by Jessica Smoot

Russell Jackson, or Mr. Jackson, the math teacher, as most students know him, calls himself a boring person. Like many people, he fails to see that sometimes having a heart for others can make him a person with one of the fullest lives possible.

Mr. Jackson tutors before and after school almost every day of the school year.

Mr. Jackson was born on an Air Force base long enough ago to have gained more wisdom than any of the students he teaches every day. His dad was a Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force, but he was more than that to Jackson. His dad was his life-long hero, and the man who would have an important influence on Jackson’s future career. For several years after Jackson was born, the family moved around due to the military, living in the Philippines, and in perhaps less exotic, but no less interesting places, like Michigan and Louisiana. After his father retired from the Air Force, the family moved to Missouri when Mr. Jackson was in first grade.

Jackson went immediately to college after graduating high school. He studied math but was also involved in the Air Force ROTC program. On the day of his college graduation, Jackson was commissioned into the Air Force as a Second Lieutenant. After time, it was discovered that Jackson had nasal septum deviation, a common physical disorder in the nose in which the nasal septum is displaced. This closed his pilot career. The Air Force found other things for him to do: important things. He was Space Systems Director and then Crew Commander for a squadron that specialized in satellites. His next position was as Chief of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning Systems Branch. This required him to teach space tracking and missile warning, among other specialties. As part of this position, he gave briefings to important officials, even the Secretary of the Air Force.

Then, Jackson was on the Inspector General’s (IG) team for the rest of his military career. He traveled across the world, inspecting Air Force bases. After twelve years in the military and earning the rank of Captain, Jackson left the Air Force. To this day, Mr. Jackson misses the camaraderie, the missions, and the standardization of the Air Force daily life.

After his years in the Air Force, he became an industrial engineer for a period of time, but eventually quit because, as he said, “It wasn’t a job of service.”  Those were the words that could wrap up his life. Jackson’s heart is focused on helping.

While living in New Mexico twenty-six years ago, the best man at his wedding was an eight year-old boy. The child was a “little brother” through the PAL program, a program much like the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. While still in the Air Force, Jackson worked as a Youth Center Volunteer and with Habitat for Humanity. After the Air Force, Jackson volunteered at Our Home Child Crisis Center in Pomona, MO and mentored a Willow Springs School fifth grader. The day after leaving his job as an industrial engineer, Jackson began teaching math. He wanted to work with kids and help mentor them. He wanted to help mold them into the men and women they had the potential of becoming. This was eight years ago. He started teaching at Cabool. Then, after two years, Mr. Jackson moved to teach Geometry and College Algebra at Willow Springs High School.

Although he still doubts his ability to live a life of service to troubled kids, Russell Jackson comes to work every day with the hope that perhaps he will touch a person’s life in a positive way. And that is what makes his life so interesting.

Making it into the national headlines, a good example of this is when a bus carrying 21 students was hit my a semitruck.  Before bursting into flames, the bus was pushed more than 200 feet by the big truck.  The truck driver later admmitted that he had been texting and didn’t notice that the bus had stopped.  Greatfully, 20  of the students escaped and made it safely off the bus.  However, this was not the case for 13 year old Margay Schee who was killed.

 People everyday think that this will never happen to them, but neither did the semitruck driver.  You may think you can be the odds, but the truth is you can’t.  Is a life lost worth responding to that text message or phone call that can’t wait?

Opray Winfrey took it upon herself to do something about this.  Having surveys, like the one metioned, statitstics, and live stories, she wanted to give viewers a visual of the reality. 

“It is my prayer that this show, this day will be a seminal day in your life,” Oprah replied on her TV show,  ”Let it be the end, the end of you using a cell phone or sending a text message when you are behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. And until we as a nation decide we’re going to change that, those numbers are only going to go up.” 

Along with Oprah, Harpo Studios came together to declare April 30^th the first national “No Phone Zone Day.”  The announcement was made April 6^th on Oprah and is hoped to be used as a day where Americans or any drivers band using their cell phones, for whatever reason, in a vehicle.  More than 160,000 people have already taken the No Phone Zone pledge for April 30^th.  This is hoped to serve as an example to drivers that they can in fact make it without using their phones for the amount of time that they are driving. 

