eagle's eye issue 4

[ 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. IIssue 3

[ INSIDE THIS ISSUE... ] “Healthy kids act”

Pg.3

Speech, de-bate, drama news Pg.6-7

Today turns 60

Pg. 5

New sports seasons be-

gin Pg. 10

Winter sports up-date Pg. 9

CD, TV reviews

Pg. 8

“Don’t ask, don’t tell ...

Pg. 2

Inside the Classroom

Pg. 11

Winter sports update..........Pg. 9-10

School-No School?By: Tonique BurrellManaging EdiTor

So, you see it snowing out-side and it’s really cold, what’s the first thing you do? You probably go turn to the news and wait until Hickman Mills C-1 passes the bottom of the news screen. When you don’t see the school district, you wonder why you have school when everybody else doesn’t.

Hickman Mills C-1 School District decides if you have a snow day based on your safety. They decide if roads are safe enough for buses to run on.

Some schools consider the tem-perature to be too cold if the wind chill is 0 or below.

“When we’re deciding on when we have a snow day that’s Dr. Williams call. Two other school districts to consult with ours (Center and Grandview) so that there are at least three schools in or three schools out,” Principal Chad Ryerson said.

The Hickman Mills School District decides if the district doesn’t have school as early as 5 to 6:30 a.m. The school district even notifies people on the district’s website and on its

By Myoina KnoxSTaff rEporTEr

The rumor about no uni-forms is true.

Ruskin High students will officially no longer have to wear uniforms fourth quarter, IF some conditions are met, ac-cording to Principal Chad Ry-erson.

Since the first week of classes, a rumor has been spreading around Ruskin High School that has made students very happy – that there will be no more uniforms. Since they were first introduced last school year, students have ex-pressed their dislike of school

uniforms.“I don’t like uniforms be-

cause it’s stupid and pointless! And I hate when everybody’s wearing the same thing as me everyday,” junior Shakilya Swinton said.

“I don’t like uniforms because the way we dress shouldn’t have an effect on the way we learn,” junior Fred Kel-ley.

Ryerson agrees. Ryerson said he doesn’t believe RHS teachers are teaching useful skills with dress code.

“I think there is an al-ternative way than school uni-forms,” Ryerson said.

R y e r s o n outlined his plans at class meetings Jan 27, saying that he was working to-ward trying to eliminate u n i f o r m s for fourth quarter, if students met certain cri-teria for the

Students Prepare for New Wardrobe

Sophomores Carson Williams and Cortez Simmons, and junior Eddie McCauley in school approved dress. This may be one of the last time students will be wearing uniforms.

Seniors Ahna Hardin and Roneltha Oda have some fun playing in the snow during one of the four recent snow days. “Snow Days,” cont. on pg. 3

“Uniforms,” cont. on pg. 4

RHS Cutest Couples reveal best Valentine Gifts!............................................pg. 12

EE_Issue3_Master.indd 1 2/8/2011 3:14:37 PM

[ O P I N I O N ] [ P A G E 2 ]

The Few, the Proud, the Gay?By natasha dickeyEdiTor-in-chiEf

When you think of an army, what do you think of? I think of strong dudes with muscles dressed in camouflage, run-ning in Iraq with combat boots on. When you hear about gay people in the army, you might laugh because you may think, “Gay people aren’t strong. They don’t even fight.” Well, that’s B.S. Gay people can be as strong and battle with the best of them. That’s why it was imperative for President Barack Obama to allow gays to openly serve in the military.

“Don’t ask, don’t tell” was a policy that restricted gays from serving openly in the mil-itary. In 1993, the Department of Defense (DOD) had a policy

(based upon Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Jus-tice). It prohibited homosexuals from openly serving in the mili-tary. A gay person could safely

serve as long as he or she hid their sexual preference. If one was suspected of being gay, he

or she was investigated. If they were proved to be gay, they were discharged.

Not only was the policy stupid, it was costly. It cost the

Pentagon more than $193 mil-lion over six years. Seventy-five percent of Americans in a

What’s in your tank?Jordan KinneySporTS rEporTEr

Senior Spencer Jones’s gas tank was almost empty, so he had to fill it up. He stopped by Quik Trip and put $20 in his tank. He got back in his car and his tank wasn’t even half full. Gas was $2.91 per gallon and just way too high, he thought.

Gas prices have been ris-ing over the past couple of weeks. You used to be able to fill your tank up with $20. Now $20 will only fill up a quarter to half a tank. People are break-ing their pockets to fill their gas tanks up. The prices have been a problem all across the coun-try. The rise of the prices affects students in school. Most kids work minimum wage jobs and

it’s hard for them to keep filling up their tank.

