Multitasking harmful? page 5
‘No Bummer Summer’ page 8
The
Chronicle
Rider High School
RIP Steve Jobs page 11
4611 Cypress, Wichita Falls, Texas, 76310
Volume 50 Issue 2 November 2011
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New ECA policy enforced
Students need to watch extra-curriculars, only 10 days allowed by Jordan Campagna
Starting this year, students need to be cautious of when they use their ECA days since they only have 10 for the whole year, and that limit will be enforced. School related absences are coded in two different ways, ECA, or extra-curricular activities, which count toward the 10 days, or OC, co-curricular activities, which don’t count. “There is a list of five questions that a sponsor or teacher has to ask to determine whether it is ECA or OC,” principal Judy McDonald said. If the answer to all five questions is “no,” then the activity is coded as OC. “The teacher makes the first call [on ECA or OC],” McDonald said. “They turn it into Mrs. Albin. If there is a question, [Albin] would bring it to me or Mrs. Kirby.” Students in multiple activities and sports that are considered ECA “would have to be careful,” McDonald said. “They would have to pick and choose [what they attend],” McDonald said. Senior Sara Finkler feels that only allowing 10 days can harm a student’s chances at getting into college. “Students are involved with multiple activities and that limits their involvement,” Finkler said. “That is needed on college applications.” Students who reach the 10 ECA limit will not be allowed to attend the event with their organization
even if they take an absence. “I couldn’t support a sponsor allowing a student to go if they have 10 [ECA’s],” McDonald said. “That’s just circumventing the policy.” ECA days that have already taken place are counted in the 10, though students were only told on Oct. 18. This policy is not new, but the administration checked ECA related absences and took action only if the grades were suffering due to extended ECA days. However, that changed when McDonald saw the board policy stated 10 days total regardless of grades. “A student was going to be absent for an extended period of time. I checked to see if it was covered in the ECA policy and I noticed [this policy,]” McDonald said. “I thought teachers should be made aware, so I sent out a reminder. We need to enforce all school rules.” The only exceptions to the policy would be if a student or team makes it to the region or state levels of competition. Post-district events can use five more days, not including the original 10, and state events can use two days. Leftover days will not rollover. “UIL recommends 10 ECA days,” McDonald said. “It is district policy.” The three WFISD board members contacted did not respond to a request to speak before deadline.
“A student is allowed in a school year up to 10 absences not related to post-district competition, a maximum of 5 absences for postdistrict competition prior to state, and a maximum of 2 absences for state competition.”
-Student Handbook
ECA or OC? Is the activity competitive? Yes. This activity is an ECA.
No
Is it held in conjunction with a competitive activity? Yes. This activity is an ECA.
No
Are there adequate facilities on campus for the event? Yes. This activity is an ECA.
No
Is the general public invited? Yes. This activity is an ECA.
No Is an admission charged?
Yes. This activity is an ECA.
OC
2
Grades should determine ECA’s
{
Staff Editorial
}
The enforced ECA policy will put a lot of pressure on students who are involved in extra-curricular activities. No matter how many activities a student is in, that student is most likely going to miss some school for it. The board’s policy is one of no tolerance. It is going to be strictly enforced this year. Before postdistrict play a student only has 10 ECA absences. There are only 10 for the entire year, not per semester. Ten ECA days are not enough in the year for a student who is involved. The policy must be revised, or the responsible students with 4.0 GPA’s are going to be left behind. The school board first needs to reevaluate the policy’s purpose. Is the purpose to make sure kids aren’t missing class? Is it to take pressure off teachers who are having to give make-up tests and lessons 10 billion times a week for the kids who were absent? Is it to improve grades and/or make sure that students aren’t putting too much of a focus on their non-academic studies? An ECA policy might need to exist, but it needs to be thought out completely. There is no doubt that curricular classes should be higher in priority than the extracurriculars, but the students who are participating in extra-curricular activities are the students who have the necessary grades to do so. From the view of a student who makes good grades and who will be stopped from missing school, this is a policy set in place to keep them making appropriate grades inside school so that their grades don’t slip up. The current policy is as redundant as the previous statement was. If the ECA absences are affecting a student’s grade, then that specific student ought only to be allowed 10 such absences. If the district is unwilling to pay such particular attention to the students missing from school, then they should come up with a policy that is relevant to the entire student body. A better policy would have either a raised number of ECA days per semester or a specific examination of student scores: if the student has at least an 80 in each of their classes, they get extra ECA days. Or better yet, give principals the power of discretion to decide when a student is missing over the limit.
