on the clock, the Tigers led by 2 with the ball. But the Eagles were not to be stopped. They fouled, and the Tigers missed at the line. The regulation ended with the over-time score 58-58.

Hill was cold during the game, but teammate Terrello Holden came through with 18

[ 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. IIIssue 2

Dec. 2011

See “Davis,” cont. on pg.3

RememberingDeja Davisby Tamara DavisNews eDiTor

Students were shocked-when they heard the devastat-ing news that a student life had been taken in a disturb-ing incident. On Thanksgiving evening, Nov. 24, Ruskin High School sophomore Deja Da-vis was found dead along with 53-year-old Loretta Petty in a home at 66th and Bellefontaine Avenue.

Davis was visiting Petty, her Godmother, when the in-cident occurred. Police were called to the residence and found Davis and Petty dead. According to police, a man identified as Jerry Petty came out of the house firing at police. The police shot at Petty, but he ran away. He was later found dead about a block away on Walrond Avenue.

“I want to point out this was random,” Ruskin Principal

Swoosh! There it is!by Tamara DavisNews eDiTor

The Ruskin Boys Varsity Basketball team is off to a great start with a 3-0 record. The Ea-gles have notched wins against Grandview, Lee’s Summit and Raytown - two in intense over-times.

In the first game on Nov. 28, the team defeated the Grandview Bulldogs.The two teams went into overtime with a 72 tie. After the intense battle, the Eagles won by one, 83-82. Team captain senior guard Deron “Bubba” Hill set the school’s single game scoring record with 44 points.

“I feel good about my scores but, it’s not just about me,” Hill said. “My team works hard together and, we are like family. I want them to be rec-ognized just as well. I can say that my talents are a blessing and I plan to take advantage of them and help my team make it to state and, further.”

Unfortunately, senior standout forward Malcolm Hamilton sprained his wrist during the game and will be out two to three weeks.

The team had the week to prepare for the next match up

against Lee’s Summit on Fri-day, Dec. 2. The two teams bat-tled the entire game. The Eagle fans were into the game with loud cheers and spurts of the “wave” to keep the excitement level high. At half-time, the Ea-gles were barely ahead, but the Tigers came back to fight for the lead. With 11 seconds left

Terrello Holden scores past Lee’s Summit’s player 44..

Varsity Eagles start season with undefeated excitement

See “Eagles,” cont. pn pg. 15

[ INSIDE THIS ISSUE... ] Vampire Craze ...........Pg.3

Cyber- Bating ............Pg. 6

Faster Internet ..........Pg. 4

Shop till you Drop ..........Pg. 12

Earthquake rocks Mo ........Pg. 13

Why Stay in School? ..........Pg. 8

Job struggle...........Pg. 2

Sports .......Pg. 15

Losing a good Apple........pg. 9

RHS Students want 100x faster internet ............................................pg. 4

[ F E A T U R E S ] [ P A G E 2 ]

Teens Struggle Finding JobsBy Joseph FoxoNliNe eDiTor

You’re sitting in Taco Bell filling out a job application. You leave to go to McDonald’s to fill one out there, then you fill out your last one at Old Navy. You wait two weeks and still find yourself without a job. And you wonder why it is so hard for teenagers to find work?

“ H i r i n g managers at cer-tain jobs think and believe teen-agers are very ir-responsible and lazy most of the time. They don’t trust teens,” sophomore Car-las Jackson stat-ed.

In 2010, jobs for teenag-ers ages 16-19 was statistically the worst it has been since way back in World War II. Statis-tics showed that 25.9 percent of teenagers were unemployed, and those teens who were un-employed were searching and being turned down. Teenagers have to find a way to reconsider hiring manager’s minds and change the staggering statistic.

“It’s going to be very dif-ficult to change employer’s minds because they already think we are all trouble-makers because the media depicts us teens as criminals. They don’t really give us a chance,” senior Terrence Scott said.

Teenagers are competing with laid-off adults in the job

market.“They need to make jobs

more available for teens be-cause it seems all the older peo-ple get all the jobs just because they have more experience,” sophomore Tiara Hampton said.

Some parents have their fingers crossed and prayers sent

hoping that their child gets a job, and others don’t think it’s all that great of an idea.

“Having a job gets teens ready for the real work force and gets them in tune with working with supervisors and others,” senior Anessa Walker’s father Khalil Mujahid said.

“I don’t think teens should have any jobs, they need to be kids as long as they can,” Jacquelyn Arnold’s mother Stephanie Ar-nold said.

Unfor tuna te ly though, the odds of a teenager finding a job are slim unless they’re very dedicated or just have good for-tune. The unemploy-ment rate for teens is at 24.1 percent as of now, compared to the unemployment rate of adults, which is at 9 percent according to www.google.com/

publicdataJackson said, “Teenag-

ers need to be dedicated and start proving their work ethic through actions and start be-ing mature. We all need to show that we aren’t dumb and can work just as hard as these adults, maybe even harder.”

Sophomore Tiara Hampton comment-ing on the struggle of teenagers find-ing jobs.

Senior Terrence Scott speaks his mind on the workforce for teenagers.

By Cristina AlvaradosTAFF reporTer

How far can Americans really take their First Amendment right? Imagine Tweeting about how you feel about someone, then later being called to the Principal’s office to apologize to that per-son? On Nov. 21, that’s exactly what happen to Emma Sullivan, a senior at Shawnee Mission East High School, when she Tweeted about Gov. Sam Brownback while at a school sponsored Youth in Government program in Topeka.

Sullivan Tweeted, “Just made mean comments at Gov. Brown-back and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.”

She was called to Principal Karl Krawitz office, and he scolded her, demanding she should write an apology to Gov. Brownback.

Sullivan claimed that the principal “told me he needed to do damage control and was really upset,” according to a CNN U.S. article.

Sullivan refused to write Brownback an apology letter.“I don’t think I should write the letter, and I don’t think it

would be the best move for me,” Sullivan said in the article. “At this time, I do not think an apology would be a sincere thing for me to do.”

At Ruskin High School, junior Jakil Taylor is on Twitter 24/7 and feels that he can say what he wants on any website.

“Twitter is my satisfaction. I say what I wanna say, how I wan-na say, and I don’t care who knows it,” Taylor said.

When surveyed, 9 out of 10 RHS students said they do agree

Freedom to Tweeting the government

See “Tweet,” cont. on pg. 12

[ A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T ] [ P A G E 3 ]

By Markus sneadsTAFF reporTer

Has anyone ever wondered what our world would be like if the world had never seen “Twi-light?”

