The team took second place overall among large schools (4A and 5A), 30 points behind meet champion Lubbock High. Spelling & vocabulary and journalism each won first place team. Number sense and ready writing took second place team.

The following students, in alphabetical order, placed first through sixth in their respective events as individual contestants.

Jayden Beatty- 3^rd, editorial writing

David Bishop- 3^rd, literary criticism

Katie Brigance- 5^th, literary criticism

Cortlyn Dees- 2^nd, news writing and editorial writing

Codi Demere- 5^th, news writing and 4^th, editorial writing

Mackenzie Farmer- 2^nd, headline writing and 5^th, feature writing

Trevor Ferril- 1^st place, number sense and headline writing, 2^nd, spelling and vocabulary

Lauren Hahn- 4^th, feature writing

Kyleigh Head- 4^th, headline writing

Bryan Herrington- 6^th, ready writing

Morgan Hicks- 3^rd, news writing and feature writing

Kyler Johnston- 1^st, calculator applications and 2^nd, number sense

Conner Parker- 4^th, mathematics and 5^th, calculator applications

Chandler Shaw- 1^st, news writing and feature writing

Matthew Snell- 6^th, calculator applications

Jackie Walsh- 2^nd, ready writing

Chance Walton- 1^st, editorial writing and 3^rd, headline writing

Senior Susan Yanacsek spent her holidays and life on army bases around the world following her dad, first class sergeant in the military, to wherever he was stationed. Instead of having a typical stable civilian life her life was spent waiting for her dad to either be deployed, come back, or be transferred.

“We moved about five or six times,” Yanacsek said. “I’ve lived in places like New York, Korea, Germany, Japan, Berlin, and Austria. It was hard sometimes with making new friends but I got to meet so many people with different cultures and nationalities that I wouldn’t have gotten to if I stayed in one place.”

Yanacsek and her family would spend just a few months in each place and have to go through difficulties in each place based on the culture and language.

“We went to public schools that only taught in the native language,” Yanesek said. “So we had to learn each language to understand the teachers. We also had to wear uniforms and the rules were a lot stricter there then they are here.”

Yanacsek said having a parent who is actively serving in the army meant watching a loved one get deployed over and over again and not knowing if or when they would come back.

“The hardest part was not knowing when my dad would leave or come home,” Yanacsek said, “We didn’t get any real warning of when he would be deployed and we never knew for how long. We were always told he would be gone indefinitely until further notice so sometimes he would be gone days, weeks, or months.”

Yanacsek and her family lived on army bases which helped her family deal with all the hardships of having a loved one in the service.

 “The army base was a big family filled with people who knew what you were going through,” Yanacsek said. “So I basically had 10 or 12 dads.”

Yanacsek didn’t know anything other than army life until her father retired and she started living a civilian life.

 “The impact and the people you’re surrounded with make the biggest difference in army life,” Yanasek said. Army life meant expecting and understanding you would be moving constantly and civilian life meant a permanent residence and no longer moving with the people you grew up with on the army base. It was like losing a family.”

Yanacsek said that being a part of army life is something she wouldn’t want to change.

“Most of the people here haven’t ever left Canyon or Amarillo while I’ve gotten to go around the world,” Yanesek said. “I got to experience so much more than most because I was an army brat.”

I traveled with 67 other students Nov. 16 to a rarely traveled area of downtown Amarillo to participate in the annual sophomore class service project.

My group’s first stop was Citychurch. I had always heard about their ministry, but I had never been there. When we first arrived, we heard a short presentation and I realized how needed our help really was. We learned about how their preschool program reaches out to kids who have been living in a life full of drugs, alcohol, and prostitution.

My job was to help prepare the meal for the Wednesday night service that night. We cut and battered enough chicken fingers to feed an army. Just that task alone took six of us about an hour and a half. Imagine if we hadn’t been there to help them and there were just the two or three daily workers to do all of that work.

After we helped the cooks, we went to the preschool and helped cut out lamination for their curriculum. A simple task like cutting out shapes to help the children learn to count seemed like unimportant job, but the teachers were so grateful for our help.

Next was lunch time. The kids were so much fun to eat with. They had just met me and had no problem conversing with me. They were so adorable. When I thought about the kind of lifestyle they had to deal with at home, it broke my heart. They were so disappointed when they had to go back to class and leave us, some even cried.

