Sterling Cub Reporter: October 2014

www.sterlingcubreporter.com October 2014 • Sterling Cub Reporter • 1

Novice debaters prep for year

Pg. 3

Defeating breast cancer

Pg. 6

Senior athletes face final seasons

Pg. 12

www.sterlingcubreporter.comVolume 1 • Issue 1

OCTOBER 2014

2 • Sterling Cub Reporter • October 2014 www.sterlingcubreporter.com

The Sterling High School Cub Reporter and all subsidiary publications are designated forums of free speech. The print edition is published October through May of each school year by the journalism class at Sterling High School. It is dis-tributed for no charge throughout Unified School District 376 buildings and the Sterling community. The first copy is free. Subsequent copies will cost $1 per copy. For infor-mation about being added to the subscription list, contact Todd Vogts at 620-278-2171. Letters to the editor are wel-come. Email them to [email protected]. All letters must be signed. Anonymous letters will not be printed. All letters subject to editing for legal, grammati-cal and factual reasons.

ADVISERTodd Vogts

STAFFAlex Veliz

Caleb HendricksDallas LackeyJanyssa Phillips

Kasady SmithKylah Comley

Lindsay GilmoreTaryn Gillespie

Sterling HigH ScHoolCUB REPORTER& www.sterlingstudentpublications.com

308 E. Washington, Sterling, KS 67579Phone: 620-278-2171 • Fax: 620-278-3237

OPINIONS

School spirit lacking at SHSEverybody sees the Snapchats, the

Tweets and the Instagram posts. They are the ones with “Friday Night Lights!” or “Game Day!” as the captions.

It would seem as though everyone is excited to support the Black Bears that night on the gridiron, but things aren’t always what they seem.

At the first football game of the 2014-15 season in Hillsboro, all I remember was the fact that no one would stand when the cheerleaders tried to chant. High school sports are supposed to be the epitome of all high school memories, right? So why can’t we show some enthusiasm and cheer for our team? Why is it that Sterling High School seems to be one of the only schools that can’t show any school spirit? It shouldn’t matter if its an away game, home game, home-coming, district playoffs, sub-state, or even the state cham-pionship. There should be people standing, cheering and screaming for the Black Bears.

I’m not just talking about football here either, you guys. I’m talking about boys basketball, girls basketball, soft-ball, track, golf, tennis, volleyball, cross country and even wrestling. Nothing bothered me more last year than when I was on the bench during basketball and looked up to see our student section. It usually only consisted of about 15-25 people, and, not only were they not cheering, they weren’t even watching the game. Either they would be flirting with the person next to them or be busy typing away on their phones. The one and only time that I can remember hearing our student section cheer was at sub-state, and that’s not a

good thing.Just going to the game isn’t good

enough. You can’t just come to the game and sit on your butt while taking selfies on your phone and facing the opposite direction of the game. If you do, you can’t consider yourself a supportive fan.

I was sitting next to foreign exchange student Betty Baar during halftime of the home football game against Smoky Valley when she said something that really got me thinking: “In Germany, everyone told me Americans are really enthusiastic and crazy when it comes to sports and things, so when I came here I was excited for it to be differ-ent from home. But Sterling isn’t like that.”

Why isn’t Sterling like that?Why can’t we be like the student section

of the days when Alex Burgess went to SHS? Of course, we don’t have to have a person wearing a banana suit to be a good student section, but at least then there were people standing, yelling at everything happening on the field of play and cheering for a touchdown.

So lets make a change SHS. This is my personal challenge to you. Stand up and cheer at the next Black Bear event you attend. Yell with the cheerleaders. Make a poster. Dress up like an idiot. Do something —anything — to show your school spirit. We need to make a difference in the way that our teams feel about themselves. They need to feel sup-ported by their fans, not ignored and used as an excuse to go out. I am involved in this challenge too, so please tell me if I am ever being hypocritical and not supporting. The best way to lead is by example, so lets do this SHS.

