NEWS AT THE DREWS
T. Wingate Andrews High School Newspaper
OCS Fundraising
On December 5th OCS sold chicken and waffles as part of their curriculum in class. OCS stands for Occupational Course Studies where students learn job skills. The purpose of OCS is to prepare students who are planning to go straight to work as soon as they get out of high school instead of attending a four year college. OCS has been selling all sorts of food and drinks to the staff members who work at T Wingate Andrews High School. So far OCS has raised about 600 dollars from fundraising. The money that is made from selling all these goods goes to taking the students on field trips where they can learn more about job skills for the future and also to provide supplies for the OCS program so that the class can continue with selling food and drinks to the staff. The program has sold coffee, hotdogs, chicken and waffles and many more things during the fundraiser. They have been doing fundraising for 20 years. Currently there are 14 students and 4 adults in the OCS program. “We thought about something everyone would like and everyone loves food so we decided to sell food.” said Ms. Bennett, who is one of the four adults in charge of the OCS program. Ms. Bennett said she enjoys doing the fundraiser because it really does help the students understand what kind of skills they will need when they plan to get a job after they graduate high school. OCS does a fundraiser every year. This year the annual fundraiser began on October 6th. OCS will continue to sell food while helping students learn more skills for a bright future.
Missing Brains
The case of the missing brains from the University of Texas has been solved. About 20 years ago the University of Texas at Austin reported that 100 brains had gone missing from the psychiatric hospital. Authorities did not know whether or not the disappearance of the brains was just a harmless prank or if it was a theft with a purpose behind it. The brains were notable because they were deformed and damaged with diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Reports claimed that one of the brains supposedly belonged to the notorious sniper that climbed the clock tower of the University in 1966 where he killed 16 people. After an investigation the school said that the missing brains had been disposed of back in 2002. The Austin state hospital transferred about 200 brains over to the university about 28 years ago under a temporary placement agreement. There had been many theories about what happened to the brains. UT Psychology Professor Tim Schallert set off a tiny frenzy when he stated that someone may have “taken the brains.” After finding out that the brains had been tossed in the trash a full 12 years ago, the University of Texas in Austin put a stop to all investigations regarding the mystery of the brains. The decision to throw out the brains was done by faculty members who claimed the brains were in poor condition and will be useless as teaching and research tools. The university will continue to investigate more about the situation.
Drug Cartels in Mexico
México’s drug cartels have been around for a very long time and have existed for many decades. The cartels took most of the power after the decline of the Columbian cartels in the 1990s. There are many drug cartels that are located all over the country of Mexico. Earlier this year, one of the biggest drug leaders, El Chapo Guzman, was arrested. This did not stop the violence and drug trafficking in Mexico. The people of Mexico are dissatisfied with President Enrique Peña Nieto’s effort to stop the drug cartel crime so the citizens of Mexico have taken the violence and crime caused by the cartels into their own hands. People in the city of Ayutla created their own defense system against the dangerous cartel members. The purpose of the citizens getting together is to protect their city from the violence the big drug cartels bring. The vigilantes that patrol the streets are mostly farmers and businessmen. The citizens have come up with road checkpoints so they can monitor incoming and outgoing traffic in the area. The people of Ayutla do not trust the federal authorities and say they cannot rely on their help so they have even come up with their own ‘jails’ where they hold members of the cartels who they have captured for committing a crime. They also hold a peoples court that has the school directors and community members serve as judges. Many people around the country of Mexico are coming together just like the people of Ayutla to put a stop to the problems created by the drug cartels.