…and LHS said, “Let there be light!”

November 30th, 2011The End of a Vigorous Season

By: Amber Harrison, Liaison, amber.harrison@lhsirish.net

The Lafayette Boys’ Soccer team made it to Districts! Be-ing one of four teams to go to Districts, they walked on the field on October 10th, with victory in their vocabulary. LHS faced Benton and they brought their A-game. It was a regale game. LHS dominated throughout the 80 minute game. Senior, Tyler Hurt said, “We did what we came to do. It was nerve-racking, but we came to play.” The first goal for the Irish was scored by Ca-leb Bates, and the crowd went wild. Benton tried to keep up with the Irish, but before they knew it Craig Curtis made an-other goal. By the end of half-time, Benton stepped up on their defense. As hard as Ben-ton tried to take over, Lafayette would not hand the game over. Head Coach, Brad Spinner said, “At Districts we played a great

defense and did just enough on the offense to win.” Lafayette advanced to district finals after a 4-0 win against Benton.

District finals was against Chillicothe High School, and Lafayette brought their talent to the field. Assistant Coach, Vince

Crowley said, “The team did great at District Finals and some players even did better.” With all the injuries throughout the season, LHS was determined to show off their potential. Senior, Geovanny Parra, one of the players to get injured, said, “I knew I was going to be limited and I’m just glad Coach gave me a chance to help the team even though it wasn’t the same way that I helped before the injury.” Geovanny played what little time he could and then the rest of the game he cheered on the team from the sidelines. The team kept up their game and ended the game with a 2-0 win. Geovanny said, “I think the team earned the win against Chillicothe. We battled through injuries and a tough start to the

season and came out on top.”

Continued, Page 4

A new year has come bringing along new teachers. The new hires/positions includes: Stephen Kibler (Language Arts), Eric McDowell (PE/Health), Ginny Stone (Fashion and Consumer Scienc-es), Cody Denton (ISS), Jean West (Social Services), Mathew Griffith (Science), Lori Miller (Custodian), Randy Bougher (Engineer), and Kat Wolters (Custo-dian).

Stephan Kibler. He is married and has 2 girls. His favorite color is green. Mr. Kibler’s favorite food is pie and his favorite movie is Starwars. For all that was wondering about how tall Mr. Kibler is, he is 6’10!

Continued on Page 12

  New Teachers Spotlight

By: DezStaney Felder, Beat Writer, dezstaney.felder@lhsirish.net

Above: The 2011 Boys’ District Soccer Chapmions

Page 02 The Light

November 30th, 2011NEWS

Located on the very bottom floor of the Annex, in the Drill Hall, is housed the Lafayette High School JROTC Headquar-ters. The JROTC Senior Army Instructor Major Timothy C. Burns is the Director of Army Instruction for the St. Joseph School District. Sargent First Class (SFC) Jesus B. Enriquez is a JROTC instructor for La-fayette High School. JROTC student Alex Hoefling said “SFC Enriquez is a pretty cool guy”. The mission statement of the ROTC is: “To motivate young people to be better citizens”. On Friday November 11, Vet-erans Day, the JROTC students marched in the Veterans day parade. Leading was CTT/LCT Stephaine Auxier. The parade lasted most of that afternoon for the JROTC students. Before hand, the JROTC students wore

there army suits during school to honor the veterans who served the United States in the U.S. Army. Saturday November 19th, was the Military ball. The students from the LHS, BHS, and CHS attended the dance. The ball started at around five and ended around ten. The ball took place at the American

Legion, which is on Frederick Avenue. Students danced and had fun. The theme was: Memory’s of Tonight: Hollywood style. The ball it self is an annu-al require-ment for the JROTC students. The MP’s at all of the foot-ball games and other games have done

a great job. Sitting at a game

not to long ago one could hear people commenting on the MP’s, saying what a great job they were doing. Even though most people there did not know what they were doing. The JROTC MP’s have done a great job so far this year. The JROTC Color Guard dis-played the colors of America at all the Football games, Soccer games, and all the other sports. The Color Guard is supposed to display the state, school, and national colors at sports events. Coming up, The Academic Challenge at Missouri Western. Lafayette, Benton, and Central will all be attending on the 1st of December. On the 3rd of December is the Salvation Army bell ringing at Walmart. Also the Drill meets begin on Janu-ary 14th in Des Moines, Iowa.

JROTC Marches AlongBy: Daniel Wooten, Beat Writer, daniel.wooten@lhsirish.net

This time of year yields three major events at Lafayette High School: Wrestling, Basketball, and Pep Band. To some, the basketball games are all about the action on the court, but the Pep Band knows that the music is the spark that truly makes Lafayette home games special. At the games, LHS Pep Band plays songs that are focused on entertain-ing the crowd and pump-ing up the players like “Smooth Criminal” by Micheal Jackson, “Paint it Black” by The Roll-ing Stones, and much more. This year there are two new songs on the schedule, “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele and “My Girl” by The Temptations. The Band will per-form at 10 games (five boys and five girls). However, this is a hectic time for the Lafayette High School Pep Band, it can be extremely enjoyable for the members. The band not only is practicing for the Pep Band sea-son but also for Concert Band season. This is very difficult because they have to learn to play about 20 songs in a short period of time. For the upper-

classmen this comes much more easily because they have played

these Pep songs for their entire career. For the Freshman, how-ever, the bombardment of all these songs is difficult to catch at first. However, thanks to their elders they get the hang of all the songs and it comes together beautifully. So go to the games, listen to the music, and cheer for the team. Because LHS is the best place in town to get your daily dose of Irish Pride.

