The lady hornets soccer team is making a mark this season by winning three of their last four games with some impressive numbers.

The team has been sure to put up some high-scoring wins this season such as their 9-0 win against Austin-East. Right now the team stands at Four wins and three losses. When asked about coaching the team, Coach Booher had this to say, “When they do what you taught them in a game it’s rewarding,  because they are improving.”

With this being the last season for the class of 2021, it can bring about some mixed emotions. One of the team captains; Raegan Boring, had this to say about her last season playing for Carter: “I feel like it’s kind of bittersweet. I’ve enjoyed every second that I’ve been able to play and I love the friendships I made with my team. I’m sad to leave, but I’m also excited to move on with life and go to college. I will miss it a lot, but I’m just so glad I got the experience I did.”

The senior class this year has made sure to set an example this year by helping their younger teammates improve. Being a captain this year, Raegan shares, “Constructive criticism is always good to help them and always compliment them if they do something good. I offer as much advice as I can.”

College is ridiculously expensive. 70% of college students and graduates are swimming in debt. Mrs. Bell shared valuable information about scholarships and which colleges an average student should look into. 

The first scholarship that should be mentioned is the Tennessee Promise. This scholarship gives students free two year access to a community, technical, or vocational in Tennessee. The student must maintain a 2.0 GPA, complete 8 hours of community service prior to each semester of enrollment, and maintain a full-time enrollment with a minimum of 12 hours per semester. The next scholarship is the University of Tennessee Promise. This particular one is income based. If a family is low income or no one in the family has gone to college, this is a perfect scholarship. Be a full-time, continuously enrolled student, maintain the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship, complete the FAFSA annually, and complete 8 volunteer service hours each semester, and complete mentoring requirements each semester. Though it can only be used for UT campuses. Another scholarship that is important to know about is the Hope Scholarship, also known as the Lottery Scholarship. To qualify a student should have a 21 or higher on the ACT and/or a 3.0 GPA or higher. When asked which colleges are more likely to accept average students Mrs. Bell stated, “Pellissippi (community college) is a good place to start for students that are unsure about their career path. It provides further exploration for future career opportunities.” A student can also get two years of this college for free by using the Tennessee Promise. “The Tennessee College of Applied Technology, TCAT, is a good place for students that are interested in a specific technical career path.”

All senior students of Carter High will be made sure to sign up for the Tennessee Promise scholarship. Please take advantage of the financial aid. “Debt should be a last resort.” For more information about senior activity and important reminders, all seniors should sign up for the Senior Remind. Text @4edb6f to 81010. 

Important Deadlines For Applications:

• October 1, 2020 – The 2021-2022 FAFSA opens for completion at www.fafsa.gov
• November 2, 2020 – The Class of 2021 TN Promise Application deadline
• December 1, 2020 – TN Promise Community Service deadline for spring 2021
• December 1, 2020 – UT Promise Application Deadline
• February 1, 2021 – The 2021-2022 FAFSA deadline

In a brief email Mrs. Brown shared that ETSU has waived their application fee from September 21-25 when using the code welcome21. Students are able to apply to ETSU for FREE.

The theatre department at Carter High School recently announced that their typical fall musical has been moved to the spring semester. Mr. Webb, the choir and musical theatre director at Carter, shocked many students and local theatre enthusiasts when the traditional autumn performance was switched to spring in hopes that COVID-19 changes would be revoked by that time. The anticipated spring musical will be a performance of Into the Woods. When asked about the changes and future of musical theatre, Webb stated, “I wanted to give students a better chance of having a performance, especially for our incredible senior class, in regards to restrictions with COVID-19.” Webb also shared that he hopes masks will be gone by spring, but if not, he may consider “oversized character masks that could fit over the entire face” in hopes to prevent the spread of the virus. Last year, the theatre department put on the production of Grease. Webb double-casted the show, with two actors per lead character. Kylee Condra, who played beloved Sandy in one of the casts, said, “I think musical theatre being in spring is the best idea.” She is sad that she and her cast mates have to wait to put on their show, but excited to end her senior year with a bang. Condra plans to audition for the Witch in their upcoming production of Into the Woods. Students are threatened that they may not be allowed to go to school in-person in spring, which also means they may not have a musical. Although the future of musical theatre this year is uncertain, Webb and all actors and crew are hopeful and ecstatic to put on their show if they are able to. 

