SMS Band performs in Veterans Day parade

By SAVANAH SWEETON

 The South Middle School Band participated in the annual Joplin Veterans Day Parade Saturday, Nov. 11. The band marched from 10th and Main to the public library, left a block then back up to Memorial Hall, members participating include:Breanna Baker, Molly Baker, Becky Cooper, Steven Denmark, Jessica Kennedy, Lynn Nichols, Tiffany Douglas, Brittany Frisbie, Cody Gilmore, Aron Hembre, Taylor Johnson, Lainie Nicolas, Catherine Stewart, Dakota Williams, Kisha Adams, Austin Bolt, Zach Cloven, Cheyenne Howard, Andrew Mays, Britanny Mitchell, Bryan Ross, Amanda Webster, Jordan Adame, Jordan Bailey, Nathan Baker, Tyler Beal, Nathan Cox, Zac Dunnic, Gareth Evans, Corey Hounschell, Sarah Kessler, Leif Larson, Luke Lenhart, Nathan Morris, Casey Sharp, Brett Sterns, Jeff Terry, Kyle Vene, Brian Geier, Will Kessler, Christian Miller, Sam Quinones, Geoff Aiken, Tate Duley, Aaron Hodges, Kelli Newberry, Desean Tripplett, Tim Davis, Daniel Story, Daniel Vanderlip, Jarvious Britt, Fischer Dowell, Grant Evans, Tyler Graves, Zach Hibbard, Joe Jenkins, Allen Peterson, Chloe Potts, Blake Putnam, Gil Randolph, Dalton Smith, and Billy Nguyen led by Savanah Sweeton and Amanda Needham.

“It’s important to learn the value of honoring veterans and this is a good way to start.” Mr. Reed Barnes comments on why he has his band do the Veteran’s Day Parade, “I’ve been participating in the parade since 1990, the first year I marched the parade myself as a student.”

Students give thoughts on safety at South

By BECKY COOPER

It didn’t take long for the news to spread at South.

There were clues: The teachers were acting edgy, the school doors being locked, you could tell something was up.

The student who brought a gun to Memorial Middle School in October is not something that is unheard of, it has happened in schools in across the United States. It was, however, definitely serious. At the time, there were even rumors that people with guns were supposed to hit all three Joplin middle schools.

Everyone was tense, unsure of how protected they were. The next few days were scary, because everyone was preparing for the worst, though not all students were concerned.

Eighth grade Mollie Sanders said, “It didn’t really affect me that much because I knew whatever happened, we would be protected.”

Not all students felt that way and a few weeks later, there are still concerns, something which was voiced by eighth grader Christen Cool.

“I don’t feel safe anywhere any more.”

Veterans Day program is today

By VICTORIA NOLAN

Veterans Day is Saturday, Nov. 11, and Mr. Jason Weaver and his eHistory Club plan on contributing something to veterans.

The club will have an assembly during TA today, Mr. Weaver said.  “Kids get to see what it is about and recognize veterans. Mr. Weaver has also started “several faculty members and a few students have given us photos of their family members who are serving.

“I have always found when you show appreciation, they appreciate it.”

Members of the eHistory Club who helped with the assembly were: Ken Zhang, Faith Mowry, Paige Harmon, Beau Carroll, and Steven Denmark.

First quarter honor roll released

The first quarter honor roll for South Middle School has been released:

Those making the list included:

