VPThe Viking PressKinston High • thevikingpress.com

OPINION

InsIde

Vol. 6, Issue 4 • 2601 N. Queen St., Kinston N.C. 28501 • May 2014

ILLUMINATI “or Nahh”? Opinions by Treshoawne Lovick and Anna Hill- Page 3

A Tale of Two Legacies Men’s basketball “3Peat”s. See back cover.

The McLawhorn trio takes on the field. See page 7

Reflections: A Tribute to Motown reviewSee page 6

Principal Angela Bryant resigns and Brian Corey speaks about his new role on page 5.

Editorial2 - The Viking Press - May 2014 www.thevikingpress.com

Our Take: Pep Rally

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.

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Content Editor-in-ChiefAnna Hill Local/ World News EditorsLydia RiversAaron Brown Sports EditorShaquawn JoynerFeature EditorCiara Myers Staff WritersJustin Bell Rebecca BoyetteTera Holloway Treshoawne Lovick Shannon MayoJaniya MillerAlex StephensJerry TaylorAdviserSavannah Sharp

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Pep rallies are supposed to be exciting. They are supposed to be a time to celebrate teams and help show them that the school supports them before they go to an im-portant game. Maybe we could support them more if we knew how good they are.

There are two “regu-larly” scheduled pep ral-lies at KHS: Homecom-ing and State Basketball Championships. The two exceptions in the past four years have been for our football team going to the State Championship and for the departure of our administrators.

Pep rallies should be held for more than foot-ball and basketball. All athletes should be recog-

nized for their achieve-ments. Pep rallies are the real celebration of our athletes.

All of our teams have impressive success and deserve serious recogni-tion and our school’s sup-port. When we found out that several of our track athletes were going to the state competition, we should have had a pep rally before they went. Many of our athletes suc-ceed at the state level, but they’re treated like it’s just another game.

We shouldn’t wait un-til a state championship game arrives to have a pep rally. We’re not saying that we shouldn’t have pep rallies for Homecom-ing and Basketball, but we want to recognize all

of the teams that earn it throughout the year.

Having a pep rally for regionals could help our teams be more pumped up once they get in to the playoffs. Last year, our soccer team reached re-gionals for the first time, and there was no school spirit behind them to sup-port their accomplish-ment. Pep rallies gives teams extra encourage-ment before their compe-titions.

Pep rallies should be more exciting and fun. Individual athletes should be recognized, not just a ten-second huddle on the floor.

Celebrations at this school should be about us coming together to sup-port each other as a com-

munity. We can do better than some occasional con-fused applause.

They’re not very peppy anymore, and our student body is very judgmental towards one another.” -Christal Carlyle

“It was lame and wasn’t hype enough and dead.” - Daasia Whitfield (12)

“They’ve been good because of Ms. Bryant. Her favorite song comes on she makes it better, and hypocrisy was good.” -Aaliah Anderson (10)

“

More exclusive material from The Viking Press

Readers’ Takes

CorrectionsIn the February 2014

edition of The Vi-king Press, sophomores Sam McLawhorn, Alan McLawhorn, Jamie Taylor and Jeremiah Fields were listed as players on the JV Baseball team. After the article was written, they were moved to the Varsity Baseball team.

AwardsThe Viking Press was re-

cently granted a first place award by the American Scholastic Press Associa-tion.

I truly do not believe that Jay-Z and Beyoncé are trying to brainwash us. I do not believe that some secret organization has control over daily life. The conspiracy of the Illumi-nati is an extrapolation drawn from ignorance and fear.

In the late 1700s, Adam Weishaupt formed an organization called the Illuminati. This orga-nization had goals of equality and social justice for all, an idea that was revolutionary in its time. This society operated in secret. This was because it defected from the Catho-lic Church, a very bold move that at the time.

Some say their influence spread into America. Ideas travel as people travel. Just because this society existed centuries ago does not mean that they carry any weight today.

