The case concerned a student who had been caught with drugs in his book bag, but claimed his classmate planted the drugs on him. The U. City team was on defense, meaning they had to prove or show why the student was not guilty. Freshman Joseph Chunn went after the prosecution for the opening statement. Each lawyer questioned their witness for fourteen minutes, which is referred to as the direct. After the defense finished, the prosecution asked the witness questions for 10 minutes to prove their side, or the cross examination.

The closing statement was done by junior Marlynna Blumer, who has experience in the Mock Trial competition. After the trial was over, both teams waited for the jury to reveal their scores. After five minutes, which felt like a long time, Mock Trial instructor Lori Adkins told the team that they won the case. The overall team’s score was 175 and combined overall was 340/440. The team will not be moving on to regionals, however they moved up from 45th place to 24th.

“It’s a lot of work, such as speaking in front of a crowd and having people skills,” said Samantha Strand. Overall, the team members agreed that it was a very informative experience to be a part of and learning about law. “I learned how to be a part of a team and come to know individuals who bear great potential,” said Chunn.

Seven years later, after some “behind the scenes work and a simple twist of fate,” he and four talented students are advancing to the VerbQuake Teen Poetry SLAM Grand Finals, a local St. Louis competition sponsored by The Urban Artist Alliance for Child Development. The current U.City team called “Wreck” will perform in front of spectators at the Missouri History Museum.

At the free event on Saturday, April 20, four high school teams will compete to bring home the bragging rights of winner of a grand slam competition. Juniors Tamareka Lofton, Kiara Reed, and Erianna Henderson, along with freshman Derek Mills have been fervently preparing for their time in the spotlight.

The process begins when the student writes his/her original piece. There are no restrictions on the topic or content of the students’ work. A wide range of topics are touched on, everything from love, hate, loss of a friend, and general social commentary.

“I’ll be performing a poem about materialism and how it affects people in America,” said freshman poet and rapper Derek Mills. “I’ve been reciting it each day to make sure I have every piece, line, and word of the poem right.”

Their drafts are critiqued by their peers during their after school meetings, and given feedback on how to improve and perform to convey their message and emotions. The poets’ assigned VerbQuake mentor, James ‘JayLuvve’ Watford preps the students for their performance and helps them improve their work.

“Jay is really awesome,” said Mills. “He gives us the insight that we need, insight that Mr. G. can’t because he doesn’t have as much experience as Jay.”

With the help of Geinosky-Poiter and Jay, the young poets have discovered a love of spoken word and gained a bold confidence. The students are hopeful for a win at Saturday’s competition after their hours of work and dedication producing what they consider some of their best work.

“I have to be confident that we’ll win at VerbQuake,” said Mills. “If I’m not confident in our abilities, we won’t win!”

The free event is open for anyone to attend. Come support Wreck on Saturday, April 20 from 3-5 pm at the Lee Auditorium in the History Museum.  http://www.mohistory.org/node/8287

Video from the semi-finals can be found above and the U. City poets appear at the 2 hour mark.

Thanks to the Business Department and Ms. Soriano, District Coordinator of State and Federal Programs, students were recently given the opportunity to meet with people from many different occupations at the annual career fair in early March. Students visited with firefighters, engineers, chefs, construction workers, military personnel and much more in a hope to be inspired and finally have an answer to this ancient question. Some students walked away feeling excited for their future, but others felt even more lost about their futures.

“I know I want to be either an architect or engineer,” said junior Molly Paterson. “The career fair is kind of boring but also allows me to talk to people that do what I want to do when I graduate college. It’s really interesting to talk to them and I feel privileged to be able to do that.”

Although the career fair is not especially popular among all of the students, it provides exposure to what the future might hold. And, even if a student has no interest in the fair, they can spend their time collecting raffle tickets from the employer booths in exchange for asking a question about their profession. The chance to win prizes has encouraged students to participate in the fair and some students have won valuable prizes. This year’s winners include sophomore Daryl Black (TV), senior Keya Freeman (two prom tickets), and senior Patrick Harting (4 Blues hockey tickets).

“I already know I want to be a politician,” said sophomore Malik Johnson. “Considering I couldn’t find any politicians at the fair, I spent all of my time collecting those raffle tickets. I was so disappointed I didn’t win anything!”

Even though the career fair gets mixed reviews from students, overall it seems to be a successful way to get students thinking about their future. Check out the video above containing more student opinions on the fair.

In order to survive freshman year, it is important to break it down into smaller pieces.

Most importantly, stick with friends who you are comfortable with, such as friends you went to middle school with. If you are transferring or going to a different school than your friends, don’t go into a new environment acting like somebody you’re not.

Once you’ve established your friend group, be yourself and don’t act like anybody you’re not. Going into a new environment may seem scary and nerve wracking, which can bring on peer pressure because as a new student, you want to make friends. Being “fresh meat” in high school makes individuals a new target for the upperclassmen to pull you into their clique, and that can bring on peer pressure.

When friends with upperclassmen, such as sophomores, juniors and seniors, other students tend to become your friend so they can be associated with those upperclassmen as well.

“My brother was a senior when I was in the 9^th grade, so that kind of helped me get through my freshmen year…plus I had a lot of classes with my friends from middle school,” said Diamond Jones, sophomore.

Knowing a lot of upperclassmen always make your first year of high school easier, but you also have to treat people the way you would like to be treated. Treat people the way you want to be treated. When you’re nice to people, people tend to be nice back.

“Just be yourself and don’t try so hard to fit in, choose your friends wisely and keep focusing on your schoolwork,” said Jones.

Staying alone brings less drama and attention towards you. “Another way to get past your freshman year is by staying alone,” said Aaron Taylor, junior.

Freshman year is the most important year of the high school experience. Freshman year determines if students graduate or drop out. Many students think of the first year of high school as party time and don’t complete schoolwork or homework. Once those credits are lost, it’s very hard to play catch up. Summer school would be a way to receive those lost credits, but if more than two credits are lost, a student will only get to make up two credits. When a student is missing three or four credits, anything beyond two credits would be lost.

Making it through freshman year obviously takes a lot of effort from the individual student to stay on the path to success, both academically and socially.

Survival Tips

1. Stay to yourself
2. Stick with people you know, but make a few new friends
3. Keep focus on your homework and classwork
4. Know some upperclassmen
5. Don’t try to be somebody you’re not
6. Stay drama free
7. Be respectful to your teachers and peers
8. Treat people the way you want to be treated
9. Don’t get yourself in a situation you can’t get out of
10. HAVE FUN!!! J

“We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on earth.”