The Full Deck
Thanksgiving Traditions
By Mason Commisso
Thanksgiving is something that Americans and people all around the world look forward to each year! It is a time where families get to come together and cherish each other’s company and where going to get seconds is a must.
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, some of the Caribbean islands, and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Similarly, named festive holidays occur in Germany and Japan as well.
In 1621, the dinner known as “The First Thanksgiving” took place. The feast was attended by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, at Plymouth Colony. It wasn’t until 1863, during the American Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a federal holiday.
Each year Americans in the United States celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. Most families follow traditions that began on the first Thanksgiving, but many have their own traditions that they follow each year. Here are some of the common Hicksville traditions associated with Turkey Day. Senior Braden Langham shared, “As a family, we usually sit and watch football after our meal. We either go down to Florida to see our cousins, or they come up here.” Junior Addi Strubing also commented, “We always make sure that we set our Thanksgiving on the OSU and Michigan game.”
One of most popular Thanksgiving traditions around the world is “breaking the wishbone”. Two people grab an end, and whoever pulls it apart with the bigger piece in their hand gets to make a wish. Each year at Thanksgiving, the President of the United States receives a gift of two live turkeys. At a White House ceremony, the president traditionally "pardons" the National Thanksgiving turkeys so they can live on a farm. Many families watch the New York City Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which includes marching bands, floats, songs and performances from
Broadway dances and giant helium-filled balloons!
Thanksgiving is also a holiday that is more than just the food and football games. It is a time where families get to come together and make memories together. It is a time where you can help others out that need it. To be thankful for everything that you do have, because some people aren’t as fortunate.
November 2019
The First Thanksgiving.
Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade.
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Impeachment
By Reagan Denning
Impeachment is the action of calling into question the integrity or validity of something. Impeachment deals with a political act, not a legal one. There are no clear rules for determining if a president has stepped over the constitutional line. The president will remain in office until the end of the trial. The first step in the impeachment process is for Congress to investigate. The second step is where the House of Representatives pass articles of impeachment, which constitute the allegations. The third step is when the Senate tries the accused. The House of Representatives have impeached nineteen people. Most of them were federal judges, but two of them were presidents, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson. The senate voted and they were not convicted of any crimes.
On September 24, 2019, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, announced that the House of Representatives would undertake in a formal impeachment process. Trump was accused of betraying his oath of office, U.S national security, and the integrity of the country’s elections. Allegedly, Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to take actions that would help Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. Witnesses have said that Trump and other top officials pressured leaders of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, former vice president of the United States,
and his son. While working on Burisma’s board, reportedly, Hunter Biden was paid $50,000 to $80,000 a month for years.
Impeachments hearings have begun. Rick Perry, Energy Secretary, declined to appear at the hearings. Perry said he “would not partake in a secret star chamber inquisition where agency council is forbidden to be present.”Perry does not believe that Trump will be removed from office. Fox News’ Ed Henry did an interview with Perry, where Perry stated, “I don’t see the American people buying into this thing.”
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, is scheduled to appear on December fifth. Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol that, “when we see a violation of the Constitution, we have no choice but to act.”
Pelosi also told reporters, “and the evidence is clear that the president-the president-has used his office for personal gain-and in doing so, undermined the national security of the United States by withholding military assistance to Ukraine to benefit the Russians” (The Washington Post). Trump is scheduled to have an interview on Fox and Friends about the impeachment hearings.
The democrats are looking to close out their case with statements from Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top advisor on Russia and Europe. Democrats have also asked David Holmes, the political counselor in the American Embassy in Kiev, to make a statement. Holmes claims that he overheard a phone call between Trump and Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European nation (New York Times). The White House has asked democrats to “stop these illegitimate sham hearings immediately.” If they do not stop, Trump wants it to go to trial in the Senate because “It’s clearly the only chamber where he can expect fairness and receive due process under the Constitution.” Hogan Gidley, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary, would expect to “finally hear from witnesses who actually witnessed, and possibly participated in corruption-like Adam Schiff, Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and the so called Whistleblower, to name a few” (NBC News).
Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America
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Academic team
By Justice Peterson
The Academic Team is when a group of students from two schools get together and are asked trivia questions. The format includes questions about American literature, mathematics, world history, fine arts and life science, followed by an alphabet challenge. Then there is a second round with world literature, US government, physical science, world geography, and US history, followed by a lightning round. When the lightning question is asked, then whoever thinks they know the answer have 5 seconds to push their buzzer. The person who buzzes first gets to answer the question. If the answer is wrong then the other team is allowed to attempt to answer it.
