Last night’s battle for the top girls’ basketball team in Rapid City ended as a heartbreak for the Cobbler girls. The Raiders came out on top, making a big impact on the Central fans. The Central Cobblers (9-11) hosted the Stevens Raiders (9-9) at Naaz gymnasium, and while Stevens fired quick, starting the game on a 10-0 run, Central stayed in it. Later in the first half Central came back and took the lead from Stevens.

Central looked like they were struggling all night long, missing various shots and free throws. Luckily for Central, Stevens didn’t capitalize, so that is what led to such a close game. At half Central was up 28-23 and they were looking to keep the lead for the rest of the game.

The half time show consisted of the Cobbler Co-Eds dancing to various songs they have been practicing for a while. Also at half people came and supported a girl named Raven from Southwest Middle School, who collapsed in a basketball game, and for the last year now she has been battling cancer. Everyone at the game last night was supporting her and her family.

When the basketball restarted, Central looked to keep somewhat of a lead, and while shots still weren’t falling, again Stevens didn’t capitalize. The 3^rd quarter and the start of the 4^th quarter were a bust to watch. Nothing really happened until late in the game. At that point, it was very close, and with a minute left Central was up by one. At this particular point they needed to inbound the ball and run the clock or wait for a Stevens player to foul and send Central to the line. Central in-bounded and Stevens did foul, but Central wasn’t in the bonus yet to be sent to the line for free throws.

Central took a timeout and came back to inbound to Taylor Bauer, who took one dribble and got tripped by a Stevens player. The ball was stolen and Katie Klapprodt, #3 for the Raiders, got fouled and went to the line for two. She made the first free throw to tie the game at 46. Stevens then took a timeout to take pressure off Klapprodt, and it helped, as she made the second to put Stevens up 47-46.

Central quickly took their last timeout and the inbound came through to Chelsey Carmichael, who squared up for three. The ball hit back iron, but Central had a second chance, grabbing the offensive rebound. Tori Holt put up a shot and the ball again hit back iron, this time bouncing out at the buzzer, allowing Rapid City Stevens to take the win against the Central Cobblers.

If you have a photo you’d like to submit, please email the photo, your name, and the story behind the photo to chspineneedle at gmail dot com. For having her photo selected, Lynnzi receives two tickets to a Cobbler varsity home game.

With preregistration at our door steps, one may be asking one’s self, “What classes should I take?” This is a rather important question, because, after all, one would not want spend their sophomore, junior, or senior year in classes with no flavor.

Shakespeare with Mr. Sheehy will fulfill seniors' required literature credit.

Now you are probably asking, “What would you recommend?” We went to a slew of juniors and seniors, who have all gone through the paces, to see what they had to say.  Many said the usual: Myth and symbol with Bauer, and Psychology; but a few added some oddballs into the mix, like Shakespeare with Sheehy, Organic Chemistry with Farrar, and Stagecraft with Speck.

Many of these classes go overlooked but are great ways to spice up your schedule.  Shakespeare is almost the best kept secret of our school as some seniors would say, “It contains the best of everything.” Many students in this year’s class who thought they could not understand, enjoy, or respect Shakespeare fell in love with the works of the author that has stood the test of time, so this class comes highly recommended.

Then we have Organic Chemistry taught by Dr. Farrar. This is a very good class for anyone to take, especially if you plan on stepping into the collegiate world. A class like organic chemistry can be intense, but by the end of it you’ll be amazed as what you know. Finally we have Stagecraft with Mr. Speck, a class that explores the technical side of theatre and allows one to expand their technical skills on and off stage.

Dr. Farrar helps you understand things you might not realize you are capable of learning.

Going against the norm is a good thing, too. Instead of taking a run of the mill PE class, opt for a little extra difficulty with weight training or cardio classes to fulfill that credit. If you’re interested in foreign cultures, learning a new language is a start: French, German, Spanish, and Lakota are taught by some incredible teachers here at Central and you might find that you truly enjoy it.

Fine arts credits don’t restrict you to learning to play the saxophone or bongos! Choir is an option for anyone. If music isn’t your forte, the art department offers drawing and sculpting courses.

Other hidden gems you may want to take include Beyond the Books (formerly Learn N Serve), Journalistic Writing, Meteorology, Astronomy, Ancient Civilization, Prob. and Stats., Yearbook, Clay Construction, Web Design, and finally Basic Drawing.

The keys are, don’t just sign up for the first thing your friends mention and don’t build your entire schedule around trying to have no classes your senior year–ask around and find out about some of the great offerings Central has for you!

Stagecraft and design is many students' favorite class with Mr. Speck.

Remember the film Tron? Back in 1982 there was no film to compare it to. Before 2010 when they made the second film, there was still no film to compare it to. It took the video game world and translated it into film; it looked as if the people making the film jumped inside an Atari game and filmed everything they saw. There aren’t films like that anymore, films that can’t be compared to any other; they use CGI and do the same boring stuff they always do with it.

