Sep 28, 2016
Rebeca Aguilar ‘18
Tonight, Wednesday, September 28th, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Woodlawn JROTC is going to have a Family Night in which they will promote students from last year to their new positions.
Colonel Keys said, “This is [their] second year bringing back this Family Night event. Parents, friends, and even students can go to this event and support those students that are being promoted.” In order to attend, students should have let Colonel Keys know that they are attending and how many guests are attending so that Chef Oubre is able to prepare enough plates of food. This is not an obligatory meeting, but if students or family members want to come and support a JROTC student, they are welcome to do so.
When they are done announcing new positions, Colonel Keys is likely to talk about events that are coming up, including the military ball, JROTC competitions, etc. This is going to be a wonderful night not only for the Woodlawn JROTC staff who will be holding this event for their second time, but also for those students who are being promoted this year. This is a time to celebrate these students, which is why this event is so important.
Sep 16, 2016
by Madisyn McAlister, Staff Reporter, ’18
In the aftermath of the tragic flood, Woodlawn High School rose up to provide support to victims of the flood.
Woodlawn High School faculty and students came together to help students, teachers, and the community affected by the flood.
“I instantly offered help,” says Heidi Fendlason, junior at Woodlawn, when asked about her experience with the assistance offered by the school. This assistance included offers of clothing, food, and gutting her house. The faculty even collaborated to create a check-in Google doc to assess need amongst faculty and students.
Morgan Watkins and Johnasia Smith help distribute food.
Starting the Tuesday after the flood, Woodlawn High School began handing out food to flood victims and quickly started collecting donations to hand out school materials, cleaning supplies, and basic necessities. At least 1,500 meals were donated by City Pork, The Chimes East, Cast Iron Kitchen, and Tramonte’s. Woodlawn’s own Mrs. Pearl and Mrs. Switzer also helped by cooking spaghetti. Donors of other food and supplies include the Stevens family, The Screen Shop, LSU History Department, the Jett family, Pelican House, University United Methodist Church, Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University, Peak Performance Fitness, Spectrum, Woodlawn Middle School, Kelly Slate, and Pam Brown. The school has received over $2,990.00 in total monetary donations. A large donation of $1,025.00 and cartloads of school supplies came from Jacksonville State University. A small go fund me account was also created to raise money to go towards supplies and collected donations from people around the country; this effort raised $1,965.00. The school has also partnered with local churches for assistance in handing out supplies.
Though every faculty member helped out any way they could, Ms. Heyer commented, “I reached out to Ms. Miller and Ms. Smoo on a daily basis” when talking about assistance regarding organization of the donations and making sure every student and teacher had access to anything they needed. This also included a ‘Panther Pop-up Shop’ set up here at school. This temporary clothing store provided high quality professional wear for the Woodlawn faculty who lost clothing in the flood.
Many clubs, teams, and other organizations within the school were heavily involved in flood relief efforts. Woodlawn High School’s football team spent many hours helping flood victims clean out their damaged homes. Panthrobotics accepted donations from other robotics teams throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas at their annual Red Stick Rumble event, as well as helped teammates clean out their homes. The school’s cheer team, Pantherettes, Beta Club, National Honors Society, and Youth Legislature sorted out the many donations and often helped pass out food to victims.
Although on-campus efforts ended August 19th, Woodlawn and the Old Jefferson community continued to provide meals on the weekends and supplies as needed.
Sep 9, 2016
Woodlawn’s Robotics Team, Panthrobotics, held its fourth annual Dow Red Stick Rumble on August 27th, 2016. Twenty one teams from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi competed in this year’s FIRST® Robotics Game, Stronghold, in the Woodlawn High Gym. Approximately fifteen hundred people attended this free event and witnessed 120 pound robots vying to capture their opponent’s tower.
After forty intense matches, the second seed alliance; Team 4587, Jersey Voltage from Houston Texas, Team 4107, Team Storm from Gulfport Mississippi, and Team 4978, Tiger Robotics from Baton Rouge, Louisiana advanced through the elimination bracket to clench the victory as champions of the Rumble.
Teams also brought in supplies to be donated to people affected by the 2016 Flood. Over 100 book-sacks filled with school supplies, six 40 gallon totes of toiletries, food-stuffs, toys, and other items were donated to Woodlawn to distribute to those who were in need.
Many thanks go to the Partner Sponsor of the event, Dow Chemical, who is also a major sponsor of the team. Thanks also goes to Indiana’s AndyMark for providing food for all of the volunteers and teams on Friday evening.
Aug 23, 2016
Robotics teams from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas will be arriving at Woodlawn High School to bring relief supplies and support for their competitors at the fourth annual Dow Red Stick Rumble, an off-season FIRST® (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition and Festival sponsored by Dow Chemical and the East Baton Rouge Parish School System.
On August 27th, the gym of Woodlawn High School will be transformed into a medieval playing field where teams will compete with their 120lb robots to scale defenses and capture their opponent’s castle. Each high school team had only 6 weeks to work with mentors and coaches from their community to design and build their robot. The public is invited to attend, free of charge, to witness the spectacle of giant robots battling it out for their chance to win the Red Stick Rumble trophy and to tour the pits and see the magic of robot construction and repair.
Teams will also be bringing backpacks filled with school supplies, toiletries, and toys for those affected by the 2016 flood. Many teams are attending despite their members losing homes and properties in the rising waters. Some teams, like TorBotics from Hammond Magnet High School are competing even though their school was flooded.
“It’s not just about robots,” said Carolyn Arthurs, FIRST® Regional Director of Louisiana and Mississippi, “The fact that these students are coming together to support each other, when many of them are in desperate need themselves, embodies the true spirit of FIRST.”
Doors open to the public at 8AM with competition lasting until 4PM. Food will be provided by Newks and the Woodlawn High Snack Bar. Louisiana teams from Baton Rouge, Boutte, Duson, Hammond, Lafayette, New Orleans, Port Allen, and Slidell as well as teams from Texas and Mississippi will be in attendance.
As a Strategic Sponsor of FIRST® Robotics and the Title Sponsor of the Dow Red Stick Rumble, Dow Chemical is working through their Dow STEMtheGap™ initiative to improve the infrastructure of STEM throughout the state and nation.
FIRST® Robotics is an international youth organization that operates the FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST LEGO
League, FIRST LEGO League Jr., and FIRST Tech Challenge competitions. Founded by Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers, graduate of Louisiana Polytechnic Institute and Louisiana native, in 1989, its expressed goal is to develop ways to inspire students in engineering and technology fields.
Jul 28, 2016
by Sierra Johnson
On April 25th, the senior class had their annual senior breakfast. Upon entry, all students received a small bag of Hershey kisses. Everyone then took their seats and a speech was given by our mayor, Kip Holden. The room fell silent as he inspired us with his words. “This is the last time you all will be able to do something like this with your fellow classmates. Most of you have known each other since elementary school, and soon you all will go your separate ways.”
Once finished, people where called, by table, to get a plate of food made by our school’s very own Chef Oubre. Gifts were then given out to the people who had a number on the Hershey bag that they received (not every bag had a number). The gifts ranged from a free Smoothie King smoothie, to a gift basket, to even two 1 hour passes to Area 51! The parents worked hard on gathering the gifts and making decorations; it was a great experience.
