Laguna Blanca School - 4125 Paloma Drive - Santa Barbara - California - 93110- thefourthestate@lagunablanca.org
Volume XVI
October 20, 2010
Issue 1
Taking the New AP By JORDAN SHANNON Luckily for students, The College Board announced a change in the Advanced Placement Program that will end the penalty for wrong answers. After decades in which test takers were warned against random guessing, they may now do so without fear of hurting their scores. This shift is especially notable because the SAT continues to penalize wrong answers, so that those who cannot eliminate any of the answers are discouraged from guessing. Under the College Board policy to date, AP scores have been based on the total number of correct answers—one fourth of a point for questions with five possible answers and one-third of a point for questions with four possible answers. The idea is that no one should engage in “random guessing.” The odds can shift of course, if a test taker can eliminate one or more possible answers. “If you have some knowledge of the question, and can eliminate one or more answer choices, informed guessing from among the remaining choices is usually to your advantage,” according to the College Board.
PHOTO: ELLIOT SERBIN AP test takers can now guess without hurting their scores on certain questions.
A spokeswoman for the College Board said that the decision to end the guessing penalty relates to broader changes in the AP program. The College Board also announced plans to redesign a number of courses, and that process will start to produce results in the 2011-12 academic year. The redesigned courses will feature “an increased emphasis on conceptual understanding and discipline-specific skills, resulting in fewer and more complex multiple choice questions.” While the shift in courses and question types will be introduced slowly—only a few courses at a time—the College Board decided to provide all students with the same test instructions, so the guessing penalty would be eliminated across the board. Trevor Packer, director of the AP program, also notes that the change will not make the exams easier, but he said that some AP test readers who have been briefed “are thrilled that students won’t have to think about this when they take the test.” “I think that the recent changes to the AP program will be very beneficial when taking our AP tests this year. However, I wish that these new changes could have been implemented earlier,” senior Lauren McAlister said.
New Lunch Program Rolls Onto Campus By DARIA ETEZADI Problem solved. Laguna students on the Hope Ranch campus are lining up for hot nutritious lunches from Green and Tasty, the new lunch program. Lunch service had been provided by Rincon Catering for the past few years, however, because they didn’t meet the Department of Health’s regulations, lunch service needed to stop. During the 2009-2010 academic year, Rincon Catering encountered some setbacks. Mrs. Melissa Abrams, head of the Parents Auxiliary explained that the Department of Public Health notified LBS that schools would no longer be permitted to serve student lunches using parent servers, or to serve food under an open air canopy. In an attempt to take corrective action, Rincon began to hand out lunch items in sealed containers. However, the Dept. of Public Health refuted this plan stating that Laguna had to “either install a commercial kitchen, at the cost of $100,000, or search for a provider who served from
a mobile commercial kitchen.” At this point, Rincon and Laguna Blanca faced a crossroads. Not only was the current system a potential law suit, but the new regulations were economically disadvantageous and inaccessible. Laguna supports efforts to be as green as possible and was unsatisfied with the excessive use of paper and plastic waste that came with serving packaged food. Rincon’s options began to run dry. As the school year approached an end, the Parents Auxiliary researched options. “One of the parents who offered to step forward and provide assistance was Ms. Pouran Etezadi, a licensed dietitian and business woman in the health care industry,” Mrs. Abrams said. Ms. Etezadi worked with the Parents Auxiliary to contact possible candidates for a new lunch program. Parent Mrs. Monica Calles, who formerly, provided the lunch program to the EF International School in downtown Santa Barbara, invested in a
remodeled mobile kitchen, and got busy making plans. “As a mother, you naturally want to make sure your kids eat well. Breakfast should be the strongest meal, but my kids never have time to eat in the morning, so lunch is the most important for them,” Mrs. Calles said. Her developing company began to expand to meet the expectations of the Parents Auxiliary and the Dept. of Health. To date, Ms. Calles describes the process that led up to what we now know as Green and Tasty Mobile Kitchen. “I think, when I got the concept in my mind, it was like a new creation…I think the idea was good. I enjoyed building on the concept...” With the assistance of Ms. Pouran Etezadi, Ms. Calles put together a yummy, yet healthy menu. “My intention was to bring a variety of food to the program that gave a new and improved face to nutrition, and I feel like we have accomplished that,” Ms. Etezadi said. The lunch menu offers a
Students Contribute to Invisible Children By ARABELLA WATTERS Our community has become an active member in raising money for the non-profit organization Invisible Children through the Schools for School program. The program helmed by junior Eva Davis and seniors Maaya Hensman and Lillie Hodges and supported by the Student Council has high hopes to raise $20,000 over the course of the year to help rebuild schools in genocide and war-stricken Uganda. The club also has set a goal to raise at least one thousand dollars with the Change for Change Drive which is currently happening on the Upper School campus; students are asked to donate spare change and dollar bills into their own class jar as a way to spark
PHOTO: ELLIOT SERBIN Helping Hand: Student’s donate money for the Change4Change competition by adding bills to each other’s jars.
friendly class competition and raise optimal amounts of money. Club copresident Eva describes the benefits to a drive like Change for Change. “I think that giving our whole Upper School a goal, especially one that involves helping others will really bring us together, because even though we are competing against each other, we are all working towards a common goal: to help these kids in need.”
In addition to the fundraising efforts on campus, the club has received a few anonymous donations. The first donation was $1,000, which was soon matched by Halogen Television, a startup television network which has agreed to match every Schools for Schools first one thousand dollars raised The club also received a $5,000 donation a few days after the Invisible Children assembly, giving the Lagu-
PHOTOS: ELLIOT SERBIN Step Right Up: (Top) high school students get lunches. (Above) A Middle School student reaches up to get a chicken with rice and veggies lunch served on a tray.
daily selection that includes options for vegetarians. One popular choice so far has been the tostada salad. “I was surprised at how good it actually was,” sophomore Bryana Schantz said. Similarly, English teacher Ms. Ashley Tidey shared, “It’s such a pleasure to eat good food during lunch. I actually find myself looking forward to lunch during B period!”
na chapter a strong starting point. Looking towards the future, the club is also planning more large scale events such as a walk-a-thon event including the Laguna Blanca community from Kindergarten to twelfth grade as well as willing participants from the Santa Barbara community. The event will include a silent auction for adults as well as games and activities for younger children. The club, one of a variety of new ones this year is especially important to students because of the emotional impact evident after the assembly. Eva describes her reaction to the documentary “Go” in which high school students who had raised money through Schools for Schools visited Uganda. “This is my twelfth year at Laguna, and I can definitely say that this was the first time I’ve ever cried during an assembly. I felt so inspired to get involved because it’s obvious that these kids need help, they need a place to learn, and Invisible Children makes it possible for everyday kids to do their part.”