We love…

Random Motivation: Lately, I’ve been feeling a little drab. It’s senior year, I haven’t decided what college I’m going to, I’ve been working more hours to pay for college, and homework has been heavier than ever. But, walking down the hall, I found a flier posted by my house office that caught my eye. In pretty colors is written, “Take What You Need.” At the bottom, various words are written that you can just rip right off. Some of those words include, “motivation,” “compassion,” “faith,” and “happiness.” This flier really made my day. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius. I ripped off the word “motivation” because lately I’ve really needed it. And whenever I feel like giving up, I take it out of my bag, look at it, and remember I need to keep moving forward. I’m glad someone cares about the people in this building and is doing something about it. So, thank you. —Ana Coutinho

Correct Calorie Counts: You’re sitting down after a long day at school and feel the need for something to eat. You walk to your food cabinet and grab your favorite 250 calorie snack. Perfect! As you sit down and enjoy your post work snack, you examine the empty box and notice something. Although it says that the food is 250 calories, you run your eyes to the top of the nutrients facts to find that the snack contains two serving sizes. Now, that 250 calorie snack turns into a 500 calorie nightmare.

Recently, the FDA has decided to stop the two per serving size on foods that are usually eaten in one sitting.  All food nutrient facts will reflect the serving size of the entire contents of the food. So now, your 250 calorie snack that is supposed to be two serving sizes, which we all know you eat in one, will reflect that of one serving size.

This new severing size may damage a few hearts after people truly find how many calories are in their favorite food, but I think it’s a good thing. For all those calories counters, you don’t need to do little math equations to figure out how many calories you’re eating for a small bag of trail mix. —Julianne Santos

Mrs. McDonald: As a college-bound senior, the bane of my existence are scholarship applications. While they are a necessary evil, they’re often confusing, time consuming and there are practically a million of them to dig through.

Luckily, Mrs. McDonald in main guidance is there to help us through the painstaking scholarship process. It’s a lot of work compiling all the scholarships and organizing them into bulletins with cohesive directions, and it’s a gesture that doesn’t go unappreciated. Not to mention that she’s mindful of our messy backpacks, and prints the bulletins on vibrantly colored paper.

I love that she’s there to help answer any questions we have about scholarship directions, and takes the time to sit down with students and go through them all, checking for our understanding.

She’s the scholarship angel, and I couldn’t be more thankful to have her help. —Emma Gauthier

We don’t…

Cheaters Who Don’t get Caught: High school is all about finding out who you really are, taking risks, and challenging yourself in ways you never thought of before.

At the beginning of my freshman year, I wasn’t too serious about the classes I took or what grades I got. I just wanted to pass and get out of high school as soon as possible. Then, sophomore year came and college was the main theme and has been ever since. I’ve worked by butt off just to stay on the honor roll, and sometimes even that wasn’t enough.

It really just gets under my skin when you see students in your  class cheating and the teacher knows about it, yet nothing happens. This year, I’ve seen it happen multiple times with very well known students, but nothing is done. First of all, it’s wrong. When nothing happens to them and things are just handed to them, they learn nothing.

Have fun cheating your way through college and your career. —Ana Coutinho

Cramming Before AP Tests: Now that AP tests are right around the corner, teachers are tripping. All last minute packets and projects are thrown at us with impossible due dates- you know we have other classes too, right?

And yes, I do  understand that AP teachers are nervous about teaching their students everything before the exam, but seriously, its time to calm it down some. By constantly telling students that we are weeks behind isn’t helping with the stress level. The more and more stress that begins to build means the less and less we will actually remember on the test.

The most important thing teachers can do is to support their students and offer help whenever needed. As with all the missed work, I think the best thing to do is to get all the main points across to students that will most likely show up on the dreaded exam. Giving small pop quizzes that don’t try to stump up students would be a good idea to make sure that the students know at least the key points. Other than that, all we can do is study in the warm weather while we curse at all our prior snow days. —Julianne Santos

Wacky Weather: The most awkward conversations tangent to the weather. It’s just a fact. But at this point, that’s all I can talk about. One day I’ll be in the mood for some spring cleaning with the sounds of birds chirping and the sun peering through my window and the next I’ll be bracing for the largest blizzard in the history of Cape Cod. To say that I have seasonal affect disorder is almost an understatement. I just don’t understand how Mother Nature could be that mad at us. I’ll admit I’ve dropped a few wrappers in my day, but certainly not enough to endure this emotional roller coaster of seasons. But if I can’t blame myself, and Mother Nature won’t listen to our complaints, I think we all know a little furry friend who may have been a little too comfortable under the spotlight this year. —Liam Russo