The Rampage

Demi Muchmore Editor-In-Chief  Leo club every other Monday in room s177. Photo credit Demi Muchmore.   Leo club meets every other Monday at 7:15 in Mr. Jones room in s177. Leo club is an organization that helps the community through varies ways. The club is made up of about ten people total, not much but enough to make a difference.             “My favorite part of Leo club is that you gain benefits from it. Us students get silver chord hours while we also get to help people out”, said junior Tiffany Tingle.             The Leo Club has an event going on right now. You can donate your lightly used or unused glasses to the main office at any point of the day until the end of the week. These glasses will be donated to those in need.

Jessica Rish  News Editor  5 Seconds of Summer released their new album on October 23,2015. Photo credit Jessica Rish.  On October 23, 2015 the pop punk band Five Seconds of Summer released their second album, Sounds Good Feels Good.             The album consists of 16 tracks that give off a different vibe than their 1st album.             In early 2015 the Australian band flew to Los Angeles to start developing the album with producer John Feldmann according to the Sounds Good Feels Good Wikipedia page.             The album sounds a lot different than the last one. Sounds Good Feels Good gives off a more mature and developed sound compared to the last album.    Awarding the album four stars at Alternative Press, Maria Sherman states, "The band have a real responsibility to...

Sydney Sears  Staff Reporter  Students preform at the talent show om October 22,2015. Photo credit Sydney Sears.              The student Southeast Polk annual talent show was held at the auditorium last night of the 22nd. Many students came and participated and many showed up to support their peers or friends that put on acts. Though, should more people come to the show?             “I think they should come to see all of the different talents SEP has,” said freshman Sophia Patchin, “We have so many talented people, not just with music, and people should come to see all that talent.”             Many students put several hours into rehearsing and making sure their act is pitch perfect. Patchin believes that it’s important for peers to come and see what SEP has to offer; that they should be cheering on their student bod...

Pete Ruden  Sports Editor               After a 0-3 start much to the dismay of the Southeast Polk football team, the Rams are heading to the playoffs where they will take on For Dodge on Wednesday, October 28. After losing to Johnston, Waukee and Valley, all top ten teams in Class 4A, the Rams have won five of their last six games on their road to the playoffs.             The team has made noticeable changes since opening the season, like improving their record and being more energized. Now that it’s the postseason, the energy that Southeast Polk plays with will be even higher.             “I think we have a lot more energy for playing than we did in the regular season, considering it’s the playoffs now,” said senior running back Cole Hauser, who is leading the team in both rushing yards and receiving yards. “It’s do or d...

Shelby Kellis  Business Manager     Panic At The Disco released a new music video for their new single “The Emperor’s New Clothes” on October 21 st that will be in their new album Death Of A Bachelor . According to Alternative Press magazine the album will be released on January 15 th 2016 . The video starts off with scenes of one of their older videos “This is Gospel”, then shows the lead singer, Brendon Urie, falling down a dark hole. The video is kind of dark and shows Urie turning into a devilish creature with blue skin, horns, and wings.             “I was kind of like what just happened,” junior Tiffany Spencer comments on the video. Spencer liked that it told a story and had the end of “This is Gospel” at the beginning of the video. Spencer would give this video an 89 out of a 100.             “I like how it’s a story but it’s a bit creepy ...

Carrie McGrean  Staff Reporter   The Anderson Erickson cow is showing supports for people battling breast cancer. Photo credit Carrie McGrean.  October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many events are happening or already have happened this month to bring awareness to breast cancer including the Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure. The race took place on October 3, starting at 9 AM.  Walkers started at the Capitol and walked either 5K or a mile. October 16 was National Mammography day. A mammogram is an x-ray picture of the breast. Pictures are taken of both sides of each breast to look for any abnormalities. A mammogram without any signs or symptoms of disease is called a screening mammogram. A mammogram performed after finding a lump or other symptoms is called a diagnostic mammogram.  It is recommended by The American Cancer Society that women get yearly mammograms starting at the age of 40, but if there is something unusual that a younger w...

Tori Hennick  Arts & Culture Editor  Anyone can sign up for bowling. Tryouts are November 10 and November 12. Photo credit Tori Hennick.  Any Southeast Polk students interested in becoming a part of the bowling team should attend the sign-up meeting next week on Tuesday, October 27 th in room N363 before and after school hours. Tryouts for the team are November 10 th and Thursday, November 12 th at the Premiere Bowling Lanes in Pleasant Hill. Students that plan on attending should have their physicals and concussion forms up to date by next week.             The Boys’ Varsity and Boys’ JV Bowling team will have their first meet at 3:45 at Merle Hay Lanes on Monday, November 23. Their opponent will be Des Moines North. Girls’ Varsity and Girls’ JV also have a meet on Monday, November 23 at 3:45 also at Merle Hay Lanes against Des Moines North.          ...

