By Shayla Scallorn Social Media Editor For the third year, Mrs. Granger’s freshman English class is writing and sending letters to the Juliet Club in Verona, Italy. Thousands of letters from around the globe are mailed in every year, addressed to the fictitious Juliet Capulet from Shakespeare’s renowned play “Romeo and Juliet.” The volunteers who run the club, known as “Juliet’s Secretaries,” take care to answer each one. The secretaries can read and write in several languages so anyone is able to write in. “They get handwritten letters back on official Letterhead,” English teacher Ashley Granger said. “Most kids start getting them within a couple of months, the rest will get them back next school year.”
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By Molly Merson
Staff Writer Tapping pencils and feet, questions gone unanswered, sweaty foreheads, and nervous glances. Test taking anxiety afflicts many of us daily. It is a dangerous enemy of any high school student, turning even the simplest of exams into an intense scene straight from teens’ worst nightmares. As students embark on their high school career, stress is a major aspect. Things such as class work, extra curricular activities, and exams are major causes of stress in high school. Tests are typically weighted more in point value compared to other assignments. Some students struggle with test taking anxieties that can possibly impact their scores. “I do believe it [test taking anxiety] is common in high school,” Red Lion Area Senior High School’s psychologist Mrs. Persing said. “But I don’t think many students reach out for help when dealing with it.” Students with test taking anxieties have shown to perform at an average of 12 points lower than a student without test taking anxiety. Grades can drop as much as half a letter grade or more because of severe test taking anxiety, resulting in students performing much lower than their potential because of this fear of tests. There is not a specific subject of need among all students. “It depends on the student’s strengths and weaknesses,” Mrs. Persing said. There are no current reports of test taking anxiety in the school. However, it’s very common in high school. Approximately 16-20% of students have a form of extreme test taking anxiety. In addition, an average of 18% of students struggle with a moderately-high test taking anxiety. Some students suffer from this anxiety without even realizing it. In order to conquer test taking anxiety, help is needed. Whether it’s from outside help or within oneself, test taking anxiety can be defeated somehow. By Eli Gregory Staff Writer Art and Creative writing can often tie into the same thing, which is what makes it so important and a huge role this school year at the Red Lion Area Senior High School. “This program is about matching our creative artists visually with our creative artists literally.” Art teacher Mr. Hopkins said when asked what the goal of the project was. The creative writing students later decide which of the pieces best represents what they are trying to write about. “I don’t want them to know who the writer is because I don’t want that to influence their creative process,” Hopkins added. The end product of the collaboration will be either an online flip book or a website dedicated to the artists. Mr. Hopkins hopes to allow more access to the sites so that more people district wide can see it and appreciate the hard work put into the pieces. This project is a great way for each group to learn how to create their art better, whether their art is words or pictures. Students select their stories at random by picking cards out of a hat. Multiple artists get the same piece, which benefits the writer because they are able to see how people interpret their story in different ways. The creative writing students decide later on which of the pieces best represents what they were trying to write about. “I don’t want them to know who the writer is because I don’t want that to influence their creative process,” Hopkins said. Sophomore Hannah Andrews is painting a forest because it’s the setting and a big part of her story. Others, such as Senior Raquan Mitchell, are creating a piece involving things that were key parts in their story. This is the fourth year the two classes have worked on the project together, “I’ve been doing this for four years, and former students have said they enjoyed this project,” Mr. Hopkins said. |
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