OGT Testing at Middletown High School

By Aleisha T., staff reporter

During the month of March, the Sophomore class of Middletown High School is everybody’s main focus. This month is where everything that was learned over the past few years counts toward the future of the students and our community. It’s Ohio Graduation Test time.

Everyday for the past few months, students have prepared for the Ohio Graduation Tests, to be held March 15^th through the 19^th. Students and teachers are very excited for these tests. “For the OGT, I have been really focused on the packets my teachers are giving me,” says Sophomore Keven C. He also says that staying afterschool has been a big help. “Being a football player, I’m usually tired when I get home, but I keep studying so that I can do well.

Study tables have also been a big help to Middie test takers. “ After school, I sometimes go to study tables and review what I have learned from the day,” says Blake D. “Other times, when I get home, I go over all my papers to make sure I don’t forget what I’ve learned.”

Teachers have their own ways for preparing students for the OGTs. “What I’m doing to prepare (my students) is giving them strategies, showing them old questions, and giving them subject materials,” says Advanced Biology teacher Mr. Cave. Mr. Cave also recommends a good night’s sleep before the test. Says Ms. Morvec, Advanced Geometry and Geometry teacher, “We have been preparing for this test the whole year, so that everyone will be prepared and confident.”

The students of Middletown High School are working very hard, as are the teachers here. “I really feel like I’m going to be fine (on the OGT),” says Andrew M, sophomore. With all this hard work, that is not surprising.

Imagine yourself at “South Pacific”

By Clarity A.

Imagine yourself on a beach… watching bikini clad girls frolicking about and singing nurses and dancing sailors… wait, what? That’s right! This year, MHS is putting on the lively production of “South Pacific” by Rodgers and Hammerstein. This play, based off a 1948 novel by James A. Michener, is going to be a blast! Performance dates are April 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th and you haven’t seen anything like this!

This musical is set on a South Pacific island during the World War II era. I won’t spoil the ending but the story is about a young, naïve nurse named Ensign Nellie Forbush (played by Lauren True) falls in love with a French man named Emile de Becque (played by Michael Henry.) And the story is wrapped around that. Not a detailed enough synopsis for you? Well then come in April and I can promise it will be a heck of a show!

I took the time to interview Mrs. Minge, the choir teacher and co-director of this musical. She herself did not choose the musical but did have some input and said that she agreed on it because it was a fun, more traditional musical. She seemed very excited about such a community-familiar show! Well, who wouldn’t be?

Ms. Minge also said that she chose the lead roles based on students’ strengths and she believes that we have the best cast for the job. A scene she is really looking forward to is the song “Honey Bun” because of its energy and because it involves a lot of the cast “It’s my favorite song in this musical,” says Ms. Minge.

So mark your calendars for April 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th and come and see MHS’s production of South Pacific!

Middie Student Government Plans Haiti Earthquake Fundraiser

By McKayla B.

At a meeting this past week, Middletown High School’s student government announced plans for a raffle. These raffle tickets will be sold to raise money for earthquake relief in Haiti. The winner of this raffle will receive an iPod Touch and all money will go toward Haiti to help their relief efforts.

Haiti has had over 3 million people affected by this earthquake. There are 4,800 American people who are still unaccounted for. There were 12,000 U.N. workers in Haiti at the time of the earthquake and 53 of them are still missing. The U.S. sent 17,000 military personal to Haiti to help.  The death toll is up to 150,000. These statistics show that Haiti can use our help.

Students can buy tickets for the raffle in the cafeteria when details are finalized.

Study Tables Give Middies Homework Opportunities

By Derrick R.

Did you know you can get free help for with your homework?  You can get that help at Middletown High School’s study tables. I sat down with two of the teachers that work at our study tables to get help with many, many subjects like English, Speech, Social Studies. I also sat down with them for this interview.

“It’s my first year working at the study tables; they sent an email out asking if anyone wanted to help and I accepted it.” said Ms. Janning. Ms. Janning teaches English 1 & Speech here at MHS. Other teachers that work at the study tables are Ms. Arent who teaches Math and Ms. Moon that teaches Social Studies. “We help up to fifty or seventy students a week, “ says Ms. Moon, “Most of the students come here for math help.”

“My favorite thing to teach to help kids with is English & Speech, because those are the things that I teach.” says Mrs. Janning. “I also like to see what books students are reading in their classes.”

“I’m hoping students come to visit the Study Tables,” laugh Mrs. Janning and Mrs. Moon. “The study tables are a great place for students to get help with ACT, SAT and other tests as well as a time to get help with homework.”

comics: supercat

By Lindsey B.

H1N1: What you need to know

By Ashley H.

Ms. Trainer is Middletown High School’s student nurse. I met with her to discuss the topic that is on everyone’s minds these days; the swine flu or H1N1. I wanted to find out if MHS was prepared for an outbreak of the flu and what we can do to keep ourselves safe and healthy.

“It’s a different strand of the flu that we haven’t seen before,” says Ms. Trainer as I interviewed her in her office. “Epedisologists track the strands of flue to see what different things happen when someone has the flu in order to make vaccines.” Ms. Trainer goes on to say that so far Middletown High School has been very lucky in its encounters with H1N1. We have only had two reported cases of students who had the flu and those students have received medical attention and made a full recovery.

“The flu is something that students could be concerned with as it can also be a symptom of pnonemoia” says Nurse Trainer. She has plenty of advice for students who think they might be coming down with any type of sickness, from H1N1 to a cold. “If you have a fever or a cough, it would be a better choice to stay home from school and take care of yourself,” she says. Nurse Trainer also advices students  to wash their hands frequently and should avoid touching their face with their hands if they are dirty.

