The General Idea - Washington School€¦ · The Washington School Student Council spon-sored a new addition to boost our school spirit to an extreme— an Instagram photo competition

The General Idea A Publication of Washington School • Greenville, Mississippi • November 8, 2013 •

Homecoming is an annual tradition of welcom-ing back alumni and former students and faculty of a school. Washington School held our 43rd Annual Homecoming game on October 18, 2013 against Hillcrest Christian School. However, the entire spir-it week was packed full of immense competition and creative dress up days. Float work was taken much more seriously this year with classes beginning their main components two weeks prior to homecoming week! Our theme this year was “Superheroes,” and while every high school grade contributed much dedication, time, and effort, the Freshmen were announced as the winners with their “Believe in the Gens” Batman theme. The Washington School Student Council spon-sored a new addition to boost our school spirit to an extreme— an Instagram photo competition. Stu-dents in grades 9-12 were competing for their choice of a pizza, doughnut, or breakfast party. Seniors redeemed themselves by beating the freshmen by merely two photos with a total of nearly 2,000 pho-tos. If you’re curious to see what our school spirit is like, go on Instagram and search the hashtags: #wsh-cblue for Freshmen, #wshcgold for Sophomores, #wshcwhite for Juniors, and #wshcpink for Seniors. Of course, we can’t forget to mention our dress up days—Monday was Columbus Day so we were out of school, but Tuesday’s theme was “Favorite Movie Character,” Wednesday was Homecoming T-shirt and blue jeans day, Thursday was “Superheroes,” and Friday was a campus-wide pink-out in honor of those whose lives have been affected by breast cancer. As our week was finally coming to an end, the big day was only getting started. The atmosphere at Washington School was packed with ongoing excite-ment left to right. Sometime around noon-ish, Gen-eral Drive was lined with our entire student body, eager to watch the parade (and more eager to have lunch!) The parade was led by our lovely homecom-ing maids: Seniors Brinkley Henry, Amira Abbas, and Kendall Fiser, Juniors Hannah Morris and Pat Marie King, Sophomores Callie Shepherd and Ma-son Francis, and Freshmen Julianne Loper and Mol-ly Fontenot. Following the maids were the Varsity and JV Cheerleaders and Drill Team, band mem-

bers, the Generals’ football team, and of course, the senior class. Once the parade ended, students posed for a pink-out photo and then scurried into the bleachers for the pep rally and daytime presentation of the court, where the young ladies were escorted by members of the football team. At six o’clock that evening on Huddleston Field, the bleachers were jam-packed with family, friends, faculty, and alumni ready to admire the nine beauti-ful girls and the highly anticipated football game. The 2013 Homecoming Presentation began at 6:30 with Mr. Dave Clarke as the Master of Cer-emonies. An invocation was given by FCS President, Michaela Kelly and the court was ready to take their places on the field. Mr. Clarke, who is a former Pres-ident of the WS Board of Directors, also presented the court. Brinkley Henry was announced as the 2013 Generals’ Lady and Abigail Jernigan, President of WS Student Council, with her father Mr. Stephen Jernigan, current President of WS Board of Direc-tors, presented Brinkley with the tradition sabre and gift. To close the night, the Generals’ football team earned a victory over Hillcrest with a score of 42-6. Students in grades 9-12 then gathered in Sykes Hall for the annual Homecoming dance.

Nat Phan, Class of 2014THE GENERAL IDEA

GENERALS SAVE THE DAY!The 2013 Homecoming Court poses with their proud escorts for the evening: Mr. Lawson Fiser with his sister, senior maid Kendall Fiser; Generals' Lady Brinkley Henry with her father Mr. Lewis Henry; senior maid Amira Abbas with her father Dr. Hamed Abbas; (back row) Mr. Robert Loper and his daughter, freshman maid Julianne Loper; Mr. Rick Shepherd and his daughter, sophomore maid Callie Shepherd; Mr. Russell Morris and his daughter, junior maid Hannah Morris; Mr. Mark King and his daughter PatMarie King; Mr. Mike Francis and his daughter, sophomore maid Mason Francis; and Mr. Barry Fontenot and his daughter, freshman maid Molly Fontenot.

