There are multiple activities we all love and enjoy to do in the summer and since it’s coming up soon especially for seniors we decided to do a survey of the students favorite summer activities. We narrowed down the choices of things they love to do in the summer between fourteen for students to pick from. The following activities are: swimming, a summer job, hanging out with friends, bonfires, going to Tiger’s games, Cedar Point, picnics, going to the beach, fishing, and going to waterparks.
Coming in first place with a total of 12 tallies was bonfires. A lot of the students said that they really enjoy having bonfires with their friends over the summer and its something they really look forward to with summer weather. Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows for smores’ are popular and fun things to do at bonfires with friends.
Coming in second place with a total of 8 tallies was going to Tiger’s games. They last all summer long spread throughout the whole summer so it gives a lot of people a very good chance to make it to at least one game. Tiger’s games tickets can be very cheap and you don’t really need to buy the most expensive ticket to have a really fun time with some of your closest friends. “Tiger’s games are by far my favorite way to spend the summer, I would go to every single one if I could!”, said Cortney Boose.
Coming in third place with a total of 7 tallies was going to Cedar Point. Cedar Point opens around this time every year, usually in May. It is a pretty close amusement park, its a lot of fun and a good way to spend your day. There are roller coasters and thrill rides along with an attached water park called Soak City, which is also very popular especially on really hot days. Ian Fuller said “I love Cedar Point and I love all of the roller coasters and I can’t wait to go back there this summer.”
Taking this survey was a great way for us to determine some of our fellow students’ favorite summer activities and maybe even giving some other ideas for fun things to do this summer to other people.
Life of a Sophomore By: Eve Leigh
I happen to have the opportunity of interviewing one of my peers here in Clawson. His name is Matt Laanstra, he is a sophomore, and is a hockey and football player. Being 15 and in high school, his word about high school is that it’s “hard”. His goals are to get better grades and become a neurosurgeon. As you all know, Mrs. O’Connor takes her 10th grade English class to read to children. It was Matt’s distinct moment of his life.
“It was fun” Matt told me, “it was a fun moment in my life.”
“My favorite teacher is Mrs. Zaszandy,” Matt said when I asked him about his favorite teacher,
“She’s a chill teacher.”
I think most of our students can agree on that. Matt, like most of our students here, is an interesting person and classmate. He’s a student that a teacher can count on and a coach to count on for a score for the winning team.
Enjoying the last few Lunches with the rest of his senior friends, Marcus Russell poses for the camera with a big smile.
Bye Bye Clawson High
By: Ashley McGivern 14 May 2014
Senior year is almost over, a lot of students are happy to graduate. As Marcus Russell, a senior at Clawson High school says “I’m pretty pumped” to graduate. Marcus is one of those students that is absolutely ready to be out of high school. A lot of students come back to visit after graduating because they just miss the people and environment. Besides coming back to visit a selective few of his friends at Basketball games, “I'm not going to miss anything, not going to come visit, I’m ready to go.”
Marcus is attending prom and is taking Olivia Paquette, also a senior, with him as his date. Marcus is looking forward to prom. “What are you excited for?” “I’m excited to take pictures with all my friends and i’m excited to be on the party bus with everyone. there’s going to be like 30 people.”
Marcus’s favorite year of high school is his senior year because it’s almost over. His worst year of high school was freshman year because, he claims, nobody liked him. Marcus is happy with the outcome of his high school experience, “The memories, the parties, the laughs” Marcus also said he is not sad after leaving this High school after 4 years, in marcus’s words “It was fun while it lasted.”
Marcus plans on joining the Navy after high school. He is joining because it was influenced by his grandma and uncle. He is happy with this decision, he's not nervous to take this path. “I feel like it will be a walk in the park.”
“Get rich or die trying.”
One regret Marcus has about high school is that he wishes he could of lived it up more. Marcus is headed in a good direction and has set his expectation for himself high, His high school experience was overall enjoyable. His one piece of advice for the juniors is “enjoy it while it lasts.”
Do you Snapchat? By: Nadia McNamara
One of the trendiest ways to quickly get in touch with friends is Snapchat, an app where you can send a picture or video and select people to send it to for up to 10 seconds till it’s gone forever. The app is very popular among teens and young adults.
