As current seniors may recall, a unique event called Challenge Day took place during the 2008-2009 school year. Since then, the event has not happened again; however, the administration is working hard to bring it back.

“It will include all student groups,” Principal Kyle Ruggles said. “We want to break down barriers.”

Seniors who participated three years ago have nothing but good things to say about the program.

“It was amazing and something that should be done again,” senior Jill Margiotta said. “It would definitely make the school a better place.”

In addition to improving the school, senior Ashley Daniel insists it helped her personally as well.

“I realized a lot about myself,” Daniel said. “It was a really good experience, especially as a freshman. I think it would be really helpful to the underclassmen of the school.”

Challenge day will happen over a period of three days, serving 300 students school-wide. However, participants will be chosen selectively and cannot simply sign-up.

“The Challenge Day people facilitate who is chosen, though teachers will be asked to participate in selection too,” Dr. Ruggles said.

Designed to help improve intellectual flexibility, task leadership, emotional control, self confidence, and emotional competence, the program has been held in junior high and high schools since 1987. It has reached one million youth in four hundred cities, forty-five U.S. states, and five provinces of Canada.

During the three days, the students will take part in games and activities presented by the program, which will include the “Notice, Choose & Act” workshop and the trademark “If You Really Knew Me” activity. These, along with other activities, bring the participants closer together.

“We want to help people cut through the exterior things to get to the core and come to the realization that we’re not all that different,” Dr. Ruggles said.

Additionally, there is a campus-wide separation that  the administration hopes the implementation of Challenge Day will address.

“I’ve spoken to some new students this year, and they feel that there are a lot of cliques. I don’t see it as a problem, but we can always do something to bring those people together,” Dr. Ruggles said.

Challenge Day is expected to affect its many participants, but it is obvious that just three days cannot keep a feeling of unity for the rest of the year.

“Be the Change will be a big part,” Dr. Ruggles said of the club on campus dedicated to reaching the Challenge Day outcome. “They’ll sustain the effects.”

This club, run by senior Karlee Fuller, meets on Mondays in room 300. It is, however, open to all students, regardless of whether they participate in Challenge Day.

In the end, Dr. Ruggles believes that bringing Challenge Day back will improve the school.

“We’re all striving for the same goal,” Dr. Ruggles said. “We want our student and school communities to be the best that they can be.”

“The main problem area is the parking lot,” head custodian Ambrose Quuebedeaux said. “Students throw their trash on the deck in the rush to get back to class.”

Students eat and then leave to get to class. Due to budget cuts, the number of custodians has been significantly reduced. This means that the garbage piles up and the custodians are soon overwhelmed.

“It takes us about two hours with three custodians to clean up the mess,” Quebedeaux.

Cleaning up behind students takes away time that could be devoted elsewhere on campus such general maintenance and classroom improvements.

Students likley don’t realize just how much trash is left.

“[The amount of trash left] equals about 3 cubic yards of trash or one whole dumpster,” Quebedeaux said.

Yet, not every student eats in or even near the parking lot and consequently that’s not the only problem area.

“Another area is the student center, since so many kids hang out there,” Quebedeaux said.

Some students on campus are seeking to become part of the solution. The club O2 For Life has set up a composting program behind the 600 quad, for example, but not all students know about it.

“I didn’t know [that the school has a composting area],” senior Amber Williams said. “I’d like to help our school be more green, though.”

While well hidden from the view of most students, the large composting area behind the 600 quad boasts eight large composting bins, and is well maintained by students like senior and club president Ashley Daniel.

“Our main goal is to set up the program and to also get local elementary schools’ composting programs set up,” Daniel said. “Hopefully we will solve the issue soon.”

Composting is a helpful way to reduce trash, since it enables students to dispose of their food items in an alternative way. Though composting is a more involved process than simply throwing trash away, the potential benefits might encourage students to do more.

“I’d naturally be more inclined to make sure that my trash gets where it needs to be if I was more involved in composting,” sophomore Victor Perez said.

For students looking to maintain a beautiful campus, compositing is a viable alternative to littering.

Consisting of over 70 members, the Maverick Brigade can be seen on the field at halftime of every home football game, as well as at select away games and marching band competitions all over the country.

For the successful, award-winning band that they are, many students claim to have never even heard of the Maverick Brigade.

