Mav Mag
A product of the journalism class at MCHS
ACT Success In a Pandemic
As test scores, motivation, and overall grades plummet throughout the nation, according to multiple news reports, MCHS posted gains in ACT proficiency (score of 17 or higher) from last year including a second perfect score in as many years.
The student scored a 36, but wishes to remain anonymous. ”I am not sure why that person wanted to remain anonymous, but I will respect their privacy,” said MCHS Principal Crystal Taylor-Simon. She wouldn’t even say if the ACT ace is a boy or a girl.
In the last two years, two students have gotten perfect scores. In 2020, the student who got a perfect score said that he didn’t study for the test. Ms. Taylor-Simon mentions that this year's ACT whiz said “the ACT Prep program plus studying for the SAT really helped.”
Numbers increase from last year to this year
“Their entire ACT Prep program had to be virtual, and they also had to take the ACT online which is new for DPS,“ Taylor-Simon said. “All juniors, who were scheduled to take the test, showed up!” Although the official school proficiency data for the ACT isn’t released until the summer, Ms. Taylor-Simon believes this year there will be a higher percentage than last year, when there was a five-point growth in proficiency from 2019 to 2020. Ms. Taylor-Simon mentions, “I'm not sure what led to this growth, but I would like to think that the MCHS Prep program has helped.”
A+ Test Prep is an outside company that specializes in prepping students for the ACT/SAT to help them achieve their highest potential. A+ Test Prep visits different high schools and offers tutoring for the ACT/SAT and other exams. “They taught us strategies about each section. Overall it was really helpful,” said MCHS junior Sarah Ellis.
There was also practice in class. MCHS English III Honors teacher Mr. Michaels incorporated ACT Prep in his class. Mr. Michaels said, “Typically as a warm-up a couple of times a week, we’ll do practice tests from the English section.” Mr. Michaels mentions that it’s hard to evaluate if his instruction played a role in the score bump, but is optimistic and likes to think that he has helped a little bit.
Although everything was different and virtual this year, Ms. Taylor-Simon says she’s very proud of all the juniors and their ACT scores.
The Struggle For Connectivity
By Clementine Datta
Online learning has been a tough battle, especially for juniors at Middle College High School. As juniors transition to a new school, it’s difficult for them to create new friendships and relationships from home. “It’s been a bit odd not even having been on the school grounds at all but I suppose that is how it is,” says Olive Hess, an MCHS junior. She adds that in her experience, she’s found more seniors to talk to than juniors. With the inability to be on school grounds until recently, juniors are struggling to find each other.
In MCHS junior Anthony Aguilar’s experience, he expresses that he hasn’t had the right chances with his peers, “Well it’s way more difficult, not that I’m mean or anything but I just haven’t made any friends since I came to Middle College.”
When it comes to relationships with teachers, the students reported that there was minimal communication between them. “[It’s] nonexistent pretty much… I talk to them only when I need help with something,” Olive replies. Anthony states that his high school teachers have been much easier to communicate with compared to his college professors.
The students had difficulty looking for possible solutions to their online problems. The students were overall understanding of the circumstances and accepted the situation as it is. “I mean honestly I wouldn’t know. With everything online, it just sucks,” Anthony said.
Olive points out an issue of response time, “I think it'd be pretty difficult to improve this in the format of online learning, other than maybe make things like submitting questions and stuff more streamlined than email, ‘cause sometimes it takes days to get a simple response for something, or for something to be fixed.”
In addition to the junior’s school experience changing socially, it has changed academically as well. The students are given even more responsibility that they have to learn to manage. “Online learning has required students to take extreme ownership of their academics and time management by taking away many of the traditional structures used by being on the school campus” explains Sarah Machak, the school counselor. She also points out an important difference in extracurricular activities “Opportunities to participate in clubs and extracurricular activities have looked different during this school year because of the switch to an all remote/virtual environment. Clubs and extracurricular activities have been meeting online via Zoom to continue engagement.”
As a possible solution to junior’s struggle to find community, MCHS senior Elizabeth Ekstrand is organizing a Junior Club Fair on Friday, April 16th. “I think the club fair will benefit juniors because it provides a sort of transition from the isolated environment of remote learning to the re-introduction of an actual, in-person campus community,” Elizabeth explains. She believes that the fair will help guide juniors through the ‘tricky’ situation of finding extracurriculars online. In addition to finding clubs, she hopes the juniors will feel more like a community. “We've only been together as a school during House and Town Hall this year, and most of the time, there's too much of an agenda to allow for much bonding.”
Below: Yearbook Club in 2019
MCHS Student’s Band Getting Global Love
By Sarah Ellis
On Christmas Day 2020, MCHS junior Gabe Dinsmore released his first single with the indie-rock band Pamelo. It was the band’s second single but the first Gabe had collaborated on. He and his two bandmates, Cole and Bowen, had all contributed to the song When She’s Away. The single came out just a month after Gabe met the two original members of the band, one of which lived just down the street from him. “I had just met [Bowen] in like November [2020]… after living four houses down for four years… yeah like we just missed each other.”
When Bowen and Cole found out Gabe was a bass player with similar taste in music, they asked him to join the band. Gabe eagerly agreed. He was frustrated during the quarantine needing an escape from the crushing pressure of the pandemic, he was thrilled to finally have a creative outlet. Gabe readily agreed as he was looking for a creative social outlet and to have fun “I’ve really enjoyed that it’s really helping me to grow as a bass player...it was more for me to have fun.”
After their single was released in December, listener data records indicated that they had supporters outside the United States. Gabe said, “It was cool to see where all our listeners are from. Spotify audience statistics determined that of the 190 monthly listeners they had, 110 supporters listened from the US. The others were spread around the globe: 13 in Germany, 10 from Canada, seven from the UK, one in the United Arab Emirates and others throughout Europe. Gabe said, “I don’t know anyone in Poland or Croatia.” Yet people he doesn’t know were also purchasing the band’s tee shirts. “Like last Wednesday a week ago I shipped a shirt to France, I sent one to the (South American country of) Colombia, and another one to Asheville.” Gabe also said that he is thrilled by his people around but said that with the internet the spread of music is less personal than it would have been 10-20 years ago. “It might have felt more special… like if it spread through personal word” but still there is a definite feeling of pride in the global love.
While the band may be gaining some traction, Gabe said he wouldn’t want to make his band’s music his full time job. “Music as a career is extremely volatile, it is based on… public opinion… what’s in style. It is extremely stressful.” While Gabe said didn’t want the life of a rock star, he did speak of wanting the bad to grow and working on its growth part-time, “Maybe as a like a summer thing.” and also spoke about wanting to get at least a few small gigs, “You know like restaurant coffee shop type thing.” In an effort to write and grow, the band is working on a four track album they hope to release in June 2021.
Want to hear Pamelo’s music and stay updated when they release new singles and tracks? Follow them on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5TfvThJxN46CkubH8xFYxB?si=cWWTtElsSPa87LhZvkMb4w
Follow them on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvMpCglrNI4w_NuP5WekaDw.
Also follow them on instagram at:
@Pamelo_band
Photo below: Gabe Dinsmore on the left