Football

looks to get

back in the

win column

after home-

coming loss

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Garretson High School Student Newspaper - Garretson, SD - September 30, 2016 - Volume 4, Issue 5

Blue Ink This Week’s

Need to Know

FACT OF THE WEEK: The words racecar, kayak, and level are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes). JOKE OF THE WEEK: Even though dogs can’t operate MRI scanners, these animals can.

Submitted by Mataya Lines BRAINTEASER OF THE WEEK: Brothers and sisters I have none but this man's father is my father's son. Who is the man? Answers to joke and brainteaser are on the bottom. UPCOMING EVENTS: Friday, September 30 - XC @ Lennox (4:00) - FB @ Parker (7:00) Monday, October 3 - JHFB @ Parker (4:00) - JVFB @ Parker (5:00) - VB @ Tri-Valley (6:15/7:00) Tuesday, October 4 - JVVB v. Sioux Falls Lutheran (6:00) Thursday, October 6 - XC @ Big East Conf-Salem (4:00) - JHVB @ Canton (4:30) - VB @ Canton (6:15/7:00) Friday, October 7 - No School-Staff Inservice - FB @ Irene-Wakonda (7:00) Scan for a look at the district activities calendar.

Worth Mentioning

There is less than six weeks until the presidential election. Aside from the two primary candidates Donald Trump (republican) and Hillary Clinton (democrat) there are other third party and inde-pendent candidates on the ticket. Jill Stein a Green Party candi-date from Massachusetts. Gary Johnson a Libertarian Par-ty candidate and former governor of New Mexico. Evan McMullin is an Independ-ent candidate.

Land judging—a dirty job Garretson FFA kicks off competition season with travel to Parker

by Emily Malsom staff writer On Tuesday, September 27, the Garretson FFA land judging team set out for Parker. Eight students com-peted and for many it was their first time. Land judging is the first contest of the year. The goal is to correctly identify the topsoil and subsoil types and depth, the structure of the soil, the slope of the land, and the home-stead abilities of the land. Home-steading abilities are items like water table height for septic systems and basements, and shrink/swell of the land for foundations of homes. Flooding and stoniness are also fac-tors that determine homestead abili-ties of the land. When the team gets to the con-test, there are four pits or holes to be judged. Everyone participating in the contest is then divided into four groups and sent to their pits. At the pits, competitors texture the topsoil and subsoil, measure the amount of topsoil and subsoil, determine the slope of the land, and read about water table height, flooding, and past erosion. This information is used to determine the homestead abilities. These many parts compose the overall score. First year advisor Alysha Kientopf

thinks the team did well in their first competition, especially considering many were new to this competition. As a team, Garretson placed seventh out of 17 teams. Individually Flana-gan led the Garretson FFA team plac-ing 38 of 248 participants. Following up was C. Longhenry (74), Johnson (95), and A. Longhenry (100) round-ing out the top four. Eighth grader and land judging newbie Houghton said, "It was a good experience and I'm excited for the next one." Parker is just a warmup contest.

Upcoming national qualifiers are in Harrisburg on October 4. "In prepa-rations for qualifiers in Harrisburg, I've been adamant about practices, giving them a wide variety of re-sources and going to a pit and talk-ing through it," said Kientopf. Land judging went well and is a great kickoff to the FFA competition season. National Convention is com-ing up on October 18-22 and Novem-ber 14 is District Leadership con-tests.

The hunt for October begins on Tuesday After 162 games, the Major League Baseball season is getting ready for another exciting postseason

by Isaiah Miles Mader senior writer MLB Postseason baseball is right around the corner and this year is just a little bit different. Last years World Series champions, the Kansas City Royals, are not even in the playoffs. Baseball enthusiast Nick Lundberg stated, "I can't wait to watch all the intense matchups throughout the postseason." The Chicago Cubs have clinched the top position the National League as well as the entire league and re-ceived home field advantage for the postseason. On the other side of the bracket, the Texas Rangers will more

than likely claim the #1 spot. Boston, Cleveland, Washington, and Los Angeles have also secured a spot in the postseason. With two Wild Card spots up for grab in each divi-sion the next few games are as im-portant as ever for a select few or-ganizations. The Orioles and Blue Jays are the likelies in the American League, but Detroit and Seattle are a few games out. Although they are longshots they are still in the hunt for October. In the National League the Mets and Giants are currently in the lead for the two Wild Card positions. Just a game behind them is a strong St. Louis team who are gearing up to continue their five-year playoff

streak alive. The final series of the 162 game season will wrap up on Monday with the AL Wild Card game held on Tues-day, the NL Wild Card will take place on Wednesday. Although not specifying a clear winner, Jared Fitzgerald commented, “I’ve picked this Blue Jays and Na-tionals to make it to the World Se-ries since last year in Mrs. B’s class and I’m stickin’ with them.” October is finally here, which for baseball fans across the country means countless hours in front of the television set watching the best ballgames of the season to see who will reign champion of the MLB

