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January, 2013
New Era volunteers time at the Micah House By Kiarrah Pleas Reporter On Monday December 10th, 2012 the New Era team sponsored a holiday movie at the Micah House. They served hot cocoa and treats, before showing the movie Polar Express. They also had a drawing for prizes for those who attended. “All the kids were all happy and clapping,” said senior Carly Williamson. “It was cute.” Volunteering benefits the community and spreads help to those in need. “Volunteering is a good thing when you can make the Holidays happy for everyone,” said junior Matt Raes. “Everyone wants a happy holiday.” Other people in New Era that volunteered at the Micah House include: senior Ejanae Hume; juniors Grant Storey, Adam Poldberg, and Matt Raes; sophomores Payton Werts and Devon Kermoade; and freshmen John Poldberg and Parker Raes. New Era has also helped the Susan Koman foundation which is raising money for cancer, and helped with school attendance. If any of the above sounds like something you would like to do, you can contact Mrs. Storey about joining New Era in room C214.
Signal Bulletin
-Order your yearbook at jostensyearbooks.com or call toll free 1.866.282.1516. -The 7th Annual Jennie Ed Sports Med Shootout will take place Friday, January 11 and Saturday, January 12 at the Mid America Center. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students. They can be purchased at TJ in the main office. Tickets will be valid for both days. Our Yellow Jackets play on Friday night versus Sergeant Bluff-Luton. Girls start at 7:00 PM and boys will follow. -Snowball will be on February 2. Tickets go on sale the last week in January. For more information contact Sam Arnold. -The Theatre Department is holding Variety Show auditions on January 16 and 18 after school in the auditorium. Speeches (persuasive/political/ informative), stand-up comedy, monologues(comic or dramatic), pantomimes, duo or group acting scenes, storytelling, poetry readings, improvisation acts, reader’s theatre, and much more. Come show off your special communication and performing arts talent.
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School District has New Year’s Resolutions By Brooklyn Holder Reporter New Year’s resolutions have become a tradition for everybody. This year, the Council Bluffs Community School District has their own. “We set a theme this year that focused on every child every day,” said Dr. Martha Bruckner, Superintendent of CBCSD. “We Graphic by Allie Townsend and Shelbie Granger. want every child to be healthy, safe, engaged, challenged, and Thomas Jefferson, expressed her of teachers, support staff, counsupported.” perspective on the resolutions for selors, and administrators help Teenage attention spans can TJ alone. support students academically, get in the way of learning, wheth- “We want to see all of our stu- socially, and personally so they er it comes from electronics or the dents succeed,” Dale explained. can be successful,” said Dale. lack of desire to master the oppor- “We also want to see the class of “Everyone has to do their part, tunities around them. 2013 to graduate at 100 percent students included.” “We continue to look at ways and have the skills necessary to Some students think that the we can engage students in learn- be successful after high school.” staff do not care, but they do. ing. They have to like what they With every plan, there are “It is about staying motivatare doing and effort is needed,” steps along the way that lead to ed to really do our job well,” said said Bruckner. Dale. “When we do see students the accomplishment. Mrs. Lisa Dale, Principal of “The steps needed consist succeed, it helps keep us moti-
vated because we know we are making a difference.” How would one know which goal is right for the school as a whole? “In order to set a goal, you have to know where you have been,” said Bruckner. There may be more than one resolution, but they are all related. Every resolution focuses on the students, from success to supporting one another.
