Fifteen Mansfield High School students, 14 Mansfield Middle School students and 40 Wilder Elementary students earned places in the top four of their categories in the 2010 Language Arts Departments of Southwest Missouri’s language arts fair, one of the oldest and largest competitions of its kind in the United States.

But some students were surprised by their wins.

“I was actually expecting two other entries to win,” said sophomore Chance Allen, “so it kind of flip flopped on me.” Allen won honorable mention in the biopoem/geopoem category and third for art promoting writing.

Other students were less focused on strategy though.

“I had fun,” recalled sophomore Trey Jones, who won second for art promoting writing (along with sophomore Brady Hanger), “and it was cool to win.”

The list of MHS winners

Grades 9/10

Book Report

Honorable Mention Kendra Woolman: “Hattie Owen Changes”

Comparison/Contrast

2^nd Christian Gray: “A Comparison of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Debaters”

Description of Place

Honorable Mention Katie Hanson: “My Secret Place”

Documented Essay

1^st Julia Gresham: “Celtic Religion”

Personal Experience Narrative

2^nd Katie Hanson: “In the Moment”

Biopoem/Geopoem

Honorable Mention Chance Allen: “Chance Allen”

Acrostic

1^st Macy Allison: “Saying Goodbye…”

Long Free Verse

1^st Kyle Rummens: “Kicked”

Individual or Group Art Promoting Writing

1st Nicole Mitchell: “Reading is Awesome”

2^nd Trey Jones, Brady Hanger: “LAD”

3^rd Chance Allen: “LAD Hatter”

Individual Drawing

2^nd Robin Barth: “The Day the World Changed”

Grades 11/12

Personal Opinion

2^nd Whitney Whorton: “Abuse of the Elderly”

3^rd Kimberly Graf: “The Misleading Effects of War Movies”

Description of Object or Thing

2^nd Vince Miller: “Doors”

3^rd Rochelle Johns: “Just a Marker?”

Individual Graphic Adaptation of Published Literature

1^st Rochelle Johns: “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

High School Winners: Nicole Mitchell, Julia Gresham, Chance Allen, Robin Barth, Whitney Whorton, Katie Hanson, Christian Gray, Trey Jones, Jenna Campie, Kyle Rummens. Not Pictured:Macy Allison, Brady Hanger, Kimberly Graf, Vince Miller, Rochelle Johns.

Taking a well deserved break, MMS students with perfect attendance (the 100% Club) took a field trip to Ava’s bowling alley and theater on March 15. Besides bowling with their friends, students watched Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Participants enjoyed themselves, said Alyssa Elliott, sixth grade. “We were bowling and everybody was acting crazy and everybody was hyper,” she said.

Alyssa Elliott

Mansfield High School’s yearbook, the El Leon, will be available for orders through March 19. Orders for the fall delivery yearbook for the 2009-2010 school year can be made in the high school office. Basic books are $30 each. Personalization and a variety of icons are also available. Copies of the 2008-2009 El Leon are also available in the high school office for $30 while supplies last.

Eager to show their holiday spirit, MHS faculty and staff dressed in tacky holiday outfits on the last full day of first semester. The most outrageous outfit may have belonged to Bob Cubellis, math teacher, who donned reindeer antlers with red and green ornaments. Other adults countered with electronic displays. For instance, substitute Nancy Sherman wore a sweater with an attached wreath that included battery powered ornaments. Likewise, Christie Grubbs, sixth grade teacher, had an outfit with flashing lights. Also participating was Gary Greene, middle school principal, wore a 3D angel on the front of his sweater. “What?” said Greene. “I think this is a very nice shirt.”

In the spirit: Gary Greene, middle school principal, checks the Springfield News Leader in the high school work room.

Performing an arrangement of holiday favorites, MMS Choir put on a concert for the community on Dec. 17. Sporting T-shirts reading, “Warning: Owner is subject to spontaneous outbursts of song,” middle school singers performed “Alleluia” and “Jingle Bells Rock” as well as other songs.

Songbird: Rushing back to the gym to perform, Katie Peak, eighth grade, still has time for a smile. Peak enjoys middle school choir. "It's an expression of who you are," she said. "You can sing your anger away."

By: Katie Hanson

Tap, tap, tap, go the students on their calculators as they work on math problems. Children hunch over desks thinking about their work. Tick, tock, goes the clock, the only sound in the room.

This year the Math Club held a middle school math contest on April 25. They have hosted this contest before and have had success with it.

“The middle school contest will go great,” said senior, Tron Sherman Math Club VP, before the contest. “We just remade all the test and I’m excited to see how well they do.”

