Volume 4, Issue 4 January 2012 www.thevikingpress.com

We are familyThe band opens up about their bonds and relationships.>> Feature pg. 9

The tech of 2012The future is here, and so is the next genera-tion of gaming and entertainment.>>Entertain. pg. 10

Teachers sacrifice planning time for students

(Julia Griffin//The Viking Press)Math teacher Nicole Farland (left) helps senior Alexis Davis review for a final exam. Farland, a first-year

teacher, is one of three staff members teaching without a planning period.

Coach Gulledge celebrates his 300th winThe long time Kinston coach celebrates a winning career with the Vikings’ basket-ball team.>>Feature pg. 13

The Anchor Club helps kids write to Santa ClausKHS students pose as elves wishing South-east Elementary stu-dents a Merry Christ-mas >> News pg. 4

Kinston High’s student newspaper2601 N. Queen St., Kinston, N.C.

Confused about the new exam policy?

Sarah Walker wins Poetry Out Loud competition

See page 8

Basketball Wives

Learn more about the team behind the scenes

See page 12See page 5

Already “over-worked and under-paid,” four teachers at Kinston High are taking on an ex-tra load by giving up their planning period for a fourth class.

The absence of one math teacher has set back the schedules of many teachers, including two first-year teachers.

“It has made my first year a little bit more hectic but I get everything done,” math teacher Amber Harrelson said. “I get here really early in the morn-ing.”

Harrelson teaches geometry and said the rea-son why she agreed to take on an extra class is

because she loves the subject so much.The teachers with four classes must find time to

make lesson plans outside of school since their planning periods are completely replaced with their forth class. Sometimes, this even means giv-ing up their lunch period.

“With Ms. Bryant being a first year principal I just feel like she has had enough trouble with every-thing,” science teacher Joe Romig said.

Romig was asked to take on an additional class that was not even in his teaching subject. Yet be-cause of his background in math, he has taken on an Algebra 1 class.

Romig has two EOC courses which makes the

By RESITA COXEditor-in-Chief

SEE TEACHERS, PG. 4

3 + 1 = no planning

Editorial2 - The Viking Press - January 2012 www.thevikingpress.com

Exam policies should be reconsidered

Our Take

The Viking Press, for the purpose of allowing the voices of all students to be heard, be-lieves in complete, unbiased reporting and strives for hon-est, open dialogue in the KHS community.

Mission Statement

Editor-in-ChiefResita CoxCo-EditorTommy TsaoNews EditorHayley VermillionSports EditorKyle BrownFeature EditorKenneth GeorgeEntertainment EditorMalasya GrajalesOpinion EditorJulia GriffinBusiness ManagerAnna HillCopy EditorsMegan ToweryAnniken WilliamsReportersAkyra AllenJevonte JonesKhadijah ThorneAdviserMichael Moon

Viking Press Staff

The Viking Press2601 N. Queen St. / Kinston N.C. 28501

The Viking Press is the award-winning student publi-cation of Kinston High School and is published entirely by KHS students as a public fo-rum.

Opinions expressed in The Viking Press are solely those of the writer whose byline ap-pears above each story.

Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of The Vi-king Press staff as a whole and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of any Lenoir County Schools employees.

Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspa-per Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service.

Letters welcomeThe Viking Press welcomes

letters to the editor. Submis-sions must be 300 words or less and must be signed by the au-thor.

The Viking Press reserves the right to edit letters for content and length.

On the WebFind us online at theviking-

press.com or follow us on Fa-cebook and Twitter at twitter.com/thevikingpress.

(Illustration by senior Kris Williams) Exam time can be stressful for everyone, but with proper study habits -- and maybe some prayer, according to our

guest cartoonist -- you can make the right grade.

I don’t like the new exam policy because it takes up more time

in the day, and that could be time where we could be studying a more im-portant exam. I do agree with absences counting toward exemption. That helps students to come to school and also keep good grades.”

- Senior Meryl Monk

“ I find it confusing, being that it is a new policy. When I was an under-

classman, I anticipated exempting my exams as a senior, but now I might not be able to because of one unexcused day. I definite-ly know what I have to do next semester.”

- Senior Naya Newborn

“ We can see what they are trying to do by establishing

this new policy. We like how the seniors have a chance to be exempt with an A, B or C, but we do not like how the ab-sence from the remediation counts toward the exemption. It’s like they’re rewarding and punishing us as the same time.”- Seniors Jessica Neal and Jasmine Moore

“

Whether we are prepared for them or not, they’re still coming. By the time you read this, exam week will be upon us.

However, this year is a bit different. Along with all of the other new policies that were brought to Kinston High this year, the exam pol-icy has also been modified.

In the past, seniors were al-lowed to exempt any teach-er-made exam as long as they had an “A” average for the semester. Attendance did not enter the equation.

This year attendance is playing a huge part in senior exemptions. Whether you have an “A” or “D,” you can-not exempt if you have even

one unexcused absence.While we understand that

the policy is trying to make us responsible adults by com-pelling us to attend class, we also believe that we are being responsible by showing that we can indeed pass the class with a high average regard-less of absences.

In addition to the new ex-emption rule, students are now required to attend a remediation period the day before their class exam, and only students who are eligi-ble for exemption can choose not to attend. Yet, these stu-dents are still considered ab-sent, and that absence can prevent a student from ex-empting. We find that coun-

ter-intuitive.Again, we understand that

the policy is designed to help us with our exams, yet the new policy is obviously flawed. It is senseless to tell us we do not have to attend remediation because of our grade, yet we will be held re-sponsible for not going.

We also have to deal with the students who simply do not want to learn during that period. They will distract the students who actually need and want the help and the entire period will be a waste of time.

Therefore, everyone should not be required to at-tend. The students who want extra help will be rewarded

with undistracted learning, and the students who do not wish to attend will have to study on their own time.

At the very least, students who have proven proficiency all semester with an “A” or “B” average should have the option to decline the reme-diation period.

As students, we feel that our opinions should be in-cluded in the making of new policies. After-all, we are the ones affected by them.

