story by: Jalin Ernest

This NBA season has gotten underway. Rookies have found their roles on the team, and Veterans have gotten back into the swing of things. With an exciting season ahead with the new look Golden State Warriors and the rebuilt Philadelphia 76ers many teams fight to find their place in their respective conferences. The East, who is better than ever this year, is returning the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Also they have many new look teams, such as the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks. The West who is very top heavy has changed the course of the playoff race, with Kevin Durant leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors who finished with the best record in a single regular season at 73-9. With this being said I believe that the Cleveland Cavaliers will defeat the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals 4-2. The Cavs are returning their starting five of Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith, Lebron James, Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson. Also with additions like Mike Dunleavy and Chris Andersen the Cavs will be able to bring some firepower off the bench and spread the floor with multiple shooters on the floor at one time.

Few things on this earth bring people together more than the holiday season.

For a majority, this means the celebration of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year — the holy trinity.

A typical American might spend November and December eating ridiculous amounts of turkey and ham, celebrating glorious gifts we receive from that odd aunt we’ve never met, and going sledding on every slanted surface in town.

But for some, the holidays aren’t so magical.

Imagine sitting around the Thanksgiving table with your close family, quietly eating the dry turkey your grandmother makes every year. Everyone is silent, only the noise of forks on plates and loud, open-mouthed chewers break through the stagnant air, making a sallow symphony rhythm.

Everyone watches the empty seat at the head of the table, and notice the empty place setting set down before it.

Imagine waking up on Christmas morning to melancholy faces, and disastrously wrapped presents.

‘Dad tried his best’ you whisper to your little brother, trying to keep a half-smile on your face. You should be smiling, but you just want Christmas to be over.

This is what the holidays are like for Jeff High senior Emanda Gibson.

This past August, Emandas’ mother, Donna, passed due to heart complications. She was 48 years old.

“My mom had been sick for a long time, but I was still shocked when she passed,” Emanda said.

Emanda’s mother had struggled for years with a heart condition, and was frequently in and out of the hospital. Despite these issues, she always managed to be home for the holidays.

Emanda describes her mom as being “radical about Christmas.”

“She always loved putting up decorations as soon as she could. My mom was always bright and happy, but Christmas time brought out the best in her,” Gibson said.

In the Gibson household, it’s a tradition that Emanda and her mom wear matching pajamas the night before Christmas. But this year, that tradition might end because “Christmas pajamas remind me too much of her.”

Emanda’s father, Mike, and older brother, Josh, didn’t share the same passion for the holidays as she and her mother did.

“We weren’t going to put up a Christmas tree or even go to Thanksgiving this year, but I knew she’d be upset if we didn’t,” Emanda said.

Despite attempts by her father to help bring the family close, Gibson gave a one word response to how her holiday season will feel this winter: “Lonely.”

For Emanda, the holidays will never be the same again.

This time of year, students are often occupied with what’s under the tree for them. They beg their parents for gifts they desperately want, excitedly hoping, even praying, that they’ll be there waiting for them to open on Christmas morning.

But what would Christmas be like for you, without that special person in your life?

“I hope everyone appreciates their parents, their grandparents, whoever takes care of them,” Gibson said. “Love them and be thankful for them, while you can.”

story by: Kylee Luce

Shortly after the 2016-17 school year started, Jeffersonville girls head basketball coach Mike Warren received some unexpected, but very exciting news: a 6´0 foreign exchange student- athlete from Australia would be coming to Jeff High and was joining his basketball program.

“Typically transfers don’t come along too often, especially transfers that know how to play basketball, so I was very happy,” Warren said.

Britney Epperson transferred as a junior this year to Jeff High, looking forward to becoming a part of the Red Devil community and girls’ basketball program.

As for the team, the girls were thrilled when they heard the news about their new Australian teammate.

“My reaction when I found out Britney was going to be on the team was, ‘that’s awesome.’ I’ve always wanted to know someone from Australia, and I’m really glad we will have a solid post player now,” said starting sophomore Chelsea Gibson.

Epperson’s main reason for traveling to America is because her older brother received a scholarship to La Lumiere School, a prep school in La Porte, Ind.

“Everyone in my family plays basketball, except my little sister,” Epperson said.

In order for Epperson to be able to go to school and keep her basketball eligibility, she had to leave Australia by Sept. 27. Fortunately for the Lady Devils, Epperson’s aunt and uncle live in Jeffersonville, which explains how she landed at JHS of all places.

However the move wasn’t an easy one. The first week or so in America was a little rocky and very exhausting for Britney.

