The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15th, 1791 and that day has been ignored for a long time. Now there is a contest that will give students from the ages of 14-22 a chance to win one of several scholarships. This is to help promote the importance of the Bill of Rights for all Americans.

To compete for a scholarship the participant must get onto tweeter.com and tweet a comment about the importance of our fundamental rights in the First Amendment. To make sure they read this message the participant must add the hash tag #freetotweet.org.

                Annually, student congress holds a snowman making contest for the clubs of the school to take part in. Two weeks prior to the contest’s deadline, each club sends someone to pick up their snowman making materials: three circles of different sizes and a rules sheet. Each club appointed their most artistic student with the responsibility of creating a snowman that represented their club. The entries included everything from a graduating class snowman, to a Marilyn Monroe snowman.

                This week, the winners were announced. In first place was the Voces des Latinos snowman, in second place was the Art Club snowman, and in third was Freshman Board’s snowman. The winners are currently being displayed in the cafeteria lobby. Soon, they’ll be moved to the children’s hospital down town, so that the kids being treated can still have a taste of holiday spirit.

Several East Meck students spent time abroad this summer.  Both Nathalie Angel and Madeline Cannon went to France. They fell in love with the Eiffel Tower and all of France’s many shopping opportunities.  Angel also went to Switzerland and Germany.  In Germany she got to see the castle that Cinderella’s very own was modeled after, the Neuschwanstein.

“The different culture really widened my view of the world and how I perceive it,” said Angel.

While the world busied with everyday life, freshman Pressley Trosch, relaxed on a cruise to Mexico.   She even got to spend time snorkeling with the wondrous fish of the deep blue.

“It was such a memorable trip especially because it was my last vacation with my brother before he went to college,” said Trosch.

For some students they spent the summer trying to forget everything we learned the year before, much to their teachers’ dismay. Senior Liz Stevens, however, was learning all there is to know on social sciences in Governor’s School.  You may shudder at the thought of school in the summer heat, but Stevens relished every minute of it. 

Governor’s School is a six-week residential program for academically gifted students.  Despite the fact she was in a learning environment, no homework was assigned and students are to call their teachers by their first names.  In these free-spirited classrooms students learn about anything from Dracula to dreams versus reality.  Even though you do not go to Governor’s School to meet a governor, you do meet a lot of friend and great scholars.

“I absolutely loved my six weeks there,” Stevens said. “I would choose to be in the program again in a heartbeat because I made so many friends who I will keep up with for a long time.”

While Stevens was learning waves of new concepts, Allison Boatenrider was riding waves of her own.  This freshman spent part of her summer learning the secrets to the “Hawaiian Roller Coaster”.  On the coast of Cocoa Beach, Florida, Boatenrider took surfing lessons.

“It was surprisingly easy, yet challenging too, as long as you kept your knees bent and head forward,” said Boatenrider, “It was a lot of fun.”

So what were the rest of us doing while those Eagles were out exploring the world?  Junior Drew Barrett says he spent most of his summer playing football and studying for the SAT.

“I didn’t go out of the country or anything, but I definitely got myself prepared for this year and to me that’s important,” said Barrett.

Many student-athletes begin to prepare for the fall season of sports during those precious hours of summer.  Sports including football, soccer, cross country, and many others started their season in the grueling heat of the sun.  Their season started so early that they could start racing and competing as soon as the school year began.  Even the band spent weeks practicing and building up steam for October competitions and football games.  All that preparation pays off when the band strikes up and the games begin.

Even though the summer felt short, it was full of unforgettable moments and memories, for everyone. 

“The summer left me with so many fond memories,” said Sophomore Erin Sorensen, “but now I am ready to focus on the memories I will make this year.”

Though the game was on September 30^th, the celebrations began days earlier with Spirit Week. Each day was given a theme, like Character Day or Hillbilly Day, which students and faculty dressed in accordance with.

“My favorite day was Spirit Day [Friday, during which students wore school colors], because almost everybody dressed up,” said sophomore Ikram Maghraoui.

“It was like, let’s get weird,” said senior Rachel Gleeson. “Juniors [especially] go crazy. They’re really spirited.”

Student Congress joined in with the “Hoedown Throwdown” during lunch on Hillbilly Day; members of Congress and Homecoming court danced to the Miley Cyrus song and junior Jacob Page played the banjo.

The festivities came to a head with a pep rally during fourth period on game day. The afternoon began with a spirited performance of the national anthem by brother-sister team senior Sam Shisso and freshman Anna Shisso.

 The rally also involved a banner competition between dozens of school clubs. Judges declared Health Occupations Students of America, or HOSA, the winners of the banner competition. DREAM Team, a group of upperclassmen athletes who pledge to be drug and violence free, came in second, with Asian Culture Club at third.

“I felt accomplished, because we’re not really known as an artistic club,” said HOSA member and junior Vivak Patel.

Students from every grade level also participated in “The Evolution of Dance”, led by Dream Team. Freshmen had to do the chicken dance while seniors walked it out.

