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EXTRA!
The ALC Insider May 23, 2005
ALC Science teacher wins “Teacher of the Year” award ALC science teacher Kathy Schreiber was as surprised as she could be when she was presented with the 2005 Worthington Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year award on Friday. Amidst applause and cheers, Schreiber was presented with a $50 gift card and a $1,000 check to be used for her classroom at an ALC awards ceremony. Wal-Mart representative Diane Scheitzer presented the gift card and check to Schreiber, along with a blue “Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year” vest similar to the vests worn by Wal-Mart associates. Schreiber’s name will be forwarded to the state contest where the winner gets $10,000 to use in his or her school. State-wide winners go on to the national contest where the prize is $25,000. “I had no idea” said Schreiber, who has taught science at the ALC for the past two years and has been employed by District 518 for four years. “I am as pleased as can be,” she said as she accepted the gift card and check. (Continued à)	Kathy Schreiber was presented with Wal-Mart’s Teacher of the Year award by Diane Schweitzer Staff and students were as surprised by the award as was Schreiber. But they were all very pleased. “She really deserves it,” said ALC Dean of Students Paul Langseth. “She’s no-nonsense, but a lot of fun.” “She’s one of the best teachers here,” said student Sergio Chaparro. “She teaches a lot, yet makes the class fun at the same time.” Wal-Mart chooses its Teacher of the Year recipients from applications submitted by the public. Someone in the community – and no one at the ALC knows who that someone is – submitted Schreiber’s name along with an essay on why she deserves the award.

The Worthington ALC Insider
Volume 2, Issue 28 May 23, 2005
THE last Hurrah By Paul Langseth I have resisted the urge to contribute to the paper in the past because I believe, and still believe, the Insider should be a student written, student-edited paper, for students. The audience is the students! Not staff, not administration, not the community!! If you want to know what is going on in students’ heads, listen to what they say, read what they write. Part of what they are thinking about now, is what is going to happen to the ALC? I get questions every day. Changes are being made in staff. Changes are being made in administration. Changes are being made in rules and schedules. What is going on? The best answer I can give is “I don’t know. Wait and see.” You’re just going have to go with the flow! Watch the show! In other words, find a way to not only survive but to grow and succeed and enjoy the journey. School is a game, just like Nintendo. Learn the rules; find the ways to beat the game, learrrrrnnnnn! Apply yourselves now and you have more options down the road. I’ve learned a lot in the three years as a student here at the ALC. Yes, I’m the Dean (Continued à)	Outgoing Dean of Students Paul Langseth of Students but I am a student as well. I’ve learned about homies, egg rolls, samurai swords, the origin of pizza, and tongue studs. I learned how to put together schedules, read transcripts, listen to students, and make hard decisions. I’ve learned about sharing power and letting staff and students muddle through to new levels of learning. I have never subscribed to the “banking” theory of learning where the teachers make deposits of knowledge into the students’ head to be withdrawn at test time. Once regurgitated, the knowledge is gone, spent, forgotten and the student is bankrupt at graduation except for that all-important piece of paper, the Diploma. (Continued on page 2)

The Insider May 23, 2005 Page 2
(Continued from page 1) The motto of vocational education is “Learning by doing”. And that is what you and I have been about for these past three years. And it’s been good. Not always pleasant, not always fun, but good. We have done a lot of doing and a lot of learning. The ALC has been a school where the staff cares and works hard for the students who want to learn; who want to go on. I’ve purposely been hard on those of you who (Continued à)	were here to play. This is not the party room!! It is a school! There is too much at stake for those wanting to get through to let a few spoil it. That is not to say the students who don’t want to learn don’t have a place in our community. It’s just not at this school at this time. Come back when you are ready. That’s part of the ALC’s purpose, to provide an alternative. Hopefully, it will be here for you when you are ready. Thanks for the ride. I’ve learned a lot. Adios amigos.
ALC Prom is a great success… By Heather Mondloch As everyone knows prom was Friday the Thirteenth. In my opinion, the prom was great! I’m not saying that our prom was perfect. We had difficulties with different things but we fixed them. Altogether, it seemed like everyone had a good time, although some people didn’t really want to dance the whole night long. We had pizza and pop in the cafeteria. Tammy bought us a cake that said ALC PROM 2005. It was funny when Justin got his faced smashed into the cake by Rosa. Of course everyone who wanted a piece of it had already gotten one by then. Justin was joined by accomplice Israel Melendez, Tammy’s boyfriend. As the night went on we handed out door prizes and games. The guys had to run backwards with a balloon, put the balloon behind them and have their partner pop it! You know, without their hands!! It was quite amusing and our winners received a gift certificate to McCarthy’s Floral, for ten dollars. A lot more people showed up than we expected! A lot of people said they weren’t going to go, yet we saw them there! Everyone who came looked really nice, and you can see their pictures on the next page!

