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Every End has a New Beginning…
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Written by Kelsie Felton
For seniors, class colors, song, motto, and flower are a very important feature to conclude their high school career. They’re important because it gives the graduates something to look back on and reminisce on the good time that they’ve had.
The class of 2012 at Brooke High School carried on the tradition. The class voted 2 weeks ago and their selections were announced a week later.
Colors: purple and silver
Song: “Good Life” by One Republic
Flower: white rose, which symbolizes new beginnings and also farewell.
Class motto: ”As long as we have memories, yesterday remains. As long as we have hope, tomorrow awaits.” – Anonymous
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Madrigal Holds Benefit Concert
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Written by Kameron Miller, Journalist
This week at Brooke High School, the Madrigal Choir is holding a benefit concert at the school during 8th period. The money raised will be put towards the choir’s trip to Rome in June. Each student going to Rome must raise $3000. The bands that were supposed to play were White Nail, Go Home Rocketman, and Chaos Killed and each band was supposed to play for about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, Chaos Killed and Go Home Rocketman have prior commitments and will not be attending the benefit. Instead, Jessica Kuna will be playing a few songs and White Nail will be playing for about an hour.
I interviewed Brice Hickey, the drummer for White Nail and asked him a few questions about the show. His reply was, “I am looking forward to the show. I am very excited to play in front of my friends and peers. I am also very excited to get back on stage and perform. I feel like we have improved a lot since our last performance at Brooke High and I am hoping everyone else feels the same. I am hoping for a good turn out and I hope everyone is ready for a great show.”
I also interviewed Jake Westling, a singer in the choir and also the singer for While Nail. He said, “The choir hopes to sell out and make $3000 to split between the members who are attending the trip to Rome. I think that the students will have an amazing time at the concert; all the bands are awesome. I am definitely looking forward to performing. I love performing in general and the school has been an excellent audience in the past. I would also like to thank Jessica Kuna for organizing the concert and thank you to everyone who is coming to support the Madrigal Choir.”
Members of the Madrigal Choir have been selling tickets during both lunches outside of the music department hallway. Tickets are $5.00 and have been on sale for the past few weeks. They will be selling the tickets until the day of the show on Thursday.
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Lady Bruins Basketball in Action
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Written by Brice Hickey, Sports Journalist
The girl’s basketball team has had a bit of a rough year, but the girls are trying their best to get the season back on track. Standing in their way this past week were John Marshall andMorgantown.
The Lady Bruins faced a tough John Marshall squad last Tuesday, and while they played tough in the first half, John Marshall eventually ran away with the game, winning by the score of 72-34.
The Bruin force was led by freshman Angela Staffelino’s 18 points, 11 of which came in the second quarter. Kelsey Welsh added 7 points, and Kirsten Minger had 5 of her own. The Bruins committed 23 turnovers in the lopsided loss.
On Saturday, the Bruins hosted the Morgantown Mohigans. The Bruins had a slow start, trailing by 29 at halftime. The final score of 87-40 dropped the Bruins to a 2-11 record on the season. Kelsey Welsh had 8 points, and Marena Cline and Michaela HInerman added seven points each in the loss.
The Lady Bruins will face a strong University squad on Tuesday.
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The L Word
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Written by Lindsey Willis, Staff Writter
Sara Shepard, author of the bestselling book series Pretty Little Liars, announced in January of 2010 that her next book series would be entitled The Lying Game. The Lying Game is the first in a series of four books about twin sisters separated at birth. Emma Paxton discovers she has a long lost twin, Sutton Mercer, due to a video posted on the web. She messages her sister and they plan to meet; however, Emma has no idea what she has agreed to.
Emma arrives in time to meet Sutton, but the only person she meets is a stranger on a walking trail. After several hours, Sutton’s friends mistake Emma for her sister. They drag her along to a party, where she plays the part of Sutton very well. As the party subsides, Charlotte offers Emma a ride home; she accepts and goes home. Emma tries to tell Sutton’s parents the truth about who she is, but unfortunately they think she’s just making it up.
Emma soon uncovers the truth about why he sister never showed; Sutton is dead. With no one believing her, not even the police, Emma must keep up the role of Sutton. Emma begins to realize that her and her sister couldn’t be any more different. Luckily, not even Sutton’s closest friends notice something is wrong.