JOKE: Cats can (cat scan) BRAINTEASER: The man is my son

Excited to kick off the season of FFA contests, the land judging crew traveled to Parker last Tuesday. Front Row: Moriah Flanagan, Zeb Johnson; Middle Row: Sam Konechne, Claire Longhenry, Claire Longhenry; Back Row: Clay Barefoot, Tessa Pederson, Kennedy Houghton

Photo by Moriah Flanagan

Garretson High School Student Newspaper Page 2 September 30, 2016

Football team seeks second half playoff push Homecoming game ends in a loss but still leaves hope for an extended season

by Peyton Jade staff writer The Blue Dragons will begin the second half of their 8-game season tonight against Parker. They went 2-2 in the first half and if they want to make playoffs they'll have to be .500 or better. The Parker Pheasants currently stand at 3-1 and Garretson has every intention of turning that into a 3-2

record. On homecoming, which took place last Friday, Garretson took on the Baltic Bulldogs. After putting up a good fight, the football team fell short with an ending score of 38-26. Joshua Thomas, junior tight end, mentioned, "Our game strategy for Baltic was to contain the quarter-back and not let him run all over us and I think we did a fairly good job. But, we couldn't pull out the win because of the failed two point con-versions and turnovers." Junior running back, Keisean Deehr, agreed, saying, "We're going to take the disappointment and start doing our job and focusing. All we have to do is finish. We have to fin-ish the plays all the way through and start sprinting marathons instead of going halfway through and giving up at the second half of the game." Following a hard loss against the Bulldogs, the Blue Dragons are ready to get back up on their feet. "I think we're going to pull out a winning season because our hardest oppo-nents were our first four games and

we beat the teams we were sup-posed to beat. We're going to use our loss as a springboard and ride it out to the playoffs," commented Deehr. With only four games left, the team is looking to end their season on a 6-2 record. Knowing that there

is a shot at going all the way through playoffs, the boys are ready to bring out their strengths and eliminate their weaknesses in hopes of beating Parker and carrying on a successful season.

Garretson sneaks in during the short and goal late in the second quarter. The Blue Dragons tried to keep the momentum going against the Bulldogs, but Baltic was too much in the end, stealing the homecoming game away from the Dragons 38-26.

Photo by Sylvia Larson

MJ Vandersnick gets low for the tackle on the Baltic runningback. Vandersnick was able to prevent the first down on the play.

Photo by Sylvia Larson

I got a rock Halloween entertainment may not be as easily remembered as Christmas but it is out there

by Sylvia Larson staff writer Christmas Vacation was on TV the other day. Christmas Vacation, though an amazing movie, is a CHRISTMAS movie. Bro, it's only September; winter doesn't even start for another 81 days. Maybe the reason TV stations play Christmas movies so soon is because people all out forget about the awesomeness that is Halloween. A lot of people don't even know that The Nightmare Before Christmas (which is technically a Christmas movie - what's up with that) isn't the only Halloween themed media out there. Halloween fanatics every-where are appalled by the naïveté. Although The Nightmare Before Christmas is arguably one of the best October films, there are loads of other movies and songs for the pub-lic to soak in during Jack-O-Lantern season. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

In this 1966 American primetime animated special based on the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Shultz, Charlie Brown and the gang cele-brate Halloween with a few mishaps. Linus is convinced that the Great Pumpkin will visit the pumpkin patch in the dead of night and deliver gifts. The rest of the Peanuts gang throw a costume party and go out for treats, and possibly the most iconic line in animation history is uttered: “I got a rock.” The Great Pumpkin has been a staple in American homes on Hal-loween night practically since the original release. Hocus Pocus This cult classic Halloween film is the only good thing that boarded the 1993 freight train into the public eye. Starring well-known stars like Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Par-

