Volume 16 Issue 3 The prowler March 2017

M E D I N A V A L L E Y H I G H S C H O O L

Many people say they rely on Snapchat, Facebook, or Instagram for news. But when it came down to it, Instagram took the lead because of its new and simple design com-pared to the least voted, which was Facebook. Snapchat was not far behind Instagram because, just like Instagram, Snapchat is very popular and almost everyone has one. Face-book got the least votes be-cause many people say that the news they give is fake. Also, Facebook is not really used by students anymore, mainly adults use Facebook. Instagram and Snapchat are relied on more because they are new

apps that mostly students use and have an added bonus of have-ing news that younger viewers would like to know about. Some of you might be think-ing “How do you get news from Snapchat?” On Snapchat, when you slide to the left, your friend’s recent stories will show up, and right below them there are all kinds of news ar-ticles. There are articles about current events, sports, celebrity rumors, food, and sometimes just random things that will grab your attention. You can get a lot of news from Snap-chat. But the people have spo-ken and they say Instagram is

the most reliable source for news.

Juicy NewsWhere do you get your daily juicy news?

By: Dezeree Guerra & Ray Garza

Your ChoiceThe final decisions of student polls have come in

By: Dezeree Guerra & Ray GarzaWhat were those people doing at lunch asking us all of those questions? We were curious about a few things here at The Prowler and decided to see what you had to say! Read on

to find what you like, dislike, and what you asked for in your newspaper. Enjoy!

We’ve Got SpiritVarsity Cheer brings home

Runner-Up AwardBy: Melanie Salazar

In December our varsity cheer-leaders competed at the uil state spirit championship and were awarded runner up state champions. to prepare for the competetion sophomre mikaytla carroll and junior paige sheppard explained “we practiced all day in different env-iornments such as thirty degree weather, parking garages, and multiple gyms.” in addition senior cheerleader alleah salazar decribed the type of feeling ex-pereineced before the preformance and what she believed the outcome would be. “ we were confident and whatever happened we were going to show good sportsmanship and be proud of our team.” A majority of the varsity team are seniors. when members were asked if they felt they could achieve as much as they did this year without them, Paige Sheppard responded “ Yes, we have a strong team. However they will be missed because they were the most ex-perienced and motivational. The medina valley bhigh school cheerleaders are expected to do great next year and we are very proud.

AND THE WINNER

IS...

What a Wonderful World

The Many Feelings of a Chicago Cubs World Series

By: Anthony Garriga Unless a lucky Chicagoian is 108 years old, no one has experienced an atmosphere like this. Season after season, fans have said “Next Year.” Well, next year came early. The Chicago Cubs are in the World Series. The aura is un-like anything imaginable. I would know. I was there. My name is Anthony Garriga, a Cubs fan for all 16 years of my life. My father, 36 years. His father, 53 years. Point being, all of us have suffered for quite some time. 108 year World Series drought. We have been through all the goats, black cats, and curses known to man. My mother remembers my father tear-ing up during the Steve Bartman game, resulting our baseball team to blow a three games to one series lead. With that being said, right when Addison Russell, Javier Baez, and Anthony Rizzo flipped that double play to record the final out of the National League Championship, my family purchased plane tickets within the hour. Two weeks later, my heart is pumping as we pull up to the Austin airport. My eyesight is drowned in blue, pinstriped jerseys, each being worn by a long suffering fan of the Loveable

Losers. For a split second, I forget I am in Texas. As I board the plane, all my mind is thinking about is how I will be able to watch our ace pitcher, Kyle Hen-dricks, paint corners all around the Cleve-land Indians. As if it were taken straight from my dreams, Game 3 of the World Series is playing behind each headrest of the seats. A sigh of relief forces its way out of me. The calm before the storm. With every out thrown to Rizzo at first, every hit by Kris Bryant, and every missed strike by the umpire, it was

as if the plane flew through turbulence. It seemed to rattle every play from cheers projecting 30,000 feet up in the up in the sky. The pilot wanted to land so badly, he made the two and a half hour flight in half the time. Not without flying over Wrigley Field first. The bright stadium pierced the windows, and the instant the passengers realized where they were, they erupted in roars. He was the first off the plane, Cubs hat and all, and went straight to the bar for the final few in-

nings. While the ride there seemed like a page right out of a book, the real party was down town, right in the heart of Clark, Addison, and Sheffield. The excitement radiated out of the epicenter that was Wrigleyville. The train ride from the outskirts in appeared to be like any other day. That all changed when we stepped into the station. And our line of sight was covered with the biggest W flag I have ever laid eyes on. The closer I got to the middle of the city, the more engulfed I became.

The feeling of happiness the city was stuck in is indescribable. The closest thing I can relate it to is a blanket from a long forgotten childhood, finally returning to the hands of the owner. Euphoria drowns me like quicksand: pulling me in deeper and deeper until there is nothing left to pull. Every win-dow bore a W. every storefront wielded a logo. Not one person passes without red, white, or blue attire. There will never be a more beautiful harmony than

50 strangers singing the Chicago Cubs fight song in a single train car. Sadly, I could not stay forever, so that was a look in of roughly 36 hours. There is not a doubt in my mind that there has, or ever will be, a better place and time than Chicago, Illinois, October, 2017. If I had to wait another 108 years to experience it again, I would dawn my Javier Baez jersey, wrap my lucky rosary around my neck, and start waiting before another fan can say “Go Cubs Go.”

