The Black and Gold Volume 5 Issue 36 May 22nd, 2026

Newspaper Staff

Editor-in-Chief

Laci Burnett

Assistant Editor-in-Chief

Bella Beems

Reporters

Katlyn Boydston

Photographers

Lauraly Lane

Josephine Long

Designers

Ashlynn Bowen

Gunner Delp

Main Event

The annual tradition continues and DeKalb students go to Main Event Go look at how much fun they had! - p. 2

Graduation

A final goodbye and good luck to the class of 2026! Find out what happened at this year’s graduation and what’s next! - p. 8

FBLA Zoo

Animals, pictures, and more are only a few words to describe what FBLA was up to this Wednesday! - p. 10

THE BLACK AND GOLD

Two DeKalb Tigers Top Sectionals

By: Gunner Delp

Track Sectionals were held on Saturday, May 16th, and went outstandingly well, with two of our DeKalb Tigers qualifying to advance to state!

We have two outstanding performances! Freshman Easton Matthews is advancing for placing 3rd in the 200 with a new personal record of 23.18, and for placing 4th in the 400 with a new personal record of 51 44 Furthermore, Sophomore Brinkley Frakes is advancing for placing 2nd in Pole Vault!

Freshman Easton Matthews feels as though, “It will be a little different going to state, especially since it will be the biggest track meet that I have ever been to, but I’m really excited to go, especially with my coaches beside me”

When asked about how she feels about state, Sophomore Brinkley Frakes states that, “I feel fairly confident in myself and my ability.” I can strongly say that I agree with this statement, seeing as she has put up a great performance and effort throughout the entire season.

Freshman Easton Matthews runs prelims today at 2 PM, while Sophomore Brinkley Frakes performs pole vaults at 9 AM on Saturday. Both will be held in Jefferson City. Show your support in any way possible for our two amazing DeKalb track members.

DeKalb Students Have Lively Days at Main Event

By: Laci Burnett

On Tuesday, May 19th, the Middle School students attended their end-of-year incentive trip. During MAP testing, if a student is seen putting in effort and doing their best, they are allowed to attend the end-of-year field trip to Main Event in Kansas City. This helps discourage distractions, misbehavior, or laziness during the testing, and has been a great incentive in past years.

During the trip to Main Event, students were able to play pool, bowling, arcade games, and climb the Gravity Ropes before going down the zip-line Carter Kendall’s favorite part of Main Event was “the race car games and food.” All this combined, the kids had a very entertaining day. Middle Schooler Tucker Lane said, “My time was good. I was able to have a good day with everything, and the free food.”

During the following Thursday, on May 21st, high schoolers also attended their end-of-year trip to Main Event, which helped encourage them to try their hardest on their end-of-course (EOC) testing. This was another very successful year at the high school, and students were able to enjoy the same activities as the middle schoolers.

One of the new additions to Main Event this year was their Human Crane, in which students would be strapped in before being lowered, like a giant claw machine, into a pile of balloons to pick one One of the students who participated in this activity was Layla Griffon, who says, “It was fun when they hoisted you in the air.”

The trip to Main Event was a lively one, with there being many schools there along with our own, but it was satisfactory nonetheless. Student Joslynne Bailey says, “I liked bowling with a bunch of my friends and Mr. Newsted.”

This trip is widely enjoyed by students, Middle and High School alike, and hopefully the school will be able to continue providing this riveting experience in the coming years!

See pictures from the students’ fun field trip on Page 3.

Don’t Miss This May

June May

By: Bella Beems

Rescheduled Field Day @ Rushville Elementary

Rescheduled Spring Banqet @ 2pm Last day of school 9 Summer weights begins!

DIVAofthe DIVA of the WEEK WEEK

Mrs. T Mrs. T

Reason- She's a Reason- She's a great chaperone great chaperone

Shaylee Phillips Shaylee Phillips

Reason- She’s a Reason- She’s a divalicous queen divalicous queen

What to Play

By: Gunner Delp

Legos and Lego videogames alike are very popular among many, including toddlers, teenagers, and even adults. Lego products have been a staple for many and have helped many to calm down and relax. I myself find LEGO to be stupendously enjoyable and relaxing

As of today, the latest addition to the LEGO video game series has been released after a highly anticipated wait: LEGO Batman: The Legacy of the Dark Knight follows the origin story of Mr. Bruce Wayne and his reasoning for becoming Batman. (Available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Stream and the Epic Games store).

In this latest addition to the Lego Batman series, following Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (2014), there are a total of 9 playable characters, of which 2 are only accessible through the Mayhem Collection DLC or by purchasing the digital deluxe edition. The 7 core characters include Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Catwoman, Commissioner James Gordon, and Talia al Ghul. The exclusive two characters are the Joker and Harley Quinn. Each character comes with their own set of unique costumes and cars with customizable options

The game's standard edition retails at $69.99, while the digital deluxe edition (which I highly suggest purchasing) retails at $89.99. I myself obtained the digital deluxe edition due to the fact that it grants the owner early access as of Tuesday, May 19th. I highly recommend purchasing this game if you are an avid fan and supporter of all things Lego, especially because this game is not like any other Lego game we have ever seen before However, I will leave that up to you, dear reader, to find out why that is

2026-2027 Cheer Squad Announced

By: Bella Beems

This past week, our DeKalb Tigers’ Cheer team had official tryouts for the upcoming 2026-2027 school year. During this time, people trying out came to the High School on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning before school and began to learn new choreography for next year’s cheers. Then on Thursday, after school, they performed them in front of the judges.

After all this, the new 2026-2027 Cheerleaders are Juniors Josie Long, Kyleigh Black, Ashlynn Bowen, and Kelsey Chatman; Sophomores Brinkley Frakes, Shaylee Phillips, Lilly Wagner, Syra Servaes, and Gretchyn Bowers; and Freshman Ashtyn Novak. “I hope all the girls get along and we have a great cheer season!” says Coach Phillips.

Class of 2026 Graduates

By: Bella Beems

On Sunday, May 17, DeKalb had our class of 2026 graduation. This graduation had all 18 students graduating and moving on with life after high school

Graduations are, of course, sad, and lots of tears are shed because this is the end of a very important chapter in people’s lives. Whether you enjoyed school or not, it still helps shape you into the person you will be later on in life.

Even though it is sad, there are, of course, funny and happy times too One thing that struck me was Presli Punzo’s valedictorian speech. If you paid attention and know pop culture, you would notice Presli quoted a scene from Twilight: Eclipse, where the character Jessica Stanley gives her class graduation speech many times. It was a funny moment for those who caught on and noticed.

A very wholesome moment came when guest speaker Aaron Medsker gave his speech. A lot of the senior class participated in FFA with Medsker, so hearing from him was heartwarming.

“It feels bittersweet being graduated, knowing that all my friends are going to do well and have fun without me, but I’m glad that I’m done!” says Michaela Copeland.

I’ve stated previously that high school is an important part of life, but a very small part at the same time. Just because high school is over doesn’t mean life is, too. This class is going on to many different colleges for many different things. Many got scholarships for colleges like Northwest and Missouri Western for arts and sports like band and dance teams.

“It feels good to be moving onto something new I was ready for a change I definitely think it will be different not seeing everyone I grew up with, but I’m ready to see where this next chapter in life takes me,” says graduate Kenzie Pflugradt.

FBLA’s Zoo Adventure: Roaring Success

By:JosieLong

On Wednesday, May 20, DeKalb’s FBLA students had the opportunity to travel up to the Omaha Zoo.

Each year, FBLA advisors and officers plan a trip that not only offers fun but also provides insight into different career opportunities. Last year, the FBLA group had the chance to explore some of UMKC’s facilities, so this year’s trip is quite different in what there is to learn.

“I thought the zoo was a good choice as it offers cool and different job opportunities. I learned there are 375 jobs at the zoo, but only 25 jobs deal with animals,” says 2026 graduate, Klhoe Pflugradt. She adds, “My favorite animal I saw at the zoo was the rhino because he was playing with his toys in the mud!”

