I sat down and talked to Ms.. Wimer on Wednesday and Thursday and was asking her some questions about something that was interesting about her and that most people didn’t know. When we were interviewing she told me she was a musician. She played classical piano from grade school all the way through high school and was the pianist for her show choir in high school. She was involved in choir as a singer in high school and college. In college, Ms. Wimer studied voice, and she has a Music Minor. While in college Ms. Wimer joined a fraternity it was called Sigma Alpha Iota, which is a musical fraternity. She says she is still a sister of that fraternity and goes to alumni meetings every month. She said she also arrange music in her spare time as a hobby and she sings every once in a while with friends and at church. She said she is also a member of the Carter High School Choral Boosters Board which helps make money for the musicals that they do every year. 

90-degree weather; 30-degree weather; through rain, humidity, even snow. The circumstances aren’t an issue for sophomore Collin Abbott, who runs at the track multiple times a week to train for track. To be exact, Collin stated that he runs “at least two to three times a week” to prepare for the spring track season, and once track season starts, his training will intensify for sectionals. Hard work; his current training routine involves staying after school and heading to the track, starting with a warm-up consisting of A skips, B skips, high knees, butt kicks, Frankensteins, scoops, and karaokes. Then after these stretches, Collin runs 100m, 200m, 300m, and 400m sprints, for around 45 minutes. This is obviously a lot of work for one season, so what drives Collin to do it?  When asked about his motivations for his effort and training, he replied with a conventional answer: planning to use his success in track and field to obtain a college scholarship. Collin has had this same plan since he started running back in 6th grade. Another student who formerly ran alongside Collin is a very obvious example of this extreme effort: L&N Sophomore, Matthew Black; who trains six days a week, two of which are dedicated to sprint training, two days for long-jump training, and two days for long distance running, throughout the week he also dedicates time to strength training. Matthew’s strength training regimen is even more complex than his primary schedule, where Thursday and Monday he works on triceps, Tuesday and Friday go to back and bicep, and finally, Wednesday and Saturday go to leg and shoulder training. Similarly to Collin, Matthew warms up with a stretch exercise consisting of arm circles, shoulder mobility, lower back mobility, and ending with work on everything else. In his warmup, aside from his stretches, he does 50m sprints, 100m sled sprints, he cools down with a 200m, and then finishes with 50-meter starts, and work on blocks. And while these regimens seem intense for track season, both Collin and Matthew will begin to pick up the pace for their focus in order to train for sectionals. 

On Wednesday, September 29, basketball coach Spencer Beaty resigned from coaching and teaching at Carter High School. Beaty coached basketball at Carter for 3 years and led the hornets to 2 district championships. Now that Beaty is no longer the coach, the basketball team is searching for a new coach. However, this may not be easy. Official practice starts November 1st. Their first game is November 16 at home, where they will face South Doyle. Some may be concerned about the leadership for the Hornets. There are no seniors on the team, and they have yet to hire a coach. When asked about the leadership on the team, Junior guard Jaxson Shuford stated, “Us Juniors have stepped into the leadership role. Not just one of us, but all of us together.” Sophomore guard Preston Yarber added, “Our Juniors make it a big priority to have a leadership presence.” The hornets graduated 5 seniors this past year, so lots of people are interested to see how they will perform this season. When asked what he expects of the new coach, Preston stated, “To come in with a winning opportunity.” Everyone on the team knows what they can achieve, because they have all been teammates for a little while now. “It’s going to take time to build trust, but we will come strong into the season,” Jaxson stated. It will be interesting to see how the season will play out this year under a new head coach, but the players seem to think they will pull together before the season starts.

Zackary Bennett is a senior in high school a few people know; what people don’t know is he runs his own show. The Zack Show can be found on Instagram. The show itself is a comedy where Zack talks about various different topics and even has the occasional special guest. The Zack show, as described by Zack himself, “The Show is an informative show.” The show itself is informative in regards to the fact Zack takes any questions asked and answers them all to the best of his ability. These questions have led him to do many things such as a discussion on hats, painting a wall with applesauce, and an epic duel with popular actor Jeremy Renner.

