Satanta High School - Chieftain Yearbook (Satanta, KS)

Page 33 text:

Understanding Seniors Become Informed Trying to understand our American government sys- tem is probably the most ex- asperating experience a senior goes through. There are so many details and loopholes to everything in government. That's what makes it hard to under- stand, said Sterling Slaven. Whether it was memorizing the amendments or trying to understand the constitution the seniors kept busy in government class. Income tax forms were Scott Strano think he knows the answer to the question, but Mary Shivers. Steph- anie Lighty, Denise Har- ding. Rick Limon, Kay Lo- pez and Tammy Wheeler have their doubts. Watch them grow. The gov- ernment classes collection ol cans make a colorful ad- dition to Mr. Troutt's room. another complicated mat- ter. Trying to figure out when to use what tax form is a job in itself. Itemized de- ductions, dependent chil- dren, donations and ex- emptions where other things that had to be dealt with. Occasionally Mr. Troutt would take a break from the book and would let the sen- iors discuss a current event. Topics of discussion ranged from the bombing of Libyan ships to the terrorist attacks on American tourists to the justice system's punishment of juveniles. In order to keep up with local events, seniors were required to attend one city council meeting. The senior who attended the meeting then had to give a report to the class on that meeting. Some very interesting to- pics of discussion came up during these reports. The seniors had a very unusual project going on in Mr. Troutt's room. The Great Wall of Cans was an appropriate name for this project. When this was completed there were ap- proximatley 444 cans in all. The wall took up one-half of Mr. Troutt's chalkboard. It was twelve rows high and thirty-seven cans long. After this was completed the sen- iors took a day off to crush them so Mr. Troutt could cash them in. Government 29

Page 32 text:

Coach Bill Stevens displays that famous “Mildcat'' smile. Variety Adds Spice Completing tomorrow's assignment Kelly Anthony, Derek Stevens, Karla Feezor and Lisa McLeland work on their history. Various ways to teach American History exist, and Mr. Bill Stevens has used several of them. Showing films on the VCR, doing map studies and playing the current events game are just a few. All of these things tend to help students understand history better. Current events is my favorite activity because you learn some- thing and have fun at the same time, said Stephanie Myrick. When the history class studied slavery and the Civil War, they had a slave auction. This helped the students have a better understanding of what slaves had to go through and how they were treated. When the history class studied the Pilgrims they held a mock town meeting. Each student was given a character such as the town crier, the parson, the town tax collector or the keeper of pigs. The students had a chance to express their opinions on town policy and town rules. This helped the students to understand more about the Pilgrims who founded our country. A new addition was ad- ded to the social studies program. This course is ge- ography. It was added be- cause of the new credit re- quirement in the social studies area. Students must now have three years of so- cial studies instead of two. In geography students not only learned where countries were but they also learned how to use a map and how to find places on a map. 28 History

Page 34 text:

Computers And Math A Changing Equation Two plus two equals four. This math problem is one that every school student learns to do at a very early age. As people get older they are exposed to harder problems and subjects which take more time to un- derstand. When a student enters high school he be- gins figuring out square roots and what 2x-3x + 5 equals. In the last few years students in Satanta High School have been intro- duced to a new kind of math class. Computer math and advanced computer math are now a part of the every day schedule at achool. With thirteen com- puters and access to them, students who enter this class enter for many different reasons. If 1 go to college it will We're dll in this class because we like working on computers.'' help in doing papers on the computers, said David Jones. In order to work well on a computer you must also enjoy working on them. The computer classes learn how to draw pictures and graphs and work out prob- lems on the computer. We're all in here because we like working with com- puters, said Derek Ste- vens. Along with the computer class there are also the usual math classes that most stu- dents take. Algebra is taught in three different classes. These classes con- sist of pre-algebra, Algebra I and Algebra II. Most stu- dents do enjoy the algebra classes, but they don't like the homework. The one thing I don't like about Al- gebra II is doing the home- work, said Karla Feezor. This reaction is common in all classes. The other math courses were geometry and ad- vanced math. The geometry class is mainly taken by sophomores. I took this class because I needed math credits and the other option was general math which I had already taken, said Stephaine Silva. Ad- vanced math was taken by two seniors. As the years go on, the math area will con- tinue to extend into other areas besides computers. Though technology makes society progress and our classes change, students will always have to adjust, but one thing will always re- main true. Two plus two will always equal four. Triangles and congruent angles didn't seem to be one of the geometry classes' top priorities. Surely advanced math can t be that funny. It looks like Stacey Davis has some pretty hilarious equations to tell Stephanie Lighty about. 30