To be or not to be?
By Rebecca Amerino
Hamlet is a classic story of compromise and tragedy. In any production, it is important to cast the right person. Hamlet is perhaps Shakespeare’s most popular play. “To be or not to be,” a quote most people hear all the time originated from this production. This story shows the importance of family, relationships, and making the decisions you may not want to make. A production all about the choices a young prince has to make when his uncle takes over the throne of his dead father and marries his mother. So on the final day of school last year, Gabe Elmore, a senior this year at McNary, was cast as Hamlet. Elmore is excited to be participating in his eighth theater production after “Urinetown” goes on stage this November. Although he may be a veteran of the stage, Elmore is still very nervous to be playing such an important main role. “Even the name is intimidating, isn’t it?” Elmore said, “He’s one of the smartest characters Hamlet has in general,” According to Elmore, it’s difficult to play Hamlet because of how much the character just thinks and doesn’t take action quickly. “No one wants to see a guy procrastinating on stage, there’s a fine line between him being insane and a genius,” Elmore said. Despite having his lines all summer, Elmore has not yet memorized the lines needed. “The longest it took to memorize my lines was ten weeks with an eight week rehearsal,” Elmore said. “It’s important to get background character parts before you get thrust into a major role.” In his first two productions, Elmore played a background character. It prepared him to play a bigger role, and got him more comfortable with acting in front of an audience. Elmore really enjoys the theater and being on stage. “It helps me grow as a person,” Elmore said, “If I didn’t act, what would I do? Gosh, I would probably be really into stream ecology or art history.” The auditions for the rest of the cast were to be held Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the 17th, 18th, and 19th of September, but a second round is scheduled to happen the ninth and tenth of October to give more people an opportunity to try out. “This is the first year I’ve done auditions this fast in the school year,” said Mr. Dallas Myers, McNary theater production teacher and director. “Almost everyone will be playing two parts,” Myers said. Only Hamlet, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and the maiden Ophelia will not be playing multiple parts. Script modification is huge in this production. With a script meant for four hours, Hamlet had to be cut in half. |
Photo by: Brandi Urban
Gabe Elmore trying to get into his character Hamlet. Hamlet is the Shakespeare play this year and will be starring Gabe Elmore as Hamlet |
Freshman varsity girls join soccer team
By Paige Ryan You would think many freshmen wouldn’t make a varsity team, but six freshmen proved that wrong. The girls McNary varsity soccer team has six new freshmen girls on the team. Kayla Evans, Kolbie Kopp, Annie Purkey and Isabella Heath are four of the ninth grade varsity players. Kayla Evans has played for six to seven years of soccer throughout her life. She is extremely fast and supportive of her other teammates. She brings a different pace to the varsity team, speed wise and in general. But she lacks stamina, so plans on staying fit and train constantly. Soccer has taught Evans to control her emotions in winning, losing and everyday life situations. Whenever the team is losing, her coach tells her to play like they’re not losing at all, and to do their best. “It really helps because he pushes us harder and harder each game,” said Evans. Her proud soccer moment was when she was playing rec soccer and headed the ball in for “the first time ever,” she said. After she graduates, she plans on going to college and joining the U.S. women’s national soccer team. Kolbie Kopp has been playing for about six years. She just goes with the flow on the team. “A team isn’t just one person, you all help each other,” said Kopp. She is good at every position, but her strongest position is forward, and her weakest position is playing defense. She constantly strives to do her best on the team, and makes sure to listen to the upperclassmen advice. Kopp said her best goal was a goal off a corner kick while playing soccer a couple seasons ago. After high school she wants to go to college and also accomplish playing soccer. Annie Purkey always brings happiness and kindness to the team. Purkey has been playing soccer since kindergarten and is very experienced at mid-field because she’s played it most of her life, but Purkey’s weakness is playing forward. “I mostly just assist, pass and give help to the forwards,” said Purkey. She tries her best to be a leader on the team. She shows it by hustling in between drills and cheering on for her teammates. She also tries to put herself out there more and practice