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My Favorite Things: High School Classes

By: Addie Griffin

My classes this year are a mixture between fun and rigor. I have my top 3 hardest classes to start off my day and then my day gets a little easier from there. Today, I will be ranking my top 3 favorite classes.

To start off, my third favorite class is chemistry. Chemistry helps us understand how the world works. It shows us how everything is made up and how things combine to make up everything we see, touch, and use. Another reason I like chemistry is because Coach Mccord teaches you much more than just chemistry. He teaches you all about life and its lessons and makes you really think deeply about all kinds of things. We also do fun lab experiments and it is full of surprises. One time we did a lab and filled a balloon with hydrogen and held a flame to it. This reaction caused the balloon to burst into flames. This is why chemistry is one of my favorite classes.

To continue, my second favorite class is ceramics. I began taking this class my freshman year of high school and have loved it ever since. This class lets me show my creativity through using clay. I have made countless projects and have even made money from selling them. I also love to talk to Mrs. Brown about different things and get her opinions on my pieces. She gives us different projects to work on throughout the year and always is determined to challenge us in a fun way. She always tests my creative abilities and makes all of us work hard on our projects. This is why ceramics is one of my favorite classes.

Finally, my favorite class is Digital Media. In digital media, I get the opportunity to create videos and content with all of my friends. In this class we have a lot of freedom with what we can do and what content we would like to create. In this class my friends and I usually like to interview little kids and ask them funny questions. The freedom and creativity we get to have is what I enjoy the most about this class.

My Running Back take

By: Milling Galloway

Many people are not going to agree with my take, but it’s time I let the sports world hear it. When I first told a couple of my friends about it, I received a bunch of hate. As you can tell the man at the top of the screen is Jahmir Gibbs. He in my opinion is the best running back in the National Football League. Many may jump to conclusions. A lot of people think Saquon and Henry clearly are better. Although some stats show that, Gibbs is in a two back system and splits carries and still puts up stats that most single back fields could only dream for. This falls into my next part of my argument, David Montgomery is not an elite running back. He gets put in on goal line situations where of course he is going to score. You can clearly see that when he gets runs he just doesn’t have the touch. It could just be that he has gotten older. When Gibbs gets the carries he explodes for massive amounts of yards and touchdowns every game. His first quick steps and explosiveness gives him a clear edge on all running backs. His top end speed is also very exciting to watch, its mind blowing. He has the most touchdowns in the league and that is why. If he had the back field all to himself, I could easily see him rushing for the most yards and scoring the most. The Lions organization should really look into selling David and getting more horsepower for that Offensive line. I don’t really understand why this take gets so much hate. Henry has the best quarterback and offensive scheme. Barkley has the best Offensive line and great receivers. Gibbs only has a pretty good Offensive line. Every team keys in on him and still he puts up crazy numbers and crazy plays. I truly do think Gibbs is and will be the best in the League, just give him a couple of years he is only 22.The ceiling is so high for this young man and I am so excited to see what he will do in the future.

Why baseball is the hardest sport to go pro in

By: Benson Elmore

When you think of the hardest sport to go pro in, you might think of football, basketball, soccer, etc. In reality, the hardest sport to go pro in and be successful in is baseball. Baseball has many levels where you have to be very good to even make it to the next one. First you have to go through the Rookie leagues, which is where most rookies start out. Next you are sent through A, AA, and AAA, with each one being tougher than the last.These leagues also have MLB veterans that are recovering from injuries dominating, making your climb up the leagues even harder. It’s hard to move up because the competition is tough, and only a few players make it to the MLB. Many players spend years working their way up, dealing with injuries and pressure, and even then, it’s not guaranteed they’ll get called up. Making it to the big leagues is a long and tough road. There are many MLB prospects that do not live up to the hype, and eventually get forgotten about. Also, many people give up playing baseball professionally, because the pay that minor league players get is not liveable. There have been many times where players are working other jobs along with playing baseball. Also, there have been some players that have spoken on their experience in the minor leagues, where they speak about living in their car, due to the underwhelming pay. In other sports, like football, you are drafted, then sent to the league. I am not saying that it is not tough to get sent up from the practice squad, but it for sure is not half as hard as working up the farm system in the MLB. I feel the same way about basketball. These guys have to work their way up from the G-League or overseas, but the routes are pretty straight forward. In the MLB, you have to work so hard, just to get sent up and down and back and forth. There are so many draft picks that are super hyped up in the draft, and are lost in the minor leagues and never heard from again. Usually in the NFL, those huge draft busts are usually at least seen in games with the actual team, unlike many draft picks in the MLB. That is one of the reasons there are so many draft picks in the MLB compared to other sports. Also, the roster size is so much smaller than a football team for example. That is why I think that baseball is the harder sport to go pro in in today’s world.

