The James Logan Courier

By Emily Low, Courier Staff Writer

STAR testing has taken over James Logan in a dramatic whirlwind like it does every year at this time in spring, inducing groans of boredom and cries for freedom from underclassmen and juniors, eliciting teasing smiles from seniors who are allowed to sleep in and thus feel obligated to flaunt it, and loading stress-filled days of preparations on teachers. And, like it has been in past years, one more ingredient has to be added: the student forum.

Student forums. The very phrase makes me frown. I cannot ridicule the intent, for it is a good one: it serves to inform students of situations that involve all of the school’s sizeable population, or which we students are a majority, and to involve the student community in contributing ideas to better the school. Lovely. But, as in most cases, the intent doesn’t quite matter in the long run. What is seen is what actually happens.

So what does happen in these student forums? Next to nothing.

By Krystal Henderson, Courier News Editor

It's April. The sun is shining and the birds are chirping madly. As I take notes in APS, my mind wanders and soon I'm doodling while I daydream.

For the last 11 years, I've been busting my butt in school. I show up, give my teachers respect, read, write, do all those ridiculous math problems, eat lunch, and learn. Now that it's my final year of free, required, public school- NOW I've decided that school is lame.

Not really, though; I've just got Senioritis like crazy.

By David Collins, Courier Opinion Editor

In every moment of conscious existence, we feel one way or another. When something positive happens, we tend to feel happy and when something negative happens we tend to feel upset. But in awareness, there is control. Within every event, there is a cause and effect that flow either in the direction we believe we need it to, or in a way that upsets us. So is it truly the instance that is at fault, or is it our own?

By Emily Low, Courier Opinion Writer

Do not do your homework while listening to music.

The above statement is one the student has heard time and time again, from parents, teachers, and, heavens forbid, even his or her own nerdy friends. Of course, the reprimand does not just apply to music, but any other distraction as well, such as television or the telephone or even a friend nearby.

I must admit, I am most certainly guilty of violating the order myself. As I sit at this laptop clicking away on the keyboard, Brahms’ clarinet trio is floating out of the speakers. It can’t hurt, anyway, I reason; this is creative stuff, not…studying and memorization. And it has no lyrics, right? No distraction there.

By Emily Low, Courier Staff Writer

It is impossible, I think, to be completely ignorant of the new policy at James Logan High School if you happen to enter the campus. Whereas ID’s used to be an unregulated form of recognition on campus, now, it is the sole proof an individual has as to whether or not he or she is truly a student or a faculty member of the school. One cannot enter the campus grounds without it. Because of this newly implemented policy, entrances have been reduced to only four checkpoints, just about wide enough to allow a single person to squeeze past after flashing their identification card.

Like many students, I fail to understand exactly how this addresses Logan’s current predicament. Of course, it is a safety measure; one can see that. It keeps unwanted intruders that may be potentially dangerous away from the school, after all. However, the problem of intruders is neither pervasive nor prevalent at this given time. In the past three years here that I have spent at Logan, intruders have rarely posed a problem. As the gut of the true problem lies in violence by students themselves, this hardly seems to be a preventive measure. As a result, the policy seems only to create a new awareness as to the possible circumstances that could surround our school. I can’t help but immediately feel the results of the policy once I step foot on the campus.

By Emily Low, Courier Staff Writer

Ahh…Spring break: a time for students to take a week away from school to do something, anything, other than schoolwork. Some students might be visiting family for the holiday or perhaps visiting college campuses in anticipation of the years after high school. At schools which take there break this week, many are probably sleeping in as you read this, whether it is ten o’clock in the morning or ten o’ clock at night. Easily, Spring Break can be perceived as the last time in the school year that we all get to take a week off from the ever-so-disdained schoolwork.

Not really.