Valparaiso High School - Valenian Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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TENSION RISES AS sophomore Scott Moesch antici- pates adviset Glotia Zimmetman ' s comments re- gotding his sophomore officers copy. Volenian stoff members quickened their work poce os deadlines approached. CONT EMPLATING HIS PAPER ond the solitude of the nature center, junior Dotren Pederson awaits inspirotion for an ossignment. RESEARCHING ROBERT BORK ' S nominotion to the Supreme Court, senior Amy Baker and sopho- more Seon Osner prepore for o group discussion in Genetol Speech. English

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By Jennifer Darker It ' s been said that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Students heeded the warn- ing and put their brainpower to work, striv- ing for excellence in a school known throughout Indiana for its academic strength. Academic Decathlon members storm- ed Regionols with their intellectual compe- tition and earned a second-place finish. From there the team continued onto state competition, where it placed. Technological improvements mode class assignments a little eosier for some students. The English Department received a new computer lab con- sisting of word proces- sors, to be used in the writing and editing as- pects of some English courses. Upcoming evalua- tions by the North Central Association (NCA) caused faculty members to be- gin a critical self-study, assuring themselves that the school ' s ocodemic standards were up to par. The NCA is a volun- tary accrediting association which judges individual schools every seven years on the basis of ocodemic quality. VMS has been an NCA member since 1909. We take a great deal of pride in hav- ing been a member for so many years,” Dr. David Dess, principal, sold. Not too many schools quolify. Academics provided students with yet another ovenue for excellence, and they rose to the intellectuol challenge, making o name for themselves as the minds of the future. TAKING ADVANTAGE OF the qui- et, freshmon Carlo Patino gets a jump on her homework while waiting for o ride home.

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Language progresses expression Dy Larkin Riley Oohl Ugo! Ling! Booga!” Verbal communication began millions of years ago with stronge expressions like these by primitive man. Though these babblings may seem strange to people today, prehistoric man actually started longuoge with his spoken gibberish, crude drawings, and body longuoge. The English language is now a major key to communication, be it writ- ten or spoken. Valparaiso High School students, as well as all those in Indiano, must have at least eight English credits to graduate. Mrs. Lenore Hoffman, En- glish Department chairperson, said, The English Department tries to oc- commodate this increased demand for English courses by offering a wide vari- ety of classes under the phase elective program.” This program, created to make the English curriculum more responsive to students ' individuol needs, consists o1 three phases. Phase one includes the honors classes, designed for students capoble of handling more advanced material. An A earned in an honors class is worth one extra point with re- gord to students ' GPA thon is on A in a phase-two class. Phose two is made up of courses for the above over- age, college-bound student, and phase three caters to students with a lower ability level in the English studies. Electing their (the students ' ) own classes seems to somewhat eliminate disciplinary actions in class, Hoffman said. This woy, students are catego- rized according to their ability level. If we put a random group of students into a class and start teaching, either the smarter, more talented students would PREPARING TO PERFORM The Sunshine Boys ' by Neil Simon for Porents ' Night, seniors Dove Baker and Scott Newsom rehearse os dramatics teacher June Weilend critiques them. be bored or the students who aren ' t as learned would be lost. Though the phase system is im- portant, so is parental stress in edua- tion, Mrs. Diane Moryl, English teach- er, said. Valparaiso need not worry about o lock of emphasis on learning, according to Hoffman and Moryl, since VHS has placed well obove the na- tional average on the Scholastic Apti- tude Test (S.A,T.), The English Department doesn ' t “Electing their (the stu- dents’) own classes seems to somewhat eliminate disciplinary actions in class.” — Mrs. Lenore Hoffman. necessarily focus on the S.A.T. ' s, but teachers do prepare students by teoch- ing them various skills which improve their overall approach to test toking. We also prepare students by giving them a solid bockground in English skills, Hoffmon sold. In addition to Speech and a gram- mar course, American Literature is also required to groduate. As the English Departmentfurthers students ' communicative skills, slang expressions such as Hey mani Cool! Like, totally awesome! will remain a thing of the past. Society will continue to better itself rather than return to the monosyllabic expressions of primitive man. English