The Zack Show got its start on September 23rd of 2020. The show itself came to Zack as a random idea one day when he put on a dress shirt, and prepared his clip on tie. From then on he had started recording episodes for the show. The set is filmed entirely within Zack’s room and uses a green screen to achieve its visual look to set the scene. Zack mostly works on his show by himself, however he does have his close friend Ian Zancker for help. In an interview with Zack he describes the first time he met Ian. “We met when we were in the 6th grade in English class after Zack cracked a poem that was actually about a girl dying in the snow.” Zack told me in an interview. They have been best friends ever since. Ian’s first involvement with the Zack show began when he went bowling with Zack. “We all went bowling, and I went to Zack’s house afterward and recorded on set with him.” The episode they recorded was a discussion on hats and eventually a dance with actor Paul Rudd. Ian has not only helped with the production of the show, but also has appeared in a few episodes directly within some episodes, such as the time Yogi Bear ate him during an interview with Yogi Bear. 

The overall production quality varies from episode to episode, as some of the episodes are started with an idea and are completely improvised. Some episodes do have some planning however, as Zack’s recent episode involves reviewing the water fountains at Carter. The water fountain episode is planned to release before the end of this year, and may also include a reappearance of Ian Zancker. The show itself as previously mentioned is found on Instagram on the account oh_hey_its_zack where the newer episode set to release as of this year can be found. The episode has one minute of progress completed as of so far and will soon be complete. 

Do you perhaps want to know about Mr. Koh’s best friend/taxidermied rooster that resides in Carter High?  Mr. Koh, a math teacher in the freshman academy, has an oddly placed taxidermied rooster that resides in his classroom. One may ponder why the chicken is in a math class,since it serves no purpose being there.Mr. Koh has an interesting story on the rooster. Apparently he keeps the rooster in there because of its backstory and the fact that he liked the rooster very much when he was alive. The name of the rooster was Rocky, Mr. Koh bought a few dozen chickens and when you buy them in a dozen you get an extra. Rocky was that extra. He was a very lively young rooster that would always protect both the hens and the chicks of the flock hence why Mr. Koh took a liking to this brave rooster. But one day Mr. Koh’s wife came up to him and told him that Rocky was vicious every time she passed him. Rocky would jump on her back! Mr. Koh didn’t believe that his beloved rooster would do such an outrageous thing, so he went on with his life being peaceful until one day he walked past his rooster and then the most unfathomable thing happened his beloved rooster brutally betrayed him and showed the utmost disrespect and jumped on Mr. Koh’s back violently. At that point Mr. Koh felt bad that he didn’t believe his wife so he decided that his rooster had to go. Mr. Koh had a friend who did taxidermy so he would get a good deal so he sent Rocky to his friend and he got the meat of the rooster. So in the end he got some delicious chicken and a statue of his old friend.

Every year, UTK holds a competition at the Tickle School of Engineering for high schools across the state. Due to Covid-19, the competition was held virtually last year but the Carter Physics class had the luck to be able to attend in person this year. The day started with a presentation by UK’s first African American Engineering student and graduate; Harrold Conner. From there they made their way to the various events of the day. The team participated in the Balsa Wood bridge competition, the egg drop competition, and the spaghetti structure competition. The bridge was a competition of architecture in which the strongest bridge won. For the egg drop, each person had to create a project that would keep an egg from breaking from a 35 ft drop. As for the spaghetti tower, the team had to design and build the tallest tower out of spaghettis tape and string, then place a marshmallow on top. Each member of the team put in their best effort in order to succeed to great results. Leigh Ann Cannon, a member of the class and a senior here at Carter, said “Even though we had issues, our hard work gave us an advantage in competition. We were dedicated to our projects and the results showed that.” Their hard work did pay off; the bridge came in 5th and the egg drop came in 15th out of 66 entries. The students also had the opportunity to visit a career fair at the college. This exhibited booths from many engineering clubs on campus, along with companies there to advertise their area in business. Students even had the opportunity to participate in a simulated car crash that exhibited the job of a seat belt. The class encourages other students to take physics next semester, and participate in this enlightening event, especially if you are interested in an engineering field. Mr. Adamson, the physics teacher, encourages students to look into engineering because “Engineering is just professional problem solving, and there are a lot of problems that need solving in the world.” All in all, the event was a huge success; so if you see any of the students who participated in this event, wish them a big congratulations. 

