The CAS Chronicle April 2015—Sierra Vista Campus

In This Issue

Midterms A2

Key Club Car Wash A2

Senior Ice Breaker A3

Douglas Spring

Fling

A3

Eighth Grade Invi-

tational

A4

Art Class Beautifies

Campus

A4

Teacher Profile:

Holden

A5

Bunnies and Chicks

for Easter

A5

Music Club A6

Solar Go-Kart

Team Time Trials

A6

Prom Preparations A7

Brain Dissection A7

Opinion A8

Around Campus A9

YES Fair B1

Spring Music Con-

certs

B1

Middle School Tal-

ent Show

B2

Gardner’s Third

Grade Class Fossil

Dig

B2

State Spelling Bee B2

AR Reading Event B3

Water Wise Poster

Contest

B3

Builders Club An-

nual Yard Sale

B3

HIGH SCHOOL

STAFF:

Ahmed Benchehda

- Senior

Devin Burton

- Junior

Cesar Escalante

- Senior

Savannah Haring

- Senior

Bobbi Monnett

-Sophomore

Alyssa Newton

-Junior

Anna Reinburg

- Junior

Sarah Burton

- Advisor

Section A—High School

Students enjoy AfterCARE program activities

On March 6, the Sierra

Vista Sheriff’s Police Depart-

ment came to The Center for

Academic Success with a plan

to revamp the school’s lock-

down procedures.

Claire McKee, senior, reit-

erated what had already been

discussed at the training, that

“The current lockdown proce-

dure we have, is far less than

adequate.”

Robert Basile, junior, said,

“The sheriff department came

in and told us we needed to

improve our lockdown drill,

because basically what we

were was sitting ducks. “

The Sheriff’s Department

introduced the Alert, Lock-

down, Inform, Counter and

Evacuate (ALICE) Training to

CAS. After going through an

informational PowerPoint,

faculty and After CARE helpers

were sent to four to five

different classrooms to simu-

late diverse scenarios. They

used air soft guns to simulate

a shooter situation.

Wendy Koop, administra-

tive assistant, said, “I was kind

of scared and excited. I didn’t

get shot, but I got to shoot

the gun.”

The first simulation con-

sisted of each classroom per-

forming the traditional lock-

down methods: locking the

door, turning off the lights

and sitting against the wall.

The shooter easily got into the

room and shot a large per-

centage of the groups.

Then the police depart-

ment had the classes use the

ALICE steps. The alert proce-

dure consists of making peo-

ple aware of a threat at hand.

Lockdown is when doors are

locked, and the barricade ac-

tion is set in place. Inform is

making sure that as much real

-time information is being

provided during the alterca-

tion. The point of countering

is to make as big of a distrac-

tion as possible during a lock

down. The final step is evacu-

ation which is getting out of

the scene as fast as possible.

By using ALICE Training meth-

ods, the amount of people

shot dramatically declined.

Unlike the old procedure,

the new one is very proactive.

Instead of being still and qui-

et, the police department en-

courages people to do what-

ever they can to block, dis-

tract or take down a potential

threat. Participants of the

training learned barricade and

swarm methods that could

save their lives. Just doing one

of the steps from ALICE could

help largely increase the

chances of students and facul-

ty members surviving an

attack.

Gwendolyn McWhite,

Math teacher, said, “Well, we

got the information the Friday

before spring break, and the

return Monday I taught my

classes the new procedures.

So, I immediately took the in-

formation I learned, and as

soon as I had students in my

class I implemented them.”

The Sierra Vista Sheriff’s

Department does plan to re-

turn to CAS and teach stu-

dents the new procedures

though a date for this training

has not yet been set.

CAS considers new lockdown procedures

By Savannah Haring

Students in Jarad Young’s intra-

mural sports club work on of-

fensive and defensive basket-

ball skills.

A student in Jeffrey “Oh!” Of-

stedahl’s robotics club works on

assembling a robot.

A student in Sabine Mar-

shall’s advanced art club

sculpts a rose out of Play-

Doh.

High school students

at The Center for Academic

Success took midterm exams

before leaving for spring

break though not all teachers

or classes required them. A

midterm is given to gauge

whether a student has re-

tained the proper information

to move further in the class.

Jeffery “Oh!” Ofstedahl,

engineering teacher, said,

“Doing midterm exams is like

going to your doctor to get a

checkup. It’s to evaluate and

assess where we’re at. Have

[the students] retained every-

thing they’ve been studying

all semester so that we can

know where we’re at and

move forward going into the

next quarter.”

However, many teachers at

CAS choose to give non-

standard midterm exams or

no midterm exams at all.

Julian Barkley, history

teacher, said, “I don’t think a

test is the best way to know

how much a student knows.”

He went on to say that it kind

of varies by subject. For histo-

ry he said it’s more practical

to do a research project; how-

ever, for mathematics it’s a

different story.

Gwendolyn McWhite, math

teacher, does not give tradi-

tional midterm exams either.

She said, “I do not give mid-

terms, so to speak, but I did

give them a test that finished

up whatever unit we were on

at the time.” McWhite does

the same for her final exams.

David Holden, English

teacher, said that he too gives

unit tests and simply calls it a

midterm.

Richard Wagenvoord, gov-

ernment teacher, did give a

midterm exam to one of his

classes, Arizona Gun Safety.

