by Mel Nogler
I just realized that [we] seniors have 32 more days left of school.
That is so frightening in many ways. This year went by so fast, it’s really scary.
It was like yesterday that I was becoming a freshman into a huge high school.
Sometimes it does hit me knowing that I only have 32 more days to do everything I want.
I know Graduation will be a piece of cake. I just want to pass school. It’s exciting in many ways to think about what you want to do after you get out of high school.
Some choose college; some choose to get a job. The thought of 5 weeks left of school; you try to fit in everything that you can. Because once you’re out of high school there is no turning back and that anxiety comes. It’s a good thing that you’re going to be in the real world, and have a job, a car to support you, but when you live on your own, it’s not easy as you think it is. And college life gets A LOT harder.
What really bothers me is that we seniors have end of the year finals.
Since I do not have a A+ in many of my classes, I still have to take them, which I know its going to be hard.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Fake bomb threats
by Jennifer Bayliss
Why is it that students feel inclined to write fake bomb threats on the lavatory walls? What do they think it will accomplish? Some may think we will be dismissed early: how often has this happened? None. Nien. Nada. If they’re so angsty about their lives, why not go speak to the guidance counselors about their situation or the school adjustment counselor. Don’t write fake threats on the bathroom walls or anywhere else. If anything, we’re stuck in class longer during a Code Yellow, which ultimately disrupts our entire school day. The budget does not allow for such false emergencies, and we can not afford to pay for them each time a student feels the need to write a comment so serious that could possibly endanger the lives of over 900 individuals.
Personally, I am tired of these bomb threats being written. After Silver Lake, where there was such a threat quite often, I found it a relief to be in a school where we had no threat under a false pretence. Being in a room under a Code Yellow for several hours is truly not appealing to me.
I wonder if the students writing the messages are aware of the seriousness of their words. Have they not heard of so many violent school attacks? Are they trying to appear “cool” for having our day disturbed and being locked in a classroom for a good amount of time while the school is searched? Our country’s school systems are now trying to become more conscious of possible events and how to prevent them: is it necessary for a student to test out the school’s protocol theories?
I suppose this is more of a plead then a news post. As a student however, I’m honestly tired of others disrupting our day when there is so little time left in the school year. If you want a day off of school, do the community a favor and just skip or fake an illness. So you’re labeled a truant, but it’s better then disturbing everyone’s learning process.
Why is it that students feel inclined to write fake bomb threats on the lavatory walls? What do they think it will accomplish? Some may think we will be dismissed early: how often has this happened? None. Nien. Nada. If they’re so angsty about their lives, why not go speak to the guidance counselors about their situation or the school adjustment counselor. Don’t write fake threats on the bathroom walls or anywhere else. If anything, we’re stuck in class longer during a Code Yellow, which ultimately disrupts our entire school day. The budget does not allow for such false emergencies, and we can not afford to pay for them each time a student feels the need to write a comment so serious that could possibly endanger the lives of over 900 individuals.
Personally, I am tired of these bomb threats being written. After Silver Lake, where there was such a threat quite often, I found it a relief to be in a school where we had no threat under a false pretence. Being in a room under a Code Yellow for several hours is truly not appealing to me.
I wonder if the students writing the messages are aware of the seriousness of their words. Have they not heard of so many violent school attacks? Are they trying to appear “cool” for having our day disturbed and being locked in a classroom for a good amount of time while the school is searched? Our country’s school systems are now trying to become more conscious of possible events and how to prevent them: is it necessary for a student to test out the school’s protocol theories?
I suppose this is more of a plead then a news post. As a student however, I’m honestly tired of others disrupting our day when there is so little time left in the school year. If you want a day off of school, do the community a favor and just skip or fake an illness. So you’re labeled a truant, but it’s better then disturbing everyone’s learning process.
TV studio deserves consideration
by Lauren Mulkern
When I entered High School, I considered the clubs and activities I would participate. One club that never crossed my mind was the newspaper. Now look at me, I am one of the editors in editorial journalism. I first began participating in the newspaper at the beginning of this year when I was enrolled in intro to journalism. I decided to sign up for this class because there were no other electives that sophomores could take that gave me a small amount of interest. I later found out that Mr. Turley was the teacher of this class. I already knew Mr. Turley because of volleyball. Entering this class I figured that it wouldn’t be my favorite time of the day. Now all I look forward during the day period six journalism. I guess the point of this story is to express the great interest that I now have for communications thanks to Mr. Turley. I know that most likely I won’t be a journalist. I still enjoy participating in the club at school. However, I do have a strong interest communications.
