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They're here to bring the news to you!
[Times photo: Patty Yablonski]
The x-team is ready to get to work
Back row: Jerrod Douse, Stephanie Kiley, Allison Holder, Maddie Hightower.
Middle row: Ferdian Jap, Autumn Siegel, Candace Sharrow, Anna Luther.
Front row: Kristen Grotecloss, Mimi Rich, Sam French, Mandi-Lou Schantz Feld, Tashyra Feazell. |
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 1, 2001
Meet the 2001-2002 X-Team
Today we are proud to introduce our new X-Team, the group of student journalists poised to fill Xpress with informative and interesting stories.
They are 10 to 17 years old, live and go to school all over the Tampa Bay area and have a variety of backgrounds and interests. They applied to be on the team among more than 100 hopefuls, so the competition was tough. (Thanks to ALL who tried; there's always next year!)
This baker's dozen is the seventh X-Team to grace Xpress and you with its work. We believe that an excellent way to get kids to read the newspaper is to get kids to write for the newspaper. We hope you agree. (You're reading this, aren't you?!)
Today you'll learn a little bit about the X-Team members, and in the coming school year you'll be reading their work in Xpress. A few years from now, we bet you'll be seeing their bylines in other places!
JERROD DOUSE
Age 14, ninth grade, St. Petersburg High School
Interests: Sports, video games, music, woodworking, coin collecting
Clubs/organizations: Pathfinders
Favorite book/author: Anything by Stephen King
Favorite television actor: Martin Lawrence
Favorite movie actor: Denzel Washington
Favorite music: Hip-hop, R&B, jazz, R. Kelly
What makes you really happy? Everything
What really annoys you? Little sisters
What's most important in your life? My education
TASHYRA FEAZELL
Interests: Computer games, video games, talking on the phone, card collecting
Clubs/organizations: Student Council (president), STEP, basketball and track team, peer mediation, Precious Pearls
Favorite book/author: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Favorite television: Seventh Heaven
Favorite movie/actor: Save the Last Dance, Julia Stiles
Favorite music: R&B, Destiny's Child
What makes you really happy? Just being with my friends
What really annoys you? Nothing
What's most important in your life? Friends, family, people who care about me
MANDI-LOU SCHANTZ FELD
Age 14, ninth grade, St. Petersburg High School International Baccalaureate Program
Interests: Writing, playing guitar and clarinet, reading, dancing
Clubs/organizations: Synagogue youth group
Favorite book/author: Tuesdays With Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom
Favorite television show/actor: Friends, The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle
Favorite movie/actor: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adam Sandler
Favorite music: Blink 182, Green Day, all kinds of music
What makes you really happy? A good joke
What really annoys you? When people use words wrong
What's most important in your life? Family and friends
SAM FRENCH
Age 10, fourth grade, Perkins Elementary Magnet for the Arts, St. Petersburg
Interests: Sports, writing, reading
Favorite book/author: The Giver by Lois Lowry
Favorite television show/actor: Boy Meets World, Will Friedle
Favorite movie/actor: Goldfinger, Sean Connery
Favorite music: Oldies, Beatles
What makes you really happy? My friends
What really annoys you? My brother when he corrects me
What's most important in your life? My friends and family
KRISTIN GROTECLOSS
Age 13, seventh grade, Southside Fundamental Middle, St. Petersburg
Interests: Dancing, traveling, water sports, reading, writing
Clubs/organizations: Florida West Youth Ballet, school drama club
Favorite book/author: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Favorite television show/actor: Friends, Seventh Heaven, Keri Russell
Favorite movie/actor: Save the Last Dance, Julia Roberts
Favorite music: R&B, Destiny's Child
What makes you really happy? My friends and dancing
What really annoys you? Mean or very vain people
What's most important in your life? My parents and school
MADDIE HIGHTOWER
Age 14, ninth grade, Palm Harbor University High School
Interests: Horseback riding, writing stories
Favorite book/author: Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
Favorite television show: Whose Line Is It, Anyway?
