“I enjoy that [NJROTC] teaches you discipline. It’s like a big family,” freshman Ryleigh Blanchett said.

Cadets can participate in various teams including the Unarmed Drill Team, Armed Drill Team, Rifle Team, Physical Training Team, Cyber Patriot and Color Guard. The members also participate in various military events such as the Military Ball.

The Military Ball will be held Feb. 18, in honor of the Navy’s 237^th birthday, Blanchett said.

However, NJROTC is not just about socializing. It’s about building skills that will be useful later in life, especially to those seeking a career in the military.

“We offer opportunities for members to make friends and have a sense of belonging,” Master Chief Robert Turner said. “It’s something to focus your time and energy on instead of homework. [But] the main goal of this program is to instill good leadership skills in cadets and to develop leadership skills.”

Currently, there are 125 students enrolled in the NJROTC program, including students from Rouse High School as well as Vista Ridge. Students interested in joining should see Warrant Officer Hulse or Turner in C410.

“This program is for anyone who wants to make new friends and become disciplined as well as organized,” Blanchett said.

“We are trying to make the biggest impact, and we thought this would be a good way to impact all parts of the school,” sponsor Cheryl Pitt said. “We [are trying to] set an example for other schools that this is important and doable.”

To become an eco-friendly campus Environment Club must undergo the establishment of a committee, an audit, obtaining recommendations to become more eco-friendly  and implementing as many of the recommendations as the budget can handle, including better pest control and indoor air quality;  all of these will take at least one full semester.

“We need to complete the audit, fix the issues found, educate the school and a few other steps,” vice president Jordan Pitt said. “It could be positive [for the student body], but most probably won’t know we’re doing the audit.”

Although Environment Club is only campus wide, the club urges those beyond the campus to help with the auditing process.

“We need to include community members, parents, administrators and other teachers along with the student body as a whole,” Cheryl Pitt said.

“The garden is so dirty that no one notices it,” Oduye said. “So we’re going to clean that up and plant new trees and put our name on it.”

The event will be publicized by KXAN and Hill Country News and follows Oduye’s previous DECA project, which was a two-day period in which the cafeteria workers didn’t clean the tables in the cafeteria.

“We were surprised at the outcome,” Oduye said. “Everyone kept the cafeteria pretty clean.”

Keen on Clean is Cedar Park’s initiative to keep the city clean while conserving resources and promoting public involvement. The city’s website states the program is meant to “instill community pride and increase participation in the green knowledge and other environmental activities year round.”

DECA has made it a point to bring this message into the school environment.

“I want to get across the message that what we are living with is the result of human choices,” Oduye said. “We can change by making wiser choices.”

Students interested in Keen on Clean should visit its Facebook page and take the pledge to be Keen on Clean.

“If Scott could talk, I know exactly what he’d say,” Neill said. “He’d say that he loves each and every one of you. But I know he’d also say, ‘don’t do what I did.’”

Neill recounted the night of May 15, 2010, the last night he spoke to his son before his accident, which was caused by texting and driving.

“Tell me a text that’s that important,” Neill said. “Tell me a text that’s worth dying for.”

As part of senior rotations Wednesday, DECA, Student Council and HOSA partnered with Allstate Insurance to bring Neill back for a second annual presentation on the dangers of texting and driving. The presentation featured Neill and Allstate agent Deedee Biscoe.

“Texting is the main form of communication among teenagers,” Biscoe said. “You may not know car crashes are now the number one killer of teenagers.”

Distracted driving has become an epidemic in recent years. Biscoe said 23 people a day die because of distracted driving, and driving while texting is equivalent to drinking four beers. Eighty percent of all crashes are due to driver inattention within three seconds of the crash.

These statistics, coupled with the fact that 82 percent of teenagers admit to texting and driving, make distracted driving one of the leading causes of car accidents.

“The presentation made everyone think about what they’re risking when they text and drive,” senior Hadley Lewis said. “Something as simple as texting and driving can end a life.”

Director Dona Dye said “The Tempest” is a play that has delighted audiences for almost 400 years and is regarded by almost all scholars to be Shakespeare’s last complete work. Ultimately, “The Tempest” is a play about magic.

 ”It is a series of illusions that dissolve into reality,” Dye said. “It’s about the destruction of power, the madness of revenge and the possibility of human redemption through magic and love.’”

Sophomore Cassie Brawner, who plays Lord Adrian, said it was hard to memorize Shakespeare.

“It was their language which is completely different from how we talk today,” Brawner said. “I play Lord Adrian. I think they cast me [a male lead] because I am flexible with characters, and they thought I was mature enough to play the part.”

With 50 hours of rehearsal after school and on weekends, the cast along with the crew and tech theater classes that constructed the sets have prepped for opening night for more than a month.

“The whole cast is coming together and putting on a great show for everyone,” junior Spencer Lane said.

