By Mia Chelico
Staff Writer The morning is busy with teens ripping through the hallways of Ljhs struggling to get to their next class. The ljhs press has interviewed students in all grades, hoping that this will notify the teachers and staff that these students are working very hard just to get to class. First they spoke to 8th grader AK Colbert, “ I don’t know it’s just challenging to get to my classes.” Colbert sighed. They heard from many others including seventh grader Will Burgess. “It’s pretty bad and really short, I don’t have time to get to my locker so I'm mostly late.” Being marked late can cause lunch detentions from teachers after a certain point. What some students don’t realize is that it’s hard for the teachers too. To show their side of the story, the press asked them. “I think the four minute passing period is hard for kids and some teachers that are getting to P.E. or other classes, especially if they are coming from west campus near the pods they almost always arrive late but otherwise I enjoy it. Mr. Stoddard says. Though some of the staff thinks a bit differently. “I think that a lot of kids are using the shorter passing periods a an excuse to be overly late to class," Mr. Quarterman explains. With all this said everyone hopes that this school year will still be great knowing that at first the new schedule will be challenging. By Emily Barrett and Callie Walton
Staff Writers Being a sixth grader can be very scary. New school, new people, and having the responsibility of lockers. When asked, ‘what were you most nervous for this year?’ Current sixth grader, Mateo Clarke, said, “ I was most nervous for opening and closing my locker, but still being on time for class.” On the 26th of August, incoming fifth graders from, Westridge, Hallinan, and Rivergrove, entered the school, Lakeridge Junior High. The new school is a hard transition because of having many new classes and responsibilities all at once. Suddenly they are expected to do so much more, either for homework, or around the house. These kids, growing up so fast and made it into junior high. The first day of school is always the scariest because there is kids from all the schools and all of the older kids in different grades. Teachers have a huge effect on how these kids feel toward going to school. They can feel scared to show up to class, or excited to be at school. When asking five sixth graders, they all said Mr. Jarone was their favorite teacher, because of his humor and teaching style. Sixth grader Davis Reardon stated, ”I like Mr. Jarone because he's funny and super nice.” Overall, 6th grade is a scary year, everything is new for everyone, just be nice and know it will get better once gotten into a routine. By Jordan Bowermaster
Staff Writer Every year Lakeridge Junior High students compete in the battle of the books. This year in February, once again, LJHS students will read 16 books and test their knowledge. The Oregon Battle of Books is a program in which students can broaden their reading and reading comprehension. Students in teams are responsible for reading 16 books and then competing in competitions showing the reading comprehension. Emma Rodenkirch, a 7th grader at LJHS, says, “I think Battle of the Books is a great experience and is a good way for students to open their variety of books.” These competitions “battles” will take place in February, 2019 so the students have a few months to decide who will read what and then read those books. Even if a team hasn’t read all of their books they still have to participate in the battle so if your doing battle of the books make sure to read your books early! Lots of students around Oregon can participate in the Battle of the Books as long as their school is participating. Lucky for many students here, LJHS is participating! Here, sign-ups will be in the library. Most of the battles will take place at Lakeridge Junior High, but then the winner at LJHS will go to the regional competitions. This team ends up playing teams from all over Clackamas County. ”I like the teamwork in, like getting to work with your friends in school,” says a student at LJHS. By Henry Crawford
Staff Writer Most students at ljhs love to chew gum, but what do the teachers think? Reporters asked students, office attendants, our custodian, and the principal, Mr.Schultz of their opinion on gum in class. Student Cam Lipp explains how he loves to chew gum but he finds it very disturbing when he reaches under his desk and feels a piece of chewed up gum. ”Don’t stick your gum under the desk, and throw the wrappers away.” Some students use gum to help them focus on the work in front of them. Although some student like to have gum for distraction purposes. Mr.Schultz explains “Sometimes you need something to fidget gum might be a good idea.” Although Ms. Easterly, and Ms. Steager have a different opinion on gum.” I think it’s disgusting, and it can wait for after school.” Mr.Kelly, a language arts teacher at LJHS, says that “It’s a cleanup concern, and it reflects the inability to cleaning up for some of our students.” Kelly also states that “For some people it helps them not get distracted, but at the same time, when people drop it on the ground, I am the one who has to pick up.” Our custodian Sierra has explained how she thinks that gum is a “A custodian nightmare.” Students love to chew gum Quinn Hoey explains that the thinks “Gum should be allowed because it help not only be but others focus.” Gianna Lafond, an avid gum chewer, talks about how “I love to chew gum, just having something to do while im in class really helps.” “Every class should allow gum but people shouldn’t stick it under desks” said Ramsey Wall and eighth grader at ljhs. Most students love to chew gum but teachers and administrators don’t have the same idea. By Emma Rodenkirch
