STAAR and Advanced Placement Test Weeks at Chapin High School (May 6-May 17)l. Graphic Illustration by Faith Babcock/Chapin Chronicle

You may have missed opening night, but you still have a chance to see them Friday to Sunday, May the 10-12.

The doors open at 6:30 for both performances, and showtime is at 7:00.

On Sunday, doors open at 1:30 and showtime is at 2:00.

Price of tickets are $7 for Chapin staff and students as well as military, and $8 for general admission.

Dennis DeBrue sat outside of the nurse’s office with a headache and nausea. Hoping that it wasn’t the flu, DeBrue tried to keep his thoughts positive. “I have the worst headache ever and I think I’m going to be sick. I just really hope I don’t have the flu.” DeBrue said. After sitting outside of the nurse’s office, Debrue was able to lay down in the infirmary until he was allowed to go home. (Deidre Hull/ Chapin Chronicle)

Remember coming back from break, looking around your class, and realizing that half of the students are gone? Or do you remember that one time that you couldn’t leave your bed because you were too sick and you were convinced that you had caught the plague and death was inevitable? Then a moment of clarity comes to you and you realize; it’s just the flu.

“My dad got really sick right after Christmas break and had to go to the ER. Next thing you know he was hospitalized and the doctors couldn’t find out what was wrong with him. After hours of guessing, they finally realized he had a really bad version of the flu. By the end of the week, most of my family was home sick with the flu. It was so scary,” Karlina Parker, sophomore, said.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 5-20% of U.S. residents get the flu each year. This is the same case for students at Chapin, almost 38.24 percent of students get the flu annually. In comparison, Chapin is above average when it comes to the issue of the flu. According to the attendance of Chapin students, approximately 15% students call in sick to school claiming to have the cold/flu weekly during this season.

“When I start my classes, about two or three students are gone daily. When I check why, they accuse the flu. I think it’s hit El Paso very hard this year. I just hope that it goes by fast this year. I hate flu season.” Mr. Jesus Marquez, calculus teacher, said.

With students absent in classrooms, it’s clear that the flu has hit Chapin very hard. Although the season is nearing an end, the memories will forever haunt the recipients until the next flu season comes around. But for some, the hopes still run high. Knowing that he’s never had the flu, David Vasquez, senior, does not fear the flu nor get a flu shot.

“I’m not too worried about getting the flu. I eat a lot of oranges and try to keep a very healthy diet. I think that makes me have a high immune system. Overall, the flu can’t hurt me.” Vasquez said.

Even though these issues might begin online, they do not necessarily remain online. There have been numerous incidents of, especially students, who have serious problems with others in their day-to-day life due to something that was posted online. When the issues boil to the point of interfering with what is happening on school property, schools feel the need to step in.

Therefore, authorities have contemplated whether or not to teach appropriate media protocols and techniques of using these social networks, to avoid future incidents on their campus. The problem is not whether or not students know how to properly use the networks, but if anything, students have a problem with filtering what they share on them.

Having a year-round class on what is appropriate to post on social networks is a bit extreme. It should not be that difficult for students to comprehend the consequences to their actions on the internet, however, an assembly for the whole school could be very beneficial.

Maybe then students will realize that attacking and posting rude and unnecessary things towards others on their social networks is a ignorant thing to do. Quite frankly, people who do such thing are making themselves appear in a misguided and lousy light, so let’s stop this adolescent behavior, and start acting like the young adults our parents raised us to be.

Probably not.

Social media behavior is something that is disregarded by almost every person who may use it, however, like all things, there is a right way to do it. How? Well, that very question can give reason to teach about how to ‘properly’ use the internet.

Leading in the wrong ways of media behaviors is cyber bullying, libel, gossip and so on.
If  people were to know this way of good behavior, perhaps our very own social sites would be better received, rather than thought of as a place of self exploitation.

Out of all the social sites you may know, which one is taken most seriously?
Not many, if any. Those who are uneducated in terms of social website etiquette post and pin the most useless of things, and even post liable and rumors and more socially harmful things, that can  damage, ruin, and destroy a very person.

Christian Science Monitor looks at social media behavior

Not all are like that. There are others. There are many things that is newsworthy, that happens constantly! Yet we’d rather yip about that new sandwich that you had for lunch, or how you can’t believe how long this bus is taking, or how this celebrity and that celebrity did such… useless? Yes. Fun to listen to? Depending. Could we here something much more important? Perhaps a strange sickness that seems to be spreading, or the sad misfortune of a wreck, or a storm that can be headed near? Much more important things, small or grand.
Less things to be known of, such as which teen dumped who, or the ‘stanky’ cafeteria sandwiches.

Business 2 Community reviews annoying social media behavior.

It would be wise to know what should and shouldn’t be on such social media. Rather then us being left in the dark, perhaps it would be a learning experience if we were to educate our people of etiquette and manners of the social web.

Shall we?

Shall we not?

We could.

The choice is left to those who wish to make it.

“The job hunting I have done has gotten me very discouraged. I either don’t get the job or they don’t even call me for a interview,” Genesis Arana said.

The thing is none of us try to get a high-paying dream job. Most of us just want a $7.25 minimum wage job to make a few extra bucks, but nobody likes the constant feeling of failure. It should not come to a surprise that many teenagers quit looking for a job after a while.

