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Quill and Scroll Honor Society inducts 24 new members • Quill and Scroll Honor Society for High School Journalists recently inducted 24 new members during a ceremony at High Vista Country Club. Inductees included juniors Emma Alexander, Chelsea Blanton, Meredith Cole, Kiersten Ellsworth, Haley Glatzer, Samantha Hartz, Whitney Howell, Audrey Huff, Katie King, Kelly Larouche, Brandi Martin, Kayla Martin, Taylor Mathis, Lydia McCall, Carly Owenby, Graham Pate, Kim Randall, Hailey Robinson, Kevin Robinson, Camen Royse, Kayla Sciupider, Donovan Turner, Krista Van Giesen and Josh Wentzel. Quill and Scroll members must rank in the top third of their class and have an editorial position on either the Wingspan or Westwind staffs. • Key Club and Student Government Association leaders planned to complete their annual campus clean-up on May 29 and June 5. • Pride Club’s end-of-theyear drug-free celebration will be at Carowinds on June 5. • Students that competed at the Western District Solo and Ensemble Festival at Cane Creek Middle School on May 13 received superior ratings. Members of the percussion ensemble were freshmen Josh Heatherly and Branson McCoy, sophomores Brayden Dickerson, Brad Baker and Ashley Heywood and juniors Wayne Redden, John Davenport and Andrew Randall. The woodwind quartet included freshman Jacqueline Black, sophomores Kathryn Gorgas and Rachel Farmer and senior Jessica Tobin. Freshman Patrick Lance, sophomore Caleb Glenn and seniors Kyle Obermiller and Mark Thomas made up the tuba/euphonium ensemble. The flute duet consisted of freshman Deana Belcher and Gorgas. Tobin and accompanist junior Hoon Lee also received a superior rating with an oboe solo. • Fly Fishing Club members will have their final fishing trip to Green River on June 6. • Jr. Civitan club members will babysit at the Mainstay Shelter on June 7-8.
Cash Counts
Despite improving economic conditions, summer jobs difficult to find
“Sometimes teenagers need to think about the apNatalie Rice pearance that they make when they’re applying for a job,” Feature Writer Skiles said. “Often times we find that when they come in here looking for a job, they don’t present a professional rudging down the snowy streets of Arden and appearance.” Hendersonville, junior Emily Hopkins dedicated A professional appearance is not the only important her entire snow day in February to finding a job. She aspect to display. Having a professional manner and not went in and asked for an application at every restaurant using slang or profanity is also very crucial, Skiles said. and store she could think of. Within four days, she had “I always made sure I talked to the managers whensecured a job as a hostess at Fatz Café. ever I got my application instead of just applying and “I got interviewed for one job out of all the places handing it to someone,” Hopkins said. “I just tried to look that I applied and that was the one that I got,” Hopkins nice and act professional whenever I talked to them.” said. “The day I went and asked for an application, they Teenagers are said to tend to socialize more at their talked to me and I got the job.” jobs than they actually work. Skiles referred to some teen The unemployment rate in Henderson County has agers’ jobs as more of a social event than a career choice. dropped over the past six months to 9.3 percent in March. “The mistakes that teens make when they do have However, a good unemployment rate for Henderson jobs may be spending time in a job talking with their County is considered less than 3 percent. The outlook friend who might be working on the next aisle over or on for teenagers and getting jobs for the next piece of equipment rather than car payments, insurance and nights paying close attention to the customer at Jobs should be a out is nothing short of discouraghand,” she said. ing. While the economy is beginning Contrary to the popular belief that job bit easier to get to look better, jobs are still hard to openings are placed in the want ads, this summer than come by. many are not advertised. Skiles said the “Jobs should be a wee bit easier best way to find job openings is by “word they were last to get this summer than they were of mouth.” “If I were looking for work, and summer. But there last summer. But still, there are more again this goes for anybody, I would tell people looking than there are jobs,” everybody that I knew I was looking for a are more people Assistant Manager at the North job because everybody knows somebody looking than there Carolina Employment Security who knows somebody,” she said. “The Commission (NCESC) Margaret are jobs. best way to get a job is by word of mouth, Skiles said. “That’s one reason why not necessarily by advertisements. Many Margaret Skiles young people need to understand people have job openings but they don’t assistant manager at the the importance of competing for a necessarily advertise them.” North Carolina Employment job, having the best presentation However, if a student wanted to look Security Commission when you walk in to talk to somefor advertisements, he or she could go body or having a better resume than online to www.ncesc.com as well as oththe next teenager, for instance, because it is highly com- er websites, newspapers and the Iwanna shopping guide. petitive.” Teenagers are able to make money on their own around While teenagers will have to compete with other the community, not just through businesses such as teenagers for jobs, Skiles said that they do not need to Subway or Ingles that typically pay minimum wage, $7.25 worry about competing with adults for jobs this summer. per hour. Chores such as mowing lawns and babysitting Places that are likely to hire teenagers would be grocery are things that teenagers already do. The plus side of this stores, ice cream shops, sandwich shops and restaurants type of summer job is that the student is paid in cash, and that don’t serve alcohol. taxes are not withheld. “Often times adults won’t do what teenagers will do, “Teenagers can do many things — dog sitting, babyso I don’t think the adult population is any conflict with sitting, mowing lawns,” Skiles said. “You advertise when whether or not a teenager could get a job,” Skiles said. you come across people who might have such a need who “Teens are more apt to work for less money than an adult would not necessarily advertise publicly.” is, and they will take jobs that adults won’t take. I don’t Having a summer job may have many pros. More think that’s a handicap to the youngsters particularly.” colleges are looking at how high school students spend Mistakes that teenagers make in attempting to get a their summers. Colleges want to see that students are dojob and keeping a job vary. In the process of getting a job, ing something with their summer and not wasting it. having a professional appearance and manner is a must, “It speaks to a person’s industriousness and how Skiles said. For instance, facial piercings should be re- hard they’re willing to work,” Skiles said. “I may be the moved, shirttail tucked in, chewing gum in the trash and best sandwich maker this side of the Mississippi River, hat off. These factors of someone’s physical appearance and I may not think that’s a very important job, but if am may seem minor, but they help to enhance one’s profes- the best at it and I have a good recommendation from the sional appearance to employers. person I worked for, it will go a long way in the future.”
