WINTER 2016.
OAK HILL TIMES WINTER EDITION
OAK HILL RESPONDS TO GRADES By Amy X. and Erin A. Newton South Course of Study Book
Grades -Kids all over the world have to deal with grades at one point or another in their academic careers. To some, grades are a subject of terror, to others they?re merely a label to shrug off. At Oak Hill there seems to be a great deal of debate on the matter. While some give no thought to anything but the letters, many including teachers seem to think this is an unwise approach to your academic performance. As one searches around, it is clear that despite the care-free attitude the school presents, there is a silent pressure at work. It is nothing new that grades are stressful. Many a time, students want nothing else than ignore the constant nagging in the back of their heads about grades. Can the stress actually be having a negative effect on students and the school environment? The answer might very well be yes. As our story unfolded, we quickly found that teachers have very personal connections to grades and how grades are perceived and accepted at Oak Hill. 8th grade math teacher, Ms. Hsu, responded to our questions with helpful insight into the minds of teachers, and advice for struggling or stressed out students. When asked if she felt pressure to give good grades to stressed out students, she responded, ", "Of course I feel a little bit of pressure. Students here care a lot about grades, as do parents. And then again I feel that teachers here are very generous about how they grade. There are so many ways to get good grades, and there are always corrections and retakes. I don?t want my students to think their lives are over if they get a bad grade, they can always do better.? Assistant Principal Dr. Bercaw shared,?I think students stress out a lot about grades, I think they forget that this is middle school, it is a learning time. If you get a C or a D it?s ok, you can work it out with your teacher. School is about learning, you can improve. Going into high school it is good to have some experience with receiving bad grades, so if you get a B you don?t completely breakdown.? Throughout one's time in school, students are advised to calm down, that it?s only middle school, that they shouldn?t stress, and that there is plenty of time to learn from mistakes and get better. But is this positive out look really beneficial? Over all; yes, for Mrs. Hsu she seems to agree strongly with this principle and said the most important thing is to learn from mistakes and get ready for High School. You need to learn to be a good students, and teachers who support that are the teachers that will teach you the most.? When students were asked if they considered grades important, most responded that if they believed enough effort had been put into the subject, that grades were insignificant. But as we continued to interview more students, a clear trend had come to surface. With each step up in grade level, the amount of pressure linked to grades was steadily increasing. A few 6th graders, when asked if they considered grades to be important, responded, "You shouldn't stress about grades as long as you try your best, nobody really cares." With such a carefree optimistic response, it seems that Oak Hill is pretty relaxed concerning matters related to grades. Yet some 8th graders shared that the pressure is more stifling that we thought. One anonymous student claimed that they stay up late into the night studying and trying to perfect homework, only to go to bed lying awake in pondering the grades to follow. It goes to such an extreme that this person often would ?-shed like a cat.? But why the push? Some say it is the usual ?pressure from the parents?, however there is always the underlying sense of self betterment. For all, it can be certainly said that with each better grade there is a feeling of pride that follows along with it. And when asked if ?You are happier to receive a good grade after a test/project you stressed out about, or about one you thought you did well on ?-most students responded that the more work put into an assignment, the more satisfaction they felt to receive a better grade. But as always this positive mindset is only negatively enforced. By what you might ask? It appears that students regularly struggle with the expectations of former ?over-achievers?. But all in all at Oak Hill, even with the presence of harsh expectations, positive thinking still shines through. When it comes down to it, the importance of grades is really just opinion. If you think academics are important and are willing to sacrifice a great deal of your childhood for a successful future, do it; If you value interpersonal connection and delving in your hobbies, do it! Whatever the choice may be it can be said for certain that, grades hold a place in our life; be it good or bad.
