Tax Referendum

Chloe Garner

For the students who’ve been wondering what our school does to keep us safe, Ye Pilgrim has your answer. The school board has asked for a tax referendum to gain more money for student safety.

This specific tax referendum is a community vote on whether or not to increase the school district’s taxes. PCSC is asking for a tax referendum of .00062%, or $0.19 for every $100 of property tax. For example, $62 of taxes for a property worth $100,000 will go to our school corporation. This is a big deal because anyone within the school district will pay slightly more in their taxes, which, for some families, will be extra money that’s hard to come by. On the other hand, this extra money will be used to better school facilities, education processes, increase student safety, and possibly raise teacher salaries. The referendum, while this article mostly talks about it at the high school level, will affect the entire corporation, including Riverside, Lincoln, and all four elementary schools.

Ye Pilgrim reached out to the school’s government teacher, Mrs. Kruyer, to hear her take on the hot topic. Mrs. Kruyer fully supports the referendum, saying, “We have to help provide for their [students] mental health. Not only are kids facing more and more struggles, we see our kids and we feel helpless to provide.” She explained that the referendum will be used to better student safety: physical and mental. Mr. Condon agreed with her statement, quoting, “If the referendum passes, and we can improve services to our students, my hope is that we will positively impact performance.”

The referendum won’t just be used to better student safety, but also teacher salaries. Mr. Condon said, “My hope is to provide better incentive to teachers in order to maintain effective teachers...and attract prospective teachers.” Plymouth has recently been going through an epidemic of teachers quitting or retiring in the past few years. The hope of the school corporation is that they can use the referendum to pay teachers more money. Mrs. Kruyer talked about current teacher pay, saying, “If I want to have a family and a home, I’m not going to be able to do it in education.”

Sophomore class president, Drew Harrell, appreciates the steps that PCSC is taking to improve our school system. He said, “It sounds like a good idea in the aspect of the school system getting more money to help with teacher salary and allowing for improvements in student safety.“

To gain a wider perspective, Ye Pilgrim reached out to PCSC Superintendent, Andy Hartley, for his take on the referendum. Hartley stated that the school board started thinking of a referendum after the Noblesville incident almost a year ago. Back in May of 2018, a boy brought a gun to Noblesville West Middle School and injured a young girl and a teacher. Thankfully, there was no fatalities, but it did serve as a wake up call to many schools nearby. “It hit close to home. We’re always evaluating what we’re doing and making sure it’s right, but it sparked the conversation of ‘could we be doing just a little bit more?’” The board decided to take action and start the appeal for a tax referendum.

Hartley agreed with Condon about how it’s for student safety, explaining, “We want them to have the right staff in place and the right programs in place to help support them through that growth and development process in order for them to be in a safe, secure, learning environment. The purpose in all of this is for the students.”

Voting on the issue will take place in May. Voting is only for students age 18+, information to register to vote can be accessed via this link: https://www.in.gov/sos/elections/2403.htm

For those of you that are eligible to vote, you can go to the high school on election day. The high school recently became a polling precinct. Therefore, the high school, country building, or Kiwanis are all good places to go cast your vote in May!

College Choice

Nicole Keller

From taking the SAT and ACT to filling out the Common Application and FAFSA, the college admissions process has become increasingly more complex throughout the years. In an adaptation to these increasing standards for graduating seniors, Plymouth High School developed the “Go Center”, a center for juniors and seniors to become college and career ready, operated by Mrs. Kelsey Flynn.

Students who are interested or are in need of inspiration should view the wall to discover where the seniors will be starting the next chapter in their lives.

In fact, Juniors are beginning to think about their futures as well.

Junior Kelsey Kruyer said, “The most concerning part of applying to colleges next year, is all the factors that are included. It is stressful to think, about getting your standardized test scores where you want them, asking for teacher recommendations, and so much more.”

