On December 2nd, the Martinsburg High School football team competed against Princeton High School in the 2023 WVSSAC Class AAA State Championship, held annually at Wheeling Island Stadium. Playoffs began on November 10th, commencing with a win against Parkersburg South for the Bulldogs. Over the following weeks, the team continued to advance, winning against Jefferson High School with a score of 49-0, and Huntington High School with a score of 49-26.

The Bulldog's win against Huntington in the semi-finals secured them a spot in the upcoming state championship. "We had to practice really well to prepare for the game," said Wes Hancock, senior starter for the Bulldogs, "We were favored to win by two touchdowns, but in football, anything can happen." The team departed for Wheeling Island on Friday, December 1st with a celebratory goodbye from students at Martinsburg High School, South Middle School, Rosemont Elementary School, and others from around the county. Additionally, the Martinsburg Bulldog Band, Velocity Dance Team, and the Martinsburg Cheer Team traveled to Wheeling Island to perform at the game.

Martinsburg and Princeton took the field at 12:00 P.M. on Saturday. "I knew we had to go in there and get ready to play, they were a tough opponent," said Hancock. Princeton took the lead in the opening quarter, but the Bulldogs were able to make a swift comeback before halftime was reached. Martinsburg grew their lead through the entire second half, ending the game with a score of 57-13 and winning their 10th WVSSAC State Championship. Immediately following the game, the team was presented with their trophy on the field, and quarterback Murphy Clement was presented with the State Championship MVP Award. Congratulations to our Bulldogs for winning their 10th State Championship!

There's always something exciting going on at MHS, especially in all our different electives. The baking and pastry classes are now decorating gingerbread house kits from scratch. Teachers and admins will vote for the best house, and all staff will have a chance of winning one.

Mrs. Myer's Baking and Pastry 2 class has made gingerbread house kits for her level 1 and Ms. Reid's foundation classes. Both levels are decorating the week of the 11th after working together to come up with designs. Each team had four members who had to combine their ideas and decide the exact amount of each material they'd need. With 20 houses in total, six from Mrs. Myer and 14 from Ms. Reid, they will have to work together to construct the house and win the competition. "This gives them a chance to relax after being up on their feet so much. It gets them working together to see who works well and helps determine lab groups for next semester," Mrs. Myer said. The week before, the level 2 class mixed, rolled, cut out, and baked all the parts for the houses. They used a recipe from the website Sugar Geek.

Starting Tuesday, the 19th, you can see the top five houses in the display case outside Mrs. Myer's class. The day before, five teachers who have already been chosen will vote on all the houses according to the following criteria: originality and creativity, technical difficulty, overall workmanship, adhesion to plan, and use of color. Admin will vote on Tuesday with the same criteria to decide first place. The winning team will be announced Wednesday and awarded a grand champion trophy. All staff also have the opportunity to enter a raffle to win one of the 20 houses. They can be used as a sweet holiday decoration, but we wouldn't suggest sampling them as the houses are not edible. It's one ticket for $1 or three for $2. Winners of the raffle will be announced Wednesday, and must pick up their house by Thursday before we leave for break.

The baking and pastry classes are always making something new. They just made a big batch of gingerbread cookies. All grade levels can take this class. Sign up for next year if kitchen safety and preparation is something you want to learn. Be sure to check the display case and see the top gingerbread houses. Have a wonderful Christmas and happy holidays, bulldogs. We'll see you in the new year.

Martinsburg High School's Velocity Dance Team (VDT) has been hosting Dancing with the Dogs, a beginner dance camp for ages Pre-K through 8th grade where kids pair up with a current VDT member to learn a dance routine that they will later perform at halftime of a football or basketball game. This event has been taking place for a few years now with the hope to make it an annual event. Hosted by VDT and their instructor, Ms. Maye, Dancing with the Dogs is a great way for any young student to get involved with their community and try out dance!

VDT's next Dancing with the Dog event will be held in February of 2024, but they start preparing long before then. VDT will host their Dancing with the Dogs camp on January 27th, 2024. During the camp, the kids will learn the dance routine that they will perform during halftime of the MHS men's basketball game vs Spring Mills on February 2nd, 2024. Dancing with the Dogs is a great way for kids to "find connections with other kids and VDT members," says Senior VDT Dancer, Mary McCune. The last Dancing with the Dogs event had more than 100 kids participate, several of the participating kids have been children of MHS teachers!

During the last Dancing with the Dog event, MHS English teacher, Mrs. Elliott's daughter and MHS history teacher, Mr. Burkhart's daughter participated in the halftime show. Both will be participating in the next Dancing with the Dogs event in February. After participating in the last event, Mrs. Elliott said her daughter's favorite part was "the camp and spending the morning learning the dances and being with the big kids." When asked about her favorite part of her Dancing with the Dogs experience, Mrs. Elliott said that as a parent, she loved "seeing our dance team as role models for kids in our community" also saying that "Ms. Maye does an amazing job of developing all of her dancers into leaders." When asked about his and his daughter's experience with Dancing with the Dogs, Mr. Burkhart noted that his daughter's favorite part was performing at the game saying that "she was so excited and proud of herself for going out there and performing in front of such a big crowd." Mr. Burkhart said that as a parent, the best part of the experience was "seeing her out there performing before the game and, after the practice, her singing all the songs they practiced to and showing off the moves she had learned."