My dream has been to be the next Katie Couric. However, Meredith Vieira came along and stole my dream job. What was she thinking? This has to do with the fact that I want to be a news anchor. While I attended classes at the Columbia Scholastic Press Association I noticed how large my love for this is. I was also informed that we have a T.V. news studio. I got so excited and just thought about how much I could learn if I could take classes using this brand new studio. I attended a class at Columbia that was called “Bringing T.V. Broadcast to Your School”. I figured by the time I am a senior I can get this started. Of course it would take a lot of hard work and dedication but I was up for the challenge.
However, I was just informed that the T.V. news studio was going to be turned into a music room. Being a person who could care less about music, I was livid. However, I did put into consideration that there were other students in the school who did enjoy music. While I was considering this, I remembered that music has its whole section of the building. They have a wonderful auditorium, band/chorus classroom, and a dressing room. What more do they need? What does communications have? Oh ya, we have one tiny news room. Do you see how I can be so upset? I would be extremely happy if this was just a crazy rumor and I could still be able to learn in the T.V. news studio. However, for now I have to prepare myself with the horrific idea that this room will no longer be for T.V. broadcasting. How cool would it be to have morning announcements with people’s faces? I think it would be wonderful.
When I entered High School, I considered the clubs and activities I would participate. One club that never crossed my mind was the newspaper. Now look at me, I am one of the editors in editorial journalism. I first began participating in the newspaper at the beginning of this year when I was enrolled in intro to journalism. I decided to sign up for this class because there were no other electives that sophomores could take that gave me a small amount of interest. I later found out that Mr. Turley was the teacher of this class. I already knew Mr. Turley because of volleyball. Entering this class I figured that it wouldn’t be my favorite time of the day. Now all I look forward during the day period six journalism. I guess the point of this story is to express the great interest that I now have for communications thanks to Mr. Turley. I know that most likely I won’t be a journalist. I still enjoy participating in the club at school. However, I do have a strong interest communications.
My dream has been to be the next Katie Couric. However, Meredith Vieira came along and stole my dream job. What was she thinking? This has to do with the fact that I want to be a news anchor. While I attended classes at the Columbia Scholastic Press Association I noticed how large my love for this is. I was also informed that we have a T.V. news studio. I got so excited and just thought about how much I could learn if I could take classes using this brand new studio. I attended a class at Columbia that was called “Bringing T.V. Broadcast to Your School”. I figured by the time I am a senior I can get this started. Of course it would take a lot of hard work and dedication but I was up for the challenge.
However, I was just informed that the T.V. news studio was going to be turned into a music room. Being a person who could care less about music, I was livid. However, I did put into consideration that there were other students in the school who did enjoy music. While I was considering this, I remembered that music has its whole section of the building. They have a wonderful auditorium, band/chorus classroom, and a dressing room. What more do they need? What does communications have? Oh ya, we have one tiny news room. Do you see how I can be so upset? I would be extremely happy if this was just a crazy rumor and I could still be able to learn in the T.V. news studio. However, for now I have to prepare myself with the horrific idea that this room will no longer be for T.V. broadcasting. How cool would it be to have morning announcements with people’s faces? I think it would be wonderful.
Nicholas Papadopolous
Travel Guide in NYC
During the journalism field trip to New York, we visited many places and saw many sites.
The first thing we did as soon as we got to New York was we went to Columbia University. Columbia is a college with an excellent journalism program and a nice campus. I would recommend anybody who is interested in pursuing a career in journalism seriously consider Columbia University.
After we went to Columbia, we went back to our hotel, the Marrakech. This hotel was below average, as it had small rooms, confusing room locations, and the bare minimums to be called a hotel. However, the hotel was very cheap so if you lack cash and don’t care for comfort, then the Marrakech is right for you.
Later that day, we went to the Olive Garden. This restaurant was very high quality and I recommend it to anybody who doesn’t mind spending $20 a person. The breadsticks and pasta were delicious, and I left there feeling quite satisfied.
After dinner, we walked around Times Square for a while. Nothing truly compares to the flashing lights and gigantic advertisements that you see every few feet. However, I learned quickly that everything you can buy at Times Square costs a lot of money.
My personal favorite place to go in Times Square was the ESPN Zone. This was a four story building with something different on each floor. The ground floor sold shirts, mugs, and other collectibles and it served as a gift shop that any sports fan could enjoy. The second floor was an eating area with big screen, plasma TV’s on the wall. The third floor held the biggest bar I have ever seen, and the bar also consisted of more plasma TV’s. Finally, the fourth floor held a game room which consisted of an air hockey table, basketball hoops, and many other cool games.
