Page 23 - 1990

Senior Shonae Doremus speaks for girls'
basketball at the Fall Pep Rally.
A student gets candy in the middle of the
day. This privilege was eventually taken
away after a food fight in the cafeteria.
The machines were only turned on after
the students showed that they could
control themselves.

Newly Acquired Freedom

Pop machines, even a form of open campus

By Angie Jespersen semester tests. A result of this, some stu­
This was the year for newly acquired dents sat in study hall for almost two hours.
freedom. Ralston students gained a senior This is how open campus during semester
study hall, open campus during semester tests began. Many students believe that
tests, and candy and pop machines open Ralston should be open campus every day
throughout the entire day, except during the and not just during semester tests.
lunch period. Novak's response to this is that the problem
Principal Martha Novak said the idea of encourages students to do less instead of
pop and candy machines came mainly from more. Many students would end up taking
SGO. John Wissler, Athletic Director, had a study hall instead of a class for credits.
lobbied for the machines for many years so The concept of a senior study hall allows
it had been a thought Novak had considered seniors to have their study hall above the
for many years. Novak accepted the idea library. Seniors can lounge there with other
after Senior Mary Dillon came to encourage seniors instead of in the cafeteria.
her to install more machines and make them Maybe the changes this year are coinci­
available throughout the day. dental, but according to Novak, they could
Novak feels that each of the privileges be a start of a shift to freedom for the
might be a step toward a changed Ralston students.
High School. The idea of open campus "We can start being educators instead o
came about duringthe 1988-89 school year. babysitters," Novak said.
Periods were doubled in time in order to take