Happy New Year!

2017

The

HIKE

Maranatha Christian AcademyVolume 20 Ed. 36826 Lackman RoadShawnee, KS 66217mca-eagles.org

Table of Contents

- 1 -

2 |

3 |

4 |

5 |

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Feature: Ben Weinhold

Feature: Violet Sutton

MCA Bowling

Jina Kim (12) Niko Enna (12)

Lilly Bower (12)Braden Lockwood (11)

Haili Wisener (9)

Journalism staff

| Editor in Chief| Reporter & Graphic Editor| Reporter *newbie*| Reporter| Reporter *newbie*

Scholars Bowl

Boardgames!

Feature: Molly Welch New Journalism Staff

6 |

7 |

8 |

If you are...

good at talking to people great at getting information interested in taking picturesable to work with graphicsa curious person who can go after a story with diligence and enthusiasm involved (or want to be) in school events. . . and if you like to write

You could be in journalism!

Consider joining us for 2017-2018 Journalism

- 2 -

Martin Luther King, Jr. is an American hero. Although thousands of books, articles, es-says, movies, and TV shows have been made about the Civil Rights leader, many people are unaware of the life King led and the legacy he left behind. King was born the son of a black minister on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. From an early age, the young King showed great intelli-gence and promise. At age 15, he started attending Morehouse College, fol-lowed by Crozer Theolog-ical Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and then he went to graduate school at Boston University. There, King met and married Coretta Scott. The young couple soon moved to Montgomery, Al-abama, a place that would launch King’s Civil Rights career.

In 1954, Rosa Parks, the black secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (also known as the NAACP), refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. After her arrest, King was elect-ed as the leader of a bus boycott (it would eventually last 381 days) by the Montgomery black community. This decision put King at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement and also made him a target by the racist opposi-tion to the movement. King and his family experienced severe ha-rassment, including their house being bombed. However, King’s incredible determination and faith inspired thousands to join the Civil Rights movement. The next few years were critical for King and the move-

ment he led. Following deseg-regation of the buses in thanks to the bus boycott, King and many fellow ministers formed the Southern Christian Leader-ship Conference in 1957. They

wanted to keep the movement’s eyes on God for direction and strength. As president of the Leadership Conference, King became a world-renowned leader and lecturer of non-violent op-position. King was also arrested several times for his actions in the Civil Rights movement. He began writing about his expe-riences and the reasons behind the non-violent movement in his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in April 1963. Four months later, King led hundreds of thousands of

both blacks and whites on the “March on Washington” to make their voices heard. Once there, King delivered his legendary “I Have a Dream” speech. “I have a dream,” he said, “that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Millions were in-spired. By the next year, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was

Martin Luther King, Jr.A Nation’s HeroBy Lilly Bower

Martin Luther King, Jr. and protesters begin the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama on March 7, 1965.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became a leader and activist in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

...continues →

- 3 -

passed and segregation between races was banned; this was one of the most important successes for the movement. King was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that same year. In 1965, King lead peace-ful protesters marching from Sel-ma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery. The marchers were abruptly stopped when they were violently assaulted by local Alabama police. Instead of resisting, the protesters prayed and turned back. The altercation was videotaped and broadcast in the media, which brought the violence in the South to the attention of Americans who had not previously been aware. This event contributed to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After gaining desegrega-

tion and voting rights, King and his followers began to focus on African-American poverty and opposing the Vietnam War. However, in 1968, trag-edy struck. As King was exit-ing his hotel room, ex-convict James Earl Ray shot him. The nation, and in fact the whole world, grieved. King had inspired millions with his determination, his grace, his love for others. He showed the world that, as he said, “The time is always right to do what is right.” Sources: www.biography.com www.history.com

Plot Twist:

