Upcoming May and June Events

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For the month of May our high school has many different events coming up. We are doing many SOL tests. SOL testing can be very stressful for students. We have been studying and working very hard, so that we can pass them. I will be taking only 2 SOL’s for this semester. These start on May 9^th and should end in 2 weeks.

Another event we have is our Underclassmen Awards Day. Awards day is on the 24^th of this month. This is where all of the underclassmen will be awarded an award if they earned one. Many students work hard to achieve these awards and feel very accomplished when they do. Not all students will receive an award depending on how they performed in the school year.

The next event is the Senior Awards. This is when all of the seniors will get their awards, and not at graduation. Senior Awards Day is on the 23^rd of May.  Awards will be handed out to the seniors who earned one. Seniors will be participating in their last Senior Awards Day program.

The biggest event for some of our students this month is graduation! Graduation is on May 26^th. All of the seniors will be handed a diploma. Also, the seniors will be dressed in their capping gown. Encouragement for all the seniors would be appreciated. So, make sure you come out and support!

One last event that is school associated is the Sports Banquet. It is on June 3^rd.  Any student who participated in a sport in the 2016-2017 school year is welcome. Awards will be handed out to students who have accomplished an achievement for any sport. Not every student will receive an award. 

Our school appreciates everyone who comes and supports the students of Rye Cove High School.

Blog Submission by Emilee Carlson 

Surviving Finals

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As you’re reaching the end of the semester, the difficult and stressful weeks filled with horrid tests called finals approach. Even though your teachers have been preparing you all semester, finals worry almost everyone because most students seems to forget what they have been taught. Some go to extremes to try to remember the content they have learned, and that only hurts them when their finals arrive. Luckily, I have 7 tips for surviving finals!

Here are my 7 tips for making it through finals:

Tip #1: Don’t cram the night before! Take your books and study materials home before finals and study in sessions of 1-2 chapters every night! Also, study what is most important, because this will make the lesser stuff seem easier. This will keep you from frying your brain from trying to memorize a semester’s worth of material in one night.

Tip #2: Find time to relax! Taking a few minutes every day to relax, listen to music, take a nap, or doing whatever you enjoy to relax can really help your mood and your outlook on school. It gives you the patience to keep going and ace those finals!

Tip #3: Remember that your mental and physical health is of the most importance. Sometimes you can get so determined and focused on studying and stressing that your health goes downhill, quickly. Remember to take breaks and take care of yourself while you study. A 15 minute break won’t ruin your chances of passing.

Tip #4: Don’t forget to sleep! Sleep is very important to your health and your overall mood. The better rested you are, the better you’ll do the morning of finals.

Tip #5: Plan ahead! Make sure you know the date, time, and place your final will be held. The last thing you want to do is rush into the room last minute, rush into the wrong room, or panic because you think you missed the test. Double check the details of the test beforehand.

Tip #6: The morning of your test, eat breakfast! Most students make a habit of skipping breakfast in the mornings. While you’re in your testing room, you don’t need a growling stomach breaking your focus. Eat breakfast and you’ll not only feel better, but be more focused and feel more prepared for the day ahead. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

Tip #7: After your final, breathe, let go, and celebrate! You made it! You survived your finals! Now, you can finally stop worrying.

I hope these tips will help you get through your finals. Good Luck!

References: #1 and #2 

Blog Submission by Rachel Gibson

The Crazy Life at the End of the School Year

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The end of every school year is always hectic.  You spend a whole semester learning as much information as possibly imaginable in order for you to be able to pass the dreaded SOL test.  This is the biggest reason the end of the year is so stressful. 

Every teacher wants their students to do well on the test, so they cram a ton of review and information in our heads within a matter of days.  We all know it is true, and we all know how stressed out everyone becomes.  It is all necessary though, because the state has put so much pressure on each school to have good test scores. 

It isn’t all gloomy though.  There is always an excitement and a feeling of anticipation at the end of each year.  There are a lot of activities that come about that are kind of a celebration of making it to the end.  

Prom is a big one.  The anticipation for prom is crazy.  All of the juniors, seniors, and lucky underclassmen that got asked to go, get ready for what is supposed to be a great night of dancing, eating, and fun. 

I think each class has a different view on the end of the school year.  

For the sub freshmen, there is a feeling of relief and excitement because you have made it through the end of your first year of high school with only a few minor bumps and bruises.  

For the freshmen, you are just happy to finally get the monkey off your back that you are a “freshman,” and you are ready to finally be one of the “big kids.”  

The end of sophomore year is scary, because now you know that the time for playing around is over, and now you better get ready for the uphill climb of the rest of your high school career.  

The juniors have got to be thrilled and scared at the same time.  You have made it through probably the hardest year of high school, and now you are finally seniors!  Time to get prepared for the wonderful world of college.  

For the seniors I’m sure that it is a bitter sweet ending.  You are finally finished with the jungle of high school, but now the “best days of your life,” are over.  You will miss the Cove and it will miss you.

The end of the school year is crazy, busy, sad, happy, exciting, stressful, and many other things, but when you finally get to that precious last day it will all be worth it. 

Blog Submission by Matthew Gibson

Surviving Spring SOLs

If I was to be asked what the worst part of the school year was, I would say that it is the time when everyone starts reviewing for SOLs and when they begin. This part of the school year typically begins right after spring break and continues to get worse until these state required tests are over.

To me, the end of the spring semester is always worse than the fall semester. You are so close to finishing the year and getting a break, but they decide to cram all of this knowledge in you for a test when you are exhausted from just going to school five days a week. Also, it is hard to get a break during this time. Want to go home and take a nap right after school? You have to do a review packet for homework. If you play spring sports or want to spend time with friends and family after school, you will most likely be doing one of the following: staying up late to do homework, doing it in other classes at school, or you won’t do it at all.

