issue 7 07-08

Check it out!Check it out!Look at the back cover Look at the back cover

for a calendar for a calendar of upcoming events!of upcoming events!

Letters to the editor can be Letters to the editor can be of any length of any length

on any topic. They may be on any topic. They may be edited for length edited for length

or libelous content.or libelous content.Letters to the editor Letters to the editor

are accepted are accepted in room 220.in room 220.

Editors-in-ChiefCarol Beth Jones Anna Robertson

Co-EditorSarah Anne Edwards

Assistant EditorsWilliam Lay

Kaitlyn Turney Mandy Yates

Design EditorDavid Grueser

Business EditorShelley Lemon

Assistant Business EditorHannah Chapman

Business StaffAmber Donaldson

Adam FordKatie Taylor

Production ManagersKristen Kerr

James Northcutt

Archives and Exchange ManagersAndrew Lay

Madison Johnson

Circulation ManagerAllyson Agee

Circulation StaffJeffrey Dycus Jaylin Gardner

Johnnie Mack Stephens

Opinion Page ManagerWill Bumpas

Sports ManagerAndrew Ford

Fashion ManagersCatherine Hamilton Brooke Stegeman

Staff CartoonistJohnnie Mack Stephens

Video Yearbook EditorsJames Guttery

Erin Naifeh

Video Yearbook StaffAnna Claire Bradshaw

Jaylin Gardner Cole Smith

Kaitlyn Turney Mandy YatesAlex Jacobi

Sydnee Stafford

AdvisorsSuzanne Edwards

Nancy Speck

Trojan TorchDyersburg High School125 Hwy. 51 By-PassDyersburg, TN 38024

Trojan

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEWS3 Outstanding juniors,Picking a major4 Olympics,New physical therapyplace

EDITORIAL6 Picking a major,New grade scale

FEATURES8 Top vacation spots

9 Graduation10 Honors banquet12 Humane Society

SPORTS14 Marching band,Tennis15 Soccer

ENTERTAINMENT17 90 Minutes in Heaven18 Marie Digby19 Jon Foreman

3TrojanTorch Volume 40 Issue 7News

Junior Boy andGirl selected

The Tennessee Board of Education has recently adoptedthe Tennessee Diploma Project which will require allstudents, starting with the class of 2013 to have an “area

focus” for their studies. This means that students will only beable to take classes in a certain category depending upon whatthey choose at the start of their high school career.

Dyersburg High School curriculum advisor Kim Worley ex-plained what brought about this change.

“The National Board of Education compared Tennessee’s na-tional test scores to those of other states and determined thatTennessee should receive an F in truth in advertising,” Worleysaid.

“This basically means that it appeared students from Ten-nessee were scoring proficient, but on national tests, they bot-tomed out.”

That is when the Board of Education started the DiplomaProject which will require that every class a student takes(even electives) to be within a certain area of education.

“This new law will also require students to have twenty-twocredits, which is two more than in previous years,” Worleysaid.

“Some things will be done, such as adding half credits of P.E.and social studies to facilitate students in getting their credits.”

The question of what areas of focus should be offered at Dy-ersburg High School will be decided by our local Board of Ed-ucation.

“The Board determines the areas that we have the opportu-nity to offer classes in, and the students will have the oppor-tunity to choose their particular area of focus,” Worley said.

This change is set to take place in the fall of 2009.allyson agee

TennesseeDiploma

Project helps students

specialize in a certain area

Each year two juniors are selected for the award of Out-standing Junior Boy and Outstanding Junior Girl. Thisyear the titles went to Amber Donaldson and Ryan Wood.

Ten to fifteen junior boys and girls are nominated for this award and later narrowed down totwo which the faculty votes on.

Students who are nominated areheld in high regard by the faculty.

“I felt honored to be voted Out-standing Junior Boy by the teachers.I didn’t really expect it. I thought Igot on most of the teachers’ nerves,”Ryan Wood said.

“I was shocked and excited be-cause I wasn’t expecting it,” AmberDonaldson said.

Qual-i f i c a -t i o n s

for this award are well-roundedstudents who represent the highschool in a positive manner.

“I think this award requires youto put forth an effort, push to thebest of your abilities and to genuinely care about your school performance,” Donaldson said.

“One qualitiy needed for thisaward is good class participation. Ithelps if you talk to the faculty andshow them respect,” Wood said.

