Seniors are about to graduate on Wednesday, May 23, and a steady rise continues in the grade-crippling disease known as “senioritis.”

Senioritis is the nickname that students and teachers alike have given the overall trend of seniors losing focus and slacking off in their scholarly responsibilities.

Senioritis becoming an even bigger problem at Kennedy High School in spring term, according to Cary Beatty, language arts teacher.

“Some parents are excusing their kids from class 11 or 12 times a trimester,” Beatty said. “If they don’t have the motivation to get good grades, and have already checked out of school, then there aren’t much we as teachers can do.”

Nick Appleget, sr., said he believes senioritis is a real issue that affects kids. “It exists very much. At the end of second trimester you can tell that it’s taking effect,” Appleget said. “I didn’t go to a lot of my 5th and 6th hour classes until very recently. I go a lot more now so I can finish strong and graduate, but right after second trimester I slacked off a lot.”

Hunter Corkery, sr., said he feels affected, too. “Oh yeah, it definitely exists. I’m pretty sure it starts junior year if I’m not mistaken.”

Lauren Crawley,sr., is accepted to college, and doesn’t believe senioritis is as terrible as some people say it is. “I’m still going to pass and I’m already accepted into college. It depends on the person, but overall as long as you don’t end up completely failing required classes most kids are fine,” Crawley said.

Though students might not think senioritis is a big deal, the number of F’s for seniors overall according to a list published to all teachers on April 25 is very high. Seniors that don’t get their grades up may not graduate.

Seniors may feel like there is a need not to come to school and they may have an overall dislike for school increases when students are about to graduate. “You see summer coming, and don’t feel the need to go. I don’t think there will be a bad effect, because its high school. It depends on who you are, and what your morals are, but once you get to college it gets more serious and a lot of kids buckle down,” Appleget said.

“I don’t think that it’s that big of a deal. I’ll be in college next year, and I’ll probably go back to being my studious self then. I think senioritis is just a phase that a lot of kids go through when they start realized high school is over. It doesn’t hurt them, it’s just something that happens at the end of senior year, and adults need to understand that,” Corkery said.

Although students aren’t too worried about senioritis affecting them negatively, some teachers disagree. “With only a term left of school it seems ridiculous to slack off at the very end, and even more ridiculous that their parents allow them to slack off by calling them out of class,” Beatty said. “My advice for juniors that are going to be seniors is that school doesn’t get out till the beginning of June. Don’t check out early.”

Teachers are attempting to stop this disease by their own means as well. “Grady, who’s my AP Econ teacher, has something called a Red Alert list which shows the kids failing his class. Since kids have to pass his class to graduate he’s trying to embarrass them in front of everyone to get their grades up,” Appleget said. “Also teachers have been telling my coaches I’ve been skipping, and I had a meeting with my coaches. So they got on my case and I can’t skip anymore in order to be a role model for younger players on the team.”

Kennedy High School students of all grades are starting to prepare for AP exams. The first day of exams is on Monday, May 7 and the final day is Friday, May 18. The exams are in the morning at 8 a.m. and in the afternoon at 12 p.m. The tests are taken in the KTOS center.

An AP class is an advanced placement class for students in high school. If they decide to take the exam at the end of the year and get a high enough score, they have the potential to earn college credits for that class.

Students at Kennedy are being pushed to take AP classes because they can be very beneficial in the long run.

The first step to getting this college credit is to study for the test.

Most classes are reviewing during school and some students have started to study on their own.

Allie Hutcheson, sr., is taking three AP exams. They are literature, calculus, and statistics. In her classes, her teachers have been helping her by going over different topics and practicing parts of the test.

On her own time she hasn’t started yet, but she will do practice tests.

For AP Biology David Pauls, so., said he bought a Barron’s review book to study. “Instead of a final, we are taking an old AP Bio exam,” Pauls said.