Spring

Athleticsbasketball•soccer•powerlifting•track•golf•tennis•cheer

Powerlifting is competitive weightlifting. Each competition (called “meets”) consists of three events- squat, bench-press, and dead-lift where in each event a lifter is tested to see the maximum they can lift for that event. Who you compete against de-pends on your gender and how much you weigh. This way lifters compete against others their own size and the judging is totally fair. At the end of the meet, the totals (in pounds) from the three events are tallied together to determine your ranking in the meet compared to other lifters in your weight class. Medals are awarded to those who lifted the most in their weight class

Team Captain Adrian Sustaita on squatTeam captain Destiny Andrade on squat

1/5/17 @ Texas Strength Systems*girls only meet*Destiny Andrade-1st place-775lbs

1/12/17 @ Texas Strength Systems*boys only meet*Boy’s team-2nd place overallAdrian Sustaita-1st place-1295lbsSteban Mireles-1st place-1100lbsOdie DeLaRosa-2nd place-1375lbsLuke Janosky-2nd place-1080lbsZachary Whitley-2nd place-1020lbsDylan Carrol-3rd place-1170lbs

1/21/17 @UvaldeBoy’s team-3rd place overallOdie DeLaRosa-1st place-1440lbsMichael Kessler-2nd place-1290lbsDestiny Andrade-2nd place-850lbsJessica Stein-3rd place-710lbsAdrian Sustaita-4th place-1330lbsDylan Carrol-4th place-1240lbsMikayla Carrol-5th place-670lbsDellanie Fleming-5th place-585lbsDominique Obregon-5th place-425lbs

1/28/17 @Carrizo Springs*totals unavailable*Girls’ team overall-3rd placeBoys’ team overall-3rd placeAdrian Sustaita-1st placeOdie DeLaRosa-1st placeNatalia Fernandez-2nd placeMike Kessler-2nd placeJessica Stein-2nd placeLuke Janosky-2nd placeDestiny Andrade-2nd placeAndrew Garza-2nd placeKevin Valdez-3rd placeSteban Mireles-3rd placeDominique Obregon-4th placeJonah Barrow-4th placeZachary Whitley-4th placeJalynn Felan-5th placeErnesto Moreno-5th placeSabrina Mechler-5th place

2/11/17 @East CentralGirls’ team overall-3rd placeJessica Stein-2nd-815lbsDestiny Andrade-2nd-925lbsMikayla Carrol-3rd-705lbsCarleen Holcomb-3rd-585lbs

Odie DeLaRosa-1st-1550lbsMike Kessler-3rd-1405lbsAdrian Sustaita-3rd-1335lbs

2/18/17 @MVBoy’s team overall-2ndGirl’s team overall-5thDestiny Andrade-Best Lifter AwardDestiny Andrade-1st-945lbsLuke Janosky-Best Lifter AwardLuke Janosky-1st-1230lbsDellanie Fleming-1st-605lbsCarleen Holocomb-2nd-595lbsOdie De La Rosa-2nd-1545lbsMike Kessler-3rd-1445lbsJacob Meis-3rd-1160lbs Natalia Fernandez-4th 770lbsDylan Carroll-4th-1200lbsSteban Mireles-4th-1190lbsAndrew Garza-5th-1190lbsDominique Obregon-5th-1190lbs

Regional Qualifiers:Desiny AndradeJessica SteinOdie De La RosaAdrian Sustaita

Powerlifting seasonWhat Powerlifting Is (In case you didn’t know)

By: Jessica Stein

College BoundStar Athletes Sign With

Future CollegesBy: Sara Guinn and Josephine Barrera

Recently, three students were signed by colleges such as Buena Vista

University, Sul Ross Univer-sity, and Schreiner University. These stu-dents are Graysen Mechler,

Tayla Juarez, and Amanda Combs. Graysen wants to major in biomedical science, but wants to keep things broad. She always puts her academics first, but she never wants to give up golf. Tayla Juarez is going to attend Sul Ross University with a schol-arship in soccer. She plans on majoring in Equine Industry and Pre-Veterinary medicine. She has played soccer since she was three years old, and played for all four years in high school. Tayla said she loved playing with a tight-knit

family and hopes to do the same thing all over again. Amanda

is going to major in nursing at Sch-reiner University. She was selected to represent Texas and has been playing volleyball for 13 years. She hopes to get a nursing job once she graduates col-lege. When asked what she loved about high school, Amanda commented that she “liked meeting new players from everywhere”. These students are all very excited for their future and are grateful that they got signed.

Varsity and JV girls soccer went undefeated in the pre-season. These wins are credited to the new coach and the hard work and dedication of the girls. “I’d like to assist more than score this year because it’s a team effort,” said Varsity player Brianna Peterson on the goals she set this year. Varsity player Tayla Juarez said,“so far I think we’ve come off with a great start and I’m excited about the new competition.” About the new districts the Panthers are playing in and whether or not they will do well, Freshman Varsity play-er Audra Clark said “I didn’t think [the team was prepared enough], because

of the district, but we can [do well] .” The girls started playing district teams in the middle of January and Varsity was 5-3-3 in district and JV was 7-3. The girls have a new coach this year, Coach Kirkpatrick and, hopefully he is here to stay. “I think that the team has adjust-ed well, to our new coach he’s been a re-

ally positive influence on the team,” said Goalie Ann Tondre. In district games both teams have won and lost; just a couple of bumps on the road to victory. At this point in the season, JV has only a few more games left and stands at 8-3 in district, 11-3 overall. Var-sity has a hold on the fourth place district

spot and looks to make it to playoffs if they can beat out Lockhart for the spot. They will then be facing schools from Austin and the surrounding areas. We wish them luck at the end of their season!

New District, New Coach, New SeasonGirls Soccer gets a brand new start

By: Jensen Griffin What’s all the RaquetMVHS Tennis

By Madeline Branch and Jensen Griffin In the start of the tennis season, both team shave practiced every day and are off to a great start. So far, JV has been to four tournaments and Varsity has been to three. In all tournaments, both teams have had top placings. JV and Varsity players all love the sport, but each have a different reason for starting to play. “When I was little, my grandpar-ents played tennis with me,” says Taylor DeWitt. Mia Gonzalez joined because “my friend Audrey talked about tennis, so I tried it this year.” Everyone made different memories being in tennis but Taylor’s favorite memory was “Megan and I winning first at the Seguin tourna-ment.” Good luck for the remainder of the season!

