Vol 2 Issue 1 January 28, 2015 1
The Lizard’s Tale
Volume 2, Issue 1, January 28, 2015 Page 1
DHS Forensics & Debate Team The DHS Speech and Debate team, captained by Kelli Collins and Jessica Hernandez, has performed better than any in Mr. Gamble’s seven years as a coach. “In order to do well these kids have to go out against teams that bring in busloads of kids, have multiple coaches and the ability and funds to attend summer camps to sharpen their skills” Mr. Gamble starts as he commented on the success of his team and the obstacles they have overcome. Speech and Debate routinely competes against the largest and most well-funded programs in the state. This is the only activity that mixes competition among all schools ranging from -2A.This year, the Sand Lizards have brought home 45 trophies in individual categories as well as 3 team awards that include a 1st place showing at the Monticello Tournament. In addition to these accolades, the 14/15 squad was the very first small school to be awarded the Russellville Cyclone Sportsmanship Award in November. The competitive season is only half over and will conclude with the State Tournament which will be held at Little Rock Central in April. The Sand Lizards currently have 12 members qualified in multiple events for the State meet and are looking to add more with the remaining tournaments. If you are interested in joining the team please talk to Mr. Gamble or one of the team captains and make plans to attend the January 28th tryouts that will be held after school.
Dardanelle High School Scarlet Regiment News By: Tyler Cooley During the 2014-15 Marching Season the Dardanelle Scarlet Regiment competed in many marching events around the state. The Dardanelle Band started their competitive season at the Dale Bumpers Invitational at Charleston, where they took 1st place as the grand champions, along with Best Color Guard, Best Drum Major, and achieved the Most Overall Effect. They then moved to the Redskin Classic in Pocahontas, were they competed against bands from Jonesboro, Green County, Batesville, and many more. They took 5th place overall and received the Most Entertaining Band Award for that year. The end of the competitive season was marked by the Region Marching Assessment were the band took the Superior First Division trophy. The show this year revolved around a Winter Fantasy that included songs like Let it Go from the hit movie Frozen, and ending with the glorious melody of Beethoven's 9th. Along with these iconic pieces the band featured a trumpet trio, a snow globe, and snow machines to make the Winter Fantasy come to life. See page for listing of the students earning awards . Continued on page 2.
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Dardanelle High School Scarlet Regiment News cont’d The band is known for excellence as a whole but the excellence doesn’t stop there. The Band had 15 members make All-Region and had 8 members make Jazz All-Region with 4 qualifying for All-State concert band and 1 qualifying for All-State Jazz Band. The following students are recognized for Jazz All Region: Leah Bartlett, Luke Bartlett, Chris Caballero, Daniel Cooley, Jesus Mendez, Logan Murphy, Peter Ruiz, and Howard Steer. The following students are All Region: Makayla Deal, Logan Murphy, Cade Wilks, Luke Bartlett, Rafael Andrade, Rachel Swanson, Eliseo Montez, Cecilia Gooch, Raven Lee, Chris Caballero, Peter Ruiz, Juliana Campos, Ethan Innis, and Ryan Grayham The following students qualified for All State: Rafael Andrade, Luke Bartlett, Logan Murphy, and Rachel Swanson. In the upcoming semester the Dardanelle Band will be preforming in the Region Concert Assessment, and the Spring Concert. For the Region Concert Assessment the band will be splitting into two bands one being the Wind Ensemble and the other being the Symphonic Band. The Wind Ensemble will be composed of 52 members and will be filled with the top players in the band determined by merit. The Symphonic Band will be composed of 80 members which will allow people to play more difficult parts than they have been used too. Merit was determined by tests that were given each week starting at the beginning of marching season. This is the first year that the Dardanelle Band has done this and it has elevated the band in all aspects and is sending the band in the right direction. For the Spring Concert the band will then reunite to perform a themed concert with all 132 members.
Things to Know Forensics Try-outs for next year: Wednesday, J anuar y 28th, after school, Room 127. Try outs are required for both of the above classes. Do not plan these classes on your four year plan unless you have seen Ms. Balloun and Mr. Gamble for your try out. After the above dates, we will get a list of those you made either choir or forensics. Y our responsibility to keep your try-out date! Inside this issue Page 1
Forensics & Debate
Page 2
DHS Scarlet Reg.
