Monthly Archives: October 2011

By Ava Ward

Rough Draft

Meeker Colorado, the small town known for its beautiful scenery and its wonderful hunting but on September 30^th Meeker was much more. The community of Meeker came together to show their respect, support, and enthusiasm for  their traditional Homecoming parade. Hours before the parade each class, from freshmen to seniors, assembled a float to represent their class.  The school picked a theme for the classes to follow and they decided on All of the Lights.

Each of the four classes did an excellent job working together to assemble their floats. Some excelled at some certain aspects such as use of color and design, creativeness, and staying with the theme while others will practice new designs again next year.  Though Freshmen came in last with their float they gave their best efforts towards creating a honorable display. It was mostly black, reminding people of Halloween, but on the back was plastered a brightly paint splattered sign proudly saying “Freshmen” and celebrating the day. Sophomore class dominated in every one of the aspects possible.  As their float passed by the crowed was put in awe with how much time and energy the sophomore class had put into their creation.  Their float was based off of a beautiful skyline silhouette.  Towering buildings and classmates dressed up as well known celebrities.  The Juniors float was decorated as though they were in France. A nameless mime roamed the float in search for 5 cents. There was a lack of color on their float but that doesn’t mean that their efforts were wasted.  Although the seniors didn’t win they put forth quite the effort to show their excitement towards homecoming but they really just showed how ecstatic they were towards their upcoming graduation.

At 2:00 pm Meekers Main St. was lined with people of all ages awaiting the parade were decked out in gold, black, and white in support of the Meeker Cowboys. When the parade everyone anticipated started noises surrounded you.  Cheerleaders were cheering, the band was playing and applause and laughter roared throughout Main St.  It was an event that was made practically impossible not to enjoy.  For big cities homecoming is a time made just for teenagers attending high school, bur for this small town Homecoming is for the whole entire community.

By Perla Romero

Rough Draft

Homecoming is a big deal around here because it’s not just for the students it’s also for the community. Many activities were taken place for this day. Floats were being built for the parade; creativity was in the air. Walls and windows were decorated for the joy of homecoming. After everybody was done with their activity it was parade time. Meeker cheerleaders cheered their way to beginning of the parade.

People expressed many emotions that day. Little kids were included in the parade which in my opinion is a very good thing to do. It is important to include minors in the community. Once the parade was done, we all met outside the courtyard and that’s where we brought our community into one. They handed awards to those who deserved them. After all that excitement, it all ended up to the game and the dance of course.

The Meeker community cheered and screamed “ Go Meeker Cowboys”. Victory wasn’t accomplished in this game but the joy of just watching our Meeker Cowboys try is what counts. They kept their heads held high and didn’t regret loosing! Now it was all up to the dance. Dresses makeup and music it’ll all just blends in great. Meeker students danced all night. Homecoming is my favorite part of the school year.

By Kiana George

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Although the Meeker Cowboy’s football team had an embarrassing loss to the Lake County Panthers, the Meeker Volleyball team dominated the games they won.  To start off the day at 10:00 in the morning was the Varsity vs. the Rangeley Panthers.  In a nail-biting, five -match game, the varsity pulled a strong victory of 15-11.  At the same time, in the auxiliary gym, Junior Varsity played the Rangeley Panthers.  Although the J.V. tried to pull a win from the Panthers, they lost in a three-match game 5-15.  After watching an interesting game between the Vail Christen Saints and the Rangeley Panthers, Meeker’s  ‘C’ team was pumped to win.  After a three-match excruciating challenge the “C’’ team demolished their opposition in a  25-15 battle.  In the end the volleyball girls took home the gold on October first for the Meeker fans.

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By Zack Williams.

The 2011 home coming was very interesting and fun for everyone.  There were many things to do and see, but the craziest thing I saw was the freshman trying to put up there float. It was the funniest thing I ever seen; I even joined it and partook in the fun.  They were all trying to do 12 things at once and I realized that day the coffee should be banned, they were all drinking coffee!  Another thing was that they all had so much fun doing it everyone else as in the sophomores, jr. and sr. hated it except for a few people.

