High Life
Thursday, November 29,2001
News
(mtf
The Student Tobacco and
Alcohol Resource Team
(START) has created a website
including a scrapbook for the
club, tobacco and alcohol
information, a parent page, and
other links. The address is
www.start4.org
Greensboro Ballet will present
an all new Nutcracker, with new
costumes, new scenery, and all
new choreography at the War
Memorial Auditorium. Opening
night will be December 7th at
8:00 RM. and other perfor
mances will be December 8th at
2:00 P.M. and December 9th at
3:00 P.M.
TTie GHS band will be raising
money by selling grapefruit,
tangerines,oranges, tangelos,
apples and pairs throughout
November and December.
This year’s theme for the
Reflection’s contest is “I hold in
my hand...’’Applications with
rules for music, visual arts,
photography and literature are
available in the main office.
Deadline for entries is Friday,
December 14th.
All students interested in taking
the January 26th SAT must
register by December 21 st. Late
Registration will extend until
January 2nd.
Driver’s education classes will
not be held throughout the rest
of November or December. The
next class will run from January
14-29th.
Make sure to go to
www.schoolpop.com before
buying anything online and
register Grimsley as your
selected school. After doing this
whenever you shop online on
over 200 major sites, a portion of
your purchase will go to benefit
Grimsley.
: your family uses Campbell
products, please save the labels
and deposit them in the collec
tion box located in the Grimsley
Media Center. These labels can
be redeemed for school supplies.
These labels are going to be
collected all year long.
Coming soon from the sopho
more class...the coolest in
Whirlie fashion...Be sure to buy
i Grimsley keychain/photo ID
holder for only $3, on sale
between December 10 and
December 21.
Middle College offers alternative
to traditional school experience
An increasing number of
students are turning to
the alternative means of
education that Middle
College offers.
By Sara Nelson
Reporter
Junior Lauren Michaelson has
what many students would con
sider the perfect schedule. She be
gins each morning by waking up at
8:30 A.M.. Her first class doesn’t
start until 9:45, she has an hour and
a half for lunch, and her day ends
at 2:45.
As one might guess, Michaelson
is not a student at a typical high
school. She attends Greensboro
College Middle College, and is just
one of an increasing number of stu
dents opting to attend Middle Col
lege instead of a traditional high
school.
While Middle College is new to
Guilford County, it is not a new con
cept. Superintendent Terry Grier
began a similar program in
Williamson County, Tennessee,
before coming to Guilford County.
The Middle College program is one
of about 30 nationwide. New York,
New York and Austin, Texas have
similar programs.
The program operates by plac
ing satellite high schools on local
college campuses. While students
have the option of enrolling in col
lege courses, most classes are
taught by high school teachers.
Guilford County operates Middle
Colleges on the campuses of
Greensboro College and Guilford
Technical Community College.
Students on the Greensboro Col
lege campus focus more on the hu
manities, while GTCC offers a
more technologically oriented
path. Each campus has between
100 and 150 students.
Middle College seeks to provide
teens who don’t fit in at traditional
high schools with an environment
in which they can thrive.
Michaelson agrees, citing the re
laxed atmosphere as her primary
reason for choosing Middle Col
lege over Grimsley. “I was too pres
sured at Grimsley,” she said. “It
was too overwhelming and com
petitive there. [Here] it is smaller
and you have a lot more freedom.
You also get a lot more respect
from teachers.”
The school also targets stu
dents who have or are consider
ing dropping out of school. It en
courages them to consider stay
ing in school by providing an al
ternative educational environ
ment.
Middle College students take
three honors level high school
courses in core subjects. They also
have the option of enrolling in a
college course, which is funded
by the school district. This semes-
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Bartow photo
The learning environment at Middle College is much less formal
than at Grimsley. Three friends joke around at a bench and study for
their classes.
ter, Michaelson is not enrolled in
any college courses, although she
does plan to enroll in one at a later
date.
Contrary to popular belief,
Middle College is no easier than the
typical public high school, and
does not cater to slow learners in
the manner that so many other al
ternative education programs do.
Its’ relaxed atmosphere, combined
with respect from teachers is what
makes it so appealing. “Everyone
talks about how Middle College
seems really easy, but the classes
are really not. The atmosphere
makes it less stressful and that’s
what makes it easier,” said
Michaelson.
Though Middle College might
not be for everyone, those who
“ [Here] it is smaller
and you have a lot more
freedom. You also get a
lot more respect from
teachers.”
-Lauren Michaelson,
junior
attend it are definitely getting
more out of their high school
experience. Michaelson sums it
up best by stating that though
she misses her friends from
Grimsley, the relaxed atmosphere
and increased responsibility
found at Middle College makes
the experience worth it.
New technology continues towering growth
New cell phones, pocket
PC’s, and palm pilots re
place bigger, less expen
sive ones.
By Margaret Hair
Reporter
Meet the ridiculously large, hor
ribly outdated cell phone. Avail
able in only one color, with but one
ring tone, circa the early ‘90s, and
requiring a purse all its own to carry,
this communication technology is
the direct opposite of today’s tele
phones for the person on the go.
Now consider the Sprint
Samsung SPH-n200, which has text
in both English and Spanish, stores
238 numbers, and has an alarm and
the capability to keep a to-do list.
Compared to this and many other
recent technological advances in
communication, the aforemen
tioned phone dials and rings-
sometimes.
According to a recent survey
done by Teenage Research Unlim
ited, owning a cell phone, no mat
ter how antiquated, makes one part
of the 37 percent of children ages
12 to 19 who use mobile phones.
This figure is predicted to be on
the rise as sending text messages
back and forth between two tele
phones becomes the latest trend.
Often wielding numerically based
names, such as Motorola T900,
Nokia 3360, RioVolt SP250, or IBM
T560, these new devices are be
ginning to flood the tech world.
In addition to the widespread use
of cellular phones, instant mes
saging services and pocket com
puters are also causing a ruckus
in the techno communication mar
ket.
For example, pocket PCs in 2002
are designed to be only slightly
less developed than a basic desk
top, sized to fit in your pocket.
Though they carry price tags of
about $500, they allow Internet ac
cess, game play, downloading ca
pabilities, and various other fea
tures that boggle the non-com
puter-oriented mind.
As students and everyone else
“Technology has be
come part of our soci-
-Gerald Lau,
junior
use these advancements more fre
quently, their necessity and ben
eficial qualities come into ques
tion. Gerald Lau, a senior, said,
“Technology has become part of
our society. Hi-tech devices like
G3 cellular system, palm pilots.
and DSL have
made our world
efficient and
communica
tion more con
venient. How
ever, our reli
ance on tech
nology would
end up in so
cial disorder if
technology
were to fail.”
Junior Ben
Thompson
said, “Techno
logical ad
vances in the
past century
have enhanced
our society
ten-fold. The
world market
as we know it
today could
not exist with
out speed of
light communi
cations systems.
is?-
Bartow photo
New technology not only affects the husine.ss and
entertainment world, but the students of Grimsley
as well. Junior Audrey Barker organizes her day on
her palm pilot, one of the newest technological
advances becoming more common in high schools.
Both agree that
technology has advanced society
greatly.
Despite differing views con
cerning their benefits and neces
sity, technological advances are
being made around every corner,
at every bend in the road of a year.
As the trusty, heavy, old mobile
phone stands defeated by the
newer, smaller, and more advanced
versions, it gives one last obnox
iously loud monotone ring before
it gives up. Left in a cloud of dust
with the likes of bag phones and 8
track players, palm- sized conve
niences have finally surpassed it.