April 2015 Volume 90 Issue 8 Buzzing For More News?

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Page 1

Ana AguilarReporter

Tyler J. Smith was a highschooler who lost his life to synthetic marijuana . He ingested cherry flavored incense, purchased legally one block from Bellevue West High School. This substance was believed to be flavored tobacco, and was sold as a legal substance.

Statistically, one out of twenty high school students have done synthetic drugs, and twelve know friends who have done them. The popularity of these drugs has caused many bad encounters, the first case showed up in 2009. Since then, there have been 15,018 cases. Synthetic cannabinoids are man-made chemicals that are applied, often sprayed, onto plant material and marketed as a “legal” high. Synthetic drugs are now the second most frequently illegally used

Starting next June, the new “year-round school” schedule will begin for the 2015-2016 school year. Having this new schedule would mean shorter breaks more often, such as a summer vacation only lasting two weeks. Although this change has been disproved by students since it was first thought of, some still believe it is best for education.

One of the reasons on deciding to have a year

round school year is due to research done by the National Summer Learning Association. Their studies show that during the summer, students forget what they have learned during the school year, due to lack of practice during the summer.

Junior Collin Belt heard about the change and is actually fine with the new schedule and its possible benefits.

“I think that is will help us in not forgetting the...

Year round school starting

Photo of Dr. Plourde.

Next year, it has been announced that TJ’s principal, Dr. Jason Plourde will be the district’s new Director of Secondary Education. Abraham Lincoln’s Todd Barnett will be the new principal here next year.

Plourde has been the principal here at TJ for the last two years and has played a big role in trying to turn the school around.

He will now be taking Kerry Newman’s position in the central office.

With his future position, he hopes to help both the middle schools and high schools in the city and take them to the next level.

“We already have great schools, with great teachers, students and families; I am just looking to help build on the good things we are already doing.” said Plourde.

Plourde feels that with his role, he can play a bigger role outside of the

Prom “All that jazz”

Theme:1920’s/ The Great Gatsby

Where: Durham Western Heritage Museum801 S 10th St. Omaha, NE 68108

Tickets: $25 per person, any non-TJ students must be signed up to attend.

When: 7 p.m Saturday, May 2nd

Smith. “We also promote hope - Tyler saw that there was a world of hopeless people, mainly his peers, and he wanted to be known for making the world a better place where others felt and believed that they were valuable.”

Tyler’s Law was written and passed nine months after Smith’s passing. It took synthetic drugs out of convenience stores all across Nebraska and made it more difficult to teens to buy them.

Tyler’s Law made a huge impact because it made people really start to take notice the effects synthetic drugs are having on teens. They started working with juvenile diversion, probation, school administrations, and behavioral health groups, in 12 states. Tylers law got rid of most synthetic drugs, until generation eight came along.

“We have not only had a huge impact on just...

Adriana Ibarra Reporter

The Purple Project drugs among high school seniors after marijuana. Synthetic cathinone prod-ucts often consist of methy-lenedioxypyrovalerone, a psychoactive recreational drug with stimulant prop-erties that act as a dopa-mine re-uptake drug and a psychedelic.

Only four short days after Tyler had purchased the substance, he lost his life. In those following four days he became very ill, had brain damage, cyst formation and was in a prolonged state of psychosis. Kali Smith, Tyler’s mom started The Purple Project to raise awareness of the war against synthetic drugs, purple being Tyler’s favorite color.

“Our mission is to prevent another life from being lost; to spread awareness and prevention of first time use of synthetic drugs, and further abuse of synthetic drugs,” said Kali (Continued on page 4)(Continued on page 4)

office, walking around and interacting with the students and teachers in the school.

Dr. Plourde has already been showing Mr. Barnett around TJ and introducing him to the new students and staff members he will work with next year. Although, Plourde may not

be in the building as much next year he still hopes to play a crucial role in TJ’s progression.

“You will definitely see me around TJ helping in any way I can,” said Plourde. “As we all know, TJ is a special place. And the truth is, I miss it already. TJ Pride.”

“As we all know, TJ is a special place. And the truth is, I miss it already. TJ Pride.” -Dr. Plourde

Page 2

Alejandro VieyraCopy Editor

ENTERTAINMENT

Morgan BarthReporter

Many people know artists like Rihanna, Britney Spears, and Beyoncé but they might not know the person behind the writing. Some of their greatest hits are written by artist/songwriter Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, or better known as “Sia”.

When people listen to music they typically are there for the artist singing the song, not for whoever wrote the song. However credit must be given to where credit is due. Sia has helped co-write several singles from other well known singers.