Page 3
CAPS Conference
Page 4
Envirothon
Page 5
DHS Football
Page 6
Student of The Month
Page 7
Foreign Exchange Student
Page 8
Upward Bound Program
Page9
Senior Information
2015 DHS EAST Conference Team Announced The 2015 EAST conference team from Dardanelle High School is (front row) Grant George, Amanda Weaver, Kelli Collins, Woodrow Ramey, Miranda Wilks, Maily Andraca, (back row) Thaddeus Reynolds, Tyler Calavitta, Kristian Thompson, and Caleb Hicks. Kristian and Woodrow are named to the EAST Conference Team. Kristian is on the Ambassador team and Woodrow is on the tech team. The 2015 EAST conference will be held in Hot Springs in March.
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Congratulations to Us! Dardanelle High School has been notified that it is ranked as one of the nation’s best high school currently by US News. The school was awarded a SILVER ranking. One school in Arkansas, Hass Hall Academy in Fayetteville, was awarded a GOLD ranking. Twenty schools, including Dardanelle, were awarded the silver ranking, and were, thus, named in the Nation’s Best category. Dardanelle is the only school in the River Valley area to be so ranked this year. Rankings are based on a teacher/student ratio, a college readiness category derived from AP participation and scores, and a compilation of geometry and literacy test scores, without consideration of their factors. Principal Marcia Lawrence said “Of course, we are pleased with our inclusion on both lists and we are proud of our students and teachers. A great many other things go into the making of a great school, but being on good lists helps! One word of caution is that most ranking have their own modality for compiling the lists. So, we are careful that those we put store in use criteria that we feel are sensible. Both these ranking are based on valid measurements. That makes them good in our estimation.”
CAPS Conferences Happening Now Parent Conference — Feb. 12th Guess what students it’s time to inform your parents that CAPS Conferences is coming up and for those of you that don't know what that is read the following information down below!
Career Action Planning is mandated activity that Arkansas High Schools must employ. This is a counseling technique for high school students in which both advisor and high school students consider the following: (1)the student’s career choice, (2) where the student is achieving his or her career goals, (3) and create a plan to move toward those goals for the rest of the high school career.
On January 5th during professional development work Dardanelle High teachers were trained the techniques of CAPS. Between that day and CAPS Conferences Students and advisors will have a sit down to plan on what time to meet after school. Then on February 12th all students will bring their parents to meet with their advisor at the planned time that the student and the advisor set up.
“CAPS stretches the advisors counseling skills. The advisor must use concrete data to help the student set goals. Then both advisors and student must confront the parents. It is the most important activity for advisory and, in large part, the very reason for the advisory program at Dardanelle High School,” Comments Principal Marcia Lawrence.
Here is fact to learn: the advisory program was started at DHS about 30 years ago and that DHS had the first high school advisory program in Arkansas. The concept has been widely copied throughout the state. Every year, at this time, CAPS makes advisory extremely important at Dardanelle High. Parents are encouraged to contact Cindy Hudgeons or Melanie Burris, high school counselors, any questions or concerns during the six weeks of CAPS work.
Did you know… That sunlight is good for your body and mind. Spending time in the sun can improve your health, make you happier, help you relax, boost your concentration, decrease your pain, and help you heal faster. Did you know… The human body is thought to have 7 octillion atoms, also known as a seven followed by 27 zeros.
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DHS Envirothon Team Wins State Contest BY: Kori Bull and Allie Evans The Dardanelle High School Environthon Team won the Arkansas Environthon Sate Contest at Conway Recently. The team is composed of Woodrow Ramey, Erin Hall, Tyler Corbin, Cherokee Duli, and Drew Baily. The team was coached by the DHS science teachers in preparation for the contest and coached at the two day contest by Jeff Woods. The team won by 30 points over Hass Hall High School in Fayetteville and 14 other district winning teams. The competition was in forestry, soils, aquatics, wildlife, Pictured Left to Right: Back Row: Mr. Woods, Tyler Corbin, Drew and oral presentation. The team garnered personal Baily, Cherokee Duli, Mr. Farnam. Front Row: Erin Hall and scholarships and an invitation to the National EnviWoodrow Ramey ronthon competition in July. Environthon is a competition in which high school teams use their specific knowledge to Apply to real world problems. The problems are assigned on the spot at the meet by five judges. Principal Marcia Lawrence said that “While our teams have scored well in the past we have never won the state prize. We are very proud of these students and the hard teachers put in to get them ready to do so well. Mr. Woods and the students are congratulated!”
