Meadowbrook High School - Sceptre Yearbook (Richmond, VA)

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| pe ee Library Logo. Head Librarian, Carolyn Beard relaxes after school by playing a For I = 1 to 10 Mike Kelley works with Sharon Davis and Tina Blackwell on their program in Computer | class by showing computer games on “Herbie.” them an example in the manual. Computers 25

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Syntax Error Line 30. Philippa Bates at- tempts to help James Smith debug his program in Computer | class. f High Level Language. In business computer Tracy Foster dictates a pro- gram as Matt Holland enters it and Tony Mavredes looks on. — : ee Watching you! Guidance Aide, Kim Northcutt catches up on her school work while keeping an eye on the com- puter. Debug don’t Exterminate! In Com- puter I class, Greg Kastleburg searches to find the ‘‘bug”’ in his program. Ww Fe aie Pe , , we eee bo @ Ghee bave vidence that the age of computers had arrived was seen in the office, the library, the guidance depart- ment and in every department. The office was completely automated. Principal, Mr. Walker and assis- tant Principal, Mr. Kelly could often be found in front of their computers, checking student records or keeping up with school inventory. The library provided teachers and students with an additional computer re- source. EMR LD students made extensive use of the com- puter in the library. The guidance department ac- quired the G.I.S. (Guidance In- formation System) which helps students with future planning. Some teachers began to use computers to record grades. As 24 Computers English teacher, Mrs. Mary Jo Lux pointed out. A survey on the impact of the computer wave was given to students, faculty and adminis- trators. Seventy-two percent of the people surveyed had some type of experience with a com- puter. Of those with computer experience, 37% primarily used it to play games; 22% to do homework, 22% programming; with additional uses of filing, teaching, etc. Ninety-nine people respond- ing owned some type of a home computer. Models owned ranged from Apple Il, Il+, Ilc, lle; IBM; PC and PCjr.; TRS 80 to Atari, Vic 20 and Adam. Computers affected people in many different ways. It helped one student by, ‘‘keep- ing my dad busy and off my back.” It also, “‘provides organi- zation and acts as a problem solver,’’ said a teacher. Computers made some lives easier but made others more dif- ficult. Advantages in having a computer were cited as: “‘great games’, ‘solves difficult prob- lems,” ‘‘no paperwork,” saves time,’ and of course, ‘‘fun!”’ Disadvantages included: ‘‘ex- pensive,’ everything ruined with small error,’ ‘“‘takes a while to learn,’ and “‘it doesn’t let you think for yourself.” Sixty-five percent of the peo- ple who had never used a com- puter would like to because “it’s the future,” or ‘“‘they’re in- teresting,’ or ‘‘it might help to get a better job.” People who had no exper- ience with a computer were asked how they felt about the The school “hung 10” on a sea of technology. expanding uses of computer in our culture. Responses were split between, ‘‘So far it’s okay,” and ‘I don’t like it be- cause people will depend on machines instead of them- selves.” Every aspect of school life from academics to sports was affected by computers. Modern technology has worked its mag- ic in the classroom, first with the TV and now with the com- puter. Computers’ efficiency and speed will continue to af- fect the academics room until something better, faster and more efficient comes along. Who knows what's waiting around the corner for academ- ics.

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Nog ORE PUL UL he various students in Room 15 acted like most any other high school students joking and laughing. Most looked attentive and inter- ested as the teacher Mrs. Nor- ma Rogers wrote a few basic English words on the black- board asking the class to pro- nounce them. This was the class known as ESL (English-as-a-‘Second-Lan- guage) room where students from Cambodia, El Salvador, and China met at different per- iods in the day to learn to speak the English language. The students came to Amer- ica for different reasons: to es- cape fighting in their embattled lands ranging from South Amer- ica to Southeast Asia; to learn Booting up. Computers prove to be helpful to Hector Martinez when prac- ticing his English. 26 ESL Students EEUUL English and to see America. ‘China is a poor country and America is rich’’, a student from China gave as his reason for coming to America. Ruxuan Chu explained that he preferred his school in China even though he had to attend school for a daily session in the mornin g, afternoon and even- ing. In Cambodia, students walked to school stayed in the same class the whole day. Cam- bodian students sometimes covered sixteen different sub- jects in a year. Another differ- ence in Cambodia was that boy- friends and girlfriends were not allowed to hold hands, much less kiss, in school. Most of the E.S.L. students Third language. Mrs. Sumner’s Span- ish students listen attentively as Van- nah Mak teaches them Cambodian. JE oy i students quickly adjusted to American teenage lifestyle. prefered Meadowbrook to their old schools particularly the peo- ple and the cafeteria lunches. As for learning English, ac- cording to members of the class, speaking and writing could have been very hard while thinking in one’s native language. Their weekends were spent at the movies, playing basket- ball, football and rollerskating. Rock'n'Roll was popular among the E.S.L. students, with favor- ite musicians ranging from Van Halen and Madonna to Bruce Springstein and Prince. Popular shows were, ‘‘The Cosby Show” and ‘Miami Vice.’ According to the E.S.L. class, American teenagers were “crazy”, ‘‘friendly”’ and ‘‘fun”’. ‘Meeting them can be sort of scary, at first’, said Tal Taing. As with most American teen- agers, the pre-occupation of ESL students was, members of the opposite sex. A lot of Ameri- can girls have ‘‘sexy bodies,”’ said Mauricio Malara. Other ESL males found American girls to be “‘pretty”’ and ‘‘friend- ly’. The girls felt that American guys were also ‘‘friendly’’ and “crazier’’ then their old friends. America had provided a new life for most of the ESL stu- dents. For many, the picture of a nice beautiful country was a dream come true. The students had adjusted well to the hectic, wild, and crazy life of the American teen- ager. Many of these people wou ld go on to become official American citizens; some would go back to their native coun- tries. Giving Pointers. Phal Chhat teaches Spanish students days of the week in Cambo- dian.