Dancing with the Dogs is a great experience for any Pre-K through 8th grade student. Mary McCune said that the best part for her is "connecting with every kid but especially the junior dogs to help them make VDT one day." If you have younger siblings or family members that would be interested in Dancing with the Dogs, encourage them to come out and participate! Make sure to also come out to MHS on February 2nd to support the MHS men's basketball team and watch the VDT Dancing with the Dogs performance!

Every year in December the music streaming app Spotify releases a compilation of songs, artists, and genre’s listeners have played over the year. This compilation is known as Spotify Wrapped. Each list is unique to the app user and their interests. Spotify collects data for each listener’s most played artists, songs, and genres. This year Spotify even assigned each user an “anti-hero” based on their style of listening. So, what is Martinsburg listening to?

There are many different types of listeners. Some students listen to music constantly, they always have at least one AirPod in their ear. Other students only listen to music in their car or when they are bored. Martinsburg High school students seem to have a wide variety of music tastes and listening habits. Senior, Heaven Galvez-Merino is a constant listener, their total time spent listening was 71,199 minutes equaling approximately 50 hours. “I am constantly listening to something,” said Heaven. Junior, Ryan Leintu listened for 2,271 minutes equaling 2 and a half hours total. “I only got Spotify in October,” said Ryan. Another Junior, Andrew Salgado Miranda listened to music for 102,587 minutes, 71 hours, almost three days straight.

Heaven felt their Spotify Wrapped accurately represented their interests. “TV Girl,” Heaven’s most played artist, was on repeat listening for 803 minutes. Spotify assigned Heaven as a Shapeshifter anti-hero for listening to a wide variety of artists and genres. “I am not emo, I promise,” said Heaven.

The Spotify newcomer, Ryan, had a top genre of rap with his most played artist being Micheal Jackson. Ryan considers his music taste to be calming. His anti-hero was a collector, Ryan primarily listened to playlists made by himself.

Music fanatic Andrew, mostly listened to Pop music, with artists such as Giveon. His most played song was “Shouldn’t be,” by Luke Chiang. “I listen to a little bit of everything, anything but country,” said Andrew. Spotify considers Andrew to be a Time Traveller for listening to his favorite songs on repeat.

Spotify is free to use and easily accessible. All Spotify listeners have a unique style of listening, and Apple Music users too.

The new year brings a lot of new beginnings for countless people. Many see New Year's as a time for change or improvement in one or more parts of their life.

Some like to make a goal to get up earlier, make more time for family, take better care of their mental health, or to get to the gym more. That's why the gyms are full during January every year, but it never seems to last. Some people are able to follow through with their resolutions, but the majority of the public tend to lose motivation during the first few months of the year.

Forbes Health asked 1,000 U.S. participants some questions related to New Year's resolutions. 62% felt pressured to have a New Year's resolution. 48% of people said improving fitness was their top goal in 2024 and 36% said improving their mental health was their top priority. But of course, most people fail at being consistent and successful with their resolutions. According to OSU.EDU only 9% of people follow through with their resolutions.

Most people start their New Year's resolutions because it's tradition. A brand-new year should come with some brand-new changes, right? Not necessarily. Setting a resolution means you're setting a goal, a goal that ultimately means something in your life is going to change for the better through your hard work and perseverance. Goals should be made when a change is needed, and for some people the new year is perfect for that. But, if you start every year with the same goal and it doesn't last, does it really mean anything? Are New Year's resolutions actually helpful? "I think so, as long as you follow through with it. You have to make a plan to be able to reach your goal," says senior Mary McCune. "My New Year's resolution is to cut down on how much I spend on fast food." This is a rather common resolution, it's a common habit that's hard to break, speaking from personal experience. Mr. Walters' also has a New Year's resolution. "I would like to lift consistently in 2024, but also build my mileage up to be able to run two half-marathons this year. I'd like to run one in May and the other in October or November."

New Year's Resolutions are helpful to many when it comes to finding motivation to work on themselves. If you are able to come up with a plan that keeps you on track, it would help you in the long run. If you're doing it just because everyone else is doing it, you might want to rethink the goals you're making.

Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, and Kris Kringle, originated in the Western Christian culture. Santa was made to bring presents past midnight to kids who behaved. The day he brought presents was named "Christmas Eve," and the day the presents were to be opened was "Christmas." He delivered presents to every kid on the nice list with the help of his elves. Elves are tiny creatures that help Santa create and give presents to the well-behaved. The "Naughty" kids got coal. When asking my fellow classmates about their experience with Santa Claus, most stated he positively impacted their childhood and helped them with their behavior. Junior, Janae Edwards expressed, "I think he's has a great impact for children in their younger years. Having that opportunity to believe in Santa makes them want to work harder to impress him".

When asking another junior, Koi Fagan, "I was always more interested in the elves rather than Santa. Santa delivered our 'elf on the shelf,' and we got to see his reindeer tracks in the yard." A lot of kids got to see Santa's "helpers" which would be his friends dressed as him. The extra "Santa" could be found in malls and around cities. " I saw him every year at the mall when I was younger, and I would always tell him what I wanted. I was always so excited to go see him!" Stated Janae. Santa Claus is good for young kids to look up to as they grow. Santa has played a big part in many children's lives, and he will hopefully continue to make kids' dreams come true with his magic!

Reporters: Isabel Banks, Kaylin Henry, Savannah Malatt, MaryKate McKinnon, Aden Reid

Co-Editors: Ruby Amores and Phoebe Porter

Advisor: Rhonda Foreman