FBLA Fundraiser for the Arkansas Children’s Hospital In October FBLA hosted two "Minute Miracle" events to raise money for Arkansas Children's Hospital. We raised a total of $475 that was donated in November to ACH. These events were held during half -time of one high school football game and one junior high football game. FBLA adopted an angel tree child this year to purchase Christmas for. FBLA members each brought a gift for the child selected and the gifts were delivered on December 12th to the Salvation Army. A huge success this semester for FBLA was the Arkansas Children's Hospital toy drive from December 1st 12th. Students and faculty of DHS donated toys for ACH. FBLA collected over 75 items worth over $800. The toys were delivered to ACH by Mrs. Taylor and Jesus Mendez who is the FBLA Chapter Representative. The toys were also donated in memory of Leo Mendez, Jesus' younger brother who was a student in Dardanelle School District.
Did you know... You can’t be tricked by a fake laugh. Researchers found that hearing fake laughter causes your brain to try and decipher the type of emotion, whereas genuine laughter makes your brain process happiness. If you think someone’s laugh is fake, it probably is.
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Dardanelle, Arkansas home of the Sand Lizards has conquered every football team in the district and made it to state playoffs. They have put in a lot of hard work and sweat to get this far and of course they had a lot of support from the amazing band and all fans from the town of Dardanelle. With 11-0 the Sand Lizards have the home field advantage for the first two rounds of the playoff games and with success beaten Fountain Lake and Hamburg. Next they are on the road to Nashville hoping and praying that they can defend their undefeated streak and with no surprise they defeated Nashville and are coming back home to practice for one of the biggest home games they will ever play in the semifinals against the Warren Lumberjacks. With great talent and hard work our beloved Sand Lizards fought hard and showed us what it means to be a Lizard and there will be a lot of hopes that next season will be as great or even greater than this season.
‘EAST Night Out’ Open House Showcases Student Projects EAST at Dardanelle High School is in its 12th year as an elective program of study and has served over 900 students since its inception. EAST® (Environmental and Spatial Technology) is an educational model that focuses on student-driven service projects accomplished by using teamwork and cutting-edge technology. EAST schools are equipped with classrooms containing state-of-theart work-stations, servers, software and accessories, including GPS/ GIS mapping tools, architectural and CAD design software, 3D animation suites, virtual reality development and more. Students identify problems in their local communities and then use these tools to develop solutions, collaborating with civic and other groups in the process. The annual “EAST Night Out” was recently held in the new EAST classroom, at Dardanelle High School, to inform the public and the community about the EAST student accomplishments and to provide information about student project work. Students showcased such projects as: the creation of the district’s school building as layouts in Sketchup, auto-cad software for Troop J of the Arkansas State Police, the use of ARCGIS story-mapping to develop a historical accounting of our community and celebrate our veterans, and to the building of 3-D printers for the EAST program and science department.
Did you know... If you have a diagonal crease in your earlobe, you may be more susceptible to heart disease. Many studies have found that the crease, known as “Frank’s sign”, can be an indicator of cardiovascular trouble, especially in men. Did you know... the fast food eaten in the US is determined by the residents of Columbus, Ohio. Around 20 fast food chains have their headquarters in Columbus, and they test their products locally before launching them anywhere else.
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DHS Student of The Month Congratulations to Brittany Loke for being January’s student of the month. Her favorite class is Forensics and she is involved in Beta, FBLA, Key Club, Thespian, and Forensics. She is also the Treasurer of Thespian and Key Club. On her spare time she loves to perform, read, working, helping her community, and taking part in her clubs. Her plans for the future is to join the military as an “Airman”, but during this time she would like to further her education to become a lawyer. Mr. Gamble is her most favorite teacher because he makes performing fun and also easier and it has helped improved her speaking skills. What she likes about him is that he takes time out of his personal life to help his class. Brittany finds this to be a committing sacrifice. What most people doesn’t know about her is that she is very outgoing and loves learning more than anything. The most inspiring quote to her is “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have” by Vince Lombardi.
