Homecoming Week!

Homecoming at Sparta is amazing. Each year the week is made up of dress up days that go along with our theme. Some of our past themes have been music genres, Disney movies, continents, and musicals. The classes each pick a color to represent them and seniors always pick black. During the week we collect food for a food drive and money for penny a point. Points for each of these go towards each classes overall score. Game Day! Friday starts off with a formal assembly where each senior court nominee gives a speach. After voting for King and Queen the games begin. Each class competes in relay races that will earn them points towards the Red Apple! The catepiller has the most participation as it requires 60 students from each class, and it is the most entertaining if you ask me. There are many other games and competitions such as float building and mock rock! Points are also rewarded for cheering for other classes. After all the games in the gym we walk with the floats down to the football field in a parade and end the day with a pep assembly! Saturday night is the dance which is always a blast.

The senior class dominated almost every game this year, including the limbo, which we have won all four years at the high school! I enjoyed my experiences cheering for and watching my class, participating in some games and dressing up in the class color. I love going to the football game all decked out in Sparta wear and being part of our huge student section to support our team. The dance this year was a lot of fun as well. The protest to turn the lights off was the most intresting thing that has happend at a dance that I have seen! I had a great time with a bunch of friends.

Sadly this was the last year I get to participate in all the games on Friday because I am a senior this year. I am going to miss Homecoming a lot and all the people I spend it with. So any Freshman, make the most of homecoming because there is none like Sparta's out there.

Human Ecological "Stupidity": Ozone Depletion

The ozone is a layer of natural protective, colorless gases. The gasses react easily with other substances but is best known for the absorption of harmful rays of sunlight like UV-B. The very high ozone layer protects all life from the cancer-causing solar radiation. The reactions closer to the Earth's surface though, can be harmful to plants and to humans lung tissues. The more UV-B rays reaching the surface can cause many more problems. Along with hurting plants and humans directly, the radiation from harmful UV-B it can affect the climate all over the globe because of change in the wind patterns; malaria and other infections diseases could result from this as well. Food chains and webs will change if the radiation becomes too powerful. The solar radiation would damage many plants, causing their life cycle to be altered which in turn would change the whole food web.

Over both the earth's poles there are holes in the ozone layer. Twenty-five years ago there was a treaty between a few nations restricting the use of chemicals(Chlorofluorocarbons,called CFC's)  that destroy this protective layer of our atmosphere.The CFC's were most commonly found in spray aerosols used by industrial companys.The chemicals have not been released into the atmosphear since the treaty but the ozone hole above the Antarctic pole has grown larger in every picture that NASA has released (shown below). This is because the CFC's stay in the atmosphere continuing to destroy the protective layer.

On 24 September 2006 the largest hole in the ozone was recorded over the Antarctice Pole. The solution to this issue has been adressed, there have been measures taken to stop the use of CFC's, but it is estimated that another 50 years will have to pass before the chlorine levels to return to natural. Other products besides CFC's may not be enviromentally friendly; these products should also be limited to prevent further damage to the ozone.

Here is a short video clip of the ozone hole every October from 1979 until 2007, notice the largest hole in 2006.

Sources:
http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/ozone-depletion-overview/

This Semester..

This coming semester I am excited for many of the things we are going to be studing. The one topic I am most excited for is probably Heredity because it just sounds interesting to me. Even though all of the topics sound interesting I'm not looking forward to the Biochemistry or Cell units as much because I don't always enjoy dealing with cells.

Come out and support the Varsity Volleyball team this week at Ravenna at 5 pm. We play Ravenna and Freemont!(:

Me!

I am a varsity volleyball player and senior at Sparta. I'm very unsure about what career I want to pursue. AP Biology seemed like an interesting and challenging course and I am intrested in science. I'd like to learn more about biology and hopefully get college credit by doing well on the AP test.