MEADOWDALE HIGH SCHOOL

October 2016
Volume 3, Issue 2

IM NOT LION
...LET ME BE HONEST!

EDITORS
Mariah Benson
Andrew Caldwell JR
Anduryn Gallimore
Cheyanne Hardy
Kaveon Williams

JOURNALISTS
Mahogany Bankston
Mariah Benson
Precious Brown
Katelyn Conley
Kaylah Crutcher
Krichonna DeVance

New Faculty/Staff Interviews Issue

Erick Dominguez
Javon Ferguson
Katelyn Givhan
Savannah Harraway
Jerod Hayes
Dawon Smith

FAMILY OF EDUCATORS
By Andrew Caldwell JR
At Meadowdale High School one of our outstanding principals named America Henson was able to
be interviewed. Henson has been in the education business for many years.
She attended Trotwood High School and has always had a passion for education. Hensons family
was always involved in education; thats how she fell in love with education.
High school for Henson was pretty good, but as a senior she was ready to get out like everybody
else. Her high school, Trotwood, was very diverse, which she believes was quite different Trotwood
is today. In her school, she was very mature and acted older than she looked. This led to getting to
know her teachers better and to having fun with them instead of student-level friends.
Henson was the Homecoming Queen for Trotwood High School. As far as life in high school, she
had a really good time with all good people around her.
While on her way to college at Central State University, she decided to major in education. As she
went through college, she decided to start coaching some of the sport activities in Dayton Public
Schools. As she went to college, she explained that its the best time of your life. She met most of
her life-long friends, but she said that youre still being supported by your family even from far
away. She also said that when youre not a home, youre your own person. You care take of yourself
without your parents helping you and you are accountable for your actions and what choices you
make in your life. Henson said she built leadership doing these things and it has made her the
woman she is today.
After college, Henson decided to become a teacher at many different schools. She worked at Trotwood High School for five years then she decided to move on to charter schools, ECOT, New Choices, Life Skills, Ponitz , and Dunbar. In total, she has worked at nine schools. As of right now, she
feels content; she always thinks she can do more and be more, but she doesnt regret any of the
choices shes made.
All the experiences with people and her family have taught her leadership, which carries her to be
the inspirational person she is to others and self-motivating as well. Henson started as an assistant
at Meadowdale Elementary and is now an assistant principal for Meadowdale High School and
always wants what is best for the school.
Henson wouldnt change a thing and the reason why is because she thinks everyone has a destined
path to walk to fulfill their purpose in life. She believes that God has created everybodys path and
all we have to do is walk it.

TINY WOMAN BIG HEART

By Erick Dominguez
Courtney Buschur was born in small town
named Tiffin, Ohio. Her favorite thing
about it was everyone knew one another
and she loved the pizza there.
She wanted to become a teacher in her
senior year of high school. Her aunt also
was a teacher. She loved history and wanted to get into Special Education so that
she could make a bigger difference. Her
favorite thing about being a teacher is
seeing the students understand the work,
which brings her the joy.
One her favorite things about Meadowdale
is that all the teachers express comradery
between one another and seeing how they
help each other. One of the craziest things

that happened in her teaching career is

when a student threw a computer in her
room.
Her favorite thing about college was being
able to choose what she wanted to do. She
had more freedom where she could go to
class or not since the lessons were longer.
If she could go anywhere in the universe,
she would want to go to Europe to see and
find out more about the history. Her favorite thing to do in her free time is watch
movies with her husband. Her favorite
mammal is a dolphin; she loves sea animals. Her favorite season is the summer
because of the warmth; she doesnt like
the cold weather.

It takes a lot of dedication to make the drive from Columbus to Dayton

five days out of the week.

