Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2008)
^)08 Students barking about parking: no spots left for underclassmen u T amra S chelot _____________ Staff Reporter One thousand, five hundred and seventy-five students and just over half the student population with driver's licenses is a recipe for complications. The competition for street spots has students getting to school as early as 7 a.m., making a long school day even longer. As a senior here I've had my share of those early mornings; most definitely not my favorite moments. However, as a senior it is finally my turn to have a precious space in the senior or Tripp lot. Seniors, juniors and the occasional sophomores ready and waiting for the coveted senior and trip lot spots there has to be some organization! Brian Bailey, transition specialist, is in charge of this headache-causing situation, with problems from students complaining about not having a spot to ticketing the violators. "We don't want to give tickets, but people need to realize that the students who have spots paid for them and deserve to park there," Bailey said. A bit of advice—unless you are looking to pay $30 for a j j r lcpf- or up to $200 to get out of impound, don't park in another students place or a staff space. If someone takes your spot, follow these steps. First: get the license plate number. Second: park along the gray curb in front of the Commons. Third: bring the license plate number to the Attendance Office and get a day pass to park on the gray curb. The curb is monitored by the city police, not the school. be promised but please be assured the issue has not been swept under the rug. I realize that juniors and sophomores are in need of spaces. Believe me I was there; but as a senior I feel that I have paid my dues to get a Staff Reporter The recent changes to the school food standards have resulted in increasing prices each year. The government has made a nationwide change to improve the nutritional value of foods sold at schools. The West Linn- Wilsonville School District has made the transition to healthier food more quickly and easily than many surrounding districts according to Jan Wolfer, Food Services. Cook Manager, Barbara - Youngren and Wolfer have been with the district for over ten years and have seen many changes, including a trend toward a healthier lunch menu. Prices for food have gone up, but for the last five years the prices were consistent. "A lot of kids can’t afford a lot, but we have our own prices to attend to," Wolfer said. Since the price of gas has risen, delivery prices have also risen. Prices in the Commons are higher than the majority of districts in the Portland — Hudson Rhoads, freshman "Sounds pretty terrible to me." — 5equoqah HUI, sophomore Seniors exit the senior parking lot after school. Parking continues to be an issue and as of this year, there are no spaces for underclassmen. Photo by Tamra Schelot The day pass will save you from getting a city ticket. Little do people know that parking has been worse at West Linn. Hard to believe, but during classroom construction when the new wing of classrooms and library was being built there was no Tripp lot. If you think we've got it bad, they had it worse. To ease your wondering mind about this parking situation, be assured that the administration is in constant discussion about it. However, at this time nothing can spot. Promise—for those of you dying for a parking spot now, you'll see that once it is your turn as a senior you don't want anyone else to take that away. So for now, be clever in how you get to school. Ladies and gentleman, start carpooling, walking, skateboarding or riding a bike (or maybe even a horse). You'll help the environment and save the $60 it costs to get a space. Therefore, you irate underclassmen, use this as a learning experience that seniority pays off. School food prices match healthier quality S ydney H ongo T think it's fair because they ask you to go to war when you’re 18 ." area, due to the quality of food. West Linn chooses higher quality because of the« school food standards the government has set. I think that because of the quality of the food we are consuming, t h e prices aren't unreasonable. It's really a good choice, actually. Why would j want to consume fatty, artery clogging foods at school? True, the prices may be fairly high for a school environment, but our school has taken on the choice to better our bodies by providing us with healthier choices. With sugar there is a burst of energy, as well as a crash a few hours later. When insulin is released into the blood system, it starts burning fats as well. So when you consume sugars and fats, your setting yourself up for a crash sometime around halfway through fifth period. But what are we really eating? All of the bread and wheat products are whole wheat. The chicken nuggets are actually the same quality as Tyson Foods, not filled with preservatives. And the popular burritos are filled with vegetables and are healthy. Not to mention how great they taste. "It's hard trying to meet something healthy with something that tastes good," Youngren said. They even go as far as to use recipes from Chipotle Mexican Grill. We, as students, should realize that we are getting good deals for high quality of food. The healthy choices are probably just as good as fried and high caloric foods, except they aren't filled with unnecessary fats. If you really think that the prices are too extreme, there is always the option of bringing lunch from home. Cold lunches used to be the healthier option for most students, but now that school food has undergone alterations, you may eat a more nutritional, great tasting meal at school. ■ What is your opinion about lowering the drinking age to 18 ? "If you can go to w ar and risk your life, you should be able to drink." — 5erena Haape, senior "If they're old enough to vote, they should be old enough to drink." — N a th a n A den, . w -.i YY/V,Y'- ' - W - ! junior All photos by Avery Breyne- Cartwright