LINDSAY GILMORE

About the Cover Photo: Senior Kasady Smith, junior Jody Gunther and junior Hannah Hendricks stunt with a Sterling Grade School student who came to the high school cheerleaders’ first one-day cheer camp. She also joined the cheerleaders during the first home football game of the season. (Photo by Taryn Gillespie)

ADVERTISING SALESTodd Vogts’ Marketing Class


Whether it’s learning how to hit a golf ball or trying sushi for the first time, everyone has started or tried something new before. The same goes for the freshmen and first time debat-ers, trying debate for their first time.

These students are called novices. The novice tournaments have the same rules and format as the varsity tourna-ments, but they have their own tourna-ments apart from the varsity debate team.

“I am glad that I do not have to go to varsity tournaments so I don’t have to go up against people that are better than me since this is my first year,” freshman James McNutt said.

Many students hardly pay any at-tention to debate. They overlook the hard work and time it takes. This is especially true for novices.

“The most challenging part of debate for me has been having to learn everything,” freshman Aniston Ramsey said. “Like all the terms, what they mean, and how to use them. It’s very complicated and very stressful.”

This year on the debate team there is a freshman who is not only new to debate but had never heard of it before coming to Sterling High School. Olivia Elliott is from Cardiff, Wales, Great Britain. Her dad went to SHS and was taught by Betsy Dutton, the current debate coach.

“My parents really wanted me to take debate,” Elliott said. “It has been really hard to understand so far, but with time I feel like it will get bet-ter. I’ve learned that even if you don’t understand it, you have to pretend like you do. Confidence is key.”

In a debate everyone has the same topic. One side is affirmative, which means they are trying to convince the judges to pass their plan about that topic. The other team, or side, is negative and tries to make an argu-ment against the affirmative case. Each team gets a chance to present an eight minute speech and then a three minute cross examination that entails asking questions. The judges rate the speakers 1-4 and the side with the lower score wins the round.

“I would compare debate to a sport in a lot of ways,” freshman Katie Comley said. “Like anything that you’re unfamiliar with, when you start, everything is super-confusing and you don’t understand because, like any sport, it has rules that you’ve never known. Also, it requires mentors and practice and time away from the time frame that the school provides. It is also something that certain people don’t like and get nervous for. Debate is going to be a really growing and challenging experience.”

NEWS

Members of the SHS Novice Debate team pose for a picture. (Photo by Kylah Comley)

Novice debaters prep for the yearKYLAH COMLEY

Cub Reporter


NEWS

Known for performing at the col-lege level, Sterling High School begins the journey to the opening night of the musical, “Big River,” which will be Nov. 13.

“Big River” follows the story of Huckleberry Finn and his slave friend, Jim.

“Basically, Huckleberry Finn is very into adventure,” junior Kaci Wilson said. “We’re trying to conform him to our ways of learning, learning to read and write and to read your bible, and he doesn’t want to do that. He wants to do his own thing and go on all these adventures.”

Each year the musical is tailored to fit the abilities of the senior perform-ers.

“Brian Walker is playing Huck and Solomon Dold is playing Jim,” direc-tor Betsy Dutton said. “‘Big River’ is a good fit for who we have for our seniors. We have a lot of senior boys who sing well, as well as Solomon and Brian. I always pick for the seniors.”

Some senior performers try not to let the idea this will their last per-formance on the stage get into their heads.

“I’ve been trying not to think about it as a senior performance because it’s going to be so hard for me to say goodbye to all the shows I’ve done here and all the work I’ve put into it,” senior Solomon Dold said. “But it’s really go-ing to pay off this year with me being one of the leads.”

Losing last year’s seniors left big shoes to fill.

“Compared to last year, we have a

lot of space to fill,” senior Ian Stephens said. “As far as both acting wise and singing wise.”

Other senior performers agree.“We have lost a lot of great voices

and a lot of great talent that we relied on before,” Dold said. “To see them all go was sad, but it’s not been the first time we’ve had a massive exodus of talent, and it won’t be the last. We’ll carry on.”

Differences from previous perfor-mances show through in more ways than just the leads.

“The music is pretty difficult,” Dut-ton said. “The setting is interesting

too because you have to create a river atmosphere, but, at the same time, you have then many, many settings. The book is episodic, so you don’t want settings for all of that. So you’d have to have some imaginary platforms and stuff that can double as everything, so that’s kind of challenging.”

Despite many challenges, some senior cast members are determined to enjoy the last musical performance of their career.

