Prom season is here and the cash has begun to flow. Dresses, tickets, nails, hair, tuxes, and so much more contribute to the sudden lightening of students’ (and their parents’) wallets.

For girls, it’s all about the “perfect dress,” and there’s so much that goes into picking just the right one. First of all, what style dress do you prefer? What color? And, most importantly, how much are you willing to spend? Prom dresses seem to be getting more and more expensive every year. The amount of money going toward the dress entirely depends on how much money you are willing to spend. For a prom dresses, you can go from spending absolutely nothing if you choose to borrow a dress, or your can buy a new one that costs as much as $1000. A typical dress is usually around $300-$400.

But that’s not all! Not all dresses fit girls perfectly. Actually, it is very rare to find a dress that fits perfectly. Alterations are usually needed, typically costing $50 or more. Want a tip to save some cash? Borrow a dress from a good friend. It is more than likely most people forgot what past dresses looked like, so you don’t have to worry about being outed as a “re-wearer.” Borrowing a dress can save you hundreds. And, by the way, do the same thing with shoes. Why spend $50 or more on a pair of shoes you might only wear once?

Most girls want the whole package when it comes to this magical night. That means jewelry, manicure, pedicure, and amazing hair. Purchasing jewelry at the store where you by your dress tends to be more expensive, sometimes hundreds more. Instead of spending all that extra cash, check stores in the mall such as Claire’s and Icing for some much cheap jewelry on sale during prom season.

Next come the manicure and pedicure. A mani/pedi at a salon usually costs at least $50, and a pedicure with a full set of acrylic nails costs up to $70. Ditch the annoying, long-lasting fake nails. Take a drive to your local Walmart, buy some press-ons, and slap them on in a matter of minutes (or just use your real nails). Not only are they much cheaper, they are also much easier to take off the next day. When it comes to toes, painting your own toe nails looks just as nice, if not nicer, than getting a professional pedicure.

On to the next problem! The hair-do. Not only is getting your hair done expensive, it is also pretty stressful. Every girl that wants to look great knows that the hair must also look great. Getting your hair done professionally usually costs at least $35. But wait! Add another $15 onto that for a hair accessory. Cha-Ching! Instead of going to a professional to get your hair done, have a friend do it, or even do it yourself! Your hair-do doesn’t have to be wild and crazy for it to look good. Sometimes the simplest style is the prettiest and classiest.

If these tips are not being taken seriously, an average high school girl can spend up to $650 total on prom night. Boys, on the other hand, have it much easier. A five minute shower and five more minutes to put on their $60 tux, and they’re all done. Simple as that.

The last two things that contribute to the sudden monetary disappearance are the pictures and the ticket. A ticket for this year’s prom costs $30 per person, and a typical picture package costs about $30; don’t be shy; ask your date to split these costs. Or take your own pictures. Don’t have a camera? Borrow one, and then post the pictures to Facebook. That’s where they’re going to end up, anyway.

Any sane person should look for an alternative to spending over $600 for a dance that lasts one night. Take these tips, and do what you can to save as much money as possible. I promise prom night will be just as magical!

Play for Kay Pink Game and Volley for a Cure:

Play for Kay Pink Game is a basketball game put on by the girls basketball team and the money raised is for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund was founded in December 3, 2007 in the spirit of former North Carolina State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and passed away in 2009. Before she died, she joined the fight against women’s, donating money for scientific research. This winter the girls basketball team put on a “pink game” in support of the Fund. At the game there were raffle baskets, t-shirts for sale, a Chinese auction, games and more. In all, the girls raised over $2,000.

Earlier in the year, the volleyball team put on a Volley for the Cure game. Volley for a Cure was started by two friends in 2006 to raise breast cancer awareness. This game is a  regular season game designated to raise money for breast cancer. The goal of these games are to pack the stands with pink. All money raised at the game goes to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. With raffle baskets, bake sales, games and capacity crowds, the volleyball team has raised over $10,000 in the past four years.

