Local Teens Get Involved, Go Green

By Kerry Boyles

aThEENs staff

In the immortal words of Dr. Seuss, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, / Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” In Athens, two high school clubs care an awful lot about the environment and are giving up their time to help out, even if it is somewhat of a thankless job.

At Cedar Shoals High School, the Positive about Cedar Shoals (PACS) club takes care of the school’s rain garden and recycles for the school. In 2003, the club was chosen as the nation’s best recycling program, winning first-place from Keep America Beautiful.

“Recycling is so easy that it’s kind of ridiculous that so many people don’t do it,” said senior Andy Kim.

The club also maintains the rain garden at Cedar Shoals. Rain gardens allow rainwater runoff to soak into a depression in the ground and reduce rain runoff while increasing available groundwater, said Stella Guerrero, biology teacher and PACS sponsor.

The rain garden at Cedar Shoals High School serves as an outdoor classroom and helps the environment by collecting rainwater runoff. Photo by Kerry Boyles. Feb. 23, 2011.

“Landscape Architecture students [from UGA] designed the garden and then we decided it could be used as an outdoor classroom and at the same time make the school look better,” Guerrero said.

The garden also helps increase biodiversity in the area, she said.

“We have lots of insects and birds and once in a while we see a rabbit here and there,” she said.

However, the garden doesn’t just help the environment.

“My goal is to transfer the idea of the importance of environmental awareness,” Guerrero said. “I want to not take things for granted and to be able to give something positive to the school.”

Students in the club are even using this awareness in planning their future career goals. Emmett Cappi, junior, plans to study Ecology or Forestry after working in the garden planting trees and cutting down some invasive species.

“I’d like to work in a national park someday,” he said.

Across town, students at the rival high school are equally as proud of their environmental efforts. Students in the Environmental Club at Clarke Central High School are also proud of the contributions they have made to their school, though they may not have gotten the national, or even local, recognition that PACS has received.

“The main service we provide is recycling for the entire school and unfortunately because of dwindling numbers we don’t have time to do much else,” said science teacher Ross Pringle, the club’s sponsor. “There are four students in the core group and four to six students who show up on a semi-regular basis. We usually start recycling by 4 p.m. and are not finished until 5:30 or sometimes 6 p.m.”

The Environmental Club recycles for the school every Thursday and participates in Adopt a Highway four times a year.

“Probably our biggest challenge is how to get more people to come,” Pringle said. “There’s certainly more fun things you can do rather than come and help out and pick up recycling for two hours. For a large group of students it just doesn’t matter. It’s just not a priority.”

This attitude is apparent in the amount of trash that gets thrown into the bags and bins along with the cans and paper that the group collects and recycles. The students must sift through juice cups, paper towels, and empty chip bags to get to the recyclables. In some cases, the amount of trash is so high that they refuse to recycle it.

“When students put stuff in the recycling bin that’s where it stops for them,” Pringle said. “They don’t think about what happens to it after that. It’s just some students care more than others.”

The students in the Environmental Club are proud of the impact they make.

“I like that what we do makes a tangible difference,” said senior Rachel Kulikoff.

The students also enjoy the camaraderie that the club has to offer.

“It can be a very social thing,” said junior Theo Kipreos. “It’s very relaxed.”

The club has also tried to get other clubs and the cafeteria workers to recycle. However, most of these attempts have been unsuccessful.

“It’s not a priority for our school in general,” Pringle said. “I feel like [recycling] is really important to do so I make it a priority.”

New Media: Balancing Distraction and Information

A University student takes a break from studying in the MLC to check Facebook. Facebook can be a major distraction for students, whether they are in high school or college.

By Katie Valentine

aThEENs staff

Kinsey Clark is logged into Facebook for about six hours per day.

Though the  Clarke Central High School student is not actively using the site for that long, she said the site is often open on her computer, regardless of what she is doing. Visiting Facebook is a regular part of her daily routine.

“I generally have Facebook up while I’m doing other things on my computer,” she said. “I’m probably online the site for an average of five or six hours a day, but I actually use the site at sporadic moments that add up to an hour or two every night.”

Social Networking sites were blocked in Clarke Central High School in Fall 2006, said Anisa Jimenez, public relations director for Clarke County schools. Sullivan said the decision was made by a group of teachers and administrators in order to keep students focued on their schoolwork.

“It is important that we keep the school day focused on instruction, and those sites are a distraction,” Jimenez said.

Cell phones, too, have strict policies surrounding their usage during school hours.  Although current research shows that teachers are open to using social media in the classroom, for right now, Clarke County is very strict on what web sites are accessible on school computers.

Students still have access to these forms of communication at home, however. Although Clark tries not to let Facebook distract her when she’s doing schoolwork, she said her cell phone and other websites can become distractions.

“If someone calls or texts me, I’ll stop what I’m doing to talk to them, regardless of what work I’m doing,” she said.

