October 29, 2012 • Volume 10 • Issue 2 Northridge High School • 2901 Northridge Road • Tuscaloosa, Al• 35406northridgereporter.wordpress.com

Color RunPage 8

Alex HauserEditor-in-Chief

Whether it’s taking standardized tests or visiting schools, college preparation can start as early as freshmen year.

Jackie Hud-gins, senior counselor, said students have to find the “right fit” for t h e m s e l v e s when it comes to preparing for college. Some people take a year off or a gap year, go to a two year school or a four year uni-ver- sity.

“Finding the right fit for you… is what we want to help you with,” she said.Gap Years

Hudgins said gap years have been a rising trend and help students

take time to figure out what to do and to decompress from high school.

Special Education teacher Beth Hol-liman’s daughter Maury took a gap year to save up for a study abroad program before starting college.

“Maury was a junior in high school when she started making college visits. She was very unsure of what she wanted to do and where she wanted to go. She thought she might want to go into culi-nary arts,” she said. “I knew she would eventually go to college, so I encour-aged her to take a break and just work for a while… [During her senior year], she pretty much decided she wanted to

take a year off, work and save all of her money and use it to go on a big trip.”

Holliman said taking a gap year has “tre-mendous benefits.”

“It gives [students] a year to take a break from academics, experience

having a job, and, in my daugh-ter’s case, a chance of a lifetime trip. She earned enough money to

travel to Europe [and visit] eight differ-ent countries. She was over there for 35 days and paid for every bit of it her-self, [and] even had money left over to decorate her dorm room at UA,”

she said.Hudgins said students need to find a

balance between having fun and remain-ing focused.

“[Students] really need to focus on pre-paring for what they are going to do the next level,” she said. Community CollegesCommunity colleges are resources for

anyone in the community and helpful for all students, according to Hudgins.

“It’s for the student that maybe dropped out of high school and got their GED. It’s for the student that received special edu-cation services, and they exit high school with a different type of certificate. It’s for the standard diploma student who, maybe for financial reasons, couldn’t afford a four

year school, or for academic reasons didn’t meet the criteria to get into a four year school,” Hudgins said. “And it’s also for the advanced academic, honors or AP stu-

dent that just wanted to start in a smaller set-ting that’s a lot less ex-pensive.”

The local communi-ty college, S h e l t o n State, of-fers a sum-mer schol-a r s h i p called S2. The schol-arship al-

lows students not eligible for Pell grants to take 12 hours of academic study free of charge the summer between graduation and the start of their freshman year in college.Paying for College

Students can receive money through fi-nancial aid, standardized tests scores and scholarships.

Financial aid is available to every stu-dent, but has levels that only certain stu-dents qualify for. Low-income students can receive Pell grants, and any student is eli-gible for student loans and work study.

“Fill out FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). It doesn’t cost you anything to do. You never know what cir-cumstances could change. Something hap-pens, and someone could suffer a job loss,” Hudgins said. “[Also,] work study is a great way to get your foot in the door.”

Many organizations award scholarships based on interest, test scores or essays.Some colleges accept your college appli-cation as the scholarship application, but some places, like the University of Ala-bama, require students to fill that out sepa-rately.

“A scholarship is that investment of a college or organization in you. And so, if they thought everybody was qualified, they would give everybody money. They are looking for an investment to represent their organization,” Hudgins said. “They want more than just the very, very smart student. They want someone that will be in-volved in their campuses.”The Common App

The Common Application is a resource available to students planning to apply to several schools.

“We’ve had students in the past that have applied to 10 different schools, and nor-mally that would mean filling out 10 differ-ent forms and writing 10 different essays. Now with the Common App, they just have to do it once,” she said.

When turning in any application, Hud-gins said to remember deadlines.

“The deadlines are expected to be met. If they say the deadline is Dec. 1, they don’t want your stuff on Dec. 2,” she said.

For any college, there’s a process; first, the application must be sent, then the tran-script, and sometimes, a separate scholar-ship application.

“Once you do those three things for the university, you’re pretty much done until you make a housing department and en-rollment deposit, and they will talk to you more specifically about that later,” Hud-gins said.

Early deadlines for the University of Al-abama are Dec. 1, and applying early can take away tension from senior year.

“It helps to know that this is an option, or this is not an option, so students can go ahead to Plan B. Procrastinating brings on stress,” Hudgins said.College Visits

When picking colleges, she said campus visits are one of the most important things to do.

“You can feel very comfortable in a place or feel very out of your element. A college campus visit is where you can determine that,” Hudgins said.

LaJessica Duncan, senior, visited UAB (University of Alabama in Birmingham) because she was interested in the medical program.

“It’s not too far, but not too close either. Some of my family members go there. But I wanted to make sure it’s like people say it is, and that I like it and can imagine myself living there.

Hannah Johnson, senior, visited Cove-nant College in Georgia. She said the cam-pus visit was what made her sure about her college choice, and that it’s a necessary trip any senior should take.

“It’s important to find a college you can imagine yourself living in. Covenant Col-lege was that for me. I liked that it was small and a Presbyterian college. To me, when you visit a college that you really like, you find little things that stand out to you,” Johnson said. “I wanted a school that had a pretty campus. Covenant looked like Hogwarts. And that’s definitely a plus.”

Johnson said it was important to fill out the application when you have time to

think about each answer.

