Midterm Stress

 It's mid January and all of a sudden your required to flashback to all the knowledge you have learned since August.  I don't know about you, but I struggle trying to think back to what I had for breakfast this morning, none the less what I learned back in August.  But, no matter what students do this every year twice a year until they finish their education experience.

Whether in college or high school, every year midterms and finals linger over students as a huge impact to the final grade achieved in every class. 

Talk about stressful.  Take one week, put all the classed you have taken over the semester and all the knowledge learned in those classes, and take a test on that material.  It is possibly the most stressful and haunting week throughout your school career.  Endless hours of studying, stressing and panicking over whether your going to pass or fail the test.  It's a student's worst nightmare and never seems to stop.  As soon as one exam week ends preparation for the next ones start the day after with the start of the next semester.

My question is why make students take finals and midterms when after the end of the material being learned a unit test is already administered.  Students are already tested to find out whether they know the material or not so why add the stress of testing them again.  But, this time add the stress of every unit learned piled into one unmanageable test compacted on with every other class doing the same exact thing. 

I'm not advocating against tests, but I am saying why assign midterms and finals when it is a well known fact students don't perform well under stress.  Finals place students under such stress with the lingering fact of a possible grade drop with a bad grade on the exams. 

Although a recap of material is beneficial to students, students should not be expected with all the different classes and knowledge they obtain every school day to remember every nitty- gritty detail all at once.  Finals are a recipe for stress and disaster because no ones memory can retain as much information as the exams require.

Calm the Coffee Crazies

People always tell you "if you don't have anything nice to nice, don't say anything at all".  But why does it seem as though the people telling us to do so are the ones who contradict the saying?

Its understandable coffee drinkers love their coffee made a specific and certain way but, when you can't tell someone how to make your coffee without running out of breath, you should be more patient of the people trying to create your nightmare of a drink.  "Hi, I'd like a small iced coffee dark roast in a medium hot cup, two pumps of Mocha swirl, one pumps of caramel, extra french vanilla, light cream and double extra sugar extra melted".  If you can't look at that order and tell me there is a good chance someone will mess up your coffee perhaps you need to reevaluate your standards.

You walk into a Dunkin' Donuts and realize there are a group of young teenagers working.  Chances are most of the employees are just there so that they can have money to pay for the gas they use when they go out or, to pay for frequent shopping trips.  When you come in with an order longer then the dictionary the worker may not be particularly psyched to take your order but here are some tips that might persuade the employees to give you better service:

Do ask nicely for your order maybe even  ask how the employees' day went. Don't walk in and demand your orders. No one likes a drill Sargent.  

If your coffee has a mistake: Do ask nicely, maybe you'll even get a refund. Holy cow! What a good day that would be free coffee doesn't happen all the time.  Don't scream, jump over the counter or threaten to call corporate, there are more tragic situations in life then an extra shot of cream in your coffee.  

Do make eye contact with the cashier.  Don't Stare at the floor like there's gold on it, we all know there's not this is Dunkin' Donuts where nothing is made of gold.

So what I'm trying to say is good customer service is always nice but employees will be more apt to give you better service if you have a better attitude.  Employees are people too you know and just because laws hold them back for reacting to your attack on them doesn't mean they aren't people with feelings too. 

If anything you should be especially nice to the Dunkin' Donuts employees for brightening up your day with your oh so desired coffee.  After all what would you do without us, we provide you with your daily dose of caffeine. 

"Show What You Know"

"Show us what you know".  It's a line we have all heard time and time again and is said to be the premise for the test we all dread, the SAT.

The SAT, a compilation of different areas of study learned throughout the education experience is a test  most colleges look at when making acceptances and rejections from there education programs.  But, is the SAT really a test to show what you know?

You attempt to prepare for the SAT with a thousand page book composed of every possible topic that could end up on the test.  But lets be honest, students can barely remember units they learned last week, none the less a thousand pages of information tracking back to freshman year.  Take the math section for example, questions are randomly pulled from classes like algebra, geometry or calculus to name a few, its a random bounce around of question types, that allow no time to look back at that algebra class freshman and think of the correct way to solve the problem.  Then theres the english section you could attempt to prepare for it by looking at the hundreds of pages of "what word works best here" but, the only real way to study for this section would be to memorize every single word in the dictionary since any abundance of words could appear in the section.

While taking the SAT their is also the struggle of the time limits.  We all can remember back to a time in school when you look back at a test and think "how could I get that wrong I knew that!" Well I can tell you the reason for a majority of tests I did that on, they were timed tests.  Timed tests cause students to focus more on how much time they have left or have already used and distract students from focusing on the actual task at hand.  If you look at the SAT during one of the ten sections of the test a passage will be assigned to you somewhat long, a page in length, with 24 questions to answer.  But what student can read and process information fast enough to read a passage, focus on specific details like word choice and sentence structure, and then answer questions with less then a minutes time for each? Students make errors they wouldn't typically make because their mind is going a mile a minute.  Throughout tests in school the constant phrase "take your time" is said but taking ones' time is not an option while taking the SAT

The SAT is a test that is supposed to "show what you know", but what it actually shows is how well you can manage your time and the pool of anxiety you are swimming in.