“I get around $300 per check and about $100 of it goes towards putting gas in my car. It’s just like another bill,” se-nior Nicholas Moore said.

Some kids are not even allowed to drive their cars be-cause of the prices. It’s getting so high that they can’t afford to keep filling it.

“I don’t have a job. I get a certain amount of money from my dad,” senior Lahron Walker said. “That money isn’t enough for my tank, so I don’t even get to drive my own car.”

The reason why most kids don’t even have a car is because of gas. They don’t want to pay all that money for gas.

“You can call me cheap,

but I’m not getting a car and paying $3 a gallon for gas,” se-nior Lee Thomas said.

The parking lots for high school students are not as full as they used to be. The major-ity of kids are riding the bus or getting rides from their family.

The one good thing about kids paying high gas prices is that it can prepare them for adult life. When they start pay-ing bills they will already have the experience of paying high price bills and the pains of pay-ing them. It’s a pretty good les-son for the future for students in high school.

All in all gas prices are a major problem for everyone. The prices are rising and have not slowed down. The news reported it could reach to five

dollars. If that happens, nobody would be driving. The prices need to go down, so kids and adults will have no problem go-ing to the pump to pay gas for their car.

poll said gay people who are open about their sexual orienta-tion should be allowed to serve in the military, up from 62 per-cent in early 2001 and 44 per-cent in 1993.

I don’t understand why gays can’t openly serve in the military. For someone to want to risk their life for a country and to be turned down is wrong. I personally, along with many other Americans, will NEVER join the Army so if a gay person wants to protect us, why not? A GI Joe can’t be gay? I think people lost what the meaning of the Army is. Soldiers are going to be too busy watching for en-emy fire and bullets instead of worrying about people trying to get “free feels”. There are more important things to worry about than other’s sexuality.


[ O P I N I O N ] [ P A G E 3 ]

“Healthy Kids” hopelessJordan KinneySporTS rEporTEr

You can’t force kids to eat healthy and that’s what this bill is doing. President Obama signed the Healthy Kids Act Bill in 2010. The bill’s purpose is to make kids eat healthy at school. This bill is suppose to include significant improve-ments that will help provide children with healthier and more nutritious food options, educate children about making healthy food choices, and teach children healthy habits that can last a lifetime.

This is not a bill that’s go-ing to work and shouldn’t have been passed. America is getting a lot of overweight kids, but it’s not because of the school meals. Personally, I have been eating school meals since kin-dergarten and I am only 130 pounds. I’m not overweight for eating the school meals.

Kids become overweight by themselves. By not work-ing out, by not playing any sports or by not eating the right foods. You can’t force kids to eat healthy and that’s what this bill is doing. America is the most stubborn country and when you try to force someone to do something they are going to do the opposite. The USDA putting all these healthy foods

in the schools is just a waste. If kids don’t like the foods, they will not eat them. There are thousands of times I have cho-sen to not eat school lunches because I didn’t like them. A lot of kids do that now. Just be-cause the healthy food is there, doesn’t mean it is going to be eaten.

What does the act do for the kids once they are outside of school? It’s not going to do anything. That’s where most kids do all their snacking on food and just sit around and watch TV. That’s the problem kids have. The main purpose of schools is furnishing an edu-cation. Now schools are being asked to handle more things with the new policies for the

Junior Jacob Gavel eats a huge sandwich at lunch time. This is what the bill is trying to get rid of.

Healthy apples and bananas are served during lunch time. Exactly what the bill is trying to add more of.

A fat chili cheese dog with tator tots are what kids enjoy at lunch.

Enjoying her food. Senior Molly Buarsi dumps a bot-tle of hot sauce on her food at lunch time.

cafeteria. Being audited by the government makes school staff put in more time with the foods they are selling. It takes away time from the schools focus-ing on the edu-cation they are giving kids.

There are a lot more prob-lems in the world than this. It’s a waste of money to throw over a billion dollars on this. The only way kids will become healthy is if they decide to do it on their own. Only the person within

them can decide if they want to become more healthy, not a bill. The bill should be taken away and be no more.

“Snow Days,” cont. from front coverofficial Facebook page. And, patrons can call 316-8241 for a recorded message of school closings and information.

Some think that if you have more then seven snow days then you don’t have to make up snow days,

“Yes, Hickman Mills C-1 Schools has to make up all snow days. Our last day was supposed to be on the 19th, but

is now the 25th” said Ryerson. Sophomore Destiny Burns

thinks snow days are cool be-cause she gets to “chill” at home but she also doesn’t mind making up the extra days.