After walking around Times Square, we went to the Broadway Show, Hairspray. I was surprised when I actually enjoyed the play. However, the seats were extremely close together and it got swelteringly hot up in the balcony.
When the next day came, I started my morning by eating at Tom’s Restaurant. This small restaurant was made famous by the TV sitcom Seinfeld, and the food was great at a cheap price.
Finally, I couldn’t leave New York without visiting their gift shops. While in them, I noticed that Red Sox fans hate the Yankees a lot more than the Yankee fans hate the Red Sox. Here in Massachusetts, we have a brand of clothing named Yankee Hater, but in New York, there wasn’t one article of clothing hating the Red Sox.
Travel Guide in NYC
During the journalism field trip to New York, we visited many places and saw many sites.
The first thing we did as soon as we got to New York was we went to Columbia University. Columbia is a college with an excellent journalism program and a nice campus. I would recommend anybody who is interested in pursuing a career in journalism seriously consider Columbia University.
After we went to Columbia, we went back to our hotel, the Marrakech. This hotel was below average, as it had small rooms, confusing room locations, and the bare minimums to be called a hotel. However, the hotel was very cheap so if you lack cash and don’t care for comfort, then the Marrakech is right for you.
Later that day, we went to the Olive Garden. This restaurant was very high quality and I recommend it to anybody who doesn’t mind spending $20 a person. The breadsticks and pasta were delicious, and I left there feeling quite satisfied.
After dinner, we walked around Times Square for a while. Nothing truly compares to the flashing lights and gigantic advertisements that you see every few feet. However, I learned quickly that everything you can buy at Times Square costs a lot of money.
My personal favorite place to go in Times Square was the ESPN Zone. This was a four story building with something different on each floor. The ground floor sold shirts, mugs, and other collectibles and it served as a gift shop that any sports fan could enjoy. The second floor was an eating area with big screen, plasma TV’s on the wall. The third floor held the biggest bar I have ever seen, and the bar also consisted of more plasma TV’s. Finally, the fourth floor held a game room which consisted of an air hockey table, basketball hoops, and many other cool games.
After walking around Times Square, we went to the Broadway Show, Hairspray. I was surprised when I actually enjoyed the play. However, the seats were extremely close together and it got swelteringly hot up in the balcony.
When the next day came, I started my morning by eating at Tom’s Restaurant. This small restaurant was made famous by the TV sitcom Seinfeld, and the food was great at a cheap price.
Finally, I couldn’t leave New York without visiting their gift shops. While in them, I noticed that Red Sox fans hate the Yankees a lot more than the Yankee fans hate the Red Sox. Here in Massachusetts, we have a brand of clothing named Yankee Hater, but in New York, there wasn’t one article of clothing hating the Red Sox.
Suggestions for our paper
By Ryan Hennigan
During the seminars at Columbia University I heard a lot of interesting suggestions that I feel we should incorporate into the Pembroke Sentinel. Personally, I tended to attend seminars that were centered on sports, advertisements, and newspaper layouts. I also gained a great deal of information from the opinions of other members of our staff and from reviewing other schools’ newspapers at Columbia.
I will start first with the smaller tweaks and progress towards the larger suggestions. In the sports seminars, I can not even tell you how many times I heard the words “don’t cheerlead” and “do not cover national sports.” This caught Nick and I by surprise as this is what we sometimes tend to do. I realized that I myself tend to use the word ‘fortunately’ or ‘great season’ to an extent and I also have done stories on the Red sox and Nick has done one on the Patriots. What we have is a high school paper and we want to write about our athletes rather than stories covered by professional newspapers. This leads me to another topic; we do cover every sport with our sport shorts, but there at least needs to be a paragraph about each jv and freshman team in there as there is interest in them. Every team for every sport needs to be covered. Another suggestion concerns our athlete of the month story which we are just starting this issue. In this story, it may be a good idea to write a short bit about the athlete’s performance and then a large deal about his life or an unusual event that took place. We should try to find an athlete whose had a mishap (cough Champa) or has persevered through something; just as in our Teacher Feature (sorry about Shultz, she was boring).
I have one main suggestion about our ads and that is that we invoke a one column wide, two inches down ad to attract possibly parents who feel they will not make business from the ad but would like to make a small contribution (ad would cost $10-20). I feel that we should also raise each ad price by perhaps $20 or more. This would bring in more income and hopefully then we could at least put our front page in color which I feel is necessary to attract a larger amount of readers.
I have a few suggestions concerning our page layouts. I saw a lot of papers at the convention and I think that the knicks should run vertically the length of the front page, as it looks more attractive. Also, from other papers, instead of placing pictures at the corners of stories as we have been prone to do; we should place them in the middle of stories and text wrap (I will show examples). Furthermore, there needs to be an arts and entertainment section applied. We do make stories such as artist of the month and play reviews, but they need to be grouped together in one section and we can create more story ideas to fill this section in.