Well for those that don’t know “Twilight” almost never happened. Stephanie Meyer’s first book had been rejected 14 times by different publishing houses.

Just think, most would have given up, but she just kept on trying. In 2005, Stephanie Meyer finally got her chance to show the world what she had when she published her first novel, “Twilight.”

It was a hit, taking not just the USA, but the world. It reached international success by selling over 17 million cop-ies. More books and her movie series followed, creating a vam-pire and werewolf craze across the country and the world.

The success of the “Twi-light” series caused many other television networks to use the whole mythical creature craze.

For instance MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” is the reverse version of “Twilight” except instead vampires there are werewolves. The main character Scott Mc-Call (Tyler Posey) is the school loser but when he gets bitten by another werewolf, Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin), his life goes from school zero to school hero with his new body as he helps the Lacross team win games, but he keeps the secret from everybody except his best friend Stiles Stilinski (Dylan O’Brien).The show’s premiere

drew in a total of 2.18 million viewers.

ABC’s “The Gates,” fea-tures a metropolitan police officer who becomes chief of police in a gated suburban neighborhood where vampires, werewolves, witches and other supernatural entities reside.

Disney Channel’s “My Babysitter’s a Vampire” is about two young boys, Ethan Morgan (Matthew Knight) a geeky freshman, and Benny (Atticus Mitchell). During the

movie they experience a lot of odd things like every time he touches Sarah (Vanessa Mor-gan) he gets weird visions. Soon they discover many se-crets about the town Whitecha-pel and about themselves like Ethan sees visions: he is a Seer, which enables him to see vi-sions through touch. Benny is a spellmaster, allowing him to cast spells. When fans of the newest vampire movie “Dusk 3” (the pretend twilight in the

TWILIGHT VAMPIRE CRAZE

Director Billy Condon talks with actors Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson during the filming of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.” (MCT Wire Services)

Chad Ryerson said in an email notifying staff of Davis’ death. “It did not involve gangs or oth-er students. It was just a sense-less, tragic, incident.”

Ryerson said that addition-al counselors were called to the building to assist students who needed to talk or share their emotions about the death of their classmate. Students made and signed cards and posters in memory of Davis at the school. Davis was an honor roll student and on the RHS Debate team.

“Deja was a bubbly per-son,” Ruskin senior Rosierra Warren said. “She loved to laugh and she was always smil-ing. She use to always tell jokes and knew how to get me to smile.”

Davis came to Ruskin last year from Don Bosco Prepara-tory High School. She decided that she wanted to be a good student and commit herself academically, according to Ry-erson.

Friends and family of Da-vis gathered around the park at 67th and Paseo for a vigil on Nov. 29. According to her mother, Stephanie Davis, Davis loved the park, near where she grew up.

During the event, 16 fam-ily members and friends each held a balloon which represent-ed Davis’ age. The loved ones prayed and shared memories they had with Davis. At the end of the vigil, the balloons were let loose into the air.

Stephanie Davis an-nounced the funeral informa-tion during the vigil at the park. The funeral was held on Dec.5, at Church of Christ, located at 5620 Swope Parkway. From Ruskins’ family, Deja will truly be missed.

“Davis,” cont. from front cover

See “Twilight,” cont. on pg. 8

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

A’nessa walkerMANAgiNg eDiTor

Imagine having one hun-dred times faster Internet.

Upload photos to Face-book and Twitter at the blink of a eye. Update your Xbox 360 Kinect and Wii game systems instantly. Watch Youtube and Netflix videos without buffer-ing.

In 2012, Kansas City resi-dents will be able to do that with Google’s new fiber Inter-net connectivity.

Representatives from Google received proposals from nearly 1100 communities across the country who wanted the Google fiber in their cities.

According to the Google fi-ber website, Google’s goal was to find a location where they could build efficiently, make an impact on communities, and develop working partnerships with the local government, util-ity and community organiza-tions. They believe they found this in both Kansas City, Kan-sas and Kansas City, Missouri.

Missouri and Kansas are the first two states that have this chance to get Google fi-ber connectivity. Google plans

to begin the process in Kansas City by the end of this year and begin offering service in the first quarter of 2012.

Google fiber uses strands of glass to transport informa-tion at the speed of light, which is how its Internet works 100x faster.

As of right now, the goal is to to get this super high speed Internet to all parts of the com-munity by focusing first on the neighborhoods who request the service. Once those neighbor-hoods are identified, then the schools, libraries, and other public buildings in the area will also be connected.

At the October South Kan-sas City Chamber of Commerce meeting, Google’s Representa-tive Rachel Hack said, “Google fiber will be an educational re-source.”

While Kansas City area schools are excited to get wired in, everyone can’t get this at once.

“It will be driven in the economy fast, but the people who will more than likely get it first will be decided by the de-mand of the community,” Hack said.

But what if the undeserved

urban commu-nities aren’t the neighbor-hoods who can afford to purchase the service? Hack said that the mayors of both cities have ap-pointed a May-or’s Bi-State Committee on Te c h n o l o g y I n n o v a t i o n to help assist Google with p i n p o i n t i n g the best loca-tions for the Internet ser-vice.

On Nov. 15, Bernard Franklin, a representative of that May-or’s Commit-tee and vice president at Kansas State University, led a group of stu-dents from the high schools in both cities in brainstorming ways to imple-ment the ser-vice and how to educate the public about the impact it will have.

“Listen-ing to the kids from both cit-ies made me realize that we all want a better edu-cation,” said

Browse 100 Times Faster?

Cierra Carpenter- 11th

“I would do every-thing, like download a whole bunch of pic-tures, and updating my blogs. I wouldn’t even sleep. I’ll be on the Internet 24/7.”

America Johnson- 12th

“I’ll pull up a whole bunch of sites. I'll email everybody back and get on Twitter, Facebook and every site I can think of. To the point, I wouldn’t sleep or even text. I also would constantly up-load a ton of pictures on Twitter.”

Tyler Owsley- 10th

“I’ll be happy be-cause it’s faster than the one we currently have now. On You-tube I could watch my skateboard videos with quality and fast-er without it freezing up.”

What would you do if your Internet was 100 times faster?

“That would be mas-sive. Anything that would save us time and get our work done more quickly would be a tremen-dous asset .”

