The Green PrideThe Green PrideDe Soto High School, 35000 W. 91st St., De Soto, KS 66018

In this Issue:In this Issue:

Scholars bowl team wins Regional

www.dhsnews.org Th ursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

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Queen of Winter Sports Candidates

-See Page 9

DHS Bowling Team Gets Rolling

-See Page 11

10 DHS Students Make State Band

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Page 1Page 1

By Laura Meyersarts editor

De Soto High School’s Schol-

ars Bowl team has been wildly successful this year and is on the fast track to another State title.

Th e varsity team has won al-most every tournament they have competed in, the team took fi rst place at League and Regionals and there are more players this year than DHS has ever had.

“Both teams have been great. So far, we have succeeded in all of our goals this year,” head coach Phil Hamilton said.

One goal the team had was to qualify for the State tournament. In order to qualify, the team had to place in the top three at Re-gionals on Feb. 2 at DHS.

At Regionals, the team went

THE VARSITY SCHOLARS Bowl team aft er going undefeated at Regionals. From left to right: Coach Phil Hamilton, Parker Riley, Christi an Sweeney, Lauren Darter, Robby Satt erwhite, Philip Kaul and Ashton Neylon. The team will travel to Wichita for the State tournament on Feb. 11, 2012. Wildcat photo

Mize and Starside win educational grants

undefeated, even to St. James Academy, who almost beat DHS at Regionals the year before. Th is year, the teams faced each other twice, and each time, DHS won with a combined point total of 230 to 10 for those two rounds.

At each competition, the team goes against another school, 5 on 5. Every question is worth 10 points. Th e point of the game is to test a team’s intellect and speed. Th e quickest, most knowl-edgeable team will take the title.

To practice for upcoming meets, the team reads from Time magazines for the current events questions and makes fl ashcards to study the fi ve main categories: social science, math, science, lan-guage art and fi ne art.

On Feb. 11, the varsity team will travel to Wichita Collegiate

High School to participate in-State with hopes of bringing back a second straight State champi-

onship trophy. In its preperation, the team will keep its original goal in mind.

“Grow and learn. Win State ... Enjoy our time together on the team,” Hamilton said.

By Kelsey Henrystaff reporter

Recently both Mize and Star-

side Elementary schools were each awarded $50,000 grants. Mize got their grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project and Starside got their grant from Th e Kansas State Depart-ment of Education through the state’s 21st Century Program.

“It’s amazing for a small com-munity like De Soto [school dis-trict] to get such a large grant,” Mize Elementary Principal Lori Bradley said.

Students will be able to inter-act in a variety of diff erent ways which creates more learning op-

portunities. With more learning opportunities coming to Mize and Starside, the academic scores of the students should increase more than they already are now.

“By bringing in other ways to learn, we should see even stronger academic scores than we do now,” Principal Jeff Green of Starside El-ementary said.

Mize Elementary also applied for the Clorox grant. Th e Clorox grant is what helped them get the Pepsi grant. However, they did not win the Clorox grant completely. Th ey still are in the running to be judge’s choice to get $25,000.

Linda McPherson, the music teacher at Mize, helped organize

the Pepsi and Clorox grant idea. She did mention how everyone worked together to get the grant in the end and how she was ex-tremely happy that they got the Pepsi grant.

“I’m glad we won. Mize had a lot of district and staff sup-port. We were able to show the other schools in the district that they could do this too,” McPherson said.

Mize will be buying 25 laptops and a laptop cart, as well as 22 smart boards and nine response systems. Bradley and McPherson think that the learning materials being bought with the money will be useful for the kids.

“I think this will bring great interacting into the classrooms and into the curriculum,” McPherson said.

Starside Elementary is looking into getting iPads for the students. Th ey will be using the money they get to create a natural playground, which will utilize logs, shrubs and trees to create a natural play-ground area. Also the money will go to helping out with after-school programs like Sparkle and enrich-ment programs such as running club, choir, Lego robotics, Spanish club and earth keepers, which is a recycling and earth-friendly proj-ects group. Th e iPads especially will help the children take on their

learning in enhanced ways.“It will provide students a va-

riety of means to engage in their learning. iPads and the apps will provide students greater opportu-nities to support learning and to create new projects,” Green said.

Teachers will be able to uti-lize the technology in a more ef-fi cient way. Both schools got the grant because it would help ex-pand the students learning skills and opportunities.

For Mize and Starside this has been a wonderful experi-ence. Th ey are both very happy that they got the grants and are thankful for everyone’s help in getting the grants.

Unpaid dues at record highBy Tim Mayfi eld

ads manager

In order for the school system to function, schools rely on fees paid by parents for classes and school. Typically, this system works well, and students pay their dues. However, De Soto High School has a problem. DHS has the highest unpaid dues in the school district, com-ing in at $26,720.62. Without dues to support itself, DHS is in trouble. Th is debt becomes increasingly problematic as the year goes on, and supplies are in more demand. “We’ve made some progress with dues, but we still have some people who haven’t paid. It be-comes a burden to the school district,” Principal David Mor-ford said. While there is little it can do, the school district has not turned a blind eye to DHS’ problems. “Th e district tried to imple-ment a collection service a cou-ple of years ago. Kind of like some companies do if you write a bad check. It didn’t really work very well,” Morford said. While there are usually some unpaid dues at De Soto, this amount is atypical.

“It has gone up, but I would probably base that on issues with the economy. We always struggle with dues. We talk about a free public education, but it’s only free in the sense that it’s re-quired,” Morford said. Th ere is a national program called Free and Reduced, which parents have to fi ll out a form for. “Pending acceptance of their application [of the Free and Re-duced program] ... they may have those dues waived and their lunch fee waived, or have those dues cut in half and their lunch fees cut in half,” Morford said. While the debt is severe, there are several things DHS can do as a school. One way to cut down is to take care of school text books. “You have to remember that you’re borrowing a book, just like you borrow a book from the library,” Morford said. In addition, large amounts of silverware and trays are being thrown away at lunch. “At lunch, instead of taking the extra step to put up the silverware, they just throw it away. We have dug hundreds of forks and spoons out of the trash. Th at’s laziness to me. If someone won’t take one more step to put it where it’s sup-posed to go,” Morford said.

Page 2 February 9, 2012 Vol. 39

NEWS @DHSGreenPride Th ursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

Phase 2 construction in full swingBy Lauren Darter

editor-in-chief While Phase 2 construction be-gan at De Soto High School sev-eral months ago, it may seem like not much has been accomplished. Here is a detailed report as to what the construction workers have been working on, and what is up next.