You can compare a lot of modern films to each other but, what about Scott Pilgrim Vs the World?  Can you think of any other film where people explode into coins? Or people who have giant animal spirits coming out of their instruments? Or where a guy falls in love with a girl but in order to win her heart he needs to fight her seven evil exes? I didn’t think so!

This film is based off the graphic novel with the same name, which was written by Bryan Lee O’Malley and came out in August 2004. When it came out it caught the eye of writer/director Edger Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and became a dream project of his. He was the only one who could see this become a film, and in 2010 it came out, and people . . . well, they all reacted differently.

There were more people who didn’t understand the film than people who did. It took every page of the comic and translated it into film. People object to that, crying out, “Oh my god, why does this look like a video game? This is stupid!” Well, that’s how the comic book was! He wasn’t going to change it for those people who don’t understand. It was made for the fans of the comic, the video game nerds, and himself. Yet, despite that I didn’t read the comic before I saw this, I loved every second of it.

I should go on and talk about the plot, shouldn’t I? Somewhere in Vancouver a base player named Scott is just trying to get by. He has recently gotten a girl friend that is still in high school. No one understands why he is dating her, I don’t even think he does. But while he is at the library one day, he sees his “dream girl.” That following night he goes to a party and she happens to be there. Her name is Ramona, and Scott quickly tries to get to know her. He ends up spending the night at her house (no dirty thoughts) and she starts to like him, and they start dating.

But wait! Doesn’t he have a girl friend? Right when she seems to fall in love with him, he dumps her for Ramona! Everything is perfect right? Not really . . .  It turns out in order to be with her, Scott needs to fight her seven evil exes. Why don’t I say ex boy friends? They seem to not be all the same gender . . .  Scott tries to live his normal life, but he keeps having run-ins with these “evil exes”; it turns out all to be a plot by her latest/longest ex, Gideon, who is opening a new club in town that his band really wants to play at!

Does everything end up going well? You should go see for yourself. This is a nerd movie, like I said before not everyone will get it; If you love video games, you will love this film. Check it out.

If you have a photo you’d like to submit, please email the photo, your name, and the story behind the photo to chspineneedle at gmail dot com.

To kick off the opening of the 9^th grade wing, the science department sponsored a raffle to help equip the new science classrooms.

CHS science sends a huge Thank You to Jostens, the company that sells class rings & graduation announcements, for donating the framed Terry Redlin print titled “An Evening with Friends.”

Science teachers are going to love their new equipment . . .

During the first two weeks of 2^nd semester (January 16^th – January 27^th), Central High science students were encouraged to sell five-$1.00 raffle tickets for the framed Terry Redlin print.  Students were given a variety of incentives from their teachers to participate in the fundraiser including extra credit, late work coupons, assignment/homework passes & a free day.   Many students jumped at the opportunity and several sold more tickets than asked.  Nataliee Veley, who sold 31 raffle tickets said, “I’m glad that I could help sell the raffle tickets; it definitely went to a good cause.  This means we could have more fun labs in our future!”

The community support was amazing!  Five of Ms. Heaton’s six Chemistry classes had 100% participation or more.  In reaction to this success Ms. Heaton stated, “I am so proud of my students’ response to this raffle ticket challenge.  They truly went above and beyond to raise money for science equipment.  I gave incentives to students for selling raffle tickets; however, many students exceeded the number of ticket sales required to earn the incentives.”  Students were able to generate approximately $3400 in raffle sales.  This money will go directly to acquiring laboratory materials to engage students in science.  We are so excited to have our new classrooms, but the separation of science rooms on two floors and in the freshman pod has amplified the need for more equipment.  We just do not have the depth of supplies to accommodate everyone’s needs.   With budgets so tight there just isn’t the money needed.  As a department we are looking for any and all support we can get.

Wednesday February 1^st the drawing resulted in Christian Boechler winning the print.  Christian is in Mr. Riggs Physics class.  Upon winning Christian said, “This is cool!  My parents are big Terry Redlin fans.”

Christian Boechler poses with Mr. Farrand and Mr. Riggs

Filed under: News ]]> http://chspineneedle.com/2012/02/13/funds-for-fun-totals-3400/feed/ 0 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA renvilleandrea OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA http://chspineneedle.com/2012/02/10/the-movie-buff-looks-back-on-my-bloody-valentine/ http://chspineneedle.com/2012/02/10/the-movie-buff-looks-back-on-my-bloody-valentine/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:22:06 +0000 Mr. Sheehy http://chspineneedle.com/?p=2143 ]]> by: Alan Smithee

Love is in the air people! Cupid has been shooting off some arrows! But some of those arrows have gone right through the heart . . . literally. Remember The Prowler that was a part of the hit 80s sub-genre of horror “slasher” films? Did you know that there were a lot of holiday slashers? True story! Films like the oh so famous Halloween, the oh so infamous Silent Night, Deadly Night and the oh so forgotten Mothers Day. But there was one holiday slasher that I <3 :  My Bloody Valentine.

