Veteran’s Day marks special FBLA Fun at Elementary time for Sauer BY JESSICA WADE For many people around the country, Veteran’s Day is just another day. They might hear about it on the news or see it printed on a calendar. They might think about what it means for a moment, but then they continue on with their lives. They go back to work, change the channel, finish drinking their coffee and forget about what it all means until next year. However, this is not the case for every- one, especially for veterans like Hank Sauer. Sauer, who has driven one of the Yutan Public School buses for nearly 15 years, served in the Navy Submarine Service and he truly understands the meaning of Veteran’s Day. “Veteran’s Day is the day set aside by our government to honor our veterans,” Sauer said. “It is probably one of the most important days to a veteran. It brings a lot of memories back, a lot of sorrow.” Sauer said that the community shows its support by attending fundraisers and fish fries, by participating in youth programs PUMPKIIN PAINTING FUN - Senior Boston Rew visits with third grader Ellie Lloyd after she paints a pumpkin for Halloween. Rew and the other such as the Voice of Democracy contest FBLA members went to the elementary the week of Halloween to assist with pumpkin painting. They also played games while they were there. Pho- tograph by Megan Wade. Continued on Page 4 Community immediately learns news Veik assumes Social media impacts school role of school’s BY JESSICA WADE to the world has changed how information students and the community informed. activities director is developed and shared. News can travel A few members of the staff, including At the end of 2013 roughly 1.2 billion around the world within seconds, and it is activities director Doug Veik, maintain the BY JULIA KENNEDY people were using Facebook worldwide and the same with small communities. Yutan High School’s Twitter account. around 255 million people are currently us- More and more high schools are turning “You can share [information] with the When it comes to stepping up to the ing Twitter. The introduction of social media to social media as a way to keep the staff, community instantly,” Veik said. “It’s a lot plate, you have to be confident and ready more instantaneous, but at the same time to perform your best. When Andy Timm, you have to be a lot more careful.” former athletic director, decided not to re- The account is used to keep the student turn, Doug Veik experienced what it’s like body and community informed on sports to step up and take his place. games and activities as well as other news While everyone is watching sporting involving the school. events and cheering on their child, Veik is @YutanChieftains currently has 346 working to keep things running smoothly followers; senior Christian Kazos is one with lots of time and commitment. Vol- of them. leyball needs line judges and softball needs “If a game is far away, you don’t have announcers and scoreboard operators. It may to text people to find out the scores,” Kazos be a scramble to make sure schedules are said. “Instead of having to go out and buy a right or entries are put in the computer, but newspaper you can just pull out a phone.” being organized is the key. Social studies and history teacher Lyle For 12 years, Veik has been teaching Mead agrees that social media can help information technology, accounting and students stay connected to the school. seventh and eighth grade keyboarding. But “I think that it can be helpful for a now in addition to teaching these classes, teacher to use Twitter if the kids are going to he also has to do all his work as the new use it as a mode of information,” Mead said. athletic director. He said it has been an English teacher Ginger Eikmeier said that social media is convenient when finding Continued on Page 8 out news about the school. “With the district cross country meet I was wondering how the team did,” Eikmeier See What’s said. “A parent had posted the scores on Inside............ Facebook, so I didn’t have to wait until the next day at school to find out.” Pages 2-4: Despite the obvious benefits of social media, Eikmeier stresses the importance of Reviews/Opinion thinking about the consequences of what is Pages 6-7: being shared. “Students sometimes reveal too much Superstitions information about themselves and they Pages 8-10: sometimes don’t see the boundary of what Sports/Activities Continued on Page 7 Homework should remain in schools of homework. Debates on the best way to educate their child’s education, but boils down to de- other developed countries, they rank in the If parents and education policy makers American children have always been a hot veloping children into well-educated, fully middle of the pack. would like to catapult American students button issue, especially when comparing functioning adults who can further society. The middle of the pack, which is av- to higher rankings, something in U.S. America’s academic test scores to the test It is important that U.S. children receive erage, is not a bad place to be, but since school systems is going to have to change, scores of other countries. Over the years, a quality education in today’s fast-paced, the U.S. likes to be considered the best at but they should not get rid of homework U.S. schools have updated their curriculum highly competitive world. Jobs are be- everything, average is not acceptable. The assignments. If anything, policy makers to stay competitive, and most recently, coming harder to come by as technology academically top ranked countries like should consider putting more emphasis on policy makers and parents have turned a advances and more jobs are outsourced to China and Korea tend to stress the impor- the importance of completing homework critical eye to the importance of homework third-world countries. When U.S. students tance of hard work to their students from assignments. in a child’s education. are academically compared to students of an early age, which typically involves lots According to a MetLife survey, the typi- cal American student works on homework for 30 minutes a school day and has an additional hour of homework to take home at night. While 77 percent of students in grades K-12 surveyed said that they con- sider homework important to their learning process, homework critics consider a large portion of students’ homework to be busy work. Homework is an important part of a student’s learning process. It would be im- possible for students to learn new material without reading a textbook or listening to a lecture. Homework assignments ensure that students will see the information they will be tested on multiple times. The qual- ity of homework assignments may be more important than quantity, but even busy work has a place in the curriculum. Having an excessive amount of home- work assignments to complete may cause students stress, but stress is good for students because it pressures them to try harder, which is a fact proven by the MetLife survey. Students who said in the survey that they felt more stressed about completing homework assignments tended to have higher grades than students who did not feel stressed about their homework, which meant that they rarely completed homework assignments. While some would argue that students who do not complete their assignments are lazy and deserve bad grades, it may not be their fault that they do not feel pressure to complete their assignments. The MetLife survey was also able to Way impresses with first solo album prove that students whose parents did not BY MADELINE MILLER ing that plays like a bad reception gone though, is “Brother.” Way’s lyrical talent place any value in their child’s homework astoundingly right. To lend meaning to the is brilliantly showcased in this nostalgic assignments tended to have students with After 12 years with the legendary pop album title, the point of view alternates anthem. The track reminisces of old days, lower opinions on homework, which led to punk band My Chemical Romance, singer between a shy outsider looking in, an and yet it is compelling enough to leave its them having low grades. Gerard Way has gone solo. Formed in 2001, omniscient narrator and a man begging to listener feeling hopeful and fulfilled. Overall, the debate on homework is not My Chemical Romance announced their explain himself. Overall, Hesitant Alien is an album that about whether it adds too much stress to breakup March 22, 2013. Way signed to Four songs in particular stand out on is not to be missed. Driving beats and catchy students’ lives or the role that parents play in Warner Bros. Records as a solo artist, and this album. “Action Cat” is a love letter to melodies carry listeners through the album, he recently released Hesitant Alien. an old friend that resonates with a strange and such listeners are left with a feeling of Hesitant Alien begins with the rebel- sort of tentative optimism. The lyrics seem melancholy hope that makes a second, third lious, indignant “The Bureau.” This track to tell the story of a child’s favorite toys that and fourth listen more of a need than a want. 2014-2015 sets the tone for the post-punk influences in come alive at night.