Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2010)
2 News January GATA works to raise money for clean water in Sierra Leone A shley S herqn ___________ awareness and taking action on global issues, has raised $500 so far through bracelet sales. "We thought about global projects we could do for this year. We found a site that had ideas and we decided to sell Global Awareness Take Action club is trying to raise $4,500 to build a shallow well that ensures clean drinking water in Sierra Leone. The club, which focuses on gaining bracelets," Kendall Jorgensen, senior club member, said. The bracelets were free from the site so that all the money made went back to the site for the project. Water Week was held the week before Thanksgiving break. GATA members set out a table in the library during lunch and had club members carry bracelets around to sell at $1 apiece. The bracelets which are still available for sale, are bright blue and say "I'm Giving Water" with the website underneath. Bracelets may be purchased during lunch on Wednesdays in the Forum or Room D201. "Bracelets are affordable. When they're worn they're easy to see, able to be worn for a long time and they grab attention," Adam Betzelberger, club advisor, said. To continue raising money, GATA has come up with more projects such as selling chocolate from Africa and hosting a pancake feed. To donate, visit GATA's fundraising page at www. firstgiving.com/gata, or attend a Wednesday lunch meeting in Room D201. Volunteer opportunities with the club are also available. WLHS earns Silver Award, recognition on national scale Sil mt äwanl continued from page 1 Photo by Libby Kara Two students display the bracelets they purchased from Global Awareness Take Action Club. During Water Week, GATA raised $500 for a water project in Sierra Leone. They need $4,500 to build a well. "U.S. News and World Report" uses a three step process to evaluate each school. Step one judges is whether or not the students in each school are performing higher than what was expected—by statistics— for the average student in the state. Step two is whether the students with a smaller advantage— whether it be money problems or racial status— were performing better than average for students of similar advantage in the state. Schools that made it through the first two steps are then evaluated nationally on the last step— college- readiness performance, using Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate data as the criteria for success depending on which program was largest at the school. The other schools in Oregon that received the Silver award include: the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy, Ashland High School, Crescent Valley High School, Glencoe High School, Lake Oswego High School, Lakeridge High School, Lincoln High School and South Eugene High School. Located in the basement, through a series of storage rooms and locked doors lies the Vault. The Vault holds school records going back decades, including Amplifiers from as far back as 1921. Our editors have sorted through the papers to reprint past articles, bringing you an interesting view of life from students of another generation. “From the Vault“ articles will appear in the corresponding section in which they were originally printed. Check each issue of the Amplifier to find more treasures from the Vault. ^ \ s ' "• ^ v ' v s A ^ , / , * ? ' , ,, ' <^ f > s ' jgy * • .„ < a ■'.* y /' JfcA % * , JX s ' s i ' s V , March 18,1983: WLHS Computers serve multiple purposes Another less obvious use for computers is in the Learning This stage in West Linn Center. Some students would be High School’s development is more interested in work if their probably one of the most im subjects were taught in the often portant in its whole history. more attention-holding formatof Computers are in. We must the computer. now decide how important The library already has a a role computers are going program that allows them to to play in our educational find any book in a Clackamas system. County library, and plans to "If we allow ourselves to make other major changes in the fall behind, we will be under near future. The office has been severe pressure, but it would using computers for attendance also be unwise to move more and grades for a comparatively quickly than our knowledge long time, will allow. That would invite The one major problem is the m istakes and w aste. We cost. "For the last two years we must stay som ewhere in have been spending $5,000 to the middle," says Principal $10,000 a year." said Sagor. Richard Sagor. "We have been buying to fit Although a few years ago our needs," he said. "Afewyears people said that computers ago the math department de- were just a passing fad, it is cided that what we needed was obvious that they are here to as many computers as we could stay. This is because they have get so we got quite a few Ohio so many applications. Scientific computers, which are Computers are used ex- not very powerful but relatively tensively in math and science, inexpensive," Sagor explained, to show concepts hard to Now there are many students grasp with just a book and with much more advanced abili lectures. Some examples are ties and so we need more pow three dimensional graphing erful computers. This year we and kinematics (the study of ¡it bought several Apple computers which are more powerful and motion). Even more than in math more expensive. Another problem has been and science, computers are used for business. Word the lack of a long range purpose processing, record keeping in buying the computers. So far, and accounting are just a they have just bought for the few of the many business immediate needs of the school without trying to fit it into a possibilities. R ichard B loom solid plan. Sagor explained, "We felt it would be impossible to develop a long range plan until the staff had an opportunity for exposure to this new field. Our experience over the last few years has given us the knowledge base from which we can now proceed intelligently." The cause for this could be not having a person in charge. There has been an informal consortium of interested people including Terry Woebke, and Don Smith, math teachers; Dr. Fred Ross, curriculum coordinator; Judy Waterbury, business teacher; Bill Aue, audio visual coordinator; and several others. This has de veloped into a district committee that will soon be giving its recom mendations to the school board. "We're committed to com puters, but there are enormous problems: who gets them, who pays for them," said Aue. On the subject of money, Sagor added, "If the people want it (computers), the money is there." According to Aue, with the new computers comes a grow ing need for one person to take the job of computer coordina tor. Aue would probably be the logical choice but since he will be retiring soon, the job, if the decision is made to have it, will be up for grabs. The last few years have seen major changes in computers at WLHS, and next year will be no exception. The curriculum offered will change from one class, computer math, to three: beginning programming, data m anagement, and advanced languages. "These changes are not all," says math teacher Hartman. "I would say that in the next two or three years, it will be changed completely. What we have now is a kind of interim." Hartman isn't satisfied with the amount of equipment. "Un less we get more equipment we won't be able to teach the advanced languages class, but the school is coming around." He also criticizes the lack of interest around the school. "There is interest (in computers) now but not as much as there should be. In the next five years there will be a lot more computer usage." The students have mixed feel ings about the new curriculum. Sophomore Lisa Kendall, class vice president said, "I think that it should be required to take a computer class." On the other side of the issue is Helen Siggins, junior class president, who expresses no real interest in computers at WLHS. Despite many problems, the school has managed to do fairly well with their amount and quality of computers. Aue said, "As far as high schools are concerned, a lot of people don't know it, but we compare favorably." In the future, there will be not only technical advances in the computer field, but students coming in from grade school will have much more exposure to computers. Right now WLHS is not ready for that, and we will have to work hard to get a really good computer program going.
