Tag Archives: student passions

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Beaver Local Destination Imagination Dominates at Regionals

Beaver Local Destination Imagination Teams won honors at the Regional Tournament held at Leetonia Schools last Saturday.

The Beaver Local Elementary DI team holds their trophy high after qualifying for the state DI tournament.

 

Destination Imagination, Inc. is a global organization designed to teach students the creative process and help them gain the 21st-century skills needed to succeed in the future workforce. These skills include creative and critical thinking, collaborative problem solving and project management. Students choose project-based challenges that blend STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and math) with the arts and social entrepreneurship.

More than 150,000 students worldwide participate annually. Ohio typically has approximately 780 teams.

 

Beaver Local had four teams participate this year. Each of its three eligible teams won the right to compete at the State Tournament in Mount Vernon, OH  on April 8th, where they will join other State Finalists from the 11 Regions throughout Ohio. Winners from that competition will vie for the top honors at the Global Competition in Knoxville, TN at the end of May.

 

Members of both the Beaver Local High School teams can be seen in the Masquers Club production of Grease, this weekend at the High School Auditorium (Friday and Saturday at 7PM and Sunday at 2PM).

 

The Junior/Senior Team pictured left to right back row: Traven Renner, David McCullough, and Alex Gabbert. Front Row: Kylie Kraus and Abigail Monte.

The Elementary Team (grades 1st-4th) back row: Brayden Hall, Cameron Anderson and Zane Elick; front row: Lora Reeder, Lillyan Wright and Allyson Wright.

The Freshman/Sophomore Team back row: Sadie Potts, Katrina Malcolm, Vince Hoppel. Front row: Sammi Voorhees (not pictured, Mario Chick).

Beaver’s Rising Star (non-competitive) team was made up of students grades K-2. From left to right these students are: Brenna Jones, Wyatt Wright, Paxton Gabbert, Gauge Wise, Wyatt Wise (not pictured, McKenzie Ash).

 

This press release was written by Leslie Gabbert.
Leslie is a retired BLHS English teacher, the Beaver Local Destination Imagination Advisor,
and the Ohio Destination Imagination Tournament Director.

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Softball Season Is Right Around The Corner

Softball Tryouts began on February 20, 2017! They have a jam-packed schedule and can’t wait to begin playing. The girls have been in the gym conditioning and are anxious to get outside. They’re having their first scrimmage coming up soon. Hopefully, they have a great season this year.

Mrs. Jones and Mr. Cashdollar are excited to get the season underway. Jones says, “Leadership is going to be our key factor, I believe we have many returning letter winners that are willing to fill the positions of the seniors we lost last year.” She believes that even though their team is going to be young, all of the girls have many skills and good attitudes.

The freshman class has many girls trying out, which is a great thing! All of the girls in the gym are hardworking and willing to learn. Jones said, “I believe in all of the years I’ve coached, this could possibly be the best team we’ve had.” After losing 4 seniors last year, they are going to need girls to step up and fill the empty positions.

The Girls will kick off their seasons in the upcoming month! Come support them at our brand new Softball/Baseball fields!

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BL’s Underground Rapper

      Starting with only 2 followers on soundcloud, Beaver Locals underground rapper, Zach Boni made a song called Tom Brady. Tom Brady was an instant hit. The 2 followers soon turned into over 100 followers, and the song got over 6,000 views. Not stopping there, Zach continues to make hit after hit.     

   Zach Boni is a senior at Beaver Local. He started his rap career in the summer of 2015. At 16 years old, Zach made his first song called Flowers. For that being his first song, people enjoyed the young rapper. Zach wasn’t very proud of this track, and he took some time off to cook up the most popular song he made, Tom Brady. When Zach dropped Tom Brady last year, the people went crazy. Everyone was tweeting about it from all different schools. He said it wasn’t just going to be a good song, it was going to be a masterpiece.

  Because Zach didn’t release a song for a while after Tom Brady came out, people may have thought that Zach was a one hit wonder. They didn’t know that he was secretly making a whole mixtape. While in the process of making the mixtape, he would drop some songs to keep the fans happy. The first song he dropped after Tom Brady was called No Dayz Off. Once people heard his followup song, they knew that Zach was for real.

   Once Zach got a good fanbase, he knew it was time to drop the mixtape. He called the mixtape Pyromaniac, because he said all the songs are fire. When I asked how he felt about it, he said that there shouldn’t be a song that you don’t like, all the songs are bangers. With all the hits on the mixtape, there was still more to come.

   When I asked Zach why he started rapping, he told me that he wanted to get girls. He said that the girls like when he raps, but he didn’t know that girls really like a guy who can sing. Once he found that out, he showed off his vocals his recent release called Wasted. Wasted was the second most popular song that Zach made, with just over 1,000 views and counting. When asking him about this, he said, “Every rapper needs to flex his pipes.”