In order to track the progress of those who have confirmed where they plan on attending, students can go to the Go Center, and the wall has students names listed with the school of their choice. For example, those who are attending Indiana University include: Kaitlyn Renneker, Makena Carmichael, Bryce Carmichael, Soren Houin, Morgan Stevens, and Rylee Tostevin. While others have committed to the rivalry school, Purdue such as Jack Garner, Halle Reichard, and Maddie Miller.

PHS Business Professionals of America go to state

Bo Meadors

One of the most nerve wracking feelings is sitting in your chair just moments before the final results of the event you competed in are announced. As your heart continues to beat and beat, harder every second, your name is finally called.

Business Professionals of America, attended the 52nd Annual State Leadership Conference in Indianapolis at the Marriott Downtown where 19 PHS students competed in various events against the whole state of Indiana. Gene Skirvin, advisor of attended the conference with the students. BPA is a career and technical student organization that aims to develop leadership, academic, and technological skills in the workplace among students and leaders within the community.

Throughout the year, PHS BPA students compete in three primary events, the Regional Leadership Conference, the State Leadership Conference, and the National Leadership Conference. In order to qualify for the State and National Leadership conference, students must place high in their events in order to move on.

A total of 19 students moved on from the Regional Leadership Conference to advance to the State Leadership Conference.

On the final day of the State Leadership Conference, awards were announced based off of students performances. Congratulations to Kaitlyn Renneker, Julia Patrick and Nicole Keller on becoming state champions in Web Site Design Team.

Speech State

Bryan Mullins

The PHS Speech team returned from the Speech State Competition at Fishers High School, last month, and while the team has not won the State Tournament since 2009, it has never prevented students from going to the Nationals Tournament. The Tournament, which will be held in Dallas, Texas, is planned to between the dates of June 15th and 22nd and will have some PHS Students in attendance.

Like many other speech members, they joined to express themselves through public address or oral interp. Other members of the speech team such as Bridget Schaffer share the same passion.

Schafer said, “I've been participating in speech and debate for six years, sometimes it feels like a lifetime. Over those years we've all had our ups and downs, arguments, gossip – the general teenage drama – but there are some things that just keep drawing you back. Let them.”

The commitment that the members have toward the speech team has been extreme, in fact there are many instances where these individuals had to overcome adversity.

Speech is a very prominent team at PHS, with students of all stories and backgrounds joining for various reasons, doing a number of different events. The Speech and Debate Team has been around for a number of years and will continue to provide students with a creative outlet for years to come.

Promposals

Mia Rachenzenter

Roses are red, donuts are the bomb, do me a favor and go with me to prom? Promposals are a cute way being asked to prom especially when it’s your crush who asked you. But how exactly are the PHS boys going to win the girls heart over and ask them to the dance?

As known, prom is just for upperclassmen, except if an underclassmen gets asked by a junior or senior. However this “rule” doesn’t stop students to confess a romantic gesture to their significant other and make them know how much it would mean to them, if they said yes to prom.

Sophomore Hayden Hopple says: “I’m still going to ask her in a charming way even though I’m a sophomore.” , which confirms that it doesn’t matter which grade you are, you can still show your crush that you care about them!

But what exactly do the boys/girls come up with for their promposal? Many students make a huge poster with a personalized quote and ask them that way. Most of the time there is also a lot of chocolate and flowers involved to win the heart completely over. Because nobody says no to chocolate right? Some also prompose with gifts or just make a simple romantic gesture which is simple but enough to let a girl’s heart melt.

All in all promposals are a very good way to ask somebody out for prom and it usually works. So don’t be shy and go ahead and ask your crush!

Heartland Gallery

Logan Faulstitch

March was Youth Art Month and that means that Heartland Artists Gallery was holding their annual Student Art Show. Kids from the Plymouth School Corporation, Grace Baptist, and Saint Michael’s all came together to make an art piece that would be displayed at the show. The Student Art Show, which has been hosted at Heartland since 2004, has included many types of art, which include watercolor, show-acrylics, mixed media, and 3D models.