Varsity and JV cheerleaders combined to lend their support for the parade.

Rob Van Namen's little nephew had an eagle's eye view of the parade!

WS Board of Directors' President Stephen Jernigan congratulates Mr. Lewis Henry and his daughter Brinkley after the presentation of the saber to the Generals' Lady. Photos by Nat Phan The Gems show their support with a clever pink ribbon formation.

2 The General Idea • A Publication of Washington School • Greenville, Mississippi • November 8, 2013

EDITORIALTHE GENERAL IDEANovember 8, 2013

EDITORSarah Lane

Editors-at-LargeCasey Park

Natasha Phan

StaffAbby Driggers

Lewis ParkBrandy Truong

Contributing WritersMrs. Dorothy Burgos

Meg GiachelliPiper Henderson

Lizzie SkeltonEmma Kate WallaceLeanor Warrington

AdviserMrs. Melanie Tucker

HeadmasterMr. Rodney D. Brown

Secondary PrincipalMr. Alto Hilliard Ray

Elementary PrincipalDr. Nan Johnson

Academic DeanMrs. Kerry Sullivan

Sarah Lane, Class of 2016THE GENERAL IDEA

If a super virus were killing more than 3,000 American teenagers a year and seriously sickening more than 300,000, parents would be screaming for something to be done to protect their children. But there’s no super virus. What’s killing and injuring teens in such extraordinary numbers is texting while driving. They’re now more at risk of being killed while texting and driving than while driving drunk. Teens are already inexperienced drivers. Combine that with taking their eyes off the road for a few seconds to type out a message and it’s easy to see why so many young people are becoming statistics. The num-ber of crash-related fatalities in the U.S. had been declining in recent years, but those numbers are on the rise yet again. While drinking and driving has fallen among teens by 54 percent since 1991, texting has ex-ploded in the last seven years. Almost half of teenage boys, 45 percent of teenage girls and a staggering 58 percent of 18-year-olds admit to texting while driving; laws against texting and driving seem to have little to no effect on the death count. What more can be done? Teens tend to think they are invincible, that terrible things happen to others, not to them. When will they get it through their heads that they can saves lives—as well as their own?

Put Down the Phone

We are doing a science experiment about bread. Trust us, it smells TERRIBLE! The dry bread usu-ally doesn't get anything [mold] but the damp bread does. It's all yucky, gucky, and mucky! If you actually smell it, you'll probably end up doing double backtucks! We don't get how Mrs. Ott can stand that smell all day. We don't know about you but if we taught in this classroom, we would probably throw it away. Because boy does it STINK! P-U! You should try it sometime.Emma Kate Wallace and Meg Giachelli, Class of 2021

FUNKY FUNGI

Fourth grade science class is getting funky with fungi. For the last ten days, we have been growing mold with Mrs. Ott. First, we got two pieces of bread and put some water on one and left the other dry. Next we labeled two Ziplock bags and put the bread in them. Then we placed them on a cart. Finally, we watched the bread, and now the damp has lots of mold and the dry has none. That's how Fourth grade got funky with fungi.

Lizzie Skelton, Class of 2021

We are testing damp and dry bread and seeing which molds first. We take notes each day to see how our breads molded. My table's damp bread has mold-ed, but our dry bread hasn't molded yet. The experiement is only ten days long but the bread hasn't changed since yesterday. The bread stinks. I hope we can throw it away soon.

Piper Henderson, Class of 2021

In 4th grade science we are doing an experiment. We are growing mold. We are doing it by table groups. I am in Group Two. There are 5 groups. So each group will get two pieces of bread. First we lay out two pieces of bread then we put a drop of water on one and the other one we left dry. Next we tore out a lab sheet. We watched the bread for ten days. It was fun!

Leanor Warrington, Class of 2021

Mac Hamilton bravely volunteers to display the moldy bread experiment!

