“I feel like the season is going really well because we all play together, we’re unselfish and we just want to win,” Ruben Gosa ’13 said.

Ever since the beginning of the season, the boys have been very confident. Many of the players have been practicing and anticipating the season since summer. Some of them are also looking forward to playing with old teammates again.

“I knew we were going to be a pretty good team,” Scott Sterusky ’13 said.

Although the team has been doing well, they still feel there are a few things they could work on as a team. Most of the players agree that their biggest setback is their rebounding. A few of the other players feel that they need to work on playing together better and not playing down to their competition’s level.

Not only do the players feel that they need to work on things as a team, but as individuals themselves.

“I need to work on learning the plays since I’m new to the team,” Johnny Hopkins ’13 said.

Hopkins played basketball in grade 7 and 8, but has not played since then. He was told by the coach and players that he would be a help if he joined the team. Since he just joined the team, he has not been as much of leader as he was for the football team, but he feels the other seniors do have more of a leadership role on the team.

Unlike Hopkins, Gosa has been playing basketball since he was three. Gosa feels as though he has a lot of leadership on the team.

“I feel good about being one of the older players on team because the younger players look up to me and listen to me because they know I’m experienced,” Gosa said.

Another player that has a lot of leadership on the team is Khalil Rasheed ’14. Even though he is not a senior, he is still and leader and starter for the team.

“As a leader a lot of younger players kind of look up to me which means I have to be a good role model. As a starter expectations are higher and I have to always make sure I’m setting the right example,” Rasheed said.

With their season off to a good start, their setbacks identified and older players taking their role as leaders, the team feels very confident in districts.

“I think we’ll go as far as we push ourselves,” Hopkins said.

Both the players and fans are looking forward to a great season with the basketball team. They have been held to high expectations based on previous seasons and plan to make this season the best to their ability. So far the basketball team has been undefeated.

“Anytime anyone gets a spare or a strike, the boys’ and girls’ team screams ‘squad’,” Ariana Martinez ’13 said.

Although the record is not as great as the players wish it would be, a few still believe the season is going pretty well. Personally, many of the players believe they are improving and off to a better start than they were last season.

“This season has been going pretty good. Individually I have improved a lot since the beginning of the season. As a team, we have been doing pretty well also. We tied Taylor County which was a good thing because they were region champions last year. They are our main competitor,” Brooks Bennett ’13 said.

Most of the players agree that there is room for improvement in each and every person. As a team, they feel they need to work on their baker’s scores, communication skills, and not putting their heads down when they do not bowl well. As individuals, they feel they need to work on individual scores, hitting their mark more accurately, and being consistent.

“I feel like there’s always room to work on something, so individually I am going to work on improving everything that I can improve,” Braden Price ’13 said.

Along with making improvements as a team, the players also have great chemistry with one another. According to Bennett, the team works very well together because they are all friends with each other in and out of school.

‘We’re all one giant group, all of us pretty much hangout with each together all the time, both in and out of the school,” Bennett said.

With their improvements and team chemistry, many of the players have high hopes for districts, regions, and state. They hope to beat their rivals, including teams like Taylor County. They also feel that because regions will be hosted at Elizabethtown lanes that they will have an advantage over everyone else.

“I think we have a pretty good chance at districts. John Hardin is a pretty good team, but I still think we have a pretty good chance to make it far this year,” Joey Shepherd ’16 said.

In order to do well in districts, the seniors have started stepping up as leaders. The fact that it is their last year seems to linger in the back of their mind. By keeping the team as a solid whole, they will be able to increase their chance at districts, regions, and state.

“You have to constantly bring up the younger girls, but it’s worth it because you can’t have them getting down because that will ultimately bring the whole team down,” Martinez said.

The bowling team has high hopes for the season, and they are fixing one problem at a time. With practice, determination, and team building they plan on becoming one of the top competing teams in the state. It is only the second year the bowling team has competed, but at they have proved their will to be the best

“Shop for the needy” is an annual event that National Honor Society and Student Council participate in. Every year they bring a group of children to Wal-Mart to purchase items for the event. It is one of the many ways these programs give back to the community.

