Penny Wars

By Cassidy Hays

Ms. Holden, who is the director of FFA, is also in charge of Penny Wars. Penny Wars is a competition between all 4 grade levels at Mac-Hi. You compete to see who can bring in the most change in pennies. All of the money they collect goes to Key Club, for the food bank program that they are starting.

When asked what makes Penny Wars fun, Ms. Holden said that what makes it fun for kids is the whole sabotage part of it. All of the grade levels love sabotaging each other to make each class have negative change. Also, counting change makes it fun for students because, you get to see how much money you have raised and how much you have accomplished.

FFA has been doing Penny Wars for 2 years now, and Ms. Holden says it has been a huge success for both years. This year with Penny Wars, FFA raised $284.00, and it was awesome because they involved the entire school in it. The Senior class won with an amount of $-16.18. Ms. Holden hopes to continue doing Penny Wars ever year.

Tyler Mitchell The Unhealthy Health teacher.

By Austin Humbert

Tyler Mitchell is a new health and weight training teacher here at Mac Hi.  Surprisingly, he doesn’t like very many healthy foods such as berries.  ”I love desserts!” he said.

When he was a high schooler in the Portland area he was the class clown, because  he “loved to make people laugh”. After high school he went to Portland Community College and did his student teaching in Sherwood, OR.  He had his first real teaching job at his alma mater, Portland Community College.

He said “Teaching Mac Hi students is different than the college students I taught before.”

This is his first year teaching in a public high school, he said “my favorite thing about teaching is watching my students grow and persevere.”  He also loves to have positive relationships with his students.

Mr. Mitchell lives in College place, WA  with his wife and dog.

He said “My autistic brother is my biggest inspiration.

My brother is the reason I get out of bed in the morning.”

On the weekends he enjoys watching movies and spending time with his wife and dog.  He loves to coach basketball.  You could say that is one of his hobbies alongside working out and other sports.

Even though a lot of Mac Hi students will miss Mrs. Lieuallen, we are happy to have Mr Mitchell in her place.

The Gay Straight Alliance Club: Making a Safe Place in School

By: Cynthia Lozano

What is The Gay Straight Alliance? GSA is a club that is open for everyone. It is accepting and not judgmental. GSA is a supportive club that never brings down the members and always helps people out. It is also confidential. The student who started this club last year was James Hagar. “ I started this club because I wanted a place for myself and others to go and be safe, to know we aren't alone, and most of all, so that other people can understand that we aren't just weird,” says James Hagar.

There's no fee to join in; you just need to show up to the meetings. In this club, members are constantly learning about new sexualities and genders. GSA celebrated Coming Out Day on October 11 by wearing a sign or saying what our sexuality is. This is the second year of GSA, and it has been a great success. “We hope in the future it can help the community. We want to do community service while spreading the word that we are people and we exist, and I think that our club is helping other people who are facing their fears of coming out. And if it’s helping those people, I am glad,” says James Hagar.

For now, the GSA club has no fundraising plans, but they are discussing a few. If you are interested in joining GSA Club show up to a meeting on Thursdays in Mr. Lynn's classroom.

Welcoming Mr. Burns

By Emma Scott

Mr. Burns is a very cool and fun guy.

He teaches Algebra 1 and Language Arts here at Mac-High.

The Algebra 1 class is working on fractions and positive and

negative numbers. He loves this because the kids are starting

to help each other. “They get so excited when they get

something right”, he said.

  “Mr. Burns is a really cool guy”, says Cece Werhan. “He is

always nice to me when I come in late.”

  Mr. Burns also coaches college soccer in Walla Walla.

“It is very exciting.”, he says.

  Mr. Burns comes from Arizona. He and his family love it

here. When asked why he moved here, he said, “I thought it was

a good change for my family, rather than the Arizona heat.”

Not sure if the weather here is better, but it is certainly a

change from Arizona. Mr. Burns has a five year old son and

a nine month (going on ten) daughter.

  Mr. Burns did most of his schooling in California. For him,

high school was at Pacific High School in southern California..

He then moved to northern California for college at Pacific

Union College.

  “I can see myself here for a long time.” Milton-Freewater is

not a place that can chase Mr. Burns away. He loves it here, and

his family does too. He thinks he will be here for five to ten years.

Say hi to him in the halls since he plans to stay for a long, long time.