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The Rider Chronicle. November 2011
Your voice
Band prepares to play at Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
“They really deserve this...they were invited and are working extremely hard to make sure all band students can go.” -RaiderKid
One family, all teams: Cross Country reaches out “Even though we all are from different schools we still care for each other...even though we are rivals all 3 schools have each others back.” -Ross
She’s met more than her fair share of stars “That’s really cool! Not many people get to meet that many celebrities...It’s really cool to know they’re just the same as us!” -Brian
Cheer skirts call for compromise “SURELY there are greater injustices going on at Rider right now, than the cheerleaders wearing their uniform to school one day a week, on game day. The cheer uniform has been worn by cheerleaders in nearly every school on game day in every state in our country for as long as any of us can remember. It is a nationally recognized symbol of school spirit and a long running tradition.”
-CheerMom
Do you have your own opinion? If you leave a comment on any article at www.theriderchronicle.com, it might appear in the next issue of the paper!
Staff
A publication of Rider High School
The Chronicle is a student-run publication. The content and views are produced solely by the staff and do not represent Rider High School or the WFISD faculty or administration.
Editor-in-Chief Jordan Campagna
Photography Editor Meghan Myracle
Assistant Editors Kayla Holcomb Emma White
Do you have a smart phone? Scan this Quick-Response Code with your QR Code reader to see more stories, videos, polls and to comment on stories.
Jaycee Burke Wes Darnell Morgan Dougherty Lauren Love Alexa Mauri Principal Judy McDonald
Montana Mooney Kyler Norman Ashleigh Robinson Kella Rutledge Sam Syptak Adviser Mary Beth Lee
We serve as the voice of the student body and encourage letters to the editor. Deliver letters to room 247 or email to jordancampagna@theriderchronicle.com.
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Opinion
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The Rider Chronicle. November 2011
Should students focus on one thing, or many?
Technology, homework do not, go together, harms grades by Morgan Dougherty
There is no such thing as “Multitasking.” That is, there is no such thing as being able to multitask efficiently. While you try to take care of two to four things at a time you are most always sacrificing quality for quantity. Students who take the effort to focus on just one assignment at a time have more success than those who try to focus on two or more things. They even often times take more time to complete whatever work they’re doing compared to the student with a singular focus. In the time it took me to finish these first three paragraphs, for example, I could have written six because I’m sitting on my couch, watching HGTV, eating Cheeze-Its and texting. Multitasking can take up valuable time that should be used to finish work. Basically, it is just a form of procrastination. Trying to complete two assignments for school Good or bad? Studies show that any time students work on the computer, they are also working on multiple other projects at the same time.
at the same time is another story. Have you ever tried to write a term theme and study for a big test you had the next day at the same time because you waited too long to start your homework? It’s possible because you tried focusing on two things at once that you might not do as well as you had hoped on that test or you forgot a crucial aspect that you needed in your term theme. You can’t mix leisure with work and expect an A+ either. Checking Facebook while doing your homework can lengthen the amount of time it takes to finish or even lessen your understanding of learning material. That’s why we can’t use cell phones in class, besides the fact that they could be used to cheat, they are distracting. As popular as multitasking is, students should really think twice before using it as a means to get things done.
CROSSFIRE
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With time, practice, support, students will learn ways to multi-task efficiently, beneficially by Emma White Modern technology is a part of modern life. There isn’t anything more obvious than that fact. When teachers and students are saying that it isn’t okay to multitask with homework and iPhones, they are putting a stopper in the bottle of progress. It isn’t the kind of progress that has to do with 3D and 3G, but the progress of the mind. For years and years technology has been advancing and with it the modern perception of that progress. There was a time when people were saying that “everything worth being invented has been invented.” This was a time right before the minds of Wilbur and Orville Wright started budding blooms. (At least, that’s what they were saying in Around the World in 80 Days.) Obviously that wasn’t true. The minds of the people of the 1800s would probably explode if they set foot in the world of today. Why is that? Their minds haven’t progressed to the level of today’s technology. Phones aren’t going away. Facebook, the Internet, movies are an indispensable part of today’s culture. The job of the people is to be able to work well and work with the technology that we have present.
Not only should it be okay for students to multitask, it should be encouraged. We are the generation that will be dealing with the futuristic technology portrayed in movies. When we are adults, that will be our reality, and if we can’t text and do homework at the same time, then the future technology is going to overpower us. It is so important, because of the growing acceptability of the wild-fire communication we have, that we as students hone the skill of a multitasking focus. Right now, students’ test scores are lower because of multitasking. Students are tired because they spent so long trying to do two things at once. That’s true. How many people can play the cello like Yo-Yo Ma the first time they pick up an instrument? The answer: no one can. And they never will play like Yo-Yo Ma if they don’t practice. Gaining a multitask focus is something that our generation has to practice at, and perfect. Teachers are always talking about the short attention span of students. We have to get in front of some sort of digital screen or we will fall apart. The reason is that because we have been born into a generation of
such technological development, our minds have been conformed to the ability of doing two things at once. The generation before us discouraged multitasking because they have been left out of the loop. They don’t seem to realize how wired we are to partake in the revolution of multitasking. There is, of course, an appropriate time and place for multitasking because we haven’t mastered it yet. At home? Yes. At church and such single-focus places? No. In the classroom? Maybe. Having such a distraction at our fingertips is extremely tempting. Many people give into that temptation. It comes down to whether or not we have respect for the wishes of our teachers. If they are okay with the use of cell phones in their classroom that is a personal choice. If not, we have to respect that decision. It’s time for us to recognize the evolution of the acceptability of a multitasking mind. We need to decide as a society whether we are going to support that evolution or suppress it.