Please take your seat By Isabella Moore Reporter Sitting next to your friends in class is something all students desire, but it can have an impact on your learning experience. Getting distracted and not completing work can be a side effect of being near your friends because it is hard to sit so close to one of your friends and NOT talk to them! Eventually, the teacher will call upon one of the oldest rules in the book; a “seating chart”. “The reason I find it important to use a seating chart [is] it helps me to get to know the students especially the first of the tri,” said math teacher Mrs. Jennifer Kvammen. “But I also use seating charts to partner students up to work together. So by doing seating and not letting them pick, I’m doing it more by their skills and their math abilities versus friends.” Kvammen continued to explain that she does not always enforce the seating chart. “There have been days where I say, you can sit wherever you
want, and it doesn’t go as well because they get to sit by their friends,” Kvammen said. “They are too busy chatting so we don’t get as much done. I do let them pick partners sometimes for projects and it has positives as well as negatives.” But of course, students and teachers have different opinions. “I really don’t find them important,” said junior Kayla LeDoux. “I mean, they could be important for subs or when you get into a new class, so the teachers can learn their students names.” Junior Trevor Ceder disagreed. “You can get more work done ‘cause you won’t be sitting next to your friends and stuff,” Ceder explained. Some teachers believe that when they have a problem with students not paying attention, a new seat will solve the problem. This does not prevent students from whispering, yelling, or making signs from across the room which can cause a bigger distrac-
Photo by Allie Townsend.
tion to the rest of the class. When the teacher is not present, he/she hires a sub who might not know what is going on in the classroom. Students will lie to the sub so they can sit wherever they want and get away with anything. Eventually students sneak around and find their way back to their friends and the chatter begins again.
While many students find it easier to work apart from their friends, students such as LeDoux find it easier to work next to one of their friends. Seating charts require students to get out of their comfort zone and talk to new people. This could lead to great friendships, you may never know until you take your seat.
Note-passing goes digital By Jonathan Wheeler Reporter A long time ago, yesterdecade high school students would pass notes in school to tell other people what they were thinking. As technology improved, students used their flip phones to chat in code or “text” to other people. Now
with Google ChromeBooks, Google Android smartphones, Apple iPhones, Windows 8 phones, Blackberries, Apple iPads, Facebook, and Twitter, people can chat through various means. “I have caught up to four students out of 19 chatting online at one time; but it was at the beginning of the year,” special ed teacher Mrs. Debra
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Hall said. “I haven't caught a note being passed in probably two years. Texting goes on continually--three major offenders out of 18 in the room.” TJ English teacher Mrs. Sandra Leaders agreed and added that only a few students seem to abuse technology privileges. “If they are doing it during a time when they are supposed
to be listening or working, I just tell them to stop, and they usually do,” Leaders said. “There are a few students who seem to have almost an addiction to texting or chatting because they cannot seem to stop even after I ask them to stop. In those cases, blocking their chat and/or taking their phone for the class period seems to be the only thing that works.”
Rugby club brings schools together By Kelsi Thurman Reporter In Council Bluffs, students from all sides of town are coming together in the spring to play a sport that usually gets little recognition on this side of the pond. Students are playing the unique game of Rugby. AL and TJ have always been city rivals. But here, all Council Bluffs schools come together. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Saint Albert, Kanesville and Lewis Central, though not all part of the same school district, play together on the city team. “At first it was hard because we’re trained to be competitive against each other,” Zack Belt, a 2012 graduate of AL, said. “But once we got through the first game, it was a lot easier to bond.” “My favorite thing about Rugby is how close we get as a team and the competitiveness,” junior Shawn Bothwell explained. Rugby is a competition that is a cross between soccer and football. The match has two halves that are forty minutes each. There are a
number of different ways to score: a “try” is only scored when a player takes the ball across the goal line and grounds (when a ball is on the ground and your hand is on the ball). A “conversion” follows a “try,” and two points are given to a successful kick through goal posts. If there is a penalty, the kicking team can kick for points, and if the kick is good, it earns three points. As described on Angelfire.com, the sport developed through centuries. It was said that William Webb Ellis was playing soccer (futbol) in England, when he picked up the ball and ran with it over to the goal line and set it on the ground. His sports teacher yelled and asked what he was doing. Ellis replied, “I tried sir,” Hence the game of rugby was started. “It's different because it didn't originate in the States,” said senior Seth Banks. “It is a foreign sport that many people haven't even heard of, or watched. The team chemistry is unlike any other, because we don't look at each other as friends or teammates. We look at everybody on the field as family. As brothers.”
