January 2019
Volume 93
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Issue 4
Is the tadry line causing tardies?
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Katelyn Gwennap Reporter Here at Thomas Jefferson for security reasons the doors lock at 8:10 and anytime after that you have to sign in and out of school. Some kids come to school 2 minutes late, but because of the huge line of kids that are trying to sign in, that two minutes could turn into half an hour. The question, is there a better more efficient way to get kids into classes faster? For the students that are never late to school this issue doesn’t involve them, but for the following kids that find it hard to make it here by 8:10 every morning, this issue can be a big one. Kids are lined up about 20 deep just 7 minutes after school starts. With just one administrative assistant signing these students in it can take a good amount of time. Our teachers here at Thomas Jefferson have something called a Fob, it’s a little thing that they can put on their lanyard that they scan and the doors unlock and they can come right in.
Students standing in line to get a pass to go to first hour after they show up late. Photo by: Katelyn Gwennap
If we have an efficient way for our teachers to get into the school why don’t we have a more efficient way for our students? The 2017-2018 school year a bunch of changes happened, the doors began being locked during the school day instead of being left unlocked. Mrs. Windham got asked why this decision was made? “We just wanted to make sure that our school was safer and we could have a little more control over who comes in and out of the building” stated Mrs. Windham.
She didn’t mention one of the issues that the school seemed to face during the 2017 - 2018 school year, many students were leaving during school hours to go either get lunch or to simply skip a class. The way that this tied into locking the doors is, with the doors unlocked it made it easy for students to roam in and out of the school so they simply started locking the doors. Another issue that is correlated with locking the doors is lunch hours, kids were leaving
during lunch to go get outside food and with us having a grant to give everybody free lunch this endangered this opportunity. If someone were to walk in and see all these kids having a range of Raising Cane’s, Taco Bell, McDonalds, etc. Our grant could be taken away. So the decision was made to lock the doors, which solved old problems but created new ones. “I think it is about as efficient as we can make it at this point, it would be better if kids just simply got here on time” said Mrs.
Windham. People have mentioned an alternative, which was giving students something similar to the fobs that the teachers have, but Mrs. Windham said that it was simply too difficult to get the teachers these devices so it would be nearly impossible and way too expensive to give all of the students something similar to it. For this new year lets try and get here on time so you don’t get caught in the long line of students waiting to get into the building.
Caffeine is not the healthest for teen bodies Katelyn Gwennap Reporter
Drinking caffeine as a teenager has bad effects on your body. “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends teens’ caffeine consumption be limited to no more than 100mg of caffeine per day,” according to verywellhealthy.com. Just one small iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts has 198 mg of caffeine in it. Which is 98 mg over the recommended consumption for adolescents. Caffeine can cause a lot of issues for your body, including insomnia, restlessness, difficulty concentrating, increased blood pressure, headaches, irritability and so much more. Verywellhealthy.com stated “Caffeine may disrupt the formation of key connections in the brain. During adolescence, when the brain has the most neural
Drinking to much caffeine as an adolescent can have bad lasting affects on your bodies. Photo provided by: Www.flickr.com
connections, caffeine may make the networks less efficient,” Caffeine can affect how your brain develops and that can cause a lot of different issues. One of those issues might be difficulty comprehending things, and for some kids that is already difficult
enough as it is. Does caffeine do more harm than it does good? In the article medicalnewstoday.com they stated “Even moderate doses of 100-400 mg can cause symptoms in children and adolescents,”
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In one can of the energy drink called monster there is 86 mg of caffeine in it. Which is only 14 mg away from the maximum dose that teens’ should be consuming in one day. “Studies have indicated that 83.2% of teenagers consume
caffeinated beverages regularly,” according to medicalnewstoday. com. Just one 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee contains 95-200 mg of caffeine. “Caffeine is a drug; a readily available, widely used, legally accessible and socially acceptable psychoactive substance,” Caffeine is not just in energy drinks and in coffee, it’s even in hot chocolate. Hot chocolate has 5 mg of caffeine in it. Even though it is a very low dose it can still rack up your caffeine consumption when you drink multiple high caffeinated drinks instead of the lower ones. So for this New Year lets try and lower our caffeine consumption, and make better choices for our bodies.
News
THE SIGNAL
Iowa West Foundation; Soccer Facilities
Editor-in-Chief Emily Eikenberry Paginator Emily Eikenberry
A new soccer indoor complex is going to start getting built and will be ready to open in the early December of 2019. Photo provided by: Iowa West Foundation
Staff Kayleigh Cooper Riah Davis Heather Giovannoni Katelyn Gwennap Carter Harold Chrystina Winchell Adviser Rob Lindquist Phone: 712-328-6493 Facebook: CBJacketJournalism Twitter:@TJHSJournalism Web: cbjacketjournalism.com Snapchat: tjhsjournalism
Carter Harold Reporter A new indoor turf facility for southwest Iowa athletes of all ages will be built in Council Bluffs. The 75,000 square foot Complex will cost an estimated $7 million funding will come from the Iowa West Foundation and other grant resources and will be located along 23rd ave in the Mid-America Center district near the Iowa west fieldhouse.
