So where is the Freshmen Academy going to be located? The good news is North Augusta has already designated an area for the academy inside the high school, so there’s no need for seniors and juniors to fret about whose parking lot will be replaced with a giant circus tent. The designated area will be set for all the classrooms on the cafeteria side of 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd hall.

“The freshmen will also have their own set of teachers”, says Mr. Bornscheuer, “The goal is to give the teachers a chance to connect with the students”. Teachers will be able to work as a team while they focus on each individual student to assist them with problems, weaknesses, and the goals they are striving for.

Mr. Bornscheuer speaks from experience. Before coming to North Augusta High School, he was influential in assisting to create a Freshmen Academy as Principal of Silver Bluff High School. Silver Bluff’s Freshmen Academy was the first within Aiken County Public Schools. At NAHS, some teachers have already volunteered to teach. Mr. Bornscheuer confirms that the academy will still offer the Honors Program, and the freshmen can still have the electives that are placed in other parts of the school. The academy will also have a separate administrator and guidance councilor. There is no doubt that Mr. Bornscheuer has planted high hopes on how this will give freshmen a strong start in high school.

Mrs. Carrick, a guidance councilor at North Augusta, also relays her high hopes to parents stating confidently, “I can’t think of why any parent wouldn’t want this for their children”. It’s one of the most important years for high school students. All most all administrators agree that the freshmen year has a major impact on whether an individual student will graduate.

So are there any negatives to the Freshmen Academy? It’s possible some upcoming freshmen may not be in favor of it, but it will give them a benefit they won’t regret. For upperclassmen, it will only be sad to know that witnessing the humorous scene of a senior giving a freshman direction to the swimming pool on top of them gym will now become less frequent. Until the School Board Meeting on the 24^th, the Freshmen Academy is only a proposed program, but plans have been made to make sure that once the school is given a go, they will be able to have the academy ready for next year.

If upcoming freshmen or their parent guardians would like to learn more about this benefit, they can attend the 2012 Freshman Expo on February 13^th. It will be put on by the NAHS Transition Team and the school’s Guidance Department. Besides the opportunity to learn about the Freshmen Academy, there will also be opportunities to get flyers and learn from students about clubs.

For updates on the results from the school board meeting, check this article after the 24th.

The adoption process is fairly easy. Erin says, “I went with my trainer and tried a few horses out, then fell in love with one of them. I decided to go ahead with the adoption then and there. I filled out the form, along with two references, and picked him up a few days later.”

With adoption, the rescue is skilled at meeting your wish with the specific type of horse wanted.  The volunteers know all the horses extremely well including their background history and compatibility. With my experience accompanying Erin there, the volunteers consulted with each other using the horses’ names and which one would be the best fit for her.  The way they conversed showed their legitimacy and their homage to the rescue as volunteers.

Along with adoption, the rescue looks forward to people that provide temporary homes for the animals.  This relieves them of extra work, of course, but it socializes the animals enough to where they would be more fit for a permanent residency.

Kirsten Flick, a junior, volunteered in the past at the rescue. She says that, “It’s a nice safe place for horses and dogs to go if they are not wanted or abused. It’s visitor friendly, organized, and reliable. They care for every animal extremely well.”

The Equine Rescue isn’t just a rescue but it also a place for riding lessons, both the English and Western style.  Furthermore, they offer a place to board your own horse for a cost.

If you have a kind heart and would like to foster or adopt a horse or dog, visit the Equine Rescue of Aiken off of Glenwood Drive.

The week before Christmas when students are out of school is definitely a time to spend with family. Most families are either traveling or have traditions that are done the week before Christmas such as baking cookies, or doing last minute shopping with your parents. It is obviously not a time for high school students to be taking exams or reviewing for them. It is major quality time with loved ones that should not be taken away during the Holidays because some families will not get that time back.

Katie Schaade, a senior, has had a family tradition of baking Gingerbread houses five days before Christmas then going out to lunch with her grandparents for as long as she can remember. She said that “school districts have to understand that students have families too and some of us actually like to be around them.” Her parents have already told her sister, Caroline, who will be a ninth grader next year that if exams get in the way, she will just have to take a “sick day.” Katie also added that “I am for sure glad that I will be in college next year.”

