Category: columns
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Environmentally friendly cars
To protect nature and the atmosphere, many scientists believe exhaust should be reduced significantly. This is where hybrid cars come into play. Some students at Leesville are beginning to drive hybrids in the parking…
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Plunkett’s VW Vanagon “not a shaggin’ wagon”
Davis Plunkett’s 1990 Volkswagen Vanagon is an easily noticeable fixture in the Leesville Road High School parking lot. The red, European style van is definitely a head turner, but in addition to its “Mystery…
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Pulling the plug
In my two years here at Leesville, I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve liked a guy. And, to my immense delight, some of these boys have also expressed an…
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College rejection: not the end of the world
Most seniors have finished their college applications by now, and a few are even looking towards specific dormitories and classes of their designated university. However, some seniors face the dreaded realization that they will…
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Student bands prepare for Winterfest
Every December, when the year and the semester are nearing a close, the best of Leesville’s talented musicians start to show their faces… to the entire school. All eyes will be on the Winterfest…
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The Fruitcake
‘Tis the season to question a few holiday food traditions. Why eat ham on Christmas day and not reindeer? While we’re at it, why put the cookies out for Santa when you could enjoy…
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Raking rocks!
It was approximately ten degrees outside on December 13, and I was precisely where I wanted to be – sipping hot chocolate under a wool blanket. That was however, until my entire world came…
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Dessert transforms into art at Yogurt Mountain
A new art store recently opened on Creedmoor Road, near Five Guys and A Cleaner World: Yogurt Mountain. Unlike typical art stores, however, the medium is frozen yogurt. I recently had the pleasure of…
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Republicans need a spanking
Recently, the Senate finally approved a plan regarding the Bush tax cut conundrum. Unfortunately, and to no surprise, Senate democrats meekly obeyed GOP demands to keep lower tax rates on income, capital gains and…
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Student bands rock out, prepare for Winterfest
Every December, when the year and the semester are nearing a close, the best of Leesville’s talented musicians start to show their faces… to the entire school. All eyes will be on the Winterfest…
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“Book-A-Minute” – because sometimes even Cliff’s Notes are too long
Since junior year, I’ve been in at least one AP class every semester and usually a few honors courses too. Teachers almost always give their students due dates for assigned books a few weeks…
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Senioritis: month four
I was sitting in third period, Spanish, when it happened. I tried to hold it in; I fought it for as long as I could, but it just bubbled inside of me, growing and…
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The modern school system transforms students into cynics
It is so easy to become disillusioned that many once-hopeful adolescents revert to apathy. The system of over-testing, memorization based “learning,” and constant (often meaningless) resume building strips students of a desire to learn…
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“Doing school:” Rethinking the system of modern education
Metacognition is the awareness of one’s thought process, the ability to think about how one thinks. In “Doing School:” How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students, Denise Clark…
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The masterpiece of music
Berthold Auerbach, Jewish author, said, “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Although many students may find themselves stuck in an endless routine, music can lessen the drudge of daily…
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Leesville’s mean girls: not so mean after all
Before Lindsey Lohan was in and out of rehab, she was Cady Heron, the “mean girl” that teenagers everywhere knew and loved. After its debut in 2004, the movie Mean Girls quickly grew into…
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Sprinter daters run wild
Every year, at least one Leesville student, male or female, is notorious for dating many people in their class for short periods of time. These people usually go on a couple of dates, but…
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3D TV is on the rise
When I go home everyday after school, I rarely think about doing homework. Instead, I lay down on my couch, turn on the TV and watch a game, a program or the news until…
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The Bucket List #4: Pride Athletics
During the four years at Leesville, many students choose to take part in a variety of activities, such as acting, being on a tech crew, clubs, or athletics. Like many other Leesville students, I…
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Turkey-day tactics
For most people, the Thanksgiving holiday centers around “the big game.” This game is usually a football game. Because I am not a big sports fan, for me, “the big game” is the Thanksgiving…
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Sports in Canada: Not so different
The third round of this insightful column concerns Canadian sports. Now, I am perfectly aware that if there is one thing Americans know about Canada, it’s that Canadians love hockey. Yes, hockey is a…
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Where heart attacks are born
It’s a well-known fact that half of our country is overweight and more than a quarter are considered obese. Or to be a little more blunt, most Americans are a tad hefty. With McDonald’s,…
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Obnoxious girls spark inspiration for blog
Whether you live in an apartment, trailer, townhouse or mansion, every neighborhood has “that neighbor.” The neighbor who evokes a groan from all the surrounding neighbors as they recall the loud-mouthed, 3 a.m.-music-blasting and…
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Senioritis: month three
Upon completing the last of my college applications (which really don’t matter after getting the one acceptance letter I care about), not much has caught my attention regarding the real world. Were those Chilean…
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Canadian holidays: different day, same idea
Monday, October 11 marked the day that all Canadian families convene to stuff themselves silly with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry jelly and pumpkin pie. Yes, Thanksgiving Day dawned that Monday morning, one riddled…
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The Bucket List #3: Pride Productions