Lane said the director made a couple of adjustments to the play to make Shakespeare’s diction a little easier to understand.

 “I really like this play because you really get in depth with the characters and you become the characters, which is really cool,” Lane said. “Shakespeare is meant to be acted, not read in a desk.”

1. If you have not already, register and take the SAT and ACT college entrance exams.

SAT Testing Dates

 Go to collegeboard.org to register.

ACT Testing Dates

 Go to actstudent.org to register.

 If you qualify for free or reduced lunch, go see your counselor and get a free testing waiver.

2. Apply for scholarships.

Some popular scholarship websites are:

Fastweb.com is a very helpful website to find scholarships that are specialized to your academic interests. It gives you a brief summary of the scholarship and requirements, along with what it’s worth. A link to the scholarship application is also posted. 

Finaid.org has a lot of helpful resources including a college calculator to calculate tuition costs, loan payments, savings, ect. 

ScholarshipExperts.com is much like Fastweb.com.

3. Attend the Junior/Senior parent night on Sept. 22, at 6:30 p.m. so your parents can learn all there is to know about college applications and scholarships.

4. Attend the College Fair at Leander High School on Thursday, Sept. 29 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

5. If you are an athlete, resister for NCAA.

Go to eligibilitycenter.org for the application. This is available to athletes for scholarships for their freshman year.

6. Apply to the universities you are interested in no later than Thanksgiving. Even if the deadline isn’t until February or March, it is best to get your application in early.

“The earliest bird does get the worm” in this case. The earlier the admissions office receives the application, the higher the chance of being accepted.

7. Obtain a FAFSA pin number with you parents.

Go to studentaid.ed.gov/complethefasfa and get your FAFSA pin number for easy log in when you complete your application in January.

8. After Jan. 1, 2012, you and your parents can complete the FAFSA application. However keep in mind that you (if you file for taxes) and your parents need to have your  1040 Tax Form to apply.   

At the start of the new year, apply at FASFA.ed.gov. Remember, you and your parents will need recent tax information.  

 With these eight tips in mind, you should be set to follow your college dreams.

“We have a phenomenal extra-curricular program,” principal Paul Johnson said. “There are 220 to 230 eligible schools for this competition, and placing ninth puts us in the top three to four percent of schools in Texas.”

The Lone Star Cup has been awarded every year since 1998 to the top five schools in each UIL classification. Boerne Champion won first place for the 2010-2011 school year, receiving the Lone Star Cup trophy and a $1,000 dollar scholarship. Lake Travis also placed fifth.

“I’m really proud of our students for this unprecedented success,” Johnson said. “It’s a direct reflection of our coaching and teaching success.”

After playing their pieces for the judges and sight reading music, the band earned all ones, receiving sweepstakes. After the competition, they stayed in Colorado until April 10 and enjoyed their days off at the ski resort.

“We were all so proud of all the hard work we’ve put into the music,” sophomore Kailey Dominguez said. “We were glad we could share our musical talent with the judges and audience. It was overall a great contest.”

Dominguez said she was anxious about the competition, but she pulled it through all the way with the rest of the band.

Sophomore Marshal Spaulding said it wasn’t very different from their previous competitions.

“The only difference was that we had to deal with new issues such as breathing in high altitudes and really chapped lips,” Spaulding said. “Other than that, it was the usual process which I was glad about.”

Dominguez said she would love to go to another out-of-state competition.

“I love the thrill and the excitement [from the competition],” Dominguez said. “It’s always great to try and experience new things. I’ve always enjoyed playing at competitions with friends. It’s tons of fun.”

“The AP test gives you a college credit if you pass, and exempts you from finals in that class,” senior Logan Laws said. “That’s the main reason I’m taking it.”

The tests cost $60, but most students find this a small price to pay to be exempt from finals and potentially getting college credit.

“I am taking five AP tests,” senior Nathaniel Lane said. “[This] week is going to be crazy.”

There are dozens of AP tests for students ranging from sophomores to seniors. Testing will last until next Friday.

“I’m kind of dreading taking the test because it is really long,” Laws said. “But if I pass, it will all be worth it.”

Students empty their cups as they finish their refreshing smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Café.
“The smoothies are really good and really refreshing,” freshmen Rebecca Castillo said. 

Students can now buy a Tropical Smoothie from the school store during lunch for $2. Students can choose from orange yogurt and white chocolate pineapple.

“We sell a lot of smoothies during lunch and overall we see good sales every day during lunch,” DECA member Brianna Coper said.
This is the first year DECA sold smoothies from Tropical Smoothie. Last year, they were from Jamba Juice. Tropical Smoothie delivers the  smoothies every afternoon so that they can be sold in the school store during lunch and afterschool.
“DECA is a business and marketing club and someone came up with the idea to do this for extra marketing practice,” Coper said.