The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
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RBHS gears up for Homecoming Convention transports Red Bluff swimmer breaks age old records students to Kentucky Juanita VanMeter Staff Writer Advertise in Bluffer Looking to appeal to the teenage demographic? The Bluffer is distributed to about 1100 students and community members every two weeks. Ads can be purchased for individual issues or on a yearly basis. Contact Madison Waelty in Bluffer for more details. 529-8805 Features Page 3 October 17, 2014 Tymberlyn Bealer Sports Editor Violence and cancer share the month of October partan ound S off If you could take a celebrity to Homecoming, who would it be and why? Mrs. Corning (Teacher) "Zooey Daschannel, because she would be crazy and psycho!." Tanner Durfee (11) "OJ Simpson, because I would feel safe as long as he didn't have a knife." Mrs. Barrow (Teacher) "Darth Vader, so we can practice using the force and he can teach me to breathe better." Ashley Tingor (10) "Lautner, because he is fine and he can dance." Cara Hencratt (12) "Olaf, because he likes warm hugs." Sound Off/Jay Boone Seth Owensby (9) "Megan Fox, because she is really hot." Hailie Willey Staff Writer Kaylie Capps Staff Writer Jay Boone Staff Writer Outside the Box -Julia Brandt "I think that it is exciting because the records that I have broken were from 1997 and no one has broken them until now." October! Halloween and candy, ghosts, ghouls, pumpkin spice lattes and corn mazes. There's a lot of exciting stuff to be done and seen in October, but it is also host to a much more serious occasion. October is Breast Cancer awareness month, and Domestic Violence awareness month, and there's a lot to be said about the seriousness of these issues. President Obama made a proclamation about it on September 30, stating, "Domestic violence affects every American. It harms our communities, weakens the foundation of our Nation, and hurts those we love most. It is an affront to our basic decency and humanity, and it must end. During National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we acknowledge the progress made in reducing these shameful crimes, embrace the basic human right to be free from violence and abuse, and recognize that more work remains until every individual is able to live free from fear." Obviously the issue is being taken very seriously by the higher ups, but what about here, in RB? A candlelight walk was held on Thursday, October second, as a public event to shine light on Domestic Violence in RB, the state and the country. Domestic Violence survivors spoke at the Tehama Country Superior court, and the event was held by the Alternatives to Violence organization and was their second annual candlelight event. Breast cancer awareness is also a huge event stirring up this month. Around the country a creative array fund raisers, anything from festive pink bake sales to running events take place to raise awareness and funds to support women in need. There are hundreds of websites that offer information, financial aid and support groups for those who have lost loved ones to breast cancer. October is a month of fun and festivities, but we also must look past these things and act on the more serious issues that are brought forth to us. Support breast cancer awareness month by wearing pink, and support domestic violence awareness month by wearing purple. Julia Brandt is a student at Red Bluff High School and has broken six swimming records in the past two years. She broke three records last year and three records this year. "I think that it is exciting because the records that I have broken were from 1997 and no one has broken them until now," Julia Brandt said. She started s w i m m i n g competitively when she was six. She started swimming because her grandmother cannot swim, and she paid for all of her grandchildren swimming lessons because if she was drowning she couldn't save them. Brandt's biggest fan is her mother because she keeps her swimming everyday and cheers for her at competitions. To get prepared, Brandt eats healthy and drinks a lot of water. Before each race, she has to get her heart rate up, and keep it up until the race starts. "The most challenging thing is keeping you mind in the sport and not quitting," she said. Brandt, also, said that the most exciting part of a race is right before it starts, and she feels nervous, but when she dives into the pool, she can't be nervous anymore – she just has to keep swimming. This October 17, 2014 is Red Bluff High School's homecoming football game against Paradise High School. The following day, October 18 is our homecoming dance at 9 pm to 12am. Big events such as these take a lot of time and hard work to put on. Jasmine Dittner stated, "Before homecoming it takes about two months of preparation." A helpful way of preparation that is often forgot about is posters. Carley Clement shared, "For publicity we create posters with information on them such as; what time the homecoming game and dance is, what the dress up days are, where to go, and how to live their life." During the two moth preparation period before homecoming student government is in charge of organizing many things. Jordan Vasquez commented, "Student government is in charge of getting the vehicles which pull the class floats across the football field." Adding on to Vasquez's comment, "We are in charge of all the music that is played during the homecoming rally," said Monroe Grabfelder. After all the weeks of preparation for the homecoming dance comes to a end, there's still work to be done the day of the dance. Guilie estimated, "The day of homecoming, it takes about two hours to decorate for the dance." Our 2014 homecoming dance is held on Red Bluff High School's campus in the gym. A large portion of homecoming is spirt week the week of the homecoming. Clement shared again, "For ideas on spirit week dress up days we look at what other schools have done and vote on what days we should do. Also we make some dress up days up." Homecoming queen nominee Daisy Brose shared, "My favorite part of this experience has been getting to know the other homecoming queen nominees and getting to dress up." Red Bluff High School's 2014 homecoming queen nominees are Daisy Brose, Molly Murphy, Maryn Spangler, Allison Winning, and Olivia Zumalt. Students spend hours of hard work and preparation to make Homecoming a success The National FFA Convention is a convention for FFA students. The National FFA Convention has a conference every year that lasts about four days from October twenty first to November first. This year is the 87 year that the National FFA Convention has been going on. This convention is in Louisville, Kentucky. All FFA members are eligible to attend this event. They're six students from RBH that will be attending the National FFA Convention in Kentucky and they are, Jenny Mcklusky, Olivia Zumalt, Natalie Renfroe, Molly Murphy, Michaela Hurst and Abby Brown. RBH is doing this to develop leadership skills in the students. At the convention, there will be various things to do including how to develop leadership skills, listening to motivational speakers, workshops, speakers, and there is voting on the FFA's constitutional changes. " After the convention the students will be doing a lot of site seeing including visiting Church Hills Down, Muhammad Ali Center and there will be Ag related tours also," stated Lauren Stroud. The students started fund raising for this event last year. They need to raise about one thousand two hundred dollars to go to this convention, which includes air fare, lodging, and the conventions registration itself. The students will need to bring extra money for shopping, food, and anything else they might want to get. The students will be on this trip for seven days, four will be at the conference itself and two days have been put aside to tour Washington D.C. Bluffer/ Ceighlee Fennel&Tymberlyn Bealer Just about all of us remember learning about the nine planets growing up. These planets included Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Earth, and Pluto. Then in 2006, when scientists discovered that there were many more giant rocks just like Pluto the International Astronomical Union declared Pluto to be a "dwarf- planet" and removed it from its status as the ninth planet dropping the number of planets from nine to eight. Recently there was an argument between Harvard science historian, Owen Gingerich and Gareth Williams, associate director of the IAU's Minor Planet Center, about whether or not Pluto should regain its place as the ninth planet. Owen Gringerich believes that it is a planet and argued for the rebirth of Pluto. He made a statement in regards to the situations saying, "A planet is a culturally defined word that changes over time," and that Pluto is a planet. Gareth Williams argued that Pluto should remain to not be a planet. He said the in order to be a planet it must meet three requirements. These are that it must orbit around the sun, it must be round or nearly round, and it cannot be surrounded by objects that are similar in size and in characteristics. Because of the fact that it does not meet the third requirement, Williams believes that Pluto is not in fact a planet and it should continue to be left out of the list. Pluto has not yet been made a planet again and it has not been requested by any astronomers to add it to the agenda of General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union. So for now Pluto will cease to be a planet as it has for the past eight years.