Cody Clark (no relation), a student at North Oconee High School, said while he generally doesn’t use Facebook for more than 30 minutes per day, the site can sometimes be a major source of distraction for him.

“It’s definitely distracting,” he said. “Some days I don’t get on at all, but sometimes I’ll get on the computer to do homework and I’ll end up on Facebook. The other night I ended up getting distracted on it until 3 a.m.”

Though administrators have tried to reduce distractions by placing restrictions on social networking sites, other distractions still exist. Cell phones have become an increasingly prevalent distraction for students during school hours. Though rules and consequences regarding cell phone usage are strict, David Ragsdale, an English teacher at Clarke Central, said cell phone related discipline issues are very common in the classroom.

“Cell phones are a chronic distraction at Central,” he said. “They were far more rare 10 years ago, but at this point, regardless of socio-economic status, students have them and use them whenever and wherever possible.”

Despite the heavy restrictions placed on cell phones and certain websites in Clarke County, however, some school organizations use social media to their advantage. Ragsdale said some teachers have used blogs in their classes in the past, but with the increased amount of firewalls placed on social networking sites, many have stopped using them. The Clarke Central yearbook, however, used Facebook last year to make announcements, and Odyssey Newsmagazine has a Facebook page as well as a Twitter account.

Though some organizations at Clarke Central use social media to their advantage, Ragsdale said he is worried about social media as a major means of distraction for students.

“The more distractions to taking care of class work that exist, the higher propensity of kids we’ll have who are culturally literate in mediums other than the culture of school,” he said. “We have kids who can LOL, ROFL, and talk to their BFFL, but who can’t spell out those words.”

Clarke Central is not unique in its use of social media for limited educational purposes. Recent research has shown that more teachers in K-12 schools have begun to use cell phones and social media as educational tools in the classroom. A 2009 PBS Survey found a “strong interest of K–12 teachers in digital media and social networking.” The report said 15 percent of teachers valued blogs as an educational resource, up from 11 percent in 2008. Fourteen percent of teachers valued Facebook, Wiki and other social media communities.

Scott Shamp, director of the New Media Institute at the University of Georgia, said he thinks social media can have a place in the high school classroom, as long as it is used in a structured format.

“With half a billion people on Facebook, we have to find a way of harnessing its energy,” he said.

Shamp said with the rise of new media comes a fundamental change in the way people communicate. Whenever a new form of communication is introduced, there are those who resist the change and insist on sticking by the old methods.

“This is a new way that people are interacting,” he said. “We can’t fight it.”

Stephen Castille, an English teacher at Cedar Shoals High School, said social media is so rigidly blocked from school computers at Cedar Shoals that teachers sometimes don’t have the chance to use even blogging sites as part of instruction.

“While there very well maybe other outlets to explore outside of the more popular ones, the more difficult it is to access the more well known services, the less likely people are to use any,” he said.

Cody Clark said he thinks social media may have a place in the high school classroom, if used correctly. Currently, North Oconee High School has a blog system called Moodle, which teachers use to post assignments and updates for students. Clark said it’s a balance for him to get on the computer to access Moodle for homework, since he sometimes ends up getting distracted on Facebook, but incorporating school work into social media websites might help some students complete their work.

“If some kids get on Facebook for three to four hours per day, it might be useful to have their homework right there for them to do while they’re on it,” he said.

Currently, social media is not completely integrated into the K-12 education system. Though Facebook and other sites can be a distraction for Kinsey Clark, she said she has also used social media to help plan study sessions or get help with an assignment. She said when studying or working on homework, students need to set restrictions for themselves.

“You just have to know that what you’re doing is more important that someone’s status or their most recent photo album and continuously remind yourself of that,” she said.

 

Athens High Schools Cater ESOL Programs to Meet Teen Needs

By Grace Morris

aThEENs staff

Many high school students in Clarke County are expected to function in English when they have spoken nothing but Spanish for the first 15 or so years of their lives.

“Students usually start and complete ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) programs in elementary school,” said Vicki Krugman, director of ESOL Programs in Athens Clarke-County. “For a student to be in a high school program they might have started ESOL in middle school or they may have just recently moved to the country.”

A typical ESOL student spends three years in the ESOL program. This is the minimum time frame for accomplishing the primary goal of ESOL instruction, success in four language domains – listening, speaking, reading and writing.

“We have basic components that all teachers follow, but the actual instruction is adjusted to age level,” Krugman said. “There are things that high school students have to learn right away that apply to their specific courses. So high school ESOL programs are generally faster paced and more intensive.”

In accordance with the Title IV Act stating that schools must provide some sort of service to help English learners fully participate, all Athens-Clarke County schools offer ESOL instruction. There are clear state guidelines regarding entrance into and exit from ESOL programs, but each district has choices in the services they offer.

