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By Julianna Cortes

Students need to go to a link to register to get their laptop early on Saturday January 31. At the link they will sign up to reserve a time slot to pick up their laptop to avoid waiting in line. Ricardo Ramirez, a senior said, “It

was easy. Hopefully it works. It is a good effi cient way to distribute the laptops.”

� e link to register is nshsdigin.eventbrite.com and the password is digin

Diego Gardea , a junior said, “It was easy. I scheduled myself at Noon.”Students will receive mandatory orientation on Friday, before the Saturday during advisory period.

� ey will also pass out a parent permission form.

Ms. Hill, the Specialist for Education Technology, said “� ere is

insurance on the laptops and that covers lost or theft which you have to fi le a report. You come see me immediately because if we don’t know about the incident, we can’t do anything about it. Malicious or careless behavior will not be accepted and students will be held responsible for those damages if they chose to damage the laptop. Yes you have to pay for it.” On that Saturday students will need to bring their school i.d, parent permission form and will make a payment in cash only of $15.

Make Your Laptop

AppointmentBy: Yasmin Torres A nacho party will be awarded to the grade level that has a best attendance percentage every 6 weeks. � e wining grade level will be rewarded at the end of every report card period.� e winning grade this 6 weeks were the sophomores. � e purpose of this is to help increase students attendance. � e nacho party will take place at the culinary foyer at the end of every six weeks after the students get their report card. Principal Marti-nez will be supplying the chips, chees, meat, and the jalapenos. “It’s probably going to cost me between 300-500 dollars to feed a grade level,” he said, but he feels it is worth the cost. “I feel like it’s my responsibility to increase our atten-dance for all of our kids. We fall behind in North

Side with attendance. � e district asks us to have a 95% daily attendance and we hover around with a 92-93 %.” He felt like nachos would be a good way to motivate students to come to school every day. So far freshmen have the highest attendance problem. Mrs. Church will be setting up the nacho party for the winning grade level.

Nacho Typical Prize

“I really love nachos so I’m going to start coming to school now

so we can win!” Victor Garza, Freshman

What’s Inside!

LARIATNEWSPAPER

A AA Student Publication of North Side High School

January 26, 2015Volume 3

Issue 2

2211 McKinley Ave.Fort Worth, TX

76164

North Side Runwaypg 6-7

School Board Memberspg 3

Basketballpg 10

Photo by : Jip Wijngaarden

website : nshsdigin.eventbrite.compassword is : digin

FeaturesPg. 2

By:Guillermo Amaro

New Years’ marks a New Year that gives people a chance to remember the previous year. It also gives peo-ple a chance to make changes or goals in the New Year. A New Years’ resolution is a promise that a person makes for self-improvement or something slightly nice begin-ning from New Year’s Day. People could have multiple resolutions or just one. According to www.usa.gov, the top New Year’s resolution every year is to lose weight. Oth-er popular ones are: volunteer to help others, quit smok-ing, get a better education, get a better job, save money, get fi t, eat healthy food, manage stress, manage debt, take a trip, reduce, reuse, and recycle, and drink less alcohol. Rita Coddington, a medical teacher, made mul-tiple resolutions this year. Her New Year’s resolutions are to lose weight, exercise more, and cut down on sugar. She said, “It’s going to be very challenging. � e last ten

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pounds are the hardest.” In order to stick with her resolu-tions, she vows to cook and bring her own lunch to school.

Selena Maldonado, a junior, made a resolution to maintain a more toned/fi t body. She thinks it wouldn’t be very challenging when she said, “I just have to focus on it and I will be able to accomplish it.” To stick with her reso-lution, Selena will start watching what she eats, stay on the healthy side, and work out more often. After she reaches her goal, she plans to keep her toned body by continuing to work out.

If your New Years’ resolution is also to lose weight or to keep your body in good shape then you can join the North Side Fitness Club starting Febuary 2015. Free fi t-ness classes will be off ered Monday – � ursday after-school to students, family members, and staff . Participants will be given a punch card to earn a chance to win a prize by par-ticipating. It’s a good way to stay motivated with friends.