Photos by A’nessa WalkerSee “Google,” cont. on pg. 5 Gerry Marlin, PLATO

Bernard Franklin (third from right) led a meeting with students representing schools from both sides - Kansas City, MO and Kansas City, KS.

[ F E A T U R E S ] [ P A G E 5 ]

RHS junior Jarrett Bell, one of two students who attended the meeting. “The impact of Google fiber will increasingly improve our learning process, in ways that we could have never imagined.”

Educating the public is very important. Issues that were discussed at the ayor’s Committee meeting included how to keep the new Internet strictly educationally based so that students use it for educa-tional resources not shopping and social networks.

Technology is taking over and Franklin said he doesn’t want people that aren’t current-ly exposed to new technology to be left behind.

“We have to inform ev-eryone, or they will be lost because technology is running every-thing,” Franklin said.

There are class courses, job applications, social networking sites, shopping sites and so many more technology focused things to keep up in the world. Franklin stressed on the importance of informing all community members about this new technology.

“If we don’t educate the public then they will never catch up and be in today’s world,” Franklin said.

According to the Google website, ”We’ll work closely with the communities to educate people on computer and broadband usage and when we build, we’ll start with and deploy in neighbor-hoods where people want our service.”

Bell hopes to help make sure RHS get a fair shot at getting this new technology as soon as possible.

“Our school really needs to improve our Internet usage by us-ing Google’s fiber connectivity, because if we don’t catch up with the future the future will leave us behind,” Bell said.

A’nessa Walker asking Bernard Franklin a few questions.

“Google,” cont. from pg. 4

By Cristina AlvaradosTAFF reporTer

The TV is not a babysitter, nor a teacher. That’s what a new study by American Academy of Pediatrics indicates as it warns parents of the danger of putting their small children in front of the TV even if its educational.

“We know some learning can take place from media, but it’s a lot lower, and it takes a lot longer,” Dr. Georgene Tros-eth, a psychologist at Peabody College at Vanderbilt Uni-versity in Nash-ville, TN., said in the New York Times article Par-ents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest.

Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas said it was time to re-visit the issue since technology has grown so much in the last decade to where each house-hold now has over 10 screens between TVs, iPads, smart-phones, and computers. According the the article, in one survey 90% of parents said that their children that were under 2 watched some form of media, from TV to iPhone apps.

The Academy stresses that technology is taking away from more beneficial interaction with other people. The Academy es-timated that for every hour a child under 2 spends in front of a screen, they spend about 50 minutes less of interaction, and 10% less time in creative play.

Working parents sometimes resort to placing their kids in front of the TV, just so they can shower or check e-mail according to New York Times.

“We try very hard to not do that (place their small child in front of the TV), but because both me and my husband work. If we’re at home and have to take work calls, then yes, I’ll try to put her in front of ‘Sesame Street’ for an hour, but she only stays engaged for about 20 minutes,”said Kristin Gagnier, a postdoctoral researcher in Philadelphia, in the article.

Is Technololgy Taking Over Tots

TV troubles?The amount of television being watched by children from babies to teens has been the focus of some recent studies.

Source: American Academy of Pediatrics, AP, ReutersGraphic: Angela Smith, Garrick Gibson © 2008 MCT

A Harvard Medical School study shows babies sleeping less than 12 hours and watching two or more hours of TV at age 2 have a 17 percent chance of obesity by age 3

Toddlers

American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exercise equivalentto at least 11,000 steps daily for boys, 13,000 for girls, and no more than two hours of TV and video game time

Childhood

University of Minnesota researchers show adolescents with TVs in their bedroom get less exercise, eat fewer vegetables, consume more sugary drinks, have lower grades

Teens

Kids Health Matters

See “Technology,” cont. on pg. 6

Music to our ears

Almost 100 Ruskin High School students joined forces for the first Orchestra concert of the season on Nov. 10.

[ F E A T U R E S ] [ P A G E 6 ]

by Tamara DavisNews eDiTor

Cyber-baiting, the latest trend in online bullying, has stu-dents targeting their teachers, where stu-dents irritate a teacher un-til they get so frustrated they yell or have a breakdown. Students then film the inci-dent on cell phones and post the foot-age online.

A c c o r d -ing to a Norton online family report: Global insights into family life, a fifth of teachers had either been the victim of or knew a col-league who had experienced cyber-baiting.

One of Ruskin’s own en-gineering teacher, Todd Bar-ney, experienced cyber-baiting when last year students pushed him into a verbal tirade then posted the footage online. The situation brought negative ten-sion towards Barney from other teachers and parents.

Barney did have concerns after the situation occurred and did things to correct himself.

“I still worry about those who I have disrespected, and I hope that they know that I am truly sorry,” Barney said. “I don’t go on Facebook as much anymore.”

According to Barney, he feels that the situation has changed his life in a positive way. He has learned how to

deal with situations in a better way. Personally, he feels that he is happier, in a better place and, has a better mindset when it comes to work every day.

“When I come to work I am ready for what the day has to bring and I work to my best ability,” Barney said. “I don’t care what anyone has to say about me anymore like I use to.”

Cyber-baiting is just one of the growing concerns regard-ing social networking between students and teachers. In fact, many teachers have decided to not connect with students on Facebook until they have graduated.

“My x-friend is in court be-cause of a Facebook incident,” said Marisa Usera, a Spanish teacher at Ruskin. “From her experience, I have un-friended my student Facebook friends and agreed to add them back once they have graduated. I want to know my former stu-dents are up to since they have graduated.”

In Aug. 2011, Missouri Governor, Jay Nixon, signed a bill into law restricting pri-vate online communication between students and teachers.

Most inter-preted the m e a s u r e to include not only f r i e n d i n g s t u d e n t s on Face-book, but also texts and emails b e t w e e n s t u d e n t s and teach-ers. The point of the law was to protect s t u d e n t s from sexual p r eda to r s

in Missouri schools. However, the bill was repealed because it was unconstitutional in dealing with the First Amendment.

According to Hackedu-cation.com, many educators feared that the law, as written, would have greatly curbed their ability to communicate with students through social net-working sites.

“I don’t have a problem with students being my friends on Facebook.”said Laura Wil-liams, the journalism advisor at Ruskin. “In the past, I have used Facebook for class as-signments and to remind them when assignments were due. I think it is a great way for stu-dents and teachers to connect.”

Williams said she current-ly uses an online class web site, email and texts to communicate with publications students on a daily basis.