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things to do over the summer in Hendersonville
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1. Leave Hendersonville to find fun elsewhere 2. Explore Marble Slab Ice Cream vs. Kilwin’s 3. Work at Ingles . . . or not 4. Become a tourist for a day 5. Food Lion parking lot hang out 6. Ultimate Frisbee tournament
7. Shop at Target and eat cheap 8. Wave at the Verlo Mattress Man 9. Get married 10. Collect free samples from the Blue Ridge Mall and Sam’s Club (compiled by the Wingspan staff)
Superintendent (continued from page 1) Health Care (continued from page 1) will change over the next few years. A lot of that is going to be depending on the budget,” Jones said. “The state and county right now, as well as the country, is dealing with so many economic issues, so we’re going to have to make some very important decisions over the next couple of years regarding budget.” Jones said that, along with excellence, he wants to be sure that the central office is providing the support that the county needs to provide to the schools. The central office would also like to emphasize learning in core subject knowledge, problem solving, group work and critical thinking. “We want to provide the schools the ability to look at new and exciting things like technology to try to find ways that we can prepare kids for the 21st century education that is going to be a requirement for them,” Jones said. Jones said he wants Henderson County to keep up its academic success that has been ranked in the top five of the state. He also wants to continue to
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improve the aspects of the school system that Page successfully handled. “One of Dr. Page’s successes has been the reduction of the dropout rate,” Jones said. “We certainly want to emphasize the dropout rate and want to continue to reduce that. Another one of our goals is to increase the graduation rate, and we want to continue to keep looking for strategies that will provide quality education for our students.” According to Jones, there are several strengths and weaknesses of the school system. One of these strengths is the beautiful location, which leads to many teachers and candidates looking for employment. Weaknesses or challenges tend to be related to the economy. “We are going to be faced with some opportunities in regards to how we are going to deal with these budget cuts and how we can do more with less,” Jones said. “The good news is that we do live in a county that has many citizens who really believe in our educational system and work hard. We have some top-notch employees.”
longer a dependent on your parents’ tax forms when you were officially on your own. Now that can no longer happen until the age of 26.” Under the PPAC act, the federal government uses insurance companies as vehicles to provide insurance. It forces citizens to either purchase insurance or else pay a fine, a requirement that is being challenged by 19 states that question the contitutionality of forcing individuals to buy health insurance. “The government take-over of insurance will have an impact, but not to the extent that people who were hoping for true national health insurance, of having that 30-40 million uninsured be covered, it’s not going to be anywhere near that,” Gerard said. “I think those that could afford it, but chose not to are going to say, “Well, I might as well just go ahead and be insured rather than pay a fine.’ So it will probably have an adverse impact on the poor in the sense that they couldn’t afford the insurance anyway, so this will just be an added tax burden on them.”
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health care allowed a person to remain on his or her parents’ insurance until the age of 26. Previously, some insurance plans only allowed a student to remain on his or her parent’s insurance until they were out of college or 21-years-old. “Many colleges require proof of insurance before admission because of liability,” Gerard said. “They would want their students being insured because of the threat of lawsuits and accidents on campus.” College-aged students and people just out of college also constitute a significant portion of the population that is classified as “uninsured.” Many in this group either are not under plans that allow them to stay on their parents’ insurance, feel they don’t need health insurance or can’t afford to pay for health insurance. “There was no national policy on how long someone could stay on their parents’ insurance. It was just whenever the insurance companies decided when it was time to kick people off of the plan,” Gerard said. “Usually that point was when you were no
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