Michaela Copeland
Assistant Editor-in-Chief
Bella Beems
News Editor
Laci Burnett
Reporters
Katlyn Boydston
Grayson Moore
Photographers
Lauraly Lane
Josephine Long
Designers
Ashlynn Bowen
Gunner Delp
Guest Writer
Miley Phillips
See what Josie Long recommends watching to get in the warm weather mood!- p. 3
Learn about what exactly FBLA Week is and all the trivia that follows! - p. 10
As winter sports come to an end, a feast and speeches are prepared! Find out more! - p. 11
By: Michaela Copeland
On Friday, March 20th, a few of the High School Band students attended the MSHAA District Music Festival to participate in a contest, including Seniors Michaela Copeland and Miley Phillips; Juniors Cole Kovac and Josie Long; Sophomores Laci Burnett and Gunner Delp; and Freshman Laisey Wilming. Each student prepared a solo to perform in front of their peers and a judge, who rated it for the opportunity to go to State
Similar to a full-band contest, the students receive ratings ranging from 5 (worst) to 1 (best). When given the rating after performing the solo, the judge gives comments on things to improve, as well as things that the student did really well
Miley Phillips received a one rating and will be moving on to the state level to play her solo again in Columbia, Missouri. Miley Phillips says, “I was really excited to see I got a one rating after all the hard work I put into my solo.”
Mrs. King says, “The only thing I can think to improve, rather than individual work, is looking for other opportunities to play in front of people so students can get used to playing in a stressful situation, it’s very different than playing here or in front of a judge.”
As a band member who has taken a solo for the past two years, I highly encourage any students considering it to take one at least once because it is a good opportunity to receive feedback from someone outside of your school with experience and a different point of view. Mrs. King agrees, saying, “Preparing a solo makes you a better performer and musician. It doesn’t matter what rating you get or even how you perform that solo at that time or that event, but the preparation process makes you grow as a performer and a player.”
Mrs King adds that “14 out of 25 band members took a solo to contest, both middle and high school I’m very proud that over half of the group put forth the effort and put themselves out there to play at contest. Congratulations to Miley, who qualified for State!”
By: Bella Beems
This week, the High School Scholar Bowl team played their last scheduled meet against Union Star at home. The team lost with a score of 90-150.
“We were missing our two top-scoring players, but we got to give a couple others a chance to be captain,” says Coach Miller The top scorers from this meet were Seniors Miley Phillips and Presli Punzo
Overall, the team ended the regular season with a record of 8-7. After difficult tie-break calculations, the team qualified for the Top 8 Conference Tournament on Wednesday, April 1st, at Craig.
By: Ashlynn Bowen
If you are looking for a new book to obsess over, then I recommend The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
This book is a prequel to the original Hunger Games trilogy, and it is 64 years before the first book. It focuses on a young Coriolanus Snow who is mentoring Lucy Gray through the games The games are a yearly competition between 24 kids who are all picked from 12 different districts, and they are competing to kill each other until only one survives.
This book was published in 2020, and it is my favorite book so far from the series because of the context it gives for why and how the Hunger Games kept going They also released a movie adaptation in 2023, which was just as good as the book!
They released another book in the series called Sunrise on the Reaping in 2025, and this is a backstory on the character Hamitch’s games and how he survived them The movie adaptation is coming out on November 20th this year
By: Josie Long
As the school year is slowly ending and summer is approaching just as slowly, a movie I’d recommend for comedy and summer vibe is Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.
While it starts off with Greg and his dad’s clashing plans of what he should do during the summer, Greg stays inside playing video games all day, subsequently getting T.V banned for the rest of the summer
Still trying to make this his best summer yet before eighth grade, he goes on some trips with his father to “bond” but ultimately ends up avoiding his family altogether to go with his best friend, Rowley, at the country club Here he would lie with his family all to try to get with his crush, Holly.
While it is the third movie in this series, the story is still humorous without watching the other ones If you are looking for a movie that not only checks the comedy and summer boxes but also some nostalgia, I'd recommend this movie to you.
1 30
31
By: Miley Phillips
High School Baseball game against Northeast Nodaway
Parent-Teacher Conferences from 12 p.m. - 8 p.m.
FFA Districts at Northwest Missouri Sate University
High School Track at North Platte
FFA Districts at NWMSU
Scholar Bowl Top 8 at Craig
High School Track at King city
2
High School Track at OSHS
Middle School Track at King City
Reason: He passed his math test with flying colors
Reason: She is a pro at nitro ball in gym
By: Mrs. Miller
I’ve recently started playing Tiny Bookshop on my Switch, and I love it. It is a cozy gamer’s dream - if said cozy gamer is also a reader, that is.
You play a mobile bookstore owner, and each day you get to restock your shelves and drive your tiny bookstore to various locations around town, which you can unlock, and sell books.
Sometimes the customers ask for advice, and you can earn extra sales by finding the perfect book for them. Fun note - all of the books on your shelves are real books, too!
There are also challenges, like helping a local musician earn money for his music-making, helping a local girl collect items for her latest hobby, and more
Tiny Bookshop is available on Switch, Steam, Linux, Windows, and Mac. On the Switch, it costs $19.99 and is well worth it for the relaxing vibes.
By: Katlyn Boydston
On February 27, 2026, Bruno Mars released his new album, The Romantic. The album features 9 songs It is his fourth studio album and first solo project in a decade, delivering a concise, nine-song set of “finely crafted love songs,” according to Spotify.
