THE CHIEF OCTOBER 2024

A Center of School Spirit

A new member of Shawnee High School has arrived, and it happens to be a nearly 20-ton Spirit Rock. Our new spirit rock has been gifted to us by a quarry near Celina, and the school was only given the responsibility of transporting it to our school grounds. Our Student Government was able to raise the money to get it brought in, and it now lies in front of our wrestling room. Eventually, there will be designs painted on the rock to exemplify our school spirit. Years down the road, we will be able to look at the rock and see years' worth of designs we have put on the rock to see how our school has grown over the years.

Cade Hefner

When given the opportunity of a lifetime, Mr. Gibson took his fourth-period class out to watch such a momentous event in our school's history unfurl. They were the only class that went outside to watch the rock be placed, but several other classes went out later in the day to see its large presence. It was a very nice day outside, so getting some fresh air was certainly a nice treat!

Cade Hefner

Chromakopia: Tyler, the Creator's new album

After claiming no new album would be coming this year, Tyler, the Creator, gave us a nice surprise this year. Around the 17th, Tyler announced his new album, Chromakopia, that would be coming out on Monday, October 28th. This song blends some of his older styles of music and mixes it with some newer sides that we haven't seen from him before. From songs like "Noid", which shows how paranoid celebrities can become due to obsessive fans to St. Chroma, where he is shown portraying a character similar to that of a book -- Chroma the Great -- where he addresses the industry and indirectly claims that all of the works of artists are the same. Chroma the Great is a character in Norton Juster's "The Phantom Tollbooth", where he is a conductor of colors, and can control where they are and how they behave. After knowing this, we can make a connection to the music videos -- in St. Chroma, the world starts in black and white, but once he loads the other artists into a shipping container, the world becomes colorful again, implying that he is trying to bring the "color" back into life, or rather more originality. Chromakopia seems to be reaching for the idea that individuality is key, and Tyler's lyricism greatly shows that. Aside from that, there are several cameos from popular artists like Childish Gambino and Lil' Wayne, who are on "Judge Judy" and "Sticky" respectively. Overall, it is a great album, and I recommend you give it a listen!

A Music Enthusiast

A Spooky Game for a Spooky Time of Year

It’s finally halloween season! Halloween is a staple time for all things horror. That’s been books, movies, songs, and pop-culture of all kinds. But what’s always been the most interesting and interactive media, at least in my opinion? Video games. So what can we expect from video games in this spooky season?

Well, it depends on where you look. I would turn first to horror games, which have been around since the start of gaming. “Hunt the Wumpus” was released in 1972 and is widely considered the oldest horror game. Though it’s just an 8-bit text adventure game, it started a genre that would eventually include iconic games like “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “Resident Evil”. More than just selling well, horror games also received high acclaim. “Resident Evil 4” and “Signalis Triumph” won 2023’s game awards in their respective categories to name just two.

That being said, go play a horror game! They’re the perfect way to get in a little bit of spookiness before the 31st. Maybe don’t play with the lights off though…

Carrie Briggs

Poll: Do you use AI as a helpful tool?

This month, a poll was put out to get a sample of the school to see if people use AI to aid them in their academics. The results were relatively close, but more people use AI to help them than not -- out of 151 people, 58.3% of people do use it, while 41.7% do not. The consensus is that AI only helps with things that people already know about, and usually only helps to get a better understanding of topics or to explain things that might not make much sense without a thorough explanation, which it can give you. Answers range from getting more in-depth explanations of historical events, or describing why a math equation works. Some people said that using AI should be seen as cheating, but when used appropriately, it is a very helpful resource in growing your intellect. If you plan on using it, use it responsibly!

Cade Hefner

8th Grade Band Buddy Night

The band buddy night is when the 8th grade band that is planning on moving up to our marching band gets to make their first appearance on the grand stage of the stadium. They play some songs during pregame and they also get to play stand tunes, which is always super fun! It is always nice to see our bands interact and become buddies. My buddy was Eli – he was nice and knew a lot about the flute. It seemed like the 8th graders had a good time getting to meet some of our band and liked having some of the spotlight. We can’t wait to see them in next year's marching band! Good luck!

