Valentine’s Dance

By: Lizz Marshall

Best dance ever? Overall the Valentine’s dance was filled with fun, and great music.

The second Forrest Bird Charter Middle School dance was held on February 15^th 2013. The dance was hosted by Jannene’s eighth grade advocacy. The dance was Valentine’s themed.  The dance had strobe lights, and black lights for general lighting. The photo booth was very successful with their theme of “modern teen life.”

The music mostly consisted of modern pop, and some dubstep. Paul Gunter, FBCS music teacher was the DJ for the dance. ”I try to make music at every dance better than the last so therefore, every dance is the best dance yet” said Music teacher and dance DJ Paul Gunter. The student store was open during the dance and was selling snacks and drinks.

The eighth graders were tired after their ski day, but most of them still ended up at the dance. “The Valentine's dance was a great success, we raised over $500 in admissions with over 100 students in attendance” said FBCS P.E. teacher Janenne Russell. The profit from the dance will go to the eighth grade’s trip to Yellowstone at the end of the year.

Cut the Ribbon!

By: Ellie Mearns

“Giving this school wings to fly” was a section in Dr. Pamela Birds speech during the ribbon cutting ceremony.

At Forrest Bird Charter High School the discovery bus attended the banquet. Attendees could check out cool experiments and try them out for themselves. K12 and Northwest Pro Educators showed up to inform students and parents about alternative schools.

The highlight of the night was food for many people, Madisen McAurther 7^th grader says, “The service was great and the food was better.” The FBCS catering class served the guests; they had many different appetizers.

Speeches were the biggest thing that night. Dr. Pamela Bird’s speech was very moving and empowering.  Pamela made a point that all of us were thinking about afterwards that 3% are innovators 4% leaders and 93% are followers. The biggest thing that stood out was “We are giving this school the wings to fly, for innovation, a future, and for hope.” We also had some special performances from some students Calvin Aerni, Makai Miller, Eleanore Mearns, and Charlene Rawuka. Makai Miller 9^th grader and Eleanore Mearns 7^th grader read poems about succeeding no matter what other people say or do. Calvin Aerni 11^th grader and Charlene Rawuka 10^th grader both gave musical performances. 

The night was fun and fascinating and everyone had a ball!

A New Take on Dress Code Fashion

By: Lizz Marshall

UGH, dress code? Ask any student at Forrest Bird Charter School dress code can be a real drag. But, with the right accessories, you can make anything look cute.

Ladies: Accessories like headbands, scarves, and boots can help you individualize dress code without breaking it. Headbands are great for a messy hair day, and especially if you have bangs you just can’t figure out.  Sequined headbands are especially cute and add class to your outfit. Scarves can help make you look more sophisticated. Bright colored scarves are darling, but practically scream, “Hey look at me!” which can be good when trying to gain someone’s attention.

Shoes can be the difference in your personal style. Whether you wear cute floral flats or colorful vans, you are able to transform the same outfit into different styles, and this is the beauty of dress code. Boots can keep your feet warm on a cold winter day or even a muddy spring day. Boots can also help give a hint of class to a simple outfit.

Who said you can’t be comfortable in dress code? The new FBCS T-shirts and sweatshirts are totally fashionable and full of comfort. The t-shirts are made in black, grey, red, and tie-die. Orange and yellow t-shirts are given to students caught out of dress code. 

Boys: Whether you like to admit it or not, us girls know somewhere deep down you do care about your personal style and how you look on a daily basis. You may not like to wear scarves, bracelets, or fancy earrings, but you can still change your style within dress code limits. Wearing a brighter colored polo or an oxford here and there won’t kill you. Shoes are also another great way to individualize your look.

The true beauty of dress code is really the simplicity. Being able to change your whole outfit with one accessory in the matter of seconds is one of the cool things about dress code.

Abused Computer Labs

By Kiki Glenn

Why can't we take care of our computer labs? What were some abused situations? Computer labs are used for education, not to have fun and destroy them. Recently we had a situation where some pencils were stuck on the ceiling in the south computer lab. Why? Well because, people don't know what they're doing, and if they keep it up, we might not have computer labs anymore.

