A Look at Famous Seventh-Day Adventists

The Seventh Day Adventist church may not be the largest religion in the world, and it may not be one that often comes up as a topic in Hollywood either. The topic of religion is rarely discussed in popular media, especially the upbringing of our current and past celebrities. Believe it or not, the Seventh Day Adventist church has many ties with Hollywood and mass media that we never would have imagined. In the following article, The Pioneer will take a look at some artists that have Adventist ties at some point in their life.

1. First up on our list is Cheryl Renee James, a.k.a.  ”Salt”. Some of us may remember the popular female rap trio Salt-n-Pepa, who were the first female rap group to achieve gold, platinum, and multi-platinum status. Salt had had ties with gospel music and religion far during her youth, but became Adventist later on in her life.  It wasn’t until 2002 when she was baptized into the church during an Oakwood College mission trip to Africa. Today, she is married and has 2 children. She continues to tour with her group, and is moving to Atlanta to be closer to her mother and explore more music-oriented opportunities there.

2. Second on our list is Brian McKnight. McKnight is a famous singer, and was formerly a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist group “Take 6″. McKnight attended Oakwood University, where he met his now ex-wife. His ex-wife and himself were both expelled from Oakwood during their time there and, according to him, allowed him to focus more on his music. He signed a record deal at 19 and went on to pursue a secular musical career apart from “Take 6″. He now is divorced and has 5 children, from ages 3 to 21, and is not an active churchgoer.

3. Next up we have Prince, the rock and roll superstar and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Prince is one of the greatest musicians of our time, but not many know that he was actually raised Seventh-Day Adventist. Prince wrote his first song at the age of 7, and the rest is virtually history. Prince has sold over 100 million records worldwide, and has achieved multi-platinum status. Prince grew up Seventh-Day Adventist, but today he is a Jehovah’s Witness. Several Jehovah’s Witnesses have confirmed that Prince actually is an active Bible student, and does indeed attend meetings. He is even known to occasionallyparticipate in door-to-door evangelism activities.

 

4. Fourth on the list we have Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Johnson is an NBA Hall-of-Famer, five-time NBA champion, 3-time NBA MVP, twelve-time NBA All Star, and receiver of countless other honors and awards. In 2007, ESPN named him the greatest point-guard of all time. Magic Johnson is nothing short of an NBA legend, and then some, but one thing I did not know is that he was raised SDA. Today, many of his family members still practice Seventh-Day Adventism, and it is rumored he has recently has been active in churchgoing for the past few years.

 

 

 

5. Last, but definitely not least, is superstar rapper Busta Rhymes. Born Trevor Tahiem Smith Jr., he is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and has

achieved worldwide recognition for his spectacular rapping skills. He is best known for his ability to rap faster than other rappers, along with his wild style of dress and personality. Busta Rhymes was actually born to Seventh-Day Adventist parents, but at age 15 converted to “The Nations of Gods and Earths”. Today he is known to be a devout Muslim.

 

A Thank You to Our Teachers

Photo Courtesy of www.citytowninfo.com

It’s that time of year again, when we take a moment to look at our lives and realize we do have some great things to be thankful for. But for some reason we all seem to somehow forget about the people that interact with and lead us every day. Those people would be the teachers from right here at South Lancaster Academy. Sometimes we only focus on how many annoying homework assignments they give us or how many excruciating tests they hand out, but do we take a minute to think about how they help us out? Do we think about the ways that they try to help us get ahead?

During this Christmas season, the SLA students and the staff at The Pioneer want to take a moment to thank the teachers and staff at SLA. We asked students to say what they had to be thankful for for each teacher at their school. We gathered some of the responses and hope that these make students think about the good that these teachers do. And those reading who do not attend SLA, you can see the worth of the staff here with us.

 

Mr. Fellows: 

By Deanna Howard-” Thank you for being the best teacher possible, and for being so amazing!”

Pastor Nino:

By Thomas Beneche-” Thank you for teaching me the lessons I need to know to become a Christian.”

Mrs. Brahmia:

By Oneal Lopez- “Thank you for being the most respected and coolest teacher at SLA.”

Mrs. Vandenbroek:

By Luis Reveron- “Thank you for helping me get better at typing!”

Mrs. Olivera:

By Nawal Habib-”Thank you for being an awesome teacher and being the most fun teacher and teaching us Spanish.”