The two juniors who receive this award usually receive aplaque and are spotlighted in the yearbook.

sydnee stafford

OUTSTANDINGOUTSTANDING

Photo by Sydnee Stafford

Photo by Sydnee Stafford

See related article on page 6

4 Issue 7 TrojanTorchNewsVolume 40

Physical Therapy of Dyersburg has de-cided to change its location to a newer,bigger building. The new location was

chosen by Ed Presley, in order to offer moreand different services and to treat a widerrange of conditions.

“This new location will help treat more pa-tients, and it gives us the opportunity to domore things for them,” Presley said. “It is def-initely better for us physically because it hashigher traffic through this area, giving us anadvertisement advantage,” Presley said.

The new office is three times larger thantheir current location. It will include an indoorswimming pool, hot tub and two massagetherapy rooms, both complete with their ownbathroom and showers. “Many new featureswill be added to our new office, but I think theswimming pool will benefit the patients themost, mainly because they don’t weigh muchin the pool so we can start therapy early,”Presley said.

Size and benefits are not the only side effects

of this new change. “For our office and its staffas a whole, this new change has put great,positive thoughts in our head,” Presley said.

“Our main purpose is to help patients getbetter, faster,” Presley said. Upgrading to alarger office has created more workspace.Presley has received personal satisfaction andthe will to help more people.

“The only negative to this change is the fact

it will cost more to operate,” Presley said.However, with his positive attitude and hisgreat location, there should not be any prob-lems.

“All in all, this should be a good, positivechange that will only create success in our fu-ture,” Presley said.

jeffrey dycus

Controversial Olympics: will torch be passed on?Ready... set... BAM! The shot of the pistol

marks the beginning of the run of thetorch to start the 2008 Olympics. This

year the games will be held in Beijing, China.However, many athletes have been protestingthe Olympics or are choosing to boycott cer-tain parts of it. Many individuals wish to boy-cott the Olympics all together.

Why would one have resentment towardthese games that have been around for cen-turies? Geography teacher Neel Durbin saidthat China has been abusing the human rightsof its citizens. Last year, the country had be-tween 470 and 8000 executions. Also, suppres-sion of Tibet has been a major issue. Thecountry was invaded by China fifty years agoand has suffered many hardships.

According to www.tibet.com, Beijing is onlyinterested in Tibet's natural resources for itsown advantage: it is destroying ancientlifestyle and culture through environmentaldegradation and population transfer

of Chinese settlers. In addition, more than sev-enty percent of Tibetans live below thepoverty line. China is using Tibet's oil reservesto supply its booming industrial cities likeShanghai, Wuhan and Nanjing. The worstpart is, the people of Tibet will receive no ben-efit from this. All profits will go to the CNCP(China National Petroleum Corporation).

These acts of Communism have outragedpeople all over the world.

According to www.theAustralian.news.com,pro-Tibetan demonstrators shadowed theOlympic torch relay as it proceeded throughEurope, clashing with police and officials onthe streets of London and Paris.

Baichung Bhutia, India's soccer captain, re-fused to carry the Olympic torch through NewDelhi in order to protest China's actions inTibet.

"This is my way of standing by the peopleof Tibet and their struggle. I abhor violence in any form," said Bhutia.

The athletes in France have shown their de-sire for worldwide peace. French athletes havebeen protesting the Olympic games by wear-ing a badge that says: "For a better world."They will continue to wear the badges duringthe Olympics as a symbol of support forhuman rights around the world, especially inTibet.

"As an individual I can see people making apersonal statement to try to force change. Asa country we have to respect autonomy. Chinahas been around for 5,000 years. It is changingand getting better but will not changeovernight," Durbin said.

"I think it will be great to bring attention toproblems, not just China's human rights, butpopulation issues, pollution (China is theworld's largest polluter), food shortages, andthen we should take a look at others andabove all take a look at ourselves,” Durbinsaid.

madison johnson

Entrepreneur Ed Presley upgrades physical therapy office

Preparing to open: Ed Presley opens his new office near Dyersburg High School.Photo by Jeffrey Dycus

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Super D

With the implementation of the Ten-nessee Diploma Project, highschool students will be required to

choose a concentration of their electiveclasses. For instance, when a student picks anelective class, he or she will have to continuetaking electives of the same sector, i.e. music,science, fine arts, etc., for the next four years.

How can high schoolers be expected tochoose a concentration for the next four yearswhen it is hard enough to decide what towear in the morning? A majority of studentsdo not know what they want to do after highschool, whether it is if one should go to col-lege, what to major in or what career tochoose.

Requiring a concentration in electives issupposed to help students prepare for col-lege, but should not students be well-rounded and take a variety of classes inseveral sectors?

By taking a variety of classes, students willhave a good background in many subjects,instead of knowing a lot in only one subjectarea.

