One Year In Texas
A German Exchange Student Hosted in Texas
An exchange student is being hosted by Lisa Witham and coordinated by Amy Stanton in Schertz, TX for the 21-22 school year, in order to experience a new culture and American high school.
Lisa Witham is a host mother for the exchange organization AFS (American Field Service) and has been asked what she wants her exchange student to know.
“Being honest is always the right decision,” Lisa said.
Even though this is Lisa’s first time hosting, her goals are clear. She decided to host because she sees it as a new opportunity to get to know a new culture and learn for life.
She’s caring and tries her best to make the student feel comfortable. In case the student feels homesick, “I’m making sure they know all of their feelings are valid and comforting,” she said.
Amy Stanton works for AFS and talks about hosting and coordinating students from all over the world.
“You pick your exchange students through a host family portal and I chose them based on interests and the most convincing introductions,” Stanton said.
She’s hosted several students since 2001 and she’s an area representative who coordinates students since 2003. The host family portal is where potential host families apply on the organizations website with their name, phone number and email address. After that they should fill out a bigger application with a lot of background information: for example, their monthly income. Additionally, there’s going to be a background check regarding crimes or else. Lastly, an AFS volunteer will visit the potential family at home to see where and how their student would live.
Amy mentioned that she really enjoys hosting. The only disadvantage is that it’s expensive since host families do not get paid, and it just takes up a lot of time. She definitely recommends hosting and she loves to help the students and the host families.
Sanja Schroeder (11), Student Reporter
Oct 2021
Lisa Witham is a host mother for the exchange organization AFS (American Field Service) and has been asked what she wants her exchange student to know.
“Being honest is always the right decision,” Lisa said.
Even though this is Lisa’s first time hosting, her goals are clear. She decided to host because she sees it as a new opportunity to get to know a new culture and learn for life.
She’s caring and tries her best to make the student feel comfortable. In case the student feels homesick, “I’m making sure they know all of their feelings are valid and comforting,” she said.
Amy Stanton works for AFS and talks about hosting and coordinating students from all over the world.
“You pick your exchange students through a host family portal and I chose them based on interests and the most convincing introductions,” Stanton said.
She’s hosted several students since 2001 and she’s an area representative who coordinates students since 2003. The host family portal is where potential host families apply on the organizations website with their name, phone number and email address. After that they should fill out a bigger application with a lot of background information: for example, their monthly income. Additionally, there’s going to be a background check regarding crimes or else. Lastly, an AFS volunteer will visit the potential family at home to see where and how their student would live.
Amy mentioned that she really enjoys hosting. The only disadvantage is that it’s expensive since host families do not get paid, and it just takes up a lot of time. She definitely recommends hosting and she loves to help the students and the host families.
Sanja Schroeder (11), Student Reporter
Oct 2021
Four Years Undercover
Appeasing Societies Norms of Dress to Impress
With dress code currently being a hot topic within the school district, students of Clemens hope that with lots of people involved and against it, the dress code will be changed within the next couple of years.
Melina Neal is a sophomore who has to abide by the dress code everyday.
“If I could change one thing about the dress code, I would change the fact that we’re not allowed to show skin,” Melina said. “It’s pretty much suffocating because you have to cover up so much skin by adding more and more layers, making us feel less confident in ourselves.”
The SCUC dress code was last modified on Nov. 20, 2017. It is the same across the entire district and doesn't differ from school to school. It was established to teach grooming and hygiene, prevent disruption, and minimize safety hazards.
Hannah Chaplin is a sophomore who has been ‘dress coded’ in the past and has to be careful to not be ‘dress coded’ again.
“I think that the dress code is unfair,” Hannah said. “Girls get dress-coded way more than boys even when they aren’t wearing anything ‘revealing’.”
If at any time, there is a personal reason that will cause clothing to be out of dress code, contact administration. If dress code is not corrected after told by administration, in-school suspension may be given for the remainder of the day until the problem is resolved. Administration has released that they are no longer going to enforce the ball cap rule.