Mrs. Daum:

By Alex Sales- “Thank you for being on of the chillest teacher. Thanks for walking us through the various steps of accounting.”

Mrs. Archilla:

By Nick Archilla- “Thank you for being an awesome teacher! I love you.”

Mr. Bisson:

By Gerson Corominas-”Thank you for making class so fun. I really appreciate how you make a difficult subject always interesting.”

Mrs. Robidoux:

By Lucero Castellanos- “Thank you for being such an awesome vice principal and for all the support you give to the volleyball team. Thanks for giving us rides to games!”

Mr. Huff:

By Jannice Grunder- “Thank you for being a great principal and making this school a good place. Thank you for being a fun person.”

Mr. Lambert:

By Tia Allain- “Thank you for being a creative and dynamic teacher who is always there when you need him.”

Mrs. Cady:

Jennifer Sierra- “Over all the years that you’ve taught me music, I’ve really appreciated how you encouraged me to continue on with my music, and helped me appreciate music for what it really is, an art.”

So there you have it, a sincere thank you from our students to our teachers and staff members. Let’s remember this holiday season those people that we often pass up thanking. Let’s keep in mind that these people are here to help us whenever we need them and keep the school running smoothly. That being said, don’t forget to show appreciation for those making the big impacts in your personal life as well! This is the time of year to enjoy those who we love and care for, so lets do it to the fullest!

Top 5 Celebrity Outbursts

There is never a dull moment in Hollywood, and we have  intriguing celebrities to thank for this never-ceasing fountain of entertainment. There is always something new to talk about, and one of my personal favorites, is when celebrities’ tempers get the best of them. We all love to have a good laugh when a celebrity loses it, and it brings us a good laugh, and sometimes great concern. Let’s take a look at a few of the most celebrity outrageous outbursts of the decade.

3. Baldwins on a Plane

In the third spot comes one  of our most recent outbursts, courtesy of “30 Rock” star, Alec Baldwin. Baldwin was on board of a domestic flight to New York on American Airlines when the flight crew asked the passengers to turn off their electronic devices. But Baldwin was engaged in an intense and ever-so-important game of “Words With Friends”. According to the statement released by the airline, Baldwin refused to turn off his phone when he was asked to, and then took the phone into the plane’s bathroom while the fasten seatbelts light was on. The statement said that he slammed the bathroom door so loud that the crew in the cockpit heard it, and were alarmed. He then proceeded to shout offensive language and scream out insults. A few days later, Baldwin went on Saturday Night Live to issue an apology to himself on behalf of the Airlines, and took harsh shots at them via twitter before completely deactivating his account altogether.

So was he justified taking this course of action? Sophomore Luis Reveron thinks so. “Yes he is justified. The Airline crew were clowns for kicking him off.”

2. That Awkward Moment When…

Number two on our list is one of the most infamous rants of our time. Who can forget the night when starlet Taylor Swift went on stage to receive an award at the MTV Video Music Awards and Kanye West interrupted her acceptance speech? This sparked massive outrage across the nation, even inciting a response from President Barack Obama. Kanye West interrupted her speech for Best Music Video, and said that Beyonce had the best music video of the year and that she deserved it  instead of Taylor. This is probably one of the cruelest outbursts we have seen, but was he justified for doing it?

Junior Deanna Howard doesn’t think so. “It’s not right.  Taylor Swift is a nice girl and everyone needs recognition at some point.” Mr. West sure didn’t seem to think so. But then again, this isn’t his first foolish public outburst in recent years.

3. Tiger Blood and Winning

Our number one outburst is from the  great Charlie Sheen . The rant that went on for what seemed like months. When CBS said they were going to put his show, “Two and a Half Men” on temporary hiatus while he went to rehab, Sheen went on an all out offensive against the network, despite threats to permanently cancel the show if he did. Sheen took the nation by storm, coining the term “winning”,  gaining four million followers on Twitter, drinking Tiger Blood, and having some “interesting” relationships. This could go down as one of the most infamous rants in history, and nobody will soon forget this one. If he wanted to make a mark, congratulations Sheen, you did it.

But was it right of him to do what he did? Junior Kofi Omane said, “No. Because CBS have a right as an organization to have their stars have to live up to the expectations they set. He failed to to reach that, and doesn’t deserve a spot on the show until he can prove that he can live up to them.”