Freshmen can be MVPs tooAn inside look at the most valuable players

By: Kaitlyn Davis and Melanie Salazar

In sports, the MVP is an award typically bestowed upon the best perform-ing player. The boys’ basketball team was asked a few ques-tions regarding the most valuable players on the team, the first nominee being

Brayden Haney. When asked if there were any possible reasons for the nomination,

Brayden mentioned his leadership. “I just try to help the team win games”, he re-plied when asked how he thought he got a nomination for MVP. Another nominee was James Gipson. James said some qual-ities that he has that could make him the MVP were his aggressiveness and com-petitive drive. Vicente Alcorta felt like he could be considered “MVP” because of “the way I score, and hustle to get the rebounds. But, there are lots of other talented people on our team more de-serving of this title.” Each player shared

a mutual respect for one another as the season progressed, and managed to end up strong. Medina Valley High School is proud of the freshmen basketball team and they are expected to do great next year.

Golf: The Year Round Sport

Not Just for the Country Club By Christopher Botello and

Curtis Lechner Have you ever wondered what sport lasts the whole year? Well then golf is your answer. The coaches for the golf team include Coach Pritchard, Coach Ross, and Coach Kwapich. The golf team practices and meets at the Alsatian Golf Course, with a typical game beginning with an 18 hole match which takes roughly five hours to play. Additional-ly, the less of strokes a player takes the better the score they receive. Overall, Coach Pritchard had many positive things to say about the team, saying “this year’s team has a lot of discipline while playing the sport.” Coach Pritchard also included that his favorite part of coaching is “spending the day at the course with kids helping them golf.” The most recent event for the girls’ varsity golf team was the New Braunfels Invitational where the girls finished in 3rd place out of 16 teams with a score of 347. This was marked as their best score of the year. The boys’ varsity golf team recently competed on January 26th at the Hyatt CC where they won 15th place. Along with another tournament on Feb-ruary 6 at the Dominion CC where they placed 13th. Overall this year’s golf team has had many successful tournaments throughout the year. The girls’ and boys’ golf teams played in the Taft Invitational at the end

of February at Fair Oaks Country Club. The girls finished the tourna-ment in 3rd place out of 13 teams. Gray-sen Mechler led the team with an 87, finishing in 8th place. Gabriela McNelly finished in 11th place with an 88. Also in the top 20 were Autumn Bjorklund with a 91 and Stephanie Vela with a 92. Samantha Schulte finished in 40th place with a 103. The boys finished the tour-nament in 14th place out of 23 teams. Brayden McHazlett led the team with an 86, finishing in 25th place. Kohrman Hoog placed 42nd with a 91. Kyler Burkholder shot 103. Jacob Sharber and Tristan Haby shot 108. Good luck to golf as they head into the end of their season.

Doing two sports at once can be very exhausting but is absolutely worth it. If there are two sports in season that you truly enjoy, you should hold off on having to choose one. I am a student that loves to play soccer and basketball. The main problem with this is that the two seasons overlap and you end up having to miss a game for a certain sport. Although this does not sound ideal, and it is not, it is worth it because this option allows you to experience both sports, and gives you an easier time in deciding which sport it is that you enjoy and want to pursue. I just fin-ished my basketball season so now I can focus on soccer without having to give up my other sport that I love. Doing this allows you to prolong this decision that you already know is going to be difficult. After playing the two sports, it is easy to analyze which sport was more enjoyable because the athlete experienced each one rather than guessing how each one would be. This option may sound difficult but is truly not if you care and are willing to commit yourself to school and all the other aspects in life. I had practice before and after school, which meant I had 12 hour days, but my teachers were kind

enough to work with my schedule and would help me whenever I had time. This also becomes a lot easier when you use collaborative Wednesday wisely. That is almost an hour of time to go collect all the work you missed and receive a little bit of tutoring, helping you stay ahead of every assignment. All these tools make

staying well in class very manageable. If you truly care and you are wanting to play both sports, just do it. Another prob-lem that might occur are coaches that are upset with you missing practices and games. It is easy to understand why. If you stay con-nected to your coaches and are constantly talking to them so they stay informed, this

conflict is greatly reduced. Do your best to get to your practices on time and your coach should be understanding enough to not be upset with you. There are many different ways to make this challenge do-able and fun. If you truly love two sports and want to try both out your freshman year, or any year, my advice is to not settle for the easy option and try out each one. Jose Rodriguez is a freshman at Medina Valley High School. He plays, not only basketball and soccer, but also tennis year round.

Two in OneMaking two sports at once as manageable as can be

By: Jose Rodriguez

Alamo Bowl

Panther plays in Big Game

By: Jensen Griffin About two months ago, senior Tristan Stivors played in the Alamo Bowl. “ It felt like it was a once in a

lifetime experience and my adrenaline was pumping the whole game,” said Tristan. “ The game was fun, it was real-ly good I got to experience that.” When he found out, he said “it just happened, I was blessed enough to have coach Soza nominate me for the game.” This was a great accomplishment for Tristan and the school is very proud.

Panther FootballCongratulations to Senior Line Back-er Adrian Sustaita for making the Padilla Poll Coaches All Sate 5A Football Team. He was selected 3rd Team All State Line Backer.

Panther VolleyballCongratulations to Jordyn Kinnett

and Amanda Gallegos for being selected to the TCGA Academic All-State Team. Recipients of the award have managed to maintain a 94 cumulative average over their entire high school career.

Panthers Make the GradeStudent-Athletes celebrate their accomplishments

The very first MVHS vs. Hondo Coach’s basketball game took place in February. While both teams were well prepared and played their hardest for the honor of their school, Hondo managed to come out on top with a 46-43 win. All proceeds for the game went to support Race for the Cure

Athleticsbasketball•soccer•powerlifting•track•golf•tennis•cheer

SEAL Team SoccerBoys soccer hard at work

By: Isaac Larrinaga

The boy’s soccer team have been hard at work all season. Though practice starts at the end of November, the soccer team trains way before this. By the second day of school in athletics, the boy’s soccer pe-riod is already running two miles. They do this just about every other day for just in one game a player can run a total of two miles, and this is just from constant run-ning back and forth across a field. If they are not on the track, then they are in the weight room, and though it may not look like it, those long lengthy arms and legs can lift more than one thinks. Fridays are mostly the only days that the players actu-ally are able to play soccer. All of this hard work is only during their period though.

