The Orange and Black

By: Bella Walsh

Not in the mood to go to class? No worries! Martinsburg High School has the best places to skip! Senior Jimmy Harden states “the secret vape lounge” is his favorite place to skip at MHS. It is located on the third floor next to the pool, “There are lots of couches, parties, and strobe lights.” Senior Dominic Brinkley shares “I like to spend my skipping time at the Bulldog Boutique. He finds cool outfits and takes pictures in them for his secret instagram!” History teacher Mr. Burkhart said “If I were to skip at Martinsburg high school as a student, I would probably hide in the faculty bathrooms because that’s the last place someone would be looking for me!” “I would probably play some solitaire or some Subway Surfers!” We were able to convince Madison Fishel to let us in on her best skipping spots. She stated, "When I am feeling sleepy I like to head upstairs to the dirty auditorium floor, so I can catch a few Z's. When I have been sitting for too long I like to hide between the gym mats, so I can stretch out. I also like to hit my vape in peace, so I sneak under the math stairwell." Sophomore, Savannah Malatt said, "If you are tiny and don't mind tight spaces then the health wing girls bathroom is right for you!" If sitting still is not your thing, then senior Eric King recommends that you keep moving around the halls all period long! That way everyone always think you are on your way somewhere! However, sometimes the most obvious places can be the best hiding spots! You can find a propped door and stand behind it or better yet you can hide under Mr. Sherman's desk! He is so busy he would never even know you are there!

Bella Walsh peeking

out from under Mr. Sherman's desk!

By: Valerie Clabaugh

Martinsburg High School Administration has taken a new initiative into preventing students from skipping and having unexcused absences. Administration has been dealing with lowered attendance numbers since the pandemic. Berkeley County schools have now made attendance a top priority. As of April 1st, 2023 all students will be receiving a mandatory GPS Tracker.

The Berkeley County Police Department has donated thousands of state of the art, SCRAM House Arrest ankle bracelets. These ankle bracelets have a built in tracker that is programmed to keep students on MHS school grounds. The tracker is activated from Monday through Friday at 7:40 A.M till 2:40 P.M. If a student is not on campus by 7:40 A.M, the ankle monitor will begin to beep and send an alert to local authorities. The student will have 15 minutes to arrive on campus or have a valid note sent to the MHS attendance office, or they will be arrested. All MHS students will be required to wear the ankle monitors at all times, including after school. These ankle monitors are water proof and tamper proof. If attempted to remove, the ankle bracelet will send an alert to local authorities and give out repeated electric shocks. MHS students have shared their concerns against these new extreme measures. Senior, Madison Fishel stated, “ I feel uneasy knowing that I will be tracked constantly. How will I be able to have my daily Chick-Fil-A run, during lunch?”

These new ankle bracelets are hoped to bring up attendance numbers and grades for all students! MHS administration will be giving out all monitors during the three lunches. They will be asking for name, grade, and home addresses. Individuals who have been caught skipping before or have low attendance numbers will have the best ankle monitors. Those who score 10% higher on their SAT will have the option as an incentive to remove their bracelet for a whole week! For any more questions, contact Mr. Sherman on Twitter or Facebook!

Madison Fishel showing off the new ankle trackers!

By: Phoebe Porter

This school year, raffles became a popular way to fundraise for the various clubs and organizations within Martinsburg High School. National Honors Society, Velocity Dance Team, the Martinsburg Theatre Department, and Good Times Show Choir all organized impressive and enticing raffle baskets and prizes to help raise money for the different programs. Regular students were converted into panhandlers, and became responsible for the circulation and sale of tickets. “We worked day and night to sell those tickets,” said Zoe Levy, Treasurer of the Martinsburg Theatre Troupe. Many teachers and faculty members, unknowing of the potential consequences, felt obliged to support their students in their numerous extracurricular endeavors, and entered the drawings. For Mrs. M. Elliott, these entries were not harmless. “I’ve never won a raffle here at MHS,” said Mrs. M. Elliott, “I get really upset when I don’t win things.” After several unsuccessful entries and an accumulation of wasted money, Mrs. M. Elliott turned to the slot machines for additional chances to win.

