[ A s t u d e n t p u b l i c a t i o n o f R u s k i n H i g h S c h o o l ] [ K a n s a s C i t y , M O ]

Vol. VIssue 2

Dec. 2014

Ruskin Brings Home the Bronze at the Annual Prep KC Math RelaysBy Brianna HullA&E Editor

On Saturday Nov. 8, over 600 students from the Kansas City area went to Grandview High school to participate in the fourth annual Prep KC math relays. Thirty-three students from Ruskin went and, under the leadership of their coach math teacher Ben Martin, the team placed third overall.

The following students received medals for the Delta Division.Darren Randolph - 1st Place - Algebra

Christian Graham - 3rd Place - Algebra

Sadie Carrillo - 4th Place - Alge-bra

Sadie Carrillo - 4th Place - Ge-ometry

Terry Pettigrew - 3rd Place - Number Sense

Briana Miller - 1st Place - Data

Cleophas Jones - 3rd Place - Data

Terry Pettigrew - 1st Place - ACT

Jalen Hill - 2nd Place - ACT

Sehreen Khan - 3rd Place - ACT

By Luis Jimenez opinion Editor

To help out the problems that Ruskin is facing, students and staff

have created three new pro-grams to help and improve the school: The Tardy Task Force, The W.A.L.L, and The Culture and Climate Committee.

“I think these programs will work because the goal is to insure that our climate is conducive and i believe, like another program, we may have some bumps in the road, we have a variety of groups to come together and improve our culture and climate from good

to great,” Vice President Lisa Thomas said

The first of the three pro-grams is The Wall, which is run by the P.B.I.S students, June Hollowell-Ross, and Terri Red-den. The Wall is a task force that is an extension of PBIS and it stands for Walking As Life’s Leaders. They walk around the hallways first, third, fifth and seventh hour and stop any ex-tra activities that happen in the school. They also work with the administrators, principals, and the officers to crack down on the tardies.

“I believe this will help the future of Ruskin. I'm a senior and I know this will work and

hope it does,” senior Jamal Kar-riem said.

The Second is the Culture and Climate.The Culture and Climate Committee ,which is led by American Government teacher William O'Brien, goes over and determines the climate and culture of the school, to find out out what is working and not working. The District also hired a consultant to help assess the climate and take action steps to improve the climate.The prin-cipals are “Rebooting” which means they are going back to the Golden Eagle Policy .

The Third is the is Tardy Task Force, which a commit

Postive programs for future

By Austin dixonFEAturEs Editor

On Nov. 10, Ruskin’s MCJROTC instructor Colo-nel Ivan Glasco and his cadets hosted this year’s Marine Corps Breakfast in the Ruskin Gym-nasium.

Glasco along with Hick-man Mills C-1 Superintendents Dennis Carpenter and Carl Skinner spoke at the event, greeting and thanking those veterans who participated in the event.

Giving back to America’s heroes

ROTC members giving thanks to veterans by serving them breakfast. Photo by Austin Dixon.

This was Glasco’s sec-ond year hosting the service at Ruskin and he plans to do so

again next. Performances by the ca

“See Bring Home,” cont. on pg. 10

“See Positive ,” cont. on pg. 5

“See Serving,” cont. on pg. 5

“Little Shop” Debuts....Pg. 9

TV Stars then and Now .......Pg.6

[ INSIDE THIS ISSUE... ] Basketball begins ....pg. 16

Meaning of Christmas .......Pg. 14

Mocking-jay.......pg. 4

Debating Life........Pg. 11

Sleep deprived?......Pg. 3

Seniors Get their stuff..Pg. 2

Cartoons Old vs New...pg. 6

The Talent Show .......Pg. 10

[ N E W S ] [ P A G E 2 ]

EAgLE’S EyE 2014-15 StAffAnthony glover, junior - Managing EditorAustin Dixon, Junior - features EditorBrianna Hull, sophomore - A&E EditorLuis Jimenez, sophomore - Opinion EditorAllison goff, junior - Staff Reporter

tomiece Johnson, junior - Sports EditorJasmine Ward, sophomore - Photo EditorAlesia Davis, sophomore - Online Editor-in-ChiefAddarius Howard, sophomore - Online Sports Ed. Jasmine Shelton, sophomore - Online News Editor

Anthony Glover MAnAGinG Editor

The waiting in line. The realization of the fact that you're almost done. Just

a few more people ahead of you.You're next in line; the bubble guts feeling is arising in your stomach. Then you finally get your se-nior gear. Now you’re walking out with a smile from ear to ear saying “I made it.”

J o s t e n s came to Ruskin We d n e s d a y, Nov. 5. Mem-bers of the class of 2015 were anxiously wait-ing to get their gear.

“I was kind of anxious to get it,” senior Ty‘Teona Jenkins said. “Be-cause we’re seniors and we’re always like ‘whoo-hoo’. I was just really anxious and when I put it on it was so comfortable.”

Senior gear is clothing that all seniors get the chance to buy. Seniors can buy hood-ies, sweats, t-shirts, glasses, cups, jewelry, picture frames, and announcements. The most expensive item is the package

of 30 photo announcements which costs $90.00, which is followed by the senior hoodie which costs $39.95.

Waiting in line can be re-ally boring. Everybody knows how it feels to be stuck in a long line waiting for your turn to do whatever it is you’re in line for.

“Well I did go through the line and I waited,” Jenkins said. “Come to find out I did not have ex-actly $60 in my pocket. So I had to go re-bor-row some from some friends; and come back. So I actually had my boy-friend stand

in line for me.” Some students would say

that there was an overall good feeling while waiting in line for their stuff.

“It felt like I was regis-tering to vote,” Jenkins said. “There were a lot of people, it was kind of hectic, you know Jostens kind of ran out of things. But overall, it was awe-some.”

Seniors: Dressed To Kill

Senior Montel Berry feeling good in his new senior gear. Photo by Kelly Hunt.

Getting Crafty With StapinskiBy tomiece Johnsonsports Editor

At Ruskin High School, there is a new o r g a n i z a t i o n called ‘The Fash-ion Club’. This club is a student run organization that focuses on fashion and ca-reer in fashion. Anything from learning how to sew, to get-ting a job at a retail store. Ms. Stapinski, the assistant director of the theater club, is also the director of the fashion club.

“This year is the first year that we’ve had so much talent is de-signing.” Said Stapinski.

Majority of the students who are involved in this organization has already take Stapinski Cloth-ing 1 and 2 courses and Fashion Merchandise. These students have been working with Stapinski after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays since September. This is not a class, this is an after school program.

Recently, senior Emoni Stem-mons, sophomore Jada Warren, junior Jazell Randolph, and soph-omore Kamryn Miller from the Fashion Club has been working on new costumes for ‘The Little Shop of Horrors” musical. And also, Stapinski 6th and 7th hour.