What about students’ freedom to chooseany class they want? Will students now bebound to a decision they make freshman yearfor the remainder of their high school career?

Students sometimes believe a particularclass will be different from what it is in realityand will have to suffer the consequences ofthat choice.

New classes can also enlighten students.Since they have to have credits in the samesubject area, students might tend to shy awayfrom subject areas they do not know muchabout. This can cause students to miss out onopportunities they would have otherwisehad the opportunity to take advantage of.

hannah chapman

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Grading policy change threatens to jeopardize school ethics Photo by Hannah Chapman

Many students at Dyersburg High School come toschool every day and do what is right, honor and re-spect others and strive for excellence. If everyone up-

held our school code, then we would not have a new policyunder consideration for changing the grading scale to rangefrom 60 to 100, but guess what? Unfortunately, not every stu-dent holds the standards to those of the school code.

The change in the grading scale under consideration says:“The students may receive anywhere from a 60 to a 100 onturned in assignments, students shall not be penalized only forabsence, all student absences are excused except for suspen-sions and zeros will not be used.”

How would this policy affect DHS? The new grading scalepolicy would strictly benefit those who choose not to holdthemselves to the code of the school. The policy is unfair tostudents who do their work well. Simply said, the policymakes it possible for students to choose to do no work on anassignment and automatically receive a sixty while someoneelse tries his best and may receive the same grade of a sixty forwrong answers.

In reality some students who miss school are only skipping,yet they can receive the exact same grade as a student whocared enough not to skip. If the new policy is instated, DHScould see a sharp rise in the number of students skipping.When students miss for skipping, teachers then must re-dotheir work and focus on those students’ make-up work. There-fore, the students who want to learn are neglected and theireducational opportunities decrease.

Our school is known for its high standards and achievementsand the policy would stand against everything we haveworked for. If students do not feel like they have to work hardfor the grade, then they are deprived of a healthy, enriching ed-ucation.

Every year, students must pass Gateway and End of Coursetests. Even if our standards are lowered and students are notessentially receiving nor grasping the material, standardizedtests are not going to lower their standards. Consequently, theschool’s standardized test scores would fall. The school is try-ing to make an improvement, when in reality it will hurt theschool in scores and other aspects.

Education has been fueled by motivation for centuries. With-out motivation, education would cease to exist as we know it.With all the declines in education statistics, why would anyonewant to make a policy where students do not have to be moti-vated to succeed?

Without learning proper motivation and study techniques,students will no longer have the same success in college andmany will not succeed in becoming all they could be. By tryingto leave no child behind, these children are eventually left be-hind as adults and have no hope of ever catching up.

While No Child Left Behind puts our school in a predicamentto change grading policies to increase graduation rates, ourschool should stay true to the school’s past ethics and educa-tional standards. All students should have to learn to “Do whatis right, Honor and respect others and Strive for excellence.”

staff editorial

See related article Page 3

6 Issue 7 TrojanTorchEditorialsVolume 40

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8 Issue 7 TrojanTorchFeaturesVolume 40

Summer is a time for students to relax from the hectic school year. Most students look forward to the trips they take during the summer.Many people think that Florida is the only place to go on vacation, but they are mistaken; there are a myriad of places to go for a summertrip.

Vacations do not have to be expensive or far away from home. St. Louis is a fun, inexpensive place to go on vacation. Go to a Cardinals’ gameor Six Flags. Chill out in St. Louis Mills on the skating rink. This trip could be just as fun as going far away from home.

Following is a list of the top summer getaways. The following are the most sought-after vacation places for this summer.

10. Beat heat with a summer retreat to Colorado. Fly down the mountainson a snowboard and catch some big air. The mountains will not be crowded be-cause most people do not think about going skiing in the summer. Skiers willhave to make sure the mountains they want to ski on are opened.

9. Travel overseas to Europe and experience the rich culture that is there.See the breath-taking views in Ireland, visit Big Ben or go to Tuscany. Europe isfilled with history for students to take in. Visit Pompey, Rome and Paris. “I wantto go to the French Riviera, because it is very debonair, and my favorite authorF. Scott Fitzgerald resides there,” said Ian Alley.

8. Take in the Big Apple. New York has many tourist spots like the Statueof Liberty and the site of the Twin Towers. See a Broadway play; they are allgood. If you feel the need to shop but do not have a lot of money, go to ChinaTown; there are knock-off designer items at cheap prices.

7. Relax on the beach in Destin, Florida. The sandy beaches are good forlying out or playing in the ocean. Visit the water park and slide down the wa-terslides.