BOUNDLESS BORDERS
By Kaylah Crutcher
Want to know cool? Then get to know Bobbi Borders, the new English teacher at
Meadowdale High School.
She says the following regarding the students, I have wonderful students, but the school
itself needs work.
Borders is from Columbus. She still lives in Columbus and travels to Dayton every day to
come teach here at Meadowdale. It takes a lot of dedication to make the drive from Columbus to Dayton five days out of the week.
Borders teaches English for grades 11 and 12.
If she can have another career besides teaching, she says she would like to be a Flip
House person and travel the world. When asked if she won the lottery to the point where
she and her family would be set for life, would she quit her job, she responded, she would
use the money to travel.
When asked about her political views, she responded, I am a democrat. I believe it is the
obligation of every person to help those who are less fortunate. I strongly believe in equal
rights and will be voting for Clinton.
In regards to racial conflict, Borders thinks we have a lot of racial conflict but we are not
going to get over it until we have a healthy conversation about past experiences. Also, as
far as violence in the world, whether it is racial or any other, Borders feels it will always
be around, but it doesnt mean we cant work towards peace.
When asked if she could change anything in the world what would it be, Borders stated
she would get rid of all crime, but particularly against children.
Overall Borders is a great person who loves teaching and loves her students.

NEW NURSE
By Javon Ferguson
Meadowdale High School has an assistant
nurse, Alicia Thompson, joining the ranks
this year.
When asked why she became a nurse, she
responded, I wanted to help people and
make a difference in other peoples lives.
She works at Meadowdale because she has
always worked with kids and she wanted
to be an influence on kids lives and wanted to experience life as a school nurse.

Her favorite animals are dogs and favorite

breed is the golden doodle.
She was born in 1986. Her favorite thing
about college is she liked the freedom she
had while attending.
If she had super powers she would use
them for good or evil would have invisibility and would use them for good and to
also spy on people and listen to other peoples conversations.

The craziest thing that has happened to

her in the medical field is was when she
was taking care of a 21-year-old cancer
patient and she was the last one to take
care of him before he passed away.

I would have invisibility and I would use them for good and to also spy
on people and listen to other peoples conversations.

PRINCIPAL SLONE
By Katelyn Givhan
Brett Slone, who is a 2008 alumni of Bowling Green, has a bachelors' degree in education
and graduated Cum Laude. Cum Laude is an academic level of distinction that educational institutions use to signify an academic degree that was received with honor.
When asked what about his aspirations in life he responded by saying, "I want to be the
best teacher, coach, and father I can be." He wants to give his students and kid(s) the
basic necessities to survive in the 21st Century.
Slone decided he wanted to be a teacher and football coach when he was in kindergarten.
He used to be a class clown but was able to get his work done so he is not too hard on his
students. He has high goals and expectations for his students. When asked what he would
do if his goal is not reached he responded with "Be salty and upset."
He does hope to later advance in education and begin to teach senior government. Slone
says he is doing his "Dream job and everything he ever wanted." Most know Slone as a
quiet teacher but soon they may know him as Principal Slone. He hopes to become a principal soon, maybe of MHS. He loves Meadowdale and wants to continue to help advance
the school academically.

FOLLEY ONE-0-ONE

By Krichonna DeVance
Given the greatest opportunity to interview Tana Folley was a mind blowing event.
Folley is currently a secretary at Meadowdale High School. Folley is very outspoken not
only that, she is very intelligent. During the interview we hit various societal issues such
as the presidential election, police shootings, school funding, and so much more.
When the topic came up regarding school funding, Folley stated, I feel education is a
very important essential to a child's growth, not just physically but mentally. High school
education serves a greater purpose. Nowadays you cant get a decent paying job without a
college degree, but in order to successfully obtain one you need some sort of high school
education.
When asked about her personal views on police shootings, she responded with an unbiased point of view stating Not every situation is racially profiled, but some can be. We as
a whole need to come together to stop all violence. All lives matter, but right now minorities are being targeted. You see if Darius, an African American teen, kills Jim a Caucasian
teen, they want to hit him with the death penalty, but if Tom, a Caucasian officer, kills six
-year-old Dana, an African American girl, he gets paid leave and they say, Oh he is an
excellent officer.
When questioned about her views on protest and riots, she replied with the statement,
Protesting can help to a certain extent, because protesters can sometimes get rowdy
which is contradicting, especially if its a stop the violence protest. Riots typically never
help because it can lead to many more problems down the line.
When another topic came up regarding how she feels about children and education, she
stated, Children take their education for granted; they dont understand the value of an
education anymore.
When the time came and the big question was asked about her view on the presidential
election, Folley was straightforward with her answer. Hillary is going to win. She has
more experience and when Bill was in office she helped him make a lot of political decisions and also girl power.
Folley even made some suggestions such as getting a group of students who actually care
about their education together and go to the council meetings to address things our
school would benefit from if we gained or lost. She also suggested that we come together
and tutor other students.

