 From left: Gracie Williams, Amanda Marrot, and Bethany Osborn Claire Garner
Staff Writer On Feb. 10 Mrs. Hoskins and three of her Culinary Arts II Honors students traveled to Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte to compete in the annual Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Culinary Competition. They went up against eight other teams to win scholarship money towards Johnson and Wales as well as the opportunity to compete at a national level in Nashville, Tennessee over the summer. Last year’s team won first place at the state level and went to San Diego, California but did not place during the national competition.  McKenzie Feldman
Web Editor Music’s biggest night of the year was a hit. The 59th Grammy Awards celebrated the music industry’s finest achievements this past Sunday. With big winners to electric performances, this year’s Grammys was quite unforgettable. Adele proved to be the shining star we know her to be. With five Grammy wins, she walked away as the night’s biggest winner. She started by opening up with a flawless rendition of “Hello.” Adele then swept the top categories, winning Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Pop Solo Performance. Although her winnings put her at the top, her emotional tribute to George Michael was all the talk. A few seconds into the performance, the British singer/songwriter asked to start over. She started by saying, “I cannot do it again like last year.” She then continued after the bleeped out moment, “I'm sorry for swearing and I'm sorry for starting again. Can we start it again? I'm sorry, I cannot mess this up for him. I'm sorry. I cannot. I'm sorry for swearing, I'm really sorry." Adele was visibly upset, but the star-studded crowd cheered her on. The second time around received a standing ovation as well as numerous teary-eyed celebrities scattered throughout the audience.  Jake Gibson
Staff Writer Black Rifle is a veteran owned and operated coffee chain located in Utah. Recently, Starbucks made an announcement to hire 10,000 refugees in the seventy-five different countries where they do business in. This vow to hire 10,000 refugees caused some backfire and backlash among coffee drinkers. Black Rifle Coffee responded. They vowed to hire 10,000 Veterans. Currently, there are over 120,000 homeless veterans in the U.S. Evan Hafer is the C.E.O of Black Rifle Coffee and an Army Special Forces Veteran. He did multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. While he was not fighting, he was perfecting his coffee. He says their plan is to build six hundred stores in the next six years. He stated that he was going to push this forward with the community behind him. The U.S has been at war the last sixteen years, leaving a good amount of veterans, and an increasing number of, homeless veterans. The current plan is to add 10,000 veterans over the next five years. Evan Hafer stated that he would be pulling from a pool of post 9-11 veterans but would additionally reach out to Cold War and Gulf War Veterans. Evan Hafer also stated that “(we) hire American veterans who’ve shouldered a heavy burden and could use a leg up in the work force.” Currently the entire company is run by veterans. However, we will have to wait to see what happens. We thank Mr. Hafer for his service.  Jessica Stiehm
Editor-In-Chief President Trump’s inauguration was met with mixed reviews amongst the American public but one thing people on both sides of the political divide can agree on is that he has certainly hit the ground running. Trump has not even been in office for a month, but has dominated the headlines with an array of plans to make America great again. Most notably would be the ninety-day immigration ban directed at seven counties in the Middle East and its surrounding areas. Additionally, the new president's actions include the implementation of a 120-day ban on all refugees, no matter country of origin. Because the banned countries are predominantly Muslim, critics have accused Trump of blatant Islamophobia, despite the president claiming it an act of extreme vetting to guard against potential terrorists. Refugees coming from Syria were banned indefinitely. Thousands protested. In response to this executive action...  Andrew Bulieris
Sports Editor This year’s Super Bowl featured arguably the two best teams in the NFL, the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots. The game showed off Tom Brady’s excellence as he led the Patriots back from a 28-3 deficit. The Patriots defense had the allowed the least amount of points per game all season while the Falcons offense scored the most points per game this season. Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck walked into this game looking to cement their legacy as the greatest-coach duo of all time. No quarterback or coach has ever won five Super Bowls before, and they looked to become the first to achieve the feat. The game started off more than just slow for Brady and company, failing to put up a single touchdown all first half. On the other side Atlanta dominated all half, extending their lead to 21-0 after Robert Alford picked off Tom Brady on a rare Brady super bowl interception that he took to the house, this was thought to be a soul crushing pick six for the Patriots. Matt Ryan and the Falcons rushed and threw all over the Patriots’ defense in the first half entering halftime with a 21-3 lead. The second half was opened up by the Falcons marching down the field and stretching the lead to 28-3. Hope was beginning to be lost in New England as even some players admitted after the game that they had begun to start doubting a comeback after the fourth touchdown of the day. A twenty-five point comeback was looking near impossible at that point as the Patriots struggle to gain any momentum at any point during the game.  Jake Gibson
Staff Writer Love It or List It is a hit T.V show on the HGTV network. On Feb. 6, nobody expected to see none other than Ken Nagel on HGTV. Ken Nagel is an AP Environmental Science teacher and a marine ecology teacher at Apex High school. I sat down for an interview with Mr. Nagel. |