Last year at the contest, the MMS took the overall trophy in eighth grade.

Before the contest, Bob Cubellis, math club adviser, believed the event would be great. “This year contest should go very well,” he said, “We have new schools getting more interested, and have a couple of new schools entered in the contests this year.”

Two of the new schools include Houston and Manes.

The week before the contest, senior Landon Jarrett, Math Club president,  anticipated that the seniors would step up to the challenge. “I think the contest will go great,” he said. “Even though Mr. Cubellis won’t be there I think the upperclassmen will step up and do good.”

The students who won in the contest include eighth graders Shay Jackson and Devon Huff in word problems, Scott Davis and Taylor Wehmeyer in number theory and Brianna Cubellis and Curtis Carnal in pre-algebra. MMS won the second place overall trophy for eighth grade.

All the students in Math Club who helped rewrite the tests and helped with the contest were taken to a Springfield Cardinals game as a reward.

“The trip should be fun,” said senior Laura Wagner before going, “except I hope I don’t get sunburned again this year.” But Wagner ended up not being able to go to the game because she had to work.

Besides getting red from sunburns, students also get red in the face from trying to complete the 24 puzzle. The 24 puzzle is part of a contest that Math Club hosts for the elementary students. The game consists of students multiplying, dividing, adding or subtracting four numbers to get to 24. The students who win receive ribbons for first, second or third.

“I am pretty good at multiplication,” said Katlin Vough, sixth grader, last year’s first place winner in fifth grade. “It was fun, and I enjoyed it. Now it is one of my favorite games.”

Math Club has also done other activities this year as well including holding a Pizza Hut night at the Ava Pizza Hut.

“Pizza Hut night was very successful,” said Cubellis. “We raised a lot of money for the club.”

Math Club has been very busy this year planning and organizing these contests and holding a Pizza Hut night to raise money but no matter what they do, the sounds of busy calculators and the sight of working children will always be a part of MHS.

In spite of chilly, gloomy weather, MHS students spent part of Thursday morning in a celebration. Aided by students from kindergarten to twelfth grade and about 50 community members, the MHS band and choir honored area veterans during an assembly in the gym.

Introducing active members of the military including senior Stephanie Baty, private, U.S. Army, John B. Doane of American Legion Post 128 gave the welcoming address.

Representative Van Kelly spoke after performances by the band and choir.

“Veterans Day is a time to think about the meaning of sacrifice,” observed Kelly, who explained that patriotism involved “duty, honor, sacrifice, integrity and personal responsibility.”

“Unfortunately,” added Kelly, “many Americans take freedom for granted.” American veterans, he explained, have done their duty and sacrificed for their country. It is because of them that U.S. citizens have the freedoms they enjoy.

Present at the assembly were four WWII veterans, two Korean War veterans, eight Vietnam veterans, two Panama and Grenada veterans, two Gulf War veterans and two Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Some of those veterans have served in more than one conflict.

Representative Van Kelly, above, speaks during the assembly

Bringing a message of persistence and hope to Mansfield’s middle and high school students, former NBA player Chad Varga delivered a motivational talk during second and third periods in the high school gym on Wednesday, August 27. Varga, who says his mother was an alcoholic and a drug user, overcame an abusive childhood to play for the Dallas Mavericks before quitting professional basketball to work with teens from troubled backgrounds.

Describing his own upbringing, Varga said, “My mom, the woman that’s supposed to love me, came out of the kitchen with a butcher knife in her left hand.” The incident occurred after the young Varga confronted his mother about her drug use.

“She stabbed me,” he continued, “right there. You see that scar? She chased me through the house. I was thinking, ‘What am I gonna tell my teachers when I get to school? What kind of lie am I gonna tell my friends?’”

But Varga’s story turned on a moment of hope, the moment that he realized that he could create his own success. “If you wanna be successful,” he explained, “you gotta make yourself do things other people aren’t willing to do.” He then described the hours of homework and basketball practice he committed himself to so that he could go to college and, eventually, play professional basketball. “The greatest coaches in my life were people who expected me to do things I didn’t think I could do,” he added.

Mansfield students reacted positively to the event.

“It was fun,” said freshman Katie Hanson, although some students did find sitting through the lengthy talk grueling.

“It needed a bathroom break,” explained freshman Jakob Adamson.

Still, most students seemed willing to endure the long time in the bleachers, especially after Varga began handing out cash to some students as an object lesson in dedication. At that point, the previously silent students erupted into a mad dash toward Varga, who explained that while everyone wanted the cash, only some of the students were willing to put an effort into getting it.

“It was awesome,” said freshman Emily Neal.