Vol. 3, Issue 7 January 18, 2016

The Bridge

Introducing new classes: Photography and

Speech Communications by Mianna Baker

Our school has recently added two clas-

ses to its program: Photography and Speech

Communications. This year Photography is

being taught by Mrs. Michelle Barnes. She

currently has 12 students in her class, all of

whom are showing great excitement about

being introduced to photography. The class

has different parts and different themes that

they will cover throughout the year. Cur-

rently they are covering the different parts

and structure of the camera and learning

more about the rules that go along with

photography. They have walked through

campus taking pictures so they can practice

the things they have learned in class. Mrs.

Barnes is aiming to educate her students so

that they can be more creative and skilled

when taking pictures on their own. Mrs.

Barnes is excited about her new class. She

states, “As far as if I am enjoying teaching

the class, I enjoy photography myself, but

teaching it is a bit different. I'm actually

learning along with my students to better my

own photography, so that is cool. It is a

challenge, as there is no teacher's manual or

textbook, but it is one that I'm appreciating.”

The second new class is called Speech

Communications, being taught by Mr. Ryan

Cordle. He states, “Speech class is a time for

the students to work on developing their

presentation skills, public speaking, and a

place to gain more confidence when speak-

ing in front of others.” He has only four students, so it is very easy to

think of different ideas to do in class that he couldn’t do otherwise.

Mr. Cordle says, “My four students are fun, and the class is very laid

back. Because of the small class, it gives us more opportunities to be

more creative in our work.” They are working on persuasive speak-

ing right now. This week they will have to try and sell a product to a

staff member. Throughout the year the class will also be working on

informational speaking and demonstrations.

The new additions to our school program are very beneficial and

the students are learning a lot from both classes.

Mrs. Barnes’ Photography students are practicing their picture-taking skills during class.

Their challenge on this day? To take the perfect selfie.

The Bridge 2 Vol. 3, Issue 7

Teacher Profile: Mr.

Paul Baker by Aisha Biyo

Mr. Paul Baker has served at Oneida for five and a half years.

He has been in the Middle

School and has taught P.E,

Health, Language Arts, Geogra-

phy and is currently teaching

U.S. History, World History and

Bible. “I think it’s a very cool

blessing to be a part of every-

body doing their thing,”

Mr. Baker shared. Mr.

Baker’s second eighth grade

class is the senior class of

2016. “Time has flown, and I’m

proud to be a part of their

lives.”

One of the biggest changes that Mr. Baker has witnessed in

his time at Oneida is the change of administration, saying, “I’ve

served under three presidents and three middle school princi-

pals in less than six years.” He also shared his favorite part of

being a teacher at Oneida, commenting, “Finding ways to share

Biblical truth in whatever audience God gives me in my class-

room, regardless of the subject matter.” That’s not his only fa-

vorite part, however. “[Also] June, July and December,” he

Student Profile: Lily

Bitew by Aisha Biyo

Lily Bitew is a Junior at Oneida Baptist Institute. She has

been attending Oneida for less

than a year. Lily said, “I like how

it prepares you for your future.”

Lily heard about Oneida from a

family friend, saying, “We

checked it out and thought it was

good.” Lily also shared what her

time at Oneida taught her: “It

taught me leadership skills the

most. I also leaned how to follow

rules even though you don’t

want to go by them. Building

relationships was also a big thing

I learned at Oneida.” A staff

member who has taught Lily a lot

is Mrs. Erica Baker. “She encouraged me to move out of my

comfort zone and try new things. She saw things in me that I

didn’t see in myself,” Lily explained.

Lily’s advice for any new students or people thinking of at-

tending Oneida is to be patient: “Don’t freak out about the

rules. Be patient and try to understand what they’re telling us

to do and teach us. One day in the future it will benefit us.”

National FFA Week is right

around the corner by Spencer Montgomery

National FFA week is February 19

through the 26. Each day the officers will

be sponsoring a different event on cam-

pus. February 19 - 20 will be the 30 Hour

Famine. It will be in the CMC, and it will

start at 8pm and end at 6 am the next day.

The cost to come will be 30 dollars. This

money is going to an organization called

World Vision which specializes in helping

poverty throughout the world. Following

that event, on Saturday night at 6pm there

will be a school-wide event called the Jun-

ior Chef competition. Students can get a

group of three or four and a staff member

and cook a dish to compete.

On Sunday the 21 for dinner in the

Dining Hall they will be having Build-a-

Burger. Monday the 22 will be Teacher

Appreciation day. Also, that night students

will be welcome to a candle walk starting

at 5:30 p.m. and a tie dye station. On the

23 there will be a dodgeball tournament

in Sparks Gymnasium at 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday students will be allowed to

wear their blue and white tie dye shirts to

school. Thursday the 25 there will be a

speech and demonstration competition

held in the chapel starting at 6 p.m.

