"The Post" brings up important topics with all-star cast (January 2018)
Following the story of The Washington Post and their attempts to publish the Pentagon Papers, “The Post” combines a well-known cast and exceptional writing to create a classic for years to come. With help from the screenplay writing of Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, director Steven Spielberg introduces the viewer to the thoughts and decisions made during this historical 1971 event.
“The Post” chiefly follows the decisions and actions that took place leading up to the publishing of the Pentagon Papers in The Washington Post. With that, the two major characters in the movie are the publisher, Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep), and executive editor of The Washington Post at the time, Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks).
The New York Times first published these exposed government secrets, but were stopped from publishing anymore of the papers after being faced with legal threats. Employees from The Washington Post were then given many of the Pentagon Papers, which gave both Bradlee and Graham major decisions to make. Confronted with the legality of the situation and pressure from those around her, Graham was forced to make the final decision on publication of the controversial news story.
Helping drive this movie to the success it has seen is the masterful acting, mainly from Streep and Hanks. The two actors have won a combined five Academy Awards, 10 Primetime Emmy Awards, and have starred in numerous successful movies. Some other notable actors featured in the film are Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson and Alison Brie; the film is taken to the next level with everyone’s superior acting.
One major issue and topic of discussion brought up by the film is the freedom of the press. The freedom of the press is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and was a major factor in the publishing of the Pentagon Papers by The Washington Post. The legality of the situation and whether or not they could publish these papers became a major factor in whether or not Graham would allow the publication.
“The Post” is an all-round superb film and is brought together by a trifecta of remarkable acting, directing and writing. Spielberg uses his strong cast to recreate the historic story involving the Pentagon Papers and The Washington Post. While not every detail of the movie was dead-on accurate, the movie still follows the main events closely and could be beneficial to many by showing a major event in America’s history.
OHS Model U.N. members participate in state competition (February 2018)
The Model United Nations club, Model U.N., attended a statewide competition on Feb. 22 and 23 in Starkville, Miss. Many OHS students participate in this club.
“The Model U.N. is a conference that is meant to represent an actual meeting of the United Nations,” Addy said. “Each participant represents a country that’s a member of the U.N.”
The club introduces students to global issues and many important topics of discussion. It also helps students improve their public speaking, critical thinking and debating abilities. OHS teacher Stella Lindsey is the club’s sponsor and advisor who helped form the club four years ago.
“The students must present their resolutions along with evidence-based arguments for adoption of the resolutions,” Lindsey said. “This involves public speaking, debating, negotiating, and forming alliances with other delegates.”
Each student represents a country that is from the United Nations Security Council, and tries to debate, amend and vote on resolutions previously prepared by each country. Senior Annie Forgette helped organize and lead the club this year.
“It’s a great opportunity to practice research and public speaking skills,” Forgette said. “It also allows students to learn how to maintain a diplomatic and productive conversation with varying viewpoints and opinions.”
The club also helps students gain a deeper understanding of contemporary global issues and the challenges facing the international community today. While many students advance directly to college after high school, there is the possibility of some students traveling to other countries to work.
“I graduated from a public high school in the Mississippi Delta with several of my classmates and friends finding jobs that took them to places like Russia, Germany, Africa, China and even North Korea,” said Lindsey. “It’s likely that many of our students will be working across international borders with the need of understanding the global transformations taking place today.”
Sophomore Lily Hemmins joined the club this year and attended the competition in Starkville. There she witnessed four OHS students win awards. Seniors Lauren Chandler and Forgette won Best Resolution, Addy won Best Delegate and junior Sam Barnard won Best Amendment during the competition.
“The OHS students had good success and won many awards, like best delegate and best resolution,” Hemmins said. “Since it was my first year, I learned a lot from the older members throughout the year and in Starkville.”
While the Model U.N. club’s primary goal is to help students learn more about global issues and help develop many useful skills, students also have fun and enjoy the club.
“Even though the club is about learning and academic stuff, honestly my favorite part of the trip was probably getting to hang out with everyone that went,” Hemmins said. “I think that everyone else also really liked going together and hanging out with each other.”