This musical is about a com-

edy horror rock musical, by com-poser Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood and flesh. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, di-rected by Roger Corman.

Perkins money has paid for Ruskin High and The Fashion Club to get brand new Singer sewing machines. Stapinski seems to be very proud of her kids in this club. But, she is also looking for more kids to join in. If anyone is inter-ested in joining.

Meetings are usually on Tues-days and students can check with Stapinski for the next date. The af-ter school activity bus will be offer-ing rides home. You will learn how to sew and have an opportunity to express and broadcast your talent to the school and others.

Junior Latia Brown sews costumes for Ruskin’s fall musi-cal during Fashion Club meeting. Photo by Jasmine Shel-ton

[ N E W S ] [ P A G E 3 ]

New “big brothers” for police officers?K.C. Police consider body mounted camerasBy tomiece JohnsonstAFF rEportEr

In the wake of ques-tionable police ac-tions in Ferguson, Mo., and New York

City, Kansas City Missouri Po-lice Department officials have been talking about police of-ficers getting body mounted cameras. The department is not sure when it will receive these devices. These cameras are to protect police officers from wrongful convictions. Also, to have proof when police officers do something wrong.

“I know that they have been looking at the product evaluation,” said Sgt. Russell Dykstra, a Security Director for the Hickman Mills C-1 High school and 27-year veteran of the KCMO Police Department. “With new devices, they nor-mally put them out in certain areas to test them. There have been some discussion about the body cameras. The biggest is-sue is the price of the cameras. I think if it wasn’t a cost factor, our agency would do it.”

Other departments are. In New York, as policemen pre-pared to start their duty for the day, not only did they put on a gun, but also a body cam-era. More agencies, especially

after the unrest following the unarmed teenager shooting in Ferguson, Mo., are now record-ing events with a tiny body-mounted camera.

Body cameras are small devices, usually attached to the head or upper body of a police officer. They are used to record their day-to-day work. They generally cost between $200-$1,000 dollars per camera. The use of this camera is to hold police accountable for their actions and also protect them from being falsely accused of wrongdoing.

The main discussion about the body camera is whether it’s a good or bad idea? (See Side-bar for student opinions.)

The cameras “have the potential to be a win-win situa-tion,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Dykstra said he’s neither for or against it.

“When cameras were placed in police cars, police-men felt they were ‘big broth-ers’ because they are always watching and waiting for them to mess up,” Dykstra said.

Dykstra said that having cameras is not a bad idea, but comes with other issues.

“Cameras in the cars need to be saved up to 10 years,” he

said. “It’s using a lot of stor-age.”

A n d t h e n there’s the cost. Ac-cording to Vox.com, In NYC, a reporter from the city advo-cate found that fitting the en-tire police d e p a r t -ment with a body c a m e r a would cost around $56 million dollars. But, in 2013, the city paid $152 million as a result of claims of police misconduct.

Other departments have found that body cameras can clear a police officer of sus-pected misconduct. Accord-ing to an Oct. 7 KMBC news article, Carrollton, Mo., resi-dent Carrie Robertson said she thought the local officer who pulled her over for speeding “tried to kill her.” Officer An-drew Worrall’s body camera was recording video during the

traffic stop. The situation esca-lated quickly as the officer had told Rob-ertson to leave her van. A con-frontation went on for a little over 15 minutes when finally, Worrall used pepper spray on Robertson.

“I, in my mind, believed they were trying to kill me,” Robertson said in the KMBC interview.”I was attacked for no reason. I was legitimately in fear of my life.”

She also said that with ev-erything going on, she couldn’t hear the officer’s repeated com-mands to get out of the van, but the video clearly shows her answering the request with a “no!”

Robertson eventually got out of the van and was arrested on suspicion of resisting ar-rest. Turner said the incident is the toughest issue he’s had to deal with as police chief, but that the video is enough proof for him to clear his officers of wrongdoing.

“These body cameras have saved our life on this,” he said in the KMBC interview.

The cameras are already making an impact in many of the cities in Missouri. So should they bring them to Kan-sas City?

How do you feel about policemen being required to wear body cameras?

Junior Xa’Veon Person: Junior - “I feel that it’s a good thing that they are just in case they go to court and try to lie. They have it on camera.”

Junior Ty’Jah McKinney: “They shouldn’t because it can be seen one way and if they are misused. If they wanted to kill so bad, they would cover up the camera. It’s a waste of time.”

Sophomore Raven Johnson: “I feel like they should because of the Mike Brown situation. They need to have these cameras.”

Sophomore Sha’Nice Jones - “I feel like they should have it because it’s way more accurate than a cop car camera. I think it should be on their badge because their badges can’t be covered up.”

Body cameras are often no larger than a lipstick case and action record cannot be deleted or altered by police officers or police depart-ments. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser International has seen about a 35 percent increase in its stock price since the Fergu-son, Mo., riots. (Tara Molina/Cronkite News/MCT)

[ E N T E R T A I N M E N T ] [ P A G E 4 ]

By: Jasmine sheltonstAFF rEportEr

Jennifer Lawrence and the rest of the cast are back yet again for the third installment of

Suzanne Collins’ “ The Hunger Games” in “ Mockingjay Part 1”. The movie picks up after the 75th Quarter Quell in which Katniss survived. In the movie, Katniss, her best friend Gale and Katniss’ adviser Haymitch have to fight in hopes of retaining Peeta back from President Snow and the capital.

Katniss must put her life in danger yet again to not only save herself,and her family,but the whole country of Panem by be-coming the “Mockingjay” and becoming the face of the rebel-lion. The characters face the loss of their beloved district and must get used to living in a district that they never even knew existed. A district with it’s own government and order of operation. Katniss must make new alliances with the people of District 13 to survive ,

and works hard to make them last. People everywhere are excit-

ed to see this adventure continue and come closer to its long antici-pated finish.

“I’m excited to see ‘Mock-ingjay part 1,’” sophomore Shelby Woodruff said. “I’ve been waiting to see the series finish since the 6th grade.”

A lot of people wonder how the directors are going to make this movie better than the last one.

“I liked how they made a twist in the story,” sophomore Jada Burse said. “How they tried to make Katniss overpower the capital.”

People were compar-ing the areas from the origi-nal Hunger Games to the one that they used in Catching Fire. “I liked how the arena (in Catch-ing Fire) looked,” Woodruff said. “It looked like it was described in the book.”

Check out Hunger Games in a theater near you.

The Mockingjay Flies its way into Theaters

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) visits District 8 residents at the hospital in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1."

