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Monthly Archives: October 2008
SKHS Promotes Global Awareness
“No other public school in Rhode Island has a global studies course that I know of,” said International Relations teacher and Model United Nations coordinator Mr. Buxton, who also teaches Global Studies. “We at SK helped Prout create their Global Studies.”
Although only two-thirds to three-quarters of SKHS students take global studies, Buxton thinks the course improves the awareness of the SKHS student body. However, other public schools in the state may not quite be there yet.
Rhode Island’s educational priorities may not be in order, according to Buxton.
“Rhode Island is insufficiently focused on global studies,” he said. “A lot of states have state Model UN conferences. Rhode Island has a model legislature, but we don’t have a state Model UN.”
The global studies teacher says this is just an example of how worldly education around the state needs improvement. Buxton thinks a curriculum change is necessary to improving students’ global awareness.
“You need a comprehensive course where kids learn about global issues,” said Buxton. “You have to set up an expectation for [students] to learn.”
Mr. O’Malley, who teaches public issues, agrees.
“It’s definitely the responsibility of the school,” O’Malley said. “We should be learning in school about [global issues].”
“When I was little, there were old people on street corners and you could just listen to them talk,” said O’Malley. “You may have gotten a slanted view, but at least it was something.”
Now, O’Malley says, there are other distractions that prevent students from gaining the global knowledge they had in the past.
“I hardly ever see a kid reading the newspaper,” O’Malley said. “There are more distractions than ever.”
With television companies adding more and more channels every year and Internet and cell phone use continuing to increase, most would agree that teens have more to draw them away from the education process than at any previous point in history.
Still, according to Buxton, SKHS has an advantage over many other public schools when it comes to global awareness.
Buxton points to Model UN as the best example of that.
“We have 150-175 students participate in Model UN each year,” said Buxton. “There is nowhere where any school comes close to that.” Buxton talked about how most other schools that host Model UN conferences usually have only 30-40 students participate from their school.
SKHS sets up Model United Nations conferences every year in April. In Model UN, students discuss topics ranging from the Six-Day War to the genocide in Sudan as mock delegates from various countries around the world.
SKHS Model UN Co-Secretary General Alex Hwang agrees that although many students are indeed ignorant of the world around them, many at SKHS take the initiative to become educated through school organizations and taking classes that make them more globally aware.
“Adults aren’t informed enough about the kids who care,” said Hwang.
Senior SKHS social studies classes such as Honors International Relations and Public Issues focus on global issues in an attempt to further student global awareness.
However, only a small amount of students take these classes because neither is required by the SKHS curriculum. In fact, the only specifically required social studies course in the curriculum is U.S. History.
The New York Times reports on the American lack of global awareness in the Patricia Cohen article “Dumb and Dumber.” The article featured a recent Susan Jacoby book entitled Hand-Wringing About American Culture- Are Americans Hostile to Information?
The article references two studies: one, a 2006 National Geographic poll, found that “nearly half of 18-24 year-olds don’t think it’s important to know where countries in the news are located,” and another study that showed only 23 percent out of the people polled with some college education could find the nations of Iraq, Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia on a map.
In the article, the author refers to a conversation she overheard where a man explained to another man how the “Vietnamese” attack on Pearl Harbor started the Vietnam War.
O’Malley points to a more recent example.
“Most Americans thought Saddam Hussein was involved in 9-11,” he said. This, says O’Malley, is a perfect example of why ignorance is so dangerous.
“People were so uninformed about reality that they were led to believe things that just weren’t true,” explained O’Malley.
“After 9-11, I thought there would be a flurry of activity in that direction,” said Buxton, referring to a more globally-oriented curriculum. Unfortunately, he says, there wasn’t.
However, there are some positive signs around the nation. As more opportunities emerge, students around the country are taking a step in the right direction.
In schools, more and more students are participating in study abroad programs than ever before.
Open Doors, a premier study-abroad organization, reported that there has been a 150 percent increase in student participation in study-abroad programs within the past ten years.
Another recent New York Times article covered a New York state school district, the Herricks district, that has “integrat[ed] international studies into every aspect of its curriculum.”
