Girls Break Into Top Ten; Guys Place Seventeenth

By: Drema Johnson

            On Saturday, November 13, the Hancock County Cross Country teams competed in the KHSAA State Championship in Lexington, Kentucky. Leading for Hancock County, on the girl’s side, was Sydney Young, a seventh grader, placing fourteenth with a time of 20:03. Other finishers included Drema Johnson placing eighteenth with 20:28, Kensey Estes placing sixtieth with 21:52, Kelsey Rodgers placing ninety- ninth with 23:36, and Tanisha Johnson placing one-hundred and thirty- seventh with 25:32.

“The girls went out and ran like they should have on the weekend before.” Coach Wes Meserve stated. “Regardless, the team placed tenth overall, which was one of their goals for this season and an improvement from last year.”

           

“On the girl’s side,” Coach Anderson stated, “the pieces finally came together again, just like the race at Webster County where all five girls came together and did what they had to do. As for the boys, they performed just about how I expected them to.”

On the guy’s team, Cody Roach led for Hancock County placing nineteenth with a time of 17:13. Other finishers included Cody Inman placing ninety- sixth with 18:54, Cody Schroader placing one-hundred fourteenth with 19:12, Dylan Johnson placing one-hundred fifty-seventh with 20:08, Josh Daugherty placing one-hundred sixty-first with 20:17, and Bailey Terry placing one-hundred ninety- fourth with 22:22. The guy’s team placed seventeenth, which was also a slight improvement from last year.

             “I don’t really know what the guys were thinking when they were leading in the beginning of the race,” Coach Meserve stated. “We’re not a private school and I think they may have gotten a little bit too excited; however, both teams are young and slightly inexperienced, so it gives us something to work on next season. Overall, I am pleased with how the season turned out, and I’m encouraged for next year considering that we have almost everyone coming back for both squads.”

Roach Takes Regional Championship Title; Both Teams Headed to State

By: Drema Johnson

           

On Saturday, November 6th the Hancock County Cross Country Teams competed in the Class A Region 2 Championship meet. Some of the top teams in Class A, including Owensboro Catholic, Green County, and Hancock County, competed for regional honors. For the guy’s team, Cody Roach, a young sophomore, was the overall winner with a time of 17:19, beating the second place finisher, Michael Goedde of Owensboro Catholic, by 23 seconds. Other Hancock County finishers included Cody Inman finishing eighth with 18:16, Josh Daugherty seventeenth with 19:38, Cody Schroader eighteenth with 19:42, Austin Schadler twenty-third with 20:12, Dylan Johnson twenty-fourth with 20:18, and Chris Bertke thirty-fourth with 21:34.

“I was disappointed with the overall performance.” Coach Anderson stated. “I think the fact that we ran at two in the afternoon kind of messed up the runner’s times, but I still thought they could have done better.”

On the girl’s side, placing fifth and leading for Hancock County was Drema Johnson with a time of 21:16. Other finishers included Sydney Young placing sixth with 21:20, Kensey Estes tenth with 22:30, Kelsey Rodgers twelfth with 23:03, and Tanisha Johnson twenty-eighth with 27:07. 

           “Both teams placed where they were projected to.” Coach Wes Meserve stated. “I was disappointed with some of my mid-pack runners on the boy’s side, and I really don’t know what happened to the girls’ team. I do think we could have done better, but we still walked away with two regional runner-up trophies to put in the trophy case. In addition, Cody Roach proved that he was the best runner in the region and one of the best to ever compete for Hancock County.”

Are Senior Projects Really Beneficial?

By: Tabitha Scott

Many students say senior projects are a waste of time. The question is: Are those students right?

There really isn’t a simple answer to that question.  The truth is that it all depends on the individual student and how serious they take their senior project.  If they choose something challenging, the student can learn so much about the career they explore. They may even learn enough to decide if they actually want to pursue that career after graduating. On the other hand, if the student chooses something easy, they likely won’t learn anything and the entire project is a waste of their time and the adults that volunteer time to help.

Why Are They Helpful?

            Actually, senior projects are a great help for students that take their education and future serious. A senior project helps the senior decide if they want to go into the career they chose for their project. Rather than taking a year or more in college to decide they aren’t interested in a certain career, senior projects can help streamline the process, and save students time and money. Senior projects help make important decision before spending thousands on a career students may not really be interested in.

The Fun of the Product

            Creating the product is the best part of the whole project. This is where you get to actually experience what you would do in the career. For example, my career was commercial art and I painted a mural as my product. This was a great experience for me because I had never painted a mural before. It reinforced my beliefs that art is a major interest for me and pursuing a career in commercial art would be enjoyable.

Why Are They Important?

We are one of the only schools that have senior projects. Senior projects set this school and students apart from others.  This opportunity is a great chance for students to experience something other students can’t. These projects provide insight on careers that can’t be obtained without hands-on experiences.

Famous Art Museum Trip

By: Tabitha Scott

AP Art Studio students and Skills USA club members experienced an awesome opportunity to see art works from the most famous impressionist artist at the Frisk in Nashville on Wednesday November 17. Major artist displayed included: Degas, Monet, Manet and Chihuly.