Out of all the snow days you have, most people enjoy them and be ready to go back to sleep when they see their school snow days is really something to enjoy.

See update to this story on pg. 5

do you have a comment on this or another article? We welcome your letters to the editor.

See guidelines below.

A. forum. The Eagle’s Eye editorial pages will be a forum for the exchange of com-ment and criticism and is open to students and other interested in Ruskin High School. A forum, by definition, is “a marketplace of ideas,” more literally, “a public meeting place for open discussion.” Recognizing this, 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.

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C. Limitations. Letters should be limited 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 requirements.

E. address. Letters should be addressed to the editor, placed in an envelope and mailed to Eagle’s Eye c/o Ruskin High School; emailed to [email protected], placed in Mrs. Williams’ mail box in the main office or hand-delivered to Room 102.

Eagle’s Eye Editorial Policy


The “Let’s Move” web site offers five ways for parents, schools, community leaders, chefs, kids, elected officials, and health care providers to help reduce child obesity. Here are the five ways to success for the schools:

Plant a School Garden

5

Create a School Health Advi-sory Council

1

2

Make Your School a Healthy Work-site

4

5Waysto health

Incorporate Nutrition Education and Physical Education into the Cur-riculum

3Join the Healthier US Schools Challenge

by Tianna WilliamsSTaff rEporTEr

Michelle Obama is doing a program to help the kids with their obesity. She has traveled many places to talk to kids and to just tell them how dangerous obesity is. She also is on Disney Channel helping them out too. Obesity is really a bad thing for kids. Obama exercises with kids and also she cooks with them. On Disney Channel she was playing basketball with the kids to help show them a way to have a good time and keep thin. If you watch 3.5 hours of TV every day, it can increase your chances of being obese accord-ing to Parade magazine.

Obesity may lead to the following health problems: heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea, and so-cial discrimination. According to Obama’s “Let’s Move” Web Site information, 60 percent of 5-17 year old have cardiovas-cular disease while 25 percent have at least two cardiovascu-

lar diseases. Some studies have shown that obese kids don’t learn as much as non obese kids do. Did you know that citizens of the U.S are now eating 31 percent more calories than they were forty years ago?

People can help kids re-duce obesity by making sure they eat right every day. Things like salad and vegetables with dinner make a big difference for kids’ eating habits. Accord-ing to most medical profession-

Obama pushes for healthy kids

als, it would be good for kids to exercise more. Getting kids up and playing and just having fun can burn off some fat. Did you know that 8-18 year-olds spend an average of 7 1/2 hours using entertainment media including TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies in a typical day? And only a third of high school students get the recommended levels of physi-cal activity.

It seems Obama is really trying to prove a point here. She suggested on her web site that people take their kids to the park. They can bring home things like water, fruits, nuts, 100 percent juice, pretzels, or crackers. These are good snacks to give the kids so they can eat well and be energized. So these are ways to help the kids and to keep them in good shape.

For more info on obesity you can visit Obama’s Web Site at www.letsmove.gov/

[ N E W S ] [ P A G E 4 ]

rest of the weeks left in this quarter.

“If tardies go down, atten-dance goes up, students wear ID badges and dress code infrac-tions go down in third quarter and everything works out right, the policy will be dropped,” Ryerson said.

For the next few weeks, students are expected to follow the existing dress code policy. Ryerson said at the class meet-ings that he is going to have every adviser select a student from their advisement class. This group will meet with staff and develop a new dress code policy that won’t include uni-forms. While this will make most students and staff happy, some will still think uniforms are a good idea.

“I think it looks good on the younger generation,” social studies teacher Greg Valenzu-ela said.

Not only might uniforms look good, child development teacher Patti Raouf thinks it’s cost effective.

“Me growing up, I got made fun of because I was less fortunate and had to wear the same clothes every day. With uniforms, students wouldn’t have to go through that if they’re less fortunate,” said Raouf.

Other teachers understand Raouf’s idea, but think that too much instructional time is spent trying to police uniforms.

It’s time to get back in uni-forms these next few weeks and meet all the conditions Ryerson has asked students to do.

“Uniforms,” cont. from front cover


By John rossSTaff rEporTEr

“The Today Show” recent-ly kicked off its celebration of 60 years on air. There will be a year-long celebration leading up to the actual anniversary on Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, at NBC studios in 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.

“The Today Show” has been the highest rated morning show both in America, and in-ternationally. It began on Janu-ary 14, 1952. It is a two-hour show starting at 7 a.m. The first host, Dave Garroway, began with “well here we are, good morning to you.”