What has been done: Th e concrete for the north-ern part of the expansion has been poured for the gym fl oor, mechanical room, wrestling and training rooms, the teacher work-room and a large portion of the new hallway.

Two courses of cement blocks have been laid for the walls of the

gym. Th is is the foundation for the rest of the walls to be put up. Th e majority of the ground work has already been completed.

What’s up next: Since two courses of cement blocks are already in place, the next step is to keep adding to this and build the walls.

Over spring break, workers will be allowed to start on the current wrestling room. Th is will give con-struction workers a jump-start on the reconfi guration for plumbing as part of that space will become rest rooms. Th is process involves part of the fl oor being cut out so pipes can be run. Th e new storage room and the new classroom will also be a part of this.

Also over spring break, electri-cians will be allowed in the exist-ing gymnasium to prepare for the installation of a new lighting sys-tem. Th is means that there will be new lights for graduation in May. If everything works out, there will be a brand new sound system for the ceremony as well.

Minor set back: Since a portion of the expan-sion is being funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, workers are waiting on the fi nal no-tice from the state of Kansas so they can break ground. However, this notice could come any day now.

Th e good news: Th e mild weather this winter has allowed the project to be ahead of schedule.

“Th is has been an incredible winter. Th e fact that they have poured almost 400 yards of con-crete in January is incredible. Th at is very uncommon,” Principal Da-vid Morford said.

While it might appear that not much has been done right now, once the masonry walls start to go up, students and staff will really be able to notice the changes.

By Sophia Templinmanaging editor

Lexington Trails Middle School received the 2012 Governor’s Achievement Award for the fi rst time in the school history this year.

Th e award is given by the Kan-sas Department of Education in order to honor the top-performing schools in the state. Kansas schools become recipients of the award by reaching the Standard of Excel-lence in the Reading and Math As-sessments, meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) require-ments and having a 95 percent at-tendance rate.

To receive the award, the gover-nor’s award is extremely prestigious

and for the year 2011, LTMS joins 43 elementary schools, 11 middle schools and 18 high schools who have also received the award.

Th e schools must also be in the top 5 percent of all schools across the state.

“Last year, we received the Standard of Excellence and made AYP, but our scores were not high enough and we didn’t qualify in that top percent,” LTMS Principal Steve Ludwig said. “Th is year, they [the scores] jumped quite a bit, particularly in math.”

Th e seventh grade state assess-ment profi ciency scores were ex-tremely high last year but, LTMS wanted to stay above the rising AYP. Th e school would have been

safe already, they just wanted to see their math scores improve. LTMS accomplished just that by scoring 100 percent profi ciency in reading and 99 percent were in math.

“Every year we push the kids to do better,” Ludwig said. “I think the big thing that has to do with what we did and how we got there, a lot has to be said that it wasn’t just math teachers and it wasn’t just the reading teachers. Everybody came together to help out when it came to State Assessments and when kids see the number of teachers in-volved it … sends a message to the kids. Everybody in the building thinks it’s important. Th at type of message is what gets the students to give their best eff ort.”

LTMS awarded Governor’s Achievement Award

it was never explicitly stated to be allowed. Th e NDAA represents a specifi c stamp of approval of this action by Congress. Any shaky le-gal ground that President Obama was working on has now solidi-fi ed substantially.

However, the more frightening part of this legislation is its provi-sions allowing “the legal authority to keep people suspected of ter-rorism in military custody, indefi -nitely and without trial.” Th is lan-guage, and other language within the bill, changes the requirements so that a person does not need to be suspected of actual mem-bership to be detained. He need only be suspected of supporting terrorism. Such provisions will essentially allow the executive

OPINIONwww.dhsnews.org Th ursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

Kansas cell phone law is unenforceable

VOICESDo you think that using a cell phone while driving should be banned, including hands-free technology?

“I think it’s OK as long as it’s hands-free. It’s just like talk-ing to another person in the car.”

De Ann ThaemertHealth Teacher

“No, because cell phones are getting smarter.”

Tristan CarrollFreshman

“Yes, a lot of people swerve while on their phones, too danger-ous.”

Tod HessongMath Teacher

“No, I text while I drive.”

Elaine PriceSophomore

New terrorism regulations threaten liberty

By Kaylee Ashersports editor

Recently, a new law has been

proposed regarding cell phone usage while driving. With this,

drivers will not only be unable to text or call while driving, but also be denied from using any hands-free devices such as Bluetooth.

Offi cers would have no idea whether or not the person with-in the vehicle is using their cell phone or simply singing along to their car radio. Law enforce-ment would be overwhelmed deciding whether or not to pull over a person who appears to be moving their mouth. Which is simply one reason why the law is utterly outrageous.

“I think that [the] law that

is going to be almost impos-sible to enforce. Th ere’s just too many variables and too many instances ... where someone is not actually talking on the phone,” said School Resource Offi cer Mark Leiker.

Along with this, there is no way offi cers can enforce the law to begin with. Police depart-ments with a larger staff are more likely to crack down and catch more people, while in ru-ral areas, like De Soto, the law would be overlooked. Th e dis-crepancy in the amount of en-

forcement makes the law unfair. Why should some people be punished for doing it while oth-ers get away with it daily?

I personally believe that this is unjust and unfair. Not only will this be inconvenient for people who are constantly on the go and have no other time to make crucial phone calls, but most of the police force will essentially be hypocrites. Police offi cers gener-ally use some form of commu-nication to get messages to one another whether they happen to be driving or not. How is it fair

to have the person punishing you be guilty of the same thing?

Between the inaccuracy and discrepancy in the amount of en-forcement this law proves to be absurd. My opinion is that there is absolutely no need for this law and that even if the law is passed it will certainly not be followed.

“Th e way the law reads right now I think is fi ne. People are going to be distracted regardless of whether or not calls are made. Th e government is just trying to put a law into aff ect that is unen-forceable,” Leiker said.

By Philip Kaulstaff reporter

On Dec. 31, the National De-fense Authorization Act (NDAA) was signed into law. Among the provisions of the act was a section detailing the power of the presi-dent to detain, without trial, those suspected of being affi liated with terrorist organizations, including

Al Qaeda. Th is provision allows near infi nite executive power and very nearly infringes upon several Constitutional rights held dear by most Americans.