Cyber-bating growing trendRaises additional concerns regarding teachers, stu-dents and social networking

Although parents say they have a hard time with placing their kids in front of TV, Ruskin High School teachers who have little kids say they do limit TV time. Spanish teacher Emily Starek said she only lets her three-year-old son watch one hour of TV a day.

“Saturday he’ll watch Lit-tle Einstein, Jake and the Never Land Pirates, or Phineas and Ferb,” Starek said ”But he re-ally likes to do puzzles, read, play Lego’s, or we bake, or do dance parties.”

Kyle Schickowski, RHS security guard, also limits his sons on TV.

“They can have two hours of television, or two hours on their DS,” Schickowski said. “I’m really like the outdoor type, so I prefer to have them out with me doing sports, or we’ll camp out on a weekend.”

When surveyed, most RHS staff members are out and about with their family, so the TV is not a big issue for them. But for some Ruskin students, that’s a different story.

Senior Demetria Hargrove, claims she and her little broth-ers love the TV.

“When we get home we watch anything. Sometimes a good show will come on, and then that will finish, and the next one will come on and it’s just as good as the first one. Sooner or later we stay up till three watching TV,” Hargrove said.

The Academy’s recom-mendations, announced at its annual convention in Boston, attempt to inform parents that even adult TV that small chil-dren might not be able to un-derstand is not beneficial. That would mean that even “Baby TV” on Time Warner Cable isn’t educational for small chil-dren and distracts the children important interaction.

“Technology,” cont. from pg. 5

[ F E A T U R E S ] [ P A G E 7 ]

By Victoria ojedasTAFF reporTer

Some may say it’s a waste of time, but others say it’s what will make the world a better place. Many teens in Missouri are doing tremendous things to go green. Going green means using resources responsibly to protect and sustain the environ-ment and to help slow down global warming. It means doing things like recycling and using water in resourceful ways to save energy and time. Ruskin High School junior Devin Ke-lien agrees.

“It means using natural re-sources and saving our planet,” Kelien said. “I also think going green is slowing down global warming.”

Kelien, like other Ruskin students, thinks it’s important to do his part.

“I think Ruskin should go green because going green saves the environment,” Kelein said. “I recycle every day and turn off the lights when I'm not using them, because its saves energy and power. I recycle be-cause I've been to dumps and landfills and they’re like hell on earth.”

While Kelien is passionate about the environment, some students, like junior Kwenton Watson, are not.

“I feel like it’s a waste of time and it really doesn't matter to me,” Watson said.

Despite some student’s reluctance to conserve, many Ruskin High School staff and students are also going green by recycling. Last year, new large blue recycling tubs were given to each classroom and public areas so that teachers could recycle paper from their rooms. Special Education In-structor Rachel Mayo and her students lead the school in con-tinuing the recycling program at Ruskin.

“I think our school should go green,” Mayo said. “My class does recycling and it saves the landfills. I think with all the electricity we use we should re-cycle. We should also recycle the water we use because it will kill global warming.”

Jeffery Harris helps recy-cle at Ruskin.

“Yes, I'm going green,” Harris said. “I just want to keep the environment clean so peo-ple and animals won’t get sick. I think Ruskin should go green

because it will show how we are well mannered and clean, and it will bring more people to Ruskin High School.”

Mayo said she looks to the future when it comes to recy-cling.

“I want my kids when they grow up to be able to live in a better environment,” Mayo said.

Not only is Ruskin work-ing at “going green,” the Hick-man Mills C-1 School District is really getting into the act with the addition of a new En-ergy Education Specialist po-sition. The position will be re-sponsible for implementing an energy conservation program within the District.

The District is entering a partnership with “Energy Edu-cation” to train the new staff person. According to Associ-ate Superintendent of Business Mitch Nutterfield, the program has helped many school dis-tricts and organizations and does not require the District to increase its utility budget, pur-chase new energy equipment or upgrade existing equipment.

“It is financially risk-free, and it will not impact the com-

Students Fight to Save The Planet, Go Greenfort of our students or teachers. This is the short term ‘green project’ to help us save money for years to come,” Nutterfield said in a memo to staff.

While the District may be finding ways to save the planet, here are some things others are doing to go green.

Dan Shapely editor for news of Thedailygreen.com said in his 17 year environment plan “the last generation has made progress, but its a good thing the generation coming of age today cares about the envi-ronment, because there’s still a lot of work to do.” Some ways students can start going green right now include recycling pa-per, plastic, and glass, turning the lights off when not in use, and limiting the amount of wa-ter used each day.

Eagle’s Eye 2011 Staff

Senior Tonique BurrellEditor-in-Chief

Senior A’nessa WalkerManaging Editor

Senior Tamara DavisNews Editor

Senior Cristina AlvaradoPhoto Editor/Staff Reporter

Senior Deion EdwardsSports Editor

Senior Victoria OjedaArts & Entert. Editor

Soph. Markus SneadStaff Reporter

Senior Joe FoxOnline Editor

Senior Denai BatteeOnline News Editor

Senior Zachary KingOnline Sports Editor

(Left) Senior Ken-neth Watson be-gins the takedown process on his opponent. Watson is pegged to be a leader on this year’s wrestling team.

(Right) The Lady Eagles Basketball team began their season and is working hard for victory.

[ F E A T U R E S ] [ P A G E 8 ]

by Tonique BurrelleDiTor-iN-ChieF

Sitting on the Metro look-ing outside the window, you’re maybe asking yourself, “Why did it ever have to come this far?”

You have three kids, you’re still living with your mother, and you can’t get a job.

All for one reason. You don’t have a high school edu-cation. You d r o p p e d out of high school and all you can r e m e m -ber is that it was an early Mon-day morn-ing, when your mom was wak-ing you up consis-tently tell-ing you to get ready for school. Right then and there is where you made the decision that began affect-ing your life immediately.

With no hesitation, you found yourself not wanting to go to school, not wanting to be in class, and not wanting to do any work.

So you decide to drop out of school.

According to Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education statistics,

People that drop out of high school are more likely to........

• have lower wages and work only dead-end jobs

• end up in prison.

Did you know that....• there are 1.2 million kids that dropout every

year?• 53 percent of African Americans do not

graduate from high school nationally?• 25 percent of them will in some way or an-

other go to a prison?• 71% of all high school dropouts come from

fatherless homes?• 90% of welfare recipients are high school

dropouts?