The article details how authors like Hemingway and Hawthorne have been scrapped for authors who write about subjects that are both more modern and more worldly, such as SKHS graduate Jhumpa Lahiri, author of The Interpreter of Maladies, and Khaled Hosseini, who wrote The Kite Runner. As a part of the art curriculum Herricks students are required to paint international scenes.
At SKHS, both books are or at one point have been figured into the curriculum through the summer reading requirement. Organizations like Amnesty International and the Invisible Children club help to promote global awareness within the school system. Model U.N. also brings global issues to light and educates students about what is happening around the world.
Hwang points to the hundreds of students that participate in Model UN each year and the plethora of courses offered at SKHS to prove that this school is ahead of the awareness curve.
Still, he admits, there are reforms to be made.
“A majority of kids in this school don’t care about anything but their social lives,” he said. Hwang, like Buxton and O’Malley, believe that global studies should be integrated into the curriculum. Hwang, however, takes it a step further.
“There should be a graduation requirement that involves global current issues,” said the SKMUN Co-Secretary General.
While students may frown upon any more graduation requirements than they already have, O’Malley and others believe that something else must be done.
Why? The reason is simple, according to O’Malley: without knowledge, no one can make their own decisions.
“If you don’t know what’s going on in the world, you can be very easily manipulated.”
Student Smokers ‘Fixated’ on Cigarettes
Each morning and afternoon at South Kingstown High School, behind the back parking lot, a group of students congregate to smoke.
Yet it is not just before and after school that student smoke outside. They also manage get out of class to smoke throughout the day, sometimes even smoking on school grounds during lunch period.
Junior Rick Skuce, who smokes anywhere from half a pack to a pack of cigarettes a day, says he will ask to go to the nurse, and then head outside for a smoke. If he feels the need to smoke a second cigarette, he will simply change the time on his hall pass, go back to the clinic, and then go have another cigarette on his way back to class.
Skuce started smoking at ten years old, and what started out as simply an oral fixation and a way to look cool, he said, became an addiction and a stress reliever.
“You smoke more when you’re stressed, you just get that craving where you have to have a cigarette,” Skuce said.
“If you need it and can’t have it, it stresses you out more,” agreed Kaitlyn Robinson, a junior at SKHS. Robinson said she has been so desperate for a cigarette that she’s smoked cigarette butts that she’s found on the ground.
Robinson was well aware of the health risks involved in smoking when she began in seventh grade. However it wasn’t until she started to need an inhaler that she understood those risks.
“It’s very hard to run for more than five minutes,” Robinson said, “When I go up the stairs it feels like my lungs are attached to my feet.”
The addiction, however, has more sides than one would suspect. According to WebMD.com, a health website, teens who smoke are twice as likely to suffer from symptoms of depression as those who do not smoke.
“There’s the oral fixation, the mental fixation, the hand fixation, but it’s got a lot to do with chemicals,” Robinson said.
According to the American Lung Association, every day in America, 6,000 adolescents start smoking, and of those 2,000 will become regular smokers.
In an article published by Reuters, smoking rates among teens peaked in 1999 at 36 percent, and then stabilizing by 2003 at 21.9 percent.
The number of students who had ever tried a cigarette dropped from 70 percent in 1999 to 58 percent by 2003. Since then, smoking rates have dropped even further, and as of 2007, 50 percent of teens had ever smoked a cigarette.
Smoking rates continue to decrease as students age according to “Big Tobacco On Campus,” a document published by lungusa.org. According to the organization in 2006, 19.2 percent of college students smoked, compared to 35.7 percent of young adults who are not in college full time that smoke. College smokers say they began smoking as a response to deal with stress and depression. In order to avoid being alone, students also start smoking as a social mechanism.
Also, according to the document student smokers are more likely to consume alcohol or use drugs while smoking.
In the 2007-2008 SALT Survey done at South Kingstown High School, 31 students felt that there was no risk in smoking a pack or more of cigarettes a day, compared to 290 who believed that smoking at that rate was a great risk.
