Little Miami High School News

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The Little Miami National Honor Society placed forth in the regional blood drive last spring.  With the money they were rewared, The National Honor Society purchased a christmas tree with the help of Hobby Lobby.

Community Service is now an increasing activity, not only is it an expectation but it is a requirement for seniors at Little Miami High School.

Seniors that are involved in a busy schedule are needed to sacrifice their own time to help others in need. The more hours you put towards serving your community, it improves your chances you have into getting into your choice college.

“It is very important to give back to your community and help those in need”, said principal John Speiser

Around the tri-state area, there are very many opportunities to benefit those citizens in need. Some options that are available are helping out in animal shelters, nursing homes, and churches. More students are taking part in community service because of the feeling of accomplishment in helping others.

Community service is a big way to help within the community to make it better and a more efficient environment. Several teachers are involved with this service such as Mrs.Koch, Ms.Stein, and your guidance counselors.

“It is a sacrifice of your own time but very well worth it”, said guidance counselor , Ms. Allen.

Helping out your community is a very essential way to improve people’s life and capability to take a step forward in society.

During the months of August and September the varsity football players supported each other to reduce the cost of “Pay to Play”. The original price was $450 per player. Every fund raiser they held helped the entire team. The players held for fundraisers. That may not sound like many but they raised around $22,000

The fund raiser consisted of a Lift-A-Thon where people donated five cents for each pound the player lifted, they sold food and drinks at a golf tournament and ATP tennis tournament, they also had a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament. Although the football team wasn’t old enough to participate in the Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, they had plenty of parents volunteer.

“Many of our participating members would have most likely dropped because of the high cost of “Pay to Play”, said defensive coach Scott Jordan. Fortunately, with all the players helping each other the “Pay to Play” fee was reduced to $160 per player.

The girl’s soccer team has always been an exceptionally talented team, but this year has overall had an outstanding season, and they have a reason to be!

They have been getting out on the soccer field almost ever single day since the beginning of the summer. They first have conditioning, which is where the girls would run about two miles, do abs workouts, and finally scrimmage to improve skill, and then if you made the team you got to attend practice.

Not only the coaches notice what people have been saying about The Girls Little Miami soccer team this year but also other teams.

“I love watching the girls play” Team member Jessica Smothers says, “They have so much passion, it is just amazing to watch and even better to play in.”

“Little Miami has a fast team and I thought it was a good game.” Kings Coach Stacy Shull

Coach Pat Black said “Little Miami is well coached and very talented, and my team will learn a lot from this game.”

“We’ve got the player, and we’re here to stay. People better get used to us because we’re here and we’re here for a long time to come.” Little Miami soccer coach Bruce Mills says

Also, individual players have been recognized for their hard work and skills by the Little Miami student community.

“Megan Mills is really good, I think she’s one of the best players out there.” Reed Gilkison, 10th grade student

“Holly Fuston  has been phenomenal. She plays big in the big games which is what all of the great players do. She proved last night she’s one of the best players in the area” Says Bruce Mills

Practice for the girl’s team is extremely different from practice on the boy’s team. Reed Gilkison, a sophomore on the boy’s JV team said “At practice we work on drills, moves, and basically work on our skill.” On the girls team, Jessica Smothers says the girls “Work on running, passing, drills, and really concentrate on anything that we don’t feel we do the best.”

The girls have worked extremely hard this year, and even though they may not have always won every game, they certainly put heart into the game and their dedication truly shows.

by Michelle Montaño

Health class teacher, Mike Frith, emphasizes the importance of health class to education– especially now, with the current swine flu hysteria sweeping the globe.

  Frith explains that this year, he’s starting the unit with infectious diseases in order to educate Little Miami students on how viruses spread– and hopefully prevent more cases of H1N1.

  “Health class should be mandatory,” says Frith.  “The topics we go over are relevant to personal live.  If it doesn’t impact you personally, then it’ll impact someone you know.”

  Many subjects at school are often taught then forgotten.  They are learned and the it’s done.  But because health is so relevant to everyday life, Frith thinks that maybe more than one trimester in four years of high school is necessary.

