Teacher Profiles: Kelly Blackwell & Allyson Avery by Ty Stonehouse

Teacher Profiles: Kelly Blackwell & Allyson Avery

        Mooresville High School has a whole handful of wonderful teachers. Teachers from everywhere come to teach at the school and give their students a wonderful experience throughout their high school career. Mooresville High School offers courses from Printmaking taught by Allyson Avery, all the way to their finest math classes like AP Pre-Calculus taught by Kelly Blackwell. 

Printmaking, a fine art class that is brand new to Mooresville High School has been a class that students have a tendency to love and enjoy. Especially with their teacher Mrs. Allyson Avery. Mrs. Avery has been teaching since 2003 with this being the first year of the class Mrs. Avery has been very eager and happy while teaching the class. 

“My favorite class this year was printmaking. It was the first year I have ever taught it and it was new to Mooresville and the administration purchased a new and professional printing press,” Avery said. 

The class overall has brought many students passion about the class, and helped them create a relationship with their teacher, Mrs. Avery. 

Brayliegh White, a Freshman at Mooresville High School, had many positive things to say about the class. 

“Mrs. Avery was super sweet and amazing; she also played the best music. I would recommend the class to anyone,” White said. 

Another course that’s offered by Mooresville High School is Pre-Calculus. Pre-Cal is taught by Kelly Blackwell and she sincerely enjoys teaching the class. In Pre-Cal students are prepared for some of the college classes that they take after they graduate high school. Many diplomas in college require at least an exposure of Calculus, and when a student learns the general idea of Pre-Cal they will be more prepared for their future in college. 

“I love to be able to teach both the aspects of those who have failed Algebra I and helping them progress forward, and at the same time the rigger of Honors, and AP Pre-Calculus,” Blackwell said. 

Mooresville High School has many more wonderful classes to offer to those who are willing to put forward the extra effort. Among those wonderful classes are even better teachers who are eager to help their students progress into the real world.

Photo by Ty Stonehouse

Photo by Ty Stonehouse

Unified Sports by Suzanna Paul

   Unified Sports

        There are four different types of Unified Sports that MHS offers. Unified is described as a sport that people with and without intellectual disabilities come together for one purpose, being to compete and all around have a good time together. MHS offers sports year-round. In the Fall, there’s Flag Football. In the Winter there’s Champions Together Basketball games. Lastly in the Spring, there’s Bowing and Track and Field.

One of the coaches of Unified Sports is Tina Taylor. She has been coaching for a total of nine years. She also teaches in the Special Education Department at Mooresville High School.

“My favorite part is friendships made and the joy on everyone's face when people are cheering for them,” Taylor said.

Dylan Chesnut is a newer Unified player, just starting this year. He decided to join Unified Flag Football in the Fall. He said his experience overall was a pretty good one, with a very uplifting and encouraging atmosphere. 

Chesnut had many fond memories to look back on from this year’s football season, but one in particular stuck out to him. During a game there was an athlete on the other team that really wanted to get a touchdown, so when Mooresville was on defense the team collectively let him get that touchdown. Chesnut said that Mooresville still would’ve come out with the victory with or without the touchdown, but it felt important in that moment to give the touchdown to that athlete.

“His reaction was extremely joyful and made me realize that sportsmanship will always be better than glory,” Chesnut said.

Another Unified player is Alexis Weddle, she just started playing this year with Unified Flag Football and the Champions Together Basketball games. She plans on running track in the Spring.

“Getting to play in the Champions Together Basketball game was a great, heartwarming experience,” Weddle said.

Cole Terry is an athlete that competes in every one of the Unified Sports MHS has to offer. Not only does Terry do the sports that are offered at Mooresville, but he’s also involved in Special Olympics Basketball. He’s been doing Unified Sports since his very first year of high school.

Terry said his favorite part of Unified Sports is, “Having fun.”

Photo by Suzanna Paul

Photo by Lainie Woodward

2023 Super Bowl Predictions by Ty Stonehouse

                             2023 Super Bowl Predictions

 

    With the 2023 Super Bowl season right around the corner on Sunday there have been many debates over the outcome. Both teams in the Super Bowl have worked extremely hard to persevere to the end of their season, and eventually make it to the greatest game in NFL history, the Super Bowl. 