Students will take exams the week before Christmas and get out that Friday, and then have the whole first week of January out as well. This could be positive because once everybody gets their Christmas presents, they will have the whole first week of January to enjoy them. Trib Reese, a sophomore, is optimistic about the break situation by saying that “my family usually travels for Christmas so getting back then having a week of break again will be nice, and we will not be rushing to get back ready for school.”

The new break time will be a change for students, but there can be some good that comes out of it. Students made sure to enjoy this years break and everybody tried to make it as family oriented as possible.

In Austria, Hungary, and Bavaria, getting coal in your stocking is the least of a child’s worries. The kids are more concerned with being tortured by Santa Clause’s evil twin, Krampus Night, whose job is to punish all the children who misbehave.  On December 6^th, men from different towns don the scariest, most devil-like costumes they can find and run drunkenly around hitting people with sticks.

In Catalonia, you would commonly find Caga Tió, the pooping log, around the house. Caga Tió is set out, under a blanket, the night of December 8^th and is “fed” nightly until Christmas Eve. He is then placed in the fireplace and beaten with a stick until he “poops” out candies, nuts, and other treats. He is encouraged through chants and songs, and eventually completes his job by revealing a salt herring, onion, or head of garlic.

The small town of La Font de la Figuera in Spain takes a Spanish holiday tradition to the extreme. It is customary in Spain for everyone to wear red underwear on New Year’s Eve. However, in La Font de la Figuera, there takes place a New Year’s Eve run in which the participants wear only red underwear. Imagine hundreds of Spaniards of all ages running around in nothing but red underwear: that might be more shocking than the pooping log.

Now imagine this: it’s Christmas Day in Japan and you’re waiting in a long line to enter the restaurant where you’ll have your holiday feast with the entire family. You’ve probably had to make reservations but still the line is long. You’re all anticipating the delicious and “classic” Christmas dinner of fried chicken. You finally get in the door and the waitress greets you saying, “Welcome to KFC.” Yes, in Japan it is extremely popular to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken for your Christmas meal. Whoever markets for them should be making a TON of money.

After some of these crazy foreign traditions, our Christmas festivities no longer seem so far out. However, many people in our community still share in unique (and often funny) holiday traditions. North Augusta High School senior Emerson Coulibaly recently moved to America from the Ivory Coast in Africa. Though he admits that the traditions there are similar to ours here, he notes that in the Ivory Coast, “We go to church on December 24^th from 8:00 pm to 2:00 am. Then, the young people stay out to party together.”  Also, junior Shelby Kenrick’s family incorporates the magic of Disney into their holidays. “We always cook Mickey Mouse waffles on Christmas eve,” she remarks. Pancakes I’ve heard of, waffles not so much. Finally, senior Michael Price has an interesting and unique tradition taking place in his household on Christmas Day.  He says, “My grandma rings a cow bell while we are all in the kitchen and says it’s Santa, and that’s the signal that we can go into the living room and open presents.” So in the Price household, they really do need more cow bell.

Even though our strangest holiday traditions don’t hold a candle to some in other countries, we all have unique and personal ways of celebrating Christmas. But what we do doesn’t really matter; it’s who we do it with. The craziest things are always the most fun when you do them with those you love.

To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;

To help other people at all times;

To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”

Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America provides a program for young boys to further develop their character.  To rank up, a scout must earn a required number of merit badges. By attempting to earn merit badges, they learn more about one’s self rather than just the materialistic aspect of getting one more badge to put on the uniform.  Jacob Phillips , a junior, says that “Boy Scouts is a cool, fun place where I can hang out with friends and enjoy nature. I have met many people through scouts who have been inspirations to me and who have influenced me into being the kind of person I am today.” It’s an exciting, adventure-filled program.  Jacob mentions the activity norm, “We hike, play video games, sing songs, light things on fire, chase armadillos as well as pee on them, and we go above the system.”

