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2. school

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email: news@seagravesisd.net
Vol. 5
March 6, 2015
Issue 9
WHAT’S UP DOC?
See SPILLER on page 6
Eagle Basketball:
Fight and Flight: Bi-District Champions
By Evelin Gonzales and Kiera Kinnaird
Napoleon Hill once said, “Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.” The Seagraves
Eagles have been fighting all season, fighting to win, fighting for each other, and fighting for a place in the playoffs.
Finally, On February 20, 2015, the Seagraves’ Varsity took on Sudan for the third time this season to compete for 3rd
place in District. The Eagles won 62–58 over the Sudan hornets, landing them a spot in the 2015 playoffs.
At Cooper High School, the Seagraves Eagles showed up and showed out. Uriel Martinez led the team with 18
points, followed by Robby Pinon with 16 and Tanner Rodriguez with 15. The win against Sudan gave the Eagles a
7-6 district record and a spot in the playoffs.
Coach Brown said, “It was a great effort! We had double digit leads throughout the game and couldn’t put them
away. That’s credit to their kids. However, we converted clutch free throws at the end to get the win. To be in the playoffs is very exciting. This group has had to fight through and overcome adversity. I’m very proud of what they have
accomplished. We look forward to seeing what we can do in the playoffs.”
See BASKETBALL on page 4
“From Here, It’s Possible”
By Gabriela Valles
-Texas Tech University
On Wednesday February 18, 2015 Texas Tech Recruiters of Public Relations
Candace Trevino and Emily Balke came
to talk to the students of Seagraves High
School.
Candace Trevino has a Bachelor’s degree of Arts in Public Relations. Emily
Balke has a Bachelor’s degree of Arts in
Public Relations and a minor in Communication Studies.
Every week they go to schools and tell
students about Tech. They talk about the
college of Media and Communication
as well as the majors, programs, and opportunities for students.
“I want the students to consider all the
opportunities when they go off to college.” said Emily Balke. “Also, to consider to study Communication in college.”
“I want the students to start thinking about college,” said Candace Trevino “and… to become Red Raiders.”
“We loved coming to Seagraves. This is our third time coming, and it was awesome. The students were very engaged,” said Balke and Trevino.
“Thanks to Ms. Low and the school for having us. We would love to come back,” said Trevino.
“Start to consider all of the options as far as careers and colleges go because you never know where your journey
will take you. Thank you for having us,” said Balke.
“I thought it was very interesting when they came.” said Junior Michael Lara. “They showed us a lot of potential
See GUNS UP on page 6
CMYK
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of
these brothers and sisters
of mine, you did for me,”
(Mathew 25:40). To me, Jesus is clearly stating that
how we treat others, in particular those less fortunate,
is how He perceives us doing His work on this earth.
Jesus embodies love, and
His desire is for all Christians to love our brothers
Dr. Kevin Spiller,
and sisters, especially those
Superintendent SISD
downtrodden and heavy
laden.
With that in mind, I want to transition to current times
and in particular, to public education in the state of Texas. There is a major push in our state legislative body to
introduce vouchers into our educational system. Vouchers would funnel money to for-profit or parochial private
schools that are not held to state oversight from financial
or academic perspectives. These proposals will show up
veiled with other terminology such as “Tax Payer Savings Grants” and other clever terms intended to deceive
and divert attention away from the fact that what is being
pursued is simply vouchers. Another passage in Mathew
warns us to “beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.”
But aren’t these legislators simply “looking out for
the least of these” and trying to get them out of “failing”
schools? That is what they tell you in fancy press releases
and photo ops. They are simply attempting to save these
children in the inner cities and urban areas that are attending these horrible public schools, right?
Politicians and some business leaders base the success or lack thereof on one measure -primarily, the State
of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR).
This is one of the most corrupt and scandalous endeavors
headed up by a company called NCS Pearson, which controls 60% of the 2.5 billion dollar testing market in North
America.
In researching NCS Pearson, it does not take long to
find the allegations of questionable behavior regarding
their methods of winning lucrative contracts across the
nation. From taking leaders on lavish trips around the
world to secure their business, subsidizing expenses for
members of bid committees to entice their support, to
other shady practices, there have been concerns raised.
In Texas, Pearson has a 468 million dollar contract. An
audit found poor monitoring of the billing process at the
Texas Education Agency (TEA). Also, the same audit
found that the Pearson Company hired 11 staffers from
TEA, two of which were involved in the contract between
TEA and Pearson.
Every year many mistakes in grading and handling are
reported by Pearson. At times, Pearson has to advertise
on Craig’s List to try and find graders. These same graders have testified to the legislators in Austin that they are
overworked and drained by the process. Graders of the
writing samples report that sometimes 20 papers must be
graded within an hour and those at the top of the stack
usually are looked at differently than those at the bottom.
Another area of concern that arises from standardized
testing is found in research that suggests most Texas students’ standardized test scores over time remained the
same regardless of what grade they were in or what subject was being tested. One researcher found that regardless of teacher training or experience, 72% of what a student scores on a standardized test reflects his/her test
taking abilities and not the level of formal instruction
Page 2
I’m Just
Sayin’...
March 6, 2015
The
LowDown
by
Nikki Wilson,
Journalism Advisor/
Newspaper Editor
“I quit trying in 3rd grade,” he said.
“So it’s all been downhill from there?”
“Pretty much. It’s too late to catch up. Half the time, I
don’t understand what you or any of the other teachers are
talking about. How am I supposed to catch up?”
This is a shortened version of a conversation I had with
a student not too long ago. Actually, it’s more like a version of many conversations over the course of many years
with many different students.