So there you have it folks, the most interesting outbursts. The question that remains is, who will bring us our next fix of celebrity outrages? And will that person outdo the people on our list? Only time will tell, but without question, there will be many more to come. All that is left to do is wait and see.

Three Holiday Movies to Check Out During Winter Break

It’s that time of year again. The holiday season. This time of the year always brings mad dashes to stores, family reunions, big dinners, festivities, gifts, and never to fail, seasonal holiday movies. These have become a staple of the  season, something we have all come to expect from the Christmas. There is always a sense of expectation to see which movie will take the crown as best holiday movie for the year. This year there are three  movies commanding an awful lot of lot of buzz around them for the holiday season. Let’s take a look at which are the movies to watch during the soon approaching winter break.

The first box office hit to watch during the vacation this year is Happy Feet Two. The movie, directed by George Miller is the follow up to the first version of Happy Feet, that took the nation by storm with it’s bubbly and cute storyline. Following the steps of a baby Penguin who doesn’t fit in with the other penguins because of his inability to sing, and strange dancing talent. He finds his way though, and now in the second installment of the film, has a partner and baby of his own. This promises to be a hit with the children and adults. A fun movie for the entire family to watch.

Another film to look forward to this holiday season is the animated Christmas movie, Arthur Christmas. The festive movie will answer the question to how Santa manages to deliver all the Christmas gifts to all the children in one night. The movie is about the highly technologically advanced mission of Santa’s vast army of trained elves to make Christmas happen for 600 million children, but there is room for error. One child is missed on the mission, and Arthur Clause, Santa’s son, won’t have it. He goes on an unauthorized mission to deliver the gifts to the one child who goes missing. This is another fun family hit that is sure to deliver for the kids, and will entertain the older audiences.

The third movie to check out is New Year’s Eve. A film that documents several singles and couples whose lives intertwine on New Year’s Eve. The romantic comedy is very similar to Valentine’s Day, a celebrity packed film directed by Garry Marshall. The movie will have it’s fair share of familiar faces including Robert De Niro, Hillary Swank, Ashton Kutcher, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, and Jon Bon Jovi. It is sure to bring back the romantic comedy that was enjoyed in Valentines Day, and is sure to deliver to the teenage and adult audiences.

So there you have it folks, your guide to the theaters for this holiday season. Make sure to check out these great films while spending quality time with family and making many memories. Enjoy your holidays!

SLA Talent Spotlight: Kofi Omane

By J.P. Viteri

Photo Courtesy of Alyssia Cutler

Welcome to the second installment of the SLA Student Spotlight. Last time we interviewed Senior Eduardo Cunha. For our second edition we interviewed Junior Kofi Omane. Kofi sometimes exhibits his talents in chapel by playing the piano along with the praise team, but he usually can be found at the back of the worship room running the visuals of chapel on PowerPoint. Kofi does not show his talents all too often, at least not in school, but The Pioneer caught up with him to see if we could get further acquaint themselves with his talents.

Kofi only plays the piano, but he has clearly fine tuned his skills with the instrument. Piano was his first instrument and he began playing the instrument in the 5th grade. He has been with the piano for 5 years now and does not seem to have plans of stopping any time soon. When asked if he would consider picking up any new instruments, he said he maybe would in the future.

He enjoys playing whenever he can. He enjoys playing in church, at home, and at school. We asked if he would ever consider taking his music to a higher level, to which he said maybe might. Kofi’s favorite styles of music are classical and smooth jazz, two genres of music that are clearly reflected in the way that he plays the piano when he does get up to do so.

Kofi’s talents are fine tuned, but with the basketball season already upon us, how would he be able to balance both improving his basketball skills and honing his piano abilities? Kofi says that he practices the piano a couple hours a week, but during the basketball season he was planning on trying to have a schedule that allows him to practice music and other activities. It seems like he is well focused and knows where his mind needs to be to succeed.

We enjoy listening to Kofi and I’m sure that we would like to see him exhibit his talents a bit more often. We would like to wish Kofi and the rest of the Crusader team good luck this year in the basketball season; all the best to them. Thank you for checking into the SLA Student Spotlight, next time we will be interviewing a sophomore to see what the class of 2014 has to offer with their talents.