1. Maybe they do tell you this, but it soon becomes everyone’s favorite icebreaker to ask about anything and everything college-related.  I guess they just assume, Oh she’s a senior so she must have her life figured out. Wrong.  Warning: you will be asked where you are going to college and what you will major in as early as junior year and it won’t stop until… forever, near as I can tell.

2. When you are first starting out with no idea of what you want in a school, you will take blind stabs in the dark and look at the most random college in the middle of nowhere and think it’s amazing.  Then you find out there are zillions of schools out there and you hate Iowa (not my opinion, just an example).  I personally looked at so many schools that I can no longer remember, and can’t believe all of the wasted time I spent.  It is definitely important to visit schools in various locations and of various size, as well as to determine whether you want a large or small, urban or rural school.  If you have no preference, just be warned that you will have a much bigger pool to choose from.  My advice: have a preference.

3. You will spend insane amounts of time and money submitting various applications to multiple schools, when in the end you only choose one.  If you are like me and apply to over 10 schools, be super organized so you don’t miss deadlines (I know from experience).  Looking back, I can see that I was insane, especially since I have now narrowed to 2 schools.  You will spend money to travel all over and to pay for application fees, which can reach up to $60.  I selfishly made my family spend a whole Spring Break touring colleges only to realize now that I will not attend any of them.  Not to mention the hours that I poured over brochures and worked on individual essays for colleges, most of which are now off the list.  My strongest piece of advice is to place limits on yourself early.  Yes an open mind can be good, but stress and wasted time and money never are.

4. You may have to visit schools multiple times.  I had always heard that when you step on a campus, you just get a feeling and know that’s where you’re supposed to be.  Sounds like magic right?  Well I visit many campuses, and whenever I walked through a campus, I waited for a feeling.  I waited and waited and… nothing.  I liked almost every campus I was on.  There is no magic feeling for some of us, but if you like the campus, consider going back and reexamining.  You probably missed something small that could set it apart from the  many others.

5. This is the piece of advice you may not like, but is true: no matter what I tell you in advance, your college application process will be stressful, and you will have to go through all of these steps on your own.  You may know that you will waste a lot of time and money applying to multiple colleges, but you’ll do it anyway because it’s the process that you have to go through.  I can’t go through it for you and, though it’s not the best way, it’s the only way that is currently available to find the right college for you.  Don’t fret, it all works out in the end.  If not, you can always transfer.  Then you get to start all over again.

The school board voted Wednesday night, 5-4, to close 26 public schools in the city, in hopes to cut $50 million from the district’s budget.  Read the Kansas City Star article here.

This move is superintendent John Covington’s “Right Sizing Plan.”  This morning, Covington spoke to the media, stating that the district is ready to “rise from the ashes.”  Read this Star article here.

An entire list of all school closings, including other changes can be found here.  Most of the schools that will be closing are grade schools and middle schools, like Lincoln College Prep, which will move into Lincoln Prep High.  Westport High School will move into Southwest High School.  All high schools in the district will begin including 7th and 8th graders.

Now only 33 schools are in the district, with attendance lower than ever; today, less than 18,000 students are enrolled in Kansas City public schools– the same amount of students enrolled in 1889.

City Councilwoman Sharon Sanders Brooks spoke to the board and argued that “continuing the blighting of the urban core is scandalous and shameful.”  In addition, President of the board, Marilyn Simmons, noted that the vote split along racial lines. Four of the board’s white members supported the plan, along with Airick Leonard West, who is black.

It took me a while to convince myself that this is a good idea.  I, unlike most other STA girls, went to public school, and I had the best teachers and the best education that I could have hoped for.  However, I have to realize that Academie Lafayette is not like other public schools.  For starters, it’s a charter school, meaning that it is controlled in large part by the parents.  Charter schools also do not have contracts for their teachers.  That means that, if they are unsatisfied with a teachers’ work, they are free to fire that employee.  At public schools, however, firing a teacher is much more difficult.

Even though my grade school was awesome, that is not true for every other public school in the Kansas City, Missouri school district.  One of the biggest reasons Covington is initiating this drastic change is to better the educations of the 17,000 students in the district.  This means getting rid of inefficient and ineffective teachers.