We strongly believe the new exam policies should be reconsidered with our best interests in mind.

Opinionwww.thevikingpress.com 3 - The Viking Press - January 2012

End of first semester brings about final semester for school-weary seniors

Here’s a thought

withAnna Hill

We are almost there! The one semester we’ve

been waiting for for our en-tire lives: the last semester of high school!

It should be a time for all of us to buckle down and get serious but the simple fact of knowing it is indeed our last semester makes it very hard to do so.

As an IB senior this is per-haps one of the hardest se-mesters of my life. Stress lev-els are at an all-time high and motivation is at an all-time low.

We all want to go out and have fun and enjoy our class-

Enjoy checking your Face-book status, “reblogging” pictures on Tumblr, and us-ing your Twitter account while you can, because this month the Internet as we know it may change forever.

Obviously, this change isn’t a welcome new inno-vation for many of us. It’s an Act that will potentially block your favorite sites and prevent future ones from starting. It’s called the Stop Online Piracy Act and it will allow corporate censorship, endorsed by the U.S. govern-ment.

SOPA is going through Congress soon. If passed, sites that “promote” copy-

right-infringing acts (for ex-ample, YouTube) will be at risk of becoming “blacklist-ed.” Entire websites could be taken down because they are “capable” of spreading copy-righted material.

When more details are revealed, this bill starts to sound more and more like a

violation of the Bill of Rights. What ever happened to “Free Speech?” Is it conditional now because the entertain-ment industry is losing mon-ey? I understand that piracy is illegal, but the fact of the matter is this: Even if this Act did take down a few sites that share copyrighted mate-rial, all the legitimate sites lost in the crossfire wouldn’t be worth it.

The problem is that Con-gress hasn’t heard all of our voices. Many of them don’t realize how detrimental this Act would be to the way we live. With an outpouring of support from groups like the Recording Industry Associa-

tion of America, it seems the bill could be pushed right through the House and Sen-ate.

Thankfully, there is some sanity out there, because many Americans oppose this bill. People are trying to stop this through petitions and calling their representatives, the common opinion being that this type of censorship would prevent “the next YouTube” or innovation that could take the Internet to new heights, simply for fear of being “blacklisted” and then taken down.

Some argue SOPA shouldn’t have to be voted on in the first place.

“There are ways to get around blocks,” said LCC student Andrew Hill. “Take one site down and another will pop up. (This bill) is be-ing voted on by people, most of whom don’t even know how the Internet works.”

The anger from big-time web surfers is apparent, but even if you casually cruise the net, this will affect you.

You might as well be in North Korea surfing the web once this bill gets passed.

We’re supposed to be the land of the Free, and in my mind that includes freedom of expression through web-sites that allow anyone to post anything.

Online act could have unintended consequences

By Kenneth GeorGe

Feature Editor

Is 2012 the end? If you’re a Mayan, you might have reason to think so.

On Dec. 21, 2012, the Mayan calendar expires. Though many have made a mockery of the theory that the world will end on this day, others are taking the date more seriously.

In 2009 the movie “2012” was released, calling atten-tion to the Mayan calendar to viewers worldwide.

I do not believe this will be the end of the world, or even life as we know it. No one knows for sure why the Mayans chose to structure their calendar in this way since anyone re-sponsible for that decision is long since passed.

In reality, it is just the end of one of the Mayans’ cycles, much like our modern day calendars end on Dec. 31.

This has been an ex-tremely hot winter, but I believe this is just a warm-er winter than my genera-tion has seen and every-thing will be alright.

It’s not the end of times.

The world isn’t going to be

ending in 2012mates while we are all still to-gether, yet we cannot ignore the work that is continuously piling up.

I do not remember the last time I actually had a work-free weekend. Being a full time senior is simply a hard task, and that is not to men-tion that senioritis is a real disease.

College is a jump away so

the question constantly comes up in most of our minds: Are we ready?

As much as we say we are ready to be adults, growing up is still a scary process.

Next year around this time we will all be considered “young-adults,” taking on the world.

I have huge aspirations for the class of 2012. This is our moment to shake up the world.

I remember sitting in my fifth-grade classroom calcu-lating my graduation year with my classmates. With this year being that year, it is still very surreal to me.

So, here we are in our last semester of high school sim-ply trying to make it out. Peo-ple always have told me that senior year will fly by, and it has.

Being stressed out has hon-estly made time go by a bit faster and now I just simply want to enjoy my last semes-ter of high school by taking it slow.

So to my classmates: Don’t let senior year pass you by, slow down and smell the textbooks at Kinston High. This may be your last chance to do so.

New Year’s resolu-tions are over-rat-ed.

By the end of the year, are people really living up to what they said in January? I doubt that because I really don’t live up to mine. I tell myself every year I’m going to change this and that about myself. At the end of the year, I’m the same ol’ guy.

I understand resolutions can offer guidelines to live by because everyone likes to give themselves a challenge.

New Year’s resolutions go all the way back to when we started keeping calendars.

Some make their resolutions out to be something good and something to build off of. But others use this as something that they just put on their bucket list to do during the year.

So do people just talk to hear themselves talk or do they actually plan out a goal to achieve during the year? I think it’s my first proposition because we all love the fun

of being like everyone else and having a reso-lution.

Every year, people throw around the same resolutions: los-ing weight, trying to stop cursing, being truthful to the person that they love, and one that actu-ally gets almost done, trying to stop smoking.

They are all reachable goals, but bad habits often stop us from reaching them.

I’m not perfect. I tried to stop running my mouth so much, but hey, it never happened. I’d rather make a

two-year resolution rather than a New Year’s resolution because the things I try take time and patience.

Don’t try and accomplish everything in one week. Set out with a schedule in mind and have a short term plan and a long term plan.

One thing is certain, though. Just make the New Year come to you OK.

Keepin’ it cool with Kyle Brown

New Year’s resolutions mostly over-rated

I would rather set a two-year resolution rather than a New Year’s res-

olution.”“

SomethingSapidwith

Resita Cox

Second-grader Destiny Ed-wards wanted more than just toys for herself this Christ-mas. She wanted a toy for Santa.