You should stay in school because....• you have the chance to excel in higher jobs.• high school graduates earn, on average,

$143 more per week than high school drop-outs.

sources:http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2011/10/black_male_high.phphttp://fatherhood.about.com/od/fathersrights/a/fatherless_children.htmhttp://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.htmlhttp://www.hfmboces.org/HFMCentralAdmin/DropOut/dropouthighcosts.htm

A Day In Your LifeRuskin High school students find reasons, ways to stay in school

the Missouri schools gradu-ated 79.8 percent of students in 2011. Ruskin High School’s graduation rate was slightly lower at 77.2 percent, down from 89.7 percent in 2010. But that percentage compares to the other nearby schools, with Cen-ter at 78.6, Raytown and 76.7

and Grandview at 67.1 percent graduation rate. The graduation rate of African American stu-dents in Missouri is lowest of all at 63.9 percent in 2011.

Many may wonder why teens drop out of school and just leave it at that. Studies from dosomething.org say that teens drop out for six different reasons: a low-income back-ground, disabilities, race, aca-demic factors, absenteeism, and high lack of motivation.

In Missouri they offer

things like alternative high schools and GED programs to help kids stay in school. Ruskin High school offers three differ-ent alternatives for high school students at risk of dropping out - Twilight School, School with-in a School, and Star Academy.

“Ruskin offer these alter-natives because it’s important to us for everyone to get their education and have an equal chance,” said Communication Arts teacher and Administra-tor Brad Barbee, who coor-dinates Ruskin’s after school programs.

Twilight School is when a student still attends school but only towards the evening from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The students take Twilight School on com-puters for two hours learning how to transition into the GED Options Program.

School within a School is for students who are behind with graduating, and at the brink of dropping-out. Stu-dents get to sit in one a class-room environment with one teacher earning credits for their classes.

“School within the school helps me because I feel smart. Coach V doesn’t put me down nor make me feel bad or feel put down,” sophomore China Hill said.

In School within a School, students earn credits within PLATO that catch them up to be back in a classroom setting. After the students complete their credits for the right class-es they’re able to be attend the

movie) gather for its premiere, Jesse and his clan of follow-ers plan their vengeance on Whitechapel that night, and only Sarah, Ethan and Benny can stop them from destroying their town.

All of these shows came from the success of that first book by Meyer that almost never happened.

Following the book’s suc-cess, the “Twilight” movie se-ries was born which more than delivered on the advance hype by generating an estimated $70.5 million in North Ameri-can box-office receipts during its opening weekend. “New Moon,” broke box office re-cords for its opening weekend of $142.8 million. “Eclipse,” the third movie, came up short of “New Moon’s” record. It made $175.3 million.

The last movie was high-ly anticipated by millions. On Nov. 11, the long awaited movie “Breaking Dawn Part 1” almost broke franchise record by bringing in $139.5 million dollars.

On its first day, “Break-ing Dawn” made $72.7 mil-lion. Also it took $144 million from foreign territories but on its worldwide success it made a whopping $283.5 million. It’s now reached more than a bil-lion in sales.

“Dropouts,” cont. on pg. 9

“Twilight,” cont. from pg. 5

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[ F E A T U R E S ] [ P A G E 9 ]

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By Zach KingsTAFF reporTer

An idea and a garage.That’s all Apple, Inc. CEO

Steve Jobs needed in order to achieve his goal in life.

Jobs, who died of pancre-atic cancer on October 5, had an impact on many people’s lives with all the great inventions and ideas he created, including people who didn’t know him personally.

Ruskin High School his-tory teacher Rick Whitsell worked at the Apple corporate offices in Kansas City and said that it was hard going to work every day and not hearing the name Steve Jobs at least once a day.

“I didn’t know the man personally but, I did hear plen-ty about him. I was told you wouldn’t wanna get on a eleva-tor with him alone,” Whitsell said comically.

The statement of him be-ing a jerk was used around the Internet world after the death of Jobs, but despite his at-titude, his brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enriched and improved the world. Some of his most popu-lar inventions were the iPhone and iPad. Those two creations changed the way people social-ize, access the web and view entertainment. His other many inventions were also amazing like the iPod Touch and the Mac personal computer but the iPhone and iPad were technol-

ogy bombs to the world.“The iPhone was intro-

duced on June 29th, 2007 and iPad on May 28th, 2010. By 2011, Ap-ple was s e l l i n g 2 2 0 , 0 0 0 i P h o n e s a day. But when the iPad d r o p p e d , r u m o r goes on by saying that it wouldn’t sell as much be-cause it was mere-ly an oversize version of the iPod Touch, especially at the surprising price of $499. But the rumor was then put to rest when Apple sold 10.8 million iPads in 2010,” Jobs said in an article by Harry McKraken that appeared in a special Time magazine commemorative is-sue about Jobs.

Way to quiet the competi-tion Mr. Jobs! For a guy whose whole life was about finding out who he really was and what he wanted to do with his life, Jobs chose the right direction to his path of success.

Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco in 1955, and adopted at birth by Paul Rein-hold Jobs and Clara Jobs. Jobs attended Reed College in Or-egon in 1973 before dropping out the same year he enrolled right before Christmas.

“After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do

with my life and no idea how col-lege was going to help me figure it out,” said Jobs in his Stan-ford com-m e n c e -m e n t a d d r e s s in 2005. “ A n d here I was

spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out.”

J o b s said that it was pretty scary at the time.

“ B u t looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop tak-ing the re-

quired classes that didn’t inter-est me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interest-ing,” Jobs said.

Jobs formed Apple Com-puter in his garage with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976.

After making this choice, Jobs went on to get a job at At-ari Gaming in San Francisco, Calif. While working for Atari for two years, Jobs had the idea to create and invest in his own computer-building company. His close friend Dan Kottke or “Woz,” who also worked with Jobs at Atari, had been told about this great idea and the two partnered up to create the extraordinary computing com-pany that is known very well today as Apple.

Things You Can Achieve With Just An Apple

50 students around Ruskin High School were asked what was their favorite Apple product. Out of 50 students, 30 stu-dents chose the iPhone 4th Generation. 10 students chose the iPod 4th Generation and 20 students chose the newly released iPad 2 .

normal classroom environment.“After School within a School, I hope to

graduate with my right class and get back in the normal classroom with my friends,” junior Cody Chapman said.

Star Academy is in a different building but still is an alternative to Ruskin High School. In Star Academy students prepare to take their

“Dropouts,” cont. from pg. 8GED and prepare for life out side of high school.