Hicksville Academic Varsity Team includes senior Ethan Coplin, Juniors Collin Durre, Chloe Gerhart, and Kenya Mericle, and sophomore Christian Layne. The JV team has juniors Elizabeth Delagrange and Madison Huffine, sophomores Taylor Metz and Emily Harmon, and freshman Noah Shaffer. The advisor of the team is Mrs.Kathy Laney.
Chloe Garhart has been on the Academic Team for 3 years and was asked some questions about her time being on the team. She shared, “Some of the math questions are really easy (even though I hate math) and the harder questions (at least for me) are the ones about composers, since I know nothing about them.”
She was also asked about what kind of relationship that she thinks the team has together. “I think our team has a fairly good relationship since we have a mix of odd personalities. Some of us, like myself, don’t get very upset if we lose, but other people on the team get really upset.”
to be done, I will be ready to be done. There isn't much left for me to accomplish that I want to accomplish. I’ve been on varsity a while, had fun, met people, seen my friends join and then graduate, worn a reindeer sweater on TV which aired in March, I’ve done it all.”
Academic Team advisor for 17 years, Mrs.Laney, was asked some questions about her team. When asked about what she thinks the team could work, on she replied, “They don’t take chances on answers. They are afraid to be wrong. Sometimes you just need to go with it and buzz in quickly. If you wait till you are 100% sure, the other team will usually beat you to the buzz.” She was asked about the team’s relationship and said “They are close and seem to enjoy each other and are very supportive of each other.” Mrs.Laney expects from the team “That they try their best and come to practice and to the meets.” She was asked if anyone can be on the team, she said, “Yes but they can’t compete unless they maintain a C or above.”
The varsity team at a meet against Hilltop
The captain of the varsity team, Ethan Coplin, has been on the Academic Team for 3.5 years. Ethan shared, “I would say we are pretty balanced for the most part, and even though I’m the captain, I don’t really have to "lead". Everyone knows what they need to do.” Ethan also related, “Something we could improve on is communication, which is hard because if you hesitate
you lose, but communication is pretty huge to any good team in any circumstance.” Since this is his last year of being on the academic team he said, “When it’s time for me
Collin, Christian, Ethan, Kenya, Chloe and Mrs. Laney
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“Trust the Process”
By Adelyn Strubing
The Lady Aces Basketball Team has off to a good start. The team consists of senior Kennedey Villena, juniors Kennedy Phillips and Kelsey Monroe, sophomores Sydney Bland, Izzie Smith, Macie Eicher, Jade Sigman and Avery Slattery, and freshmen Lindsay Bergman, Alyssa Seitz, Leah Seitz, Makeegan Bailey, Reyna Mazur, Tori Perna, Molly Crall and Kenzie Schroder. The head coach is Mr. Josh Freese, and the assistant coaches are Mr. Ryan Miser, Mr. Bob Weatherhead, and Miss Natalie Briskey. The team played their first game on Saturday, November 23rd, and lost to Archbold with a final score of 42-28. Kenzie Schroeder lead the team with 10 points and 6 rebounds, and Kennedy Villena scored 6 points.
Coach Freese has a lot of faith in his basketball team this season. He stated that his goals for the basketball team are to play hard, to have fun and to be competitive on the court all season long. When asked about his outlook on this season, he stated it was too early to tell much about how the season would go, but he said he hopes to see the team go out and compete hard every single game and to let the scoreboard take care of itself. Coach Freese insisted that he looks forward to seeing everyone on the team work hard, improve and grow closer this season. Coach Freese talked about the strengths that the team has altogether this year. He included that they all get along great, the team has great camaraderie, they work hard and most importantly, they trust the process. The girls have a younger team this year, after losing eight seniors last year and only having one this year. The team has a lot of potential to have a good season. Having such a young team can sometimes be difficult, but these girls make it easier. They have great teamwork and their minds are set on competing.
Kennedy Phillips’ favorite position to play is either guard or wing. She shared that the team has not been doing too bad so far, and she has seen tremendous improvement since the beginning of the season this year. Compared to last year, Kennedy thinks this season will go a lot differently than last year. After a big loss of eight seniors, they are starting with new people and a young team. She looks forward to starting with a newer team because she thinks it will be an intense and fun season, no matter what the outcome is. This season, Phillips looks forward to making fun and lasting memories with her team. We can all look forward to watching our Lady Aces put in the hard work this season. Upcoming home games are on November 26, against Continental, and on December 5, Lady Aces face the Fairview Apaches. Be sure to come out and support your lady aces basketball team this season!
Kenzie Schroeder jumps to get possession of the ball.
