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ADJUSTING TO NEW CULTURES Sophomore Nadia Shewear adjusts to American life after growing up in Saudi Arabia
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THE BULLY FACTOR The affects and statistics of teenage bullying, as well as what is being done to find solutions
pg. 8-9
A BALANCING ACT Senior Josh Smythe-Macaulay and junior Katelyn Dill balance three sports at once
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coming UP Dec. 20-Jan 2 Winter Break Jan. 22 9th and 10th grade parent night Jan. 24-25 Cap and Gown Orders Feb. 1 Late Start
Vol. 30, Issue 3 www.thedispatchonline.net James Bowie High School 4103 W. Slaughter Lane Austin TX, 78749
FRI. DEC. 8, 2017
THE DISPATCH
The bond Chromebooks to come soon results Madison Austin Feature Editor
On Nov. 7 the AISD Bond was passed. The bond is worth $1,050,984,000. This money will be divided across the district based on a strategic plan already outlined previously. Bowie will receive just over $91 million dollars to improve the campus which is something that has most student excited. Many students hope that these changes happen quickly. “I hope to see changes sooner rather than later, because of the traffic and amount of students. Our school population is already large and may become larger,” sophomore Camryn Young said. One worry that students have is that when construction begins, the carpool traffic will get worse after school. “Construction could certainly be an issue with release of school causing more back up on Slaughter,” junior Austin Buttlar said. The bond money will be bringing lots of changes to the campus in order to improve the learning and physical environment. “With the bond money I hope that there will be changes made to the air conditioning and hopefully some changes made to the bathrooms around campus, I’m looking forward to seeing what the new fine arts addition will look like,” Young said. An improvement that is widely popular with students and staff is the air conditioning and heating being fixed. “I know that they have a lot of money for the improvements but I just think that we need better central heating and air, for instant right now I have very awesome working air conditioning but whenever I came into the classroom this morning and it was 58. It is things like that, that need to be fixed with this bond money,” science teacher Ashley Spiro said. The changes being made to the campus with the bond will increase the amount of students that campus will be able to handle. This is something students are greatly looking forward to. “I hope it will be used to find a viable solution to the excess amount of students coming to our school because the amount of students in classes is insane, we have had to bring in chairs from other teachers in some of classes,” Buttlar said. Students are excited to see the changes that will be made in the coming years. “I am really looking forward to the changes in parking. I hope that improvements will improve the way that students learn,” Young said.
FROM TEXTBOOK TO CHROMEBOOK: Freshman Katie Bailey, looks at Blend on a Chromebook. The district hopes that the Chromebooks will improve student engagement and quality of learning. PHOTO BY Victoria Newell
New personalized devices to be distributed early next semester Ian Miller
Commentary Editor Earlier this year, Bowie’s new principal, Mark Robinson, promised to bring many big changes to Bowie. Including the addition of personalized Chromebooks with the intent that they will help students perform better academically. The Chromebooks are aimed towards initiatives such as AISD’s Blend, where all of a student’s learning can be found in one place. While originally promised to be distributed the week before midterms, due to scheduling conflicts, the distribution has been pushed back to early January. Robinson believes that the true potential of Chromebooks lies in its relation to Blend. “The real connection here is going to be in Blend,” Robinson said. “We’ve also used it as a virtual backpack, where we can pull all of that learning from the web and put the information into these modules in Blend that allow for easy teaching and learn-
ing.” A big goal for educators is to connect with their students, and the addition of Chromebooks may help achieve this. “I’m hoping there’s going to be an element of engagement,”
to convert from a normal laptop with a keyboard into a portable tablet with a fully functional touchscreen. Additionally, they come with a durable protective sleeve to help prevent wear-andtear on the device. Every stu-
“...by adding these devices to classes, we’re normalizing the classroom- we’re getting the classroom caught up to the rest of the world.” - Ruth Ann Widner school improvement facilitator Ruth Ann Widner said. “I think that when students leave this building on a daily basis, they’re immersed in technology; they’re used to it. I feel like, by adding these devices to classes, we’re normalizing the classroom - we’re getting the classroom caught up to the rest of the world.” The Chromebooks are able
dent will be expected to bring the Chromebook to school with them each day. “The device isn’t optional. You can’t opt out of using technology; that’s the same as saying ‘I don’t want to learn today,” Robinson said. “With these Chromebooks, the student’s learning is all contained in one device.” Junior Collin Copley thinks
the Chromebooks will help with his academic workload. “I’m really looking forward to receiving these Chromebooks and the convenience they’ll bring,” Copley said. “I think it’ll really help with taking notes and completing assignments since everything I need for school is put into one device.” Some students think otherwise. “It seems unnecessary and a hassle to carry around, seeing as how I can just use my phone, which is just as good as the Chromebooks,” junior Harrison Hoover said. A concern for many students was that the hassle of carrying them around. “To me, these are non-negotiable learning tools,” Widner said. “I’m hoping students will accept the Chromebooks simply because it’s technology. It’s like when you first get a phone - sure, it’s inconvenient at first, having to carry around a phone, but once you get used to it, you find it a part of your daily habits.”
Newspaper and yearbook staff win prestigious awards Preston Rolls Staff Writer
Sessions were attended, competitions held, awards won, and friendships strengthened at the JEA/ NSPA (Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association) convention the Bowie publication department attended this past Thanksgiving break. On Nov. 16-19, both the Bowie newspaper and yearbook staff joined over 5,000 other students at Dallas for the bi-annual event. Newspaper staff won Fourth Best in Show out of approximately 150 other broadsheet newspapers, and both publications won a number of individual awards.
“Winning the Fourth Place Best in Show was incredible, because we all work so hard on the paper and put in so much time and effort,” senior Victoria Newell said. “It’s really nice to have someone pat you on the back for your work.” Furthermore, both the yearbook and newspaper were awarded a CSPA (Columbia Scholastic Press Association) Crown Award earlier this year. The two editorial teams will be in New York City in March to collect their national awards. “The national convention was a great opportunity for students to elevate and challenge themselves and compete against other staffs of their caliber from all across the country,” yearbook advi-
sor Lindsey Shirack said. According to the CSPA website, approximately 1,100 newspapers, magazines, yearbooks, and digital publications created during the 2016-2017 school year were submitted to the CSPA to be graded for a Crown. Only 47 print newspaper Crown Awards were given, as well as just 45 yearbook Crowns. “It feels really great to know that we’re putting out a product that is getting national recognition as a good paper; that is just awesome beyond words,” Newell said. “It’s very encouraging for the future, because I think this year’s paper is really strong and we have such an incredible staff.” READ
MORE “JEA” pg. 2
AWARD WINNERS: Members of the Dispatch/Newspaper staff pose with Fourth Place Best in Show award. The award was won at the JEA/NSPA 2017 Dallas Convention. PHOTO BY Michael Reeves