Students were put into small groups with an index card identifying the child they would be shopping for. Each group had 50 dollars to spend on their child, which included purchasing items of both clothes and personal interest. Altogether there were six children being shopped for.

“The descriptions they gave us were very vague, so it left a lot of space to be creative with the things we bought. I really enjoyed the experience,” Jamey Popham ‘14 said.

Groups were given either a boy or girl to shop for with their coat, shoes and clothes size. They were also given personal interest topics and items that they could incorporate in their purchases. The overall shopping time was averaged at about an hour for each group, with a variety of items for each child.

Morgan Fitzsimmons ‘14 shopped for a 16-year-old girl. Fitzsimmons’ purchases included clothes and small items that she felt the girl would enjoy. Her group made sure to spend the money they had the best they could.

“It was a really great experience, because I got to help out the community and shop for kids that wouldn’t be getting much for Christmas,” Fitzsimmons said.

Chaffin Blair ‘13 shopped for a 17-year-old boy. Like Fitzsimmons’ purchases, Blair’s purchases included clothes and small items of interest as well. His group tried to incorporate all the personal interest topics in the clothes and small items.

“It felt good to do something for someone that is less privileged than me,” Blair said.

The following day, Friday, December 14 the students wrapped the presents bought at Wal-Mart. The wrapping took place before school in Mrs. Gretchen Beard’s room. Students wrapped all of the presents from 8 a.m. until school began.

“I felt like I was doing a lot of good for people who deserve it. It made me feel good and it was a really positive experience for me in general,” Noah Stevens ‘15 said.

Overall, many of the participants felt the shopping and wrapping went very well. A lot of them plan on partaking in these experiences again.

“I thought it was a really great experience I can’t wait to do it

December 21^st, 2012 is regarded as the end-date of a 5125-year-long cycle in the Mayan calendar, which many have interpreted as an “end of time” prediction. Such allegations sparked a large reaction throughout the world, some disregarding it as ridiculous, some heeding the warning and making preparations for cataclysmic events.

But, is there any science behind these end-of-the-world claims?

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) says “No”. NASA is the agency in the federal government responsible for the nation’s civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research, and they took time the time to publish an article to their website (www.nasa.gov) debunking the myth of any apocalyptic events occurring this December.

“The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” the article read.

“The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 — hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012,” the article stated in response to an inquiry about the origin of the 2012 Doomsday predictions.

So, despite what you may read on the internet or see on the news, there is no major threat to life on earth this December.

To show Christmas spirit, the school’s art club went to the McDonald’s Play Place and painted many different shapes and figures on all of the windows.

That Tuesday the students combined all their art skills and painted murals on the windows. These paintings have given children and parents something to look at while in the restaurant.

Victoria Heeman ’15 is one of the art club students who participated in the event.

“We painted Christmas themed hamburgers and fries, Hamburgler, snowmen, a wreath, an angel with red hair and a hamburger nutcracker,” Heeman said.

This year was Ms. Kathleen Bateman, art club sponsor’s, first year taking the students to the annual window painting. Each person had a different experience

“It was a great group of students and a great experience for me,” Ms. Bateman said.

Sponsors take a large part in making this event happen. They have to arrange the location of the event and take on all the responsibilities of the club. Ms. Whitney Edwards, the other sponsor of the art club, is a sponsor that knew she had to step in and help run the art club when her fellow art students needed her the most.

“I have helped before but it has been minimal due to my other responsibilities, however it was exciting for me to get more involved with the art club and the students,” Ms. Edwards said.

For each person there is a different reason why they took part in the painting of the windows. Samantha Maphis ‘15 has her own reason for doing this.

“I wanted to let the little kids get excited and happy from looking at all the pictures we painted for them,” Maphis said.

The turnout of art students to attend the event may have not been as many as wanted, but the fact that the school did this for the community of Radcliff was a kind gesture.

Each person is entitled to their own opinion to window paintings. The students just gave positive comments. Heeman was one that had good intentions to this event.

“I thought this was so fun to do. We all did really well and once they were finished it looked very well,” Heeman said.

What the art club did for the community was such a generous thing. They took their own personal time to paint windows on the McDonald’s Play place.