Mrs. Sparks said, “You could see every brush stroke and the process the artist took to get to the finished product.”

Not only did the students get to tour the Frisk, they had the opportunity to visit the of the Parthenon replica. The structure is an exact recreation of what historians believe the original looked like during the height of the Greek empire.

Beautiful Creatures

By: Kayla Carrico

            Beautiful Creatures is 592 pages of mystery and suspense. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl will not let you put the book down. They keep you captivated and guessing and you feel a connection with the characters.

            Beautiful Creatures introduces you to the small southern town of Gatlin, where everyone is expected to have the same exact views and originality is frowned upon. Then enters Lena Duchannes; a young gothic girl coming to live with her crazy reclusive uncle who is nothing like the people of Gatlin.

            When Lena catches the attention of Ethan Wate both of their lives will change. Ethan feels connected to Lena but he can’t explain it. Add that to all of the weird things going on around town since Lena arrived and you get a story full of mystery and unanswered questions. Just when you figure one thing out something else is thrown right back at you.

            Beautiful Creatures is an incredible story that pulls you along in such a way that you cannot force yourself to put it down. Stohl and Garcia do such an excellent job of keeping you interested and building their characters that you feel a connection to them. This can only be contributed to the marvelous handiwork of the two authors.

If you want to take a walk into a world that seems so similar to your own, yet exceptionally different, into the world of Beautiful Creatures.

Book Review: "Hush, Hush"

By: Kayla Carrico

Hush, Hush, the first book written by author Becca Fitzpatrick debuted as a New York Times bestseller. Hush, Hush is amazingly well written. It is Good enough to capture the attention of even the most diehard vampire fan.

            Hush, Hush is the story of a high school student named Nora Grey. Nora’s life is completely normal until the day that Coach switches seats in biology and she has to sit by the incredibly mysterious Patch. Before this, Nora had never shown any interest in boys. She had a plan and they were not a part of it, but there was something different about Patch. He just seemed to draw her in.

            When unexplainable things begin to happen to Nora she’s not sure who she can trust. Patch seems to know everything about her. Nora Grey is being thrown into a battle as old as time itself, with fallen angels and many more mysterious happenings. The only thing left for Nora to do is decide which side she wants to be on.

            Hush, Hush is so well written because Becca Fitzpatrick makes you feel like you’re a part of the story. Nora’s battle becomes your battle as you feel the need to pick sides. She includes a mixture of everyday problems that all teenagers face, (including friends, school, and other teenage pressures) and it combines them into a world with a whole new perspective.

            Hush, Hush is new; it includes a fresh idea that also sticks to the popular genre of today. I think that it is wonderfully written and very unique. Although books of this nature have been written before, (those with angels and fallen angels), this novel has a new take. Becca Fitzpatrick took an old idea and put a new spin on it, she spent five years perfecting it and her hard work shows in her fantastic writing and her brilliant character development.

            If you’re looking for a good book to read, look no further. Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush is just what you’re looking for.

Hancock Does Well Despite Tough Competition

By: Drema Johnson

On Saturday October 23 the Hancock County Cross Country teams traveled to Owensboro to compete in the Apollo Invitational. Although the girls didn’t have a full team, they did exceptionally well. Leading for Hancock County was Drema Johnson. She placed third with a time of 21:29. Other finishers included Sydney Young placing eighth with 22:10, Kensey Estes placing fourteenth with 22:48, and Tanisha Johnson placing fiftieth with 29:13. 

“All of my runners exceeded my expectations,” Coach Wes Meserve stated. “This was a pretty hard course, so times weren’t the best, but the places were even better than they were projected to be. For them to go out and do as well as they did, I have to say that it was the best race that I’ve seen all season.

The varsity boys also did extremely well. Cody Roach led the race for Hancock County. He placed eighth with a time of 17:52. Other finishers included Cody Inman placing fifty- fourth with 20:30 and Josh Daugherty placing fifty- ninth with 20:54.

“I started out too fast, because I overheard some of the boys in my race talking about boxing me in.” Roach stated. “I knew I didn’t have many options so I just went for it.”

Just like varsity, middle school gave it their all, and in return got great results. The boys were led by Cody Schroader who placed fourth with a time of 15:14. Others included Austin Schadler sixth with 15:26, Dylan Johnson eighteenth with 16:16, Bailey Terry forty-eighth with 17:57, Bo Powers sixty- ninth with 18:47, Wesley Nevvitt seventieth with 18:47, and Jacob Young eighty-ninth with 20:19.

As far as the girl’s middle school, Kirsten Johnson led the race with 16:58 and Kelsey Rodgers placed eighth with 18:13.

“I’m very proud of my middle school runners as well.” Meserve stated. “A few of my boys were up there with some of the top runners in the state, and Kelsey proved just how far she has really come. Also, Kirsten, as a sixth grader, won her race beating some of the best middle schoolers in the state.”