Obama or Romney? - St Paul's High School

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6Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012John MatthewEditor-In-ChiefHow was your summer?My summer was spent movingout of our house in Winnipeg andheading to Houston. I landed inHouston on the 18 th of July. I livedin an apartment next to Strake Jesuit(they purchased the apartmentcomplex this spring) for six weeksuntil we moved into our new house.The rest of my family moved downjust prior to starting school at theend of August.How are you and your familyenjoying Houston?We are enjoying our new adventurefor the most part. Our girls reallymissed their friends for the firstfew weeks, but they have met newpeople at their respective schoolsand through their activities.Have you had a chance to checkout any of the recreationalactivities available (such asfootball or baseball games, thetheatre district, or shoppingmalls), yet?Due to the seasons of the sports Iam involved with, I really haven’tseen too much of Houston. Wetook a day with our family totake in the Houston Zoo (our girlslove animals), but that’s aboutit. Our house has a pool and ourneighbourhood is very nice, so wehave swam/hung out by the pool,walked, biked, etc. Our girls swimfour to six days a week, so we arebusy with school and activities.We’re hoping to venture out once webecome more settled and have somefree time away from our activities.It was 31 degrees Celsius here today(I see it’s currently raining and 7degrees in Winnipeg), so we enjoythe weather quite a bit.We do have family friends visitingnext weekend, so we are going to aTexans/Bills game on Sunday. Thatshould be a good time, although Ihaven’t quite jumped on the Texans’bandwagon yet. It should still be agreat experience.What are you teaching at yournew school?I’m wearing a few different hatsat Strake Jesuit. I’m the AssistantSchool NewsIn Touch with Mr. WatsonDean of Students (kind of like adeputy here as there is a sheriff/Dean of Students as well), HeadWrestling Coach, DefensiveCoordinator of the Varsity FootballTeam, teacher of Freshmen Algebra(that’s right boys & girls…Watsonis teaching Freshmen Algebra),and the principal of Strake Jesuit’ssummer school. Not all jobs areperformed at once, but let’s just sayI’m not sitting around too often.Are you involved in any extracurricularactivities at your newschool (is there wrestling team)?See above…I am currently coachingboth sports simultaneously becausethe wrestling season starts November15th and we still have three regularseason games left in our footballseason.Are there any similarities betweenyour new school and St. Paul’s?There are a ton of similaritiesbetween Strake Jesuit and St.Paul’s. Our Mass of the Holy Spiritstarted the school year (we’ll havea number of masses throughoutthe school year), we’re all boys(although the neighbouring girlsschool come over to Strake Jesuitand take classes with our guys), wehave the Examen everyday, there’sJUG (we call it PH here…short forPenance Hall), our cafeteria (wecall a Dining Hall) is crazy at lunchwith hungry guys trying to get to thefront of the line (Seniors get to cutin front of everyone here…exceptfor teachers), our guys have a dresscode (although it’s pretty relaxedhere…no shorts though)…so as youcan see there are a ton of similarities.That’s just a few.Would you like to share some ofyour highlights or memories fromyour time at St. Paul’s?I don’t have a great memory (toomany concussions, not that bright,or a combination of the two), butI would suggest my interactionswith a ton of good people throughthe activities and roles I held areprobably the most memorable. Ihave met some quality people andhave experienced some tremendousthings simply because I wasinvolved/associated with St. Paul’sHigh School. From El Salvador, towrestling…from crazy ol’ man Mr.Franz to Grumpy Joe our belovedcaretaker…I have some qualitymemories.Is there anything else that youwould like to add or say to thestudents of St. Paul’s?Good luck with your school yearand the activities you have chosento become involved with. Enjoythe experience of the school andwhat it’s providing you. Take pridein the role you have in making St.Pau’s High School the great placeit is. You have a responsibility toensure it stays that way.My final two pieces of advicewould be to take it easy on the Mr.Stadnyk jokes (I can’t believe theschool allowed the JV Footballteam to wear orange socks??) anddon’t take investment advice fromMr. Harder’s economics students.We hope you are enjoying yournew location and we wish you allthe best.Thank you for the opportunity tosay “hello” through the CrusaderNews…please recycle properly afterreading (Mrs. Louizos shouldn’thave to pick up hundreds of copiesfrom the cafeteria). It’s been apleasure checking in. If you’re everin Houston (sorry no direct flightsfrom Winnipeg), drop me a line…we MAY be able to find some roomfor you to bunk in with the Watsons(everyone except you Drouin…thegrocery bill would be too high)!
Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012School NewsEditor’s Report Card: Project CruAn in-depth analysis of the school’s first danceJordan SinderEditor-In-ChiefAdvertising – B+The Student Council didquite a commendable job advertisingfor Project Cru, the school’sfirst dance of the year. Similar tothe 35th Annual Walk, the bulletinboard was used fairly effectively,there were a few easily identifiableposters around the school, and allof the students knew where ticketswere being sold. “Project Cru”, theactual name of thedance, was quiteeffective becauseit was catchy andeasy to remember,and sponsored studentsfrom otherschools could easilyassociate Cruwith St. Paul’s. Theonly negative aspectwas the qualityof the posters. Thepicture was fairlypixilated, and theydid not stand out aswell as they couldhave. Nevertheless,advertising for thedance was very good.Attendance – C+The dance was attended fairlywell. In fact, the Student Councilsold over six-hundred tickets, nearlycompletely selling out the event.In regard to attendance by gender,there were a few dozen more femalesthan males. Other than St.Paul’s, most of the students werefrom St. Mary’s and Balmoral Hall.The remainder of attendees weresponsored females from differentschools. The one significant issuewith the attendance, however, wasthe grade distribution. While therewere 120 students from Grade 9,there were a mere thirty or so Grade11 students. Perhaps making theevent more exclusive would attractmore of the older grades. The Semi-Formal proposed last year duringthe campaign of Eddie Sherlock andSimon Garfinkel probably wouldachieve proper grade distribution.Overall, the Student Council shoulddirect more attention to attendancefor the next dance.Organization – A-Project Cru was thoroughlyorganized. The dance started andended at the right time, the DJ waswell-prepared, and the canteen waswell-managed. In addition, the coatand purse check were an effectiveway of keeping students’ belongingssafe and easy to manage. Onearea of improvement, though, dealswith the entry into the event. Whenthe doors open, there was a long lineof people, and the admittance wasa very slow process. In result, studentswere forced to wait outside inthe cold. For example, it would bemuch more efficient if admittancewas divided up into grades. Moreover,students should be funneledinto a hallway instead of having towait outside in the cold. Nevertheless,the organization was more orless flawless.Student Behaviour – CStudent behavior is undoubtedlythe lowest point of the dance.First of all, so-called acts of intimacyare not necessarily a bad thing,but there is a major issue when innocentfemales are essentially objectifiedand abused. In addition, theissue is even more significant whenthe school receives phone calls fromconcerned and complaining parents.In addition, this dance was the firsttime an eye washing station had tohave been used. Some people hadchemicals flung in their eyes as aresult of a few students opening theglow sticks and throwing around theliquid. Clearly, the student behaviorand representation of the schoolwas, to an extent, disappointing andembarrassing as a result of the actionsof a few students.Music – BThe music at ProjectCru was generallyvery good. The DJwas obviously wellqualifiedand very experienced.Althoughhe cut out most of theprofanity and swearwords in the songs,some of his selectionswere still a little inappropriatefor a schoolevent. For example,the DJ chose to playthe dirty remix of“Teach Me How toDougie”, for instance,which was certainly frowned uponby the dance organizers. In addition,many students regretted the lack ofslow songs. For future dunces, itwould also be a nice touch to eitherhave an alumni DJ, or student DJ.DJ Kaps and Infectus Music are twogreat examples. Nevertheless, themusic was very good.Overall – BIn general, the first dancewas a quite good. The pre-event advertisingwas run fairly well, therewere a high number of attendants, itwas well-organized, and the musicwas above average. Aside from afew significant behavioral issues andthe poor grade distribution, most ofthe aspects of Project Cru were extremelypositive. Overall, the year’sfirst dance was a memorable event,and hopefully the Student Councilcan organize their proposed Semi-Formal for Term 2.7
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Obama or Romney? - St Paul's High School

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