Athlete Of The Week

It is time once again to pick another outstanding athlete here at Sparta High School. With so many sports and dedicated athletes, it is always hard to pick the one most deserving.

As you have read in previous articles, somebody deserving of athlete of the award is dedicated, hard working and sets their goals to improve and succeed. Also, they have to be willing to work well with others. Buck Engel, the varsity wrestling coach and a teacher here at Sparta High School explains,"A good team member is someone who thinks about the whole team before their own needs."

The players are not the only people helping the team function. The coaches also play a big role in helping their team succeed. Engel goes on to say,"A good coach is someone who is constantly finding new ways for their team to win and to try and teach their athletes to understand." It is hard to pick only one athlete of the week, considering their are different sports with different intensity levels and there could be more then one person who does an outstanding job.

We have decided to make Tom Tourdot our athlete of the week. Tom is currently a senior here at Sparta High School and a current athlete on the Sparta Spartans varsity wrestling team. Tom has only lost one match this year, and we are hoping to see him continue to do great things with his last year on the Spartans wrestling team.

Harassment

Harassment inside the walls of Sparta High might not be seen often, but it definitely occurs. 
 

 Senior Tyler Ruedy stated,"I have been harassed before, almost everyone has. Things happen that you can't change, but the best thing to do is to just ignore them or make a joke out of it all. I have seen adults harass others before, it happens throughout life, no matter how young or old one is, you just have to learn to deal with it."   

So what exactly is considered harassment? According to the 2010-2011 Sparta High School Student Planner, harassment includes name calling, unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, bulling, negative stereotyping, hostile acts, negative remarks or behavior towards people with a different sex, race, religion, origin, color, ancestry,and negative acts towards people with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities.

The Sparta School Administration does their best to get the word out about every kind of harassment by explaining different forms of it in the student planners on page 5.  It does not explain the steps that would be taken if harassment is reported, but it does include that, "Harassment can lead to further conflict or serious legal problems of a civil or criminal nature."

"I feel like the harassment at Sparta High School is mainly just teasing, not really bullying, but just to joke around with others," said senior Jade Jandt.  According to www.sexualharassmentlawfirms.com, 4 out of 5 students experience some form of harassment throughout their years in school. 

Another way to deal with harassment would be to take action immediately. When taking action, one must go to someone they trust, possibly a guardian or teacher and tell them the whole story.  That guardian or teacher can then decide if the situation is big enough to report it to the police.  When harassment is reported to the police they will check every side of the story and possibly make charges against the defendant.
 
"I know a lot of people who have not reported harassment because they didn't want others to judge them or they didn't think it was that big of deal, they eventually moved on but I'm sure every once in a while it still bothers them," said Junior Meg Herrman.
People can not be afraid to report this abuse, it is the main way to try and stop it from happening again in the future.

Eighth Grade visiting the Sparta High School

The students of Meadowview Middle School came to the High School to try learn about the classes they might be interested in for high school.

For the last three years the students have been making a trip to the high school for a visit, but how do people actually feel about it? "I think that it gets kind of repetitive and disrupting, because in almost every class you get a knock on the door and have to stop what your doing." said Dakota Betts, a senior at Sparta High.

The students will walk around with their teachers plus a junior mentor. They go around and visit classrooms throughout the day.  Once the group stops at a room the teachers will stop what they're doing and talk about what they do in that particular class and then answer any questions the students may have.

 Mr. Forde's student teacher thinks this is a good idea. "I think it's a great oppurtunity for the eighth graders to experience their surroundings so that they're not that scared next year."

New Year Resolution

The year 2011 brings new beginings for many things and new years resolutions are made to make old things better. The Principal of Sparta High School, Sam Russ, was asked what he thinks should be a New Years Resolution for the whole school for the year of 2011. Not only for the rest of the 2010-2011 year but for the beginning of 2011-2012 school year as well. Sam Russ responded, "We are hoping to keep decreasing the failure rate and we are trying to do that by stressing the students attendance." Statistics show that the usual fail rate for freshman in 33%. This year it is down to 17% and hopefully it continues to drop.

Athlete Of The Week

As we make our way farther into the school year, Sparta High School starts a new season of 2010-2011 sports including: girls and boys basketball, wrestling, hockey, and dance team.

Sports take up a lot of time for the athletes who are dedicated enough to stick it out for the entire season. Desiree Harr, an athlete at Sparta High School says," It is very difficult to juggle sports and homework because sports takes up a lot of your time, and when you have games two days out of the week, and you do not get done until late it is hard to get your homework done."

Many athletes play more then one sport, giving them an opportunity to stay in shape and meet new people through out the entire school year. With sports available for everybody, during the entire school year there is a chance for everybody to get out and play a sport.

Although it is difficult to juggle everything, being in a sport is also a great pride. You have the pride of winning, staying in shape, the fun of meeting new people and staying in touch with some old friends, you get a chance to be the center of attention while everybody is watching you at games, and when you get complimented it makes you feel like you have accomplished something. Harr also says,"I encourage people to go out for sports. I think it makes you a more responsible person and it also gets you ready for the real world with having to juggle all those things at one time."

We choose Jenna Anderson as our athlete of the week. Jenna is a three sport athlete, with her sports being cross country in the fall, basketball in the winter, and soccer in the spring. Jenna always shows dedication and ambition during games and practices and is a stand out player. Jenna is currently playing basketball this season for the Sparta Spartans in the 2010-2011 basketball season.

Cooking with Brianna and Kayla