“Just elabo-rating on a certain volun-teer event you attended could impress the admissions of-fice. Don’t be modest. This is your time to

brag about your years in school,” she said.

She said she’s glad she started applying early because now she can enjoy her senior year.

“It takes so much stress away, knowing what my options are. And I loved Cov-enant so much, I’ll probably go there,” Johnson said. “I definitely think it’s wise to apply for college early. You never know what could happen, and how busy you will get later. Don’t make applying for college stressful. It’s an exciting time.”

“I definitely think it’s wise to apply for college ear-ly... don’t make applying for college stressful. It’s an exciting time.”

Hannah Johnson, senior

College Prep

Search out 1. admissions requirementsSend in 2. applicationsSend in transcripts 3.

and test scoresFill out 4. scholarship applicationsWait for answers5. Make a decision6.

Mrs. Hudgins’ 6 steps to apply for college

Mock ElectionResults

As school year goes by, students start preparing for college

Breakdown of grades

9th 10th 11th 12thObama

Romney=10%

Breakdown of ages

18

14

15

16

17

Romney

Obama

Breakdown of ethnicity

Obama Romneywhite black other 1 person=10%

And the winner is...Barack Obama

69%31%Romney

639 students polledinformation compiled by: Alex Hauser

Designed by: Alex HauserPhotos by: MCT Campus

In-school conditioningPage 7

Exemption policyPage 6

2 The Northridge ReporterOctober 29, 2012Opinion

NSPA 1st Place Best of Show 2011 • NSPA 5th Place Best of Show 2008 • NSPA 8th Place Best of Show 2008 • NSPA 9th Place Best of Show 2006 • CSPA Silver Medalist (2003, 2004) • CSPA Gold Medalist (2005-2011) • SIPA

All-Southern (2003, 2005–2011) • ASPA All-Alabama (2003–2011) • NSPA All-American (2004, 2008, 2011) • Best SIPA Newspaper in Alabama (2003–2007) • NSPA News Story of the Year (2005) • SIPA First Place News

Story (2007) • SIPA First Place Review (2009) • Rick Bragg Award for Feature Writing (2009)

Our ThoughtsLack of Wi-Fi disrupts classrooms

The board of education shut off the WiFi with little warning on Oct. 3.

This threw teachers off when they realized they could not ef-fectively teach according to their lesson plans. Teacher’s often use videos and links to the Internet to enhance their lesson.

Because of the lack of textbooks, students must use Wi-Fi to access resources and email teachers assignments.

Some teachers also encourage students to use portable electron-ic devices to research because the shorter classes prevent brief trips to the computer lab.

We understand the reason for cutting off the Wi-Fi and the board’s weariness for not having a filter, but more notification would have given teachers time to modify their lesson plans be-fore it was shut off.

We want to commend our teachers for making extra efforts dur-ing the dry spell, such as using 3G capable iPads and connecting them to the projectors, to make sure we get the quality education we deserve.

The Northridge Reporter would like to thank the board for pro-viding teachers with Wi-Fi access after objections were made, al-though students still need to access the Internet to make the most of their education.

agree (18) disagree (0)

Northridge High School • 2901 Northridge Road • Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 • (205) 759-3734 ext. 295

northridgereporter.wordpress.com

Katie PooreStaff Writer

The stares are the worst part.My youngest brother, Hank, has cerebral palsy, a dis-

ability that impairs his speech and muscle control. Hank drives a battery-powered wheelchair and cannot drive through a crowded parking lot without re-ceiving obvious stares from curious people.

In a country where nearly 38.3 million people, or 12.6 percent of the population, were classified as having a severe disability in 2010 (statistics from http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-131.pdf) one would think that people would have a better under-standing of what having a disability truly means.

It does not mean that Hank, or any other disabled per-son, is any less intelligent than those who can walk or talk. It doesn’t mean he can’t hear the countless, blunt questions of, “What’s wrong with him?” or understand that while, yes, his voice may sound different from that of his friends and his body may not work entirely the same way, he is still a human being and deserves the exact same respect given to everybody else.

We have grown up in a society that does not educate people on these things, a society where it is unacceptable to discriminate against race yet perfectly all right to judge someone based upon whether they look “normal” or not.

This is not okay. Disabled people have just as much a right to a sense of

acceptance as those who are not handicapped. Many people confine disabilities to a group of people

who are all the same. They are all in wheelchairs, or they can’t walk, or maybe they can’t see. Americans shouldn’t see these people as a group so different from the majority. They are a part of our culture—humans with flaws and

individuality and strengths and dreams. Where strangers may look at Hank and see a child in a wheelchair that speaks and moves differently from themselves, I see someone with an incredible sense of humor, someone who has the ingenuity to realize that since it’s hard for him to use his fingers to type on a key-

board, maybe his toes will work better, and has mastered the art of using his smile to get what he

wants. When he grows up, he wants to be a physical therapist.

Hank is human, and though he may be fighting a dif-ferent battle, his feelings are universal feelings. He expe-riences sadness, frustration, anger and happiness for the same reasons that others do. He hates math, loves sleeping late and can’t get enough macaroni and cheese.

Hank is not defined by his disability and neither is any-one else.