Staff Writer Four minutes isn’t enough time for students at, Lakeridge Jr high, to get to classes. Many of the teachers let you pack after the bell rings while others give you tardies if you aren’t in your seat when the bell rings. This is making many of the students very stressed this year. Last year students had plenty of time to get from D pod to the end of the hallway in the main building. This year most students have to sprint to classes to make it on time, though some students can’t even make it on time when sprinting. Many students have been late to their classes because of how short passing period is. Students are either forced to go to their lockers or they have to walk a long distance to classes. Jordan, a seventh grader has to sprint to D3 from room 26. She is always late even when she sprints. The hallways are another factor of being late. They are to small and people stop in the hallways to talk blocking the hallway and making way to much foot traffic. Many students are upset like, Jordan Bowermaster who said, “It is stressful getting from class to class especially when you have to walk far.” The five minute passing periods were changed to four minutes at Lakeridge jr high. About two years ago the first recent schedule change happened. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday were all the same while Wednesday and Thursday were block days. This year they changed the schedule again. The eighth graders this year have had three different schedules during their time at LJH. This can get confusing. “I think that it wasn’t a very good idea to change from five minutes to four minutes because people were already late, so it doesn’t make sense to change it to four,” says a seventh grader at LJH. This year in, 2018, they made advisory shorter and on Monday and Thursday there is no advisory. Making it so students have to do homework at home. This can be difficult especially when they have after school activities. LJH should make a schedule where there is five minute passing periods. This year there will be a lot more lunch detentions. Lunch detentions happen when you get three tardies and because of the four minute passing periods. This can make students very stressed and stress can cause many other problems if it doesn’t go away. Students shouldn’t have to worry about being late. By Carly Clayton
Staff Writer At Lakeridge Junior High School, the 2018-19 school year many students from C lunch (out of A, B, and C lunch) have been complaining about the very late lunch period. This is a problem because students have to wait a long period of time in between the average breakfast and lunch. So the slow first half of the day can be a struggle for most. By fifth period, many students are complaining about their hunger for food. Many others also have to wait in the long lunch line before they can sit down and eat. A local reporter interviewed multiple students that have C lunch at LJHS and many had a similar opinion. “I don’t like C lunch at all because everybody in my fifth period class complains about being really hungry and it distracts them,” says 7th grader Emma Rodenkirch. “I don’t really like C lunch because I get very hungry and I can’t focus because I am focusing on my hunger,” says Jordan Bowermaster. When C lunch students are waiting around for most of the day for their lunch to start, teachers recommend to eat in the hallways in between classes but with our very short passing periods this year, students say that having time to eat and getting to classes on time almost seems impossible. By Cameron Lipp
Staff Writer The new school year at Lakeridge Junior High School brought a whole new schedule to the school that consists of no block days, long periods, and less advisory. Is that a big deal? For most people not. What kids, teachers, and the office is concerned about are the 4 minute passing times instead of 5 minutes. Ben Napierala, an 8th grader at LJHS states, “It’s hard because the 1 minute taken off makes me late to most of my classes,” Napierala and Henry Crawford, another 8th grader, agree that the 6th grade pods that most 7th and 8th graders have classes in, are hard to get to in 4 minutes. Most of the students would agree that the 4 minute passing time is hard. Kurt Schultz, the principal at LJHS was interviewed. Mr. Schultz explained, “For most people it’s a reasonable amount of time,” Mr.Schultz thinks that the 4 minute passing time is working and that it is hard to get from D pod to room 23, but those teachers might have more slack for kids who have a hard time. This is mostly true and kids really appreciate it. One of LJHS’s office secretaries and attendance monitors, Sue Steger, points out, “If there’s a little less socializing and a little more motivation to get to class, it should be plenty of time,” Ms. Steger believes kids can get to class on time easily when they aren’t packing up their bags for 8th period and chatting with friends. The new 4 minute passing time is good and bad to different people. Kids might be late a few times to class, but are expected to use their time wisely. If teachers can understand that kids making a long distance walk, give them slack, and if kids use their passing time wisely, then the 4 minute passing times will work for everyone. By Benjamin Napierala
Staff Writer For some kids going back to school can be rough, and for some it can be a blast. So members of the ljhs press asked students and teachers on their opinion on returning to school after the break. Members of the ljhs press asked 8th grade student Cam Lipp how he feels about attending lakeridge junior high school for his last year in middle school “I wasn't that excited, I wanted summer to last longer but it was nice to see friends again” explained Lipp. Student interviewers also asked Mr.Kelly, a language arts and publications teacher, about school starting. He explained, “ I'm really excited to have consistency in my life again. Summer can be crazy,” explains Kelly. Journal interviewers also asked a 7th grade student Quinn Hoey about how he feels about school and he told the press, “I'm disappointed because It felt like summer went by to fast, but it's good to see my friends again.” Another student, Henry Crawford, was asked about his opinion on attending school and he said, “Um it's different because I really loved summer and it went by fast, and it's weird to be an 8th grader now.” It seems that mostly students are sad about summer being over and having to start school again. And some are excited to attend school and see their friends again. Image by uml.edu By Brian Hamlin
