Volume 2; Issue 2 Friday, November 18, 2016

PAINT THE TOWN PURPLE—EAST students from Osceola high school are getting active in the communi-ty. On November 4th before the Osceola—Rivercrest game EAST students who wore purple went to City Hall where they visited with the mayor to promote city wide school pride. Gage Eplin thought of this project so I had a few questions to ask him.The project was to brainchild of sophomore Gage Ephlin.He said“I done this project because the main goal this year is to bring back Seminole Pride. As you know, every friday is purple and gold day so I thought it would be a good idea to bring Seminole Pride back in this community.”

The project, began with ms Morgan’s approval. He the recruited his dad Michael Ephlin, who is involved with the community. Next he contacted businesses and City Hall to present the plan. This made the project successful because the businesses approved the idea and began wearing purple on Fridays. He also plans on furthering the project by doing it during other sports seasons like basketball.

AR Incentive Program outlines rewards

By Ashley Wright

The top 24 readers at Osceola High School will

be taking field trips to the Orpheum on Mon-

day, Dec. 12th and Friday, Dec. 18th. The teacher

with the highest AR class participation will attend

also. Attendees will be provided with a meal during

the trip.

Students earning 20 points will receive a free bag

of popcorn at an athletic event. At 30 points stu-

dents will be rewarded by being dismissed 3

minutes early from class to lunch. When earning 40

points a student will receive a $5.00 gift card to

McDonald’s.

Earning 60 points a student will receive an ice

cream sundae party. A student earning 70 points

will receive a late assignment forgiveness pass.

Students that earn 80 points will receive a pizza

party during their lunch.

After earning 90 points the students will receive a

school pride t-shirt. Once the students earn 100

points they will receive a $10.00 gift certificate to

Barnes and Noble. Students can receive a mystery

prize after earning 200 points.

Students are allowed to test with the librarian on-

ly. AR testing is locked down with a password and

can only be accessed in the library.

OHS to host Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

By Curtis Lunsford

Osceola High School will host a Christmas Tree

Lighting Ceremony Friday, December 2, from

5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. for families the families of

Osceola High School students. The OHS choir

will be singing Christmas songs, and Mrs. Bonil-

la’s creative writing class will perform a skit. Also

children will be able to have their picture taken by

Ashley Wright, Chieftain Yearbook photographer.

Hot cocoa and cookies will be served as a treat.

The STAMP committee asks the public to come

and enjoy OHS’s inaugural Christmas Tree Light-

ing Ceremony.

Page 2A,The Seminole Newspaper, Thursday, October 13, 2016

Students work to improve OHS

By Wesley Harris

Osceola High School has begun to address an at-tendance issue for the 2016-17 school year with a mentoring program. Nearly a fourth of the student body may have ex-cessive absences. To remedy the attendance prob-lem, Mrs. Adams, the behavior counselor, developed a mentor program to encourage students to come to school. This mentor program consists of student leaders helping fellow students get their attendance back on track. In this mentor program the student leaders are to encourage the students to maintain a steady at-tendance record. The students will be rewarded with a lifelong lesson of punctuality. This particular trial is specifically a test run to see how well the program maintains it progress and whether or not we should continue or expand it. Ac-cording to Mrs. Adams, the program seems to be do-ing well and the school will try it again after Thanks-giving.

The mentors for the current term are Daniela Marquez, Dequinton Littleton, Jonicia Griffin, Griffin Denkins, Mariana Marquez, Will Calvert, Carol Pol-lard, Xavier Reed, Wesley Harris, and Ms. Bonilla. According to the handbook, students are not per-

mitted to miss more than 10 days from any one class

per semester. Missing days due to unexcused ab-

sences can also have a negative effect on grades.

The handbook states that make-up work is only al-

lowed for excused absences.

Students selected to improve attendance rates

By Jacquanay Buford

On Friday October 28, students from several schools

met at A.N.C in Blytheville to celebrate being drug

free and discuss ways convince other people to be

drug free. The students participated in multiple activi-

ties and games to get to know one another better.

They attended classes to talk about being free of

drugs and consequences of risky behavior. They

learned choices affect the future. Students also lis-

tened to a guest speaker. The students attended

were sophomores Jacquanay Buford, Keyonce Mor-

ris, Stanton Burks, Ke’Asya Young, Kilyah Steven-

son, Carl Miner, and Trey Strop; juniors Xavier Reed,

Breyden Smith, MyKelle Shannon, Mariana Marquez,

Ashley Wright, Shiyah Scott, and Logan Landry; sen-

iors Chance Webb, Will Calvert, Dequinton Littleton,

Bobby Brown, Daniela Marquez, Erika Young, Shai-

na Smith, Olivia Martinez, and Griffin Denkins. Sen-

iors Akeyla Barksdale, Taya Jones, Michea

Caruthers, Cyann Allen, and Noah Smith took the

role as teen staff members who helped with the activ-

ities. Ms. Calvert, Ms. Gaston and, Mr. VanWinkle

(both SAY Facilitators) went to Teen Summit to en-

courage OHS students to stay drug free.