That was the first of many good mornings in both good times and bad. The show’s cre-ator, Sylvester L. “Pat’ Weaver, came up with the idea of a typi-cal morning show.

“They would really have a tremendous head start over other people, if they saw ‘The Today Show;’” Weaver said in 1991. “We would show them the news world, what would happen where, and we would go there to show them what it looks like, we would introduce them to new ideas that had come up, and we would do it in a light spirit.”

But behind the scenes, Garroway and company didn’t think that the new show was going to work until a new char-acter, a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs, was introduced and the ratings soared.

Another position on “To-day” known as “Women’s Edi-tor,” was a first for television. This is where a female mem-ber would report the news, and check the weather tem-peratures and so on. The most notable was a young writer named Barbara Walters. But in 1963, Walters was promoted to co-anchor with Hugh Downs and the “Women’s Editor” seg-ment was terminated. In 1974,

Walters became the first ever fe-male co-anchor of a morning show.

A d d i n g to “The Today Show’s” success was the person-able weatherman Willard Scott, a favorite of many including Ruskin High School’s en-gineering teacher Todd Barney.

”I remember most when he did the 100th birth-days,” said Bar-ney. “They used to show them on the Smuckers jars.”

For the next few decades, “To-day” was the high-est-rated morning show until 1989, when, after 13 years, Jane Pauley was replaced with Deborah Norville. Adding Nor-ville caused controversy. Nega-tive publicity focused on her youthful image, and the press labeled Norville as a “home wrecker,” and she was blamed for “breaking up” the T.V. mar-riage of Pauley and co-host Bryant Gumbel.

In January 1990, the new anchor team of Gumbel and Norville debuted with disas-trous results. Many felt the duo lacked chemistry and for the first time “Today” moved to second place in the ratings, and viewers began tuning to ABC’s “Good Morning America” (GMA).

In February 1991, Nor-ville left for maternity leave and newcomer Katie Couric took over as Norville’s substi-tute. Ratings climbed following the arrival of Couric. Norville never returned, and on April 5, 1991, Couric became the new co-host. Gumbel left in 1997, and Matt Lauer the program’s newsreader became co-host in January of that year.

“The Today Show” was known for covering major events in personal way.

Although Barney would prefer to watch entertainment and not politics, the story he re-members most on “Today” was 9/11.

“I watched the whole trag-edy unfold, and all of the cov-erage after when we invaded Iraq,” said Barney.

For the next fifteen years, Couric and Lauer would enjoy ratings success with weather-man Al Roker, and newsreader Ann Curry, until May 2006, when Couric announced she would be leaving “Today” and NBC at the end of that month,

Legendary pioneering NBC president Sylvester “Pat” Weaver picked Dave Garroway to host his new morning news and entertainment experiment, the Today show. Garroway soon was joined by news editor Jim Fleming and announcer Jack Lescoulie as television’s first family of the airwaves when the show debuted on Monday, January 14, 1952. Source: http://viewlin-erltd.blogspot.com/2009/05/today-show-1952.html

“Today” celebrates 60 years[ A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T ] [ P A G E 5 ]

DISTRICT ADJUSTS CALENDAR, STUDENTS IN SCHOOL FEB 11

Because of the number of snow days now used during the 2010-11 school year, the Hickman Mills C-1 School District will have school Friday, February 11. This date was originally listed on the 2010-11 school calendar as a ‘no school’ day for students and a professional development day for staff. Letters will go home to parents and/or guardians Monday, February 7 informing them of the change. The additional snow days and this make-up day is expected to make the last day of school for students on May 27.

to become the first female eve-ning news anchor of the “CBS Evening News”.

The following day, Mer-edith Viera of ABC’s “The View” announced she would succeed Couric as co-anchor in September. Couric’s final broadcast on “Today” was May 31, 2006.

Meredith Viera began co-hosting with Lauer on Sept. 13, 2006.

To celebrate the anniver-sary, NBC plans to share lots of memories, and have past anchors, reporters, and enter-tainers come by to share their thoughts.


It was a busy first semes-ter for Ruskin High School’s speech, debate and competitive drama students as they refined their skills to perform in several competitions and organized the first ever Golden Eagle Speech and Debate Tournament.

Nearly 400 students from more than a dozen high schools across the metro area came to Ruskin High School for the Golden Eagle Tournament on January 28-29.

“Just about everyone who came in to our building and competed in our classrooms was impressed with this place and the people who are com-mitted to education here,” said Paul Hackenberger, Ruskin’s debate coach. For the last eight years, Hackenberger ran Hick-man Mills High School’s Bliz-zard Classic, a 38 year tradition that was one of the area’s top speech and debate tournaments. In order to give students more ownership of this inaugural event, the speech and debate

coaches let the students decide the theme- Board Games.