Things happen in the lives of children that are beyond
their control. Parents get divorced. Family members die.
Sometimes, kids have to move from one school to another, not just once, but multiple times. And sometimes,
when events beyond their control happen in the lives of
our students, they give up at school because there is only
so much they can handle at once.
You may be one of those students. Somewhere back
in elementary, or maybe it was as close as a week ago, a
month ago….something happened. Life got hard, and for
whatever reason, you missed out on something you needed. It’s not too late to try again. It’s never too late to begin
again.
Yes, it can seem impossible. You may think you aren’t
enough or that you don’t have enough – time, discipline, intelligence. This is not true. Each of us has the
same amount of time every day. What matters is how we
choose to use it. Each investment of time brings a harvest.
Some harvests are good and bring a sense of satisfaction
and pride. For example, if you do you work every day in
class and keep up, you won’t find yourself on the zero list
at the end of the week. Some harvests are not so good. If
you choose to stay on your cell phone and/or watch videos
every day all day at school, your harvest will be something that brings you guilt and shame and anger.
And discipline? It doesn’t happen overnight. It happens
with practice. It’s like a muscle that needs to be worked
to exhaustion to grow a little bigger every day. Ask the
power lifting kids. Building muscle is, more than anything else, about consistently working toward your goal.
The same is true for building discipline. It happens one
day, one hour, one step at a time.
Intelligence is also something within your control to
change. The brain is all about connections and pathways.
Once a connection is made, a road is built. The more
the roads are used, the easier they are to travel. Making
new connections can be difficult, yes, but it is possible.
It’s very much like making a new road in the middle of
a field. At the beginning, it will be hard to dig the new
pathway and make the new connection, but with repeated
effort, the road will be easy to travel. While it may hurt
your brain a bit to learn, remember, and apply the process
for solving that quadratic equation, the more you do it, the
easier it will get.
Time, discipline, and intelligence. You have everything
you need. The only thing between you and success is….
you. And you? You are enough. You always have been.
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. God sent you here
with gifts, and it is your responsibility to figure out what
they are and use them. Don’t you think it’s time you got
started? Now is always the right time.
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Red Velvet Cake Wars
By Baylee Ritchey
The one-act play students have been meeting every Monday and Thursday night from 7-9pm to prepare for their
festivals, public performances and UIL performances. The actors, crew and the director have put in many hours of
hard work.
Director Ms. Nikki Wilson stated, “I am excited about working with such a large and diverse group of people.
My sophomores are stepping up and taking on more responsibility and I have some new company members who are
bringing new and good things to us.” Wilson’s goal for one act play this year is for the cast to master the appropriate
volume levels and clear articulation. “One-Act play is about learning to be a part of a team and understanding what it
means to be committed to the team. It is about sacrifice and responsibility. Additionally, it is about stepping outside
of your comfort zone, learning to be comfortable in your own skin, and thriving under pressure,” said Wilson.
“I am very excited for one act play this year, it is my
first year to be the Stage Manager,” said senior, Edgar
Rosalez. “I want to be able to help the actors as much as
I can. I am excited about one act play this year!” Edgar
said, “I want to be the best stage manager I can be! I hope
that we advance this year!”
When asked what her expectations for one-act play
this year were, Chelsie Harper stated, “I expect this year
to be a great year we have a wonderful cast and crew!”
Chelsie plays the part of Gaynelle Verdeen Bodeen. “I
am excited to be a part of this play, I hope we grow as actors and make every performance our very best,” said senior Chelsie Harper.
“Being the person in charge of the lights since junior
high gives me a different perspective of the play. It’s really cool because you get to see the entire set and witness
the progress of the actors,” said senior Elizabeth Juarez.
The one-act play cast will be preforming for a festival in Ropes Monday, March 2nd 12:15-1:15 pm. One-act
play performance for the public will be Thursday, March
5th at 7:30 pm. Zone One-act play performance will be
Saturday, March 8th at Sudan High School.
District
The Talon
by Marilyn Low
Digital Photography/
Design layout Editor
Spring is about to be
sprung once again as the
year keeps getting faster
and faster with activities booming from all sides. Keep up
with the school functions on our FaceBook page especially for weather conditions, upcoming activities or events.
We seem to just fly when it hits January and don’t touch
down until June. So stay tuned... There’s more to come.
Some of you have asked about my house for sell and
just to let you know that yes I am selling my house but no
I’m not leaving Seagraves, just changing street addresses.
Thanks for your support and if you know somebody that
would like a house, let me know.
School day casual and classroom pictures, Spring sports
for high school and Jr high will be on March 12th. Be
sure to pick up your order forms for classroom, casual and
sports pictures at the appropriate place. They’ll start at
8:30am. Checks or money orders only, NO CASH please.
Cash is too easily lost and no way to trace it. Bluncks/
LifeTouch will be making the pictures. Order forms are
due on March 12th when pictures are made and after that
you may order them from Bluncks directly on the web or
by phone. I will not be taking order forms after the 12th.
We have some new businesses in town and some old
ones that have changed ownership, M&H Wireless downtown and Sandia Sprayer. Go by and see what they have
in store for you.
I also like to remind you that our paper is a school curriculum and is solely written with the exception of mine
and Ms. Wilson’s articles by the students in my class.
They interview, write and correct their own articles as
a grade. If there is something you’d like our students to
write about, please contact us at news@seagravesisd.net
or call the high school. Please keep in mind that it is a
class and meets one time a day around 10:30-11:30am
which is a very limited time. Thanks again for your support of our students as they learn the fine art of writing.