To prevent teens from dropping out, Ruskin High School offers alternatives, taking a chance and giving hope to make someone believe to be a better person and that they can excel more in life.

[ O P I N I O N ] [ P A G E 1 0 ]

A lot of students that I know when I ask them why they don’t vote respond that they don’t care, they don’t un-derstand, they don’t see the purpose, or that they don’t know how. I think that is unacceptable.

Why wouldn’t you care about what’s going to affect you? Simply not caring can affect you directly. It could cause you to pay higher taxes, miss out on help-ing your local school, or allow an elected official that doesn’t fit your beliefs to win.

What is not to understand about voting? Value your vote point blank. Sorry if that comes off harsh, but it’s the truth.

The purpose is to make a change. Taking time out of your day is making a change. Even if who you elect or what you oppose doesn’t go through the way you expected, you still attempted.

Why not take one min-ute to fill out the voter registra-tion informa-tion card and stick it in the mail? We spend all day texting. It won’t kill you to fill in the re-quired informa-tion. In the long

run it will be beneficial to you. To be eligible to vote,

you have to be at least 18 years old and a citizen of the United States. That’s it. They’re not asking for an arm and a leg.

The lack of care about the govern-ment is also why

many students don’t vote. This disappoints me because once upon a time everyone didn’t have the opportunity or

right to vote. There were years before everyone could vote without any restrictions. The 24th Amendment made that all possible. But now it seems like it was a slap in the face. So many people fought in our hon-or for us to do something that they couldn’t. Here we are tak-ing it as a joke as if it does not matter. But truth be told, it does matter. What if we get a dictator to rule our country? Your one vote could have changed it all.

Voting is really important to me because it gives you a voice. Not only that, there are

still countries that are still fighting for their voice. So at least vote in honor for those who can’t or couldn’t.

Take A Stand

O p i n i o n

A’nessa walker

This school year there are new measures in the morn-ing with security and it really grinds my gears. The process is slow and the bag handlers treat our bags like they are worthless.

Last year we didn’t have this pro-cess, so what major ordeal happened that made the district add this to our morning walk-through? They go through our personal be-longings also. They call it just checking, I call it being a tad bit nosey.

Bags are being checked and things are more tight at the metal detectors. The bags are being tossed and being roughly opened, which can increase the opportunity of personal items being ripped or even worse, broken.

I believe that the way they are handling our belongings is very careless. It seems they are trying to rush and get us on our way, but they can do it in a better fashion. Just think how would the teachers feel if the students made them stand in line and ramble through their belongings then slide and toss their stuff to them. They would probably feel exactly how we do. I think it’s a sys-tem that needs a slight tweak in our school. You can check our things but act as if our bag is your bag and treat our things like how you would want your

things to be treated.The bag checking also

takes way too much time and patience. We stand there for

a while waiting for them to be done with the little checks. If

we yell and complain about how they’re treating our stuff, we get in trouble. That’s crazy and pitiful. I be-

lieve if you are treating my stuff irresponsibly then I should let you know and not get in trouble about it. That’s taking away my freedom of speech. If I was treating your things wrong, I would want you to speak up and say something, not stand there with a look on your face of disamazement. A staff mem-ber was rambling through my things and ended up ripping my papers. They even look in our wallets. That’s taking it too far. What’s the purpose of doing all that?

Overall, I believe that we should take better measures to keep our student body safe. If we are going to have these checks, let’s have a couple more staff members in the front to help the process run smooth-er. The few they have aren’t do-ing too well.

New school procedures have students rattled

Deion edwards

PICTURE YOURSELF IN THE TALON YEARBOOK!seniors & Friends - purchase a yearbook ad today!

prices start at only $45!pick up order form in room 102!

O p i n i o n

know about eating a “balanced meal.” The meal includes at least one thing from the food

guide pyramid. This includes a grain, fruit, vegetable, pro-

tein, and dairy.Having a bal-

anced meal will al-low the students to be healthy and enjoy the

variety of foods that they have chosen.

If students have not been eating healthy, the first step for them would be to start off by packing some kind of fruit or vegetable. They can gradually learn how to eat and pack more

h e a l t h y items. I especially encourage those stu-dents who work extra hard every day, either from play-ing sports

or working right after school, to pack a lunch that includes plen-ty of fiber and other nutrients that will provide them with en-ergy to make it through the day.

I just want to warn students that if they eat unhealthy every-day from the snack stand and the vending machines, they are just risking their health.

[ O P I N I O N ] [ P A G E 1 1 ]

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

see guidelines below.

A. Forum. Eagle’s Eye News is the official student-produced medium of news and information published/produced by Ruskin High School’s Eagle’s Eye News staff members. The Eagle’s Eye News has been established as a designated public forum for student expres-sion used to inform, educate and entertain its readers as well as for the discussion of issues of concern to its audience. It will not be reviewed or restrained by school officials prior to publication or distribution. The content of Eagle’s Eye News is determined by and reflects only the views of the student staff and not school officials, the school, the Hickman Mills C-1 School District or any of its affiliates. Advisers may – and should – coach and discuss content – during the writing process. The Eagle’s Eye will print as many letters to the editor as space allows each issue. The Eagle’s Eye reserves the right not to print a letter.

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

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 eagleseye@ruskinnews.com, placed in Mrs. Williams’ mail box in the main office or hand-delivered to Room 102.

Eagle’s Eye Editorial Policy

I feel that if students spend so much time complain-ing about the cafeteria food, then they can take the time out to pack their own lunch ev-ery morning. Students seem to me more inter-ested in the snacks and the vending machines at lunch, rather then the full course lunch meals that the cafeteria serves.

It’s obvious that the stu-dents are choosing to eat un-healthy because they are dissat-isfied by the schools cafeteria food. This is when I suggest that students should pack their own lunch and bring it to school everyday.

A c -cording to a Channel One news a r t i c l e , L u n c h : What to pack, What to eat, the types of foods you choose affect your mood and energy levels.

Not only does this mean that students should pack a lunch that is satisfying to them but, it should include healthy foods that give students enough energy to keep them going. The article also states that because of the hormonal changes of the body, nutrients are important.

Students should get to

Students, Bring your own lunch

O p i n i o n

Tamara Davis

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

with freedom of speech online. The ‘no’ came from junior Emily Michele.