The ignorance that prevents these realizations is one that has become all too common. More often than not, people will encounter someone with special needs and not know what to do; however, there is no go-to action, no true way to behave. A physical disability does not determine per-sonality. It doesn’t determine intelligence, and it certainly

does not determine one’s ability to achieve in something.Oscar Pistorius ran in the Olympics with a prosthetic

leg, and Stephen Hawking, a man whose body is mostly paralyzed due to a disease known as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), is one of the smartest people of our time. Itzhak Perlman is one of the greatest violinists in the world and has had polio since the age of four.

A disability shouldn’t serve as a barrier between two people. It shouldn’t prevent a stranger from introducing themselves or having the desire to learn more. The ques-tion shouldn’t be about what’s wrong, but about the story that person has to offer. I wish people would stop seeing the disability and start seeing the person behind it.

Disabled brother gives student unique perspective

Photo by: Kathy Poore

Poor

e

Picture please: Poore takes a picture with her brother Hank at a stopover on the way to Pennsylvania. Hank wanted to stop and take pictures at a scenic location.

*Denotes state, regional and national award winners

Editorial Policy: The opinions in The Northridge Reporter are those of the students and not of the faculty or ad-ministration of Northridge High School or the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education. It is the policy of The Northridge Reporter to publish all non-obscene, non-libelous, signed letters to the editor, regardless of the opinion expressed in them. Letters must be submitted to Susan Newell in room 109 or emailed to northridgereporter@gmail.com.

Editor-in-Chief *Alex HauserManaging Editor*Raiha Bajwa Feature Editor*Renu PanditNews Editor*Sarah Katherine Barnes

Entertainment Editor*Raiha BajwaSports EditorAbby AllenOpinion Editor*Raiha Bajwa Beat EditorMorgan DeWitt

Copy EditorsRabisa Khan, Jared Lotfi, Kelly Burnham Infographics EditorJakailah CooperArt EditorKanJalla DancerArtistsCheQuita Burrell, Katie Poore

Business Manager*Raiha BajwaPhotographersMorgan DeWitt, Julia Hocutt, Jared LotfiStaffJordan Hutchinson, Victoria Love, Savren Nelson, Kayla PateAdviser*Susan Newell

School populationStudents: 1238Faculty and staff: 90

The Northridge Reporter reserves the right to edit letters and verify allegations. The newspaper is distributed monthly.

Tuscaloosa City Board Policy: It is the official policy of the Tusca-loosa City Board of Education that no person shall, on the grounds of race, color, disability, sex, religion, national origin, age or creed, be excluded for participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subject to discrimination under any program, activity or employment.

Advertising & Subscriptions: Contact The Northridge Reporter Staff at (205) 759-3734 ext. 235 or snewell@tusc.k12.al.us to advertise in or subscribe to The Northridge Reporter.

The seven period schedule: Who needs sleep?

See story on page 6

Art by: Kanjalla Dancer

boo

3EntertainmentThe Northridge ReporterOctober 29, 2012

Abby AllenSports Editor

High school: the best

years of your life, right?

Wrong. Everybody said school

would start getting stressful junior year. Freshman year I was repeatedly told

“freshman and sophomore years are a joke; junior year is when it gets hard.”

Clearly I was lied to, because sopho-more year IS hard.

All I ever do now is stress. I stress about absolutely every-thing.

I cry and can’t focus, and I have to take pills to go to sleep.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the con-stant migraines. Those are getting a bit out of hand.

I always feel like there is something that has to get done, with seven classes a day and homework in almost every single one of them, plus soccer practice after school, and it definitely doesn’t help having a teacher that expects you to know exactly what you are doing, even though it is only your first month in her class.

I can practically feel my pores erupting and gray hairs sprouting from all of this stress.

It is my sophomore year; I should be picking out a car and hanging out with friends, all while maintaining good grades, b u t with a seven period

day it’s almost im-possible to stay calm because teachers are pil-

ing mounds of work on me.

I t ’ s even harder when I do not understand at all what is going on in class.

Forty-nine minute class periods bare-ly give me any time to ask questions, and the teachers say “YouTube it,” but isn’t it their job to teach us?

That’s what I thought. What about staying

healthy? By the time I get done with all of my homework, it’s about 8

o’clock at night, and I h a v e to eat dinner and get ready for bed.

I definitely don’t have time before bed to get my thirty min-utes of physical activ-ity that doctors suggest to stay healthy.

I can go ahead and kiss those glori-

ous eight hours of sleep goodbye too, since I don’t have time to get exercise

after school, I have to wake up at 5 o’clock in the morn-

ing to run and work out.

Alle

n

Morgan DeWittStaff Writer

A disease is spreading, targeting preteens, teenag-ers and young adults. This illness is characterized by progressive boredom in the movie theater, nights of rest-ful sleep after a horror movie and fits of frustration when searching Netflix for a good scary movie.

This disease is known as the “Non Original, Simple-minded and Cli-ché Remakes of Extremely Awful Mov-ies” Epidemic, also known as NO SCREAM Disease.

If you con-sider yourself a true “Horror Movie Junkie” then you have seen enough movies in your day to under-stand what’s cliché and what’s fresh.

The follow-ing is a crash-course into the cliché side of the horror mov-ie industry.

For starters, concepts like “splitting up,” “checking-out creepy sounds,” and the ge-nius who calls out “Hello,” prior to hearing loud bang-ing in an empty house are all terms in The Stupid Movie Writer’s Ideas Dictionary.

Any of the previous events usually lead up to an element of a horror movie known as a “jump scare,” where some-thing scary pops up at the audience. One of the most cliché jump scare ideas is the

bathroom mirror jump scare.