The Varsity and Junior Varsity pose for a picture.
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College Football
By Brandt Balser
Ohio State’s defensive end Chase Young was recently suspended for two games. Those two games were against Maryland, and Rutgers. Young returned on Saturday against Penn State. The reason for his suspension was that he accepted a loan from a family friend, but claimed he paid it back in full last year. Although he paid it back in full the NCAA sees it as a benefit because Chase did not meet the friend until after his recruitment to Ohio State. Ohio State requested for a one game suspension but accepted a two game suspension.
There have been some pretty big upsets this year in college football. Wisconsin lost to Illinois 24-23. LSU defeated Alabama 46-41 at Alabama. Alabama was favored in that game. Minnesota beat Penn State with a score of 31-26. This Penn State loss basically ruined their college football playoff chances. Oklahoma’s playoff hopes were also broken with a remarkable upset loss to Kansas State with a score of 48-41.
Only three teams remain with an undefeated record. The first teams is LSU (11-0). There last undefeated season was in 1958 which they were the national champions. The second team is Ohio State (11-0).
Their last undefeated season was in 2012. The third team is Clemson (11-0). Their last undefeated season was just last year when they won the National College Playoff Championship.
Let’s take a look at the Heisman Trophy candidates for this year. The Heisman Trophy goes out to the most outstanding player in college football. At No. 1 is Senior Joe Burrow, the quarterback for LSU. Burrow set a career high for passing yards with 489, and also broke two school records. Burrow is second in the country for both passing yards and passing touchdowns, and leads the nation with a 78.6 completion percentage.
At No. 2 is senior Jalen Hurts he is the quarterback at Oklahoma. Hurts has thrown for 3,039 yards and 28 touchdowns while rushing for 983 yards and 15 more scores in 10 games. At No. 3 is Justin Fields, sophomore quarterback for Ohio State. His yardage totals of 2,164 passing and 377 rushing aren't quite as high as the other quarterbacks on the list, but he has a 31:1 touchdown to interception ratio and also has rushed for 10 scores in 10 games.
At No. 4 is sophomore Chuba Hubbard, running back at Oklahoma State.
His 1,726 yards through 10 games is top in the nation, while his 20 rushing touchdowns are the second best. At No. 5 is junior Chase Young, defensive end at Ohio State. Young could be the first defensive player to land in the top three of the Heisman contenders since 2012. This past Saturday, Young set the record for the most single season sacks at OSU with 16.5. Young also has 27 solo tackles, 11 assists, and 7 forced fumbles. Some other candidates are junior J.K. Dobbins, Ohio State’s running back, senior Justin Herbert, Oregon’s quarterback, and junior Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin’s running back.
Hicksville senior Isaac Strubing believes, “Ohio State is going to win the National Championship.” Strubing added, “Joe Burrow is going to win the Heisman if he keeps winning”.
According to the college football playoff selection committee, LSU has a 17 percent chance to win the national title, Ohio State has a 26 percent chance, Clemson has a 29 percent chance, and Georgia has a 9 percent chance.
The college football playoff rankings.
The top four teams in the college football playoffs.
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Boys basketball
By: Travian Tunis
The Hicksville Boys Varsity Basketball Team had a great season last year, ending with a record of 22-3. The Aces lost three crucial starters from last year’s team, so the young ones have a big role to play. With only two varsity seniors, Travian Tunis and Jacob Miller, the leadership role must come from the younger players.
The Varsity, JV and freshman teams include many new faces. The freshman are Cornelio “JR” Mendoza, Brody Balser, Justin West, Alex Gordon, Nolan Methvin, Aaron Klima, and Tatum Sheets. The sophomores are Kyler Baird, Jackson Bergman, Josh Myers, and Ryan Schliesser. The juniors are Landon Turnbull, Mason Slattery, Boston Hootman, and Camden Straub. The seniors are Travian Tunis, Jacob Miller, and Hunter Betz. The head coach is Tony Tear. Assistant coaches are Dave Blue, John Diehl, and Bailey Tear.
Tony Tear told the Full Deck, “Every single guy on our team is going to have a bigger role than they had last year. They may play the same or a different spot, they may be a starter, they may come off the bench, but their role is going to be greater than it was a year ago. Each guy will be asked to do more. Roles are earned every day in practice. We are still figuring that out right now early in the year. As a coaching staff, we are looking for guys who can be consistently locked in to what they
need to be doing, who can consistently play with toughness, and who can consistently play for their teammates. We lost three great starters and a key player off the bench from last season. Those guys brought scoring, playmaking, rebounding, defense, and a great amount of toughness to our team. You can never replace a group like that, but we can learn from what they did, and how they handled their business, and build off what they did to hopefully carry on what those guys brought to our program. We miss those guys a lot, but it’s now time for these younger guys to step up and become great players themselves. We will be facing some very talented teams in the conference, and outside of the conference as well. We will have to be prepared and focused each night if we want to win games. We have talented players, but we have a long way to go with our toughness and competitive nature. It’s hard doing the things it takes to win, and we haven’t quite figured that out as a whole yet. If we can commit to playing great defense and being unselfish on offense, we can have a great year.”