The great thing about this is that they didn’t mind doing this for the community. They saw it as a chance to brighten the days of each customer that walks into McDonalds. These paintings put off Christmas spirit and add on more to the theme McDonalds is portraying during the month of December.

The main question is if these students would do it all over again.

“I would do this again in a heartbeat. It was something for the community and I love to help the community,” Maphis said.

The community of Radcliff recognizes the fact that the school’s art club students took their own time to come and paint the windows. It was a generous gesture and the art club students have great talent.

Deejay Haynes ‘15 participates in painting the windows at McDonald’s. “It was a great experience to give back to my community,” haynes said. this is an annual event that the art club does every year.

Being on a high school sports team is stressful. Student-athletes have to worry about maintaining grades, behaving in classes and performing well during games.

With all of this stress on their minds, it can create tension between players and coaches. This tension may lead to arguments amongst players that could possibly lead to fights.

Being apart of a team is a big responsibility that some athletes do not take seriously. It is easy to get caught up in drama and what she said or what he did. However, this should never be a reason to fight with your teammate.

Fighting within your team can tear down the team piece by piece. Word gets around that there is drama, and people quickly begin taking sides of whom they believe is right. They never really listen to the details of the whole story before doing this.

With all this frustration built up, athletes begin blaming others for mistakes and sooner or later the team falls apart during a big game. They never focus on the game itself, but what is going on within their team and this causes them to perform poorly. Tension between teammates can cause the entire team to lose a very important game that they should not have lost.

After the game is over and the team has lost, people then begin to blame the loss on the person they are having problems with. This solves nothing and creates even more problems because the whole team is being brought down because of one little issue.

If athletes would sit down and talk about what is bothering them before going into a game, then the team would work together better than if they just ignored the problem. They are not focused on what needs to be done and they make silly mistakes that they would not normally do.

A team should be just as close as a family. Of course there are going to be arguments and disagreements, but they have to find a way around that.

In high school, drama is one of the biggest issues, so students use athletics to get away from it. But when drama is brought into a sport it changes everything about that team. There is always going to be some sort of tension.

We always hear about who fought who in the locker room or what this person said about this person. Being an athlete is a privilege and some people do not understand that it can be taken away from you just as quickly as it was given to you.

Fighting with a teammate has its consequences such as losing your starting or varsity spot, getting benched in a big game or even getting kicked off the team. Is fighting really worth losing what you worked for all season?

We need to improve on becoming closer with our teams. To do this, athletes can organize a team bonding day to grow closer and get to know everyone on the team. It allows everyone to become closer to one another.

 By becoming closer as a team it will help them win those close games they would normally lose because everyone is encouraging each other. When your teammates cheer you on instead of blaming mistakes on you, it makes everything easier.

The team is competing in the Heartland League. “I feel that we finished well seeing as the results from last year,” Aaron Vance ‘13 said. The team did exceedingly well at the competition, Vance, Claudia Prevost ‘14, Cody Jones ‘13 and Mason Case ‘14 did quite well against Central Hardin, John Hardin and Meade County last night.

The Academic Team ends their regular season with great results and high hopes.

The team ends on a good note with varsity leaving a record of 7-1 and junior varsity with a record of 5-3. They have improved tremendously since last season, as they did not compete in nearly as much last season as they did this one.

Their new coach, Mrs. Mary Vance, has made a great impact on the team. She enjoyed working with the students during the season.

“The students are wonderful, and working with them is so much fun,” Vance said.

Mrs. Vance has set many goals for herself and the team.

“We hope to beat Central Hardin at Scholastic Challenge in January and go to state,” Vance said.

The students have also enjoyed the season since they have had many more experiences than last year. Mrs. Vance enjoyed working with her son Aaron Vance ‘13 before he goes off to college.

We wish the team luck in districts and state competitions.

Domeneque Taft ‘14 dribbles the ball during a game early on in the season. “The season is going well. We’re doing good but we can always work harder and play better,” Taft said. Domeneque is a point gaurd for the team.

The team is excited for the rest of the competition after kicking off their season with a win.

