CCHS Talon

graphic by Marissa Arnold Reaching back from the grave XXXTENTACION dropped his new album “Skins” posthumously on Dec. 7. The album is a combination of XXXTENTACION’s projects at the time of his death, which explains why most of the songs are short and heavily instrumental. “Skins” opens with an introduction from XXXTENTACION talking about what he wanted the album to represent and asking his fans to “open their minds” to the music. The songs on the album are sad with dark lyrics combined by eerie instrumentals that give “Skins” a creepy atmosphere. “Train food” was one of the darkest songs on the album and is mainly comprised of XXXTENTACION monologuing his own death. It is complimented with

Public speaking can be nerve-wracking, but two seniors took on the challenge and one of them won a regional contest at a local high school. Senior Karen Charleston won the Rotary Four-way Test Speech Contest. Charleston and fellow senior Hannah Shirey competed at the mid-level competition Dec. 4 at Lebanon High School. To enter the contest, Charleston and Shirey had to write a five-to-eight-minute speech on a topic of current concern. Both Charleston and Shirey spent over a month writing and preparing their speeches. Charleston wrote hers questioning the validity of the All Lives Matter movement. “I personally chose my topic because I felt like people in general have some sort of negat

Many students stress over college and their future. Submitting applications is one thing, but then some colleges take weeks or months to send out acceptance letters. This year, Kyki Bobotas, a representative from Millersville allowed students to participate in an ‘Instant Decision Day’. “I enjoyed getting to meet students interested in Millersville and hoped to lead them in the right direction,” said Bobotas. She met with students, looked over their applications and made a decision as they sat there. She let them know that day if they were accepted into Millersville. “I think this is a great opportunity for students because it’s a big stress reliever,” said Bobotas. “They don’t have to wait

Twice a week, senior Kyle Nazarchuk appears on the morning announcements and delivers a weather report. What most students do not know is the time and preparation that goes into these reports. Nazarchuk references forecasts from major weather services like the National Weather Service and the Weather Channel. He also looks at Millersville’s in-house weather radars and products to refine his estimates. “Nine times out of ten, they beat the models, so I will usually use their forecast,” said Nazarchuk. “Then, I tend to guess using the ten percent forecast that most weather stations do.” This year, Nazarchuk has attempted to modernize the way the weather is broadcast. Weather radars demonstrati

photo provided by Morgan Menser Many people dream of traveling and shopping in different parts of the world. This November, I traveled to Tuscany, Italy and experienced the Italian fashion scene. This region is known for its beautiful countryside and rows upon rows of stores. Each day, I toured and shopped my way through a new city. Despite the fact that Italy does not celebrate Thanksgiving, they have an event similar to Black Friday, but a week long: Black Week. As they recently caught on the US’ shopping holiday, stores in Italy had great deals, especially on clothing. Shoppers flooded the town center and into stores searching for Christmas gifts. One day, I visited the city of Florence.

While the past few years have ushered in multitudes of changes, the ID requirement was the only change to directly affect every single student this year. At least, it was intended to. In a Talon poll of about 100 students in the cafeteria and the library, only half were wearing their IDs. About 60 percent of students marked that they wore their IDs every day, 6 percent said they wore it most days, 4 percent some days, and 28 percent marked they never wear or almost never wore their ID. According to the policy, students should receive detention from homeroom teachers after failing to wear their ID three days in a marking period. “I see a lot of threats coming from homeroom teachers [to studen

photo by Ally Doxtater With the holidays quickly approaching and the calendar year drawing to a close, the school is spending the final month of 2018 ringing in the season with a variety of events organized for and by the students. Many events are occurring leading up to winter break, some of which are winter themed, others less so, but they all are bringing students together in fun experiences that everyone is enjoying. One of the first was the Aevidum lock-in, held last Friday, where students stayed after school from 2:30 to 7 p.m. At the lock-in, they enjoyed food like homemade mac ‘n cheese, and activities like a four square tournament, as well as a number of prizes given out including a

Returning veterans, new hopefuls, and a powerful energy are going into this year’s bowling team, as their new season begins. Last year, the team did well, placing second place in section two, just behind Ephrata, with a record of 9-4. Going into this season, the team has ambitious aspirations, with Coach Nicole Wagner aiming to get the team into the number one position of section one. “I think [we’re looking forward to] the competitive aspect, and growing together as a family unit, and being a strong team overall,” said Wagner. Last year’s state champion Kolby Bennett is returning to the bowling team this year. He sees the team, as well as himself, being able to pull off a number of wins, an

Every year, FBLA hosts a blood drive to help benefit the community, and every year, some new faces show up, ready to help out by donating blood to those who need it. One of those new faces is junior Jasmine Kearns, who donated blood for the first time. She saw it as an opportunity to do some good, and was inspired to do so. “My mom used to donate blood and so I was like, ‘yeah, this is how I can help people,’” said Kearns. A common experience for many when undergoing any type of medical procedure involving needles, including donating blood, is a sense of anxiety. Many students choose to not even donate because of this, but Kearns was not one of them. “I was nervous about the needles and the

