Schwantes Signs with St. Ambrose

Issac Schwantes, a senior at Rudd Rockford Marble Rock signs on with St. Ambrose to play foot ball in the following 2012 football season. Issac explains his reaction as exciting and ready for the next football season. St. Ambrose was his first and only choice. Issac knew he was getting scouted, he explained that he tried to just play his best to impress them. He was notified over Via Mail and he also got a phone call, letting him know that they were interested in him. Issac said he is looking for a quality education and a good football program at St. Ambrose. Issac`s parents loved the school and were very proud of him.

Tebow to the Jets.

By: Jocelyn Arends

NFL phenomenon Tim Tebow was traded last week to the New York Jets after the Denver broncos had required Super Bowl MVP quarterback Peyton Manning after the Indianapolis Colts had released Manning earlier this month. Tebow, who was quite a phenomenon through out the 2011 NFL season was said to have had a voice in the trading process. According to the Denver Broncos Tebow thought that he had a better chance of becoming a affective and winning player if he had been traded to Buddy Ryan and the New York Jets as a wildcat offense decoy. A couple years ago when the Jets made it to the AFC championship game 2 years in a row, the Jets had an affective wildcat offense with former Jet and now Buffalo Bill Brad Smith. Smith would come in when Starting quarterback Mark Sanchez had 3rd down drives and would run for productive yardage. Now head coach Buddy Ryan and the Jets are hoping to create that productive offense again with Tebow leading the charge. The bigger question regarding many people in the NFL and through out the country is how will Tim Tebow adjust to the New York City life. Even in a less media crazed city such as Denver, Tebow was still in the news constantly. Now that Tebow is in New York it will just create more fuel to the fire of the Tebow crazy media that has taken over the NFL. Joey Porter a NFL linebacker said is best last week when talking about Tebow saying “Tim Tebow is the Justin Bieber of the NFL.” We will see how this Tebow mania will play out in New York next season and I am sure it will be fun to watch it unfold.

Neal signs for Waldorf

Congratulations to Ben Neal on signing on with the Waldorf Warriors to play football. Ben has shown his talent on and off of the field and has worked hard to be able to play. He was very focused on school and his talent playing football. He explained that he was very excited and joyful for the opportunity to attend Waldorf. Waldorf was not his first choice, he wanted to attend Wartburg. The schools that had interest in him were; Wartburg, Upper Iowa, Morningside, and Minnesota State. Waldorf became my first school after the visit; Ben said. I asked him if he knew that he was being scouted and what were his thoughts. He tells me that he knew he was being scouted, he was nervous at first, but he got used to it after a while. It got more exciting as the time passed. He knew he was going to get offered from Waldorf to play football in the upcoming 2012 football season. Going to Waldorf, Ben is looking forward to high academics, a sense of family, small classes, and somewhat close to home. His parents and siblings are very excited and happy for him and the opportunities he has the chance to achieve.

Tyler Andersen Benefit

The RRMR community was shocked to hear that one of their own was sick, and been diagnosed with cancer. As Tyler Andersen started his fight against his disease, the whole community was behind him and he was in their prayers. After a few weeks of a strong fight and many treatments Tyler was the center of attention on March 18, to raise money to help him and his family pay off those expensive bills. As many people came to show their support for Tyler and his family, they were generous with gifts that were to be raffled off in a silent auction. The benefit raised much more than expected, and the family was greatly appreciative of the donations and effort put forward by the community.

Possible Hate Crime: Murder Of Trayvon Martin

Orlando Suburbs;

Seventeen year old Trayvon Martin was attacked and shot by 28 year old George Zimmerman a married man, and a father who worked as the neighborhood watch saw Trayvon walking back home from a store. He was minding his own business, carrying no weapons being completely unarmed carrying Skittles, and ice tea with his hoodie up. George started to follow Trayvon, and had called the cops telling them that Trayvon looked suspicious, and he was complaining about how they always seemed to get away. They had asked him if he was following Trayvon he said yes ,and they told him not to do that, but he did anyway.

People ended up calling 911 as they heard sounds from outside one witness saying that they were on the ground wrestling with one another, and another saying they heard a single gun shot after a boy, Trayvon had started to scream out for help. George Zimmerman said he did it in self defense which is legal looking at the law saying if necessary to use deadly force in self defense, and from this alone he ended up getting no charges, no arrest, and walks as a free man today.

When I read this I was outraged! How could something that connects so well together, so many things that made it lead to this answer, and it all pointed to George being at fault 100% there was no way it was self defense! George started it, attacked Trayvon because he was walking home at night with his hoodie up and was carrying skittles and tea, so he went and harassed him when even the police men told him NOT to, and in the end he shot him, why, because Trayvon cried out for help? That doesn't sound like self defense what so ever, he shot him because he wanted Trayvon dead, it makes me sick to my stomach after all the obvious answers about George Zimmerman. He seemed to be racist toward African Americans and he got away with it because of the law which they shouldn't be letting him use to his defense just because he says so! Anyone can lie-- they need more than that to believe him to be innocent which in all honesty I don't think he is! I'm positive there will be tons of follow ups on this story, this isn't over!