Once practice has finally started, every afternoon Monday through Friday, then the players start working on their soccer skills. They do a combination of drills and running. If they are not practicing how to pass and score, then they are sprinting back and forth across the field. All of this work has seemed to pay off though, with the boys varsity winning first in a tourna-ment against Harlandale, and getting four wins all before district had even started (Including the 100th career win for Coach Payne) . Coach Vossler has also added ex-tra insight to the team being the new ju-nior varsity coach. With all this work and new coaching, both varsity and JV are sure to do great!

AcAdemicsuil•bpa•ffa•spanish•Rocketry•SKILLS•fine arts

Play AlongSolo and Ensemble

By: Sara Guinn Each year, students who are enrolled in band at Medina Valley have the opportunity to participate in solo and ensemble. In this event, musicians may play one or multiple pieces of music individually or with other musicians. Students pick their piece(s) and pre-pare months in advance for the big day. The students who partake in this event practice as much as possible to prepare for their performance. The members who contribute and advance are rewarded with points toward their letterman jacket. Christopher Botello, 11th, stated “Solo and ensemble requires much dedication and time, but is very rewarding in the end.” Angelica Mendez, 10th, per-formed a class one alto saxophone solo and was awarded with first division. When she was asked how she felt when she was told the results, she said she felt “overjoyed”. There was also a French horn quartet consisting of Austin Taylor, 12th, Derek Timmons, 12th, Taylor Smith, 11th, and Brendan Crutchfield, 10th. Austin Taylor said, “Not to sound cocky, but I kind of expected to get first place. The judge just seemed really ex-cited.”

Sing AlongChoir’s upcoming concert/

competitionBy: Victoria Dailey

The choirhas an upcoming con-cert, along with a competition. The com-petition is April 18th-19th. A few days after the competition is over, the choir is having a spring concert on April 25th. To prepare for the competition and concert, they are rehearsing the songs they will be performing. Each scetion goes over their own parts. There are three songs to perform. One of the songs must be an a cappella, including a sight reading piece provided at the concert. In addition with practicing the songs during class, the choir will also be having after school rehearsals. Each song is practiced until Mrs. Nixon is satisfied. When the choir goes to the concert and competition they will be wearing the new uniforms provided. The UIL high school concert/sight reading will be held at Jetson high school. This competition will be the first time the choir has competed since it was restarted four years ago. Wish the choir good luck!

Choir Solo and EnsembleBy: Victoria Dailey

Recently on Saturday, Janu-ary 28th there were ten Medina Valley Choir students that attended the Region 11 Vocal Division Solo and Ensemble Contest held at Wagner High School. All students performed well. In addition, Kaelyn Winters qualified with a Divi-sion 1 Rating to go to the State Solo and Ensemble Contest later this year. “Yes [I was nervous]. It was something I’ve never done be-fore...My song was short so I was prepared and ready.” Overall it was a good contest. Everyone did a great job. And a special con-gratulations to Kaelyn Winters.

MVHS MeetBy: Angelo Guerrero

On January 7th, Medina Valley hosted its very own UIL Meet with 22 schools participating. The meet primarily focused on speaking events with an even heavier focus on debate. These debates at times were very extensive and thought-ful, but some were faulty. During one of the debates in the 8 minute rebuttal, a debater simply stated to their competitor

“you’re wrong”, then they made a swift exit. Walking the halls of the school you could see all the “enthused volunteers” who were super excited to help. Lauren Keller also used the UIL Meet as a service project opportunity for NHS; she was in charge of enlisting volunteers to time events and run errands throughout the day. Special thanks to Doctor Jones, Mrs. Butler, Mrs. Castle-berry, Mr. Perritano, Mr. Slaton, Doctor Rohrbach, UIL Coaches, other staff, and volunteers for helping to put together the UIL Meet.

Boerne Meet By: Alexa Coldewey

On Saturday, February 11th there was a U.I.L. meet at Boerne for our UIL Aca-demic Team. For Number Sense Joshua Hendrickson and Travis Aelvoet placed

second. In Current Events Chris Ynclan placed first. In Headline RJ Garza placed third. For Math, Joshua Hendrickson placed fifth and Travis Aelvoet placed fourth. Science scores were broken up into physics, biology, and chemistry with an overall score as well, in science Travis Aelvoet placed first in biology, chemistry and overall. The team did an amazing job at Boerne and will hopefully keep up the good work at their next meet at McCol-lum High School.

Undeniably Inspirational LeadersMVHS UIL teams reach for area wins

McCollum Meet Panther UIL traveled to McCollum H.S. February 25th and came in second overall, winning sweepstakes for the first time this year! Many placed, including Josh Hendrickson and Travis Aelvoet in both Number Sense and Math, Chris Ynclan in Current Events, Ethan Zinsmeister in Computer Apps, Sophia and Destiny Andrade in Spelling, Miranda Mayfield, Cecilia Arguelles, and Travis Aelvoet in Science, and Elisa Carian in Persuasive Speaking. MVHS won the following events in Team placings: Number Sense, Math, Spelling, and Science. The next meet will be District competition in March.

B.P.YAY!!!By Angelo Guerrero

On January 21, over 500 stu-dents from 15 different schools compet-ed in the regional Business Professionals of America meet here at Medina Valley. Members competed in a range of events from three dimensional animation of amusement park characters to exten-sive presentations on the pros and cons of NAFTA. In Previous years, Medina Valley has been a pretty tough com-petitor, and this year was no exception. The schools’ BPA chapters are happy to report that 29 members placed at re-gionals and many of the club’s members are advancing to state. Best wishes to all those who will compete in Dallas this March, and good luck on advancing to internationals in Orlando, Florida.