There is organization in the class system. The Boy Scouts are divided into two different sections.  First, there are the Cub Scouts with ages ranging from seven to eleven; second, there are the Boy Scouts ranging from eleven to eighteen and Varsity Scouting being a sub-division for ages fourteen to eighteen. Venturing is an extra program for ages fourteen to twenty-one including the sub-division Sea Scouting.

Throughout the two, scouts go through a series of class/ranks: Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First class, Star, Life, and Eagle.  The first four classes learn simpler things.  Once you hit the Star rank, it’s business time from then on. Star and Life both require that a scout show leadership skills and perform community service.  To become a Star, a scout must have four required merit badges that are needed to rank up, two regular merit badges that are hobbies, and six hours of community service.  To become a Life, a scout must have three required merit badges and two regular with six hours of community service.

To become an Eagle, a scout must have five required and five regular badges with one original community service project.  There is much preparing and planning for the service project.  Junior Ricky Baldwin, who has just completed his Eagle Scout project, says, “It took me about four long hours to plan and six hours to actually do it. Once I turn eighteen this year, I’ll go up for the border review.” After the completion of all of the requirements, the scout must then go to a border review like on any other attempt at ranking up. Once you achieve the eagle status, the most prestigious and honorable rank, a scout can get up to three eagle palms: bronze, then silver, and finally, gold.  Scouts acquire these by demonstrating leadership ability and earning additional merit badges.

It’s Spooky to Be Hungry began in 1992 in Rochester, MN. The CSRA was one of the first communities to embrace it, and the food drive has taken place annually in October ever since. The CSRA program has seen unprecedented growth; what started as a few people striving to make a difference has exploded into a ten county, 3000-volunteer effort. The 2010 project raised $57,000 and nearly 125,000 pounds of food for Golden Harvest Food Bank, which translates to over 320,000 meals.  Amazing numbers, and senior Zach Richardson says that “the community is getting more involved and I think that this year’s statistics will be even better.”

The program runs through the entire month of October, and donations are collected in a number of ways. Most obvious to students are the large cardboard cylinders that sit outside the front office for a few weeks  each year. Several teachers and school organizations encourage students to bring in cans: for example, Mrs. Gambill gives extra credit and Beta Club counts ten cans as a service project. For students who want to take a more hands-on approach, each neighborhood runs a door-to-door collection the Saturday morning before Halloween. These drives are always looking for volunteers.  Senior Nathan Leopard was one such volunteer, saying “”My mom actually got me into it, and first I wasn’t too thrilled. However, once I did it I really enjoyed it, and it feels really good to get food for people who may not be able to afford it.”

As another Halloween comes and goes, have fun and get scared. But remember the truly frightening circumstances some people live in daily, and do what you can to help them. Take a moment in between haunted houses and costume parties to participate in something like Spooky to Be Hungry. Help make Halloween a little less scary for those in need.

Casper's got nothing on Spooky's friendly mascot. (Image is registered to Spooky to Be Hungry).

Final statistics for the 2011 drive will be posted here in a few days.

Zack: 

On the afternoon of September 16th, my good friend (and collaborating writer), Bentley Sam, invited me to go on a camping trip. I agreed. What could be the harm in spending a little quality time with the guys? I didn’t even notice how vague he was on exactly where we were camping. It wasn’t long after throwing my sleeping bag and a few protein bars in my trunk that I found myself trying to locate the softest square of concrete outside of the James Brown Arena.

Upon arrival, I was handed a numbered ticket and informed that I was going to wait in line for Guitar Pull tickets. My job was to hold a spot for senior Lindsey Patton while she was at work. Lindsey describes the experience as “very memorable, in a good way” she goes on to say that she “had a great time with some great people and can’t wait for the Guitar Pull in November.”  I, on the other hand, found the entirety of my twelve-hour stay to be repulsive, frightening, and border-line hazardous to my well-being.

Still, even I, the Honda-Civic-driving, rap-music-listening, never-even-held-a-loaded-gun city boy, can almost respect the line up for the Pull this year. Gary Allen, Martina McBride, Little Big Town, Scotty McCreery, Jerrod Niemann and Corey Smith will all be in on the action. Notice, however, that I do say “almost”. Due to my co-writer’s down-home determination, we were in the first quarter of the line. Basically, this stranded me in the middle of the most dedicated, worst behaved, and least clean of all country music fans. Sophomore Savannah Neal only joined us for dinner on Friday evening, but was around long enough to acquire the feeling of being “lost and alone among the tents.” Savannah goes on to describe the camp site as being “a place I never want to be again.”

Joining me that night in my very, very small tent was Senior Bill Tudor. Bill camped for two nights and described the experience as “an awesome way to spend a day out of school,” but, after thinking for a moment, remembered “sleeping on concrete, sharing a tent with another man, and having to help Zack wash beer splatter off of his tent.” Bill, like many others waiting in line, bought tickets in hopes of reselling them to slightly less dedicated music fans. The face value of the tickets is $40.00. Bill says that he “will accept offers anywhere from a hundred dollars to a hundred thousand.”

All in all, I would consider our “camping trip” to be a learning experience. I gained a great deal of knowledge about country music and the culture that surrounds it and also heard a few stories that will certainly haunt me for years to come.

As with every account of events you receive, you should seek both sides of the story to view the big picture accurately. To give you this opportunity, I have asked Bentley to share his side of the story and hopefully shed light on parts of the night that I have forever blocked out of my mind.

Bentley:

First off, I will admit that country music does bring its own style of fans. Fans completely different from those who enjoy the spitting of lines (that don’t rhyme) as fast as they can, or screaming foul language at the top of their lungs while pretending to be mad at the world. Country music is more than just music that “has a nice beat.” The songs tell the stories most would experience while living a country lifestyle. Many generalize the music to be nothing more than: Shoot a buck, drive a truck, chew tobacco, and spit, but the music is so much more than that. Trace Adkins says it best in “Songs about Me” when he explains country music is “songs about loving, and living, and good-hearted women, family, and God.”

While it is true that Zack was exposed to a different culture, for the most part, all the fans that turned out were simply hard working, down-to-earth, people that loved their country music. Perhaps music fans of all genres are what make the world go round. The fans we saw just so happened to be in blue jeans and boots, not skinny jeans and chains. It was a life-changing experience for Z no doubt, but hazardous to his health? Not likely. I enjoyed all 40 hours I spent in that parking lot, made some new friends, and tried to “well round” ol’ buddy Zack. The experience alone was worth it to me, not to mention that fact that I locked in my place for one of the best concerts around! I am looking forward to spending time with those screaming hipster friends of Zack’s when the time comes around for one of his camp outs.

The living dead took over downtown at First Friday in Augusta on Friday, October 8th.  The walk started at 12th and Reynolds at around 7:30 p.m.  Junior Ariana Williams exclaimed that, “It was a great way to kick off October with some Halloween spirit! We all just had fun looking like freaks together, bonding as a community.”

You could have heard the authentic moans and pterodactyl screeches amond the walking zombies.  Junior Ramsey Whitley says that, “getting to yell in peoples’ faces was one of the many fun parts to the Zombie Walk.”  You could also hear the screams of horrified youngsters as well.

There was a variety of blood-covered, flesh eating participants.  One of the impressive features of the many zombies was the imagination put into every individual costume.  Talent was also seen through realistic make up.  Gashes, missing eyes, bullet holes, and other gruesome make up applications were some undead facial features seen.
Senior Olivia Chalmers says, “I like that it’s a reason for us older kids to still dress up, since we don’t trick or treat anymore! I love dressing up.”  It’s a great time.  You chill with your friends and you walk around scaring people.  Having admirers snapping your picture isn’t too bad either.

Next year, don’t forget to put on a costume, lather yourself up with some red paint or dyed corn syrup, and go down to the annual Zombie Walk.  Get a bite to eat (preferably not human) at the nearby Pizza Joint or Mellow Mushroom and visit shops after terrifying others.  If you’re looking for a good time, you wouldn’t want to miss it.

