The Bluffer

December 17, 2014

The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA

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Kaylie Capps Staff Writer Features Page 3 December 17, 2014 Sound Off/Hailie Willey Mr. Wheeler (Teacher) "Sleeping." Jenny Muto (11) "I'm excited for Christmas and not having to worry about school." Mrs. Dausse (Teacher) "Baking; I like to bake." Dustin Graham (10) "My birthday." Victor Ibarra (12) "Trying to prove Santa is real for the seventeenth year. Bring it on, Old Man." Desiree Pritchard (9) "I'm looking forward to Christmas." What are you looking forward to most about break? ASSETs and Salvation Army get involved in Angel Tree Program to give gifts to kids Hailie Willey Staff Writer Weather results in Band and Choir cancellation Holiday Classic reaches way back to 1990 Karla Nowicki Cartoonist "My favorite part of the rally is talking to the other players and be surprised at all the -Melanie Burke The Salvation Army Angel Tree program helps provide Christmas to children ages 12 and under and senior adults 60 and up. The Angel Tree program is one of the Salvation Army's highest profile Christmas efforts. The Angel Tree was created by The Salvation Army in 1979 by Charles and Shirley White when they had worked with Lynchburg, Virginia shopping mall to provide clothing and toys for children at Christmas time. "I think it's a great program, I think it's great for kids to give," stated Kim Clawson. "I had done Adopt an Angel with ASSETs about four years ago," stated Doug Dais. The Red Bluff High ASSETs program is taking part with the Angel Tree this year. ASSETs is running a collection contest. The classroom that donates the most money to be used on Angel Tree shopping will win a pizza party. This year the program has nearly about 70 students participating. "Usually about 70, we've had more, we've had less," stated Clawson. If you have an Angel you are shopping for, remember: Do not wrap the gifts, do not combine more than one Angel in one bag, and no gift receipts. Schools and Social services refer families to the Salvation Army for help with Christmas. Participants are interviewed to verify that these families are in need. They obtain the names of the child or special needs adults and create a list of desired Christmas gifts. Angel tags are then printed for each individual and placed on Salvation Army trees in malls or in local corporations and organizations. Anyone who desires to select an Angel can purchase the gifts and return them to the Salvation Army. When they are retuned, they are taken to a Salvation Army Christmas Distribution Center. Seven days before Christmas Eve, families will pick up the gifts. Dais stated, "The Angel Tree program is a really neat way for students to get involved in doing something charitable for kids in need." On Thursday December 11, the RBHS Band and Choir were going to have concert together for the first time in ten years. It was going to be in the Performing Arts Center, and was going to be at seven. There was going to be performances by the jazz band, the show choir "forte", the concert choirs, and the concert band. Also, there were going to carolers and Santa in the lobby at intermission. The band and choir have been preparing for this concert for approximately two and a half months. To prepare, they had to practice daily and were required to memorize twenty minutes of music. The band has been performing a holiday concert since Red Bluff High School started. "The band has been putting on concerts for as long as anyone can remember," Mr. Sakuma, the band teacher, said. The choir practices everyday in class, they have sectionals at break, and they have after school practices. "I think it is going to be amazing because they have practiced very hard and are determined to perform a great show," Mrs. Hassay, the choir teacher, said. The concert was cancelled because of the weather conditions. School was also cancelled that day for the same reasons. There isn't a time spot to make up the concert because of finals so it won't be made up. Melanie Burke gave her opinion on the cancelation, she said, "I was very disappointed because the kids worked very hard." Holiday Classic has been going on for 25 years in a row now. It started in 1990 by Principal Joe Pelanconi, Athletic Director Rick Prestwood, and the Tournament Director Mary Jane Cross. It was started because they wanted to connect with other schools. Holiday Classic started as an all boy tournament, but grew to be both genders as the years went by. When it first kicked off, there wasn't a faculty skit, but only the games. Mrs. Rodriguez and Mrs. Palubeski were the first two teachers to do a skit to the song 'Calendar Girl', having 12 male teachers dance around in costumes coordinated with the song, in the hopes of making the rally fun and enjoyable. Melanie Burke said, "My favorite part of the rally is talking to the other players and be surprised at all the activities going on." More and more faculty members joined the skit and each year, it continues to grow. Finals used to be in January but now they are held in the middle of December, having Holiday Classic the Friday before break, marking the end of finals and the semester. The first Classic was not unlike what we have today. As a result, the Italian/Austrian exchange programs were started. It was also thought that by bringing different cultures and ethnic backgrounds would better prepare Red Bluff students for the big real world. To this day, the whole Holiday Classic is a huge success due to all the support from the faculty and students. "It's bittersweet because I'm moving forward but it's sad also because it is the last time I'll see it," said Shelby Sybrant, senior. Sybrant finds that the Holiday Classic is a nice break due to the finals given before the rally. This year's Holiday Classic starts today and goes to December 19th. Unlike most sports, basketball has a very clear founder and origins. It was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith. At the time Dr. Naismith was teaching education in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was asked by a student if he could come up with a game that could be played in the winter in order to keep track and field runners in shape. The student gave him a few guidelines to follow such as he wanted it to be an indoor sport and it had to be a little to no contact sport to prevent being injured. Dr. Naismith based basketball off of a game that he played as a child and had been around since medieval times, "Duck on the Rock". In "Duck on a Rock", a large stone ("duck") would be placed on top of an even larger rock or tree stump. One unlucky player was then given the job of guarding the rock. All the other players would then have one rock to throw at the activities going on." partan ound S off Brian Andreasen, senior, plays the drums on December 15, during his band class. "duck" each, in order to knock it off the tree stump or rock it had been placed on. Naismith decided that in his game, the "duck" would change to a peach basket and instead of throwing rocks, they would use a soccer ball. The goal of the game was to trow the ball into the basket. In efforts to make the game safer, as requested, Naismith nailed the basket high on the wall in hopes that it would decrease how aggressive players would be near the basket. Unlike the basketball we play today, the basket then had no hole on the bottom for the ball to fall through, so every time someone made it, the game stopped so they could retrieve the ball from the basket. Another unusual rule of the original game was that you were not allowed to move if you had the ball. You had to either pass it or shoot it. The first game was played on December 21, 1891 and will forever mark the beginning of basketball. Jay Boone Staff Writer Outside the Box Bluffer/Becca Blanchard

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