Assistant coach, Dave Blue, talked about the strengths and weaknesses of the team. “Strengths would be in the returning lettermen we have and the potential of the newer guys on varsity. Weaknesses are, the potential has not been achieved, we are not close to where we need to be in the mental and physical toughness area.” Coach Blue talked standard goals. “Some goals would be winning the GMC and making a deep tourney run (at least Regionals). Certainly an improvement in our areas of weakness. Play as a team, play for each other. We could be pretty good if these things come together.” Seniors Jacob Miller and Travian Tunis discussed changes from last year. Jacob said, “I will be getting a lot more playing time, and I have to fill my role on offense more so than last year.” Travian Tunis shared, “My role this year is much bigger than last year. I had more teammates to rely on to score. This year, I have to be more aggressive and score more frequently if we want to win. My intensity has to increase. I have to step up and become a leader this year.”
The 2019-2020 Hicksville Aces Varsity Basketball Team.
The 2019-2020 Junior Varsity Basketball Team.
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Christmas For Kids:
By: Madison Cupp
Christmas For Kids is an annual event that is held every year around Christmas. School guidance counselors select a handful of students who are in “extreme need”. These kids are in need of warm clothes for the cold winter, toys for the happy holidays, and important necessities to last.
Gathering up socks, hats, gloves, toothbrushes, deodorant, and toys; cities come together and help supply to the children in our community.
Hicksville High School’s Christmas For Kids is battled up between the two foreign language classes. Spanish classes, taught by Melissa Liddell, and German classes, taught by Joy Geiger.
Mrs. Liddell’s prize for the Spanish kids if they bring in the most money to donate towards Christmas For Kids, is doughnuts and milk. Mrs. Liddell’s fifth period student, Ethan Laney, pitched in twenty dollars on the first day.
Mrs. Geiger’s prize for the German students if they toss the most money for Christmas For Kids, is also doughnuts.
You can donate anything ranging from funds, hygiene items, winter gear, toys, and many more.
“These are the kids most in need, being treated to a day they will never forget, receiving items they greatly need,” quoted on Christmas For Kids webpage.
Alongside purchasing items, necessities, toys, and more; you can take some students out and do some fun Christmas activities! Starting with Defiance County’s Christmas Cruise Thru, located here in Hicksville at the Fairgrounds. It is open from 6 to 9 pm until December 24, 2019. Gather a handful of kids and take them to see the lights and to hear the music!
Uptown at the Huber Opera House in Hicksville, on December 15, 2019, the movie White Christmas will be played. The movie starts at 3 pm and carries out till 5 pm.
Every single year, kids who are in need look for the day that is all about them. The day where the attention is primarily focused on themselves. Taking children out to shop and getting “pajamas and toys” is an exciting time for them to enjoy.
Sophomore Abigail Johnson shared, “I would donate toys and maybe winter clothes like mittens, hats, and boots.” Abigail also said, “I would probably take them to the park, or maybe out for ice-cream to make it a fun day for them.”
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Don’t feed the plants! (Pre-Musical)
By Janice Green
As November comes to an end, auditions for the high school musical start to roll around. This year, the HHS Drama club will be performing Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s playwright of Little Shop of Horrors. This musical was released onto Broadway in October of 2003. It is based off of a 1960 comedy film. The show is about an hour and 45 minutes running time and is a sci-fi horror musical with an electrifying 1960s pop/rock set.
The Drama club’s production includes nine main roles for the students of Hicksville High School to try out for. The first main character is an insecure florist’s clerk whose name is Seymour Krelborn. He is taken for granted due to his poor social skills and his clumsy ways. Audrey, a bleach blonde and the love of Seymour’s life, is another main character. She is very attractive, but has low self-worth and education. There are two main parts who play off of the Audrey role. The plant, who is considered Audrey II, will be the voice of a street-smart villain. There will also be a puppeteer for the plant. The plant is a cross between a Venus flytrap and an avocado. The plant has an appetite for human flesh and is appeased by Seymour.