There are, however, great risks involved with smoking. According to www.canstopsmoking.com, the addictive substance nicotine found in cigarettes, is a stimulant that makes the heart beat faster and blood pressure rise. In addition, the tar in cigarettes sticks to the lungs, which results in obstructed airways and destroys air sacs in the lungs.
In a statement released by cardiology channel, one third of all cancers and 90 percent of lung cancer cases are related to smoking. The younger a smoker starts, the greater their addiction will be, and the greater their risk of developing lung cancer.
Rhode Island has taken action against smoking, banning smoking in the workplace, restaurants and bars, clubs and bowling alleys. The ban was put into action as of March 1, 2005. States all around the country have taken action, different states placing restrictions on smoking in different places. The ban has been effective in New York City as well.
In an article published by The New York Times on March of 2004, Andrea Elliot reported that air pollution levels in the city had decreased by six times what they were before the ban went into effect.
“It’s a horrible addiction, I hate it,” said Robinson “It cuts back on fun. And the smell, you know, it’s just not a very nice smell.”
Foreign Exchange Students at SKHS Break Cultural Barriers
“People think Brazil is a jungle,” laughs Fernanda Milani, a foreign exchange student at SKHS. “My bus driver asked me if I travel to school by elephant.” In reality, much of her country is urbanized.
Milani, who lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and attends a school there with around 4,000 students, came to the United States to improve her English and discover a new culture. Milani is not the only exchange student at SKHS who struggles with common misunderstandings such as these.
In addition to the Brazilian native, Yuhe Su from China and Beke Juergens of Germany are spending time away from their home countries as well.
Although all three girls say the transition to school in the U.S. has been easier than anticipated, they find some stereotypes of their nations difficult to understand.
Su, who goes by the name Tia, commented that the United States greatly exaggerates the power of her country’s economy.
“China is still very weak,” she said.
Another misunderstanding she claimed is the assumption that most Chinese practice Buddhism. In reality, Su said, few people follow a religion.
Su also exposed the myth that education in China is extremely strict. At her school in Nanking, students do not have hall passes.
“If you are late to class,” she explained, “you simply greet the teacher.”
“There are strict schools in China,” Su added, “but I do not go to one.”
Su’s host mother, Priscilla Purinton of West Kingston, has realized during her time with Su that the world’s “preconceived notions [of China] are about thirty years old.”
In fact, Purinton said, “It sounds like America in so many ways. Now that I know a person from China, it is much less foreign and intimidating.”
Su, whom Purinton described as a “respectful, very smart” girl with a “bubbly personality” came to America through the Youth for Understanding foreign exchange program, also known as YFU.
This organization, founded by volunteers in 1951, matches 4,000 students and families annually in 64 countries around the world. Applicants undergo a careful selection process which requires proficiency in English and academic achievement. They must also demonstrate the willingness to share responsibilities and integrate into the daily life of their new American families.
Michael Finnell, the President and CEO of Youth for Understanding USA, declares that YFU host parents like Purinton and students like Su “are making a difference by nurturing connections with the world through student exchange. They contribute to breaking down stereotypes while building bridges, connecting cultures, and creating understanding.”
However, at times, the foreign exchange students say they find it difficult to communicate their thoughts in English.
“My brain was fried,” Su said of her first days in South Kingstown. Before coming to Rhode Island, she communicated with her host parents through e-mails.
“I had no confidence in my English,” she recalled. “I would spend an hour or more e-mailing back. I wanted them to be perfect.”
Even though Su and Juergens have taken English for about six years, far longer than most SKHS students have studied a foreign language, they still worry about misunderstandings caused by pronunciation or vocabulary. The foreign exchange students added that they find it helpful to share their difficulties with each other.
Despite struggles with communication, Juergens finds certain classes in America to be easy, such as Algebra II. “I learned it three years ago,” she said with a laugh.
Students in China are on different schedules as well.
“We begin Physics in the eighth grade,” Su said, who recently switched into Physics II because she found Physics I to be repetitive.
However, both girls struggle in other classes. Su described poetry in her Humanities class as “difficult and confusing.” In U.S. History, she said, she found herself drifting off to sleep while listening to the teacher talk about American politics.