“I want to find a gift to give to Mrs. (Christina) Clark so if she sees Santa she can give it to him,” Destiny said.

Each year Anchor Club members from Kinston High host a “Dear Santa” writing workshop so that Destiny and other second-graders at Southeast Elementary School can write letters to Santa in December.

First year Anchor Club Advisor Diane Bowen orga-nized the annual event.

“It is to help kids recog-nize and remember that they are thought about and cared about,” Bowen said.

The workshop is also a learning experience for many of the second-graders who participate.

“They learn how to write a letter, how to spell, and communication skills,” Clark

said.The students wait about a

week to hear the responses from “Santa’s elves.”

The elves -- Kinston’s An-chor Club members -- re-spond by offering positive messages during the holi-days.

Senior Anchor Club mem-

ber Hayley Vermillion, a se-nior, has participated in the workshop for three years.

“It really lets them know that there is someone who cares,” Vermillion said.

“It’s more than just giving gifts, it’s also about devot-ing time to those who matter most; the children.”

News4 - The Viking Press - January 2012 www.thevikingpress.com

2006 N Queen StKinston, NC 28501

(252) 939-9500

Down East Protection SystemsSafe, Secure, and Satisfying

By RESITA COXEditor-in-Chief

‘Santa’ responds to SE Elementary letters with KHS Anchor Club help

(Contributed photo) Students at Southeast Elementary School wrote letters to

Santa. With help from the Kinston High School Anchor Club, Santa responded to each of them.

Calling all writers,

photographers,

and artists:

Submit your photos, art and writing pieces to the Kinston High Literary Magazine.

See Mr. Moon or Mrs. Romig

Kinston Literarymagazine

Find us on Facebook atfacebook.com/TheVikingPress

Exclusive photos, stories, discussions and more

Anchor Club is a national service organization for high school girls, which encourages participation in a variety of service projects on campus and in the community. So far this year, the Anchor Club at Kinston High School has provided desserts for Mary’s Kitchen at Thanksgiving and responded to 49 Santa letters from second-graders. Spring projects include making and delivering Valentines to residents at a local senior citizen home and collecting supplies for the homeless shelter.

Membership in the Anchor Club, which is by invitation, is a two-part process. First. all tenth-grade girls with a 3.0 grade point average are eligible. Second, their names are put on a list which is given to the teachers, who may recommend up to 20 students. The top 20 students are then invited to

an induction ceremony and, thereby, join Anchor Club.

The 11th- and 12th-grade Anchor Club members conducted the ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 15, in the Performing Arts Center. Ms. Felicia Solomon, principal of Southeast Elementary School, was the keynote speaker. Seventeen students were inducted.

Officers for the 2011-2012

school year are Christian Pridgen, president; Alexis Williams, vice president; Becky Irvin, secretary; Liesel Nix, treasurer; Hayley Vermillion, senior advisor; and Brittany Roberts, junior advisor.

Sponsors for the Anchor Club are business teacher Melanie VonBraunsberg and language teacher Diane Bowen.

THE VIKING PRESSStaff Report

Club Spotlight: AnChor Club

work load heavier.“With having two differ-

ent curriculum areas, every other night is a night at home in which you are preparing EOC materials and you have to alternate between classes,” Romig said. “I stay up till about 1, 2, or even sometimes 3 in the morning preparing material.”

Like the other teachers with four classes, Romig has given up his lunch in order to have extra time to plan for his class-es.

“There is just no time for planning or even to make pho-to copies.” Romig said. “You either do it at the beginning of school or at the end of school.”

Nicole Farland, another first year teacher, is also juggling four academic courses. Photo copying is also a problem in Farland’s schedule.

Farland’s situation is also unique because she has four completely different subjects to cover.

“It makes it a little more stressful because it is another class I had to quickly learn, another set of papers I have to grade, and lesson plans that I have to do because none of my classes are the same,” she said.

Despite the hectic semester, the problem will be alleviated next semester due to the hiring of a long term substitute.

“We do have a certified, full-time sub that will go back into those classes and start those classes fresh,” Principal Angela Bryant said. “This wasn’t a per-manent thing; it was just to get us through this semester.”

Yet in the face of an extra class and stress-load many of the first year teachers were able to bond with other teach-ers in their departments and also with their new students.

“It’s admirable that they were willing to step up to the plate and help out,” Bryant said. “The good thing is they have all bonded together re-ally well and the teachers from their department have really helped them with their lesson plans.”

Additionally, first-year math teacher Joshua Bridges agreed to switch his class schedule in the middle of the semester so upper-level math students would have access to a highly qualified teacher full time.

“I think it’s good for the stu-dents, and as long as the teach-ers don’t feel overwhelmed I think it’s good for the school to get all the help it can get,” senior Tommy Tsao said.

Teachersfrom page 1

A few weeks in advance 43%

The night before 50%

I don’t study 7%

Newswww.thevikingpress.com 5 - The Viking Press - January 2012

43%

37%

3%17% Math

ScienceSocial StudiesLanguage

For many students, exams bring the most stressful time of the year. Everything they have worked for all semester could be perfected or com-pletely ruined in one morn-ing.

Since exams account for 20 or 25 percent of the final grade, depending on whether it is an EOC or teacher-made test, studying is on most stu-dents’ to-do lists at the end of each semester.

In a recent survey, half of students polled at Kinston High School said they wait until the night before an exam to study.

Though the thought is there, the timing of it may add to the stress level of al-ready worried students.

“It’s really best to study a little every night for the whole semester, but if you insist on waiting, spread out your studying over several weeks,” English teacher Mi-chael Moon said.

In the survey, most students said they worry most about science and math exams.

“They stress me out,” soph-omore Tera Holloway said. “It’s a big part of my grade, and you can’t retake a non-EOC exam, so if you bomb it, you just bomb it.”

