SPARTAN ACADEMY

Talk about being busy… (Who is? No one, but now that you mention it).

Many events happened Saturday for our freshmen students!

At the University of Memphis, there was a race going on for charity, which many of our students joined in.

There was also the State competition for National History Day. Congratulations to all the winners.  First and second place winners go to Maryland to compete nationally, and for some of us third-placers, we get to have the alternate spot for nationals. 

There was also the cultural “fair” going on at the same time.  Witnesses proclaim that White Station took home the house by a storm.

            “I performed a Spanish song.  I didn’t win, but the day itself was amazing!  There were so many people there, all waiting to learn something about different languages.” says an insider.

And speaking about performances, let’s go back at our school.  The athletic teams were all taking a different shift and volunteering for Showstoppers, the fantastic dance competition. 

            “It doesn’t look like our school, the cafeteria is covered in drapes, and the auditorium was, like, ah-mazing!” says a worker.

To top it all up, the busy day ended with the Memphis vs. UCLA game.  Go Tigers, go!

Every five years each school must go through an evaluation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.  Next week is OUR week to shine.  The Academy is looking good - lots of excellent student work posted in classrooms and in the hallways.  The second floor teachers really have it going on.  And Ms. Farris and Ms. Coleman Terry on first floor are looking great.  A list of all our Spartan Scholars is on the wall coming out of the breezeway.  Did you find your name on the scholar list?

Anyway, lets be kind to our SACS guests next week and show them what Spartan Spartan Spirit is about. 

 We’re needing blog reports.  Respond to a blog entry or drop off your contribution in the 9th grade office. 

n  “I slept. I also went to a sleepover, finished my projects, and watched movies. Oh, and went shopping.” – Seo Jung K.

n  “I went to Louisiana. My uncle’s getting married.  I also had a sleepover with my best friend.” – Malli S.

n  “I went to Atlanta for my sister’s volleyball tournament. We also had our family trip along the way.  We didn’t get to many places because of the weather.”- Ashwini J.

n  “Just hung out like I do every weekend, ‘cept this was longer.” – Blake S.

n   “I went to Chicago, and it was, like, AWESOME!” – Sandhya S.

A large percent of the student population replied that they stayed at home sleeping, watching television, or on the computer.  All this was possible from the lack of homework over the break. “Thank goodness, too! This is the first time I’ve never had anything to do. I even had items over winter break.” says a bystander. 

“Well, I think they’re making up for the ‘lack of homework’ by giving us double this week!” says another student. 

            Teachers and students are both gearing up for the fact that Spring break is the last break until School’s OUT!

Do you have an interesting Spring Break story?  Send it on the blog.  Remember that all bloggers must identify themselves.

                                                            -S.V

Mr. Mansfield, Ms. Sutton and Ms. Blassingame visited the middle school to share information about class selection on Wednesday.  Parents attended a meeting at the middle school on Thursday night.  The 9th grade students are looking forward to seeing the new 9th grade students in the fall.  An orientation is planned in late July.  The dates will appear on this blog and on the WSHS calendar wiz.

Go Spartans!

Spencer Bohren came to White Station on March 6, 2008 to teach CLUE and Honors English students.  What was he speaking about?  A song.  The song that traveled through many ages through the Civil War through the 80s right into our hands.  The song that broke many barriers, such as color and race.  With his many guitars and his voice, he told the story of this song.  A brief history of how it got started, a slave just looking for his girlfriend, to how Mr. Bohren found this song in an old record from a record store.  The song’s story is it evolved right into the culture that it was surrounded in, and this song was re-sung by artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

            Only 9^th grade students were welcome to this “concert”.  The audience was treated to an extravaganza of music in history.  He gave two concerts, one in 2^nd period and one in 5^th period.  Both attracted students and teachers passing by.  The teacher’s advice?

            “Hurry and get a great seat!”

Reported by Sanhitha

Do you have something to say about school, the world, your life?  Respond to one of the bolg articles and the blogmeisters will publish your comments. 

Say something, Spartans!

The rugby team (girl’s and boy’s teams) will be  wearing their jerseys on Friday since they have matches on Saturday. Both teams play on Saturday at NAS Millington at the field on Hornet Rd.  Girls play at 11:00 and Boys play at 2:00.  Coach Brooks leads both teams.  Several Academy members are on the teams.

The White Station High School boys basketball team is going to the state tournament in Murphreesboro next Thursday.  The mighty Spartans defeated rivals Kirby and later Raleigh-Egypt to qualify for state competition.  The Academy is especially excited about the state tournament because two of our Academy members, Andre and Marvin, are frequent starters for the Spartans.  We’re proud of you Andre and Marvin.  Good luck in Murphreesboro next week.

Mr. Williams, 11th grade principal is trying to make arrangements for a bus to take Spartan students to the Thursday game.  If a bus is reserved, students will sign up to attend the game next week.  Details will be announced on Monday when the game time is known.  9th graders, let’s go and support our Spartans.

 On this Saturday, February 23, 2008 students from White Station competed in the Tennessee History Day competition at the University of Tennessee.  Tensions were high as schools such as Lausanne, Ridgeway, St. Agnes, Snowden, and St. Benedict piled in through the suites at the Autozone Park.  Students from White Station included tenth and ninth graders from Mr. Whitehead and Mr. Moore’s world history classes.  As each students confidently prepared for their presentations, the competition lightened up.  The projects included displays, dramas, and presentations.  Each had its own floor and sections. The judging was important to the overall grade, almost as important as the project itself.  The first rounds were announced early, and many White Stationers went on to runner-ups.  And some, such as Sanhitha V. and Melissa  S.  went on to state immediately for being the only senior presenters.  Other presenters include groups such as Medina K. and Angie L., Bhavna K., Sahaj S., Alex. A. , and individual presenters such as Gina S. and Rena L.

                                                            - S.V.

The White Station Rugby team won against Brighton over the weekend.  The score was 5-0.  Several members of the Rugby team are Spartan Academy freshmen.   Congratulations to the girls team.  (Look for a list of Academy members on the team in the 9th grade hallway soon.)