With his duties of the DDR club, tennis team, Mu Alpha Theta, select soccer, and Distinguished Scholar, can senior Nickolas Whitehead achieve any more accomplishments? Yes.
Whitehead, the only competitor from Mississippi, was awarded a bronze medal in the Energy category of the International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering, and Environment) Project Olympaid, I-SWEEP, in Houston, Texas.
This was Whitehead’s Distinguished Scholar project, and he worked in Dr. Sabine Heinhorst’s lab the previous summer for his project.
Professor Heinhorst of USM, Whitehead’s mentor, helped him achieve his award. “Nick was selected because he won first place in the biochemistry division at the Regional Science Fair and was an alternate for the International Science Fair,” Heinhorst said. Heinhorst is a chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at USM and has mentored Whitehead through his multi-year research project.
The basic goal of the project was to manipulate the protein structures, carboxysomes, found in many bacteria that remove carbon dioxide.
When asked how this project has benefited him, Whitehead responded, “It will help me decide what I want to do in the future and what kind of research I want to do.” Whitehead’s project will finally be completed by the end of this school year.
He will do a presentation of his findings and project at that time.
In total, 2,200 projects were registered, and only 440 reached finalist status at I-SWEEP. Students came from 70 countries and 43 states.

All four performances of “The Jungle Book” sell out

By: Taylor Herring

The OGHS Drama Department performed their show, “The Jungle Book”, at the Churchill Theatre for an audience of both adults and children. There wasn’t an empty seat in the house while they performed; in fact, Oak Grove was the only high school to sell out all four of their shows. It wasn’t all smoke and mirrors, though; the students worked for over a year to raise money for the trip.

Last May, the Oak Grove Theatre Department was nominated by the MS Theatre Association to travel to Scotland and perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest film festival in the world. Once nominated, the team was chosen as one of the top 35 in the United States. Mrs. Allmon, their director, then held an audition to determine the select group she’d be taking overseas. The 27 lucky students would later face another obstacle: they each had to raise around 6,000 dollars to pay for the trip. When asked how they raised this money, students responded, “We sold a lot of cookie dough,” or, “We spent our Halloween entertaining kids with a fundraising haunted house.” With 27 students and 6 adults planning to attend, funding the trip was no easy task; however, the aspiring thespians persevered. Fifteen months and $200,000 later, the Oak Grove Drama Department was on an 11 hour flight to Scotland.

Upon arrival, the group hit the ground running. They had the opportunity to march in a parade quite similar to Mardi Gras in America. Some of the group climbed Arthur’s Seat, the highest of a group of hills in Edinburgh. It is believed that Arthur’s Seat is distantly associated with a base for military action under the rule of King Arthur. They also got to witness the Military Tattoo, a royal procession that honors one member of the royal family each night.

All tourism aside, our drama department didn’t just travel to Scotland for sightseeing. After selling out their shows, the actors all went outside of the theatre to play with children who were in the audience, sign autographs, and answer endless questions about their “funny accents.”

Obviously, we have a very talented group of actors at Oak Grove. If they can sell out all four shows in another country, imagine how well they would do if the school had an auditorium here. The show they performed appealed to a very large audience because it had singing, dancing, and even crowd participation. Logan Little, who played the lead role of Baloo, said, “It was a true honor to have the opportunity to travel to Scotland and show the world Mississippi’s talent in the art of theatre.”

If you’re into board games and you enjoy a challenge, you may want to try out the Chess Club.  It meets on Wednesday mornings at 7:45 in Mrs. Fortenberry’s classroom (F114).  The best part is, you don’t even have to know how to play chess to join!  Mrs. Fortenberry or another member would be happy to teach you.

For students who are politically aware, OGHS offers the Young Republicans Club.  Don’t be fooled by the name, though.  This club is for anyone who wants to discuss political issues with fellow students, not just Republicans.  The Republican Club’s next meeting is scheduled for September 11 in Mrs. Siders room (A121).  “We had a really good turn out for the first meeting, but we’re hoping to get a lot more students involved,” says member Steven Wild.

If neither of these clubs are quite what you’re looking for, try one of the many others our school has to offer:

• Art Club
• Asian Cultural Society
• Beta Club*
• Chess Club
• DDR
• DECA
• DELTA
• Diversity Club
• Environmental Club
• FCCLA
• FEA
• First Priority
• FCA
• French Club
• International Thespian Society (ITS)
• Key Club
• Military History Society
• MS Technology Team
• Mu Alpha Theta*
• National Honors Society*
• National French Honors Society*
• National Spanish Honors Society*
• Red Cross
• Robotics
• Spanish Club
• Student Council*
• Young Republicans

*Denotes prerequisites/applications.