Some seniors don’t share this frustration, thanks to the exemption policy. Depend-ing on their grade and at-tendance totals in a class, an exam may be optional (See chart, top left). The policy has changed from last year, when the only way to get out of an exam was to be a senior

Student survey

and have an A average. Now, seniors must also have missed a minimum number of days in addition to maintaining a cer-tain average.

Some students don’t agree with this new policy.

“As long as you have an A in class, it shouldn’t matter how many days you’ve missed,” senior Kyra King said. “You should be allowed to exempt your exam.”

Exams begin Wednesday, Jan. 11, and end Tuesday, Jan. 17. Remediation and retest-ing will be conducted in the week prior to the new semes-ter, which begins Jan. 24.

(Editor’s note: See our staff editorial on Page 2 for more student opinions on the up-coming exam week.)

43 percent of KHS students polled say they worry most about math exams, followed by science at 37 percent.

Which exams do you worry about most?

Exam time brings more changeFast facts about senior

exam exemptions

Exams must be non-EOC, non-CTE(Only teacher-made exams can be exempted)

No unexcused absences allowed.

GRADE No. OF EXCUSED ABSENCES A 3 or fewer B 2 or fewer C 1 or fewer

(Can’t make up days to get below limit)

Senior LaQuana Smiley scans a QR code on an iPad 2 to open an interactive study guide she can use for her final exam in Mr. Moon’s Honors English IV class.

When do you start studying for exams? (Anna Hill/The Viking Press)

By ANNA HILLBusiness Manager

Exam scheduleand other info

Wednesday, Jan. 11 ...... 1st block exam, 2nd block reviewThursday, Jan. 12 ............ 2nd block exam, 3rd block reviewFriday, Jan. 13 ................. 3rd block exam, 4th block reviewMonday, Jan. 16 ............ No school (MLK Jr. Day)Tuesday, Jan. 17 ............. 4th block exam, early releaseWednesday, Jan. 18 ...... Remediation/ Exam make-ups/retestsThursday, Jan. 19 ............ Remediation/ Exam make-ups/retestsFriday, Jan. 20 ................. No school (Workday)Monday, Jan. 23 ............. No school (Workday)Tuesday, Jan. 24 ............. 2nd semester begins, Report to A/A 7:45 am

(Note: There will be no remediation block during second semester.)

Two Kinston High School students are in the running to receive the prestigious Morehead-Cain scholarship for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Seniors Daniel Irvin and Tommy Tsao were recently selected to be semi-finalists, an accomplishment shared by only 15 percent of nomi-nees.

“I’m excited, but nervous because I know that the in-terview will probably very difficult,” Irvin said.

The interview is a rigor-ous process, consisting of two 20-minute conversa-tions with two members of two distinct committees. The number of students who re-ceive this scholarship varies each year, but approximately 50 percent of the recipients are from North Carolina. A year ago, 52 students were selected as Morehead Schol-ars.

The four-year merit schol-arship includes full tuition, student fees, housing, meals,

books and stipends for a lap-top and travel and is worth about $17,000 per year.

Irvin’s top choice is UNC, but Tsao is still considering his options.

“If I get this scholarship, which brings on many op-portunities such as a paid study abroad program, then UNC is definitely a top con-tender,” Tsao said. “Howev-er, right now I am still look-ing at out-of-state colleges in more metropolitan cities.”

Tsao has recently toured the campus of New York University and is very inter-ested in attending that col-lege. On the other hand, Ir-vin grew up a UNC fan and he has always wanted to at-tend college there.

“UNC is one of my top choices because it is one of the top public universities in the nation,” Irvin said. “Even without scholarships, i think it is one of the best values that you can find. Plus I have always loved going to the campus to visit my siblings or go to games.”

Both Irvin and Tsao have excelled in school, and both

have always been in the top three of their class.

Making it to this level re-quires real dedication to academics and other extra-curricular activities. Irvin’s advice is simple.

“Learn how to write good essays,” he said. “Essays are

the part of an application where they get to see the real you, and they see writ-ing good essays as a mark of a thoughtful student.”

Said Tsao: “Make sure to follow your dreams. Don’t give up because of a lousy grade; just try to make it up.

Be sure to explore your ho-rizons and aim for those top schools. Find your passion and follow it, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone sometimes. Make sure you always have your doors open to new ideas and opportuni-ties.”

News6 - The Viking Press - January 2012 www.thevikingpress.com

Tsao, Irvin named semi-finalists for UNC’s Morehead-CainBy ANNIKEN WILLIAMSCopy Editor

(Anniken Williams/The Viking Press) Seniors Daniel Irvin (left) and Tommy Tsao are semi-finalists for the prestigious More-

head-Cain Scholarship at UNC.

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Caitlin West named Park semi-finalistBy ANNIKEN WILLIAMSCopy Editor

Weeks before coaches were allowed to begin pre-season workouts, senior Caitlin West was on the field leading practice.

That kind of initiative is only one of the qualities that makes West a well-rounded student.

“Caitlin has a work ethic that is second to none on and off the soccer field,” said Joseph Romig, her science teacher and soccer coach. “She dedicates herself to help-ing others learn how to play soccer and she does exactly the same in the classroom.”

For that reason and more, West is a semi-finalist for the Park Scholarship, the most prestigious merit scholarship at N.C. State University.

The Park Scholarship is awarded to approximately 45 students each year. The four-year scholarship is valued at $86,000 for North Carolina students and includes tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, travel and personal expenses.

“State has one of the best

programs out there and I am really excited that I have this opportunity to possibly re-ceive a full ride there since it is my top choice,” West said.

West has always excelled in academics, an obvious fac-tor in her selection as a semi-finalist. Romig believes that due to her intellect, West is worthy of her No. 2 class rank and her position in the process to earn the Park scholarship.

“She is highly intellectual and a great analytical think-er,” Romig said. “She is very proud to be in the top of the

class, yet she is humble.”West sets goals along her

academic journey in order to excel. To get this far in the scholarship process requires a genuine desire to succeed, and it is this personal drive that has propelled her forward.