Favorite movie/actor: Pearl Harbor, Josh Hartnett
Favorite music: Pop, rock and rap, 98 Degrees, Five, Linkin Park, Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync
What makes you really happy? Writing stories, talking to friends, riding my horse, singing
What really annoys you? False people and people who can't be serious at all
What's most important in your life? Friends
ALLISON HOLDER
Age 12, seventh grade, St. Raphael's Catholic School, St. Petersburg
Interests: Scuba diving, traveling, collecting bears, lapel pins and snow babies
Clubs/organizations: St. Vincent de Paul, yearbook
Favorite author: Joan Lowrey Nixon
Favorite television show: Boy Meets World
Favorite movie/actor: Pearl Harbor, Josh Hartnett
Favorite music: Pop, 'N Sync
What makes you really happy? Travel, being with friends and family
What really annoys you? Fingernail tapping, bitten nails
What's most important in your life? Family and religion
FERDIAN L. JAP
Age 16, 12th grade, Osceola High School, Seminole
Interests: Computers, sports, writing
Clubs/organizations: National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta
Favorite book/author: The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Favorite television show: Friends
Favorite movie: Rush Hour
Favorite music: Pop
What makes you really happy? Volunteering and helping people, and when someone is being nice to me
What really annoys you? A person who has no self control
What's most important in your life? My future, my education and my family
STEPHANIE KILEY
Age 10, fifth grade, Dale Mabry Elementary School, Tampa
Interests: Violin, piano, kung fu, swimming, Spanish, art, writing
Favorite book/author: Mandy by Julie Edwards
Favorite television shows: ER, West Wing, Malcolm in the Middle
Favorite movie/actor: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Jodie Foster
What makes you really happy? Friends, ice cream, cookie dough, writing
What really annoys you? When someone else gets credit for the work I do
What's most important in your life? Friends, family
ANNA LUTHER
Age 17, 12th grade, homebound Interests: Art, poetry, world religions, philosophy, phycology, music, forensic science, writing, politics, understanding, openness
Straight and Gay Alliance
Favorite authors: Thomas Harris, Jack Kerouac
Favorite television show: Law & Order
Favorite movie/actor: Shawshank Redemption, Tim Robbins, Robin Williams
Favorite music: Dave Matthews Band, Ani DiFranco, everything
What makes you really happy? Solutions
What really annoys you? Conformity
What's most important in your life? Expression and individuality
MIMI RICH
Age 11, sixth grade, Safety Harbor Middle School
Interests: Writing, horseback riding, swimming
Clubs/organizations: Girl Scouts, drama club, American Saddlebred Horse Association
Favorite book/author: Too many to name, dictionary
Favorite television show: Boy Meets World
Favorite movie/actor: Blue Streak, Legally Blonde, Bring It On, Reese Witherspoon
Favorite music: Christina Aguilera, pop
What makes you really happy? Friends, horseback riding
What really annoys you? School (at times), mean people
What's most important in your life? Family, pets, school
CANDACE SHARROW
Age 16, 11th grade, East Lake High School, Tarpon Springs
Interests: running, shopping, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, driving, friends, reading
Clubs/organizations: Student Government Association (historian), Spanish Club, SADD, Buccaneers Student Advisory Board, Hospice volunteer, school newspaper
Favorite books/authors: Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Dave Barry
Favorite television show/actor: Road Rules, Jon Stewart
Favorite movie/actor: Empire Records, Matthew McConaughey
Favorite music: Rock, Lit, Green Day, Stone Temple Pilots
What makes you really happy? My friends, ice cream, cookie dough, running
What really annoys you? Nasal voices, grinding teeth, squeaking, people chewing loudly
What's most important in your life? My friends, my future
AUTUMN N. SIEGEL
Age 13, ninth grade, home school/Florida Virtual High School, Beverly Hills
Interests: Baseball, drama, swimming, reading, writing, poetry, journalism, collecting rocks
Clubs/organizations: School newspaper, swim team, church youth group
Favorite book/author: The Giver by Lois Lowry
Favorite television show/actor: The West Wing
Favorite movie/actor: Phenomenon, John Travolta, Julia Roberts
Favorite music: many kinds, including the Beatles, Savage Garden, Faith Hill, Broadway music
What makes you really happy? The ocean, baseball, rain, reading, swimming, performing in community theater
What really annoys you? Alarm clocks, bad use of vocabulary, nobody rooting for the underdog, those who conform for the sake of conforming, bad singers
What's most important in your life? Religion, academics, family
Here's the rest of today's Xpress
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