“I feel that the dress code is unfair,” Melina said. “It discriminates against race, gender, and body type.”
Carlee Hoffmann (10), Student Reporter
Oct, 2021
Melina Neal is a sophomore who has to abide by the dress code everyday.
“If I could change one thing about the dress code, I would change the fact that we’re not allowed to show skin,” Melina said. “It’s pretty much suffocating because you have to cover up so much skin by adding more and more layers, making us feel less confident in ourselves.”
The SCUC dress code was last modified on Nov. 20, 2017. It is the same across the entire district and doesn't differ from school to school. It was established to teach grooming and hygiene, prevent disruption, and minimize safety hazards.
Hannah Chaplin is a sophomore who has been ‘dress coded’ in the past and has to be careful to not be ‘dress coded’ again.
“I think that the dress code is unfair,” Hannah said. “Girls get dress-coded way more than boys even when they aren’t wearing anything ‘revealing’.”
If at any time, there is a personal reason that will cause clothing to be out of dress code, contact administration. If dress code is not corrected after told by administration, in-school suspension may be given for the remainder of the day until the problem is resolved. Administration has released that they are no longer going to enforce the ball cap rule.
“I feel that the dress code is unfair,” Melina said. “It discriminates against race, gender, and body type.”
Carlee Hoffmann (10), Student Reporter
Oct, 2021
Masks Aren't The Problem
COVID-19 has affected over 1.59 million people and killed over 650,000.
Masks are a huge controversy in the public, many believe there should be masks or no masks. Last week, two people were interviewed to get their opinion, one who wears a mask, and one who doesn't, each had similar answers agreeing on masks.
“I think people who wear masks are smart trying to protect other people and staying on the safer side,” Colton Revell (09) said.
In the SCUC school district there have been over 200 active COVID-19 cases, and the school has so far done nothing. On Aug. 25th 2021 there was a meeting at Samuel Clemens High School about whether or not they should make masks mandatory. They came to the conclusion that masks should be a student's or teacher’s choice.
“I feel the school would benefit more if they brought masks back and a lot of us students would feel safer,” Naima Torres (09) said.
About 182 million people have been vaccinated in the United States and more to come. Most still don’t wear their masks though their lives and others lives are still at risk for danger.
So many have lost their lives, either because they are not being safe, or other people aren't. Everyone can agree this is a universal problem that has to be overcome. Seventy two percent of adults in the U.S. claimed they wear their masks everyday, everywhere.
Ava Perez (09), Student Reporter
Oct, 2021
“I think people who wear masks are smart trying to protect other people and staying on the safer side,” Colton Revell (09) said.
In the SCUC school district there have been over 200 active COVID-19 cases, and the school has so far done nothing. On Aug. 25th 2021 there was a meeting at Samuel Clemens High School about whether or not they should make masks mandatory. They came to the conclusion that masks should be a student's or teacher’s choice.
“I feel the school would benefit more if they brought masks back and a lot of us students would feel safer,” Naima Torres (09) said.
About 182 million people have been vaccinated in the United States and more to come. Most still don’t wear their masks though their lives and others lives are still at risk for danger.
So many have lost their lives, either because they are not being safe, or other people aren't. Everyone can agree this is a universal problem that has to be overcome. Seventy two percent of adults in the U.S. claimed they wear their masks everyday, everywhere.
Ava Perez (09), Student Reporter
Oct, 2021
BEFORE 2021 |
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News Articles
Instagram’s Audience is Furious with August’s New Update
Uncommon app changes affect millions of creators and users through the new August 2020 Instagram app update.
Artists, musicians, and small businesses are experiencing lower interactions with their followers. Instagram updates their algrothuim “rules” monthly based on what was most popular. Augusts’ algorithm update boost depends on public engagement such as liking, commenting, sharing, and saving, leaving creators dependent upon trends in hopes to boost engagement.
