Valley Central High School - Viking Log Yearbook (Montgomery, NY)

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W fAb0veJ Every tradition must start somewhere, Shane Crowley, Mike Schoonmaker, Dave Hanson, and jeff Haggar, members of this year's calculus class, created Shafer Dress-up Day. In honor of the occasion they clad in fake beards, short pants, thin ties, and pocketed pens. fRightj The AP English course requires students to do a wide variety of English projects. Mr. john Calvey lectures on the proper way to write a term paper. 96 ACADEMICS fRightj In AP English, much time is spent studying the Shakespearean plays - Hamlet, Macbeth, and The Tempest. Wayne Riley waits patiently to do his recitation of the soliloquy HTG be, or not to be from Hamlet. wf -51

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' 9 1 fLeftl The Navy Iazz Band performed a range of music - from 1950 Sam Cook, Bring lt on Home to Me to an imitation of the Blues Brothers. Dol Brown and Mike Poscul set up the drum set and the amps. fBelowl Don Muro acted more as an educator than a performer. Besides entertaining the audience, he spoke directly to them, explaining how the snythesizer works and what he was doing with it. slr' if' ' 5 ' fn ' x it 'qi :U J I we tl 4 Xxx . Y A, 7 i X f ,, y .V g g x .fi X X 'gi' L G-aff X 1lf,l-'X iff, W K N B2 'ff 1 We 'T lf f' . if -N xxsm if E 3 arrived in a chartered bus full of high spirits before their concert. George Conklin, Udol Brown, Rich Rodney, Rita Coolidge, Chris Goldin, and Mike Pascal enjoy being back at high school. ACADEMICS 95

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Students geor to college . . . the act of learning is essentially up to the individual. ot all students learn at the same rate: some learn rapidly, and others don't. Since the act of Ulearningl' is essentially up to the individual, one of the few things schools can do to pro- mote better learning is to group stu- dents according to their abilities. VC is one of the twenty percent of the nation's high schools that offer AP fAdvanced Placementj courses. The AP program is intended, not only as an excellent opportunity for the more outstanding students to work up to their abilitiesf' as Mr. Shafer said, 2' --...., Y .L ' but to allow them to earn college credit for their work. Some students, instead of empha- sizing earning college credit for AP courses, emphasize the benefit from just taking college-level courses and sampling the work-load. lane Weiss said, I think it prepares you a little more for college. Tina Enright thought that AP courses were worthwhile because you get an idea of what college courses are like. This year a fourth AP course - So- cial Studies - was added to VC's Eng- lish, math, and biology APls. Ieff Hag- gar thought the AP program was definitely worthwhile, but wished the school offered a wider variety, like physics and chemistry NFA has around ten. Dave Hanson, like Ieff, wished more science AP courses were offered. An AP test in each course is given at the end of the year to capable stu- dents willing to pay thirty-two dollars. lf the student gets a score of three to five points, he is eligible for college credit. Iackie Besser, who enrolled in AP biology, English, and social studies, said, UI think the courses are worth it if youlre going to take the AP test at the end of the year. If you don't take the test, it's a waste of time because you really don't get anything out of it except a lot of hard work. fAboveJ lt's Monday! That's the only explanation Mike Schoonmukers slouch needs. fLeftJ School isn't just for learning - sometimes il's for fun. Tonya Lown laughs as Mr. Calvey wonders aloud: Mr, Kunkowski. did this work lose anything in the translation? At the end of each quarter, when report cards are made out, the BOCES computer adds ten percent to the grade of AP students. Some people feel the ten percent is too much, oth- ers feel it's not enough, and still oth- ers, like Debbie Wollenberg, think it's 'tfairf' Todd Wynkoop, who took social studies, English, and math AP's said, l think the ten percent is ridiculous, 'cuz the teachers don't make you work ten percent harder. Donna Halter disagreed. She thought the ten percent was fair be- cause there's a difference between the high school senior and the college freshman, and that makes up for it. In the same vein, Faith Kopaskie said, Yes it's fair! We're doing college level work here! AP courses: college level work in high school - Hto each according to his ability. fAbovel The comedian-spirit parades through schools more than jeans. Mutt Damon, considered very funny, cocks an eyebrow at the camera. ACADEMICS 97