The freshmen’s craziness payed off.  When their float was complete It took forth but I think they all did great and they all had a lot of school spirit, more than me that is for sure.

A few more things I noticed is that no one was like “I wish I could just leave!” everyone enjoyed it.  The sophomores won and it was awesome because I thought for sure we would lose we never win, but when we did it was amazing.  You could sense everyone’s happiness like a stink bomb went off.  When the parade went on it was a very happy place to be.  Meeker was full of happiness, and you could fill everyone’s support. I’m surprised that every one making the floats didn’t hurt anyone in the process; it wasn’t like last year when everyone was fighting and arguing.  Every one worked together, and had lots of fun.  The rest of the day was pretty awesome and every one was rewarded… with spirit not money, maybe next year.

One more thing I saw was the windows being painted by the classes they were painting every color you could imagine, red, yellow, blue, black and every other color of the rainbow.  It was a color fest of colors.  The only thing that was missing was a bright sparkly green dragon, and dancing leprecons with fairies on their shoulders with candy.  That would make homecoming super sketchy. The funny thing is, is that the whole week was rainy, dark and cold but, the day of homecoming the weather was great, sunny no clouds and not a drop of rain.

By:

Abrahn Gaeta

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On September 25^th through the 30^th it was homecoming week.  The theme of homecoming was “All of The Lights.”  It was a wonderful theme for the students, and staff.  Everybody worked hard on the wall, float and window.  It was all very colorful and joyful.  Many MHS students were participating in the activities.  The Football game was very exciting and everybody was into it.

I think everybody’s favorite thing about homecoming was the parade and how people organized it.  Nothing went wrong;  everything went the opposite of wrong.  People in the audience were cheering and yelling when the floats moved by with excitement.

The Freshmen float was pulled by 90s to 87s Ford F-150.  The Sophomore float was pulled by a 2002-2004 GMC Sierra.  The Junior were pulled by a 2009 Dodge Ram.  The Seniors were pulled by a 96-99 Dodge Ram.  As you can see all the floats were pulled by heavy duty pickup trucks.

So as the fascinating week went by, all the students and staff participated in the making/building of the floats, wall and window.  Everybody of MHS had fun and nothing went wrong.

By: Bryan Benitez

Rough Draft

As morning began Friday September 30^th 2011, it was the day of homecoming, and everybody was so excited to start their fun, and very busy day.  It was time for the halls, walls and windows of the school to be decorated and filled with imagination, and school spirit, to the theme all of the lights.  The senior class had the main window by the front of the entrance of the school.  While each grade level received a window further down the school according to their grade level.  While class walls were looking fresh in every way, they shined in their own way along with the floats, lighting up the 2011-2012 homecoming parade.  “As a student in Meeker High School in such a small town this event brings out the best in each other, and lights up smiles on community faces.”  As Abrahn Gaeta in Meeker High School quotes, “Homecoming is the time of year to see change and growth in not just our school but in our community!”  In general, homecoming was a great experience for my freshmen year.

