The State Beta Club Convention is coming up February 10-12 in Myrtle Beach. And let me tell you, it is a whirlwind of fun. At the convention, Beta clubs from across the state compete in various scholastic and artistic events and elect the state officers. Winners from each competition are invited to participate in the national convention, and the state officers can choose to run for national office. North Augusta has one of the best-represented Beta Clubs in the state: last year we took 70 and this year we’ll be an all-out powerhouse with 92 attendees.

The focus of the convention is the state officer election. Campaigning plays out over a few meet-and-greet sessions, speeches, and a presentation of the skits. Each candidate develops a theme for his/her campaign, usually a clever pun or allusion using their name. This year, Zack Rogers is running for vice-president, using “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” as his theme. On his expectations for the convention, Zack said “I have pieced together a campaign that will hopefully be successful. As far as the weekend goes, I’m expecting to shake a lot of hands, forget a lot of names, and, if I want to win, do a lot of networking.” As Zack said, networking is important to victory, and schools with candidates running for different offices frequently make alliances. After campaigning is completed, ballots are cast and the state officers are inaugurated during the third and final general assembly.

Another major part of the convention experience is the talent competition. Talent is the marquee event of the competitions, and it is performed in the main conference room in front of all attendees. As the most visible competition, it is usually the most hotly contested, with almost every attending school entering an act. Talent is split into two categories: small groups, which have no more than four participants and four minutes to perform, and large groups, which have at least five participants and seven minutes to perform. Each year brings a new crop of performers. Some are excellent, but none are more enjoyable than the truly terrible. Or maybe that’s just my inner sociopath showing. Anyways, North Augusta has a solid track record in large group, with several top finishes and a state victory in 2009 with “Grease.” Last year’s small group “Free Fallin” fell in the preliminaries, which in the humble opinion of yours truly was a gross injustice. This year, North Augusta will once again take the large group stage with a performance of “Hairspray.”

The other academic and artistic competitions are frequently overshadowed by the election and talent competitions, but they should by no means be overlooked. Last year, North Augusta distinguished itself in several categories. Kristen Barbour won in the spelling competition, and Rebecca Rudisill’s banner bested the field to receive first place honors. The Quiz Bowl team landed a strong second-place finish. We’re all hoping to add a bit more hardware to the Beta Club trophy case  this year. Kristen is hoping for a repeat in spelling this year, saying, “I’m a little bit more nervous than I was last year because now I have the expectation of winning. I’ll probably read the dictionary on the way up.”

For members of the Beta Club, February is looking pretty good. The convention is always a memorable experience, and if you’re a Beta who hasn’t ever considered it, I strongly suggest checking it out for 2013. In the words of our fearless leader, Mrs. Suman Marks-Johnson, “The Beta Club Convention is an excellent opportunity for students to come together in the spirit of devotion to their schools and communities.”  Thanks Mrs. Marks-Johnson, you pretty much wrote my conclusion for me. So, to all you “I can’t wait for summer” folks out there, slow down a minute and take a look around. Maybe February has something up its sleeve for you too.

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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.

If you applied for Early Decision, then chances are you have already heard back from the school. Also, some colleges, such as USC and Winthrop, have already released their first waves of acceptance letters.  However, the majority of schools have not yet given the verdict on potential students. So now seniors are forced to wait, holding their breaths, until colleges alleviate their anxiety. Then, they will either be excited at the prospects of a new year in a new place or disappointed that things didn’t work out. When asked about her experience of waiting for college admissions decisions, senior Hope Lewis said, “I always wondered if I was going to receive a thick packet that said YES! or if I would receive a rejection letter.” Most all of us have had that fear, the fear that a college will turn us down and all our plans will change. Senior Brad Wilson says, “It’s just like having your entire future in front of you… Did you do enough? Did you do it right, will it be good enough? All those things run through your mind as you wait for the letter to arrive in the mail, with your name on it, finally giving you some relief.” It gets especially nerve racking for many of us as time goes on. Senior Kourtney Chapman states, “For me it was worrying because I saw other students getting acceptance letters and I was left wondering, where was mine?” We worry that we’ll have to rebuild our ideas of the future if our dreams don’t come true. As dismal as that sounds, it is a possibility that we all have to face.

