Windsock

Senior Tributes: Stefan Baughman and Laura Anderson

Stefan Baughman--

1)  How many years have you been at EMHS?  3 years.

2)  What are your plans for next year?  College at either EMU or Hesston.

3)  What is your favorite memory from EMHS?   Great times in Junior Choir, Senior Choir, Touring Choir, the Baseball team, and generally just having fun with friends.

4)  Where do you expect to be in ten years?  Either playing baseball in the majors and settled down with a family or teaching music or PE and settled down with a family.

Laura Anderson--

1) How many years have you been at EMHS?  Four.

2) What are you doing next year?  Going to VCU and majoring in elementary education.

3) What's your best memory from EMHS?  A random road trip to 'the mountain.'

3.5)  Could you be more specific?  It involved Hannah Beachy, me, and Emily and we just decided to go for a drive. I picked a random mountain and we eventually got there. We were also up in the boonies and feared for our lives after seeing men with shotguns. We also felt we were going to starve to death and the only food we had was a kiwi. We sliced it with a cd and shared the bounty.

4) Where do you expect to be in ten years?  Teaching somewhere, and starting to get a family together maybe.

Senior Tributes: Hannah Beachy and Arlo Baker

Senior tributes are a tradition here at the Windsock. Each year, each senior is listed, along with a picture and other pertinant information. We'll be covering a couple seniors each day (hopefully) from now until the end of the year.- editor

Hannah Beachy--

1) How many years have you been at EMHS?  Since 9th grade..so, 4.

2)  What are your plans for next year?  I'm going to Guilford College (North Carolina)

3)  What is your favorite memory from EMHS?  When we walked around school with my red wagon, giving little girl beauty pageant trophies to all the teachers

4)  Where do you expect to be in ten years? Uhhh...I expect to be working at a preschool and getting married?? I don't know.

Arlo Baker--

1)  How many years have you been at EMHS?  Seven.

2)  What are your plans for next year?  I'm going to either Ferrum or Radford.

3)  What is your favorite memory from EMHS?  It will probably be when I finally graduate.

4)  Where do you expect to be in ten years?  In a house with my lifetime job and other than that, I don't know.

The Mr. B's TSA Program

TSA--the Technology Student Association--is a national organization which exists, according to its website, to “foster personal growth, leadership, and opportunities in technology, innovation, design and engineering.”  TSA participation can involve everything from doing woodworking and engineering projects to giving presentations.  At EMHS, TSA is led by Tech Ed teacher Dennis Brubaker, its high school advisor, and Brian Buchanan, its middle school advisor.

Brubaker has been with EMHS’ branch of the TSA or its predecessor, the IASA, since the 1980’s.  During that time, he’s tried to incorporate various aspects of TSA into Tech Ed classes.  If you’ve been in an EMHS shop class, you probably remember the officer system; that’s based off of the TSA, which also operates on a nationwide hierarchy.

In addition to providing leadership opportunities, Buchanan says that TSA helps to improve life skills, such as “self-discipline, dedication, and attention to detail,” and gives students experience with aerodynamics and other engineering subjects, experimentation, public speaking, computer use, and other things.  It’s often harder for high school to work TSA into their schedules than for middle school students, but people from both age ranges are involved at EMHS.  Contrary to what might be expected, “girls are just as big a presence at the competitions as guys,” according to Buchanan.  Additionally, while some projects require work in the shop after school, many can be done by students at home, according to their own schedules, while checking in occasionally with the advisors for help.

At the regional TSA competition, which was held at Turner Ashby high school on March 15, EMHS’s contingent did very well, sweeping first, second, and third places in the middle school dragster competition and having every dragster entry in both age groups rank within the top five in speed.  Additionally, entries from EMHS students in various competitions took first and second places in flight endurance, first place in technical design, and second place in the debate challenge.  Seven students are planning to travel to the statewide TSA competition in Hampton, Virginia this May.

One of the students who went to the regional competition, seventh grader Alex Clemens, has been in TSA since sixth grade.  He enjoys it, saying it’s “really fun.”  In addition to providing entertainment, he says that TSA has helped him develop skills in areas such as woodworking.

The display case near the front office is currently filled with the spoils of the regional competition.

- Dustin Crummett

A Turning Point in Our School History?

By now, EMHS students are aware, via chapels and neighbor group discussions, that the school is in a time of transition.  The school administration, particularly the Development Office, is working to create plans that will determine the course of the school for years to come.  As part of this effort, a weekend retreat involving faculty and administration members was recently held with the help of Allen Lefever, a local citizen who specializes in helping organizations like EMHS plan for their futures.

