The aftermath of a sudden cold

Haley Massara — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:29:52 +0000

I hate being home sick from school. There, I said it. I hate being quarantined to the couch for hours on end, with only old sitcom reruns as company. I despise the nearly endless quantities of full-sugar soda, and I loathe watching 2:35 tick by without the accompanying sound of the school bell. Not even sleeping in late can console me. Why?

The endless avalanche of makeup work that awaits me. It’s agonizing and terrible and goes on forever, like a Saw film. But, unlike a Saw film, it’s hard to learn any valuable lessons in the process.

I think I’ve developed a good theory as to why makeup work is so drawn-out, when compared to an average night of homework. When you miss a day of school, for whatever reason, you’re missing the lesson and the worksheets you were supposed to do in class and tonight’s homework and last night’s homework (since you didn’t turn it in). Multiply this times four, times however many days you’re out.

And, here’s the best part: When you do have to makeup all of this glorious work, you have to do it half-sick, and on top of current homework assigned the day you got back. I don’t know how people manage.

All of this would be easier to deal with if students returned to school when they are actually healthy, instead of just less sick. But we – the students – are all so terrified of missing school that we run back into class the moment our fever is under 100. Which is bad, because, for example, a person infected with H1N1 can spread it up to a week after their symptoms have gone away.

School policy seems rather flakey when it comes to absence. Earlier this year, at the height of the H1N1 scare, schools were urging their students to stay home if they were sick.

But, at the same time, school officials frown on absences in general, and, needless to say at this point, makeup work is as difficult to recover from as the illness itself. So we’re left with classrooms full of contagious zombies with loads of makeup work to do.

I think it’s a flawed system.

To be clear, I’m not saying makeup work is itself a bad idea. It’s the sheer volume of it that I object to. Some teachers try to alleviate the pressure by posting assignments online or giving students extra days, but not all of them are so forgiving.

I think that students should be partially excused from the homework they missed, and instead required to makeup in-class work. Another solution would be to offer alternative projects, such as an English report on the student’s activities while sick, or a line graph of the student’s temperature. Be creative.

The bottom line is that students absent for health reasons weren’t goofing off – just unlucky. And a bit of leniency from staff would be a huge help to those of us still playing catch-up.

Five decades later

Matt Veneman — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:00:28 +0000

   Exactly 50 years ago, athletes and fans gathered in Squaw Valley, California for the VII Winter Olympics.
   Recently, Squaw Valley held a celebration to commemorate the golden anniversary of the VII Winter Games.
   In 1960, the Olympics were quite different. Only 30 nations participated in 27 events, which is a tiny figure compared to this year’s 86 events and over 80 participating countries.
   One of Squaw Valley’s major events was ice hockey. In 1960, the United States won its gold medal in hockey by beating the Soviet Union and then Czechoslovakia.
   The husband of retired Granite Bay High School teacher Lucy Sak, Gary Judd, attended these games. In 1960, Judd was a student at Sierra College, working in Squaw as an usher and security guard in the ice arena.
   Judd was able to see many events, including those that took place in the ice arena.
   After the U.S. beat the Soviet Union (for the first time ever), Judd and his friend jumped over the wall and slid onto the ice to celebrate with the team. While rushing onto the ice, Judd snagged the puck used throughout the game, which is now a valuable piece of history.
   Judd said that the Olympics have drastically changed over the last 50 years. “(The ceremonies” weren’t spectacular like they are today,” Judd said.
   Judd said one of the biggest changes, though, is the spirit.
    “We’ve lost a little bit (of) the spirit of the Olympics,” Judd said. “Back in 1960, barriers between countries and athletes were broken down by the spirit of the games.”
   The athletes in the Olympics were all amateurs too; the games were not a venue for professionals. Even after the Americans won the gold medal, they had to “…rush back home to get to work the next day,” Judd said.
   Now a half-century later, men and women, professional and amateur alike, from around the world are preparing for the XXI Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. The games are set to begin next Friday and will end on Feb. 28.
   GBHS sophomore Samantha Spargo has been looking forward to going to the Olympics for six months now.
   Spargo will be in Vancouver for four days. While she is there she will be seeing alpine skiing, downhill snowboarding and possibly ice skating.
    Spargo is looking forward to being in a new country as well as getting to be a spectator at the games instead of watching them on television.
   Spargo and her family have also some personal connections; they are family friends with Olympic swimmer, Summer Sanders. Spargo hopes this connection might allow her to meet some other Olympic athletes.
   As Spargo and her family prepare to leave, athletes from around the world are gearing up for these Olympics games.
   Fifty years have come and gone since the Olympics were held at Squaw Valley, a passage of time that has brought many new changes to the games that will take place later this month in Vancouver.

Granite Bay Gazette » cold

The aftermath of a sudden cold

Five decades later