The turf inside the complex will be the size of one regulation youth soccer field with the ability to be separated into smaller fields. The fields can be used for other sports like youth baseball, softball, flag football, and other sports, as well as adult leagues. The facility will be operated by the Council Bluffs Soccer Club. “Similar to what we’ve witnessed with the Iowa West Field House, the Iowa West SportsPlex will provide a much-needed home for our young athletes to be able to play the sports they
love all year round and not have to travel outside of our community to do so,” said Pete Tulipana, President of the Iowa West Foundation. Shane Hoss who is a volunteer coach for the Council Bluffs soccer club grew up playing sports in Council Bluffs, He says he is grateful his hometown will soon be home to a multi-sport complex that the community so desperately needed and will be able to afford. “There’s been a need in the soccer community for quite some
time. Baseball needs it just as much, and so do the softball and flag football teams,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for all kids to play in a state-of-the-art facility and we couldn’t have done it on our own. This IWF initiative will ensure that the facility is built with no debt and therefore local teams and kids won’t have to pay premium prices to practice or play.” If approved, construction is set to begin in the spring and could be ready to open as early as December 2019.
Don’t take your health for granted Heather Giovannoni Reporter Your health is a serious thing you should never overlook. Don’t be afraid to go to the doctors and get a checkup every so often. It all started with some stomach problems, so my father decided it was time to see a doctor. They had troubles figuring out what was wrong with me, I made several trips there in one week. I had several blood tests done and even an x-ray, but they still couldn’t figure out what was happening. The doctor gave me a pill to protect the lining in my stomach because he was afraid that it was eating away at my stomach lining. He told us that if it were to start causing headaches to come back as soon as possible, After a couple days I started to get migraines all the time off and on and I was even having trouble sleeping because I was in so much pain. My father was starting to get really worried about my well being and considering my family history he had every right to be. So we took another trip to the doctor’s office, my father told my doctor his concerns and about my mom so my doctor suggested an MRI after hearing about my mom. We had told the doctor that
Heather Giovannoni is a junior here at Thomas Jefferson who may look like a regluar person with the same story has other people, but she has a different story to tell. Photo by: Emily Eikenberry
my mother had passed away from a brain aneurysm and, two of my aunts had surgery for one, and one of them was very recently and she was and still is in recovery. After hearing that my doctor said it is a test we can do to make sure there is nothing to worry about. After I had my MRI done they said that they would call us and let us know the results. After a few hours, they called us and said it looked irregular so they sent it to a neurologist and in a few months we would go and see him and he would let us know why it was irregular. A few months later I went to
see the neurologist, he told me I have a very common cerebellum defect I was born with and only about 3% of people need surgery. He went on to explain it basically means that I have tonsils squeezing on my spinal cord, that makes it hard for the spinal fluid to pass through. Since the tonsils are only about 3 millimeters long I shouldn’t need surgery. My father expressed his concern about the possibility of me having a brain aneurysm. The doctor said that things like that don’t show up so well on the MRI so he suggested a CTA scan, that will let us know for sure if I had a brain aneurysm or not.
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In early December I got a CTA scan, and my doctor just called a few days ago with some great news. My scans came back clean, I am brain aneurysm free. He said that my tonsils have advanced a little bit, but I look good and shouldn’t need surgery. After all of this back and forth to the doctors, I have learned you should never take your health for graded. You never know what will happen to you until it’s too late, it could be something major but it could also be something small. Make sure you schedule a yearly doctor’s appointment and take the best care of yourself you possibly can.
The Signal is a school-sponsored publication of Thomas Jefferson High School 2501 W. Broadway Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501. The Signal’s office is located in the upper library. The Signal is printed by OH-K FASTPRINT in Omaha, NE. The Signal is a school-sponsored-publication and therefore recognizes its responsibility to stay within the boundaries that the school administrator sets. The Signal will therefore inform its readers using a high standard of morals and ethics. The Signal encourages readers to respond in the form of letters to the editor, which can be sent to room C128. The Signal’s editorial staff reserves the right to edit the letters for grammatical errors and to remove any profanity. The editors also reserve the right to exclude letters that are false in their statements or accusations. The Signal will not accept advertisements that promote activities illegal to minors. Advertising rates are available upon request.
