The PG Players share their exciting ritual that they do before every performance.

Senior Khalil Sanders pursues his dream by furthering his dance career and education in New York.

While judges carefully scrutinize the scene, a compact Chevrolet Cavalier carefully moves backward in a serpentine motion between cones. The driver will be scored in three categories to test their safe driving ability.

“This is the first time Prince George has participated in this driving competition,” Lisa McDaniels said.

McDaniels is a member of the board of VADETS, and has been president of the board before.

The Virginia Association for Driver Education and Traffic Safety(VADETS) 28th Annual Safe Driving Contest will be conducted at John. B. Todd Stadium in Newport News on Saturday, April 27, 2013. Students who want to participate must be enrolled in a state approved driver education program or have completed a driver education program since January 1, 2012. Any completion of a driver education prior to this date renders a student ineligible.

“They base the number of contestants from each school on the school’s population,” McDaniels said. “Our high school can take two.”

Before these two students go to Newport News for the state level competition, they have to be chosen as contestants from Prince George.

“Mrs. Gilbert is holding the Prince George level competition on April 16, 2013, at 5:30 to see who will go on to the state competition,” McDaniels said.

The competition consists of three categories. Each category is worth 600 points. The first category is “Range Testing,” and will be held on a multiple-car-range. During the test, only the competing student and a range instructor guide is allowed in the car. The testing items include straight-line tracking, offset or lane changing, serpentine (forward and backward), diminishing roadway turnaround maneuver, and parallel parking. These are all timed, but this is only used to break ties.

“Some of the tasks will include parallel parking, diminishing roadway and emphasizes reference points,” McDaniels said.

The second portion of the competition showcases an on-road test that requires 30 minutes of driving around the City of Newport News. The competing student is accompanied by a member of the law enforcement community and a driver education instructor. The student will be evaluated on their on-road performance and steps taken after and before they drive.

Finally, each contestant will complete a 60 multiple choice knowledge test.

The vehicles used in the contest are all the same; a compact Chevrolet Cavalier. They also have the same perks, to include an automatic transmission and power steering.

The winner of this competition can win up to $1000 dollars.

“I’ve only known Bubba since the beginning of the year, but the short time I did know him he left quite an impression. He was a great kid, relatively quite, but funny. I used to call him Slim Shady and he’d retort by calling me Immigrant. We’d entertain our breakfast table going back and forth trying to one-up one another. I’ll miss that kid. Who else am I going to rap with?”

Junior Bradley Smithson

“Gerald was a phenomenal football and frisbee player and was always really enjoyable to be around. I had a great time on the football field. He will be missed greatly.”

Junior William Bonnell

“Bubba and I grew up together, he’s like a brother to me and I’ll never forget him! He always made me smile and had a smile on his face! I love him miss him. RIP Bubba.”

Junior Victoria Miller

“Bubba was a really good friend of mine. I remember that he always had a smile on his face and loved to make people laugh. He would always listen to everybody and was just an amazing friend.”

Junior Samantha Barton

“I will always remember Bubba used to bring a bottle of ketchup to our lunch table, just so all of us would have enough.”

Senior Shelby Emerson

“Bubba was my best friend from 1st- 5th. He was like family. I love him and miss him like crazy.”

Junior Alexandria Wiseman

“Bubba was more than a best friend. The times we shared are more memories. He’s my saving grace. Bubba and I used to spend hours talking about everything under the sun or taking pictures in history. He’s still here with me, his smile will be forever engraved in my heart, soul, and mind. There are so many things I wished I had told him, but I know he hears me now. I love and miss you dearly, Bubba.”

Junior Jessica Cunningham

“Bubba was always a full person. There was never a dull moment when he was around. His smile lit up a room and he always kept a positive mood.”

Junior Savannah Hackley

“I knew Gerald Fouts and I had a few classes with him. He was always happy and in good humor. What I remember him most for was his amazing speed, precision, and craftsmanship in woodshop. He’d make a project look great, but when I’d try to replicate his work, I’d be left with splinters and cracked wood. Gerald was a great friend to me and many others and he will be missed. ”

Junior Adam Kyle

“I will remember Gerald Fouts as a student with impeccable character and a strong work ethic. He always greeted me with a smile and a kind word. His manners were of a caliber I seldom see anymore. In regards to his schoolwork, he exhibited a positive attitude and a desire to learn- a recipe for success. He will be missed by many.”

