Westlake High School - El Paisano Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Things Your Parents Say to Save For a College O Holiday Gifts O Spring Break OGas O Weekend Q Ferarri Check it out TGIF, so sophomore Jimmy Saxton with- draws funds from his checking account for weekend cash. Friday afternoons presented banks with rush hour business as students hurried for pocket change. What ARE THE MOST VALUABLE SKILLS YOU HAVE LEARNED IN ECONOMICS? Checkbook Balancing Investing MONEY Completing Tax Forms Economic endeavors Student analysts monitor trading Monopoly money in hand, economics seniors engaged in an entre- preneurial endeavor that hopefully expanded their knowledge of the stressful world of business in- vestment. For three weeks, seniors watched and charted stocks, avoiding pitfalls and falling values. Fate will often spare an undoomed man in the stock market if his courage and ability to pick stocks are good, se- nior Ricky Jones said. Though many seniors made a marginal profit with a serious attitude, some followed the more humorous concept of the ...it was better to purchase stocks from one company rather than many small companies senior Nisheeth Parekh project and tried losing money. I didn ' t have too many people trying to lose money; most did very well. Some earned as much as $800, economics teacher Julie Oliver said. Rebecca Parks al- lotted her class $200,000 in fake funds for purchasing Oops Counselors ' offices beseiged by unhappy students as conflicts arise from walk-through process Every semester, hundreds of students became victims of the re- vised scheduling process. Closed courses and scheduling conflicts, otherwise known as aca- demic accidents, brought students crying to counselors ' and teachers for help. I got three classes that I had no earthly intention of taking, so I went to the counselor ' s office to get rid of them, senior Ricky Jones said. Although seniors faced some problems of scheduling due in part to required senior courses, under- classmen fell most often as the un- fortunate victims of schedule mis- haps. I went in during registration thinking that everything was fine, but when I got my schedule back I dis- covered that I had none of the class- es or teachers that I wanted, sophomore Olivier Lapuente said. As students collectively com- plained of bad schedules, adminis- trators viewed academic accidents as necessary evils. In order for the majority of the schedules to work out, a minority of students must make a sacrifice with their schedules, assistant principal Lynne Rocglin said. After a bothersome visit to the counselors ' office, previously unhap- py students found classes that met their needs, if not their wants, and made themselves happy with the fi- nal results. Our ' rush season ' starts at the beginning of each semester. Most of the time we are so behind that it takes us weeks to catch up with all of the schedule changes, senior coun- selor Jonathan Ratcliff said. Although placement in a class not signed up for usually constitut- ed a legitimate excuse for a schedule change, often enough there re- mained countless other legitimate reasons . I got all of the classes that I wanted except for the lunch period that I wanted, sophomore Brian Stecg said. Unfortunate victims of circum- stance, having negotiated with members of the administration to the point of humble begging, had now exhausted all possibilities of finding a way out of unwanted cours- es. Many accepted the challenge of survival of the fittest, but the others realized they didn ' t have a choice. Take a Number ACADEMICS

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lege credit for taking four classes and working two classes while getting six credits per year, Mr. Don Linley said. Three different voca- tional classes afforded working students a variety of choices: VOE in which students work in an office- related fields; ICT in which students work in various kinds of trade, building and dental and doctor assistance jobs; and DE in which students work in retail field or mar- keting sales. I love being in the work program because it enables me to search out an occupation by trying different fields of jobs, junior Denise Miller said. Work related pro- grams helped some stu- dents because they got to break the monotony of school exhibiting produc- tivity on the job. The students learn the need for further edu- cation by being in voca- tional programs and work- ing with someone 40 years old with only a high school education, VOE teacher Mary Lee Moeller said. MONEY DO YOU EARN IN THE WORK PROGRAM? Average $42 Smoothie For $1.64, junior Todd Connor sells student patrons a small serving with any topping while working at Yummy Yogurt. The store employed many high school as well as junior high students. Big CHixNGE As she makes change for a customer, junior Kristi Crow- son earns money working at Thundercloud Subs. Student employees learned the re- sponsibility