What about a potential college sparks your interest? The location? The num-ber of students attending? The food? The party scene? Whatever it is that draws you to a school, College Night can help you achieve that feeling of being right at home. On College Night at Washington School during October, a representative from the Education Services Foundation (ESF) in Jackson presented a program on college financial aid and scholarships. ESF is a nonprofit organization that helps seniors get into the college of their dreams; go to http://www.esfweb.com for more info. There are tons of scholarships and awards out there to fit almost everyone who is willing to search. While many seniors attended the event, the junior class was absent. What’s up with that? I’m a freshman, and I’m already planning my path. I know that there are certain classes that I should take, and I’m already considering a par-ticular college. While many representatives from in-state colleges came to College Night at WS this year, there were few out-of-state schools present, according to one student. Senior Casey Park commented “Even though there were a lot of Mis-sissippi schools present at College Night, I hope to see a greater variety of col-leges represented in the future for my younger brother and other students who plan to look outside of Mississippi for higher education.” One solution to this long-distance dilemma is to have the school contact the admissions offices at schools such as Tulane, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Arkansas, Rice, Baylor, etc., and request materials that could be distributed at College Night. Then the school could ask local alums from those schools to come and chat with interested students during the College Night event. Win-win for everyone! I’m both nervous and excited about the prospect of visiting schools and planning for my post-high school years. And it seems like the key is to do my “homework” and be prepared to ask the right questions as I look at college op-tions.

When Reality Sinks In About CollegeThe Freshman’s Perspective

Abby Driggers, Class of 2017THE GENERAL IDEA


Blast from the Past!---An interview with WS alum Andy Sanders

Brandy Truong, Class of 2017THE GENERAL IDEA

When I was in school, there was no greater assign-ment a teacher could give than an art project. From creating African masks in eighth-grade history to Shakespeare-in-a-box for my senior project in Eng-lish, there was nothing like those “easy A” projects to boost your GPA and show off your creativity for the whole class. Now maybe I’m a bit biased and just a little boastful, but my projects usually won the awe and admiration of my teacher above the rest of my classmates’ projects. Those creative projects gave me a freedom of expression about the material covered in class. It wouldn’t occur to me until later that my feelings for my “creative” assignment on someone else’s work was how the original author must have felt about their own creativity through their word choice. Art wasn’t just about how well you colored in the lines or which color bead was put next to that color bead. Art could be anything. Most important-ly art could be in words. The writer is an artist who uses a pen as his paint brush and the words as his brush strokes to paint his idea. The words painted pictures of places unimagined before by anyone ex-cept the author. Slowly I realized that the words of the author were more artistic than the literal inter-pretation. I was excited when I became a teacher because I knew teaching English wasn’t about constantly look-ing at the words on a page; I want those words to come alive. I want to assign those “easy A” projects that actually teach more about the subject than any hour’s worth of reading from the text can do. I want my students to be more hands-on in a subject that is traditionally not thought of as a hands-on class. A project they have worked on is creating a character solely out of words. They have built characters from the ground up, from what foundation the characters stand on to the virtues and vices that carry them to their desires they carry in their hearts and the knowl-edge they have in their head. My students have also had the opportunity to choose a class-voted quote from the works we are reading and put that quote on the wall in our classroom. My hope is that by the end of the year my walls will be filled with not only their

In this issue, I had the chance to communicate with alum Andy Sand-ers. Mr. Sanders is a na-tive of Greenville and a graduate of Washington School who attended Mississippi State Uni-versity post-graduation. He returned to Green-ville after receiving his BBA in banking and fi-nance from Mississippi State University. He is a graduate of the Missis-sippi School of Banking and Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University.

Sanders began his ca-reer with Planters Bank as an intern during col-lege and officially joined the bank in 1999. He has previously served the bank as a loan officer and as senior vice president. Sanders is now the Presi-dent of the Greenville offices of Planters Back and serves as an active member on the Board of Trustees at Washing-ton School. Andy Sand-ers is the president of the United Way of Washing-ton County’s 2013 cam-paign. He currently has two daughters attend-ing Washington School elementary, Wenn and Meg. I wonder how much his perspective has changed since he was a high school senior? Read on!

