Penn Points Online

It’s a new year at Penn Manor High School and that means new freshman.

Long confusing hallways, intimidating upperclassmen and new teachers can make freshman nervous for their first year at the high school.

Upperclassmen are already used to the schedule and the longer class periods but this is the first experience ninth graders have with block scheduling. The freshman must go through the new adjustments of the first week of school.

The high school is about two or three times the size of the middle schools, with more choices of classes, dozens of new teachers and hundreds of new classmates.

The first day of school can often be the hardest.

“Getting beat up the first day,” is what ninth grader Austin Medora said his biggest fear was before coming to the high school.

Medora said, “I thought that the teachers would be more strict and that the classes would be harder, but I think that my most challenging class will be my English class.”

Ninth grader, Carly Patterson, said, “I think that the teachers here at the high school give us more independence. They expect us to be more independent with our work.”

Most teachers also offer tutoring to any struggling students every Tuesday and sometimes Thursdays.

Ninth grader Amanda Maser said, “My goal in high school is to get good grades and not get anything below a C. I want to do better than my brother did when he was in high school.”

In comparison to the middle school, students at the high school have a lot more freedom. The dress code is less strict. For example, in the high school students can wear ripped jeans (as long as there is something underneath the pants), and flip flops.

“We have so much more freedom here at the high school than we did in the middle school.” said ninth grader, Alexis Cunningham.

Students in middle school are not permitted to chew gum, and if they were caught, students were written up or given a detention. At Penn Manor High School, students have the freedom to chew gum.

Instead of having three minutes to get to class, students have eight. Also, in the middle schools there was no public displays of affection (PDAs) allowed but in the high school, students have the freedom for a little PDA as long as it doesn’t get out of hand.

The middle schools held dances for the students but they were different when compared to the high school’s homecoming. There are a lot more people that attend the homecoming dance. This will be a new experience for most freshman unless they have already attended a homecoming.

“I will be attending homecoming and I am taking my girlfriend as my date,” said Tom Sowers.

Maser said, “I’d like to go to homecoming, but I am waiting for my boyfriend to ask me, but he hasn’t asked me yet.”

High school teachers encourage their students to set goals in early on and many freshman are taking their advice.

Courtney Hurlburt said “my goal is to pass all of my classes so that I can get into college.”

Hopefully this year the freshman students will enjoy homecoming and other fun events as they make many new adjustments in high school.

By Allana Herr

Video games, slightly used cell phones, a dvd player, iPods – what to do when you want to sell them or need to buy them?

Teens, at least at Penn Manor, are changing the way they buy and sell products. When it comes to getting or getting rid of used cars, TVs, iPods, or video game systems instead of using yard sales, ads in the newspaper or Ebay much anymore, Most Penn Manor students say that teens now prefer to use Craigslist as an easier and more efficient way to sell things.

They are not alone.

Craigslist, a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements, is now the most used classified ads service in the country, according to online reports.

It was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay area.  Advertising jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, résumés and discussion forums. Craigslist is now the top classified ads service, and is in the top ten of Internet companies.

Craiglist has now established itself in approximately 450 cities in 50 countries. This past year, Craigslist claims 568,125,500 people have visited its site.

“I’ve bought so many things off of Craigslist, a message chair, an aquarium, CDs, and so many other things.” said senior Justice Hower.

“You can find the best deals,” said Paul Slaugh, referring to Craigslist.

Senior Ryan Connelly bought used truck and dirt-bike parts off of Craigslist and was very satisfied with them.

Nick Weidinger, also a senior at Penn Manor, bought CDs and video games off of Craigslist.

Many students at Penn Manor said they don’t use eBay any more.

“Ebay takes too much time, too complicated, and you have to have an account. Craigslist you don’t.” Slaugh said.

The newspaper used to be about the only way to buy and sell things, but most students here don’t use that either.

Tyler Keith said, “I don’t know how to even put an ad in the newspaper and if it costs money I don’t want to use it when I could just use Craigslist.”

Another way that some students buy and sell things is by Amazon.com.

Aaron Sellers bought a book off of the Amazon site and was satisfied.

Some students also sell things at yard sales.

Craigslist does have a few problems of its own though. Recent events have put a spotlight on the dangers of Craigslist.   On April 28 a group of teens were accused of the murder of Jim Sanders after spotting an ad for a ring he was selling on the site they came to his house and killed him. Another woman was killed when responding to an ad for an apartment on Craigslist.

According to some students this doesn’t deter them from using the site at all.

