North Star: Upcoming Events at FHN

Credit to Paige Westermann

Jesse Stewart poses by the FHN sign outside the front of the school.

By Ashya Roberson and Daniel Xiang
Published: December 13, 2017

New Hall Monitors Come to FHN

Jesse Stewart and Cara Noah-Avalos became the new hall monitors on Tuesday, Oct. 24. Because of the many fights that had occurred the first few weeks of school, the school hired Stewart and Noah-Avalos full time.

“I make [sure] students have passes and that they are going to their actual destination and not just roaming the hallways,” Stewart said.

In order to be a hall monitor, applicants must have a substitute teacher certificate, 60 college credit hours of training and a degree. Both monitors have completed all of these requirements.

“It was easy to adjust because I have been working here for years, and knowing my way around is very easy,” Stewart said.

The responsibilities of hall monitors are to keep track of students without passes and anyone who might be in the school that shouldn’t. Stewart monitors the main floor, while Noah-Avalos monitors the top and the bottom floor.

“I get kids who come and talk to me, and that’s fun,” Noah-Avalos said. “I like building relationships with them.” (Brief by Ashya Roberson)

Computer Science Club Continues for Second Year

Computer Science Club is in its second year at FHN. It was created last year to let students interested in the subject learn and practice computer science, and was continued this year by a different student.

“They [the students] started the club last year because we didn’t have one and they were really interested in computer science, and then I saw that it wasn’t getting continued, so I thought that I would pick it up cause I love computer science and that’s what I’m going to college for,” Bernadette Kornberger, a member of Computer Science Club, said.

Since there wasn’t a specific student continuing the club, Kornberger decided to take responsibility. The club is largely student run, with its goals and activities being chosen by its members.

“The truth is teachers, we help out with it; it’s more of a student led organization,” Mike Freedline, a PLTW teacher and sponsor of the club, said.

This year, the club is creating and setting goals for the year; they are working on programming languages and other topics that its members choose and hope to set up more long-term goals.

“We really want to participate in a local hackathon, and we’re looking to just get more people into computer science and getting people away from the thought that it’s really hard to get into and you have to be super smart to do it,” Kornberger said. (Brief by Daniel Xiang)

Drama Club Goes to State Conference

Drama Club will attend the Missouri State Thespian Conference Jan. 11-13 at the Marriott Grand Hotel in St. Louis. The Thespian Conference is an annual meeting for students interested in theater to compete in events and learn. Events such as monologue competitions and improvisation contests let students practice and use their skills, while conferences there allow students to learn things about theater that they can’t in class.

“I think that it’s the most fun event that everybody does,” Drama teacher Kim Sulzner said. “They can attend workshops for things I can’t teach [them], because they have to have different types of insurance. They could go and train in stage combat, they can be trained in stage weaponry, they can explore a whole lot of different things that we just don’t have time to cover in here, so it’s really important for them.”

The conference also allows people with similar interests to meet and interact, relating to each other based on their common interest in theater.

“To me, being in a hotel space with a bunch of people that have the same interests as me just kind of makes me excited but inspired to do theater,”  Bree Williams, a member of Drama Club, said. (Brief by Daniel Xiang)