The Carter High School Wrestling team’s season is only 3 months away, so they’re hard at work on the mat! Led by Coach Tim Free and the current team captain Austin Weir, the team looks very promising, as they have in the past. The team consists of a small but hard working group of 9 wrestlers who have been grinding as hard as possible to get ready for the upcoming wrestling season. And, the wrestlers themselves are very excited! Dahentay Pope, one of the team’s 195lbs wrestlers says, “Yea I’m excited, I’ve learned a lot more moves since last season that I’ve wanted to try out.” Not only are they ready to wrestle, but they’re also excited to win, too! Despite their small number of people, some have got skill on their side. When asked about any possible upcoming state qualifiers, Coach Tim Free said “I think Joy, Austin, and our newest wrestler Jai are going to do great. We’re also expecting a few football players coming in, so hopefully more.”  Last season, Carter had 6 wrestlers qualify for state, proving that the team has what it takes to do so again. With their small amount of wrestlers, the Wrestling team is always looking for more people to join. Anyone, any orientation can join. Tim Frees reason as to why he recommends wrestling was; “Well, you make a lot of good, long term friends in wrestling. It’s also the most physically demanding sport you can participate in during your highschool years, so you’re bound to get in shape. A lot of my kids tell me that wrestling has really helped with their anger.” You can send Coach Tim Free an email at tfree@utk.edu if you have any questions. With the next season being a quick three months away, everyone is excited for the matches, and to see the wrestlers throw each other!

Students enjoy marching, playing and performing in marching band during the football season at Carter High School. The Carter High School marching band is relatively small compared to most marching bands, but that does not stop them from giving wonderful performances and having fun. The students range from freshmen to seniors, all putting their all into the show, marching and playing until they are dead exhausted. The band practices during third period, the longest period of the school day as well as every Monday from four pm to six pm, and Thursdays, six pm to eight pm. It takes a lot of work to perform the shows but it is worth it. The shows are the highlight of marching season, with fun music, movements, and shapes formed by the students when marching. The two drum majors, JaDejsha Arnold and Ploomie Messer, are vital to the show, conducting the band and keeping them in time. When asked what her favorite part of marching band is, JaDejsha Arnold, senior drum major commented, “Doing something I love with people who love it just as much as me.” JaDejsha finds the most rewarding part of band to be the people, the players and the performers. She enjoys performing just as much as any other member of the band and always does her best when conducting. Other than drum majors, there are a multitude of woodwind, brass, battery, and front ensemble players along with guard and majorettes. Everyone is important to the show as the band is smaller than in previous years. Cameron Walker, a senior tuba player, said competitions are his favorite part of band due to being able to come together with other bands, interact, play, and listen to them play. “I feel special,” Cameron Walker commented, describing why he enjoyed band so much. Marching band makes everyone feel special, like Cameron. Even if a person is just in the general ensemble, he or she still has an important role to play, making them vital to the band. There’s lots of movements from the majorettes and the guard as the band plays on. The woodwinds play fun trills and sixteenth runs while the brass players have flowing eighth notes and quarter notes, usually having more supportive parts or melodies of the songs. Other than music, there are performances, competitions, and football games where the band performs.

Art teacher at Carter High, Mrs. Adams is holding an art show that showcases her personal work. Mrs. Adams has had a dream for many years to have an art show of her own and her dreams are finally coming true November 1st. When asked why she decided to hold this show she says, “I’ve always wanted to do a solo art show of my paintings. I’ve been doing oil paintings since college, have sold a few pieces here or there, been part of a group show (where there’s more than one artist), but never had a solo show. So it’s always been a goal of mine to make that happen.” She has always wanted to be able to show off her artwork in a show of her own. When asked what will be featured in her show she says, “I know how to use, and teach, a lot of different types of media but really love to paint with oils. The paintings in my show range from realistic landscapes to the abstract.”

