Parking Space Painting

     The seniors at Riverbend received a brand new privilege this year that no other senior class in the county has received. Last year an article was published in the school newspaper about the idea of painting parking spots. This year, the senior class officers made this idea a reality with the help of the administrators and faculty here at Riverbend. Seniors with parking permits were given forms to draw their ideas and submitted to Mr. Ward for approval. After a design was approved the student paid a twenty dollar fee for paint, brushes, paint rollers, and paint trays. On Friday September 16^th, all students who had paid to paint their spots met in the lecture hall, received their paint trays, rollers, and brushes, and headed to the parking lot. Students then received blue, yellow, pink, white and green paint and were free to start working on their spots. Some seniors painted simple things such as flowers, or their names, while others painted cartoon characters and long quotes. While students were painting their spots, administrators walked through the aisles helping students and supervising. Some students stayed and painted until 5:30! This new privilege has been a fun and interesting start to senior year. Over twenty five students chose to paint their spots. It gave this year’s seniors a chance to bond while doing something they actually enjoy. Next year, the seniors can choose to paint over the spot or they can leave it alone. The senior parking lots are now fun to look at and this year’s seniors were able to leave their mark on the school.

Bryanna Smith, Staff Writer

Marching Band Competition

     On September 17, 2011 Riverbend High School held their first marching band competition, Battle at the Bend.  It was a USSBA competition. The USSBA or United States Scholastic Band Association is a program offering Youth Education in the Arts. Riverbend joined USSBA last year when Mr. Noe became the new band director.

     The competition started at five o’clock; family and friends came out to support band members from all over the region including Maryland. The five bands that competed that night included the schools:  King George High School “Royal Regiment”, Chancellor High School “Lightning Regiment”, Lee-Davis High School “Confederates”, Great Mills High School “Hornet Band”, and Washington-Lee High School “Generals”. The bands were judged on four different categories: ensemble, individual, visual performance, and overall effect.

     Riverbend has two different bands: a competition marching band and a Friday night game marching band. Band members can choose to be in just one or both.  Before the awards ceremony our school’s competition band and Friday night band performed their shows. Our school’s marching band show, this year is “Fire Bird” from Fantasia and the Friday night marching band plays pop songs including “All We Do is Win” and songs from Michael Jackson and the Black Eyed Peas. The “Emerald Sound and Guard” did not compete in the competition because they were the host school. Everyone did a great job, school spirits were high and great music was heard from all around.    
Caitlin Tolson, Staff Writer

Dropped Electives

     The beginning of the school year is an exciting time for students. Buying new school supplies, seeing your friends who you haven’t seen in a while and finding out what classes you’ll be taking. For some students, they received classes they didn’t expect.  Many students found they were not given the elective classes they had signed up for last spring. Several classes here at Riverbend High School including Humanities, Public Speaking, Art History, Art Appreciation, AP Music Theory, American Sign Language, AP German, Geology, AP Chemistry, African American History, Economics, SAT Prep, Horticulture Science, Psychology, AP Java, and Debate, were dropped. This was because of the loss of multiple teachers. Mrs. Rahn says, “The students who had asked for these classes would have been assigned to one of their alternate class choices.” Students feel this may contribute to them not getting the necessary credits to graduate. This also contributes to study hall sizes getting significantly larger.

      When Riverbend Sophomore, Lizzie Schreppler was asked if she had been enrolled in her preferred classes, she said she had signed up for Psychology and Public Speaking, which are both half credit courses, and received Marine Science and Art, still half credit courses. Neither of which were her alternate choices. Another sophomore student Rebecca Statler signed up for Psychology and Finance, which are also half credit courses and she received Fashion Marketing, again, not her alternate.  

     So keep in mind all the hard work it takes for guidance to get you the classes you want.

Lyndsay Johnson, Staff Writer

New Teacher: Ms. Hale

     Jessica Hale (Ms. Hale) is a new teacher here at Riverbend High School.  This is her first year teaching, but she student taught here last spring. Ms. Hale just graduated from The University of Mary Washington and got her Bachelor’s degree in English.  She is a lover of all movies especially ones that make you think. Her idea of happiness happens to be Snickers ice cream bars and spending time with family.  On her way to work she listens to a variety of music. One of her favorite radio stations is Sirius XM.  If she ever won a million dollars, she would like to pay off student loans and go on vacation.  Ms. Hale teaches English 10 in room 152 and said, “Riverbend has an incredibly welcoming staff and (mostly) great students.”  Her favorite part of being at Riverbend so far is that her students have been really energetic and positive. She chose to be a teacher because it keeps her engaged and passionate even though there are ups and downs.  “Knowledge is power,” is her favorite quote.