In February 2011, ABC Family green-lighted the series; the network ordered 10 episodes. After the premiere, on August 15, 2011, ABC Family ordered 10 more episodes. The first episode racked in 1.39 million viewers, and as the show went on, ratings started to increase.
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What’s coming to Theaters: February 2012
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This February, get ready for some “heart” stopping films. If you prefer to play Valentine’s Day safe, The Vow, The Secret World of Arrietty, and Chronicle are great choices. For those who feel a bit riskier, The Woman in Black and The Innkeepers should be something to see.
Title: The Woman in Black
Opening Day: February 3rd
Rating: PG-13
Company: CBS Films
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer, Shaun Dooley, David Burke
Brief description: A young lawyer, grieved by the loss of his wife, is sent to a far off town to sort out a recent death. Everyone in the town seems to be hiding something. He soon learns that the house of his client is haunted by none other than the Woman in Black. The Woman in Black has lost something or someone and is continually searching for it/them. No one is safe from her vengeance.
Title: The Vow
Opening Day: February 10th
Rating: PG-13
Company: Screen Gems
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Scott Speedman, Jessica Lange, Sam Neill
Brief description: The Vow is based on a true story. A loving couple gets into a wreck. They both live, but she has lost her memory. Her husband now must try to win her once again. Can they truly be happy again?
Title: The Innkeepers
Opening Day: February 3rd
Rating: R
Company: Dark Sky Films
Starring: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, George Riddle
Brief description: There are only two employees that are still working at a haunted hotel. It’s about to be demolished, but all of a sudden old guests check in with strange requests. It’s up to them to solve the mystery. As they learn new things they must come to terms with reality and the paranormal.
Title: The Secret World of Arrietty
Opening Day: February 17th
Rating: no higher than PG
Company: Walt Disney Pictures
Brief description: In the nooks and crannies of your home are little people that only surface to take things they need to live. Things are simple until one little person named Arrietty meets a boy named Shawn. They soon become close friends, but this friendship could put both of their families in danger.
Title: Chronicle
Opening Day: February 3rd
Rating: PG-13
Company: 20th Century Fox
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Dane DeHaan, Michael Kelly, Ashley Hinshaw, Alex Russell
Brief description: Some high school teens make an interesting discovery that causes them to develop incredible powers. All starts out hunky dory, they are still the same kids they just have powers. But, as they learn the extent of what they can do they start giving in to dark desires.
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Bruins Begin Second Half of Season with a Win
Photo Credit: Ali Crawford
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Written by Joshua Yost, Sports Editor
The Brooke Bruins boy’s basketball team took on Oak Glen Golden Bears on Tuesday and exited the gymnasium with a 58-45 victory over Oak Glen taking their record to 4-7 for the season. The game, originally scheduled to be played at Oak Glen, was played in front of a small crowd due to Brooke’s swim team having OVAC qualifying rounds at the same time.
Before the game, Brooke forward Hunter Wallace was warming up with the coaches by practicing his jab-step dribble-drive. In previous games, Wallace struggled when attacking the rim from beyond the arc, however in this game he found his mark on his only attempt at the shot, flying by the defender right side and lunging over another defender for the lay-up. Wallace started the game as the team’s sixth man, but finished the game leading the team in points with 13 and rebounds with nine, while also accumulating two assists and two steals.
His value came largely in the fourth quarter, when he grabbed four of the Bruins’s nine rebounds in the quarter and eight of the team’s 15 points. Of the Bruins 29 rebounds, 16 were offensive as they crashed the boards hard against their opponent. Wallace had six of those offensive rebounds, and the man in the middle whom Wallace split time with, junior Jesse Gambellin, had four offensive rebounds out of his six for the game. All four of Jesse’s came in the first quarter.
The Bruins rebounding margin played a big factor in the game, as Oak Glen finished with just 21 rebounds, and of those rebounds only eight were offensive. The Bruins were able to box out, and hold their opponents off the offensive glass for the first time this year. Defense’s biggest mark on the game was in the turnover bout, where the Bruins forced 18 turnovers from the Golden Bears against only nine turnovers from their team.
In terms of offensive firepower, the Bruins seemed fueled by the attacking the rim at every occasion. Second to Wallace in scoring were two big men, Gambellin and senior Nick Breen each with nine points. Vinny Pizzuti followed along with eight points, and Russell Schwertfeger had seven. Commonly the star player for the Bruins, Eric Johnson had only four points and three rebounds, he also had one blocked shot.