While not releasing anything since October, Zach has been cooking up many tracks. He has got to the point where he wants all of his tracks to be perfect, and perfection takes time. After asking him when he was going to drop his next song, he said soon, very soon, just wait, it will be worth it. If you’re anxiously awaiting Zach’s next track, you can catch a little snippet of his work by checking out The Beaver Blog’s new theme song which is written and produced by Zach.

 

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Rory Bryer


Rory Bryer, the man who had baseball on his mind and a bat in his hand. He started his baseball career young, watching the game, playing the game, learning its ins and outs. He started when he was 8 years old, learning from his coaches wisdom and teachings of the game. He was a literal prodigy, tee ball wasn’t even close to the realm of his ability. Rory Townsend Bryer, made his way up the ladder of baseball by testing his ability to play. Rory’s favorite baseball team is the Boston Red Sox, his favorite player is “Big Pappi “ who also played for the Boston Red Sox. What drives Rory Bryer to still play you ask? Rory uses his intuition and the drive the bring home a win, not only for himself but for his team. When Rory was in the 8th grade he won himself a home run derby and he’s been virtually unstoppable since.

Rory is a team player, he has been since he starts baseball his freshman year. He appreciates his teammates most when he is out on the field, but who does Rory look to when he needs the most help? Rory looks to faith and religion. His mother has supported him since he began baseball, driving him to his games, practices, dinners, Meet the team, banquets everything he has had to be at his parents have taken him there and he couldn’t appreciate it more them being there. He’s grateful for all he has in life. Rory’s favorite teammate is one that is also in his class of 2017, his name is Trey Trucksis. Rory has a great appreciation for his coach, Mr. Agnew, he made true leaps to get Rory to play to his best of ability. He caught Rory at his worst and at his best moments. He pushed Rory to be the best he could and Rory has taken that advice and used it for the best.

Rory’s main goal for his senior year is to play to the best of his ability and really show what he is capable of. He has already started his workouts and conditioning himself for this year’s Beaver Local Baseball team season. Rory’s plan for after high school are to attended Kent state university to get bachelor’s in business and keep his dream for baseball fueled but not lost.

Beaver Local Equestrians

According to Bella Sweigard and Kiley Cook, students from Beaver Local High School, equestrians are people who “love and work with horses”. They also say you need to “be calm, patient, knowledge of how to ride, and have confidence” before hand. You also need to acquire, “balance, confidence, and strength.” The horse is an elegant creature, and with their rider they should have a partnership. With that partnership, both the horse and rider should learn as much as they can from each other. Yes, there is hard work involved, but it can be enjoyable and pass time. As you and your horse are progressing you need to learn and master all the gaits. That way, your horse and you can be confident. The four main gaits, or paces, are walk, trot, canter, and gallop. Different horses have different gaits in between this gaits. With these gaits you can do sports like dressage, vaulting, polo, horseball, polocrosse, hunting, show jumping and race riding. As you’re practicing, you need to be prepared for the take off!

Now, there are different types of equipment for the horse and the rider. Depending on what sport you do, both the rider and the horse needs different equipment. For example, if your horse has as an overreach you need to get overreach boots or bell boots. If your horse has some behavior issue, you might need corrective equipment. For the rider, each sport has different equipment for the riders safety. The helmet is probably the most important, because if the horse does something unpredictable, and you fall, your head will be safe. Whips and spurs are used as a reinforcement when the horse is not responding to you. They can also be there just for looks or because it is traditional. However, there is different tack equipment. There is a saddle, girth, cinches, surcingles, breastplate, cruppers, stirrups, bits, and bridles. Each one plays a different part. You need to make sure the bit is
comfortable for the horse.

 

In Beaver Local we have sports like soccer, football, volleyball, and many other things. Bella Sweigard and Kiley Cook, freshmen at Beaver Local, if horseback riding is a sport. They said “ Yes, horseback riding is a sport, but sadly, not many people think of it as a sport.” They also think that is should be a sport here at Beaver Local, because other big schools have this option. Not a lot of people think of horseback riding as a sport. Many people think this because they think that the horse does all of the work. What they fail to realize is, that there is more work that the human does than the horse. In fact, most people think it is easy! Bella and Kiley say “No, it’s not easy.” and “Those people don’t know what they are talking about!” Yes, the horse has to listen to the rider, but the rider is responsible for the horse’s actions. Training takes days, maybe weeks at a time. Training or practicing is involved with every sport. Just like you have to be in good health and good physical shape. Horseback Riding involves these things according to Kiley Cook. In other sports, you have to have some sort of protective gear. That way, no one gets hurt, serious injuries, or potentially killed. When training a horse, it can get pretty dangerous very quickly. The horse is an unpredictable creature. Something could go wrong in an instant, just like any other sport. Despite not have an equine sport at Beaver Local, it might put those students who have a passion in their after school activities in a sport.

Interviewed: Bella Sweigard & Kiley Cook
Bibliography: Complete Book Of Horses And Riding By: Judith Draper, Debby Sly, & Sarah Muir