As a student publication, we find it extremely important to put out our work in a way that will be convenient for the school community. We believe it is important for our readers to know how we are able to do these things. We ensure this through our Mission Statement, with four main pillars.
The first is to inform our readers thoroughly and accurately of all events and issues relative to students, staff and community across media platforms. This means that we put out a physical copy of our publication for each issue, while also utilizing media platforms online and on social media. This also means that we cover everything happening throughout the school, and The Owl is a reliable place to access that news.
Our second point of emphasis is to provide a forum for student opinions through our editorials and letters to the editor. This means that whenever we publish content, or even before we do so, students can submit letters to the editor expressing their thoughts and opinions on any given subject that has been discussed in our magazine or subjects that they think should be discussed in the future. These can be sent to harricam002@warren.k12.in.us via email or handwritten and delivered to the newsroom in G102. We take these letters seriously and look forward to hearing the voices of others.
The third goal is to entertain readers with focus and feature items. This is as simple as it sounds. We strive to provide content to our readers that they enjoy reading and that leaves them excited to see more.
Our fourth and final pillar is to promote meaningful ideas that better the outlook and experience of the school environment. We believe it is important that we tell stories that have meaning, rather than provide information that is not cared about by most people. We also would like to promote the school and its community as much as possible.
Overall, we are excited to begin this year, and we hope our readers look forward to picking up a copy of the Warren Central Owl this year. It will be extra special this year as we celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Warren Central High School.
Anew school year has begun, and with that come new rules and regulations. One of the changes this year is the new cell phone policy. This year, Warren Central has committed to making learning environments more engaging, and part of that requires putting away the cell phones. As long as teachers and administrators follow through with the discipline aspect of the policy, the new move is a positive one for students and staff alike.
One of the measures school officials are taking to ensure the decline of cell phone usage in class includes not allowing freshmen to have phones on their person and facing consequences if they are caught with it. Another measure put in place this year is for upperclassmen to have cell phone signs hung in their classrooms, telling them whether they can have cell phones out or not.
The new policy aims to help students, whether they want the help or not. It is a really good way to get kids to put their phones away and focus on the task at hand. This strategy will continue to work and make people better students. This initiative is especially beneficial to students who have a problem managing addiction to cell phones, because it forces them to become much more engaged with the content being taught.
Another way this helps students is with their mental health. According to a study shared by the National Library of Medicine in 2022, high school students who had a cell phone addiction were more likely to have depression. This is yet another reason why it is very important to listen to the new guidelines from administration. The school is trying to help better the school environment, but it starts with individually bettering the students.
One issue, however, may be the struggle to enforce it. In previous years, we have seen these types of rules put into place, but they have never been enforced enough to make a difference. This is why it is
essential for leaders in charge to ensure that these rules are being followed and, if not, that those students receive serious repercussions or removal from that learning environment. When a teacher has to continuously ask for somebody to put their phone away, it becomes disruptive to the rest of the class. This policy makes sure that rules about cell phones are consistent throughout the school, so students know the expectations everywhere they go within the building. It is also beneficial to teachers who have attempted to make their own policies for cell phones in their classroom in the past but have not been able to effectively enforce it for those who needed it most. They now have a schoolwide policy that will hopefully encourage more students to put the phones away in their classrooms.
The fact of the matter is that if a student wants to be on their phone, then they will do it. It is important to take care of those issues and remove the problem before other students become affected by it.
If a student wants to learn and become better at what they are doing, this rule will only help them in their academic success. This new rule change will only be a problem for the people who constantly feel the need to be on their cell phone.
Overall, if a person is complaining about the new cell phone rule, then they are part of the problem, and they need to learn to put it away. Those individuals are dragging down other students who are engaged and want to learn.
As a student written and edited high school news magazine, the Warren Owl will strive to perform three functions:
1. To inform its readers thoroughly and accurately of all events and issues relative to students, staff and community.
2. To provide a forum for student opinions through its editorials and letters to the Editor.
3. To entertain readers with focus and feature items.
By Qaden Childs Entertainment Editor
Thumbs up to… Taylor Swift for breaking dozens of records in 2023. She not only became the first female to have multiple number-one records on the Billboard 200 chart but also broke a record both Prince and The Beatles used to hold for years.
Thumbs down to… Paul Reubens’ loss of life to cancer. Reubens, also known worldwide for his jovial and childlike alter ego “Pee-Wee Herman,” has been battling cancer for all but six years while entertaining children and adults alike, but he died on July 30 at the age of 70.
Thumbs up to… The murderer of Vanessa Guillén being caught and placed on the maximum prison sentence of 30 years. Cecily Aguilar, the only suspect arrested by authorities, pleaded guilty at her court date in November.