Howling for the CMA’sBy luis jimenezstAFF rEportEr

On Nov. 8, the Countr\Music As-sociation helthe annual Country Music Awards. It was held in Nashville’s Bridgestone arena, Brad Paisley and Carrie Under-wood were the hosts of the show. It is a ceremony where country music artists are nominated in twelve categories (i.e. album of the year, art-ist of the year, single of the year, and so on) by their fellow peers.

It was an interesting night for the CMA’s as Miranda Lambert stole the show with four awards out of her nine nom-inations. Also at the show were a bunch of fun surprises for the viewers of the ceremony. Miran-da Lambert per-formed alongside Meghan Trainor singing “All about that bass.” Co-host Brad Paisley revealed that co-host Carrie Underwood was expecting a baby boy and Pais-ley told Trainor that she could be country if she made “All About That Bass” about fishing.

Ruskin High School Sec-retary Joanne Schwartz said she wasn’t sure about the decision of the judges.

“Ehh….I don’t know about Blake Shelton, he’s not my fa-vorite artist but I really like Luke Bryan a lot,” she said.

Here’s the complete list of the winners:

Luke Bryan: Entertainer of the year

Miranda Lambert: Female vocalist of the year

Blake Shelton: Male vocalist of the year

Little Big Town: Vocal group of the year

Platinum: Al-bum of the year Miranda lambert

Drunk on a plane: Music video of the year, Dierks Bentley

We Were Us: Musical Event

of The year, Keith Urban and Miran-da Lambert

Brett Eldredge: New Artist of the year

Florida Georgia Line: Vocal Duo of the year

Follow Your Arrow: Song of the year

Mac McAnally: Musician of the year Vince Gill: Irving Wahl award for Excellence.

Luke Bryan in concert with Thomp-son Square and Florida Georgia Line Saturday, July 13, 2013 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Scott Sharpe/Ra-leigh News & Observer/MCT)

Do you Have a comment on tHis or anotHer article? We Welcome your letters to tHe eDitor. see guiDelines beloW.

A. Forum. Eagle’s Eye News is the official student-produced medium of news and information published/pro-duced by Ruskin High School’s Eagle’s Eye News staff members. The Eagle’s Eye News has been established as a desig-nated public forum for student expression used to inform, educate and entertain its readers as well as for the discussion of is-sues of concern to its audience. It will not be reviewed or restrained by school offi-

EAgLE’S EyE EDitORiAL POLiCy

cials prior to publication or distribution. The content of Eagle’s Eye News is determined by and reflects only the views of the student staff and not school officials, the school, the Hickman Mills C-1 School District or any of its affiliates. Advisers may – and should – coach and discuss content – during the writing process. The Eagle’s Eye will print as many letters to the editor as space allows each issue. The Eagle’s Eye reserves the right not to print a letter.

B. Format. All letters to the editor must include the writer’s name, signature and class or position. Typed, double-space letters are preferred, but legible, hand-writ-ten letters are acceptable. All letters must be signed.

C. Limitations. Letters should be lim-ited to approximately 300 words, or about one-and-a-half double-spaced, typewritten pages.

D. Editing. Letters to the editor will

not be edited, except in rare cases to prevent legal liability (libel, obscenity, invasion of privacy, etc.), to edit material that is in poor taste, or to fit space require-ments.

E. Address. Letters should be ad-dressed to the editor, placed in an enve-lope and mailed to Eagle’s Eye c/o Ruskin High School; emailed to eagleseye@ruskinnews.com, placed in Mrs. Williams’ mail box in the main office or hand-deliv-ered to Room 102.

[ N E W S ] [ P A G E 5 ]

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Once a Star Not Always a Stardiction with heroin and oxycodone, almost over-dosing on one occasion.

Although, not all child stars turn to a life of drugs. Mara Wil-son (Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, M a t i l d a ) wrote an essay on C r a c k e d .com about the reasons child stars go crazy. She stated, “My sug-

gestion: Quit when it stops being fun, then go get an education.” and “Get the he** out of acting and into something soothing. Take up botany or something.” Wilson went to New York University and had her play, Sheeple, debut in the New York Fringe Festival in August.

Another example of how differently people can turn out, even when they experience almost the same environment is the costars of the pop-ular sitcom Drake and Josh. Drake Bell re-cently filed for bank-ruptcy and claims to be $600,000 in debt. As for Josh Peck, he dropped weight and after the show was finished he still con-tinued acting and has been in several movies including the “Ice age”, “Red dawn”, and “Aliens in the Attic”.

Other actors have shown drastic and nega-

By Brianna HullstAFF rEportEr

Most children today grew up watching televi-sion and there-fore we grew up with the stars. More recently, these childhood actors haven’t been seen much, or are all over the news. Some actors and ac-tresses took a different paths after their child-hood careers were over.

Miley Cyrus grew up having a star father, Billy Ray Cyrus, and had her own television show, Hannah Montana, but afterwards her life took a controver-sial turn. She went under the knife for her nose in 2013, started taking pre-scription pills, and cut

her hair giving her a new look and seemingly dif-ferent personality from her former self.

On a similar path Macaulay Culkin, star of ‘Home Alone,’ has been recently battling an ad-

Raven Symone arrives for the world premiere of “College Road Trip” host-ed by Martin Lawrence at El Capi-tan Theater in Hollywood, California on March 3, 2008. (APEGA/Abaca Press/MCT)

Josh Peck, born and raised in New York City, is the star of the film, “The Wackness,” in which he plays a kid selling dope throughout New York City during his last summer (1994) before college. (Ari Mintz/Newsday/MCT)

tive changes such as Brit-ney Spears, Lindsay Lo-han, and Justin Bieber. But, some just positively change their lives or show who they really are. Ra-ven Symone, a star known for her show That’s So Raven, has come out as gay and in an interview with Oprah stated “I’m tired of being labeled. I’m an American. I’m not African-American; I’m an American.”

Many childhood ac-tors fall victim to drugs, alcoholism, and other problems including mon-

ey, but some also keep their lives together.

Macaulay Culkin attends the screen-ing of “Saved” at the Eccles Theatre during the 2004 Sundance Film Fes-tival in Park City, Utah, January 21, 2004. (lde) 2004 Miley Cyrus performs at PNC Arena on Tues-

day, April 8, 2014, in Raleigh, N.C. (Scott Sharpe/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

According to Michael, the halls have been quieter and there have been more students in ISS, which was not their in-tent, they wanted to help teach-ers and students. By doing so they wanted to eliminate hall freezes. They believe that if the students respect/follow the rules and implemented/carried properly by staff it will then change the school for the bet-ter.

“The Tardy Task Force have great ideas but not enough support, but I believe stu-dents need to step up and take charge,” Honors Communica-tion Arts Teacher Kelly Pittard said.