 Eighth Grade- Jordan Adame, Dalton Anderson, Hunter Bailey, Breanna Baker, Tyler Beall, Jacob Bennett, Austin Bolt, Arthur Brown, Andrew Burkhart, Lloyd Burrow, Nikki Carter, Gina Casada, Blanca Castaneda, Kovan Chew, Becky Cooper, Mikaila Craig, Andrew Crouch, Michael Daugherty, Chelsea Dawson, Steven Denmark, Christopher Diles, Hannah Doerge, Fischer Dowell, Marina Dudley, Rachel Etheridge, Grant Evans, Leah Forkner, Rachael Foster, Devin Freeman, Makenzie Freeman, Brian Geier, Dakota Gilmore, Zachary Grimes, Lane Hampton, Paige Harmon, Alexis Hawk, Colten Hawkins, Lacy Heiskell, Christy Hernandez, Dusty Hill, James Hill, Aaron Hodges, Corey Hounschell, Cheyenne Howard, Spencer Hunt, Kylie Hurrell, Shaynee Johnson, Dylan King, Jessica Knight, Leif Larson, Kelley Leach, Matthew Lemieux, Victoria Mardis, Breanna Martin, Andrew Mays, Kane McCaslin, Matt McCoy, Nathan Morris, Faith Mowry, Taylor Mulik, Amanda Needham, Lainie Nicolas, Victoria Nolan, Kelsey Pace, Cindy Pham, Dylan Prauser, Jesse Rowe, Jeane Ruvalcaba, Mollie Sanders, Cassey Shulze, Tim Scroggins, Kaylee Sexton, Latasha Sherrick, Alicia Shofner, Mitchell Simpson, Angela Sliger, Hailey Smith, Victoria Smith, Ashlee Stephens, Grant Stewart, Daniel Story, Kaitlin Sullivan, Savanah Sweeton, William Thrasher, Emily Tripoli, Jose Ugalde, Sequoah Wagner, Tyler Walker, Shaleigh Wallace, Angela Wallander, Blake Ward, Ana Warner, Samantha Warren, Amanda Webster, Ashley Whittington, Steven Williams, Kendra Wilson, Katie Wood, Shandera Workman, Jaclyn Wright, Craig Yeoman, Ken Zhang

Seventh Grade- Molly Baker, Nathan Baker, Kirsti Banning, Lindsey Beall, Joseph Bennett, Emylee Brown, Sara Buck, Tozia Burris, Taylor Camden, Jordan Chambers, Marcus Clark, Cecil Cornish, Tanner Crawford, Matthew Cruzan, Alexandria Deer, Brittney DeMasters, Derek Dillon, Zachary Dorris, Christine Dunn, Shane Ellis, Dermott Evans, Tara Fleming, Brittany Frisbie, Shawn Fronce, Allison Grall, Devin Hale, Summer Harbeson, Gage Haskew, Jessica Highley, Icesus Holland, Brandon Holman, Amie Howard, Rachelle Hughbank, Jacob Johnson, Selena Jordan, Alex Kangethe, Alexander Karns, Katherine Kemmery, Amanda Kennedy, Sarah Kessler, Breanna Knapp, Tera Knight, Allie Lacey, Blake Lamb, Lauren Layne, Luke Lenhart, Amanda Liontas, Sydney Long, Hunter Lynn, Jacob Lyons, Austin Mallory, Wade Mathis, Mary Jane Miller, Brittany Mitchell, Ian Mitchell, Victoria Mitchell, Ann Nguyen, Holly O’Dell, Sarah Painter, Olivyah Parker, Andrew Perry, Christopher Phelps, Mackenzy Pierce, Payton Pollack, Chloe Potts, Shalea Purdy, Blake Putnam, Gilbert Randolph, Chelcianna Reed, Samantha Rice, Andrew Roberts, Bryan Ross, Mariah Sanders, Adam Schilling, Daniel Scott, Kody Simpson, Dalton Smith, Adam Snearly, Sydney Snider, Shawn Spicer, Brett Stearnes, Kayla Stewart, Bayley Strella, Nathan Stripling, Kaleb Szulakiwicz, Jeffrey Terry, Raycee Thompson, Christian Underwood, Brittany Utley, Greggory VanLoon, Kyle Vene, Jamie Walters, Hannah Ward, Dillon Warlaumont, Kristopher Watts, Kyle Wentz, Casee Wheeler, Mickey Ray Wittenmyer, Johnna Yeoman