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Features Pg. 3

to perform as well as whites.” � e reason he says the num-ber is so high for Latinos is because there are no Mexican heroes in the textbooks stu-dents use every day at school. It’s the same problem with African Amer-icans he said. But, he says there are more African Amer-ican heroes in the textbooks than there is Latino heroes. Jacinto’s

favorite quote is by his mentor, Richie Clark, “You can’t teach what you don’t know and you can’t lead where you’ve never been.” � is is his favorite quote because he and his fam-ily have lived in di� erent communities like Arlington, Haslet, and Woodhaven. From those experiences in di� erent communities, he has seen how much better it could be. He also said that being a board member is very time consuming, “I go to most of my schools as much as I can.”As a board member he tries to visit every one of his 19 schools as o� en as possible to see where he can make improvements. He also goes to board meetings and tries to put the rest of his e� ort to be a great father of three boys and a husband, but Cinto said, “I’m al-ways accessible or I will do my best.” Jacinto will remain a board member for the next 2 ½ years, saying, “If I choose not to run again, I will make sure we will have good leadership.” A� er all this is his neighborhood.

counselor was � red by a higher authority in the school board. During those 2 weeks North Side also re-ceived more experi-enced coach and new mariachi uniforms. He then moved on to im-prove other schools like Elder for example. A current major problem Cinto is dealing with is the student achieve-ment gap which he says is: “African Americans and Latinos are under-performing compared to white students. On average, it will take African Americans 88 years to perform as well as whites. It will take Latinos 111 years

By: Diego Gardea On the corner of Long Avenue and 30th Street is the barrio where our current FWISD school board representative grew up. He is a North Side native who started o� ar-ranging classes for his oldest son and is now the well-known trustee for North Side and Diamond Hill. Jacinto Ramos Jr or “Cinto” has been the board of education trustee for 1 ½ years. He’s now managing 19 schools in the North Side/Diamond Hill area and improv-ing these schools little by little. Without him students wouldn’t have a handicapped ramp at Elder Middle School or the laptops North Side students are receiving. His enrollment in the school board was sparked when a counselor told him his son, Junior Juan Ramos, couldn’t take Avid and dual credit because: “He had to earn them.” � at same year, Cinto ran for the ed-ucation board for his kids and others to be treated fairly. Two weeks a� er he was elect-ed onto the board of education, that same

Latino Man Looks Out For His BarrioJacinto Ramos Jr.

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By Kassandra Martinez

Bullying, it is one of the biggest problems in schools today. Studies show over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year. Approximately 160,000 teens skip school every day because of bullying. 1 in every 3 students have re-ported being bullied. Whether it is physical abuse, verbal abuse, harassment, cyberbullying, rumors or teasing it aff ects students negatively. � e it is not okay program as known as ” INOK” has been campaigning to stop each year more suicide and bullying hotlines are being created. Alma Reyna, a junior, said. “I think bullying is the most screwed up thing someone can do to a person, especially since I’ve seen bullied fi rst hand. � ey use it as ways to build up self-confi dence or to look cool in front of their friends, but I don’t think telling people mean things or doing mean things to others is cool at all no one deserves to be put down like that.” According to statistics from Family First Aid, about 30 percent of teenagers in the U.S. have been involved in bul-lying, either as a bully or as a victim of teenage bullying. Teen-age bullying is more common among younger teens than it is among older teens. Mariano Martinez, sophomore, said. “Yes, I’ve been bullied; I think everyone at some point in their life has. If not

