Karaoke Night

Karaoke is the act of singing along to lyrics with instrumental music. The name karaoke means  (kara) “empty” (oke) “orchestra”. The karaoke machine was invented by a japanese musician, Daisuke Inoue, in Japan in 1971. Most karaoke machines have technology that electronically changes the pitch of the music so that amateur singers can choose a key that is appropriate for their vocal range, while maintaining the original tempo of the song. Karaoke singing is extremely popular in Asia, like in Japan and South Korea.

Last Friday, on December 11th 2015, there was Karaoke Night from 5:30-7 PM. The spanish teacher, Ms. Mitchell, was the host for Karaoke night. Middle and high school students attended the event and there was about 50 kids (mostly middle school students).

Maddison Butts is a junior who attended the event. She said it was really fun and she was one of the volunteers. She sang “Love me like you do” by Ellie Goulding for the movie “Fifty Shade of Grey” with a few others. Amy Padilla and Jo’Nique Robinson who are both sophomores, sang with Maddison. Amy didn’t really think that karoake night was all that great. She didn’t enjoy the middle schoolers that attended. She said, “It was really lame”. She believes that there should have been a separate karaoke night just for high school students. She did enjoy the food though. There was chips, soda, and hot dogs. Jo’Nique said, “It was lit!”

Niklas Lofgren who is a senior attended Karaoke Night before basketball practice. He really enjoyed the evening and said “It was great”. He liked that fact that everyone was comfortable and could be themselves. He didn’t sing, but he laughed and listened. Nik enjoys having fun and singing, even though he may believe he isn’t great at it.

Ugly Sweater

Hello QMHS, 

     Today is Tuesday the 15 of December, and for this week’s spirit student and staff wore Ugly Sweaters and joined in the contest for a 25 dollar Visa gift card. The winners were Kirsten Washington and Anthony Nelson. Many students had worn the most hideous sweaters from tinsel covered sweaters to sweaters filled with lights and ornaments. 

Santa hat

Hello QMHS,

     Today is Monday the 14 of December, and for this week’s Spirit Week, you were allowed to wear Santa Hats, for a dollar. The whole school was filled with staff and student expressing their school spirit by wearing all different kinds of Santa hats ranging from sport Santa hats to bright red hats with lights.

NHS/ NJHS/ Mu Alpha Theta Volunteer Service

     The Quantico National Honor Society (NHS), National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), and Mu Alpha Theta teamed up on December 5 to contribute to the community and spread the Christmas cheer. They first traveled to the Quantico National Cemetery to help the Wreaths Across America foundation to help lay wreaths down on the veterans' graves. Through this action, the NHS, NJHS, and Mu Alpha Theta members were reminded of the ultimate sacrifice made for them and the United States by their men and women of the military. It was a very humbling experience that many of the students will remember and benefit from in their lives. After the wreath lying, the students traveled to Marian Manor, a nursing home in Stafford for elderly people, and sang Christmas carols for the patients there. The elders and students both had a great time singing and spreading the Christmas joy. After giving service to their community, the students traveled to Fredericksburg to have a nice lunch and enjoy the Christmas festivities going on there. Overall, all participants had a great time and were reminded what Christmas is truly supposed to be about with enjoying the season with the people you love.

Farewell to an incredible English teacher

     David C. Primmer a.k.a. Primdog is one of our schools most well-known and well-loved teachers. Ask any "pup", as he calls his students, and they will be able to recount not only the discussions in his literature classes and his difficult essays and tests, but the surprising and hilarious moments that often result from "circling the wagons" and reading the current book in class, the excitement that comes along with the occasional "dollar question" and the various traditions and quirks found in each class with Mr. Primmer.
     Mr. Primmer began teaching in 1975, in Michigan. He remained at the job for 5 years, and then "got a tip", as he says it, to go overseas. So he moved his family to Okinawa, Japan, where he also taught for 5 years before transferring to Germany. In Germany he worked for 20 years in 3 different high schools before moving here, to Quantico, where he has worked for the past 10 years. At Quantico, he has taught an impressive number and range of classes, including an 8th grade research class, nearly every high school English class from Honors 9 to AP literature, College Prep, AVID, and speech.
     Mr. Primmer explained his lengthy time at Quantico, saying that he usually stays at a school for 10 years because the teaching itself makes the experience great. "If I don't love the kids," he says, "I get out." When asked about why he was leaving at this point, Mr. Primmer gave a simple explanation- "Don't you think 40 years is enough?" However, he did say he wanted to spend more time with The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, his wife.
     Mr. Primmer's favorite moments at Quantico are too many to name, but he did say that, "I get the biggest kick not when I do something good, but when one pup does something great." He mentioned students who didn't think they were "smart enough" to take an AP class but proved to be exceptional students. One of the best things about Mr. Primmer's classes is the knowledge that you are among many pups from over the years, many of whom may be older students from Quantico or people you never met, but all of whom were influenced in a way by Mr. Primmer and their experience in his classes. I asked Mr. Primmer if he had any stories about one of his old pups that he would like to share, but he said "that would be like asking a father which of his kids he likes best."
     Finally, I asked what Mr. Primmer would say to all of his pups still in the school, and what he would say to all the students who haven't had a chance to take a class with him. To all the pups, "My heart breaks at the very thought of leaving you. The only thought, that brings a smile to my face, is that you continue the good work and become even greater than as I already see you." And to the pups that could have been, he simply quoted Jim Croce's folk song, "Time in a Bottle," saying, "If I could have time in a bottle, I'd save every day to spend it with you."

