Liam HalawithMaroon Echoes Editor The Panther football team gave it their all last night under the bright Friday night lights. With the student section adorned in costumes and the players in white the final game of the season started.
The Panthers fought hard through to the very last seconds of the game. Running some of the best plays so far this season; making it a thrilling and emotional game from the beginning. In the end, the Panthers lost by three points, with Washington scoring a touchdown with only 12 seconds left on the clock. Giving the Panthers little time to try to take back the game, but they tried. With Junior WR Jack Johnson throwing a long ball as a final hail-mary play and the receiver just 30 yards from the endzone as the clock struck zero with a final score of 64-61. The Panthers close their season 17th in 3A rankings, less than 1 percent off of the Wild Card berth, which went to Oskaloosa. The first quarter of this epic battle was long and intense, lasting nearly 45 minutes with the teams grinding up and down the field for a total of 6 touchdowns in 12 minutes of play. The Demons started out with the first touchdown just 30 seconds after the clock started with a near 70-yard run to score and a 2 point conversion gave them a quick lead with 8-0. Just moments later MP answered with a breakout touchdown from #4 Chase Williamson, outrunning every Washington player on the field to score the Panthers first touchdown with the score 7-8. The Demons then scored a second touchdown landing them at 16-7. Tank RB Logan Bass then carried the ball into the endzone after breaking through the Demon defense leaving the score 14-16. For the third panther touchdown, Senior WR Rylan Seberg caught a long pass from Senior QB Brody bender carrying it into the endzone with the score 21-16. The Demons scored the final touchdown that quarter with the score 22-21 at the end of the first quarter! The second quarter started with both sides taking a breath with MP RB Jack Johnson Scoring the first touchdown of the quarter with six minutes on the clock the Panthers were up 28-22. The Demons then took back the lead by scoring two more touchdowns, giving them the lead at the half, 36-28. The Panthers came back strong after halftime with Logan Bass making a touchdown, with the score 35-36. The Demons responded with scored their only touchdown of the quarter, with the score 43-35. Then in a spectacular recovery, Rylan Seberg intercepted a pass meant for a Demon player and scored a touchdown leaving the panthers 41-43 at the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter let the genie out of the bottle. With the score close and postseason dreams on the line for both teams, they left everything on the field. A total of 7 touchdowns in the quarter made this a game with over 120 total points scored. The Demons scored first with 50-41, then MP’s own Logan Bass blasts through and makes a touchdown leaving the score 48-50. Logan Bass then makes another touchdown giving the Panthers 54-50 with 4:40 on the clock. Demons than take the ball and make a touchdown leaving the score 57-54. Logan Bass again in possession of the ball was able to run it down to the endzone with the touchdown, but was called back for a holding with 2:35 left. Brevin Wilson made the last Panther touchdown of the night with 1:34 left leaving the score 62-57 with the Panthers ahead. The story wasn’t over because the Panthers still had a fight on their hands, focusing all of their defensive might for the last minute and a half of the game. Again Washington came back and scored the last touchdown of the game; 64-61. With only 12 seconds on the clock and leaving the Panthers with no time for another touchdown. Head Panther Coach Shawn Striegel says that even though the Panthers didn’t win they still formed memories that will last a lifetime. Out under the lights, fighting to win all with their best friends. That is what really matters.
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Marshall FluhartyMaroon Echoes Reporter On Friday, October 25th, the MPCHS Robotics Team won the FIRST Tech Challenge, Lothal League Meet, at Central Lee High School. The robotics team, cleverly named the PantherBots, worked their way up the competition ladder in two per-side team event that required autonomous programming, direct driver control, and fast competition in the challenge ring. According to the team the robot itself isn’t easy to drive, especially when the drivers must alternate their position for each round. While the rules are complicated, getting everything to work right is the key to winning.
The PantherBots won four out of five matches, being teamed up with another team during each round. That caused them to create new strategies on the fly and plan new ways to win with other teams. Their achievement was impressive for the team because the little robot is incomplete, without autonomous modes. According to team member Tristen Davis, “It was surprising that we won. The robot wasn’t even completed, but we went into the ring and won almost every match.” Team members include: Melissa Alexander, Sean Brousseau, Tristen Davis, Christopher Dyar, Zachary Venghaus, Zerek Venghaus, and Jacob Simmons. All hoping to finish the robot soon to gain more points for their competition next week. Go Pantherbots! Marshall FluhartyMaroon Echoes Reporter On Tuesday, October 29th, MPCHS hosted a Mental Health Awareness Night in the high school library. Before a panel of health professionals there was a small fair of booths with information about mental health issues. Each booth had pamphlets of information and ways to contact help for those who need it. While each one has a different agency they were united in the cause of helping people with their mental health and substance abuse. The panelists are all specialists within the mental health community, ranging from physical health to substance abuse. Each one was eager to speak of their jobs and their knowledge on the topic at hand.