Page 3
March 6, 2015
Chapters
By Toni Polyak,
Gaines County Library - Seagraves Branch
Chapter 1: WARP Success!...The Winter Adult Reading
Program is over! Thirty-two adults entered the contest and
the winner, Ms Brenda McCrimmon, won a Kindle Fire HD 6. Ms McCrimmon read
16,574 pages! The total number of pages read by all participants was 92,323. How wonderful! The gift basket winner was Mr. Chris Garza with a perfect guess of 110. Thanks
to everyone involved and we’ll do it again next January.
Chapter 2: Elizabeth Barrett Browning Birth Anniversary, Mar 6, 1806…English
poet, author of sonnets from the Portuguese, wife of poet Robert Browning and subject
of the play The Barretts of Wimpole Street, was born near Durham, England. Browning died at Florence, Italy, June 29, 1861.
Chapter 3: Daylight Savings Time Begins, Mar 8 – Nov 1…Spring forward at midnight March 8. Take the time to check the batteries in you smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector, HVAC thermostat, audio/visual remote controls and other electronics
this day also!
Chapter 4: Decorah Eagles are Nesting…Three eggs have been laid and now we wait
patiently for the hatchings! Log on to www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles or Google Decorah Eagles and you can take part in this wonderful learning experience. Include your
child or grandchild, they will love it! Come by the Seagraves Library and I’ll tell you
more about it!
Chapter 5: Albert Einstein Birth Anniversary, Mar 14, 1879…Theoretical physicist
best known for his theory of relativity. Einstein was born at Ulm, Germany. He won the
Nobel Prize in 1921. Albert Einstein died at Princeton, NJ, Apr 18, 1955.
Chapter 6: Thank You!...This is a little note to give thanks to all of our patrons at the
Seagraves Branch Library. You make our day! Keep on reading and pass the love of
books on to your children and grandchildren!
Chapter 7: St Patrick’s Day, March 17…” May your blessings outnumber the Shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.” ~Irish Blessing
Baseball Back in Action
By Anthony Ontiveros
The Seagraves Eagles’ baseball team had a good run last year, making the playoffs
and almost winning their first playoff series. This year they plan to pick up right where
they left off to start the season off with a bang. They will play their first game this Saturday February 28 against McCamey.
Also, they have already played in three scrimmages against three bigger schools
Seminole, Lamesa, and Levelland. Scrimmage after scrimmage, the Eagles progressed
and competed well.
“Scrimmages are a great way to get game situations without real game pressure and
wins/losses” said Tittle.
This year’s district opponents are looking tough and with seven teams. The playoffs are going to be that much harder to reach. The 2015 baseball district consists of
Seagraves, Sundown, Morton, Plains, Smyer, Tahoka, and O’Donnell. Tahoka and
O’Donnell have just recently been added to the district.
“The district added Tahoka and O’Donnell, both of which are will be solid teams”
said Head Coach Blake Tittle. “This means two more competitive teams playing for
one of the three playoff spots,” said Tittle. These teams will both have a huge impact on
weather Eagles can make the playoffs or not.
Last baseball season, the Seagraves Eagles’ playoff journey was ended by the Tahoka Bulldogs. This year with both teams in the same district, there may be a little bit of
a rivalry between the two teams. “Tahoka comes into our district after putting us out of
the playoffs last year so the two games against them will be meaningful,” said Coach
Tittle.
With basketball still in session, the baseball team roster is not fully complete. Even
though they do not have all their players, they have started their daily practice routine
after school on weekdays and sometimes early morning Saturdays.
With the new after-school detention for zeros in play, some student athletes are struggling to stay committed
to their team. Coach Tittle is totally for the idea of
not letting athletes participate in sports if they refuse
to handle business in the
classroom. Still, Coach Tittle is pushing his players to
stay afloat with their school
work.
“The afterschool detention issue is just a weekly
feedback as to who is committed to being a student
athlete, I don’t have to wait on grades to come out to know who we can rely on and who
we can’t. It is a privilege to be a part of a high school team sport and that privilege is
earned in the classroom,” said Tittle.
sandiasprayermfg@yahoo.com
806-387-3049
401 Railroad Ave. PO Box 908, Seagraves, TX 79359
Hwy 385 Seagraves: 806-546-2242
If busy, call: 806-387-3049
Fax #: 806-387-2920
Baseball
Schedule on
page 5
The Talon
Believe What You’ll Achieve
By Vivianna Barrera
The following students advanced to the regional meet; Vicky Minjarez, Bryannah
Minjarez, Kayla Flores, Vivianna Barrera, Raymon Aranda, Eli Rodrguez, and Israel
Rosalez. The girls will be competing in Mertzon on March 6th, and the boys will compete in Sundown on March 14th.
Also the students competed in the Seagraves Powerlifting meet here in Seagraves,
Texas on February 21st.
In the girls division Vicky Minjarez placed 1st in the 105.5lbs weight class with a total of 740lbs. Minjarez squats 315 lbs, bench presses 140 lbs, deadlifts 285 lbs.
Bryannah Minjarez placed 1st in the 115.5 lbs weight class with a total of 605 lbs.
Minjarez squats 230 lbs, bench presses 115 lbs, and deadlifts 260 lbs.
Kayla Flores placed 1st in the 132.5 lb weight class with a total of 740lbs. Flores
squats 315 lbs, bench presses 150 lbs, and deadlifts 275 lbs.
Abeni Garcia placed 2nd in the 165.5 lbs weight class with a total of 590 lbs. Garcia
squats 230 lbs, bench presses 100 lbs, and deadlifts 260 lbs.