Hunting for a cure and cupcakes for Relay for Life:

This year, the boys basketball team and student council hosted the Relay for Life: Hunting For a Cure game. The MRHS student council held the game to raise money for the Relay for Life of Niles. The game was highly successful for being the first time the event was held at a boys game and for the Relay for Life organization.  The student council prepared by having members make baskets for a Chinese auction, bring in baked goods for a bake sale and also get gift cards from local businesses.

The turnout was great for the game, and the crowd really helped the student council out with their participation with all the different activities. The Hunting for a Cure game was not the only effort the student council has made in hopes of raising money for Relay for Life; they have also sold paper cupcakes that have been hung on the high school office window. In all, Mineral Ridge raised about $2,000 for the Relay for Life organization.

Olive Garden’s Pasta for Pennies:

Students in high schools like ours can collect pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters during the Pasta for Pennies national fundraising campaign sponsored by Olive Garden restaurant. Pasta for Pennies was organized here by high school secretary Mrs. Heilman as a service project for the BETA Club as a way for members to earn service hours.

The class at each school that collects the most money receives a pasta party lunch courtesy of Olive Garden. Mineral Ridge High School has been participating in this fundraising program for the past two years. The first year was more slow going than this year’s competition that became hotly contested between the homerooms. Mr. Ruiter’s homeroom came out on top, raising $371.26. The school raised over $ 2,000 as a whole.

For the winners, Olive Garden brings in enough pasta for the entire homeroom to enjoy; they also include their famous salad and bread sticks. Instead of eating the usual school lunch, winners get to enjoy this delicious lunch, while their friends suffer eating in the loud cafeteria. What is more motivating than that?

With all that is going on in students and teachers lives, it says a lot about our school and community that many of us take time to participate in many fundraising events for good causes. Senior Kelsey Gustovich strongly feels like our community cares so much about raising money for cancer because most of us know of at least someone who has, had, or died of cancer. Kelsey came up with other ideas to raise money such as fundraising in the summer with events such as a basketball or volleyball tournament, biking, or even a run! There are many different fun ways to raise money and especially make people aware of the effect cancer has on families everywhere. Keeping on the same path that we have been on with our school’s ability to raise money for good causes, Mineral Ridge High School will continue to raise more and more money every year.

Mr. Toth graduated from Newton Falls High School. Mr. Stamm’s U.S. history and Mrs. Talstein’s journalism were his favorite classes. Mr. Toth also enjoyed chemistry because of the cool experiments. During his senior year, he was the editor of his high school’s newspaper, The Tiger Tattler, and he had also wrote sports articles for the Newton Falls Herald.

When deciding on what he would do after high school, he actually thought about pursuing a career in journalism, but it was not to be. “In college I took a mass communications class and I found it very boring,” said Toth.

When he was younger, he and his family often took trips to historic sites like Europe, Washington D.C., Jamestown, Zoar Village, Ft. Washington and the Gettysburg battlefield. He also had two great history teachers. Toth said, “I would read biographies of significant people in history, and I fell in love with it all.”

Surprisingly, since he is known so well as the cross country coach at Mineral Ridge, Mr. Toth never ran cross country in high school. Instead, he played football and ran track. He attended college at Kent State where he ran track and did pole vault until he broke his ankle. He then became a football coach here at Mineral Ridge until 2000 when his father-in-law, who lived in Canada, got very sick with bone cancer. Mr. Toth and his wife would go up there to see him often. When Mr. Toth told the head football coach he was going up again to visit his father-in-law, he was told he would either have to stay there for the school’s summer football camp and coach, or resign. So a week later, Mr. Toth turned in his resignation papers.

Lew Speece, the school’s cross country coach at the time heard of Mr. Toth’s decision and offered him a spot as assistant cross country coach. The next year, Lew Speece retired, and Mr. Toth took over as head coach.

“I’ve always had a heart for D.C,” he said, “In 1992, ‘93, and ‘94, I went down to D.C. for Project Nehemiah, and then I was a part of the Samaritan Project which was an inner city mission activity, and that is where I met my wife.”