Other characters include Mr. Mushnik, the owner of a failing East Side flower shop and the boss of Seymour. He is very greedy and manipulative.
The next main character, Orin Scrivello, D.D.S., is an egotistical dentist. He is the abusive boyfriend of Audrey and is targeted by Seymour. The last three main characters in this musical are the Urchins. The names of the Urchins are Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon. They act as the occasional Greek Chorus and are smart, hip girls who seem to be the only characters to have a grip on reality.
The show also has smaller roles for kids who may not want a main role. These roles include shoppers, press, homeless, street urchins, and more. If someone is not interested in being on stage at all, there is still a way to help out. The musical offers plenty of behind the scenes roles as
well.
Comparing this musical from the
musicals over the past few years, this show will be something slightly different than previous shows that Mrs. Elaine Gerken has directed. “Since I have been directing shows at HHS, we have chosen two Disney musicals (The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast), as well as another classic musical, The Sound of Music. This is not to say that we haven’t branched out in the past and explored other genres! In 2017, we performed The Addams Family, which was a huge departure from Disney! Everyone loved it, and it was kooky and hilarious.” Auditions for the musical will be starting in early December, and there seems to be great interest shown towards it. “We had 40+ students show up to our last meeting. Some want to work backstage, but approximately 30-35 showed interest in auditioning for roles. The numbers just keeps growing each year. I am really pleased with how the drama department has grown over the past five years.”
Little Shop of Horrors musical poster.
Seymour holding an early version of Audrey II alongside the Urchins in a Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors.
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No shave November
By Sereniti Graves
Almost 2 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year. The No-Shave November organization raised almost $2 million last year to aid the fight against cancer. For a decade, this organization has challenged people to raise money and/or awareness for cancer research and prevention by going natural.
The No-Shave November Movement was coined by a family from Chicago, the Hills. In November of 2007, the family of 10 lost their father, Matt Hill, to colon cancer. The eight Hill children and their mother had created the tradition soon after the father had passed, but began to encourage others to participate two years later in 2009. No-Shave November is not solely growing out your hair “wild and free.” The point of the movement is to donate the money that you would usually use to buy grooming products or services throughout the month of November.
The organization has an official website where spectators or competitors can go to see leaderboards of who is raising the most money. Participants can compete solo as a member, as part of a team, or part of a larger organization. In 2019, there are about 13,000 members, 1,100 teams, and 250 organizations. Altogether they have already raised around $950k. All of the money raised will be invested to provide free information and services to cancer patients and those who take care of them and also to further important cancer research.
This year, No-Shave November is working to fund three important programs. The money raised will go to help fund the Prevent Cancer Foundation, the Fight Colorectal Cancer organization, and St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital. These organizations are working to learn how to prevent cancer while also treating and defeating pre-existing cancer.
The Full Deck decided to talk to a student at Hicksville Schools who is participating in No-Shave November, senior Dustin Noto. Noto disclosed that he first decided to join the movement in November 2018. Dustin explained, “It was just interesting to me seeing how fast and how much facial hair grows.” The hardest part for Dustin is when his hair gets thick and long, but he just pushes through. Dustin encourages other students to participate in No-Shave November in the future.
The No-Shave November Movement shares some important statistics about men’s cancer. They detect that 1 in 8 men in the United States alone will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime; Prostate cancer is the second most likely cancer for men. The organization also shares that 24% less men than women visit a doctor yearly. This group is working to spread knowledge and raise money for an important cause.
Logo for the No-Shave November Organization created by the Hill Family in honor of their father
New Poster Design for No-Shave November 2019
No-Shave November Before and After
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Wrestling
By Skylar Kerr
Wrestling is known as the oldest competitive sport. There are cave drawings of wrestlers dating back all the way back to 3000 BC. The sport of wrestling was introduced to the ancient olympics in 708 BC, which was shortly after the olympics’ recorded history began.
There are two main types of wrestling, Greco and Freestyle. In Greco wrestlers only use their arms and upper body to attack. They can only hold onto the arms and upper body of their opponent. However, in freestyle wrestling, which is the one we use today, the person can use their legs and can grab onto parts of their opponents body above and below the waist.
The Hicksville High School Wrestling team and weight classes includes seniors Cameron Cline (160) and Josh Carns(152), juniors, Jack Figgins (145), Roman Graber (152), Audrey Johnsonbaugh (106), Caleb Begley (285), and Chase Railing (220), sophomores, Nicholas Congleton (195) and Ethan Potter (120).
The Hicksville Wrestling Team has been slowly declining due to the lack of players. However, this year the number has increased so it is looking good for this year’s outcome.
