Hey Dawes Students,

Do you want help give items to the people who serve for your freedom? Well if so the 7th graders are doing a service learning project and we are selling paracord bracelets to pay for beef jerky, gum and personal hygiene items. The paracord bracelets are being sold for 5 dollars or 5 dollars worth of the items above. The paracord bracelets are being sold by Ms. V in room 124. Below are some of the colors of paracord we have.

The reason why we are selling the bright colored paracord are to pay for the things they need and buy darker color bracelets. Did you know why soldiers like the paracord bracelets. Well did you know that a paracord bracelet can hold up to 550 pounds. Also soldiers can use them to save their lives. Soldiers can make a make shift shelter out of paracord bracelets. They can also make a sling or splint out of them. They can also use them to carry a injured person from a bad location.

So please buy a paracord bracelet so we can buy darker colored ones. If you buy one your money can be used to save the lives of someone who is surviving for your freedom. We hope you buy one.

By Jacy Chittenden

NeSA Testing has been going on for about seven days now. NeSA is the Nebraska state test. All students across Nebraska take this test. I interviewed numerous students and teachers at Dawes to see what they thought of the test.

Some of the teachers I interviewed were Mrs. Newby, Mr. N. Miller, and Mrs. Vandarwarka. They all had many different opinions. Mrs. Newby thought, overall,  the school was very successful with NeSA testing. She also thought that it went smoothly and productively and it was well organized. She also talked about the block scheduling and she said that it was a tough transition, but it was great to have the extended time for a variety of activities and instruction. Mr. N. Miller said that we did very well with testing and he thought that many students kind of like the NeSA Testing, because of the break from regular classes. He also thinks that block scheduling helps and alleviates behavior problems because of less transition times. And finally, Mrs. Vandarwarka thinks that NeSA went well and that block scheduling helped a lot with the students. But she also thought that block scheduling would be more beneficial to the teachers if we could work out a better way for teaching for the longer periods. So overall, she thought that the students were prepared for the NeSA and did pretty well for the most part because the teachers, as she says, “taught explicitly.”

I also interviewed some students around the school. They were Ashley Alvarado, Hailey Condreay, and Natalie Huffman. Ashley thought that overall, she did very well on her NeSA and she thought that it was pretty simple. She also thinks that the school was very successful with the testing and that she likes the five minute passing periods that are included in the block scheduling. Hailey thinks that the school, and herself did good on the NeSA and that it was very easy, so they should make it harder. But, Hailey did not like the block scheduling because of the fact that classes are longer and teachers don’t have a lot of things to do for all of that time, so it was boring. And Natalie thought that the block scheduling was pretty cool and we got to miss out on a few classes every day. She also thought the school was successful with NeSA.

The entire school did well in many people’s opinion. Great job students, and teachers, for AWESOME NeSA Testing.

Through out NeSA testing the Dawes Middle Schoolers have been experiencing new things. The Middle Schoolers have been going through the block schedules. The block schedules have been going on for about six days. The schedule have been great for some and not so great for others.

The Block Schedule consists of one and a half hour time periods. The block schedule for 7th and 8th graders looks like: 8:00-9:30, 9:15-11:05, 11:10-1:15, 1:20-2:58

Earlier I interviewed Mariah Dondlinger and she said “Block Scheduling makes the day longer, and sometimes the teachers get a bit annoying.” “It also gets really annoying when we have to eat lunch at a different time every day, It messes up my eating schedule.”

I know that all good things have a bad side according to Mariah some bad things are sitting with the same class and teachers for an hour and a half.
So NeSA is a benefit to students because it helps you get more work done and it helps you get a better understanding because there is more time to learn.

On Friday, March 6, Dawes Student Council held their annual dance with the theme, red carpet event. This dance was held in the gym right after school and had many decorations to help emphasize the theme. But the dance would not have been successful without the student council advisor, Ms. Essex, IPOD, and the Dawes CLC staff.

When I interviewed Kate Tadesse, the vice-president, she said that the dance was a ‘major success’ resulting with $957.40 in student council’s account. Kate also said that the theme could have been executed more or we could have chosen a theme that would have been more to the ‘student body’s liking.’ She wrapped up by saying it was a great dance, that sold all the concessions, and the students looked as if they had a blast.

I also took the time to interview Shaleija Hunter, an eighth grader. She says it was ‘okay’ because it was to spaced out and hot. But, she also thought it was fun and enjoyable besides the fact. ‘Overall, it was a great dance.’

So, according to some other sources and these, the dance was a success with only minor flaws that student council is sure to work on for next year.

So in this exclusive article my partner Gabe and I  hand picked people to ask the big question….. What are they doing for spring break. So to start off with we asked 6 students what they are doing for Spring Break. 1st we asked a student named Brandon Fountanclark. He said he will go air soft shooting and staying up until 3am the whole break. Another student named Daniel Patterson also has a busy break. He is going to the mall with his friends and watching Netflix on his ps3. He’s sooo busy this break. Now someone who will actually be doing something is Renzo Mendez. He has to babysit 8 kids! Thats a lot! After that Renzo said he will go to the YMCA and play some hardcore basketball. Fun fact he gets his braces off in 18 months. Now Cody marsh all he said he would do is strictly play video games. Now for a special final interview…. Me Miles Farr and may partner Gabe Vicharra. So i’m just playing games, going to the YMCA and whatever else happens after that. Now Gabe said he’s going to sleep, play video games, and catch  up on homework while watching movies. He is also going to play soccer with his friends. So now that you guys have some ideas of what to do for Spring Break I hope you have a happy and safe Spring Break!!