ACADEMICS

December 2013 | Prowler

Testing
DATES

SAT TESTING: December

27, the SAT will be given to
those who have registered.
The next SAT testing date is
January 25. The registration
deadline is December
27 or January 10 for late
registration. Visit http://sat.
collegboard.org/home to
register.

ACT TESTING: The ACT

will be given to those who

have registered. The next
ACT testing date February
8. The registration deadline
is January 10 or January 1124 for late registration. Visit
http://www.actstudent.org/
to register and for more
information.

College
PREP

For information about

scholarships and college
in general visit:
-www.collegegreenlight.
com
-bigfuture.collegeboard.
org
-www.scholarshipexperts.
com
-www.cappex.com
-www.collegeonline.org
-www.collegedata.com
-www.scholarships.com
-www.collegeprowler.com

Race
for a
Grant

Bridges
to Success

CONFERENCE CREATES CONNECTIONS

by staff reporter
Yutika Diwadkar

Solar Car Clubs

Financial Needs
by staff reporter
Yutika Diwadkar

The sound of laughter

fills teacher John Petersons
room as the weekly solar car
club meeting begins. Despite
the fun filled atmosphere,
members, lead by junior
Kriti Swami, spend the time
discussing serious issues
ranging from new additions
to be made to the car to ways
to raise money.
Because of the
complicated engineering,
the solar car project requires
more money that a lot of
other clubs on campus need.
We want to rebuild our
solar car, which is roughly a
$25,000 project, Swami said.
Right now, we have close to
zero dollars in the bank.
Members of the Solar
Car Club hope to solve their
financial needs through
a $25,000 grant, given by
Lowes.

by Yutika Diwadkar
Freshman Nolan Aguirre, sophomore John Horlador, junior Levi Mogford and sophomore Nick
Hight test out the latest improvements to the car.

If we got the grant, I cant

even begin to tell you how
happy wed be, Swami said.
However, the group isnt
waiting for news on if they
won the grant, to get started
making money.
Were asking many local
places for donations, every
bit counts, Swami said. All
of the kids have great ideas
and I really want to see them
implement them when we
start to build the new car.
Along with financial
needs for a car rebuild,

students are also working to

attend their national event.
After not being able to go to
nationals last year, the club
is even more motivated to
build a new car and raise
funds.
I went to nationals
my freshman year, and it
was a great experience,
Swami said. The events
and atmosphere was so
intense, but there was a lot
of good energy. Everyone
was extremely helpful and
supportive.

Fact
FAST

The worlds
biggest solar
challenge is in
Australia. It has
been running
since 1987
and covers
1,877 miles
from Darwin to
Adelaide.

Barn Raising Party Slower Than Expected

by
staff reporter
Delilah Rivera
by Delilah Rivera

Academically
Minded...
FLIPPING FOR
CHEMISTRY
Sophomore Esmerelda
Galvez starts her B day
off by reviewing facts of
the periodic table and
the elements in the new
flipped on-level chemistry
classroom with Alan
Strickland. Its better this
way, Galvez said. Were
doing the flip classroom,
and its easier to do work.

In the early morning hours before

school, FFA students have had to
make their way to McNeil High
School, enter the metal agriculture
barn, walk to the covered pens and
feed their animals. And, at the end
of the day, after classes and extracurricular events are complete, the
students have made the same trip.
While plans for an ag barn were
included when Stony Point was
built in 1999, the structure was
never created.
Yet, last year, members of the FFA
team went to the school district and
asked for an Agriculture Science
Facility. In April, the facility was
approved, with funds coming from

previous bond interest.

We all really wanted it, and
we tried really hard, junior Valerie
Turner said. We went to the district
meetings and they had a lot of
questions for us. We were pretty
much determined, whether we had
to go to six meetings or three years
of it. When they finally said alright
to get the barn we all stood up and
clapped and cheered.
As students walked out of
the meeting, they were greeted
by adults that understood the
emotions behind the FFA members
drive to get a facility of their own
approved.
After the district meeting, one of
the board members of the district
came and started telling the story
of how she was an officer for FFA,
Turner said. She started crying, and
all the girls started crying. I was one
of the girls.

Calendar

ORGANIZATIONS MEETING

Monday

CLUB
LOCATION
TIME
IBSO
B109 8:15 a.m.
FCA
D120 8:30 a.m.
New Horizons
C117 4:30 p.m.
Ballet Folklorico
F123
5 p.m.

Tuesday

CLUB
LOCATION
Helping Hands
B132
STEM Club
A211
Junior Historians
B107
GSA
B104

TIME
8:30 a.m.
4:10 p.m.
4:10 p.m.
4:15 p.m.