Washing your face in the middle of the night while paranormal activity is going on in your house sure does seem like a good plan. Oh, there’s a murderer behind you in the mirror when you look up to dry your face? Didn’t see that one coming.

The locations that these characters choose to take their friends and family to for a camping trip or vaca-tion also seem sketchy. Why is it that all fathers believe that taking their families on camping excursions to “Murder-and-Rape Creek” is

a good idea?

Police on television can trace the residue from your soul from the doorknob in the victim’s bedroom, but police in horror movies decide to send the idiot cop with no peripheral vision to watch the house for the night. Inept police seem to be a virus in modern horror movies.

The horror movie cast is always unnaturally diverse, with the jock and his trashy girlfriend, the quiet one who eventually goes insane and turns evil, the clumsy girl who runs from the kill-er and falls every four sec-onds, the minority who nor-mally dies first (black guy, Indian guy, or British guy), and the plucky yet unlikely

heroine who has all the bright ideas who e v e n t u a l l y

lives in the end.

So, as the NO SCREAM Epi-

demic becomes in-creasingly fatal, I and other apprecia-

tors of good horror continue to live in the past and watch classic films, waiting for that one day that Holly-wood starts churning out new stuff.

Katie PooreStaff Writer

The Avett Brothers gave a spectacular performance in the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater on Thursday, Oct. 11, where they per-formed almost 25 songs over a period of two and a half hours.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the opening band, was slight-ly disappointing; she didn’t seem to deliver as much as she could have.

Potter’s voice was great, but most of her songs were boring, and she seemed to play an abnormally long time for an opening band. She should have given up the stage in favor of the main act much sooner than she did.

When the Avetts finally did take the stage, it was amazing. Joe Kwon, the cellist, managed to dance crazily and still make his instrument sound beautiful, and the way Seth Avett, one of the lead singers, plays guitar seems like it should be impossible. He plays the instrument inhumanly fast.

Scott, his brother, is just as gifted with the banjo. When Paul DeFiglia, the stand-up bassist, performed a solo, the band gained even more respect. I know from playing in string orchestras that bassists don’t get nearly enough credit.

When the brothers played “If It’s the Beaches” during their encore, I nearly lost it, screaming at the top my lungs and crying. Needless to say, it was the best song of the night.

The Avett Brothers’ music always manages to bring on a load of memories for many of the fans.

The way the Avetts sing is incredible—their voices comple-ment each other perfectly, and it is evident that they truly feel the music.

The only downside was the electric guitar that the band recent-ly added. It didn’t seem to fit with the style of the music, where banjos and acoustic instruments dominate. It drowned out Scott and Seth at some points, and the performance would have been even better had it never been there.

Regardless, the concert was phenomenal. Every song felt perfect and genuine, and the crowd sang along

to nearly everything. If the Avetts return, don’t hesitate to buy tickets. Their concerts are better than anything someone could listen to on an iPod.

Art by: Che’Quita Burrell

OpinionSchedule, too little time stresses sophomore

Cliche plot lines leave audience unthrilled

Avett Brothers returns to Tuscaloosa

Strum it: Scott Avett of the Avett Brothers performs at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, Saturday 8, 2009. The Avett Brothers performed in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 11.

Photo by: MCT Campus

Art by: Che’Quita Burrell

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4 The Northridge ReporterOctober 29, 2102Feature

Unique job experienceKelly Caroline BurnhamCopy Editor

In a world of students who toss on their uniforms and dash to fast food restaurants after the final bell rings, there are other students who pull out their drafting papers, run to the courthouse or set up a chemistry apparatus instead.

Joey Stegall, junior, is employed at R.H. Smith & Asso-ciates, a group that offers engineering services. He drafts and creates layouts for nearly anything, utilizing a visual-ization program called AutoCAD.

“I designed TCT’s plumbing system,” he said. Stegall also designed Delta Gamma’s air conditioning

unit, the fume hood for The Crimson Café’s stove, and a slew of other mechanical engineering work.

Stegall learned drafting and design from a class at TCT a few years ago, gaining knowledge of how to use Auto-CAD and the intricacies of engineering.

“I’m the youngest at R.H. Smith & Associates,” he said. “One of the most difficult projects was the plumbing for one of the sorority houses because it kept changing.”

Stegall said his boss is impressed with his diligence, es-pecially at such a young age.

Before work can begin, the company or individual must contact the boss and allow time for the employees to sur-vey the area for appropriate measurements. Then the draft-ing and designing elements kick in.

Stegall said he is “not allowed to say” his salary.Alex Smith, senior, worked at a law firm with her father,

Andrew Smith, over the summer as a secre-tary and a runner.

“I wanted the experi- ence of work-ing in a formal law set- ting,” she said. “I answered phones, did [cabinet]

filing, made courthouse runs and did arraignments.”An arraignment is a law procedure that involves a for-

malized reading of a criminal complaint in order to inform the defendant of their charges. It consists of addressing the defendant by name, reading the details of the complaint aloud and formally asking the accused of their plea in re-sponse.

“To see what goes into a divorce or child custody bat-tle… it’s a lot more than you realize,” she said.

“It has changed [her] life,” Smith’s father said.She said she found situations “kind of intimidating”

when speaking to lawyers with a clear understanding of their practice.

“It was interesting seeing my dad in an environment where he treated me like an employer instead of a daugh-ter,” Smith said.

