In the warm months of April and May the surrounding communities can always enjoy America’s pastime, baseball, at the Generals field located at Kate Collins Middle School. There junior Drew DeMoss will be pitching .He plays on the Giants’ varsity team with several friends who have been his teammates since he first got his start in T-ball.

DeMoss started his baseball career for the Giants as a freshman.

“I started out on junior varsity, and got pulled up for a scrimmage and then got asked to stay two weeks later,” DeMoss said.

Ever since then, the junior has been making a name for himself on the Generals Field.

“I am very passionate for the sport; I take part in it the three seasons that it is available,” he said.

DeMoss plays American Legend, which takes place in the summer, Fall Ball in the autumn, and then high school baseball in the spring.

“You can tell that he practices a lot. Over the time playing with him his throw has gotten faster and he has a very strong arm,” teammate Tyler Briggs said. “I have been playing with him for about nine years and over that time all he has done is progress.”

DeMoss said he keeps coming back to the diamond each season because “I want to represent, the school and the community. I want to perform well and I’m proud to wear the purple and gold jerseys every season.”

DeMoss’ dedication is proven by his hard work, his perseverance, and the support of his teammates.

Let’s look at the facts—today’s schedule can be rough for anybody, whether it is the new student or the experienced senior. It’s confusing at times and obviously doesn’t work well come delay time. Mondays end up feeling awkward compared to the rest of the week. And it seems that the even periods get an unfair advantage over the odds—we see these periods on Monday, then again on Tuesday, when the information is still fresh in our minds. Come Wednesday, we can barely remember what we were learning in odd classes.

We, as a staff, believe that a 4×4 schedule would work better due to its less stressful flow and expanded time periods. It does have faults of its own, yes, as do the other two, but it also fixes some of the problems the other schedules propose. For example, lessons wouldn’t be crammed because of time shortage and days would be less stressful. There wouldn’t be as much confusion for new students. Delays wouldn’t be such a problem as they are now, with our current schedule.

While a 4×4 schedule fixes these minor problems that sprout from either of the 2 other scheduling options, it also has the potential to fix something the other 2 both fail to recognize: grades. By splitting major subjects between semesters, it makes it easier for a student to be successful with his or her grade in one subject without fretting for another. It also gives a student more time to accomplish a satisfactory grade in a subject they may have been uneasy about before.

In conclusion, we believe a 4×4 schedule is a more sensible choice. It reduces the stress of having a lot of major subjects at once and it can help improve grades. Also, it fixes some of the faults the other options have and replaces them with a more controlled, less confusing system.

On January 12, 2010, junior Jeffrey Placide went to the Waynesboro vs. Harrisonburg boys’ basketball game with Alex Farrington. While the Giants and Streaks were going at it in the third quarter, Placide received a phone call from his mom telling him to come home. That night Placide found out that he does not know the whereabouts of over five members of his extended family that includes his grandparents, aunts, uncles and various cousins. The reason was the earthquake that measured 7.0 in Haiti, which was the home country of Placide’s mother.

“I’ve never been there, but my mom has told me much about it. Like how the government is so bad and that it is hard to even find food,” Placide said.

According to CIA-The World Factbook, Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and it was in a tragic state before the earthquake. Now everything seems to be getting worse as time progresses.

“Before the earthquake, for long as I can remember, my mom has sent money to Haiti and the money she sends helps, but not enough,” Placide said.

Placide, among many other students at Waynesboro High and also other nations, is helping with the tragedy by raising and sending money to help. Placide said he is helping by donating all that he can at the moment.

So in the end, January 12, 2010, Jeffrey Placide thought that his night would end with celebrating Waynesboro’s victory over Harrisonburg with his friends. Instead it ended with a catastrophe for his family and an entire nation.

Editor’s Note: Jeffrey Placide found the whereabouts of his family on January31, 2010.

Heather Clark is a senior at Waynesboro High School, a competition cheerleader, and a well-known face in the hallways. By looking at her you would never think that her favorite color is yellow, her favorite music is alternative and her role model is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta also known as the famous pop sensation Lady Gaga. Gaga is in the media for her controversial performances, outrageous attire and the question of her sexuality. So you may wonder why she is the role model of a 17 year old girl.

“Well, she expresses herself in many unusual ways and doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it,” said Clark. “And even though she has things said about her she still sends positive feedback to her fans, which have some role model qualifications.”

 Clark’s favorite song by the pop phenomenon is “Paparazzi.”

The chorus is, “I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me papa-paparazzi. Baby there’s no other superstar you know that I’ll be your pap-paparazzi. Promise I’ll be kind, but I won’t stop until that boy is mine. Baby you’ll be famous chase you down until you love me pap-paparazzi.”

“This makes me feel that she doesn’t give up on something that she really wants so I shouldn’t either,” Clark said.

What’s a role model? She is telling her fans in her top 100 chart single “Paparazzi” to never give up on your dreams. That’s very ambitious right? Clark also thinks that even though Gaga is in the media on numerous occasions, that she is still the best example of a role model.

And that is why Clark said, “She doesn’t let anyone get to her, which is why she’s my role model.”

Story By: Faryal Zubair, Editor-In-Chief

Decisions. That’s the key word used to describe senior year.

The decision to try and graduate with your classmates or stay behind. The decision to apply for college or choose an alternative route. The decision to apply to the right colleges or the decision to mess it all up. That last one might not be one that any student chooses willingly.

According to Higheredinfo.org, 67 percent of the graduating students in Virginia are planning on attending college. The next part is tricky though for those who are college bound: the process of applying to college.

First things first, choosing the right college or universities to apply to. A common mistake made by most seniors is that they apply to too many places. Collegeboard.com states that some students will apply to 20 places or more. Why is it a problem to apply to so many colleges?

“It’s expensive for one thing,” said school guidance counselor, Mrs. Helen Schurz.

Schurz suggests that students should apply to five colleges. When applying to colleges, she said, apply to one that might be a dream school, one that is a “safety school,” and others in between.

“Reach for one, but be realistic,” said Schurz.

“I’m stressed out about the deadlines and having to get everything in,” said senior Valerie Woods.

Woods is planning on applying to colleges such as Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

While Woods isn’t making the mistake of applying to too many colleges, she’s afraid that she’s still behind in the applying-to-college process.

She has a point. There are many upcoming important deadlines that are crucial for seniors. Students need to be taking their SAT’s, ACT’s, and subject tests. Registration deadlines for these tests pass months in advance before they’re taken. Late fees can be extremely expensive and sometimes a seat isn’t even guaranteed. Also, those applying for scholarships need to be on the lookout for new opportunities but also cut-off dates.

“Start working on applications now. Don’t put them off,” said Schurz.

“I think we should really take this seriously and actually try hard this year,” said Woods.

Woods makes a good point. Senioritis kicks in for many seniors as they approach the end of their high school career. This is the wrong time to be slacking off since this is the last semester to improve grades before college applications need to be submitted.

One way to ease the stress of filling out tons of college applications is to use the common application. Many universities accept a common application that only needs to be filled out once and can be sent to various schools. In addition to the application, certain colleges might ask for a specifically written essay.

Once an application has been submitted, it’s the guidance counselor’s job to get a student’s transcripts together. However, transcripts need to be requested from counselors in advance. Also, students taking Dual Enrollment classes must fax a request to the school that is providing the class and ask for those scores separately.

Another thing that students should be working on right now is getting recommendations, mentioned Schurz.

“Once you’ve done one [application], it’s pretty simple,” said Schurz.