Often seniors are looked up to by underclassmen. In the athletics world, seniors show leadership on their team both on and off the court. Both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams welcome back six returning seniors to the court. With many games of varsity experience, they know how to show team leadership this season. The boys’ team sends returning seniors Jaquan, Andino, Neisso Dorvil, Brody Dunlop, Logan Horn, Trey Kalbach and Devin Shay to the court for their fourth and final season. “I love every kid on this team,” said senior Logan Horn. “Together we can accomplish our goals and do something special this year.” This season, Dunlop and Horn will be leading the boys’ team as captains. Hor

When teams think of goals, they consider qualifying for Leagues, Districts, or having a perfect season. Wrestling Coach Christopher Voshell aspires for bigger goals. “My goal as a head coach is for the men in our program to be successful in post high school life no matter that that is,” said Voshell. “I want them to be contributing members of society, to go on to college and graduate, to begin careers and to be good husbands and dads someday.” Some wrestlers hope to achieve individual goals. “(I want to) do better than last year,” said junior Todd Moore, who I went 21-10 last season in his first year of wrestling. “Hopefully, just my leadership really affects people and could help others bet

After a competitive season last winter, the boys’ and girls’ swim teams look to build even more onto their success. The team consists of multiple strong returners from last season, and a few new faces that will ultimately help the team win meets. “This season will be very exciting,” said senior Krysta Weik. “Everyone seems to not only be great swimmers, but they also have a lot of positivity,” Seniors Weik, Gabriel Deiderick, Cameron Hain, Katie Mowery; junior Gabby Talys, and sophomores Nathan Kline and Madi Ortiz have all proven to be assets to the team based of their performance last season. “Every member of the team is essential this year,” said Mowery. “Even the new members will play a

The girls’ basketball team has had many wins in past seasons and is working to continue that success this season. “Coach (Jim Donmoyer) is pushing us this year,” said senior Madison Rambler, “We are getting into shape and working hard. Pushing each other is the only way we will have a good outcome.” Last year the team had a record of 15-9. “I’m most excited about the team’s potential,” said Donmoyer. “I’m excited to see where this year’s journey takes us.” Three key players were lost from last year’s team: Gracen Donmoyer, Jade Rolon and Rachel Witherite. Rolon now plays at Marywood University. “Last season, we struggled a little bit [making it to Leagues]” said senior Hannah Woelfeling, “Bu

Most sports teams function properly off positivity and team unity. This will certainly be the case for the boys’ basketball team this season. Last season the boys went 18-7 under head coach Thomas Smith. They also qualified for the Lancaster Lebanon League playoffs and were 6A District 3 qualifiers. Smith feels confident that the returning player and new standouts will lead the team to success this season. “We have a lot of size and athleticism,” said Smith. “Our players play our system really well.” The boys have strengths on both offense and defense with key returners’ seniors Logan Horn and Brody Dunlop, and junior Jason Eberhart. “We have all worked to be leaders to the underclassmen,” s

Returning veterans, new hopefuls, and a powerful energy are going into this year’s bowling team, as their new season begins. Last year, the team did well, placing second in Section One of the Lancaster-Lebanon League, behind Ephrata, with a record of 9-4. Going into this season, the team has ambitious aspirations, with Coach Jennifer Wagner aiming to get the team into the number one position of Section One. “I think [we’re looking forward to] the competitive aspect, and growing together as a family unit, and being a strong team overall,” said Wagner. Last year’s individual state champion, junior Kolby Bennett, sees the team, as well as himself, being able to pull off a number of wins, and ha

graphic by Marissa Arnold A fantastic sequel showcases an action packed adventure with multiple old and new faces. Months have passed since the setting of the first movie, and Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” 2016, “The Theory of Everything” 2014), has lost his privilege of international travel. He is informed by his superiors of Credence, played by Erza Miller (“Justice League” 2017, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” 2012), surviving his encounter with the American Ministry of Magic. He eventually gets tied up in the hunt to find him in Europe by request of his old friend Dumbledore, played by Jude Law (“Sherlock Holmes” 2009, “Alfie” 2004)

Remakes typically rehash the old, not bringing many new qualities to the table. However, the latest Pokémon game goes beyond this, bringing new features and a new plot. Nintendo Switch games “Pokémon: Let’s Go Eevee” and “Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu” is set in Kanto, the same place as the original games Pokémon Red and Blue. Only first generation Pokémon are available aside from their Alolan forms, which can also be acquired. Many elements of gameplay are new, however. The biggest change is that wild Pokémon are not battled - instead the player must attempt to catch them with PokéBalls. Catching Pokémon goes by the same rules as in Pokémon Go, with Pokémon being different levels of difficulty,

Thanksgiving is a time for appreciation and giving back to loved ones. This year, the Aevidum club is celebrating the spirit of the holiday with Crestgiving. This allows students to fill out a card with a note that will be delivered to anyone, student or staff, in the school. “I’m really glad that I could be involved in school unity in this way,” said senior Hajra Sohail, Aevidum vice president. “It was amazing to see how much people were eager to show their appreciation for each other and it made me happy to know how caring we all are of our school and our peers.” The idea started when the staff did this a few years ago. Business teacher and Aevidum adviser Ben Harris suggested that they re