After winning their first few games, the team is ready for the rest of their season. They know what they need to work on and are ready to do what it takes to win.

Alexis Shelby ‘16 has been on the team for two years. She plays freshmen and JV and is hoping for some varsity time this season as well.

“I expect to win and improve. Hopefully I will improve and get more varsity time,” Shelby said.

Shelby is coming off a break and is excited to get back in the game. She, as well as the rest of the team, all have things they can improve on.

“Everyone has their own stuff to work on. We have to work on rotating the ball around,” Shelby said.

However, the team has improved since they began practicing and conditioning. They have worked on ball handling and shooting. They have areas where they feel they are strong in, like shooting.

“We’re really strong with shots both inside and outside,” Shelby said.

Shelby along with ZakayshiaPass ‘15 feel the team has stepped up and pulled their weight. Since the team graduated many seniors last year, they had to step up and work harder.

This year’s team only has two seniors. In order to compete against other teams with a heavy senior line-up, the younger athletes had to step up. They are using their speed as an advantage.

“We stepped up and filled their shoes. There aren’t many teams who have our speed,” Pass said.

They know they have to work hard if they want to compete in regions so they have been working harder each practice to get better. During games they do not want to ever give up.

“We hustle, we give our all and we play from buzzer to buzzer,” Pass said.

While working harder during practices and improving on their weaknesses, the team has grown closer. They communicate well and they use this as an advantage.

“Our attitudes have gotten better, so we encourage each other more,” Pass said.

After playing their first few games they found things they need to work on. The team wants to work on rebounding and staying out of foul trouble.

“I think we’ll work on and improve our weaknesses and make them our strengths,” Pass said.

As the team improves and gets closer to the end of the season they hope to win more games and keep the winning streak going.

The team works on sprints to improve times for the season. “I think we’re going to have a great season this year. there’s a lot of people who show some great talent. i’m really excited for it,” said Brittney Ester. ‘13 The team works on conditioning to prepare for the upcoming season.

With returning experience, the team has high expectations as the season for indoor track begins.

The team is already looking toward Mason Dixon, the indoor track state, as they begin conditioning Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Runners and jumpers practice at different times.

Head coach James Webb has set a beginning and long term goal for this indoor track season.

“Our basic goal is to improve each week and our long term goal is to be Mason Dixon champions,” Coach Webb said.

Coach Webb has high expectations this season with all of the returning talent they have as well as newcomers.

“I believe we’ll be better than last year,” Coach Webb said.

Bryce Meers ’13 is one of the returning athletes. He participates in the 55-meter hurdles and possibly the relay.

He feels the team is going to have another great year. Also, he feels his work during the offseason has paid off.

“Personally, I think I’ve improved much during the offseason,” Meers said.     

As most athletes do, Meers has set a personal goal he hopes to accomplish at Mason Dixon.      

“My main goal is to beat the guy who beat me at state last year,” Meers said.

Raven Graves ‘14 participates in the 55-meter dash and the 60-meter dash. Along with the rest of the team, she has high expectations for this season.

“I think this season is going to be good because we have a lot of new people,” Graves said.

Workouts have been easier to help the athletes get in shape. They are hoping to get faster and stronger each week to improve their times and distances. They plan to push harder each day to get to where they need to be to reach their goal.

“We’re putting in a lot of work and working harder than we did last year,” Graves said.

With the first indoor meet closely approaching the team wants to start off the season strong. They want to use this season to build for the upcoming track and field season.

Marcus Terrell ‘14 plans to use indoor to prepare for the spring season.

“I’m going to work hard during the indoor season and making my PR’s better,” Terrell said.

As well as looking towards the spring, he also plans on setting goals for indoor season. He wants to improve his two mile time.

“My goal for indoor is to go under two minutes in the two mile,” Terrell said.

 The team looks forward to Mason Dixon to prove they are a top 5 team. They want to use this practice time to for the spring season as well as take first in indoor state.

“I hope to come in top five in all my events and I hope we win Mason Dixon,” Terrell said.

They have set their goals and are ready to start showing how hard they have been working during the indoor meets.

The team will continue to practice and condition to prepare for their first meet in late December.