Jordan William- Terrier Times Staff- VINTON, Va.-

On Wednesday May 22 and Thursday May 23 students cut open their pigs to identify body parts that they have been learning based off of pictures and diagrams.

Sophomores Nathan Pelfrey, Kurt Alois, and Sarah Lynch grouped up to complete the set of instructions for the lab. While Pelfrey and Alois took a “hands on” approach, Lynch did more supervising.

“This is terrifying,” Lynch said. “I absolutely hate this.” As a vegetarian, Lynch doesn’t eat pork, so in turn she wasn’t jumping at the bits to dissect it. “Scientifically speaking, it’s definitely beneficial,” Lynch said. “But morally speaking it’s horrifying.”

As Lynch gave the detailed instructions, Alois and Pelfrey had scissors and scalpels in their pig that they named “Tyrone,” snipping away.

“It’s an interesting experience,” Pelfrey said. “It’s definitely easier to see how what we have been learning applies.”

While Pelfrey and Lynch weren’t necessarily fond of the assignment, lab partner Alois was “enjoying it.”

“It will be scarred into our memories,” Alois said. “The worst part though was uncoling the intestines. It was worse than Christmas lights.”

Biology and Anatomy teacher Karen Hicks looks forward to dissection all year.

“I think that it is a wonderful learning experience,” Hicks said. “It gives students the opportunity to finally get to put into action all that they have learned up to this point.”

While some students are squeamish, some are intrigued, and some are consumed, it never fails that each student has something to gain from the carcass.

“Tyrone could have lived a nice life,” Pelfrey said. “But at least we were able to learn from him.”

Dylan Widener - Terrier Times Staff – VINTON, Va. –

“Blood runs deep,” said math teacher Edward Donahue. Donahue lived in the Boston area until he was twenty six years old and then moved and eventually found his way to Virginia. Though he’s spent quite a while in Virginia and the Roanoke area, it still hit him quite hard when the bombings occurred.

The bombers were two Chechens brothers, Tamerlan (age 26) and Dzhokhar (age 19) Tsarnaev. After the bombings the two were later found after robbing a 7-Eleven. This was followed by a shootout and a younger policeman along with the older brother were both shot and killed. Tamerlan was wearing an explosive device before he was killed.

During the escape, the older brother got out of the vehicle and was shot. He was also run over with the stolen getaway vehicle by his younger brother during his getaway. The younger brother escaped the chase but was later recovered after being found in someone’s boat.

“I think once again, it’s something that will take some liberties from us,” said social studies teacher Eric Royal. “Whether or not that liberty is just our piece of mind.”

With acts of terrorism in the past some things have been taken away from the American people as a whole. A major example would be 9/11. This led to the government taking over the safety precautions in airports with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

One of the biggest impacts of the event comes from the people themselves. With the Boston Marathon, runners have to reach a certain time to qualify to run in the race.

“For some it’s their life long goal,” said Royal.

The Boston marathon is considered a Holiday in Massachusetts. To many it’s virtually the first day of spring.

“The marathon is a part of the fabric of Massachusetts,” said Donahue.

Never the less, the American people will persevere through anything thrown their way.

“Don’t worry about something that most likely won’t happen to you,” said Royal. “You just have to live life.”

ONE nominee for Prom Queen from the list. Thank you so much for your help in this election process for Prom 2013.

Freshman Autumn Alls goes to frozen yogurt places often. Due to her father’s surgery in November, he can’t eat sugar.

“They have sugar-free flavors, so he can eat it,” Alls said. “Every time we pass one of the places we have to stop and get some. That’s basically all my father eats.”

The local frozen yogurt shop, Bloop, has been well received by students at Byrd.

 “I thought it was really nice,” sophomore Dayoni Stump said.

Bloop has a challenge: if you get exactly eleven ounces of frozen yogurt, you get it for free. Stump was once a few gummy worms short of getting exactly eleven ounces. Her favorite flavor from Bloop is mint and her favorite toppings are whipped cream and chocolate-covered peanuts.

Freshman Logan Williams went for the first time to a frozen yogurt store about a month ago after a Wednesday track meet. The team went to dinner after the meet and Williams walked over to Sweet Frog with some friends. Her favorite flavors of yogurt are cake batter and cookies & cream. For her toppings she usually gets crushed Oreos, white chocolate chips, or Reese’s. 

The last time science teacher Brian Butler had frozen yogurt was last summer at Myrtle Beach. He decided to stick with a basic yogurt flavor, chocolate.

“I get a little bit of the [frozen yogurt] and load it up with the [toppings],” Butler said.

Sophomore Hannah Neidigh goes to Menchie’s every time she shops at Kohl’s. The last time she went was about a month ago and she got vanilla yogurt topped with chocolate sprinkles and marshmallows.

“Oh my God, Menchie’s is the best!” Neidigh said excitedly.

Rachel Milton - Terrier Times Staff – VINTON, Va. –

The book club is new to WBHS this year. It is sponsored by Elizabeth Oliver, who teaches 9^th and pre-AP 10^th grade English, but it was the idea of two students that brought the club to life.

Juniors Holly Morrison and Alexis Holland are these two students.

“Holly had the idea. She went to Barnes & Noble and realized she didn’t read enough,” Holland said. “So she came to me about it and we asked a guidance counselor if we could start a club.”

The Dead Poet Society was Morrison’s inspiration. She wanted to be as excited to read and write as they were.

“I guess because the books we read in English aren’t that interesting and I wanted to read more books outside of school,” Morrison said.

Morrison and Holland went to Oliver to ask if she would be their teacher sponsor.

