The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/164157
August 30, 2013 Page 3 Features Thoughts from the new teachers at RBHS New teachers tell why they teach and share their favorite parts about being a teacher Julia Liebert Page Editor As a new school year brings along with it new students, it also comes with new teachers. RBHS has a new counselor, Michelle Ackley, and four new teachers; Margie Mcgrew, Lisa Somavia, Rick Whestone, and Adrienne Wagner Michelle Ackley is a new counselor here at RBHS. She has been a counseling intern and has been counseling as a youth group leader since 2009. When she was asked why she became a counselor she responded with, "I substitute taught for a couple of years after graduating college which led me to know that I wanted to work in education because I loved working with students and wanted to make a difference. I realized what I enjoyed most was really getting to know the students and helping them with what was going on in their lives. That led me to school counseling and it was the perfect fit for me." Her favorite part of her job is, "When I'm discussing a student's future with them and a light bulb clicks about what Bluffer/ Julia Libert Left to Right: Lisa Somavia, Adrienne Wagner, Rick Whetstone, Margie Mcgrew, Michelle Ackley. they should do, where they want to go, and/or who they should be. It is awesome to see them discover their motivation for achieving success during and after high school." One of the four new teachers is Margie McGrew. She has been teaching for nine years and before coming to Red Bluff High at Gerber Elementary. She became a teacher because she felt that she could make a difference in students' lives and she truly cares about them and what happens in their lives. Margie McGrew enjoys working with students and seeing them progress and grow. As the interview went on she said, "What is unique about my position in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program is that our students can come to us as young as 3 years old and progress through high school with perhaps the same teacher. Our relationships with these students, their parents, and siblings develop into more of a family than mere acquaintances. Most teachers do not get the opportunity to develop relationships over years. It is also different because I can be teaching 4-7 or more grade levels in one given year." The new Spanish One and Spanish Two teacher is Lisa Somavia. "While in college, I had the opportuninty to be an exchange student in Mexico and when I was there I fell in love with the culture and language." Lisa said when asked why she taught Spanish. She taught for nine years and then stayed home to raise her kids and re-entered the teaching field four years ago. When asked why she became a teacher she responded with "I always enjoyed working with kids even when I was real young. When I was 8 years old I would knock on my neighbor's doors that had kids to see if I could "babysit". I also had an incredible 6th grade teacher that inspired me to become a teacher." Adrienne Wagner was a sub from 2008 to 2013 and she is now the Food Services and Hospitality teacher. When she was a substitute she taught at Jackson Heights, Bidwell, Reeds Creak, and Red Bluff High School. She became a teacher because she loves making a difference in the lives of others. What makes her a unique teacher is that she is an around the clock teacher and when she sees you outside of class she will talk to you and see how things are going. When asked her favorite thing about her job she answered with "I love it when students come to me saying their personal successes. Classroom changes cause Fall Arena becomes a confusion and chaos at first Resounding Success Tymberlyn Bealer Opinion Editor The 2013 – 2014 year at Red Bluff High School is experiencing many changes. There is an enormous amount of changes to our school this year like; a new activities director, a new sport director, a new principal, new teachers on campus, a stricter dress code, and many teachers have changed class rooms. One of these changes that it is affecting most of the students at Red Bluff High School and confusing them is the class room changes. A big reason on why the teachers have changed classes is because The Village is being token out; it is no longer in use. Other teachers who have moved rooms is because the school is trying to sort the teachers into groups by the subject of the classes they teach. A teacher that has moved out of The Village is Mrs. Flores her comment about the move is, "I love the change because you get a fresh start, like a new house and you clean out everything." Mrs. Flores also stated that she is loving the smell of her new class room. Another teacher on our Red Bluff High School campus who has moved from The Village is Mr. Sinclair. His thoughts about moving class rooms are, "405 is coming " I love the change because you get a fresh start, like a new house and you clean out everything." -Mrs. Flores around, I love all the traffic by my new room. Also, I am sorry to see The Village go." Not all teachers who are moving are moving out of The Village. A teacher who is not coming out of The Village, but moved rooms is