Have A Merry, Merry Christmas
THE GRYPHON
PoblislKd by Um Journalism Gass of Rocky Mount Seni« High Sdiool
VOLUME ffl. No. 5
ROCKY MOUNT, N. C,
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1971
As Miss Rocky Mount
Janet Fish Comments
On Beauty Queen Life
Janet CaroUne Fish, a talen
ted senior at RMSH, was selec
ted to succeed Sherri Brabham
as the new Miss Rocky Mount
Saturday, November 13. The
following is an informative in
terview with Janet, in which
she discusses her plans as Miss
Rocky Mount,
Question: Concerning the
local, state, and national page
ants, how do you feel about
the purpose of a beauty contest?
Janet; The purpose of the
local, state, and national beau
ty pageants have changed a great
deal over the years in my opin
ion. Today, instead of looking
at girls and judging them only
in bathing suits, judges stress
talent (primarily during com
petition on stage) and the all-
around ability of the girl to
express herself to the people
she represents, along with her
■willingness and worthiness to be
a symbol for her city, state,
and country.
Question: What was your
opinion of the Miss Rocky Mount
pageant as a whole?
Janet: I believe the pageant
this year went very well. The
Jaycees worked very hard In
presenting it, and by the large
turn-out, more Rocky Mount
people than ever were interest
ed in the outcome.
Question: As Miss Rocky
Mount for 1971-72 what are
your duties to the city of Rocky
Mount?
Janet: My duty for 1971-
1972 to the city of Rocky Mount
is primarily that of serving as
an official representative for
the city in any way I am need
ed, This includes ribbon cut
tings, ground breaking cere
monies, and also my repre
sentation of Rocky Mount at oth-
Sawyer Revealed
As Typical Youth
RMSH senior Danny Sawyer '
was recently selected as a Ty
pical Youth, an honor which is
awarded by the Optimist Club,
Danny, who stated that the
Optimist Clubs “do a tremen
dous amount of work with the
youth of today,” felt greatly
honored to be chosen RMSH’s
Typical Youth by his peers.
During National Youth Week,
the Optimists name students
throughout the country as Ty
pical Youths. While at an Op
timist banquet Tuesday, No
vember 23, Danny received a
Typical Youth Trophy.
Danny has accomplished
many things at RMSH, which
include attendance at Boy’s
State last summer, participa
tion in football, and basketball
He was Vice-President of last
year’s Junior class.
er local pageants throughout
the state, I will also repre
sent Rocky Mount in the state
pageant in June,
Question: Will the title of
Miss Rocky Mount affect your
school work in any way?
Janet: As of now, I do not
see that this will affect my
school work to any extent. I
may miss an occasional day of
school for official acts, but
primarily my duties take place
on week-ends until the spring,
when I will begin work for the
state pageant.
Question: What are the goals
you want to accomplish during
your reign?
Janet: I would like to get
to know the people of Rocky
Mount better. I do not want
to represent a few of the peo
ple, but all of them. I would
also like to get more young
people Involved in community
affairs. We all need to work
together.
Question: When is the Miss
North Carolina pageant? Will
there be any change in your
talent presentation?
Janet; The Miss North Car
olina pageant is June 11-17,
I will definitely use a piano
presentation, but I have not de
cided yet if or how Iwi 11 change
my selections.
JANET CAROLINE FISH~MISS ROCKY MOUNT 1972
Committee Advises SRA
On Self-Nomination Details
The Student Representative
Assembly met In the auditorium
to vote on recommendations
submitted to the SRA by the
Elections Committee, concern
ing the process of nominations
for S. O. offices, Wednesday,
December 1,
After SRA discussions last
year concerning the narrow re-
Bob Dozier Wins Award
From NCTE Competition
Bob Dozier, a RMSH senior
who competed In the National
Council of Teachers of En
glish Achievement competition,
as did three other RMSH stu
dents, was recently announc
ed as a winner In the I4th an
nual NCTE Achievement A-
wards Program.
The initial purpose of the
NCTE Achievement Award is
Bob Dozier, pictured above, was
recently named a NCTE award
winner.