BPA Members with their awards: Terri Saldana, Kayla Essery, Gabe Tovar, Kymber Tschirhart, Katie Scheirber, Emma Hecker, Michael Rodri-guez, Katie Huron, Kayla Cummings

StockshowBy: Jensen Griffin

At Medina Valley, academics come first; but to these students, Future Farmers of America (FFA) is just as significant. This might not be a big shock because a majority of our students show or are active in some type of Ag related club and in the class. Show season has started again with a new year and new competition. Stockshow is something very important to people and the rest of us get off school. It is a learning experience, fun, competitive, and a lot of hard work. Our county show was on January 27. A lot of people you may know are showing including Freshman Garrison Garza, Sophomores Miranda and Meredith Vincent and Kaleb Friesen-

hahn, Junior Wyatt Wilhelms, and Senior Bryce Macdonald. “I’ve worked very hard and I’m confident with my animals,” said Kaleb Friesenhahn. Meredith Vincent said, “make sure you take care of your animals; put in 100 percent,” advising future showers. Some accomplished their goals this year. “ I received breed champion at Medina valley prospect show,” said Wyatt Wilhelms. Some major shows include San Antonio, Hous-ton, San Angelo, and a couple more. Garrison Garza said “ San Antonio is the most difficult because there are so many people there,” “ Houston, because of traveling,” said Bryce Macdonald. Though some think people are in it just to ditch school, the perception is wrong, it takes more work than you think just ask them.

Livestock Goes to State Medina Valley took Colorado

By Jensen Griffin and Madeline Branch About a month ago, the livestock judging team went to Denver, Colorado for nationals. On the team were graduates last year Dustin Hawes and Shelby Vestal and juniors Wyatt Wilhelms and Dalton Guinther including Ag teacher Mr. Welch. Medina Valley placed fifth overall and Wyatt Wilhelms got fifth overall individ-ually. “I felt really good, it was a great accomplishment for me and the team, I am very proud.” Wyatt said. They prepared for the big competition, “We studied everyday and practiced and I learned new things and it changed it all so quickly” Dalton said to prepare. Both the juniors were really excited having accomplished so much “My favorite was winning overall with my team because two of them are seniors.” Wyatt Wilhelms “ Being there and representing Texas with my friends and Mr. Welch” Dalton Guinther said. Medina Valley is super proud of the accomplishments of the team.

AcAdemicsuil•bpa•ffa•spanish•Rocketry•SKILLS•fine arts

SkillsUSA District Results Are InMr. Kokel’s SkillsUSA students District Results

By: Jasmin Olivan and Madeline Branch Mr. Kokel’s’ SkillsUSA students took home medals and/or became state qualified, in total there were 29 students. Many students were able to take home more than one medal or become state qualified in more than one activity. MVHS would like to congratulate all of the members of the SkillsUSA team.

STATE QUALIFIERS:Paxton Savage- Community Service Project Gold Medal and Automotive & Diesel Aubriana Braly- Community Service Project Gold Medal, Individual Notebook, and Automotive & Diesel ProjectsJacob Sharber- Community Service Project Gold Medal and Automotive & Diesel Jacob Barton- Automotive Tool ID, Power Equipment Engines, Quiz Bowl Silver Medal Jeremiah Van Den Berghe- Automotive Tool ID Evan Trotta- Customer Service Gold Medal, Diesel Hands-On Bronze MedalNolon Smith- Entrepreneurship Gold Medal, Extemporaneous Speaking Bronze Medal, Individual Notebook, and Automotive & Diesel ProjectsCorey Davis- Entrepreneurship Gold MedalCesar Martinez- Entrepreneurship Gold Medal, Individual Notebook, and Automotive & Diesel ProjectsHector Ramos- Entrepreneurship Gold Medal Armando Salas Perez- Job Interview Bronze Medal, Automotive & Diesel ProjectsKyla Spaide- Individual NotebookBrianna Obregon- Individual Notebook and Quiz Bowl Silver Medal Hayden Homann, Steven Braly & Adrianne Medina- Individual Notebook and Automotive & Diesel ProjectsCassidy Arrellano- Individual Notebook and Power Equipment EnginesSavanna Wisdom- Individual Notebook, Power Equipment Engines, and Quiz Bowl Silver MedalJoann Hernandez- Power Equipment Engines and Quiz Bowl Silver Medal Regina Alaniz- Power Equipment Engines Cody Carbajal- Power Equipment Engines and Quiz Bowl Silver MedalJason Newman, Brendan Crutchfield, Cody Graham, Kyla Spaide, Isaiah Elliot, Elijah Fulghum- Automotive & Diesel Projects Rylee Hibbs- Quiz Bowl Silver MedalCody Lopez- Diesel Hands-On Gold MedalDevon Ingram- Diesel Hands-On Silver MedalKayla Gallegos- Diesel Hands-On Bronze Medal

The Spanish Spelling BeeSpanish four is a new course that has been introduced into our school, and they have done quite a number of events. One of the most recent things they have taken part in is a spelling bee. All students com-peted within their class for a chance to participate in the Regional Spelling Bee in San Antonio.

The spelling bee was held November 30, 2016 in the library, and was judged by our own staff, such as Ms. Vera and Mr. Lauro. All students did their best mak-ing the spelling bee last for nearly three hours. It finally came down to the last three though, with Sabrina Scheiling in third, Tanya Theis in second, and in first place was Amanda Vargas! Amanda’s winning word, even though she was offered an easier one, was otorrinolaringólogo. Most people would not have been able to have read that word, but she spelled it out with ease, and her three months of practicing had paid off. When she had won, she said she felt “surprised” and most of all “happy’. Not only will she advance to regionals, but she now has a shiny first place medal to put on her wall. Hopefully this will not be the only first place medal Amanda receives, and will bring another from regionals. She will be competing on Saturday February 4, 2017 in San Antonio with support from many to cheer her on. For those who have not attended the event, it will be reported on in another article, and on the television channel Univision. The school wishes best of luck to our winner, but either way she has made the school and her Spanish class proud.

