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The Stohion launches Stohion Online
After 81 years of running just a print edition, The Stohion launches its first ever website, Stohion Online. Stohion Online will create a quick way to send news to students, families and/or citizens around Stow, Ohio.
Watch this video for an intro on the site!
Students petition for school garden
Regular school lunches can become boring after a while and may not be as healthy as some students wish; however, these issues could disappear with the ideas of Wesley Quinn and Maddison Woodrum.
Quinn and his friend Woodrum were having a casual conversation during lunch about the quality of their food and up popped a vision. They both thought a garden within the school would be a great way to raise healthy fruits and vegetables for school lunches.
“[My friends and I] had the idea to get a garden to grow fruits and vegetables. We would [put] that into lunches, either into the existing lunches or a new branch of lunches where people could just buy these organic foods. It may be a bit more expensive, but I have talked to plenty of students and they are all like, ‘Yeah it would be better than the [stuff] we have now.’”
This garden would not only boost the organic, healthy side of lunches but would also make them less bland. “The special vegetable of the day,” or some other fancy name, could promote more excitement since the crops will come straight from what is grown at the high school.
This garden is not just some idea by two underclassmen; Quinn obtains an ambition many students lack. He has created a petition in order to prove to the administration that this garden is something worth fighting for.
Quinn and Woodrum are not the only ones in on this idea; their friends, freshmen Randi Mohr, Zach Pearson and sophomore Chase Radcliffe, are also behind this thought. The group hopes to expand the support to many teachers and the rest of the school.
“We have some backing from Joshua’s, Mrs. Dean, Mrs. Probst, even the freshmen principal liked the idea,” Quinn said. “We also got some of the janitors and Officer Smith [to like the proposal].”
One of the main people to consider would be the cafeteria workers.
“I actually think it would be a great idea. It would bring nice fresh vegetables to the building,” head of the cafeteria, Dianne Simko said. “We have an approved vendor in California, but it would be wonderful to have nice, healthy good quality product from the school.”
The petition Quinn created has close to 600 signatures when this epiphany just happened on Dec. 5. The number of names signed on the petition are growing rapidly, and the group hopes to get at least 1,000 signatures.
“Getting some signatures is the first step. Then we are going to go up to the people in power: the principals and the superintendent. We have enough signatures as it is, but I want to prove to the people in charge that [students] are really backing up this idea. We want to say that [people] love this idea.”
Although signatures are the primary step, it may be the most important; however, they also had to plan out the idea even further than just names and a garden.
One thought for the future had to consist of placement of such a garden and how they would go about year round production.
“I personally wish for it to be in the back [of the school]. We have plenty of space. We want a greenhouse style, since most of the school year is in the winter,” Quinn said.
If this greenhouse were to happen, students may question what crops would actually be planted for the lunches. The group of friends hopes to plant many different options such as cucumbers, tomatoes, beans and much more.
Another commonly asked question deals with where the money and supplies for this cause would come from. Quinn suggested fundraising, donations and volunteering to help construct and purchase the supplies needed.
Though many student could help or volunteer, they hope to form a “student run club” of sorts and Quinn’s first thought was to possibly call themselves “the Greenhouse Gardeners.”
This “club” are willing to include everyone.
“The idea is to have a main group of students who are running it but also have volunteers. If you would want to come in, please, by all means,” Quinn said. “We would love any help and it is a good thing to know how to provide for yourself.”
This is all hypothetical as of now, but still thinking ahead, there are many benefits and extensions from this garden.
“Composting was an idea a health teacher gave us, we could put food bins outside the lunch room and the cooking rooms,” Quinn said. “Another idea was, if we could get this at the high school, we could get it at Lakeview, Kimpton or even Woodland.”
There may also be extra produce, which could be canned to last longer, sold or even given to hunger shelters and the homeless.
“We could sell fresh vegetables instead of chocolate, [since] we have a big market in the community,” Simko said.
This potential club hopes to have some solid support and concrete ideas by spring, so if anyone is interested, sign the paper or brainstorm some thoughts with the group.
“Helping us out is helping out the next years [to come],” Quinn said. “If we can start this [now], then we will be helping out next year’s [students].”
Sports traditions around the country
Many schools all the over the United States have unique sports traditions that are similar to the high school.
For instance, at C.E Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina, their marching band takes the field at half time in halloween costumes, a tradition that started in the 1980s when homecoming fell on halloween. Even though homecoming is not always on halloween for Jordan High, the costumes are always worn during the homecoming game.
At Cupertino High School in Cupertino, California, the water polo teams catches everyone by surprise. After their king and queen are crowned at half time, the team runs to the corner of the stadium and across the field in nothing but speedos.
West Stokes High School in King, North Carolina, has their cheerleaders do pushups for every point on the scoreboard after a touchdown. They also throw peanuts and stuffed footballs to make the crowd “Go nuts for the Cats” during boring parts of the game.
A more local school, Hudson High School, also has some unique traditions.
Before each game there is a pasta dinner for the team.
When the Explorers score a touchdown, children ring the “Explorer bell.”
At the end of the season, flag boys pick the “super-fans” for next year. Explorer girls paint letters and then at the end give them away to an upcoming senior.
Another high school, Archbishop Hoban, has a quite interesting tradition.
Before Hoban plays their rival, St. Vincent-St. Mary, they spend their entire school day in complete silence. The night before that, all of the seniors stay overnight and decorate the school.
This became known as Mum Day, and it has been happening for over 50 years. It started in 1962 when Student Council wanted to do something to increase spirit, and ever since then, it stuck.
They also have a collection of cheers to do during their game, and they do spirit fingers before kickoff.
Hoban senior Emily Dunn said, “I love the traditions we have at Hoban. It unifies us as a student body and really builds spirit no matter what the scoreboard says.”
The high school does an especially good job on keeping the entire school unified before and after the games.
Student Council kept the student body involved on picking the spirit day themes for homecoming week by tweeting out ideas.
The school organized a Davenport Derby and holds a homecoming festival filled with a parade, food trucks and games.
The band drum line plays cadences every day after school during homecoming week in a different location each day.
On other Fridays besides homecoming, sometimes there is a tailgate beforehand. There are always cadences held on Fridays near the auditorium.
Homecoming game or not, there is always something going on before football games.
During the football games, the student section chants multiple cheers, and they jump up and down on the bleachers before kickoff, much like Hoban does spirit fingers.
When the team scores, a senior boy does as many push ups as there are points on the board. This is extremely similar to the way the West Stokes High School cheerleaders do push ups.
The senior girls and boys are the only ones who lack a spot on the bleachers because they stand along the fence. They also paint letters on to themselves, much like Hudson, even though this is against dress code.
“Certain traditions exist that we try to honor. I would never debate with [these traditions]. Because it is tradition it is acceptable,” Principal DiMaruo said.
Many schools have traditions that are similar to others and some that are unique. Either way, no matter the location, all schools hold one thing in common- the unity to their team and to each other.
SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING--Anyone can call the tip line: 1-844-723-3764 or email safehs@smfschools.org 