According to Juergens, teachers in America are also much more willing to discuss their private lives. In Germany, she said, the teachers “don’t talk about other things.”
One other difference both Su and Milani mentioned is that in China and Brazil, every student must take the same courses and spend the entire day in the same classroom. “Instead of the students switching classes, the teachers go from room to room,” Su explained.
Despite a number of cultural differences, SKHS students may find that the exchange students share more similarities to their American classmates than differences.
In relation to American teens, Su is more similar than different, according to her host mother. Purinton said she likes music and shopping, makes friends quickly, and plans to join the math team at the high school. At her high school in Nanking, Su participates in Model United Nations. In April, she plans to attend the SKHS Model United Nations conference.
Su’s fellow foreign exchange student Juergens recently signed up for the theater production ‘Keep It.’ Milani, on the other hand, plays on the high school soccer team.
Juergens and Su both claimed that everything from “streets, refrigerators, [and] potato chips” to “sunglasses” is “bigger in America.”
“Everything is more,” Su laughed. She explained that when she wanted to buy a pair of small sunglasses recently, all she could find were oversized shades.
All three girls agree that students at SKHS are very nice, but Milani said people in her country are much more open than Americans.
“Everyone hugs each other in Brazil,” she said. Milani misses both the friendly atmosphere of her home as well as her native food and family.
Despite her homesickness, traveling is Milani’s passion. Not only has she been to the U.S. before, but she has also journeyed to Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Mexico.
In fact, participating in foreign exchange programs runs in the family. Milani stated that her 18-year-old brother stayed with a family in Colorado and his experience inspired her to travel to America as well.
“I have wanted to be an exchange student ever since I was a child,” Milani said.
The “Change” Candidate
Lately it seems that you can’t turn on the news without hearing the word “change.” It is the word that both presidential candidates have been trying so hard to identify with. In fact, this single word has gotten more attention in this election than all of the other issues combined.
The reality is: no matter which candidate you choose to support, he will bring some kind of change.
The fact that Barack Obama is Democrat is one reason that he will bring change. John McCain is a Republican (like Bush), but his policy differs in many ways from core Republican beliefs, also translates to change.
But there is one issue that voters never hear about. This issue is perhaps the most important reason why these new candidates differ from President Bush. This all-important difference lies not in policy, party, race or age, but in astrological sign.
Bush is a Gemini, McCain is a Virgo, and Obama is a Leo.
Virgos, like McCain, are sensitive people, who tend to be most interested in giving to others. They are able to maintain confidence and faith through the most difficult of times. Virgos often conflict with Geminis, who are generally logical in nature, making decisions based on statistics rather than emotions.
On the other hand, Leos and Geminis, such as Obama and Bush, are very compatible. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will have the same policies. After all, Leos are known to be bold and courageous. They make decisions from the heart, whereas Geminis always take a chess-like approach to situations.
These astrological signs affect all sorts of policy, such as economics, war, and gun control.
There are many other issues that the two presidential candidates differ from Bush due to their astrological signs. For example, both candidates are likely to bring new innovations to alternative energy.
Where the logical Gemini Bush did very little to help stop Global Warming, Obama and McCain both wish to do something about climate change.
When Obama says he wants to change the US global warming policy because he feels that it is the right thing to do, he is just following his heart just like every other Leo. McCain wishes to change global warming policy because he knows that global warming is hurting so many people and animals. He simply cannot stand the images of polar bears struggling to survive on thin pieces of ice.
Obama wants to explore new energies such as wind and solar power, and McCain wants a “Cap and Trade” system, where companies are allotted a certain amount of carbon emissions. In this system, if a company does not need all of its allotted carbon emissions; it can trade what remains to larger companies who need more carbon than their cap allows them.
Another incredibly important issue that gets very little media attention is height. President Bush is 5’11’’ tall, which is far too average for an American president. It is easy to see that his policies stem from his height (along with his Zodiac sign).
Obama towers a full three inches over Bush at 6’2’’. These three inches are what make his policies so different from Bush. McCain is only 5’6’’ tall, which is far shorter than Bush. This difference in height is yet another reason why their policies are so dissimilar.