When did you gradu-ate from Washington School?1994

While you were a stu-dent, what types of activities were you in-volved in at school? I was involved in student council as a homeroom representative, and ran

for Commissioner of Stu-dent Athletics as an inde-pendent candidate. I ul-timately lost in a runoff, but the campaign was a valuable experience ,and I encourage students to step out of their comfort zones to try to achieve goals. I was a member of the 1994 North AAA Champion and State AAA Runner-up base-ball team, the 1993 State AAA Champion soccer team, and was a member of the track team.

Aside from graduation, what was the most sig-nificant event that hap-pened during your se-nior year?1994 was the year of the last big ice storm in Greenville. Most of the Delta was without pow-er, and school was closed for a week or longer.

Did you go to college in-state or out-of-state? Why?

I attended college in-state at Mississippi State University for two rea-sons. First, I planned to be an engineer and knew that MSU has an outstanding engineer-ing school. Second, I was comfortable with the campus after spend-ing many weekends with friends at football games or at Dudy Noble with my father watching base-ball.

What did you major in while in college? I entered MSU as an engineering major but found that I enjoyed the business classes much more. After taking a financial management class, I changed my ma-jor to Banking and Fi-nance.

How did WS prepare you for college classes?WS prepared me for college in several ways. The WS curriculum

prepared me to do well on the ACT and earn scholarships at MSU. Furthermore, teachers at WS challenged me and taught me how to pre-pare myself for classes and exams.

What is your current occupation?

Andy Sanders began his WS expe-rience as a first grader in 1981.

I am a banker with Planters Bank & Trust Company in Greenville. My title is President of the Greenville offices of our bank, and my daily duties include oversight and management for ap-proximately 30 employ-ees in our three locations in Greenville.

Why did you choose your current career? Was it always some-thing you dreamed of doing?A career in banking was never something I thought about when I was in high school. I was fortunate to have some outstanding professors and advisors at MSU who opened my eyes to career opportunities that are available to finance grads. A meeting with an advisor in the MSU business school con-nected me to an intern-ship opportunity with Chuck Jordan at Plant-ers Bank in Greenville. The internship experi-ence helped confirm that banking would be my ca-reer, and I was fortunate that Chuck believed in me and offered me a job upon graduation.

You’re on the Board of Trustees of Washington School. What are some of the changes and/or improvements you would like to see before your children reach high school? What do you think of this new tech-

nology era? Are we mov-ing in the right direction with the iPad initiative? Why or why not?I think WS is moving in the right direction with the Academic Dean po-sition and the iPad ini-tiative. I hope to see a continued proactive ap-proach by the Board of

Directors and the Board of Trustees to provide the resources needed to keep the teachers at WS supplied with the latest technology to teach our students.

When have you been most satisfied in your life?

I am most satisfied in life when I see the suc-cesses of my children. It is satisfying to know that Celeste and I can use the gifts God has given us to provide for and raise our children and see them grow both spiritually and academically.

Sanders as a 1994 WS graduate, pictured here with his mom Susannah, his dad Jan, and his younger sister Anne Claire, a 2001 WS grad.

Sanders has admirably extended his WS track career by participat-ing in the many competitive 5K and 10K events in our area.

For Mr. Sanders, there is no greater blessing than raising a healthy, happy family. He is pictured here with his daughters Wenn and Meg, and his wife Celeste, a 1995 Washington School graduate.

Words as Art--- The Teacher's Perspective

artwork but the word art of the author as well, and that the wall will be full of memories and a new, active relation with the written word as art.

Mrs. Dorothy Burgos, English InstructorTHE GENERAL IDEA

Sophomore English students are pleased with their word art!


