2013 S.A. Election Candidate Preview: Raissa Silva and Amber Sanchez

Since the last 2013 Student Association Election spotlight, two more candidates have been approved to run for different offices. Freshmen Raissa Silva is running for S.A. treasurer and Freshmen Amber Sanchez is running for S.A. pastor. Each candidate was interviewed on their campaign along with what changes they wish to put into action if elected to their desired office.

Raissa Silva (SA Treasurer Candidate)

Q: What do you hope to help achieve by being a part of the Student Association for the next coming school year?

A: “I hope to achieve success as an S.A. officer. I hope to make next year much more fun. To bring school spirit and stretch the S.A funds to cover as many S.A events as possible.”

Q: What do you have to offer as our S.A treasurer?

A: “I am willing to research places and events to stretch the S.A. budget as much as possible. Also, I plan on fundraising for S.A. to increase our budget to cover more events and activities.”

Q: What qualities do you think you have to convince us to vote for you?

A: I am very ambitious, I know how to manage money. I always ‘turn every stone’ before jumping into projects, and I am open-minded when people express their opinion on various matters.”

Amber Sanchez (SA Pastor Candidate) 

Q: What do you hope to help S.A achieve next year?

A: “I want to help develop more spiritual activities.”

Q: What do you plan to add or change about SLA’s spiritual life?

A: “Well technically I cannot change anything but with God I hope to get people involved and to be able to feel the Holy Spirit.”

Q: As a School, what would you like to see SLA become as its student pastor?

A: “Have people who actually care about Christ, to show how God can work in people’s life individually.”

Q: What qualities do you think you have to convince students to vote for you?

A: “I have a relationship with God, I won’t give up, I believe that God can do anything and that he has a plan for this school.”

Q: What made you run for this position?

A: “I want to do God’s work and bring his people back to him; to make a difference for God.”

Judging from the candidates’ answers on the current posts they are running for, our next S.A year seems very promising; with passionate people willing to put their all into what they’re doing. Hopefully we’ll have a fun year and these potential candidates will lead us into a fulfilling and exciting school year.

A Watery Race: Extreme Teams’ Last Paddle Battle

Early on Friday the 27th of April, students from SLA boarded the bus to camp Winnekeag where they would race across the lake and back. This was the final challenge for the 2012-13 Extreme Team Challenge. The whole purpose of this event was to teach students how to work together and give them an opportunity to do that in the great outdoors. In structuring the Extreme Team events, Mr. Fellows designed it to be an alternative to regular team sports for students of South Lancaster Academy.

The Pioneer sat down with the orchestrator, Mr. Fellows, to see what he thought of the race and final event for Extreme Teams this year.

Q: Why did you choose a canoe race for the final team challenge?

A: We have done a canoeing before, so we decided to do it again. Also this sport was appropriate for the season and weather. With canoeing being my favorite sport, it was easy to share this event with the kids.

Q: What was the atmosphere throughout the whole season?

A: It was a really enjoyable atmosphere filled with good spirit and laughter. This year the competitive mentality was not as strong giving room for the individuals of all teams to learn and laugh together while relaxing in the outdoors.

Q: Was there any team that really surprised you?

A: I was really surprised by First Class. They were an interesting mix of people with great talents and all of various ages and grades.

Q: Did you see a lot of teamwork amongst the teams?

A: During the events I witnessed some organization. But most of all I saw people pulling out of their shells and own comfort zones by going out of their way to help others. Its something that one does not often see in class.

Q: Was there any changes that were remarkable in either the people or teams from the beginning to the end of thecompetitions?

A: There was one person who showed some amazing facets because of the total group acceptance. I saw the teams leave all boundaries of the classroom at the school and be completely open with each other as they brought out each others’ best assets and the feeling of unity.

Q; Is this something you would do again?

A: Oh yeah! We will switch it up to keep it interesting.

Student Spotlight: Esther Owusu

Everyone knows the beloved Esther Owusu, a senior here at South Lancaster Academy, before she takes off into the world of being an independent adult after she graduates in a few weeks, I asked her some questions on what her plans on for college.

Esther – Senior Portrait

1.) What do you want to do for a career?

“I want to do computer science – work in a huge company.”

2.) What college are you going to and why?

“I am attending Washington Adventist University. I choose this college because it’s Adventist, close to home, and because it is near/in an urban area.”

3.) What will you miss about SLA?

“I will miss all the good memories I made with friends, specifically at outdoor school Freshmen year.”