Here Comes The BandBy: James Henderson, Beat Writer, james.henderson@lhsirish.net

LHS Class Newsby James Henderson III, Beat Writer, james.henderson@lhsirish.net

If you are wondering what your favorite Class is up to then read this article.

Senior Class(2012): The Senior Class is busy as always. They have been visited by many college representatives. This year, University of Missouri- Kansas City, University of Missouri-Columbia, Northwest Missouri State University, Missouri Western State University, and many more have been among the visitors. The seniors also had a field trip to MWSU on Monday, November 14th. They continue to work on schol-arships and college applications. Finish Strong Seniors!

Junior Class(2013):The Junior Class has chosen the 2011-2012 Prom Committee. The committee has already chosen the theme for the Prom, Enchanted Evening. Prom will be held Saturday, May 5th at the Missouri Western State University Fulkerson Building. Stay Strong Juniors!

Sophomore Class(2014):The Sophomore Class is still currently in search for their board members. Sign ups were held the week before Thanksgiving outside Mrs. Selina Chap-pell’s classroom. Voting will take place during a meeting after Thanksgiving break. Be Strong Sophomores!

Freshman Class(2015): The Freshman Class had a meet-ing for their Freshman Board before Thanksgiving. During the meeting, the Freshman Class sponsors tried to further inform the freshman about the many different clubs and activities they can, and should, be involved in. Here is a little heads up for the Freshman, you are all in for a big literacy push where your teachers will try to help expand your vocabulary. The Freshman Class should signed up for the board, if interested, outside of Mrs. Tina Shaginaw’s classroom. Start Strong Freshmen!

For more information, contact the Light Staff.

Above and Below: LHS Pep Band

Page 03 The Light

November 30th, 2011 NEWS

Lafayette High School Stu-dent Council is one of the most active groups at Lafayette. StuCo helps plan all the activities for the student body and represents LHS as a whole. All the activi-ties can be educational and instruc-tional. Lead-ership sets up and plans for both homecoming and most pep assemblies. The leadership committee chairmen help organize with the activities as well. “I’m proud of them and it’s been a very good year so far,” said Mrs. Theresa Pao-lillo, one of the Student Council sponsors. Any student can be involved in leadership; there

are a variety of students equal-ling to about sixty students

involved. Mrs. Theresa Paolillo and Mrs. Lisa Miller are the advi-sors of these groups and plan the activities. The four StuCo officers are seniors, Benjamin Lotito, Morgan Brand, Ty-ler Hurt, and Talon Johnson. These individuals set up the activities for the student body

at every assembly along with various Leadership Students.

Student Council meets once a month, but there are two leader-ship classes that meet everyday. Talon John-son said, “It is going really well, so glad to see spirit of LHS higher than ever. Every-

one be on the look out for what comes next!” Every Monday Matters is a tactic that has been displayed on the announcements and the Televisions in the hallways. On Friday, October 28th Lafayette High School’s StuCo attended the Northwest District Meeting at Platte County High School. Several StuCos in the

district came together to meet new people, discover new ideas, and of course, have fun! The meeting began like a giant pep assembly featuring Platte Coun-ty’s chamber choir, drum line, and a flash mob dance! John Foppe, a motivational speaker born with no arms, talked about

overcoming every “condition” in life. Throughout the day, students attended workshops, participated in ice breakers, and danced the day away! Be on the look out for the numerous things LHS Student Council has to come.

StuCo Attends District MeetingBy: Kayla Wegenka, Beat Writer, kayla.wegenka@lhsirish.net

Department NewsBy: Andrew Murphy, Beat Writer, andrew.murphy@lhsirish.net

Math: The Math Department has finished Benchmark testing. ACT Review books are in the works for all students in or above the Algebra I level. The student teacher, Mr. Rockhold, has finished up his time as a student teacher at Lafayette High School.Science: The physics class is studying trajectory and acceleration; they built rockets which will be launched soon to study experimental variables. Advanced chemistry is working on calculating heat of reac-tions in the Thermochemistry Unit. While, regular chemistry has re-cently finished work on Visible light of the electromagnetic spectrum.History: Active learning activities are being used to enforce what is being learned in the history department. The Social Studies and Communication departments have targeted a list of vocabulary terms students need to know and are working diligently to teach them. ACT improvement strategies are taught on Tuesday. Communication Arts: The current focus on the communication arts department is on literacy. Teachers are using data from a test given to all sophomores to identify weaknesses. The teachers will set lesson plans that strengthen those areas. Foreign Language: Spanish classes are working on learning the basics of Spanish. A french club will be starting soon.Industrial Technologies: The Advanced woodworking classes are starting on their first project of the year, which will be a clock. The beginning woodworking classes have started making signs. Mr. To-alson has started a woodworking club which will hold meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. F.A.C.S: The cooking classes have finished the study of poultry and vegetables. The study has ended just in time for turkey dinners to be made. The child development class have finished the baby “Think It Over” unit. J.R.O.T.C: J.R.O.T.C held their Commissioning Ceremony last month. They also participated in the Veterans Day Parade, and the Military Ball took place and was a huge sucesses.Physical Education: Fitness testing is taking place in the P.E. department, along with Basketball in team sports, and max outs in weight lifting.

