Senator Square: Winter sports right around the corner

Carson High winter sports sign-ups will be 5:30-7 p.m. Oct. 29 in the school’s north foyer. Winter sports include skiing, basketball and wrestling. Returning athletes from the fall season will sign up with the coach, and new athletes must bring in their completed sports packet. Physicals are not available at this sign-up. All fines and fees must be cleared and a student body card sticker must be purchased in order to participate in the try-out. Sports packets can be printed out at www.carsonhigh.com, under the “Athletics” tab, or call 775-283-1900 for more information. The final day to sign up will be Nov. 7. Tryouts will be Nov. 10.VETS DAY CEREMONYThe Naval Junior ROTC Unit will host its annual Veterans Day Ceremony at 9:40 a.m. Nov. 7 in Senator Square. The unit will recognize veterans from different wars and extend a special invitation to them, along with Blue and Gold Star Mothers. Veterans and Blue and Gold Star mothers are invited for refreshments after the ceremony, compliments of the culinary classes. Contact the NJROTC Unit at 775-283-1780 for information.NEW CLASS AT CHSGlobal Issues is a new class offered this year by Ms. Fagundes. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to a broad range of contemporary global issues. Discussion and analysis will focus on topics such as international conflict and security, the global economy and human rights, to name a few. Students are familiarizing themselves with different views on key issues, including perspectives and policies of national governments, as well as international governmental and non-governmental organizations. The class is currently studying historical issues related to the complexity of conflict in the Middle East. This course is a semester elective and is open to junior and seniors.SENIOR SPOTLIGHTThis week’s senior spotlight is on Alex Sanchez. Alex has a weighted grade-point average of 4.4 and is enrolled in four advanced-placement classes and the principles of engineering class.Alex is a member of National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America and competed on the CHS swim team as a freshman. This past summer Alex was chosen to participate in the MIT Google Computer Science Program, where he had the opportunity to work at Google’s office in Cambridge, Mass. He also represented Carson High School at Boy’s State where he participated in leadership and civic activities. In addition to excelling academically, Alex is very active in the community. He volunteers as a math tutor at WNC, helping individuals who are trying to pass the math section of the GED. He also volunteers weekly at Computer Corps.Alex will be applying to several selective colleges and plans to pursue a degree in computer technology. We are proud of Alex’s achievements and look forward to his future accomplishments.MEET CHS STAFFMaryAnne Weaver is a math teacher at CHS and has been teaching for 13 years. She also started teaching a new class this year called American Sign Language.Beyond the classroom, MaryAnne is busy on multiple school committees. She is a member of Senator Pride, the Accreditation Steering Committee and the district’s Distance Education Steering Committee. She was awarded Teacher of the Month in March 2012.She is very proud of her mom, for she raised her and her seven siblings. She said she did an amazing job as a single mom. Another interesting tidbit about MaryAnne is that her and her husband once drove to New York from Carson to see RunRig, a Scottish Rock Band. MaryAnne is trying to win a Facebook contest with Dolan Automotive Group. She has entered her “Speaking Hands” project in hopes of getting the prize of $2,500, which would be used to buy additional set of class books for her sign language class. She only has one set of 25 books for more than 100 students. If you want to help MaryAnne win this contest, please visit www.facebook.com/DolanAutomotiveGroup.You must “like” the page and then click on the “vote here.” Scroll down until you find her name — Mrs. Weaver — from Carson High School. Check the box and click on "Vote.” This can be done once every 24 hours.Thanks, MaryAnne, for all you do for CHS!• Angila Golik is a government and sociology teacher at Carson High and a member of Senator Pride.