Grace Reinhart, sr., is also taking the AP Bio exam along with BC calculus, Physics C mechanics, and Marco/micro econ. She has purchased all five of the review books. In her classes she is getting review packets and taking practice tests. On her own she hasn’t done anything.

Neither Pauls nor Hutcheson are stressed about the exams. Reinhart said she is stressed, but she paid attention all year so she feels good.

Abi Gray, sr., and SSG Sal Giunta pose for pictures after Gray was presented with the "Sal Giunta Scholarship of Honor".

On May 1, National Medal of Honor recipient and Kennedy High School alum, SSG Sal Giunta, returned to his alma mater to present the first “Sal Giunta Scholarship of Honor” to senior Abi Gray. Giunta explained that he selected Gray based on her outstanding application and commitment to community service.

“I was honored to be put in a category under Sal Giunta,” Gray said, noting that she admires Giunta for his humbleness and his attitude of not wanting to be praised for his actions a lot because he believes that was what he was expected to do in his position.

According to Guinta, there were multiple qualified applicants for the scholarship, each impressive academically and with service to the community.

“I would never receive this scholarship,” Guinta shared, with a wide grin. “I wouldn’t even be on the short list for the scholarship.”

“Smart and with a plan and a solid head on their shoulders and a future of helping people are all qualities I looked for,” he added, noting that Gray possessed all of the qualities. “I am really excited to see where she ends up going in the future.”

Although the scholarship is in his name, it is intended as a tribute to the memory of his brothers-in-arms, Sgt. Josh Brennan and Spc. Hugo Mendoza who lost their lives during the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan battle on Oct. 25, 2007. Giunta was honored for his heroic actions with the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on this day.

Gray will put the $1,000 scholarship toward her education at Iowa State University; she plans to study either aerospace or electrical engineering and hopes to one day work for an aviation company to do more government specific work. She currently works at Rockwell Collins as a government contract on GPS receivers for the military.

Giunta said he was excited to have the opportunity to return to his hometown to present the scholarship to Gray at Kennedy. “To be able to come back and see some of the same teachers and to walk the same halls and to truly feel still part of Kennedy and still feel part of the community is an awesome thing,” he said.

The new scholarship will be presented annually to a graduating Kennedy senior selected by Guinta.

Artist: Childish Gambino      

Photo by Jordan Lunsford. Donald Glover otherwise known as Childish Gambino, walking onto stage at the Iowa Memorial Union for his concert apart of the Camp Gambino tour on April 16.

 

Genre:Hip-Hop

 

Hometown: Stone Mountain, Georgia

 

Hit Songs: 

Freaks & Geeks

My Shine

Bonfire

Heartbeat

That Power

Outside

All The Shine 

Firefly

  

Childish Gambino, actor turned rapper, better known as Donald Glover has made noise with his first studio album Camp.

Originally an actor who rose to stardom through his sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy, Glover’s rise to stardom has led him to star in shows such as Community and 30 Rock. Since Glover’s rise to stardom, aside acting, has contributed to music through several mixtapes, independent albums, an EP, and one studio album since he began his rap career in 2008. The name Chilidish Gambino, was said to be created through a Wu-Tang Clan name generator online.

In 2008, Glover’s first independent album was released entitled Sick Boi. As only an independent album from a developing actor, most wrote off the album quickly and continued without much recognition of his musical talents. Along with his second independent album Poindexter in 2009.

It wasn’t until Gambino’s third independent album that he started to gain more recognition. After the release of Culdesac, Gambino also released two mixtapes entitled I Am A Rapper and I Am a Rapper 2 which helped him spread a lot of his music, which later resulted in the announcement of an EP and a studio album.

After the release of the single Freaks & Geeks, which was later featured in an Addias commercial, the EP, The Great Gambino, came to works and was released in March of 2011 and soon after the release the studio album, Camp, was released.

The first single of Camp entitled Bonfire set the mood for the album as Gambino explored a very lyrical approach, which was partially seen on other work, but differently than ever before. Throughout Camp he used themes that are personal to Gambino such failed relationships, family problems, troubles and bullying as a kid.