Above: StuCo Members Right: The Flyer used to spread the word!

Page 04 The Light

November 30th, 2011SPECIALS

The Light Staff…and Lafayette High School said,

“Let there be light!”

Editor: Kelsey GardnerBusiness: Amber HarrisonWriters: Katie Bourne Keri Day DezStaney Felder Eternity Felder Georgia Gunter James Henderson III Legend Milbourn Andrew Murphy Alyssa Schmelzle Paula Valenzuela Kayla Wegenka Daniel Wooten

Supervisor: Dr. M. Shane Heard

Boys’ District Soccer Continued With a win against Benton and a win against Chillicothe, the Lafay-ette Boys’ Soccer team advanced to Sectionals. The Sectionals game started out well for the Irish, but when Smithville scored, the focus got scattered. Geovanny com-mented, “The Sectional game was a tough game to play in, due to the weather, but I think we fought ‘til the very end.” Lafayette faced a tough team that had beaten them 1-6 earlier in the season. Neverthe-less, they gave it their all. Senior, Craig Curtis said, “Just keeping your mind focused throughout the game was hard.” The game ended with a score of 0-3, a win for Smithville High School. Geovanny said, “It was sad to see the season end, but knowing that we all played our best makes the loss easier to handle.” The soccer season for LHS ended with a record of 11-13

and a second District Champion-ship under their belt. Junior, Juan

Aranda said, “Sectionals was a really good chance for the seniors,

but we made his-tory with winning Districts for the second time in a row.” Though the team lost at Sec-tionals, everyone is still happy with the season they played. Tyler said, “We wish the turn out would have been different, but we’re still happy

with two District Championships back to back.” Winning Districts was the goal that every soccer player has been talking about and Sectionals is just an even better achievement. Coach Spinner said, “I’m very satisfied with how we did.” The Lafayette Boys’ Soccer team is two-time District Cham-pions now. In the beginning, the season was rocky, but the boys proved they still had what it takes during Districts. Geovanny said, “The season resulted in what we wanted coming in to it. A District Championship.” The season has ended for all the senior players that have been top dog for the last two years in soccer and with that comes a lot of skilled players leaving in May. Geovanny said, “Yeah it sucks that it’s my senior year, but I’m just glad that I got the chance to

be a part of a special year for Lafayette soccer.” The team is very pleased with the 2011 Boys’ Soccer season. The seniors are dismayed by the end of their last soccer season at Lafayette, but are happy to have been part of the District Championship. Tyler said, “I wouldn’t want to go out any other way.” When asked if they had anything else to add to the inter-view, John Lucus said, “Make history!”, and Craig Curtis said, “Work hard for what you want.”

Page 05 The Light

November 30th, 2011SPORTS

The 2011-2012 Lafayette High School Boys’ Wrestling team has a goal to start the season off right, with the boys working hard to cut weight for their first meet being Saturday, December 3rd. This season will be different from the one before and hope-fully better. “I think the team will do quite well this year. We have nu-merous returning wrestlers, and looking at the weight classes, it looks like everyone will fall into the lineup they need,” Varsity Coach, Mr. Kevin Jones stated. Something that places the Lafayette Team at an advan-tage is the fact that they did not lose any se-niors last year. The bulk of the participants

were underclassmen, which is good for this year’s team because everyone is back!

“I don’t think we have an indi-vidual leader; we have a lot of wres-tlers that are willing to help each other. The new wres-tlers and re-turners seem

to work very well together,” Coach Jones said. “I am really excited for this year, we have a lot of people back and a lot of good talent on the mat. I can’t wait to see how far we will go,” Sophomore, Kylan Kuritz exclaimed.“I believe that Irish wrestling will be excit-

ing to watch. We have a number of kids that have a shot at qualifying for State. We expect to have a good year and we appreciate anybody that comes to watch us,” Coach Jones also said. Varsity participant, senior, Skylar Adams stated, “I hope we have a lot of fans that come out to watch us this year and hopefully we can make it to State!”