But things always happen for a reason and somehow you’ll end up where you need to be. Hopefully that will happen without the involvement of rejection letters, but if it does involve them just remember: if that school was really the right place for you to be, you would have been accepted. It is at this point in our lives that we need to remind ourselves to keep an open mind. Most seniors probably have a plan for their life, an ideal outcome, maybe even a dream. But don’t let yourself get so caught up in making you future turn out as planned that you miss the opportunity to receive something so much better. Just because you may not end up with exactly what you wanted doesn’t mean that your life will be any less amazing. Don’t ever think that a decision made by any college admissions board can hold you back. The only thing that can hold you back is yourself- don’t let it.

The basis of World of Warcraft is to take quests, level, and kill other players. On Wrath of the Lich King, the older expansion (the one I play), the maximum level a player can reach is 80; on Catalysm, the new expansion, a player can get up to 85. From level 1 to level 79 or 84, players have many places to explore and many quests to take. The game doesn’t end when a player maximizes their level. In fact, a whole new world of play opens.

The first thing you do is create a character (after you buy the game, of course). A character can be either a part of the Alliance or of the Horde. In my experience, Alliance players are more serious and tend to focus on soloing. However, Horde players are friendlier and will randomly hand fellow players gold (the highest currency used to buy armour, weapons, food, and mounts). Each faction has different races for play. Alliance races consists of Humans, Gnomes, Dwarfs, Night Elves, Draenei, or, with the Catalysm expansion, Worgen. Horde races are Orcs, Blood Elves, Tauren, Forsaken, Trolls, and Goblins, who are neutral, nonplayable characters in the Lich King.

A wow character leveling up.

Each race consists of classes. A single race cannot be every class and every class isn’t available through every race. A warlock uses shadow and fire, whereas a mage uses frost and arcane. You could also have a hunter, priest, druid, paladin, rogue, shaman, warrior, or a death knight. Every class has pros and cons, and each one has a different role in the world. Some classes cater to melee or spell-casting combat, while others are typically specked for healing. However, each class has individual trees to help fine tune your character further. The create-a-character screen has information on each class as you click through them, so you can best decide.

For the first 79 or 84 levels, you take quests to gain experience and earn money. After you maximize your level, there’s really no limit on what you can do. PvP is the route most players take, which is player vs player combat zones. PvP grants you honor points, which can be used to buy special types of armour or weapons. A high-level character does not have to do PvP in order to continue game play. My goal as a level 80 is to explore the entirety of Azeroth and Outland (where WoW is set). I haven’t yet entered a PvP battle.

World of Warcraft is not the type of game where you make one character and it’s over. Since every class is so different, players must experiment and find out what they want to play as and how to speck it. It’s time consuming, and could become life consuming (just don’t follow South Park’s example). So, whether you’re a serious gamer or don’t know what a game is, World of Warcraft could amaze you if you give it the chance. Your character will not be exactly like the millions of others in the game. Give it a try, and enter the magical world…of warcraft.

Almost all students here at North Augusta can say they have had to stay up to do some sort of assignment that they procrastinated on, myself included.  Then, the next day in class, they cannot concentrate because they are too tired.  So why do students just put off their assignments?  One reason is that they are just too lazy to get it done when they should be working on it.

Another reason could be that they have so much work due all around the same time that they just don’t have time to do all of it. Or, it could be that some students just don’t care about their grades.

Senior Tate Conrad thinks, “when I procrastinate I feel mellow and chill because I’m not working on anything.”  On the other hand, senior Rashaedah Lawrence added, “I feel as if I’m not going to get  my work done because I waited for so long to get it done.”

Candace Channel, freshman, says “when I procrastinate, I feel rushed and that I’m not going to do well.”  When students tend to procrastinate, they are stressed out the night before and then they rush to get their work done.  Normally their grades suffer when this happens.   Since they don’t have time to sit down and actually work on the assignment, they make careless errors in their rush to finish.  Freshman Jason Hays agreed saying, “when I procrastinate, I feel bad but I do it anyways.”

Most students who take their time to complete assignments feel as if their work is better because they have the time to sit down and make their work ingenious.  They can take their time with their work, and they can afford to make a mistake in their works because they can go back and fix their problems.  Learning takes place when you make a mistake and  you can realize your mistake.

Candace went to say, “when I don’t procrastinate, I feel better about my work.”

Rushaedah added, “When I don’t procrastinate, I feel good about my work because I can take my time and I’ll know what I’m doing.”