Ending the week on Friday, students

who participated throughout the week

will be invited to a movie in the chapel.

Everyone is welcome to come out and join

the fun!

Annual Spirit Week

is coming up

by Talia Geerlings

Spirit Week is organized by Mrs. Bonita Rob-

inson. Asking her what this week is all about

she said it “is to cultivate a positive atmosphere

with the student body, and to also get out of

class.” This tradition has been going on for

about 20 years and is prepared with the help of

CAB and the class sponsors for each grade.

On the Friday of Spirit Week, there will be

basketball tournaments going on. seniors will be

playing sophomores and the juniors will be

playing the freshmen.

Basketball Players will not be allowed to play

due to their ability. Instead students that are not

in the team will be playing so that it can be fun,

and challenging. The winning classes will be

playing against each other.

The Bridge 3 Vol. 3, Issue 7

A letter to those no

longer with us Dear Past Students,

It feels weird without you all on cam-

pus. We really do miss you. When you

look back on your time at Oneida, I hope

you see all the good times you had here or

all the fun things that you did here. At

times Oneida can get on your last nerves

with the rules and restrictions, but the

bonds you make here are truly worth en-

during the hardships. I hope you all make

the right decisions and keep your futures

in mind. Personally, I believe you can all

make it to great places in life. You all are

destined for great things. God is not fin-

ished working in your lives.

Love,

Aisha Biyo

Story Time with Spencer by Spencer Montgomery

Everyone has at least one crazy story, but for me my life is pretty darn interesting,

so I have plenty of crazy stories. One of my all-time favorite stories is not even about

me.

Almost a year ago my step dad, Avery Vaughn, told me a story about a man who

had a lot of bad things happen to him. This man was living in his car. He was also

involved with some things he shouldn’t have been. One day his car got stolen by

drug dealers. After a long battle, they found the car and the ones who stole it. Once

he got his car returned, he noticed something was missing. This thing was not just a

thing—it was his mother! His mother had died, and he had her cremated and put in

a Ziploc bag. He then reported that his mother was missing, so they questioned the

criminals and their response was that they thought she was drugs. After some more

questioning they found out that they smoked, snorted, and sold his mother!

Lesson to be learned: if you have a deceased relative you might not want to keep

them in a Ziploc bag!

Drawn by Posi Asaolu

Conceived by Talia Geerlings

The Bridge 4 Vol. 3, Issue 7

What is your favorite holiday? Pause Vannawat ~ Lunar New

Year

Joshua Mbaezue ~ Christmas/

Easter

Matthew Menard ~ New Year

Zelali Abulaiti ~ Korban Hiyi

Isaiah Nichols ~ My birthday

Elise Bowen ~ Christmas

Dami Olowoye ~ Christmas

Monica Ibe ~ Christmas

Taylor Hinkle ~ Valentine’s Day

Caleb Lamp ~ Christmas

Weifu Jones ~ June 1st (Children's

Day in China)

Alex Lawson ~ January

18th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Jamie Quach ~ Christmas

Leanna Root ~ April Fool’s Day

Serenity Littlejohn ~ Arbor Day

Kiersten Brown ~ Christmas

Alicia Cruz ~ Christmas

Brendan Turner ~ Christmas

Chloe Zika ~ Christmas

AnnaGrace Bowers ~ Christmas

Robel Seife ~ Christmas

Andrew Pettus ~ Christmas

Kelechi Ogbuaku ~ Summer

Noah Pfeiffer ~ Christmas

Jackson Pierce ~ Christmas

Teegan Parkhouse ~ 4th of July

Katelyn Young ~ Valentine's Day

Teni Onitiri ~ New Year’s Eve

Amy Decker ~ Christmas

Cait Singleton ~ Halloween

Riley Patterson ~ Christmas

Ramses Cruz ~ Christmas

Jindu Onuoha ~ Christmas

Maddie Geddes-Skelding ~

Thanksgiving

Blessing Jones ~ Valentine's

Day

Uche Ewurum ~ Christmas

Seth Smith ~ 4th of July

Charmaine Lutz ~ Christmas

Grace Fausonē ~ Easter

Mrs. McFall ~ Thanksgiv-

ing

Seth Shockley ~ Easter

Aida Salauatova ~ Sum-

mer

Cody Woods ~ Halloween

Lily Bitew ~ Any and all

Tyler Miller ~ Christmas

Tristan Davidson ~ Christmas

Mica Longarzo ~ National Goat

Day

Bradley Smith ~ Christmas

Morgan Gray ~ Thanksgiving

Rachel Mannis ~ Christmas/

Easter

Heather Taylor ~ Easter

Hun Jin ~ Valentine's Day, Pepero

Day

Deseray Grubb ~ 4th of July

The Bridge Staff

Spencer Montgomery-

Editor-in-Chief

Aisha Biyo - Assistant Edi-

tor

Ola Onitiri - Sports Editor

Posi Asaolu

Mianna Baker

Kirsten Frazier

Talia Geerlings

Mrs. Noel

Cordle~adviser

The Bridge 5 Vol. 3, Issue 7

Winter Sports resume after Christmas break by Ola Onitiri

CHEERLEADING

The cheerleading squad has resumed

practice after the Christmas break. Mrs. An-

gela Case, the head coach, says one challenge

has been losing girls, saying, “We've lost

several bases and we lost a flyer, which is a

big deal, but no one has got hurt this year.”