Vivianna Barrera placed 2nd in the 220.5 lb weight class with a total of 790 lbs. Barrera squats 345 lbs, bench presses 160 lbs, and deadlift a 285 lbs.
The girl’s powerlifters placed 1st as a team with a total of 31 points.
In the Boy’s weight division Eli Rodriguez placed 1st in the 148.5 lbs weight class
with a total of 1220 lbs. Rodriguez squats 490 lbs, bench presses 255 lbs, and deadlifts
475 lbs.
Issac Harper Sanchez competed in the 148.5 lbs weight class with a total of 740 lbs.
Sanchez squats 260 lbs, bench presses 160 lbs, and deadlifts 320 lbs.
Dillion Hibitts placed 3rd in the 165.5 lb weight class with a total of 915 lbs. Hibbitts
squats 335 lbs, bench presses 210 lbs, and deadlifts 370 lbs.
Jerry Simental placed 4th in the 165.5 lbs weight class with a total of 870 lbs. Simental squats 300 lbs, bench presses 205 lbs, and deadlifts 365 lbs.
Israel Rozales placed 2nd in the 275.5 lbs weight class with a total 1290 lbs. Rozalez
squats 525 lbs, bench presses 360 lbs, and deadlifts 405 lbs.
The following student advanced to the regional meet; Vicky Minjarez, Bryannah
Minjarez, Kayla Flores, Vivianna Barrera, Raymon Aranda, Eli Rodrguez, and Israel
Rosalez. The girls will be competing in Mertzon on March 6th, and the boys will compete in Sundown on March 14th.
Writing prep.
By Taylor Spiller and Paulina Carrillo
The writing teachers of Seagraves ISD are banding together to improve students’
writing experience now so that they will be able to put their thoughts to paper and be
successful communicators even after graduation. Mary Heryford, along with the other
writing teachers, are working hard to make sure that writing isn’t neglected until the
fourth grade when students have their first writing STAAR test.
“Fourth grade is the only elementary grade that takes the writing STAAR,” said
Heryford, “The other grade levels do writing benchmarks each nine weeks to check for
progress. We also use those writing samples to determine strengths and weaknesses
and find resources and strategies to address the weaknesses.”
These benchmarks are carefully thought out for each grade that they effect and come
from the TEKS Resource Performance Assessments. The Performance Assessments
show whether or not the students have mastered skills in each unit. For example, in Pre
K, one of the prompts is: “Write or draw a story about a time when someone shared
something.” The Kindergarten level is a little more difficult: “Generate an idea and
write or dictate to tell a story in chronological order. Share your story with a partner.”
These are skills that the state of Texas believes Pre-K and Kindergarten students should
have.
In the eleventh grade, one example is: “Write an analytical essay explaining the author’s purpose, viewpoint, and reasoning used to reach the viewpoint. Support ideas
with textual evidence.”
“The writing benchmarks follow the format of the STAAR test. Pre-k and Kinder
draw, dictate, and write their stories if they can. First through fourth grades use the
fourth grade format, fifth through seventh use the seventh grade format, and eighth
through eleventh use the End of Course format. We are hoping to build consistency
from grade level to grade level to help our students be more successful,” said Heryford.
“I don’t think it is a bad thing to have higher expectations of all of our students,” said
third grade teacher Mrs. Clark.
“It was something new and at first, and we had to make a few adjustments, but every
grade level should be writing. We are just asking them to share what they are already
doing,” said Mrs. Heryford.
The hope with this program is that as students progress, they will be more comfortable with writing and continue to get better and better.
WRITING PREP on page 5
Page 4
March 6, 2015
On Tuesday February 24, 2015 the Seagraves Eagles
traveled to Crane, Texas to take on the Van Horn Eagles
in the Bi-District match-up.
Junior Justin Rodriguez said, “It was nerve racking…
my first time in the playoffs. We each had to do our own
assignments, and come together. We needed to be coachable in order to win. We knew what we had to do.”
The Eagles put aside all nervousness, doubts and fears
and did what they needed to do. They fought for four
quarters with the crowd full of family and friends supporting the entire time. When the “final” buzzer rang, the
score was Van Horn Eagles-68 and Seagraves Eagles-68.
With that, four minutes were added to the clock and
Skylar Clark prepared once again for the jump ball, this
time in overtime. It was a back and forth, fast paced, and
on-the-edge-of-your-seat 3 minutes and 54 seconds. With
only 6 seconds left in the game, Van Horn shot and tied
the game 75-75. With 6 seconds left, the ball was inbounded, taken down the court and passed to Senior Tanner Rodriguez. Guarded by two defenders, Rodriguez pulled up,
shot the 3-pointer at the buzzer, and gave the Seagraves
Eagles a Bi-District Championship victory.
“When Tanner’s shot fell…I can’t explain the feeling!
I was just happy. We get to play another game…we aren’t
finished…that’s the best feeling in the world,” said Justin
Longoria.
Rodriguez said, “Since I haven’t played a playoff game
since my freshman year, this game was important on
many levels…Oh gosh. I can’t even explain the excitement I felt when the shot fell. I’m speechless. This game
had the potential to be my last game…but our TEAM has
the potential to continue into deeper levels of the playoffs.”
Unfortunately the Eagles basketball did not continue
their fight on Friday February 27, 2015 in Big Spring,
Texas against the Albany Lions. You made us proud!
