James Bowie High School
the
Lone Star Dispatch Vol. 31
4103 W. Slaughter Lane Austin TX 78749
Issue 5
Friday April. 9, 2016
www.thelonestaronline.com
Difficult class choices resolved Violet Glenewinkel Student Life Editor
Course contracts come every year for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and, for seniors, college applications. Students do their best to pick the correct path for next year that fit their personal needs and interests, but students often request changes at the beginning next school cycle despite the contract. However, there are ways to make sure the choice an individual makes is the best for them. Some students are troubled by choosing the wrong classes for next year and worried about the workload. “It has been difficult to decide which courses to take because I’ve been told junior year is the hardest and I don’t want to choose a class that I’ll regret,” sophomore Piper Kopser said. Teachers, like English teacher Whitney Shumate, advise students to think about the classes and workload they have now. “Students should take into consideration their own performance during the current school year,” Shumate said. “Be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses.” Some students’ first instinct is to take lots of AP classes. “While it may seem like taking all AP classes would be the best option to im-
CON
PRO College credit if you pass the test In-depth knowledge of the subject
AP/Pre-AP
Challenge yourself Automatic college credit (if you receive a B average or higher
ACC Dual Credit
Requires good organizational skills Self-paced
Slower paced
No college credit
Less amount of homework press a college admissions committee, it doesn’t look so great if that person is struggling or failing all of those classes,” Shumate said. Between academic, pre-AP, AP, and ACC dual credit, teachers take a few things into consideration when advising choices. “I think about the student’s work ethic, academic performance, and interests,” Shumate said. No matter which class they decide to take, students should keep working hard.
Time commitment/more stressful You must pay to take the AP Exam
Less in-class time to complete work Free cost for college credit
Less time commitment/ less stressful
Regular
Heavy workload
“Work diligently and enthusiastically no matter what and all the time,” social studies department chair Ruth Ann Widner said. Widner suggests talking to both peer and teachers that are taking the different courses to further get a good understanding of the class a student takes. “In making this decision, students should speak to students taking each of the three options and talk to their current teacher,” Widner said. However, counselors
Don’t know who the professor will be
Not as much impact on GPA Not challenging yourself
are a better resource for information if it involves which class to take for a future career a student has in mind. “If a student is trying to develop a pathway towards a particular career field or area of interest, the counselor’s guidance would be more useful than a teacher’s,” Widner said. Different resources will work for different students though, like how Kopser found most of her help from the experiences of others and her family’s opinions.
“To narrow down my decisions, I’ve taken in the advice that upperclassmen have given me as well as the thoughts of my friends and family,” Kopser said. “The best advice I’ve received is from my older sister and my upperclassman friends.” Before making decisions on electives and core classes, it is advised to try many different things while also keeping a career in mind. “Students should try lots of different types of courses in high school in
order to figure out what interests them,” Widner said. “The other belief is that students should prepare in high school for a future career by carefully selecting a sequence of related courses.” The latter option has been most prevailing, but Widner thinks differently. “Personally, I think that both approaches are appropriate, as some kids know what they want to do someday while others are still exploring the possibilities,” Widner said. Despite all the choices, students should try more difficult courses to gain experience and habits. “By challenging themselves in high school, students develop good study habits, effective time management skills and learn to how to be their own advocate,” counselor Veronica Castillo said. To help gain knowledge on courses and careers outside of high school, Castillo suggest taking a step further than only talking to counselors and teachers. “Students should research on their own by visiting universities, look at their websites for academic programs, applying for summer programs at local agencies, meeting with college representatives that come to Bowie, or try doing an internship or volunteering at an organization of a job that they’d like to learn more about,” Castillo said.
PALS mentor elementary students Expanding new horizons, a focus of new AP class Carissa Duran Commentary Editor
Providing elementary school students encouragement, comfort, and a helping hand through difficult paths they may be encountering, the organization PALS, lead by World History teacher Alejandro Garcia, has kept elementary school students smiling for twenty two years. A PAL’s main goal is to become close with their ‘PALee,” the elementary school student that they are working with, and understanding their current situation and finding a way to help them. “PALS are most importantly friends and mentors to their PALees,” junior PAL Amy Cox said. “We are not there to scold our PALees or act like a teacher or parent but to listen to them and be someone they can rely on and trust.” The purpose of PALS is not only to provide a sense of encouragement and motivation for the elementary schoolers, but to allow the juniors and seniors to grasp what the main idea of being a leader and role model is. “PALS is for the junior
Mia Barbosa Online Editor
PALS are painters: Juniors Lauren Do and Michelle Chahda paint posters with other PALS in preparation for Blue Out. Blue Out is a day to bring awareness to child abuse and will be on April 22. Photo by Fuaad Ajaz
and seniors students to understand the basic ropes of what it means to be a mentor,” Garcia said. “They are being a role model to the little kids and their fellow peers.” The PAL is not the only one doing the teaching and supporting. PALS has opened junior PAL Macy Hartman’s mind to view life from different perspectives. “Being a PAL this year
has really caused me to be very grateful for the things and opportunities I have, as well as changed my perspective on life,” Hartman said. “Talking to my PALees about their situations makes the things I stress over seem very insignificant, which has caused me to worry less about the small things.” PALS creates so many different opportunities for juniors and seniors to take
Athletics
Senior tennis player Jackson Cobb helps to beautify the facilities Several teammates went out on a Saturday workday to stain picnic tables and put together new bleachers for the tennis team.
See page 10 for more details
INSIDE
part in. “They teach me so many things and brighten my day when I see them, Cox said. “Their creativity and passion inspire me and bring me great joy. Seeing my PALees make more friends and become more confident in themselves has been extremely meaningful to me as they demonstrate strength and motivate me to step out of my comfort zone too.”
Human interactions lead to the development of evniromental changes that affect people in return. These intertwining subjects can range anywhere from urban design, country development levels, agriculture, and internal and external migration. The study of these interactions is also known as human geography. Next year at Bowie a semester long AP human geography course taught by current world history teacher, Nicholas Stamper, will be offered as an elective for the first time to allow students to explore the impact of humans on the earth. “Geography is a discipline that focuses on the spatial aspect of any issue. Human geography focuses on issues more closely related to people than a physical geography course might,” Stamper said. People who take world geography learn about climatology, geology and even phrenology while students who take human geography will learn different topics. “We will examine how cities are designed to meet the needs of people. We will also examine how agriculture works and provides for people in different parts of the world,” Stamper said. “This course dives into a lot of information about culture by looking at the complexities of things like language and dialect. We also study demographics and how growing, shrinking and stagnate populations create different problems and opportunities for places all around the world.” For some students planning on taking the course next year their interest in the class is more based on the cultural aspects of geography. Read more: “Class all about the world” pg. 4
Commentary
Pop singer Beyonce brings about a serious message Beyonce’s new single, “Formation,” tackles the problem of police brutality and civil rights through her music video and the Superbowl performance. See page 6 for more details
Entertainment
Six Degrees of Separation propels UIL Theater Theater department busy to end the school year as multiple groups across campus begin UIL competition season. See page 5 for more details
Student Life 2-3 News 4 Entertainment 5 Commentary 6-7 In-Depth 8 Student Life 9 Athletics 10-11 Photo Essay 12