Student Of The Month Story

Who - Maddi Lynch, 9
What - Student of the Month
When - March 2016
Where - Bowie High School
Why - Maddi is very involved in extracurriculars and has very high grades
How - Student Council votes every month and they decided to award Maddi with this title. 

The Student Council at Bowie High School has voted, and Freshman Maddi Lynch has been chosen as the Student of the Month for March of 2016. Lynch is involved in a large variety of extracurriculars, and still manages her time in order to have high A's in every class.

Lynch is able to be a part of multiple organizations and continue to have one of the best grades in the 2019 class with her studying ritual. 

"I study pretty much nonstop, when I get up I study. When I get home I study. I study when I get ready. I have notes written on my hands that I study all the time. Turn off your phone and throw it away, put it in the garbage [when you study]. Then open your book and just read through everything six times. That's how you get knowledge," Lynch said. 

Principal Stephen Kane nominated Lynch for this title at the end of February. 

"I noticed that Maddi was always at the top of all of her classes, and it seemed like she was at Bowie for the majority of the day. I would see her practicing for her activities and she was a leader in those organizations as well," Kane said.

Lynch's mother, Colleen Lynch, noticed Lynch's interest in school skyrocket over the past few months.

"Maddi would come home and immediately go to her room to study. She'd only come down to eat dinner. I'm so proud of Maddi, I know how much she's been working towards this title, and it makes me so happy to see her accomplish this," Lynch said.

Freshman Reagan Wallace was proud of her friend's accomplishment. 

"Maddi really deserved this by now because of all the hard work she has supplied for her teachers. I had never heard of the award before so I was very surprised but I was thrilled that she was rewarded for her hard work," Wallace said. 

Lynch hopes to be Student of the Month for multiple months, but also hopes to encourage her peers to win the award as well. 

"You really need to take your school career seriously or else you'll fail in life. Just give up on your social life and give to 100% to school work," Lynch said. 

School Uniforms

Sources :

- Principal

- Superintendent

- School board members

1. When will the school uniform policy be in effect?

2. Why was the policy created?

3. What do you predict the students' reactions to be?

4. How will you handle complaints?

5. How will school uniforms be a benefit?

6. What will the uniforms consist of?

7. Explain the process to get the policy approved.

8. What are the cons of this policy?

9. What was the most difficult part of getting the policy approved?

10. Why was it difficult? ^

11. How long do you predict the policy to be in effect?

12. Why did the school board decide that uniforms were a necessity?

13. What do you think about the policy?

14. Do you think the policy will help or hurt schools? Why?

15. How do the schools benefit from uniforms?

16. Will the uniforms be the same for every school?

17. Will students be able to modify the uniforms in any way?

18. Does the policy include shoes and jewelry? 

19. Do you think the uniform will be more difficult for boys or girls to follow?

20. How will you discipline the students that don't follow the policy?

Inverted Pyramid

My First Interview

Interview Questions
Maddi Lynch Quotations

1. What qualifies you to be the Student of the Month?
I'm very serious about academic work and very involved in extracurriculars.

2. What qualities do you have that helped you gain this title?
I have really good grades. I'm really friendly and nice and I just love school. The best part of my life is school.

3. How does being awarded this effect how you carry yourself?
It definitely gave me a very high self confidence boost because now I know I'm being acknowledged for my hard work.

4. Describe how you felt when you found out you won?
I was so scared because oh my God this is a big deal for me.

5. How do you feel knowing you're the Student of the Month?
I feel great, so much effort put into this.

6. What did you do to be awarded Student of the Month?
I just focused really hard on my school work.

7. How did other people react when they found out you had won?
No one was really surprised because I'm just so talented and smart and everything's perfect.

8. How do people act differently around you?
No one treats me any different because they don't see it as such a big deal as I do.

9. What makes you stand out compared to the other students at Bowie?
I'm just like super duper smart, way smarter than everyone else. I'm just like next level, like a professor. I should be teaching them.

10. What advice would you give to another peer who's striving to be Student of the Month?
Well they should just give up on social life and give 100% to school work.

11. What was your family's reaction?
My family doesn't really care, they're focused on being world renown surgeons.

12. What were your teachers' reactions?
All my teachers were really proud of me because they know how hard I worked for this.

13. What organizations or clubs do you participate in?
Well, I'm in choir, band, orchestra, theater, color guard, silver stars, and I'm a cheerleader. I'm so involved in everything.

14. What are your grades like?
I'm literally so talented, I have an A+ in every class.

15. Do you have any good study habits?
Okay, first turn off your phone and just throw it away. Put it in the garbage. Then open your book and just read through everything six times. That's how you get knowledge.

