The Orange and Black Record

It's no surprise that Martinsburg High is home to many talented athletes, successful teams and an amazing band. This spring, nine MHS athletes, along with one trombone player, signed to continue their careers at colleges and universities up and down the east coast!

Skylar Bishop will continue her volleyball career at Shepherd University. For football, Wesley Hancock and Murphy Clement will continue on to represent the Mountaineers at West Virginia University. Rashad Reid signed to Elon University while Amar Dover signed to Concord University. Sirod Musgrove will continue his career at Mercyhurst University. Ernest Hendrix will go on to play at Shepherd University. Jay Lardy will play at West Liberty University. For cross country, Macon Fleming will attend West Virginia Wesleyan. For the band, Melody Hudson will continue on to Shepherd University to play trombone.

This year, Melody Hudson is the only MHS fine arts student that signed to continue her music career. Melody was accepted into the Shepherd University School of Music to play trombone. Having played for seven and a half years, Melody says she wanted to continue her music career because of her dad, who is her biggest

music career has been a roller coaster, with exciting highs and unfortunate lows, but she never gave up. Melody addresses that "there are days where you'll want to give up, but that's when you pick up your instrument and practice." Melody encourages all younger players to stick with what they love. Being able to do what you love isn't just a talent, it's a gift.

Sports recruiting is a difficult process as well but Wesley Hancock believes it was worth it for him. After playing for eight years, Wesley signed at West Virginia as an Interior Offensive Linemen, saying that "playing in college has always been a dream." Wesley will join Martinsburg High Alumni, Hudson Clement at WVU. Wesley encourages any younger player to "make memories now because the years go by quick."

Many MHS students play sports or are involved in fine arts, but not all will be able to go on to play in college. If you're interested in playing, never let anyone discourage you and make sure you're in it for the right reasons. Like Melody said, do it for yourself, never for anyone else.

March is Music in Our School’s Month, a time for recognizing and supporting the music education department. During Music in Our School’s Month(MIOSM) our school's music Honor Society Tri-M organizes and hosts events to celebrate the Music department at MHS. Tri-M’s goal is to share music within our school and community. MIOSM is how Tri-M shares their music appreciation with the entire school. MIOSM is “a time where Tri-M highlights the music department,” said Tri-M President, Josh Appiah. Each year MIOSM is designated a theme, this year the theme is “I See M(usic) (E)ducation.” The theme is meant to represent the importance of every individual in music education.

On Friday March 15th there was an in-school performance showcasing several music groups at MHS. There were performances by the Blitz Boys Show Choir, Good Times Show Choir, Strings, Concert Band, and Jazz Band. “Without the event, most students would never get to see the different talents our school has to offer,” said Josh. The in-school performance has become a student and staff favorite, allowing the members of the music department to share their hard work with the whole school. “The best part is seeing the reactions of the students in the audience,” said Josh.

This year there was a spirit week leading up to the showcase. Monday was “Night at the Opera,” wear pajamas. Tuesday was “Boy Band versus Girl Band,” Wednesday was “Dress as a Music Artist.” Thursday was “Music Era,” dress as a generation of music. Friday was wear Tri-M colors, the colors of Tri-M are teal, purple, and yellow.

Martinsburg High School is home to a wide variety of clubs and organizations for students to become involved with and provides ample opportunities for students to find their niche outside of the classroom. This spring, MHS is excited to announce the arrival of four new clubs: Healthcare club, Chess club, Latino Student Union, and Realty club.

Healthcare Club, run by Mrs. T. Elliott, will meet the second and fourth Wednesday of every month from 2:45-3:30 in room 2007. Healthcare Club is inspired by Berkeley County's Health Careers Club, which lost momentum following the COVID-19 pandemic. "Each month, we want to focus on a specialty within healthcare. We'll have a guest speaker from that particular field come in to present and do an activity to go along with it" said Mrs. T. Elliott, "I wanted to continue providing my students with this opportunity. There's more to healthcare than just doctors and nurses, there are other opportunities. It's really cool for them to meet local people who may be friends, family, and maybe even alumni." Any 10-12th grade student interested in pursuing a career in healthcare is eligible to join. Contact Mrs. T. Elliott for more information.

Chess club has recently begun meeting every Monday afternoon from 2:50-4:00 P.M. in Ms. Hill's room 2022. Chess club is welcome to any student who "wants to learn about and improve at chess," said Junior Thomas Joy, "the primary agenda of chess club is to teach players how to play chess and improve the skills of the people playing." Chess club is available to any student, no experience required. Contact Ms. Hill or Thomas Joy for more information about joining Chess Club.