The Insider May 23, 2005 Page 3

The Insider May 23, 2005 Page 4

Wilderness Wild and free

By Michael Denison

Wilderness wild and free so beautiful and serene.

When you are in it you can’t help but feel happy and free.

Beautiful trees and stream, I lay down under the trees,

And listen to the trickling of the stream as it runs its course down the mountainside.

The trees swaying in the wind put your soul to sleep.

It takes you to an alternate world where you have no worries:

Where you are as carefree as a bird in the air, as a leaf in the wind.

Just living to be living.

All you think about is how much you don’t want to leave;

How all you want to do is live in this place forever.

To live the remainder of your years surrounded by God’s country.

Maybe you would like to live next to a waterfall or sit in hot springs.

So relaxing and refreshing, taking in all the fresh air knowing

that it is not polluted because there are no cars.

All that exists is the pure beauty that you find in nature that surrounds you.
You hear the birds chirping and singing their beautiful songs of spring

with the roar of a waterfall in the background.

Me, I don’t care where I am because as long as I am in nature I have a free spirit,

A wandering soul and a peaceful mind.

I love the noise a stream makes as it goes barreling down the mountain

As it clashes over the rocks making the beautiful sound.

To me that is the perfect life.

To live off the land that was created for us.

To not have to be surrounded by the greed and daily hustle and bustle

of everyone trying to make it big.

In the forest there is no need.

All you do is live and live for the moment

And that is why I loved my first camping trip and why it won’t be my last.

The Insider May 23, 2005 Page 5

Cell Phones in School By Vivian Gonzalez I understand that cell phones are a distraction to a teacher who is trying to teach. What I don’t understand is why we can’t use cell phones in the hallways or between classes when we’re not distracting anyone. If teachers even see cell phones they freak out, and act as if we are plotting to blow up the school with our cell phones. It’s not like we are interrupting a teacher’s lecture. Teachers get more interruptions and unnecessary phone calls of their own during their lectures. Some of them are important, but some aren’t. I think it’s funny that teachers and staff tell us that they want us to act like adults and expect us to do adult tasks, but yet we get treated like children. They act as though we simple-minded children couldn’t possibly have anything in our plain, perfect little lives that is more important than school. Teachers think that our only problems are who said what about whom and what we are going to do after school. But sometimes we have more problems. Problems that even most of the teachers here wouldn’t know how to deal with. Sometimes we need to use our phones to solve these problems. My little brother’s babysitter is from Honduras and she doesn’t speak English. Now let’s say there is an emergency that’s (Continued à)

Animation by www.millan.net not bad enough to call 911, but is bad enough for her to try and call my mom. Let’s imagine that for some reason she can’t reach her. There’s time lost right there, so then she calls the ALC to talk to me. Since she can’t speak English, the school needs to find an interpreter but that only wastes more time. Or let’s say one of our friends need a ride to school. Some of us are allowed to leave during lunch so we would be able to go pick this person up. But if he or she tried calling the office and leaving a message, there would be no guarantee that the correct person would get the message. I’m not saying that we should be allowed to use them during class, but at least during lunch or passing periods. And no we don’t want to use the phone in the office because of a little thing called privacy!

ALC Insider May 23, 2004 Page 6

MOVIE REVIEW

Hotel Rwanda

By: Vivian Gonzalez

Hotel Rwanda is a really good movie about a genocide that happened in 1994 in Rwanda, Africa. It’s based on a true story about a man named Paul Rusesabagina. He was the manager of a European-owned hotel in Rwanda. The hotel was used as a secret refugee camp to help hide about 1200 Tutsi people from the Hutus.

Two groups live in Rwanda – the Hutus and the Tutsis. The Hutu’s viewed the Tutsi’s as cockroaches because of distinct differences in their features, such as wider noses and height. The United Nations sent troops to Rwanda, but the UN soldiers were not allowed to fight back even after the assassination of the Rwandan President. After the situation worsened, all Americans, Europeans, and UN officials were forced to evacuate the country. This left the Tutsis alone to face the Hutus who were armed with Machetes and machine guns.

Paul used his power, lies, and money to try and stall the Hutus long enough to figure out a way to help Tutsis to be safe.

(Continued à)

Hotel Rwanda: A disturbing, yet powerful film

The Tutsi refugees called everyone to try and get help, but hey received hardly any’ The Genocide ended up killing nearly one million people.

I think this is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Its realistic images give you a very powerful view of what happened. Some scenes may be disturbing but they are extremely moving.

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