BULLYING IS SERIOUSthen I guess you’re a lucky person. At the time I was being bullied I didn’t know about hotlines or that I could talk to people at my school. I think some people are afraid to talk to an adult about these types of things because it can be scary also they may not understand or not care.” Bullying can lead to depression and even suicide, drug use and stunted social development. � ese are problems that can aff ect a person well into adulthood. Mariano said, “Of course I think bullying causes anxiety. Depression and isolation. I know people who have to still take medicine and go see therapist due to their past bully-ing. Some people don’t realize that what they say can actually hurt someone mentally.” Teens should be encouraged to seek help and fi nd friends to talk about their problems instead of turning against their classmates and seek violence and revenge. � is can cause heart break and more problems for everyone. Alma, “Yes most teen suicide attempts are because of bullying. Kids are harming or killing themselves. If that isn’t enough to be taken seriously because of bullying, then what is? Students should try coping skills such as yoga, medi-cation, and letting their anger out on something not someone, also talking it out.”

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FeaturesPg. 4

It is important to have teachers and other adult au-thorities present when possible to discourage bullying behav-ior. You can also talk to bullies about more appropriate behav-ior, and hope that they are willing to listen. Alma said, “To help kids who are getting bullied I say to do what they do at treatments centers. North Side should do a group about once a week during school and have everyone open up who are getting bullied or who are going through certain things. Some teens who have never been bullied, might not see it as a big deal as others. Most see cyber bullying as a common thing and “natural” to today’s society for teens. Mariano said, “I believe any type of bullying or taunting needs to be taken more seriously, many people I be-lieve aren’t aware of what can happen. I mean if you watch the news a person commits suicide due to bullying each month. Also self-harm is real. People think it’s a joke, but it’s not, its serious. Either way it needs to be taken more seriously and not just push it aside.” If you are currently being bullied or know someone who is being bullied, please seek put for help. Talk to friends or any of your teachers. Or call these hotlines.

EMERGENCY HOTLINES

By:Ricardo Ramirez

� e voice heard on the PA system every morning belongs to Tammy Cooper.She is a very interesting person on the down low. She is the Principal’s Secretary, and has a lot of fascinating stuff to do when school gets out and during vacations. “I get to leave school at 3pm because I get here before 7 am,” says Ms. Cooper “But if I’m here when the bell rings I wait for the traffi c to clear up. I have a farm with animals and lots of land that keeps me busy.” If a student ever wants to meet a famous person or someone who has been on TV and get an autograph, then they should visit Ms. Cooper. She has done some work in television and in plays. “I have done a few things for the Travel Channel, Food Network and the Veria Channel,” she said “because it is a fun thing to do though I don’t usually tell anyone that I have done them. I am also an Actor for a Scottish Re-Enacting Troupe that performs

in many places and states. I am currently redesigning a travel trailer that we call “girly Trailers” and I am going to travel to places around the state with my girlfriends that have their own trailers. I am also a Ghost hunter with a group of friends.” A ghost hunter is a person who investigates locations that are reported to be haunted. Traveling to interesting places are also in Cooper’s agenda, even though she hasn’t gone out of the country she still enjoys her traveling. “I have performed in Kentucky, Louisiana and 3 places in Texas among shorter performances.” she said, “I have not gone out of this country but I have already paid for and plan a trip to Scotland in October 2015! We are going to stay in a Castle on the Isle of Skye/Inverness and then the last part will be in a Cottage in Edinburgh! Scotland is where mine and my husband’s family immigrated from in the 1600’s to the US in Henrico, Virginia. So we are going there to visit places they lived.” Some students don’t think teachers have

FeaturesPg. 5

an interesting life other than grading papers and inputting grades at home, they are wrong. � ey should pay attention to the

More Famous � an We � oughtFamous Voice

announcements every morning, even though some don’t think they are interesting, the person speaking is.

Ms. Cooper, her friendly owl, and her troop of Scottish Reenactor’s perform in many places and states. � ey attend Scottish Festivals around the country to preform.

