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!

River’s Edge Track Meet

by ALICIA WALTER

     The River’s Edge Track and Field Meet was held in Umatilla on Friday April 8th, 2016. The Umatilla meet is geared towards Varsity Athletes, so they only take the top three people from each school for each event. 
     Our school was allowed five girls into the Javelin event because our top five girls all have thrown over 90 ft. This is an exceptional feat, considering most schools only have one girl who can throw in the 90’s. Most schools range in the 80’s. 
     Mike Odman placed 5th in the Triple Jump with a jump of 37-03 ft. Landon Warne took 1sr place in Discus with a throw of 138-10 ft.  Donald Clark placed 4th in Discus with a throw of 119-02 ft. Donald Clark also placed 6th in Shot Put with a throw of 38-08.50 ft. Mike Odman also placed 8th in the 100 Meter Dash with a time of 12.07 seconds. 
     Delaney Karrels placed 7th in Triple Jump, with a jump of 26-06 ft. Alicia Walter (yours truly) placed 5th in Pole Vaulting with a height of 7-00 ft. Delaney Karrels also placed 6th in High Jump with a height of 4-04 ft. Amber Wells placed 7th in Javelin with a throw of 99-08 ft. She also took 1st place in Shot Put and Discus. In Discus, she throw 104-09 ft, and  32-11.50 ft in Shot Put. 
     The Girls 4x400 Relay placed 5th with a time of 5:01.54 minutes. The girls who ran it were Cynthia Flores, Bianca Garcia, and Kaitlynne Jensen, and Celeste Moreno. The girls 4x100 placed 5th with a time of 56.63 seconds. The girls who ran it were Londin Warne, Cynthia Flores, Bianca Garcia, and Kiara Brinkley. Elise Griffith in both the 3000 Meter run, and the 1500 Meter run. Her time in the 3000 was 12:39.20 minutes, and her time in the 1500 was 5:43.02 minutes. Kiara Brinkley placed 3rd in the 200 Meter Dash with a time of 28.89 seconds. 
     Keep in mind, there were lots of other athletes that placed in their events, or made a seasonal personal record. These were only athletes that were made the top eight. 19 schools attended the meet, and provided great competition for our Mac-Hi Pioneers.   

Annual Carnival of Speed Track and Field Meet

by ALICIA WALTER

    On April 1st, Mac-Hi held its annual Carnival of Speed meet. No, it wasn’t a joke. Our Pioneers strived to make new personal records, and score higher than the other 26 teams from Oregon and Washington that were in attendance. While we only compete at Districts with Ontario, LaGrande, and Baker, it’s great to have some competition that you don’t always see.

    As always, teams are praying for good weather, and like every other year, the temperature rose to the high 70’s. It was a beautiful day that allowed the athletes to perform well, and compete at their best.  

    Athletes want to strive to make the top eight in each event. Making the top eight means you receive points. Getting ten points in a season means you automatically make varsity, and we had quite of few athletes either making that mark on the second meet of the season, or getting really close to it.  

    We’ve had multiple athletes from our Track and Field program who placed in their events. Michael Odman placed second in triple jump, with a distance of 38-01.50 ft. Cole Skramstad placed third in Javelin with a throw of 148-10 ft. Landon Warne placed 1st in Discus with a throw of 136-7 ft. Donald Clark placed 3rd in discus with a throw of 123-06 ft. Landon Warne placed 6th in Shot put with a throw of 39-07 ft. Austin Leonetti placed in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 48.95 seconds. Those were all the boys who placed in the top 8 in a meet with 26 attending schools.

    For the girls, Delaney Karrels placed 8th in High Jump with a height of 4.02 ft. Amber wells placed 1st in Javelin, with a throw of 109-08 ft. Alicia Walter (yours truly), placed 5th in Javelin with a throw of 96 ft. Mindy Harmon, placed 7th in Javelin with a throw of 94-10 ft. Amber Wells placed 5th in Shot Put with a throw of 31-01.25 ft. The girls 4x400 relay girls placed 8th with a time of 4:58.96 seconds. The girls who ran it were Cynthia Flores, Bianca Garcia, Brianna Hernandez, and Celeste Moreno. Candelaria Maguregui placed 6th in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 54.96 seconds. She also placed 6th in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 19.05 seconds.

    Mac-Hi has a strong athletic department for all sports, not just Track and Field. We lost a lot of senior boys last year, so if you are a guy and are interested in Track, you should come out next year. More girls are welcome too. It’s a great place to make new friends, and push yourself to the limits.  

National Honor Society Banquet

by ALICIA WALTER

    On March 31st, Mac-Hi held its annual National Honor Society Banquet. The banquet is an annual representation of how well the students of McLoughlin receive good grades.This is an desert banquet, so students bring store-bought and homemade goodies.  At the banquet, scholar students who have maintained a 3.5, or higher, receive a certificate and possibly a pin.

    Students won’t get a pin until their second year making honor roll, so freshmen have to wait until they become sophomores. Second year honor roll student get a certificate and a silver scholarship pin. Third year honor roll students get a certificate and a gold scholarship pin.

    Seniors who have managed to make this mark for four years receive a certificate and a gift card. This year, the gift card is to Ohana Frozen Yogurt because Mrs. Esser wants to “support a local business.”

    We had 120 kids in total who received a certificate this year. The award is based off of the first semester of each new school year. Remember to do your best the first semester so you can possibly receive your certificate. This looks good on college applications.

College Tuition Getting You Down?

by ALICIA WALTER

Do you think the cost of tuition for college is too much? Well, think again. There are multiple resources at your disposal, according to our high school counselor Jeff Bockert.

Money isn’t an easy thing to find, but filling out the FAFSA is a step in the right direction. The FAFSA offers free money, and all you have to do is fill out a tax report for either yourself or your parents. If you haven’t filed your taxes, or your parents haven’t, then you can put in the information from last year’s taxes. Once you get your new tax forms back, then you can update the information. Do it fast because you only have a couple more weeks left.

Filling out the OSAC is another step you should take. There are great scholarships you can receive if you enter all your information from volunteering to personal statements. It may be a long process, but in the end, it couldwill benefit you on your college journey.

If tuition is still a problem, Oregon is starting the Oregon Promise. The Oregon Promise means that you can potentially go to college for free at any community college. There are, however, requirements that have to be met.

• You have to have graduated from an oregon high school, or received your GED in oregon.
• You have to have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher.
• Be an Oregon resident for 12 months prior to enrolling.
• You have to enroll within 6 months of graduating.
• When you enroll you need to have at least 6 credits worth of classes.

There are many other tools for you to use to help with your college tuition, such as apps like Scholly, and websites like Fastweb. While there may be a lot of paperwork to fill out, this is free money, so don’t miss out!