“I’m going to have one of the great-est times of my life in this show, and I am beyond thrilled to be in it,” Dold said.

Seniors Brian Walker and Solomon Dold are the leads in this year’s musical, which is “Big River” and will be held on Nov. 13. (Photo by Kasady Smith)

SHS to produce ‘Big River’

KASADY SMITHCub Reporter

School musical tailored to senior performers to lead


Ever since Sterling High School senior Jessy Marceline was a little boy, he wanted to be in the United States Army.

“I’ve always enjoyed helping people. Not necessarily just a certain group. I like helping everyone in general,” Marce-line said.

The desire came from strong family ties to the military, so strong of ties that, “the want,” came from a very young age.

“Honestly, I have been fascinated with the military since I was about 4 years old,” Marceline said.

At that young age, Marceline was not intimidated by the soldiers.

“I always approached the soldiers and shook their hands and told them I was going to see them soon,” Marceline said.

Marceline has been talking to recruiters since he was 13 years old.

“Anytime they would show up at the lunchroom when I was in Arizona, or here, or anywhere I was at, I would go up and communicate and talk,” Marceline said. “Usually I was the only person to do it, but I did.”

Marceline has to complete the paperwork before the end of school to start basic training at the start of summer.

He also is looking forward to the benefits of becoming a military veteran and an active soldier.

“After basic training, I get health care and things I have to have for basic living,” Marceline said.

But even with the benefits, Marceline still has a few concerns.

“I am really worried about dying. Not much worried about losing something like a limb,” Marceline said. “I am really worried about not being able to do something. That’s one of my main goals for being in the military. Just being able to strive and help other people in the world.”

Senior Jessy Marceline poses with an American flag. After graduation this year, he plans on joining the United States Army. (Photo by Taryn Gillespie)

Senior looks forward to military careerJANYSSA PHILLIPS

Cub Reporter

Proudly supporting Sterling High School!


It could be you. You could develop or already have developed breast cancer. Letting that sink in can

be very scary. One in eight women develop breast cancer throughout their lives, but catching it early can make a big difference. Of the women who catch it early, 98 percent survive.

“I felt like they caught it really early. I never thought of it as being a life or death thing because so many others had it way worse than I did,” Susan Dierksen, of Sterling, said. “When I went in for my yearly checkup, I wasn’t expecting to have any problems. Then

they saw it, and the doctors got a little excited. They sent me in for a sono-gram. After the sonogram, they sent me to see a specialist, and by this time I was starting to get a little anxious.”

Dierksen was not alone. Debby Walker, of Sterling, said, “oh yeah I was nervous,” when she recalled coming out of her regular mammogram ap-pointment with less than perfect news.

“When I went in for my routine mammogram, they saw ‘suspicious’ calcification. All women have them, but mine were clustered,” she said. “After my biopsy, they told me I was in stage 0, meaning it had not spread. When they gave me my options, I didn’t want to have to do Chemother-apy, so I chose a double mastectomy. That way, not only do I not have to worry, but I’m not all lopsided.”

On the other hand, Dierksen was less worried about the chemotherapy and more focused on her faith and family.

“The doctor told me I was going to start chemo and I would lose my hair. It would happen within a week or two,” she said. “I wasn’t too worried because I’m not very materialistic and I don’t like fixing my hair, but then it just starts falling out and you kinda feel like, ‘Woahhh,’ even though you knew it was going to happen.”

Emotional stress comes with the diagnosis as it causes family and in-dividuals to think about the positives and negatives of the situation. Dierk-sen’s husband, Fred Dierksen, and her children struggled with the news.

FEATURE

Defeating Breast CancerLocal women say faith, family key in winning fights against cancer

TARYN GILLESPIECub Reporter

“I chose a double mastectomy. That way, not only do I not have to worry, but I’m not all lopsided.”— Debby Walker, Sterling


Susan Dierksen poses for a picture while wear-ing a “Strike Out Cancer” T-shirt. Dierksen is a breast cancer survivor.(Photo by Taryn Gillespie)


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The Bedazzle a Brassiere display at the Kansas State Fair and hosted by Victory in the Valley aimed to bring awareness to breast cancer. (Photo by Todd Vogts)

“It was so much more emotional for my girls than it was for me. I think, for Fred, it was hard just having to see me go through it and just the unknown,” Susan Dierksen said. “I’m pretty just cut and dry. I didn’t dwell on it. But my faith did help me stay calm. Many people from work, friends, family, people we met in restaurants, people in the waiting rooms, or those I met in cancer treatment would say they were praying for me. That is such a comfort to have so many praying for you. Some of them still see me today and tell me I am still on their prayer list.”

