Lack of Snow Days dismays students, teachers alike

News
By Robbie Bacheller
Husky Herald Reporter

  A day off school may not seem like a big deal, but to many students, it is.

  The combination of sleeping in, relaxing, and not being at school in the middle of the week make snow days one of the best things that happen during a cold winter.

  But this year, to the dismay of most students and staff, Port Huron Schools has yet to have had a snow day.

  Some parts of Michigan, including metro Detroit, are experiencing record highs in temperatures this winter. The opposite can be said for snowfall.

  Port Huron Schools students have been spoiled with these “vacation days” in recent times. Last year, Port Huron Schools were closed six times due to inclement weather. Current state law requires a 180-day school year with up to six allowable snow days.

  Usually, if a school district exceeds the six-day limit, then the amount of days missed will be made up with additional days added to the end of the year.

  Yet a sense of strong optimism remains.

  “The heavy snow just hasn't come yet, but we have to get some sooner or later,” said Colten Burch (‘17).

  Students aren't the only ones who enjoy snow days, however. “Teachers might like snow days more than students,” said Mr. Whymer, science teacher at Port Huron Northern.

  Conversely, not all students enjoy these snow days. “I’m honestly not a big fan. Our education is too important to miss out on because of some snow,” said Nick Dewey (‘16).

  The most common reason for “snow days” is having excessive amounts of snow on the roads. But temperatures and windchills well-below freezing, icy and/or hazardous road conditions, and power outages at the school will all result in a school closing.

  Mr. James Cain, who is in his second year as superintendent with the district, determines whether schools will be open or not. Through an email interview, Port Huron Schools Director of Community Relations and Marketing Keely Baribeau said, “The Superintendent makes the final decision regarding District schedule changes and ‘snow days.’”

   “The Superintendent often considers whether other local districts are cancelling, what the current and predicted conditions are as reported by a designated district employee who "test drives" the roads and of course, safety. Safety is the most important and ultimate factor in any decision to alter the school day schedule,” said Baribeau.

  Schools are more likely to be closed if surrounding area districts are off as well. Rural districts such as Yale and Cros-Lex close more often due to rural farm roads. These roads are more susceptible to drifts because of open fields.

  It seems this year that following the superstitions of flushing some ice cubes down the toilet or sleeping with a spoon under the pillow may be the best ways to get a snow day.

Students want Open Campus Lunch

Feature
By Stacy Vo
Husky Herald Reporter

 Ever thought about having a enjoyable lunch instead of just eating at the school? At Port Huron Northern, our lunch schedule is the same every week, and students should have the opportunity to leave school to go get lunch wherever they want.

   Open campus lunch has been a controversial subject for the Port Huron Area School District. Students have been asking why we don’t have an open campus so we can leave school to go get lunch and come back to finish the rest of the day.

   It also gives students the freedom to go get their lunch of choice instead of eating the typical lunch food at the school that most people loathe.

    There are many different options in the Fort Gratiot/Port Huron area for lunch; Ted’s Coney Island, Buffalo Wild Wings, McDonald’s, Qdoba, Red Pepper for Taco Tuesdays. Those are just a handful of popular restaurants students at Port Huron Northern prefer to go to.

   “On Tuesdays, I would like to have open campus lunch so I could go to Red Pepper with a few of my friends to enjoy their $.50 tacos, instead of waiting after school to go,” said Dane Wirtz (‘16).

   Giving students the freedom to go and eat at whatever place they desire creates a little more expression from the students, they can choose what they want to eat at any restaurant.

   They can even decide to go home to fix something up quick.

  “I would like to head home sometimes to eat at home, instead of spending money on food,” said Michael Triebwasser (‘16).

   “The only thing I like from the school is the chicken bowl. It is a dupe for the Kentucky Fried Chicken famous bowl,” said Jenna Koppinger (‘17).

   There are of course a lot of students who enjoy the cafeteria food, but eating what is desired is better.

Vaughn Haynes Shows his Talents at Michigan Music Conference

News
By Sara Jex
Husky Herald Reporter

  Vaughn Haynes (‘18), an accomplished musician at Port Huron Northern High School, has been to selected to perform his own musical composition at the Michigan Music Conference (MMC) this winter. He will be performing with an ensemble of his choosing to show off his piece to a prestigious audience of professionals and students.

 Musical composition requires someone who is naturally gifted and is willing to invest a lot of time and effort into a goal. The MMC carefully reviews each arrangement that is submitted and chooses only the best young composers to perform at the conference.

  This challenge didn’t seem to phase the baritone saxophone and tenor drum player.

