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ODESSA HIGH SCHOOL, ODESSA, MISSOURI

Thursday, May 22, 2008

By Ashleigh BlystoneOHS Boys’ Golf team defeated

Ruskin April 1, gaining the first win of the season.

According to Shane Taylor, coach and OHS science teacher, the team’s biggest strength is they have fun and enjoy playing, but they still face a lack of experience as a team.

“Our first match, we shot 242 as a team, and we shot 212 on the same course the other day. We’ve shown good improvement, but we are still wasting a lot of shots as a

OHS Boys’ Golf Team Defeats Ruskin

2008 Prom King and Queen... were crowned at the dance. Haley John and Conrad Hooper, seniors, pose for a picture.

product of not playing much,” explained Taylor.

W h e n a s k e d h o w h e thought the season went, Alex Dandurand, sophomore, replied, “Fore!”

Dandurand finished tied for 17th at the MRVC tournament out of fifty players.

“Alex presents himself as a leader,” stated Taylor.

“It has been a good year. We’ve had fun, and most players have shown tremendous growth as tournament golfers,” added Taylor.

By Daniel LongJV track team has had to

compete against the weather all season long.

“The weather has been a headache,” said Al lan Twilligear, coach. “We haven’t had much time outside to work on the little things.”

Through all the weather, the team has remained competitive. They have scored points in all of their meets.

The team has had an opportunity to go to five meets, but three have been rained out.

Recent meets were: Helias on May 3 at Lincoln University,

JV Track Team Competes Against the Weather

and at home against Wellington on May 6.

“My favorite thing this year is the coaches,” said Luke Proctor, senior. “They push us to become better athletes every day.”

JV gir ls ’ members are : Bethaney Booth, Michelle Cobb, Kaitlin Fletcher, Emily Fowler, Jalesa Miller, Erica Millward, Neva Shea f f e r, Shandra Sheaffer, Cassie Short and Alana Simmons.

JV boys’ members a r e Steven Barker, Barrett Bell, Chris Fannin, Nathan Holt, Proctor, Lee Roberts and Corey

Trevor Hazen... freshman varsity golf team member, works on his form and swing.

Bill Bradford Looks Forward to Retirement in a Few Years

By Taryn Kelliher B i l l B r a d f o r d , s p e c i a l

education teacher at OHS, has decided to retire in three years. In order to begin preparations for his retirement, he will be spending his summer in Arkansas working on his future retirement home.

Bradford said he would like to retire because as he is getting older, he would like to spend his time relaxing instead of working all the time. Bradford has also experienced some health problems.

Bradford has worked at OHS for nine years now. Prior to working at OHS, Bradford worked as a teacher at a state school for the severely disabled. Bradford said that he enjoys his time at OHS.

Bradford said, “Besides

Bill Bradford... special education teacher at OHS, enjoys teaching, but looks forward to retirement in the next few years.

summer, I like working with kids. They don’t drive me too crazy.” Bradford’s easy-going nature and sense of humor are helpful on the job.

Though he enjoys working for the school, he says he definitely will not miss doing a l l the paperwork a f ter retiring. Bradford said that he looks forward to not having an alarm clock and maybe even raising a garden.

THE GROWLERAround R-7 Schools

Page 2

By Lori AddingtonThird-graders participated

in the Flat Stanley Project for the first time this year, which is an international literacy and community building activity for students of all ages, teachers and families. Students focused on the project during October, November and December.

“The Flat Stanley Project was a fun way for the students to learn about writing friendly letters and to learn about dif-ferent types of communities,” said Jill Langewisch, third grade teacher. The third grade teachers got the idea from the Internet. According to the Flat Stanley website, “Millions of children around the world have shared Flat Stanley’s travels.”

Flat Stanley is a series of books by Jeff Brown, where the main character, Flat Stan-ley, is flattened and travels the world.

The students drew Flat Stanley characters and wrote letters to someone who lives in a different community. Students shared information about Odessa and what they were learning in school. They asked the host families to take

Third-Graders Participate in Flat Stanley Project

pictures with the Flat Stanleys and send them back with a let-ter telling about the communi-ties they visited.

When the letters were re-ceived back at Upper Elemen-tary, they were shared and added to a bulletin board that showed all of the places that the Flat Stanleys traveled. The Flat Stanleys visited coast to coast, and some even left the country. Some visited famous places and famous people such as Disneyland and Carl Ed-wards, NASCAR driver.

“The students’ favorite part was getting to see where their Flat Stanleys went to. Some of the Flat Stanleys are still enjoying their trip and have not returned home yet,” said Langewisch.

