St. Joseph-Ogden senior Peyton Williams pounds the ball past St. Anne's Maria Mendez and Kylie Toepfer during set one of their non-conference game on Wednesday, August 23. The Spartans won easily by way of a 25-7, 25-15 decision.
PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks
Williams serves notice
ST. JOSEPH - Peyton Williams gave a serving clinic last Wednesday notching five aces against visiting St. Anne. The Spartans dominated all aspects of the game against the Cardinals to earn their second win of the season, 2-0.
Williams was credited with seven kills across two sets and had three digs to help SJO defensively. Senior Addie Roesch delivered another six kills and chalked up four digs. Halle Brazelton kept the ball in play with her five digs and distributed 13 assist for the Spartans.
Seggebruch steps up
BISMARCK - Junior Ava Seggebruch hammered four kills to help St. Joseph-Ogden pick up win number 3 this season via 25-12, 29-27 win over host Bismarck-Henning. Once again, Peyton Williams led the Spartans' offensive effort amassing seven kills, two aces, and six digs. Fellow senior Addie Roesch had three kills, three digs, and matched Williams in the serving department with a pair of aces against the Blue Devils.
Setter Halle Brazelton was in near perfect form with 17 assists.
#4 ranked Unity victorious
TOLONO — Dane Eisenmenger completed 19 of 26 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns to lead Unity to a 27-12 victory against Prairie Central at Hicks Field on Friday in Illini Prairie Conference football. The Rockets enter 2023 ranked #4 in the preseason poll by the Associated Press.
SJO knocks off Sages
ST. JOSEPH - Heading into Friday night's annual opener against Monticello, the SJO football suffered seven losses in their last ten meetings on the gridiron against the Sages. When the lightning-delayed game concluded after midnight, senior starting quarteback Logan Smith had scored five times and threw a 31-yard TD to elevate the Spartans' in a 40-14 romp.
Smith led SJO's offensive effort with 102 rushing yards and 163 passing. Running back Justice Wertz finished with 67 yards on 12 carries, and speedy Tim Blackburn-Kelly got the call seven times for 38 of St. Joseph-Ogden's 418 total yards.
Tigers fall in their return to prep football
The Urbana football team played their first varsity game in three years on Saturday. The Tigers kicked off their return with on a road game at Centennial.
The Chargers scored 49 unanswered points before the Tigers finally scored twice in the fourth quarter. UHS, who will face Peoria Notre Dame this Friday, dropped the season opener to Centennial, 49-14.
"We will try to get better," said head coach Curtis Blanden after the game. "Rome wasn't built in a day. It's going to take some time and I have the time to do it."
Attention high school coaches: Help us recognize our area prep athletes each week. Please send game scores and stats to us for freshman, junior varsity, and varsity games. Send game, race and match results and weekly stats to sports@oursentinel.com.
StatePoint Media - Children have a lot of questions about the way the world works and parents hope to have straightforward answers. But when it comes to questions regarding the body, parents and kids alike can find these conversations awkward, uncomfortable and embarrassing. Experts say that destigmatizing a child’s curiosity about their body will not only help them take better care of their health, it may even spark their interest in science.
"Kids have so many questions about their bodies, some practical, some pure curiosity. Sadly, society sometimes chastises children for even asking these questions. By better understanding their bodies though, they can adopt good habits that stay with them for life, and learn about physics and biology in a fun way," says David L. Hu, Ph.D., a professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and author of "The P Word: A Manual for Mammals."
Dr. Hu, an award-winning scientist, animal expert and author, wrote "The P Word" for his 10-year old son, who like many children his age, is eager to learn more about his body. While previous books dealing with this topic are written with teenagers in mind, Dr. Hu believes it’s important for younger kids to enter puberty already having all the facts about their biology. His book, meant for ages 7-12, introduces the penis as an organ that unites all biologically male mammals. It’s meant to serve as a gender-neutral, definitive resource about the penis for kids, providing tools kids need to recognize and name their body parts, understand when something might be wrong and practice good hygiene.
If you’re a parent of a curious kid, or a parent of a child who hasn’t yet voiced their questions, Dr. Hu offers the following tips:
1. Try not to shy away from these conversations or make your child feel ashamed for asking a question about their body. Keep in mind that many children will turn to the internet for answers if you aren’t open to answering their questions, where they may encounter false information or inappropriate content. Instead, acknowledge their curiosity by answering their questions as best you can, and by pointing them to trustworthy resources.
2. Don’t wait until your child reaches puberty. If you start talking to kids about their bodies when they are young, you’ll normalize and desensitize the subject, and the act of talking about it. Helping a child feel comfortable in their own skin before things start to change, will set the stage for less stress during puberty.
3. Help kids understand that their body is natural and normal. In “The P Word,” Dr. Hu intentionally presents colorful, engaging images and facts about different mammals around the globe alongside information about human bodies, including how animals use their penises to pee, mark their territory and reproduce. “Comparative biology makes learning fun and amusing, lightens the mood around a serious subject, helps young kids understand their place in nature, and offers insights into the role of their penis or vagina outside the role of sex,” says Dr. Hu.
A valuable resource for parents, librarians, educators and of course, kids, more information about “The P-Word” can be found by visiting sciencenaturally.com/product-page/the-p-word-a-manual-for-mammals.
"My hope is that kids realize that every question they have, no matter how embarrassing it is, can be addressed by the tools of science. They should be proud of being curious about their own bodies," Dr. Hu.
Every day in America we hear the names of Biden and Trump mentioned on various news television or radio stations. We daily hear about the struggles of Ukraine and Russia. Border security, illegal immigrants, inner city issues and China are almost daily themes.
How could we ever get through a day in America without hearing these ongoing names, themes and issues? It doesn’t seem like we can especially if we daily watch the national news.
Many of us don’t want to live with our heads in the sand thinking the world is a cozy place with everyone living in unity. Most of us understand the world has problems and political personalities that we either admire or abhor or can’t live without. However, most of us have our breaking point when it comes to the daily fodder of political jockeying, mudslinging and media grids committed to swaying how you are supposed to feel about different candidates or world problems.
Recently, I attended my high school senior class reunion and thoroughly enjoyed the gathering of old classmates. We caught up on old times, old ballgames, previous teachers and administrators as well as how life is going today. We remembered those who are already deceased and heard some funny stories and jokes. We shared food together and enjoyed small talk, laughs and some hugs. The line often repeated throughout the evening was, “You sure are looking good.” This was an honest compliment for the most part because old friends always look good. An old classmate or someone who shared years of school history with you is typically a welcomed sight.
I couldn’t help but noticing as the evening wound down that I didn’t hear anybody wanting to argue about politics or political candidates. I didn’t hear anyone worried that China might invade Taiwan. There wasn’t discussion about our border or America’s growing homeless crisis. Our two plus hours was spent simply enjoying each other, reminiscing and having a few laughs. A lot of good admiring words where shared between people making for an enjoyable evening. We had a two-hour successful gathering that didn’t involve the top news stories of the week or the bad stuff that we hear about every day.
Taking a break of from all of the mainstream daily tensions that divide many of us would be a novel idea for all of us. Take a break from it all, at least occasionally. Just focus on kindness, friendship, helping people and being good to each other.
You’ll have ample opportunity to express your frustrations when you vote or when you decide to watch a political debate. There are plenty of those coming. If you start feeling like you are an indifferent and detached from reality, then you can always turn on the evening news to have your fervor or fever reignited.