Shelby Burke

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Friday September 30^th was a crazy day full of fun.  Throughout the whole high school there were people running all around trying to perfect their homecoming float, window and wall.  Sweat drenches down the student bodies face as the dead line approaches.  10 o clock… 11 o clock… 12 o clock….DING!!  The bell rings in all of our ears time is up.  Put everything down.  The walls are covered in paper.  Some have the entire city lights on them; some have light bulbs, while others have splatter paint.  Each class had also designed an amazing float, and a beautiful window.  The theme for 2011 homecoming was “All of the Lights.”  The freshman had a mixture of city lights and light bulbs, the sophomores, and juniors, based there’s all on the city light.  The seniors have a different look on it…  Splatter!  Each class was competitive and perfectionists.  Each class gave it their all on the window, float and wall.  With everyone’s hard work it was hard for the judges to decide on a winner, but the sophomores came out on top winning the all homecoming events, with the city light as their outlook.  The sophomore had the red carpet leading up to the wall of bright lights. On our float we had city light sculptures, with students acting like super stars.  Our window was most artistic; it had the city lights with a sun set behind it.  Seniors came in second with the theme of splatter.  Their class car was a ice cream truck that was splattered, along with their wall which was splattered to perfection.  The juniors fallowed with the same theme as the sophomores.  Even  fallowing.  At the football game later that night it was pleasant to see most of the community there cheering on our Meeker Cowboys.  That Saturday the volleyball girls played in a triangular against Vail Christen and our rivals the Rangley Panthers.  The community once again got up early to come watch us kill the Rangley Panthers, and loose to the saints in 5 games.  Saturday night was the night of lights.  Girls and boys throughout the whole school got dressed up and came to the dance.  It was so adorable to see men act like gentlemen and bring the young beautiful women of Meeker High School night of bright lights.  Even though we won some and lost some girls hearts were broken, and boys had to dress up homecoming was still a blast!

By: Jordan A. Smith

Rough Draft

Out of all the exciting events that had happened this past Homecoming weekend, the one thing that really stood out to me the most was the Peach Fuzz volleyball games and the Powder Puff football game.  When most people think of these events, they think about something to take as a joke and an experience to just pass some time; not in Meeker. This was serious.  When all of these games took place, everyone (including the officials) were really getting into the spirit of the competitions and having some fun.  This was the first year that our Powder Puff football and Peach Fuzz volleyball had come about, and the outcome was fantastic.

The boys that competed in the volleyball matches had gone all out by dressing in short-shorts, spandex, and knee high socks, while the girls in the football game decked out in headbands, jerseys, and face paint.  Even the officials for the football game had their striped shirts and whistle to match the occasion.  This was defiantly no joke.

The sound of the crowd cheering with every point, made all the events more realistic.  These nail-biting games brought out the competitive side in several.  Numerous people screamed, hollered and danced as the teams went back and forth fighting for the victory. You could see the sweat dripping down players’ faces, rivalry in their eyes, and the spectators on the edge of their seats. While at the volleyball games, some teams went back and forth on points, struggling to keep the game alive, and others were swept across the floor and demolished in the heat of the moment.

In the end, the staff came out on top at the volleyball games leaving the seniors in second place.  For the nail biting football game, the upperclassmen had dominated the underclassmen.  Most of the participants had a blast playing in these games and are hoping that they carry on through the next few years.

Meeker isn’t known for many traditions, but the one tradition that carries on is Homecoming.  Along with the floats, the wall decorating, the parade and the actual football game, these friendly competitions are the next to add on to the excitement.  These games weren’t just a match to see who earned bragging rights; this was the start of a new tradition at Meeker High School.

By Dom Devore

Rough Draft

This year’s homecoming theme was “All of the Lights.” Every class had to make and decorate a float, wall and a window that had to do with the theme.  All of the classes had to finish before the Homecoming Parade that afternoon.  In the parade was the band, floats, all the mascots such as for the sophomores was Kevin Eli and Shelby Burke, and of course Homecoming Royalty.  The freshman was Jamie Mclaughlin and Raul Lopez, and Tristin Pelloni and Lily Munn.  The sophomores were Piper Haney and JC Henderson, and Willis Begaye and Liz Fellows; while the juniors were JR Crawford and Amanda Kendall, and Lathrop Hughes and Christy Marquette.  Last but not least the seniors.  They were Reno Roybal and Krissie Harman, and Justin Hardy and Randia Rule.  Then after the parade, there was the Pep Rally.  The band played the MHS fight song to start it off.  The football and volleyball teams, and all the other sports got to make announcements about their sport; the band finished it off.