Schwertfeger and Breen were instructed to run the offense which placed Gambellin or Wallace into the low-post with a clear chance at the rim. Due to the new play call and the increased chances with finishing at the rim, the two finished tied for the lead in assists with six each. They each also had a blocked shot, as did Jesse Gambellin. When Oak Glen realized how the play was run and attempted to attack it at the finishing point doubling up Wallace or Gambellin, they would make the easy pass out which would be rotated around for an outside shot. Pizzuti and Breen would often receive a pass from Schwertfeger at the top of the key and land the shot either from three point land or just inside the arc. Breen and Schwertfeger also showed off their ability to take charge, attacking the rim with force to try to catch their defenders flat-footed.
The Bruins weren’t the only team on the court to do anything significant. The Golden Bears fought valiantly against the aggressive attacks of the Bruins. They were led by point guard, Hissam, with 18 points. Hissam also finished with two rebounds and two assists. The big man in the middle for the Golden Bears, McGraw, capitalized on early mistakes by Wallace and Gambellin to finish the game with 10 points of his own, eight of which came in the first half alone. Free throws played a major part in the entire game, as early in the first half the Bruins fouled into the bonus and eventually the double bonus. This kept the Golden Bears in it, and supplied 12 of their points. McGraw also had five rebounds in the game.
In the end, the Bruins prevailed with a convincing win and now must prepare for a difficult game Friday at home against the John Marshall Monarchs. The Monarchs lost at John Marshall 72-62 to the Bruins in the first meeting, with Johnson, Breen, and Schwertfeger scoring in double-digits. Johnson’s first game against John Marshall he scored 26 points, six rebounds, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot. The Monarchs star was sophomore Tanner Filben, who scored 25 point and finished with one rebound, one assist, and three steals while also never turning the ball over. The final meeting is sure to produce some fireworks between the two squads. Saturday, the Bruins will play at home again against Parkersburg South, the first game between the two was cancelled due to severe weather conditions.
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Brooke Boys Fall to 3-7 with Loss to Wheeling Park
Photo Credit: Ali Crawford
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Written by Joshua Yost, Sports Editor
Tuesday evening, the Brooke boy’s basketball team took the court against the Wheeling Park Patriots in the Park. Wearing the gold uniforms, the team fought to keep the game close, however fell short in the second half and never recaptured momentum eventually losing 97-65.
The game began with a quick run up the court and a 3-0 lead for the Bruins, but it quickly changed to a 10-3 lead forWheelingPark. The Patriots began to become lackadaisical and allowed the Bruins to charge forward for a comeback that took the game to 15-12 in favor of the Patriots with only a couple of minutes remaining in the first quarter. The momentum swung into Park’s favor permanently at that point when Nick Breen passed from the low-post to junior Ryan Heaton at the rim. With the opening, Heaton faked the shot then passed out to the elbow to junior star Eric Johnson. Johnson’s shot banged off the back of the rim, and was rebounded by Park defender Errin Baynes. Park used that momentum to go on a run, ending the first quarter with a 21-12 lead.
For the game, Baynes ended with the best all-around effort of the Patriots team. Baynes had nine points, nine rebounds, one steal, one block, and seven assists with most coming in the second quarter when the Patriots went on a run where star Boo Lathon hit three pointers every trip down the court. The Bruins were unable to defend the Patriots play in which two larger players would screen down for shooters on the post. The forwards who threw the pick would post up against their defender as the shooters flew to the wing. The pass went right to Boo Lathon four of five times the play was ran. Lathon would then face his defender and jump over them hitting a three point shot dead on.
At the end of the game, Boo Lathon led the team with 26 points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and amazingly only one turnover. Lathon dominated the Bruins defenders with mid-to-long range jump shots. In the fourth quarter, the Patriots pulled Lathon to avoid risking injury. At that point Andrew Kowalo took control alongside sophomore Luke Saseen, with the two combining for 20 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Saseen also had one steal and one block in the affair, proving to be one of the key pieces to this Patriot team. Following Lathon in scoring were Saseen with his 15 points individually, then Na’Kwaun Phillips with 12 points, five rebounds, and one assist.