Making It To Regionals The Regional Spanish Spelling Bee was held on February 4 with contes-tants ready to compete. Schools from all over the region had their top spellers go against one another. This year Medi-na Valley was able to be one of those schools, having held their own spelling bee to determine who would go. Aman-

da Vargas was the winner of this, and represented the Panthers at the Regional Spanish Spelling Bee. The event was held in San Antonio, and there plenty of support for Amanda as fam-ily, friends, and the Spanish 4 teacher,

Ms. Barber, were there to cheer her on. The room was quiet, and the competitors were given a practice round to start off, which Amanda got through with ease. Seven students got out in the first two rounds, but Amanda held her ground. The next round perceived more of a challenge. Amanda ended up taking sev-enth place, out of the eighteen dis-tricts, which is very well for her and the school’s first time competing. Though there was only one winner, all competitors left with a gift bag including things, such as a white board, Spanish dictionaries, etc. The story was also covered on Univision, so all of who competed got to be on the news that night! Amanda left the spelling bee feeling proud of how far she had gotten, and knowing that she did her best, also hoping that she can be able to compete again next year.

Cómo Deletreas “Abeja” en Español(How to say “Bee” in Spanish)

By: Isaac Larrinaga

One Act Play A Theatrical Challenge

By: Rain Gilkes One act play is a theatre arts competition in which the competitors perform a play which is, simply put, one act. Several schools are in attendance, and it can bring a school quite a bit of pride to win. The play our contenders have chosen to perform this year is “Trip to Bountiful”, by Horton Foote. It is being directed by Mr. Knetig, the theatre teacher at the middle school. The leads are Antonio Rodriguez as Ludie, Keilah Cochran as Carrie Watts, and Abbey Whitley as Jesse Mae Watts. As well as they’ve been doing, they’ve faced some challenges with the production, such as where to put sets and scheduling con-flicts. In the same vein, they have also had a few creative struggles. Thus far, they’ve had to cut parts of the script, and added some things too. All in all, though, even with the rough patches they have faced, they have been having a wonder-ful time. Their hope and main goal is to make it to state with their act. The show was displayed to the public March 2. The crowd was im-pressed not only with the acting abilities

of the students, but the costuming, set production, props, and speed with which the crew put up and took down the sets. When in competition the crew has seven minutes to set and another seven to strike. Director Mr. Knetig informed the audiance of this and then they proceeded to proove their abilities by setting in less than five min-utes! The show it-self was well done. The acting was meaningful and sincire. The script had been modified a bit but all of the original meaning was still included and viewers of all ages (some as young as Mrs. Martin’s newborn baby) enjoyed the production. The whole cast, crew, and direc-tion staff deserves a round of applause for a job well done. Panther Nation stands behind them as they go to compe-tition March 22. Break a leg!

HackersCyber PatriotsBy: Isaac Larrinaga

Cyber Patriots has been test-ing their knowledge of how to defend against cyber-attacks this year by going to competitions to show off their skills. They have been working hard trying to learn everything they can to be able to receive a scholarship. How exactly do they qualify for this? How are their skills put to the test? First, they are split into groups, and each one is assigned to a specific pro-gram. The teams then head to the com-petitions, and are tested with questions, either about their program specifically, or just general knowledge about cyber defense. Luckily, they just need at least one person of the group to pass the test to be able to move that team on.Sadly, three teams have fallen out of the competition, though there was still one team that had advanced all the way to re-gionals. The students of the team featured

Daniel Plaza, Jared, Ramon(insert more names). Though they did not make it any further, they still did an amazing job, and gave it their best. If anyone is interested in joining Cyber Patriots, they can talk to any of the sponsors. These sponsors are Mr. Ramirez, Mr. Spracale, or even Daniel Plaza. It gives many opportunities to go to state, and be able to gain money towards a scholarship. So if you want to pursue a career in cyber security, or just want to learn something new, join today!

STUDENT LIFE Blood Drive•Skills•Students•Track 1&2•Prom•College•Course Selection

Pick Your ClassesPlanning Ahead

By: Desiree Sweeten & Vanessa Camargo What exactly is core selection? It is when you choose your core classes for next year. It also helps by giving students a plan and to earn the requirements they need to graduate. Counselor Mrs. McElroy also suggests you look at test scores, current grades, future plans, and interests when trying to decide which classes will be best for a certain person. Everyone has a four year plan and an idea of what they want to do. Make sure your plan on Skyward matches what you want for the rest of your high school years!

• Requirements to be on Track 1: Pass all STAAR tests, meet the 90 percent attendance, no suspension or DAEP, and make sure you don’t fail any of your classes!

• Medina Valley has never done flex days, making this year the first of many more to come. While every-one is on summer vacation, Track 2 takes final exams that are worth 25 percent of their grade for that semester. Each class is required to

give an exam over the subject the student is currently taking. All in all the average student takes eight exams that should all last two hours. Flex days are three days that Track 1 students don’t come to school, but Track 2 students have to do STAAR prep. The STAAR prep helps the stu-dents for any upcoming STAAR test the student has to take. Track 2 is no fun, so let’s all aim to be on Track1!

Race To The Finish LineSet your goal on Track 1!

