Throughout the history of Carter High School, many of the students’ and faculty’s lives have been impacted. Carter High School was originally built back in 1915. However, the school then burnt down several years later and on the site of the fire they built a new building which is now home to Carter Middle School. A lot of people who have been to Carter have gone on to do great things. One example is Garrett Reynolds who went on to become an NFL offensive lineman with the Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, and the St. Louis Rams. Mrs. Gilbert, the 10th grade biology teacher, has been working at Carter High School for 14 years now. Mrs. Gilbert said she has a “Deep connection with the school” after going to the school herself and having past family members who also attended the school. Cynthia Cupp, the AP Human Geography teacher, has been working for the school since 2005 – 16 years. Cynthia Cupp has stated that, “Working at Carter has impacted my life in such a positive way.” Mrs. Cupp has met many influential people over the years who have made an impact on Carter history. Mrs. Cupp has met the man the Carter High School Gymnasium is named after, Jim Williams, who she said was “a great person.” Cupp has also met John H. Clift, who she stated, “embodied the culture of Carter High School and was a wonderful mentor to both me and my husband.” Carter High School has made numerous impacts on students and staff members since it was built 106 years ago. Many of the people who have come and gone through Carter have had their lives affected in great ways, and it can hopefully continue to impact people for years to come.

A warm office. A brilliant smile. Miss. Bowman, the new guidance counselor, is bringing new warmth to the Guidance Office. Raised in West Knoxville, Miss. Bowman grew up in a loving home. Her parents were incredibly supportive and helped raise her into the person she is today. Her mom raised her to be empathetic, a quality necessary for her job, while her dad pushed her to excel academically. She had a stress filled childhood, and this understanding of home issues pushed her to want to help others work their own issues. Miss. Bowman attended Bearden High School and, upon graduation, went on to receive a bachelors in psychology. After she completed this degree she had trouble choosing her career. When asked about her decision to be a school counselor, Miss. Bowman stated, “After college I didn’t know what to do. I talked to a professor about my career because I wanted to work with kids but didn’t know how.” This professor went on to recommend school counseling. Taking the professor’s advice, Miss. Bowman continued on through the Masters program at her alma mater, Lee University in Cleveland Tennessee. After graduation, She moved back here and began looking for a job; however, jobs in this position were scarce and she was unsure she would find one until her college friend, Carter’s own, Miss. Duda told her about the opening here. Miss. Duda told Miss. Bowman about the position because, “I kind of felt that she would just be a good fit. I kinda knew because I love it and she would love it as well.” The rest, as they say, is history. Miss. Bowman’s inspiration for the job comes from her desire to help. She says “I would like to make an impact on at least one person’s life but I want to help everyone.” Other than her love of the job, Miss. Bowman loves to draw and travel. Her favorite place to go is Utah and one of her biggest goals is to move there someday. Miss. Bowman is available whenever you need; you can contact her through email, a stop by her office, or an appointment via the QR code posted outside her office. 

A bright-eyed young woman walks into Carter High School with confidence, fresh for the day. She finds her way into the counseling office with a smiling face, ready to take on the tasks ahead of her. She is ready to start this year of high school… but, this time, with a college degree. Ms. Duda began her first year of counseling in August of this year at Carter. She had previously spent her days in college at Lee University, where she played D2 lacrosse. Being a student athlete in college, along with being freshly out of high school herself, she is well equipped to handle the struggles of teenagers today. Ms. Bowman, who also graduated from Lee with Ms. Duda, started this year as a counselor as well. She says they “came here together” and are both excited for the year. While in college, Duda knew she wanted to go into some form of counseling, but really decided on being a school counselor for the connection she was able to make with the students she assists during the four years they are in high school compared to the professionalism of psychiatry. Not only is she excited for her first year in counseling, Duda also speaks highly of the Carter community that welcomed her in. She says, “I love the tight knit community here. Everyone always has a good attitude.” With her warm personality and positive frame of mind, Ms. Duda is ready for the upcoming school year, and many more to come, being of service to the student body.