Carter High School’s students are starving because the food being distributed to students is not acceptable. It is tasteless, sometimes revolting, and there are only a handful of food choices that students do not despise. The cheese sticks, tater tots, hot dogs, and holiday meals are in that list of non-despised foods, and even those are rarely given to the students. Students would rather go hungry or bring their own food than eat school lunch. Some argue that the lunch is not up to standards, and they would be right. “It’s awful; use real cheese!” said Alexus Dance, a sophomore. On the other hand, we are not paying for lunch, so we should not expect a gourmet meal. It should be improved, however, because they are literally removing the natural nutrients out of our lunches. It is bad enough that kids are waiting until they get home to eat junk food. Another problem with lunch is the condiments. Jayde Trammell, a sophomore said, “Maybe not be so stingy with the dang ketchup; like, it’s ketchup. Chill, bro!” She is not the only one angry about it, half the time when you eat a salad you don’t get the ranch you want. More to that: sometimes there are no salad meals at all. Which is a problem, because the students deserve to have a better variety of choices for lunch instead of pizza, chicken nuggets, or a patty. It gets repetitive and gross. Besides, nobody likes soggy nuggets. The lunch needs to change sooner rather than later because the old ways aren’t cutting it anymore.

Most people might not know about this but Carter High School has a book club that meets once a month, every month. During the book club meetings, Miss Davenport and Mister O’Malley discuss the book that had been chosen in the previous meeting with everybody that would like to come. There are snacks and both teachers would love to hear everybody’s opinion on the most recent book. 

Miss Davenport, the librarian, explained how a normal meeting works. “We meet after school and eat snacks while we discuss different opinions of the book” After this explanation, she added “It is a really relaxed club that doesn’t require a lot of commitment, we make sure to choose books that we can provide to the students so they don’t have to buy them.” Miss Davenport even tries to ask librarians from other high schools to get more copies of the books. 

Mister O’Malley and Miss Davenport want everybody to feel welcome to go to one of the meetings, even if they just want to see what is like. Their next meeting is on November 13 and everybody is welcome. 

Students at Carter High School usually dress appropriately but sometimes even the best students have that I-don’t-care-what-I-wear-today mood and put on something that steps slightly out of line of the dress code. However, every staff member at Carter High should have the same idea of what is minorly out of dress code and what is majorly out of dress code. Dress code rules are told to every student when they enter high school and are also retold every year when students return from summer vacation in all four grade levels. What seems to be frustrating for some students is the fact that what is considered obeying and violating the dress code is different among staff members at Carter High School. It depends on which staff member walks by and notices that the way a student is dressed is not school appropriate. Some students have noticed that the staff members who have been at Carter for a longer time tend to be more strict on making sure that most -but not all- students are wearing what they consider to be appropriate. What causes students to dislike the dress code enforcement, even more, is when someone else gets away with wearing what they got dress-coded for. Zoey Finnely, a senior, says “One day I saw that a student got called out for wearing a shirt that barely showed any skin, but there are several other students that come to school wearing clothing that is much more revealing than what the student got called out for.” The dress code is not strict in the sense that it restrains students’ ability to express their creativity and style preference, but it is not enforced by all staff members equally so it puts a gap of confusion in what actually falls in line with obeying the dress code at this school.

While it may not seem like a big deal, it is important for students to support their school’s sports teams. The loud crowd and familiar faces help create an environment where players feel motivated and, ultimately, play better. After asking some students from Carter High School how they felt about our student sections, the responses were so bland. Katie said, “For all of our sports, the student sections seem to be so small.” Would it not be gratifying to have an incomparable student section? All sporting games would become more enjoyable, they would become more lively with bleachers full of students. A student section can become intimidating to other teams, reflect school spirit, and support our athletes of Carter. Mckenzie, an athlete at Carter, said, “We should have a bus for students who want to attend away games, but do not have transportation. A large student section is beneficial for all athletic programs, it gives confidence and motivation to those performing.” Carter students, come together and support our hard-working athletes!