The Talon
www.seagravestirepros.com
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Soa etes
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Alexis Gutierrez is this edition’s Soaring Athlete. Alexis is a freshman at Seagraves ISD and she is highly involved in school sports. Alexis competes in three sports:
softball, basketball,
and track. She has
played sports since
she was very little.
In softball, Alexis plays the position
pitcher. For basketball she plays post,
and she throws shot
and discus for track.
Her favorite sport is
softball because she
knows that she can
be herself around the
team and that they
will support her every step of the way.
Alexis’s athletic goal
is to become a professional softball player.
Alexis said her uncles have been the ones who have inspired her love of sports. She said her uncles inspire her
to continue with sports and to get better every day. “They
push me to do better because they know that I can do better”, said Alexis. She is very excited for this softball season and can’t wait so see what this season brings.
Coach Frazier said that she sees a lot of potential in
Alexis. Frazier said that Alexis is very talented and promising for being a freshman and with more years of experience, Alexis is going to improve a ton.
Alexis’s track coach Billy Wilson shares this view with
Frazier. He said Alexis has a lot of potential and is going
to be a great asset for Seagraves’s female athlete department. Alexis’s teammate Elizabeth Juarez said that Alexis is a really good pitcher and is good at keeping the team
spirit high.
Proud Supporters of Seagraves ISD
M&H Wireless
By Baylee Ritchey
Would you ever believe that a small town like Seagraves would get a phone store? Seagraves got an M&H
wireless January 26th this year. M&H wireless is located
on Main Street. Michael Navarro and Hugo Avalos run
the M&H Wireless. Hugo and Michael have been selling
phones and wireless services for the past 4 years. They
have sold phones in Seminole and in Andrews, Texas.
Hugo and Michael chose to sell phones in Seagraves
because, “We really want to see Seagraves grow. We plan
on opening more things in Seagraves, but for now we are
sticking to the phone business” stated Michael. M&H
wireless is bringing some great things to small little Seagraves, Texas.
M&H wireless is open 10:30am-7pm Monday through
Friday and from 11am-4pm on Saturday and 11:30am3pm Sunday. Swing by M&H wireless they will help
you with all your phone needs! M&H wireless has very
reasonable priced phone plans! M&H wireless has plans
starting as low as twenty five dollars a month!
GUNS UP from page 1
college careers that seemed interesting. It’s an exceptionally great college for media and communications. I most
definitely would not mind going to Tech. It’s very close
to home and offers many great opportunities for a kid
like me. Being a junior in high school, I have to make my
choice quickly. I liked the fact that they came to us with
very open arms. They offered many opportunities to us
and said they would welcome us very openly.”
“It gave me different ideas and plans for my future,”
said Sophomore Maricela Aguirre “and just a good showing how they really care about our education. I would really like to go to for communication. It seems like fun and
I like talking. I liked that you don’t have to be a certain
age to do what you dream of doing.”
“I thought it was really neat,” said Sophomore Jazmine
Romero, “and we have that opportunity for them to come
and talk to us about media and communication. I would
really enjoy going to college for media.”
“I really liked the fact that they came and spent their
day here at our school to tell us about their school,” said
Sophomore Myrka Alba. “They made me think about my
future and my career. It is a strong possibility that I will
go to Tech for Media and Communication. They make it
seem so fun, and you can tell they enjoy what they do. I
like how they described everything to us and how they
told us they would give us a tour. The people at Texas
Tech University are awesome.”
When you have a degree from the Texas Tech University College of Media & Communication you can become
a photographer, movie producer, web producer, teacher,
sports, entertainment artist, travel publicist, and much
more.
Page 5
March 6, 2015
2015 SEAGRAVES EAGLES
Date
Varsity/JV Baseball Schedule
Day
Opponent
Site
Time
19-Fe b
Thursday
Lame sa Scrimmage
2015
Seagraves Softball Schedule
V/JV
Lame sa
5:00 PM
Combine d
21-Fe b
Saturday
Le ve lland Scrimmage
Se agrave s
12:00 PM
Combine d
24-Fe b
Tue sday
McCame y
Se agrave s
4:00 PM
JV/V
28-Fe b
Saturday
Crane (x2)
Crane
1:00/3:00 PM
3-Mar
Tue sday
Ralls
Se agrave s
5:00 PM
6-Mar
Friday
Ralls Tourname nt
Ralls
3:00 PM
V
The Talon
Feb. 14th
Brownfield (scrimmage)
There, 12:00
V/V
Feb 16th
Crosbyton
Here, 5:00
V/JV
21st
Floydada
Here, 12:00
Feb 24th
Roosevelt
There, 5:00
Feb
7-Mar
Saturday
Ralls Tourname nt
Ralls
10:00 AM
V
10-Mar
Tue sday
McCame y
McCame y
4:00 PM
V/JV
Feb 26th-28th
Post Caprock
There, TBA
14-Mar
Saturday
Coahoma (Spring Bre ak)
Se agrave s
11:00 AM
V/JV
March 2nd
Crosbyton
There, 5:00
March 5th-7th
Seminole Maiden Classic
There, TBA
McCamey
There, 5:00
District ><><> District ><><> District ><><> District
15-Mar : 21-Mar
Spring Break <><><> Spring Break <><><> Spring Break
21-Mar
Saturday
Morton (Spring Bre ak)
Morton
12:00 PM
V
March 10th
23-Mar
Monday
**Crane JV (Non-District)
Se agrave s
6:00 PM
JV
24-Mar
Tue sday
Odonne l (x2)
13th
Se agrave s 5:00/7:00 PM
