The Orange and Black

By: Jason Bednarski

Have you ever wondered why Black History Month was in February? Well the reason for that is

because the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)

sponsored National Negro History Week in 1926, and they chose the second week of February

because it coincided with the birthday’s of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

Black History Month can trace it’s origin back to a historian named Carter G. Woodson and other

well known African Americans who created “Negro History Week.” But before he created

“Negro History Week” Carter and a prominent minister Jesse E. Mooreland in 1915 founded the

Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASALH) which was an organization

created to research and promote achievements by African Americans, and other people that are

of African descent. Then (ASALH) sponsored a National Negro History Week in 1926. In the

decades following the creation of the National Negro History Week many cities and places

around the country starting recognizing Negro History Week. Then Negro History Week became

Black History Month in the late 1960’s thanks to the civil rights movement. According to Mrs.

Brown a Social Studies teacher at Martinsburg High School, “No country of immigrants should

limit a group to only have one month to acknowledge or celebrate a group’s history, especially

the United States.” Black History Month became officially recognized by the President of the

United States Gerald Ford and when he did this he called upon the public to “seize the

opportunity to honor too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of

endeavor throughout history.”

Black History Month is meant to be a time to learn about and honor the contributions and the

legacy of African Americans throughout the history of the United States from actvist and civil

rights pioneers such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr,

Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks to leaders in industry, politics, science, and culture. “The biggest

takeaway about Black History Month is that our nation since its inception has benefited

economically, culturally, musically, and intellectually from African Americans, which has and

continues to help make this nation great and should be honored, respected, and learned about in

this nation. Whether you talk about the indigenous African Americans like the Yamassee Nation,

to rock, country, and r&b music, to food like soul or southern food, to inventions ranging from

stop lights, truck refrigeration, chips, iron board, elevator, car phone, ice cream, hockey, and the

blood plasma bag were all created by African Americans," said Mrs.Brown.

The theme Black History Month for 2023 is “Black Resistance” which will explore the history of

how African Americans have resisted oppression throughout the history of the United States like

racial terrorism of lynching, racial programs and police killings. According to Mrs. Brown, "As

they say there is nothing new under the sun. This is not the first time in American history where

this was a theme (reconstruction, civil rights era, and the black lives matter era today). Yes, there

have been many advances within the African American community, but there has been

stagnation and a deconstruction of systems, laws, and policies as well. For example there was a

time when enslaved African Americans could not learn and today in some cases they are not

allowed to learn their history. Also there are more African Americans in prison today than ever

in our history.”

By: Ruby Amores

For the past ten years, the MHS Robotics team has competed at the West Virginia State Robotics competition. On February 18th the team headed to Morgantown, WV to compete in a qualifier for states which will be held in Fairmont, WV during March. The competition is held through the Vex robotics program, an international robotics competition for elementary through university students. The Martinsburg Robotics team is working hard to qualify for states and keep up their ten year streak.

Our school robotics team is advised by Mr Arndt and Mrs Stewart with a total of six students. Members of the team include Rena Mullenax, Isaac Crumley, Ruth Bise, Nathaniel Willard, AJ Amoreno, and Jacob Cline. The team has been practicing since October after school 2-3 times a week for approximately two hours. Sophomore Isaac Crumley has been working with robots since he was in elementary school, “I have been doing robotics since I was in the fourth grade, minus covid.” Mr Arndt began the robotics club ten years ago when a couple Science National Honors Society kids asked to try.

Students are responsible for building and programming the robots to do tasks that are created by the Vex Robotics program. Mr Arndt and Mrs Stewart provide space and organization while the students do all the building and programming for the robots. This year students are tasked with programming the robot to play frisbee golf with fifteen seconds of pure program and one minute and thirty seconds of driver control. Each Vex team is provided with the same materials including eight motors. Along with building their own robot the team also got to name their robot, Martin. The MHS team uses Python, C++, and Blocks programming software to control their robots. Both C++ and Python programs are high level general purpose programming languages; Python emphasizes readability and C++ is an extension of the C program. Blocks Library adds an editor to other program applications which transforms code into interlocking blocks making the code more visible.

The state qualifier was held at the West Virginia University Engineering building and States will be held at Fairmont University. Robotics is a West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC) sanctioned sport. The VEX competition has set the Guinness World Record for having the largest competition on Earth. Be sure to wish the team good luck this season!

MHS Robot in Action!