Coach Jeff Rouff believes this year will be way better than any other years. He stated, “This year I think will be excellent as long as the players get their act together. We have a pretty decent sized team, and I think we will do the best we ever have. We have a lot of fun at practice, and everybody seems to be very committed to the team.”
Corey Johnsonbaugh, the matt stat advisor, also sees a good outcome for the team this year. “I think the outcome of this year will be a lot better than last year’s. As long as the players strive to do better and have the willingness to fix their mistakes, we should have people placing at most of our tournaments and definitely at GMCs.”
There is also high hopes for next year’s wrestling team as Corey believes, “Next year the outcome should be even better. We will have pretty much a whole senior team that has wrestled together since 7th grade.” Jeff Rouff explained that as the team increases and as the players become more determined throughout the years, the team will continue to get better.
“I started
wrestling in the
mini program
because my
brother was a
high school
wrestler. I stopped for a while but started again in my sophomore year because I wanted to get back into it. This is my third consecutive year as a wrestler. My favorite thing about wrestling is being able to joke with the team but still take it seriously at practice. I think this year will be the best year I have had. I’m sad this is my last year to do it. I wish I would’ve stayed in wrestling ever since the mini program.” -Cameron Cline
“I started
wrestling my
junior year of
high school
because I
thought it would be fun. I joined again this year because I want to stay in shape for the Army. My favorite part of wrestling is throwing people around, and my least favorite part is being thrown around by other people.
-Josh Carns
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Black friday
By Jace Reddin
Black Friday is a good way to get the newest toys for the cheapest price brand new. Stores open up very early and have great sales for Christmas gifts. Black Friday is the day when select stores lower their prices to a more affordable cost. Rumors have it that the major shopping event has been around for as long as the 1800s. People believe the term “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive vehicle and pedestrian traffic following Thanksgiving. Black Friday has been the busiest shopping day in the United States since 2005. Although it may seem like Black Friday is an amazing time to shop, not everyone decides to go. There are many reasons, including the long waits outside the doors in this cold weather to the possible danger there could be.
If you decide to go Black Friday shopping, please consider going with another person or a group, especially if you are going to Fort Wayne or any big city. There’s plenty of people there, and you could get mixed up in a crowd and get lost. Also, with going to bigger cities there’s a higher chance of an abduction. It is unfortunate that this is the world we all live in, but we should take the appropriate precautions.
Being abducted isn’t the only risk factor while going. People to tend to get very aggressive on this shopping event. Say there’s limited amounts of flat screen TV’s, and you and this other girl grab it at the same time. I’m sure you can imagine how this could be a problem. Since 2006, there has been a reported 10 deaths and 111 injuries on this day due to shopper aggression.
There are pros and cons to every situation, but make sure you take the proper precautions and be safe. Not everyone goes Black Friday shopping, so if you feel it’s too risky to go or you don’t have a buddy system in place, just stay home.
The average Black Friday shopper spends around $470. Black Friday is the best time to get electronics for a really cheap price. Some studies have shown that companies make lower quality items but sell them at the same price. Millennials are the biggest Black Friday shoppers, with 137 million people world wide.
The Full Deck interviewed some students. Kenya Mericle’s opinion on Black Friday is that, “It’s fun; it’s chaotic.” She likes watching people fight on Black Friday. She remembers when the first Frozen came out because people were fighting over it. Katherine Bland’s opinion on Black Friday is that “it can be fun watching people fight.” Sereniti Graves stated, “It’s crowded, and it can be hard to find what you’re looking for, but a fun experience.”
Shoppers fight over a T.V. on Black Friday.
Shoppers wait in a long line to checkout all of their items.
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Cyber Monday Shopping!
By Dustin Noto
Cyber Monday falls on December 2nd this year. Retailer participants have small start ups and big brands. There’s a deal with Polk Audio Command Sound Bar for $100 off. There are sitewide sales also; at Parachute Home everything is 20-percent off. At Old Navy everything is 50% off. The Home Depot has all appliances special buys 40% off through December 5th. At Leesa there are mattresses up to $350 off with two free pillows, up until December 6th. The top five places to shop on Cyber Monday are Amazon, Walmart, Target, Macy’s, and Wayfair.
Walmart has a Google Smart T.V. kit for $45, originally $74. Target has a Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 and free security software for only $450, when it was originally $650, leaving you with $200 to spare. Those were all the early deals of Cyber Monday. The best upcoming deals include a soda stream fizzi sparkling water maker bundle that is $100, but originally they were $150 at Amazon. Parachute has all bed, bath, and home goods 20% off. Sonos has up to $100 off speakers.
