XA Dayxx, Monthxx DD, YYYY
JamesEastman
Headline Writing
Gering High School
even
Gering COURIER
Purity rings serve as
Career academies ease transition
between high school, real world physical symbol of chastity
By Morgan Wallace
The Gering Board of
Education has intentions
to implement a career
academy within the high
school hopefully within
the next year. Career
academies hellp students
grow in their chosen
career path and also give
students a jump start for
jobs straight out of high
school.
Career academies are
used in schools around the
country to give students
a deeper understanding
of the relation from the
school room to the real
working world.
According to mdrc.com,
a nonprofit, nonpartisan
education and social policy
research
organization
dedicated to learning
that works to improve
programs and policies
that affect the poor, career
academies have become
a widely used high school
reform initiative that aims
to keep students engaged
in school and prepare them
for successful transitions to
postsecondary education
and employment.
Career
academies,
established more than 30
years ago, serve students
from grades nine or ten
through grade twelve as
organized small learning
communities
which
combine academic and
technical
curriculum
around a career theme
and establish partnerships
“Hopefully, if we get board
approval, we will start some of
the career academies next year.
I would hope that we would
continue to start with a few and
then see how we could evolve
more career academies and bring
them up on board as budgets
and staffing permit.”
- GHS principal Eldon Hubbard
with
local
employers
to provide work-based
learning
opportunities.
The website estimates
there to be more than
2,500 career academies
currently operating around
the country.
The same website
listed their key findings
from research on career
academies which found
that the program produced
sustained earnings gains
that averaged eleven
percent more per year for
academy group members
than for individuals in
the non academy group.
Labor market impacts
were concentrated among
young men, a group that
has experienced a severe
decline in earnings has
seen a 17 percent increase
for men who attended a
career academy.
An
increase
in
the
percentage
of
young
people
living
independently
with
children and a spouse has
been experienced through
men as well as positive
impacts on marriage and
custodial partnership.
The website mentioned
that while all of these are
beneficial, overall, the
career academies serve as
pathways to success for
postsecondary education
opportunities, but are not
more effective than the
options available to the
non-Academy groups.
The effects that stem
from career academies are
based on what the student
does with the education
and opportunities they
receive. The academy is
an opportunity for those
in high school to prepare
themselves for the outside
workforce before they are
“thrown out” into the real
world.
By Tori Mueller
As of lately, chastity
rings, also known as purity
rings, have become more
mainstream within the last
decade. Every day, more
and more young teens and
adults are sliding on a ring
and taking that special
vow of abstinence until
marriage.
Making the decision to
remain pure until marriage
can be a difficult or not so
difficult decision for some
people. Either way, it is
not a decision that can be
simply made over night.
It is important to sit
down and take the time to
think long and hard before
making a commitment
like this to either yourself
or God. This is a choice
that you and only you can
make.
“My promise is not based
on religion,” junior Morgan
Wallace said. “Although
I do have very strong
religious beliefs, I made
the decision on my own
to respect myself and my
future husband.”
With today’s norms,
talking about sex is a lot
more open than it used
to be just ten years ago,
which is a good thing.
Informing teenagers about
sex is a detrimental part of
growing up into young,
responsible adults.
For junior Allie Baird, it
all started at the age of 14,
when she started to have
an understanding really of
what the effects that sex
can have on her are and
when her parents felt that
she was old enough to
understand and have an
opinion of her own.
“In today’s society, sex
is becoming just part of
the norm,” Baird said,” and
I didn’t want to be part of
that. I have a strong belief
that sex should be saved
for the person you’re going
to spend your life with and
wearing a purity ring just
allows me to be constantly
Snow season fosters love/hate relationship
By Tori Mueller
For every snowy season,
comes a love/hate relationship between high school
students and snow days.
First comes the love and joy
of having no school all day,
then comes the hatred and
annoyance of the realization
of school in the morning.
Snow days also mean that
the roads are going to be a
mess for any and all cars without 4-wheel drive. On top of
that, the treacherous roads
are not going to last for just
a few days, they are going to
be there until the next heat
wave.