Winter Wonderland, North Side’s fi rst annual fashion show was held in the auditorium on Friday, Decem-ber 12, 2014. � e 32 models walked the runway modeling casual wear, every day clothes, active wear, evening wear and designer clothes donated by local clothing designers Dedric Davis and George Killingsworth. Marketing teacher and fashion show organizer, Meredith Capleton, said, “I came up with the idea. I fi gured we could do something special for the students to have a good time and for teachers twwo be involved and to include community and families if possible.” She formed her organization and named it Versa Style saying, “I reached out to diff erent people and potential sponsors. � e designers I’ve been working with for 10 years.” Students helped get donations and sponsors too. “I thought it was fun and the students said it was a success,” she went on to say. Senior and model, Martin Aguirre, said,” It was cool. It was pretty fun. I meet other people and if they do it again I would be in in.” He chose his own outfi t and walked during casual wear. Junior and model, Mario De La Cruz said, “Being a model in the fashion show was really fun for me. It was a something new. Mrs. Capleton was a great encouragement throughout the whole way. I’ve never thought about mod-eling before. I stepped out of my comfort zone to be part of the show and it was a great experience.”

Pg. 6

Mr. Trimble hiding in plain sight.

By: Newspaper Staff

LARIATNEWSPAPER

A AA Student Publication of North Side High School

North Side High School2211 McKinley AvenueFort Worth, TX 76164

�e Lariat Staff:Guillermo AmaroZenaido CamposJulianna Cortes

Mario De La CruzYesenia GarciaDiego Gardea

Salvador GonzalezKassandra Martinez

Ricardo RamirezElida Rivera

Yasmin TorresSarah Vasquez

AdvisorAndres Bentley

PrincipalAntonio Martinez

�e Lariat is the officalpublication of

North Side High School.As a public forum, we willpublish letters to the editor

as space allows. Letters mustbe signed and names may

be withheld. Opinioncolumns represent the

opinion of the Lariat StaffNewspaper at North SideHigh School. �e Lariat

will not acceptadvertisments for products

or services that are notlegally available to students.

Mrs.Peters’s looking FABULOUS in a zebra print dress.

Karen CalzadaKaren Janette EsquedaLauren PerezLorry OlangeMalik WilliamsMarc Anthony Espinoza Maria PereaMariah RiveraMario De La Cruz Mario MaciasMicheal Anthony GarciaNaomi BonillaOdalis AguileraPriscilla RivasPriscilla RodriguezRosa CuevasThomas PuentesXavier Thompson

FASHION SHOW PARTICIPANTS

Adriana DuranAida Daniela DiazAlexis MezaAndy AdalcoAngel MunozAndrea Julieta JavierArlette PanolBrianna M. RodriguezCaitlyn CampbellChristopher CampbellDonaldo RubioElizabeth FernandezGodfrey Bolange Giselle Gonzales Ivan BocanegraJonsha WashingtonJennifer Cardenas Jessica Ruvalcaba Johnny Aviles

Mrs.Peters’s looking FABULOUS in a zebra print dress.

Pg. 7

Sophomore, Giselle Gonzales, looking pretty in her white pu� y dress.

Senior, Malik Williams, busting a move at the Fashion Show.

Senior, Johnny Aviles, showing the casual wear in the Fashion Show.

Ms. Richey rocking a � ashy orange dress in the Fashion Show.

Mrs. Reyes, Daniela Diaz, and Jonsha Washington singing a song for the crowd.

Xavier � ompson and Daniela Diaz

strut down the runway showing o�

evening clothing.

FeaturesPg. 8

It is estimated that there are 1,600 home-less students in the FWISD alone. Th ere are students who are homeless and come from a shelter each day to school. Th erefore, North Side High School has made their own Care Closet to help those who have a need. North Side High School has the smallest Care Clos-et compared to Arlington Heights & Eastern Hills. It’s lo-cated on the 3rd fl oor in the Main Building where the old Go Center used to be. Th e Care Closet serves any student attending any school in FWISD who has a need, whether they are homeless or going through a diffi cult time fi nancially. “Th e Care Closets defi nitely fi lls a need in our high schools, said AVID teacher, Mrs. Rhonda O’Brien, “We had a family lose their home to a fi re two years ago, and the Care Closet at Arlington Heights was able to provide cloth-ing, toiletries and school supplies to the family immediate-ly. Because of the Care Closet, they were able to get back to school within the week. During prom season, the closet loans out prom dresses, tuxedos, and suits to those who can’t af-ford the costly tradition. Tuxedo Junction gave us two tuxe-dos last year and is ready to donate more if the need arises.”

