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 27, 2016
Destiny Brooks ‘18
This year’s homecoming is coming up and there’s been a lot of questions about it. When is the dance? What will the theme be? Who are the nominees for queen? When is the game? Well your questions are about to be answered.
The 2016 Homecoming Court
On Tuesday, September 27th, the 2016 Homecoming Court was announced. Nakavia Chapman, Monica Jackson, Lillian Khemmanyvong, and Kamryn Williams were named senior maids. Junior maids are Miracle Harris, Tyler Price, and Renee Robertson. Montrell Frank and Praise McClain will represent the sophomore class as maids. Finally, Chyreon Folse was named the freshman maid.
Homecoming week is October 3rd to October 7th. Homecoming week will start on Monday, which is Character Day. Students may dress up as their favorite fictional character. Students are encouraged to dress as any character from any book, movie, TV show, or cartoon! Tuesday is Color Wars day. Each grade will wear its assigned color; the class colors for Color Wars are: seniors-white, juniors-black, sophomores-red, freshmen-yellow, and faculty and staff-blue. Students are encouraged to go all out and dress head to toe in their color! Wednesday is Teacher Look-A-Like day; students should dress up as their favorite teacher. On Thursday students should wear the 2016 homecoming shirt, which can be purchased in the front office for $12, and jeans. Wednesday, September 28th, is the last day to purchase a shirt. Friday is Circus day, so students can dress up as anything that would be seen in the circus such as a clown, fortune teller, ring master, strong man, bearded lady, lion tamer, elephant, etc. Please remember that students are not allowed to wear masks or face paint during any of these days.
Homecoming week will also feature our annual door decorating contest, sponsored by I Care TEAM Spirit. Students in each homeroom have begun working on their circus themed doors. Doors will be judged by representatives from iCare during the morning Thursday, October 6th, and the winners will be announced Thursday at the pep rally. Prizes will be awarded for the first, second, and third place doors.
The drum line performs at a pep rally last year.
The Homecoming game will be Thursday, October 6th. The Panthers will host the Belaire Bengals. On game day, a pep rally will take place at 1:30 pm, so bring your school spirit! The Homecoming court will be presented at the pep rally. The football game starts at 7:00 pm, and tickets will be sold for $8.00 at the game. Students with a “W” on their school ID will be admitted free!
Under the Big Top is the theme of the Homecoming dance, which will be held on Friday, October 7th. It will be held from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm at Woodlawn High School. Tickets for the Homecoming dance are on sale now and will remain on sale through next Thursday, October 6th. Tickets may be purchased in the front office before school or during your lunch shift. The cost is $20, which includes admission, and five tickets that can be used for concessions and/or the photo-booth. Every entrant (students and or guests) must have a ticket to enter the dance.
Senior Abbie Purugganan stands in front of her sign advertising Homecoming Week on September 26, 2016.
Homecoming Week Themes
- Monday – Character Day
- Tuesday – Class Color Wars
- Wednesday – Teacher Look-A-Like Day
- Thursday – Homecoming T-Shirt & Jeans
- Friday – Circus Day
Upcoming Dates
- Wednesday, September 28 – Last Day to Purchase Homecoming Shirt
- Monday, October 3 – Homecoming Week Begins
- Thursday, October 6 – Pep Rally & Football Game vs. Belaire, Last Day to Purchase Tickets to Dance
- Friday, October 7 – Homecoming Dance
Sep 26, 2016
Never has there been a more appropriate name for a race than the Battlefield Cross Country festival held at the state historic site in Port Hudson, Louisiana. Along with fierce competition from 20 other schools in the region, many runners find the course itself to be the most formidable enemy of the day.
The course is packed with short, steep hills with rocks and tree roots in high abundance. At the bottom of those hills are small creeks and gullies full of the previous night’s rain. More so than any other course the Panther cross country team faces in a season, the Battlefield is the most unpredictable.