English Teacher Sonya Lee

Photo from Amazonaws.com

By Alex Crowder

In honor of it being 4/13, I’ve decided to take my focus away from major companies and look at where small companies and enthusiasts are starting to make their home; Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is a fundraising program that has attracted many small indie companies and people with dreams of grandeur come to find money. Though it’s not strictly for video games, there are already some major projects that have been funded through it. I’ve decided to take this month’s column to focus on some of these titles, showing why they earned the money they did and why you should keep an eye on these projects.

Wasteland 2 – raised $2,933,252:

I’ve never played the original Wasteland game, but with the team behind this new one it’s hard to not get excited. The original Wasteland, created in 1988, was the inspiration for the original Fallout games. Set in an apocalyptic Southwestern America, gamers played as ‘rangers’, who were forced to make painful decisions that all tied together into a powerful storyline.

Wasteland 2 is planned to have all that and more, though whether it will simply be a refurbished Wastedland or an entirely new game has yet to be seen.

Project Eternity – raised $3,986,929:

Of all the games on the list, Project Eternity (which does not have an official name yet) is the one with the most star power. With writers from BioWare who worked on Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale and the company that worked on Fallout 3: New Vegas behind them, Project Eternity promises a story driven experience that’s bound to make you think in more ways than one.

If you’re a fan of anything by BioWare – though special attention must be paid to Dragon Age and Baldur’s Gate fans – this is a game to watch. So far they’ve boasted about having strategic combat where you can pause and place your party, collecting companions along the way in a suspiciously Thedas-esque world.

It’s unknown how much this is going to reinvent the fantasy game genre, but it looks like an interesting game nonetheless. Keep an eye on it.

Double Fine Adventure – raised $3,336,371:

If there’s another group that can rival Project Eternity, it’s Double Fine. They’ve created games such as Psychonauts, Costume Quest, and Brutal Legend. Unfortunately they’ve never been known for making a lot of money off of their critically acclaimed games (everyone should play Psychonauts at least once in their life), and so this new project – with them returning to their roots in a traditional point-and-click – is both risky and exciting.

Otherwise, not much is known about Double Fine Adventure. I’m personally excited, though. If you want to get a taste of Double Fine, I recommend Costume Quest or Psychonauts.

Homestuck Adventure Game – raised $2,485,506:

The reason why we’re celebrating 4/13 with Kickstarter? The Homestuck Adventure Game – which we know very little about – is based on the webcomic which is the longest (length-wise) running comic, the fourth (as of writing and without including dialogue in the Flash files) longest written thing in the English language, and currently the only webcomic that has successfully completed a Kickstarter to create a game.

Considering that the webcomic is based on a (fictional) game called Sburb, it’s hard to guess what the game will actually be about. Will it be moving through the comic, taking the role of the kids and trolls as they struggle to win the game without dying (and they do die, oh boy do they die)? Will we be able to create our own Sburb sessions with our own friends, aiming to win the game in the safety of our own homes and hopefully not destroying the universe in the process?

All we know is that author Andrew Hussie is keeping mum on details, but it’s due to come out in 2014 while the comic is slated to end in 2013.

Between the lines of a field or court  the air is tense and no one wants to be the one to mess up when the coach is steadily watching the team on the sidelines. The coach helplessly looks on while trying to encourage his players. One of the ways they try to do so is by yelling.

In the wake of the coaching scandal   involving former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice physically and verbally abusing his players, coaches that constantly berate their players with shouts of frustration have become an increasingly touchy subject.

Even on high school fields, coaches are prone to yelling at their players.

“You are scared to hear that yelling so you just do what they want,” sophomore Heath Pack said.

Not only the effectiveness, but the amount of yelling a coach does has been a hot topic in the media with most of the world speaking out against the “bully coach.” Coaches that yell make their athletes think about their actions, but they also make them respond negatively to constructive criticism and lose all confidence in the process.

“Different players respond differently, but overall I don’t think they appreciate being yelled at,” boys varsity soccer coach Tommy Harrison said.

Even though yelling can not make an athlete respect the coach, one positive thing that comes from it is the fear that motivates each player to work harder and to do it.

“When I need motivation on the soccer field or in practice [yelling] motivates us because it is a scare tactic,” sophomore Winn Watson said.

Yelling always seems to carry a negative connotation, although it can have some positive aspects.

“Yelling doesn’t always have to be a negative thing,” offensive coordinate coach Hezekiah Butler said.

Butler says he often yells because of the distance he is from his players, to make a point, or just express the emotions of a rough practice or a close game.