Mr.White and His Enjoyment Teaching Classes

By Joally Vasquez

Mr White is said to be an “awesome” teacher by his students. “He has a great sense of humor,” said by his student Sofia Oliva. He teaches Integrated Science, Biology, Chemistry,and Physics. Mr White is also a really creative teacher and likes to do experiments with science. When asked”Why did you decide to teach here?” He chuckled and said “Because Mindi Vaughan was the first administrator to give me a call back.” He enjoys teaching science and wouldn’t mind teaching other classes if he had the chance to.

Mr. White likes Milton-Freewater because it’s a nice small town,and because there are seasons unlike in Arizona (where it feels like it is summer all year). Spring is usually his favorite season out of all. He thinks teaching science is fun because it is the best science room he has ever taught in. “Most of my teaching years were awful, I had one class (in Arizona) that had no sink for my science room.” In his opinion the most fun thing about teaching science is many hands-on activities. His classes will do some interesting things this year like blowing up hydrogen balloons for Chemistry and visiting Hanford Nuclear facility in Washington in Physics. His favorite hobbies are hiking, backpacking, etc. During his free time, he likes to watch sports, or exercise. If you don't already know Mr.White, pay him a visit and say hi, because he enjoys meeting new people.

To Kiss Or Not To Kiss? (Opinion)

By Jasmine Sears

High school, a time of learning, finding out how you are, but also it is a time that you start forming romantic relationships. We get it you're “in love” and in your own little world with that person, but would you mind saving the whole heavy making out thing for when you get away from school? It’s gross, and a HUGE problem. As we all know school is for learning and to talk to your friends/significant other, which is fine but some classmates find that the making out in the halls and school grounds to be a bit much, and here's what some fellow classmates and teachers have to say.

”It ‘s really weird”

“I think it’s gross”

“I think if you want to make out go off of campus so we don't have to see it be considerate of other people.”

“It's ok for couples to show their affection, at the appropriate place which is not school, and it seems like every time you go to turn a corner you see a couple eating each others’ faces and it’s really uncomfortable”, said senior Alex H.

When both of the principles were interviewed here is what they had to say, “It's uncomfortable, the reason we have the rules in place is so you know what the limits are and this is a place of business and we receive funny looks when people drive by and see this happen.”

So basically when we use PDA outside we give the school a bad reputation because people will think that the staff here just let us do whatever we want and this is not the case. So please, be respectful of other people and the school's policies. Now they aren’t saying that you can’t be affectionate, but just do less of it at school. You can do whatever on your own time.

The adventures of Mrs Dony:

By Abby Richwine

Mrs Dony is the ESL: English Spanish Language teacher here Mcloughlin High school.

  She was born in Minnesota, 1964. Her family moved around a lot from Idaho in 1987, to California, Washington, then eventually to Oregon. Her husband worked at an all state insurance and wanted to live on a farm near his job. So they moved to Oregon in 2004, on a farm near Weston. She has many pets there with her and her family. Cows, horses, goats, sheep and chickens! They also have 3 white dogs, Angel, Tes, and Specks. A pit bull named Nicki and 2 healers, Guinea pig and hamster! To finish up the large family, they have three indoor cats; Mugga, Penelope, and Titten, and two outside, Tiger and Hallie.

When she went to college she started at Boise state university, not sure what she wanted to do. She was split between Marine biologist, Vet, and an Artist, because of her love for art and animals.

When her first child, Katria, now twenty-three, was two, she went back to her college to finished her bachelor's. At the end of the year, when turning in her final paper, the following Monday she found out at a KFC buffet, that she was again pregnant.

“I was eating non stop!” She said with a laugh. “In the middle of stuffing my face, my sister stared at me, eyes wide and suggested that I was pregnant because of how I was eating.” Her second child is Jessika, now age twenty one.

After she moved to Oregon, she went back to college at Eastern Oregon university to receive a teaching degree. She subbed for eight years before receiving a full teaching job! She did have a long term sub for Ms Dixon from 2007 to 2009 for Pre-Algebra while doing a small amount of algebra teaching in 2008.  

 She says now that she has a full teaching job, she enjoys teaching high school because they are more mature than the middle school students she used to help substitute. Her goal for her students are for them to become more comfortable with the English language.  