of being prompt and efficient Employees gain experience as they learn all importantly. Just who ' s the boss? You burned the food and got screamed at by a customer, but worst of all, here comes the boss. I don ' t think anyone cares what kind of boss they have just as long as they get paid. However, I try to stay away from my boss, senior Jason Vallier said. Avoidance of the boss proved not always possi- ble, but workers had to be nice even if it killed them. It really bothers me that I have to be so nice around my boss because he ' s so difficult. But I know he keeps me from having to go to school, junior Casey Collins said. Since students could get out of school by taking VOE, DE or ICT, student employees learned peo- ple skills to handle bosses. My boss is pretty cool. She always talks to me and asks me about personal stuff, senior Linda Jackson said. To get along with the boss and customers, em- ployees learned and re- learned that both were always right especially if the boss was DAD. I like the way my boss acts. I mean con- sidering he ' s my dad. I ' ve got a lot of freedom, se- nior Sean Hicks said. Despite the relation- ships developed on the job, one primary motiva- tion kept students punch- ing the time card in and out: THE PAYCHECK. BAGGY Safeway grocery store clerk sophomore Glen Cox, bags groceries before taking them out to the customer ' s car. Rain or shine, clerks walked in and out of doors with heavy bags . Edited by Tracy Knox Wpili ONE FOR THE MONEY l ' :

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stocks off the New York Stock Exchange. Julie Olher distributed $5,000 in funds to her class. My partner, Anna Barnes, and I bought stocks in Pan-Am, Coke and Wal-Mart. We also bought preferred stocks in smaller companies. We realized too late that it was better to purchase stocks from one company rather than many small companies. Therefore, we lost 520,000, senior Nisheeth Parekh said. Instructors judged the individual per- formance of seniors awarding a prize of a few bonus points, or at least an improved possibility of obtaining some brownie points to those who earned the greatest percentage of profits. MONEYWISE As she takes time for a brief stock market review, sopho- more Andrea Shone reads her favorite financial magazine. While becoming more in- volved with money, students practiced economic skills by playing the stock market. Underalls Displaying her new fashion line of lin- gerie, senior Drina Boban discusses her strategy for selling brassieres in economics. Most seniors were required to invent a business and present it as part of a major grade in economics. TOUGH CHOICE Traversing the crowded depths of the old gym, junior Daniel Cohen searches for a solution to the frustrating problem of schedule conflict during spring registration. With several course closings, students searched for classes to fill in their schedules. Accounting classes prove beneficial Useful balancing act Leaning over the desks to avoid the crack- ing whip, fingers furiously punched in numbers as students desperately tried to finish their accounting homework— and not just for the sake of getting the assignment done. Accounting has re- ally helped me under- stand the process of orga- nizing money. It ' s really becoming a challenge because if you miss one day, it could doom you for the rest of the semester, senior Kristi Chapman said. Even though accoun- tants learned many use- ful lessons such as balanc- ing their checkbooks, which helped the 50% of the class who had check- books, they also had e- nough spare class time to do other things. Accounting helped sometimes, like when we learned to balance check- Fast cash Visiting the Texas Commerce Bank drive-thru on the route to Barton Creek Mall, sophomore Scott Heare obtains money for a spring shopping spree. Because of their convenience. Republic Bank and Texas Commerce Bank acquired business from student mall patrons. Learning bank procedure, both in class and out, gave business students an added edge in the real world. books. Then, at other times, it only confuses me . It did however, give me a good opportunity to finish my trigonometry home- work, senior Carlie Tilly said. The business-related classes did help the 10% to 15% that planned to major in business in college, while others gained more immediate skills. I learned how to type well and sneak food into class. The greatest chal- lenge was eating and opening coke cans with- out the teacher noticing anything, senior Rachel Silber said. Overdrawn Picking up some clothes from Kim ' s Cleaners, senior Ricky Jones digs deeper into his checking account to pay necessary expenses. Chauffeured While utilizing their mar- keting skills in economics class, seniors Willie Baker and Carl Amoscalo explain their solution to the closed campus problem, an escort service providing under- classmen with transportation off campus. ONE FOR Edited by Brian Steeg I THE MONEY!