V/V
March
Denver City
Here, 5:00
Dimmit
Here, 5:00
27-Mar
Friday
Smye r
Se agrave s
5:00 PM
V/JV
March 17th
31-Mar
Tue sday
Sundown
Sundown
5:00 PM
V/JV
March 24th
*Tahoka
There, 5:00
4-Apr
Saturday
Tahoka
Se agrave s
12:00 PM
V/JV
7-Apr
Tue sday
Plains
Plains
5:00 PM
V
March 28th
*Westbrook
Here, 12:00
*Forsan
There, 5:00
*Ira
There, 12:00
*Sundown
Here, 5:00
*Tahoka
Here, 12:00
*Westbrook
There, 5:00
*Forsan
Here, 5:00
11-Apr
Saturday **Mule shoe JV (Non-District) Se agrave s
12:00 PM
V/JV
13-Apr
Monday **Se minole JV (Non-District) Se agrave s
7:00 PM
JV
14-Apr
Tue sday
Se agrave s
5:00 PM
V
Friday **LBK Home School (Non-D) Se agrave s
17-Apr
Morton
5:00 PM
Combine d
21-Apr
Tue sday
Smye r
Smye r
4:00 PM
V/JV
24-Apr
Friday
Sundown
Se agrave s
5:00 PM
V/JV
28-Apr
Tue sday
Tahoka
Tahoka
5:00 PM
V/JV
4-May
Monday
Plains
Se agrave s
5:00 PM
V
Head Coach: Blake Tittle (432) 847-9988
March
April 3rd
April
7th
April 11th
April
14th
April 17th
April
blake.tittle@seagravesisd.net
30th
*Ira
21st
April 25th
Assist. Coach: Art Ontiveros Athletic Director: Steve Heryford
Superintendent: Dr. Kevin SHS Principal: Art Ontiveros
Main Street
Pizza
(Senior Night)
*Sundown
Here, 5:00
There, 12:00
Head Coach: Holly Frazier
Superintendent: Dr. Kevin Spiller
HS Principal: Art Ontiveros
Athletic Director: Steve Heryford
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SEAGRAVES EAGLES
Jan 17
Plainview
Boys/ Girls
Jan 31
Snyder
Boys/ Girls
Feb 14
Levelland
Boys/Girls
Feb 21
Seagraves
Boys/Girls
March 6
Regional (MERTZON) Girls
March 14
Regional (Sundown) Boys
March 21
State (Corpus Christi)
March 28
State (Abilene)
Girls
Boys
SEAGRAVES
Track And Field 2015
March 5
Sundown
JH
March 6
Sundown
HS
March 12
Plains
JH
March 13
Plains
HS
March 23
Smyer
JH
March 26
Smyer
HS
April 2
Sudan
HS
April 6
District (Plains)
JH
April 10
Seagraves
HS
POWERLIFTING 2015
Seagraves Invitational
By Michael Lara
This past Wednesday Seagraves held an invitational tennis
tournament that was available to many teams around the area.
These teams included Sundown, Morton, Tahoka, and of course
us! But who schedules a sport event on a Wednesday? Well fear
not because the tennis meet started at 7:00 in the morning and
continued on throughout the afternoon till 2:30. Seagraves had
many of our own entrants play in the invitational, from newcomers like Delilah Romero and Dante Bjork to many weathered veterans like Jonah Garcia and Ralph Lovington. That’s
not say that there was not many other Seagraves players who were either
weathered veterans or newcomers as
well.
This invitational was a long fought battle throughout the
day but in the end Seagraves had players come out on top. Jonah Garcia playing Men’s Singles received second place after
only falling short of a Sundown player, Jonah played a long
game almost amounting to an hour of slamming the ball back
and forth but by the time the game was almost over Jonah
was exhausted. Case Clark and Israel Rosalez received second in Men’s doubles but this time falling short to another
group of players from Seagraves. Michael Lopez and Michael
Negrete who received first in Men’s Doubles overcame them to receive first. Negrete
says “Yeah, sure it was hard challenge playing someone I knew and trained with. It was
kind of a weird feeling you know? I couldn’t decide whether to play harder or to play
a friendly game. But I know that if for one second we had faltered the game would be
lost, so we gave it our all and tried our best and came out on top! We’ll be looking out
for them in the next meet because with one mistake comes one
loss.”
The next players to place in the invitational, from Seagraves
was Michael Lara and Delilah Romero who received third
place in Mixed Doubles. Delilah says “This was my first meet
and it really wasn’t all I expected. What I mean when I say
that, is in the morning we froze, all of us, and by the afternoon
we had sunburns on our cheeks, arms, and
legs, it really drained me and my partner
and in the end our greatest opponent wasn’t
the other players but the weather. But next
meet we’ll be ready to make a comeback and hopefully stay energized enough to move on throughout the day.”
An upcoming meet was to be held Thursday, March 5 but due to
weather conditions that certain meet was canceled but be sure to
look for the next upcoming meet In Levelland labeled the SPCHEA
tournament on Thursday, March 12. By the time this meet has arrived it will have given the Seagraves entrants enough time to practice and hone their skills enough to put up a great challenge for whoever they play. Go
out and support the Seagraves Eagles as they face many more opponents at 7:00 in the
morning in Levelland.
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WRITING PREP from page 3
“I really hope that this helps our scores with as hard as
we’re working,” said Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Sherry
Philips.
“Students will be exposed to the format of the assessments and will be used to them by the third grade,” said
Clark.
Elementary Principal Junior Martinez said, “In doing
writing every day from pre-k all the way to high school,
not only will students be successful in the STAAR test,
but they will be successful communicators when they
graduate. Above test scores, getting the kids to think at
a critical level, not only will the STAAR tests take care
of themselves, but it will help them be able to put their
thoughts on paper and give those thoughts in a manner
that makes sense to people.”