There is no concrete evidence of any society like the supposed Illuminati existing and making an impact on today’s political world. When you research the Illuminati, the top results are all random con-spiracy websites with poor graphics, videos with emotionally moving

music, and “factual” claims

that have no tan-gible backing. When you ask

Illuminati enthusiasts about what they believe,

each one has a different an-swer. The only commonality is that we are being brainwashed. What exactly are we being brainwashed into believing?

There are obviously forces at work in the worlds of politics and business that are hidden from the general public. Money motivates most political alliances and business

deals that affect massive amounts of people. It’s in the investor’s best in-terests to keep their money-making secret.

There are some people in the world that have the power to control events and products that could change the course of history. I do not believe this is because of some secret society that is trying to demonize and centralize the world. I believe that people with power typically take advantage of those below them to climb to the top. These goals are less about changing the world and more about benefit-ting one’s self.

Conspiracy theories come and go as passing fads. Today, our society revolves around constant change, and that scares many people. When people are scared they latch onto ideas of conspiracy because these fake facts give them the comfort of having the upper hand.

I don’t think that being “informed” about the goals of a powerful organization that doesn’t even exist or have influence will help anyone. I believe it is the current conspiracy in a long line of fear that extends back hundreds of years.

If you research this, do not simply take in every theory that’s on the In-ternet. Use your common sense. Don’t fall victim to fear and irrational conspira-cies.

Opinionwww.thevikingpress.com May 2014 - The Viking Press - 3

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I bet you didn’t know that the globe is controlled by 13 elite families who want to decrease the population and create mayhem in the world. These families want to remain as anonymous as possible and they use “our” government for a cover up.

These possessive families live off our taxes and are the richest people in the world. They have enslaved us all. They control everything we do and see, not through physical enslavement but MK Ultra mind control.

Yes, you read that correctly. I said we are all brainwashed. MK Ultra is a mind control program scientists have tested and successfully put to use on society. Since these elite families have full control over the

media, they love to embed these programs in television, social net-works and the music industry that we all love so dearly.

These people are wealthy puppets who exist just for keeping us under control. We refer to them as celeb-rities. They use all of these outlets to deceive society and make us believe that misdemeanors and immoral acts are “cool” and “in style.”

They control television so that the news and politics we see are just cover ups for what is really happening around us. These families are also behind cata-strophic events such as 9/11, the bombing of Pearl Harbor

and the Holocaust. You are probably a firm believer

that diseases such as the flu is virus that evolves to support its form of life. I believe scientists bioengineer diseases and put them in the atmo-sphere.

They’re also very skilled when it comes to poisoning and adding ingredients to our groceries. They do this to decrease population growth. Now, what crazed person

would believe that our govern-ment is the mastermind

behind these profane acts? No one should,

because we are not “programmed” to think so.

Their ulti-mate goal is to

rule the world over their idea of a perfect nation and they’re doing a marvelous job of doing so. They’ve made us all zombies and are still fulfilling evil agendas which were planned by their ancestors.

Yes, these events were staged and are now getting pursued. There is a bright side to this. They can’t fully control the Internet and they’re not nearly as unknown as they wish to be. There are people all over the world who know of these evil elite and are trying to expose them to the public. So you can do your research, or you can remain a brainwashed zombie.

Illuminati “or Nahh”?

By Anna HillContent Editor in Chief

By Treshoawne LovickStaff Writer

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By CIARA MYERSFeature Editor

D u r i n g g r a d u a t i o n ,

students are rewarded with their diplomas. The case is different on Awards Day when students receive other types of recognition.

Awards Day grants a student the time to receive every award they have worked hard for, such as Prin-cipal’s List and scholarship letters.

For Kinston High, our scholarship earnings are always the highlight of Awards Day. The class of 2012 earned $3,149,613 in scholarship earnings and last year’s graduating class fell roughly $13,000 short of this record.

Whether they are from the coun-selors’ office, a religious organization or any other provider, scholarship ap-plications are available year-round. Most are targeted to seniors but there is an abundance of scholarships

for high s c h o o l students in all grades.