Candi Francis, founder of the Heart Correction Therapy Foundation, a faith-based therapy center, explained how she knows the struggles of having a child with mental health issues, and how it ignited her passion for her foundation. Chris Betsworth, a Specialist at Hillcrest Family Services, another a faith-based family-service clinic that strives to increase awareness, provides counseling, therapy, medical management, and crisis services. They help regardless of insurance coverage, said Betswroth. Dr. Sarah Ledger, Family Medicine Physician at Henry County Health Center; wants to support the community and works to identify depression during wellness checks all the time with children. Sometimes Ledger is the missing piece in the path young people need to better mental health. Jerry Lynn Bloom, a therapist at Young House family services, sees kids who have substance abuse problems, often related to mental health issues. She attempts to help the child and the family solve their financial and emotional problems. Jennifer Starr, the founder of the JBR Foundation started the foundation after her brother committed suicide. The goal of JBR is to help others with mental health issues so they don’t go through what her brother did. Ashlei Venghaus, is the MPCHS Guidance Counselor, explained that she was once an elementary school teacher, who saw young children with trauma all the time. She wanted to be the “good guy” for students, and becoming a counselor helped her achieve that. There were a few very deep and insightful questions asked of the panel. Such as what is anxiety? What is the definition and where is the line between anxiety and common worry? Many of the panelists said it involved the fact whether the worry was debilitating or not, whether it caused you to hyper-work or underwork. Another question was asked if bringing up the subject of suicide were going to put those thoughts in someone’s head. Betsworth speaks up first. “It is unequivocally untrue. It does not put those thoughts into someone’s head.” Mrs. Francis spoke her agreement as well. “If someone speaks about ending their lives, ask them if they have a plan,” Mrs. Venghaus followed up that “If they do, I usually follow them to their lockers or have one of my secretaries follow them while I call the emergency room or call their parents to make a plan to send the student there, for their own safety.” The panelists all had very interesting things to say about the topic of mental health, giving valuable insight into how to deal with someone you know who might have mental health issues. The panel is part of the Mount Pleasant community’s effort to improve the conversation around mental health and Trauma-Informed Care. Issabelle SanchezMaroon Echoes Reporter On October 18th, thirty eight members of the new Mt. Pleasant FFA group attended district conference in Clear Creek called Greenhand Fire Up. FFA members from all over the state converged on the district conference to meet with other representatives like themselves.
While at Clear Creek, district and state officers led four interactive workshops for first-year high schools offering this class. These workshops are also known as Green Hands. These Green Hands included a wide variety of life skills they were trying to promote to first-year FFA students, such as communication, balancing priorities and authenticity. They focused more on these “soft skills” because they feel that they are very important tools to allow them to be successful in anything they are a part of within high school and beyond. Iowa FFA President, Chandler Jahner, stated that the, “Greenhand Fire Up provides a chance for first-year high school members to get a sneak peek of the opportunities that FFA holds, and is a conference for members to meet and interact with state and district officers.” This local conference comes a few weeks before three MPCHS FFA members are set to go to the FFA National Convention on October 29th. They will return on Saturday, November 2nd and are expected to make a presentation to the school board about the trip during the next board meeting. The goal of FFA is to make a positive difference in students' lives by developing their life skills such as leadership, personal growth, and career success. This program is offered throughout the nation with more than 15,000 students enrolled in the program. Marshall FluhartyMaroon Echoes News Red Ribbon Week has been a tradition in schools across the country for decades. In our small town, it’s the final full week of October. Red Ribbon Week was started in 1985, as a tribute to the fallen DEA special agent Enrique Camerena. He was kidnapped on February 7th in Mexico while on the job, where he was tortured and killed after being found out by the drug traffickers he was tailing. In many ways, this has lead to what many of us now today.
