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American Chemical Society Penn-Ohio Border Section Chairman Peter Smith, a chemistry professor at Westminster College, congratulates LaBrae High School student Daniel Smith for his national qualifying score in the Chemistry Olympiads.
Students qualify for national test
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One Several Trumbull County students scored high enough on the preliminary Chemistry Olympiads test to qualify for the National Chemistry Olympiads test. The American Chemical Society Penn-Ohio Border Section recognized those students, the high school chemistry teacher of the year and several college students recently at its annual awards banquet. Twenty students will be selected to attend a two-week study camp based on the national scores. Four students will be chosen to represent the U.S. at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Gyeongsan, South Korea in July.
CHEMISTRY OLYMPIAD LOCAL SECTION EXAM HONOREES · Matthew Huber, Cardinal Mooney High School · Philip Lehman and Christopher Weber, Grove City Area High School · Chirag Dhami and Matt Zimmerman, Howland High School · Daniel Smith, LaBrae High School · Phillip Besoiu and Joe Webb, Liberty High School
COLLEGE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHEMISTRY · Tara Cruickshank, Youngstown State University · Valerie Kokai, Westminster College · Sara Barefoot, Thiel College · Joshua Bartlett, Grove City College
PENN-OHIO BORDER SECTION HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER OF THE YEAR · Steven J. DiMuzio, LaBrae High School
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By FAITH HAMPTON
Warren school officials are considering year-round academics. Students will still have the same amount of vacation time. However, it will not occur in the summer. They will get three weeks off every three months. The cycle repeats every three months. ‘‘Year-round school is different.’’ said Lantier, ‘‘It is better to have the three months off in the summer. A lot of kids who get off for a month won’t want to come back.’’ If school starts in September, students will have most of December, April, and August off as their vacation time. Students will go to school during June and July. ‘‘I would enjoy it, but I wouldn’t want to go in June or July,’’ said Seay. ‘‘If we changed to it, I think kids would increase learning abilities in school.’’ Some students speculate that year-round school will cost more to cool the buildings in the summer. ‘‘Attendance next year will be horrible with year-round school,’’ said Newell. The issue of year-round school is still under discussion. ‘‘Year-round school sounds good but it would never work in a million years like it should,’’ said Fishel. ‘‘It would be hard to get used to school, then go on break, get use to break, then go to school.’’ Most students have more complaints than high hopes for block scheduling and year-round school. Year-round school would conflict with summer jobs, traditional family vacations, and summer activities. Some school officials, however, say it could help the students to retain the things they learn year-round. ‘‘I don’t like not having a summer. People have lives. I am in military band and we have tours every summer. There is no reason to stay in school,’’ Newell said. ‘‘I think that if we had to title the category of the changes being made, it would fall under the title ‘Worst Ideas Ever,’’’ Fishel said. ‘‘Considering that the people making these changes are getting close to retirement age, I don’t think it’s wise to let them dictate teenagers’ lives when they have no clue what it’s like for today.’’ ‘‘I don’t think enough four letter words exist to describe how I feel about what they’re doing to my senior year,’’ Fishel said.
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By KYLE TENNANT The truth is that one book is not going to destroy 2,000 years of Christianity. It will take more than a movie about the book, some books about the book, some books about the movie, some TV specials about the movie about the book and more than multiple printings of the original book. ‘‘The DaVinci Code’’ is causing quite the hullabaloo, as it should. Many people, however, don’t understand why. Yes, it is a fiction book; but it is quite difficult to discern between what is 100 percent fact and what is a little fact with some poetic license thrown into it. When people accept every detail offered by Dan Brown as Gospel truth, there is a problem. ‘‘The DaVinci Code’’ is, indeed, fiction. I am not going to use the following words to state the myths and twisted truth Brown writes and then show researched historical fact to disprove his statements. Too many books and pamphlets have been written to waste my time doing so. Instead I want to point out a few things. First off, the ‘‘big deal’’ created by the book is that it attacks the institution through which modern Christianity is practiced. The church, in the book, is portrayed as liars and power hungry men whose only wish was to persecute women and the masses through religious oppression.
I
will admit that in some cases this has been true. There is historical
record of the witch trials that spread across the globe, and the
pre-Reformation church wasn’t necessarily a lighthouse of morality and
perfection, either. But saying that the church and everything it has
ever done was done to satisfy the whims of some power-hungry clergy is
absurd.
