The coaches want to get a jumpstart for raising money for the team early in the school year. The meeting will last no longer an hour.

Due to the new cell phone rule, students are allowed to text in the hallways, and at lunch; however, not during instructional time.

“I like this new cell phone rule because it is an improvement from our last rule,” Gingerich said, “and it gives me chances to text during school so I hope they keep it this way.”

Other local schools, such as Walnut Grove and Loganville, have to pay to use their phones at school. The cost for that is five dollars. Here students do not have to pay.

“I would not mind paying to use my cell phone at school,” Gingerich said, “because it is not that much.”

Students like this new cell phone rule because they get to use their cell phones without getting in trouble except for in class, however students still hide their phone and continue to text in class.

“I might still hide my phone in class or text when the teacher is not looking,” Taylor Swords, junior, said, “but I hope that I never get caught when I do.”

“The Swingin’ Medallions” are a southern frat rock/R&B band that was started in the early 1960s in Greenville S.C. The song “Double Shot” is their most famous song, with the comedian Lewis Grizzard writing about it in a magazine.

The Dick Smith Band will start the concert with country and southern rock at 5:30. The Monroe Downtown Development Authority is hosting the event. Admission is free.

Rufus Simon and Myels Carroll have produced the birth of another new youth rap group, 2 Phresh, which has been around for over a year. 2 Phresh are aware that their generation will become more successful and financial later in life if they start off as a learner and follow the steps of an achiever.

Since celebrity and almost famous rappers use the term “street names,” they figured that they could use them as well. Simon is better perceived as “Trelow;” Carroll is also known as “King Roseberry” and/or “Rosey B.”

“We are inspired to rap,” 2 Phresh said, “because it’s a career that we want to have.”

2 Phresh’s side inspiration came from FVSU’s “fame” camp. This Fort Valley State University’s camp is located at the FVSU college site. Carroll and Simon attended the camp during one summer. “At ‘fame’ camp it helped us to learn to perform better and we performed better,” 2 Phresh said, “and we performed better by having performances.”

Carroll and Simon are both classmates of age ranges from 13 to 18 and are exposed to lots of personalities, trends and styles. “We rap,” said Simon, “on any and everything a teenager could know and not know.”

As sophomores and being unemployed young adults, they have no money or loans for big studio equipment. They record songs and lyrics off of iPods and tape recorders.

“We rap 24/7, 365 days a year,” Simon said. “We just spit some; it is just what we do.”

2 Phresh advertises and are available as friends on Myspace and Facebook, and also display videos and music on YouTube. 2 Phresh also has a new mixtape upcoming and also will be taking apart in Xtra Magazine Launch Party.

2 Phresh are becoming more popular every day. They hope and encourage more people to listen to their music; that way teens are not oblivious to their surroundings and others.

“Everyone knows us,” Simon said. “2 Phresh is the hottest, not trying to be modest, but really we can only be honest.”

FBLA is an organization that is committed to educating students about the American business complex, and creating a foundation for aggressive entrepreneurs of the future.

Aug. 28— NEGCC (Athens Christian)
Sept. 04— Clara Bowl (Berry College)
Sept. 11— Lap-a-thon (Home)
Sept. 18— East Jackson
Sept. 25— *Patriot Invitational (Heritage)
Oct. 09— Winder Invitational
Oct. 12— Walton County Championships (Loganville)
Oct. 23— Carrolton Last Chance
Oct. 28— Region 8AAA Championships (Helen)
Nov. 06— State Championships (Carrolton)

This year Loganville High School’s price to be in band is $500, two times the amount students here pay. All the money the band gets goes into paying for trips to and from performances, sheet music and fixing broken equipment.

“People should know,” Megan Moore, sophomore, said, “overly ridiculous prices make bands shrink.”

The funding for band was cut this year due to the budget cuts. “If it isn’t a core class,” Christopher McCarver, band director, said, “it gets cut first.”
The booster club is helping bring in as much money to the band as they can. “We are really lucky,” McCarver said, “that in the last couple of years, the parents have become very organized in the booster club.”

“If prices are going to rise, and people are going to drop,” Moore said, “I would rather there just not be a band until we have the money.”

When McCarver was in his high school band in Marietta, he had to pay $800. “That is much more than $500,” McCarver said, “but that is a different type of community.”

The band is not worried about the effect on them. Even though the performance of one band in the county affects the other bands, this change is not expected to last very long. “When one band shrinks, it lowers the prestige,” McCarver said, “but I do not think that it will have much of an effect on us at the moment.”

Perry created a variety of meaningful songs, 12 excluding remixes, within this album released Aug. 24.  Song topics vary from drug addictions to the changes love makes in a person.

Every song is labeled with “Explicit,” meaning that they contain profanity. This sign is also for her mentions of sex and drugs, which is usual for Perry.

On iTunes, the album is $9.99 for the regular CD. If you feel like wasting your money on four extra remixes of the songs on the regular CD, buy the $12.99 version. The four songs are nothing more than added beats to an already pop-style music.

One thing that is new in this album is that Perry shows off her mature vocals, setting her apart from other profound pop artists such as Ke$ha.

Many pop artists use profanity, such as sex and drugs, to bring appeal to their songs. Also, the majority of the songs are fast spoken, with notes being sustained for shorter periods of time.

Perry expresses the maturity in her voice as she proves she can hold the longer notes that form the foundation of more memorable songs.

Each song is set to an electric pop beat, but the tempos range from rapid to moderately slow. The fast paced songs are more of what Perry is known for.

The song “Circle the Drain” of this album states lines such as “I can re-write your addictions” and “you fall asleep during fore-play.” This song is relative to her other provocative songs such as “You’re so Gay” and “I Kissed a Girl.”

The slow songs can catch one off guard as Perry expresses a side of her musical ability that she does not show as much. The songs provide a much needed break from the past ones. The song “Not Like the Movies” provides such calm words as “He will be the one who finishes your sentences.”

“Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,” Perry sings in ‘Firework,’ “drifting through the wind wanting to start again.”

The album in general is an improvement on her previous career. The songs provide the maturity that pop-music is deprived of.

Sept. 02— Heritage- Away
Sept. 09— Walnut Grove- Home
Sept. 16— Loganville- Away
Sept. 23— Salem- Home
Sept. 30— Rockdale- Home
Oct. 07— Madison County- Away (J.V./ 9th grade doubleheader)
Oct. 14— Apalachee- Home

Sept. 02— Heritage- Home
Sept. 09— Walnut Grove- Away
Sept. 16— Loganville- Home
Sept. 23— Salem- Away
Sept. 30— Rockdale- Home
Oct. 07— Madison County- Away (J.V./ 9th grade doubleheader)
Oct. 14— Apalachee- Away