There a r e p l e n t y of schol-arships a v a i l -able on-line for e v e r y student, so let it become a goal for all seniors this year to raise the bar high for scholarships earnings for the up-coming classes.

Awards Day will be held on May 23 and will recognize all KHS stu-dents for their accomplishments. It serves as a reminder to underclass-

And the award goes to...

The Student Government Associa-tion (SGA) has big plans in store for the school, with an emphasis on big. SGA has decided to order a large boulder for Kinston High School, but this rock isn’t an ordinary one. The twelve-ton boulder is called a Spirit Rock because its purpose is to express school creativity.

These rocks can be drawn, paint-ed, and written on by seniors. SGA will choose certain eligible seniors to decorate them.

Senior Class President Shannon Whitfield said, “Our primary goal is to let the seniors leave their final mark on the school before graduat-

ing, and spirit rocks would be the best option.”

Although only the seniors of Kin-ston High can interact with and customize it, the rock will still be viewable by the entire school. The rock will be washed off annually, so the next generation of spirit art will be ushered in smoothly.

The rock is coming from a quarry in Fountain, N.C. Martin Marietta Materials, the second largest pro-ducer of construction aggregates in the United States, runs the quarry.

Whitfield said the rock can be expected to arrive in the middle of May.

Spirit Rocks set to roll on campusBy ALEX STEPHENSStaff Writer

T h e s e v e n t h

annual Run for the River race took place on March 29, 2014 in Kinston. The race was originally designed to attract visitors to downtown Kin-ston and the shops that have recently opened. Over the years, it has grown to serve as a way to strengthen the community.

Weather conditions were not fa-vorable for an outdoor race that Sat-urday, but the race still took place. It was announced that the race would continue, rain or shine, and it did simply that. Both runners and volun-teers were soaked by rain, but they continued to participate in the activi-ties.

There were two races. One was a one-mile Fun Run that targeted a younger age group. This race began and ended near the Farmers’ Market on Herritage Street.

The second race was the eight-kilo-meter race—which is approximately five miles. This race invited individu-

als of all ages to participate. The old-est runner was Richard Stotlar, 67, of Oriental, N.C. He also had the fastest time in his age division, finishing at 33:36.

Prizes were awarded per age group, along with prizes for the overall top three winners. The first place run-ner received a prize of $500, second place received $300 and third place received $150.

The overall winner was Devin Swann of Raleigh, N.C., with a time of 24:18. The second place runner was Ryan Woods of Boone, N.C., with a time of 25:43. The third place runner was Musa Gwanzura of Roa-noke Rapids, N.C., with a time of 25:56.

Heather Lee from Buies Creek, N.C., was the first female runner to cross the finish line with a time of 31:54.

The planning committee for the race hopes for the event to continue to attract new participants to down-town Kinston every year.

By REBECCA BOYETTEStaff Writer

Run for the River races through Kinston

This rock, mined at Martin Marietta Materials, will be arriving on campus in May.

06/01/14

I amconfident that we are up for the challenge.

-Brian Corey,interim principal

“

Angela Bryant left Kinston High School on April 17. She ended her three-year stay for an opportunity to work for Pearson, PLC, a company that is heavily invested in world-wide education.

Though Bryant left before the end of the school year, she hopes that ev-erything she has set in place for the school is maintained in the future. With the help of the entire staff, Bry-ant was able to raise the graduation rate by 12 percent during her first year. She believes in setting high ac-ademic standards in order to achieve success.

“One of the things that I hope that I was able to instill in the students at Kinston High School, and every-body—the community, staff—is set-ting the bar high and never lowering it,” Bryant said.

Along with high standards, Bryant said she left behind a consistent and fair structure for discipline and long-lasting relationships with students. She worked to interact with students on a personal level and formed re-lationships that she hopes will stay strong in the future.

