New Faces at AHS
By Morgan Vest and Kira Crockett
Here at Auburn High School, we have new faces every once in a while. When we do get new staff or students, we like to make them feel welcome and introduce them to who we are: the Eagles.
Our first new face is Ms. Chinn. Ms. Chinn got her masters at Virginia Tech in 2023 and teaches chemistry now at Auburn High. She also worked at VT as a graduate. Ms. Chinn stated that she likes to hike and go outdoors. She added that she likes that Auburn High School has a “nice community.” Our staff asked if Ms. Chinn had any advice for the students she teaches. She said “Don't be afraid to ask questions and ask for help.” ~ Ms. Chinn
We have another new face in the building this school year. Her name is Ms. Heft and is a new guidance counselor here at AHS. Ms. Heft helps students with student needs. She graduated from high school at Wood Bridge in 1987. She got her undergrad at Madison in 1991 and Virginia Tech in 1992. Ms. Heft worked in career development at Pulaski. She even worked for Montgomery County for a few years. Our staff asked Ms. Heft about her personal interests and she shared that she likes to hike, go to the beach, visit her two sons, flipping furniture and she has two dogs who she enjoys. She added in her interview that she likes that Auburn High school is kind and friendly. Our staff also asked Ms. Heft if she had any advice for students and she said, “Don't be afraid.” ~Ms. Heft
Another new face is Ms. Wheeler. She does the SOL testing for Auburn High School. She graduated from Radford University in 2011. She worked at Floyd County in special education. She added in her interview that she likes that Auburn High has a lovely community, and her house is close to the school so everything is convenient. Our staff as well asked Ms. Wheeler if she had any advice and she had a very inspirational quote. She said, “Don't be afraid to set boundaries, it's a sign of strength and self worth. Those who love you for you are people worth investing in.” ~Ms. Wheeler.
Titanic Disaster
By Delayna Mitchell
The Titan was 22 feet long and held 5 passengers. Formerly known as Cyclops 2, Titan was a five-person submersible vessel operated by Ocean Gate Inc. The 6.7-meter-long (22 ft), 10,432 kg (23,000 lb) vessel was constructed from carbon fiber and titanium. The entire pressure vessel consisted of two titanium hemispheres with matching titanium interface rings bonded to the 142 cm (56 in) internal diameter, 2.4-meter-long (7.9 ft) carbon fiber-wound cylinder. One of the titanium hemispherical end caps could be detached to provide the hatch and was fitted with a 380 mm-diameter (15 in) acrylic window. In 2020, Stockton Rush, chief executive and co-founder of Ocean Gate, said that the hull, originally designed to reach 4,000 m (13,000 ft) below sea level, had been downgraded to a depth rating of 3,000 m (9,800 ft) after demonstrating signs of cyclic fatigue. In 2020 and 2021, the hull was repaired or rebuilt. Rush told the Travel Weekly editor-in-chief that the carbon fiber had been sourced at a discount from Boeing because it was too old for use in the company's airplanes. Boeing stated they have no records of any sale to Rush or to Ocean Gate.
There were 5 people on Titan when it lost contact with their support ship while going to see the wreckage of the Titanic on June 18, 2023. The Titan and its mothership communication was lost an hour and 45 minutes after the dive. Authorities were alerted when communication was lost. After four days a remote operated underwater vehicle found debris of the Titan about 500 meters from the bow of the titanic. The cause of the submersible explosion was failure of the pressure hull. There were 5 fatalities from the implosion. Shahzada Dawood (48), a Pakistani-British businessman of the Dawood Hercules Corporation and philanthropist, son of Pakistani businessman, Hussain Dawood, Suleman Dawood (19), the son of Shahzada Dawood. He was a student at the University of Strathclyde. His mother Christine Dawood gave up her seat for him to go down. Hamish Harding (58), a British businessman, aviator, and space tourist had previously descended into the Challenger Deep, broken the Guinness World Record for the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth, and flown into space in 2022 on Blue Origin NS-21.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet (77), a former French Navy commander, diver, submersible pilot, member of the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of the Sea and director of underwater research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic Inc., owns salvage rights to the wreckage site. Nargeolet led more than 35 expeditions to the wreck, supervised the recovery of thousands of artifacts, and was "widely considered the leading authority on the wreck site".
Ocean Gate had initially not sought certification for Titan, arguing that excessive safety protocols hindered innovation. Lloyd's Register, a ship classification society, declined Ocean Gate's request to class the vessel in 2019.
Dress Code: Have they gone too far?
By Meadow Wayne
Since the beginning of the new school year, new opinions on the school dress code have been recently developed. Although dress code is an issue at Auburn, it is also a statewide issue and it is very important. After speaking to several students, they agree that the dress code is an important problem that needs to be addressed. This involves people not feeling comfortable in the exchange of clothes they are given, senseless boundaries between what is and what is not appropriate, and sexism with the trend of girls being targeted more than boys with things like crop tops, and short shorts that don't apply to men. If females were able to wear what makes them feel comfortable, it would really boost their confidence, and more importantly, give them assurance that they can focus on their learning instead of what they are wearing. Even other things, such as the widespread opinions on social media about dress code have affected people’s perspectives. While a school dress code applies to everyone it is also unfair to some people depending on their gender, body type, etc. Some students in school may feel as if they do not fit in with others if the school dress code is too strict.