At fi rst glance, the bill does not really seem to do anything new. Th e president already claimed the power to indefi nitely detain members of Al Qaeda without trial, as partially evidenced by Guantanamo Bay. Th e NDAA seems to merely reaffi rm this power. However, there are several important distinctions between this legislation and previous anti-terrorism laws.

First, in the past, the president has interpreted legislation in such a way as to make indefi nite deten-tion without trial legal. However,

offi ce of the president to bypass existing Constitutional rights to due process and presumption of innocence. Unlike most criminal charges, where you must have a trial date set and charges fi led, those suspected of terrorism can be held in a military court in-defi nitely, without being charged with a crime, until “the end of the confl ict.” Th at is, until the end of the War on Terror.

Th e biggest issue with this is the degree to which it eliminates normal safeguards against gov-ernment totalitarianism. Because there is no trial required, there is no one to say whether or not the suspicion of terrorist affi liation is correct. Because there is no trial, this bill is the equivalent of “guilty

until proven innocent.” What is the diff erence between indefi nite suspension waiting for a trial that may never be set and being put in prison on presumption of guilt?

Th e fact of the matter is that there is no real constitutional or moral justifi cation for such legislation. Some argue that the president needs greater power to combat the new threat that ter-rorism poses, but if we compro-mise our values in order to win the War on Terror, it will be too late. Th ey will have won as soon as fear pushes us to abandon the ideals that have made America what it is today. If winning such a war requires us to become a less free America, it will be a hollow victory indeed.

Issue 5 February 9, 2012 Page 3

OPINION @DHSGreenPride Th ursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

GOP primaries and candidates so far...

By Robby Satt erwhiteopinion editor

Yay! Time for yet another bor-ing story on the Republican Pri-

maries! I know that this process is incredibly dull and boring, and I admit my eyes glaze over when I hear about it, but it is still impor-tant and something to keep track of. So here’s my opinion of the various candidates: Mitt Romney: Th e perpetual front-runner and establishment favorite. I feel that he is too lib-eral, and we would have another McCain situation on our hands. Newt Gingrich: Incredibly smart, with a lot of baggage. He did a great job in the 1990s, but

has a lot of enemies in the GOP, and has crossed the aisle a few too many times. Ron Paul: Libertarian, inter-esting ideas. To be frank, he is the crazy old uncle of the party. He has a whole lot of interesting ideas in the domestic and economic ar-eas, but his foreign policy is nutty and dangerous. He has a place in a republican administration, but not as president. Dropouts include; Jon Huntsman, former governor of Utah, Michele Bachmann, US

Representative from Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, Herman Cain, former CEO of Godfather Piz-za and Rick Perry, Governor of Texas. Rick Santorum: Conservative former Senator of Pennsylvania. He came in second in the Iowa Caucasus and is very strong on social issues. He is my personal favorite, and one who I hope gets the nomination. Santorum was seen as a long shot, and someone who would

soon drop out, but he turned out to be a dark horse, getting a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in Iowa. Santorum is a hard-core so-cial and fi scal conservative, he is pro-life, anti-gay marriage, pro-Second Amendment, anti-Obamacare, a tax-cutter and he plans to cut $5 trillion in the next fi ve years. I believe Santorum is the man the US needs to restore and se-cure her role as the leader of the free world for the future.

VOICESDo you think high school students should have a part-ti me job during the school year?

“I think their time should be focused on school work instead of a job because it’s more important, but hav-ing a job teaches them about responsibility for when they’re in college.”

Victoria CiaravolaSenior

“Sure, because we need money.”

Travis BullockSophomore

“It depends on what activities they are in, but if they have free time, then go for it.”

Kate BargerFreshman

“If they can balance work and school.”

Carolyn RodriguezSpanish Teacher

By Laura Meyers arts editor

Wake up, cram before school, go to school, do unfi nished homework for math during chemistry, sleep during history because we’re watching a movie, go to basketball practice, speed to work, do some homework, go to bed, then wake up again fi ve hours later.

It is not uncommon to fi nd

high school students involved in multiple extracurricular activities and college credit classes, while working a part-time job. If a student chooses to work during high school, they sacrifi ce experi-ences, their health and potential life-long relationships.

“Work cuts into family time, opportunities to be involved in school and into time to study. Kids have their entire lives to work and make money, what is the rush to get started,” social studies teacher Chris McAfee said.

Unless a person continues their activity through college, high school is the only time someone will ever be a part of a football team, marching band, musical, choir or dance team. Th ese once-in-a-lifetime experi-ences should not be sacrifi ced

or neglected because a student is scheduled to work.

As a student, I witness my peers coming to class dragging their feet with bags under their eyes, barely able to stay awake for the whole period. Many of these students work a part-time job, and, most of the time, are also a part of an after-school activity.

I, myself, do not work dur-ing the school year and most times I fi nd myself going to bed around 10 o’clock at night. Th en, in class, I hear my peers talking about how they didn’t get home from work until 11:00 and fi n-ishing homework until 1:00 in the morning. Because these stu-dents hold down a job, they are sacrifi cing their overall health and losing focus of their studies.

Not only do students sacrifi ce

academic time, but they sacrifi ce time to just be a high school kid. Th ey miss time to hang out with friends, go on a date or go to the Friday night game. Th ese are all memories that should be made during high school. After college, we work for the rest of our lives and high school is a time to fi nd what you like, who your friends are, and grow as a person.

My dad worked in high school, everyday from the time school got out, until close. Yes, he did acquire an excellent work ethic, but instead, I believe he would have had a greater experience if he established a group of friends that he could stay in touch with the rest of his life.

However, some students must work because their family is struggling fi nancially. For those

Should students work during high school?students, I have a large amount of respect. When a high school student makes money and takes responsibility for part of their family income, it displays an enormous amount of maturity.

For the students whose fami-lies are not struggling, they should focus on the four precious years in front of them instead of managing a work schedule.

“You only get one high school experience, one time to partici-pate in activities with friends, one opportunity for social time with friends, hopefully only one time to live under your parent’s basement and enjoy family time. I think kids and families should value this time and the opportu-nities/experiences it provides and not rush towards the next stage of life,” McAfee said.