By: Phoebe Porter

On January 26th, the Martinsburg Math Field Day team, coached by Mr. Walters and Ms. Lewis, gathered with students from four other high schools in the county to participate in the Berkeley County Math Field Day Competition. Three students from Martinsburg placed within the top ten individual scorers for grades 10-12: Billy McCune, 2nd place; Nathaniel Willard, 7th place; and Ethan Thomas, 8th place. These students will compete at the regional level on March 13th at Potomac State. An additional three students, Josh Burton, Millie Cushwa, and Madison Henry placed within the top fifteen individual scorers for grades 10-12, and will serve as alternates for the regional competition. Bailey Muir placed 4th overall in the freshman category. Martinsburg High School additionally reclaimed the BCS Math Field Day trophy after their impressive performance in the relay portion of the competition. “It felt really greate to win,” said Pepi Pospisilova, “I felt proud to be a Martinsburg Bulldog.” “We have the talent,” said Mr. Walters. “In preparation for regionals, we’re continuing to practice short-answer questions, but increasing the difficulty.” Good luck at regionals, bulldogs!

On the same day, the Martinsburg Model United Nations team departed for the 39th Annual Ivy League Model United Nations Conference, hosted at the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown Hotel. Over the course of the weekend, over a thousand high school students from around the globe engaged in collaborative discussion and debate with the goal of developing synergetic resolutions to the crises presented. “It was a little overwhelming at first. You have to prepare very rigorously for the topics; you’re discussing actual real-life problems and working towards real resolutions,” said Andrea Osorno, who represented Bangladesh in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations committee. “But as time went on, you could see your progress and see ideas come to light. Everyone came together for a solution. I’m glad I took the opportunity to broaden my knowledge and meet new people.” The group from Martinsburg was coached and chaperoned by Mr. Stenger. While attending the University of Pennsylvania, Stenger worked as a chairperson and crisis-director for several Ivy League Model United Nations Conferences, including a conference held in India. “You guys deserved that kind of experience, and it’s something I never had in high school,” said Stenger.

The Martinsburg Ace Team is over halfway through their 2023 competition season! “We’re a strong team, but we have strong competitors. It’s going slow, but we are still enthusiastic. We’re ready to put our best foot, or should I say our best buzzer, forward,” said senior James Estranas. With the coaching and expertise of club advisor, Mrs. Lantz, the team has been working diligently to hone their abilities and enrich their knowledge in their weaker categories. “Each category is working on different ways to study to know all the trivia going into the matches,” said team captain, Jason Bednarski. On Monday, February 13th, the Ace Team faced Spring Mills High School for their third match of the season, and will compete again on Monday, February 27th against Musselman High School.

By: Valerie Clabaugh

Martinsburg High School is proud to announce a brand new club this school year! Varsity Club is coming to MHS to highlight varsity athletes and their contributions to their community. Varsity Club has already closed their applications, but will be accepting more members in the 2023-2024 school year!

Varsity Club was started by our very own MHS student, senior Chloe Thomas. Chloe is part of two varsity sports at MHS, including soccer and lacrosse! She stated, “Varsity Club was created to recognize Martinsburg’s top student-athletes. Being part of a sports team teaches kids more than the athletic skills. Kids learn how to be mentors and leaders and it’s important to recognize those qualities, as well as athletics.” Chloe had the idea of Varsity Club from a friend at a different school that started their own club! Chloe also stated,”Something that always bothered me after the athletic events was how messy the student section was following the games, and I wanted to do something about it! Mrs. Kidwell also told me about how she used to take athletes to elementary schools to help out and read to classes, which I thought was a great thing to return to MHS!”

The Varsity Club has many things planned for the upcoming semester and years! They have been in contact with local elementary schools to plan visits. A big possible event for Varsity Club this year is putting together a Special Olympics! The Varsity Club has already voted on club officers to start planning the upcoming events! The officers include, Chloe Thomas as President, Keira Rhoads as Vice President, Lexie Weitz as Secretary, Carson Boober as Treasurer, and Kamden Shallis as Historian! The co-advisors for Varsity Club are Mr. Walters and Mr. Shallis. MHS administration also had a large contribution to the creation of Varsity Club, through their instant acceptance and support to make the new club process easy and efficient!

MHS Varsity Club is going to allow these top athletes to make connections with their community members! The club will meet on Tuesday mornings, and hopefully have after school service projects. MHS is proud to support a club with a great cause and motivation for our community. Varsity Club will hopefully stay up and running for many years to come and make a difference in the lives of many individuals!

MHS Varsity Club Flier!

By: Bella Walsh

Martinsburg High School is excited to welcome Lisa Williams as our new substitute sign in/sign out secretary! Former secretary, Carlie Gall has now taken the role of our guidance secretary. In this position she works with enrollment and withdrawals, senior awards, graduation, transcripts, etc. Although we miss her familiar face in the office when we sign in or out, we are excited to get to know our new secretary Miss Williams.

