Annual Fall Blood Drive Features Noticable Changes for Donors

* This article has been modified to correct an error made in the original version.

WJ’s annual fall blood drive, sponsored by the Inova Blood Donor Services group is scheduled to be held today, Nov. 12 in the small gym, and now allows students who are 16 years or older to give blood as opposed to last year when only those 17 years or older could donate.

Because the school chose a smaller package deal, Inova will send less staff this year.  This reduces the number of potential donors and the units of blood to be donated.

“[Inova gave] us a package deal and we can only squeeze in however many people they allow us,” said SGA President Duane Wilson.

After students have briefly recuperated in the small gym, they will walk to the auditorium to be provided with refreshments and entertainment. In response to incidents of students fainting after blood donation last year, students will be accompanied on their way from the small gym to auditorium.

“Our initial idea was to play a movie, but since we don’t want people to stay for the entire time, we decided to play episodes of something like ‘The Office.’ That way people can leave after 30 minutes,” said Wilson.

-Luke Wilson

Lice Outbreak Troubles Students

For several weeks an infestation of lice has plagued the heads of students. School nurse Ki-Nam Kim has dealt with four recent reports of lice and assumes there are more cases throughout the school.

One victim, Wanda June*, had lice toward the end of September.

“I was disgusted and surprised because I thought only little kids got them,” said June. “To make matters worse I had to stay home from school for two days to get rid of them, and now I’m behind in everything.”

Nobody knows what started the lice infestation, but Kim has a hunch. “It is more common among younger children, so they may have given it to their older siblings,” said Kim.

Lice presents a problem for the whole school as it is easily contracted and spreads quickly. According to Kim, sharing brushes, combs and hats expedites the spread of lice.

Kim reports that, though lice is annoying, it is rarely dangerous. Despite this, it is of the utmost importance to treat lice as soon as possible.

“There are various over-the-counter shampoos that usually take care of most cases,” said Kim.   

*Not her real name

-Rylee Genner

Staff Appearance on “Jeopardy!”

Matt Jacobs, student teacher in the science department, was a contestent on the game show “Jeopardy!” The show,  taped on Oct. 15, is scheduled to broadcast on Dec. 10.

Jacobs’ road to “Jeopardy!” began last January, when he took an online test and performed well enough to earn an audition, which consisted of a 50- question written test and a practice game in which Jacobs did well enough to get a spot on the show. He received a call on Sept. 12 and was invited to the show.

I was excited to be on ‘Jeopardy!’,” said Jacobs. “[I had been] trying to be on the show for three years and was excited to make it.”

YouTube Used as Education Tool

Though YouTube is something that many students use,  recently the online site has become an educational tool for teachers to use in the classroom.

From social studies teachers showing campaign commercials to foreign language teachers playing music native to the culture they are teaching about, teachers from many subjects are finding it useful to be able to show videos from online sites, particularly YouTube.

“[YouTube] is useful especially with the Promethean boards,” said social studies teacher Sarah Bourgeois. “The thing I like about it is that it’s small digestible clips.”

Social studies teacher Debra Delavan also used YouTube to show presidential campaign commercials to her government classes.

Some teachers even base assignments off of YouTube clips. Acting foreign language resource teacher Esther Onto based an essay off of a clip found on YouTube for her Spanish classes.

Bourgeois uses it to show human behavior in her psychology classes and current news in her government classes.

-Maia Dicey