He said, “That course material

needed refresher work before

I was going to clear them to

go to the range.”

However, Wagenvoord

added that he feels that tests

and quizzes throughout the

semester are more effective

measures of student achieve-

ment.

Other teachers give pro-

jects. Both Angelica Brown,

science teacher, and Meg

McKay, electives teacher, as-

signed projects for their mid-

terms instead of a traditional

test.

In fact some students

weren’t even aware that mid-

terms were taking place.

Dathen Trujillo, sophomore

said, “I didn’t even know we

had midterms.”

Other students are glad that

there are few traditional mid-

terms at CAS.

Jalee Hartman, junior said,

“I get nervous about mid-

terms because I’m not confi-

dent in the things I’ve been

taught.”

Having nontraditional mid-

terms allows students to

demonstrate their knowledge

without the fear of a high

stakes test hanging over

them.

McWhite summed it up

best saying, “It’s hard enough

for some kids to remember

what they did last week and

to expect them to know what

we did in January might be

expecting too much.”

A2

Key Club members at

Center for Academic Success

held a car wash on February

28 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. by

the Schlotzsky’s on the corner

of 92 and Fry.

Cesar Escalante, Key Club

president and senior, said,

“The car wash was a great

success.”

Ahmed Benchehda, Key

Club editor and senior, said,

“The car wash was our chance

to make a difference. We got

to do people a favor and in

turn, got to raise money for a

good purpose.”

Key Club decided to do the

car wash because it does well

with car washes and usually

earns more than with other

types of fundraisers.

The Key Club members

raised a total of $587 at the

car wash, some of which was

CAS Key Club holds car wash

By Anna Reinburg

used to send four students to

the Southwest District Con-

vention, while some will be

put into the club’s funds to be

donated to various charities.

The main charity that stu-

dents in Key Club have raised

money for this year is the

Eliminate Project. The Elimi-

nate Project’s goal is to elimi-

nate maternal and neonatal

tetanus in the world by the

end of 2015. Each vaccination

costs $1.80 and protects the

woman and all of her future

children from contracting the

disease.

Sarah Burton, Key Club ad-

visor, said, “I am very proud

of the students for realizing

that if they want to make a

difference in their world they

have to be willing to work to-

wards it.”

CAS teachers focus on learning rather than testing

By Devin Burton

Key Club students wash a car, one of many, at their car

wash at Schlotzsky’s.

Julio

Flores

draws

in

busi-

ness

at the

Key

Club

car

wash.

The Center for Aca-

demic Success Sierra Vista

High School held a senior ice-

breaker on February 20 for

the Douglas and Sierra Vista

seniors. The meet and greet

consisted of 21 seniors, 13

from Sierra Vista and 8 from

Douglas. The purpose was

the introduce the seniors

graduating in the class of 2015

to each other so that they did-

n’t feel like they were sitting

near a complete stranger at

graduation.

Gwendolyn McWhite, math

teacher, said, “Since the sen-

iors graduate together it only

makes sense to partner activi-

ties together.”

Games and lots of junk

food helped make the whole

experience more enjoyable.

The first game was a kind of

scavenger hunt where stu-

dents had to find out things

that they had in common with

each other. This got the stu-

dents to interact with each

other and served as a kind of

introductory activity as stu-

dents had to talk to not just

their friends, but everyone.

The second game that the

seniors played was Pictionary

where the boys were teamed

up against the girls. Again,

this allowed students from

both campuses to mix and get

to know each other better as

they interacted on a team.

Although the boys won, the

girls put up a good fight.

This is the first year that

students from both campuses

have gotten together for sen-

ior activities. Wendy Koop,

administrative assistant, and

CAS seniors from Sierra Vista and Douglas participate in icebreaker event

By Cesar Escalante

A3

On March 5 Wendy

Koop, administrative assis-

tant, and Gwendolyn

McWhite, math teacher, took

10 seniors from The Center

for Academic Success Sierra

Vista Campus to the CAS

Douglas High School for a

spring fling event. The Spring

Fling consisted of students

eating food and then playing a

variety of games.

Wendy Koop, administra-

tive assistant, said that there

were many different food

booths with foods such as piz-

za, carne asada tacos, fruit,

donut ice cream sandwiches,

sodas and a tomato drink

called “pepihuates,” which is

made from a variety of ingre-

dients including tamarindo,

clamato juice, Sonora sauce,

chamoy, tajin and cacajuates.

Many of the seniors who

attended the trip said that the

food was their favorite part of

the event.

Savannah Haring, Sierra

Vista senior, said that she en-

joyed it “because it wasn’t like

food from here. It was Mexi-

can treats and it was deli-

cious.”

Alex Cardenas, Sierra Vista

senior, said that he enjoyed

the food specifically because

it was Mexican food.

In addition to the food,

there were games. The first

game that students played

was tug of war. First they did

girls versus boys and then Si-

erra Vista campus versus

Douglas campus. Another

game that the students got to

play involved Koop and Gwen-

dolyn McWhite, math teach-

er, acting as targets while stu-

dents threw water balloons at

them. The students didn’t

avoid getting messy either;

they were given plates full of

whipped cream to throw at

each other.

This is the first year that

the Douglas seniors have in-

CAS Sierra Vista seniors participate in CAS Douglas Spring Fling

By Anna Reinburg

McWhite felt that it was im-

portant for seniors from both

campuses to have a chance to

intermingle. They are hoping

that this will allow the seniors

to feel more comfortable at

graduation.

