The Orange and Black Record

February is Black History Month. Here at Martinsburg High School, we have 231 black students, making up 18% of our student population. We even have our own Black Student Union (BSU), which organizes events to celebrate the diversity of our community and provides meaningful opportunities for our black students.

"The Black Student Union is a peer-driven group led by students focused on problems of racial diversity amongst the students at MHS and other schools in Berkeley County," said Vice President and Senior Sincere Warren. "BSU is open to any and all races, though it is a more melanated focused group," stated President and senior, Kamryn Savoy. "Black Student Unions have been a valuable resource for Afro-Americans at predominantly white institutions of higher education since the 1960s," said Senior Secretary, Samson Lewis.

After school on Wednesdays, BSU organizes fundraisers and learns about black history and culture with Mrs Brown-Duruobineke. "At BSU, we strive to teach others about our history and to be more inclusive of minority groups within the school," said Sincere. "What we learn is not strictly limited to learning about our history but includes learning about entrepreneurship, teamwork and collaboration, event planning and creation, leadership, and more," said Samson. The Black Student Union has become a safe space for students to learn, grow, and make friends.

In honor of Black History Month, BSU will share uncommon facts about Black History through daily announcements. Four senior members of BSU had the opportunity to attend Black Policy Day in Charleston, West Virginia, on February 7th. During this trip, students learned about "Legislation and policy implementation and how to affect policy and lawmaking in West Virginia," said Samson. On February 23rd, BSU will host a basketball tournament, which costs $20.00 per team and $2.00 per spectator. Additionally, "VIP" court-side seating is available for $10.00.

In the past, BSU members could attend a historically black college fair hosted by Alfred Street Baptist Church. "We were exposed to several historically black college universities, scholarship opportunities, college and career information, and social networking opportunities," said Samson. BSU also had an opportunity to attend a "Countrywide BSU symposium with over 200 BSU members," said Samson. During this event, students discussed topics surrounding black culture, such as discrimination and the usage of the "N-word." During December BSU hosted a Secret Santa where they collected gifts to distribute to less fortunate families in our community. They also hosted a Christmas party to celebrate with the special education students.

Black History Month was officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976. The month-long celebration first began in the second week of February between the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event was established by Doctor Carter G. Woodson, a historian, to correct the misrepresentations of black history and share the history that historians have overlooked. "Woodson never viewed black history as a week affair he pressed for schools to use negro history week to demonstrate what students learned all year," said Samson.

Martinsburg High School’s Model United Nations Club attended their first conference of the school year on February 2nd hosted at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. The delegates spent the weekend immersed in discussion and debate with over 300 fellow high school students from around the nation about the crises presented to them within their individual committees. President, Andrea Osorno, participated in the Wizarding War crisis committee based off of the Harry Potter series. “I really enjoyed meeting other students from other schools. It’s really interesting to see how creative people can be in their different committees,” said Andrea Osorno, “I feel I gained a lot of confidence in public speaking, and learned about how to work with people to find ways to resolve our problems.” The college provided the attendees with a Q&A session with real UN ambassadors and the chair of the State Department. Additionally, Virginia Tech hosted a delegate social for the students to participate in and make connections with their fellow delegates. “The amenities and everything provided by the school were really nice because it is a college town and is equipped to accommodate the students and visitors,” said Andrea.

The Ecology Club at MHS, led by co-presidents Emerson Stark and Jessica Endrick, have been working diligently throughout the school year on a variety of initiatives to “educate our school about crucial environmental issues and inspire action towards positive change,” said Jessica Endrick. Among these initiatives are Martinsburg High School’s very own nature trail, pollinator garden, bench made of recycled plastics bags and bottles, and regular updates to the Earth Board found in the science wing of MHS. “We’re almost done with the nature trail website and getting ready to set up signs at each trail stop. We’ve got two more Earth Boards planned: one themed around the Lorax for Dr. Seuss’ birthday in March and another about turtles for World Turtle Day in May,” said Endrick on Ecology Club’s plans for the remainder of this semester, “We’ll keep taking care of our Pollinator garden and plan to work on wildlife shelters or butterfly feeders for World Wildlife Day in March. Next up, we’ll be making bird feeders out of milk cartons for National Bird-Feeding month in February.” Ecology club is available to any interested students at MHS, and meets on a weekly basis in Mrs. Haines’ room beginning at 3:00 P.M. every Tuesday.

On January 25th, the Martinsburg Math Field Day Team, coached by Mr. Walters and Mr. Shiffler, departed for Musselman High School where they spent the day competing with students from four other high schools in the county at the Berkeley County Math Field Day Competition. The competition consists of three sections: short-answer questions, a written exam, and a relay portion. Four students from Martinsburg High School placed within the top 10 individual scorers for grades 10-12: Nathaniel Willard, 2nd place; Ethan Thomas 3rd place; Josh Burton, 6th place; and Phoebe Porter, 10th place. These four students will advance to the regional competition on March 11th at Potomac State College. Additionally, Martinsburg High School came in second place overall in the relay competition.

