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The Smoke     March 2024 Newton Local Schools
Vol. 5 Issue 7

Frozen JR. By: Thomas Speer

The musical season is over, and this year’s musical was about the Disney movie, Frozen, from 2013. The musical happens once per year at Newton and gives families joy for the night, putting songs in their heads that will be stuck in them for days.
I asked questions to two actors from the musical, Princeton Bess and Ryan Woods, for some insight into their experience with the play and some advice for upcoming actors who may want to be in a future musical.
Ryan Woods who starred as Kristoff shared, “My experience in the musical was fun. It will be challenging if you don’t memorize your lines, but through hard work and dedication you can learn every line and have a blast performing. I would do it again if I had the chance, as it would give me a new perspective and opportunity to project myself to others and be a new character that was not seen previously. The advice I would give to upcoming actors would be to memorize and study your lines, listen to the instructors, have fun, and try your hardest even if you don’t get the part you want.”
Princeton Bess who starred as Hans said, “I thought it was a great experience and it is something everybody should try at least once! I would do it again in a heartbeat! For the advice, do not feel uncomfortable giving your best effort, and it may be weird to act a certain way at first, but give it your all!”

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march madness

By: Carson Tucker

March Madness is the annual event that grips the nation every spring. This month-long college basketball tournament has become a cultural phenomenon, captivating sports fans and casual viewers alike. The tournament, officially known as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, features 68 teams from across the country competing in a single-elimination format to determine the national champion. One of the main reasons why March Madness is so beloved is the unpredictable nature of the tournament. Every year, underdogs upset higher-seeded teams, and Cinderella stories emerge as unknown schools make deep runs into the tournament. This "anything can happen" mentality is what makes March Madness so exciting and compelling to watch. Fans love to root for the underdogs and witness the upsets that make the tournament so thrilling. Another reason why March Madness is so popular is the intense rivalries and high-stakes games that occur during the tournament. Teams battle it out on the court, with the winner advancing and the loser going home. The atmosphere in the arenas is electric, with fans cheering on their teams with passion and enthusiasm. The drama and intensity of the games make March Madness must-watch television for sports fans and non-sports fans alike. March Madness also provides a platform for future NBA stars to showcase their talents on a national stage. Many current NBA players honed their skills and gained recognition during their performances in the NCAA tournament. The tournament is a breeding ground for future basketball legends, and fans love to witness the emergence of the next superstar player. In addition to the on-court action, March Madness also brings people together through bracket competitions and office pools. Millions of people fill out brackets, hoping to predict the outcome of each game and win bragging rights among their friends and colleagues. The competition and camaraderie that come with filling out brackets add an extra layer of excitement to the tournament. Overall, March Madness is a beloved tradition that captures the attention and imagination of sports fans every spring. The unpredictable nature of the tournament, the intense rivalries, the emergence of future basketball stars, and the camaraderie of bracket competitions all contribute to the magic of March Madness. As the madness of March unfolds, fans eagerly anticipate the upsets, buzzer-beaters, and thrilling moments that make the tournament a must-watch event.

pep rally

One of the Winter Pep Rallies was put on by the student council that celebrated the end of winter sports seasons, National Honor Society Inductees, Academic Honors, and school community.

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Sports monthly round up

As winter sports just ended let's recognize our Conference awarded athletes.

Upcoming

Boys Varsity Baseball - Mon. 25 at IC Catholic (IL) 3:30 PM Orlando, FL

Girls Varsity Softball - Tue. 26 at Fairlawn 5:00 PM @ Fairlawn

●	Quinn Peters - First Team All WOAC

●	Luke Cornett - WOAC Special Mention

●	Reese Hess - First Team All WOAC

●	Felicity Harbour - Second Team All

WOAC

●	Brooke Hines - WOAC Special Mention

Boys Varsity Baseball - Tue. 2 Twin Valley South 5:00 PM Newton HS

Girls Varsity Softball - Mon. 1 Twin Valley South 5:00 PM Newton

Boys and Girls Track - Mon. 25 Quad @ Arcanum

athletes of the month

By: Carson Tucker Male: Seth Coker
Congratulations to Seth Coker on being selected as your Male Athlete of the Month! Seth is thrilled to begin his junior track season, and is looking forward to breaking some more school records, and to be contenders to win conference this year! Congratulations Seth!

By: Carson Tucker Female: Cori Haines
Congratulations to Cori Haines on being selected as your Female Athlete of the Month! Cori is a Junior Softball player who is excited for the upcoming season! Cori excels in every part of her softball game and is only getting better. Congratulations Cori!

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teacher of the month

By Erika Shellabarger

This month’s teacher of the month is Miss Short! Congrats!

