Student Life |
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By Ryan Sy
At Wall High School, the month of October is the “Month of Good Vibes,” which promotes a healthy and safe school environment. Each week in the month of October has a different meaning. The different themes for each are the Week of Respect, Week of Violence & Vandalism Awareness, and Red Ribbon Week. These weeks all contribute to the “Month of Good Vibes” at Wall. “Throughout Red Ribbon Week, students will learn that you should never turn to drugs or alcohol to resolve or help you with anything,” said sophomore Renee Grunwald, the president of the DELTA club at Wall. “They will also become more knowledgeable about how harmful drugs and alcohol are and the ways they can negatively affect you. DELTA Club has an impact on Red Ribbon Week through spreading awareness about substance abuse and its prevention. We are holding a game event in the library every Friday for the rest of October, so the students may have the opportunity to participate in playing the Wheel of Misfortune.” There are many events scheduled throughout the month. One is the daily words of wisdom on the morning show. Many events are planned during Red Ribbon Week such as the annuel planting of the the red ribbon flags, faculty outreach day and Red shirt day. The color red symbolizes the awareness brought to the destruction that drugs causes to thousands of victims and their families each year. Also, doors throughout the school were covered with blue paper because a door-decorating contest. The doors are designed to relay a message of respect, anti-bullying as well as foster a positive school climate. The winners of the door-decorating contest are Mrs. Jill Alexander and Ms. Joi Iocano (Room A-4), Ms. Joanna Fierro (B-7), Mrs. Rachel Miller (C-8), Mrs. Weiner (D-9), and Ms. Erin Wajda and Ms. Lisa Hyland (E-3). “Well, I actually named the month,” said junior Michelle Fox, the co-president of the Be-Well club at Wall, which is advised by Ms. Kendall Petschauer and Ms. Gwen Vela. The club hosted a Chip Away Violence event where it handed out snack chips outside of the auditorium during unit lunch. An event for art students is the Peace of Art Contest. It allows students to make art representing one of the weekly themes during the month. The pieces will be judged on Oct. 29 and will be displayed in the glass cabinets at the front entrance.
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By Madison Clayton This year vibrant, colorful and artistic paintings occupy 40 senior parking spots art Wall High School, allowing students to customize their very own parking spot in the senior lot. Last year Senior Class President Dave Roberts and Junior Class President Alex Longo came up with a fundraising idea to have customized parking spots in the senior lot. The custom parking spot option was presented this year to the senior class in July through an email from assistant principal Mrs. Kristen Scott. The price of each parking spot was $40 and a maximum of 60 spots were available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The students interested in partaking in the fundraiser had to send in their design for approval. Once approved, they were given specific days for which they could go and paint their spot. The Class of 2019 raised $1,600. “Last season during track Alex and I noticed that a couple of other schools had their parking lots painted,” Roberts explained. “We found out that these were senior class spots and thought, what a great idea, we should do that at Wall.” The student advisory committee, senior Courtney Carduner specifically, presented the idea to Mrs. Scott for students to purchase spots and design them. Mrs. Scott approved the idea and set the price. “There were a couple of hurdles, but everyone was on board,” Mrs. Scott said. “We have had no problems so far. I really feel that because the students paid and painted the spots themselves it really shows peer-on-peer respect.” “A reason why I wanted to paint a parking spot was because I knew it would be easier to reserve one than to find one every morning. It saves me time in the morning from driving around, searching for a spot.” said Cate Pasterchick who painted a parking spot. “I feel like the fundraiser was a total success,” Roberts said. “We plan on this becoming a tradition at Wall, with the underclassman designing their own spots one day.” For the future Mrs. Scott said she intends to keep the idea and is open to the possibility of expanding it to the junior lot.  Pictured here is one of 60 painted senior parking spots at Wall High School.
By Ryan Sy
Bullying is not a new phenomenon, however, ways it can be thwarted continue to evolve. A new app introduced to Wall Township School District called STOP!T allows students the opportunity to anonymously report concerns. That power does not come without school consequences and potentially legal action if claims are determined untrue. The app allows students to report threats or any type of behavior anonymously. It is a safety measure and a way to protect students from potential violence towards them or the school community. “The STOP!T app, by design, was actually created in an anti-bullying situation where kids were not comfortable for some reason reporting it or maybe call them a bystander not in a negative way and really made for kids to become an ‘upstander’ to report that,” said Wall High School vice principal Mrs. Kristen Scott. “I think kids are pretty clear now that our digital footprint is there. Hopefully kids use it for the right reasons.” The goal for the app is the make the school environment safer. It is designed for students to be able to speak up without having to put their name to it and end the fear that some students might have of telling an adult about a situation face to face. In the app, there is a hotline called 2nd Floor. This is a 24-hour service that students will be able to access if they need help with something emotionally during their time in high school and beyond. “The app makes it easier for students to report bullying,” said sophomore Fred DiPaola, member of the Heroes and Cool Kids Club at Wall. “It will make students feel safer because they might think less about possibly being bullied.” If the accusations that is proven to be untrue, however, then school disciplinary actions will be taken and, depending on the severity, there will be legal action taken. That should make students think twice before making a false claim due to the punishment that comes along with it. STOP!T does not discourage face-to-face reports about bullying or other threats to the school and is just another way to help keep the school environment safer. By Jack Meyer
The widespread use of electronic smoking devices, sometimes called “vapes” because of the vapor that is released from them, has been an issue at Wall High School and at many others throughout the state this year. Suspension numbers for students caught vaping at school have risen substantially since last year so, naturally, the focus has shifted to educating students about its dangers. Vapes typically contain nicotine, but they can also contain other drugs such as marijuana. They come in many different variations, but common models can fit into a pocket and look like a USB memory stick. They are commonly believed to be safer than actual cigarettes, which is why many students and their parents feel that it is OK to use them. “I think it starts with the e-cigarettes 10 years ago or so that started to ease into the adolescent age bracket,” said Wall Student Assistance Counselor Mrs. Alysa Fornarotto-Regenye. “I think that parents didn’t realize how it wasn’t a good idea to let their kids use e-cigarettes because the concept behind that with big tobacco was that it keeps kids from using but, in reality, you are training a behavior. You are training your brain to do an action, so it started with those and then it went to the vapes.” Mrs. Regenye emphasized that this has not been a problem limited to the High School, but has been present at the majority of high schools across New Jersey. She mentioned she attended a meeting with representatives from many different schools and they all expressed their concerns with how much of a problem vaping has become. “I think that with all of the cracking down that the school has already been doing, I feel like it’s not going to be much of a problem later,” said DELTA (Discovering Excellence Through Teen Alliance) Club member senior Allie Lee. The school has furthered teachers’ knowledge about vapes and suspended students for vaping on school grounds. “I feel like there are a lot of misconceptions about how bad vape is,” said sophomore DELTA member Ally Fornino. “People seem to think that it’s not that bad and don’t even realize that it has nicotine in it.” The DELTA Club has been trying to think of ways to further educate students about the harmful effects of vaping and will continue to try and make the student body aware of them. |