Red and Gold Day

Today is Friday the 30 of October, and for this week’s spirit day, it is… Red and Gold Day! Today is the Quantico Middle High School Pep Rally! We have a pm schedule so our classes are a bit shorter. Also, some Alumni have come to our school to assess how far our school has excelled. There is a luncheon being held by staff and seniors for the Alumni. The Homecoming game is tonight at 6pm against Grace Christian High School. Tomorrow is Halloween and at 8pm is the Masquerade Homecoming of 2015 for QMHS. Happy Spirit Week, Goooooo Warriors!

Middle School Monster Mash dance!

     On October 16, the middle school had a Monster Mash dance in the QMHS cafeteria. It went from 6-9 with DJ Manny keeping the beat going, and according to many of the middle schoolers, it was a blast! The night was full of dancing, food, and socializing with friends that many middle schoolers will remember for years to come. 

Twin Day

Today is Wednesday the 28 of October, and for this week’s spirit day, it is… Twin Day! This twin day was truly unique because the majority of the MCJROTC students wore cammies for their classes and accidently, but while still having the full effect of “twinning”, participated in twin day. Since it is spirit week, homerooms have been selling spirit links to try to get the most links and compete for the Spirit Stick. So far today, Mr. Woodie’s homeroom has the most spirit links sold, and Mr. Kim is in second place. Also, today after school is the high school wall decorating for the pep rally on Friday.

Sports Jersey Day

This Tuesday was Sports Jersey Day in our school, as a part of our Homecoming Spirit Week. Students showed not only their school spirit, but their spirit for their favorite sports teams when they came to school in their best football, basketball, soccer, or baseball jerseys. Although this may have ignited a few rivalries, all the fervent sports fans in our school could find common ground on the growing excitement for Homecoming and the fun of Homecoming week.

Pajama Day

Hello QMHS!

Today is Monday the 26 of October, and for this week’s spirit day, it is… Pajama Day! It is also the start of a new quarter, and one of the many to come. Many staff and students in today’s spirit day participated by wearing their comfy and warm pajamas. People all over the school expressed their school spirit in the comfort of their fuzzy and brightly patterned night wear. Throughout the school, there were adorable onesies, plaid bottoms, fuzzy boots, warm slippers and especially school spirit.

Naval Academy Trip

The United States Naval Academy is one of the top colleges in the United States, with an acceptance rate of 7.9%.  It was established in 1850 by George Bancroft.  It is a four-year course that is free. Although it’s free, you do have to be in Marine Corps or Navy for at least 4 years. To get accepted into the Naval Academy you have to get a recommendation from your governor. They only accept approximately 1300 students every year. The Naval Academy is a school of heavy tradition and requires lots of characteristic.

The United States Naval Academy is a tour that the Quantico ROTC goes to every year, during their homecoming football game. The students have to be at school at 0500 to leave for the Academy. Once they arrive, they go into a mini theater to watch a video on the history of the Academy.  After the video this year, they were introduced to Trent Carlton, a graduate of Quantico who attends the Academy.  Trent took the ROTC on a tour of part of the campus. They got to see what a dorm room looks like and got to see the aquatics building. Also, they got to see the tomb of John Paul Jones. After the tour, Trent had to leave to make it for the game and the cadets ate lunch in the town. After lunch, the cadets made their way to the football stadium for the homecoming game. The Naval Academy football team was playing Tulane. The football team is 5-1 so far this year, and beat Tulane 31-14. At the start of the 4^th quarter, the cadets left the game to go home.

Aloha Day

Homecoming week is always looked forward to as a time for students to not only express their school spirit by decorating their hallways, earn points for their class, and elect the Homecoming King and Queen, but also, most importantly, to come to school in their pajama pants. This tradition was renewed again this year on Thursday October 22nd, with Aloha Day.
Aloha Day means the student body was saying goodbye to the first quarter, and hello to the next. Many students got into the spirit by dressing "Hawaiian", meaning leis, Hawaiian shirts, and grass skirts. We saw a lot of tourists this spirit day, but also a lot of traditional Hawaiian accesories from kids who have been stationed in Hawaii before, and even a ukelele. Despite the chilly weather, it was a tropical day indorrs at QMHS. We also began selling spirit links for 10 cents in our homerooms, igniting a competition between the classes that will come to a head on Friday, when we have our pep rally.

Model UN

       Last year, Model UN class was introduced to Quantico, taught by Ms. Martin. She was a new addition to the school two years ago, and teaches many history, social studies, and government classes. The class is only offered as a semester elective class, so after the first semester, Ms. Martin continued the group as a club which would continue to prepare argumentative papers and take trips to Model U.N. conventions at other schools and colleges. Last November, the class traveled to Williamsburg to attend the William and Mary Model UN Conference and in March the club attended the Governor's School in Richmond for their Model UN Conference. The club found a lot of support with students who had taken the semester class and students who wanted to experience Model UN without taking the class. She got many students to think critically about current events, history, culture, and politics, and taught these students how to effectively argue their points through persuasive essays and public speaking.
      This year, the class will continue to be available, as will the club. Students who didn't take the class last year, but enjoyed the club, will learn more about how to compose and present a persuasive or resolution paper, as will students who are new to the whole activity. We will once again visit William and Mary this November, and will begin preparing our argumentative papers soon. Unfortunately, all the available slots for the trip to William and Mary have already been filled; however, the MUN club is always welcoming new members and MUN encourages all students who would like to join the club or the class to do so next quarter, so they might have the experience of going on our next trip.