“I know a lot of people who have sold things and I trust that nothing would happen,” said Jeremy Vital. “I could just get the things shipped to me, or I could ship things I sell if I actually got worried about it.”

Also when using a site like this or any site similar students should always be careful for scams or fake ads to get money.

By Dillon Walker

Rumors about money, or the lack of it, have been a dark cloud over the class of 2011 for about two years.

There have been rumors about its fund raising efforts, its finances, it’s prom and overall how it’s financial situation will affect the fun things planned for the year.

Josh Carle, a senior at Penn Manor High, is extremely worried about his prom. “Ever since I entered high school,  I’ve looked forward to prom and now it might not be as enjoyable because we’re financially unstable.”

Class of 2011 President, Jesse Graham, acknowledged there have been disappointments along the way but it doesn’t equal disaster.

“The class itself has not done a great job with our fundraisers,” Graham said.  “The class representatives have put together enough fund raising opportunities that we could have had a lot more money than we do.  I should remind the rest of the class that it’s not just the class officers that are responsible for the fund raising.”

Compared to previous graduating classes, 2011 is lagging in the funds they have raised going into their senior year.

Melissa Frerichs, an English teacher and class adviser from 2010 and 2009 released some frightening statistics.

“The class of 2009 had a little over $21,000 (at this point in time),” said Frerichs.   “The class of 2010 had around $19,000.”

Meanwhile the class of 2011 has about $10,000 a this time, according to recent estimates.

“Shocking to say the least,” said Jere Vital, who called himself a concerned senior. “I would’ve expected more with all the effort it seemed like we put into fund raising.”

Student representatives for the class said people shouldn’t panic.

“We’re completely fine,” said Graham, the class president for the seniors.  “We’d like to get more money but we can manage with what we have.”

Class of 2011 adviser and biology teacher Eric Dutchess said, “Realistically we’re fine. We’re lower in funds than some classes in the past.”

“Prom’s looking good. So far we’re looking at The Host, but that may be subject to change,” Graham said.

Class officer Corey Morales said, “There will be a fundraiser coming up selling entertainment books, which will allow the students to lower the price of their prom tickets.”

“The rumors about our class are mostly completely false and ignorant. We have everything under control,” Morales said.

Class officer Garrett Young said, “We’re seniors too, we obviously want to have a good prom. We have put in the work to at least have a fun prom.”

Class representatives agree that fund raising can’t be done by just a few people, it has to be a group effort.

The senior class will be leaving in June of 2011, and questions remain whether or not their last year will be one to remember.

Reputations, getting to class on time and academics sometimes go on the back burner when it comes to Penn Manor’s PDA-loving students.

PDA stands for public displays of affection which can be defined and displayed in many different ways.

According to administration, teachers and a large majority of students, PDA is on the rise and many are “disgusted” and “grossed out” by some of the things they’ve seen.

Since the 2006-2007 school year, the number of students referred to the office has increased, according to discipline records. Most cases though are not reported to the administration unless extreme.

Students are mostly cooperative when approached, claimed several teachers who have reported excessive PDAs in the hallways.

What is appropriate PDA and how much is too much? How far does it have to go until it “grosses out” many passing students?

“I think there’s a time and place for it, but it’s not at school,” junior Jon Carty said.  “Holding hands is OK  but people don’t want to see spit-swapping and face-sucking.”

But grossed out or not, surprisingly over half of students questioned have been involved in some form of PDA themselves.

Principal Phil Gale said he feels that students are acting as if “(they) are going to war, not a 90 minute class.”

That doesn’t mean that all PDAs end up in a discipline referral.

The administration understands that high school students can feel the need to show affection and sometimes apply the rules as they feel necessary. But, they also view the extreme behaviors as a distraction to the students near by and a hindrance for everyone getting to class on time.

Senior Kelly McHugh said, “I think  a little bit is okay, but sometimes it gets distracting. Holding hands and a kiss is okay.”

“I hate it!” exclaimed senior Jill Zimmerman.

“I think it’s gross,” said sophomore Amanda Martin, “people don’t want to see it.”

On the other hand, seniors like Riannon Herr and Braiden Weber have a different take on it.

“PDA is okay because you can learn some new moves,” said Herr.

Also, a lunch table full of junior guys all agreed it is “perfectly acceptable” and “isn’t much of an issue.”

As long as students are not “competing for the longest kiss in movie history,” then I’m not going to stop them, said Ms. Cox.

Despite having to deal with things such as hardcore kisses, disrespectful responses,  and students’ lip rings getting caught together, Penn Manor students mostly follow the rules when it comes to sharing the love.

By Christa Charles