The Philadelphia Eagles are favored in Mooresville High School as the Super Bowl LVII champions. The reason why the Eagles have been predicted to win the Super Bowl is their greater offensive skills over the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Continually, many students in Mooresville High School had many comments about Super Bowl LVII. Kade Fisher, a current student enrolled at Mooresville High School, had many things to say about the outcome of the Super Bowl. 

“In my opinion, the Philadelphia Eagles are going to win because they overall have a way better offensive side than the Chiefs,” Fisher said.

On the contrary, some other students believe that the Kansas City Chiefs will be the overall champions of the Super Bowl game. Freshman Brooklyn Clements, another student enrolled at Mooresville High School, believes that the Chiefs will take home another Super Bowl win two times in a row. 

“The Chiefs are going to win because of their motivational, and commitment skills, they are not going down easy,” Clements said.

On another note, experts in the NFL believe that the Super Bowl 2023 winner will be the Philadelphia Eagles. The 71 experts that weighed in on the predictions were hired by ESPN, a sports broadcasting program, to predict their overall champion. The experts believed that the score of the overall game would be in favor of the Eagles with the final score being 45 - 26. 

Photo link NFL Auction 

Theriac Sisters Clear the Record Board by Suzanna Paul

              Theriac Sisters Clear the Record Board

Lylah Theriac is a swimmer at Mooresville High School. There were many different types of predictions for the season including her making it to state, breaking tons of records, and all around growing further as a swimmer. 

Lylah cleared many different records off the board. In the 100 Buttefly, which is the stroke she went to state for, she got 56:71 seconds. This is 8.9 seconds faster than the previous record which was broken in 2007. Her 100 Backstroke record was 59.51. The 100 Breaststroke was 1:10:35. The 50 Free record was 23.92 seconds. 

The swimming genetics don’t only lie with Lylah, but her sister, Senior Ariel also is an amazing swimmer. Lylah and Ariel at the beginning of the season had one main goal for the season, and that was to clear the leaderboard for the girl’s side and make it all “Theriac.” With their hard work this season, they accomplished their goal.

“I think Lylah has done extremely well. She’s improved a lot over the season and put a lot into the season,” Ariel said.

Ariel broke the longer course records for MHS. She has a total of three personal records. The first being 100 Freestyle with 56:25 seconds. She broke the 200-yard Freestyle with 1:59.71. For the 500-yard Freestyle she got an incredible 5:26.22 minutes.

Both Ariel and Lylah together with other teammates have broken the 200 Medley Relay with an incredible 1:56.21 minutes. The other relay broken was the 200-yard Freestyle Relay with 1:44.78 minutes. 

Ariel has been one of Lylah’s biggest fans this season and only wants the best for her. Ariel believes that Lylah has had an amazing start to her high school career and believes that she can do bigger and better things going forward.

“I’m kind of sad I’m leaving, but I’m glad the team has Lylah to help them move forward,” Ariel said.

While sometimes the time of graduation and Senior year in general can be a time of looking back and being sad, Ariel seems to have a more positive outlook of moving forward and doing bigger things.

Sam Meier is an Assistant Swim Coach for the team. She’s been coaching for a total of two years of high school swimming. Her personal swimming history entailed a total of seven hard working years competitively swimming. She’s been coaching Lylah for just one year and has seen a lot of improvement. 

“I think they did amazing this season, they definitely put in their all,” Meier said.

Meier also noted that the fact that Lylah made it to state as a freshman was highly impressive, especially in an individual stroke. An individual stroke is basically just a swimming event that isn’t a relay with other swimmers and is just based on one person’s sole performance.

Photo by Rose Freeman

Photo by Rose Freeman

Photo by Rose Freeman

Broadcast Elective by Olivia Denny

                            Broadcast Elective

    Mooresville high school has a large broadcasting program, taught by Professor Andrew Marine. The broadcast team does “Moore News” live streamed every class day in 5th period. Broadcast is very involved in school activities. Students go to games and film, and then edit those videos. Recently they made short videos about every pathway elective. 

    “Upton asked us to make videos about pathways so that students can go watch the informational videos before they take a course. These videos help students make informed decisions about their pathways,” Junior Austin Marine said. 

    Student press takes pride in getting the facts and helping students at MHS in any way they can. The main goal of broadcast is creating content for radio and television. Students acquire knowledge of the high-tech and innovative components of producing broadcast projects. As time goes on, the world turns more digital, and the art of broadcast has kept the importance of good journalism alive and strengthened communication. 