During the two-day event, students demonstrated their tal-ents in a variety of disciplines, including active and persuasive speech and policy, public forum and Lincoln-Douglas debate. Many of Ruskin’s teachers and administrators helped out by judging the students.

“It was a fun opportunity to see some great young tal-ent showcase the skills they’ve learned,” Hackenberger said, “including our Ruskin students, who, thus far, have had quite a successful season.”

Using the mantra “Speak Hard,” Ruskin’s debate and competitive drama students have earned a number of tro-phies and medals during com-petition.

The Competitive Drama students, led by Coach Carla Sole, earned first, third and sixth place awards in Novice Storytelling at Ladue High School in St. Louis; sixth place

in Varsity Duo Inter-p r e t a t i o n at Clayton High School, also in St. Louis; and first place in Novice Hu-morous In-terpretation at William C h r i s m a n High School in Indepen-dence, Mo.

“ O n e of the great things about what we do is seeing our a m a z i n g l y talented kids get rewarded for their suc-cess,” said Sole. “It drives them to be even

Talented students bring home hardware, organize tournament

Ruskin Tournament Winners

Austin Richards-Strassle -- Seventh Place in Lincoln Douglas debate (Open) at Grand-view High School

Danny McQuarters – Ninth Place in Lin-coln Douglas debate (Novice) at Ladue High School; Fourth Place in Lincoln Douglas de-bate (Varsity) at Raytown South High School

Amber Johnson – Sixth Place in Storytell-ing (Novice) at Ladue High School

Brianna Harrison – Third Place in Story-telling (Novice) at Ladue High School

Alexandria Franklin – First Place in Story-telling (Novice) at Ladue High School

Tiona Neely & Daniel Patterson – Sixth Place in Duo Interpretation (Varsity) at Clay-ton High School

Jasmine Mitchell – Fourth Place in Lin-coln Douglas debate (Novice) at William Chrisman High School

Jordan Johnson – First Place in Humor-ous Interpretation (Novice) at William Chris-man High School

Darrington Clark – Sixth Place in United States Extemporaneous speaking (Varsity) at Raytown South High School

Several students had the chance to attend and compete at the Clayton/Ladue tournaments in St. Louis. Back row, left to right: Gavin King, Daniel Patterson, Dontae Obie, and Darrington Clark. Middle row, lef-to to right: Danny McQuarters, Sierra Soemer, Shaquarrius Calloway, Bri-anna Harrison, Alexis Lampkin, and Coach Paul Hackenberger. Front row, left to right: Coach Carla Sole, Kayla Peeler, Tiona Neely, Lexi Franklin, Amber Johnson, and Coach Hanna Cusick.

See “Talent,” cont. on pg. 7

[ A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T ] [ P A G E 6 ]


better.” Hackenberger’s stu-

dents earned seventh place at the Open (Novice and Varsity combined) Lincoln Douglas debate at Grand-view High School; ninth place in Novice Lincoln Douglas debate at Ladue High School; fourth place in Novice Lincoln Douglas debate at William Chrisman; and fourth place in Varsity Lincoln Douglas debate, and sixth place in Varsity Unit-ed States Extemporaneous Speaking at Raytown South High School.

“I credit a lot of our suc-cess to the dedication of my kids and the technology re-sources that allow them to be up to date on current events and critical social and po-litical issues,” Hackenberger said.

“I think we’re looking forward to a very good sec-ond semester based on the work our kids have done this semester,” Sole said.

“Talent,” cont. from pg. 6

Ruskin High School junior Austin Strassle was elected to the Missouri State Thespian Student Board during the organi-zation’s state conference at Missouri State University in Springfield January 7-9. Stras-sle is the first student ever from the Hick-man Mills C-1 School District to run for and win a state office.

As a member of the student board, he will attend the International Thespian Con-ference this summer, assist with the plan-ning of the 2011-12 Leadership Confer-ence and State Conference and advocate for theater and fine arts throughout the state. Eight students from across Missouri ran for the state board and Strassle was one of four elected to the position.

“Austin ran a successful campaign during the three-day conference, culmi-nating with his final speech in front of the 1,400 high school students from across the state,” said Hanna Cusick, facilitator of Ruskin’s Thespian Troupe. “We are very proud of him!”

While on the Missouri State cam-pus, members of Ruskin Thespian Troupe

Strassle elected to state Thespian board

#3732 attended workshops and produc-tions, competed for scholarships and par-ticipated in several competitions.

