Journalism
By: Symphony Shaw
Wheeler Welcomes New Teacher
Written By: Wynette Tarpley
Teachers are very important in our society today. In the words of Nicholas Sparks, “They inspire you, they entertain you, and you end up learning a ton even when you don’t know it.” This can be said for Mr. Nathan Dean, the new math teacher at Wheeler County Middle School, whom we are all proud to welcome with open hearts and accepting minds. Even though math is the subject with which his heart lies, he is also qualified to teach middle grades science and high school history. Being a recent graduate from Piedmont College located in Demorest, Georgia, this is his first year as the main teacher in a classroom. He is very elated about the memories he will be making in his years to come in this chosen career.
Mr. Dean discovered what he wanted to do in life at a young age. He was only in the ninth grade when he realized that he wanted to be a teacher. One day, his teacher had been going over some math lessons. He began to talk about the real world and the many ways in which math is used in everyday life. It was that moment that it dawned on Mr. Dean that his teacher was not only teaching algebra, but lessons needed in life as well. Dean knew then that he wanted to make an impact in the lives of students and inspire them to become life-long learners. He advises his current and future students to “keep working hard and make something of themselves. Everyone has something they are good at. In order to find what you love and are good at, you need to work hard at everything.”
Students Paint the Field
Written By: Wynette Tarpley
Transformations such as reflection, dilation, translation, and rotation are mathematical principles that we as humans use and witness often but still take for granted. The graphic in the center of the Wheeler County Middle/ High School football field poses as an example of this. Though it may seem that painting a “W” is quite simple, once one incorporates these analytical principles, it becomes obvious that the task is not so simple but instead rather complicated.
The students in Ms. Collins’s math classes used a very geometrical approach to make the “W” in the field. By using the smaller graphic on the side of the football players’ helmets, the classes used the process of dilation to enlarge the image to the preferred size. The pre-calculus class, which was studying conic sections, drew two ellipses. These ovals then allowed the class to pinpoint the location for the inner and outer foci. In the end, the final product was more mathematically accurate that the original markings on sheets of paper. Next time any of us notice something such as this, we should try to remember the amount of work that truly went into the task.
Math of Finance
By Haley Carey
Let’s make some money! Everyone loves to make money, and in Mrs. Purvis’ Math of Finance class, students are learning how to do that. The class is currently working on a stock market game project. Each student invested $1000 in the stocks of their choice, using fake money, of course. The student who makes the most (fake) money during the month of September will win the game.
Mr. Robert Peacock was a guest speaker. He is a financial adviser for Valic. He helps teachers and others set up retirement and investment plans. Mr. Peacock analyzed the stocks picked by each student and predicted the possible winners. He said that if the stock market went up during the next month, Tyesha Parker, who invested in Apple, Starbucks, Microsoft and Facebook, would be the winner and if the market went down, Richard Wooten, who invested in Nike, Wal-Mart, and Netflix, would be the winner. All of the students are very curious if Mr. Peacock is correct. Most, however, hope that he is wrong because they want to win. Mr. Peacock left the class with one final tip - to invest in Netflix and Google instead of McDonalds. Good luck to Mrs. Purvis and her students, and may the best investor win!