It was clear from the beginning that Saturday’s race was going to be an adventure. The first 40 meters of the race are the flattest, but also the wettest as that stretch was much more like running through a marsh than an open field.
The Woodlawn Panthers cross country team hasn’t had a dry meet yet this season, so looking at the mud hole in front of them at the start line was no big deal, just another run in the park. As the Civil War re-en-actor fired his musket to start the race, the Panthers fired off the line and were some of the first to cross the battlefield and make it to the tree line where the hills begin.
On the final 800 meters of the course it was the duo of Melissa Grant and Alexis Martin that were the first two Panthers out of the woods and onto the finishing flat. Grant pulled slightly ahead in the last 150 meters, and sprinted in the last 100 meters to shut down an attack by two other competitors. Alexis Martin finished second for the Panthers and helped lead the team to a tenth place overall finish, two places better than their finish in 2015. Freshman Aimee Martin set a PR for the second week in a row. Team Captain Shelby Sanchez, Ashton Howard and Lillian Khemmanyvong all had great runs in helping the team climb the finishing results.
Khidhr Al-Mustafa crossed the line 27th overall in a field of nearly 250 entrants and helped the boy’s team finish 12th overall, which was a great improvement over 2015’s 16th place finish. Al-Mustafa devoured the course in 18:36 and was followed closely by Brandon Williams (19:57) who was able to outrun seven runners in the final 100 meters of the race.
Rounding out the top five for Woodlawn were Darmar Galvan, Saulomon John and Coby Sanchez, who appeared in his first varsity competition of the year. Marshall Bayles looked great in his comeback from an ankle injury as he finished sixth for the Panthers and was followed closely by Julian Scott, who set a personal record on the day.
In the JV Race, Sophomores Alexis Aucoin and Rayan Kaadan both set PR’s on a very tough course.
The Panther cross country team will be in action this Saturday at Highland Road Park for the St. Joseph’s Invitational. Girls varsity will begin at 9:30 am. followed by boys varsity at 10:00 am and the JV race at 10:30 am.
Sep 26, 2016
One year ago, Coby Sanchez found himself being passed by dozens of runners only one mile into a three-mile race at the Battlefield Cross Country Festival in Port Hudson. The harder he pushed, the greater the pain. Eventually Sanchez had to stop and be carried off the course on the back of a motorized cart. The diagnosis was a fractured leg. Only three weeks in to his freshman year, in his first varsity race, his season was over.
At the time of his injury, Sanchez was consistently one of the top three finishers in Panthers practices, and the times he posted in JV races had him posting the third fastest time on the team. But, the season continued and Sanchez’s times were surpassed by his teammates.
Coach Wallace reflected on the situation, saying, “It was unfortunate. He looked so good in practice during the summer and in the first two JV meets, that had great expectations for what he could accomplish and how he could help the team. Then, it all just went away.” Coach Wallace quickly added, “But, Coby is a motivated kid, so we knew it would just be a matter of time before he was at the front of the pack again.”
It’s now a year later and Sanchez is healthy.
Saturday, Sanchez made his return to Varsity action on the same course he was unable to complete a year ago, the Battlefield Cross Country Festival in Port Hudson. The course was wet and full of hills. But on this day, the only thing that mattered for Sanchez was the joy of being able to be on the start line with his teammates and the elation of finishing what he started 363 days ago.
Sanchez finished the race as the fifth Panther to cross the line with a time of 21:33 on the three mile course. More important than the time was that he finished the race. Sanchez helped propel the squad to a 12th place overall finish, four places better than Woodlawn’s finish at the same meet in 2015. With Sanchez back in the lineup, and the consistent effort he and his teammates put in each week in practice and on the race course, this is sure to be just the beginning of a new chapter in the Woodlawn Cross Country Anthology.
Sanchez and the Panther cross country team will be in action again Saturday at Highland Road Park for the St. Josephs Invitational. Varsity girls begin at 8:00 am, followed by boys varsity at 8:45 am.