    “We do basic videos, like creating videos of our own choice that is 100% our vision, this includes music videos and short films. We do these all by ourselves from the story line to the script to the directing and casting the whole thing,” Sophomore Shalom Adetula said. 

    This course lets students embrace their own creativity in their very own unique ways, it keeps students involved and interested in their pathway. It’s a way to embrace their own personal style in so many ways. 

Performing Arts Calendar & Plans by Shelby McCoy

      Performing Arts Calendar & Plans

 Music is like water; it gives life to the world and flows through everyone who inhabits it. The Performing Arts Classes at Mooresville High School offer students' great opportunities to flourish. There are multiple branches of music they teach. 

    For starters, the choir is a great option for those who love to sing. They have groups who sing together and perform on stage. They have solo parts for the ones willing to step forward beyond the crowd. There are many instruments to choose from as well. 

    The band will perform at an ISSMA organizational festival. The spring concert will be later this semester. Students will be asked to dress in all black apparel. 

    The Winter concert will be at 2 pm in the auditorium on December 4th. The spring concert will be at 7 pm on April 20th. 

    “I believe that life lessons learned in band class are just as important as musical skill sets.  Things like teamwork, time management and leadership ability to name a few.”

    The Advanced Concert Band is highly effective to those who take it all in and reconstruct it into something that gives life. Music is what this class has to offer, and it’s a great opportunity to do great things. Students learn more than just music here, they learn the way of the world. 

Photo by Kade Fisher

Need Help Scheduling Classes? by Ty Stonehouse

            Need Help Scheduling Classes?

    With scheduling for the next 2023-2024 school year there are a number of many different things that students at Mooresville High School need to know. Scheduling is not something that can usually be taken lightly, or easily. Scheduling tends to be stressful and sometimes challenging depending on a student’s preferences.

    As a result of the stressful situations that many students may face, counselors have created a helpful handbook that students can find on the high school’s website. The booklet includes everything from different classes to what students may need in order to graduate high school through their diploma. 

    Amy Colbert, a school counselor at Mooresville High School, had many words of advice for the upcoming scheduling. “Students should look online at the school website for the handbook we have created to help guide students. The curriculum that has been created is very important, and students should go through the book, and start to become familiar with the classes that they want for the next school year,” Colbert said. 

    Continually, students will be looking into different electives that they may want to take for the following school year. Mrs. Colbert says that students should be prepared for different choices for their electives. Students should have not only their first choice but also their second and third choices. 

    “When students have their second and third choices for their electives, they will be more prepared and ready because we cannot always guarantee that students will get their first choice,” Colbert said. 

Furthermore, incoming freshmen may need to know a few things coming into a large change as well. 8th graders wanting to graduate with an honors diploma for next year, should also be aware of the different requirements that can be found in the pamphlet online.

Scheduling can be very stressful and hard. When students are prepared, scheduling will be simple and more stress free. 

Illustration by Ty Stonehouse

Heuchan Takes On The Board by Suzanna Paul

              Heuchan Takes On The Board!

    Senior night was last Thursday on January 26, 2023. Three of the nine seniors decided to try to dive in that meet. One of the few seniors was Alex Heuchan, he has been swimming for two years.

    All around he’s a hard worker and when it comes to diving he worked really hard for the past two weeks to be able to dive in competition. Dive Coach Corey Ervin helped with preparing Heuchan along with the other seniors that dove that night.

    “He did well overall with the effort he put in. He did a fantastic job and had a very positive attitude,” Ervin said.

    Along with the two coaches of diving, the middle school team had a big part in preparing Heuchan for the meet. Three of the middle schoolers that had the biggest part were Jon Tyner, Ava Collins and lastly Haley Vandevanter they are all seventh graders.

    “He can do more things than I would’ve expected,” Tyner said.

    Heuchan got his hurdle and his inward dives quickly. The hurdle is the thing that projects all the power in the dive, and the inward is a dive that is flipping inwards to the board.

    Jacob Taylor is another Senior that decided to take on diving this year. He has previous experience in diving from high school, so it came more naturally to him. He saw Heuchan and the way he was evolving and had all positive things to say.

    "He was a great listener, and he really took my words to heart and implicated them onto the board," Taylor said.

    Heuchan practiced everyday halfway through practice on learning and perfecting each dive for the meet. One especially was the front somersault. One of the Tyner was pleasantly surprised on the day that he finally got it down.

    "Honestly with what he had been doing that day, I was surprised and happy when he came out of the water and was super excited," Tyner said.