“She is a great example of what all great things can be with the right focus, attitude, and endless heart,” Romig said.

Said West: “Make the most out of your high school years and be as involved as possible. You only have one chance to do everything throughout those four years.”

(Julia Griffin/The Viking Press) Senior Caitlin West is a semi-finalist for the prestigious Park

Scholarship at N.C. State.

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Newswww.thevikingpress.com 7 - The Viking Press - January 2012

Quiz Bowl team aims at defending 2011 titleBy HAYLEY VERMILLIONNews Editor

432

Varsity, JV Boys, Varsity Girls@ North Lenoir

Varsity, JV Boys, Varsity, JV Girls @ Beddingfield

Varsity, JV Boys, Varsity, JV Girls @ Southwest Edgecombe

Varsity, JV Boys, Varsity, JV Girls vs. Southwest Edgecombe

Varsity, JV Boys, Varsity, JV Girls @ North Pitt

A county champion-ship win for Kin-ston High School’s

Quiz Bowl team last year serves as plenty of motiva-tion for this year’s team.

The 2010-2011 Kinston High Quiz Bowl team, for the first time in recent his-tory, won the Neuse Re-gional Library Competition. They defeated the defend-ing champions, Arendell Parrott Academy, in a close battle. This victory for the quiz bowl team was their first ever county win under adviser Clay Stilley.

Looking ahead to the 2011-2012 season, the team has several big goals.

“I’d like to win the county competition again and improve our perfor-mance at regionals,” said Daniel Irvin, the team’s senior captain.

Stilley is also expecting a lot out of his team.

“I want a repeat,” he said. “I think we have a great team this year. We have experienced competitors, as well as young newcom-ers, and these include some of the brightest people at school. We are putting a big emphasis on preparing those who haven’t had much ex-perience for the reality of the competition.”

One of those newcom-ers is Taishu McLawhorn, a sophomore at Kinston High.

“This is my first experi-

ence with any competition like this, but I’m excited,” McLawhorn said.

In order to prepare the new students on the team, and give the upperclassmen more experience, the team practices once a week. Dur-ing practice, they hold mock battles with questions that were used in previous years. They will also compete against a team of selected teachers to help them pre-pare for the Neuse Regional Library Competition in Feb-ruary.

The competition will consist of Kinston, North Lenoir, South Lenoir and Parrott Academy.

Stilley said he was most concerned by Parrott and South Lenoir because they have always had

strong teams.“Our chief competitors are

Parrott and South Lenoir. They’re always strong,” he said.

However, Stilley is very confident in his team. The starting line-up consists of a strong group of seniors: Daniel Irvin, Tommy Tsao, Edward Nesbeth and Cait-lin West. Dillon Perry, Ann Bingham, Nicholas Franfort, Taishu McLawhorn and Nicholas Romero are the al-ternates for the 2011-2012

team. In particular, Stilley and

the rest of the team will ex-pect a breakout year for Ed-ward Nesbeth.

“We’re expecting big things from Edward this year,” Stilley said. “He did exceptionally well in re-gionals and he was a stand-out at the Onslow Rotary Academic Challenge.”

The team has traditionally competed in Jacksonville following the county and regional competitions and may consider doing so again this year.

With so much talent on the team, the 2011-2012 Quiz Bowl team hopes to have back-to-back success-ful seasons.

New Year’s Day New Year’s Day Observed

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Teacher Workday

Varsity, JV Boys, Varsity, JV Girls@ Tarboro

Teacher Workday

Varsity, JV Boys, Varsity, JV Girls vs. Tarboro

Varsity, JV Boys, Varsity, JV Girls vs. Hoggard

Exams

Exams

SAT @ ECUNew Semester

Begins!

I want a repeat. I think we have a great team this year.”

- Clay Stilley, adviser“

Snap backs. Fitted caps. Any team under the sun. It doesn’t matter. Hats are everywhere,

especially in the closet of senior Ed-ward Nesbeth.

Most of the time, hats are bought to complement an outfit or to just support a favorite sports team.

Then there are the collectors. With most New Era and other name brand hats pricing around $30, most people own a handful.

Nesbeth owns considerably more. His friends notice Nesbeth seems to have a different hat almost every time they see him.

He has a collection of 64 hats that he honors and cherishes, which is not much of a surprise.

While official statistics aren’t re-corded, it’s a safe bet that Nesbeth sets the record for the most hats owned by any one student at Kin-ston High School.

Nesbeth’s love for hats made him want to start a collection as soon as possible. He admires hats mainly because they can make any outfit “work.” In his opinion, one way you can make an outfit look a lot better is simply by adding a hat that matches your setup.

When collecting his hats, Nesbeth never created a set goal of how many hats he hoped to collect. Now that he has a great number of hats, he believes that he is finished with col-lecting hats.

“I think I’m done,” he said. “I have plenty to wear throughout the up-coming years.”

Nesbeth said he will be taking the entire collection along with him to college. “Of course I will,” he said with a laugh, before adding: “Hats go with me to college before my clothes do.”

Feature8 - The Viking Press - January 2012 www.thevikingpress.com

The hat manEdward Nesbeth owns impressive hat collection

(Contributed Photo) Senior Edward Nesbeth owns 64 hats, mostly New Era fitted caps and

snap backs. According to Nesbeth, the hats are a versatile complement to almost any outfit.

By MALASYA GRAJALESEntertainment Editor

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Sarah is second Walker to win Poetry Out Loud

For the second year in a row, a Walker has won Kinston High’s Poetry Out Loud Contest.

A year after older sister Jes-sica won, junior Sarah Walk-er has earned a trip to the re-gional competition.

KHS teacher Clay Raines has led the Poetry Out Loud contest at Kinston High for four years and has helped prepare the students.

“It gives them a better un-derstanding of the poetry,” Raines said. “It shows who really likes the poetry.”

Students must choose a poem from a list to recite in front of a panel of judges.

