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Robotics team puts on creative fundraiser |
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By: Ben Hurston, Editor |
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  On the Friday before the Thanksgiving Holidays, hundreds of students and faculty gathered outside the student entrance during Advisors to participate in an innovative fundraiser put on by the Oak Grove Robotics Team.
To raise money for the regional competition in Auburn this weekend, the OGHS state champion Robotics Team sold duct tape to students - one yard for one dollar. The duct tape was used to tape three, student-chosen faculty members, Mr. Taylor, Chef Michael, and Mrs. Peterson, to the gym wall. The fundraiser was a huge success, with hundreds of students participating by taping, taking pictures, and waiting to see if the faculty members would stick to the wall - they didn’t.
The idea for the fundraiser came from Robotics member Tiffany Wolfe, a senior graduating this month from Oak Grove. Taping someone to a wall was an idea first introduced to Wolfe by her youth pastor from an old church a long time ago, and when it came time to brainstorm for fundraisers, she realized that it would be perfect for the teams’s fundraiser.
“We wanted to do something creative,” Wolfe said. “Becuase we are such a big school, there are so many fundraisers, and people can get tired of them. We wanted to do something different and exciting.” The team loved Wolfe’s idea and worked hard to put the fundraiser together.
The first step was to get the idea approved by the Lamar County School Board, and that turned out to be the easiest part of the process. The Robotics team polled students on who they’d want to tape to the walls, but the team had a hard time getting the student body’s choices to volunteer to be taped to a brick wall by half of the student body. After finally finding three willing faculty members, the team began selling tickets and making flyers to raise interest for the event, and based on the turnout, a lot of interest was raised.
When advisor time arrived on the day of the fundraiser, around 300 students and faculty gathered outside to take part, many more than the team was expecting. Students were packed in trying to get a view of the faculty members on the wall, and with only 20 members of the Robotics team to assist the hundreds of students, things got a little chaotic.
In the end, the team raised over 300 dollars for their trip to Auburn this weekend, which, combined with money from corporate sponsors, shrunk the overall cost of the trip from 100 dollars a person to 25. “Even though it was quite chaotic, it went extrememly well,” said Teressa Sappington, one of the Robotics team sponsors.
As for the team, they left this morning at 4 a.m. for the tournament this weekend. “We’re going to have fun and hopefully win something,” said Hang Shan, Robotics team captain.
The team plans on holding the same fundraiser next year. “Hopefully someone will stick,” Wolfe said.
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Massey captures perfect score of 2400 on SAT |
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By: Brock Hurston, Staff Reporter |
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 On November 20, I had the privilege of viewing one of the most amazing scenes that I have ever seen. On this day, students who took the SAT Reasoning Test on November 7 were able to get their scores back. Everyone in my first block class had gotten their scores- that is, everyone but Kaya Massey.
When Kaya told me she hadn’t looked at her score, I convinced her to go to Ms. Clark’s room to check it. I went along for moral support, as Kaya has been known to get rather hysterical after receiving her scores. What happened next was unbelievable!
Kaya immediately went to the computer, which was facing the wall, and began to check her scores. Ms. Clark and I watched in horror as Kaya’s face began to change shape.
“Ms. Clark, what does this mean?” stuttered Massey. “Kaya,” replied Ms. Clark, “that means that I hate you!” I instantaneously ran to the computer, and honestly, for a second, I did not believe my eyes. Next to each of her sub scores (critical reading, math, and writing) was the number 800. “Kaya, you made a 2400!” I screamed.
For those of you who do not know, a 2400 is a perfect score on the SAT, equivalent to a 36 on the ACT; therefore, Massey’s hysterical reaction was completely justifiable. After a few seconds of jumping up and down and hugging Ms. Clark and me, Massey ran into Mrs. Shoemake’s room next door to tell her the great news. She then sprinted down the entire hall to explain what happened to Ms. Welch.
“I was thrilled. I was ecstatic. I don’t remember any of it because I was so happy,” Massey said. “It was honestly the best day of my life.”
Just to put this feat into perspective, out of the nearly 1.5 million people that took the SAT last year, only 269 made a perfect score. This statistic puts Massey in the top .018% of high school seniors. This score dramatically increases her chances of being accepted to her top colleges, Brown and Duke.
Surprisingly, Massey did not intensively prepare for the November test. Her only studying came last fall in Humanities with Ms. Clark, when she mainly practiced for the PSAT, a similar standardized test. “Ms. Clark is the best teacher ever,” Massey said. “I would never have survived if she hadn’t been there to make me crawl out from behind Mrs. Shoemake’s filing cabinet and finally stop crying.” Massey can also attribute some of her success to her mother, who read to her for up to four hours a day when she was an infant.
In addition to a 2400 on the PSAT, Massey currently has a 35 on the ACT, a 222 on the PSAT, and a perfect 5 on both the AP Calculus and AP English Literature tests. These scores are even more impressive considering that Massey is merely 16 years old and skipped her sixth grade year. “I am very excited, and I couldn’t have done any of this without the help of Ms. Clark, my parents, and other great teachers.” |
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Obama makes nominations for Cabinet |
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By: Jacob Weiss, Staff Reporter |
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In January President Bush and his current cabinet members will be replaced with President-elect Barack Obama and his chosen team of advisors. In the past weeks, Obama has carefully named officials to his newly chosen Cabinet. He has already picked who will fill several of the top positions on his team. The most recognizable, yet surprising of these names is New York Senator Hillary Clinton, Obama’s early rival in the Democratic Primary race. Chosen as Secretary of State, Clinton has received an impressive level of support for her nomination to the Cabinet. According to the USA Today Gallup Poll conducted on December 1, there is a 69% approval rating of Clinton as Secretary of State.
Other significant names of officials who have been tapped include current President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Timothy Geithner (Secretary of the Treasury), current Secretary of Defense under the Bush administration, Robert Gates (Secretary of Defense), Hispanic Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson (Secretary of Commerce), Rahm Emanuel (White House Chief of Staff), and the first African American to be nominated for his position, Eric Holder (Attorney General).
After his inauguration, Barack Obama and his Cabinet will take over in Washington. In 38 days, Barack Obama will be the President of the United States. |
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