GMHS Lasso Online

Students in the Early Childhood Education Level One class at the Arlington Career Center (ACC) brought home artificial babies earlier this month for a homework assignment. The babies were very realistic-- needing to be fed, changed, burped, rocked, held, and always close to the student assigned to take care of them. Through a microchip, the artificial babies let the ACC teachers know how well they were being taken care of-- take good care of your baby and get a high grade. Neglect it and fail. The babies turned on at 4:00 p.m. on Friday the second, and turned off at 6:00 a.m. Monday the fourth.

“It was actually really fun; it’s a fun project, but you don’t get sleep. I only got seven hours of sleep this weekend,” said Fischer, who also complained of having a fussy baby.

Micah Wilson, a junior at Yorktown High School and an ACC classmate of Fischer said, “This baby was a fun learning experience, and teaches you a lot of responsibility, and makes you double think about becoming a parents, and if you do decide to have a child, you are better prepared and know what could happen with your child.”

George Mason High School already has a reputation for being a good school, and the people at AdvancED have confirmed that by accrediting us with top marks.

AdvancED is a program that comes into a school and rates it, and the ratings that a school receives determines whether or not they get accredited or not. Keep in mind that “Highly Functional” marks are rare.

The ratings are:

Highly Functional- The school is exceptional in its demonstration of the standard and exhibits practices not commonly found in other schools. A small percentage of schools have standards ratings at this level.

Operational- The school is demonstrating the standard and using practices commonly found in other schools. Many schools have standards ratings at this level.

Emerging- The school is beginning to put in place the practices necessary to meet the standard but is not meeting it. Many schools have standards ratings at this level.

Not Evident- The school has not put practices in place or is beginning efforts to meet the standard. Some schools have standards ratings at this level.

The ratings George Mason received are:

• Vision and Purpose- Operational
• Governance and Leadership- Operational
• Teaching and Learning- Operational
• Documenting and Using Results- Operational
• Resources and Support Systems- Operational
• Stakeholder Communications and Relationships- Highly Functional
• Commitment to Continuous Improvement- Operational

The high ratings have left the faculty in a positive mood.

“We’re happy, we’re proud. Congratulations to the staff and the whole community for earning this prestigious designation,” Principal Mr. Ty Byrd said.

“I was happy to see the results reflect the great school community I see every day,” said Ms. Pam Mahony, history teacher.

Everyone knows that technology can fail at times, as it did for Team 1418, George Mason’s robotics team, also know as Vae Victis, last Saturday at the off-season match at Battlefield High School in Haymarket, Virginia. The team lost communication with the robot for much of the match, and struggled to get communication for the rest. Luckily for 1418, the match was off-season, so the loss will not count against them.

“We had lots and lots of communication problems.  The team had an excellent experience seeing what other teams are like and what a real competition is going to feel like, and how much practice is needed to play the game well,” Team 1418 Coach John Ballou said.

Though the match was full of difficulties, all was not lost; the point of going was for newer team members to get competition experience.

“It was an interesting experience. I hope it was a learning experience for younger team members to get a chance to experience the competition and get game practice, and experience with the difficulties that will arise,” senior Andrew Emmons said.

Is one really royal when they were elected?  In the case of Homecoming Court, yes. George Mason Homecoming Court was announced at the Homecoming game on Friday. The results are as follows:

Homecoming King and Queen: Marek Wojtala and Eva Estrada.

12^th Grade: Ben Mothershead, Keiyon Tyler, Michele Demars, Natalie Farrell

11^th Grade: Rand Walter and Kiki Skotte 

10^th Grade: Grant Hagler and Molly McGhee 

9^th Grade: Gus Constance and Alicia Devereaux

8^th Grade: Raheem Lawal and Annie Washa

So, what is it like being Homecoming King and Queen?

“It’s a lot of fun, I thought I went a bit cocky with the cape, but it paid off in the end,” Homecoming King Marek Wojtala said.

“I had a lot of fun making up my bio, and I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me,” Homecoming Queen Eva Estrada said.

As competition between grades rises this Spirit Week, one might want to keep track of how many points one’s grade has.  But where to look? Look no further than the Spirit-O-Meter, located on the Cafeteria televisions. The Spirit-O-Meter is updated with each grade’s scores daily, and currently seniors are winning.

Current Scores:

Seniors- 2100 points

Juniors- 1700 points

Sophomores- 1400 points

Freshmen- 1400 points

Eighth Graders- 800 points

Homecoming! That means hall decorating, spirit week, the Homecoming football game, Homecoming Court, and the Homecoming dance. So, when and what is all of it?

Hall Decorating (Friday, October 14, after school) -

Seniors: Rock & Roll theme and are decorating the ramp leading into the math hallway

Juniors: Country theme and are decorating the ramp at the end of the Senior hallway.

Sophomores: Rap theme and are decorating the ramp by the auditorium.