“It puts pressure on artists to follow trends just to get interactions only for interactions to decrease” Omon (ig@ jugmug), small Instagram artist, said. “For me, the pressure isn't about having to follow trends; the pressure is just hoping the trend hasn't died out yet by the time I posted it.”
Once Instagram registers that you have seen all of the posts the users’ timeline a pop up icon reads, “You’re all Caught Up. View Older posts.” Right under the pop up icon is “suggested Posts” which takes the explore page and places it onto the users home page. This feature was implemented to keep Instagram’s audience scrolling and on the app longer, therefore, gaining more money through ad revenue. This feature is put in use whether the user is actively looking at their posts or accidentally opening up the app, thereby affecting everyone.
“It frustrates me that the home page isn’t specifically dedicated to my following. I feel more disconnected from my friends because I’ll only see three to four at a time. It seems Instagram has chosen to say ‘no, what you’ve curated for yourself isn’t right. We know what’s better for you,’” Cade Norman (11), said
In light of the threats of banning social media platform Tik Tok; Instagram includes in their update “Reels” to directly compete with the popular platform. With a layout similar to Tik Tok the reels take up the user's full vertical screen; users swipe up or down to move on from the current reel. The new reels allow creators to make, edit, and post their own videos keeping up with the 15-20 second attention span trend.
“As someone who uses Tik Tok daily, I think it's understandable, but it's a little annoying when you know who was originally doing it and all the other versions are just knockoffs,” Elora Lobo (11), said.
Sarah Manning
Student Reporter
Teens. School. Health Pandemic?
Living in a pandemic will affect a teen’s mental and physical health
Starting school in the middle of a global pandemic, parents may see a rapid decline in their teenagers’ mental and physical state from doing school online rather than in-person.
The world has decided to move on while the Coronavirus is moving on a steady continuum. Coronavirus is keeping many teenagers isolated from those close, their usual schedule, and their usual state of mind.
“I had hope for quarantine and that the virus was going to go away in a month,” said Reagan Bohman (11) “but here we are.”
The pandemic came unexpectedly and brought a huge change to the way the world went on with its business. School came back in-person this fall, after being remote for the remainder of the spring. Students have tried their best to adapt to a new way of learning. On top of being apart from their friends, daily schedules, extracurriculars, and their teachers. Having to end the past school year online, knowing that their summer was wiped away from them was a whole new experience.
Not only did online school bring a huge lack of motivation for students, the workload piled up faster and made students stressed. The lack of an in-person teacher and class-to-class schedules just touches the surfaces of the online trials students face.
“Each assignment seems a lot more daunting online because teachers don’t always answer your questions and doing it with people in class makes it easier, and you also see all your assignments at once which is very overwhelming,” said Bohman.
Reagan Bohman is currently ranked number one out of six hundred seventy juniors, but she is still going through problems that all teenagers are feeling, “I definitely struggle with procrastination like everyone else.”
Struggles, like a lack of motivation, stress, overthinking, and low self-esteem are all things teenagers experience. Being away from school at a stressful time hasn’t helped fix those struggles.
“It has made me sit along with my bad thoughts and has caused me to overthink everything and made learning feel like a chore,” said Bohman.
Even the smartest teens have been having huge struggles with learning and just getting through this pandemic. It has been hurting their mental and physical health.
“It has taken a toll on my mental health, and physically it ruined my sleep schedule,” said Reagan, “but going back in-person will get me into a better routine.”
Emily Trevino
Student Reporter
The world has decided to move on while the Coronavirus is moving on a steady continuum. Coronavirus is keeping many teenagers isolated from those close, their usual schedule, and their usual state of mind.
“I had hope for quarantine and that the virus was going to go away in a month,” said Reagan Bohman (11) “but here we are.”
The pandemic came unexpectedly and brought a huge change to the way the world went on with its business. School came back in-person this fall, after being remote for the remainder of the spring. Students have tried their best to adapt to a new way of learning. On top of being apart from their friends, daily schedules, extracurriculars, and their teachers. Having to end the past school year online, knowing that their summer was wiped away from them was a whole new experience.