Precautions to take while on the Internet
By Isabella Moore Reporter Before the Internet, if somebody wanted to find something out, they would have to get off their butts and do it themselves, instead of laying back in a chair and using only just ten fingers. Times were different, and with our school offering laptops to each student, we need to be careful. There are people out there who will lie to you and ask you certain things to get information out you. That information could include your address, your phone number, your social security number, and many more private things. You need to be careful with what you put on the internet because once it is on there, the whole world can see it. Sure you can delete it but there is a probability that someone already saw it. Ads are a big cause of the spam and viruses you get on your computer. Some ads say “Congratulations, you are the 100th visitor! Click here to claim your prize!” Once you click it could send you spam and then they ask you to fill out personal information; it is just not a good idea. Facebook can be very dangerous, do not accept any friend requests from people you do not
Online trending activities By Dylan Montgomery Reporter These days, everyone is online shopping, chatting amongst each other, or listening to music. Mostly everything we do is online, or there is an app for it. According to mostpopularwebsites.net, the three most commonly used sites are Google, Facebook, and Youtube. “It distracts me from doing my homework a lot,” sophomore Andrea Pizano stated. “[It] sometimes affects my learning during school.” “I see a lot of kids playing minecraft and on Twitter or Facebook,” said Mrs. Denise Hoag the computer graphics, web design, programming, and accounting teacher. Many kids are still
Photo by Shelbie Granger.
know. It could be someone just trying to learn more about you. If you get a friend request from someone that looks around your age and you have a lot of mutual friends, maybe you should check out their profile. Usually if they only have one picture, it is a fake. Also beware of hackers when on Facebook. Try not to make such an easy password, and do not use your name. Not having capitalization and numbers would make it very easy for the hacker to figure it out. “Anyone or everyone can see what your doing,” said junior Jennifer Meyer. “Don’t put things that you don’t want people to see. Don’t tell people your passwords, and make sure you log out of any social networks.” You may think that your
computer is safe and no harm will come, but open up one little pop-up, and it could send millions of viruses onto your computer, therefore, destroying it. “Students shouldn’t be so willing to meet up with other people unless they know them on a personal basis,” said senior William Kearney. “Don’t be so quick to add other people on social networking sites and don’t put all your information out there because that’s an easy way for people to get [in] contact with you. These precautions will prevent a lot of kidnappings and it could just help students.” Though you may think you know everything about the Internet, you are, in fact, only a teenager. Try to take these precautions as seriously as you can.
Sleeping in class due to lack of sleep By Jonathan Wheeler Reporter
Logos clockwise from Facebook, PinTrest, Twitter, and Instagram.
able to complete their work for the course. “Most kids work,” said Hoag. “They just kind of drift back and forth between work and the sites, or games they get on.” Many applications
are already blocked because of excessive use during school. Knowing the right time to use these applications will help students stay on task and get more work done.
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There are students in the school who tend to sleep in class. The reason students tend to fall of sleep may be caused by stress in the classroom, lack of sleep, pulling all nighters, or playing video game consoles until 3:30 a.m. If people do not get enough sleep at home, they tend to fall asleep in class. “I don't think students really want to sleep in class, but sometimes they just can't help it,” Thomas Jefferson High School nurse Lisa Kaufman responded. “Maybe it's because they stayed up too late or are getting sick.” Students cannot help it when they choose to not sleep; to them, it is a sense of freedom to do stupid stuff. Some teens would instead rather play video games all night and not get any sleep. According to CNN, a study done at the University of Ken-
Photo of sophomore Tristan Eggett by Shelbie Granger.
tucky in Lexington, showed when Fayette County high schools delayed their start time by an hour, the percentage of students getting at least eight hours of sleep per night jumped from 35.7 to 50 percent. “Getting enough sleep every night is extremely important, and I try communicating that with students as much as possible,” Kaufman said.