Paaras Agrawal, senior, took a job at the University of Alabama as a mechanical engineering intern for Dr. Nitin Chopra. His interest in engineering caused him to apply for the position.

“It was like chemistry labs every day with lots of re-search on my own. I put in about forty-five hours a week for a total of five weeks. I had to write a twenty page paper at the end of it but received five hundred dollars as payment,” he said.

He said the job was not an easy one; it required a large amount of personal input during the summer.

“Alongside my job, I also had to train for the regional soccer championship, so sometimes it was difficult to manage my time,”

“Everyone should have a working experience before college because in retrospect it was a dif-

ficult experience, but I’m glad that I did it,” Agrawal said.

Some students work at jobs beyond their years

The

Leading Employers: Where do you work?

PublixMcDonald’s Chick-fil-A

3

9

6

15 students polled. Information compiled by Abby Allen. Designed by Renu Pandit.

Num

ber o

f Em

ploy

ed S

tude

nts

3

7

5

Getting started: entering the work force

1.

4.3.2.

Make a list of interests: Explore job options. Take salary, hours and benefits into consider-ation. Research the companies; talk to current employees about their work experience.

Evaluate yourself: What are your strong and weak points? Know what employers are look-ing for. Organization, technological abilities, communication skills and efficiency is vital.

Prepare for the interview: Ask yourself questions like, “Why do you want to work here?” and “Why should we hire you?” Also, consider what you would do in certain situations if you were hired, such as “How would you deal with an impatient customer?”

Create a resume: Compile a list of your education, accomplishments, and interests, as well as contact information, in an easy-to-read, professional format. Proofread until perfection.

Information compiled from www.wikihow.com/Get-a-Job. Designed by Renu Pandit.

Destiny Peoples

5FeatureThe Northridge ReporterOctober 29, 2012

Renu Pandit Feature Editor

In addition to completing seven classes worth of home-work per night, some students also have to incorporate a job into their daily schedule.

Nick Fairbairn, junior, works at Bebo’s Express Car Wash after school until 7 p.m. three days a week.

“My job mainly is to greet customers, direct them into the wash and maintain wash efficiency,” Fairbairn said.

Fairbairn, who started working this year, said find-ing time to complete his schoolwork is a struggle.

“Because of the new schedule I have a lot more home-work than I used to,” Fairbairn said. “I usually end up go-

ing to sleep at around midnight on a good day.”Fairbairn has considered leaving his current job and

getting one closer to his house.“I’ve been thinking about Publix since it’s nearby, but

the pay isn’t as good,” Fairbairn said. Although Fairbairn said he likes

working because of the experience it has given him, he acknowledges that school is his top priority.

“I know that any job a good edu-cation will get me will be worth much more than the job I have

now,” Fairbairn said. Laura Worley, junior, worked

at Newk’s from May to August before she quit.

“After a month of school, I got tired of driving all the way across

town to work one shift for minimum wage and not even earning enough to pay for a tank of gas,” Worley said.

She said she stays up until 11 p.m. doing homework,

and said she would have had to drop out of some of her AP classes if she had chosen to continue working.

“School is the most important thing,” Worley said. “I can babysit to keep my tank full, but having a part time job is too much. I like not being tied to a million different schedules.”

Elizabeth Tiley, counselor, said that an after school job is a good way for students “to learn the benefit of hard work, the value of a dollar, the importance of managing money and the confidence from emerging independence.”

“It’s important for students who work to stay organized. Organized students save 10 minutes a day in wasted time,” Tiley said.

She said students should take advantage of advisory time and time in class to complete assignments.

“A job often cuts more into a student’s free time instead of study time,” Tiley said.

“I have rarely—if ever—met a student who was per-forming poorly in class solely due to their after school job. If anything, a job teaches responsibility and time manage-ment,” she said.

Students try to juggle both work schedule and academics

It’s important for stu-dents who work to stay organized. Organized stu-dents save 10 minutes a day in wasted time.Elizabeth Tiley, counselor

Savren NelsonStaff Writer

High school students struggle to balance time between school work, family time and work.

David Peoples, junior, works as a cashier at Jack’s Ham-burgers.

“My job allows me to meet new people and gives me something to do; I also get paid,” Peoples said.

Peoples goes to work after school and gets off at 10 p.m.

“I’m really tired when I get home, so I have to suck it up and do my homework,” Peoples said.

“Some days I want to quit because I’m just so tired all the time,” Peoples said, shaking his head.

Even though he is tired at the end of the day, Peoples said he knew the risks in getting a job. This is his second job.

Peoples wished he had done Co-Op because “It would have been a lot easier.”

Peoples said that even though school work is a struggle at times, family time does not get interfered with.

His sister, Destiny Peoples, junior, also has a job. “It’s hard to study sometimes though,” Destiny

said.

Destiny said she works around school and her cross country meets.

“I just have to ask, and they will understand,” she said. Destiny said she likes her job, partially because she gets

free ice cream. “I wanted to feel independent, and I also wanted the

money,” Destiny said.Destiny said she does not feel like her schedule is hectic,

but she wished she had done Co-Op. “I’m not in Co-Op, but I really want to be. I didn’t know

how to apply for it, and I was scared to ask,” Destiny said.Jordon Leopard, sophomore, wished she had done Co-

Op as well, but she forgot to ask about it. Leopard worked as a hostess at Pepito’s. “I really wanted the money,” Leopard said. Leopard said her job did not interfere with school but

affected her family time.“I didn’t really hang out at my house anymore,” Leop-

ard said. “I just quit. I didn’t like it there, and they didn’t know much English.”

