When you are in high school, you have tough decisions to make in order to make your life the way you want to live. There are so many temptations in life that you could do that you could get in trouble for doing.  You have things like parties, drinking, smoking cigars, stealing, and of course sex before marriage. A student should be able to make the right choices in order to have a good life to live. For many, they have dreams of graduating high school, getting a degree in college, starting a family, and having their dream job.  If they want to accomplish their dreams they would have to make the right choices and not get distracted by the world’s temptations.

Coach Craig Reid once said to me “You got to dream big, Q.” I have this dream to have a good life that I can live, and to just enjoy it. I don’t dream of anything fancy. I’m just free to be me. Sure there are teachers who believe that we can succeed in what we do if we tried, and they help us get to that point.

Sure there are some slackers who think that it is a waste to try to live life to the best of their ability, and therefore take shortcuts and do things that give them a bad reputation.  Well, I’m sorry to say that with life, there are no shortcuts. We can’t cheat life. We just have to take day by day and just enjoy it. It’s not worth the years you have on this earth to be wasting by doing the wrong things, wasting a life that could be good.  They get into trouble and get expelled and have to go to another school and the process all over again.

“I would say that are many reasons why students decide to skip a class, as there are students in this school. I would say that the top three reasons why students decide to skip class are: they don’t like the class (they feel it is not fun or relevant to them), they simply don’t want to learn or to be in school, or something “better” came up when it was time to go to class-even if they see ‘better’ may or may not be better for them.” said Mr. Coe, a counselor at Mountain View.

High school is pretty much where the decisions have to be made. There is a fork in the road where you need to start making decisions.  In high school, you have to start off on the right track.  Some of you may have college dreams, and have dreams to chase. I have big dreams, and I want to make something of myself. I want to get an education, start a family, and have a career in something I love to do.

To get a high GPA, or good grades, or maybe even getting a clean record, you have to start making the right choices, and doing well in class. Otherwise, you will be on the long road to recovery. It’s not all about the popularity. You just have to be you.

“There may be some areas in life where you can ‘cut the corner’, so to speak, but every time you do, there is a risk and a consequence.” Said Coe.

The thing that frustrates me is that students feel like they should act like 5-year olds and can’t keep they’re mouth and don’t pay attention to the teacher when she/he is talking.  The “5 year-olds” also think that they think they can get by with life by skipping class, and doing bad things. Well, apparently they are wrong to do that because, well, it is stupid to listen to their smart-alecky talking all day.

So to sum up, there so many decisions you have as a student. You need to make the right ones. If you don’t then the consequences will follow you in life. Just enjoy life, and make the right decisions.

What makes a good teacher?

What makes a good teacher? Well, there are some teachers that I like that make class time a lot of fun, and makes students look forward to.  Yes, there are some teachers who don’t make it fun, and give us a ton of homework. I’m not naming people, or pointing the finger, I’m just comparing between a good or bad teacher.

The qualities of a teacher depend on how they teach that particular class. They would need to keep the class fun, and energetic. If there are students just being rude, and mouthing off in class, then the teacher should show that there shouldn’t be any messing around in the classroom, and that the teacher won’t tolerate bad behavior. They need to have compassion for students, discipline, confidence, dedication, support for the students, and willingness to help.

A few years back I had Mr. Wilberger, he was my history teacher. He was probably one of the best teachers I have had. He would have us take notes, and talk about a certain subject, and before the test, he would have us play a jeopardy game to help us study.

Then there is Mr. Amman, the literature teacher. He may be new at teaching, but he has a unique style of teaching. He tries to keep at a fun level of teaching to the students. He keeps it straightforward, but tries to add a little fun at the same time.

“A good teacher is a teacher who cares about the all around welfare of each individual student that steps into class.” Said Amman

Then there are some qualities of a teacher that is not all that good. A bad teacher can be a negative person. They aren’t friendly, and can be very strict. They don’t speak loud enough, and can make the class boring. Some don’t have the right experience, and the discipline to run a class right.  Sometimes if it was worth the time to take the class.

There have been many good teachers that I have had in my life in school. I’m sure there are teachers who have excellent qualities in this school. They help us with the problems that we are facing in school. Whether it’s homework, studying, projects, or just advice.  Good teachers can be good role models, and can be creative for the class that they teach.  It is how they are defined as a person.

The movie The Fourth Kind started something in everyone’s mind and it’s spreading like wildfire. Leaving everyone questioning whether or not aliens are real.

The Fourth Kind is a “some what” true based alien abduction film. The story,  set in Nome, Alaska is loosely based on the mysterious and unsolved disappearances of 24 people in the town between the 1960’s and 2004. The FBI was brought in to investigate in 2006 and concluded that most of the victims were native villagers and that “excessive alcohol consumption and the harsh winter climate” were to blame, and that was the end of it. Even though nine bodies were never found. Before the FBI investigation it was believed that this was the work of a local serial killer.