“They approached me and asked me to be the faculty sponsor,” Oliver said. “They even had a PowerPoint to persuade me.”

They choose Oliver as their teacher sponsor because they both had thought she was a great teacher and that she would love to help out.

“She is my favorite teacher and she is easy to talk to,” Morrison said. “She sparked my interest in English.”

The book club meets once every month to discuss the novel that the members read that month.

“We eat snacks, it is basically an informal Socratic Seminar,” Oliver said.

The students decide what books they want to read each month.

“Someone throws out a name and we vote on it,” Oliver said. 

Most of the books they read come from the AP list.

“The best way to improve your reading comprehension is to read complex texts and we read complex texts,” Oliver said.

Book club helps to improve a student’s reading and writing skills.

“It definitely helps my English skills, especially with Socratic Seminars,” Holland said.

Oliver believes that the club has been a success.

“Usually 6 to 10 people show up,” Oliver said. “It also creates a community. A lot of people who are in book club are also in Sketches.”

Briana Campbell- Terrier Times Staff- VINTON, Va. -

When one door closes, another one opens. That is more than true and has carried on for William Byrd High School’s Air Force Junior ROTC program since the loss of Major Jeffrey Pruitt last October.

 Two months prior, on December 17^th Senior Aerospace Science Instructor Major John Napier was hired in place of Major Pruitt.

“Dr. Turner, director of personnel, and I were all very impressed with his attitude and experience as a senior ROTC director,” said Senior Master Sergeant Paul Richardson.

 Napier comes from Flagstaff, Arizona so it was a nice change for him to move to Vinton where he is much closer to his family in Ohio.

 “The greenery, Blue Ridge Parkway, and downtown are all great reasons to be in Vinton and Roanoke,” Napier said.

 Before moving Napier was an assistant for the Aerospace studies at Northern Arizona University.

 “Most of my career I’ve worked with college students, so it’s a change working with high school students now,” Napier said.

 With the change in ages has come a different set of responsibilities.

“He has a strong desire to work with kids. He knows how much it means to guide kids to make good decisions which fits well in our program,” Richardson said. “He has had coaching experience as well, so he has worked with kids a lot. I felt he could relate well.”

 Having the desire and experience are not the only things Napier finds in teaching.

 “Working with the youth is always exciting. They have a good energy. I want to keep them engaged and optimistic today,” Napier said.

 One thing is for sure, with his experience and excitement to teach, Napier has a body of staff behind him to guide him and support him on his way.

 “The staff is very positive. I hope for a long career here,” Napier said.

Savanna Branch- Terrier Times Staff- VINTON, Va.-

The dance was first established in a video uploaded on February 2 by five teenagers from Queensland, Australia known on YouTube as The Sunny Coast Skate. Since that video was uploaded, you can find hundreds videos of people doing the Harlem Shake in random places.

People have done the Harlem Shake in water and even in an office building. Not only has it been done in those places, but it took place in the gym of William Byrd High School during halftime at a basketball game.

“I first heard about the Harlem Shake from a student in class,” marketing teacher Jessica Catley said. “I thought it would be a good idea for the Dog Pound to do.”

Catley ran the idea by the head of the Dog Pound, Austin Otey.

“By the Dog Pound doing the Harlem Shake and posting it on Youtube, we gained a little bit more recognition,” said Otey.

With the help of Christopher Steuart and Jessica Catley, the Dog Pound was able to perform the Harlem Shake.

Not only did the student section participate in the Harlem Shake, but so did one of Caitlyn Hartman’s biology classes. The class did the dance to encourage students to bring in spaghetti noodles and sauce to donate.

“It was a funny way to get the message across to the students about donating noodles and sauce,” Hartman said. “The response we got from the video was pretty big too.”

As harmless as the Harlem Shake sounds, students and faculty have used this dance to not only gain recognition for our school but to help others by collecting jars and noodles.

“Values.com, a Foundation for a Better Life, inspires positive thinking, good attitude, and a promotion of them in daily living,” Stephen Graves, who works in WBHS’ career center, said. “It talks about honesty, has a variety of scenes talking about bullying, what to do in certain situations,  plus things in life we should practice on a daily basis.”

Though the video is mostly seen in passing between classes, Graves still believes that the movie will benefit students.

“[I play the video] to make sure other people could enjoy it and possibly get captured by it,” said Graves. “Positive thoughts, positivity in school, and positivity in life; if I don’t share the word it doesn’t get out there.”

So why does he believe this video will have such an effect on students?

“Today’s world is driven by media and since the video is visual media it captures the students’ attention better than just hearing,” said Graves. “The video is visual and auditory which will work better.”

Dylan Widener- Terrier Times Staff- VINTON, Va.-

With the economy in its current state, some people may be a bit low on cash. When people are low they begin to cut away the seemingly unnecessary payments. Unfortunately, dental care seems to be one of the first things to go.

School nurse Terri Booth set it up this year.

“We’ve used them before,” said Booth. “It comes to different schools with a lot of need in the areas.”

Students can apply for this program with a simple slip of paper. All that needs to be filled out is some basic information and to have their parent or guardian sign it at the bottom giving their consent. It may be one of many cut and dry permission forms, but it can help when needed.

“This is a preventative service. They’ll do cleaning, x-ray and sealants,” Booth said. “Restorative care will be referred to a local dentist.”

Some students have clashing thoughts on it.

“I can see the point in it,” said senior Keenan Holt.
Though some people with certain republican agendas see otherwise.

“Schools don’t need to be involved in dental care,” said senior Seth Chandler.