TILGHMAN BELLPADUCAH TILGHMAN HIGH SCHOOL 2400 WASHINGTON STREET PADUCAH, KENTUCKY MON. MAY 14, 2012 VOL. 88 NO. 10

THE

Choir ConcertMay 20th

3:00 PM at the Carson Center

GraduationMay 25th at 8 PM

at McRight Field

Honors NightMay 15th at

6:30 PM in theAuditorium

Congratulations to the Class of 2012!

Photo by: Wayne Walden

Here at Tilghman, we students are accustomed to certain tradi-tions. Just as we rely on Chicken Day every Wednesday at lunch, we expect to see certain staff members faces in their proper plac-es. But next year, several of these consistencies will change when five experienced members of the Tilghman staff move on, includ-ing the choir director, Mr. Deweese, the Tornado Alley supervisor, Mrs. Sutton, the Business Manager, Mrs. Shaw, and the Special Program administrators, Ms. Austin, Mr. McAfee, and Ms. Moss. We all know and love Mr. Deweese, who, after leading the Tilgh-man choir to glory for seventeen years, is planning to retire next year. Highly respected in the community, Mr. Deweese works with seven choral groups, including the award-winning Tilghman a capella groups Prime Rib and Concordia, as well as a local church choir. Under his direction, the Tilghman choir has received distin-guished rankings at contests for all sev-enteen years. He’s taken the Tilghman choir to Carnegie Hall, Europe, and many more places around the country and globe. And last year, he was even named as Murray State University’s first ever Outstanding Alumni of the Fine-Arts. Between orchestrat-ing field trips for his students, trans-forming freshman “twits” into musical marvels, and supervising the choir’s famous boxed lunch sales, De-weese’s many accomplishments give his followers big shoes to fill. You may know Mrs. Sutton if you’ve ever had a wardrobe mal-function during school, or been sent to Tornado Alley for a dress code violation. Although many see only this disciplinary role of Mrs. Sutton’s occupation, her job requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work that makes both students’ and parents’ lives more conve-nient. Sutton has devoted six years to providing Tilghman kids in need with school supplies and clothing at Tornado Alley and has been involved in community outreach projects such as Wal-Mart’s Stuff the Bus to obtain these necessities. “It's been great starting and trying new programs over the years and making Tornado Al-ley into a place where students, families, and teachers can get extra help and resources they may not know ex-ist,” says Sutton. “We’ve lost a lot of

money in the last few years, but we're still plugging on! All the academic changes make things exciting for us in Tornado Alley, and the new Coordinator will have many opportunities to create new programs and work with students in new ways in the Center.” Mrs. Sutton states that she will be leaving for St. Louis in June. Mrs. Shaw has been making order out of the financial chaos of Tilghman since 1995. Taking care of the money that comes into Tilghman, paying bills and officials, and selling season tickets are just a few of her many tasks every day. Although her job may be hec-tic, Mrs. Shaw says that she will miss all of the wonderful activities that are constantly going on at Tilghman. “Never a day goes by where something interesting doesn’t happen,” she laughs. “It’s great to be

around young all day, too.” Although she is sad to leave, Shaw is excited to take the summer off and relax, taking care of both her husband and her new puppy.

The Special Programs unit also mourns the loss of three long-time employees: Ms. Austin, Mr. McAfee, and Ms. Moss. Austin and Moss have spent much of their lives teaching at Tilghman—Mrs. Austin

for thirty-three years, and Ms. Moss for twenty-nine and a half. In fact, both Austin and Moss have spent their ado-

lescent years here—the two were friends at Tilghman in their high school days. For Ms. Austin, life has been a “huge circle...I get to graduate again with my high school friend Ms. Moss and many of my pre-school students. I have and will continue to enjoy this massive lifetime circle with many things that can be experienced and enjoyed by multiple generations.” Ms. Moss agreed, reminiscing, “My job has placed great demands on me, but my work has been incredibly reward-ing. It has been a pleasure to work with the best students imaginable.” And both are looking hopefully to the future—“I planning to travel this summer, relax, and enjoy this new phase in my life!” says Ms. Moss. Although we will all miss these familiar faces, The Bell staff would like to thank these Tilghman staff members for the time they chose to spend at Tilghman, as well as to wish them good luck in their future endeavors, whatever they may be!

by Alicia Humphrey

The Face of Tilghman is Changing

“Never a day goes by where something interesting doesn’t happen.” -Mrs. Shaw

PT BrIEfsCongratulations to the new PT Cheerleaders for 2012-2013!Maddie Chambers (9)Abigail Hawkins (9)Cassie Presnell (9)Nyla Blue (9)Alex Dunbar (9)Ashton Hurst (9)Kirsten Collins (10)Anne Lasher (10)Arreanna Orr (10)Rachel Benzing (10)Lyndsey Kendall (10)Abbye Johansen (10)Jaleigha Winston (11)MaKayla Holt (11)Alex Goreing (11)Kelsie Clark (11)Chantell Clifton (12)Victoria Potter (12)

National Honor Society of-ficers have been elected for 2012-2013:President-Catherine MillerVice President-Caroline WasherSecretary-Sarah HarrisTreasurer-Marissa Davis

Pick up your pre-ordered yearbooks at Twisters on May 23rd. Extra copies are available for purchase for $50.

