Academics

Why Writing Will Help You Go Far in Life

By: Keely Ridlen

Most high schoolers hate hearing the words, “essay due next week”. What is going through most high schoolers minds is, “crap what am I going to write on this paper, I am not even good at writing”. I used to be one of those people until last year. I found out that I really like to write, it is a way to express my feelings on paper. Sometimes putting is not your feelings into words is not an easy thing to do. It can be difficult to use words that clearly get your point across. Using slang sentences like “she is so perf. That man has a lot of swag,” is not acceptable for school essays.

When you write enough times you will make improvements and get better with each assignment. Writing will help  in the long run with getting a job or get into college. It would be a good idea to put together a portfolio of all your writing, and will show the improvements you have made over your high school years.  

When you are applying for a job, depending on the job, the interviewer might ask you for some reasons to hire you. Good writing skills might be something they are looking for.For example, teachers, journalists, scientists, and business people all need to write as part of their jobs. Therefore, it is a good idea to start improving your writing skills now in order to be a successful later.

Career and Life Planning

Destiny Peffly

Career and Life Planning is a class offered at Chaparral. It  helps students get prepared for the future, and make decisions on life choices. Such as, what kind of career interests you and if you have the skills and education for the career, how to get your priorities straight, and which values are most important to you. The class also helps you to manage your time.

Chaparral’s instructor for this class is Mrs. Allen. This is the fourth year she has been teaching here. last quarter the students in the Career and Life Planning they had done a project on the two careers that interest them the most. They had to write a two to three page essay about the career. They were given a week to get the reports finished and present them to the class. They also learned about how their decisions affect not only them but the people around them and how to make correct choices to live a positive lifestyle. The class focuses on your life, to teach the students how to live life more effectively, and to teach your responsibility.

I recommend students to take this class if they want to learn more about careers and planning their lives more effectively and positively. The class is a only a semester class, however it is filled with helpful information about setting goals.

What is PSAT Test?

By: Jake Hysom

A PSAT is a Preliminary SAT, which helps out with your scholarships, college, pretty much everything. 3.6 million students take the PSAT test, and that is each year, worldwide. The PSAT is a math and vocab test. The main meaning of PSAT is Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Usually, high schoolers take the test, but sometimes, junior high schoolers, take the test.

The highest score for the PSAT is 240, according to records, no one can reach this score. This test was created in 1997. A myth that has been around for the PSAT, that if you get a high score, you are the worlds smartest person. This, as most myths, is fake. Anyone can be capible of being smart, you just have to just study. If people usually study, they should get high scores, and high scores mean better results.

Having a great score on your PSAT test can result in scholarships, and good job, college, and much more. Usually, it can also lead to university's. But, popular belief, if you fail your test, you won't get far in life, that is a lie. Many people, have dropped out of school, and failed the test, but they go pretty far, and a great example of this is Steve jobs.

Biology

By: Denver Hartson

Biology is a required class for the Sophmores. There is a lot of different things teachers do with their students in biology. Mrs Fallis is the biology and advanced biology teacher here at Chaparral. Also she Is a lot of the students favorite teacher. She plans a lot of fun activities and labs for the students to interact with to help understand subjects. Mrs. Fallis has been the biology teacher at chaparral for a long time and most of her past students know about the leaf project.

The leaf project is a project for the biology classes where you have to collect a minimum of 30 leafs out of the required list she gives you. It has been a big project in the biology classes since she has been teaching here at Chaparral. Mrs. Fallis really enjoys teaching all her biology students. She gets involved with them in all of the KISS competitions and other activities.

She is a favorite teacher to a lot of the  students at Chaparral and she has been here almost the longest out of all the teachers. So if you don't have Mrs. Fallis you can look forward to her biology class in your upcoming years!

New Year New Rules

By: Emerald Young

In the previous year the only eligibility policy that Chaparral High School  had was the one that the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) had in place. Their policy is every student had to pass five new subjects every semester to be able to participate in activities and athletics for the next semester. A lot of schools have something stricter  than this in place but CHS didnt. Well that is until this year. In this new school year there is a weekly eligibility policy.

The reason of this change in policy is that many students would let their grades go down until the end of the semester, causing them to fail classes that whole semester. At the last minute students would try to get their grade up so they could pass the class and stay eligible for the next semester of school. That strategy was difficult to do, so those students would end up failing the class and not earn the credits they need to graduate. As a result in students had to take online classes so they could gain the credits they missed because of failing classes. Having weekly eligibility makes all the students accountable to be passing all of their classes every week instead of each semester to participate in activities and athletic events.