She was then asked what the cheerleading

team hopes to achieve this season. She re-

plied, “Harder stunts and more girls doing

tumbling.” When asked if she thought the

cheerleading team was needed for away

games, she said, “Yes, for districts and re-

gional games they are especially needed.”

She was also asked if

she sees the team

growing. Coach Case

replied, “Yes, because

they know each other

better, and we are

working on harder

stunts because they

trust each other more

this year.” Finally, she

was asked if the cheer-

leading team was

working on new

cheers and she said,

“Yes, we are hopefully

going to do another

floor routine as well.”

She also added, “I

think it's been nice having Ashley Gay help-

ing the girls with stunts and gymnastics, and

we just got two new girls on the squad. The

girls are working harder so they can get on

the floor and start cheering!”

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

The girls have started the second half of

their season, following the Christmas break.

They started with a trip to Corbin. The game

was played without starting guard Mardorie

Flahn and starting forward Ashley Booher.

The game ended 79 – 41, in favor of Corbin.

Madison Kehler led the team with 29 points

and seven rebounds. Chinonso Ibe added two

points and ten rebounds, and Sharon

Ogunyemi also added four points and three

rebounds.

Their next game was at home to Pineville

and was Ashley Booher’s game back. It ended

69 – 60, in favor of Pineville. Madison

Kehler led the team with 34 points and two

rebounds. Ashley Booher added nine points

and two rebounds, and Chinonso Ibe also

added 15 points and three

rebounds.

Their next game was a

trip to Jackson County and

Mardorie Flahn’s first

game back. The game end-

ed 61 – 41, in favor of

Jackson County. Madison

Kehler led the

team with 27

points and five

rebounds. Ashley

Booher added

three points and

nine rebounds

and Chinonso Ibe

also added eight points and one

rebound. After the game, Madison

said, “We were horrible all around.

I believe that we can make this a

turning point in our season and

this could help us for the rest of the

season.” They followed that game

with a 55 – 32 loss to Middlesboro.

Madison Kehler led the way with

16 points and seven rebounds.

Ashley added nine points and 18 rebounds.

Coach Ryan Cordle said, “We were embar-

rassing. We need more players to step up

and we are going to be better next week.”

The girls’ record is 5 – 8.

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

The boys have started the second half of

their season, following the Christmas break.

They started with a trip to Jackson County,

following the loss of starting guard De’Jour

Fraizer. It ended 65 – 45, in favor of Jackson

County. Simon Robinson led the way with 13

points and one rebound. Dami Olowoye add-

ed 11 points and seven rebounds. They fol-

lowed the game with a 94 – 58 loss to North

Laurel. Grant Zika led the way with 16

points and ten rebounds. Dami Olowoye

added 13 points and 2 rebounds. Dami was

quoted saying, “We didn’t believe that we

were going to win at first, but we improved

second half and we hope we can turn our

season around.”

They then played Owsley County, and it

ended in a

61 – 56 loss.

Noble Zika

led the way

with 20

points and

nine re-

bounds. Trey

Stout added

11 points

and seven

r e b o u n d s .

After the

game, Alex

Assa said, “If

you don’t

fight for what you want you want, don’t cry

for what you lost. We simply didn’t fight

hard enough.” Their next two games ended

in a 72 – 65 loss to Barbourville and an 80 –

47 loss to Knox Central. The boys’ record is

5 - 8.

SWIMMING

The swim team went to a meet at Camp-

bellsville on January 9. The girls’ team fin-

ished third out of five teams with 148 points,

boys finished first out of five teams with

271.50 points and the combined team score

was 419.50 and taking second overall. The

winning team had 466 points. Coach Par-

khouse said that they were really close to

winning.

Autumn Duzweiler is a senior, and this is

her second year doing swimming. She said,

“Swimming is a sport that works everything.

It is an individual along with a team sport.”

When asked how much she swims everyday,

she said, “A mile of swimming every day.”

She was then asked why she joined swim-

ming, and she replied, “My sister wanted to

participate in it last year, so I decided to

join.”

The Bridge 6 Vol. 3, Issue 7

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