Below is the roster:

Skylar Adams. SeniorCameron Bohnsack. SeniorCraig Renfrow. JuniorSpencer Riddle. JuniorAustin Drennen. JuniorPreston Gregory. JuniorDevon Adkins. JuniorColton Ezzell. JuniorAlec Smith JuniorKylan Kuritz. SophomoreJordan Miller. SophomoreLake Sisk. SophomoreDylan Ezzell. SophomorePhenox Foster. SophomoreStephen Wilds. SophomoreSlade Allen Freshman

Please come out and support the boys as they take the mat. They are working very hard to represent Lafayette High School.

LHS Wrestling Hits the MatBy: Legend Milbourn; Beat Writer, legend.milbourn@lhsirish.net

Page 06 The Light

November 30th, 2011 SPORTSGirls’ Basketball Takes the Court

By: Keri Day, Beat Writer, keri.day@lhsirish.net

The Lafayette High School Lady Irish Basketball Team returns again for another great year. Head Varsity Coach, Ryan Madison said, “I expect this season to be a lot better than last year, we should have the first winning record in five to six years.” The first Irish practice was on Monday, October 31st. After the first official practice Coach Madison said, “I think we have a chance and hope we do really good this year.” The coaches for Lafayette this year are Varsity Coach Ryan Madison, Junior Varsity(JV) Coach Brad Spinner, and Freshman Coach Charnelle Starling. A total of 36 girls tried out this year from se-niors to freshman. When asked if there were any re-turners Coach Madison said, “Everyone which I’m happy with, now we are looking for new Freshman.”

When asked if the return-ers will have an effect on the “newbees”, Coach Madison replied,” Well yeah, Varsity has a lot of experience. We have (Senior) Myia Weston who has played all 4 years as a starter, (Junior) Oceonna Weston all 3, and (Junior) Ariel Dydell all 3 years also, although last year she played half because of her torn ACL.” He also went on to state, “I like to think we can make it toward the top this year, that’s our goal.” Both Girls and Boys play in the Districts in Chillicothe, dur-ing the last week of Novem-

ber.

Varsity:Mariana Figueroa 10Brooke Ward 11Miranda Tolar 12Shay Ward 10Ariel Dydell 11Megan Tolar 12Ashley Hinkle 10Myia Weston 12Kayla Wegenka 10Alaina Beattie 12Oceonna Weston 11

Junior Varsity:Doshanique Jones 9Sadee Bowers 10Haley Deen 11Sno Powell 10Cassidy Steltenpohl 10Cede Irvin 10Kyleigh Surritte 10Brooklyn Tyler 10Ravyn Whisenand 9Alyssa Hughes 9Kaylee Kneale 9

Freshman: Ashton Farris 9Jaycee Williams 9Mariah Barnett 9Hanna Sands 9Alia Irvin 9Madison McKinley 9Riley Calloway 9Katlyn Weston 9Gabby Deweese 9

All those who support the Lady Irish Basketball Teams would like to wish them well. This should be an exciting season.

Another Run to State?!?!By: Georgia Gunter; Beat Writer; georgia.gunter@lhsirish.net

As the 2011-2012 Lafayette High School Boys’ Basketball season starts, we will see something different from last year. Last year, Lafayette went 22-20. Also, winning several titles, Midland Con-ference Champs, Class 4 Districts 16 champs, Sectional champs, and Final-Four place Class 4. Hoping to do just as well this season, the coaches are Varsity Head Coach Mr. Chris Neff, Junior Varsity Coach Mr. Daryl Williams, and Freshman Coach Mr. Cody Den-ton. This 2011-2012 basketball season is Coach Neff’s 16th year of coaching. The Boys’ Basketball team has been practicing through-out the off season to improve their skills for another successful year. The season opens on Tuesday, November 29, at 7:30 pm against Benton High School at home. Until the open rivalry game, the boys are are practicing hard to ensure a victory. This time is also great for key players to nurse various injuries. “This is my first year playing Lafayette Basketball, but I can see all the varsity’s players potential and how hard they are working. I think this will be a good season for them,” Freshman Junior Varisty player Drew Cortez said. “We have very little experience but there’s a very hungry group of kids who were undefeated as JV players and who will work very

hard to main-tain the tradition of excel-lence at Lafay-ette,” Coach Neff said. “We are different because, this year everyone

on our team is buying in to the program and we will do whatever it takes to win,” Seinor Caleb Bates said. When asked what goals the team has set for this year Coach Neff replied, “We look to improve everyday as a team and hope to have the chance to compete for the conference and districts championships.” Sophomore, Billy Cook stated, “We have a chance to be good! We’ll be just as good as last year, and hopefully go even further.” This year the Lafayette High School Boys’ Basketball team has two past players returning to the VarsityTeam, seniors Derrick Babineaux and D’Andre Talton. “I have been extremely impressed with Derrick and D’Andre as they are making a difficult transition to our team after having been absent for a couple years each. They have brought a special amount of positive energy and attitude,” Coach Neff explained.# Player Height Year 2 Kenny Grant 5’ 10” 11 3 Derrick Babineaux 6’ 0” 12 5 D’Andre Talton 5’ 9” 12 10 Caleb Bates 5’ 9” 12 11 Xavier Kurth 6’ 2” 10 13 Austin Day 5’ 9” 11 14 Cody Massey 6’ 2” 10 20 D’Treal Stone 6’ 2” 11 22 Quante’ Ford 5’ 10” 11 24 Jacoby Hawkins 5’ 10” 12 30 Craig Curtis 6’ 2” 12 32 Curtis Hubbard 6’ 3” 10 33 Jeff Leeson 6’ 7” 11 34 John Lucas 6’ 1” 12 55 Billy Cook 6’ 1” 10

