The Hillside ChronicleVolume 3, Number 3December 2013

hillsidechronicle.com 3727 Fayetteville St. Durham, N.C. 27707

In this issue...

Some things you should know about testing…*Forty-five states, the District of Columbia and four territories have adopt-ed the Common Core standards.*North Carolina enacted the Common Core standards for the 2012-13 school year. *The new proficiency standards are aimed at preparing students for college and careers instead of the next grade level.*Since 2012, North Carolina test scores have dropped 16-25 percentage points in reading, 27-44 percentage points in math, and 9-33 percentage points in science.-Compiled by Tatyana Hicks

*Jordan High*Hillside New Tech High*Northern High*Riverside High*Southern High

44.6% 20.2%24.7%30.9% 14.9%

Durham Public Schools passing rates for the 2012-13 EOC

Hillside High School breakdown of the 2013-13 EOC passing rate

*Math I *Biology *English II *Hillside Composite EOC

9.8%26.1%30.2%21.8%

Hillside works to raise its End-of-Course test scores

By Kristen MayoStaff Editor Hillside High School is trying to im-prove its scores after a disappointing year un-der the new tests. The 2012-13 school year was the first in which Hill-side administered exams aligned to the Com-mon Core standards. “They dropped all across the state,” Hill-side Principal William Logan said of the scores. “When you move from an old test to a new one you’re gonna see a drop.”

The statewide passing rate was 44.7 percent. The new tests include EOC exams in English II, Biology and Math I, as well as addi-tional exams created to align each course with the Common Core. For 2013-14, those addition-al exams have been re-named from Measures of Student Learning to NC READY. The exams now have fewer writ-ten responses, and some tests have even elimi-nated written responses. The adminis-

tration acknowledges the significant drop in scores, and they are do-ing all that they can to properly prepare teachers and students for the new adjustments to the test. “It’s not a mat-ter of improving scores; it’s making sure students are prepared for the test,” Hillside Assistant Princi-pal Renee Wilburn said. “We’ve been preparing for two years, offering tutoring, having teachers align their lesson and unit plans with the new Com-mon Core standards.”

The Biology team is planning a review session after the break where students interact with other classes. Tammy Chance has been working at the Saturday Academy sessions, and Stefanie Joyner has been hosting tutoring after school. Ms. Chance (pictured above) is also trying a new strategy: sending packets of

work home for the students to review during their break. PHOTO CREDIT: Tianna Moore

Math I teacher Caroline Ewald said the department has “been solving prac-tice test problems to make sure that the students are fully prepared for the types of formulas they are going to have to embrace and the different types of problem-solving techniques they will need to complete this type of test.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Elonzia Morrison

English II teacher Jaclyn Novotny said the department is focused on exam-ining author’s purpose and other literary elements. “We have to do closer reading every time we read,” she said, adding that the department is also

focusing on structured writing that will allow students to be able to answer test questions.

PHOTO CREDIT: Megan Clayton

Look inside to see

photo stories on Hillside’s

academic and arts

departments!See page 8 for the photo story on Stargaze.

The Hillside Chronicle is a newspaper designed to catch the interest of students, staff, parents and teachers. The Hillside Chronicle is dedicated to spreading news to the student body while inspiring students to get active in the school. Our primary goal is to inform our community about the positive things going on around Hillside, while in-forming them about the latest news. We are honored to be partnered with the Durham VOICE. For more content, please view our Facebook page!

Adviser: Elizabeth DeOrnellas

Staff Editors Fall 2013: Meshia Bostic, Megan Clayton, Tatyana Hicks, Quela Knight, Kristen Mayo, Tianna Moore, Elonzia Morrison and Janny Simpson

Staff Writers Fall 2013: Chyna Briscoe, KJ Covington, Jazmine Dixon, Jada Hamlett, Jasmine Hardy, Deandre Harper, LaKuandra Johnson, Teyanna Johnson, Breana Kea, Jonathan Lafleur, Toy Lee, Travis Miller, Alaza Mims, Taylor Owens, Jalynn Parker, Taquaisha Patrick, Telajuwon Pride, Keiarah Rodgers, Kayla Tate, Jasmine Webster and Bryce Witherspoon