As the sign in sign out secretary, Miss Williams is responsible for signing in students that are late, signing out students that are leaving early, and entering it all in WVEIS. Any guests that enter MHS, come to her office first, and she is responsible for sending them to the correct place. Before working at MHS, she was working as a magistrate court assistant. The role of a magistrate assistant is to achieve all the duties or assignments assigned by the magistrate and prescribed by the judge of the circuit court, or the chief judge of the circuit court, if there is more than one. Miss Lisa Williams favorite thing so far about MHS is working with the TA’s, or “teachers assistants.” She said “they are all so wonderful and helpful!” Miss Williams loves her TA’s so much she even made them all Valentines Day goodie bags! The hardest thing Miss Williams has had to learn so far is working with a Macbook. Because of the internet interruption she has had to switch from the provided desktop, to a Macbook. Although it is difficult for her to get used to, she is excited to learn how to use it.

Miss Williams will only be here until the end of this school year, so be sure to stop by and introduce yourself to her before this school year is over! She is excited to get to know the students.

Lisa Williams in the Sign in Sign Out Office!

By: Savannah Malatt

Have you ever wondered what some teachers might do after hours? Well, Martinsburg High School's English teacher, Mrs. Munley decided to contribute to her lifelong mission of enchanting her readers by taking them on a magical journey. Mrs. Munley has dedicated a decade of her life teaching and building young readers into becoming authors. When asked why she wanted to write this book, Munley, stated, "I've been writing stories since I was young and wanted to become an author." However this adventure was not just Mrs. Munley's; she expressed that, "This book came out of a conversation I had with my co-writer, Ruth Sanger, and was just something fun for us to write together."

The Price Of Broken Magic is a fantasy book written by Erin Munley and Ruth Sanger. They co-wrote The Price Of Broken Magic and the rest of the trilogy in a total of five years. While Sanger lived in China, they wrote back and forth for about five months to complete the first book. Munley explained, "The most challenging thing was writing with someone thirteen time zones away. Bless technology!!" Munley and Sanger want their readers to connect with the characters and feel empowered by the message the book offers. The theme of The Price Of Broken Magic is doing the right thing, even when it seems too hard. The summary of The Price Of Broken Magic is "Long ago, the three magics of the world came together to bring balance to the universe, Europe brought a staff carved from the Tree of Life. Asia brought a jade orb, imbued with magical power. Africa brought a gold bowl, decorated to look like the wings of magical birds, one wing to represent each magik: a crane for Asia, a hawk for Africa, and a raven for Europe, This brought balance to the magics and all was well for a long time. Until it was broken." MHS is proud to have their very own published author in the building! You can locate this book in the MHS library or purchase one for $12.99 on Amazon. If you’d like to get your copy signed stop by Mrs.Munley's room in 2048.

Mrs. Munley's Book Cover!

By: Ruth Amoreno

Martinsburg High School’s Theatre competition show Our Place went to regional competition

on February 4 th which was held at Spring Mills High School. The five schools that participated

were from Berkeley County, WV; Washington County, MD; and Jefferson County, WV. Out of

the five schools that competed, the top three schools that were selected to go to state competition on March 30th were Hedgesville High School, Martinsburg High School, and Spring Mills High School.

Senior Bethany Ross, a student in Theatre 1 said her favorite thing about theatre is “getting to

know people and being a family.” Ross joined theatre because “it was something different to

try.” Ross is looking forward to “performing for little kids” when the theatre troupe travels to

local elementary schools in March to perform Kingdom of Magic. Senior Gibson Crumley, a

student in Theatre 4 said her favorite thing about theatre “is the family, the stories, and the

costumes.” Crumley joined theatre because she “had seen shows at the Apollo and wanted to try it.” Crumley has been in theatre for 9 years total including school and the Apollo. Crumley is

looking forward to state competition and said, “I am excited because it is a good opportunity

because you get to meet so many people and learn so much in depth in the workshops.”

Martinsburg High School’s Jazz Band will be performing in the Eastern Regional Jazz Festival

on February 25 th at Jefferson High School. According to Director Casie Adams, “the band will be performing Count Bubba by Gordin Goodwin arranged by Paul Murtha; Wichita Lineman by

Jimmy Webb arranged by Frank Mantooth; Blue Boosa by Kenny Dorham arranged by Mark

Taylor; and The Chicken by Alfred James Ellis arranged by Kris Berg.” The soloists to be

featured in the performances are: Leonara Puplampu on piano, Lulu Martinez on trumpet, Josh

Appiah on alto sax, Olivia Pritt on drum set, Melody Hudson on trombone, Amanda Salgado on

alto sax, Jamari Hopkins on drum set, Aiden Ruiz on bass, RJ Brown on tenor sax, and Nicky

Marrero-Occasio on guitar. Adams said, “I do believe it’s going to go really well this year. Last

year the jazz band was one of the top ten jazz bands in the state and I think we have a good

chance of getting there again.”