Her hobbies are fixing up the house at the moment. But when she is finally done with work, she and her husband want to explore the Caribbean with a sailboat and sell their dear little farm. She went diving with her family last summer as a family vacation in Mexico! She is quite an adventurous person. When talking with her, it’s always a fun conversation. This is Mrs Dony.

Nerd Club

By: Cynthia Lozano

Nerd Club is known for a club to hang out, learn new things over a subject anybody wants to learn about. Nerd club helps students understand people better and lets them interact with people. You can walk right up and talk to the person or group without having a problem.

“When students come to nerd club, and want to try something, we all try it together," says club president, Alex Hunter. Nerd club was formed last year. It was a challenge for the club to stand out because of students' scheduling conflicts sports. Students would choose their sports instead of clubs, and it still is.

They really don't have money to buy new board games and so, if they want try something new, and they don’t have it, they have to buy it with their own money. They decided to finally put the meeting dates on the announcements, which will make it easier, and noticeable. Last year, they had few members, but this year the group of people they had last year expanded tremendously.

“Get your money and pens to sign in to Nerd club!” No. Nerd Club is a club where you can just join without any sign ups, it’s a club that has members that flow in and out. If you share an interest with anything that is in the club, then they can progress on that. If you want to add something new, they can look at that as well; there's really no criteria to joining. You just need to be willing to put up with the people.

The surprising part of Nerd Club, is that there really wasn’t any club like this one,where people can hang out with their friends and play games after school. If there was a club you can go after school, then it sort of validates a reason for being here. There are clubs with sports, heritage, and so on, but there really isn't a club like this one, where you can just hang out, try new experiences, games, and meet new people. If you are interested in joining Nerd Club, show up to the meeting every Monday at Mr. Lynn's classroom.

Key Club;A Club That Helps The Community

By Karina Lua

Key Club is known for doing fundraisers. This year Key Club is participating in Socktober; they are collecting socks, gloves, personal hygiene products for both kids and adults. They will give these items to homeless people in Milton and Walla Walla and throw a pizza party for the class that donates the most.

But this club is not just about raising money. This club is about service, leadership, and care. This club provides “opportunities for provide service, build character, and develop leadership" (Key Club International definition). “I think it helps students learn how to help their school, their community, and themselves” says one of its advisors Ms.Hammer.

Some other things they have done for the community are Fill a Backpack, Make a Smile, which was providing school supplies to kids in need. They helped paint the Dollar Store last month, and last year they sold water at graduation to raise money for a Mac-Hi student's family who lost everything in a house fire. The most recent fundraiser was the Baked Potato Feed to help a Mac-Hi student and his family. Key Club raised $800 dollars! That’s a lot!

Ms. Hammer says, “I love the students, I love that we get to do good things in our school and in our community.” There are around 20 students at each meeting so far this year. Ms. Hammer thinks this club has been a part of Mac-Hi since the 1950s. If you are interested in joining this club, show up to meetings every Tuesday to Ms.Hammer’s classroom.

8th period

By Giselle Pereyra

What’s the purpose of 8th period? According to our school counselor, Mr. Bockert, “8th period is a class for students to get information for college and help with their grades.” Mr Bockert says that 8th period has different benefits for every year. For freshman it can help with study skills and homework; for sophomores it can be a place to find good colleges to apply too with a great career. Juniors take those things and start to apply them, says Mr. Bockert. Finally, he says that seniors can start focusing on their next chapter in life.


Many students say that they prefer longer periods, and they don't like the new system. Mr Bockert says, "No system is ever perfect" and he wants it to improve throughout this year. Mr Bockert says 8th period is “a productive use of students time." He gives an example that last year only 5 people showed up to the financial, and this year 55 people showed up.

Cross Country Runs the Distance

By Cassidy Hays

Going into the league games, Mr. Milleson, the Cross Country coach says, that his team’s thoughts are that they are very confident. They try not to worry because they already know that they will be great.

Just in case anybody does not know what Cross Country is, it is a running sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. Coach Milleson mentions that “Sometimes, the runners are even referred to as harriers (dogs)."

He said he has two key players. It is hard to choose just one because he has a few. Those few are Thayne Krumbah and Caleb Marsh. He says “They are both great students/runners. They are always in front of everybody, and are very good at running.Everybody is always ready to go, and on time to practice.”