PAGE 2

HILLSIDE COMMENTARY

By Taylor OwensStaff Writer An ongoing de-bate in high schools today is the time provided for lunch. People complain that it’s not enough time, but if you acquire the right tips and skills it’ll be all the time you need. If a student knows they’re going off cam-pus, they should leave right when the bell rings. Plan ahead of time who you want to ride with so you can save a lot of time. Some students claim that by the time they get to their car it’s already 10:45 (first lunch starts at 10:36). This is

only true if you have un-necessary conversations. Another myth is that with the time provided you don’t have time to sit down and eat. It has been proven that if you go to one of the many nearby restaurants you do have time to sit down. Common ground can easily be found. Third period teachers with first lunch should allow stu-dents to finish up their lunch when they get back to school. That would in-crease the attendance rate because students would know that they can come to class and still be able to eat. If students had the option to choose how

By Kayla TateStaff Writer Cell phones should be allowed in class be-cause they can be very useful. You have access to the Internet, a dictionary, your email, and you are able to communicate with people quicker if neces-sary during school hours. Sure some may say cell phones can be a big distraction because of the different social networks one can be on during class time; but if all cell phones are on the desk when not in use for school-related purposes, then that prob-lem can be easily avoided . Some may also say cell phones shouldn’t be allowed because schools have laptops and desktop computers, but that isn’t the case for every school.

Sometimes the computers schools have don’t work at all or aren’t as fast as a student’s cell phone. Plus, if you real-ly think about it, students are going to bring and use their cell phones to school no matter what, so why not avoid a possible ar-gument or issue by allow-ing them in the schools? Cell phones are also an easy way for stu-dents to get in contact with their parent/guard-ian in case of an emergen-cy, and it won’t cause the school phones to be flood-ed with phone calls during a serious emergency. There would be a lot of positive outcomes if schools were to allow cells phone during school hours, so this policy should definitely be reconsidered.

Hillside students have a right to cell phone use

There is a way to go off campus for lunch and get back on time

By Jasmine WebsterStaff Writer I feel like lunch isn't long enough for kids to eat. There is a rush to go get food and consume it. If we try to rush to get back, then we ha-ven't eaten yet, which means that we have to eat in class, and some teachers don't allow that. We have hall sweeps that rush us to class, and the students who have second lunch are rushing instead of eat-ing in a proper manner. If we have sec-ond lunch, and we have a quiz to finish in our third period, then

long their lunch could be, it would be too long. Thir-ty minutes is just enough time for students to get what they need and come back. If anything, lunch should be extended for those who deserve it. As a reward, seniors and juniors could receive an extra 10 minutes. English teacher Holly Jordan is no stranger to the idea of using lunch as a reward. If you col-lect 100 tickets, she’ll go out and buy food for you. As a whole it’s easy to recognize that lunch is very important to students. In the end, as long as students get to eat we know they’re happy.

when we go to lunch we will not have enough time to finish our food. If you go to the nearest restaurants, then you have a long line to or-der your food. It can take until 12:50 (when sec-ond lunch ends at 12:54) just to get your order. Ev-eryone goes to McDon-ald’s, and they’re slow. The rushing in-creases wrecks. That means more teens could be injured or even killed. Allowing stu-dents more time for lunch would be better. We’re not asking for two hours, but maybe just 45 min-utes instead of 30 minutes.

There is a line to be drawn when it comes to cell phone use in schools

Students deserve more time for lunch

By Jasmine Hardy Staff Writer In today’s soci-ety cell phones are every-where, but should we al-low them in our schools? The truth is that cellphones are extremely distracting, especially the latest smartphones, with all the apps that they contain --it is almost impossible for students to stay focused. Another major distraction is social net-works. Guess what is the main source to access these social networks? You guessed it: cell-phones. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram are all on smartphones. If we allow stu-dents to use their phones during school, most like-ly they will be on a social

network, caring more about what someone posted than the informa-tion the teacher is giving. Schools have lap-tops and desktops for student to access in-formation; they do not need their smartphones. Phones are not necessary to learn; they are just an excuse to allow distraction. If we want to see good results in our classrooms, then we shouldn’t allow distrac-tions such as cell phones. Students have an ample amount of time to get on their phones. The classroom should not be a part of that. If they do not al-low phones during testing, such as the SAT, then class-

rooms shouldn’t either. U l t i m a t e -ly cellphones should not be tolerated.