Even with an early start and late end time, the weather worked out perfectly for this year’s trip and made for a perfect way to end the school year!

What to Listen To

By: Katlyn Boydston

Baseball Ends Season By:

Lauraly Lane

On July 31, 2026, Ariana Grande officially released a new album called Petal This album is her eighth studio album. The album features 12 tracks on streaming platforms like Apple Music, consisting of 12 main songs and an introductory/visual teaser track titled “petal in the pavement”. The lead single, Hate That I Made You Love Me, is scheduled to drop on May 29, 2026

Ariana Grande’s new album, Petal, talks about resilience, shedding negative attachments, and personal empowerment She described the project as being full of life and about growing through the cracks of something cold and hard and challenging

The songs on this album are Petal Cloudy Gray Girl, Petal Translucent Pearly White, Petal Cassette, Petal Digital, Hate That I Made You Love Me, and others.

On Wednesday, May 20th, the Baseball team went to Braymer for Districts. The Tigers won their first round against Braymer, scoring 5 to 4

“It was very exciting I was happy for the team I felt like we fought really hard, and it was a whole team effort.” Says Aiden Bramble about getting the game-winning run.

On Thursday, May 21st, the Baseball team went up to Braymer again to compete for the District championship. Although they fought hard to get to this spot in districts, they unfortunately lost against Meadville.

Coach Matthews states, “Everybody played really well and had good hits, defense was good on fielding. We tried a lot, but it slipped away from us. But I’m super proud of the boys and all they did this season.”

Start getting prepared for the 2026-2027 baseball season if you want to go watch these boys have an amazing season next year.

Middle School Caree

By: Katlyn

Last week, on Wednesday and Thursday, Mrs. Rangel's 8th-grade Careers class, 7th hour, was building bridge projects. For this project, students had to build a bridge out of plastic straws, paper, popsicle sticks, and tape

The purpose of the Building Bridge Projects was to help the students learn more about the STEM career clusters, science, and technology, and share them. Two groups stood out, and one of them was the paper bridge, which was Jackson Wachtel and Wyatt Davis. The second group that stood out was the one that won, and it was Hunter Hughes and Griffin Davis. Theirs was straw and tape, and they won because they used a ton of tape

“I made the bridge project out of straws on Wednesday. I’m like okay, throw it together, watch a video, and on Thursday, the day we were about to test them, I found the tape, looked at it, looked at Griffin and said, ‘I’m going to do something,’ and I just wrapped it with five layers of tape,” said Hunter.

Mrs Rangel said, “I think the students had a lot of fun with it I’m really happy that the students put work into it and really got into it ”

What to Read

By: Ashlynn Bowen

If you’re looking for a cute fall book to read, then I recommend Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson. This book was published on September 2nd, 2025, and has since become one of her most popular. Her book debuted at number six on the USA Today bestseller list

This book starts with Ellis Mitchell, an aspiring journalist, being forced to move from her home in New York City to her aunt's small town, Bramble Falls. She makes this move with her mom because of a temporary separation, and she is immediately hit with some challenges: her room is in a tiny attic, she has no friends in this town, and the one friend she used to have now hates her

I really like how this book embraces the cliche enemies-tolovers trope, but also how well Wilson actually executed it. Wilson has many other popular books, including Play Like a Girl and Falling Like Snow, which is also the second book in this series I would give this book a 4/5 so far because I'm really enjoying it, I just haven’t finished reading it yet.

What to Watch

By: Lauraly Lane

If you’re looking for a musical about historical figures, then I recommend Hamilton: An American Musical. This musical is written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is known for many other musicals and other projects

This musical follows the ten-dollar founding father without a father, Alexander Hamilton, mainly following Hamilton's life in the colonies, showing how he first met his wife, Eliza Schuyler, and his rivalry with Aaron Burr.

Hamilton has 46 songs, which is how many years Alexander Hamilton lived This is one of my favorite musicals and is a global phenomenon. Hamilton is on Disney +.

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