“It was a busy and challenging three days,” Cusick said. “Our troupe met with college representatives and engaged with other students from across the state.”

Thirteen students- Tiffany Blake, Logan Christian, Sarah Christian, Kristina Craw-ford, Darrington Clark, Diante Davis, Kyra Jones, Gavin King, Daniel Patterson, Elgin Thrower, Shedrinna Watson, Chonte Woods and Strassle- made the trip to Springfield.

(Left) Raytown South winners included (from left to right) Danny McQuarters with his fourth place Lincoln Douglas trophy and Darrington Clark with his sixth place United States Extemporaneous speaking medal. McQuarters is a novice student and Clark is a varsity team member; both were competing at the varsity level.

(Right) The “Ladue Storytellers” (from left to right) Amber Johnson, Lexi Franklin and Bri Harrison point to their codes on the poster that identify finalists for Storytelling. All three are novices and performed at Ladue’s novice tourna-ment.

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“No Boys Allowed”By dominique LuarksSTaff rEporTEr

‘No Boys Allowed’ is an extravagant, hip, head bobbing, finger snapping, hand clapping, and body moving CD. Keri Hil-son released this second debut album ‘No Boys Allowed’ on Dec. 21.

Hilson has expressed through her music the impor-tance of being a woman in the music industry. I encourage you to go out and by the CD. There are songs anybody can relate to.

Her first hit of the album, “Breaking Point,” is a song about women doing whatever, to stay in a relationship; putting

up with l y i n g , c h e a t -ing and beating because of love. B u t w h e n she gets to that “Break-i n g P o i n t ” she ba-s i c a l l y

g i v e s up, not on love but just on him. H e r s e c -ond hit, w h i c h is my o w n person-al fa-vor i te , “Pretty G i r l

M U S I C R E V I E W

Rock,” is an inspirational song for all women, no matter what color, size, or shape. She has everybody doing the “Pretty Girl Rock,” with her keen sense of taste and her jazzy dance moves.

Besides her outstand-ing solos, Hilson has appear-ances from J. Cole, Rick Ross, Kanye West, Nelly, and a duet with singer/actor Chris Brown, “One Night Stand.” This is a song about two people who don’t fully want to be with each other they just like the idea of “being” with each other for the night. Miss Keri definitely de-serves a standing ovation.

By Myonia KnoxSTaff rEporTEr

“The Game” first aired in 2006 on the CW and was can-celled by that network in 2009, after only airing three seasons. “The Game” returned to the air on a new TV station, BET, on January 11 of this year, making the biggest come back in televi-sion series history. I personally enjoy watching the game. It’s so much drama, from Melanie and Derwin to Malik and his mother.

This popular sitcom “The Game” is about the day-to-day lives of women who stand be-hind football players that play for the fictional San Diego Sa-bers. The focus is on the game they play to keep their men by their sides.

Melanie Barnett, also known as Med School, (played by Tia Mowry) is a young girl who gave up a good relation-ship with her parents and John Hopkins Medical School to be with and support her boyfriend, Derwin Davis.

“Melanie is my favorite character because she is very

pretty, she is real and no matter what Derwin does she always, somehow takes him back,” ju-nior Jasmine Johnson said.

Derwin Davis (played by Pooch Hall) is a first-year rook-ie with a fictional team called the San Diego Sabers. Now he’s called The Nike Boom man. He is the husband of “Med School”, and is a father to his two year old son.

Tasha Mack (played by Wendy Racquel Williams) helps and supports Melanie with everything and she is also the mother/ex-manager of cocky, selfish quarterback Ma-lik Wright (played by Hosea Chanchez).

Last but not least are the members of the Pitts family. Kelly Pitts (played by Brittany Daniel) was married to cheap all-star player Jason Pitts (played by Coby Bell), but they are now divorced, due to his selfish ways and not making sacrifices for his family.

Some of Ruskin High School students rate “The Game” a 10 out of 10. Six out of ten students asked said they

enjoy watching it because it’s so much drama, it’s funny, and because of this “crazy man” Jason Pitts.

“This new season is way better than last season, and the Dip and Pitts is Dope,” senior Jordan Johnson said.

I believe this season will be more than a success for the cast and for all of “Game” lov-ers out there. Fans would be super disappointed if the show was cancelled again. The cast will be returning with better lines, funnier jokes, and of course MORE drama. Tune in to your local listing every Tuesday to catch the new sea-son of “The Game.”

Calling all Creative-Types!Submit your poem, short story, drama, artwork or

photos to

RUSKIN’S NEW

CREO Literary Art magazine

All submissions will be considered for publica-tion. Pick up registration

form in Room 102.

