Blog: Last words from the editors

Austin speaking:

Alright, this is officially really depressing. Seeing as we will no longer be in school next Friday, today marks our last Letters From The Editors blog. In a way it will be a relief to not have to continuously hound forgetful Hanna to finish her part of the blog, but it is also sad as it indicates the fact that our time as editors-in-chief is practically up. Being editor this year had to have been the most stressful thing ever but it was certainly one of the most rewarding. Seeing a paper in print and winning awards that you share ownership of is such an awesome feeling and I’m happy to have been able to experience that. To any of my newsies reading this, thanks for letting me be your editor and making my time as an editor so fantabulous. I have no doubts that the paper will be excellent next year and I know for sure we are leaving it in good hands. To next year’s editor(s), enjoy your time being an editor; I promise it will go by way too fast. And to everyone else reading this, be sure to check out our final and special senior edition issue of the paper next Friday, May 17.

Kristina speaking:

It still really hasn’t hit me that the end of the school year is just a few days away. I think I can speak for the three of us that being editors-in-chief this year has been one heck of a ride. I can’t even describe how much I’ve learned this year. I feel truly lucky to have the amazing staff that we had, and I’ll be so sad when it’s over. Austin and Hanna have been terrific partners-in-crime this year. Although we’re all going our separate ways, I’ll always remember this year that we spent together. (Almost) eight issues later, and we’ve hit the end of the road.

On a side note: I just read over Austin’s post and I’m trying really hard not to judge him for saying “fantabulous” on our blog.

Hanna speaking:

When I started writing this, I definitely didn’t think it was our last blog. I’ll be honest, I won’t miss writing this every week (Austin really does have to remind me each time), but the end of our editor blog means the end of the paper. My one piece of advice to the new editors is to rave more. We didn’t much this year partly because we are boring, and partly because we didn’t want to witness Austin dancing (or Kristina for that matter). And you should make all of the headlines in different fonts, only repeating Comic Sans and Curlz. Other than that, you should do everything exactly how we did. But jokes aside, I could not have asked for a better staff this year. Kristina, Austin and I complemented each other so well, and I’ll miss them so much. As an entire staff, I wouldn’t have wanted to stress and cry and laugh over this paper with any other group of people. At the last worknight dinner, I looked around the table and laughed a little bit. We have such a diverse group of people, and in no place other than the hot, stuffy j-room would we all end up playing “staff charades” and my horrible (yes, I admit it) couch game. I love you all, and you will be great next year.

Blog: Farewell from the Culture Consultant

Well, readers, this is quite bittersweet. Of the two of you who actually care to read this blog and listen to me blabber on about pop culture, I assume you’ve noticed by now that Friday is always the day of the week I post. Unfortunately, this is my last Friday of my senior year, as I will be done with school next Wednesday. Hooray for graduation, but boo in regards to saying goodbye to The Culture Consultant, my voice and alter ego (though not as fabulous of an alter ego as Beyoncé’s “Sasha Fierce,” but still, it counts). Seeing as I will be gone in Columbia, Mo. next year living the college life at the University of Missouri and won’t be here to keep you up to date on cultural happenings, I thought a good way to tie up this blog would be to share some notable things set to happen later this year that I otherwise would have probably covered.

Google Glass: Google is set to release a very futuristic pair of cyber-glasses next year, but expect for the chatter surrounding it to become huge this year.

New music: Throughout the year, expect fresh albums from Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Azealia Banks, Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez.

“Boy Meets World” spinoff: Keep your eyes open for the premiere of “Girl Meets World,” the show based off the classic series “Boy Meets World.” The show is set to center on Riley Matthews (Rowan Blanchard), the daughter of Cory (Ben Savage) and Topanga (Danielle Fishel) from the original show. Fishel and Savage are both set to return to play the grown-up versions of their famous characters.

Updated Apple technology: The speculation never ceases when it comes to what Apple has up their sleeve next. Be on the lookout for a possible iPad 5, iPad Mini 2 and iPhone 6.

No more of the “Twilight” franchise: OK, sorry, this wasn’t really necessary to include, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to publicly rejoice. Let me just say that a couple of weeks ago I tried watching “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ and it was humiliatingly awful. Thank the Lord above that the “Twilight” franchise is over with (knock on wood).

The birth of baby Kimye: The famous duo Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are set to have their baby this summer, who is only a fetus and already more famous and successful than you will ever be. Perhaps if it’s a boy they’ll name it after me.