Head Coach: Chris Neff Assistants: Daryl Williams Cody Denton

Above: 2011-2012 Lady Irish Varsity Basketball Team

Page 07 The Light

November 30th, 2011SPORTS

The Lafayette High School Varsity Football season has been full of ups and downs. Not in the level of play, but in the end result. Many ex-plosive plays were made this season, but not all of the games ended with a win. The final game of the season was played against Lafayette’s cross-town rival Benton High School. Would the Fight-ing Irish be able to make a statement with a win to end the season? After much anticipa-tion the two rivals fi-nally met, and each team wanted to win just as bad as the other. The winner would get to hold bragging rights until next fall; when the two would meet once again. As most thrillers go, the game was close through-out. Neither team managed much of a lead. Benton struck first, but the Fighting Irish answered back on their first offensive drive. At the end of the first quarter, the game

was dead locked at 14. Lafayette scored twice in the second quarter, the Car-dinals only mustered one touchdown. At halftime, the Fighting Irish held the lead

with a score of 27-20. The Cardinals were not about to give up; the second half opened with Benton scoring two unanswered touchdowns. Down seven at the start of

the fourth quar-ter, Lafayette High School had to pull themselves together and jump start the offense all the while playing solid de-fense. The Irish showed what they were made of in the fourth quarter. The offense marched down the field to score the equaliz-ing touchdown, but it was called back on penalties. The LHS team scored once again. This touchdown was also called back due to penalties. For the third time, the Fighting Irish score on the drive. With under two minutes left in the game LHS scored to take the lead. The defense

faltered and allowed Ben-ton to score. If the Cardinals could make the extra point, the victory would be theirs. The extra point was blocked, and the game remained tied at 40. With under one minute left, Lafayette recieved the kick off. The offense preceded to march down the field to score the victorious touch-down. The team never gave up through the whole game, believing in the end they would be victors. They played hard and made big plays. The end result was a 46-40 win.This game did not only mark the end of the season for the Lafayette Irish Football Team, it marked the end of a coaching career. Coach Tim Nassen had officially coached his last game for the Fighting Irish. It was a very exciting game for him to go out on. “It was the craziest game I have ever been a part of,” stated Coach Nassen. Coach Nassen will carry on his duties as the athletic director at Lafayette. The impact this man made on not only his past and present players, but the students and staff at Lafayette High School as well, is outstanding!

Rivals Week, Coach’s Last Game!By: Andrew Murphy, Beat Writer, andrew.murphy@lhsirish.net

Coach Nassen with his O-Line: Left to Right: Preston Gregory, Bryce Denton, Mickinley Edmondson, Coach Nassen, Austin Drennan, Taylor Bryant, and Parker Joslin.

Page 08 The Light

November 30th, 2011 EXTRAS

Younglife has been a part of St. Joseph for 60 years now and this trip marked the 15th year going on a Phatdog excursion. The group typi-cally goes on a summer and fall trip. Fall trips are a way for the participants to learn what Younglife is all about. The past years they have gone to St. Louis, Branson, and Omaha, and all trips have been successful! This year they took two charter buses full of four Younglife leaders and twenty kids from Lafayette, Ben-ton, Central, Savannah, and Maryville, down to Dallas, Texas. They left at 11:00pm on Friday, November 11. It took eight hours to get there and once they arrived there were non-stop activities. All the leaders had big surprises for every participant to en-joy. All the surprises and activi-ties brought tons of excite-ment to everyone. Younglife had never been to Dallas be-fore, so it was even more excit-ing for the leaders. Members of Younglife, were

asked, before they left, about how they were getting ready for the trip. “I’m really excited

to go; this will be my first time ever going to Dallas, Texas and I’m glad I get to spend it with my friends. I’m always excited to go to the mall and get my

shopping on!” said sophomore, Bethann McAfee. The two charter buses pulled

up Sunday morning to unload all of the Younglife partici-pants. Everyone was worn out from the excitement of the weekend and the eight hour

trip to and from Dallas. The leaders and members came home with tons of souvenirs

and memories. When asked how the Dallas Younglife Trip went, sopho-more, Justin Le-derer answered, “I had so much fun; it was prob-ably one of the best weekends I have had. Kylee, Bethann, and I were with each other the whole time and had a lot of fun. It was great bonding time!” Junior, Stephen Wilds answered with, “It was fun, and I think the best part was when we got to learn this type

of square dance. Everyone got into it, and we had a lot of fun doing it.”

Younglife: PhatdogBy: Legend Milbourn, Beat Writer, legend.milbourn@lhsirish.org

Above: Young-Lifers on their way to Dallas, TX.