All juniors need to sched-ule yearbook pictures with Gene Boaz, free of charge for all appointments made in May and June.

The Graduating Class of 2012

The Bell Awards from The Kentucky High School Journalism Association:

Emilee Ayers and Amber Hussain - 3rd place in Overall Newspaper Design

Megan Cantwell and Avery Harriman - 1st place in Column Writing

Chandler Smith - 2nd place in Column Writing

Mackenzie Bruce - 2nd place in Reviews

Amber Hussain - 3rd place in Newswriting

Zachary Winfield - 3rd place in Editorial Cartoon

Emilee Ayers - 3rd place in Page One Design

Congratulations to Mr. Davis on being KY Music Educators First District Administrator of the Year!

T H E T I L G H M A N B E L L P

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E 2 COMMENTARY

The Tilghman Bell The Tilghman Bell, a producT of The journalism class, is an open forum for sTudenT expression and is disTriBuTed monThly To The

sTudenTs of paducah Tilghman high school free of charge.

ediTor-in-chief: alicia humphrey

Business manager: susannah Wilson

feaTure & adverTising ediTor: avery harriman

sporTs pages: alex Boyd, Brock sigler

arTs & enTerTainmenT ediTor: megan canTWell

commenTary ediTors: Bell sTaff

layouT and proof: alicia humprhey

sTaff WriTers: avery harriman, susannah Wilson, megan canTWell, alicia humphrey, alex Boyd, Brock sigler

adviser: susan hancock

After the April 24th primaries, Mitt Romney is the clear front-runner to be the Republican Presidential nominee. He won five primary victories in the Northeast area to Ron Paul’s zero wins. Rick Santorum has already dropped out of the race, and Newt Gingrich has suspended his campaign, leaving many won-dering why Ron Paul is still in the race. Ron Paul has yet to win a single state since the nominating primaries and caucuses began in Janu-ary. While the Ron Paul supporters argue that Ron Paul can survive with the help of the youth vote, it is obvious that the youth vote will not be able to support him throughout the race. However, the Ron Paul campaign still has plenty of money and no debt, so it’s likely that the campaign will continue to the party convention this summer to continue to enforce his libertarian principles. While Mitt Romney is the front-runner in the GOP race, he still struggles with getting a wider margin of voters. His amount of wealth is often a turn-off to the middle and lower-class voters. It’s been said many times that Romney has trouble with connecting with his voters and that he comes off as “fake.” During the Southern primaries, Romney attempted to talk up fried chicken, sweet tea, and NASCAR, somewhat offending the Southern voters who said that Romney was obviously “play-acting for their votes.” All of the Republican voters have one thing in common, though: the obvious distaste for Obama and his policies. When asked about the Republican race for President, many people said that they’d vote Republican simply because they didn’t like Obama. In what can be suitably described as the “eh, they’ll do” race, many people wonder at what lies ahead for the Republican race and for the race to Presidency ahead.

by Megan Cantwell

by Alicia Humphrey

The Lagging Republican Race

A Tip of the Hat to…

-Beyonce. She’s got a kid with everything but a last name; she’s married to Jay-Z, and she has enough money to put three generations of offspring through college. Not to mention she’s sold over 75 million albums worldwide and has a swagger to die for. And now, she’s been named People’s Most Beautiful Woman for 2012. How could you not want to put a ring on that? It’s time for all you Beyonce fans to tip your hats to this fierce female.

-Sergeant Gary Stein, for sticking to his guns even in the face of shamelessly biased media mayhem. Publicly speaking against the political majority is basically social suicide, but this tough cookie did it anyway. Plus, we’re always a fan of, you know, first amendment rights supporters.

-Brad and Angelina’s engagement. Not because we like you; we’re just glad you’re finally putting on your big kid panties and making actual commitments to each other. Now submit your votes for how long this marriage will last before they divorce, and we’ll mail the closest guesser a giant jar of jelly beans.

A Wag of the Finger to…

-Studying for finals. Because shuffling through crumpled papers and binders that are barely staying together in a desperate search for worksheets from the first semester is exactly what we all have on our minds as summer grows tauntingly closer.

-California and their infected cow. Congrats to the first mad cow since 2006! To think we could be on our deathbeds right now because you guys are too cheap to feed your animals anything but recycled food and animal brains! And your hasty cover-up of a “genetic mutation mishap” is hilariously embar-rassing, as cows can only become infected by eating either infected meat or animal intestines. C’mon, step it up, California.

-Bats in the hallways. We can deal with ants, wasps, and even the occasional cockroach… but bats? This is a first. There’s nothing like being greeted to calculus class by this lovely creature hanging casually from the ceiling—along with a crowd of students and teachers alike taking pictures.

Tip of the Hat...Wag of the Finger

“Cookies.”

Olivia Carner (12)

“Donna Downs.”

Will Hutson (12)

“I’m going to miss De-Weese and getting on his nerves, and Mr. Saddler.”