Overall the students said

they enjoyed the icebreaker

very much and that it was a

lot of fun.

Gabe Ortega, Sierra Vista

senior, said, “The icebreaker

was a great success and it

brought us that much closer

to the Douglas campus.”

Maritza Hidalgo, Sierra

Vista senior, said, “It was fun

and it helped us become a

more united student body.”

vited seniors from the Sierra

Vista campus to attend the

Spring Fling, and it’s all in the

name of building relationships

between the seniors of both

campuses.

Koop said, “Since they’re

graduating together and hav-

ing a combined graduation

ceremony it’s important to

build friendships within the

senior class so that you don’t

feel like you’re sitting next to

a complete stranger at the

graduation.”

She added, “In the past

seniors have never had any

opportunity to meet or do any

events together before gradu-

ation. That’s what made grad-

uation awkward for some, but

starting this year we’ve had a

couple different opportunities

for the seniors to get together

and hang out and a lot of the

seniors have made friends

with the Douglas seniors.”

Seniors from the Sierra Vista and Douglas cam-

puses line up to throw water balloons at Koop

and McWhite.

Seniors at the icebreaker event pose for a group photo.

On March 27, eighth

graders at The Center for Aca-

demic Success Middle School

went to the CAS High School

for an Eighth Grade Invitation-

al. The point of the invitation-

al was to engage the students

in activities to show them the

variety of classes available at

CAS High School.

Wendy Koop, administra-

tive assistant, said, “I realized

this year that Buena has invi-

tationals to a lot of the city

schools that invite the eighth

graders up to spend a day in

high school, to see what it’s

like, to meet teachers, and I

realized that CAS had never

offered that before.”

Koop extended the invita-

tion to the CAS Middle School

as well as other schools in the

area. CAS Middle School was

the only school that accepted

the invitation, but Koop hopes

next year to send the invita-

tions earlier to try to encour-

age participation from other

schools as well.

During the invitational each

student was given a mock

schedule that included nine

periods and were then turned

loose to find their way from

class to class just as they

would in high school. The

classes were on a 10 minute

bell schedule, and there were

teachers in the hallway to

help direct students if they

needed it.

The high school teachers

voluntarily ran different activi-

ties in their classrooms for the

students. Julian Barkley, his-

tory teacher, did an econom-

ics themed lesson where he

put out a bowl of free candy

and then spoke to the stu-

dents about why it wasn’t re-

ally free and why the concept

of free is a lie. Jeffrey “Oh!”

Ofstedahl, engineering teach-

er, put out his robotics ma-

chines and also had the solar

go-kart team with their go-

kart there to show the stu-

dents. Angelica Brown, sci-

ence teacher, talked about

her Animal Husbandry class

and the students were able to

look at the chicks and hold

the baby bunnies.

Before students participat-

ed in the event Koop took a

poll asking them how many of

them would be interested in

attending CAS High School

next year. There were nine

students who raised their

hands. After the activities

Koop asked the same ques-

tion, this time 18 students an-

swered that they would be

interested in attending CAS

High School.

Eighth grade students invited to CAS High School

By Devin Burton

A4

Students participate in an economics activity in

Julian Barkley’s room.

The Center for Aca-

demic Success has recently

started a new art project.

After a suggestion made by

the principal Stephen Huff,

Sabine Marshall, art teacher,

decided to go forward on

painting CAS’s side wall and

water tank. She then prompt-

ed her high school art class to

create a design for a panel of

the wall.

Marshall said, “I just kind of

left it open to them.”

In the art class students

each student created their

own concept for the wall, but

most centralized on a green

theme. Huff left it up to Ash-

ley Ridenhour, registrar, and

Jeffrey “Oh!” Ofstedahl, engi-

neering teacher, to judge the

drawings. Five of the drawings

were picked to go on the pan-

els. The slogan “Don’t waste

water, people are thirsty” has

been proposed to be put on

the water tank.

Ridenhour said, “We picked

pictures with a desert theme

so that it doesn’t seem out of

place.”

Rafael Huerta, senior, said,

“The whole point is to do art

that is positive and is worth

more than just words.”

Although there isn’t a set

date to begin, Marshall says

that she is willing to start as

soon as she can.

Art class helps beautify campus

By Savannah Haring

Cynthia Marie, an eighth

grader who declined to pro-

vide her last name, said that

she “think(s) it’s a good choice

of school to go to because of

the things they have to offer

to students who are willing to

work hard and have persever-

ance.” She also said that she

plans to attend high school at

CAS in the fall.

Students got to hold baby bunnies in Angelica

Brown’s room while she talked to them about ani-

mal husbandry.

Teacher Profile: David Holden

By Cesar Escalante

As new editions to The

Center for Academic Success,

the Animal Husbandry class

has accepted into their care

nine baby bunnies and 18

chicks. Jeffrey “Oh!” Of-

stedahl, engineering teacher,

acquired the chicks before

spring break from the Tractor

Supply Company. Angelica

Brown, science teacher, said

that Gracie Martin, sopho-

more, took care of the baby

bunnies over spring break be-

CAS welcomes bunnies and chicks right before Easter

By Savannah Haring

fore they entered the class-

room.