even more each day. “I always try to be an encouraging, joyful player and teammate,” said Purkey. Soccer has taught Purkey to become a better person who never gives up when she is tired, and to keep pushing through the pain. Purkey said her parents and family always support and help her with soccer and she highly appreciates it. She plans to go to college at Oregon State and play soccer and wants to go to medical school in Portland. Lastly, Isabella Heath accomplishes playing midfield and passing the balls to her teammates. Heath has been playing since she was five years old and is very encouraging. “Keep it up!” is what she shouts to push her teammates. Her main weakness is playing forward and shooting goals because she doesn’t have much kicking power. That didn’t stop her from scoring an amazing goal last spring, she kicked it in the top right corner and was so proud of herself. Heath is always pushing to try harder and give one hundred percent. Soccer taught her to push herself and never give up. This season she really wants to play a lot and help assist goals. Heath’s family always goes to her games and her siblings help her practice to get better. Heath plans to go to Oregon State to become a teacher after high school. These four girls could be the next legends of the soccer world for being aspiring and hard working. They will go far on the girls varsity team. We never know who might make it big someday. |
Photo by: Brandi Urban
Kayla Evans has been playing soccer for about six to seven years. Above is Kayla Evans, one of the Freshmen Varsity soccer players hanging out by a goal post. |
Theater flood wreaks unintended havoc
By: Emilee Carr
On September 5th, there was a flood in the auditorium in the pit which is the area below the stage. On the day of the flood, a student from the marching band came in to the auditorium and noticed water coming out of the bottom of the door that came from outside. McNary Senior Chelsea Pippert got a hold of Myers of the mess, and then she got the custodians immediately. There was an inch of water , but there was not that much damage as McNary drama teacher, Mr. Dallas Myers, thought there would’ve been. The custodians took everything, the props and the costumes, out of the pit, and put in a humidifier and a fan in the pit so it’ll dry quicker. Luckily, no productions will be slowed down because of the destruction from the flood. There is going to be a band in the pit for their production of “Urinetown” and he was worried about the water being in the pit. The custodians took four to five hours to clean up the water and the next day it was all cleaned up. So everything’s back to normal including the production. He didn’t lose any props or costumes so it didn’t cost any money. Just lots, and lots of stress. But he had discovered props that he thought he didn’t have before such as the bucket of baseball gloves that they could’ve used for one of his plays instead of having one of his actors or students get one. |
Photo by Brittany Pasco
Theater students are folding costumes that were in the pit. There were a lot of costumes and props on the seats in the auditorium. |
Teachers recall America’s worst terror attack
By Nikiyah Born
Mr. John Honey is the current principal of McNary High School, but when tragedy struck the nation, he was working at Walker Middle School. On that day, he went to school early, approximately 6am PST or 9 am EST. He heard the news of the events in New York on the radio. There were reports of explosions and raging fires and there were so many stories he had to pause to make sense of all that he heard. “It was shocking,” Honey said, “I never saw it coming.” Staff were welcome to watch the news in the staff room, but Honey watched the news in his office. He didn’t have any fear for the safety of his students seeing as though they’re located in a small town. He placed security at the front doors, just in case. “It was all a matter of getting he staff together and keeping them calm,” he said. Through the fear for the safety of loved ones and the ever changing details of the attack, people had no idea what was going on. “Everything just felt different.” Across the nation people rallied to help the victims by donating food, supplies, blood and other essential things for the victims. The truth of the matter is there really weren’t any. Either they escaped with relatively minor injuries or they died. The national response changed his views on what it means to be an American citizen and brought a whole new meaning to patriotism. “In the decade since, people started to recognize you can’t contribute what a few people do to all [of that] culture.” Twelve years ago, a McNary High School English teacher began his day like any other. He got ready for work and left his rural home to attend another ordinary day. Dan Borresen drove down the winding country roads alone as he headed to McNary when he heard the