Page 09 The Light

November 30th, 2011 EXTRASLHS Speech and Debate Team

Prepares for SeasonEternity Felder, Beat Writer, eternity.felder@lhsirish.net

Lafayette High School’s Debate Team had their first tournament Friday, October 28 through Saturday, October 29. The team did fairly well for this being their first tour-nament. When interviewing Senior Megan Render, she explained just how well they

placed. “We placed third on the Duo piece, sixth in Story-telling, fourth in the Humor-ous piece, and sixth in the Scary Storytelling.” Also Ju-nior Brandon Landers placed at the Maryville tournament. So as a whole, the Lafayette High School Debate Team placed fifth.

Speech and Debate Roster

Bailey, LeannaBlack, JacobBurford, KelleyFelder, GaryGiles, DallasHuber, HannahJohnson, CrystalLanders, BrandenLawrence, MarkLewis, Brandon Malott, AndyMoser, LibertyNance-Wilkinson, Alae’shaRender, MeganSteidel, MalloryWilson, DelaneyWinsor, Nicholas

Arnold, TylerChurchill, KaseyErnst, MariahGreer Didlo, CheyanneHerrington, MadisonLarison, KelseyLawrence, MarkRender, Megan

Shahaden-Alvarez, BrennaSteidel, MalloryTaylor, SpencerWilson, Delaney When sponsor, Mr. David George was asked how he thought the team did in the tournament, he replied, “Pretty well for the first time out.” The Debate Team has another tournament coming up in Savannah where Mr. George infers, “We’ll do much better since there will be all novice against all novice.” Mr. George explained that a novice is a first time debater, since his whole team consist of “Rookies” this could be a serious advantage. Mal-lory Steidel had something to add about the upcoming tournament, “I know that in this upcoming event we’ll try our hardest and most impor-tantly, have fun.” After this tournament in Savannah, the debate team will not have anymore forthcoming tourna-ments until second semester.

Choir Continues to Note Excellence

By: Paula Valenzuela, Beat Writer, paula.valenzuela@lhsirish.net

This year Lafayette High School’s Choir has been pretty busy with concerts and competitions. For the first time in St. Joseph School District his-tory, MMEA (Missouri Mu-sic Educators Association) chose 13 Lafayette Choir

Students from Ms. Kim-berly Evans’s Choir Class to compete at All-Districts on Saturday, October 29th, 2011. Fellow classmate, senior, Kaitlin Bunse made it to State for the second year in a row. Lafayette High School’s Choir will be having a fundraiser, “Pride is Visible”, to raise money for their trip to MMEA in Tan-Tar-A. For more infor-mation visit the choir room and take a flyer. When

asked how she felt choir was going this year, Ms. Evans responded, “I feel like we are making prog-ress, working hard, and have big things coming.” Choir had a Fall Choir Concert Thursday, No-vember 3rd, 2011 in the

Lafayette High School Audito-rium. The con-cert was great! You can truly tell the par-ticipants have been working hard, and that LHS has a tal-ented choir. They will be having a Christ-mas (Winter) Concert in the Lafayette High

School Auditorium Mon-day, December 19th, 2011. Come and support the Irish Choir in their con-certs soon! A saying that Ms. Evans is always stating to her students using to inspire the Choir is, “If you feel stupid you are doing it right!”

Above: The Lafayette High School Speech and Debate Team take a moment for for a serious shot.

Below: Members of the Lafayette High School Concer Choir. This choir only makes up part of the group heading to Tan-Tar-A.

Page 10 The Light

November 30th, 2011 EXTRAS/CLUBS

Lafayette High School’s Bio-medical Club is an extended experience to explore medi-cal things that are not exposed to students in class. This year there will be an estimated 30 to 40 members, which is a higher amount of members then the previous year. Ms. Nicole Shi-

flett, science teacher at Lafayette High School, sponsors the club and makes sure that the par-ticipants have everything they need and more. Ms. Shiflett chose to take over the Biomedi-cal Club last year when Mrs. Trotter retired. This year, Mr. Nathan Arnold and Ms. Chelsea Shepherd will be helping with the club. The club meets once a month; they listen to speakers talk about their experience in the medical field. They also visit many places to identify what it would be like to work in certain areas. Some ven-ues they plan on touring this year include: Missouri Western State Uni-versity’s Nursing Department and Heartland Regional Medical Center. It is very important for the students to see what happens

in the careers they might have a future in. The members have an ambulance come to Lafayette High School, so they can witness what happens during an emer-gency. They also get to see how the ambulance itself looks. The importance of LHS’s Biomedi-cal Club is to get exposure to

careers in the medi-cal field and the employ-ment oppor-tunities within. In the spring, Biomed-ical Club is spon-sor-ing the

Blood Drive. After asking Ms. Nicole Shiflett what her favorite part of bio-medical Club is, she responded, “The Biomed Club was designed to do after school activities and field trips that we don’t get time for in class. I am really looking forward to visiting the Missouri Western State University Nurs-ing Department again this year. They let the students have good hands on opportunities.”