Jarred Frazier (12)

“I’m going to miss seeing all these friendly faces for four years and having my

mom for Spanish.”

Haley Massad (12)

“Mrs. Rasche... haha!”

Bethany Beal (12)

What Will You Miss Most About Tilghman?

Photos by: Susannah Wilson

Senior Tips to Underclassmenby Brock Sigler

We all know that underclassmen are a little, well, naive. Every year, seniors have to put up with the constant inconveniences and obstacles that underclassmen create, from crowding the hallways to cutting in the lunch line. After both being the annoyances and dealing with them, the senior class has some advice to help the underclassmen out and hopefully make their experience at Tilghman at little easier on them... and us.

- Sabrina Fox: “Don’t believe that there’s a pool.”

- Adam Holtgrewe: “Make sure to ask questions so you don’t get lost.”

- Devin Hodge: “Swag is everything!!!”

- Hassan Martin: “Don’t let anyone cut you in the lunch line.”

- Alexis Staples: “Maturity is a must.”

- Skyy Davis: “Don’t crowd the hallways!”

- Jennifer Taylor: “Don’t dilly-dally.”

- Zachary Winfield: “Don’t fall asleep in class and then complain about your grades.”

- Michael Langston: “Find a source of entertainment.” - Chandler Smith: “Make sure to enjoy as much of high school as possible, and take opportuntites.” - Bishlam Pea: “Strive for greatness!”

So there you have it: expert tips to make high school a better place for all of us. Following these senior’s tips could help you to a successful and slightly less agitating experience as underclass-men. If you don’t follow them, don’t blame us if you get trampled in the hallways or if you get lost in the tunnels under the school.

“Wag of the Finger” and “Tip of the Hat” are trademarks of Stephen Colbert and his TV show, The Colbert Report.

Neither Paducah Tilghman nor The Bell Staff claim any ownership of these trademarks.

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This summer, June 8th through the 10th, OMG!con is coming to Paducah once again. It will be located in the Julian Carroll Convention Center. OMG!con 2012 is an event for gamers and anime lovers everywhere to gather together and enthuse about their respective crafts. The theme for the convention this year is Pokémon, and among the entertainment provided there will be voice actors, artists, dealers of hard-to-get merchandise, and events like cosplay and video game tournaments. The famous guests that will be there include Robert DeJesus, Emily DeJesus, Greg Ayres, Chris-topher Ayers, Rikki Simons, Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons, Josh Grelle, and Bill Rogers. To pre-register for the event, go to omgcon.com/registration. If you pre-register from April 16th to May 30th for a three-day pass, the price for 1-4 attendees is $40, 5-9 attendees is $36, and a group of 10+ is $32. Similar to Comic Con, OMG!con has enthusiastic fans that will often wear costumes of their favorite characters to the convention. A lot of people wear costumes, but OMG!con emphasizes that it is not required to wear a costume to get in. People often ask what OMG stands for: “OMG does not stand for Oh My Gosh or Oh My God,” the website says, “but, it is just a common phrase used on the internet to describe the crazy, bizarre, and downright awesome. Cra-zy, bizarre, and downright awesome… that’s what OMG!con is all about!”

Next year, Tilghman is proud to add two more clubs to the mul-titude of extracurricular activities that are currently available. PT Fit is one of two new clubs coming to Tilghman in August of the upcom-ing school year. The club focuses on teaching students how to live ac-tive and healthy lifestyles. Mrs. Holt and Ms. Slankard will be the of-ficial sponsors of the club. “I’m very excited about the fact that so many students are interested! It’s good to know that kids want to learn how to live healthy lifestyles,” says Ms. Slankard. Anyone is welcome to join PT Fit; just let either of the two teachers know if you’re interested. Interact is the other club Tilghman will be welcoming to its wide variety of clubs starting next school year. Interact will be a service club that goes hand-in-hand with the Rotary Club of Paducah. Interact dif-fers from service clubs such as Beta Club and National Honor Soci-ety because it does not require a specific GPA and will be open to all students. Missy Eckenburg is the upcoming President of the Rotary Club and will be working with Tilghman to organize and run Inter-act. Interact is still in need of a Tilghman staff sponsor, but Mrs. Eck-enburg is looking forward to growing and attracting more students.

Paducah Tilghman High School’s Navy Junior Reserve Offi-cer Training Corps (NJROTC) unit has again been named as a Distin-guished Unit for the 2011-2012 school year for the fifth consecutive year. Being named a Distinguished Unit is the program’s fifth consecutive national award and the sixth since the NJROTC program started at PTHS in 2001. The Pad-ucah Tilghman NJROTC unit was eligible to start competing for the honor in 2004. “Winning the Distinguished Unit award is a great payback for our cadets who have worked hard all year,” said retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Donald Taylor, Se-nior Naval Science Instructor. “We’re in our eleventh year at Paducah Tilghman, and we began our eligibility for the award after our third year. PTHS is one of two schools in Kentucky to receive the award. We’re excited to have received the award in six out of the nine years that we were eligible for the competition. Many school with units

that have been around a lot longer that Paducah Tilghman’s unit have never won a Distinguished Unit award. That says a lot about our students and our school,” he said. “The Distinguished Unit award marks the Paducah Tilghman program as one of the top NJROTC units in the country,” according to Senior Chief Petty Officer Don Myers, the unit’s Naval Science Instructor. “We’re the only school in far Western Kentucky with a Navy Junior ROTC program,” he said. Myers is in his fourth year of teaching in the NJROTC program. Paducah Tilghman’s NJROTC Unit received the Distinguished Unit award in the NJROTC region designated as “Area Nine,” the Navy organization to which the school’s program is assigned. Area Nine encompasses schools in states from Virginia to New Mexico.

