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Features

Students struggle to balance school with their everyday lives

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By Rachel Lamb

Stress is a huge factor in the lives of everyday high school students. Many have bigger responsibilities and extracurricular activities they partake in, as well as schoolwork and grades. Struggling to find the balance between school and their outside of school lives is a difficult task but for some it is just their lifestyle.

After drill team practice three days a week to her after-school shift at Polly Freeze, there is a pile of schoolwork remaining at home; however, senior Alessa Farnsley still manages to keep up with the pace.

“It’s not too difficult to juggle with school work because I always find time in between, even though I don’t get off until 10 on school nights,” Farnsley said

Farnsley added that the stress from her job does  affect her school work, due to the fact that she just wants to come home and sleep after her shift. Not only does she feel stressed with the amount of homework given, but her boss also manages to keep her extremely busy.

Students  that are without a job can have a hard time managing pressure that school gives them as well as their other activities.  They may not have a boss to please, but certainly a coach or instructor.

“It’s hard to juggle schoolwork everyday after football practice, but study table is always helpful,” said sophomore Garrett Sneed.

Football practice takes up a lot of time that students could be using to do school work. Dedication is required  in order to still put  school work first, such as having study table before football practice.

Sneed added that football  is the most stressful activity he is involved in since there is a new challenge to take on everyday.

Not all students struggle with balancing things they partake in.  A difference could be age, as students grow, more responsibilities are given.

Freshman Evan Michelle said that playing soccer and completing school work has not stressed him out too much yet this year. He agreed with Sneed that schoolwork should and does come first.

Most of the time teachers can tell when a student is overwhelmed. Grades, participation, or even the way they present themselves in the classroom is a big enough hint.

“I think it depends on their personality and the way that some of the students are driven to succeed no matter what,” said physical education and health teacher Juli Hutson.

Counselor Jessica Newkirk agreed that how each individual student copes  depends on their personality and what level of work they are already used to.

Newkirk added that being involved in sports or extracurricular activities might alleviate stress that the students carry on their shoulders.

When it comes down to it, all students are going to worry about juggling all that is in their schedule during their high school career. Learning how to handle the different stressors that contribute to it is the most difficult part.

“If you can get all A’s then that’s great, but having a balanced life is important too,” Hutson said.

News

School security provides for safe environment

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By Rachel Lamb and Sydney Sears

It is 3:30 p.m. and only a few students remain inside the school doors. They may be at sports practice, participating in a club, running their lines for theatre, or just waiting until their parents pick them up. These students most likely do not think about how safe they really are.

Around this time of season, a lot of sports including wrestling and volleyball meet at FC after school.

“I have never not felt safe being here after school,” said senior wrestler Cory Troutman.

Senior wrestler Christian Overbey agreed.

“I feel very safe after school hours. There are always plenty of coaches and staff that stay after.”

Most sports have long practices after school. Volleyball usually runs till about 6 p.m. or longer on weekdays. If there is a game, then the volleyball players are here later than normal.

“I’m normally here ’til 6-6:30 or 7 on a average night school night,” said freshman Nicole Hartman.

Many students say if or when they are here after school hours they feel safe. Students may feel that way for a number of reasons.

After school all the doors are now being locked, except for the far right entrance into the rotunda. Administration, teachers, and coaches are working to keep the students  here after school hours safe.

“We are just trying to keep them safe, even with the kids that are coming and going,” said FC wrestling coach Brandon Sisson.

Sisson said that it is difficult to maintain security with kids, parents, and staff going in and out so much because it is hard to determine who should be let in the school

With having a police officer at school, it makes everyone feel a little more secure. Having an officer on duty during the day allows for a sense of security that provides for a safe environment throughout FC.

“I think being safe is very important because without security we wouldn’t be able to practice and get better.” said Overbey.

Officer Brad Scott is at FC during the school day and one of his many responsibilities is spot checks around the building.

If there were to be an  emergency after school, Scott said that anyone still in the building would have to listen staff members for instruction, because there is not enough personnel left after school to organize an actual procedure plan.

Scott explained that school security is especially important at sporting events because the large number of people at rival games can get out of control.

One thing students do not have to worry about is feeling safe at school.

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The wave of the future steps into the classroom

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By Delaney Smith and Rachel Lamb

Technology. It surrounds us in every aspect of our lives.  A single beep from a phone can draw a full classroom of students to their backpacks in an instant and strike fear into them, as they hope that it is not theirs. FC’s strict cell phone policy may keep us from using technology in a way that distracts us from our school work, but is it  keeping us away from online resources that could help us outside of  teachers and books?