Martinsburg’s ACE Team, coached by Mrs. Lantz is nearing the halfway mark in their 2023-2024 season. The team competes weekly against other Berkeley County schools at James Rumsey Technical Institute in matches composed of 5 separate categories: English, math, social studies, science, and general. The teams are given questions that are designed to test their proficiency and knowledge within each individual category. The ACE Team most recently played against Hedgesville High School on February 12th, ending the night with a final score of 261-97. This puts the team at a record of 2-1 for the season to this point. The ACE Team will next compete against Spring Mills High School on February 26th at 7:30 P.M.

The MHS Robotics team is wrapping up their 2023-2024 season after attending a competition at James Rumsey Technical Institute on Saturday, February 10th. The team is still awaiting news of whether or not they will advance to a state-wide competition. “We’ve done a summer camp of robotics and planning events and working together. We’re also holding workshops for South Middle School to get a second robotics team next year of freshman,” said team captain, Ruth Bise, on the preparation and upcoming plans for Robotics, “I enjoy the process we go through to work hard but also bond through work. We’ve done so many fun things together that have not been robotics-related that brings us closer together.” Robotics is exclusively invite-only, and practices every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in Mr. Arndt’s room.

With spring rapidly approaching, many teams are finishing preseason and getting ready for their regular season to begin. Baseball, softball, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, tennis, and the track & field team are all anxiously awaiting the start of the spring sports season. Many of Martinsburg High School's spring sports begin official practices in late February. Men’s and women’s lacrosse both begin on February 19th, while track & field and tennis practices begin on February 26th. Baseball holds tryouts on February 27th and begins practices early March. Softball practices begin February 29th.

All six spring sports are excited for their first game or match as well. Softball begins games first, with their first game being March 13th against Handley High School. Women’s lacrosse starts their season against Jefferson High School on March 14th. Tennis also has their first match on March 14th. Men’s lacrosse plays against University High School on March 16th. Track & field’s first meet is on March 16th as well. Baseball’s first game isn’t until mid-March. Each team is going into their 2024 season with a goal they want to achieve. Senior Ben Reisenweber says baseball’s goal this season is to “make it to the state championship” and predicts that they have the personnel on the team to make that dream a reality. Senior Logan Troppman says that men’s lacrosse is “excited to be in a new division and be able to prove ourselves as a team that belongs in the best division in the state.” Following their second West Virginia DII State Championship win, the MHS men’s lacrosse team moved to DI. According to Troppman, the team wants to “play our best game and make the most of the moments we have.” Troppman also has a personal goal of earning 200 career points. After their first West Virginia DII State Championship win, MHS women’s lacrosse looks to “improve on team play and just overall player performances,” according to Senior Andrea Osorno-Castillo. Softball is optimistic about their 2024 season as well. Junior Daysha Cook says softball aims to “win regionals." Cook believes the team will improve on their pitching and hitting record compared to last season.

Both tennis and track & field are individual-team sports, and both teams are optimistic that they’ll do well overall. Senior Emily Lineburg believes her tennis season will “be a challenge but exciting journey,” saying, “Since this is my last year, I'm going to give it everything I have." Lineburg is also excited to be “playing higher competition.” Junior Dejahnay Davis says the track & field team have an overall goal of “being consistent,” and staying “consistent at practice and especially at meets.” Davis has a personal goal of “running under a 12.50 in the 100 meter.”

All of Martinsburg’s spring sports put in a lot of work to prepare for their games and matches. Be sure to support MHS’ spring athletes as they compete in their 2024 seasons, and be on the look out for their full game schedules!

The Martinsburg High School Theatre Department is preparing for their upcoming spring musical, “Seussical the Musical Jr.” written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. The show is based off of the famous children’s books written by Dr. Seuss. Auditions were held in September and rehearsals for the show recently began in January. Seussical will be directed by MHS Theatre teacher, Ms. Kelly, along with vocal director, Ben Smith. The show is being choreographed by MHS Senior, Zoe Levy. “It’s very different from anything I’ve done before but overall it's a really fun process and I love watching it come together,” said Zoe.

Over the past several weeks, the cast and crew have been working hard to get into character and prepare for their upcoming performance. “I’ve been working with Gertrude as a character even before Seussical. She is the biggest dream role of mine, and I just try to bring out the fun in her. I do my best to add levels to her emotions while adding my own spin on her,” said Taylor VanCamp, who plays Gertrude McFuzz in “Seussical.” “Cat in the Hat has been a huge dream role of mine for a bit, so I’ve been trying very hard to get into the mindset of such a goofy little cat,” said Courtney Mason who plays the Cat in the Hat in Seussical, “Most of my playing around with the character happens at rehearsal. When learning different numbers I try to think of ways he would react to certain situations and how he would present himself.”