Not to mention when you don’t procrastinate and you take your time, you most likely will make a better grade because you’re able to be more productive with  your work.

Students shouldn’t procrastinate.  Will they keep procrastinating? Most likely.  The benefits of not procrastinating out weigh the consequences of procrastinating.  After all as our third president, Thomas Jefferson, said, “why put off today, what you can do tomorrow?”

From separate auditions for elementary, middle and high school, students from each school will be chosen to perform in the show.

There will be many talents performed for the show. Talents are categorized into vocal, instrumental, and dance. One talent that stands out from the rest is reciting poetry. Senior Kwashane Robinson says that he plans to recite poetry as his talent. “I’m not going to say the name of it yet, I want it to be a surprise.” Robinson so far is the only poet auditioning for the show. This is his first year auditioning.

For junior Mary Tabor, this is not her first year and doesn’t plan on being her last. “This is my eighth year doing NA Idol, I’m not nervous.”  Tabor is going to dance to “Waiting on the World to Change” by John Mayer.

Talents are limited to three minutes and during the auditions the finalist will be timed. If you are a finalist and your performance goes over the limit you will be asked to shorten your performance. Not all performances can be summed down to  three minutes and still be polished and superlative. The three minute rule is to give other performers a chance to perform.

Another performer, Alexandria Allen, who is a senior, also plans on singing a song for the idol show. This will be her second year in performing but she is still a little nervous. She plans to sing  ‘All I Could Do is Cry’ by Etta James.

The first audition will be in January and another in February. The show will be March 20th.

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.

Another difference is that in lower level classes, the teachers move more slowly than the higher level classes. I took CP2 Chemistry last year. However, all of my friends took Honors Chemistry.  I noticed whenever they talked about their class, they were talking about things that I had no idea even existed yet.  Then in the following weeks, I was being taught what they had learned a few weeks before.

Now I have Honors Physics and my chemistry teacher from last year is my physics teacher.  I noticed that she doesn’t down talk to us like she did in chemistry.  She now uses “big people words,” something she didn’t do last year in chemistry class.

But if it’s just pace and workload, why do certain students take CP classes when they should be taking Honors classes?  When asked, students have said things from, “I just don’t feel like doing all the work,” to, “I just don’t have time to do the work in my busy schedule.” Junior Pete Sherlock said, “I take CP because it’s less work and I have a very tight schedule outside of school.”  Junior Christian Cox said in response, “I feel as though there’s more work to do in honors classes than in CP, and most people would want to take the easy way out.”

Some students use their extracurricular activities as an excuse to not be in a class because they don’t have time to do the work that is involved with that class. Other students look down on that particular student who really can’t handle that level class, they call them lazy.  “I feel that if students want to take CP classes even though they are smart enough to be in AP classes, because of sports then they are nothing more than lazy,” says freshman Ana Boyd.

Dreaming is something that comes naturally for everyone, really. In our dreams, we experience all sorts of crazy, funky, odd things that usually make no lick of sense. Do dreams predict the future? Maybe, maybe not. Do dreams tell the past? Maybe, and again, maybe not.

Sophomore Marlene Martinez had one creepy dream that she can’t forget. “I was going to blow my nose and I looked in the mirror and there were spiders coming out of my nose! They crawled down into my mouth.” Marlene, I don’t know what you were smoking, but please don’t do it again.

Freshman Alexandra Dickenson experienced an expensive dream. She plays the French horn in the Jacket Regiment and in her dream, she’d given her horn to Mr. Deen, who in turn “dented it near the bell in the shape of a hand. Later, I sat it down on a chair and a percussionist knocked it down and stepped on it. It was ruined!” If anyone plays an instrument, then you understand how this dream was expensive.

Why do we dream? And why do we rely on dreams so much? “To fill a void,” Senior Carson Connor says. “To escape reality,” Kellyn Brooks answered. Rebecca Rudisill, who is no stranger to vivid dreams, suggested that dreaming was important to “make sense of things that go on in your life and to clear your mind.” Rebecca had a dream once where her ninth grade history teacher was a pirate and he’d gone to a pub owned by Lauren Graham (an actress most commonly known from The Gilmore Girls).

Simply put, dreaming is important. So keep dreaming.

“I have a dream, a song to sing, to help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of the fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail

I have a dream, a fantasy, to help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while”

-“I Have A Dream”- Abba