Rebecca Statler and Deziree Jackson, Staff Writers

Freshmen Overcrowded

The past couple of years the freshman classes have been under 480 students, but surprisingly this year the freshman class has 520 students.  With that many students, it makes it hard to maneuver around and get to class on time. 

     Ana Torres, a freshman student said, “I have twenty-nine to thirty people in each class and in some of my classes there are even more students than seats.”  Having so many students in one class would make it difficult for the students to talk to one another and also for the teachers to talk.  When walking in the freshman hallway, a class of at least twenty-seven students was overheard doing a group project.  In comparison to a sophomore class, the freshman class was obviously much louder. Vincent Griffin, a 9^th grader said, “The classrooms are too small and there are too many freshmen students in that one small room.”

     Ms. Anderson, a 9^th grade teacher said, “My largest freshman class has thirty-four students.” Class overcrowding adds many problems, Ms. Anderson added, “Having [up to] thirty-four students in my class every day, makes it a less personal relationship. It’s much harder to talk to a student one on one.”  A larger class makes cheating easier and makes the teacher’s job harder.  Also, when teachers hand out class assignments it is harder to control the noise level in the classroom. There are about four teachers per core subject; this can create large class sizes. 

     Mrs. Hudson teaches an Advanced Earth Science class during B8. Observing her class, it seemed clear that the desks were pushed together and everything seemed stuffed in her room. After hearing about the obvious growth in the freshmen class this year, she replied, “Classes are much bigger this year and I do find it harder to move in the hallways.”  The hallways are much more crowded especially with everyone standing in large groups, and I find it harder to discipline them while in the hallways.”  Since the freshman class is so big and teachers not able to discipline, it seems that students feel like they can get away with fights and bring in inappropriate things without getting caught. When there are so many freshmen in the hallways, it is even hard for sophomores, juniors, or seniors to get to their classes that are located in the freshman hallway.

     Due to the increasing number of freshmen students it is harder for teachers to discipline.  Also, it makes it harder for them to communicate with their students in their learning environment.  Students in other grades, teachers, and administrators cannot move through the freshman hallway without bumping into people.  The freshman classes can’t be changed, but it is encouraged for students to move quickly throughout the hallway and be respectful to teachers. 

Rebecca Statler and Deziree Jackson, Staff Writers

3rd Annual Community Night

     Friday, September 9^th was Riverbend High School’s third annual Community Night.  It started around 6 p.m. and ended around 7:15, right before the  Riverbend and Brooke Point football game kick-off.  Riverbend invited Chancellor, Wilderness, Brock Road, Harrison Road, Salem, and Smith Station elementary students to see what their future high school will look like.  The elementary schools handed out ticket slips for the game that allowed them to get in free with a paying adult.  They were allowed to walk around and visit different booths. Booths consisted of school clubs, school sports, and local business sponsors.  The booths had a wide range of activities and handouts for the elementary students.  

     For school clubs, it was a great way to interact with their community.  FFA, DECA, FBLA, Math Honor Society, Latin Club, French Club, Sophomore Class and Spanish Club were some of the clubs there.  The sophomore class had activities such as Wacky Bowling where you throw a ball and knock down the soda cans.  If you knock down just a couple, you get a piece of candy.  French Club had an activity if you shot a ball through a hoop you received a popsicle.   DECA was giving out cotton candy and Math Honor Society had a guessing jar, if the person guessed the right number of tootsie-rolls then they won the jar.  These are just a few of the prizes and activities that elementary school students could participate in.  Local business partners such as IHOP were there to promote their business to the community; they had juice to hand out to everyone as they walked by.  They also served their famous funnel cakes.  When an elementary student would walk by they would make them a balloon and hand them a bag full of candy.  Community night is a great way for businesses and clubs to promote themselves and for everyone to enjoy their Friday night. 

     Mrs. Boleko, who was in charge of Community Night, did an amazing job and helped everything run smoothly.  Riverbend had a huge turnout because it was before the Riverbend vs. Brooke Point football game, and not only were elementary students there, but parents, middle, and high school students were too.  Mrs. Boleko said, “Community Night is a great way for elementary kids not to be scared to become a bear.”

Rebecca Statler and Deziree Jackson, Staff Writers