4 ‘Never again will I use those words’ check us out at www.theriderchronicle.com
The Rider Chronicle. November 2011
Opinion
Student grows closer to mother after realizing hurtfulness of words, accepting differences
by Samantha Syptak in the hard yellow chair, working on the long packet presented by the teacher, my hand cramping, listening to the quiet chatter of the students in front, behind, beside me. I could only faintly make out the words, not really paying attention. Then I heard it. The sharp words pierced my body and I was stuck just standing there, shocked, while it was slowly fell off. It was a personal attack. GAY. Flashback: I remember saying it, “That’s gay!” to my mom. She looked down with pain in her eyes and then she looked up at me. “What does that mean?” I was stumped. It was obvious right? “It’s dumb!” The words were out before I could stop them. They hurt me because they hurt her, my own mother, my best friend, the person who loved me unconditionally. My mother is a lesbian and I called her dumb. I couldn’t believe I said it. But I now understood. It wasn’t right when I said it, and it wasn’t right when I heard it. Every time I hear those brutal words, it is a personal attack on my family and
I sat
“ If your words hurt, they are not okay. ”
me. People use those words in everyday conversation like it’s nothing. And they don’t even know. They don’t know me; they don’t know the pain they cause others because I guarantee you, I’m not the only one, and really it’s not only the one word. Stop. Think. If your words hurt, they are not okay. This is about respect: respecting each other, respecting each other’s feelings. Every day someone is hurt by words. There is an easy solution. Think before you speak, think about the people around you, think about how you would feel if someone said something derogatory about you. Flashback: I slowly walked into the living room, where my mother was sitting watching television. I crept in and sat down beside her, hugged her and said, “I love you for being my mother, and I don’t think you’re dumb. Never again will I use those words.”
-Samantha Syptak
Making the grade
A
Where do recent events score? Mini Editorials by Emma White
B
Six Weeks Assessments
Are the new district Six Weeks Assessments a good thing? Or are they a bad thing? The truth is that students don’t know. They don’t know what the point is, how the tests are helping, why they started. There has been scrutiny over whether teachers are supposed to be taking a grade on them or not. Are they meant to have any affect on us or are they solely for the benefit of the administration? Students may never know.
D
The ultimate rivalry ensues tonight! On the field. Not anywhere else. Everywhere else, school spirit wins. It has soared all week with the great hallways, senior girl “Yote’ Busters” and minimal violence. As a student body, we should be thankful for the heightened security of this big week. It mitigates the temptation of trashing other campuses, trespassing, shooting animals that resemble coyotes. Anything that could get a student thrown in Juvenile detention. Don’t make bad choices, but by all means: WIN THAT FOOTBALL GAME!
Senior Sarah Naumann works with Teens Make a Difference Day. Rider had over 375 students who volunteered at 16 different locations though town. Photo by Meghan Myracle
A+
Texas Rangers defeated
They tried. Those Texas Rangers really tried. After a 7 game World Series they were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals. Thousands of fans are filled with disappointment, and thousands of band-waggoners are second guessing their bandwagon decisions. Although we mostly love the Texas Rangers, we can’t say they deserved the win after losing the two extra-innings in game six that came down to the last strike. Maybe next year Rangers!
Keep rivalry on field
Teens DO make a difference
Oct. 22 was a day of great change in our community. Over 390 Raiders (including teachers!) volunteered to help out all over Wichita Falls. Volunteering is truly an underappreciated idea. What does it even entail? When two people volunteer to help someone organize or clean a business those two people double a workforce of the normal two getting paid at a job (or volunteering themselves.) A really big thing with this is time. Think about all the time those 390 people save in just one day. It is incredible the difference that makes, in just one day out of the year!
The Texas Rangers celebrate defeating the Detroit Tigers as they head to the World Series for the second year in a row. Photo courtesy.