6. Travel to a faraway place. New Zealand is filled with many excitingthings to do. Jump off the Sky Tower or go caving. Take a ferry to a nearby islandto shop.

5. Sail away on a Caribbean cruise. Cruises are a good way to see manyplaces in a little amount of time. The Caribbean is beautiful and diverse. Whatone might see on one island might be completely different from another island.The Virgin Islands have white sandy beaches and breath-taking views.

4. Have a fiesta in Cancun. Not only does Cancun have beautiful beaches,but there are other attractions like scuba diving in its clear blue water. Go para-sailing or deep sea fishing while staying in Cancun.

3. Catch a wave in Hawaii. The islands are so unique. The Big Island ofHawaii contains an active volcano, while Kaui has tranquil beaches and water-falls. Snorkel in Hanauma Bay or hang loose at the famous North Shore.

2. Relax on the white sandy beaches of the Bahamas. The Bahamas containsover seven hundred islands. The famous Atlantis Hotel is located on ParadiseIsland. Nassau was once ruled by pirates. Explore the natural beauty of the Ba-hamas, golf year round, wind surf or fish.

1. Meet Mickey in Orlando. Orlando brings out the inner child in everyone,whether he is at Disney World, Universal Studios or Sea World. Riding SplashMountain in Disney or the Hulk at Universal Studios can make anyone feel likea kid. These ten vacation spots are all amazing places to be and

have a variety of attractions to offer travelers. mandy yates

Sweet spots for summer getaways

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia and Mandy Yates

9TrojanTorch Volume 40 Issue 7Features

May 30, 2008. . .a day thatseniors have been look-ing forward to since

freshman year. However, seniorswill miss many things aboutDHS.

“Friday Night Lights,” seniorTrey Vernon said.

“My friends,” senior SamanthaPrice said.

“The sports,” senior ChristinaDavin said.

“The class of ‘08!” seniorMichael Nguyen said.

“A few people,” senior KateChaney said.

“My favorite principals,” seniorTacara Thompson said.

“Sports, dances and friends,”senior Cole Dickerson said.

“Easy classes,” senior BrandonSmith said.

Seniors also have varying ideasabout their favorite meals atschool. The most popular mealwith seniors is the annual turkeyday meal. Students can recall run-ning to the lines for lunch everyNovember. Turkey noodle,poppy seed chicken, hot andspicy chicken sandwiches,chicken rotel and steak and gravyare other favorites with seniors. Afew others are more specificabout their meals.

“The good chicken nuggets,”senior Brandon Smith said.

Favorite dances for seniors thisyear were this year’s Miss DHSand Prom.

Sports were also favorites ofseniors. Football and basketballHomecomings were other dancesthat seniors enjoyed.

“Homecoming Olympics,” sen-

ior Brittney Herman said.“Pep rallies,” senior Amadeo

Roberts said.The rivalry between Dyersburg

and Dyer County was visible thisyear in sports.

“Dyersburg vs. Dyer Countyfootball,” senior Niki Wilson said.

“Dyersburg vs. Dyer Countybasketball game at home,” seniorCorey Criswell said.

“When we beat Dyer County atthe Dyersburg Regional Christ-mas Tournament,” senior TacaraThompson said.

Over the years, seniors havebonded with certain spots aroundthe city of Dyersburg and Dyers-burg High School.

“Outside the east entrance dur-ing activity (hack),” senior StevenFrey said.

“The Lady Trojan Basketballlocker room,” senior TacaraThompson said.

“Hastings,” senior John Selwitzsaid.

“The park,” senior Brittney Her-man said.

“The big chair (in the library),”senior Kristina Riley said.

Graduation is approachingsoon. In a few months, seniorswill be leaving the great city ofDyersburg. . . some will returnand some will never come back.Either way, Dyersburg HighSchool is likely to remain in thehearts and minds of students for-ever.

“This has been the best year ofmy life,” senior Michael Berardisaid.

shelley lemon

Anticipating graduation:What seniors willmiss about DHS

Photos by Shelley Lemon

Senior memories:Every senior at DHShas walkedthese halls and made lifetime memories. Seniors willmiss pep rallies, basketball games, football games,school dances and even every day lunch in thecommons. These are the places where they have spentfour important years of their lives.


Top

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10. Beau Liljenquist 97.500

6. Ryan Sawyers 97.747

5. Lisa Tarr 98.000

4. Carol Beth Jones 98.322

3. Brandon Smith 98.333

2. Cole Smith 99.256

1. Sarah Houston 99.448

7. Ethan Mulvaney 97.613

8. JoAnna Henderson 97.543

9. Joseph LeMay 97.529

Dyersburg High Schoolhad its annual honorsbanquet on April 24. The

evening was given special recog-nition and prestige with a newtheme. This year’s banquet wasportrayed as an Oscar awards cer-emony with a red carpet and goldstatues. Even the trophies weretransformed from the traditionalplaques to a small Oscar trophy.