Unfortunately for us, many students could use that money in a very sufficient way. Seniors especially understand that. There are so many activities our senior year that we want to participate in, but they cost money. There are also college applications that range from $50 to $80 per college. All together, senior year is a very pricy year. It would be nice to contribute to the cause and help our parents out.

If there is a need, and a want, then why is it so difficult to get a job? Could it be that a lot of places now a days have a requirement that you have to be 18 years old? Or is it that we are being picky about the certain work places we apply at?

Whatever the reason might be, finding a job and being hired is a frustrating process. Unfortunately we cant just go to the place we want to work at and demand the job. Therefore to all you fellow job hunters, keep your head up high, and don’t give up.

“I believe that all good things come in time, so I’m going to keep applying at places until I get hired,” Samantha Karl said.

Students learning with technology not only helps with assignments bu it also keeps them interactive. Karla Mesta, Carlos Licon, Frankie Perry, and Natalia Font are learning with computers for an engineering class on January 30th, 2013. “I’m glad that the school is incorporating technology. It’s a lot easier and also fun” Natalia Font said.                    (Danielle Kutz/ Chapin Chronicle)

As the world seems to be adding more technology, many people are worrying about how it will affect the young generation today. Throughout the past decade, computer companies have been able to make large amount of sales to parents by adding a program in which you could monitor and block anything from the internet, to downloads, to even search engines. As people are being more cautious about what there children are viewing on the these high tech devices, many people are curious if it will always be this way.

“It’s important to see what your kid is viewing in school and the internet, but it wasn’t always like this. Back then, parents didn’t have to worry about what’s on their child’s Facebook and stuff. Technology can be important, but it can still have some downfalls,” Lynn Taylor, mother of Chapin student Hailey Taylor said.

According to the National Center for the Missing and Exploited Children Foundation, up to 93% of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 use the internet on a daily basis. It’s not hard to believe that 1/3 of these teenagers have experienced online harassment. Now the big question of ‘How do I protect my kids from the cyber world?’ comes in.

“With a house full of a bunch of younger brothers and sisters, my parents are always worried about what they are doing online. Its important to always see what they are doing but it can get hard because of passwords and all of the easy to access websites which can be dangerous.” freshman Jasmine Tuell said.

The primary focus for ensuring internet safety should be limiting younger audiences from accessing the internet. For having up to 80% of children age 5 and younger use it at least once a week, there are no objections that maybe there should be restrictions on the internet. Of course there are a few child safe-websites but this is a very slim percent kid friendly. Throughout Chapin, there are various opinions about internet being restricted. Based on the current Chapin Chronicle online survey, up to 50% of students believe that you should be between the ages of 13-16 to join a social networking site. With the results of  personal interviews, up to 46% agreed with the online survey.

“I do believe that teaching kids about online safety is the sooner the better, but with great power comes great responsibility and parents should monitor them closely. This also goes for adults. Just because they are older, doesn’t mean they know everything,” head librarian Pete Biddle said.

Although there are many opinions about this topic, it all comes down to what is best for not only the parents and kids, but also the schools.

Keeping Up With Kids’ Online Privacy

Chapin students listed below were judged at this year’s competition on Saturday, February 23.  Student artists who scored well and earned a 4 on a scale of 1-4 were potential state competitors.  For more information regarding the competition and the students artists, contact Ana Valdes at Chapin High School

Ivan Contreas – 4
Elizabeth Hernandez – 4
Jajuan Mosley – 4

Phillip Tennen – 4

Alexa Acosta – 4

Alexa Acosta – 4

Faith Babcock – 4

Faith Babcock – 4

Julia Del Rosario – 4

Victoria Dominquez – 4

Arielle Drewery – 4
Aneesha Johnson – 4
Clarissa King – 4

Samantha Laredo – 4
Kathryn Molina – 4

Rodney Molinary -4
Carlos Padilla – 4

Ivana  Sanchez – 4

George Vega – 4

Juliette Ward – 4

Marina De La Cruz – 4

Marina De La Cruz – 4

Vanessa Donzello -4

Amber Espaillat – 4

Samantha  Granado- 4

Delvon Johnson- 4

Samarah Jorgenson – 4

Rodney Molinary – 4 STATE
Aleyxs Quinttana – 4
Melissa Trejo – 4 STATE

Tatiana Zvosechz – 4

The internet was created to be a new method of messaging; a way to converse with others all over the world with just a few clicks and keystrokes. It was made with the intention of bringing people together as conveniently as possible, however, as we all know, the internet can be also be a vile place. Since the internet is growing every day and will probably be around for a while, schools should teach social media protocol and character education to better students for the real world, which has become emerged in technology.

“Social networking sites have the worst viruses on the internet and they are really hard to detect. It’s important for users to know how to stay safe online,” animation teacher Craig Weisbart said.

According to Internet World Stats, over 1/3 of the entire world population uses the internet, all for different reasons, and in a ‘world’ almost as big as our own, students should know what to do and how to act on the internet. A large percentage of internet users seem to be children who have never learned how to use a keyboard properly, yet they are wandering our state-of-the-art limitless, merciless online universe.

“The Unity group intends to move in the direction of social media to reach out to the students affiliated with it,” Unity adviser Norma Ortiz said.

Students should learn about internet protocol before going off into the real world, but only after the teachers learn about it themselves, as often, they can be just as computer-illiterate. Everyone needs a little push in the right direction of ‘Netiquette‘.