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By McKenzie High School Principal, Terry
Howell |
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Last Friday night, our McKenzie Rebels wrapped
up an undefeated season and captured the Region 6-AA
championship with a 13-6 victory over the Huntingdon
Mustangs. The Rebel victory eased somewhat a 16-year
draught against our cross-county rival. The game was
played with the character and sportsmanship that has come
to typify the relationship between the two schools. Both
teams played with intensity and passion. The final outcome
remained unclear until the final minute when the Rebel
defense once again stepped up to prevent a Huntingdon
score after the Mustangs had driven the ball to the red
zone. The Rebel offense played well but did have four
turnovers, many of which were attributable to the
aggressive Huntingdon defense. Coach Comer and his staff
and Coach Mansfield of Huntingdon and his staff are to be
commended for their work with these young men and helping
them to realize that the lessons taught in the game are as
important as the final outcome.This week the Rebels
host the first round of the state playoffs against
Fairview High School. Game time for this event will be
7:00 P.M., thirty minutes earlier than our normal regular
season start. Tickets for the game will be $6.00. Our
sports passes issued through the school will not be
accepted as this is a TSSAA playoff game with no local
passes accepted. The gates will open at 5:00 P.M. on
Friday. Last year we had a rather disappointing crowd for
our first round game at home. Let's get out and support
the Rebels as they begin their quest for state playoff
advancement.
The high school band journeyed to Murfreesboro last
Saturday to compete in the Division I Band Competition.
They hoped to duplicate or better last year's results in
which they finished fourth. Unfortunately, the band did
not advance beyond the preliminary competition. The band
did manage to win five trophies, however. In the
preliminary round, the percussion earned superior; the
color guard, superior; field commander Amanda Mansfield,
excellent; and the band, excellent. The percussion line
won the Division I State Competition in their section.
With a young group, the band has the capability to be even
better next year and contend for the state championship.
Sophomore Amber King placed 19th in the cross-country
regional meet in Jackson last Thursday. Her time of 22.29
seconds was her second fastest time. Amber and her
teammates earned 8th out of 14 teams in this their initial
year of competition.
On Thursday, October 25, Ms. Jackie Carr and Ms. Dawn
Clubb began a new club at McKenzie High School. The Future
Teachers of America Club met in an initial meeting with 40
quality students present. The group discussed the election
of officers and the steps necessary to receive a charter.
Clubs such as this are important to the future of public
education. Statistics show that fewer and fewer people are
making a commitment to the teaching profession and even
fewer to school administration. We hope that the F.T.A.
will energize and motivate students to pursue a career in
education.
On Wednesday, October 31, we will have another writing
prompt as part of our year-long commitment to improving
our Writing Assessment scores. These prompts present a
case in which students must prepare a persuasive
composition. Our teachers have all become writing teachers
and try to grade students as the state does on a scale of
1 to 6. We do teach a five-paragraph technique of
composition with the first paragraph being an
introduction; paragraphs two through four are support
paragraphs; and paragraph five is the conclusion. We do
feel that these practice assessments will improve our
writing scores which were not up to the standards that we
expect.
Retakes of school pictures will be Thursday, November
1. This date is set aside for all students in grades 9-11
who did not have their pictures taken at the first
sitting. We will again use the pre-pay method and will
provide envelopes for students who wish to purchase a
package. The photographer will be here around 10:00 A.M.
to take the photographs that will appear in the annual.
Seniors may look forward to the visit by the Balfour
representative on Friday, November 2, at 10:30 A.M. in the
Theater. The representative will meet with senior class
officers before the meeting to discuss the styles to order
for invitations and other similar matters. All seniors
will then vote on the options chosen by the officers. On
Wednesday, November 7, the Balfour representative will
return to take orders for students. He will be here at
7:15 A.M. to take orders before school and will take
orders also during homeroom and during the lunch block.
Generally, students must make a deposit of $50 - $60. The
actual deposit amount will be given at the previous
Friday's meeting.
Sophomores will have the opportunity to take the PLAN
test on Saturday, November 3, at 8:00 A.M. in the high
school library. Ms. Herrin will administer this test as a
diagnostic test capable of estimating subsequent ACT
scores. The PLAN test challenges students over the same
areas as the ACT and provides an excellent practice test
for our sophomores. One common thread is that students who
take higher level math and science classes tend to do
better on the PLAN and ACT. Students with a vision of
earning scholarship money through academics need to take
these more difficult math and science classes to perform
well on the ACT which is used by many of the schools in
the Southeast as a barometer of excellence.
We will have our annual Veterans' Day Program on
Friday, November 9, at 10:00. The program is a tribute to
all living veterans in McKenzie and the surrounding areas.
Veterans need to go to the back of the building to park
and enter through the back lobby as we do during
basketball season. Student Council workers will greet
veterans and guests as they enter the building and let
them know about seating and the order of the program. All
veterans and their spouses are invited to be guests of the
school at the cafeteria immediately after the program.
Veterans' Day also reminds us of the contributions of area
veterans to our school. A note of regret and mourning for
the death of Mr. Wilbur Headden last week. Mr. Headden
loved and supported McKenzie High School in our athletic
program, in the Voice of Democracy Script-Writing contest,
and in Veterans' Day Programs. He went the extra mile to
help our students be better citizens. I will miss him
personally and professionally. Our thoughts go to his
family as they deal with the grief of his death.
Ms. Jackie Carr recently applied for and received a
grant from the Greater West Tennessee Tech Prep
Consortium. "Checkout" the New Laptops, the title of her
proposal, has a value of $3500 and will fund two laptop
computers. Those computers will be housed in the library
and may be checked out to students to use on projects.
They are especially earmarked for vocational students
without access to computers at home. We appreciate the
efforts of Ms. Carr to upgrade our technological hardware
by her hard diligence in writing this successful grant
proposal. |