Credit Recovery will be offered beginning January 20th. The classes will be from 3:30-6:30 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday fro six weeks or 60 clock hours. This will run the classes to mid-March approximately. Credit Recovery is free (paid for by the 21st Century Grant). You cannot miss or be late to any classes, but you can recover a semester of credit in the following: Chemistry 1st semester, English any semester , World History 1st semester (this semester WILL NOT be offered in summer), and Upper Level Math Algebra II-first semester or pre-cal 1st semester. Note: The 1st semester of world history, chemistry, or upper level math will not be offered in summer school…only in credit recovery (by summer the offering will be 2nd semester of these classes.) You need to sign up for the class at once in the office. Board Rules Regarding Concurrent Credit Comp I and Comp II 2015/16 1.
Enroll in AP English 11 and make A, B ,or C for both semesters
2.
Take the ACT during the early part of your junior year and make at least 21 on both English and Reading (21 is less than the school average)
Important Items of Interest Forensics Try–Outs for next year: Wednesday, J anuar y 28th, after school, Room 127. Dates for CAPS and Four Year Plans: All four year plans and applications must be tur ned in by advisor s on Febr uar y 17th. Parent Conferences to be held Febr uar y 12th beginning at 3:30 until 7:00. Seniors: Check your advisor y notebook ever y day as new mater ial is being added. Also scholar ship infor mation is listed on Scholarship Corner under the High School web page. Scholarship deadlines: Lee Ellen Witt Scholarship application due February 13th. Progressive Men’s Club Scholarship application due March 16th. Arkansas Public Health Association Scholarship due March 16th.
Did you know... The pink cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. were a gift from Japan. In 1912, Japan sent more than 3,000 seeds to be planted near the Potomac River as a symbol of friendship between the two nations. Did you know… Once a year at 11:11 on November 11, the sun perfectly aligns with the Anthem Veteran’s Memorial. At 11:11 am each Veteran’s Day, the sun’s rays pass through the 5 Armed Services pillars, lighting up a mosaic of the Great Seal of the United States.
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Arkansas Tech University’s Upward Bound Program By: Kori Bull and Allie Grace Evans, Dardanelle High Upward Bound is a pre-college prep program in preparing high school students for college that Arkansas Tech hosts annually for schools in the River Valley. Upward Bound provides the opportunity to high school students from low income families and whose parents do not have Bachelor’s degrees. It promotes cultural, personal, and social development. Bryland Young, Mayenssi Montiel, Wendy Sierra, Destiny Robinson, Christopher Cabellero, Raven Lee, Leidy Navarette, Rosa Gutierrez, and Bertha Cruz from Dardanelle High School were chosen to participate in the Upward Bound program this year. The summer following their graduation, they will get to attend the Tech campus choosing classes and attending field trips. In this program, the students can receive up to six hours of college credit their senior year. Students who have particiThe students in the picture: Top Row: Bryland Young, pated in Upward Bound have been more likely to go to college than Mayenessi Montiel, Wendy Sierra, Destiny Robinson, students from families with little to no college experiences. Marcy Christopher Cabellero Bottom Row: Raven Lee, Leidy Lawrence, principal of Dardanelle High School, stated, “Upward Navarette, Rosa Gutierrez Not Pictured: Bertha Cruz Bound is an excellent program of which we are honored to be a part of…Its aim is to give them special attention through tutoring and summer enrichment during high school so that they will have a smooth transition into college. Selection is highly competitive and is accomplished after an involved application process that includes individual and parental interviews.” Dardanelle is very proud of the selected students and wishes them the best of luck throughout the remainder of their high school and college careers.
College Career Fair Held at DHS By Kori Bull, Allie Evans, and Kelli Collins On Monday, October 27, 2014, Dardanelle High School hosted its annual College and Career Fair. This event, sponsored by Ms. Cindy Hudgeons and members of Dardanelle High School's EAST team, gave students an opportunity to have an insight on multiple colleges and professions. "I thought it was an amazing success. We had more colleges than normal. Numerous parents and students spoke with representatives." stated Ms. Hudgeons, the counselor at DHS. She also bragged on the EAST students who helped her. "I have had multiple groups help sponsor this event. The students from EAST who helped this year did one of the best jobs I've seen. They stayed after, without being asked, to move chairs and tables back. This is a job that is usually left for the janitors to do. Our EAST program teaches you to think on your own. I am very impressed with their work."