The Will to Win

September 18 will be a day always remembered by the Bedford volleyball girls.  It was a game long awaited for revenge and victory with the start of the 2013 season.  The game was against Goffstown high school, the division I runners up last year.  But that was not the ultimate reason for the will to win the Bulldogs showed that night.  Goffstown and Bedford high school had a long hard summer of training together including summer camps, open gyms and scrimmages, some days even consisting of rude remarks and trash talk coming from the Goffstown team directed at Bedford.  But none the less the Bulldogs and Grizzlies remained friends until the match in which they faced each other on September 18.

It was the game Bedford was waiting for after the upset they faced last year against Goffstown where Bedford won the first two sets but then Goffstown came out to take the match winning the last three sets.  But the tables would surely turn in the 2013 season.  It was one of the most exhilerating games the Bulldogs would ever face with the fans saying "It was one of the most intense girls volleyball games I have ever seen".  The game went to four sets with Bedford taking the first, third, and fourth while Goffstown took the third.  There was astonishing saves and plays going on throughout every game with Julia Elmendorf running out of bounds making passes with her back to the net and Chandler lake diving on the floor to get a hand on any ball she was in reach of.  Bedford's brick wall of blockers consisting of Hannah Koehler, Courtney O'Connell and Gabby Hunter shut down the Goffstown offense with their touches on almost every ball Goffstown hit. It was a tough game with heckling referees and calls that were many times in question but both teams fought hard to win every point.

But in the end their can only be one victor and for the 2013 season that would be the Bulldogs.  This placed Bedford in twelfth place with a two wins and two losses record and bumping Goffstown down to fifteenth place with a one win and three loss record.  The Bulldogs ended the game  with a jumping and screaming finish like the championship was just won.  The win boosted the Bedford Bulldogs morale and spirit with hopes to continue fighting for victory as the season continues and more competitive teams keep coming down the line.

A Sneak Peak into Bedford Volleyball

Bedford volleyball is going for the gold this year after their first season in division I last year.  The bulldogs came into the season last year with predictions to not pose a big threat with very little expectations and to lose a majority of their season.  But, after the intimidating season last year placing the bulldogs in ninth place out of twenty teams left the Bedford team expected to be a great competitor this year.  

The Bulldogs although a young team last year with the starting squad being composed of mostly juniors is back this year to make a statement with the starting team returning as championship hungry seniors.  The  Bulldogs being led this year by team captains Becca Foti and Julia Elmendorf have many tricks up their sleeves to completely throw other teams off their game.  With the debut into the 2013 season game against Nashua North Hannah Koehler, the starting senior middle blocker, hit her way to 24 kills which is an absolutely ridiculous amount and stunned Nashua North.  But no team can have a good offense without a good defense, which shows the true value of the Bulldogs back row players composed of the libero Chandler Lake and the outsides Becca Foti, and Kendal Sonovick who had an astonishing 27 digs in the past game.  The Bulldogs have started off their season proving to be a true fighting competitor stacked with skilled and tough players eager for the win.

Bedford will not go down without a fight this year are capable of being a championship winning team.  The Bulldogs time and time again have shown to be relentless when facing tough competition and rowdy fans rooting against them.  Although with a loss in the first game of the 2013 season Bedford proved to be an intense competitor while taking the match to five sets and fighting for every point.  The bulldogs will push to have a home seed in playoffs this year and take their season to the top with the hopes of a championship banner hanging in their home gym.  

Ellie Goulding-Lights

The album "Halcyon" is the ultimate reason for Ellie goulding's immense recognition in the UK as well as in America.  Her debut album "Lights" drew attention to her music and with the follow up of "Halcyon" Ellie Goulding truly leaves her listeners inspired and in love with her unique style of music. Ellie Goulding presents a style of music that is a combination of pop mixed with a slight touch of dance and electric.  To any listener who values an intense song with meaningful lyrics the songs "I Need Your Love" and "Hanging On" present valuable lyrics paired with a moderately fast tempo leaving fans feeling moved and intrigued.  "I need your love" is a song composed of a switch up between fast and slow tempo and is the epitomy of music that makes you wanna dance.  With the follow up song being "Hanging On" which provides a slower tempo track but still upbeat with such motivational lyrics leaving inspiration purely derived from music.  These two songs remain as the top songs on the album due to the exhilaration they present the listener with but, this leaves the rest of the Album to appear as slow and less astounding while still remaining well received. "Halcyon"  remained at the top of the charts for quite some time with dedicated listeners appreciating the unique music.  The success and fame of "Halycon" bridges music between the UK and America making Ellie Goulding's music all the more inspiring.