What was your dream job as a child? Teacher, Art, English, and Science but usually Art and English.
Why did you pick Newton? It is my alma mater, and I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps, it was home really.
How is directing the play going this year? It's going great (with a big smile)! The kids are doing amazing things, and there are fewer props which has been nice. I also had a lot of fun with the special effects.
What is your biggest accomplishment? That’s a good question. I hope I am inspiring kids in what I do. I don’t know if it always happens, but that is my hope and that would be my biggest accomplishment.
What motivates you to do this job everyday? Kids, getting to teach science to young people is fun.
Why did you choose Science? Number one, I really like it. Number two, I am really good at it. You get to blow things up and make things work.

National Honors society

By: Erika Shellabarger

New Members: Ellie Bauer Dylan Bauer Cori Haines Breanna Ingle Audrey Miller
Erika Shellabarger Candace Shellenberger Grace Stanhope
Austin Tippie

National Honor Society is an organization that it is a privilege to be a part of. The National Honor Society is upheld by four pillars: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character. Each four of these pillars is the criteria for getting into this organization. This organization has high standards, and they are meant to be upheld. In order to get into the National Honor Society here at Newton you must fill out the application and write a letter to the faculty council. After they are all submitted they are reviewed by the faculty council to see who the newest inductees will be. This year nine students were inducted into the National Honor Society, and pledged to uphold the standards being
bestowed upon them to be a part of this organization. Congratulations!

Clunker of the month
By: Carson Tucker

Congratulations to Sarah Willoughby on being selected as this months Clunker of the Month! Sarah drives a White 2002 Chevy Suburban. Sarah loves her beast of a car, but she did just recently upgraded to a new car, and now does not drive it as often. Congratulations Sarah!

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ARTIST OF THE MONTH By: Quentin Webb

Ally Moore has been selected for the Artist of the month. Ally is currently in Art I.

When did you get into Art? - I've been doing art for as long as I can remember, but if I had to put a number on it, I'd say I started doing art around 10 years ago.
What is your favorite medium? - My favorite medium to work with is pencils and colored pencils.

What does your Art consist of? - When I'm not in Art class, my art mainly consists of pencil sketches. However, this year in Art, I've worked with many more mediums, like watercolor, ink, and charcoal
What motivates you to paint so well? -Art has always been something fun for me to do in my spare time, so I don't really need motivation to do it. I always put my best effort into whatever I'm doing. My work ethic is what motivates me.
Do you plan on pursuing a career in art after graduation? - Not necessarily. I'm currently thinking about becoming an interior designer. It might not be what some would consider a career in art, but it utilizes some of the skills you learn in Art.

Art Gallery Work by: Ally Moore

Musician OF THE MONTH By: Quentin Webb

This Month's Musician is Chloe Shellenberger. She was a part of this year’s musical, ¨Frozen Jr¨
1. What role do you act in the musical? This year, I am Anna.

2. Is this your first time being a part of one of Newton's musicals? This is my fifth year participating in the school musical. In the past, I have been a part of "The Little Mermaid", "Mary Poppins", our COVID radio show, "Beauty and the Beast", and now "Frozen".
3. What got you into singing, or are you singing just for the musical? I first got into singing as a young child in church. I, along with Emma Deeter, was asked to sing as part of the service. In addition to this, my family has a very musical history with a majority of my aunts, uncles, and grandparents partaking in choir or band throughout high school.
4. What range are you? Since the seventh grade I have sang alto. Now, I still sing alto but can hit high tenor notes and most mezzo soprano notes.
5. What is one song that makes you want to sing? One song that will always make me want to sing is "Let It Grow" from Dr. Seuss's The Lorax.
6. What is your favorite genre to sing? My favorite genre to sing is either country, jazz

pop, or Disney. (Even if Disney isn't technically a real genre!)
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QUESTIONS OF THE MONTH — MARCH

By: Thomas Speer

With only two months left of the 2024 school year, students are ready for summer to hit. Even still, with all the excitement of spring break and upcoming holidays, we all have to push forward with confidence. Of course, there is a questionnaire for the month of March for the Smoke Signal that students filled out.
The first question asked what people like the most about March, and the most common answers were Spring Break and the upcoming warm weather.
The second question asked if students liked the McDonald’s Shamrock Shake and the majority said that they did like it.
The third question asked if people believed in luck and the majority saying “Maybe” while it was a tie between “Yes” and “No”.
The fourth question asked what students liked to do over spring break, and a lot of them said that they like to sleep, play video games, and hang out with friends and family.
The fifth and final question asked people how they celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and while a lot of students said that they don’t celebrate it, some said that they wear green and hang out with friends. However, there is one student that pushed the Irish holiday into full gear, and her name is Felicity Harbour. She decorates her house and wears green along with having a party with corn beef and green root beer for dinner and cake as dessert.

st. patrick's day By: Erika Shellabarger

March 17th has held the title of St. Patrick’s Day since 1631. People in the United States can often be found celebrating with parties, parades, and wearing lots of green. When I think about St. Patrick’s Day I often think about people wearing green or they get pinched. I looked into why people wear green on St. Patrick’s Day and the answer I found was that they become invisible to leprechauns. Leprechauns are known to be the ones that take away luck, therefore you do not want them to see you. So hopefully you wore your green this year!

top ten spring break destinations

By: Quentin Webb

As March ends, the 2024 Spring Break begins. To make this the best one yet I have collected the top ten hot spots for this year.