Sammi Springer  Staff Reporter  Girls rugby plays in state on Saturday the 24. Photo credit Sammi Springer.   After a successful season starting at the beginning of school, girl’s rugby is wrapping up at state on Saturday. After the win at Tuesday’s game, the team is ranked 3 out of 8 teams, which means Southeast Polk will play whatever team is ranked sixth and continue from there depending on how they play. Last year was the first year the team didn't win state and placed second behind Ankeny.             “My goals for state are probably to come out as best as we can,” said sophomore JV player Hannah Waskel. “Obviously winning is good, but I think it’s more important to come out happy with how we played and finish the season on a good note. I want this to be a great finish for all the seniors and hopefully make our coaches proud,” Waskel said.           ...

Kayla Sunderland Staff Reporter  The Marching Rams preformed at Valleyfest on October 10, 2015. Photo credit Kayla Sunderland.  On Saturday, October 10th, the Marching Rams performed and competed at the 35th annual Valleyfest Marching Band Competition. Valleyfest was located at West Des Moines Valley.             The Marching Rams placed third out of ten bands competing in Class 4A and were 0.2 points shy from the band who placed second, which was from Rockford, Illinois. Waukee received top honors this year.             There are currently 143 members in marching band. The performance of the band can be found on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHNHDLTzHEI .             The band has also performed in other competitions this year such as, the Urbandale Marching Invitational, Cedar Rapids B...

Kyle Heim  Guest Reporter  Students taking Shannon Boshart’s English II class at Southeast Polk tackled their first essay in the class Oct. 19. The assignment required students to explain the development and role of a character in To Kill a Mockingbird. Sophomore Sammi Springer said students in the class were tasked with completing smaller character analysis assignments from small parts of the book they had read, preparing them for the essay. For the essay, students had to develop a thesis, select a minimum of three specific places in the novel to support the thesis, find quotes to support their thinking and turn the ideas into a well-developed essay that analyzes the chosen character, according to the assignment handout. “You can read into [“To Kill a Mockingbird”] a lot and get really good hidden messages that are really meaningful,” Springer said. Springer said her favorite part of the assignment was editing other students’ essays. Sophomore Sydney Sears ...

Ethan Edvenson  Cartoonist  Foreign dignitaries represent several different countries. Photo credit Ethan Edvenson.   Annually each year, foreign dignitaries representing several different countries and programs come to the Des Moines capital building to attend the World Food Prize. The purpose of the event is to celebrate the advancements in the quality and quantity in preparing, producing, and distribution of food across the globe. This year’s Food Prize happened on October 15 th and as different representatives walked the red carpet up the steps from their entourage vehicles, our very own Southeast Polk Marching Rams were right there waiting for them.             Once again, our marching band was given this opportunity due to popular demand for their fun music selection and intense show music. With around 140 members, the group had to squeeze onto a small section of the stairs just to fit. Howeve...

 Ashley Vannoy  Staff Reporter              Auditions for the fall talent show were held Tuesday, October 13 and Thursday, October 15. Students were able to sign up for an audition time outside room N226 in the English hallway. If students needed an alternate time to audition they could have talked to Mrs. Hantelmann or Mrs. Pappan.             All students are encouraged to audition and attend the talent show. They are looking for all kinds of different and exciting talents. The more unique the better. Juggling, gymnastics, yodeling, singing or dancing, whatever students can do, they are looking for. Students shouldn’t be afraid to try out because any kind of skill is welcome.             The talent show is Thursday, October 22 in the auditorium at 7:00 pm.            ...

Anna Zelenovich  Columnist  Southeast Polk offers an incentive plan.Photo credit Anna Zelenovich.  The Iowa Assessment Incentive Plan is offered to Southeast Polk students who do well on the Iowa tests. Students who scored in the 90 th -99 th percentiles on their previous IA Assessments must score in at least the 90 th percentile again. Students who scored in the 80 th -89 th percentiles must maintain or increase their score from the previous year assessments. Students who scored in the 79 th percentile or below must show a 3 percentile increase on their IA Assessments.            Students who meet these requirements will earn incentive to take a Ram-planned absence day, buy back one day planned absence, or 4 tardies to make them Ram Plan eligible. These rewards are trying to make kids try their best on the IA Assessments.             Many st...

