Volume 58, Issue 4 2151 Fews Chapel Road, Greer, SC 29651 February 14, 2013

He may not be the next Ameri-can Idol, but former BRHS student Dylan Arms made it all the way to Hollywood on the popular TV series. Born and raised in the Blue Ridge community, Arms attended Skyland Elementary, BRMS, and then BRHS for his freshmen and sophomore years. His junior and senior years of high school he attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Performing Arts where he studied classical guitar.

Arms said he hated to leave BRHS but that the Governor’s School was an awesome experi-ence. “It was like college before college,” he said. Music has been in Arms’ life for a long time. When he was ten years old he got his first guitar. Three years later he began taking music lessons in Greer. About the same time, he be-gan singing in front of his church. When he was 15 years old, Arms started writing his own songs and performing them. His main instru-ment is the guitar, but Arms also (continued on page 6)

BRHS local turned American IdolFormer student sings way to Hollywood

Blue Ridge to Hollywood: Former BRHS student Dylan Arms made an appearance on American Idol where he got a ticket to Hollywood. Arms may not be the next Idol, but he recently released a new CD.

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by Haley Horne Staff Writer

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eLady Tigers join 1000-point clubFollowing BRHS’s win over Greer last week, juniors Eden Holombo and Ross Mathis were honored for reaching the thousand-point mark in their high school basketball careers. Here, they’re pictured with their parents.

Lady Tigers’ basketball story on page 8

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Adam Smith and Betty White

Caleb Lynn and Miley Cyrus

Taylor Lance and Cody Simpson

Melvin Smith and Ariana Grande

Ethan Ellison and Jessica Alba

Officer Mathias and Barbara Streisand

Chance Burton and Meagan Good

Brian Garrett and Rihanna

JT Jones and Scarlett Johansson

Weston Moody and Faith Hill

Kamryn Wofford and Taylor Lautner

Griffin Rohrer and Channing Tatum

Heather Jones and Jason Aldean

Nathan Arrowood and Carrie Underwood

Presslee Roach and Josh Hutcherson

Brooke Shulte and Harry Styles

Desiree Terry and Trey Songz

Summer Ogden and Johnny Depp

Kelly Owens andJack Black

Stephanie Vieweg and Tim Tebow

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Random Questions Frances Stephenson-Media Specialist

The Blue Ridge High School Newspaper Staff would like to thank B&R Photography, which provides excellent photos for our publication.

www.BandRphotography.com966B E.Gap Greek Rd

864-814-0096Greer, SC 29651

Q: What’s the number one played song on your iPod?A: “Your Song” by Elton John

Q: What’s your favorite sports team?A: Clemson Tigers

Q: If you could be an animal what would you be?A: I’d be a dog, that way I could understand why my shelttie howls every morning at 5:00 am

Q: What’s your favorite movie?A: “To Kill A Mockingbird” with-out a doubt

Q: What actor do you most closely resemble?A: Pshhh, Please...

by casey allen editor-in-Chief

Q: What kind of car do you drive?A: Honda CR-V

Q: What do you like best about working at Blue Ridge?

A: I love the friendliness of the students

Q: Where did you grow up, where did you go to high school?A: Anderson, SC and I am a

graduate of T.L. Hanna High

Q: If you could be one character from a movie or TV show who would you be? A: Samantha from Bewitched, I would love to clean up my house by twitching my nose

Q: What do you do in your spare time?A: Read when I’m not running errands, excercising, or spending time with my family

Q: Where did you graduate from college? A: Clemson-undergradUSC-Masters in Library Science

Q: What is your college degree in?A: I have an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with cer-tification in Special Education

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Following Homecoming, stu-dents requested that BRHS have a more casual dance. Student Council listened and responded by planning a dance at the Big Red Dutch Barn. Now, it’s time for students to sign up for the casual event. Tickets are $15 each and may be purchased during the lunch shifts. Eighty students must sign up by Friday or the dance will be can-celled. Council members stress that just because the dance is being held in a barn doesn’t mean it will only be a “country” dance. There will be a DJ and the music will be like most dances.