 Sixth Grade- Torri Ackerson, John Alumbaugh, Jodi Anderson, Alex Asher, Victoria Baker, Sierra Bartholomew, Abigail Bass, Haley Bowers, Austin Boyd, Madison Briggs, Lisa Bromley, Alexis Brown, Ethan Bryan, Casey Burkhart, Darieua Burkhart, Hannah Cady, Dylan Caldwell, Cheslie Cook, Tracie Cottrill, Ronald Darby, Aaron Daum, Shaney Delzell, Danielle Doerr, Laila Douglas, Karissa Dowell, Caroline Dutton, Calissa England, Judith Fausto, Sandra Gallegos, Caleb Garton, Riley Gass, Valerie Glass, Elizabeth Gordon, Kelsey Gould, Valerie Greenlow, Olivia Hampton, Allison Hankins, Hannah Hare, Christopher Harpole, Joshua Harris, Taylor Harris, Shanice Hailey, Elizabeth Heimberg, Tanner Heritage, Alex Hill, Esteban Hinojosa, Brittany Hudson, Ricky Hutchison, Jordan Ivey, Emily Jenkins, Anna Johnson, Erin Johnson, Carson Jones, Morgan Jones, Morgan Lamar, Brandon Laub, Nicholas Laub, Kylie Lewsader, Elisha Mansour, Tianna McCarthy, Hunter Mills, Damien Mitchell, Damon Monasco, Ghenessa Moore, Lane Morrill, Robert Munalem, Alexander Musgrave, Curtis Nollner, Tyler Nonemaker, Morgan Osburn, MacKenzie Owen, Kaleb Owens, Taylor Parker, Spencer Peterson, Blake Price, Steven Putnam, Stefon Rich, Thomas Richins, Alexandra Ritter, Brandon Ross, Gabriel Sachetta, Krystal Schulze, Jordan Schumacher, Bryan Sexton, Taylor Shutte, Andrew Smith, Dakota Smith, Benjamin Story, Shane Striegel, Lauren Temple, Logan Terry, Victoria Thompson, Elizabeth Trexler, Axle Vene, Theodora Voutiritsas, Elaina Warren, Ethan Warstler, Andrew Welch, Allison White, Alex Whittington, Storm Whittington, Tiffany Williams, Emilee Wills, Alexis Woods, Jacob Wyrick, Emily Yarbrough

South students react to president’s Joplin visit

By CHRISTEN COOL

On Friday Novmber 3, 2006, the President of the United States visted Joplin. President Bush was supporting Jim Talent’s campaign for U.S Senate.
In Mr. Randy Turner’s communication arts classes, we had a chance to write about what we think about the President’s visit
Personally, I thought the speech was boring. Mr. Bush doesn’t know how to do a speech. Jim Talent is a suck up in front of the camera. But hey, thats just what I think. It’s also pretty sad that Talent had to have the president come to boost his votes!
But not everyone felt the same way I did.
Lane Hampton said ” Jim Talent is a good leader and did a good job introducing the president. The president made some good points but he needs to learn how to say Missouri.”
Shaynee Johnson said” I’m really happy that the president came to Joplin because we never really had anyone this popular come to our small town.” That was some good things students had to say to about Jim Talent and some good things about President Bush. Here are some bad things that the people said about them both.
Dusty Hill said” The speech was boring. All it talked about was the tax cuts he and Jim Talent made.”
Taylor Mulik had something to say as well about the speech. He said “Almost half the hour of talking and nothing came out of it. He goes on and on about Talent, and I didn’t learn anything about him. He said something about cutting taxes, which nobody should care about, and stuff, but he had no noticeable,worthwhile point.”
Jennifer Brock said ” I think George W. Bush coming to Joplin, Missouri, was probably a waste of his time. Talent is not fair and is always attacking Claire McCaskill.”
So there you have it folks what people think about Talent and George W. Bush.

Gifted students play stock market game

By SAVANAH SWEETON

From Oct. 3 through Dec. 2, South Middle School gifted students are participating in the stock market game, a 10-week simulation of stock trading using the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) NASDAQ and American Stock Exchange (AMSE) quotes where students invest $100,000 in real stocks.