Looking for the positive in the situ-ation and having a good time is some-thing Dierksen chose to do as she went through this trying time. Her son, Gabe Dierksen, even helped her out.

“One day I was just totally weird with it,” she said, “and I was like, ‘Gabe!’ And I grabbed my hair, and I’m like, ‘Look it is totally falling out.’ It kinda freaked him out, but since he had shaved boys hair at juco before, we just went out on the back porch, and he shaved my head for me. I had always heard that ‘attitude’ is very important as you fight the battle with cancer. I wanted to be strong for my family. I was fortunate to not get sick from my chemo treatments and was able to keep working as I ended my chemo and started radiation through the first part of school starting in the fall of 2011.”

Support through a battle with cancer can come from family, friends and community. There are many other Sterling residents who have also gone through this process who are willing to help with whatever they can.

“My support was awesome!” Di-erksen said. “Mrs. Hogan, the school psychologist, was very outgoing and helpful as she had gone through it before. She’s the first one I went to. She was like a rock! My family was willing to do almost whatever to help out after they got over the shock, except shaving their heads. I don’t think the girls were as willing to do that for me though.

“There was lots of stress for my family before surgery, but once I was home from the hospital, it was bet-ter. But I was still out of commission. Luckily, the folks in this town really stepped up with meals and such.”

Being aware and having regular checkups is important. It is recom-mended that you perform a self-check about once a month and see a doctor for a mammogram yearly.

“I had a grandpa that had breast cancer,” Dierksen said. “The doctors want you to be more aware because it’s less common in males. Also, the sons, as well as daughters, need to be more aware because they are more likely to have it, as well as my kids because I also have the gene. It’s never too early to start being aware and knowing what your breast tissue is like.”


This school year changes are occur-ring left and right.

Some of the new things that will be different this year at Sterling High School are schedule changes, defined reading time, and, one of the biggest changes, Bigger, Faster, Stronger (BFS) classes.

The leading cause for the schedule changes are the new BFS classes.

“We have added a time to do Bigger Faster Stronger, which is a new pro-gram,” counselor Cheryl Dewerff said. “Many other schools already do this type of class, and it allows for strength and conditioning during the day so it’s not taking out practice time for sports

and activities. Several of our coaches wanted to do this, but Mr. Bauerle is the one who started the plan. Then Mr. Schneider worked with the schedule to try and fit it in.”

Tyson Bauerle is confident that BFS will improve our sports along with summer training.

“We are doing this all year around for a number of reasons,” he said. “One, continually training will only get you better, but, especially for female athletes, it also helps with injury prevention as well. In our school, 75 percent of our athletes that participate in sports are multisport athletes. The second is reaching that potential and just getting that physical and mental edge that since we have been train-ing for so long, we can compete at the highest level possible.”

In addition to the benefits of BFS for individual athletes, it will also allow coaches to commit more time.

“I’m looking forward to it,” track coach Keith Patterson said. “It’s a great program, and I’m glad we finally got it into our curriculum where it can help our athletes become better athletes. We needed some type of a training pro-gram. It’s always been hard to fit it in before school or after school and dur-ing the summer. I’m glad to see that we get to work on it all year long. I will commit to our athletes as many hours as they want to work. Adding one more hour to my day is not a problem.”

Patterson believes BFS will help the athletic programs improve even more.

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Revamped schedule allows for different educational, athletic opportunities

JESSICA ROBERTSSpecial To The Cub Reporter

NEWS


FEATURE

244 South BroadwaySterling, KS 67579Ph: 620-278-2102

SHS takes part in State FairSterling High School has always found a way to integrate

itself into the community, whether it be local or statewide. The days between Sept. 9-14 were no different. From

entering pieces of art and photography to taking part in various competitions, students and staff alike participated in the Kansas State Fair.