by Commander Taylor

by Alicia Humphrey

by Megan Cantwell

Photo by: ROTC

NJROTC named Distinguished Unit

Two new clubs to be offered next year

OMG!con comes to Paducah

PTHS students compete at National His-tory Day Competition

On Saturday, April 27th, eight Tilghman students participated in the National History Day State Level contest held in Frankfort, Kentucky, marking Tilgh-man’s second year in the competition. The compe-tition, open to sixth through eighth graders (Junior Division) and ninth through twelfth graders (Senior Division), requires participants to create a history proj-ect related to the yearly topic; this year’s topic was Reactions, Revolutions, and Reforms. Participants can choose any or all of these project options: a website, exhibit, documentary, research paper, or performance. Each option can be done individually or with a small group. Participants submit their projects for review and are then interviewed before a panel of judges to pres-ent and defend their project and answer any questions. This year, Tilghman participants include Emilee Ayers (12), Mackenzie Bruce (12), Marissa Davis (11), Will Hancock (10), Alicia Humphrey (11), Quinn Icke (12),

Catherine Miller (11), and Calicia Wilson (12), adding to the smaller group of five that participated last year. At the National History Day competition this year, at least one Tilghman student was entered into every cat-egory! All participants advanced past Regionals and on to State in Frankfort. Another accomplishment boasted by this year’s group: two participants, Alicia Humphrey (11) and Catherine Miller (11), qualified for the Nation-al Competition in College Park, Maryland this summer (June 10th through 14th), adding to the two who qualified last year, Will Hancock (10) and Chandler Smith (12). Humphrey and Miller entered the group web-site category with a project entitled “Prohibition in the Jazz Age: The Rise, the Fall, and the Repeal.” The two were surprised and excited to find out they had placed second in the State competition; Miller says, “I’m so glad that we’ve made it this far, and I can’t wait for Nationals in June!” Both look forward

to improving their website, competing and Nation-als, and, of course, touring nearby Washington, D.C.! Mrs. Adkins, a history teacher and the chaperone for the NHD participants’ trip to Frankfort, has played a critical role in the students’ success, allowing them to explore their interests through history. Getting them started on their projects months in advance, Adkins has provided the participants with helpful advice and motivation and has helped them get their work into top condition to promote success at State. Adkins also ensured that the kids would learn about Kentucky his-tory on their visit to the state’s capitol; they visited the Arboretum as well as Henry Clay’s home. “Those in-terested in humanities don’t have as many outlets as those in the fine arts and athletic programs,” Adkins said. She hopes more students will be interested in exploring their interests in history through this outlet that is on its way to becoming a Tilghman tradition!

by Brock Sigler

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Senior class college destinationsby Susannah Wilson

Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blank_map_of_the_United_States.PNG

Louisville, University ofAlexis TaylorAlexandria Taylor Amber Hussain Haley Massad James HarbenJeffrey Johnson Madison Whelan

Michael LangstonShaire Blythe Stephanie Stacey Timothy CarriganZacharyWinfieldVashti CalhounJarel JohnsonZachWinfield

Kentucky, University ofAlexandria BurnsAzia Rouse Bishlam Pea Emily Page Jadarion Harmon Jared Holt Javarius Hodge

Javarrius FlemonsLeon Jones II Olivia CarnerPaige PattersonRaven Rouse Terrance WadeWeston LoydWilliam Barker

Murray State UniversityAlexis Thomas Antoine McClain Brandon HummelClay SimsDaniel Azar Decardia KeyKaitlin Myre Kelsey Bartlett Logan Thieke

Meredith UnderwoodSeth Stevens Trezon Wilson Tyler PatrickTyler Presnell Valarie JamesWilliam HutsonXrissy HillsmanYamaany SimsAlyssa Arnold

Kimbery CoxJazmine ForrestSabrina FoxShaquille JordanJared FrazierLancia GossettLaTarvia HarrisJustin Hill

WKCTCAdam Bostic Adam HoltgreweAdam DunbarAlex VanceAlexis ThomasAlexandria Vance

Alicia HorriceAlyssa ArnoldAntionette Webb Ariel RobinsonArmbrosia Bur-gess Audrey McGov-ern

Blake PerryBranden Diggs Brent KirbyBridget Reed Carissa LeavellCarolina Lemu Devin Cash Devin Hodge

Dominique Whar-tonDonovan RileyDontavien John-sonDwayne Morrow Edward PinaErika Duran

HuertaGabrielle KelleyGabrielle NolanHaley ThomasIsabella MendiolaJazmyn Phillips Jaelyn Calmes Jalen Poston

