What a week we had at Carson High School. After all the fun events of homecoming, I was forced to jump off cloud nine and come back down to reality. If you missed the homecoming football game on Friday night, then you missed what I qualify as probably one of the most exciting high school football games I’ve ever witnessed.To recap, Carson scored with one second left on the clock to win the game over Reed High School. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that!Also, congratulations to Krista Stocke and Richard Long for being crowned CHS 2012 Homecoming Queen and King.MASH NEEDSASSISTANCEMandatory Academic Study Hall is an after-school program that helps freshmen who are failing any classes. MASH is run through special grant dollars. The program is looking for a little support in providing snack to the youngsters.The grant requires that the program provides a daily snack, however there has been a reduction in funding that has made it difficult to do so and our supplies are starting to run thin. This year has been a great year for produce and fruit. If you have any extras we will gladly take them, or if you like to bake or enjoy preparing snacks. Or if you can provide any other non-perishable type snacks, we would gladly accept those as well.We feed about 40-60 students per day Monday-Thursday. For more information or to donate, please contact Ann Britt at 775-283-1769.NATIONAL HONORSOCIETY EVENTSNational Honor Society Chapter of Carson High is holding its induction ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the big gym. Our keynote speaker this year is District Attorney Neil Rombardo.All NHS members must attend. Dress code is professional. Parents and family are invited. We will have refreshments following the ceremony. National Honor Society is hosting a blood drive 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 9 in the small gym. Community members please sign up and support such a worthy cause.A free T-shirt and refreshments will be provided for all donors. A free cholesterol test is available with every donation. Sign-ups are available on line at bloodhero.com. Code word is Senators.BOWLING CLUBThe bowling club is starting up with pre-season practice. If you are interested practices will be held at Gold Dust West from 2:30-4 p.m. every Monday and Tuesday. For more information see Erin Been in room 260.DISTRICT CONTESTThe Carson City School District’s Board of Trustees is sponsoring the 11th annual American Citizen Essay ContestThe topic for this year’s essay is: “What do the following words from the National Anthem mean to you: ‘...That our flag was still there.’?”Any public, charter, private or home-schooled student in Carson City may participate in this contest.The essay should be no longer than five pages and may be as short as the student desires. The essay may be handwritten or typed.The first page of the essay must identify the name of the student, age, school, telephone number and address.Completed essays are due to the Carson City School District office, 1402 W. King St., no later than 5 p.m. Nov. 2.The winners for each level — elementary school, middle school and high school — will receive the following cash prizes: first place, $80; second place, $30; and third place, $15.Essays will be judged within each grade level for adherence to topic, quality of writing and originality of thought.Winners will be announced at the Nov. 27 school board meeting.NEW CLASS AT CHSNative Cultures & the American Frontier is a new history elective being offered at CHS. This class focuses on unique regional Native American cultures prior to contact with Europeans, and progresses into the development of relationships between these Native cultures and American settlers as our nation’s frontier pushed West.At the core of the curriculum will be an analysis of how Native cultures were impacted by: treaties with the U.S. government, conflicts with the U.S. Army and what the concept of a frontier means to Americans.This is a semester elective, and Mr. Nielsen will be teaching it next semester as well. The class is open to students in grades 10 through 12.SENIOR SPOTLIGHTIt’s easy to see what is important to Carson High School’s standout senior Clarissa Munoz — family. It was a two-week trip in Mexico that brought that home. She said her time there taught her how important family is to her culture and to herself personally.It positively impacted her relationship with her younger brother, and she now prioritizes much of her valuable time after school helping to take care of him, and still manages to maintain a 4.51 grade-point average.She is inspired to be a compounding pharmacist, and credits her Carson High School chemistry teacher for making the job sound fun. Clarissa is planning on attending UNR for her undergraduate degree in biochemistry or molecular chemistry and then graduate school at the University of California, San Francisco or Oregon State University for a pharmaceutical degree.Clarissa describes herself as a quiet type around most people, but becomes outgoing once she gets to know you. She wishes there were more hours in the day so she also could be more involved in community activities, but she thoroughly enjoys her life with family and her high school career at the center.Clarissa is definitely a model of success!MEET CHS STAFFLorna McCarty is new to Carson High School this year. She teaches sophomore and junior English. Although she is new to CHS, she has been teaching for 14 years.She received her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Western Washington University and her master’s degree from UNR in education literacy. She originally came to Northern Nevada and worked as the health reporter for both the NBC and CBS television affiliates in Reno.Outside of the classroom, McCarty keeps busy helping entrepreneurs. She is a professionally licensed life coach, and she loves helping entrepreneurs create videos that they can use to attract their clients through the Internet. We are happy to have her on board at CHS.• Angila Golik is a government and sociology teacher at CHS and a member of Senator Pride.