Writer & Photographer - Miranda Little This last Thursday, Le Roy’s Scholastic Bowl team had a match against Flanagan High School. This could possibly be the final match for the team if they do not qualify for Regionals, so the stakes were high. The match was held virtually over Zoom due to COVID-19, but everything went smoothly. For this match, Jacob Gaul was chosen as the team’s captain. This meant that Jacob was in charge of leading the team through any and all bonus questions they received. The position of captain is switched for every game between Jacob Gaul and Mary Thayn, so both have had equal amounts of leadership. Jacob lead his team well and made sure to give everyone a chance to give their thoughts and ideas. The beginning of the match went extremely well for Le Roy’s team, and they had a 30 point lead at 90 - 60 by halfway through the game. Questions involving book authors, historical events, geography, and others did not phase the team. Flanagan took the lead in points and by ¾ of the way through the game, the score being 140 - 120 with Flanagan winning. While Le Roy did try their best to come back, Flanagan won at 160 -140, which is an extremely close game that not many matches have. Despite losing the match, Le Roy was excited to have done their final scrimmage. Now the team waits for results to see if they will be in regionals. Check back soon to learn more and see what happens!
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Writer & Photographer - Miranda Little
This last Tuesday on February 23rd, Le Roy High School’s Scholastic Bowl team faced off against Lexington High School in a difficult trivia scrimmage. Due to COVID-19’s impact on many of Le Roy’s sports teams, this match was held virtually over Zoom. Despite this, Le Roy’s team has made the best of this situation and still had a blast. The match started out with Mary Thayn who was chosen as the team’s captain for the meet. The position of captain is usually switched back and forth between senior teammates depending on who is available. Mary was in charge of making final decisions on answers for bonus questions, which can be quite stressful; however, Mary was able to take the pressure and performed excellently. Throughout the match, both teams are given questions ranging in difficulty that test their knowledge on certain subjects. Some questions will be about math, some English, and others pop culture. One question that stuck with the team was the history of the Spider-Man movies that the Lexington team had as bonus questions. Throughout the beginning of the match, Le Roy and Lexington were neck-and-neck, having an even number of points on either side. Near the end of the first half, Le Roy took the lead in points but quickly fell behind. Unable to catch up, Le Roy lost the match 240 - 110. While Le Roy did lose, they were still excited to learn a lot of new facts and talk to the other team. This match comes as the second-to-last that the team will have before regionals. If the team scores high enough, they will be placed in the top ten teams. Check back soon to hear more about their placement! Writer/Photographer - Lily Monigold On Wednesday, February 24th, art students from Le Roy High School traveled to Springfield for a day filled with some awesome art. Our very own Brooke Raven’s art is included in this. Brooke Raven had three of her paintings on display among many other paintings, photographs, drawings, and sculptures. However, she had to work very hard to get these pieces here. In order for your art to be featured, you have to enter into the Mid-Central Regional Scholastic Art Competition. This year, there were 625 entries from students ranging from 6th grade to 12th grade. Last year, there were over 900 entries. This contest has been going on since 1923, so it will be reaching its 100-year anniversary in a couple of years. Brooke Raven won the Gwen Lewis and Wanda Riseman American Visions Nominee Award, as well as the Rod and Rosemary Buffington Portfolio Award. She also received a gold key for her art portfolio, and a silver key for her paintings. Her pieces are People First, 309, and Growing Into Me. Growing Into Me, her biggest piece of the three, is currently being judged out of five other pieces over the advancement to Nationals in New York at Carnegie Hall. This will be decided within the next few weeks. Brooke says that without quarantine, she doesn’t think she would have gotten where she is today. This time gave her the chance to work hard and continue to pursue her passions in art. The showcase will be taken down on Saturday, February 27th, so the Le Roy art students knew they wanted to catch the show before it went away. This is why on Wednesday morning, a group of 13 art students loaded up on a bus to head out to Springfield. Once there, students were able to explore around the whole show and take in all of the incredible art around them. Being surrounded by amazing art done by those around the same age is like an artist’s dreamland. After checking out the art, they were given a tour of the building with all of its features. Many art classes taken place here including painting, sculpting, glass-making, jewelry-making, and more. The actual building is very cool as well. Edwards Place was built in 1833 and remodeled in 1857. It is a historic house museum that was the home of the brother-in-law of Mary Lincoln’s sister Elizabeth. It was then restored in 2015. The one thing that remains authentic, however, is a couch in the building that is the very couch where Abraham Lincoln proposed to Mary Todd Lincoln. One of the first things students noticed when the bus approached the building was that it was pink and stood out like a sore thumb. While a pink building used for art is very cool, it was actually a mistake. When being repainted, the colors were mixed incorrectly. By the time the building was painted and dried, they realized it was pink and not the light beige it should have been. Some students were disappointed to hear that in the next couple of years they are trying to get enough funding to repaint it to its historically accurate color. Everyone at the building was very kind to us, and even gave each student a book filled with all of the art from last year’s competition. Brooke’s art will be included in the 2021 book once it is made. After visiting Edwards Place to see all of the art, everyone was ready and hungry for Italian food from Gallina’s Pizza. After eating, we set out on a walk for a couple blocks to tour the Old State Capitol Building. While here, Nick Knoedler was able to pick up his winning painting of Abraham Lincoln that had been displayed in the building since December. Students loaded back onto the bus after this to head to the school, and the all-in-all census was that it was a fun, eventful, and educational outing. Writer - Lily Monigold