Jarron Milam Javelin TuckerJeffrey DossettJohn Sharp Justin LindseyKardata LottKayla Jones Kya Cleary

Makenzie Wil-liams Maximillian CurryPaige Kelley Rebecca BooneTica Kendle Tyler PatrickVeronica Ortez

Zachariah StrahanReginald McClureSarah ColeySarah SmockShanice DouglasQuinton MatchemZach Strahan

St. CatharineAlek Rowton Cody Schultz Erin Jones Nozomi Dickson

Western Kentucky University Alexis StaplesAriel RobinsonSkyy DavisChandler Smith

James Proffer Jamica BrisbonSharellGriffith

Delta State UniversityBreck Severns Mary Wyant

Northern Kentucky UniversityJustin Wynne Sarah Emmons

Midcontinent UniversityBlake KettlerMichael Smith

Kentucky, University of (Paducah)Johnesia ScottJustin Koontz

Asbury UniversityCalicia Wilson

Berea Art Education Charity Ryan

Bradley UniversityGeorge Flarsheim

Cumberland or CampbellsvilleNgodoo Itiavkase

Nashville StateMyles Gaines

BellarmineSarah Howard

Boise State UniversityEmilee Ayers

North Carolina A&TGianna Douglas

Eastern Kentucky UniversityMary Hank

Georgetown UniversityBethany Beal

Kentucky Christian UniversityMason MaloneKenneth Washington

LipscombSamantha Seifert

Macon UniversityJazmyn Phillips

Millsaps CollegeQuinn Icke

Oakwood UniversityKe’Lyn Butts

Oklahoma Christian University Jennifer Taylor

Samford UniversityCourtney Hawkins

Southern Illinois UniversityDestiny Skinner

University of AlabamaKaitlyn Curry

Evansville, University ofSamantha Bruce

Louvin la Neuve, University ofBenoit LeMen

Brescia CollegeTreyvon Jones

Western Scholar’s ArtNick Loe

BCTC Paige Patterson

Tennessee StateKen’Yelle Thomas

Lane CollegeKeevonna Woodson

Where are our seniors going?

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Summer is just around the corner, and teenag-ers throughout Paducah Tilghman have turned their thoughts from homework and essays to thoughts of the beach and warm summer days. However, some of this year’s seniors will also be thinking about starting their new lives and experiences at colleges across the coun-try. Everybody knows that college is vastly different from high school, but what exactly are the differences? • Professors won’t baby you. In fact, in some classes, the professors might not even know your name. It is understood that you are responsible for your own work and the professors are not there to walk you through every single step. If you need extra help, get a tutor. • You’ll be around a lot of new people and cul-tures. People from across the country and even the world will be in your classes, on campus, and may even be your dorm-mate. It’s not like high school, where you’ve been in the same class-

es with the same people you’ve known for ages. • You will need to learn how to budget things by your-self. If you live in an apartment, you’ll have to pay for rent money, utilities, etc. If you live in a dorm, you’ll still be responsible for paying for books, food, and any things you might want to buy for yourself. The major-ity of college kids are “poor,” but if you learn to budget, you won’t be left eating McDonald’s for every meal.• Sometimes, professors won’t tell you about the assignments they assign or when they’re due, because they’re already on the syllabus. We’ve all heard the horror stories, but it’s true: if you didn’t read the syllabus, then it’s your own fault for getting a zero for the missing assignments. • Your classmates really don’t care about you. It sounds harsh, but the social atmosphere differs vastly from high school. If you wear sweatpants or a mini-skirt to class, people won’t be whispering

about you behind your back. They might snicker when you walk in if you look absolutely ridicu-lous, but it won’t follow you around campus and be forever embedded in peoples’ memories of you. • You will have to learn how to be self-sufficient very, VERY quickly. There won’t be anyone telling you that you have to go to class, have to work out, have to study, do your laundry, or anything. If you want to survive in college, you have to be able to discipline yourself. Basically, college will be different from any-thing you’ve ever experienced before. You have to be prepared for the fact that it won’t be like high school. You’ll have a lot of freedom suddenly thrust upon you, but it’ll be your responsibility to handle it like the adult you are, and not like the crazy psy-chopath the world views the average college kid as.

