Make sure no children are left behind, starting in Noblesville

The future of our kids and our kids’ kids and the future of our entire nation depends on education.  Schools are where students gain the knowledge and pursue the goals that will be the backbone of their professions years down the road.  Without sufficient schooling with diverse opportunities and avenues for students to pursue, there will be no future Einsteins, no more Harvard grads, no more law school gurus that will be the basis of America’s future.  It all boils down to providing them with what they need to succeed.  At whatever the cost.

Noblesville, its citizens, and the school system now find themselves at this exact crossroads.  With the struggling state of the economy, where money is tough to come by for even the most affluent household, parents must choose between giving their kids the schooling they desperately need or providing for them the basic necessities for living.  But don’t these two cross over?

Today, where getting into your desired college becomes more competitive every year, where the minimum GPA to get into even a state school continues to rise, and where the need for strong, challenging classes taught by the best and brightest professors who truly love the subject the lecture over everyday, schools have become the cornerstone of success.

And if schools can’t come up with the proper funds so they can provide the best and strongest learning environment, then what are we setting our kids up for.  Mediocre curriculum gets you mediocre kids with unmotivated study habits and mediocre grades.  Mediocre kids are accepted into average colleges where their habits of just gliding through school may certainly dominate.  And they’re left with little to show a future employer.

If the referendum does not pass on May 4 when the fate of Noblesville kids to come hangs in the balance, teachers who are perfectly sufficient for their job will be cut, programs like sports that used to invite anyone willing to participate depending only on skill will now weed out those who simply don’t have the cash, and the learning environment within the classroom will become cramped, crowded, and not subservient to student learning.

I know that the registration deadline has passed, but those of you who do have the opportunity to vote: at what point does the opportunities of our future generations become not worth giving up a few more dollars a day?  Success can always be attained with the right tools, and even if it isn’t your success or your kids’ success, it’s the success and future of your neighbors and the young souls around you.  Think about these kids and the futures they have the potential to grab when you go to the polls in a few days.

The springtime blues

It seems obvious that in the middle of such a happy-go-lucky time of year – when blossoms are blooming, couples are courting, and spring break is so, so close – no one should be in an eternal bad mood. However, I would beg to differ. Although I adore springtime and exchanging my winter coat and socks for a light jacket and flip-flops, this particular spring has me bitter. And I’m willing to bet I’m not alone on that.

By mid-October, I was convinced that the senioritis bug couldn’t bite me. I was already accepted to college, and my participation in class didn’t falter. I figured this must bode well for the rest of the year. Even after first semester finals, I was feelin’ good. I knew second semester would require more energy to focus, but I wasn’t worried.

And here we are, late March and still a solid two months from the finish line. Don’t worry, I’m still doing homework. I’m still participating in class discussions. I’m even managing to stay awake during long lectures…well, most of the time. But the truth is, my mind has checked out

I attended the very first orientation Anderson University (my future home) offered, and needless to say it was a catalyst. Instead of being fully present during pre-calc, I’m considering my class load for next year or the layout of my dorm room.

I will listen, I will respond, I will do what I am asked. But do I care as much as I did come spring time the past three years? Not nearly.

Although this mysterious disease mainly strikes students on the verge of graduation, I’ve observed that all students are affected in one way or another. The combination of spring break, prom, and sunny weather is a vicious cycle of distraction and lack of effort, yet for some reason we welcome it every spring.

Shouldn’t we have learned by now that “time flies when you’re having fun?” (Although the fun part is debatable.) Instead, we spend a majority of our school day glancing at the clock, counting down another day to the finish. I plead guilty to that. It just makes the time between now and May 27^th drag on and on.

I can’t promise that after I write this I’ll care any more than I do now, but I will make an attempt to focus on the present. As much as I crave the college environment, I might as well try to enjoy what’s left of high school. Hopefully, then, spring time will be as happy as it should be.

Falling into a downhill pattern

When the New Year rolled around, many students made their New Year’s resolutions to do better in school. However, with the third nine weeks coming to a close, I find that most of those students have forgotten all about their resolutions. Students overwork themselves and after a while, they give up or just become lazy.