Walker scored the best out of 78 peers at KHS. As a re-sult, she will be competing at Parrott Academy this month and has the chance to go to Greensboro and Washington, D.C. if she continues to win.

Walker prepared the poem, “The Spider and the Fly” by Mary Hewitt and said it was fun to be more than one character in it.

Walker and Raines spent hours rehearsing, and Walk-er said it was difficult for her to memorize the lengthy poem and make it sound like a speech but the time and ef-fort put into it paid off in the end.

“I think it’s really cool,” Walker said of following her sister’s footsteps in the com-petition. “I’m really excited to compete in the competi-tion at Parrott and choose my next poem.”

By MEGAN TOWERYCopy Editor

FUN FACTS ABOUT EDWARD

Name:Edward Nesbeth

Grade:Senior

Favorite Movie:Friday After Next

Favorite Snack:Brown Sugar

Cinnamon Poptarts

Favorite Artist:Lil Wayne

Favorite Brand:New Era

Featurewww.thevikingpress.com 9 - The Viking Press - January 2012

Jay Taylor and Joshua Dowdell share a brotherly bond that they feel can nev-er be broken. When middle school rolled around, they couldn’t help but be close considering all the time they had spent together.

“Jay and I have always been close,” Dowdell said. “We learned everything together, pushed each other, competed with each other. In the end, we’re brothers.”

These aren’t blood related brothers; they’re band mem-bers. Students in Kinston High’s band program func-tion as a family.

Whether they play the flute, tuba or are part of the Color Guard, they are a huge part of each others’ lives.

“I love the bond I have be-tween my flag sisters,” sopho-more Color Guard member Koalia Sanders said. “It’s my second family.”

Band members say the bond is part of the reason they’re so successful in competitions.

“We work as a team to keep the sound going,” senior brass captain Jeleisha Wooten said. “By being close, it’s easier for us to work together.”

This has been proven true by the many awards the band has received so far this year. Titles such as Band of the Day and Overall Excellent Rating are the true testament of the band’s abilities.

Such a highly decorated band wouldn’t be possible at Kinston High School without cultivating a family of talent-ed, dedicated performers.

“Most people don’t realize how difficult being a member

of the band is,” Band Director Andre King said. “It challeng-es you mentally and physi-cally, and the need for perfec-tion is much greater than any other organization.”

Band students spend count-less hours practicing and per-fecting their pieces. From mid-July through the rest of the school year, they spend much of their free time to-gether at Kinston High, working to be their best.

“We see each other pretty

much every day,” said Taylor, a senior drumline captain. “We go hard in practice and competition. We try to make it interesting.”

Band isn’t just a place for performance; for some, band is a first-hand experience with leadership.

“Through all my hardships, (band) strengthened my lead-ership ability and taught me to set myself apart from the crowd,” said Dowdell, who is also a senior drumline cap-

tain.King shares his student’s in-

sights. “Student leadership is im-

portant,” he said. “When they’re out there on the field, 100 percent of the energy and passion has to come from the students.”

Leadership is a key ele-ment to the band’s success. Members, like family, have to push each other to reach their maximum potential.

“Really, the band is my sec-

ond family,” Wooten said. “I have people in the band that I know I can depend on and people who encourage me.”

Though strong, some bonds are very new. King has tried to instill a sense of legacy by insisting both new and old band members adhere to the same high standards left be-hind by long-time director Charles Richberg, who re-tired two years ago.

“I’ve tried to keep the leg-acy at Kinston High that has existed for over 30 years with Mr. Richberg,” King said. “I want to maintain but at the same time bring new energy to the band program to make students want to participate.”

His vision has made an im-pact on many of his students.

“He makes it fun and worth-while,” senior woodwind captain Tonae Kornegay said.

Junior drum major Drew McPhatter agrees.

“Band’s come a long way,” McPhatter said. “We have a big reputation and just be-cause we changed directors doesn’t mean there’s a change in the legacy.”

Though competition season is over, the band plans to con-tinue reinforcing their pres-ence throughout the year. They will make appearances at a few basketball games this year and will be playing at Lenoir Community College’s homecoming this month.

This group has a lot to be proud of, and according to many of it’s members, the awards aren’t the only things that makes them happy to be a part of the band.

Said Wooten: “What I’m most proud of in the band is that we have heart and we show that.”

Southeast Raleigh Band Bash 2nd Place Drum Major1st Place Color GuardOverall Excellent Rating

Hope County High School Band Day

La Grange Christmas Parade

3rd Place Percussion2nd Place Color Guard

1st Place

2nd Place Color Guard

Greene Central Band Day

Kinston Christmas Parade

Havelock High School Band Day

By ANNA HILLBusiness Manager

Band: A family affair at KHS

(Anna Hill/The Viking Press)Senior Jay Taylor practices for a band competition. Taylor is a senior drumline captain.

Seniors Jay Taylor (left) and Josh Dowdell are se-nior drumline captains.

(Anna Hill/The Viking Press)

2011-2012 Kinston High School band competitions

2nd Place Music1st Place Color Guard

Band of the Day

Always Strive and Pros-per. Rap artist A$AP Rocky wears the acronym A.$.A.P on the right side of his stom-ach in bold ink.

The 24-year-old artist who was born and raised in Har-lem, N.Y., is doing just that. He signed a $3 million re-cording deal with Sony/RCA in the latter part of 2011.

Rocky is the leader of the Harlem hip-hop group A$AP Mob. Members include A$AP Dee Ferg, A$AP Ty, A$AP Nast, A$AP Twelvyy, Jay West, A$AP Yams, Young Lord and many more. In fact, this is more than a music group out of Harlem. Instead, it is a team and “life-style.”

“I got it on my chest man,

this is what I breathe” is what he says in his hit sin-gle “Peso,” as he refers to his A$AP tattoo.

On Oct. 31, 2011, A$AP Rocky’s new mixtape “LiveLoveA$AP” released. A switch up from your typical rap album, A$AP Rocky is probably quite a bit different than your favorite rap artist.