The decorations were set upduring the week with volunteerstudents and parents. The guestsand students were served pasta

and chicken cordon bleu forstarters and fancy chocolate orstrawberry creations for dessert.

Tamara Gauldin, a former stu-dent from the class of 1998, wasthe guest speaker for the evening.She is a successful lawyer wholives in Nashville and spoke onthe topic of “answering yourcall.” Her speech was comple-mented with numerous props tokeep her audience’s attention.

Retiring teachers Dale Milner,

Joli Ridens and Cathy McCanlesswere recognized for their out-standing service by principalMickey Mahon.

This year’s top ten were recog-nized at the conclusion of theevening. They were recognized indescending order and all givenmedals.

The seniors were extremelyclose with less than half a pointseparating number seven fromnumber thirteen.

cole smith


Simply the best: Dyersburg High School recently recognized its Top Ten of the 2008 seniorclass at the annual, but revamped, honors banquet.

ANight at the Honors provides new face

to typical honors banquet

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Rogers

Dogs, cats, devoted workers and a neededhome: all of these can be found at theDyersburg & Dyer County Humane So-

ciety.Local humane society employees Derrick Avery

and Donna Reaves are involved with these ani-mals on a daily basis.

“The best part about my job is seeing animalsget new homes. Dogs and cats can bring so muchjoy into people’s lives. It’s good to see the happi-ness and excitement when someone walks out ofhere with a new pet,” Reaves said.

There are moments of happiness and sadness.“A lady and her daughter were looking at ani-mals one day and they found their pet that theyhad been looking for for a year now. The daugh-ter was going to have brain surgery the next dayand she wanted to see the animals. She was sohappy to find her dog,” Avery said.

Avery and Reaves both agree that the worst partabout their jobs is euthanizing animals. “Theprocess is necessary; you experience every emo-tion from sadness to anger that the animals are inthe position that their life has to be taken,” Averysaid.

According to Avery, the temperament, health ofan animal, aggression and adaptability are all considered when deciding which animals haveto go.

Workers do not get to sit around and watch theanimals all day. It is a lot of work to care for all ofthem.

A routine day for Avery could consist of inocu-lations, skin scraping, blood work, answeringphone calls, investigations, court, euthanizing,heart worm testing and giving medicine to sickanimals.

Sources of funding for the shelter come fromcity and county funding and donations from thecommunity. “People can help the shelter by vol-unteering. Our volunteers usually walk the dogsor play with the cats. It is really great for the an-imals to get as much human interaction as possi-ble. Also we accept newspapers for our cat cagesand additional supplies such as toys and treats,”Reaves said.

The hours of the shelter are Monday throughFriday 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.- 2 p.m.Dogs are priced at 50 dollars and cats are pricedat 40 dollars. Pit bulls are 75 dollars.

When one is adopting a pet, all the require-ments are is to fill out paper work and sign a pro-tection agreement. Under state law, all animalsmust be spayed and neutered. The number of an-imals usually held there can be anywhere from75 to 125.

carol beth jones


Photos by Carol Beth Jones

Humane S

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Lively rhythms, memorable pieces and entertain-ing performance! What link do these dazzlingcharacteristics share? They each set the stage for

2008’s Trojan marching band show!Unlike the previous rock-themed programs, next

year’s show will feature Latin jazz-inspired pieces fromCarlos Santana. From "Everybody's Everything" to"She's Not There," the band is hopeful on the idea ofstriking upon a hit performance for any audience.

“It’s a show where you can go away humming themusic,” band director Tim Graham said.

Selection of a suitable program requires much consid-eration and demands several considerations. Grahamsaid it all begins with listening to numerous CDs andalbums, and after stumbling upon the Santana showthrough Arrangers’ Publishing, the directors werehooked.

“I’ve always liked Santana, and I think the audiencewill enjoy and recognize it,” Graham said.

Not only were the arrangement and style of the musicappealing, but it was formed into a complete show be-forehand, making the process simpler.

After the show was chosen, the baby steps continued.The music was presented to the band, who had a posi-tive response.

“I think it’s going to be fun and exciting,” junior RavenWarren said.

“I think this upcoming band season will be great be-cause of the music we are playing! Carlos Santana is areally awesome singer,” sophomore Tre Mosley said.