News School, technology bad mix
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The Rider Chronicle. November 2011
Multitasking contributes to dangerous teen school, social habits
by Lauren Love Compulsive multitasking causes teens problems with school. Studies have shown that most American school age children, between the ages of 8-18, are now spending over eight hours per day using media tools. “When I’m using the computer for homework I have another tab open, to Twitter or Facebook and I always go back and check it,” sophomore Lena Azzouz said. “I get distracted from my homework, and then I just get tired and go to bed.” Many teens have their phones, computers or TVs right on the tips of their fingers. “I think teens multitask compulsively because they have easy access to all kinds of technology,” counselor Wendy Risner said. “Students always have to be glued to their cell phones, so they can be updated at all times about what is going on with their friends and family. Teens have to be entertained constantly either by their cell phone, iPad, computer or TV. I think the media and society have created this problem.” Compulsive multitasking can cause effects in mind and social development. “Teens social skills are negatively affected by non-stop texting. Today’s generation of students are missing out on every day social skills because they don’t interact regularly with
Yearbook Senior Ads due Dec. 1. See the Rider website for more info.
people. They don’t make eye contact because they are too distracted by the texting, and they aren’t fully involved in the conversation.” Risner said. “Teens can miss out by not being fully present in conversation with others. This worries me for students who are going to interact with people in their future jobs, but hopefully cell phones won’t be allowed on the job.” Azzouz says it affects her sleeping schedule. “It’s affected me badly,” Azzouz said. “I sleep at one in the morning, because I’m doing homework, but not really. I’m just on the internet.” Multitasking can also affect a teen’s attention span over time. “I have read a few articles where people are starting to study the effects all the technology and media have on the brain. Today’s teenage brains look different than those even 15 to 20 years ago,” Counselor Jennifer Spurgers said. “I don’t think any of us have as good attention span because of all the media available to us. I am definitely not a teenager and I find myself checking my phone all the time or getting on the internet during a commercial.” Sophomore Michelle Ingle says that multitasking can helps her with work. “I do my homework, listen to music, at the same time,” Ingle said. “Sometimes I get on the Internet
while I’m doing those different things. The music actually helps me do my homework.” Experts say multitasking is more • A new study finds that those of a habit than a necessity. who were on facebook while “I think a lot of teens truly are studying scored an average busy. I know of so many kids who are involved in multiple activities that of 20% lower on exams than take a lot of time,” Spurgers said. “In those who did not. order to get everything done, you learn to do two things at once.” • A recent report from the Kaiser Risner says a good start to ending Family Foundation found that multitasking is when you’re driving and set boundaries with people. when students are sitting “I would encourage everyone in front of their computers before driving to put your cell phone “studying,” they’re also doing in the backseat of your car where something else 65 percent of you can’t reach it,” Risner said. “This the time. way you won’t be tempted to read or compose a text while driving. To reduce stress for everyone, I What do you do when you get home? would encourage people to try to focus on onedotask time.you Also, What youat doawhen get home? Region 1 set boundaries with people as much 4% as you can so that you have as few interruptions as possible when you 24% 20% 4% a task. It are trying to accomplish 24% will really help20% keep your stress level down if you can be fully present in the here and now. Remember that social skills are just as important 20% for your future career as academics, 32% and this is the first impression that 20% employers will get during your 32% interview. So, be respectful and give Check Facebook Watch T.V Start people your undivided attention Other Oher All when they are speaking to you.” Check Facebook Oher
D. D. S., M. S
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Education Crisis: Professor Have
Cheaters
Read a survey about cheating in “IChicago, The cheating there was
Won ”
incredibly high. Up around 80 or 90 percent of students admitted to cheating at some time in high school. - Dr. Rankin Chair of English, MSU
?
Finally
1. Have you ever cheated on anything academic?
Rankin believes cheating is a symptom of what happens when grades are the focus instead of learning.
92% said Yes, 8% said No 2. Do you frequently cheat?
24% said Yes, 76% said No 3. Do you believe cheating is wrong?
79% said Yes, 21% said No
Numerous Tests Stretch Schedules Thin
Random survey of 100 Rider students
by Kyler Norman The decline of US education is a major topic of debate and conversation among politicians, students and citizens alike. Professors say the issues come from multiple sources. Statistics From Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 Performance of US 15-Year-Old students shows the US ranks 25th in math, 17th in science, and 14th in reading out of the 34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. “Today’s education system is collapsing and is the main culprit for the decline of the US as a major power and influential state in the world,” Chair/Associate Professor of Political Science at MSU Dr. Steve Garrison said. “The main problem is that society no longer values education.” “We’re no longer number one in reading, we’re no longer number one in math, we’re no longer number one in science, as a matter of fact we’re pretty far down,” Dr. Rankin Chair English professor at MSU said. “These are areas in which we were number one 20 or 30 years ago” The US education system has to find solutions to numerous problems occurring every day.
