SPRINT raises money and awareness for cancer

SPRINT student Damionn Burke presents the Pennies for Patients project to a class on Feb. 3.

by Kayla Werner

Abby Clark and the SPRINT class are hosting a fundraiser to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society from Feb. 6 to Feb. 24. They are raising awareness and money for blood cancer. Grades seven through 12 are participating in the fundraiser.

Members of SPRINT went to classes and presented a video and Prezi presentation to inform students.

There are going to be many activities during the three week fundraising period. Some of these activities include a competition between all of the grades for the entire three weeks and a Valentine’s Day “battle of the sexes” competition for who can raise the most money. Balloons and funny love poems to be sent to friends  will be sold for Valentine’s Day and will be sent during advisor time. Hot chocolate will also be sold before school on Feb. 9, and Feb. 22 is “wear red day.”

Clark said, “Thousands of children and adults are fighting blood cancer each year, and because of the money raised through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, research is making the fight against cancer a more realistic goal.”

This is a national fundraiser that many schools participate in. Some schools have raised over $40,000. The SPRINT class is hoping to raise $500 but mostly want to raise awareness about the issue. 

“A little change makes a BIG difference!” said Clark.

Teacher Talk: Derek Bates

by Natalie Kirton

‘Fun’ and ‘easy to talk to’ are some of the most used phrases students use when describing English teacher Derek Bates. Bates began his career at Montezuma as a long-term substitute in the spring of 2009 for Mrs. Weber, who was on maternity leave. He then came back later that year as a full-time faculty member. 

Bates has always made it a point to involve himself in the school and the community. During high school he participated in Speech & Drama, Yearbook, FFA, Student Body Council and National Honor Society, among other things. While attending Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, Bates was a leader in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, sang in the Young , Gifted and Black Gospel Choir and was in various campus political groups. 

Bates was happy to come back to Montezuma as a teacher, something he had wanted to do since his first day of pre-school. 

“It is extremely humbling to teach in the same halls my grandparents and parents walked,” says Bates. 

His favorite thing about being a part of the Montezuma community is that he is able to invest in the place that invested so much in him. 

When not teaching English, Bates stays busy by coaching Speech & Drama, leading worship at Community Hope church, brewing and taste-testing coffee at Simone’s Cuppa; the local coffee shop he and his wife own. 

When there is a chance to read, his go-to book is The Shack by William Young. 

“I’m a sucker for cheesy emotional movies and sing song lyrics as responses any chance I get,” says Bates.

As for the future, he is looking forward to whatever God has in store for him, whether that be traveling, teaching, or starting a family. Until then, students at Montezuma are glad to have him.

Location changes made for prom

by Morgan Sanders and Andrea Farrington

As February begins, many students begin their preparations for prom. Prom will be held on April 28, and this year brings several changes. One of the biggest changes is the location. Prom will be held in the Memorial Hall instead of the school’s junior high gym. 

The location change  was chosen due to last year’s prom. There was a meal held in the Memorial Hall before students went to the junior high gym. After seeing how much time and money could have been saved and how hard parents worked to set up the two locations, this year’s Junior class decided to hold everything in the Memorial Hall. 

Another change is after-prom. In recent years it has been held in the high school gym. This year it was decided that prom participants will be escorted off to Planet X in Cedar Rapids. 

Many girls have already started prom preparation, including deciding on a hairstyle, tanning and dress shopping. Many girls have bought their dresses.

 Of the girls surveyed who have purchased dresses, the average dress costs $442. These girls plan to spend approximately $662 on prom for a dress, nails, hair, jewelry, shoes, garter, flowers, transportation and tanning. Prom is expensive for girls. The average boy spends approximately $150 for prom.

Now, with two and a half months till prom the Junior class is hard at work selling seat cushions and lip suckers to raise money to make prom a memorable event for all attending. Show your support,  and buy one.

High school band jazzes it up

by Bridgette Moore

The Montezuma High School Band will participate in the JAZZFEST in Ottumwa at the Bridge View Center on Saturday, February 25. The event will be sponsored by Indian Hills Community College. 

There will be 18 schools competing this year, ranging anywhere from class 1A to 3A.

They will be leaving at 6:00 a.m. and be there from about 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. After they arrive they will warm up until they perform at 8:50 a.m. 

The songs they will be performing are “Swing Machine”, “Abaco”, “Birdland” and possibly “Deja Blue”. Then, after their performance they will go to a “clinic” where their judges will critique them to help them improve their performance.

The Montezuma High School band has gone to the JAZZFEST for the last two years, performing one year and watching other schools the next year.  Because they only received comments only and no rating in the past, they were not sure how they had ranked.

This year will be a new change as they will receive both a rating and comments from the judges. The rating scale gives bands a ranking between 1 and 4, with one meaning excellence. The bands that get ranked a 1, 2 or 3 will compete at the State Jazz Championships.

Scott Stanton, the band director of Montezuma High School, hopes that the student will be able to see the other schools perform, how they stand in comparison to Montezuma’s band and help to continue to motivate the students to be at top level.

JV Bravettes end season

Paige Snook gets the rebound during the girls JV game against Lynnville-Sully.

by Elizabeth Ostrem

The JV Bravettes lost to Lynnville-Sully at their home game on Thursday, Jan. 28. Although the team got off to a good start, the match ended with a score of 49-22 in Sully’s favor.

“I thought we improved from the first time we saw them, or at least in the first half,” said Coach Stew Timm. “We didn’t come out in the third quarter with that same improvement as we were outscored 3-15 in the third.”