Students can dress “country”, or they can come to the dance in blue jeans, tennis shoes, and hats. The dance will have light refreshments. The dance is raising money for graduation, senior day, and RidgeFest. The Big Red Dutch Barn is located on West Gap Creek Road, near O’Neal Hot Dogs. The dance will start at 8 p.m. and ends at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 9th. Council members stressed that students will have plenty of time to dance and hang out with friends. “I am excited to have the dance in the community,” said Student Council Adviser Paula Rouse, add-ing that she’s also excited about “getting to wear jeans.” Students will also need to fill out a permission form to attend the dance. Students with questions need to see Rouse or Justin Low-man.

by Haley HorneStaff Writer

BRHS took 32 students to the FBLA District Conference in York the first Saturday in February. And, when the awards were handed out, 19 Tigers qualified for the state competition. In order to qualify for state, stu-dents had to finish in the fop five in the district competition. Advisers Stephanie Casey and Dereck Wells were impressed with the school’s showing. “We im-proved a lot since last year,” said Casey. “And a lot of people came in sixth place so they were so close to getting to the state competition.” The following students quali-fied for the state competition in Charleston in April: Kaylee Jo

by Haley HorneStaff Writer

Fowler– first place in Electronic Career Portfolio; Taylor Bowen and Alyson Craig– 1st place in Dig-ital Design and Promotion; Jayma Goodwin and Raegan Loftis– 1st place in E-Business; Amanda Nesta- 2nd place in Business Plan; Heather Fitch and Charlee Wilk-erson– 2nd place in Digital Design and Promotion; Zach Arms, Ryan Teems, and Jonathan Andrews– 2nd place in Digital Video Promotion Kennedy Crump and Karlee Gib-son– 3rd place in Business Presen-tation; Jenna McCombs– 3rd place in Public Speaking; Mary Anna Case and Jaclyn Kellems– 4th place in Web Design; Carly Few and Ashling O’Boyle – 5th place in Web Design; and Darrin Anderson – 5th place in Healthcare Administration.

Student council plans dance at Big Red BarnRaising money for Ridgefest, Senior Day, graduation

FBLA takes top honors at District competitionState level next up for BRHS

FBLA winners: Alyson Craig and Taylor Bowen show off their trophies from the FBLA District competition. The BRHS duo won first place in Digital Design and Promotion.

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National Latin winners

Award winners: Four BRHS students won medals on the National Classical Etymology Exam. Marc Western was a Gold Medalist; Elizabeth McAbee was a Silver Medalist; and Brady O’Boyle and Darrin Anderson were Bronze Medalists. Etymology is a study of the roots and derivation of words as they have come into the English language. The students took the online test in December. Other participants included: Cierra Houglum, Kyle Pchney, Asheton Casey, Chase Crist, Haleigh Dilleshaw, Ansley Gilreath, Natalie Lampinen, Kati Weaver, Alexander Williams, and Dylan Wynn. The students were coached by BRHS Latin teacher James Westcot.

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by Jordan MitcHell Staff Writer

You’ve heard of a student-teacher, right? Well, what are they? A student or a teacher? It seems they’re a little of both. A student teacher is a college or graduate student who is teaching under the supervision of a certified teacher in order to qualify for a degree in education. Student teach-ers are involved in the everyday education of students right here in BRHS. There are currently four student-teachers on campus, and things seem to be going well for them. “I like it,” said Hannah Reyn-

olds who is working with English teacher Robin Tarpinian. “Every-one has been really friendly and I’m enjoying having a chance to teach behind Ms. Tarpinian.” Andrew Bonnema, who is working with band teacher Brian Grant, agrees. “It’s really been awesome,” said Bonnema. “The students are great and Mr. Grant is a great teacher.” In addition, James Null is work-ing with Sherri Windsor, and Re-bekah McAnally is working with Michael Atkins. Null said that he’d love to be a permanent member of the staff if a job becomes available.

