Jul 28, 2016
by Elizabeth Roquemore
The FCS club recently received some great news! The club finished its fundraising efforts to build a fresh water well in Swaziland Africa. The FCS club, WHS students, WHS teachers, and several local businesses raised a total of $6,600 to help a needy village have clean drinking water. It took Mr. Daniels and his FCS leaders a year and a half to raise the money, but they are so glad to be serving a needy community. Mr. Daniels has been quoted saying, “most people around the world live on less than $1 per day and many of those people don’t have access to clean drinking water, so it’s important our students at Woodlawn High understand try to help as much as possible.” The nonprofit organization building the water well is Children’s Cup. Please visit this website to see how they help needy communities in Africa and Central America: www.childrenscup.org . WHS also wants to recognize the following local businesses that donated to the Water Well Project. They are as follows: Baker Printing, Rockstar Racing, Chick-fil-a, and Alexander’s Fresh Market. The well should be completed in May so be ready for some photos of the finished product before we get out of school!
FCS stands for (Fellowship of Christian Students) and for over 5 years Mr. Daniels, a social studies teacher at Woodlawn High, has sponsored the club. Everyone is invited to visit FCS if they so choose, regardless of their beliefs. FCS shares a positive Christian message, but Muslim, Jewish, and even atheist students have visited and enjoyed their experience. It is important the club follows Separation of church and state laws so the club only meets during lunch, and it is definitely optional. FCS meets once or twice per month during both 1st and 2nd lunch shifts, and they usually have snacks. The final FCS meeting of the year will be Friday April 22, and all students are invited.
The picture you see are of the $6,600 check presentation to Children’s Cup. Mr. Daniels wants to thank his FCS leaders for their sincere dedication to the club – Miles Graeser, Brian & Ryan Williams, Kathryn Candia, Katelyn Holmes, and Janelle Carwile.
Jul 14, 2016
by Rebecca Aguilar
Woodlawn’s Pro-start is starting a vegetable garden. It is the first time Chef Oubre and his students will have a vegetable garden at Woodlawn High.
Pro-Start is working to keep this garden year round; that means they are going to replant the garden two, three, or more times a year. Right now, winter vegetables are going to be planted; this includes cabbage, broccoli, carrots, pole beans, collard greens, etc. Most of the plants typically take 6-8 weeks to grow, and if the weather stays good, it is more likely the first vegetables are going to be ready for late November.
So what are they going to do with these vegetables? Chef Oubre is planning to incorporate them into the class. The students who are involved with Pro-Start are going to be able to take some vegetables home and cook something during the weekend. Chef Oubre said this will only happen if no one tries to steal or damage the vegetables, and if they actually grow.
If you are asking yourself how Chef Oubre is able to do this, Angello’s landscaping company is donating wood, a special soil mixture that helps vegetables grow, and other materials. It is very important because what Chef Oubre is trying to do is let students go outside the classroom and have ownership of something. He hopes students are going to be able to try new things, try something healthy, because what students usually eat is junk food and candy.
The students right now are getting ready to start a real meal diet, which is a diet based on fresh vegetables and meat; they are also getting ready for the Hot Food Competition. This competition is in March, where if the students win 1st place, are going to win a scholarship of $40,000 dollars per person, but each team can only have four students and one adult. One part is the Hot Food Competition where the students have to cook and the second part is in a restaurant; if the students win the state competition in March, they get to go to Dallas for the national competition. The vegetables grown in the garden will help support their practice for this competition. Good luck with the vegetable garden and the competition!
Jul 14, 2016
by Sarah Hayden
This year’s Beta Club has really taken off thanks to the sponsors Mrs. Fentress and Ms. Ortego; they want to bring the club up by really focusing on making the students give back to the community and building leadership amongst students.