“I’m iffy on the freedom of speech for online, ‘cause some kids get rude and then just say whatever they feel like. Like for me, I may say ‘this class is bor-ing, or this teacher is trippin,’ but there’s a certain extent to go to. Like I wouldn’t threaten someone, or hurt them intently,” Michele said.

Master Sergeant Chris Campbell is also unsure about students right to freedom of speech on the Internet.

“My example of limit for freedom of speech is in my position, being Master Sergeant in ROTC, I don’t have to like the President, I can think badly of him. But it’s not in my place to say or publish anything bad about him,” Campbell said.

Principal Chad Ryerson feels the same.“Being a retired person out of the military, our freedom comes

with respect,” Ryerson said. “I agree with Campbell. Everyone can say whatever they want, but even though you disagree you still have to respect the authority they are in,” Ryerson said.

Many believe that Sullivan’s Tweet did not disrespect Brown-back, that it was just her opinion about Brownback and she should be able to voice those opinions. But Brownback did later apolo-gized in statement sent out from his office.

“My staff overreacted to this Tweet, and for that I apolo-gize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms,” Brownback said.

Freedom of speech is in fact one of the Americans most trea-sured freedoms. Without freedom of speech Americans don’t have

“Tweet,” cont. from pg. 2

Source: MCT Wire Service

By Denai BatteesTAFF reporTer

Shoppers got off to a strong holiday shopping start for an-other Black Friday. Shoppers spent over 11.4 millions dol-lars at retail stores and malls. This was the largest amount ever spent before the holiday season according to Shopper-Talk. This year, stores didn’t wait until 7 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving to open up for sales. Instead, stores such as Walmart, Best Buy, JC Penny’s, Target, and Toys R Us Opened at 10 p.m to start sales early. Many people came out to spend and get the big door-buster sav-ings.

“I love going Black Friday shopping for the sales.” said Senior Rosierra Warren-Thom-as. “The new time for Black Friday shopping didn’t really effect me, but I know people that had to work were probably upset.”

The National Retail Fed-eration calculated the spend-ing per shopper increased 9.1 percent over 2010. That’s the

biggest increase since 2006. Shoppers averaged almost $400 per customer. ShopperTalk, a consumer research service, also showed strong results with in-store sales on 2011’s Black Fri-day rising by 6.6 percent over 2010’s.

This year online shoppers also broke a record for Black Friday shopping with 816 mil-lion dollars spent online. That was 26 percent more than 2010 Black Friday online shoppers spent.

Black Friday planners rely on a few simple strategies. One of the primary methods used is to sell everything as cheaply as possible and depend on the number of things sold to raise profits. A lot of stores just choose only a few high-profile items to mark down and even sell them at a loss, hoping that customers just throw a few full priced items into their carts. Re-gardless of the methods, Black Friday is still a money making process and a good way to em-ploy millions of people.

Black Friday Sales Hit All Time High!(Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

[ N E W S ] [ P A G E 1 3 ]

By Denai BatteesTAFF reporTer

Students in Ruskin High School felt the earth shake on the evening of Nov. 5. An earthquake with the magnitude 5.6 occurred 45 miles east of Oklahoma City, with an epicen-ter four miles east in Sparks, Okla-homa, and was felt across much of central and east-ern Oklahoma, up eastern Kansas and into the homes of many of RHS students.

“I felt the earthquake while I was laying down in my room,” said senior Fred Kelly. “I think this has something to do with the world coming to an end because this earthquake was out of nowhere.”

Several homeowners and businesses in Oklahoma report-ed cracked walls, things falling, and other minor damages.

Two minor injuries were reported from the earthquake by the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. It jolted Oklahoma State Univer-sity’s stadium shortly after the No. 3 Cowboys defeated No. 17 Kansas State. Fans were still leaving the game.

“That shook up the place, had a lot of people nervous,” Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon said in an interview with Channel One News Oklahoma.

Geologists now believe a magnitude 4.7 earthquake ear-lier that morning was a fore-shock to the bigger one that fol-lowed that night. They recorded at least 10 aftershocks by mid morning Sunday. Two of the af-

tershocks, at 4 a.m. and 9 a.m., were a magnitude 4.0. Most people think that earthquakes occur only in places like Cali-fornia, Japan, and Alaska. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Several major and nu-merous minor earthquakes have occurred in the Midwestern and

Eastern United States, as well as eastern Canada. Since the earthquake was close to Okla-homa the earth shook rapidly and was felt in Kansas City.

An earthquake is a move-ment of the earth’s crust, which originates naturally at or below the surface. An earthquake can be caused by volcanic erup-tions; they are in fact very common in areas of volcanic activity where they proceed eruptions. They can also be triggered by Tectonic activity associated with plate margins and faults. The majority of earthquakes world wide are of this type.

Oklahoma had about 50 earthquakes a year until 2009. Then the number spiked to 1,047 quakes that shook the state last year. Most of the earthquakes have been small.

Earthquake after shock hits Kansas City By Deion edwardssTAFF reporTer

Several Ruskin High School seniors are being rec-ognized for their academic achievement and good citizen-ship. The local Elks Club has honored Ruskin’s Students of the Month for each month of the first semester. The students pictured below were selected by their teachers for their out-standing performances in class and around school.

“I’m in after school ac-tivities, I do community and inner-city theatre activities. I

felt pretty awesome and special when I found out I was select-ed,” said King.

“I was really happy when I heard I was selected and I was also kind of shocked. Like, why me?”said Rogers.

The students were full of astonishment and and excite-ment judging from their reac-tions. They will be nominating students every month and will be looking for the standout students in the classrooms. So try to show be the best you can be to get selected for a future month.

Elks Students Recognized

larice rogers Clint Donnell

Tiffany Blake Deron Johnson

Kyra Jones gavin King

Thandiwa Nelson Austin richards-strassle

S E P T E M B E R

O C T O B E R

N O V E M B E R

D E C E M B E R

[ V A L E N T I N E ’ S S P E C I A L ] [ P A G E 1 2 ][ S P O R T S ] [ P A G E 1 4 ]

By Deion edwardssporTs eDiTor

The Lady Eagles swim team season is about to start up and there’s nothing but excite-ment and anxiousness in the air.

“Last year we had a good season, but I’m hoping that this season is better,” Swim Team Coach Stephanie Melius said. “I really believe that we can have a great season because we have a lot of potential this year, we have a squad this year of old swimmers and some newcom-ers.”