Brown hopes that her class

will learn that, “they are cute

and stuff, but they actually

take work.”

Oh! plans to get the Gar-

dening Club involved with the

chickens. However, Brown’s

Animal Husbandry class will

be giving the primary care to

the chicks.

David Holden is an

English teacher at The Center

for Academic Success High

School. He has been a teach-

er at CAS for nine years. He

spent two of those years at

the Douglas campus before

transferring to the Sierra Vista

campus where he has been

for the last seven years.

Holden was born on Dec. 9,

1975 in Mountain View, Calif.

He has a wife, Melissa, and

two kids, a daughter named

Vivienne and a son named

Wesley. His favorite books

are “Light in August” by Wil-

liam Faulkner and “Moby

Dick” by Herman Melville.

Holden said his favorite mov-

ies are “Goodfellas,” “The Big

Lebowski,” and the 1980s ver-

sion of “The Thing.”

He obtained his Bachelor’s

Degree in English at the Uni-

versity of California, Berkeley

and went on to the University

of Arizona to accrue a Mas-

ter’s Degree in secondary ed-

ucation.

Holden became interested

in teaching when he was

working at the Exploratorium,

a children’s museum in San

Francisco. He said, “I liked

working with the college and

high school students.”

Holden said that his favor-

ite thing about teaching is

“the interaction with students

and knowing the students and

seeing things through their

eyes.”

On the other hand Holden

said that he doesn’t have a

least favorite thing about

teaching saying “I don’t think I

really have a least favorite

thing. There’s always person-

ality conflicts, but that’s prob-

ably true of any job.”

Holden says that he hopes

that all of his students under-

stand that “the phase of their

life that they’re in now will go

by very quickly and they

should take advantage of the

time they have and set goals

for themselves and achieve

those goals while the oppor-

tunity is here.”

A5

Stu-

dents in

the Ani-

mal

Hus-

bandry

class

hold

their

bunnies

out for

display.

The chicks

have been

moved in-

to the

chicken

coop with

the onset

of warmer

weather.

Animal Husbandry students

have marked and named their

own birds. The chicks are all

female, and in four to six

months they will provide

eggs, that Oh! intends to sell.

Oh! said, “Well, we’re go-

ing to raise them, and when

they are big enough we are

going to move them into the

chicken coop. I want to teach

students [not only] about egg

production but also about

small business running.”

There are three black, three

white, and three gray bun-

nies; the biology class will be

using the bunnies to conduct

genetic analysis. When the

bunnies are grown in about

seven weeks, Brown says the

she will most likely sell them

to fund other animals.

High school gains music club

By Devin Burton

On March 28 students

from 16 solar go-kart teams

from across the state met at

the Muscle Man Honda Race

Track to have their karts in-

spected and to undergo time

trials. The Blazing Eagles, the

solar go-kart team from The

Center for Academic Success,

attended as well.

Zach Ogier, team leader

and senior, said, “There were

still a few things to work on,

we’ll get it done on time.”

Ogier also serves as the driver

for the team.

Jeffrey “Oh!” Ofstedahl,

team advisor, said that the

students were able to get

their go-kart up to about 15

mph, which is an impressive

speed for a go-kart.

Quite a few students

attended the time trials.

However, some students were

unable to attend because of

academic probation.

Oh! said, “You have to have

C’s or better in all your classes

in order to participate in the

extracurricular stuff. If you’re

getting suspended and you’re

Blazing Eagles solar go-kart team participates in time trials

By Ahmed Benchehda

failing your classes, then you

shouldn’t be spending your

time playing around with go-

karts.”

Oh! added that he was dis-

appointed that there were

some students who were not

able to attend because it costs

the team points when mem-

bers are not at the events.

Teams can earn a total of

10,000 points during the

course of the competition for

things such as kart design,

racing times, attendance and

paperwork that has been sub-

mitted properly.

The majority of the solar go

-kart events are not open to

the public; however, the big

race which will take place on

April 25 at the U of A Tech

Park from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. is

open to anyone. Those who

are interested should RSVP by

April 15 to reserve a spot.

More information can be

found at https://

racingth-

esun2015.eventbrite.com

David Harris, the youth

career connect councilor, de-

cided to start up a music club

at The Center for Academic

Success. The club meets on

Fridays, but based on partici-

pation and skill level Harris

might have the club meet

three to four times a week.

The club is not just for stu-

dents who already know how

to play an instrument but is

also open to students who

want to learn. Harris is willing

to teach students to play the

guitar and there is the possi-

bility that other students will

be able to teach other instru-

ments.

Harris said that the idea of

the music club came about by

the thought of “a bunch of

people getting together and

playing music.”

Harris believes that music

should be a class offered in

school. He believes that a mu-

sic class “gives kids motivation

to come to school.” He said,

“For some people math and

science are completely lame

and boring and they don’t

want anything to do with it.”

Harris is a part time vocal

and guitar teacher. He’s also

the choir director for his

church and sings in a jazz duo,

but he has been exposed to

music ever since he was a

little boy. His mother had him

enrolled in vocal classes early

on. Through school he was in

a normal music class and also

played the French horn, was

in choir and band.

Harris said that the real

reason that he feels so strong-

ly about this club is because

“music is important for our

souls.”

Any student who is inter-

ested in joining the club

should see Harris in room 107.