Mississippi County teens attend drug free conference at Arkansas Northeastern College

Page 3A,The Seminole Newspaper, Thursday, October 13, 2016

Around Campus

OHS Welcomes Class Pet By Jacquanay Buford, Staff Writer

Ms. Street’s Biology class has adopted a bearded dragon. The

newest Seminole was incubated by a breeder who kept the egg

to care for it. After hatching it grew large enough to sell to

buyers. It is originally from Australia and is a juvenile (a few

months old).

Ms. Street has said, “I brought this reptile with me to OHS

because I believe it would be neat to have a class pet so the

students could question its habits, study it, and take care of it.”

Students attend SYATP

By Jacquanay Buford, Staff Writer

At 7:30 am on Wednesday, Sept. 28, students and

teachers gathered around the flag pole, joined hands,

and prayed for a safe and successful school year.

According to the movement’s website, “See You

at the Pole™ is simply a prayer rally where students

meet at the school flagpole before school to lift up

their friends, families, teachers, school, and nation to

God. See You at the Pole™ is a student-initiated, stu-

dent-organized, and student-led event.”

Students hold class elections By Deja White, Staff Writer

Class officers were elected in August.

The Freshmen officers are President Anna

Whitfield, Vice President Janaya Hogan, Secre-

tary Samaiyah Collins, Treasurer Sarah Millikan,

and Reporter Airreyuna Travis.

The Sophomore officers are President Jamila

Branch, Vice President Tommia Ellis, Secretary

Brodaijah Walker, Treasurer Rondashia McNeal,

and Reporter Jymeka Sanchez.

The Junior officers are President Xavier

Reed, Vice President Amy Guo, Secretary Jo-

nasha Tyms, Treasurer Tyshunna Grace, and Re-

porter Diamond McGowan.

The Senior officers are President Akeyla

Barksdale, Vice President Bobby Brown, Secre-

tary Michae Caruthers, Treasurer Taya Jones,

and Reporter Carol Pollard.

Juniors Selected for

Youth Leadership The following students were selected to participate in the 2016

-2017 Mississippi County Youth Leadership Program: Kahlil

Allen, Amy Guo, Destiny Haymon, Diamond McGowan, Pinal

Patel, and Ashley Wright.

The Youth Leadership Program (YLP) is sponsored by the

County Extension office and was developed to provide training

for high school juniors to help them realize their leadership

potential. The goals of YLP are to promote community in-

volvement and relationships, to increase awareness of personal

strengths and areas for improvement, to practice various di-

mensions of leadership and fellowship and to promote an in-

creased sense of civic and community responsibility.

Special Thank You to

Melissa Donner Photography for the

amazing work on our Homecoming Pictures!

3800 B South Caraway Rd. Ste 20, Jonesboro, Arkansas

(870) 897-5163

Special Thank You to

Soul Reflections Photography for the

beautiful work on our Senior Football Banner!

309 W. Main St.

Blytheville, AR

(870) 623-7002

Page 4A,The Seminole Newspaper, Thursday, October 13, 2016

Around Campus

UP FOR A CHALLENGE—Freshmen in Mr. Gardner’s Keystone class participated in a team-

building activity focused on helping students overcome obstacles. The game called for groups of

students to walk a specified distance while only having a certain number of feet or hands on the

ground. Mr. Gardner lowered the number of hands or feet on the ground for each round of the

game. He later explained to his students that even though the lower numbers of feet on the

ground seemed impossible, the students managed to succeed. He then compared this to facing

challenges in life where students need to approach the problem in creative ways to find solutions.

Keystone students use teamwork to solve problems

Biology Mini-Poster

winners announced By Deja White, Staff Writer

Students recently competed in an mini-

poster competition in Ms. Street’s class.

The purpose of the mini-poster was for

students to learn about evolution and the

contributions of scientists to Darwin’s

theory of natural selection. Ms. Street

chose this project because she wanted her

students to see that quality research is es-

sential. The mini-poster served

as introduction to the scientific research

process and as a chance to let the students

show their creative sides.

The winners of the mini-poster were 1st

place-Diamond Thomas and Clarissa Mar-

tinez; 2nd place-Deja White and Zaria

Jones; and 3rd place-Kilyah Stevenson and

Brodaijah Walker.

TAKING A TOUR—Students in Ms. Starks’s Fundamentals of TV class recently toured

the News Channel 3 studio in Memphis. Picture are (left to right) Ledarius Johnson,

Ms. Starks, Cha’kyra Nalls, Brianna Washington, Tonisha Buford, Eriyah Redmon,

Jakayla Williams, Zaria Jones, Danielle White, Tai Branch, Cameron Johnson, (front

row) Jaylin Miller, O’maesha Dixon, Kavion Maufas, Miriya Lewis.

Thank you for your support!

Thank you for your support!