New movie "Bully" becomes controversial

By: Jocelyn Arends

A new movie simply entitled “Bully” is creating a lot of buzz lately and not just for the blunt, real, and inspiring message but also for the rating. The MPAA has the movie “Bully” rated R but thousands and thousands of people all around the world are up in arms saying that the movie should be rated PG-13 and not rated R. The main reason for this is that the movie “Bully” which is a documentary depicting the lives of bullied students everywhere in America, is that the movie is aimed towards the 13-16 year old audience the most and with out at least a PG-13 rating the movie can not be shown to as many kids that should be aware of the cause and effect that bullying has. The movie showcases the lives of 3 boys ages 12, 16, and 14 and the lives of 2 families that have been affected severely from the result of bullying. It’s a great and real movie that will change minds and lives everywhere. But why is it rated R? The reason is because there are just 6 swear words in the movie, just 6. Many people, including myself believe that this is not a movie that should be rated R just because of 6 swear words. For someone who has been in high school and junior high in recent years, I know that swearing is a language used everyday in the halls and though it’s hard for many adults to admit it, 12, 13, and 14 year olds use that language everyday as well. So why take away an opportunity for thousands of kids to see a movie that can help the issue of bullying in all ways if it’s only language used by the students anyway? If you don’t want your child to see the movie, then don’t let them see the movie but this issue must be put out there. Even in the movies trailer it shows that 13 million kids will be bullied this year, this is an issue that can’t be un-noticed. Schools should not be a place where kids feel scared, hurt, and worthless. This is why the filmmakers created such a documentary and thousands of people have signed the petition to make the MPAA change the “Bully” rating to PG-13. Even famous celebrities like Ellen Degeneres and Justin Bieber have signed the petition to show that “Bully” should be shown to 13 to 16 year olds especially. Whatever the rating ends up being, I strongly recommend seeing this documentary. I believe for teachers, parents, and students alike, it can change the way we all treat each other and how we all handle important issues. To sign the petition to change “Bully” rating to PG-13 go to www.change.org and to see the trailer just search “Bully” on www.youtube.com.

RRMR band trip to Wartburg College

The RRMR highschool band students got the chance to travel to Wartburg college on Monday the 12th of March, to play in front of the choir and band students that are attending Wartburg. The students had a good time and said it was a very nerve racking experience. They even had the chance to be instructed by the Wartburg band instructor. The RRMR students got a tour of the school, and even got to enjoy a meal with their visit. They plan on doing it agin in the next couples years.

A Monster Calls

The book A Monster Calls is about a thirteen year old boy who talks about this "one" nightmare that he'd have every single night which he'd rather die before telling a soul about it. This nightmare started after his mom told him that she had cancer, which ended up changing his life forever! A yew tree (which turns out to be a monster) "comes walking" because the boys dream awakened him, and calls out to him. The monster comes to tell the boy three stories, and the fourth the boy will have to tell him the nightmare. This story is about how the boy deals with the pain, and the problems that come with whole situation. Find out what happens in A Monster Calls this story circles around healing, and it's very inspirational! I recommend that everyone should read it!

I can relate to this story a lot, not from my mom having cancer but my grandma, my mom's mom having cancer I wasn't as old as the 13 year old boy. I wasn't around as long as my mom was dealing with grandma getting sick all the time, my mom had to watch her mom go through treatments and have to spend most of her life in the hospital. I was to young to realize it all the way, but my grandma went through so much pain, and so did my mom what she must of been feeling about the whole situation still gets to her until this day. My mom is a very strong person and knowing her mom had to go through 30 years of cancer was over bearing, sad and painful. I miss my grandma now but me and mom and just everyone that knew my grandma and how great she truley was have moved on, we all have healed and have been able to grow stronger from her passing! This book honestly made me cry, it may be just a book but basing off real events that can happen in life the words alone are worth more than we'll ever be able to describe.

Kony 2012

By: Jocelyn Arends

An 29 minute video has taken the world by storm. Kony 2012 was released earlier last week in effort to raise awareness of the war lord and leader of the African rebel group the LRA Joseph Kony to make him as the video says “famous”. This effort will try and stop Kony and his rebel group from Uganda from kidnapping children from their homes and making the girls into sex slaves and the boys into child soldiers. The children are demanded to kill their parents and put into a camp where the conditions are not suitable for any child.