This Homecoming Football game this year was the Meeker Cowboy vs. the Lake County Panthers.  While the game was going on, the band was playing, the cheerleaders were cheering and the audience was screaming and cheering on their home teams.  At halftime was the halftime show.  They first announced Homecoming Royalty and who won Homecoming Queen and King.  The winners were the sophomores: Piper Haney and JC Henderson.  After that commotion, the band played the school fight song and “All of the Lights” since it was this year’s theme, then the cheerleaders danced their halftime show.  Then the game continued.  Unfortunately, the Cowboys lost.  The final score was 6-24.

But at least the homecoming dance was the next day.  It started around 9:00pm and ended about midnight.  Since the theme was “All of the Lights,” where the dance was held was dark with backlight.  There were white strips of confetti all over the floor, streamers hanging from the ceiling, and thankfully a DJ.  While couples were taking pictures, others were dancing and jumping their hearts out to the beat of the music.  Around 10:00 pm, the place was packed.  It seemed like every high school-er was there and had a good time.  I can tell this by how everyone was jumping around and forming conga lines among everyone and while the music was playing.  At the dance they announced the Homecoming Royalty and the king and queen again.  Before the night ended the last song was dedicated to James Sizemore.  The song was dedicated to him because James Sizemore died on February 21, 2011.  His death was the result of a snowmobile accident.  His snowmobile got stuck and the avalanche buried him.  The avalanche happened near the Flat Tops Wilderness Area, about 37 miles northeast of Meeker and 130 miles west of Denver.  This song was dedicated to him out of respect in his name and the loss this town had suffered.

By: Luis Samarripa

Rough Draft

There were many activities going on in the day of homecoming such as decorating floats, walls and windows, but the one thing that everyone was looking forward to was the football game.  All of the football players were ready for action.  Our team went to the locker room waiting with excitement prepared for all those screaming people.

While we were in there everyone had a high-strung feeling.  It felt like we were in there for hour’s waiting for game time.  When we got out of there and out into the field most of us had butterflies in our stomachs, and during the national anthem all of our adrenaline grew higher and higher.  That was one of the longest moments of the whole day.

After the ball was kicked off all of the butterflies went away and we were ready to play some FOOTBALL!  Throughout the whole game fans were screaming cheering hoping we would score a touchdown and out play the other team.  We saw the other team score three times before we scored but it finally happened in the third quarter.  At that time we were down 24-6 and no one scored any more after that.  Even though we lost the football game it was still a great experience being a part of the football team.

By Linda Olivas

Rough Draft

Friday morning, all you would see in the hallways and outside were MHS students running around and helping decorate their classes walls, windows, and floats.  This year’s theme was “All of the Lights.”  Lights and paint were everywhere.  Most people were splattered in paint from of all the decorating.  This was all worth the while, because later that day, everyone went down to the court house to see the parade.  Most of the town was there to see all of this excitement and hard dedicated work for homecoming.

The parade is one of the biggest parts of the homecoming day.  The veterans start walking down with our national flag, their heads held high showing pride for our country.  As everyone still had their eyes on the veterans holding the flags, all of a sudden, you could hear the cheerleaders, lead by Mrs. Blaisdell. This is the first year that MHS has had cheerleaders in many years.  Their black and yellow uniforms and matching pom-poms were something new to see in the town of Meeker.  The band, under the direction of Mr. Eggebraten, marched down the road playing their usual fight song in a perfect rhythm.

Making floats is an MHS tradition, as it is for other schools.  There was a float for each class grade: freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.  They were each decorated to follow the homecoming theme of “All of the Lights.”  Everyone on the sidewalks was leaning to the sides trying to look at the different floats.  Most of us jumped for excitement to see the football players on top of the fire truck. That is an important MHS tradition.  The middle school did their own float to represent their student council members.  As did the school district lunch ladies. The future actors and actresses of Meeker reached to their best voices to sing the Cinderella theme song on the elementary school float.  Everyone clapped her hands for the little preschoolers as they passed by on their float.  The cheerleaders ran back to the end of the parade to finish it off with a bang.

