BHS Real World Design Team Wins Again

Daffern, Kramps qualify for State Debate

Junior Alex Daffern and Sophomore Sarah Kramps are preparing for State Debate on Jan. 22-23. They will be traveling to Goddard for the tournament.

The team has a lot of work to do to be prepared for state.

“We need to do things such as write negative briefs for numerous cases so we are prepared for any case we may come up against,” Kramps said.

For their affirmative case, the students are using a case Daffern wrote.

“Our affirmative case is The Emergency Food Assistance Program as a social service to those in poverty,” Daffern said. “It’s where the United States Department of Agriculture buys the food and processes it, then sends it to the states based off of their population of homeless, impoverished, and/or unemployed, who then give it to local food banks, agencies, soup kitchens, etc. that will either provide them the food at a special place, or allow them to take it home. It all depends on the local area.”

The team is very confident in their affirmative case.

“Our affirmative case has only lost once,” Daffern said. “So, we feel like we’ll be able to actually get somewhere at state this year. Last year was just practice for this January.”

The debate team has a few more tournaments before state in January. Daffern and Kramps have more preparation to do, but are much more confident about this year than last year.

Story by Erin Jansen, BHS Journalism

Marion Springs students launch rockets

Recently, Marion Springs students and teacher Doug Woolery built rockets for a school project.

The project was based off of Newton’s laws of physics, which the students applied to building a rocket. The rocket was supposed to launch an egg into the sky and then bring the egg back to Earth, unbroken.

After constructing a rocket, students were required to provide a description of the experiment, complete with the scientific process, including question, hypothesis, procedure, materials, observations, and conclusions. Students then presented their rocket to the class.

Woolery said that the students spent two weeks on the project.

“We spent the better part of a week to a week and a half learning about rockets, Newton’s laws, etc…before beginning rocket construction,” Woolery said.

Students then completed the final part of their project on Monday. Students tested their rockets to see which ones were the best designed.

Carter Wintermantel thought that this was a great experience.

“I liked designing it. It was cool to see it fly,” Wintermantel said.

Teacher Doug Woolery helps two students prepare their rocket for launching.

Ellis Baughan was not very happy with his rocket’s performance.

“The only bad part was how it didn’t go very high.  But everything else was good,” he said.

Story by Josh Hanson, BHS Journalism

‘Li’l Abner’ entertains large crowd

The Baldwin High School musical ‘Li’l Abner’ premiered in front of a packed crowd last Friday at the Baldwin Junior High School auditorium and had another showing Saturday night. BHS english teacher Katherine Cook was stage director and choir teacher Beth Nelson was music director for the musical. Senior Ryan Hodges played the part of ‘Li’l Abner’ and was happy with the way the musical turned out.

“I was really happy with everyone’s performance,” Hodges said. “We put so much effort into this, and that was evident when we finally put it on.”

The musical follows Daisy Mae as she waits for the Sadie Hawkins Day Race to try and catch Li’l Abner. Sadly, before the day of the race the town of Dogpatch is informed that their town will be used an atomic bomb testing ground. The residents of Dogpatch must search for something valuable in their town in order to save it.

The audience’s laughter could be heard throughout the auditorium. The musical proved to be a success.

“It was cute and funny,” junior Michaela Krysztof said. “The leads did a really good job with their parts.”

Junior Jesse Austin played the part of Earthquake McGoon. This was his first acting gig.

“I was pumped honestly,” Austin said. “I have competed in sports at a pretty competitive level in numerous states and arenas and I knew the musical couldn’t be any more nerve racking.”

The cast and crew of ‘Li’l Abner’ began rehearsing Sept. 28. With countless days of hard work and dedication they were able to put together ‘Li’l Abner.’

“When we did our first dress rehearsal it finally felt like we were putting on a musical,” Hodges said.

Story by Megan Hazelwood, BHS Journalism