At first I could tell that these students tried to keep up with their school work, but lately I have noticed that they forget about homework or just do not even try. Students have more and more zeros on their grades and it is hurting them in the long run. I have heard some students say that one zero will not hurt them that bad, but if you think about it, what if you need just five points to make a B and you took a zero out of five three weeks before?

I honestly do think that we as students do try to keep our resolutions of doing better in school but after a while we grow bored of the same thing every day. Food, school, homework, then whatever we do for fun after. I know that as a teenager I like to have fun and homework is not the ideal way to have fun. Sometimes we even have other things that get in the way, and after a little bit of time, we grow tired of trying to balance everything and give up. If we could just learn to balance things better I think that we would keep our resolutions of doing better in school.

You can always separate the students who try, the students that tried but grew tired of all the homework they were given, and the students who show up to school only because they have to. When the new quarter starts up, I know I will hear and see students trying to make up for giving up halfway through the semester, but the same pattern will once again show up. I feel as though this pattern is a silly one but no matter how hard I try not to notice it, it seems to appear just after midterm every single quarter. I know I will try hard to keep my resolution going into the last quarter but the question is, will everyone else?

We’re not eight anymore, but…

Ah, the days of childhood past, filled with activities and all around wonderfulness that is fundamentally lacking in our teenage years. We have jointly decided to reminisce and reflect on a few of the things that we miss and think should come back. These may be juvenile, but oh well…

Blowing Bubbles: What first grader doesn’t love blowing bubbles? Be it classic (with a plastic stick and a cheap bottle of bubble solution) or homemade (dish soap and water with a bent wire hanger for a stick), it’s just downright fun! Contests with your siblings over who can make the biggest bubble, watching the soap swirl on the surface of the shiny see-through orb, and of course trying to pop as many as possible were just the beginning of the bubble joys!

Holding Hands with Your Best Friend: Looking back on early elementary school days, we recall anxiously crowding the door of my classroom, everyone clamoring to be line-leader. As we walked through the halls, I would step out of the line, catch up to my best friend, and grab his hand with a smile (not that we prefer walking the halls in lines, but oh how we wish that we could hold hands in high school without the constant speculations of: “Ohmygosh, are they dating? Since when?!”). Ah, the days of youthful childhood innocence, when no one cared if you held hands with more than one person…

Stickers, Glitter, and Glittery Stickers: Don’t you miss the days of smiley face stickers on the tops of your papers, smearing gluesticks on construction paper to make the glitter that you sprinkle over it stick, and the shiny stickers adorning your 100 percent A+ projects? The squeals of delight over the construction paper projects and motivational stickers rang through the classrooms! Well, maybe we just have short attention spans, but sparkly things are fascinating. It’s juvenile, but we believe that the small act of putting stickers on papers again would elicit a surprising amount of smiles even from teenagers.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Lazy, lazy Saturdays with nothing to do…so what did we do? We watched mindless cartoons, of course! Some are classics that withstand to this day (Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo) and some aren’t really around anymore (Dexter’s Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Recess, Pokémon, Sailor Moon), but they were all legitimately great time-wasters!

Disney Movies: Ah, the oh-so-illogical but oh-so-wonderful world of princesses, frogs, and knights in shining armor. Looking back on it, it may seem stupid, but we adored all of those classically animated Disney movies. There was Cinderella and her glass slippers, Snow White and her eccentric dwarves, Ariel and her lovable fish friends, Alice from Wonderland and the often partially invisible Cheshire Cat, and Belle and her ultimately endearing beast. All seemed so real in our little-girl minds. That imagination was a crucial part of our lives back then, and though maybe not quite as prominent, it’s still hiding somewhere.

Class Parties: Oh, the parties! Every holiday, the elementary parties were the highlight of everyone’s day. There were cupcakes frosted with the holiday color of choice, sugar cookies in cute shapes, every type of candy you could imagine, fruit punch in plastic cups, holiday-appropriate arts and crafts, and even treat bags to take home. And then there were those things specific to one holiday: dozens of valentines on St. Valentine’s Day, edible ornaments on Christmas, popcorn balls on Halloween, plastic eggs on Easter.