  By using online tools that allowed him to hear how the parts he wrote for each instrument fit together, Haynes was able to differentiate between what rhythms sounded correct in the arrangement and which ones did not. “If it sounds good, then I put it in,” Haynes said.

 Though he had been piecing together the composition since for weeks prior, the selection date only allowed for two months of  practice. “I submitted my piece in October and got selected in December,” Haynes said.       

  The Michigan Music Conference will be held Thursday, January 21st to Saturday, January 23rd, 2016 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

  “We have been having practices two times a week, and I have been working at it on my own at home” said Jasmine Bryce (‘17), a snare drum player for Vaughn’s piece. The ensemble rehearses as a full group as well as in specific sections, which includes various percussion instruments.  

  Bryce was able to perform at the MMC last year, with a different group of students from Port Huron Northern. “It is a huge thing where there are booths from different music companies,” Bryce said about her past experiences.

  Another experienced percussionist was asked to join Haynes’ ensemble. Noehl Bingham (‘17), upon being asked of why she decided to join the group, said “[Vaughn] asked me and I have performed at the conference before, so I was excited to participate again.”

  Last Thanksgiving, Haynes was also selected to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. He played his marching band instrument, the tenor drum, in  Macy’s Great American Marching Band.

  Hayne’s achievements show just how much hard work can pay off.

How to Properly Communicate Over Text

Feature
By Ashton Wimbury
Husky Herald Reporter

  Texting can be quite complicated.  Considering people overthink what is being said and it is possible for messages to be misinterpreted.  

  It can truly take strategic ability to properly communicate over text.  So ask yourself,  what must you do in order to master the “art form” of texting?

  First things first, stop with the constant “lol”, or “haha”, odds are, it is not funny.  People have a tendency to put it after what is being said or they simply do not have anything else to say, therefore they opt to supposedly laughing.    

  There is typically one person to carry the conversation more so than the other, yet there should be balance.  If you are the individual slacking, put effort in or just stop texting.  Just don’t text that person if you don’t feel like it, it is that simple.  Although if you are the only person that is putting in the effort, maybe just end the conversation.

  Misinterpretation is a significant problem with texting.  Since you cannot hear the person saying it, you do not know their tone or how they are necessarily feeling.  

  If you are overthinking the messages you receive, stop.  The other person is probably communicating normally.  

  “I can’t stand when people misinterpret the tone of my text, I hate that,” said Garrett Lance (‘16).

  Excessive emojis are not cute. They do not count as words. Sometimes there is an exception but not all the time.  That shows that you are not the best at keeping the conversation, but you attempt to cover it up with emojis.  You aren’t fooling anyone.

  A lot of the time when people are texting a person they like or have a crush on they ask themselves “Do I text right away or wait?” Text the person when you can.  If you cannot reply right away then you can’t. Don’t wait a long time on purpose to text back.

“I like when people read and reply right away because if I were getting attacked by the Tasmanian Devil, they could save me,” said Mike Mahaffy (‘16).

  Grammar errors are a common issue when it comes to texting, which is understandable at times.  However, if you do not know the difference between their, there, they’re,  your, you’re, or to, and too, you should reevaluate on whether you should be texting or not.  So if you do not know the difference between them I advise you to google it.

  There are two types of people, those that have read receipts on and those that do not.  Some like it on because then you can see whether someone has read the message you sent.  Others prefer having it off because they just do not care when others see the message.

  “I prefer read receipts off, ignorance is bliss,” said Carmen Rankin (‘16).

  People have different ways of texting, but it’s in everyone’s best interest to follow this advice in order to become a “texting expert”.

A New Lifestyle Comes with the New Year

Feature
By Allie Wight
Husky Herald Reporter

  ‘Tis the season when people decide that they want to make an attempt at a lifestyle change! Many people see the New Year as a perfect opportunity to start fresh and make something more of themselves.

  New Year’s resolutions may be easy to start, but once the motivation and excitement of starting something new dwindles down, following through the entire year proves to be very difficult. Very rarely do people keep with their resolution the whole year.

  Olivia Ramsey (‘19) has made a New Year’s resolution for 2016, and is sticking to it rather well. “For my New Year’s resolution, I decided to push myself hard at every basketball game and every practice and do the best that I can do to become a better player,” Ramsey said.

  “Usually when I make New Year’s resolutions I don’t really follow through with them for the whole year because over time I either forget about them or just get bored with what I planned on doing.” Ramsey said. She also said that she wants to keep her New Year’s resolution for as long as the high school basketball season continues.