Dakota Norris led the Bravettes with eight points, along with Clara Johnson, Paige Snook and Courtney Petersen with four points each.

 “With a game Friday night, the challenge is on all of us to bounce back and go get after North Mahaska,” said Timm.

Their next game was played at New Sharon the following day. Unfortunately, the Bravettes weren’t able to pull out a win. The final score for the game was 34-24, Mahaska’s favor.

Shayla Townsend and Johnson led the Bravettes with nine and six points respectively.

“It wasn’t always the best looking game, but I thought our effort was there throughout four quarters,” said Timm.

The Bravettes did manage to turn things around on Monday, Jan. 30, as they won against Belle Plaine during their final game of the season. The team took an early lead in the game and kept it, finishing with the score of 35-22.

“We got after it defensively early and set the tone for the entire night,” said Timm.

Snook led the team in scoring with eight points, followed by Petersen and James with seven and six points apiece.

“We had some turnovers that kept Belle Plaine close for part of the game, but we did some very nice things in the game and when you are aggressive and attacking the basket some of these turnovers happen,” said Timm. “I thought it was our best overall game on both ends of the floor tonight.”

All groups advance to state from district speech

Macy Taylor and Lex Jack perform in Reader’s Theater during dress rehersal on Jan. 5. Reader’s theater is one of eleven groups moving on to Large Group State Speech Contest on Feb. 4.

by Vincent Bushong

The Montezuma Speech and Drama department was in for a big day on Jan. 21. That Saturday marked the Speech and Drama District Large Group Contest at Grinnell High School, and all of Montezuma’s entries moved on to perform at state level.

At the district level, groups are given a rating by a single judge.  They receive oral and written comments from the judge before waiting to find out their rating. If they receive a “I” (one) rating, the group moves on to perform at the state level, where each group is critiqued by a panel of three judges. To move on to the All-State level, which is held at Iowa State University on Feb. 18, at least two of the three judges must give special recognition to the group by nominating them for All-State. 

Speech and Drama coach Derek Bates said, “I am thankful for the sharing of the performers’ talents and how well they represented their school and town.”

After many weeks of practice, the opportunity to perform for judges and  new spectators revitalized the groups and helped to bring out the best in the students.

Senior Speech and Drama member Natalie Wheeler, who is involved in musical theater and choral reading, said of her group’s musical theater performance, “It was our best performance yet.”

There were 11 groups total that performed at districts, including two choral reading groups, three ensemble acting groups, a readers’ theater group, a musical theater group, two improvisation groups, a radio broadcasting group and a short film group. 

On Saturday, Feb. 4, the state competition will take place in Cedar Rapids, at Washington High School, with performances starting at 8:00 A.M.

Bond issue voting takes place on February 7

by Natalie Kirton

Anticipation grows for the students, staff, and community of Montezuma as the third bond issue election draws near. The voting date is set for Feb. 7, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Montezuma City Library. Absentee voting has been open since Jan. 5 at the Court House. 

Residents of the district who are 18 or older can vote yes or no for the $6.7 million proposal that could tremendously improve the school’s environment. This money would go toward a heating and cooling system, as well as lighting and electrical improvements. General classroom renovations will include fixing ceiling and floor tiles and doorways.

Staff and students have voiced opinions that they believe the improvements would help improve learning and increase pride in the school  

Senior Dayton Pringle said, “Montezuma and the students deserve a nice school.  We’re great kids here, and we all work well with each other.”

Improvements made due to the bond issue will take roughly two and a half years to complete. Construction is slotted to happen in two phases.  The first phase will be to complete the elementary end, and the second will finish the high school. This remodel is projected to be complete by December 2013 if the bond issue passes. 

High school English teacher Derek Bates said, “I would like for our students to feel like we care enough about them to want to give them the best. If our school environment matched our academic learning, our school would be cutting edge and state of the art.”

We must stand together to end bullying

by Andrea Farrington

“I have been bullied at this school since kindergarten, most of the time it was because of how I dressed or what my hair looked like.”

“I feel that bullying is useless and cruel, there are other ways and nicer ways to show how you feel about someone.”

“I have gotten picked on for a long time about my weight.”

“When I post pictures or statuses on Facebook, people say really hurtful things to me and it makes me want to die.”

These quotes came from students from Montezuma Community Schools.

On average 160,000 children miss school everyday because they fear attack or intimidation by other students. One out of every ten students who drop out of school do so because of repeated bullying. Nine out of ten students reported being verbally harassed at school because of their sexual orientation.

I think the majority of people have been bullied or witnessed bullying sometime in their life. There are so many people that have been bullied or participated in the bullying. Everyone jokes about the concept of bullying, but I personally think it is a huge deal. What is the point of targeting one person and being very impolite to them? There are nicer ways to deal with situations. I know that I have targeted people in the past, and I apologize to those who I have hurt.

 I strongly believe that bullying needs to stop. Even if they are not your friend or you have never talked to the person doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stand up for them. I’m sure they would appreciate it. 

You don’t know everything that has happened in others lives, so nobody has the right to make fun of someone’s weight, hair or the way they dress. There could be a huge possibility that the person is having financial issues at home and their family doesn’t have the money to buy better looking clothes, or maybe they have a medical condition that results in excess weight.

Several people are bullied everyday but we all deal with it differently; some people stick up for themselves, some just blow it off, and some sadly commit suicide. 

We are all from Montezuma Community Schools, we are different, but we are a family. We spend at least 35 hours a week with each other. We may have our arguments, but we need to stand together and end bullying!