College vs. High School

Senior Bell Staff recounts PTHS highlights

by Megan Cantwell

by Bell Staff

New Middle College Studentsby Susannah Wilson

Photo by: Brock Sigler

1. Russellville game sophomore year.

2. Mr. Nantz stories.

3. Beating Lone Oak

4. Fiddler on the Roof

5. Not having windows

6. Mayfield Week

7. Bat

8. Homecoming

9. No finals

10. Bomb Threat

11. Football State Champs

12. District champs in Basketball

13. Mr. O

14. Singing in Carnegie Hall

15. AA/RTI/College Prep/Halftime

16. Every 14 minutes…

17. “This is not Coolie High” – Mr. Davis

18. Mrs. Byrd: stars and “Did your head fall over?”

19. Coach Ward and Coach Shanks

20. Washington, D.C.

21. Early Morning Bus Rides

22. Chicken Day and Tilghman Cookies

23. 5 a.m. Cross Country Practice

24. Sneaking Out of School to Sell Boxed Lunches

Photo by: Avery Harriman

Ten Tilghman students have been accepted into the Commonwealth Middle College for the 2012-2013 school years. These stu-dents are: Rashiki Deberry, Kelsie Dulceak, Hunter Harmon, Phillip Kelly, Hannah Mas-sa, Haylee Pina, Kelondre Quarles, Trisha Stinson, Dakota Tucker, and Brady Wallace. The Commonwealth Middle College (CMC) is a combination between school districts and a community and technical college to allow high school students who need a different learning environment to excel. Students who attend CMC take regular core high school classes to receive their diplomas along with college credit to get ahead. The core classes are taught by local high school teachers, and the college classes are taught by WKCTC faculty. All the classes are taught at WKCTC. Rashiki Deberry, a sophomore who plans to attend Middle College for next school year, said, “I’m excited to go be-cause it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!” Kelsie Dulceak, another sophomore who has been accepted into Middle Col-lege, said, “It’s a great opportunity and it puts me two years ahead in my dreams to fulfill a career in corporate law.”

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You’ve seen them wandering the hallways, with a glazed look in their eyes. They’re the ones with the 2-ton backpacks, the ones probably glaring at you with malice, or just out of pure exhaustion. They’re the ones with a countdown on their calendar, and as the end of the year grows closer, they’re much more likely to be either dancing in the hallways with glee or tearing their hair out. And no, they’re not seniors. At least, not yet. These are the confessions of your favorite class, the almost-seniors. The weather is getting warmer, the sun is getting brighter, and the light at the end of the tunnel is finally here… sort of. It’s that weird in-between time when we juniors aren’t sure whether or not to cry because school isn’t over yet, or to rejoice because it’s almost over. We’re so close, and not just to the end of our long and tedious high school careers. Don’t get us wrong; high school hasn’t been bad, but junior year is a lot of things – and short is not one of them. We’re all trying to be cool by pretending not to be excited about being seniors, but in our head, we’re throwing a million little celebrations. We’ve spent all year fantasizing about “ruling the school” and being idolized by young, ignorant freshmen, spinning terrifying (and maybe slightly untrue) stories about vari-ous teachers and their subjects to frighten them out of their wits, all while selling them pool passes to the third floor pool. Also, by this time of junior year, we’ll do anything to lighten the workload. Junior year is comparable to one giant Thursday – it’s not Friday, but it’s close enough to make you miserable, and far enough into the week to make you clinically insane. They say that this is the final stretch, these last few days of school, but for us, it’s more like the final stretch before the sweet freedom that is the other final stretch. So, we know that we actually will have to do some work senior year, but we like operating under the as-sumption that we will do nothing but kick back and eat Tilghman cookies and laugh at the new juniors. After the year we had, just let us have this one tiny morsel of hope.

Confessions of the Almost-Seniors

Anti-Finals by Alicia Humphrey and Susannah Wilson

Not many of you may have noticed, but the film industry appears to be running out of new ideas. Not only are producers showing old classics again in theaters (now in 3D!), but they are taking classic story lines, adding their own twist or two, hiring on entirely new actors and calling it the same name. This lack of originality hasn’t gone unnoticed, and even the most imaginative are having trouble getting into what seems to be the same story over and over. For one, the superheroes definitely haven’t gone un-touched. Marvel signed a deal to have all of their superheroes newly featured. The whole series of Avengers weren’t all movies to be-gin with, some being older TV shows, but they’ve been completely redone to feature the humor and gadgets of the time. Fantas-tic Four, though not terribly recent was re-made in 2005, and Spiderman is scheduled to completely start the story over later this year, though it hasn’t been too long since the series wrapped itself up only a few years ago. And of course, most new releases can be

viewed in the all-important third dimension. Everyone’s favorite, Titanic, was re-shown starting about a month ago, with lots of extra footage to make you sob even harder, not to mention it appears to be coming right out of the screen. Classic Star Wars was shown in

theaters again, to fill the gaps of fewer actual new movies. And the Disney movies we all grew up on, such as Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, were once again playing in (you guessed it) 3D! More Disney classics are soon to come to theaters. Footloose, a film inspiring all to “kick off their Sunday shoes,” was remade last year. Along

with that are Psycho and Night of the Living Dead, and plans to redo several other crowd-favorites, such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, are in the works. While some may be disap-pointed and prefer to stick to the classics, the remakes are pulling in money by the bucket-fuls. It seems the movie industry may be run-ning short on new ideas, but you shouldn’t be afraid to give these new twists a shot.