According to Langewisch, the students loved getting to see the pictures of different com-munities and comparing the populations of all the different places that the Flat Stanleys went.

“We hope to continue the proj-ect for many years to come. The students, teachers, parents and the host families all had a great time,” said Langewisch.

Third-graders participated in the Flat Stanley Project for the first time. One Flat Stanley poses in front of Disneyland.

Back Snack Program Provides for Students in Need of Food

By Lesley KleyhOdessa R-7 School District

Back Snack Program helps provide food to students in need and is supported by the school district and community churches. The program has been running for four years. Students can take home a pre-packed backpack on Friday af-ter school and return the back-pack on Monday morning.

The backpacks are filled with food items that are easy

for students to make by them-selves. Ramen noodles, maca-roni and cheese, pudding, crackers, Jell-o, peanut butter and jelly, and other easy items are popular.

Community churches col-lect food items, and Laura Scott, Odessa Hearing Im-paired Educator, helps coor-dinate between the churches and the school district. Each building in the district has a

person in charge of organizing the program in their respec-tive buildings. Lori Drenon, OHS Intervention Specialist, is in charge of organizing the program at OHS. Becky Cow-man, outreach worker, orga-nizes the program at OMS, and Andi Phillips, outreach worker, organizes the program at McQuerry and OUE.

Students are served on the basis of need. Sometimes stu-dents are helped if they receive free or reduced school lunch or on a referral basis. Students can be referred by parents, teachers or themselves.

According to Drenon, this program grew out of the Har-vesters, a nation-wide program. “The Back Snack Program pro-vides food for students on the weekends when they might not have access to what they need,” said Drenon.

JV Wrestlers Start Season Off StrongBy Bailey Clutter

OHS JV wrestling team started the season off 3-0 with wins against O-Hara, Benton and Pleasant Hill. According to Adam West, OHS history teacher and as-sistant coach, the most im-proved wrestlers are Brody Hughes and Levi Turley.

West said, “As strengths go, our kids never give up, and their conditioning has been better than our competitors.” West also said the team’s main weakness is that many

of the athletes need to work on their speed in the off sea-son.

“My favorite part of wres-tling is winning matches,” said Mark Fiegenbaum, fresh-man. A match against Warrens-burg was held on February 5.

“The rest of the season looks very promising, and as coaches, we look forward to continuing improvements,” said West.

THE GROWLERAround R-7 Schools

page 3

Freshman Boys Basketball Team Has Hustle and EffortBy Justin Howard

Freshman boys basketball team is 2-4 with wins against Richmond and Lexington. The team lost against Higginsville, Marshall, Clinton and Excelsi-or Springs. Kyle Barkley, OHS P.E. teacher is the team’s coach. Michael Attebery, past OHS graduate, also is assisting.

According to Barkley, the team’s strengths are their hus-tle and effort. Their weaknesses

are boxing out and rebounding. According to Barkley, the team needs to continue to improve on understanding the concepts and strategies of the game.

Barkley said that Higgins-ville has been the team’s tough-est opponent so far. With sev-eral games left, the team has a good outlook for the rest of the season. They want to keep get-ting better and improve on ba-sic fundamentals.

“I enjoy playing basketball, but winning and scoring points is my favorite,” said Alex Kurtz, freshman forward.

The team played in the Rich-mond Tournament January 25 through January 29.

Upcoming games are: Feb-ruary 1 against Pleasant Hill; February 4 at Excelsior Springs; and February 8 at Harrison-ville.

Kieffer Williams, freshman, tries to score over his opponent.

By Hetti McMillianCory LaBoube, OMS wres-

tling coach, said the wrestlers’ attitudes were positive, and the season went well during his first year of coaching wres-tling. “A positive attitude is very important for wrestling,” said LaBoube.

LaBoube teaches seventh grade history at OMS. The sea-

son started November 1 and ended in December.

LaBoube mentioned a couple of wrestlers who had a strong season: Jake Bartow and Cole Stodghill. “They were both strong leaders with a good work ethic,” said LaBoube.

“We had a significant group of kids wrestle for the first time. As the season went along, our num-

OMS Wrestling Season Ends

Cole Stodghill, eighth-grader, snaps his opponent’s head down in an attempt to gain control in the Hig-ginsville tournament.

bers stayed strong, and the kids who were first year wrestlers finished well. That is a great ac-complishment,” said LaBoube.

LaBoube is confident that the upcoming eighth-graders will be strong. LaBoube also believes that the eighth-graders will be strong contributors to the high school next year. “Some of the eighth-graders might even be able to wrestle varsity next year,” said LaBoube.