Junior Josh Appiah said his favorite thing about band is “getting to play all the many styles of

music.” He joined band because he “loves to play the saxophone.” Junior Amanda Salgado said

she really enjoys “playing alto and tenor sax and spending time with friends since she really

enjoys making music and having fun.” We wish all our Theatre and Band students the best of

luck in their upcoming competitions.

By: Mackenzie Carper

With prom right around the corner, the junior class officers are partnering with Mrs. Roach to sell Lily & Laura bracelets in order to raise money for the dance. Each bracelet sells for $12. Prom will take place on April 22nd, and will be held at the Martinsburg Roundhouse. Every year, junior class officers plan prom as a gift to the graduating class. Mrs. Roach ran this fundraiser for previous cheerleading fundraising and it was a great success, so she had the idea to bring it to Martinsburg High School. To purchase these lovely bracelets get an order form from Mrs. Roach in room 2008. To make sure your purchase goes through, turn in the order form by March 3rd.

“We sold them at Shepherd and also at Hedgesville for cheerleading and it was successful. My favorite part is that we make a lot of money from it, and I love these bracelets. My favorite is the kaleidoscope and the confetti collection,” said Mrs. Roach.

Lily and Laura have over 21 different collections to choose from, ranging from school spirit to birthstones. Ruby Amores, junior class secretary, plans on buying a bracelet with our school colors! To order, browse all bracelets at www.lilyandlaurabraclets.com and pick your favorites, you can pick any bracelet or anklet from their website, but no stacks. Fill out your order form with your contact information and the exact names of the bracelets you are ordering. Make sure you're specific so you get the right one! Finally, give your order form and money to Mrs. Roach by March 3rd to get your order in place!

MHS Prom Bracelets!

By: Mackenzie Carper

For years Berkeley County Schools has conducted a Mock Interview project for all high school juniors. For this assignment students learn how to create a cover letter, resume, and application to apply for a job of their choice. After students finish creating all their documents they participate in a simulated interview. The interviews are conducted by volunteers in our community who have knowledge of a professional work environment. Students are expected to dress to professional standards and present themselves in a way that showcases genuine interest in their chosen position. Interviewers then determine if the student would, or would not, be hired for the position based on their interview and the materials they present.

Mock Interviews allow students to have an accurate experience in how the job-hunting process works. It gives them experience in gauging how qualified they are for a position and how to confidently go about showcasing their skills and credentials. Knowing how to create well rounded and well formatted resumes and cover letters can be a daunting task for young people joining the workforce; Mock Interviews can take away many of these stressors.

English 11 teacher, Mr. Southlea, said his favorite thing about Mock Interviews is “the chance for students to be able to create cover letters, resumes, and applications and be able to use that in the future and actually be able to do something with them.” He also thinks they are beneficial for students and gives them some responsibility. Mr. Southlea also said he thinks it is helpful for young adults to sit down in front of someone who actually conducts real job interviews so they get that experience. Mock Interviews are currently scheduled for Thursday, March 23rd, 2023 from 7:15-1:00 pm in the Martinsburg High School library.

Mock Interviews from Last Year!

By: Aden Reid

With everything going on in Martinsburg High School and Berkeley County Schools technology wise, it shows just how much we take our privileges for granted. Most people were hesitant at first at the switch to iPads but students have come to rely heavily on them.

I talked to MHS's technology integration specialist Ms.Kissner how she feels about the iPads and what she prefers for the students. "I like the iPads better for the students and teachers. They are great for creating, with picture and video capabilities and lots of useful apps. iPads can even be used without wifi." Since Ms.Kissner has opened the tech bar at lunch she's seen that students have been taking much better care of the iPads and are more concerned about them. "I think everyone likes them more and think they're more useful." I asked her if there's anything she dislikes about them and she said, "If you're typing a lot a laptop would be better but iPads are still overall better with touch screens." With the recent circumstances surrounding our lack of internet, I wanted to ask if there's anything we should have in place in case something like this happens again. "Teachers should look at what they use for teaching and might try to balance work online and on paper."

I wanted to know exactly how much the students used the iPads and if they really liked them better. So I asked MHS Junior Macon Fleming how he felt and he said, "Although I was against the change from laptops to iPads I must admit it's better to have them than any other device." "They are useful but I do not like the size of the keyboard, it feels unnatural to type on them." Without being about to use the iPads right now I asked what alternative we could have in place "Having backups on paper is always a good thing to have incase technology is down. But there's just too much of a dependence on tech to have one."

Our technology is just too useful not to use for everything, including learning. However that dependence can hold us back if we forget to utilize our other resources. The iPads are a privilege to have and the moment we take them for granted, they're gone.

Top Row- Ruth Amoreno, Mackenzie Carper, Aden Reid, Phoebe Porter, Jason Bednarski

Second Row- Bella Walsh, Ruby Amores, Savannah Malatt, Editor- Valerie Clabaugh

Third Row- Advisor- Ms. Foreman