Classes were not the only things to change when the new semester began at BRHS. In the wake of recent school shootings, many schools have reevaluated their safety plans and school rules to try to improve school safety. BRHS is doing the same. All exterior doors are checked

by Officer Carl Mathias and the administration several times a day to make sure the building is safe. Exterior doors are never to be opened. Everyone must enter through the main entrance, and every student and adult in the building must wear an ID or a visitor’s badge. “Causes of these new rules can be traced back to the shootings at Columbine many years ago, but the recent shootings in Colorado

by clay arnold Staff Writer

What are you getting your Valentine? by casey alleneditor-in-Chief

“Sending her flowers.” -Steven Coy

“Nice watch and wallet.” -Ashleigh Lacey

“Card, flowers and taking her out to eat.” -Ray Riley

“Card and turtle candies.” -Sherry Thornton

Student becomes teacher: Rebekah McAnally gives instructions to her English class. The Bob Jones University student is working with BRHS teacher Michael Atkins.

photo by Kimberly Poole

College students learn by teaching

Semester change brings new safety changesand Connecticut are a big reason why we are stepping up the safety precautions,” said Assistant Principal Bradley Wingate. Although some students may think the new rules are excessive, the administration says safety trumps convenience. “All schools in Greenville County were asked from the district level to better secure schools to ensure the absolute safety of every student,” said

Wingate. “Our main goal with these new procedures is to be proactive in securing our building in order to provide the safest learning environment possible for all students here at Blue Ridge,” said Wingate. “Although these new rules may seem kind of pointless, all in all the administrators are just trying their best to keep us safe,” said senior Christian Borgman.

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Arms shines on “Idol”

Takes the stage: Former BRHS student Dylan Arms performs on the American Idol stage. Arms auditioned in Charlotte and won his ticket to Hollywood where he performed before the Idol judges. Arms attended BRHS as a fresh-man and sophomore before moving to the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Performing Arts.

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(continued from front page)plays the piano, harmonica, and the drums. Arms’ singing inspira-tion is his cousin Tim, who in-spired Arms to stay focused and to practice on his music. “Tim is really gifted and can play any instrument,” said Arms As far as artists who are already famous, Arms said his favorite “changes every day.” Arms said his family has watched America Idol for a few years now. His mom encouraged him to audition for the TV series but he put it off for a few years. Then, he finally thought this was the time to try out. Arms started the audition pro-cess in July. Then two months later he had to audition two times in one day. He had to do a total of four auditions before he got the chance to audition in front of the America Idol Judges. “It was a longer process than I thought it would be,” said Arms. Arms said that behind the scenes of American Idol is much different than people think. When contestants audition the hopefuls have to be there early and just sit around waiting for the call. When it’s finally their time to audition, contestants have to be ready in a hurry.

Arms described it as “a hurried and fast pace.” Before Arms sang in front of the judges, they made a video of him telling his story. The day when Arms had to audition in Charlotte in front of the judges was the much-publicized day when judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj got

into a feud. Minaj walked out and everybody that had to audition af-ter the feud had to audition another day. Joining Arms on the trip was his brother, BRHS junior Dalton Arms, and BRHS students Bailey Gilreath and Bryanna Waddell. Arms said he didn’t expect to

get far in the America Idol compe-tition. His journey ended in Hol-lywood. Arms is currently the wor-ship leader at Springwell Church in Taylors. He just finished his first album “So Much to Say” in August. Arms is working on his second album and music video.

by tysHaun bensonStaff Writer

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Ludd, Holbrooks win region titlesTiger wrestlers head to upper-state tournament

Getting to work: Sophomore Jeremy Holbrooks works from the bottom against a competitor. Holbrooks won the region title and now takes aim on a state crown.

photo by Kimberly Poole

With a pair of individual region championships in hand, the top wrestlers at BRHS are taking their talents to the upper-state tourna-ment this weekend. From there, the top four will advance to the state championships the following weekend. Eastside won the team title at the regionals, but four Tigers had strong finishes for first-year coach Joe Federspiel. Senior Jordan Ludd and sopho-more Jeremy Holbrooks won region titles. Junior Jordan Mills finished second in the region, while

junior Alfredo Hernandez placed third. Ludd, the senior team cap-tain, said he was happy to win the region, but he quickly turned his attention to qualifying for the state championships. “It feels good to be a four-time region champion,” said Ludd. “Now it’s time to get ready for state.” Last year, Ludd placed fourth in the state. This year, he’s planning on moving up. But for this week, the goal is simply to qualify. “All I’m interested in right now is finishing in the top four so I can go to state,” said Mills.