By: Madeline Branch and Jasmin Olivan

Track 1 Track 2 3 Flex days held on March 24th, No days off April 21st, and April 27th Take finals Last week off of school

From Across the World: Medina Valley receives two foreign exchange studentsBy Melanie Salazar

This year, Medina Valley High School was fortunate enough to receive two exchange students, Hillary Addo from Gauna and Ewa Korolihina from Germany. There is many adjustments the two girls have had to make to living with an American family. “It is a little bit harder. My family is loud, it is quieter here. However there’s no difference, family is family,” Ewa Korolihina said. In addition, Hillary Addo explained “my family is back home is more strict and less open with things , it has been interesting living here” Can you imagine leaving friends and family for a whole year? Most people can not see themselves participating in the foreign exchange program . When the girls were asked what made them decide to study abroad, Hillary Addo explained “ I was very excited to learn about the American culture and for the chance to meet new people.” Both students shared some differences between America and their home country such as that “strangers will smile at you, the people are nicer. Girls and boys will ask how you are and how your day is going, it is com-

Now is the time of year for seniors in high school to decide what col-lege they would like to attend this August. Two students were asked about their plans for the next phase of their lives. When asked what college she wants to go to, Autumn Aldrich, 12th, said she planned on going to Shaw University in North Carolina with a scholarship in soccer. “I’ve discovered I like to help people.,” she

said. To prepare for college she said that she would be visiting in February and is about to start a new job. The thing she was most excited about is “Doing something

new” and “getting out of the high school structure.” And that the least exciting thing would be the distance between her and her family. Graysen Mechler, 12th, plans on attending Buena Vista for her college experience. She plans on majoring

in biomedical science and after college she wants to keep her options open so she could go to med school or do research. For her, the most exciting thing about college will be being in a new place. She is not as thrilled about leaving her friends. Although they will be leaving home, these students are happy to be gaining new experiences.

Cool CollegesA few Panthers venture past the Texas borders

By: Sara Guinn and Josephine Barrera

Lights,Camera,PromA quick look into a night to remember

By: Christopher Botello & Curtis Lechner From getting ready hours in advance, to taking selfies and group pho-tos with friends, to dancing to trending music in elegant ballrooms, prom is the night some have been waiting to attend for months. Prom 2017, which will be no exception, is planned to take place at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort on the 22nd of April. “Wish Upon a Star” is the theme this year, and ticket prices will again be 50 dol-lars. When asked about 2016 prom prepa-rations, Madeline Branch responded with “It was really stressful to cram to get ready because of Saturday school, but in the end, it was worth it.” Jasmin Olivan responded when asked about a special memory she had describing how she felt like a “princess” and including “my boyfriend and I danced to our song Neon Moon.”

Traveling from East to West

AKA What I Did Over Spring Break

By: Trinity Hewtty In the spring of last year, my family took yet another trip across Amer-ica. The previous year’s before, we had traveled by car across the eastern side of the United States. But last year was different, we decided to head west. My family and I, within the week of spring break, crossed the snowy plains of New Mexico all the way to the deserts of Ne-vada. It was yet another unforgettable and memorable trip for all of us. I asked several of my fami-ly members of how they felt and their

thoughts on the whole experience. My mother said “A camera cannot capture the true beauty that God has created for us all.” My younger brother stated “It was cool, it was very exciting. I anticipated the trip from the very beginning.” My older brother commented that “It was tiring, but my favorite part was the resort in Las Vegas because I was able to have my own room with a living room and kitchen.” Overall my family was upbeat about the whole trip, even with all the troubles that come with traveling by car. And they have been for previous trips, like when we traveled through the swamps of Louisiana all the way to the deep Atlantic Ocean. To me, though, with each trip it is very exhilarating to see so many different places. Each place had a distinct character, New Mexico had

snowy mountains, Arizona had the Grand Canyon, and Nevada had both Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam. So many places my family has visited with more to come. I feel extremely blessed that my family and I are able to travel. Hopefully, one day, we won’t

just travel in America but the world.

Are you going somewhere cool for Spring Break? Tell the Newspaper Staff all about it!!

PassengersBy: Josephine Barrera

The movie Passengers came out in theaters December 21st of 2016. The movie is about people who leave Earth to go to another planet. Everyone is put to sleep until a malfunction happens in the ship and one of the main characters, Jim, wakes up. Soon enough, a girl in the ship is woken up and she and Jim spend time with each other until everything starts to go wrong. Brenda Hernandez, 9th, said, “I liked the movie because it had a Star Trek feel.” Along with freshman Sara Guinn who added, “I think the movie was really coolio and would recommend it to anyone who likes action packed movies.”

WHAT’S NEWS PANTHERS?THE INS AND OUTS AND GOINGS ON AT MVHS

We Were LiarsBy: Josephine Barrera

We Were Liars is a book written by E. Lockhart. The story follows Cadence, a girl with selective amnesia, who tries to remember what happened one night when she was found on the beach. She

tries to talk to her family to figure out what happened, but no one would say anything. This book, in my opinion, was very uninterest-ing and took too long to get to the plot. When freshman Lilia Martinez was asked what she thought she said, “I really

didn’t like it…the plot created too many problems for a girl her age.”

Twenty One PilotsBy: Josephine Barrera

Twenty One Pilots is a popu-lar band mostly known by their songs “Heathens”, “Ride”, and “Stressed Out”. Their music is a nice mix between alter-native and hip-hop. The band consists of two people, Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph. They became a band in 2009, but did not become extremely popular until recently. When asked what she thought about them, Victoria Dailey, 9th, said, “I like them because they’re really cool…their music is different…their lyrics are really meaning-ful.”

Panther OpinionsDon’t get caught wasting time, read these reviews before you choose what to do.

GHOSTINGThe practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all

communication.BY: AnaLeise Zapata

Ghosting is having someone that you believe cares about you, whether it be a friends or someone you are dating, disappear from contact without any explanation at all. They don’t text, call, or communicate in any way. For a lot of people, this can result in feeling of disre-spect and very deep betrayal. Social rejection activates the same pain pathways as physical pain. One way to reduce the emotional pain of rejection is with pain medication. But, there are some specific factors between rejection and pain about ghosting that deals with psychological distress. Ghosting can leave you in a state of uncertainty. Should you be worried? What if they are hurt or in the hospital? Staying connected to people on the in-ternet is so important to our survival that our brain has evolved to have a social monitoring system (SMS) that monitors the environment for cues so that we know how to respond in social situations. The important thing to re-member when someone is ghosting you is that it has nothing to do with you or your worthiness, it shows that he or she

doesn’t have the courage to deal with the discomfort of their emotions or yours; they either don’t understand the impact of their behavior or just don’t care. In any case they have sent you an extreme-ly loud message that says “I don’t have what it takes to have a healthy relation-ship with you.” Be the better person, retain your dignity, and let them go.