The lights dimmed, the curtains opened, a hush fell upon a packed audience. A spotlight shone on the set, a 1940s living room. A frantic-looking maid named Edith, played by Erika Martin, senior, entered.…
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Doing school: resume building
Resume building has become a necessary skill for high school students. In order to appeal to colleges, students must remain competitive by participating in extracurricular activities. To an extent, this is good: extracurricular…
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The good teacher conjecture
Studies show that high school students who get nine or more hours of sleep and a nutritious breakfast will do better in school. They even say that students in year-round do better than those…
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Eating lunch with the freshmen: an experience
I found myself in a situation I hadn’t been trapped in since my sophomore year. All around me, hundreds of people were screaming, immersing me in their infernal racket from all directions. I was…
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Symphony members take collaboration into their own hands
Members of the Instrumental Music programs at Leesville have organized an extracurricular performance group known as the Leesville High Symphony Orchestra. The symphony is conducted by director Mark Stiles (of the LRHS Orchestra) and…
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Teachers rate their students
Most people have heard of the website, ratemyteacher.com, where students can post comments and numerically rate their teachers on their personalities and teaching styles. I recently gave Leesville teachers the opportunity to rate their…
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Leesville bathrooms: time to renovate
Everytime I walk into a bathroom at Leesville, I enter into a pit of despair. The bathrooms at Leesville are disgraceful. There is no cheerfulness within those walls but instead a feeling of dread.…
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Should have been Hillary
Just in time for Halloween, the crazies have come out—and I’m not just talking about Ms. O’Donnell and her witchcraft. I could have told you during the 2008 election that if Democrats chose an…
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State Fair a success for food lovers
On Monday, October 18, I took on my greatest food challenge yet by way of the North Carolina State Fair. The fair provides an annual outlet for the citizens of NC to eat deep…
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Sixteen Candles compares to Leesville
Like most 80s movies, Sixteen Candles employs nerdy freshmen, oblivious parents and hopeless crushes to portray the impossible puzzle that is high school. Samantha (Molly Ringwald) is the average high school sophomore battling the…
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#2 on Bucket List: Grill Team
Walking into Grill Team is like taking a stroll through Emerald City. Everywhere you look is green. The smell of a smoky charcoal and music fill the air. People are talking, eating and playing…
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Application process destroys students
During fall, seniors across the nation go through the scary process of applying to universities. According to a stratified random sample survey conducted by the Leesville Road High School Mycenaean staff, 83% of Leesville…
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Choosing the better browser
The majority of students at LRHS use Internet browsers daily and for multiple hours at a time. Choosing the correct browser is crucial in order for the user to get the best experience possible.…
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Coldstone PB&C a disappointment
With a low tolerance for vegetables and fruits, most of my adolescent decision-making moments have ended with me sneaking Cosmic Brownies before dinner or stopping by the gas station on the way home for…
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Senioritis: month two
Mrs. Kay Floyd did her first-period AP English 12 class a disservice on October 7, 2010 as she approached her stereo to play a recording of Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “I know it’s way too early…
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Stereomood.com reads your mind, plays music
iTunes, Pandora and even Purevolume are fairly popular websites among music-savvy students at Leesville. At each website, you make an account and choose your music preferences, then your account will formulate playlists or recommend…
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Dearblankpleaseblank.com a procrastination “win”
Ask any student around Leesville who has access to a computer, and they can list tons of websites that they visit instead of doing their homework. A typical teenager spends an average of thirty-one…
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Two sides to everything
There are many unanswered questions in the known world. But for the students of Leesville, the greatest mystery of all is what the opposite sex really wants in a mate. In a series of…
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A look into the lives of freshmen: the Will Bennett experience
It was a nightmare. Tiny bodies filled the entire lobby, frantically screeching every which way, searching for any sort of direction. As I sat there, I thought to myself that the only thing separating…
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Pinkney’s bucket list
Many students have seen or heard of the movie, The Bucket List. And although the Leesville student body is not terminally ill, we need our own list of what to do before we graduate.…
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Masterpiece
For most students at Leesville Road High, art is not a noun, but a verb. Nastalgia Powe, Andrea Lopez, and Grace Satterfield, artists, agree that art is how you express yourself, whether through dance,…
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The future of 4G
Everyday, students at LRHS use technology to make their lives easier and more efficient. Growing up in a household of tech-buffs, I feel that it is my duty to educate the public about the…
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Ratemyteacher.com biased but entertaining
Ratemyteacher.com is a website that allows students to anonymously post comments and rate their teachers. Leesville Road High School has 132 teachers listed on the website, with 858 ratings total. Students evaluate their teachers…
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Car corner with Jon Wendt: Brett Bischler
The Leesville Road parking lot is filled with a wide variety of vehicles, ranging from tiny, two-door hatchbacks to huge, heavy duty trucks. Each month, I will be spotlighting one car out of the…
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10 things to know about Canada
Commonly referred to as “America’s Hat,” “America, Jr.,” and my personal favorite, “The “north” part in North America,” Canada is often overlooked when considering powerful nations of the world. And as a proud Canadian…