The Renaissance
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The Oklahoma Supercomputing Symposium Katherine Wheeler Staff Writer
The trip taken to the Oklahoma School for Science and Math (OSSM) on September 23, marks Mr. Brad Burkman’s second year bringing students to the symposium, which allowed students to see the work of more experienced researchers. A few weeks ago, some of the LSMSA students, with the guidance of Burkman, had the opportunity to visit the Oklahoma School. On the trip to the Oklahoma Supercomputing Symposium, they stayed in the OSSM dorms. At the symposium itself, LSMSA students were the only high school students to present. The other presenters ranged from undergraduate students to professors. There were many people who attended the poster session that did not present, among these being a few students from OSSM. Of all the attendees of the symposium, the OSSM and LSMSA
students were the only high school students. At the poster session, five students presented four posters. Rhiannan Berry presented about her work with the Oculus Rift, building virtual worlds with 3D technology. Shiva Velingker presented about his work with data mining to see how drugs affect RNA processing. Aaron Cao presented about his work on Bessel function construction from a vibrating circular surface. Finally, Felicia Foy and Katherine Wheeler presented about their work in accelerating drug discovery. Many attendees of the symposium were impressed that high school students were doing such advanced level research. One company showed its gratitude by donating a remote control quad-copter to the school. When they attended the symposium, the students had the opportunity to learn more about supercomputing.
All of the students who attended the symposium
Aaron Cao presenting next to his poster at the poster session.
October 2014
Taken by Katherine Wheeler
A keynote speaker from Intel at the symposium. Taken by Katherine Wheeler
Taken by Katherine Wheeler
Shiva Velingker next to his poster at the poster session. Taken by Katherine Wheeler
The Renaissance
October 2014
Page 10
Improvasaurous: anything but extinct Elizabeth Fontenot
Staff Writer
First off, Improvasaurous is not, as some might think, some kind of dinosaur. Rather, Improvasaurous is a sub-group of Theatre Club in which students can practice their improvisation skills for others’ entertainment. Due to a lack of support for a full improv group, Improvasaurous became a sub-group of the Theatre Club this year. Improvasaurous widens improv to a practice opened to the entire student body, rather than the students who take the improv course to perform improv, and it is a place for anyone to share a laugh with like-minded students. The club’s members sprout from the improv class that Mr. Jeff Thomakos offers at 2 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
However, it includes people who cannot make time for the class. The class is also open to any who would want to observe or participate. “My main goal for this club is to spread improv to others,” said Madeline Read, captain, or as she calls herself, “the conquistador” of Improvasaurous. “I try to encourage and invite others to our meeting so they can play games with us and learn about improv, and maybe find the passion for improv inside of them.” One common game played during Improvasaurous is called The Paperclip Game. To play the game, the improvisers get a suggestion and then build off of that suggestion with similar topics or ideas. This takes place at the beginning of a Harold (an improv show) so the performers can have ideas for the rest of the night.
The goofy Improvasaurous crew poses with their sponsor, Jeff Thomakos. Taken by Johnnette Johnson
A common example of the game starts with the suggestion “passion fruit.” The first improviser would say, “I’m a passion fruit and I’m passionate,” then another would say, “I’m a passion fruit and I’m apathetic.”
The game would go on like this using a similar base with different descriptions, or would evolve into something else entirely, such as “I’m a cheerleader and I’m passionate.” The club plans to have many upcoming shows
for this semester, as well as the spring semester. Meetings are open to everyone at LSMSA. During the meetings, participants can join the Improvasaurous crew in fun theatre games or even just sit back and watch the magic happen.
Expanded Orientation history
orientation classes required in the first semester by many colleges. This would be a regularly attended class in the first semester instead of a weekend of meetings. The new program achieved what it set out to do, but was scrapped the following year. After getting rid of Orientation Class, Shumate created the fledgling version of today’s EO, which did not require attendance, but offered curfew extensions from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm as a reward. This year’s orientation compressed a few of the five original categories from the Catholic Uni-
versity of America, which she learned about at a meeting for the National Orientation Director’s Association, faith and service, academic and cultural, personal development and community building, social, and health and safety, to make fulfillment of the requirement easier and more fitting to the LSMSA community. As for next year’s EO, Shumate’s current plans do not deviate too much from the format of this year’s EO. However, Shumate plans to make small adjustments to the EO program based on observations from this year.
Glenda Winfield Staff Writer
The face of the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts’s (LSMSA) Expanded Orientation (EO) Program has undergone massive changes and improvements over the years. EO exists to help students adjust to the life of a boarding school student. Before LSMSA accepted sophomores, New Student Orientation (NSO) took place in May. Later in August, students attended Junior Orientation.
Junior Orientation was a series of required workshops on many things that students need to be successful at LSMSA. These workshops did not stick well, according to Emily Shumate, Director of Student Services, because the information was too much to absorb in a short period of time. To remedy this, she examined the programs of LSMSA’s sister schools and created the NSO that students attend today. She also minimized Junior Orientation and moved
the time management workshop back so that students would already have experienced the reality of classes when they attended. The new form of NSO was an improvement that made students excited to attend LSMSA. However, students continued to receive a lot of information before they needed it. This lead to Orientation Class, the parent program of EO. The school tested this new class on students in LSMSA’s first sophomore class. Shumate designed this class to be similar to