Bruno Mars' new album, The Romantic, focuses on the various stages of a committed relationship, from intense devotion and flirting to handling conflict and heartbreak
The songs on this album are Risk It All, I Just Might, Cha Cha Cha, God Was Showing Off, Why You Wanna Fight, On My Soul, Something Serious, Dance With Me, and Nothing Left
My favorite song of his is Nothing Left. What I really enjoy about his music is how nice his songs are and just the general vibe of his music.
By: Grayson Moore
The DeKalb Middle School Track team started practicing a few weeks ago for their first meet on April 2nd.
7th grader Emmie Kirshner is running the 400meter and the 4x3 relay In order to prepare herself for the next meet and the season overall, she says, “I’ve been running a lot and pacing myself.”
8th grader Jackson Wachtel is doing the high jump, long jump, and the 100-meter dash “I’ve been doing a little bit of jumping exercises, but I’ve mostly just been running a lot.”
The first meet is on Thursday, April 2nd, at King City Start time is 3:30
By: Gunner Delp
The DeKalb High School Track team had its first meet this Tuesday. This track meet was not competitive, so there are no rankings yet.
Sophomore Brinkley Frakes is our first-ever female pole vaulter She has been doing very well, coming in 2 place at the meet, and states that, “I feel pretty good about the season so far. We had a great start on Tuesday.” Brinkley Frakes also participates in triple jumps and the 100-meter dash nd
Track is a sport that takes plenty of practice, physical endurance, and dedication. One thing that the coaches have been working on at practices is “Running, running, and running, as well as form work and practice on our field events,” says Coach Rumpf Coach Roberts also says that, “The biggest thing that we preach is that we can not make you better, only you yourself can do that.”
The next meet for the Track team will be on Tuesday, March 31st, at North Platte Show up to support your DeKalb Tigers
On Tuesday, March 24th, the High School Boys played a game at Bosworth against Tina Avalon, which ended in an 8 -4 win.
Senior Cooper Wachtel thinks the team did well on Tuesday, saying, “I think we did good the first two games of the season, so now we just have to face the mental mistakes.”
Coach Matthews agrees that the week has gone well so far, adding, “All in all, pretty good to start the year Pitching has been pretty good to start out, but hitting, we just need to get a little bit more aggressive ” He also goes on to say that during practices, the team needs to be working on “Defense and being ready before the pitch,” as well as “making sure we know where we’re going with the ball before it's hit. Offensewise, making sure we're looking for quality pitches to attack at the plate ”
The team played again on Thursday, March 26th, but ultimately they lost, with the score ending as 13-3.
If you would like to come out and support the baseball team, they have another game on Monday, March 30th, at Dekalb The start time is 5:00 p m , so make sure to come watch
By: Laci Burnett
As a way to celebrate all the good that FBLA, Future Business Leaders of America, does for the world and businesses, our school celebrates FBLA week from March 24th to March 27th. To celebrate this week, FBLA leaders plan trivia questions and reach out to local businesses for prizes, and the FBLA chapter advisors reach out to obtain treats for FBLA members. Students answer the daily questions and, if correct, are placed into a raffle for a chance to win one of the prizes Below are our daily winners and their prizes!
Lillian Wagner
Q- What global coffee chain was founded in Seattle in 1971? A- Starbucks
Q- Which company owns the video game console Xbox? A- Microsoft
By: Laci Burnett
On Wednesday, March 25th, DeKalb High School hosted the annual Winter Sports Banquet to appreciate the Cheerleaders and both the Girls’ and Boys’ Basketball teams
The Lady Tiger Basketball Team had a wonderful year, with a record of 13-13, which was, according to Coach Rumpf, “the first time we’ve got [a record of] .500 since I’ve been here.” While the girls' season ended sooner than they would have preferred while facing off against the district champions, Coach Rumpf was glad that at the banquet he was able to “recognise everyone for their rewards in the season, and really just everyone in general ” This was a great season for the girls, and we can’t wait to see what they are capable of in the following years.
Our boys on the Boys’ Tiger Basketball Team had a hard season, with numerous learning experiences. Coach Matthews adds, “It was a season of growth and experience for a bunch of young players.” Sadly, our boys didn’t make it as far as they wanted in districts, but they gave everything they had out on and off the court to better themselves and help the team, showing their everlasting dedication to the sport Coach Matthews looks forward to “seeing the boys continue to build the basketball program and continue to see their games grow,” and it will be captivating to see how far they can go in the following years with the experiences this season. It was amazing to honor all the work these boys put in throughout their season at the banquet and hear firsthand from Coach Matthews the effort they put into the game.
At the banquet, DeKalb also honored all the hard work that our Cheer team put in. From practices over the summer, before and after school, the many performances they produce, their work with mini cheer, and being at every Football and Basketball game, they get likely get less recognition they deserve Staying for all the late-night games and tournaments takes a toll on them, especially with half the team being in other sports at the same time. Coach Phillips says, “It was a long season, but I feel the girls always gave 100% at every game.” Thankfully, Coach Phillips had the opportunity to recognize all of the members, as well as a few on the team who went above and beyond. One of those people, Miley Phillips, won the award of Team Leader and was happy to be recognized because “cheer is something [she] loves,’ and she is glad “to know that the peers I helped keep good relationships and attitudes with think of me as a leader” After an extremely long and tiring season, the girls are finally done and have received the recognition they deserve.
The Winter Banquet is a great time to recognize the athletes and all their work, and all who attended are much appreciated.
byMrs.Powell