Perhaps martial arts sounds a little exotic. Would you be-lieve that Ben Weinhold (12) has been doing martial arts for about twelve years? “When I was about six, my dad offered me an option be-tween martial arts and baseball,” said Ben. Since his T-ball expe-rience did not trigger his interest, he started his sports career with taekwondo at Premiere Martial Arts in Lawrence. Seven years later, looking for a better place that was closer, he switched to Brazil Academy in Olathe. There, he practices jiu jitsu and muay ti for one hour each, three or four times a week. Ben explained, “Jiu jitsu is like judo, while muay tai is like kick boxing, but better, with more elbows and knees.” Ben said that prejudice against martial arts as a “rough” sport is wrong, and highly recommends the sport. “Martial arts is used to defend yourself and others, and helps [you] gain self-confidence,” he said. In fact, he says the only downside is injuries. But “even inju-ries build character and self-reliance.” His goal is to become better, strong, and faster. He grows stronger every year, and holds a 2-2 record. Safety equipment includes a helmet, mouthpiece, cup and wraps. Participants win competitions by getting more points, strikes and knock-outs, and must avoid disqualifying moves such as illegal swipes, chokes or joint locks. Ben has never been disqualified. His favorite techniques are “punching and kicking harder.” At competitions, scoring can be a little arbitrary, based on “who’s the more aggressive, or who gives more damage,” said Ben. At tournaments, he said that a participant can gain an unintentional advantage if there is an uneven number of competitors. For exam-ple, if there are three competitors, two of them compete while the third one takes it easy. Then the tired winner competes against the third, fresh participant. Ben expects college life to occupy most of his time, giving him barely any extra time to practice martial arts. However, he expects to jump back into his martial arts routine over summers with his brother. Ben’s wise advice is, “If you’re going to hit some-body, hit hard.”

by Jina Kim

Ben is Secretly a Ninja

InjustIce anywhere Is a threat to justIce

everywhere.

“”- MLK jr.

- 4 -

Get Back Up and WrestleSweep the leg, flip ‘em, pin ‘emby Jina Kim

“Wrestling is like chess, you need strategies,” said Violet Sutton (12), who is aiming high for the state high school wrestling championship in her last year of high school. “I want to excel by focusing on moves, working out, and basics,” she added.

At the beginning of her se-nior year, she marked four and a half years of wrestling. She tried out for wrestling along with her brothers when she was six years old and quit, but she jumped back into the sport when girls’ wrestling became popular her 8th grade year. She eventually “fell in love” with wrestling, and notes the overall confidence she’s gained from the sport. “The train-ing helps you in life, because you work hard for what you want,” she explained. Her role model is Helen Maroulis, the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in

you were scared is hard.” She practices at Lawrence Elite Wrestling Club with two coaches and other wrestlers. “They are like fam-ily,” she said, “and you get support from everyone.” Violet enjoys shar-ing her experiences and encouraging younger wrestlers, giving them advice

not only as a wrestler, but as a good friend. She also sets a good example for others spiritually. “I always pray before I wrestle,” she said. Her goal is to beat Bailey, Emily, and another Violet who are her tournament rivals. To win a wrestling match, a wrestler must pin the opponent or score more points. Illegal moves, such as punching, are a shortcut to dis-qualification. Her favorite strate-gy? “A blast double leg to a turk,” she said with a grin. For Violet, the only down-side of wrestling is injuries. She hasn’t had any major injuries ex-cept a wrist fracture two summers ago.

This fierce little lady’s motto: “Take from them every-thing, and give them nothing. Show no mercy.”

women’s wrestling. Women’s wres-tling is relative-ly new to the Olympics. While men’s wrestling became an Olym-pic sport in 1904, it wasn’t until one hundred years later that women’s wrestling be-came an official Olympic sport in 2004. Wrestling is both physical and mental. Violet said that phys-ically, “it’s tough and draining. You only wrestle for about six minutes each time. . . . You use every muscle in your body and all your strength [to win].” As for the mental aspect, Violet said,

“It’s very men-tal. You beat your opponent in your head first, then on the mat. If you are scared, then you will wrestle scared. Losing when you know you can beat someone, or not winning because

Violet placed second in “War of the Roses,” a national tournament for high school girls, held at Ottawa University during her junior year.

Violet (right) competes against a female opponent at a male/female wrestling tournament at Paola High School in March 2016.

- 5 -

}

Bowlers Always Have Time to SpareBowling with style

by Braden Lockwood

MatchesThe team bowls a variety of schools. Coach Isaac explained that the hardest teams to compete against are the 6A teams, such as Olathe East and Lawrence, while the more compet-itive matches are usually with smaller bowling teams, such as Washington and Schagle High School. “At this time we are typically superior to the smaller schools in talent. I am confident that our team is capable of winning any of our matches,” he said.