Camp has since gained incredible recognition and shared responses. Pitchfork Media has rated the album a 1.6/10 and has called the album “Glover’s exaggerated, cartoonish flow and overblown pop-rap production are enough to make Camp one of the most uniquely unlikable rap records of this year.” While other music outlets have given the album much better reviews such as Spin Magazine who categorized the album as one of the top thirty of 2011.

Since the release of Camp, Gambino has been on his Camp Gambino tour with rapper Danny Brown since only four days after the release of his album. One of his latest stops was the Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City.

As for now Gambino has announced one mixtape project that he has announced via Twitter and his website, Iamdonald.com. With one of the first glimpses of this new project being Eat Your Vegetables, which was released earlier this month on April 2, Glover announced that it’d be released “extremely soon”. Gambino will also be a performer at Lollapalooza this summer.

Chilidish Gambino has made a quick upcoming the past several years and has rose to stardom especially with his musically talents in the past year alone. Whether it’d be acting or rapping, Donald Glover is making a lot of contributions to both acting and the music industry and is only a start for what is to come.

View photos of Childish Gambino’s concert at the IMU on April 16, here.

Seniors and their dates will experience the ‘time of their lives’, prom, this Saturday, April 28.

Kennedy prom will be held at Elmcrest Country Club; from 8 to 11 p.m. Grand March starts in the Kennedy black box, auditorium, and cafeteria at 4:30 and lasts until 6 p.m. Students will have the choice to eat there prior to the dance.

Prom isn’t just a one-step deal. There are many steps involved in the preparation process, the first and most crucial step, being asked to attend.

“We were going to have dinner at Chiles, so I got there early and asked them to drizzle in chocolate syrup next to the chocolate cake: ‘Prom?’” Shane Nielsen, sr., said, explaining how he asked his date, alumna Hanna Geiger ['11]. The two also went to last year’s prom together.

Joe Flesner, so., was asked to prom by Janey Day, sr. “She had a huge sign that said, ‘Joe Prom (heart)’”, Flesner said.

Second step in the process of going to prom is the look.

“My dress is strapless, mermaid fit dress. It’s black with beige and gold, and has jewels on the top,” Allie Hutcheson, sr., said.

She bought her dress at Hope’s Bridal, one of the most well-known stores to find a dress during prom season. The store manager reported that the shop sells, on average, several hundred dresses during the Cedar Rapids-area prom season.

Types of gowns that are popular this year are white, hot pink, turquoise, teal, and sequins.

Budgeting for that dress, along with dinner and the price of tickets, is also important in making sure that students can afford the things they need.

Prom tickets cost around $40 for the dance only and $60 for the dance and dinner combined. Tickets were sold in the foyer during school hours.

The third and final step involved in the preparation for the big night is the pre-prom activities.

“I am a class officer so I have to be there early, but we are still getting our pictures taken,” Nielsen said.

“I plan on tanning and getting my nails done and then before prom go out to eat,” Hutcheson said. “I am very excited. I can’t wait to spend time with friends and remembering this for a long time.”

Hannah Botkin, so., has been doing Mock Trial since sixth grade. This year her team consisted of a variety of students from different schools.

“We have kids mostly from Xavier, some from Kennedy, and some from Solon and Center Point,” Botkin said.

Another team with Kennedy students placed sixth in the state competition.

“We ended up getting sixth at state, and the older team, Hannah Botkin is on it, ended up getting first at it, and they’re headed off to nationals,” Michael Abramson, fr, said.

There are usually eight to ten students on a team. The two teams had the same coaches.

“We’re coached by Tim Semelroth who is a lawyer with his own law firm here in town, and then also Emily Anderson who works for Tim, and Chad Vonkampen who is also a lawyer,” said Botkin.

For nationals, the team has to prepare a whole new case for competition.

“Things change a lot, my team just won state, and now we’re headed going to nationals. We got a new case, and we have to start all over,”  Botkin said.