Counselors in the Cobbler Career Center continue to provide students with opportunities to see what options they have after high school. Among those opportunities are college-for-a-day visits, where students visit a South Dakota college and to see what it might be like to attend. Recently a group of Central students visited the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, which prompted Dana Young to make the … Continue reading Students Enjoy College for a Day
Despite persistent rumors on social media, Central High School and other schools in Rapid City have proved to be safe places full of the holiday spirit. The Pine Needle gives special thanks to administrators and liaison officers Hower and Doyle for all the time they have put in this week tracking down and verifying the validity of any and all rumors about school safety. Obviously … Continue reading Christmas Spirit Overcomes Rumors
By Christian Boechler Humor takes on many different perspectives from a variety of people. A practical joke to one person may be very cruel to another. It is all about the connections and relationships a particular person holds with another person or culture that determine if something is funny or cruel. Ironically, the funniest time in my own life was just that, hilarious to me … Continue reading Personal Essay: Two Perspectives on One Incident
By Mary Bright and library staff This is the last week for the eighth annual Festival of Trees, so if you haven’t been to the library yet this month be sure and come up and see the trees. Mrs. Mertes explains that with the festival, “Different organizations put up decorated trees in Central’s library. Students and staff get to vote for their favorite tree by … Continue reading Christmas Trees Overtake Library
By Leih Wyatt “Alice? She’s my best friend, my sister, my soul mate; She’s my everything, Robert,” I say, the irritation in my voice becoming more and more obvious. “She’s a figure of your imagination; a fictional character. How could she possibly be all these things if she can’t even do something as simple as share her own opinion?” My therapist asks calmly as he … Continue reading Short Story: Everyone Here Is Crazy
Winter sports are upon us and basketball players, cheerleaders, and wrestlers are getting ready for their quickly approaching contests. The Rapid City Journal has begun featuring teams in their previews and Thursday published a nice write up of the wrestling team, which they consider to be a serious contender for a state title. We do too, but we’re biased and proud of it. Perhaps the … Continue reading Weekly Roundup: Winter sports underway, Cobbler alum shines
By Brad Green Once upon a time there was a family and the two parents hated each other and their two kids. But the kids didn’t know they hated them. The parents were opposite from each other and the kids. The dad didn’t have a job and he had never had a job before and he just played video games and watched TV all day … Continue reading Short Story: A Divided House
Central is hosting the state AA volleyball tournament, but as things turned out, our girls didn’t make it in themselves . . . So while we might have the feeling of being Cinderella working at the ball instead of dancing with the prince, we are proving that without a doubt the Cobblers are good hosts and that Rapid City is a perfect place to hold … Continue reading Weekly Roundup: NHS induction and more
By Bailey Morgan How well do you know the people around you? How well do you know yourself? Do you know more about them, or you and which do want to know more about? I’ll admit that these can be pretty deep, almost soul searching questions and you don’t have to answer them, and I won’t be putting my answers here. But it seems—and this … Continue reading A Thinker Among Us: Rain inspired thinking
By John Fierro My fiancé and I got picked up on the side of the road about ten miles back. The driver was a little old lady who walked with a hunch. If it had been anyone else we probably wouldn’t have gone. I just didn’t see any harm in it. If I just would have checked the oil, we wouldn’t have been in that … Continue reading Short Story: The Hitchhikers
Central High School practiced locking down Thursday during second block, the first lock-down drill since the new additions have been occupied. That added space means security and administrators have to patrol and check quite a bit more square footage than they have in the past, but they seemed to do well with it, as Mr. Seales was able to report that, “with very few exceptions, … Continue reading Weekly Roundup: Locking Down while Mockingbird draws attention
This week marked the beginning of the second quarter, and with the ending of the first quarter came parent-teacher conferences. The arrangement was slightly different this year, as teachers in the freshmen wing stayed in the classrooms rather than come to the commons with the rest of the faculty. Admin has reported that, despite the beautiful weather, Tuesday 454 families came to the conferences, a … Continue reading Weekly Roundup: Musicians Christen New Stage
By Robbie Freidel and Daniel Lang The use of performance enhancing drugs has dated back to the first Olympic Games when Greek runners used opium concoctions to gain the upper hand in foot races. Since then, the worldwide use of such drugs has only increased. Professional cycling, among many other sports, is now an event dominated by the use of these drugs. As of August … Continue reading Live(Artificially) Strong: A look at what Lance Armstrong’s situation means to sports
By Bailey Morgan Play this scene in your head for me. You’re watching Dazed and Con fused (and if you haven’t seen it just bear with me for a bit). You are at the scene where school gets out, and people are just throwing their papers on the floor, screaming for joy, (and pain if they are freshmen), almost everybody wanting to get out as … Continue reading A Thinker Among Us: Is being out of school always freedom?
By Cullen Knowles Successful people do not perceive life as a terrible ordeal filled with impossible challenges and mindless struggles. They realize that life is filled with hardships and obstacles, but they also see the opportunities, benefits, and rewards that life contains. However, obtaining these rewards is extremely difficult and requires rigorous effort and training. In order to reap the benefits of life, a person … Continue reading The Secret to Success
This week’s photo of the week is from Jade Redleaf. It is a photo she took while walking in a park. 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. Continue reading Photo of the Week: Park Fence
The Pine Needle 