Wood You Stock the Box?

    Deerfield-Windsor does whatever possible to raise money for many organizations, including Sally Foster and the magazine sale.  However, the current drive is a special one for Homecoming week. Student Council has organized a can food drive this week to collect food of the less fortunate people in Albany. There will be boxes throughout the school for students to put cans in. The cans will then be sent to the food bank of Southwest Georgia after being collected on Friday.  

     In order to try and get students to bring in an excess of cans, Students Council has made a contest each grade is competing for. Which ever grade brings the most cans at the end of the week will win a pizza party. It's a great thing for students to do to get involved with the school and the community. Senior Haley Fulford, a member of Student Council, is in charge of the can drive. "We wanted to do this for a good cause for people that are less fortunate than us. We need everyone to participate even if they bring in one can," she says.  Get involved and bring in those can goods; not only for the purpose of winning the pizza party but the satisfaction of helping others less fortunate!  

Making Volunteering Fun!

     Most people know that as a Deerfield student, one must obtain 55 volunteer hours during highschool before graduating as a senior. There are many ways and places students can volunteer to get these hours, but the object is making this a time a time to look forward to, instead of dreading it. From working at a church bible school, helping at the soup kitchen, or giving one's time at the anual Relay for Life at Darton College. 

    Volunteering can be fun if a person picks the right location. If a student likes animals - help out at the animal shelter, or if they like young kids - help at a day care. Picking places that seem fun, will make it more enjoyable to do instead of something that has to be done just to graduate. Also, get friends to come and make it a group activity!  

90210 Show Brings Negative Self Image for Young Girls

Teenagers today, especially teenage girls, are going to extremes to be skinny and sadly they strive to impress people with their bodies. The other day I read an article about the new 90210 cast being overly skinny. It is reported that the girls from the show don’t eat. Even last week's issue of Us Weekly Magazine had its main story line be the fact that the show's stars are "Too Thin For TV". 

I think celebrities and the media can affect young girls and make them yearn to look like their "so called" role models or characters in their favorite television shows. In return these girls suffer from anorexia, bulimia and this most often results in low self esteem.

Students all around my school are talking about how much they love the new show, 90210, and how pretty the girls are. We want to look and be like them. We envy their lifestyle, their clothes, and their looks. The image we perceive of the show makes it very difficult to live in reality and face the harsh truths of not having the best bodies or trendiest clothes. Also ramped rumors about the main characters being anorexic is definitely not benefitting a teen's self-image. Being that 90210 is a hit show already, from only having three episodes so far, the producers and cast need to make sure that it is bringing positive body image to the young girl viewers. The producers should make sure their cast is healthy and are giving out "good" media attention.

Planning and Stress of Homecoming

     Homecoming, for high school students, is a time that some will remember the rest of their lives. Whether it be spirit week activities, the senior lunch auction, the football game, the Homecoming queen getting crowned, or the dance, Homecoming week is a favorite for the student body. Students can't wait to see what the Homecoming theme is and what new ideas or events they can take place in this year.

     Despite Homecoming week being the best week a student has during the school year, Student Council would say that it is the most stressful and time-consuming week they deal with. When asked why Homecoming week is so stressful, Sudent Council Co-President Wimberly Glass said, "We want students to enjoy Homecoming week and have fun, and we know that if they don't like the activities we have, it's our fault." Most people do not know that the student council starts more than six months before to create a theme and plan for the Homecoming the following year. They try and make it the best they can, so planning early is a key factor. There are so many things the student council is in charge for during homecoming week, including the senior auction, designing the t-shirts, organizing homecoming court, and more. Glass said, "As soon as school starts, we meet once a week to discuss homecoming week and the activites we want to have. Being co-president also means that I have more work and the event consumes more time than other officers because a lot is expected out of me."

    Although planning homecoming week is a lot to do and can be stressful, Glass said that she loves being co-president and likes the challenages it brings. "I like seeing all the students participating in the activites we spent so much time in planning and hope that it will be a memorable event."