”It [eBooks] would greatly enhance the students ability to learn with the technology that they are surrounded by on a daily basis,” said senior Scott Schuchardt.

Many of the teachers at FC are already letting their students use mobile devices in class if they are used in a very controlled manner and for designated educational purposes.

“In English and Spanish classes we can use our phones to look up definitions on a dictionary app,” said sophomore Cara Miller.

This is one of the valuable resources that most of us do not have in school because of FC’s strict policies. Phones are the most denied resource in our school system because it has a huge risk of being used to do other things, such as texting and playing games. However; not all teachers allow cell phones to be used in the classroom, due to the possible distractions.  A different alternative is iPads.

“This year I am only allowing iPads, nooks, and eReaders,” said English teacher Karen Lehman.

Schools in our area, such as Providence, have switched to using iPads instead of  traditional text and reading books.

“Everything school wise you do on the iPad. Compared to carrying books around, it’s a lot easier,” said Providence sophomore Jakob Summers.

Many students at FC agree that switching to the use of technology, instead of lugging around those textbooks, would be much easier on student’s backs.  Not only will they alleviate weight off student’s backs, but could also limit the use of lockers throughout the school day.

“I am for FC eliminating textbooks, because I hate the fact of going to my locker every passing period,” said freshman Kaelyn Gibson.

English teacher Anne Martin agreed with most students saying that she expects to see eBooks taking over in the next few years.

“NAFCS is letting other schools to work out the bugs first, but they know that it is the future,” said Martin.

One of the few downsides to using iPads, instead of the traditional textbooks, is that the school would have to  get wireless internet. Having such a big school with so many students could be a huge challenge to get a signal strong enough to support everyone who would be using it.

Every step towards a more “high tech” education system is going to come with its glitches and bugs, but it is all about how these things are approached as a school and a community.

Lehman added one last opinion on the future of technology at FC.

“I think that technology instead of textbooks is the wave of the future for FC and there is no way to avoid it.”

Derek Hanke, Features, Keevin Sakai

Social media challenge accepted

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By Derek Hanke

Social media has taken a dominant position in our society today. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are used frequently by a large percentage of the youth population.

This has led some individuals to become dependent on them, almost to the point where going without them would be unthinkable.

In order to test the theory that social media can be addictive, two students were given the challenge of going a weekend without them.

Both freshman Rachel Lamb and senior Parker Hale underwent the social media challenge. Lamb initially felt that this task would be an easy one.

Before the Challenge

“Going without Facebook and Twitter won’t impact my life but I’ll probably have to delete the apps of my phone so I don’t use them,” said Lamb.

Hale said that others will not be impacted by the challenge.

“I don’t think my followers will notice my absence,” said Hale.

Both Lamb and Hale think they will be able to go a weekend without social media, although they admit social media plays a large part in their lives.

“Everyone has a Facebook. And, when I get on Twitter, it’s normally so I can have something interesting to do,” said Lamb.

“Social media gives me something to do when I’m bored and keeps me informed about what’s going on,” said Hale.

After the Challenge

Throughout the weekend, Lamb was able to go without social media while Hale was not.

“I forgot about the challenge multiple times over the weekend,” said Hale.

He blamed this lapse of memory on his familiarity with the routine of getting on social media.

“I didn’t really feel the need to get on Twitter or Instagram, I just got on there out of habit,” he said.

Hale says the weekend helped remind him of the frequency he uses social media and its importance to him.

“I get on social media quite a lot. Without it, I felt less informed because I didn’t know what was going on all the time,” said Hale.

Hale refutes the claim that social media is an important part of his life.

“It’s not that it’s an important part of my life; I could definitely go without social media, but it’s something to keep me busy when I’m bored,” he said.

Hale found there was an unexpected benefit to going without social media.

“By not getting on twitter and instagram, doing homework was ten times easier,” Hale said.

Lamb came to better understand the role social media plays in her life.

“This weekend made me realize that Facebook isn’t as important to me as I thought it was,” she said.

Even after this realization, Lamb still felt something was missing.

“I felt less informed that usual; if something went on, I wouldn’t know about it because everyone puts everything on Facebook,” said Lamb.

Lamb reports that she was more social without social media.

“Without Twitter and Facebook, I actually spent more time talking to people,” she said.

While certain individuals are more inclined to use social media than others out of habit, this process can actually hinder the socialization process by making one rely it to socialize instead of direct communication.