A6

Zach Ogier and Brennan Townsend work to prepare the

go-kart for time trials

Harris

helps

Ethan Ja-

cobs learn

to play the

guitar

during a

club meet-

ing.

The Blazing Eagles stand with their go-kart

Student council starts preparing for prom

By Anna Reinburg

The Center for Aca-

demic Success’s Jeffrey “Oh!”

Ofstedahl held a brain dissec-

tion for his zombie apocalypse

students on February 26. He

did this so that they could see

and touch the different parts

of the brain that they had

been studying so they would

have a better understanding

of how the brain actually

works. The students used

sheep brains because they are

mammalian. Though the

sheep brains lacked certain

aspects of the human brain,

they still have similarities.

The students were able to

find the different parts of the

brain. Students found the

reptilian part of the brain

which is most commonly

known as the cerebellum. It is

responsible for basic vital

bodily functions such as heart

rate, breathing and body tem-

perature. Students also cut

the brain in half to see the

brain matter that makes up

the brain.

Zombie Apocalypse class dissects sheep brains

By Cesar Escalante

Through the activity Oh!

used images projected on his

Promethean board, a type of

smart board, to guide the stu-

dents in their dissection. The

students were able to com-

pare what they were seeing in

front of them with what they

should be seeing in order to

verify their findings.

The majority of students

said they really enjoyed the

brain dissection.

Gabe Ortega, senior, said,

“I thought it was extremely

educational and exciting.”

Xenia Wimmer, freshman

and foreign exchange stu-

dents, said, “It was something

different. We don’t do that in

Austria.”

Brandy Skattebo, junior,

said, “It was actually pretty

cool.”

Oh! said that are no future

brain dissections scheduled

for the class, but the students

were going to being to study

how viruses affect the body.

The Center for Aca-

demic Success will be holding

its prom on May 9 in the CAS

cafeteria on the Sierra Vista

campus. The prom will most

likely run from 6 p.m. to 10

p.m. The theme that has

been chosen this year for

prom is neon. Student Coun-

cil came up with themes for

prom and then held a vote of

the high school students, with

a majority voting for neon.

This will be the fourth prom

CAS will have.

Wendy Koop, administra-

tive assistant, said, “In the

past, prom has been open for

ninth through twelfth graders.

In the past, CAS students have

invited outside students to

come into our prom that had

preapproved permission.”

According to Koop not eve-

rything has been chosen yet,

but a lot of things such as

cost, time and who will be al-

lowed will most likely be the

same as previous CAS proms.

Koop, said, “Student Coun-

cil will be deciding these de-

tails soon.”

Koop, Gwendolyn McWhite,

math teacher, Scott Loucks,

vice principal, Dave Dolifka,

computer science teacher,

Ashley Ridenhour, registrar

and Sarah Burton, English

teacher will most likely be

chaperoning prom.

Students from the CAS

Douglas High School campus

have been invited to attend

prom this year as well, but

they have not yet responded

to the invitation.

Koop, said,” The Douglas

students have been invited to

prom; it is still yet to be deter-

mined if any are able to

come.”

Prom will most likely cost

$15 for one ticket or $20 for

two. There are still many de-

tails to be worked out, but

many students already seem

to be getting excited for

prom.

Zach Ogier, junior, said,

“I’m kinda excited; this is the

only prom I’ll be going to.”

Cayliee McKenzie, junior,

said, “I feel like it’s gonna be

fun.”

A7

Savannah Haring and Gabe Ortega, seniors, study a

section of the brain that they are dissecting.

Oh! projects images onto his Promethean board to

help guide students during the dissection.

Koop, said,” The Douglas

students have been invited

to prom; it is still yet to be

determined if any are able

to come.”

The movie “John

Wick” came out in October

2014. This is an exciting action

movie which glued my eyes to

the screen. “John Wick” is

about a feared ex hit-man

who comes out of retirement

to get revenge on a man who

took the last of what he cared

about in the world. John

Wick, played by Keanu Reeves

who is best known for his role

as Neo in The Matrix trilogy, is

a very skilled and well trained

killer who will not stop until

the task he has at hand is

completed. Anyone, no

matter how skilled, could not

stand in his way.

The movie was written by

Joel Zadak and Derek Kolstad

and directed by Chad Sta-

helski and David Leitch. Sta-

helski and Leitch had previ-

ously worked with Reeves on

The Matrix trilogy as stunt

doubles before creating their

own business, 87Eleven Ac-

tion Design – a gym, stunt-

choreography studio, and pro-

duction company rolled into

one according to an article

Dress proves that people see the world differently

By Ahmed Benchehda

Question:

I sometimes get frustrat-ed because of the ease of my classes. What should I do?

Answer:

Many students have trouble with the difficulty, or ease, of their classes. I often find that confiding in your teacher may help. Teachers often try and balance out the difficulty and pace of classes according to the class as a whole. If you feel some of your classes are too easy or too difficult, you may speak with your teacher or counselor to see if you can switch to a more difficult class. Or, if you wish not to go that route it might be advan-tageous for you to find a fel-low student who also excels in the classes. Try outdoing each other, a friendly competition may be just what you need.

Ask Aslan: Advice Column

Opinion Page Review: John Wick

By Alyssa Newton

titled “Stuntman Inc: The One

-Stop School for Action-Movie

Stars” in Men’s Journal. Their

approach to the action scenes

in “John Wick” drew on their

admiration of anime and mar-

tial arts films.