Bowlers “We perform our skills fiercely each time we practice,” said Brett Perry (11), who has been on the team since his freshman year. One of the skills the team practices is hand place-ment. “When we place both hands under the ball, it spins, which hits the pins at an angle that makes it more likely to get a strike.” Stance is another important skill. Ty Caffery (11), who also joined the team his freshman year, explained, “We adjust our stance to the dots on the bowling floor depending on which pins we are aiming for.” For incoming bowlers, Ty and Brett have this advice. “Practice, because that is how your skills improve,” said Ty. Brett added, “Don’t let your spirit get you down. No matter what, you will improve if you want to.” The sixteen member bowling team is made up of ten boys and six girls. The team has either one or two practices week for about an hour at Park Lanes Bowling Alley on Renner Road in Shawnee.

Cody Brown 9C.J. Bruner 9Ty Caffery 11Jadyn Carver 9Selena Chen 10 Grace Ensminger 9Katie Guo 11 James Heddings 9David Li 12Samuel McGowan 11Zak Oster 11Stephanie Pang 11Brett Perry 11Mellenie Redick 10Daniel Sun 10Joey Zhou 11

“Strike one, strike two, strike three—it’s a turkey!” Strike, turkey, spare, frame and gutter are all terms the bowling team learns and uses at each practice. (A “strike” is when all ten pins are knocked down with one ball. A “turkey” is three strikes in a row).

Braden’sBall

Buying Experience

One of my favorite bowling team memo-ries is buying my first bowling ball at Park Lanes. The workers measured my fingers to get the right fit, and then I got to choose the weight and color. I chose a twelve-pound ball because the weight suited my style, and

I selected a purple ball be-cause purple intimidates other opponents. I bought my own ball because new ones have a higher tol-erance to spin, and the more you spin, the more you win.

}

Ro

ster

- 6 -

Buzzin, cuz we bee hexa-g00d

Scholars Bowl is much likened to a quiz show, with team members attempting to buzz in answers to various questions be-fore the other team competing in that round does, and climbing the rankings alongside all the other schools who attend the meet. Despite stereotypes, Schol-ars Bowl is not just for the “men-tally elite and physically deplete,” but for anyone who knows any-thing about a category. And with categories ranging from Math, to Fine Arts and even Sports, one is sure to have a category they can work with. Ryan Fitzgerald,

Scholars Bowl Varsity team cap-tain, had this to say, “Anyone [is free to join], particularly those with an aptitude for flexible think-ing. And fast reflexes.” Scholars Bowl is a reward-ing sport, particularly for those who don’t feel they would enjoy an athletic sport. In fact, the sports credit is an incentive for some students to join Scholars Bowl. When asked why he joined, Josh Mestemacher of the junior varsity

team said this, “Mainly so I didn’t have to do a sport.” Sam Mc-Gowan of varsity responded with, “Because I was told I would get sports credit and free pizza.” And Ty Caffery, a varsity player, said, “I didn’t have a winter sport.” Scholars Bowl is also a good way to hang out and make new friends, with practices Tues-days and Thursdays. It makes an environment of fun and friendly team building.

Be sure to wish the team well as they prepare for state! If you have any questions on joining next year, be sure to contact Mr. Cox.

1.What is the color of the cross on Finland’s flag?

2.i^104 = x

3.In what city was Ludwig van Beethoven born in?

1.Blue2.13.Bonn, Electorate of Cologne

If you can answer these, Scholars Bowl might be for you!

Scholars Bowl : Technically a Sport

Answers!

by Niko Enna

The Scholars Bowl team competed at the 2A Perry LeCompton meet in Perry LeCompton, Kansas, on January 11th. Twelve schools participated in the scholarly battle; the Eagles placed second.

- 7 -

MCA LikesTo Play!A poll of Maranatha’s favorite boardgames.

Catan is the best. game. ever.A slightly sarcastic report What is the objective answer to a seemingly subjective question? Often this is unknowable, as most of these questions are purely subjective—as in “what is your favorite kind of ice cream?” But in a few cases a seemingly subjective question can be very objective. To illustrate, when one is asked, “What is the best board game?” The answer must be Settlers of Catan.