•Societal Issues “There is no educational system in the world charged with what the US public education system is charged with,” Dean of the College of Education at MSU Dr. Matthew Capps said. “Educate every kid, from every background, regardless of parental influence, education, social support or any other factor. US public schools take kids of all types and move them forward, true some more than others, but that is because of another factor. Schools are reflections of society. The problem with public schools is that we look to them to solve all of our societal problems. We expect them to feed kids, change behavior that parents can’t or won’t, solve disputes between kids, solve disputes between parents, remember who is allowed to pick the kids up and who isn’t, administer medication, counsel drug addiction, counsel boyfriend/girlfriend issues, win state titles in all UIL activities, get kids to and from school, sometimes keep them after school when parents don’t pick them up... oh yeah
a f
t m e
o h m h
t t
s c
t s t b p a m a r d f
l
h w h o T t s a T o a d t e t w i s o
rs say students unprepared and teach when they have time. It is a lot for teachers and schools to do”
•Focus on Grades & Standardized Tests The constant push for students to make the highest grade rather than learning the most is causing numerous problems in our education. “We need something to take emphasize off the grade,” Rankin said. “As soon as we have parents asking what (grade) did you make, instead of what did you learn, we have a problem.” This year’s freshman college students are the least prepared in Garrison’s 15 years of teaching at the college he said. High school is not succeeding in teaching students basic things to prepare them for college and work. “(Student preparation) is pathetic, to be diplomatic. I have actually heard a student complain to the English department that it was unfair to have to write papers because they’re too hard. There is little pride in one’s work and no pride of accomplishment,” Garrison said. “It amazes me that students are not more concerned about what they get out of college because right now the economy is horrible and I don’t see it changing anytime in the near future.” SAT reading scores have dropped to the lowest in 39 years. “There are three reasons why this has happened. The first one is pretty simple, we have more people taking the test. We have created a culture of success that is only possible through college completion. Therefore many more students are taking the SAT than used to. Many of those students are not as strong academically as the smaller group was 39 years ago. Therefore, the average begins to do down over time,” Capps said. “Second, the academic knowledge and skill required to do well on the SAT is completely different than that required to do well on state exams. The state exams are minimal skills tests that don’t necessarily correlate well with what is required for SAT’s. A person is not going to be successful with minimal skills. However, because of the value placed on the minimal skills tests (TAKS, TAAS,
STARR) again, guess what is going to get the focus. There are some skills necessary for college preparation that cannot be measured very easily. Critical thinking and complex problem solving are really important to college success, but they are extremely hard to measure and assess, so those do not get much focus, and we do not test them. Standardized tests, a major focus of public school curriculum, don’t actually prepare students for future education according to professors. “Since I teach in a Liberal Arts Discipline I am not a very big fan of standardized testing,” Garrison said. “I believe it is a poor measure of a student’s ability to learn. Rarely in our society do we have individuals perform tasks in this manner in the work place, so I am not sure how this helps ensure that students are prepared to enter the workforce when leaving college. In fact a number of studies have shown that these tests do not measure what we intend them to.” The substantial pressure added to teachers because of standardized testing adds more difficulty to teaching. “I do understand the difficulty of teaching large classes in high school and the pressure of having to produce numbers for the school,” Rankin said. “The school wants a certain number of students to score well on certain tests because they want to keep the school’s ratings up, so there is pressure from the superintendent and the principal to the teachers to get their students to score well.” Professors say standardized testing crams curriculum into shorter amounts of time. “You can’t make a pig gain weight by weighing it,” Capps said. “There are 45 days out of 180 days of instruction dedicated to assessment. Giving another assessment to students is not going to make them any smarter. Teachers are bright, highly educated people who know what they are doing. They know to align curriculum and teacher created assessments to end of course tests. They do not need someone in Austin supervising this, especially considering the people making the rules know less about it than your teacher does.” The state has gone through four different tests since 1980 (TABS, TEAMS, TAAS and TAKS) every time getting similar results. “We have been in an accountability mode since 1979. It isn’t getting the state legislature what they want,” Garrison said.
“What I do not get is this: why are we going to do more of what hasn’t gotten us what we wanted? My definition of crazy this: when you keep doing the same thing, the same way and expect a different response.” The value of written work has declined tremendously Dr. Sernoe Chair of Mass Communication at MSU.
•College Readiness Suffers “Students are especially lacking in reading ability,” Rankin said. “It’s very difficult today to find students that will read whole books. They’re looking for quick shorter pieces of literature. We’ve noticed that if we offer a class that requires more than 60 or 70 pages of reading a week, students shy away from it. That used to be the norm 20 years ago. We’ve also noticed a tremendous decline in interest in math and science coming out of high school, so something is going on with reading, math and science in public schools because the background preparation in those areas and the interest in those areas has declined.” Technology has had major effects on today’s education. “It’s quite difficult to get some of our students to read in depth when they are constantly hooked up and wired. I see my own students get on their cell phones as soon as class is over,” Dr. Rankin said. “They’re out in the hallway and they’re talking on their cell phones. 25 yeas ago I used to see students head for the library to do their work for classes, but now the social networking business has changed attitudes towards learning.”