Since the beginning of the school year, there have been multiple changes within the school, many of which having to do with finding ways to encourage good academic performance and behavior among the student body, like the new ice cream machine, candy for honor roll, and mention over the intercom for athletic feats. Specifically, one of these newly developed incentives is student of the month parking located at the top of the school, in front of the auditorium. There are spaces reserved for class president, senior, junior, and sophomore students of the month. In order to be able to have access to these parking spots, one must be nominated by a teacher for outstanding behavior or works that the teacher deems worthy of student of the month. Until the first students of the month are determined, the class officers are occupying the spaces. Brylea Cardwell (SGA Secretary parking in one of the spots) says, “It’s much more convenient than having to walk from the cage; It’s a great idea!” Mrs. Messer, who got the idea from surrounding schools in the area, is looking forward to sharing this opportunity, along with the other rewards, with students moving forward in the year. 

French 3 is a new class that Ms. Wimer made for the students who want to learn more about French. The French 3 class only consists of two students: Corbin Thomas and Alex Britton. The French 3 students are allowed a lot of freedom and a lot of the class is self guided, with the students prolonging what they want to learn, but still has to do some French 2 things to pretty much review what they did last year then get to the French 3. On the schedule, French 3 is mixed in with the French 2 students because of the small number of French 3 students. Ms. Wimer said “I always wanted to grow the learning of French because it helps students get into a better college and can help save some money.” She also said, the students can choose what they want to learn about in French class.” It could help save money because in college you won’t have to take French and can take another language. Corbin and Alex said “Take it for college and go deeper in the learning of the language”. The learning of the language could help if they visit a place where they only speak French or if they want to get into a better college.

The Musical Theatre class here at Carter has big ideas for the production of their show, Meet Me in St. Louis, this November 11^th, 13^th, and 14^th. The show was originally a movie starring Judy Garland; taking place in Chicago before the 1904 World Fair and focusing on 4 sisters who are attempting to prevent their family from moving to New York.  The department is in the process of casting for the show, yet the production is already full of life. The show was picked specifically for its choral aspect. The songs, described by director Mr. Webb as legato or flowing, aided in this production selection as they allowed room for musical growth amongst the cast members. The members of the department are also beginning to work on choreography for the show. When asked why he chose this production, Mr.Webb responded candidly, “I wanted to do a classic and I wanted to do a show that featured really good singing.” Musicals have tended to be a tradition in the department. Last year they produced Into the Woods, a musical that combines multiple storybook fairy tales. They have also done a production of Beauty and the Beast. The reason for this tradition is that musicals incorporate more aspects of a production than a play. Tradition also increases excitement for the production. The Department is planning multiple events prior to the production including multiple concerts and a bundt cake fundraiser courtesy of the company Nothing Bundt Cakes. The production also has a variety of members and skills. In an interview with Carlie Cole, a Junior cast member, she talked about the important skills needed for acting. She took a moment to specify that you don’t have to be the best at singing or acting, but it’s important to try your best at whatever you do for the show. In appreciation of the importance of the arts department, Carlie stated, “Art is important, and Art is alive here.”

Recent schedule changes to Carter High School students taking Honors Biology 1 have caused confusion. Carter High biology students were caught by surprise by their schedule changes on the first day of the school year. Many Students taking Mrs. Gilbert’s Honors Biology this semester might’ve noticed that their schedules were changed around right before the first day of school. For example, 10th grader Niyah Thomas had this to say about the matter: “Honestly it was really confusing, when they gave back our schedules it was different from the ones they put on aspen so I didn’t know where to go at first.” Students who shared a similar issue will be relieved to hear that there was a reason, and a good one at that. Some students might be confused on why it was just Mrs. Gilbert’s first-period class that was moved around, however the reasoning for that is, originally, Honors Biology was split into two classes to accommodate for the large number of students. This accommodation helps ensure the students remain safe when doing labs or activities that involve moving around the room; as the number of students in Mrs. Gilbert’s first period alone would over-exceed the safe amount of students in a K-12 classroom. Plus, even aside from the safety concerns, it would not provide an effective learning experience for the students, as it’s unrealistic to expect one teacher to be able to individually help each student in a class such as this which requires so much unfamiliar hands-on experimenting. Carter High School’s Honors Biology teacher -Mrs. Gilbert- had this to say about their reasoning: “It wasn’t to inconvenience anyone, we had the students’ safety and ability-to-learn in mind when making the decision and this was the solution that seemed to be most effective.” The school’s teachers and guidance counselors put much thought into the decision, attempting to give everyone a fair chance at learning while remaining impartial with their schedule changes.