Page 4 February 9, 2012 Vol. 39

OPINIONwww.dhsnews.org Th ursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

The Green PrideDe Soto High School35000 W. 91st St.De Soto, KS 66018

Phone: (913) 667-6250Fax: (913) 583-8376

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF» Lauren DarterMANAGING EDITOR» Sophia TemplinNEWS EDITOR» Francais HealyOPINION EDITOR» Robby SatterwhiteFEATURE EDITOR» Sophia TemplinSPORTS EDITOR» Kaylee AsherARTS EDITOR» Laura MeyersPHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR» Tyler BellADVERTISING MANAGER» Tim Mayfi eldSTAFF REPORTERS» Makena Jarboe, Kelsey Henry, Skylar Pryor, Ryanne Mercer, Ka-tie Simpson, Philip Kaul, Caitlin Walker, Rebekah BurgwegerCARTOONIST» Ben PattonADVISER» Michael Sullivan

EDITORIAL POLICY The editorial policy of The Green Pride is (1) Letters to the Editor must be typed, signed, and less than 300 words in order to be published and (2) the staff reserves the right to edit all copy. OPINIONS EXPRESSED in The Green Pride do not necessarily repre-sent the opinions of The Green Pride Staff, De Soto High School, the DHS administration or the De Soto Unifi ed School District #232 Board of Education.

CENSORSHIP POLICY Kansas Senate Bill 62 guarantees the same rights for student journalists as are given to professionals. These rights include, but are not limited to, all First Amendment rights, including the right of freedom of expression, insofar as published items may not contain libelous, slanderous or obscene statements, may not incite or promote illegal conduct, and may not cause a substantial disruption to normal school activity. This bill does not allow the adviser, administrators or any other faculty to censor the paper in any way.

Students need to show respect

By Makena Jarboe staff reporter Teachers and students spend approximately 35 hours a week, 140 hours a month and a shock-ing 980 hours a year, not includ-ing extracurricular activities, in-teracting with one another.

Spending 980 hours with the same group of people can cause both positive eff ects, like strong relationships and making con-nections and negative eff ects, like

irritation and disrespect.Disrespectful students are

something teachers have dealt with since Greek children were sent to school to learn how to read, write and speak.

Th roughout history, teachers have experimented with numer-ous techniques to tame unruly students, and while some tech-niques seem to have stuck, disre-spectful students continue to dis-rupt class and challenge teachers.

“I don’t think they [disre-spectful students] are diff erent than they’ve been in the past, although clearly the electronic devices available have gone up dramatically. I don’t think they are more disrespectful, but the ability to have an electronic distraction has allowed for that disrespect to show up in a dif-ferent way,” English teacher

Phillip Hamilton said.As technology has improved

over the years students have kept the traditional disrespect-ful activities but also invented new ways to disrespect teachers. One of these new techniques is using electronics, which have been adopted by students around the world.

One of the most common forms of electronic disrespect is texting. It is an easy and con-venient way for people to con-nect with friends and family instantly. While some may ar-gue that texting in class is not disrespectful, we must consider that texting causes students to become distracted and stop pay-ing attention to the teacher. Not being completely tuned into a teacher is not uncommon, but still disrespectful.

Being a student myself, I know how tempting it is to send a quick text to a friend during an extraordinarily boring class, but I know when it is time to put up my phone and pay attention. Sadly, I have noticed that many of my peers have yet to learn this valuable lesson.

Respect is something every-one deserves, and while electron-ics contribute to a good amount of disrespect towards teachers, it shouldn’t have to take all of the blame. I would like to encour-age all of my peers to rethink the way they treat teachers. Th e next time you start to send a quick text during chemistry, consider how it would make you feel if the classroom of people you were trying to educate, ignored you just so they could talk to their best friend.

Cartoon by Ben Patton

Issue 5 February 9, 2012 Page 5

Page 6 February 9, 2012 Vol. 39

QUEEN OF WIN @DHSGreenPride Th ursday, Februa

Candidates 2012

Brianna FairbanksDaughter of Alan and Regina FairbanksActivities: National Honors Soci-ety, Cross Country, TrackFavorite Candy: RazzlesWhat she does for fun: Go to Chuck E. Cheese and shop.

Mason WedelSon of Mike and Nancy WedelActivities: Basketball, Golf, Na-tional Honor SocietyFavorite Candy: Nerds and DotsWhat he does for fun: Watch TV and sleep

Madison WolfeDaughter of Jamie and Missy WolfeActivities: National Honors Soci-ety President, LITE Team, Mentor-ing, Class PresidentFavorite Candy: Lemon truffl esWhat she does for fun: “Get big”, dress up like a princess, do magic tricks

John WilliamsSon of Tim and Sue WilliamsActivities: Soccer, Basketball, Na-tional Honor SocietyFavorite Candy: Frosting and gummy wormsWhat he does for fun: Sleep

Danielle DowdyDaughter of J.D. and Kim DowdyActivities: National Honor Society, Mentoring, Volleyball, Dance Team, Track, Soccer, Band, Power LiftingFavorite Candy: Sour Patch KidsWhat she does for fun: Helps old people cross the street, goes to the gym, tans and does her laundry

Trevor (T.J.) CrowSon of Raegan and Sandi CrowActivities: Basketball, Baseball, Fel-lowship of Christian Athletes, Young Life, National Honor SocietyFavorite Candy: SnickersWhat he does for fun: Bowling, ping pong and hanging out with friends

INTER SPORTSbruary 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

Love letters and roses, Valentine’s Day is here

Issue 5 February 9, 2012 Page 7

By Kati e Simpsonstaff reporter

For centuries, Valentine’s Day

has been celebrated by thousands of people. Th ere are many diff er-ent stories as to how the holiday was established.

Valentine’s Day dates all the way back to the time of the Ro-man Empire, specifi cally during the reign of Claudius II in 270 AD. Th e emperor didn’t want men to marry during time of war, stating that men made better sol-

diers when they were single. One man thought otherwise;

his name was Bishop Valentine.Valentine would perform secret wedding ceremonies for sol-diers and their brides. When Emperor Claudius II found out, Valentine was fi ned and later executed on Feb. 14.

While Valentine was impris-oned, he wrote a letter addressed to the jailer’s daughter. He signed the letter “From your Valentine.”

Even though this occurred in 270 AD, it wasn’t until England’s

King Henry VII offi cially declared Feb. 14 the holiday of St. Valen-tine’s Day in 1537.

It is believed that in the Middle Ages, young women and men would draw names from a bowl to see who their Valentines were. Once they drew the names they would pin the name to their sleeve for one week allowing ev-eryone to see who their Valen-tines was. Th is is also where the expression “to wear your heart on your sleeve” came from.

