UIL sponsors stay proactive after budget cut in half

In past years, the UIL academic budget was $10,000.
This year, it is only $5,000.
“Funding has been a problem at the state level and now it’s trickling down,” Rider UIL coordinator and Literary Criticism sponsor Sandra Scheller said. “We’re not the only ones who have to do this.
Previously the team would go on two out of town meets a year. This year, they may only get one.
“Our best competition is out of town, and we can’t afford it,” Scheller said.
Physics sponsor Patrick Tempelmeyer thinks the change won’t help their chances at state.
“We should have an incredibly strong team,” Tempelmeyer said. “It would be better if we could go on those meets, though. Plus, it cuts some of the fun out of being on the team.”
Not only can they not afford meets, practice materials are also expensive.
“Lit Crit costs $250 just for one event,” Scheller said. “We have $500 total.”
To help with costs, different departments are pitching in for practice materials.
“They’re helping as much as they can, but their budgets were also cut,” Scheller said.
In order to offset the cuts, the sponsors are doing fundraisers such as the “Celebrity Scoop Night” at Maggie Moo’s that was held on Oct. 26.
“We’re trying to be proactive,” Scheller said,” but I don’t know how this can do anything but hurt.”

Lost books add up to high cost

As school was ending last year, it looked as if Rider would lose $10,000 due to 174 missing books.

Through the summer, that number shrunk. On the Thursday before school started, 107 books were still missing, adding up to $6,000 in books.

Students who have lost books are out of luck until they pay their fines.

“We are hoping to get at least 90 books back in,” Braveboy said.

Students with books or money will need to see Braveboy or he will go to them.

“We catch a lot of them when they come to check out books,” Braveboy said.

If the books aren’t returned, students with lost books can’t check out a new book or participate in UIL activities.

“The money we don’t get, we have to pay,” Braveboy said. “The district doesn’t let us off the hook. We have to take money from other areas to pay.”

Staff member places at UIL state competition

Sophomore Kayla Holcomb placed 5th in headline writing at the State UIL academic meet.
This was Holcomb’s first year on the journalism team and she had never planed to even compete in headline writing.
“Before district, I had originally planned to do only feature writing, but someone dropped out of headline writing and Mrs. Lee needed an alternate so she wrote my name down,” Holcomb said. “Then I got told a week before that I was going to be competing and I am not the kind of person to show up unprepared so I put a lot of time into studying the rules and practicing.”
All the time and effort Holcomb put in before her first competition at District worked. She ended up placing third.
She continued the streak at Regional%u2019s where she placed second to move her to the state level.
“I was shocked,” Holcomb said. “We had been waiting for the results and we were the last group to receive our scores and Mr. Pearson walked up to us and said ‘I have a headline for the headline competition, headlines lost.’ At first I thought he meant that neither Jordan Campagna, who placed sixth and is going to state as third alternate, or myself had placed, then I realized he was talking about the headlines being lost.”
While a little joking was a great way to get her mind off the scores for a minute, that was the only minute she had until her scores were posted.
“About a minute later, Mrs. Lee walked up and placed a hand on my shoulder and she said ‘ well you tried really hard and it was your first year” and then she paused and said “and you got a silver,”‘Holcomb said. “My brain did not click on that, I did not realize that, and then I noticed Mrs. Lee’s smile, the biggest I had ever seen, and then I heard her say I was going to State and I was in complete shock.”
Holcomb had a little luck on her side along the way though.
“At district the headline that was the one point decider against third and fourth place was the headline I wrote that was “Case of Strum Luck” which got me third,”Holcomb said. “And at Regions, the headline that I wrote was “Luck of the Draw”and that got me second. Mrs. Lee and I have decided that my word is” luck” and when I am at state, I am hoping I will be able to include it somewhere and maybe I’ll do well.”
This is the seventh year in a row for Rider to take someone to State on the journalism team. Rider has placed at state, but not in the last two years. Rider has been eight total times in sixteen years, the first in 2000.
“I feel really special to get to carry on this tradition and it has not kicked in that it is actually me,” Holcomb said.
Holcomb is not going alone, Junior Jordan Campagna is also headed to Austin as third alternate. It is her first trip to state too.
Holcomb wanted to thank Emma White for supporting and helping her prepare and learn, and Mrs. Lee for everything she has done to help her.

Rider theatre advances to UIL area competition

This year the Rider theater advanced to area for the UIL one-act plays with their play “The Anatomy of Grey,” where the two lead roles won awards for  their performances.
“It kind of took us by surprise,” senior Taylor Jackson said. “Everyone cried, even Mr.Jefferson. It made a big impact on us.”
Theater has not advanced to area in eight years making this year an even bigger deal to those in theater.
“We had a week less than usual,” Jackson said. “It was really stressful, especially for Sarah [Harmer] because she had the lead role.”
“The Anatomy of Grey” is about a Christian community that has a disease that is thought to be spread by the main character, when in reality is being spread through the water.
“It’s a play that revolves around religion versus science,” junior John Coleman said.
Junior Sarah Harmer won an award for best actress.
“I was surprised,” Harmer said. “It was one of the proudest moments I’ve had since being in Rider theater.”
Coleman, who has only been in theater since January 2011 won an All-Star cast award.
“I thought it was a joke,” Coleman said.
Now that UIL is over, the Rider theater will  be putting on Student-Directed One Act plays, and they will be put on April 14 and 15. The cost for the tickets are $4 for students and $5 for adults.

UIL Budget Funding

In a budget crunch year, the district’s UIL teams were unable to travel to as many practice competitions as in previous years.

“We’re taking our first trip soon,” Sandra Scheller, Literary Criticism and Ready Writing coach, said. “We’re taking about half the team and it will cost around $2,500.”

This year, and last year, the UIL budget was $10,000.

“I took over last year and it was $10,000,” Schelller said. “The year before, I believe they had more.”

The prices of things and inflation both have a part in the UIL budget.

“The way they determine how much we get also changed,” Scheller said. “We used to request an amount, now, they just assign it.”

Scotty Coppage, Debate and Oral Interpretation coach, believes this issue hurts the students the most.

“Money is tight everywhere, not just in the schools,” Coppage said. “When there is less money to do the things we need to do, it hurts the program and the students lose out the most.”

Mary Beth Lee, Journalism coach, believes not traveling can cause a lack of team spirit.

“We don’t form a team bond which sometimes can be the difference between winning or losing,” Lee said. “When you don’t travel, you don’t get to know each other.”

Not only does it prevent students from getting to know each other, it also prevents students from seeing people they will actually be competing against.

“We don’t see anyone we actually compete against in this area,” Lee said. “We have to travel to Dallas to see our actual competition.”

Lynda Cannedy, Accounting and Computer Applications coach, makes a sports analogy to further explain. “Imagine a sports team that had to go straight to district without any preparation or competition,” Cannedy said. “That’s basically what UIL academics are being asked to when there is no money for out-of-town competition. Our students can’t be as prepared as they need to be without a good competitive schedule.”