Thayne Krumbah told me that that the most difficult thing about being on the cross-country team is that “You run until you puke. There is no stopping, even if you are tired. Kids run so fast, and try so hard, that you can sprain your ankle, knee or other parts of your body. But the most dangerous thing is running until you puke or pass out, because there is absolutely no stopping.” Thayne works as hard as he can and runs miles and miles in his free time. He works at it, exercises, and tries his hardest. He is always ready and “can't wait to start.”

Thayne Krumbah continues,  “This year is going great so far. We have had our ups and downs, but that's okay. We are coming together as a fairly big team." There are 35 boys on the cross-country team. However, Coach Milleson seems to love it, and handle it quite nicely.

I enjoyed getting to talk to some of the players and getting to know about their team.

Soccer, The Top Kicks

By Austin Leonetti

Sports are always an amazing trait to define a school, but some teams aren’t as noticed as others. Mcloughlin High School’s Girls’ Junior Varsity soccer team is coached by Devin Holmes. The soccer team this year is undefeated, and in the words of Holmes, “We are getting better and better every day.”

Right now the J.V. soccer team has a record of 7-0 with their most recent victory being over Umatilla. The final score was 14-0 with our Mac-Hi girls coming out with the victory. The most dangerous threat to opposing schools is how well they work as a team and are always the first ones to the ball in the midfield.

There isn’t a specific player that is the “best” player on the team. Holmes says, “ All 13 players play a part in the game.” In their previous game they scored 6 goals, and each goal was scored by a different player.

League games are big for our school because there are only 4 teams in the Greater Oregon League. (Which is a 4-a League) The teams include Mcloughlin High School, Ontario High School, Baker High School, and La Grande High School. This season the J.V. girls have already had a stunning victory over La Grande High School. The final score of the game was 1-0 with Mac-Hi pulling ahead in an undefeated season.

The girls mentally prepare for all games the same whether it is going to be a league game, or pre-season game. The win over La Grande was a surprise to Coach Holmes, because that was the first victory over La Grande since he has been the Junior Varsity head coach.

Why The First TØP Album Is My Favorite

By Nayeli Anahi Ruiz

I’m sure most of you have heard of twenty one pilots what with their hits that come on the radio too much. However, most of you have only heard those three songs, while I have listened to their entire discography. Personally, their first self-titled album is my favorite.

First off, it’s incredibly sad, which I guess can be quite relatable to a lot of  people in this school. With themes such as anxiety, death, depression, and hopelessness, it gives off those vibes that just draw you to it. These subjects show up in all four of their albums, but it is the most present in their 2009 album.

Secondly, the lyrics are beautifully metaphorical. Whether you can read between the lines and understand them or not, they baffle you. The complex lyrics make you really think about them and how they relate to you. They are never straightforward so the songs meanings are always up for interpretation. I believe that’s why so many people have taken comfort in their lyrics, and why so many people like twenty one pilots, especially the first album.

All in all, I just really love this album. I really love this band actually. If you haven’t already, you should definitely listen to twenty one pilots.

Mrs. Burnham: A lady of Art

By: Abby Richwine

Lynne Burnham is the new art teacher here at Mcloughlin High School. She wasn’t always planning to be an art teacher, instead she went to Shoreline College and earned an associate’s degree in 1991 for Graphic Design.

Later, she decided to attend Boise State University for BA in Art Education in 2004 and went on to earn a master’s degree in educational tec. Her first teaching job was at Vallivue High School District near Boise. After working at Vallivue, she decided to move again, to Walla Walla, teaching art to home-schooled kids. Now that she’s at Mac-Hi, her favorite part of teaching here is bonding with the students and helping them reach their full potential.

Her students talk about how she calls the classroom “Their classroom” and how excited she is to become close to each and every one of them. One of her students, Maddie Edwards says, “She is a very talented and creative person.” Mrs. Burnham loves to help others when needed and works to understand her students. She even puts on her students’ taste in music like Justin Bieber, despite what she would rather be listening to, such as country.


She truly loves to help them work hard and have fun drawing hands and expressing lines! But it’s not just her students she loves; she also has a young kitten at home named Tiger, AKA: kitty-kitty, fat cat. She also has a big personality to go along with her big heart.“I would jump onto a plane to New Zealand. I’ve always been fascinated by the beauty in their mountains and culture.”