One great example of how height affects policy is the issue of illegal immigration. Our current President Bush has cracked down on immigrants and has offered no path to citizenship for illegals. But, do not blame him if you do not support his policies. The truth of the matter is that this policy was not really up to him. His height causes him to think the way he does. Everyone between the heights of 5’8’’ and 6’ believe in this type of immigration policy. Everyone outside this bracket has a different sort of immigration policy.
John McCain, on the other hand, is far too short to think that simply deporting immigrants will work. Obama is too tall to support Bush’s policies. Both Obama and McCain support a plan to help illegal immigrants gain citizenship. Under their policies, immigrants must learn English and pay fines. Then they can become citizens.
Each time that a new president is elected, many things change within the government. In the immortal words of American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson: “We change, whether we like it or not.”
Rhode Island Schools Go Green
Every day at The Portsmouth Abbey is Earth Day.
Next to the hockey rink sits a wind turbine that powers the 500-acre school campus on a daily basis. The turbine was made possible by a renewable $450,000 grant, awarded by the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund.
Installed in April of 2006, the turbine inspired hope of reducing costs of oil and electricity.
According to Brother Joseph Byron, the school spent more than $200,000 on electricity each year before utilizing the turbine. Because the wind turbine is capable of producing heat, said Byron, it also reduced the school’s dependency on oil by a substantial amount.
After only five years, the school expects that the wind turbine will pay for itself, the total of which was $1.2 million.
The renewable energy successes of Rhode Island high schools don’t stop at Portsmouth Abbey, however.
A new addition to the South Kingstown High School staff, former Curtis Corner Middle School teacher Mr. Carey, has had a major impact on South Kingstown’s energy usage. On week nights and weekends, Carey walks through the schools, turning off lights and other items such as computers.
South Kingstown, over the past 72 months, has been working with Energy-Education Incorporated, a Texas-based company.
Carey told the school committee last March that the district has saved close to $1.7 million in energy costs.
As reported by the Narragansett Times, motion-sensor lighting was implemented in South Kingstown, with savings reaching around $31,000 per year. It is predicted that the savings from this change will surpass the cost of installing the sensors in less than two years.
Barrington, Bristol-Warren, East Providence, and Smithfield, as well as a few others districts, will be doing the same, according to Channel 12 Eyewitness News.
Also, the Cranston school system, which has experienced budget cuts like other districts across the state, has implemented environment-friendly light fixtures. Due to millions-dollar shortages, the school system had to undergo serious changes.
District energy auditor Chris Fuller found a solution: Fuller urged the Cranston school system to install new fluorescent light fixtures and light sensors, similarly to our own.
National Grid estimates that the annual savings will amount to about $19,818.16.
Cranston had pleaded for help to cover the cost. National Grid stepped in, the company covering 70 percent of the cost.
Solar panels have been installed on various buildings, namely schools in Burriville, Lincoln, Wickford, Warwick, and South Kingstown. At SKHS, the panels were installed on the roof near the health wing.
Such progress is not contained to United States schools, however.
In Munich, Germany, the Grünwald Music School uses newly developed lighting technology. Most of the building is lit by natural daylight, but the areas that are shaded are illuminated by a controlled lighting system.
Lutron Electronics reveals that there are four settings to choose from, including a reddish light, designed for playing and listening exercises and a cooler blue, for reading and other activities that require a bit more light.
The school states that when the lights aren’t as needed, especially during the day, the school dims the lights by 10 percent, which allows the lights to last more than twice as long. This became one of the most important aspects when it came to the school’s energy usage.
Architect Biedermann used the company Lutron Electronics, which furnished the lighting system.
Grover Cleveland Elementary School in Allentown, Pennsylvania also discovered the Lutron lighting control solution. Principal Wheeler, as well as other administration members, wondered how it would affect their budget. However, the school uses approximately 50 percent less energy in their classrooms.
The school was built in 1883, yet it is still capable of supporting “the most sustainable, technologically-advanced fluorescent lighting control system available today,” according to a representative of Lutron Electronics.
Because of these successes and their dedication to preserving the environment, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded the school a $4,330 grant for environmental education for grades 1-4.