“Positive”Cont. from front page.

while Private First Class Jayme Parman received one for being the youngest cadet.

At the breakfast, Glasco reunited with Colonel Patrick McCarthy, his previous boss.

“It was good event,” Glasco says.” The cadets who planned it did a good job and we expect it to be even better next year.”

“Serving” cont. from front page.

[ O P I N I O N ] [ P A G E 6 ]

By Jasmine sheltonstAFF rEportEr

The entertainment world changes all the time, es-pecially the television aspects. Channels such as Disney Channel and Car-toon Network have come up with new ideas and new shows to keep their audiences entertained. The question though is whether the older shows like “That’s So Raven” and “Dexters Laboratory” are better than the newer shows like “Austin & Ally” and “Clarence”.

The top rated Disney show ever, according to www.imdb.com, is “Even Stevens.”The show origi-nally premiered June 17, 2000 and starred Shia LaBeouf. The show is about Louis Stevens is a maladroit freshman who worships Jay Leno; his older sister is a dean's-list junkie who plots out the day's coursework with her monogrammed Palm Pilot. Gross-out humor ensues when the siblings scheme against each other to get the up-per hand at school and at home. Disney Chan-nel also had many other top 10 shows on the list such as “Kim Possible,” “That’s So Raven”, and

“The Proud Family”. “My favorite Disney chan-nel show was the “Proud Family,” Senior Robert Smith said. “ The Proud Family was the only Af-rican-Amer-ican show and it was a family show, everyone had someone to relate to.”Cartoon Network’s most watched show is the “Power-Puff Girls”. The show revolves around three girls, the leader, Blossom, the sweetie-pie Bubbles and the always ready to fight Buttercup and their adventures as superheros. The show follows them as they repeatedly save the city of Townsville ( and the world) from the villains who would end it. Some of Cartoon Network’s top 10 shows were also “ Johnny Bravo”, “ Dexter’s Labo-ratory”, and “ Adventure

Time”. “ My favorite Cartoon Network show is “ Ed, Edd, and Eddy”, said sophomore Deleon Grier. “ The show was weird and they were like the three stooges.”We all grew up listen-ing to the catch-phrases like “ What’s the sitch” from Kim Possible or “ Deedee get out of my laboratory” from Dex-ter’s Laboratory, but now t.v is playing to a differ-

ent beat but also leaving some of it’s old flavor for it’s older viewers.Disney Channel has cre-ated it’s own version of “Throwback Thursday” with Disney Replay. Dis-ney Replay is Disney’s way of taking its viewers back and showing it’s classic shows. Disney Replay plays on Disney Channel from the hours of 11 p.m on every Wednesday night until 5 a.m Thursday morning.

TV: Then and Now

[ A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T ] [ P A G E 7 ]

The shows that they play are throwbacks from the last ten years and include shows like “ That’s So Raven”, “ Kim Possible”, “ Cory in the House”, and “ Lizzie Mcguire”. Cartoon Network is working on bringing back some of its older and best shows. Transformers “ Robots In Disguise” is bringing the transform-ers back cartoon network to save the world from Megatron and the decep-ticons and . Bumblebee, & Optimus Prime must get the rest of the Auto-bots back together and work as a team to save the world once again. The show is set to come back in the first quarter of 2015. The powerpuff girls will also be back to claim their place on cartoon network. The powerpuff girls will be back with new redesigned versions of the girls. The girls are bringing sugar, spice and everything else nice back to the screen to tackle their old foes and maybe a few new ones. They will be back to car-toon network in 2016. “I think that them bring-ing back the powerpuff girls is a good thing.” Senior Dashay Reed said. “ They shouldn't have went anywhere in the first place.”

By Adarrius HowardstAFF rEportEr

Debbie Harry is dying to make some music with the rapper Kanye West. She is the 69-year-old singer/songwriter best known as the lead singer of the new wave and punk rock band Blondie, popular in the mid-70’s and early 80’s. She recently said that she would love to combine her talents with Kanye’s. According to A “Celeb-rity News” article on UK Mirror’s online news site, Harry thinks Kanye is a very nice person and easy to talk to.

Kanye and Blondie CollaborationKanye has won 21 Grammy awards for his songs. Blondie has won two Grammy’s and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Harry started as a backup singer for a folk rock group and she once was a Playboy Bunny and featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. Kanye is rapper and Debbie was an absolutely different rapper and her group was one of the first to take rap music to number one. Ever since Kanye did a rap song for a cartoon, that was the moment she was inspired by his work,

Kanye has worked well with other rappers such as 2 Chainz, R Kelly, even underground rapper Chief Keef. Kanye re-ally doesn’t have a good reputation with singers like Blondie after disre-specting Taylor Swift at the 2004 VMAs. “It wouldn’t be good for Debbie to combine with a rapper like Kanye because Kanye is just too much,”sophomore Kevin Sharp said. The decision is up to Kanye if he wants to pair up with Harry, who wants this opportunity to work with him.

TV: Then and Now, cont. from pg. 6

“The last good movie I saw was Neighbors,” sophomore Anthony Hudson said. The hit movie came out May 9, 2014 star-ring Zac Efron, Seth Rogen, and Rose Byrne as the main characters.It was about a couple that had a baby move to the suburbs, and everything is ok until

a fraternity moves next door. Not want-ing to seem “uncool” the couple tries to get along with the frater-nity president and the rest of the guys. But when the couple can’t take it anymore they call the police on a reckless party next door, which causes a

massive war between the two houses.“It was a really good movie and had a lot of funny parts in it,” Anthony said. “But some of it was inappropriate so I wouldn’t recommend to everyone, but I do think that those who can should go see it.”

the Last good _____ i ______By Jada BurseContributing Editor

MOVIE

SAW

[ F A L L M U S I C A L ] [ P A G E 8 ]