Sr. Avila had the best time La Tuna’s performance and stated that “La Tuna was brilliantly put together, they played such beautiful, traditional Spanish college music, and the kids behaved so I was happy.”

Almost 300 students showed up in the auditorium at 5:45  to watch. The students really got involved and enjoyed the performance. Madi Inglett, a freshman went to the performance and loved it.  She said that “La Tunas were way better than I expected them to be, I was really happy that I went.”

The Tunas are a Spanish music group of college students from La Universitaria De Salamanca, Spain. It is an all male group of five: Alex, Eloy, Migvel Angel, and Cesar. They are a low profit group who travel and love to entertain people outside of restrurants and busy places. Las Tunas have always been around, dating back to 1215 with King Alfons X, The Wise.

Not everybody can be a Tuna entertainer, there are hard core tryouts and phases that the participants have to go through. A Tuna performer has to be comical and creative just to get considered for the group. Once they are considered, then they are required to play and perform with a tamborine (the Tuna symbol) in front of their godparents.

Brianna Hopkins, a senior says “I did not realize how much work it is to a Tuna performer, I respected them so much more after watching their performance, and it shows how much work they put into it”

La Tuna has very distinctive costumes, like a long cloak or baggy trousers. They also wear a “beca” to the performance, which is a belt or band with the university logo going across it. Shoes paired with socks going up the tights are a must for a Tuna singer. People have said that La Tuna performers are all about “charming the ladies”, and it showed at their performance Tuesday.

Senora Hughes-Dahm agreed that the performance “was a major success for the Spanish Club and it was a great opportunity for our student body to witness up close authentic spanish performers, overall it could not have gone any better.”

After the performance there was a meet and greet with the Tunas and CDs were on sale for ten dollars.

Photo credit to the North Augusta Star for both pictures

Kelsey’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was in the seventh grade. When she found out she says, “I was scared. I didn’t know what to do. There was really nothing I could do about it.” Now five years later, thankfully, Kelsey’s mom has recovered. When asked what she would tell someone whose family member had just been diagnosed with breast cancer she said, “Everything happens for a reason. They will get through it. You just have to be strong for them.”

So the question is—what can we, as high school students, do to promote breast cancer awareness and research?

One way we can make a difference is to get involved with the University Health Care Foundation’s 11^th Annual Miracle Mile Walk on Saturday, October 15^th. The walk is a three-mile fun walk through downtown Augusta, beginning and ending at the Augusta Common. All proceeds from the event will benefit University’s Breast Health Center and Mobile Mammography Unit. Thanks to support from the community, the Miracle Mile Walk has grown enormously—from 50 walkers and net proceeds of $3,000 in 1990 to 5,000 walkers (including more than 200 breast cancer survivors) and net proceeds of more than $175,000 in 2010. You can sponsor a participant, walk yourself, or simply donate money to the cause. The event will include raffling off a Pink Polka Dotted golf cart. Raffle tickets are $5 each or six for $25. They can be bought on the day of the walk or ahead of time by calling the Breast Health Center at 706-774-4141. Pam Anderson, the director of the Miracle Mile Walk, encourages the community to participate. She says, “Get out and walk. Support the activities of our area because the money goes to research. If no one participates, then no money is made. The money we make or that is donated goes right back out into the community.” According to Ms. Anderson, over a 1,000 free mammograms were given from the money raised at last year’s walk. Somewhere around 20 cancers were found. Without those free mammograms, many of those women would not have discovered their breast cancer until too late. She says, “The community getting involved is the key to more awareness and more money.”

Though getting involved with the Miracle Mile Walk is a great way to help support breast cancer awareness and research, it isn’t the only way. Kelsey Dyer says, “I buy breast cancer stuff in the grocery store. Also, during the month of October, I dye a strip of my hair pink so if anyone asks about it I can spread the word about breast cancer.” So whether you love the sound of a three-mile walk, or you simply shop for yogurt and other food products at Kroger, you can get involved with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Don’t sit back and let another person be diagnosed with breast cancer without a fight. Save the ta-tas!