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These articles appeared in the December 2007 Issue of The Beacon.
By Tafisha Edwards
Friday, November 21 during fourth period students witnessed the first of what will hopefully be many more General Assembly sessions geared specifically to voice the concerns of High Point students. Although the session was technically not open to the entire populous of the school, the students chosen to attend were General Assembly representatives previously selected in the beginning of the year.
"I think [the session] was helpful for students to get their thoughts out, but one session is not effective enough to make changes," relays Lloyd Hears, a senior who attended the session.
In addition to the student, a panel of staff headed the assembly representing various aspects of the larger faculty at High Point: Principal Scott Smith, Athletic Director Shirley Diggs, Colonel Tavarez, Ms. Reeda Butler, Assistant Principal, Ms. Alexis Crawford, TV Production teacher, Mr. Daniel Peabody, guidance chairperson, Mr. Bill Sellman, Building Supervisor, Mrs. Barbara Hughes, Teacher and Senior class sponsor, and Mr. George Petrullo, Peer Mediator.
"I think it was effective," began Peabody, "But it should have been a longer session. It was a great start, and I hope to see more in the future."
The forum was designed to give the students an opportunity to bring any concerns they possessed to the floor for the administration to hear; however, for every complaint voiced, a solution was required, attempting to limit the number of students bringing forth excessive complaints. The topics ranged from the amount of travel time allotted from class to class, graffiti, the locked bathrooms, rampant skipping, and the ineffectual communication between students and staff throughout the building. For a majority of the topics brought before the panel, some sort of solution was offered, except in the cases where students would logically be unable to solve the problem.
"I think that the strategy was effective because it gave the panel a base to start looking for solutions. It was a session about the staff’s problem so it helped them to see things from a student perspective."
By Juan Diasgranados
This year’s annual blood drive took place on Friday, Dec. 7, at HP. The blood drive is where students and faculty at High Point donate blood to INOVA blood services. INOVA blood comes to High Point twice every year; once in the winter, and once in the spring. Many students who signed up, were ecstatic about donating blood.
"I see this as the need to help people because you always here stories about people who don’t receive kidneys and hearts, and although I can’t donate those, I thought it would be very helpful to donate my blood," says Andre Ellis, senior.
In order to donate blood, there are special regulations with which each student and faculty member must comply. For example, you have to be 17 years of age, and weigh at least 110 pounds. Other restriction involves tattoos, piercings, etc.
To make sure you are eligible so you can donate blood, the INOVA associates’ perform a 20 minute physical on you. The actual blood donation takes approximately 10 minutes, but the overall process takes around 45 minutes.
According to inova.org, INOVA Blood supplies blood to 15 different hospitals in the DC metro area, and needs to accumulate over 200 donations every day. And, only 1 pint of blood can help save the lives of many people.
Zoe Mason, senior, sees blood donation as extremely important.
"Many people don’t see the importance of donating blood, and in reality, it can save many lives," commented Mason.
Keshema Davidson, junior, explained that the importance of the drive is why SGA does it every year.
"Donating blood is very helpful to the community, and [SGA] feels that by having INOVA blood come to our school twice a year, we can make a big difference and show our community we care."
What's Your Favorite Elective?
By Zoe Mason
With all the spotlight on honors and AP classes, it seems that there hasn’t been room in this "light" for electives. Classes such as journalism, African-American studies, horticulture, social issues/psychology, business/law classes, art and computer technology classes haven’t been spoken about until now.
"African American Studies is my favorite elective, I find to be a very profound and enlightening," commented High Point’s Stefany Ferguson, senior.
Out of all of these electives the one that seems to be consistently popular among High Point Students is African American Studies taught by Mr. Clyde Swan also a World and U.S history teacher. This class offers a deep look into African history. African American Studies curriculum covers from ancient Egyptian time to the present.
"We cover ancient Egyptian (African history), Africa’s impact on the rest of the world, African American history, and current events," said High Point senior Victoria Fortune.
High Point High is the only school in Prince George’s County that offers this class.
"One of the most important things a person has to do is learn their history. This class offers an individual a chance to look back at where they came from, their present state, and where they want to go in their future," explained Fortune.
Unlike many other electives, African American Studies doesn’t have a textbook to go along with the course. Swan uses published books, articles, and famous essays to instruct his classes. He also incorporates lectures by PhD scholars, most recent ones being one from Dr.Lynn Jeffries and Niam Akbar.
