A.C.S.A. Holds Open House

By: David

An open house was held on Thursday March the 29th from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The open house was for students and parents interested in attending Anvil City Science Academy to get the idea of what the school is like. That way, parents could decide whether or not they want to enroll their 5-7th grade children for next year.

At the event, all of the parents received an application for the next school year. During the open house students already attending A.C.S.A were set up at different stations to introduce what the school does. The stations included; Science, Junior Great Books, Newspaper stories, the e-mails, Keyboarding, Saxon Math, and the A.C.S.A web site. The students that helped out with the open house were Megan, Jessica, Elise, and David.

Twelve families attended, the evening was a big success. Since the open house there has been nearly thirty applications for the next school year turned in. There has been at least 25 students who have visited A.C.S.A for a day. Of the kids who have applied 8 of them have previously been home schooled or attended the 7th Day Adventist.

Volcanologist Visits A.C.S.A.

By: Benjamin

On March 19th, Tina Neal came from Anchorage and gave the students of A.C.S.A. a presentation on volcanoes. She presented a slide show, showed a movie, and brought the class some real volcanic ash.

Ms.Neal works as a volcanologist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. She started her job in 1981 and has been working with volcanoes ever since. She began working as a vocanologist in Hawaii. When Tina was young, she wanted to become an astronaut. When she learned that there were volcanoes on many different planets, she wanted to learn more about them. She wanted to visit volcanoes on different planets. The first volcano she ever saw was Mt. St.Helens.

In her presentation, she showed us pictures of volcanoes erupting and pictures of people studying lava. She told us why volcanoes erupt. She showed us a movie on disasters of volcanoes and what harm they can do. She said that ash could be blown in the wind and end up hundreds of miles from the volcano.

There are three basic types of volcanoes shield volcanoes, strato volcanoes and caldera volcanoes. Shield volcanoes that have gentle sloping sides like the volcanoes of Hawaii. Strato volcanoes are volcanoes that are mainly made of cinder and rocks that have been blow into the air, like Mt.Cleveland in Alaska. They are like a rock pile. Calderas are volcanoes with large explosion/collapse craters that produce a lot of ash flows like the volcano at Aniakchak, Alaska. Tina studies all three types of volcanoes.

Ms. Neal taught us many interesting things about volcanoes. She has had many experiences with volcanoes and lava. She likes her job and enjoyed her stay in Nome.

Dracula Has Risen!

By: Megan H.

On the nights of April 13th and 14th, in the R.C. of Nome Beltz High, Dracula came to life!

The play Dracula was put on by the Nome Beltz Drama Club. Fifteen people were involved with the play. Nine students acted in the play, there were four stagehands, one soundman, and one director. The nine actors and actresses include Matthew Medlin as Count Dracula, Loki Tobin as Mina Murray, Travis Carlisle as Jonathan Harker, Jessica Peterson as Dr. Arlene Seward, Eric Dittmar as Sybil Seward, Andrew James as Renfield, Irvin Barnes as Hennessey, and Sonja Head as Leslie. The play was directed by Mrs. Samantha Dunaway and written by Ted Tiller.

In the play, the basic story is Count Dracula is trying to kill Mina Murray be sucking her blood through two tiny holes in her neck that were made by his teeth. Count Dracula tries to kill her to make her his bride. When Jonathan Harker, Mina’s fiancé, here’s about this he tries in every way to stop Dracula from taking his bride-to-be to the after life. A series of events happened before, Dracula is killed by having a stake driven through his heart by Dr. Seward.

Everyone in the play worked hard to get it flawless. At first they rehearsed two times a week. Then in the last two weeks before the performance they rehearsed everyday, and the work paid off. The play turned out to be a great success. On both nights that the students were performing, the auditorium was full.

The play was split into three parts with one intermission. Snacks were being sold during the intermission.

Mrs. Dunaway, the director of the play said, “Dracula was one of the most fun plays that she’s ever worked with and directed.” To get the costumes for the play Mrs. Dunaway had to rent them from a costume shop called Schenz Costumes. The props were loaned from the people in the community.

Sylvia Lovelace was one of the stagehands working on the play. She said, “the work was a little tough at times, but it was fun at times.” The reason that she decided to work with the play was because she’s very interested in drama.

Dracula is the last play of the year. The next one will be next year.

Roll of Honor, Please...

By: Akim

During the 3rd Quarter of the 2000-2001 school year, only four students managed to get on to the “A” or “B” Honor Rolls. This is a tribute to them.

The only person to get on the “A” Honor Roll was fifth grader Elise.

Those making the “B” Honor Roll were sixth graders Melozi and Akim , as well as fifth grader Benjamin .

When asked how he felt about getting on the honor roll Ben answered, “I’m just glad I got a good grade, except for that, I don’t really care.” When asked what her secret to getting on the "A" Honor Roll, Elise said, “Redo work, that (the original score) doesn’t have your best score.” When asked why she didn’t get on the "A" Honor Roll Melozi said, “Because, I don’t work as hard as everyone else.” When I asked myself how I could get better I answered, “I have to turn my stuff I on or before the due date.”

The best part about getting into the Honor Roll is having your name broadcast all over Nome on the Scanner Channel! Getting your name on the Scanner Channel is great! Everyone gets to see that you are an excellent student! I felt so proud, I could burst when I saw my name in the "B" Honor Roll section of that slide.

Delta-Greely Makes Waves

By: Elise & Jenelle

On April 6th, 2001, the Delta Greely Wave Makers (DGWM) came to Nome to compete in a swim meet with the Nome Norhtstars (NNST). The meet was held in the Nome Beltz Swimming Pool at 9:30 a.m. on the 7th.

