News Briefs: Issue 5

Freestyle receives award from Apple

Freestyle Academy of Communication Arts and Technology was 1 out of 54 schools in the nation to receive the Apple Distinguished School award for the ‘09 to ‘10 school year.

The award is given to schools that use Apple products and demonstrate superior qualities of the modern learning environment.

According to Freestyle Academy Coordinator and English teacher Gordon Jack, Freestyle submitted an application after being nominated, and on Friday, December 18, Apple announced the school as a winner of the award.

“It’s rewarding to staff and students to know that our curriculum and methods of teaching are being recognized as excellent and innovative,” Freestyle Web/Audio teacher Leo Florendo said.

Junior Class moves back Winter Dance

The school’s annual Winter Dance has been rescheduled. Originally set to take place on Friday, January 22, the date has been changed to Friday, February 26. According to Junior Class President Libby Strichartz, the change was made for several reasons.

“[The dance] was the same weekend as the Chorale Department’s annual retreat, as well as the night before the January SAT, so we decided to reschedule it,” Libby said.

Many students believe that the change is positive because it accommodates a large number of people without restricting others from attending.

The Senior Class has decided not to move the date of Sadies, which, due to the date change, now comes shortly after the Winter Dance. According to Libby, seniors decided not to move Sadies because they did not want it to happen too close to Prom.

Club releases results from stress survey

Stressed Out Students recently released the results of the survey it conducted last spring.

In the survey, 76 percent of students claimed that they feel stressed daily or often.

Some of the more specific results were that 12.9 percent of students claimed that there was no one to talk to about difficult situations, 53 percent say that they felt sad or hopeless daily or often and 57 percent feel burned out every day.

The results also showed that students experience negative side effects of stress, since 64.3 percent of students reported exhaustion, 48.5 percent have difficultly sleeping and 27 percent suffer from stomachaches.

“These results are depressing,” club adviser Judy Prothro said. “The stresses are manifesting themselves to an extent that we had not thought before.”