The only way to try to keep the received photo is by taking a screenshot. Watch out though because any attempts at screen shotting will send the sender a warning. It is also a trend to send “ugly” pictures to make people laugh and hope they won't have them forever.
“I hate when people screenshot my snaps. Like some things aren't meant to be seen more than once,” said Senior, Tedi Ameli.
Snapchat came about last year and was very popular. The fad died down for a little while before resurfacing when snapchat stories were added to the app. A story is when all your friends can see the picture or video for 24 hours. This makes it a lot easier for screen shotting, but it can also show all your friends what you're up to without having to send it to every one of them.
“Snapchat is so much fun, I use it all the time and I love being able to see what’s going on every weekend,” said Senior, Erin Shrum
The trend probably won’t stick around forever. With 4.6 million users and 350 million uploads per day, this is the time for snapchat.
Best Branch? By Joseph Tabor April 28 2014
Would you rather be Army Strong? One of the few proud Marines? Aim High? Or be part of the “Global Force for Good?” There has always been, and always will be, a dispute between the branches of the United States military. Since the creation of the different branches there has been a dislike between each of the branches; even though they all work together.
After a survey of some students at Clawson High School it appears that the students like the Navy the best. Just out of curiosity I asked a few of the students why they thought the Navy was the best; most of the responses were “The Marines are crazy.” Or “The Army accepts everyone who wants to join.” and “The Air Force is just a bunch of wimps; they just fly planes.”
Many people don’t understand that all the branches work together in war. Even though the branches don’t like each other doesn’t mean they don’t know that they depend on each other. It’s a team effort for the military to carry out its plans.
Each branch has it’s own individuality. Without it, the other branches would have to add to their own to fill in for the other. If the branches divide, the country and it’s fighting force will fall.
Clawson’s Favorite Fast Food By Melissa Boose & Emily Fuller April 28 2014
We recently surveyed over 50 students in Clawson High School asking them what their favorite fast food restaurant in the Clawson area is. We did this survey to see why people like the specific fast food that’s their favorite. In a way we felt food brings us Clawson students closer together because we all enjoy the same places in the Clawson area.
We made a list of 8 fast food places in Clawson including Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Checkers, KFC, Tropical Smoothie, and Subway to find out which was the biggest hit in this small town.
The winner of the survey was Taco Bell, with 22 votes. Almost half of the whole surveyees voted for Taco Bell. Coming in second place with 8 votes was Tropical Smoothie. In a tie for third place with 6 votes was Wendy’s and Subway.
Some students say that the new Taco Bell breakfast menu might be a reason that Taco Bell is so popular among the students. McDonald’s also has a very popular breakfast menu that a lot of students enjoy. We knew Taco bell would win with all it’s delicious food and cheap prices.
One of the students, Cortney Boose, said, “ My favorite thing from Taco bell to eat is are steak quesadillas with the cheesy fiesta potatoes.”
In fact once we found out Taco Bell was the winner we went to Taco Bell to try something new on the menu that we had never tried before and it was potato taco. It was amazing so we vowed that once a month we would both try something new on the menu until we had tried everything!
When writing the list of fast food places in Clawson, we predicted that Taco Bell would be the winner among students. We were right about that, but we also thought that McDonald’s would be in the top three; we were wrong.
One reason that we thought McDonald’s would be a place with a higher amount of votes is because they have a breakfast menu that’s pretty popular as well as their lunch, dinner, and snack menu. McDonald’s was in 4th place with 4 votes. We estimated that it would have about 10 votes.
We asked a classmate, Justin Hill, what fast food restaurant would win the overall survey and he replied by saying “I think Taco Bell will be the winner because it seems like the most popular among students.” He was right about this because Taco Bell did actually come in first place.
So overall, Taco Bell is the most popular fast food joint in Clawson among Clawson High School students. KFC and Arby’s were the least popular each having only 1 vote. Checkers had 2 votes, McDonald’s has 4 votes, Subway and Wendy’s has 6 votes, Tropical Smoothie had 8 votes, and Taco Bell came in as the winner with 22 votes. So we found out that Taco Bell is in fact the most popular fast food chain among clawson students.
