“5 for 5” Canned Food Drive

Words: Caroline Chu

Centennial’s Salvation Army Club and Student Government Association (SGA) will be holding their annual “5 for 5” Canned Food Drive from Tuesday, September 13 to Thursday, September 22. The quirky title hails from the drive’s main selling point: donate five items and cut $5.00 off of your homecoming ticket price.

Can collections will be held during all lunch periods outside of the cafeteria. All non-perishable, non-expired items will be accepted.

For more breaking news and photos, follow The Wingspan on Instagram and Twitter @CHSWingspan.

Changes in Eagle Time

Words: Vaishnavi Mahalingam

Next week, several changes, coordinated by the administration, Eagle Ambassadors, and the Student Government Association (SGA), are taking effect in Eagle Time.  Currently, students may go anywhere in the school, as long as they remain in that location for the full 25 minutes.  However, with the implementation of the new changes, the auditorium will be closed, the media center will become a “quiet zone,” and the gym will only be open on Thursday.

“The duration and frequency of Eagle Time will remain the same,” commented Pranav Ganapathy, president of the SGA.

The SGA received multiple complaints from teachers regarding students who were abusing Eagle Time, using it as a social hour that sometimes became disruptive.

“[The coordinators] worked together to make these changes in order to simply encourage students to use this time more productively and to decompress without breaking the rules,” Ganapathy stated.

The SGA hopes to have the changes in full effect by second semester.

For more breaking news and photos, follow The Wingspan on Instagram and Twitter @CHSWingspan.

Jingle Bell Banquet Welcomed the Holiday Spirit

Words: Amanda Ali

Over many years at Centennial High School, the SGA has hosted an event called the Jingle Bell Banquet. This year, the annual service event was held on Dec. 4 in the school’s cafeteria.

The SGA invited senior citizens living in senior homes in the community to have a holiday meal and of course, dessert. They then treated these seniors with the first showing of the Winter Spectacular, as well as a decorated scarf for each of them. Not only does the SGA have to check scheduling conflicts and budget their money, but they also have to work with local bus companies in order to provide the seniors with transportation.

The Fine Arts Department is greatly involved in the banquet when it comes to giving the seniors discounts on admission to the Winter Spectacular, and the SGA invites Centennial performance groups to put on a show during the feast. This year, Centennial’s Drill Team was asked to put on a holiday number, and danced to “Jingle Bell Rock” for the seniors.

The SGA dedicates much of their time into running this event, but they enjoy every moment of it. Senior SGA Vice President Julia Zhen stated, “This was my fourth consecutive year volunteering for [this event]. It’s definitely up there as one of SGA’s favorite events we do all year because we get to directly help out our community during the holiday season.”

“Lots of our guests this year remember the Jingle Bell Banquet from year’s past, and they love the Winter Spectacular!” said Zhen. “It really just helps to cultivate a great reputation for Centennial.”

Zhen and the rest of the SGA achieved their goal in making this banquet a success yet again, and Centennial cannot wait to see what other events they plan throughout the year!

Jingle Bell Banquet

Words: Amanda Ali

Over many years at Centennial High School, the SGA has put together an event called the Jingle Bell Banquet. This year, the banquet was held on Dec. 5 in the school’s cafeteria. The SGA invited local senior citizens to have a holiday meal and then to attend the first showing of the winter spectacular. This allowed seniors from local senior centers around the community to be exposed to the spirit of the holidays.

Centennial’s Drill Team was asked to perform a holiday number at the event, as well as the Madrigals who performed a cappella. All of the senior guests were served a turkey dinner with dessert while watching the performances by the music and dance department.

The operative board member of SGA, Anthony Chiu, worked very hard in order to make this event a success. The SGA president Farhan Bader and Chiu drove to four different senior centers to inform the managers about the event and provide sign-up information and fliers. Chiu was also responsible for making some of the scarves that were given out to the seniors at the end of the night.