The achieved growth in the area is encouraging; Carey says, “Over an 85-month period, [we] will save 33% of [our] energy budget.”
Two-Party System Flaws Presidential Debates
In recent years the public has shown a desire not only for more debates but more from the debates.
The Commission on Presidential Debates attempted to oblige with the 2008 debates.
The 2008 debates have featured issues of domestic and foreign policy. A town hall style debate where people in the audience will ask questions, as well as questions provided from internet viewers.
Co-chairmen of the CPD Paul G. Kirk, Jr. and Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr said that “The Commission believes that by including questions from Internet participants, we will enhance and expand the effectiveness of the town meeting debate.”
What many Americans forget is that due to pressure from both parties, the League of Women Voters stopped sponsoring the presidential debates in 1988. Together the Republicans and Democrats formed what is today known as the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Prior to change, The League of Women Voters ran three debates to touch on three different topics: domestic issues, foreign policy and one specially selected topic. They also hired a panel of very aggressive moderators, and included follow up questions, rebuttals and surbuttals (a reply to a rebuttal).
After the Republican and Democratic parties took over the debate format, they set up a way to block third party candidates from entering the debates.
The League of Women Voters denounced the change as a “fraud on the American people”.
The CPD continues to format the presidential debates based on both parties’ decisions.
George Farah, creator of Open Debates a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to reforming the presidential debate process, is against the CPD.
Farah told CNN that “the [major] parties want to have a monopoly over presidential debates they can control.”
“What type of debate prohibits candidates from actually talking to each other,” said Farah. “That’s not a debate, that’s a glorified bipartisan press conference.”
Farah believes that when the panel consists of hard nosed moderators who ask questions that provoke thought it requires the candidates to “get past the memorized sound byte” and forces the candidates to think on their feet in front of millions of voters.
Others believe more third party candidates are needed as well.
However for Third Party Candidates to attend these debates they must, according to the CPD, reach polling at 15 percent in the national election polls.
In 1992, for the first and only time, the CPD allowed third party candidate Ross Perot, an independent from Texas, to debate. Perot was a popular choice among the American public due to his stance on the economy. Later Perot was accused of ‘stealing’ votes from Bush Sr.
Perot was barred from the 1996 debates because the CPD said he didn’t have “a realistic chance to win the election.”
Neither Republican Bob Dole nor Democrat Bill Clinton objected as some say both believed Perot would take votes from them.
The Commission had set strict rules for the 2000 and 2004 debates. Yet, in this year’s presidential debates the parties agreed to open the debate rules.
In the history of presidential elections mandatory debates are a fairly new idea.
Debates of the past were informative but also entertaining. Candidates were forced to think on their feet to discuss plans and policies.
Now, many say, candidates just recite pre-written answers they pre-wrote to with campaign advisors prior to the debate.
The origin of Presidential debates goes back to 1858, known today as the Lincoln-Douglas debtes, when Abraham Lincoln and Senator Stephan Douglas fought for a seat in the US Senate with a series of seven debates.
These debates were face to face without a moderator. Each candidate took turns with a one hour opening speech, followed by a one and a half hour rebuttal and concluding with a half an hour closing statement.
Until 1960, debates only came about when one candidate challenged another.
In 1940, GOP candidate Wendell Willkie challenged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a debate although FDR declined.
In 1956, Fred A. Kahn, holocaust survivor and student and the University of Maryland, proposed the idea for modern presidential debates. On September 26, 1960 over 66 million people watched the first televised presidential debate between Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon.
Over the next three presidential elections from 1964 to 1972 there were no debates between the republicans and democratic candidates. Instead there were only debates for the democratic primaries.
Even though the 2008 debates will be more interactive, they are still missing most of the candidates running for office.
Independent Ralph Nader, Libertarian Bob Barr, and Green party candidate Cynthia McKinney just to name a few, have not attended.
Some argue that if these candidates participate in the debates, voters would be able to see sides of candidates they would normally not see in a two party debate.
European countries such as France and England offer a different style of debates than witnessed in the U.S.
In France, the presidential candidates sit across from one another and ask each other questions about the others policies. Then they debate their points.
