Welcome to the Club: Unique School Clubs
“No matter how hard I try, he beats me,” said sophomore Lukas Dush, “but I have beaten him once.” Dush and fellow sophomore Miles Wilson have battled each other many times. Dush tries his best, but when the final move has been played, Wilson is most likely victorious.
It’s not a full-blown war, but rather a friendly game of chess. Chess is a game of strategy. It involves thinking ahead and sticking to a game plan in order to defeat an opponent. Mr. Cody McDaniel, the chess club sponsor, said, “It’s pretty cool when your strategy works out in the end.” The club meets twice a week to discuss strategies and the history of chess. The strategies will help them in a state tournament in the spring against chess teams from all around Arkansas.
Mr. McDaniel also sponsors the Quiz Bowl team. They compete in a spring state tournament with a four-player team. The questions they have to answer are from any topic such as science, math, history, literature, and current events. The team needs a lot of practice before the tournament. They answer test questions and hold mock competitions. Mr. McDaniel said, “The team is split into groups of four. One person reads the questions, and they just go at it.”
Within the dark walls of the broadcast room are the men responsible for morning announcements, weekly videos, and recording school events. During the absence of Mrs. Rebecca McWilliams, it was a completely student-run class with only adult supervision from Ms. Carrey Reynolds. Running the class required a lot more work from the students when they were on their own. They had to come up with all the ideas and write all the scripts for their videos.
With the recent renovations, the morning announcements will soon be broadcast through the projectors in each room instead of a TV. However, since the beginning of the school year, the announcements had to go through the intercom because of a broken switcher. Senior John Mark Stodola said, “Without the switcher, we are nothing.” Technicians are now working on the switcher and will have it reinstalled within the month. Step by step, the broadcast team will bring videos back to Friday mornings. [Editors’ note: Until then, select videos will appear on this site]
Cyber defense is a branch of ROTC that involves protecting computer servers and operating systems. Despite what some people may think, it is not a form of hacking. Junior Joseph Kready, the head of cyber defense, said, “We are actually the opposite of hacking. We are a part of a program called Cyber Patriot.”
Cyber Patriot is a national competition in which students are given an operating system with the goal of protecting it. The top teams in the nation get a paid trip to Washington D.C. and some prize money. Much like the other clubs, cyber defense brings together students with the same interests. Kready said, “I have a great love for technology, and it’s fun meeting others with the same interests and helping them out.”
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