Overall, I feel that these suggestions will increase our income and reader base by a significant amount. And addressing our long battle over featurey or inverted pyramid style leads; I feel featurey is always the way to go. We have a reader base of teenagers with short attention spans and creative imaginations that would enjoy the colorful, attention-grabbing openers.
By Ryan Hennigan
During the seminars at Columbia University I heard a lot of interesting suggestions that I feel we should incorporate into the Pembroke Sentinel. Personally, I tended to attend seminars that were centered on sports, advertisements, and newspaper layouts. I also gained a great deal of information from the opinions of other members of our staff and from reviewing other schools’ newspapers at Columbia.
I will start first with the smaller tweaks and progress towards the larger suggestions. In the sports seminars, I can not even tell you how many times I heard the words “don’t cheerlead” and “do not cover national sports.” This caught Nick and I by surprise as this is what we sometimes tend to do. I realized that I myself tend to use the word ‘fortunately’ or ‘great season’ to an extent and I also have done stories on the Red sox and Nick has done one on the Patriots. What we have is a high school paper and we want to write about our athletes rather than stories covered by professional newspapers. This leads me to another topic; we do cover every sport with our sport shorts, but there at least needs to be a paragraph about each jv and freshman team in there as there is interest in them. Every team for every sport needs to be covered. Another suggestion concerns our athlete of the month story which we are just starting this issue. In this story, it may be a good idea to write a short bit about the athlete’s performance and then a large deal about his life or an unusual event that took place. We should try to find an athlete whose had a mishap (cough Champa) or has persevered through something; just as in our Teacher Feature (sorry about Shultz, she was boring).
I have one main suggestion about our ads and that is that we invoke a one column wide, two inches down ad to attract possibly parents who feel they will not make business from the ad but would like to make a small contribution (ad would cost $10-20). I feel that we should also raise each ad price by perhaps $20 or more. This would bring in more income and hopefully then we could at least put our front page in color which I feel is necessary to attract a larger amount of readers.
I have a few suggestions concerning our page layouts. I saw a lot of papers at the convention and I think that the knicks should run vertically the length of the front page, as it looks more attractive. Also, from other papers, instead of placing pictures at the corners of stories as we have been prone to do; we should place them in the middle of stories and text wrap (I will show examples). Furthermore, there needs to be an arts and entertainment section applied. We do make stories such as artist of the month and play reviews, but they need to be grouped together in one section and we can create more story ideas to fill this section in.
Overall, I feel that these suggestions will increase our income and reader base by a significant amount. And addressing our long battle over featurey or inverted pyramid style leads; I feel featurey is always the way to go. We have a reader base of teenagers with short attention spans and creative imaginations that would enjoy the colorful, attention-grabbing openers.
Nog blog NYC
Melissa Nogler
My Journey of New York City
My experience in New York City on March 14th-16th was simply unforgettable.
It was an ultimate experience for me. I saw a lot in three days. Times Square was like walking into a chocolate store. I felt lost.
As I left my hotel room that morning on Thursday march 15th to go to the Columbia University for my morning sessions, I spotted a lot of homeless Men and Women on the street corners, sidewalks, and most slept by the church doors. They try to make a living off of $1-$20 dollars everyday, as much as they can mooch off of us.
We are the people who wake up everyday and try to make a living by working 60 hours a week, trying to make ends meat. Pay bills, pay rent, mortgage payments, buy clothes, food. It’s not easy to live on your own. That’s why most of today’s society is filled with homeless people.
Also, my opinion of homeless people is that I do not feel bad for their lifestyle, because if they had a good life, and achieved their dreams they would not be stuck in this situation. I noticed that New York was the number 1 spot full of homeless people.
This situation for them is sad in many ways because they cannot afford enough clothes, food, money, a job, a car, a house. My life is not bad compared to theirs.
I wake up every morning grateful that I have a roof over my head, I have food in my house, and I have two jobs that I can go to. I try to survive on my own. It’s not easy living on your own and providing for yourself.
At most times I do feel bad for the homeless men and women who have children. And that child is stuck in a horrible situation. It makes me realize that I do not take like for granted. Maybe sometimes when I do not think, then yes I do. But life is too short to live life this way.
If the homeless had jobs, money or a house they would not be” bums” I would not allow homeless people to live on my side walks, or street corners. I would provide many shelters to help them. They take advantage of us in many ways.
They do not have shelter if it rains or snows; they just get pushed into a corner.