Schools have also become more strict with the dress code. Research shows that recently schools dress codes have become more strict. That we should include no shirts that show shoulders, lower torso areas, and no upper thighs. Even if the slightest amount of skin shows, you are required to wear something different, and it can cause people to feel uncomfortable and insecure around other students because the dress code suggests that these outfits are inappropriate for school when really, they should not be perceived as inappropriate at all. This could also cause embarrassment among students when they are told their outfit is inappropriate. Each year there are more and more protests against the dress code from students, and it will be interesting to see if that continues through this school year, and if it will result in any changes within the dress code.
Lizzo Drama
By Kaylan Phillips
There is a court case filed against Lizzo by 3 of her dancers. Their claims are that Lizzo and her dance captain had body shamed them and sexually harassed them and then fired them for ¨gaining too much weight¨. They said that they had felt very uncomfortable when going out with her to nightclubs in Amsterdam cause they had felt like she was forcing them to dance with the dancers that were in the show. Another person said she was being body shamed and was being called out for her recent weight gain by Lizzo. They also reported that they felt like their job was always on the line because Lizzo would often threaten their jobs. One of the lawyers for the dancers made a statement saying ¨ The stunning nature of how Lizzo and her management team treat their performers seems to go against everything Lizzo stands for publicly.¨ They settled the dispute in February but she has been struggling to get such a big fan base back since. Lizzo has also been dropped from the 2024 super bowl performance, she has been laying low ever since.
The Golden Helmet Comes Home
By Lauren Garnand and Jaxon Mundy
On an amazing upset your Eagles won back the Golden Helmet form Eastern Montgomery High School on September 15, 2023. After two years of loses to Eastern Montgomery the final score was 31-16. Congratulations to Coach Mikowicz and The Mighty Eagles.
The Auburn High School Varsity football team is looking better than they did last year. I spoke with a lot of the players about which game they are most excited to play and they all said Eastmont. I then asked the starting quarterback, Talan Mower, about his thoughts on upcoming football games and which game he is looking the most forward to. “I am most excited to play against Eastmont, we should not have lost last year and this year we have a lot more players and have a better chance of winning the golden helmet back.” When I asked Talan what things are the team going to do differently this year than last year, and he said “Now that we have a lot of new players we have a lot of different and better opportunities, we are gonna stay calm and keep our morale good and focus up before kickoff.” I asked multiple students from Auburn about their thoughts on the upcoming Eastmont football game, and most of the students I asked said that they think we are gonna win this year and it is not gonna be close. With all the things that have been said about the upcoming football game, I am expecting them to win.
Baseball Season Recap
By Lauren Garnand
The varsity baseball team´s overall final season record was 24 wins and 3 losses including the loss of the state championship to Lebanon, and what a few of our varsity players had to say about the loss was very intriguing. Joshua Givens stated "We should not have lost that game, we did not play as a team.¨ ¨ Lebanon was a good team but Auburn as a whole was off their game.¨ -Brody Hensel. One of our varsity players, Joshua Givens said ̈The best part of my 2022-23 varsity season was hanging out with the team before the game and the bus ride home after.¨ That is what creates the bond of the team. Brody exclaimed that ̈ the best part of my first varsity season was going to eat with the team.¨ As good as our varsity baseball season was, our junior varsity team had a stroke of bad luck winning only 3 games during the 2022-23 season. Losing 9 games takes its toll on team spirit, Trevin Mower commented ¨A lot of people didn't try because they knew we were going to lose.¨ I know form personal experience, that it takes more than just talent alone to win a game. When asked what position our varsity players would play if the got a choice, Joshua replied with ¨Catcher because I am a part of every play and I want to boss people on and off the field.¨ Hearing that, hopefully this upcoming season our varsity team will do just as good if not better than last years season and our upcoming junior varsity team will be ready to make a name for themselves.
Auburn's Swifties: The Eras Tour
By Rylee Lyons
On November 1, 2022, Taylor Swift announced her long-awaited 6th concert tour, but unlike any of her previous tours, it wasn’t headlined by one singular album. Instead, the tour was called “The Eras Tour,” where she would perform sers of each of her ten albums (excluding her debut album, Taylor Swift), along with an acoustic set consisting of 2 surprise songs. But to fans, the three hour long show is more than just a mixtape of all her music. Swift has been famous for reinventing her brand along with her music time and time again, resulting in each album being surrounded by their own era. Swift used this to create The Eras Tour, which took the world by storm when she was able to perfectly capture the essence of each of her eras.