The long awaited film adaptation of the second “The Hunger Games” novel: “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is set to be released this November. Just as the first movie’s tagline says, “The world will be watching.”

Journalism department wins state contest

The Mill Valley High School journalism department earned numerous honors at Saturday’s Kansas Scholastic Press Association State Journalism Contest, including the school’s second 5A state journalism title in the last four years.

Lead by seniors Kristina Milewski, Austin Gillespie and Jillian Mullin, the team of 14 students outpaced Wichita’s Bishop Carroll to win the state title, 39-35. Mill Valley also won state journalism titles in 2004, 2009 and 2010. Click here to read more about the contest.

The following students placed in the state contest:

Senior Kristina Milewski: first places in feature writing and in photo illustration and honorable mention in caption writing

Senior Austin Gillespie: third place in newspaper design and in headline writing and honorable mention in photo illustration

Senior Jillian Mullin: honorable mentions in sports photography, in yearbook design and in yearbook copy writing

Senior Ellen Bodine: first place in yearbook sports writing

Senior Kelsey Floyd: second place in academic photography

Seniors Miranda Snyder, Jenna Middaugh and Haley Woods: second place in video news story

Senior Miranda Snyder: honorable mention in academic photography

Senior Hanna Torline: honorable mention in sports writing

Senior Kelsey Winscott: honorable mention in editorial cartoon

Junior Sydney Wilson: honorable mention in editing

Junior Ryan Fullerton: honorable mention in news writing

Also competing in the contest were seniors Lisa Galvan and Mackenzie Eckman and juniors Alana Flinn and Riley McDonald.

The journalism department also brought home four All-Kansas awards Saturday, the top rating given in the KSPA critique service, for the first time in school history. Mill Valley was the only school in Kansas to earn All-Kansas ratings in the four categories. The 2012 JAG yearbook (editors Rachel Mills and Katherine Beck), the 2013 JagWire newspaper (editors Gillespie, Milewski and Torline), Mill Valley News Online (editors seniors Miranda Snyder and Alec Santaularia and junior Shelby Rayburn) and MVTV (executive producer senior Brenna Iskra and assistant producer Jacob Patterson) earned the ratings. Cindy Swartz is the adviser of MVTV and Kathy Habiger is the adviser of the JAG, JagWire and Mill Valley News Online. Click here to read more about the awards.

Blog: #statebound

Austin speaking:

Another week passed, already? I keep forgetting how little time is left in the school year. It seems as though the end is never nearing as I look at my accumulating to-do list, but in all actuality, we only have two worknights left. In newspaper speak, that roughly translates to no time at all. This week, for me at least, has been crazy stressful. On top of our senior issue we are working on, we have been hard at work on our state journalism contest entries. By this time, the average newspaper editor-in-chief would probably say, “Oh, I can perfectly handle getting all my regular issue stuff and state stuff done without getting stressed out.” But this is obviously not the case for me. Although one might think that after three years I would be much better at balancing these two things, the genius in me thought it would be a good idea to enter five different carry-in categories this year (as opposed to one or two like the last two years). But we found out news on Saturday that made all the stress forgivable. I’m trying not to spoil the surprises, so I’ll let Kristina and Hanna tell you how it went.

Kristina speaking:

Austin can testify that I complained for about ten straight minutes of how much I did not want to start this blog. This probably gives you some indication to where my state of mind is right now as a senior. It’s not that I don’t want to write it, it’s just that I’m losing motivation for schoolwork; and it’s taking a toll. Saturday was our state journalism competition at the University of Kansas. We’ve been working on our state entries for a couple weeks now, and this weekend we finally saw the results. It has been tough to balance finishing up our last issue and working on our state entries, but the work has finally paid off. We won state!

Hanna speaking:

We waited to post this blog until after we found out about state. And it’s a good thing, because we got first! First, I have to give props to Kristina for placing first in two categories at state. Seriously, that’s a huge accomplishment. And even though we are all ready to graduate, I can’t imagine not having newspaper next year. This staff has become my second family, and I’m so happy that we have seen so much success this year, but I’m also happy that we’ve grown so close. I can’t imagine being in a smelly, hot, loud room with a better group of people.

Blog: Amanda Bynes herself in chaos

Where are the dancing lobsters when you need them?

It seems as though former child actress Amanda Bynes, who once played Judge Trudy on her Nickelodeon sketch comedy sitcom “The Amanda Show,” needs someone to bang a gavel in her face for once.