“The choices are based on population,” Krugman said. “So our programs will look pretty different from schools with only 10 English language learners.”

ESOL programs in Athens cater to 1,191 students who have shown need. These students account for 10 percent of the entire district school population, and 90 percent of them are of Hispanic descent.

Although some students merely come from homes that speak a language other than English, many fall into the 13.2 percent of Athens residents who moved to the U.S. within the past year.

Brittany Mackay, an ESOL tutor at Winterville Elementary, taught a number of newly settled immigrants and found that their inexperience with English crippled, or at least hindered, their capacity to learn.

“You have to constantly ask them if they understand the material,” Mackay said. “And even when they say they do they usually don’t. They’re just too embarrassed to admit that they don’t get it.”

The extent of language setbacks in non-native speakers often exceeds the time and resources of ESOL teachers. In response to this problem, the Office of Early Learning in Athens-Clarke County developed Right Start Family Literacy. This program operates under the philosophy that parents are students’ first, and often most influential, teachers.

“We serve parents of children birth to 18,” said Nancy Heiges, a Right Start Family Literacy ESOL teacher.

“They often do meet their goals. They are able to go to appointments without a translator, and they’re able to work in an English-speaking environment.”

Nancy Heiges chats with a student before class.

Although many non-English speaking parents are eager to improve their language skills, the Right Start Family Literacy classes are in such high demand that Heiges must be very selective in admitting students.

“I only have space for 24 students in my classroom, and the requirements limit who I can take,” Heiges said. “They must be parents for one thing, and I have to have a certain number of parents from certain programs.”

The Right Start Family Literacy program only allows 24 students in each class, because older students often need more specified and intensive attention. Recognizing older students’ need for more concentrated ESOL instruction, Athens Clarke County uses a similar approach called the sheltered method in its high school programs.

Students in the Right Start Family Literacy program work together on a language exercise.

Elementary schools typically focus on the “push in” and “pull out” approaches. In the former, regular teachers and ESOL instructors deliver content to children during their normal class. The latter method involves tutors pulling kids out of class for intense English instruction.

“I personally like the sheltered method better,” said Carla Horne, an ESOL instructor at Cedar Shoals High School,  “because there’s too much commotion and distraction involved with going into a classroom.”

Sheltered classes included only non-native speakers. They cater to a specific subject, like 10^th grade English, and focus instruction on the content that would normally be assigned in that class’s curriculum.

“They all need help writing so no one feels embarrassed or uncomfortable,” Horne said of her ESOL English literature class. “In the sheltered method we’re all together and we’re all a family.”

Gladiators go 11-1 on season behind Mattox

By Rachel G. Bowers
aThEENs staff

Martay Mattox’s face lights up when his future is mentioned.

Senior Martay Mattox — Clarke Central's starting quarterback — said he chose to attend and play football at South Carolina because it was a good fit for him. He said it was far enough away from home for him to spread his wings, but still close enough to come home when he wants. Photo by Rachel G. Bowers

The Clarke Central quarterback’s grin stretches from ear to ear when he imagines his new life beginning come December.

Though he will graduate early, miss his senior prom, the senior picnic and the opportunity to sport a bright red cap and gown and gold tassel and walk across the stage at graduation, Mattox is bursting at the seams with excitement to start his academic and athletic career at the University of South Carolina.

The senior will enroll in classes in January and participate in spring practice with the Gamecocks to get a jump start on his college experience.

“I really just can’t wait to get to South Carolina. I’m sure it’ll be a good experience for me,” Mattox said. “I’m probably [going to be] missing out on a lot of senior activities that a lot of people get to go to … that will be what I miss about it, but I think I’m ready for [college].”

But before he hangs his yellow helmet and No. 7 jersey in the Gladiators’ locker room for the last time, Mattox has a team of 70 looking to him to steer the squad to the Georgia Dome for the second-straight year, and not come home empty handed this time around.

“I expect to go to the state championship and win it,” Mattox said.

***

Mattox’s journey didn’t begin at Clarke Central.

It didn’t start in red and gold.

Mattox (7) led the Gladiators to a 41-12 win over his former high school team — Cedar Shoals — in the 2010 season opener.

And it didn’t start in Billy Henderson Stadium.

It started across town in The Jungle with the Gladiators’ biggest rival — Cedar Shoals.

Mattox spent his first two years of high school walking the halls of the high school on the east side of Athens before he and his family moved into a neighborhood zoned for Clarke Central before the start of his junior year in 2009.

And it just so happened Mattox’s duel-threat abilities were perfectly tailored to run the type of offense head coach Leroy Ryals ran at Clarke Central.

“It was brought to my attention by a family member about how I play the game and how [the Gladiators] run the offense and it was kinda picture perfect for me,” Mattox said. “I kinda just took that and ran with it.”