Principal Paul Leaman says that one of the main goals of the event was to help determine three long term planning principles:  1)  What is the school passionate about?,  2)  What are the school’s strengths?,  And 3) What makes the school work economically?  One of the main goals of EMHS’s long term planning, according to Leaman, is to help find where those areas overlap and can work together.

One of the main focuses of future development will be expanding academic options valuable to college bound students, such as AP classes.  “We have to be serious about strengthening programs for students going to competitive colleges,” Leaman said, while stressing that the school also wants to preserve and expand opportunities for students who aren’t going to college.  Sarah Schaeffer, the head of EMHS’s Development Office, concurs, saying she thinks it’s a shame that students taking Calculus or a fourth year of Spanish must go to EMU (and pay extra tuition).

How will the new programs be funded?  Leaman says that if the school can increase enrollment, funding shouldn’t be a problem as long as community support keeps up.  EMHS’s current facilities are intended for three hundred sixty students, but only about three hundred twenty now attend.  Because of this discrepancy, Schaeffer says that she hopes to achieve a “greater awareness in the community” of EMHS and what it has to offer.  This, she hopes, will also help the school to be a “mission” in the community.

Might the drive for new students compromise the school’s identity?  Leaman says that he wants to do more to help non-Mennonite students feel welcome, and to focus on the student body’s commonalities rather than its differences.  At the same time, he says that the school’s core values are “non-negotiable” and that they will be preserved even as less critical distinctions are done away with.  Schaeffer agrees, saying that the school can survive getting rid of extraneous rules while preserving its core identity and values, such as its emphasis on service.

Is there a chance that the school might drop the word “Mennonite” from the name at any point in the foreseeable future, as has happened with other, similar institutions in similar situations?  Schaeffer says that she “hears nothing to make me think it will happen in my lifetime.”  While Leaman stresses that a name change isn’t in the works, he adds that “I think it’s kind of oxymoronic that the Mennonite denomination is named after a person when the last job of the denomination is to honor a person, other than Jesus.”  The school’s values, he says, are more important than names or labels.

And what of the perceived stress between those who want to keep the school accessible to as many people as possible and those who want to make it a more exclusive, high-end school?  “We don’t want to be like Woodberry Forest or Episcopal,” Schaeffer says.  “We want to preserve what we do well.”  Leaman agrees, and says that, as long as community support keeps up, tuition (adjusted for inflation) should remain about the same in coming years.

With so much at stake, hopefully the future of the school is in good hands.  “We can’t stay where we are,” says Schaeffer, “and we can’t turn away,” but, she adds, “there’s no need to worry.”

- Dustin Crummett

Lady Flames Fighting Cancer

When Nancy Kisamore, the mother of Lindsay Kisamore, a former EMHS basketball player and Junior Varsity girls’ basketball team assistant coach, lost her life to cancer, the varsity girls’ basketball team and their coaches wanted to do something good in her memory.   So, last year, varsity basketball head coaches Jennifer Young and Christie Osborne started the now-annual “Flames Fighting Cancer” fund raiser.

“We thought this would be a good way to honor her,” Osborne said of Nancy Kisamore.

This year, the fundraiser took place over three games: one against Covenant on February 5th, one against Miller on February 7th, and a third against Holy Cross on February 12th.  For the fundraiser, individual sponsors could make a flat donation or sponsor a specific player in a specific statistical category.  For instance, someone might agree to donate a certain amount of money for every rebound a certain player got during the three games.  All proceeds went to the Rockingham Memorial Hospital Regional Cancer Center, which helps treat and prevent cancer in our area.

Last year’s fundraiser garnered about one thousand dollars for the cause.  It’s too early to tell exactly how much this year’s event raised, but Young says that this year’s total should be more than last year’s.

The coaches are happy with the results of the fundraiser.  “We’re very pleased with how the girls responded,” Osborn said.  Many of the current team’s players had Lindsay Kisamore either as a coach or as a teammate.

- Dustin Crummett

The Primaries Heat Up

You’ve almost certainly heard plenty of news about the United States presidential race recently.  As the field of candidates narrows and the election in November draws closer, interest in the race is growing among many Americans.  As junior Nels Akerson pointed out, some of EMHS’ social studies classes are beginning to deal with the upcoming election.  Twenty juniors and seniors were recently interviewed in an attempt to discover what EMHS students thought about the primaries.