  Sarah Wight (‘19) has also made a New Year’s resolution. “This year I’ve decided to make my diet a lot better and almost always eat healthy foods. I chose this as my resolution because for the past year or so I’ve been eating a lot of junk food and I decided that I want to be healthier,” Wight said.

  “I’ve actually stuck to my resolution really well so far. Other than the occasional slushie, I’ve been strict with my diet and have been eating all healthy foods,” Wight said. “My friends have been giving me grief about it because I’m pretty skinny and they say I don’t need to go on a diet, but the point is for me to be healthy.”

  Anna Vanderheuvel (‘18) didn’t make a New Year’s resolution. “I usually don’t ever make New Year’s resolutions because there’s not really anything I feel like I need to change about my life. Even if something comes along that I want to change, I don’t need to wait for it to be a new year to do something about it,” VanderHeuvel said.

  

Senioritis Plague Swarms Northern Students

Feature
By Sophie Reinhard
Husky Herald Reporter

  Senioritis is a rare disease that only high school Seniors can contract. Symptoms of this disease include, but are not restricted to: laziness, irritability, and being late for classes.

What is Senioritis? It is when Seniors become lazy and stop caring about their grades, appearance, or classwork.    

  For the most part, Senioritis only really sets in when the individual has been accepted to and has committed to a university of their choosing.

  There is a very thin line that seniors have to be careful not to cross, because if they completely fail their classes during the rest of their Senior year after acceptance, there is a possibility that the college they have been accepted to may withdraw their acceptance. That is the most common mistake that people make their Senior year.

  Colleges do not want to accept people that are not dedicated to finishing something until the end. By analyzing Seniors’ grades after acceptance, they are able weed out the people who do not have a good work ethic.

  Senioritis can occur at any point in an individual's Senior year. It usually is at its worst after Holiday Break, where students get two weeks off in the middle of winter.

  One of two reasons why Senioritis sets in after Holiday Break is because the school year will be over in only five months for Seniors at that point, and after three years of hard work in High School, they are too tired to continue. The other reason why is because most seniors think, despite what administratives tell them, that after a certain point into the second semester, the Seniors’ grades stop being taken into account.

  All Seniors count on this piece of information so they know they only have to get through a certain point in the second semester and then Senioritis can really kick in.

  With all of these factors put in, Senioritis is especially noticeable during the end of the year.

  Can you blame them? All the seniors can think about is their graduation party and hanging out with the friends over the summer for the last time and getting packed and heading off to a huge university by themselves. They are eager to get their lives started and can't really be bothered with high school work they would not affect them in the long run.

New Lab Equipment Needed for a Better Learning Environment

News
By Sophie Ahmed
Husky Herald Reporter

  Students are required to take at least one chemistry class at Port Huron Northern and can go on to take more advanced science courses such as AP Chemistry and AP Biology.  All three of these courses involve laboratory work to meet curriculum standards.  

  Much of the AP exams for both AP Chemistry and AP Biology are lab-based, meaning that the questions are based upon experiments students were supposed to conduct throughout the school year.  Some of these experiments are quite excelled, given that AP classes are a college course equivalent, this is to be expected.  

  But what is also expected is that the students are given the appropriate materials to carry out these experiments.

  Port Huron Northern’s laboratory equipment often fits the bare minimum prerequisite for these classes’ laboratory work.  Dated, damaged, and defective, the chemistry lab equipment is in need of a serious revamp and the science students of Port Huron Northern agree.

  “It would be good if Northern invested in some new equipment, it would simultaneously be an investment in the success of the students,” said Aishah Ahmed (‘16).

  According to bbc.co, better equipment leads to higher productivity and efficiency.  Because of the high volume of regular-chemistry students, an increased efficiency level can allow more classes to complete more experiments per year and prepare entry-level class students for higher level class labs.

  A gradual update of equipment could also be a viable option.  Some lab pieces are in good condition, such as the titration equipment.  Titration is a major part of the AP Chemistry exam and often appears in both multiple choice and free response questions.

  “One thing that was really good last year was the titration equipment, I really got a grasp for the topic because of all the labs we did with it,” said Andrea Johnson(‘17), referring to her experience as an AP Chemistry student during the ‘14-’15 school year.

  Students aren’t looking for a complete turnover of the chem lab, just some of the basic equipment.  “The ring stands sometimes slide down in the middle of testing,” said Ruchi Wankhede(‘17).

Northern’s goal of increasing the rigor and success of STEM classes must acknowledge the necessity of updating some pieces of lab equipment.  “It has the potential to raise enthusiasm and scores” said Ahmed.