 ”We must not allow more mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, sisters and brothers to die before we take action against distracted driving. Let’s put a stop to it now, by joining together on April 30 for national ‘No Phone Zone Day’, and by making our cars a ‘No Phone Zone.’” Oprah stated. So, will you along with the others, rise up to the plate and pledge your April 30^th as a No Phone Zone Day?

It’s looking like that time of year again. Christmas has ended, summer vacation is a long way off, and the juniors have locked themselves in Mrs. Brower’s room for that past few lunch periods. Its Prom season. It’s the most secretive of times when seniors usually need spy equipment just to discover any information about the event.  But finally Mrs. Brower has shared all there is to know about the 2010 Prom.

This year’s Prom will be held in Springfield’s Oasis Convention center on April 10^th, with buses leaving the school by about five that evening. The theme for this year’s Prom is “Meet Me at the Tower,” as in Eiffel Tower. The Convention Center hosts a much larger ballroom than last years, with the capacity to hold over 700 people. Prom attendants will be enjoying a catered meal from the convention center’s on-site restaurant Fire and Ice. When the clock strikes midnight, students will load back onto the buses and head for Project Prom, to be held at either the Hollister YMCA like last year or possibly the Ozark Community Center.

Mrs. Brower also had information on tickets and prom dresses; the tickets are to be $35, like last year, and will be on sale the week before and after Spring Break. Students wishing to rent a dress can stop by Mrs. Brower’s room at anytime to pick one up.

Another prom related item is the contest at StumpsParty.com, where you can go and vote for your school to win money for prom. There are three grand prize winners, though the winner of each state (Willow currently leads Missouri) receives $1000 for decorations, souvenirs, and other party items.

“I am really excited about the new location,” said Mrs. Brower. “This year’s committee has great ideas to help make this one of the best proms yet.”

Mrs. Brower has a nice selection of formal dresses to choose from

One big question looming in the face of all this snow and ice is will the graduation date be affected? Dr. Hutsell has spoken on the subject saying that, “save for missing an enormous amount of days, the date of graduation will be unchanged.” While this is good news for the seniors, it’s not so much for the rest of the school who could be facing going to school up until the 25^th of May.

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Life here in Qatar really isn’t that much different from life in the states. I’ve been to other countries before and most of them aren’t even as advanced as Qatar. Qatar is a very wealthy country and from what I’ve been told, it supplies most of the world it’s natural gas resource. It is located east of Saudi Arabia in the the Persian Gulf. We are located approxiamelty 30km (18.75 miles) outside of Doha, Captial of Qatar.

Downtown Doha is like any large city you would see in the states. It’s very busy with traffic and construction. They have large malls here with all the same sort of stores you have in any large city. The only thing I’ve noticed to be a lot different here are the homes and the way women dress. Homes here look like they are made out of concrete and made to look like small castles almost. Just picture Aladdin’s house, but much smaller. The women here dress VERY CONSERVATIVE. But just like in the states, you have different degrees of how people dress. Most of the women are dressed to where their body is completely covered with no skin showing, all the way down to the way a conversative woman would dress in the states.

As for the local land, there isn’t any real vegetation and looks much like you see on tv. There is sand as far as you can see, no trees and extremely hot during the days. When you get closer to the city, you’ll see a few patches of grass and a couple trees, but that’s about it. The weather here is much like the weather of Missouri in Mid/Late July. Temperatures average 85-90 during the day and 75 at night, during the months of Sept-Apr.

The Base:  The base where we are stationed isn’t really any different than any military base in the states. We have everything you have there and even a little more because of its deployed location. We have a dining facility that is open 24-hours a day for food when you get hungry; they have shops such as Dairy Queen, Popeye’s Chicken, Subway, Pizza Hut and a few others. We actually have a movie theater opening up here. It will start showing new releases; everyone here is really excited about that.