Brandy Truong, Class of 2017THE GENERAL IDEA

Sarah Kramer is a native of Memphis, Tennessee and a graduate of St. Mary’s Episcopal School. Sarah graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Art History with a Journalism GPA at 3.844 and an Art History GPA at 3.929. In the past, Sarah Kramer has been acknowledged and awarded the Dorothy Amann award, SMU's Outstanding Achievement in Print Journalism, and the Criteria Award for Distinction. She is affiliated with Kappa Tau Alpha, Alpha Lambda Delta, Gold-en Key Chapter at SMU, National Beta Club, and The National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Sarah served as staff writer at the Dallas Morning News, managing editor at GenWhy Press, intern at Dallas Observor, and editor-in-chief of the Daily Campus prior to attaining her current job as accent editor at the Delta Democrat-Times. As Sarah states on her LinkedIn account, “From tackling breaking news, features or event previews, I pay attention to detail and deliver well-reported stories, often on extremely tight deadlines.” Sarah was kind enough to visit with our journal-ism class in the computer lab this fall, and we sub-jected her to our nosy questions!

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?I guess I would just have to choose Batman. I don’t really know any others!

Have you been on any dangerous assignments as a journalist?I have! I covered a sniper while working on the Dal-las Morning News. I was sent to knock on all of the neighborhood doors and ask questions.

If you could go back in time and meet any per-son you wanted to, who would that person be and why?I would probably want to meet Martin Luther King, Jr. I grew up living in Memphis and Dallas, so I had his influences all around me.

What is the weirdest topic you have covered?I have covered things such as “this dog can lick the coldest window in the house.” That is probably the weirdest. OH! This girl wanted to interview her tur-tle for the newspaper and had all these quotes for it. Pictures, too.

How did you happen to end up in Greenville as opposed to somewhere else?I actually had a job lined up in New York when there was an opening in Greenville. I had a friend call and say there was an opening to work on the Delta Dem-ocrat-Times, so I took it, and here I am!

By any chance, do you happen to know the Engel sisters who attended Washington School and also went to SMU?I do! Alexa and I were in the same graduating class at SMU. I actually spent last Thanksgiving with the Engels.

Who is your biggest inspiration, and why?My mother, definitely. She raised us in a single fam-ily home. She has always said to be happy and to follow your dreams. She is also a writer who told the best stories.

What were your high school years like?I took my school seriously. I went to an all girls pri-

vate school with girls that were very competitive aca-demically and had high expectations for themselves. If I slacked off a little, they were there to remind me to step it up! Getting less than your best grades was definitely not cool. And for fun, I did play soccer!

Do you have any suggestions for students who are preparing for college?I would have to say to study very hard. You don’t have to go to every party or sleepover on the week-ends. Miss some, if needed. Colleges now are more focused on overall GPA, not just ACT/SAT scores.

What is a normal work day like at the DDT?We have to get to work at 7:30 AM – 11:30 AM. During those times, we’re on lockdown. We cannot leave the office to go anywhere. I’m the Accent Edi-tor and am writing and putting the pages together. Every day is definitely different. No two days on the DDT staff is the same! Currently, I write about six stories a week.

Who do you miss the most at this moment?Probably my little sister. She is in Dallas right now! I actually get to see her very soon. She attended fash-ion school and transferred to SMU after I graduated.

What are three words that describe you? Why?Discipline, motivated, and determined. If I put my mind to something, it’s going to be done in some way, shape, or form. If I can’t handle it, I really put myself on it.

Did you enter SMU knowing you wanted to ma-jor in Journalism?I was an art history major at first. My roommate (best friend to this day) suggested that I take a writ-ing class that she was taking as an elective, and I fell in love with it on Day One.

Turning the Tables on a JournalistSarah Kramer is a reporter for the Delta Democrat-Times, but we're the ones asking the questions this time!

Please consider joining

the yearbook staff next year!

Talk to Brandy Truong for more info.

Brandy carefully records Sarah's responses to questions from the staff of The General Idea.

It's Savannah in the Big Apple!Check this out! Former WS student

Savannah Engel was featured in Allure magazine last month! You GO, girl!