There are some things that can make all of this easier though. It can be a stressful time and we all cope with it differently.

First, be positive. Just changing your outlook on things can make you handle them better. If you say you are going to fail your test and that is all you can focus on, you are not helping yourself out. If anything, be realistic. If you actually tried during the semester, you have a good chance of passing.

Second, be comfortable. Some people wear their sweatpants and don’t try to dress up at the end of the school year, others do the opposite. You should not be doing one of these because you feel like you have to, do it because it makes you happy. I personally feel better when I put on makeup and look like I put some effort in my look, because I feel more awake and it makes me less likely to fall asleep in class. If you only care about what others think, you are causing more unnecessary stress at a time you really do not need it.

Third, do whatever you need to help you succeed. Need extra help in a class? Ask your teacher, most of them are willing to help you outside of class. Need to get some sleep? Get off your phone at night and sleep. You can only help yourself.

SOLs determine if you pass a class, and they are required to graduate. If you do not try to help yourself, no one can force you to. It is up to you to make the time to study and do whatever you can to help yourself succeed. Do what makes you happy and what enables you to do your best when you are stressed out. When it really comes down to it, you know yourself better than anyone else and know how much you need to do to succeed. Some people study for hours, some people do not study at all. Our minds work differently and if you made it this far, you know how to find a way to make it all work out in the end.

Blog Submission by Kara Hillman

Using Social Media Responsibly

Most kids our age today are on many types of social media like Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Musically, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Social media has changed the way we talk with others. People used to have to write letters and wait forever for a response. Now we can send a text and read it in a matter of seconds and reply.

There are pros and cons to being on social media.

Pros

1) You can talk to people in your family you don’t get to see much.

2) You can connect with your favorite celebrities.

3) You can make friends.

4) Stay up to date on what’s happening around the world.

5) Someone famous might discover you and you might become famous 

Cons

1) Cyberbullying

2) It could hurt your chances of getting into the school or job you want by what you post

3) You could get hacked

4) People can be really rude in the comments

5) Gossip and rumors spread fast

Social Media has helped us connect with others in different countries, that wasn’t possible a hundred years ago. It has also helped with education. You can look up how to do something and learn how to do it. It’s made so many things easier like knowing what the weather is, what’s going on in different parts of the world, and what are the trends are. 

While there are good things that come with social media there are also bad things. It has made it easier for people to say mean things to people just because they want to be rude. Sometimes they haven’t even met the person they’re saying it to.  

Social media has changed how we do things. It can be a really good thing or a really bad thing. It all depends on how you use it.

Blog Submission By Krista Vincent

Giant Panda no longer endangered

An international group has taken the panda off the endangered list thanks to conservation efforts. The panda is classified as “vulnerable” instead of “endangered”, reflecting its rising numbers in southern china. It’s said the population jumped from 1,596 in 2004 to 1,864 in 2014. 

However, although better forest protection has helped increase panda numbers, climate change is predicted to eliminate more than 35 percent of its natural bamboo habitat in the next 80 years, potentially leading to another decline.

Still, animal groups hailed the recovery of the Giant Panda that has been a symbol of china and the global conservation movement. The panda population decreased in the 1980's due to poaching and deforestation until china threw its full weight into preserving the animal.

The chines government has worked to save wild pandas. Giant panda populations in the wild have risen by 17 percent in the decade up to 2014. China now has 67 panda reserves, which are similar to U.S. national parks.

For over fifty years, the giant panda has been the globes most beloved conservation icon as well as the symbol of WWF. Knowing that the panda is now a step further from extinction is an exciting movement for everyone committed to conserving the world’s wildlife and their habitats.

Decades of conservation efforts have included the banning of giant panda poaching their hides were considered a commodity as well as the creation of the panda reserve system. The status update is good news for the animals, but it doesn’t mean that pandas are safe. In the next 80 years, climate change could destroy more than 35 percent of bamboo forests, where pandas live on a bamboo-only diet. That would definitely have consequences for their conservation.

The pandas have been on the endangered list since 1990. But china has been aware of their decline since the 1960s.

(Sourced from associated press)

Blog submission by Kenny McClellan

Career Exploration: A look At Aerospace Engineering

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Aerospace Engineering is engineering things that can fly like planes, rockets, jets, and so much more but that is not all that they do. They study how fluids flow, about control systems, how strong things are, how to make things strong, how to design things so they can be reliably built and maintained.

Aerospace Engineers develop and test air craft, space craft, and missiles, and supervise their manufacturing. The ones who work with air craft are called Aeronautical Engineers, and the ones that work specifically with space craft are called Astronautical Engineers.

Aerospace Engineers develop new technology for use in innovation, defense systems, and space exploration, often specializing in areas such as structures, propulsion systems, vehicle movement and control, communications, and overall vehicle design.

They also specialize in a particular type of Aerospace product, such as commercial air craft, military fighter jets, helicopters, space craft, or missiles, and rockets. You may become experts in Aerodynamic, Thermodynamics, Celestial mechanics, propulsion, acoustics, or guidance and control systems.

You have to have technical knowledge, management skills, and more. But you need a bachelor’s degree which is the minimum degree for this job. Good curriculum to study in school are chemistry, physics, computer science, algebra, geometry, calculus, English, applied technology, and statistics.

Government economists expect jobs for Aerospace Engineers to grow slower than the average for all occupations through 2020. All of the work in this field is related to national defense or the design of nonmilitary air craft. These workers will be needed to design safer and more efficient aircraft and to rebuild existing aircraft to be quitter and more fuel efficient. But many of these engineers are deployed in industries that will likely decline. You’ll have an edge if you can use software and online tools to work with others on projects, create models, and analyze data.  

Blog Submission by Jaden Petrusak