The weekend of March 24 and 25, the Marion High School Choir put on the production of Footloose and completely nailed both performances. The cast did a phenomenal job portraying each of the characters they were casted, and sang their hearts out in every song. Some characters included Par-ker Nave as Ren McCormack, Cheridan Couty as Ariel Moore, Tyler Baldi as Reverend Moore, Ashley Randoll as Vi Moore, and many more. While the students faced many trials and bumps along the way, between sore throats and sore muscles, they gave it everything they had and did a fantastic job. As their last

musical performance for Marion High School and on the Marion Cul-tural and Civic Center Stage, the seniors sure delivered one of their best performances yet. I personally got to witness all of the hard work and progress as I had the chance to work backstage with all of these amazing performers. I saw the hard work play out and I am so proud of the Marion High School Choir.

-Cassandra Woods

Cut Loose, Footloose

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Footlooese 1

FBLA 2

Model UN 3

CEO Program 5

Senior Spotlight 6

Basketball 7

Spring Break 8

Spring Fling 9

M A R I O N H I G H

S C H O O L The Student M A R C H 2 9 , 2 0 1 7 V O L U M E 8 1 I S S U E 4

S T A F F

Sponsor: Simone

Neal

Editors: Hannah

Long, Maddie

Tanner, and Han-

nah Miller

Copy Editor:

Hannah Miller

Social Media:

Brandon Wood

Abby Mausey

Natalie Mausey

Mattie Olson

James Bytnar

Sailor Morris

Cassandra Woods

P A G E 2

Let’s Get Down To Business FBLA State 2017 was a huge success for Marion's FBLA chapter 737. State was held in the Crowne Plaza hotel in Springfield, Illinois. FBLA chapters from all parts of Illinois came to compete in their events and to connect with other chapters. State is not only about competing, it's also about meeting new people and learning new skills. There are many ways to meet new people at State. Some of the ways are by talking to other people in your event and by going to the state dance. You can learn new skills by going to workshops, where you can learn about many different things all in-volving business. There was also a battle of the areas, which is where each FBLA area has a team compete in a team trivia game about FBLA. Southern Ar-ea, which is Marion's area, won the battle of the chapters in large part to Blake Horner. Marion won big this year with 48 top ten finishes out of 52 competing. Also a huge shout out to Bradley Marks for being

elected 2017-2018 Illinois FBLA president. The 2017 FBLA State Conference will be one to remember for chapter 737. -Sailor Morris

T H E S T U D E N T

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 8 1 I S S U E 4

from the Roanoke Colony to the Federal

International Football Association execu-

tive board to the Iraqi War. The crisis

committees dealt with Russia in 1917 to

the current Illinois General Assembly.

These committees had issues ranging

from imminent war to budget stalemates

to the rapid spread of disease. Delegates

debate these topics to search for solu-

tions to these prominent issues. Through

fierce debate and careful deliberation, di-

rectives and resolutions are passed as so-

lutions to the issues.

The delegates learn a great deal at this

conference, not only about their specific

topics, but they also gain important

speech skills. They also gain a global per-

spective they may not otherwise have. In

between committee sessions, the team

members had free time to build on friend-

ships and take late night ice cream runs.

Overall, the delegates from Marion High

School did not win any awards; however,

they had a great time with each other and

with Mrs. May.

-Mattie Olson

The Marion High School Model Unit-

ed Nations team, under the advise-

ment of Mrs. May, had their annual

trip to Champaign over spring break.

The first weekend of break, March

10-12, the team went to the Univer-

sity of Illinois for MUNI, Model Unit-

ed Nations at Illinois Conference, in

Champaign-Urbana.

During the conference, delegates

were preassigned countries or peo-

ple to represent in different commit-

tees. The delegates submitted papers

prior to the conference to be judged.

At the conference, delegates argue

their position and develop solutions

with their committee to their specif-

ic world issue. Committees are cate-

gorized into general assembly, crisis,

or crisis general assembly.

The general assemblies this year

ranged from Disarmament and Na-

tional Security to Economics and Fi-

nance to the World Health Organi-

zation. The crisis committees ranged

Model UN:2017

P A G E 4

Special Olympics Preparations The STRIVE students are preparing for the Special Olympics with the help of SIU football players. I had the chance to talk with Raymond Sullivan, Jor-dan Berner, and De-ionte Gaines, who were very excited to be able to hit the field to help them prepare. They helped the stu-

dents with the 100m run, the 50m run, and the softball toss. The students will be com-peting in all these events at the Special Olympics in May. The special education students and teachers alike all said that they have enjoyed being able to practice with

the football players. It has helped motivate the students to do their best! -Hannah Long

T H E S T U D E N T

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 8 1 I S S U E 4

Business Woman: Kaybree Morrow

Each year, a small number of students are selected to be part of the ELaunch Williamson County program: a program designed for students interested in getting a head start on a career in business. There, Marion High School students are currently enrolled in the program, one of which being Kaybree Morrow. She has used her interest in makeup as a way to create a business for herself. Kaybree is currently selling Motives Cosmetics products as well as manufacturing and selling lighted vanity mirrors. She explains that this process has been extremely enjoyable for her. “Marrying together my love for cosmetics with a career is something that I never thought I could do,” Kaybree says. “I’m so glad that I joined this program, because without it, this wouldn't be happening.” We wish Kaybree and all of the ELaunch Williamson County students the best of luck in their future business endeavors. -Brandon Wood

P A G E 6

Senior Spotlight

T H E

This edition of the newspaper, the senior spotlight is about Peyton Robison. He is an ex-

tremely hardworking student who does his best to achieve his goals. I asked him a few

questions on the highlights of his senior year.