Spring Break Cruise Escape By: Ashley McGivern 27 March 2014
Spring break is on its way! Vacations are being booked, Everyone is excited. Pack up those suitcases and get your “summer” on. The best way to spend a break is on the water traveling the Caribbean on a cruise.
Going on a cruise is a very popular way to spend a spring break. Teenagers now a days like to go off to warm places especially for spring break. Florida is a pretty popular destination spot. Ironically a lot of cruises take off from many different cities in Florida.
The Carnival cruise lines are one of the most popular cruise choices. The benefits about the Carnival cruises is that is it very family friendly. The population of this cruise line is mostly families, young adults, and teenagers. On this ship there is a mini water park! The ship has many different hangouts. There is one for young children, teenagers and a casino for the adults.
“I would be very excited to go on a cruise, If I was going on a cruise for spring break I would want to go with my best friend Emily. I would want to go on a Carnival Caribbean cruise because I feel like that cruise would be more mature for me than a Disney cruise,” Cora Hull explain..
The Disney cruises are kid’s favorites! This cruise is very kid-friendly. On this ship kids have the opportunity to meet their favorite Disney characters and see live performances of their favorite Disney movies. This cruise line also has many types of decks with a pool and a movie theater in the same area.
Cruises are a very good experience for all ages. It’s a different way of spending a vacation because it’s on water. A cruise can take a person out of their comfort zone, but also be an adventure.
“If I could go on a cruise for spring break I would take my boyfriend Jake with me. I would be nervous and excited to go on a cruise. I would want to go on a Carnival Caribbean cruise because I would want to see the islands.”
Picture submitted by Joseph Tabor
Rocky Relationship By Joseph Tabor 18 March 2014
One of the greatest types of music to ever exist has to be classic rock. Even though it is loved by so many people it also has its haters. The hate for classic rock, I believe, comes from the close-minded people of the older generations.
The best thing people can come up with when they say they hate Rock music is because it’s “Satans” music. There is a bad stereotype that rock singers commit suicide or are worshipers of the devil.
Most people who hate rock music are the people who are stuck in the past, and who aren’t able to change their thinking. Granted there are bands and singers that sing about things of the devil, etc. But when people accuse all rock bands of singing about that is complete bogus.
Another reason people hate rock music is by taking a line of a song out of context of what the singer is actually trying to say. Some fundamental Baptist churches have accused Christian rock bands of “being of the devil.” They take one or two lines way out of context and make accusations.
Picture submitted by Ashley McGivern
Legal Smoking Laws Set for a Reason By: Ashley McGivern 18 March 2014
Many teens smoke for the reasons of coping with emotions and being a part of popularity. It can become an addiction at a very young age.
Smoking before legal age can also cause diseases, panic attacks, anxiety disorders and depression. Most teenagers rely on smoking to take stress and pain away. A lot of teens don’t know how to get feelings and thoughts out so they smoke to solve all of their problems.
Smoking is a very dangerous habit to get into, especially at a young age when it is illegal. These laws are set for a reason; some teenagers are not mature enough to handle smoking. That’s why it’s advised to smoke when 18 or older.
“Teenagers smoke because they do not use the intelligence they were born with and they have to copy-cat personalities. I’m so against teenage smoking, I use to be a teenage smoker till I was 40 years old then I quit and now I’m 64 years old and still alive. Smoking is too deadly and I’m lucky because I’m healthy. I am healthier today than I was when I was smoking, “ said Mr. Pallas, a para-professional at the high school.
By the time a teenage smoker is an adult, their lungs are very unhealthy. Smoking can affect being active and working out. It may become harder to breathe once a person has been smoking for a while. Adults should encourage teenagers to stop smoking and find other activities for them to do, like sports.
“I would say smoking makes teenagers feel grown up and cool. I think there are many reasons why teenagers smoke. Each person has a different reason. Whether it’s your friends that make you smoke or it just makes you feel better. My opinion on teenage smoking is that it’s very bad, and I wish they wouldn’t start. There are other things you can do to make you feel cool and that is not harmful to your body.” says Ms. Cotter, the main office secretary.
