March 2006 - Malcolm Shabazz City High School, Madison WI

March 3, 2006 3Students Oppose Graduated Driver’s License LawBy Sarah Grannis & Kaley HansenEvery teenager looks with anticipation to the day theyreceive their driver’s license. But with every blessing comesa curse, as new drivers soon discover. They may be eager toSophomores Krista Stewart, Amanda Haise, Lauren Barlow, and Tarik OujjilalBy Cari HaugeAmerican Sign LanguageTeacher Michael Ginter wasin a serious beltline accidenton his way to schoolFebruary 8th.He was driving in the fastlane on the beltline and thecars ahead were coming to astop.After he stopped his carhe looked into his rear viewmirror and realized the carbehind him wasn’t going tostop.He quickly shifted thegear to neutral to soften thehit but the impact wasBy Nick KlawesEver wanted to build a robot? Shoota catapult? Fly an airplane that youbuilt yourself? If you ever have, theScience Olympiad might be an organizationfor you.The Science Olympiad is a scientificcompetition, events range frombuilding a plane or tower to taking difficulttests on subjects such as astronomyor nuclear physics.Most competitors are high schoolstudents of all grades, although there isalso a middle school division.La Follette has a strong ScienceOlympiad team, they placed secondoverall in state last year and did verywell in many individual events.The Science Olympiad to many sciencebrained students is similar to whatsports are to the athletic.The students who are involved inthe program put a lot of their time andeffort into building their models forcompetition and studying for academictremendous. The other carspun all the way to the farright lane and hit anothercar.Both cars flew into theditch, one of the cars barelymissing a light pole.The car was still drivableafter the accident and hecontinued on to La Follette.He told his first blockASL 4 class that he had beenin an accident. His studentscouldn’t believe it.“I thought he was kiddingor that it was an excuse forbeing late because he’salways joking around,”Senior Shary Mousley said.He tried to draw out apicture of the accident forhis students, but was havinga hard time.“I was still in the state ofshock. I returned to school,then after half an hour, Istarted to have a throbbingheadache and pain in theneck area” Ginter said.After persuasion from thestaff, Ginter went to theemergency room. After teststhe doctors told him he hadC-5 and C-7 spinus processavulsion fractures.This means that the musclesattaching to the spinewere torn out, causing fracturesto the bone. Though itevents.Most students involved in multipleevents practice or build at least two orthree times a week, many of the oldermore experienced competitors work ontheir events almost every day.Some students who are not involvedin the Science Olympiad might havetrouble understanding what makes itfun, why anyone would spend hoursbefore and after school tweaking a catapultor studying nuclear physics.“There’s no class you can takewhere you can learn that kind of application,”junior Ali Stace-Naughtonsaid. “You get to explore more intereststhat you don’t get to do as in depth inyour classes.”“You just kinda use what you learnin physics” senior Stu Slattery said.Many competitors like the fact thatthey learn things in Science Olympiadthey would not learn otherwise and thatthey get to use what they have learnedin more advanced applications.“Building catapults is fun,” Sciencetake a road trip to their friends’ houses or drive a couple ofpeople out to lunch, but these wishes have limitations due tothe Graduated Driver’s License Law (GDL).GDL in Wisconsin and several other states was designedto give teens more practice behind the wheel before theyPhoto by Sarah GrannisASL Teacher Mike Ginterin Car Accident Last Monthcan be healed, the processtakes months.Ginter has been out ofschool since the date of theaccident. He is unsure whenhe will return. “I don’t sitand teach, that’s the challenge”Ginter said.Before the accidentGinter felt a bad omen.