Book Fair The Scholastic book fair was held on the WS campus during the week of November 4-8. A clev-er theme of"Oasis: A Cool Place to Discover Hot Books" made it especially fun to visit the two school libraries and shop for books. Special early morning shopping events included Donuts in the Desert with Dads on Tuesday, Muf-fins with Mummies on Wednesday, and Goodies at Giza with Grands on Thursday. All purchases will benefit special projects at our school. The online portion of the book fair will con-tinue through November 15th, so be sure to visit: http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/wsgener-als. WS


For this newspaper issue, I had the opportunity to get to know eight sets of twins attending Wash-ington School. There are currently three sets of twins in elementary school, four sets of twins in middle school, and one set of twins in high school. Through the interviews, I learned that although twins look very similar on the outside, they are very unique in their own way. Before I started asking them specific questions, I was curious about who was born first. Between Ame-lia and Sloan Mischke in Pre-kindergarten, Ame-lia was born first. As with A n u j a and Aditi Thakare in fourth g r a d e , Aditi is older by two minutes. From the Park t w i n s , Alex and Erik in the fifth g r a d e , Erik was born an hour earlier than his brother. In sixth grade, Diana Barber is older than David by 32 minutes, and Eli Fratesi is older than Ava by 20 minutes. From the Tucker twins in the seventh grade, Michael is old-er than Kathleen by one minute. Preston Bridge is older than her twin sister Larson by three minutes. And from the Bruton twins in eleventh grade, Madison is older than Michael by sixteen minutes. With the help of the Elementary school teachers, I was able to retrieve information about twins Ame-lia and Sloan, Anuja and Aditi, and Alex and Erik. Their answers are listed alphabetically by twin (Ame-lia before Sloan, for instance). Some questions I asked the Mischke twins were the following: What is your favorite food? (macaro-ni or spaghetti); What is your favorite color? (pink or silver); What is your favorite thing to do? (sleep in my own bed or swing); and What is your favorite story? (The Ice Cream King or Goodnight Moon). They both answered differently to every question, signaling that not all twins have the same tastes.

For Aditi and Anuja, I asked questions such as What is a disadvantage of having a twin? and Do you disagree with each other frequently? The twins replied respectively, "Instead of be-ing called Aditi and Anuja, we are usually called ‘the twins;’" "Sometimes people get our names mixed up and we have to share a room;" "I do fight with her a lot and I settle my fights by trying to reason with her;" "I fight with her a lot so I turn the fights into a joke and we laugh." With the fifth graders, I upgraded the questions a bit, which were along these lines: Have you tried tricking your teachers or parents, or friends to think you were your other twin? If so, were you successful? Alex and Erik each answered respec-tively, "Yes, but never on the teacher though;" "Yes, we were successful. We mostly tricked friends and family." What is the best thing about having a twin? “You have someone to talk to about your problems and if you're bored;" "The best thing is if you're bored or need help you have someone to go to instead of your parents.” What is your favorite thing to do with your twin? “Play video games so we don't take turns;" "My favorite thing about having a twin is we play, talk, and study with each other.” Can you finish each other's sentences? If so, how many times have you done it? "So many times I can't count;” "Yes, I don't know how many times we've done that." Now on to the middle school twins. I asked them the same questions as the fourth and fifth grade twins, but I received such different answers! What is the best about having a twin? All four sets of twins

replied that the best thing about having a twin is that they do not have to worry if they miss school or for-get their books because the other twin would have all the information and materials. Did you have your own twin language when you were younger? Many

of the twins replied that they did not have a secret twin language at a younger age. I guess some researchers' in-formation do not apply to all sets of twins, although twin speech or “cryptophasia” is not unusual. What is your favorite thing to do to-gether? Preston and Larson Bridge respectively replied, "Jumping on the trampo-

line,” and “Playing basketball." Kathleen and Michael Tucker replied, "Playing sports, such as tennis, having help with homework, and playing games." David and Diana Barber replied, "Playing video games." Ava and Eli Fratesi replied, "Playing sports with each other." Last, but not least, I got to interview Madison Bru-ton on her thoughts about her twin Michael. I asked,

What is something you both like to do? “We like to watch movies together.” What is the best thing about having a twin? “I get to meet different people." How do you settle disputes? "We just sit down and talk about it." It was a treat to interview each set of twins. Through-out the interviews, I realized how similar their reasons and answers were to the other

twins. They also reminded me of my younger broth-er and myself, and we are far from being twins. And because I had the opportunity to chat with younger students whom I did not know, I deeply enjoyed this experience very much.