The show itself is impressive enough with its 3 hour length, Swift’s vocals, choreography from Swift and her talented dancers, around 13 outfit changes, visual light shows made up by PixMob’s wristbands, and seamless transitions from era to era. But the tour also reached deeper meaning to fans across the globe. For fans that survived the Tciektmaster trainwreck and got tickets to the show, the months leading up to the concert consisted of more than just waiting. Fans collectively decided that Eras Tour outfits were no joke, and planned outfits that fit into Taylor Swift themes (albums, songs, lyrics, etc.) Another key part of the era's experience is the connection between fans via friendship bracelets. In the song "You're On Your Own, Kid", Taylor prompts her audience to “make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it” through their lives, but fans brought this lyric into the Eras Tour by showing up with arms full of homemade friendship bracelets to trade with other fans. This was a special opportunity for connection among fans, from the front row to the nosebleeds, and a great souvenir that means more than just a shirt.
Another takeaway from the Eras Tour was that Swifties will make sure no one feels left behind. After the ticket sale on Ticketmaster crashed and burned, many fans were not able to attain tickets. But, the fans that did end up going made points to live stream the shows from their seats, making sure that even though tickets might not have been available to everyone, the experience was. Fans joined on live streams across many social media platforms to watch the shows, predict surprise songs, witness Taylor announce 2 new re-recorded albums, and connect with other fans online. But the outreach didn’t stop there, thousands of people gathered outside of stadiums in the parking lots, rooftops of nearby buildings, streets, and in Pittsburgh’s case, in boats in the nearby river to watch the show. Fans of Swift made the event so much more than just a concert tour, and Swift followed by announcing that there will be a film about the Eras Tour coming out Friday, October 13th in theaters, expanding the tour to even more audiences.
New Music
By Lauren Garnand
Utopia by Travis Scott is, in the nicest way I can put it, not very good. The songs are repetitive, vulgar when you can understand what he is saying, and have zero meaning behind them. He tried this slowed down version that just isn't it. Corrina Hoose said quote ¨The auto tune is horrendous!¨ and I have to agree, it sounds like one of those toy karaoke microphones that distorts your voice. All of the songs have the same beat and sound. This album is a disgrace to rap as a genre. To put it frankly, if I had put this album out and call mumbling into a microphone, music I would find a new career. As a fan of all genres of music including rap, listening to this album was very hard but I can not in good conscience say that this is a good album.
But Here We Are by the Foo Fighters is, Definitely a rock album. The songs have meaning and passion behind them, this album has an excellent sound and beat. You can tell this is an older band, it sounds like it is from the 1990´s but that is a good thing in my opinion. Sometimes older bands lose their sound after years of performing but the Foo Fighters are absolutely an exception. If you are not into the sound of older rock you should steer clear of this album. Every song on this album is unquestionably as good if not better than every older song released by The Foo Fighters.
Barbie and its Controversies
By Maya Spero
Even from before its release, Barbie, one of this year’s biggest blockbuster hits with over $1.3 billion from the global box office, was cause for kerfuffle. Years ago, from the rise of the modern feminist movement came complaints that the Barbie doll represented an unrealistic body standard to little girls all over the world. But then as the movie release drew near censors in Vietnam banned the film from cinemas, not due to fears of body dysmorphia, but because of the film’s use of the territorially disputed nine-dash line.
At a brief moment in the movie that depicts the “real world”, a map is displayed with this nine-dash line, a line that the Chinese leadership uses to show that they lay claim to the waters of the South China Sea, something highly debatable since these waters represent the maritime borders for countries like the Philippines and Vietnam, who each have claim to many islands in this sea as well.
Around the same time that the Vietnamese banned Barbie, critics weighed in with pointed critiques of the treatment of the sexes, that being an over-the-top, antithetical matriarchy in contrast to the “real world”. In fact, many felt it was a shot at men, and showed as much through online outrage, only to further expose and confirm the ineptitude of the type of man-baby that Ken portrayed. In addition, another bout of contentiousness came from the political right over the inclusion of trans actor Hari Nef, in this Greta Gerwig directed film. As a result, some conservative pundits panned it as disgusting, while others went further, calling Barbie communist propaganda.
Well, I saw Barbie, and I didn’t see it as an attack on men so much as seeking to break traditional gender stereotypes in order to get us to look at one another with a little more perspective. Furthermore, I wouldn’t have even noticed the trans actor, had the right-wing not made such a fuss about her. And as far as the nine-dash line, it was barely on screen for a second, and as a Vietnamese person, while the use of the map was objectionable, it wasn’t enough to take away from what a remarkable film this is. If you haven’t seen it yet, Barbie is definitely worth a watch.
Whatcha listening to, AHS?
Kaylan Phillips: Chase Atlantic-Friends
( Album: Nostalgia, released in 2015, genre: Indie)
Jaxon Mundy- Drake- You and the 6
(Album: If you're reading this it's too late, released in 2015)
Caitlin Hamblin- The Weekend- Often
( Album: Beauty Behind the Madness, released in 2015, genre: R&B Electronic)
Ms. Hylton: Alice in chains-Down in a hole
( Dirt Album, released in 1992, genre: Classic/hard rock
Mr. Becknar: AC DC- Thunderstruck
(Album: The Razor's Edge, released in 1990, genre: heavy metal)
Mrs: Hash- Part of your world- New Little Mermaid movie (released in 2023)