Author Archives: emmahillmc

The People’s Choice

If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone at OHS say, “The same people get nominated every year,” I would have my college tuition paid for and probably be prepared to retire with dignity. It appears to be an almost universal feeling at Owensboro High School that anyone that either wins an election or gets nominated for homecoming is undeserving because they “win everything.” The way this problem is discussed people might think that this predicament has become an epidemic in all OHS elections. However, if someone really looked at the facts they would quickly discover that this complaint is both baseless and untrue for a variety of reasons.

First of all, the school has already done everything in its power to solve this problem. Student groups are not allowed to EVER nominate a candidate who has won anything before.

Student Council Treasurer and senior Josh Hicks says, “We try to get the most involved students, we typically nominate people that have not won a major title before and don’t get a lot of recognition.”

Since most elections are nominated in groups like National Honor Society and Student Council who follow these guidelines, it can hence be concluded that the same people actually are NOT voted on every year.

Of course the exception to this rule (which seems to be the catalyst for most complaints) is elections like prom court and senior superlatives. These are the rare cases where the entire school nominates for homecoming, prom courts, and superlatives. Usually, it is the same group of boys and girls on the ending ballots when this happens.

Unfortunately for the complainers out there, there is no big bad person to blame for this. Students vote for these candidates. Those people would not be chosen if their peers hadn’t overwhelmingly deemed them worthy. These students are also nominated for good reasons. Most nominees are very involved in extra-curricular activities and play huge leadership roles at OHS. If the student body felt they were undeserving, then they probably should have voted for someone else. For this reason, students have lost their right to complain because they refuse to exercise their vote to make a difference.

Senior Philip Lanz says, “When you look at the people who have won multiple awards, those are the people who have done most for the school. They have been involved, made good grades, and represented our school well. They deserve the awards they were given. ”

This issue is one of the many involving the dangerous mixture of complacency and complaining done throughout our school. It seems a good majority of the student body has taken it upon themselves to be vocally disappointed in the way things are handled but make no efforts to solve the problem. If students want to win school elections they should get involved and make the effort to earn the title. If OHS wants new representation it is time for them to vote in new way. It is time to start acting and quit complaining.

OHS Reaches New Heights at KUNA

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Co-Ed Y has been a hard working group at OHS for years. Their long hours and diligent commitment has never gotten much recognition. That is, until the 2013 KUNA conference this year. This year’s group has received more awards than any previous groups.

For those who don’t know, Co-Ed Y is an after school club that spends months preparing for two conferences: Kentucky Youth Assembly (KYA), and Kentucky United Nations Assembly (KUNA). Both conferences are run by the YMCA and allow middle and high school students the opportunity to participate in mock sessions of Congress and the United Nations Assmebly. Students are expected to present a bill at both events to be debated by other students from Kentucky and either passed or failed based on a majority vote.

“KUNA was such an amazing experience this year. Years before haven’t been that great, but this year everyone really put their all into it and you could tell by our energy and excitement throughout the conference how passionate about everything we really were this year. It was a great bonding experience and it was so much fun to see all of our hard work pay off,” says senior participant Madison Stuart

This year, Owensboro High School chose to represent Burma, a country whose struggles are closely tied to Owensboro because of the refugee shelter. Many people from Burma are fleeing persecution and one of the places they have sought refuge is in Owensboro. Their attendance at OHS has brought attention to the many issues the Burmese face.

Burmese people are often denied citizenship in their home country of Burma based on race and religion. OHS’s delegation wanted to stop this and created legislation that would allow stateless refugees citizenship in the United States that they had been denied in Burma.

IMG_3247OHS’s dramatic international stage performance, which included Madison Stuart, Elizabeth Gordon, Lookmee Mora, Kelsey Reese, Carmela Kelley, and Anna Caroline Brake was given the title of “Outstanding Performance” and was also selected by the Executive Director of the YMCA to be featured on their promotional video.

The proposal for Burmese Citizenship created and presented by Martha Hughes and Chandler Thompson received the award “Proposal of Excellence” and was passed by both the committee and summit with a strong majority.

Individual winners were Madison Stuart for “Outstanding Security Council Member,” and Mary Lewe for “Outstanding Ambassador.”

This year’s KUNA was incredibly successful for Owensboro High School. Several Burmese students went to the conference and had tons of fun.

Sha Ba Moo said to Mr. Bedingfield who is the advisor of Co-Ed Y, “next year, I want to speak at KUNA,” at the end of the experience.

Seniority is Dead

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Senior year is a coveted experience for all high school students. It seems the anticipation for this cherished time begins from the moment a student attends his or her first class at OHS. It is supposed to be a reward for three hard years of work: work that involves academics and work that involves appeasing the seniors.

Freshmen and sophomores have always been timid of upperclassmen. Most people remember their freshman year as a time to observe what the older kids did, and not participate. However, it seems there has been a significant change. Freshmen are walking the halls loud and proud, treating everyone as though THEY are the ones in charge.

“When I first got here everybody was really big in comparison to the middle school, so I tried to stay out of those scary senior boys’ way. Now it seems like the freshman are ready to prove how big they are. They have gotten much more assertive recently,” says junior Catherine Clark.