I asked him, what his plans were after high school, which he replied, “I'm enlisted in the

Marine Corps under a Recon (Special Forces) contract.” He has been training to go into the

Marine Corps for a while to be the best he can when the time comes.

In response to the question on his favorite memories of high school he said, “My favorite

memories are of cross country and track meets. Mostly the long van rides to big, far away

meets. On those rides, Coach Baker would always drive and I would always ride shot-

gun. The two of us would be talking and laughing about all sorts of things about running

and just life in general.

Another really fond high school memory is of my senior cross country banquet. That was a

really special night.” Along with his favorite memories, I asked what the main thing that he

would miss most. He said, “The main thing about high school that I will miss is the cross

country and distance guys on the track team. They're a crazy group of guys whom I'm very

different from, but I love them to death.”

Peyton has been fortunate enough to grow bonds through sports that will last a lifetime. He

has big goals for his future which are, “My main goals in the future are to make it through

BRC (Basic Reconnaissance Course) to become a Recon Marine. After that, I want to even-

tually become a MARSOC (Marine Special Operations Command) Raider. I plan on having

a long, fun career in the Marine Corps.”

Peyton is very specific on what he wants to do

with his future, in which not a lot of seniors at this

time are sure of. He is taking on a hard road in his

future and I idolize him for reaching his goals no

matter the hurdles. I wish you luck in your future

and your dreams are achieved!

-Maddie Tanner

Quite the Season P A G E 7 V O L U M E 8 1 I S S U E 4

After a long season, the Mari-

on Wildcat basketball team fin-

ished the season with a 16-13

record. Throughout the season,

the team had a lot of support

from the community and from

the school. The town was

hopeful for a good season and

we weren't disappointed.

The basketball team worked

hard and stayed positive

through the entire season.

Many of their games were

quite eventful, with a few

games going into overtime.

As a school, we are hopeful for

a good season next year. We all

will continue to support the

boys as they continue next sea-

son.

Congratulations to the Boys

Basketball Team on a great

season and good luck next

year!

-Hannah Miller and James

Bytnar

P A G E 8

Spring Break Stories My Personal Spring Break:

For the past four years over spring break, my family and our close

friends all go together on a cruise to somewhere warm. This year, the

destination was Mexico. We got on the Carnival Fantasy on March 11

and set out for our first stop which was in Costa Maya, Mexico. There

were so many things to do on the ship ranging from getting food on

the lido deck, to getting pampered at the spa. Dinner time was my fa-

vorite time of day because of all the amazing, strange kinds of foods

they serve there. My favorite food I had was the escargot (snails).

When we arrived at Costa Maya, we took a cab ride to a local beach

called Mahahual. All we did that day was lay on the beach and soak in

some well needed sunshine. The next day, we arrived at our next stop

in Cozumel, Mexico. There, we took a catamaran ride to go snorkel-

ing, and then go to a private beach. Overall, this trip was a blast and I

cannot wait until I can go back!

Michael Tondini’s Spring Break: “On my spring break, I went to my house in Florida.

This house is only five miles away from the Disney

World parks, and we could even hear the fireworks

going on at night! My family and I went to Magic

Kingdom on the first day of the trip, and my favorite

ride was Space Mountain. The Mickey pretzel that I

had there tasted great, too. Our second day at Dis-

ney included a full day at my favorite park, Epcot. I

loved walking around and looking at all of the differ-

ent countries that were apart of this park. The next

few days included more trips to Disney and its differ-

ent parks. The weather was pretty good, warmer

than here, so that was an added bonus to our trip. I

was so sad to leave, but we will be going back this

December!”

-Natalie Mausey

T H E S T U D E N T

P A G E 9 V O L U M E 8 1 I S S U E 4

Spring Fling

This year, MHS hosted the first Spring Fling on March 9th. It was a night to showcase spring sports teams and their members, and anyone interested could attend! Each team was introduced one by one and did an activity that showed how they practice and to show off their skills. The sports included were softball, baseball, boys and girls track, and girls soccer. The MHS softball team introduced their girls from freshmen to upperclass-men on junior varsity and then the same on varsity. For their exhibition, they threw a ball into a bucket to show their throwing abilities. When the baseball team went, they had a home run derby and had three seniors participate in it. Their representatives were Jake Griffin, Brandon Lynn, and Jacob Schmid. They also pulled three little boys out of the crowd to help them! Boys and girls track introduced all of the members and had a relay race. It was class competing against class and then, they had a championship round with those remaining teams. Girls soccer had penalty kick shootout, which was teachers versus stu-dents, but there was one catch. The students were blindfolded! In the end, they still beat the staff 2-0. There were also drawings for door prizes between each team. During the event, there was also a Marion Maniac spirit competition to see who could dress up in the most creative and spirited way to show their Wildcat pride! One of the highlights of the night included motivational speaker, Jeff McGoy, who spoke about how everyone is important on a sports team, not just the starting players. The people on the bench cheering their teammates on are just as important! It was an wonderful message that inspired all who were able to listen. All in all this event was a huge hit for everyone who attended and was an excellent way to show off some of the talent we have here at MHS! -Abby Mausey

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T H E S T U D E N T