“The snow day that was
called in mid- December
was necessitated by large
amounts of snow that went
largely unpredicted,” Superintendent Bob Hastings
said. “As a result, the city was
not able to get started with
snow removal until around
4:00 a.m. This made getting
streets cleared off by the
time our staff and families
would have needed to leave
for school impossible. Addi-
tionally, the side streets were
nearly impossible to drive
through without a four-wheel
drive vehicle.”
However, being the person
in charge of deciding whether or not the district will get
a snow day is not an easy job.
For Hastings, there are many
different things that must be
considered before determining whether or not a snow
day is called.
For instance, perhaps the
utmost of importance is the
safety of staff, students and
the general public. Hastings
must also communicate with
First Student (provider for
district bus transportation)
to see if the bus drivers are
comfortable running routes
in town and in the country.
"I always take some time
on those mornings to go out
and drive at least around our
schools and the main streets
in town to check on their condition," Hastings said.
Another important factor
to be contemplated is what
local businesses are planning
on doing. If most of them
choose to stay open, that
could mean a lot of children
are going to be left home
unattended.
When coming to the decision for whether or not to
declare a snow day for the
district, Hastings will consult
with neighboring districts,
especially Scottsbluff, so that
all are aware of what decisions are going to be made
and can act accordingly.
The community is notified
through several different
sources after a snow day
has been publicized. Parents can easily be informed
through phone calls from the
schools, notification of the
local media and releases on
social media such as Twitter,
Facebook and the district’s
website. Whenever unpleasant weather is forecasted,
families are encouraged to
tune in to local television and
radio for regular updates.
Speculations have been
made that snow days are
built into the school district’s
schedule, however, Hastings stated that we don’t
necessarily build in “snow
days” so to speak. Students
who attend public school
in the state of Nebraska are
required to attend a certain
number of hours each year.
K-8 students are required
to attend 1,032 hours and
9-12 students are required
to attend 1,080 hours. Gering’s calendar for the current
school year allows for approximately 1,100 hours for
our high school students so
there is a small amount of
wiggle room for things like
unpredicted weather.
Unlike students, there is no
day off for the superintendent when there is a snow
day. On the district’s last
snow day in mid-December,
Hastings’s morning began
bright and early at 4:00 a.m
with a driving trip to evaluate the road conditions and
making important phone
calls to Harold Steward, from
First Student, Curt Hanson,
the district’s maintenance
director, and Rick Myles from
Scottsbluff to discuss current
issue of the weather.
“Though we did close central office, I still do come to
work on those days,” Hastings
said.
reminded of that belief.”
Wearing a purity ring
can contribute in being
a constant reminder and
symbol of the commitment
that you have made. It
can help you in times of
temptation to just say no.
Most of all, it provides
guidance in the search for
that one guy or girl who
will respect the significance
of that ring. No one should
ever be pressured in
doing something they are
uncomfortable with.
“Some guys have asked
about my ring, “Baird said. “I
talked to one guy who told
me he couldn’t consider
dating me because of it.
But honestly, I look at is as a
screening process. If a guy
is actually worth my time,
he’ll appreciate the choice
that I’ve made. Honestly it
makes things easier that
way.”
On the other hand,
Wallace, the idea of where
a purity ring didn’t really
come to mind until she was
in a quincenera and they
had a ceremony. Her mom
said she should participate
in order to further her
promise to herself and
have that physical proof of
her promise at all times.
“I actually didn’t want to
get one,” Wallace said. “I
always had the mindset
that it was MY decision
and I didn’t need a ring in
order to keep my promise
to myself.”
Unfortunately, a sad
truth is that it seems a lot
of teens believe sex is one
of the most important
parts of a relationship. A
relationship should be
built on trust, love, and
respect for one another,
not lust and infatuation.
Wallace is a prime
example of this. She has
been in a serious and
committed
relationship
with her boyfriend for
nine months and counting
without breaking her
pledge.
“My decision hasn’t
changed my relationship
at all,” Wallace said. “In
high school a lot of teens
have the mindset that sex
is the main element in
relationships, but there is
so much more than that. I
have a strong relationship
without sex and have had
no trouble keeping my
promise.”
Just remember, remaining
abstinent until marriage
is completely up to you.
Purity is a lifestyle, not just
a small part of life.