Mason McPheron

The Band Goes to Bluffton

The Shawnee Band of One was at Bluffton University and was acting as their home band on Saturday. They played their last time of Wicked on the college’s home field, which was quite the experience for them. The band had a lot of fun, and you all did great. Have a great concert season and see you next marching season!!!

Mason McPheron

Road to the World Series: The Playoffs

The MLB playoffs have been nothing short of exciting so far. Unexpected teams surged, major competitors handled their series, and there have been three series that came down to the final game so far. With so much baseball left to play, let’s take a look at how the MLB playoffs have gotten to this point of the World Series being between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

End of September and Playoff Seeding

It was a tight race heading into the final week of September in the American and National leagues. In the AL, the (1)New York Yankees, (2)Cleveland Guardians and (3)Houston Astros each saw clinches of their respective divisions and gained entryway into the playoffs. The (4)Orioles had already clinched a wildcard spot, and it came down to the Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, and Detroit Tigers. Two would make it, two would miss the postseason. The Mariners and Twins had been major competitors for the sport earlier in the season, but had fizzled out and were now outside chances. The Tigers had been below .500 for the first half of the season, but had a surge in the second half and saw a shot at the playoffs. The Royals had been consistent all year and were competitors for the playoffs for the season’s entirety. The first AL team to fall was the Mariners, who were eliminated after the Tigers and Royals reached an 86-win threshold that they could not meet despite a solid finish to their season. Minnesota went into the final eight days of September at 81-73 with a playoff spot practically locked up, before undergoing what can only be described as a generational choke job, losing seven out of eight games to finish at 82-80, including two games to the Marlins who finished with a record of .383, to be eliminated from playoff contention. These two teams being eliminated allowed the (5)Royals and the (6)Guardians into the postseason. In the NL, the (1)Los Angeles Dodgers, (2)Philadelphia Phillies, and (3)Milwaukee Brewers each clinched their divisions and, with that, the playoffs. They were followed by the (4)San Diego Padres clinching a wild card berth. Itt came down to the Diamondbacks, Mets, and Braves, with the spots coming down to the final day. The Mets and Braves had a game that was postponed scheduled for as a doubleheader with another game. If either team won both games, they would clinch and so would the Diamondbacks. But if they split, then they would both clinch. The (5)Mets would take a stunning first game 8-7 after scoring six runs in the eighth inning after being held scoreless all game and then adding two more with a Francisco Lindor home run in the ninth inning. In the second game, the (6)Braves would pitch incredibly, allowing only three hits and one walk with eleven strikeouts, shutting out the Mets and clinching the playoffs with a 3-0 victory.

Wild Card

The Yankees, Guardians, Dodgers, and Phillies all saw first round byes as they were the top two seeds in their respective leagues. As a result, we saw four wild card series (three games): the Tigers vs Astros, the Royals vs Orioles, the Mets vs Brewers, and the Braves vs Padres. The first team to clinch a division round berth were the Tigers, who won their first playoff series since the 2013 ALDS, with the Astros being swept after winning the AL West. They were followed on the same day by their AL Central rivals, the Royals, who also swept their opponent in the Orioles. They kept the normally offensively-loud Orioles to one run in two very quiet games, with star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. batting in two of the Royal’s three scored runs in the series. The Padres were the third team to clinch on the same day, defeating the Braves in two games. Fernando Tatis Jr. went 4-6 batting with two RBIs and a home run in the series, with the Braves being shut out in game one and, despite putting up four runs, being eliminated in game two as the Padres’ stars Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill each had two RBIs. The final wild card series was between the Mets and Brewers, the only one of the four to go to three games. The Mets won the first game 8-4, but the series was evened by the Brewers in game 2, where Garrett Mitchell hit a two run homer in the eighth to push the Brewers past the Mets. It came down to a game 3, where it remained scoreless until the seventh inning where the Brewers hit back to back solo shot home runs. It remained 2-0 until the top of the ninth, where Pete Alonso smashed a three run home run and Starling Marte hit a single that drove in a run. The Brewers were unable to respond, and the Mets took the series with the final game being 4-2.