  From a teaching standpoint, technology is very useful in health classes.  Sporting only out-dated books, the internet helps keep the class informed of advancements in the medical field.  It is especially helpful now, so students can be aware of news in relation to the H1N1 virus.

  Of course, one topic cannot be more important than another.  “They’re all important,” says Frith.  “Health is not just one topic.”  Students learn that health is the combination of mental, physical, and social wellness.

  “But it’s not my place to teach values,” he explains further.  “It’s my responsibility to help students make their own to live life as it is.”  He does wish, though, that he could cover more than the one required trimester, because it is so relevant to life.  He would especially like to get into CPR and resuscitation.

  When asked which topics are easiest to teach, and which are more difficult, Frith pauses to think.  It is a moment before he can reply, because there is such a cast amount of topics to cover.  He says the stress unit is both easiest and hardest to teach.  Easiest, because everyone can relate to stress.  “Stress is a large part of every one’s life, but the difficult thing is teaching students how to handle that stress in a positive way.”

  To help students further, Frith’s health classes will soon be having a speaker from September 30 to October 2 to speak about abstinence.  Shortly after, they will have another speaker coming in.

  With both the medical and psychological fields taking strides towards advancement and more knowledge, health teachers also have to move forward with their teaching methods, and it seems they are on the right track.  It seems they are doing their best to teach the new generation to live as healthily and happily as possible.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters 

By Zac Cook

            Once again, a classic Jane Austen novel has been shamelessly plundered of all literary merit. This time, it is in the form of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. As the title suggests, this book uses fantastical denizens of the deep, (including such creatures as Leviathan, mermen, and sea witches) as subjects to improve the plot and action of the original story.

            Some of this action occurs in the form of large scale sea battles against various sea monsters. One such battle occurs when the Dashwood family is relocating to their new island home. On the way, they encounter an enormous sea serpent that devours the sailor in the ship’s crow nest. Recovering from this shock with admirable speed and bravery, Mrs. Dashwood grabs an oar, breaks it over her knee, and then drives it into the eye of the sea serpent, killing it.

            For those that still want to see those old and stuffy love triangles and social prejudices, don’t worry, those are still there. Marianne does fall in and out of love with Willoughby, while dealing with Colonel Brandon’s affection, and Elinor still falls for Edward Farrars. By the way, Colonel Brandon now looks like Davy Jones more clean and civilized brother. If this doesn’t make sense, just look at the cover, it will when you do.

            While purists of Austen’s work will throw tantrums, and likely break valuable objects, this book gains an overall score of 9.3 out of 10. An instant classic of a classic.

     This year, the Little Miami National Honor Society is collecting box tops in an effort to raise money for the school. General Mills Box tops for Education are worth 10 cents and will be collected throughout the year in order to buy supplies for the school. These box tops can be turned in at lunch or to any NHS member. Calry Montgomery, a member of NHS says, “The money from the box tops will help our whole school. We will be able to provide more materials to learn”. 

      To help get students involved, a monthly drawing will be held for students who participate. These students have the chance of winning many prizes including gas cards and movie tickets.

      “We have lost privileges due to the levy. Box tops will help us to continue to provide opportunities,” says Montgomery. NHS has a goal of 1000 dollars by the box top fundraiser. General Mills Box tops for Education has raised over 300 million dollars for schools across the nation. Box tops can provide materials for the classroom that will expand Little Miami student’s education.

By: Bryce Blanton

  Kings girls were dismantled by Little Miami 5-0 in an FAVC matchup of defending CO-Champs.
  Led by Senior Captain, Amanda Brandalik, who took control quickly cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Senior Ellie Hay who mentally fell apart.
  Amanda’s win over Ellie was mental, “I got in her head early,” says Brandalik. This victor holds a lot of value to Little Miami because Kings took the outright championship from them last season. Kings is not as talented this season as they were last season but this match is always a high intensity match for both teams.
  Many people came out to support the girls tennis team, “a good amount of fans were there,” said Brandalik. In a rivalry game with “an intense atmosphere,” Little Miami prevailed and proved they are the team to beat this year.
  Little Miami now stands at 10-3 on the year and 2-1 in the FAVC, while Kings stands at 1-8 and 0-2 in the FAVC.