Prom%"Marches"%throughby Emma HolzFeature Editor

As the Junior class gets ready to host prom of 2014, which will be held on March 22, they have decorated the old gym with the theme “Fathoms Below" (under-water). Together the Junior class has been working very hard on the prom of 2014. The grand march will start at 8:30. Cody Hardwick, junior, said, “So far we have just started to touch the surface of the nitty gritty stuff, decorations, food, music, deejay, locations, but that has all happened just in the last two months or so. Overall though the whole class has been thinking about prom since the beginning of the year mainly at themes and a possible deejay that we could hire”

The Paw PrintsPaxton High School's student body newspaper Friday, March 21, 2014Edition I, Issue IX

Layout by Taylor Holzfaster, and Nicole Keller

Credit%pressure%on%today's%studentsby Shelby ConwayCo-Editor-In-Chief

Education is part of today’s society; it consists of learning sub-jects and retaining the information. Today students have required state tests, and teachers have teaching requirements. There is world controversy that today’s teachers only help students earn the credit for the class instead of teaching the class. “I definitely think that actually learning the subject is very impor-tant. Earning credit for a class should be a natural consequence of learning the material,” said Sherri Chittenden, Paxton’s Principal and Activities Director. Many educators will say that education is more important than credit, while a large amount of students will feel the pressure of earning credits instead of retaining the information. “I feel like most teachers are more worried about the credit, like there are the occasional teachers who teach for the learning value, but I feel like a large majority are teaching for the credit sake,” said Audrea Welch a Paxton sopho-more. “I had an experience where I was trying to drop a class, that I was not really learning anything in, but an educator told me that I should continue taking the class for the credits,” said Welch. The pendulum can swing either way in the debate of credit vs. learning. Some students feel oblig-ated to take a class for the credit and not for the lasting educational value. One might consider that colle-ges look at credits of students when considering enrollment, but in reality students need to actually learn something to be successful after high school.

(photo by Emma Holz) Shelby Gifford and Shyanne Hidalgo, juniors, show the excitement for the Prom of 2014, the theme of Prom is "Fathoms Below."

Student Council •Pennies For Patients

•Meetings as scheduled

Quiz Bowl •Practices on Tuesdays at lunch•Going to meets as scheduled

Booster Club•Youth basketball concessions

•Waiting for banners from National Guard

National Honor Society• Tiger pals

•Helped with Math Night

Science Olympiad•Regionals- Mar. 25

•State- Mar. 29

by Nicole KellerHard News Editor

   The Paxton Quiz Bowl team traveled to Stapleton Mon. 10, to compete in a varsity and jayvee meet. Varsity consists of eight team members, while jayvee con-sists of seven. This was the 11th annual Stapleton meet, eight teams partic-ipated in this meet. Schools from all over take pride in sending their teams to meets throughout the year. Eight teams were present at the meet. The varsity team consists of Jus-tin Hardwick, Cam O’Connor, Annie Wasserman, Cody Black-well, Cody Hardwick, Kolton Carlyle, and Chance Morland. The jayvee consists of Chey-anne Loeffler, Will Babbitt, Bro-oke Beckius, Jordan Loeffler, Han-nah Rosentrater, Michael Weber,

Quiz%Bowl%"buzzes"%their%way%to%third%place%and Derek Beckius. Annie Wasserman, varsity mem-ber, said, “ I feel that we did well considering we placed third,, and it was a ton of fun going up against both friends and rivals.” Paxton varsity won four of the seven rounds that they played. The varsity team placed third out of eight teams.