Her favorite painting is Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh. She spoke about the story and attraction of the painting draws her to love his work. The art speaks to her like it always has.“I started drawing at a young age. But then I grew to enjoy many other forms.” Her favorites are watercolor, painting, and sculptures. When she is not concentrating on art, her hobbies include photography, gardening, and altered art paintings and books.

One of her students, Maddie Edwards said “She is a talented and creative person.” Many of her other students have said the same, and told about how she calls the classroom, their classroom, and that the supplies are their supplies. She is overall a very kind, and amazing person.

Ms Roe: Lady of Nature.

By Sofia Oliva

A young lady who grew up in Kodiak, Alaska, now teaches geometry here at Mac-Hi. Roe has 6 periods of geometry, and she likes it.The idea of being able to help someone else understand something, going through the process herself to figure out how she can word it for a student to understand her teaching, is an idea she likes. This is her 1st year being a full time teacher. She’s had 2 terms of being a teacher's assistant in college , but never an actual full time job, like she has this year. Roe doesn't only have a degree in math, she also has a degree in art. Nothing like serious art, she just likes to have fun with drawing and artistic activities. Never did she want to attend college, but her other told her she at least had to go for 1 term and if she didn’t like it she could get out of it, but during her 1st term there she ended up liking and staying for about 5 more years at Eastern Oregon. In the future she still see’s herself teaching here, since she doesn't really have big plans for her future, however she likes the community, “It’s very welcoming”, she said. Still finishing her masters degree, she found Mac-Hi because her adviser emailed her and mentioned that they were looking for a math teacher, so she took a shot at applying, and was very excited to hear that she got the job. 1st year teaching, means she doesn’t jace very much free time on her hand, although she loves running, hiking and being outside enjoying nature. Up where she grew up in Kodiak, she said, “It’s very beautiful in late spring early summer, since it’s so green, and up in Anchorage, in late fall at the national park, it’s so gorgeous, just seeing all the colorful leaves of fall.” An interesting fact about het is during a 12 hour race, she ran and completed 50 miles, last year in 2015, though after that she mentioned that it hurt for about a week to walk, since she never trained to run that much and that long, but she still liked it. “Always prepare for something before you do it”.

Mr. Wilks - A man of many talents

By: Sofia Oliva

You might know Mr. Wilks as an English teacher, who enjoys reading,

writing fiction, and poetry, who likes to share, but reading and teaching isn’t all that he does. Wilks has many hobbies that he does in his free time such as art, writing, reading (of course), poetry, bonsai, building custom motorcycles, skiing, and fishing. He’s even published one of his poetries.

He and wife have a son who graduated from the Criminal Justice at Eastern Washington University and, is a current rodeo bull rider, and a 13 year old daughter who attends Pioneer Middle School in Walla Walla, that plays soccer and does cross country. They seem like a pretty busy family: however, they still have time to care for their pets. He has four cats, 4 quarter horses, two dogs, 3 rabbits and about 6 fish.

Wilks grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, attended Lexington Missouri High School, and after his high school years, he went to the University of Montana, Texas A&M University, and Walla Walla University. If you want to know about any state in the U.S, ask Mr. Wilks. Why? He mentioned that he has visited every state! Not only that he has also gone to Mexico, Canada, and Costa Rica, he has lived in 6 different states, and comes from a military family. “The Grand Canyon, 4 Corner Areas, and the British Columbia were the most beautiful places I have visited.” Mr. Wilks said.

How did a guy like him who’s been in quite a few places, find McLoughlin? He mentioned that he lives nearby the Walla Walla County and he has participated in numerous sporting events in the area. He’s only going onto his 2nd year of teaching, his first being at College Place Sager Middle School, and his 2nd year is now here at Mac-Hi. He believes it's a chance to try be a positive influence in young people’s lives, so that’s why he enjoys teaching.

Homecoming Week

By Mckenna Stallings and Emma Scott

Homecoming was an amazing week. Way to show your school spirit!! Even though every class did an amazing job, it was the juniors that won in the end. Hall decorating was so much fun. Personally, I think that the seniors did the best. However, to all of Mac-High, I congratulate you on a job well done on dressing up. I saw some whoopie cushions….. Amazing! For the penny wars, I have to say that was very intense. Again, congrats seniors! Now I know some of you may not want to talk about the game. The homecoming game was against La Grande with an amazing start of a touchdown from Mac-High automatically. At half-time the King and Queen were announced. Congrats to Mallory Copeland and Humberto Villagomez. The game kept going and we were at 7-0. Still looking good. However, La Grande sadly beat us, 20-68. Keep going guys. Stay strong! We love you. And to everyone else, keep having Pioneer Grit!