Skid Row Comes to RuskinByBriAnnA HuLLstAFF rEportEr

A bloodied and v i n e - c o v e r e d sign hangs above the Ruskin High

School auditorium. The crowd is hushed. The curtain goes up, the music begins and three girls tell the sto-ry of hate, love, jeal-ousy, and greed. Ruskin High School’s fall musical “Little Shop of Horrors” is about a young and awkward kid named Seymour played by Delshon Bradford. Seymour was taken in by Mr. Muschnick, played by Brayden Smith, who owns the failing store on Skid Row. Audrey, played by Lauren McClure, is a beautiful and skittish young girl who is plagued by her abusive boyfriend who she is too scared to leave. Orin, played by Hershel Rockett, is a sadistic dentist who feeds off of everyone’s pain including Audrey’s. Au-drey II, voiced by Hershel Rockett, is the odd venus fly trap like plant who may save or destroy the little shop on Skid Row,

or maybe the world.“My favorite scene is the dentist’s scene because it was more humorous and I got to stutter over words and it was just more hu-

morous,” said Bradford.One of the things Brad-ford said that he had to learn was to change how he acted and to learn how to be more “dorky”. Bradford enjoyed his role and enjoys acting all together. “It gives me the chance to be some-one else and have a whole different attitude,” Bradford said “One day I can be a dork and the next a rebel.” McClure was very happy with

the way the show turned out and was glad to have the opportunity to be in it.“My favorite experience in the musical was de-veloping my character,” McClure Said “Especially getting to understand why she’s so light and airy even though her situation is dreary.” Rockett said that his favorite experience was “Getting to work with the

cast and all the kids at Hickman.”One of the more difficult parts for him was chang-ing between his charac-ters and having to act and

voice things differently. According to the cast members, Hershel acted out being the plant be-

hind the set while he was voic-ing it.The crowd for the matinee

was very large and almost every seat was filled. All listened attentively and laughed when a joke was made.“I do enjoy the audience

Seymour (Delshon Bradford), Mr. Muschnick (Brayden Smith), and Audrey (Lauren McClure) surround Audrey II as Seymour explains what it can do for their shop. Photo by Briana Hull.

“One day I can be a dork, and the next a rebel.” -Delshon Bradford

The cast takes a bow after the performance. Photo by Maygan Ham.

[ F A L L M U S I C A L ] [ P A G E 9 ]

but we try to act like what they do doesn’t affect us,” McClure said, “but the audience can either diminish your energy or add to it, and thankfully all of our audiences were kind and thought what we were doing or trying to accomplish was really nice.” Rockett was surprised at the warm welcome and praise from the Ruskin student body.“They were into the com-edy and jokes, especially the Ruskin crowd,” Rock-ett said.This was Breanna Patton-Stevenson’s first time to going to see a Ruskin

Audrey (Lauren McClain) being chased and hit by Orin the dentist (Hershel Rock-ett) Photo by Maygan Ham.

musical. “I liked it, it was something and I’d go again. I liked the theme,” Patton-Steven-son said. Her favorite char-acters were the plant, Audrey, and Seymour. “He was funny,” she said.The musical ended with Audrey II’s running through the crowd with the cast holding many Audrey II’s to show that it had succeeded in taking over the world. The crowd clapped energetically for the actors and the show was over.

(Above Image) The cast of “Little Shop of Hor-rors” practice their all cast song and dance. Photo by Jasmine Shelton

(Image Below) The chorus of Ruskin High School’s production of “Little Shop of Hor-rors” rehearses. Photo by Jasmine Shelton.

The whole cast of “Little Shop of Horrors at the last dress rehearsal Photo by Jada Burse.

Band and Choir Play for the Holidays

Brent Wheeler the band direcotr addresses the crowd before the band’s concer Photo By Brianna Miller

The entire Ruskin High School choir directed by Jonathan Bokay sing the final song of their holiday concert. Photo by Brianna Hull.

“Little Shop of Horrors” Rehearsal

(Above Image) Delshon Bradford (Seymour) poses in Audrey II in the last dress rehearsel Photo by Alice Ryan.

(Image Below) Tygee Faulkner directs some of the cast during rehearsal. Photo by Jas-mine Shelton.

Skid Row, continued from page 8

[ A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T ] [ P A G E 1 0 ]

Talent Show’s Finest

Yahzmine Jackson performing solo to “Grown Woman.” Photo by Elecia Gil-lespie.

BY ALEsiA dAVisstAFF rEportEr

Ruskin High School has its annual talent show! Of the 17 performances this year, three included junior Yahzmine Jackson.

Jackson’s first perfor-mance was to “Bang Bang” by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj with the RHS dance team.

“My favorite perfor-mance was probably the dance team, it was probably one of my best performances of the year,”Jackson said.

Many RHS students agreed with her about the dance team performance.

“It was probably my favor-ite performance because I liked their choreography and it was to one of my favorite songs,” sophomore Quianna Johnson said.

“It was good, I liked it and they did an amazing job,” sophomore Kailey Gonzales said.

Jackson’s second perfor-mance was a dance routine with Keianna Dawkins-Jones. In the routine Jackson and Dawkins-Jones got to portray each oth-er’s life. Jackson was a cheer-leader and Dawkins-Jones was a dance team member, where in real life the roles are vice versa.

Jackson final performance

was a dance number by herself to “Grown Woman” by Be-yonce.

“I liked it, she can dance,” sophomore Ounjanise Rans-burg said about Jackson’s solo performance.

Though Jackson didn’t win this year, she isn’t down-hearted about it at all. She even plans on auditioning next year to showcase her talent again.

“I wasn’t hoping to win in my single because I just did it to entertain, I didn’t do it to win,” Jackson said.

Jackson enjoyed the show but thought that some of the winners shouldn’t have won

“I enjoyed my friend Kre’Shona, she did amazing at the talent show and I feel like she should’ve won one of

those places,” Jackson said, “I did feel like there were certain acts that should have won over others.”

Jackson first started danc-ing when she was around three years old. She recalls being put into it first, then it becoming her talent. Jackson has an an-nual dance recital at a music hall every year and she is also the RHS Dance Team captain so she is used to performing. Jackson doesn’t think that she has ever had stage fright but has advice to people that are afraid to show the world their talent.

“If you’re too scared about your talent, just go out there and do it. Relax, breathe, it’s okay, you will make it,” Jack-son said.

3rd place = Opposites Reversed by sophomore Aaliyah Wlicox & senior Ke’Shauna Shurn

2nd place = Stand Up Comedy by se-nior Tranae Lauderdale

1st place = Apologize Violin Solo by senior Dennis Baleta

(Left) Tranae L a u d e r d a l e amusing the

RHS crowd with her stand up comedy. (Top,Left) Aa-liyah Wilcox & (Top, Right) Ke’Shauna Shurn reciting poetry.

Dennis Baleta getting ready to play the violin.

2014 RHS Talent Show Victors

Photos by Elecia Gillespie.

Bring Home, cont. from front page

Terry Pettigrew placed the high-est individual score in ACT and Number sense, and was award-ed a KU Summer Engineering Camp Scholarship.