Mr. Hein When asked his thought on moving class rooms Mr. Hein shared, "I was asked to change rooms before, but was hesitant. Now that I have changed rooms I like the new perspective." Mr. Hein also commented, "I love my new class room." All of the teachers moving class rooms has caused some issues. Not only does everyone have a brand new schedule, but now most students don't know what class room to go to, to find teachers. This caused problems on the first few days mostly. New students at Red Bluff High School we not able to ask most returning class mates how to find a certain teacher because the teachers have moved rooms. This caused a lot of chaos in the hall ways the first week of school. Now that we are about two and a half weeks into school the chaos has seemed to died down. Most student can find their way around campus without being as confused. Advertise in Bluffer Looking to appeal to the teenage demographic? The Bluffer is distributed to about 1100 students and community members every two weeks. Ads can be purchased for individual issues or on a yearly basis. Contact Kellie Rodriguez in Bluffer for more details. 529-8805 Help support The Bluffer! All proceeds help support students attend journalism conferences. Josiah Vasey Editor-In-Chief Fall Arena is the new method of schedule distribution for Red Bluff High School. It was on August 6 in the fieldhouse. The schedules were passed out alphabetically and each class came at a different hour to keep from overcrowding the fieldhouse. It was a major improvement over what they have done in years past. In previous years, the school put schedules in the classrooms and the students had to figure out where their schedule was before school started. This was especially hard with freshmen who were new to the school as many of them hadn't been to Red Bluff High School before. In previous years, the school would scatter all of the schedules in various classes throughout the campus. The schedules were loosely organized by last name, but according to students, it was confusing and a little frightening. "It was crazy and hectic," said Elijah Scharaga, junior at Red Bluff High School. "Freshman and Sophmore year it's a little frightening to be searching for a schedule on a campus some haven't even been on before. Fall Arena was much better. The schedules were laid out alphabetically in the same room so that they were easy to find." Fall Arena also had several club representatives present to expose more students to clubs. Leadership members and student goverment representatives were there aswell. The Fall Arena was considered a success, simplifying schedules and making things a bit easier for students. Hopefully, the school will repeat this success again next year. "Reduce, reuse, and recycle" is a common slogan used by many different recycling agencies and other eco-friendly groups. While Red Bluff High School has fairly environmentally friendly intentions, (just look at the solar panels out by the track) I think the primary means of reducing our environmental foot print should be to, well, reduce. While there are many things any individual can do to help, picking up trash, recycling, and carpooling or riding the bus or a bike to school, addressing what a school as a whole can do to help is quite a bit different. Some changes could be minor but still have a fairly drastic affect, while others changes could benefit the school in other ways. The first thing that came to my mind to reduce the waste of the school was to reduce the massive amounts of paper goods the school uses. I'm not necessarily referring to the paper used in the class room, What did you do over the summer? Dillion Garcia (9) "I went to the lake and watched Supernatural." Haley Isaacson (10) "I went to Hawii and looked for hot surfers." William Yates (11) "I went to Arizona, Oregon, and then to San Diego where my brother lives." Kaitlyn Dorman (12) Go Green Grey Groetke Staff Writer S partan ound off but rather across the school for other means. Take, for instance, the paper towels used for drying hands in the bathroom. Often when I am in the bathrooms at school I notice that the trash cans are literally overflowing with paper towels everywhere. I should hope all of these paper towels go to recycling, but even if they do, the process of recycling isn't altogether harmless on the environment. Recycling uses energy which is largely derived from fossil fuels, and no paper can be be recycled forever. Of course the obvious course of action would be to use hand dryers instead, but that will obviously have its own repercussions. Installing hand dryers in all the bathrooms at school would be an expensive process, and schools are already struggling to pay for education. However, I believe that since the school has already invested so much money in the solar panels I so briefly and parenthetically referred to earlier they might possibly see the value of a project of this intention. "I went to Half Moon Bay, Jelly Belly Factory, and slept." Mrs. Tomasetti (Teacher) "I went to an education conference." Mr. Barrow (Teacher) "We raised 8 golden retriever puppies, and went ot the beach and taught my kids how to surf ." Sound Off/Maggie Tallan