The majority of the SHS students who attended the fair went with the band. Performing at 8:30 a.m. and staying on the grounds until 2:15 p.m.

“It was actually pretty fun, especially after the band played,” freshman James McNutt said.

The Bears seemed to be pleased with their performance,“I think we did pretty good at the fair,” freshman Logan

Gillespie said. “We got a 1 and only one other band got a 1+.”Although the rides and food seemed like fun, some band

students seemed to prefer the performance.“I like performing in front of judges and feeling the music,”

sophomore Kyler Comley said. “The chords were really cool.”Even with what seemed to be a good performance, the

band only looks to improve for next year.“We have a lot of freshmen, and some of it was hard to

learn,” sophomore Emma Horsch said. “So sometimes we weren’t always in step. Hopefully we’ll get a 1+ instead of a 1.”

A smaller portion of the student body entered into dif-ferent categories of the art gallery to show off pieces each artist made for the fair. One student, junior Baylee Maskil, is no stranger to the art gallery at the State Fair.

“It’s kind of a normal thing actually,” Maskil said. “Not many people entered in ceramics, and I have been doing ceramics since I was 5,”

Her piece, “The Garden Girl,” was inspired by a recent animated movie, ”Frozen.”

“I was thinking when I first saw it, because its not col-ored when I first got it, I thought she would look good in pink and green, and then I was like, well, if I took blue and

made the layers of colors,’ and it worked out,” Maskil said. Another student, junior Veronica Norez, entered four

pieces to the art gallery — three pictures and one still-art acrylic. Norez, like her peer, placed with her pieces.

“I got two first places,” she said. “One for the softball picture, and the other with the boat picture.”

Both pieces took two months for Norez to complete. For this third-year veteran of State Fair competition, it

isn’t necessarily the awards that make Norez continue to enter pieces.

“I thought it would be kind of cool to see peoples’ reac-tions when they saw my piece,” she said.

Students weren’t the only ones to enter into the art gal-lery competitions.

One staff member, Linda Ricker, won third place in the Sports No Action category.

“I was pleased with the photo that won because it had my daughter and her cross country team, and, as a mom, you’re proud of your child’s accomplishments,” Ricker said. “It was neat seeing that people found my picture because there were many entries.”

Another group helped with an energy booth in the Kan-sas Energy Expo.

“Renewables are a big deal for people to know about,” senior Taryn Gillespie said. “It is the unknown that causes the problems because people don’t get the whole truth…so they just take the biased opinion.”

Senior Caleb Hendricks has participated in Scholastic Press Corps video competition for the past three years.

“It helps me work on my leadership skills and being a positive leader towards the group,” Hendricks said. “We produced what I think was the best video that we ever had.”

The main focus for participating in the state fair is not always about having fun, but it is also about learning, which is why it is called Kansas’ Largest Classroom.

“I think that it is a great opportunity for students to ap-ply what they are learning to more life situations,” English teacher Ian Anderson said.

ALEX VELIZ & DALLAS LACKEYCub Reporter

1630 Avenue QLyons, KS 67554

620-257-2300



SPORTS

Senior Jordan Proffitt (photo illustration by Caleb Hendricks)

Through Their Eyes


Senior athletes face final seasonsCALEB HENDRICKS

Cub Reporter

Every athlete in every sport Ster-ling High School offers has to deal with both the mental and

physical trials and taxations each sport entails.

Day in and day out, they sacrifice their time and bodies to excel, hop-ing to be victorious on game day and have all their hard work pay off. For the seniors, however, there is a side that the others don’t necessarily see or think about.

“Sports have been a huge part of my life and to think that I won’t be playing everything all the time is disappoint-ing,” senior Chelsey Riffel said. “I’m trying to make the most out of every sport knowing it might be the last game I play.”

For the 11 senior student-athletes, realizing that it is their last season makes this year even more meaningful, but it also brings more expectations as well.

“It’s definitely a lot more pressure being the ‘Top Dog,’” senior Andi Dowell said. “Now that I’m a senior, I have to step up my game. People ex-pect more from me, and I expect more from myself as well.”

The seniors not only take on the expectations of their performances, but also their leadership and demeanor as well.