Algebra Medley - 2nd Place - Christian Graham, Cecil Ter-rell, Sehreen Khan, Terry Pet-tigrew

Algebra Medley - 4th Place - Lauren McClure, Darren Ran-dolph, Aubrey Townsend, Steph-anie Berg

Geometry Medley - 1st Place - Edosasere Amayo, Dilibe Enechukwu, Jalen Hill, Darren Randolph

Geometry Relay - 3rd Place - Cleophas Jones, Shelby Wood-roof, Ainsley Ort, Stephanie Berg

Number Sense Medley - 3rd Place - Briana Miller, Dennis Baleta, Jeremy Baek, Ebubechi Idika

Number Sense Relay - 1st Place - Ainsley Ort, Briana Rob-inson, Lauren McClure, Musa Khan

Data Medley - 2nd Place - Briana Miller, Ebubechi Idika, Delibe Ebechukwu, Shelby Woodroof

Data Relay - 4th Place - Cleophas Jones, Ahmad Haha, Alisha Palmer, Dyjwun Watson

ACT Medley - 1st Place - Sadie Carrillo, Jalen Hill, Mi-chelle Mayhue, Dyjwun Watson

ACT Medley - 2nd Place - Christian Graham, Cecil Terrell, Dennis Baleta, Terry Pettigrew

ACT Relay - 1st Place - Jer-emy Baek, Austin Dixon, Musa Khan, Alisha Palmer

ACT Relay - 2nd Place - Sehreen Khan, Aubree Townsend, Jarom Ort, Rosetta Eiken

In the all-day Sigma Mara-thon event, Stephon Barker won in 6th place.

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By Anthony Glover MAnAGinG Editor

Standing up behind a podium across from your oppo-nent, you listen to

their argument about whether the government should ex-pand non-military exploration. You’re recalling facts that go against your opponents rea-soning. You both state your sophisticated opinion, then the judges collaborate on who won between the two of you. A but-terfly feeling ignites in your stomach as your waiting to hear their decision; a few minutes go by and they announce your the winner. That’s what happens at a debate tournament. But it’s a lot more complicated than that.

According to debate teach-er Kelly Michale, sophomore Terren Jones and junior D’Ante Horne are the two best debaters on Ruskin’s team.

“What makes me a great debater is the fact that I focus on my research,” Horne said. “I also work hard and work non-stop and I’m committed to ex-cellence.”

There are various steps to take when forming a debate.

Jones agrees. “First I found out all of my

facts,” Jones said. “Then I put it into order of what I think is most important and I just make sure I have a firm case.”

There are three types of debate. Lincoln-Douglas, pub-lic forum, and policy.

“Policy debate is the two on two debate,” Horne said. “About trying to enact a new policy with the United States federal government. Lincoln-Douglas is a debate about val-ues and morals. Public forum is a debate about a topic or a topic area.”

What makes a tough com-petitor is a team that preps hard and works together. According to Horne.

“Some of my toughest competitors have been the Lee’s Summit West squad,” Horne said. “They’ve knocked me out of national qualifiers two years in a row.”

“About trying to enact a new policy with the United States federal government. Lincoln-Douglas is a debate about values and morals. Pub-lic forum is a debate about a

Could Debate Be Life?

By Ciara GriffinContriButinG WritEr

MCJROTC is a very dis-ciplined program, filled with structure and organization. Many student’s perception of this program is strict and harsh. But what they don’t know is that MCJROTC com-bines fun and learning at the same time. The students went to the Marine Corp Birthday Ball on November 8.. First,

there was a ceremony of talk-ing, speeches, recognition, and food. After the ceremony, many of the cadets changed into their ball gowns and par-tied until the night was over. Alot of the cadets enjoyed the ceremony and danced with the other cadets from Topeka High School. “The ball indeed was as expected having tradi-tions and elegance,” Cadet Isac Olivares said.

MJROTC students attend ball

By Alesia davisonLinE Editor & CHiEF

On Veterans Day, Nov.11, a small group of MCJROTC members had the opportunity to visit the WWI Museum where not only did they learn about WWI history, but they also got to meet Kansas City Chiefs players Knile Davis (#34) and Charcandrick West (#35).

Many of the ROTC stu-dents were excited to take a break from school, to meet some Chiefs players and learn new information,

“I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the Veter-ans, some Chiefs players and all the different kinds of things that are in the World War I mu-seum,” junior Nakeisha Cole said.

A countless amount of students enjoyed the field trip. Some even asked employees if there were any jobs available at the museum.

At the end of the field trip, multiple students said that they would certainly go back and visit the museum again.

“I’d definitely come back.

It made learning history more enjoyable,” sophomore Rajae Hazziez said.

All ROTC members de-parted the museum with Kansas City Chiefs hats autographed by Davis and West.

ROTC Hangs With Chiefs

(Right) Charcandrick West and (Left) Knile Davis talking to ROTC memebers at WWI Museum. Photo By Alesia Davis

ROTC cadets taking note upon what the tour guide is explaining. Photo by Alesia Davis

topic or a topic area.” What makes a tough com-

petitor is a team that preps hard and works together. According to Horne.

“Some of my toughest

competitors have been the Lee’s Summit West squad,” Horne said. “They’ve knocked me out of national qualifiers two years in a row.”

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By Austin dixonFEAturEs Editor

It is now the end of the year and as the next is on the horizon, the time to reflect upon

the current is now.Ruskin now get to wake

up at a later time with the new school schedule pushing back classes by an hour from 7:30 a.m to 8:30 a.m. Students also no longer have to walk through metal detectors as a part of their morning routine. The District also made major differences in which grade goes into which building with pre-k and kin-dergarten going to Ervin, first through sixth grade going to the elementary schools, sev-enth and eighth grade attending Smith Hale, and Hickman now being a freshman center.

Back in February, Ebola had been discovered in West Africa and caused a world-wide epidemic. Along with Ebola, the terrorist group ISIS released its terror with the kill-ings and hostaging of U.S citi-zens.

The Ferguson riots still rage on. After the jury ruled the police officer who killed Michael Brown innocent, the residents of Ferguson, Mo. ex-pressed their thoughts of the decision. The results includes mass property damage and calls for justice.

“Hello friend.” After lawsuits from various women, many people question whether comedian Bill Cosby can still be called a friend.

Bobby Shmurda’s “Hot Boy” became popular during the summer when his dance became a trend on the Internet. Also in the hip hop industry, rappers Iggy Azalea, Migos, Young Thug, and Rae Srem-murd rose to fame and became commonly heard on radio sta-

tions.The NFL has been expe-

riencing situations with play-ers being involved in violence. Two of these situations that made the news include Ray Rice with his wife and Adrian Peterson’s discipline toward his child.

Basketball player Lebron James returns home. After join-ing the Miami Heat back in 2010 and winning his first ring, James leaves Miami to return back to the Cavaliers in Cleve-land.

As a tribute to his deceased 6-year-old friend, basketball player John Wall performs in one of his best games of his ca-reer. In a post game interview, Wall had an emotional break down that became viral on the Internet.

Space Science has reached a new bound. The European Space Agency creates his after landing a probe on a moving comet.

In support of ALS, the Ice Bucket Challenge became a trend on many social media sites. Whether or not the trend is necessary is commonly ar-gued but it has accumulated over 100 million dollars to-wards the ALS Association.