If teenagers had different coping methods to deal with stress, depression and other situations the rate of teenager smokers would probably go down. Also the rate of self-harming and suicide would probably go down too.
When people hear the words “Senior-paper” most people shudder and freak out. Stress starts to overcome people; they don’t even like talking about it. The other killer word is “deadline”. Almost nothing scares people more than hearing the word deadline. It just makes people feel like a whole bunch of pressure has just been dumped right onto their shoulders. But thanks to nice and caring people in society, they have created little ways to make the “deadline” a little less stressful. Compared to most essays written in school, the senior paper is the most stressful. But that’s why people have tried to make things a little less stressful with helpful tips. First of all, figuring out what to write your paper is great start. One of the hardest steps in writing a paper is to figure out what to write about. Once that is figured out, there are; according to Ms. Beavers; “little baby steps” to the finished product. Compared to most essays written in school, the senior paper is the most stressful. But that’s why people have tried to make things a little less stressful with helpful tips.
Some of the “baby steps” that were done were fairly easy and helped an unimaginable amount when it came time to write the paper. The steps were really just using common sense and a using a good note taking skill. One of them was to put little letters in the top right corner of the bibliography (or BIB) cards. After gathering all the information for the twelve BIB cards, using note cards to put information from the source onto the cards for notes. Then whichever BIB card source the notes came from, put the same letter on the note card. It makes it easy to find which source the note came from.
Another helpful tip was to print out the sources that were actually going to be used in the paper. Once those were printed out, all the important information can be highlighted and easily found in the source when it comes time to use quotes and summaries in the paper.
After highlighting and writing all the notes, phrase outline is where to go next. The phrase outline takes all the notes and puts them into a form that makes it an easy step to the sentence outline, which makes it very easy to write the rough draft. Once the sentence outline is done, there just has to be completed sentences between the facts. The sentences are made of the opinion of the writer.
Those baby steps lead to a very easy final step, writing the final draft. Corrections will be made to the rough draft, but after that it’s smooth sailing. The final draft can be done in no time with a good rough draft edit. The more work that’s put into the beginning makes it easier at the end.
Short or Long? By: Ashley McGivern
Prom is a chance for a girl to feel like a princess. The prom dress is very important, it has to be perfect. Many styles have changed, some prom dresses now are short or have cut outs and slits. It all depends on what style a girl likes.
Parents of teenagers now would probably argue that short dresses for prom are inappropriate and not classy enough. Just in the past few years styles of prom dresses have extended to short dresses. When in parents defence, all girls wore long dresses for prom in that time period.
Some schools have different policies for dances. Some schools only allow long dresses cause its appropriate and covers the areas that need to be covered. Other schools join the prom and allow all grades to go, there for the seniors would wear something different to separate grades.
A teacher at clawson high school shared her opinion on the dresses with me, and also explained what its like at her daughter's prom.
“At my daughter’s school all the grades go to prom because the school is very small, and if all grades didn't go the school wouldn’t be able to afford a prom. So to separate the seniors from all the other grades, the girls wear nice long dresses and all the other girls wear short dresses. I like the idea of a long dress, I don’t think a prom dress should be like 600 dollars though, that is way too much for a prom dress.”
In my opinion, long dresses are the way to go. It shows elegance and separates homecoming from prom. Prom is more fancier dance then homecoming. It’s also a celebration especially for seniors. A special occasion like that deserves a special dress.
Senior, Doris Owens is attending prom and she is wearing a long dress.
“I mostly think long dresses are more appropriate for prom. Pretty much all the girls I know that are going to prom, are wearing long dresses.”
Picture taken by Everett Clark
Music Man by: Joe Tabor
Everett Clark is known by mostly everyone in the school. He generally gets good grades, usually A’s and B’s. Some things people don’t know is that he is from California. He has been in Clawson for five years, before Clawson he went to Royal Oak Public Schools. To him, the schools were pretty much the same, except Royal Oak Schools were just bigger.
“I do what I want” was the only response I received when I asked him what made him come to Clawson. He didn’t have much to say when I asked him if he was excited to graduate this year, I only got “sure”.