Though the staff at Pepito’s didn’t speak much English to Leopard, they were clear on her working hours.

“They were pretty straight forward on when and when not to come to work,” Leopard said.

Balance Do you have a job?Yes No

Boys BoysGirls Girls

34 students polled. Information compiled by Katie Poore and Rabisa Khan. Designed by Renu Pandit. Images from MCT Campus.

Working students struggle with schedule

Nick Fairbairn

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Thomas A. RosenstielJoanne C. Myers

2751 Hospital Dr.Northport, AL 35476

Phone: (205)-339-3039Fax: (205)-339-9908

OB/GYNOf West Alabama

Sarah Katherine BarnesNews Editor

Free access Wi-Fi was closed on Wednesday, Oct. 3, and teach-ers and students alike faced the effects of not having wireless In-ternet.

An email sent by Andrea Gil-breath on Oct. 4 explained the sit-uation vaguely, stating that due to complications with the network, the Tuscaloosa City School’s free access Wi-Fi had to be discon-nected. In the email Gilbreath apologized on behalf of the board if the lack of Wi-Fi was an incon-venience.

Librarian Marcie Irvin said the lack of Wi-Fi has really taken a toll on students.

“Many of them with laptops, kindles, nooks and iPads can’t connect to a network to send classwork and notes to teachers,” Irvin said.

Irvin said many teachers ask their students to use their smart-phone or tablets to look up infor-

Raiha BajwaManaging Editor

The new exemption policy allows only seniors to exempt end of course exams second semester, and only if they have an A average in that class. Students who take AP courses are exempt from the exam for that class if they are taking the AP exam.

Jennifer Box, assistant principal, said she thinks the new policy will affect students’ attendance.

“There are pros and cons of both policies, but I do think there will be a difference in the absentee rate,” she said. “I like that students will have to prepare to take comprehensive tests, which better prepares them for college.”

Lane Russell, senior, said she thinks the policy is fairer.

“It’s good because we’ve been really spoiled in the past,” she said. “In college we have to take ex-ams, so it prepares us better for that.”

Alex Smith, senior, said she likes that the policy rewards academics over attendance.

Sarah Katherine BarnesNews Editor

The school’s inability to make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), a measurement which requires states to create a report that mea-sures its public schools’ yearly progress, has made more of a impact than in just morale. Forty percent of staff at Northridge is in danger of being moved to dif-ferent city schools, and principal Isaac Espy could be fired.

Northridge students as a whole scored in the 90 percentile on the graduation exam, but because a small fraction of students scored poorly, AYP was not reached (tus-caloosanews.com). Former presi-dent George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 prevents schools from making AYP if all students in the school don’t per-form at the same level.

Central and Bryant High

mation for reports and classwork. She said it’s easier to do that

than to get the class in the com-puter lab and get them settled down. With the seven period schedule, there’s not a lot of time for that.

“It’s had a huge effect on how teachers conduct their class,” she said.

Superintendent Paul McKen-drick said the reason for taking out free access wasn’t to inconve-nience anyone. On the other hand, it was not created for what some people had been using it for.

“We put a filter on the Internet connection to make sure no one was accessing any inappropriate sites a few years ago, and it ap-parently expired, but we didn’t re-alize it. All this time people have had access to any websites they wanted, and we couldn’t allow that in the schools. We’re having to take away the Wi-Fi because people were abusing the privilege of having unlimited access to the Internet,” McKendrick said.

A second email was sent on Oct. 8 by Andrea Gilbreath giving teachers and adults the password to use the Tuscaloosa City BOE Wi-Fi.

The email gave teachers per-mission to give the password to select students on a limited basis, according to Irvin. She said this meant teachers should only give the password to students who ask and need it strictly for school-work.

However, the password got out to more students than it was in-tended.

Some teachers fear that if too many students begin using the Wi-Fi, the board of education could shut down all Wi-Fi access to everyone in the school.

“People are going to use the Wi-Fi whether they know it could cause negative consequences or not,” Becca Tindol, junior, said. “Students don’t really care; they just want free Wi-Fi.”

The Tuscaloosa City BOE Wi-Fi blocks Facebook and Twitter

Free access disabled, students and teachers handicapped

New exemption policy has pros, cons

School does not meet AYP; consequences possible

6 The Northridge ReporterOctober 29, 2102News

“As a senior I think it rocks,” she said. “I feel like seniors are going to be absent more often, but that has always been the case.”

Billy Luu, sophomore, said he doesn’t like the new policy.

“Since I can’t exempt anything, I’m pretty mad about it,” he said.

Luu said his attendance has already dropped.“I was already absent four times by the fourth

week of school,” he said. “Before, I would try to have only three a semester.”

Brittany Johnson, junior, said she thinks the pol-icy will encourage students to sign up for more AP courses.

“Not having to take an exam on top of the AP exam is a good incentive,” she said.

Johnson said that while she wishes she could ex-empt, she can wait her turn.

“It would be nice if others had exemptions too, but I understand that only seniors get it,” she said. “They’ve worked hard to get their seniority, and I’ll get my turn too.”

Schools didn’t make AYP either, but they did arrange a school im-provement program after their third year failing, something Northridge hasn’t done. That qualified the two schools to be able to dodge some of the reper-cussions of failing a fourth time.

