NHS Homecoming Week

by Paige Osborn

1/26/2012

The month of December was a very eventful one for students at Neoga High School. It was Homecoming week once again and just as busy as ever. Students participated in events and different dress themes every day that week. Dress themes were class color day, holiday day, crazy day, clique day, and then school spirit or red and white day. Almost the entire school participated in these dress themes every day of the week with most classes having around 80%-90% participation every day. Along with dress participation points classes got points for winning the daily game. The games for this week were boardwalk, trivia, obstacle course, tug of war and the Xbox favorite, Just Dance 3. Every day freshman would compete against juniors and then sophomores against seniors. The winners of each would play each other, but it didn’t stop there. As a vital part of homecoming tradition, the winner had to go head-to-head against the teachers.

Other activities going on throughout the week included poster competition and locker decoration. Points were awarded to the class with the best poster and also for the classes whose students won the locker decoration contest. Overall, the seniors came out on top with the most points. The sophomores came in second, followed by juniors, then freshman. Junior Megan Schabbing commented, “Homecoming week is always so much fun, and it’s so interesting to see students dressing up in ways we never could outside of Homecoming week.” Overall, Homecoming week is one of the most memorable for all students here at Neoga. This year’s homecoming week was full of fun and excitement for teachers and students alike.

State Medalist Awards Night

1/26/12

By Becca Warfel

If you walk through the main hallway at Neoga Jr. Sr. High School, you may notice the two new plaques on the North wall. Depicted on them are Julie Walk and Jaimee Roy, two former athletes who were honored at the State Medalist Awards Night on January 6^th. The awards night was part of a new program at Neoga that recognizes state medalists in track and cross country. Past medalists gathered in the high school library during the boys’ basketball game to take photographs and reminisce about their athletic careers. They also enjoyed an assortment of drinks and cookies provided by the Neoga Booster Club.

The athletes were recognized in the gym between the junior varsity and varsity basketball games. Athletic director Mr. Jeff Wooters gave a short speech about the program before Mr. Tim Mueller, the current track and cross country coach, took the stage to introduce the medalists. 13 out of the 14 medalists, or representatives for them, were able to attend the ceremony and receive their awards. Among them were Fred Swengel, Scott Swengel, Neil Luallen, Clint Hymes, Andrea (Baker) Yurs, Tim Dow, Chris (Roy) Snyder, Shane Bradford, Julie Walk, Damian Poe, Curtis Flake, Eric Deters, and Jaimee Roy. Also recognized was the late Charles Comstock. Because they achieved state championship status, Julie Walk and Jaimee Roy both received commemorative plaques that are on display in the main lobby.

This program will continue to honor athletes who “go the distance” and achieve excellence. “These former athletes have left a high standard of performance and competition that our future athletes have to aspire to,” said Mr. Jeff Wooters. “Their commitment to the Neoga High School track and cross country program as students is now an inspiration to our present members.” Current track member Ryan Evans said “It brings me pride to run in the footsteps of these former medalists.” The enthusiasm of the younger generation of athletes will ensure that the track and cross country programs will continue to run strong in Neoga.

pic caption(back L-R): Curtis Flake, Damien Roe, Gary Bradford, Clint Hymes, Fred Swengel, Scott Swengel, Neil Luallen

(front L-R): Eric Deters, Jaimee Roy, Julie Walk, Carol Bradford, Jordan Bradford, Christine(Roy) Snyder, Tim Dow, Andrea (Baker) Yurs

Linear Regression Project

by Alex Harvey

1/24/2012

The Neoga High School Advanced Math class is always busy with new projects. One of their most recent was the ‘Linear Regression Project’. Linear Regression is a way of analyzing the relationship between any two ‘x’ and ‘y’ variables, and determining the best line for data. This method is used most often for obtaining statistics.

For this project, the students found the length of various body lengths (arm span, height, wrist width, and neck widths) in order to see if there was a correlation between any two lengths. For the measurements concerning height and arm span, there was- while it varies, on average your arm span is close to or equal to your height. Arm span is the most reliable body parameter for predicting the height of an individual, as well as being a simple measure that's important in the profiling of athletes in many sports in which reach is important, such as basketball.

In general, student results tended toward a correlation in proportions for arm span and height; however, the opposite was true for wrist width and neck width. Students enjoyed the project, and hope to do similar projects soon. “This project was a great experience because we got to use the graphing calculators, which helps us in the future on other projects and in our everyday life.” says Advanced Math student Jessica Warner, “Everyday in math is fun” says classmate Bailey Dow, “…when we don’t have homework!”