Even though initial plans

projected that the barn would be
complete in October, because of
unplanned building issues, the time
has changed. On November 21, the
bond committee announced, in
a school board meeting, that the
barn, near the baseball field, is 52
percent complete. The facility is
predicted to be fully functional on
January 21, 2014.
As of now, FFAs farm animals are
kept in a white tent that provides
only some shelter. During recent
rainstorms the tent became
flooded. The added stress of caring
for the animals in the temporary
shelter has made the building time
line feel even slower for some FFA
members.
Most people are anxious about
it, Turner said. Parents are getting
annoyed. Theres been phone calls
to the district.

Senior Kyle Sandars plan

was to stay under the radar.
He would only ask questions
and not really let anyone
know who he was the only
high school student in a
group of adults attending
Ruby Payne conference.
However, that plan took
a turn when Sandars name
was drawn for a door prize
raffle at the start of the
conference and he was
forced to go on stage and
pick up his prize.
It was so nerve-racking
when they announced who
I was and what I was there
for, Sandars said. Everybody
came and started talking to
me, and I didnt even know
what to say. There were
heads of big corporations
there. Luckily, my mom has
had experience with these
conferences and she told
me what to do and say. After
that I really got the hang of
it. I realized that everyone
there was just extremely
supportive.
Sanders had a weekend
of unexpected fame when
he visited the Bridges Out
of Poverty Conference in
Oklahoma City on October
24 and 25. Originally doing
research for his Extended
Essay in Arkansas, Sandars
found about Ruby Paynes
Bridges Out of Poverty
conference, tied directly into
his EE.
My EE is analyzing
the Clinton charisma and
nothing more than the
application of Ruby Paynes
theory and other theories
of social cognition, Sandars
said. When I wrote Bridges
Out of Poverty and told
them who I was and how Im
basically indirectly proving
Dr. Paynes theories, they told
me that I could come to the
conference and that I didnt
even have to pay.
Sanders had some prior
knowledge of Ruby Paynes
work through his mother.
Mrs. Sandars had been to a
Ruby Payne conference only
a few years ago and claimed
that it was life changing for
her. That in turn, served as

courtesy of Kyle Sandars

inspiration for her sons EE.

I remember her coming
home talking about all of
these theories and how life
changing the conference was
for her, Sandars said. She
had never thought of poverty
the way Dr. Payne had made
it out to be; poverty being a
completely different state of
mind.
Ruby Paynes theories
go over the hidden rules
of different socioeconomic
classes. In order to help
those in poverty, they need
to be taught these hidden
rules, which is the goal of
the Bridges Out of Poverty
program.
It was definitely life
changing for me. It was
what sort of inspired my EE,
Sandars said.
In addition to all of the
support Sandars received
while at the conference, he
has also been offered a few
opportunities.
One opportunity is to
head a middle school or a
high school program where
I would teach kids how to
better succeed in school
and in life using Dr. Paynes
theories, Sandards said.
Dr. Payne is really excited
for me to potentially work
with her in the future,
Sandars said.
Another opportunity
that Sandars was offered
was to work with Dr. Payne
while studying at Texas
A&M. Minoring in statistics,
Sandars would go with Dr.
Payne and collect data and
try to statistically analyze
it so that there would be
empirical data supporting
her theories.
One of the main criticisms
of Dr. Paynes theories is that
theres no data to support
it, Sandars said. I hope to
be the ones to provide that
statistical data to ensure her
theories her sound.

FBLA: FBLA helps a lot with organization. It enhances my perspective in terms

of how business works in the real world.
-Senior Jason Ajwani

Wednesday

CLUB
LOCATION
Senior Class Officers
B201
Pay it Forward
C122
Comp. Sci. UIL
A211
Environmental Club
B164
Hip Hop Club
Cafeteria
ACE
D142
Spanish Club
P8B

TIME
8:30 a.m.
8:30 a.m.
4:10 p.m.
4:15 p.m.
4:15 p.m.
4:15 p.m.
4:15 p.m.

Thursday

CLUB
LOCATION
TAME
A211
Crossroads
Lecture Hall
Poetry
B126
Art Club
F112-F113
Ballet Folklorico
F123

TIME
4:10 p.m.
4:10 p.m.
4:15 p.m.
4:15 p.m.
4:45 p.m.

OTHER

FFA (2nd Tues.) D136, 4:30 p.m.

Student Council (1st and 3rd Tues)
B130, 8:15 a.m.
FBLA (every other Wed.) D106, 8:30 a.m.
HOSA (every other Fri.) Lec. Hall 8:30 a.m.
NHS (2nd Wed.) Lec. Hall, except Dec. on
13th, Jan. on 15th, March on 19th