Divisional Series

Two 6 and 2 seeds, one 4 and 1 seed, and one 5 and 1 seed matchups awaited the MLB world in the second round of the playoffs with a five game series format. The Yankees would play the Royals, the Guardians took on the Tigers, the Dodgers competed with the Padres, and the Phillies would host the Mets. The first series to end would be the Mets vs Phillies. After dropping game one 6-2, which included five eighth inning runs, the Phillies would rebound in game two despite Mark Vientos belting two home runs and two more from Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso, respectively. Nick Castellanos was the hero as he hit a two-out single in the ninth to give the Phillies the win. Despite the game two win, the Phillies proceeded to drop two straight and lose the series to the Mets, thanks to a 7 run day in game 3 and a Francisco Lindor grand slam in the closing game. The Yankees and Royals saw their series end next. This series saw the two team’s superstars falter heavily. Yankees superstar Aaron Judge continued his horrendous postseason career outside of 2018, going 2-13 in the series with five strikeouts and a stolen base, and Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr, after a solid series against the Orioles, posted a 2-17 statline where he also struck out five times. It was a very defensive series that only saw a combined 26 runs in four games (3.25 runs per team per game), with the Yankees taking it following a solid pitching outing to close out the series which saw Gerrit Cole and co. keep the Royals to a single run with six hits and seven strikeouts. The Guardians and Tigers would face off next, with Cleveland having dominated game one 7-0. The Tigers would respond with back to back 3-0 shoutout games, almost reaching their first ALCS in twelve years. But it was not meant to be, as Cleveland would oust Detroit in game four with David Fry batting in three runs including a two run homer, and then seeing unlikely hero Lane Thomas bat in five runs to go along with a three run home run to bounce the Tigers in five games and help reach Cleveland’s first ALCS since 2016. Back in the NL, the Dodgers and Padres had been going through a very back and forth series. LAD jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a 7-5 victory where superstar Shohei Ohtani hit a three run dinger in his playoff debut. But this didn’t keep the Padres down, as the aforementioned Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr continued his incredible postseason campaign, hitting two home runs in game two to go along with the Padres having a great pitching crew to win game 2 10-2, and then proceeding to hit another home run in game three to cap off a six run inning. Despite a Teoscar Hernandez grand slam, the Padres would hold out to win 6-5. San Diego was almost back to their second ALCS in three years, but a similar fate to the Tigers awaited them as they were shut out in the last two games, where the Dodgers would play eight different pitchers and hit three homers in game 4 to win 8-0, and follow up with two solo shot home runs and another pitching gem from Los Angeles pitchers to take the series in five games with a 2-0 victory.