news on the radio: someone had attacked the World Trade Center in New York City. Upon arrival at McNary, Borresen had changed his lesson plan and turned on the news to assess the extremities of the situation. He felt as though this was something that shouldn’t be ignored and left the television on for his classes; at least until a Freshman boy watched the live news feed and laughed as citizens leapt to their deaths from the burning towers. Disgusted by the reaction of the child, he turned off the news feed and continued with his scheduled lesson plan. Borresen recalls feeling empty and emotionally drained from the events that occurred that day. “[I] had nothing left inside of [me],” he said. At home, Borresen had a wife and a two-year-old son. Although his son wasn’t old enough to know what happened earlier that morning, he and his wife did. Borresen commented that the events on September 11th, 2001 made him value his son even more. He remembered staying up with his wife watching the news updates until they couldn’t stay up any longer. He said the day after was very difficult for him to return to his normal life teaching about short stories and pieces of literature. Being a teacher, Borresen also helped students deal with the events and move on from them. Today, Borresen can reflect on his experience and say that it put everything into perspective for him. He learned that there are no guarantees in life and not to take anything for granted. “But, you have to go on.” This story starts in the Pacific Northwest with a family of five preparing for a year in the famous France. They were supposed to be catching their flight on September 11th, 2001, that is, until all flights were grounded due to the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. The family had to drive down to San Francisco, CA in order to get their visas to fly out from Canada to France. Upon hearing the news, Mr. Marc McAvoy “remembered feeling frightened that they could get so close.” Like most Americans, he felt angry that someone could do such a thing. “This was the biggest attack on American soil in my time,” he said. McAvoy saw the country band together in an act of patriotism. His cousin, a then-retired Navy Seal came out of retirement after the attack happened. In France, he was warned to not be too American because there may be similar terrorists targeting Americans in foreign countries. He has a vivid memory of an old woman approaching them at a bus station. “She said, ‘You’re American, right?’ Yes. ‘I think it’s wonderful that your country had such patriotism,’ she said, tearing up. ‘Our country used to be like that, too.’” Since then, McAvoy has developed a newfound importance in the safety of his three children and wife. He now works as the French teacher at McNary. |
Urinetown comes to the McNary theater stage
By Gabe Grecny
The latest play from Mr. Myers and his drama class is a rather controversial piece that may upset a lot of people, appropriately called Urinetown. “It’s a terrible title, but it’s a great musical,” Mr. Myers, the Drama coach at McNary for the last 4 years, said. The name alone is obviously questionable, but it doesn’t stop there. The play, by Greg Kotis and music by Mark Hollman, is a musical tragicomedy that mocks and satirizes both left-wing and right-wing politics, as well as other musicals and Broadway in general. Urinetown is about a vaguely distant future in the midst of a 20 year drought. The water for public toilets is fiercely controlled by the not-so-evil mega-corporation, Urine Good Company, before the protagonist leads a revolution and wins the right for people to urinate with complete freedom, then they all learn a valuable lesson about not strictly rationing water during a multi-decade drought. The production has so far been going smoothly, with no serious problems, “Yet, it’s still pretty early, we haven’t even begun acting yet, it’s mostly been script reading,” Ryan Halvorson, one of the actors, added. The only problems so far are a shortage of multi-year drama students, which Mr. Myers considers a positive, as it will introduce more people to the world of drama, and that not many are experienced dancers. The actors playing the leads are definitely not in that category, both Ryan Halvorson, who plays the handsome, generic everyman protagonist Bobby Strong, and his naive romantic interest Hope Cladwell, played by Kendra Smith are experienced. Both are seniors and have participated in every year’s drama production. Mr. Myers has been planning this since last spring, six months ago. Rehearsals started August 27 and 28, both for auditions and to give the actors a chance to learn the music. Since then they’ve been practicing every day during 7th period and after-school Monday through Thursday to work on the dancing. Urinetown is a musical, and features about 20 songs, only 15 of which have singing, the rest are orchestral pieces which will be