The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
Vol. XIX , No. 1
Mini-term adopted in place of Special Projects Week
Bryan Valentini
Some recent developments
have occurred concerning the fate of
Special Projects Week (SPW) next year.
In an interview with Dr. Warshaw, he
outlined the course of events for the next
three years. Next year, the mini-term sys
tem will be implemented. It will consist of
eight days in March of 2000. In January
of2001 mini-term will be held for ten days.
Before the third year, these two mini
terms will be evaluated to compare their
effectiveness over SPW, and whether
the school will hold another mini-term.
Originally there were 15 days planned
for mini-term, but that was reduced to
eight days and then ten days the follow
ing year. Extra days may be added to the
end of the year or taken away from some
holiday, but this aspect has not been
defined.
In many respects, mini-term is like
SPW, in that students can have indepen
dent, quality projects that must be ap
proved by a committee. There will be no
quota afs to how many independent
projects will be allowed. Mini-term will
also offer classes to explore common is
sues of interest while students complete
a small project that is not as demanding
as an independent project. Mini-term
would be the training for the project to
Those spirited S&Mers
Becky Ballard
It was the third quarter of the year
and morale was low. Break was over,
the weather was cold, and NCSSM’s
students were beginning to lose the en
thusiasm they had exhibited first semes
ter. SGA came to the rescue with,
according to SGA member Vic
Weigman, “something fun planned for
the month of January that doesn’t make
the whole month kind of dull.”
Spirit Week was a time when stu
dents went to extremes to show just how
much spirit they have.
Spirit Week started off with a
Powder Puff football game. The
gender’s switched rolls and the girls
played football while the guys cheered
them on in skirts holding pom-poms.
The juniors and seniors faced off, and
the competition was fierce. The two
classes were so closely matched that
the game ended as a tie.
Students showed up in class
beaming with pride and dressed to the
day’s theme. Monday was “Pajama
Day”, Tuesday “Crossdress Day,”
Wednesday “Dress To Impress Day”,
and Thursday “Twin Day”. On Friday,
the juniors dressed in white and the se
Spirit Week was not for the faint of
heart; (above) the Powder Puff
cheerleaders endure the mud and muck
of the IM field for school pirit. Senior
Aaron Stoertz (below) passes a lady
like Crossdress day in English class.
niors showed their pride in blue.
The hall with the most spirit and
best banner. Third Bryan, was awarded
a pizza party. •
Unlike many other high
schools, NCSSM does not have a foot
ball team. Vic Weigman does not think
it’s a problem that NCSSM lacks a foot
ball team. “Basketball is something we
have more spirit in. At the basketball
games the fans go crazy, they’re loud.”
The week ended with a basket
ball game and Spirit Dance where the
Spirit King and Queen, Shaunita
Wallace and Greg McCoy, were
crowned.
The Spirit Week Queen, Shaunita
Wallace, felt that “it was a real honor to
be nominated Spirit Queen because my
efforts to promote school spirit were
finally recpgnized. I was really sur
prised.” She would like to tell the stu
dent body that “its important to have
school spirit because it keeps us uni
fied as a school.”
Spirit Week brought together
NCSSM students and provided them
with fun opportunities to act as wild as
they wanted to. As SGA member Sohair
Ahmadi said, “it unifies S&M students
as a whole group.”
be finished later during the week. The
mini-courses will be designed to students
offer a wide variety of experiences not
found in the regular school year. In ret
rospect, mini-term may be more stmctured
than SPW, and the classes may give
homework, but administrators are confi
dent that mini-term is a best alternative
See Mini-Term Page 12
Lofts to be
removed
VidyaGoli
A controversy has begun at
NCSSM over whether the lofts should
come down. All the lofts in Reynolds and
Beall are going to be removed this sum
mer because they are potential fire haz
ards. According to Warren Basket, this
action has been pending for years, but
with the installation of the new sprinkler
system, the lofts will have to be taken
down. He said the sprinklers should be
in by late spring or early summer, and the
lofts will be removed by next fall if there
are not any delays. The beds are going
to be replaced with “bunkable” beds once
the lofts are taken down. “Bunkable”
beds can be separated or they can be
joined to form bunk beds. However, he
mentioned that only the beds are to be
replaced. The other furniture, such as
desks, cabinets, and dresser drawers, will
stay.
The action to remove the lofts was
not entirely a school decision. Bret
Reece, the Head oTPlant Facilities, em
phasized that this is in accordance with
state regulations because “after the fire-
See Lofts Page 12
Science and Math has to say “Goodbye” to Nate, Eddie and Chris
Bryan Valentini
At the end of January, SLI Eddie
Hanes finished his duties and enjoyed a
party thrown by his 4"' West boys to
honor his time at NCSSM. Hanes is pur
suing his law studies full-time now.
At the end of the first semester,
SLI Nate Brooks quietly left his post on
3"‘‘ East. Brooks is now helping young
disabled children.
Chris Smith, 2nd East’s SLI, will
leave by the march 5th extended. He is
planning to go into Network
admintration, thanks partly to his work
here in ITS. One of his favirote parts
about NCSSM was being able to “con
nect with almost everybody, a real
unique environment.”
Many students feel it is a shame
that three SLIs decided to leave the
NCSSM campus.
At the same time, 3'** West’s SLI
Jeff Bray is recovering form back prob
lems including a mptured disk which took
him to the hospital for quite a while.
When Brooks announced he was
leaving, he stated that he felt that at the
beginning of the year he would be busy
helping students get accustomed to the
NCSSM atmosphere. But as the year
progresses, he discovered that students
were managing pretty well without him.
He also said that he did not want to have
to enforce all the laws and regulations
on students. “He was a nice guy, 1 liked
him lot ... but he felt he really wasn’t
needed as much as he once thought,”
Junior Yinon Bentor commented.
Also concerning regulations. Jun
ior Doug Palletta felt that “seniors had
more problems with Nate’s strictness
compared to Sandy [the previous
SLI].. .who was more lenient and under
standing.” On the other hand, Palletta
appreciated that Brooks was willing to
sit down with the juniors and not treat
them like juniors.
3'*' East’s new SLI, Steven
Goldberg, and Eddie Hanes’ replace-
See Goodbye Page 12
IMrtiliorsradi?
h hfeL—
News 1,9
Features. 6-8
Sports. 10-n
Opinions. 2-5
NCSSM Baskeball fans
SHOW THEIR Uni Pride at
THE LAST BASKETBALL GAME
OF THE CONTROVERSIAL
SEASON.
SEE ARTICLES ON PAGES
3 8( 1 O
Students and
TEACHERS STAND
OUTSIDE DURING A MID
DAY FIRE ALARM, A
PRANK THAT WOULD
RESULT IN A LEVEL III.
See Pages 6&7