1.	Bahamas 2.	Florida 3.	Cancun
4.	Punta Cana
5.	Hawaii	Bahamas 6.	Lake Tahoe
7.	Cruise
8.	Grand Canyon 9.	Columbia
10.	Montana

Cancun

Hawaii		Florida Punta	Keys cana

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Student Work	A poem by: Ava Meyer

Photography by: Evelyn Case
A woman who wakes up lonely

Knowing what she must do Everyday is the same thing
And at the end of the day she comes home To the same place always sad
To look out the window and wonder “Will I be sad tomorrow?”

Excerpt from short story by: Claire Marchal “Let’s call her phone,” Meghan says.
“I don’t know why we didn’t do that first,” Claire says. The girls call Stephanie. RIINNG ,RIINNG, RIINNG. Your call has been sent to voicemail. Please leave a message after the beep. BEEEEP. No luck.
“Nope,” Meghan says.

“Where is she?” Claire says, shaking her head.

“Wait! What was that?” Claire says. The girls found Stephanie's phone, and her watch. “No wonder she can’t answer us,” Meghan says.
“But where is she?” Claire says. The girls get really scared and nervous. Then the girls hear a scream. Not a loud scream, a quiet one. Stephanie’s scream.
“That was Stephanie, I know it,” Meghan says.

“Let’s go to Security,” Meghan says, “We can see if they have any footage on the cameras.”

“Good idea,” Claire says. The girls run to the security booth area and tell the security guards everything. “Let's look at the footage for today,” Billy the security guard says.
“Oh! Thank you,” Meghan and Claire say in unison.

“Looks like we have a mysterious figure taking a girl away around 11 A.M,” Billy says, “Where are you girls here at that time?” “Yes, we were. Is it by the Froyo shop?” Claire asks Billy.
“Yes it is,” Billy says.

“That was us. We were arguing about a boy but we were too loud to notice anything” Meghan says.

“Okay ,I’ll have everybody in the mall evacuate the building and we will find your friend. But we will need your girls’ help. Are you up for this?” Billy asks.
“Yes we are. Thank you very much,” Claire and Meghan say in unison. The security guards start emptying the building so nobody else gets hurt.
“I don’t think this figure has any mean to hurt us but I have no idea who he or she is.” Billy says. After about three hours of searching they find Stephanie. She is in bad condition but she will be okay.
“Stephanie!” Meghan and Claire cry out.

“Meghan! Claire!” Stephanie says, “We need to get out of this building.” “Stephanie, Can you tell me what happened?” Billy asked.
“A woman in a black cape took me to a black room. She locked the door and told me to not call you because they wanted to hide me,” Stephanie says.

band going to state!

The Concert Band is heading to state after receiving straight superior ratings. They will be performing at Wright State University on April 27th. Great job to the band!

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march playlist

Quentin Webb -

Erika Shellabarger-

1. DO IT by Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign, and ¥$
2. ¨Stay¨ by Post Malone 3. ¨love you more than me¨ by Montell Fish
4. ¨Fly love¨ by Jamie Foxx
1. “Run For the Hills” by Tate McRae
2. “Home” by Good Neighbours

Carson Tucker-

Thomas Speer-

1. Heart Like a Truck - Lainey Wilson
2. Thinkin Bout’ Me -Morgan Wallen
3. Knockin’ Boots -Luke Bryan
4. Cruise - FGL

1. “Through the Fire” - Chaka Khan
2. “If I Ain’t Got You” -

3.”Jack and Diet Coke” by Redferrin

4. “Hair Salon” By Megan Moroney

Alicia Keys

3. “I’m Still Standing” - Elton John
4. “Marry You” - Bruno Mars

student council field trip

art museum field trip

Spanish field trip

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Photo Journal

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interactive page

This puzzle is a word search puzzle that has a hidden message in it.

First find all the words in the list.

Happy Birthday!

Words can go in any direction and share letters as well as cross over each other.
Once you find all the words. Copy the unused letters starting in the top left

corner into the blanks to reveal the hidden message.

Sarah Willoughby Rilee Owens Brooks Flory Atley Rapp Coltyn Adams Claire Marchal Allison Kramer Brody Hines
Ellie Bauer

Parker Coning Ava Rapp Dylan Bauer Marissa Nance Parker Kanet Lee Morrow Ethan Via Bella Garber
Makenna Kesling

Sienna Montgomery Kaelyn Petry

Vivien Bowser Logan Butts Gabriel Miller Brian Wick
Noah Brush

Damien Hahn Dahlila Stone Ane Alvarez Anthony Weber Jasa Westfall
Zurich Bess

 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ !

Word Bank: March Baseball Track Warm Sunshine Vacation Shamrock Green Softball Easter Flowers Growth Leprechaun Luck Madness Basketball Gold Rainbow Showers Windy

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