In May of ‘94, he “prayed for God to grant him a Godly woman.” He met Tamara, a fellow Samaritan Project volunteer from Canada, while volunteering at a soup kitchen and knew she was the one. Months later at a church camp, without ever dating, she was there and he proposed. They got married in October in order for his wife to become an American citizen, and then had a large wedding in April.

“Little children scared me,” he joked. He wanted to be a track and field coach and a head football coach with three dogs and no children. When he got married, he asked his wife who has a degree in Early Childhood Education, what she wanted to do now that they were married, and she said she wanted to be a wife and a mother. A year later, Mr. Toth was ready for kids; and a week later Tamara told him that she was pregnant.

“When my wife asked about my opinion on homeschooling, I told her I wouldn’t condemn my children to a homeschool education because I had never seen it done well.” His opinion changed when his oldest son Nathanael was in second grade. Mr. Toth received a call from his son’s second grade teacher saying that Nathanael did not answer all of the questions on a test about dinosaurs and that she was going to send it home. The question on the test was “What happened to all of the dinosaurs?” Instead of answering with one of the answers the teacher provided, he wrote in his own answer: “Most of the dinosaurs were destroyed in Noah’s Flood, and the ones that survived on the Ark were dangerous and killed.”

Mr. Toth and his wife decided to homeschool their kids after this, and he realized how much he really liked it. It gave him and his wife the opportunity to teach 24 hours a day outside of a traditional school atmosphere.”We are creating a culture of learning and critical thinking in our home based on a distinctively Biblical curriculum,” Toth said.  As for their kids’ socialization skills, they play with other homeschooled children and they won’t be learning all of the “tongue in cheek” one would normally hear in a public school. He says that he wants to be able to choose what his kids are exposed to, and with public education that would not be possible with his kids being out of the house nine hours a day.

The Toth family is very close with one another. Mr. Toth said, “Every relationship in life will inevitably have some sort of conflict, and that includes those within our family, but the vast majority of the time they express authentic love toward one another in word and deed.”

For fun, Mr. Toth and his family do many things. In the winter, his basement transforms into a gymnasium. There is much creativity such as sword fighting and invented games. The girls roller blade, and they all love to run laps. During the summer, there is airsoft in the backyard, climbing trees, biking and running.  They all play board games and love to read (They are currently reading an autobiography of Maria von Trapp). They watch Star Wars, The Andy Griffith Show, and The Lord of the Rings, too. They also go to summer camps, shoot .22’s, bows and arrows, and canoe.

And don’t forget about the 11 birthday celebrations they have each year!

If Mr. Toth could change his occupation to anything in the world, his fantasy is to be the Captain of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek, but in reality he would like to serve in Congress. Currently, though, “My favorite hobby is raising children, because it’s different every day,” said Mr. Toth.

Mr. Toth is a busy man, from being a history teacher and coach by day and a loving husband and father of nine by night. He is an inspirational man and a great example of how having a positive outlook on life can lead to success and happiness.

Whether we want to face it or not, our freshman year is the first step on the path to adulthood. The awkward years of middle school have come to a close. I can’t lie, though; freshman year is pretty awkward, too. Friends you thought were there for you fall short. The homework load doubles. Studying takes on new meaning. Sports are far more competitive. So, if that much changes between middle school and freshman year, what happens between freshman and senior year?

I wish someone would have shared with me all the things I know now. To be honest, I wish someone would have sent me a text, put a secret note on my car or even whispered it in my ear as I slept so I’d dream about all that awaited me in my high school years. That MIGHT have helped to remind me to listen to the people older and wiser than me.

1. I wish I would have listened to my parents, siblings, teachers, guidance counselor, or even my upperclassman friends when they told me the work high school required. For some reason, I did not believe them. I continued not to believe them until my junior year. Then BAM. Exactly what everyone warned me of: harder classes, bigger workload, balancing sports and a job.