Of course we couldn’t talk

about Valentine’s Day without mentioning Romeo and Juliet, one of the greatest love stories ever written or so some claim. Every Valentine’s Day in the Ital-ian City of Verona, where Shake-speare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, about 1,000 letters are re-ceived addressed to Juliet herself.

Today people have lost track of the true meaning of Valentine’s Day. “I don’t mind it but I don’t see why everyone needs to make a big deal out of it,” freshman Tori Marshall said.

CandyLand2012

PICTURED LEFT TO RIGHT: Madison Wolfe and John Williams, Danielle Dowdy and T.J. Crow, Brianna Fairbanks and Mason Wedel. Photo by Lauren Darter

Even though Valentine’s Day has lost some of the meaning it used to have people are still cel-ebrating the holiday every year.

Approximately 1 billion Val-entine’s Day cards are sent each year. According to www.thero-mantic.com, 110 million roses are sold and delivered in a three-day period surrounding Feb. 14, the vast majority of which are red. Of those 110 million, 73 percent are purchased by men, and only 27 percent are pur-chased by women.

FEATURE @DHSGreenPride Th ursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

DHS models in fashion fundraiser

PICTURED LEFT: Junior Olivia Cline (middle) is recognized for her out-standing ti cket sales. Cline sold more ti ckets than all 600 parti ci-pants. Pictured above: Cline poses at the end of the runway. Wildcat photos. Other pictures of the event are available at The Kansas City Star website, at the following link - htt p://mingle.kansascity.com/pho-tos/2012/natalie-m-2012-fashion-show-part-one/

By Sophia TemplinManaging Editor

Th e De Soto High School LITE team and prom commit-tee recently off ered a fundraising opportunity that they could par-ticipate in: Th e Natalie M. Prom Fashion Show.

By selling 20 tickets each, students could pick out a prom dress from Natalie M., a special events boutique located in Over-land Park, and strut their stuff down the runway. Th e event took place at the Overland Park Convention Center.

Th e fashion show not only brought students from across the Kansas City Metro Area togeth-er, but it also allowed students to give back to DHS. Student mod-els were allowed to donate some of their raised funds for any or-ganization from their school. Staying true to what Natalie Nearenberg, the owner of Nata-lie M., set out to do seven years ago with the fi rst fashion show.

Th is year, the fashion show raised $67,000 dollars with the involvement of over 600 models across the community. Th e stu-dents at DHS were represented by 16 students and total, they raised $2,179.

“I love doing the fashion show. I’ve done it every year since I was a freshman. I’m going to do it next year,” junior Olivia Cline said.

Conspiracy theories: sunspots, asteroids and aliens, oh my!a handful of people who believe they know precisely what is going to happen; they are the conspiracy theorists. So what are the conspir-acy theorists cooking up for 2012? Th e list is almost endless.

According to the 1995 book Th e Mayan Prophecies, the earth is going to be destroyed by an in-creasing amount of sunspots. In contrast, a 1997 book, Th e Bible Code, says that the earth is going to collide with an asteroid, comet or meteor. Yet, Armageddon On-

line says that aliens are going to destroy the world.

Religious conspiracy theorists believe that along with aliens, as-teroids and sunspots, judgment day is going to happen. Luckily for the human race, there are a few non-doomsday prophecies such as the return of a Buddhist monk.

Now for the weather portion of the theories for 2012. Accord-ing to www.December212012.com the world should expect more natural disasters on a much more

By Rebekah Burgwegerstaff reporter

2012. For some, this number has no special meaning, but for others, the idea of it strikes their hearts with terror. Cliché as it may be, these people fear the end of the world; they fear Dec. 21, 2012.

Although some fear the end of the world, many don’t know how exactly it is supposed to end, all they know is that the Mayan cal-endar stops. However, there are

hazardous scale that will eventu-ally destroy the Earth. But wait there’s more, in 2012 there will be an all destroying pole shift.

While this can seem over-whelming, one can do some things to try and survive. For example, if anyone has $10 million to spare then they could buy a luxury bun-ker completed with water wells, a computer room and of course, large LCD TVs. However, some companies are off ering much less luxurious bunkers for $30,000.

Yet companies have realized that not everyone is going to buy a bunker for 2012, so some are sell-ing survivor necessities such as a global sun oven and nuclear anti-radiation tablets. Along with com-panies selling survival kits, writers are also writing survival guides.

So even though the earth is go-ing to be destroyed six diff erent ways, the human race will still have bunkers, survival kits and survival guides giving humanity a fi ghting chance. So bring it on 2012.

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Th is year, Cline not only en-joyed walking down the runway but she went above and beyond with her sales by selling 103 tick-ets to her family, friends, teachers and community.

“Every year they have given out a scholarship [or award] to the girl that sells the most tickets. I really wanted to win this year so that was a big motivation for me,” Cline said.

In return, Cline received a $500 prom dress of her choice from the Natalie M. boutique as well as a $100 savings bond.

Although Cline sold fi ve times more than the required limit, ev-ery penny counted and even the students who didn’t sell the nec-essary tickets gave back 90 per-cent of the sales they did make to DHS’s prom fund. With the remaining 10 percent, students could choose any organization of their choice.

Th e fundraiser raised a signifi -cant amount of money and DHS plans on participating next year.

Page 8 February 9, 2012 Vol. 39

SPORTSwww.dhsnews.org Th ursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

Issue 5 February 9, 2011 Page 9

Wrestling team preps for postseasonwork and still get the essential practice time,” sophomore Na-than Hess said.

Although their practice facil-ity is nearly 40 minutes away, they do not let the extensive drive aff ect their practice time. Th ey utilize what time they have to create a team bond.

“Bowling team is like a family. We have really started to grow a close bond through all of these practices,” sophomore Jordan Fisher said.

Th e team has placed in their past several meets. Th ey have continued to practice in hopes of making it to State.

“We have improved drastical-ly since the fi rst day of practice. I see us going nothing but up from here,” Fisher said.

Th e bowling team has it’s next meet Feb. 6 against Mill Valley, Blue Valley Southwest and To-peka West at Westridge Lanes in Topeka.