Shelby Kellis Business Manager    The Southeast Polk swim team had its senior night on Tuesday, October 13.  The swim team is losing six senior members: Sara Carnahan, Alyssa Fluit, Ashleigh Houlette, Meredith Medina, Jordan Allen, and Elizabeth Trulson. The girls have many fond memories of their time on the swim team. “Swimming next to [sophomore swimmer] Chrissie Carnahan at regionals junior year in the 100 back,” Medina said.  Medina, one of the team captains, will be going to the University of Northern Iowa next year to study early education. She will miss her teammates. “It’s sad because I’ve been swimming with most of these girls since I was little,” said Medina. Tears started to fall before the meet started as Carnahan gave her last inspirational speech to the girls in the locker room. She talked about the relationships she has made during her time on the team. Other members of the team are swimming on the collegiate level as well.  Alyss...

Kailee Ammons  Feature Editor  Chemistry class make homemade ice cream as an experiment. Photo credit Kailee Ammons .  The Chemistry classes did a lab to understand how much energy is needed to conduct thermal change and phase change on Thursday, October 15. For this lab, students made ice cream by freezing a combination of ingredients and following directions on the lab worksheet. In this lab, the students mixed cream, sugar, and vanilla in a small plastic bag and sealed it well. Then, they put ice and rock salt in a large plastic bag. Finally, the students put the small bag inside the larger bag and carefully shook it until the consistency was equivalent to the texture of soft serve ice cream. After making the ice cream, students collected and recorded data to make charts, solve equations, and answer questions on the worksheet. “I did this last year and I had a lot of fun with it,” said Nicole Majerus, junior. “Everyone else’s ice cream was all melted an...

Pete Ruden  Sports Editor              On Thursday October 9, the boys cross country team traveled to Fort Dodge to compete once again before the state meet. In this meet, the Rams performed overwhelmingly well, with 22 of the 30 runners from Southeast Polk setting new personal records.             “We had four sophomores run 17;32 or better,” said head coach Patrick Owens. “The difference between the first one and the last one was just 21 seconds. 22 of the 30 who ran had PRs.”             Throughout long seasons in every sport, teams always want to find ways to improve. In sports that involve running, that definitely tends to happen, and the Rams are no exception.             “Our times aren’t as fast as some of the teams we’re competing against, but I think a lo...

Jessica Rish News Editor  The Rampage staff had a team bonding kickball game. The winner received a small fur-bee. Photo credit Shannon Boshart.   On October 12th the Rampage staff of 2015-2016 had a team building day. Team building is an ongoing process that helps a work group evolve into a cohesive unit. The team members not only share expectations for accomplishing group tasks, but trust and support one another and respect one another's individual differences according to wikipedia.org.             The rampage staff indulged a good game of kickball. Team 2 won the game.              Senior Tori Hennick was on the winning team.  “I had an okay time at the tournament. My favorite part was probably when Jessica got hit in the face with the ball,” said Hennick.             Senior Et...

Carrie McGrean  Staff Reporter  Many people gather at Drake Stadium to help raise money for homeless men,women, and children. The event it dedicated to Reggie Kelsey. Photo credit Carrie McGrean.  Reggie’s Sleep out is Saturday, October 17, at Drake Stadium. This event takes place on a usually chilly evening and it is intended to raise money for homeless youth to transition into a better life. Last year there were many youth with no place to call home; the number reaching around 1,500 in Polk County alone. Many can’t go to school or even get anything to eat. They sleep out on the cold streets. Every October for 10 years people of the community gather in Drake Stadium and build a place to sleep out of cardboard boxes in memory of a young man by the name of Reggie Kelsey.             Kelsey aged out of the foster care system in 2001. Within three and a half months he passed away from exposure...

Sammi Springer  Staff Reporter  Volleyball has a "Dig Pink" game in honor of breast cancer awareness month. Photo credit Sammi Springer.   A Dig Pink volleyball match is being held at the high school against Waukee tonight to raise awareness for cancer. The volleyball team has been raising money for the event by selling t-shirts, and will continue to raise money at the event tonight through different activities and things for sale.             “It’s important to beat them because it’s another step in going to state. Since we are hosting it we do want to win, and since so many people are going to be there to support breast cancer,” said Meghan Welsh, a senior and varsity volleyball player who helped organize this year’s match.             “This year we’re doing different events, like pie in a coach’s face. We’re doing extra games and stuff in betw...