Get caught in “The Game”

Cast members of “The Game” at the BET awards night. (Source: www.divasand-dorks.com)


Eagles Strive for SuccessKeith augerrEporTEr

Shooting “Pass” DistrictsStanding at 11-5, the

Ruskin Eagles Boys Basketball team is getting ready to round off the Culver Shootout at Lee’s Summit High School against Lee’s Summit West and take on upcoming districts. Districts will be played at Hickman Mills High School starting toward the end of February. Coach Gerry Marlin is working to lead his team to a district patch.

“We’re trying to work our new players into the systems and execute our plays,” said Marlin, “There has yet to be a team that just beat us. We have lost close games because of poor execution.”

Marlin said of the five se-niors that they all should be able to play basketball at the next level. If any obstacle was to get in the way, he could help them because all the seniors have the intangibles to succeed.

One senior that has stood out these past few weeks, a c c o r d i n g to Marlin, is center Eric Stubbs.

“ S t u b b s has stepped his game up and achieved three double d o u b l e s , ” said Marlin, “He grabbed an impres-sive sixteen r e b o u n d s against Ray-town South High School.”

The team is young and two of the starters are ju-niors. Deron “Bubba” Hill and Malcolm Hamilton have helped the Eagles succeed this year.

“I think that we have ex-ceeded expectations because

we may not have one main star, but if we keep this up we will have more wins than last year and I’ll take that.” said Hill.

Rebuilding for a Success Overall, the 2-17 record

does not really explain this Ruskin High School Girls

Basketball team. This team is young and in a rebuilding process like none before. The only seniors on the team are Areyanna Jackson and Vanessa Pride. Filled with underclassmen, Jackson knew that the season wouldn’t be easy but there would be no excuse not to win dis-tricts.

“We need to get focused more in prac-tice and stop playing around,” said Jackson, “As a captain, I need to keep everyone on track.”

According to Jackson, the most outstanding player has to be the freshman sensation, Erione Grant. Jackson also said that by far the best perfor-mance was junior Trei Brown having seventeen points in the win against Belton with fifteen points coming behind the three point line.

Slammed on the MatWrestling has hit the mid-

dle of its season, and getting closer to districts. They are coached by Pat Truman. It’s been tough competition and a lot of action that is very excit-ing. The wrestling team is led by senior heavyweight Paul Griffin and juniors Kenneth Watson, Jerrin West and Aaron Wiggins.

“The season has met ex-pectations and we are pretty good as a team,” Wiggins said.

Wrestling has a big tourna-ment in Osowatomie. The Ea-Senior guard Eric McDaniel brings the ball down the court for the Eagles.

The girls huddle up during a timeout break to discuss what’s going on in the game.

[ S P O R T S ] [ P A G E 9 ]

See “Success,” cont. on pg. 10


[ S P O R T S ] [ P A G E 1 0 ]

New Seasons Begin at RHSJordan KinneySporTS rEporTEr

Sweat dripping, weights being lifted and a new spirit of hope marks the begin-ning of spring sports. Ath-letes from all spring sports are conditioning and getting ready for the up and com-ing season. Spring sports include baseball, girls soccer and track.

It’s a new thing for the baseball team. With over 50 players wanting to play, the baseball team has to host tryouts for the first time this year. The boys will start

conditioning on January 31 and will have their tryouts on February 28. They hope to have a good season with Ruskin and Hickman com-ing together. The rise of competition around the team is sure to have the players play better then ever.

“Both teams in the past have had bad records, but with us both together, we should have a lot more wins,” senior Lahron Walker said.

Girls soccer has already begun their conditioning for the upcoming season.

They are getting themselves in shape for a long and tir-ing season of soccer. Soccer deals with a lot of running and the girls are making sure they will be ready for it.

“I’m glad soccer is here and I can’t wait for the first game,” senior Jahnee Baker said.

The girls are ready for the season and they expect it to be a good one.

On February 28, the boys and girls track start their track season. Both teams should be pretty good with students returning that

went deep into the playoffs last season. With the stu-dents already reaching suc-cess before, they will strive to be better.

“I went to sectionals last year and this year I expect to go to state,” senior Shadon Nelson said.

The track team’s ath-letes are very confident and expect to be really good this year.

“I’ve done better each year, but have not made it to state. This year it’s going to happen,” senior Alea Milli-gan said.

gles are making efforts to excel in this tourna-ment.

“The matchups will be tough,” Griffin said. “But I am really work-ing hard and trying to get the squad to stay fo-cused this week to suc-ceed.”