It seems this trend extends beyond the hallways. Freshmen in sports have always been expected to pacify the upperclassmen. This is includes picking up after practice, being respectful to seniors, and sacrificing seats on the bus.

Senior Taryn Lewis says, “When I started soccer my freshman year I was terrified of all of the seniors on the team! Every time they told me to pick up the equipment, I sprinted to the cones and flags and did whatever they told me to do. As the years have passed, the seniors have been getting less and less respect and now there is absolutely no respect for seniors anymore and I find it sad. Just because we aren’t as mean and demanding as the past seniors does not mean we don’t deserve respect from the underclassmen. I think it is ridiculous when you tell the underclassmen to do something and they just laugh in your face.”

Years ago, seniority played a vital role in the culture of Owensboro High School. 12th graders were respected by the underclassmen simply because it was the way things were done. Students understood their place in the ladder of importance and paid their dues all while knowing they would eventually receive the benefits when they became the upperclassmen.

“Underclassmen need to realize seniors have worked their butts off to get where they are and they aren’t going to let underclassmen boss them around or act like they are better than them.” Senior Austin Clark says.

However, the culture of earning respect has changed at OHS. Students of all grades walk the halls like they own the place as soon as they step foot in Owensboro High. It seems as though everyone has forgotten the significance of respect for seniors. Most importantly, it appears students have also forgotten that disrespecting upperclassmen as freshman will start a trend that continues into the underclassmen’s’ senior year.

In order for balance to be restored to OHS respect must be returned to seniors. If everyone wants the respect of “seniority” they must learn to earn it!

Fear the Fair-Weather

“Bandwagoners,” the mere mention of them boils the blood of sports fans everywhere. If a national survey were done in which people were asked to identify themselves as a bandwagon or die-hard fan the results would most certainly indicate that “bandwagoners” were extinct.

However, these fair weather fans exist EVERYWHERE. You can spot them in literally ANY public place you go. It seems their identity has been so tainted with hatred from faithful sports fans that not a single “bandwagoner” will admit to the true nature of their fan-ship.

Regardless, these “fair-weather fans” exist, and they are frustrating die-hards fans everywhere.

Bandwagon fans arrive in eras. The Big Blue Nation of the University of Kentucky is a perfect example of fair-weather fans. Last year when Kentucky claimed their 8th National Championship the blue and white was everywhere one turned. “Fear the Brow” and “No. 1 Greater” shirts practically overpopulated the city of Owensboro.

Now in 2013, with last year’s starting players in the NBA and the success of the Cats at an all time low for John Calipari, it seems the once thriving Big Blue Nation has diminished. What happened? Did they all die in a mass UK fan club accident? Or, did they all decide that they would rather cheer for a basketball team with more success in 2013? Well judging by the apparent lack of deaths in the Big Blue Nation one can logically conclude that the majority of people only “bleed blue” when UK is at the top of the NCAA ranks.

“Most UK Fans are fake, everyone jumped on the bandwagon because Calipari came in. Nobody cared about UK before they started winning. Now that they are unranked no one cares. Its so annoying,” says Senior Jordan Mayer.

Of course, the University of Kentucky isn’t the only school with this particular breed of fans. The Louisville Cardinals have plenty of “bandwagoners” to complain about as well. 2 years ago you could see maybe 2 or 3 U of L flags hanging from front porches. Today, however, they are everywhere! Hmm, what happened? Did these Cards fans lose this gear in their attics? Did they just so happen to find them 2 weeks before the final four games in 2012? Or, does L1C4 really stand for “Louisville First Cards For the Fair-weather?”

Of course, how could anyone forget the infamous “Crimson Tide of Owensboro!” It seems that the University of Alabama’s symbol has found its way onto the majority of Kentuckians t-shirts and hoodies. But how? Alabama does not border Kentucky? The university is not a top college choice of Owensboro students. Somehow these fans have still exist in great numbers over the past 3 years. What could the reason be?

Senior Philip Lanz has an idea stating, “The number of people saying ‘Roll Tide’ the week of the national championship always is annoying to loyal fans of teams”

Perhaps he is right. Perhaps it was the Crimson Tide’s back to back national championships that lead these fair-weather fans to chant “Roll Tide Roll” 6 hours away from Bryant Denny Stadium.

Of course there are true fans of every team. Not every UK, Louisville, and Alabama fan is a “bandwagoner.” However, in Owensboro Kentucky it seems that these fair-weather fans grow in numbers every day and show no signs of ever leaving us.

Fun Apocalypse

On the cover of the 1973-1974 OHS Yearbook words like hangover, pornography, and marijuana are printed. Imagine such scandalous words on a school-sponsored publication! Weren’t societal rules stricter back in the 70s? The mere thought of “dirty” words such as those being accepted by the current OHS administration is inconceivable, especially in light of recent events.

In December, school leaders decided to cancel Singing Valentines, a greatly anticipated OHS tradition. The decision was announced to the Student Council, which puts on the fundraiser each year. It was explained that the cancellation was done to limit class interruptions as a result of last year’s low EOC scores.