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Senior Information Seniors this is an important announcement. The ATU scholarship called IME, Offered in partnership with the Mexican Consulate, will be awarded to this year’s seniors. It is for students of Mexican descent and preference will be those whose Citizenship is ‘deferred action ‘. Check with the ATU Admissions Office and our counselors. Senior Advisors: please note that a CAPS exit for m is now in mail boxes fr o each of your advisees. You need to fill this out WITH EACH STUDENT. This is the exit slip for CAPS conferences fro seniors. Senior Test Exemption: for seniors the normal attendance policy with the ten day maximum r emains in effect, of course. You may be exempt from semester test this last senior semester by not missing more than four (4) total days this semester. All absences, excused or unexcused, count in the four day total. This includes college days or days to go take a test, etc.. It also includes the fact that six tardies will equal one day. An official school activity absence does not count in the four days.
A Dictionary for Seniors FASFA: A for m that you must fill out electr onically which ser ves as the star ting point to apply for scholar ships, some grants, and bank loans for education. It requires your parents’ and your financial information including 2015 tax information. U-Universal: A for m that you must fill out electr onically which will tell you all scholar ships for which you ar e eligible, based on your personal profile, in the state of Arkansas. Compass: A test you take at college admission offices and var ious other places like the car eer center . You ar range the yourself. It is an admission test for some post secondary institutions, like UACCM. It is better to take this than ACT if you do not have upper level math, science or English. ACT: The college entr ance exam, given by the Amer ican College Boar d six times year ly. You ar r ange the test on line with ACT. The target score is 19. ASVAB: The test for entr y into the ar med ser vices, ar r ange with militar y r ecr uiter .
Grant: Post secondar y money r ewar d accor ding to stipulated pr ofiles of the student. Gr ant money does not have to be paid back. Education Loan: A loan you and your par ents take out fr om a financial institution or a gover nment entity to use for post– secondary education. The money must be paid back with interest. Scholarship: Education money you ar e awar ded by some entity usually due to academic achievement. Scholar ship money does not have to be paid back. Work: Another way to go to college. You wor k and fr om your wages pay your college bills! Tr ied and tr ue!
Seniors: Check your advisory notebook everyday. New material is being added, at this time of year, every day! Scholarships
Lea Ellen Witt Scholarship applications are with senior advisors. Deadline is February 13.
Progressive Men’s Club Scholarships applications with senior advisors. Deadline is March 16.
Arkansas Public Health Association Scholarship applications with senior advisors. Deadline is March 16.
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DHS 2014-2015 Foreign Exchange Students: Here at Dardanelle High School you can see that we have foreign exchange students. Some people don't understand the reason why foreign exchange students come to America to study. Maybe it’s because they want to compare their culture to ours. Maybe they just come here to learn how to speak our language and learn what we teach in our public school system. We have ask them a few questions so that we can get the information for who they are and why they are here. So here is a brief introduction of our foreign exchange students and their names are DW Shin, Igor Capuano Alessandre, Johnny Jeng, Andres Alvarado Farias, Leonardo Oliveira Rodrigues, and Danielle Beccari Hello, my name is DW Shin I am 15 years old and in the 12th grade. My advisory teacher is Mrs. Allen. I’m from South Korea and I have a sister named Jiwon who was an exchange student last year. My host parents are Lance Adams, and Melinda Adams. The type of music I like is background music. I am very athletic and play soccer, badminton, and ping pong. Out of all the sports I play soccer would have to be my favorite. My hobbies are drawing, and playing the piano. My plans for the future is to graduate high school. Then I hope to go to college to follow my dream of being a doctor. The thing I like about Dardanelle High School is the sports training. I find it awesome. My school in Korea is different than Dardanelle because in Korea has two terms in one semester. These terms are important because we study for one month before a test. I am staying in school for ten months and I will go home next June. I can speak English and Korean. The Foreign Exchange program is good. The system helps me to learn the English language and experience the American culture. My purpose for studying in America is to learn English. I like American’s different cultures of people. My country has mostly Korean people. I envy this system. I like Arkansas sky at night because of all of the stars. I miss my family, the food, and my friends most from Korea. I want people here to remember me in their memories. My name is Igor Capuano Alessandre. I am 17 years old and in 12th grade. My advisory is Mrs. Franks and my host parents are the Mcelmurry’s. My home country is Brazil and I have two siblings. I like to listen to music and play sports. The music I like to listen to is rock, folk, heavy metal, and pop. The sports I like to play are Hand Ball. Since I came to Dardanelle I enjoy