I live in a building that resembles a college dorm in many ways. My room shares a kitchen and a bathroom with one other person, which is nice. Most of the individuals here that are lower in rank stay in trailers, and everyone shares a large community bathroom. Community bathrooms may have 15-20 showers and other facilities, but will service an area of the compound that houses over 200 people. So sharing a kitchen and a bathroom with one other person is AWESOME! We an education center here where you can take classes and earn college credit.  We have a bx (like a small wal-mart) to buy things you might want or need, and also a CAC (Community Activity Center). The CAC is really neat.  It has pool tables, large tv’s that plays all the sporting events, video game room, virtual golf room (broken now), and other stuff to keep you busy when you get bored.

Work:  My job title here is Customs/Immigrations Liaison. Basically what I do is make sure people immigrate/emmigrate in and out the country correctly. I am also the individual responsible for making sure people don’t try to smuggle illegal items in such as weapons, drugs, alcohol and pornography. They are very strict over here about those items, and if caught bringing any of those into the country, they will arrest you. No slap on the hands here! One of the perks of my job is that because Al Udeid is the major hub for military bases in the Middle East, we get to see everyone! So if anyone is coming into the Middle East and going “down range”…AKA: Afganistan/Kuwait/Iraq, they have to come through customs here. We have famous people come through a lot of times, and I missed the Fox news crew last week, was off work that night. But we have people like Kid Rock and Carlos Mencia coming in the first week of December. Hopefully their plane will arrive when they get here, and I will get to do there paperwork and get a few pics with them.

We will stay in touch with Byron in the next few months.  If you have any questions for him, please email them to doughtyh@wspgs.com.

Byron Stuart

Shopping close to home is something that takes little effort and provides a bounty of options and items usually passed over for the larger Springfield stores. The items that you find in say… Maurice’s of West Plains are just as good as the items in American Eagle or Hollister in Battlefield, and purchasing them close to home helps add a boost to the local economy that could always be used, especially now. In Willow, many people are seeing the benefits of shopping close to home, such as junior Kayla Roberts. “I shop locally for the holidays because I know it helps the community, and also because it’s much quicker than going all the way to Springfield.” Junior Whitney Atwell agreed saying, “I shop locally because it’s easier and quicker”.

With students and community members getting into the act, maybe you could give the local shopping centers a boost and a chance this holiday season. On Black Friday this year, don’t go far, shop close to home and make your money go far.

DAY                         HOME/AWAY                         LEVEL       PLACE

Tue 11/24/09      Koshkonong High School       Var/J.V.       Away

Mon 11/30/09    Gainesville High School          Var/J.V.       Away

12/07/09–12/12/09 Cabool Tournament       Varsity          Away

Mon 12/14/09     Alton High School                      Var/J.V.      Home

Thu 12/17/09      Mansfield High School              Var/J.V.      Home

Mon 12/21/09     Liberty High School *                Var/J.V.       Home

Mon 01/04/10    Conway High School                   Var/J.V.       Home

Thu 01/07/10      Licking High School                    Var/J.V.       Away

Mon 01/11/10      Thayer High School *                 Var/J.V.       Home

Thu 01/14/10       Salem High School *                    Var/J.V.       Away

01/18/10–01/23/10 Mtn. Grove Tournament  Varsity          Away

01/25/10–01/30/10 Mansfield Tournament     Varsity            Away

Mon 02/01/10         Ava High School *                    Var/J.V.         Away

Thu 02/04/10         Mtn. Grove High School *       Var/J.V.         Home

Tue 02/09/10          Strafford High School                Var/J.V.        Home

Thu 02/11/10           Hartville High School                Var/J.V.        Away

Mon 02/15/10         Cabool High School *                 Var/J.V.       Home

Thu 02/18/10           Houston High School *              Var/J.V.       Away

Mon 02/22/10          Seymour High School                Var/J.V.       Home

03/01/10–03/06/10 District Tournament            Varsity          Away

*Conference

WSHS hosted a blood drive on Friday, November 6,^th in the Bears Den.  Amanda Girdler led the drive as part of her senior project. “The blood drive required a lot of organization, but it was worth it.  I am very proud of the students for coming out and saving lives.  We had a great turn out!”

This year there were ninety-seven students and teachers that donated blood.  Student Council helped with the blood drive and their goal amount of blood was seventy-five units.  The total amount of blood that could be used was seventy-seven units.