The writing of hits like Diamonds by Rihanna, Let Me Love You by Ne-Yo, and Pretty Hurts by Beyonce,

have all had the Australian singer’s touch. She has also done the vocals in singles such as Titanium by David Guetta and chorus in the song Guts Over Fear by Eminem.

Her song Chandelier, on the album 1,000 Forms of Fear reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 charts here in the U.S. being her first single on the Hot 100 late last year. The single also reached the top five on the record charts in countries such as Australia, Italy, Norway, Poland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Giving her more attention from the public, more than she had when she was an unknown artist from Australia.

After her rise to further fame, Sia still continues to try and live a more normal life, rather than the

life of a celebrity. During her performances, she either faces away from the audience or wears some kind of mask to hide her face.

“I don’t want to be critiqued about the way that I look on the internet. I’ve been writing pop songs for pop stars now for a couple of years and I’ve become friends with them and see what their life is like and that’s not something I want,” said the singer in an interview on Hollywoodlife.com.

Although Sia does not want to be known as a celebrity or to show her face to the public eye, I wish for her future success and continue to prosper. I hope her fan base increases and she becomes one of the most talented songwriters/artists of this generation.

Ingredients

Rice KrispiesButterBig MarshmallowsColored Icing

Procedure

Turn your stove top on to medium heat.Mix 3 tablespoons of butter and 4 cups of marshmallows into a pan.When the mix has melted, pour 6 cups of Rice Krispies.Mix in the Rice Krispies.When the Krispies have been fully covered in the mix, turn off the heat.Begin to put spoonfuls into an ice tray (make sure they are filled and smooth it out).Wait 10-15 minutes until the Rice Krispies

have been cooled off and begin to take them out with a butter knife.Take any color icing that you prefer and draw lines on a plate, make sure they are 3 inches apart.If you have made 16 rice krispies make 32 icing lines on the plate.Freeze the icing in the freezer, leave them in there for 15 minutes.When the icing has been frozen, take the sticks of icing off the plate.

Take the first piece of icing and meet from one corner of the rice krispie cube to the middle of the treat.Repeat this on both sides.When all rice krispies treats have ears, dot two eyes on the front side of the treat with a dot in the middle for a nose.Feel free to take the extra colors and add designs on

The artist behind the hair

Recipe: Cube Bunny

Hacking your life

Morgan BarthReporter

Looking to make your life easier? Here are a few life hacks that can fix your daily problems in no time.

• To get rid of spiders, buy a spray bottle and fill it with water and peppermint oil. Begin to spray this around the places that you have witnessed spiders and you will notice that the spiders have began to disappear.

• If you are sick of your beverage being watered down, dump your drink

into an ice tray, and make ice cubes out of it. When it is frozen take the cubes out and add them to your drink.

• To avoid getting finger-nail polish around your nail, use Elmer’s glue as a protective layer and paint away. Make sure it is dry first so you can peel it off when you are done.

• If you have a favorite song but don’t know the name, go to Midomi.com. There you can sing or hum the song into your device and it will find the song that you are looking for.

• To keep bobby pins from falling out of your hair, you can either spray it with hairspray or insert it using the bumpy side instead of the flat side.

• Students that have a problem with leaving home early enough to get to school on time can create a playlist that tells you exactly how long you have to get ready. When the last song plays, you know that is time to leave.

Not only are there life hacks, there are beauty hacks too.

• To avoid clumpy eye-lashes, dip q-tips in baby powder and spread

it across your lashes. • A lot of women curl

their hair, but complain about how the ends of their hair look burnt. To stop this from happen-ing, take a piece of hair and wrap it around the curling iron. Leave it there for 10 seconds. It will turn into the curl that girls have been wanting.

• Use a blowdryer to heat up an eyelash curler to hold in the curve of your lashes.

If you are trying to find a better way to start your mornings and end your days then use these life and beauty hacks. Begin the easy life now.

“Spring” comic by Parker Raes.

Cover art of Sia’s album “1,000 Forms of Fear.”

Battle of the Books State Competition

When: April 28th

Where: Marshalltown, IA

Participating members: -Ana Aguilar-Adelin Arroyo-Keyla Dern-Kaylee Miller-Catelyn Nymann -Madison Nymann

If you see them, wish them luck at this state competition.