Seussical the Musical Jr. will open on April 26th at 7:00 P.M. in the MHS auditorium. Showings will also be held on April 27th and April 28th. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for students. Come out to support our thespians in their upcoming production!

After nearly two years of construction the new food hall in Martinsburg has opened. With eight separate food stalls, a bar, and live music it’s quickly becoming the place to try. They have plenty of seating indoors and outside. With a website connecting all the restaurants that you can order from. They give local entrepreneurs the chance to start their businesses and help to open their own restaurants eventually.

The Garage is located at 419 West King Street, Martinsburg. They open at 6:45am and close at 8:00pm Monday through Thursday and 10:00pm Friday and Saturday with Sunday being 9:00am to 6:00pm. The food stalls themselves have separate hours that you can find on their website at the bottom of the page after selecting the restaurant. The first restaurant you will see after walking in the door is Mountaineer Mug and Café. They open early enough to get a cup of coffee but still serve a full menu. That including flatbreads, salads, soup, pickles, baked desserts, grab and go meals, and tea. The second option is Gringo Gordo. If you like empanadas than this is the place. They serve a variety of empanadas including 6 meat, 6 vegetable, and 3 desserts. Next is a restaurant that specializes in desserts. The Luna Cereal Bar takes many snacks and mixes them with cereal, such as, cupcakes, cookies, cake pops, and rice crispy treats. Other sweet choices include waffles, parfaits, trail mix, and cereal as well as frozen treats such as milkshakes and sundaes. Next in the line up is the New School Café, offering classic dishes with a modern twist, serving sandwiches, soups, and salads. Halfway down the food hall you’ll find Green Pineapple, with a mix of fresh healthy food from different cultures. Like Mexican quesadillas and tacos, Japanese ramen and sushi rolls, rice bowls, and many flavors of bubble and fused teas. For more seafood options you might want to try BayouNOLA which has seven Louisiana style dishes. Maybe street food is more what you’re looking for. At the OG Kitchen you can choose between four entrees, including chicken and fish, four similar kid's meals, and seven sides. Finally, the restaurant with one of the largest menus, Mountaineer Meat Smokers. With many breakfast items including sandwiches and more for lunch including burgers and cheesesteaks. MHS Senior, Isabel Banks said, “I thoroughly enjoyed Mountaineer Meat Smokers and would recommend The Garage to others.”

The Garage on King has other amenities such as local live entertainment, a rentable space for private events, outdoor patio seating, and The Bar at The Garage. Once you enter, you’ll see a sign instructing you to find a seat and order online through their website. If you would like to see the menu in person, you can also order at all the individual restaurants. If you don’t live locally in the downtown Martinsburg area, you might not be familiar with the building. Since 1991 it has been an appliance store owned by Dunn & Seibert Sales Co. In 2022 it was bought by Invest Proxima and started construction to become The Garage. On the weekend of January 21st, 2024, they officially open as The Garage on King Food Hall.

The Stanley cup business has grown a large amount over the past 4 years, making 750 million in 2023 alone according to CNBC. Between 2019 and 2023, Stanley has grown over 300% in sales. As more color options are released for purchase, more and more people find a Stanley that they “need to have.” We might all be thinking that with so many people buying these cups I bet there’s nothing wrong with them, right? Well, we might be wrong about that.

According to the Washington Post, the official Stanley website says that lead is used to create the vacuum insulation function inside of their drinkware. They added it to help keep the start temperature of one's drink last longer, whether it be hot or cold. The base of the cups are sealed with a material that “includes some lead”. Stainless steel covers the seal so that the lead doesn’t leak into your drink and/or touch your skin. The stainless steel base cap could come off, though it’s rare the company says you can file a warranty claim.

A lot of people who own Stanley’s have started doing home tests for lead. When the results started to come back positive, people panicked. The company claims that home tests for lead are not usually accurate. According to BBC, the official Stanley website says, “rest assured that no lead is present on the surface of any Stanley product that comes into contact with the consumer nor the contents of the product.” Junior Savannah Malatt says, “I am not worried about lead being involved in the production process of Stanleys. I’m just a girl and I’m going to keep using my Stanley.” Students at MHS are not planning on discarding their Stanley cups and are primarily showing disinterest in the lead issue. However, students who have not previously owned Stanleys may be dissuaded from purchasing one in the future.

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

Co-Editors: Ruby Amores and Phoebe Porter

Advisor: Rhonda Foreman