Thumbs down to… The retirement of a gaming icon. Charles Martinet, the iconic voice of Mario, has chosen to retire from performing as the character in video games after 30 years. He is now taking on his new position as a “Mario Ambassador” and traveling the world.
4. To promote meaningful ideas that better the outlook and experience of the school environment.
Student staff members will decide the content of each issue and will write and edit all printed material. Editorials will reflect the views of the student staff as a whole, not necessarily the opinions of administration or faculty members.
Warren Central’s student-run restaurant is shifting into a new era, adding a bakery component and other improvements to modernize the program for the first time in decades.
The Warrior Eastro, formerly known as the Threshold, is a student-run restaurant and cafe led by Chef Andrea Yount and Chef Chad Sterns. By working there, students learn how to prepare various foods and pastries and how to connect with the community. They also learn the best cooking practices, including how to keep things properly stored, how to keep their workspace sanitized and how they can get certified in handling food. This year, students interested in baking will also get a chance to expand those skills.
“I’m very excited for the baking and pastry program,” Yount said. “It’s brand new and something we piloted last year, but we’re really going to be able to showcase it in the new Eastro cafe.”
This program not only gives students who are interested in baking and cooking more experience, but it also allows them to do so in a safe and friendly environment.
According to Stearns, the Threshold first opened in the 1970s when the Walker Career Center first opened. Lighting and furniture has changed over the years, but this large aesthetic move and new name is the first big “rebirth” the program has received since then.
“I feel like we are taking the program into the modern era of cafes and gastro pub style restaurants,” he said. “Not that it was disco old, but it needed some love.”
Students said that the opportunity of working in the Eastro is
The Warren Central choirs have an upcoming fall concert on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. All choirs will be in the house that night. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased through the WC Performing Arts website at wcperformingarts.com. Warren Township staff can receive one free admission ticket by showing their ID at the door that night.
beneficial because people who want to do anything related to cooking or baking in the future will get much needed experience from being involved in the program. The Warrior Eastro is creating opportunities for students by allowing them to get experience in an active workspace, enabling lifelong skills that could lead to many career paths, especially in the food industry.
“I want the experience of what it would be like to work in a cafe in case I want to do it in the future,” senior Akilah Rusununguko-Taylor said.
Rusununguko-Taylor and her classmates are excited to test out their creativity by trying different recipes. The Warrior Eastro’s goal is to enhance students' sense of how to work efficiently and effectively, as well as helping them learn how to deal with customers in a professional atmosphere.
“It’s a student-operated program, so it's going to give them a step up into the restaurant industry to give them some experience, especially for kids who don't have a job yet,” Yount said.
The Warrior Eastro does not have an official opening date set yet, as the culinary students are currently working on perfecting their safety and food handling skills.
Once it opens to the public, teachers can support the student chefs by ordering food through an app or by visiting the physical Eastro space in the Walker Career Center. Community members can also visit the newly refurbished sit-down space when it opens, and an outdoor seating area is in the works as well. Students cannot order from the Warrior Eastro.
Pink Week will take place during the week of Monday, Sept. 18. This week recognizes breast cancer survivors and those currently battling the disease. Students and staff at Warren wear pink during the week to support breast cancer awareness and research efforts, and the school sells pink merchandise to support the cause. Student athletes also wear pink jerseys during their designated Pink Week games, and a recognition ceremony will take place at the Friday night football game.
The homecoming football game takes place on Friday, Sept. 1, and the homecoming dance will follow on Saturday, Sept. 2. The Warriors will take on North Central Friday night at 7 p.m., and the Warren Council of PTAs will host a Homefest event, with games and foods, two hours before. The dance will feature “A Night Under the Stars” for students in grades 9-12. The event begins at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Students must have a ticket ahead of time and must bring their ID to enter.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Warren Central High School, and administrators have been emphasizing the “100 years of excellence” Warren has produced during the last century. Various events will be planned throughout the year to celebrate the milestone, including a recent Senior Sunrise to honor the 100th graduating class. Warren’s WCTV morning announcements team has also been featuring different alumni each day as well, to celebrate the centennial and to give students words of wisdom.
September is Self-Care Awareness Month. This phrase means many different things to many different people. From yoga and meditation, to skin care, to taking long walks, these are all things that improve a person’s mental and physical well-being and can be considered self-care.
This month, four students at Warren Central shared how they perform self-care each and every day.
Join for only $7
By Caden Kerr Sports Editor
1- Camarrah Mason, 11th
“A few things I like to do is try out new body care products like lotions and face washes. I also like using different oils to moisturize my hair and trying different vitamins. I feel like body care products improve my mental health because when I see positive changes within myself I am happier. I feel like these things improve my life in a more clean way and overall feel healthier and happier after self-care.”