As usual, everyone gathered around by at the court house lawn for the pep rally.  The president of the high school, Dakota Giao,  announced all of the teams in our school.  The coaches came up and talked about their teams and as a homecoming tradition, the football team starts off as they yell “Who’s house?!” The crowd responds “Cowboys house.”  This is usually a competition between the schools or the grades to see who is the loudest.  This year, the band played the song “All of the Lights” because it went with the theme we had.  After their song was played, the cheerleaders showed off their cheers once again.  When they finished, the crowd screamed and yelled in excitement for the games later that night and the next morning.

At 7p.m., the football players went against the Lake County Panthers at Meeker’s Starbuck Stadium.  Nearly the whole town was on the bleachers to support our Meeker High School Cowboys.  Maclaine Shults started the football game by singing the national anthem after the boys warmed up.  If you looked across to the other bleachers for the opposing team, the bleachers were nearly empty.  At half time, the cheerleaders did their dance to a mix of songs.  Their hard work had finally paid off.  After they presented, the marching band got out on the middle of the field and played their song as they marched into the letters “MHS.”  Many in the crowd were awed at the display.

The homecoming royalty was presented.  The freshmen royalty were Jamie Mclaughlin and Raul Lopez, and Lily Munn and Tristin Pelloni.  Sophomores were Piper Haney and JC Henderson, and Liz Fellows and Willis Begay.  The juniors were Christy Marquette and Lathrop Hughes, and Amanda Kendall and JR Crawford.  Then the seniors were Krissie Harman and Reno Roybal, and Randia Rule and Justin Hardy.  The winners were announced as Piper Haney and JC Henderson as this year’s homecoming royalty.  After this, the game went on. The boys lost 6-24.  On the positive side, they got a lot of support from their family and friends, and from the town.  Everyone was still cheering for their hard work.

The next morning, the volleyball games took place at the MHS at 10 a.m.  The varsity played in the front gym against Rangely and Vail Christian.  The JV and C team played in the auxiliary gym against Rangely.  The gyms again were getting full from the people who came and supported the volleyball girls to play.  The varsity won their game against Rangely’s varsity girls, while the JV lost against their opposing team.  The C team girls played Rangely’s JV girls while the varsity games finished and the game between Rangely and Vail Christian was played.  The C team players had a good match between the Rangley Panthers and beat them.  After this game was over, everyone went into the front gym to watch Rangely’s and Vail Christians last few matches to be followed by our varsity players to go against Vail Christian.  The players had everyone at the end of their seats as they had bumped, set and spiked the volleyball around to the other court.  Both teams’ crowds were screaming on top of their lungs to every play of the game.  The Cowboys got pepped up and cheered right along with the cheerleaders.  This excitement suddenly went down when the girls lost their last match against Vail Christian.  Some girls were a little sad and angry, but that soon went away when the crowd still showed their support and told them it was OK and that we were still proud of their hard work.

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By Mariah Jensen

Who would have thought that a single paint brush, a smile, and some creative thinking would be the lasso that ties everyone together…

Homecoming 2011 was just here and so was “All of the Lights!”  Some high school students were outside painting the windows and decorating the float, while others were inside jamming’ to the fast, fun upbeat music and covering each and every wall with glitter and colorful paper.  Smiles, colors and every human being lit the place up.  Everyone had a particular glow to them.  A Unique glow, flushing off the outline of bodies letting their fond personalities come to life.  Giggles and Hi fives were poured out into the gym, and success was accomplished as we all finished our decorations and clean up in time.

Later that night, the heat was definitely on.  The stands were rumbling before the games began, bells ringing and voices shouting!  The cheer leaders gave it all they had, as they lead the roaring crowd in a cheer “WHOS HOUSE?” and all of the fans would echo “COWBOYS HOUSE!”  “WHOS HOUSE?”  “COWBOYS HOUSE!”  And then…  The clock struck 7:00.  It was game time.  Fear and excitement strangled the crowd, the bleachers were packed!  It was shoulder to shoulder with everyone and everything…  the tension was thunderous, we were stuck in the past, but our minds were set for the future.  We were ready for the final score.  It was a win lose situation, and we unfortunately got the short end of the stick.  Our Meeker Cowboys lost to the Lake County Panthers.  It was a shame, but we fought through pain.  Your cowboys still held their head high….

