Sophomore Testing

By:Nick Loeffelholz

Johny Lodico, sophomore, on his way to testing.

“All the Sophomores report to the gym,” was heard throughout the hallways throughout the week from November 1 through the 4  by the students of Sparta High School.

This week, all of the Sophomores went into the Alton Ask Gymnasium to take the Sophomore Test. Johnny Lodico was asked what he thought of sophomore testing, and he responded, “I really don’t like it because it’s a lot of time sitting on your butt and trying to use more of your brain than you know you have.”  

The Sophomore test is split into all of the common core classes such as Math, English, Science, and the other classes too. It is used to filter the students into groups of what their knowledge level is.

Another Sophomore, Jon Brey, commented on the testing, “ it’s a good way to get us ready for other important tests, but it’s seriously way too long.”

The testing was held in the gymnasium and about 200 Sophomores took their tests. Hopefully as these students left the gym, that they felt happy with their scores.       

Homecoming Assemblies

 By Nick Loeffelholz


This year’s homecoming was a great, yet fun success and everyday of the week, students dressed up and went to each of the day’s assemblies.

The first day of homecoming week, the main attraction was how to brush your teeth like a Spartan. Zach Koger (Senior), one of the contestants, comments, “It was a very interesting contest and after that my whole face smelled like toothpaste,”

Xavier Lopez (Senior) also added, “It was awesome watching everyone having fun and supporting their class.” Tuesday was eat like a Spartan, where students would embarrass themselves trying to eat “like a Spartan.”

Wednesday was the day everyone was looking forward to the classes went up against each other in Rue ball. The Junior girls and the Senior guys came out victorious. Sadly, they ended up running out of time to finish the grand finale match between the junior girls, Senior guys, women staff, and the men staff. This resulted in a postponement until Friday where the final match would decide who would take the victory.

Thursday’s assembly activity was lip sync like a Spartan where students went out there and performed to earn those points for their class. “It was quite entertaining and hilarious,” says Nick Frederick (Senior).

Friday was Crazy Spartan Spirit Day where everyone dressed up in their Sparta gear to support the football team for their homecoming game. Also the Rue Ball game was continued and finished, the Junior girls were the first ones to go. Quickly after, the women staff ran out of points and came out of the game. It was just down to the Senior guys and the men staff. The Senior guys couldn’t hang on so the men staff came away with the victory.

Homecoming week was a total success. Everyone had a blast showing their true Sparta colors and supported their class the best they could. Hopefully next year, Sparta High School will have the same Spartan experience everyone had this year.

Tardies

By: Maddie Munger

During 2010-2011 school year faculty members are cracking down on tardies at Sparta High School.

Tardies mean a lot at Sparta High school. If you have three tardies that's two lunch detentions. Six tardies is a half day in-school suspension, eight is a full day in-school suspension, and if you have 9 or more it's a referral to court. Ashley Tester, a freshmen and new to these tardy polices said, "It's hard to get to a lot of classes with running across from the math or the English classes, that's including your locker and that crowd of people."

Tester has had two tardies and doesn't want to get a third and have two lunch detentions. "I like my lunch and talking with my friends, I don't want to sit in a brick-walled room," explained Tester. Kids of all grades try not to be late and have two feet in the doorway before the bell. This is a new school wide policy initiated this school year. The policy is to improve attendance, which promotes better academic performances.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

As you walk in the hallways you might see these blue bins out in the hallways and wonder what they are. Those bins are put there by the Earth Club to help the school become more environmentally friendly. The club is ran by German teacher Joseph Cook, and Dennis Wortman who also helps with the recycling program. So what does Earth Club do to try to keep the school environmentally friendly? Well Earth Club is in charge of collecting as many "plastic bottles, glass, tin, and aluminum," says Cook.

But then you wonder what about all that paper that we recycle in the classrooms? Who takes care of that? Don't worry that is all taken care of by Wortman. Cook says that " the blue recycle bins are for everyone and that the grey bins are for the classrooms."

Ok so what about those giant orange trash cans? Those aren't trash cans, they're big recycling bins that can hold about 60 pounds of recyclables each. "The school currently has 12 right now and we have 720 reusable resources from the school to Monroe County Solid Waste. From Monroe County Solid Waste it is then transported to Jon's Disposal in Whitewater Wi. and from there it is then farmed out to different states in the U.S and Canada," says Cook.

So Earth Club is doing a really good job with managing all that but that's not all they do. They also have a 2 mile stretch on highway 71 where they pick up all the garbage on the road twice a year.