Page 3

SPORTS

Editor-in-ChiefDerrick Johnson

Copy EditorsAlejandro Vieyra

PaginatorAngela Gardner

Web ContentHannah-Grace Northam

StaffAna Aguilar

Morgan BarthMegan CarrollMichael HiersAdriana Ibarra

Elizabeth LambTiana Larsen

Dylan MontgomeryParker Raes

Kaylin Skillett

AdviserRob Lindquist

Phone: 712-328-6493Facebook: CBJacketJournalism

Twitter:@TJHSJournalismWeb: cbjacketjournalism.com

NSPA Member Publication

THE SIGNAL

The Signal is a school-sponsored publi-cation of Thomas Jefferson High School 2501 W. Broadway Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501. The Signal’s office is located in room C128. The Signal is printed by OH-K FASTPRINT in Omaha, NE. The Signal is a school-sponsored-publication and therefore recognizes its responsibil-ity to stay within the boundaries that the school administrator sets. The Signal will therefore inform its readers using a high standard of morals and ethics. The Signal encourages readers to respond in the form of letters to the editor, which can be sent to room C128. The Signal’s editorial staff reserves the right to edit the letters for grammatical errors and to remove any profanity. The editors also reserve the right to exclude letters that are false in their statements or accusations. The Signal will not accept advertisements that promote activities illegal to minors. Advertising rates are available upon request.

Spring schedulesBoys Tennis April 7th @ Thomas JeffersonApril 10th @Sioux City NorthApril 16th @ Thomas JeffersonApril 20th @ Thomas JeffersonApril 24th @ Abraham Lincoln April 27th @ Audubon April 28th @ Abraham Lincoln April 30th @ Denison

Boys SoccerApril 7th @ Denison April 9th @GlenwoodApril 11th @ UrbandaleApril 14th @ Tri-CenterApril 17th @ Sioux City WestApril 21st @Thomas JeffersonApril 23rd @ Thomas JeffersonApril 27th @ Thomas JeffersonApril 30th @ Papillion-La Vista

Boys TrackApril 7th @ GlenwoodApril 10th @ ClarindaApril 13th @ Tri-CenterApril 14th @ HarlanApril 16th @ Waukee StadiumApril 17th @ UnderwoodApril 21st @ Lewis CentralApril 23rd-25th @ Drake UniversityApril 27th @ GlenwoodApril 30th @ Waukee Stadium

Morgan BarthReporter

New renovations are looking to happen at CB Stadium. The school board had approved the decisions to begin the discussion with the city and people in the community. The new stadium will fix problems like the sinkhole in the softball diamond and will replace the track, and the soccer field. There is also hopes to add new scoreboards and artificial turf to the football field.

Students have been encouraging the idea,

stating that the new stadium will boost school spirit as well as help with the reputation that the schools have.

“I think it is a building block to get a better reputation.” said Booster Club Jen Clark. “Council Bluffs schools have long been thought of as a lower class school which only adds to the reputation when other teams come to our fields.”

In the past, athletes have had problems with the poor traction that comes from the football field

NEWS

while it rains. Even some track meets have had to be rescheduled because of the track’s poor condition.

“I do think the players will act different. I don’t think we will win every single game but I think there will be a definite change in attitude,” said Clark. “I think we will see more heads held high, shoulders back kind of attitude. There will definitely be a positive outcome.”

With this new stadium, students will now have a better reason to strive

harder for success. It is the first step of many to help change the overall attitude towards TJ.

“There will always be a few people who will find fault in everything the city or schools do so I don’t think there is a 100% backing for this project but I do think the majority of adults would back it,” said Clark. “They realize the kids are the future and if you don’t give them the tools to succeed now they won’t succeed later.”

TJ Girls soccer. Photo by Nick Mitchell.Joseph Thach playing tennis. Photo by Nick Mitch-ell.

Girls TennisApril 8th @ Thomas Jefferson April 10th @ Thomas JeffersonApril 15th @ Thomas Jefferson April 20th @ Abraham LincolnApril 21st @ Thomas JeffersonApril 24th @ Sioux City NorthApril 30th @ Thomas Jefferson

Girls GolfApril 2nd @ Dodge Riverside April 6th @ Whispering CreekApril 7th @ Dodge RiversideApril 13th @ Dodge RiversideApril 16h @ Sioux City WestApril 21st @ Whispering CreekApril 28th @ Dodge RiversideApril 29th @Dodge Riverside

Girls SoccerApril 7th @ Thomas JeffersonApril 10th @Sioux City EastApril 13th @ Thomas JeffersonApril 16th @ Sioux City NorthApril 18th @ UrbandaleApril 20th @ Tri-CenterApril 21st @ Sioux City WestApril 30th @ Papillion-La Vista

Girls TrackApril 7th @ ClarindaApril 9th @ HarlanApril 14th @ Lewis CentralApril 21st @ Lewis CentralApril 23rd-25th @ Drake UniversityApril 27th @ Glenwood

Saving the stadium

Photo of CB Stadium renovation plans.