Choir Club

     Chorus is an organized group of singers that express themselves through song. Quantico High School Chorus is run by Ms.Settle and is during the fall and winter every Monday after school from 2:15 until 3:00 pm. The choir is intended for grades 9-12, a co-ed club, and at the moment has 11 members. The purpose of chorus is to sing, share student’s talents, learn more about the techniques of singing, and to have a good time. The songs that are typically sung in chorus are the student’s overall choice and are Christmas songs for the Winter Christmas concert, as well as pop songs. The students read off of sheet music for songs, and a piano is normally played while the students sing. Most of the students know how to read sheet music and warm up their voices before they sing. There isn’t a specific uniform for the chorus, but the clothes that are worn are formal. The choir doesn’t really participate in any competitions, but they do go on field trips every once in awhile stated Ms. Settle.
Ms. Settle also runs a middle school choir in the spring as well as a jazz group. She teaches Beginning Band, Intermediate Band, Advanced Band, and a 9 week general music class. She started teaching 22 years ago and enjoys it very much. She sings at her church choir and her favorite musical is, “The Sound of Music." Haven Deavers is a senior and has been a member of the Quantico High School Choir for about 3 years and says it’s really fun. Chorus is a really fun way to spread music around the school and have a great time doing it. Everyone from all sorts of activities such as football, cheerleading, and Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (MCJROTC) are in Ms. Settle’s classes and have a passion for music. Feel free to join us in choir, everyone is welcome to share their voices! Don’t forget to come to our Christmas Concert in January! Let’s go Quantico High School Choir!

We will miss you Dr. Tom!

        A strong rumor has come around that Dr. Tom, a well-known math teacher at Quantico Middle/ High School (QMHS), is planning on retiring after this upcoming graduation in the year of 2016. Here at Quantico, he has taught math to a multitude of students for all grades at QMHS. Currently he teaches 8th grade pre-algebra, math lab for high school students, and algebraic modeling for high school students. His high school classes are primarily used as a refresher for high schoolers; they are used as a catch up and preparation class for college board type math which the students will experience more in their futures. Dr. Tom states, "Nowadays, math teachers aren't teaching [the material] correctly, and we need to teach kids how to attack these questions correctly." Over the many years Dr. Tom has been teaching, he has noticed this happening throughout many schools across the globe; he should know, since he has taught all over the world.
        Dr. Tom has taught for a total of 44 years, with 11 of those years at QMHS. Out of those 44 years, he has taught in DoDEA schools for 30 years, and has taught any math class thinkable for 6-12th grade. He has also taught across the globe in places like Maryland, Okinawa, multiple schools in Europe, and here in Quantico. Dr. Tom also has been the principal at schools in Munich, Hahn airbase, Karlsrule, and Sigonella, each for two years, except Sigonella where he was principal for a month because of a promotion to assistant superintendent of DoDEA schools in Puerto Rico for two more years. After those two years as assistant superintendent, Dr.Tom was again promoted to superintendent of DoDEA schools, as he held that position for six years.
        Before teaching however, Dr. Tom made a big athletic impact in his high school and college years, as he was all-state in both football and lacrosse in Maryland for high school and college. After those years during teaching, Dr. Tom also went on to coach lacrosse at Catonville Community College in Maryland. Also, while teaching in Okinawa, he and his good friend, retired lacrosse hall-of-famer Bob Scott who also coached John Hopkins University lacrosse team at the time, started the National Japan Lacrosse Club that is still operating today.
         From this time talking with Dr. Tom, I have discovered that he is way more then your ordinary math teacher. He has lived life to the fullest and has done what he loves for a momentous amount of time, and we thank him for his ability to be here at QMHS to teach us great skills that we will use throughout our lives. After retirement, Dr. Tom plans on working more with STEM and hooking up with technological companies to be their coordinator/ project man and get them more coordinated with schools in showing them the wonders of STEM. We will truly miss Dr. Tom as he retires this summer and we wish him the best in his retirement.

Quantico football

       I had the privilege of interviewing football captain Joe Kelley about the football game last week. The warriors won the game 42-8 making their record 3-1. Joe Kelley has been at Quantico for 6 years now and has played football for 3 of his years. He also likes to play basketball and baseball when it's not football season. Joe is involved in clubs at Quantico like the National Honors Society (NHS) and Student Advisory Council (SCA). Joe is also the Commanding officer (C0) in the Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (MCJROTC). He also has five other siblings that go this school. He is oldest of them, but they are all in high school.

       I asked him some questions about the game against Brunswick Academy and about the team. Joe said that he finds being a captain fun because he gets to tell others what to do and gets to lead the team. When he was selected as a captain, he was very surprised. I asked him how he felt about the game and he said that is was pretty awesome. Also, he said it was a win that was needed and was fought for. To win the game he said that they did tackling and hitting drills during practices. He said that the game couldn't have gone any differently. His favorite moment was during the last drive when Brunswick had the ball on the 5 yard line and the team stopped them from scoring. The football team has named that defensive drive "Custer's last stand."