The start of October means the first concert of the year for the orchestra.

On October 7, the high school and middle school orchestras had a combined concert at the high school. The concert started at 7 p.m.

The two orchestras spent the first month of school preparing selections of music to perform. With only having a month to prepare for the concert, this concert was a preview concert so the parents and other community members can see what is to come from the orchestra at future performances. 

The evening started with the seventh and eighth grade orchestra performing two pieces of music. The first selection was “Ancient Hunters” by Sean O’Loughlin. The next piece was “Dragonhunter” by Richard Meyer. Many of the high school members remember playing this selection during their middle school years.

The seventh graders got to take a break and hear the eighth graders play their own selections. They played “Midnight Rain” by Susan H. Day and “Curse of the Rosin Eating Zombies From Outer Space” also by Meyer.

Many of the high school members remember playing “Dragonhunter” and “Curse of the Rosin Eating Zombies From Outer Space” during their middle school years.

The high school and middle school groups were able to relax and listen to a guest string quartet, The Heimat String Quartet. The members of the group were Aubrey Holmes (violin), Patrick Shaughnessy (violin), Chung Han Hsiao (violia) and Aaron Fried (cello). The quartet played two selections.

After the quartet, the high school orchestra was featured. Their first selection was “The Avengers” by Alan Silvestri and arranged by Larry Moore. They also played the “Theme from Fantasy on Sleepers Wake” by J.S. Bach. After playing a slow piece the orchestra picked up the beat and played “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.” This selection was performed by the Dropkick Murphys but composed by Loughlin.

The orchestra took a pause from playing for the seniors to receive their letters.  The senior orchestra members are Chloe Miller (violin), Jack Dotson (violin), Amber Villanueva (violin), Meghan Bohannon (violin), Fred Cunningham (violin), Hannah Fifer (violin), Cheyenne Fox (viola), Zachary Kunz (cello), Alex Petrovski (cello) and Faith Horn (cello).

The last selection for the high school orchestra was “New World Symphony (Mvt IV)” by Antonin Dvorak.

For anyone who missed the concert, the Lakeview, Kimpton and high school orchestras will be having an all-city orchestra concert on Thursday December 10 at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium. At this concert, the juniors in the high school orchestra will be receiving their letters.

By Kyla Zeigler

As students were anxious for the homecoming dance, “A Night at Hogwart’s,” the pep-rally was held to announce the 2015 Mr. and Mrs. Stow.

On October 2, between second and third period, students poured into the gymnasium. An obstacle course, including a large inflatable slide, stood tall as the echoing noises from the crowd eagerly waited this event. Drums and cheers filled the air as the pep-rally was about to begin.

Student council advisor, Alex Mcmahan, was the speaker of this event as he announced the 2015 homecoming court. Mr. and Mrs. Stow candidates were announced along with the display of their campaign videos. Not only that but the couples also had to complete an obstacle course.

Starting out by sliding down the inflatable slide, each candidate crawled in and out of cones placed near the end of the slide. Then they had to spin around a baseball bat about ten times and walk on a balance beam made up of two wooden benches. Meeting them at the end was a hula-hoop hung by a string placed on the basketball hoop on the east side of the gym. They had to go through the hoop to get to the next station.

At the next station, candidates had to place five jumbo marshmallows into their mouth and sing the “Alma Mater.”

After they completed this, they cartwheeled to where they were met by two soccer balls. Candidates then had to kick the balls into the net and run up the bleachers to a pair of student council members. From the members they received a pen and ran down to the floor where they popped a balloon. After they popped the balloon the timer was stopped.

Mr. and Mrs. Stow was announced based on popularity and awarded the honor of claiming this year’s title. Excitement began to die down as the pep-rally came to an end.

Students came in the gymnasium anxiously waiting for this year’s Mr. and Mrs. Stow and left with even more excitement as “A Night at Hogwart’s” was only a day away.

    With a new school year beginning, the high school orchestra is off to a quick start.

    On Sept. 11, just two weeks after the school year started, the orchestra performed a recruitment concert for the fifth graders at Lakeview. The orchestra did the recruitment concert to form the fifth grade orchestra.

    The orchestra spent the first two weeks giving their all to get the songs performance ready. They spent every day  perfecting the songs for the concert.

    They played “I’m Shipping up to Boston,” “Viva la Vida” and  “The Avengers.”

    They had student announcers that announced each song. The section leaders for each section of the orchestra played a piece so the students could hear what the instruments sounded like. They also gave a small description of the instruments.

    After the orchestra played, the fifth graders were able to try each instrument if they wanted to. The students showed the students the basics of how to play so they could decide if they wanted to join orchestra.

    The students are now working on music for their concert on Oct 7. At this concert they will play songs from the recruitment concert as well as new songs.

By Lexi Ostrander

    Life is the most important thing on Earth. Sadly there are people that feel as though they are insignificant to the world around them and take their own life.

    Every year since 2009 the high school has Sally Dean, one of the councilors, come down and talk about how students can help prevent suicide.

    Suicide is the third leading cause of death for teens in the United States. This needs to change. There are many steps in preventing suicides and it can start right here in school by looking for the right signs.

    During her presentation, Dean told the class what signs to look for and how to help.

    “One of the major signs is self harm or having a disinterest in things that used to give the person happiness. Another is giving personal possessions away and saying things like, ‘I’ll miss you,’ or ‘I wish I could sleep forever’,” Dean said.

    Since Dean has been talking to students about suicide prevention, more students have come to see her about their problems and how to overcome them. Students can come to her with any problems they have such as family issues, break ups or any other conflicts.

    Everything a student tells her will be kept between herself and the student.

     “There will be no other people involved unless the student tells her they want them involved,” Dean said.

    At the end of her talk Dean handed out “Bulldog Resource Cards” that have hotline numbers and websites that students can go on to to ask questions and go to for help. There is no need for a person to take their own life. Every life matters.