His plan after high school is to go to Cornerstone College in Michigan to get a degree in music. “I love music, it’s a universal language” is how he explained his reason for picking a music degree at Cornerstone. People don’t understand his love for music. He is in his church’s choir, and in Clawson High’s choir.
Cornerstone College is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He wanted to go to a good Christian with a good music section so he could thrive in what he loves to do the most. Sing. He said in his first semester at Cornerstone he will have at least five singing classes. He doesn’t mind it either, he likes the fact that he will be around music all day.
Ian eating his lunch in the school cafeteria.
The Football Star By: Melissa Boose
Ian fuller is more than your typical freshman high school student. He has a passion for a sport that only a few have in a lifetime. That sport is football.
"I started playing football when I was only five years old, and I couldn't imagine life without it."
Although he doesn't think he's able to break any records any time soon, that won't stop him from playing a sport he can't seem to get enough of.
You would think it'd be hard to maintain good grades and play a sport, but it's quite the opposite for Ian. In fact he says that, "Playing football motivates me to get better grades so they usually stay higher during the season." This past school year Ian played defensive line/linebacker on the junior varsity football team and plans on playing the rest of his high school career keeping his grades up as well.
Of all the years Ian played football there was a moment he said he would never forget.
"When I was about ten I hurt somebody by tackling them and they had to get taken off the field on a stretcher."
Ever since then his passion for the sport just grew and he decided not to stop playing. Although his dad isn't a fan of him playing his mom and sister support him greatly.
With pursing his favorite sport and getting good grades Ian basically has high school in the palm of his hands. With moments he'll never forget already and many more to come.
Journalism Day at Comerica By: Hannah Coakley
This Spring, the Detroit Tigers are doing outdoor educational presentations for students. Schools are encouraged to bring their students out for a presentation with multiple people speaking on certain topics. There have been multiple topics including, Career Day and Math Day. Also still to come, is Space Day and Weather Day.
On Thursday April 17, the journalism class and some students in yearbook at CHS attended one of these presentations for Detroit Tigers Class Outside Educational Series, called Journalism Day. The students had an opportunity to learn about many things related to journalism, especially sports journalism. There were many speakers ranging from news anchors to team photographers. The presenters all gave advice on starting a career in journalism and encouragement to those wanting to enter that course of study. After all the presenters had finished, the students were invited to stay and enjoy the game against the Cleveland Indians.
The game was just as exciting as the presentations. The Tigers beat the Indians 7-5. There are still opportunities to attend a game in this series. You only have May 8 and May 22 to get into the Class Outside Educational Series. If you want to make an appearance, do so soon.
Picture above: Stephen Colbert intro of the Stephen Colbert show on Comedy Central.
Letterman to Colbert By Eve Leigh April 27 2014
If you watch the David Letterman show, you may know that after years of T.V., David Letterman is retiring. He has found a new host for his show, though. A political-based comedian from the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert. This update for late night television had made T.V. watchers go on two sides on this decision: Yes to Colbert and No to Colbert.
People say yes to Colbert because he’s had his own show, The Colbert Report, and is a great comedian. People say no to Colbert because of what sort of humor he does on his show. He does political-type humor, sort of like The Daily Show with John Stewart, and people aren’t as much of a fan of politics as they are of such other type of humor Colbert can do.
Stephen Colbert, I believe, will bring a new face and character to the David Letterman show and will still give a good name to T.V. show, now going to be named the Stephen Colbert show.
Nike or Jordan? By Joe Tabor 27 March 2014
Nike and Jordan have to be the biggest shoe brands in America. Every year millions of shoes are bought from the two companies. And they don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
“Sales in North America, Nike’s largest market, rose 9.4 percent to $3.14 billion,” according to Bloomberg.com.
According to students at CHS, more students prefer Nike over Jordan. More and more Nike is becoming the biggest shoe company, overshadowing Jordan. Though Jordan isn’t small, Nike still is a whole lot bigger than it.
