrate them and get some more minutes out of them. But overall, anytime you return three guys who averaged roughly 60 to 65 percent of our scoring, it’s very helpful early in the season to have that to be able to lean on.”
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by that sophomore class and how they’re taking that leap.” With the first games about to start, Shirley talked about their opponents and the challenges the team will face as they jump into their competitions this year. Their first games will be against Garden Plain, followed by Nickerson, Chanute and Mulvane. All these teams will be tough to go against, but Shirley is confident that the Rockets will be ready and up for the challenge. Shirley is also hoping that the return of the student section this year will help push the team even more, as last year the gyms were unusually quiet.
“I’m excited to have our own student section again, and excited to have some The sophomore class is also proving to be energy back in the building,” said Shirley. promising this year, with their numbers, “You get some cold Tuesday nights, talent and gained experience from last cold Friday nights through January and season. February, and sometimes you need some fire from the crowd to spark you a little “We have a really big sophomore class bit. Basketball just wasn’t quite as intense which is really good,” said Shirley. “They last year because up until the third game know the system, they know how to of the year, fourth game of the year, we work. Once you go from freshman to were playing in front of nobody. So we’re sophomore, you’re now practicing with very excited to be able to get people back our varsity guys. The tempo gets a little into the building, back into being able to bit faster. Practice gets a little bit more in- feel the pageantry and how basketball’s tense, a little bit more chaotic maybe, and supposed to be.” they’ve handled that real well early on. So we’re really, really encouraged especially
Lady Rockets To Lean on Youth By Ethan Potter
Last year the Rose Hill Rocket girls basketball team depended on several seniors that led to an 11-10 record.
This season the girls basketball team has 11 freshmen, who are making up the C team, four sophomores, four juniors, and four seniors.
This year head coach Jenny Page said the Rockets will be young and look to young, Page thinks that this is going to inexperienced players to step up. be a good season and that the girls are improving every day. “This year we have lost 80% of our shooting, so we will need to find some players to step up early and contribute,” said Page.
Wrestlers optimistic about season By Sydney LaKous
The Rocket wrestling team had their first tournament on Dec 3 and placed third. Head coach Chris Saferite said with the first tournament of the year, they never know what to expect. “We’ve been practicing for the last three weeks,” said Saferite. “We’re just usually excited to get out and see where we stand.” This year, the wrestling program includes five girls, who Saferite said, have potential. Brooklynne Page, a senior, is the only returning female wrestler from last year.
“She was a match short last year of going to the state tournament, however this year, I think she’s gonna be there and I think she’s gonna make it to the state tournament,” said Saferite. “I think she can be a state medalist. Her work ethic is good.” Saferite had something positive to say about each and everyone of his wrestlers. There are many freshmen who went out this year and are not as experienced as some of the other members of the team, but Saferite believes they can learn and adapt and get to the point they need to be at in order to be successful.
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Boys Swim Team Splashes Into Season
By Pierce Probasco
The RHHS boys swim team kicked off the season with a couple of weeks of hard work before their first meet. “This season should go well,” head coach Christopher Kurt said. “As a smaller team, we are not as competitive in meets as a group. However, a lot of our swimmers are going to improve tremendously throughout the season. There are eight swimmers on the team and six of them are new to the sport. It will be a fun season.” Kurt is prepared for the upcoming challenges this season with a smaller team and new swimmers. Dante Robinson, a junior, was said to improve greatly last season.
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“Last year, Dante Robinson came out of nowhere and improved on the 100m Butterfly by 20 seconds in the span of one week,” Kurt said. “Something just clicked for him! Watching his success and the team cheer him on was pretty epic. After state last year, the state swimmers
and I tricked Dante into thinking we won state swimming and he believed it for a couple of weeks. That's something I don't think any of us will forget.” Kurt is also excited about some other new swimmers to the varsity team. “I believe that Landon Rutledge, a state swimmer in the 200m Free Relay last year, will return to state in an individual event,” Kurt said. “It's really hard to make it, but he came out of the woodwork last year and really made himself a competitor.” The philosophy for this year’s team is simple for Kurt. “Work with the individual situations the best I can,” Kurt said. “Each adversity has its own backstory, consequences, and method for working through it.”
Bump, Set, See Ya Later
Editor Sydney LaKous Says Goodbye To Rocket Volleyball I started playing volleyball when I was in sixth grade, much later than most of my teammates. Unlike many young volleyball players, I never played volleyball for the local recreation center. My sister had, so I would attend her games, but I was never really interested in it, which is ironic since it has become my number one sport. I remember one time I went to a volleyball camp, just to try it out, and swore I would never play because I kept getting hit in the head with volleyballs throughout the duration of the camp. Since I started later than most players my age, I was definitely behind. I had to start from the beginning when most of my teammates on my club team had been playing for a few years. I quickly began to love the sport. I loved practicing, the games, and being with my teammates. Even with a few ups and downs throughout seasons, volleyball became a passion of mine and something that I just loved doing.
On October 19, 2021, I had my senior night, and then four days later, I played the last game of my high school volleyball career. It was an emotional time after the last game; we went back into the locker room to get ready to leave, and I look up and Jillian Rockley is crying, which makes me start to tear up. We all went around hugging each other, maybe shedding a few more tears than what some would call reasonable, but when you’ve grown up and played sports with the same girls for your whole life, it is a big deal. The thing I like most about sports is that they teach you so much more than just the sport itself. They teach you how to work with different kinds of people. These last four years have gone by so quickly now that I look back on it, even though sometimes it felt like the season dragged on forever. The memories I’ve made, the friends I’ve kept in touch with, all of those things are what makes being involved in things you enjoy worthwhile.
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Favorite Christmas Dinner Recipe: Oreo Balls
Staff’s Favorite Christmas Movies:
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Sydney - Grumpy Cat Ben - Family Christmas Ethan - Die Hard Jessa - Elf Lindsey - A Christmas Carol Sam - Die Hard Pierce Browning - Its A Wonderful Life
Top Toys: Airpods Pro Nintendo Switch OLED Xbox Series S Playstation 5 Shoes Hoodie Sweatpants Gift Cards Apple Watch Air Forces Pajamas Lightning McQueen Shoes MacBook
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Rocket Life
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