One question, pondered by many, discussed by several, and written about by few. A topic enmeshed with conspiracy, facts, fiction, and movie references. Yes, this reporter could only be referring to, samurais vs. ninjas. The Pawzette, your local crusaders of truth, take to the hallways to get the general consensus on this age-old question.
So, let’s set the stage, a ninja and a samurai, locked together in deadly combat. Who would win? This scenario is not as simple as it may seem, cool stuff expert, Jay Mitchell says, “It all depends on the battlefield and the situation.” As the general population seems to confirm, a ninja would “totally beast” in most scenes, but an open field with nowhere to hide? A samurai might even feel sympathy for the poor defenseless ninja. ..But, probably not, we’re talking about samurais here.
What do we really know about these masked artists of war? “Well, a ninja is an assassin, a samurai is a warrior” says the omniscient Jay Mitchell. This proves to be true upon any Google search or conversation with the student body. Ninjas are spies, infiltrators, covert fighters. The samurai is built for honor and combat. But, both share a bloodlust for awesome nun chucks, fight sequences…and blood.
As you can imagine, there isn’t a lot of history on the ninja. Because they’re ninjas. Combat enthusiast, Riley Nail, has this to say on the topic, “Ninjas probably don’t have moms or anything, they’re orphans. Well, they probably do have moms, but they had to kill them to test their abilities, and the dad’s all, ‘it’s okay, son, I always knew it would come to this.” Nail’s comments bring to mind, what exactly are the requirements for becoming a ninja? Ninjutsu, obviously, is a must. However, as Riley Nail puts it, “It’s pretty much a full time job, I mean, what else would a ninja do? They don’t really have a wide range of job capabilities, like, what, ninja stars??”

It’s hard to know what a ninja will look like, or how they will mind-freak you next, but Jay Mitchell is sure about their ninja-gear, “They always wear black, it’s the ultimate color.” Indeed, a ninja is stealthy-like and invisible beyond our tiny non-ninja minds. “You don’t know who is a ninja, they don’t even care. It has to be that way else they would never kill anybody. WE COULD BE NINJAS.” says Jay.
Samurais however are far different. They’re like the goody-good football player in the warrior world. “Samurais wear amour because they fight fair,” says Nail. “They don’t want to get chopped up even though they do anyway. Have you ever seen the Last Samurai with Tom Cruise?? Those guys got MESSED UP. And not just because it’s Tom Cruise. Just Kidding, it was just Tom Cruise… That guy messes up every movie he’s ever in. Did you even see Top Gun?” Samurais can definitely hold their own on the battle field. “Samurais have to kill themselves if they fail a mission. Or something like that…” recalls Jay. “Yeah, “confirms Riley, “I think you’re born into being a samurai, but I’m not sure- It’s been a long time since I’ve watched the deadliest warrior.” All in all, samurais and ninjas are deadly, deadly fellas. “Ninjas and samurais are on this special diet of nuts and berries, dude, really, it’s on Wikipedia.” says Autumn Villa, freshman, further proving their hardcore commitment.

When it comes right down to it, however, most students here at PHS believe in the ninja’s lack of morals, invisibility, and straight-up skills. As best put by sophomore, Luke Layton, “Ninjas pwn samurais every time, but a samurai still gets to die in a really cool way.” “Yeah,” agrees Mitchell Dodson, also sophomore (and ninja- expert) “I have a lot of respect for samurais, they get killed by ninjas, but they get to monologue for like ten minutes.”

Piedmont High School has added a new member to its staff, Mrs. Dodson. This first- year instructor will be teaching English I and coaching cheerleading. She is the mother of a beautiful two-year-old daughter. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, and going to the movies. She reflects on being a cheerleader in High School and later in college, when she attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant. Prior to becoming a teacher, she worked as a server at Texas Road House and Choctaw Casino. When asked how she likes Piedmont so far, she answered, "Piedmont is a really nice place to live, everyone is so friendly!" She loves Piedmont so far and thinks we are great. Looks like this self-proclaimed Longhorn fan is off to a good start at PHS.

We have a new history teacher among us here at Piedmont High, his name is Matt LaHue, or better known as Coach by his (also new) soccer team. Mr. LaHue has been educating students for eleven years. History was his strongest subject in high school and also the subject in which he has a degree. He hails from Shawnee(where he attended high school) and continues to commute to Piedmont from his beloved hometown.
When asked if the lovely PHS was similiar to his previous school, he replied, "No, not at all." According to LaHue, Shawnee was much greater in size. "You can actually walk through the halls here." he claims. Mr. LaHue raves about the "nice people" and "hardworking kids" roaming around the walkable halls here at PHS.
LaHue teaches a rigid schedule of two AP U.S history classes along with three regular ones. New and exciting things are happening in Piedmont this year, one of them being the introduction of soccer. Coach LaHue is very much looking forward to this inaugural year of this sport. LaHue seems to be very optimistic about this school year and will be a great contribution to our teaching staff.

This year, there has been a slew of new teachers, one of them being Todd Johnson. He teaches 9th and 10th grade english, along with coaching cross country, wrestling, and soccer.

This 2010-2011 school year will be his 6th year of teaching. He started out substitute teaching for a year and a half in Colorado immediatly after he graduated. He then grabbed his first gig in Florida and was there for four years. His last school, Keys, was located in Park Hill, Oklahoma.

So, how is Piedmont High working out for him? "I love being at Piedmont High School," says Johnson. "I have met a lot of really good people. The community has a lot of parents who have an interest in and care about their child's education. So far most of the students have been treating me well, I have a class clown or two (I won't mention names), but my classes are going great."

Hey, something interesting! Coach Johnson has known since the ripe age of 16 that he was going to be a teacher, and even a coach. "I think that dream inspired me to be the first college graduate in my family." See, teachers really did used to be 10th graders.

Five or ten years from now, Coach Johnson still see's himself teaching and coaching here at Piedmont High School. But, if his teenage dreams of teacher-dom hadn't been fullfilled, he "would probably go back to college and get a degree to practice law."

Lets start off by saying, welcome back everyone! A great summer was had by all. Man, it went by fast, though. Its unbelievable that we're at school once more. Anyways, this year will be extremely exciting and fly by before you know it. Now, there are some changes that have been made, but relax we're here to inform...

As you know, the school’s schedule time has been changed and we now go earlier, but also get out earlier. We now have a new superintendent, Mr. White, who is very nice and will make time to listen to anyone. We also lost some treasured faculty members, but gained some remarkable new ones. We still have the same old school rules, besides the whole “no zero” policy, but lets avoid that since you’ve probably heard all about it already. School is school, but lets make this year a great one!