My advice: Figure out what you want to do career-wise as soon as possible. It makes everything so much easier. You will be able to sort out the classes you “have” to take. For example, senior Nina Russell said, “I wish I didn’t take Calculus this year. I would tell anyone who doesn’t need it for their major, don’t take it.” She makes a decent point. Looking at your course requirements for your major in college, you may only need a limited amount of math. Putting yourself through Calculus and risking your GPA isn’t necessary, BUT colleges look specifically at your schedule and the challenges you put yourself through. You may not need the hard classes, but they expand your mind and show colleges you are ready to work. You might get that scholarship over the people who did not push themselves. Keep that in mind.

2. I wish someone would have told me how much more involved sports become in high school. Don’t get me wrong, I love sports; they will produce great memories, and I’m sure there will be times when I wish I could go back and play. Senior David Pustay, who has played football and baseball, said, “No one ever told me how much time sports take out of your day.” He is completely right. The school day is over at 2:20. From there you either have practice or a game. Depending on the day, you might not get home until 9 or 10 at night from an away game. What about homework? Dinner? Shower? How are you supposed to maintain a job?

My Advice: Know what you are getting into. You need to love the sport you play. It is very time consuming and tiring. School and work should always come first. If possible, try to take a study hall. That way, if you are home late, you can fall back on that study hall. If you have to work, work weekends. Does this mean you won’t have a life? Pretty much. But that’s the sacrifice you make for the love of your game.

3. This one is really just advice, because actually I really enjoyed extra curricular groups and clubs at this school. Senior Josh Butcher told me, “ I wish I would have known clubs and organizations would actually be fun. Also, don’t procrastinate.” Experience everything. Don’t ever not participate just because not everyone is doing it. Find out what you like and what you are good at. It may help you with people, life skills and leadership. Also, the older you get, the bigger workload you will have. Procrastinating is never the way to go. Learn time management by deciding what is most important to least important and give the most important thing the most time and attention and work your way down. Then, plan your days accordingly.

High school’s main purpose is to get you prepared for college and the world beyond. Freshman year to senior year seems like a long time, but it goes by in the blink of an eye. Don’t get lost or caught up in the now. Plan for your future as much as possible. It will be beaten into your head. Listen. It will help you in the long run. Have fun, experience what you can, but make sure you have the main goal in mind.

Jake Chiclowe – Our first candidate for Rampage Player of the Year, senior Jake Chiclowe, is the only male candidate. Chiclowe has won nearly every competition he has entered in both indoor and outdoor track so far this year. “Chic” broke the shot put record at Mineral Ridge and broke the Joe Lane Invitational record, as well. Not only is Chiclowe a track standout, he was also the best offensive lineman in the ITCL and earned state honors this year. Chiclowe is nominated for his character on and off the field and his unmatched work ethic.

Meghan Garland – Our next candidate, senior Meghan Garland, represents the softball team. As a four-year letter-winner and starter, Meghan is also one of the loudest players on the team. Thanks to her will to work and win, Meghan is regarded as one of the best hitters and pitchers in the ITCL. The fate of the Rams’ softball season rests in Meghan’s right hand, as she pitches every game. Meghan has been playing softball since kindergarten and will continue to play softball beyond high school. She will attend Hiram University and major in Law.

Cassie Reese – The third candidate for Rampage Player of the Year is a senior who really stepped up and became a leader during this year’s bowling season. One of the best high school bowlers in the Mahoning Valley, Cassie Reese led her team to sectionals, was the player of the year for her team and posted a high score of 182. Cassie is nominated for leading her team to many victories and being the face of bowling at Mineral Ridge High School.

Abby Riffee – The final candidate, senior Abby Riffee, served as the leader of the Lady Rams volleyball team that made it all the way to the regional final. Abby became one of the top recruits in Ohio for her amazing defense at the libero position. Also, Abby was the leading point scorer and captain of the basketball team and was invited to numerous all-star games. She has ascended to become one of the top female athletes in Mineral Ridge history. Abby was nominated because of her very competitive attitude and leadership. Abby will be continuing her volleyball career at Mount Union in the fall.