Walnut Hills High School
March 1, 2012
Volume CVI, Issue 6
AP scores ‘rise to the highest’ Josh Medrano, ‘13 News and Features Editor
This month, The College Board released the 8th Annual AP Report to the Nation, which illustrated and interpreted results last year’s AP scores. Advanced Placement courses are offered every year by the College Board, who also administers the SAT. Enrolled students then take the accompanying exam, on which they receive a score from 1 to 5. Based on their scores, students have the opportunity to get credit or course placement in college. There were more than 900,000 students who took AP exams last year, and out of them, only 18 percent received a 3 or higher. Walnut Hills High School, on the other hand, takes a higher shot, with 84 percent. Taking an AP class is now a trend for most high school students in the nation. During the last ten years, the number of students taking an AP exam has doubled. Ten years ago, there were only 2 AP Psychology classes and this year, it has nine sections, the
Middle East conflict drags on Garretson Oester, ‘14 Business Manager Recently, Russia and China blocked United Nations Security Council’s attempt to end the killings in Syria. The two countries, who are among the short list of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, said that the plan would violate Syrian sovereignty, putting diplomats in a difficult situation as they quickly run out of options to end the growing humanitarian crisis. Moreover, according to the United Nations, over seven thousand people have been killed in the fight between a fervent opposition and a government who seeks to keep hold in a country that is attempting to free itself from over four decades of Assad’s rule. The conflict began over eleven months ago when protesters in Daraa, Syria demanded reform. It has since progressed, engulfing the entire country as government snipers lurk on rooftops and tanks rumble through the streets. Protests have erupted at Syria’s embassies, and Tunisia expelled the Syrian ambassador. “The Syrian government [has committed] unspeakable assault against the people of Homs,” said
most of all AP courses. There are now also more than five sections of AP Economics, in part due to the change of required classes last year. Rate-wise, the average number of AP courses a student takes has doubled in the last five years, from 2.4 to 4.8. Despite this massive increase, the Walnut administration’s concern goes to courses that are underrepresented, or courses that attract only certain student populations. For example, very few African-American students are enrolled in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses, such as AP Physics or AP Calculus BC. Similarly, College Board continues to be challenged by the unequal representation of each minority and low-income group. The report said that “four out of five... African-American graduates were either left out of an AP subject for which they had potential or attended a school that did not offer the subject.” Nevertheless, the school administration has been constantly launching a 5-year cycle long-
President Barack Obama. The Security Council resolution “fully supported” the Arab League’s plan for Assad to step aside for his vice-president and stated its commitment to act when German ambassador to the United Nations said, “The scandal would be to not act.” The unrest is a continuation of the Arab Spring, which started in December 2010, when Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi, a jobless graduate, set himself on fire while protesting the Tunisian depotism. It quickly spread across the Middle East. On January 25, Egypt imploded where protesters in Tahir Square were beaten and hundreds, including foreign journalists, were arrested. Supporters of Hosni Mubarak, the president, rode through the square wielding clubs on horses and camels. Foreign news sources began to send high profile correspondents to the region, such as CNN’s Anderson Cooper who, at one point, was beaten in the street on camera.
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
AP Psychology is a popular course taken by many Walnut Hills students.
range plan, to engage more with AP and encourage students to take the courses. “In the last cycle that we just initiated a year ago, our primary initiatives are to understand how technology ought to be used in the school,” says principal Jeffrey Brokamp, “and... now that we have all
students taking some number of AP courses, to take a better look at who takes which one.” Although it takes a 3, 4 or 5 to get a college credit or placement, a primary goal is that every student has an experience of AP courses. “AP classes provide an opportunity for our students to advanced
JOSH MEDRANO/CHATTERBOX
through college at a quicker pace and gives them an advantage over other college students who have not taken any,” AP Psychology teacher William Shaw says.
Taking a look at security cameras Jonah Roth, ‘13 Design Editor
“Big brother is watching you,” security guard Michael Mitchell jokes as he tells about Walnut Hills High School’s security camera system. “They’re always on, 24/7.” The small number of security cameras at Walnut, which are mostly in the lunchroom, stairwells and outside area, is not a cause for alarm. However, the recent installation of temporary modular classrooms (mods) brought with it ten additional security cameras, two in each unit, raising questions for some students. “The purpose of [the cameras] is [to be] a deterrent,” explains security guard Eugene Grady, “to prevent stuff from happening.” This approach has been used widely across the U.S.; for example, the Guam Pacific Daily News recently reported that vandalism rates decreased dramatically in areas in middle schools where security cameras were installed in December. Although Walnut’s cameras can be watched in real-time, they’re not often used that way. “It’s on tape, basically for evidence,” Mitchell says, “so we can find out who’s done what, what’s going on, whether someone was injured.”
JONAH ROTH/CHATTERBOX
Each of the academic mods is equipped with two security cameras in the hallway.
The tapes can be played back for several days after being recorded. “The biggest [recent] problem was probably with the vandalism on the side of the restrooms, but other than that we haven’t had to use them too much.” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken steps in the past to prevent security cameras from being installed in schools on a large scale. In 2001, ACLU protested the installation of security cameras in schools across Boulder, Colorado. Chapter vicechair Judd Golden then said, “The message it sends to students is ‘We don’t trust you, and everybody is a suspect.’” SENIOR Ray Cook, on the other hand, recalls a time when he was at Western Hills Engineering High School when security cameras proved his innocence. “There were security cameras everywhere... A few weeks before
Mia Manavalan, Editor-in-Chief
school got out, the senior prank was a big food fight in the lunchroom.” Cook (a sophomore at the time) and several of his friends decided to leave the lunchroom to avoid getting involved. “We all just walked out... an exit that nobody used... Walking through the halls, we got caught on one of the security cameras.” When he was called to the office later that day, he used the footage from during lunch to show that he was not involved in the food fight. As for the cameras in the mods, Mitchell says, “they’re going to get rid of [the mods] once the renovation’s done, so they want to make sure they’re still protected... if the school wants to sell them or do something else with them.”
INSIDE
News & Features
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Viewpoints 3 Sports 4 Fine Arts 5 Style & Culture
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Arcade 7 Just Nuts
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The Chatterbox