Why So Nervous?

By: Alexis Brock

With months of preparation the STAAR tests are coming up fast on the students. Many kid are downright terrified, while some approach the test with confidence.

 The 7th grade English STAAR will be taken on March 20-21. The English test will require students to write three essays along with a question portion. Mrs. Bean, an English Teacher, says that she of course would’ve liked to prepare her students more, but tutoring and writing practice has prepared them quite a bit. The students have been prepped enough to meet the writing standard. Mrs. Bean says she is confident in her students’ writing abilities. She is expecting all her students to pass, and show what they know. Luckily, most of them came to her with a lot of writing knowledge. Other kids are really worried about the Math STAAR test coming up in April. Mr. Kline says, “If they read the questions carefully, and come to tutoring, they will greatly increase their chances of passing.” He says tutoring will help the students by giving them more practice on the STAAR type questions they will see. He feels his students will be prepared if they were to come to tutoring. Mr. Crowe, the principal, is 100% confident in our abilities. He feels that if  we take it seriously they will be fine. He says, “I think the students are as prepared as they can be, if they’ve been working hard throughout the year.” Mr. Crowe also feels that tutoring will help students, because it fills in those small gaps in learning. Marjorie Argote (7) is one of the many nervous students. She says, “In a way I’m kind of nervous, because it’s harder than TAKS, but I feel I’m prepared enough, but I’m still nervous.” Brook Livecchi (7) is among the nervous students also. She says, “I’m nervous, but I’m going to do good, because I’m a winner.”

Overall the teachers believe in their students’ abilities to pass the STAAR tests. Even though the students are terrified, they’ll do fine on the test. So study hard, do your work, and you will pass the test.

Kony 2012 Make Him Famous

On March 17, 2012 a video was posted on YouTube. It now has 80 million views and that video is called Kony 2012. This film was made to stop Joseph Kony in 2012. Joseph Kony is a very bad man – he’s done very mean and horrific things to little children in Uganda – that’s why we need to stop him.
The Invisible Children is a group that gets supporters to help bring awareness to the horrific things that Joseph Kony is doing. Kony 2012 has been spread all around the world to get supporters, but the biggest accomplishment they achieved was getting the president to watch the video, and as a result he sent out 100 American military advisors to Uganda. Jason Russell was the co-founder of Invisible Children, and he was the one who directed Kony 2012. On April 20th an event is going to take place called “Cover the Night”. People will cover the streets with anti-Kony propaganda to bring even more awareness to the warlord’s alleged crimes.
“I think Joseph Kony should be stopped from making kids kill other people,” Caitlin Kingsley (8) explains. Coach Xanders expresses what he thinks Kony 2012 is all about by saying, “Children in Uganda are being abducted by Joseph Kony. The children are then forced to kill or be killed. The United States government should take some sort or action.” This is why we need to all come together and stop Joseph Kony by making him famous!

By: Courtney Davis

Get Stoked for Warped 2012!

As the end of the year is arriving, so is summer.  With summer comes wild kids. And with wild kids comes Warped Tour 2012. It’s one of biggest tours of the year and this time it is going to be insane.

    Since this year’s lineup is berserk, so are the fans. Ticket presales start March 30th, and people are already saving up to go see their favorite artists. There are many different bands of many different genres just waiting to be part of one of the biggest points in their career. When asked who she wanted to see, Katherine Barns (7) said, “The bands I’m looking forward to seeing are Chelsea Grin, Sleeping With Sirens, and Of Mice & Men.”

    Warped isn’t just for kids, though. Even some of the teachers here at Garner are going! There’s always plenty of adults at the tour for fun or supervision reasons. Coach Cox assured us that she was going with these words, “Of course! It’s going to be epic.”

    After 16 years of hard work Vans Warped Tour has become a diverse tour, featuring many genres of music. Since 1995 Vans has sponsored the tour, and this year is number 17. In 1998 they went international and they now have venues in Australia, Japan, Europe, Canada, and, of course, the United States.

    The tour has banned bands, also. From First to Last, Asking Alexandria, NOFX, and Broadway Calls are someof the bands banned from playing in their venues. Even though, fans still enjoy the tour where ever they are.  Fans camp out days before it starts and with booths set all over the place and food available, the tour has everything for everyone. There’s still plenty of time left to purchase tickets. Starting on March 30th they go on sale. To close, I’d like to say that Warped is something to fill summer break and fill summer break it will because on June 30th they’re coming to San Antonio. Stock up, get excited, and get going!

Mercedes