Plastic Jewelry: Chunky beaded bracelets and stretchy necklaces never go out of style. It’s been said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. I beg to differ. A girl’s real best friend knows that a trip to the mall must include exploring that familiar accessories store, Claire’s, on the hunt for plastic jewelry. No matter what age, I will stand by the statement that neither gold nor silver can come even close to delivering the satisfaction that takes place upon hearing rainbow colored bracelets slap against each other each time I raise my wrist to wave to a friend in the hall.

Hopscotch: It seems like activities have gotten progressively more complicated as we get older. What was once a game you played with the neighborhood kids after dinner turns into endless practices and hours spent conditioning as we move on to high school. Whatever happened to simple games like hopscotch? Picture dirty hightop sneakers bounding from square to square. The only requirements are a piece of chalk and a blacktop, and maybe a rock if you want to get fancy.

Coloring: What little kid doesn’t enjoy the glide of waxy crayons across images thickly outlined on the pages of a worn coloring book? Everyone had those Picasso moments. You know the kind. You would flip choosily through a dinosaur coloring book, gazing upon each picture before selecting a stegosaurus to fill in with yellows and blues and reds. You would concentrate as hard as your short attention span would allow, frowning when that ornery crayon strayed outside the lines, but once again smiling contently when your masterpiece was complete.

Pop Music: Even at the age of 16, I have no problem admitting that I blast Aaron Carter in my car. Remember how fun and full of life and puppy love old radio music used to be? The days of boy bands and bubblegum pop may be gone, but they are not forgotten. My iPod is chock full of the classics (no, not Beethoven and Mozart) like the Backstreet Boys, the epitome of inspiration for spastic fangirldom; *NSYNC before Justin Timberlake went solo; Hilary Duff, Disney’s original TV-star-turned-singer; Play, a textbook girl band; Christina Aguilera, granting wishes as a genie in a bottle; and Britney Spears in her “…Baby One More Time” days. Don’t deny that you still know all the words.

Take the anti-insult challenge

If you stop to think about it, you hear insults so many times on a daily basis that you couldn’t ever possibly keep track of it. High school is a constant wave of negative language, so much so that most people have developed “selective hearing” in regards to the majority of it. How many times has everyone heard (but not really listened to) the expressions, “That’s so gay!”  or “Don’t be such an idiot!” or “Shut up, nobody loves you?” Probably far too many. I know I have.

It’s tiring to hear such an immense amount of negativity—and many don’t even realize it. When you say something like that, it’s not a big deal for you. But do you have any idea of how many times the person on the receiving end of your snide comment has already heard such things that day? Do you stop to think that they might already be having an awful day and you are just adding to their stress? No, most likely not.

So naturally I got excited when I heard about No Name Calling Week. (Although it had already passed by that time, I still wanted to spread the word about it.) Honored during the last week of January, it was intentionally meant for grade schoolers, in an effort to reduce general harassment, name-calling, and bullying.  But don’t we high schoolers need a refresher course on those kinds of things too? Oftentimes we’re even worse than elementary kids are when it comes to insults!

It is a huge problem that is vastly ignored by everyone, and it shouldn’t be. Why do teachers crack down so much on curse words, but not things that can be even more hurtful to someone, things like common insults that no one really stops to think about?

Okay, okay, I can see you rolling your eyes at me. But I am serious. Try it—try not insulting anyone for an entire week. Heck, just try it for a day; I bet you can’t do it. But at least attempt to think before you say something that might hurt someone. It might make an enormous difference if you do.

I’m not an international spy

Everyone faces racism every day, everywhere, whether they realize it or not. I’m half Indian and half American. Ever since September 11, 2001, my mother, who is from India, and my sisters and I have faced everything from dirty looks to complete isolation. September 11th goes down in history as a day that affected every American. But because I’m a little more tan than my classmates, the event triggered a kind of racism in my life that I had never seen before.

My father’s mother was afraid to go out into public with my mother. She thought going on a long trip with her would put her in danger because people would think she was Muslim and attack my grandmother.

That’s severe compared to what happens to me. What I experience is mild compared to that. What really gets to me, though, is that people are so ignorant. Not every Muslim person is a terrorist. Plus, my mom and I are not even Muslim. We are Hindu, which is a completely different religion. People just judge by the color of our skin and assume that we’re an international threat.