“John Wick” was rated R,

“for strong and bloody vio-

lence throughout, language

and brief drug use” according

to Rotten Tomatoes. It was

released on DVD and online

video streaming platforms on

February 3.

A picture of a dress

was posted to the internet on

March 3 and soon went viral.

It was such a phenomena be-

cause of the way the picture

was taken. Because of the

angle and lighting, the blue

and black dress appeared gold

and white, this however only

occurred for some people,

while others saw it as the ac-

tual blue and black.

This strikes me as im-

portant because it shows how

people are different, not be-

cause of skin color or any reli-

gious preference, but instead

how people see the world

differently when what they

are looking at may be the

same thing. It shows that

some differences don’t

matter. It goes to show how

fragile our differences really

are.

A8

This was one of my favorite

action movies I have seen in a

while. “John Wick” was rated

7.2 stars out of 10 on IMDB

and got an 84% Fresh Rating

on Rotten Tomatoes, but I

would have rated it higher.

This movie has a touching

back story and awesome

effects. I would recommend

this movie to anyone who

loves action movies.

Question:

My boyfriend is very outspoken. How should I deal with some of his loud outbursts?

Answer:

I understand your struggle with your boyfriend. I am also often one to speak out of turn. I find a good way to calm the urge to communicate one’s thoughts are notes. They are quiet and he will feel like he has said what he needs to. Also, it many times takes longer to write something than to speak it aloud. This virtually eliminates the possi-bility of speaking (or in this case writing) without thinking first.

Questions for Ask Aslan may be submitted to Sarah Burton, English teacher, in room 103 or to Wendy Koop, adminis-trative assistant, in the front office. Questions must be submitted by the second Tuesday of the month and must be school appropriate to be considered for publication in the paper.

Superlative: Friendliest Person

This month students at

The Center for Aca-

demic Success High

School were asked to

vote for who they

thought was the friend-

liest person. They

chose Julio Flores,

sophomore.

Around Campus

Upcoming Events

April Birthdays

April 13-16 8a.m. High School AZMERIT

Testing

April 14-16 8a.m. Elementary and Middle

School AZMERIT Testing

April 17 - Early Release—NO AFTER-

CARE

April 21 8a.m. Science AIMS

April 25 9a.m.-

3p.m.

Solar Go-Kart Race Day,

UofA Tech Park

April 27 9a.m.-

2p.m.

Blood Drive

Above: Kurtis Daniels, junior, builds a test bed in

Jeffrey “Oh!” Ofstedahl’s Principles of Engineering

class. Students are learning to program in RobotC

as the first step in their introduction to robotics

and programing.

Amanda Maurer 1 Izabel Boroski 8 Liliana Villalobos 14 Kevin Parra Efta 22

Danielle Myers 2 Taylor Nash 8 Rabecka Rector 15 Ja’Shaun Wright 23

Gabriel Stoddard 4 Celeste Finn-Stowell 9 Damien Welter 15 Ethan Cobb 24

Casual Winston 4 Jada McWhite 10 Ileanna Duncan 17 Alyssa Stoddard 24

Saya Angelino 5 Aliaz Dyson 11 Alison Burton 20 David Condon 26

Aiden Tibbets 5 Carlos Aponte Narteni 12 Logan Sampson 20 Jarod Dupont 26

Nevaeh Rife 6 Maya Cellier 12 Cynthia Ruvalcaba 21

Shanel Steemers 6 J’Kayla Davis 12 Vanessa Escalante 22

Christianna Clark 7 Isabel Aguilar 13 Kristie Lang 22

A9

Left:

Gwendo-

lyn

McWhite,

math

teacher,

leads stu-

dents in

AfterCARE

through a

Zumba

routine.

Brandy Skattebo, junior, and Samantha Kolodzie,

junior, construct a hydraulic robot arm in Jeffrey

“Oh!” Ofstedahl’s Principles of Engineering class as

part of their introduction to robotics and program-

ing.

Left: Stu-

dents in

Jeffrey

“Oh!” Of-

stedahl’s

gardening

club work

to plant

their

spring veg-

etables.

Two CAS middle school students place at YES Fair

By Meredith Galloway

The Center for Aca-

demic Success is excited to

announce that two CAS stu-

dents have placed in the

county’s annual Youth and

Engineering Science Fair for

their science fair projects

which were submitted for

judging on March 23.

Ethan Johnson, seventh

grade, was awarded first place

in the category of Energy and

Engineering for his project

“Get Wired” which analyzed

alternative sources of electric-

ity. Macayla Fetting, seventh

grade, earned third place in

the category of Biological Sci-

ence for her project

“Toothbrush Invaders” which

answered a household dilem-

ma of the best location to

store your toothbrush in to

minimize bacterial growth.

Community students in

fifth through twelfth grades

from Sierra Vista, Bisbee,

Douglas, Nogales and Tomb-

stone are eligible to compete

in the county’s annual YES

Fair. Approximately 500 stu-

dents attended this year’s YES

Fair as applicants or specta-

tors. Students in fifth through

eighth grades may compete in

the categories of Energy and

Engineering, Technology,

Physical Science, Earth and

Space Science and Biological

Science while students in

ninth through twelfth grades

compete in one division only.