Basketball Cheer

Cheerleading is the performance of athletic skills, jumps, dance and/or chanting to gain a response from spectators at an event. Cheerleading was originally organized on November 2, 1898. It was started in Minnesota by a group of six males called the “yell squad”.  It's usually tied to football, but many sports have their own cheerleading teams.

• Varsity Cheer

Ms. Jackson is formally the counselor for students with the last names A-K. She is currently volunteering as the Varsity Cheerleading Coach. She started working at QMHS in 2007. She has two children that she spends most of her time outside of school with, and she enjoys running/exercising, as well as being with her extended family just miles from where she lives. The Varsity cheerleading team is cheering for the high school boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. There is no definite number of spots on the team, but the cheer team is coed and so far there are 18 girls and one boy trying out. The cheer team uses basketball chants to encourage the basketball players and the audience with team spirit. Ms. Jackson says that good things to look for in potential cheerleaders are positive attitudes, leadership skills, and good ethics in school and with the team. Some of her expectations for this cheer season are that she expects talent coming from the students trying out, that she ends up with a good team, and that the team is the able to support both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. Practice is usually held inside the cafeteria, and the date the Varsity cheer team is officially formed is on November 18th. Ms.Jackson said the definition of a cheerleader is “...someone who supports a specific team and encourages them to play hard”. Ms. Jackson hopes that she will be able to get some new girls not from football season but everyone still has to go through the same process and try out. She thinks that the cheerleading team needs to work on being a cohesive team and getting along together. She believes that cheerleaders possess good qualities that contribute to the team such as being very lively and fun, being hard workers, wanting to be there and being able to help the team become better. The most important thing about cheerleading to the Varsity coach is working together as a team and to ensure safety and belonging within the team.

Megan Meza is a junior and she has been doing cheerleading for about three years. She is currently trying out for Varsity Cheer and really enjoys cheering. She has been practicing and stretching quite a lot to perform with her best effort. She thinks that to be a successful team there needs to be cooperation, the ability to get along and work together. Megan thinks that some things she needs to work on is getting her cheers memorized and to make them clean. She enjoys baking and hanging out with her dog. She expects that the team will be able work together, share, get along, and motivate each other. She thinks the most important thing about cheerleading is team work.

Amy Padilla is a sophomore and she is trying out for the Varsity Cheer team. She did cheerleading in seventh grade and she really enjoyed it. She thinks that equal effort from everyone is what makes a team successful. She thinks some of her good qualities that contribute to the team is her ability to be willing to try and get out of her comfort zone. She thinks that in order to improve, she needs to be louder during cheer practice. She expects that the team will be able to motivate each other and become closer. She thinks the most important thing about cheerleading is to be positive.

• Middle School Cheer

Ms. Moretti is the coach of the middle school cheer team. She says that there are 17 girls that tried out and they have 17 girls on the team. The reason behind her allowing everyone to be on the team is to give everyone an opportunity and promote more school spirit. The cheer team is cheering for middle school boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. They cheer at home games and they travel to the “think tank tournament” (competition at the end of the season). She believes that a cheerleader’s personality contributes to the team, as well as leadership and dedication. She thinks the definition of a cheerleader is someone who can promote school spirit through commitment, dedication, fun, being a role model, and can represent their school in a positive way. She thinks that the girls on the team need to work on learning to take more direction in what they’re doing. They need to act serious and have fun in the process...professional and happy.

Drama Play

     On Thursday, November 19 at 5:30 pm in the school gym, Mrs. Shinaver’s Drama Class performed several different short plays in groups, having 34 students in total. Not only do they have roles but they also do something tech related like stage manager, lighting, sound, stage hands, costume, and makeup artist. They have to rehearse for many hours, depending on the day. When asked why she chose to do several different short plays, Mrs. Shinavers explained, “It’s really difficult to find balanced roles, if we did one regular play, main characters would have to memorize more words than others and it wouldn’t be fair to everybody.” She also believes that when they have their own separate plays “it gives them more pride on being able to accomplish things by themselves, because everybody is their own director.” She also mentioned, “I don’t help with anything I’m just a part of the audience.” When asked what inspired her to do drama she sighed saying, “Long story… I really looked up to this drama teacher in high school who was also my English teacher and I just thought she had the life,” adding towards the end “and a cute husband, he rode a motorcycle.” Mrs. Shinaver also mentioned “I just had a wonderful experience being on stage and enjoyed everything, the lights, makeup, music, and stage props.”

*Don’t forget to come out and watch the 

Drama kids put on their own show this 

Thursday at 7 pm in the gym.*