feature5
wingspan • october 28, 2010
The B’s Knees Legit vocab about to have an epic fail
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awg, that was legitly the biggest epic fail ever.” I actually heard this walking down the hall on a recent afternoon. Now, don’t laugh. I know it looks dumb on paper, but believe me, it sounded even dumber than it looks. What has happened to the English language? English is a hodge Brandi Martin podge of other languages, with an estimated 500,000 words (not even including scientific terms). This is about three times more words than Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish) have. Yet teenagers (more like society) have chosen to lower the bar. We have given into common slang like “that’s dope,” which by the way, doesn’t effectively get the point across that most people are trying to make. Last time I checked, the word “dope” was slang for marijuana, and now it’s slang for “awesome” or “cool”. This brings me to the word “epic.” Webster was kind enough to define it for those of you who do not know the true meaning. Epic: a series of events or great achievements narrated in elevated style. The example used is Homer’s The Iliad. So no, your shower at night is not epic. In fact, the only way it could be epic is if you arrived at your shower riding on the back of a Trojan horse and the army inside of that horse jumped out to stand guard by the bathroom door in case Mongols came running through your living room. Even then, you would probably have to write a sonnet about it for your tale to be truly epic. I don’t think Homer would approve. Now for the kicker — “legit,” or my favorite “legitly.” How did we stumble upon this word and why has it spread like wildfire? “He was legit running to class” makes no sense, just for the record. This shortening of actual words and using those words in the wrong context is making us sound lazy and uneducated. Period. America has borrowed words from all over the world to expand our vocabulary so that we wouldn’t have to resort to words like “legitly” and “epic” when there are plenty of words that make more sense. I vote we strengthen our vocabulary and begin to sound like the word thieves we are. So next time someone goes to take a shower or runs to class, we don’t have to succumb to the juvenile phrases that have creeped into our language.We can choose to sound intelligent in conversation. We can even pontificate if we dare. Isn’t that what America is all about, dawg?
8 new teachers join faculty, others take new responsibilities A
t the beginning of the school year, eight new teachers joined the faculty. In addition, Jennifer Browning replaced Jean Carr in the Career-Technical Education department; Tiffany King took over the chorus position from John Fohner; and ESL teacher Suzanne Perron replaced Mariano Jarrin in the Foreign Language Department.
Despite economy, teaching career still an attractive option for students
Name: Kathryn Bailey Subject: French Education: Bachelor of Science degree in French from Appalachian State University; participated in a study abroad program through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Teaching Experience: Former French teacher at North Henderson High Hobbies: Reading, running and playing with her children Quote: “My husband was a former coach here, but now is a football coach at Brevard. It doesn’t really affect me since I don’t have anything to do with football. When the two teams play each other, I feel like I should sit right in the middle and cheer the entire time, no matter what’s going on.” Name: Jon Hardman Subject: World history Education: Obtained his degree from Akron University in Ohio. He was a football player and a wrestler in high school, as well as an honor roll student. Teaching Experience: Former language arts teacher at Rugby Middle Hobbies: Learning about new and different cultures, mostly European; spending time with his new son, Bo Quote: “I’m very pleased with my decision to teach here. I don’t mind the transition to being a ‘freshman’ teacher at West; everybody’s been nice to me so far. My favorite part of teaching is the students. I love messing with them.”
Name: Lt. Col. Randy Lytle Subject: JROTC senior drill instructor Education: Graduated from Appalachian State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business management; participated in the ROTC program Teaching Experience: After serving 23 years in the military and coming up through the ranks in ROTC, he found the job opening here. Hobbies: Vice president of the Community Center in Brevard; helps coach the football team Quote: “The first few weeks at West were pretty good. I have met a lot of interesting people since joining the faculty. I think it’s going to be an interesting place to work.” Name: Brooke Barnes Subject: Exceptional children Education: Received a scholarship from Elon University. She aspired to either become a missionary or work with and teach people with disabilities. Teaching Experience: Former teacher at Rugby Middle and Brevard Elementary Hobbies: Reading, running and spending time with friends and family Quote: “The first day on campus I got lost. I felt a little better because I could tell the freshmen I got lost too, and we had something in common. Everyone who didn’t know me before has been super nice and introduced themselves. I feel really welcomed here.”
Name: Ken Rash Subject: Business Education: Bachelor of Science degree with a dual major in business and naval engineering from North Western University, a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kellogg School of Management, Master in Public Health from the University of Cincinnati Teaching Experience: 30 years in education; this is his 11th year teaching. Hobbies: Coaching football Quote: “The best thing about being here is it’s like a family. I know several hundred kids. I’ve had offers from other schools, and I’ve turned them down because I would find it difficult to leave here.”