ker, Hocus Pocus has been airing religiously on TV for more than 20 years. And for good reason - based in Salem, Massachusetts, Hocus Po-cus tells of three witches frozen in time until an ancient candle is lit by some meddling kids. In a hilarious cat-and-mouse chase throughout the town to try to stop the curse, viewers are entertained with music, wit, and an amazingly enticing plot that will go down in history as a cin-ematic masterpiece. Halloweentown (and the rest of the series) Ranked number nine on the top 25 best Disney Channel original movie list and number one in the hearts of fans, Halloweentown is truly a gem for anyone who fre-quents Disney Channel's month long Halloween line-up, Monstober. In Halloweentown, Marnie discovers that she is secretly a witch. After her and her posse transport to Hallow-eentown, where ghouls and goblins run amuck, they face a series of pre-dicaments that ultimately lead to (spoiler) a happy ending. Fun Size Starring Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice, Fun Size is a PG-13 teen Hal-loween movie from 2010 revolving around a teenage girl forced to babysit her mute kid brother on Hal-loween night instead of going to a party. Although Fun Size is the low-est grossing Nick movie and only has a 4/10 rating on IMDB, it's well worth a view for fans of the trick-or-treat season. Honorable Mentions: Casper, Bee-tlejuice, 'Halloween' movies, My Babysitter's a Vampire, Franken-stein, Coraline, Monster house, Hotel Transylvania, Monster high, The Ad-ams Family, The Rocky Horror Pic-ture Show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Practical Magic. As for Halloween music, there

isn't much spooky gold making the rounds of the local radio stations, so Skeleton War aficionados are forced to listen to the same few songs on repeat for days on end. “Thriller” - Michael Jackson Perhaps one of the most recog-nizable songs to ever grace the mu-sic scene, Thriller is iconic with its snazzy age-defying dance and 14 minute long music video that dou-bles as a short film starring Jackson himself. In the famous video, Jack-son stumbles upon a zombie parade and joins in the fun. Thriller has been staple for all Halloween parties since 1984. “Monster Mash” - Bobby Pickett Monster Mash is a novelty song that was released as a single in Au-gust 1962 along with a full-length LP called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other mon-ster-themed tunes. It has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since. “Spooky Scary Skeletons” - Andrew Gold

Anyone who has ever heard the original or remixed version of Spooky Scary Skeletons knows that Andrew Gold is a genius. This song is definitely the best song to ever grace Halloween playlists with its presence.

For the people who would rather carve pumpkins than watch an hour-long movie, they might prefer half hour TV specials to get into the holi-day mood. Plenty of shows air the obligatory Halloween episode at least once during their run in the public eye. Some, though, are a lot better than others, including: Friends - “The One with the Hallow-een Party”; The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - “Hex and the Single Guy”; Glee - “The Rocky Horror Glee Show”; The Office - “Halloween”; Supernatural - “It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Win-chester”; and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody - “The Ghost in Suite 613”. Now that October is starting it's finally socially acceptable to do only fall things. Soon, before the world knows what's going on, every store-front will be plastered with Christ-mas decor and every station will be playing Jingle Bells and Mariah Car-ey. Halloween is the most important holiday and should be savored and delved fully into in the short time that it's around. The easiest way to do that is to watch Halloween mov-ies, listen to Halloween books, and to think, drink, and speak Hallow-een.

Movie still from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Garretson High School Student Newspaper Page 3 September 30, 2016

Hoodies, bonfires, leaves, autumn is here Cold weather sparks new fall styles, interests, and events

by Jaden Braaten staff writer Time to say goodbye summer and hello fall! It's time to breathe in that fresh, crisp autumn air. As people did many things in the summer now it's time to do everyone's fall favor-ites! So when you spend those early fall mornings deciding on what to do, here are some tips and ideas! What's fall without a few pump-kins? Visit a pumpkin patch with the

family and bring some home to carve for Halloween! Another fall idea is buying some apple cider and heat it up and invite some friends over for hot apple cider and carving pumpkins! Junior Erynn Fink enjoys the fall season "I love pumpkin carving, eating Halloween candy, the weath-er, and football season" she men-tioned. Amyah Ockenga is also another Junior at GHS who enjoys fall as well,

"Colorful leaves and the chilly nights and warm days are some of my fa-vorite things when it comes to the fall season, and cheering for football games and watching the NFL! But I'm definitely most excited for beau-tiful fall weather and sitting by the fire making s'mores!" Ockenga said. Leaves will be everywhere of course so definitely get outside and rake up some leaves, but who just rakes up leaves and keeps the pile there? Not you, that's for sure! Go

ahead and jump in and have a pho-toshoot in the leaf pile! That's what fall is all about! Also navigate a corn maze, they may be tricky but they are a good time! Some other excursions you could partake in: go for a hayride, pick apples, go to a haunted house, go to football games and many more! Leaves are falling and autumn is calling!