4.) What class(es) did you enjoy most at SLA?

“Lunch, Freshmen & Sophomore gym, and Video Journalism.”

5.) Where do you see yourself in five years?

“At Grad school and still living in Maryland!”

When it is Esther’s time to leave, she will be deeply missed. She was a great part of SLA – making everything livelier, funnier, and generally brighter in the hallways.

SLA Flag Football Preview

Photo Courtesy of Ethan Comley

SLA used to have intramurals every year for flag football. Recently though, there has been no yearly flag football due to the fact that not enough people would participate. This year has seen a change in that trend. People showed more interest in playing, and the school’s Student Association decided to start the program up again. Many students have signed up and the captains were picked. The captains chosen were juniors Ethan Comley, Helio Ferreira, and senior JP Viteri. The teams were then picked and the schedule was made. There are only three teams since there were a little over thirty participants, and each team plays with eight players on the field.

The teams were picked one-by-one by Helio, then JP, then Ethan. Each team had eleven or twelve players and the games were set to begin the next day; Tuesday, May 1st, taking place every Tuesday and Thursday until the end of May when the Championship game would be played. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to send rain causing every game thus far to be cancelled.

Despite this predicament, the regular schedule will resume as soon as possible. When the games do start, they are expected to be full of fun for all those that participate. The schedule is listed below:

Date	Game 1	Game 2
May 1	JP vs. Ethan	Ethan vs. Helio
May 3	JP vs. Helio	JP vs. Ethan
May 8	Ethan vs. Helio	JP vs. Helio
May 10	Ethan vs. JP	Ethan vs. Helio
May 15	JP vs. Ethan	JP vs. Helio
May 17	JP vs. Helio	Helio vs. Ethan
May 22	Lower  Two Seeds
May 24	Championship Game

Lunchtime at SLA: Time For a Change?

Photo Courtesy of Google Images

Students at South Lancaster Academy have a wide range of opinions on life at SLA. In a recent poll, students were asked to share their desires for possible school improvements. Topics such as the school uniform policy, the lack of certain sports and the desire for more off-campus activities were at the top of the list. Students would also like to have Wi-fi available and access to Atlantic Union College campus gyms and pool.

Students have stated their desire to have more class electives offered, as well as AP options and actual college class opportunities to start building college credits.

SLA has made an agreement with Mount Wachusett Community College to allow high school students to take college classes at their campuses for only $30 a class. These credits will be transferable to any college in Massachusetts or any university. As for the AP classes, Mr. Lambert has added two AP history classes to the curriculum; AP Government and AP European History. Many students are eager to take these two new classes next year.

So since students are always complaing and asking for something new, SLA Pioneer decided to investigate what wishes are possible and n0t possible for the SLA students.

Many students would like to have the opportunity to buy lunch at school instead of packing it at home or going without. The Pioneer sat down with SLA treasurer Mrs. Daum to ask her a couple of questions on whether or not having an actual cafeteria would be possible or if students could bring back hot lunches. The answers were very straightforward. The two main reasons are because the school does not have a current food service license and the second is because of money.

For SLA to get a food service license, it would be at least $100 just for the permit. There are multiple steps for the school to take if they would like to get a food service permit. The first is to submit a copy of the Certificate of Occupancy (C.O.) for intended use. The next would be to provide a floor plan and request an appointment for plan review. The final step would be to submit a food service application to the Health Division, pay the proper fees and schedule an initial inspection. The school would have to renew it’s food service permit every year and there would be regular and impromptu inspections.

Another reason the school is not going to have a cafeteria anytime soon is because of cost. For the school to even think about getting a food service permit, the school would have to purchase standardized equipment to operate. To have our equipment become standardized it would cost somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000. Also, if the school got a cafeteria they would have to add extra personal, which would cost more money. The equipment would have to be sterilized after every use as well.

The school used to do hot lunches; the Sivers were in charge of the program a few years ago, with their own food service permit. They could serve food at the school because they prepared it at their restaurant. Classes can only service hot lunch now if the food is prepared and pre-packaged before it gets to school. Taco Bell was an excellent fundraiser for the Eighth Grade class, but it is now shut down. Pizza is also another good example of food that is prepared and pre-packaged before it gets to school. Hot lunch used to be a good fundraiser for classes but now it’s a much tougher option to provide to raise funds. A cafeteria at SLA would be nice, but in reality it is way too expensive for SLA to even think about right now. Students will just have to continue on for now as they have been for the past few years.