My Favorite Drawings

By: Anna Kate Coker

Throughout my highschool years, I have taken Drawing classes including Drawing 1 freshman year, Drawing 2 sophomore year, Drawing 3 junior year and ultimately AP drawing this year. I have done different projects including graphite, colored pencil, and charcoal.

Sight

This graphite drawing illustrates the theme of sight. I took the reference photo of a boy covering his face but opening his hands slightly to where his eyes are the main part exposed. This choice leads the viewer to focus on his eyes. I used a blurred background to contrast with the detail on the face, making a dark ambiance surrounding him. I chose to use graphite for this project in order to keep the black, grey, and white color palette to make it feel dramatic.

Locker Room

This colored pencil drawing portrays a locker room, filled with basketball jerseys and shoes. When taking the reference picture, I put a brighter color filter over it, giving me the ability to make the original, dull picture a vivid and bright color complexity. This challenged me to blend opposite colors together to create a multicolored piece of artwork. I chose colored pencil for the medium in this drawing so I could have more options and colors on the spectrum.

Duke

This detailed colored pencil drawing pictures a Great Dane. I decided to choose to draw this in color so I could get all of the undertones of the dog’s fur. Using blues, reds, yellows, greens, and purples, I laid each color down in different spots creating dimension and layering to the black fur. I had to find the undertones I additionally added the background, giving it a blurred effect to keep the dog as the center focus.

Swimmer

I created “The Swimmer” to illustrate human movement in an active motion. The swimmer, portrayed through graphite, pushes through the water creating splashes and waves. This depicts this person gliding in the pool with the strength to pull himself forward. With every stretch the swimmer takes, the liquid moves equally. I contrasted the graphite with blue colored pencil to add more depth.

Best Super Bowl Performances In The Past

By: Lucy Buxton

It is no secret that this year’s halftime Super Bowl performance has been very controversial. Most people, Including me, don’t feel like it was that entertaining or good. That is just my opinion but I did think it was very repetitive and the halftime performances should be more of someone who sings, rather than a rapper. Maybe bring in a rapper to add along to the excitement but I don’t think that should be the whole show. I also like the older generations probably didn’t enjoy it because that’s not the kind of music most people that age listen to.

One of my personal favorite performers at the Super Bowl was Chris Stapleton. He didn’t perform during halftime but he did perform that National Anthem before. It was just beautiful. I think I have shown every one of my family members and friends the video of him singing it at least ten times. It was flawless and very classy. He didn’t try to put some weird “pop” twist to it like most people do in front of a crowd that big. He really just did as he always does and it left me and many others speechless and it’s no secret why. Just look it up.

Moving on. Katy Perry. Whether you love her or hate her you can’t ignore how iconic her performance was. She had props that were incredible, especially when she sang her hit “Roar” on top of a huge silver lion. All the songs had a completely different vibe but still kept people engaged. Another big thing was her backup dancers. They all had costumes to fir each song and all did cool moves that looked professional. This factor has been lacking in recent years. She also has some cool people to sing along with her that seemed to keep people on their toes. I’m playing the performance as I’m writing this and it doesn’t even compare to recent years, it simply puts them to shame. The whole time I’m thinking, How did she change so fast? During Kendrick Lamars, I was so underwhelmed. He stayed in the same outfit and with the same back up dancers that seemed to just walk around and follow him. The only cool thing he did was bring out Serena Williams. It was pretty underwhelming to me and all the people I watched it with.