Th e team competed in dual matches, beating Osawatomie 48-25 and Wellsville 47-24. Th e varsity then went on to compete in a tournament at Beloit, that is considered to be very diffi cult. Th e Wildcat grapplers placed 17th out of 22 teams, with senior Hayden Chandler taking fourth place. At their last regular season competition, the Baldwin Invita-tional Tournament, DHS picked up an eight-place team fi nish. Senior Cole Cannon, took fi rst place, Chandler took second and Josh Miller took third, in their respective weight classes. Junior wrestler Christian Zwhalen singled out Cannon, Chandler and Cody Vucas as outstanding wrestlers. Th e team is looking forward to league, Regionals and the

chances of reaching State “We’ve got a good shot [in the postseason],” Zwhalen said. “Th ere are some good teams at league so I’m not sure how we’ll do. It will be a dual for-mat, and I think we will do better than last year,” Sawner said. Th e team is happy with their progress and are already looking ahead to next season. “It’s [the season] is going really well, and we have some pretty good freshman wres-tlers,” Zwhalen said. Th e wrestling team seems to feel they have had a fair sea-son with a good chance during the postseason starting with the league meet. Th ey are also ready for the next year with some skilled freshmen to step up and help the team.

By Robby Satt erwhiteopinion editor

Th e De Soto High School wrestling team has wrapped up the regular season and is pre-paring for postseason action. Th e Wildcats will head to Paola for the Frontier League meet on Feb. 11 and Spring Hill for Regionals on Feb. 17-18. Th e season will offi cially come to an end at the 4A State Wrestling Tournament Feb. 24-25 at the Bicentennial Center in Salina. DHS wrestling is lead by head coach Shannon Sawner, with assistant coaches Jason Post and Stewart Bogart. Th ey have had a solid season as they head to league. “[Th e season has been] not too bad, we are getting better every week,” Sawner said.

Tyler Bellphotography editor

Th e cross country and track season begins early at De Soto High School. Team members start training during the winter season to condition for next fall.

Unlike other teams, condi-tioning for the cross country team goes without notice, but it helps the team improving stamina and endurance helping them at their meets.

Without training in the off season, runners like junior An-gel Vasquez would plateau and his career would not be as suc-cessful as it is now.

“Success in distance running boils down to a couple of things. One is consistent, year-around training. Th e second is the amount of miles that you run,” head coach Chris McAfee said. “Given two athletes of equal abil-ity, the one that trains the most consistently while compiling the

Runners continue training in the off-season

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most miles is the one that will be the most successful.”

Runners are not required to run, but McAfee encourages them to, so that they can contin-ue to improve the distance they are able to run.

“Th e best example I can give is weight lifting. If you and I are of equal strength and you lift weights for one year and I lift weights for 10 weeks, you are going to be stronger than I am. Th e same thing in distance running. Th e more consistent you train, the bet-ter you will be,” McAfee said.

Th e bond between team members is strong because the only thing they can do on a run is talk with each other and the bond that this team shares is hard to fi nd in other activities.

As the team continues train-ing during their off season, they continue to build endurance for the next cross country season at DHS. Th eir training is not as recognized as the other sports at DHS, but their success tells the crowd otherwise.

Bowling team shows promiseBy Kaylee Asher

sports editor

Th e De Soto High School bowling team has been extremely busy preparing for their meets.

“Th e competition is really stiff . Th ere’s some really good tal-ent ... it showed us where we all need to be individually and as a team,” said head boys’ coach Jake Lorenzo.

Th e bowling team began their preparation Jan. 5. Th ey practice around four days a week to help the development of their skills.

“Th e boys are becoming very good at knocking a lot of pins down. I am seeing a lot of improvement from the girls,” said head girls’ coach Meredith Boydston.

To create this desired im-provement, the team travels to Ranch Bowl in Kansas City, Kan.

“Th e drive is quite long, but it gives us time to do our home-

SENIORS KALEB HIGGINS and Brandon Prince bowl during practi ce at Ranch Bowl in Kansas City, Kan. Photo by Shelby Stephens

Page 10 February 9, 2012 Vol. 39

SPORTS @DHSGreenPride Th ursday, February 9, 2011 Volume 39, Issue 5

By Caitlin Walkerstaff reporter

Powerlifting, led by weights coach Brian King, is one of the few activities at De Soto High School that many people do not know much about. Power lifting goes from the weights classes and takes it to the competition level. Students go to meets and com-pete in three diff erent categories: Squat, Bench and Hang Cling.

It is similar to wrestling, in that students are split into divi-sions according to weight. Th ere is the junior division, which is sophomore and freshmen boys, the girls’ division, and the senior division which includes junior and senior boys.

Many kids enjoy participat-

ing in the meets because it off ers competition and diff erent ideas on how to train.

“I like going to the meets be-cause it shows you what’s out there,” senior Tessa Scott said. “You think you’re really strong here in our weight room, but then you get to these other schools and see how they do, and it’s defi nitely a push to do better and get stronger.”

DHS takes about 20 kids to each meet on average, and King is hoping to take 30 kids to the state meet. Th e De Soto Power-lifting team generally fi nishes in the top three or four.

Junior Lauren Mabe set a meet record Jan. 28, and won her weight division. Senior Ryan Hicks has medaled in the hang

cling at all the meets he’s been to so far this year, and sophomore Jared Jennings has been lifter of the meet for the past two meets. Th is means that he can lift the most weight per pound compared to the other stu-dents who compete at the meets.

“Th e kids get in the com-petitive setting, and most have been setting personal records at every meet. We’re getting better every time we compete,” King said.

Th e next meet is to be held on Feb. 25 in Belton, Mo. Th at will be followed by the 4A State Power Lifting Championship in Abilene, March 3.

Powerlifting team has high hopes for State meet

Boys’ basketball looking to repeat last season’s successBy Francais Healy

news editor

Th e championship winning boys’ basketball team at De Soto High School is having another successful year, with a record of 11-3 and their current ranking of second (5-1) in the leauge. While having lost to Ottawa in their fi rst league game, the Wild-cats went on to win fi ve consecu-tive league games. Big hopes for

By Tim Mayfi eldads manager

Th e De Soto High School girls’ basketball team is off to once of its strongest starts in recent years. At press time, the Wildcats are 9-3 overall and sit in second place in the Frontier League with a record of 4-1. Ottawa, a strong 4A school, was No. 1 in the Frontier League with a record of 10-2. With eight games left in the season, this basketball season compares semi-favorably to the

previous season. “While I’ve only got one year to compare it, record wise we’re better, but otherwise it’s hard to say, but the record is good,” Bonar said. Th e team has faced several challenging games in the season so far. “Th e hardest games so far would Spring Hill or Louisburg. And the hardest game that we’ll have will probably be Ottawa,” junior co-captain Taylor Saucer-man said. Th e team feels that they are

she is so good for her age,” Geh-rt said. “I’m happy for her. She has another three years to get even better than she already is.” Overall the team is well rounded, and the girls continue improving. “Th e girls have not experi-enced a lot of success at basket-ball,” Bonar said. “Not in junior high, or mainly at a freshman level or a sophomore level, so to be at 9-3 right now, they’re very proud of what they’ve ac-complished at this point ... but not satisfi ed.”