“I think people appreciate us but nobody really understands how much we practice,” junior Lalia Al-Shamma said. Their full rehearsal schedule earns them more and more recognition each day.

“This year, we won a Unanimous Superior for concert band. We marched in [the 2011 New Years Day] parade in London, and the Queen was there,” Al-Shamma said.  Both the Marching Band and Color Guard participated.

A “Unanimous Superior” is the highest award that bands can receive at tournaments. It is the title that they strive for at each tournament they attended.

“Also, we recently had 3 tournaments with 7 to 8 schools and placed 4 out of 20 in the very final,” Al-Shamma said.

The Maverick Brigade spends an average of 6 hours a week rehearsing, although it can get up to 10 hours or more when they have practices for competitions or games.

“We spend so much time together in rehearsal and at tournaments that everyone gets to be really close,” junior Kamalia Freyling said.

“We’re like a family,” junior Brianna Johnson said. “We encourage each other. Some people also work together for duets, which always end up really pretty.”

The band members interviewed agree that the Brigade is not largely recognized by the school. Principal Kyle Ruggles agrees.

“I think a few people, though not nearly enough, are finally starting to understand that we do in fact have a top-notch band here on our campus,” Dr. Ruggles said. “I am extremely proud of how all of their hard work and practice pays off. There is definitely another side to LCC besides sports.”

The bulk of activities and rehearsals for marching band take place during the first semester, with students meeting for band camp in August and ending the competition season in late November.

Students in marching band can receive PE credit for their time, which is especially important if one is looking to free up a spot in his or her schedule to take other classes required for graduation.

According to Band Director Carissa Mattison, in order to earn two years of PE credit, band members must show up to rehearsals after school, attend all home football games, and participate in four competitions during first semester.

In addition, students need to do four years of marching band to get two years of PE credit. Students who choose this path would have to fulfill the Health requirement on their own time.

Anyone who is looking to catch a glimpse of the Maverick Brigade’s performances can visit their YouTube channel under “TheMaverickBrigade” or “like” their page on Facebook.

With Henry’s being a go-to place for the neighboring areas, any little change in the franchise is apparent to the community. Lately, there have been some adjustments made with Henry’s Farmers Markets across the county. The store’s new name is Sprouts Farmers Market.

Both Sprouts and Henry’s are companies that were created by the Boney Family; they were each maintained under different owners but recently both owners decided to come together.

The employees at Sprouts were informed about the changes too.

“[The employees were] very well aware these past couple of months that this name change was going to be made,” Sprouts manager Brett Greene said. “The company slowly started to promote the new name.”

Though the employees were privy to the change, students were not; some have wondered if the name change could mean that the food will change.

“I have not noticed anything different with the food except for the fact that the labels are different on packages,” sophomore Addie Breese said.

Evidently, the customers have not been negatively affected by the changes that have been made.

“The products are the same at Sprouts as they were at Henry’s,” Greene said.

Spouts’ main goal in this name change is the promise to bring a bigger selection of fresh products to the store, and to ensure the best quality for all consumers.

Even professional leagues like the NFL have helped fight breast cancer by displaying pink on players’ uniforms, as well as the officials’ hats, wristbands and whistles.

Sports teams here on campus are following in the NFL’s footsteps in the fight by raising money. The girls volleyball team showed their support by hosting the fundraiser “Dig Pink” in which they received pledges for every kill, ace, dig, and assist that a team member made. All profits were donated to Side Out, an organization that creates grants for breast cancer research and supports agencies who provide comfort for those afflicted with breast cancer.

“The reason why we got involved in breast cancer is that it’s a big problem in our community,” freshman Caleigh Ryan said. “We are the only team that does ‘Dig Pink.’”

On December 4 the tennis team will host an event called “The Round Robin Double” which invites any high school tennis player in the county to pay a certain amount of money in order to play one match either as a team or a single player.

“The team has also been wearing our tennis shirts that includes the pink breast cancer ribbon before and after our games to show that we are against breast cancer,” freshman Jane Wilson said.

Sports teams are not the only ones who have the opportunity to give back, as the annual San Diego Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure will be held on November 16. The race raises money to find a cure for breast cancer while celebrating the men and women who have survived and honoring the ones who have lost their battles.

Students can participate by joining [the Race for the Cure] at Balboa Park.