The 27-year-old has become the media’s next big circus act and her odd behavior is now a hot commodity to talk about. Many people have jumped the gun to call her “mentally ill” or “crazy,” but I personally feel as though there might possibly be something else going on here. Attention seeking, loneliness, who knows? And it’s clear that Bynes is a hilarious actress (“She’s the Man,” “Easy A”), so could this all be her big joke simply messing with the minds of the overanalyzing media and general public? If that’s the case, then bravo to her.

All of this recent odd behavior follows a good year’s worth of legal drama for Bynes, so it’s not entirely surprising to see her go down this path. Check out this timeline of the starlet’s strange demeanor starting from 2010 and let me know what you think is going on with Bynes. Keep in mind that Bynes grew up as a child star and has faced public scrutiny her whole life. So ultimately, is it safe to say a breakdown is inevitable?

June 20, 2010: Bynes retires from acting at the age of 24 tweeting, “I know 24 is a young age to retire but you heard it hear first. I don’t love acting anymore so I’ve stopped doing it.”

July 25, 2010: Just one month – yes, one month – after announcing her retirement, Bynes tweets she has unretired. This announcement comes right before she begins promotion for her movie “Easy A,” which she had filmed prior to retiring. What perfect timing.

Sept. 24, 2012: With hopes of living a new life as a fashion designer without paparazzi following her every footstep, Bynes moves from Los Angeles, Calif. to New York City, N.Y.

Nov. 4, 2012: Having previously made it clear she wishes to focus on her fashion career, Bynes officially announces her re-retirement to Us Weekly, saying, “I’m 26. A multi-millionaire, retired. Please respect my privacy.”

Wednesday, Jan. 2: The apartment complex in which Bynes resides threatens to evict her after complaints of marijuana smoke coming from the star’s apartment are made. Bynes responds by packing up her bags and leaving to find a new apartment in the Big Apple.

Friday, Feb. 8: Bynes tweets a photo of rapper Jay-Z, calling him an “ugly face.” Uh, I respect your honesty I suppose. The tweet was quickly deleted.

Monday, March 11: An almost unrecognizable Bynes debuts an interesting new look.

Sunday, March 24: The Twittersphere is rocked after Bynes tweets that she wants rapper Drake to kill her, well, you can find out for yourself.

Wednesday, April 10: Bynes rants about how she plans to sue various media outlets accusing her of “erratic behavior.” She also vents her frustrations about media outlets using unflattering photos of her without captions and mentions having an eating disorder, something that comes up quite often on the star’s Twitter.

Monday, April 15: A video titled “I’m Sucking On A Sour Patch Listening To Music Getting Ready For Tonight” is posted by Bynes. Yeah, it really is as strange as it sounds. I dare you to watch it without feeling uncomfortable.

Tuesday, April 16: Bynes is spotted out and about with a Starbucks cup in her hand with “Nadia” written on it. The coffee company is known for asking its customers for their names to write on their cups prior to making their beverages. This caused people to question whether or not “Nadia” could be some sort of alter ego of Bynes. The actress later tweeted that Nadia is her assistant, however. I’m not sure how much truth there is to that but regardless, that’s actually quite a good idea if you’re famous and wish to go unnoticed next time you stop by Starbucks to pick up a coffee.

Wednesday, April 24: Bynes tweets Us Weekly to clarify that she does not talk to light fixtures. No, this isn’t anything groundbreaking, but I found it too funny not to include.

Thursday, April 25: Singer Cassie (and possibly Britney Spears circa 2007) inspires Bynes to buzz half of her head, an edgy new do for her. While it might sound bizarre, this hairstyle has been sported by several other celebrities, Rihanna being one of them. Note though that the “hair” she buzzed was actually hair extensions; Bynes reportedly had shaved her entire head of real hair weeks prior to this as a result of “hair damage from someone at John Barrett [Salon in New York City, N.Y.].”

Tuesday, April 30: Bynes tweets a rather revealing photo with a caption that reads, “About to put on makeup! I weigh 135, I’ve gained weight! I need to be 100 lbs!”

Thursday, May 2: Actress Jenny McCarthy tweets claims that the police are at Bynes’ home, to which Bynes responds by calling her an “old lady” in a sequence of tweets she soon deleted. The two seem to have worked things out, however, as Bynes later tweeted McCarthy telling her she thought she was “beautiful” and that she “was lying.”

Thursday, May 2: Bynes tweets a photo of herself rocking a unique ensemble. At least I think that’s the right word for it.

Friday, May 3: Gym-goers receive quite a show when Bynes is caught doing a rather peculiar workout on an elliptical at a gym.