16. Describe an average day after school for you.
Well I have to go to practice for everything I'm in, and then I stay up until 5am studying for absolutely nothing.

17. What would you say to people who slack off in school?
You really need to take your school career seriously or else you'll fail in life. That's a quote from my grandpa.

18. What's your biggest school related pet peeve?
People who don't take their school work seriously, like what are you doing with your life?

19. How would you change the Student of the Month process?
Every month is would be me, no matter what.

20. How often do you study?
Pretty much nonstop, when I get up I study. When I get home I study. I study when I get ready. I have noted written on my hands that I study all the time.

Learning How To Interview - Part One

Sources :

- Principal

- Superintendent

- School board members

1. When will the school uniform policy be in effect?

2. Why was the policy created?

3. What do you predict the students' reactions to be?

4. How will you handle complaints?

5. How will school uniforms be a benefit?

6. What will the uniforms consist of?

7. Explain the process to get the policy approved.

8. What are the cons of this policy?

9. What was the most difficult part of getting the policy approved?

10. Why was it difficult? ^

11. How long do you predict the policy to be in effect?

12. Why did the school board decide that uniforms were a necessity?

13. What do you think about the policy?

14. Do you think the policy will help or hurt schools? Why?

15. How do the schools benefit from uniforms?

16. Will the uniforms be the same for every school?

17. Will students be able to modify the uniforms in any way?

18. Does the policy include shoes and jewelry? 

19. Do you think the uniform will be more difficult for boys or girls to follow?

20. How will you discipline the students that don't follow the policy?

Architecture Shoot

Details

Light

Patterns

Angles and Shapes

Surroundings

Portfolio Analysis

Part One

1. Alyssa Schukar
2. Story of an eating disorder, sports, portraits
3. All of the pictures were of a certain distance, no emotions being felt by the observer, used the same lens, wanted more variety
4. They liked the picture of the man in the hat sweeping the street with the “beautiful background” and the photo of the girl who fell on the hurdles because they like only seeing the legs of her opponent.
5. I wasn’t a huge fan of Alyssa Schukar’s portfolio. I feel like the photos lacked emotion, like the judges said. I didn’t feel anything with most of the photos that were shown. Some of them made me feel sad or happy, but most were empty to me. One of the judge made the observation that Schukar seemed to take a pessimistic outlook in her photos and that he preferred the optimistic shots, but I disagree. I think darker photos can sometimes express the most important feelings or ideas better than optimistic ones can, so in that sense I liked Schukar’s photos.

1. Travis Haughton
2. Story about a child with a hearing disorder, genetic condition, sports, portraits
3. The judges didn’t like how there was a photo with the back of someone’s head dominating the frame, there’s a merger with the photo of the couple in blue where the man’s head looks attached the thing of metal in the background, the photos are cropped in too tight and the judges want to see more of the photo in the frame, there’s too many photos of little kids in his portfolio
4. There’s lots of different options and lots of different levels in the gymnastic photo, they liked the baseball photo of the man diving to catch the baseball
5. There were a few shots that I liked by Haughton, but they were also shots I’ve seen before. I didn’t see many original ideas in his photos. I do disagree with the judges when they said the photos were cropped in too tight. Some of them, I agree with, but I liked the cropping of most of the photos. If they were cropped looser, the impact of the photo would be lost.

1. Carlos Delgado
2. Story about a woman who recovered from polio, but still has a few disabilities left from the disease, sports, story of a poor couple living in a trailer
3. The backgrounds in all the photos are too busy and distract from the main focus of the shot, the lighting is off and makes the colors seem like “candy colored kool aid,” the curves and levels are too heavy in all the photos, in the second photo story things were being said in the captions but they were never shown in the photos
4. They liked the pose of the baseball player portrait and they liked the photo of the man smoking in the same room as the disabled woman in the first photo story
5. I feel indifferent about Delgado’s photos. They didn’t portray any emotions to me or make me feel anything, but I’ve seen worse. Some of the shots I did like a lot and I thought they showed a cool story or message to them, but others didn’t impress me. I agree with the judges when they said the backgrounds were too cluttered in the first story and that the color was off throughout all of the photos.

Dustin Snipes

1. The photographer was in the action rather than watching on the sides, nice color and composition, nice backgrounds, good emotion and reaction shots, good panning shot, creative shots
2. I liked how Dustin Snipes had a lot of really creative shots rather than ones that have been seen before in the previous runner up videos I watched. He was also right in the middle of the action, he wasn’t scared to get right up in it. The focus of a few photos were a little off, but that was really the only major weakness I noticed. 

Judging Process

a. To choose the winner, they go through their favorite portfolios and then look closely at all the photos as a whole collection and what the strengths and weaknesses are. They begin to eliminate the ones that aren’t as strong as the others, and ultimately come down to two portfolios. They talk about which portfolio they prefer more and they choose their winner. 

