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THE COUGAR STAR

February 2016

Cover Art: Kristine Zheng, Graphic Designer and Resident Artist A groundhog with Valentine’s Day balloons represents the many faces of this issue. Back cover silhouette credit: <pinterest.com> ; edited by Jasmine Xu and Julie Heng Thanks to the Clague PTO for sponsoring this issue!

Note: The opinions in this issue are solely of the writers. They do not fully express the ideas of the Cougar Star, Clague Middle School, or any body of individuals. Our news reporting is to the best of our ability and true to its word. Any questions, comments, responses, or submissions will be accepted at thecougarstar@gmail.com.

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POINT / COUNTERPOINT Was Removing the Google Chat Feature from student emails the Right Thing to Do?

13% of polled Clague students say YES, 68% of polled Clague students say NO, 19% remain NEUTRAL

YES. It takes quite an effort to maintain a class’s attention. People get tired, bored, and overwhelmed in school. Add chats, and there is simply too much risk of distraction. The removal of the chat feature from school emails was a good decision. Some argue that chats are a key means of communication for students collaborating on projects. Student Jason Nolan said in a nutshell what the problem with this logic is. “People use it [the chat feature] more to communicate with their friends than work on group projects.” Undoubtedly, people are using chats for chit-chat. So, for the students who need to collaborate: Comments aren’t perfect, but they can fill in for chats well enough. If the urge to chat is so insatiable, students should use their personal accounts. School emails are for school use. Personal emails are for personal use. Students should start recognizing that the two must be kept separate. It seems like an annoying formality, but keeping emails separate saves trouble. Look at the misfortune that fell on a current presidential candidate. Convenience is something held dear by everyone who has a life. And yet, when one has to send an email—type out a whole subject line, for goodness’ sake!—the words will be more carefully thought through. How many times has a person wished they could’ve taken something back? When more than the “enter” key is standing between a person and their words, there is less risk of regret. Haste makes waste. That being said, if students feel so inconvenienced by typing out a whole subject line, and pressing “Send”, they don’t have to . If the purpose of an email is a quick chat, don’t go to all that trouble. The silent classroom is often seen as the perfect one. It is not so if the students are immersed in virtual conversation. Concentration is a fragile thing, and chats threaten to break it. —Eleanor Lin

NO. Why did the chat get removed? If it was misused, why did we never hear about it? If it was just a few people misusing it, couldn’t the school just ban a few people? Chats are just like faster emails, so why should they be banned? “The reason it probably got removed was because of a few students who misused it,” said eighth grader Ananya Sharma. This overall feeling was reflected when a small survey was conducted, a majority of the people asked responded that they liked the chat option. Teachers might argue, what is the harm in it? It is a nuisance to see students typing away at their keyboards, gossipping with friends instead of doing work. Not necessarily! Eighth grader Catharina Guenther said, “It defeats the purpose of having email. Why would you email someone if you could just chat? Email is better because it’s more formal and shows more respect.” I beg to differ. Chat is not supposed to be formal. It is just for your use, and with the email that AAPS has provided us lucky students with, you can use this wonderful feature for many things. Chat is the next step in this technology age, and many Clague group-project learners agree that this real-time feature. Chatting is a faster way to get real-time responses, via a faster medium, as emails take time to open and send. Chats can be great for projects, and extracurricular activities, such as Academic Games and Science Olympiad, as students can freely and efficiently work with each other, though in different places. Even here at the Cougar Star, chat was a prominent back-and-forth feature between editors and authors, and it’s a fast means of communications for 21st century learners that should not be abolished. —Eric Heng

 

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THE CLAGUE CLUB UPDATE By Avani Guduri & Sophie Stillwagon, Staff Writers

Clague offers a variety of clubs for its students, each activity unique in its own way. When asked about his views on afterschool clubs, current Clague principal Che Carter answered, “After-school clubs and activities are so important at all levels; however middle school even more so [sic] , with so little opportunity to have choice in our course offerings.” After-school activities encourage students to expand talents which aren’t usually addressed during the typical school day, and allow students to explore beyond the syllabus.

Some of Clague’s popular clubs include Academic Games, Science Olympiad, Mathcounts, Debate Club, Chess Club, and Practice Club. All of Clague’s clubs have hit off 2016 with an excellent start, and continue to make Clague remarkable.

MATHCOUNTS

The Clague Mathcounts club has decided on their 2016 team. The entire team consists of a group of four who compete both as individuals and as a group, and six more students who will compete only as individuals. In January, the club held the 2016 School Competition to determine who will be on the team. All the tests have been scored, and the results have been announced. After the final tiebreakers were completed, the team was established. The team recently competed at Weber’s Inn on February 8th at the Regional Competition. Within the competition, one of our eighth grade students, James Xiu won the countdown.

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

Students participating in Science Olympiad have been working hard to enhance their skills as they ready themselves for approaching tournaments. Students of all grades have been attending practices of events of their choice each week as they prepare for the competitions.

Science Olympiad teams can have up to 15 participants; these members will cover the 23 events. The Division B events for the 2015-16 Science Olympiad include topics in the fields of: Life, Personal and Social Science, Earth and Space Science, Physical Science and Chemistry, Technology and Engineering, and Inquiry and Nature of Science. Last year Clague came in 6th place out of 48 teams competing around Michigan at the State Tournament. On January 30th, the two Clague Science Olympiad teams competed at an invitational tournament. Clague placed in the top five in the events of Experimental Design, Food Science, Reach For the Stars, Bio Process Lab, Picture This, and Fossils.

Clague hopes that the Science Olympiad participants will do even better at the remaining tournaments the team has yet to compete in.