Freshmen: Jazz/ Easy Listening theme and are decorating the A130 computer lab hallway.

Eighth Graders: Caribbean/Reggae theme and are decorating the foreign language hallway.

Spirit Days-

Friday 10/14- Caribbean/ Reggae day.

Monday 10/17- Jazz/ Elevator Music day.

Tuesday 10/18- Rap/ Hip- Hop day.

Wednesday 10/19- Country Music day.

Thursday 10/20- Rock Music day.

Friday 10/21- Mason Spirit day.

The Homecoming game will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and the Homecoming dance will be from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on Saturday.  Homecoming Court will be announced during the game. There will be a pep rally will be on Friday during school.

Does your ambition involve helping others? George Mason junior Ginger Fischer’s does. Ginger wants to work with special-needs kids, and has started preparing now. She has been working with such kids in the Falls Church City Schools system since 2008 during the summers, and helped out in the classroom here at GM last school year.

To top it off, she has also been working with the special needs Sunday school class at Burke Community Church since 2008, and has been babysitting a girl with Angelman Syndrome for over a year.

Ginger explains, “I realized when I met my stepsister that I had a talent for working with severely special needs kids, and that I really enjoy it. I love to be able to help people who can’t help themselves.”

As for working with Ginger, Special Education teacher Ms. Alison Johnson said, “Ginger is always willing to lend a helping hand and step up to the plate when other students probably wouldn’t. She has a huge heart to help others and I feel one day she will make a wonderful teacher.”

The girls varsity volleyball team came out on top during Thursday’s match, beating Manassas Park in all three games. Mason currently has a record nine wins to four losses, and Manassas Park has a record of two wins to ten losses.

When asked about the game and the team’s performance, Coach Healey said, ‘It’s always nice to win. We started a little slow, but came together and it was a good victory. What was amazing was that in the first game, Jade Taylor, a junior, served 19 of our 25 points, including 11 aces.”

Many of George Mason students have attended the Falls Church Fall Festival through the years. Going about from booth to booth looking for interesting items is almost always fun, but what is it like working in one of those booths? Lasso decided to find out.

Set-Up, Saturday Morning

For those people staffing booths at the Fall Festival, the day starts early--too early. I have to get there at 7:30 a.m. to help get the booth for The League of Women Voters set up, and it is freezing and overcast out. Thankfully, the parking lot by the Community Center is bustling with activity, from vendors rushing about setting up their wares to Special Event Staff helping cars through and giving people directions. The air had a slightly sleepy feeling mixed with excitement. Setting up did not take as long as I had expected--the tent was already up and really all that was left to be done was filling a bowl full of candy for people to take and laying out pamphlets for The League (the non-profit, non-partisan organization running the booth I was assisting. They help people get registered to vote and get more informed on local issues).

Staffing the Booth

Fortunately for the League of Women Voters volunteers, running the booth happens in shifts. My grandmother (the Vice President of the National League) and I get there on time for our 3:00-4:00 p.m. shift and get started. Unfortunately, running a booth is not as exciting as I thought it would be; all I seem to be doing is smiling at strangers and saying hello to the few acquaintances who pass by. Only one person comes to take a serious look. A few kids come by to see if they can have some candy from the bowl, which they can as long as they promise to vote when they turn eighteen! The temperature is also still pretty cold, so I am grateful when a couple other League members arrive to help take the booth down.

Take- Down

Among other changes this school year, George Mason High School is welcoming a new Spanish teacher, Mrs. Holly Garcia. Garcia has been teaching Spanish for six years, and is teaching levels one and two this year. Garcia is also co-sponsoring the international club with Mr. Chris Carrico. This year will be the first time sponsoring the International Club for both of them, as Carrico said, “It’s interesting because we’re both new to club sponsoring and we’re both learning together what the International Club is about.”

Mrs. Garcia went to Carson-Newman College, and later went one to study at the University of Tennessee . She has also studied in Spain and been to Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica .

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, which struck the Washington, D.C area on August 27 and 28, we can all feel grateful for relatively minimal damage.

The storm traveled up the East Coast, but thankfully our area only received tropical storm conditions, according to Fox News’ Extreme Weather Center. Fallen trees seemed to make up the worst of the area’s damage, along with hundreds of fallen branches and many more leaves.

When interviewed about damage her property received from the hurricane, junior Ginger Fischer replied, “A lot of branches fell down… and tons and tons of leaves.” Falls Church City also lost power briefly early Sunday morning, but power was not lost for an extended period of time like it was in other areas.

Fortunately for those seeking to travel in the D.C. area, mass transit was not shut down. Steps were taken to protect the Metro stations from wind damage and flooding, but the trains still operated.  Metro buses also ran, though routes had to be modified slightly because of roadblocks.

Unfortunately for those who were planning on leaving the area or entering it, things were not so easy. According to a spokesperson from Reagan National Airport, “A significant amount of flights were canceled” due to Irene.