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It's in the Bag
Bagging groceries faster and better than anyone in the Show-Me State has given Scott Hall a free ticket to Las Vegas. Hall has been bagging groceries for three years, and while in Vegas, he will compete for the national championship. The winner gets $10,000 dollars and an appearance on the "Late Show" with David Letterman. "Every year he has the winner on and they bag with him on stage and get interviewed," said Hall.	HTVers Brad Thomas and Andrew Edwards talked to Hall and got footage of him showing the skills that landed him the title. Hall's expertise has definitely impressed co-workers. "I tried doing it just as good as he can, but I still have a lot of practice to do. He just does a phenomenal job on his timing, the way he puts them in, how he arranges the stuff. I think he's going to do a great job up in Vegas," said fellow bagger Moses Keim.	The Price Cutter store Hall works at will receive a gold-painted cash register if their guy takes the championship. The register would have an engraved plate with Hall's name on it. The story is one of nine brand new segments on HTV Magazine number 184, anchored by Ali Randolph and Chandler Reed. Top|Home

The Big Blast
The blizzard of 2011 meant snow days for Hillcrest students, but it also put the freeze on the annual LPA Spirit Week activities, as well as final production of "HTV Magazine" number 184, and a number of athletic events. Over nine inches of snow accumulated on February 1, and then frigid temperatures set in. The storm blew across the midwest and worked its way east, where airports, schools, highways and businesses were shut down. "Our show will wrap the day we return to school, but a lot of things that were cancelled will take weeks to re-schedule," said HTV adviser Dave Davis. "The snow	days are always kind of fun, but they always play havoc with school activities." Ironically, the first snow day of the week would have been an early-release day for students anyway. Instead, the storm gave students and teachers the full day off. "I worked on a scholarship application," said HTV senior Ali Randolph. "I actually tried to get my HTV story finished. I brought home a computer, but had some firewire issues," said HTV News Director Kaitlynn Keller. The last winter blast many remember making this widespread of an impact was	the ice storm of 2006. While some freezing rain preceded the large snowfall this time around, the impact on the community was not the same. Five years ago, much of the Ozarks was without electrical power, some areas for as long as three weeks. Schools were out for two weeks in most places. "That was the worst weather-related thing I can remember, as far as how many days we missed," said Davis, who has been at Hillcrest since 1983. "This blizzard was pretty serious, but I don't think it comes close to the ice storm of '06." Top|Home

Bus Tour Gets a "Kickstart"
In July of 2011 the staff of "HTV Magazine" will take a ten-day bus tour of the South. To raise funds for this ambitious project, the staff is trying its luck on kickstarter.com. On kickstarter, projects are pitched, donations are solicited, and at the end of the fundraising period, if you reach your goal or go over, you get the cash. The catch? You only receive the money if you reach your goal. "We are trying to raise $6,000 dollars," said HTV adviser Dave Davis. We decided to go until January 31st, so that's the day we will either be fully funded, or we won't get a dime." To promote the bus tour project, Davis posted a video that used highlights of the 2009 HTV bus tour, plus short clips	from current students who will be on board next July. The 2011 trip will head south and east, stopping in Memphis, New Orleans, Panama City, and Charleston, SC before turning toward home with stops in Knoxville and Louisville. "If we are lucky enough to raise the money on kickstarter.com, it will cover a little over half of our transportation costs, which will really help," said Davis. "Our goal is to cut the costs of each individual student for the trip." The bus tour in 2009 was such a success, and such an educational experience for everyone involved, that Davis began planning the 2011 version about three months ago. Just like the first tour,	students will basically "get off the bus and find a story" each day. In addition, they will post daily blogs, photo galleries, tweets on Twitter, and phone in audio clips from the road. "We will tell the story of our trip in as many formats as we can. It will be a huge 'convergence' tour, incorporating all sorts of media," said Davis. For those who donate via the kickstarter.com site, they are not charged anything if the project is not fully funded. To locate the HTV page on kickstarter, use the search function at the site, or go to the "Journalism" category on the site, and scroll through the projects until you find the "HTV On the Road" page. Top|Home

Ink With a Message
From special messages of hope, to Bible verses and names of relatives, the tattoos teens are getting these days are starting to carry special meaning. In a story for the latest edition of "HTV Magazine," reporter Sarah Thomas and videographer Makenzie Medley focus on a tattoo business in Springfield where they specialize in more positive "ink" than most such establishments."Transformation" on Walnut Street is an art gallery as well as a place to find that special "tat." "Myself and my partner Austin are both Christians," said co-owner Gabe Tenneson. "It definitely serves as a ministry, because we take the time to talk to people.	We're not shoving anything down anyone's throats, but we know there are a lot of hurting people out there, particularly in the tattoo community." The story includes comments by several teenagers who have tattoos, or are considering them. Junior Dakotah Williamson has ink to mark the day he "woke up" to a realization about how he had been living. "My tattoo is 'Wake up oh sleeper, rise from the dead,' and that's out of Ephesians in the Bible. It was just a big changing point in my life, where I found out this is what I need to be doing," said Williamson.	Tenneson is quick to warn teens that there are bad reasons to get a tattoo. "It can be wrong. If you are doing it out of a rebellious attitude, or if it becomes a negative addiction. There is certainly wrong subject matter, at least according to me, and there are several things I simply won't tattoo," Tenneson said. The segment is part of a brand new "HTV Magazine" for December, 2010. Another new show, with old content, debuts in early January with the annual "Year In Review" show. Top|Home

HTV Pauses to Celebrate
When the 1996 HTV Magazine staff entered a new national contest just before summer break, they had no idea it was the beginning of something special. The Broadcast Pacemaker Award has become closely associated with HTV since that first plaque was presented to the staff 14 years ago. Now HTV has 11 Pacemaker awards, the most by far of any school in the nation. The next closest has five. "The award means we have helped carry on the HTV tradition," said Olivia Tinkler, co-News Director of the 2009-10 staff, which just won the latest Pacemaker. The award goes to the top high school broadcasts in the U.S. It can go to as many as five schools, or as few as two. It's really up to the judges to determine who merits the honor each year. Five programs received the honor, but HTV was the only monthly magazine singled out.	"We have won it by ourselves, and we've been part of a group of four or five winners at times," said long-time HTV adviser Dave Davis. At one point, HIllcrest won nine straight. "But it gets tougher every year because there are more shows out there, and they have raised the bar quite a bit. It was bound to happen, and that's a good thing for us all," Davis said. Still, HTV has to be considered the closest thing to a "poster child" for the Pacemaker. That is not lost on new staff members like junior Brad Thomas. "After seeing all the hard work by last year's staff, I am very motivated to try to another Pacemaker," said Thomas, whose brother Curtis was part of the 2008 staff that won the school's tenth award. Davis says the award is nice because it recognizes a complete show, not just one segment.	"I think it's great to have awards like the Pacemaker to provide something positive for the entire team, not just one or two kids who do a particular segment. It's easy to do one great story. I think the Pacemaker, like the STN Excellence Award, is all about having a strong program from top to bottom. It helps us keep our eye on that," said Davis. For Chelsy Rea, the other co-News Director from last year, the award was almost a relief. "We worked so hard to pull it all together last year, and this is just a nice way to show that we got it done. We came together as a staff to earn it," said Rea. Top|Home