PRACTICE CLUB

Practice club has been working very hard on improving their instruments to better improve their participants’ musical talent. Ms. Alwin has been working hard with all of her students to ensure that they continue to develop their musical skills and further reach their highest potential.

“Students who practice regularly and who have good practice skills always improve. It has been so exciting to hear the students improve as they come from week to week. We also have students "drop - in" from time to time to get extra help on their music. We always hear an immediate improvement when students are focused and working to make beautiful music,” said Ms. Alwin when asked about Practice Club’s recent meetings.

Many students have been using Practice Club as a way to prepare for the upcoming Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp auditions, other concerts and events, and of course just to get some extra help on current pieces. Practice Club is a great advantage to all of the young musicians at Clague.

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CHESS CLUB

Chess Club participants have been practicing with great difficulty to improve themselves in this difficult game of strategy. Participants have become skilled at their game and will do very well in upcoming competitions.

On January 30th, Thurston Elementary School held their 13th annual Chess Tournament. Students from Clague participated and were very successful.

DEBATE CLUB

Clague’s Debate Club has been doing running smoothly each Thursday. “The turnout for debate club this school year has been unbelievable,” says Mr. Wiens, the leader of the club. The

number of students participating in the club skyrocketed to astonishing numbers. Approximately thirty students engage in the club each week. Recently, the club has been announcing the motion in advance, letting students prepare for the debates beforehand. This has resulted in more “substantive debates” in Mr. Wiens’ opinion.

The members of the club are invited to the next tournament available for a variety of nearby schools. The tournament will be held at Forsythe, one of Ann Arbor’s public middle schools on the 27 of February. More information on the tournament including the motion will be available in the coming weeks. Until then, Clague’s Debate Club will compete which each other at their regular meetings. ACADEMIC GAMES

The Clague Academic Games team has been working hard to improve their skills at the games as they prepare for upcoming tournaments.

The last Saturday tournament of the school year was on February 6th, and is open to all Academic Games participants. The tournament was held in Amerman Elementary School, located in Northville, Michigan, and was about a thirty minute drive away. The competition was open to all teams of Region B including Clague, Huron, and other Academic Games teams. The 2016 State Tournament also approaches, and the Clague Academic Games team is preparing for it. This year, all of Clague’s 6th grader participants will compete in the Elementary tournament for three days during the first week of March in Grand Rapids. One week later, Clague’s 7th and 8th grade participants will compete in the Middle tournament for three days.

As the number of days until the State Tournament decreases, the Clague Academic Games team increases the amount of time and work they spend into readying themselves. The five-person teams for the State Tournament have been chosen, and they are working hard to make this year be a excellent year. CLAGUE’S OPINION

Angie Zhou, 7th Grader @ Academic Games: “Academic Games is a very educational and innovative way for kids to learn. It is very interesting and fun as well, compared to the usual note taking and lectures in school.” Candace Jung, 7th Grader @ Debate Club: "Debate Club is a club that piques my interest because the topics we discuss each week are very compelling." Kristine Zheng, 8th Grader @ Mathcounts: “Math, the only subject that counts.” Gerald Kim, 7th Grader @ Academic Games: “In Academic Games you learn lots of different games from lots of different subjects.” Bridgit Jung, 7th Grader @ Debate Club: "Debate Club is an exquisite opportunity for students to explore debating. I especially enjoy how students get a chance to understand both sides of an argument, and what might seem wrong makes more sense." Priyanka Naik, 7th Grader @ Science Olympiad: “Science Olympiad is a very fun event where you can learn about different things and compete.”

ALL PHOTOS CREDIT: AVANI G.

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on measuring the excellence of schools:

Our Futures.

Just past the midterm mark, schools once again restart the system of moving onward.

Kindergarteners advance to primary school, fifth graders choose their middle school classes, and eighth

graders face the liberation of high school. Since last year, the Ann Arbor Public School System opened seats

for all interdistrict transfers. For a Clague Middle School student like me, that means “schools of choice” is

open for my high school selection. So now what?

Essentially, this would allow me to pick and choose my ideal environment for high school, whether

that be simply one of the “Big Three”—Huron, Skyline, or Pioneer, or a specialty school such as Community

or Pathways. But as an individual who is incredibly indecisive over even a one-time ice cream flavor, this is

no easy task!

…and so the judgment begins.

It has been a busy season, overwhelming almost, what with all the high schools bringing their

dramatic presentations and video-choreographic flairs into the Clague hallways in recent 2016. So, after all

those marketing campaigns, it’s time to choose: what school is the best for me?

Transitioning through this period of life can be relatively difficult, and the counseling advice to “just

use your gut instinct” is rather pointless, especially because the “gut” isn’t even a precise enough medical

term to reveal anything.

For most students, it comes down to what the school can offer them. Have your personal checklist

of what you are looking for. Would you love to tour Europe with a professional symphony orchestra? How

about rise the rankings for a competitive track team? Any chance to learn real-life emergency room

experiences, or take part in an innovative Model UN, or join a coding team?

In short, it comes down to this: the key is finding what you really want in a high school, and what is

best for you.

I’ll admit, I initially didn’t give much thought to planning the next four years in my growth, but it is a

very important part on the track moving towards uni, post-college education and actual career plans.

To be honest, you cannot make a “wrong choice” in the high school you are going to. Again, all the

schools of Ann Arbor are sought after all over (and trust me, I had heard of this school system all the way

over in Canada.) You can shine no matter where you choose to.

In addition to that, one must remember that high school could be some of the best years of your life.

Just don’t expect things to be perfect. Good luck!