Fun-Loving, Crazy Athletes

February FCA MeetingBy: Analeise Zapata

The FCA meeting in February was a complete success! It started off with a scrumptious dinner of spaghetti and sweet tea. Afterwards, the whole group played a game, some talked about progress in their sport and how well the teams are doing. Logan Uzzel, shooting guard on varsity, was one of the students who talked about their season. Mrs.Fan-kle talked about a geranium fundraiser to help out with the FCA camp in the summer. At the end of the meeting, Kae-lyn and Kelbi Winters put on a beautiful performance singing Christian songs as the students who attended the meeting sang along.

The Need to BleedEvery two seconds, someone

in the U.S. needs bloodBy Curtis Lechner and Christopher

Botello The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center hosted a school blood drive on January 6, 2017, in the parking lot of the performing arts center. The drive had a phenomenal outcome, receiving over 70 pints of blood. This equates to a potential 210 lives saved because one pint can be used for up to three different people. To donate, you must be 16 years old and weigh at least 120 pounds, or at least 17 and weigh 110 pounds. Donators are expected to sleep completely the night before, eat a full meal four hours before, and drink eight glasses of non-caffeinat-ed beverages 24 hours before and after the donation. The blood drive would not have been possible without the coordina-tion efforts made by Ethan Zinsmeister and Nurse Mechler. Ethan says, “It was stressful having to do the paperwork, but it was rewarding knowing we were saving lives.”

Engineering the Future

Saying Goodbye to RocketryBy Curtis Lecher & Christopher Botello

The 2016-17 school year will be the last to have the Scientific Research and Design Class known as Rocketry. While still taking on the same name next year, the 2017-18 course is receiving an upgraded focal point. Mr. Perritano, the planned teacher of the course, said: “The class is much more focused to help prepare kids interested in going into an engineering.” He also added it will help to gain an experience and a feel for what the area of study entails firsthand. Some examples of different projects planned for next year include designing a struc-ture able to withstand an earthquake, creating a pin-hole camera that can take photos, and a disaster surveying drone.

New Year, New Cheer

MVHS Cheer Try-outsBy: Kelcy Geubard

In less than one month, the new cheerleaders for MVHS will be announced. The sponsor, Mrs. Bemis, gave some inside tips into what to expect of tyr-outs this year and what she is looking for. For starters, the try-outs are going to consist of proffessional judges

over the state coming in to evalu-ate each applicant’s jumps, cheer, crowd leading, dance, tumbling, and overall appearance. Coach Bemis also says, “they are looking for ap-plicants with a lot of spirit, friendliness, good sports-manship, school pride, confidence, and leadership.” Once everyone is scored and the students with the highest scores are selected, the cheer

season will begin May 1. Caoch Bemis is hoping to take her team to a UIL state competition for a second year and hopefully to the NCA Nationals.

Her number one piece of advice to people trying out for the first time is “to not wait until your senior year, practice at an outside facility, and stretch.” The captain’s for the

current year also gave some ad-vice. Hannah Persyn says to “keep your confidence” and Paige Shep-pard adds to “stay calm, no matter what.” Most trying out have been in this position before and have an advantage, however, it is encour-aged that new people try out too! Each student has a different personality and each personality brings something unique to the squad.

It’s All About Y-O-UThis page is solely for fun, enjoy!

CREATIVE CORNER

This collection of pencil-work was provided by artist Cody Goulas, 10th

By Desiree Sweeten, 9th

By Miraclyn Ander-son, 10th

By Victoria Dailey, 9th Artist unknown, on desk in

Coach Schmidt’s room

TIC-TAC-TOE

Jokes!Core ClassesBy: Sara Guinn

Math: Q:What is a math teacher’s favorite

food? A: Pi!

Are you the square root of two? Because when I am with you, I feel irrational!

If you were an angle, you would be acute one!

English:Q:What is the difference between a cat

and a dependent phrase? A: One has claws at the end of its paws

and the other has a pause at the end of its clause!

Q: Why is a raven like writing desk? A: Edgar Allan Poe wrote on both of

them!History:

Q: What happened to the Donner Party once they got to the Appalachian Moun-

tains? A: It turned into the Dinner Party!

Science:Are you made of Copper and Tellurium,

because you are CuTe!I wish your name was Avagadro so I would always know your number!

You think you’re a ten? Maybe on the pH scale because you are basic!

Failure isn’t FailureWhy does failure run our lives?If you fail at thisthen fail at thathow can you succeed at what you love

So you failed a class?Sorry, you’re not allowed to do that any -more.I don’t want your excusesI don’t want your fight

oh but please let me ask you,how does this make sense?

oh, you don’t have an answer

I just can’t seem to understandwhat if I don’t want to be the bestscientistmathematicianor physiologist

Taking away cause you want us to be something else?how is that okay?Not letting us be us is NOT okayunless, of course, you want to be the world’s bestphysiologistmathematicianor scientist

when will you realizewe’re not robotswe’re NOT perfectand don’t aspire to be

we aspire to be, and I speak for all fine artistswe aspire to begreat musiciansgreat directorsgreat actorsamazing painterswonderful singerswonderful dancers

If we cared about coredon’t you think we’d all passwe’re not robotswe’re artistsstop controlling usin your little bubble

cause we can’t be contained

-anonymous, 9th

BASKETBALL ORANGE BLACK PANTHERCASTROVILLE ROSSETTE SANANTONIO DALLASELPASO SOCCER SPRINGBREAK IDSMVHS SPURS TEXAS FOOTBALL

ACROSS2. The great state we live in5. The only city with a Haby’s6. A school color shared with a fruit

DOWN1. Our Mascot

3. Our school’s initials4. The darkest color on the spectrum

MVHS FIGHT SONG

MVHS ALMA MATER

It has come to our attention that many of you do not know these...