Early Graduates Look Forward to College

Jill Stanfield, senior, at a football game. Photo courtesy of Jill Stanfield.

While most students around Leesville have been counting down the days until Winter Break, a small group of seniors are counting down the days to the end of their high school careers.  The week of December 14-18 was the last of the year for the seniors graduating in January.

Graduating early and beginning college a semester before their fellow classmates may be a frightening thought for many in the Class of 2010, but Casey Hix, Jill Stanfield and Jesika Perkins, along with thirty two other seniors, are ready to take on the challenge.

Rather than filling her schedule with unnecessary electives, Perkins decided to use her time in high school efficiently: she took mostly core classes, and only had to take a fourth English class during her first semester to complete the graduation requirements

“I’m planning to start college on January 11,” said Perkins. “I want to go to school at DDC [Danville Community College] in Virginia, so I have to move and everything.  I didn’t want to waste my time here when I could go ahead and start working toward my future.” Read the rest of this entry »

News

Completing the graduation project

The completion of the Graduation Project was deemed optional at the end of the ‘08-‘09 school year.  However, approximately 30 students still chose to continue it with the assurance that they would receive a cord at graduation for its completion.
Recently, rumors have been going around that the cord has been replaced by a pin.
Wearing a [...]

State of the Union Focuses on Economy, Jobs

As expected, President Obama focused primarily on the economy in his State of the Union speech.  The overwhelming theme of the night was help for the middle class.  By proposing fixes to the economy and renewing his push for health care reform, the Obama administration hopes to help the middle class.  Other details of the [...]

Senior Exemptions Impacted by Waiver Requests

The senior exemption policy is one of the few privileges that seniors have over the rest of the student body. If a student has an A in a class he/she can miss up to 3 days of school, two absences for a B and one absence for a C to miss the class period’s exam.
Until [...]

Experts Predict: Housing Market will Continue to Suffer

The downward spiral of the housing market has left many people more than a little disheartened.
Despite the hopes of the market rising again soon, it is expected to take another turn for the worst.  The downward trek of the housing market has been said to be the worst since the Great Depression, hitting the economy [...]

Features

Sending Text Messages Correlated with Teen Car Crashes

I didn’t believe that this could happen to me is the common phrase said by teenagers nationwide. Parents warn their children about the dangers of poor driving, show videos, and turn on the news only to find another teenager dead in a car accident. Yet, teenagers find themselves  texting while driving despite a desperate plea [...]

Volunteering is not just for Impressing Colleges

Students are often pressured to volunteer by parents and clubs to satisfy the “Volunteer” section of the college application. Out of my four years of high school, I have probably accumulated over 300 hours of volunteer work. With every hour volunteered, I have learned more about myself and other people.
This Christmas season my co-workers and [...]

Unemployed Seek to Continue Education

In today’s economy, unemployment rates have reached all time highs.  As many people continue to unsuccessfully find employment, others have begun to turn towards continuing education as an alternative for work.
Continuing education refers to additional courses or programs taken to enhance personal or professional goals.  Unable to obtain work, the jobless figure that additional education [...]

Theme of Friendship Spans Generations

The Girls from Ames
“Tell me who you’re with, and I’ll tell you who you are.”
This Spanish proverb is quoted in the last pages of The Girls from Ames , a book by Jeffrey Zaslow, detailing the incredible forty year  friendship between eleven girls from a small town in Iowa.
Karla, Kelly, Marilyn, Jane, Jenny, Karen, [...]

Opinion

The Trader Joes Experience: Why I will Never Go Anywhere Else

I do not think I will ever shop at a regular grocery store ever again, that is, until Trader Joes’ trading hours cease to exist.
With a new location on Wake Forest Rd., opened on Oct. 30, the California grocer is now serving Raleigh with delicious food and great service.
1. The atmosphere
At Trader Joe’s, everyone is [...]

Top 10 Reasons to take Newspaper

Thinking about registering for Newspaper?  Consider these things first!
1)      You learn to never procrastinate.  Maybe you’ve gotten into that habit in other classes, but Newspaper, that’s a whole different story.  Staff writers never turn in late work—and missing articles—wow, that’s unheard of.  In fact, everyone finishes their articles the day they were assigned.  Sometimes even [...]

Gossip Girl a Popular Guilty Pleasure

The CW’s Gossip Girl is based on the book series by Cecily Von Ziegesar. The show gives New York’s elite Upper East Side basically the same polished treatment as The O.C. had given California’s Orange County. The series focuses on a group of terribly wealthy, unbelievably good-looking teens, all attending a high end prep school.
Gossip [...]

E-Readers are Limited by Technology, Publishers

By Pierre Lourens
Staff Writer
Reading, for me, is an experience I cherish; the smell of books, the sound of flipping pages, and the beautiful artwork and typography that are essential in transforming a manuscript into a novel are sometimes as important as the words penned inside.
For many of technology’s early adopters, however, this experience of reading [...]

Sports

Leesville Hockey Team

In the Pride’s opener the team’s offense started strong, led by Bobby Iannuzzelli, who scored three goals; overall the team would manage to put seven goals past the opposing goalie. The defense would prove to be shaky, allowing six goals, four coming in the third period. The Pride would be able to hang on to [...]

Baseball’s Sterioid Sensation

On January 10, 2010, Mark McGwire issued a widely distributed press statement in which he admitted to having used steroids intermittently throughout the 1990s.  
In an interview with the New York Times, McGwire explained that he felt obligated to make the disclosure before commencing his new batting coach position with the St. Louis Cardinals next month.
That [...]

Swimming & Diving season

The swimming and diving team has been living up to last year’s high standards.  They were undefeated last year and since the season started in November, the boy’s team has had three wins and one loss, which was a second place.  The girl’s team has also had three wins and one loss (second place).
The members [...]

Powder Puff Practices Overview

PRE-PRACTICE/POWDER PUFF MEETING
The players on each team became familiar with each other beginning on Oct. 1 when the Powder Puff meetings were held. The juniors, excited about the game, could not wait to get out on the field for the first time. The seniors, on the other hand, were eager to get back out on [...]