Many students don’t yet have strong opinions on the race.  “I don’t like politics and I don’t like the candidates,” explained Blake Williamson, a senior.  Hannah Cranston, a junior, said she felt that every candidate was a “hypocrite.”  Interest in the race among students will, of course, grow as the general election nears; Gabriel Martinez, a junior, admitted that he hadn’t paid much attention so far, but that he figured that he will know everything he needs to know by November.

Others are already taking sides in the campaign.  Barack Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, seems to enjoy widespread support among students.  David Jost, a senior, said he believes that if Obama is elected, he will “drastically raise our image around the world.”  Some also voiced support for former North Carolina senator John Edwards, who ran for Vice President in 2004; Nathan Hershberger, a senior, said he supports Edwards, though he would prefer Obama over New York senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton.  Clinton had relatively little support among those interviewed for this article.

Arizona senator and Vietnam war veteran John McCain seems to be the most popular Republican candidate.  Freeman Bendfeldt, a senior, said that he would be willing to vote for either McCain or Obama; he believes McCain is willing to stand on his principles, even when they aren’t politically advantageous.  Some students also said they’d consider Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.

Libertarian Ron Paul, a Republican candidate with little support nationally, elicited strong responses from some students.  “He should be kicked in the face,” said Bendfeldt.
“[Ron Paul] is a crazy racist,” added Nathan Hershberger.

- Dustin Crummett

Facebook Controversy

Many teenagers have occasional issues with their educators, but it’s not very often that EMHS’ administration is seriously accused by dozens of students of violating centuries old constitutional rights.  When this happened, it understandably caused quite a stir.

According to students, within the past few months, three groups on the popular social networking site Facebook have been deleted by their creators at the request of school officials who deemed the groups inappropriate.  One of the groups was jokingly dedicated to destroying the Peace Pole in front of the school, one was for people who “hated” a certain teacher, and the third was called simply, “EMHS Sucks.”  In response to the deletions, another group, “Guess what EMHS? we have opinons- stop making us delete groups…” was made to protest what the creator perceived as students being forced “to delete a group they made because it goes against EMHS.”

The group sparked intense debate, with students divided over whether the school was justified in asking the groups’ creators to delete them.  “As long as our school continues to spy on us and tell us what to do, we have the right to complain about it and have an strong opinion about it,” one student, a supporter of the protest group, wrote.  Another supporter wrote that she was, “Tired of not being able to speak my mind at emhs cause everyone will give me crap about it and try to explain to me that my standards are WRONG.”

Other students were more ambivalent.  One wrote that, “Emhs has no right to tell us what to do outside of school,” but agreed that, “some of the groups were hurtful.”  Though she had initially joined the anti-teacher group, she said she had since had a change of heart.  “The groups were quite inappropriate,” she wrote, “and shouldnt have been created in the first place.”

Still other students wholeheartedly agreed with the school’s actions.  “The creators of these groups,” a student wrote, “as members of the EMHS community, have every right to express their opinion, so long as they do so in a civil manner, and so long as the opinion itself is deemed valid by the community, i.e. not what we call hate speech. (so far, I would argue that the three groups I know of fall into those two categories) Once more, we all signed onto this when we wrote our name on the on the handbook card, we all sign on to this whenever we join a community or institution. This is not unique to EMHS. It is a part of living together in any community.”

The controversy even attracted external attention, as several former students and at least one person who, as far as the author can tell, has no direct connection to the school, joined the Facebook debate.  These posters were also divided in their positions regarding the school’s actions.

Principal Paul Leaman says he was only personally made aware of one of the groups, the one for people who hated a certain teacher.  He was informed by Dean of Students Sherman Eberly; Mr. Eberly heard of the group from a faculty member, who had in turn learned of it from a student.  Because of what Mr. Leaman called the “hurtful nature” of the group, the two agreed to take action.  After Mr. Eberly discussed the matter with the group’s creator, the group was deleted.

Mr. Eberly says he feels that some of the statements made on the group dedicated to hating a teacher were “almost slanderous,” and that some might even be considered “threatening.”  He feels that the group went against the code of conduct by which all EMHS students agree to abide, and that the administration was therefore entirely justified in asking for it to be deleted. 

“People say, well, it wasn’t meant for teachers and parents,” Eberly added, “and yeah, maybe you didn’t intend for them to see it, but still, you posted it in a public forum.”  Mr. Eberly says that it isn’t uncommon for schools and businesses to utilize information found on Facebook and other sites.  For instance, he says that at JMU, if a picture on Facebook shows a student violating the behavior code (e.g., by drug use,) then disciplinary action can be taken just as if the student was caught in the act.