Another of the pep rally’s highlights was the performance by a cheerleading squad made up of several male teachers in drag. Participants in the cheerleaders’ routine included Spanish teacher Ramon Villacura.

“This was the first time [that I participated],” said Villacura. “I decided to [cheer] because…if we have a tradition, we need to preserve it.”

Villacura was recruited by members of Student Congress, and trained by varsity cheerleader  and junior Brianna Norwood.

“[Norwood] gave us guidance, but she was very strict,” said Villacura. “She made us do [the routine] well.”

That night, East Meck played Butler High School in an intense matchup, which ended with the Butler Bulldogs defeating the Eagles.

“We started out strong, but after a few mistakes on offense and defense, we let the game slip away,” said varsity player and junior Drew Barrett.

At halftime, members of the Homecoming Court arrived on the field in convertibles, each escorted by a male relative.

Every candidate, along with the freshman, sophomore and junior princesses, was announced as she walked under an arch and through lines of ROTC cadets. Senior Najee Brown was crowned Homecoming Queen.

“It felt really nice [to be voted Queen],” said Brown, who is also president of Senior Board. “I didn’t expect it – it was so exciting.”

The game ended in a 0-52 victory for Butler, but students’ enthusiasm wasn’t tempered.

“The homecoming game really instilled school spirit in me,” said freshman Erica Jordan. “Even though we lost, I’m proud of us.”

The girls fall sports teams canned the boys by bringing a total of 98 pounds of food compared to the boys’ 20.5 pounds. The freshman board defeated the other boards by bringing in 146 pounds. The guidance office winner was Melissa Ross who brought in 13 pounds worth of food and Billie Little won in the front office with 27 pounds of food. The winners of the custodial staff were Joanne with 73 pounds and Moses with 62 pounds. Woolsey’s and Semmler’s homerooms won around all homerooms with 104.5 pounds. The clubs in total brought over 1,200 pounds of food. Voces de Latinos won the competition with 361 pounds and Project Unify earned second with 348 pounds of food.

While the in-school competitions have ended, East is still competing against 13 other schools such as Myers Park, Providence, and Independence. You can still bring cans to room 637 or the main office.

Instead of a runoff election, Porter and Coon agreed to serve together. Porter is editor of the East Wind yearbook, and Coons is the editor of The Eagle newspaper. The other winners for student congress include Sam Shisso as vice president, Emily Dezubay as secretary, Emma Wiebke as Treasurer and Jemima Amoah as ICC Chairman.

Najee Brown gained the spot as president of senior board and Brittany Hudson was elected as vice president. Secretary and Treasurer positions for the board were won by Gregory Rose and Stephon Beaufort.

Several of the girls playing singles matches won easily. Charlotte Deiss, and Mikala Smith both won 6-0 against the Hopewell team. Deiss continued her skillful tactics throughout the evening when she and her partner, Anna-Marie Nguyen, defeated their competitors 8-0 in a doubles match. Though they didn’t pull the weight alone, the entire team was on the ball in their own matches.

The Lady Eagles worked hard to achieve the win. They hope for similar results in their next match. It will be played on September 15^th. The team will be ready to secure a victory for their first conference match. They’ll be matching their skills against the Independence Patriots.

For about 20 hard-working Eagles, this challenging exercise is a regular afternoon activity: the cross-country team competes in 5-kilometer competitions, which are approximately 3.2 miles, weekly. Of their several meets throughout the year, many of the XC runners agree that the Wendy’s Invitational, a HUGE meet hosted by East Meck, is the most exciting and scary cross country race of the year.

“You run faster, [and] it gets your adrenaline going,” said Taylor Pressley, a senior Eagle runner. “It’s the scariest meet of my entire life because there are just so many people.”

Mr. Reisterer, one of East Meck’s cross-country coaches, thinks it’s a great meet because it “brings together some of the top teams… across the South East.”

Such an enormous race requires many hours of set up by the host team, hours that East gladly contributes. “[We have to] live up to that tradition as a host,” Reisterer explained.

If you aren’t one of the nervous runners or enthusiastic parents/coaches at the Wendy’s Invitational, you can still be involved. With such a great number of competitors, volunteering for the meet can be a great way to pick up some community and service hours- and support your team!

            The Muslim Student Association also known as MSA joined forces with Diversity club a few years ago hoping to recruit more members and spread the message of diversity across East Meck.

“Our motto is universal, that every culture should be embraced,” said active club president Iman Abukar who has been involved in MSA since freshman year.

 “I am a minority and being in this group makes me feel like a majority. It’s great,” said senior Valerie Pandohie.  

            Drama club is one of the oldest clubs at East. The stage provides a safe place for students, allowing them to unleash their inner diva.

            Along with old clubs, new clubs were set up Monday night looking for people who would be interested in joining. Young Lady Eagles of Tomorrow is designed to provide guidance for the young women here at East. The club encourages etiquette, business skills, and even public speaking.

            With so many clubs to choose from, it’s not hard to be a part of something at East Meck. No matter your interests there is always a club for you.