Now everyone is subject to their own opinion, even one’s own wrong opin-

ion—this is America after all. But it is an objective, non-disputable truth that the best board game is Catan. (This truth excludes table-top role-playing games, and other dissimilar games, such as Twist-er or traditional Pictionary, and instead focuses on “pure” board games.) For the uninformed, Settlers of Catan is a board game in which players attempt to stra-tegically gather resources on a randomized board in an attempt to build up the most cities/set-tlements and become LORD OF CATAN. Catan is a game of strategy, open diplomacy, se-cret diplomacy, and settling. Far more advanced than most board games, Catan is often considered a “gateway game” to the famed German-Style board games which focus more on the skill of the play-

er as opposed to luck. Now some seem to find Catan boring, and that is okay; it is fine to be wrong. Catan’s loving arms have room for everyone, with a myriad of expan-sion packs for everyone to pick and choose from (eight to sixteen, depending on how you count). There is always something new to play. Other conscientious objec-tors to Catan may say it takes too long, but those people have simply not learned to truly savor the joys Catan has to bring. The joys of Catan are exponential. Granted, it may start a bit slow, but once it’s off the ground it soars to fabulous heights. Some people just don’t seem to like it, and those people are just hard to understand. Catan is a shining bastion of human achievement and en-tertainment upon a dark world, bringing the light of ultra-simpli-fied macro-economics with it. It is expansive, fairly simple, and of the highest quality. This year, indulge into the joy that is Catan, and if you already have, spread the love that is Settlers of Catan.

Some “Followers of Catan” in Germany.

“Germans playing Catan” By Matej Batha (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

by Niko Enna

- 7 -

- 8 -

Swimming for Gold: Molly Welchby Lilly Bower

This past summer, U.S. Olym-pic swimmers like Michael Phelps and Katie Ladecky became household names. However, we here at Maranatha have our own swimming all-star, se-nior Molly Welch. Growing up in Lake Quivira, Kansas, Molly was surround-ed by swimmers and soon followed her peers to begin swimming at age four. She fell in love instantly. The next year, she started to swim competitively. Since then, Molly has been able to specialize in the 100 meter backstroke, 200 meter individual medley, and the 500 meter freestyle, as well as having the opportunity to swim with the St. James Lady Thun-ders (where she currently competes), the Lake Quivira Country Club, the Shawnee Sharks, and the Kansas City

Blazers. She keeps competing, for nearly thirteen years now, not only because she is “just really competitive,” but also for the environ-ment, community, and endurance the sport has given her.   “The best part is the accomplishment you feel,” the swimmer replied when asked what she loved most about her sport. Abby Gomer, Molly’s friend, mentor, and coach, is not only one of Molly’s inspirations, but she also has constant-ly pushed Molly to get better. Molly

Butterflyin’ through the water

always creates new goals for herself, like beating personal records and learning new techniques to improve her form. This endurance and work ethic is one of the things she has taken away most from her sport; she has learned to keep going and to push herself. As she ap-proaches her last year as a competitive swimmer, Molly can look back on over a decade of won-derful experiences and lessons that go beyond

the pool that have helped prepare her for the world ahead. 

Molly Welch (12, left) and a St. James Thunder teammate prepare for an away meet at Lansing High School last spring.

Lilly Rae Bower (12)

Haili Grace Wisener (9)

Former AffiliationLilly: Robertsdale High School, AlabamaHaili: Piper High School

Favorite FoodLilly: Mango with chili pepperHaili: Bacon

HobbyLilly: Drawing, painting, readingHaili: Cheer, Photography, Farming

Favorite showsLilly: The Office and or Parks and RecreationHaili: Impractical Jokers

Favorite subjectLilly: World HistoryHaili: Bible

Where do you wish to travel?Lilly: All of FranceHaili: Australia

Favorite colorLilly: Blue-greyHaili: Red

Quotes“I am secretly a fortune teller.”

- Lilly“I am a llama whisperer.”

- Haili

NEWMeet the Staffby Jina KimJournalism

Freedom Train

Common Cents

Constellation

“Real Change for America”

“Stars and Stripes”

“Keep Chuggin’ Forward”

Mock Election 2017