“I think the Ice Bucket Challenge is fun but I don’t see why it got so popular,” says Ju-nior Dilibe Enechukwu. ”Its for a good cause but I don’t know if some people participating are actually donating.”

Throughout the year, some beloved figures have passed away including Robin Wil-liams, Shirley Temple, Maya Angelou, and Joan Rivers.

For more information, vis-it ruskinnews.com for a more detailed description of each topic, along with links to take you down memory lane.

WORLD:ISISMalaysiaEbola

NATIONAL:Ferguson Same-sex marriage

acceptance in states

RUSKIN/ SCHOOL DISTRICT:

Lost of metal detectorshour later school startsnew grade system

(Ervin,1-6, 7&8, 9, 10-12)

ARTS & ENT.:Bill CosbyGuardians of the Galaxy

MUSIC:Hot BoyRelease of Lil BoosieRise of: Iggy Azalea Rae Sremmurd Migos Young Thug

SPORTS:NFL violence/ scandalLebron returning to

CavaliersJohn Wall’s tribute/ break-

downRoyals

TECHNOLOGY:Landing rover on cometIce Bucket Challenge

FAMOUS DEATHS:Robin WilliamsShirley TempleMaya AngelouJoan Rivers

2014 is Setting 2014 Top Stories

Dalia Aguilera, left, and Alejandro Velasquez prepare orders for customers at Wendy’s in Burbank, California, on September 26, 2013. In January, Wendy’s 99-cent bargain menu transformed into Right Price Right Size and includes items costing as much as $2. McDonald’s and other chains are also ditching the traditional dollar deal. (Cheryl A. Guerrero/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

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Are you being targeted?By Luis Jimenez stAFF rEportEr

Have you been to a Mc-Donald’s recently and ordered a huge meal alongside a large drink? Or, maybe you were in the car with your sibling and mom/dad and your younger siblings just started crying that they want a kid’s meal. But have you wondered WHY you wanted to go to Mcdonald’s or any other fast food restaurants?

According to a publica-tion by the Communities Cre-ating Healthy Environments, the fast food corporations use a marketing tactic known as target marketing, in which the companies use ways to make you feel special to get you to buy more of their products like sodas or food. Target marketing is a problem when it promotes foods and beverages people should avoid, perpetuates ste-reotypes, and exploits cultural identities.

While, on occasion, these are great for cultural purposes and selling a product, there’s a negative side for doing these actions. It’s called structural racism, which creates an illu-sion of racial inequality in our society.

In the real world, where the education system, food pro-grams, and employers interact with each other, there are times where it is unfair to certain peo-

ple and gives greater opportu-nities to others.

One of the ways compa-nies do this is to perpetuate stereotypes or exploit cultural symbols. Target marketing is so effective, but very danger-ous, because it taps into the ideas about what it means to be a part of an ethnic or racial group.

One instance of this is when Sprite created a charac-ter named Miles Thrust who had an afro, gold chains, fur trimmed coats, and had a Chris Rock attitude. What is wrong with this character is that it portrays African Americans as sloppy and exploit the fact that the big cultural boom for African Americans back then was Hip-Hop.Even executives in their own companies agree that they have used this tactic in the past.

“Hispanics are media junkies,” said Peter Blacker, executive VP of Telemundo’s digital media and emerging businesses. “Target marketers know this, and exploit it.”

Even Yolanda White, As-sistant VP of African-Ameri-can Marketing for Coca-Cola had this to say.

“African-American teens, in particular, have proven to be trendsetters in the U.S. Their ability to shape culture is really critical,” said White.

Junk food marketers also use the identities1 of cultures to get them to buy their prod-ucts. When ethnic channels use the ideas of a family meal to promote a product they are hitting a key component of Hispanic culture. An example of this is when El Old Paso pro-moted their flat bottom taco to Hispanics. In the commercials, it depicts a Mexican family sit-ting around the table wonder-ing why their tacos won’t stay up or stand up and when they finally do, they celebrate by throwing a party.

It’s also no surprise then that Coke markets to youth through its “Refresh Your Flow” hip-hop tour, using “street teams” to target youth at “teen hot spots” -- even pro-

moting shows at Boys & Girls clubs, according to White.

Hispanic and black teens are more likely to become obese than their white or asian counterparts. Obesity among African Americans is 51% higher than for whites, accord-ing to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study also found that the preva-lence of obesity is 26% for black girls ages 6 to 19, com-pared to 15% for white girls in the same age group. Also, 37% of black men are obese, com-pared to 32% of white men, and 7% of black men were ex-tremely obese, compared to 4% of white men.

By Brianna HullA&E pAGE Editor

Thousands of unsold Ama-zon Fire Phones are being sent to West Africa after being fit-ted with a newly developed app meant to help doctors keep track of information for pa-tients who have Ebola.

Although many believe

this to be great, some disagree. “Is that the best use of our

resources, for us to give them to Africa? What about other countries that have this prob-lem?” Orchestra teacher Ariel Aguilar said.

On March 29, a “mystery” hemorrhagic fever broke out killing 23 people.This fever

was later identified as Ebola. Ebola is a fatal disease that is identified with a headache and severe internal bleeding.

Between Sept. 30 and Nov. 17, four United States citizens have been confirmed to have Ebola and only two have died. Those who recovered were discharged from the hospital,

the first on Oct. 24, the second on Nov. 11. All were quaran-tined and all who have possibly come into contact with the con-firmed infected were isolated for 21 days.

The U.S.’s most recent death due to Ebola was a doctor who passed away in Nebraska after returning from treating patients in Africa. America has been Ebola free since.

Amazon Sends Unsold Fire Phones To Africa

What is Christmas?By Luis JimenezstAFF rEportEr

It’s the Christmas season, the time where you spend time with the people you love and cherish and give gifts of love to or where people usually

decide it’s time to behave so they can get the newest video or Jordans. Since it is the Christmas season, what does Christmas or the holiday season mean to you?

“My family, because every holi-day we have a Christmas party and ex-change gifts,” sophomore John Lewis said.

“Jesus’ birthday, because that is the part you should remember,” ju-nior Chris Gotz said.

“Family, because all the Christmas songs are about family and the birth of Jesus,” sopho-more Aaron Wright said.

“Christmas trees because we used to decorate the tree when I was little,” junior Sam Schwartz

“Gifts because I love presents and it reminds me of Santa Claus,”senior Car-los Villa-Chapman said.

“Christmas carols and family, because I listen to Christmas mu-sic and see my family,” Sophomore Shelby Woodroof said.

“Family, because during Christmas is to spend time with family,” sophomore Peter Nguyen said.

