Biden visits Council Bluffs as Democrats narrow choice COUNCIL BLUFFS Iowa is first in the nation, and sets the stage, for primary elections during each political season. If a candidate does well during the Iowa Caucuses, they tend to trend upward for the remainder of their campaign in deciding who will become the nominee for national political office. Council Bluffs, in particular, is important because of our population (second only to Sioux City on the west side of the Hawkeye state) and proximity to the Omaha Metro area. This allows nominees to reach as many people as possible in a short amount of time. Former Vice President Joe Biden was the most recent of the currently-leading four Democratic candidates to visit Council
Jacket Journalism Staff
Bluffs, this summer. Other nominees have visited since, but JacketJournalism had the opportunity to visit with Biden after he stumped at the Grass Wagon on July 17. His campaign visit included topics about how he works for America, an idea he reiterated during the third nationally tele-
vised Democratic Debates held on October 15. “Our very Democracy, everything that makes America, America, is currently at stake,” Biden told the Council Bluffs crowd. Biden wants to fix the problems of the past, and present, which includes equal rights, helping those through financial
L to R: Former Vice President Joe Biden takes a selfie with TJHS Senior Alejandro Luna after his speech at the Grass Wagon in Council Bluffs on July 17. Biden stands at the podium addressing the crowd. Biden takes a selfie with other guests of the event.
troubles, funding cancer cures, medicine costs and availability, rebuilding trust, and to “restore the backbone of the country, (the) low and middle-class workers.” On the current state of education Biden said, “Twelve years of schooling is not enough for 21st-Century kids.” Biden
wants to make it a possibility for all students who wish to, go to community college for free. 65/100 jobs require more than a high school diploma. “My wife, who still teaches at a community college says it best, ‘Any country that out-educates us, is going to out-compete us.’” The former Vice President also added a little bit about climate change. He said that each one of us should do our best regarding the climate crisis but that it is a world issue. High school students that are registered voters before or on the caucus date, February 3, 2020, will have an opportunity to debate and stump for their candidates.
News Halloween Season
The Signal Co Editors-in-Cheif Emily Eikenberry Katelyn Gwennap
Copy Editor
Heather Giovannoni
Paginator
Emily Eikenberry
Staff
Kelsie Anderson Kayleigh Cooper Austin Hinrichs
Adviser
Rob Lindquist Phone: 712-328-6493 Facebook: CBJacketJournalism Twitter: @TJHSJournalism Web: cbjacketjournlism.com Snapchat: tjhsjouralism
Katelyn Gwennap Reporter As the weather is getting colder, summer activities wrap up and the fall activities begin. Some Fall activities that you can go out and do would be Ditmars Orchard & Vineyard. The Orchard is located on 19475 225th street in Council Bluffs. Ditmars is open Tuesday - Saturday 10am - 6pm and Sunday
they are open 11am - 5am. The Adult pass for the tractor ride, corn maze is 5 dollars. The kids activity pass for 3 and older for weekends only are $9.95, it includes tractor ride, playground, corn maze & outside extras. If you want to go pick apples, the 5 pound U-Pick bags are 8 dollars a piece and when you buy three bags you get one free. The Orchard has 20 different selections of apples to pick from. If you just want to go and get already picked apples, they
Trade Works opens shop Austin Hinrichs Reporter The TradeWorks Academy has received certification. The TradeWorks Academy will feature five different trade areas like mechanics, fabrication & welding, electrical systems, construction, and plumbing/ refrigeration. Thomas Jefferson’s lab spaces are now beginning to be renovated. The first official TradeWorks Academy classes began in the Fall of 2019. Businesses that are looking for skilled trades workers will be able to interact with the students. Employers will be able to build relationships with students. Doing that will increase exposure to their business and build the future for the workforce.
“I definitely love hands on work. Coming from a different school we didn’t have the opportunity like we do here. Me being able to now finally learn things that I want to do, it’s either going to be construction or automotive, but I think learning both really has me on the edge of which one I want to do,” said Jozlyn Johnson. The Tradeworks Academy is helping more students be able to get an education in trade areas they are interested in. When students complete the course they will earn their NCCER certification, also an industry-recognized portable credential. The students will be ready for advanced education as well.
cost 2 dollars per pound. During the Fall the Orchard has a 10 acre pumpkin patch. They have many varieties of pumpkins to pick from. Pumpkins can either be paid for at the pumpkin patch or inside the store. They are priced by the pound. There are plenty of other things to do at the Orchard so don’t miss out and take a visit with family and friends. Another place you can go during the fall season is haunt-
ed houses. There are plenty of haunted houses to go to. Madness is the haunted house in Council Bluffs at the Mall Of The Bluffs. Admission to get into the haunted house is 14 dollars. It opens at 7:30 pm and closes at 10:00 pm, Friday and Saturday nights they close at midnight. There are plenty of things to do around the Council Bluffs and Omaha area for this halloween season. Make the best of it, and go have fun.