I was in elementary school on September 11th. Even the young children called me “trash” and told me to go back to my “home country.” Well, excuse me, nine-year-olds, but my home country is the United States. We should all realize that no matter our color or race, we are all Americans. I’m sorry that my east coast accent sounds foreign to you, but I promise I am not an international spy at the age of nine.

Texting lingo you never knew you never knew

As technology becomes increasingly more active in our everyday lives, we have developed a culture for it that’s all our own. Example: the abbreviations used in text messages – the stuff that drives English teachers up the walls. You may be a devoted texter, but do you think you know the whole shebang? Test your skills with a list of texting lingo you never knew you never knew.

?4U ………………………………………………………………………….I have a question for you

143 ………………………………………………………………………….I love you

10X ………………………………………………………………………….Thanks

2G2BT ………………………………………………………………………Too good to be true

^5 …………………………………………………………………………..High-five

831 …………………………………………………………………………..I love you (8 letters, 3 words, 1 meaning)

AAK ………………………………………………………………………….Asleep at keyboard (or alive and kicking)

ADIP …………………………………………………………………………Another day in paradise

AIAMU ………………………………………………………………………And I am a monkey’s uncle

AYOR ………………………………………………………………………..At your own risk

BAG …………………………………………………………………………..Busting a gut

BEG …………………………………………………………………………..Big evil grin

BOLO …………………………………………………………………………Be on the look out

C4N ……………………………………………………………………………Ciao for now

DITYID ……………………………………………………………………….Did I tell you I’m distressed?

E2EG ………………………………………………………………………….Ear to ear grin

FC’INGO ………………………………………………………………………For crying out loud

HAC ……………………………………………………………………………Holy animal crackers

ILUM …………………………………………………………………………..I love you man

IWIAM …………………………………………………………………………Idiot wrapped in a moron

LOLH ………………………………………………………………………….Laughing out loud hysterically

MEH …………………………………………………………………………..Meaning a “so-so” or “just okay”

MNC …………………………………………………………………………..Mother nature calls

MTFBWU …………………………………………………………………….May the force be with you

n00b …………………………………………………………………………..Newbie

PU ……………………………………………………………………………..That stinks!

QTPI …………………………………………………………………………..Cutie pie

ST&D ………………………………………………………………………….Stop texting and drive

T+ …………………………………………………………………………….Think positive

TTFN ………………………………………………………………………….Ta ta for now

URA* ………………………………………………………………………….You are a star

VSC ……………………………………………………………………………Very soft chuckle

Y2K …………………………………………………………………………….You’re too kind

Z% ……………………………………………………………………………..Zoo

Abbreviations from Webopeida:  http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp

Texting takes away from reality

As technology progresses I have noticed that students (and even adults) will do anything to stay in touch with people through the school and work hours. Students texting under desks or even trying to find a new way to unblock their Facebook. Sometimes you can even catch an adult, who is supposed to be working, texting away as if there is nothing wrong with what they are doing. In the work world I do not think that students will be able to handle real world confrontations with their coworkers, bosses, and even clients.

I cannot help but wonder what the work environment will be like as I grow older. Today, if students cannot sit and actually pay attention in class for an hour and a half seven times a day, I wonder what they will do when they have jobs. Honestly, I do not think people will be able to handle work situations without getting the urge to text or check Facebook. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen someone get in a fight with someone else and instead of going up to them and work it out face to face they send a very apologetic text and everything is alright again. Though that may work in the high school world, I feel like that will not be very effective in the work world.

In the work world, I believe that since everyone seems to have their thumbs glued to their phones or computer, that being able to take a risk to make that big deal or give a presentation will be harder for my generation. Saying from experience, I know it is harder to deal with confrontations because all I want to do is pick up my phone and text it but I know that it will not go over so well in the work force. My future boss would expect me to be able to handle talking to someone face to face without any problems. For adults, getting caught texting on the job or trying to sneak onto Facebook could mean the end of a job or even in some cases a career. For students it means detention and sometimes a high consequence.

I never can really understand what students and adults feel is important that they have to sneak around and not get caught telling someone else. I honestly do not feel that taking a big risk to tell someone something that could wait until the end of the day is worth the consequences.

Illustration from www.clipart.com.