“Now that I’m a senior, coaches expect me to be a leader and to know what is going on,” Riffel said. “I’m ex-pected to be a good role model for the underclassmen and to set good exam-ples in my attitude and how I play.”

This year’s group of athletes have had a positive impact this year, an im-pact that carries outside of the athlet-ics.

“I think we are all very good lead-ers,” senior Kasady Smith said. “We are all very involved with multiple activi-ties, so underclassmen can come to us

for a multitude of things even outside of sports.”

The positive attitudes of this year’s seniors has also been noticed by coaches. Head football coach Matt Hendricks has been around them for four years now and is thankful for the impact they have made on both the team and the school.

“This really is a special group from all aspects,” he said. “They have grown into great leaders and have really pushed a work-hard mentality to ev-eryone else, and they also push them-selves to be the best they can be. Even though there aren’t many of them, this group has some of the best leaders that

we have seen.”Looking at the bigger picture, high

school sports for some of the seniors are merely something to be a part of that they enjoy doing. For the others, they are seen as the beginning of their careers.

Of the 11 senior athletes, 8 plan on playing sports at the collegiate level, which is the second highest total in the last five years at Sterling High School.

“I’ve always wanted to play at the collegiate level,” senior Jordan Prof-fitt said. “There’s just something about being good enough to move onto the next level that has always been a goal

of mine.”With their senior year now under-

way, the numbers of game left slowly decreases with each week, giving a strange feeling to some.

“I’ve been playing sports my whole life. It’s going to be weird when I quit playing,” Dowell said. “I won’t be able to play forever so I’m taking advantage of the opportunity while I can.”

Knowing this is the last year of playing together, the seniors try to think about all the positives they have experienced.

“Since this is my final season, I have had a lot of good and some bad

memories, but it’s definitely been a highlight of my life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Proffitt said.

As the seniors make the final ac-complishments of their four-year careers, they not only hope to leave their mark but also help the younger athletes to take advantage of the time they have. Senior Cody Salazar had some advice for the underclassmen athletes.

“I would tell the underclassmen to work hard everyday,” he said. “Don’t sit around thinking you have four years because it goes by in the blink of an eye.”

“Don’t sit around thinking you have four years because it goes by in the blink of an eye.”

— Cody Salazar, Senior


Often times while going through life, people aren’t noticed for their ef-fort and hard work. To recognize the hard work teachers do for students, a Sterling High School teacher is se-lected each month to be the Teacher of the Month.

For the month of September, Kim Richter, Special Education teacher, was chosen by fellow SPED instructor, Jen-nifer Mantz.

“I picked Mrs. Richter because she’s like the second hand to me,” Mantz said. “Her and I are just our own little departments, so we’re always bouncing questions off of each other. She helps me when I have questions on paper-work and special education and vice versa.”

Teacher of the Month began about

two years ago and is selected by fellow staff members.

“The purpose of it obviously is to recognize teachers each month for what they’re doing in the classroom,” Principal Bill Anderson said. “Actu-ally, how that works is, who ever is currently the teacher of that month, it is actually their responsibility to nominate the next teacher for the next month. It’s actually like a passing of the torch kind of thing.”

Teaching in the school district for nine years, Richter enjoys the environ-ment the school offers.

“I like the closeness that it seems people have, the support,” she said. “There’s a lot of support. Not just for the students, but for the teachers. I don’t think you ever feel alone. I’ve always felt supported here, and I think my kids feel supported here.”

Richter, being the current teacher of

the month, will pick October’s teacher to acknowledge.

“I’m probably going to base mine on or consider a teacher that maybe kind of goes out of their way to sup-port the students,” she said. “Especially like some of mine that might struggle in the classroom but have made them feel welcome and successful in their classroom.”

Acknowledging the hard work of others can, in fact, be the one thing that gets them through the day.

“It’s always nice to be acknowl-edged,” Richter said. “So much in life when we do anything you just kind of go through and aren’t acknowledged. I think it serves a purpose just to let people know that what they are doing is being noticed. It’s important, and it’s appreciated. It just makes you feel bet-ter, and it kind of gives you that little good feeling so you can keep going.”