Staff Writer Everyone has been given an assignment or project where people feel like they have forever to complete it and do a good job. But then people procrastinate with all that time and the due date gets comes up before they even realize it. And then people work really hard pulling their hair out the night before it's due to get it complete, when they had two weeks in the first place. According to Time Management Ninja, a reputable source for using your work time effectively and minimizing your workload, “By keeping tight deadlines, you will increase your productivity and get more done.” But maybe shorter deadlines can help get work done quicker with more quality. It’s a tough skill to learn, but when done right, making shorter due dates can increase productivity and force people to use their time more effectively than ever before. The trick depends on what task is being done. If a task is repetitive and the finished product is clear, than this trick works perfectly. If the set deadline too short or quality of work will not be there. If something that needs a more creative outlook, this trick is not ideal. According to the BBC, for most workers, shortening a deadline to tackle repeat tasks can be a trick to boost productivity. There are multiple things that somebody needs to know before they get going. First, the deadlines need to be organized throughout the day. The most structured, and shortest deadlines should be first, and as the day moves on, work on less structured and longer deadlines. Next, the way the deadline is set is important. If it’s too long, procrastination is a definite possibility, if it’s too short, than rushing is a factor and the quality of work is at stake .”Without that slack, we’re likely to see less creativity and less innovation” (BBC). Parkinson’s law states that work will expand as to fill the time allotted to complete it. According to Fast Company’s multiple interview sources, work is “elastic” meaning that it stretches and shrinks to fit the time frame. If two weeks is the deadline, it will take two weeks, if two days is the deadline, it will take two days. Third, if there is too many short term deadlines, a person can easily get burnt out and this method will render useless. “It’s easy to get caught up in [only setting] short term goals. You can suffer burnout.” Overall, this trick can really help anybody be more productive and pump out better work. But this is still hard, there really is no easy way. Deadlines need to be organized and set for the right amount of time, and the hardest challenge is for the average person to hold themselves accountable for these deadlines. These are self made, nobody else is accountable for them. Image by wlac.edu By Michelle Woo
Staff Writer “Wake up! You’re late, the bus already left!” a voice calls from downstairs. The alarm beeps once again, the time flashes 7:30 a.m. Tossing and turning, you struggle to get up. You had studied all night and you rarely got enough sleep. Rushing to your class, you’re almost late. At last, you sleepily walk through the school day. Has this ever happened to you? I know I can personally relate to that! Waking up early and trudging through school is not a good feeling. “I know how it feels, I’m always super tired and my brain can’t think.” complains Josie Rogers. Good news! Many school boards across the nation are converting starting school times to much later. The Seattle school district and school board adopted an 8:45 a.m. morning time starting next year for its high schoolers and most of the middle schoolers. Many parents, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and scientists from University of Oxford, Harvard, and Nevada supported this and that’s for a good reason. Proven by science, later school times help teens by battling sleep deprivation and also improves the student’s mood, grade, mental health and learning ability. Sleep is also important for growing teen bodies and it eliminates dangerous sleep-related car accidents. According to the National Sleep Foundation, students who don’t get enough night’s rest, result in drowsy driving, emotional and behavior problems, depression, stress, poor self-control, violence, drug and alcohol use, poor decision making, and lower overall performance. Adolescents are required to sleep to 8 to 9 hours of rest each night, a changing sleep schedule can result in a crummy day. Lulu Wang states “I have to wake up at around 6:30 to get ready and I always feel like a zombie during school.” However, it is more costly to change the schedules and times due to the different bus schedules that would have to be changed. Also, some opposing parents complain that the changed times will interfere with their child’s after-school activities like lessons or sport practices. Some are concerned about the teachers and how they are at a different “clock” and it would mess up the teacher’s agenda. “I’m a sophomore at Lakeridge High. Every school day I have to wake up at around 6:00 a.m, it’s super tiring!” Winnie Woo explains. Hopefully our own school will consider changing the times to much later for the sake of the students! |
LJHSLakeridge Junior High School is an award-winning academic institution located in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Archives |