Truth is, cell-phones are ex-

tremely distract-ing, especially

the latest smart-phones, with all

the apps that they contain -- it is

almost impossi-ble for students to

stay focused.-Jasmine Hardy

It has become common for cellphones to be used in class, and there has been a lot of debate about whether that should be

allowed. PHOTO CREDIT: Elonzia Morrison

PAGE 3

HILLSIDE ACADEMICSBy Taylor OwensStaff Writer Hillside High School students had the opportunity to par-ticipate in the first an-nual Durham Public Schools Math Fair at the Hillandale Staff De-

velopment Center on Dec. 4. “The students each had the opportunity to set up their project and presentation boards before having individual presen-tations with the judging team to explain their project,” Hillside math teacher Jenny White said. As the judges made a fi-

nal decision, students had the chance to at-tend a 3-D math pre-sentation and then to learn how to operate the new TI-Inspire graphing calculators.

Mya Webb tests out the TI-Inspire calculator while waiting her turn to present to the judges. Photo courtesy of Jenny White

Mya Webb accepts her award for first place. Photo courtesy of Jenny White

The Hillside Math Fair representatives get ready for the fair (left to right: Keith Beasly, Jameelah Ballentine, Britany Gwyn and Khara Herring).

Photo courtesy of Jenny White

Math Fair students bring home a win

New FBLA officers prepare

for Canada trip

By Toy LeeStaff Writer All FBLA mem-bers and their families came out from 6 to 7 p.m. on Dec. 10 to have a fun time. The ceremony start-ed by having all members of FBLA say the pledge. Members then talked about the events that are coming up and had a slide show of the last trip they took to Cleveland, Ohio. This year FBLA will be focus-ing on heading toward Canada. The Cana-da trip will be held during Spring Break. “The thing I am most happy about is how many people showed up,” FBLA President Sakile Towers said.

ABOVE: FBLA sponsors and officers held their induction ceremo-ny on Dec. 10. Pictured left to right are Gary Henderson, Priscil-la Ross, Maria Aquilar, Caleb Owens, Lucia Amado Gonzalez, Inestin Petti-Homme, Montae Watson, Sakile Trowers, Candance Person, Kayla Owens, Kayla Tate, Alie Hodges, Da’shae Smith, Bianca Richardson, Toy Lee and Antoinette Daye.

RIGHT: Sakile Trowers, president, and Inestin Petti-Homme, secretary, are two of the newly inducted officers for FBLA.

PHOTO CREDITS: Toy Lee

The following students won awards at the Math Fair:*First place: Mya Webb with her project “The Math of Music”*Second place: Bakari Smith with his project “Cryptography and Passwords”*Third place: Charlotte George with her project “The Card Game 28”*Honorable Mention: Keith Beasley with his project “gTap and Morse Code”

The other participants were:*Khara Herring with her project “Optimal Gingerbread Package”*Britany Gwyn with her project “Optimal Christmas Ornament Package”*Oscar Sanchez with his project “Optimal Star Package”*Jameelah Ballentine with her project “Optimal Christmas Tree Package”*Latasha Harris with her project “Statistical Analysis of Fetal Alcohol Syn-drome”

PAGE 4

HILLSIDE STUDENT LIFECoronation celebrates

Mister and Miss Hillside

Graham’s and Thompson’s parents were very excited and proud of their children’s accomplishment. Tamara Thompson, Mister Hillside’s mother, and Quincy and Tekisha Graham, Miss Hillside’s parents, were on hand

for the ceremony.

“My favorite part was seeing Trevion and QuiNeisha dance; she looked beautiful!” Essence Bradshaw-Moody, a Hillside senior and part of the gos-pel choir, said. Everyone who participated in the coronation was dressed in

their most elegant outfits.

ABOVE: Hillside Principal William Logan said what he enjoyed the most about the ceremony was seeing kids in formal attire. “The most

memorable part was seeing last year’s Mister and Miss Hillside, Jada and Braxton, crown Trevion and QuiNeisha,” he said.