The video starts out as a way to connect a person. The way Facebook and the Internet connects all of us. This creates so many new opportunities for the world to bond and come together to stop different epidemics or causes that are happening throughout the world. If the Kony2012 campaign works then it will change the way everyone looks at the human history forever.

The video shows first, the journey of the Jason Russell and how he wants his son Gavin to live in a world that he can be proud of. It explains the journey of Russell as he finds a Uganda boy named Jacob. Jacob told Jason Russell and his friends exactly what was going on and even explained to them that he had seen his own brother murdered because he was trying to escape. At that moment Russell promised Jacob that he would do everything he could to catch Joseph Kony and stop the rebel group the LRA. This promise was made nearly ten years ago and in those ten years Russell was finding ways to get Joseph Kony’s name out there. Now he knows exactly what to do. In order to get the American Government to deploy American forces to Uganda, they must have the command from the citizens. In order to get the command from the citizens, they must raise awareness. And in order to get awareness, they must make Joseph Kony famous. So just like an election campaign, the corporation Invisible Children are creating posters, stickers, wristbands, and several other techniques to make Kony famous. Once they make him famous, the issue will not be ignored by the U.S. Government and small numbers of U.S. troops will be deployed to Africa to catch Kony. Once Kony is caught, the mission will be complete but right now is the awareness period. Right now there have been millions of views of the video on youtube and there has also be a “Cover the Night” arranged for April 20, 2012. On this night, in every city there will be thousands of people putting up posters, flags, and banners of Kony2012 and when everyone wakes up the next morning, they will know who Joseph Kony. That is the plan for the corporation “Invisible Children,” get Joseph Kony captured. You can help too! Just go to www.Kony2012.com and watch the video on www.youtube.com and search Kony 2012.

Sports Weightlifting

RRMR has decided to make charts for weight lifting. They have every students name on them in the secondary level of the High school. The coaches came together to find a way to find out who is "hitting the weight room" and who is not. RRMR is trying to get there students and athletes into better shape and make them work for their goals.

Their rules on lifting; if you are not out for a sport, the coaches would like you to be in the weight room at least three days a week. And if you do participate in sports, you have to weight lift at least two days a week. if students don`t lift the don`t get to participate in that sport at the time.

Winter Banquet

This Monday there was a gathering held at the Rockford High School. It started with a pot luck meal at 6 P.M. and continued with awards to fallow at 6:40 P.M. The winter sports included were, Wrestling, Boys and girls basketball Jv and Varsity, Wrestling Cheerleading, and Basketball Cheerleading. Everyone who participated in a winter sport received a participation award, and those who played an exceptional amount of time on the Varsity squad received a letter award for their letterman jackets. Those who received additional awards, were Spencer Kelly who received his state wrestling awards, Matt Fullerton who was acknowledged for leading his weight class in the state with 32 pins. Sadie Wyborny receiving 1st team all conference and all district honors. Madison Wood receiving 2nd team all conference honors, and Ryan Turner with 1st team all conference honors and Travis Johnson received honorable mention honors.

The Vow: Movie Review

The vow was about a couple so who had gotten married, and was head over heels in love with one another. One night after seeing a movie they were at a stop light and his wife had taken her seat belt off a moment, and a truck had come up behind them too fast and they tried to stop but when it hit the back of there car and the wife ended up going into a coma and when she woke up she didn't remember her husband, or her friends, just her life before her husband and all of them. This movie was about the struggle for the husband to regain what he once had with his wife, and to make her fall in love with him all over again!

This movie was so heart warming because of everything they did with one another and what the husband ended up doing for her. It was also heart breaking at the same time just because of what the husband had to go through just to keep on going! The whole story line was amazing, and how just one person can feel so much for someone that'd they would help them through the confusion and pain. Loving them just as much as they did before whether they'd regain there memory, or if they didn't. If this really happened, from all the emotions that were apparent in this movie.

It all made sense I could see it actually coming to all that, in the end I found out it was based on a true story, which made it even more amazing. From something like that a husband keeping his word, and sticking by his wife after she lost her memory, and in the end tries to have her fall in love with him all over again, that is true love. That is the number one reason I love this movie, honestly if you have been thinking on seeing The Vow, I say go. You will NOT regret it, I promise you that, that eight dollars will be worth it! :)

What's the better product? The Kindle Fire? Or the I-Pad 2?

By: Jocelyn Arends

Many wonder what is the better buy, a Kindle Fire or an I-pad. They are essentially the same thing but why is the I-pad so much more expensive? And which product exactly is the better deal or the better product?

There are many theories to why the I-pad 2 is so much more expensive than the Kindle Fire, but the real reason to why the I-pad is more expensive than the Kindle Fire is simple, the I-pad holds greater weight and the people at Apple headquarters like to get their money from the customer right away rather than Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

Kindle Fire’s get their money through out time. The consumer buys apps and many other products through the Kindle Fire and that is the way Amazon gets most of their revenue. This may be a better strategy for Amazon business wise since they can get a greater value than an I-Pad over time while sustaining customers to buy their product.

I-Pads cost $469.99 while a Kindle Fire only costs nearly $200.00. This is a huge difference. The Kindle Fire also has only a 7 inch screen with a weight of only 4.6 ounces, while the I-Pad 2 has a 9 inch screen with the weight of 1.33 pounds. The Kindle Fire is much easier to move around but the I-Pad has the advantage of a wider and bigger screen with more quality to the customer. Another turn off by the Kindle Fire is that unlike the I-Pad 2, it has no camera, so captioning memories can not be found on the Kindle Fire. The giga bites between the two products are different as well, the I-Pad ranges it’s giga bites from 16-64 and the Kindle Fire has giga bites ranging from 8+, which gives the Kindle Fire much more use for movies, TV shows, video games, and apps.

I guess it is up to you on which product you would end up buying if you ever came down to that decision. Just remember all the different qualifications and realize what product better fits your lifestyle or what cost is more suitable for your budget.

Source: squidoo.com

Amusement Parks Started: Small And Grew Big!

Pleasure Gardens was how this idea of amusement parks started, pleasure gardens had a few rides, dancing, games, and live entertainment! This sort of amusement park was located in Medieval England and was popular till about 1700's when alot of political problems came about making most of the amusement parks like Pleasure Gardens shut there amusement park down!

The Unites States took hold of amusement parks in the 1800's, most of the amusement parks were built at the end of the trolley line. A lot them had dancing, picnic areas, games, and a few rides, and of course it grew popular immediately becoming a big success by the 1890's. The world's Columbian Exposition in Chicago introduced the ferris wheel, and the midway (has a variety of diffrent ride's, and concessions.)

In 1894 things continued to change, Paul Boynton ended up making the world's first modern amusement park. As it continued to grow they started to charge people with admissions, and used the rides to draw the people in. Later in 1895 he opened a park at Coney Island, and over the years it grew even bigger, and amusement parks started to show up all over the place. New rides opening up, and being created as well, by 1919 amusement parks were opened in the United States. The great depression decreased the number of amusement parks, and people who went to them in such a bad time zone around 1935 there were only about 400 amusement parks. When World War 2 came around that didn't help the business either! A ton of amusement parks closed during the war, and no more new rides were made so the amusement park able to stay open.

After World War 2 amusement parks became popular once more, and quickly. More amusement parks opened, and new rides came back around. Around 1955 Disneyland was created, and thats when amusement parks became the most popular when everyone started to copy the success from Disneyland creating there own amusement parks and to this day there popular as ever!

NBA All-star game.

The NBA all star game shows the actual talent the NBA has. The players get chosen to play at the game. The NBA league chooses the best fit players that could put on a show. They choose a certain amount of people from each side of the United States. They have two teams, a team from the West and a team from the East.

The 2012 All- Star game was a very exciting game to watch. Getting chosen to play in the All- star game is a very big achievement. They announce an MVP for the night, and the MVP award went to Kevin Durant from Oklahoma City. Kobe Bryant passes the hall of fame, Michael Jordan in all-star game points. Kobe later gets hurt from Dwayne Wade on a layup attempt. The game resulted in the West coming out with a win over the east. 152-149. Kevin Durant(West) and Lebron James(east) with 36 points.

Rockford Bridge

The summer of 2012 will be hectic in the small town of Rockford. The city plans on taking out the only bridge that connects the East and West sides of town. This is a major problem to many people who have jobs on the other side of the bridge, and will have to take a different route to work. The major problems have already been taken care of such as how the West side will get fuel. Express Mart has opened pay-at-pump, pumps downtown and may turn it back into a full station selling tobacco, and many other necessities. Although it will be a mess it will only last a short time to rebuild, and everything will be back to normal.

Fundraiser to help Senior class project.

By: Jocelyn Arends

Next week the senior comm. skills class will be sponsoring a Taco Day. Taco days have been quite popular over the years here at RRMR and have raised good amounts of money for many great causes. The proceeds will help out and benefit the comm. skills class to raise money for a good cause. In April the senior comm. skills class will be creating a fun day for the residents of Opportunity Village in Clear Lake, Iowa. The day will be filled with games, a dance, prizes, a photo area, and possibly a Tiki Bar since the theme will be Hawaiian. This will bring light into the residents lives and teach the students a little sense of community service and hard work as well. The class project will eventually be turned into scrap books that will have the residents remember the day and create memories that last a lifetime. On Tuesday March 6, 2012 will be the day of the Taco Day. So if you like tacos or just good food, bring money and give back! Be a part of our senior project!