I watch this movie every Valentine’s Day, because this movie is a classic! It’s so classic it got a crappy 3-D remake! Hey, it was in 3-D. That means something.

This film came out in 1981 when the slasher craze was going strong. It’s plot centers around miners in a small town called Valentine’s Bluff. Years ago there was an accident in the mine. The supervisors left early to go to the Valentine’s dance that the town holds every year, and they forgot to check the methane levels in the mine. What can go wrong, right!?

There is an explosion! And six miners get trapped. For six weeks they looked for them, and only one man comes out: Harry Warden. After that Harry isn’t really the same; he doesn’t eat red meat, doesn’t go out of the house too much, and oh! that following year on Valentine’s Day he kills the two supervisors. He takes their hearts away . . . <3 really. He takes out their  hearts and puts them in boxes. He leaves them at the dance with a letter saying if they hold another dance there will be hell to pay, the Harry Warden way!

Years later a group of young miners are getting ready for another dance. This of course is the first dance since the murders years ago (you will see stuff like this in a lot of slashers), but it all goes wrong after the mayor receives a Valentine with a human heart in it.

Everything goes bad after this, but the stupid young miners still want to have a party! So what do they do? The smartest thing they can do–throw a party in the mine! They have hot dogs, beer, their women, what can go wrong?

Everything! One by one they get hacked off (like every slasher film ever made). This movie tricks you though. The plot twist is pretty good, but of course I won’t ruin that. This film is pretty bloody; it’s got more blood than Friday the 13^th and it’s very mean spirited. It’s your basic run of the mill slasher film, but what’s wrong with that? They’re fun movies! And they won’t be made anymore like they were back then. It’s forever a lost genre of film.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

This past weekend the Central High School theatre department took 31 students to Aberdeen, South Dakota to perform their original one act Dublin: the Legend of Dagda.  Each year CHS Theatre takes a one act play to the State One Act Play Festival. This festival features shows from all across South Dakota, including Sioux Falls O’Gorman and Rapid City Stevens High School.

Central featured students from every grade level, including the freshman lights crew head Jared Leibel, and sophomore theatre student Heather Krebs as assistant director, two positions that have not been given to such young thespians in quite some time. Seniors included Angela Anagnostopulos, Collette Bowman, Seth Eisenbraun, Kelsey Jones, Nicole Krebs, Nick Nettle, Alex Olson, Landon Olson, Sam Poppen, Annaliese Ptacek, Mason Rensch, Andrea Renville, and John Utter.

The trip was a success. The cast and crew brought home a “superior” in both ensemble and show. Along with these awards, John Utter brought home a superior technical design award, the first to ever be given by the South Dakota High School Activities Association. The technical design category consisted of set design, a costume plot, or a publicity campaign. John, who played Dagda, won with his set design for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet — this year’s chosen play.

Not only did the cast and crew work hard, but they had fun while doing so. When they weren’t busy rehearsing and preparing for their performance, they enjoyed a night of bowling with their fellow thespians form Sioux Falls O’Gorman. A large amount of time was spent viewing other school’s productions. With such a varied group, age-wise, the drama club can look forward to success in the future.

If you have a photo you’d like to submit, please email the photo, your name, and the story behind the photo to chspineneedle at gmail dot com. For having his photo selected, Jimmie receives two tickets to a Cobbler varsity home game.

As 1st grade students poured into the new, upstairs science department, Mrs. Rasmussen’ Meteorology class could feel the energy radiating from the children. Both sets of students from the first graders to the high school seniors anticipated a wonderful time learning about the weather.  The next hour held a variety of informational entertainment for the children that the Meteorology class had prepared.

Photo by Abby Zick

As the children dispersed into their different groups, they and their chaperones went to the table of their choice and the fair began. As the students rotated around the different tables, each group had the first graders involved and active with different activities as they learned about the weather.

One of the tables held a puppet show and taught the children the importance and dangers of severe weather.  A second group taught the basic cloud types and helped the first graders make their own clouds. At the third table, the children used their creativity to color weather pictures along with a hide and go seek game about weather events. The fourth group had the children involved in a bingo game.  The final group used giant cardboard raindrops, the wind, clouds, and a sun to sing about weather events. The group used “The 12 Days of Christmas” in a new re-written weather version.

Photo by Abby Zick

The children had wonderful time and will remember the day through pictures, along with coloring pages, lyric sheets, handmade clouds, and a great story to tell all their friends and family when they got back to school and went home afterwards.

The meteorology class had a great time with the first graders, learning just how smart first graders are! They knew almost every answer to the questions the high schoolers asked that day.

Photo by Abby Zick

As the final pictures were snapped and the final goodbye’s said, the children left with huge smiles and the Cobblers were proud of how well their variety show had turned out.

In the end, this year’s Weather Fair was a moment of learning just how far students have come from their first week in meteorology and a great way to end the semester.

Mrs. Kellogg’s class wrote delightful thank you cards that you should read. See Mrs. Rasmussen for more information.

Photo by Abby Zick

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