Th e biggest need is monetary gifts. Th ere are bas-kets, hooks, shelves, mirrors, curtains, and décor still left to purchase. Th e Care Closet can also use toiletry items such as shampoo, conditioner, razors, soap, toothbrushes, tooth-paste, and feminine hygiene products. School supplies such as large backpacks, notebooks, folders, etc. are also needed. Mrs. O’Brien said, “Th ere were over 40 AVID stu-dents involved at one time or another and several students involved at one time or another and several students just came to help when the announcement was made. I was impressed by Moises Ramirez who is not an AVID student, but a senior who just wanted to help out. He came both Saturdays we sorted clothing. I’m now writing a recommendation letter for him for college and encouraging him to apply for the North Side scholarships in the spring. Again, his willingness to help out without an incentive speaks volumes about his character.” Support the Care Closet for North Side High School by helping the people in our community. Even if you donate just a pair of jeans you are helping someone in need. Th e Care Closet will only take clothing that a high school student would be proud to wear. Underwear and socks must be new and still in packages. Drop off your donations in Mrs.Arredondo’s offi ce, Rm. 35.

Closet Full of Care

By Elida Rivera

Richard Burrow, of Ricky Sparkles Homeless Outreach, Arlington Heights AVID teacher, Jackie Trevino-Garcia, North Side’s AVID teacher, Rhonda O’Brien, and Offi cer Donna Eldridge work together to fi nish building the Care Closest.

Arlington Heights and North Side AVID students working together

Sophomore, Lizet Garcia, helping set up the Care Closet.

Features Pg. 9

Ms. Brock having fun painting the old Go Center for thenew Care Closet.

Students Christian Leon, Janeth Gonzalez, Celena Puentes, Oscar Hernandez and Mrs. O’Brien paint the new Care Closet.

Juniors, Imelda Lopez and Eunice Nieto, organizingthe Care Closet.

JV girls basketball team point guard, Manauhry Vanda, takes the ball to the basket during the game against Trimble Tech on January 9 . Tech-100,NS-8 Photo by Jennifer Osornia.

SportsPg. 10

Hoop Dreams By Zenaido Campos JR

� e North Side Girls Basketball team season is off to a rocky start with a 2-11 record, but Coach Yates has faith in his team that they can make the playoff s.

� eir season started on November

7th where they just barely lost against the Carter Riverside Eagles lost by a score of 30 to 26. On November 11th they went on to lose to the Nazarene Christian Acade-my Lions 56 to 6. November 15 they were defeated 72 to 8 to the Alvarado Indians, but on the 18th they beat the Carter Riv-erside Eagles 24 to 21. On November 22nd, they beat the Diamond Hill Jarvis Eagles 24 to 10. December 2nd they were defeated by Brewer Bears by a score of 56-7 and on December 5th they suff ered a loss to Trin-ity Valley Trojans by a score of 39 to 17. On December 13th, they lost to the Brewer Bears again 54 to 7. December 16th they suff ered a devastating home loss to Young Women’s Leadership Academy by a score

of 33 to 20. December 19th they were de-feated at an away game to the Arlington Heights Yellow Jackets 51 to 10. Decem-ber 30th they lost to the Lake Worth frogs by a score of 59 to 6. On January 2nd the South Hills Scorpions came in and beat the Steers by a score of 49 to 15. � en on Tuesday 6th the Southwest Raiders came in and beat the Northside Steers 43 to 8.

Coach Yates said “We chose the team based on potential the players that they thought had the best energy that im-proved quickly. Our expectations for the season are to win at least 8 out of the 15 District games; we want to go to the play-off s North Side hasn’t been to the playoff s in quite a while now. Although our team is very young, were taking athletes from ev-ery sport to put together the best basketball program possible.”