playing Football and Baseball. My favorite hobbies are skateboard and slack line. I don't have any plans for the future. I like everything about Dardanelle. The people are nice, teachers are excellent, family is really cool, and my friends are really nice. The school back at home is really different from Dardanelle High School. I am staying all year in school. I don't speak any other language than my native language. The Foreign Exchange program has a lot of rules, but everything is good. My purpose of studying in America is to learn English. Here in America there is a different lifestyle and I like America because of that. In Arkansas I have noticed that it has some crazy weather and to me that’s what I like about it. What I miss the most from my country is friends and family. I would like people to know that I am really enjoying and it will be something I’ll never will forget. That everybody in Dardanelle is making my exchange program perfect. Hello, my name is Johnny Jeng and I am 16 years old. I am a foreign exchange student from Taiwan. I am attending Dardanelle High school and I am in the 12th grade. My advisor is Ms. Williams. My host parents are the McMurly's. I have one sister that lives in New York. I play basketball and I like pop music. My favorite hobbies are any outdoor activities and listening to music My plans for the future is that I will study college in the USA after I finish High School. The thing I like about Dardanelle High School is that the people here are nice to me and they are really friendly. My school in Taiwan is different from Dardanelle because all we did there is stay in the same classroom and different teachers will come to the classroom. I am staying school for a year. The languages I speak is Chinese and English. The foreign exchange program is a good program for me because I can have a chance to experience many different things. My purpose for studying in America is I want to improve my English and experience a different culture. The things I like about America is the schooling because it is more easier but the language sometimes bothers me. The weather here is cold and snowy. I miss the Chinese food from my country it was really good. I would like people to know that it is a great place and I will miss it here a lot when I leave.
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DHS 2014-2015 Foreign Exchange Students: Hello, my name is Leonardo Oliveira Rodrigues. I’m 16 years old and in 12th grade. My advisory teacher is Mrs. Wade. I’m from Brazil and I have 2 sisters. My host parents are Leon and Noehmi Lane. The type of music I like is rap and rock. I am very athletic and play soccer; here in America I play football. My favorite hobbies are swimming, fishing and playing games. My plans for the future is to be successful in life, and one day have a lot of money. The things that I like about Dardanelle High School is the students and teachers; they are super nice! My school in Brazil is different from Dardanelle’s because their teaching and methods used are very different. I will be studying here for the whole school year. The languages I speak are English and obviously Portuguese! The foreign exchange program has worked very well for me. The purpose for me to come into America and study is to learn better English and meet new people and cultures. What I like about America is the people and how much they respect their country. Brazil and America are really different in the ways that the government isn’t corrupt. I like Arkansas because of all the nature it has and because it’s really beautiful. What I miss the most from my country is my family, Brazilian food, and friends. I would like people to know I am very shy, and that I’m always hungry. Hello, my name is Danielle Beccari and I am 16 years old and in the 11th grade. I am from Brazil and my advisory class is Mrs. Stottman. My host parents are Kerri and Osmin Ramirez. I have no siblings back at home. I like pop music and I like to play soccer. My favorite hobbies are playing soccer and listening to music. My plans for the future is to go to a good college. I love everything about Dardanelle High School. My school is a lot different from Dardanelle. I am staying this school for 6 months. I speak English and Spanish. I came to the US and stayed with a different family so this will be a good experience for me. I would like to improve my English and get to know more about the American culture. I like that you can drive when you are 16 years old. I like the weather here it is nice. I miss my parents and food. Hello, my name is Andres Alvarado Farias and I am 18 years old. I am in the 12th grade and my advisor is Mr. Bush. I am from Mexico and my host parents are Brian Keys and Brandi Keys. Back at home I have a brother that is 21 years old. I like to listen to country, electronic, and pop music. The sports I like to play are basketball, soccer, and boxing. My hobbies are to ride horses and help people. My plans for the future is to be a senate of Mexico. I like the people at Dardanelle they are very nice. My school is different from Dardanelle because it is bigger and has more activities. I will be staying here till May then I will return home. I speak French, English, Spanish, and I understand Portuguese. The Foreign exchange program works for me because if I have a problem they will fix it. The purpose of me studying America is that I learn English and their culture. I like ecology here. I miss my friends, family, the parties, and my girlfriend. I would like people to know that I have a positive attitude and I can help everyone just let me know.