Not only did Mattox run with it, he led Clarke Central past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997 and back to the 4A state championship game for the first time since 1993.

En route to the Georgia Dome, the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder threw for 1,867 yards, 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions while compiling 774 rushing yards on 164 carries and 16 scores.

But despite all of the highlight reels he graced, the YouTube videos that featured his breakaway runs and the 12-3 record the Gladiators posted, it was all taken away in a 48-minute battle of will power.

Clarke Central fell 29-15 to Sandy Creek in the final after a Cinderella run through the 2009 playoffs.

That loss has stayed with the squad, according to Mattox, and has added fuel to an already fiery Gladiator squad.

“We said it a lot around the weight room [in the offseason] and at practice just to remind ourselves that we were so close — probably one or two plays away [from winning it all],” Mattox said. “So there’s more drive.”

And this season, Mattox said he sees a closer, hungrier Gladiator squad on the field. He said he and his teammates are just as is quick to congratulate one another as they are to correct each other’s mistakes.

Mattox has completed nearly 58 percent of his passes and thrown for 19 touchdowns while rushing for more 500 yards with four scores thus far in the 2010 season. Photo by Rachel G. Bowers

As the team relishes in its improved chemistry, Mattox settles into being more of a vocal leader on the youthful squad and uses his mentor-like role to guide his team.

“I think it’s more kinda like managing the team, making sure everybody is doing what they’re supposed to do because we have more younger players this year. Just keeping the team straight, mainly the offense,” Mattox said. “I’m one of the few seniors that’s on the offense, actually, so I just try to lead them in the right direction.”

And after an 11-0 campaign, a 8-AAAA region title and a No. 1 seed in the playoffs Mattox’s dream of bringing home the state championship trophy slipped out of his grasp for the second year in a row in a heart-breaking, second-round loss to East Paulding.

Mattox finished his Gladiator career with nearly 4,000 yards passing with 38 touchdowns and nine interceptions, while completing 58.5 percent of his passes. He also rushed 1,342 yards on 245 carries and 20 total touchdowns.

He has hung up his Gladiator jersey and helmet for the last time and will now trade them in for the maroon and black of the Gamecocks.

***

When Mattox departs for Columbia, S.C., not only will he leave behind his Gladiator teammates and his prolific high school career, he will also leave his foundation and support system — Ryals, his two younger siblings and his mother.

Mattox said his mother, Tiffany, is his “biggest fan” and “biggest motivator.”

The two share a love of football and will spend some afternoons watching football on TV. Mattox said the lines of communication between him and his mother are wide open, which has fostered a close relationship between mother and son.

“She’s a single parent, so we’re pretty close. We can talk about a lot of things and she likes football a lot so that kinda works out a lot,” Mattox said. “After the games on Fridays when I come home, I ask her about how I played and she tells me good things and things I can work on.”

Mattox said he and his younger sister Shatequa, who is just a year younger, are really “close” and that Mattox isn’t the only No. 7 his mother cheers on every week.

Mattox’s 9-year-old brother Stephon plays quarterback for a little league football team in Athens, and like his older brother dons the No. 7 jersey.

Mattox said he tries to get to as many of Stefon’s Saturday morning games as possible, but sometimes the demands of the Gladiators’ weekend meetings don’t allow him to cheer on his mini-me every week.

“He likes to do the things that I do and he likes for me to come watch him play and stuff like that. So it’s pretty cool,” Mattox said. “Some Saturdays we have meetings after [Friday’s] game in the morning and the majority of the time, [Stefon’s team] plays in the morning, but I try to get to the ones I can make.”

Mattox has been building a relationship with another member of his support system for more than a year. Mattox accredits Ryals for his development as a man and as a quarterback over the course of the last year.

“He kinda looks at himself like a father figure to me. Me and him are real close,” Mattox said. “We try to act as a family … I talk with him all the time about things.”

Regardless of the tight-knit circle Mattox has weaved and the solid foundation he has built his home life on, the senior said he is ready to explore what college will have to offer.

But no matter how much time lapses between the day he leaves for college and his first visit home, Mattox knows what he will come home to that first day back in Athens.

“I know probably once I do leave, I know there are things about home that I’m gonna miss and there’s things that are there where I’m like, I’m glad I’m here instead of home. So I think it’s more pros than cons, so I’m looking forward to it,” Mattox said. “I always have something to come home to when there’s nothing else out there. It’s always a guarantee [my mom] will be there for me.”

BY THE NUMBERS —

As a junior:

• Passing: 126-of-223 for 1,879 yarrds, 15 touchdowns and three interceptions
• Rushing: 774 yards on 164 carries with 16 touchdowns

As a senior:

• Passing: 130-of-214 for 2,075 yards with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions
• Rushing: 568 yards on 81 carries and four touchdowns
• Defense: 19 tackles, three interceptions and two pass break ups