All that to say, Let’s hope they up their game next year.

The Benefit of a Athlete Doing Plyometrics

By: Andrew Howle

To begin with, many people have little to no knowledge about plyometrics in sports and the vast benefits the exercises reap. The training consists of particularly jump training that advocates for explosiveness on the field. The training involves the rapid extension and contraction of the muscle that helps make quick movements on the sports field. The exercises are very helpful in sports such as football, track, tennis, soccer, and basketball. Many athletes typically start with basic exercise like pogo jumps and acceleration sprints.

I do the jump exercises to build my explosiveness in football and track. The movements are very useful and helpful in football when breaking down to make a tackle. It teaches you to chop your feet and pop the person in front of you using the drive from your whole body. Many people typically try to ankle bite, diving low on someone to tackle rather than rolling their hips into someone, extending their entire body into them. This helps prevent major injuries by having the correct tackling form on the field.

Also, I use the exercises to train my strides on track. This is beneficial when kicking out of blocks in races like the one-hundred-meter and two-hundred-meter dash. It teaches you to propel your body out, which helps you get a better start to the race. I also like to use plyometrics when jumping, especially during long jumps. It helps extend my leg muscles in mid-air, allowing me to land a farther jump in the sandpit. There are plenty more events in which this exercise could be helpful, such as hurdles, high jump, and triple jump. It is a great way to improve your athletic ability in your sport of choice. I highly recommend plyometrics to track athletes specifically.

To conclude, many athletes should bite the bullet and do plyometrics. It may seem dumb or strenuous at first. However, it is worth it for the athlete to take it seriously while training. I’m optimistic that it will improve their performance in the given sport. All the athlete has to do is give the training a chance, and they will reap the benefits.

Snow Day

By: Logan Mims

For this week’s blog I will be writing about the snow day. Since I live in Sumter, South Carolina, snow days are very few and far between. But when we do get a snow day, it is always so exciting and I can not wait to get out and play in the snow. The week prior the weather was saying we were going to have snow, but it ended up just being sleet so I was not very hopeful for this time either.

During school I was in fifth period and I looked outside and it was actually snowing real snowflakes, not just sleet like the week before. I was so excited. It was later in the afternoon and I just got out of basketball practice and I realized that the snow was not really sticking so I did not really expect anything exciting.

It was that night and I looked outside and snow was completely pouring down and it was piling up everywhere and it was actually sticking to the ground. I could not believe it.

I had my best friend over to spend the night and we got to stay up late watching shows on the TV because we knew we could sleep in the next day. I woke up around 9 AM and looked outside to see that snow was everywhere, at least 2 inches. I really could not believe it. I went back to sleep for a few hours and woke back up around 11 and my friend and I got dressed in warm clothes and went out to play in the snow. We ended up going to our family friend’s farm where we went sledding and rode the Ranger. It was completely freezing, but it was still so much fun. We were out there for a few hours until the snow began to melt and then we came home. My mom had made a soup so whe ate that and then we watched a movie to end the night.

Pokemon

By: Lottie Bynum

Pokemon’s popularity has ebbed and flowed during its time. With shows, movies, and games, the company has a wide range of audience from adults to young children. This year has been declared the year of the eevee/eeveelutions, a pokemon that has several different evolutions and is quite popular because of its cute appearance. With this declaration they have released special card packs with full art cards which can sell for over a thousand dollars, however due to the popularity of the cards many people have taken to buying as much as they can and reselling the cards for more than they have sold from if bought directly from the pokemon website. Some can double in price. Pokemon the company has commented on the bulk buyers and tried to crack down on them so consumers can buy their cards at fair prices. The wider child audience or casual collectors try to find fair prices during this time.