“For students, the price is $17. This money will be donated to uninsured women with breast cancer in San Diego county,” foundation executive director Laura Farmer said.

“Whenever it got really hot in class, they’d come out,” junior Austin Allen said. “Everyone was complaining and swatting around everywhere.”

What the students were swatting at so adamantly weren’t ordinary termites–they were winged termites which swarm in or near dry buildings.

According to a leading website on termite control (Termites Gone Wild), these bugs are often difficult to identify because they look exactly like winged ants. The termites settle in pairs and once completely at home, their wings fall off and they begin to reproduce.

The spawn normally stays in a large pack and swarms during the warm weather–which explains why the unsuspecting students and teachers of rooms 450, 541, and 550 were accosted as summer was coming to an end.

According to head custodian Ambrose Quebedeaux, regular maintenance can keep these pests under control.

“It was fairly easy to get rid of [the termites],” Quebedeaux said. “It was a matter of simple bug spray.”

Thanks to Antimite Pest Control, these little pests are no longer a problem.

“Now they’re just laying around,” freshman Jessica Aiken said.

Antimite came and sprayed each affected classroom after 3:00 p.m. so as to avoid disrupting class time, though there were some brave souls who took the problem into their own hands.

“[The termites] were a very minor disruption,” teacher Ryan Gold said. “They got into my papers a bit, but I just wiped them up.”

Alas, students and faculty are safe once more to sit idly in class without fear of attack from these tiny pests.

The Channel 93.3 website hosted a competition between San Diego High School cheer squads, determined by online voting. The prize was a $1000.00 donation to the winning squad and a performance by New Boyz at the school. The cheer team utilized Facebook and other social networking to encourage the school to vote.

Legacy was unable to attend the performance due to an incident the day before. Ben J performed “You’re A Jerk,” “Crickets,” and “Tie Me Down.”

Interview:

ML: Will these changes be this year or next?
DR: It won’t happen overnight. I’m asking for funds to get a Challenge Day or Community Day–which has been done before. We want to break down barriers and keep focus on this problem. We need everyone’s help to campaign.

ML: When do you plan on having Challenge Day?
DR: As soon as possible, but there are scheduling restraints. I said no to MTV’s free challenge day, because I want to do it on our own terms.

ML: This year is the first year a Smart Start class has been required for students to park on campus. Have you noticed a difference in students’ driving behaviors after implementing the policy?
DR: It’s too early to tell. I’ve received e-mails of support from parents and students who feel it’s making a change. It’s really all about attitude. [Students need to] be receptive.

ML: We know that during the “Mornings with the Principal” meetings you sometimes hear comments from parents about some teachers on campus. How much control do you have over the jobs of the teachers?
DR: I have a great deal of control over instruction and how to improve it. I make sure that the tenured teachers are superstars. [During the morning meetings] I get questions about policy changes, I bring up API [scores] so everyone knows how we’re doing.

ML: How do you plan on increasing accountability on the part of students for our API score?
DR: I use Renaissance, which tracks GPAs and performance and have luncheons or something to recognize student achievement. We could do a much better job of that. Teacher and student morale should be high, as we facilitate improvement. I get evaluated too–I met with my boss to tell me what to improve on.

If this had been any other day during the school year, this incident would have been declared a fight. However, during the school week of October 10, the school’s standards and rules were pushed to the limits by seniors participating in this year’s Tag Out game.

Principal Kyle Ruggles was shocked by the behavior of the seniors.

“It’s not what I pictured and has not met my expectations,” Ruggles said.

Senior Tag Out has been a tradition on campus for at least four years. To play the game, seniors pay ASB $1.00 and are given the name of one other participant. Each student then has a week to try to “tag” their assigned student.

Once a student is tagged, he or she must sign the other’s card and surrender his or her own game card. The object of the game is to collect as many blue game cards as possible.

In order for a student to be vulnerable to being tagged, he or she must be at least 5 feet away from another person. So, seniors typically buddy up and maintain close contact with their peers from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., the hours the game is live.

Senior Tag Out winner Chris Novak (right) celebrates his victory with senior classmates Tyler Kaplan (on the ground) and Dylan Lawson. Photo by Tara McQueen.

The game was taken to the extremes by students using physical force to separate students in order to get them out of the game. Not only has the game become more physical than previous years, but this year’s game has also been the most distracting to classes. Staff members feel that this year, in particular, the game was taken too far.