Some accomplishments from the Earth Club are saving $.58 per pound of recyclable and waste fill up, and they have 760 pounds of recyclable and waste fill up. The school also recycled a total of "about 11,040 pounds of recycled goods last year," and we can always recycle more in later years.

The Earth Club doesn't just think about the short term effects but also long term. They say that for the long term that "non of this is going to a landfill, it keeps money in the economy because we don't have to pay for new resources instead we are using what we already have."

All of this is what Earth Club is doing now but it doesn't end here. Cook says, "we have bigger plans," one of the new plans is "recycling in all the elementary and preschools." By doing this when the younger children get to the high school, they're not lost and know what to do when they see a recycling bin instead of ignoring it and throwing their trash away in a garbage can. This will create a good habit for them at a young age and all of our total recycling amounts can double and even triple by bringing this idea to all the Sparta area schools. We would be one of the first schools in all of Wisconsin to have all of the area schools recycling and hopefully other schools notice and start their own recycling club to help put the environment.

Cyber Bullying

In case you didn't know cyber bullying is a big problem in the school. Cyber bullying is bullying by using electronic devices and shared over the internet or by cell phones. The school is trying to prevent this by trying to educate the students on the subject. The school has a whole page on the Spartan.org website on the subject. This page includes information on cyber bullying in general and how to try to prevent it. It also has the legal consequences if you are caught bullying someone and you could get in trouble from in school suspension all the way to expulsion and depending on how bad the case is you could also get in trouble with the government. The school tries to talk to the students parents on the subject to let them be aware of the situation.

Some things that happen because of cyber bullying are public embarrassment, nasty messages, and inappropriate pictures are all posted on the internet for the public to see. The thing that you need to remember is that once someone posts something on the internet it spreads and then everybody believes it. Some reasons that people cyber bully is because it's easy. People would prefer to bully someone online then to bully them face to face. The bully bullies to have a greater feeling about themselves and to have control of the person that they are bullying.

One of the hardest things about being a guidance counselor is that they are the last people to know that someone is being bullied. Another problem is that the counselor very rarely knows the bully. Most bullies don't want to talk and the bullies has to want to change themselves. The victim has to come in and talk to their guidance counselor about what happened in order for the counselor to be able to help them. The most common reason that bully victims don't come in and talk to someone is because they're afraid that they will be bullied even more by going and telling on someone.

A common reason for bullies to bully is that a lot of times the bully was bullied when they were younger and are still mad so they want to be mean to other people so that they can feel better about themselves. Other times the bully's personality is aggressive and they just want to control people. A big difference between high school and middle school bullying is that in middle school it was just name calling or getting pushed randomly but in high school it turns into harassment and the school can bring in the police. There have been many cases of cyber bullying but some recent cases are the distribution of inappropriate pictures through cell phones and e-mails. There have been many cases where this has happened to someone and they end up committing suicide, this is why the school is informing us so much on the subject so that they can try to prevent any possibilities of this happening to any of their students.

The Tardy Policy at SHS

By: Morg Leis

The new tardy policy at Sparta High School has many students flustered after their first midterm back from summer break.

With the new tardy policy, every time you get marked tardy or absent Mr. Russ or one of the guidance counslers come and pull you out of class. They ask you why you were tardy and what your going to do to change it.

Senior Brianna Brinckman says, "I think it's really annoying when they come to your class. They stop the whole class to call you out into the hallway." She continues, "Everyone obviously knows when they have been tardy, they don't need a reminder, plus this is also letting everyone else know that you have been late."

Robin Reid, the Sparta High School Librarian, shares her thoughts on the tardy policy. " It's embarrassing to be tardy to a class and to be pulled out because of it, but it might be just be embarrassing enough to make kids get to class on time."

Many students feel that this policy is unnessasary and a waste of not only the teachers time, but the students as well. "Guidance counslers could be getting paperwork done, or settling more important issues than walking around to tell students they were tardy," states Brinckman.

When they pull you out of the middle of class, they are interrupting the learning process of not only the student in trouble, but the whole class as well. Many students at Sparta High School say that they thought school was about learning, not about making sure kids are in class on time.

"I think it takes away from students time to learn," states Senior Kayla Kelsey. She continues "they interrupt my classes everyday! It distracts me from my work and I sometimes loose my train of focus." Kelsey continues to talk about when it is acceptable to pull students from class. "There are a lot of kids that choose not to attend school at all. These are the kids who should be talked to, not those who are a couple seconds late to class," states Kelsey.