Latino Student Union (LSU), run by Mrs. Sanchez, is an organization focused on "creating a supportive community at Martinsburg High School that embraces Latino culture while welcoming individuals with diverse backgrounds," said Mrs. Sanchez. LSU originated as Spanish Club, and has recently transitioned into a "secure and inclusive space for Hispanic, Latino, and culturally interested students. You don't have to be of Latino or Hispanic descent to come to LSU. We are open to everybody." LSU hosted their first official meeting on March 11th, and future meeting times are to be determined. Contact Mrs. Sanchez for more information!

The Real Estate Club has begun meeting on Friday afternoons from 2:45-3:45. Real Estate Club is organized by Ms. P, who has been a licensed realtor since 2014, and has owned her own brokerage in Virginia since 2023. The Real Estate Club is available to any students who "have an interest in pursuing a career in real estate," said Ms. P. Meetings will take place in Ms. P's room 2049. Contact Ms. P for more information.

Listen to Martinsburg High School students discuss topics relevant to you and play fun games in their new podcast. Seniors Maddie Tinsman and Dakotah Huffman are your hosts, with guests from all over the school highlighting all aspects of the student body. As a continuation of their miniseries, these members of the broadcast team have created "The Pawdcast."

As a way to continue their idea of showcasing MHS students, Maddie said, "We want to amplify voices of the student body, we want to include athletes as well as others in the school like theater, music, and choir." They will be talking about topics related to the school and the people in it because they want, "To make it fun and play games while learning about students in the school." The podcast is described as having incredibly accurate and unbiased opinions from two seasoned experts. According to the information on both their Spotify and Instagram, where you can find them at MHS Pawdcast.

Their first episode is already out titled, "The S-Tier of School Lunch!" In this podcast episode, they give their opinions on our cafeteria lunches, ranking some of the most popular from S to D. They plan to release new episodes every other week with each being between 15 to 20 minutes long. If you're still unsure about the podcast you can watch a teaser of this episode in video format on their Instagram page. The second episode has already been filmed and will premiere soon. Although this originated as an assignment for their broadcasting class, Maddie and Dakotah want to turn it into something everyone can enjoy. "It's cool to have something fun that you have an experience with to listen to like in the car. We get to talk about elements of the school that people might not know about and get them interested," said Maddie.

Earth day is an annual celebration that takes place on April 22nd. This holiday is a celebration of all forms of life and our efforts to try and make our world’s environment a better place. The very first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 as a way to create the modern environmental movement. 20 million people protested environmental ignorance all over America in 1970 for our very first Earth Day. This day was a large cause in making the passage of landmark environmental laws in the US. This includes the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts and the Establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. In 2016, the Paris Climate Agreement was created with similar laws. Over time this holiday has spread all around the world causing 192 countries to join the efforts in saving our planet.

Martinsburg’s student body president Lily Campbell is leading this year’s student council Earth Day clean-up. “We’re going to be splitting into 5 committees, each led by a student council officer. Except this time instead of splitting the committees into halves to clean the chosen inside cleaning locations and the outside cleaning locations of the school, we’re just going to be working on the outside. We’re going to focus on new additions such as adding mulch, plants, picking up trash and more things like that.” Be sure to look out for the improvements SCA will be making in honor of Earth Day!

Women's History Month is a month where we celebrate all of the strong, courageous women in the world. Women's History Month is celebrated all throughout March and International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8th. Women's History Month wasn't officially recognized until 1987. Other Countries, including the U.K. And Australia, also celebrate Women's History Month. When asking how she celebrates Women's History Month, junior Taylor Strack exclaimed, "Personally, I celebrate Women's History Month by listening to a lot of female artists, along with furthering my education in Women's History!" Another junior, Addyson Strovell, stated, "I celebrate Women's History Month by showing my appreciation for all the women in my life and supporting them in every way I am."

There are plenty of ways the United States celebrate this special month; such as, television specials, political speeches, classroom learning initiatives, and social media posts to honor the strong women in our life. This very significant month is important to many people. According to Strack, "Women's History Month is incredibly important to me, especially being a woman who wants to go into a male dominated field of law. Seeing women being appreciated for fighting the stigma and their amazing accomplishments is truly special." There are so many influential, strong, and independent, women in our country who make huge differences. Strack explained that, "The most influential woman I know is Lou Anne Kramer, my Teen Court Mentor. She has been an unwavering source of guidance and support in my life. Her dedication to helping other and her commitment to our community have inspired me to strive for excellence. She has consistently encouraged me to reach my full potential and has played a pivotal role in shaping the person I am today. I am incredibly grateful for her mentorship and the positive impact she has had on my life."

Women's History Month is a very supportive month for all the women in the world. There are so many women who we should appreciate and honor. Strovell eagerly exclaimed, "Remember to support women in every month, not just March." Make sure to treat every woman this month with great respect!

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

Co-Editors: Ruby Amores and Phoebe Porter

Advisor: Rhonda Foreman

@theorangeandblackrecord