Red Ribbon Week is a time to teach students to say it’s okay to say no to drugs, alcohol, and tobacco and give them a sense of awareness of the dangers of the products. Teachers will be playing videos made with famous figures, speaking of their “natural highs” and how they managed to stay away from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco by using their passions to drive them forward to greater things. Much of this week’s program can be found on the site, naturalhigh.org. Students will be watching personal commentaries during Advisory on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. Along videos student will be involved in activities and discussion questions to promote the awareness of personal decisions in their lives. “It was dancing. Just dancing and trying to reach my goals to keep me away from things like alcohol,” says Chelsie Hightower, a professional dancer who has appeared on television. She says she focused on her future success when asked about how she managed to stay away from drugs and alcohol. She speaks in great detail about her appreciation for dance and how it kept her from peer pressure and other toxicants in her life. “I wanna do what I saw when I was nine years old, I want to play baseball. I can’t be missing practice or getting DUI’s.” says professional baseball player Jeyson Heyward. He says that it was his dream to be a baseball player that drove him to avoid the mistakes of his peers. His dream was so powerful to him, the natural high from watching or playing, was enough for him. This week’s classroom discussions include questions relating students to the popular figures and their personal stories; such as ‘What is your personal high?’ and ‘Who do you look up to?’ Activities include talking to your fellow students, paying them compliments and writing down important things you’d like to do with your life in the future. All in an effort to promote self-awareness and show that drugs, alcohol, and tobacco do not have to be the answer to personal stress or peer pressure. Liam HalawithMaroon Echoes Editor With the smell of eggs in the air, band students filed into the dining hall of the United Methodist Church. They waited in line for muffins, breakfast casserole and fruit at the time practice usually starts around 7:15 in the morning. All of this to celebrate a very successful season for the Panther Marching Band, this year is known as The Children of Apollo.
Panther Marching Band Director, Jim DePriest handed out silly awards and read made-up biographies of the future lives of graduating seniors. They had fun reminiscing and laughing with each other after a phenomenal marching band season. During this season the band won their 32nd consecutive division 1 ranking at the state marching band competition in Muscatine. They earned first place in division 4A at the Clark County competition with caption awards for best color guard, percussion, and drum majors in division 4A with awards for best color guard and drum major overall. At the Monroe City competition, they won 2nd in class 4a. They also won awards for best visuals and color guard, 1st place indoor drumline, 2nd place parade, and 2nd place indoor color guard. Finally, at the Linn Mar competition, they won 6th place in 3A and an award for the best color guard. To celebrate an amazing season and a spectacular show Mr. DePreist, the band director, is sending a few things to NASA. Those include a community photo taken after All Bands Night, a copy of the music Mr. DePreist wrote, and a copy of the Clark County competition results. During All Bands Night, Mr. DePriest described the show and how it was developed and the ideas behind it. According to DePreist the main idea for this years’ show came from the words spoken by President John F. Kennedy at his inauguration, “Let the word go forth that the torch has been passed to a new generation born in this century, tempered by war and disciplined by peace.” These words were spoken to Mr. D’s Father’s generation and according to DePreist, it is time to pass the torch to a new generation. Mr. DePreist emphasized that we are “Only limited by the depth of our imagination and the length of our determination.” DePreist not only wanted to do the show to commemorate the moon landing, fifty years ago but to show how much our community aided in the moon landing and the space race. He cited a few examples. One included Dr. James VanAllen who graduated from MPCHS as valedictorian and his knowledge of the radiation belts that helped Apollo missions safely navigate to the moon. He also talked about astronaut Peggy Winston, the first female commander of the International Space Station, who graduated from Iowa Wesleyan University. The show comes to an end, The Children of Apollo are done for the year, and the practice fields lie bare. Although this doesn’t spell the end to the music; the Jazz, Symphonic and Concert bands are already warming up for their winter concert in December. Liam HalawithMaroon Echoes Editor On Friday, October 18th, the Mt. Pleasant High School group Alliance for Sustainability hosted a community cleanup at East Lake park. With a substantial turnout and an hour to clean up the park they set out in groups of three ready to beautify the park.
Many choose to come out and help because they believe we should take care of the environment. Senior Aroura Vansickel says, “There is no planet B.” Junior Olivia Larson, President of the Alliance for Sustainability, says that we need to, “Treat the earth with the same respect that she treats us.” Larson loved the turnout saying she hoped for more but enjoyed seeing people getting involved in the club, “Last Year we came up with a lot of plans, but it’s nice to see people out here involved in our club.” Larson is thankful for all of the local support, “The support from our community has really given us hope.” Larson, arranged the day with the Henry County Parks and Rec Office. The office provided trash bags and gloves for the cleanup. According to Larson the club has more events planned for this year. One is a closet cleanout, where they will be accepting clothing donations from the community and reselling them in an effort to raise money. They will also begin to sell recycled scrunchies at basketball games this year to raise funds for more environmental improvement efforts. This spring they hope to plant in a plot in the Mt. Pleasant Community Garden. Larson also wishes to dispel one misconception about Meatless Mondays, a program that would introduce a meatless choice in the school lunch line. Larson says, “It is only an option, regular menu options will still be available.” Liam HalawithMaroon Echoes Editor Last Friday night the Panthers showed their offensive ground attack with a final score of 35- 10 against the Fort Madison Bloodhounds.