What were some abused situations that we had to deal with? We had people putting magnets against the computers, people took keys off the keyboards, people abused the black room (suppose to be used for photography class), but decided to used it for a make-out place. Gee, how could we change our ways of how we choose to treat the computer labs? Jayme Roger said "We’re lucky we even have computer labs. Some schools don't have the opportunity to use computers, and people that come to our school will miss out on it if we don't change our ways!" Well, the teachers already had to install cameras for the computer labs. Some people say that the cameras aren’t even real! And recently we had a toilet issue you can read all about it in a different article titled Bathroom Boo Boo by Ellie Mearns. But, still the computer labs are not being treated well.

So, how could we solve this problem? There could be many solutions! One solution they could do is take away computer privileges, or we could go to a more better solution, every time someone goes to a computer lab they would have to have a teacher and or a partner with them (Like the bathrooms). Laura Abromeit said "I think the computer lab situation is bad, and if I caught someone abusing the computer labs I would go to the teachers ASAP!"

Steampunk it up!!!

By Ellie Mearns

Makai & Conrad in Steampunk attire

What is steampunk?  Steampunk is a mix between Victorian and mechanical gears and metallic pieces. Lucinda Burley 7^th grader said “I absolutely love steampunk!” On March 7^th 2013 Forrest Bird Charter School hosted a steampunk day where students in both charter schools can dress up in steampunk attire for the school day.

After school on March 7, 2013 at 5:30 pm, FBCS is also hosting Night of Culture were students in art and other classes show different steampunk inspired pieces. Jonah McGlothlin 7^th grader said, “I am very proud of my artwork.”

Calvin & Saphira at Night of Culture

Many kids at the event made their own outfits such as Conrad Mearns, 9^th grade, he said about his costume, “It was kind of hard to make, but it turned out really cool.” The drama classes were dressed in outfits and performed different skits throughout the evening.

Steampunk is the new cool rage at FBCS, and we can’t wait to see what the students will do next.

Bathroom Boo-Boo

By: Ellie Mearns

Potty oops! Vandalism in the bathroom has gotten worse. How do you get pants down a toilet?! Well we aren’t sure, but it happened.

On February 19, 2013 FBCS had to call up a plumber to, well, remove pants from the sewage pipes. FBC Middle School kids had to go to the high school to use the restroom, and PE classes did not dress down and stayed in their uniforms. Isabelle Martin 7^th grader said “It was so inconvenient!”  

Students were then informed that they would have to go to the restroom with a buddy, so they would not be tempted to flush things down toilets and do other vandalism. Connor Conway 8^th grader says “All because some idiot clogged the bathroom.”  This was a price they had to pay for vandalism.

PE teacher Janenne Russell warned kids not to leave their clothes in the bathroom because they could be stolen or flushed down the toilets, but someone did not get the memo warning kids to take their stuff to class with them.

Vandalism gets worse with every year, but if we all take it in account and do our share to help stop it, the bathrooms and our personal stuff will not be harmed and privileges will be restored. 

Winter Break & Tree-wells

By Burke Palmer

They're traps! ... Tree-wells are. If you want to go skiing or snowboarding during winter break, I have a tip; try not getting stuck in treewells. So, once upon a time in a land not too far away, up on Schweitzer, during winter break a few people decided to go skiing together. They had a great time up until one of them said “Hey! Let’s go to the T-Bar”-ocean thunder. So, everyone agreed and to the T-Bar they went. And after everyone unbuckled and hiked up to the T-Bar, they went down Little Blue Ridge Run (usually a blue square but in these conditions it was a black ♦ J). After little blue, they decided to go down detention, (black ♦) and they skied into the trees. That is when everything started going downhill (no pun intended).

Let me just start off by saying this; tree-wells are terrible! Now with that out of the way, let’s continue with the story. Everyone was weaving through the trees, and they were all having lots of fun. But then, the caboose of the little caravan turned a bit too sharply and hit the back of his skis on a tree. He started spiraling out of control when suddenly he falls into a Treewell. Luckily when this student fell into the Tree-well, he only fell up to his chest. So, he begrudgingly climbs out of the treewell and skis ahead. Now he is going as fast as he can because he wants to catch up with the rest of the group. And guess what happens next, he falls into another tree-well. This one was only a few feet down, so it didn’t take him as long to get out. Eventually, he gets out, walks to the run, skis down and has some hot cocoa at The Outback.