•Attitude Changes Students’ attitudes towards school have changed dramatically over the years. “Students want multiple chances to do the same think over again and again until they get the grade they want,” Capps said. “Those of us who worked in schools know and understand where that came from, but that is a small majority in a university. Nonetheless, college professors are dumbfounded as to why someone wouldn’t do it right in the first place. Many professors are seeing a ‘sense of entitlement’ in their students. The message
we are seeing is that money was paid, and therefore I should receive an ‘A’ without reading or doing much work. For each hour of class that a college student takes, the expectation is that he/she spend 3 hours getting ready. Generally college courses are 3 hours courses, so you can see the amount of time college students are expected to put in getting ready. That isn’t happening. “College professors expect their students to be responsible.You get a syllabus with an agenda, readings, and assignments with due dates. The professor may or may not go over the syllabus, but you are still expected to know it. The professors are seeing a great deal of ‘you didn’t tell me or remind me’. This creates frustration on both parts.”
•The Myth of College The cultural belief that it is unacceptable to not go to college has lead to many issues in the college level. “This is probably a little controversial and many may not agree, but when we started selling students on the idea that the only way to be successful is to go to college, we started seeing a lot of people show up in college that a) didn’t want to be in college and/or b) shouldn’t be in college. It just isn’t that right fit,” Capps said. “Then on top of that students have started to believe that college is about job preparation and a means to make more money rather than an education. So many students come through and want their ticket punched, so to speak, so they can move on. They are missing the point of college, but that is what they have been told. I do believe people need some kind of post-secondary training/education, but to believe that college is the only option is a true mistake.” With the declining education system of the United States the competition for jobs will increase. “The world is a level playing field. We’re going to be increasingly competing in almost every area with people from other countries, and if their education is superior to ours, we’re not going to get the jobs,” Rankin said.
8 The day that changed his life
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The Rider Chronicle. November 2011
Coppage competes in high profile race after No Bummer Summer leads to new life experiences by Jaycee Burke He reached the hardest part of the race. The mud was thick, sticking to his knees to the point where they could barely be lifted. One by one, he had to pull his legs out of the goop with his hands each time he wanted to move. The mud ate his socks, but fortunately, he'd taken his shoes off before he jumped in. Communication Applications teacher Scotty Coppage glanced at his wrist watch, sighed, then wondered "When will this be over?" Coppage was participating in one of the country's most excruciating races, the Tough Mudder. A race that takes hours to complete, Coppage finished in six. It's a heart pumping, oath signing race that takes teamwork and strength, both physical and mental, that participants have to start training for months ahead. Coppage said he wanted to give up so bad sometimes. Especially whenever he had to do the running parts of the race. But he said when he would do the obstacles that's all he would be focusing on. Nothing else ran through his head. Just finishing that dreadful obstacle. And that's what he did. "What was cool about this was that I never thought that I would do anything like this. Ever," Coppage said. "It's something that I'm going to have to tell my grandchildren about." The race is a culmination of a life change Coppage started last summer. That change was symbolized in his No Bummer Summer. Every day he did something that was out of the ordinary for him. Also, he bought a guitar and started taking salsa lessons and saw Tough Mudder some friends that he hasn't seen in 10 years. Coppage said he learned lessons about himself that he hopes to Speech teacher Scotty Coppage shows off his new muscles and his Tough Mudder pass on to his students. "It's not an adventure unless there is a possibility you can fail,” he shirt. Photo by Jaycee Burke said. "I really wanted to quit sometimes. But I didn't."
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The Rider Chronicle. November 2011
Students in need
At least 300 in district without homes, school supplies
by Montana Mooney She is pretty and kind. She has big dreams, but she's tired. Jane* is homeless, and she could be sitting right next to you. One in three homeless people are under the age of 18. According to the WFISD Public Information officer Renae Murphy, there are at least 300 registered homeless students in the district this year, and last year there was a breathtaking 500 students without a home. Sadly, there are even more that just haven't told anyone about their condition unlike Jane. "I don't live in a house," Jane said. "My mom says we're homeless on documents and insurance papers." Jane said the situation is stressful for her entire family including her siblings. That stress has led to family fights. "I want to live in a house away from my parents," she said. "They argue a lot." Even in her current situation, Jane has managed to keep her dreams big. "I want to move to California and attend an academy for the dramatic arts," she said. Jane is only one of many students in a situation like this. The school district has a social worker that helps organize ways to provide for the students in Jane's situation. These students receive clothes, food and many personal items that benefit the whole family.
Where do these supplies come from? They come from the student body and faculty members. When clothes are donated to the school, they are given to a student that couldn't afford those clothes on their own. The same goes for books and other school supplies. Imagine not having the necessary supplies needed in class on a daily basis. That is a stress on homeless students every single day. Without donations, homeless students could be sitting next to you empty-handed, wanting to learn and being incapable. Guidance counselor Alice Rogers said students can help the situation. She said students should look through their closets, and on the next trip to the store ask mom or dad if they can grab an extra spiral or package of pencils. That help might just be the one way for Jane to pass her classes, sending her to California to achieve her dreams.