“People who don’t know what they are do-ing, it’s the one day where America shows it’s ignorance,” sophomore Assyria Nixon said.

“Being inside and watching outside, watching winter and drinking hot chocolate,” sophomore Murielle Mercier said.

“Spending time with family because I love being able to laugh and open gifts,” junior Re-beckah Hoskins.

“The decorations, they make me calm and make me feel at home and all the traditions,”junior Emily Dyer said.

“Time spent with friends and family together and to be with people you love,” senior Hershel Rockett said.

“Celebrating Jesus’ birthday be-cause it’s Jesus, he died for our salva-tion,” senior La’Rae Jackson.

“To spend time with my fam-ily, it’s important to spend time with the people you love,” senior Ah-breshea Lea said.

“No school, we get a break full of happiness and joy,” soph-omore Nathan Holloway said.

“Family, you get to be around them and go back to Africa and get Ebola,” junior Dilibe Enechukwu said.

“Presents, be-cause my parents have money,’’sophomore Shel-by Donnell said.

“Being with family and friends who care for you,” sophomore Kai-ley Gonzales said.

“The memorial of Jesus Christ, since I’m a Jehovah witness,” sophomore Aaliyah Wilcox said.

“Get together with your family and cel-ebrating Jesus,” sophomore Natasha Boyd said.

“To be with the people you love and spend time with family,” sophomore Juan Abundiz said.

“Being with family because it’s when fami-lies get together,” sophomore Marco Cano said

Outdoor Ice Skating in KCBy orshemmel Wynn ContriButinG WritEr

In Downtown, Kansas City Crown Center is opening up its only outdoor ice skating rink.

This is the 42nd season of outdoor ice skating. They are planning on letting all of Kan-sas City come and enjoy some fun, hot cocoa, and coffee.

On opening day it will be free from 6 a.m. till 9 a.m. and you will be able to get coffee or cocoa. The regular admis-sion prices will be $6 or free for adults over age 60 and children age 4 and under. Skate rental is $3, or skaters may bring their own. Children 12 and under have to be under supervision of a parent or guardian. They also have a 2 for 1 Tuesdays. After 5 p.m., pay one full price admission and get a second one for free. Skate rental is not in-cluded.

For more information, visit their website https://www.crowncenter.com/Attractions-Theaters-List/Ice-Terrace for more information.

[ F E A T U R E S ] [ P A G E 1 4 ]

[ F E A T U R E S / E N T E R T A I N M E N T ] [ P A G E 1 5 ]

Jasmine sheltonstAFF rEportEr

J. Cole dropped his third studio album with Jay-Z’s record label Roc Records. “2014 Forest Hills Drive” hit the stores on Dec.9. The rap-per’s new album took a dif-ferent approach, telling life stories in his own artistic way with no featured artists. The 29-year-old rapper named his album after his childhood home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The album includes songs like “Jan. 28,”“St. Tro-pez” and “Hello.”

The album uses all types of music sounds. His song “January 28”, which is also Cole’s birthday, walks us through Cole’s rise to fame with a very inspiring hook. His single “St. Tropez” is a song inspired by the posh French town. In the song Cole doesn’t do much rapping, but he show off his singing skills. The song talks about the pres-sures of being famous and the “ lights” of hollywood, and is afraid that he will fall into the “lifestyle” of people from there. This song incorporates hooks from Chaka Khan,and The Twinz, who both have songs titled “Hollywood”.

One of the best songs on

the album was his emotional ballad called “Hello.” The song is about a girl that Cole continues to sing about. The nameless girl has been men-tioned in songs like “Dreams” ( The Warm Up), “Power Trip ( Born Sinner), and “ Can I holla at you (Truly Yours). The song follows Cole down memory lane and about how he wants to get back with the girl, but can’t because she now has two children and doesn’t think he can take on the responsibility of children, when he can barely find where he belongs. The song incorpo-rates Cole’s rapping skills as well as his singing skills.

The album is tearing up the charts. HipHop Dx gave the album 3 out of 4 starS. The L.A. Times gave it 4 of 5 stars noting its authenticity. The Boombox called it a “dar-ing project” and is expected to sell 240,000-270,000 copies. It is projected that the album will move more units than Rick Ross’ “Mastermind,” which currently holds the year’s biggest selling week in hip-hop with 179,000. “2014 Forest Hills Drive” is also available for electronic down-load wherever music is down-loaded.

J.Cole drops fresh new ‘Forest’ album

By Addarius HowardstAFF rEportEr

As you rub your eyes and look up at the clock it’s 4 a.m. in

the morning and you are still up finishing homework from yesterday. You realize you only have two hours left before you have to get up for school and you have 20 problems left.

Sleep is a big deal having school at this phase of your life. Teens are so focused on elec-tronics and their friends that they lose sight of the amount of sleep they’re suppose to get. At Least 30 minutes before you go to bed, you should turn off all electronics such as cell phones, laptops, Kindles, and televisions.

Sleep has a big role in learning and memory process-es. Getting those eight hours of sleep can either make or break your day. Earlier school start times makes the teen body think its the middle of the night and he or she has had little time to sleep to feel rested or alert. Not getting enough sleep affects the teens behavioral habits.

Also lower overall perfor-mance in school work, academ-ics, and athletics. Teens may think they feel wide awake at bedtime but really are exhaust-ed. That leads to sleep depri-vation in many students who need sleep or to wake up early for school and have work after-wards.

Weekday and weekend sleep patterns are completely different from each other. If teens go to sleep late on week-ends then try to get back on a weekday sleep pattern it’s go-ing to be very difficult because you aren’t used going to bed and waking up early. Teens spend a lot of time staying up doing homework when they should spend some of that time getting rest. Working late and getting the work done will af-fect your school work nega-tively the next day.

As teenagers, time man-agement is an important skill that will help you get more sleep and have your work done sooner, preventing sleep de-privation. It will also improve your overall work and energy level.

Homework hates sleep

Ruskin Students’Sleep Habits

[ S P O R T S ] [ P A G E 1 6 ]

Junior Danielle Woodruff, a key defensive player for the Lady Golden Ea-gles, gets back to her position.

Senior Aviona Robinson running for the loose ball to lead her team. Robin-son scored a 3-point shot at the buzzer to put the Lady Eagles into overtime during the Dec. 11 Ray-Pec game. Photo by Tomiece Johnson.

Senior Keaunta Harper-Love wide open for an easy layup during game at Ray-Pec

Junior Donta Tibbs shoots and makes a free throw during their game at Ray-Pec

Sophomore DuVonte’ Beard goes in for a tough layup during the game at Ray-Pec.Senior Le’Ondra Wilson goes up for the rebound over the opposing Ray-

Pec defender. Photo by: Tomiece Johnson

B A L L I N ’