Ethan Edvenson  Cartoonist Seniors meet in the multipurpose room for the senior seminar.Photo credit Ethan Edvenson.    Before we know it, this school year will be long gone and it will be summer again. It may not seem this way for freshmen and sophomores, but for seniors and some juniors these are the final days before going to college, becoming an adult, and starting their new role in society through their career. This week, our school counselors are holding College and Career Readiness presentations in the multi-purpose room for seniors. These sessions are meant to provide upper-classmen information they need to know about graduating, applying for colleges, and more.             “Senior seminar helped me think about what major I wanted to go into,” said senior Jared Harrington.  The times for which seniors go when depend on their counselors. Brand who has last names A – C as well as Feldman...

Ashley Vannoy  Staff Reporter  Southeast Polk marching band brought home a first and second place title on Saturday. Photo credit Ashley Vannoy.   The marching band competed in the Cedar Rapids and Urbandale Marching competitions, on Saturday  October  3.  For the students involved, it was a busy day. Their Saturday morning began with a report time to the high school at 7:40. They drove by bus to Cedar Rapids and performed at 1:15. The day isn’t even halfway over then. After the awards ceremony, the band will departed for Urbandale. There, they performed at 9:24 pm. “I hope we will do well, because we have been practicing daily. We have spent a lot of time on both the music and the marching,” said sophomore Heather Baier. Students tend to always have a good time at each marching band competition. They get to hang out with friends, watch other bands perform, and do what they enjoy on the field. With the colder weather that follows ...

  Kayla Sunderland  Staff Reporter  By wearing blue, students and other people can show their support and help put an end to bullying. Photo credit Kayla Sunderland.             ”Stomp Out Bullying” promoted Blue Shirt Day on Monday, October 5th for the kick off of Bully Prevention Month. Blue Shirt Day takes place on the first Monday of October. The color blue represents bullying prevention as pink does for breast cancer awareness.             Heather Goodrich, leader of Stand for The Silent, has been promoting Blue Shirt Day at the school for three years now.             “The idea is from Stomp Out Bullying, which is a wonderful resource with dealing with bullying and cyber bullying” said Goodrich.             http://www.stompoutbullying.o...

           Ethan Edvenson             Cartoonist  Experience the beautiful fall colors at the Boone  Scenic Valley railroad. Photo credit Ethan Edvenson.   While the cool weather rolling in comes the change of color as chlorophyll begins to break down in the leaves of trees and vegetation across the land. Before the chance to truly experience this annual splendor has gone by and the dead state of winter engulfs us, hop aboard a passenger car at the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad and gaze at the beauty nature has provided all while being transported by a classic steam locomotive. Colors generally change as the month of October continues with red shades predicted to happening the first two weeks, orange happening through the first three weeks, and yellow happening during the second to fourth week.             “I’ve been wanting to go f...

Anna Zelenovich  Columnist  Molecular biology students were able to use the things they used in class to learn about the environment. Photo credit Anna Zelenovich. The Molecular Biology classes at Southeast Polk have had the opportunity to go to the Environmental Learning Center and apply what they have been learning in the classroom to things in nature. The ELC located off campus is filled with ponds, prairie and lots of wildlife. Molecular Biology is a class for mostly sophomores and juniors. Junior Holly Dannen went to the ELC earlier this week. “The ELC is a great place to apply what we learn in class to nature. We get to do hands on stuff and lots of different experiments,” Dannen said. Students are learning about different pH levels by doing some chemical testing and also what types of organisms are in the ponds by doing biological testing. “It is very interesting to see how the pH varies from spot to spot in the pond also finding out how many small livi...

Kailee Ammons Feature Editor  Junior girls made tie-blankets to donate blankets in honor of Christine Edwards. Photo credit Kailee Ammons.  This past Sunday, members and supporters of the Junior Powderpuff team gathered at a local church to make tie blankets that were donated to cancer patients at the John Stoddard Cancer Center. After purchasing t-shirts for the Powderpuff game, the juniors discovered that they had over $100 left over. The group of girls worked together and came to quick decision to donate the money to a charity. They eventually came to the conclusion to purchase fleece to make and donate blankets, in honor of Christine Edwards. “I was very excited that we had extra money that we could give back to the community,” said Izzy Schrock, junior. After a couple weeks of planning, nine girls got together to work on the blankets, all while enjoying snacks, music, and socializing with one another. “The best part of this whole thing was seeing a bunch ...