The whole class period is to read your own book and at the end of each class you write in your journal about what happened in your book today and how you felt about it. You get points for just writing a couple sentences down in your journal.

Throughout the semester, you are asked to read five books and do five projects on the books. You have ten options for projects; Read a book that has a film adaptation and watch the film, read two different books by the same author, read a book with parent, design a test for your book, change or extend the ending of a novel, film a scene/chapter from a novel, rewrite a chapter from the novel from a different point of view, read a book as a group, discuss, and present the discussion, create a scrapbook for
the main character based on the events of the novel, and the last option is to make the novel a movie.

Two projects are due at the end of the first quarter.  At the end of the semester you make a portfolio with all five projects you did inside.

The class gave me a reason to read all the books I have, and I have really enjoyed being in it. I recommend takingthis class if you really enjoy reading.

In Bob Well’s chemistry classes he had a new and exciting extra credit option for his students. For this extra credit assignment the students were asked to research what college and what major they would like to pursue after college.

If the students decided on doing this extra credit project, they found out many colleges that would accept the major they would like to pursue, they found the cost of the college, what the college curriculum was for their major, and what field of work the students would want to go into after they graduate college.

Once the students chose what they would like to major in, they had to go further in depth to see what that major would require, such as the classes the students would have to take, how many hours the classes would require, and further steps to excel in the major they chose.

Further things the students had to look into were what the college costs. That includes living on campus, food plans, books, and extra activities.

In the extra credit paper, after deciding what major, the students also had to decide what career they would pursue once they got their diploma. Also in the paper they had to write why they chose that certain workforce, which included the salary and benefits.

“I think that this project was a great way to get extra credit,” sophomore Rachel Anstaett said. “I also learned a lot about my future, which I enjoyed.”

Luckily, my cousins attended Shawnee Heights so I knew some people before I came here. The first day of school was just freshman so I wasn’t as nervous as I was for the second day of school, with everyone. I just stuck with all of the people I knew for the first couple of weeks until I started meeting new people.

The first semester was really fun getting to know everyone and getting used to my classes and teachers. People welcomed me really well here. I tried to be nice and get along with everyone as much as I could. I wanted a good start at this new school.

I enjoyed my first semester. Yes, there was some “drama” between friends, but it all seemed to get solved quickly. When second semester came around, things seemed so different. It felt like everyone got to know each other and how people really were.

Before I was in high school, I never listened to people who said high school changes people. Now that I am experiencing it, I believe it. I’m only a freshman, and my next three years I’m going to try to make the most of.

The group will be coming to Shawnee Heights on May 11^th. They will be doing a workshop as well as a performance with the Shawnee Heights Choraliers. “I am excited to get the opportunity to work with street corner symphony; it’s not every day you get to work with a professional acapella singing group,” sophomore James Fenoglio said.

The groups coming to the school due to the fact that a woman at the hospice center said that her one wish was to see the group sing. Street Corner heard about this and decided to come and give her a concert. One of the workers asked if they would do a work shop at Shawnee Heights, and they said yes.

For preparation for the workshop and performance, the Choraliers have been working on the Song Fix you by Coldplay to sing with Street Corner. Choraliers will also be singing a few songs that they have sung earlier in the year.

The concert at the school will be on May 11; the student’s teachers should rsvp through Robert Doole if they would like a spot. There will also be a performance at six at night that same day at Midland. There is no charge for the concert.

Starting off, the students were assigned a certain project that deals with the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, such as JFK’s domestic policies, or the Art, Music, and Culture of the 70s. Students were able to pick their partners, and work on their project. At the end of the first week, students put their posters around the room and shared power points through GoogleDocs.

Instead of O’Connor making a final for every student, she asked that after each project the group make questions about their topic. Questions ranged from fill-in-the-blank to multiple choice. Students seem to like that they can control what may be on their final.

“It’s a really cool idea, and I like that the students are teaching us,” junior Edrea Meza-Zerlin said.

After going through all the posters and PowerPoints, the students attempted to put events onto a timeline. The first timeline was a rough draft. After done with the rough draft, students presented their projects. At this time, students were able to add events to their timeline that the presenters may have had on notecards.

Making the final could be a good thing because students may have made the questions that relate to their topic. Students could also have had a topic that could not come up with 15 questions about their topic. In the long run, learning from student projects and using a timeline will most likely be useful.

The requirements for the project are that students much research their virus and write a report, they must include the fatality of the virus along with cures and prevention. The students must also create a replica of their virus; this replica could be made out of anything for instance mine had the herpes virus so I made mine out of a coffee container with tin foil and then stuck noodles in the container.

The class had only about one weekend to do this project, but most of the class had no problem in getting their project in on time.

“I found this project to be easy because I understood the project really well; if you just followed the directions and looked up information of the internet, you were good,” is what I said.

When teachers allow the class to learn in a non-conventional way, it really works out in the end for everyone. Good job for Borjon finding a way for kids to learn a way that makes it somewhat fun to learn about unpleasant topics.

The Carnival Conquest is the ship I will be going on my junior year Spring Break. It is the third largest Carnival cruise ship. It has a 2974 passenger limit and 1160 on board crew.

I used to be nervous about cruises since Titanic happened, but once I get on the boat, and I’m with my whole family I’m too excited to be scared.

There are 22 members of my family going on this cruise. We are going to The Bahamas, Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas. On my last cruise I went to both Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, but this cruise will be more fun because I will be older.

On my last cruise I met a lot of friends from different places around the nation. Jack Peterson and his friend Michael Haines were from AZ, Nikki Sanns and her best friends Mandy Kennedy were from NC, Chad Wachsmann was from CO, and Cailin Caldwell was from Lawrence, KS. It is very fun to meet and see different people and how they live. Hopefully, I meet cool people this next Spring Break as well.

Going canoeing is a lot of fun.  Every year when we go, we jump off a cliff about 15 feet to 20 feet tall.  I go canoeing with my dad, mom, sister, and two of my dad’s friend’s families and they are all pretty cool. We cook food on the campfire and go swimming on the days we don’t canoe.

I like going canoeing because it’s nothing like what there is to do in Kansas.  We play games and watch movies at the campsite in front of the awesome campfire.  I like camping and going somewhere other than Kansas because it makes it way more exciting.

Canoeing is the best part of the trip; people can either canoe half the river or the whole river.  Canoeing half the river takes four hours and doing the whole river is eight hours.  When canoeing, people have to watch out when they go under trees because snakes will fall into the canoe.

When we are done canoeing, everyone is happy and tired, and we get to go home, shower, and make smores in front of the camp fire.  Then we head home the day after canoeing, and we all can’t wait to go again next year.

“I am very glad I took them because it will save me a lot of money, and I’m ready to be in college, it’ll be nice to be out of high school,” Pearce said.

“I took 24 college credit hours in high school because I wanted to get ahead in college,” senior Shelby Perez said.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to graduate early since I got 24 hours in high school; that would be cool,” senior Ashlee Spring said.

“I’m glad I could get in 21 of my hours so I can get out of college a semester of so early,” senior Shelby Rowley said.

Even though many students may not get 24 hours, they can still get a few for college. Every little bit helps.

“I took 11 college credits so that freshman year of college wouldn’t be so hard,” senior Felicia VanCleave said.

“I took college credit hours in high school because they are easier and cheaper,” senior Bailey Howard said.

“I took the credits because it’s more personal and not so many students in the class,” senior Maddie Williams said.

“Take your college hours in high school; it’s easier and cheaper,” senior Alex Gunn said.