Society presents Gryphon
National Honor Society members present Gryphon at pep raUy.
Photo by Etheridge. .
By MICHELE SWEARINGEN
The National Honor Society
donated a wooden Gryphon to
Senior High at the pep rally
last Friday.
“As president of the Nation
al Honor Society I would like
to present this Gryphon to
Senior High to show one of
the many services of our or
ganization. I hope it will be
used to show school spirit at
all school functions,” said Ev
ans Kemp as the ,Gryphon
was unveiled.
“It took about three weeks
working on and off dxiring the
week and on the weekends to
finish it,” said Cheryl Gosch,
chairman of the NHS float
committee. “It was originally
Mrs. Hardy’s idea. Dale Mas-
sie, Evans Kemp, Susan Tyl
er, Dawn Dettman, Julie
Bone, W. R. Gay, and myself
completed the project,” Che
ryl also said.
“The National Honor Socie
ty always ha’s a service pro
ject to the school or to the
community. The Gryphon is
The
the second service project this
year, the first being placing
the mums in the in-door gar
den. The members of the
NHS hope this will promote
school spirit and feel it will be
a permanent representation of
the club,” explains Mrs. Bet
ty Hardy, NHS adviser. “The
students worked long and
hard and I hope the student
body appreciates the gift,”
Mrs. Hardy said.
The Gryphon was designed
by Cheryl Gosch. The painting
and sawing was done by other
members of the club.
Gryphon
Volume 5, Number 3 Rocky Mount Senior High
November 8,1979
School survey shows
students employed
Report gives energy tips
By CAROLEVE SMITH
This winter the tempera
ture is going to be on every
one’s mind, especially since
North Carolina will be com
plying with President Car
ter’s energy conservation
guiucliiies. Cue of the
important aspects of this man
date is the 65 degree maxi
mum temperature for all pub
lic buildings.
One major way to stay
warm this winter is to dress
wisely. The first layer of
clothes should be cotton. All
cotton thermal long johns, are
good to wear. This cotton
clothing seals in body heat
and at the same time is por
ous enough to allow good air
circulation. Department stores
all over the country wiU be
well stocked with a variety of
sizes.
Ski buffs recommend a
long-sleeved turtleneck cotton
shirt over the long johns as
further- insulation. Wool or^
wool-blend sweaters are sug
gested as the top layer of
clothing.
The best kind of pants to
wear are 100 per cent cotton
jeans. Wool and wool-blend
pants will also be good to
wear.
According to a bulletin sent
out by the Superintendent’s
office, if one is not feeling
well, he should stay at home.
With the lower building tem
peratures, the body tempera
ture will also be lower. This
means that everyone will
have a lower resistance and
will be more susceptible to
sore throats, colds, and fast-
spreading viruses.
Dressing wisely and conser
ving as much energy as possi
ble can make this winter
more pleasant.
By DIGGS WIMBERLEY
Transportation is an essen
tial part of any teenager’s life.
Whether it’s for social activi
ties or going to and from
work, the typical high school
student feels he is in constant
need of an automobile.
With gas prices hovering
around one dollar a gallpn,
the cost for the upkeep of an
automobile is very expensive.
Therefore, more and more
high school students are
working after school and pn
weekends.
A recent survey of juniors
and seniors at Senior High
shows that 47.2 per cent of
the two classes is employed.
Of the 808 people who com
pleted the survey, 381 res
ponded that, other than work
in the home, they do hold
down some sort of a job.
The number of students
who work compares interest
ingly with the number of stu
dents who have primary con
trol of a motor vehicle. For
ty-seven per cent or 380 stu
dents who took the survey do
have control of an automo
bile. Twenty-five per cent
piu'chased their own motor
vehicle while 39.1 per cent
have responsibility for the up-
keep of a car.
This suggests that students
are spending the majority of
their money on their auto
mobiles. Of the 47.2 per cent
of the students who work,
65.1 per cent have primary
control of a motor vehicle
while 60.4 per cent have res
ponsibility for gas, oil, insur
ance, etc.
Of the students who do not
work, 30 per cent have pri
mary control of an automo
bile. This indicates that more
and more students are choos
ing to go to work and are
doing so in order to finance
the operation of a motor vehi
cle.
Scores improve
on state level
By BRYAN GUPTON
Average Scholastic Apti
tude Test results for 1979
graduates indicate that Senior
High students scored bet
ter on the SAT than the aver
age North Carolina student.
However, the results also
show that Senior High stu
dents’ scores fell below re
gional and national averages.
Senior High students scor
ed above state, regional, and
national averages on the Test
of Standard Written Eng
lish, which evaluates one’s
ability to recognize standard
written English.
After holding steady last
year, the average national
verbal score on the SAT slip
ped two points to 427. How
ever, the average national
math score slipped only one
point to 467.
On the average. North Ca
rolina students scored 819
(393 verbal, 426 math) on the
SAT. For Senior High stu
dents, the average SAT score
was 836 (408 verbal, 428
math). The average SAT
score for the 1978 gra
duates of Senior High was 865
(422 verbal, 443 math).
Average male 1979 Senior
High graduates scored above
the state and regional aver
ages on both the verbal and
math portions of the SAT.
They scored below the nation
al level, however, on both the
verbal and math portions of
the test.
Average female 1979 Sen
ior High graduates scored be
low the national and regional
averages on both the verbal
and math portions of the
SAT. They did, however,
score above the state average
for the verbal portion of the
test.
490
SAT Score Averages for College-Bound Seniors, 1975-1979
Mith
-470
-450
Vetbal
-430
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
Graph supplied by The College Board News
Guidance Counselor Edythe
Tweedy attributes the differ
ence in score by sexes to the
number of females registering
for the test. “For the fifth
consecutive year, the number
of females registering for the
test exceeded that of males,”
said Mrs. Tweedy.
Mr. Robert Cameron of the
Admissions Testing Program
of the College Board, which
administers the SAT, agrees
with Mrs. Tweedy, He, too.
believes that the difference in
SAT scores by sex may lie
attributed to the declining
number of males tal^g the
test. Of 1979 graduates who
took the SAT, 51.7 per cent
were female, while only 48.3
per cent were male.
The SAT is a timed multi
ple-choice test made up of
verbal and mathematical sect
ions which measures one’s abi
lity to understand what he
has read; the extent of one’s
vocabulary; and one’s ability
to solve problems involving
arithmetic reasoning, algebra,
and geometry.
^ The Admissions Testing
Program says it administers
the SAT to give college ad
missions officers a common
measure _of each applicant’s
abilities since colleges re
ceive applications from stu
dents from many different
high school situations.