Letters to the editor

While I'm still writing for the newspaper this year, I'm also stepping up in the literary world:  not only am I a contributor, but I'm also an editor.  The first issue of For the Love of Reading came out last month, and I edited every article.  To date I've only found one typo that escaped me for the entire eight pages of text, so I guess that can be considered a success.  The newspaper has been getting a lot of compliments this year, so it's nice to think that I've played some part in its good grammar, spelling, and syntax.

My article about Scrivener, a writing program

It takes an IB class to build a shed

A little while back, a kids' camp was vandalized:  fires started in the woods; their shed smashed to pieces; ATV tracks left everywhere, that sort of thing.  Our IB coordinator approached our class with this news, and a group of us decided to participate in building a new shed for the camp.  I'm not a carpenter by any stretch of the imagination - the most I've ever done is build a paper towel dispenser in ninth grade industrial arts class - so it is a pretty neat learning experience.  Our first session saw me, Jessica, Mallory, Sawini, Patrick, Cassy, and Dylan building the foundation and floor of the shed, with the help of Mr. Pierlot and our school's industrial arts teacher, of course.  Sawini and I were in charge of cutting all the beams with a power saw, which was pretty neat, and I also had the opportunity to operate a nail gun and swing a hammer.  I also helped put on the sheets of wood that were to be the floor; they were quite a bit heavier than you'd anticipate.  Additionally, I got to use this cool chalk device:  when you pull the string taut and snap it, a perfectly straight chalk line appears on the flooring.  I also chronicled the experience with my camera (although since I was behind the lens I don't feature in any of the photographs), so here's some snapshots of day one of shed building: