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The Smoke      March 2025 Newton Local Schools
Vol. 6 Issue 6

Newton’s Blood drive

By: Vivien Clark

The last blood drive of the year is finally here! On March 28th many students are giving blood to help aid hospitals in times of need. Donating blood is a vital thing that many people do, and Newton offers it during the school day. The school has two blood drives per year that anyone 16 or above can donate at. Not only do you get free snacks and miss school but you also get a red cord for graduation if you donate three times. If you are unable to donate during the school day do not worry you can still get your cord you just have to have a total of three donations during your highschool years, whether you donate at the blood drive held here, or go somewhere else and turn in a form. If you miss this year’s blood drive I have good news, two more will be held next year!

Livestock Judging

By Candace Shellenberger

Throughout March, the FFA livestock judging team traveled	to	many	different	invitationals	in preparation for the state contest, which was held on Saturday. On Saturday the team placed 42nd out of 200 teams. At Marysville, the team placed 24th, and at Indian Lake the team placed 14th. The most successful contest this year was at Wilmington, where the team placed 4th, and Shelby and Erika both placed in the top ten individuals.

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recently this year, a Berkshire Hathaway employee won one million dollars by correctly guessing 31 out of 32 games in the first round. The longest recorded correct bracket is 38 games in a row set in 2019. If you have never made a bracket before, I would strongly encourage you to fill one out next year. It is fun to watch the random teams play, and you never know when you
	
might make history.

Ah yes! MADNESS By Dylan Bauer

Everybody knows that in the month of March, things get CRAZY on the college basketball scene. Millions of people around the world create a March Madness bracket every year in order to predict the outcome of the NCAA basketball tournament. With such a widespread competition, much like fantasy football, people love to reward the winner and punish the loser. While there has never been a verifiable perfect bracket, many people have won money from getting close. Just

athletes of the month

Claire Stull
This will be Claire’s fourth year competing on a track team, and after a successful indoor track season, things are	looking	bright.	Her proudest	achievement      is making it to state in the 1600m (mile) race as an 8th grader. She loves the team aspect of the sport and always      cheers	on      her teammates. Claire is set up to run some blazing times on the track this spring. Keep it up!

Brady Wackler

Brady	has	been	playing baseball for longer than he can remember. His favorite thing about the game is that, “Any team can beat you and you can beat any team.” With so much experience swinging the bat, look for Brady to have some big hits this season. You can find him in the outfield for most games, but he moonlights on the pitcher’s mound. Good luck Brady!

Q&A

1. If you had to come up with a brand new class at Newton. What would it be about/called?
Claire: "Get movin" - this would be a class where you have the opportunity to get out of the classroom and go on a walk outside or do something active
Brady: A class that is focused completely on weightlifting 2. What is your sport’s most satisfying sound?
Claire: The sound of a group running together on different terrain. Brady: The ping of the bat when the ball hits the barrel
3. Dinosaurs make a comeback and now roam freely everywhere. What one person would you team up with to survive?
Claire: Gary
Badry: Zurich because he told me to

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St. Patrick’s Day

By: Felicity Harbour

For a lot of people, St. Patrick’s day is just another day, and may seem kind of like a random holiday. You might ask, what even is St. Patrick's Day? Well, besides wearing green, St. Patrick’s Day is actually about celebrating the death of St. Patrick who was a 5th century figure who brought Christianity to Ireland and since has evolved from a religious observance, to a celebration of Irish culture. This is a big celebration for a lot of people, especially if you are Irish! Personally, in my family, we decorate the house with St. Patrick's Day decorations and have a St. Patrick's Day dinner. My mom will make cornbeef and cabbage and oatmeal cake with green icing, we will dye root beer green, and after dinner we watch “Darby O’Gill and the Little People” which is an old movie about leprechauns. Everyone in my family takes the pinching seriously, so you better wear green. Sometimes I will pinch my siblings even if they are wearing green just for fun… Anyway, St. Patricks Day is one of my favorite holidays I look forward to and I think more people should celebrate it.

Madri Gras By Meg Yoder
Mardi Gras is a Catholic holiday, and is French for “Fat Tuesday”. Which is another common name for Mardi Gras along with: Shrove Tuesday, and Pancake Tuesday. It is the day before the beginning of Lent, (a religious fasting season for some branches of Christianity) which starts on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is known for its celebration, specifically in New Orleans. People will parade and throw wild parties on the streets for one-three months on select nights. The common colors for Mardi Gras are purple, green, and gold. Foods to celebrate this holiday include: Kings cake, jambalaya, beignets, shrimp and grits, banana foster, and gumbo. Anyone can celebrate Mardi Gras, but it’s fun to learn about the reason behind these types of holidays.

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Album Review

By Meg Yoder

This month's album is SOS by SZA. It is an hour and eight minutes long, and has 23 tracks. It was released on December 9th, 2022. Unlike a few past albums I have reviewed, SOS was written and produced by multiple artists. Obviously, SZA is the biggest out of all of them, but it was also produced and written by Rob Bisel, Carter Lang, ThankGod4Cody, and Michael Uzowuru. Popular songs on this album include: “I Hate U”, “Good Days”, “Kill Bill”, and “Nobody Gets Me.” My personal favorites are “Good Days”, “Gone Girl”, “Special”, and “Open Arms”. I think this album is really well written, and overall just a very beautiful album overall. It has songs on it that everyone could either like or relate to, and I think that is what makes this album special.

artist of the month

By Liam Woods

Your March Artist of the month is Elise Stucki!

When did you get into art? Really my whole life but I started getting more serious in 2021.
What is your favorite art medium? A normal pencil and paper. I am a lot more comfortable with that.
What does your art consist of? People, but I do different studies of other objects to help me get better.
What motivates you to make good art? To get to my older sister’s art skill. She's hecka good so I someday want to get as good as her! I also think that if I have ideas I want to be able to put them on paper and show how I see things!
Do you plan on pursuing a career in art after graduation? I hope to do a different kind of art but I will definitely keep it as a hobby though or maybe
a tattoo artist that would be cool!	4

movie review

The Luck of the Irish follows Kyle Johnson, a kid who is trying to discover more about his heritage. He finds out his family is Irish and comes from a line of leprechauns after lucky coin is stolen and his family loses his luck. He needs to find the man who stole his coin and get his luck back. It was released in 2001 on Disney Channel and while a silly movie it was an enjoyable watch to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Vivien says, “Not a feel good movie, it would be funny if I was five” and Megs says, “It is a movie” and Candace says, “I have no words to describe that movie.” It really is hard to explain all that happens in this movie, Felicity says, “I feel like this movie does not exist” and Dylan says, “Do not watch this if you are from Ireland.” It goes through a lot of silly stereotypes when it comes to the Irish. Liam says, “I think everyone else in this room is a hater, it was actually a decent fun holiday movie.” Miss Rhea agrees that, “It is a fun movie and is not supposed to be super good.” It is important to remember that Disney Channel movies are made for children.

Dylan rates it a 2, Vivien, Liam, Felicity, and Miss Rhea rate it a 3, and Meg and Candace gives it a 3.5.

Spring Fashion

By Meg Yoder

Spring invites a whole new range of colors and clothing pieces you can incorporate into your outfits. Besides tank tops and shorts, I think a few other clothing pieces will be trending this spring and summer. Shirts with bateau, square, and off-shoulder necklines are growing in popularity, as well as low waist jeans and jorts. Cotton and linen pants are remaining steadily loved in mainstream fashion, along with sambas, birks, and uggs. Besides individual clothing pieces, I think spring fashion will include: lighter shades of bright colors, wide legged pants and jeans, denim skirts/skorts, and any trending prints. I do not necessarily love everything trending in fashion right now, (though I like most of it) but I love when people express themselves! Also a reminder you do not need to follow fashion trends to be cool, just dress how YOU want to (just stay in dress code)!

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teacher of the month By Candace Shellenberger

This month’s teacher of the month is Mr. McCullough, and this is his twelfth year teaching. In his free time he spends most of his time working on the farm, where he raises showpigs and sells them nationwide. He loves to spend time with his boys doing activities outside that consist of training pigs, playing golf, swimming, and anything you can do outside. I asked him if he always wanted to teach and this is what he said “No, honestly, I didn't know what I wanted to do when I was in high school. After high school, I worked full time selling livestock feed and taking online and night classes at Edison. I also spent a lot of time working with families all over the state, helping them with their 4-H projects, teaching kids how to show, and about animal nutrition. One of the families I was helping told me I should be a teacher because I was great at working with their kids. Until that moment, I never really thought about it. The next fall, I moved to Columbus, and the rest is history.” This year he is looking forward to going on FFA trips, traveling to pigs shows with his family, and summer break. His biggest accomplishment is juggling elephants. When he was asked what his favorite thing the FFA does this was his response “ My favorite part of the FFA is that it forces students to get out of their comfort zone. I have always loved the career development events for this specific reason. The contests are challenging and extremely competitive. Like with anything, it takes a lot of work and preparation to be successful. My favorite field trip is the state FFA convention. It brings the year to a close and highlights all the great achievements by FFA members from all over the state of Ohio. Also, we go out to eat a lot, and I pick the best restaurants.”

student of the month

By: Felicity Harbour

Jr. High kids are now able to be student of the month. This month I asked Miss Rhea who she thought deserved the title and she said, “Chase Wackler, he is always well prepared for class and comes in with a good attitude and he consistently has had the highest score for our vocab quizzes.” This is was Chase’s reaction when he got picked, “Oh me?” Way to go Chase!

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National honor society

By Candace Shellenberger

On February 27th, Newton held its annual National Honor Society induction ceremony, where 11 members were inducted into the National Honor Society. National Honor Society holds its members to high standards using 4 pillars: Character, Scholarship, Service, and Leadership. Congratulations Wren Bauer, Trenton Robinson, Andrew Long, Chloe Adams, Rachel Fisher, Claire Stull, Mya Denlinger, Chloe Adams, Ally Moore, Felicity Harbour, Elliot Cook, and Evanston Hemphill.

The Hunger Games is back

By: Vivien Clark

As we all know basketball is huge in March but this year it is not just for the sports fans but also book lovers. Suzanne Collins released her newest book Sunrise on the Reaping on the 18th of this month. In preparation for this the previous movies were rerun in theaters calling it March Katniss. As a lover of not only the movies but, also the books this made me very excited. Although I was not able to go see the movies in theaters, you know I watched all the movies at my house. If you do not know anything about the series, here is a little summary. The story follows a girl called Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to participate in the Hunger Games after her sister was chosen at the Reaping. During the Reaping a female and male candidate between the age 12 and 18 from each district will be chosen to participate in the Hunger Games. She must survive in the arena to make it home to see her friends and family again. She is chosen at the Reaping with Petta Malark who soon will reveal his love for her. Now they have to make it through the arena trying to stay alive. Will they survive or which one will have to die to make the other the victor? The series is my favorite book series and definitely one of my favorite movie series. I am super excited and cannot wait to read the newest book. Even if you’re not a Hunger games fan, I hope the odds are “ever in your favor” this month whether it be reading, a videogame, or your March Madness bracket (the odds are not in my favor with that last one so far) I hope this month has been just as enjoyable for you as it was for me.

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clunker of the month

By: Vivien Clark

This month's clunker goes to Candace Shellenberger! Candace drives a Ford 15 passenger van. If you’re behind her and hear some weird noises, do not worry it is probably just the van since it sounds like it will fall apart at any moment when she's slowing down. And if you ever need a ride, beware the hole in the door that allows you to see the road. It is there for ventilation since the top vents do not have covers, it needs a little extra. Fortunately for Candace, it is a family car and she plans on getting one of her own in the near future but until then if you see a white van with a huge dent in the passenger side doors you know you have seen a Shellenberger.

The Musical

By Liam Woods

This year Newton Drama Club put on Disney Moana Jr. The show was around an hour long and was entertaining for all ages. The stars of the shows where Jayla Leland as Moana, Christopher Olader as Chief Tui, Cori Haines as Sina, Rebekah Shough Gramma Tala, Regan Miller as Maui, Tyler Miller as Tomato, Charlotte Will, Lilian Goad, Cate Marchal, Maddie Karns, Allison Kramer, and Bella Garber as Villager/Ocean/Ancestor Ensemble, Christian Maxwell as Fisher/Left Claw, Kyndell Renner as Fisher/Right Claw, Warren Serey, Kellany Merritt, Travis Stanhope, Clara Shellenberger and Claire Marchal as Chief Ancestors, Anna Wall as Chief Ancestor/Te Fiti/Te Ka, Lily West, Lillian Ryan, and Izzie Ballard as Villager/Monster/Ancestor Ensemble. Another big shout out to the behind the scenes crew with Dixie Ryan with sound cues, Vivien Clark as Sound Assistant, Kayla Olander and Adia Leal as back stage, and Meg Yoder with lighting. One last shout out to Miss Short and Mrs. Wall as the directors of the play. Moana follows the story of Moana traveling the sea to find the demigod Maui to bring the heart of Te Fiti back to save her island. This was the last Newton performance for Cori Haines, Christopher Olader, Christian Maxwell, and Jayla Leland. They have all performed in multiple Newton productions and have made them a special and memorable experience for everyone watching .

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Questions of the month

By Liam Woods

It is finally March and that means another month of questions. March is the luckiest month of them being the month of Saint Patrick's day. There is some mixed results about St. Patties day only 10% of people were not looking forward to it, but it was split evenly 45% between people who thought it would be ok and the people who were really excited for it. The people who were excited for it must be pretty lucky, and they must have a good luck charm. Some common good luck charms where necklaces, bracelets, and rings from family member and friends, some other good luck charms was The Wings mascot from the boys bowling team, a bandaid, and three different people said their red hair. Another big part of the Saint Patrick’s season is the color green. Some of the favorite green items people have are money, Yoshi, trees, grass, Mt. Dew, and golf courses. As the weather starts getting warmer there is many things you guys are looking forward to do including swimming, pickleball, hiking, biking, reading outside, tanning, and kayaking. Even though the weather is getting nicer you can still stay inside and watch movies. The movies of the month are Pixar movies, the movie in last place with 0% of the votes was A Bug's Life and an all time low for the questions of the month. Next was a tie between Up and Monsters, Inc. with 7.5% of votes, WALL-E and Finding Nemo also tied with 12.5% of the votes. In second place was the The Incredibles with 15% of votes. The big winner that almost took half the votes was Cars with 45% of the votes. Stay tuned in for April’s questions.

Pi Day! By: Felicity Harbour

For Pi day I wanted to do a fun competition. I decided to ask a couple of teachers and students to name the numbers of Pi in 30 seconds and then I had them name all the flavors of pie they could think of. For the teachers I asked Mr.Davis and Miss Short. Miss Short got the first 6 digits right and Mr. Davis got the first 8 right but he did skip the digit four and one. On a technicality the winner is Miss. Short. Although Mr. Davis should have won because we all know what he meant. For the pie flavors, Miss Short and Mr. Davis both tied with 9! Now for the students, I asked about ten and the majority of them could not get past 3.14159, But the student who named the most digits was Easton Hemphill. Easton named the first ten digits. Although he did forget the digits one and five in the middle, it was still very impressive that he got the amount of other digits correct in their order! As far as the pie flavors, the winner is Mason Brumbaugh and Jackson Deaton who both named 7 flavors!

Lies from Parents

By Liam Woods

When we were younger our parents used to lie about fun little things like the leprechaun or the tooth fairy so we could have some fun and whimsy in our life. But some lies were not as fun. The first one that I went through and is a cannon event for everybody. It is illegal to have the light on in the car when someone is driving. One time my dad told me that when I went downstairs the monsters in the basement went up stairs and if I went up stairs they went back to the basement,but this just made me more scared because if someone was upstairs and downstairs where did the monsters go? Looking back on it I just realized that I was not Picasso and my parents used to tell me that I made the best drawings they have ever seen. Some other common lies people go through where the internet was down today so you have to play outside, your dog ran away to be with other dogs, If you do not behave I will call your favorite character and they will be disappointed in you, and if you swallow bubble gum it stay in your stomach for 7 years. The biggest lie that parents told was that you should not lie which sounds pretty hypocritical.	9

rESPONSES TO LAST MONTH’S LOVE CONFESSION

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Happy	🎉 Birthday!

Green	luck Growth	spring
March	rain

leprechaun windy
madness	shamrock

Joseph Deaton Rilee Owens Brooks Flory Atley Rapp Coltyn Adams Claire Marchal Allison Kramer Broderick Hines Ellie Bauer
Sienna Montgomery Vivien Bowser Logan Butts
Gabriel Miller Brian Wick Parker Coning Ava Rapp Leslie Maloney Dylan Bauer Marissa Nance Parker Kanet Liam Biar
Lee Morrow Rylee Alexander Abigail Flora Ethan Via

Bella Garber Makenna Kesling Kaelyn Petry Ethan Hogan Dahlila Stone Anthony Webber Jasa Westfall Tyler Morrow Zurich Bess Mylee Fisher

Smoke Signals March Playlist

“Going to California” by Led Zeppelin “Moving Along” by 5 Seconds of Summer “Goodbye Yesterday” by Elevation Rhythm “Sweetener” by Ariana Grande
“Justice for Tulsa” by Kevin William Paul

5-Month update on peony

“Leave The Door Open” by Anderson .Paak, Bruno Mars, and Silk Sonic “Not Sorry for Loving You” by Jorge Rivera-Herrans

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Honor Roll:

UVCC 11 th Grade: Gentri Deaton Douglas Goad Annelise Taylor UVCC 12 th Grade: Noah Bayer
Dakota Craig Jaden Deaton Jennica Holly Jaemyn Lowry Layla Van Culin
MVCTC 11 th Grade: Brensen Skinner
7 th Grade: Dexter Barhorst Emmett Blair Kolton Davis Rowan Fiely Abigail Flora Easton Hemphill Kyle Knepper Vienna Long Leslie Maloney Catherine Marchal Israel Mwaura Henry Ovenshire Payton Schaurer Bailey Schutz
Ava Trimble Charlotte Will 8 th Grade: Coltyn Adams Mollie Adams Vivien Bowser Ivan Chen Havyn Coning Brayden Doty
Kyleigh Holbrook Louella Liette Gabriel Miller Karlee Schwartz Dahlila Stone Dylan Trost
9 th Grade: Meghan Addison Tucker Fisher

Bella Garber Lillian Goad Garrison Hughes James Ingle Ayden Kane Madilynn Karns Allison Kramer Elijah Leingang Claire Marchal Griffin Reimer
Jack Van Den Bosch Anna Wall

10 th Grade: Harlee Adams Matillie Casey Parker Coning Natalie Davey Emily Laughman Jayla Leland Andrew Long Kellany Merritt Regan Miller Lee Morrow Kaelyn Petry
Trenton Robinson Peyton Schutz James Stucki Ameila Szakal Jordyn Whitacre Meg Yoder
11 th Grade: Evelyn Case Elliot Cook Rachel Fisher Kinzie Peters Estie Rapp Carson Resides
Candace Shellenberger 12 th Grade:
Isaac Beidelman Parker Crow Felicity Harbour Rylan Hoy
Adia Leal Hayden Wilhelmy Liam Woods

Principal’s List:

UVCC 11 th Grade: Logan Butts Addison Lyons Owen Miller
Ava Nolan Nick Staub
UVCC 12 th Grade: Cori Haines
Max Newhouse Callie Smith Alysa Stevenson Lillian Szakal Jasa Westfall
7 th Grade: Emma Fisher Austin Long Makenah Petry
Clara Shellenberger Sutton Spitler

8 th Grade: Izabel Ballard Austin Barhorst Mayson Cosby Oliver Crow

Brooks Flory Caroline Forsythe Isabella Fullenkamp Bentley Hess
Ava Hughes Tylea Jackson Nolan Knupp Zoey Robinson
Mckenzie Sheridan Max Silk
Chase Wackler

9 th Grade: Ella Bayer Jackson Blair
Eleanor Bradshaw Brynnasen Fiely Michaela Flora Sawyer Hainline Stephanie Knepper Brenna Locker Tanner Long Nolan Meurer
Ava Meyer Emmaline Rapp Colton Shellenberger Lindsey Willoughby

10 th Grade: Chloe Adams Cole Alexander Wren Bauer Mya Denlinger Tyler Miller Ally Moore Alec Schaurer Travis Stanhope Claire Stull

11 th Grade: Ellie Bauer Zurich Bess Will Bowser
Evanston Hemphill Rylee Hess
Audrey Miller Austin Tippie Ava Velkoff

12 th Grade: Dylan Bauer Seth Euton Breanna Ingle
Sienna Montgomery Ava Rapp
Grace Stanhope Shelby Van Den Bosch