Blog: Last but not least

Austin speaking:

Well, readers, looks like we’ve made it to issue eight, our final issue of the thirteenth volume of JagWire. This issue of the paper isn’t just special because it’s our last, but also because it’s our traditional senior edition. Every year JagWire gears this special issue towards – you guessed it – topics having to do with seniors and graduation. Us editors and our adviser realize this issue is inevitably a little less “journalistic,” as the topics tend to become a bit cliché and sappy, but it’s a blast to work on nonetheless. It’s also one of the most read issues of them all as it is distributed to students as well as parents at the school’s senior awards ceremony. We may not be unraveling some hard-hitting news story in this issue of the paper, but we are certainly creating something that both seniors and their parents alike will hold onto to look back on long after they’ve graduated. For myself, it’s so difficult to believe that this is our last issue as editors-in-chief. While I know I speak for all three of us when I say we are beyond ready to graduate, it’s going to be hard to let go of this paper which we care so much about. For this reason, I’m determined to make this last issue a great one.

Kristina speaking:

Our returning staff members are truly stepping it up this issue — and it makes me so proud! Sorry, I know it’s not journalistic to use exclamation points, but it was my first one this year and the placement was justified. Forgive me, journalism gods. It’s so strange working on our last newspaper issue of the year, I can’t believe this time of the year is already here. As Austin said, our senior issue doesn’t have any hard-hitting news in it, but is sure is a blast to write. We have a lot of stalking to do because we’re trying to put every senior into this last issue, and our reporters will go to great lengths to track every student down (finding lockers, seminars, first block classes… the works). I’m so happy to see every staff member doing their part to make this last issue the best issue.

Hanna speaking:

My favorite part of this issue is the fact that all future editors realize that this is their time to step up. Everyone who is returning next year is designing a page this issue, either by themselves or with an experienced designer. And I’ve been so pleased with the effort I’m seeing by staff members. Just today, sophomore Amber Nguyen stayed after school with me for almost three hours to work on her page design. It’s really exciting to see staff members get excited about doing something new for the paper. But as I realize how the sophomores and juniors are stepping up, I’ve also come to the realization that this means Austin, Kristina and I will be stepping down. And as much stress as this paper has caused me this year, I can’t imagine not being a part of it.

Blog: Annoying social media app Vine surfaces

Just when our grandparents who grew up in the stone age thought we had enough social media apps on our smartphones, Vine comes along and sends their hearts sinking further down into their chests.

There’s Twitter for conversing, Facebook for sharing, Instagram for sharing photos and Snapchat for sharing photos super fast. What else would someone of our technology-obsessed generation need? An app for sharing video clips, obviously. That’s what Vine is, and it’s stupid.

Vine, which was acquired by Twitter last October, allows users to record video clips up to six seconds long through its in-app camera and share them immediately with their followers. The clips can be comprised of one single take or of multiple takes, giving it a certain stop-motion quality. While I find Vine completely pointless, there are a few positives I should point out first. The app is easy to use as it quickly records the video clips by tapping and holding a finger on the screen without any lagging. It also allows for quick sharing on other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook and a sleek and simple interface makes it easy to navigate. OK, so if it’s so great, why do I dislike it? Because it’s unnecessary.

Basically, Vine is just a moving Instagram. That’s partially why it’s so easy to navigate; it’s simply an Instagram replicate, except the photo moves for six seconds. If the Vine you are posting is God speaking to you from the heavens or Beyoncé shaking her rump, then that’s perfectly acceptable; a video clip is needed for things like that. But most of the Vines I see people uploading are basically clips of an inanimate object sitting on a table with unneeded added background noise. Please people, a picture is worth a thousand words; that’s why you use Instagram.

You may say, though, “What I want to share a picture doesn’t do justice.” Well, bummer. You aren’t Steven Spielberg and your irritating Vines are an obvious reminder of that. No one wants to see video clips of all the dirty piles of laundry in your room in which you make loud complaining noises in the background. And I certainly don’t care to see a 20-take clip of all of your friends sticking their face in the camera yelling profanities. This is the kind of stuff my peers are uploading to Vine. Do you see how I find this app annoying?

Another obvious reason why Vine is pointless? Since the app revolves around video clips, you can only enjoy it with your phone’s sound on. This means – unless you want everyone staring at you – you can’t pull your phone out and refresh your Vine feed in public, like you can Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Personally, if I’m bored in a public place, it would be embarassing to be using Vine and have a clip of someone trying to belt out a Whitney Houston song blaring from my phone. Isn’t the point of social media to entertain us when we can’t find it elsewhere?