Athletics and sports square off

In the seventh grade, I had the pleasure of devoting hours of my gym periods toward stoking a lifelong passion for what were deemed “lifetime sports,” those that guaranteed participation even as I grew older. Among these included bowling, ping pong, and shuffleboard.

A sprite, young thing now, as I age I won’t be able to keep up the running regime I currently put my body through. At that time, however, thanks to the seventh grade, I’ll be able to fall back on my shuffleboard skills. Timeless.

I’ve come a long way since my ping pong table days, now though. Upon enrolling in high school, I entered the world of varsity athletics. While they may also fall under the name of varsity sports, I’ve come to notice a distinct difference between sports and athletics.

While one seems defined as recreation or pastime, the other conjures up images of feats of physical prowess, requiring both skill and stamina. There’s a reason noblesvilleschools.com lists a tab “Athletics,” instead of “Sports.” Call it Sports and suddenly it might be time for me to dust off those seventh grade shuffleboard skills.

There is no denying it though, that whatever they are, sports or athletics, students are becoming more active. Take for example the current referendum appearing in public forums around town this past month. What I thought was just a little public service announcement by the athletic director interrupting our cross country banquet is much, much more. Included in the proposal for tax spending is a push to increase or enhance classroom space. This includes the NHSMC physical education and health class area, or wing if you will.

According to the numbers provided at these public forums, physical education enrollment at the Main Campus increased by nearly forty percent in between this school year and last. Forty percent. That’s 254 more students enrolled in P.E. classes—that’s including optional classes like Aerobics or Advanced Physical Conditioning—for first semester than last year. Compare that with 13. That’s how much the enrollment grew between the previous two years. I look at that and see just how many more students have decided to embrace an active lifestyle, and therefore how much more attention should be paid to increasing that classroom space as this trend continues.

I’m throwing around words like “referendum” and phrases like “active lifestyle.” Perhaps I’m beginning to sound like a little public service announcement. But I am, after all, blessed with the knowledge of lifetime sports skills, thanks to my middle school gym teachers. For that, and for learning the difference between athletics and sports, and the chance Noblesville is giving other students like me to learn the same, I am eternally grateful. Put that on the end of your tetherball rope and hit it.

Twilight fan mania

I never thought I would ever be interested in a story based off of fantasy characters like vampires and werewolves. That’s just not the kind of novels I’m into. But after I read the impressive, captivating words printed and bounded in the novels written by Stephanie Meyer, I thought my life would never be the same. I was so compelled by her stories and I truly felt like I was living through each sentence I read.

Although the books were about 500 pages each, I didn’t dare put them down. I lingered off of every word craving the next and finished all four books in less than a week.

When the trailer for the move Twilight first aired, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I mean hello, my favorite book saga was being made into a feature film that included some pretty decent looking guys if I do say so myself. So of course I was one of those crazed fans waiting in line for the midnight premiere when the movie finally made its big debut. I had all this excitement and angst built up, I twiddled in my seat unable to keep still.

When the movie was over, I didn’t know what to think. I was left with this overwhelming feeling of disappointment. I had all of these false hopes and high expectations for the film that it didn’t live up to at all. Stephanie Meyer’s words in her novels were so detailed and descriptive it painted this picture inside my mind that the movie failed to display. It didn’t do the books justice at all.

Not long after the movie came out did the media hype start to run wild. The whole Twilight saga became too commercialized. Everything was Twilight, from backpacks to T-shirts, to folders and even Barbie dolls. I was going mad trying to forget that lingering feeling of disappointment I had pushed to the side of my mind.

The media has created this whole debacle over the drama of the actors and actresses in the movie. They go on and on about the cast’s relationship status’s and the drama on set. I hear more about what Robert Pattinson is doing than my own friend. The gossip and non-stop babble have ruined the effect and the realness of the books for me.

I guess I should be more accepting when it comes to the other crazed twilight fans, since I was in fact one of them, but they get on my nerves. I honestly can’t stand hearing about the sequel, New Moon. Every time I hear about it I cringe a little more on the inside. I don’t want to be reminded of it.

As if it wasn’t enough that the movies spoiled my Twilight craze, all the hype had to go and ruin it completely. In my desperate attempts to forget about the movies, I admit I have read the Twilight books more than twice. And every time I do I rekindle my inner Twilight craze only to have it damaged again by the nonstop fervor.

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