2- Jordyn Dever, 9th
“I would most definitely say that self care boosts my mental health because doing little tasks can help relieve stress physically and emotionally. Practicing self care makes me feel more vibrant as a person because it gives me energy. It also helps with my physical health and makes my mind sharper. Self care I like to practice is maintaining a sleep schedule, going outside, setting goals, reading, and taking hot showers.”
3- Alicia Harvell, 10th
“Most of the time you can catch me with Airpods in, nodding and singing along to whatever music is playing from my phone, while I work. Without my music I don’t think I would be able to focus on what I need to do as effectively. In my opinion, listening to music sparks varieties of emotions and benefits my mental health. When I’m in a down mood listening to a good playlist is likely to bring my mood up.”
4- JJ Ramos, 12th
“I meditate, work out and do skin care almost every day. The reason for this is because I believe in emotional, spiritual and physical self-care. It has become routine in my daily life after months of trying to figure it all out. Nothing too extreme, nothing too bland. Doing these things improved my mental health. I’m happier, energetic, lively and social compared to last year. If it wasn’t for applying myself to doing these things I don’t know who I’d be.”
Everyone is invited to join our non-for-profit parent teacher student association. Help us make our school and community better! Contact us at warrencentral.ptsa@gmail.com to learn more about ways to volunteer
6 easy ways to join our PTSA and make a difference for students, families, and staff at WCHS!
1. Go to: http://warrenptsa46229.square.site
2. Use the following QR Code!
3. Email us: warrencentral.ptsa@gmail.com
4. Facebook Page: WarrenPTSA
5. Instagram Site: Warren_Central_PTSA
6. In person at a PTSA Sponsored Event
Items our PTSA sponsors:
• Lots of Membership Incentives
• Weekly PTSA Newsletters filled with information!
• Ice Cream Wednesdays
• New**Acts of Kindness Awards
• Warren Homefest Event
• Warriors After Hours Event
• Parent Teacher Conference Meal for Staff
• Staff Thanksgiving Treat
• National PTA Reflections Program (Arts/Music)
• Passport Around the World Event
• Student Council Holiday Gift Sponsorship
• WCHS HUAP Celebration
• Warren Clean Up Day
• Two $500 Senior Scholarships
• Staff Appreciation Treats
• and MORE!
Check Out Our AMAZING Benefits online at http://warrenptsa46229.square.site !
Lock and load, exofighters, because the war games are starting up soon. Exoprimal is one of the newest games developed by Capcom, bringing back one of the oldest known enemies in video gaming history, the dinosaur, and combining it with sci-fi elements.
The game begins with some lore, telling players that during the near future of 2040, someone or something has been opening interdimensional, time-traveling portals named “vortexes’’ all around Earth before sending in overwhelming hordes of dinosaurs to cause mass amounts of death and destruction. With the rise of the global apocalypse, humanity fought back against this prehistoric threat by enlisting exofighters – soldiers equipped with exosuits created by the Aibius Corporation – to combat the rising threat to all human life. That’s where the player enters. Once the lore ends, the game then fast-forwards three years into the future and introduces the player to their customizable character, the rookie exofighter Ace. After the player is done customizing Ace, they then go through a tutorial on the mechanics of the game, from familiarizing the basic abilities and weapons of an exosuit to learning how to swap between exosuits on the fly. Afterward, Ace is assigned to Patrol Squad #53585, the “Hammerheads.” The team is composed of Lorenzo, the squad leader, and mechanic; Alders, the engineer; Majesty, a serious and skilled exo fighter; and Sandy, the squad’s android assistant.
During a mission, Hammerhead gets sucked into a vortex and crash lands on Bikitoa Island’ in a mystifying alternate timeline, leading to Ace meeting a fellow exofighter named Magnum and the residential A.I. that runs the island in this timeline, Leviathan. However, players swiftly learn that Leviathan is more corrupt than his friendly nature and appearance let on, as he has been kidnapping exofighters from other timelines and dimensions and transporting them into Bikitoa so that he can run his war games. The “games” include a compilation of combat tests that pit two teams of five against each other and have them complete objectives while they fight through hordes of dinosaurs, from raptors and pterodactyls to the triceratops and the
Capcom truly has evolved over the years. Founded on May 30, 1979, Capcom was the creation of two separate companies, I.R.M. Corporation and Capsule Computers Co., Ltd., both of which specialized in the development and distribution of electronic video game machines. After a name change and a merging of both companies in January 1989, Capcom came into existence and developed the first installment of its first video game series, Street Fighter, in 1991, following up with the creation of its best-selling game series, Resident Evil, in 1996. As the years passed, Capcom created more and more games that slowly became the company’s icons, with cherished game series like Ace Attorney, Mega Man, and Devil May Cry.
