January 10, 2006 - Volume 34 Issue 9
Familiar People, Fresh Perspectives
Weightlifter exhibits pumped-up
abilities
By Phillip Vernon, so.
News Editor
Weightlifting, a popular class and sport here at Humboldt High
School, is mostly participated in by the male gender. Mostly. On occasion,
however, junior Janelle Herder can be found in the weight room, pumping the
iron along with all of her classmates.
“I started weightlifting half-way through my eighth grade year just
to get into shape, but I found it to be a good stress reliever. When I started
I never anticipated that I would be very good or go to competitions, but by
the end of that year, I was already lifting as much as the guys,” said
Herder.
At the Emporia weight meet held on February 4, Herder placed first in her
bench lift as well as her squat lift. Herder also received first overall in
the women’s division.
“I do not really know how to explain what I feel when
I am lifting,” said Herder. “I just get into this kind of zone
and it just feels natural to lift weights.”
Herder was only five pounds away from breaking the women’s record in
the bench lift at Emporia last Saturday.
“I have not broken any records… yet. Saturday at Emporia, I attempted
to break the bench record of 170 pounds, but I did not get it. Knowing that
I was so close and that I was capable of breaking it made me furious, but
at the same time, not breaking the record drives me to work even harder. Maybe
I will be able to break the record next year,” said Herder.
During the 2005 weightlifting season, Herder received first overall in both
of the weight meets that she attended. At Williamsburg, Herder lifted a total
of 625 pounds in squat, bench, and hang clean. Last year at Emporia, Herder
lifted a total of 605 pounds.
“What motivates me when I am lifting is knowing that I am doing something
that not many girls are good at. Also, when I see the guys lifting more, it
motivates me to work harder so that I can lift that much as well,” said
Herder.
When receiving first in both meets overall last year, Herder had the chance
to go on to State competition, where she received fourth place in both bench
and hang clean and third in squat. Herder lifted a total of 565 pounds at
the State weightlifting meet, earning her a second place overall in the women’s
division.
“I would like to continue to lift after high school. There are competitions
for college students and adults that I am thinking about competing in,”
said Herder. “But whether or not I do compete after high school, I will
still probably continue to lift.”
Senior 'driven' toward success
By Haley Huffman
Cartoonist
Rough sports, activities, and professions are not in everybody’s
future views, however, racing to our attention is Josh Baughn, sr., with goals
of drag racing and mechanics.
Baughn is interested in going into a profession involving high performance
class drag racing. He would like to attend the Nashville Auto-Diesel College
(NADC) in Tennessee. NADC would offer Baughn a comprehensive training and
education necessary for him to prepare for initiating a life-long career in
his chosen technical area.
“I would like to join a drag racing team or even have a business in
building high performance engines,” said Baughn.
If all else fails, Baughn would still be interested in getting a business
degree and repairing and selling vehicles.
Baughn has participated in our schools Ag Mechanics class taught by Matt Kerr
since last year.
“I like the class because we get to learn to weld. It
was a lot of fun last year so I decided to take it again this year,”
said Baughn.
Currently Baughn is involved with the work-release program offered by the
school. He leaves school just after fifth period to go to work at Sigg Motors
located in Iola. At Sigg Motors, he performs various tasks on vehicles.
“I basically do whatever they need me to do. I work on the body of vehicles.
I buff cars, clean, change tires, change batteries out, replace windows, etc.
I love it; I think it’s a lot of fun,” said Baughn.
Baughn was ultimately inspired mainly because he grew up around vehicles.
He also mowed lawns to make money in order to buy vehicles and parts.
“My dad worked on cars a lot while I was growing up, and that really
got me into all of it,” said Baughn.
“It’s a lot of fun working on vehicles, and I think it would be
even more fun to go into high performance and even drag racing,” said
Baughn.
Differing from everyone who waits until 3:15 to get out of school and go hang
out with friends or play school sports, Baughn leaves after half of the school
day to work on cars, hoping to make even more out of his later profession.
Vivid
personality brightens school hallways
By Erica Greve, sr.
Feature Editor
If one were to take the average freshman boy, subtract his basic
inhibitions and the necessity to “fit in”, upgrade his imagination,
add sense of humor with a whimsical twist, and raise his energy level exponentially,
the outcome could be none other than Deron Owens, fr.
“I guess I’d describe myself as crazy, maybe even mildly psychotic.
I’m definitely random and unpredictable,” said Owens.
With such a lighthearted attitude about himself, it’s obvious where
Owens draws his self-confidence and sociable nature from.
“It honestly wouldn’t be hard for me to sashay up to any random
person and introduce myself. When I go places, I’m often meeting all
kinds of people. I find people intriguing.
“Still, it’s not that hard to be outgoing and fun,
even in a small town like this. Everybody’s really pretty friendly.
Heather Bosler [fr.] is undoubtedly my best friend in the world, but I get
along with all sorts of people,” said Owens.
One difficulty Owens expressed is that, because he is so intrigued by people,
he always fears that there are people he isn’t close enough to.
“I do wish I would spend more time with the older students in school,
especially with the seniors. As a freshman, I really don’t get much
time with them. They’ll be leaving soon, and it’s pretty sad,”
said Owens.
Owens has quite a handful of stories to tell showcasing his whimsical, fun-loving
nature.