But eliminating schools in general just sounds like a bad idea, right?  However, most of these schools were serving less than a hundred students, who were not even receiving a good education.  In addition, though it is difficult for young people to wrap our minds around it, the district was in big financial trouble.  If the issue went unaddressed, we would be worse off. Covington and the school board had virtually no choice but to cut the schools.

What do you think?  Should the school board have voted to cut these schools? Were there any other areas that could have been cut, rather than education?  What do you think of the current state of public education in Kansas City?

As a driver, I sometimes feel bombarded by road signs, and yet I often marvel at them as well.

I am a good citizen, or so I believe, but I must admit there are a few street signs I have failed to heed on certain occasions.  I have run a stop sign.  I’ve pressed my foot down a little too hard on the gas pedal…several times.  I’ve parked in a “No Parking Zone.”  I’ve parked in a crosswalk.  I’ve even gone the wrong way on a “One Way” street, and yes, I have driven past a “Do Not Enter” sign.

However, I have not hit a road worker.  I have shared the road with bicyclists.  I’ve slowed down in school zones.  I’ve buckled my seat belt.

I’ve become accustomed to seeing street signs daily.  I’ve become used to facing the constant decisions to obey or disobey the road signs around me.  I’ve noticed all sorts of signs in all parts of Kansas City and across Missouri, but I have recently developed a sort of obsession with road signs, not an obsession of following them, rather of observing them.  I am always on the lookout for new and interesting road signs.  This obsession developed on a trip I took from Kansas City to Springfield, Missouri, during which I came across a sign I will never forget, a sign that for some reason, I just cannot get out of my head:

Classic.

Since the trip, I have been on the constant lookout for unusual signs on roads, city streets, highways and interstates.

This quest for discovering new signs is indefinite, unending, never ceasing, always enjoyable.  I encourage other drivers to share my passion for sign-spotting.  Not only does it encourage driver awareness on the road, but it also increases the pleasure of driving.  It adds a bit of flare to an ordinary drive to work or family road trip.

by CARA MCCLAIN

The internet and in extension the social networking site Facebook has opened up many unnecessary questions that basically all boil down to the First Amendment.

CNN recently reported a story about Katherine Evans, who then was attending Pembroke Pines Charter High School, was suspended from school for a Facebook page she created to express her hatred for one of her teachers in 2007.

She was perfectly in her rights to create this page. Does “freedom of speech” ring a bell? Katherine Evans is entitled to her opinions by law.

Another important point, she was off campus. It’s one thing to talk about a teacher while in school, but she was at her own home when she made the page. The school should not and does not have any right to monitor any student’s actions off campus.

A school certainly does have authority over its pupils within limits. Overseeing a student’s actions and words outside of school so tyrannically completely goes against the First Amendment.

So regardless of the forum used, the First Amendment should not be questioned or worked around to the point that it has no meaning. The First Amendment was created by the Founding Fathers for a reason. So in regards to freedom of speech on the internet, if the Founding Fathers were here now, after an extensive explanation of what a computer and the internet are, they would agree that the First Amendment they came up with applies here too.

According to a recent CNN report, former Florida high school student Katherine Evans has filed a lawsuit against principal Peter Bayer, who suspended her for creating a Facebook page criticizing her teacher, Ms. Sarah Phelps. Magistrate Barry Garber ruled in favor of Evans, stating that the First Amendment protected her right to the freedom of speech.

Bayer suspended Evans for three days and removed her from AP classes and placed her in regular ones. While what Evans did may have been immature or inappropriate, Bayer had no right to suspend her and definitely no right to remove her from advanced classes. Not only was this an overreaction, but it was an invasion of Evans’ right to freedom of speech. Garber mentions as well in the article that, because Evans’ page was created at home and was not “lewd, vulgar, threatening, or advocating illegal or dangerous behavior,” that her speech falls under the protected category.

In this case, Garber made the correct decision. In a similar case, the Tinker case, students were suspended for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. Officials decided that, under the First Amendment, students have the right to express their opinions as long as they do not disrupt the school’s work and discipline.  Like the students in the Tinker case, Evan was expressing her opinion, even though she was doing it through Facebook. Regardless of where someone expresses an opinion, a person should still be allowed to exercise her right to free speech.

