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January 23, 2015

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THE INSIDE SCOOP
VOLUME 1, NUMBER 8
JANUARY 23, 2015
History has a Way of Repeating Itself
Story by: Kathleen Moore
 
You know a basketball game is intense when we have to pull out both bleachers. Just around 5:30 they are already packed full of anxious fans clad in their team’s colors. The Twentynine side is decorated in a sea of green and white, the Yucca side in gold and black.  
 Suddenly there is loud music coming from the speakers in the gym as Twentynine fans follow the cheerleaders’ lead and line up, forming the human tunnel. As the bass drops, out rush 10 Varsity girls’ basketball players, pumped and ready to play. In the first half of the varsity game, the girls play hard and smart, which shows when the halftime score read 28 - 8. In the second half, however, the Trojans did put up a fight. But just like the last four years, the Wildcats pulled through and won 49 - 36.
After such a glorious victory, out comes the Varsity boys’ team, greeted by numerous fans, friends, and family members. In the first quarter, the boys are a little nervous, but quickly gain back their grace and confidence when they bring the score up to 37 - 17 by halftime. The Wildcats hold on strong to their lead, and unfortunately for the Trojans, history has a way of repeating itself. Just as the Trojans lost the battle of Troy, they lose to the Wildcats with a final score of 49 - 38.
“Is the Spaghetti Good?”
Story by: Makayla Ogdahl
 
During the process of writing this story I discovered that less than half the people I speak to are familiar with “Breaking Bread” (technically called Food for Life). Less than half the people understand what it is like to be less fortunate in Twentynine Palms. Do less than half the people, then, truly care?
That isn’t necessarily the case; most people I inform of the program say how wonderful they think it is. The problem isn’t a lack of caring, its a lack of information. That’s where Interact comes in.
The program is usually run by Breaking Bread ministries, but each January members of the TPHS Interact club volunteers their own Saturdays to provide a necessary meal for those in need. 2015 is the 10th year in a row that Mrs. Cosgriff has encouraged her club’s participation, and with around 250 meals served each week, Interact has helped nourish nearly 12,500 hungry people. And it isn’t without appreciation.
“All the people are so thankful for us being here and serving,” says second-year volunteer Aziah Duhon, who has been at each and every meal this January. Her experience makes her glad that she can help serve, and thankful for what she has. I personally had the opportunity to observe the interaction between the volunteers and the people seeking a meal, and the humor and sense of community that hung in the air mirrored the sunny, warm afternoon outside. However, the feeling curbed as I leaned over Jubilee Bosch.
As people come through the line, she puts a tally mark by their age group. If they come for seconds, a tally mark goes in another category. It hit me then that the growing number of tallies represents every hungry kid and starving senior that relies on one solid meal a week.
Bosch informs me, “You see kids come back for seconds and thirds and carry out huge amounts of food. That could be what is getting them through till next week.”
One meal a week? A week?
How many meals are you supposed to eat a day? (The answer is five, apparently.)
Duhon overheard a TPHS employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, donate a room at a hotel and a two-person sleeping bag to two homeless men who came to Breaking Bread. The employee believes the stereotype surrounding the homeless and the needy is ridiculous, and states, “They are good people who are having a hard time.” Many adults involved in this event donate hotel rooms regularly, and many of the same people who donate the rooms donate the majority of the food served. “It’s hard to be homeless in Twentynine Palms” says the employee, “There’s no place for you to even take a shower.”
Interact members can help bridge the gap between naive high school students and those who need their help. Breaking Bread helps both students and adults see the other side of life, and gain an appreciation for it. After all, you never know what someone is going through.
It’s Good to Have Goals
Story by: Madeline Quinn

College. It's one thing that every high schooler thinks about. Between the tons of applications that need to be filled out and finding the right college and praying that you get into it, college can be quite a hassle to figure out. Believe it or not, however, sports can have a great impact on where a student decides to go - and can even help them get into their choice of a school.
Two of TPHS's own students are already ahead of the game of finding a good college. Cheyenne Hunsinger, a sophomore, and Emma Yeager, a freshman, both travelled to Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks for a soccer scouting event, called Global Sports International Soccer Showcase, on Saturday, January 10th. The event, being somewhere around nine hours long, gave the girls a chance to be seen by multiple college soccer coaches and to demonstrate their soccer skills in front of them.
Checking in around 8:45 in the morning, the two girls joined over 500 other girls on the three fields at the college. To start the day off, all girls began the warm-up exercises - which, to our two Wildcats, felt like a lot more than just warming up. “They felt more like conditioning,” recalled Yeager, “To me, it was the hardest part of the day. They took a lot of time too.”
Hunsinger struggled with the warm-ups as well, but had a different experience with them of her own. To start the warm-ups the girls had to get in lines, but for some reason, no one wanted to actually lead them. So, showing the same amount of leadership on the field as she does at home as the Varsity team captain, she stepped up to lead it herself. “It was weird because no one wanted to lead the line, so I ended up leading it even though half the time I felt like I didn’t know what i was supposed to be doing” she remembered.
After warm-ups, the girls went inside to play small, three-minute games with three to four people on each team. Then, the coaches had them move out to the fields, where they focused on defensive drills. By the time they were done with defense, it was lunch time, during which the girls had turkey sandwiches, chips, and cookies, and talked to different coaches about applying to colleges and what colleges they wanted to go to. Then, they went back out onto the field where they worked on offensive drills for the remainder of the day.
Sounds like a pretty good day right? Well, except for the rain.
The only downside to this day was that it rained almost the entire time. While Hunsinger enjoyed playing in it, Yeager was not a big fan of being wet the whole time. “It was depressing and cold, and the pennies we had to use were always wet and smelled,” said Yeager.
On top of the bad weather, some of the girls there weren’t all that nice either, and Hunsinger got to experience some bad attitudes. She had a little bit of a run-in with another girl, even though she did nothing wrong:
“We were scrimmaging and in the middle of the game I took the ball away from one of the girls and she got all mad. After the play was over she whipped around and started yelling in my face, asking what I thought I was doing. She just kept getting in my face and pushing me around on the field.”
But, showing true Wildcat sportsmanship, Hunsinger just walked away and went on a water break, leaving the girl to her own devices. Apparently though, the girl didn’t get enough out of yelling at her;
“The girl ran by me to grab some water and demanded I don’t do that to her again. Then the coaches walked up and asked what was going on and I said nothing really but explained the situation to them. They took the girl off the field and put her off to the side after we started scrimmaging again and that’s how I got a girl put in time-out.”
 Even though there were some attitudes and bad weather, the girls definitely thought it was worth it and enjoyed being there. Being able to show off their skills to tons of different coaches from a variety of colleges is always something to be happy about. Normally, students contact the colleges, but in this case, the colleges contact the girls. Hunsinger has already had a coach from UC Irvine contact her and Yeager has heard from other coaches as well.
One thing is for sure though: the girls aren’t just sitting around waiting to hear from the coaches, but instead are already planning for their next event. Both girls have signed up for another showcase coming up in March at a different college, and are looking forward to the experience again.