The eligibility policy is one of the reasons why we now have an activity period, but it is not the only reason. This year CHS does not have a Zero Hour. In the past years, zero hour was a time at the beginning of the day so students who were failing could meet up with their teachers and get the help they needed. The problem with zero hour being in the morning was that a lot of students slept in and didn't come to school earlier to use this opportunity to raise their grade. This year the activity period is in between 3rd and 4th hour. This way everyone is already at school and can now use the time to meet up with teachers and catch up on missing or failing grades. Students who are not behind in any classes are able to use the activity period to go to meetings for clubs they are in at Chaparral.

A student becomes ineligible when they are failing a class or classes. Then stay ineligible for one whole week, Sunday through Saturday. Grades are checked each and every Thursday. If the student is not failing the class that caused them to be ineligible, they are eligible the following Sunday. If that student is still failing the class that caused he or she to be ineligible, they stay ineligible until that grade raises to passing in that class. Time will tell if this new eligibility policy will work out better than the one from last year. The first time for any change in any kind of policy is difficult as the students adjust to the change. It might take a few years or so to really see if this policy is working or not.

Mr. Kerschen: a Fun, Loving Teacher, with an Amazing Voice!

By: Kyi Craig

Mr. Kerschen is the choir teacher for the Anthony-Harper School district. He has four kids, Stephen, Andrew, John Paul, and Ann Marie. Mr. Kerschen grew up five miles north of Cunningham, Kansas. Then went to school there from grades K-12. He was born and raised a farmer and knows how to moon walk. So if you want to know how to moonwalk go to him! Mr. Kerschen is passionate about his work. He had lots of friends and family members who did support him when deciding on a degree. So he ended up becoming a choir in the Fall of 2008. Mr. Kerschen really enjoyed music in school and had great music teachers to help out. They always made him feel good about his abilities. "I love to sing and always have. I guess I wanted to do something that I loved and brought me much happiness and joy" Mr. Kerschen says smiling. "Being a musician has always been a goal of mine." he continued. Mr. Kerschen has always wanted to be better and have the opportunity to perform. Being a teacher allows him to give back to others and to be that musician he always wanted him to be.

As a teacher Mr. Kerschen has a few expectations from his students.The included, having a positive attitude, a strong work ethic,being responsible,ect. In college Mr. Kerschen performed in a musical called "Once Upon a Mattress." and is now directing this years musical called Seussical by Dr. Seuss. "This is a fun show," Mr. Kerschen says, "there are lots of characters." The musical has a comic feel to it and with the music it just adds to the effect. Mr. Kerschen was also thinking about doing something else like "Once Upon a Mattress" or "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown." but didnt because the company that supports the CHS musical didn't have those shows.

At Chaparral High School the "Seussical Musical" will be shown in front of the school and the community on the 21st and 22nd of November. Chaparral Singers is encouraging everyone to come out and support those who are participating. The characters and people who play the leads are Sour Kangaroo (Hatti Spicer), Horton (Alphonse Guerrero), and Gertrude (Hope Clark).

Cynthia is Back!

By Jarret Fox

She's back!  Cynthia Clark is now back as the CHS Band percussion teacher.  Mrs. Clark will also be alongside the new band teacher, Alyssa Lada.  (More about her in the post by Joseph Fisher.)  Mrs. Clark is now back after three years of departure.

This year Mrs. Clark has created a new fun-filled and fast-acting drumline cadence based off the one used by other high schools in the state of Texas, in hopes of increasing the enthusiasm of the crowd.  Mrs. Clark is wanting to bring back the fun and "razzle-dazzle that all high school drumlines need.  This year, Mrs. Clark's Drumline will have an array of percussion instruments.  This includes snare drums, tenor drums, quads, bass drums, and cymbals.  The Drumline will start practicing on Sunday evenings.

Come see the new and improved Chaparral High School Drumline play at the home football and basketball games.  Also come watch the Drumline play at the 9/11 Memorial Ceremony in Anthony.  We are hoping to see you there.

NEW USD 361 BAND TEACHER

By Joseph Fisher

This past year we lost a beloved band teacher, Mr. Jervis.  He was with us for three years before he had to depart with no prior warning to his students.  But we have ended up on a happy note. We have a brand new band teacher, Mrs. Lada, who has kindly accepted to teach the students of our school district.  We are also welcoming the return of Cynthia Clark (more in article by Jarret Fox).   Mrs. Lada comes from Wichita to teach us some new and improved instrumental skills.

She plans to make the CHS band great by improving students skills and helping them one on one if they need it.  By doing this, it will greatly improve the band.  We are planing to do a new and improved light show Friday October 30th at the football game for all CHS students and their parents.

   

She is also teaching the jazz band some awesome new funkey songs.  Get your groove on at the CHS band concerts this year.  See the marching band at all upcoming football and basketball games, and march in Arkalala.