One Copy Free
black&white the
VOLUME 17 ISSUE 5
DECEMBER 2007
OPINION
4
Recycling changes
The B&W staff shares its negative views on the No Child Left Behind legislation.
515.278.0449
With the caucus on Jan. 3, an overview shows the candidates’ views on important issues for students to know.
8/9 DOUBLETRUCK
6501 NW 62ND AVE
11
JOHNSTON, IA
Opinion editor Veronica Roshek delves into the life of Krysten Pierce following the loss of her mother.
FEATURE
Obama shines in library poll
Brittany Deal / BW
Junior Joey Honold empties paper from the recycling bin into a garbage can. Honold is part of the Experience Based Career Education (EBCE) program.
Students assist with collection to keep recycling program up and running BEN VANDER PLOEG staff writer Different groups throughout the school have taken the initiative to help out with recycling under the direction of science teachers Kyla Burns and Ben Herman. Burns is in charge of paper and Herman in charge of plastics. Experience Based Career Education (EBCE) a work experience program, works with the kids who go around picking up the paper. According to the EBCE brochure it’s “a program designed to allow high school special education students exploration of various jobs in the community.” EBCE coordinator, Brigid Townsend is in charge of this program. Juniors Jared Alfred and Joey Honold are in charge of going to classrooms and picking up the paper. They both go around to different rooms and dump the paper in a garbage bin on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “I start in Burn’s room and go around and pick up paper,” Alfred said. According to Burns the recycling program would not be possible with out these kids. In order to get the plastics collected, Herman gets different study groups to help out. They then get some of the money to put towards their group, Herman said. Best Buddies, Student Council, GSA, and EBCE have been helping out. People in the groups will go around and empty the recycling bins if they are full. Then a group called Container Roundup comes and picks them up. Herman has had trouble finding people to help out. “I’ve been trying to get more study groups to jump on the band wagon and do the cans,” Herman said. “Then the money would go to student groups.” “The recycling program started in late September, after several teachers had voiced an opinion that something needed to be done,” Burns said. They had recycling bins previous years, but the janitors never knew what to do with it. “It just makes sense for a school to recycle paper,” Burns said. “It would be silly not to.”
Brittany Deal / BW
Librarian Cookie Cranston checks Betsy Pilkington off on the list of students that have come in to vote before handing her a ballot. Pilkington voted for her presidential candidate of choice and favorite reading categories in the Library Media Center’s student straw poll. The total number of students that participated in this poll was 361. Barack Obama won the majority of the votes at 172.
Students vote for presidential candidate in library poll BRITTANY DEAL managing editor
In relation to the upcoming Iowa Democratic and Republican Caucuses, the Library Media Center (LMC) held a student poll of who should be the next president of the United States. “Originally, we wanted to do a mock caucus in here and we thought we could do something with the government classes,” librarian Jane Behrens said. The original idea of a mock caucus fell through because of the government classes meeting throughout the day at various times. “We just thought since (the caucus) is such an Iowa thing that it seemed like we should be doing something,” librarian Cookie Cranston said. “Since the caucus thing did not work out, we thought we could at least do a vote.” According to Cranston, who has been with the school for 25 years, this was the first time the LMC held a straw poll of the presidential candidates for
students to participate in. In order to educate students of the major issues discussed by the candidates and the stances the candidates are taking on the issues, Behrens and Cranston posted information on the wall for students to peruse. “We look for opportunities for students to visit the library, while at the same time we advocate that students become informed about current issues facing us locally, nationally and globally,” Cranston said. “We urge them to become comfortable with and take advantage of the many resources that we have.” However, the voting booth was not only reserved for choosing a president. The right side of the ballot pertained to books and asked students to state their favorite author, title, series, and other information that will be used to help the librarians learn what students enjoy reading and what to stock. “(The poll) was a way for us to combine (voting for a president) with students to vote for their favorite book and favorite author, because we’re all about books,” Behrens said. A total of 361 students voted Dec. 10,
12 and 13. Junior Betsy Pilkington, who narrowly misses her chance to vote in the next presidential election, decided to vote in the library’s poll. “I guess (the poll) was pretty interesting and I did get to cast my opinion,” Pilkington said. “But it’s not like a real election. It doesn’t decide anything for the country.” Although the library’s poll does not directly affect the country, whether or not it could influence the opinions of 18-yearold students when they go to cast their official vote is debatable. “In a way it could because (the students) would see the popular vote,” Pilkington said. “But in a way it doesn’t really matter, because they’re just going to take their (pre-established) opinions to the (presidential) polls anyway.” The librarians tallied up the votes and published them in the Dec. 18 announcements. Sen. Barack Obama gained the vast majority with 172 votes. Gov. Mike Huckabee followed in second place by 52 votes. Due to illegible handwriting, one ballot was disqualified.