As for the Bruins, the team was led by the junior superstar forward Eric Johnson. Johnson finished the game with 18 points, two rebounds, four assists, and three steals. The all-around effort of Johnson seemed to be a good game on the stat sheet, however, Johnson was streaky with his shot and only performed at a high level at times. Otherwise Johnson seemed invisible on the court, and struggled at times defending his man. Behind Johnson was another junior Ryan Heaton, he finished with 10 points and just one rebound. Sophomore sensation Russell Schwertfeger was a factor in his time on the court, having seven points and four assists, as well as only having one turnover. Schwertfeger however injured his leg down the stretch, and finished the game without making as much impact as he had the potential to. Seniors played an important part of the game, with Vinny Pizzuti leading the charge for nine points, two rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Following him was Nick Breen, who spent most of the game on the court defending Boo Lathon and the bestplayersParkhad to offer. Breen played admirably on defense, and ended the game with just four points, three rebounds, three assists, and one steal. However, leading the offense he only had one turnover, and enjoyed success on the defensive end. The final senior, getting big playing time for the first time this season, was Brian Gialluco, who had a season-high six points and one turnover. Gialluco spent a majority of the game on the court as the defender on Errin Baynes as the fill-in for Schwertfeger.
With the loss, the Bruins have fallen to 3-7 on the season. The Friday game against Parkersburg South inParkersburgwas cancelled due to severe weather. The Bruins play next on Tuesday, away at Oak Glen. The season has had its ups and downs, and now is featuring a downward stretch. The Bruins believe they can get it back on track, though, and are anticipating an exciting second half to their season.
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Are Eight Exams Too Much for Students?
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Written by Brice Hickey, Journalist
I think we can all agree that the new school schedule brought many new changes to students’ work and study habits. However, is it really fair to make students take eight exams in just four days? To find a logical answer, we need to think about student life in and out of the classroom.
Think about all of the extracirricular activities that go on in Brooke High. Many students are involved in these activities, which means some kids don’t get home until 6:00 or later on some nights. This makes it difficult just to finish regular homework, let alone study for exams.
I’m not acting like I have the perfect solution for the exam troubles, but I believe that the schedule for exams could have been made to fit students’ schedule a little better. With the new modified block scheduling, students, especially honors and AP students, are swamped with homework and tests on a regular basis.
In conclusion, I feel as though the students’ capabilities are being pushed. In my opinion, the exam schedule should have been made a little different so that our plates aren’t too full. As a student who is currently taking 3 honors and 2 AP classes, I find the idea of mid-term exams being scruched into 4 days very overwhelming. I think that if the students’ thoughts were taken into consideration a little more often, than students wouldn’t be all worked up over everything.
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Winter and No Snow?
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Written by Kameron Miller, Journalist
What is Winter with no snow? The weather, I think, is confused with the season. It feels and looks like Spring in the middle of Winter? That just does not happen.
Even though we have had some snow and a few blizzards, none of the snow has stayed for more than a few days. Coming from someone who snowboards, I am a little depressed that there is no snow. I am also upset about the fact that we haven’t had any snow days for school. Although, there are a few bright sides to no snow.
The weather is nice out, meaning that when I walk from the parking lot to the school I don’t feel like I’m going to have frost bite. Also, I am able to drive to school instead of getting up earlier than usual to catch the bus to ride to school. I am able to go places too, instead of staying at home doing nothing. In my opinioin, driving is the best part of not having any snow.
Although when/if the snow comes, I am going to be upset about not being able to drive, but I am also going to be excited to have snow days and two hour-delays for school. There are high and low points to not having any snow. I would like to see some snow, but I would also like for it to come and go quickly and frequently. Unfortunately, I cannot control the weather so I guess we will have to see what is going to happen later on in the year.
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Twilight vs. The Vampire Diaries
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Written by Lindsey Willis, Staff Writter
Everyone knows the story of the Cullen vampires and Bella Swan. However there is a less popular, but still slightly known story, of two Vampire brothers; Damon and Stefan Salvatore and their love for one human girl.
For a few years now Twilight Vs. The Vampire Diaries has been a topic of many vampire lovers. Fans of Twilight claim that The Vampire Diaries is nothing but a Twilight rip off; while Vampire Diaries fans say its the other way around.
What fans forget to realize is the date both of these great stories were published. The Vampire Diaries book was first published in 1991. Twilight was not published until 2005, 14 years after Vampire Diaries. However, The Vampire Diaries television series did premiere one year after the first Twilight saga movie hit theaters.
While there are many similarities between Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, there are many differences as well. Personally, I feel that both of these stories could be appealing to a variety of people. If fans could get over being so in love with one story and give the other a chance, they would enjoy both Twilight and The Vampire Diaries.
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