conducted by maestro Damian Berdakin, the orchestra teacher. All the actors really like the music in Urinetown, “It’s so upbeat and cheery, then you listen to the lyrics and realize they’re singing about killing people,” Mr. Myers said. Ryan and Kendra agreed with him, saying they thought the music was very funny, and the story was engaging. “Underneath the title theres a really good storyline,” Kendra said. According to Mr. Myers more than 80 people will be involved in some way with the production, only about half of them actually from the drama class. Of these, only 20 are actually actors, the rest working on set-building, costume designing, and other behind the scenes activities essential to making the production. Urinetown will play on November 7, 8, 9,14,15 and 16 in the school auditorium. Each starts at 7 PM and will last for approximately 2 hours. Tickets cost $8 each, with no student discounts. |
Photo by Brittany Pasco
Mr. Myers fixing the props for the stage. At the time, it was still under much needed preparation. |
Girls volleyball team playing for the win
By Joshua Hakes
Varsity volleyball players Reina Strand and Kaelie Flores both sophomores at McNary High School, are two of the best players on the team. This year is hopefully a year of success for McNary volleyball but there are some tough teams they have to face in their upcoming schedule. Strand has been playing the since seventh grade and Flores has been playing volleyball since third grade.For both sophomores volleyball isn’t their number one sport, they both hope to become Division 1 basketball players at Oregon State University. Yet, while in high school they’re both going to keep playing volleyball. Both Strand and Flores are quite good at volleyball and they both agreed that the two best overall players on the team are Lexi Price and Madi Hingston. Maybe the two sophomores aren’t the best players on the team but they both show tremendous team spirit and when playing have good team communication skills. Both bring height to the team which is very important in the game of volleyball. Strand and Flores both have goals to accomplish during the season, Strand hopes to conquer digging the ball off the net, or as they say, transferring off the net. Flores is focusing on serving better because she has been having trouble due to her shoulder bothering her at the moment. Flores’ strength is blocking other opponents hits at the top of the net. Strand’s strengths are spiking and blocking. According to both Strand and Flores the team has improved a tremendous amount from the year before. “There’s better team chemistry and more of a family flow than last year,” said Strand. Flores agreed with the statement made by her teammate. The team needs to work on calling the ball, having a winning mentality and more overall confidence. Flores said they do lack in confidence at times. A team isn’t a team without a coach, and head coach Kellie Scholl often preaches words of advice. Scholl always tells her players, “Never get down on yourself and keep your head high.” Those may not be movie inspiring words, but those ten words can do a lot for a high school student on and off of the court. McNary volleyball hopes to have a very successful year, they’re already good and have the potential to be great. |
Photo by: Brittany Pasco
Above are two outstanding varsity volley ball players, Reina Strand and Kaylee Fores playing some ball in the gym. |
McNary celtics on a winning streak
By Ricardo Marquez
Five games into the season, the McNary Celtics football team is enjoying a slight winning edge, one they hope to expand upon. McNary has beat South Salem 31 to 15 to become 2-0 Central Valley League. Central Valley league is all of the salem schools football teams competing against each other.The Celts are also ranked 32nd in the state. They’re overall record 4-2. Lineman Jason Sperle has been playing football since the first grade he said. His strength in football is blocking Sperle said. The team has improved by playing better and what the team needs to work on is playing consistently. “Advice that coach gives us to let loose and not worry,” he said. If the team wants to finish out the season out successfully is that the team must play harder. His goal for the season is to win his games. The team has improved by playing better and consistently, said Linebacker Connor Goff, who has been playing since first grade. “My strength is catching passes,” he said. The coach advises the team by telling them to stay focused, he said. If the team wants to finish out the season successfully, they must play harder. Goff’s goal for the season is to win his games. According to quarterback and wide receiver Tanner Walker, the team has improved since last year by playing better. ”I have been doing this sport since the first grade,” Walker said.He said the team needs to work on being able to play as a team, and the coach advises them to not worry. |
Photo by Brittany Pasco
McNary’s newest football players at practice to do their best to keep the winning streak going. The Freshmen are hard at work with practice to fill the shoes of their prier successors. |
Live To Run, Run To Live And Don’t Be Late
By Trevor Smith
Cross country coach Mr. Rick Fordney has played a big part in the lives of the McNary Celtics cross country team. Fordney has been coaching McNary’s cross country team for two years now and sadly this is his last year here. Fordney has informed The Piper that there are a lot of new runners this year. Fordney said ”This year the cross country team is doing very well.” “The Celtics are a good team and have the potential to go to the state meet.” he said “If they make it to the state meet this year they will be the first to go two years in a row.” Junior cross country runner, Daniela Sanchez Rios, has been running for three years but this is her first year in cross country. She is very dedicated to her running, but she thinks she could push herself harder. she believes she brings positivity and encouragement to her team. Sanchez Rios said “To beat your personal best you need lots of hard work, sleep and encouragement.” She believes the seniors are the most experienced runners on the team. During practice the cross country team works on breathing and concentration. She says that the cross country pushes themselves really hard. Sanchez Rios plans on going to college after she is out of highschool but she doesn’t know what she wants to major in. “Work hard and do your best.” said Sanchez. Sanchez said that the coach is very encouraging to both her and the team. Sanchez said that she thinks the Celtics biggest rival is the North Salem cross country team. Sanchez plans to keep working hard and to get a good time on the 5k. Sanchez says her friends and family are really encouraging to her about cross country. Sophomore cross country runner, Jesse Honeyman, has been running since 6th grade. He says that this year is his best year. Cross country is Honeyman’s favorite sport. He says he is very supportive to his team and encourages them to try their best. He thinks that the Celtics have a chance to go to state. His best time for the 3k meter is 12 minutes and 20 seconds. “Every other school is a threat for our chance of going to state.” said Honeyman The cross country team runs everyday after school during practice. For Honeyman, keeping up with cross country and his schoolwork can be difficult. “Coach is like the best guy ever, except this is his last year.” said Honeyman. After cross country, Honeyman plans to do off season running. Honeyman enjoys cross country so much, he might even try for the olympics. |
Photo by Brandi Urban
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More than a sport
By Alex Pointer
Weight loss is not always a simple task, but Rebekah Maddox makes it look easy. Maddox is a cross country runner, and has been for five months. She runs solely to run, and she loves every minute of it. “Cross country can be fairly serious at times,” Maddox said, but the races aren’t always a serious task. Most of the time, the races are pretty fun and no hard feelings when you win or lose. The main reason Maddox joined Cross Country was to build up her speed, strength, and to help her lose a few pounds, “Cross country is a self improvement sport,” Maddox said. The time the runners have to run while they train is a great time to think of how they can beat their last time or even think of how they could help the fellow runners keep on running. “Cross country is different from any other sport,” Maddox said, in more ways than one she’s right. Cross country isn’t only for fun, it could also be a free ticket to a scholarship.“ Everyone should at least try out for cross country just to see what it’s like. I can bet they’d love it,” Maddox said. |
Photo by Brandi Urban
Senior Rebekah Maddox stands on McNary High School’s track where she met many of her goals. She joined cross country to build up her speed, strength, and to help her lose a few pounds |
Introducing McNary’s new science teacher
By Parker Kreshon
His name is Mr. Dan Bixler and he teaches freshman physical science. “It’s great so far. The kids are good,” said Bixler about working at McNary, ”It’s neat with big halls and the originality, also it’s different from other high schools,” said Bixler. So far, Bixler has worked at lots of places and has taught for 17 years. Bixler majored in physics in college and will probably only teach physical science until further notice. He doesn’t really have any special ways of teaching. Even though Bixler is a science teacher, he has some pretty cool hobbies like hiking and camping. Students are divided on whether Mr. Bixler is a good teacher or not; but the science department has a whole different look on things. Mrs. Dawn Reichle Bailon said that the new science teacher is doing fine. Even though the new science teacher brings a whole fresh perspective on the school now, Mrs. Reichle Bailon said she still misses Mrs. Gehley “I’ve known Mrs. Gehley since we were in college,” said Mrs. Reichle Bailon. With the switch of teachers there has been a whole different class setup, “I ended up with all her honors, her AVID went to Mrs. Easterly” Reichle Bailon said. Mr. Bixler has always wanted to be apart of the original high school feel, and now he is. Along with the new teacher, Mrs. Bowen retired and Mr. Adkins came from sprague and now they don’t offer forensics; they offer more marine science and earth science. |
Photo by Brandi Urban
Mr. Bixler, the new science teacher. Here helping a struggling student to learn new material. |
Behind the Kitchen
By Aaron Jenkins
Kitchen manager Ms. Sarah Jehnings has a big impact on students’ lunches and breakfasts. Jehnings used to work at a deli before working at McNary. In order for Jehnings to be our kitchen manager, she is required to have a G.E.D. Jehnings and the other staff have to prepare around 900 meals a day to feed the students and occasionally other teachers. Of these, Jehnings predicts about 40 percent is prepared from scratch. There is not a set budget for lunch and breakfast. Jehnings said some kids can be picky while others just take what is served. Jehnings’ day starts at 5:45 AM by serving breakfast, starting lunch, serving it, cleaning the kitchen and going home at 1:45 PM “Lunch can get hectic,”said Jehnings, but she has ten other cooks by her side. The health policies prevent cross contamination, require everyone to wear a hair net, and that the food is cooked to the proper temperature. Everything has to be sanitized and the staff cleans between lunches. According to Spinks, more kids than last year are picking up messes. “The kitchen is used to its full potential” Jehnings said. Due to all the equipment and the space in the kitchen, a restaurant is manageable and could be maintained if needed. The pizza we eat in the cafeteria is not homemade, the dough is frozen, but the cheese is fresh. The dough for the pizza crust is pre-made, the cooks roll it out and make the edges. If Jehnings could prepare any meal from scratch, “It depends on what mood I am in,” she said. Karen Spinks is the assistant food service manager and helps cook meals with Jehnings. She said an average day is pretty good and goes by fast. Spinks works the same hours as Jehnings. “Getting to work is easy considering there are no drivers in the mornings,” she said. Spinks schedule is usually something like: filling papers out, sticking food in the oven, and figuring out lunch. Spinks likes her job and works usually as the cashier. “I love cashier, it has more contact with the students,” she said. Spinks and all the other staff have no free time during the day except the occasional bathroom break. Everyone gets along with everyone and knows what their job is and how to do it. The staff are friendly, and cooperation is pretty good. They enjoy their time back in the kitchen by listening to the radio, talking with others, and most of them have a sense of humor. The cooks in the back usually eat the same food as students. Spink’s favorite meal is the mashed potatoes and chicken. “Lunch is pretty good, taco line is the longest” said Spinks. Spinks ends her day by cleaning up and putting everything away, doing cash work, and going home. Spinks says kids are usually good, there aren’t really any arguments, and everyone is pretty respectful. |
Photo by Destiny Reynolds
Obbulia Sol is making pizza for lunch at McNary. Mrs. Obbulia Sol Makes lunch but it is not all that hard or complicated for highschool students. |
Oregon shoots ahead with CCSS standards
By Hannekah Aquino
After a three year process that began in the fall of 2010, the Common Core State Standards are now finally and fully implemented, and will play a vital role in the education of McNary students. The CCSS are agreed upon standards of what most of the states think students should learn in English and Math. The CCSS will always constantly shift through reflecting, re-evaluating and improving in education in order to do things effectively. This allows every student from kindergarten to twelfth grade, despite where a student lives, to have equal education for each grade. That way students will have clear expectations of what is to be expected from them and have a fair winning chance to go through college or the workforce against others in the United States and abroad. According to Mrs. Andrea Lockard, teacher coach at McNary High School, the CCSS demands standards to have a lot of critical thinking, and analyzing and focusing of evidence to support an argument. There also has to be an awareness of content area because the constant shift of standards each year can be interpreted differently, so the McNary students must become aware of the content area of what teachers are doing and identify the connections of it. According to information on Corestandards.org, the CCSS takes consideration to set standards that give opportunities to help improve those with disabilities and English language learners. For example, the English standard for the Freshmen is Reading Literature 1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. While in Sophomore year, the English standard is Reading Literature 4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings. The CCSS will also take a part in the test called the SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) because it’s the assessment for the CCSS which students will take to demonstrate their skills in reading, writing and math. This will take place next Spring of 2015 for the McNary Sophomores who are turning into Juniors next year. For those who do not pass the SBAC may have work samples to reach the requirements to graduate. Yet the decision of what the scores are expected from the students has still not been decided by the Oregon Department of Education. Though the scores may be low since it is replacing the Oaks as a new type of assessment for students. “We are definitely moving ahead with the Common Core, and where our instructions and grading are aligned for the standard,” said Mr. Adam Watkins, Assistant Principal at McNary High School. The teachers are a critical voice in all the committee meetings of how the CCSS will affect our education as students. All teachers are affected by this, and are provided training monthly with the school and district. They are also given time for weekly plans. The CCSS will tell them what to teach, but it won’t tell them how to teach it, so the teachers still have the freedom to create their own lesson plans and modify the instructions for the individual needs for each of their own students. It also turns out that Oregon is, “Far ahead of the proportion of the country,” said Lockard, since Oregon is one of the first few states to fully implement the CCSS. |
McNary High switches gears to new grading
By Brandon Meulink
Things have, and will change here at McNary. One change that affects almost everyone here, is the new grading system being worked in. Many students don’t have a clue as to what the new grading system is or does. To really get an idea of what McNary students know, McNary sophomore Adam Raschko added his opinion. The first thing Raschko added was what exactly he knows about the new system. “All I know is that it’s like a 1 through 4 scale, and that a lot of teachers don’t follow it yet,” Raschko said. For Raschko the new grading system will change some things but it won’t change his overall approach to school. “I’ll still do the same things I always do, it won’t change my approach at all,” Raschko said. Overall Raschko had a very neutral approach to the situation, just kind of “rolling with it” if you will. But when asked about whether or not he would like to have the old system back or just continue on, his thoughts were a little different. “I would just like it to stay the same, I just don’t think it’s necessary,” Raschko said. Raschko also used an old quote to express his feelings to the new system. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” Raschko said. After a while I had a good idea of how Raschko felt about the system, as well as other students around Raschko’s age. According to Raschko a lot of his friends or acquaintances, pretty much felt the same as he did. “I think a lot of kids are just trying to get an idea of what’s new,” Raschko said. So to answer Raschko’s and many students’ questions, I took to the McNary staff to ask some questions about what’s new with the grading system. Mrs. Shalese Stroup a math teacher here at McNary, felt like someone to look to because she is incorporating the new system this year. Stroup first gave an explanation as to what exactly proficiency grading is. “Proficiency grading is a way for students to know how they are really doing based on their academic achievement and not on their behavior” Stroup said. Stroup added to that thought by saying “There are many different forms of proficiency grading, but the common theme is based on a 4 point rubric or the GPA scale” Stroup said. The next thing she added was why we are switching, and the hopes for the new program. “We are switching because of House Bill 2220, which is a bill that will hopefully give a more accurate idea of where students are in their learning” Stroup said. Lastly Stroup added that she actually favors the new system to the old one. “My preference is geared more towards the proficiency based grading because I feel that students are able to better see where they are at based off their learning” Stroup said. She even had an overall goal for the new system and students. “The goal is to see what the student has learned over time and has finally reached the goal of proficiency” Stroup said. |