Those selected as winners are

invited to a celebratory din-

ner. To learn more about the

YES! Fair, please visit its web-

site at: http://

www.yesfair.com/

The Center for Aca-

demic Success’s music pro-

gram is in full swing this

spring. Not only did Stacy

Bernardo’s first grade class

perform a spring musical con-

cert on March 5, but Cheryl

Engol’s third grade class also

performed a concert on

March 18. Both concerts

were made possible under the

direction of Rose Marie

Dokken, music teacher, and

occurred at 2 p.m. for stu-

dents and 4 p.m. for family

and friends.

The first grade concert fea-

tured the use of percussion

instruments, small choral

groups, and whole-group

choir songs. Students had

First and third graders perform spring musical concerts

By Meredith Galloway

Section B—Middle and

Elementary School

learned to read music and use

both syncopation and coun-

terpoint with their rhythms

and had mastered bells, tam-

bourines, triangles, and musi-

cal sticks. The third grade

class’s program featured nine

songs. Some were related to

historical events, tongue-

twisters, jokes and story-

books.

After both concerts, fami-

lies enjoyed light refresh-

ments while celebrating the

accomplishments of the clas-

ses. CAS is proud to offer mu-

sic, art and PE throughout the

day to its students as part of a

well-rounded education.

Left: Ethan Johnson holds up

his first prize ribbon. Johnson

won first place in the Energy

and Engineering category for

fifth through eighth grade stu-

dents.

Right: Macayla Fetting holds up

her third prize ribbon. Fetting

won third place in the Biologi-

cal Science category for fifth

through eighth grade students.

Left: First grade

students per-

form with vari-

ous instruments

at their choir

concert on

March 5 under

the direction of

Rose Marie

Dokken.

Left: Third grade

students perform

a song with his-

torical themes at

their choir con-

cert on March 18.

Students also

performed songs

about tongue-

twisters, jokes

and storybooks.

CAS holds talent show

By Sarah Burton

On March 27 The Cen-

ter for Academic Success Ele-

mentary and Middle Schools

teamed up to hold a talent

show in the cafeteria. The

talent show was open to con-

testants in third through

eighth grades.

The contest was broken

down into three different cat-

egories this year including

music, which consisted of stu-

dents playing instruments and

students singing whether solo

or in duos, dance, which fea-

tured dance groups, and mag-

ic and comedy, which consist-

ed of a card trick show and a

stand up comedians.

There were four winners in

the music category: Tiahna

Brown, seventh grade, won

first place, Teruko Myers, sev-

enth grade, won second

place, Ariel Celani, eighth

grade, won third place and

Lillian Munoz, third grade,

won fourth place.

There were three winners

in the magic and comedy cat-

egory: First place went to

sixth graders Cody Roehsler

and Bryan Rice, second place

went to sixth grader Thomas

Nealis and third place went to

third grader Jada McWhite.

There were two winners in

the dance category: First

place went to the dance

group the Sassy Fashionistas

and second place went to the

dance group Watch Me. Both

groups were made up of fifth

grade students.

This year the judging panel

was made up of two students

from the middle school stu-

dent council and two students

from the high school student

council. No teachers served

on the judging panel though

the teachers provided them

with a scoring system that

they had to follow which was

out of 50 points.

Jarad Young, dean of stu-

dents, helped set up the tal-

ent show and said, “I always

like to show our parents and

our staff that our kids are ca-

pable of doing a lot more out-

side of the classroom.” He

also said that he thinks its im-

portant to give the students a

chance to showcase their cre-

ativity.

Seventh grader Ethan

Johnson from The Center for

Academic Success Middle

School participated in the Ari-

zona State Spelling Bee on

March 21 at the PBS Studio in

Phoenix. Johnson was one of

29 contestants at the spelling

bee which lasted for 16

rounds. Johnson did not

make it to the final round, but

said, “I’m proud because out

of students all over the county

I got to make it to state.”

Johnson had previously

competed in the Cochise

County Spelling bee in order

to earn a place at the state

spelling bee. Before that

Johnson won the school wide

spelling bee. This was John-

son’s second year winning

both the school wide and the

county spelling bees.

Mary Silverwind, English

teacher and Johnson’s coach,

said, “He did a really good job.

He worked very hard. He re-

ally has a good mind for

words and their definitions,

where they came from and

how to spell them based off of

that.”

Though Johnson did not

win the state spelling bee this

CAS student participates in Arizona State Spelling Bee

By Sabine Angelino, Jayce Degnan, Ethan Johnson and Sarah Burton

B2

year, he has no plans of giving

up. Johnson said that he will

compete again next year and

is more determined than ever

since it will be his last year of

eligibility.

Silverwind said, “[Ethan]

has a really good chance [of

winning next year], and I’m

going to be really rooting for

him.”

Marcus Behling, an eighth

grader from Maricopa County,

took the first place prize after

correctly spelling first the

word ‘frankincense,’ which his

competitor had spelled incor-

rectly, and then the word

‘barometer.’ Behling won an

all-expenses paid trip for two

to Washington, D.C. for the

National Spelling Bee, $800, a

trophy and a Webster’s Third

New International Diction-

ary. The second place winner

was sixth grader Naina Misra,

the third place winner was

eighth grader Ananya

Eeraveni, the fourth place

winner was seventh grader

Savannah Turley and the fifth

place winner was fifth grader

Henry Calkins.