“Within two weeks beforethe accident I was almost hittwice by my students”Ginter said.The first one was in theschool parking lot and thesecond was at Walgreen’s.Both students were drivingwith cell phones.Science Students Showoff at RegionalsTeam that placed second at state last year has eyes on top prizeOlympiad coach and physics teacherJames Reichling said. “More fun thanteaching physics sometimes.”The hard work of the students andteachers involved in the ScienceOlympiad will pay off soon, thestate competition is on April 22 and thevarious events are almost ready.The Science Olympiad has alreadycompeted once this year at regionals onApril 4th.The events that competed did quitewell, not all events could compete,some because they were not ready yetand others because there was notenough time for all teams and events.Those that did not get a chance tocompete at regionals are waiting andgetting ready to show their work atstate.The Science Olympiad is a funextracurricular event, anyone interestedshould talk to Charles Chapin inA24 or Reichling in A30receive a regular driver’s license. It was put into effect in2000 and, according to data from the Wisconsin Departmentof Transportation, car accidents involving teens havedecreased by fifteen percent.Despite those facts, many teens complain that GDL isunnecessary. Many teenage drivers openly admit to not followingGDL laws. Under GDL, a driver is not allowed anymore than one other passenger in the vehicle (with theexception of immediate family members or qualified adults)and is not allowed to drive between midnight and five a.m.with a few exceptions (driving to or from school, work, orhome).Many students claim that GDL is an inconvenience.Junior Kylie Hodges disagrees with the law.“I don’t know how to put it gently, but no, I don’t followGDL. I haven’t since the first week I got my license,” shesaid.Hodges is annoyed that GDL limits the number of passengersin a vehicle. While the law is only applicable for thefirst nine months, Hodges feels it’s ineffective and a burden.“It’s inconvenient. If two people want to go somewherewith me, they’re not supposed to. Having one extra personin the car isn’t going to kill me,” Hodges said.If teens break GDL, they are disciplined with points ontheir license to every ticket or conviction they receive. Atotal of twelve to thirty points within the first year can resultin the license being suspended for six months. If a teen driverreceives more than thirty points on their license within thefirst year, their license is suspended for twelve months.Whether the rules are fair or not, teens are required to followthe rules of GDL if they’d like to receive their regulardriver’s license. GDL isn’t fun, but the sooner teens get itover with, the sooner they can go drive with all their friendspacked in their car.Awesome AutoShow In ChicagoBy Nikki ElgasStudents of all grades from the Business Education,Auto-Mechanics, and Independent Living classes at LaFollette attended the Chicago Auto-Show on WednesdayFebruary 15, 2006.Miles Tokheim, auto-mechanics teacher, also attendedthe auto-show. “We were there for three hours, and therestill wasn’t enough time to see everything,” he said.The show modeled 100,000 vehicles from 540 dealerships.The auto-show had cars ranging from the modernChevrolet to the Macerate and the Bentley-Royce. Theshow also featured many concept cars, such as the conceptCamero.There are five categories of cars to look for at the show:Best All-New Vehicle, Best Concept, Best Exhibit, BestChicago “World Introduction”, and Vehicle You MostWant to See in Your Driveway.One of the main categories featured at the auto showwas the new line of hybrid cars, which run on less gasolinemaking them more economical than most of the vehicleson the road today.Muscle cars were also featured, along with cars frommovies such as the mustang that Vin Diesel drove in TheFast and the Furious.Many of the concept cars are highly technologicallyadvanced, which also means, if they make the road, theywill be highly priced. “All of the concept cars were cool,”sophomore Zach Peters said.The trip to the auto show was intended to be a fun andexciting, learning experience for aspiring business ownersand mechanics. The teachers intended to inform studentsof the hard work and planning that goes into having a caron paper and transforming into one that is driven on theroad.3:50 AnnouncementSilenced By MeissenBy Amanda SmithThe 3:50 announcement after school everyday wasused to clear the students out of the school who neitherwas with a teacher nor in a sport or other supervised location.This announcement has been discontinued because ofthe lack of success and tone of the message.Principal Mike Meissen thought that the announcementwas unwelcoming. La Follette’s community means a lot tohim, and he thought that the announcement didn’t helpbuild community.