We’ll get them next year!!!!

Looking back at all the decorations, smiles, team work and hope I realized something.  I realized that if we didn’t have each other, we would have never experienced this amazing time at Meeker High School.

You want the truth?  All of the lights was by far the best homecoming yet!

Rough Draft

“This is a true account of one of our very own Meeker High School students.  He was interviewed in detail about how his dance experience was and what he remembered most about the 2011 Homecoming “All of the Lights.”  The Homecoming Dance was an exciting and a new landmark in this student’s life.  ”

Homecoming was never really much more than an occurrence to the scrawny Meeker High School Sophomore.  “A boring dance not worth my time,” he used to say.  He felt like he never really ever had to worry too much about the mystery life forms called females.

This year was different; there was a modification in the lineup he would have never visualized.  This year he was thrown a curve ball.

Monday 1^st day of Homecoming

Rage flowed though his body like it was stirred in with his blood.  Thrown to the ground for no reason and mocked with girly voices.  The smell of sweat running down his face and his chest moving faster and faster as the air became harder to catch was like the feeling a cop gets when he is chasing down a criminal after he robbed a bank.  This was physical education.

It seemed to him that every one against him in this class, except one person.  A medium height girl with curly hair that was assorted with light brown and dim blond.  She had an immense smile that was brightened by the consideration that she shared with everyone.  She was a senior, and was like a wall; letting insults bounce off of her and fall to the solid ground.

After being wacked in the face for his temperate tag, he made his way over to the jail for the game of capture the flag.  What happened next would change how he saw homecoming forever.  She was standing next to him as she began to talk.  She forced out the words: “Do you wanna go together?”  Shock filled his body along with questions. He was absolutely stumped and utterly stunned.  Why him?  Is it an “I feel bad thing for him” thing or was it because she actually likes him?  After what seemed like an hour of thinking why, his forced out the declaration, “okay.”  He said it with such a tone that he could hardly believe that was his voice.

Saturday The day of the dance

3 A.M.

Sleep wasn’t coming soon.  All he could think about how he could do wrong and what he could do right.  He was tossing and revolving on his friends couch, staying there he believed would help him sleep.  He was doomed to stay up all night long.

5 P.M. Dinner

Her car was turning in next to the two trucks his parents owned.  He was busy stuffing all the cleaning stuff back and stopping his brother from throwing out more toys.  His step mom was beginning her vacuuming right next to door as the bell rang.  He was telling her to stop just stop.  As he ran up the stairs to grab the flowers he had bought for the dinner.

After answering the door he shoved the flowers in to her face.  He realized what he was doing and pulling them back and handed them back with more class.

9 P.M. Judgment Hours

She walked up the stairs smiling with the same smile she had that day in P.E. Anxiety made it hard for him to handle the corsage.  They smiled for the pictures and said thank you to the: “You Look Goods”.  He had trouble not laughing watching her try to get down the stairs in her high heels that made the girl who wasn’t much taller than him look like LeBron James beaming down on him.

Once at the dance, they headed over to the picture booth and took more time smiling.  After the pictures she started going crazy with her dancing.  He had no idea how to keep up with her.  “Lighters” by Eminem was the first slow song.  As their friend began to dance, he just looked at her.  She looked at him and laughed and said the words “this is where you ask me to dance now.”  He laughed and did so.

They took hands as she had instructed him too.  Her hands were soft and moist.  He laid his hand along her back.  It was a coarse texture layered over the top of a soft material.  She was chatting to him like this was easy to her and wondered his head around, turning to see who was watching his every move then down to his feet where he was afraid he may step on her bare toes.  After answering the questions she had, he felt more relaxed, more focused on the dance.

He turned on the curve ball, and sent it out of the ballpark.