The Signal is a school-sponsored publication of Thomas Jefferson High School 2501 W. Broadway Council Bluffs Iowa 5150. The Signals office is located in the upper library. The signal is printed by OH-K FASTPRINT in Omaha, NE. The Signal is a school-sponsered-publication and therefore recognizes its responsibility to stay within the boundaries that the school administrators set. The Signal will therefore inform its readers using a high standard of . 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. NSPA Members Publication IHSPA Members Publication
Sports
Austin Hinrichs Reporter The last golf meet of the season was Tuesday, October 8th. The meet was districts. It was held at Whispering Creek in Sioux City. It was the last high school meet for four players on the Thomas Jefferson golf team. The windy conditions made the meet very difficult for the golfers. Nate Newton finished with 90 strokes, Jared Thompson with 111, Grant Merk with 120, and Jacob Lesly with 154 strokes. No one from the Thomas Jefferson qualified for state. Coach Rob Lindquist stated, “Grant was brand new this year. He had never played golf before this year. So just getting him to get the ball off the ground was our first challenge. Now he’s a varsity golfer.” Corbin Walker from Ankeny came in first in the whole meet with 79 strokes. Newton tied for 25th in the whole meet. Thomas Jefferson Jackets did beat the Abraham Lincoln Lynx five meets out of the seven meets that they went against them. The top four golfers were Newton, Thompson, Merk, and Lesly. With three of them leaving this year, there is only one returning that has any experience on varsity and that is Jacob Lesly.
TJ Jacket Golf Recap The varsity golfers at Whispering Creek for their final meet of the year districts. Photo by: Rob Lindquist
Nate Newton lining up to try and make his putt Photo by: Chrisha Doss
The four senior varisty golfers Leftt to right: Grant Merk, Jarad Thompson, Nate Newton, and lastly Ryan Stienspring Photo by: Rob Lindquist
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TJ News
TJ Foreign Exchange Profile
Kayleigh Cooper Reporter
Tworek and Wyler posing for a picture after they enjoyed the last warm home football games Photo by: Katelyn Gwennapp
One of our four foreign exchange students this year at Thomas Jefferson is Anna Wyler, who is 16 years old and from Switzerland. Moving from a different country is a lot more stressful than what it seems. “At the beginning it was very hard for me, when I finally changed my host family it became much better,” Wyler said.
Kelsie Anderson Reporter
Some START classes may have talked about a technique called S.L.A.N.T., however, there may be some students who still don’t know or have forgotten about what S.L.A.N.T. means. S.L.A.N.T. gives students five techniques that can help them be focused in their classes and keep their attention focused when there is someone else speaking. Each letter in S.L.A.N.T. means something specific. The S means sit up straight and face the speaker. The L is listen to the speaker. The A means to ask and answer questions. The N means to nod your head. The T is to track the speaker. Ms. McClellen, a math teacher here at TJ talked about her opinion about S.L.A.N.T. “It’s a simple technique students can use to remind themselves to be engaged as
While there might be bad there are always things to look forward too in order to make things better. Wyler is looking most forward to, “All of the different traditions, and to spend a American christmas with my host family.” This is what Coming from a different country there are going to be things that you miss about
where you are from. “I miss most the standards and the almost limitless liberties I have there,” Wyler said. There’s also going to be differences, maybe ones that aren’t so obvious to us. “Here there is no public transportation. I can hardly move from one place to another by myself. I’m always dependent on someone.”
Wyler stated before that her first host family just didn’t seem right for her but since she has switched things have been easier. Her current host family is with one of our history teachers Mr. Tworek. “The family does a lot of different fun activities, takes me to new places and lets me be apart of their entire family. They are active, healthy and
try to do a bunch of different stuff,” Wyler stated. We are happy to welcome Anna along with our other three foriegn exchange students here at Thomas Jefferson. If you want to know more about the other three their stories will be on the JacketJournalism website. cbjacketjournalism.com
a learner because it will help them be an active participant in the classroom.” McClellen also gave some ideas on how S.L.A.N.T. can be used outside of school. “It can be used in any conversation you are having face to face with another person, it would be vital to use S.L.A.N.T. when interviewing for a job, going on a college visit, meeting a new person, and speaking to parents. Honestly, it can be used in many ways when interacting with people.” McClellen explained how she slightly added a little change to how she uses S.L.A.N.T. in her classroom. “In my classes, when I’m doing direct instruction, if students aren’t engaged and attentive, I remind students to use it. I have it written out on the board so my students have it readily available as a resource” “I will say, the only letter that I’m not sure of and my classes
have talked about is the “N”, the nodding part because I don’t want a bunch of bobblehead students to be nodding at me, especially if they are nodding at something that they have no knowledge of and are just nodding to nod.” She added. McClellen explained that she and her students prefer “notice” with the notice meaning what the speaker is doing, writing and modeling. McClellen says that she would recommend that it be used to assist students and
education we teach a lot of kids about math, science, social studies, and english but teaching people life skills is also very important and so as a school we help kids try and be successful for when they graduate and it can help them be successful beyond TJ.” Freudenburg said that S.L.A.N.T. was taught in the beginning of the year and that she has seen it taught in some classes since then however she does believe that it needs to be taught again just to allow students to have a reminder of the technique so that they know why it’s important. “I believe that students aren’t giving enough of their attention towards who the speaker may be in their class and students are on their cellphones a lot of the time which I believe is a current problem and so having the students giving you their attention can help them be more respectful.” One of TJ’s Assistant Principals, Mr. Albright also gave his
opinions over S.L.A.N.T. “A while ago I was in a classroom and a lot of the times you see those kids who are engaged with what is going on and giving the teachers those non-verbal cues and the teacher appreciates it.” Albright said that even though we have good communication, a lot of the skills such as face to face, verbal or non-verbal communication that are needed are important skills that kids need to learn and do. Using S.L.A.N.T. can help many students by letting them expand their attention skills and teaching them to have respect towards who is speaking to them which can let the speaker know that they are interested in what they are saying which can make the speaker feel appreciated.
S.L.A.N.T. “I am a fan of S.L.A.N.T.” help them be engaged in their learning. TJ’s Principal, Mrs. Freudenburg provided her thoughts over S.L.A.N.T. and how it can be beneficial towards TJ students. “I am a fan of S.L.A.N.T.” She added, “I think that in
