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The
Eagle's Eye
W. Charles Akins High School
“Everything That Concerns You”
Austin, Texas
Vol. 14 No. 3
December 15, 2014
Counseling for stressful finals Brenda Amaya Staff Reporter While students are stressed out this therapist is trying to help students keep their cool. The 25 percent weight of a ety for any student, considering that it could make or break a semester average. School therapist Gladys Delgado said she expected her services to be needed at this time of the year, prompting her to notify teachers of the counseling she can provide to keep students from stressing out. “End of the semester is usually stressalso may have projects due and/or are making up work for previous grades during the semester which adds pressure to do well in order to obtain credits for their classes.” After volunteering to lead mini lessons on coping with stress, several teachers have requested her to visit their ited three classrooms, including AVID teacher Christina Garcia-Mata’s class. “I think that it was a good experience,” Garcia-Mata said. “My students had the chance to kind of see that stress isn’t something they have to deal with.” Delgado focuses on the impact of the stress physically and emotionally, while identifying ways to manage stress. Also engages the class in a breathing exercise, which is one way to cope with stress. “In the mini-lesson we mainly focused on the importance of the four by four breaths,” Garcia-Mata said. Delgado, who provides counseling services at Akins and Travis high schools, is part of the school district’s Campus Based Referral Centers. The program is part of a partnership between Seton Healthcare and the school district, which provides licensed counselors and psychologists to students. This program began back in spring of 2012 at Crockett High and later expanded to six other campuses by fall 2013. “The program here at Akins has been available since last year,” Delgado said. Campus Based Counseling Referral Centers also offers ways to deal with and manage anxiety, aggression, isolation, depression, adjustement and different coping strategies that are helpful for students.
Rennovation
Outdoor life hooks students Deandra Tristan
full-time employment when they complete the program.
Park Ranger Cadet program prepares students for future Sarah Luna Student Life Editor For senior Janice Franco, when she learns about aquatic life, her classroom is literally on the river as she sits in a kayak on the Colorado River in downtown Austin. Franco is one of eight students who are enrolled in the Green Tech Academy’s Park Ranger Cadet program. The program, which started last year at Akins, helps students learn about the environment and wildlife while preparing them to one day work for the City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department. “What we’re trying to do is develop a program where they come into environmental science classes and train them as Park Rangers because they saw our student program growing and wanted to be apart of it,” Green Tech coordinator and Algebra I teacher Kenyata Williams said. Franco said that a professional environmental scientist lead one of her classes about
aquatic life while they were on the river. “Some of the girls screamed when he handed them spiders he pulled off of the water,” she said. Students in the program experience a variety of outdoor activities, including, snorkeling, rock climbing and canoeing. Students also have the opportunity to be paid when they are job shadowing city park rangers. “I really do like the program because it’s fun,” senior Kermeasha Carr said. “It keeps Students start the program during their freshman year and work up to being in a practicum internship class during their seand expenses related to the class because it is sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department. “I like how much of an experience it is and what it offers for our future,” Carr said. Career and Technology teacher Megan
Kay, who leads the Park Ranger practicum, also teaches energy and natural resources and environmental science, which are required courses for the program. The program also has an agricultural component in terms of dealing with wildlife in the parks. Students learn about different kinds of common wildlife while earning their hunter education “What we do in the practicum is we go caving and outdoor activities as such just so that the interns can get a feel of how it really is like to be a park ranger,” Kay said. The interns work for the city and do lots of community service through the park rangers. They educate people about the park and assist licensed park rangers. employable by the City of Austin. Next semester the interns plan on going on patrols with park rangers, looking for people engaging in illegal activities or not following park rules.
Athletic
Replacement of track begins to provide new running surface Jason Loosle Multimedia Editor Beginning in January, the track will be completely redone, giving runners an even surface to train on. Construction workers are working to replace the 11 year-old track so that athletes will have a brand new surface to practice on when track season starts in the spring. Voters approved a bond issue in Spring 2013, enabling Austin ISD to pay for repairs schools and three high schools, including Akins, Travis and Bowie. The repairs at all the schools total more than $2 million. Akins will receive about $500,000 worth of improvements to the track, which is nearly a quarter of the track repairs. Akins is receiving more than some other schools because the surface was in worse shape than those at the other schools, said Marc Brewster, project manager for the track repairs. He said that the “old track surface had failed through age,” which caused athletes many problems.
Inside
“The material on the top of the track was came a safety hazard,” Brewster said. Senior track athlete Miranda LeBlanc agreed the track was in bad shape. “There was a bunch of holes in the track,” she said. “The paint had completely faded away.” Just running on the old track, compared to other schools, brought several of the athletes sore feet, and hurt ankles because the asphalt doesn’t have any spring as other surfaces do. These, along with many other issues bethe track team, said head track coach Joseph Saxe. Issues with the track were needing to be “The new track at Akins will help give the kids a sense of pride, and also help prevent a lot of injuries because the old track had noticeable wear and tear and had a lot of holes in it,” Saxe said. The new track will be made up of a salt polymer, which is easier to run on than the old asphalt.
Alyssa Rodriguez
Tearing it up Construction crews load a dumpster with the remains of the old track. Coaches hope the track will be completed by the end of winter break. “We are adding starting blocks, and making a better running surface for the athletes,” Brewster said. Because of all the improvements happening, this project is expected to take until the end of winter break. Because bad weather
happens frequently during the winter, weather, delays could push back the completion date, Brewster said. Since track season starts just after winter break, the athletes may need another place to run if delays occur.
Opinions...pg 2, 3 News...pg 4 In-Depth...pg 5 Student Life...pg 6-7 Entertainment...pg 8-9 Sports...pg 10-11 Photo Essay...pg 12