“My hope is that students will grow more confident in
writing as they progress through grade levels. Students
will enter the next grade already knowing a lot about
writing, so they should be more comfortable with it and
learn to like it or even love it,” said Heryford.
“Mrs. Heryford has already shown me some things
that first grade has done from first semester until now,
and their writing has improved so much in that time, and
I can’t wait to see what happens when we are all doing it.
Their writing will be outstanding by the time that they
hit fourth grade. The STAAR scores will skyrocket,” said
fourth grade teacher Lynda Medlin.
“In having writing goals, I believe we will see a huge
growth with students because writing is a difficult component, and in putting it on the forefront, students will
definitely be more successful,” said first grade teacher
Mrs. Wheeler.
Third grade student Aiden Rodriguez said, “I like
writing because it is interesting. Writing is hard because
it takes a while and it’s hard for me to spell words. The
benchmarks are challenging, but good because they help
me to be better.”
Fifth grade student Daighen Resendez said, “I like
writing because you can imagine things and make up
things with your mind. I like writing about anything that
comes to mind, but I like getting a prompt because you
don’t have to think so much.”
“I am seeing a lot of improvement in freshman English,” said Heryford, “My students seem more confident in every stage of the writing process and are usually
pleased when they submit their final draft.”
Martinez said, “I think that the writing benchmarks
are an important way to assess how students are progressing in writing. No matter what grade level they are in,
we have to be able to gauge whether or not students are
grasping the concepts and the skills to be proficient writers. I think that it’s not our job to agree or disagree with
what we are asked to do, it’s to do it. TEKS say that students have to be able to write. Our job is to teach it because that’s the standard that we’re held to.”
Page 6
March 6, 2015
SPILLER from page 1
Hyped for Reading!
by Elizabeth Juarez
The Seagraves Junior High had an Accelerated Reader
(AR) party on January 30, 2015. The Accelerated Reader program is designed to help students improve their
reading abilities. Students begin using AR in elementary
school and continue to use it throughout high school.
“I read books to help me get better at reading. They are
also very interesting,” said 6th grader Karina Holguin.
“Reading The House of Night series made me want to
just keep reading,” said 8th Grader Londyn Hernandez.
“AR is not a graded program. The students do not receive a grade for reading the books. An AR party is a reward for reading,” said Junior High English teacher Mrs.
Jan McKenzie.
Every book on campus has certain
amount of points a student can get
for reading that specific book. The
higher the reading level of the book
is, the more points a student can get.
The way the student earns points is
by taking a test online about the book
they read.
“My favorite books are The Mortal
Instruments, Percy Jackson and the
Olympians, Heroes of Olympus series, and The Iron Trial,” said 8th Grader Hannah Spiller.
This year, Mrs. McKenzie was in charge of the party.
The students have an AR party every nine weeks as a reward. To be
able to attend the AR party, the students had to have a certain amount
of points. This nine weeks, the bar
was set at a minimum of 14 points.
“At the end of the year, whoever
has the highest point total for the
year will get their name put on the
AR award trophy,” said McKenzie.
Abigail Negrete, Londyn Hernandez, Hannah Spiller, Alexis Garza,
and Karina Holguin were among the students who attended.
“To me, books take me out of the real world. Reading
blocks everything and it is like you
are reading a movie in your head,”
said 8th Grader Abigail Negrete.
“I love living in so many different worlds and falling in love with
the characters along the way. Books
provide an escape and an adventure,” said Spiller.
“My favorite book series are The
Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments,” said Negrete.
For this past nine weeks, the student with the highest point total was
Kaden Reed with 65 total points.
“We are having a trip to Wonderland in Amarillo as
our last reward. To qualify for that trip, a student must
have reached their goal every nine weeks,” said McKenzie.
the student received. Furthermore, students from poverty could improve their mastery of a subject by more than
15%, but the standardized test is not made to measure
that growth. In essence, the test is not measuring what it
is purporting to measure, but many schools are labeled
“failing” by this faulty measure.
A voucher, as it has been stated by some proponents,
would be worth somewhere around $5,200 per student.
With “choice,” a student could take the $5,200 to any
school he/she wanted to attend. That tax payer money could be funneled into a for-profit parochial private
school that is held to little or no state oversight from a financial or academic point of view. At a time when legislators and business leaders are touting “accountability” and
“fiscal responsibility,” why would they promote a plan
that does exactly the opposite in regard to the oversight of
taxpayer money?
Once a student leaves the public school, that same
school will also lose federal money afforded to students
with high needs and handicapping conditions. Also, Title money that goes into areas of high poverty will be reduced, thus making it even harder for segments of a population that is already struggling.
Many private schools do not want vouchers if they will
be held to similar accountability measures as the public
schools. For example, the acceptance of any and all students that seek enrollment regardless of their discipline
record or academic acumen will not be well received by
many of the private schools. Private schools certainly
will not want to be bound to the STAAR tests that public
schools are saddled with every year.
After it is determined that tax payer dollars can be
sent to private schools through a voucher system, other
schools will be afforded the same opportunity. Islamic
schools, Buddhist schools, and even the Wiccan schools
are already quietly waiting for this to happen. Louisiana
is an example cited as a voucher “success” by many legislators across Texas and they are experiencing that concern today.