Sink or Swim?Coached by Steph-

anie Melius, the girls swim team is coming to an end of their season. The RHS

Senior Paul Griffin practices his wrestling moves with Coach Patrick Truman for his up and coming match.

Maya Purse

smiles as

she warms

up for her

swimming

meet.

“Success,” cont. from pg. 9

Swim Team has its home meets at the Raytown YMCA. The swim team may lack a little ex-

perience but Melius is doing all she can to prepare girls for their district swim meets.

“The girls easily met ex-pectations and as a team, the times are improving,” said Me-lius, “The girls are even placing in the meets.”

According to Melius, the seniors are swimming well but she does not know about who is going to go on to swim in college. Continuing to prac-tice, and improving techniques are the two things that she harps on to get ready for districts and for next season.

Senior Natasha DickeyEditor-n-Chief

Senior Jordan KinneySports Editor

Senior Keith AugerOnline Sports Editor/

Staff Reporter

Senior Bria FlowersStaff Reporter

Senior Johnathan RossStaff Reporter

Senior Dominique LuarksStaff Reporter

Junior Myonia KnoxStaff Reporter

Junior Tianna WilliamsStaff Reporter

Soph. Tonique BurrellManaging Editor/

Staff Reporter

Eagle’s Eye Staff 2011


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

Traveling With Spanish. De’Anthony Wilson sits in class writing his Spanish so he can have a Spanish conversation. Students in James Warner’s Spanish 2 class were working on writing conversations to have with another student about traveling. “The best thing I like about this class is the Spanish speaking country activity. That’s when everybody speaks legit Spanish to each other,” Wilson said. Photo by: Tonique Burrell

Saving the World. Seniors Richard Black, Datron Johnson, Jawaun Robertson and Jasmine Jackson are filming a PSA for saving the ocean. In Brian Main’s class, the students found out that the ocean is being pol-luted by the wastes of the sewer system. “100 per-cent of your body waste goes into the ocean. That’s why we are trying to save it,” said Robert-son. They were all doing an assignment in their video productions class. Photo by Keith Auger

Web of Questions. In a quest for answers, students in Brad Barbee’s CA 3 class are searching the Internet for questions about their latest English assignment. All CA class-room teachers received rolling carts of laptops for the classrooms at the beginning of this school year. “It’s a good way for students to learn and find information on the Inter-net,” said Barbee. They are doing this lesson be-cause, it is a project that they have to present in front of the class. The way they are doing the lesson is that the class is getting on the internet, and find-ing information on the les-son. They are learning this because, they can learn how to find information. Photo by John Ross

Running To Health. Senior Aaron Jordan lis-ten to music and works out on the treadmill so he can maintain proper body weight, muscle tone, and body strength. The students in Carl Jenkins condi-tioning/weight training class were working on the fitness equipment. “The best thing I like about this class is getting in shape for the new year,” Jordan said. Photo By: Tianna Williams

InsideTheClassroom

Drawing Shakespeare. Communication arts teach-er Jill Carter is proud of the work senior Scott White turned in for his latest as-signment. White and the rest of Carter’s CA 4 class was asked to illustrate their favorite Shakespearean quote. White chose “All that glitters is not gold.” “I love to draw, so the art was pretty easy for me,” said White. Photo by: Laura Williams


[ V A L E N T I N E ’ S S P E C I A L ] [ P A G E 1 2 ]

Ruskin’s Cutest Couples Reveal their BEST Valentine’s Day gift!

Sierra Smallwood, 11A locket with my boyfriends’

picture inside.

Amanda Scott, 12Just my Valentine “Austin”

Breora Page, 12Cutest box of chocolate and spending time with my boy-

friend.

Tasha Bonwell, 12 A huge teddy bear.

Eric McDaniel, 12Spend time with her and go

out to eat.

Jasmine Lyman, 10Whatever he wants.

Aisha Smith, 12Being taken out.

Cole Wilson, 12Kicking it with my baby.

Marquon Morton, 11To be with my girl.

Terrion Briggs, 12A teddy bear.

Colton Brockmeier, 12A dinner date

Breanna Lowry, 12A card and a necklace

Nathan Tallman, 12 Roses

Brittani Smith, 12Flowers and a book.

Sharmaine Jefferson, 11 Love

Jacobe Woods, 12Chocolates, different color

flowers and a movie.

Antionette Billops, 12

Austin Hughes 10Dominique Austin, 12

Ra’Shawn Williams, 12

Willie Gerald, 12

Tarae Lewis, 11

Robert McDaniel, 12

Jordan Johnson, 12

By Myonia Knox, Tianna Williams, & Tonique Burrell


eagle's eye issue 4

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