Championship Series

The seven game format championship series saw the top seeds in the AL, the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians, and the sixth seed from the NL, the New York Mets, and the #1 team (record wise) in the MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, facing off in their respective championship series for their conference’s pennants. Beginning in the AL, it was a competitive series that showed both teams were capable of competing for a World Series title, but only one would make it. New York took both games 1 (5-2) and 2 (6-3), with Carlos Rodon pitching a 9-strikeout gem and Guardians pitchers letting up a three run third inning highlighted by a Juan Soto home run in game one, followed by Aaron Judge batting in three runs, including a two run home run, in game 2. In game 3, the Yankees took a wild lead in the eighth inning after being down since the third inning, with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hitting back to back home runs to achieve a two run lead. Staring down a 3-0 deficit, magic struck for Cleveland as pinch hitter Jhonkensy Noel hit a two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie it up before David Fry hit another two-out two-run home run in the bottom of the tenth to win the game with a score of 7-5 send the series to 2-1. However, it seemed that the comeback was not meant to be, as the Yankees would go on to score two runs in the ninth inning to beat the Guardians 8-6 in game four. In game five, I watched in the crowd, at my first MLB postseason game, as Cleveland took a commanding 2-0 lead. That is, before Giancarlo crushed a 2 run shot in the sixth inning to tie it. The game went to extra innings, where with one out and a runner on first, a ball was grounded to Andres Gimenez who flipped it to Brayan Rocchio. It seemed like everything was going right and Cleveland might live to see another game, before Rocchio, a normally great fielder, lost control of the ball as runners took first and second. Yankees superstar Juan Soto then went on to take the life out of Cleveland with a three-run dinger, and the Yankees took the series in five games. Giancarlo Stanton took the ALCS MVP home, after he hit four home runs in the series for seven RBIs. The Guardians saw star batters Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor struggle in the series, with Ramirez, a normally incredibly clutch player, batting just .200 and going 0-4 with a strikeout in the closeout game. Naylor, who hit 31 home runs in the regular season, didn’t hit a single one in either of Cleveland’s playoff series as they were sent packing. In the NL, it was a very back and forth series of dominating wins. The smallest win margin by either team in the series was four runs. The Dodgers completely dominated game one, winning 9-0 after allowing just three hits and striking out batters eight times. But the Mets would bounce back in game 2, winning 7-3 after Mark Vientos hit a second inning grand slam and the Mets pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts. The response from Los Angeles? An 8-0 game 3 win featuring a three run blast from Shohei Ohtani and a combined 13 strikeouts from Dodgers pitchers, and a 10-2 game 4 win where Ohtani would score four times including a home run, Dodgers star Mookie Betts would go 4-6 with 4 RBIs and a home run, switch hitter Tommy Edman would bat in three runs, and Dodgers pitchers would again dominate with 12 combined strikeouts despite the Mets getting 10 hits including another Mark Vientos home run. With their backs to the wall, the Mets dominated game 5 with a score of 12-6, despite a 2 home run day from Dodger’s Andy Pages. where Pete Alonso would score 4 times and would also hit a three run swamp donkey. Starling Marte would go 4-5 with three RBIs, and New York would also strike out 10 batters. But, like Cleveland, the comeback was not meant to be, as the Dodgers would, again, dominate game 6, winning 10-5, where Tommy Edman would hit for four RBIs and a home run, Will Smith (catcher, not the actor) batted in two runners, and a combined seven Dodgers pitchers would strike out nine batters. Despite another Mark Vientos home run, the Dodgers would clinch a World Series berth. Tommy Edman would win the NLCS MVP, which, going into the series, not many thought would happen as he only hit 6 home runs and 20 RBIs in the regular season. However he starred where it mattered most, batting in 11 runs against the Mets to go along with his .407 average which included four extra base hits, with one being the aforementioned closing game home run. And with the Dodgers closing out the Mets, the World Series was set: The New York Yankees vs The Los Angeles Dodgers.

World Series Preview

This year the World Series is between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees. This year is the 12th overall World Series matchup with the Yankees leading the all-time series 8-3. This will be the Yankees' 41st appearance in the World Series; they have won 27 of them which is an MLB record. This will be the Dodgers' 22nd appearance in the World Series; they have won 7 of them. The first year these two met in the World Series was in 1941 and the Yankees won in 5 games. Throughout the many World Series, these two have been playing against each there have been many Hall of Famers, some of these include are, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Gi Hodges, Jackie Robison, Leo Durocher, Joe McCarthy, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizuto, Joe “Ducky” Medwick, Pee Wee Reese, Casey Stengel, Walter Alston, Sandy Koufax, Roy Campanella, Yogi Berra, Whiety Ford, Reggie Jackson, Don Sutton, Catfish Hunter, Goose Gossage, Tommy Lasorda, and Dave Winfield. These are only a few of the famous players in this historic World Series matchup. This year’s matchup will include stars like Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman. Before 1958 the Dodgers and Yankees were both located in New York with the Dodgers being in Brooklyn. This matchup was a Subway series as they call it for the first 7 of 12 World Series matchups they have played. This year's matchup will be exciting, to say the least. Lastly, with a storied history between these, you will be sure to see grit and determination from both sides during this year's World Series.

Within 5 games, the Dodgers have won the World Series, winning four of the five. Their final game wasn’t looking too good for the Dodgers at the start, with Aaron Judge hitting a home run within the first three innings, but they came back and won, and along with that, the series as a whole.

Benjamin Rutter & Pauly Caris