see pg. 3 see pg. 8 THE Vol.Bear 30 No. 2 Brentwood ChristianFacts School November 2017 BCS to launch Girls win district, fall short of state new engineering By Natalie Barry The Lady Bears lost their regional playoff program in 2018 game against Cypress Christian in three sets on Nov. 4 in Bryan, ending their season one By Benjamin Helyer win short of making the state tournament. Brentwood finished the season as district The BCS science department was notified champions with a perfect 14-0 record and an on Oct. 16 of their selection for a grant from overall record of 25-16. the University of Texas at Austin. These “An amazing run through district at 14-0 is funds are intended to defray the expenses of not an easy task,” head coach Russell Larson an engineering program which Brentwood said. “The team was focused on this goal and will launch next year. when they needed to, stepped up to the chal- “This is a serious accomplishment by our lenge.” science department,” president Jay Bur- Earlier that week at BCS, Brentwood defeat- cham wrote in an email to the BCS com- ed Logos Prep Academy on Oct. 31 in three munity on Oct. 16. “Congratulations to sets (25-16, 25-17, 25-20). Bear fans were es- our faculty as STEM (science, technology, pecially noisy – particularly students, many of engineering, and mathematics) continues to whom came dressed in Halloween costumes, improve and excel at BCS!” which added a fun and energetic element to the The course Engineer Your World I: Engi- game. photo: Mere Rowlett neering Design and Analysis will be taught Intimidating Junior Jaclyn Wishard goes high to block as freshman Brooklyn Allen “If they’re cheering, that helps us keep our by Dr. Diann Sloan next school year and energy up, and if we have our energy up, we looks on during Brentwood’s playoff victory over Logos Prep Academy on Oct. 31. will be offered to one class of 24 students. play better and have more fun,” senior Trinity Science department chair Michelle Mallett with Ragsdill’s assessment. and Ragsdill led with 985 assists. Ragsdill said. said she is thrilled to have the course of- “I think we all just got along better (than last “Next year we can expect to be a similar Larson agreed that the game atmosphere was fered at Brentwood. year), and that made it easier for us to play bet- team and to have the same team unity,” Wis- “awesome,” and was proud of his players. “It’s going to be an amazing class,” she ter,” Leidlein said. hard said. “The competition should be tougher “The 3-0 win was a complete team effort,” said. “I want to take it!” Vazquez led the team with 604 digs and 92 next year, but as long as we play our best, we he said. “We were able to keep Sugar Land out Mallett said it had been a goal of the sci- aces, while Wishard was tops with 418 kills, will have a good season.” of any game plan. We pretty much controlled ence department to have more opportunities the flow of the game.” for students to engage with the the “E” in The loss on Saturday, however, was a differ- “STEM.” At the end of last school year, so- ent story. cial studies teacher Mel Witcher informed “We just didn’t have a good game,” senior her of a conference offered by the Engineer Emma Leidlein said. “There were a lot of mis- Your World program. At the conference, takes on our side.” Sloan and Mallett were able to see the train- After losing five seniors from last year, Lar- ing for the teachers of the 2017-2018 course son said that the team had to get over the initial which involved building a drone. After see- shock of being young and had to become more ing that the design of a drone would be part of a team. He said that Ragsdill, juniors Jaclyn of the course, Mallett was hooked. Wishard and Nyna Vazquez, and sophomore This summer, Mallett and Dr. Sloan Alyssa Mancias really stepped up this year. worked alongside secondary principal “They came into the season not really know- Carol Johnson to apply to the program. ing where they would stand, but after winning Alongside the funds, the program includes district they felt as though they had something curriculum, lab costs offset, and training for to prove,” Larson said, noting also that the continuing education units for teachers. whole team “played for each other and for The program, which has been implement- Christ.” ed at schools nationwide, is associated with Ragsdill said that overall it was a great sea- UT Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineer- son, and she attributes much of the success to ing, ranked #9 in the nation for engineer- the way teammates treated each other. ing schools by U.S. News & World Report. photo: MaeAnne Herring “We were real close with each other, and that Also sponsoring the program are the Na- Animal farm A dozen seniors wearing strange creature onesies left campus helped us connect well on the court,” she said. tional Science Foundation and the College with the rest of the National Honor Society seniors on the morning of Oct. 27 to Leidlein said she thinks the season went of Education at UT Austin. continue a tradition of joining the Rosedale students in their Halloween festival. “better than anyone expected,” and she agrees Page 2 Editorials & Humor THE BEAR FACTS November 2017 Thus Spoke Ben Helyer Korean students address their nation’s conflict With neither Donald Trump nor Kim Jong-un each brings a variety of personal ways be looking for ways to move backing down and little progress being made experiences to the table. So with- forward on the peace process. to alleviate the tensions, possibilities for a so- out further ado, I will hand over Kiryang Kwon: lution to the North Korean issue are frequently the column to senior Kiryang It has been 67 years since the painted vaguely. Most Americans don’t appear Kwon and junior Esther Shin. Korean war took place. In Ko- to have strong views on what action our nation Esther Shin: rean, it is often called the “6.25 should take in this conflict, but with millions Regarding North Korea’s mis- war between Koreans”: At dawn of lives at stake in the case of another war with sile tests, I think North Korea has on June 25, 1950, North Korea Korea, a vision for American policy in North no intention of starting a war but Esther Shin invaded the South in the purpose Korea is needed. wants to be acknowledged as a po- of unifying the Korean peninsula. I contend that the best policy going forward tent nation, which they think impossible with- Because of this terrifying incident, my grand- is one of deterrence. Let me explain this term: out their nuclear capability. And I assume that father lost four of his brothers. “deterrence” is the policy which America uti- it is why Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of In the peaceful town of Jin-ju, my grand- lized in the Cold War to prevent conflict with a North Korea, refuses any inter-Korean dialogue father’s family was the most affluent, but re- nuclear Soviet Union. An assumption of such and panics the world with missile launches. spected highly by the villagers. Unfortunately, a stance is that military engagement should be Since my family lives in the United States, the “Lee” family – who felt extreme jealousy avoided, but at the same time, military strength we do not perceive North Korea as a real threat. towards our family – came up with a plan to must not falter in order to deter an enemy from However, it is inevitable that any news about falsely report our family of being communist attacking. With nuclear missiles, this involves North Korean aggression give us worries, be- spies. At this time, spies were instantly shot Looking at policies regarding this conflict, I keeping a number of warheads at one’s dispos- cause Korea is where we were born and raised to death, which led to the shooting of three of think the South Korean government has to stop al to be ready to attack if another power strikes and where the rest of our fam- my grandfather’s brothers. In ad- the unnecessary food to help the North. In real- first. This ability to retaliate will deter the ri- ily lives. My mom says that she dition, one of my grandfather’s ity, the money and food we are sending is not val from striking due to the devastation that a would rather go back to South Ko- older brothers was missing after going to the people, but is used to strengthen nuclear response would cause their nation. rea to stay with her family if a war the incident. their army. We can’t react to every provocation This strategy is suitable for the Korean situ- actually breaks out. I think that Ten years ago, we received a of North Korea, but at the same time, we can’t ation for a few reasons, the most important of even if a Korean lives outside of written letter from the North Ko- just leave them shooting missiles everywhere. which is that we are almost in the midst of a Korea or becomes used to hearing rean government saying that he Military engagement might be the fastest way “Korean missile crisis.” North Korea already about the North Korean aggres- is still alive and well, but I really to destroy the North and unite our country, but has the capability of striking South Korea with sion, it is true that he or she gets Kiryang Kwon can’t believe them.