Bryant believes former assistant principal, Brian Corey, was the most favorable option for interim principal. He was a teacher at Ro-chelle Middle School. The majority of KHS’s students went there from grades 6-8.

Corey already established relation-ships with KHS students because he taught many of them during their time at RMS. He worked with stu-dents before he became an adminis-trator and during his time as an as-sistant principal at KHS.

“The fact that I already knew the majority of the student population has helped when working with stu-dents,” he said. “They understand that I enjoy working with them, but I do hold them to a high standard.”

This will make his position as in-terim principal easier to adjust to so he can focus on his goals for the staff and student body.

“My main objective for the remain-der of the school year is to maintain systems that have been established by Ms. Angela Bryant,” Corey said. “KHS has experienced numerous changes this year and I do not believe that major changes need to be made with only a few weeks remaining in the 2013-2014 school year.”

Corey is very confident that he will be able to handle his new position and plans to finish the school year as strongly as it began.

“Life has taught me that it takes a team to achieve excellence. The administrative team that we have at KHS is second to none and I am confident that we are up for the chal-lenge,” he said.

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By ANNA HILL AND JUSTIN BELLContent Editor-in-Chief and Staff Writer

TWO STEPS FORWARD, NO STEPS BACKAs Bryant takes on new job, Corey takes on new role as top administrator

”

This is where my heart is.

-Angela Bryant,former principal

“”

Bryant was one of the loudest sup-porters at this year’s championship.

Above: Bryant’s love for Kinston High has always shone brightest at pep rallies. Many considered her dances the highlight of each one. Photo by Dymond Mumford.

Above: Bryant’s devotion to KHS kept her busy. She spent long hours on the behalf of the school ensuring that things ran smoothly.

Right: Bryant’s farewell pep rally was an emotional time for both her and the students who wanted to wish her well. Photo by Anna Hill.

Officer Corbitt (L) speaks with Brian Corey (R) during VIKES lunch.

Reflections: A Tribute to Motown re-introduced the legendary hits of artists like the Jackson 5 to its audi-ence in Kinston High School’s Per-forming Arts Center.

The show took place on March 21 with a nearly full house to enjoy it.

There were 27 acts in the dynamic show filled with singing, dancing, band performances and comedy made famous by figures such as Bill

Cosby as performed by CTE teacher Johnny Lewis.

“I grew up on Motown music, and I wanted to introduce it to the younger generation,” director Mat-thew Raines said. “It was very stress-ful, but everybody pulled through to make a great show. People are still talking about what an amazing show it was, and we have been invited to multiple places to perform it.”

Motown was not just in-tended for en-tertainment. It was also a trib-ute to African American His-tory. Perfor-mances were a tribute to some of Motown’s legends such as Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and the Supremes.

“The Motown show turned

out phenom-enal. A lot of

people attended and the performanc-es were amazing,” sophomore Kori Johnson said.

Berry Gordy and The Island Def Jam Music Group created Motown music in 1959. In the 1960s, soul-ful Motown hits became famous for their “Motown Sound.”

This legacy was a difficult one to live up to, but the students and staff involved enjoyed the excitement of putting on a show with such high ex-pectations from the audience.

“Between the pressure of help-ing out, learning dances in just one day and choreographing a dance in a week, I’m surprised that it turned out so good,” senior Tatiana Cuffie said. “With it being my last year, I was honored to have the opportunity to experience Motown.”

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By Janiya MillerStaff Writer

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Motown in Ktown

Performances inspired by The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Dianna Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Jack-son 5, Boys II Men, Sam Cooke, Tina Turner, Mary Wells and many more!

Performances by the Kinston High Band, Johnny Lewis as Bill Cosby, KHS Color Gaurd, Hip-Hopcrisy Teens, Stu-dio 86 and Kinston community members.

Color Gaurd performs “Proud Mary.” Photo by Janiya Miller.

Dance by Hip-Hopcrisy Teens.Photo by Janiya Miller.