Title: New Horizons

Band: Flyleaf

Producer: Howard Benson

Release: A&M/Octone Records on October 30, 2012

Available: In-Stores, Online

New Horizons is a breathtaking album released by the rock band Flyleaf in 2012, sporting a hard rock style with some evocative and harmonious aspects stirred within it. As the very last Flyleaf album with Lacey Sturm as the lead singer of the band, this album sure left a good last impression. New Horizons is a particular Flyleaf album that I, along with many other fans, love especially for the nostalgic, beautiful tunes that intertwine with the aggression of hard rock. This album was produced by Howard Benson, who has also produced many other Flyleaf songs, and was released/labeled by A & M Octone on October 30, 2012. This musical post-grunge/hard rock collection fits 12 songs in a 36:24 time frame. The New Horizons album has great musicianship, a variety of alternative song styles, and the beautifully matured voice of Lacey Sturm that melds it all together. First off, let’s dive into the musicians’ brilliance when creating these songs. James Culpepper, the drummer for the band, performs excellently throughout the whole album. In most alternative/hard rock albums that I’ve heard, almost every song has the same drumming melody as the next. However, Culpepper does a great job of keeping the sounds new with every song. Guitarists Kirkpatrick Seals, Sameer Bhattacharya, and Jared Hartmann create the most alluring sounds to compliment the other elements of the songs. The guitars in the background during the songs, along with the riffs starting some of them off, are truly unusual and gothic, giving off a powerful and poetic air to the music. With these things mentioned, it’s important to know just how different these songs are to one another. For example, the song “Green Heart” showcases Lacey’s powerful vocals accompanied by the mighty sound of the instruments while the song “Bury Your Heart” has a more soft-sounding, melodic tone to it. New Horizons is filled with songs that compliment each other just like the previously mentioned two, such as “Call You Out” and “Broken Wings.” It seems to mix beauty and grace with screaming and blasting resonance. Out of all the wonderful aspects of Flyleaf’s New Horizons album, it’s important to know that it just wouldn’t be the same without the one and only Lacey Sturm. Over the years of singing for Flyleaf, Lacey’s voice has become so exercised and beautifully matured that she sounds like an angel from heaven when singing in this album. Her voice is so unique that very few can copy it, and she knows just how to transition from hardcore screaming to a soft, almost fairy-like voice within a matter of seconds. The natural vibrato and strong emotion in her voice adds much taste to the songs and seems to compliment the music perfectly. Honestly, this album is a wonderful piece of art to behold, and words alone could never do it enough justice. The New Horizons album by Flyleaf has the most intricate musicianship, a variety of mismatched though fulsome songs, and Lacey Sturm’s sensationally enchanting voice that pairs perfectly with the music. The only downside is that the length of this album could have been longer, considering it was Lacey’s last album with Flyleaf before leaving the band.

The current dress code that is for the school has the right rules but it’s mainly attached to certain things and not everything else. Most people seem to think that the rules are leaning towards things that shouldn’t even be a problem for most students. While these rules are needed in the school, most of them are not even enforced that often for most of the students depending on what level that are in the school. Dress code is one of the few things that can go without being acknowledged considering there are many people in the school and mostof the administrators could miss it.

With the dress code being attached to certain things that people are wearing it is looking away from other things that are also there. It’s leaning more towards the less important things that are in the rules instead of the more things that are more likely to distract students from learning in school. Dress codes are there for a reason to prevent certain things from happeing to people at the school even though if you are not really going to enforce them there is no point to them being in the placement.

There are some things that should be allowed like, being able to show shoulders because if it is hot all day some people only want to wear tank tops to cool off easier. Dress codes are required to be placed somewhere in the school rules by the county’s for legal reasons that students have limits to what they can wear during the school day. Most people don’t want certain rules to be placed considering the fact most of them are there for no reason at all but, to just be there in placement because they are needed to be there.

Carter High School recently has had a shortage of teachers and shortage of substitutes for the teachers that are out for sickness or vacation. With the teachers that we have that are gone, other teachers from different classes when it is time for that teacher to plan out lessons so they can’t get certain things done during that time besides lunch. The staff shortage is affecting the students also depending on what class it is in with the normal teacher not being there to teach them the actual material that they are needing. Certain substitutes could teach that material but, with the sub teaching it is possible that the students would not understand that much and have questions that the sub can’t answer therefore, leading the students to not understand what they are doing to get the stuff done that they need to get done that they have been assigned. 

The art department decided to do a fundraiser of bowls for homecoming funding. They have been making bowls for this fundraiser for awhile and it was a good first project for the art student. Another reason that was said for this project was to gain money for new equipment for glass equipment, and a printer. The main goal for the homecoming funds is around 1 thousand dollars, while the equipment is going to be at least 3 thousand dollars. The process the bowls have to go through or any kinds of clay project will make a planned project tight on time considering the bisk fire is 2 days worth. The glazes that will be used upon the bowls will be food and drink safe so people are allowed to take them home if they are wanting to. They will also have styrofoam bowls if people don’t wanna use the bowls the students have made.