Biomedical Club Catches the Interest of Many Students

By: Katie Bourne, Beat Writer, katie.bourne@lhsirish.net

Lafayette High School Woodshop Club is where stu-dents that enjoy wood working can meet after school and craft cool stuff. The sponsor of the organization is Mr. Tom Toalson. Woodshop Club meets in room 5 every Tuesday and Thursday. Though it started a few weeks ago anyone is eli-gible to join today. Not only is wood-shop club good for kids who like wood working it is also a good character builder. Working with the wood and other materials to make something completely different is something that a few people could re-ally get interested in. Those people that do get interested can learn something that they can take with them out into the world. You learn

important things when your working on a piece of wood that could lead you to your future.There are actually contests that take place in the wood-shop class it self. Woodshop Club itself is open to any-one, even if you are not in the regular woodshop class. The club is think-ing about having a showing at the end of the year for the projects done by students.Mr. Toalson stated “[Woodshop Club] is meant for students to do fun activities. Students have to work hard to achieve what they want. It’s not easy; It entails a whole lot of hands on working. They’ll learn how to use the machines.” For more information about Woodshop Club talk to Mr. Tom Toalson in Room 5.

Woodshop Club Making Dust

By: Daniel Wooten, Writer, daniel.wooten@lhsirish.net

Above: Savannah Griswold helping a Lindberg Elementary student learn to love science in the BioMedical Club.

Below: Industrial Tech Students working on projects.

Page 11 The Light

November 30th, 2011 CLUBS

Dead Patriot Society, also known as DPS, is a group that is involved with history. This group has been going on for about 15 years at Lafayette High School with the help of sponsor, Mr. Derrick Frieling. Mr. Friel-ing is the sponsor of the group, but it is student based where only the students decide on what to do, but it has to be “as-sociated with history and it has to be fun,” or Mr. Frieling will not do it. There are over 100 kids involved in DPS, but not all of the students show up at once. They come when they are available. Events that are com-ing up during DPS is the trips to Jefferson City and the Pattee Museum. Most DPS members also have to work around their schedules with after school ac-tivities like football, cheerlead-ing, and soccer, or after school jobs. Some of the club members

that are involved with Dead Patriot Society:

DPS OFFICERSPresident- Haylee Nichols

Vice President- Grayson Bos-worth

Secretary- Kelly ProctorHistorian- James Henderson

Allan Jernigan

When asked if Mr. Frieling had anything else to add about this group he replied, “Whatever goes, and it is a come and go thing.” Which means that the participants of Dead Patriot’s Society can get creative and bring their ideas whenever they can.

Dead Patriot SocietyBy: DezStaney Felder, Beat Writer, dezstaney.felder@lhsirish.net

FBLA, which stands for, Future Business Leaders of America, is a new group add-ed at Lafayette High School. FBLA is a business organiza-tion for Irish students. The group’s goal is to incorporate business and education to-gether through innovative leadership and career de-velopment. FBLA’s spon-sors are Hannah Kasner and Amy Ryan, both are teachers at Lafayette High School. FBLA organizes community service projects, field trips, fundraisers, and social ac-tivities. A recent activity they sponsored was the Second Harvest Food Drive. They had the student body donate canned food the whole month of October. Parliamentarian of the club, Mark Lawrence, explained FBLA in his own words, “It’s a group where we learn things that help us become more successful. We volunteer and help the com-munity. We also have group discussions and plan group

activities. It’s very benefi-cial.” FBLA will be helping out their Gold Sponsor mem-ber Chick-Fil-A. They also have two other sponsors, the Salsa Dog and Bank Midwest. These sponsors were ac-quired by the intense dedica-tion of the FBLA members.

The Clubs Officers President: Mallory SteidelVice President: Emma Dun-canSecretary: Zac DotsonTreasurer: Taylor DotsonHistorian: Inessa HoodReporter: Megan RenderParliamentarian: Mark Law-rence

The members of FBLA would like to say, “We will soon be selling candles for the Christmas season and it would be a great way to spread the Christmas spirit.”

FBLA Set Their Sights for the Future

By: Eternity Felder, Beat Writer, eternity.felder@lhsirish.net

The Lafayette High School Art Club was created for stu-dents to take their creativity to the next level. They can choose what they want to do, and there are various projects par-ticpants are allowed to do. Art Club is full of creativity and support from their sponsors, Mrs. Wood and Ms. Root. Both

sponsors are Art Teachers here at Lafayette High School. The sponsors both enjoy the club because of the free food and countless laughs. They chose to sponsor Art Club because they are art faculty and they wanted people to know more about art then what is taught

in class. They want people who are imaginative and enjoy thinking outside the box. The Lafayette High School Art Club is for any student who likes to paint, draw, and cre-ate. The activities that are in-volved in Art Club are making jewelry, tie-dying shirts, and carving pumpkins for Pump-kin Fest. The members have also done paint murials for the military for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, the club has more members than the previous year. The total head count of Art club partici-pants is up 25- 30 members. The club also has a few special activities that they do through-out the year; they paint muri-als, compete in contests, and visit glass studios.