“Because we didn’t do that program, we don’t have choices like the other schools,” librarian Marcie Irvin said, “and they got rid of the principal at Central for not making AYP a few years ago; they’ll get rid of Espy for it.”

While the possible effects are upsetting, only a fraction of the students even realize what could be happening to the school be-cause of the policy.

“It’s not fair,” senior Emma Walsh said.

“Dr. Espy doesn’t deserve this. He’s a really great principal, and it’s not his fault. His job shouldn’t be in question because of some-thing he isn’t responsible for.”

Where’s the Wi-Fi? North Patterson, sophomore, uses his computer to take notes in Denton Bowling’s class.

probably due to fighting con-nected with the social networking sites.

Senior Synteria Pearson said the Internet is being misused.

“People are posting things that get other people upset,” Pear-son said. “And then they come to school and get in a fight about it. It happens every day.”

Graduation exam results of the 2012 graduating classReading Math Language Social Studies Biology

94% 95% 86% 90% 98%

“I think the exemption policy is totally ridiculous. What if you’re late one day? You’re screwed for the rest of the se-mester.” -Natalia Aranda, senior

Photo by: Sarah Katharine Barnes

Aranda Walcott Photos by: Sarah Katharine Barnes

information from Superintendent Paul McKendrick’s PowerPoint

“I don’t even feel like I need to come to class anymore if I have an ‘A.’ What kind of crap is that?”

-Lorenzo Walcott, senior

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CHILDREN & ADULT ORTHODONTICS

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Tel: (205) 553-2524

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Physicians:Raymond Poore, M.D.

Ingrum Bankston, M.D.Omar Smith, M.D.

John W. Duffy III, M.D.Gregory Broughton, M.D.

Nurse Practitioners:

Sharon Allen, CRNPJohn Chambers, CRNP

1780 McFarland Blvd. N.Tuscaloosa, AL 35406

Office Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30 a.m.-5:00p.m.

Phone: (205)345-7351 (205)487-4405

Fax: (205)345-8476

Tuscaloosa Urology Center

Teams begin in-school conditioningAbby AllenSports Editor

Now that fall sports have begun, coaches and players are going hot and heavy with workouts and conditioning during school, but surprisingly, some are not.

Jason Campbell, sophomore, and a mem-ber of the golf team said the golf team just started conditioning this year, and he “sort of” likes it.

“I know it will pay off in the end. I think we are going to be really good,” Campbell said.

He said David Akins, golf team coach, pushes them pretty hard during 7th period when they run and lift weights.

Anna Scogin, senior, plays soccer.“We run twice a week and workout twice

a week during 7th period; Wednesday is our rest day,” Scogin said.

In previous years, the soccer team start-ed conditioning when their season started during the spring.

“The benefit (of conditioning) in the end will be worth it,” Scogin said. “It’s defi-nitely getting us prepared for the season.”

Some sports teams, like football and

Julia HocuttStaff Writer

Melanie Brown, junior, was named the Sportsmanship Award Winner at the Au-gust Southern Jr. Team Tennis Champion-ships in Auburn, Alabama.

The award is given to eight players who show a sportsmanlike attitude throughout

the tennis tournament. Becci Hauser, girls tennis coach, said,

“Winning matches is one thing, but being recognized for sportsmanship, in this day and age, is pretty special.”

Brown said, “It felt good to win the award. I always try not to cross the line of being overly competitive. I just played the game the way I usually would.”

Student wins sportsmanship award

Girls volleyball team hosts, wins area

Bump it: Amanda Guarisco, (8), passes the ball to her a teammate during their game against Walker County. The team won three matches and lost one match.

Photo by: Beth Allaway

7SportsThe Northridge ReporterOctober 29, 2012

softball, have always conditioned during first and second semesters.

Sami Story, junior, plays on the softball team and joins in on the workouts every year.

“I like the intensity, and I love Coach Bowling. I like spending extra time with my team during the last period of the day, knowing that it will make us stronger and better,” Story said.

The softball team works out four days a week and runs once a week.

“It’s hard work, but it makes me anxious for the season to start, so we can show that our hard work pays off,” Story said.

Ben Wells, senior, has played tennis here for the past two years. The tennis team starts conditioning in the spring, just as they have done in the previous years.

“I wish we conditioned during the fall, then I wouldn’t have to run cross country to stay in shape,” Wells said.

He said the team needs conditioning to stay physically fit, or they will be “doomed” in the spring.

“We won’t perform as well or work as hard when the season starts in the spring. We will be weak,” Wells said.

Work it! Abby Horn, senior, conditions during seventh period for soccer. “It’s a lot of work, but we’ll be in shape for soccer season,” she said.

Photo by: Abby Allen

Stretch

Katie PooreStaff Writer

The girls varsity volleyball team is hav-ing a very successful season according to new varsity head coach Vicky Miller.

“I think it [the season] has gone really well. We started strong, and we’ve gotten stronger,” Miller said.

The team became the area champs after the volleyball tournament they hosted on Oct. 18 to Oct. 20.

Kathleen Kennedy, junior, said she thinks Anna Lee Petitt, junior, has contributed much to the team.

“Anna Lee has moved positions a lot this season, and I definitely think she has been a big player,” Kennedy said.