"If you are interested in majoring in African history and education like I am, I believe African American Studies is a great starting class to take," expressed Malorie Gibson.
Electives give students the chance to choose what classes appeal to them and what that they are interested in. Electives are classes students don’t have to pass for graduation requirement, which would make anyone think students don’t take it seriously, which many say is a major misconception.
"I take it seriously whether or not I need it for a graduation requirement. I believe that to not take a class seriously shows a lack of maturity," said Gibson.
Having the most diverse school in the county with many countries represented and copious more amounts of languages spoken, African American Studies remains a predominately black class.
"I think African American Studies classes are predominately black because the title of the class appeals more to African Americans," expressed Fortune.
Electives have become some of the most popular and enjoyable classes because of the range that is available here. Electives provide different skills to students that they use in the future.
By Taylor Blackwell
The National Honor Society (NHS) recognizes students who have made great academic and leadership accomplishments and its recruiters are always on the lookout for potential members.
To become a member of NHS, high school juniors and seniors must provide information about themselves in the form of letters and data sheets. This information is sent to a selected group of teachers and sponsors in the school who evaluate everything. The students are then given points based on their information that has been turned in, and the ones who receive the most points become members.
"The most important deciding factor for students who want to be considered," an NHS member at HP said, "is to have a cumulative grade point average of 3.4 or higher by one’s junior year."
The other three major deciding factors are the leadership, service, and character of the student that is applying, according to the NHS website.
The Website specifies that the types of leadership qualities the NHS looks for in a student are things such as holding school offices, leading in the classroom, and being a strong participant in discussions. In the area of service, NHS wants students who volunteer and show commitment. Students can demonstrate good character by being truthful, respectful, fair, caring, honest, reliable, and obedient.
"Joining will look good on my college applications, so I really want to be included," said Emily Naylor, a tenth grade NHS "wannabe" at HP.
Other HP students have said that being a member of NHS has been beneficial to them. Their membership has attracted the attention of college recruiters.
"Being in NHS showed me that I have to have a certain level of respect because people know I am a member and that’s how I’m supposed to act," said Coleia Grimes, a senior who was inducted into NHS at the end of her junior year.
Once a student has been inducted, he or she will have certain standards to uphold. They must maintain an acceptable GPA, keep up their good character, continue to show leadership in and out of the classroom, and continue to render services to their community.
Grimes added, "NHS also participates in service projects, the NHS games at HP, and have even adopted a road near the Beltsville Library."
by Anwar Fulcher
At High Point High School students who are in HSA classes which include Algebra 1, English 10, biology, and LSN Government that are not performing adequately will have a chance to enroll in an exciting program known as Twilight Academy which began in November of 2006.
"It was started specifically for the class of 2009 for anyone who did not pass the required assessments and it has quadrupled in size," said Twilight Academy leader, Ms. Liz Faber. Every class following the class of 2008 will have to pass the HSA in order to graduate. Just passing the course alone will not guarantee a student graduation.
"It’s really fun and it helps me understand what I’m learning in algebra better," said Adriana Perez, sophomore. Only students who actively participate and attend will reap the full benefits of Twilight Academy.
"Students who attend consistently have passed their assessments," says Faber.
Twilight Academy is not just active at HP but is becoming ever so present all around Prince George’s County. Even outside of Maryland, New Jersey has also created a Twilight Academy that provides students with arduous course work and a powerful curriculum that benefits them in the real world while it’s effectiveness on students in normal class situations is impressive.
"My last test in algebra felt easy," said Perez when asked how she personally was effected.
Prince George’s County’s choice of creating Twilight Academy has helped the overall performance of the county, but it is estimated that twenty-four thousand freshmen and sophomores still have high risks of not graduating on time. Fourty-five percent of students that failed their HSAs were from either Prince George’s or Baltimore schools. The chief of Prince George’s schools, John E. Deasy, was not impressed by the attendance of Twilight Academy noting that in most classes county wide, about half of the participants show up.
"Attendance should be more consistent," said Faber. "Some students have jobs and extracurricular programs that interfere with their attendance," explained Faber. Despite some minor set backs of the Twilight Academy, the knowledge that some students are doing better with their academics, thanks to this program, shows that Twilight Academy is steadily approaching it’s goal of having enough students passing the HSAs in order to meet state averages.
by Nancy Canales
High Point High School’s (HPHS) club, Youth with Purpose, whose program coordinator is Ms. Patsy Conner, has specific goals to decrease truancy, suspension, and expulsions; and to increase parental involvement, test scores, grade point averages, the graduation rate, and college enrollment rate.