Date Opponent Time Location2/13 Fri (Scr) Saginaw 4:15 Saginaw2/14 Sat (Scr) Carrollton Creekview 11 Creekview2/17 Tue Lake Worth 7 HomeCastleberry Varsity Invitational Tournament 2/19 Thurs Arling. Lamar 5:00 Castleberry2/19 Thurs Castleberry 7:00 Castleberry2/20 Fri Lake Worth 11:00 Lake Worth2/20 Fri Azle 3:00 Lake Worth2/21 Sat K. Fossil Ridge 9:00 Lake Worth2/21 Sat S.W. Christian 3:00 Lake Worth2/24 Tue South Hills 7 HomeBurleson Invitational Tournament2/26 Thurs Arlington Boyd 1230 Centennial High School2/26 Thurs Red Oak 4:30 Centennial High School2/27 Fri Centennial 10:30 Centennial High School2/27 Fri Irving Nimitz 12:30 Centennial High School2/28 Sat Levelland 6:30 Centennial High School2/28 Sat Bryon Nelson 8:30 Centennial High School3/3 Tue TrimbleTech 7 Trimble TechCowtown Varsity Softball Tournament3/5&7 3/6 Fri Western Hills 7 Home3/10 Tue Arlington Heights 7 Arlington Heights3/17 Tue Southwest 7 Home3/20 Fri O.D. Wyatt 7 O.D. Wyatt3/31 Tue South Hills 7 South Hills4/2 Thu Trimble Tech 7 Home4/7 Tue Western Hills 7 Western Hills4/10 Fri Arlington Heights 7 Senior Night Home4/14 Tue North Side 7 Southwest4/17 Fri OD Wyatt 7 Home

Steer Softball Schedule

2-3 V Trimble Tech A- Clark Field 6:00PM2-5 JV Western Hills H- North Side 6:00PM2-6 V Western Hills H- Farrington Field 6:00PM2-7 JV Arlington Heights A- Arlington Heights 9:00AM2-10 V Arlington Heights A- Arlington Heights 6:00PM2-12 JV Southwest H- North Side 6:00PM2-13 V Southwest H- Clark #2 6:00PM2-14 JV OD Wyatt A- OD Wyatt 9:00AM2-17 V OD Wyatt A- Farrington Field 6:00PM2-19 JV Diamond Hill A- Diamond Hill 6:00PM2-21 JV South Hills A- South Hills 10:30AM2-24 V South Hills A- Farrington Field 8:00PM2-26 JV Trimble Tech H- North Side 7:30PM2-28 V Trimble Tech H- Handley Field 4:00PM2-28 JV Western Hills A- Western Hills 10:30AM3-3 V Western Hills A- Farrington Field 8:00PM3-5 JV Arlington Heights H- North Side 7:30PM3-6 V Arlington Heights A- Farrington Field 8:00PM3-7 JV Southwest A- Southwest 10:30AM3-9 V Southwest A- Clark Field 8:00PM3-10 JV OD Wyatt H- North Side 7:30PM3-11 V OD Wyatt H- Farrington Field 8:00PM

Date Team Opponent Location TimeGirls Soccer Schedule

Support Girls Athletics

Tori Poullard, a player said, “We’re not doing so good right now but we are try-ing very hard during practice to get better.”

By: Salvador Gonzalez

Many students graduate annually from High School with the dream to go to college. � ey hope to graduate with a degree, fi nd a good job, and retire at a reasonable age. Many students get scholarships and grants to pay for college but sometimes it’s not enough. Students usually will get loans to pay off any remaining amounts of money due. � is is where sometimes the trouble begins.Often, students can’t fi nd work after college and end up owing tons of money. Interest charges pile up and students end up owing hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2013, 69% graduating seniors at private and public colleges took out student loans. � is might not sound bad but the average each student owed was 28,400 dollars. If these students

Editorials Pg. 11

Longer Lunch is the SolutionBy Yesenia Garcia

Everyone seems to always com-plain about how lunch is too short, how students are always late to class, how they don’t even show up for the next class, or how they bring food to class. What they probably don’t consider is a 35 minute lunch is too short to get food and eat.