Calling all new teachers and staff members. Need anything? Were here to
help? Thats right! Were part of your bright, shining, happy-go-lucky welcoming crew!

TENDER HEART
By Savannah Harraway
Tonya Aleshire is a psychologist at Meadowdale High School. She is an amazing person at
heart and has been through hardships that molded her to be the person she is today.
The reason why she became fascinated with the field of psychology was because she came
from an alcoholic family and her parents would always argue. The kind of psychology
Aleshire specializes in is school psychology.
Aleshire has worked with all school aged kids, ranging from kindergarteners to high
school kids. But the reason she came to Meadowdale was because she was placed here.
As a psychologist, Aleshire wants to make Meadowdale a better place. She wants to do
more than just testing kids and writing reports. When asked what an accomplishment she
was most proud of, she replied. That I have three adult children who like me.
Psychology wasnt always Aleshires first choice; she initially wanted to be a social worker
but ventured off into school psychology when she discovered that she was pregnant with
her daughter. If she could change her career path, she wouldve came to work in Dayton
Public Schools right after graduating college.
A type of Psychology she would recommend to future psychologists is either clinical psychology or school psychology.
The most difficult case Aleshire has ever done was simply dealing with her boss. She just
thought of him as an arrogant person.
In five years Aleshire sees herself still working at Meadowdale High School.

BUCKEYE BOB
By Anduryn Gallimore
Our principal, Robert Bob Buchheim, took the time out of his busy day to talk with us about
his education and how he plans to better everyones education here at Meadowdale.
Buchheim has been in education for 27 years as of this year; though he didnt always think he
was going to major in education. His dream job as a kid was to be a lawyer, but in high school
he wanted to be an accountant. His track coach talked him into being a teacher even though
no one believed he could do it.
Buchheim told us that when he walked into his old school on his first day of work that the
teachers laughed at him because he wasnt the best student in school. His advice to all students is, Dont ever give up on what you want to do based on what others say.
Buchheims favorite thing about Meadowdale High School is how the staff and students have
bonded, despite the challenges theyve faced. He hopes to give staff and students good opportunities, access to technology, and a safe learning environment. His favorite thing about his
job is working with the staff and students. Something the students should know about Buchheim is that he met his wife while working as a security guard at Kings Island.

Dont ever give up on what you want to do based on what others say.

BEAUTIFUL BISWAS
By Mahogany Bankston

in Florida, San Francisco, or on a beach.

Debjani Biswas is 47-seven-years old, and

is from Ohio. She lives in Cincinnati, in
Liberty Township.

Biswas said the school she came from

before Meadowdale was Sinclair, and also
Dayton Life Skills.

Biswas has two children, one boy and one

girl. Her daughter is 18 and is a freshman
in college. Her son is 12 and is in grade 7.

Biswas would not allow her children to go

to Meadowdale because of the distance.
She said Meadowdale is a good school
overall, but she said she hopes it gets
better with the new principal.

Biswas has been married for 21years. This

is her first year at Meadowdale.
Biswas does lots of activities for kids such
as music and she works with culturally
diverse children. When asked what was
one thing no one knows about her and
that she would like to tell, she said, I love
to eat food, specifically fish..
When asked if she would rather be rich or
famous, she chose to be famous. Biswas
said that shed rather be famous than rich
because she would use her fame to help
those in need, and she would use her fame
to make a difference in other peoples
lives to help them.