Youth Art Month, which was started in 1961, has been promoting art education throughout thousands of schools throughout America. With this, kids have also made many inspirational art projects.

“Approximately 700 students at Lake Hamilton Middle School in Arkansas created “Get Well” cards for patients at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Hot Springs, Arkansas as a community service project.” The Council For Art Education reported.

“ Art (in all its forms) is so important for kids.” Kenzie Snyder, a member of Heartland Gallery, said. “By supporting our local student artists we know that we are not only supporting art education as a whole (especially because we know that art programs are the first to get cut in schools), but we are supporting the creativity of our local students.”

IHSAA Classifications

Cam Weidner and Cristian Quintana

Coming as a surprise to many, the IHSAA has come to change the classifications for schools in Indiana. What do the athletic directors think of it? Well we asked some of our own PHS athletic directors on their opinions.

John Scott was able to represent our Athletic Department and gave some information on how the classification works and what classification we will be next year. Scott informed us that a changing of a class for a school is based on something named the “success factor”. This is where if a school has two years in a row where they have great accomplishments, they will move up one class for two years and it continues after that.

Classes actually first began 1973 in football and continued after that. Now there are six classes for football; four classes in volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball, and softball. For both boys and girls soccer, there are only three classes. For the coming year the official classes for Plymouth will be in 4A for football, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, baseball, and softball. The boys soccer team will be 3A and the girls will be in 2A.

Since much has not changed for Plymouth, there isn’t much to be said here, but up and coming teams are moving into our classes. A new team that is in our football class is Evansville Memorial, who were just runners-up in the 3A state championship. So as it goes there are multiple powerhouses in our class and could get interesting as the playoffs begin next year. Overall the classifications for Plymouth haven’t specifically changed, but teams coming in to our classes are bigger and better.

PHS Seniors Ballers Win NLC All State

Kelsey Owen

Halle Reichard

Q: Were you expecting to receive NLC All State?

A: I was striving to get NLC All State, but I was unsure of who would

truly get it however am honored that they chose me.

Q: Why do you like playing basketball?

A: I love playing basketball, because of the high energy and adrenaline

that comes with it, and the friends I am able to share the sport with.

Q: Has basketball taught you any valuable lessons?

A: If anything I have learned how to be confident and

that if I make a goal and I work hard for it that anything is possible.

Cassidy Holiday

Q: How long have you been playing basketball?

A: I’ve been playing basketball since I was around 5 or 6, but started playing in travel leagues in fourth grade.

Q: On a scale of 1-10 how sad are you that it is over?

A: 8, I won’t miss the running but I will definitely miss laughing with my friends and coaches.

Q: Do you plan on playing basketball in the college?

A: No, but I’ll definitely play some intramural games in the Air Force.

Senior Spring Sports

Alivia Simpson and Grayson Meadors

Four years in a high school sport, four years to improve, four years to discover who you are.

Spring Sports stars Celia Robinson, Kate Renneker, Mary Beaty, Timothy Tremaine, Nicholas Speir, and Emily Hartman are all seniors and ready to start off their sports with a kick.

Senior track star Celia Robinson said, “I have very high expectations for this season, so I am hoping to make it back down to the State Championship again this spring!” Celia Robinson partakes in the field part of track and field and excels at it.

Senior, Timothy Tremaine is playing baseball this season. Timothy believes this season will go really well. He believes he has improved since the beginning of his high school career because of all the experience he has gained through the past 3 years. His one goal is to come in and win conference.

Timothy Tremaine said the one thing he is looking forward to is, “ Being around all my friends that play the sport and having the most fun since this is my last time playing in high school.”

Rockin' Healthy

Lauren Schumacher

“If I hadn’t just walked by and seen the sign, I would never have known about it,” shared senior Alex Matthews. This sentiment is shared by many around PHS - in November of last year, a new shop opened up right here in Plymouth, and has garnered under-the-radar buzz since it’s conception.

Rockin’ Healthy is located at 201 Garro Street, right next to River Square Park.