The road to the final product next carries them on tolearning the show, drilling the sets, and cleaning up anyloose ends. Preparation for marching band began onMay 5 and will carry on into the fall. Graham is confi-dent in next year’s marching band and feels their talentwill lead them into a great year, which is a goal of thestudents as well.

When asked what he hoped for most out of next year’sprogram, junior Jake Gulledge said, “I’d have to say Ihope that when we go to state, we can perform our bestand give a memorable performance for the seniors.”

The goals of success and entertainment for next year’sshow paired with hard work and determination, whichare not foreign concepts to the DHS band, are antici-pated to become a reality.

“I am really excited about this marching band season,and I think all our hard work will pay off,” freshmanEmily Digirolamo said.

amber donaldson

Santana jazzesup the marchingband agenda

Thespringsports season

starts with tennis. Students for variousreasons sometimes overlook this enticing sport:

one of the most prevalent excuses is that the courtsare located at the Dyersburg Activity Center. Many stu-

dents may not know this and tend to forget about tennismatches.The tennis courts being located away from the campus should

not be an excuse for students not to participate or at least supporttheir high school’s tennis team. That is especially the case this year,

with the advancing skill that the Trojan tennis team showed at everymatch.

Just last year, the team won districts in a long battle to the end.Dyers-burg High School’s tennis team continued to impress their competitorsthis year by making it all the way to districts.

The growing boys’ team gained another tennis fanatic this year when jun-ior Tallon Scott, previously on Dyer County ‘s tennis team, transferred toDyersburg High School. He was previously the vital boys’ team player forDyer County and proved to be an asset to Dyersburg’s progressing team.

Between Scott and Hilgenkamp, the talented boys’ team made its wayto success.

The girls had a wonderful team this year, led by sophomore MollyHerman, senior Cameron Tipton, junior Shellie Epperson and juniorSarah Epperson. All of these girls have great athletic ability, plus

they are backed by many other girls on the team who pro-gressed with each practice.

With all of the talent this year both the girls’ and boy’steams were able to win district championships.

Hilgenkamp, Scott, Tipton and Herman were allvery competitive against tough competition

at regionals but were not able to winoverall.

james

Tennisteam

continuesto

progress

14 Issue 7 TrojanTorchSportsVolume 40

15TrojanTorch Volume 40 Issue 7Sports

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Boys soccer races to theend of the season

Sprinting, dribbling, and scoring: no onedoes it better than the Trojan soccer team.After a strong start with plenty of condi-

tioning, the boys finished with an overall recordof 12-0-4.

Since the soccer season began, the players haveworked to improve every aspect of their game tohave a successful season.

“The boys’ ball control and touches got consid-erably better throughout the season. Much of thiscan be attributed to their hard work in drills dur-ing practice as well as their individual practice inthe off-season,” head coach Lance Roy said.

Freshman Andrew Legan agrees that the boys’touches got better but also thinks passing im-proved.

Common sense would tell one that practice isessential to improve players’ games. That in itselfcan be the key to a victorious season.

“During a typical practice, we conditioned anddid drills. They helped us to play better individ-ually and as a team,” junior Kyle Youmans said.

With a team of twenty-four players, much lead-

ership in the form of team captains was neededto keep the players in line.

“The team captains included all the seniors aswell as David Grueser. They led by example,keeping the team’s attention in practice and play-ing hard in games,” Roy said.

This season, following many seasons past, wasone in which several freshmen were key playersin the starting lineup.

“The freshmen as a whole were able to con-tribute a lot to the team this year, with AndrewLegan starting as a midfielder and both AustinEvans and Jack McGrail playing in defense,” Roysaid.

The Trojan soccer team defeated Dyer County3-0 in district play. They lost the district champi-onship to Martin-Westview after playing twoforty-minute halves, two ten-minute overtimes,two five-minute overtimes, and finally falling 4-1 in penalty kicks.

The boys continued in region play where theylost to University School of Jackson.

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In a world of secular cultures, manypeople are left with questionsabout life after death and man’s

purpose on earth, which are not an-swered in the New York Times, on CNNor even on Oprah. However, there aremany groups around the world whoclaim to have the answers to all thesequestions, but, if the age old phrase“seeing is believing” remains true,then no one really knows what to ex-pect after his or her final breath. Ac-cording to the Bible, three people(Stephen, Paul and John) have seenheaven and been back to earth to pro-claim its glory. Don Piper, a SouthernBaptist minister from Pasadena, Texas,claims to be a fourth.