His music has that 90’s West Coast Death Row Re-cords feel with a northern twang. A$AP definitely has a style most are not accus-tomed to, but he still brought the heat with his new mix-

tape. A$AP Rocky started the

new year off dropping a new track titled “Pretty Flacko,” which is scheduled to be on the A.$.A.P Mob album in February.

With so many things hap-pening for A$AP Rocky, he is still young and has plenty more music to make; the fu-ture looks bright for him and his team.

For more information about A$AP Rocky, you can visit his website at www.ASAPMob.com or fol-low him on Twitter @as-vpxrocky.

Kenneth writes a monthly review for The Viking Press. Tell him what you think fol-lowing him on Twitter @TwatchDaThrone.

Tech to expect

Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa“Mac & Devin Go to High

School”Release Date: 12.13.2011

Common“The Dreamer, The Believer”

Release Date: 12.20.2011

ContrabandRated R

Action/CrimeRelease Date: 1.13.2012

What’s New?

Red TailsRated PG-13

Action/DramaRelease Date: 1.20.2012

The Devil InsideNot Yet Rated

Thriller/SupernaturalRelease Date: 1.6.2012

LiveLoveA$AP prospers

Lloyd“King of Hearts”

Release Date: 1.9.2012

Android Ice Cream SandwichThe latest iteration of the Android OS is

set to roll out soon to all devices, start-ing with the already released Samsung Galaxy Nexus (pictured right). It will finally bridge the gap between tablet and mobile phone operating systems.

Windows 8The newest PC OS is already in

beta and will feature a new interface similar to the “Metro” interface on Windows Phone 7. Featuring new apps and tiles, the latest version of Windows hopes to bring itself to home tablets.

PSP VitaThe new Sony handheld, the

PSP Vita (pictured below), has already been released in Japan, and is to be released in the US on Feb. 22. Nintendo still dominates the handheld gam-ing market, though Sony might actually have something with this touch screen portable with a high-powered pro-cessor.

3D Re-Releases of MoviesBeauty and the Beast, Titanic, Finding Nemo, and Star

Wars Episode I are some of the newest movies to be con-verted to the popular new movie format. Disney is plan-ning to re-release more classic and Pixar animated movies in 3D even after 2012.

Wii ULast year at E4, the gaming industry’s largest show-

case, Nintendo was the only company to announce a successor for home consoles, the Wii U. It will feature the same motion gaming of the original Wii while incor-porating a new touch screen control-ler (pictured right) and HD graphics.

Source: us.playstation.com/psvita/

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Image source: e3.nintendo.com

Entertainment10 - The Viking Press - January 2012 www.thevikingpress.com

By KENNETH GEORGEFeature Editor

By TOMMY TSAOCo-Editor

Sports11 - The Viking Press - January 2012 www.thevikingpress.com

By KYLE BROWNSports Editor

The Kinston High School varsity and junior varsi-ty girls’ basketball teams emerged victorious after go-ing head to head with Hog-gard High School.

To start off the night, the J.V. girls struggled to keep up with Hoggard. They trailed by as many as 15 points to the coastal Vikings in the third quarter but out-scored Hoggard 21-9 in the fourth to take a 48-46 win.

The varsity team had no such trouble facing Hog-gard and they prevailed with a 63-31 blowout win.

“It was a quick start,” var-sity coach Hubert Quinerly said.

Senior Tisha Dixon led all scorers with 18 points for the Vikings while sopho-more Hannah Vermillion led the JV team with 18.

With the wins, the JV girls improved to 2-3 over-all, and the varsity girls im-proved to 10-3 (4-0 Eastern Plains 2A).

WH 2 10 10 9 – 31KHS 22 17 16 8 – 63

H: Lowery 7, Morton 7, Pope 5, Bennett 5, Bueler 4, Szymeczeck 3. K: Tisha Dixon 14, Rivers 8, Drum-goole 7, Harper 7, Boat-swain 6, Lofton 6, Vermil-lion 4, DeBruhl 4, Pridgen 2, Jones 1.

By ANNIKEN WILLIAMSCopy Editor

Girls bball keeps winning

Jevonte Jones earns all-state status

Upcoming gamesJan. 6 - @North Lenoir (Boys and girls, varsity and JV)

Jan. 12 - @Greene Central (Boys and girls, varsity and JV, no JV girls)

Jan. 20 - @SouthWest Edgecombe (Boys and girls, varsity and JV)

Jan. 24 - @Beddingfield (Boys and girls, varisty and JV)

Jan. 27 - Farmville Central (Boys and girls, varsity and JV boys, no JV girls)

Jan. 31 - Tarboro (Boys and girls, varsity and JV)

Feb. 3 - Greene Central (Boys and grils, varsity and JV boys, no JV girls)

Feb. 10 - North Lenoir (Boys and girls, varsity and JV, no JV girls)

(Staff Photo/The Viking Press) Sophomore Anshonee Addison (No. 1) breaks toward

the basket as North Lenoir defenders chase her. The Vi-kings won 68-16 and are 10-3 on the season.

Senior wide receiver Jevonte Jones was named to the 2AA All-

State Football team. Jones is also an all-confer-

ence member for the Eastern Plains 2A Conference, widely regarded as one of the best football conferences in the state.

Jones is an elusive receiver who caught almost every-thing thrown in his vicinity.

He was quarterback CJ Bradshaw’s primary target all season and also a great block-ing receiver.

Jones was part of the state championship contending Vikings that fell short to the West Stokes Wildcats.

The fast-as-lightning wide receiver also was invited to a prestigious combine in Phoe-nix, Ariz., called the Junior Rank Semper Fidelis Com-bine.

The combine selects the top-ranked players in the country and showcases their skills.

Jones has been recruited by

many schools and talked to many coaches but he has not yet made any decisions where he wants to attend college.

“I am proud of my ac-

complishments,” Jones said. “Even though I had a past in-jury, I have always kept my eyes on the prize, striving for the best in me.”

Vikings finish third in holiday tourney

(Staff Photo/The Viking Press) Senior Angelo Keyes makes an acrobatic layup against

Raleigh Word of God. The Vikings lost the game in double overtime.