This movie is based on the theory that the missing-person cases were actually alien abductions. The Fourth Kind hit theaters November 6^th 2009 with actual “archival footage” of the “ most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.” The “footage” is that of hypnotherapy sessions between a “Dr. Abigail Tyler” played by Milla Jovovich, and patients who claim they were abducted by aliens who, in the movie, speak the long lost Sumerian language. Sumerians are the oldest known civilians in the world. They lived in what is now the land south of Iraq in 5000 to 6000 b.c. this language is not related to any other language used on earth today. The Sumerians were highly intelligent and are believed to have developed the first written language, tools, the wheel, sailboats and a system of mathematics.

There was not much information on Dr. Abigail Tyler. But this does not rule out that Dr. Tyler could have been based on a real Dr. and according to many websites, Dr. Tyler in the “actual footage” is played by British actress Charlotte Milchard, and when compared these two do look quite similar.

The film does rely very heavily on its tagline, “what do you believe?” letting viewers decide for themselves what is real and what is Hollywood.  In the beginning of the movie Jovovich informs the audience right up front that she “plays the role of Dr. Abigail Tyler” and that the images they are about to see are extremely disturbing. Giving the movie more authenticity.  As for the title of the movie, it is derived from a “scale of measurement” that was developed in 1972 to categorize alien encounters. Best known through its use in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Close encounters of the third kind.’ On the scale the first kind of encounter is defined as a UFO sighting, the second is collected evidence of extraterrestrials, the third kind is contact and the fourth is abduction. There is no honest proof that this is actually a scale of measurement used in more than just science fiction movies.

According to CNN.com, mayor of Nome, Denise Michaels said that all the stories of the cause of the missing people being alien abductions is just Hollywood.

“People need to realize that this is a science fiction thriller.” She said that town residents have been getting a lot of phone calls lately, and frankly, they’re a bit tired of talking about it. “Some of the calls I am just ignoring,” said Michaels, “because the issue we had to deal with in real life was very sensitive.”

Aliens have been talked about for years; the amount of sightings reported throughout history is too large of a number to be calculated.  Over 500 UFO sightings are reported per year and those are just the ones that are reported, there are probably thousands a year that are not reported simply because people don’t believe or don’t want to seem crazy. People who have had experience with UFO sightings say they are something they will never forget and people who haven’t seen one sometimes wish they might one day or they simply don’t believe. So whether you believe in UFO’s or not, keep your eyes open for anything odd in the sky because you never know when you might see something spectacular.

So now you are left with one question, what do you believe?

What is your outlook on school food?  Some students here at Mountain View prefer home lunches, and others like cafeteria food. Many students  believe that school lunches are artificial and don’t like the ingrediants. According to cafeteria staff, about one third of the school eats school lunch.

Students who don’t like the food have lots of ideas about what could be changed. “I don’t like cafeteria food very much. But I do like the chicken and fries.  I would rather go somewhere for lunch though. It would be cool if they had a McDonald’s in Mountain View.” Says sophomore Megan Teeter. Some students have favorite school lunches “I’m very picky when it comes to my food. But the tacos here are delicious.” Says junior Orion Honaker.

Cafeteria workers do more than you think though. It’s not their fault that the lunches are artificial to some students, they have no choice, or money to spend on actual good and healthy food. In a recent NPR radio story on school lunch programs, cafeteria workers lament that they have to buy their own equipment, and pay for fuel for the trucks that come with the supplies. Cafeteria workers have a very small budget that includes a lot of items beyond food.

“There is really nothing we can do to improve school lunches, we don’t have the money to get any higher quality foods.” Says Cheryl Rogers cafeteria worker here at MVHS.

Viewpoints asked Cheryl Rogers on average how many students eat school lunches.

“A lot. It’s hard to say exactly how many. Probably a couple hundred at least.” (As she laughs.)

Cheryl Rogers explained how school lunches here are prepared. “We receive them in bulk and mostly frozen. Some are just packaged. Everything is heated by normal heat, like a stove of microwave. We hand serve all of it. We put the sandwiches together. Really the only thing we don’t put together is our salads. The food is prepared decently. It just isn’t the highest quality.”

The modern school cafeteria is not what the cafeterias of old used to be. There is very little if any cooking done. Food comes in and is heated, then served. This may not sound like much. But cafeteria workers here do work very hard for us and many wish they could do more with their limited resources. Students do not appreciate the limitations that the cafeteria is under in trying to serve them meals on a budget with little equipment and a minuscule budget. Whether you brown bag it or buy lunch here, beware that the staff of our cafeteria is working hard for you.

By: Kassi Walker