Miller said the senior players have also been essential, stepping up to the role they’ve been given and helping the juniors

grow as a team. However, she said the team still needs to work on growing together and being dependent upon one another to get things done.

Kennedy said losses for the team can dis-courage the players, but only if they didn’t do their best.

“If we played our best and worked hard, then we consider it a win,” she said.

After the resignation of former volleyball coach Amanda Talantis, Miller became the head coach for the team, bringing the girls to a season filled with victories. Miller said when the team wins a game, it makes her feel “awesome, because it’s a lot of their hard work coming to fruition.”

Kennedy said having a new coach has improved the team.

“Honestly, we’ve gotten better,” she said.The team will play in the super-regionals

on Friday, Oct. 26 in Huntsville.

Savannah MorganKiana JohnsonShirlyncia MooreTaylor WeatherbyKathleen KennedyD’Aja PatrickAmanda Guarisco

1234578

Katrina StuthwolfAlexie BluntMarla ParksMary Margaret MurdockDenae SislerAnna BrantleyAnna Lee Pettit

9101213151727

Right Side HitterSetterMiddle HitterRight Side HitterDefensive SpecialistRight Side HitterOutside Hitter

Defensive SpecialistOutside HitterMiddle HitterSetterLiberoMiddle HitterOutside Hitter

Volleyball team and positions

Information compiled by Alex Hauser

October 29, 20

12 Volum

e 10 Issue 2

northridgereporter.wordpress.com

Page 6

8Beat

The Northridge ReporterOctober 29, 2012

Raiha B

ajwa

Managing Editor

Dubbed “The happiest 5k on the planet,” the

Color R

un made its w

ay to Tuscaloosa on O

ct. 6. O

pen to anyone, the run had a few

simple rules: show

up in a w

hite T-shirt and be prepared to run, w

alk, jog, skip or dance your w

ay from

checkpoint to

checkpoint w

here volunteers

throw

a designated color at you, up until the finish line.

At the end all participants

were invited to gather in a

color throw, where everyone

used their individual color packets to create an explo-sion of colors.

The run

supported the

charity Read A

labama R

ead and helped raise m

oney for books for libraries that w

ere affected by the A

pril 27 tor-nado.

Charlie G

ross, senior class president, recruited a group from

the senior class to par-ticipate in the run together.

“It seem

ed like

some-

thing fun to do with a close

group of people, so I thought

Students turn colors participating in 5k

it would be aw

esome to do it

as a senior class for our last year,” G

ross said. G

ross said that the 20 se-niors w

ho signed up with the

group raised about $700 for the charity.

Abby H

orn, senior, said she enjoyed herself.

“The running was just w

hat-

KanJalla DancerA

rt editor

Rem

ember the story The Year w

ith-out a C

hristmas from

when you

were a child? N

ow you’re in high school

and instead of Christm

as, it is your year-book. Just like C

hristmas is im

portant to the year, our yearbook is im

portant to our school year. W

ithout a yearbook, school w

ill be different.Susan N

ewell, yearbook sponsor, said,

“We w

ere almost $4,000 behind [budget]

last year, so I had to negotiate with [the

publishing company] to low

er the bill. W

e had to sell ads at the last second.”N

ext year, we m

ight lose the yearbook com

pletely, New

ell said. With all the so-

cial media, the yearbook is becom

ing a

thing of the past. If there isn’t any interest in the yearbook, it w

ill be dropped.“It’s sad because people aren’t buying

them. It’s because of Facebook,” N

ewell

said. M

any students overlook the yearbook, but later find out that it is an im

portant part of their school life.

Junior Rebecca Perkins, a student w

ho hasn’t purchased yearbooks in the past said, “That w

ould suck” if the yearbook w

asn’t coming out.

Senior Hannah Johnson, w

ho normally

buys yearbooks, said it would be “really,

really sad [not to get a yearbook].” The yearbook is just barely break-

ing even this year with the sale of senior

and business ads. Due to the low

rate of yearbook sales, the prices are higher. The

prices of the books could be lower if

more yearbooks w

ere purchased at the beginning of the year.

Buying the current book and buying

past books can help ensure a book next year.

You can upload your pictures to the w

ebsite Replay-It.com

. It allows the

yearbook to use your pictures. You can upload pictures from

anywhere w

ith the m

obile upload feature. Looking back at a dusty bookshelf

full of yearbooks could be a thing of the past. Instead of seeing that fam

iliar 2013-2014 book, there m

ight be just an em

pty space.

Yearbo

oks so

ld: 20

8To

tal po

pulatio

n: 1258

Yearbook could be axed due to lack of interest

ever, but the after party with

the colors was the good part,”

she said. “It was really fun.”

Melissa W

ells, who ran w

ith the group, participated on her birthday and said she did not expect it to be so fun.

“I expected it to be just an-other 5k, but you didn’t need to train for it or anything,” she

said. “It was the best thing I

could have done on my birth-

day.”“It w

as probably one of the m

ost fun things I’ve done in a long tim

e,” Gross said. “I

would m

ost definitely do it again in a heartbeat.”

Taste the rainbow: C

ooper Bunch, senior, finishes the race. Seniors Sarah

Dubay and C

harlie Gross run at the beginning of the race. Seth C

unningham,

freshman, gets hit by yellow

paint at the second kilometer. “It really w

as the happiest 5k on the planet,” M

aryam A

zam, sophom

ore, said.

Photos by: Alex Hauser

Photo illustration by: Alex H

auser