I’m not too concerned about this Vine takeover, however. Just like Snapchat, I know Vine will be nothing more than a dead trend in a few short months.

Journalism staffs earn top honors at JEMKC awards

Mill Valley High School journalism students earned top honors in the Journalism Educators of Metropolitan Kansas City annual awards night Tuesday, April 16.

Seniors Hanna Torline and Austin Gillespie both won the Michael Dunlap Excellence in Journalism award given annually to the top student journalists in the Kansas City area. They received a plaque and a $500 scholarship. Torline and Gillespie are two of three editors in chief for the JagWire newspaper.

Gillespie is excited that he received the scholarship.

“I’m pretty proud,” Gillespie said. “Hanna [Torline] said she saw three tubs of portfolios that had to be handed back so it seemed pretty competitive.”

Lots of work went into choosing individual entries for the scholarship and for the staff entry as a whole.

“We spent some time looking at everything we’ve done this year and chose what we were most proud of and thought was our best work,” Gillespie said. “We chose pieces that we thought had the best chance going up against stuff from other schools.”

Torline and senior Ellen Bodine won the Opal Heatherly Writing Awards for seniors, given annually to students who demonstrate exceptional reporting and writing skills. They received a plaque and a $150 scholarship.

 

The JagWire newspaper staff earned the following awards:

Junior Connor Oswald and senior Mackenzie Eckman, honorable mention in news writing

Senior Austin Gillespie, first place in news facing page design, second place in infographic design, first place in critical review writing, honorable mention in web blogging

Senior Kelsey Floyd, third place in feature photography

Senior Hanna Torline and sophomore Callee Linton, honorable mention in feature writing

Torline and senior Kristina Milewski, first place in news feature writing

JagWire staff: third place in overall design and third place in sweepstakes

 

The JAG yearbook earned the following awards:

Seniors Ellen Bodine, Jillian Mullin, Lisa Galvan, second place in theme presentation

Mullin, first place in yearbook feature writing and second in yearbook overall design

Juniors Taylor Cowan and Kylie Lewis, honorable mention in yearbook portrait page design

Junior Erica Leonard, second place in yearbook clubs design

Sophomore Mikaela McCabe, second place in yearbook feature copy writing

 

Mill Valley News Online earned the following awards:

Third place, online photo gallery

First place, multimedia package

 

MVTV earned the following awards:

Junior Michael Remijio, honorable mention in broadcast sports story

 

Kathy Habiger is the adviser of the JagWire, JAG and MV News Online. Cindy Swartz is the adviser of MVTV.

 

 

Blog: Let’s go, Gomez

First she shed her clothes for her recent starring role in “Spring Breakers,” and now she’s stepping up her performance game; is Selena Gomez in the middle of an iconic transformation?

The former Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place” actress debuted her fresh new single “Come & Get It” on Ryan Seacrest’s website on Saturday, April 6 after leaking earlier than its original release date. Selena described the electronic pop song on her Facebook as something “fun, sassy and playful, but unexpected,” and explained to Ryan Seacrest that is has “kind of a tribal, Middle Eastern feel” to it and “exudes strength and confidence.” While I’ll admit that at first I was put off by “Come & Get It,” as I found it rather annoying, I quickly realized how unique and exciting the track is. It’s been in my head nonstop the past couple of days and I’m very unsure as to why it’s been struggling to make its way to number one on iTunes (it’s currently number eight). This song is certainly a new direction for Selena that no one saw coming, but what’s more unexpected is everything that comes with it: the performances and the confidence that this newly single 20-year old has been exuding lately.

Gomez, who recently broke up with longtime boyfriend Justin Bieber, is certainly trying to step up her game. ”Come & Get It” is the first single off her upcoming album, which is yet to receive a release date, and Gomez has been promoting it with fierce determination. Over the years, I have watched Gomez evolve from an extremely talented actress to a catchy pop musician (“Who Says,” “Love You Like a Love Song,” “Hit The Lights”) who is a super hot dancer, as evident in her just-for-fun dance on YouTube to Taylor Swift’s “Trouble.” Seeing this dance of hers made me realize how much potential she has to become the next huge pop icon. The first stop for her was the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, April 14, and in an interview prior to her performance that night, she said it would be a game changer.

“[For the performance I] wanted to out-do everything else I’ve done as an artist,” Gomez said. “I just wanted a fresh take on what, you know, the new chapter is for me. So I’m excited.”