Twins Take Turns with TalesWe have more than a few sets of twins at Washington School!

Casey Park, Class of 2014THE GENERAL IDEA

According to the New York Times (January 23, 2012), more twins are being born in the United States than ever before. From 1980 to 2009, according to a recent report by the Na-tional Center for Health Statistics, the rate of twin births rose 76 percent. Now about one in 30 babies born in the United States is a twin.

Aditi and Anuja Thakare, fourth grade

Alex and Erik Park, fifth grade

Michael and Madison Bruton, eleventh grade

Diana and David Barber, sixth grade

Preston and Larson Bridge, eighth grade

Amelia and Sloan Mischke, PK4

Eli and Ava Fratesi, sixth grade

Kathleen and Michael Tucker, seventh grade


Our Third Grade students presented an entertain-ing rendition of a tale about Country Livin' vs City Life. Country cousins and city cousins met up in fast-paced action to compare their lifestyles. Mrs. Moose expertly led the little "mice" to delight us all!


Our Fourth Grade takes an absurd delight in scar-ing us half to death every year! And we love it! Their Spooktacular event is something we look forward to and it helps us to usher in the cooler Fall weather.


Washington School has been the “gold” of the Delta since it was founded in 1969. Since then, the school has gathered a great deal experience on how to govern the student body in a stately manner. At its enrollment peak in the early 80’s, the school had about 1300 students, but due to the fact that many families have moved away from Greenville, that number has leveled off to about 750. However, numbers do not define the school. In fact, many of the students in different grades look forward to having an ex-ceptional future due to the education that they receive from Washington School. Judging from the responses from the Freshman and Sophomore classes in our news-paper poll, it appears that students in these grades particularly want to challenge themselves both academically and athletically. However it was difficult to tally some of the poll responses because some were unanswered or one question had more than one answer. Many of the students gave multiple answers. Some of the choices were quite un-expected (in a good way). However, some of the answers that the students offered were on the silly side and were feeble attempts at humor. For instance, one student said he could be found “in the feild” after school. Feild? Really? Let’s work on spelling, and there’s also something called “circling the answers;” if you've never heard of multiple choice, please see a teacher immediately. Many of the students gave us input about the additional language courses that they would like to see in place at Washington school. German, Latin (beyond 8th grade), Russian, Mandarin and Japanese were among the choices that the students suggested, which seem ambitious but impressive. According to Fox News, a student these days should know at least two languages in addition to his native tongue. The school should give the students an opportunity to enroll in more language courses. Also, several of the students requested an archery squad/team in the athletic pro-gram of the school. Others asked for a dance class and a volleyball team. Many of the students also had an earnest desire for additional science classes and math classes. Agricultural science, cell biology, microbiology, additional technology classes, graphic design, pre-medicine, and Calculus 1, 2 and 3 were suggested in the poll responses. Other classes, such as social media, literature, home economics, Bible class, weld-ing and self-defense were also popular responses. To sum up the results, the poll was an excellent way to offer the students an op-portunity to share their thoughts, hopes, and feelings. Honestly, some of the classes listed above could be offered to the students because we already have some qualified faculty in place. Washington School is the gold of the delta, but it can become even brighter with additional opportunities for students who have high expectations for learning. Our school was the school of opportunity from the very beginning, and WS will con-tinue to serve the Delta’s students very well in years to come.

Five Easy Questions Did you answer the newspaper poll in homeroom?

