THE
Iowa City, IA
LITTLE HAWK Vol 75
Friday, September 29th 2017
Issue 1
thelittlehawk.com
General Obligation Bond Passes for $191M By Victor Kalil Executive Editor
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Going Green The Current State of Recycling At City High By Lottie Gidal News Editor
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very day students at City High go through the lunch line in the cafeteria throwing away milk bottles, uneaten sandwiches, plastic bags, untouched apples, and plastic bottles. There is no special plastic recycling bin, or a bin for organic waste, just the one that’s heading straight to the landfill. A study by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found
that over 78% of waste produced by public schools could be diverted into recycling or composting programs, cutting the estimated 90 to 180 thousand pounds of garbage produced by the City High cafeteria each year significantly. City High does have a paper recycling program, led by Mr. DeNeice. However, many feel that this system is not enough. Izzy Jones ‘19 is troubled by the amount of waste she sees occurring at City. “We have paper recycling, but that’s not used very well,” Jones said. “We have the bins but I see a lot of people throwing their paper away in
the trash when there is a recycling bin right next to it. If we had plastic recycling and composting at lunch that would be great, a lot of people would throw away their extra fruit and vegetables and sandwiches, and that could really be used for good.” Addy Smith ‘18 dominated her campaign for student class president with the promise of increased recycling at City High. She lost the election, but is pursuing that goal regardless. “It was never about the candidacy for me, it was about the issue,” Smith said. “I felt that the candidacy would help me accomplish my goals
of establishing a sustainable recycling system at City High. It is something that I need to get accomplished before I leave, because I feel like it is my moral responsibility to get something done because I have 80 years left on this planet.” Smith, along with fellow students Rachael Volkman ‘19, Naomi Meurice ‘19, and Lottie Gidal ‘19 have started a recycling club to try to address this issue. The club’s first goal is to install school wide plastic recycling, before trying to tackle the cafeteria. “Right now we are working on
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n September 12th, the people of the Iowa City Community School District voted yes to the record breaking General Obligation Bond (G.O. Bond). Nearly 17,000 residents voted and 65% of them voted yes, passing the 60% barrier to pass the $191.5 million bond The bond affects every school in the district, along with some upcoming ones, by completing the Facilities Master Plan and more. The Facilities Master Plan (FMP) is a ten-year plan put together to create an equitable environment across the district and answer the accelerated growth in number of students. A new elementary school will be built to compensate for the growth in the region, and classrooms will be added to many schools and most temporaries will be removed. One major issue that the bond will solve is making sure all parts of buildings comply with the American Disabilities Act. However, many people are not satisfied with the G.O. Bond’s parts, such as creating more space in buildings. “The Facilities Master Plan overcompensates in some areas and underestimates needs in other areas or even ignores needs. Enrollment projections for the district are already out of date.” said Martha Hampel, treasurer of the Vote No September 12th campaign. Due to the unequal compensation in the district, Hampel believes some students in North Liberty will have to be bussed to Iowa City schools, which presents more issues. “[Bussing] is an expense that cannot be covered by the General Obligation bond which only covers facilities.” Hampel said. “The only alternative to bussing is temporary...
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New FAM at City By Phoebe Chapnick-Sorokin News Editor
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any Freshmen struggle with the transition from junior high to high school, so this year the Ambassadors have started a program to help them out. Starting in October, the third Tuesday of every month during advisory, the Ambassadors with host a FAM: FreshmanAmbassador Meeting. Each month, a group of ambassadors will work to plan an engaging activity to help City High freshmen thrive. The first meeting took place on September 19 in City High’s Opstad Auditorium. The theme of this meeting was “getting involved”. “When I was a freshman, I knew that I should be getting involved, but I didn’t really know how,” said Beatrice Kearns ‘19, one of the ambassadors planning this month’s meeting. “This would’ve really helped me as a freshman because I was nervous to join clubs and different
activities.” Kearns and a group of ambassadors spent the past few weeks planning a meeting that would be fun for the Freshmen, while teaching them how to get involved. They planned a game of Charades, where the two teams, one of ambassadors and one of Freshmen, acted out different clubs of City High. The winning team, which ended up being the Freshmen, won freeze pops. The idea for these meetings came from the Ambassador Club advisor, Renee Tonning. “What we’re hoping is that the new coming freshmen will make a connection with upperclassmen and it will make their transition to high school easier,” she said. Although it was Tonning’s idea to start this program, she is leaving it up to the ambassadors to keep it going. Ideas for future meetings came from brainstorming by the Ambassadors. Some future topics are bullying, peer pressure, anxiety and stress, schedules, and cyberbullying.
ABOVE: Ambassadors onstage at first FAM. Freshman Ambassador Meeting. PHOTO BY GABE BAIRD