Gardner’s third grade performs fossil dig

By Sarah Burton

Students used

Dino-Dig Excava-

tion kits to un-

earth “fossils” on

the playground.

Also pictured are

some fossils from

Gardner’s private

collection includ-

ing fossilized di-

nosaur feces and

a replica of a Ty-

rannosaurus Rex

tooth.

Students in Romilly

Gardner’s third grade class

wrapped up their Journey’s

unit on fossils by holding a

fossil dig of their own. Stu-

dents used Dino-Dig Excava-

tion kits to understand better

how paleontologists unearth

fossils in the field.

Though the students did

not actually unearth any fos-

sils they practiced the skills

needed to do so by digging up

rocks that were embedded in

the playground clay.

“It was amazing to [the stu-

dents] that some of the rocks

were maybe the size of a

quarter when they found it,

and then by the time they

were done actually digging all

around it and picking around

it they were about the size of

their hand.” said Gardner.

In addition to the rocks stu-

dents also found many shells

which allowed the class to

have a discussion about how

Arizona was once covered in

water.

Gardner said that the stu-

dents really enjoyed the unit

and that they will be doing

some review of the unit after

AzMERIT testing is completed.

CAS students participate in AR reading event

By Sarah Burton

On February 27 stu-

dents from The Center for Ac-

ademic Success Elementary

and Middle Schools participat-

ed in the Fourth Annual Read

the Most Coast to Coast con-

test. This was a nationwide

contest provided by Renais-

sance Learning, the company

that CAS uses for its STAR/AR

Reading Program.

The goal of the contest is

for students across the United

States to read and test on

books with the hopes of

reaching 5 million tests taken

on that day. In addition the

school can earn prizes from

random drawings done on the

hour every hour from 8 a.m.

to 4 p.m.

CAS students were very

busy this year. In total 850

tests were taken by students

in first through eighth grades.

Romilly Gardner’s third grade

class managed to take the

most tests of any class at CAS

with 173 tests taken over the

course of the day. However,

many other classes came

close. Maria Foy’s fourth

grade class took 160 tests,

Stacy Bernardo’s first grade

class took 143 tests and Rosie

Delgado’s fourth grade class

took 132 tests. Nationwide

there were 4,173,153 tests

taken throughout the course

of the day.

According to a press re-

lease by Renaissance Learn-

ing, “Renaissance Learning’s

Accelerated Reader, the na-

tion’s most widely used read-

ing management program for

K12 schools, helps educators

generate excitement for read-

ing and monitor students’

personalized reading practice.

Students read a book at the

appropriate level and then

take a quiz to show they un-

derstood what they’ve read.

The web-based program pro-

vides access to over 160,000

quizzes, enabling students to

choose from a wide variety of

fiction and nonfiction books.”

B3

Recently students at

The Center for Academic Suc-

cess were asked to participate

in the eighteenth annual wa-

ter conservation poster con-

test. Two students from CAS

Middle School submitted

posters, Jayce Degnan, eighth

grade, and Kellie Tolmie, sev-

enth grade.

Degnan won first place in

the eighth grade category.

Tolmie won first place in the

seventh grade category and

also won the overall Grand

Prize.

The contest, which was

sponsored by The University

of Arizona Cooperative Exten-

sion Water Wise Youth Pro-

gram, encouraged students in

third through eighth grades to

CAS students place in Water Wise Contest

By Sarah Burton

submit artwork for the theme

of “Celebrate Water—

Celebrate Life!”

The winning poster will be

permanently featured as pub-

lic art in the Sierra Vista com-

munity and will help to pro-

mote the practice of water

conservation according to the

call for student artists that the

program released.

Entries were judged on

“creative thought related to

the theme, artistic quality and

proper spelling.” According to

the program contest rules.

Both students have been

invited to the next city council

meeting on April 9 at 5 p.m. at

City Hall for recognition and

awards. They were also invit-

ed to a swim party at the Cove

on April 17.

CAS Builders Club holds annual yard sale

By Sarah Burton and Windy Pettit

On February 28 The

Center for Academic Success

Middle School Builders Club

held its annual yard sale in the

CAS cafeteria from 8 a.m. to

12 p.m. The Builders Club

holds a yard sale every spring

to raise money to be donated

to various charities in the ar-

ea.

This year the yard sale

brought in about $618. The

students chose to donate

$200 of that to the Forgach

House, a domestic crisis shel-

ter, and $200 to the Tomb-

stone Animal Shelter, the only

no-kill shelter in the surround-

ing area.

In total around 15 stu-

dents helped out at the yard

sale as well as Christine Garza,

middle school teacher and

Builders Club faculty advisor,

Marge Carrithers, Builders

Club Kiwanis advisor, and a

couple other Kiwanis mem-

bers.

The Builders Club students

plan to use part of the addi-

tional money from the yard

sale and also from their dues

and the Valentine’s Candy

Gram sales fundraiser on

Teacher Appreciation Week

and part of the additional

money to adopt two children

for the stocking stuffer pro-

gram next Christmas.

According to the Builders

Club website the club is “the

largest service organization

for middle school and junior

high students” and allows stu-

dents to “learn to work to-

gether and develop servant-

leaders skills as they serve

their school and community.”

Above: Kellie Tolmie’s winning entry.

Below: Jayce Degnan’s winning entry.

Garza helps students price

items for the yard sale.