Feel like Jane? You aren’t alone, and there are people willing to help you. -Visit your counselor’s office, explain your situation to her, and ask her advice. OR -Visit the WFISD website at wfisd.net. -At the top of the page, click on the Departments tab. -Click on ‘Social Services’. -Explore the links on the left side and get all the information you need.
Cyberbullying harms teens
Online drama negatively affects students lives, drawing some to emotional problems, suicide by Alexa Mauri “I felt upset, scared and lonely,” Sally* said. “It felt like everyone was against me.” “I posted a status on Facebook about me and my boyfriend breaking up,” Sally said. “A bunch of girls said it was because I was ugly and fat, and that I deserved it. No one cared how I felt.” All of Sally’s depression and harassment came from one simple Facebook status. “I became really depressed. I let it get to me a lot which only made it worse,” she said. “They could see it breaking me which only seemed to make them do it even more.” Bullying has lead people to as much as suicide from cyberbullying. In this case, it lead to depression and insecurities rather then their life.
“It continued for about a week or two, then I realized I needed to do something,” she said. “I talked to my mom about it. She reassured me that I didn’t deserve it and called their parents. Though “it may seem like you’re being being childish and telling on someone,” it was the smartest thing Sally did. “If I saw someone being cyber bullied today, I would tell them to tell an adult immediately,” she said. “It’s the smartest decision you can make to handle. It’s the most mature choice you could make to stop all the hurtful things people say to you. People realize it’s wrong once they see what it’s really doing to you.” In cases of bullying, many students choose to go to the office to alert them.
“We have people come to us almost every day,” Ms. Hitchcock said. “At least two people per week.” The office can take action against cyberbullying. “Things that people post on Facebook, can get brought to the school and we can get involved with it,” Hitchcock said. “If it does get to the school, we can give D-Hall, Denver, or as much as press assault charges against the person causing the bullying.”
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The Rider Chronicle. November 2011
One more to go...
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Tonight is the Rider/Old High game. After a week of rivalry, it all comes down to one game. If Rider wins, we move on to the playoffs. Go ROHO!
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Guns up 1) The ROHO football team holds up their guns for the traditional playing of the Alma Mater at the end of the Denton Ryan football game. Photo by Christian Castillo 2) Raider C.J. House tackles a Lubbock Corronado player during the game. Rider won 58-7. Photo by Emily Fuccio 3) The offense lines up against the Little Elm Lobos in an effort to score. Photo by Meghan Myracle 4) Varsity football players Blake Campbell, Colton Lopez, Monte Sanders, Anthony Wagner and Cody O’Donnell run through the horse at the start of the Kennedale football game. Photo by Meghan Myracle
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Entertainment
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The Rider Chronicle. November 2011
Life without Steve Jobs:
Technology continues advancing thanks to one man’s vision
by Kayla Holcomb What if the legendary Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs had never lived? What would life be like? For starters, you can say goodbye to everything from your iPhones to your iMacs. That’s typical assuming Apple wouldn’t have existed without Jobs. But most people don’t realize how much he contributed to the technology of today. Today is just a typical day: you wake up to the annoying beep of your alarm clock and throw it across the room in an effort to stop the racket. A small, flashing red light catches your eye signaling a text message.You flip open your phone and see the same, hardly legible screen as your alarm clock, but this one has words instead of the time.Your best friend wants to know which CD he should bring to listen to on the way to school because there’s no such thing as iPods; they never existed. When you begin to type out a reply, you see the QWERTY keyboard has dozens of extra buttons, some hardly useful at all, for every possible thing your phone can do, even one that sling-shots a pixelated bird at a miniature pig. Arriving at school, you see that Rider is still the same black and gold that you know and love, but inside it’s completely different. For one, tech classes would only exist at prestigious universities, if at all, and wouldn’t have the capabilities to create graphics, let alone present them on a screen. Computers would look similar to a giant beige box connected by a deskfull of coiled wires to a massive keyboard covered in buttons. A mouse? Oh you mean that invention by Xerox PARC that was laughed at and thought useless?