The Spunk Spontaneous Spanish Teacher

By Tyra Chester

If you have never met Señora Garcia, she has a really cheerful personality.She had teached for 5 years before she came to Mac-Hi ,what's interesting is that she took a seven year break to have her two kids and build a family. One fun fact about her is that she has been to over 10 countries, one of them was Germany where she lived when she was really little. She learned German when she was little, but after she moved to America she forgot. Yet her love for traveling carried with her. As she grew up here in Milton-Freewater, her junior year in high school she went on an exchange to Brazil, where she picked up Portuguese. Her sister was the one who inspired her to go on an exchange when she went to Argentina.


It’s hard to imagine how her parents dealt with them being away for a full year but they were there to support them in their choices. Her parents grew up around here. Her dad even graduated from our very own Mac-Hi, her mom not too far away in Umapine.
As for her family, she met her husband in high school; you could call them “high school sweethearts”. Together they have two wonderful girls, who speak both Spanish and English. One is two, and the other is seven. With her two kids she stays pretty busy. Señora Garcia says her seven year old is turning into quite the little athlete doing t-ball for two years now, soccer, and has been in “kidnastics.” As for her two year old, she is just old enough for kidnastics. When she's not rushing her kids to practices and games, you might find her running or sitting down relaxing, reading a nice book.

How to Have the Best Camping Trip

By ALICIA WALTER

    There are a few essential things that you must do when going on a family camping trip:

1. You must stay in a tent, not in a camper.

    When camping, you should always stay in a tent. Staying in a camper takes the fun away from being outdoors. If you hear rustling outside your tent, it’s probably a deer, or it’s someone trying to play a joke. Either way, it’s equally exciting to know you’re braving the outdoors.

2. You must always bring enough chocolate for s'mores.

    Make sure you have a campfire wherever you set up camp. It’s a real shame if you don’t, and you miss out on the goodness of s’mores. You will always have a great time catching up with your family over roasted marshmallows, melted chocolate, and graham crackers. You can tell ghost stories around the fire, sing songs, and just have a great time in your family's company.  

3. You must fish for at least two hours even if you don’t catch anything.

    It’s never camping without fishing. You should always pack your fishing rods and some bait. Even if you forget the bait, you can definitely find some worms or grasshoppers to use. Some days you, won’t catch anything. You’ll stand there for a half an hour, get discouraged, and want to call it quits. You can’t do this. Sooner or later, you will catch a fish, so you have to keep trying. That moment of reeling in that first catch makes the waiting worth it. Don’t give up!

4. If you see a rope, you should definitely swing off of it.

    There is almost always a rope dangling over most lakes you might camp by. Whether it’s sturdy, or not, is another question... All you have to do is swing off of it one time. That’s all it takes, and already you’ll be braver than all the kids that didn’t. You may be scared at first, but remember, if a bunch of eight year olds can do it, you can too! All you have to do is take a risk.

5. If you see a cliff, you should NOT jump off of it.

    Don’t try this at home, kids!

Worst Summer Jobs Ever!

By CAMI RILEY

If you have ever had to work a job during the summer, then you know that there are some pretty bad jobs out there. Sometimes, however, some of the hardest jobs pay the best, so opinions can be in the eye of the beholder. I took the initiative to go out and ask people what the worst job they ever had were .

One of the horrible jobs I was told about by Autumn Cusino was weevil crew. When working weevil crew, you have to wear thick jeans and tennis shoes while sweeping the fields in the heat of the summer sun. The goal of the weevil crew workers is to check the bug population and report back to their advisor to see whether or not the field needs to be sprayed. One of the workers talked of how she was stung by bees five times in one week while working on the weevil crew. Another worker talked of how they once had to sweep almost a whole field by themselves on one of the hottest days of the year, saying that she was pretty close to succumbing to heatstroke.