Cyber Monday started in 2005 by Shop.org. In 2017 and 2018 Cyber Monday was bigger than Black Friday. Every year Cyber Monday starts earlier than planned.
Nearly a third of Cyber Monday shoppers start a day early. The best way to know when deals really start would be to sign up for the emails. Walmart, Target, and Amazon start Cyber week on Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday sales have had an eightfold increase since 2009. Since its inception, Cyber Monday has set new records each year. The first time Cyber Monday reached a billion was in 2010. There was a 17% increase in 2011. In 2012, mobile devices were 12% of the sales. By 2013, Black Friday sales went down, but there was a 20% increase for Cyber Monday.
In 2018 there was over $2.2 billion Smartphone sales. About a third of Cyber Monday shoppers have said that they like to be able to compare the prices and deals online. About 90% of retailers are offering Cyber Monday sales. About 45% of retailers only offered coupons while a third did promotions. Fewer than 15% had given a free gift with orders. More than half the retailers had offered to increase their free shipping budget.
But one third of retailers had already offered free shipping as early as ever. About 36% of online shoppers said that they would increase their shopping if shipping was free. There was only a few who had said they would not shop as much because the shipping would be so expensive.
Shoppers are on social media more than usual. Some would go as far as to a company’s Facebook page just to find additional information on deals or anything to buy. Twice as many are looking at customer reviews before buying anything.
More than half of retailers are making sure their websites are making their sales optimized for mobile devices. More than a third are using QR codes from magazine or billboard ads. Three quarters said they are promoting sales on Facebook, while about 40% are using Twitter to promote sales. One of the best ways to find sales is to go to CyberMonday.com. There is a schedule of retailers of which sales there are at that time. You can find sales from over 800 online retailers.
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What do teenage boys want for christmas?
By Cameron Sudlow
Christmas is a time where giving and receiving gifts is to be expected. Sometimes getting a gift for someone is easy. Knowing what someone wants is a good start; however, there are people who are very difficult to shop for. These people are teenage boys. They are always changing, so what they liked in the past may not be what they like now. If finding a gift they will like is a struggle, and you opt to just give them money or gift cards, this list could help. Money and gift cards are appreciated, but getting a physical item creates a sense of surprise, which is better.
Without further ado, here are a few gifts that they may actually enjoy. If they listen to music and use earbuds often, they may like these. These tangle free earbuds are designed to never tangle. The product is called Zipbuds. It’s as the name suggests, the Zipbuds are earbuds that you can zip up. Think of it as the zipper on your jacket, but they’re on your earbuds. Something as simple as this design will make their lives much easier because they won’t have to untangle their earbuds everytime they use them.
Moving on to another item, we have portable phone chargers. Most teenagers have a phone and having a way to charge your phone without a outlet nearby is quite nice. There are many phone chargers on the market. You would want to buy the most optimal one, so The Anker PowerCore would be the one you want to get. This portable phone
charger boasts being one of the smallest and lightest on the market.
The Anker PowerCore also holds around three and a half full phone charges. The charger is a reasonable price at $25.
Next up is getting them a video game. You can’t just get them a random one and expect them to like it. As long as you have an idea of what types of video games he likes, then it should be easy. If you don’t here are some recent games he may enjoy. The newest Call of Duty game was released and it is doing well. If they like first person shooters, then they are gonna love this game. The game has more options for customization than the previous games. This allows everyone to be creative. It’s a great game if you don’t mind shooting digital humans. The next game is Death Stranding and this one is a bit weird. The game is massive and compared to Call of Duty it is more story driven than just action. If they like the idea of adventuring through a unique world, then this game just might be for them. The gameplay is something some people will and won’t enjoy. The next game is the new Pokemon video game.
Most people know or have heard of Pokemon and it is more than likely that they have. The game is your standard Pokemon game where you catch different monsters and use them to fight battles for you. This is a RPG where you level your Pokemon and capture new ones. If they like RPGs then this could be the game. Another
RPG they probably have heard of is Borderlands 3. This is another first person shooter that has quite a bit of tasks to do. If they enjoy first person shooters this is the game. This game is different from ordinary first person shooters. Being a RPG means that grinding for levels is something that is going to happen. If they don’t really care for the tedious grinding and enjoy those types of games, go with this.
Maybe they enjoy movies. Getting them a poster of something they enjoy could be a great gift. Most people like showing off that they like certain things. What better way then having a poster of something they enjoy? As long as you know what they enjoy then it shouldn’t be too hard to find something that fits them. It always hurts if the person doesn’t enjoy the gift. Hopefully the person will enjoy the gift and appreciate it.