Brinckman thinks Russ should look into the student before he pulls them out of class. She states, "Teachers should take into consideration ones attendance and grades before disrupting their class. A student who has straight As and is always present should not get pulled out, that is unnessasary."

After the first quarter at Sparta High the tardy rate has gone down significantly since last , so the policy is working thus far but there is still an issue with the principle and guidance counslers pulling kids out of class and disrupting the learning process.

Senior Josh Bolden tells how he feels that if Russ needs to talk to you, he should take you out of class during a study hall. Bolden states, "I was pulled out of class during notes and i missed some important points that i need to know for my test at the end of the week."

Kelsey agrees with Bolden's statement and adds, "If this many students feel negatively about the policy, maybe something should be done about the situation."

Blaha is Back

Yes it is true, Mr. Blaha is back in the school teaching again. He is teaching chemistry, physics, and physical science. He says "It's great to be back" and he enjoys being back at the school and the normalcy and getting used to the rhythm of things. Mr. Blaha or as he was called Battalion Commander Blaha was fighting in the Iraq War. Mr. Blaha was the Battalion Commander for the 732nd and he was gone for just about two years, from September 2008 to May 2010. Both Mr. Cook and Mrs. Wyland say " It's great to have him back and its good to see him teaching again." Mr. Blaha teaches science and says that the hardest thing to get used to are the people, the crowds, and थेnoises, besides that everything else is easy. He is enjoying being back in the school and we are all glad that he came back safely.

Sparta Soccer Wrap-up

The Sparta High School's boys soccer teams' successful season has come to end for the 2010-2011.

The Strikers capitalized in many areas this year and are sad to see it come to an end. The Strikers hope to take all the positive things learned from this year into next year.

The boys not only managed to bring home the regional title, but also advanced on to the sectional final game. "We came together as a team this year, played well, and made a good run into sectional finals again for the second year in a row," said soccer captain Dalton Woodworth. Sparta went into the sectional final game against Mount Horeb on Saturday, October 23 with high hopes of making it to state, but fell just short of a win.

Next year is looking good already for the Strikers as they plan to bring back the same amount of intensity.Woodworth said, "For next year, we need to improve our team chemistry and our depth on the bench and work ethic to the sport." The Strikers are already looking forward to next year and have high hopes, "Next year we are looking forward to getting out there and playing again. We would love to take conference and have another run into state."

Sparta is happy with how they did this year but are anticipating to go further next fall.

CLC and BGC Help For School

Year round, Monday through Friday, child's lives are being changed. The Boys and Girls Club (BGC) along with the three Community Learning Centers (CLC) in Sparta together help 600 children with homework.

"I like helping kids and helping them feel successful", said Mercedez Rodebaugh, a tutor at the Maplewood CLC.

The three local Community Learning Centers consist of Maplewood Elementary, Lawrence-Lawson Elementary , and Meadowview Intermediate and Middle. Just Maplewood alone has 60 children enrolled, and the Boys and Girls Club serves 300.

Lawerence-Lawson and Maplewood serve grades kindergarten through third, Meadowview serves fourth through eighth, and the Boys and Girls Club serves third grade and up.

"I wanted to be a teacher but didn't get the opportunity, so when I got the offer to be the coordinator of CLC I accepted," commented Kelli Johnson (pictured below).

All of these places help children improve in all different aspects. They increase academic success, build strong leadership and character, and healthy life skills. Not only does it help the children while they are in school now, it helps their grades improve, and get ahead for the future in case the children go to college. It also helps employee's improve their hands on experience for college and/ or their career.

The Boys and Girls Club is working on getting into the programs of Goals for Graduation, and Career Launch. Both of these programs prepare the children for their future.

Not only do you work with the children but you help change their lives. It's not all about homework either they have specified activities that help them grow in many ways.

The Executive Director, Wendy Franke, said, "I like helping out non-profit organizations such as the Club and I'm really good at raising money."

Mercedez added, "I took on a job at the CLC because I want to be a teacher's assistant. This experience also makes you more comfortable working with children and then you will already have hands on experience."

CLC is open from 6:30 to 7:45 am and 2:30 to 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday. All together there are ten tutors. The BGC is open from 2:30 to 7:30 pm, Monday through Friday. The staff includes four learning center staff plus two that rotate and eight other staff members that run fun filled and educational activities.

The picture to the left and above are tutors helping children in the learning center at the Boys and Girls Club.