She enjoys teaching at Meadowdale because of the staff, but there are different
challenges every day. Biswas said one
good quality Meadowdale has are the staff;
they are supportive and friendly.
Biswas said one famous person she would
love to meet dead or alive would be Martin
Luther King Jr.

Biswas said her favorite memory from

when she was younger that she misses the
most is hanging out with her siblings and
cousins.
One thing she would change about her life
right now is she said she would like to live

WINNING WARFIELD
By Jerod Hayes
Mr. Warfield has been working at
Meadowdale High School for two years
now. Hes not new, but still worth an article.
Hes engaged with no kids, even though he
loves working with them. His plans after
he retires is to run a gym fitness center or
to fish every day.
He loves his job because he has a chance
to make people better. He said that was
his biggest goal in college. Warfield has
been training for 6-7 years. He said his
least favorite subject in high school was
math.

Warfield attended Georgetown in Kentucky where he played football; he broke

his ankles so he ended up going to Wright
State.
He love watching sports. Hes a big Buckeye fan and also a big fan of Lebron
James.
Seeing kids happy makes him happy. He
loves interacting with them and he has a
great relationship with them too. When he
was in high school he had struggles. As an
adult and leader he wants to help kids as
much as he can to see them get to where
they want to be in life.

FROM WARM TO VERY COOL

By Noelle Freeman
One of MHS finest history teachers, Carin Davis, has taken time out of her busy schedule
to answer some questions.
We asked her how long she has been teaching. 13 years. You kind of lose track after the
first few, she said. She was inspired to be a teacher by her love of History, Government,
and kids. Her personal role model is her history teacher at Talawanda High School in
Arizona, and she told us that he made history fun.
When asked why she came to MHS she responded with, I moved here from Arizona; I
wanted to be here, and I liked big districts. She told us that her dream job has almost
always been of being a teacher, and teaching history and government. If she could change
anything, it would be the principal. In her opinion, she thinks that we deserve a strong
and inspiring principal who gets the job done.
When asked if she liked it here, she said, Yes, because I think that theres a lot of good
students and staff here and it has potential. I was also told that good things would happen. Our last question she was asked was how long had she been here. Her response was,

VINEYS VIEW
By Katie Conley
Our speech pathologist, Stacey Viney, decided to work for Dayton Public Schools because
its a large district that has a large variety of students.
This is her first year in the Dayton Public School system. Viney likes the way the school is
set up because she thinks the pods keep the students in small spaces.
She loved high school. It was a great experience for her. Vineys dream job was to be a
pharmacist. Shes been interested in education her whole life because both of her parents
are in the educational business.
Viney graduated from Hilliard Davison High School, which is near Columbus. Viney attended college at The Ohio State and the University of Toledo.

If Viney could change anything in the world, there would be nothing she would change
because things happen as they should.

PRE-ORDER YOUR YEARBOOK NOW

Order your yearbooks now (currently $35).

Yearbooks are on sale at www.jostens.com/yearbooks

You may also order your yearbook directly from Mrs. Godbey.

The journalists have already decided on a cover design and are in the process of
selecting a theme.

Look for the journalists and Mrs. Godbey to be taking photos for the yearbook. You
never know when you might be caught in the moment of a great yearbook photo.

You may also submit your yearbook photos for consideration online. We are always
looking for great photos.

His villain name would be Polar Bear and his secret identity would be a
social studies teacher.

UNPORTABLE
By Kaveon Williams
We were greatly given the opportunity to
have an interview with the Dean of Students of Meadowdale High school, Taylor
Porter.
Porter is a very intriguing individual
whose views of the political and social
system of our society sparked our interest.
He mentioned that, I do not claim any
party, I believe it is important to vote on
individuals based on their beliefs and
values on society. Then, he also was able
to inform us that he believes in progression when comes to the society. He was
asked if he could ever change the school
system what would be his three main
changes and they were to change the grading system to something based on mastery
meaning you will not be graded off points
but you will graded off your true
knowledge, to add more responsibility and
expectations on amount of effort from the
parents, and as well raise the salary of all
teachers since dealing with education as
mentioned by him, A life or death situation when you are dealing with education.
Porter was asked if a famous author was
to write a book based around his persona,
the genre of the book would be an action/
adventure, because he had to create a
legacy statement that would reflect how he
will be remembered if he were to die today

and his statement was based around one

of his favorite poems, A man will stand
and cheer while the other fellow stars, and
a bridge connecting people to their
dreams. Also, at any given chance to
make a great impact on his life he has to
take it or he will feel that he missed out on
a chance to add something new to his
lifestyle.

If Porter were to unexpectedly discover a new planet he would name it

Omega, however he would not live
there because he is happy to be living
on Earth, but he would travel to his
newly discovered planet.
Finally, if he was able to obtain super
powers he would want a combination
of incredible strength and healing
powers. His villain name would be
Polar Bear and his secret identity
would be a social studies teacher.

Then, a few other questions was asked to

dig deep into Porters imaginary side of his
mind. Porter stated that he would love to
travel and live in Ghana, West Africa, for
one month because it was the first democratic nation in West Africa. It is 95 percent black populated, and it is not an exception for black people to be great, it is
the expectation.
He wishes to be a MIGHTY lion, if he
were to magically become an animal since
the lion does not have to prove how dominant they are already in their kingdom.
If there was a possible best-selling movie
to be produced that was based around
Porter he would want it to be an action/
adventure movie with Jamie Foxx playing
Porter, and the other members of the star
cast would be Denzel Washington, Nate
Parker, Beyonce, Zoey Saldna, and Scarlett Johanson, also the title will be Get
Rich or Die Tryin.

DOGS VS. HOGS

By Mariah Benson
The popular food commonly known as
hot dogs are being renamed back to the
coneys and franks, short for frankfurters.
Now, the reason for this change is simply
because it causes confusion. After visiting
Auntie Annes at a local mall, Muslims
thought their pretzel dogs actually contained dog meat. In Islam, dogs are
considered unclean and the name cannot
be related to halal certification, says a
Jekim rep.

With 60 percent of the country being

made up of Muslims, Auntie Annes agrees
that the name dog on menus causes too
much confusion. They agreed to comply
with the name change, renaming their
pretzel dogs to pretzel sausages.
Auntie Annes change hardly makes it
official, though. The rest of the country
still has yet to make a final decision on the
issue.

SELF-DRIVING TALK
By Unique Mattison
This article will review the pros and cons of self-driving cars.
According to the states department of motor vehicles, the self-driving vehicles have been in
11 minor accidents in California over 6 years ago.
Jake Fisher states he doesnt doubt Googles claim that its cars werent at fault for these accidents, but wonders if they could have been prevented if humans were in control. Fisher also
says that by the time a self-driving car senses another vehicle in its buffer zone, it could already be too late. Urmson admits that a perfect solution to prevent accidents may never exist.
TESLA may have to do a lawsuit over its autopilot system after a driver got in an accident,
using the self-driving cars technology on a Florida road in May. A driver named Joshua
Brown died when its autopilot system failed to detect a tractor trailer turning in front of his
model S and his car plowed into it. According to TESLA, Browns model S did not automatically brake to prevent the crash because of the high ground clearance of the trailer and its
white reflection against a brightly lit sky. TESLA always reminds drivers to keep their hands
on the wheel at all times because some functions may malfunction. TESLA also mentions the
self-driving car can be problematic because of the possible of lulling a driver into a state of
complacency.
On the other hand, people that drive responsibly can be a good thing as TESLA has argues
that given the rate of fatalities while using autopilot, its actually safer than traditional driving.

10

Google is getting programmed for its cars to adapt to lane-drifting, and red light runnings.
Google spokeswoman says, We have a long way to go and much time to master the self driving car.