RIGHT: “Better than I thought,” Thompson said about how the ceremony went. “I wasn’t nervous but excited, and my favorite part was the whole dance and our court,” Thompson said. Both Graham and Thompson looked very thankful, honored and appreciative of everyone who sup-

ported them at their event.

“It actually turned out great, everything I wanted it to be,” Graham said about the ceremony. “My favorite part was the crowning.” In this photo, Graham and Thompson are crowned by last year’s Mister and Miss Hillside, Braxton Becoats

and Jada Lillie.

ABOVE: Mister and Miss Hillside

are announced by student gov-ernment. The

presenters focused on Graham’s

and Thompson’s academic accom-

plishments.

Articles and photos by Taquaisha PatrickStaff Writer Family, friends and peers came together to cele-brate Mister and Miss Hillside winning their titles. Sun-day, Dec. 8, QuiNeisha Graham and Trevion Thompson were the stars of the night. They looked very elegant, and their parents were there to see them crowned. Hillside seniors Joy Wright and Kiana McCall did a special dance just for the occasion, and Mister and Miss Hillside of 2012-13 were there to see! Jada Lillie, who won Miss Hillside for 2012-13, said, “It was stress-ful, fun and wild!” She also said that ending her senior year was hard because she had to do it with poise. After the ceremony, pictures were taken with friends and family members. After the picture-taking, everyone came together to eat, talk and laugh.

PAGE 5

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTSEbony Nicholson joins fellow artists to show off their work

By Meshia Bostic and Alaza’ Mims Staff Writers The Visual Art De-partment held an Art Show featuring students in Pierre Jerome’s and Emily Thew-lis’ classes. “A lot of the hard work was student-based,” Mr. Jerome said. “I think our preparation went well.” The purpose of the Art Show was to see what the Visual Art Department was doing here at Hillside, mainly to showcase student Visual cre-ativity, Mr. Jerome explained. He invited the Hill-side staff and others outside of the school to attend the show. He thanked the following fac-ulty and staff for coming out to the opening day: Daniel Young, Priscilla Ross, Jaclyn Novotny, Timothy Primus, Christian Knight, Amber Mar-tinez and Alexander Aguilar. Mr. Jerome said he was disappointed with the turnout. He sent invi-tations through www.evite.

com and also through the Hill-side staff email. In the future, he hopes to see a bigger crowd. “We are very grateful for the parents that showed up, and the students that showed as well, for the reviewing of their success.” Hillside junior Ebo-ny Nicholson said she felt very honored to have her art in the show. “I was recognized for doing something that I love to do: create art,” she said. Nicholson said that she’s been into art since she was about three years old. In fact this was not Nicholson’s first art show. She showcased a few of her pictures in the past. “This Art Show has helped me in showcasing my art-work to the public eyes by allow-ing me to realize that the art piec-es have to flow,” Nicholson said. Some advice Nicholson gave to fellow artists is to always know all of the information on your pieces, like why you created it, what you used to create it and what inspired you to create it.

ABOVE: The piece “Bewildered” is “less realistic,” according to Nicholson. “You can see the emotions in her eyes,” she said. Nicholson added that the painting is supposed to represent the third stage of yourself . “My inspiration for this piece was from other German expressionism pieces that were cre-

ated during World War II,” she said. PHOTO CREDIT: Meshia Bostic

ABOVE: The painting “Heart-felt Shore” is “relaxing” with “eye-popping col-ors,” Nicholson said. “My inspiration for the piece ‘Heart-felt Shore’ came from

my English III AP teacher, Mrs. Bausell,” Nicholson said.PHOTO CREDIT: Meshia Bostic

RIGHT: “White Milky Sea” has “a lot of emotion in the eyes,” Nicholson said. It is a portrait on the landscape view, she explained, adding that the piece is supposed to represent the first stage of yourself. “My inspiration for this piece was based off of the book Blindness by Jose Saramago,” Nicholson said. She ex-plained that her strongest area in art would have to be drawing. “I love it!” she said, adding that she plans to major in graphic design once she figures out what

school she wants to attend. PHOTO CREDIT: Meshia Bostic

PAGE 6

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTSLEFT: The marching band heads toward the stage to perform for the audience.