Marketing themselves as a healthy smoothie and drink bar, the store sells many flavors of meal-replacement shakes, including peanut butter cup, banana bread, and red velvet. Along with the shakes, you can find metabolism-boosting teas, from watermelon to pineapple.

Junior Bryan Mullins stopped in soon after the store’s opening to get a shake with his older brother, and said, “It’s different from anything else you can find in Plymouth.”

Along with rave-worthy food, at Rockin’ Healthy you can find health and nutrition advice, as well as plans personalized just for you from the Rockin’ Healthy fitness coaches.

With yummy meal-replacement shakes, metabolism-boosting teas, and ever-changing “flavors of the day,” there’s something for everyone at Rockin’ Healthy! Stop in soon.

Sickness

Topanga Deon

Are you having troubles clearing your sinuses this flu season? If so, Freshman Andrea Barragan gave us a good tip on how to clear your sinuses by putting a raw onion inside your sock and sleeping with it overnight.

Barragan said,”I first heard about it from my grandmother. And for anyone wondering if it works, I’ve tried it and it works wonders.”

Raw onions probably isn’t the first thing most people think of when they have a cold or the flu. Some might just wait it out or see the school nurse, others might even make a doctors appointment.

As some know this flu season has wiped out PHS. Many students and teachers have been absent with the flu the month of March. For instance, 17 teachers and 71 students were absent due to the flu in one day.

School nurse Krista Magee discussed how many students have been sick. She said, “Of course influenza has to be diagnosed by a doctor, but we’ve had fifty students with similar symptoms.”

Celebrity Drama or Major Catastrophes?

Grace Erdelyi

In today’s society, people pay more attention to drama news than real life crises happening around us. All you hear people talking about are the Kardashians and other celebrities. Lots of celebrities and people on social media is focusing on the drama but are not focusing on real issues today.

Back in February, news broke out that Jordyn Woods, who is Kylie Jenner’s best friend, got together with Tristan Thompson, who is Khloé Kardashian’s boyfriend and father of her daughter, True. Everyone on social media has been talking about it. Floods of comments came into the celebrities Instagram’s. Hundreds of stories have been written about this drama.

Celebrity drama is taking over a lot of social media. Lots of people seem to forget that there is news happening around us.

On March 15, 50 people were killed and 50 people were injured in a terror attack. The attack happened in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks were placed at two mosques. The suspect is now in custody and police suspect there may be more. New Zealand is now trying to change their gun laws.

“I think that the media focuses so much on celebrity news that we completely forget what’s going on in the real world. There are so many major events and disasters that get no coverage,” said sophomore Rose Wallace.

You can find many news about celebrities on social media. If you want to find out more local news you can go to websites like WNDU 16 or WSBT 22. You can even read The Pilot News for news stories and information in the Marshall County Area. More worldwide news can be found on websites like CNN, USAToday, NBC, and more.

The Vans Challenge

Emma Warren

Another day, another viral trend. The Vans challenge is taking over the internet and we are sure you’ve heard of it. Plenty of PHS students have tried the challenge all over social media

The vans challenge takes place by throwing your vans and seeing if they land right side up. Many are skeptical on the challenge. Many believe that the shoes land right side up because of the heavy bottoms on the popular shoe.

Freshman Corinne Rhodes said, “I believe they land the right side up because the bottom is the thickest part of the shoe.”

Freshman Trevor Petzke claimed, “I don’t believe the Vans land because of the bottoms, it's just pure luck.”

There are many controversies throughout PHS and social medias, not to mention the endless snapchat stories of PHS students trying the challenge.

Many students have found out about this challenge online.

Junior Topanga Deon, found out about the Vans challenge on Snapchat.

She said, “I first saw the vans challenge on snapchat when they had a featured snap story.I've also seen my friends try the challenge on snapchat.”

Without reason, this is by far a popular trend. Numerous trends take over the internet, and it spreads quickly through PHS. There is no doubt this won't be the last trend to hit the internet.