We’ve all been there—the year is winding down, and you’ve fi-nally got your grades under control, when all of the sudden, you start reviewing and realize you have retained absolutely no information. You’ve thrown away your notebooks and papers from the first semes-ter long ago, and asking your friends for help is useless because they aren’t quite sure what’s going on either. Your teacher isn’t taking ques-tions, and you feel like you might spontaneously combust. Yes, stu-dents, the nightmares that we speak of are finals, the horrendous tests that come in packets the size of small novellas. We all detest them, and these are just a few of the reasons why they should be eliminated forever.1) The Ten Percent Problem: If you freak out under pressure, finals are not the test for you—they’re worth one-tenth of your entire semester grade, which is a whole half of the year. Basically, this translates into a high-stakes situation; failing a final usually means failing the class. And if you’re barely getting by in an AP class, finals can be the difference of an entire letter grade.2) The Overcrowding Problem: Most normal people clean their binders/folders out at least every nine weeks; otherwise, your backpack begins to weigh so much that you can practically see yourself developing scoliosis. However, students are expected to retain notes and homework all year long and be able to produce it at will in order to study for finals. This is simply unre-alistic; no one can keep track of so many papers for so long. And no notes gen-erally equal no studying which in turn equals a very depressing final grade.3) The Obscure Information/“We Never Did This” Problem: I’m sure most of you have encountered this predicament—when study-ing for finals, teachers always seem to pull out the most ridiculous-ly unimportant types of problems. Let’s be real: no one remembers how to do anything from the first nine weeks of math class, ever. It’s also common for teachers to pull out random information that they never got to, and claim that we should all know it. Seriously?! The last thing we want to worry about is learning brand new information!4) The No Sleep Problem: Finals are so stressful that many students use their last resort: staying up late at night to learn a few last-minute dates and details. Thus, their energy levels the next day are quite be-low average on a day when they need to be soaring. The human brain does not operate as quickly or efficiently when it lacks sleep, which is particularly inconvenient since time is of the essence when taking fi-nals. Furthermore, students who don’t get enough sleep before finals are more likely to mix up details in their heads, which will most like-ly decrease their grades. Conclusion: Finals are good for no one.

Cinema Trend:Remaking Old Movies

by Avery Harriman

The Lowertown Arts and Music Festival is happening again this summer on May 18th, 19th, and 20th. The festival is a conve-nient way to enjoy the vibrant culture of Lower Town Paducah. Art-ists and musicians from all around the area will be there, showcas-ing their work and performing new and original songs for free. You can purchase any work you see, but the festival has so much more as well. There’s music, art, theatre, and food everywhere you look! During the festival, you can wander the streets of Lower Town and take in everything going on, and it’s free to come. You can take in live performances from amateur musicians in Etcetera and enjoy a Bubble Tea while you listen, or you can go to one of the numer-ous vendors and get a hot-dog and a snow-cone to enjoy while you listen to the outdoor concerts or browse the art displays set up on the street. There’s never a shortage of things to do or sights to take in. Also, there’s never a shortage of music to hear; performers from all over Kentucky and Illinois are coming in to the festival to perform. There’s a myriad of styles performing, including Country, Bluegrass, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Dance, Gospel, Indie, Christian Rock, and Alterna-tive music. Among the bands will be local Paducah bands, but there will also be bands from big cities like Nashville, Lexington, and Louisville. Keep in mind, these performances are all free for you! If you like what you hear, the bands will be providing CDs for you to purchase during or after the show. There will also be too many styles of art to count at the festival; there will be paintings, drawings, jewelry, sculptures, and anything you can imagine there. The artists themselves will also be there to talk with you and answer any questions you might have about their art, or even if you just want to chat! Artists from all over the area come to showcase, to talk, and to offer tips to budding young artists. The art-ists, performers, and even the food vendors will be juried at the festival. Many people wonder why the festival is held in a “small town like Paducah.” The truth is that Paducah is a huge cultural center for the arts and the festival is held each summer to create a regional awareness that Paducah is in fact a big part of the art community. The community of Lower Town wants to create a fun and enjoyable atmosphere each year in hopes that it will attract more attention to the importance of the arts. In fact, some of the profits from the festival will go to support-ing art programs around the city. So, if you want to have fun in Pad-ucah’s colorful Lower Town, be sure to come enjoy yourself and sup-port the arts at the Lower Town Arts and Music Festival this May.

Photo provided by filmofilia.com

Lowertown Art and Music Festival

by Megan Cantwell

by Megan Cantwell and Avery HarrimanThis is what finals make us feel like.

Photo by:http://www.de-motivation.us/last-5-minutes-1262197.html

By: Alex Boyd

T H E T I L G H M A N B E L L

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Congratulations,Seniors of 2012!

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SPorTS 8 Paducah Tilghman senior Michael Smith signed a letter of intent with Mid Continent University to play basketball on May 1st, 2012. Mid Continent is a Southern Baptist affiliated liberal arts university located between Paducah and Mayfield. The basketball head coach is Winston Bennett, and the assistant coach is Howard Dillard Jr., along with Aaron Pearson for his first season. Under Bennett’s coaching, MCU took a giant leap forward in 2009-2010, posting a 24-13 record, setting a school victory record, and tying for second place in TSAC with a 12-4 record, its best conference record and placement ever. MCU earned the number two seed in the 2010 TSAC tournament. He was named TSAC coach of the year. Howard Dillard Jr. has returned for MCU’s third season and mainly coaches the junior varsity team. MCU is Howard Dillard Jr.’s first collegiate coaching experi-ence but he has been coaching high school and middle school basketball for the past eight seasons. Michael has played basketball since he was in the 5th grade and has always really enjoyed the game. He is very excited to attend Mid Continent University and says, “I feel like I’m at home because I played for Coach Dillard over the past three years for AAU Basketball. I like their style of play, and I really like the way the coaches present themselves; they stress aca-demics and not just the sport.” Michael’s hard work in the classroom and passion for the sport will allow him to play basketball on a college level. The Bell staff congratulates Michael.