Baseball hosts spring break tournament, goes undefeated over four games (March 2018)
While OHS students had the week off for Spring Break, the Charger baseball team was hard at work during their Spring Break tournament hosted at home. The tournament ran from March 12-15 and consisted of 11 teams from all over Mississippi. The Chargers varsity team defeated Pontotoc, Cleveland Central, Caledonia and Lafayette.
“It’s always good to get some experience heading into division play,” head baseball coach Chris Baughman said. “The tournament helped get guys some at bats and hopefully get them on a roll.”
With the tournament consisting of multiple games in a span of four days, the team relied on a few underclassmen to help stay healthy and rested. Sophomores Eli Wicker and Owen Bruce got their first varsity starts pitching in the first two games against Pontotoc and Cleveland Central. In both games the team gained important wins to start off the tournament.
“It was nice to get out there and get my first win for varsity,” Bruce said. “This tournament helped some of us younger players get experience for the upcoming season.”
Throughout the tournament, Oxford was more successful offensively than they were defensively. In the final game of the tournament against Lafayette, the team committed seven errors in the field. But the Chargers were very efficient at the plate to make up for their defensive errors scoring 39 runs throughout the tournament.
“I think we did well offensively but still don’t like where we are defensively,” Baughman said. “We haven’t played our best, particularly in the infield, but I like where we are offensively heading into division play next week.”
Multiple Oxford players hit well during the tournament, some breaking out of their slumps. Junior Clay Ivy was a consistent hitter for the Chargers during the tournament, going 4-for-4 against Pontotoc, 2-for-3 against Cleveland Central and 3-for-3 against the Lafayette Commodores.
“I just got my bat going against some of the teams and kept hitting pretty well the whole week,” Ivy said.
The final game for Oxford was against their cross-town rivals, Lafayette High School. Lafayette got off to a hot start and were up 4-0 halfway through the first inning. As the game went on, the Chargers slowly dwindled down their deficit with players like Drew Bianco and Jacob Melendez having key at-bats. By the end of the game, Oxford had come back and won 11-5, sealing a perfect 4-0 record for the tournament.
“I think that with this tournament we’re finally coming into our own offensively,” Baughman said.
Track aims to sustain success in 6A (April 2018)
Coming into the 2018 season the OHS track team looked to continue its success from 5A into the highest division, 6A. Both the girls and boys teams won the 5A state championship last season. Track coach Chris Patton feels as though the team is ready and up to the task of competing for the 6A state championship.
“I’ve noticed that 6A is tougher than 5A, but we knew that going into the season,” Patton said. “I do feel the team has stepped up to the challenge.”
The team officially opened up the season with a meet at the Madison Track Classic. Following the meet in Madison the team competed
in the Ole Miss Invitational in Oxford and then the Division Meet in Tupelo where they had a strong meet. Finally the last stop before the state championship was the North State Meet where the team had another strong showing and finished with many runners qualifying for state.
“The North State Meet was key,” Patton said. “The more people we have competing at the State Meet the greater chance we have of doing well.”
Junior Tyrese Ivy has been running track for Oxford since 7th grade and stepped up as a leader and captain for the team this season. Ivy runs the 200, 400, 4x400, and the long jump for the team. Ivy now is looking forward to competing in and possibly winning the 6A title.
“Even with more competitive teams, our team is still proving that we’re one of the top teams in Mississippi,” Ivy said. “I think the team will go down to state and, if we execute all of the races like we’ve been doing throughout the season, we could come back with our first 6A state title.”
This track season is also the first season in many years without new Assistant Principal Chris Bush. Bush stepped down as track coach and took up an open assistant principal spot at the school. While Bush is not the track coach anymore and will not be coaching, he still retains relationships with many of his former runners.
“I was, am, and will always be the kind of coach that strives to make sure that my athletes know that I genuinely care about them and am concerned about who they are as people first,” Bush said. “I’m always humbled to know that I was building relationships that didn’t just last a track season, but that can last a lifetime.”
The state meet will take place on May 4 in Pearl. After having strong showings throughout all of their meets during March and April, the team and players feel as though they are ready to win 6A.
“We have really competed well this whole season and I feel that we are peaking at just the right time,” Patton said.