January 18, 1989, Piper was drivinghome from the Baptist General Con-vention of Texas in Houston when hewas struck by an on-coming eighteen-wheeler driven by a prison inmategoing sixty miles an hour on a two-lane bridge. The accident report statesthat he was killed upon impact andwas DOA (dead on arrival) when therescue squad came to the scene.

About an hour later, anotherpreacher that had been in attendanceat the convention, Dick Onerecker,saw the wreck and asked if he couldbe of any help. At this point,Onerecker had never met Piper. Thepolice officers told him that the man inthe crushed car was dead, butOnerecker could not take that for ananswer. He felt compelled to go prayfor Piper, so he climbed in the trunk ofthe crushed car, which was now in thefront seat, placed his hand on Piper’sshoulder and began to pray for hissurvival without internal injuries,since it was obvious that the body wasmangled.

Ninety minutes after the accidentwith Onerecker’s hand on his shoul-der, Piper awoke singing the oldhymn “What a Friend We Have inJesus.” Onerecker immediately ranout of the car and convinced an EMTto check Piper’s pulse once more.Once Piper’s miraculous recovery wasrealized, the rescue squad and the

“jaws of life” pulled a completelymangled body out of the heap ofmetal and rushed him to the nearesthospital.

During those ninety minutes ofearthly death, Piper saw heaven in allits glory. He was greeted at the gatesby his grandfather and many otherswho had influenced his earthly rela-tionship with Christ. The religious masterpiece, 90 Minutes

in Heaven, written by Piper with CecilMurphey, is the complete story ofPiper’s wreck, time in heaven, recov-ery and new life’s goal to proclaimwonders and glory of heaven. Piper’sability to put into words his truly awe-some experience in heaven gives hopeand encouragement to all.

Not only does this book give hopeand encouragement, but it also is trulya book of worship to God. This bookaffirms the Christian belief system,and it also reaches out to non-believ-ers in the best way. It is sure to toucheveryone of all ages, races, religionsand genders because of the assuranceof a wonderful eternal life in heavenfor all believers of Christ. As Pipertells about his battles of coming backto earth from paradise, readers feel hisstruggle and hope of dying to returnhome to the Father in Heaven. Piperrealizes that God sent him back toearth to tell everyone possible of hisamazing experience in heaven.

This book is a great read for every-one, even those who do not normallyread for pleasure. This book answersso many questions left unanswered bythe world’s secular culture. God’s lovefor each and every human is crystalclear in this incredible account, with-out its being too “preachy.” This realaccount is not sugar-coated, and it re-ally brings glory to God and all hismany mysteries.

Don Piper can be contacted at [email protected] or the fullaccount of his experience can be foundin his outstanding book, 90 Minutes inHeaven.

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90 Minutes in Heaven brings hope, encouragement

18 Issue 7 TrojanTorchEntertainmentVolume 40

Marie (pronounced Mar-ee-ay) Digby dives headfirstinto the music business

with a moving debut album, Unfold.Digby is no ordinary sell-out popprincess with meaningless lyrics; in-stead, she finds beauty in simplicitywith pure vocals and emotion-drivenlyrics. Besides her acoustic version ofRihanna’s “Umbrella,” every song onUnfold is the original work of Digby.Her soft pop style is blended perfectlywith piano and acoustic guitar.

Have you ever felt alone? Digbyshowcases her childhood filled withloneliness and shyness in the deeplypersonal song, “Miss Invisible.” Ittells of her years of being ridiculedand excluded and how hateful wordscan really hurt others. Digby showsher vulnerability, as well as bravery,by putting her heart on her sleeve forthe world to see.

Digby bewitches listeners on thehauntingly beautiful track “Spell.” Itportrays the contrast of her guardedbeing off-stage and her false sense ofconfidence on-stage. Digby will keeplisteners enchanted from the first noteof this spell-binding track to the last.

Digby displays wisdom on the track“Beauty in Walking Away” by tellinglisteners while it may be challengingto walk away from a certain thingand/or someone, it may be the right

thing to do. Lyrics such as, “It’s neverquite simple/ It’s never quite safe/ Itmay never seem perfect until it’s toolate/ There’s never a right time tofind a new way,” encompasses theidea that while there may not be aperfect time to turn one’s back on asituation, one needs to be matureenough to know when to do it.

On the title track “Unfold,” Digbytells of finding the strength to teardown the walls surrounding herself,saying, “And even though my feet aretrembling/ And every word I saycomes stumbling/ I will bare it all/Watch me unfold.” Digby puts herselfout there and convinces herself tobreak out of her shell; in the end, sheleaves her heart unguarded and willlet love prevail.

