LOOK INSIDE:
What classes do you need to graduate?
Carlmont turf is torn up
How to prepare for college
page 15
page 13
pages 8-9
The Highlander Carlmont High School Newspaper Volume III, Issue II, October 2011 See us online at http://scotscoop.com
Campus commute too long
With opening of new building, students do not have enough time to travel from U-hall to F-hall within six minutes
By Shannon Chang
Staff Writer Students are struggling to complete the trek from the newly opened U hall to F hall within the six minute passing period. According to the administration, students should be able to walk from the F wing all the way to U hall within the 6 minute passing period, but others think it is unreasonable to ask this of students. An anonymous source stated, “As a teacher, I went to S wing and when the bell rang I walked all the way to my classroom in F hall. I got here right when the bell rang but I wasn’t inside a classroom, so I usually give students coming from T or S wing an additional 30 seconds. Biotech students have about a minute extra.” Once the Biotech building opened, the questions arose as
These times were not calculated during passing periods, so foot traffic is not taken into consideration.
to whether students should be excused for being tardy if they had to walk from one side of the school to the other. The anonymous teacher also commented, “Occasionally, a teacher will let their class out late and then the students don’t make it on time and it’s frustrating because I don’t know if they were taking advantage or if they are being truthful.” Vice Principal Ralph Crame said,
“We are studying it. We have asked teachers to collect data about how many students are late and we will work on it from there. The administration realizes that there is a second story and stairs that may add on to how long it takes to walk.” If there is to be a change in the passing period, the Governance Council, a council comprised of students, teachers and parents, will have to approve it.
Sleep deprived students By Kiana Valdez
Staff Writer Sometimes the most difficult thing to do is to feel awake in the morning, especially when at school. This can be true when students do hours of homework, constantly change their Facebook status, party, or any thing else that could stop them from going to bed. To add to that, many students have so much to do in such a short amount of time. “I’m usually doing homework until around 10:30 and then I still have to eat and take a shower,” said Brittney Benavidez, “the next day I’m really tired and can’t focus well enough.” Because of the lack of sleep, some students have developed various sleep disorders such as insomnia, which is a disorder when someone finds it hard to fall asleep and remain asleep. According to some sources, insomnia can be cured by doing
yoga, refraining from caffeine and by going to bed as early as possible. People can even get some form of sleep apnea. In this sleep disorder, victims have a difficult time breathing while sleeping. “Some teenagers have sleep apnea,” said Shannon Demosthenes, a sleep apena specialist. “An overnight sleep study can be performed to rule out sleep apnea for a teenager who is overly tired during the day, has been told they snore, has frequent urination breaks during the night, or has been diagnosed with ADD.” Surprisingly, there is even a syndrome for staying up and looking at electronics. “Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome is common in teens,” related doctor Mehran Farid. “If they work with
Z
Z
Z
computers and computer games at night, light emitting from these devices delays the sleep phase.” The study of sleep has been a new form of examination for many scientists. In fact, the first sleep center was established at Stanford Continued on page 14
How many hours of sleep do you get per night?
“My teacher usually lets me be 30 seconds late but its impossible for me to get there even within this time limit because my other teacher usually lets us out a little late. I wish both my teachers would take that into consideration,” junior Hallie Freitas complained. While some teachers sympathise with students to a certain extent, as of now administration requires students to be in class promptly when the bell rings. Students have
become both angry and stressed about their amount of time to walk to class. “As a solution, I wish every teacher would e-mail us when they let a class out late,” the same anonymous teacher said. The administration is trying to come up with a more realistic solution. “Personally I have walked from U20 to F13 a couple times to see Continued on page 14
Trash detention rewards cheaters By Erin Greig
Staff Writer
Students fill bags from teachers’ rooms
Some students have found a way to cheat in order to clear detentions. Students serving detentions by means of campus beautification would often rather take trash Photo by Grace Chang out of trash bins rather than actually clean up Students do not view picking up the campus. trash as punishment but rather a The majority of students who do chore they need to complete. They campus beautification take trash do not understand that they are in from the bins in teachers’ rooms, the bins around school or plastic bottles stored in their lockers.
Continued on page 14