#1StudentNWI: Students Start the Year Off Right at La Porte High School

LPHSBegin2015-1Students to Make a Difference

This year at La Porte High School, students have decided to change how their community views their school corporation. LPHS is offering a Mass Media class led by Erin Parker. Here students break up into small groups and are assigned two schools. Every school in the corporation will be covered. Each group, while their news may be very different, has one common goal: to promote La Porte as positive school corporation.

On the first day of class, students were asked how they had heard the community talk about our schools. Words and phrases such as sketchy, careless, no pride, and no school spirit came up. Then, they were asked how they wanted to be viewed as a school, and students said, intelligent, respected, prideful, spiritful, hard-working, and well rounded.

Many see that there are things to highlight in every school, but no one knows what great things these schools are doing. These driven students are ready to make La Porte Community School Corporation be heard.

First Day of School

Once again the halls were filled with excitement as students were reunited with their friends that they hadn’t seen since the last day of school. Teachers are ready to finally get the school year going.

New classes, new teachers, and new friends. Each year students are anxious to see what they can do to be the best they can be. This year, however, many students walk into classrooms with unfamiliar faces because LPHS welcomed in 21 new teachers. So, while many students are getting a fresh start, the schools new teachers are also getting their first glimpse at what it really means to be a part of the Slicer family. As Principal Tonagel always says, “Once a Slicer, Always a Slicer.”

Student Resource Time

New to the high school this year is Student Resource Time, otherwise known as SRT. Administrators have inserted a time block into the middle of the school day every Wednesday. This time will be used for college prep, retesting, and to give out information such as homecoming nominations and report cards. Some students may also use this time to go get extra help from teachers if they don’t have the opportunity to come in before school.

The new SRT is supposed to be like Mentor Period that the school had a few years ago. Many students loved the opportunity to get to know a teacher on a new level. Many teachers took the time to get to know the students strengths and weaknesses so they could be helped more during that time. Many students miss Mentor Period and are anxious to see if SRT will compare.

Upcoming Events:

Football Games

It’s that time of year again! Football games every Friday, school spirit around the halls, and cheerleaders supporting every play. That’s right, it’s football season.

This year the team got new jerseys. All the guys are excited to have orange jerseys at last. The team looks sharp and ready to make another run at a state title. With a new head coach this year, the team is anxious to see if they are still in the top of their class.

As usual, not only is the team ready, but the students are ready too, for the first game against rival New Prairie. Each year the stands are over flowing with fans cheering on the team to hopefully end out on top. Although the teams are rivals, last year both teams made it to state and had a joint pep rally to support both communities. With that being said, this year’s game should be even more interesting than any other year.

LPHSBegin2015-2Student Shout Out: Natalie Aragon

Natalie Aragon, a junior, is an honor student, super fan, and athlete. Aragon loves to support her school sports. Aragon loves attending football games dressed in the night’s theme. She also challenges herself by taking honor classes, dual credit, and AP courses. So far she is on the honor roll and holds herself to high standards.

As an athlete Aragon has been a part of Volleyball, swimming, and is planning on being a member of the school’s gymnastics team.

“I love the feeling of doing something new and improving in my sports. I love to improve, and when I get a better place than I did before, it makes me feel like all my hard work has paid off,” Aragon stated.

Teacher Shout Out: Ms. Scanlin

When it comes to English, many teachers lecture about commas and assign a page in the book to do or assign a reading to do independently.

Well, Ms. Scanlin isn’t your average teacher. To teach grammar, Scanlin does a daily “Charlie”. Charlie is a short paragraph that has grammatical errors that students must fix. By doing this, Scanlin can narrow down what exactly students need more help with. Along with new teaching ways, Ms. Scanlin is a fun teacher. She always has a story to tell or a joke to crack. Students feel comfortable going to her with problems they face or just talking with her in general.