Jayvee placed first out of eight teams. The top three teams get medals in varsity only. The Quiz Bowl team will be participating in many other meets, and will be practicing regularly every Tuesday during lunch. Second string jayvee team members have the option to come into practice and answer questions so they can move up to the jayvee team. Jayvee team members can also move up to compete at the varsity level by answering quest-ions at practice.

by Austin HackneySports Editor The Paxton speech team held a Speech Night on Mon, March 3, 2014 at the school at 6:30 p.m. There were 14 performers who performed at Speech Night. Austin Hackney, Emma Holz, Leanne Gamet, and Hannah Ro-sentrater performed in the Music Room, while Taylor Dack, Justyn Luedke, and Bethann Gartrell per-formed in the Media Center before intermission. After 35 minutes of spee-ches there was a 15 minute in-termission with cookies and tea, that the team provided. After the intermission Alec Fox, Leanne Gamet and Justin Hardwick, and also Hardwick's Oral Presentation of Drama, or OID, performed in

Tigers%head%off%to%district%competition

Hardwick also mentions, “Overall the process of decision making of prom has not been very stressful at all. "For the most part, it is just a drawn out process that takes pati-ence and obviously time. How-ever, when it comes down to crunch time and the day of the set up, I'm sure stress levels will be kicked up a notch for the simple fact that we want every-thing to be as good as it will possibly be and we will all try very hard to make the best prom possible for everyone. I'm sure it will be a blast and a very succe-ssful 2014 Prom.” The juniors will also be holding a post-prom after the following dance that will provide games, food, and prizes. After-prom will end approximately at 4:30 a.m.

(photo by http://goo.gl/KaPwQg)

Schools seem to place pressure on earning credits, so the students are beginning to feel the heat.

(photo by Becky Zerr) The Quiz Bowl varsity team finished third at the Stapleton Invite, while jayvee finished first. This meet was the 11th annual meet for Stapleton, and eight teams attendent.

the Music Room, while Joel Schroeder, Hannah Rosentrator, Emmit Rosentrator, and Cheyanne Loeffler's OID performed in the Media Center. The cost was three dollars for students and four dollars for adults. The team made a total of 112 dollars between admissions and freewill donations. Every performance on the speech team has either medaled or gotten a superior ribbon. Speech Night has been an annual thing. This is the third year that it has gone on. Michelle Kluver, head coach, said "speech night was well attended. Friends family and com-munity members enjoyed watching the students perform their select-ions. It was good practice for the upcoming district meet on March 18th."

(photo by Austin Hackney) Hannah and Emmit Rosentrater perform their duet in the Media Center on Mon. March 3, during the annual Speech Night. There were 14 students that preformed in Speech Night.

Nicole Keller Thursday, March 20, 2014 1:10:53 PM Mountain Daylight Time

OPINIONFriday, March 21, 2014Layout by Shelby Conway and Shyanne Hidalgo

The Paw Prints Staff

Co-Editors-in-Chief: Shelby Conway and Alex O'ConnorFront Page Editor: Nicole KellerOpinion Editor: Shyanne Hidalgo

Feature Editor: Emma HolzSports Editor: Austin HackneyPhoto Editor: Taylor Holzfaster

Social Media Promoter: Logan AndersonAdvisor: Becky Zerr

The Paw Prints is a student publication, and an open public forum. The Paw Prints staff decides what articles to cover and in what

manner, with Mrs. Zerr advising where needed.

Comments from other students and community members are encouraged, and letters to the editors will be accepted and ran,

unless the letter is obscene or libelous. The Paw Prints staff has the right to choose which letters will run when.

paxtonpawprints@gmail.com

by Shyanne HidalgoOpinion Editor

Somehow along the way, there has been an unspoken agreement that grades translate effectively a student’s knowledge. However, in reality, at best grades accurately portray where a student may be, but does not actually show growth or improvement.

Many people are under the premise that grades equate to a student’s learning ability. However, this is usually not the case. Grades can be useful, although they do not reflect what a student is actually learning.