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By JANIYA MILLERStaff Writer

Senior Taishu McLawhorn is sharing his last baseball season with his twin brothers, sophomores Sam and Alan McLawhorn.

Taishu said, “Starting last year when my brothers were freshman I thought it would be weird to be on the same team with them, but the transition was a lot smoother than I thought.”

The Varsity Men’s Baseball team re-cently had their first game against Bed-dingfield High School with two wins. The first game ended with the Vikings dominating with a final score of 4-3 and the second game had a larger gap in runs, ending in a score of 13-0.

“It’s a lot of fun to have all the McLawhorn brothers together on the same team,” Coach Ryan Buie said. “With Sam and Alan being new to the team, they tend to get bent out of shape when it comes to messing up in the games. Taishu helps in this situa-tion, because he is a very strong leader on our team. With his years of expe-rience on the team, he knows that it’s not about how you start but it’s about how you finish.”

Sam believes he and his brothers feed off each other’s energy to help the team win games.

He said, “It’s fun playing baseball with my brothers. Whenever I make a mistake or need advice, I always have Taishu to look up to.”

The combination of the old players and the young players really makes the team special this year. Taishu, along with other key seniors such as Ryan Harrell and Will Deters, hopes to help underclassmen on the team improve before his last season at Kinston High School is over.

“With them being my little broth-ers, I have high expectations for them and I expect them to get the job done,” Taishu said. “Considering the fact that they are pretty good at baseball, I also expect them to follow in my footsteps and meet the standards that I will be leaving behind.”

The KHS Men’s Tennis team is revving its engine this spring. Al-though the engine has started, it hasn’t exactly warmed up yet.

Many players from last year did not continue this year, leaving the team with many empty positions. The team has lost all tennis match-es played so far with only one game left in conference.

Sophomore Julian Quintero said, “We’ve got a young team, so we are working on our experience.” Other players such as sophomores Koty Wojeski and Jesus Paez agree with the statement made by Quintero.

Though the players are young, Coach Christopher Davis believes the team is already improving dra-matically. He believes that if the current players stay together, the team will reach towards its full po-tential within a couple of years.

Due to injuries, weather and scheduling conflicts with school-work, some games were never played. Davis hopes these obstacles will cease to hinder the team in the coming years. The strength gained from this year will help the team become stronger for the upcoming games.

Davis said, “Hopefully we will continue to get better with no in-juries and if everyone is able to continue to play this year and next year.”

The Women’s Varsity Basketball team received a new player this season from Greene Central High School: sophomore Da-Shika Mason. She brought experience and shooting skills to make a huge im-pact on the team.

Mason, commonly re-ferred to as Shika by her teammates, came from GCHS where she was a part of the varsity team her freshman year. She ex-plained how the support system is greater and more consistent at KHS than GCHS.

Though she dedicates much of her time to shin-ing on the court, Mason also works hard to strive for academic success. Ma-son said that basketball is important, but that aca-demics are always first.

“I hope to receive a four-year basketball scholarship in the future, hopefully from ECU,” Mason said.

Before she reaches this goal, Mason must first have a successful high school athletic career. For the years she will be a Vi-king, she expects to grow

to become a leader. Ma-son knows her strength in shooting but acknowledges her lacking in defense. She has high expectations be-cause Coach Hubert Quin-erly constantly tells her what he expects from her.

“I need for her to take more ownership and be a leader,” Quinerly said.

Mason explained that Quinerly is a strong mo-tivator because he always pushes her to limits that she thought she was inca-pable of reaching. She also receives advice and inspi-ration from older team-mates, especially seniors Brittany Drumgoole and Anshonee Addison.

“Off the court Shika is like my sister. The basket-ball team is so close, and I don’t know what I would do without her. “ Addison said.

Between her personality, skill, and determination, Mason’s teammates believe she will be able to accom-plish great things.

Drumgoole said, “After the seniors leave, she’ll bring her energy and she’ll never give up.”

