By: Natalie Hubert and Stella Garner

The fifth annual Miller’s Got Talent competition came to a close on Friday, November 16th as Dane and Scottie Adams were announced the winners. They were recognized as the most talented Bobcats for their juggling skills.

“The initial judges are adults that work on campus that aren’t teachers,” said Mrs. Seitz. “They narrow the videos down to the finalists, then the entire school population votes for their 3 favorite videos. This system has worked really well to fairly choose the most talented bobcat.”

First place winners Dane Adams and his brother Scottie Adams performed a juggling act. Dane has been juggling since 3rd grade and was inspired by his dad who also juggled in elementary school. He simply wanted to share his talent with other students, so he practiced for a few weeks with his brother before submitting the final video.

Another contestant in Miller’s Got Talent was Aubrey White who showed gymnastic acts with Lauren Yee. Aubrey has been doing gymnastics for 5 years and said she has “always loved flipping around." Aubrey’s friends said that she and Lauren should submit a video to the contest. Aubrey and Lauren combined some videos they had of them doing their acts as their video.

Joe Dandy also participated in Miller's Got Talent. Joe rapped in his talent video. He has been rapping for 8 years and was inspired by his dad who makes music. Joe makes a song once a month. “I like rapping to make other people happy,” said Joe.

Several students submitted videos this year and the Miller’s Got Talent competition will return for its sixth season next fall.

By: AJ Wick and Trinity Buchanan

Bob Miller Middle School participated in Be Kind Online Week from November 5th to November 9th. During this week, students participated in several activities. The counselors at Miller came up with a few scenarios for the students to discuss and get a better understanding of what online bullying is. These discussions can improve the way students use social media in the future.

Based on statistics, forty-two percent of kids have been bullied while online and a total of one out of four people have had it happen more than once (bekindonline.org). People’s feelings get hurt so they don’t have the confidence to tell a trusted adult of what mean comments were told. When people are put under that type of pressure they don’t know how to handle their situation easily. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that supports how many people suffer from being in these difficult situations.

Fifty-eight percent of kids have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that was said to them online (bekindonline.org). Social media can be a tool used to bring people’s confidence levels down, and it happens more often than most people realize.

Thirty- five percent of kids have been threatened online and nearly 1 in 5 have had it happen multiple times (bekindonline.org). When damaging messages and comments are sent to others those that send the messages don’t actually realize how much their words can deplete people's confidence in themselves. In all, twenty-one percent of kids have received mean or threatening e-mails or other messages (bekindonline.org).

Cyber bullying causes major problems for the person getting bullied. For example, most of the time cyber bullying leads to anxiety online, low self esteem, violence, despair, depression, self harm, and suicide. There are several other ways that it affects people's lives, but just one negative comment can change someone's life forever.