Category Archives: News

Freshmen play their first pops poncert and their last marching band show for the season on Wednesday

By Garland Noel

“People may say that it takes a lot of dedication and work, and they’re right about that, but it’s all worth it in the end, ” said freshman Chase Bishop

Bishop, who plays baritone saxophone for pep, concert and marching band, is playing his first pops concert this year along with most of the freshman band players. The pops concert, which is held here on Wednesday at 7, marks the last time this year’s marching music will ever be played. The marching band is not alone as all the school bands will be playing their own part of the performance, making this one of the largest band concert aside from Winter Fantasia.

“We’re playing ‘Instant Concert,’ ‘Into the Storm’ and ‘Romanesque’,” said freshman intermediate band percussionist Luke Malone.

Malone said that his favorite piece was “Instant Concert” because it was fun to play and had a lot of songs in it. Freshman Mason Moberly and others agreed with his assessment, although Bishop disagreed and said his favorite was “Into the Storm.”

“It has the most energy has the most energy of the all pieces. ‘Instant Concert’ pretty much has one theme through out the entire piece, but ‘Into the Storm’ combines three different themes,” said Bishop.

With the intermediate, advanced, jazz, marching and pep bands playing this is a huge event, not to mention the A and B winter guard and the winter percussion playing. For some, though, it all comes back to why they do it.

“I have a lot of friends in band; everybody gets along, it’s just a cool experience,” said Bishop.

Cafeteria hosts Book Drive for Dr. Seuss Day

By Peter Hyle and Christian DiMartino

Every year the cafeteria makes a special lunch for Dr. Seuss Day. Serving food such as green eggs and ham and grinch burgers, it has become a yearly tradition for the FC cafeteria workers. This year however, the cafeteria hosted a week-long book drive in honor of the author’s birthday.

“The purpose of the book drive is to give to a school with lower income children,” said food and nutrition manager Jody Kramer.

All of the books collected in the book drive are to be sent to Green Valley Elementary in hopes that they will encourage healthy reading habits.

“The National Education Association started these book drives 17 years ago. It focuses on motivating children and teens to read more through events, partnerships, and reading resources,” said school librarian Pamela Poe.

Weather interfered with Dr. Seuss Day, which was last Sunday and scheduled to be celebrated at FC on Monday. After the snow day and two-hour delay at the start of last week, it was decided that the cafeteria celebration would be held on Tuesday.

“Cooking the themed food is easy, fun, and my cooks love to do it because it’s something different,” said Kramer.

For most involved, the rewarding aspect of the week was collecting all of the books for the children.

“Roughly 50-60 books were donated into the box, which is great for the very first year we’ve done the book drive,” said Kramer.

“The entire drive is in conjunction with Reading Across America. We stopped officially collecting on Friday, but we will still collect any books that come in late.”

According to Kramer, the first book drive at FC, held in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday was an achievement.

“In my opinion, it’s a good day celebrating a wonderful author. Hopefully we can do the book drive again next year and it will be even more of a success. We have great kids and staff in this building that made the book drive possible,” said Kramer.

The donated books are put into boxes before being taken to Green Valley Elementary.
The donated books are put into boxes before being taken to Green Valley Elementary. Photo by Peter Hyle

FCDM finale incorporates excitement, emotion

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Junior Chad Lawrence announces guest speaker Dr. Mervin Yoder at the closing ceremony. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Seniors Jacob Miller, Julie Jackson, and junior Carly Stevens listen to a Riley story. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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FCDM participants dance at the rave held by DJs Andrew Nguyen and Isaac Nasseem. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Senior Jack Stoner dances with other students at the rave. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Junior Garry Posey leads the crowd as he teaches the last portion of the morale dance. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Dance Marathon coordinator Tiffany Stansbury crowns sophomores Justin Applebaum and Kristen Burger as the FCDM king and queen. This title is won by the male and female FC student who raise the most money for the marathon. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Sophomore participants learn the final portion of the morale dance. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Executive committee members look on in disbelief as they see the amount of money raised this year. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Seniors Meredith Sant and Eliza Hudson bow their heads in respect during a Riley story. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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FCDM participants learn the final portion of the morale dance. At the closing ceremony, the dance was finally put together. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Senior Emma Bellus practices the morale dance before the closing ceremony. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Dr. Mervin Yoder talks about the importance of research donations for cancer treatment. Yoder works at the Herman B. Wells Center for Pediatric Research. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Dance Marathon coordinator Anne Martin recognizes juniors Grant Vellinger and Garry Posey for their work on the morale executive committee.
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Dance Marathon coordinator Matthew Townsend recognizes seniors Austin Ivey, Harrison Davis, Sarah Fougerousse, and Sarah Henry for their work on the entertainment executive committee. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Senior Austin Ivey cuts wristbands off of seniors Josh Becht and Allen Truong. One of bands was cut off to symbolize the Riley families who got to go home. Participants were encouraged to leave the other on for the Riley families who never got to go home. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Dance Marathon coordinator Kristina Bauerla recognizes the executive committee for their hard work and dedication to helping the kids at Riley. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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FCDM participants form a circle and link hands while executive committee members cut off one of their wristbands. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Senior, participants, who form the inner circle, come together in support of the Riley families. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Dance Marathon coordinator Tiffany Stansbury thanks donors, volunteers, committee members, and participants for their support in making FCDM possible. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Executive committee members watch a video recollecting the events of the day. Photo by Meghan Poff.
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Executive committee members begin to reveal the total sum raised at the closing ceremony. Photo by Meghan Poff.