Table of Contents
News Around Town
Sports
Recipes
Fashion
Reviews
Games and Puzzles
Credits
News Around Town
Talent Show Preview
The Shawnee Spotlight is a talent show open for 6th to 12th grade students. Currently, there is a total award amount of 1,200 dollars thanks to generous donations.
There are a few ways to contribute. First and foremost, you can perform. This can entail singing, dancing, playing instruments, comedy, and so much more. Whatever your talent is, auditions are on January 23rd and 24th and will be held in the auditorium. If you want to perform, you can sign up for a time slot in the Google Classroom. More information on this is also in the Google Classroom. The other way to contribute is to emcee. The emcee is the announcer for the show. Emcee auditions are on the 31st. More information on this is in the Google Classroom as well. In addition to all of this, there may also be opportunities for stage help. Current performances are scheduled for the 12th and 13th of April, but I understand these are subject to change.
So, what are you waiting for? The Google Classroom code is 63z2rr6, so join now if you’re interested! There is $1,200 in awards at stake, so why pass up such an exciting opportunity?
Carrie Briggs
Remembering the King
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of every January. While his birthday is actually January 15th, the latest it has been celebrated has been January 21st. This year, we’ll be celebrating it on the 15th.
So, what’s the history of this holiday? Well, MLK Day was first celebrated in 1986. This was 38 years ago as of 2024. Dr. King was a well respected civil rights activist who was born on January 15th, 1929. He was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent protest to racism. He used nonviolent protest to stand up to the harmful segregation and Jim Crow laws. He was a Baptist Minister along with his civil rights work. He led the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, did sit-ins in segregated restaurants and stores, gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington in 1963, and much more.
On October 14, 1964, King became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. He is still being honored to this day when we celebrate MLK Day. While we get this day off, we should recognize the honorable man behind it. Dr. King was a wonderful speaker, activist, leader, and man. When we observe this day, we should all reflect on the civil rights movement and honor all who worked towards it.
Carrie Briggs
Colten Horn: Senoir Spotlight
Colten Horn has been a Shawnee Indian since kindergarten. He intends to major in Nursing at Rhodes State College. In his free time, Colten goes to the gym and lifts weights. He also likes going outside while enjoying nature with his dog. Colten advises upcoming freshmen to “Prepare for a heavier workload and learn how to study if you don’t know how.” Colten has also been part of the school’s baseball team these past four years and will miss playing for Shawnee. Make sure to checkout his clothing brand, 'Persevere'.
Mia Molina
Piccolo
The piccolo is being dusted off cause the band is having piccolo auditions. They will appear in songs played at concerts and the ones playing the piccolo will be announced by the end of January. The piccolo for those who don't know is a small flute-like instrument that plays at a higher pitch it's like a little sibling of a flute. It evolved from the military transverse flute of the Middle Ages. Interesting fact piccolo comes from the Italian word for small. For classic music lovers Mozart used the piccolo in German Dances in 1791 and it was also used in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
Mason Mcpheron
Sports
Sports Corner with Pauly
Icon, legend, sports fanatic, Pauly Caris. Pauly has been the statistician for our Shawnee Boys Basketball team since his freshman year. He has kept stats for He is ready to share his knowledge with the world. Introducing the new Chief section, ‘Sports Corner with Pauly’ where our local statistician shares his knowledge of Shawnee Sports. His mission is to help inform the school and let his credentials be tested. In the Google form below, test his knowledge. Ask Pauly any trivia and he’ll know it. Let’s warmly welcome the host of the new section Pauly!
Samantha Smith and Pauly Caris
Stump Pauly
How many times has the Boys Shawnee Basketball gone to state?
Three times, the first was in 1965 lead by Coach Gary Duhaime, the second time was 2000 with Coah Jeff Heistan, and lastly was 2021 lead by Coach Mark Triplett.
What year was the fisrt Shawnee Baseball game?
1930
What was the score of the Boys Varsity Basketball game in 1994 against Bath?
On January 21, 1994, Shawnee won 77 to 57.
Think you can stump Pauly, ask him any question below in the Google form.
Recipes
Snowball, Mexica Wedding, or Russian Tea Cake Recipe
Snowball cookies, Mexican wedding cookies, or Russian tea cakes no matter what you call them this is a recipe for one of the most delicious winter dessert
Ingredient List
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup very finely chopped pecans
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup powdered sugar, or more as needed
Beat your butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer. Then gradually mix in the flour and salt. After fully combined fold in your pecans.
Bake in the oven at 350 for 12 minutes. Hack: flip the cookie sheet halfway through for an even cook
After they're done out of the oven, let them cool halfway. Then take a sifter and sift powdered sugar over the cookies. Then enjoy!
Samantha Smith
Fashion
Vera Bradley
Is Vera Bradley coming back? You probably think that this name sounds familiar, your mom may have owned a couple of bags or you may have had a lunch box when you were younger. Before we talk about if Vera Bradley is coming back let's talk about its history and the past Trends surrounding it. Barbara Baekgaard and Patricia Miller were neighbors who started selling wallpaper, they suddenly got the idea to put a wallpaper-like print onto clothing and accessories. When they were at an airport they noticed that all the women's bags were black or gray. That's when they borrowed $500 from their husbands, went to the fabric store, and started creating what we know now as the Vera Bradley bags. After 3 years, their company was worth over a million dollars. At that time there was nothing else like it on the market so they were selling out tremendously. Then Good Morning America featured them on a segment about college campus trends they blew up. But, with every rise comes a fall, in 2017 sales started to slow down and Vera Bradley started to be seen as a “mom brand”. They tried rebranding, adding solid colors, and doing collaborations with big brands, but nothing worked. So what's going on now? Vera Bradley has picked up some traction on TikTok, people have been posting about it maybe coming back and I think that this is just the beginning. Vera Bradley will be one of the next ‘it’ things. This may take a while to pick up but when it does it'll hit hard, so grab your Vera Bradley stuff before it all sells out.
Samantha Smith
Reviews
Mean Girls Musical Review
New Year means new remakes of classic movies. The Broadway musical Mean Girls was turned into a film and released On December 25, 2023. It’s hard to redo a classic movie and serve it justice. After I saw a bunch of criticism on TikTok I went to go see it for myself. I can't speak from a musical theater perspective but as just an average viewer I really enjoyed it. I heard a lot about the change of the lyrics and pace of the song Stupid with love. after hearing both songs I do agree with the musical theater kids that the original Broadway version is so much better and has so much more life. I can't write this article without mentioning the fantastic cast Renee Rapp’s Trail of Regina George was powerful and so perfect. Another fantastic actress to mention is Avantika Vandanapu. Avantika Played Karen and carried the humorous side of the film. every time she was on screen she had you laughing. I was nervous about Christopher Briney playing Aaron and I don't love that casting decision but he did a good job and I think it is a blessing that he did not have to sing any songs. All in all it was a great film and I don't hate the fact that they remade it.