When Beta Club started, any student could join as long as they had a 2.5 GPA, but now the club is looking to raise that standard, even though the National Beta Club does not require a set GPA. The club is already starting their volunteer activity with the ALS Walk to Remember. They are also putting on a canned food drive this Thanksgiving. One new event Beta Club is looking forward to is going to the State Convention in Lafayette. This will be the first time Woodlawn’s Beta Club has ever been to this event. Mrs. Fentress says that the biggest goal for the club is to grow and become the type of club Beta should be. When people look at coming to Woodlawn, they should look to Beta club being one of those contributing factors of why they want to come. Beta club also has officers who help make decisions and guide the club. The president of the club is Hayden LeBlanc, the vice president is Melissa Grant, and Jarielle Johnson is the secretary.
The best part of Beta Club this year is the sense of belonging to a club and teamwork. Beta Club is very accepting of each other and wants to help build people up. They get to put themselves in other people’s positions and see how lucky they are to have what they have and look to help others in their community.
Jul 14, 2016
by Mya Kremin
Several new classes have been added to our school this year. Two of the classes are AP Government and Politics and Newspaper. These courses provide a different pace and offer different materials to fit the students’ academic performance. The newly added AP course is a college course that prepares students for college. If students pass the AP test at the end of the year, then they do not have to take that particular course in college. In Newspaper, students write about events happening in school.
The 10th grade Civics/Government and Politics teacher, Mrs. Smoorenburg, otherwise known as Ms.Smoo, said she is stressed about the addition of AP, but she is happy to teach it. The advice she has for her students to pass: study, read, review, and participate. “You have to put forth effort out of class and at home with your notes and books.” An AP course is a college course and that is how she treats it. “Professors don’t baby you. They expect that if they told you to get 15 books for the class and they never reference any in class, you are still responsible for it on the test.” Ms. Smoo highly encourages students to take AP courses, but only if they are willing to put in the work. She stated, “Only those who have a good work ethic and put in the work every day” should elect to take an AP course. It takes hard work and dedication to pass. If students are thinking about taking an AP course next year, then they better hit the books and remember that hard work pays off in the end.
Newspaper is taught by Ms. Rozier, who is also an advanced English teacher. Students receive a topic, write about it, and then get published to the Woodlawn website. This course allows students to express their view points and their thoughts about Woodlawn happenings and beyond. These topics might include any upcoming Woodlawn events, a review, a creative piece such as a poem, or an interview with a student or faculty member. The newspaper allows the student body to know about upcoming events, or details about events they might have missed. The students in newspaper say they are excited for the year and hope to publish papers people enjoy reading.
Jul 14, 2016
by Lillian Khemmanyvong
This year Mr. Spruill is sponsoring the physics club “Club TACWACA” (The Awesome Club Without A Cool Acronym). The club is open to anyone who is interested, although there is one requirement: you have to be approved by either Mr. Spruill himself or your current science teacher. Club TACWACA, as Mr. Spruill explains it, is more about allowing students to be themselves and letting them to feel like they can do anything. “It’s sort of like everybody’s ‘ok’ zone. It’s ok to come and be super nerdy, and no one is ever going to make fun of you. We want people to feel that they can do whatever and that’s ok, and that’s what they do.” The club helps students explore science. It allows them to explore ideas and concepts they cannot learn in a regular science classes. The students have the opportunity to have a hands on experience like taking apart a dishwasher, washing machine, programming computers, and electric circuits. It helps the students understand how things work and how they are used; the skills learned and used in the club help give them an edge and more of an understanding about science for college if they want to go into Science Engineering.
Although this is a physics club, it seems as though it is more about making student feel like they fit in and are not left out. It is clear that Club TACAWACA encourages students to be themselves, and do whatever they do best or want to try. A message from Mr. Spruill to students who might want to join the club, “Just come. We are that no bully zone kind of thing. What the students will tell you is, just come and do whatever it is you do. If you draw, we have something for that, if you work on physics stuff, we have something for that. This is your chance to be you, don’t be afraid, just show up and we will find something for you.” Club TACAWACA meets every Thursday from 2:30-4:30 and is open to anyone who is willing to show off who they are and what they can do.