LUNCH STORY By June C. and Alexandra N. Approx. 20 students were polled for this article. Burgers, fries, pizza, and chicken nuggets are the type of things that you find everyday in the lunch line at our school. And everyday there?s a long line of kids waiting to buy these foods for lunch, but how do we actually feel about lunch? The chart on the left will show you the numbers of kids that are buying, bringing, or buying lunch sometimes. So many kids have school lunch at some point in the year, but lots of these kids don?t always eat the whole lunch. If we ever looked into the trash we would see plenty of perfectly fine food that for some reason kids have decided not to eat. Sure maybe the food isn?t fine cuisine but honestly we should be thankful that we have it at all. The Chart on the left shows how much of the lunch we eat While lots of people might not be eating their whole lunch it?s a completely different story with the snacks they sell for extra money. The School lunch as we know includes many extra options like, chips, ice cream, cookies, and the new Dippin?Dots. If you look on the left you well see a chart that shows that almost a half of the students buy snack all the time. Almost a third of the students sometime get snacks. And only 23.1% never buy snacks. In conclusion, you can tell that most people buy lunch, but the real question is how many of them actually like it? While it may seem like the lunch isn?t loved all the way around, we have to remember that making lunch for all of us kids can not be easy. So, we are lucky to have people who care for us enough to provide lunch for us. As you can see from the chart above, most people don?t like the lunch [54%], then, some students like some of it [36%],and finally, only 10% of students like the lunch.
THE DARK SIDE OF WHEAT By Glanzer M.
These days, people don?t know what they are eating. Every day, people are eating more and more wheat, but they just don?t know it because it is hiding in their food. It hides in the grains that makes all types of bread. In fact, people have been eating unhealthily for the last 50 years, resulting in more cases of celiac disease because of that. Wheat is not only a grain itself, but it is in other grains, like barley. According to the book Wheat Belly if you eat 3 slices of bread, a bag of donuts and five cupcakes you could potentially develop celiac disease.
There is only one way out of it: going gluten-free. It is a healthy opinion. You will become healthier and it will reduce the risk of the chance of celiac disease. Also, you will become more flexible and active. It helps to prevent diabetes and heart disease. Also, you should avoid any junk food. This might include something like Lunchables and Dunkin?Donuts. Try gluten-free foods, like gluten free pizza or gluten free pies. They taste good. You should cut out sweets or rarely eat them. Eat fruits, but eat vegetables more. Finally, you should exercise 1 hour or more a day. Cutting wheat out of your diet can help you, but if you get lured by the dark side of wheat, you will become a victim of the diseases wheat lures to your body.Take this warning under advisement. Go gluten free and see the changes for yourself. Tell your friends and family about it. It will do them good. Let?s defeat the wheat!
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OAK HILL MATH TEAM READ IT ALL ON THE NEXT PAGE!
MATH TEAM By Samy R. The Oak Hill Math Team has been in the morning announcements quite a bit lately. But do you know why? The Math Team has come in first place in their many match ups and placed second in their most recent meet. And although this might not be the most traditional idea of competition, the effort and focus put into the Oak Hill Math Team is just the same. When asked about their recent string of victories, Jeremy S. responded that it was attributed to what he calls ?The fantastic cast of regulars!?One mathlete said that they heard about it in seventh grade and decided to join for the sake of finding others that share a similar interest. The team coached by Ms. Hsu, Mr. Timmins, and Ms. Deschaines come for the love of the subject. When Mrs. Hsu was asked why she wanted to coach the Math Team she replied ?To provide students who are secretly in love with problem solving a place to go?. Ms. Deschaines was asked the same question and replied ?I want to coach the math team because it is a really fun experience to coach kids of all grades, who want to challenge themselves in math?. Tournaments usually are pretty laid back even though unfortunately only a few regulars are chosen. Once the regulars are chosen, all the team members travel to their hosting school and meet
Mathletes finding their scores.
in the cafeteria. After eating a small snack the rounds of the competition starts. The regulars pick three rounds to participate in. The ten regulars move to a classroom, while the rest of the team sits in the cafeteria and answers the same questions as the regulars. There are five rounds, and one team round. In the rounds there are five different categories, which are number theory, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and mystery. The Math Team holds practice on Thursdays from 2:30 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. During practice The members are usually given problems to solve. Once the problems are complete the teachers that run the Math Team and its members go over the answers as a class or in small groups.The Math team members support each other during practice by explaining how they got their answers and working in pairs. They also support each other in the team round during the competitions. Teamwork is also a really important part of how the mathletes support each other. When Mrs. Hsu was asked what she thought was the most important part of the team she said ?Teamwork. Not one student can win, so teamwork is important.?Mr. Timmins feels ?the camaraderie?is important and Ms. Deschaines stated ?I think the most important part of Math Team is creating a community of respect and love of math?. It is clear that the Oak Hill Math Team works hard. The mathletes are very skilled, and coaches are very lucky to work with such a dedicated group of students that all share a common interest in math.
