Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2011)
Bothered by bathroom graffiti? This too common occurrence can be destructive, hurtful and offensive, Find out what your favorite seniors will be doing next year by checking out the annual senior map, % h r — page 6 -pages 10-11 ¿m i f i. £ L W 9 Girls' Golf Team wins second consecutive state championship, led by individual champion Morgan Thompson, senior, -page 13 m J m Wkgm m Published Since 1921 O fficial Stuaent Publication of W est Linn High Schoo June 2011 - Volume 99, Issue 7 “Our lowest point” offers hope for future budget proposals J ennifer S itton "I think this year is our lowest point," Roger Woehl, West Linn-Wilsonville School District Superintendent, said. While this is difficult for many to hear, as far as the budget is concerned, Woehl speaks with optimism about the future, "I think after this year we will start trying to bring back programs and teachers that may have been cut." After all of the budget cuts and talk of the declining economy the last few years, the word "budget" makes people like Woehl shudder, but things seem to be on the upswing, as far as Woehl is concerned. Granted, that doesn't mean that there won't be more cuts for the 2011-2012 school year, as the district tries to make up a $4 million deficit from last year's budget. "To begin, we sat down and asked, 'What would it cost to do everything we're doing this year, next year?'," Woehl said. In the end, those in charge of creating next year's budget were able to decrease that original deficit of $4 million to $1.5 million without making drastic cuts that will affect students and parents. The district will lose 13.4 Photo by Taylor Fletter The guitar class prepares for its May 24 concert. Next year, classes such as Guitar I and II, and Film I and II will not be offered due to b u d g e t c u ts . Requirement changes impact freshmen, Dphomores and incoming students M ary E arp & D anny M c G arry As the school year is coming to a close, more than the weather is changing; this year, the sophomore, freshmen and incoming freshmen classes faced a forecasting change made in order to meet state guidelines. Starting next year, the six credit requirement for social studies is still in place, though the specific requirements for Previously, students were only required to take one semester of World History. Government and Economics were not required. Psychology is considered a social studies elective. The credit will not enter any of the required areas. World History and U.S. History are now being split into two subdivisions: green and gold. These new requirements were a change that needed to Photo by Alex Houston Mathew Grothe, sophomore, talks with his counselor, Michelle Olson, about his class schedule for next year. Sophomores like Grothe were affected by the graduation requirement changes that were put into effect this year. classes are different. "The students must have six credits of social studies," Michelle Olson, counselor, said. "They must have two credits of World History, two credits of U.S. History, one credit of Government and one credit of Economics." be made and will benefit the students, according to Olson. "We made these changes to meet state guidelines," Olson said. "This will also help to align better with other students." Though these changes may have been a necessity, many students have faced problems with these changes. "We have to take certain classes that we weren't told we had to take before," Michaela Davenport, sophomore, said. "This is going to make my senior year a lot harder than I'd wanted it to be." Stephens agreed with Davenport, and was upset when he first heard about the new requirements. "I didn't feel like it was fair to spring it on us right before forecasting," Stephens said. "They told us the week before forecasting." Stephens and Davenport both stated that they thought the new requirements should have been made for the freshmen and incoming students because they were already halfway into high school. The current requirements are for current sophomores, freshmen and incoming eighth graders and other students. Through all of the confusion and problems that students hold, the new requirements may be helpful to the students, according to Olson. "I feel good about the new changes," Olson said. "They are things that colleges like to see, and it is good for students to learn about Economics and Government." teachers next year, almost all of which were covered by retirements, leaves and resignations, according to Woehl. In addition to the 13-15 classified staff, 5.8 administrators will not be returning. However, according to Lou Bailey, WLHS Principal, here at WLHS, only funding for 2.2 full time teaching positions will be lost. Due to the combination of assistant principal Aaron Downs' move to Wilsonville High School and multiple retirements, that number was decreased to 0.6 full time positions that need to be eliminated, which means, essentially, that no one will be losing their job at WLHS next year. "We try to ask, 'Where else can we cut before we cut classroom teachers?"' Bailey said. While a decrease in staff raises the fear of larger class sizes, Bailey doesn't expect this to be too drastic of a change from this year's class sizes. "Class sizes will actually be a little better. We have a smaller freshman class coming in, so classes will probably be between 28 and 33. There might be some that are 33 or 34, but in the end, the division of classes within each department is up to department chairs," Bailey said. One of the biggest changes that students will notice in the coming year is the increase in the activity and athletic fees. The school needed to decrease the activities and athletics budgets by about $100,000 for the upcoming school year. Because of this, the activity fee has been raised to $225 and the activity fee for one sport athletes has been raised to $300. Two sport athletes will pay $350 and three sport athletes will pay $375. In addition to athletic and activity expenses, the district is looking at cutting funding for transportation, middle school sports, supplies and utilities as well as adding a fee for preschool and some kindergarten programs. Outdoor School has also been reduced to three nights instead of four. "Kids and parents won't see much different. Middle schools and high schools might see a little larger class sizes," Woehl said. "There are some smaller things that have changed that kids won't always see." continued on page 6 ISEF ANDl-SWEEEP winners bring home scholarships WLHS sent two students to present at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, Calif.: Ann Bemert, senior, and Spencer Chang, junior, both of whom placed. At this level of ISEF, more than 1,500 high school students from over 65 countries around the world competed to be named Best of Fair and win over a combined total of $4 million in prizes and scholarships. WLHS also sent two students to ISEF as observers, in ad dition to Bemert and Chang, who actually presented projects. James Siderius, junior, went to the International Sustainable World Project Expo in Houston, Texas (I-SWEEEP) where he was awarded a bronze medal. Ann Bemert, senior —Fourth place ($500) in the Plant Sciences category for her project, "Rubus Endophytes: Application and Implication for Biological Control" and a special award from the U.S. Army including three $1,000 savings bonds. Spencer Chang, junior —Third place ($1,000) in the Microbiology category for his project, "Investigating Acyl- • homoserine Lactone Based Quorum Sensing Dependency in Mucoid and Nonmucoid JPseudom onas aem ginosa_ Biofilm Development." Jenna Wiegand, junior —Attended as a Student Observer. Adrianna Horsey, freshman — Attended as a Student Observer. James Siderius, junior —Awarded a bronze medal at I- SWEEEP for his project entitled, "Sustainable Cyclical Energy Harvesting Concept for Ocean Sensing.