The mechanics of Exoprimal focus less on the game in general and more on one of the main topics of the game: exosuits. In Exoprimal, there are three classes players can choose from – Assault, Tank, and Support. Each class has a vast array of exosuits that have dozens of unique special abilities, weapons, playstyles, and drawbacks that suit the player’s needs. This is combined with the fact that players can change exosuits on the fly, even in mid-fight, which allows them to diversify their playstyle and experiment with others until they find one that suits them the most. The first class that players can choose in the game is the “Assault Class,” a grouping of exosuits that focus on dealing damage to opponents at close, medium, or long ranges. The next class is the “Tank Class,” which has exosuits that specialize in protecting their allies with their defensive abilities while drawing enemy attention off their teammates and onto themselves. Finally, the last class in the game is the “Support Class,” a catalog of exosuits that allow players to heal their teammates and give them buffs, while simultaneously giving enemies debuffs.
In conclusion, Exoprimal has already left a huge impact on the gaming community and has brought new fans into Capcom’s fanbase. It came out on July 14, and it is available for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X & S and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
The Mortal Kombat series is the best-selling fighting game series of all time, and a new installment in the series will be released in mid-September. The success of the series can be largely attributed to the unique abilities of the characters. This gaming franchise has two of the most well-known characters in gaming history, Sub-Zero and Scorpion. These rivals both have easily recognizable outfits, and they are both known for iconic lines such as “Get over here” and “Death is more honor than
By Kaydon Spivey Feature Editor
you deserve.” The game also has one of the most well-known catchphrases throughout the gaming world, which is “Finish him.” The series also has finishing moves that no other fighting game has – fatality and brutality. These allow the player who wins the two rounds of fighting to kill the other person in the most gruesome ways possible.
All in for 10. That is the motto for Warren Central Football this season as they strive to become the first team to win 10 state championships in their class. The team has been ranked among the top 10 teams in class 6A in the state of Indiana during the preseason, and they are making sure that ranking is used as motivation to get even better.
Last season the Warriors navigated highs and lows together. Some highlights included Elijah Slibeck and Joe Walker winning their position awards for Mr. Football, an award given to the best high school football players in the state of Indiana. The lows, however, consisted of losing games that could have been won and losing to Center Grove once again in the Regional Championship game.
When it comes to the games that should have been wins in the scorebook, the Warriors have been focusing on pushing through adversity to finish out those games and get the win this season.
“When times are tough, your leadership will dictate how you perform,” head coach Mike Kirschner said. “Tough leaders respond to tough times.”
One place where the Warriors struggled the most last season was against teams in their conference. The team only got two wins against conference teams in the regular season, the least since 2020, when they only beat Pike and Lawrence Central. This is a big area of growth that the Warriors are seeking this season. Although the competition is tough, it will be important in developing the championship team that they hope to become.
“Conference games this season are going to be tough, but I feel like if our defense can come together we can win [those games],” junior linebacker Donovan Dungy said.
SNIDER 8/18/23
Coaches say the defense will be a huge part of the Warriors’ success this season. They have some elite defensive weapons in juniors Damien Shanklin, Tyrone Burrus Jr. and Marcus Bell Jr., along with senior Sean Pennington. Together, these players can make a difference for the team and take them to the next level.
“Our defensive line is one of the better units in the state,” assistant coach Randy Hudgins said. “We’re gonna need to make sure that we’re leaning on those guys and making sure others step up.”
A closer look into this year’s roster for the eastsiders reveals that it is lined up and down with talented athletes, specifically from the junior class. The third-year players are starting to cultivate a large presence on the varsity level, outnumbering seniors 37 to 25. They have been dominant together throughout high school, including winning the conference as freshman, before Carmel and Center Grove were voted out of the MIC. These athletes will make a huge impact for the Warriors this season as they strive for their 10th state championship.
“Everybody is going to give their all and do what we can [to win],” junior quarterback Keith Jackson said.
Football
Sept. 1 Home vs North Central 7 p.m. (Homecoming)
Girls Cross Country
Sept. 2 Away vs Brownsburg 8:30 a.m.
Boys Tennis
Sept. 2 Away vs University 9 a.m.
Boys Cross Country
Sept. 2 Away vs Brownsburg 9:15 a.m.
Unified Flag Football
Sept. 2 Away vs Carmel 10 a.m. Girls Golf
Sept. 5 Away vs County 8 a.m. Boys Soccer
Sept. 5 Away vs Greenwood 6 p.m. Girls Volleyball
Sept. 5 Home vs Triton Central 7 p.m. Girls Soccer
Sept. 5 Away vs Franklin Central 7:30 p.m.