There is a lot of competi-tive drive on the team and it can take the girls a long way.

“They are improving on their times and becoming more experienced in their swim-ming,” Melius said. “I’m very proud of how they are doing.”

Senior Isla Jones is starting her second year on the team.

“So far I think it’s pretty interesting and fun,” Jones said.

“We’re like a little family. My goals for this season are to get the team involved and do two events per person.”

“There is a lot of potential on the team,” junior Staysha Hampton said.

The Girls Swim Team’s first practice meet was Dec. 1 at the YMCA in Raytown, where they practice. They have a solid squad of 15 swimmers. A lot of people are surprised that Ruskin has a swim team because there is no swimming pool. But that does not stop the Lady Eagles from getting off and soaring through the waters. Ruskin doesn’t have a boys swim team, but maybe if they do good, it might inspire the school to start a boys team.

The 2011-2012 Lady Eagles Swim team consists of Zakiyyah Karriem, Isla Jones, Cierra Gibbs, Staysha Hamp-ton, Maya Purse, Emily Oaks, Yvonne Perry, Mickell Tolbert,

Ruskin swimmers make a splash

Junior Yvonne Perry fresh out the water. Photo by Ciara Gibbs.

Junior Staysha Hampton makes a splash. Photo by Ciara Gibbs.Kayla Dobbs, Natalia Parker,

Imari Faceson, Morgan Clark, Nichole Goff, Cherie Ramsey and Sara Black. Support the team by coming out to the meets and cheering our Lady Eagle swimmers on.

Catch the latest sports scores and news at the Eagle’s Eye online web

site

ruskinnews.comYour online source for

what’s going on at RHS!

last season) and proposed to reduce 40% of players’ salaries (about $800 mil-lion) and institute a hard salary cap (at $45 million per team) as opposed to a soft cap (at $58 million) currently in use,” said NBA commissioner David Stern in an ESPN.com interview.

But there were also rumors going around the sports world saying that the NBA lockout wasn’t about the league losing money at all or players salary being more than general manag-ers, but because the gen-eral managers and NBA offices weren’t getting paid enough. But beyond all the controversy, the NBA had agreed to a deal acceptable for players and managers.

[ S P O R T S ] [ P A G E 1 5 ]

By Zach KingsTAFF reporTer

All the NBA crazed fans will receive their first NBA game as a gift on Christmas day. On Nov. 26, the sides ten-tatively agreed on a system that would allow every team’s gen-eral manager and player’s sal-ary to be reasonable and fair. Can it get even better you say? Well it can, the teams that play the first game of the 2011-12 NBA season will be a rematch between the two teams that played in the NBA Finals last year. The Miami Heat and Dal-las Mavericks.

Gyms have been aban-doned, locker rooms have been empty and NBA fans have been starved as they ached for new a season. After the 2010 NBA

season, the NBPA (National Basketball Players Association) and team owners had major is-sues including revenue sharing and the structure of the salary cap.

During the lockout, teams could not trade, sign or contact players and players can’t ac-cess NBA team facilities. Many players like Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Micheal Beasley didn’t let the lockout stop their drive for the love for the game. They all played in lo-cal tournaments in their home-towns and even hosted basket-ball camps for younger athletes inspired to be great players.

“Negotiations on a new NBA began in early 2011. The league claimed that it was los-ing $300 million a year (22 out of 30 teams were losing money

Guess Who’s Back?

ARTIST: Kurt Snibbe ORIGIN: Orange County Regis-ter (MCT Wire Service)

points, the high scorer for the Eagles.

The Eagles defeated the Ti-gers by two, 74-72.

The Eagles came strong to the Raytown court and won 57-46. Hill was the lead scorer with 26 points and Tyron Dan-iel had the most rebounds.

According to the teams’ coach, Chris Barker, the team has great expec-tations for the season.

“I’m ex-cited about this season,” Barker said. “I think we Deron Hill sprints down the court.

have a great group of athletes with experience, talent, heart and desire to win.”

This year, the team only has three seniors.

“This is me, Malcolm and, Arro’s year to show the team and the school how dedicated we are to this team,” Hill said.

The coaches have high ex-pectations for the three players, as well.

“I believe we are very lucky to have all three of these young men on our team,” Bark-er said. “Bubba, Malcolm and Arro each bring a level of prac-tice and game experience that can’t be matched. This is the fourth year I’ve worked with these guys and I’ve enjoyed every moment. It’s almost like having an extra three coaches at every practice. They’ve shared the experience they’ve gained with all the younger guys.”

Barker, who has been with the seniors for all four years, says he truly loves coaching at Ruskin.

“Eagles,” cont. from front cover “I think our athletes are some of the best athletes in the state, and watching them de-velop into they young adults they’ve become has truly been a blessing for me,” Barker said.

Head Coach Gerry Marlin agrees.

“We’ve had a lot of inju-ries this year already,” Marlin said. “We’ve had many chances to give up and, several close games. Our execution and deci-sion making is better. We have a lot of heart, that’s for sure. Our young players are growing up under “fire”. We have great leadership from Bubba (Hill). Our expectations are as high as they ever ever have been.”

According to Hill, Mar-lin and Barker, they expect the team to improve day by day and in every game the team plays. They want the team to play hard and be known as the best high school basketball team.

The Eagle’s Eye Ruskin High School7000 E. 111th St.Kansas City, MO 64134

“The number one thing I want is the ZTE warp cell phone because I had the same phone for a year.”

~ Dadrain Brantley, sophomore

If you could have one thing for Christmas, what would it be? We asked students and some teachers around school and had a lot of great responses. Responses went from awesome and sweet to crazy and wild.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS...

“The number one thing I want is world peace.”

~ MSGT Chris Campbell, teacher

“What I want is to be with my family and girlfriend.”

~ Tino Martin , senior with girlfriend Tykea Gaines

“The number one thing I want is to get aviation lessons so I can learn to fly.”~ Bryce Stevenson,

sophomore

“What I want for Christmas is everyone to be safe, no one else dead and mourning for I already lost a friend.”

~ Byran White, senior

“What I really want is a Hum-mer so I can waste gas mon-ey.”~ Dornylle Whitaker,

sophomore

“I want a new car. Mine is broken.”

~ Christopher Partridge,

StudentTeacher

“I want all my foot-ball stuff for next year so I can be ready.”

~ Willie Bowles, sophomore

“I want my family to be together un-der one roof with no drama.”~ Deonte Sublett, senior