By TERA HOLLOWAYStaff Writer

The McLawhorn brothers (L to R: Alan, Taishu, & Sam). Photo by Janiya Miller

Julian Rivero-Quintero begins to serve the ball. Koty Wo-jetski (Left) & Matthew Burwell (Right) play in the back-ground. Photo by Nachyla Brown.

By ALEX STEPHENSStaff Writer

THREE STRIKES, ONE OUT The McLawhorn brothers’ last year on the same team

Mason’s new start Men’s Tennis struggles to overcome obstacles

Brittanny Drumgoole proudly displays her new school colors. Photo by Tera Holloway.

This time of year is very exciting for senior athletes here at as some make plans for their college athe-letic careers.

Senior Brittany Drumgoole will be attending South Carolina State University (SCSU) in the fall to con-tinue her basketball career.

“[SCSU] reminded me so much of my team here and they are a fast-paced team who gets the ball up the court fast,” said Drumgoole about her reasons for choosing SCSU over other teams.

At SCSU, Drumgoole plans on majoring in physical education and hopes to continue playing basketball in the WNBA.

Drumgoole is not the only senior looking forward to playing basket-ball in the upcoming months.

Senior Andrew Lopez was nomi-nated to play in the North Carolina East-West All Star Game.

Like Drumgoole, Lopez says that he is most looking forward to the “experience and meeting new play-ers.”

Drumgoole and other seniors prepare to sign By AARON BROWN and TERA HOLLOWAY

Opinion Editor and Staff Writer

DaShika Mason (center) con-tributes to the Lady Vikings scoreboard on the court, but she also plans on becoming a leader after this year’s seniors graduate. Pho-to by Dymond Mumford.

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As the final buzzer of the 2A Men’s State Championship game rang, Reynolds’s Coliseum was filled with cheers of “Three-peat! Three-peat! Three-peat!”

The Kinston High School Men’s Basket-ball team had just won their third state championship in a row.

By SHAQUAWN JOYNERSports Editor

3Peat

The game began in a way that worried Viking fans in the stands. Kinston held the ball first, but the first layup of the game was no good. The game’s results were unpredictable at first, with both teams having many successful shots, but also making multiple mistakes. The fate of the 2A Men’s State Championship title was in the air at the end of the second quarter, when Kinston’s opponent North Rowan was up by one (28-27).

The Vikings returned from halftime determined to turn the score around in their favor. They made more successful shots and by the end of the third quarter, Kinston was up by four points (50-46). During the fourth quarter, the Vikings secured their win by increasing their lead from four to ten points, ending with a (67-57) win.

It took the work of the entire team to travel this path to victory. This was the first year senior Marcus Mathews has been on the varsity team. For his hard work, behavior and spirit, this player received the 2014 sportsman-

ship award. Matthews said, “(I feel) special and

respected because it takes a lot of cour-age to receive this award. Everybody doesn’t just win this award; you have to put a lot of hard work into it.”

Senior Andrew Lopez and junior Brandon In-gram have been key players in the state cham-pionship games for KHS since 2012. Lopez was named the Eastern Regional MVP and Ingram was the overall MVP.

Ingram said he expects more out of the team next year, because they have more returning players and know exactly what their goals are. He believes that his role on the team will be to be a leader by getting everybody involved.

By giving his team hard, constructive criticism, he hopes to motivate his teammates to get ready to win another state title. If his goals are reached, Ingram will receive his fourth state championship ring—one for every year of high school.

The Vikings had an impressive season and hope to continue their legacy as state champions for many years to come.

The Kinston High School Men’s Varsity Baskeyball Team poses for a picture before the game. Photo by Daria Thomas.

Darnell Dunn going in for a lay up. Photo by Lydia Rivers.

Kinston High School Varsity Men’s team holding up “3Peat” after their third state champion-ship. Photo by Dymond Mumford.

The Kinston Free Press was ready with the celebratory paper of the Kinston High School Men’s Varsity team winning three years in a row. Photo by Lydia Rivers.