YoungLife!

   YoungLife is an amazing cross cultural organization that thrives to help teenagers learn about God and also have fun. It has forever changed thousands of teenagers lives. It was started in 1941 by Jim Rayburn, of Texas. Rayburn, along with four other men, collaborated to invent the "club" idea for teenagers. Their goal was to show kids that faith in God can not only be fun, but exhilarating and life changing. YoungLife is now all across the U.S. and even in other countires, with almost 150 groups just in Georgia! There are also 20 different YoungLife camps in the U.S. kids can visit for weekend or week long trips all year long. Each week YoungLife leaders in each area have "club", where high school students sing songs, play games, and have a bible lesson. It's fun for the teenager and they get to hang out with their friends.

   Albany has had a YoungLife group since 1993. They meet every Monday at The Fish Camp on Gillonville Road.The Albany group will be having the anual"muckfest" in two weeks. This is when the leaders make a giant food fight in a big field and all the teenagers play in it. The Albany fire station volunteers to come in their fire truck to hose every down after. It is always the highlight of the year. During the winter, the Albany group travels to Sharptop Cove, located in Jasper, Georgia for a weekend trip. "Club" started this week and more than 50 kids showed up!

 All the seniors were assigned to bring as many freshman as they could, and it was a success. All the teenagers enjoyed it, and hopefully will all be back next week. 

Enthusiastic Pep Rally Talks

    Senior football players have been giving "player talks" at the pep rally's for years. Two or three senior players come up to the microphone after the cheerleaders cheer.  They tell the student body to come out to the game that night and support them. Often times these speeches are very predictable and boring. The players usually take turns talking each week so all the seniors players that want to talk are able to.

    Patrick Miller, senior running back, has chosen to give "player talks" the past two weeks. Known for his sarcasm and humor, he has given very entertaining speeches. The first pep rally, Patrick gave the metaphor of playing Tattnall by "breaking up" with them. He explained to the students that they were going to beat them so bad, it would be like "breaking up with them" . The second pep rally Patrick told a story about running over a squrill with his car, by saying that they are gonna "run over" Stratford and beat them. Patrick always uses funny ways to entertain the student body to hope that the students will want to come to the game and cheer them on! 

New Bleachers Brings More School Spirit

   Talk all around school has resulted in an addition to the football stadium at Deerfield. The administration has purchased new bleachers to try and achieve more school spirit from students at the football games. The new bleachers have been placed on the track behind the twenty and thirty yard lines. The cheerleaders are hoping that students will sit in the new bleachers and cheer on the football team. Senior cheerleader Devon Bacon said, "We just really need more school spirit at the games, and we think that adding a student section would help a lot. We'll see how it works out and we're hoping for the best."
   Last friday night was the first home game that the bleachers were used at, and it was a big sucess. The bleachers brought so much more school spirit because that was the only place for the students to stand and cheer for the players. Fans could look around and see that the Deefield side was filled with spirit and liveliness. Devon Bacon was asked after the game how she felt the game went with the new student section. She said, "I think the bleachers helped so much and the students acted more involved in the game. We really want all the students to sit there each game to hlpe us cheer on our football team."

Senior Lounge

   The Senior Lounge is a room in the main hallway at school that is just for seniors. The seniors can come sit in there before school starts, during a student's free period, during break and lunch, and after school. Students can study, sit and talk, or even eat a snack, since there is a vending machine in there. "It's a great place to go and relax during my free period", says senior Ashton Pace. 

  Each summer the rising seniors get to come to school and re-paint the senior lounge based on their taste. Students are pretty much able to paint the room how ever you want, with Mr. Collin's permission. The girls are usually the ones that paint because the boys just don't really care to paint. It is a fun thing to do during the summer and also lets you spend time with your friends. Senior artist Abigail Long says, "I think my friends and I did a great job painting it. It was hard work but so worth it. We had a lot of fun."