The Rampage

Kailee Ammons  Feature Editor  Many essays are written in AP composition. Photo credit Kailee Ammons.   The Advanced Placement (AP) Composition courses have been studying and learning about argumentative essays for the past month. This week, they are expected to write an essay on a topic that they are passionate about.             Students must follow one of the three formats that they learned in class: oration, induction, or deduction. The most common is oration because it is similar to how students have learned to write in the past. This format consists of an introduction, first hand evidence, second hand evidence, a counter claim, and a conclusion.             Students are writing about a variety of topics including college athletics, vaccinations, high school sports and activities, etc. Along with background knowledge, students are also being...

 Lexi Burrows Convergence Editor  Students have to re-read many things to be able to get an A on this test. Photo credit Lexi Burrows.  Today AP Human geography took a multiple choice test. Students had 40 minutes to a complete the 50 question test.       Studying for an AP test can be very difficult and overwhelming. “I prepared by re-reading book, rewriting my notes, redoing our outlines, making flashcards, practicing out loud, and by reviewing my cram sheet,” said sophomore Ally Stutzman.       Many students do not know whether they did good or not, but some feel better than others. “It is my hardest class. Of course I am going to worry but I feel ok about the test. I tried my hardest to help ensure my success in the class,” said Stutzman.       AP Human Geography is a college course so the test taking is timed. Many students stress about not finishing, but in the end, everyone completes the test. They are pre...

Kailee Ammons Feature Editor  On Thursday, February 18, the students in Mrs. Borseth’s AP Composition classes will be taking a writing assessment. It will be over analyzing texts, and writing an essay about the various rhetorical strategies used within them.             Students have been preparing for this by reading an essay every week, analyzing, and finding a deeper meaning them. Once a week, they have a class discussion about the essay and its main idea. Then students are asked to dig into their opinions about how the topic affects society and support their claims with textual evidence.             Students have also been practicing writing essays throughout the semester. At first, students were only asked to write an outline of the rhetorical strategies used in an essay. After a few weeks of this, students were asked to write essays as if they were taking the...

Anna Zelenovich  Columnist NHS gave out letters to students so that they can apply. Anna Zelenovich photo.  Students have been receiving letters informing them if they are eligible to apply to be accepted into National Honors Society. NHS is a prestigious group of students who must maintain a high GPA, be active in servicing their community and stand out to teachers as leaders in the classroom. Once a student receives a letter inviting them to apply, there is a process each applicant must go through.             Junior Holly Dannen received a letter. “I am very honored that I got a letter, I am definitely going to complete the application process and I am hoping to get in,” said Dannen.             NHS organizes many community service projects for those who are in already including annual blood drives and Meals for the Heartland.    ...

Clarissa Merschman  Staff Reporter      Students in Spanish two classes will give speeches about their favorite person or animal this Friday.             The speeches have to be one minute long or more. Notes are not allowed while giving the speech. If a student is caught using their notes or have them anywhere they will lose all of their points on the speech.             Visual aids, however are acceptable. A student can create a Powerpoint presentation with pictures on it, have pictures printed on a piece of paper, draw their own pictures, or they can create a photo library to use on their phone.             All of the words in the student's speech have to be conjugated correctly in preterite form which mean they have to be in past tense. If they aren’t conjugated correctly, the student wil...

Tori Hennick Arts and Culture Editor  With the snow days that Southeast Polk has been thrown, students are missing out on days not only to  enjoy themselves in the summer, but also days they could be using to work. Studies from NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) show that more than two-thirds of high school students were employed during their senior year. 22.7 percent of those students were working at least 20 hours per week. This study was done in 1992. Although the data is old, it is more than relevant today. If students back then were working 20+ hours a week, they must be working just as much, if not more in 2015. Most students 10-12 th grade have jobs, for example sophomore Joey Hupp. Joey is currently a busser at the Pleasant Hill Market Café. “If the school year is being pushed farther back all the time, I still have to work.”Like most students, Joey pays his phone bill, so every time he has to miss work it make that objective just a little bit ha...

Tori Hennick  Arts & Culture Editor   Not everything about finals week is bad. Students at Southeast Polk are given a wonderful privilege during finals that they aren’t during normal school days: open campus. Open campus means that students are able to take their lunch break, 55 minutes, to go anywhere they would like for lunch as long as they are back in time to take their finals.             Junior Abbie Lane is one of the many students who will be taking advantage of the open campus during finals. Abbie plans to go to Pancheros with her friends and enjoy the small break she is given during the stress of finals.             “I have to take all of my finals and I’m not happy about it so getting to leave the stressful environment for a few minutes feels relieving” said Lane.             “I picked Pan...