Zipbuds
Pokemon Sword and Shield
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Esports
By Tyler Jasso
Esports is defined as a video game played on a professional level, often with a prize and a large crowd. The first ever eSports event was held in October 1972, at Stanford University. The game they played was Spacewar. The prize for the winner was a year long subscription to the Rolling Stones magazine.
Today people play for the prize everyone wants: money. Money comes as a big prize at this level. People play for hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions! It’s hard to play at such big levels in front of thousands, and even sometimes millions of people. Esports are like professional sports, you play in front of so many people and you have many goals such as winning and making money doing what you love.
There are many teams on the eSports level for almost any game you can think of. Some of the most famous teams include FaZe, OpTic Gaming, Cloud9, Fnatic, TSM, G2 Esports, and Team Liquid. These teams play many games all across the board, and they are good at what they do. The most famous games that people might know are League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Fortnite, Rocket League, Call of Duty, Madden, and Halo. All of these games have different objectives in them, and the play style is different in all of them. People play on these teams from all around the world.
People come from other countries to the United States just to play for some eSports teams. You can make big money off of playing eSports for any game you are good at. Esports is some people’s lives, and this is what they do for a living. If you are good and you work a lot on your skills, you will make big money from
FNATIC winning a championship.
getting first place in tournaments.
Some of the most famous people in eSports also stream their game and have YouTube Channels where they post themselves playing the games they love and are good at. Kole Wertman of Hicksville High School was asked his thoughts on eSports and where he thinks it will go to in the future. “Esports is a good thing for people who don’t want to do sports but want to compete. People can do what they love, which is playing video games they love and are good at.” When asked where he thinks eSports will go in the future, he responsed, “Esports will be bigger, more people will participate, there will be more teams that people come up with.
More people can have fun with what they love doing and just be themselves and can do what they love doing.” Esports are expanding every year. Games and teams are getting more and more viewers. The eSports industry is expected to grow rapidly in upcoming years. In 2017, eSports accounted for $655 million U.S. dollars. In 2022, it is expected that the revenue of eSports will be close to $1.8 billion U.S. dollars. This is a big growth in about 3 years. Esports is streamed
This is what the environment of eSports is like.
on platforms some people might know, such as Twitch and YouTube. Sometimes it’s even streamed on live TV! This is a big step in the community, because it gets eSports more out there. This allows more and more people to know about it. The more viewers eSports gets, the more money they will receive. This money will go towards the players, better environment for them, and just bigger places to host these tournaments. Esports continue to be on the rise for the foreseeable future.
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Frozen JR.
By Beth Booker
This year Hicksville Middle School performed Frozen Jr., the musical. Show days were November 22nd and 23rd at 7:00 pm, and November 24th at 2:00 pm at the Huber Opera House.
Frozen originated as a movie, released November 27, 2013. The movie stayed in the top 10 at the box office in the United States for 16 weeks. Bringing in $400 million domestic, $870 million global, and $1.27 billion total, you could say that Frozen was a hit upon many. It has been six years since then and on November 22, 2019, Disney released Frozen 2.
Emily Rodesh is the musical director for Frozen Jr. She was kind enough to answer a series of questions pertaining to this musical. It takes stupendous amounts of preparation for musicals. Spending countless hours at practice is inevitable; but nonetheless worth it. To start off, Mrs. Rodesh was asked “How have you and the cast been preparing for this show?” She responded, “The cast of Frozen Jr. prepared for the show by rehearsing four out of five days of the week after school since the beginning of October. The students ran lines for each scene and learned the songs for the show. This process included “blocking,” or placing the cast members on the stage in the correct place for each scene, and choreographing the dances for each song in the show. It was a long, but rewarding experience for everyone to learn together!”
Have you ever considered joining a musical but you are not sure of the outcome or if it would be the right thing for you? Ms. Rodesh said, “My advice to anyone who is considering joining their school musical is to practice and prepare their audition song well, be ready to bring any character to life, and be confident and positive the whole way through.” She is completely correct!
If someone has watched Frozen or seen it live, they know just how easy it is to get one of those catchy songs stuck in their head. Frozen Jr. has a great soundtrack that, rest assured, will remain on a loop for prior days to hearing it. Finally, Emily was asked which song on the soundtrack was her favorite. She replied, “My favorite song from Frozen Jr. is probably “Fixer Upper.” It was originally in the movie, and it is such a fun song. I loved teaching the dance to it for our show and seeing it come to life onstage!” Frozen Jr. is full of mystery and adventure. It is a good performance to watch for all ages!
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