an all-around good team and can therefore beat teams that excel in only one area. One interesting fact about the team this year is it’s lack of seniors. Previous years had quite a few seniors involved. Regard-less of this disadvantage, the DHS team has a solid winning record. “We’re winning as a team, nobody is carrying us,” head coach Jim Bonar said. Th ere are three juniors who average fi ve points per game or higher including, Paige Wil-

liams (8.8), Saucerman (6.1) and co-captain Katie Gehrt (4.7). Despite the words of a hum-ble coach and father, there is a freshman, Megan Bonar, who has contributed greatly to the team as a rookie. According to her teammates, Megan, who leads the team in scoring (15.8), rebounding (7.7) and assists (25), is not your average fi rst-year player. “When I think about her playing I really don’t consider Megan to be freshman because

Girls’ basketball team having a successful season

are placed on DHS’ rematch with Ottawa on Feb. 7. Th e team is currently 5-1 in the league.

After losing many seniors from last year, many new players are stepping up their game to fi ll the space.

“We’ve had to develop a lot of mental toughness from the be-ginning of the year and the guys have really started to do that,” head coach Matt Rice said.

Th e players are optimistic about

this season, and feel the team may even be better than last year.

“Overall we’re better, but we lack some people from last year. Defensively we’re probably a lit-tle worse, but off ensively we’ve improved,” senior forward John Williams said.

Th e Wildcats competed in the 59th annual Tonganoxie Invi-tational Jan. 16-21. DHS went undefeated and beat Blue Valley Southwest in the championship

game. Williams and fellow se-niors Joey Johnson and Mason Wedel were named to the all-tournament, with Wedel earn-ing MVP honors after scoring 34 points in the fi nal.

“I was proud of the team’s ef-fort,” Rice said. “We knew the game was going to be a tough one, and despite it all we came out on top.”

Overall the players and the coach feel that this season has

so far been a successful one, and they’re optimistic that it will con-tinue to be that way for weeks to come.

“We’re hoping to make waves in our league we’ve got a tough schedule ahead of us we play Spring Hill on Friday (Feb. 3), Ottawa next Tuesday (Feb. 7) and they’re undefeated,” Rice said. “We’ve got a really tough Sub-State, we just have to take it one day, and one game, at a time.”

POWER LIFTING COACH Brian King observes juniors Taylor Saucerman and Alex Pruss in a weights class. Photo by Megan McCulloch

ARTSwww.dhsnews.org Th ursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

Issue 5 February 9, 2012 Page 11

Ten DHS students make State bandBy Lauren Darter

editor-in-chief

On Jan. 7, 13 De Soto High School students traveled to Salina to audition for the State Honor Band sponsored by the Kansas Music Educator’s Association.

In order to audition for this band, students must have been

a part of the Northeast District Band, for which auditions took place back in November.

Of those 13 students, 10 stu-dents were named either a mem-ber of the band or an alternate. A list of these students follows:

Junior Rhiannon Caldwell, pic-colo

Senior Hannah Stevens, fl ute

Junior Emily Churchwell, fl uteJunior Maria Pileski, fl ute alter-

nateSenior Joseph Buery, clarinetSenior Philip Kaul, alto saxo-

phoneSenior Parker Riley, alto saxo-

phoneSenior Hayden Abbott, trum-

pet alternate

Junior Jonny Hodges, trom-bone

Senior Austin Showen, mallets“It’s a really big honor [to be in

this band]. One of the top honors that a Kansas state high school musician can do is to make this band,” band director Emma Willis said. “It says a lot about the hard work and dedication of the stu-

By Skylar Pryor Staff reporter Extremely Loud and Incredibly

Close hit theaters Friday, Jan. 20. Th e movie is directed by Stephen Daldry, and features actors Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and an incredible performance by 13 year old Jeopardy champion, Th omas Horn. It was a remark-able fi lm. Although it was over two hours long, it delivered a very important message. Th is movie was defi nitely a tear jerk-er, but it was without a doubt, worth watching.

Th e movie is about a young boy whose father dies in the 9/11 tragedy while at a meeting. A year after his father’s death, Oskar (Th omas Horn) wanders into his dads’ closet, which hasn’t been entered since “Th e Worst Day.” As he is going through his deceased fathers old things, he knocks down a blue vase which in it had an envelope with a key inside it. In the envelope it had “black” written on it. From that point on he meanders around New York City looking for the lock which it fi ts. He is convinced that this is another expedition his dad had created for him.

Oskar’s perspective on all of this pertains to the sun. If the sun burnt out, it would still be shining for eight whole minutes until we could no longer see it, because that is how long it takes

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close deserving of Oscar nominations

for the sunlight to reach earth. Oskar is determined to fulfi ll his “eight minutes” with his dad, but while trying to connect with his dad, he pushes his mother even further away.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which has been nominat-ed for the Best Picture category for the 2012 Academy Awards, was a New York Times best-sell-ing novel before it hit the big screen, and was written by Jona-

than Safran Foer in 2005. Th is fi lm was wonderful, and

I would recommend it to any-one, old, young or in between. Th e movie does a really good job of showing the audience just how much of an impact 9/11 had on not only adults, but the younger demographic as well, which is not something that has been well recognized before. Th is movie was an eye opener, and the plot was very touching to watch.

dents in this band as well as overall skills and musicianship.”

DHS and Buhler High School have the highest proportion of stu-dents in the band, making up 20 percent of the 1-4A band.

Th e 1-4A State Band will per-form at the KMEA convention on Feb. 25 at the Century II Conven-tion Center in Wichita.

Tyler Bellphotography editor

Now that 2011 is over it is

time to review the video games that were released during the year from fi rst-person shoot-ers to third-person role playing games and from XBOX to a Personal Computer. Scores are compiled from a game review website, IGN.

Games for the PC and Ma-cintosh:

Th e Sims 3: the newest game of the Sims collection that brought a new way to play the Sims with modifi ed and more secure online features. Publisher Electronic Arts (EA) does not just stop with the main game, but they also release expansion packs (EP) for more game play and features like on their “Am-bitions EP,” EA gave your Sim new clothing and the ability to take the profession as a tattoo artist, ghost hunter or even an inventor.