The Kinston High basket-ball team earned a third-place finish in the prestigious HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational.

The tournament, previ-ously known as the GlaxoS-mithKline, featured nation-ally ranked teams from as far as Houston, Texas, and Mari-etta, Ga.

The varsity team is led by juniors Denzel Keyes and Josh Dawson and senior An-gelo Keyes. The trio helped the team turn in a 2-1 mark in the tournament, good enough for third place in a tough bracket.

They fell short against the Garner Bulldogs, but tough defense helped them beat top-ranked Wheeler out of Marietta, Ga., and Raleigh Millbrook.

“This tournament was a great experience for our

team and it helped exploit the small screws that we need to tighten,” coach Wells Gulledge said.

The team is currently un-defeated in conference play, but six of its next seven games are on the road.

Meanwhile, the JV bas-

ketball team has a record of 8-1, tied for first in the East-ern Plains 2A with Farmville Central. Under the guidance of Coach D. Matthews, they are led by Jeremy Taylor and Qwarri Ham. The young team is showing a bright fu-ture for the Viking program.

(Kyle Brown/The Viking Press) Senior Jevonte Jones is an all-state wide receiver for Kin-

ston High School.

By KYLE BROWNSports Editor

‘Eyes on the prize’

Coaches often like to tell athletes how they wish they were in our position to still be playing the game they love.

This is something that coaches stress day in and day out to make their play-ers play harder and bet-ter because one day it all comes to an end.

You always hear the old guys in the neighborhood or around the community rambling and reminiscing about what they did “back in the day” and how they wish they could have done things differently.

As a senior in high school, I would have never expected the years to fly by this fast.

Within the blink of an eye, my whole high school football career came to an end after we lost the state championship game in Ra-leigh.

Before the game, most athletes don’t even think about how this could pos-sibly be their last game ever because they are so pumped to be playing and trying to win.

But when the clock struck zero against West Stokes, it all hit us seniors in the face that it was over.

Very few high school athletes are guaranteed to play at the next level, which is why I feel like ev-eryone playing high school sports should cherish these moments and give their blood, sweat and tears in their given sport every time they suit up.

I know I would give the world to put on a Kinston helmet at least one more time and I ask myself what I could have done better as an athlete in Kinston.

Life is something that you can never rewind or fast forward so that’s why you should take every day and live it like your last.

By KYLE BROWNSports Editor

(Contributed photo)

English teacher Dawnn Gulledge, with son Baker and daughter Brinkley, is always present at Kinston High bas-ketball games, balancing the role of mother with support-ive coach’s wife.

Kinston basketball wivessupport husbands on, off court

12 - The Viking Press - January 2012 www.thevikingpress.com

Wells Gulledge reached a major milestone in his

coaching career with win No. 300 coming on Dec. 21 against county rival North Lenoir.

The 74-53 win pushed Gulledge’s career record to 300-86, a winning percent-age of nearly 78 percent, over 14 years.

Gulledge has been the boys’ basketball coach at Kin-ston High since 2002 and has brought much success to the Vikings in his time here.

The team has won a pair of state championships, in 2008 and 2010; three East-ern Regional titles and seven conference championships,

including five in a row be-tween the East Carolina 3A and Eastern Plains 2A.

During that time, the Vi-kings’ winning percent-age stands at a staggering 82.6 percent with 257 wins against only 54 losses.

Senior Nakeil WIlliams called Gulledge’s expertise “icing on the cake” for a tal-ented squad.

“It doesn’t matter about the players. You can have the best players in the world, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a coach who can lead them,” Williams said.

He continued: “At the end of the day, it’s not about number chasing. We’re all trying to get that ring at the end of the season.

300 and countingCoach Gulledge earns win No. 300

(Staff photo/The Viking Press)

Coach Wells Gulledge (right) encourages his team dur-ing a Dec. 21 game against North Lenoir. Gulledge earned his 300th career win in that game.

By KYLE BROWNSports Editor

Athletes: Play every game like it’s your last

Keepin’ it cool with Kyle Brown

Coach Wells Gulledge is fond of saying it’s not about the name on the back of the jersey; it’s about the one on the front.

While names like Jerry Stackhouse, Reggie Bullock, Coach Gulledge or assistant coach Perry Tyndall often come up when talking about Kinston High School basket-ball, most never think about the unsung heroes on their roads to success.

The old saying that behind every great man is a greater woman is particularly true when it comes to being a coach’s wife.

These strong women go through a lot: from long nights alone with toddlers like Brinkley and Baker (the Gulledges’ two young chil-dren) or dealing with a preg-nancy while their husbands are busy coaching.

“There is a lot of responsi-bility any coach’s wife car-ries during her husband’s season,” Dawnn Gulledge said, “and having two small

children is not any easy task at any time, especially during basketball season.”

Coach Gulledge recognizes the importance of having a supportive wife.

“My wife is my number one supporter and I wouldn’t be able to achieve half of the goals I have without her,” he said. “She knew going in that

when we got married, she was getting married to two things: me and the game of basketball. And you have to be Superwoman to be able handle all that she does.”

Tyndall, a long-time as-sistant coach with the Vi-kings, recently added a new addition to his family with the birth of his first child

over Christmas break. Like Gulledge, he recognizes the need for balance and a strong desire to put his family first.

“Sometimes I wish I could spend more time with my wife and help her around the house since she is dealing with a pregnancy which isn’t easy for anyone,” he said. “I know my main goal is to maintain our marriage and that comes above any sport that I may be coaching. She is a great teammate to me and we make a dynamic team.”

Mrs. Tyndall, a former Kinston High teacher who still works in the county, approaches the struggles and rewards much like Mrs. Gulledge.

“I wish Perry was home more to help around the house and fix dinner due to my pregnancy,” she said, be-fore adding that she also she enjoys traveling with the team and building relation-ships with the players.

“That is something most wives don’t get to do and I cherish the fact I get to see my husband do something he is passionate about,” she said.