by Areli Hernandez
While student walk-outs protesting ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) have occurred at several local high schools and across Indiana recently, a small group of JHS students stood together to make their voices be heard at last Friday’s homecoming game to bring awareness to current events.
All photos by Magdalene Conrad and Abygail Lawson. Click on each photo below to view the gallery.
All photos by Malachi Conrad and Abygail Lawson. Click on each image in the gallery below to view photographs.
Check back tomorrow for homecoming festivity photographs, including images of the crowning.
by Austin Bainbridge
Jeff is looking to get back into the win column at tonight’s Homecoming game after a three-game slide as the Red Devils make their final push to sectionals.
Jeff faces Southern Indiana rival Bedford North Lawrence at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Johnson Arena.
“I think that this upcoming game is just a must win. We’ve been having a hard season and a hard time connecting as a team. So hopeful we can breeze through this game and prepare ourselves for sectionals,” said sophomore center Mason Longest.
The players are always looking for a good crowd to get them ready to play.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of important people at that game, and it’s just going to give us the fire to win and we’re just going to play hard,” said sophomore center Demauri Crosby.
But having the belief in their skills has gotten the team as far as they are.
“I see a lot of confidence in the team, and that doesn’t come from nowhere; it comes from success, and I think a win against BNL would definitely help with that confidence,” said head coach Sherron Wilkerson.
BNL is struggling in the height department, topping out at 6 ‘3, and Jeff is waiting to exploit that.
“I think we’ll be able to get a lot of post touches, and we should be able to easily get a lot of rebounds,” said Crosby.
The first stat everyone looks at is the team’s record, but the players say it hasn’t been that simple with many of the teams they’ve played.
“Don’t look at the (opponent’s)record. I mean, it’s an Indianapolis team, so they’re obviously going pay hard. So, we just need to come home and play harder. We played a Warren Central team with a bad record and lost, so don’t regard that,” said Crosby.
This is Senior Night and homecoming, where a king and queen will be crowned, and with that the coaches don’t just see a celebration, but a lesson.
“I hope it affects the seniors in a way that we’re running out of games. We’re running out of opportunities to get the stuff that needs to be addressed addressed, so there needs to be a sense of urgency,” said Wilkerson.
Moving forward after BNL tonight, Jeff will end this season playing four straight games against .500 teams, and they’re looking to make final adjustments before the playoffs.
“Those teams obviously aren’t powerhouses, but we can’t count them out. I think they will be a great chance to get everything in tune for when it matters most in sectionals,” said Longest.
All photos by Malachi Conrad, Parker McCloskey, Sophia Goforth, and Isaiah Stewart.
All photos by Malachi Conrad, Parker McCloskey, Sophia Goforth, and Isaiah Stewart.
Click on each photograph in the gallery.
It’s homecoming season. You’ve waited all week and the pep rally is finally here. You are separated by classes. Underclassmen are wearing red and upperclassmen are wearing white. You’re screaming back and forth, yelling ” RED!” and ” WHITE!” at the top of your lungs, all to win the spirit stick. But why is a red cardboard tube worth so much to Jeff High students?
Principal Julie Straight says the answer is simple: “There’s pride in fighting for the school together, just showing that spirit and pride for the school.” A Jeff High graduate, Straight remembers battling over a spirit stick when she was a student — although it wasn’t the same spirit stick we have now.
The current spirit stick came from Nancy Molnar, a former teacher at Jeff, who made it herself in the early 1990s. She says, “I had new carpet installed in my house. When it was completed…the installer asked if I needed the carpet roll. I looked at it and immediately knew it would work. I sawed the length I knew I could handle at school and big enough for students to see. I fluffed up the plastic at the end to appear like something…perhaps a flame. I placed it on my husband’s sawhorses and painted it red, bought the striped ribbon and glued it down on the stick.”
Although we don’t know exactly when Jeff High students started battling over some form of stick, we do know that a similar tradition that has been around for many decades. A 1972 yearbook photo shows students claiming a “spirit jug” at a pep rally.
Principal Straight says that this history and tradition is part of what makes every battle over the spirit stick great. “It brings that bit of nostalgia.”
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