Dates subject to change due to weather

Page 4

Tiana Larsen Reporter

A girl like her

Photo of Josie Dilts, by Photography with a Trace.

Josie always felt like she was a girl trapped in a guy’s body. She always thought it was hard to come out and tell people who she really was. This made the feeling of anxiety and rejection rise throughout her life. The freshman felt like she could start over by going to a new school in the 7th grade.

“I kept hiding being transgender from people because I was scared and insecure, but when coming

out it all came down to me just desiring happiness.” said Dilts.

A stress reliever, a comfortable feeling, and acceptance is something few people can find easily. However, Josie Dilts has found exactly that, as well as a great hobby through YouTube.

Josie had started YouTubing during the summer when she had began to feel bored. Josie did not intend for anyone to see the video, but was surprised when she started

to receive views. “I kept making more

videos because a lot of people watched the more I uploaded.” said Dilts.

With the rising success of the channel, Dilts realized YouTubing could become something she did regularly. Although Josie did not have any encouragements to start YouTubing, the positive comments that she received on her first YouTube video influenced her to make more.

Josie knew that after being on YouTube for her first time, she had found

a place where she felt accepted. She knew that is where she could go and feel comfortable. Josie said that YouTubing is like a second home to her.

With her channel

already surpassing 1,600 subscribers, Josie Dilts has found the perfect way to express her self and spread her transgender lifestyle.

“I would not trade any of it for the world.’ said Dilts.

Year round school

Ana AguilarReporter

things we learned during the three months that we have off,” said Belt. “It may be hard to get used to the new change but I think it will do more good than bad.”

However, there are also students that do not like the change and would prefer to enjoy their time off in the summer.

Whether or not students like the new schedule, it is a change that is bound to happen. April Fools!

young people, but parents, professionals, counselors, teachers, law-makers, etc. Most everyone in the fifth and eighth grades tell us that they won’t even try it, others tell us that they have quit using or asked for help.” Smith said. “We have also met with Matt Williams who is carrying Lb326 an update to Tyler’s Law, making possession or distribution of a synthetic drug a felony.”

Kali Smith and her supporters have had a lot of success in their movement against synthetic drugs. They have support from the Bellevue City and Douglas County mayors as well as Pete Ricketts, the governor of Nebraska. Smith has also successfully passed two pieces of legislation and

created the “Purple Project”.“We have been successful

because we are telling them like it is; we are not out here claiming we are perfect and it was “one hit”, and it was gone. We are presenting facts, and educating young people about what synthetic drugs really are; letting them know that it is highly deceptive and intentionally directed at them,” said Kali.

Nearly 30,000 people were seen in the Emergency Room in 2013 for synthetic drugs; that has doubled in 2014 and they seem to be drugs of choice among 18 year olds, and have now became the drug choice among middle school students as well.

“The impact Tyler has made has been nothing but a complete miracle,

and a true tribute to who he is, a non judgemental young man who just wanted to bring hope and peace to those who were hurting,” said Smith. “We are his voice and just are continuing what he started.”

The Purple Project has started the “Selfies for Synthetic” awareness campaign as well as write “letters to Heaven” to promote their cause. This year they will have the mosaic of Tyler, with all the selfies of supporters making up Tyler’s face and will sell bracelets and T-shirts to try to get others involved in this war against synthetic drugs.

Kali Smith believes that “For now, we are a family on a crusade, our mission to make sure that Tyler’s life meant something, and that he continues to save people all over the world.”

CONTINUED The Purple Project

(712) 256-4000 2403 Nash Blvd.Council Bluffs, IA

(Continued)

Junior Collin Belt, photo by Ana Aguilar.

(Continued)

Megan Carroll Reporter

Singing to the top

While the rest of TJ’s activities are reaching for the top, Jefferson Edition has already succeeded and are bringing home many high placement trophies.

With the very short off-season, TJ’s show choir prepares themselves year round for the big events during the school year. The team works very hard and they are all dedicated at accomplishing more awards.

“We never stopped practicing because our show can never be too perfect” said junior Jennifer Kousgaard.

This past year has not been the only time that Jefferson Edition has

risen to the top. For the past decade, they have shown growth and several successful moments in their competitions.

Along with the overall success from Jefferson Edition, a couple members such as Eldon Warner and Nathan Thomas have received multiple individual awards for their outstanding talents. Out of all of the show choir teams at the Bellevue East Competition, Nathan won Best Male Soloist. The other members of Jefferson Edition have also won several individual awards, showing TJ how prideful they really are with show choir. (Continued on website)