Fall movie previews excite eager audiences Leaves may be falling down, but exciting new movies are coming up

by Samantha Gonzalez staff writer The smell of popcorn weighing on your senses, the sound of people chattering as you try to find a seat in the ridiculously packed theater and the exhilaration fluttering in your system because after a long tedious wait, the movie is finally out! This year has had a reeling of movies coming in, and although there is an excruciating amount of them for just this fall, here are five movie pre-views that are worth your while. “Though I’m not into horror mov-ies, Blair Witch looks like an inter-esting movie; I wouldn’t mind watching”, sophomore Dakota John-son, who enjoys going to the movies at least once a month, said. And interesting it is. Released on September 16, 2016, the horror movie Blair Witch is about a young guy and his friends going to a Black Hills Forest to discover the guy’s missing sister, which has said to be connected to the Blair Witch Legend 17 years earlier. Though this movie

doesn’t have top actor names, the trailer itself definitely makes the movie a must see! Having a house full of magical kids sounds peculiar, but for Miss Pere-grine that’s typi-cal. Today Miss Peregrine’s House of Peculiar Chil-dren is out! Star-ring Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Green, this movie is based on a New York Times best selling novel where a boy named Jake, has to figure out who he is, and who he can trust in order to protect the chil-dren from a dark presence. With astonishing actors like Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson and more, who wouldn’t want to go see Deep Water Horizons, a documentary film that honors the brave men and

women whose heroic acts changed everyone’s lives based on one of the world’s largest man-made disasters

occurred on the Deepwater Hori-zon in the Gulf of Mexico. Again will be out today. Sit tight and grab someone’s hand, because on October 21, Ouija: Origin Of Evil will be out to scare you. In 1965 Los Angeles, a mother and her two daughters add a new stunt to boost their scam busi-ness and acci-dentally invite a

malevolent evil into their home. But when the youngest daughter is pos-sessed by a spirit, the family faces absurd quests to save her. A day to put in the calendar to go see Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Reaser and more in action.

Saving animation for last, the Dis-ney movie Moana will be coming out on November 23. With Dwayne Johnson as one of the leading actors, the movie takes viewers on a jour-ney with and adventurous teenager, Moana, who sails out on a daring mission to save her people. “Usually the trailer makes me want to go see a movie; mostly the trailer before the movie, I originally go to will have spark and interest in which then I will go back and watch it otherwise I’d be left out” junior and monthly theater visitor Sylvia Larson said. There are many more out there. Enough to keep your pockets empty from consistent visits but bellies full from all the popcorn.

Hawks, Elks, and Pheasants all prove to be too much for the Blue Dragon netters Volleyball hosts Parents’ Night before long stretch of away games

by Zen Carver staff writer With the Lady Blue Dragon's vol-leyball team's season halfway over, Garretson is looking to end their season on a positive note. This week they had a busy schedule with three games in a span of five days. Parent's night took place on Mon-day as the ladies played a very in-tense match against the Colman-Egan Lady Hawks. Although the Dragons didn't win the first set, it was a close score of 21-25. The second set was not as close as the first set, but the ladies still had some game and aggressiveness left in them as the third and final set was the most vigorous and most exciting. Sadly the girls didn't win the set but had a final score of 21-25. So yes, the girls fell short of the win but we the ladies still have po-tential towards the rest of the sea-son. Having 21 successful digs, junior Emily Schleuter led the team in posi-tive stats. The seniors really stepped up their game in this match, Hailey

Steffes, Alyssa Bunde, and Allison Longhenry had a combined total of 14 attacks. Our freshman also had a good game; they had a sum of four kills on

the opposing team. Madi Northrup, junior outside hitter, had a total of seven kills. The Blue Dragons quickly turned around from the game against the Hawks. The next night they were in Elkton. The ladies did better at the serv-ing line but struggled to find a solid rhythm on offense. Elkton-Lake Ben-ton took down the Blue Dragons in three sets. Leading the way was Steffes and Rakell Gnadt with six kills a piece. Northrup chipped in four. Gnadt put up 18 set assists and 13 digs while Schleuter picked up 24 digs on the night. The final match of the week came against the Parker Pheasants. Once again the Blue Dragons failed to take any sets but put together some strong volleys throughout the dura-tion of the match. "Although we haven't won any of the games, we have been doing better than we have in previous years. Many of our games have been very close and we have nearly won a few" says senior Tabi Klingenberg.

The Blue Dragons continue on their busy week with two games next week and three games the fol-lowing week for the varsity level. The JV will play three games each week for the next two weeks.

Alyssa Bunde (#4) goes up for the attack against the Colman-Egan Hawks on Monday. Bunde got the kill, one of her four on the night.