NEWS

Kim Ritcher sits at her desk in the junior high area of the Sterling Jr./Sr. High School building. Ritcher was named Teacher of the Month for September. (photo by Kasady Smith)

Richter named Teacher of the MonthKASADY SMITH

Cub Reporter


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ENTERTAINMENTNOTE: Killer Serial Fiction is a part of Sterling Student Publications. It is the home of creative writing by Sterling High School creative writing students. Stories appearing here are works of fiction. Names, characters, places and inci-dents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establish-ments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. These stories are presented for entertainment purposes only and are not intended to be read as being part of Sterling Student Publications news coverage. For more stories, visit www.sterlingstudentpublications.com/fiction.

It was a cool spring morning, the juice of Lemon Drop lake cast a crisp and cool breeze down the base’s roads as the Recruitment bus pulled in, the gruff faced gummy bus driver looked into the rear view mirror taking in the faces of the many new marines before opening the door. “Fort Taffy, last stop!”

The group of recruits stepped out into the crumbly ground, the graham-cracker cracked from years of being stepped upon by the world’s sweetest and most powerful fighting force’s trainees. I can remember stepping out onto that ground and seeing the others, they were nervous just as I was, maybe even more. But they also seemed to know what was at hand, the training would be brutal and many would simply drop out to return to their lives, working as a Janitor, or maybe some would go to college, burn their draft cards and live life. but I was determined to see it through to the end and Fight for my country although not many other Gingerbread men have enlisted.

After a few more moments I saw the Drill sergeant walk out, he was a dark chocolate chip, his suit as crisp as the day it left the tailor, he approached us with a form of power in his step. “ATTENTION!” he bellowed, adding a few seconds to the short saying as we all snapped into tight stances. He then went over the procedures of our boot camp. “Listen up you piles of dung. Until you prove otherwise you aren’t worthy to be called maggots. Appar-

ently the higher-ups have seen me as some form of traitor and set me to shape you sorry lumps of salt into the most well trained fighting machined in this here world.” I could see the despair in his eyes as he finished belting out the rest of the speech, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander slowly in and out of the conversation, my imagina-tion forcing me to pay attention once more as we began marching quickly to our equipment barracks to get our gear ready.

There were many others standing in lines moving slowly throughout the rows of gear picking out sizes and matching items, I moved along, feeling much like a simply factory item wait-ing to be put together and sent out into the market to be picked when all of a sudden a voice behind me rang out “E-Excuse me sir, but do you know where the boot line is?” I turned and looked out straight, not seeing anyone until a throat cleared, I looked down and saw the Gummy bear, his height was almost half mine but he seemed lost so I shrugged and opened my mouth.

“I think this is the line, just got here so I’m not sure.” I extended a hand towards him smirking slightly “I’m Robert Caner, but my friends called me snaps, but if you want to make a nickname up go for it,” I said as he shook my hand.

“I’m Theodore marks but my friends call me teddy so you can call me teddy if you want,” he said with a smile as I nodded and turned back to the line. “So Teddy, what are you aim-

ing for?” I asked him curiously as we shuffled forward ever so slightly.

“I’m going in for Infantry division, gonna prove to my ma and pa that I can make it in the world,” he said.

“That’s great, so am I!” I moved into the selection and grab a bag of socks and my boots.

It was grueling and difficult, many of us dropped out and quit, my friend-ship with teddy grew as did our respect and maturity, after we had finished our basic trainings and stood in the gradu-ation line, we were no longer sweets. we were men.

We rejoiced at getting placed into the same platoon and squads but felt the nervous pang of knowing we were heading to Viet“Nom” to fight and kill for the freedom of another country. I remember stepping onto the massive cargo plane and setting my bag onto the metal grated floor, the interior of the plane was sturdy, crafted from what seemed to be the thickest foil money could buy, the seats were made from cake thread so they were comfortable enough, I sat down with teddy and the rest of our squad mates. Feeling ad-equate, we all talked and laughed as we felt the plane take off, our home fading into the distance as we headed out over the massive pink juice of the Cherry-berry Ocean, the gooey marshmallow clouds casting small dark shades in its color.

Viet-“Nom” nom nompart 1

BY JESSY MARCELINE

. . . To Be Continued

Documents

Sterling Cub Reporter: October 2014