“I’m a very spontaneous person. One time, I wrapped a towel around
my head like a turban, gave myself a unibrow with eyeliner, and walked around
the neighborhood with it on. I’m always doing random stuff like that
just for the sake of doing it. People have to know not to take themselves
too seriously.”
Owens’s silly, spontaneous behavior has led him to make a few embarrassing
mistakes in the past.
“Once, I was walking down the street, and I thought somebody I didn’t
like was following me. I turned around to yell at the person and shouted,
‘Loser, quit following me!’ It turned out to be an old lady. She
had this puzzled look on her face. It was quite funny. I guess it basically
taught me not to yell random things at people on the street,” said Owens.
One of the basic challenges of this stage of life is that of defining oneself
as an individual, and Deron Owens seems to have had little trouble.
Student
disk jockey rocks air waves
By Melanie Weilert,
sr.
Editor-in-Chief
Ask a teenager what their typical weekend consists of, and
more often than not, the response will include phrases such as, “just
cruising around,” or “partying with some friends.” However,
for one particular teenage girl, her response would sound something more like,
“being able to spread the word of God in terms that I can understand
and that I know maybe other teens can relate to.”
Within the small confining walls of the Fire Escape Coffee House radio station,
KFEX 97.7 FM, junior Chelsy Wright spends nearly every weekend discussing
issues of Christianity over the airwaves.
“I first started going to the Coffee House around February of 2005.
I felt that what the Fire Escape offered the youth of the surrounding areas
was awesome and I wanted to be a part of it,” said Wright.
“I spoke to Mark and Marilyn Harms, the owners of the
Fire Escape, and asked them for an application to become a radio disk jockey.
I turned it in and about two months later, they asked me to join the team.”
Every Thursday, the radio crew meets up with each other to go over their schedule
for the upcoming weekend.
Being the “new kid” initially worried Wright, but after the first
meeting with all of her fellow disk jockeys, she was almost immediately asked
to be a part of a radio show.
Jeremiah Wood became Wright’s radio partner to form ‘Saturday
Night Untitled,’ which airs about every Saturday night at nine o’clock.
“We play a mixture of Christian rock, pop, and alternative, as well
as praise and worship songs,” said Wright. “It is most definitely
one of my most favorite past times and has become one of my greatest passions.”
Since joining KFEX, Wright has entirely changed her college and career goals
to better suit her new field of interest; broadcast communications.
“I love doing this so much that instead of attending medical school,
I plan on attending either the University of Kansas or the College of the
Ozarks to major in Mass Communications and Broadcasting to make this a full
time career,” said Wright. “I also hope to one day broadcast my
very own Christian rock show for satellite radio.”
However, it is not only the concept of being on the radio that captures Wright’s
interest. KFEX, which is primarily a Christian radio station, is geared toward
providing teens with a way to connect with God through the power of music,
something that Wright takes pride in being a part of.
“I feel that our radio show is very important, because one of the best
ways to connect with younger people is through music,” said Wright.
“If we can connect with them and provide them with great music and a
positive message that will turn their life to Christ, then that is something
that makes it all worth while.”
Athlete
empasizes importance of faith
By Haley
Barton, sr.
Photo Editor
Religion can play a very big part in individual lives. It can
bring fun times, friends, and people can go on trips to other countries to
help by working in homeless shelters, or just by talking to the people who
live there.
Mallory Mueller, sr. attends St. Peters Lutheran Church and has been in FCA
for two years.
“I am a part of the FCA board. It is fun to plan things that will keep
people interested in our group,” said Mueller, “As a member of
FCA, it is just fun to interact with people that I know who are Christian
and who I can learn from.”
Youth groups give students the opportunity to be in a good
environment and still be able to be with friends. Many youth groups teach
about life, and help show how the Bible is relevant to today’s world.
“I really like attending DJ’s because he teaches us a lot about
how to live as Christians and how to deal with High School situations. We
also do praise and worship at DJ’s which is something we don’t
get to do at FCA and I really enjoy it. Every once in a while I go to the
coffee house and it’s a lot of fun, too.”
Mueller has attended Missions Trips for the past two years such as, God Road
Rules in Summer 2004, Mission Humboldt in Summer 2005, and Sports Quest in
Summer 2005.
During God Road Rules the students had a road trip around the country. For
Sports Quest Mueller traveled Ireland with a group called Athletes of Good
News.
“Athletes of Good News put on a sports clinic for a week – playing
soccer, basketball, American football, rugby, and skate boarding. At night
we went to JAM (Jesus and Me).”
This trip also gave them the opportunity to go around and play games with
kids in the area.
“The week after the sports clinic we did ‘Street Reach’
– which we went out on the streets in a group of four or more and hung
out with kids, playing basketball or soccer or water fight, whatever they
wanted to do.”
Religion gives a wide opportunity to try new things like traveling to various
countries. Going on Missions Trip’s help to open people’s eyes
to realize not every country is like America, that the world is not as great
as it may seem at times.
“I’ve never been to Mexico for a missions trip and I’ve
heard they’re pretty awesome, so I think it’d be cool to go there
or go to Africa – but that’ll probably be a ways down the road,”
said Mueller.
Every person has something that gives him or her purpose in life, more often
than not religion can do just that.
“I’ve learned how important my faith is for my life and it’s
given me purpose in my life to try to witness to people in any way I can through
influence, being a friend to someone or just the way I act.”
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