� e only possible solution that could help solve these problems is simple, making lunch longer. Making lunch 15 minutes longer would solve these problems: bringing food to class, attendance after lunch being worse, students’ not eating ‘til after they get home, teachers eating while teaching, and students would be on time because fi nding a parking spot isn’t an easy task! Making lunch longer is a win, win for everyone!

What can be done to meet both sides’ demands? “Making lunch longer would benefi t the entire school body.” said social studies teacher, Edwin Caballero “� e off campus policy we have for the juniors and seniors leads to 5-7 of them packing into a car and racing to the closest fast and cheap restaurant where they will eat some unhealthy food.”

Finding something healthy is pret-ty hard when the closest thing to the school is Burger King and McDonalds. “Typically

I bring my own lunch.” said Caballero “Be-cause A. I know what exactly I’m eating and B, it seems 35 minutes is a pretty short time to fi nd something healthy to eat.”

Even the people who eat the cafeteria food feel rushed. “I believe lunch should be at least 10 minutes longer so we can catch our breath or just to relax,” said Junior, Luz Ramirez, “we spend most of our lunch in the line. It’s just pathetic.”

Some teachers are bothered when students bring food into class not knowing most go to work right after school. “When I go off campus I usually have unfi nished lunch because I never have enough time to eat it! Said Luz “I often have to take my lunch to class, I’m not gonna throw it away and waste my money just because I couldn’t eat due to the time limit.”

Principal Martinez is concerned about the number of absences the school has. “� e percentage of students who come to school on a daily basis is too low,” he said, “Going off campus is a privilege.” � is is due to the students not bothering coming back once they are late.

Trimble Tech High School has a 45 minute lunch without it interfering with the time they go in to school or the time they go out, so why wouldn’t we be able to work that into the schedule?

aren’t able to fi nd work after college, this can result in low credit scores and even bank-ruptcy. Ms. Coddington, a medical teacher at North Side High School said, “My son graduated with a lot of debt, so he had to declare bankruptcy which didn’t clear the college debt but cleared some other stuff .”“I think it is intimidating because you don’t want to have to keep paying money after you start your life to something you fi nished already.” said Jessie Castruita, a junior at North Side High School. Students have the right to worry. According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2014, the average money college graduates owe in debt was 33,000 dollars. � is is nearly double the amount that college students had to pay back 20 years ago. � e class of 2014 holds the title for the most indebted class, but they won’t hold that title

for long. � e class of 2015 will take that title just like the class of 2014 took it from the class of 2013. It is more common for Law and Medical students to graduate with debt. Some graduate with up to six-fi gure debt, according to USA Today. About 40 million Americans have an outstanding student loan. College debt can ruin recently graduated students’ lives. It can bring down your credit score and even declaring bankruptcy won’t even clear the debt. College students should use only the amount of money they need. Students can calculate how much their degree will cost by going to their college website. Most colleges have stu-dent loan calculators that tell you how much their degree will cost. Students can then re-search on how much they will make in their career and do the math. Of course, there is

many variables that can’t be predicted. Many students can’t even fi nd a steady job. � e best thing to do is to take little as possible loans. � ere is free money everywhere with scholarships and government programs like FAFSA. If student loans are taken out, they should be paid off as fast as possible to re-duce interest. Also, choose a career that has a steady employment rate. College debt is a major issue in the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of college students are graduating with thousands of dollars of debt. When students graduate college, it is supposed to be an open road. It is supposed be a time to start to your career and life. With college debt, students end up with bad credit and a lifetime of being imprisoned with debt.

College Debt CrisisStudents wait in the long line for lunch every day to get food. Photo by Perla Serrano.