NOCTILUCA September 2016

NEWS Appleton, Wisconsin September 2016 Volume XXII

Issue I Page 2

Larger population brings new accommodations By Ally Price

“Not only are you seeing dif- ferent sides and views of other people, but you’re also seeing different sides of yourself. Get- ting involved widens the hori- zons of your personality,” said Danz. While there are many ex- citing opportunities, it is also important to remember not to overdo it. Clubs, sports, and other activities may be seen as beneficial by many, but they can also be time consuming. “When you first come in, ac- ademics should be first; make sure to get your feet on the ground,” said Pynenberg. “We definitely would like [students] to be part of the community, so getting involved in something they enjoy is important, but they should prioritize, because if they don’t keep a balance, these activities can have the re- verse effect.” Price , Growing classes, from page 1

having more students will also affect extracurriculars such as clubs and sports. Sports are affected differently depending on whether or not they are cut or no cut. No cut sports, such as football, cross country, and swimming, can benefit from having more student-athletes involved. “The booster club, for in- stance, gives financing to teams per athlete, so obvious- ly the more we have, the more money we’ll get,” said Mr. Pynenberg. Cut sports, such as volleyball and performance team, are different in that they aren’t affected by this since the number of athletes is lim- ited. “For cut sports, it doesn’t necessarily change things, but maybe the competition gets better,” said Mr. Pynen- berg. “You would hope that the more students you have, the more talent you’ll have. It doesn’t always equate to that, but in many cases this is true.” Besides this, having more student-athletes has helped to maintain co-curricular pro- grams. North has never had to cut any teams, and recently, they’ve had to make some changes to accommodate more athletes. “We’ve had to add coaches because of some of the sizes,” said Pynenberg. Addition- ally, if enough freshmen join a sport, a separate team can be made just for the freshmen to allow more athletes to play each year. Seniors The college search is ramping up in the fall of senior year, so it is important to make sure that you know deadlines and requirements for the application process. The Common Application opened Aug. 1, and is used by many universities, including UW-Madison for the first time. Finish your essays and personal statement, and secure letters of recommendation from coaches, teachers and advisors as soon as pos- sible. Make sure that you have a de- finitive list of the colleges that you are applying to, and the requirements of each. Send in SAT and/or ACT scores to the universities that you are defi- nitely applying to if you haven’t already, and secure any additional references or requirements that the program or school might ask for. Lastly, look up scholarship information from schools that you’re applying to, the community, clubs that you’re in, and various other corporations around the area.

North’s student body has grown each year since the school’s opening in 1995, and with more kids this year than ever before, students and staff will become more and more familiar with the impacts of these larger student popula- tions. More kids can lead to various changes around the school that will be visible this year. One obvious impact of hav- ing more students is larger class sizes. Appleton North’s ideal student-to-faculty ratio is 29.5:1, but in some situ- ations, this can be raised to accommodate more students. Having more students in a class can be helpful in allow- ing more students to attend North, but can lead to less in- dividual attention per student. “Obviously class sizes will affect teacher-student engage- ment,” said Mr. Pynenberg, associate principal of Apple- ton North. “Smaller classes would offer more individual time, but restricting class sizes can make some classes unavailable to some students, so we seek to find a balance.” Another option to make North available to more stu- dents without increasing class sizes drastically is to hire more teachers. Since schools get money from the district based on the number of students at- tending, more students can create more available finances for the school. This can make

Freshman class of 2020 learn about their future at North during Orientation. Photo by Olivia Molter

hiring new teachers possible. “For the last few years, our staff has increased quite a bit,” said Mr. Pynenberg. “We added a new special ed teach- er this year. For art, we also hired a new teacher because the numbers [of students] were so high.” More teachers in the same building can mean that some teachers won’t get to have their own rooms. Some teach- ers have begun to have to share their classrooms, mean- ing that when they are not teaching in them, another teacher will be. This means teachers may need to find another place to work dur- ing their off hours, such as in teacher planning. While more students can

limit some classes, it can make other classes possible. Recently, classes that haven’t run in previous years have started to become available due to more students signing up to take them. Classes such as AP Calculus BC and Jour- nalism are able to be taught in the school this year, whereas in previous years, they had to be taken through other plat- forms, such as distance learn- ing, eschool, or not at all. “[The larger population] definitely helps to be able to offer more programs and classes,” said Mr. Pynenberg in regards to these new class- es. “With more kids, maybe more students will want to take certain classes.” Besides affecting classes,

Mr. David Pynenberg, associ- ate principal at North, advises students to prioritize involve- ment. Photo by Olivia Molter

Staying focused on college preparation throughout the whole school year By Erik Bakken Each month, the Noc- tiluca will provide college advice for each grade 9 10 Sophomores 11 12

Freshmen High school is your

Juniors Now is your time to do your research on colleges and universities and to figure out what you are looking for in a school and what you want to pursue as a degree. By refining your college search earlier, you can hone in on schools that you want to apply to and visit. This can greatly reduce the cost of your college search, since applying and visiting can get expensive. Also, make sure to consider taking the PSAT in October and ACT throughout the year. As a junior, your PSAT scores will be considered for National Merit status, which comes with a scholar- ship. It is important that you prepare for the PSAT as soon as possible, since it will likely be one of the first standard- ized tests you will take this year. Once you’re registered, a practice exam will be available in the guidance office. The PSAT also serves as an indicator for the SAT, which is an accepted exam for many universities.

Getting involved is important for sophomores too, since now that you’ve experienced a year of high school, you can seek out leader- ship opportunities and greater roles in clubs or sports. Even if you don’t have a leadership position with a title, you can still demonstrate leadership throughout the year and help younger students learn from your experiences as a fresh- man. Another part of the fall for sophomores to consider is taking the PSAT in October. The PSAT scores you receive as a sopho- more will not count for National Merit consideration (qualification for National Merit will not be taken into account until junior year), but taking the PSAT as a sophomore will provide a baseline for how you test on standardized assessments and can help you determine what you need to work on.

level at Appleton North in the “Noctiluca University”. Starting with September, advice will be specifically tailored to each month in order to provide the most timely help. Juniors and seniors: pick up a copy of college readiness timeline in the guidance office for more in-depth information regarding the college ap- plication process.

chance to get involved and to prove your skills to col- leges; this can be through your course selection, extracurriculars and GPA. Now is your time to start looking into what you’d like to do in terms of classes and clubs, since this will demon- strate to colleges what your interests and strengths are when it comes time to apply. Additionally, now that you’re in high school, your grades will count towards your GPA, another important factor in your college search. Even if the college search process seems far away, your fresh- man grades each semester have the same value as your grades in your senior year, so keep that in mind.

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