In the MTV interview, Gomez explained that the Movie Awards performance would be the first for which she would be singing in a head piece and simultaneously dancing and singing, so I was eager to see what she was going to bring. But what she said after that about her inspiration for the performance got me even more excited for it.

“I just loved [Britney Spears' 2001 MTV Video Music Awards performance],” Gomez said. “I thought it was super-iconic, and she owned that stage. The routine was impeccable … It was kind of when she had her transitioning moment, and that definitely inspired me for this one, for sure.”

But why did this excite me so much? Because Spears’ 2001 VMA performance was what truly transitioned her from America’s sweetheart rocking a school girl outfit in “Baby One More Time” to a sex symbol and the biggest pop icons in the world. You know what performance I’m talking about: the one where she fearlessly danced around the stage with an albino Burmese python. I’ve always loved Selena and have been rooting for her to make this same transition. Knowing Gomez is such a Britney stan and would be channeling Spears’ VMA performance in her Movie Awards performance, I knew this was the perfect opportunity for her to do this.

And you know what? I’d say she did pretty good.

Rocking a flowy, red Indian-inspired dress, jingly gold accesories and a rhinestone bindi on her forehead, Gomez sang 100 percent live while executing Bollywood choreography throughout the entire performance. She has never been the strongest singer, but she definitely sounded good, especially taking into account that she was dancing as well. At this point I felt there was a good chance she had pulled off the Britney transition, but then again not much hype surrounded it afterwards. That is until I found this article, which reported that Hindu leaders are demanding an apology for Gomez wearing a bindi, which is a sacred religious symbol. All I have to say is yes. Yes, yes, yes. Now I’m not glad about the fact that Hindus are offended by Gomez’s decision to wear a bindi, but I’m glad about the controversy it’s caused. After Britney’s legendary performance, she faced backlash as well, being put in hot water with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) who felt that her use of exotic animals in her performance was inhumane. Controversy is good; it gets people talking, it gets people noticed. Will Gomez receive the same attention as Spears?

Just a few days after Sunday’s performance, Gomez appeared on both “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “Dancing With The Stars” as a guest performer. While the “Ellen” performance was less of a spectacle than the Movie Awards performance, in the “Dancing” performance, Gomez seemed to feel much more comfortable and into the performance.

As a fan of Gomez, I’m happy to see her putting herself out there. I just know she is capable of becoming huge. She’s almost 21 (the same age Britney was during her big transition),  boys think she’s hot, girls want to be her, she’s charming (check out this interview of her on “Ellen” for example) and she’s becoming an amazing performer.

What’s next for her? A world tour, of course. Gomez announced this to Seacrest the day after the Movie Awards performance on Monday, April 15, saying she “misses shows when it used to be just about the dancing and the performing” rather than a huge, extravagant stage. Gomez explained that she wanted to get back to that, and you know what that means: girl is about to rock the world.

Tickets for the Stars Dance Tour 2013 go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, April 20, on Gomez’s official website.

Blog: Feeling pretty accomplished

Austin speaking:

This week has been pretty darn fantastic. On Wednesday, April 16, we attended the JEMKC (Journalism Educators of Metropolitan Kansas City) awards ceremony and us newsies and yerds did quite well. We blogged a couple of weeks ago about how we had been stressing out over all the contest entries we were working on submitting, and I guess you could say it was all worth it. Mill Valley journalism placed several of our entries in many of the categories, and as a whole journalism program we got third place in the JEMKC sweepstakes. A couple people from our staff also took home some scholarships, so that’s pretty cool, too. And kudos to all of the other schools who won stuff as well; it’s crazy how many talented high school journalists live in the Kansas City area.

Kristina speaking:

Austin is being modest. The two people that took home scholarships were him and Hanna Torline, so congratulations! That definitely earns bragging rights. As Austin said, we went to the JEMKC awards night on Wednesday. It was so great to see all the journalism spirit; schools even brought their mascots to cheer them on. Two weeks from now, state qualifiers are going to the 2013 Kansas Scholastic Press Association contest. Last year, we got second place at state, so we’re determined to get first this year.

Hanna speaking:

I remember when the editors-in-chief last year came in and announced the results from the 2012 JEMKC awards ceremony. It was really exciting, but at the time I didn’t understand how big of a deal the awards were. Now I see how much competition there is in the Kansas City area. There are so many amazing newspapers and yearbooks being published. Keeping that in mind, it’s flattering that our paper won so many awards. But now we are looking forward to the state competition, and bringing home first place. With so many talented staffers this year, we really have a good shot.

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