By Morgan WaibelOMS girls basketball team,

coached by Matthew Bridges and assisted by Beth Weigand, was supposed to end the season January 20 with a home game against Oak Grove. However, due to inclement weather, the season has been extended and games are getting worked in whenever possible.

A team’s record is 3-4. B

team’s record is 5-4. According to Bridges, the girls have improved on defense, pressing and condi-tioning.

Bridges said that the team’s strengths consist of their com-petitive drive, the fact that they all get along, and that they are great students. The team’s weak-ness, according to Bridges, is fail-ing to slow down and set up plays. Bridges recognized MaKayla

Lang and Hanna VanLanker as the most improved players.

The girls prepare for games by doing pre-game every practice, working on defense, and looking at the last game to see what they need to work on. Bridges said that their greatest competition so far was Pleasant Hill, and their best game was played against Harrisonville. “Everything came together and went well,” stated Bridges.

Bridges said that he has en-joyed coaching this year, and his favorite part of coaching was getting to know the girls, getting better and winning. Bridges is looking forward to the challenges of next year with the new play-ers he will have.

Bridges teaches OMS art, and Weigand teaches Spanish at OHS.

Eighth Grade Girls Basketball Team Has Competitive Drive

THE GROWLER R-7 Sports & More

Page 4

By Bailey KramOHS Kickers Dance Team

held their tenth annual fundraising dance clinic on December 31 for children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Kristi Gudde has coached the Kickers for nine years. Gudde teaches first grade at McQuerry. She said her favorite part of coaching is being able to be involved with dance as well as work-ing with a variety of team members.

Natasha Sullivan, senior member, said, “I thought this year’s clinic went well. This was our first time holding it in December.”

Though the month of the

clinic was different this year, the participants still learned dances and performed at half-time of an OHS varsity basketball game.

Carleigh Gamble, first- grader, said, “My favorite part was going out to dance where our moms and dads got to see us.”

The Kickers held the clinic to fund-raise for their up-coming competitions. The OHS Kickers Dance Team will compete two times this year. Their first competition was at Lee’s Summit North High School on January 29, and their second competi-tion will be at Francis How-ell Central High in St. Louis on February 26.

OHS Kickers Raise Funds Hosting Clinic

Meranda Heinman, senior Kickers Dance Team member, performs their routine at halftime.

By Lexi RyanOHS JV boys basketball

team finished the first half of the season 1-6 with eight games left to go. Their win was against Holden.

Nahowan Saxon, OMS para-professional, is pleased with the team’s progress. “This may seem small to a lot of people, but we are a better passing team, and we are starting to develop a toughness that we didn’t have before,” said Sax-on.

Saxon added, “Our tough-est opponent would have to be ourselves. It is very difficult to be successful if we don’t take advantage of the things

we have control over.” He also said that the team’s

main strength is their work ethic, and their biggest weak-ness is lack of knowledge and understanding of the game.

“Every day is a learning ex-perience for the boys, and the key is for them to get better and keep building on that,” said Saxon.

The team played January 27 against Warrensburg. Due to inclement weather, some games are still to be deter-mined. Upcoming games are: February 10 with Grain Val-ley; and February 18 at Pleas-ant Hill.

JV Boys Basketball Team

Jackson Hawk, sophomore JV basketball player, takes the ball down the court.

By Kelsie DaleOHS JV girls basketball

team is 2-2 with wins against Concordia and Holden and losses to Grain Valley and Oak Grove. The team is coached by Tia Saxon, OMS health teacher. So far this season, Saxon has noticed a big improvement in the team. Their strengths consist of team work. Saxon would also like to recognize Morgan Waibel, post, and Erin Shakeshaft, defender, as most improved.

Erin Shakeshaft said, “I think we have a good record. I didn’t expect some of the games to end the way they did though.”

Upcoming games are Febru-ary 10 at home against Grain Valley; and the final game will be February 17 at home against Pleasant Hill.

The teams’ weaknesses still consist of lack of speed and basketball savvy which Sax-on hopes to improve by the end of the season.

Saxon said, “The team works well at the junior var-sity level even though they don’t get a lot of practice time together as a team.”

J V G i r l sT e a m I m p r o v e s

A & T Accounting / Tax Services

Tax Preparation

Accounting

Payroll

Consulting

Janet L. Alumbaugh, E.A.

Accountant 421B North 1st StreetP.O. Box 366

Odessa, MO 64076

Phone: 816-230-8882 Fax: 816-633-8884