Another horrible job that Mac-Hi students told me about was working as a Quality Assurance Analyst for Smith’s. A typical day working as a QA analyst entails waking up at 8pm, eating dinner with the family, and getting to work by 9 p.m. Once at work, the workers must type in their number and scan their hand to clock in, sort of like in spy movies. Next QA analysts must sanitize their elbows down and put their hair up in a hairnet and orange bump cap (which is a little helmet). They also wear white lab coats, and you can’t forget about the earplugs that save the QA analysts’ hearing on a daily basis. After all of that, the QA analyst are be able to start their actual job. First, they take a pitcher and dunk it in a sanitary solution, then the analyst would go to this tunnel where it rained frozen peas (frozen peas are painful like hail pellets when they hit you in a 10 degree room), next their job turns absolutely scientific when they test the color, appearance, and maturity with all kinds of crazy scientific gizmos that explode your mind with wonder. Once that is done, they must repeat for eight hours. All in all, this job has got to be at least in the top five of the most horrible jobs, especially when you realize just how monotonous and sometimes painful it can be.

Last but not least is the glorified baby sitter: the lifeguard. Before going on shift, lifegaurds must make sure to absolutely slather themselves completely in sunscreen if they have any hope of not burning to death during the time they work. While most people think that lifeguarding is the cushiest job ever, I am afraid they are severely mistaken. Far from the cliche, lifeguarding is full of discomfort, ickiness, and for what seems like the majority of the time, janitorial work. Lifeguards at the Milton-Freewater aquatic center have to be at work by 11:00-11:15am if they are working the morning shift. Once at work, they are expected to set out the mats, check over and/or clean the locker rooms if they are dirty, prime and start the slides, clean the guard room, and prepare for their shift of guarding. The lifeguards must be in position by 11:30 and ready to save patrons from drowning. Hours in the hot sun trying to get people to follow the rules is a monotonous and boring job, but hey, at least you can get a tan while doing it, and in truth the pay is pretty good.

6 free (or cheap) things to do in the summer!

By SANDRA PEREYDA

With college right around the corner for many of us seniors and money being a huge concern, I have decided to make a list of free and cheap things to do to help you enjoy the summer!

1. GO TO THE FREE MILTON PLAY AND FREE BBQ! There’s a fun and free thing you can do and it's at the beginning of the summer as well! The Milton play will be June 16-19 @ 7pm and June 18 and 19 @ 2pm! Sign up for a ticket at Super Milton, Burger Hut, Conoco or Sub Shop! You could also call (888-854-5698) The free BBQ will be on Saturday at 5 p.m. before the show!
2. Build a fort and invite your friends! Bring some nostalgia into your backyard with some of your closest friends this summer. A fort could be a fun way to keep the summer heat out and the coolness of your friends in! Alternatively, you could build a fort by yourself and read a book or watch some movies by yourself! Either is fun!
3. Make some popsicles! Fun summer treats could be consumed at any time during the summer! You could make enough for all of your friends or just a few to hide in the freezer for yourself. One of my favorite things to make is a fruit and gummy bear frozen popsicle. You will need Sprite, some fruit such as strawberries, kiwi, raspberries and blackberries or other fruits you like. Next add some sprite into a cup or popsicle maker, throw some fruit and gummy bears inside, freeze for a few hours and, Voila! You have yourself some Instagram-worthy popsicles.
4. Ride your Bike around! Riding your bike around and finding a new trail could be the best thing you've ever done! My favorite place to ride my bike is the trail at Harris Park. Not only is there nature around, but the satisfaction of the fresh air and the feeling of freedom is pure bliss! Not to mention the nice calves you can get!
5. Start a Garden! Gardening could be something that you could be interested in. Growing your own fruit and vegetables could have many benefits! For one, you know what goes into your fruit and vegetables AND you can save money! I personally grow strawberries, peaches, green beans, tomatoes, and peppers, and it’s not that hard to do! You can also just walk outside and grab a nice snack!
6. Explore Milton-Freewater! Grab a couple friends, buy some snacks and find yourself a new chill spot for the summer! Last year, our go to spot was our “ Waterhole,” a pool like area in the river by the bridge that is both fun and safe! Make sure to take some sun screen and river shoes because you’ll have to walk for some time in order to get to a good river spot! In the end, it’s all worth it.

All these are some fun suggestions that I have done before or will do in the summer! Just remember that whatever you do, make sure to have fun, even if it’s staying inside and binge-watching your favorite shows on Netflix! Have a great summer everyone!