“It’s more like MMA than Tag Out this year,” teacher James Etheridge said.

Throughout the week, students reported being “tackled” and “chased down,” according to senior Seamus O’Connor. This behavior raised concern for some, but to others it simply felt like the spirit of the game.

“The reason why it’s so aggressive is because it’s so hard to tag people,” O’Connor said. “People found out who had each other, and it would’ve been impossible to get [them] sneakily.”

Some teachers have wondered whether the rules were explained well enough.

“There was a lack of understanding and communication with the rules,” Etheridge said.

Not only were the official rules of Senior Tag Out written on each card, but the same rules were in effect from previous years. However, for the first time since ASB started the game, students seemed to ignore the guidelines.

ASB director Kaitlin Wood intervened early during the week of Tag Out.

In an e-mail to staff on Tuesday, October 11, Wood stated, “Before our campus turns into a scene from Lord of the Flies, I wanted to issue a quick reminder [of the rules]. If students interrupt your class feel free to take their Tag Out cards away. We never want an ASB-sponsored event to take away from important academic time.”

Dr. Ruggles, at a recent MavLife press conference, expressed doubt about any future return of the game.

“At this point, no, we will not have [the game],” Principal Ruggles said. “We can do some other things that are just as fun but not as extreme.”

Though this Tag Out tradition is being questioned, ASB and the student body are trying to keep it alive. With the competitive nature of the class of 2012 in mind, students may have a lot of convincing to do, especially since not all students saw a problem with the way the game played out.

“I thought it was really funny,” senior Tenniger Kellenbarger said. “If I would’ve seen my person, I would’ve done the same thing. If kids were getting hurt, that’s an issue, but really, they just need to lighten up.”

Though some students were not upset about being tackled, the administration will not put up with this behavior on campus.

“That kind of stuff cannot happen,” Assistant Principal Doug Kamon said.

The idea of a compromise was brought up by senior Karlee Friesen in hopes of saving the tradition on campus.

“[The administration should] definitely keep it, but maybe change the rules so that they’re not as violent,” Friesen said. “Some people took it a little too far and some people got upset too easily.”

Teacher Angie Groseclose, who saw the fun in the game but had concerns about student safety and class disruption, is open to the return of the game given a few conditions.

“I would be open to [allowing Tag Out to return] if the rules of safety were more clearly addressed,” Groseclose said. “What I would do, is get the students to think of a solution.”

According to Kamon, at this point there is “no firm decision” to whether or not Tag Out will be allowed in the future. Because of their “over-exuberant behavior,” as Kamon described it, the class of 2012 may have sacrificed the opportunity for the Tag Out tradition to continue.
However, the class hopes they will be given another chance.

“Bring it back, definitely bring it back!” senior Colton Ankeney said. “I thought it was fun and competitive.”

“When a student reaches his fifteenth tardy, he goes on the loss of privileges list,” says Assistant Principal Mark Van Over. “This can result in the loss of sports, parking passes, extra-curricular activities, and school dances.”

Students on the lost privileges list may earn back those privileges by visiting the tutoring center, open Monday through Thursday from after school until four o’clock. They must spend a minimum of five hours in this program to remove themselves from the loss of privileges list. However, some may find that they aren’t in control of how or when they get to school.

“I wake up at five thirty every morning to get on the bus,” senior David Berrong said. “Sometimes the bus driver even takes the wrong route. It’s made me five or ten minutes late to class.”

Other students complain about how crowded the bus gets.

“It’s like a massacre in there,” freshman Adam Upton said.

Additionally, the bus that goes past the school, route 304, has been cut back. Instead of an early and late bus in the mornings and afternoon, there is now only one bus that gets to Stagecoach Park at 7:22 am and leaves at 2:55 pm.

“The route was changed as part of a much larger package of bus changes that all occurred at the same time.” said Emily Kuhnel, North County Transit’s Marketing Representative.

The cutbacks came after an overall review of the route’s needs.

“It was not driven by budget cuts but rather by the goal to ensure our routes are maximized in the areas where service is needed most. With the 304, we made sure to preserve some service to the high school while making some adjustments to add service to other parts of Encinitas that previously had none.”

There is an alternative for students who want a couple extra minutes after school.

“I like to take the 3:20 bus across from Henry’s [Sprouts],”  Berrong said.