Jamba Juice – good for RB

Every once in awhile, Jamba Juice comes to RB to sell their smoothies and support Best Buddies, the organization between students with intellectual disabilities and students who want to form friendships with them. Some take advantage of this, while others think that by Jamba Juice being here, the school is supporting fast food consumption.

That is ridiculous.

Jamba Juice is not McDonald’s or Burger King. By buying a smoothie, you are not getting a grease-filled burger that you could get at one of those other places. You are ultimately getting fruit, yogurt, and ice, which isn’t terribly bad for someone to consume.

The flavors that Jamba Juice sells at RB are Strawberry Wild and Mango-a-go-go. The Strawberry Wild only has 250 calories and zero grams of fat for the small size that they sell here, and Mango has 280 calories and zero grams of fat. The thing is, the smoothies could be bad for you if you got the large size, but that’s avoidable by getting a small.

“I don’t think Jamba Juice being here is a bad thing. It doesn’t really make much of a difference, I just won’t buy if it I don’t want it, but I do like it,” said junior Liz Larson.

Everything is fine in moderation. It would be different if Jamba Juice was here every day, but it’s only a once in awhile thing. It’s something different to make a day more exciting and not just like every other day. Not only that, but a dollar from each smoothie sold is going towards Best Buddies, so it’s supporting a club within our school as well.

I think that by now, high school students and staff know whether they should eat something or not, and know what’s good or bad for them. The Jamba Juice website lists the nutritional facts of all of their products, so people that buy it have a way to know what they’re getting. If someone feels that Jamba Juice smoothies aren’t in their best interests to buy, then he or she has his or her own choice as to whether or not they will have one.

Hallway music – awesome or annoying?

I’m sure many have noticed the recent hallway music choices, which are interesting to say the least. They have ranged from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros to Hilary Duff to the Mulan soundtrack in different languages. There’s a huge variety of music being played, but is that really a good thing? Maybe it would be if the songs weren’t played over and over again.

Student Association (SA) has been collecting CDs to play between classes from anyone that wants to turn one in. Along with the CD, there must be lyrics to every song so SA can judge whether or not the music is school appropriate. They have gotten eight CDs so far, and one is played each week.

If there are so many CDs, then why do the songs get repeated so often? Senior president Allison Hornug said, “Mrs. Sharp just puts the CD on shuffle, so that’s why [the songs] get repeated.”

What I don’t understand is how shuffle could make the same song play that many times. Assuming that each CD has around ten songs, a song has a one in ten chance that it will be played, and there are seven periods in a day. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think the odds of the same song coming on shuffle during every passing period are very high.

During spirit week when Lady GaGa was the hallway music of choice, junior Elena Duve brought in a CD with thirteen GaGa songs on it, although only about four or five were played.

I think an easy solution to that problem is to just play the CD straight through, and just pause it at the end of each passing period. They could also not just play one CD a week, but switch it every couple days so it at least doesn’t seem like we’re hearing the same thing again and again.

I don’t blame SA for the music choice, since other students are turning in CDs, but after awhile it does get painful to listen to. We need some music that doesn’t include chipmunk voices, and the only way to do that is bring in more CDs!

Don’t you know who I am? – RB’s ID Policy

Have you been experiencing annoyance, forgetfulness, and worst of all…detentions? Well then you may be suffering from ID overload. There is a simple prescription for this epidemic and it involves students bringing their IDs to school. However, the administration may have gone overboard with the amount of identification needed throughout the hallways of RB. Don’t get me wrong, RB is a great learning institution and provides a fantastic environment for academic enrichment, but are we really going to prevent students from participating in school events or accessing departments or other information that are available to students here?

Let’s take a step back and think about this one. I understand that this is a safety issue that we’re dealing with here, but overkill might be the best phrase to use in this situation. Last week when seniors were allowed to vote for the preliminary homecoming court at lunch, students were turned away when they failed to provide identification to the teachers and students operating the table. All students are now required to show their IDs to have access to the school library. Random ID checks have been administered at lunch a few times each week since school started. Not to mention we no longer have access to the computer labs and must show our IDs to eat lunch on the lawn.

Personally, I have never carried around my ID for the four years I’ve attended RB and it rarely gave me problems throughout the first three years of my high school career. However, the stricter policy that has been put in place has restricted a lot of the things I used to do. As a kid who brings his lunch to school every day, I have never needed my ID to buy lunch, so for the kids that are on that meal plan it would be second nature for them to have their IDs on their person. But that is only a portion of the student population here, and if it weren’t for the lunch system that requires students’ IDs, things would be even harder to control.

The administration is doing this for safety purposes because they are trying to prevent any nonstudents from having access to our school or to be able to reprimand unruly students that they cannot identify, but I think most of the students here can be trusted or identified enough so that we don’t have any significant problems. IDs or no IDs, we are still going to have vandalism take place in the library, computer labs and any other place students have access to. From my experiences the last three years, I have not noticed a legitimate need for this new limitation of student rights, sans IDs.

So if you’re ailing from this horrible disease, the best thing I can prescribe would be to remember to bring your ID. But, if you’re like me the fever isn’t going to subside anytime soon.

National options

From the first days a student steps within the halls of high school they ponder what life will be like post graduation. Will I go to college? Will I get a job? Will I get my own apartment? Will I provide for myself?

These are only a few of the many questions that are likely to pop into your head as you transition into the life ahead of you.

However one lesser known option lies with joining the military, notably the National Guard. Even though I myself am only a freshman, I am fully aware of the advantages the Guard can provide for you and what they do.

Even in our own community, their influence is evident. From the post in North Riverside to the farthest reaches of the United States, they help preserve peace and order in our communities.

The National Guard is also a provider of several opportunities for high school graduates. Whether they are from RB, LT, Morton West, Morton East, these opportunities are abundant and can give anyone a jump start in life.

One opportunity the National Guard provides to its guards is a chance to go to college. They pay up to seventy-five percent of a college education, whether it is Medical School, Forensic Science, Engineering, Teaching, and even Journalism.

The Guard also offers the opportunity to travel. This profession allows guard members to see and become familiar with the entire country.

The best part about the Guard however is that when you join you don’t have to stay in for life. You can serve for two, four, or six year terms of service. This option is typically for those who want to pursue dreams other than serving in the Guard.

The National Guard is a great choice for someone who may not have the same assets as everybody else (i.e. a scholarship of some sort), and can instill discipline, respect, and honor in anyone who decides to take that path.

For more information go to the National Guard web site.