THE
ARROW
VOLUME XXXV, ISSUE 7
\100 N. LAKEVIEW CANYON ROAD, WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA 91362
Harry Chung Staff Writer
The Warrior Wing
A look inside the new executive board
PHOTO BY HARRY CHUNG
After weeks of intense campaigning, William Barrett ’14 has been elected ASG president. Barrett believes he won the election because he leads by example. Whether it was dressing up as a bunny for the first rally or dancing vigorously at WHS’s Harlem Shake, he put himself out there and the students responded. Barrett hopes to apply this same energy and outgoing attitude to lead ASG in getting things done. The main issues that Barrett wants to improve as president are finding ways to make new students feel welcome, organizing major events such as Homecoming, improving school spirit, and increasing support for school activities from football games to fundraising. Barrett plans to achieve these goals by working closely with newly appointed ASG advisor Jeniffer Modolo, and listening to her advice. Barrett is also eager to implement ideas coming from the student body, recognizing that students have creative and innovative ideas to offer. He encourages students to speak up and participate more in ASG’s events and wants others to know that he is willing to give new suggestions a try. As president, Barrett wants to increase transparency. “It’s important that the entire school knows what we are doing, why we are doing it, and when it’s happening so that ASG events are successful,” said Barrett. By promoting clearer communication between students and ASG, Barrett hopes to cultivate more enthusiasm and appreciation for the activities and events that ASG puts together. Barrett plans to collaborate with newly elected vice president Sierra Newell ’14, treasurer Brooke Edell ’14, and secretary Katherine Sham ’15, to tackle upcoming ASG business and projects. “We have an experienced team, with
APRIL 23, 2013
LEAD ON: Brooke Edell, Katherine Sham, Will Barrett, and Sierra Newell were elected to lead the ASG Student Body.
a combined 18 semesters in the class. They are all dedicated ASG class members who work well together and will do their best to make it a successful year,” said Barrett.
Finally, Barrett wants to thank Diane Rudas, the soon-to-be retired ASG advisor for all the support that she has provided. He could not have gotten where he is
today without her help. He realizes that there are tough challenges ahead, but Barrett is willing to bear it all to become worthy of his title.
New WISE schedule receives approval Pranav Kaygee Ashwin Rangarajan Staff Writers WHS students, look out because a change is coming! The Westlake Intervention Support and Enrichment Program (WISE) takes effect next year. With 84% of the teachers voting to approve the implementation of the new schedule and program, a new 26-minute advisory period will be added before lunch Monday through Thursday. To make way for the new advisory period, each regular period will be shortened by two minutes. For students enrolled in the program, lunch periods will be shortened from 40 to 30 minutes. Students with a scholastic GPA of 2.3
or higher will not be required to enroll in the WISE Program, and can enjoy 56-minute long lunch periods Monday through Thursday. CPT will be held on Fridays instead of Wednesdays and will occur every week rather than every other week. Future sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a scholastic GPA of 2.3 or more will have additional free time to focus on academics, make appointments with counselors, or volunteer to be a WISE mentor. During the new schedule’s CPT days, Period 1 will begin at 7:05 a.m. and end at 7:59 a.m. CPT will be reduced to 40 minutes, so Period 2 will start at 8:46 a.m., rather than 9:07 a.m. Lunch period will also be shortened to 38 minutes as well. Even though the WISE Program has led to the restructure of the regular and CPT schedules, on rally days, WHS will stick
in this issue Page 6 Alumni
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with the original rally schedule. The WISE program was created by teachers, administration, and other school staff to help students who are struggling with their classes and provide opportunities for high-achieving students to enrich and connect with the incoming freshman class. “It was clearly evident from the student data that a percentage of our students need intervention and time to help them with their classes,” said WISE Coordinator Kristi Hronek. “Additionally we felt it was important to help ninth grade students acclimate to high school because we noticed many ninth grade students were struggling with the transition.” The goal of the WISE advisory program is to see ninth grade students adapt more quickly and more easily to the high school curriculum while helping students raise their GPA and better
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understand the material. “All ninth grade students are enrolled in the WISE Advisory period, for their first year on campus,” said Hronek. During the WISE periods, the remaining students will have several choices to spend their time productively. “Sophomores, juniors, and seniors can take advantage of the WISE period to meet with teachers for office hours, use the computer labs, receive essay assistance in the new Writing Center, or be encouraged to attend academic support on ‘as needed’ basis,” she added. “We expect student achievement to increase in all academic classes,” said Assistant Principal Nicole Judd. “We expect students to use the WISE time effectively and ask teachers questions as well as schedule activities during that time that normally would take away from class time.”
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