Name: Misty Capps Subject: Women’s Health and physical education Education: Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from Mars Hill College Teaching Experience: Coached crosscountry and basketball at Avery County High and Bays High; also coached soccer, volleyball and men’s basketball for five years at River Bend Middle Hobbies: Basketball; currently training for a marathon Quote: “My blood still runs blue and red. I still feel that sense of pride I had when I was a student here. It’s a little different walking the halls today as a teacher. I love West still to this day.”
Name: Rick Brindley Subject Health and physical education, coach Education: Bachelor of Science degree from Western Carolina University Teaching Experience: Six years at East Carteret High and Enka High Hobbies: He spends most of his free time with his children; he is the defensive coordinator for the varsity football team and will be the assistant varsity basketball coach. Quote: “I look at everyone of my students as if they were my own children and strive to treat them in the best way possible. I’ve never been around a better group of kids; they’re all respectful and treat me well.”
Name: David Minnich Subject: Civics and economics Education: Bachelor of Science degree in history and social studies from Fredonia College; a minor in education Teaching Experience: 10 years at Kings Mountain High School Hobbies: Football coach Quote: “The faculty that I’ve met have made West amazing for me; they’ve really made me feel at home. I think West is a great school, and I enjoy working with the students. Also, I like coaching the football team.”
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Marissa Treible Feature Writer
or many students, the thought of choosing teaching as a career conjures up images of piles of paperwork, disruptive children and small pay checks. However, for sophomore Savannah Smith, teaching has been a life-long dream. “I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was 3 or 4 years old. I like being up in front of people, and I have a gift for working with kids,” Smith said. “Whenever I meet someone, they always tell me that I should be a teacher. Most of my friends and family think I would be great at it.” Despite the relatively low salary scale, Smith said being an elementary school teacher has always been a lifelong goal for her. “It doesn’t matter how much you get paid, as long as you love the job you’re doing,” Smith said. “You can make a lot of money and hate the job that you’re in, and you would be miserable. I know you don’t get a big salary at all, but the joy of working with kids and making a real difference in their lives is a big deal for me.” English teacher Dana Ferrell, who has been teaching for 29 years, also said that the salary did not deter her from wanting to become a teacher. “My parents were teachers, and I pretty much knew going in that teaching is not a career that I would make a lot of money doing,” Ferrell said, “but I felt that it was more important to enjoy my career.” With the current economic situation, many teachers are finding themselves at risk of being laid off due to state cuts in funding for education. Recently, the N.C. General Assembly voted to use $121.2 million of lottery money to help prevent N.C. teachers from being laid off. In previous years, lottery money was only used for school construction, programs for at-risk 4 year olds and college scholarships. The current economic situation is a concern for some teachers, including Ferrell, who said that even though she has many years of
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experience, she feels pressured. “I never thought I would have to worry about that because of having so many years in the system, but things have changed to where keeping teachers doesn’t depend on how long they have been on the job,” Ferrell said. Senior Kara Hamilton, who hopes to one day be a kindergarten teacher, said the low salary for teachers does concern her. “I know that teachers should make a lot more than they do, but I’d rather be doing something that I love and make less money than doing something that I hate and make more money,” she said. Hamilton would like to attend college on a Teaching Fellows Scholarship. The N.C. Teaching Fellows Program offers $6,500 per year scholarships for four years at state universities. Recipients agrees to teach for four years in North Carolina Public Schools following graduation. At first, Hamilton was unsure about whether or not to apply. “I’ve always heard it was a really good program for teachers because you get a lot of scholarship money. At first I was skeptical because I’m scared of not knowing where I’m going to end up,” Hamilton said. “I really want to attend Appalachian State. But for right now, I want to do Teaching Fellows because it’s such a good program, and you learn so much out of it. Only 500 students are accepted to the N.C. Teaching Fellows Program each year. “(Not getting the scholarship) isn’t going to stop me from being a teacher,” Hamilton said. “I think that I’m lucky for that because there are so many high school students that don’t know what they want to be. I want to be around little kids, and I want to be that first teacher that sets them in the right direction.” Smith also said that nothing will deter her from her dream since she has wanted to teach since she was a young child. “I know that I’m not going to get as much money as I would with another career, but I’ve been set on this since I was three years old,” Smith said. “I’ve always loved the idea of teaching.”
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