I plan to go back to Citychurch to volunteer more. I’m sure that some people go and meet these kids and feel like they made a difference in their lives, but then they never return. I plan to be someone stable in those kids’ lives.

After lunch we left Citychurch and toured the Salvation Army shelter. They are an organization that believes in self sufficiency and help people get back on their own two feet. Housing costs $1.02 and food costs $1.89 per person assisted.

One thing that really impacted me about the Salvation Army is that their yearly budget is 3.2 million dollars, and they have to raise a quarter of that budget through donations dropped into the red kettles that stand outside of department stores every Christmas.

“It’s illegal to walk by a red kettle without putting a donation inside,” our tour guide Kathy Dodson said with a smile.

After we toured the Salvation Army, we went to help at the Salvation Army thrift store. When people in need go to the Salvation Army, they are given a voucher for whatever goods they may need. Then, they take that voucher and get their necessities at the thrift store.

I helped organize hangers. I was unaware of what a monumental task that would be. I had never seen so many hangers in my entire life. I think all of us were surprised at how much help they needed there.

It takes $15,000 a year for the Salvation Army to throw out unusable donations. I learned that it has a huge impact to be a conscientious donor. Homeless people don’t want my trash either.

I am really grateful that I was able to go on this service project. It opened my eyes to see a whole new side to Amarillo that I didn’t even know existed. I have learned that it doesn’t take much effort to positively impact someone’s life.

 FFA has four events remaining in the spring, and their performance at District allowed them to clinch the district Sweepstakes for the chapter.

“I am very excited about the results in Borger,” agriculture teacher Jeff Klose said. “It is nice for the Canyon FFA, Canyon High School, and the community of Canyon to have an agriculture program that is working toward being the greatest program in Texas and represents this rich and diverse agricultural area.”

FFA competitions are not divided into classification of size, so schools ranging from 1A to 5A competed against one another. The seven teams that will advance to the area competition tomorrow won either 1^st place or 2^nd place at district.

“There is some very stiff competition in our area,” Klose said. “I know the teams will do their absolute best because they are very competitive students.”

If the Canyon teams place well at the area competition, they will advance to the state competition in Huntsville the week after Thanksgiving.

The Les Beaux Arts Club supplied a day devoted to passionate art students who could learn more  about art and gain  insight on how to improve their skills. The fine arts day consisted of three mini lectures on various types of art, such as pottery, painting and lithographing.  Students were also given guided tours of the gallery and were allowed to visit the artists at work in their studios.

“I signed up to go on this art trip to get inspiration,” sophomore Christian Gil said.

Gil is an active Art Club member and participated in the Clarendon Arts Festival. Students like Gil learned to ways to interpret art in a new and unique fashion.

“I learned not to focus, but just let the picture be,” Gil said. “Imperfections can make art really beautiful.”

Rafael Canizares-Yunez was a speaker who told the students  to go with the flow of their art work and not to be concerned or stressed over the outcome. Each artist encouraged students to follow their dreams and see art beyond the normal boundaries.

Juniors and seniors looking for scholarships may want to check out opportunities available at www.scholarships.com. At this website, students can search for scholarships by grade level or subject. The following scholarships are among those featured on the website.  

The Sylvia K. Burack Writing Award  

This writing contest is open to high school juniors and seniors. Entrants must submit a previously unpublished 600- to 800-word personal essay in English on the following topic: “Select a work of fiction, poem or play that has influenced you. Discuss the work and explain how it affected you.” One winner will receive $500, publication in The Writer magazine and on WriterMag.com, a one-year subscription to The Writer and a copy of the Gotham Writers’ Workshop anthology Fiction Gallery.  

C-SPAN StudentCam  

Student Cam is C-SPAN’s annual national video documentary competition for middle and high school students where applicants create a five- to eight-minute documentary that presents multiple views on a specific topic and includes C-SPAN video. A total of $50,000 will be divided between 75 winners.  

Discover Scholarship Program  

This program awards up to 10 scholarships of $25,000 each to high school juniors nationwide to support continued education and training beyond high school. Applicants must be U.S. residents, high school juniors at the time of application, have cumulative GPAS of at least 2.75 on a 4.0 scale for the 9th and 10th grade years and display outstanding achievement in academics, leadership, community service and obstacles overcome.  