Over the past few months, Elliott’s luck has changed, and she has become a multi-millionaire from her winnings at the casino! “I’ve bought lots of stickers, and books, of course,” said Elliott. Additionally, Elliott is planning to spend a large amount of her winnings to buy entries for the science department’s upcoming fundraiser for the Berkeley County Humane Society. Tickets are $1, and each entry will allow you to vote for the science teacher of your choice. Whichever science teacher accumulates the most votes will have the safety shower pulled on them by the individual whose ticket is drawn from the votes. Mrs. M. Elliott is eagerly awaiting the raffle, ready to test her luck at Martinsburg High School again. The raffle allows an unlimited amount of entries, and Elliott has allotted a large sum of her newly acquired wealth to go towards pulling the shower on Mrs. Haines! Good luck, Mrs. Elliott!

Mrs. Elliott showing off her new found fortune!

By: Ruby Amores

Have you ever wondered why, science teacher, Mr. Arndt’s tests are so difficult to pass? He has openly expressed that a rooster named Bob has been writing his tests, but no one has truly believed a chicken could write a test that difficult. We decided it is high time we find out what is really going on in room 2004. Is there really a rooster writing our tests? If so, why is a fowl writing our tests? Upon further investigation, our sources have discovered Mr. Arndt is no ordinary science teacher. In fact our sources discovered that Mr. Arndt is actually a rooster -with a passion for science- in a tie dye lab coat! There has been evidence found in his classroom such as ants, dried corn, and the occasional loose feather left on his chair. Ever thought it was hard to read Mr. Arndt’s hand writing? That is because it is actual chicken scratch. Mr Arndt is no ordinary rooster, he is a highly intelligent rooster who has gone all the way through college just to teach humans about science. Ever since he was a chick, Mr. Arndt has had a desire to teach Physics. The price for teaching the subject of his dreams, was that he also had to teach earth science. As long as this birdie had his song (physics) he could fly. After investigating Mr. Arndt’s computer, it was discovered he was part of a program called Bulldog or Bird, also known as project B.O.B. The goal of this program was to decipher if we really could hire roosters -or other feathered friends- to teach us science, the study seems to say yes, a rooster is in fact capable of teaching us Physics and also Earth Science. Even though our teacher is actually a rooster in lab coat, he is very capable of teaching. In fact he is so good at teaching, administration is considering hiring more birds to teach science and maybe even math. There are plenty of birds in the sky who want to teach just like Mr. Arndt, we just have to give them a chance!

Mr. Arndt reveals his secret IDENTITY!

By Ruth Amoreno

FFA also known as Future Farmers of America is starting their own farm on school grounds. Now not just anyone can start their own farm, there are requirements in order to able to do it. The requirements include a barn, 73 animals, a stable, a chicken coop, and animal feed. The reason they are getting a farm is because they love animals! The animals they are going to have include pigs, horses , chickens, cows, sheep and a rooster. There will be 7 rooster, 6 pigs, 30 horses, 20 cows, 10 sheep.

But there is more to running a farm than there appears. For there is a lot of hard work and dedication that goes into it. This includes a new sleep schedule, intense chores, and having to find a balance between schoolwork and working on the farm. The group now has to get here at 5:00am in order complete the morning chores. The morning chores include feeding the animals, milking the cows, cleaning the stables and the chicken coop, getting the eggs, washing the pigs, cleaning up after the animals.

Along with that the rooster will now replace the bells. The group will go in shifts between classes to check on the animals. FFA members will ride their horses to school, due to frequent bus cancellations. All of their homework will be related to farming in some way. They will be reading Animal Farm in their English classes and doing a five page book report on it. They will be learning about volume in their math and science class. They will also learn the history of farming in their history class. The MHS farm will be a wonderful edition to our CLOSED campus!

Caroline Cook showing off her prized animal!

By: Jason Bednarski

A staple fast food restaurant in many communities is Chick-Fil-A. It has been staple in Martinsburg for 19 years. The popularity of Chick-Fil-A means that they are a fast food restaurant that has to provide the food that they are known for while being able to maintain a great reputation for being a restaurant where you can come get fresh chicken, as quickly as you can get food from other fast food restaurants. Due to this popularity of Chick- Fil-A it had to shut down for a couple of months already this year to build a bigger drive thru line to be able to keep up with the amount of consumers that come to eat at Chick- Fil-A. But you may be surprised to learn that this beloved establishment will have to close down again.

