November
Top Stories
Editor: Kandice Williams
Smiles crowned queen, marching season ends on high note, show choir kicks off competitive season
By Grace Corey
Students explore robotics, programming languages in new course
During last October's Apple Butter Makin’ Days, many visitors struggled to find specific booths and had to ask directions or just hoped they would find them as they traveled the square. But there may soon be an app for that.
That app is a community service project that Wendi Jessee’s sixth hour Computer Information Science class may soon take on, thanks to program funding provided by Schreiber Foods.
But that’s not all. Schreiber recently provided additional funding for the Computer Information Science II class (now in its first year) to begin working with robots and drones, which Ms. Jessee said will soon be seen flying in the school hallways.
The class, which students and teachers typically call “computer programming” but should not be confused with computer applications taught by Bridgett Schmutz, is now in its third year on the MVHS schedule, though the COVID-19 pandemic may have interfered with efforts to put the course on your radar.
The course is designed to build off of interest that may have been garnered through the grades 4-8 First Lego League Robotics competition group who hold practices with computer skills teacher Ms. Kellie Krebs in the intermediate building on Mondays each week.
“We would like to see more sophomores and juniors get involved to grow into a bigger class,” Ms. Jessee said, explaining that while computer science courses are not currently required for graduation, they not only serve as a practical art credit, but also catch the attention of many colleges as they peruse students' transcripts, especially those interested in majoring in the field.
Senior Jayden Reynolds, who Ms. Jessee actively recruited for the program, said he is considering a major in computer science later in college and says the high school courses Ms. Jessee offers at MVHS are fun.
“There’s an app for the robots that you can program the robots yourself and make the robots do cool things,” Reynolds explained. “Once you learn the actual code, then you can code them to do your own thing, like code to see the color green and then follow green.”
Even if you aren’t interested in majoring in computer science, there’s a little something in the course for everyone. In game development, for instance, a variety of creative skills such as storytelling, graphic design, and programming are interwoven in the final product. “It’s similar to an English class in the fact that you can be creative—just creative with a science factor,” Ms. Jessee explained.
“This is an independent…work-at-your-own-pace class,” Ms. Jessee, now in her twenty-first year of teaching, said. “You have deadlines...but you get to design things for you, but you also get [to know] how apps are made.”
“Whether you program or not...knowing a little bit of the how-tos and coming in with the knowledge of problem-solving and puzzling it together” is something anyone with interest in computers or gaming might want to know about, according to Ms. Jessee. “All it is, is a big puzzle.”
Do MVHS students and staff attend Apple Butter Makin' Days?
By Grace Corey
Wiener dog races, apple butter, a parade, and more--all a part of Mount Vernon’s finest autumn attraction, Apple Butter Makin’ Days. The three-day event held in the second weekend of October attracts anywhere from 80,000 to 100,000 people. The real question is, how many of our students and staff actually attend the event?
Out of 95 responses, 93.7% of the respondents answered that they went to at least one day of the celebration and 58.2% said they went every day (with the most popular day being Friday). Among those who responded, 41.1% said they watched the parade on Saturday while 22.1% took part in the parade. 70.2% of the respondents shopped with the vendors, while 24.5% only bought food over the weekend.
Overall, Apple Butter Makin’ Days is by far Mount Vernon’s finest event, and even one of the most popular fall festivals in our area, attended by many of our students and staff. Other than our community’s autumn celebration, Carthage’s Maple Leaf Festival and Hollister’s Grape & Fall Festival are other well known fall festivities in Southwest Missouri.