Some of the ways pokemon bulk buyers make so much money is that they buy the newest sets of cards out of all their local stores as well as on the pokemon website. While pokemon does say they are cracking down on bulk buyers their limit for the amount of the same packs bought is twenty-five. It is a limit but it’s still quite a lot for some people to buy. For example Pokemon Surging Sparks and Prismatic Evolutions, two recent packs, sell for over $5.30 and $10 versus what a regular price of $4.50 per pack.

People love pokemon and their continued interest drives bulk buyers because of the value of some of these cards. Old or new, cards can be valued over hundreds or thousands of dollars. For example an ungraded mega lucario can go for $55, or a full art card whether EX or just a full art can go for$ 50-70 or even over that cost. Foil art or reflective shiny cards are usually 32 cents a card, but that can build up over time amassing large sums of money.

My Favorite Things: Springtime

By: McKenzie Gray Mills

This week I’ll be talking about springtime at Wilson Hall. This is definitely my favorite time of the year. It is warm outside and there are so many fun things going on. Track season is at its peak. We have practice everyday and meets once a week. At the end of a hard practice on Friday we get popsicles. It’s such a rewarding treat.

Then spring break. Everyone from Wilson Hall goes to Litchfield. It is such a bonding experience. We go to the beach all day and play spike ball, tan, and swim in the ocean. My favorite activity is to play volleyball on the beach. We all make a huge circle and see how long we can keep it from hitting the ground.

The week after spring break is prom. This is the most stressful but fun night. You go to school for the day then rush to get ready. You take pictures for what feels like hours. Then go to dinner. The seniors have a sit down dinner. Next is the actual prom. The juniors decorate it to a certain theme and surprise the seniors. After prom you have about 30 minutes to change into more casual clothes and then go to breakfast. This is a fun tradition. Prom will always be a night to remember.

It’s also just fun to attend the baseball and soccer games. After a long day at school and track, then go home for a little then go to a game with all your friends. Getting food from the concessions and cheering on your friends. The stands are full of laughter.

Those are just a few of the reasons I love springtime. I’ll miss pretty much everything about Wilson hall. The things in the spring time I’ll cherish the most. From being in the sun all day with friends to ending the day with friends. In the spring the flowers bloom and it starts to warm up. This is just the preview of how summer will be.

Cats v Dogs Debate

By: Campbell Cromer

The never ending debate between dog lovers and cat lovers continues with which pet is better, dogs or cats. The answer is, it depends on personal preferences, lifestyle, and what you’re looking for in a pet.

Dogs are often known for their strong loyalty and affection towards their owners. They are known as “man’s best friend,” they thrive on companionship and form deep bonds with their owners. Dogs are very trainable and do great in tasks like fetching, guarding, or even providing their owners emotional support. Their energy makes them great for active people who enjoy outdoor activities like hiking and running. Many dog breeds also can be a security to homes, due to their protective nature. However, dogs require a lot of time and effort to own. They need regular walks, a lot of training as a puppy, grooming, and they need to have social interaction to remain happy and healthy.

Cats on the other hand,are known for their independence and being low maintenance. They’re best for people with busy lives, as they’re more than happy being alone for hours at a time. Cats are clean animals, and are trained to use litter boxes and they groom themselves regularly. Their playful yet calm personalities makes them excellent indoor pets, especially for people who live in apartments. Cats can also be loving, often cuddling up on your lap or purring to show that they are happy. However, they can be more antisocial compared to dogs, and their independence may not appeal to everyone.

Deciding between a dog and a cat comes down to your personality and life. If you’re looking for an active, loyal pet who lives off of attention and adventure, a dog will be your best choice. If you prefer a pet that’s independent, low-maintenance, and enjoys quieter owners, a cat could be the way to go.

Both dogs and cats bring a lot of joy and unique features to a home. Whether you walk into your house and are greeted by a happy dog or a purr, one thing will always remain: pets will always make your life better. It all comes down to which one fits your personal needs.