Being a student, I can honestly say that most grades are reflecting a student’s ability to memorize or what the student has had time to work on without mistakes. Grades create difficulties for the teacher and the student. In doing so, these difficulties cause a student to sacrifice the desire to just learn. The goal of education nowadays

Disney speaks a different languageAlex O'ConnorCo-Editor-in-Cheif

When I was a little girl I loved fairytales and always watched the classic Dis-ney movies. Like most little girls, I was always so intrig-ued with the stories and, have always want to be a princess and have that fairytale ending. But obviously these fairytales weren’t original; they were stories from the "Complete Fairy Tales of the Brother’s Grim.” The origins of these famous classic Disney movies have twisted meanings that of course Disney left out, that if the children knew the real stories they would be devastated. Everybody should know the story of Cinderella, but in the Brother’s Grim story one of the evil stepsister cuts of her toes and the other heel just so she can fit in the Cinderella glass slipper. The doves later notify the prince that there is blood on the glass slipper so therefore he notices that it isn’t hers and soon finds out that it is Cinderella’s. After the stepsisters find out that Cinderella

Educating for all the wrong reasons

by Logan AndersonSocial Media Promoter

The students at Paxton Consolidated Schools know how tedious standardize testing can be. Paxton High School spends approximately 60 hours testing their students during Measures of Academic Progress (MAP testing). We spend another 60 hours of Nebraska State Accountability (NeSA tests) to measure student performance on the state standards in reading and math in grades 3-8 and 11, as well as science in grades

5, 8, and 11. That is a total of 120 hours of testing each school year.

Although standardized tests are reliable measures of student achievement, it has no proof of actually improving stu-dent achievement. Test-ing can be stressful on kids but it can also teach them good test taking skills, which will be used until you get out of college. Teachers press on students to get a good nights sleep before the test and eat a healthy breakfast in the morning. In

my opinion, standardized testing has never been a big deal to me, if I do bad then so be it. It’s not counting against any of my grades.

When asked about her feelings on testing, Sheri Chittenden, PHS Principal, stated “Testing is an important component of the educational process whether it’s for the MAP standardized achie-vement tests, NeSA (State Accountability) tests or assessments given by teachers

at the end of a unit of study. Our goal is for students to learn and be successful. Tests are one way to determine if what we are doing in our classrooms is helping us reach that goal.”

Although many teachers and parents think that the testing we do is a good and healthy thing, students aren’t into as much. I don’t think that students will ever want to test over and over again but checking our progress is nice and sometimes rewarding. Our country is a place of statistics, and that will never go away. So get used to the tests, challenge yourself, and good luck.

Sincerely, a student done with standardized testing.

The testing monster

Are you inked?by Taylor HolzfasterPhoto/Video Editor There are many situ-ations when people are judged by their ph-ysical appearance. Some people feel that by putting “permanent art or ink” on their body it is a way to express themselves, to make them stand out, or to simply feel unique. There are many positive and negative opinions that can result of getting a tattoo. Many people believe that tattoos are a positive thing, while other’s completely disagreeing. I am indifferent about tattoos, but there are many dangers and social stigmas that can result when getting a tattoo, such as, blood poisoning, and that in some people’s opinion their body is their “temple” and when getting a tattoo it is considered to be desecrating the body. An anonymous survey was given to the student body of Paxton. The students were asked how many total tattoos he or she had or if they were planning on getting one at some point in their lifetime. The choices that the students were given were zero, one, three, six plus, and none yet, but planning on

getting one. Surprisingly, 48.28 percent of the student body answered “None yet, but planning on getting one.” When receiving this percent, I was somewhat surprised, but the amount of people getting tattoos nowadays has increased tremendously. While most people chose “None yet, but planning on getting one,” the percent for zero tattoos came in second with 34.48 percent, 8.62 percent came in third with one tattoo, 6.90 percent came in fourth with three tattoos, and 1.72 percent came in last with six plus

Paxton students were anonymously surveyed about how many tattoos they have.

(Survery by Taylor Holzfaster, via Surveymonkey)

tattoos. Bailee Schow, a senior at Paxton was asked why she got her

tattoo and what it meant to her. She said, “December of my junior year I went to Haiti for a week and not only helped those from that country, but learned many life lessons. One of those lessons was to trust in God and be positive no matter my circumstance.