Apparently, students now don’t just cyberbully their peers, they now have targeted their teachers as well.

Katherine Evans, a 19 year old from Pembroke Pines Charter High School, was suspended for creating a group on Facebook dedicated to criticize her teacher. However, after Evans filed a lawsuit against her school, a federal magistrate ruled that what a student writes on Facebook is protected by the First Amendment. (To see CNN’s coverage, click here)

The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The First Amendment has a long and impressive past. It ensured religious equality, allowed for Martin Luther King Jr. to give his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during a political rally, and ensures that citizens of the United States can openly communicate with their government.

However, now this Amendment is now protecting verbal abuse and cyberbullying, allowing immature students to say, “Ms. or Mr. [insert teacher name here] is the worst teacher I have ever met.”

When I Googled “bullying teachers on Facebook” I encountered many Facebook groups asking students to “describe all the teachers they hate and explain why.”

Although as a student journalist I am glad students’ First Amendment rights are protected, I am ashamed that our court system had to waste their time to justify whether or not students can talk about how much they hate their teachers.

It’s also interesting that Missouri signed a bill in 2008 stating that harassment on computers, text messages, and any other electronic devices was illegal, yet teachers are being harassed and no bill has been proposed.

According to the Missouri Revised Statutes, “a person commits the crime of harassment if he or she without good cause engages in any other act with the purpose to frighten, intimidate, or cause emotional distress to another person.”

I propose two solutions to this problem: One, the immature students who are attacking their teachers on Facebook need to stop. And two, the government should reconsider who deserves to be protected in this situation: the students who abuse their teachers for amusement, or the teachers who are both embarrassed and attacked by their students.

Do you think students should be able to say what they want on Facebook? Should teachers be protected against cyberbullying by their students?

Facebook is often used as a way for students to gripe and complain about teachers, assignments and general school activities.  While it isn’t the brightest thing to bash teachers all over your facebook page, or other social networking sites, it is not something students should be punished by schools for.

by MADALYNE BIRD

I love the Olympics. It’s something about them, the way the athletes are portrayed and how much importance is placed in said athletes. While the Winter Olympics 2010 Vancouver has had it’s fair share of tragedy:

Photo of Nodar Kumaritashvili before his tragic crash on the luge, which led to his death.

It has also had it’s amazing stories

Like a Swiss sking underdog. So watch the Olympic people. It’ll be worth your precious time.

Today, I went to a funeral. It has been a tough year for my family, four close family members passing away within the last six months… but there was something different about today. I was born and raised Catholic, but today I attended my first Shiva. Shiva is a stage of Jewish mourning where family members sit and dwell together on their lost loved one.

The funeral was a beautiful service, but the Shiva…there was something so deeply spiritual about it, something I myself  have never experienced with grieving in my own faith. It made me want to learn more about the Jewish faith. It was a sight to see, my predominately Catholic family standing in a circle, embracing the differences of our two religions: Judaism and Catholicism; while praying the Kaddish prayer.

With my experience and the fact that it is Diversity week, it made me want to encourage other students at STA to explore other religions and cultures besides our own and gain an understanding.

Grant Desme, a baseball player for the Oakland Athletics‘ minor league, announced his decision to pursue the priesthood in January. He had been named the Athletics’ number 8 best prospect for the upcoming year, and people were sure he would make it to the major leagues.

“Last year before the season I really had a strong feeling of a calling and real strong desire to follow it,” Desme said. “I just fought it. As an excuse I went into this year as a test, to see, just hoping and praying about it. As the year went on, God blessed me, and I had a better year than I could have imagined, but that reconfirmed my desire because I wasn’t at peace with where I was at.”

Last season, he was out for a number of games due to an injury.

Desme said the injuries “were the biggest blessing God has ever given me. Baseball has always been my life, defined me… When baseball was taken away from me, it was a shock. I did some soul-searching of who I was and who I wanted to be, and this is where it’s led me.”

Read ESPN’s story here.

Seeing a baseball player give up what is a lifelong dream for many to follow God’s call doesn’t happen often. Tell us what you think about this choice.