November 2019 Issue

Many people think boy scouts is just taking little
boys out on camping trips and doing good deeds,
when in reality, boy scouts is a very important part
of a boy’s life. A boy scout is a member of any of
various national scouting programs (such as the Boy
Scouts of America) for boys usually 11 to 17 years
of age. There are a number of boys at PHS who are
very high levels of scouts.
For example, sophomore DeAndre Westbrook is an Eagle Scout,
the highest level of scouts. To become an Eagle Scout, a scout
has to have been a Life Scout for at least six months,earn a minimum
of 21 merit badges, demonstrate Scout Spirit, and demonstrate
leadership within their troop, crew, or ship.
In addition, Eagle Scouts must also complete a major service
project that benefits an organization in the community. They put
together a committee for approval and guidance, then design
and implement their idea. It is a time consuming, professional
endeavor.
In order to achieve Eagle Scout, boys advance through
several levels of scouting: Cub Scout--Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos,
Arrow of Light; then Boy Scout--Scout, Tenderfoot, Second
Class, First Class, Star, Life, and Eagle. According to Scouting
Magazine, only 6.49% of eligible scouts achieved Eagle Scout in
2018.
Each level of scouts helps improve a boy’s responsibility
and leadership skills. Being a scout also means one gets to meet
a bunch of new people. DeAndre said he meets someone new
“every time I go camping or to an event.”DeAndre has been
involved in scouts for nine years.
by Kennedy Carver
Giving back to the elementary schools, sophomore Eagle
Scout DeAndre Westbrook built and installed picnic benches
and a lending library for Parkwood Elementary.
DeAndre built and installed picnic benches and a lending
library for Parkwood Elementary as part of his Eagle Scout
Project.
He joins senior Connor Hughes, a senior who achieved his
Eagle Scout this summer by mapping eight miles of nature trails
at Mound Ridge Retreat for a visitors’ brochure.
Both students have achieved more than most people their
age and should be commended for their accomplishments.
The speech and debate team at Pattonville High School have
recently earned membership into the 100 Club! The National
Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) only awards this to the
top 20 percent of speech and debate programs nationwide
The NSDA chooses these schools based on a points system;
this system gives points for competitive and service related activities,
these include radio speaking and extemporaneous speaking.
Radio speaking is where a student prepares a script and says it out
loud in a five minute time period to a judge, while extemporaneous
speaking is where you have 30 minutes to prepare and present
a seven minute speech on the fly. Pattonville earned their membership
by achieving 100 or more of these points last year.
The debate season this year is underway. Two debate workshops
have already been pulled off by the debate staff, like the
many different staff members at different schools that participate
in debate events, and many students from various schools that can
volunteer. This is to introduce new students to debate by showing
off the many things debate has to offer. With multiple different
by Nolan Ballard
kinds of debate, where in public forum it is
two people debating against another team
of two, and Lincoln Douglas where it is one
person debating one other person.
As well as policy debate and congress,
policy debate is where people debate
something along the lines of policy debated
in a public forum (two on two) style,
or government legislation, and congress
debate is where many pieces of legislation
are proposed and some are debated in an
open room with many ‘legislators’ there to
comment on the legislation.
Participating in the Public Form portion
of the Events Showcase, Bell Tucci and
Eden Magana Lopez (top) and Tajh Martin
and Anna Degarcia (bottom) are part of
the 100 Club team.