For that reason, I got this tattoo, ‘Mache pa Lafwa’ that means, ‘Walk by Faith’ and it is a daily reminder to walk by faith just like the Haitians do.”

will marry the prince, which mean she will become the princess, therefore, the step sister wants to get

in good with her so they go to the wedding. The stepsisters go to the wedding which in the result of that they would get their eyes pecked out by birds. If children saw these stories they would be mortified and would prob-

ably never want to want one of these classic movies again.Another story is my all time favorite The Little Mermaid, Ariel trades her voice for her legs so that is all the same but when she gets legs, every time she steps down it feels like she walking on shards of glass. Also she is supposed to fall in love with Eric and if she doesn’t she will die. At the end of the story she is told to kill Eric and she doesn’t, so therefore she turns into sea foam.These stories are so twisted and demented that I think Disney should really look on where they are getting these classic movie ideas.

is a letter grade at the end of an assignment, and this should not be the case.

By focusing all of our attention on grades, we are forcing ourselves to believe that the journey doesn’t matter so long as we have completed the “learning” journey.

As students, we have come to accept this and sometimes to make this journey just a tad bit faster we cut corners, sacrifice ethics, and take the easier road. We do these things all in an effort to achieve the highest grade in a class instead of learning.

I think testing at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and the end of the year is a more accurate way of translating a student’s knowledge. Although there is never a way that schools can please everyone, I think it’s important to try and changes things up, for the benefit of those students who are struggling. Something needs to change for students education

Shyanne Hidalgo Thursday, March 20, 2014 1:10:05 PM Mountain Daylight Time

FEATUREFri. March 21, 2014Layout by Emma Holz and Alexandra O'Connor

Bethann Gartrell’s window is an array of pictures of her friends and family. Her window also consists of her favorite hobbies and activities. “I wasn't really stressed out when picking things to put in my window, but figuring how it was all going to fit was pretty difficult. “I feel the most important part of my window is all the pictures of my family.” Bethann’s favorite quote is “We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?” by Dr. Who.

Senior Windows

(photo by Nicole Keller)

Senior Spotlight: Coby Quinn Q: Full Name:A: Coby James QuinnQ: Parents Name(s):A: Lisa and Carl QuinnQ: Age:A: 18Q: Siblings:A: Brandon-27, Felicia-21, Colt-11, and Brock-10Q: Activities/Sports that you are involved in:A: FootballQ: What do you want to do with your life (college/career)?A: “Automotive Program at Mid Plains.”Q: What is your most embar-rassing moment?A: “My ‘Eye of the Tiger’ Video on YouTube.”Q: One fun fact about you:A: “I’m good with electronics.”Q: Favorite high school mem-ory:A: “Blocking my first punt in football.”Q: Favorite song:A: “Summit by Skrillex.”Q: Favorite school lunch:A: “Calzone.”Q: What is one thing that you will miss when you leave high school?A: “I’m going to miss noth-ing.”

Q: Who do you look up to the most and why?A: “I don’t really think I look up to anyone.”Q: Who is your best friend and why?A: “Tyler Cassell and we really only became good friends in junior high.”Q: What is your favorite quote of all time?A: ”We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” -Walt Disney

by Taylor Holzfaster Photo/video Editor

PHS-SENIORCoby Quinn

(photo by Taylor Holzfaster)

It is Austin Hackney’s turn to display her life in a senior window. Her window includes many pictures of family and friends; along with a variety of activities she enjoys. “I had everything ready before I went in to put it in my window. Everything was important in my window because everything that was in there made me the person I am today.” Austin’s favorite quote is “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” by Mae West.

(photo by Nicole Keller)

Senior Spotlight:Gabby Perlingerby Emma HolzFeature Editor

Q: Full Name:A: Gabrielle Marie PerlingerQ: Parents Name(s):A: Randy & Cher PerlingerQ: Age:A: 18Q: Siblings :A: Caleb Perlinger, 8th gradeQ: Activities/Sports that you are involved in:A: “Cross Country”Q: What do you want to do with your life (college/career)?A: “MPCC, North Platte (Ped-iatric Nursing)”Q: What is your most embar-rassing moment?A: “Don't really have one.”Q: 1 fun fact about you:A: “I plan to participate in Motocross.”Q: Favorite high school mem-ory:A: N/AQ: Favorite song:A: “You Raise Me Up by Cel-tic Woman”Q: Favorite school lunch:A: “Super Nachos”Q: What is one thing that you will miss when you leave high school?A: “Seeing friends everyday”

Q: Who do you look up to the most and why?A: “My Grandma Sue be-cause she always knows how to make you smile and she is always positive.”Q: Who is your best friend and why?A: “Don't really have a best friend”Q: What is your favorite quote of all time?A: “I don't really have a fav-orite quote, but I really like the Serenity prayer.”

PHS-SENIORGabby Perlinger

(photo by Cher Perlinger)

Senior Spotlight: Tyler Schimonitzby Logan AndersonSocial Media Promoter

Q: Full Name: A: Tyler Austin SchimonitzQ: Parents Name(s): A: Sara and BernieQ: Age: A: 18Q: Siblings (if so name and gra-de): A: Garrett, (in college) Cade, (freshman)Q: Activities/Sports that you are involved in: A: Football and trackQ: What do you want to do with your life (college/career)? A: “I want to start my own diesel shop.”Q: What is your most embar-rassing moment?

Q: One fun fact about you: A: “I can bench 295.” Q: Favorite high school memory: A: “Winning state wide player of the game against Maxwell.”Q: Favorite song:A: “Any Florida Georgia Line song.”Q: Favorite school lunch: A: “No favorite school lunch.”Q: What is one thing that you will miss when you leave high school?A: “Sports.”Q: Who do you look up to the most and why? A: “My dad because he works so hard.”Q: Who is your best friend and why? A: “Connor or Justin because they are always there for me.”Q: What is your favorite quote of all time?

(photo by Sara Schimonitz)

PHS-SENIORTyler Schimonitz

A: "Pain is temporary pride last forever."

Emma Holz Friday, March 21, 2014 1:00:59 PM Mountain Daylight Time

SPORTSFriday, March. 21, 2014Layout by Austin Hackney and Logan Anderson

Track starts off on the right footby Alex O’ConnorCo-Editor-in-Chief The Paxton Tiger track team has officially started their track season. This track season has a lot of new things that are happening since last track season. For starters, the new change is that the track team has two new coaches Scott and Lindsey Jorg-ensen. Also another change to this year is that the track team got brand new uniforms. The track team officially started practice on March 5. The track team consists of 17 boys and 7 girls going out as of now. The track coach Mr. Jorgensen said, “I expect all of the track team members to work to their fullest at all times in order to accomplish their goals as individuals and as a team.

(photo by Cheyanne Loeffler) Tyler Cassell, Jordan Loeffler, Kolton Carlyle and Cade Schi-monitz are warming up and working out to better themselves for the track season.

"There is a great opportunity for our squad to experience success this season, but there will be considerable work that everyone will need to complete in order to reach those goals.” Jorgensen also said, “The main goal for this season is to allow all of the members to experience success and to have an enjoyable experience. As always, we hope to perform well in all of the meets. This will happen if all of the members compete to the best of their ability at every possible moment.” The track team will be prep-aring for the track upcoming meets and will be working toward distr-icts and state. The first track meet is on March 29, which is the North Platte St. Pat’s/ Hershey Invite @ Hershey.

Tiger cubs hosts a tourneyby Shyanne HidalgoOpinion Editor

On Sat., March 1, Paxton hosted a mini tournament for the Paxton Tiger youngsters. Teams came from Brady, Sutherland, Ogallala, Wallace, Stapleton-Mcpherson County, and

Medicine Valley. The Paxton coaches were

Joshua Jenkins for the 4th and 5th grade girls, Chad Baney for the 6th grade girls and Matt Fox coached the 5th grade boys. J enkins said “The girls did good for their first year. They played good basketball and I was proud to

coach them.” The first game the Paxton

girls played was their first game against Creek Valley and they lost 34 to 7. However, Josie Callihan scored a 3-pointer in the 2nd half of the game. The girls played again against Medicine Valley and lost 28 to 7.

Tigers end seasonby Austin HackneySports Editor The Paxton Tiger boys varsity team ended their 2013-2014 season on Tues, Feb. 4. against Hitchcock County in Hayes Center. The Tiger boys basketball team played Hayes Center in Hayes Center on Feb. 14, but fell to short loosing 39-49. The Tigers leading scorer against Hayes Center was Justin Corfield with 13 points. The team then played their last regular season game against Bridgeport at Bridgeport on Feb.

21 taking a tough loss 39-58. Corfield had 8 points. The Tigers then continued their season starting their sub-district journey playing the Hyannis Longhorns on Feb. 25 and getting a W by beating the long horns 64-29, earning them a trip to the sub-district final game on Feb. 27. The team moved on playing Mullen in the sub-district final game in Hershey. The Tigers won 31-28. Leading scorer for this game was Corfield with 15 points. The Tigers then went into the district final against Hitchcock County in Hayes Center on Mar. 4.

The tigers lost 54-58 ending their season. Corfield and Cody Blackwell each scored 13 points while Daniel Arp from Hitchcock County scored 24. Cam O’Connor, senior, said “The Hitchcock game was really intense, we played pretty good, but didn't pull it out in the end.” The Tigers ended their season 18-7. O’Connor also added “We played pretty good all season even though we had some losses. We didn't make it as far as we wanted, but it was still a good season and I think the team next is going to be in pretty good shape for next year.”

“It felt really good [to sink a 3 pointer], I was with Chad Baney, and Stephanie Jenkins, I think I did good. In the fifth and sixth grade girls game Ogallala beat Creek Valley in the first game 8 to 7 which caused a second matchup because Creek Valley had yet to

lose. In the end Creek Valley placed first against Ogallala with a 13 to 3 score.

In the third and fourth grade bracket Wallace placed first against Sutherland team four. The Sutherland team six, boys placed first, 24 to 17 against Ogallala in the fifth and sixth grade boys.

Lady Tigers end the season unitedby Shelby ConwayCo-Editor-in-Chief Paxton Lady Tigers finished their season with a defeat from Wauneta-Palisade, 55 to Paxton’s 34. Even with the loss of Paxton top-scoring ladies still emerged. Mackenzie Walker scoring 13, Taylor Holzfaster making 11 points, and Emma Holz with 6 points. Paxton also played Hyannis on Feb. 20, the basketball game ended with victory for Paxton’s scoreboard, 57 to 45. Walker was the number one scorer once again scoring 19 points. Holzfaster also

made 15 points adding to the scoreboard. Leanne Gamet, Holz, and Nicole Keller all took the third place spot in top shooters all three scoring 6 points each. The Lady Tigers also battled Mullen for the win Feb. 18 and succeeded stealing the win 43 to 39. Walker once again made the most points scoring 10, Gamet scoring 8. The Lady Tigers have played game upon game, and losing the last game seemed to give the girls an interesting incentive to work twice as hard next year. “I am very excited for next year. I can't wait to improve and learn new things,”

said Megan Cassell a Lady Tiger. Nicole Keller also a Paxton Player has high hopes for next year’s season. “I am really excited for next season because I believe we can grow even more.” The girls didn’t win their last game of the season; which would have allowed them to proceed to state. “I was very upset that we didn't get to state, but at the same time I was very happy we made it as far as we did,” said Keller. The last game ended in disapp-ointment for Lady Tigers, but throughout the season they won many games, advancing them to their level.

(photo by Shelby Conway) Paxton Lady Tigers played a long season. The Tigers still maintained good team sprits after not making it to state. The Tigers begin every game with a mini pep rally of just teammates, to show unity.

Austin Hackney Thursday, March 20, 2014 1:19:24 PM Mountain Daylight Time