Right now, there are a lot of debates about whether or not the minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour. This is the question that everyone is trying to answer right now: would raising the minimum wage, potentially to $15 per hour by 2025, be a good thing or a harmful thing? There is no right or wrong answer to this question as it is entirely based on an opinion. This is an opinion and topic that is important to care about and pay attention to right now because this is a debate that is happening amongst our government at this moment. For instance, at the start of 2021, 20 different states raised their minimum wage. They all varied on how much they increased. Illinois went from $10 to $11, while Minnesota only increased by 8 cents -- $10 to $10.08. However, the federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 an hour since 2009. The state that currently has the highest minimum wage is California at $14. Washington DC’s minimum wage is $15, but is not considered a state. The states with the lowest minimum wages are Wyoming and Georgia; they are both at $5.15. Since they have to follow the federal minimum wage, however, most are paid $7.25 per hour. If you have a job that pays minimum wage, you may be thinking “of course I want the minimum wage to go up; I will make more money!” While it sounds like an obvious answer, there do happen to be negative consequences. For example, if the minimum wage is raised to $15, then some places may have to lay-off some employees. Then those fired employees definitely won’t be making a wage that is livable. The 2019 CBO report states an estimate that 1.3 million jobs would be lost if the minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour by 2025. It would cost more money for small businesses to pay their employees and this could really impact them. To continue, since small businesses would have to pay their employees more, they may have to increase their prices. This could result in just adding to the inflation already going on. Many argue that doing this would just increase salaries overall; which would then increase prices of goods and services overall. Inflation and loss of jobs are two big issues that would occur if/when minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour. These are some large issues. However, the positives, depending on your opinion, may out-weigh the bad. For instance, the main argument as to why minimum wage should be raised is because it would improve the standard of living. This means that more people would have an appropriate amount of money to live off of comfortably. A 2019 CBO also estimates that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2025 would result in an improvement of standard of living for 17 million people; bringing 1.3 million people above the poverty line. A higher wage could also generally improve employee morale. Workers may put more work into their jobs when making a higher salary. If someone is working a job that isn’t earning them enough to live comfortably, it may discourage them from working as hard as they can in their jobs. Lastly, raising the minimum wage would also have a positive effect on the economy. It would boost it because consumer spending goes up when people have more money to buy things. This then stimulates the economy. To recap, the main benefits of raising the minimum is an improved standard of living, higher employee morale, and the growth of the economy. As you can see, there are extremely valid points on both sides of the argument. This is what makes the decision so tough. Most likely, however, the near future will involve seeing a gradual rise in the minimum wage. It is only then when we will truly see all of the positives and negatives that this will have. Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/30/business/minimum-wage-2021-states/index.html https://www.paycor.com/resource-center/minimum-wage-by-state https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090516/what-are-pros-and-cons-raising-minimum-wage.asp#:~:text=Opponents%20of%20raising%20the%20minimum,and%20resulting%20in%20job%20losses WINNER: Amelia Creech TITLE: Path Through a Garden INTERVIEW What inspired your art piece? AC: “This piece was actually a birthday gift to my mom. To create this piece I took a couple different pictures of gardens (because my mom likes gardens) and painted them into one painting.” What is the message from your piece that you would like the students of LeRoy High School to receive? AC: “You don't always know where your path leads. In the painting you can tell there is a path, but you can't tell where it will end up. And don't forget to look around at what you have while you're on your way. Sometimes we focus on one thing and we forget to look around at all we have.” What is your personal interpretation of your art piece? AC: “It is a watercolor painting of a pathway through a garden.” What made you pick your medium? (digital art, singing, instrument playing, makeup art) AC: “I picked watercolor because it is medium I am fairly comfortable in, and I didn't want to be trying something new when it was a gift to someone.” Do you think it's important to have fun while creating art, no matter the medium? AC: “Absolutely. I think as long as you have fun, you can create whatever you want!” Anything you'd like to add? AC: “Don't stop practicing. Everyone says that, but it's true. You can't get better unless you practice. And have a great day!” RUNNERS-UP: Aubrie Flegel, Madison Hamilton, Lily Monigold This is our second time seeing stunning work by Aubrie Flegel! This piece is titled “2:20” and is very thought-provoking. There are so many messages to be interpreted from this piece, and the art itself is amazing! The small cracks and details are well placed and makes the viewer want a story. This photograph was taken by Madison Hamilton and is titled “Sunset in the Country”. Madison captured an amazing image at the perfect time and place to display the beauty of Illinois country, and of LeRoy itself. This photo provokes viewers to appreciate how beautiful the place that we live is, and is a good reminder of the beauty of nature. Drawn by Lily Monigold, this piece “Zentangle Cats” is a very playful and intricate work! The small details, the fun artistic designs, and black cats give this piece a “Halloween feel” and is absolutely adorable. This piece surely took lots of time and hard work, and we’re honored that Lily chose to share it with The Paw Print.
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