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Photo created by Charis Tsevis In this universe, there wasn’t a Steve Jobs to develop the idea. After your long day of learning and taking four tests, you’re exhausted and get into your car to head home, but suddenly you remember that you have to run by the library to get a book for your research paper on the Inca civilization. There’s one small problem, where in Wichita Falls is the public library? Time to read the
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phone book.You whip out your handy dandy map and sit in the car for ten minutes trying to locate the address listed in the yellow pages before you’re all set to make the trip across town. While headed down Kemp, you decide to listen to a little radio, who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky and “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas will be on. Unfortunately, the station is cycling through some oldies music and you’re forced to attempt to change stations using another large set of complex buttons and an incomprehensible display. In the process, you narrowly avoid running into the back of an abnormally slow car due to your distraction. At home, homework is the same as always, but if you’re hoping to spend all your remaining hours on Facebook or in front of the TV, here comes a shock. Facebook looks more like pre-internet IM, and TV is similar to that of the ‘60s, where animation was hand-drawn or made with clay (computer animation doesn’t exist). This means Pixar Studios and your beloved Woody and Buzz, Mike Wazowski, Wall-E, and Nemo don’t exist. But no worries, instead you can enjoy Popeye or watch the local news for tomorrow’s weather report before going to bed. The next morning is the same boring life all over again, a life without Jobs’ brilliance that affected the majority of today’s technology. The good news, he lived! The world today is aesthetically pleasing as far as technology goes, and more fun, too. We don’t have to wonder what life would have been like without him, but one thing is for sure, life sure is easier and more enjoyable thanks to Steve Jobs.
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The Rider Chronicle. November 2011
Entertainment
The Hunger Games holds deep meaning
Adult reviewers misunderstand major plot points of popular young adult trilogy by Emma White
SPOILER ALERT!
“Once inside the death match arena, she must get down and dirty to outlive her competitors, but there’s one slight problem. Her hot friend Peeta gets cast into the games, too. In the midst of all the slaying, Katniss finds herself embroiled in a love triangle with her longtime pal Gale, who is watching the games from his home, and Peeta, who confesses his love for her inside the arena.” That’s the view of a tabloid reviewer for CNN who probably didn’t even read the book. Peeta and Katniss weren’t friends. Peeta is never described as “hot” or even good-looking for that matter. The only thing attracting Katniss to Peeta in the end is that they can make it out of the arena For the past three years The Hunger Games trilogy as a team for their district. Peeta confesses his love has been the victim of several misinformed reviewers. as a ploy, BEFORE they enter the arena, to gain There are so many reviews that have been published, sponsorship from someone who could send supplies and that have completely missed the point of the during the games. books. Catching Fire was published in September 2009, a The Hunger Games was published in September sequel to The Hunger Games. 2008. Entertainment Weekly, a company apparently One review by Stephen King, published six days known and reputed for their entertainment coverage before the release, described the book as “fairly may have written the worst review mankind has ever standard teen-read stuff.” He retorted about the “love read...and then wept. triangle: what 16-year-old girl wouldn’t like to have Katniss, previously described as a brave and two interesting guys to choose from?” tragic girl fighting against a giant, is thrown down to This was the first mistake made by this trilogy’s the status of an “adolescent girl who crushed on a reviewers. Almost every single one after King seemed sexy hunter. In between romantic daydreams, [she] to follow suit, focusing on the romance in the novel. shot strange beasts, dodged force fields, and battled To those who haven’t read The Hunger Games: The murderous zombie werewolves usually while wearing romance is such a minor part of the first book, that fabulous glitzy outfits.” it’s sad King even feels compelled to mention it. Sure it As ironic as it is, this reviewer is looking at this creates appeal, but it isn’t what the books are about. story in the EXACT way that the Capitol saw the These books are about the fight against the annual Hunger Games event. injustice, the poverty, the desperate inhumanity of The author of this review went on to say “Katniss the future world. They are about kids seeing through pretends to be in love with her sweet-natured Games the monopolizing world of politics and about a youth teammate Peeta Mellark, but she secretly pines for doing everything in her power to escape the death brooding Gale, a childhood friend. Except why? There’s game, trying to overcome something so out of her little distinction between the two thinly imagined grasp that the adults begin to fear her. guys, other than the fact that Peeta has a dopier name.
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Collins conjures none of the erotic energy that makes Twilight, for instance, so creepily alluring.” First, Katniss is not pining for Gale, she is trying to repair a faded friendship. However, it really makes sense that this reviewer had a hard time finding distinction between Gale and Peeta, since there is no way she both wrote this review and read the book. And “the erotic energy that makes Twilight...so creepily alluring” is missing? Catching Fire is not a romance novel. Catching Fire is nothing like Twilight. Catching Fire is not supposed to be alluring. Catching Fire is not meant to be erotic. This review was a disgrace to Entertainment Weekly. Mockingjay was published in August 2010, the final book in the trilogy. Entertainment Weekly (thankfully) wrote an incredibly short review with little opinion and nothing specific about the book. The angry comments on their first two reviews must have taught their staff to read the books and understand the concepts before writing about them. Apparently, the YA reviewers were either unwilling or incapable. The one semi-successful review of the Hunger Games trilogy out there (from NY Times) at least got one thing right. “That just goes to show how much adults forget about what it’s like to be a child. Kids are physical creatures, and they’re not stupid. They know all about violence and power and raw emotions. What’s really scary is when adults pretend that such things don’t exist.”
Check out The Hunger Games movie page on IMDb!
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