Digby is one of the few modernartists that puts her heart and soulinto her work and displays everyemotion in her vocals. I can honestlysay Marie Digby blew me away onUnfold. She was able to relate to manydifficult situations that most youngadults go through including self-doubt and foolish crushes.

If you like artists such as SarahBareilles, Michelle Branch and JohnMayer, Marie Digby is the artist foryou. Unfold definitely deserves fiveout of five stars.

kaitlyn turney

Beauty in simplicityMarie Digby

brings meaningback to music

Photos by Kaitlyn Turney

1906 St. John Ave.Dyersburg, TN 285-4155

Jon Foreman, lead singer of Switchfoot, has released his third EPalbum Spring. This and his others, Fall and Winter, contain softacoustic music with six songs on each album. These three sea-

sonal albums, with Summer to come, are great for giving a peacefuluplift to each day. Foreman talks of life in each season and showsbeauty in the midst of pain. More importantly, his lyrics show realityin life. “Most of the time, the songs that I write are more honest thanI am,” Foreman said. His most recent, Spring, talks of the emotions ofthe season of spring.

“March (A Prelude to Spring)” talks about the story of life. “We,birds and the bees, trees of the forest started as one, something wentwrong, we ended alone.” Thissong shows tragic truth of feelingalone, yet has a catchy upbeattune. “Now my love is gone, andtime still marches on, but timestill marches wrong.” The simplic-ity of this song makes easy listen-ing.

“Love isn’t Made” explains themeaning of love. “So I arrive atthe conclusion love isn't made,love doesn't sell or pay, but webuy and sell our love away.” Itshows that love is not an object ormanufactured by humans; yet, wetry to make it this way. Foremansays in this song that the defini-tion of love in the world is onethat has forgotten the real one.“How could we have let this go?How could we have almost lost it all? How had we forgotten, love isnot made.” Listening to this song can really be a wake up call forwhat we think of love.

“In My Arms” talks of missing a romance. “I dream to hold you inmy arms, wide awake in my arms.” Foreman really shows securityand a calm emotion with his lyrics and musical style. “I think I fig-ured it out, we need to be together like the shore and the sea, we are

not one thing, we are bound together, my ocean and me.”“Baptize my Mind” is a prayer to God. The song tells of the sin in

life and the cleansing of Christ. “Both my hands are filled with guilt(give me absolution), both my eyes are blind with filth (give me ab-solution).” It also is a reminder that we are nothing without God.“Reaching always reaching, never reaching solid ground, seekingnever seeking, never seeking what I've found.” This song relates tomany people and has great instrumentals to go with it.

“Your Love is Strong” is another prayer to God asking for thethings needed in daily life. “Heavenly father, You always amaze me,let Your kingdom come in my world and in my life.” It also states

that God's love is enough. “Sowhy should I worry? Why do Ifreak out? God knows what Ineed, You know what I need, Yourlove is strong.” This song is a re-minder that God's love is strongand and can fulfill all our needs.

“Revenge” talks of the ignoranceand anger of the world. “I laughedhard at the insults we threw, as theweight of the world found re-venge.” Although it talks of thehate of the world and what we de-serve, it also talks of the grace ofGod. “That's when the irony hitme, that this was revenge, lovehad descended and stolen ourpain away.” Foreman really showshis talent with words and wisdomin this song.

Spring, and all of Foreman's other EP's, are beautiful musically andlyrically. The genre of music, poetic words and message of truth allmake up the wonderful talents of Foreman. When his rock musicfrom Switchfoot grows tiresome, then pop in an EP for some soft inspiration.

Jon Foreman delivers new seasonal ED

19TrojanTorch Volume 40 Issue 7Entertainment

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DECA end of yearcookout

Thespian Banquet AP Human Geography Exam

Softball BanquetBaseball Banquet

Scholarship DaySpring Sports

Banquet

Soccer Banquet Senior Exams1st and 2nd

Memorial Day

******Exams******

Baccalaureate7:30

Graduation7:30

Project Graduation

Softball finalsBaseball finals

Softball Tourn.Baseball Tourn.

Last Day of SchoolOut at 12:30

Senior Picnic Senior Exams3rd and 4th

Senior Exams5th and 6th

Beginning ofJune

Cap & Gown pick-up

In-service In-service In-service

MAY &JUNE

updates

Scholarship/AwardsDay

Thomas Kilzer is recognized for joiningthe Marines, and JoAnna Henderson is

offered scholarships from Lambuth,Bethel, Modern Woodmen of America,and the Tennessee Scholars program.These were two of the many juniorsand seniors recognized and given

awards at the Scholarship and Awards Day on Monday

issue 7 07-08

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