The Islamic School of Greater New Orleans applied for
the voucher funds in Louisiana. Louisiana lawmakers immediately objected to the Islamic School’s request out of
fear that the government would suddenly find itself funding “Islamic teachings.” The Islamic School of Greater
New Orleans later withdrew its request, but they did open
many eyes to the possibilities that exist when lawmakers
allow state and federal dollars to be allocated to private
institutions.
Maybe the biggest problem with vouchers is once they
are implemented fully across this state and nation, we will
begin the “re-segregation” of our school systems. This
will occur because the finances of voucher plans do not
work for families in the “real world.” Assuming a private
school will take any student with a voucher, what about
that inner city child who wants to attend a private parochial school? The average tuition cost in Texas for attending such a school is roughly $10,000 per year. Subtract
the voucher of $5,200, and that still leaves an additional
cost of $4,800 for the family to cover just for tuition. We
have not addressed the fees for books, supplies, etc. Also
left out of consideration is transportation for the student.
How is he/she going to get from their home to the private
school?
The answer is they won’t. For all of the reasons mentioned above, the students being “used” to advance the
rhetoric of vouchers, the inner city students from poverty attending “failing” schools, will remain right where
they are and have always been. Some middle class and
affluent families will pull their students from the public
schools and place them into the private schools, thus further shifting the balance of economically disadvantaged
children attending public schools and likewise propagating the shift towards “re-segregation.”
In conclusion, the private schools with their affluent
and middle class families will get richer and the public
schools with children from high poverty who have inherent learning gaps will get poorer. The wage earning
potential and the overall quality of life for public school
children will become bleaker.
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” (Mathew
25:40). We need to always remember this verse, and while
we are here on this Earth try and live by it and make decisions accordingly. Whether by design or unintended consequences, the voucher programs falls short in meeting
the fundamental teachings of this scripture.
Elementary Student Spotlight
By Paulina Carrillo
This week’s students spotlight is kindergartner Jonas Bueno. Jonas was born on September 4th, 2008. He is the son of Jose Bueno and Valerie Bueno who is the Seagraves
High School secretary. He has an older sister, Nevaeh who is in the 4th grade, and who
he likes to spend time with.
Jonas’ favorite subject is math. “I like it because it’s fun and I always get the answers
right,” said Jonas. His favorite teacher is Mrs. Philips. “Mrs. Philips is very nice to me
and she helps me when I don’t know how to do something,” said Jonas.
Jonas’ favorite sport is basketball. Jonas is playing little dribblers and is on the Red
Raiders team. “I think that our team will do good,” said Jonas. “I’m really excited and
ready to play with my friends,” added Jonas
In his free time, Jonas likes to play outside and he also likes to play video games.
The Talon
The Lady Eagles
Run-Rule Crosbyton
20-9 in BySeason
Opener
Kiera Kinnaird
The Lady Eagles are off to a great start with a 20-9
victory. After months
of preparation and practice, the Lady Eagle Varsity Softball team finally
got to put on the new uniforms, lace up, and take the
field against the Crosbyton
Chiefettes on February 16,
2015.
In their season opener, the
Lady Eagle Lineup was as
follows: Kiera Kinnaird
(Short), Bry Minjarez (Catcher), Alexis Gutierrez (Pitcher), Vivianna Barrera (First), Vicky Minjarez (Third),
Chelsie Harper (Second), Giselle Lozano (Center), Bailee Lemon (Left), Elizabeth Juarez (Right), and Maricruz
Martinez (Sub).
It was a big game for the Lady Eagles, who were desperately wanting to start the season with a win. “It was
our first game…we have the experience of last year behind us, and we were ready to play…we were ready to
win,” said Juarez.
“For some of us, this is our last season. We wanted to
start with a bang, and we wanted to make a statement.
Last year Crosbyton killed us…
it was time to return the favor,”
said First basemen Vivianna
Barrera.
The Lady Eagles are coached
by head coach Holly Frazier and
assisted by Jesse Garza, who officially joined the SISD staff the
morning of the season opener.
Before he was hired, Athletic
Director Steve Heryford assisted the Lady Eagles.
Senior Chelsie Harper said, “I like our coaches. I like
them a lot. They are always encouraging us and helping
us to be better, on and off the field. I’m so excited for
Coach Garza to be joining us. He seems to be a very kind
guy and was very encouraging and helpful at our game. It
was his first day on the job and he jumped right in. I really believe he is going to be an asset to our softball program.”
The Lady Eagles run-ruled (mercy-ruled) the Chiefettes in the fifth inning of the exciting game. Barrera said,
“We were successful, and will continue to be successful
because we are a team. We have bonded more than any
team I’ve ever played on. We were motivated and that
turned into outs on defense and runs on offense.”
Things just seemed to “click” for the Lady Eagles
Monday night. The play of the
game went to Bry Minjarez, who
hit an in-park home-run bringing
in base-runners Juarez and Kinnaird, giving the Lady Eagles the
initial large lead of the game.
The team is not looking to slow
down anytime soon. “We have a
few important games coming up.
In these we plan to gain more experience, continue playing as a
team and make a statement. All of
these are leading to district in March, but ultimately we
are aiming to play in May,” said Juarez.
Head Coach Holly Frazier is loved by her student athletes, and is very proud of her team.
“I was very excited that we won our opener. I thought
that the girls played great for their first game of the season. The girls have worked very hard to get to where they
are now. We still have a lot of work to put in and I know
that the girls are willing to do what it takes. We started off on the right track and will hopefully continue that
way. I am very proud of all of the girls and very excited
about the rest of the season,” said Frazier.
The Lady Eagles’ Softball Schedule can be found at
seagravesisd.net. Great Job Lady Eagles! You make us
proud!