Latest news with #JoplinHighSchool
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Joplin High School celebrates student achievements at graduation
JOPLIN, Mo. — A packed parking lot at Joplin High School for a special ceremony. Cheers filled the room as hundreds of graduates and their loved ones gathered for the 139th Joplin High School commencement ceremony in the Kaminsky Gym. Graduates listened to congratulations and moving forward speeches from their peers, faculty and staff. The choir sang songs representing the Eagles and being happy in the moment, followed by recognition of students with honors, and achievements. Loved ones cheered on each of the graduates as they accepted their diplomas, some dancing across the stage as they move on to their next journeys. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Joplin High students earn top honors in Missouri Constitution contest
JOPLIN, Mo. — A group of Joplin High School students bring home top honors in a state Constitution contest. These students won first place in the Missouri Show Me the Constitution competition is sponsored by the Missouri Bar Association and asks students to take on the role of testifying about constitutional questions in front of a panel of three judges. Dental board seeks to revoke Joplin dentist's license Allo Fiber sets up shop in downtown Joplin Apple of Today's Eye: Ms. Secrist Flooding debris cleared from Shoal Creek bridge crossing Joplin man pleads guilty to child sex crime, requests lighter sentence The three topics teams focused on centered around supreme court cases, founding principles of our government and ideas surrounding the judiciary. The goal is to inspire students to be better citizens no matter what career they pursue. 'I'm going into engineering, so at first, like, I didn't really think that law and judiciary really mattered to me, but he did, like, spark in us a desire to know more, and to be more active, like, voters and participants in the law, and this is an excellent way to be a more active participant in the law,' said Josiah Hazlewood, JHS senior. 'Not everybody is going to be an author, not everybody is going to design buildings, not everybody is going to be able to produce movies, but everyone has to be a citizen, and that's why this is really, really important,' said William G. Keczkemethy, JHS Constitution Team Coach. 'Every person should learn about the constitution, and unfortunately studies have shown that the public's knowledge about the constitution, and about the branches of the government has declined, so I'm excited to see that these kids are excelling,' said Shelly Dreyer, Mo. Bar President. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Students present findings at regional science fair
Students presented findings on everything from psychology to agriculture at the annual science fair Tuesday at Missouri Southern State University. This is the 36th year for the Missouri Southern Regional Science Fair, which includes student projects in junior and senior divisions. In all, 115 students presented 84 projects. Two winners in the senior division will be nominated to go to the International Science and Engineering Fair in Columbus, Ohio, in May, where over 1,800 students will participate. Rabindra Bajracharya, associate professor of physics at MSSU and director of the science fair, said students who have participated in the national science fair have gone on to science careers and some even won Nobel Prizes. While Bajracharya isn't a judge, he had a chance to look over the presentations and said he was impressed. This is a chance for students to get feedback on their research as well as advice on their careers. 'They have their own science fairs in their schools, but here they get a chance to meet with students from other schools and also get to meet with experts in their fields, such as faculty members of MSSU,' Bajracharya said. 'It's really exciting for them.' Maya Craven, a junior at Joplin High School, gave a presentation in the senior division about sheep wool pellets and their effect on water retention. She used 72 plant pots in three randomized groups, each group with different amounts of potting soil and sheep wool pellets. The trial was 14 days long. By testing the soil moisture percentage, Craven found a correlation between sheep wool pellets in soil and increased water conservation. 'I definitely want to go into environmental science after I graduate and go to college,' Craven said. 'I believe this project helps me understand water consumption and soil in ways that can benefit me learning further into environmental science.' Craven said she's presented several research projects before at the science fair. She even took first place in seventh grade with her presentation on which face masks were more restrictive for airflow while the pandemic was ongoing. By studying things such as COVID-19 or water conservation, Craven said she likes to focus on current problems and how science can find solutions. 'I like my project this year because water conservation is definitely a critical concept to consider because concern over it grows and grows every day,' Craven said. 'I wanted to tune in to the problem and hopefully give a proposed way to help.' Not only does the project help her, Craven hopes it provides knowledge to people in agriculture. There's an economic benefit in using these sheep wool pellets that really didn't have a function before. With the water retention she's shown, it can help decrease global water consumption, Craven said. Devin Gurley, an eighth grader at South Middle School, presented a project where he measured the effect of heart rate on lung capacity. Gurley said he wanted to see if they had any correlation and, if so, what that correlation was. He used four students from South Middle School and two homeschooled students for his physical exertion tests. Gurley's hypothesis was that there would be a steady decrease in lung capacity as the subjects' heart rate increased. 'But what I found was there was a sort of rocky decrease,' Gurley said. 'A few of my subjects actually increased in lung capacity as their heart rate increased. But toward the end, their lung capacity was always lower than when they began.' Gurley said overall, the project made him more interested in science, especially biology. 'I'm very excited to take more classes related to science because of the science fair,' Gurley said. 'It has sparked more interest in science. I like that we have this and it's so organized. It's been a nice experience to know everybody else's projects and what to aim for. It's cool to be part of a whole of everybody doing science fair projects and competing against each other. The spirit of competition is definitely there.' This spark is one of the science fair's goals, Bajracharya said. It's a good way to encourage students to pursue a degree in science, technology, engineering and math fields, and helps them explore careers. 'I hope that by participating in the science fair, they get lots of skills and not just content knowledge,' Bajracharya said. 'I hope they develop communication skills, presentation skills and critical thinking skills.'
The Independent
23-03-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
It was one of history's deadliest tornados. Now Netflix have made a documentary about it
The Joplin tornado killed around 160 people in 2011. The twister struck Missouri with cataclysmic force nearly 14 years ago, ripping into a hospital and destroying neighbourhoods in its wake. The horror of the Joplin tornado is the subject of a new documentary film. 'You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing,' Kerry Sachetta, then the Joplin High School principal, told The Associated Press on the evening of May 22, 2011, after the school was destroyed. 'That's really what it looked like," Sachetta said. As he spoke on that dreadful night, fires from gas leaks burned across town. The EF-5 twister, then the single deadliest in six decades, packed winds of 200 mph (320 kph). At times, it was nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide. Left in its wake was a hellscape of cars crushed like soda cans and shaken residents roaming streets in search of missing family members. About 7,500 homes were damaged or destroyed. 'The Twister: Caught in the Storm' was released last week by Netflix following a recent spate of deadly storms that have unleashed tornadoes, blinding dust storms and wildfires. Hospital became a disaster zone Some of the most startling damage in Joplin was at St. John's Regional Medical Center, where staff had only moments to hustle patients into the hallway before the 367-bed hospital was knocked off its foundation. Flying debris blew out windows and disabled the hospitals' exposed generators, causing ventilators to stop working. The winds also scattered X-rays and medical records around 75 miles (121 kilometers) away. Five patients and one visitor died in the immediate aftermath. And other patients later died of injuries they suffered in the storm. On the morning after the storm, Dr. Jim Riscoe told the AP that some members of his emergency room staff showed up after the tornado with injuries of their own but worked through the night anyway. 'It's a testimony to the human spirit,' Riscoe said, comparing the scene to a nuclear disaster. 'Cars had been thrown like playing cards. Power lines were sparking. I couldn't believe it.' The building was so badly damaged it had to be razed the following year. The deaths from the storm were so numerous that a makeshift morgue was set up next to a football stadium in Joplin. Hundreds of others were injured in the city of 53,000. Among the dead was 18-year-old Will Norton who was headed home from his high school graduation when he was sucked out of his family's SUV through the sunroof. His father desperately held on to his legs. Norton's body was found five days later in a nearby pond. In the following years, his family kept his room as it was: an open pack of chewing gum, his trademark mismatched socks, his computer and the green screen that helped earn him a YouTube following for his travel chronicles. 'It's a little comfort to go in there, go back in time and remember how it was,' his father, Mark Norton, said close to the five-year anniversary. Around a dozen died in a single nursing home after the tornado tossed four vehicles, including a full-size van, into the building. Those who survived were scattered to nursing homes in four states, their records and medications blown away. Widespread phone outages then complicated efforts to locate the residents, some of whom had dementia. Officials still disgree about the final death toll. The federal storm center says 158 died while local officials count the deaths of three additional people, including a person struck by lightning after the tornado blew through the city. The tornado forced school officials to end the spring term nine days early. Six school buildings were destroyed, including the high school. Seven other buildings were badly damaged. The district scrambled to rebuild with federal funds, donations, insurance money and a $62 million bond, cobbling together a hodgepodge of temporary locations while construction was underway. Seniors and juniors took classes in a converted big-box store in a shopping mall, while freshmen and sophomores went to school in a building across town. Then-President Barack Obama was the commencement speaker during the high school's 2012 commencement and then-Vice President Joe Biden attended the 2014 dedication of the new high school, calling the community the 'heart and soul of America.' The dedication included two live eagles, the school's mascot. During the first home football game after the tornado, a single eagle flew over the football field and became a symbol signifying that the students, like the bird who returns to the same nesting spot each year, would come home again.
Washington Post
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Netflix documentary about Missouri tornado revisits one of the deadliest twisters in the US
The horror of the Joplin tornado is the subject of a new documentary film, released nearly 14 years after the twister struck Missouri with cataclysmic force, ripping into a hospital, destroying neighborhoods and killing around 160. 'You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing,' Kerry Sachetta, then the Joplin High School principal, told The Associated Press on the evening of May 22, 2011, after the school was destroyed.