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Genell DuncanBuddy DuncanDarren DudleyThea DudleyMargaret AlveyRuby GoldsmithMaxine HorneJulia DickeryRoss Arnold

The Tiger staff thanks our patrons for their support.

Tiger Tippers

The Lady Tigers basketball team finished the regular season by completing a sweep of region champ Greenville High School on Friday night. But a third-place finish in the region standings sent BRHS on the road to defending champion Dreher in the first round of the playoffs Monday night. There, the Lady Tigers’ season ended 66-33. “We had a good season and played really well overall,” said coach Byron Hardy. The Lady Tigers finished with an 11-3 region record; they were 16-7 overall. The Lady Tigers were led this year by juniors Ross Mathis and Eden Holombo, and sophomore Courtney Robinson. Mathis and Holombo both passed the 1000-point scoring mark for their

careers during the season. They were presented plaques for their achievement after Thursday’s rout of rival Greer. Hardy announced at the game that the two will have their jersey’s retired following their senior seasons. In the playoff game, the Lady Tigers were within 15-11 midway through the first quarter. From there, Dreher surged into command. With a pair of post players standing 6’3” and 6’2”, Dreher took advantage of its height advantage and pounded the Lady Tigers inside. Their twin towers combined for 33 points. Ross Mathis led BRHS with 15 points. Courtney Robinson had 11. With only one senior-- Celina Odeh-- the Lady Tigers expect big things again next year. “We should be just as strong as this year,” said Hardy.

by Wesley HatcHetteStaff Writer

Lady Tigers make state playoffsStrong season ends against defending champ Dreher

Free-throws: Haleigh Dilleshaw puts up a free throw against Greer.

photo by Kimberly Poole

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by clifton duckStaff Writer

With 10 wins, the BRHS boys’ basketball team posted its best record in four years. The Tigers came up short of a playoff bid, but indications are that the future is bright. The squad graduates six seniors, but three sophomores and one freshman started at some point this season. “The team showed improvement by winning ten games,” said second-year coach Glenn Reese. “We played in probably the toughest basketball region in the state,” said Reese. “Five of the teams were ranked in the top ten in the state at some point during the season. We believe in any other AAA region we would have made the playoffs.” “We fought hard and played with a lot of heart but came up a little short this year,” said senior co-captain Brandon Bowen. The highlights of the season came on the road with wins at Clinton and Berea. “In both of those games different players stepped up to either make big shots, big free throws, or play great defense to

help us win at the end,” said Reese. “We also won the consolation championships of both tournaments we played in-- the Patriot Invitational in Powdersville and the Apple Classic in Walhalla.” The Tigers’ defense was strong, allowing only 51 points per game. “Our defense allowed us to be in most of the games we played with a chance to win,” said Reese. “Another strength was our depth. We had several players out with injuries during the season but due to our depth we had other players capable of stepping up to contribute in their absence. The depth also allowed us to keep fresh players in the game so we could maintain our level of intensity.” The Tigers were led offensively by sophomore Sullivan Skinner with 11 points per game. Braden Plumley was the team’s top rebounder with 8 per game. “If our players work hard on the court and in the weight-room in the off-season we should be an even better team next year,” said Reese. “My hope is that our frustration in losing five games by just one possession may be just the motivation we need to work extra hard in the off-season to be ready to go next season.”

Boys’ basketball squad improvesDouble-digit win total marks most in four years

Jump shot: Senior center Braden Plumley launches a shot over a Greer defender. Plumley led the Tigers in rebounding this season.

photo by Kimberly Poole

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ADVISERBurt Wilson

PRINCIPALReena Watson

STAFF WRITERSClay ArnoldTyshaun BensonClifton DuckWesley HatchetteHaley HorneJenna McCombsJordan MitchellPaige Smith

2012-2013Newspaper staffEDITOR-IN-CHIEFCasey Allen MANAGING EDITORAlly RathboneCOPY EDITORParker BaynePHOTO EDITORKimberly PooleCARTOONISTUriel Aguirre