Smith Signs with Mid-Continent Universityby Susannah Wilson

There is a timeless sport that takes a lifetime to master and a thick pocketbook to play. That sport is golf, and it has been around for cen-turies. It is played using a series of “clubs,” which are used to strike the ball. But these are no ordinary balls; these balls are specially designed to give you optimal control along with distance once it is struck. With such technology needed to play well, one can guess it would be pricey to play. But recently, a new derivative of the sport has been created and is growing increasingly in popularity. That sport is disk golf, or “Frisbee golf.” This sport combines both the

original golf club and ball into one disk, which is thrown by hand until you get it into the basket (compa-rable to the golf holes). Golf and disk golf are very similar except for one key difference: discs are cheap! With only one disk costing about ten dollars, you cut out the price of clubs, which can cost hundreds of dollars each, and also expensive golf balls, tees, gloves, bags, and the cost of a course membership. In contrast, most disk golf courses are free to the public! But when it comes down to it, the choice is yours; whether you prefer to throw a disk or strike a ball, you’re in for a round of fun.

Golf vs.Disc Golf

by Alex Boyd

Softball team steps upby Alicia Humphrey

Baseball team has “high hopes”

by Brock Sigler

Wyatt Inducted into KHSAA Hall of Fame

by Alicia Humphrey

Tilghman football and track coach Randy Wyatt was inducted into the Dawahares/KHSAA Hall of Fame Class of 2012 at the Lexington Convention Center on April 28th. Wyatt is a fifteen-time state champion at Tilghman in track and field, and has never lost a state event. In football, he has earned All-State honors and was named one of the top one-hundred football players across the nation as a senior. Wyatt is joined by eleven other athletes, coaches, and officials in the KHSAA Hall of Fame Class of 2012, making the total number of members honored four-hundred three.

The baseball team has high hopes as they head into the final stretch of the season. The team recently went on a hot steak, win-ning four games in a row against Heath, Reidland, Hickman County, and South Fulton. The streak was broken in a close match-up with Murray, with Tilghman losing 6-5. However, the two wins over Heath and Reidland were major district victories and could land the Tornado a 2 seed in the District Tournament with another win over Reidland. “We’ve started hitting the ball better. If we keep that up, we can go a long way, because our pitching and defense is strong. The remainder of the season is looking really good,” said Coach Holland.

Photo by: Michael Langston

The Lady Tornado softball team is off to a great start of the season with a 7-8 record. The Lady Tornado handily won their game versus Mayfield with a score of 13-2. Alex Kohler had three hits, Joya and Jalisa Smith had two hits each and Jalisa drove in three runs, while Layne Morgan drove in four of her own. But then the Lady Tornado struggled, losing their next four games (a heartbreaking one run loss to St. Mary and a loss to Carlisle in extra in-nings) after the loss of their starting catcher, Kalli Chapman (11). Lady Tornado has bounced back in the last two weeks with big wins. They defeated Uni-versity Heights Academy 7-4 by pounding out 16 hits. Alex Kohler’s single scored Mallory Myers in the bottom of the 6th inning in a tense pitching dual vs. Murray High in a 1-0 game where the Tornado played flawless defense. This past week the girls went to Ballard County where they missed a chance to tie up the game by a foot in the 7th inning and lost 2-1, but bounced back the next night and got seventeen hits off of Carlisle Co. to put up an-

other victory 18-10. Karlee Humphrey and Alex Kohler drove in three hits apiece, and Layne Morgan was 4-6 while Chelsey West and Shaelynn Tyler had two RBI. The Lady Tornado has one final home game on Thursday, where they will play district foe Lone Oak. Our Lady Tornado now has a record of 12-16 (five of those losses by one run each), a remarkable feat consider-ing their varsity line-up consists of only 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th graders and one junior. In fact, this year’s team has more wins than any Tilghman softball team in school history. Next week (May 21st), the team will go on to compete at Districts held at Lone Oaks’ softball field. Come out and cheer our Lady Tornado on! Good luck, Lady Tornado!

Photo by Michael Langston

Photo by Wayne Walden

Photo by Johna Meyers

Tilghman track took off at the Paducah Tilghman Invitational track meet, with the girls winning it by 70 pts and the boys winning by 90 pts. Alexis Smith won the 100m dash and also was the anchor leg on 4x100m 4x200m winning both. The girls dominated the distance events while the boys dominated sprints, 4x100 4x200. Olajuwon Harmon won high jump with height of 6’6, the height is second in the state. The Bell staff would like to wish our teams, both boys and girls good luck as they progress toward state.

PT teams head to State

by Alex Boyd Congratulations to the PTHS tennis team for placing 2nd in Region-als. The following members will advance on to State:

-Victoria Potter

-Katie Paxton

-Grace Cappock

-Alek Rowton

-Brock Sigler