The meet lasted for approximately three and one half-hours. During that time, the 75 swimmers attending the meet swam 64 events. There were about 25 swimmers from Delta, and about 50 swimmers from Nome. The relays that took place after the individual events were replaced by “fun relays” put together by the Delta Greely coach, Eric Anderson, with the help of Sharon Keeney-Olson.

The Nome swimmers did very well. Both Elise and Jessica placed first in every event. Hailey , also from Nome, placed third in both the 50-meter freestyle and the 50-meter breaststroke. She also places 4th in the 100 Individual Medley (IM), and 5th in the 50-meter butterfly and 50-meter backstroke.

The Delta Greely swimmers housed with the swimmers from Nome. Melissa Sorenson, from Delta stayed with Katie, who is on the Nome Northstars. Melissa says that her favorite part of the meet was the fun relays and getting to see all her friends from Nome, she thought that the meet was “really fun”.

On Monday, April 9, 2001 some of the Delta Greely and Nome Northstar Swimmers rode on a float in the Centennial Parade. The float was built by Fred Lammer with the help of a few Swimmers. It had 14 people riding on it. The float was made to look like a swimming pool with swimmers racing in it. The “pool” was pulled by Fred and Mari Lammer's truck.

Both teams did fantastic in the swim meet. Lots of swimmers got faster times than before, and many goals were reached while they swam their events.

Students Keep Current

By: Eddie

At A.C.S.A., the students started studying current events. They started the Current Events class at the beginning of the 3rd quarter. They use the ABC News4Kids web site for their Current Events class. The reason why they started studying current events is to keep up with the latest news.

The students have been doing studying current events once a week and will continue for the rest of the year. At http://abcnews.go.com/abcnews4kids/kids/index.html, they add a new event each week. Mr. Hindman thinks that studying current events helps the students learn about things that are going on around the world. He also thinks that Current Events gives the students a better education for the same reason. Since starting Current Events, we have learned about floods, school violence, President Bush, and the International Space Station, as well as many other things.

When asked what their favorite stories were, three said, “Human Cloning,” one said, “Spy Plane Down,” one said “Living In Space,” one said, “What’s Up With Harry?,” and another said, “Crash at Sea.” Three students were undecided.

When asked if they liked studying current events, half of the class said they liked it. I myself, like Current Events because I like everything in school and Current Events is part of school.

 Tae Kwon Do Goes to State

By: Megan H.

On February 17, five students traveled to Anchorage for the year 2001 Tae Kwon Do tournament. Three of the five students attend the Anvil City Science Academy, the other two attend Nome Beltz Jr./Sr. High.

Chase, Ramon, and Megan H., are all low green belts. Brad is a high blue belt and Alsaluk in a first Dan black belt. All five students are under the training of first Dan black belt, Mr. Irelan.

The five students trained hard for several months in preparation for the competition, and their hard work paid off. Megan, Brad, and Chase each returned with two gold medals, Ramon and Irelan each returned with one bronze and a silver.

The students were competing anywhere from 30 seconds to 4 minutes, but they were waiting most of the time that they were there. The students and Mr. Irelan were at Fort Richardson from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM.

The students and Mr. Irelan had to share the car, food, and motel expenses. Each student had to pay for his/her own food, arrange their own air flights, and be in charge of their own belongings. Everyone also brought plenty of shopping money! They all went to a movie Saturday night after the tournament, and then went shopping all day Sunday.

“I have a very high degree of satisfaction.” say’s Mr. Irelan when asked how he feels having trained state gold medallists. When asked if he was proud of his students, he simply replied, “Yes.” Mr. Irelan was also asked, did you ever have trouble keeping up with your students? When asked if he would do it again, his reply was, “Over and over and over again, to Nationals too, and have every one medal there also.”

 Class Gets "Pooh" Pass

By: Chase

The Anvil City Science Academy students have had some trouble going to the bathroom all through the year. So, Mr. Hindman decided to get a pass. Actually, a “Pooh” Bear pass. He had gotten this pass just recently.

He got the “Pooh” Bear pass idea form an in-service day, when the junior high teachers were discussing how to limit kids in the hallways. One of the teachers said that teachers used to have a wooden bear hall-pass. So, he thought of the cool and kid-loving “Pooh” Bear. He then asked his mother if she could find him a “Pooh” Bear and send it to him.

After he got the “Pooh” Bear, he found out that it didn’t have a string attached to it. He worried that kids would accidentally drop the “Pooh” Bear in the toilet or on the floor. He then remembered about a lanyard he got when he went down to the National Science Teacher Association Convention in St. Louis, Missouri. He then attached the “Pooh” Bear to the lanyard so that students could wear it around their necks.

Youths Show Their Power

By: Abby & Megan C.

The Power of Youth Conference began on Friday April 20th, 2001. Over 35 students attended the conference and stayed overnight in the dorms until Sunday. The power of youth conference was mostly about leadership. Each participant was required to attend at least 4 workshop. The workshops composed of games and discussions.

Every morning we woke up at 7:00 am and lights out was at 11:30 pm. Between those hours we had a very busy day. There were three workshops on Saturday, including two or three family group meetings.

Every person that was in the conference had a “warm fuzzy’ bag. A warm fuzzy is like a compliment. The opposite of a warm fuzzy is a cold prickly, cold pricklies are unwanted. No one was required to make a warm fuzzy for each person, but everyone did that on their own.

On the last night of the conference, there was swimming, a dance, and a movie. On the morning of the last day, Löki Tobin, the director, gave a speech about the accomplishments of the conference. Then she gave a slide presentation of the pictures that the employees took at the conference.

Everyone who went to the conference believes it was a success and had a great time. The Power of Youth Conference ended on Sunday the 22nd of April. Hopefully, somebody will plan the conference again next year.