Not only did online school bring a huge lack of motivation for students, the workload piled up faster and made students stressed. The lack of an in-person teacher and class-to-class schedules just touches the surfaces of the online trials students face.
“Each assignment seems a lot more daunting online because teachers don’t always answer your questions and doing it with people in class makes it easier, and you also see all your assignments at once which is very overwhelming,” said Bohman.
Reagan Bohman is currently ranked number one out of six hundred seventy juniors, but she is still going through problems that all teenagers are feeling, “I definitely struggle with procrastination like everyone else.”
Struggles, like a lack of motivation, stress, overthinking, and low self-esteem are all things teenagers experience. Being away from school at a stressful time hasn’t helped fix those struggles.
“It has made me sit along with my bad thoughts and has caused me to overthink everything and made learning feel like a chore,” said Bohman.
Even the smartest teens have been having huge struggles with learning and just getting through this pandemic. It has been hurting their mental and physical health.
“It has taken a toll on my mental health, and physically it ruined my sleep schedule,” said Reagan, “but going back in-person will get me into a better routine.”
Emily Trevino
Student Reporter
HOSA Impacts the Medical Field
How HOSA ClubI Influences Future Doctors
Ms. Rodriguez impacts students interested in the medical field. In her classroom students are able to gain certifications and experience during the school year.
The co-leader of HOSA and medical teacher at Samuel Clemens is Ms. Rodriguez.
“The benefits are it gets you a good head start.” Rodriguez said.” We expose you to so many parts of the medical field. So, that way if you’re still undecided of what you want to be or do, you know, you can decide.”
HOSA offers the opportunity to direct students to their desired medical career path. The club has potential to benefit them in many ways such as becoming better speakers and learning correct etiquette. Students will achieve this through attending competitions, obtaining certifications, and gaining experience.
Reagan Bohman is a junior in HOSA, she has been involved in HOSA both of her freshman and sophomore years.
“I think in general, it helps you gain a lot of important skills that you're gonna need, and that will get you ahead in college, so you'll show up with all this prior knowledge and experience,” Bohman said. “Especially when you’re doing things like CPR certification, or learning about it, that's obviously going to be used in your career, so it's good to learn young.”
Bohman developed a complex understanding of the aspects of the medical field from HOSA. Bohman is an example of how HOSA gives students a base to grow off of and succeed in their future. This club is not limited to certain occupations in the medical field, it's a general medical informational club that benefits all students.
“It's helped to show me how many different paths you can take in the medical field,” Bohman said, “because in HOSA there are so many different competitions involved in dentistry, physical therapy, emergency medicine, first aid, things like that.”
Marisa Gomez
Student Reporter
The co-leader of HOSA and medical teacher at Samuel Clemens is Ms. Rodriguez.
“The benefits are it gets you a good head start.” Rodriguez said.” We expose you to so many parts of the medical field. So, that way if you’re still undecided of what you want to be or do, you know, you can decide.”
HOSA offers the opportunity to direct students to their desired medical career path. The club has potential to benefit them in many ways such as becoming better speakers and learning correct etiquette. Students will achieve this through attending competitions, obtaining certifications, and gaining experience.
Reagan Bohman is a junior in HOSA, she has been involved in HOSA both of her freshman and sophomore years.
“I think in general, it helps you gain a lot of important skills that you're gonna need, and that will get you ahead in college, so you'll show up with all this prior knowledge and experience,” Bohman said. “Especially when you’re doing things like CPR certification, or learning about it, that's obviously going to be used in your career, so it's good to learn young.”
Bohman developed a complex understanding of the aspects of the medical field from HOSA. Bohman is an example of how HOSA gives students a base to grow off of and succeed in their future. This club is not limited to certain occupations in the medical field, it's a general medical informational club that benefits all students.
“It's helped to show me how many different paths you can take in the medical field,” Bohman said, “because in HOSA there are so many different competitions involved in dentistry, physical therapy, emergency medicine, first aid, things like that.”
Marisa Gomez
Student Reporter