Additionally, OHS’ vibrant student section at basketball games has been curtailed. Following the Apollo game on January 11th, where students dressed as farmers, cows and a random banana, several students were reprimanded post-game for offending AHS. Those students were told that dressing in a manner that could upset other schools or directing cheers at specific people is now forbidden.

While it is important to safeguard instructional time and maintain the positive reputation OHS has built through appropriate demonstrations of spirit, such action should not be taken without consideration for the morale of the student body. After all, Owensboro’s “tradition of excellence” is deeply rooted in a fierce love for red devil pride. Though recognition for academic excellence is important to students as well, such loyalty will not exist from an environment that is all work and no play. Students love OHS because of the companionship they find within its halls. Red Devils laugh together, scream together, and cheer together. As the most diverse school in town, Owensboro High has remained unified not because of similar backgrounds and interests but because of the bond that has developed in rowdy student sections and the occasional instructional interruption.

Nobody at OHS wants to be classified by low-test scores and tasteless public displays. The students of Owensboro have no desire to bring shame to the high school they love. Red Devils believe in themselves and carry the pride of the red and black everywhere they go. However, when their cheers are stifled and they are shuffled from class to class without a break from the monotony, the spirit begins to fade. Teenagers are not meant for perfection. The most exciting part of youth is the unplanned and pointless fun that can be created from nothing.

Singing Valentines were important because they brought classes together. They allowed time for students to embrace a moment of silliness amidst the endless third nine weeks. Though adults might see the lip-syncing as unnecessary and silly, these valentines were more than just class interruptions. They served as a reminder of the unity that defines OHS. It didn’t matter that the students singing and the students watching had little to nothing in common. For 2 minutes everyone laughed together. How often does that happen in a class of 30? A 2-minute period where all students are focused on the same thing and cracking up together as a family?

At the same time, student sections have significant value as well. Students can find themselves amidst a crowd of familiar faces dressed in red and black on Tuesday and Friday nights. Cheering for the Red Devils is one of the major ways OHS comes together. They scream for last minute three-pointers as one, they boo questionable calls as a unit, and they chant, “go mighty devils” with one voice. Owensboro may not be the biggest or richest school in town. We are however, the proudest. If rules and regulations for spirit become too strict this family’s cries for victory will be quieted down to whispers. The athletes of Owensboro deserve better support. A nice new facility means nothing if the entire student body cannot enjoy it to its full potential without fear of reprimand.

OHS is a school based upon tradition. Academic excellence is of the utmost importance but it cannot stand alone. School pride and unity are just as important as test scores. While one does not out-weigh the other it is important for both students and administration alike to remember what being a part of Owensboro High School really means. It involves not only succeeding on paper but also making memories with classmates and friends. High School students are on an important journey and their trip into the real world should not be without memories of harmless fun.

No More Singing Valentines: Where is the Love?

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Owensboro High School has always been a school based on tradition. A major part of that tradition is due to the repetition of signature “OHS” activities. One of the most beloved of these events has been the Singing Valentines fundraiser presented by members of student council every February.

The excitement they bring to the school is electric. One can feel the anticipation of the underclassmen waiting to be serenaded. One can hear the giggles of students recounting what valentines they’ve received in the hallways. It is truly one of the most exciting activities that OHS has to offer. However, this tradition is about to be broken.

This year it has been decided that the student council will not be hosting this event due to class interruptions. While it is understandable that Singing Valentines pose a distraction to learning, it is a very difficult pill for the students of OHS to swallow. This event has been a major stitch in the fabric of OHS’s tradition.

“Singing Valentines has been something that I look forward to every year,” says senior performer Susan Parker. “ I absolutely hate to see it go. I feel like it has been a part of OHS’ tradition for so long. It’s very upsetting that I only got to participate once when I’ve always envisioned Singing Valentines as an major part of my senior year.”

It has been rumored that the administration has decided that due to low-test scores class time should go uninterrupted to better the learning environment. While it is clear that something must be done to improve the success of OHS’ students on standardized testing, the answer is not in removing a significant event that is so highly anticipated.

Singing Valentines may interrupt classes but at a maximum of 15 minutes a class period. Even if a student experienced the most distraction possible they would only lose one out of six hours of instruction a day.

Additionally, Singing Valentines only last two days. That is 2 hours of class interruption for the entire year. It is highly unlikely that in those 2 hours students of OHS would learn enough to increase test scores by any significant amount. It is extremely difficult to state that getting rid of Singing Valentines would be worth removing such a crucial activity.

These Valentines bring so much excitement that they unite the people of OHS. It is a time that students walk the halls laughing about dancing skills instead of arguing over pointless drama and issues at home.

Ryan Morales, the president of Student Council, said, “I completely disagree with the decision of the OPS Board. Singing valentines is a tradition and something all Owensboro students look forward to throughout the year. It’s a shame that the freshmen won’t get to experience this tradition. I hope this helps our tests scores because it will come at a great cost.”

The students of OHS have always being understanding of administrative decisions. However, Singing Valentines is something of a completely different caliber. Owensboro High School’s morale will most certainly be damaged by the removal of this much loved tradition.