Sammi Springer  Staff Reporter   Schedule for finals. Photo credit Sammi Springer.  t’s that time of year again! Finals are Wednesday through Friday, with first and second period finals on Wednesday, third through fifth period finals on Thursday, and sixth through eighth period finals on Friday, followed by what will be a much needed weekend after that. With the gold and silver cards that are handed out as a prize for good grades and attendance, most students are going to be able to opt out of more than the usual two that you’re allowed to opt out of if you’ve been absent for four or less days. One of these people, who will end up opting out of four finals altogether, is Hannah Waskel, a sophomore who has a gold card from last semester’s good grades.             “I’m really glad we get the option to opt out of some of our finals, because then the ones that we do have to come to don’t seem as bad and it doesn...

Ethan Edvenson Cartoonist  Students need to get more involved, and receive financial aid.  Tonight is Financial Aid Night. You might ask what is that and why is it happening? Basically, our counselors, representatives from the Iowa College Access Network, and a Dollars for Scholars representative will be giving a presentation on the information you might need on completing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and what to do with it. This includes the type of money you’ll need and receive for it, what to expect when doing it, and the information on what else you’ll need for it. It also goes over the most important processes on going to college and will help parents and students understand that procedure.             Not only that, but the event talks about scholarships in general since it is about that time for students to turning them in for college. This will go over local scholarship options th...

Kailee Ammons Feature Editor  Students went to the Shining Stars kids development preschool as a field trip. Photo credit Kailee Ammons.   Southeast Polk students in the Parent and Child Development classes are going on a field trip to Shining Stars Daycare to observe and learn about child behavior on Thursday, January 7. There will be two groups going, one in the morning and the second in the afternoon.             While at the daycare, students will be expected to interact with the children and apply the knowledge that they have gained in class. In class, students have learned about children from ages of infancy to elementary. The students have also been making toys and planned activities to participate in with the children.             Students of the Parent and Child Development classes think that this experience allow them to see how children beh...

Anna Zelenovich Columnist  Students have until Friday, January 8th, to gold or silver card out of their finals. Gold cards are awarded to students who got at least a 4.0 GPA the previous semester and it allows them to opt out of two additional finals. Silver cards are for students who had a 3.5 GPA last semester and let students opt out of one additional final. Many students work hard for either a gold or silver card so they don’t have to take as many finals.             Junior Cassidy Oberbroeckling has had a gold card the past 4 semesters. “The free Ram planned day is nice to have as well as opting out of finals,” said Oberbroeckling. Many students take advantage of these opportunities to make finals week less stressful. Oberbroeckling is taking some of her finals but is able to opt out of four because of her Ram Plan sheet and gold card.             “I am ...

Sammi Springer  Staff Reporter  With the holiday season coming around the corner fast, it’s important to remember those less fortunate than you. A good way to keep things in perspective while helping those less fortunate this December is the Toys for Tots drive that the club SkillsUSA is sponsoring through December 18.             “The toys go into a big organization and they split it between less fortunate kids. I think it’s more so not sick kids and more so the less fortunate,” said Jessica Wheeler, senior and member of SkillsUSA.             “It’s good to help less fortunate kids who don’t get the same gifts that everyone else does during the holidays and give them a good Christmas they might not always get every year,” said Wheeler.             Students have until Friday to continue bringing in pres...

Carrie McGrean  Staff Reporter  Students who are graduating early this year need need to attend the meeting in the auditorium. Photo credit Carrie McGrean. Many seniors will be graduating early this year. There will be a meeting for early graduates in the auditorium Friday December 18 during advisement period. Seniors were informed last Friday in advisement about the meeting. Early graduating senior Emma Larson doesn’t know exactly what the meeting will be about, but she has an idea.             “ I think it will be about papers to get signed and make sure we are all still on track,” said Larson.             Some seniors have had it in mind to graduate ahead of their class for a while now, while others just decided this year.             “ I decided to graduate early a couple weeks into this semester...