If you prefer not to taunt death, you should try ice fishing. It is fun, relaxing, and you get bragging rights if you catch a big one. The concept of ice fishing is to drop down your line maybe jig a little and hope something bites. Another bonus to ice fishing is that the fish you catch (with a little luck) taste good. These are not the only things you can do during winter break, but they are all pretty fun minus falling in tree-wells.

The First FBCS Invention Convention Banquet

By: Elizabeth Marshall

And the winning invention is… Students and their families enjoyed the food, fun, and awards at the first invention convention banquet at the Forest Bird Charter School. The banquet was a huge hit, and most of all it was a huge overall success.

The FBCS catering class enjoyed making food for the banquet. The class worked on preparing a Spaghetti dinner with their best attempt on meatballs. Salad was also prepared and served with the dinner. They must have done a good job, as the food was loved by most everyone. Seventh grader Ellie Mearns said, “The food was great, especially the meatballs”. The catering class also plans to cater many school events in the future. Hopefully all their hard work and effort will pay off by the end of the school year.

In addition to the great food, FBCS students, teachers, and their families enjoyed socializing at the banquet. Many families were observed laughing, talking, and even meeting new people. While the majority of kids at the banquet were sixth and seventh graders, the number of eighth graders was definitely lacking. With the few eighth graders that did show, most of them showed great enthusiasm to their fellow peers winning awards. Izzy Martin another seventh grader in James’s advocacy said, “I had a great time at the banquet and wearing my sparkly suspenders was just a bonus”.

The awards just might have been the highlight of the night for most individuals in the crowd. Every advocacy was recognized by sixth and seventh grade science teacher Sarah Evans, and eighth grade science teacher Julie Williams. All special awards, first and second place awards, and most importantly the Dr.  Bird award was given out at the banquet. This special award was chosen by Dr. Bird, a local innovator who is involved with many famous inventions and an aviation enthusiast. He also owns a local museum that sixth grade students at FBCS have an opportunity to tour every year. One of the students even remarked, “even though I didn’t exactly get an award it was nice to be recognized for all my hard work” said Forest Bird Charter School student, Kiki Glenn.

Overall, the banquet was loved by all teachers, students, and even the public. The banquet was such a success, there is already talk amongst teachers about a second annual banquet occurring next year. 

2013 Student Piggy Hunt

By: Nate Pollard

The Piggy Hunt is very cool. You can earn great prizes and a lot of money if you win. As the winner, you also get to give $250 dollars to a non-profit Organization. All you have to do is fill out easy worksheets after watching a Bizkids video about economics.

The Grand prizes is 1^st gets 250$ for you and 250$ for a non-profit organization. Second place gets 150$ for you, and third place gets 125$. Each money gift is a visa gift card for the winners to use any way they want.

The prize chart is very cool; it has many things on it like a free Dress down coupons, some shades of your choice of color, one of them is a pizza party, different types of candy, and you can also win a mystery prize.

Piggy’s Clues are all around the school like most are inside but some are outside the school on campus. There are a few inside the high school, so good look finding the clues. The Piggy Hunt award ceremony is Monday, February 11, 2013.  So far, no one has gotten fourth place for the $100.00 drawing.

Parent Piggy Hunt

                

                      By: Andrew Van Winkle

Have you ever seen your parents worry so much over a plastic pig? For the Parent Piggy Hunt there will be 12 stamps hidden throughout the community. The parents are competing for $500, but the catch is they cannot finish their piggy hunt until their son/daughter finishes.

       Parents look for 12 stamps that have clues on them and a student’s name. The student then gives them a sheet and once they finish the sheet and turn it in to the student they can get a clue to where the next stamp is. Stan Embry says that at least the parents are getting out more.

       Parents compete for 1^st place and a prize of $500, but they have to find all the clues within the next 5 weeks if they want the money. Jonathan Wagner says “$500 better get started.”

       Parents cannot turn in their passports until their student finishes. Those are the teacher’s orders. Barbara Roop said that if her son doesn’t finish she would be very sad and try to encourage them to try at least.

       Parents running throughout the community. Going crazy about $500 dollars. Encouraging their students to hurry up and finish their passport so they can finish theirs. This is going to be a crazy 5 weeks.