The Rampage

This weekend marks students' last opportunity to order a 2014-2015 yearbook at the discounted price of $50.  Students can order a yearbook at www.jostens.com for $50 until January 31.  Yearbooks will be $60 starting February 1. Questions?  Email kristin.looney@southeastpolk.org .

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor             Spanish IV students have mixed emotions over the Spanish plays that they have to perform. There are around six people in every performing group; they will be acting out certain fairytales. They plays will be performed on February 3 rd .             Though the students have to out an entire fairy tale, they are calm and are not stressing over it too much.             “My part is pretty easy to memorize. I play the prince and he doesn’t say as much. But it’s going to be hard who I come after,” said senior Joscelyn Woodward.             There are a couple different reasons students took Spanish IV. Some of them wanted to do the plays while others wanted the college credit.             The...

Izzy Schrock Convergence Editor      Iowa’s Department of Education has stated that they will no longer automatically grant waivers to school districts wanting to start earlier than the week of September 1. The only exception to this is if the school can make a strong case that starting later would have significant damaging effects of its students learning (read: highly unlikely).  Junior Brendan Anderson says the later calendar start wouldn’t really matter to him, he’s always ready for when school starts. Many students like the postponed start date so they have time to go to the Iowa State Fair and relax and prepare for school the week after. “[I go to the Fair] everyday, at least every night,” said sophomore Aspen Phillips. The Iowa State Fair, lasting from August 13-23 in 2015, is filled with Southeast Polk students. “We have a lot of student involvement, with the shuttle and FFA,” said sophomore McKenna Cox.  With the postponed date, many people...

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor      Senior Destiny McGinnis joins the Army National Guard.  According to chacha.com 17% of girls in high school join the Army and the total number of women in active duty in the Army is 76,694.      "What inspired me to join the military is that I wanted to prove to people and myself that I could do it," said McGinnis. According to pewsocialtrends.org eight in ten veterans (79%) have an immediate family member who has served in the military.      "My brother is in the Army and he's been a really big inspiration for everything," said McGinnis. Teens joining the military face different challenges depending on each individual.     "The hardest thing that I've been through so far is just learning everything that they expect out of you and the ranks," said McGinnis.  Veterans and active members of the military are full of advice for people wanting to join or just interested in the m...

Drew Brown Staff Reporter      After over a decade of coaching at Southeast Polk, Coach Dennis Muller resigns as head coach of the football team. Muller has been coaching the Varsity football team for 13 years and has led the Rams with the factory worker’s mentality.       “Southeast Polk has always been a very aggressive team…” says Muller “…I feel that someone younger would have more energy to coach the team.”      Muller resigned for several reasons including health issues which led to cutting back on coaching because it had led to a lot of stress on the longtime coach.  Muller has been thinking about resigning for the past couple of years because of the stress and family issues.        “My brother is very ill and we don’t know how much longer he will be around so I want to spend as much time with him as I possibly can,” says Muller.       “I don’t think the traditions will change, I thi...

Izzy Schrock Convergence Editor      This Saturday, January 24, 2015 the SEP Speech Club is going to compete at Speech Districts located at North High School. There are multiple group acts like improv, short film, one-act play, choral reading, and many more. The events are scheduled all throughout the day. This is sophomore Hunter Manz’s second year of speech club.      “I love trying to read with different inflections and acting as characters that are nothing like me in real life,” said Manz. Manz is hoping to score a 1 (the best option) in Choral Reading. If a production scores a 1, they will move on to the State speech competition. Junior Sydney Scott joined speech this year and will be performing in the Reader’s Theatre and Choral Reading categories.      “I’m actually terrified. So nervous,” said Scott concerning this weekend’s competition. Emotions are on a roller coaster as the competition approaches. Feelings of anxiousness...

Kaelee Keesee Managing Editor             The Wrestling Rams have gone undefeated so far this season with no one even coming close to touching them on their path to their next state title, as expected. Even with a number of minor injuries and senior Briar Dittmer out for an extended period with a shoulder injury, the Rams have slid through each tournament and each dual meet with ease.             Now, with the state tournament looming closer and closer, the boys are looking better than they have all season. With the leads becoming more and more exponential as the weeks go on, they plan on taking the same approach in their dual meet against Waukee tonight.             “The goal is to win in a dominant fashion,” said junior Ethan Andersen, who is currently ranked first in the state and sixth at the national level. Andersen has handled this se...