Chiu believes that it brings them a lot of joy to interact with the young people in their community, and that they were impressed by the talent shown in the show. “The Centennial SGA has always had a special place in its heart for the elderly,” said Chiu.

Chiu and the rest of the SGA achieved their goal in making this event a success, and could not have done it better!

 

SGA General Assembly

Words: Caroline Lawrence

The SGA General Assembly met on Friday, June 7, to discuss topics of interest for the upcoming school year.  After introducing the new executive board, including secretary Julia Zhen, who led the meeting, discussion centered around homecoming, Spirit Week, pep rallies, and General Assembly meetings and positions.

The first talking point was homecoming.  Zhen headed the group in a brainstorming session for possible themes for the October 12 dance.  Suggestions ranged from safari to disco, night in Paris to neon.  Some, inspired by the glitzy new release The Great Gatsby, pushed for a Roaring Twenties theme.

After scribbling down a list of ideas, conversation moved on to Spirit Week.  This school year, students had all been able to vote for their favorite days, but freshmen and sophomores shut out some of the traditional themes favored by upperclassmen, such as Decades Day.  The General Assembly debated the best system for choosing themes as it brainstormed selections.  All the typical Spirit Week ideas were tossed around- Pajama Day, Multiplicity Day, Wacky-tacky Day, Superhero Day- but some exciting new ones were brought up, too.  One that held everyone’s interest was Cancer Awareness Day, during which students could buy pink gear from the school to raise funds for research.  This seemed particularly fitting, given that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  People mainly talked around the ever-controversial topic of Color Day and tagging, because there was still so much to discuss and a debate on the issue would have scarfed valuable time.

Next, the General Assembly moved on to pep rallies.  A crucial part of the homecoming experience, pep rallies require hours of careful planning and practice.  When they are rained out, though, the SGA must move them indoors- never a popular decision.  At Friday’s meeting, the possibility of scheduling rain dates instead was suggested.

Finally, the General Assembly discussed its format for next year.  Unlike past years, appointed positions will now be decided at the beginning of the new year rather than the end of the old one.  The application process has not changed, though; it still involves a form and an interview.  Furthermore, to make sure that every group has a voice in the General Assembly, classes and clubs will be encouraged to elect representatives.  Meetings will be held on a standard day and time so that teachers will not schedule anything important that conflicts with the representatives’ attendance.

2013-2014 SGA

Congratulations to the following students on getting voted to be a part of the 2013-2014 SGA.

President: Farhan Bader

Vice President: Mary Crowe

Corresponding Secretary: Julia Zhen

Recording Secretary: Harleen Singh

 

SGA General Assembly

Ellicott City, MD – On February 1, 2013, the Student Government Association General Assembly met to discuss upcoming events. Directed by student body president Farhan Bader, a junior, topics included a spring pep rally and a third school dance.

First, students debated the best activities to rev up the spirit at the pep rally occurring on Friday, February 8. They agreed that a ping-pong match, a basketball game, and a few rounds of blanket races would rouse the crowd.

Next, they dealt with the tricky problem of the school dance. As vice principal Kevin Dorsey explained, a failure to improve student behavior could result in a loss of dances in the future. “We’re trying to change a culture,” he told the General Assembly. “You haven’t seen the girls crying in my office because, caught up in the pressure of the moment, they did things they wouldn’t have done otherwise.” With this in mind, the students proposed various solutions. Pep rallies, punishments, and alternative options were suggested, but none were agreed upon at that time.

Discussions will continue at the next meeting, whose date is yet to be decided.

Be sure to show your spirit and wear school colors to the pep rally on Friday.

SGA General Assembly Update

Words: Charles Regnante

Another successful SGA assembly was held on December 10th, 2012. The main topics discussed were the possible addition of a third dance and when to hold spirit days.

