Tag: #news

Whetstone Vs. Briggs

By Maia Johnson

“We were uncertain before the game started about what to expect,” senior Sam Price says of last night’s baseball game against Briggs High School. “So we were slightly nervous because we heard they were good. But obviously that wasn’t the case,” he laughs, because Whetstone ended up defeating Briggs 16 to 1, winning themselves the City Championship.

The trophy was handed to seniors Luke Green-Lauber, Nick Hall, Dexter Kowalski, Zach Barnum and Sam Price, but not before a memorable game was played out. They got off to an early three-run lead in the first inning, and by the second inning, they were leading by 8.

“Zach continued his great pitching, holding them to one unearned run,” Sam says of the single point earned by Briggs. “But after that great pitching and solid defense, Briggs held no more runs.” Already at a major advantage, Whetstone finished out the game when “the show began as we scored 8 more runs in the third inning, leaving Briggs down 16-1 and completely demoralized.”

The team spent plenty of time celebrating, accepting the award, their tee-shirts, and taking multiple pictures out on the field. After a while they made their way over to Buffalo Wild Wings, where the seniors spent their final moments as a part of the team. “It’s been a great season, and an even greater four years, but it’s time for me to move on. I wish the best of luck to next year’s team, and I hope they get to beat Briggs for the 6th year in a row!” Price added.

Tardiness: Insubordination?

By Maia Johnson

Whetstone’s tardy policy has been a controversial topic ever since the implementation of issued Wednesday schools as punishment for being tardy five times in a single semester. This happened at the beginning of the second semester, and there are pros and cons to its establishment.

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AfterSchool App

By Arielle Swinehart

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PC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0JEBDVKhXs

As of December 9, 2015, the popular app AfterSchool was on more than 22,300 high school campuses. While the app was designed for teenagers and students, many teachers and administrators know about the app, some even have it.

AfterSchool is an app that gives students the right to express themselves and their feelings anonymously. The app uses Facebook and your location to determine what school you go to. Each school has its own page. When you sign up, you get put with your school where you can only see posts from people attending that school.

All posts are anonymous, which brings up many questions like is it safe, is it smart or is it just another way to cyberbully others?

When the app first began catching popularity, many students thought it was funny and liked the drama of people talking about one another, but many students have lost interest in the app. “When I first got on the app I thought it was really cool to see what everybody was saying about people, but then people started saying really mean stuff and I started thinking people would get their feelings hurt,” said an anonymous Whetstone student.

The app turned to mostly negative and many deleted it. Both students and faculty deleted the app because it became boring with the lack of talk about themselves, and the app became a bullying mechanism used to target specific students.

“I’m not a fan of the app. I think it is scandalous and will only cause problems,” an anonymous Whetstone teacher, who had the app for several days, said.

A few days ago the AfterSchool app was all the school could talk about, but as time progressed, the talk of the app began to die down, and now there are almost no remnants of the app here at Whetstone.

Policy #2340

PTAMembersBy Julia Galdamez

Policies are changing for students and staff in the Columbus City School district this year and not too many people are happy about it. Policy #2340 – FIELD AND OTHER DISTRICT-SPONSORED TRIPS was a changed policy and some parents had something to say about it. They joined forces and took matters into their own hands.

Mary Pajor, a strong supporter of Columbus City Schools and mother of senior Alice Pajor, had much to say about this policy change. Mary Pajor has had a very active role in Columbus City Schools for as long as her kids have been attending Whetstone. She started being an important role when oldest son and Whetstone graduate, Pete Pajor, 22, was a freshman in high school. Which was about 9 years ago!

Mary Pajor was so displeased with the policy change that she wrote a very convincing email to the superintendent, the executive director of the board and the board members. She explained her displeasure and the “poor communication and execution” of the policy. Pajor immediately demanded the policy to be addressed and rectified.

Field trip events were cancelled Friday, November 6th. Teachers were not notified of the trip cancellation until “five minutes before we were supposed to board the buses,” said Josh Reynolds.

November 6th, 2015 was the first day in 15 years that the Whetstone Marching Band did not march in the Veterans Day Parade. About “70 of 95 students left the school after they received the news that they were not allowed to go to the parade this year”, said Reynolds.

Band director Josh Reynolds had to relay the message as all 95 student were dressed, ready, and looking him in the eyes, that they would not be attending the Veterans Day Parade. “It was probably one of the worst parts of teaching…to feel like I let kids down,” Reynolds says. The band is taking a trip down to Florida this December 2 days after Christmas and was worried about being pre-approved by the board due to it being out-of-state.

Mary Pajor ended her letter with a very striking line, “Remember whom you are here to serve. Students. Does this policy strengthen that service?” Which might have been a reason why the policy was discussed and changed. Thanks to the strong voice from Whetstone parents, as of November 11th it was approved and the Marching Band is ready to go to Disney and march in the parade, meet princesses and be at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Principal Advisory Committee

By Arielle Swinehart

There have been many concerns brought up by Whetstone students. A class wrote letters to Whetstone’s Principal, Mrs. Routzong, regarding issues with the bathrooms, the courtyard and administration as a whole. Mrs. Routzong finds these letters “very good” with “a lot of great suggestions and ideas”. The suggestions are not all realistic, but they are passionate and showed how much the students cares about both Whetstone and Whetstone students.

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