Distracted Driving Presentation Tomorrow
"It's important to take precautions when on the road." - Ms. Kent.
"Everyone has a lot to live for."
– Vincent Oliver (10)
SMPD and IMPACT will present at tomorrow’s assembly on distracted driving. This topic could not be more important! Imagine this: you're sixteen years old with a new driver's license. You are baffled at the reality of even owning a license because it took about seven tries for your instructor to not run out of the car and cry out complete nonsense. You decide to take a spin with some of your friends. One of them is 19 years old. So it's fine, right? The radio is blasting out your favorite song when suddenly you hear the screech of an oncoming vehicle. It doesn't even take a second to realize what had just happened. This is real; this happens every day.
IMPACT states, “Automobile collisions have been the leading cause of death for American teens for generations.” According to the website Association for Safe International Road Travel, "Nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day." Also, about 8,000 people are killed in car accidents with drivers of ages 16-20. We need to realize that just the simplest of decisions can affect life itself. Some of the most common and major causes of teen crashes involve driver distraction. According to AAA Insurance, the three major forms of distraction include: interacting with one or more passengers, using a cellphone, and looking at something inside the vehicle. These are only some of the many factors that contribute to driving accidents.
Our choices in life, whether intended or not, cannot only affect ourselves but can also affect the ones around us. Which is why it is our job as a community to help prevent these accidents from ever occurring. Although it is cliché, life is too short. So just take some time off your day to just... Breathe; to appreciate this thing that we call life.
Classes scheduled to see the presentation are as follows:
2nd - Linne, Burke, Van Gronigen, Ebrahimi, Quintana, Wolstenholm, MacCuish, Sewell, Baarstad
3rd - Linne, Sylvester, M. Guerra, Burke, Van Gronigan, Lopez, MacCuish, Ebrahimi, Dugandzic
4th - Linne, Sylvester, M. Guerra, Burke, Van Gronigen, Wehlander, Ebrahimi, Dugandzic, Davis, Baarstad, MacCuish - Alexis Dagar
"If you over do it, you're bound to get hurt." -Esteban Camacho (11)
“We really need to take precautions while driving because it is too easy to take life for granted." –Jacqueline (10)
There is a new club on campus for people who love J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series! The club was started by Alina Davila, sophomore, as president, and her best friend Alasuandra Silva, sophomore, as vice president. They first thought of the idea during breakfast at Huckleberry's. Alasuandra wanted to reread the Harry Potter books, and Alina was all for it. She then thought that other people would also want to reread the books. Since Alasuandra`s mother wanted her to join a club, she thought "Why join a club when you can make a club?" Alasuandra didn’t know if this club would succeed, yet Alina already did all the paper work.
Alasuandra said, “We had a great turn out, but I was expecting more freshmen.” Alina thought there were a multitude of hardcore fans who love the series. At the first club meeting, there were mostly sophomores, juniors, and seniors, but both of the presidents would like more freshmen to join the club. Alina’s thoughts were that people wouldn't show up, yet it was a great turn out for the first club meeting. Both Alina and Alasuandra were thrilled about it.
The club will read a chapter and have a Q and A about that chapter every Tuesday. On Thursdays, they plan to do some fun activities such as wand making, the Bean Boozled challenge, Quidditch and more. You can also be assigned to one of the houses: Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. If you haven’t gone to the first club meeting, you are more than welcome to go on any other meeting.
Meet in room 304 on Thursdays if you want to join the Harry Potter Club.
-Vanessa Nunez and Jessica Pena
President Alina Davila and Vice President Alasuandra Silva
Club Spotlight: Harry Potter Club
What's Growing On?
Have you noticed that there’s a new garden between room 204 and the band room? Mr. Grimm and his Transition class have started growing lettuce as of last Friday. “Mr. McKee had the opportunity to get lettuce starters for the Transition class, which is a class that teaches basic job skills to juniors and seniors,” Mr. Grimm explained. He pointed out that farming was the basic job skill being taught here.
One of his students, Cheyenne (12), enjoys planting the lettuce and having her hands touch the soil. “I like to plant, because it's what I used to do with my aunt," said Cheyenne. In the future, she would like to plant roses, considering that her aunt likes roses so much.
The plants are located under a small, temporary shade as the class prepares to erect a bigger shade structure. Because of the heat, they won't be moved around for a while. Grimm predicts that the crops will be fully grown in about 2 or 3 weeks. Afterwards, he is planning to leave the plants in their pots and sell them. If you have any suggestions, Mr. Grimm is open to suggestions on what to grow next!
- Melanie Naraval
Mr. Grimm with two of his students: Sal (left) and Cheyenne (right).
The lettuce in their special containers.
The crops under their temporary shade.
Mr. Grimm with two of his students: Sal (left) and Cheyenne (right).