In England, the candidates for prime minister sit a across from one another and argue about each others policies. However, both men are surrounded by a group of supporters who heckle and yell at their opponent.
Even though both styles are more aggressive than that of the United States, critics believe they accomplish more.
They say each candidate is forced to think on his feet, and show how he is able to react when his back is against the wall.
That is why people like Farah believe we need to reform the debates.
Lady Rebels Tie La Salle
On Monday night, the Lady Rebels’ soccer team playes the La Salle Rams to a 2-2 tie.
La Salle started off the game with cross from Madison Meehan and a finish from Briel Crespi. But the SKHS girls kept their heads up and a quick counter attack from SKHS Junior Amanda Graham allowed her to set up SKHS Sophomore Chelsea Gates for a goal, tying the game at one apiece.
As the half went on, a shot from La Salle’s Briel Crespi ricocheted off an SKHS defender, resulting in another goal for La Salle. However, right before the end of the first half, a cross from the right side gave junior Lindsey Wallace an opportunity to put the ball right past La Salle keeper Carly McCabe.
At half time the score was 2-2.
Outstanding defense by Sarah Fagan, Erin Sorlien, Bryce McGillivray, Sara Rosa, and seven saves by Libby Lazar kept La Salle’s strong offense scoreless in the second half.
This was the first time in five years that the SKHS girls’ soccer team has not lost to La Salle Academy.
The Lady Rebels’ next game is against Coventry Tuesday night at 6:00 at Curtis Corner Middle School.
Field Hockey Ties Tiverton
The SKHS Field Hockey team played Tiverton High School to a 1-1 tie on Monday, October 13th.
The girls started off with a goal scored by Captain Mary-Kate Eaton, assisted by Midfielder Amy Babcock.
Other key players Heather Pepe, Bridget Chappel, Courtney Lyford, Jill Petrarca, and Emma Morgan, also turned up their attack and created great scoring opportunities. Goalie Emily Gioielli had 14 saves and used big clears that helped the offense to attack.
At the end of the second half, the score was tied and neither side was able to score in overtime.
The next game for the Lady Rebels will be against Lincoln School at 3:45 on Wednesday the 15th at Faxon Farm, Lincoln.
Ridiculous Speed Limits Plague South Kingstown
This summer, I went on a camping trip/college visit to New Hampshire. I visited Keene State and the University of New Hampshire. Keene State was about 20 minutes away from our campsite, UNH about two hours.
Back here, I live about twenty minutes away from URI.
In pure mileage, Keene State is almost twice as far from the campsite as URI is from my house.
How does this work?
One answer: speed limits.
The speed limit for most of Ministerial is 35 miles an hour, which is pretty fast for most single lane roads. Plus it’s not like anyone really goes 35, right? Most of the citizens of South Kingstown probably travel down most of Ministerial Rd. at about 40 miles per hour or above, thus disobeying the speed limit.
Now, let’s flash back to New Hampshire: Keene and the campsite were interconnected by a hilly, twisty, single lane road with steady, but not busy traffic. There were homes and housing communities daintily placed along this scenic route. This road sounds a lot like Ministerial to me.
The speed limit was 50 mph for most of the trip.
This saved gas (a big expense anywhere, but especially on a road trip), time, and inconvenience. People, for once, actually obeyed the speed limit, which you never see in Rhode Island. The longer I stayed, the more ridiculous the Rhode Island speed limit system became.
The major highways were almost always 60 mph or over- and once again, almost everyone followed it. It became as highways should be– the left lane as a passing lane, the right as a travel lane—and often in the travel lane people went below the speed limit. The point is, everyone drove at a speed comfortable to themselves.
Overall, driving on the trip became much less of an obstacle than it is here. People, as I said before, went at a speed that was actually comfortable and didn’t check their speedometer to make sure they weren’t going more than ten miles an hour over the speed limit all the time. We didn’t have to watch out for speed traps on the side of the road because we were obeying the speed limit, driving safely, and feeling comfortable about the speed we were going.
It was clean, wholesome road travel—and we would have been going 20 over in Rhode Island.