BELOW: Brianna Rochelle performs her solo routine to the song “He Loves Me” by Jill Scott.

Articles and photos by Jada HamlettStaff Writer The march-ing band gave an outstanding per-formance on Dec. 3. They performed their regular routine, adding a few Christ-mas songs to get ev-eryone into the spirit. A u d i e n c e members seemed joyful during the performance. “I real-

ABOVE: The Hillside High Marching Band plays the Terio hit which is part of their dance mix. The number includes Tyrone Small, Torrian Wynn and Michael Caldwell (left to right) doing

the infamous Terio dance.

ABOVE: Tyree Clark pauses in the middle of a drum major combination.

LEFT: Des-tiny Clinton marches toward the stage as the marching band pre-pares to perform for family and friends.

Marching band gets into the holiday spirit

ly enjoyed it.” Tam-my Hamlett, a Hill-side parent, said. “The band sounded great.” Band mem-bers expressed satisfac-tion with their efforts, while also showing that they are ready to work to make their con-certs even better. “I am proud of the band performance, but I believe it could’ve been better,” band mem-ber Kayla Tate said.

“I felt the band did a wonderful job. They performed very well. Although, I wish that I would have done better marketing so others

could have enjoyed their performance,” Band Director Chris Hayes said.

PAGE 7

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTS

Hillside High School hosted its second annual Holiday Gospel Extravaganza on Dec. 5. The concert featured the school’s gospel choir, mime team and praise dancers. The performers accepted donations for the Hornet Academy, as well as the gospel choir, mime team and praise dancers.

Hillside hosts its second annual Holiday Gospel

Extravaganza Articles and photos by Keiarah RodgersStaff Writer

Kevin Moore and Lydia Gray, members of the gospel choir, pray before the concert starts.

Hillside High School praise dancers perform to “Invisible” by Kierra Sheard.

Praise dancers start the night off with their opening performance to “Nobody” by Tye Tribbett, catching the audience’s attention, ending with standing ovations.

Gospel Choir Director Anthony Pierce and singers (left to right) Erica Gorham, Makayla Booker, Shannon McNeill, Lydia Gray, Kevin Moore, Andre Johnson, Essence Bradshaw,

Ana Burgos Ortiz, Brienna Lee and Brianna Moore bring the audience to their feet.

Praise dancers Jada Lipscomb and Taylor McCarter per-form to “I Can Only Imagine” by Richard Smallwood,

bringing the audience to applause and tears.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTSStudent-choreographed work wows the audience Article and photos by Jasmine Hardy and Kayla Tate

Freshman Nina Kerr applies a little eyelin-er to Senior Kira Taylor while getting ready. Kerr loves the dance company because she feels like they are a big family. Taylor was sad but excited to say goodbye to that family. “I’ll miss the whole dance experience, perform-ing, everybody in company and, most impor-

tantly, Ms. Oxendine.”

Hillside dancers (pictured left to right) Mercedes Celestin, Kira Taylor, Majesty Grayson, Ana Krah, Kayla Owens and Brittany Gwen show off their scissone jumps after stretching before

the performance.

Southern High School performs to “Noise,” which was choreographed by Ayanna Webster and Jonathan Okafo (center in the picture above). Okafo is a senior, and he was very excited about the show.“I feel like I

should go full out and end my high school year with a bang.”

Hillside dancers (pictured left to right) Trecia Smith, Mercedes Celestin and Kira Taylor are doing an arabesque as they perform to the song “Coven: In Search of

the Seventh.”

Shonae Boone congratulates Shepard Middle School danc-er Tavia Hawley on her wonderful performance at this year’s

Stargaze.

Hillside’s dance company outdid them-selves at this year’s Star-gaze showcase by hav-ing the show’s theme of student-choreographed work display the talent and creativity of students from a number of local schools. Those schools included Southern High School, RN Har-ris Elementary School, Riverside High School, Southeast Raleigh High School, Shepard Mid-

dle School and, of course, Hillside High School. Each performance at the Nov. 22 showcase was carefully crafted, send-ing a message to the au-dience. One performance that stood out in particular was “Coven: In Search of the Seventh,” performed by the Hillside Dance Com-pany, Sting. This perfor-mance was about the seven deadly sins in the world: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony.