Sexting: A problem for teens

by Madison Gates

You hear your phone vibrate, you’ve got a text, Who’s it from? Your mind is racing. I hope it’s from him, or hope it’s from her, you think to yourself. Quickly, you look is it a funny picture, a FWD, or just your mom checking up on you? It’s none of these things, it’s a picture though. Yeah, one of those pictures. Should you save it to your phone? Or delete it right now? Thousands of thoughts rush to your head. Should I tell someone? Or not? I promise I wouldn’t show anyone, and they believed me.

Those are just some of the thoughts that very many high school teenagers throuoghout the country have every day. The cause of this? “Sexting.” What is sexting? It’s sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, mostly between mobile phones, but also the internet.

Teens that do this and send them digitally to another cell phone may be engaging in an illegal activity. Child pornography laws exist to protect children from sexual predators and sexual exploitation. It’s illegal to take those sorts of pictures if you’re under the age. However anyone, regardless of age can be charged with this offense. The only thing that matters is the age of the person in the photo.

“People shouldn’t do it,” said Logan McDaniel, a freshman here at PCHS. “People get pressured, that’s why they do it,” stated Briana Pearcy, also a freshman.

Based on the statistics, 20% of teenagers overall have sent or posted a nude semi nude picture of themselves, that’s one in every five people! From those results, 22% of girls have, 18% of boys, and 11% of teenagers 13-16 years old. The percentages of teens still sending them is even worse. Overall, 39% of all teens are still sending them, 37% of girls, 40% of boys.

Some teens don’t even know the person there sending it too, 15% of teens who sexted only knew the person online. 48% of teens have received sexts. 71% of girls and 67% of boys have sent or posted sexually suggestive content to their boyfriend, or girlfriend. 51% of girls and only 18% of boys sexted because they were pressured to do so. This is a problem for not just PCHS students but for all teenagers around the country. For help and more information on the topic visit www.pcsndreams.com , or www.associatedcontent.com.

Taking a Stand: PCHS Fights Bullying

by Meredith Penczek

Bullying is an everyday thing. Unfortunately, people who are bullied have few places to turn. Everyone knows how caring Mrs. McFatridge is. Now, she, her mentoring class, and the S.A.D.D. officers are starting an anti-bullying group for PCHS.

They’re kicking it off by an anti-bullying week. Each day has a designated color and meaning. This is occurring the week of January 24th. Flyers have been posted around the school announcing so, and details about it have been put in the weekly announcements.

“We will be holding a few meetings, but that’s mainly to establish our presence,” Mrs. McFatridge said when asked about the group's future plans. She also added, “it’s good for people to know that there’s a presence out there.”

The current members from Mrs. McFatridge’s mentoring are Dan Dan Chen, Shane Foos, Noel Rigdon, Tyler Roberts, Leslie Rush, Ashleigh Sanders, Rebecca Sexton, Erica Sheeran, Kurtis Shotts, Dakota Simpson, Anika Sons, and Sierra Campbell, and the officers from S.A.D.D. are Jed Powers, Morgan Englum, Erica Sheeran, Rachel Givens, and Drew Harper. These are just some of the participating in the anti-bullying group.

This is just one step towards helping the people who’ve been bullied. There’s now somewhere where they can turn. As Mrs. McFatridge preaches to her classes, “Progress, not perfection.”

PCHS Drama brings "Beauty" to stage this spring

by Kayla Foushee

The tale may be as old as time, but the musical "Beauty and the Beast" is timeless. "Beauty and the Beast" is a musical about loving someone for what’s on the inside, and teaches us that looks aren’t everything.

High school is a hard time for people. It seems like the only thing people care about are looks. "Beauty and the Beast" is a great play for a high school to do. It has a great story line about inner beauty.

“I was temporarily crazy when I chose it, but also it’s familiar. People know the songs, and it lends itself for a large cast,” said Mr. Lynch. "Beauty and the Beast" is familiar to people, and it’s easy to see why Mr.Lynch chose it for this year’s spring production.

Accoding to SurLaLune Fairy Tales, "Beauty" ran on Broadway for 5,464 perfomances between 1994 and 2007, becoming Broadway’s seventh-longest running production in history. The musical has grossed more that $1.4 billion (Mr. Lynch isn’t expecting to get quite that much) worldwide and played in thirteen countries and 115 cities. It has also become a very popular choice for high school productions.

Paris Cooperative High School puts on huge productions every spring. Everyone in the town of Paris always comes to see the plays. Mr. Lynch chooses the plays he thinks students could relate to the most. All of the plays are always bigger and better than the last.

“This production is going to be huge! Massive costumes, this play will be signifacntly different," said Mr. Lynch.

Controversy surrounds "I Love Boobies" bracelets

by Madison Gates

You see your friends and classmates wearing them on their wrists at school every day and also to games. They’re everywhere! Everyone seems to want one and they come in all different colors, but all say one thing: “I Love Boobies.”

These are bracelets to help support breast cancer awareness. But is that the real reason that people wear them?

“I support the message but the language used on them isn’t appropriate for school,” stated Mr. Lynch, a teacher here at PCHS.

Do you think that they’re okay to wear at school? Briana Pearcy, a freshman here at PCHS, had this to say about it: “I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with them. It’s to support breast cancer. I have one.”

The Keep A Breast Foundation’s mission is to help eliminate breast cancer by exposing young people, mostly teens to methods of prevention, early detection, and support. This is a campaign to speak to young people about a subject that is often scary. For more information about the campaign, you can visit www.keep-a-breast.org.

XBOX Kinect

by Serena Wells

Jump. Duck. Run in place. These are just some of the things you have to do while playing the new X-Box 360 game with Kinect. In this game, the player is the controller rather than having an remote type of controller. There is a camera and everything you do while playing, the camera sees and your character does the same thing in the game. The cost for Kinect alone is around $150 but you could also get the new X-Box with Kinect for $300. Kinect is an interactive game which keeps players on their toes while playing. Much more is planned to be added to Kinect in the future. Kinect is similar to the Wii console but instead of having a controller, your entire body is the controller. I talked to a couple of our students who have played with Kinect and for their opinions on the game.

“I think it’s really fun, and it’s really entertaining”, says Jordan Butler. “Kinect has much better graphics than the Wii and also a better workout because you use your arms more than you do with the Wii”, Jordan added. “It is the most super duper fantastic game in the universe”, says Allie Caldwell, “And I’m real excited for it to reach its full potential”.

Kinect is still new on the market and is already very popular. If you are wanting to try out Kinect, WalMart has it set up for people to try. With Christmas right around the corner, it’s definitely something to add to your Christmas list.

Shop with a Cop

by Olivia Underwood

With Christmas just around the corner, what are you doing to spread the Yuletide joy? There are people all over the world without the means to have dinner tonight, let alone a Christmas for their kids. What is being done to help those of us who can’t celebrate one of the most important holidays of the year? Well, this year, the PCHS Key Club is participating in Shop with a Cop to help the Paris police department give underprivileged children in the area a Christmas to remember.

Early in the year the police department begins collecting money for the Shop with a Cop program. How this charity works is rather simple. The police department finds children in the area in need who are not likely to receive much, if anything, on Christmas morning. These children are then invited to Shop with a Cop for Christmas presents such as clothing and toys. The tags and receipts are then thrown away so that the present cannot be returned for money, this way the children benefit from them. This charity strives to make a difference in the lives of children who need it.

“Key Club's role is that of telemarketers,” explained Mr. Doughan, a PCHS English teacher and sponsor for Key Club.

Some of Key Clubs members are also helping with the Shop with a Cop event itself. This year at least some of the children who really need a Christmas are getting one thanks to the Paris Police Department and PCHS Key Club.

The Holidays Mean Something Different to Homeless Animals

by Kayla Foushee

Have you ever seen the commercials about all the abused and abandoned animals? Have you ever noticed how many TV shows there are about animal abuse and rescuing animals? Do you know how many animals are abused and abandoned every day?

Every year over ten billion domesticated animals are killed: twenty-seven million each day and nineteen thousand each minute. People all over the world mistreat, abuse, and even kill animals.

Animals are dumped at humane shelters all the time year round. Sometimes it’s because people can’t afford to take care of the animals or are just too inconsiderate to take care of them. People don’t take into consideration that animals are like people. They live, breath, and eat like all of us. Animals can feel pain, and they don’t forget.

So many animals are abandoned around the holidays because people can’t afford to take care of animals. “A lot more animals get dropped around the holidays than any other part of the year,” stated Ms. Earlywine, foster mom to countless animals throughout the years. People don’t know how many animals are lying in cages with hundreds of other dogs and animals around them, but also people don’t realize how many animals are being kicked and beaten. There are on average 15 billion homeless animals in the U.S.

It’s hard to imagine that so many animals are abused, abandoned, and killed each year, but it’s also hard to imagine that people like you and I would even think about hurting animals. Animals are living, breathing things, and it’s absolutely outrageous to think about people hurting them.