IGN’s Score: 8.9“Th e Sims is the closest that

many of us will ever get to Ed Harris’ character in Th e Truman Show” - Jason Ocampo of IGN

Minecraft: an Indie game developed by Mojang as a fi rst-person action game for the PC and Mac. Mojang has been de-

veloping Minecraft since 2009 and the game left beta in 2011. Minecraft allows you to use your imagination while building anything you can think of.

IGN Score: 9.0“Th e only limit is your

imagination.” - Anthony Gal-legos of IGN

Th e Nintendo DS:

Pokemon Black and White: released March 6, 2011 was the newest game in the Poke-mon series from the producers Game Freak. Black and White features the new Unova Region with over 150 new Pokemon for you to befriend. Th e games fea-tured new graphics that took the games to a whole new level with three dimensional eff ects.

ING Score: 9.0“If it ain’t Brokémon, don’t

fi x it.” - Jack DeVries of IGN

Video games: 2011

Photo credit: www.warnerbros.com

Page 12 February 9, 2012 Vol. 39

ARTS@DHSGreenPride Th ursday, February 9, 2012Th ursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 5

By Francais Healynews editor

Shooting Stars is a scholar-ship program for young artists in the Johnson County area. It encourages creativity in young artists and gives them the means to achieve their goals. To date, thousands of high school seniors have been recognized with the Shooting Star award. De Soto High School’s fi ne art’s teachers are excited to see the outcome of the competition and think the contest is a positive thing for the community. “It’s a really unique opportu-nity for our students in Johnson County because there’s not much like it in the area,” art teacher Tim Mispagel said. “Th e teach-ers can know the students, and nominate someone who they feel is most eligible.” “It is the most challenging competition we have, greater even than regional or state because we’re in competition with all the Johnson County schools,” choir teacher Mary Etta Copeland said. DHS has had many nomina-tions in the contest in years past. Th is year there is yet another line up of artists going for the prize in each of their respective categories.

Six students up for Shooting Stars award Th is includes Katie Ham-mond in the 2D art category, Anna Henning in the 3D art category, Phillip Kaul in instru-mental music, Hannah Stevens in vocal music, Owen Moore in theater and last, but not least, Rick Clancy in technical theater. Each of the nominee’s respec-tive teachers believe that their students could do very well at the competition. “I think Katie Hammond’s 2D portfolio makes her a pretty promising candidate for her cat-egory. She’s been working really hard on it. She has put a lot of time, energy and eff ort into it. Hopefully she comes out on top,” art teacher Scott Ledbetter said. “Anna has put the a lot of time in and has a diverse style with a backing of a fair bit of commu-nity service. All around she has a good shot at the scholarship,” Mispagel said. However, candidates are not only chosen on their work, it takes more than just talent to get a nomination. “Owen Moore has been in-volved in theater since his fresh-man year and he has been a lead-er throughout that time. Rick has been involved in the techni-cal aspect of the shows since the

beginning. Both Owen and Rick are also involved in thespians and community service activities,” drama teacher Erin Purifoy said. Outside of art and drama cat-egories, Kaul and Stevens have been nominated for their musi-cal talents at DHS. “Philip is playing a two-move-ment piece that was written by a faculty member at KU, and it’s pretty hard. I listened to it Tues-day, it’s not easy, but he’s doing a really nice job with it. I think he’ll do very well,” band director Emma Willis said. “Hannah was nominated be-cause she has been very success-ful in the fi eld of choir since her freshman year, and she’s a great leader in the community here,” Copeland said. Overall, DHS students are setting up for an exciting com-petition and have a shot at prizes such as college scholar-ships, awards and honorariums all funded by private donations from corporations, foundations and individuals. Th e ceremony for the Shoot-ing Starts awards will be held on the Johnson County Commu-nity College campus at the Ner-man Museum of Contemporary Art & Yardly Hall on April 1.

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DHS Arts Calendar

Feb. 9- Brass Band concert, 7:30 p.m. at LTMS

Feb. 18- Harmony Explosion at Olathe East

Feb. 25- Diamonds annual Spring Show, Feb. 25 at LTMS

Feb. 28- Mid-Winter band concert, 7:30 p.m. at DHS

March 1-3- Spring play at DHS

Dance team keeps busy with clinics, competition

By Ryanne Mercerstaff reporter

January is always a busy month. Winter sports are kick-ing into high gear, and just get-ting back into the routine from winter break. In particular, the De Soto High School Diamonds dance team has a lot going on. Besides the usual practices and basketball games, they had two competitions and a kid’s clinic scheduled in a three- week span.

On Jan. 13, they had their fi rst competition of the year. Th at Friday they had girls per-form solos and duets at the Miss Kansas Dance Competition. Th e next morning they woke up early to travel to Olathe South High School. Th ere they performed three team dances. Overall, they did very well and got multiple awards such as a Showmanship Award, Choreography Award, and sophomore Callie Lane got a medal for her solo.

Th e solo dancers were fresh-man Sydney Webb and Lane. Freshmen Gabby Stephens and Emily Hess, and sophomores Mackenzie Mathern and Kelsey Plake performed duets. Senior Danielle Dowdy and junior Rhi-annon Caldwell also performed an offi cer’s duet.

On Jan. 20, the Diamonds trav-eled to Olathe East High School for the annual Kansas Spectacular Regional Dance Competition for

their second and fi nal competi-tion of the season. Again, solos and duets were performed on Fri-day night and Saturday was the day for team dances.

Th ey performed a prop nov-elty dance for the fi rst time this year. Th ey performed this at both competitions and also at a boys’ varsity basketball game. Th e theme was Candy Shop.

“We did this to increase diffi -cultly and to compete with big-ger schools,” assistant coach Kim Dowdy said.

On Jan. 28, the Diamonds hosted their annual Dancin’ with the Diamonds Kids Clinic at DHS. Last year they had about 25 kids come, and this year they had over 40 kids participate. Th e performed this dance on Jan. 31 during halftime of the girls’ var-sity basketball game.

Th e Diamonds will next per-form a Queen of Winter Sports routine with the cheer and dance team during halftime of the boys’ basketball game on Feb. 10, and also at the QOWS pep assembly.

Th ey will get a couple days rest before coming out again and performing a partner dance on Valentine’s Day.

Th e last big thing they have this year is their annual Spring Show. In this, they will perform all the dances they have per-formed this year. Th is will take place on Feb. 25 at Lexington Trails Middle School.

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