Youth with Purpose is a mentoring program at HPHS that helps to try and build respect and dignity in the freshmen students to help resist the negative influences around them.
Demisse Habteselasie, sophomore and president of Youth with Purpose said, "[We are] an organization that tries to build a strong community and strong student body, and do our best to strive for perfection."
They’ve tried to achieve these goals with a mentoring program after school that tutors students. They also have a "Best Friend" program for troubled students. This is when a junior or senior acts as a role model or mentor for a freshman in need of help in school. Youth with Purpose focuses on trying to achieve the "No Child Left Behind" objectives.
Youth with Purpose recently took a trip to the World Bank in Washington D.C. According to Habteselasie, "We went to a youth convention and spoke about global poverty, and [other] problems occurring around the world."
"We learned that in New York alone, eight billion dollars are spent solely on ice cream for one person, and that if they went without ice cream for one year we could raise 5.5 trillion dollars toward the genocide in Sudan," said Habteselasie. "We learned how we could cut down on the stuff we’re doing."
Youth with Purpose has also taken other field trips. On December 5 Youth with Purpose went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.
"We were greeted by great tour guides. We got to see really nice exhibits. The mood of the environment was very sad, but overall it was a fun experience," described Habteselasie.
This club has participated in many activities including a trip where members got to stay at the Hilton Hotel in North Carolina for free. They have also participated in a summer program at Howard University. "We are pretty much what is in our name, we are youth with purpose," announced Habteselasie.
When looking back on their trip to the World Bank, Habteselasie says, "Of course, it was an awesome, once in a lifetime experience, that I’m sure all of us would say we will never forget."
Stewart's Stars Tame the Shrew
By Diana Zolfghari
Lights, Camera, Action, Mr. Stewart’s period 1B drama class worked with the Shakespeare Theater’s, "Text Alive!" program in Washington D.C. in order to perform a Shakespearian comedy called , The Taming of the Shrew Saturday, December 1,2007 at the Harman Center For the Arts, in Washington D.C.
"Text Alive!" is a program where Shakespeare Theater invites teachers from a series of schools in the District of Columbia and surrounding communities in Maryland and Virginia to delve into Shakespeare’s work.
According to Jacob Rayburn, junior, "The Theater gives one scene in a Shakespeare play to the class, the class then has to use the same text, but they pick a theme and modernize the play. This year High Point was asked to play a scene in The Taming of the Shrew, and we decided to make the theme a classy masquerade ball."
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare. The basic idea of the plays is of a "young man who married a very strong and fiery woman," according to www.wikipedia.com
Rayburn says, "The play is pure entertainment. Some of the humor is crude, if not a little suggestive. The play is about a pair of sisters, Bianca and Katherine. Bianca is very kind and mild, while Katherine is harsh and angry. Bianca cannot be married until Katherine, her sister, is married [but because Katherine is always angry, no one wants to marry her]. The story is of getting Katherine married, and eventually, her new husband will turn her into an obedient and milder wife."
The director of Taming of the Shrew was Andre Ellis, senior, and the assistant director is Destinee Moore.
Rayburn played the lead, Petruchio, the man who marries and tames Katherine. Jacob explains his role as "a little bit mental, very edgy, and a bit rude. " Cheryl Robinson, senior, played, Katherine (Kate) the "shrew" which is the older nagging bad-tempered angry sister. Chloe Brown, junior, played Bianca, the kind, mild, and sweet younger sister. Baptista, father of Katherine and Bianca was played my Kenneth Powell. Lucentio, Suitor of Bianca, was played by Virginia Posey. Grumio, Servant of Petruchio, was played by Eric Chukwu. Gremio, Elderly Suitor of Bianca, was played by Krista Ortiz and Akua Preko. Tranio, Lucentio servant, was played by Nia Kamoze, and Melanie Matthews. Finally, Hortensio, Bianca suitor, was played by Bilal Perkins.
Rayburn says, "The cast would really like to see High Point really progress though the field of drama. We’re very excited to be aiming at such a new territory. For the past couple of years, High Point has been doing common time eras with the "Text Alive!" program, it has become a stereotype for our school. I think stepping out of that and taking on a classy masquerade ball is a real stunner and will turn out nicely."