“to grant public recognition
to some of the best high school
students of English In the Uni
ted States,”
Taking the test from RMSH
last spring along with Bobwere
Lee Saunders, Nancy Reierson,
and Yvonne Dew, These four
students were chosen by
literary ability and writing per
formance- Mrs. MargaretWil-
liams, their English teacher,
gave the test to the four stu
dents and submitted It Into the
national competition. Since
the number of nominees from
each school was determined
by each school’s total students,
four nominees were selected
from RMSH.
Submitted to the NCTE were
statements by a teacher of En
glish and a school administra
tor, along with the nominees’
three compositions. An auto
biographical sketch and a sam
ple of the student’s best writ
ing were two of the composi
tions, along with the third, an
impromptu theme, which all
entrants were given, asking
them to “reconcile two seem
ingly contradictory views of
pride.”
Drug Task Force
Learns Of Laws
To Inform Others
Mr. F. E. Eppes, Director
of NorthCarolina Drug Autho
rity, spoke with the members
of the Student Drug Task Force
concerning the new drug laws
and the changes In old drug laws,
Mr. Eppes informed the stu
dents that It Is not against the
law to be dependent on drugs,
but it is against the law to pos
sess or to Illegally distribute
drugs. He also stated that
during the first eight months of
this year over two thousand
drug arrests had been made
with approximately two thirds
of these arrests for possession.
Drugs on the Federal level
are listed in five schedules (ca
tegories) and six on the state
leveL A drug must be in one of
the schedules In order for a
person to be arrested for it. In
certain Instances a person’s
drug record may be erased by
a judge.
Now that the.members of the
Task Force have been informed
of the new drug laws they can
intelligently discuss them with
the junior high school students.
presentation of the RMSH stu
dents selected to run by the
nominating committee, the
1970-71 SRA, under President
Roland Valentine, abolished the
school’s nominating committee.
The 1971-72 SRA has decid
ed that those students desir
ing to run for an office will
hereafter nominate themselves.
THREE RECOMMENDATIONS
The Elections Committee
made three main recommenda
tions to the SRA. Rejected
after an SRA vote was the first
recommendation, stating “We
(the Elections Committee) re
commend that the self-nomlna-
tlon blanks be published to make
the student body aware of the
good and bad characteristics of
each candidate. If the SRA
does not approve of this, we
recommend that the Elections
Committee screen the nominees
to decide who is qualified.”
Although the above recom
mendation was rejected, the re
vised version of the second
recommendation was accepted,
stating “In the case that no
nominations are made, we re
commend that the Elections
Committee be authorized to get
the candidates. After careful
deliberation, the Elections
Committee will ask people to
nominate themselves.”
QUALIFICATIONS LISTED
The SRA also accepted a third
recommendation of a form pro
posed by the Elections Commit
tee, which Is to be filled out
by anyone wishing to run. The
student, who must be registered
to vote, must test his qualifi
cations by past experiences,
personal qualifications, and
statements indicating the de
sire to serve. The student is
also required to list his bad
characteristics.
In This Issue
Page 2—Check editorial
comments on'the recent
SRA elections.
Pages 3, 4, 5—Feature
pages concentrate on the
upcoming yuletlde sea
son.
Pages 6 & 7—Comments on
cross-county, wrestling
and notes on learning to
roller skate.
Page 8—Did you make the
honor roll? Check page
8 to see.
Original Baskets
Provide Families
For Thanksgiving
The Kudos Chib sponsored
the Thanksgiving Basket Con
test Thanksgiving week, and the
three homeroom winners were
announced during an assembly,
Wednesday, November 24
Various homerooms and
clubs created original ideas to
needy families. Approximately
thirty needyfamilies were taken
care of through RMSH partici
pation, ,
Mrs, Sifford’s homeroom won
first place this year, with their
own version of a multi-colored
turkey which was filled with
an assortment of goods to make
a balanced meaL Mrs, Thomp
son’s homeroom received the
second place award for a very
abundant “horn of plenty,”
which was made from colored
napkins. Miss Murchison’s
homeroom won third place.
They decorated a large wooden
box in the form of a turkey.