According to the President of SGA, Farhan Bader, the administration came to them “with the pressing issue that dance behavior (drinking, inappropriate dancing, and dress code) were inadequate (based off of homecoming and obviously previous years accumulating up to this), and if it continued to remain this way the students are at risk of losing the third dance (Back to School Night)…permanently.” SGA wants the students to have this dance, making it fun and enjoyable, while being on good terms with the administration at the same time. The proposal the SGA had was to send out a survey input on dances in general. Furthermore, they wanted to prove these dances pleasing to the administration. Another proposed idea from SGA was to add an extra school dance this year to make up for the missed back to school dance. If the dance is a success (students dance in a behaved manner), the school will incorporate Back to School Dance into next year’s school year.

In regards to the spirit days, Bader said, “we are trying to adapt a system of spirit days. Every month on a student’s graduating year the student wears his or her colors in correlation to the date. For instance, in my case every 14th of every month I would wear white (my grade’s color.)” During the assembly, some attendees wanted to have another week similar to the homecoming spirit week that would lead up to the spring pep rally. On the other hand, “Others liked the idea of having a spirit day every month because of its new twist on overall spirit, which students say Centennial lacks from time to time,” said Bader. When asked about the overall productivity of the general assembly, Bader replied, “Ms. Miller was present and it was easy for students to get straightforward answers from a representative of the administration. It would have been slightly more productive if we had a greater attendance, which SGA will improve with better communication for our January general assembly.”

SGA Assembly Takes Place at CHS (Charles Regnante)

On September 7, the Student Government Association (SGA) held its first assembly meeting in the auditorium during 6^th period.  The meeting was held in order for SGA to communicate to the student body what their plans for the year are.

SGA President Farhan Bader began the meeting by outlining SGA’s 2012 goals to an audience of SGA members, club representatives and SGA Co-Sponsor, Mr. Matchim. The bulk of the meeting focused on three topics:  Fall pep rally performances, Spirit Week and the Homecoming Parade.

Spirit Week will be held September 18 – 21with Pajama Day on Tuesday, Twin Day on Wednesday, Wacky Tacky Day on Thursday and Spirit Day on Friday. The Homecoming Parade theme will be Candy Land and is scheduled for Saturday. Spirit week will help foster school spirit.

“The SGA goals for this year are to bring forth school spirit, make SGA more accessible, and to increase student involvement, ” explained Bader.

Mr. Matchim asked the audience for ideas about performances for the fall pep rally that would increase school spirit. Tajbik Sheikhproposed to have a potato bag race. Then, a member of the Rocket Club advocated for a small rocket launch at the pep rally.  Also, Mr.Doff, the well-known and comedic Spanish teacher, is officially the faculty emcee (Master of Ceremonies, the announcer) for the pep rally.

Last year the Fall pep rally was moved indoors due to rain.  The jazz band performed at the rally instead of the marching band. This year, the marching band is scheduled to perform at the pep rally, playing well-known songs from bands like Van Halen.

SGA General Assembly Meeting (Amy Myers)

The SGA general assembly meeting was held this past Friday, April 27th during sixth period. There was much to discuss, and the president, Nihal Singh, began the meeting quickly.

First was the Question and Answer session with an administrator, Kevin Dorsey. The questions mainly focused on the upcoming dances and school activities of the 2012-2013 year, starting with Homecoming and Spirit Week. Dorsey stated that Homecoming this year would be in September, so planning for the events would have to begin quickly with the new school year.

Then the question was asked about another dance, separate from Prom and Homecoming. Attenders of the meeting were crossing their fingers to hear the answer. Dorsey reported that administration has attempted to organize another school dance, but it became difficult to plan around the senior activities. Dorsey commented that it would take a lot more preparation and participation to add another dance to the school year.

With this in mind, the meeting continued on to nominations of next year’s SGA members. The nominees read out their slogans and promoting blurbs, while members of the audience read questions that would exemplify how they would contribute to the club.

Much was accomplished at the last SGA meeting, but participation remained very low. In order to gain more participation for dances and school activities, SGA needs the attendance of representatives of every Centennial club. In order to spread the word to the student body, SGA has designed a news letter that will come out this May.