The Freshman winners were Connor Kaiser and Kelcy Fiser, Sophomores were Conner Richenburg and Madison Green, and Juniors were Mickey Ahmmed and Abbey Fiser.

The senior court is different this year. Instead of 4 boys and 4 girls there is now a Sweet 16 court, with 8 boys and 8 girls. During lunch next week, there will be jars with each senior candidates’ names on them. The jars which collect the most money during lunch (for the American Heart Association), will be in the final 8, 4 boys and 4 girls. The final 8 will be announced at the end of next week.

The sweet 16 is as follows.

Boys:

Cameron Eggen, Austin O’Grady, Evan Kline, Austen McGuire, Brett McMakin, NIhal Osman, Witt Womack, and Harris Zamir.

Girls: 

Natalie Block, Olivia Boone, Jadyn Flores, Kenley Gassaway, Nikki Kagan, Samantha Kolkhorst, Tori Kunkel, Natalie Pare, and Bentley Snider.

The challenge is to raise $1.o0 per student, and teachers are more than welcome to participate. The 4th block class that raises the most money will win a free lunch to Olive Garden! Let’s make a change in helping find cures for patients everywhere.

Seniors:
Abby Berger, Brittany Eastham, Tessa Carson, Nicole and Rachel Stolte, Destiny Boos, Olivia Boone, Evan Kline, Joe Davis, Austin McGuire, Tori Ventura, Emily Grantham, Madi Fulgham, Morgan Zammit, Jadyn Flores, Kanika Kshirsagar, Jack Vandervelde, Jon Echeverria, Samantha Newland, Katie McKenzie, Kenley Gassoway, Amanda Moore, Ryan Agnitch, Stephanie Peterson, Amy Stumpf,
Juniors: Maggie Highberger, Rylee Nordstrom, Paige Cedergreen, Mackenzie Sipes, Shelly Bushman, Sam Smith, Hayden Chauvin, Chad Carlson, Lindsay McCausland, Tyler Hamedi, Kale Greiner, Maddy Wilson, Andrea Rock, Dylan Stull

Great job Jags, keep up the good work!

The skinny roads that face BV West students trying to get to school made things worse. The one-lane roads meant that it was inevitable that if someone braked and the ice made their car slide forward, only three things could happen. The car could miraculously stop in time, without any car getting harmed. In an attempt to avoid to the other car at all costs, the driver could manage to maneuver the vehicle into the ditch area on the side of the road. The last thing that could happen is a car accident, an event all student drivers fear.

The accident generally consists of tail-ending the other car, so the damage depends on the cars involved and the speed the car had been sliding. For example, a typical student car, the sedan, could slide into another sedan without major damage. However, when the sedan tail-ends a SUV, pick-up truck, or some other large vehicle, the speed can mean the difference between a scratch and an accordion-shaped front end or even death.

Luckily, no accidents have reported major injuries for the drivers. The cars that were in these accidents, on the other hand, come in a variety of dents, broken lights, and folded hoods. Many roads and intersections cleared by the afternoon showed the aftermath of the day’s accidents, such as with downed signs and shattered glass.

Some students involved in these accidents believe that these crashes should not have occurred and the ice was dangerous enough that the district should have closed school to prevent student accidents.

The Occupy Wall Street protests began with “Operation: Occupy Wall Street.” Just about 100 nations and over 1,000 cities across the globe are protesting. The question is, what are they protesting against?

For the past generations, society has been completely neglected from countless governments across the nation and other parts of the world. The public was influenced by the revolts in Egypt, and in Tunisia. Occupy Wall Street is composed of different ethnicities, genders and political influences. They are the 99% that can no longer tolerate the corruption of the 1%.

It came here to Kansas City around September 26 and there is no different story. Everyone has the same standards and needs. Opinions have staked high and just about thousands of people have joined in and got involved for numerous reasons. One of them is that the unemployment rate in the U.S. is at 9.1% and it is 8.5% in Kansas City (Occupykc.com).

Occupy Kansas City has been held at Memorial Drive outside the Federal Reserve Bank of KC. General Assemblies have also been held every day at 6:30pm. Assemblies are publically displayed with no leader. Everyone is a representation of themselves and others. Discussions are addressed democratically and do not tolerate anything besides common courtesy. Fridays are engaged with Friday Night Sleepovers.

Anyone can come and are welcomed by courageous conversations. Showing support for Occupy KC does not have to be shown publically, rather you can also support the fairness of the protests by blogging and donating goods. It will continue to go on until there is change and proven otherwise.

“All the high school libraries work together to see what’s best for students,” BV West librarian Amanda Davis said.

Several changes have been made to the library during the past few years, but some are more welcome than others.The most noticeable differences concern the library’s rules. This year, students wishing to use the library during JAG can only go there to check out a book or do classwork on computers. Study groups are no longer allowed because of distractions and overcrowding, which is a problem in the whole building this year.

“The rules are frustrating,” said junior Salis Fabregat. “I don’t exactly know why they have these limits, but I don’t like them.”

During JAG, the library opens ten minutes after the free period begins, forcing students to wait in the hallway until they are allowed to go inside. Once the doors open, they are herded through the doors in a single-file line. This may not seem like much of a delay, but it can cost students valuable time needed to complete a project.

“I think the new rules are kind of useless,” said junior Eric Reid, who came to the library and was told to study elsewhere. “You can’t just come here and do your work if you have a loud JAG room.”

The new policies have been put into effect because the library has its own JAG class this year. The first ten minutes of class are used to take attendance and sign students’ passes. It’s the same procedure that happens in every other classroom during this time, and, just like everywhere else, no one is allowed in or out until it is done.

Even though the library is much more spacious than a typical room at BV West, it only has two librarians and hosts a full-sized JAG class. If too many people arrive at once, they increase the student-to-teacher ratio and make it harder for the librarians to help and pay attention to the students in their own class.

“The library has its own JAG now,” librarian Shelly McNerney said. “And no JAG lets a hundred people into its classroom because it would overwhelm the teachers and space.”

There is another, more subtle type of change going on at the library. Educational resources are becoming increasingly computerized as databases take the place of encyclopedias and reference books. At  the moment, the Library Media Center website has links to 18 different databases and countless other websites. Many students appreciate this trend because the technology makes research and homework faster and easier. It takes less time to search for answers on the Internet than look up words in a dictionary, and projects look neater if they’re done with Microsoft Office instead of a box of markers.

“Every year, more and more people come to the library,” Davis said. “They usually use the computers.”

Some say that the changes in rules and media discourage students from using the library for its intended purpose: reading. According to the library’s sign-in sheet, only one out of every 23 people who come to the library check out books or read.

“I don’t think many people read at the library,” senior Hayden Kaustinen said. “It’s just hard to get here during school.”

Some of the reasons for this difficulty go back to the recent alterations, but it’s impossible to blame the library for the lack of people who take advantage of its fiction books. Some students don’t read often anyway, and others are too busy with homework and AP classes to read for pleasure.

Despite the ways it has been modified in recent years, the BV West library continues to provide a place for students to check out a book or work on a project. The changes aren’t stopping students from taking advantage of their media center.