Many are interested in how the swine flu began. H1N1 originated as a virus only pigs could get. That virus mutated and spread to those pigs’ owners… and that virus kept spreading, eventually becoming the flu that has worried so many people. The symptoms of the swine flu include a high fever, coughing, or a really painful headache. You just feel horrible. These symptoms usually last from three to ten days but you may feel fatigue for a couple of week or months after you recover from H1N1.

Although it’s smart to get a vaccine, they do not work in every case. “You can still get any (type of) flu, even with a vaccine,” says Ms. Trainer. “Seasonal flu season hasn’t even started yet.”

Editorial: Middie Man or Magic?

By Heidi G.

In the last few years our school has slowly replaced its “Middie Magic” symbol to the now more commonly known “Mighty Middies”. Many students have either forgotten our wizardly friend or just never “met” him since the arrival of “The Muscle Man” who can be found on many of our hooded sweatshirts and other types of spirit wear. I’m not here to question the motives of the switch. It’s been successful change… but I am here to ask “Why?” Should we have changed our mascot or does the public want the Middie idol to remain the same?

Teachers that I interviewed seem to vary in opinions. Of five staff members I surveyed, three preferred the Muscle Man over the Middie Magic. Miss Grube was quoted as saying “I like the Muscle Man because it just has a better ring too it.” Agreeing with her are Mrs. DeVilling and Mr. Burtis. While Mrs. Arent and Mr. Pearce said that they liked the ”magic”. Mrs. Arent said to this staffer ”The muscle man is ugly and I don’t feel like he represents the Lady Middies as well.“

Isn’t there room for both of these Middletown icons? The Muscle Man shows the strength of the Middletown sports teams in a classic way. The Middie Magic includes everyone and is a more hopeful role model for students. Maybe it’s time to revisit the Middie Magic one more time.

Musical Middies Unite!

By Brittany A.

Many varieties of music are popular here at Middletown High School. Some students love rap, however some hate it. Some hate rock music, some think it is the best. This school year has seemed to bring an uprise in new types of music, like experimental rock and techno.  Although many new artists have been on the rise in 2009, many of the classics are still around.  We talked to some Middies about their tastes in music to see if there was anything new for us to listen to at the end of the school year!

Rock music continues to be popular with many students here at Middletown High School. Ryan S, a Freshman says “I love hard rock and metal music.” Danny G, a sophomore at MHS agrees, “Alternative rock is what I’m spending most of my time listening to these days. There are so many types of music out there today that my favorite artists changes almost daily.” Some of the artists most popular with students in the world of rock include American Idol star Chris Daughtry and favorites Linkin Park and Slipknot.

Country is also a popular choice with many musical Middie fans. Middletonian staffer McKayla B. seconds many students’ feelings by mentioning Taylor Swift as a favorite artist. “White Horse is one of my favorite songs this year!” she says. Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood were also popular choices from many of our students here at MHS.

As you can see, many different students liked different types of music here at Middletown. Try something new!

Review: Gossip Girl- The Complete First Season

By Destini H.

Gossip Girl is the show that kids love and parents hate. It centers on a boarding school in New York where the rich kids socialize and plot revenge against one another. All of their problems are watched and commented on by the notorious blogger Gossip Girl. Gossip Girl (or GG to those in the know) is in its’ third season on The CW right now, but let’s take a look at Gossip Girl: The First Season, now on DVD.

The case for the Gossip Girl DVDs is nice and compact, with six discs of all the first season shows and a bunch of bonus features. A personal favorite is LOL, a bunch of funny mistakes that the actors made on filming the show. There are a bunch of deleted scenes included on the discs, but these were kind of boring. The best of the bonus features was XOXO, which showed how they made the show from the book series into the show. There was so many things on the discs that it was hard to keep track of them all. I know I wasn’t able to see everything!

The episodes are just as good as you remembered from when they were on years ago. The main actresses are Blake Lively as Serena and Leighton Meester as Blair. The two actresses are good at playing enemies but fans know they are friends in the end. There are plenty of audio commentaries that will tell you why the episodes were made and how!

I definitely recommend Gossip Girl: The Complete First Season.

Forensics: The Act of Acting

By Caitlin M.

When you walk down the hallway and hear someone say something about how they spent the weekend at forensics, you think, “They examine dead bodies!” Admit it, we all done it. “Forensics is not crime scene investigation,” says student Gracie Taylor. “It’s speech and debate and competitive acting!”

Speech and debate where you give a speech, act out a ten minute piece, or debate. To this club’s adviser, it’s more than the sum of its parts. “Forensics is an opportunity to compete against other teens from across Ohio able to be comfortable about speaking and performing in front of others,” says Mr. Prater.

There are many different categories of competition. The first two deal with speech. There is original oratory, where you write and perform your own speech, and original interpretation, where you give a speech that is already written. The other two categories also deal with speech as well. For example, United States and World Interpretation is a catagory where you write an essay about out country or the affairs of the world at large.

The acting categories break down into humor, drama, and duo. In humor and drama is contestants memorize a script and perform it solo, playing all the roles. Duo is just the same expected contestants are partnered. Duo performances can either be funny or dramatic.

The Forensics Club travels all around Ohio to compete. They go to a tournament about every Saturday during November till February. Sometimes there are hotel tournaments, where you stay at a hotel which is a highlight for many performers. “Craziness, do well, make it happen captain, oh well, OI, stupidity, drama, humor hotels,” dramatically states performer Carmen Evarage.

“I love forensics I joined to get out of my shy bubble and it helped.” states Jane Smith, another member of the team. Forensics is also great if you love to act and meet new people. “Forensics is just fun. You get to meet kids from different schools and compete,” sums up Maria Sommers.