Art Club Paints a Better Tomorrow

By: Katie Bourne, Beat Writer, katie.bourne@lhsirish.net

Lafayette High School’s FC-CLA is a great opportunity for students to prepare for the multiple roles they can obtain in today’s society. FCCLA is Fam-ily Career Community Leaders of America, they face the future with warm courage and high hope. This organization helps in many way including: providing

op-por-tuni-ties for per-

sonal development and prepa-ration for adult life, promoting family and consumer sciences education, and announcing related occupations. The main purposes of FCCLA are to en-courage democracy through cooperative action in the home and community and to encour-age individual and group in-volvement in helping achieve global cooperation and harmo-ny. This is a new organization at Lafayette High School this year and anyone can join if they are in Mrs. Ginny Stone and/or Mrs. Selina Chappell’s classes. “You get what you get! The

more you put in it; the more you get out of it”, said sponsor, Mrs. Stone. FCCLA has helped pick up trash by the community river to walkway and have often gone to nursing home visits. Mrs. Chappel and Mrs. Stone’s child development, foods, material design, and marriage and family classes that are in FCCLA help the Second Harvest Food Bank by collecting cans throughout the year. There are organization meetings ever Monday after school. Family Career Com-munity Leaders of America is practicing for the ‘Star Event’. There is twenty different events they compete in such as job interviewing and working with children. A freshman in FC-CLA, Liberty Moser exclaimed, “It’s great! I like it a lot. You can hang with friends and learn to cook. At leadership class confer-ences you learn how to be a bet-ter person to people and your-self.” FCCLA participants are taught to face the future with warm courage and high hope.

FCCLA (Family Career Community Leader of America)By: Kayla Wegenka, Beat Writer, kayla.wegenka@lhsirish.org

Page 12 The Light

November 30th, 2011Back Page

In Loving Memory of Mason AdamsBy: Georgia Gunter, Beat Writer, georgia.gunter@lhsirish.net

April 18, 1994- November 15, 2010

Last year, a tragic accident happened; Lafayette High School lost a very important student who had made an enormous impact on our school. “Mason left behind the greatest legacy most people fall short or achieving; he made an imprint on every person’s heart he touched. He is one of the most amaz-ing people I have known. I think it is safe to say, others wanted to be more like him. Mason made the world, this

school, and our lives brighter,” Senior, Onna Farris said. As the date neared, one could feel the ten-sion of all the stu-dents and staff Ma-son Adams touched in his years here at Lafayette. Even after a year has passed, his friends, class-mates, and teachers still miss him dearly and will never forget him. “Mason was one of the greatest and funniest guys I’ve

ever known, and I will never forget him. I love you and miss you. Outlaws #24 ‘Ice’,” Senior, Jaden Wolf said. “I love and miss you Mase, you will always be my best friend and it isn’t the same with-out you. RIP Outlaws #24” Trevor McClain stated. On behalf of The Light Staff we would like to give our deepest sympathies to the people who were affected by this tragedy. We know the students and staff at Lafayette High School and many other individuals will always remember Mason fondly.

Ginny Stone (Up Right): She is married, but doesn’t have chil-dren. She has a lot of nieces and nephews though. Her favorite color is pink and her favorite food is Italian. Her favorite movie is Somewhere in Time. Some food items that Mrs. Stone’s cook-ing class will be cooking this year is: pancakes, muffins, biscuits and gravy, omelets, coffeecakes, pizza, stir fry, tacos, Thanksgiv-ing dinner, and Spagghetti dinner. “Everything is made from scratch,” said Mrs. Stone. Other things that the students will be doing is food competitions and also learn about nutrients and how to use equipment. Cody Denton (Up Lefft): He taught at Chillicothe. He is mar-ried but doesn’t have any kids. His favorite color is blue and pizza is his favorite food.Jean West (Middle Right): She is married and has four kids. Her favorite color is burgundy. Her favorite food is chicken and rice. Mrs. West’s favorite movie is Gladiator.Eric McDowell (Middle Left): Mr. McDowell is married and has three kids.He likes bright colors because he is color blind. His favorite food is anything and his favorite movie is Flesh.Randy Bougher (Middle Bottom): When asking if he was married he replied by saying “No, thank God.” He has one kid and his favorite color is red. Mr. Bougher’s favorite food is Mexi-can and his favorite type of movies are thrillers.Kat Wolters (Not Pictured): She is a very hard worker and does a good job keeping Lafayette maintained. Her co-workers enjoy working with her.Lori Miller (Lower Right): She is married with three children. Her favorite food is mac and cheese. She loves comedies and her fa- vorite color is blue. Matthew Griffith (Low-er Left): Mr. Griffith is not married and has no children. His favorite food is meatloaf. His favorite movie is Ordinary People. His favorite color is green.

New Teacher Spotlight ContinuedBy: DezStaney Felder, Beat Writer, dezstaney.felder@lhsirish.net