The Carter High School Principles of Manufacturing class, or Welding as it is most commonly called is without a teacher this semester. The class survived for the first part of the semester by alternating with various substitutes that work here at the school, before being canceled altogether at some point during the semester with the hope of being able to bring it back when a teacher was found.

“We mainly just sat in the classroom and played on our phones,” said Thomas Fields, a former student of this class. The other CTE teachers have also helped a bit with the “management” of this class. “No new teacher yet, we have a sub right now” said Dennis Collins, an automotive mechanics teacher here at Carter High School. Also contacted was   Angie Messer, the principal of Carter High School, but she was not available for an interview.

The class takes place in a classroom that was originally occupied by Nick Nash and his fundamentals of construction class, the best that could be found on the whereabouts of Mr. Nash now, was that he moved to a school that was closer to his house. In addition to being monitored by substitute teachers, the class is also managed and monitored by a teaching assistant.

From what could be gathered, this class is without a teacher, because of how hard it is to find a teacher; welding, being a blue collar trade, makes significantly more money than teaching. As one teacher, a one Mr. Roach put it, “people really don’t want to go from making a lot of money doing barely any work, to working all day everyday for less money.” this of course is paraphrased and could be totally different from what he actually said, this however is the general idea of what he said. 

In conclusion, the class is without a teacher because of a lack of people willing to fill the position, and the other CTE teachers are having to step up and help with the management of this class. CTE of course stands for Career and Technical Education. The class is also set to continue with trying to be successful next semester, with a few new students like Diana Fisher, who was not available for an interview.

I think we have all heard of the movie real steel. Robots clashing head to head beating the life out of each other for money. But what some don’t see is the touching story line behind all the fighting. Real Steel is a very action packed movie bringing us violent robots and a story of a father and a son getting a bond that they have never had with each other. The Father Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) and the son Max Kenton (Dakota Goyo) never really meet each other until his mother had been in a car wrecked and Charlie had to sign papers giving him to his aunt, and t the time Charlie didn’t care about Max, He was busy fighting robots and trying to win that’s all he cared about anymore. Going though the movie we see the bond between the two and how they connect, we see how similar they are to each other. Getting to the middle of the movie, the movie takes a turn when Charlie and Max go to the junkyard to find more parts to build a robot and Max falls down a cliff and somehow gets tangled on a robot. Charlie saving his life. We see that Charlie cares about Max and from them on it didn’t stop, some would say that Max changed Charlie. The old robot that saved Max was just sparring bot but Max thought otherwise. Growing a bond with the robot, Max loved it and wanted to fix it up and build it to its full potential. Starting with a random fight at the zoo Max gets a taste of what the robot fighting world is like. His first battle, his first stack of cash, his first win with his first robot. But of course not stopping there Max goes to fight more robots calling out even bigger opponents until it was time to call out Zeus the World Robot Boxing Champion, the biggest of the baddest. They both thought that they would lose but that doesn’t mean they didn’t put up a fight. Round and Round Atom and Zeus head to head metal bashing metal. 

Every Friday morning Coach Beaty, the boys basketball coach, sells Chick-fil-A biscuits for $4.00. He orders 150 Chick-fil-A biscuits every morning. Coach Beaty states ”I think the kids and the staff enjoy it, it sorta brightens up their Friday and it gives them something to look froward to.” Some CHS students say that Coach Beaty’s biscuits give them an extra option for breakfast in the morning other than what the cafeteria serves. He says his sole purpose for starting this is to raise money for the basketball team. One of Coach Beaty’s previous basketball players that he coached in high school years ago; his dad owns both Chick-fil-A’s in Maryville. Coach Beaty says, “I actually drive by those Chick-fil-A’s every morning and I thought it would be an opportunity to bring Chick-fil-A to Carter High School because there’s not one close.”