A lot of people point to ‘‘The DaVinci Code’’ and call the church’s logics and beliefs false. People somehow think that no research was ever done by Christians to historically, philosophically and scientifically ensure the integrity of the Gospels and Bible, the truth in the messages, actions and resurrection of Christ, and to check the credibility or falsehood of the Gnostic gospels, such as the newly-acclaimed Gospel of Judas. Since Christianity started 2006 years ago, men and women have researched again and again to discover if the message of Christianity is true, and not a fabricated lie developed over a couple thousand years. The central question of ‘‘The DaVinci Code,’’ and really the central question of the 21st century is this: Is there such a thing as absolute truth? We live in a world where what is true for me does not necessarily have to be true for the man next to me. Hence moral questions such as homosexuality, abortion, and others have come to the forefront when 50 years ago they would not have been even discussed. This is because people had a strong sense of some absolute truth that told them that homosexuality was wrong, that ending an innocent life is wrong; it is the same force inside of them that says murder is wrong and that cheating isn’t a good idea. Humanity has always recognized some sort of absolute truth. Some call it morality, some may call it God. The same force inside of us that gets angry when someone cuts us in line at Cedar Point is the same force inside of us that says murder is wrong. There is a law greater than all of us that at one time or another we all recognize. And from the government’s ruling of Roe v. Wade to ‘‘The DaVinci Code’s’’ interpretation of the past two millenniums, the world is beginning to say that truth is no longer absolute. Do what works for you, and let that be the truth. When the general moral truths that guide society are thrown out, when hedonism begins to take control, we can just sit back and watch history repeat itself. Welcome to Rome. E-mail Tennant at pageone@tribune-chronicle.com.
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By FAITH HAMPTON
Warren City Schools and Harding administrators have collaborated to change the day for high school students. There has been discussion of block scheduling and year round school for next year’s students. Block scheduling allows students to get longer class periods for the subjects most beneficial to their academics. For example: On Monday, students would have English class the first two periods, making it about 80 minutes. On Tuesday, students would switch their 80-minute period from English to history. On Friday, students would have English first period and then history second period. Every day, for third period, students would have an elective, such as concert band, choir, or theater, for one hour. This would occur every day. From fourth through fifth period, students would have another 80-minute session with either science or math. These classes would alternate as the English and history did. Sixth period would consist of an elective or a foreign language. On Friday, students would take all of their classes for one hour each. With the block scheduling, students will have six periods a day. School will start later in the morning and end later in the afternoon. This will conflict with after-school programs and it will also conflict with the students who have after-school jobs. ‘‘Block scheduling doesn’t sound too bad,’’ said junior Dana Lantier. ‘‘It gets the students ready for college early on.’’ Sophomore Charles Seay said, ‘‘I think it’s a great opportunity to plan for college. Instead of 40 minutes for chemistry, now there will be 80 minutes. That gives more time for labs and tests. It’s great for English because there will be more time for essays.’’ Some students feel differently about block scheduling. ‘‘I don’t like the block scheduling idea. There is no sense in being in class for that long,’’ said freshman Kelvin Newell. ‘‘Block scheduling is unnecessary, and it’s going to take away from the value of education that I could have gotten otherwise,’’ said junior Megan Fishel. Band will have to be first period next year, which Seay, a full-time percussionist, opposes. ‘‘I don’t like first period band,’’ said Seay. ‘‘The band is better than the football team. Football should practice in the morning, and we should practice after school.’’ Newell will also play percussion next year. ‘‘I don’t have a problem with first period band,’’ he said. ‘‘But the kids are too lazy to get up that early for band.’’ ‘‘Band in the morning is the worst idea in the entire world. Our band is nationally recognized, unlike some other ‘activities’ that seem to take priority over band,’’ said Fishel. ‘‘People underestimate the level of activity band requires. Starting your day with that will not allow you to perform well the rest of the day.’’
Back to Top Megan McCann/Victory Christian School
Warren John F. Kennedy’s Nu Alpha Pheta math club held a pi day to celebrate 3.14. The pi day activities included a hands-free pie eating contest, pie jousting in which contestants on skateboards being pushed by their partners throw whipped cream into each other’s faces, and a pie drinking contest in which chunks of the dessert were blended, poured into cups and consumed by timed competitors.
Sophomore Dan Dray gets his face sticky during the pie eating contest.
Junior Andrew Stempak slurps some grub in the pie drinking contest.
Sophomores Jared Province, pushing, and Jenna Alloush charge toward their pie jousting rivals.
Freshman Jonathan Ashdown gets ready to launch his plate in the pie jousting battle.
Junior Ed Hazboun focuses on his plate in the pie eating contest.
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