Moody’s Mega Math Challenge  

M3 Challenge focuses on applied mathematics. The challenge is entirely Internet based and each high school may enter up to two, three to five-student teams to work together for 14 hours to solve an open-ended, realistic, applied math-modeling problem focused on real world issues. The winning team will win $80,000  

John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage   

are asked to write an original and creative essay of less than 1,000 words that demonstrates an understanding of political courage as described by John F. Kennedy in “Profiles in Courage” using a variety of sources such as newspaper articles, books, or personal interviews. $10,000 will be awarded.

The event consisted of a boys’ volleyball tournament, with teams from each grade, and a cross-dressing beauty pageant. The junior class dominated the volleyball tournament, beating out all three other teams for the top place. Marcus Muldrow was named Miss United Way with freshman Isaac Garland as a first runner up. Freshman Christian Delao received the title of Miss Congeniality.

“I have been so encouraged and inspired by the enthusiasm and work ethic of our students who are truly interested in making a difference in the lives of those less fortunate,” CISD United Way representative Lee Stafford said.

Races occur at Route 66 Motor Speedway off the loop, usually around 6:00 p.m.

Taylor drives the number 4 car, a 1976 Monte Carlo that was gutted and rebuilt to its present racing form. His father, Scott, and brother, Ty, pit for him. Taylor and Ty’s opponents include their friends, Danton and Dylan Odell. Danton Odell drives the number 9 car, a 1975 Chevy Malibu reconstructed for racing. Danton’s pit crew includes his dad, Dan Odell his brother Dylan, and Chase Browne.

By 6:00 p.m., the stands teem with energy.

“My favorite thing about racing is the excitement and the noise,” Taylor said.

All three sections of Motor Speedway fill with excitement and noise, from the pits, to the track, to the stands. Drivers say they are careful and control their excitement to avoid risking a wreck.

“One time a driver in front of me blew an engine,” Taylor said. “I turned to avoid colliding but I wasn’t able to get around him. The whole right side of my car was ruined.”

The racers said drivers would not last very long without a pit crew.

“My favorite thing to do in the pits is working on the tires,” Ty said.

In the pits drivers have to torque the wheels, switch tires, refuel, scrape mud from underneath the car and anything else that needs the slightest adjustment.

“The hardest thing about pitting is the overall setup of the car and making sure that the tire pressure is right,” Dylan said.

With all of the wildness of the event, there are still a few rules. The track officials forbid NOS hookups, custom fuel injections and other unfair add-ons.

“The main rules are the model of your car has to be between 1960s to 1980s and no imports,” Dylan said.

The racers said the costs of racing are expensive because the fuel made for racing is more expensive than regular gasoline.

“It’s about $8 a gallon, and body work does not cost a lot because to fix dents or damage you just bang it back out with a hammer,” Danton said.

Taylor and Danton said they agree that there is not a lot for practice or preparation other than experience.

“The main thing you can do for practice is learn from your mistakes of past races,” Danton said.

Taylor Blevins is a third generation racer in his family. It started with his grandfather, Howard Blevins, and since then, the racing blood has flowed through the family.

Taylor Blevins took first place for the second time in his racing career Saturday, Sep. 19, earning $175.

“Winning first place made me feel proud because I can continue my family’s winning tradition,” Taylor said.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation uses the screen index or the sum of all scores within each section of the test, from 1.5 million test takers a year to choose the students who meets the program requirements.

Young and Robinson were two of approximately 34,000 students selected from the 50,000 high scorers to receive letters of commendation for their outstanding academic promise.

“We are very proud of both students for their dedication and hard work,” Principal Tim Gilliland said.

The essay competition is open to all high school students and must include a typed essay with a 3-5 minute recording of the essay. The topic for this year’s competition is “Is there pride in serving in our military?”

All taped recordings must be on either a CD or cassette tape in the writers own voice without the disclosure of his or her identity. Scarbrough will provide a space with a recorder and cassette tapes for anyone who needs to record an essay but does not have equipment. See her for further information.

The competition is hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and is judged on originality, content and delivery. Cash prizes are awarded to winners as well a chance to advance to the next stage of competition.

“This is a great opportunity to get some cash,” Scarbrough said. “It also raises student awareness of the past and present actions of the military. This is a good way for students to share their opinions on what is going on in the world around them.”