Photo by Sylvia Larson

Aftyn Heitkamp and Hailey Steffes (#12) go up for the block against the Hawk attack. They were able to get a finger on the ball allowing the back row to get the dig and the set up. Garretson converted the point on this play but went on to drop the set 21-25.

Photo by Sylvia Larson

Garretson High School Student Newspaper Page 4 September 30, 2016

Band blows competition away After a busy competition week, the Garretson marching band continues to hone in on skills and precision

by Mason Hofer staff writer I'm sure you have heard the Gar-retson Marching Band practicing every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. But do you really know what goes on during a parade day? Normally on competition day the band shows up at the school at around 7:45 to have a little breakfast meal. After that they get all of their equipment including uniforms and instruments then load onto the bus. When they arrive at their destina-tion, it is not uncommon to see a lot of stretching after getting off the bus. Then get ready to perform by preparing instruments, warming up, and donning the proper attire. Mr Sittig, the band’s director, will point everyone to their spots in the lineups. After everyone is in their place, it is just the waiting game un-til go time. After the performance many

marching band participants chose to change into some more comfortable clothes. While waiting for results, the band is able to hang out with other bands and generally have a meal together, meet some new friends along the way. So far the band has been per-forming well. Their first contest was in Arlington where they took second. They had a chance to practice and fix a few things with their performances on Friday at the parade as well as the halftime of the football game. Then on Saturday was the Tri-State Band Festival in Luverne. “We've started off strong this year” says Tabi Klingenberg. The band placed first in Luverne against four other bands in their division. Many Garretson band members were shocked they received first because multiple people had issues with the flags. The general public doesn't really know all the work that goes into

competition day. But there really is a lot of preparation and coordination between the actual band, drum ma-jor, sign carriers, and color guard.

The marching band has a few more competitions to go in their season and are looking to keep in step with their most recent strong finishes.

Senior Spotlight Brendan Harris and Jared Fitzgerald

The Garretson marching band showcases their skills at the Friday night homecoming game as the halftime performers. The marching band and color guard went through a stretch of four performances in three days including homecoming festivities and two festivals where they took second and first place, respectively.

Photo by Sylvia Larson

On a roll, on the rise, on a run Cross country teams are making final improvements before qualifying meets

by Tabi Klingenberg staff writer On Monday, the GHS cross coun-try runners traveled to West Central where both the boys and the girls placed fourth, competing against sixteen other teams. The meet posed as an excellent opportunity for the runners get a taste of the upcoming region meet as most of the teams attended. Freshman, Rachel Kindt said, “We had to make minor adjustments at the West Central meet this year, due to there being a golf tournament at the same course, so we pretty much

ran little loops. For running 3.2 miles in circles, I would say we did pretty well.” Junior Carmen Bohl placed 3rd, Kindt placed 5th, senior Macey Bohl was 21st, freshman Madison Nordstrom was 34th, and 8th grader Olivia Mullin placed 40th for our var-sity girls runners. Our varsity runners on the boys’ side did well at West Central. Senior Riley Nordstrom placed 7th, junior Jack Konechne placed 13th, senior Elijah Pierret placed 19th, senior Jacob Liester was 37th, junior Ryan Fick was just behind him at 38th, junior Chayce Schleuter was 48th,

and senior Brendan Harris placed 52nd. Although three of Garretson’s best runners graduated last year, the team has done well throughout the season. “It’s always tough losing your top kids. It’s hard to replace kids like that,” stated Coach Bohl. Kindt agrees that losing Evan, Ha-ley, and Jaden has had a negative impact and the boys and girls teams are looking for their fifth and sixth runners to step it up as pushers so they can qualify to state. The season is nearly over as the team has already competed at eight different meets and has one more

regular season meet this season be-fore Big East Conference, the Region 2A Meet, and then hopefully the state meet. “I think both the boys and the girls have a wonderful opportunity to qualify as a team to the state meet,” mentioned Coach Bohl. Regions are only two weeks away so with a little luck luck, a lot of training, and even more drive the Blue Dragons will push themselves and will succeed at their meet today in Lennox before the conference meet next week.

Senior project: Making a bench out of a truck tailgate

Activities involved in: Cross Country

Wrestling

Who/What will you miss most: My friends

Plans for next year: Live the American dream

Senior project: Turned a 1957 Chevy into a couch

Activities involved in: Wrestling Baseball National Honor Society

Who/What will you miss most: Being the warshed spoon Playing sports My boys

Plans for next year: Auctioneer at University of Texas