The Rampage

Kenzie Baldwin  Feature Editor             On Monday seniors started signing up for activities to volunteer for on May 15 for the annual Scip Day. SCIP stands for senior community involvement program and is an annual activity at Southeast Polk. There are a variety of options for students to sign up for, but they are filling up fast. Seniors are supposed to go to their infinite campus and a message will be waiting there that will take them to a page to get signed up. There have been a couple problems with infinite campus and getting signed in to pick the activity a student wants to do. If that happens, go to the assistant principal’s office and someone will help fix the problem. The problems are mainly happening when students are trying to use their phone to sign in.             Seniors are pushed to partake in this event because it is good for them to do community ...

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor AP classes are starting to prepare students for the AP exams that will be held next month. In AP literature the students are focusing on the essay portion of the test. They have the class period to write an essay and then they peer edit each other’s to find things they need to improve on before the test. “I think the work we are doing is helping me prepare for the exam. It’s helping us see what kind of problems we’ll have to be answering on the exam, and it’s giving us practice at answering them,” said junior Savannah Kellis.  In AP literature this week the teacher, Chris Snethen, is going to consult with each student about an essay they wrote in preparation during one of the class periods. The teacher will discuss what their strengths and weaknesses are of the paper so the student can get a grasp at what the grading will be like for the exam.  “The teacher has been helpful through the preparation. Snethen has explained what the grade...

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor                 Between coaches and parents, student athletes are feeling the pressure to be number one and to stay at number one. When too much pressure is set on athletes it takes away the fun of the game and adds anxiety to their lives.                 “I feel under pressure from my peers and coaches more than I feel good about being number one, it’s nerve racking knowing I am expected to be the best at all times,” said junior and tennis player David Conway.                 Many students want to be number in the sport they are playing in but when the pressure hits them they usually lose focus.                 “I played number two for two years beh...

Kenzie Baldwin            Feature Editor               Southeast Polk School Board decided to open up Senior High parking to all grades starting in April. The board decided it wasn’t fair to the underclassmen and that parking should be first come first serve. They are expecting the upperclassmen to fight this and they have made it clear that if there is any student that doesn’t follow the new open parking policy they will be subject to disciplinary actions and even arrest. If the high school gets filled up everyone else will need to park at the junior high no matter what grade level.              “I think this is good, it encourages students to have morning classes instead of coming later in the day,” said guidance counselor Scarlett Johansson. There will no longer be parking passes; everyone will have to pay the fee at the beginning of the year. The fee will be raised to $50 per p...

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor Seniors this year can enter in an essay contest; the writing prompt is “A Senior’s Advice to Incoming Freshmen.” The first place winner will receive a $100 Barnes and Noble gift certificate, and there will be two second place winners that receive $25 Barnes and Noble gift certificate. “All the credit should go to Elliana Huffman, she’s the one that thought of the topic,” said English teacher Christopher Snethen. The essay deadline is May 1, 2015 by 3 p.m. to Mr. Snethen. The English department will decide the winners. “I decided to do the contest because honestly I want money to buy books,” said senior Julia Blanchard. There is mixed feelings from seniors about the prize, some of the seniors would just like cash, while to others it doesn’t really matter. “I wanted cash for the prize, but the administration said no, so they came up with the idea of gift cards,” said Snethen. Some seniors are really interested in this contest and are excited...

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor             Teacher Academy students present a small lesson plan to a group of the students that they are student teaching. They could pick whatever their teacher and they had talked about for activities in class and the teacher academy teacher (Jenny Crawford) would observe it.             “For my small group I made flash cards with money word problems on them,” said senior Nicole Craig.             Each teacher academy student is assigned a day where they have to present their small lesson plan, it is informal and is just helping them prepare for the large lesson plan that will be later on in the semester.             “I think the experience of being up in front of the kids is what we are aiming for,” said Craig.      ...

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor              AP composition students are struggling to know the vocabulary words for the terms quiz that will happen today. In each chapter there are terms that are in the text book that students are supposed to be learning and recognizing along with discussing them in class. This chapter the students haven’t had that much time to learn the material and discussion has been limited.             “I think it is a helpful and kind of a waste of time to have vocab tests but it depends, if we actually work on the vocabulary words in class I think it’s helpful but if we learn them right before the quiz it kind of sets you up for failure,” said junior Kassadee Stroud. There is a mixed reaction on if the students are really being taught these terms successfully.             “I don’t think the teacher is helpful ...

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor             Spanish IV students have mixed emotions over the Spanish plays that they have to perform. There are around six people in every performing group; they will be acting out certain fairytales. They plays will be performed on February 3 rd .             Though the students have to out an entire fairy tale, they are calm and are not stressing over it too much.             “My part is pretty easy to memorize. I play the prince and he doesn’t say as much. But it’s going to be hard who I come after,” said senior Joscelyn Woodward.             There are a couple different reasons students took Spanish IV. Some of them wanted to do the plays while others wanted the college credit.             The...

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor      Senior Destiny McGinnis joins the Army National Guard.  According to chacha.com 17% of girls in high school join the Army and the total number of women in active duty in the Army is 76,694.      "What inspired me to join the military is that I wanted to prove to people and myself that I could do it," said McGinnis. According to pewsocialtrends.org eight in ten veterans (79%) have an immediate family member who has served in the military.      "My brother is in the Army and he's been a really big inspiration for everything," said McGinnis. Teens joining the military face different challenges depending on each individual.     "The hardest thing that I've been through so far is just learning everything that they expect out of you and the ranks," said McGinnis.  Veterans and active members of the military are full of advice for people wanting to join or just interested in the m...

Kenzie Baldwin Feature Editor A student studies the AP Composition book. Photo courtesy of Kenzie Baldwin.       AP Composition students shy away from the eight page syllabus handed out on the first day. The AP College Board requires each AP course to have their syllabus approved, prior to teaching the class. Their requirements for the syllabus are extensive and result in a lengthy syllabus.       “When creating a syllabus for my other, non-AP classes I can typically fit the need-to-know information on one sheet of paper. So no, I do not naturally write really long syllabi,” said language arts teacher Kayla Borseth.  In the syllabus, the parts that are included are a course description and overview, resources and materials, writing/reading tasks and assignments, the writing process, grading scale and a short note on plagiarism, and the unit calendar.       “The AP College Board wants to make sure students with different teac...