Just walking around it’s easy to see that more people like Nike, but there also is that mix of Jordan. Nike also has its basketball and running gear that also helps boost it to the top. In that aspect, Jordan can’t really keep up. Nike is going to be the biggest shoe company for a very long time.
Clawson Rushes The Palace By: Ramone Boothe 27 March 2014
Clawson High School had the honor to be one of the few schools selected to get free tickets to Wednesday’s Pistons vs. Cavaliers game.
This is a very exciting event; tickets are really expensive for Pistons games and for Clawson to get them for free just makes it ten times better for everyone to get out and have a good time with their family.
Jamar Vaugn said, “I’m very excited about the game. I don’t really get to go to them a lot so I can’t wait to go out with my friends”.
The game was be very exciting; these are two teams hungry to make the playoffs. The Cavaliers are (28-44) and the Pistons are (26-44).
With all the students going to the game, we are sure to have a great home court advantage. I know that we have a lot of students going but are the teachers as excited like the students?
Mr. Sines said, “Yes, I'm going with my friends and family. This is good for students so they can get out the house and have a good time.”
Overall, it was exciting for Clawson to take on the Palace. Unfortunately, the outcome was not favorable but it was still a night full of fun, friends, and basketball!
Favorite Foods of Clawson High By: Melissa Boose and Emily Fuller
27 March 2014
We recently took a survey of over 50 students and staff at Clawson High where they tallied their favorite food out of a list of 15 options. In our list, we gave students and staff many varieties of popular foods in the United States. The kinds of foods varied from popcorn to chicken& waffles, and from Philly cheese steak to the All-American cheeseburger.
A lot of the foods came in close ties for the top three spots in the most popular food with the students and staff here at Clawson High. Topping the chart as the number one most popular food was pizza, with 16 votes total. Coming in at a close second place was steak. Third place was chicken & waffles. There were a few different foods that came close after third place such as chicken noodle soup, macaroni & cheese, and the Philly cheese steak.
When writing the list of most popular American foods, we predicted that pizza would be number one most popular with our school. What we didn’t expect was chicken & waffles to be so popular and winning third place as most popular with students and staff.
Overall, we expected the most popular foods to be basically what was surveyed from the students and staff of Clawson High, with only a few exceptions. A lot of the foods came in close ties to winning top three, but pizza was the dramatic winner, just like we expected it would be!
The Most Memorable Oscars? By Eve Leigh 18 March 2014
A lot has happened in this year’s Oscars. Gravity getting seven awards for it’s jaw-dropping success. John Travolta saying Frozen’s leading lady, Idina Menzel’s, name wrong. Ellen Degeneres ordering pizza for ALL of the audience and her breaking Twitter with her record-breaking tweet of a celebrity selfie. And, once again, Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t win a single Oscar. From Jennifer Lawrence falling again to Ellen sporting a dress from the classic The Wizard of Oz, people claim that this year’s Oscars were the most memorable. But is it?
In my defense, I believe it is. You have so many popular celebrities in one event and, at one point in the event, in one picture! America’s favorite animated film this year won so many awards for its great acting, great animation, and mainly for its song ‘Let it Go’ sung by Idina Menzel.
What other Oscar event had that many memorable moments we’ll remember so well? Will it be even more memorable next year? Let’s just see what America’s film industry has for us in store.
Favorite 90’s Movies By: Melissa Boose and Emily Fuller 18 March 2014
This month, we surveyed over 50 students and staff of Clawson High School to see what their favorite timeless movie of the 90’s is. We had a list of 27 top movies from the 90’s for the people to pick from. Each person put a tally mark next to their favorite movie. The list included movies such as Shawshank Redemption, Clueless, Happy Gilmore, and Scream, along with many more.
The three most popular movies that people chose were Titanic, Forrest Gump, and Happy Gilmore. Titanic and Forrest Gump were tied for first place each having 8 votes; Happy Gilmore came in second place with 7 votes total.
An anonymous student said, “It was very hard to choose only one movie because the list consisted of many, very good, timeless classics.”
When we were making the list of top movies, we predicted that Titanic would be the number one most popular 90’s movie, and we were right! We also predicted that Big Daddy would be more popular with the students, but it didn’t get any votes at all, so we were wrong about that prediction.