- Dustin Crummett

The Brumobile Lives!

Tech Ed doesn't always get a lot of attention. It's secluded off in a back corner of the school building, and it's not quite as flashy as some of the school's other programs; Tech Ed classes don't win climatic championship games in stadiums full of screaming fans or sing in beautiful European Cathedrals. That doesn't mean nothing's going on, though.

For the past few years, Tech Ed teacher Mr. Dennis Brubaker has been working on building a car from scratch, mostly out of recycled parts salvaged from other cars that were past their primes. This year, Mr. Brubaker decided that the project might be a valuable learning experience for his students, which gave rise to Car Care class. During the class, which lasted through first quarter, the students worked on the car, and in the process, learned how automobiles work and how to take care of them. They even had some outside help from John Gahman, a local man with experience working on cars.

The relatively small class was able to get a great deal done in just a few weeks: they ran fuel lines, installed a battery, mounted the gear shift and steering wheel, worked on the brakes, and did a few other things as well. The partially completed car is still sitting the Tech Ed room for anyone interested in seeing it.

- Dustin Crummett

SCO Places New Recycling Bins

You may have noticed the blue recycling containers scattered about the school – one by the dining hall, another in the lounge, and a third in the gym. The containers, designed for collecting recyclable plastic bottles and aluminum cans, are part of a student run initiative, having been placed there by the wise and beneficent SCO Executive Committee.

The project was planned with input from the head of EMU’s recycling program, Jonathan Lantz-Trissel. Lantz-Trissel suggested using the prominent blue containers (known as “Clear Stream Recyclers”) and allowed EMHS to utilize EMU’s recycling collection area. An announcement about EMHS’s new program was made during the SCO introductory chapel several weeks ago, but the containers were only recently set up.

To help manage this and other recycling projects aimed at promoting good stewardship of resources, the SCO is creating a “Recycling Committee.” This group will ensure that bottles and cans destined for recycling are periodically gathered up, sorted, and taken to EMU’s recycling collection site. The group will also make certain that the sometimes neglected paper recycling bins in various rooms are routinely emptied. Additionally, if the SCO manages to implement some form of composting, the committee will likely a hand in overseeing it. The SCO is always willing to hear new ideas from students; anyone wishing to join the Recycling Committee or offer suggestions may talk to a member of the SCO Executive Committee.   

The SCO believes that each of us has a responsibility to use our limited resources wisely; every bottle, can or paper we recycle is a small step in that direction.

– Dustin Crummett

SAT Scores Are In....

The SAT Reasoning Test. Even if you haven't taken it, you've certainly heard of it.

The grueling multi-hour assessment, with its strange, partially wordless title (the letters "SAT" don't stand for anything,) its controversial essay section, and its seemly infinite rows of answer bubbles, is a primary factor in the admissions process at many colleges and universities. Most of EMHS's students will have taken the test by the time they graduate. Some seniors have taken it already; for others, the SAT yet looms in the future, ominous, inevitable, and potentially disastrous in perception, sort of like Norse Mythology's Battle of Ragnarok, except much less interesting.

The good news is that, despite the SAT's intimidating nature, EMHS students tend to do surprisingly well on it. Last year, Eastern Mennonite students averaged 565 on the math section, 562 on the reading section, and 554 on the writing section, compared with national averages of 515, 502, and 494, respectively. The scores are made more impressive by the fact that around eighty five percent of EMHS's seniors took the test, while, according to Guidance Counselor Tina Glanzer, only forty to sixty percent of seniors take the test in many public schools. Because the students most likely to do well on the test are those most likely to take it, having a higher percentage of students take the test tends to translate to lower average scores.

Mrs. Glanzer believes that a number of factors are responsible for EMHS's impressive showing. Parents who send their children to EMHS generally have the desire and financial ability to give their kids a top-quality education, and EMHS, in her opinion, is equipped to help give students such an education. "I think that learning is valued by the parents here," she said, "and, of course, we value it." She also believes the the school's "faith aspect," with its accompanying work ethic, helps the students achieve academic success.

Some have criticized the heavy importance placed on the SAT by the American educational system. Mrs. Glanzer sympathizes somewhat, saying that the SAT is "overvalued," but that, though imperfect, the SAT and the similar ACT are vital tools in evaluating college bound students. All the same, she stresses that regardless of a student's future educational plans, developing solid work habits is as or more important than performing well on any single test.

- Dustin Crummett