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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
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,
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.
NEWS
Appleton, Wisconsin September 2016 Volume XXII
Issue I Page 2
“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
Larger population brings new accommodations
By Ally Price
Mr. David Pynenberg, associ-
ate principal at North, advises
students to prioritize involve-
ment.
Photo by Olivia Molter
Freshman class of 2020 learn about their future at North during
Orientation.
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
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.
Freshmen
High school is your
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.
9 10
Sophomores
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.
11
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.
12
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.