You may be asking why in the world would Chick-Fil-A need to close down again only two weeks after it just reopened, even though they were able to renovate the restaurant and expand the drive-thru lanes. The main reason they are closing down again is because on the first day Chick-Fil-A was back open the drive-thru line was so long it caused 10 miles of Interstate 81 to be shut down. So the staff at Chick-Fil-A realized that they didn’t have enough resources in the kitchen to keep up with the customers' addiction. According to Trey Sine, a former Martinsburg High School student, “The workers can’t even keep up… last week I waited half an hour for a sandwich. I don’t think there are enough workers and materials for them to keep up with this many customers.”

Another reason why Chick-Fil-A is going to close again is because the restaurant was not able to increase the drive-thru capacity to handle the influx of customers in the weeks since they reopened. “The lines at Chick-Fil-A are ridiculous… It's so crowded all the time. It’s always a frenzy in that place,” said Sine. Chick-Fil-A was hoping to buy the adjacent lot with the Waffle House to expand their drive thru, but that didn’t happen. Instead of expanding out they are expanding up. Chick-Fil-A will be building a 10-story drive-thru tower where the staff will take customers orders and they will get their food when they exit the tower drive-thru. As you circle up then down the drive-thru there will be videos playing showing the history of Chick-Fil-A to entertain the customers. According to the lead designer for Chick-Fil-A Thomas Chick, “This drive thru design will solve our drive thru capacity issue while also making us stand out from all the other fast food establishments.” The Chick-Fil-A is planning on closing April 1st, which is today and will be closed for 3 months.

Chick-Fil-A longest lines in the world!

By: Savannah Malatt

Martinsburg High Schools Assistant Principal of discipline, Mrs. Doyle is auctioning off exotic animals! Mrs. Doyle wears a different animal print every day of the week to show what animal she is selling that day. On Monday she wears Snake print, Tuesday she wears Cheetah print, Wednesday is Tiger print, Thursday is Cow print, and Friday is Zebra print. Sophomore Addyson Strovel said, “I’ve seen her sneak around her desk before, like she’s hiding something. Just last week I took a peek in her office and saw animal heads mounted all across her room! She tried to bribe me off with Chick-Fil-A cards, so I kept quiet.” There’s a rumor going around that she has the best prices around! Sophomore Kaylin Henry stated, “I heard she has really good prices around here. The lowest in Berkeley county and probably even West Virginia.” Mrs. Doyle has been running this not so legal business ever since she got to Martinsburg High School 17 years ago! Mrs. Doyle even said herself, “make sure to watch the next episode of Tiger King because I might make a guest appearance!” I would say Doyle is running a pretty good secret business inside of MHS! Make sure to keep an eye out for what she’s wearing next time you see her. She just might have your favorite exotic animal in stock!

Mrs. Doyle showing off her snake print to remind everyone she is now selling new PYTHONS!

By: Aden Reid

At Martinsburg High School, our elective classes and clubs stay very busy. For music in our schools month, all the singing, dancing, and instrument playing classes preformed for the whole school. But the arts are not the only ones that want to show off what they've learned.

Over the course of the second nine weeks, the Agriculture Mechanics class taught by Mr.Cook has been learning how to construct vehicles, starting with tractors and other types of farm equipment. All the students in his class are extremely interested in the inner workings of cars. They've learned all the ins and outs of those machines and were looking for something more challenging. They found a new competition that started this year between other schools shop classes. Mr.Cook said, "It's a big step up from what I've had my classes do in the past." They have decided to take their new knowledge and build a monster truck piece by piece.

The competition is a derby, last truck standing, between 3 other schools. Jefferson, Musselman, and Spring Mills High School alongside MHS will compete against each other. There's one driver, that will need to sign a waiver and everyone else is on clean up crew. "My classes have been planning this for months" and at the end of the third nine weeks, they finished. They're assignment was to work together and build a winning monster truck to gain skills in fabrication and welding. This being the inaugural year of this event there was no set place for the show, but Mr.Cook pulled through. "I volunteered to host the competition at MHS because I really love monster trucks." The monster truck quad derby will take place on the MHS football field and track on April 1st at 7:00pm. Before then stop by the shop class to see the finished vehicle, and stop by after to see a big pile of scrap.

MHS Monster truck parked outside of MHS shop class!

We hope you enjoyed reading our April Fools Issue, as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you!

Love,

Editor Valerie Clabaugh

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