Part Two

a. In Part Five : Student Work I agree with the judges on the black and white photo of the guy wearing the "RugbyTech" hat. I think that it's a really great photo, and I love it just like the judges do. I think we love it because it's a creative photo, and it portrays the player's emotions very well through the photo.

b. I disagree with the judges in Part Two : No Pro/No College on the photo of the tennis player wearing red. I think the lighting and focus is really good, but I don't like how you can't see the face and the judges say it's okay that the face is unseen. I would like to see the face and emotion of the player. I think the judges are wrong because I think a person's face in a shot can really help pull it together and without it the photo seems like it has unsolved questions. I think the faces can be the best part of the photo.

Architecture Preview

Strong National Museum of Play, USA

1. Chaintreuil, Jensen and Stark

2. It was established in 1969 and made to the public in 1982.

3. Rochester, New York, USA

4. It's open to the public

5. $37 million

6. It was originally built to display Margaret Woodbury Strong's personal collections.

7. I picked this building because it looks like a really fun building. It reminds me of my childhood, and it's a place I definitely want to visit. I like how it has a bunch of my childhood shows and memorabilia. 

Atomium, Belgium

1. Andre Waterkeyn, Jean Polak

2. Construction started in 1956, opened in 1958

3. Brussels Belgium

4. It's a landmark and open to the public

5. 125,000 euros

6. It was built for the World's Fair in 1958 and has been declared a Belgium landmark since then.

7. I picked this one because I liked the stainless steel look. I think it looks really modern and it reminds me of a roller coaster you would see in Spy Kids. I also like how Waterkeyn took the scientific approach on architecture by making a building inspirited by an Iron molecule.

Kansas City Public Library, USA

1. Louis Curtiss

2. Established in 1873

3. Kansas City, Missouri, USA

4. It's open to the public

5. $10,000

6. It was built to be a public library for Kansas City

7. I picked this one because I love to read, and libraries are one of my favorite places in the world. I also have a friend that lives in Kansas, and I was wondering if he'd been there. Then I remembered Kansas City is in Missouri, but it's still a really cool building.

National Center for the Performing Arts, China

1. Paul Andreu

2. Opened July 2007

3. Beijing, China

4. It's open to the public

5. CNY3.2 billion

6. It was built to be a performing arts center with 3 halls, The Opera Hall, The Music Hall and the Theater Hall

7. I picked this one because I love performing arts, I'm in orchestra currently and I have been in choir and theater in the past. Anything to do with performing arts fascinate me. I also love how it reflects on the water it's surrounded by.

The UFO House, Taiwan

1. Matti Surronen

2. Began in 1978 and abandoned in 1980

3. New Taipei City, Taiwan

4. It's become a minor tourist attraction, so it's open to the public

5. No information

6. It was built to be houses for people to buy for $14,000.

7. I picked this one because I was really interested in the dystopian theme and I thought it was really intriguing that they were abandoned. I really enjoyed reading about the conspiracy theories about these buildings, including that they were built on a burial ground and are now haunted.

Action Shoot

Straight

Across

Panning

Creative Blur

Sensory Overload

1. I agree with this statement because as the world becomes more and more cement and buildings, I think it's important to add color where ever we can. As an aspiring photographer, this inspires me to add more color to my photo backgrounds. I always shoot things with blanker backgrounds, but now I want to try to add more color.

2. When I saw these photos I definitely wanted to go to these places with my camera because it's such a vibrant background and I feel like I could get a lot of really interesting shots with it. I would want to challenge myself to take photos with such a busy background.

3. I feel like growing up in one of these places would cause a lot of happiness as a child, but I feel like it would end in disappointment when you went into the real world and realized that not every place is full of color. It would probably inspire them to bring more color into the rest of the world as well.

4. My favorite photo is the one with the girl sitting in the middle surrounded by colorful flowers. The amount of flowers and all the variety of colors makes the photo really appealing to me. I also like how the girl is completely surrounded by flowers. I've always loved flowers, and I can't wait to grow up and have a garden of my own someday.

Action Photography Preview Warm-Up

1. Shutter speed is how much time the shutter allows light into the camera.

2. Yes this is a key moment because it shows that the team has won, and that's how they celebrate. This could've been planned, but I don't think the coach was in on it. I think the players may have discussed it earlier and told the photographer so they'd get the shot.

3. The photographer used a very high shutter speed in order to get this photo. The photographer also incorporated the rule of thirds into this photo.

Outside Prompt Shoot

Twisted Fairytales and Other Terrors of Growing Up

Please DO submit.