Kayla Sunderland  Staff Reporter  People gathered with the Altoona cops to help raise money for kids Christmas presents. Photo credit Kayla Sunderland.  The Altoona Walmart store hosted their annual Shop with a Cop on Tuesday, December 8th. The store has been hosting the event at the Altoona Walmart for over ten years now.             “Shop with a Cop” allows families who cannot afford to buy gifts for themselves come in and shop for their families. Altoona and Pleasant Hill cops gather to help families have a great Christmas.             The kids were the ones who got to choose what to get for themselves and their family. Many kids chose to buy gifts for their siblings, parents, and grandparents. Gifts ranged from toys, clothing, candy, video games or movies, and accessories.             Volunt...

Lexi Burrows Convergence Editor  Students have to draw a "Little Buddy" for their Spanish II speech. Photo credit Lexi Burrows.  Spanish II classes have to present about their “little buddy’s” daily routine. Students have to draw a small person and color it. They have to glue it to a pencil or a stick, and then label ten different body parts.             Once students have finished drawing and coloring their little buddy, they have to either make a video or just present in front of the class. Many students are creating videos rather than presenting it in person. “I don’t like speaking in Spanish because I feel like I am going to mess up. It gets confusing,” said Spanish II student, Ryan Hermes. Students must show their buddy to six different daily routine activities and they must be reflexive verbs. They have to use the reflexives verbs in three different tenses. They also have to have two past tense verbs i...

Ashley Vannoy  Staff Reporter  The annual food drive has come to an end. Mrs.Owens has won the contest every year since the new school opened. Photo credit Ashley Vannoy.   Health careers teacher, Mrs. Owens has won the annual school food drive every year since the new high school opened. Recently her advisor class also won the TLC book drive.             “I feel very fortunate to work with such generous kids and families.  It is really humbling to watch kids donate their own, hard earned money to help others.  The most rewarding part is seeing how great they (the students) feel by helping someone else,” said Mrs. Owens.             Often, in some classes throughout the school, no one brings anything to donate. Owens explained how she got her students to be encouraged to donate for the drives.       ...

Jessica Rish  News Editor  Students attended a Central Region Leadership Conference in Kansas City this past weekend. Photo credit Jessica Rish.   On November 20th, 21st and 22nd a handful of DECA members will be attended the Central Region Leadership Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. DECA is a club at Southeast Polk that focuses on social, competition and leadership events. According to the official deca website, deca.org their mission is to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. Delaney Christian is junior here at Southeast Polk and is a second year member of DECA. Christian and participates in marketing events at DECA competitions. This will be Christian's second year attending the CRLC conference. “Last year we went to Minneapolis and this year we are going to Kansas City and I have high expectations because last year was really go...

Demi Muchmore  Editor-and-Chief  FCCLA students are attending a district conference on November 23,2015. Photo credit Demi Muchmore.  On Monday, November 23 rd FCCLA students will be attending a district conference. This will be at the Guthery Center, in this conference they will be doing a lot of leadership building, doing break out sessions, and enjoy an inspirational speaker. As some people don’t know, FCCLA stands for: family, career, community leaders of America.             The main idea of FCCLA is to promote and accomplish community service and also attend leadership events. They also work with a sponsorship called star events which is a competition setting.              Senior Mckayla Birkenholtz is one of the top leaders this year. She is in charge of helping with the Star events and finding more community service projects for the te...

Quincey Nelson  Graphic Designer  Every student will be asked to write a thank you note in their advisor this Friday. Students will be asked to write a note to some in their life that they are thankful for. This can include family, friends, teachers, and anyone who they want to send gratitude to.  This is meant to be an encouragement to do a small act of kindness for someone else as well. Many people do not realize that they don’t say thank you to anyone. In today’s society it is unlikely someone will say thank you to the cashier or even to a teacher or coach. “I definitely don’t thank them as much as I should,” said Sophomore Libby Pruden. This activity is to help students reflect on positive influences someone has had on their life and paying the kindness back. “I believe I’ll use this time to express how thankful for my family I am, I’m thankful for them because they support me and my decisions and try to help me to the best of their ability,” said Prude...

Carrie McGrean Staff Reporter  SkillsUSA is having a contest to help their campaign "Combat Hunger". Photo credit Carrie McGrean.   Southeast Polk SkillsUSA is sponsoring a “Combat Hunger” Food Drive in which they collect non-perishable food, paper products, and cash donations on November 16th – through the 20. Students should bring their items to their first period class and give them to their teacher. Most teachers will have a safe place to put the items until the end of the week when SkillsUSA members will collect all the items and tally the amount of points each class has accumulated.             “When you give things it gets points depending on what it is,” said Freshman Alyssa Kincaid.             High school students were informed of the food drive last week so they could come up with donations before this week and most were told that there was...