Legend’s Performance at DECA state competition

By Ronak Dsouza

Business is booming for Legend’s DECA program. Over the past weekend, many fellow Titans competed in the annual DECA state competition. The event, held at the Broadmoor, happened over the span of three days.

The first day, Sunday, was the first round for all of the written events. The next day the individuals who performed the best were then selected to compete in the final round. Also on Sunday was the first round for the roleplay events with the finals round occuring on Tuesday. Awards were given to the top performers at the competition after the roleplay finals. These winners then subsequently qualified for the international conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

This year’s competition was record-breaking for Legend as there were more international qualifiers than in previous years.

“We had 15 people qualify to go to Nashville,” said senior Ashley Lawson.

Additionally, the time not competing was just as memorable for the DECA students.

“We were able to stay in the Broadmoor this year,” said senior Rachel Derose. “It was super exciting and we all had a lot of fun.”

In the end, the main highlight was the great memories and companionship created at the competition.

“It was really good to see Legend bring around 70 people to state,” said senior Rachel Derose. “As a DECA officer team, it felt good to see that the hard work of many members paid off.”

Here’s hoping Legend’s success will continue at the international conference in Nashville.

With the weather cooling down, many people may see themselves holed up in their houses. While this might bring the satisfaction of staying in a warm, cozy house, it also means having to cook food at home. While some may be chefs in the kitchen, many high schoolers still struggle to cook for themselves. Not to fear, cooking club is here!

Starting back up on January 17th, Legend’s cooking club will help students learn how to cook different dishes. This year, the club founder and president, senior Veronica Knott, is looking to make cooking club more inviting and educational than ever.

From holiday classics to baking essentials, the club has covered some of the most common dishes. However, this year the club is looking to expand their efforts to brand new foods. 

“We are looking to create and cook new types of foods from different types of culture,” said senior Veronica Knott. “It is going to be very exciting.” 

She also wants to expand cooking club’s reach to include more people, returners and newbies alike.

“It’s a great time because you get to eat a lot of food,” said senior Veronica Knott. “You get to actually make some really interesting and delicious dishes with your friends.”

As brushes swept and colors swirled across the canvas, one man’s calm voice guided the students in their painting journey.

Wednesday night marked the National Art Honor Society’s annual Bob Ross painting night. This marked the second year for the event and had a record turnout of over thirty students.

“It was a fun and relaxing experience,” senior Jordan Dockery said. “It was a fun way to get people more interested in art.”

The night consisted of an episode of Bob Ross’s show The Joy of Painting and following his tutorial. All of the art supplies were provided by National Art Honor Society through Ms. Hunter.

National Art Honor Society consists of art students from a wide range of mediums, not solely drawing and painting. While this event may have been more painting-focused, it did not shun away those with different artistic abilities.

“Even though I am bad at painting and do photography instead,” senior Kate Brunetti said. “I still had a lot of fun.”

Brunetti is an officer for National Art Honor Society, helping with planning and running this event. Apart from the art education it provides, she wants to highlight the bonus benefits.

“I think it is a great stress reliever to have before finals,” said senior Kate Brunetti. “You can just hang out with your good friends and bond with them over your love for Bob Ross and painting, in general.”

She hopes that this event will continue to as successful even after she graduates.

It is finally that time of year! It is DECA Districts! This past Tuesday was the district competition for DECA and was arguably one for the books.

The Legend DECA program saw a great deal of state qualifiers, adding to the great year for the program. There were around sixty state qualifiers from Legend. This also lead to Legend winning the most awards in the competition.

The Legend DECA program’s success could also be attributed to the new changes implemented. 

“I think this year was a lot better for DECA because we actually did roleplay practice in our business classes,” said senior Adit Desai. There was also a larger officer team allowing for more management and planning for the 100+ students in DECA. 

“They did a good job of having a lot of practice sessions to practice our roleplay,” said senior Ashley Lawson. Lawson qualified for state along with her partner, senior Allison Kramer, in her event: Travel and Tourism.

Now the program looks at ahead towards the state competition.

“I joked with my partner that we were going to state,” said senior Ashley Lawson, “and now I am actually going! It has definitely made me very excited about DECA and going to the Broadmoor.”

The DECA state competition will occur from the 22nd to the 25th of February.

Senior Athletes Committing To Colleges

By Ronak Dsouza

Last Wednesday, many Legend seniors took part in National Signing Day. The ceremony had one of the largest groups of seniors committing in Legend history with fifteen committing. 

“It was really cool because I didn’t expect that many students to sign,” said senior Josh Smith. 

These group of seniors had already gone through the signing process earlier. The ceremony was more for recognizing the students’ athletic endeavors.

“You have to do the actual signing at home at 7 o’clock,” said senior James Lemons. “The ceremony is more for show and recognition, so for my signing I drew a picture of a dog.

Student athletes committed in a variety of sports, ranging from football to soccer to wrestling. 

For many of these students, it has been a lifelong goal to commit and participate in athletics in college.

“UNC has been my dream school for a while for athletics,” said senior Lucy Roberts. “It was really exciting to commit because I had been waiting for it, for a while.”

Lucy, along with many of the other signing students, has been competing in her respective sport, soccer, for a large part of their life.

“I’ve been playing golf since I was pretty young, so it’s always been a dream of mine to continue playing in college,” said senior Clara Hosman. 

Although this has been a dream come true for many of the athletes, the actual Signing Day event was full of mixed emotions.

“At first I was really nervous but when it was my turn to go up and sign, I was really excited for my next chapter in life,” said senior Sydney Dreiling.

The event signals the start of the oncoming end for the senior class and the close graduation date.