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Announcements
This years snoball theme is Viva Las Vegas. The dance is on Saturday, January 26th, from 7- 10pm in the TJ commons. Don’t forget snowball is girls ask guys! If you are bringing a guest from another school you must fill out a form a few days before hand they will be in the main office, no middle school students are allowed to attend. Voting for court will take place next week, court representatives must be in good standing. Voting for King and Queen will take place at the dance. Get your tickets ahead of time for $5 in the main office, or $8 at the door.
You may have guessed it by now just by the title, the newspaper is back! We have gone back to printing The Signal once a month, we have been having trouble with the app and now we will no longer have an app. They will be distributed to all the teachers and the main office.
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SPORTS
Swimming into the end of the season on a good note Katelyn Gwennap Reporter
TJ’s Varsity Girls Bowling team won back to back meets Carter Harold Reporter
On January 12th, 2019 the Council Bluffs boys swim team had a meet against Ralston High School. Thomas Jefferson has three swimmers on the team combined with Abraham Lincoln. Two sophomores Rory Curtis and Wyatt Campbell, and one senior who is Briggs Huff. “I felt confident until my goggles fell off when I dived into the water, that kind of threw me off a lot because I couldn’t persept how close I was to the surface when I dove in,” said Curtis. In the 100 yard freestyle Huff came in first with a 1:02.31. “I felt pretty good and it turned out to be a loss but, it
follow @CB_SwimTeam didn’t really matter because we all tried our bests and that’s all that matters,” said Campbell. Campbell swam in the 50 yard freestyle, he came out with a time of 46:03.51. “My times are getting better by probably 6 seconds every week,” said Campbell. Huff also swam in the 100 yard backstroke coming out with
a time of 1:18.93. “I felt kind of intimidated because it was my first meet but, I feel like next time I will be more prepared for the next meet,” stated Curtis. There is no stopping the team, when they have a vision in their mind. Go and support our boys swim team at Lewis Central on January 19th.
On Tuesday the 8th the varsity bowling teams took on their third MRC meet of the season. The Girls bowled their best match this year by 91 pins, they had a 2551 pin count. The top Girl bowler was Natalie Arnold who bowled a 182 & 194. Other good games were from McKenna Rethmeier’s 194 and Madison Baxter’s 192. They bowled an average of 172 pins in their baker games. The Boys took second against AL who bowled their best match in the past 2 years. Top Bowler was Chandler Scott with a 197 & 210. Other good games were Sam
ENTERTAINMENT
Shanno’s 211, Brett Hiers’ 200 and Jacob Schuster’s 215. The Boys bowled an average of 194 pins in their baker games. In the same week on Friday the varsity teams took on Red Oak. Both teams took first place and the boys bowled a 3224, which is the highest they have bowled since coach Storey started. The girls bowled a 2249 which isn’t their highest, but the team is only going to get better. The top varsity girls bowler was Kaylynn Oliver with a 202 and 148. The highest boys bowler was Jacob Schuster with a 257 and 268.
The land without an accent Chrys Winchell Reporter It turns out, midwesterners have accents. But, to understand this, we have to figure out where the other accents from around the country originated. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - located in the Inland North region - is largely influenced by early Irish and English settlers. When visiting this lovely town, you might hear something called “pittsburghese”, which is what they call their dialect. You’ll here words like, “yunz” or “yinz”
which means the same thing as “y’all” in the midwest. The reason for this is “brogue” influence, which is another way to describe an Irish accent. Brogue originally a “stout coarse shoe wore formerly in Ireland and Scotland,” which insultingly implied that the Irish spoke English so poorly, that it sounded like there was a boot in their mouth. Every region has its own thing, but don’t mistake the “midwest” as one region. There are three different areas that make up the midwest - North Central, Midland, and Inland
North. Council Bluffs is located in the Midland area. The characteristics of a Midland accent are very subtle, but still there. This region tends to put their tongues closer to the front of the mouth, making vowels sound different and deeper. This accent also includes enunciating all of it’s r’s instead of slurring though it. For example, a New Yorker from the city would pronounce “door” like “dwah”, as if the r was falling off the word. You’ve heard of the Boston “claam chowda”.
Sometimes, this accent incorporates the sound of an r into words that don’t contain it. For example, “washer” becomes “wersher.” And of course there are also specific words like ope, jeez, or tennis shoes - which would normally be called running shoes or sneakers. This is the dialect side of the region. The Midland and North Central area is made up of mostly Scandinavian, German, and English descent. Words such as cozy, ski, or nudge are originally Scandinavian. The words spritz,
bratwurst, kindergarten, and bagel are German. One reason the midwest is known as the “land without an accent” is because popular coastal areas like California looking for specific voices for certain jobs such as radio broadcasters or sports announcers generally go to the midwest to find those voices, because of our “accents.” So just a heads up, if you live in the midwest, you do have a small accent - but it’s okay, because it’s the accent everybody wants.
Even more stories online! Visit bit.ly/SignalNews Page 4