DARLING DANIEL
By Dawon Smith
In an interview with Tina Daniel, Special Education teacher at Meadowdale High School,
some interesting discoveries were made. She attended Northmont High School, graduating
in 1985.
She went on to college at a division three school called Muskingum, majoring in English
and Special Education and playing basketball as well as softball (she also played these
sports in high school).
Daniel chose to do this work for some time, indicating the following: Since junior high I
knew I wanted to work in education and I love working with children. In her love of working with children, she has worked in many schools and many positions within these
schools.
Daniel is the oldest . She has two brothers, ages 48 and 43. She is 49-years-old, having a
birthday a few months ago on August 24. Her parents have been divorced for 20 years, with
her father living in Brookville and her mother living in Dayton.
Daniel lives in Kettering. She has two kids named Austin and Allivia. Austin is 10-years-old
and Allivia is 7- years-old. Both of her children go to school in Kettering.

Since junior high I knew I wanted to work in education and I love working with children.

COMMUNITY COACH
By Cheyanne Hardy
In an interview with teacher and coach at
Meadowdale High School, Marcella Moncree, she was also former volleyball coach
at Meadowdale Elementary for two years.
Moncree isnt just a ordinary volleyball
coach, that just stays after school and
practices with her students everyday. She
decided to take her girls on a field trip to
the Saint Vincent De Paul Homeless Shelter. She took her girls to do community
service there, Moncree quoted, I wanted
them to be more grateful and take life
more for granted. When asked what was
the outcome of taking the girls to the community service, she quoted, It was bittersweet, a life changing experience; I had a
chance to get to know them on a personal
level. I wanted them to see how blessed
they were. Moncree said the girls had a
great time and even wanted to come back
to help more. One of her former volleyball
students actually was a member at the
shelter.
When asked, What made you want to be a
volleyball coach at Meadowdale High
School? she quoted, The reason I wanted
to become a coach was when I looked back

at all my great moments in life I remembered Al Carson an Chad Miller, two

coaches who pushed me to go further, they
instilled the love and passion I have now
for what I do. The mantra she goes by is
Students or athletes do not care how
much you know until they know how
much you care, and from the sound of it
she loves her job, and the vibe she gets
from her students.
Moncree was the first volleyball coach to
take her students to do community service
at a homeless shelter. She believes it
should be a graduation requirement and
every teacher or coach should do what she
did.
Moncree plans on furthering her career by
raising money for all her seniors for scholarships. Her main focus is sending all her
seniors to school. The interview with Marcella Moncree went well. This interview
reveals more about her an her purpose for
coaching.

11

EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION
By Precious Brown
Opinions were shared by some of the staff from Meadowdale High School on how they
felt about the evolution of teaching education. Their responses were very precise and
they left out no details. This article is a good way to inform readers about the power of
education and how important it is.
Comparing todays teaching methods to back in the day teaching methods helps me
realize how much it has changed, but why has it changed? Why couldnt it stay the
same? What are the advantages and disadvantages in todays teaching methods that
teachers have to offer to students like me?
When asking questions to some of the teachers, the responses varied from how teaching did and did not evolve. One response was, Teaching hasnt evolved, because of the
world changing and students changing and Teaching has evolved because of research; Education is always evolving and always will two different opinions but the
same concept.
The style of teaching is very different now compare to a long time ago. Mrs.Godbey
says that she grew up on fundamental teaching, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. They did mental math meaning no calculators were available. They also drilled
phonics, meteorology, and geology into instruction so she is fascinated with everything
from reading to the weather. Mr. Porter said he grew up on traditional lectures and
direct instructions. Todays teaching has changed drastically. Parents nowadays are not
able to help their kids with homework because of the differences in how they were
taught back then compared to now.
Some of the teaching methods are good depending on who is teaching it because all
teachers have their own style of education. Students should have a set goal of what
they need to know before the end of the school year. They should be taught at a pace
that they feel is more comfortable for them. Its important that every student gets the
right information and right amount of education. No child should be left behind unless
they have made that choice for themselves. Our education is important because it can
take us a long way in life.