Band takes first at Indian Hills Jazz Festival

Luke Goodman (l) and Elijah Bryan (r) practice for the Indian Hills Jazz Festival on Feb. 25 where they earned first place in the 1A Division.

by Vincent Bushong

Montezuma showed its abilities in the arts by winning the 1A division of the annual Indian Hills Jazz Festival on Saturday, Feb. 25. 

Under the direction of Scott Stanton, Montezuma’s high school band competed against two other 1A schools, Van Meter and Moulton-Udell, for the title. This year’s festival was held in Ottumwa’s Bridgeview Center. 

The Montezuma band, which acts as the school’s concert, rock, jazz and pep band, performed three songs at the festival: “Swing Machine” by Larry Neeck, “Deja Blues” by Scott Stanton and “Abaco” by Scott Stanton. 

A panel of three judges critiqued the performance based on the categories of rhythm, ensemble, interpretation, improvisation and programming and rated the band on a scale of one to four, with one meaning excellence.

“The band performed admirably; we peaked at the right time,” Stanton said. “Other directors and adult musicians who have heard our band couldn’t believe how much we’ve grown in the past four years. We’ll keep building upon our success for future years of performance.”

The members of the award-winning band included seniors Elizabeth Ostrem, Natalie Wheeler and Nathan Wheeler; juniors Mariah Hirsch, Norman Martin, Colton Tompkins and  Kayla Werner; sophomore   Elijah Bryan; freshmen Vincent Bushong, Jade Crandall, Seth Fahlenkamp, Luke Goodman, Clara Johnson, Trevor Moyer, Sidney Roorda and Shayla Townsend; and eighth grader Jake Shaver.    

In addition to winning the 1A division overall, Montezuma was awarded an honorable mention for best soloist award. The recipient of the award was Elijah Bryan, one of the band’s guitar players.

“There were many other great soloists in the 1A division,” Bryan said. “I was excited to receive the prize.”

Graduates return for panel

by Kayla Werner

On March 9, at 1:00 p.m., six to eight past Montezuma graduates and one college representative will be coming to participate in a college panel for the senior class. 

Sarah Laudner, Parallel Porgram Coordinator; Earlene Taylor, OASIS instructor; and John Gallagher, guidance counselor, are in charge of this event. 

The graduates and the representative will be speaking to this year’s seniors about what to expect from college and what challenges they could be facing as they prepare for their futures. 

The team will be bringing in graduates who went to a community college and a four-year college,  students who transferred schools and students who dropped out of college to show  possible paths that students may end up taking once they leave Montezuma. 

The college panel was created so  that this year’s seniors will feel more prepared for the upcoming year after hearing from the former Montezuma students and being able to ask them questions. They want the past graduates to give some insight on college life to the seniors.  By presenting this panel, the goal is to increase the number of students that stay in college instead of dropping out. 

Gallagher said, “We are trying to help seniors understand they will need to advocate for themselves and expect adversity and deal with it.”

Individual speech participants move on to State

by Bridgette Moore

On Saturday, Feb. 25, the District Individual Speech Contest was held in Oskaloosa. There were 23 performers, and 17 entries received Division “I” ratings.

The categories that the students participated in were literary program, storytelling, poetry, acting, spontaneous speaking, improvisational acting and prose. 

The students that participate in Individual Speech learn the art of speaking in front of an audience and building confidence. 

Cassie Corbin, a junior, said, “Individual Speech benefits all students because it helps them feel more comfortable talking in front of people.” 

The performers that received a Division “I” rating were Aly James, Macy Taylor, and Destiny Romberg in literary program; Shena Bryan and Clara Johnson in storytelling; Cassie Corbin in poetry; Karah Hansen, Alyssa Lyddon, Destiny Romberg and Macy Taylor in acting; Zach Gibson, Niall Lyons and Seth Fahlenkamp in improvisational acting; Seth Fahlenkamp in spontaneous speaking; and Mariah Hirsch, Abbi Nelson and Luke Goodman in prose. 

The performers that received a Division “II” rating were Heaven Lorenz in poetry and acting, Abbie Wedgewood and Kaylene Corbin in prose and Matt Armstrong and Luke Goodman in improvisational acting.

The performers who received a Division “I” rating will be performing at the State Individual Speech competition in Clinton, on Saturday, March 10.

Turn of the Page: 'The Hunger Games'

by Natalie Kirton, Elizabeth Ostrem and Kayla Werner

In anticipation of the upcoming movie rendition hitting theaters on March 23, people are hungrily reading “The Hunger Games” written by Suzanne Collins.  It is the first book in a triology that continues with “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay.”

This book is set in the future, in the ruins of what was America. The land is divided into 12 districts and the Capitol. The Capitol is the government of Panem, the country that replaced America. 

In punishment for a past war, every year the Capitol forces tributes to perform in the Hunger Games. The tributes, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district, are sent to an arena to fight to the death while on live television. “The Hunger Games” follows Katniss Everdeen, through her shock of being chosen as tribute and her trials in the arena. 

Liz:

The first time I read “The Hunger Games,” I was more than a bit under-whelmed. Part of that was due to Katniss, the main character and narrator of the book, being, to put it bluntly, hard to like or feel any connection to. She was always suspicious of everything and, though that sometimes served to help her in the arena, it got on my nerves at times. 

The second time through, for whatever reason, left a better impression on me, though I still can’t say I feel any affinity toward Katniss.

The characters in the book aren’t as memorable to me as those in other novels, but the plot was definitely appealing. The arena reminded me of the great Roman Colesseum: different environments would be fabricated to recreate scenes, and even animals were brought in for the audience’s amusement. Sparring gladiators, along with the occasional execution, were also popular entertainment.

Although it wasn’t my favorite, “The Hunger Games” is a good book to check out if you have some spare time. Unless you plan on seeing the movie first, of course.

Kayla:

From the beginning, I couldn’t put this book down. The intensity doesn’t start up right away, but when it does, you don’t want to stop reading it. All of the attention to little details and describing the personalities of each character so vividly makes it a very interesting read. 

Once the games begin, the story picks up the intensity. Everyone had a plan. Whether it was fighting off everyone to get to the supplies they needed or running to find a good place to hide before the stronger tributes began their hunting, everyone knew what they were going to do. The action continued throughout the book but had some really touching moments in the mix.

This is one book that I really enjoyed reading. I couldn’t wait to finish and start the second book, “Catching Fire”. I could definitely read the book multiple times and still enjoy it.