Math Team?s final minutes of practice before the meet at Oak Hill.
GEOGRAPHY BEE By Peter N. and June C. The Geography Bee started off as a smaller competition in all Social Studies classes. However, there could be only one winner for the school, and that was eighth grader Jean L.! Competing for the school title, Jean had no idea she was going to win going against 6th Grader Michael F. and 7th grader Markus E.let alone qualify for state championship. When the second of the three final round questions "Where is the headquarters of the International Red Cross?? was asked, Jean answered Geneva while both of her opponents answered differently. Everyone held their breath in anticipation waiting to see who correctly answered. When Mr. Lyons finally announced that Geneva was the right answer the room started breathing again. This, Jean said, was the toughest question and one she thought she got wrong. In the end, Jean won by getting all three questions right. But how did Ms. Lee get to this place? It all started with each individual Social Studies class. Every Social Studies class had its own mini geography bee and the person who came out victorious would move on to the grade level bee, which took place in the auditorium during class time, much to the students?delight. The winner of the grade Geography Bee would move on to the school Geography Bee, where the champion of the school has a chance to go to nationals by the way of state competition in Chicopee. Best of luck to Jean as she represents the Oak Hill community!
Jean accepting her medal and congratulations from Geography Bee Advisor Mr. Lyons.
Left to right - Jean L. Markus E. and Michael F.
2016 MUSICAL: OKLAHOMA By Michael F. and Peter N Oak Hill proudly presented Oklahoma!The Musical on March 10th and 11th Q& A with Ms.Price
Curley McClain: Elijah S.
Q: Who are the main characters?
Laurey Williams: Ambar C.
A: Curly McClain, Laurey Williams, Will Parker, Jud Fry, Aunt Eller, Ado Annie, Ali Hakim Q: What did people behind the scenes do? A: Make fences, paint, build, and help with costumes
Aunt Eller: Olivia D. Will Parker: Ethan K. Jud Fry: Jacob D. Ado Annie: Allison W.
Q: How many people were involved in the musical?
Ali Hakim: Liam F.
A: 63 actors and 60 people in stage crew.
Judge Carnes: Connor S.
Q: How much was a ticket?
Ike Skidmore: Jonah F.
A: 8 dollars
Cord Elam: Itai A.
Oklahoma! is a romance story and a Broadway classic that is about a cowboy named Curly, and a young lady farm girl Laurey. Meanwhile, Laurey,'s aunt Eller, wants her to be with Curly. However, Jud Fry, the farmhand, has feelings for Laurey as well, and wants to stop Curly from marrying her.
Slim: Evan H.
Gertie: Valerie G.
Fred: Clarke R. Mike: Theo H. (Male Swing) Joe: Michael F. Ellen: Maya K. Virginia: Anna R. Vivian: Kaitilyn S. Sylvie: Micah C. Farm girl Friends: Masie A. Erin A. Zoe D. (Female Swing) Paige K. Isabella L. Anais M. Hannah S. Directors: Mr. Cutler and Ms. Price Set Design: Mr. Bueno
A
Choreography: Ms. Goldstein
WINTER SPORTS By Alexandra N., June C., and Peter N. During the frigid winter, boys and girls basketball played admirably against some formidable opponents. Girl s Basket bal l 9-5 Record Coach: Mr. Sedewitz Assistant Coaches: Ms. Souza (M/ W) Ms. McCormick (Th/ F) Boys Basket bal l 6-6 Record Coach: Mr. Syph Assistant Coaches: Mr. Drinan (M/ W) Mr. Timmins (Th/ F)
Spring Sport s is coming up! Don't f orget t o sign up, t ryout s are t he l ast week of March!
STAFF Michael F. Amy X. Alexandra N. Peter N. June C. Erin A. Samantha R. Glanzer M. Clarence C. Mrs. Kappel - Advisor