Fourth grade through college and adult are eligible to play. Elementary students can also participate, but they have their own stock groups and must have a teacher to participate.

Mrs. Pamela Page, the eighth grade gifted students’ teacher says, “I hvae the students do the game because it exposes them to the economy and how it is affected by world events. It is also a great program for thinking skills, decision making, and risk taking. If students decide to invest in stocks later in life, they will have some experience.:

The fifth hour students, Corey Hounschell, Lainie Nicolas, Savanah Sweeton, Kylie Hurrell, and Taysom Wallace, a student from North, all have one team and must make decisions on which stocks to buy, sell, or trade.

SMS eighth graders fall to Memorial

The South Middle School eighth grade girls basketball teams lost to Memorial in the home opener Thursday.

The A team fell behind early and never recovered, falling 28-10. Memorial scored the first 10 points before Mikaila Craig put South on the board midway through the second quarter with a basket. South trailed 14-3 at halftime.

South provided its fans with more offense in the second half as Rachael Foster scored five of her team-high six points during the third period, which ended with Memorial leading 22-8.

South Statistics- Points- Foster 6, Craig 2, Alecia Shofner 2; Rebounds- Foster 9, Leach 7, Cassey Schulze 4, Craig 4, Makenzie Freeman 3, Shofner 2, Amanda Needham 2; Assists- Craig 1, Schulze 1; Steals- Schulze 3, Freeman 3, Craig 3, Leach 1, Foster 1; Blocked Shots- Foster 2, Schulze 1.

In the B game, a last minute basket enabled Memorial to edge South 7-6. South trailed most of the game, but went ahead in the third quarter 5-4 on an Alecia Shofner basket and increased the margin to 7-4 on a Kendra Wilson putback. Shofner led South with five points.

After long delivery, Noah Moss enters world

BY CHRISTEN COOL
It’s easy for Mrs. Gala Moss to laugh about it now, but the arrival of her first child, Noah, Sept. 27 was anything but easy.

“It took 21 hours,” she said, adding that the wait was worth it. “Noah is wonderful.’

Mrs. Moss is changing her scheduled to accommodate the new addition to her family, she said. “Noah eats every three hours, so I still get a full night’s sleep, just in sections.”

Mrs. Moss and her husband Brad are enjoying being parents. “If we could, we would both be stay-at-home parents,” she says, starting to laugh. She is already eagerly awaiting the day she hears her son calling for “mommy” and “daddy.” “He already smiles at me,” Mrs. Moss said, “and every once in a while he goes cross-eyed because he is trying to focus.”

The proud mother continued, “He has gotten big. He grew an inch his first week home.”

Noah’s name was decided a long time ago, Mrs. Moss said. “Brad and I both decided when we were dating that we loved the name Noah. Noah is also my favorite Bible story.” They never decided on a girl’s name just in case. “Brad and I fought a lot on girls’ names. We loved so many girls’ names, so we were happy when we found out the baby was a boy.

The Mosses have made a website for their baby, www.themossbaby.com It has stories about Noah and pictures of the family.

Mrs. Moss will return to South Nov. 9

LAB students read to elementary kids

By HAILEY SMITH

South Middle School LAB (Library Advisory Board) students read to kindergarten classes at Irving Elementary School Oct. 19.

 The students read from picture books from the SMS Library.

Among those reading were: Becky Cooper, Christy Hernandez, Amanda Needham, Cassey Shulze, Cindy Pham, Victoria Smith, Leah Forkner, Christen Cool, Kane McCaslin, Tim Scroggins, Dylan Prauser, Gareth Evans, Breanna Baker, and Richie Lyons.

Seventh graders attend drug-free assembly

South Middle School seventh graders attended a drug-free schools assembly Oct. 30 at Joplin High School. The students left South at approximately 9:15, attended a one-hour program by Motivational Media Assemblies, and were back at South by noon.