“I rarely speak loudly to an individual if I’m trying to make a point,” Harrison said. “Taking them to the side is more effective. I find it ineffective to yell because [the players] tune out what you are saying.”

Step one in becoming an effective yeller is effectively communicating in all situations, whether it be in practice or a game, its remaining calm in tense moments.

“I’m consistent in the way I raise my voice.” Harrison said. “I want them to know when I raise my voice, it is important.”

Step two in effective yelling is understanding the feelings and thoughts running through the players’ minds and in turn knowing how to get the point across.

“You have to treat each individual, some respond to things differently,” Harrison said. “That is what is great about being a teacher, we have different dynamics in each class.”

Step three is knowing the moments when to yell and when to address someone firmly one on one. Harrison noted that he tries not to yell at individuals, he often tries to take them aside after practice and follow-up with them to see how they feel regarding what they were critiqued on.

“If you are yelling all the time I do not think that is effective,” Harrison said. “The time to raise your voice is to motivate or correct something. When I yell it is directly at the team not an individual,”

Most players appreciate when coaches use methods using soft, stern words like Harrison versus the violent blows of Rice.

Step four is understanding the situation from a players perspective.

“A coach always has a good pulse of where their players are at,” Butler said. “There are times when I won’t yell because I know other things may be happening in their lives.”

The secrets to being the master of the scream may not fall out of the sky for a coach.

“Coaching is all about teaching with intensity,” Butler said.

Recently there has been a shortage of bus drivers for activity runs for sports in which games have been postponed. The issue was brought o light by upset students, parents, and coaches.

By Chloe Alexander

On Mar. 15, two softball games were postponed due to the lack of bus drivers available for activity runs, which produced an immediate response from parents, coaches, and players.

“I feel like it disappointed a lot of people: coaches, players, parents, and the other team,” senior Sydney Landreth said.

The postponed games brought to light the issue of a bus driver shortage that has been ongoing for about one and a half years. The effects reach farther than the extra curricular activities, with late and double-back bus routes becoming the norm for some students.

“We don’t have enough bus drivers in the schools,” varsity girls’ softball coach Patrick Waguespack said. “It’s something we’ve never addressed before.”

Earlier in the week, the Department of Transportation had tried to work with the athletic director to move the departure time to after four 4:00PM, rather than the scheduled 2:15PM and 2:45PM times.

“If we have the trips later, we are much better able to accommodate trips with bus drivers,” Director of Transportation Ronald Rhodes said.

The response was that the fields where the teams would be playing did not have lights for later games.  Adding that to the ongoing shortage of bus drivers and eight late buses due to several drivers being on sick and medical leave that day, the games had to be postponed.

“That particular game, all of the elements of not having drivers and drivers being out accumulated into one day,” Waguespack said.

The need for bus drivers is directly related to today’s economy. With the starting salary of a full-time bus driver being $13,000 a year, most bus drivers need to have a second source of income in order to make ends meet.

“We have a 21% turnover rate with new drivers,”  Rhodes said. “We lose people because it’s not enough money or because they realize it’s not the right job for them. Not everyone has a backup system.”

There are several training requirements in Virginia that school bus drivers must go through so that they can drive a bus.

“To be a driver, the state requires you to have a recent physical, positive driving record with [the Department of Motor Vehicles], a criminal background check, drug screening in one’s county, two recommendations within the county, and a reasonable amount of driving experience,” Rhodes said.

In order to work towards solving the driver shortage regarding athletics, the Department of Transportation will be offering Saturday Commercial Drivers License (CDL) classes with a $10.40 per hour compensation for interested coaches.

“Hopefully we will get a few coaches that will be willing to enroll in these classes and get their CDL’s,” said Rhodes via e-mail to the school board and athletic director. “Our goal here is to give the coaches more flexibility with their team schedules. Also, coaches can assist each other during their off season.”

This effort is hoped to accommodate the teams’ schedules during the next school year. Some coaches and players approve of this means to resolve the issue.

“I think every coach should have the opportunity to drive a bus,” Landreth said.

To help coaches meet the required driving experience, the classes will involve behind the wheel training without students for fourteen hours, a DMV road test, and behind the wheel training with students for ten hours.

While the driver shortage has caused for the postponement of two softball games, the Department of Transportation is focused on working with the bus driver shortage to make sure students arrive to and from school for this school year

“Our number one goal for this department is to get kids to and from school in the safest manner possible,”  Rhodes said.