Lewis Park, Class of 2017THE GENERAL IDEA

P.S. If any of you students want a bigger and even better band, then please join up!

NAP ATTACK!

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On October 1st of this year, Washington School hosted its annual Harvest Fun Festival, a time for people of the community to come together for a night of enjoyment. Ever since the formation of Harvest Fun, the event has served as an opportunity for building bridges throughout society. The festival hosted its usual catfish dinner and silent auction, as well as the Senior Showcase, put together this year by the Class of 2014. Harvest Fun always has a range of games for the younger crowd, including a dunking booth, a ring toss, a cake walk, and featured this year, Master Jung’s Tai Kwon Do Demo; Master Jung came from his studio by Kroger to give small demonstrations for the children who might be interested in martial arts. Also added to the line up of booths this year was a cart ride, pulled though the WS parking lot by a lawn mower. As always, the catfish dinner put together by nu-merous volunteers was a hit with everyone, wheth-er or not they were associated with WS. The silent auction this year included special wood burn art by high school art teacher, Mr. Jay Clifton, plus a large selection of Ole Miss and MSU items, jewelry, and assorted artwork. Presented by this year’s graduating class was the

Senior Showcase, with the theme this year of "Gener-als Got Talent." With a charming host (my brother), brutal judges, both amazing and disastrous talents, and hilarious commercials, the performance had everyone laughing. Patrick Lane played the cheesy show host, complete with a corny green vest; Erin Self parodied science department chair Mrs. Jane Stephens, weilding a ruler and a lab coat with lots of frog comments; Colton Thomas played the part of the Coach Palasini, engaging in many ‘unbeliev-able’ football stories; Ransome Bell played the role of Coach Womack, always throwing in something about Ole Miss; Olivia Dawkins played Mrs. Harris and had the perfect hair for it; and Lawson Smith played the celebrity guest, Doctor Evil, who just wanted more evil. With the great games and funny performances, Harvest Fun was a blast as always, and all anyone can do now is wait until next year to have another exceptionally fun time on the grounds of Washing-ton School. And for those who keep track of this type of thing: Harvest Fun earned a record high profit of $110,000 this year compared to last years $103,000. On behalf of the students at Washington School, thank you!

Sarah Lane, Class of 2016THE GENERAL IDEA

Harvest Fun Note

Junior Beta Club Recognizes Fall InitiatesWashington School's chapter of Junior Beta Club initiated eight middle school students in October. From left to right, they are B.J. Wasson, Cade Lackey, Anna Kate Bennett, Dalton Whitt, Mollie Pinion, Caroline Haley, Jaylon Carothers, and Maddie Parkerson. Mrs. Susan Blaine is the club's sponsor.

Representatives from the Junior Auxiliary of Greenville recently spent some time with our elemen-tary students to present a program called "Child Lures." The students learned about the lures used by child molesters and abductors to confuse, disarm, and victimize children and young people. The program was de-veloped by Dr. Kenneth Wooden, a nationally recognized expert in children's safety. He developed the program with one goal in mind---to help insure that your child's pre-cious days of youth and happy and healthy ones. In the photo at left, Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Signa speak to second grade students in the re-source room. WS

Keeping Our Children Safe

MATH MAGIC!Photo by Nat Phan

MatheMagician Bradley Field came to Wash-ington School on Tuesday, October 29, to en-tertain and engage about 800 students from all over Washington County. By integrating math concepts with vocabulary, geography, history, and everyday problem-solving, students of different interests, abilities and learning styles were able to relate to math in new ways. The event was sponsored by the Delta Children's Museum.

Photo by Nat Phan


Elementary School Fun!

And learning IS fun!

Photo by Abby Driggers

Photo by Brandy TruongPhoto by Brandy Truong

Photo by Brandy Truong

Photo by Casey Park

Photo by Nat PhanPhoto by Nat Phan

Photo by Nat Phan

Documents

The General Idea - Washington School€¦ · The Washington School Student Council spon-sored a new addition to boost our school spirit to an extreme— an Instagram photo competition