Mansfield is one of two schools from Texas to be a finalist in this years competition.  Mansfield Legacy High School’s online newspaper was also nominated.

The 13 finalists from schools with populations over 1,500 were selected based upon excellence in the areas of  content and coverage, site design, ease of navigation, interactivity/multimedia and writing and editing.

The winners of the 2010 NSPA online Pacemaker award will be announced at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism convention in Portland April 17.

If I could be any animal…: “A lion! They’re always alert.”

Favorite activity: “Be at my house, watch my soap operas.. When I’m done I say, okay, I can rest now!”

Favorite movie: Enough

Favorite TV show: “I like to watch a lot of Rachel Ray.”

Hidden talent: “I can cook!! That’s why I’ve kept my husband around for 20-something years,” she laughed.

Favorite thing to cook: Ranchero beans and seafood

Favorite song: Hey Jude by the Beatles

Favorite dish: Ribs

Pet peeve: When something’s really messy/ dirty

Something that people wouldn’t expect to find out: “Nothing! I have my heart open, I have nothing to hide!”

Greg Black – Kilgore College (football)

Kelsey Hall – Dallas Baptist University (soccer)

Chris Leasor – Texas A&M University (golf)

Melanie McClure – University of Texas – Austin (swimming)

Courtney Simmons – Rice University (soccer)

Girls 200 freestyle: 8th

Melanie McClure

Girls 200 freestyle relay: 8th

Presley Majka
Sooyeon Kim
Lauren Bennett
Meagan Thompson

Girls 100 backstroke: 6th

Melanie McClure

Boys 100 breaststroke: 11th

Aaron Tipton

Girls 400 freestyle relay: 12th

Meagan Thompson
Lauren Bennett
Sooyeon Kim
Melanie McClure

As soon as I found out Tim Burton was going to make a new Alice in Wonderland film, and that Johnny Depp was going to be in it, I was stoked.  I remember loving The Nightmare Before Christmas in elementary school, as I’m sure many other kids in the 90s did, and I made sure I never missed any opportunity to watch the movie.  Since then, I’ve made a point to see any films he directs.  His style is so odd and different; I love it.

I arrived at Cinemark at 6:30 on Saturday night, and the line was wrapped around the theatre with excited movie-goers.  I hurried to take my seat, put on my 3-D glasses, and anxiously waited for it to start.

Burton’s rendition of the classic story is almost like a sequel.  Alice, now nineteen, is being proposed to by a man she would never desire to be with. Her spectators are pressuring her into saying ‘yes,’ as if it will be the best option for her.  She escapes the situation when she runs off after the rabbit that appears in all her dreams runs across the garden.  She follows him and stumbles into a hole, which transports her into the mystical world of Wonderland.  Alice, convinced that she is dreaming, does not understand what is going on around her.  She is informed of her mission to end the Red Queen’s reign of terror by the unreal characters she encounters.  The movie follows her and her struggles to believe in herself and save the world of Wonderland.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.  The graphics were amazing, and the character’s personalities are hilarious.  The movie was rated a 7.3 by IMDB.  The story line could be improved, but I would definitely recommend the film.

Stillwater, OK

Suburban setting, Small city (50,000-249,999)

Four-year / Coed

Applications due by:

No closing date

Required SAT scores:

SAT Critical Reading 480-600

SAT Math 500-640

Required ACT scores:

ACT Composite 22-27

In-State Tuition

$6,887

Room and Board
Full Year $6,258

Full Year Tuition + Room and Board
$13,145

If a few small groups of comrades pause for a few brief seconds to discuss the weather, there would be no problem. After all, the hallways are pretty wide. Unfortunately, the copious width of our school’s passageways does not compensate for the oblivious groups of nine, who feel the sudden urge to halt, and expect the entire world to do the same. Neither does it accommodate the groups of 15 who feel the need to stop and discuss the latest episode of a pointless reality show. A student, eager to get to his or her respective class, should never have to navigate through a human labyrinth. But then again, hallways are shared spaces, and who am I to question the rights my fellow colleagues seem to believe they are indebted with?

Nevertheless, when I have one minute to rush to my 4th block class, I don’t want to be delayed by a great wall of numbskulls. The hallways should be characterized by constant motion, not the stagnation so often experienced.

The bottom line: no one group of students owns the hallways. You don’t own the hallways, so you aren’t entitled to behave as if you do. A hallway is not a pavilion, a playground, or the cafeteria. If your posse has the need to block the hallway to joke about how awful someone’s hair looks, resist it. If you want to form a large group of 20 to compare shoes in the cafeteria, be my guest. Just remember: you may think the hallway belongs to you, but it doesn’t. The sooner you accept that fact, the better for everyone.

Waco, Texas

Urban/ Small city (50,000-249,999)

Four-year/ Coed/ Private/ Baptist

Applications due by:

no closing date

Required SAT Scores:

SAT Critical Reading: 530-640

SAT Math: 550-650

SAT Writing: 510-620

Required ACT Scores:

ACT Composite: 23-29

In-state and out-of-stateTuition:

$29,724 for one year

Room and Board:

$8,331

Full year tuition + room and board:

$38,055 for one year

What the school says…

Baylor University puts the students in a Christian community in which they have a great academic experience, and the campus is small enough to offer individual opportunities for an education.

“I think it gave us a little more confidence on offense because he is one of our top defensive players. We also came out hitting from the start, and the biggest thanks, I think, goes out to our penalty killers since we were taking penalties left and right,” alternate captain Andrew Rodrigues said.

To win the game, Jimmy Nemeth had two goals and one assist and Hunter Woody had one goal and two assists.

“It was the first game since March of last year that Jimmy and I had played together and we helped lead the team. We also had a lot of help from our defense and from our goalie,” Woody said.

Goalie Aaron Peart was awarded the gold hard hat for the game.

“It (the gold hard hat tradition) started this year actually and it is given to the player who worked hardest in each game. It gives us extra motivation to work hard,” Woody said.

Mansfield hockey’s next game is March 4 at 8:45 against H.E.B.

“Beating our rival Martin last week will give us the motivation we need to make the playoffs and beat H.E.B.” Woody said.

The team is looking positively towards this next game and wants as much support as possible.

“We need more people to come to our games. We have a real chance at these playoffs,” Rodrigues said.