“I had trouble sleeping. I would wake up at two in the morning and not go to sleep until six, and then sleep all day that took me a very long time to fix,” Epperson said. “That first week, I was exhausted. I was a bear — you couldn’t talk to me. It was awful, but other than that it has been wonderful.”

The coaching staff says Britney is a great fit to what they’re building for the upcoming season. Epperson is a hard worker and has adjusted very well to coach Warren’s high level and high speed practices. Epperson is very coachable and all the coaches love her.

“She will be a big part of our success going forward,” Warren said. “She has a great attitude, she is a hard worker, she’s a really great teammate and good communicator. So all the things we ask out of our kids she possesses those things already. So it’s made the transition for her much easier.”

All Epperson’s teammates love her so far, and are delighted she’s a part of the girls’ basketball program.

“She is so fun in and out of practice,” said sophomore Mariea Franklin. “They say she’s like the team mom.”

The feelings are mutual from Britney Epperson.

“Everything is going pretty good; I really like it,” Epperson said. “The girls are really good and have been so welcoming and I love my coaches. They are very supportive.”

Britney had to sit out for the season opener, but she is now eligible and played in their last game against Madison, where the Devils won 50-15. Epperson had four pts and two rebounds. She is hoping to learn from these games and start pulling out even more wins as the season progresses.

By Phillip Steinmetz & Kyle Sanders

A dozen pieces of Tuesday’s homework balled up, a few spots of crushed cheddar Goldfish from two days ago and a milk carton from first period’s breakfast on Monday.

That’s what the floor might look like in an average Jeff High classroom at the end of the week.

However the mess is not the fault of the janitors slacking on their job. Instead, it’s a culmination of being understaffed, and not having enough qualified applicants to fill those positions.

“We are just trying to get the stuff done that needs to get done,” said janitor Chris Schwinn. “It all comes down to time management, working extra hours on the weekend and overtime to get stuff that must be completed done. We can’t pay attention to things like washing every window in the school. We’ve got to take care of other things that are more important: cleaning the bathrooms, taking out the trash, sweeping up the hallways, stuff like that.”

On a normal school year, JHS would expect to have three day-shift and eight night-shift janitors each weekday. This year, it has gotten as low as two in the day, and only two at night.

Also adding to the chaos is the illness of veteran custodian William (Willie) Thornton, who has been out since the beginning of the school year. Thornton, who has worked within Jeff High for over 29 years, has experienced health issues that has prevented him from attending work, where he is the lead custodian.

“We had our two-day custodians, Chris and Bridget, step up and have done everything we asked them to do and more in Willie’s absence,” said assistant principal Timothy LaGrange. “The building is in great shape. At times, we’ve had a sub for that third spot, but not consistently. I don’t know when we will get that third position filled. In Willie’s situation, if he came back, we want what’s best for Willie.”

According to LaGrange, there are a few obstacles that have made it challenging to hire custodians this year. The biggest challenge is that other businesses, like Amazon and the newly-erected River Ridge, are offering more money for employment, which is cutting the application pool.

“The pay is probably more important than anything else and that’s one thing we can’t compete with Amazon,” said math teacher Jim Spears. “The school corporation could spend more money on that or anyone’s position. Everyone deserves to make more than they are making, so how do you do that? Right now, we are in dire need of custodians, so how do you do that? It’s not an easily solvable work problem.”

Despite the hiring difficulties, the school isn’t far away from being back to full staff. At the time of print, LaGrange says JHS is two custodians away from full strength.

To make up for the less hands on board, some weekends or long breaks require JHS to bring in multiple custodians from other schools for a “blitz.” The blitz lasts one or two days, and the entire school is cleaned.

“It’s a challenge to meet our standards,” LaGrange said. “(It’s) not because of the people we have aren’t doing a great job because they are doing a great job. They are great workers, dedicated and do a great job.

“But we are understaffed and some of that is a larger, economic issue,” LaGrange continued. “There are a lot of jobs available, like River Ridge, (which) has created a little bit of competition for us.”

A creative way in which Greater Clark County Schools has tackled this challenge is by offering custodial job opportunities to high school students. The position offers $9 per hour to work up to three hours after school, everyday.

The hope for the hires is to give the custodians an extra hand while they are still filling in the other main positions.

“We’ve had a few people who have applied, we are going to hire a pool of high school students very soon to fill in and help us out as well,” said LaGrange. “I am excited for that and we’ve got some good candidates by the people I’ve talked to, we could use some more good people and high school students that want to work. It’s a very good part-time job for high school kids.”