Also at times I spotted homeless men sleeping on the subway, or trying to keep warm, from the harsh weather.
When I saw that they were begging for money or spare change to at least get something to eat, I got really upset because I know I could never wipe away my whole life dreams to be in their situation. I could not live life that way. That’s why I try to make sure what I’m doing is the right thing. I have a head on my shoulders and I know what is right from wrong.
That’s why I need education to help balance out my career. I got to see for myself what its like
to see homeless people in New York.
My Journey of New York City
My experience in New York City on March 14th-16th was simply unforgettable.
It was an ultimate experience for me. I saw a lot in three days. Times Square was like walking into a chocolate store. I felt lost.
As I left my hotel room that morning on Thursday march 15th to go to the Columbia University for my morning sessions, I spotted a lot of homeless Men and Women on the street corners, sidewalks, and most slept by the church doors. They try to make a living off of $1-$20 dollars everyday, as much as they can mooch off of us.
We are the people who wake up everyday and try to make a living by working 60 hours a week, trying to make ends meat. Pay bills, pay rent, mortgage payments, buy clothes, food. It’s not easy to live on your own. That’s why most of today’s society is filled with homeless people.
Also, my opinion of homeless people is that I do not feel bad for their lifestyle, because if they had a good life, and achieved their dreams they would not be stuck in this situation. I noticed that New York was the number 1 spot full of homeless people.
This situation for them is sad in many ways because they cannot afford enough clothes, food, money, a job, a car, a house. My life is not bad compared to theirs.
I wake up every morning grateful that I have a roof over my head, I have food in my house, and I have two jobs that I can go to. I try to survive on my own. It’s not easy living on your own and providing for yourself.
At most times I do feel bad for the homeless men and women who have children. And that child is stuck in a horrible situation. It makes me realize that I do not take like for granted. Maybe sometimes when I do not think, then yes I do. But life is too short to live life this way.
If the homeless had jobs, money or a house they would not be” bums” I would not allow homeless people to live on my side walks, or street corners. I would provide many shelters to help them. They take advantage of us in many ways.
They do not have shelter if it rains or snows; they just get pushed into a corner.
Also at times I spotted homeless men sleeping on the subway, or trying to keep warm, from the harsh weather.
When I saw that they were begging for money or spare change to at least get something to eat, I got really upset because I know I could never wipe away my whole life dreams to be in their situation. I could not live life that way. That’s why I try to make sure what I’m doing is the right thing. I have a head on my shoulders and I know what is right from wrong.
That’s why I need education to help balance out my career. I got to see for myself what its like
to see homeless people in New York.
Monday, March 26, 2007
A Homeless Abundance
by Chelsea Monks
Getting off the subway in New York City there was a man asking for money, one of my classmates, Neal decided he would help him out. While he gladly threw him a ten, I started to think, why is this guy out sitting on the street corner? Later that night getting off of the same subway station the same I saw the same guy asking another one of my classmates for money, he claimed he had aids and he gave him ten dollars too.
The next day I got into an argument with Neal. He claims that when someone is born poor they have extensive disadvantages that keep them from getting jobs and becoming educated, hence they end up in the same position with their children.
My view on this subject is that its not our high or middle class, working citizens responsibility to support those who don’t want to find a job, even if it only pays minimum wage or get an education even if its difficult to obtain. I work hard for my education and my money, why would I give it to those who aren’t working for it when I’m busting my butt? during this long extensive, sunny, snowy rainy three day adventure through the poverty infested streets of New York I’ve found that I have a low tolerance for those who don’t work hard to follow their dreams.
Giving your life up to a bottle or a pipe doesn’t give anyone the right to my sympathy or my money.
Getting off the subway in New York City there was a man asking for money, one of my classmates, Neal decided he would help him out. While he gladly threw him a ten, I started to think, why is this guy out sitting on the street corner? Later that night getting off of the same subway station the same I saw the same guy asking another one of my classmates for money, he claimed he had aids and he gave him ten dollars too.
The next day I got into an argument with Neal. He claims that when someone is born poor they have extensive disadvantages that keep them from getting jobs and becoming educated, hence they end up in the same position with their children.
My view on this subject is that its not our high or middle class, working citizens responsibility to support those who don’t want to find a job, even if it only pays minimum wage or get an education even if its difficult to obtain. I work hard for my education and my money, why would I give it to those who aren’t working for it when I’m busting my butt? during this long extensive, sunny, snowy rainy three day adventure through the poverty infested streets of New York I’ve found that I have a low tolerance for those who don’t work hard to follow their dreams.
Giving your life up to a bottle or a pipe doesn’t give anyone the right to my sympathy or my money.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)