The scoring started off early with Logan Bass carrying the ball into the endzone with six minutes left in the first quarter, leaving the Panthers with the lead early in the game with 7-0. After a missed catch in the endzone, Fort Madison made a 36-yard field goal, putting them on the board 7-3. Logan Bass carried the ball into the endzone a second time early in the second quarter pushing the Panthers to 14-3. Later that quarter with 40 seconds on the clock Bass again carried the ball across the line. Giving the Panthers a 28-3 lead at halftime. Both teams locked horns in the third quarter with both offence and defense grinding back and forth down the field with no scores. Then in the fourth quarter, the Panthers tried to put the lid on the barrel with one more touchdown leaving them with a solid lead against the Bloodhounds, at 35-3. The Panthers relaxed a little too soon with Fort Madison slipping in their first and only touchdown of the night with a minute and a half left on the clock. Final score 35-10. Brody Bender was 5-of-14, 59 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, but the night belonged to Loagan Bass with 21 carries, 164 yards, and 5 TDs. All that offensive power will come in handy in this week's showdown on the road against the Washington Demons, in their final regular season game. Isabelle SanchezMaroon Echoes Reporter Jude Beasley was born and raised here in Mt. Pleasant and is currently a junior at MPCHS. She takes pride in being a Panther, especially having her mom working here at the school.
“It's nice seeing her every day, I mean how can I not, it’s my mom!'' she says. Her mom is Mrs. Beasley, one of three Spanish teachers here at the high school. Jude is a member of The Panther Band and is active in many musical events where she plays the trombone. She says her interest in music sparked at a young age when going to different fairs with family and being amused by the instrument. Another program she is involved in is the Speech Team after school, and she says really enjoys it. When she’s not busy with school or band she spends her time drawing or playing Pokemon. She chooses to dedicate most of her time to her drawings because people offer to purchase her work. When Jude wants to get away and regroup she visits the Lincoln playground to swing on the swings, “It's where I go to relieve stress and anxiety; it’s calming,” she says. Jude’s preferences for a house pet is not your common dog or cat. She’s the lovely owner of a ball python named Sarah. She brought the reptile home when she was feeling low, so Sarah is very important to her. Jude is undecided about what she wants to do with her future but has many opportunities open to her. Raven CorderMaroon Echoes Columnist Using makeup can give you a confidence boost. Your face is a canvas. Using different colors and experimenting with different looks is fun. Putting your best face forward can help you start the day off with a positive outlook. When you first put your makeup on, you’re going to want to put a moisturizer on. What I have is a foundation brush. I pump two pumps on the foundation on the back of my hand. I take the brush and I dab it on my hand. I then take my brush and slowly rub it on my face. Make sure you get your chin, jawline, under your chin and jawline, and everywhere on your face. After all the product is on your face, take a beauty blender and gently pat it on your face where you put the product. After that, I take my concealer and put it under my eyes, on my nose, and anywhere there are pimples. I then take my beauty blender and kinda rub and pat it in. I take my baking powder and a brush for it, I put it under my eyes, and I leave it on there for a few minutes. While the powder is under my eyes, I then do my eyebrows. I shade my brows in where it needs a little help. After my brows, I take my baking brush and brush from under my eyes to my cheekbones until it’s blended in. After that, depending on if I want to use a shimmer or a color, I would use an eyeshadow primer to help that shimmer pop. I normally stick to one color but people who are more advanced use many colors. After my eyeshadow is finished, I curl my eyelashes. I then put mascara on and curl them again. After all of this is done, I take my highlighter and the highlighter brush and put it on my upper cheekbones and the tip of my nose. My makeup is finished after that, and I will shake my setting spray and spritz it all over my face. Don’t rush. Getting ready the right way is a great start to my day. Putting makeup on makes me feel good. |
Maroon Echoes StaffAdvisor- Ronnie Waggoner Archives
November 2020
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